🤮NO PEACE ON EARTH GOODWILL TOWARD MEN (WOMEN, OR ESPECIALLY CHILDREN) FROM REGIME OF “BAD SANTAS” 🦹🏿‍♂️🎅🏻— Illegally Separated Families Continue To Suffer Irreparable Trauma, 😰 Volunteer Groups 😇🗽⚖️ Left To Pick Up Pieces — A Reminder That Defeated Regime Has Mocked, Disparaged, & Trashed Christ’s Values & Assaulted Humanity Over Four Christmases!🏴‍☠️🤮☠️⚰️👎🏻

Jacob Soboroff
Jacob Soboroff
NBC Correspondent
Jacob Soboroff at the ABC News Democratic Debate
National Constitution Center. Philadelphia, PA.
Creative Commons License

Jacob Soboroff reports for NBC News:

Inside the effort to provide mental health care to migrant families

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Seneca Family of Agencies provides mental health care to migrant families separated by the Trump administration. NBC News’ Jacob Soboroff reports on the obstacles faced by the nonprofit in locating families.

Dec. 22, 2020

Watch Jacob’s report here.

https://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/inside-the-effort-to-provide-mental-health-care-to-migrant-families-98295877800

*********************

Jacob and his terrific NBC News colleague Julia Edwards Ainsley have been at the forefront of exposing the irreparable human carnage and lasting trauma caused by the regime’s unlawful, racist, White Nationalist immigration policies (some of which were unconscionably “greenlighted” by an immoral and irresponsible Supremes GOP majority that views themselves and their rotten to the core, inhumane, right-wing ideology as above the needless human suffering they further and encourage).

The “perps” like,”Gonzo” Sessions, Grauleiter Miller, Kirstjen Nielsen, “Big Mac With Lies” McAleenan, Noel Francisco, Rod Rosenstein, et al, walk free while the victims continue to suffer and others, like the Christ-like folks at Seneca Family of Agencies, are left to pick up the pieces! How is this “justice?”  

Our national policies  have truly abandoned Christ’s values of self-sacrifice, mercy, generosity in spirit and deed, courage in the face of oppression, human compassion, justice, and assistance  for the most vulnerable among us under the perverted and immoral “leadership” of a man and his party without humane values or respect for truth who stand for absolutely nothing that is decent in the world.

As Americans suffer and die from the pandemic he mocked, downplayed, and mishandled; unemployed Americans are dissed and shortchanged by his party of underachieving, out of touch fat cats, liars, cowards, and truth deniers; asylum seekers needlessly suffer in squalid camps in Mexico; refugees scorned, unlawfully and immorally abandoned and abused by the world’s richest country face persecution, torture, despair, and death; and non-criminals rot in DHS’s “New American Gulag,” the immoral Grifter-in-Chief lives it up at taxpayer expense for one last Christmas at his Florida resort; fumes about a fair and square election that he lost big time; savors a rash of holiday executions; delays bipartisan COVID relief; ferments treason against our republic; and pardons a wide range of scumbags, felons, war criminals, family members, cronies, fraudsters, and other totally undeserving characters. 

But, there is hope for our world at Christmas: 27 days and counting to the end of the kakistocracy, expulsion of the unqualified con-man and his motley crew of criminals and cronies, and the ascension of a real President and Vice President, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, to lead us, and perhaps our world, out of the current mess to a kinder, brighter future. That might be the best present of all this Christmas.

Due Process Forever!⚖️🗽👍🏼

PWS🎅🏻🎄😎

12-24-20

🇺🇸🗽POLITICS: RISING SUPERSTAR,🌟FORMER BIA ATTORNEY HILLARY SCHOLTEN IN HIGH-PROFILE RACE TO “FLIP” MICH 3RD CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT TO DEMS — Listen To My Friend Hillary Share Her Vision For A Better America On “Morning Joe!”

Hillary Scholten
Hillary Scholten
Democrat
Candidate for Congress
Michigan 3rd District

Here’s the link:

https://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/three-congressional-races-that-could-help-sway-the-election-93822021698

****************

Go Hillary!!!👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼🗽🗽🗽🗽🗽🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸😎😎😎😎😎

Hillary is an amazing example of how the younger generation of the NDPA is courageously fighting for leadership positions that will change America for the better at all levels!  The NDPA has been dominant in courtroom advocacy, scholarship, and clinical teaching. We now need to “take it beyond the courtrooms, classrooms, law journals, and op-ed pages!” 

It’s time for the NDPA to make our shared vision of due process, fundamental fairness, and equal justice for all a reality! Take the fight for social justice and America’s heart, soul, and future to the judicial benches, legislatures, and public offices — from the municipalities, to the states, to the highest levels of our Federal System — and beyond to leadership on the world stage!

Thanks, Hillary, 🥇🏆 for taking the lead!

Due Process Forever!⚖️🗽🇺🇸🧑🏽‍⚖️

PWS

10-15-20

GOOD YUCKS! 😀 MOSCOW MITCH LAUGHS AS AMERICANS SUFFER! 🤮 – MM Lets Sick, Dying, Unemployed Americans Suffer W/O Economic Aid So That GOP Can “Steamroll” Barrett Appointment Opposed By Majority!

 

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/oct/13/mitch-mcconnell-laughs-covid-relief-amy-mcgrath-kentucky-senate-debate?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Martin Pengelly writes in New York:

Criticised by challenger Amy McGrath in a debate on Monday night for blocking a new coronavirus relief bill, Mitch McConnell laughed.

“Trying to figure out what he is laughing about,” tweeted Claire McCaskill, a former Democratic senator from Missouri who now works for NBC News.

Nearly 7.8m coronavirus cases and almost 215,000 deaths have been recorded in the US. Amid devastating economic fallout, Congress has not passed a relief package since May, when the Democratic-held House passed a $3tn bill the Republican Senate did not take up. Donald Trump recently dynamited negotiations, which he then tried to restart.

McGrath and McConnell met to debate in Lexington during a rise in cases in Kentucky. The Democrat has raised impressive sums and stayed in touch in the polls – though victory remains unlikely.

“The House passed a bill in May and this Senate went on vacation,” McGrath said.

As McConnell chuckled, she continued: “I mean, you just don’t do that. You negotiate. Senator, it is a national crisis, you knew that the coronavirus wasn’t gonna end at the end of July. We knew that.”

As McConnell tried to interrupt, still chuckling, McGrath said: “If you want to call yourself a leader … you got to get things done and those of us who served in the marines, we don’t just point fingers at the other side. We get the job done.”

McConnell blamed the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, saying: “Look, I know how to make deals. I made three major deals with Joe Biden during the Obama era. What the problem is here is the unwillingness of the speaker to make a deal.”

On Tuesday, after Trump tweeted “STIMULUS! Go big or go home!!!”, McConnell said the Senate would soon vote on a “skinny” bill, meant to tap into unused funds from previous legislation, a course Pelosi has already rejected.

. . . .

************************************

Nothing funnier in times of extreme national distress than a Republican showing you where the party’s real priorities lie. HINT: It’s NOT with “We the People.”

Vote ‘em out, vote. ‘em out!

 

PWS

10-12-20

 

 

 

 

 

👩‍⚖️⚖️ONE MEAN☠️🤮⚰️ MOTHER: Soon-To-Be Justice Barrett’s Immigration Jurisprudence Shows Cruelty, Legal Ignorance, Lack Of Empathy For The Vulnerable Humans Whose Lives Are At Stake In An Unconstitutional System Rigged Against Them!

Judge Amy Coney Barrett
Supreme Court Nominee by Bob Englehart, PoliticalCartoons.com
Published under license

 

Dahlia Lithwick
Dahlia Lithwick
Supreme Court Reporter
Slate
Wikimedia Commons — Public Domain
Mark Joseph Stern
Mark Joseph Stern
Reporter, Slate

 

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/10/democrats-amy-coney-barrett-confirmation-supreme-court-chat.html

Dahlia Lithwick & Mark Joseph Stern in Slate:

. . . .

Dahlia: I wonder what you thought of Barrett’s statement, about how she reads each of her opinions through the eyes of the losing party. As you have written, the losing party tends to be the prisoners, the Black worker, the teen seeking abortion, the asylum seeker. It reminded me of Justice Samuel Alito testifying at his hearings about his great solicitude for immigrants.

Mark: Barrett’s opening statement made me think about one of her worst decisions (so far), in which she approved the deportation of an asylum seeker because there were small, trivial variations in his account of persecution. Over a dissent, Barrett said, yep, this asylum seeker must be sent home to be tortured and murdered because tiny details in his story changed over time. Would a judge who views the case through the eyes of the asylum seeker really dismiss his claims so cavalierly? I doubt it.

. . . .

************************

Read the complete dialogue at the link.

So much for intellectual honesty! It also shows Barrett’s fundamental lack of experience and legal understanding of what Immigration “Courts” really are and how they have been politicized and weaponized against asylum seekers by “judges” who report to overtly biased and xenophobic politicos in the Executive Branch. Just how would this “naked farce” satisfy any rudimentary concept of Due Process? Clearly it doesn’t. And just as clearly, intentionally tone-deaf judges like Barrett don’t care!  They lack the guts, relevant experience representing migrants, and the intellectual presence to stand up for the Constitutional and human rights of “the other.” 

How would YOU like to be sentenced to torture and/or death based on trivial inconsistencies found by an Immigration “Judge” working directly for the Attorney General and his regime in a badly flawed assembly line process designed to achieve political policy objectives, not justice?

Also, did anyone else pick up the facial absurdity of Barrett’s disingenuous claim to be “apolitical” while pledging allegiance to GOP “superhero” the late Justice Antonin Scalia, probably the most overtly “political Justice” of modern times?

Bottom Line: Once you’re out of the womb, this is one mother you don’t want on your case!🏴‍☠️☠️⚰️

Better Judges For A Better America! Judge/Justice Barrett is part of the problem, not the solution! The best way to insure that she is among the last, far-right, anti-democracy, inhumane judges given life tenure on the Supremes or anywhere else, vote ‘em out, vote ‘em out! Then, we’ll discover the “true meaning” of Barrett’s “I’m not there to make policy nonsense!” (Indeed, I would submit that the sole reason for her appointment was the GOP’s belief and expectation that she will reliably elevate disingenuous right-wing policies, biases, and prejudices over the Constitutional, individual, and human rights of individuals and that she will be a steadfast opponent of Constitutionally-required equal justice under law.)

Justice for the George Floyds, Breonna Taylors, dehumanized dead asylum seekers, and wrongfully imprisoned migrant kids of the world (e.g., the end of unconstitutional “Baby Jails”) will require a different type of “Justice” than Amy Coney Barrett in the future! Far from being truly “independent” and “apolitical,” Barrett is likely to be the perfect representative of the warped man who appointed her and his anti-democracy party. And, that’s likely to cause problems for all Americans of good will far into the future!

PWS

10-13-20

ROUND TABLE STAR 🌟 HON. SUE ROY REPORTS ON AILA LITIGATION ABOUT NEW JERSEY IMMIGRATION COURTS⚖️!

Hon. Susan G. Roy
Hon. Susan G. Roy
Law Office of Susan G. Roy, LLC
Princeton Junction, NJ
Member, Round Table of Former Immigration Judges

ROUND TABLE STAR 🌟 HON. SUE ROY REPORTS ON NJ AILA LITIGATION ABOUT IMMIGRATION COURTS⚖️!

By Hon. Sue Roy

Former U.S. Immigration Judge

Exclusive to Courtside

Oct. 8, 2020

As Paul had written about in August, the New Jersey chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA-NJ) filed a complaint against the Department of Justice/Executive Office for Immigration Review (DOJ/EOIR) over the arbitrary re-opening of the Newark Immigration Court for in-person hearings on July 13, 2020, without proper COVID-19 safety procedures and protocols in place.

 

This is despite the fact that in March, numerous individuals contracted COVID-19 because the Court did not timely close at the outset of the pandemic. To date, a well-respected immigration attorney who was present in the building during that time passed away from COVID-19 complications. Three additional people who worked in the building have also passed away from COVID-19, and many individuals became quite ill due to the exposure; some of whom have permanent health complications as a result.

 

As of now, most courts in NJ remain closed; courts at the municipal, country, state, and federal level have successfully utilized either telephonic or televideo technology to ensure that cases move forward. In fact, the NJ District Court is literally next door to the Newark Immigration Court; it remains closed, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, which is located in the same building as the Newark Immigration Court, remains closed as well.

 

Before filing the lawsuit, AILA-NJ asked EOIR to provide them with information regarding what safeguards were going to be implemented at the time of reopening, but EOIR declined to respond.

It should be noted that the National Association of Immigration Judges (NAIJ) has been seeking the same information from EOIR, and EOIR has refused to release information to NAIJ as well.

 

Accordingly, AILA-NJ, through the pro bono representation of Gibbons, P.C., filed a complaint and an injunction request in the NJ District Court. DOJ, represented by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, advised the Court that it was not their responsibility to ensure the safety of individuals utilizing the Court; it was the parties’ responsibility to follow proper COVID-19 safety protocols. While Judge Vasquez did not grant the injunction, he was extremely critical of DOJ’s position, calling it “shocking” and “disheartening.” He noted that it was impossible for him to determine if EOIR had acted in an arbitrary and capricious manner in reopening the Newark Immigration Court without being advised as to what went into the decision-making process.

 

Two and ½ weeks ago, DOJ asked for a 2-week extension to file their responses to Judge Vasquez’s requests for information regarding EOIR’s safety plans, any policy discussions/memoranda from the various agencies who were allegedly involved in the decision to reopen Newark Immigration Court in July. DOJ also indicated that, despite previously stating that televideo proceedings were not possible, they were looking into setting them up at Newark.  AILA-NJ agreed to the continuance request.

 

The Newark Immigration Court has held a few televideo hearings over the past two weeks. Attorneys are required to have their clients present with them in their offices when appearing before the Court. One attorney who was forced to do this tested positive for COVD-19 two days later and is now in quarantine.

 

Instead of then complying with Judge’s Vasquez’s order, last Thursday, DOJ filed a letter brief asking the Judge to dismiss the lawsuit as moot. AILA-NJ offered to settle the matter through the use of a consent order; DOJ refused. Therefore, AILA-NJ has opposed the request to dismiss the lawsuit, noting the continuing safety issues, the lack of any uniform procedures for the video hearings, the fact that televideo hearings are subject to individual judges’ discretion, and other concerns.

 

There is a telephonic conference now scheduled before Judge Vasquez for Thursday, October 8, at 11:30 am.

 

As of now, televideo hearings are only being offered at Newark Immigration Court, (not nationwide) and only to AILA-NJ attorney members who request it. Non-AILA-NJ attorneys are not being offered this option, and neither are pro se litigants, who are required to appear in person for master calendar and individual hearings. Court staff, interpreters, and immigration judges are required to be physically present for hearings, thus risking exposure to COVID-19, which is currently on the rise again in New Jersey generally, and in Newark in particular.

 

We have always suspected that EOIR had no safety plans or protocols in place before it decided to arbitrarily reopen the Newark Immigration Court. This view is shared by the NAIJ. The fact that EOIR reversed course and set up televideo hearings in Newark in less than 2 weeks and are now seeking to not release any information demonstrates just how disingenuous and unscrupulous DOJ has become.

 

NAIJ, the New Jersey State Bar Association, the Hispanic Bar Association, and the Round Table of Former Immigration Judges, among others, have all issued statements in support of the AILA-NJ litigation.

Hon. Susan B. Roy is a member of the Round Table of Former Immigration Judges and the principal of Law Office of Susan G. Roy, LLC in Princeton Junction, New Jersey.

*****************

Thanks, Sue, for all you do for due process!

Here are links to my previous reports on the litigation:

https://immigrationcourtside.com/2020/09/05/22729/

🏴‍☠️☠️🤮👎KAKISTOCRACY WATCH: NJ AILA Sues EOIR’s Malicious Incompetents To Stop Deadly ☠️☠️☠️🤮 In-Person Hearings

Due Process Forever!

PWS

10–08-20

 

 

 

 

POLITICS/HEALTH: Bess Levin @ Vanity Fair: The Pandemic Finally Comes Home To The White House

Bess Levin
Bess Levin
Politics & Finance Writer
Vanity Fair

From The Levin Report for Oct. 2, 2020:

On Friday afternoon, Donald Trump’s approach for the entirety of the pandemic, i.e. utter disdain for mask-wearing, social distancing, and taking the advice of experts in general, reached its inevitable conclusion when he was transported to Walter Reed hospital after testing positive for COVID-19 in the early hours of the morning. On top of the president’s escalating health situation, the virus has also infected a number of people with whom Typhoid Donald and others in the administration have come in contact over the last several days, including first lady Melania Trump, adviser Hope Hicks, three members of the White House press corp, a White House staffer, Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, and Senator Mike Lee, who spent last weekend rubbing up against anyone in arm’s reach at an event in the Rose Garden to announce Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court. And while at this point mandating masks in the White House would be kind of a no-brainer, if not an extreme case of the horse having already left the Oval Office, apparently the administration is planning to just let herd immunity take its course.

Yes, as of Friday afternoon, the Associated Press and the Wall Street Journal were both reporting that the administration still wasn’t requiring employees to wear masks, describing the use of the coverings as “a personal choice,” despite overwhelming evidence that they help stop the spread of the highly contagious disease. As if to really drive home the point that the administration remains hostile toward science and medical expertise, throughout the day numerous officials appeared on camera sans mask, including chief of staff Mark Meadows . . . .

 ********************************

Read/subscribe to the full Levin Report here:

https://vanityfair.us17.listmanage.com/profile?u=5fad3815e951f20a4a17e2c3f&id=f1626e1ce8&e=adce5e3390

Wow! Who would have thought that taking COVID-19 seriously, taking precautions, and wearing a mask would make a difference? Certainly, nobody in the White House!

While some reporters are using the term “surreal” to describe yesterday at the White House, that term would hardly distinguish yesterday from every other day of the Trump Administration. We’ve been living in “The Twilight Zone” for so long that nobody can remember what “normal” was.

 

PWS

10-03-20

⚖️HON. SHIRA SCHEINDLIN👩🏻‍⚖️ @ THE GUARDIAN: Barrett Nomination Part & Parcel Of GOP Destruction Of American Democracy! 🏴‍☠️ – The Continued Erosion Of The Supremes & The Federal Judiciary Is Destroying Our Nation!👎

Hon. Shira Scheindlin
Hon. Shira A. Scheindlin
Retired US District Judge
Photo: Joel Spector ©2013
Creative Commons License

 

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/sep/29/supreme-court-conservatives-trump-amy-coney-barrett?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

 

. . . .

 

This is no longer the case. Public confidence and public perception that the courts are non-partisan has eroded. The Republican boycott of Garland, together with Trump’s unprecedented nomination of Barrett and her likely confirmation, will seal the Republican theft of two supreme court seats, at least in the eyes of more than half the electorate, and will ensure conservative control of the court for decades to come.

If Barrett’s record is any indication, the court will soon turn its back on its most treasured precedents and turn America into a more regressive country. Before joining the bench just three years ago, she served as a law clerk to Scalia, whose judicial philosophy she has fully embraced. She has also been a longtime member of the rightwing Federalist Society.

 

Public confidence and public perception that the courts are non-partisan has eroded

Her short judicial record, together with her scholarly writings, reveal that she is a rock-solid conservative jurist. Like Scalia, she defines herself as an originalist and textualist, which means that the constitution must be viewed as of the time it was written. From that perspective, there is nothing in the constitution that would explicitly support abortion rights, gay marriage, mandatory school desegregation, or the right to suppress evidence that is illegally seized. By contrast, in one of her most famous opinions, United States v Virginia (1996), Ginsburg wrote that “a prime part of the history of our constitution … is the story of the extension of constitutional rights and protections to people once ignored or excluded.”

In a 2013 article, Barrett repeatedly expressed the view that the supreme court had created, through judicial fiat, a framework of abortion on demand that ignited a national controversy. In an opinion she joined with another judge, she expressed doubt that a law preventing parents from terminating a pregnancy because they did not want a child of a particular sex or one with a disability could be unconstitutional. These writings surely indicate that Barrett will do whatever she can to limit or eliminate abortion rights.

Barrett has also expressed dissatisfaction with the Affordable Care Act and support for a broad interpretation of the second amendment. She has writtenthat Chief Justice John Roberts “pushed the Affordable Care Act beyond its plausible meaning”. She also quoted Scalia, when he wrote that “the statute known as Obamacare should be renamed ‘Scotuscare’” in “honor of the court’s willingness to ‘rewrite’ the statute in order to keep it afloat”. There is little doubt that Barrett would be inclined to find the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional and thereby deprive millions of Americans of affordable healthcare coverage. Similarly, she wrote a dissenting opinion questioning the constitutionality of a statute that prohibited ex-felons from purchasing guns. Thus, she has demonstrated her fealty to the NRA position that the more guns the better – inevitably leading to more Americans dying from gun violence.

When addressing the legal doctrine known as stare decisis, meaning respect for precedent, Barrett wrote that she “tend[ed] to agree with those who say that a justice’s duty is to the constitution and that it is thus more legitimate for her to enforce her best understanding of the constitution rather than a precedent she thinks is clearly in conflict with it”. In other words, she would overturn landmark decisions such as Brown v Board of Education or Roe v Wade if those decisions did not reflect her best understanding of the constitution.

Amy Coney Barrett: what will she mean for women’s rights?

 

Read more

Stunningly, in an interview in 2016, when asked whether Congress should confirm Obama’s nominee during an election year, Barrett responded that confirmation should wait until after the election because an immediate replacement would “dramatically flip the balance of power”. Given that answer, she should decline the nomination, as her confirmation would even more dramatically flip the balance of the court, entrenching a 6-3 conservative majority.

Confirming this nominee before the outcome of the national elections – which will determine both the identity of the next president and the composition of a new Senate – is unprecedented, inexcusable and a threat to many rights that the majority of Americans have embraced. This is a tragedy about to happen.

  • Shira A Scheindlin served as a United States district judge for the southern district of New York for 22 years. She is the co-chair of the board of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and a board member of the American Constitution Society

********************************

Read the rest of Judge Scheindlin’s article at the link.

 

As I have been saying “Better Judges For A Better America!”  It starts with electing a President who will nominate them and a Senate that will confirm them. That requires “regime change” and defeat of the GOP Anti-Democracy Party at all levels.

 

Dems need to stop sputtering about Barrett, whom they don’t appear able to stop anyway, and get out the vote to insure that she will be the last GOP far right shill on Supremes for many years! Rebuilding and improving American democracy starts NOW, with THIS ELECTION.  As Willie Nelson says: “Vote ‘Em Out, Vote ‘Em Out!”

 

BTW, “Moscow Mitch” and his GOP toadies have plenty of time to race through the Barrett confirmation during an election, but no time to help Americans thrown out of work or losing their health insurance because of the pandemic!🤮⚰️

 

PWS

 

10-01-20

 

THE GIBSON REPORT — 09-15-20 — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Esquire, NY Legal Assistance Group

THE GIBSON REPORT — 09-15-20 — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Esquire, NY Legal Assistance Group

Elizabeth Gibson
Elizabeth Gibson
Attorney, NY Legal Assistance Group
Publisher of “The Gibson Report”

COVID-19

Note: Policies are rapidly changing, so please verify the latest information on the relevant government websites and with colleagues on listservs as best you can.

 

New

 

Closures

 

Guidance:

 

TOP NEWS

 

Panel Tosses Nationwide Freeze on Trump’s Public Charge Rule

Bloomberg: A nationwide injunction blocking a Trump administration rule that denies legal status to immigrants receiving public assistance was stayed by a Second Circuit panel. The Southern District of New York…likely lacked jurisdiction to enter the injunction while the appeal of its previously-issued injunction was pending, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit said Sept. 11.

 

USCIS Wants Sponsors To Repay Gov’t For Benefits

Law360: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on Thursday announced an initiative to hold immigrant sponsors legally responsible for reimbursing the government for benefits used by their immigrant sponsees.

 

US seeks sweeping DNA collection of immigrants, sponsors

AlJazeera: Its proposal also vastly expands the biological information that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) collects beyond genetic material to include eye scans, voiceprints, and palm prints, the department’s US Citizenship and Immigration Services said in a notice published in the Federal Register.

 

After a Pandemic Pause, ICE Resumes Deportation Arrests

NYT: Since mid-July, immigration agents have taken more than 2,000 people into custody from their homes, workplaces and other sites, including a post office, often after staking them out for days.

 

The Life and Death of Administrative Closure

TRAC: TRAC’s detailed analysis of the court records on administrative closure yields four key findings. First, administrative closure has been routinely used by Immigration Judges to manage their growing caseloads as well as manage the unresolved overlapping of jurisdictions between the EOIR and other immigration agencies. Second, TRAC finds that far from contributing to the backlog, administrative closure has helped reduce the backlog. Third, data from the Immigration Courts show that immigrants who obtain administrative closure are likely to have followed legal requirements and obtain lawful status. Fourth, the EOIR significantly misrepresented the data it used to justify this rule.

 

Immigration to New York City Declines, Amplifying Economic Concerns

WSJ: Immigration to New York City dropped 45% between 2016 and 2019, with about 34,000 immigrants moving to the city last year compared with 62,000 in 2016, according to an analysis of U.S. Census Bureau population estimates by William Frey, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. City officials and immigration advocates say tighter federal immigration policies and delays in processing visa applications during the pandemic ave reduced the flow of transplants.

 

US revokes visas for 1,000 Chinese students deemed security risk

BBC: The move follows a proclamation by President Donald Trump in May aimed at Chinese nationals suspected of having ties to the military. He said some had stolen data and intellectual property. China has accused the US of racial discrimination. Nearly 370,000 students from China enrolled at US universities in 2018-19.

 

Americans are renouncing U.S. citizenship in record numbers – but maybe not for the reasons you think

The Conversation: In surveys and testimonials, these people say they’re dropping their U.S. citizenship because American anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism regulations make it too onerous and expensive to keep.

 

DHS Whistleblower Complaint Includes Surprising Insights on Immigration Policy

ImmProf: Mr. Murphy believes former DHS head Kirtjen Nielsen presented Congress with “knowing and deliberate submission of false material information” about the number of [known or suspected terrorists] crossing the southern border.

 

Immigration agency cuts of 800 Kansas City jobs expected to trigger backlogs, delays nationwide

Kansas Reflector: Members of Congress from the Kansas City region scored a victory last month when a federal immigration agency backed off plans that would have led to thousands of layoffs of government employees in the metro area. But their relief was short lived, as the agency now intends to furlough 800 of its local private contractors instead — a move expected to set off immigration backlogs and processing delays throughout the nation.

 

Trump administration considers postponing refugee admissions, U.S. official says

Reuters: The refugee cap was cut to 18,000 this year, the lowest level since the modern-day program began in 1980. So far, roughly half that many refugees have been let in as increased vetting and the coronavirus pandemic have slowed arrivals.

 

LITIGATION/CASELAW/RULES/MEMOS

 

Federal court blocks Trump plan to exclude undocumented immigrants from census count used to allocate seats in Congress

CNN: The court ruled Thursday that the President’s July order violates the federal laws that set out how congressional seats are apportioned, and granted a permanent injunction blocking the rule. The court did not decide if the President’s memorandum violates the Constitution.

 

Md. Judge Finds Wolf Likely Appointed Illegally At DHS

Law 360: A Maryland federal judge held Friday that acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf was likely illegally appointed, and temporarily barred the Trump administration from enforcing new asylum restrictions on members of the advocacy organizations that challenged them.

 

District Court Issues Consent Order and Final Statement in Class Action Challenging Delay in Issuance of EADs

On 8/21/20, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio (Eastern Division) entered a Consent Order and Final Statement in the class action lawsuit challenging delays in issuance of EADs by USCIS following approval of Form I-765 applications. (Subramanya v. USCIS, 8/21/20) AILA Doc. No. 20080438

 

Immigrants detained at Buffalo Federal Detention Center in Batavia sue contractor over $1-a-day work program

Batavian: The Worker Justice Center of New York (WJCNY) has filed suit in New York’s Supreme Court against the private, for-profit company, Akima Global Services (AGS), for its exploitation of detained immigrants at the Buffalo Federal Detention Center in Batavia.

 

CA1 Vacates Preliminary Injunction Against ICE Courthouse Arrests in Massachusetts

The court held that the district court abused its discretion in finding plaintiffs were likely to succeed in showing that the INA implicitly incorporates a common law privilege against civil arrests for individuals attending court on official business. (Ryan, et al. v. ICE, et al., 9/1/20) AILA Doc. No. 20090831

 

CA1 Upholds BIA’s Denial of Motion to Reconsider Where Petitioner’s VAWA Self-Petition Was Pending

Where the petitioner had premised his motion to reopen on a pending Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) self-petition, the court upheld the denial of his motion to reconsider, holding that the BIA did not err by finding he had failed to make a prima facie case. (Franjul-Soto v. Barr, 8/24/20) AILA Doc. No. 20090331

 

CA1 Finds Petitioner’s Conviction in Massachusetts for Drug Possession with Intent to Distribute Was an Aggravated Felony

The court held that the petitioner’s Massachusetts’ drug conviction for possession with the intent to distribute amounted to “illicit trafficking in a controlled substance” and was thus an aggravated felony under INA §101(a)(43)(B). (Soto-Vittini v. Barr, 8/24/20) AILA Doc. No. 20090330

 

CA2 Stays Nationwide Injunction on DHS Public Charge Rule

The court stayed the district court’s July 29, 2020, preliminary injunction in the DHS public charge rule, thus allowing USCIS to require the Form I-944 in all jurisdictions. (State of New York, et al., v. DHS, et al., 9/11/20) AILA Doc. No. 20091190

 

CA3 Upholds Asylum Denial After Finding Syrian Militia Is a Tier III Terrorist Organization Under INA §212(a)(3)(B)(vi)(III)

The court upheld the denial of asylum to the petitioner, who fled involuntary military service in a government-controlled militia in Syria, finding that the militia was not beyond the scope of the Tier III provision under INA §212(a)(3)(B)(vi)(III). (A.A. v. Att’y Gen., 9/2/20) AILA Doc. No. 20090834

 

CA3 Holds That “Substantial Evidence” Standard of Review Applies to an IJ’s Reasonable Fear Determinations

After holding that the substantial evidence standard applies to an IJ’s reasonable fear determinations, the court found that substantial evidence supported the IJ’s conclusion that the Mexican petitioner did not have a reasonable fear of persecution or torture. (Romero v. Att’y Gen., 8/25/20) AILA Doc. No. 20090333

 

CA3 Says It Lacks Jurisdiction to Review BIA’s Discretionary Denial of Petitioner’s Motion for Certification of Late-Filed Appeal

Concluding that the “settled course exception” did not apply in the context of the case, the court held that it lacked jurisdiction to review the BIA’s discretionary decision to decline to self-certify the petitioner’s late-filed appeal. (Abdulla v. Att’y Gen., 8/20/20) AILA Doc. No. 20090332

 

CA4 Finds Petitioner Failed to Establish That Salvadoran Government Was Unable or Unwilling to Control MS-13

Finding that the record did not compel the conclusion that the Salvadoran government was unwilling or unable to control the MS-13 gang, the court upheld the IJ and BIA’s conclusion that the petitioner did not qualify as a refugee under INA §101(a)(42)(A). (Portillo-Flores v. Barr, 9/2/20) AILA Doc. No. 20090835

 

CA5 Upholds Denial of Motion to Reopen Where BIA Found Petitioner Had Failed to Pursue His Rights Diligently

The court held that the BIA did not abuse its discretion in finding that the Mexican petitioner’s motion to reopen, which was filed seven years after the entry of his removal order, was untimely and not entitled to equitable tolling. (Flores-Moreno v. Barr, 8/24/20) AILA Doc. No. 20090334

 

CA8 Finds District Court Correctly Dismissed Petitioners’ Request for Nunc Pro Tunc Adjustment of Status

The court held that the district court properly dismissed the petitioners’ request for nunc pro tunc adjustment of status, because they had failed to adjust their status to lawful permanent residents, and thus could not meet the requirements for naturalization. (Al-Saadoon v. Barr, 8/28/20) AILA Doc. No. 20090336

 

CA8 Affirms Denial of EAJA Attorney’s Fees Where Government’s Position Was Substantially Justified

The court held that the district court did not err in concluding that the government’s litigation position was substantially justified, and thus affirmed the district court’s order denying the petitioner’s attorney’s fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA). (Garcia v. Barr, 8/20/20) AILA Doc. No. 20090335

 

CA9 Finds Domestic Violence Waiver Under Special Rule Cancellation of Removal Did Not Cover Petitioner’s Drug Conviction

The court held that the domestic violence waiver established under INA §237(a)(7), and made applicable to cancellation of removal by INA §240A(b)(5), is limited to crimes of domestic violence and stalking, and thus did not cover petitioner’s drug conviction. (Jaimes-Cardenas v. Barr, 9/1/20) AILA Doc. No. 20090836

 

CA9 Reverses IJ’s and BIA’s Adverse Credibility Determination as to Asylum-Seeking Member of Minority Somali Clan

The court held that substantial evidence did not support the IJ’s and BIA’s adverse credibility determination, finding that, in light of the totality of the circumstances, the evidence compelled the conclusion that the Somali petitioner’s testimony was credible. (Iman v. Barr, 8/25/20) AILA Doc. No. 20090339

 

CA9 Defers to BIA’s Interpretation of Perjury and Holds That Conviction for Perjury in California Is an Aggravated Felony

Deferring to the BIA’s interpretation of “perjury” as used in the aggravated felony definition of INA §101(a)(43)(S), the court held that perjury under section 118(a) of the California Penal Code is an aggravated felony. (Yim v. Barr, 8/25/20) AILA Doc. No. 20090338

 

CA9 Says Petitioner Seeking to Reopen Proceedings Was Not Required to Attach a New Application for Relief

The court held that the BIA abused its discretion in finding that a noncitizen who seeks to reopen an earlier application for relief, and attaches that application to the motion, has failed to attach the “appropriate application for relief” under 8 CFR §1003.2(c)(1). (Aliyev v. Barr, 8/24/20) AILA Doc. No. 20090337

 

CA11 Finds BIA Erred in Retroactively Applying Stop-Time Rule to Pre-IIRAIRA Conviction of Petitioner Seeking Cancellation

The court held that because the petitioner had pled guilty before the stop-time rule was enacted via the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRAIRA), applying the stop-time rule retroactively to his conviction was impermissible. (Rendon v. Att’y Gen., 8/26/20) AILA Doc. No. 20090340

 

Matter of R-C-R, 28 I&N Dec. 74 (BIA 2020)

(1) After an Immigration Judge has set a firm deadline for filing an application for relief, the respondent’s opportunity to file the application may be deemed waived, prior to a scheduled hearing, if the deadline passes without submission of the application and no good cause for noncompliance has been shown.

(2) The respondent failed to meet his burden of establishing that he was deprived of a full and fair hearing where he has not shown that conducting the hearing by video conference interfered with his communication with the Immigration Judge or otherwise prejudiced him as a result of technical problems with the video equipment.

 

District Court Grants Preliminary Injunction After Finding It Has Jurisdiction to Review USCIS’s Revocation of I-140 Petition

The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida held that it has jurisdiction to review USCIS’s revocation of the plaintiff’s I-140 petition, and granted the plaintiffs’ request for a preliminary injunction. (6901 Coral Way Management, LLC, et al., v. Cucinelli, et al., 9/10/20) AILA Doc. No. 20091135

 

USCIS Launches SAVE Initiative to Collect Information on Sponsor Deeming and Agency Reimbursement

USCIS launched a new SAVE initiative asking agencies that administer federal means-tested benefits to share how they use sponsorship information in sponsor assessment and agency reimbursement processes, with the goal of helping agencies make eligibility determinations and hold sponsors accountable. AILA Doc. No. 20091032

 

DHS Proposed Rule on Use and Collection of Biometrics

DHS proposed rule on the use and collection of biometrics in the enforcement and administration of immigration laws. Comments on the rule are due on 10/13/20, with comments on associated proposed form revisions due 11/10/20. (85 FR 56338, 9/11/20) AILA Doc. No. 20090494

 

CDC Rule Finalizing Interim Final Rule on Foreign Quarantine

CDC rule finalizing the interim final rule published at 85 FR 16559, which provided a procedure for the CDC to suspend the introduction of persons into the United States from designated foreign countries or places for public health purposes. (85 FR 56424, 9/11/20) AILA Doc. No. 20090833

 

DHS Publishes Privacy Impact Assessment on Immigration-Related Information Sharing with U.S. Census Bureau

DHS released a PIA examining the privacy impact of immigration-related information sharing between DHS and the Census Bureau. DHS is providing administrative records to the Bureau to assist in determining the number of citizens, LPRs, and unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. during the 2020 census. AILA Doc. No. 19122704

 

RESOURCES

 

 

EVENTS

 

Note: Check with organizers regarding cancellations/changes

 

ImmProf

 

Monday, September 14, 2020

Sunday, September 13, 2020

Saturday, September 12, 2020

Friday, September 11, 2020

Thursday, September 10, 2020

Wednesday, September 9, 2020

Tuesday, September 8, 2020

Monday, September 7, 2020

 

************************

So much outrageous conduct by the regime. So little effective “pushback” from the other two branches who largely continue to treat the dissolution of democracy as “just another day at the office.”

With so much “bad stuff” to choose from, here’s my personal “favorite of the week:”

DHS Whistleblower Complaint Includes Surprising Insights on Immigration Policy

ImmProf: Mr. Murphy believes former DHS head Kirtjen Nielsen presented Congress with “knowing and deliberate submission of false material information” about the number of [known or suspected terrorists] crossing the southern border.

Cabinet Secretary lies to Congress. Regime uses lies to proclaim a bogus “national security emergency” at the Southern Border. Some Federal Courts, including the Supremes, accept the pretexts for furthering the Trump/Miller racist, White Nationalist anti-asylum-seekers of color agenda. 

Nothing happens to the liars. Congress and the Federal Courts “normalize” lying as a “standard Executive practice,” defer to it, and allow regime to impose potential death sentences without due process. Victims are just a bunch of largely non-White vulnerable humans that righty Federal Judges don’t believe are human or “persons” under our law.

As one of my esteemed, now retired, Arlington colleagues used to say: “The system is broken.” 

But, disturbingly, this time it’s not just the Immigration Court system we’re talking about. It’s the whole justice system, the checks and balances, and the separation of powers set up by our Constitution. Lack of accountability for gross misconduct by public officials is the sign of a failing state.

I almost feel sorry for T. Dick Nixon. If he were in office today, the Watergate burglary, conspiracy, and cover-up would have been dismissed by the GOP politicos as “fake news.” And, today’s righty judges on the Supremes and the appellate courts would simply have looked they other way and made up legal gobbledygook and gibberish to cover for their supreme ruler.

Remember, part of Nixon’s downfall was the “missing 18 minutes” of the tapes. There’s nothing missing about the “Trump tapes.”

He’s recorded committing “criminal negligence” in office, lying about it, and endangering the lives and health of tens of thousands of Americans. Then, he and his stooges get up before the public and lie some more about what happened. Then, to prove he really doesn’t give a damn about the American people, he follows up by holding a rally that fails to comply with, and in fact mocks and disparages, his own Administration’s best health advice.

Nixon was a liar. But, I guess not a shameless enough one. And, he didn’t kill as many Americans.

Fortunately for Trump, the dead can’t vote. But, their families, friends, and colleagues can! How many more must die unnecessarily before we finally “throw the bum out” (with apologies to honest bums everywhere) and get a real President into office?’

PWS

09-15-20  

🏴‍☠️THE TRUTH ABOUT THE “TRUMP ECONOMY” — Good For Trump Family & Other “Fat Cats” — Not So Much For Most Working Folks — Contempt For Workers Runs Deep In Today’s Elitist GOP & The Trump Kakistocracy! — PLUS BONUS COVERAGE: IMMIGRANTS & THEIR ADVOCATES NEED TO MAKE THEIR VOICES HEARD, NOW! (A “PWS Mini-Essay”)

Tara Golshan
Tara Golshan
Politics Reporter
HuffPost
UW- Madison Grad

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-american-dream-economy-pandemic_n_5f494aebc5b64f17e13d6e4d

Unemployment is in double-digits, renters are scared of eviction notices, aid is stuck, and economic recovery seems to have slowed.

By Tara Golshan

For HuffPost

Republicans want Americans to believe that Joe Biden would “demolish” the American dream.

“This election will decide whether we save the American dream,” Trump said while accepting the Republican nomination for president on the final night of the Republican National Convention. “Or whether we allow a socialist agenda to demolish our cherished destiny.”

Speaker after speaker repeated the same message: Trump is the only candidate who can save the American dream, Democrats’ insistence on expanding the social safety net will stymie individuals’ opportunities, and Republicans are the party of dreaming big.

“Let me assure you, socialism doesn’t offer opportunity. Socialism deprives,” Florida Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez said on the second night of the convention. “We can go down a dark road of chaos and government control, or we can choose the path of freedom and opportunity that was paved by those who sacrificed everything to preserve the American dream for future generations.”

But for many working Americans, policies under the Trump administration and Trump’s response to the pandemic have put the American dream further out of reach.

Trump’s message that he’s the savior of the American dream comes as the nation is in the middle of a widespread coronavirus outbreak, which public health experts and a vast majority of Americans say was worsened by Trump’s slow response. Unemployment sits at 10 percent, and the economy’s recovery has slowed over the summer months. Federal aid, which economists say kept upwards of 10 million people out of poverty, has been slashed or cut completely, as Republicans remain reluctant to continue unemployment benefits at the same levels.

Even before the pandemic hit and the economy appeared to be doing fine, Americans were dubious that there was an equality of opportunity afforded to everyone under Trump’s leadership.

In a January Pew Research Center survey, 70% of Americans said the economy was rigged in favor of the wealthy. There are partisan divides in the poll, with Republicans generally seeing the economy under Trump as fairer than Democrats do. But notably, 79% of lower-income Republicans said the wealthy had too much power today, and Democrats and Republicans agreed that small businesses were being overtaken by major corporations.

. . . .

***************

Thanks, Tara! Read Tara’s complete article at the link. Tara is a UW-Madison grad!

IMMIGRANTS & THEIR ADVOCATES NEED TO MAKE THEIR VOICES HEARD, NOW!

By Paul Wickham Schmidt
Courtside Exclusive
Aug. 29, 2020

Truth is, Trump has no plan for reviving the American economy and is firmly opposed to equality. He hopes that the virus will go away or that he can shift the blame for his abject failure to deal with it to someone else (a false narrative already well underway). He has no clue on how to deal with businesses that will never reopen, jobs that no longer exist, industries (e.g., travel, hospitality, education) whose “traditional models” no longer will be economically viable, and workers whose ability to return to former jobs is limited by the long-term effects of COVID. 

What’s the regime’s plan to deal with mental health issues arising from unemployment or loss of loved ones? Beyond berating them for being sick or out of work, Trump and the GOP have no plan! Cut their unemployment, take away their health insurance, promote unsafe and exploitative working conditions, and immunize careless or negligent employers from liability — that’s the Trump/Moscow Mitch plan.

While I’m not a labor economist, I see evidence that the Trump regime’s gross mishandling of the pandemic, it’s glorification of myth over science, its open disdain for workers and their health and safety, and its nativist immigration restrictions will eventually cause a long term shortage of healthcare workers and teachers — essential workers whose lives and expertise are almost daily demeaned and devalued by the Trump regime and the GOP.

What’s Trump’s plan for African-American, Latino, and low-income communities that have been disproportionately affected by COVID and its collateral effects? More police brutality? Terrorism by DHS agents? Forced labor? Starvation? Disenfranchisement? Public assistance cuts? Lousy education? Slash Social Security? Tax cuts for the rich? Dirty air? Polluted water? How will folks living “paycheck to paycheck” (at best) save for retirement? Work till they drop dead to support the Trumps and McConnells of the world and finance more tax breaks for the rich and powerful?

Biden and Harris have an established record of concern for all workers and all communities. They are certainly American worker’s best chance for a better life and a better future!

My observation is that the immigrant and particularly refugee and asylee communities have a disproportionate number of entrepreneurs, businesspeople, innovators, risk takers, and practical problem solvers who have been able to reinvent and often retrain themselves under the most difficult circumstances imaginable with minimal outside assistance. This community, their colleagues, and immigration and human rights advocates need to be working at the highest levels with the Biden/Harris campaign on a plan to reestablish legal immigration (including refugee and asylum programs) as an essential part of the overall plan to create jobs, develop new or improved industries and businesses, and get all Americans back to work in jobs that will be both satisfying and economically viable.

This plan that would include rebuilding, strengthening, and creating new opportunities within our healthcare, safety net, educational, and vocational programs rather than destroying and looting them as Trump and his cronies have done. It’s called “teamwork, innovation, and best practices,” and it’s an anathema to Trump and the GOP —  the party that promotes systemic economic inequality and despises and ridicules expertise and cooperative efforts.

Immigrants of all types and statuses have helped all of us get through the pandemic, notwithstanding the racist abuse heaped on them by Trump, Miller, Wolf, and the GOP. Robust legal immigration is, as it always has been, part of the solution, not (as the Trump/Miller false narrative would have it) part of the problem. 

And, to state the obvious, most of the so-called “undocumented population” in the US, residing (many with families including U.S. citizens or green card holders) working, paying taxes, and otherwise contributing to our society, mindlessly targeted by Trump and GOP nativists, could and should long ago have been integrated into our legal immigration system at some level. 

But, it’s up to the immigration and human rights experts to get into the “inner circles” of the Biden/Harris campaign now, and to place immigration in its rightful place as one of the keys to American equality and prosperity, rather than that being “left on the sidelines” as happened with Obama. 

In many ways, Trump and his fundamentally anti-America policies, as masterminded by neo-Nazi Stephen Miller, are the price we have paid for the Obama Administration’s negligent failure to harness the positive power of immigration and of the notable absence of true immigration/human rights policy experts and advocates from the key positions in his Administration. 

Immigrants and their advocates can’t let history repeat itself! Policy, legislation, administration, and indeed judging are just variants of “advocacy.” In this case “advocacy” of due process, fundamental fairness, human rights, practical problem-solving, and human dignity. That’s something that the GOP right wrecking crew “gets” but to which Dems and liberals sometimes seem willfully oblivious! 

We can’t afford to get it wrong again. And, neither can the Biden/Harris campaign or the American people! The stakes are simply too high!

This November, vote like your life depends on it! Because it does!

Also, immigration and human rights advocates need to make their voices heard by Biden/Harris campaign! Now!

PWS

08-29-20

😰👹👺🏴‍☠️☠️⚰️🤮“DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN” — Nicole Narea @ Vox With A Glimpse Of Trump’s Second Term: American Apocalypse — Dark, Ugly, Hateful, Violent, Dishonest, Exclusionary, Stupid, Racist, Diminished, Yet Very White & Privileged — Are People Of Color & Their Allies Really Going To Stand By & Watch While Their Past & Our Future As A Strong, Creative, Tolerant, Diverse, Humane Nation Is Written Out Of History By A Racist GOP & Its Totally Wacko Yet Dangerously Evil Cult Leader?

DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN pastedGraphic.png

Album version

Music & Lyrics by Bruce Springsteen

Well, they’re still racing out at the Trestles

But that blood it never burned in her veins

Now I hear she’s got a house up in Fairview

And a style she’s trying to maintain

Well, if she wants to see me

You can tell her that I’m easily found

Tell her there’s a spot out ‘neath Abram’s Bridge

And tell her there’s a darkness on the edge of town

There’s a darkness on the edge of town

Well, everybody’s got a secret, Sonny

Something that they just can’t face

Some folks spend their whole lives trying to keep it

They carry it with them every step that they take

Till some day they just cut it loose

Cut it loose or let it drag ’em down

Where no one asks any questions

Or looks too long in your face

In the darkness on the edge of town

In the darkness on the edge of town

Well, now some folks are born into a good life

And other folks get it anyway anyhow

Well, I lost my money and I lost my wife

Them things don’t seem to matter much to me now

Tonight I’ll be on that hill ’cause I can’t stop

I’ll be on that hill with everything I’ve got

Well, lives on the line where dreams are found and lost

I’ll be there on time and I’ll pay the cost

For wanting things that can only be found

In the darkness on the edge of town

In the darkness on the edge of town

——— Source: springsteenlyrics.com, click here for music: https://www.springsteenlyrics.com/lyrics.php?song=darknessontheedgeoftown

Nicole Narea
Nicole Narea
Immigration Reporter
Vox.com

https://apple.news/AyEIE9zXYSTeZ-TvO2TLZAQ

Nicole writes at Vox:

. . . .

As he seeks a second term, [Trump has] also made it clear that he hasn’t finished. He still wants to end the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program once and for all, drive out the millions of unauthorized immigrants living in the US and curb their political power, enact what he calls “merit-based” immigration reform, and pursue a slew of restrictive immigration regulations.

The US has already seen the harms of Trump’s first-term immigration policies, which could cut deeper if he’s given another four years: Legal immigration is plummeting, stymying growth in the labor force and threatening the US’s ability to attract global talent and recover from the coronavirus-induced recession. The US has abdicated its role as a model for how a powerful country should support the world’s most vulnerable people. And the millions of immigrants already living in the US, regardless of their legal status, have been left uncertain of their fate in the country they have come to call home.

Other concerns — including the coronavirus, racial justice, and unemployment — have recently eclipsed immigration as a top motivating issue for voters. But for Trump, who currently lags former Vice President Joe Biden in the polls, restricting immigration proved a winning message in 2016, and he will likely try to replicate that strategy again.

“It’s the thing he keeps going back to,” Douglas Rivlin, director of communication at the immigrant advocacy group America’s Voice, said. “It is his comfort zone — to go after people of color and turn them into sort of the specter of scary, violent people as a political strategy.”

. . . .

Whether any version of that proposal will get traction would largely depend on the makeup of the next Congress and whether Democrats win a majority in the Senate. Most immigration policy experts aren’t convinced that Trump will see success in negotiating with Democrats, but the political calculus could change if Democrats control both chambers of Congress and need Trump to sign their legislation.

It also depends on Republicans acting as a unified front on immigration. So far, pro-business Republicans aren’t challenging the restrictions and travel bans Trump has imposed during the pandemic, and as the US continues to grapple with its worst economic crisis since the Great Depression and more than a million Americans are out of work, they will likely continue to follow the president’s lead. But in the long term, they might find themselves at philosophical odds with the anti-immigrant wing of the party.

“I think the reality of the economics of immigration and the sort of more ideological agenda are going to come into conflict,” Rivlin said.

But if Trump can overcome those hurdles, the prize would be substantial: the ability the leave his mark on the immigration system beyond a series of executive actions that could be reversed by the next Democrat who assumes office.

“Merit-based immigration reform would be a legacy for him on immigration, more so than a border wall,” the Bipartisan Policy Institute’s Cardinal-Brown said. “That would have impacts on the future of immigration for decades.”

***************

Read the rest of Nicole’s gloomy yet (as always) well-written outlook at the link.

Don’t be fooled. In “Trumpspeak” the term “merit-based” means “race-based” (favoring, of course, White guys, preferably rich, English speaking, and prospective GOP toadies). Again, to state the obvious, a “kakistocracy” by definition lacks the ability to recognize and reward true “merit.” That’s why it’s a “kakistocracy,” not a “meritocracy!”

America is a nation of immigrants. To change that, Trump will have to destroy America, which, as this week’s “clown show of hate, fear, loathing, and complete nonsense” (a/k/a “The GOP Convention”) shows, he and his followers are perfectly willing to do. 

This perverted “vision” of America also ties in well with the Trump/GOP approach to racism and social justice: Ignore injustice and double down on violence administered by the largely White power structure against communities of color. Kill, maim, blame, punish, jail, intimidate, disenfranchise, and dehumanize the victims rather than looking for cooperative ways to solve the problems. Sow fear, hate, and division to insure that institutionalized racism and White grievance will be indelibly ingrained in America! As these self-inflicted grievances play out, the Trump family and its cronies will use the ensuing chaos as a diversion to loot the Treasury and use what remains of “government” to further their own personal interests, without regard to the common welfare. Nice folks!

It’s doubtful that America as the majority of us have envisioned it can survive another four years of Trump’s corruption, racism, and malicious incompetence. Despite some liberal wishful thinking, our democratic institutions and apparently overrated “checks and balances” are crumbling before our eyes. 

The “JR Five” on the Supremes and the GOP Senate already have reached “Penceian levels” (“Pence” rhymes with “incompetence”) of mindless sycophantic subservience to the “Clown Prince” and his entourage. None of them would be able to extract their collective heads from the more than ample Presidential rear to see any daylight during a second term. Trump’s re-election would inevitably convert the “City on The Hill” to a “wealthy universally despised third world kleptocracy.” That’s the real “vision” of Trump and the GOP. (I think that Nicole’s “hypothetical” of a Trump victory and a Dem Senate is the “least likely scenario.”)

This November, vote like your life and the world’s future depend on it! Because they do!

Equal Justice & A Diverse America For All! Trump’s Dark, Evil, Dishonest Vision Of America, Never!

PWS

08-27-20

🏴‍☠️☠️⚰️🤮👎🏻THE GOP HAS A PLAN FOR YOU: “plunder, theft and extraction!”

Jamelle Bouie
Jamelle Bouie
Columnist
NY Times

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/25/opinion/trump-convention-platform.html

Jamelle Bouie in The NY Times:

. . . .

It is not news that the Republican Party has a stagnant governing agenda cobbled together from the long-discredited dogmas and shibboleths of the conservative movement. “The current iteration of the G.O.P. is indifferent to the substance of government,” Steve Benen, a political writer and producer for The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC, writes in “The Impostors: How Republicans Quit Governing and Seized American Politics”:

It is disdainful of expertise and analysis. It is hostile toward evidence and arithmetic. It is tethered to few, if any, meaningful policy preferences. It does not know, and does not care, about how competing proposals should be crafted, scrutinized or implemented.

What is news is the extent to which the Republican Party has embraced the trappings of its leader, which is to say, the trappings of a right-wing cable news network: a nonstop parade of conspiracy, demagogy and grievance, in service to a cult of personality, all for the sake of a politics of plunder, theft and extraction.

**************

Read the rest of Jamelle’s op-ed at the link.

Pretty good explanation of The Party of Trump (formerly known as “The Party of Lincoln”). 

My question is why the so-called “mainstream media” (excluding Jamelle and a few others) handles with “kid gloves” folks like Nikki Haley, Tim Scott, and Melania, who go on national TV and present knowingly bogus, totally disingenuous, fabricated portraits of Trump as a benign presence in U.S. politics. In a vain, continuing search for “normalization” of overt 21st century Jim Crow nationalist fascism, the “mainstreams” appear ready to credit speaking in complete, largely grammatical, sentences in the English language and not screaming racist tropes or absurdist internet conspiracy theories as all that is necessary to be considered “credible” and a “moderating force” in today’s “Trumpized” GOP!

The disingenuous treatment by the “mainstreams” of dishonest attempts to “soften” Trump’s true “Mini-Mussolini” persona as election-season gimmick is a gross dis-service to the public welfare and the abdication of the duty of courageous independent journalism to provide critical coverage — not just regurgitate RNC propaganda!

Why are “the mainstreams” rolling over for the RNC?

This November, vote like your life and the future of the world depend on it! Because they do!

PWS

08-26-20

🏴‍☠️☠️⚰️👎🏻DEATH IN THE GULAG:  DHS Racks Up 17th Detainee Kill Of Fiscal Year — Doubling Previous Year’s Body Count ⚰️ With Months To Go As “DUD” Program Hits High Gear! — Death Either Here Or Upon Return To Danger Without Fair Hearings Is The “Ultimate Deterrent” For America’s White Nationalist Regime!

DUD = “Detain Until Dead”

https://apple.news/AEJpCWSaJQMyWS9vMdp33bQ

Danielle Silva reports for NBC News:

More than twice as many immigrants have died in the custody of Immigration and Customs and Enforcement this fiscal year than last after two detainees died this week. That brought this year’s total to 17, compared with eight deaths last year.

A 72-year-old Canadian man who had tested positive for the coronavirus died in ICE custody on Wednesday night at a Virginia hospital, the agency said Friday in a statement.

James Thomas Hill reported feeling shortness of breath to staff at an ICE detention facility in Farmville, Virginia, on July 10 and was admitted to Centra Southside Community Hospital before being transferred to Lynchburg General Hospital the following day, ICE said.

A COVID-19 test administered by hospital staff came back positive on July 11, the agency said.

Hill entered ICE custody on April 11 following his release from the Rivers Federal Correctional Institute in North Carolina after serving 13 years of a 26-year prison sentence for health care fraud and distributing a controlled substance, according to ICE. An immigration judge had ordered his removal on May 12, ICE said. At the time of his death, Hill was in ICE custody pending his removal to Canada, the agency said.

The agency said it had notified the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General, the ICE Office of Professional Responsibility, the Canadian consulate and Hill’s next of kin. His death was first reported by BuzzFeed News.

A 51-year-old Taiwanese man died Wednesday afternoon at a Florida hospital after being a diagnosed with a “massive intercranial hemorrhage,” ICE said in a separate statement Thursday.

Kuan Hui Lee was found unresponsive at the Krome Service Processing Center in Florida on July 31 and taken to the Kendall Regional Medical Center.

. . . .

***********************

I think this is just the beginning of the true carnage that advocates have been predicting for months. And that doesn’t even count those killed after being “orbited” by DHS in violation of the statute and due process as a complicit Supremes majority egged them on.

The shame of our nation’s intentional dehumanization and mistreatment of asylum seekers and other migrants under the Trump regime won’t be eradicated. What kind of “democracy” runs a “Gulag” for non-criminals where all “sentences” are arbitrary and indefinite and the there is no readily available impartial review of detention by a neutral and detached magistrate? Where Supreme Court Justices worry more about the impact of “nationwide injunctions” and “bogus emergencies” declared by an patently unqualified and invidiously biased Executive than they do about the lives, health, and freedom of individuals whose “crime” is to assert their legal and Constitutional rights?

While the problem starts with a White Nationalist, racist regime and a feckless GOP-controlled Senate under Moscow Mitch, those Federal Judges at all levels who could have put an end to these “crimes against humanity,” but failed to do so, also bear responsibility for the death and destruction of human lives by the regime.

Due Process Forever! Complicit Courts, Never (Again). Better Justices & Judges For A Better America! 

PWS

08-08-20

🏴‍☠️☠️🤮👎KAKISTOCRACY WATCH: NJ AILA Sues EOIR’s Malicious Incompetents To Stop Deadly ☠️☠️☠️🤮 In-Person Hearings

EYORE
“Eyore In Distress”
Once A Symbol of Fairness, Due Process, & Best Practices, Now Gone “Belly Up”

Laura Lynch

Laura Lynch
Senior Policy Counsel
AILA
 

Hon. Susan G. Roy
Hon. Susan G. Roy
Law Office of Susan G. Roy, LLC
Princeton Junction, NJ
Member, Round Table of Former Immigration Judges

Laura Lynch @ AILA writes:

I wanted to flag this lawsuit that was filed a few hours ago by AILA’s New Jersey Chapter seeking to stop in-person court appearances at the Newark Immigration Court. The attached complaint reveals the following:

 

  • “The Newark Immigration Court is no stranger to the devastating effects of COVID-19. The coronavirus spread through the court before it closed in March, and COVID-19 illnesses tragically caused the deaths of both a longtime private immigration attorney and a staffer at the immigration prosecutor’s office, as well as causing the serious illness of both a senior immigration prosecutor and a court translator. More recently, the head of Federal Protective Services at 970 Broad Street in Newark—the building where the Newark Immigration Court is housed—died from COVID-19.”
  • “Yet, despite the risks posed by the spread of COVID-19, and the actual serious illness and death it has already caused to people involved with the Newark Immigration Court, that court was recently reopened for immigration hearings regarding cases for persons who are not held in detention (the so-called “non-detained docket”). Moreover, even though immigration law and regulations provide for immigration hearings to take place by videoconference—and the Executive Office of Immigration Review, which operates the nation’s immigration courts, has touted its use of such videoconference hearings—the Newark Immigration Court does not provide the option for attorneys or others to appear by videoconference for cases on the non-detained docket.”

The Associated Press wrote a short article about this lawsuit.

 

Unfortunately, the complaint hasn’t been posted on AILA’s website yet. I’ve been sharing the document using this google link:https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TTXt0c7dzflF9Kpvvpe–aeHbQvHbYoV/view.

 

Please let me know if you have any questions.

 

Thanks, Laura

 

Laura A. Lynch, Esq.

Senior Policy Counsel

********************************
It just keeps getting worse and worse. The malicious incompetents at DOJ/EOIR keep endangering lives in an out of their so-called “courts” while those supposedly responsible for “justice in America” let it happen. This is a “Third World Dictatorship-Style Meltdown” happening right here in our country.
How many will have to die or have their lives ruined before this dangerous and dysfunctional embarrassment to humanity is finally put out of its misery (not to mention the misery it brings to others).

This November, vote like your life depends on it! Because it does!

PWS
08-01-20

 

🏴‍☠️👎RACISM IN AMERICA: “COTTON DON’T COME TO HARLEM” —  Apparently, According to Racist GOP Sen. Tom Cotton, White Guys Can’t Jump, Work For Themselves, Or Build A Nation Without Exploiting Free Labor Of Enslaved Humans, So That’s What Makes America Great!  — America’s Vilest Senator Shows Why America Can’t Heal & Move Forward Until GOP Racist Enablers, Falsifiers, and Apologists Are Removed From All Public Offices!

Mary Papenfuss
Mary Papenfuss
Contributor
HuffPost

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/tom-cotton-interview-slavery-necessary-evil_n_5f1e4101c5b69fd4730e31ad

Sen. Tom Cotton Calls Slavery Nation’s ‘Necessary Evil’ In Shocking Interview

Slavery “was the necessary evil upon which the union was built,” the Arkansas senator said in an interview.

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By Mary Papenfuss

This is the AOL video player, press Space to toggle play and pause

Sen. Tom Cotton Calls Slavery ‘Necessary Evil’

 

  • Controversial Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) called slavery the nation’s “necessary evil” in a new interview published Sunday.
  • The senator told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that slavery was the evil ”upon which the union was built.”
  • He made the stunning comment while discussing how slavery should be taught in schools.
  • “We have to study the history of slavery and its role and impact on the development of our country because otherwise we can’t understand our country,” Cotton said. “As the Founding Fathers said, it was the necessary evil upon which the union was built.”
  • Cotton also noted that the “union was built in a way, as Lincoln said, to put slavery on the course to its ultimate extinction.”
  • Instead of portraying America as “an irredeemably corrupt, rotten and racist country,” the nation should be viewed “as an imperfect and flawed land, but the greatest and noblest country in the history of mankind,” he added.
  • Cotton delved into his twisted view of the history of slavery as he discussed his bill — the Saving American History Act of 2020 — that would cut off federal professional development funds from any school district that teaches a curriculum linked to the 1619 Project.
  • The 1619 Project — which refers to the year slaves were brought from Africa to colonial America — was a series of pieces by writers for the New York Times Magazine that examines the American history of slavery and its critical role in the nation’s founding.

Nikole Hannah-Jones, a Pulitzer Prize-winning Times reporter and director of the 1619 Project, blasted Cotton’s comments justifying slavery, “where it was legal to rape, torture and sell human beings for profit.” It’s “hard to imagine what cannot be justified if it is a means to an end,” she added.

. . . .

*******************************

Read the rest of Mary’s article at the link.

So, Tommy, since you believe that slavery was necessary for America’s future prosperity and “goodness,” I assume that you are in the forefront of the movement to pay hefty reparations to the modern day ancestors of those who had to suffer for your White America to achieve greatness?

Cotton almost always speaks rubbish and racist BS. This is just another prime example. Of course, there is always a choice on whether or not to abuse, exploit, torture, and kill fellow humans. 

Undoubtedly, America as we know it was built on the minds, backs, suffering, misery, and uncompensated labor of enslaved African Americans. But, there were in fact in colonial and post-colonial America many individuals of various races who had the ability to farm their own land, practice their own crafts, trades, and professions, and engage in commerce that didn’t involve trafficking in human lives or the fruits of slave labor. Slavery represented a conscious choice by White Americans, not an inevitability that was unwillingly thrust upon them.

Surely, individuals like Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and other slave-owning founding fathers who risked it all on the unlikely chance of winning a war against the British Empire, had the knowledge, ability, and creativity to have said “no to slavery.” They just lacked the moral courage as well as the self-confidence to believe in their own abilities to earn a living without exploiting others. 

It’s sad, true, but neither “unavoidable” nor “forgivable.” Indeed, the only ones qualified to “forgive” the sins of the founders would be those no longer with us — generations of enslaved African Americans who suffered so that the White Guys in power could build a better country for themselves. 

Cotton has no legitimate place in this debate. He should shut up, get off the public dole, and  develop some useful skills that would help all Americans toward a more just, equitable, and intellectually honest future as well as an understanding of the reality of past mistakes.

I have previously characterized Cotton as one of the most vile and dangerous public figures in America, with racism, ignorance, and willful falsity in his heat and mind. He just keeps proving my case!

As I predicted, the death of true courageous American hero Congressman John Lewis (whose briefcase Cotton wasn’t qualified to hold) was met by “crocodile tears” and the usual litany of disingenuous tributes by GOP politicos (other than Trump who simply made his pathetic “condolence” as brief as it was dishonest). But, now we get a real look at how the GOP “honors” Lewis and the African American community:

  • Not extending Voting Rights protections undermined by right-wing GOP politicos serving as Supreme Court Justices;
  • Dragging their feet on coronavirus relief while Trump bobbles the national response, communities of color are disproportionately adversely affected, and the GOP instead obsesses about providing unnecessary liability protections for their business buddies who promote unsafe conditions for their workers and customers;
  • Falsely trying to blame “Black Lives Matter” for protesting a broken justice system while Trump’s misallocated “stormtroopers” fan unrest and racial tensions;
  • Pretending not to hear as Trump sows more unrest by casting doubt on whether he will leave office if and when voted out by the people.

That’s the “real GOP.” A bunch of “not so closet” racists and misogynists who are scared silly that their White privilege finally might be “on the ropes” and that the real majority could not only triumph this Fall, as they did in 2016, but this time that majority might actually get the political power denied them last time.

This November, vote every GOP candidate out of office! Under Trump, and with folks like Cotton in the wings, the GOP has become the largest threat to our national security, health, unity, prosperity, humanity, and future as a democratic republic. Vote ‘em out, for a better America!

PWS

07-27-20

🤮☠️⚰️👎🏻GOP POLITICO SUMS UP TRUMP’S INCREDIBLY NOXIOUS & DANGEROUS KAKISTOCRACY IN A FEW PARAGRAPHS: “Donald Trump has been the worst president this country has ever had. And I don’t say that hyperbolically,” Says Steve Schmidt (No Relation)!

Steve Schmidt
Steve Schmidt
GOP Political Strategist

https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/23/politics/steve-schmidt-donald-trump/index.html

“Donald Trump has been the worst president this country has ever had. And I don’t say that hyperbolically. He is. But he is a consequential president. And he has brought this country in three short years to a place of weakness that is simply unimaginable if you were pondering where we are today from the day where Barack Obama left office. And there were a lot of us on that day who were deeply skeptical and very worried about what a Trump presidency would be. But this is a moment of unparalleled national humiliation, of weakness.

“When you listen to the President, these are the musings of an imbecile. An idiot. And I don’t use those words to name call. I use them because they are the precise words of the English language to describe his behavior. His comportment. His actions. We’ve never seen a level of incompetence, a level of ineptitude so staggering on a daily basis by anybody in the history of the country whose ever been charged with substantial responsibilities.

“It’s just astonishing that this man is president of the United States. The man, the con man, from New York City. Many bankruptcies, failed businesses, a reality show, that branded him as something that he never was. A successful businessman. Well, he’s the President of the United States now, and the man who said he would make the country great again. And he’s brought death, suffering, and economic collapse on truly an epic scale. And let’s be clear. This isn’t happening in every country around the world. This place. Our place. Our home. Our country. The United States. We are the epicenter. We are the place where you’re the most likely to die from this disease. We’re the ones with the most shattered economy. And we are because of the fool that sits in the Oval Office behind the Resolute Desk.”

******************

That about sums it up!

Or, you could just say: “A kakistocracy led by a maliciously incompetent racist moron!”

This November, vote like your life depends on it! Because it does!

PWS

087-27-20