🤯AMERICA NEEDS IMMIGRANT WORKERS: THE GOP LIES, DENIES, DEHUMANIZES, EXPLOITS — DEMS ARBITRARILY DEPORT POTENTIAL LEGAL IMMIGRANTS WHILE LEAVING OTHERS IN LIMBO WITH BUMBLING BUREAUCRACY & BROKEN COURTS  — “Can’t Anyone Here Play This Game?”

Casey Stengel
“Can’t anyone here play this game?” The GOP lacks honesty and decency. The Dems lack vision and guts. The public is misinformed about the realities of immigration. Migrants and their supporters are caught in the crossfire of political failure! 
PHOTO: Rudi Reit
Creative Commons

Lack of immigration reform hurts businesses and farmers, puts nation’s food supply at risk

https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/politics/elections/2022/10/30/immigration-reform-southern-border-farmers-congress-dreamers-midterms/8189018001/

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Note the comments from immigration lawyer George Pappas in North Carolina.

The hostility is reflected in the immigration courts in Atlanta and in Charlotte, where the highest denial rates for asylum prevail,” he told USA TODAY. “They will not be talking about outsourcing workers or about education. The right wing base of the Republican party has used immigration as a political wedge issue to deflect attention and to deflect media, airwaves, and media space from real issues.

While undoubtedly the Immigration Courts in Atlanta and Charlotte do reflect the type of biased, anti-immigrant approach pushed by GOP politicos, today they are run by Dem AG Merrick Garland. He has failed to make needed reforms and changes at the top, starting with inept leadership from EOIR Headquarters and a precedent setting appellate board (BIA) that does not reflect the best-qualified expert judicial talent available who would implement due process, fundamental fairness, consistency, and best judicial practices nationwide.   

Ironically, these values WERE once part of the “EOIR Vision,” abandoned and trashed by Administrations of both parties over the past two decades. For Dems who believe in the power of immigrants and immigrants’ tights, it’s now basically “Pogoland:” “We have met the enemy, and he is us.”

A number of the public comments in the articles also show gross misconceptions about the nature of migration, the goals of the GOP, the reasons why migrants can’t apply for asylum in a safe, orderly manner at ports of entry, the immense benefits to both the workforce and society brought by family-based immigrants and those seeking to enter as refugees and asylees, and the relationship between an improved economy and a sensible, robust, realistic approach to immigration (eschewed by the GOP; bobbled by the Dems).

Both parties have squandered opportunities to acknowledge truth, make the current system work better, and create order at the border. Neither has a serious plan for reform on its agenda. 

Unlike the Trump “shut the border/build the wall” racist fiasco, Biden’s initial US Citizenship Act of 2021 had some good ideas. But, after quickly “throwing it out there,” apparently as a sop to those who helped elect them, the Administration shoved it in a drawer and forgot about it. Instead, they pursued a mishmash of “built to fail gimmicks,” bureaucratic bungling, broken courts, poor legal positions, lack of vision, inept PR, and weak leadership.

The failure of the world’s leading “nation of immigrants” to discard and disavow the racist nonsense on immigration and come together on realistic, forward looking, generous, welcoming immigration policies makes our nation look bad and robs us of opportunities to improve the economy and build for the future.

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

PWS

10-31-22

🇺🇸 POLITICS: FORMER BIA ATTORNEY HILLARY SCHOLTEN ON THE FRONT LINES OF BATTLE FOR AMERICA’S HEART, SOUL, & FUTURE IN MI-3!

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

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/10/29/john-gibbs-hillary-scholten-michigan-midterms/

John Gibbs, Hillary Scholten Michigan race pursues the middle – The Washington Post

By Marianna Sotomayor

. . . .

Republicans argue that economic woes in an area that has traditionally valued fiscal conservatism will make it possible for Gibbs to keep the district under GOP control.

Democrats have in turn rallied around their candidate, Hillary Scholten, who lost to Meijer in the 2020 general election. They counter that Gibbs’s embrace of Trump, his previous criticism of women’s right to vote and other inflammatory statements are incompatible with a race that requires that a candidate appeal to the district’s growing middle.

The district’s new lines — encompassing more suburban parts of Grand Rapids, as well as the lakeshore cities of Muskegon and Grand Haven — have Democrats confident they can close the six-point gap that marked Scholten’s previous loss to Meijer. Republicans also acknowledged that possibility, with several strategists who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations noting that Meijer’s moderate bona fides made him the most likely GOP candidate to keep the seat.

. . . .

PolitiFact has rated as false the claims that Scholten “dismissed” the destruction that rioters caused during the George Floyd protests. At the time, Scholten put out a statement encouraging people to “continue to speak out for George and all victims of violence” but pleaded “with those who take to the streets to make that effort peaceful and to not resort to violence and destruction.”

Scholten jokes that the Republican ads have earned her a new nickname at home from her two young sons: “Agent of Chaos.”

As a fourth-generation West Michigander and deacon in her Dutch Reformed Church, Scholten says she is confident that her reputation will usurp what she describes as “baseless attacks by someone that has no connection” to the district. (Gibbs recently moved to Grand Rapids, but he was born and raised in Lansing, the state capital.)

“I think it’s almost having a boomerang effect, where people see that attack against someone like me that has such deep connection and respect in our community, and it reflects more negatively on the person that is insulting them,” she said.

“You weren’t here then,” Scholten said in response to claims by Gibbs and the GOP about the protests. “You don’t know.”

In an effort to attract the middle, Scholten also has been critical of her party, especially on fiscal issues.

“We’re doing everything to cope with rising prices, but Washington doesn’t seem to be doing anything at all,” she says in her most recent ad. “Democrats, stop the spending. And Republicans, stop putting politics before people.”

Scholten also is trying to highlight differences with her opponent on abortion rights. Voters in November will decide whether to protect reproductive freedom in the Michigan Constitution or adopt a 1931 law that bans abortions except if the mother’s life is threatened and criminalizes the person who performs the procedure.

A recent CNN poll showed 54 percent of Michigan’s registered voters support the amendment that would enshrine protections for reproductive freedom.

Scholten pushed back against Gibbs’s characterization that she is in favor of abortions until birth, noting that she is “not pro-abortion” while speaking about it in personal terms. At 13 weeks pregnant, Scholten was offered an abortion by a doctor after a diagnosis of Turner syndrome. She and her husband “chose life,” Scholten said, but the fetus had died by Scholten’s 19-week appointment.

Gibbs has said he would support a 15-week federal ban on abortion, saying it is a “position based on common sense” because most European countries have more conservative laws limiting abortion. That is a slightly more moderate position than he espoused before the primary, where he downplayed the need for exceptions because, he said, medicine was sufficiently advanced to save the life of the mother. He told The Detroit News, “There are many great Americans all around the country who were actually conceived from rape, and they’re doing great things.

. . . .

For voters like Killion, Gibbs’s apparent attempt to distance himself from Trump may not be persuasive. He says that touting the connection to Trump “throws up an alarm” since he believes many in the Republican Party have put “blinders on” and follow only the former president.

“At the end of the day, I don’t care about who endorses you. I want to know what you plan on doing,” he said.

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You can read the full article at the link!

These days, running for office on a platform of real family values, practical problem solving, fiscal responsibility, common sense, individual freedom, and human decency is an act of great courage. Obviously, Hillary has had to “take the cheap shots and low blows” from her opposition. Also, she was “caught in the middle” on the very dubious political “strategy” of the national Democratic Party to promote the far-right Gibbs over the more moderate Congressman Peter Meijer (D-MI), who bested Hillary in the “pre-redistricting” 2020 race and who was one of the few GOP Reps voting to impeach Trump. 

The folks in Michigan-3 can be confident that in casting a vote for Hillary they will get a responsible, non-ideological, approachable Representative who understands the community and is laser-focused on solving their problems and addressing their concerns. She exudes integrity and humanity. She knows what it is like to raise a family while working full-time on demanding and sometimes emotionally draining jobs. Hillary is smart, informed, courageous, a great team member, and someone who will work cooperatively with anybody to get the job done for her district and for America. She is just what we need in Washington right now.

I hear lots of talk about “what it will take to get America back on track!” Electing Hillary Scholten won’t solve all of our nation’s problems, but it would be a fantastic start that will pay dividends for many year to come!

Go Hillary! 

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

🤯BILL FRELICK @ THE HILL BLASTS BIDEN’S SCOFFLAW, ELITIST MISTREATMENT OF VENEZUELAN REFUGEES! — Welcome A Few Of The Well-To-Do, Give Others In Need The Screw! 🔩☠️ — Whatever Happened To The Refugee Act of 1980 & The Rule Of Law?

Statue of Liberty
Too many Biden Administration Immigration officials appear to share Stephen Miller’s “upside down” view of the Statue of Liberty, in whole or in part! Why can’t they just follow the Refugee Act of 1980 and establish the robust, timely, generous legal approach to refugees and asylum seekers that best serves America?
Bill Frelick
Bill Frelick
Director
Refugee and Migrant Rights Division
Human Rights Watch

https://thehill.com/opinion/immigration/3704714-bidens-new-plan-no-help-for-desperate-venezuelan-refugees/

Refugees are people who flee for their lives. Escape from danger and abuse is usually chaotic, sudden, desperate. The Biden administration’s rollout of its new policy for Venezuelan refugees seems oblivious to this refugee reality and risks doing more harm than good.

. . . .

Announcing the program on Oct. 12, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas said Venezuelans who enter irregularly “will be returned to Mexico.”

He didn’t mention — and appeared to disregard — U.S. law, which recognizes that anyone who arrives in the United States has the right to seek asylum “whether or not at a designated port of arrival” and “irrespective of such alien’s status.”

The impact of this announcement, “effective immediately,” was the summary return to Mexico without examination of their asylum claims of any Venezuelans entering the United States without authorization. Mexico has given no assurances that it will examine their refugee claims or provide asylum to those who fear return to Venezuela. In fact, the 4,050 Venezuelans expelled to Mexico since the implementation of the policy have been given visas valid for only one week and instructed to leave the country.

. . . .

With the Biden administration’s plan in effect, we might as well apply a blowtorch to Emma Lazarus’s welcoming poem at the foot of the Statue of Liberty and chisel in a new message: “Give me your well-rested, your well-to-do, your properly ticketed jet-setters yearning to breathe free.”

Bill Frelick is the refugee rights director at Human Rights Watch. Follow him on Twitter @BillFrelick.

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Read Bill’s complete op-ed act the link. Bill is one of many “practical experts” who would do a much better job than current Administration politicos in establishing and running a refugee and asylum program that would comply with the law,  due process, human dignity, and America’s best interests. Why is Biden following the lead of his “clueless (and spineless) crew?”

The Refugee Act of 1980 was enacted and amended to deal with these situations! Robust, realistic refugee programs outside the U.S. should encourage many refugees to apply, be screened abroad, and admitted legally. 

Other refugees arriving at our border can be promptly screened for credible fear. Those who fail that test can be summarily removed in accordance with existing law. 

Those who pass that test should have access to counsel and receive timely, expert adjudications, with full appeal rights, under the generous “well founded fear” (1 in 10 chance) international standard established by the Refugee Act. See, e.g., INS v. Cardoza-Fonseca (Supremes); Matter of Mogharrabi (BIA).

It’s not “rocket science!” With dynamic, experienced refugee experts running the system and “practical scholars” with expertise in refugee processing and human rights laws serving as USCIS Asylum Officers and EOIR judges at the trial and appellate levels the legal system should be flexible enough to deal with all refugee situations in an orderly manner.

Many, probably a majority, of today’s asylum seekers should be granted asylum and admitted to the U.S. in full legal status, authorized to work, and on their way to green cards and eventual citizenship. Like those admitted from abroad, they could also be made eligible for certain resettlement assistance to facilitate integration into American communities who undoubtedly will benefit from their presence.

The more robust, realistic, and timely our overseas refugee programs become, the fewer refugees who will be forced to apply for asylum at our borders. Also, real, bold, dynamic humanitarian leadership, including accepting our fair share of refugees and asylees, could persuade other countries signatory to the Geneva Refugee Convention to do likewise.

No insurmountable backlogs; no bewildered individuals wandering around the U.S. in limbo waiting for hearings that will never happen; few “no shows;” no long-term detention; no botched, biased “any reason to deny” decisions from unqualified officers and judges leading to years of litigation cluttering our legal system, no diverting Border Patrol resources from real law enforcement, no refugees huddled under bridges or sitting on street corners in Mexico!

It’s not “pie in the sky!” It’s the way our legal system could and should work with competent leadership and the very best available adjudicators and judges! It would support the proper, important role of refugees as an essential component of LEGAL IMMIGRATION, not an “exception” or “loophole” as racists and nativists like to falsely argue.

Instead of demonstrating the competence and integrity to use existing law to deal with refugee and asylum situations, the Biden Administration resorts to ad hoc political gimmicks. Essentially, the “RA80” has been repealed “administratively.” Effectively, we’re back to the “ad hoc” arbitrary approaches we used prior to ‘80 (which I worked on during the Ford Administration, and where I recollect I first heard of Bill Frelick). 

I doubt that the late Senator Ted Kennedy, former Rep. Elizabeth Holtzman, and the rest of the group who helped shepherd the Refugee Act of 1980 through Congress would have thought that using Border Patrol Agents as Asylum Officers or packing the Immigration Courts and the BIA with judges prone to deny almost every asylum claim, regardless of facts or proper legal standards, was the “key to success!”

Congress specifically intended to eliminate the use of parole to deal with refugees except in extremely unusual circumstances, not present here. Biden’s latest ill-advised gimmick violates that premise. It’s totally inexcusable, as the refugee flow from Venezuela is neither new nor unpredictable. I was granting Venezuelan asylum cases before I retired in June 2016. Even then, there were legions of documentation, much of it generated by the USG, condemning the repressive regime in Venezuela and documenting the persecution of those who resisted!

A better AG would say “No” to these improper evasions of existing law. But, we have Merrick “What Me Worry” Garland! His botching of the Immigration Courts has been combined with a gross failure to stand up for equal justice for migrants (particularly those of color) across the board! America and refugees deserve better from our chief lawyer.

The Refugee Act of 1980 actually provides all the tools and flexibility the Biden Administration needs to establish order on the border and properly and fairly process refugees and asylees. Why won’t they use them?

Alfred E. Neumann
AG Merrick Garland has “looked the other way” while the Biden Administration flaunts applicable protection laws in and outside the U.S. He also runs a dysfunctional “court system” where anti-asylum bias, worst practices, poorly qualified decision makers, and grotesque inconsistencies undermine the legal rights of asylum seekers and other refugees. Doesn’t America deserve more competence from its top lawyer?
PHOTO: Wikipedia Commons

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

10-28-22

☠️💀⚰️DEATH VALLEY DAYS: ASYLUM SEEKERS & LAWYERS FACE HARSH CONDITIONS IN QUEST FOR ASYLUM IN GARLAND’S DYSFUNCTIONAL EOIR — Bad Law, Bias, Incompetence, Inconsistency, & Indifference To Humanity Among Obstacles — The Majority Perish Along The Way! — “Courtside” Takes You “Inside The Numbers” Of TRAC’s “New Look” IJ Asylum Reports — New Format, But Same Old Broken & Unfair System!

Death Valley
Asylum seekers and lawyers must cross hostile territory, with a dearth of naturally-occurring due process, to successfully negotiate Garland’s dysfunctional EOIR. Most never make it!
Death Valley
Creative Commons

Here’s the TRAC “New Format” IJ Asylum Report:

https://trac.syr.edu/immigration/reports/judgereports/

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INSIDE THE NUMBERS FOR THE TRAC 10-09-22 IJ REPORT

NOTE: Does not account for: IJs no longer on the bench; IJs appearing in more than one location; differences among detained, non-detained dockets; profiles of high and non-high-denying courts excluded locations with fewer than four IJs listed. No guarantee of accuracy for my “hand count” — but, in accordance with the old government motto, “I did the best I could under the circumstances.”

  • Precipitous unexplained rise in nationwide denial rate since FY 2012, from 44.5% to 63.3%, even though human rights conditions in most so-called “sending countries” remained horrible and in some cases significantly deteriorated. See for FY2012 stats, https://trac.syr.edu/immigration/reports/306/
  • Lots of “Nay-Sayers” on the Immigration Bench:
    • 92 IJs denied asylum 90% or more of the time.
    • Another 94 IJs denied 85-90% of the time.
    • Total of 186 “High Deniers” — those who denied 85% or more — significantly (21.7% or more) above already inexplicably high 63.3% national rate.
  • High Denying Courts (majority of IJs listed denied 85%+)
    • Atlanta (including ATD-Detained) (10 of 10 IJs)
    • Charlotte (6 of 8 IJs)
    • Conroe (5 of 9 IJs)
    • Houston (19 of 22 IJs)
    • Houston-Greenspoint (4 of 5 IJs)
    • Jena (6 of 6 IJs)
    • LA – North (8 of 11 IJs)
    • Los Fresnos (5 of 6 IJs)
    • Lumpkin (5 of 7 IJs)
    • Memphis (6 of 11 IJs)
    • Miami (20 of 31 IJs)
    • Miamii – Krome (7 of 9 IJs) 
  • Non-High-Denying Courts (all, or almost all, listed IJs denied less than 85%)
    • Adelanto (5 IJs)
    • Arlington (3 of 25 IJs High Deniers)
    • Bloomington (1 of 13 IJs High Denier)
    • Boston (1 of 15 IJs High Denier)
    • Baltimore (1 of 16 IJs High Denier)
    • Batavia (1 of 4 IJs High Denier)
    • Chicago (1 of 16 IJs High Denier)
    • Denver (2 of 8 IJs High Deniers)
    • Detroit (4 IJs)
    • Elizabeth (5 IJs)
    • Imperial (5 IJs)
    • New York (46 IJs, 0 High Deniers) **
    • New York Detained (17 IJs, 1 High Denier) 
    • Newark (3 of 16 IJs High Deniers)
    • Otay Mesa (7 IJs)
    • Pearsall (5 IJs)
    • Philadelphia (8 IJs)
    • Portland OR (4 IJs)
    • San Francisco (2 of 27 High Deniers)
    • Seattle (8 IJs)
    • Tacoma (5 IJs)
    • Van Nuys (1 of 7 IJs High Denier)
  • Telling stats:  99.1%, 97.4%, 94.3% 90.4% — Asylum denial rates for four BIA Appellate Immigration Judges listed in the chart who continue to serve on Garland’s BIA. No wonder asylum seekers are saddled with bad law and sloppy, one-sided appellate review within Garland’s dysfunctional EOIR.
  • Best courts for asylum seekers: Generally  in the Northeast and Northern California: Arlington, Boston, Baltimore, New York, Philadelphia, Newark, San Francisco, Chicago.
  • Worst places for asylum seekers: Atlanta, Miami, Charlotte, Houston, Louisiana.
  • Mind-blowing stat: Compare the performance of IJs in Arlington and Baltimore with those in Charlotte, all within the 4th Circuit.
  • Observations:
    • New York, followed by San Francisco, appear to be the largest and best functioning courts with respect to actually following the generous standards for asylum seekers set forth by the Supremes in Cardoza-Fonseca, enunciated (but seldom followed) by the BIA in Mogharrabi, and to a large extent incorporated into sporadically enforced regulations.
    • In NY, 46 IJs, 0 High Deniers, 24 listed IJs granted at least 50% or more of the cases, denial rates ranging from 7.1% to 83.5%, still a rather mind-boggling range.The 24 IJs in the 50% or more grant range would seem like a good place for Garland to look for a model for rebuilding EOIR as a fair, due-process-oriented, subject matter expert court. He doesn’t seem interested in doing that, but it could be done with better leadership.
    • Although generally one would expect Detention Courts to be in the “High Denier” category, that’s not always the case. Courts like NY-Detained, Elizabeth, Adelanto, Otay Mesa, and Pearsall, all had some significant asylum grant rates. Conversely, several predominantly non-detained courts like Atlanta, Charlotte, Miami, and Houston were unseemly “dead zones” for asylum seekers. Garland’s failure to address the gross inconsistencies and abuses of asylum law going on in those and other “High Denier Courts” is disgraceful.
  • Overall, this is a statistical picture of a failed and dysfunctional court system where critical life or death decisions depend more on where you are and who your judge or BIA “panel” is than on the quality of the evidence or the state of the law. It has failed to deliver on its promise of being a court of widely acknowledged subject matter experts who will guarantee due process, fundamental fairness, and best judicial practices for all on some of the most important and life-determining decisions in American jurisprudence. It’s bad; and not significantly improving under the Dems!

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

PWS

10-28-22

⚖️👩🏽‍⚖️  ESTABLISHED “PRACTICAL SCHOLARS” JUDGE SCOTT E. BRATTON (NY — Broadway), JUDGE DENISE HUNTER (Sacramento), & JUDGE BECCA A. NIBURG (Hyattsville) LEAD CLASS OF 32 NEW IMMIGRATION JUDGE APPOINTMENTS — Despite Improved “Balance,” Those With Government Backgrounds Continue To Dominate Garland’s Picks For “Life Or Death” Judgeships! — Bolder Action Required To Stem Dysfunction, Bad Judging Flowing From Garland’s Broken Courts! — Migrant Justice & Racial Justice Can’t Wait!

Judge Scott E. Bratton
Hon. Scott E. Bratton
U.S. Immigration Judge
New York – Broadway Immigration Court
PHOTO: lawyer.com

Judge Scott E. Bratton of the NY Broadway Immigration Court was a “regular” before me when I was assigned to the Cleveland docket. Always well-prepared, collegial, and an outstanding brief writer and oral advocate, he had no hesitation in going to the Article III Courts when necessary on behalf of his clients. He also has a sense of humor and perspective. This great appointment should have come long ago. But, better late than never!

Judge Denise M. Hunter
Hon. Denise M. Hunter
U.S. Immigration Judge
Sacremento Immigration Court
PHOTO: Linkedin

Judge Denise M. Hunter of the Sacramento Immigration Court collaborated with now GW Law Professor Cori Alonso Yoder and me on “hands-on CLE in immigration” for the DC Bar. Following my retirement, she, Cori, and I met for lunch to “strategize” ways to make due process, fundamental fairness, and best practices the “norm” in Immigration Court, rather than the exception it continues to be! She’s now in a position to lead and teach by example to make that happen in a system where justice too often continues to be a mere “afterthought,” if that!

Judge Becca A. Niburg
Hon. Becca A. Niburg
U.S. Immigration Judge
Hyattsville Immigration Court
PHOTO: Linkedin

Judge Becca A. Niburg of the Hyattsville Immigration Court is a “self described immigration nerd” — in other words, a distinguished practical scholar in immigration, human rights, and due process for all! In addition to private practice and serving with two of the premier human rights NGOs in the DMV area, Catholic Charities & Kids in Need of Defense (“KIND”), Becca has a rich background as an immigration adjudicator at the appellate level of USCIS and as a litigator in the Office of Immigration Litigation at DOJ. She combines “insider knowledge” of the failing Government immigration bureaucracy with the skills, courage, determination, and “outside perspective” to make bureaucracy work for the common good, often in spite of itself. Can’t think of an organization more in need of that perspective these days than Garland’s dysfunctional EOIR!

Here’s a complete list of appointments with bios from EOIR:

https://www.justice.gov/eoir/page/file/1546941/download

Here’s the “group profile:” 

  • 12 Judges from predominantly private sector backgrounds;

  • 20 Judges from predominantly government sector backgrounds (primarily DHS & DOJ, but also state and local governments and other Federal agencies); 

  • 26 Judges with known immigration experience;

  • 6 Judges with no obvious immigration experience on their resumes — all 6 from government sector backgrounds.

This is a marked improvement over the Obama and Trump Administrations where EOIR judicial appointments ran approximately 9:1 in favor of those from government! It’s also a needed improvement over the Trump Administration’s oft-criticized tendency to place too many individuals without significant immigration experience on the EOIR bench in the apparent belief that they would be more willing to “follow orders, shut up, deny, and deport.” The precipitous drop in asylum approvals during the Trump years, despite worsening conditions for refugees worldwide, proved that there was some basis for this anti-asylum assumption.

Nevertheless, Garland’s selections tend to remain significantly “over-weighted” toward those from government. I always believed that the excuse of DOJ officials  for the over-appointments from government given during the Obama Administration — that the applicant pool from government was so much better — was pure unadulterated BS! 

Since retiring and having an opportunity to work more closely with super talented private practitioners on Round Table briefs, CLE, articles, litigation strategy, proposals for legislative reform, and clinical and classroom teaching, I can say without a doubt that the talent level out here in the private/NGO/academic section is “through the roof” — astounding — particularly compared with the intellectual and legal output of EOIR! If more of these “leading lights” — of American law (NOT “just Immigration law”) aren’t on the “short list” for the Immigration Court and replacing most of the current BIA, that’s a problem with Garland’s recruiting process, NOT with the non-government “talent pool.”

Did the Federalist Society and the Heritage Foundation just “wait to see who might apply” for Federal Judge positions — starting with the Supremes! Hell no! They “groomed” their “preferred judicial selections” for years, decades even, far in advance of any known vacancies. 

If you remember, Brett Kavanaugh believed that a seat on the Supremes was his “birthright” — since about age 10 or something like that. He bemoaned the fact that nasty Dems questioning his qualifications might deprive him of his “preordained destiny.” One can never accuse right-wing zealots of not having a well-developed “sense of entitlement.” They act on it, and apologize to nobody! Compare that with Dems!

By contrast, Dems are absolutely clueless about both the importance and potential of the Immigration Courts — including the BIA, a nationwide appellate court, essentially the “12th or 13th Circuit” depending on how you count. With absolute control of these important “retail level” courts for 10 of the past 14 years, the Dems have done an extraordinarily poor job of filling judgeships with the best-qualified, progressive, most due-process-committed candidates — scholarly, practical judges who would take equal justice and racial justice in America seriously! Additionally, such individuals would be “primed, experienced, and ready” for Article III appointments when the opportunities arose! 

By contrast, in the four years they controlled EOIR, Sessions, Barr, and their “acting fill-in flunkies” did an extraordinary job of weaponizing and reshaping the Immigration Courts — starting with the BIA — in “Stephen Miller’s image.” In the process, they created total dysfunction and chaos at EOIR, heaped abuse and injustice on vulnerable asylum seekers ( predominantly individuals of color, many women and children), twisted immigration law into a “Milleresque” anti-immigrant mess, demoralized and punished lawyers, busted the judges’ union, forced some of the best most qualified judges off the bench, and undermined our entire justice system. They even got EOIR to “cook” their statistics to support the nativist myth that “nobody qualifies for asylum” — ergo, all asylum seeks and their lawyers are fraudsters! 

I’m on the record, many times over, as being no fan of Stephen Miller! But, his aggressive, energetic, focused, “take no prisoners,” “ignore the opposition” approach to de-constructing our immigration and justice systems certainly was more effective than anything else I have witnessed over my decades in and out of Government! He understood that time could be short, and he had to do as much damage as possible in that allotted to him. He literally was totally engaged in killing asylum and asylum seekers until the exact minute he left the White House! Dems, on the other hand, disturbingly, exhibit no leadership, urgency, sense of purpose, dynamic energy, confidence in the rightness of their cause, or plan when it comes to immigration. 

“You can’t do that” was a challenge to Miller — not a deterrent! He not only did it, but got away with it!

He didn’t “study” things or fool around attempting to build support outside his “base.” If nothing else, Miller “gave lie” to the off-repeated “bureaucratic mantra” that “change takes time.”

He undid decades of hard work by those engaged in making the “Refugee Act of 1980” functional in a matter of weeks or months! And, the inept immigration bureaucracy and non-existent immigration leadership under the Biden Administration has been stymied, or simply “contented no-shows,” on undoing much of Miller’s damage! 

Faced with this exceptionally well-documented disaster, and it’s undeniable corrosive impact on our democracy, Garland has been largely MIA, or AWOL might be a better term. “Action” isn’t a word readily associated with Merrick Garland.

Garland’s  glacial, largely disengaged, timid, ineffective approach to EOIR reform and reconstruction is perhaps typical of Democrat Administrations and their overall approach to immigration, human rights, and racial justice in the 21st Century. But, that doesn’t make it the RIGHT approach, for the party, the Federal Judiciary, our nation’s future, and, most important, for the individuals seeking justice in Garland’s EOIR wasteland and their long-suffering attorneys.

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

10-27-2

🤯🤮👎🏽👎🏽👎🏽👎🏽👎🏽☠️ THIS JUST ISN’T RIGHT! — GARLAND’S “HALLOWEEN HOUSE OF HORRORS @ EOIR” & THE PUNISHMENT HE & HIS UNQUALIFIED, OUT OF TOUCH JUDGES ARE INFLICTING ON VULNERABLE HUMANS & ATTORNEYS DOING THEIR JOBS HAS TO END!

Grim Reaper
As someone who has not represented asylum seekers in his “Houses of Horror” and who disdains engaging with those who have, Merrick Garland has shown that he is unqualified to be Attorney General of the US.  His “Clown Courts” are now “Houses of Horror” that are no joke, particularly for those who have to deal with his beyond dysfuntional mess on a daily basis!  Reaper Image: Hernan Fednan, Creative Commons License

 

I received this from a practitioner in response my earlier post about Garland’s ongoing scheduling and due process fiasco @ EOIR:

Glad you wrote this. It has been so hard. I am working 7 days a week and feel like I am losing my mind. Hopefully they start making changes, because how this is currently going is just not sustainable. Many of the Judges are not granting the continuances or making you go to the IH and giving you a hard time about it. Multiple Judges told me a month or even less notice was “plenty of time.” O boy!

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

PWS

10-26-22

🤯 BREAKING: DUE PROCESS MELTDOWN @ EOIR: 140 PRACTITIONERS, EXPERTS, ACADEMICS, NGOs PROTEST GARLAND’S UNCONSTITUTIONAL & UNETHICAL “SCHEDULING” & “AIMLESS DOCKET RESHUFFLING” (“ADR”) ON STEROIDS IN IMMIGRATION COURTS!

Meltdown
Meltdown
Public Realm

By Paul Wickham Schmidt

Courtside Special

Oct. 26, 2022

 

“Due process cannot exist if an attorney does not have sufficient time and advance notice to prepare for a case.” 

The above is an elementary statement of the minimum requirement for due process in any court setting! Yet, in the “wacky world of Garland’s EOIR” 🤯 it is being knowingly and intentionally violated hundreds of times each day!

Not only does this inhibit effective professional representation of those fortunate enough to have lawyers, but it actively discourages attorneys from taking on cases in Immigration Court, particularly those acting in a pro bono or low bono capacity. How will we interest and inspire new lawyers to get into the practice when this is the way they can expect to be treated? It’s a truly disgusting and disgraceful development!

The following letter from a consortium of practitioners, academics, and NGO leaders protests the insane, due-process-denying lack of notice and the “Aimless Docket Reshuffling on steroids” ongoing @ EOIR and makes suggestions for constructive changes to restore at least some order to Garland’s dysfunctional courts. In my view, this situation raises huge Constitutional, ethical, and policy issues affecting all justice in America! It also illustrates the incredibly poor judgement and dismissive attitude of the Biden Administration and Garland’s DOJ in approaching the most serious “life or death” issues involving human rights and racial justice!

Among the signers:

NJ AILA chapter signed on, former judges, Rocky Mountain Advocacy Network, professors, CGRS, ASAP (150,000 members), NC Justice Center, etc. Attorneys practicing in every state + DC + Puerto Rico ended up signing-on to this letter.

I am a signatory. As you know, many of us believe that the ongoing intentional deterioration of due process, fundamental fairness, and best practices at EOIR is a preventable national disgrace that is undermining equal justice and democratic institutions in America. Consequently, I think it is critical to keep this issue “in the public eye” and to demand constructive, common sense reforms at EOIR.

The “constructive suggestions” contained in the letter are great! But, it’s a colossal waste of time and resources to have unqualified bureaucrats, far removed from the actual practice before these dysfunctional “courts,” unilaterally institute these ill-advised, unethical, due-process denying changes. Then, it’s left to the “outside experts” to drop everything and “plead and beg” for common sense and sanity from an arrogant, dysfunctional system!

The American justice system can’t continue to afford to let this wasteful and highly counterproductive “clown show” 🤡 go on unabated! It’s up to everyone who cares about equal justice in America (NOT just immigration practitioners) to demand that Merrick Garland get rid of the incompetents at EOIR and replace them with expert administrators and real, well-qualified judges who are “practical scholars” in the law, understand the needs of justice, and will reform this broken system to work for the best interests of everyone in America!

Here’s a copy of the letter, as sent: 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kb25xExBERwZG65EbGZ9iR29UoQiGLL6/view?usp=sharing

🇺🇸“Due Process Forever!”

Paul⚖️🗽😎

10-26-22

THE GIBSON REPORT — 10-24-22 — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Managing Attorney, NIJC — Human Rights Advocates, Immigrants, Abandoned By Biden Administration! — Garland’s “Unforced Errors” @ EOIR Haunt Dems!  — Where Do Operating “America’s Worst Courts” & “Dissing Equal Justice” Fit Into Dem’s Vision Of Democracy?🤯

Elizabeth Gibson
Elizabeth Gibson
Managing Attorney
National Immigrant Justice Center
Publisher of “The Gibson Report”

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Weekly Briefing

 

This briefing is designed as a quick-reference aggregation of developments in immigration law, practice, and policy that you can scan for anything you missed over the last week. The contents of the news, links, and events do not necessarily reflect the position of the National Immigrant Justice Center. If you have items that you would like considered for inclusion, please email them to egibson@heartlandalliance.org.

 

CONTENTS (jump to section)

  • NEWS
  • LITIGATION & AGENCY UPDATES
  • RESOURCES
  • EVENTS

 

FEATURED EVENT

 

2022 Convening on Advancing Universal Representation on 10/27

This gathering will bring together existing universal representation projects as well as groups considering starting/supporting new programs to reflect on best practices, adapting models while seeking to end detention, and ways to expand universal representation. The deadline to register for virtual attendance is tomorrow, October 25, 2022.

 

NEWS

 

US border encounters top 2 million in fiscal year 2022

CNN: There were 227,547 migrant encounters along the US-Mexico border in September, up 12 percent from the previous month. The sharp increase in migrants from Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua contributed to the uptick.

 

Illegal Border Crossings by Venezuelans Plunge in the Face of New Policies

NYT: The number of Venezuelans entering the United States illegally dropped from about 1,200 a day to 150 in the first days after the Biden administration rolled out the new policies.

 

U.S. grants Temporary Protected Status to Ethiopians fleeing conflict

Reuters: The Ethiopian military and allies including troops from neighboring Eritrea have been battling forces from the northern region of Tigray on and off for two years. The conflict has killed thousands, displaced millions and left hundreds of thousands on the brink of famine.

 

Coast Guard returns more than 300 migrants to Cuba over weekend

The Hill: The Coast Guard stopped 185 Cubans on Friday, 94 on Saturday and 40 on Sunday. In total, the service says it has intercepted 921 Cubans since Oct. 1.

 

US Border Patrol sending migrants to offices with no notice

AP: Molina was among 13 migrants who recently arrived in the U.S. who agreed to share documents with The Associated Press that they received when they were released from U.S. custody while they seek asylum after crossing the border with Mexico. The AP found that most had no idea where they were going — nor did the people at the addresses listed on their paperwork.

 

‘Hail Mary after Hail Mary’: Biden administration struggles with border policy, fueling frustration

CNN: It has been an endless cycle since President Joe Biden took office, according to multiple administration officials and sources close to the White House. Agency officials dream up a plan but then struggle to get White House approval, even as the problem compounds and Republicans step up their criticism. See also Immigrant advocates feel abandoned as they stare at Biden’s first-term checklist.

 

Nearly 500,000 Immigrants Go Through ICE’s Alternatives to Detention System in Two Years

TRAC: According to new data obtained by TRAC through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, 480,301 people have been enrolled in ICE’s electronic monitoring program known as Alternatives to Detention (ATD) between August 2020 and June 2022. Many of these individuals, about 196,000, were previously active in ATD but have since ceased to be monitored under ATD, while 284,000 immigrants were still in ATD as of the end of June.

 

Over 63,000 DHS Cases Thrown Out of Immigration Court This Year Because No NTA Was Filed

TRAC:  As of the end of September 2022, Immigration Court judges dismissed a total of 63,586 cases because Department of Homeland Security officials, chiefly Border Patrol agents, are not filing the actual “Notice to Appear” (NTA) with the Immigration Court. Without a filed NTA, the Court has no jurisdiction to hear the case.

 

Arrests for unlicensed driving plunge in New York following unauthorized immigrant license law like Mass.’s

GBH: Police in New York arrested about 57,000 unlicensed drivers a year before state lawmakers narrowly approved the Green Light Law in 2019, making most immigrants eligible for licenses regardless of their legal status. In 2021, those arrests declined to about 30,000 and are on a similar pace for this year, according to records obtained by GBH News from the New York State Unified Court System.

 

An Overwhelmed Immigration System Is Facing A Shortage Of Attorneys Amid A Growing Backlog Of Cases

Block Club: As a major city that attracts immigrants, Chicago specifically has been struggling to support the recent influx of asylum seekers. After dealing with cuts under the Trump administration and then the COVID-19 pandemic, immigrant serving organizations’ resources were already strained before the war in Ukraine and the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and subsequent Taliban takeover sent thousands of refugees and asylum seekers to Chicago. The recent arrival of migrants from Texas has only added to the strain on organizations’ resources, including legal services and representation.

 

LITIGATION & AGENCY UPDATES

 

CA1 on Honduras, MS-13, CAT: H.H. v. Garland

LexisNexis: He argues that the immigration judge (“IJ”) applied the incorrect legal standard in assessing whether he would more likely than not be tortured with the “consent or acquiescence” of the Honduran government, and that the BIA erred in its review of the IJ’s decision. He also argues that the BIA failed to consider whether the Honduran government would likely torture him and whether the MS-13 gang is a de facto government actor. We agree that the agency erred in these respects, and we therefore grant his petition for review, vacate the order of the BIA to the extent it denied him CAT relief as to Honduras, and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

 

CA1 on El Salvador, CAT, MS-13: Chavez v. Garland

CA1: We  thus  remand  for  the  BIA  to  consider  in  the  first instance  whether  Chavez’s  proposed  social  group  satisfies  the requirements for constituting a particular social group under the INA to which he belongs.  We express no opinion as to the merits of that issue other than to emphasize that the BIA cannot reject such a group based solely on its determination that current or former gang members cannot form a particular social group.

 

Unpub. CA3 CIMT Victory: King v. Atty. Gen.

LexisNexis: The plain language of the statute, coupled with the reasoning of Mahn and Ramirez-Contreras, persuades us that the Pennsylvania felony fleeing statute does not qualify as turpitudinous. While the failing to stop for a police officer while crossing a state line is conduct that may put another in danger, it does not necessarily do so. The agency therefore erred in its conclusion that King was convicted of a CIMT.

CA9 on CAT, Guatemala: De Leon Lopez v. Garland

LexisNexis: We conclude: (1) the record in this case compels the conclusion that two of De Leon’s attackers were police officers during a July 2011 incident; (2) De Leon showed acquiescence on the part of the Guatemalan government with respect to that incident because government officials— namely, the two police officers—directly participated in the incident; and (3) the record indicates that the IJ and BIA’s conclusion that De Leon is not likely to be subjected to torture with government acquiescence if returned to Guatemala disregards several important circumstances pertinent to evaluating the likelihood of future torture. In light of these errors, we grant the petition and remand for the agency to reconsider De Leon’s application for relief.

 

Texas Drops Challenge To Biden’s Title 42 Child Migrant Policy

Law360: The state of Texas on Wednesday agreed to drop its challenge to a provision of the pandemic-era Title 42 policy which exempted unaccompanied minor migrants from being expelled from the U.S. during the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Ill. Professor, Students Can’t Halt Chinese Student Visa Ban

Law360: An Illinois university professor and students can’t stop the Biden administration from enforcing a Trump-era policy barring student visas to Chinese nationals who are connected to any entity in China that supports its “military-civil fusion strategy,” a federal judge has ruled, denying the plaintiffs’ bid for a temporary restraining order.

 

Soldiers Forgo $10M Citizenship Dispute Fee For $2.75M

Law360: A class of foreign-born military recruits who sought $10 million in attorney fees after winning back their expedited path to naturalization two years ago have settled for $2.75 million in the interest of conserving resources and avoiding further litigation risks.

 

Legal Organizations Sue ICE for Illegally Preventing Attorneys from Communicating with Detained Immigrants in Four States

AIC: Several legal services organizations filed a lawsuit today against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for unlawfully preventing attorneys from communicating with immigrants detained in four detention facilities in Florida, Louisiana, Texas, and Arizona.

 

USCIS Implements New Process for Venezuelans

USCIS: On Oct. 12, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced a new process for Venezuelans.

 

DHS Designates Ethiopia for Temporary Protected Status for 18 Months

USCIS: Only individuals who are already residing in the United States as of October 20, 2022 will be eligible for TPS.

 

USCIS Extends COVID-19-related Flexibilities

USCIS: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is extending certain COVID-19-related flexibilities through Jan. 24, 2023, to assist applicants, petitioners, and requestors.

 

RESOURCES

 

 

EVENTS

 

 

To sign up for additional NIJC newsletters, visit:  https://immigrantjustice.org/subscribe.

 

You now can change your email settings or search the archives using the Google Group. If you are receiving this briefing from a third party, you can visit the Google Group and request to be added. If you receive an error, make sure you click request access.

 

Elizabeth Gibson (Pronouns: she/her/ella)

Managing Attorney for Capacity Building and Mentorship

National Immigrant Justice Center

A HEARTLAND ALLIANCE Program

224 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 600, Chicago, IL 60604
T: (312) 660-1688| F: (312) 660-1688| E: egibson@heartlandalliance.org

www.immigrantjustice.org | Facebook | Twitter

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

From Politico:

. . . .

But immigrant advocates note that some of their demands aren’t contingent on Congress or the courts, which makes it all the more exasperating as to why the administration has failed to deliver.

Some told POLITICO they simply wanted to see the administration remedy the harm caused by the Trump administration’s family separation policies. Others want to see follow-up on early proposals to protect immigrant workers in labor disputes.

The administration further angered the community last week when it announced plans to use the Trump-era pandemic policy, Title 42, to expel Venezuelan migrants crossing the border illegally as part of its new humanitarian parole program for them. Advocates decried the expansion of Title 42, which the Justice Department is fighting in court, as a continuation of the Trump “playbook.”

. . . .

The biggest, most significant “unforced error” by the Biden Administration has been the failure to “clean house” at EOIR and to reform the Immigration Courts to be a model of great, scholarly, humane judging, and a bastion of due process, fundamental fairness, and best judicial practices. 

The Federalist Society and the Heritage Foundation set forth a successful “blueprint” for a far-right takeover of not only the Immigration Courts, but the entire Article III Judiciary. The Trump Administration adopted and successfully followed it!

By stark contrast, the Dems have failed to act timely and decisively on the one all-important Federal court system that they completely control! EOIR is a system that probably has more impact on the future of America — or whether there will even be a future America — than any court short of the Supremes!

Garland’s dismissive treatment of the informed views of immigration, human rights, and racial justice experts — who have had “hands on” experience with “America’s most dysfunctional courts” (the Immigration Courts) — has undermined our legal system and hamstrung almost every other progressive social justice initiative — from voting rights to abortion! 

Garland’s failure to bring in experienced, dynamic, inspirational, respected, “Tier One” progressive practical scholar/leaders — folks like, for example, Dean Kevin Johnson, Professor Karen Musalo, Marielena Hincapie, Professor Phil Schrag, Margaret Stock, Professor Michele Pistone, and Judge Dana Leigh Marks — to clean up EOIR, kick some tail, and create “the best, fairest, most efficient courts in America” — is beyond inexcusable!

Dems are a self-inflicted mess when it comes to immigration — apparently because those “calling the shots” are more “Stephen Miller Lite” than they are Julian Castro and other Democrats who understand the essential importance of immigrants and of standing up for their rights — starting with the “retail level” of American justice. 

As one frustrated experienced practitioner recently told me: “Biden’s entire immigration policies are a train wreck. He didn’t take the action he said he would. The practice of immigration law is soul crushing.”

“Soul crushing!” Those words should be a “wake up call” to the “tone deaf” policy honchos in the Administration. It shouldn’t be this way in a Dem Administration that was elected because they promised to do better and to stand up to the lies, myths, and false narratives of the nativist right! Once in power, Dems don’t seem to be able to distinguish between their friends and their adversaries. That’s proven NOT to be a “formula for success!”

For every immigrant/racial justice advocate that the Biden Administration wears down and demoralizes, two “new recruits” for the NDPA will arise, fully energized to keep litigating, winning, and raising hell until due process, human rights, fundamental fairness, and racial justice get some long overdue ACTION. Based on results to date, that means continuing to “beat Garland’s brains out” in court! The talent and creativity is obviously “out here,” not in Garland’s “Halls of (In)Justice!” Given that the “Stephen Miller Group” is also challenging the Administration in court, Garland will eventually find himself doing nothing but litigating immigration issues and getting walloped by both sides!

Meanwhile, as the Administration daily fails on immigration, human rights, and racial justice within the Executive Branch, my mailbox and message box are overflowing with desperate requests from Dem politicos, from Joe, Kamala, Nancy, and Chuck on down, for more donations of money and time. But, once the election cycle is over, our views are ignored, and we are treated as “PNGs.” Meanwhile, those who actively undermined immigrants’ rights and diminished due process are rewarded or retained in key positions where they continue to heap damage on the most vulnerable among us and frustrate their supporters.

Doesn’t seem like a sustainable future for the Democratic Party or for American democracy! But, hey, I’m just a retired Immigration Judge. Maybe my friends in the social justice movement enjoy being treated as “chopped liver” — frozen out and ignored — once they have helped elect Dems.

Republicans boldly “run on the big lie.” Meanwhile, Dems “run from the truth” about immigrants and their all-important role in America’s future! Go figure!

A quote from a recent NY Times article struck me as aptly summarizing the failure of leaders of both political parties to take an honest, creative, and practical approach to the opportunity presented by continuing human migration:

Immigration in the United States is broken, but one side of the fence wants to study the root causes of the problem, and don’t want to see what’s happening right here,” Mr. [John] Martin [deputy director of the Opportunity Center for the Homeless in El Paso] said, squinting beneath the brim of his cowboy hat. “And the other side wants to build a wall which would become a dam and eventually burst.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/20/opinion/el-paso-migrant-buses-republicans.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

Former AG Jeff “Gonzo Apocalypto” Sessions went to the border to preach his “gospel” of anti-immigrant hate, lies, nativist myths, and to “fire up” officials for one of the biggest unconstitutional abuses of prosecutorial authority in modern American history.  Indeed, that is when one reporter coined the term “Gonzo Apocalypto” to describe the absolute nonsense spewing from Sessions’s mouth.

Sessions orchestrated a vile “strategy” of family separation from which the victims haven’t yet, and may never, fully recover. Interestingly, he has also escaped accountability.

By contrast, Garland, to my knowledge, has never bothered to visit the border and engage first-hand with the human carnage his failed “courts” and abuse of both the Constitution and asylum law inflict on others. He interacts neither with those outside government trying to uphold the rule of law nor the enforcement officials given “mission impossible.” He absolves himself from observing the effect that his failure to carry out orderly, humane, legally compliant refugee and asylum processing — using existing law rather than extralegal “gimmicks” — has on communities on the border and in the interior.

Sessions was a vile, intellectually dishonest, and immoral leader; Garland is simply a failed and disengaged one. But, the difference might not be readily apparent to most practitioners laboring in the foul trenches of Garland’s dysfunctional “court” system.

From my observation, there are folks out here interested in, and capable of, addressing the opportunities, potential benefits, and challenges presented by the inevitability of human migration in the 21st Century. Most of them, unlike “pontificating politicos,” have, at some point, “walked the walk” with those humans caught up in the migration dilemma, on both sides of the border.

But, leaders of neither party are interested in the constructive ideas and solutions developed within the rule of law that these unusually talented and dedicated individuals can offer. As long as that is the case, the realities of human migration, false promises, racially driven bias, and wildly inconsistent application of justice in America will continue to vex both politicians and the voters who put such “non-problem-solvers” in office!

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

PWS

10-25-22

⚖️ “BRAVING THE WILDERNESS: HOLDING HANDS WITH STRANGERS” — A Timely Sermon About Promoting Justice & Resisting Bigotry — By Steven A. Honley

Steven A. Honley
Steven A.Honley
Director of Music
Beverley Hills Community United Methodist Church
Alexandria, VA
PHOTO: afsa.org

October 23, 2022                 Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost         10:00 AM

Scripture Lesson: Matthew 25:31-40

Sermon: “Braving the Wilderness: Holding Hands with Strangers”

 

When Pastor Deborah asked me to preach today, I was honored as always to accept her gracious invitation. But I have to tell you: This has ended up being one of the most challenging sermons to write that I’ve given in my 28 years at Beverley Hills, for several reasons.

The first challenge stems from the fact that I had never read anything by Brené Brown until now. In fact, I first heard of her just a few months ago, when her name popped up on a Canadian situation comedy, “The Lake,” that I streamed on Amazon Prime.

The next problem: I have never been a fan of self-help books, though I enjoyed reading this one. And I found a lot of Brown’s observations sensible, if sometimes obvious.

The title of this morning’s topic was yet another hurdle. Most of you will probably not be surprised to hear me confess that the very idea of holding hands with strangers gives me the willies. Frankly, I’m not even wild about holding hands with friends! But duty calls.

Finally, it turns me off when authors strive to come across as “spiritual” rather than religious. You won’t find any Bible verses in Braving the Wilderness, and only passing references to Christianity. What I find most frustrating about that approach is that it appears Brené Brown and I have had similar journeys, moving from Southern-fried fundamentalism to a more inclusive faith. So I would have liked to hear more about that!

To be blunt, Braving the Wilderness is only incidentally a book about faith. But as you’ve been hearing—and I hope you’ll hear again today—it still has some useful things to say to us about becoming an even more welcoming faith community. And in that respect, I admire the way Pastor Deborah has adapted Brown’s thoughts for our current sermon series, both by focusing on the themes in various chapters each week and finding Scripture passages to go with them.

All of which brings me to today’s topic, “Holding Hands with Strangers.”

********

In today’s Gospel passage—surely one of the most memorable of our Lord’s parables—Jesus describes two groups of people. The first group, the sheep, have done God’s will by ministering to strangers: feeding the hungry, giving water to the thirsty, clothing the naked, and visiting those who are sick or in prison. The king in the story informs these servants of his pleasure at their virtuous conduct on his behalf, which shocks the sheep. They had literally no idea they’d done anything out of the ordinary, let alone done something for royalty. So they ask: “When did we do that for you?” And he answers: “Inasmuch as you have done it to the least of these, you have done it unto me.”

Matthew does not record what, if anything, they said when the king explains that, but I imagine “O my God, what if I hadn’t done that?” figured pretty prominently in their thoughts.

We didn’t hear the goats’ story read today, but you know how that part of the story goes. They saw the same strangers as the sheep did, but did nothing to help them.

Now, I have a hunch that only some of the goats were callous, intentionally withholding their

assistance from the needy because they regarded them as unworthy. The rest were just preoccupied with their own troubles, or feared they wouldn’t have enough resources for their own families if they gave away food and clothing to mere strangers. Some may genuinely have believed that someone else would take care of feeding the hungry and performing other good works.

Whatever the reasons for each goat’s indifference and apathy, the core issue is that they failed to recognize the people they encountered as people: members of their own community. As Desmond Tutu once observed: “We’re not our brother’s keeper; we’re our brother’s brother.”

Beverley Hills Community United Methodist Church has a long tradition of acting on that understanding. We don’t just write checks, either, valuable as that is. No, many of you are hands-on participants at Carpenter’s Shelter and ALIVE and Casa Chirilagua and many other worthy organizations. You literally hold hands with strangers!

********

Speaking of which: I can’t honestly say I found much of Brown’s chapter on this topic helpful. She devotes a lot of it to the idea of experiencing community at soccer games and rock concerts and funerals, and even goes so far as to talk about “football as religion.”

She doesn’t mean that literally, of course, but she really does seem to believe that the wave of emotion a stadium full of fans feels is not just a momentary rush of adrenaline, but something more profound. Maybe I’d buy that claim if I’d ever felt it for myself, but I haven’t—so I don’t.

Happily, just when I was about to give up on finding any inspiration in this chapter, Brown talks about a concept she calls “common enemy intimacy.” Or, as the old saying goes, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

Brown cites one of my favorite quotes to introduce this section of the chapter: “If you don’t have something nice to say about someone, come sit by me!” That saying, generally attributed to Alice Roosevelt Longworth, expresses something universal. Most of us love to gossip about someone, especially if they’re all high and mighty and could stand to be taken down a few pegs.

But the problem, as Brown notes, is that there is no adhesiveness to such a bond. If all two people have in common is their mutual dislike of a third, then their “friendship” is phony. And as such, it can’t sustain a more meaningful relationship, let alone build community.

From there, common enemy intimacy snowballs into tribalism, which dehumanizes not just individuals but whole groups. And because there is nothing keeping such a group cohesive except fear and hatred, its leaders must keep fueling the fire with ever more polarizing rhetoric that attacks anyone not in the group.

********

Sadly, we see the evidence of the breakdown of community all around us. So what can we do as Christians to bring about reconciliation and healing?

Alas, I have no sweeping answers to that question. But I will offer this recommendation: We should speak out, both as individuals and as a church, against the bullying and abuse so many of our politicians and faith leaders are advocating. And I’m not talking about generic hand-wringing, either. We should be naming names, and making clear that those who invoke God as they persecute sexual minorities and the powerless are not honoring Christ in the process.

Now, some of you are probably thinking, “Wait a minute! What about turning the other cheek? Aren’t we supposed to be peacemakers?”

Yes, of course we are. But I would respectfully point out that our Lord did not mince words when he confronted the religious authorities of his day, who followed the letter of the law but not its spirit.

In Luke 11, Jesus declares: “Now, you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of extortion and wickedness. You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also? … Woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God; those you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seat in the synagogues and salutations in the marketplaces. Woe to you! For you are like graves which are not seen, and men walk over them without knowing it.”

Pretty harsh, right? But Jesus was following a long prophetic tradition that stretches all the way back to Moses warning the pharaoh of the dire consequences if he didn’t let the Israelites go. Elijah and Elisha and Isaiah and Jeremiah all denounced the kings of Israel for their failure to rule justly.

Nor did our Lord stop at speaking truth to power. He took matters into his own hands on one memorable occasion, Matthew 21 tells us. Just days before his death, “Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. And He declared to them, “It is written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer.’ But you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’”

I have always detested the saying “Hate the sin, love the sinner.” As a gay man, I’ve heard that a lot over the years, and in practice, what it actually means is: Hate the sin and marginalize the sinner. So let me be clear: I am not advocating that we sink to the level of those who promote so-called “Christian Nationalism,” by declaring them evil and beyond redemption.

But we do have a solemn charge to resist those who are working to flout democratic norms and rend our social fabric, under the pretext of making America a “Christian nation.” Our faith commands us to defend all those whom politicians target and exploit for who they are; for whom they love; for what deity they believe in or don’t; for the color of their skin; for the language they speak; or where they came from. As I John 4 tells us: “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him, that he who loves God should love his brother also.”

Back in January, on the first anniversary of the Jan. 6 insurrection, Washington National Cathedral hosted an online conversation between Jon Meachum, the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and journalist, and the Episcopal Church’s presiding bishop, Michael Curry. If you watched the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markel a few years back, you saw and heard Bishop Curry in action; hold that image in your mind while I share a few excerpts from that dialogue.

Bishop Curry begins his remarks by referencing all the stories about Jesus and his disciples huddled on a boat at night in turbulent waters. There’s no artificial light, just the moon and stars, so we can certainly understand why the men are terrified.

In one of those stories, Peter sees Jesus walking on the water in the midst of the storm. Impetuous as always, he jumps out of the boat and starts walking toward him. Peter’s doing OK until he lets his fear of the storm take his focus off Jesus, at which point he immediately starts sinking. Curry draws this parallel to our situation:

“We must not shift our focus from becoming the true democracy—a multiracial, multiethnic, plural, holistic democracy—which is that shining ‘city on a hill.’ We must not shift from that vision of who we can be by focusing only on the storms that are in our midst, because the storms will consume us. They will consume our perception. And eventually, we’ll believe that’s all there is—lightning, thunder and the roll of the water—instead of the possibility of becoming that city on the hill.

Bishop Curry continues: “It’s midnight in the hour of this democracy. We will determine what we will do with that moment. It’s a moment of decision, and we must decide: Will we be E Pluribus Unum? Will we truly become, from many diverse peoples, one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice—not just for some, but for all?”

The full title of Brené Brown’s book is: Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone. Even in a state somewhere between purple and light blue, and a fairly liberal city, it still takes real courage for us to denounce racism and misogyny, homophobia and transphobia, and every other form of bigotry, and to resist those who would enshrine those evils in our laws.

But that is how we can hold hands with strangers, and help them belong. In the process, we will truly live up to the words we recite at the end of each service at Beverley Hills: “Our mission is to welcome all people as they are, to grow together in Christian faith and fellowship, and to share Christ-like love in word and deed.” Amen.

Republished by permission.

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

My friend Steven A. Honley is the Director of Music at the Beverley Hills Community Methodist Church in Alexandria, Virginia, A Reconciling Congregation, where my wife Cathy and I are members. He is a retired Foreign Service Officer and former Editor-in-Chief of the Foreign Service Journal (2001-14). Steve is a frequent contributor to the Washington Post’s “Style Invitational,” and a passionate advocate for inclusion and equal justice for all persons in America.

Here’s another timely piece on promoting justice and resisting bigotry in today’s America from the San Francisco Chronicle: ‘We are the real face of America’: Local faith and civil rights leaders call out racism, division https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/We-are-the-real-face-of-America-Local-17529396.php.

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

10-24-22

☠️ GARLAND’S QUASI-JUDICIAL TORTURE CHAMBERS — FROM COAST TO COAST, EOIR APPLIES WRONG LEGAL STANDARDS, IGNORES EVIDENCE IN EFFORT TO ILLEGALLY SEND PEOPLE TO TORTURE!  

Star Chamber Justice
If he survives Garland’s EOIR, this guy faces more torture if wrongfully removed to torture elsewhere. “Justice”
Star Chamber
Style

“Sir Jeffrey” Chase reports on H.H. v. Garland, a case in which the Round Table filed an amicus brief in behalf of the respondent. Many thanks to our friends Adam Gershenson, Zachary Sisko, Marc Suskin, Valeria M. Pelet del Toro, Samantha Kirby, and Cooley LLP on the brief for amici curiae Former Immigration Judges and Former Members of the Board of Immigration Appeals.

H.H. V. Garland

 

For the reasons detailed above, we conclude that the BIA erred by: (1) applying the incorrect standard of review to uphold the IJ’s denial of CAT relief as to Honduras, in a misguided effort to accommodate the IJ’s error of law in requiring a showing of willful acceptance rather than willful blindness; (2) improperly failing to address H.H.’s argument that he would likely be tortured by or at the instigation of Honduran officials; and (3) failing to meaningfully address H.H.’s argument that MS-13 members may act under color of law.21 Accordingly, we grant the petition for review, vacate the BIA’s decision insofar as it denied H.H. deferral of removal to Honduras, and remand the case for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

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

Meanwhile, Dan Kowalski at LexisNexis Immigraton Community reports on another CAT rebuke from the 9th Circuit. 

CA9 on CAT, Guatemala: De Leon Lopez v. Garland

https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2022/10/21/20-71529.pdf

https://www.lexisnexis.com/LegalNewsRoom/immigration/b/insidenews/posts/ca9-on-cat-guatemala-de-leon-lopez-v-garland#

“Risvin Valdemar De Leon Lopez (“De Leon”), a native and citizen of Guatemala, petitions for review of a Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) decision dismissing his appeal of an Immigration Judge’s (“IJ”) order denying his application for relief under the Convention Against Torture. We conclude: (1) the record in this case compels the conclusion that two of De Leon’s attackers were police officers during a July 2011 incident; (2) De Leon showed acquiescence on the part of the Guatemalan government with respect to that incident because government officials— namely, the two police officers—directly participated in the incident; and (3) the record indicates that the IJ and BIA’s conclusion that De Leon is not likely to be subjected to torture with government acquiescence if returned to Guatemala disregards several important circumstances pertinent to evaluating the likelihood of future torture. In light of these errors, we grant the petition and remand for the agency to reconsider De Leon’s application for relief.”

[Hats off to Karla Kraus!]

pastedGraphic.png

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

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

Almost every time I “feature” the ongoing legal and operational disaster @ EOIR, Garland furnishes me with concrete examples. https://immigrationcourtside.com/2022/10/22/%e2%98%a0%ef%b8%8f%e2%9a%b0%ef%b8%8f%f0%9f%92%80garlands-star-chambers-slow-violence-on-people-of-color%f0%9f%a5%b5-bias-bad-law-bungling-bureaucracy/

These are two “doozies” from last Friday!

These aren’t “minor bureaucratic matters,” no matter how much Garland and his “clueless crew” over @ DOJ might want to treat them that way and hope they will go away! They won’t! Not if the thousands of us involved in the due process, fundamental fairness, and racial justice for all movement have anything to say about it (e.g., the “NDPA”)!

And we will continue to speak out against the parody of justice @ Garland’s EOIR! It’s a disingenuous and disgraceful performance by a Democratic Administration that will have “down the line” consequences! 

While the Trump Administration admittedly left EOIR in complete shambles, that doesn’t excuse the Biden Administration’s failure to fix it. It’s not “rocket science!”  But, there is no way that the “Clown Show” 🤡 that Garland has chosen to run and staff EOIR (many inexplicably “held over” from the Sessions/Barr debacle) can fix it!

These are literally life and death cases in which Garland’s “faux expert” BIA “pretzels” the law, misconstrues facts, and “selectively reads” records to reach wrong results that deny protection and decree deportation! How is this acceptable performance from any tribunal, let alone one that is supposed to insure justice for those whose lives are on the line? How is this acceptable performance from a Democratic Administration that claimed fealty to human rights and racial justice, but takes neither seriously when it comes to EOIR?

There are plenty of “practical scholar experts” out here in the non-governmental sectors who would make much better appellate and trial judges, and administrators, than many of those Garland is inflicting on migrants and their attorneys. 

What’s wrong with the Biden Administration? What’s “right”  about failed justice @ Justice?” 

The poor performance of Garland as the “steward” of the Immigration Courts at EOIR is a threat to humanity, democracy, and a colossal waste of judicial and litigation resources at all levels of our justice system!

Alfred E. Neumann
Maybe Merrick Garland SHOULD worry about running “America’s worst courts” and inflicting life-threatening injustice on his fellow humans!
PHOTO: Wikipedia Commons

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

10-23-22

☠️⚰️💀GARLAND’S STAR CHAMBERS — “SLOW VIOLENCE” ON PEOPLE OF COLOR!🥵— Bias, Bad Law, Bungling Bureaucracy! — “Where Due Process Goes To Die!” 🤮 — Upcoming Book Will Expose Garland’s Lawless, Cruel, Inhumane “Court” System!

 

Slow Injustice @ EOIR
Garland’s approach to immigrant justice in his courts harkens back to “the bad old days.” Yet he remains impervious — and unaccountable!
The Wasp 1882-01-06 cover Slow but sure.jpg
Slow, but Sure. Cartoon depicts Lady Justice riding a tortoise, about to hang a man.
George Frederick Keller
Public domain

Dean Kevin Johnson @ ImmigrationProf Blog previews upcoming book by Professor Maya Pagni Barack:

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/immigration/2022/10/from-the-bookshelves-the-slow-violence-of-immigration-court-procedural-justice-on-trial-by-maya-pagn.html

Friday, October 21, 2022

From the Bookshelves: The Slow Violence of Immigration Court Procedural Justice on Trial by Maya Pagni Barak

By Immigration Prof

The Slow Violence of Immigration Court Procedural Justice on Trial by Maya Pagni Barak (forthcominng March 2023, NYU Press)

The publisher’s description of the book reads as follows:

“Each year, hundreds of thousands of migrants are moved through immigration court. With a national backlog surpassing one million cases, court hearings take years and most migrants will eventually be ordered deported. The Slow Violence of Immigration Court sheds light on the experiences of migrants from the “Northern Triangle” (Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador) as they navigate legal processes, deportation proceedings, immigration court, and the immigration system writ large.

Grounded in the illuminating stories of people facing deportation, the family members who support them, and the attorneys who defend them, The Slow Violence of Immigration Court invites readers to question matters of fairness and justice and the fear of living with the threat of deportation. Although the spectacle of violence created by family separation and deportation is perceived as extreme and unprecedented, these long legal proceedings are masked in the mundane and are often overlooked, ignored, and excused. In an urgent call to action, Maya Pagni Barak deftly demonstrates that deportation and family separation are not abhorrent anomalies, but are a routine, slow form of violence at the heart of the U.S. immigration system.”

KJ

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The ongoing national disgrace called “EOIR” continues to mete out injustice and inane bureaucratic nonsense under a DEMOCRATIC Administration that pledged to return the rule of law and humanity to our broken Immigration Court system! 

That system is “headed and controlled” by a DEMOCRATIC AG, Merrick Garland. He is a former Federal Appellate Judge who certainly knows that what passes for “justice” in his broken “court” system is nothing of the sort! Also this ongoing debacle doesn’t say much good about Garland’s “lieutenants:” Deputy AG Lisa Monaco, Associate AG Vanita Gupta, Assistant AG for Civil Rights Kristen Clarke, and Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar.

They have all “looked the other way,” defended, or failed to condemn this travesty undermining our entire justice system, unfolding under their collective noses at EOIR every day! At some point in the future, all these guys will be “making the rounds” of major law firms, NGOs, universities, mainstream media, and corporations — seeking to “cash in” on their DOJ “experience.” Then, folks should remember how they ACTUALLY PERFORMED (or didn’t) when they had a chance to fix “America’s worst courts” — hotbeds of racial and ethnic injustice, purveyors of bad law, and a haven for ridiculously dysfunctional procedures!

Perhaps a suitable future for these willfully blind “public servants” would be to require them to spend the balance of their careers practicing on a pro bono basis before the “star chambers” they inflicted on others! See how they like being “scheduled,” with no or inadequate notice, to do 15 or 20 asylum cases per month; appearing before too many ill-qualified “judges” who have already decided to deny regardless of the law and facts; appealing to a captive “appellate court” dominated by individuals, working for the Executive, whose main “judicial qualification” was that they denied close to 100% of the asylum claims that came before them in Immigration Court and were known for their rude and dismissive treatment of asylum applicants and their lawyers! See, e.g., “Confronting The American Star Chamber . . .,” https://wp.me/p8eeJm-4Vm.,

Here’s Professor Barak’s bio from the U of Michigan-Dearborn website:

Maya Barak, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Criminal Justice Studies

Maya P. Barak
Maya P. Barak, PhD
Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice Studies
U. of Michigan -Dearborn
PHOTO: UM-D Websitew

College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters

College-Wide Programs

mbarak@umich.edu

1070 Social Sciences Building | 4901 Evergreen Road | Dearborn, MI 48128

Personal Website

Teaching Areas: Arab American Studies, Criminology & Criminal Justice Studies, Master of Science in Criminology and Criminal Justice, Women’s & Gender Studies

Research Areas: Capital Punishment, Criminal Justice, Criminology, Gangs, Immigrants / Crimmigration, Legal Sociology, Procedural Justice, State-Corporate Crime

Biography and Education

I am an Assistant Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. I hold a PhD in Justice, Law and Criminology from American University (2016), an MA in Criminology and Criminal Justice from Eastern Michigan University (2011), and a BA in Social Anthropology and Peace and Social Justice from the University of Michigan (2009). My research brings together the areas of law, deviance, immigration, and power, utilizing interdisciplinary approaches that span the fields of criminology, law and society, and anthropology.

Education

Ph.D. in Justice, Law and Criminology

Teaching and Research

Courses Taught

Selected Publications

Books

Gould, Jon B. and Maya Barak. 2019. Capital Defense: Inside the Lives of America’s Death Penalty Lawyers. New York: NYU Press.

Selected Articles

Barak, Maya. 2021. “Can You Hear Me Now? Attorney Perceptions of Interpretation, Technology, and Power in Immigration Court.” Journal on Migration and Human Security (https://doi.org/10.1177/23315024211034740).

Barak, Maya. 2021. “A Hollow Hope? The Empty Promise of Rights in the U.S. Immigration System”/ “¿Una promesa vacía? La ilusión de “los derechos” en el sistema migratorio de los Estados Unidos.” Las Cadenas Que Amamos: Una panorámica sobre el retroceso de Occidente a todos los niveles.

Barak, Maya. 2021. “Family Separation as State-Corporate Crime.” Journal of White Collar and Corporate Crime Vol. 2(2), 2021, pp. 109-121 (https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2631309X20982299). (2021 Outstanding Article or Book Chapter Award, Division of White-Collar and Corporate Crime, American Society of Criminology)

Barak, Maya, Leon, K., and Maguire, Edward. 2020. “Conceptual and Empirical Obstacles in Defining MS-13: Law-Enforcement Perspectives.” Criminology and Public Policy (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1745-9133.12493).

Barak, Maya. 2017. “Motherhood and Immigration Policy: How Immigration Law Shapes Central Americans’ Experience of Family.” In Forced Out and Fenced In: Immigration Tales from the Field, edited by Tanya Golash-Boza. New York: Oxford University Press.

Advocates and all Americans committed to racial justice and equal justice under law need to keep raising hell — and supporting progressive candidates — until this horrible system is replaced by a real court system, with subject matter expert judges, totally focused on delivering due process, fundamental fairness, and best judicial practices to all!

What’s happening to individuals (fellow humans, “persons” under our Constitution) and their lawyers at EOIR is NOT OK, nor is it acceptable from a DEMOCRATIC ADMINISTRATION!

Yeah, “there’s trouble, right here in River City!” And, it begins with “E,” ends with “R,” and rhymes with “EYORE!”

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

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

PWS

10-22-22

😎🌮🍱🍝🍜 ANOTHER “FOOD DRIVEN” IMMIGRANT SUCCESS STORY!

La Cocina, a San Francisco-based nonprofit group, is helping low-income women and immigrants start their own food businesses. The 130 chef-owners receive support, including access to an industrial kitchen, to craft a recipe for a better life.

Oct. 20, 2022

Jay Gray reports for NBC Nightly News in this video:

https://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/san-francisco-nonprofit-helping-chefs-in-need-to-build-their-own-businesses-151187013820

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I loved the shot of 1950’s-style “boring American food!” As a “child of the 50’s,” so true! Also, reaffirms the “food-based approach” to promoting social justice!

Heck, I remember from my days at the BIA that the best way to get folks to show up for a meeting or event and be in a good mood to participate was to “put out the food.” I used to bring bagels to BIA en banc conferences. It often helped “lighten the mood,” even if it didn’t garner me enough votes to win very many of my “en banc legal battles!”

Some things that stand out:

  • Teamwork, skill, and cooperation;
  • The power of immigrant women;
  • Diversity and variety improving American food;
  • Investment in “human capital;”
  • Self-sufficiency;
  • Jobs and education for others;
  • Teaching and training for success.

I think there are “messages” here about the benefits of immigrants and how many of those arriving at our borders could be successfully integrated into, energize, and expand opportunities in communities in need throughout America.

For example, almost everyone agrees that there is a shortage of affordable, livable, attractive housing that is adversely affecting communities around the U.S. Why not invest in the hard work, creativity, skills, and initiative of arriving migrants to help address these problems and make life better for everyone? Expand the economy, expand the tax base, raise wages, solve problems, revitalize “hurting” communities! Decent jobs with a future and homes in the community might also help address the opioid and other substance abuse problems in many areas.

Rather than squandering money and resources on “sure to ultimately fail” “deterrence” strategies and counterproductive restrictions, detentions, and deportations, why not think about ways to 1) recognize the realities of human migration; and 2) harness and direct the undeniable power of that migration for everyone’s benefit?

Leaders of both parties seem “willfully blind” to the realities and benefits of migration in the 21st century. Could public-private partnerships be part of the answer? There must be some more “humane pragmatists” out here who are interested in actually solving problems, building on diversity, and doing things for the common good.

One promising initiative, brought to my attention by my long-time friend and former colleague Lori Scialabba, Specialist Executive at Deloitte Consulting, LLP, is Deloitte US’s recently announced “$1.5 Billion Social Impact Investment to Foster a More Equitable Society.” Read about it here: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/deloitte-us-announces-1-5-billion-social-impact-investment-to-foster-a-more-equitable-society-301633710.html.

Lori L. Scialabba
Lori L. Scialabba
Specialist Executive
Deloitte Consulting LLP
PHOTO: Deloitte

(Historical Footnote: I helped recruit Lori for the Honors Program when I was the Deputy General Counsel of the “Legacy INS.” Later, we were both BIA Members. Lori was one of my Vice Chairs — along with Mary Maguire Dunne — and eventually succeeded me as Chair before going on to a distinguished career as a Senior Executive at USCIS and then Deloitte.)

And, of course, we can and should build upon the extraordinary success of “our own” DMV immigrant entrepreneur Tea Ivanovic and her team over at Immigrant Food. Tea exemplifies the “power of food” and its fundamental connection to immigration, diversity, economic vitality, and social justice! I highlighted Tea’s success in a recent “Courtside” profile: https://immigrationcourtside.com/2022/09/10/🇺🇸🗽👍🏼-immigrant-nation-teas-truth-wisdom-americans-views-on-immigrants-and-immigration-are-overwhelmingly-positive/.

Tea Ivanovic
Tea Ivanovic
Director of Communications & Outreach
Immigrant Food
PHOTO: Immigrant Food

Congrats to the folks at La Cocina and to NBC News for featuring this great, thought-provoking, story!

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

PWS

10-21-22

🇺🇸🗽POLITICS/COMMUNICATION: Anand Giridharadas Has A Plan For Defeating Fascism!

https://twitter.com/intelligence2/status/1583053222495031297?s=20&t=0qtnWoCtSNnhf3i6nq3hVA

We’re not going to defeat fascism by talking about policy. Nor by issuing grave warnings. Nor by praying for the rain of indictments. Nor by despair.

We are going to defeat it by outcompeting it. Here is a proposal for how we can do that right now.

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

Watch the compelling “spot on” video at the above link. Many thanks to my friend Charles Kuck for passing this on!

The Dems once were the “party of practical problem solvers” — particularly at the local level with great organizations that effectively addressed issues on the minds of the local populace. After all, it was Dem House Speaker, the late Tip O’Neill, who famously said that “All politics is local” (although, perhaps contrary to popular notions, he did not “coin” that phrase.)

It’s not that today’s GOP solves problems. Far from it! Indeed they specialize in division, destruction (“the wrecking crew”), and making things worse. (How would you like to go to GOP Rep. MTG or Virginia GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin to get help with mistreatment of your trans kid in school? Good luck with the one!)

Yet the GOP does excel in one area. That is channeling and fanning the rage, bitterness, and anger of folks in the community who feel left out or that “the system” has betrayed them. They are also great at using that collective anger and resentment for their own political ends — usually anti-democracy actions or picking on, demonizing, and falsely blaming vulnerable groups in society for all their ills.

Anand says it’s time for Dems to get back to communicating and problem solving: “outcompeting” and “outperforming,” if you will! That’s certainly true on a larger scale. But, it’s also true at Garland’s dysfunctional EOIR. There, bureaucratic nonsense, “built to fail gimmicks,” and false “deterrence rationale” have replaced scholarship, timeliness, and practical problem solving directed at the achievable, yet inexplicably elusive, “common good.” Time for a difference approach at the critical, yet often ignored, “retail level” of democracy!

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

10-20-22

😎🇺🇸👍🧥HELP MIGRANTS ARRIVING IN THE DMV AREA! — “Coats For A Cause” Extended Until Friday, Oct. 28!

GW Law Immigration Clinic Director Professor Alberto Benítez & Co-Director Professor Paulina Vera

This just in from Professor Alberto Benitez @ the GW Law Immigration Clinic:

The GW Law Immigration Clinic presents our fundraiser, Coats for a Cause: Helping Stranded Migrants Stay Warm. Please see the attached flyer.
Through October 28 we will be collecting all lightly used and new winter clothing to donate to migrants who were recently sent to DC via buses. A box to collect donations is available in the lobby of our building at 650 20th Street, NW. Can’t make it in person? You can donate $$$ to Prof. Vera’s PayPal at @paulinavera1. All monetary donations will be used to purchase items off an Amazon Wishlist put together by local non-profits for the immediate needs of these migrants.
Please direct all comments, questions, or concerns to Spoorthi Datla, spoorthidatla@law.gwu.edu or Jasmine Martinez, jvmartinez@law.gwu.edu.
**************************************************
Alberto Manuel Benitez
Professor of Clinical Law
Director, Immigration Clinic
The George Washington University Law School
650 20th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20052
(202) 994-7463
(202) 994-4946 fax
abenitez@law.gwu.edu
THE WORLD IS YOURS…
**************************************************

 

GW Coats Poster
GW Coats Poster

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With colder weather arriving, this is a great opportunity to welcome and help the newest members of our community! Thanks to Professors Benitez and Vera and all the students at the GW Law Immigration Clinic for putting this effort together!

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

10-19-22

 

🤯 POLITICS: WITH THE ECONOMY THE #1 ISSUE, WHY WOULD VOTERS TRUST AN EXTREME RIGHT GOP PLEDGED TO DESTROY IT, INCREASE INFLATION, & PROVOKE A WORLDWIDE ECONOMIC CRISIS? — Tax Cuts, Slashing The Safety Net For The Most Vulnerable, Increasing Income Equality, & “Playing Chicken” With The Debt Ceiling Are A Recipe For Disaster! — C. Rampell @ WashPost

Catherine Rampell
Catherine Rampell
Opinion Columnist
Washington Post

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/10/18/gop-debt-ceiling-plan-financial-crisis-recession/

. . . .

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) and other Republicans have recently backed proposals to make the 2017 Trump tax cuts permanent, as well as to extend or expand several other corporate tax breaks.

Never mind that Americans think corporations already pay too little in taxes, according to many polls. Cutting taxes further is also likely to make inflation worse, for the same reason that Republicans argue that increased government spending can also make inflation worse: Giving people more cash to spend when there’s limited stuff to buy drives prices up.

The scariest part of the recently disclosed GOP economic agenda, however, has largely gone under the radar. It’s the plan to hold the debt ceiling hostage next year, which could easily precipitate a global financial catastrophe.

Republicans have withheld their support from raising the debt limit before, usually framing their hostage-taking as a commitment to fiscal restraint. But the debt ceiling has nothing to do with new spending; rather, it’s a somewhat arbitrary statutory cap on how much the government can borrow to pay off bills that it has already incurred, through tax and spending decisions that Congress has already made. Refusing to raise the debt limit is like going to a restaurant, ordering the lobster and a $500 bottle of wine, and then declaring yourself financially responsible because you skipped out on the check.

Actually, it’s worse than that.

. . . .

Forcing a debt limit crisis, as the world teeters on the verge of recession, is the opposite of what you would pursue if you cared about strengthening the economy. But no matter: Just look at the context-free polls! Surely, under GOP stewardship, the economy will be in good hands.

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

Read Catherine’s complete op-ed at the link.

Democrats try hard, if imperfectly, to solve problems for the general good. The GOP, not so much! Their focus is on lining the pockets of their “fat cat” funders, replacing “good government” with chaos,  and “beggar thy neighbor” policies. 

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

10-19-22