⚖️ SEN COREY BOOKER (D- NJ) WENT TO THE BORDER TO CHECK OUT BIDEN ADMINISTRATION’S “CBP ONE APP!” — HE HATED WHAT HE FOUND! — “Inherently Discriminatory!”

Senator Cory Booker
U.S.Senator Cory Booker
D-NJ
PHOTO: Wikipedia
Rowaida Abdelaziz
Rowaida Abdelaziz
Immigration Reporter
PHOTO: Twitter

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/cory-booker-asylum-app-homeland-security_n_6422262de4b049e21e2dbf06

Rowaida Abdelaziz reports for HuffPost:

Sen. Cory Booker sent a letter to the heads of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection on Monday criticizing the newly rolled-out CBP One — a mobile application that allows asylum-seekers to secure an appointment with CBP to get through U.S. ports of entry.

“The United States is a beacon of hope for many around the world seeking safety and freedom. Unfortunately, migrants now have to contend with the CBP One app as the sole method to schedule asylum appointments, which has been plagued by technical problems since its introduction,” Booker told HuffPost in an emailed statement.

“We must ensure that our asylum process is just and equitable and protects those who are fleeing violence and persecution in a way that’s consistent with our nation’s most fundamental ideals,” he added.

. . . .

“Even if the CBP One app was as efficient, user friendly, fair, and inclusive as possible – which I hope one day it will be – it would still be inherently discriminatory,” reads Booker’s letter, noting the resources an individual must have to successfully navigate the application.

. . . .

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

Read the complete article, with a copy of Sen. Booker’s letter, at the link.

Advocates at the border have been raising problems about the apps’ poor performance and the totally inadequate number of appointments available. And, even with an appointment there’s no assurance that an individual will get a fair audience on their asylum claim. Indeed, based on the current lack of transparency and atrocious proposed regulations from the Biden Administration, unfair treatment is almost guaranteed!

Notably, the clueless Biden “policy officials” who come up with cruel gimmicks and foist defective technology on the border stay far away from having to confront the faces of the humanitarian disaster they have created. They neither have the guts to meet with nor solicit the advice of advocates, NGO workers, and dedicated volunteers who, unlike the Administration, are trying to save lives, preserve human dignity, and maintain some semblance of the rule of law at the border!

There is no excuse for the Biden Administration’s cosmically poor performance on humanitarian issues at the border. None! And, while Sen. Booker and some of his colleagues have pushed back against the Administration’s abusive approach to asylum, other Dems shamefully have just “run away” from the racially-charged, totally unnecessary, disregard for competence, expertise, and the rule of law at the border. 

Another problem: The absence of legal integrity from the DOJ, ironically led by former U.S. Judge Merrick Garland, who is unwilling to stand up for the rights of asylum seekers and equal justice for all at the border.

Exactly what do Dems stand for anyway? Apparently, not much, except what they believe (however incorrectly) is “politically expedient” at any particular moment in time!

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

05-26-23

🤯 WHAT’S THE FISCAL COST OF GARLAND’S UNDERPERFORMING EOIR? — In This Individual Case $56,169.79! — 5th Cir. Awards Attorneys’ Fees For IJ’s Baseless “Adverse Credibility Finding” & “Phantom Affirmance” By BIA!

Clown Parade
A.G. Merrick Garland’s continuing operation of the “EOIR Clown Show,” at taxpayer expense, is costly in more ways than one! “Any reason to deny” proves too much even for the hyper-conservative 5th Circuit! PHOTO: Public Domain

Dan Kowalski reports for LexisNexis Immigration Community: 

https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/19/19-60647-CV1.pdf

https://www.lexisnexis.com/LegalNewsRoom/immigration/b/insidenews/posts/ca5-awards-eaja-fees-nkenglefac-v-garland#

CA5 Awards EAJA Fees: Nkenglefac v. Garland

“On May 18, 2022, this court granted Giscard Nkenglefac’s petition for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’s (BIA) dismissal of petitioner’s appeal from the immigration judge’s (IJ) denial of his application for relief from removal. See Nkenglefac v. Garland, 34 F.4th 422, 430 (2022). Because the IJ’s adverse credibility determination was not supported by evidence in the record, we determined that the BIA erred in affirming it and remanded the case to the BIA. The petitioner filed a timely application for attorneys’ fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA). We find that petitioner is entitled to attorneys’ fees under the EAJA and award $56,169.79.”

[Hats off to Homero Lopez, Jr. and paralegal Emma Morley!]

Homers Lopez, Jr.
Homero Lopez, Jr.
Director & Co-Founder
Immigration Services & Legal Advocacy
New Orleans, LA
PHOTO: ISLA website
Emma Morley
Emma Morley
Paralegal
Immigration Services & Legal Advocacy
New Orleans, LA
PHOTO: ISLA website

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

Wouldn’t it be cheaper and better for everyone if Garland finally “cleaned house” at EOIR, appointed and retained only well-qualified expert judges at both the trial and appellate level, replaced incompetent administrators, and ended the toxic — and costly — “any reason to deny culture” at EOIR? 

When the DOJ is being “pasted” on wrongful decisions denying asylum by the 5th Circuit, everyone but Garland knows that “the EOIR Clown Show has got to go!”🤡

Make no mistake about it! Garland’s failure to reform EOIR into a due-process-focused expert tribunal willing to stand up for the legal rights of asylum seekers and to require “best practices” with respect to access to representation at the border and elsewhere is a major contributing factor to the Biden Administration’s deadly humanitarian disaster and abrogation of the rule of law for asylum seekers at the Southern Border. It didn’t have to be this way!

Why is this “preventable disaster” happening under a Dem Administration that ran on an (apparently false) pledge to restore due process and the rule of law for asylum seekers and other migrants? How can we stop it and prevent it from happening again in the future?

I daresay that many humanitarian experts warned the Biden Administration that without fundamental positive changes, better, courageous, expert, inspirational leadership, and long-overdue administrative reforms at DOJ, DHS, and the White House, disasters would unfold across the board. That’s exactly what has happened! It’s also infecting the entire legal system and inhibiting social justice in America.

But , unless and until social justice advocates come up with a better political approach to the disturbing lack of integrity and values in both political parties when it comes to immigration, they will continue to be vilified and attacked by the GOP and “consistently kicked to the side of the road” by Dems!

I wish I knew the answer! I don’t! But, I do know that human rights and social justice disasters will continue to unfold unless and until social justice advocates figure out how to get some “political clout” behind their intellectual power and store of (largely ignored) great ideas! 

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

03-29-23

🇺🇸⚖️🗽TIRED OF BEING TREATED LIKE “CHOPPED LIVER” BY BIDEN POLITICOS AFRAID OF THE BORDER? — CRAIG MOUSIN’S LAWFUL ASSEMBLY PODCAST: Monday, March 27, Is YOUR Last Chance To “SAY NO” To The Biden Administration’s Toxic Version Of Stephen Miller’s “Death To Asylum” Proposed Regs! ☠️⚰️🤮

Rev. Craig Mousin
Rev. Craig Mousin
Ombudsperson
Refugee and Forced Migration Studies, Grace School of Applied Diplomacy
DePaul University
PHOTO: DePaul Website

Craig writes:

Dear Paul,

Good morning.

We just posted our latest podcast with templates and instructions on how to file comments.  For those who find the comments too complicated, we urge them to send the White House and their Senators and Representative an email opposing the rules.   Please also share this podcast with your friends and networks.

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1744949/12507523

As always, I welcome any critiques or comments.

Have a great weekend.

Thank you.

Craig

Rev. Craig B. Mousin

 

DePaul University

(mail) 1 East Jackson Boulevard

Chicago, Illinois 60604

 

(Loop office) Suite 800H

14 E. Jackson Blvd.

Chicago, Illinois  60604

(Lincoln Park campus office) Suite 203

2327 N. Racine

Chicago, Illinois

 

312-362-8707 (voice)

312-362-5706 (confidential fax)

 

 

You can find some of my publications at either:

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=667812or

https://works.bepress.com/craig_mousin/

You can find my digital story at:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9VTkjhzIcI

You can follow the podcast Lawful Assembly at:https://lawfulassembly.buzzsprout.com

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

As Craig says, the Biden Administration, along with GOP nativist politicos, and pandering righty Federal Judges, ignore the fundamental right guaranteed by the Refugee Act of 1980: Every person at the border or in the U.S., regardless of status, has a right to apply for asylum! Obviously, that includes a right to a fundamentally fair adjudication by a well-qualified, impartial adjudicator.

It’s not “rocket science!” Yet, Biden, Harris, Mayorkas, Garland, & Co. can’t wrap their heads around this fundamental truth! Disgracefully, after two years of screwing around and wasting time, resources, and squandering goodwill on futile and often illegal “deterrence,” they aren’t much closer to re-establishing a fair, functional asylum system at the borders than they were on Jan 20, 2021! Where’s the basic competence and “good government” that Biden/Harris promised when running for office?

The smug nativist-pandering politicos in the Biden Administration think that asylum applicants, the laws that protect them, and the advocates, like YOU, who defend them are “political chopped liver”unimportant and completely expendable! It’s up to YOU to prove them wrong! Nobody else is going to do it!

Chopped Liver
YOU work hard for vulnerable and deserving asylum seekers! Biden Administration policy makers are afraid to venture to the REAL border and face the human carnage they promote. Yet, this is how they see YOU and your clients — as something less than “persons” — “chopped liver!” Until YOU prove them wrong, the dismissive and demeaning treatment will continue!
Creative Commons License

While YOU are out there working for due process and social justice, they are huddled in their comfy offices secretly plotting the demise of YOUR clients and making YOUR job more difficult and frustrating. They are “wasting YOUR precious time!”

And, all the while, they have their hands out begging for YOUR financial support and counting on YOU — “chopped liver” — to ring doorbells, make phone calls, organize events, man the polls, and get out the vote! How totally arrogant and insulting! If YOU are tired of being treated as “chopped liver” and having your knowledge, expertise, and fundamental values ignored, YOU must do something about it!

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

03-26-23

🇺🇸🗽⚖️😊 VENEZUELAN ASYLUM IN 50 MIN! — Judge Christina Jiménez, GW Law Immigration Clinic, ICE ACC Show How The System Should Work! — Why Isn’t The Biden Administration Institutionalizing Fair Hearings & Best Practices?🤯 

GW Law Immigration Clinic
Mr. W-G-G’s “winning team” from GW Law Immigration Clinic.
PHOTO: GW Clinic with client’s permission. It’s never too early in your legal career to do meaningful work and save lives!

Professors Alberto Benitez & Paulina Vera of the GW Immigration Law Clinic report from the Annandale (VA) Immigration Court:

“I’ll only have a couple general statutory bar questions to ask and will defer to Judge Jimenez in granting relief”

Please join me in congratulating Immigration Clinic client W-G-G, from Venezuela. He was granted asylum this morning by Immigration Judge (IJ) Christina Jiménez. W-G-G was represented by student-attorneys Anam Abid and Matt Banaitis. W-G-G and his family were targeted by the Maduro government for their opposition views culminating in being removed from their home at gunpoint on New Year’s Day 2020. Only W-G-G was allowed to leave Venezuela but thanks to the asylum grant he can begin the process of bringing his wife and 11 and 8 year-young kids to the USA.

The ICE Assistant Chief Counsel complimented Anam and Matt on the thoroughness of their pretrial filing and direct examination, limited his cross-examination to the statutory bar questions, and deferred to the IJ’s discretion on the grant of asylum. The hearing lasted 50 minutes.

In addition to Anam and Matt, student-attorneys Jasmine Martínez and Mark Rook also worked on this case.

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

Who says great representation and meticulous preparation don’t matter? (Disgracefully, during the Trump Administration EOIR tried to make exactly that bogus claim by releasing a fictional “fact sheet” full of lies.) 

Thanks for showing us how the system could and should work in many more cases, Paulina and Alberto! Congrats to you and your amazing team of student attorneys! Imagine having saved lives like this before you even graduate from law school or take the bar!

It’s tragic that the Biden Administration just isn’t interested in institutionalizing due process, fundamental fairness, and best practices. This case represents real teamwork, expertise, and mutual respect from ALL participants for the common good. 

I particularly liked the ICE Assistant Chief Counsel’s complimentary comments. “Positive reinforcement” and recognition of excellence is SO important in the development of practice skills! And, I know that GW Law has contributed outstanding talents to both the Government and the private/NGO sectors of immigration practice!

Everybody, including ICE and EOIR, benefits from great representation in Immigration Court! It also virtually guarantees appearance at all hearings without counterproductive expensive detention. Why isn’t the Biden Administration focused on funding, expanding, and institutionalizing the things that actually work and enhance due process?

I also recognize Judge Christina Jimenez for setting a positive tone and having the confidence to inspire those appearing before her to do their best and to let them “model” the proper resolution. “Retail level judging” is about teaching, inspiring, setting good examples, and reinforcing success. That appears to be exactly what Judge Jimenez did here!

This is also an example of why I urge practitioners to compete for Immigration Judge positions! Although the system often lacks consistent expertise and leadership “from above,” there is plenty of room for achieving justice, case by case, at the Immigration Court level. I constantly get reports of significant victories for the NDPA and their clients. 

Last week, my Round Table colleague Judge Ilyce Shugall  (she is also on the VIISTA permanent faculty) and I had a chance to work with VIISTA Villanova faculty and instructors from the National Institute of Trial Advocacy on mock Immigration Court hearings for VIISTA students. What an impressive group of smart, personable, engaged, and serious advocates! And, talk about prepared! This group was SO prepared for their sessions! 

There is tremendous “un-mined” potential for great pro bono representation out here! If only the Biden Administration would work WITH the advocacy/NGO community on representation and best practices, rather than trying to shove their broken and user unfriendly “good enough for government work” model down the public’s throats!

Even if the Biden Administration prefers “deterrence gimmicks” to systemic due process and best practices, “change from below” can spread throughout the nation. 

Unfortunately, this particular Venezuelan situation is hardly unusual. I’m sure I granted similar cases during my tenure. 

One can imagine, however, that some Venezuelan asylum applicants in the same situation are denied in the “EOIR crapshoot that passes for justice” while others are sent away to peril without fair hearings by the Biden Administration’s anti-asylum policies at the border.

I hope that in the “next generation,” leaders like you, Paulina, and your NDPA colleagues can change this broken and unfair system! Because the Biden Administration sure isn’t getting the job done when it comes to due process, human rights, and equal justice. That will mean getting some political power to make Dems take notice or pay a price.

Thanks to you, Paulina, Alberto, and your talented student attorneys for all you do for American justice! If only the Biden Administration had the same commitment and dedication to due process, creative problem solving, excellence, and fundamental fairness, this system could be fixed!

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

PWS🗽⚖️

03-25-23

⚖️🗽👩🏽‍⚖️👨🏼‍⚖️👨🏾‍⚖️👩‍⚖️ NDPA ALERT: BECOME A U.S. IMMIGRATION JUDGE: Use Your Hard-Earned Knowledge & Practical, “Real Life” Experience To Save Lives, Model Best Judicial Practices, Change Culture, Inspire, & Teach Others! — Applying Is The Essential First Step To Selection!

I want you
Don’t just complain about the awful mess @ EOIR! Get on the bench and do something about it!
Public Domain

From Dan Kowalski @ LexisNexis:

Good morning Dan,

I am writing to let you know that the U.S. Department of Justice, Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), is looking to hire additional immigration judges. I wanted to provide the following information in the event it might be useful to Bender’s Immigration Bulletin subscribers and others who may wish to learn about the immigration judge career path. Could you please provide this information to anyone who you think may be interested?

 

  1. Sign up to attend a Recruitment Outreach Session – on March 23 and on March 30, sign up to attend a live webinar, where we’ll be explaining how to become an immigration judge. The hour-long sessions are moderated by assistant chief immigration judges, with time for Q&A at the end.
  2. 2.The next immigration judge job opportunity announcement is scheduled to open in early April. Individuals may receive a notification when the announcement is posted on USAJOBS, by signing up for EOIR’s Adjudicators Announcement listserv: U.S. Department of Justice (govdelivery.com).
  3. 3.For more information on the immigration judge career path, benefits, qualifications, etc., please visit our EOIR Careers webpage.

 

Thank you so much for your attention and support as we work to hire additional immigration judges.

 

Kathryn

 

Kathryn Mattingly

———————————————–

Assistant Press Secretary

Communications and Legislative Affairs Division

Executive Office for Immigration Review

U.S. Department of Justice

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

It’s very encouraging to see EOIR now doing some “affirmative recruiting” to widen and improve the selection pool for these important “life or death” positions. It’s YOUR chance to promote and deliver due process at the most important level of our justice system — the “retail level!” That’s where “the rubber meets the road” (or continues to have “flat tires” as is now the case throughout the Federal Judiciary at all levels.)

I seldom attend any professional gathering these days without being bombarded with “horror stories” and angry complaints about the poor quality of judging, lack of understanding, and absence of practical problem solving skills at all levels of EOIR. NDPAers, this is OUR chance to do more than “just complain” (particularly to me, since I’m not in charge of anything) by improving and diversifying the system “from the ground up,” institutionalizing better interpretations, great applications of law, and best practices in the process!

I also have a vision that at some point in history, a more “with it” Administration that actually understands the cosmic importance of immigration and human rights, takes Constitutional Due Process seriously, has some guts, and views all human lives as mattering, will use the Immigration Courts as a “natural pool” for better Article III judicial appointments. 

Additionally, when Article I eventually happens, there inevitably will be some type of “grandfathering” of existing IJs. WHO would YOU like to see “grandfathered” into a new independent system? All of the current incumbents, or a more diverse group including many practical scholars and fearless due process mavens?

As my good friend and neighbor, Professor Alberto Benitez of the GW Law Immigration Clinic always says, “The world is yours!”

Go for it!

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

03-23-23

🤯 BORDER: THE “ADULTS IN THE ROOM” DON’T WORK FOR THE USG OR TEXAS: Dedicated Volunteers Left To “Pick Up The Pieces” Of Human Carnage From GOP Racism & Biden Administration’s Lack Of Courage, Competence, Creativity, & Resolve! — Failed Political Leadership On Migration On Both Sides Of The Border & Uncritical Reporting From Most Media Are A Big Part Of The Problem!

Melissa Del Bosque
Melissa Del Bosque
Border Reporter
PHOTO: Melissadelbosque.com

From The Border Chronicle:

From Education to Everything Else

Felicia Rangel-Samporano and Victor Cavazos founded The Sidewalk School, then a migrant shelter in Mexico. Now they also provide tech-support for a flawed U.S. immigration app.

MELISSA DEL BOSQUE
MAR 14

. . . .

Since opening, the school has also expanded to the neighboring Mexican border city of Reynosa. Because life in the migrant camps is transitory, The Sidewalk School’s teachers came and went, sometimes within weeks, said Rangel-Samponaro. They decided it would be easier to hire educators from Mexican border communities instead. Residents also understand better how to navigate the complicated dynamics at play in cities like Matamoros and Reynosa, which are riven by cartel-related crime—most recently, the kidnapping of four U.S. citizens in Matamoros, two of whom were shot and killed by cartel gunmen.

The Sidewalk School teaches based on the U.S. school calendar. In February they celebrated Black History Month, for example, she said. They focus on reading, writing, drawing, and play activities. Classes are typically held from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. They currently have 10 people on staff in Matamoros and Reynosa. “We need even more staff,” Rangel-Samponaro said. “In both cities.”

Frontline Responders

As elected leaders in both Mexico and the United States fail to acknowledge the seismic shift in global displacement due to climate change, Covid-19, and other factors, migrant camps continue to appear up and down the Mexican border.

Border residents have been frontline responders, adapting to the most pressing needs in the camps, one of which is housing. Recently, The Sidewalk School joined the church group Kaleo International to build a shelter in Reynosa. The shelter houses mostly Haitian and African migrants, who are some of the most vulnerable since they are routinely targeted for kidnapping and persecution in Mexico.

But one of the biggest surprises, said Rangel-Samponaro, is that they now serve as tech support for the CBP One app, which was rolled out in January by the U.S. government for migrants to apply for asylum, as an exemption to Title 42. The app has been plagued with errors. And humanitarian groups have complained that the app, which requires that each person upload a selfie to begin the asylum process, often won’t accept photos of darker-skinned applicants.

Currently, there are thousands of Haitians in both Reynosa and Matamoros, as well as other darker-skinned asylum seekers, who are stuck because they can’t get the app to accept their photos. (The manual on the app, which Sidewalk School employees consult daily is 73 -pages long).

I visited Reynosa and The Sidewalk School in late February and spoke with several Haitian families who had tried to use the CBP One app.

Upgrade to paid

I was quickly surrounded by frustrated parents who said they’d been trying for weeks to make the app work. Living in makeshift shelters made of tarps and cardboard and having little to no access to the internet, parents were waking up at 3:00 a.m. in the morning to find a place with an internet connection, then registering, and trying to take and upload their photo before 8:00 a.m., when the app began accepting daily applications.

“I have an appointment,” one father told me. “But the app won’t accept the photos of my children, so I can’t get appointments for them.”

The app often timed out, crashed, or gave error messages, they said. “It’s a disaster,” one man said, after I asked him to sum up his experience trying to use the app.

“People don’t like hearing it, much less acknowledging what is happening to Black asylum seekers,” Rangel-Samponaro said. “They are stuck inside these encampments for months compared to people of Latin descent, who are at the camps for maybe two weeks or a month.”

I spoke with at least 10 different Haitian families, and they all told me that they’d been living in the migrant camp in Reynosa for at least five months.

“We don’t have enough food,” a Haitian boy told me in Spanish, who said he was 11 years old. “And I have this rash on my face.” He pointed to his cheek. Open sewers and trash littered the area around the camps. And the families, who said they couldn’t work and were struggling to buy food, said they were growing desperate.

Border Chronocle

Felicia Rangel-Samporano visiting a migrant camp in Reynosa with mostly Haitian and Venezuelan asylum seekers. (Photo: Melissa del Bosque)

So desperate that families were considering splitting up. Rangel-Samponaro  said there had been anguished meetings with parents who were considering sending their children across as unaccompanied minors. If the parents could get appointments through the app, they would reclaim their children once they arrived in the United States. At least that’s what they hoped.

Recently, The Sidewalk School brought in an immigration attorney to explain to parents how difficult it can be to find a child once they have been designated as unaccompanied in the U.S. immigration system. Children are held by CBP, then transferred to a shelter run by the Office of Refugee Resettlement somewhere in the country. “We’ve explained to them that it’s unlikely that they will cross, and their child will be there waiting for them,” she said.

And once people are accepted by the app for an appointment, they are extensively vetted through a series of law enforcement databases, and some are turned back, she said. “Just because you’ve got an appointment doesn’t mean they’re going to let you in to the United States.”

Rangel-Samponaro, like many others who provide humanitarian services in Mexico, is in frequent contact with CBP about problems with the app. In early March, she said, the agency updated the app so that it only requires one member of the family to submit a photo. But there are still not enough appointments for every member of the family, she said, so families are still splitting up and sending their children across as unaccompanied minors.

The Border Chronicle requested a response from CBP about the app. Tammy Melvin, a CBP press officer, replied in an email that the agency “continues to make improvements to the app based on stakeholder feedback.”

She said that “appointments will only be shown if enough slots for each member in the profile is available.”

And Melvin added in the email that they’ve not seen any issues linked to ethnicity. “CBP One is not conducting facial recognition that compares photos submitted in the application against any other reference system to identify someone,” She wrote. “CBP is not seeing any issues with the capture of the liveness photos due to ethnicity.”

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Rangel-Samponaro and others disagree. “We’ve invited the app developers to Reynosa and Matamoros to see the problems we’re having firsthand, but they’ve declined to visit,” she said.

Meanwhile, the hardships keep growing for asylum seekers. Recently, the Biden Administration announced, beginning in May after Title 42 is lifted, that asylum seekers must apply for asylum in the first country they enter, rather than at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Rangel-Samponaro said The Sidewalk School is doing everything it can to help, as even more people will likely be stuck in limbo after the policy change in May. They’re providing educational programs, running a shelter, and now providing tech support, and helping people navigate the U.S. government’s glitch-filled app. “I struggle to categorize everything that we do now,” she said.

Border Chronicle 2

Just one of the many error messages encountered while using the CBP One app that Rangel-Samponaro and others try to troubleshoot for asylum seekers. [The “error messages” are all too real! The CBP denial that there is a problem is surreal!]

The first two years were rough going, she said, and she and Cavazos spent their own money to keep The Sidewalk School afloat. Now they’re receiving some grants and donations. But it’s always a struggle, she said. “We need more volunteers, more funding,” she said. “Because the need never stops.”

For volunteer opportunities and to learn more about The Sidewalk School click here.

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

Read Melissa’s full article at the link.

How’s this for “contrast?” Felicia Rangel-Samporano and Victor Cavazos, private citizens, gave up comfortable lives in the U.S. and invested their own time and money in addressing the needs of children and families essentially “tashed” by lawless inhumane policies of both the Trump and Biden Administrations. Meanwhile, racist, cowardly, bullying Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) is leading a clearly unconstitutional effort to deny children in Texas U.S. the public education to which they are entitled under Supreme Court precedent. Have to ask what’s wrong with a state that puts a horrible person like Abbott, who doesn’t even govern very well in emergencies or other areas, in charge? They also enabled Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R), another bullying, lawless, coward who is basically the “bottom of the barrel!”

What the major networks and “mainstream”nmedia aren’t telling you:

  • “[E]lected leaders in both Mexico and the United States fail to acknowledge the seismic shift in global displacement due to climate change, Covid-19, and other factors;”
  • “Same old, same old” deterrence and officially-sanctioned cruelty, even in large, expensive, wasteful doses will NOT “solve” refugee flows;
  • The U.S. “system,” such as it is, systematically mistreats Black asylum seekers;
  • “CBP One” is defective technology that should never have been put into operation without testing and approval from the humanitarians actually working in the camps in Mexico;
  • So bad is CBP One that it is encouraging family separation;
  • The “requirement” that every family member obtain a separate appointment through  CBP One is totally insane;
  • Even when asylum applicants get an appointment, it’s still a “crap shoot” because the Administration functions in a lawless, opaque, and arbitrary fashion without the necessary legal and practical expertise and safeguards in place;
  • The very idea that Mexico is a “safe” place to send non-Mexicans rejected at the border, under the totally irrational and illegal “presumption of denial” proposed by the Administration, is beyond preposterous;
  • The Biden Administration has failed to heed the advice of experts who have actually worked on the border and who have constructive ideas for making the law work.

I’m not just getting the above from this article. I have recently had a chance to hear from individuals actually providing legal and humanitarian services at the border who basically said that the situation there is “beyond FUBAR” and that the Administration officials “crafting” border policies are out of touch with reality and not up to their jobs! In some cases, they are just paying no attention to the law or the advice of those who actually understand the system, both in and out of Government. 

That seems exactly what we voted out of office when the Trump kakistocracy was removed. Why, then, does Biden think that ignorance, bias, cruelty, and incompetence on human rights and racial justice is now a “winner?” Why is he aligning himself and his Administration with GOP nativist zealots like Abbott, Paxton, DeSantis, Trump, and Miller, rather than with folks like Rangel-Samporano  and Cavazos who actually represent the humane, practical, problem-solving values that the Dems ran on in 2020?🤯

With human lives at stake every day, one would think that our Government’s massive violations of human rights and cavalier dismissal of legal rights recognized for more than four decades, would be of great interest to the so-called “mainstream media” and that all Democrats would be demanding changes in human rights/immigration leadership (obviously, Mayorkas & Garland are the wrong folks) and a competent, legal, humane approach from the Biden Administration. But, unfortunately, you would be wrong!  Dead wrong, in some cases! ☠️⚰️

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

03-18-23

🤯 WONDER WHY THERE ARE ENDLESS BACKLOGS @ EOIR? — IJ Correctly Grants Asylum in 2019; DHS Takes Meritless Appeal; BIA Exceeds Authority To “Get To Denial;” 10th Cir. Reverses & Remands! BOTTOM LINE: Going On 4 Years After Asylum Was Properly Granted, Case Still Floating Around EOIR’s 2.1 Million Backlog W/O Resolution! 👎🏼

Four Horsemen
BIA Asylum Panel In Action — “Deter and deny is our battle cry!”
Albrecht Dürer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Dan Kowalski reports for LexisNexis Immigration Community:

https://www.ca10.uscourts.gov/sites/ca10/files/opinions/010110825418.pdf

https://www.lexisnexis.com/LegalNewsRoom/immigration/b/insidenews/posts/ca10-on-clear-error-caballero-vega-v-garland#

“Gerardo Caballero-Vega, a Mexican citizen, entered the United States in 1993 without admission or parole by an immigration officer when he was eight years old. He was removed to Mexico in 2019. Shortly after his removal, Caballero-Vega returned to the United States and applied for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture. Later that year, the Immigration Judge (“IJ”) granted his application for asylum, which the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) appealed to the Board of Immigration Appeals (“the BIA”). In 2020, the BIA vacated the IJ’s decision for clear error and ordered Caballero-Vega’s removal to Mexico. The following year, Caballero-Vega filed a petition for review in this court. We reverse the BIA’s vacation of the IJ’s decision and remand the case for further review. … Caballero-Vega became a criminal informant for the San Mateo County District Attorney in 2012. He reported to law enforcement on the drug, firearm, and human trafficking conducted by Nuestra Familia, a California prison gang, as well as the Norteño Gang, Nuestra Familia’s “foot soldiers” in the streets. R. Vol. I at 143. Following his informant work, he testified against Nuestra Familia members in criminal court. Caballero-Vega was placed in a witness protection program during and after his testimony. … On November 13, 2019, the IJ granted Caballero-Vega’s application for asylum, finding that he had established a well-founded fear of future persecution based on his membership in the group of “informants who have testified in court against gangs.” … DHS appealed the decision to the BIA. On December 15, 2020, the BIA sustained DHS’s appeal, vacated the IJ’s grant of Caballero-Vega’s asylum, and ordered Caballero-Vega’s removal to Mexico. Specifically, the BIA found that there was “clear error in the [IJ]’s finding that there’s a reasonable possibility that [Caballero-Vega’s] 2012 status as an informant and his 2013 or 2014 United States testimony against United States gang members will be a central reason for possible future harm to [him] upon removal to Mexico.” … We find insufficient the BIA’s explanation for its finding that the IJ’s decision is clearly erroneous. The fact that Caballero-Vega was not persecuted in Mexico is of little-to-no probative value here because he escaped before he could be identified by cartel members. Likewise, the fact that he was not threatened or harmed in the United States following his time as an informant is unhelpful because he was in witness protection for that entire period. Finally, the expert testimony cited by the IJ demonstrates that Mexican cartel members and United States gang members cooperate extensively, so the fact that Caballero-Vega testified against individuals based in the United States, not Mexico, is not dispositive. Thus, none of the reasons the BIA offers for vacating the IJ’s decision justifies the BIA’s finding of clear error. We remand Caballero-Vega’s case to the BIA to accept the IJ’s decision or to provide further justification for its finding that the IJ’s decision is clearly erroneous.”

[Hats off to Tiago Guevara!]

 

Daniel M. Kowalski

Editor-in-Chief

Bender’s Immigration Bulletin (LexisNexis)

cell/text/Signal (512) 826-0323

@dkbib on Twitter

dan@cenizo.com

Free Daily Blog: www.bibdaily.com

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

Very “classic” BIA “Any Reason To Deny.” Or, as Professor Denise Gilman would say “presumptive denial” (ironically, outrageously, something the Biden Administration now intends to “codify” through widely opposed, wacko, proposed regulations). https://immigrationcourtside.com/2023/03/15/%f0%9f%87%ba%f0%9f%87%b8%f0%9f%97%bd%e2%9a%96%ef%b8%8f%f0%9f%9b%9f-protection-v-rejection-professor-denise-gilman-on-how-the-dicks-last-resort/ Or, as I say “Dick’s Last Resort” decision-making! 

Asylum was correctly granted in November 2019. 3.5 years later, the case is still kicking around because the wrong “judges” are on the BIA.

Ever wonder why EOIR has unmanageable backlogs? Even when the system works as it should and protection is granted at the initial level, the BIA and their “partners” at DHS Enforcement combine to screw it up! We need Article I!

Dems keep babbling about “Federal Court reform.” But, they can’t even achieve long-overdue progressive reforms to a court system they totally “own!”

Why won’t the Biden Administration govern in accordance with the humane, practical, legal values they ran upon, when it comes to human rights, immigration, and racial justice? Don’t kid yourself! Rather than being “expendable” or “negotiable,” THESE are the issues on which our democracy will eventually stand or fall! That’s something that the younger generation must focus on!

Sessions and Miller wasted almost no time in co-opting and weaponizing EOIR against asylum seekers, migrants, people of color, and even smearing and attacking those defending them. Evil though they were, they had passion and a plan for dehumanization, destruction, and undermining democracy!

Social justice in America needs passionate, brave, principled advocates and defenders! There are plenty of them “out here!” Indeed, My Round Table colleague Judge Ilyce Shugall and I are surrounded by them here at the VIISTA celebration and training at Villanova!

Villanova University President Rev. Peter M. Donohue, Villanova Law Dean Mark Alexander, Professor Michele Pistone, creator and founder of VIISTA Villanova and the CARES Clinic, the VIISTA and CARES alums who have come here from literally every corner of America to celebrate, teach and learn — THEY are passionate about social justice and are actively expanding and defending it. THEY are doing something about the number one immigration problem today — guaranteeing due process through effective representation — by training and turning out “accredited representatives,” highly skilled  professional advocates who don’t necessarily have to be lawyers!

Professor Michele Pistone
Professor Michele Pistone
Villanova Law — Creator of VIISTA Villanova Program for training accredited representatives and building nationwide social justice networks. She is passionate about social justice. Why aren’t Biden Administration politicos?

 

As Father Donohue said at yesterday’s celebration,  “‘Woke’ means social justice!” Amazing people have come here from the Southern Border where they work with asylum applicants on both sides of the border. Every day, they see the human trauma, racism, pain, and suffering caused by the Administration’s failure to innovate, lead, and stand up for human rights. These are the preventable human dramas and traumas that smug, ill-informed Administration “policy makers” run away from — they don’t have the courage to face and learn from those they abuse!

Values – human rights and legal rights — CAN’T  EVER be “trumped” by “reelection concerns.” I might also add that the “Miller Lite” strategy followed by the Administration hasn’t found supporters or made them friends anywhere on the political spectrum! If you are going to make folks mad, why not at least be doing the right thing? Are competence, innovation, humanity, keeping campaign promises, and following the law REALLY political “losers” as Biden apparently believes? I doubt it!

The Biden Administration and many congressional Dems apparently lack passion and guts! Without the basic governing skills and integrity to undo the horrible human and systemic damage inflicted by Trump and institutionalize due process and fundamental fairness, the Dems are wandering in the social justice wilderness! No passion, no values, no expertise! Doesn’t say much for a party that promised to be a “socially just” alternative to anti-American Trumpist White Nationalism!

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

03-17-23

🇺🇸🗽⚖️🛟 “PROTECTION v. REJECTION” — Professor Denise Gilman On How The “Dick’s Last Resort” Approach To U.S. Asylum Adjudication Has Failed, & How We Would Do Better To “Default To Protect” Rather Than “Stretching To Reject!” 

Professor Denise L. Gilman
Professor Denise L. Gilman
U Tex Law
PHOTO: UT Law

 

https://hq.ssrn.com/Journals/RedirectClick.cfm?url=https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4376159::dgcid=ejournal_htmlemail_immigration,:refugee:citizenship:law:ejournal_abstractlink&partid=[[PART_ID]]&did=[[DELIVERY_ID]]&eid=[[EMAIL_ID]]

Abstract

This Article posits that the United States treats asylum as exceptional, meaning that asylum is presumptively unavailable and is offered only in rare cases. This exceptionality conceit, combined with an exclusionary apparatus, creates a problematic cycle. The claims of asylum seekers arriving as part of wide-scale refugee flows are discounted, and restrictive policies are adopted to block these claims. When the claims mount anyway, the United States asserts “crisis” and deploys new exclusionary measures. The problems created by the asylum system are not addressed but instead deepen. The Article commends a turn away from policies that have led down the same paths once and again.

The Article first describes the development of the modern U.S. asylum system, highlighting data demonstrating that the system has exceptionality as a basic feature. In doing so, the Article reconsiders an assumption underlying much scholarship that the U.S. asylum system is fundamentally a generous one even if it has sometimes failed to live up to its promise. The Article then establishes that the emphasis on exceptionality has led to an exclusionary asylum process, which mostly takes place in the context of deportation proceedings and layers on additional procedural barriers. Next, the Article documents how the system places genuine refugees in danger while causing violence at the border. Further, embedded bias in the system, resulting from the focus on exceptionality, creates a legitimacy problem. The system discredits commonly-arising claims from neighboring nations, particularly Central America, while favoring asylum seekers from distant nations such as China. The system also violates international human rights and refugee law.

The Article concludes by offering suggestions for more stable, effective, and humane policies to address refugee arrivals in the United States. In addition to eliminating many existing substantive restrictions on asylum, the system should incorporate presumptions of asylum eligibility for applicants from designated nations or situations that are sending significant refugee flows. In addition, the United States should adopt a specialized non-adversarial asylum system for all cases, apart from the deportation system and with genuine independent review of denials of asylum.

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Read the complete article at the link.

You’ve “hit the nail on the head,” Denise! Unhappily, those in charge, in both parties, are “wedded” to variants of “rejection theory.” Unless and until that changes, our refugee policies will continue to struggle and fail. 

Indeed, quite discouragingly, the “answer” of the Biden Administration to virulent, racist attacks on refugees and other vulnerable populations, is basically to abandon human rights to the GOP White Nationalists by “killing” refugee and asylum laws, dissing advocates, ignoring experts, and adopting a more or less “randomized,” politicized, extralegal, and restrictionist approach to refugees. 

The “leading” GOP presidential candidates bash and demean refugees, immigrants, LGBTQ individuals, women, the poor, on an almost daily basis. When is the last time you heard Biden or any other Administration official aggressively defend the rights of refugees and asylees and tout their value and contributions to America?

It’s pretty much what our approach was in the 1970’s, prior to the Refugee Act of 1980. “Back to the future,” in more ways than one! 

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

03-16-23

🏈 SPORTS: BREAKING! — END OF AN ERA! — Aaron Rodgers To Leave Pack, Will Play For Jets This Fall! — Future Hall-of-Famer Leaves After 15 Years, 1 Super Bowl Ring, 4 MVP Awards, & A Host Of Records!

Aaron Rodgers
Aaron Rodgers
Quarterback
Green Bay Packers

Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports: 

https://www.packersnews.com/story/sports/nfl/packers/2023/03/15/packers-quarterback-aaron-rodgers-plans-on-playing-for-new-york-jets-next-season-pat-mcafee-show/69980713007/

GREEN BAY – The Aaron Rodgers Era in Green Bay is almost over.

A new era for the four-time MVP will begin in New York soon.

Rodgers confirmed it all Wednesday on “The Pat McAfee Show,” telling the host that after long contemplation and a meeting with Jets officials last week, he decided on Friday “to play and to play for the New York Jets.”

However, Rodgers said that no deal has been made and that the Packers are the ones holding up a trade and not him as has been speculated on social media and some news reports. He said he is ready to get back to playing football but remains in limbo until the trade goes through.

“I haven’t been holding things up at this point, it’s been compensation that the Packers are trying to get for me and are kind of digging their heels in,” Rodgers said. “So, I would just think it is interesting at this point. The whole picture.”

Rodgers went on to say he is coming to grips with the fact that his 18 years with the Packers franchise is coming to an end and that it is because the Packers want to move on without him. He said he won’t be bitter about the way things were handled, but he can’t completely move on because the trade has not been made.

. . . .

“You know, my side, love and appreciation and gratitude for everything that Green Bay has done for me. Love, so much love and gratitude and just heart open for the Packer fans and what it meant to be their quarterback, and also the reality of the situation,” he said. “Like, it is what it is; Packers would like to move on.”

. . . .

Rodgers said he went into his four-day darkness retreat 90% sure he would retire, but upon completion he heard the Packers were shopping him in trade talk. He said he was told after the season to take his time to make a decision whether he wants to play and wished the Packers had told him they didn’t want him anymore and wanted Jordan Love to be their quarterback.

He said he would have been happy with that.

“They’re ready to move on,” Rodgers said. “Jordan is going to be a great player. He’s a great kid. He’s got a bright future. I have so many great friends on that team and will be friends with. Fact of the matter is you have an aging face of the franchise that it’s time to do right by.”

. . . .

Packers’ trade of another future Hall of Fame quarterback harkens back to 2008

The Packers are following a familiar game plan for transitioning from a Hall of Famer to a young, first-round quarterback.

Three years after Rodgers was drafted in the first round of the 2005 draft, the Packers made their plans to succeed the retired Brett Favre with the guy they had been grooming for the job. When Favre decided he didn’t want to retire, the Packers stood with their decision to move on to Rodgers and traded Favre to the Jets.

Now, it’s Rodgers’ turn to leave the smallest market in the NFL for its biggest.

The Packers, according to multiple sources, were ready to move on from Rodgers as early as the end of last season when they felt they underachieved offensively. Rodgers failed to throw for a 300-yard game all season and couldn’t will the team into the playoffs despite needing only a victory at home against Detroit in Week 18.

The Packers had gone all in on 2022, setting an NFL record by guaranteeing all $150 million of Rodgers’ three-year contract extension, betting on him returning to the form that had earned him MVP honors in ’20 and ’21.

But the Packers finished 8-9 and general manager Brian Gutekunst saw enough improvement from Love in practice and a relief appearance against the Philadelphia Eagles to think he was ready to replace Rodgers.

Transitioning to Jordan Love may not go smoothly

The Packers were 6-10 when Rodgers took over in ’08. However, they made the postseason the following year and won the Super Bowl in ’10.

Love is entering his fourth season and the Packers now have every reason to exercise his fifth-year option before the May deadline. It will guarantee Love $20.2 million in ’24, but this season he will play for the $2,298,652 base salary in his rookie contract.

Though Love has three years under his belt, he has started only one game, played 157 snaps and thrown 83 passes. The Packers aren’t expecting him to win an MVP in his first year as a starter and know there may be growing pains.

More:If Jordan Love is the Packers’ next starting quarterback, his supporting cast will play a pivotal role

Dougherty: Matt LaFleur puts himself on the line bringing back Packers defensive coordinator Joe Barry

“I think the one thing you see in this league, it’s very rarely are guys shot out of a cannon winning-wise,” Gutekunst said during the week of the NFL scouting combine. “There’s some great play, there’s instances you see flashes, but I think it takes most of these quarterbacks a little time to learn how to win.

“And it’s one thing to play well and make throws and, make plays, but then it’s another thing to lead your team to wins. And I think that takes time, but you don’t get a lot of that in this league. But certainly with any new quarterback that’s playing for the first time you’re gonna need some of that.”

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

Read the complete article at the link.

“AR” gave us Packer fans lots of thrills (and a few chills) over 15 years. I was fortunate enough to see him play three times in person at Lambeau! It seemed that things just were’t “clicking” for the Pack and Rodgers last year. Also, they can’t keep Love on the bench forever. And, AR’s “off the field antics” had become somewhat distracting. So, the move isn’t surprising.

We’ll see if AR has another Super Bowl season in him with the somewhat hapless Jets, who haven’t been there since they won with Joe Namath when I was in college. 

Meanwhile we’ll also see whether Jordan Love can follow in the footsteps of Hall of Famers Bart Starr, Brett Farve, and AR. Big shoes to fill, for sure! 

Thanks for the memories, and all the best to AR!

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

03-15-23

😡 POLITICS: AS 2024 APPROACHES, IMMIGRANTS, PROGRESSIVES, & JUSTICE ADVOCATES FIND THEMSELVES IN AN ALL TOO FAMILIAR PLACE  WITH DEMS: UNDER THE BUS! — Party Cedes Immigration, Culture Wars To GOP, Views Immigrants, Advocates As Politically Impotent, Dispensable!

“Thrown Under the Bus”
“Thrown Under the Bus”
Asylum seekers & advocates again expendable to Dems. “Electoral politics trump values when it comes to asylum access.”
Creative Commons 2.0 non-commercial license

https://apple.news/A890xLKhdSiy_K8gofYmorQl

Sahil Kapur reports for NBC News:

. . . .

Biden’s breaks with the left have a common thread: He’s mostly doing it on cultural issues where his party is politically vulnerable, seeking to choke off avenues for the GOP to make inroads with key swing voters. Instead, Biden is trying to keep his focus on economic issues facing the middle class where Democrats hold advantages, such as lowering drug prices and preserving Social Security.

In the 2022 midterm elections, Democrats lost voters who named immigration as their top issue by a 48-point margin and lost voters who cited crime as their top issue by a 16-point margin, exit polls showed. Voters trusted Republicans more than they trusted Democrats on immigration (by 6 points) and on crime (by 9 points).

. . . .

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

Read the full story at the link.

There is another school of thought out there: If Dems once in office performed better on immigration, they could win more elections. Since they don’t effectively “model” the many benefits that immigrants bring to what is, after all, a nation of immigrants, they have little except rhetoric to combat the vicious, xenophobic hate campaigns and nativist lies put up by the GOP. 

By failing to effectively and creatively use existing laws, however imperfect, to solve problems and showcase the strength of “normalized” immigration, Dems surrender themselves to the GOP right which has pledged to block any constructive immigration reform. 

How might things have been different if Dems had reformed the Asylum Offices and EOIR as recommended by experts; “incentivized” arriving asylum seekers to apply at ports of entry by treating them fairly, humanely, and generously; admitted many more as refugees or asylees, with work authorization and a path to green cards “right off the bat” — rather than “warehousing” them in endless backlogs; worked with NGOs and communities to establish “reception centers” rather than failed and inhumane detention; worked with local development agencies to resettle individuals through regional centers that would match skills with communities needing help, particularly rural areas and areas rebuilding from natural disaster? Think that “outsourcing” asylum seeker relocation to GOP White Nationalist Govs DeSantis and Abbott was a great “strategy?”

Dems could have actual, practical examples of why robust, orderly, immigration, including refugees of all types, is actually a great opportunity for all involved. Perhaps, if more Dem politicos believed in immigration and immigrants’ rights, and acted on those beliefs, rather than treating immigration as a “campaign throwaway issue,” they wouldn’t have to “run and hide” from it when given the chance to govern. 

Many voters who view immigration as their “top issue,” are going to be far right anti-immigrant extremists. Dems can “pretzel” 🥨 as much as they want. But, it’s unlikely that they are going to win over many votes among this group!

Others, who favor humane immigration, are probably more likely to view it as one of a number of important issues or to “lump it in” with other social justice issues such as civil rights, voting rights, racial justice, or justice reform.

I doubt that Dems throwing asylum seekers, other  immigrants, and their supporters “under the bus” is a sound or necessary strategy. Back in 2017, “regular Americans” across the country turned out at airports to welcome those immigrants targeted by Trump’s Muslim ban and to support those challenging Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda.

There is recent evidence that despite the GOP’s demonization of immigrants and the Dems basic abandonment of immigrants as a group worthy of aggressive support, there still is a strong constituency among Americans who vote for orderly migration and granting refuge. https://immigrationforum.org/article/new-poll-americans-value-offering-refuge-welcome/

Unfortunately, neither party seems to see supporting immigration and immigrants rights as a “political winner.” And, for all their talent, expertise, and energy, immigration and human rights advocates have failed to “sell” themselves as an important political force to be respected and reckoned with. Contrast this with how a relatively small, non-representative group of extremists, election deniers, and conspiracy theorists plays a dominant role in GOP politics!

Unless or until that changes, immigrants and their advocates are likely to remain “political roadkill” ☠️ for both parties! Contrary to the White Nationalist blather, uncritically accepted by some Dems, that’s not going to stop migrants from coming, although it undoubtedly will confine more of them to an exploitable “extralegal community” while enriching smugglers and cartels. But, it will prevent America from reaching our full potential in the future!

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

03-15-23

🇺🇸⚖️🗽 EXPERTS @ HUMAN RIGHTS FIRST HAVE AN ACHIEVABLE 6-POINT PLAN FOR BRINGING DUE PROCESS, THE RULE OF LAW, & ORDER TO THE BORDER! — Why Is The Biden Administration Ignoring It & Pursuing Cruel, Legally Questionable, “Proven Failure” Gimmicks Left Behind By Stephen Miller?🤮

Human Rights First
Human Rights First Logo
Public Realm

From “LEADING BY EXAMPLE, HONORING COMMITMENTS,” by Human Rights First:

The recommendations below follow multiple prior sets of blueprints and recommendations previously issued for the Biden administration and outline critical steps for the administration including:

  • Ramp up, speed up and strengthen regional refugee resettlement, parole and other safe migration pathways in the Americas, never coupling such initiatives with the denial of access to asylum, while respecting and centering human rights — including the right to seek asylum and protection from violence — in regional discussions, and redoubling U.S. efforts to support the development of refugee hosting capacity in other countries in the Americas to also ensure access to asylum.

 

  • Uphold and comply with refugee law at U.S. borders without discrimination, including to restart and maximize (rather than restrict or “meter”) asylum at ports of entry, take all steps consistent with court rulings to end the Title 42 policy, and ensure people seeking asylum have prompt access to ports of entry — access which should not be limited to CBP One, but assured to people approaching ports of entry to seek asylum. Restoring asylum at ports of entry after years of blockage is essential not only to uphold refugee law, but also to end the counterproductive consequences of Trump policies that, by restricting and blocking access to asylum at ports of entry, have long pushed populations that previously sought asylum at ports of entry to instead attempt to cross the border.

 

  • Implement effective and humane refugee reception structures, coordination, funding mechanisms, and case support, including to enhance efforts to communicate, plan, coordinate with and resource the network of faith-based groups, shelters, legal, refugee aid and non-profit humanitarian organizations along the border and across the country that are essential to an effective reception and case support system, create a White House Task Force to improve coordination including with humanitarian organizations and destination communities, develop the new Shelter and Services grant program to remedy some of the limitations of FEMA ESFP-H funding, launch and support public-private asylum reception and orientation initiatives by such humanitarian organizations, ensure prompt provision of work authorization for asylum seekers — a top need identified by both asylum seekers themselves as well as local communities hosting refugees, and ultimately ensure a focused humanitarian and refugee reception agency rather than just “emergency” responses.

 

  • Upgrade asylum adjudication processes so that they are prompt, accurate, and fair, improve the new asylum rule process so it leads to efficiency rather than rushed and counterproductive inaccurate adjudications, work with Congress to fund sufficient asylum adjudication capacities to address asylum backlogs, as well as ensuring timely adjudication of new cases, and support and champion funding for legal representation.

 

  • Rescind — and do not resurrect — other Trump policies, including the asylum entry and transit bans (or versions of them) and other fatally flawed policies of the last administration that punish or block refugees from protection — and abandon the harmful plan to propose another transit ban.

 

  • Stand firm against the anti-immigrant rhetoric and efforts of politicians aligned with the former Trump administration to force continuation and/or codification into law of the former Trump administration’s cruel, racist, and counterproductive policies or other policies that deny refugees access to asylum —and clearly and firmly reject any such Congressional proposals.

Get the details here:

http://link.quorum.us/f/a/6ZGQ4Ta56fYvXItEvjX8TA~~/AACYXwA~/RgRl8ajqP0Q4aHR0cHM6Ly9odW1hbnJpZ2h0c2ZpcnN0Lm9yZy9saWJyYXJ5L2xlYWRpbmctYnktZXhhbXBsZS9XA3NwY0IKZAoOJA9kOebqx1ISamVubmluZ3MxMkBhb2wuY29tWAQAAAAA

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

It’s not rocket science! It’s achievable! It’s been available since before the 2020 election! It incorporates and realizes values that Biden/Harris ran on in 2020! If Biden had brought in real leaders and experts at the beginning, many of the problems could be on their way to solution right now and the “White Nationalist myths” would be refuted!

Leading by positive example on human rights and the rule of law is a powerful, effective, posture for America that has been largely ignored by the Trump & Biden Administrations. The GOP lacks positive values. But, Dems “run” on them in elections and then “run away” from them once in office!

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

03-14-23

🇺🇸🗽⚖️👩🏽‍⚖️👨🏾‍⚖️👩‍⚖️👨🏼‍⚖️ ATTENTION NDPA:  TIRED OF “PLAYING REFUGEE ROULETTE?” — “HAD IT” WITH “SAME OLD, SAME OLD” FROM EOIR — Here’s YOUR Chance To Change The System — Attend An EOIR Session On “How To Become An Immigration Judge” & Bring Due Process, Practical Scholarship, Problem Solving, & Fundamental Fairness To The “Retail Level” Of U.S. Justice, Where It Has Been Sorely Missing! — Save Lives Too! 🛟 🙏

EYORE
“Eyore In Distress”
Once A Symbol of Fairness, Due Process, & Best Practices, Now Gone “Belly Up” — Help get this poor little guy back on his feet! He’s been down far too long!
I want you
Don’t just complain about the awful mess @ EOIR! Get on the bench and do something about it!
Public Domain

https://www.justice.gov/eoir/page/file/1573701/download

U.S. Department of Justice

Executive Office for Immigration Review

Office of Policy

5107 Leesburg Pike

Falls Church, Virginia 22041

Contact: Communications and Legislative Affairs Division Phone: 703-305-0289 PAO.EOIR@usdoj.gov

www.justice.gov/eoir @DOJ_EOIR March 13, 2023

EOIR to Host Recruitment Outreach Sessions Join Us to Learn How to Become an Immigration Judge

SUMMARY: The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) is looking for qualified candidates from all backgrounds to join our immigration judge corps. Interested parties are invited to attend an information session where senior EOIR staff will discuss the immigration judge career path, duties, qualifications, and benefits of being an immigration judge. You will learn how to apply for immigration judge positions when they become available and have the opportunity to ask questions about the immigration judge position and application process. Please join us for one of the sessions below.

March 16, 2023

March 23, 2023

March 30, 2023

Noon – 1 p.m. Pacific Time Noon – 1 p.m. Central Time Noon – 1 p.m. Eastern Time

Meeting Registration Meeting Registration Meeting Registration

Webinar attendance is limited to 750 individuals for each session.

All media inquiries should be directed to the Communications and Legislative Affairs

Division at pao.eoir@usdoj.gov.

Communications and Legislative Affairs Division

— EOIR —

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

Go for it!

Remember, YOU can’t be selected if YOU don’t apply! (I was the exception!😎)

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

03-14-23

⚖️🗽JOIN CHELSEA NAYLOR & FRIENDS FOR THE EQUAL JUSTICE FUND (“EJF”) BENEFIT @ WASHINGTON COLLEGE OF LAW, AMERICAN UNIVERSITY! — March 30, 2023 @ 6:30 pm!

Chelsea Naylor
Chelsea Naylor
NDPA Stalwart
Board Member, Equal Justice Foundation
PHOTO: Linkedin

My friend, NDPA star Chelsea NAYLOR writes:

Today, I’m writing on behalf of an organization on which I sit on the board – WCL’s Equal Justice Foundation (EJF). Each year we raise money to provide stipends for students doing unpaid, public interest, summer internships. This year, we’ll be hosting a networking event with a silent auction so students can meet more professionals in the field/mingle with professors in a different setting, while we also raise those funds!

The event is at WCL’s campus on Thursday, March 30th, 6:30pm-8:30pm and will have food, drinks, trivia, and music!

Here’s the registration link: https://linktr.ee/ejfwcl

WCLEqual Justice Foundation
WCL
Equal Justice Foundation

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

Thanks, Chelsea!

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

PWS

03-13-23

⚖️🧒🏽 KIND’S WENDY YOUNG IS ONE OF AMERICA’S LEADING CHILD ADVOCATES! — SHE’S APPALLED & OUTRAGED BY BIDEN’S THREAT TO GO “FULL STEPHEN MILLER” ON KIDS!🤮 

Wendy Young
Wendy Young
President, Kids In Need of Defense (“KIND”)

In response to news reports that the Biden Administration is considering a return to the detention of families seeking safety in the United States, a policy the President vowed to abandon, Kids in Need of Defense President Wendy Young issued the following statement:

 

“The Biden Administration’s reported plan to reintroduce immigration detention for families seeking safety in the United States is starkly out of step with the President’s stated commitment to implement more humane and orderly immigration policies rooted in American values. It echoes the previous Administration’s deeply flawed approach to immigration, punishing families seeking safety and endangering the well-being of children. Layering failed deterrence strategies like family detention, Title 42, and the new proposed asylum ban will only result in increased family separations and higher numbers of unaccompanied and separated children needing protection.”

 

KIND notes that earlier this week 103 unaccompanied children were found among 343 migrants packed into an abandoned trailer in Veracruz, Mexico, a development that underscores the urgency to implement sensible and humane immigration policies that keep families together and create safe and efficient ways to seek protection in the United States. The organization’s midterm assessment of the Biden Administration’s protection of unaccompanied children urged the President to make good on his promise to protect unaccompanied children and implement policies that are a stark departure from the previous Administration.

 

“This Administration vowed to do better than its predecessor, but the asylum ban and the potential to return to family detention are seriously missing that mark,” concluded Young. “Relying on the failed policies of the past puts children at risk and keeps us from true reforms that have the potential to save lives.”

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

Stephen Miller Monster
Joe Biden wouldn’t be President if he had run on this guy’s “hate platform.” So why does Biden think that he can get away with a “bait and switch?” Attribution: Stephen Miller Monster by Peter Kuper, PoliticalCartoons.com

“Deterrence” directed at legal asylum seekers, particularly vulnerable families and children, is obscene! 🤬 It’s also highly ineffective.

As Wendy points out, there are lots of humane potential solutions to restoring the rule of law at the border. The Biden Administration isn’t interested in keeping their campaign promises or finding solutions. Why?

Today is International Women’s Day! I can’t think of a better representative of powerful, courageous, brilliant, and inspirational women leaders than KIND President Wendy Young — certainly one of my “personal heroes!”🦸🏻🦸🏻🏅 Thanks for all you do, Wendy, your human rights leadership, and your consistent courage to “speak truth to power!” We need more “values-driven” leaders like you!

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

03-07-23

🗽⚖️ DESPITE DOJ’S “LIP SERVICE” TO THE VALUE OF LEGAL REPRESENTATION, GARLAND’S EOIR CRUSHES DEFENSELESS MIGRANTS 🤮 WITH “GIMMICKS” TO KEEP THE “NUMBERS” FLOWING, ABUSE “COURTS” AS “DETERRENTS,” & DEMORALIZE ADVOCATES! ☠️ — As A Retired USIJ, Here Are My “Practical Tips” For Those Facing An Intentionally Hostile & User Unfriendly System Alone!

Child Alone
Immigration Court can be a daunting experience even for veteran litigators. For folks like this, alone with no representation, it’s “mission impossible.” Yet Biden A.G. Merrick Garland has done little to fix the systemic “user unfriendliness” and sometimes outright hostility to pro se litigants in his totally dysfunctional “courts in name only!” (“CINOs”).
PHOTO: Victoria Pickering, Creative Commons License

Unrepresented respondents do not receive full due process in America’s dysfunctional Immigration Courts! See, e.g., https://sgp.fas.org/crs/homesec/IF12158.pdf.

Clearly, gimmicks rolled out by Garland and the Biden Administration, including stunts like “dedicated dockets,” “expedited dockets,” “Aimless Docket Reshuffling,” detention courts in the middle of nowhere, unregulated bond procedures, lousy precedents, wasteful litigation against practitioners, proposed regulations irrationally “presuming” denial of asylum, abuse of Title 42, assigning asylum seeker resettlement to GOP nativists like DeSantis and Abbott, and refusal to bring in qualified experts with Immigration Court experience to fix this disasterous system have made the already horrible plight of the unrepresented worse! See, e.g.,https://trac.syr.edu/immigration/reports/674/.

With respect to DHS detainees awaiting hearing, a few are subject to so-called “mandatory detention without independent review” as a result of statutes. Others are imprisoned because ICE claims that they are so-called “arriving aliens” (a designation that even some IJs struggle with, but that has huge consequences for a respondent), “likely to abscond,” or ”security risks!” 

But, a significant “unstated purpose” of immigration detention, often in substandard conditions, is to coerce detainees into giving up legal rights or waiving appeals and to punish those who stubbornly insist on asserting their rights. 

When the almost inevitable “final order of removal” comes, officials in Administrations of both parties believe, without much empirical evidence, that detainees will serve as “bad will ambassadors,” carrying back woeful tales of wonton cruelty and suffering that will “deter” others from darkening the doors of “the world’s most generous nation.” 

In spite of this overall “institutionalized hostility,” there is a small, brave cadre of “due process/fundamental fairness heroes” known as the Office of Legal Access Programs, or “OLAP” at EOIR!  Forced into “the darkest corners of the EOIR Tower dungeon” during the reign of terror of “Gonzo Apocalypto” Sessions and “Billy the Bigot” Barr, they have finally been released into daylight.

Dungeon
The Dungeon
Former A.G. Jeff “Gonzo Apocalypto” Sessions had a special place in the EOIR Falls Church Tower for those trying to assist pro se litigants in Immigration Court.
Public Realm

As an interesting aside, I note that “Gonzo Apocalypto” actually had the audacity to attempt to eliminate the wildly popular and effective “Know Your Rights” presentations to hapless immigration detainees. See, e.g., https://www.westword.com/news/department-of-justice-reverses-decision-to-fund-legal-orientation-program-for-immigrants-in-detention-10205735. “Gonzo” apparently believed that the only thing detainees needed to “know” was that they had “no rights.” Of all the illegal, unethical, and racially directed “shots” that Gonzo took at migrants and their hard-working advocates in his disasterous two-year tenure, this is the only one that bipartisan outrage on the Hill forced him to abandon.  See, e.g., https://spectrumlocalnews.com/tx/south-texas-el-paso/politics/2018/04/26/doj-restores-funding-for-immigrant-legal-aid–.

But, make no mistake about it — these courageous folks at OLAP aren’t helping to “drive the train” at EOIR under Biden and Garland, as they certainly should be! No, as was the case before Trump, they are racing down the station platform to catch the train as it departs without them.

How do I know? It’s actually pretty obvious. If Garland & the Administration were actually serious about promoting representation, they would:

  • Require a positive report from the OLAP before opening any new Immigration Court;
  • Subject all existing detained “courts” (that aren’t really “courts” at all, within the common understanding of the term) to an OLAP analysis, involving input from the pro bono bar, and close any location where pro bono counsel can’t be made reasonably available to all detainees who want it; 
  • Make part of the IJ hiring process input from the OLAP and the public into the demonstrated commitment of each “finalist” for an Immigration Judge position to working to maximize representation; and
  • Work with outside programs like Professor Michelle Pistone’s innovative “VIISTA Villanova Program” for training accredited representatives to “streamline and expedite” the Recognition & Accreditation process housed within OLAP.

To my knowledge, none of these obvious “first steps” to address the representation crisis at EOIR have been instituted. Tells us about all we need to know about the real importance of the OLAP in Garland’s galaxy. 

Recently, I had the pleasure of meeting with Alicia de La O, her attorneys, and interns at the ABA who are helping the OLAP “staff” the “pro se hotlines” for detainees in immigration proceedings. Of course, they can’t provide “legal advice,” although they can direct pro se litigants to available “self help” materials prepared by OLAP and reliable pro bono NGOs. But, as I pointed out, just being available to speak with isolated detainees, listen sympathetically, and direct them to available resources is a “big deal” from both a human and a practical perspective.

ALICIA DE LA O
Alicia de la O
Senior Attorney/Chief Counsel, ABA Commission on Immigration
PHOTO: Linkedin

Remarkably, the amazingly talented, informed, and energetic undergraduate interns working with the ABA had a far better understanding of the corrosive effect on democracy and America’s future of the mocking of due process, fundamental fairness, racial justice, and human dignity in Immigration Courts than inept and often clueless Biden Administration so-called “immigration policy officials” have acknowledged with their words and deeds. Indeed, one of the undergraduate interns had already completed the VIISTA program. He therefore probably knows more about the Immigration Courts at the “retail level” than some of the clowns Garland has running EOIR!

The energy and commitment of these interns to take on existential challenges that our “leaders” from both parties have shunned, gave me some hope for America’s future. That is, if democracy can survive the overt attacks from the right and its tepid defense by Democrats, by no means an assured outcome.

This opportunity to meet with those working on the front lines of helping the most isolated, vulnerable, and intentionally neglected among us got me thinking about what I might say to a pro se litigant stuck in the “EOIR purgatory,” based on my experience. I note, with some pride, that during my time on the trial bench, almost every pro se individual who wanted to appeal one of my orders was able to file timely with the BIA based on the detailed instructions I gave them at the end of the hearing. 

So, as promised, here’s “my list!”

PRO SE CHECKLIST

Judge (Ret.) Paul Wickham Schmidt

March 1, 2023

1) Be careful in filing out the I-589. Everything in the application, including mistakes, omissions, and failure to answer questions can be used AGAINST you at the hearing. Filing a fraudulent application can have severe consequences beyond denial of your case.

2) Do NOT assume that significant omissions or errors in the I-589 can be corrected or explained at the hearing without adverse consequences.

3) If you use a translator, ask that the application be read back to you in FULL for accuracy, before signing. Generally, there is no such thing as an “insignificant error” on an asylum application. All inaccuracies can and will be considered by the IJ in determining whether you are telling the truth.

4) Obtain any relevant documentation supporting the claim and attach to the application. All documents in a foreign language MUST be translated into English. A certificate of accuracy from the translator must also accompany the document. DO NOT expect the court interpreter to translate your documents during the hearing.

5) Understand NEXUS to a “protected ground;” merely claiming or even proving that you will suffer harm upon return is NOT sufficient to win your case; many pro se cases fail on this basis.

6) Any pro se case claiming a “Particular Social Group” will need help in formulating it. Do NOT expect the IJ or ACC to assist in defining a qualifying PSG.

7) Keep a copy of the application and all evidence submitted.

8) Sign your application.

9) Make sure that the original signed copy goes to the Immigration Court and a copy to the ACC.

10) Keep documents submitted by ICE or the Immigration Court.

11) Do NOT rely on your translator, friends, relatives, or “jailhouse lawyers” for advice on filling in the application. NEVER embellish or add incorrect information to your I-589 just because someone else tells you to or says it’s “the only way to win your case.”

12) DO NOT let friends, detention officers, the IJ or anyone else (other than a qualified lawyer working for you) talk you out of pursuing a claim if everything in it is true. You must “tune out chatter” that everybody loses these cases, and therefore you are wasting your time.

13) Do NOT tell the IJ and/or ACC that everything in your application is true and correct if it is not true!

14) If you discover errors in your application before the hearing, ask the IJ at the beginning of the hearing for an opportunity to correct them. Do NOT wait to see if the ACC brings them up.

15) If you will be testifying through an interpreter, ask the IJ for a brief chance to converse with the interpreter before the hearing to make sure you understand each other. If there is any problem, tell the IJ BEFORE the hearing begins.

16) The Immigration Court hearing is a formal, adversary hearing, NOT an “informal interview” like the Asylum Office.

17) Be courteous and polite to the Immigration Judge, the ICE Assistant Chief Counsel, and the interpreter at all times, BUT BE AWARE:

1) The IJ and the ACC are NOT your friends;

2) They do NOT represent your interests;

3) The ACC’s basic job is to urge the IJ to deny your application and enter an order of removal;

4) The IJ is NOT an independent judge. He or she works for the Attorney General a political enforcement official. Some IJs function with a reasonable degree of independence. But, others see themselves largely as assisting the ACC in in denying applications and rapidly turning out removal orders.

5) The interpreter works for the court, NOT you.

18) YOU will be the only person in the courtroom representing your interests.

19) Don’t answer a question that you don’t understand. Ask the IJ to have it repeated. If it is a complicated question, ask the IJ if it can be broken down into distinct parts.

20) If you really don’t know the answer to a question, don’t “guess!” “I don’t know, your honor” is an acceptable answer, if true.

21) If the ACC introduces evidence at the hearing — say a copy of the Asylum Officer’s notes — ask the IJ for a full translation through the interpreter before answering questions.

22) If documents you submitted support your claim, direct the IJs attention to those documents.

23) When it is time for the IJ to deliver an oral decision, make sure that you are allowed to listen through the interpreter.

24) Bring a pencil or pen and a pad of paper to the hearing. Try to take notes on the decision as it is dictated by the IJ.

25) If the decision goes against you, tell the IJ that you want to reserve an appeal and request copies of the appeal forms. You can always withdraw the appeal later, but once an appeal is waived it is difficult, often impossible, to restore it.

26) If the IJ rules in your favor, and the ACC reserves appeal, understand that the order in your favor will have no effect until the appeal is withdrawn or ruled upon by the BIA. For detained individuals, that probably means remaining in detention while the appeal is resolved, which might take months.

27) If you appeal, fill out the forms completely according to instructions and file with the BIA as soon as possible, the same or next day if you can. That is when your memory will be best, and it maximizes the chance of the BIA receiving your appeal on time. Do NOT wait until the last minute to file an appeal.

28) Be SPECIFIC and INCLUSIVE in stating why you think the IJ was wrong. Attach a separate sheet if necessary. Just saying “The Judge got it wrong” or “I disagree with the decision” won’t be enough and might result in the BIA rejecting your appeal without further review.

29) Remember to file the separate fee waiver request form with the Notice of Appeal.

30) Assume that all filing deadlines will be strictly applied and that pro se applicants will NOT be given any breaks or special treatment, despite mailing difficulties and other problems.

31) DON’T count on timely mail delivery. The Notice of Appeal, brief, or any other document is not “filed” with the BIA until they actually receive it. Merely placing it in the mail before the due date will NOT be considered a timely filing if the document arrives late. Mail early!

32) If you are not in detention, use a courier service to deliver filings to the BIA so you have solid evidence of timely filing.

33) If you check the box on the appeal form saying you will file a brief or additional statement, you MUST do so, even if short. Failing to file a brief or written statement after checking that box can be a ground for the BIA to summary dismiss your appeal without considering the merits.

34) Info about the BIA Pro Bono Project.

NOTICE: The ideas above are solely mine. They are not legal advice, and have not been endorsed or approved by any organization or any other person, living or dead, born or unborn.

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

03-06-23