☠️WITH LIVES ON THE LINE, BIA CONTINUES TO GET BASIC ASYLUM ANALYSIS WRONG! — We Need Change!

https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/memoranda/2021/02/24/19-71375.pdf

Here’s a recent unpublished decision from the 9th Circuit in Deepak Lama v. Wilkinson, (Feb. 24, 2021):

Before: HURWITZ and BRESS, Circuit Judges, and FEINERMAN,** District Judge.

This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.

**

The Honorable Gary Feinerman, United States District Judge for the Northern District of Illinois, sitting by designation.

Deepak Lama, a citizen of Nepal, petitions for review of a decision by the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) dismissing his appeal of an Immigration Judge (IJ) order denying his claims for asylum and withholding of removal.1 We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252. We grant the petition and remand.

The IJ found that Lama had suffered past persecution on account of his political activity and was entitled to a presumption of a well-founded fear of future persecution. See 8 C.F.R. § 1208.13(b)(1). But, the IJ also found that the government had rebutted the presumption, and the BIA then dismissed Lama’s appeal on the sole basis that Lama could safely and reasonably relocate within Nepal, to Chitwan, where he previously resided for five years without incident. Our review is limited to the ground on which the BIA relied. Qiu v. Barr, 944 F.3d 837, 842 (9th Cir. 2019).

When the presumption of a well-founded fear of future persecution applies, the government bears the “burden of showing that relocation is both safe and reasonable under all the circumstances” by a preponderance of the evidence. Afriyie v. Holder, 613 F.3d 924, 934 & n.8 (9th Cir. 2010), overruled on other grounds by Bringas-Rodriguez v. Sessions, 850 F.3d 1051, 1070 (9th Cir. 2017). “Relocation analysis consists of two steps: (1) ‘whether an applicant could relocate safely,’ and (2) ‘whether it would be reasonable to require the applicant to do so.’” Singh v. Whitaker, 914 F.3d 654, 659 (9th Cir. 2019) (quoting Afriyie, 613 F.3d at 934). We

1 The BIA found that Lama forfeited his claim under the Convention Against Torture. Lama does not challenge that ruling in this court.

2

conclude that the BIA’s limited relocation analysis does not satisfy the applicable legal requirements.

First, the agency “failed to take into account the numerous factors for determining reasonableness outlined in 8 C.F.R. § 1208.13(b)(3).” Knezevic v. Ashcroft, 367 F.3d 1206, 1215 (9th Cir. 2004). Relying on Lama’s stay in Chitwan between 2003 and 2008, the agency provided no analysis of whether it would be reasonable for Lama to relocate there at the time of his hearing, in 2017. Lama demonstrated that he experienced persecution in Nepal both in his hometown and later in Kathmandu, and that this persecution took place both before and after he lived in Chitwan. While his time in Chitwan appears to have been without incident, he last lived there many years ago. The government presented no evidence that Lama could safely and reasonably return there now, considering both the current political situation in Chitwan and Lama’s personal circumstances. See Singh, 914 F.3d at 661.

Second, the BIA’s analysis rests on an apparent misapprehension of the record. The BIA stated that “[t]he record contains no evidence that it would no longer be safe or reasonable for [Lama] to once again return to [Chitwan] where he had previously voluntarily relocated and resided for approximately 5 years without incident.” (Emphasis added.) But the record contains a 2016 letter written to Lama from his uncle, with whom he lived in Chitwan, indicating that Lama would not be

3

safe there. The BIA did not consider this evidence. And to the extent the BIA “erroneously presumed that relocation was reasonable and improperly assigned the burden of proof to [Lama] to show otherwise,” Afriyie, 613 F.3d at 935, it erred in that respect as well. See also 8 C.F.R. § 1208.13(b)(3)(ii) (burden of proof).

Gomes v. Gonzales, 429 F.3d 1264 (9th Cir. 2005), does not support the government’s position that because Lama once resided in Chitwan without incident, “it is axiomatic that he can do so again.” In Gomes, unlike this case, the petitioners had not shown past persecution and thus bore the burden to show that relocation was unreasonable. Id. at 1266–67 & 1266 n.1. In addition, unlike Lama, it appears that the petitioners in Gomes had safely resided in the area in question immediately prior to entering the United States. See id. at 1267. Gomes also did not involve the BIA failing to address evidence (here the letter from Lama’s uncle) indicating that relocation to the designated area could be unsafe.

For the foregoing reasons, we grant the petition and remand this matter to the BIA for further proceedings consistent with this decision. Any relocation analysis must comport with the governing regulations and this court’s precedents. See 8 C.F.R. § 1208.13(b)(3); Singh, 914 F.3d at 659–61. We also dismiss as moot the portion of Lama’s petition challenging the BIA’s denial of his motion to remand.

PETITION FOR REVIEW GRANTED IN PART AND DISMISSED IN PART; REMANDED.

4

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

Once again, this is nothing profound, difficult, or controversial. Just basic application of EOIR’S own regulations, consideration of all the evidence presented by the respondent, and basic analysis, with some fundamental fairness and common sense thrown in. That’s probably why the panel didn’t deem it worthy of publication. But, it does further illustrate a disturbing pattern at the BIA and the Immigration Courts.

During my time as an Immigration Judge, I was sometimes involved in the nationwide judicial law clerk (JLC) training program. One of my key points to the JLCs was that many Immigration Judges, even then, continued to get basic “burden shifting” and further analysis wrong once the respondent established past persecution, thereby invoking the regulatory presumption of future persecution.

The DHS then has the burden of establishing by a preponderance of the evidence either 1) fundamentally changed conditions that would eliminate any well-founded fear of individualized persecution; or 2) a reasonably available internal relocation alternative under the applicable regulations.

Because conditions seldom materially improve in most refugee-sending countries, and reasonable relocation alternatives that would eliminate a well-founded fear of persecution (not hiding in someone’s basement or in a cave in the forest) can seldom be established, in my experience, the DHS almost always failed to rebut the presumption. This was particularly the case because then, as now, the ICE counsel usually presented no testimony or other evidence to rebut the presumption beyond that contained in the State Department Country Report, which seldom was definitive on this type of highly individualized analysis.

Even where the DHS rebuts the regulatory presumption, the respondent still can win protection if she or he shows 1) compelling reasons for not returning arising from the past persecution, or 2) a reasonable possibility of other serious harm if returned.

These regulatory standards are consistent with the generous intent of the refugee definition as described by the Supreme Court in INS v. Cardoza-Fonseca. They should result in rather easy grants of protection in most cases involving past persecution,

However it appears that EOIR judges haven’t improved in this area. If anything, result-oriented decision-making geared to make denial of asylum the “administrative norm” evidently has been substituted for careful, professional, expert analysis. Indeed, correct analysis by expert judges knowledgeable in asylum law would probably result in most cases like this being granted at the Immigration Judge level, or even the Asylum Office, thus discouraging the DHS from taking largely meritless appeals to the BIA and reducing the workload in the Circuit Courts.

Instead the sloppy, biased, “any reason to deny” attitude that infects today’s EOIR means that justice for asylum seekers requires skilled lawyers, a “lucky draw” on judges at some level of the system, and, all too often, endless remands and time spent on “redos” to correct elementary errors. No wonder this system is running an astounding 1.3 million case backlog, even with many more IJs on the bench at both the trial and appellate levels!

This is a “system designed to fail.” And, failing it is, at every level, spilling over into the Article III Courts and placing the foundation of our entire U.S. justice system — due process for all under law — in jeopardy.

Quality, expertise, understanding, and a fair and humane attitude toward asylum seekers is much more important than quantity in asylum adjudication! This the exact opposite of the message delivered by the last Administration.

Here’s my basic thesis:

- Granting relief wherever possible and at the lowest possible levels of the system speeds things up and promotes best practices and maximum efficiency without stomping on anyone’s rights. (And, it saves lives).
  - En masse denials and trying to run a “deportation railroad” eventually leads to gross inefficiencies and systemic failure. (And, it kills innocent individuals).

I’m not the only one who believes this. As one of my esteemed Round Table colleagues recently quipped: “The sloppiness of the BIA in case after case is alarming.” Indeed it is; but, sadly, not particularly surprising or unusual.

🇺🇸⚖️🗽Due Process Forever!

PWS

03-01-21

CNN’S CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR INTERVIEWS NDPA SUPERSTAR 🌟 ANDREA MARTINEZ ON NEED FOR BIDEN’S IMMIGRATION REFORM BILL!

Amanpour & Martinez — CCN Anchor Christiane Amanpour & Immigration Attorney Andrea Martinez
SOURCE: CNN

Watch this video clip from CCN:

https://apple.news/A5fldUh3pTnWBhjhXUz6QOg

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

Thanks for speaking out Andrea! Andrea is a former Arlington Immigration Court intern and one of the “charter members” of the NDPA. As captured on this video, she was assaulted by ICE while trying to assist her child client in reuniting with his mother! A civil suit against the agent involved is pending.

🇺🇸🗽⚖️Due Process Forever!

PWS

02-27-21

WHEN DOES “IS OR WAS” MEAN “WAS AT THE TIME?” — When The BIA Wants To Screw An Abused Spouse! — Matter of L-L-P-, 28 I&N Dec. 441 (BIA 2021) Is BIA’s Latest Effort To Ignore Plain Statutory Language To Achieve Anti-Immigrant Outcome!

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

Kangaroos — “Screwed the respondent again, this is exhilarating! Don’t they ever get tired of losing?”
https://www.flickr.com/photos/rasputin243/
Creative Commons License

Matter of L-L-P-, 28 I&N Dec. 441 (BIA 2021)

https://www.justice.gov/eoir/page/file/1370261/download

BIA Headnote:

An applicant for special rule cancellation of removal under section 240A(b)(2) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1229b(b)(2) (2018), based on spousal abuse must demonstrate both that the abuser was his or her lawful spouse and possessed either United States citizenship or lawful permanent resident status at the time of the abuse.

PANEL: GREER and GOODWIN, Appellate Immigration Judges; PEPPER, Temporary Appellate Immigration Judge

OPINION BY: GOODWIN, Appellate Immigration Judge

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

To state the obvious, if Congress intended the meaning the BIA came up with, they would have just said “was at the time of the abuse.”

Here are a few of the comments from the Courtside mailbox:

“I hope it is not naive to think that the DV community might get a new AG to certify this. Beyond the strategic evil of granting remand and slipshod reasoning, it demonstrates a shocking ignorance of domestic violence and abuse. There is no way this would survive review at the circuit level.”
“Interesting that even though the Administration has set a more “immigrant friendly” tone, the BIA continues to crank out restrictive, anti-immigrant precedents, inevitably choosing the interpretation least favorable to the respondent in all precedents! I sure wish they would be ousted!”
“It’s the same Board Members. I don’t remember the decisions becoming better under Obama, other than A-R-C-G-. And the present Board is far worse in its makeup than under Obama.”
And, perhaps my favorite, short, accurate, and to the point: “F**k!”

It’s what happens when you create a “judiciary” far removed from the human problems and real-life in-court experiences of the community whose lives they crush under their uninformed and tone-deaf “jurisprudence.”

Starting sometime in March, Judge Garland, now one of the most highly respected Federal Judges in America, will find himself in a new position — as the “named defendant” in some the worst so-called jurisprudence in modern American legal history in the now most-litigated area in Federal civil law! This is “intentionally skewed jurisprudence” embodying White Nationalism, inhumanity, and xenophobia.

Is that really the way he wants to be remembered by future generations? If not, what’s his plan for bringing due process, fundamental fairness, diversity, compassion, quality control, efficiency, and “practical scholarship” to our embarrassingly and disgracefully dysfunctional Immigration “Courts?”

🇺🇸⚖️🗽Due Process Forever!

PWS

02-26-21

☠️⚰️MORE LIFE-THREATENING ERRORS — BIA’s (Absurd) Anti-Asylum Slant On Mexican Asylum Case Blown Away By 9th Cir. — “As we read its decision, the BIA recognized that property ownership was a cause—and moreover, the real reason—Garcia was targeted, but it still found that she was not targeted “on account of” property ownership.” — Naranjo Garcia v. Wilkinson

Four Horsemen — BIA Asylum Panel In Action
Albrecht Dürer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Dan Kowalski reports from LexisNexis Immigration Community:

https://www.lexisnexis.com/LegalNewsRoom/immigration/b/insidenews/posts/ca9-on-mexico-cartels-social-group-nexus-naranjo-garcia-v-wilkinson

CA9 on Mexico, Cartels, Social Group, Nexus: Naranjo Garcia v. Wilkinson

Naranjo Garcia v. Wilkinson

“Alicia Naranjo Garcia (“Garcia”) is a native and citizen of Mexico. Garcia petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) decision affirming the Immigration Judge’s (“IJ”) denial of her application for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). The Knights Templar, a local drug cartel, murdered Garcia’s husband, twice threatened her life, and forcibly took her property in retaliation for helping her son escape recruitment by fleeing to the United States. We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252, and we grant the petition in part and remand. … [W]e conclude that the BIA erred in its nexus analysis for both Garcia’s asylum claim and her withholding of removal claim. We remand with instructions for the BIA to reconsider Garcia’s asylum claim, and for the BIA to consider whether Garcia is eligible for withholding of removal under the proper “a reason” standard. We deny the petition as it relates to Garcia’s claim for relief under CAT.”

[Hats off to Sarah A. Nelson (argued), Certified Law Student; Thomas V. Burch and Anna W. Howard, Supervising Attorneys; University of Georgia School of Law, Athens, Georgia!]

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

This insanely nonsensical gibberish put forth by the BIA — and defended by OIL — is an insult to the entire American justice system! Obviously, EOIR and their DOJ “handlers” unethically assume that Article III Circuit Judges will just “take a dive” and defer to illegal and illogical removal orders. Because, after all, it’s only foreign nationals (mostly people of color) whose lives are at stake! Not “real human beings.” That’s exactly what “institutionalized racism” and “Dred Scottification” look like. Nothing worth breaking a sweat about in the “21st Century Jim Crow America!”

The BIA’s anti-asylum bias and massively incompetent adjudication — on life or death matters — continues to be exposed. There likely are many, many other legitimate asylum cases that are wrongfully rejected by the EOIR “denial factory.” That’s one of many reasons why the EOIR/DHS (intentionally) “cooked stats” on the bona fides of asylum seekers arriving at our Southern Border can never be trusted!

Not everyone is fortunate enough to have competent representation and get meaningful review by a Circuit panel not on “autopilot.” This is a corrupt and broken system, the continued existence of which in its current form is a repudiation of our Constitution, the rule of law, and human decency!

The Biden Administration can, and must, put an end to this ongoing national disgrace! “Any reason to deny” is not justice!

Wonder how the Georgia Law Clinic got involved in this 9th Circuit case? I have the answer, thanks to my friend Michelle Mendez, Director, Defending Vulnerable Populations @ CLINIC:

Thanks so much to CLINIC’s BIA Pro Bono Project for identifying and placing this case with the wonderful team at at University of Georgia School of Law!

The NDPA is everywhere! And, we’ll continue to be there until due process for all is achieved, regardless of the Administration!

Due Process Forever!

PWS

02-19-21

ICE ISSUES NEW ENFORCEMENT GUIDANCE INCORPORATING PRIORITIES!

Here’s the memo:

https://www.ice.gov/doclib/news/releases/2021/021821_civil-immigration-enforcement_interim-guidance.pdf

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

As always with ICE, the question is compliance in the field. After four years of essentially random enforcement designed to terrorize communities of color in support of a White Nationalist political agenda, I would expect lots of “line resistance” to establishing a disciplined, focused enforcement program targeting real priorities, not “low hanging fruit.”

Remember that one of the ways ICE Enforcement got their jollies and built up stats during the past regime was to “sack up” long-time residents under final orders who posed no real threat to anyone, but voluntarily reported to periodic check-ins with ICE. It a far cry from picking on those seeking mercy to actually rounding up “bad guys.” Likely to cause the stats to crater for awhile. Which, of course, will set off a storm of bogus protest from the nativist right!

The union of ICE Enforcement agents purported to negotiate a bogus “agreement” with an illegally appointed Trump lackey that would have prevented the Biden Administration from changing enforcement policies. Not surprisingly, Biden officials recently trashed this outrageous piece of White Nationalist nonsense.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ice-officers-union-agreement-trump-homeland-security/

But, it does illustrate the formidable problems facing Secretary Mayorkas in getting control of this sprawling, rudderless, missionless “rogue agency.”

By contrast, the union representing USCIS Asylum Officers courageously stood up for the legal and constitutional rights of vulnerable refugees. They were, of course, “punished” by illegally being replaced with absurdly unqualified Border Patrol Agents. Perhaps Asylum Officers should be the future leaders at DHS. It’s certainly a mess right now!

It’s also worth noting that agents of Homeland Security Investigations (“HSI”) earlier tried in vain to separate themselves from ICE’s gonzo, racist “civil enforcement” realizing that the latter was a huge negative to legitimate law enforcement. So, some folks at DHS have some wisdom, sound judgement, and commitment to sane, humane law enforcement. Just not enough!

Due Process Forever!

PWS

02-18-21

⚖️JOHN D. TRASVINA WILL HEAD OPLA @ ICE! — Should Be Good News!

From Dan Kowalski at LexisNexis Immigration Community:

https://www.lexisnexis.com/legalnewsroom/immigration/b/outsidenews/posts/will-john-d-trasvina-reform-ice-opla-i-have-high-hopes

Will John D. Trasviña Reform ICE OPLA? I Have High Hopes…

In late January 2021 John D. Trasviña was appointed Principal Legal Advisor at ICE.

Here is his ICE bio dated 1-26-21, and here is his Wikipedia entry.

Call it wishful thinking, but I hope he can revamp the ICE legal team from top to bottom and set a new direction, especially regarding who gets put into proceedings and why.

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

I share your high hopes, Dan!

I dealt with John on occasion in some of my “prior incarnations,” several decades ago. Always found him thoughtful, fair, reasonable, and helpful. Most of all, he was a guy with some compassion and empathy as well as a firm grasp of the “big picture” of immigration policies and their relationship to labor, jobs, the economy, and social and racial justice. Instilling those same qualities in OPLA and ICE would be a fantastic start!

🇺🇸👍🏼⚖️🗽Due Process Forever!

PWS

CELEBRATING BLACK HISTORY MONTH @ DHS: ICE DEPORTS BLACKS TO DANGER & POTENTIAL DEATH, MANY WITH NO DUE PROCESS!🏴‍☠️ — Legislators Call On Biden Administration To End Racist Enforcement Policies!

Colfax

https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/black-immigrants-deportations-biden/2021/02/12/5f395932-6d54-11eb-ba56-d7e2c8defa31_story.html

Arelis R. Hernandez
Southern Border Reporter
Washington Post, Photo: WashPost

By Maria Sacchetti and Arelis R. Hernández in WashPost:

Prominent Black lawmakers are urging the Biden administration to stop expelling migrants to nations such as Haiti that are engulfed in political turmoil, fearing that they could be harmed or killed.

Hundreds of immigrants have been swept out of the United States in recent days, a blow to groups that had been counting on President Biden and Vice President Harris, the daughter of immigrants and the first Black vice president, to halt deportations and overturn the Trump administration’s hard-line immigration policies.

Biden attempted to pause most deportations on Jan. 20, but a federal judge temporarily blocked the move. Immigration officials say the recent removals match Biden’s new enforcement priorities — such as people who recently crossed the border or who were convicted of serious crimes — but advocates say immigrants are being sent to nations where they could face danger.

“The community should not still be in panic across this nation when we have an administration that is willing to do the work of stopping these deportations,” Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) said Friday in a call with reporters. “They have the authority to say no more flights will leave the United States.”

Migrants who cross the border are still being removed under a Trump administration order that allowed the expulsion of recently arrived people under Title 42, Section 265, of the public health law that aims to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Advocates for immigrants tracking the flights say Immigration and Customs Enforcement has expelled approximately 900 Haitians, including dozens of children, in the past two weeks.

Advocates for immigrants say the situation is urgent, as Haiti and nations in Africa are facing varying threats. Haiti, the Western Hemisphere’s poorest country, has seen its democracy plunge into a constitutional crisis with allegations of a coup attempt and conflicting claims to the presidency.

. . . .

ICE deported New York resident Paul Pierrilus to Haiti on Feb. 2, even though he has never been to that country and has lived 35 of his 40 years in the United States.

He had fought deportation since 2004 after a drug conviction. His parents are of Haitian descent, but they are U.S. citizens and Pierrilus was born on the Caribbean island of St. Martin.

Haiti had never recognized him as a citizen, he said, but an immigration judge ordered him deported more than 16 years ago and he lost his appeals.

In an interview, Pierrilus described how he had to be dragged off the airplane. He wore the parka he used to wear in New York into the tropical 85-degree air. He said he is stunned and defeated.

“I’m not a Haitian citizen! I’m not a Haitian citizen!” Pierrilus recalled yelling as local officials pushed him onto a bus. “I felt helpless because it’s a situation out of my control. It’s a situation I can’t do anything about. No one is hearing what I’m saying.”

. . . .

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

Read the complete article at the link.

The Pierrilus story is particularly indicative of ICE’s attitude toward people of color: If he’s black send him to Haiti, ask questions later!

Courtside was “on top” of Ed Pilkington’s recent Guardian article on deporting babies and children to total disorder and danger in Haiti.

https://immigrationcourtside.com/2021/02/08/%f0%9f%96%95ice-continues-to-give-biden-administration-humanity-the-big-middle-finger-racism-also-on-display-as-haitian-kids-babies-deported-to-burning-house/

Remember, creating an atmosphere of fear and terror in ethnic communities throughout the United States was a key priority of the Trump White Nationalist kakistocracy — with a some help from the Supremes’ majority. It has been very successful. In fact, as noted by Vice President Harris, hate crimes directed against Asian Americans are up astronomically.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjxhrifm-fuAhU4MVkFHTW0BywQ0PADegQIGRAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnbc.com%2F2021%2F02%2F12%2Fvp-harris-responds-to-surge-in-violent-attacks-against-asian-americans.html&usg=AOvVaw2FZQYF9caSSckRsqU9fO58

But, of course, there aren’t any Asian American Justices, are there? So, out of sight out of mind for perhaps Ameria’s “least representative” court (with the possible exception of the EOIR “courts”).

I’ve consistently been making several points that others are finally starting to pick up on and that will be essential for Biden Administration policy makers to keep in mind:

The issues of racial justice and immigrant justice are deeply intertwined — one can’t be solved without addressing the other;
Dehumanization of “the other” (Black, Latino, Asian-American, women, immigrants, asylum seekers, etc.) — “Dred Scottification” — has been promoted over the past four years and essentially endorsed and furthered by a tone-deaf Supremes’ majority;
Racist attitudes and misogyny are deeply ingrained in the current DHS and EOIR (now operating as an adjunct of DHS Enforcement) enforcement mechanisms and in some of the personnel carrying out enforcement policies, including some EOIR judges;
An aura of impunity and unaccountability infects both DHS and DOJ;
Racial justice and equal justice under law will not be achieved without significant personnel and attitude changes at the “retail level” of both DHS and EOIR.

Finally, complaining is a start. But, it won’t result in the necessary systemic changes.

The only way that African-American, Hispanic-American, Asian-American, and female lawmakers are going to get durable change is by prevailing on their colleagues to recognize the humanity of all persons in the United States and to make the necessary statutory changes in the immigration laws, beginning, but not ending, with an independent Article I Immigration Court.

🇺🇸⚖️🗽Due Process Forever!

PWS

02-13-21

⚒PULVERIZED AGAIN: 4TH CIR. JACKHAMMERS BIA’S LATEST ANTI-ASYLUM, MISOGYNIST 🏴‍☠️ CRUSADE TARGETING REFUGEE WOMEN FROM GUATEMALA — “Excessively narrow view of nexus” — “Record conclusively establishes that the Guatemalan government was unable or unwilling to control Diaz de Gomez’s persecutors!”

Woman Tortured — “She struggled madly in the torturing Ray”
Amazing StoriesArtist Unknown, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Dan Kowalski reports for LexisNexis Immigration Community:

https://www.lexisnexis.com/legalnewsroom/immigration/b/insidenews/posts/ca4-on-guatemala-nexus-argueta-diaz-de-gomez-v-wilkinson

CA4 on Guatemala, Nexus: Argueta Diaz de Gomez v. Wilkinson

Argueta Diaz de Gomez v. Wilkinson

“Diaz de Gomez claims that she received repeated death threats from a gang in Guatemala after she and her family witnessed a mass killing by gang members and refused to acquiesce to the gang’s extortion and other demands. … [W]e reject the Board’s “excessively narrow” view of the nexus requirement, and conclude that Diaz de Gomez established that her familial ties were one central reason for her persecution. … We also hold that the record conclusively establishes that the Guatemalan government was unable or unwilling to control Diaz de Gomez’s persecutors. We therefore grant the petition for review and remand for the Board to reconsider Diaz de Gomez’s claims in light of our holdings.”

[Hats off to Pamela P. Keenan!]

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

So, let’s compare the 4th Circuit’s view with the most recent abomination and intentional misconstruction of the “unable or unwilling to control” doctrine by totally unqualified political hack Jeffrey Rosen, then impersonating the “Acting Attorney General” and issuing clearly unconstitutional “precedents” to implement the defeated regime’s racially biased, misogynistic, anti-asylum agenda.

https://immigrationcourtside.com/category/asylum/failure-of-state-protection/

Absurdly, up until the Biden Administration suspended it this week, Guatemala, of all places, was fraudulently determined by the Trump immigration kakistocracy to be a “safe third country” for asylum seekers. https://www.state.gov/suspending-and-terminating-the-asylum-cooperative-agreements-with-the-governments-el-salvador-guatemala-and-honduras/

Talk about “crimes against humanity!” ☠️🏴‍☠️ Certainly, every current civil servant who supported and advanced this bogus designation should be held accountable.

Kakistocracy Kills: Obviously, with better qualified judges, competent representation, and a fair system operated in accordance with due process and a proper interpretation of asylum laws, many of those now being arbitrarily, capriciously, and unlawfully turned back at our borders would be entitled to our legal protection. This is life or death, not a problem that can “wait till tomorrow” to be addressed! Every day that the patently inadequate “judges” currently on the BIA remain in their positions means more injustice, trauma, and even death for legitimate asylum seekers!

The BIA Clown Show 🤡🦹🏿‍♂️ has got to go!

🇺🇸⚖️🗽Due Process Forever!

PWS

02-10-21

🖕ICE CONTINUES TO GIVE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION, HUMANITY THE BIG MIDDLE FINGER! — Racism Also On Display As Haitian Kids & Babies Deported To “Burning House!”

https://apple.news/ATjEjX2Z_QnKYbl01eYMHNA

Ed Pilkington reports for The Guardian:

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) deported at least 72 people to Haiti on Monday, including a two-month-old baby and 21 other children, in an apparent flagrant breach of the Biden administration’s orders only to remove suspected terrorists and potentially dangerous convicted felons.

The children were deported to Haiti on Monday on two flights chartered by Ice from Laredo, Texas to the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince. The removals sent vulnerable infants back to Haiti as it is being roiled by major political unrest.

New claims of migrant abuse as Ice defies Biden to continue deportations

Read more

Ice is facing a rising chorus of denunciation as a “rogue agency” for its apparent refusal to abide by the new guidelines laid down by Biden and his homeland security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas. The incoming administration ordered a 100-day moratorium on all deportations, which was temporarily blocked by a judge in Texas.

However, the judge’s restraining order left in place the new guidelines stipulating that only the most serious immigration cases should be subject to deportation.

Last Friday, the administration appeared to gain the upper hand in its attempt to rein in Ice when deportation flights to Haiti were suspended. But on Monday the immigration agency reasserted itself again with the renewed flights to Port-au-Prince, children and infants on board.

Human rights activists are dismayed by the deportations, which bear a close resemblance to the hardline course set by Donald Trump. “It is unconscionable for us as a country to continue with the same draconian, cruel policies that were pursued by the Trump administration,” said Guerline Jozef, executive director of the immigration support group the Haitian Bridge Alliance.

She added: “I don’t know what’s going on between Ice and the Biden administration, but we know what needs to be done: the deportations must stop.”

. . . .

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

Read the full article at the the link.

Unfortunately, as I have pointed out, ICE is totally of control. It’s going to take more than policy memos to change that!

PWS

02-08-21

IT’S NOT ROCKET SCIENCE! 🚀 — GREG CHEN & PROFESSOR PETER MARKOWITZ CAN CUT THE IMMIGRATION COURT BACKLOG IN HALF IMMEDIATELY WITH NO ADDITIONAL RESOURCES! — And, That’s Just The Beginning! — “Team Garland” Needs To Get The “A-Team” In Place @ EOIR & End The Nonsense, Injustice, & Waste Of “America’s Star Chambers!”

https://thehill.com/opinion/immigration/536794-unclogging-the-nations-immigration-court-system

From Immigration Impact:

. . . .

That is why the Justice Department must also identify categories of non priority immigration court cases that can be dismissed now. One obvious category is the estimated 460,000 cases — an astounding 37 percent of the current backlog — that involve individuals who could qualify, under current law, for legal status. It makes little sense to waste limited enforcement resources by having immigration prosecutors and judges spend years trying these cases in court, when trained adjudicators at another agency, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, can handle them more efficiently through paper applications.

Supreme Court cancels border wall, asylum policy hearings after Biden…

Another category of cases that should be removed from judges’ dockets are the 200,000 cases that have been pending for more than five years. By definition, these old cases are ones that prosecutors and judges have deemed low priorities.

Biden has noted that the Obama administration “took too long” to begin fixing the nation’s immigration system. His initial steps are a promising indication that he intends to move swiftly to build the fair, humane and functional immigration enforcement system he has promised. To guarantee results, the new president must use his first 100 days to identify and remove the non priority cases bottlenecked in America’s immigration courts.

Greg Chen is senior director of government relations for the American Immigration Lawyers Association. Peter L. Markowitz is a professor of law at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law where he directs the Kathryn O. Greenberg Immigration Justice Clinic.

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

Read the full article at the link.

Presto: 1.3 million million docket becomes 640,000. And that’s just the beginning!

Here are some more low-budget, immediate action “No-Brainers:”

Vacate all of the anti-asylum, backlog expanding “precedents” issued by Sessions, Whitaker, Barr, and the BIA over the past four years (immediately returning needed flexibility and some degree of fairness to the system);
Reassign the current BIA and replace with expert judges committed to due process who know how to grant asylum and establish precedents on how “clear grants” can be easily identified, properly documented, and consistently adjudicated (eliminate “refugee roulette” — largely a product of an “any reason to deny culture” combined with defective judicial selection, poor training, and lousy leadership);
Return all asylum cases denied over the past four years to the USCIS Asylum Office for adjudication without all the anti-asylum precedents and dehumanizing policies of the Trump regime;
Work with the private bar and NGOs to increase representation with universal representation as the goal;
Eliminate inane and demeaning “production quotas” for EOIR judges (thus placing the emphasis back on careful decision making, thoughtful analysis, and getting the correct result the first time — also restoring IJs’ ability to schedule and manage dockets).

Realistically, 500 Immigration Judges can complete approximately 250,000 to 300,000 cases annually. A combination of 1) the “Chen-Markowitz plan;” 2) the “Schmidt Addendum;” and 3) the more sensible and realistic enforcement priorities initiative already underway at DHS will have EOIR “operating in real time” (and, significantly, in the national interest) in no time at all — without legislation or busting anyone’s budget!

Of course, these initial steps are just the “tip of the iceberg” of the reforms necessary at EOIR, leading to the fulfillment of the vision of “through teamwork and innovation becoming the world’s best tribunals guaranteeing fairness and due process for all.” Congress must at the earliest opportunity create an independent Article I Immigration Court to institutionalize and preserve these reforms and “best practices.”

But, in the meantime, lives and our national interests are imperiled by the current deadly (and wasteful) dysfunction @ EOIR. There is every reason to fix the system now! And, it’s not “rocket science” — just expertise and common sense.

Which leads me to another obvious point — Members of the NDPA like Chen, Markowitz, Dean Kevin Johnson, Michelle Mendez, Associate Dean Professor Jaya-Ramji Nogales, Professor Phil Schrag, Professor Michele Pistone, up and coming all-star Lauren Wyatt, Judge Dana Marks and other leaders of the NAIJ, experienced due process oriented Immigration Judges like my former BIA colleague Judge Noel Brennan, and many others like them should be in charge of this effort to reform EOIR and create a model court system.

The Biden Administration must apply the same principles to EOIR Reform that they have elsewhere: Get rid of the “middlemen” and “bring in the experts” to run the show! Articles, papers, speeches, TV interviews, encounter groups, studies, and blogs are great — but putting the right folks in the right places to take action to solve problems is much better and more efficient! Put the folks with the answers in charge!

That would not only create a “laboratory of best judicial practices” that could be applied to the floundering Article III Judiciary, but also would provide the Biden Administration with source of well-trained progressive candidates for the Article III Judiciary. Leadership, including “leading by example” is critical in any well-functioning judicial system; it has been sorely lacking at EOIR (and in the Article III Judiciary) over the past four years. As the Biden Administration has already recognized, the only real leadership among the Federal Judiciary has come from “resistors” like Judge Ashley Tabaddor, now at USCIS.

Incidentally, in her current position at USCIS, Judge Tabaddor is perfectly placed to work with EOIR in carrying out the “Chen-Markowitz plan” to get cases of those potentially eligible for residence out of the EOIR backlog and into USCIS where they can be handled more efficiently.

Suggestion for EOIR Acting Director Jean King: Perhaps you weren’t aware that EOIR just posted the following recruitment notice for Attorney Advisor (Counsel to the Deputy Director) (not a joke, sadly): https://lnks.gd/l/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJidWxsZXRpbl9saW5rX2lkIjoxMDAsInVyaSI6ImJwMjpjbGljayIsImJ1bGxldGluX2lkIjoiMjAyMTAyMDMuMzQ1MzcxMTEiLCJ1cmwiOiJodHRwczovL3d3dy5qdXN0aWNlLmdvdi9sZWdhbC1jYXJlZXJzL2pvYi9hdHRvcm5leS1hZHZpc29yLWNvdW5zZWwtZGVwdXR5LWRpcmVjdG9yIn0.HqH7tPMLAQqeCW9Xc0ooJNBRk_97S44aMG-xy02Pesc/s/842922301/br/97008185548-l

To state the obvious, EOIR needs more “headquarters personnel” like a hole in the head! What you need is a streamlined staff of better-qualified individuals across the board: real judges and professional judicial administrators who will restore due process and get this system functioning again — sooner rather than later.

Additionally, the current Deputy Director Carl C. Risch is a notorious “Trump political burrower” who should be gone by the end of the month. 🧹🪠 https://immigrationcourtside.com/category/department-of-justice/executive-office-for-immigration-review-eoir/office-of-chief-administrative-hearing-officer-ocaho/judge-james-mchenry/carl-c-risch/

Consequently, there is no apparent need for additional “counsel” in his office right now. To say the least, this ill-timed “example of the “Continuing Clown Show at EOIR”🤡 has already become a “internet mini-sensation!” At the very least, you should wait until Risch’s replacement arrives and let her or him make the selection.

Undoubtedly, a reformed IJ tenure program (considering not only discipline but also retention of current judges and improved professional training) that is transparent, fair, and effective is a badly needed and long overdue improvement. But, hiring another bureaucrat (on short notice, which is likely to produce a less than “best qualified” candidate) isn’t the answer.

That being said, I’ve already heard from a number of private practitioners who would love to be in charge of “professional responsibility for Immigration Judges.” They have lots of great ideas for improvements and a number of places where they would start the process immediately, if not sooner!

⚖️🗽🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

PWS

02-04-21

😢👎🏻TRUMP’S UNFINISHED WALL: A MONUMENT TO CRUELTY, STUPIDITY, & WASTEFULNESS — “Border Patrol agents drive around the area in expensive trucks, on an expensive road, next to a barrier that cost billions of dollars, all to keep the poorest people on the planet from asking us for help. In 2018, I spent time volunteering with a migrant caravan that had arrived in Tijuana and watched U.S. Department of Homeland Security employees launch tear gas over this wall at kids who couldn’t afford shoes.” — “It would be funny if it weren’t so ugly and pointless.” — James Stout @ Slate

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/02/trumps-border-wall-construction-has-halted-but-the-harm-remains.html

James Stout reports for Slate:

On Jan. 21, minibuses of contractors in hi-viz vests were still bumping along the dirt road they had built for themselves in the high desert village of Campo, California, an hour east of San Diego. Less than 24 hours before, the newly inaugurated President Joe Biden had signed an executive order declaring that “the national emergency declared by Proclamation 9844 … is terminated and that the authorities invoked in that proclamation will no longer be used to construct a wall at the southern border.”

The Trump administration’s border wall project arrived in Campo in early 2020. The area is rugged and rolling, studded with oak trees and sagebrush. It couldn’t be more different from the bustling beaches and boardwalks most people associate with San Diego.

Into this landscape came contractors who were working with dynamite and heavy machinery 24 hours a day, with funding from both the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense. The latter money came through the executive order rescinded by Biden, in which Trump had claimed an emergency that even he admitted was not necessary. In 2020, the emergency spending accounted for $676 million in San Diego and El Centro counties.

The borderlands in eastern San Diego County, like every inch of the United States, are the ancestral homelands of Indigenous people. San Diego County has the highest number of reservations in the country, and the Kumeyaay people lived on this land long before the border came. Over the past year, they have been fighting a 30-foot steel wall that tears through the fragile high desert and divides Kumeyaay living north of the wall from their relatives to the south.

From a vantage point on top of a peak in eastern San Diego County, the wall stretches out as a physical manifestation of the brutality and ugliness of Donald Trump’s vision of American greatness. Sagebrush bushes, which survive in a region that can kill you with heat in the summer and cold in the winter, are held back by a rusty barbed wire fence next to a double-wide dirt road which runs alongside the towering steel spine of the wall proper. The wall stands on a deep concrete foundation, backed by the empty brownness of the roadway. No effort has been made aesthetically or ecologically to make this wall belong here. It’s as if the land, plants, and animals have drawn back in revulsion at the intrusion. On the other side of the newly created dead zone, bushes and plants grow right up to the border.

. . . .

Border Patrol agents drive around the area in expensive trucks, on an expensive road, next to a barrier that cost billions of dollars, all to keep the poorest people on the planet from asking us for help. In 2018, I spent time volunteering with a migrant caravan that had arrived in Tijuana and watched U.S. Department of Homeland Security employees launch tear gas over this wall at kids who couldn’t afford shoes.

Passages for the wall have been blasted out of the fragile landscape of California’s desert, causing drainage problems, disrupting migration pathways for the area’s wildlife, and leaving huge piles of rubble. Further east, there are half-finished roads that lead to nowhere, designed to allow contractors to deploy huge machinery against the defenseless landscape. They’re now just even-more-obvious illustrations of the ridiculous nature of the whole project.

Even before the roads run out, there are gaps in the wall. Construction stepped up in the months before the election to allow for Trump to make ever more ridiculous claims about miles of wall built, sometimes this meant harder-to-build areas were skipped or two crews worked on a wall that didn’t quite meet in the middle. It would be funny if it weren’t so ugly and pointless.

. . . .

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

Read the complete article at the link.

The unfinished wall is also a monument to:

The failure of the Supremes to stand up for democracy and the rule of law in the face of tyranny “supported” by blatantly bogus “pretexts;” and
The failure of our national values.

With respect to the latter, there is nothing that will bring the world’s greatest and richest “superpower” to its knees more quickly than a ragtag band of desperate unarmed humans yearning to breathe free 🗽and seeking legal protection ⚖️🧑🏽‍⚖️under our system! How dare they assert their legal rights and their humanity!

⚖️🗽Due Process Forever!

PWS

02-03-21

☹️BIDEN ADMINISTRATION DELIVERS FAMILIAR MESSAGE TO ASYLUM SEEKERS STUCK IN MEXICO: “Wait, While We Study & Think, Hope You’re Still Alive By The Time We Figure It Out!” — Lots Of Talk, Not Much Action Marks Latest Executive Orders Looking To Revisit The Chaos & Dysfunction Left By Four Years Of Miller’s White Nationalist Agenda!

Remain in Mexico — A girl peers out from an encampment at the U.S.-Mexico border where she and several hundred people waited to present themselves to U.S. immigration to seek asylum. / Photo by David Maung

https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2021-02-02/biden-immigration-executive-orders-trump

Molly O’Toole reports for the LA Times:

. . . .

Tuesday’s directives mandate a review, but do not end, the Remain in Mexico policy, which Biden had said he would rescind on his first day in office. Officially termed the Migrant Protection Protocols, or MPP, it has forced roughly 70,000 asylum seekers back to Mexico to wait in some of the world’s most dangerous cities for immigration court hearings in the U.S. that have been largely suspended since the Trump administration effectively closed the border last March, citing COVID-19.

Human Rights First has recorded at least 1,134 public reports of murder, torture, rape and kidnapping against asylum seekers returned to Mexico under MPP. Thousands have given up.

On Jan. 20, the Homeland Security Department announced that no new asylum seekers would be subjected to MPP, telling some 30,000 migrants left in limbo at the border by Trump that they should “remain where they are, pending further official information from government officials.”

Tuesday’s directives, as described by the officials, provide little additional clarity as to how the Biden administration will process those already subjected to MPP, along with thousands of others waiting.

Ensuring that MPP and other cases are processed “humanely” while safeguarding public health amid a pandemic is “fairly complicated,” one senior official said.

“I can’t tell you exactly how long it will take to have an alternative to that policy,” the other senior official said. Those under MPP will “certainly be taken into account because of the length of time they’ve waited and the conditions they are waiting in.”

On Monday, the administration effectively dropped appeals by the Trump administration in lawsuits against MPP and the diversion of billions in federal funds for border barrier construction. The acting Homeland Security head asked the Supreme Court to remove both cases, scheduled for oral arguments later this month, from its docket.

The Biden administration has not yet said what it will do with the effective closure of the border by the Trump administration under Title 42, which Tuesday’s directives do not address. The officials Monday cited ongoing litigation over the policy for the lack of action.

Under Title 42, Trump officials rapidly expelled hundreds of thousands of migrants, including asylum seekers and unaccompanied children, without due process. Whistleblowers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the Trump White House pushed the order for political, not public health, reasons.

On Tuesday, Biden also will take steps to restore Obama-era pathways allowing vulnerable groups in Central American to apply for admission to the U.S. from within the region, officials said.

. . . .

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

Read the rest of Molly’s detailed analysis of President Biden’s latest executive actions on immigration at the link.

Wonder how many more will be murdered, raped, tortured, kidnapped, robbed, extorted, get sick, or give up while their fate is being studied? Out of sight, (somewhat) out of mind. Just ask the Supremes’ majority! As long as the bodies aren’t on OUR doorsteps and we don’t have to listen to the moans, groans, and screams of the abused.

Five things that could be done immediately, without study:

Vacate all the anti-asylum precedents from the AG and the BIA since 2016;
Assign some Immigration Judges whose “TRAC Record” shows that they understand asylum law and aren’t afraid to grant protection to hear any scheduled MPP cases;
Replace the BIA (or at least create an “MPP Appeals Panel”) with judges who have demonstrated excellence and expertise in asylum law;
Do not go forward with any MPP case involving an unrepresented applicant;
Bar the issuance of “in absentia orders” in MPP cases.

⚖️🗽Due Process Forever!

PWS

02-02-21

🏴‍☠️LOTS OF TALK, BUT ICE’S ACTIONS SHOW LITTLE RECOGNITION THAT BIDEN ADMINISTRATION IS IN CHARGE — Deportations Of Victims, Deaths In Gulag, Defending Inhumane & Wasteful Policies In Court Continue “As Usual”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/feb/01/el-paso-mass-shooting-survivor-deported-to-mexico?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Outrage after survivor of El Paso mass shooting deported to Mexico

Police reportedly stopped the woman due to a non-functioning brake light, took her to a local jail and then soon deported her

Kenya Evelyn in Washington

Published:

12:00 Monday, 01 February 2021

Follow Kenya Evelyn

A survivor of a Walmart mass shooting that killed 23 people in El Paso, Texas, and targeted Latino people has been deported to Mexico, triggering widespread outrage among activists and local politicians.

Police reportedly stopped the woman – who was not named in full – due to a non-functioning brake light, then took her to a local jail. She was then placed into the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice), where she was soon deported to Mexico.

Best

The legal defense team working on her behalf confirmed to local KVIA that city police arrested the woman, identified as just Rosa. She was booked into the El Paso county jail annex.

Diocesan Migrant & Refugee Services told local KTSM that on Wednesday, the survivor was pulled over and, during the traffic stop, found to have two, five-year-old citations still outstanding.

By Friday morning, Rosa had been deported to Cuidad Juárez where she has remained ever since.

On a Saturday morning in early August 2019, a 21-year-old man walked into the El Paso Walmart Super Center and opened fire, first into the parking lot before taking aim at the store’s entryway. The attack killed 13 Americans, eight Mexicans and one German.

. . . .

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

Read the full article at the link.

Undoubtedly, it’s hard to “get a handle” on the failed DHS bureaucracy — a more than willing enforcer of Trump’s cruel, White Nationalist, often illegal immigration agenda.

But, if the Biden Administration wants to change policy, they must find the right people to do just that — sooner, rather than later! Otherwise, like past Dem Administrations, they will end up with a file (or drive) full of reasonable policy memos that everyone ignores.

PWS

02-01-21

☠️⚰️DEATH IN THE GULAG: 4TH COVID DEATH @ ICE STEWART IS 1ST FOR BIDEN ADMINISTRATION — Killer Policies, Grossly Incompetent Administration, & White-Nationalist Cruelty Across The Immigration Bureaucracy @ DHS & DOJ Need Immediate Attention! — Delay = Death, & Death Doesn’t Care Whether It’s Biden Or Trump!

Grim Reaper — G. Reaper Approaches ICE Gulag With “Imbedded Captive Star Chamber”
Image: Hernan Fednan, Creative Commons License

By Paul Wickham Schmidt

Special to Courtside

Feb. 1, 2021

Today, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported the first death in the ICE/EOIR Stewart Detention Gulag under the Biden Administration. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwiA4Iet8cjuAhUpF1kFHeRDBD4QFjAAegQIAhAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ajc.com%2Fnews%2Ffourth-ice-detainee-dies-from-covid-19-in-southwest-georgia%2FTNPDEQCTD5AJNEJG3AB5UODNGQ%2F&usg=AOvVaw0dRM3U1mG3KNQFzmiINivM

It was the first reported death at the Stewart Gulag since the Trump regime’s final killing in December 2020.

With “Caretaker Bureaucrats” in charge @ DHS & DOJ, the deadly migrant killing, harming, and terrorizing policies continue unabated. Indeed, as far as I can tell, seedy DOJ lawyers are pushing forward with defending the very cruel, stupid, inhumane, and illegal policies and bankrupt legal positions that the Trump immigration kakistocracy made infamous. The same policies that Biden and Harris campaigned against! EOIR continues to crank out skewed anti-immigrant, anti-asylum jurisprudence.

The current policies are killers; the bodies continue to pile up, even if they are (quite intentionally) in obscure places like Lumpkin, GA, the “no persons land” near the Mexican border, and in dangerous and corrupt foreign nations where our Government mindlessly “orbits” other human beings without regard to what it will happen to them.

For now, these stories of death, despair, and unnecessary human suffering are largely “out of sight, out of mind.” But, they are being documented and eventually history will highlight those, from the Roberts’ Court on down, who abjured their duties to their fellow humans and abused their positions of public trust.

Due Process Forever! Death ⚰️ in The New American Gulag ☠️, never!

PWS

02-01-21

TO ADDRESS REFUGEE FLOW FROM CENTRAL AMERICA AT ITS SOURCE, BIDEN PLAN MUST ADDRESS ENDEMIC GOVERNMENT CORRUPTION!

“Floaters” — “Floaters — How The World’s Richest Country Responds To Asylum Seekers”
EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT – The bodies of Salvadoran migrant Oscar Alberto Mart??nez Ram??rez and his nearly 2-year-old daughter Valeria lie on the bank of the Rio Grande in Matamoros, Mexico, Monday, June 24, 2019, after they drowned trying to cross the river to Brownsville, Texas. Martinez’ wife, Tania told Mexican authorities she watched her husband and child disappear in the strong current. (AP Photo/Julia Le Duc)

Trump Dumping Asylum Seekers in Hondiras — Dumping Asylum Seekers in Honduras
Artist: Monte Wolverton
Reproduced under license

https://www.univision.com/univision-news/opinion/bidens-immigration-policy-needs-anti-corruption-focus-in-central-america

Last week, 9000 Hondurans were beaten and tear-gassed in Guatemala as they tried to make their way to the U.S. border. More will be coming. The Biden administration just introduced the most comprehensive immigration bill since Ronald Reagan and also hopes to embark on a new strategy for the Northern Triangle of El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala.

This is undisputedly good news for a region ravaged by two Category 5 hurricanes in 2 weeks and an economy devastated by the Covid pandemic. But, unless that aid directly addresses the rampant corruption that has taken hold in the region, it will not stop thousands of desperate people from fleeing countries that give them little hope to survive much less flourish.

Make no mistake, it is corruption that has stolen hope from the region. Elites steal from school and hospital budgets to fund political campaigns and line pockets. Politicians give family members and supporters coveted government positions that should go to those most qualified. Police are bribed and threatened to look away while drug traffickers and gangs shatter communities.

Until this staggering systemic corruption is dismantled and the education, health and security institutions strengthened, Central Americans have little reason to hope for a future in their own countries.

During his presidential campaign, Joe Biden issued just one policy position for the Western Hemisphere and it was on Central America. In it he proposed a number of worthy initiatives, but one merits special consideration– a Central American anti-corruption commission that operates outside the control of the elites who are most threatened by its existence.

To be successful, this commission must learn from past experiences in Guatemala (CICIG), Honduras (MACCIH) and El Salvador (CICIES). While the first two enjoyed significant success, as soon as U.S. and local political pressure waned even a little, the local elites joined together to expel them.

. . . .

Authors! James D. Nealon is a former U.S. Ambassador to Honduras and Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security. Eric L. Olson is a Wilson Center Global Fellow. Kurt Alan Ver Beek is Co-Founder and President of the Association for a More Just Society – Honduras

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

Easier said than done. Many of the corrupt governing elites in Central America have close ties to our Government. They aren’t lightly going to let foreign assistance, whether from governments, NGOs, or private agencies go anywhere but their own pockets.

Also, Republicans in Congress have shown no willingness to deal with the overt corruption, grafting, and grafting of the Trump regime.

But the article is spot on about two things. Most Central American migration is driven by political punishment and exploitation of the people by corrupt government elites and those allied with them (gangs, in many instances). Far from being “random violence” or “common crime” as many restrictionists and border bureaucrats claim, it’s simply a variation of classic political, ethnic, and social group persecution. Those fleeing this abuse are refugees. Only by abdicating the law, intentionally skewing it, and too often just overtly violating it (sometimes with the complicity of courts, sometimes in violation of court orders) has our Government been able to avoid granting them the legal protection they deserve.

Second, desperate refugees are going to continue to come as long as they perceive it’s safer here than in their broken home countries or any of the other countries they will have to cross to get there. No walls, prisons, death at the border, violations of domestic and international law, racist rhetoric, illegal deportations, child abuse, misogyny or or other cruel, inhuman, and immoral policies will stop human migration.

Interestingly, the “first edition” of Courtside on December 31, 2016, dealt with the failure of Obama Administration’s cruel, yet highly ineffective, “get tough border policies.” https://immigrationcourtside.com/2016/12/31/family-detention-raids-expediting-cases-fails-to-deter-scared-central-americans/ Then, the Trump Administration “quadrupled down” on the cruelty, illegality, and stupidity.

We know roughly how many have been illegally returned and imprisoned. We have some “guesstimates” as to how many additional border crossers our failed policies have killed.

But, we have little or no idea how many have taken to heart our message about the falseness of our claim to be a “nation of laws” and the readily apparent bankruptcy of our legal system. Undoubtedly, those who “get it” have or will in the future simply keep crossing the border until they die in process or get to the interior where their chances of melding in and surviving are much better than their chances of getting a asylum or other protections from an EOIR that still appears to be carrying out the Steven Miller White Nationalist agenda.

The “government policies” of actively discouraging and punishing asylum applicants who apply in an orderly way at the border is as insanely stupid as it is cruel and illegal. Actually, allowing individuals to apply for asylum at the border “regardless of status” is a hallmark of the Refugee Act of 1980!

A few thousand desperate refugees who walk here from Central America pose no realistic threat to America or our national security. They merely detract attention from the real threats: armed right wing insurrectionists launching a deadly attack on our Capitol, right wing domestic terrorists energized by Trump, and maskless “magamorons” running around spreading deadly disease.

Process those applying at the border promptly under the appropriate generous legal criteria after giving them access to trained asylum advocates. Admit those who qualify after proper health and security screening. Work with the UNHCR and NGOs on how to handle those who don’t meet refugee criteria. Just aimlessly returning them to danger zones in the middle of a pandemic is obviously a nonstarter. So, we’re going to need smarter people, with real expertise and a humanitarian outlook, working on better solutions. We know lots about what DOESN’T work. Now, we need to come up with what WILL work.

PWS

02-01-21

🇺🇸⚖️🗽Due Process Forever!

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Presto: 1.3 million million docket becomes 640,000. And that’s just the beginning!

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By Paul Wickham Schmidt

Special to Courtside

Feb. 1, 2021

Due Process Forever! Death ⚰️ in The New American Gulag ☠️, never!

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