AS TOTALLY DYSFUNCTIONAL IMMIGRATION COURTS 👎🏽 CONTINUE THEIR DESCENT INTO THE ABYSS, 80 EXPERTS AND ORGANIZATIONS ASK GARLAND TO UNDO BARR’S ILLEGAL “BANISHMENT” OF THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF IMMIGRATION JUDGES (“NAIJ”)🧑🏽‍⚖️

Judge Amiena Khan is the executive vice president of the National Association of Immigration Judges (NAIJ) — Judge Amiena Khan, President National Association of Immigration Judges (NAIJ)

June 7, 2021

The Honorable Merrick Garland Attorney General

U.S. Department of Justice Washington, DC 20500

RE: Department of Justice Should Support the National Association of Immigration Judges and Withdraw the Petition to Decertify its Union

Dear Attorney General Garland,

We, the undersigned unions, organizations, immigration law professors and scholars, and other immigration court stakeholders call your attention to the urgent need to preserve and protect the National Association of Immigration Judges (NAIJ) and support collective bargaining by Department of Justice (DOJ) career civil servants. We are heartened by President Biden’s announcements on January 22, 2021, that both overturned his predecessor’s policies limiting employee rights to collectively bargain and also implement a wide-ranging policy to protect, empower, and rebuild the career federal workforce. President Biden’s announcements specifically encourage union organizing and collective bargaining.1

After four relentless years of union-busting, decisive leadership is needed to refortify the federal workforce. NAIJ and its 500+ bargaining unit members—immigration judges who are DOJ attorney employees—are in need of protection right now! NAIJ has been the collective bargaining representative for immigration judges since 1979. Yet, in 2019, the Trump administration filed a petition to strip immigration judges of their statutory right to be represented by a union and decertify NAIJ.

The Trump administration targeted NAIJ in retaliation for NAIJ’s criticism of both the unreasonable working conditions that DOJ managers imposed on its members and the sweeping curtailment of due process rights in immigration court.

While the decertification attempt was initially and thoroughly rejected in a decision by a career employee of the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA), the decision was abruptly reversed

1 Executive Order 14003, on Protecting the Federal Workforce. 1

in a politically-motivated decision by the FLRA. That FLRA decision ignored the detailed fact-finding of the career employee and reversed long-standing FLRA precedent that 20 years earlier had found that immigration judges were not in a position to influence agency policy.

The FLRA decision is devoid of any reasoned analysis and creates an extremely dangerous precedent for professional workers throughout the federal government. Future administrations could wield this decision like a sword to preclude other professional employees such as physicians, scientists, engineers, and others from unionizing. Indeed, this ill-conceived anti-union precedent could have devastating repercussions for decades to come.

At this moment, a motion to reconsider is currently pending at the FLRA, and we call on the DOJ to withdraw its opposition to that motion, withdraw its decertification petition, and take all steps to restore collective bargaining rights for NAIJ members. President Biden has committed to restoring labor unions and fair working conditions for federal employees. We ask the DOJ to do its part in supporting that objective by taking all necessary actions to ensure that the NAIJ remains a union so that it can continue to represent its members in support of fair working conditions. Doing so will be a service to Immigration Court stakeholders and the public at large.

We seek your immediate review and leadership in this matter. Sincerely,

Amiena Khan

Amiena Khan, President

National Association of Immigration Judges

Unions: AFL-CIO

American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), AFL-CIO American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), Local 511

American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), Local 3525

American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees American Federation of Teachers

Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO

Association of Flight Attendants-CWA

2

Communications Workers of America (CWA)

Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO

Federal Education Association

International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE) International Union of Painters and Allied Trades

Labor Council for Latin American Advancement National Association of Government Employees National Education Association

National Federation of Federal Employees National Nurses United

National Treasury Employees Union

National Weather Service Employees Organization Patent Office Professional Association

Service Employees International Union (SEIU) The International Brotherhood of Teamsters UNITE HERE

United Mine Workers of America

United Power Trades Organization

Organizations:

African Services Committee

Alliance for Justice

American Immigration Lawyers Association AsylumWorks

3

Bellevue Program for Survivors of Torture Brooklyn Law School Safe Harbor Project Catholic Labor Network

Catholic Legal Services, Archdiocese of Miami Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. Center for Gender & Refugee Studies

Columbia Law School Immigrants’ Rights Clinic Disciples Immigration Legal Counsel

Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project Immigrant Defenders Law Group

The Legal Aid Society

Migrant Center for Human Rights

Minnesota Interfaith Coalition on Immigration Mississippi Center for Justice

National Immigration Law Center

National Network for Immigrant & Refugee Rights The Right to Immigration Institute

Round Table of Former Immigration Judges

Law Professors and Scholars with Institutional Affiliation for Identification Purposes only:

Sabi Ardalan

Clinical Professor of Law

Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program Harvard Law School*

Roxana C. Bacon

4

Adjunct Professor of Law Arizona State University* University of Arizona* University of Miami*

David Baluarte

Associate Clinical Professor of Law Washington & Lee University School of Law*

Jon Bauer

Clinical Professor of Law and Richard D. Tulisano ’69 Scholar in Human Rights University of Connecticut School of Law*

Lenni B. Benson

Distinguished Chair of Immigration and Human Rights Law New York Law School*

Matthew Boaz

Professor

Washington & Lee School of Law*

Stacy Caplow

Associate Dean of Experiential Education & Professor of Law Brooklyn Law School*

Rose Cuison-Villazor

Vice Dean and Professor of Law Rutgers Law School*

Ingrid Eagly

Professor of Law

University of California Los Angeles School of Law*

Lauren Gilbert

Professor

St. Thomas University College of Law*

Lindsay M. Harris

Associate Professor & Director, Immigration & Human Rights Clinic University of the District of Columbia, David A. Clarke School of Law*

Katie Herbert Meyer

Associate Professor of Practice and Director of the Immigration Law Clinic Washington University*

Geoffrey Hoffman

Clinical Professor and Immigration Clinic Director

5

University of Houston Law Center*

Alan Hyde

Distinguished Professor of Law and Sidney Reitman Scholar Rutgers Law School*

Erin Jacobsen

Professor and Director at Vermont Law School’s South Royalton Legal Clinic Vermont Immigrant Assistance

Vermont Law School*

Hiroko Kusuda

Clinic Professor and Director of Immigration Law Section

Loyola University New Orleans College of Law*

Stuart H. Smith Law Clinic and Center for Center for Social Justice

Vanessa Merton

Professor of Law

Immigration Justice Clinic Elizabeth Haub School of Law*

Karen Musalo

Professor and Founding Director, Center for Gender & Refugee Studies and the Refugee and Human Rights Clinic

U.C. Hastings College of the Law*

Lori A. Nessel

Professor

Seton Hall University School of Law*

Michael A. Olivas

Wm B. Bates Distinguished Chair (Emeritus) University of Law Center*

Maria Mercedes Pabon Professor of Law

Loyola University New Orleans*

Carrie Rosenbaum

Lecturer in Legal Studies University of California, Berkeley*

Faiza Sayed

Visiting Professor of Clinical Law and Co-Director Safe Harbor Clinic

6

Brooklyn Law School*

Gemma Solimene

Clinical Associate Professor of Law Fordham University School of Law*

Elissa Steglich

Clinical Professor and Co-director Immigration Clinic University of Texas School of Law*

Mark E. Steiner

Professor of Law

South Texas College of Law Houston*

Enid Trucios-Haynes Brandeis School of Law University of Louisville*

Irene Scharf

Professor

Immigration Law Clinic University of Massachusetts*

Doug Smith

Lecturer in Legal Studies Brandeis University*

Paul Wickham Schmidt Immigrationcourtside.com

Erica B. Schommer

Clinical Professor of Law

St. Mary’s University School of Law*

Michael J. Wishnie

William O. Douglas Clinical Professor of Law Yale Law School*

*Institutional affiliation for identification purposes only

7

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

FULL DISCLOSURE: I am a retired member of the NAIJ.

Thanks to my friend Judge Amiena Khan and the rest of her leadership group at the NAIJ for all they do to fight for due process for individuals in Immigration Court!

To date, Garland and his team have been busy defending Billy Barr’s and Trump’s corruption from legal accountability, appointing Barr’s hand-picked “judges” to their overtly non-progressive judiciary, attempting to intimidate the press (until the White House finally had to intervene), and carrying out pre-existing Stephen Miller inspired precedents and policies. Oh yeah, and engaging in their own mindless unilateral round of “Aimless Docket Reshuffling” (a/k/a yet another designed to fail “Dedicated Docket”) in Immigration Court while continuing to build on the pre-existing 1.3 million case backlog. They have also been occupied with ignoring every progressive and expert suggestion and NOT appointing progressives to leadership and judicial positions. Wow! That’s a very full plate (of unappetizing food)!

So, I’m not holding my breath for a favorable response to the latest request for the injection of some legality, common sense, and decency into EOIR. Nor am I expecting Biden and Harris to honor their commitment to Federal Employee Unions, after watching their performance to date on immigration and human rights. Additionally, given the continuing abysmal performance of EOIR and its ongoing waste and incompetence, I doubt whether they want any “internal critics” speaking truth to power.

So far, Garland is on course to be “Billy Barr, Jr.” While that might help Barr to avoid legal accountability for his corrupt administration of justice @ Justice, it’s not so good for progressives who would like to see (and once believed they would see) some “justice from Justice” particularly for racial minorities, women, children, asylum seekers, and other migrants.

They also would like to see at least minimally professional and respectful treatment of those appearing and representing individuals in Immigration Court. While Garland, Monaco, Gupta, and Clarke are all being paid comfortable “top of the line” USG salaries for ignoring long-overdue progressive reforms @ EOIR, many attorneys representing individuals in their “Star Chambers” are operating pro bono or low bono in their attempts to keep Garland’s failing and flailing system afloat.

Just more reasons why we need an independent Article I Immigration Court to deliver due process, racial, and gender justice to individuals, regardless of status.

Barr Departs — Lowering The Barr by Randall Enos, Easton, CT
Republished By License. Guess Garland forgot to flush!

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

PWS

06-08-21

NOT ROCKET SCIENCE, 🚀 BUT BIDEN ADMINISTRATION LACKS EXPERT PROGRESSIVE LEADERSHIP WHO “GETS IT” — Will VP Harris Be Able To Break Out Of The “Death Spiral” ☠️ Of “Proven, Guaranteed To Fail” Racist Immigration Deterrence? — “It’s Groundhog Day at the border, and Biden is mindlessly laying the foundation for more problems in a few years. We’ve watched it all play out before. Immigration deterrence doesn’t work.”

“Floaters” — “Floaters — How The World’s Richest Country Responds To Asylum Seekers”. — “The reality of racial justice and the rule of law for people of color at our Southern Border is rather sobering, as the Biden Administration fails to usher in needed progressive reforms. How many more people will die because this Administration won’t follow the Constitution, The Refugee Act, and our international obligations? We’ll never achieve racial justice so long as dehumanization of people of color is our official policy, carried out by a broken and dysfunctional DOJ!”
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)

Vice President Kamala Harris — Vice President Kamala D. Harris
Vice President of the United States — “Will she be able to get beyond the mistakes of the past and put rationality, humanity, and the rule of law in place at the Southern Border. So far, the results of her leadership are NOT encouraging for those who believe in progressive, humanitarian, legal policies.”
(Official Senate Photo)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/06/03/immigration-mexico-guatemala-kamala-harris-biden-border-reform/

Opinion by James Fredrick in WashPost

June 3 at 3:44 PM ET

James Fredrick is a multimedia journalist based in Mexico City and covers migration, crime, politics and sports.

. . . .

Obama tried deterring migrants with his characteristic lawyerly tact. Trump did it with his cruel, petty impulsiveness. Biden is doing it with his folksy toughness. The styles are different, but the results of immigration deterrence will always be the same.

We’re trapped in this cycle because the U.S. government refuses to listen to migrants. Having met hundreds of migrants during my years reporting in Mexico and Central America, it’s obvious why deterrence doesn’t work: What’s at home is worse than anything the United States could threaten. Most migrants don’t want to leave home. But they do because violent death or crippling destitution is all that’s left.

Failing to actually come up with a solution, we of the “greatest country on Earth” become tremendously feeble and defensive at the arrival of a few thousand immigrant children. But there is another way.

We must treat immigration as a civil and humanitarian issue, not a criminal one. Criminalizing people fleeing violence, persecution, climate change or economic hardship exacerbates these problems. So decriminalize border crossings and rebuild border facilities as welcome centers, not jails. Border Patrol and Customs and Border Protection agents at the border should be social workers, not cops.

If Trump’s family separation atrocity showed us anything, it’s that millions of Americans want to help immigrants in need. The United States should cooperate more with these groups. There are already large networks around the country that can provide housing, food, legal services, education and medical services to immigrants. Why rely on expensive armed border agents instead of willing, motivated humanitarian groups?

Immigration laws should also address the challenges of the 21st century. In addition to decriminalizing border crossings, our immigration laws rely on outdated quotas and corrupt, abusive worker programs. Asylum law is a relic of the Cold War and doesn’t reflect the world today.

Finally, Washington should stop making the problems worse with bad foreign policy. Despite numerous abuses, scandals and criminal allegations involving Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, the Biden administration refuses to denounce him, though many think he is responsible for the conditions Hondurans are fleeing. In fact, Biden administration officials are working with Hernández to try to prevent Hondurans from fleeing. He’s just one example in a long history of U.S. meddling to prop up corrupt, abusive, U.S.-friendly regimes. No amount of U.S. dollars in aid can make up for bad foreign policy.

President Biden can’t stop the crisis today. After all, he helped create it. But he can make sure this is the last “border crisis” we face.

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

Read the complete op-ed at the link.

Ah, “mindlessly” — one of my favorite terms, usually applied these days to Garland and his inept team at DOJ! Actually, Frederick isn’t the only one to figure this out!

The problem remains, as I have stated over and over, the toxic failure of the Biden Administration to bring progressive experts in immigration, human rights, civil rights, and “applied due process” into Government and empower them to solve the problems! It’s bizarrely compounded by the disgraceful unwillingness of those few in the Biden Administration, like Vanita Gupta and Kristen Clarke, who actually know better, to speak up for racial justice, social justice, human rights, and human dignity at the DOJ!

Unless VP Harris wakes up, convinces her boss, and brings in the progressive experts, she’s headed for the abyss, taking thousands of vulnerable refugees and, perhaps, American democracy down with her!

Refusal to listen: to migrants, their representatives, experts, our “better angels,” and common sense! The same problems, over and over, Administration after Administration, decade after decade! The same “built to fail” policies repeated!

The truth is in front of the Biden Administration! But, like Garland, Mayorkas, and others leading the way over the cliff, Biden and Harris can’t see it! They appear to have “tuned out” those desperately trying to keep them from plunging over the precipice! So tragic, so unnecessary, so threatening to American democracy and the future of humanity!

🇺🇸🗽Due Process Forever!

PWS

06-05-21

🇺🇸🗽⚖️GEORGE W. BUSH INSTITUTE REPORT: GENDER VIOLENCE ☠️⚰️DRIVES CONTINUING REFUGEE FLOW TO U.S. — Dishonesty Of Sessions’s Misogynistic Attack In Matter Of A-B- 🤮 Exposed Again! — Yet, Garland Fails To Take Action To End Misogyny, Anti-Asylum Culture @ EOIR, Even As He Also Fails To Insist On The Restoration Of The Rule Of Law @ Our Borders! — WHY?🤯

Gender Violence in Central America — Gender Violence continues to to be endemic in Latin America! Yet, shockingly, its victims, refugee women of color, can expect little protection in Garland’s Immigration Courts still applying Jeff Sessions’s inaccurate, misogynistic precedent in Matter of A-B- and continuing to be staffed by too many “judges” selected or promoted by the Trump Administration because of their perceived willingness to support anti-asylum policies targeting many women of color! Recently Garland outraged progressives by appointing 17 “Miller/Barr Holdovers” to powerful, life or death, Immigration Judge positions while eschewing better-qualified progressive experts from the private sector who could bring diversity and gender and racial justice to his dysfunctional Immigration “Courts!”
PHOTO: UNHCR website

https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2021/06/03/abuse-of-women-and-children-at-root-of-immigration-crisis/

Abused women at border — Migrant women carry children in the rain at an intake area after turning themselves in upon crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, late Tuesday, May 11, 2021, in La Joya, Texas. The U.S. government continues to report large numbers of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border with an increase in adult crossers. But families and unaccompanied children are still arriving in dramatic numbers despite the weather changing in the Rio Grande Valley registering hotter days and nights. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)(Gregory Bull)

By Natalie Gonnella-Platts and Jenny Villatoro In the Dallas Morning News:

When U.S. Border Patrol found him in the Texas desert, 10-year-old Wilton was crying, “they abandoned me.” Exhausted and alone, his image went viral — a poignant visual of the struggle faced by thousands seeking safety.

But Wilton’s story actually began in Nicaragua when his mother, Meylin, wasn’t able to get legal protection from an abusive partner. Mother and son fled to the United States, seeking asylum, but were expelled under a public health rule and sent to Mexico, where they were kidnapped, according to an account in El Pais. Meylin’s brother in Miami could pay only half the ransom — enough for Wilton alone to be released.

Although Meylin was ultimately released and reunited with her son, the tale that led to Wilton’s arrival at the border as an unaccompanied minor isn’t unique. It illustrates the fact that gender-based violence, revictimization and lack of justice affect children, families and communities thousands of miles away. It also highlights the importance of a safe and legal pathway into the United States for survivors of gender-based violence and other asylum-seekers. For many, arriving at the U.S. border seeking asylum is the only legal pathway available.

Immigration reform in the United States is essential to assuring that we have a secure and efficient border, a system flexible enough to handle changes in migrant flows, and the capacity to treat each migrant with dignity. But more needs to be done in the migrants’ home countries, too, so that they are not forced to flee for their safety in the first place.

Any comprehensive plan on Central America and immigration reform should address gender inequity and gender-based violence.

They are not siloed issues to acknowledge only when horrific stories of femicide and human trafficking force us to pay attention. Rather, they are deeply entangled with broader challenges of corruption and poverty. Proposed solutions shouldn’t overlook the impact of gender-based violence on migrant flows, economic development, education and health.

Fourteen of the 25 most dangerous places for women are in the Western Hemisphere, including countries within Central America. Patriarchy and gang violence subject women and girls to abhorrent actions of abuse and control.

Honduras and El Salvador saw some of the highest incidences of femicide within Latin America in 2019, at rates of 6.2 and 3.3 per 100,000, respectively. In Guatemala, adolescent girls are at a high risk of being “disappeared,” with 8 out of every 10,000 girls between the ages of 15 and 17 reported missing each year.

COVID 19-related lockdowns are being exploited by gangs looking to strengthen control: El Salvador alone has seen a 70% increase in gender-based violence since the beginning of the pandemic. And lockdowns have forced vulnerable individuals to stay in close proximity to their perpetrators. Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador reported an increase in intrafamily violence, with El Salvador reporting an increase in intrafamily femicides as well.

Justice systems and access to services need to be strengthened to ensure adequate protection for all under the law. Legal protections often are inhibited by weak institutions, corruption and a culture of impunity toward perpetrators.

According to a 2017 national survey, two-thirds of Salvadoran women over the age of 15 have experienced violence, but only 6% have ever reported it. While laws against child marriage exist across the region, in some countries about 1 in 3 young women are in a union before age 18. Post-trauma support and efforts that inform Central American women of their rights and agency are critical interventions that could help women like Meylin.

Females have been disproportionately affected by the devastating impact of hurricanes Eta and Iota, but the status of women and girls is chronically overlooked in response efforts, exacerbating the risk of violence.

Women and girls must be seen and heard. Greater focus on gender and age-disaggregated data collection and in tracking the effectiveness and efficiency of legal systems is crucial. And women and their lived experiences need to be more fully represented at all leadership levels.

Finally, direct outreach to local communities should be a priority for U.S. government and private sector-led programs. This includes resource and capacity support for advocates and organizations that serve as lifelines for those affected by violence, often at great personal risk. Engagement with men and boys is equally imperative.

How can anyone be expected to thrive when her day-to-day priority is simply to survive? The United States needs to recognize that gender-based violence and gender inequity drive migration.

Immigration reform must include strategies to address the root causes of migration from Central America in effective and lasting ways to prevent situations like Wilton’s and Meylin’s. Women and girls must be front and center in these solutions.

Natalie Gonnella-Platts serves as the director of the Women’s Initiative at the George W. Bush Institute.

Jenny Villatoro is an associate for the George W. Bush Institute-SMU Economic Growth Initiative.

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

“Deterrents” and illegally abusing asylum seekers DON’T WORK! It’s not that difficult a concept. Indeed, these misguided attempts at deterrence have been failing consistently under Administrations of both parties for the past four decades. One would think that an “enlightened nation” would try a different approach rather than simply repeating the costly failures of the past in various forms.

What we need are functioning refugee and asylum systems, led and staffed by progressive experts, operating from INSIDE Government, that will grant status to qualified refugee women in a fair and timely manner and set favorable precedents even while separately addressing the endemic problems in the “refugee-sending countries.” Of course, it will result in more legal immigration of refugees and asylum seekers to the U.S. That’s a good thing for both us and those individuals, not something to be feared or unlawfully and dishonestly “deterred!”

With stagnating population growth, we should welcome and facilitate legal immigration of courageous, talented, dedicated refugee women from all countries and their children through the refugee, asylum, and a much more robust legal immigration system!

Thanks to NDPA warrior-queen Debi Sanders for sending in this item. This report should be great evidence for those litigating to halt the Garland misogyny mess at EOIR and, sadly, to some extent in U.S. Courts of Appeals that have chosen to sweep both reality of what’s happening in the Northern Triangle and the patent unconstitutionality of a system governed by bogus precedents entered or promoted by AG’s affiliated with DHS Enforcement who also packed and reshaped the immigration “judiciary” in the image of nativist restrictionists! However, compelling as it is, the report only adds to the existing body of documentation of the dishonest approach by Administrations of both parties to Latin American asylum claims, particularly those of women and children.

For Pete’s sake, first and second year law students know that the EOIR travesty is unconstitutional! Why are life-tenured Article III Judges covering it up? Hopefully, history will take note of their mal-performance on the bench! These guys are life-tenured! So, what’s their excuse for not upholding the Constitution against clear Congressional and Executive abuses?

Hard for me to say this. But, former President George W. Bush is doing more for human rights, gender rights, civil rights, and immigrants rights’ than Garland or anyone else at the Biden DOJ! At least he speaks out publicly for the humanity and contributions of migrants and for their fair and generous treatment, which is more than any member of the Biden Administration has done as they continue to mistake softening the rhetoric with taking firm action to reverse White Nationalist policies and replace them with readily achievable progressive ones.

Meanwhile, despite pleas from nearly every expert, progressive, human rights, immigrants’ rights, and gender rights group in the U.S., Garland continues to allow Sessions’s wrong, toxic, and misogynistic decision in Matter of A-B – to remain in place and threaten the lives of female refugees while ignoring the misogynistic, anti-asylum, culture inculcated by Sessions and Barr at EOIR that continues to flourish and daily dish out abuse to migrants and their representatives without meaningful consequences.

Judge Merrick Garland — “ . . . while this guy continues to apply misogynistic precedents, eschew progressive experts, recycle failed ‘Aimless Docket Reshuffling’ gimmicks, and allow the Trump-era anti-asylum culture to continue to flourish at EOIR and DOJ?” Attorney General Merrick B. Garland
Official White House Photo
Public Realm

What, indeed, is someone like AAG Vanita Gupta doing with herself at Garland’s anti-progressive, and anti-due-process mess at DOJ? Why are folks like her and Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke there in the first place if they aren’t going to stand up to Garland’s tone-deaf, inept approach to gender rights, human rights, and racial justice @ EOIR? How, on earth, do you lead a “Civil Rights Division” while turning a blind eye to grotesque violations of civil and human rights going on daily in your “Boss’s” wholly owned “court” system that functions like no “real court” in America? What’s DAG Lisa Monaco doing presiding over a gender disaster at EOIR? It’s straight out of “Jim Crow!”

James “Jim” Crow
Symbol of American Racism, still right at home at Garland’s EOIR!

Woman Tortured — “She struggled madly in the torturing Ray” — “Do Garland, Monaco, Gupta, & Clarke work in ‘sound-proofed offices’ where they can’t hear our tortured screams and moans? What’s wrong with those guys? We’re suffering and dying while they are fiddling and diddling!”
Amazing StoriesArtist Unknown, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

And, I wouldn’t say that Vice President Harris is looking very good either, as she “swallows the whistle” on notorious scofflaw human rights violations that she was well aware of from her time in the Senate! Doesn’t anyone in the Biden Administration have the backbone to speak up for human rights, human decency, and restoring the rule of law? Is it REALLY our position that following the Constitution, our statutory laws, and the international treaties to which we are party is beyond the capabilities of the U.S. Government? If so, what, may I ask, is the difference between us an any third world dictatorship where laws have no meaning?

I can’t figure it out! But, I do know that Garland’s lousy stewardship at EOIR, failure to speak out for fundamental fairness, usher in progressive changes, and restore due process @ EOIR has reached “crisis proportions” affecting our entire justice system and threatening democracy!

Hopefully, progressive advocacy, human rights, and civil rights groups will keep up the pressure and demands for long, long, long overdue and readily achievable changes at EOIR: in leadership, precedents, culture, and administration of justice! (Get this: Garland just created yet another bogus “Dedicated Docket” without a functional e-filing system to make it work! That’s “Aimless Docket Reshuffling 101,” as anyone who has actually had to deal with the mess in his Immigration Courts could tell him. But, he’s apparently not interested!) Right now, it’s an unmitigated “disaster zone” continuing to spiral downward!

There is a direct link between the “Dred Scottification of the other” that Garland countenances at EOIR and the overall failure of our justice system to deal effectively with institutionalized racism! The U.S. has a long, disreputable history of treating women and persons of color as “non persons” under the Constitution. Much of it traces to our immigration laws where “the others” are routinely dehumanized, stereotyped, demonized, and abused by those who falsely claim to be furthering the “rule of law!” We will NOT achieve racial justice for all in America until we deal with the festering wounds intentionally inflicted on women, children, and people of color in our immigration system, at EOIR, and illegally continuing at our borders!

By choice, Garland now “owns” the misogynistic, anti-due-process, anti-asylum disaster @ EOIR. Make him deal with it in a constructive way!

🇺🇸🗽⚖️🧑🏽‍⚖️Due Process Forever! Garland’s continued tolerance of misogyny and the anti-due-process, anti-asylum culture at EOIR, NEVER! Stop Garland’s continuing misogynistic nonsense before more refugee women and people of color needlessly die! What’s it going to take finally to get some “real justice @ Justice?”

PWS

06-05-21

⚖️🌟🗽NDPA SUPERSTARS, PRACTICAL EXPERT PROFESSORS LINDSAY M. HARRIS AND SARAH R. SHERMAN-STOKES SCORE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION’S CONTINUED RELIANCE ON BOGUS 🏴‍☠️ TRUMP-ERA, WHITE NATIONALIST COVID-19 RESTRICTIONS TO RETURN REFUGEES TO DANGER & DEATH @ SOUTHERN BORDER!☠️🤮⚰️

https://apple.news/A9hXjuI8xTQ6Zle8aVf4Dgg

Lindsay and Sarah write in USA Today:

. . . .

However, despite advice from public health experts and condemnation by UNHCR, expulsions under Title 42 continue and the human cost has been devastating. Though refugees come from countries all over the world, the Department of Homeland Security expels them to Mexico, just on the other side of the border.

Reports by Human Rights First document the terrifying realities they face once there: kidnappings, violence, sexual assault, extortion and even murder in border towns where criminal gangs and cartels prey on recently expelled children and families. Just this spring, a 4-year-old Honduran boy and his asylum-seeking mother were kidnapped in Nuevo Laredo immediately after they were expelled under Title 42.

Expulsions don’t just impact migrants from Mexico and Central America. Despite the recent designation of temporary protected status for Haitian migrants within the United States, the Biden administration has sent plane after plane of asylum-seeking families back to Haiti, with some Haitians being expelled to Mexico. The UndocuBlack Network and the Haitian Bridge Alliance, for example, document a Haitian woman expelled to Mexico with her three-day-old baby, where she will face extreme anti-Black discrimination and be at risk of violence and homelessness.

Just the start: Biden will no longer detain migrants at two county jails. That’s good but not enough.

Public health has often been used as a pretext for restrictionist immigration policies. Beginning as early as 1793, when Haitians were blamed for bringing yellow fever to Philadelphia, nativism and xenophobia have long merged with concerns about public health to exclude immigrants and refugees. These concerns were not justified by science then, and they certainly are not justified now.

. . . .

Lindsay M. Harris (@Prof_LMHarris) is associate professor and director of the Immigration and Human Rights Clinic at the University of the District of Columbia’s Law School. Sarah Sherman-Stokes (@sshermanstokes) is clinical associate professor and associate director of the Immigrants’ Rights and Human Trafficking Program at Boston University School of Law.

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

Read the rest of the USA Today op-ed at the link!

Thanks, my friends, for speaking out about the continuing outrages perpetrated by the Biden Administration at our Southern Border. So many, many “practical experts” out here in the “real world,” like Lindsay and Sarah, who would be heads and shoulders above current immigration “leadership” at DHS, DOJ, and EOIR and who would bring “real, qualified, expert judging” to the BIA and the Immigration Courts.

The Biden Administration’s failure to actively recruit, attract, and promptly bring on board the “best and the brightest” that American law has to offer for these critical jobs (which do NOT require Senate confirmation) is a disgrace! Betcha Stephen Miller could tell them how to do it! But, curiously, the Biden Immigration Team seems to think that alienating the best progressive minds in the business, the folks who helped them get elected and can fix their immigration problems, is smart politics and great public policy! Go figure!

Suspending the rule of law and international treaty obligations is never “OK” and it’s not something to be “studied.” “Gee whiz, should we comply with the law or continue to violate it; should we continue to send people to possible kidnapping, rape, torture, extortion, and/or death with no process or should we give them fair hearings; should we continue unqualified Trump hacks in key positions and keep defending illegal policies or should we hire qualified experts from the NDPA to restore and promote due process?” These are the “questions” that folks like Garland, Mayorkas, and their “spear carriers” are being paid to “study” while innocent humans are daily being abused and dying in the “real world” that these Biden Cabinet officers appear to have absented themselves from? Gimme a break!

We need an end to the deadly nonsense at DHS, DOJ, and EOIR NOW! Keep the outrage, the op-eds, the law suits, and the exposure and documenting of Mayorkas’s and Garland’s illegal, immoral, and incompetent actions coming until we get change and our Government delivers on the Constitutionally-required promise of due process, equal protection, and racial justice for all persons!

🇺🇸⚖️🗽Due Process Forever! The Garland/Mayorkas “Miller Lite Nonsense” at the border, never!

PWS

06-04-21

🗽⚖️🇺🇸LEE GELERNT @ ACLU SAYS BIDEN ADMINISTRATION “cannot farm out the asylum system.” Yet, That Appears To Be Largely What They Are Doing Under New, Previously Unpublicized Program!

https://apnews.com/article/only-on-ap-united-nations-donald-trump-immigration-health-98d4da6cb6f2999787c3fcd3579de695?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=June4_MorningWire&utm_term=Morning%20Wire%20Subscribers

Elliott Spagat
Reporter
Associated Press

Elliot Spagot and Julie Watson report for AP:

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The Biden administration has quietly tasked six humanitarian groups with recommending which migrants should be allowed to stay in the U.S. instead of being rapidly expelled from the country under federal pandemic-related powers that block people from seeking asylum.

The groups will determine who is most vulnerable in Mexico, and their criteria has not been made public. It comes as large numbers of people are crossing the southern border and as the government faces intensifying pressure to lift the public health powers instituted by former President Donald Trump and kept in place by President Joe Biden during the coronavirus pandemic.

Several members of the consortium spoke to The Associated Press about the criteria and provided details of the system that have not been previously reported. The government is aiming to admit to the country up to 250 asylum-seekers a day who are referred by the groups and is agreeing to that system only until July 31. By then, the consortium hopes the Biden administration will have lifted the public health rules, though the government has not committed to that.

So far, a total of nearly 800 asylum-seekers have been let in since May 3, and members of the consortium say there is already more demand than they can meet.

The groups have not been publicly identified except for the International Rescue Committee, a global relief organization. The others are London-based Save the Children; two U.S.-based organizations, HIAS and Kids in Need of Defense; and two Mexico-based organizations, Asylum Access and the Institute for Women in Migration, according to two people with direct knowledge who spoke on condition of anonymity because the information was not intended for public release.

Asylum Access, which provides services to people seeing asylum in Mexico, characterized its role as minimal.

The effort started in El Paso, Texas, and is expanding to Nogales, Arizona.

A similar but separate mechanism led by the American Civil Liberties Union began in late March and allows 35 families a day into the United States at places along the border. It has no end date.

The twin tracks are described by participating organizations as an imperfect transition from so-called Title 42 authority, named for a section of an obscure 1944 public health law that Trump used in March 2020 to effectively end asylum at the Mexican border. With COVID-19 vaccination rates rising, Biden is finding it increasingly difficult to justify the expulsions on public health grounds and faces demands to end it from the U.N. refugee agency and members of his own party and administration.

. . . .

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

Read the full article at the link.

Well, I’ll give them this. “Farming out” the asylum system to these NGO experts is better than the Trump approach. The Trump regime “outsourced” the American asylum system to Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala.

The common denominators among those countries is that the are all notorious for human rights abuses, corrupt government, dysfunctional legal systems, and lack of any semblance of a fair, functioning asylum adjudication system. Additionally, all are major senders of asylum seekers to America.

But, the Biden Administration’s “under the counter” approach is still fundamentally wrong! It’s yet another “haste makes waste gimmick” that lacks transparency, clear standards, accountability, and most of all, operates outside of any legal framework!

That’s a recipe for arbitrariness, abuse, and unfairness. Even if the system were to produce decent results, the lack of transparency robs it of credibility. It’s therefore likely to be attacked by both advocates and restrictionists while being panned in the press — a self-created “worst case” scenario of the type Dem Administrations seem to specialize in when it comes to immigration and human rights!

The solution here is to do what many of us have been recommending since the day the election results became final. That is, bring in outside experts to USCIS to lead and revitalize the Asylum Officer screening program and bring in real judges, largely from the outside, — progressive practical experts in asylum law committed to human rights and due process — to EOIR to establish legitimate precedents and insure fair, humane, and uniform treatment of asylum seekers.

It’s possible, indeed probable, that the U.S. representatives of some of the NGOs involved would be among the best experts to do this — leading human rights authorities like Mark Hatfield at HIAS, Wendy Young at KIND, and Wendy Wylegala, also of KIND are obvious choices.

So, put them and other practical experts like Professor Karen Musalo (Center for Gender & Refugee Studies), Eleanor Acer (Human Rights First), Professor Stephen Legomsky (former USCIS Chief Counsel), Associate Dean Jaya Ramji Nogales (Temple Law), Judge Ilyce Shugall (Round Table), Dean Kevin Johnson (UC Davis), Michelle Mendez (CLINIC), Professor Lenni Benson (Safe Passage Project), Professor Ingrid Eagly (UCLA Law), Laura Lynch (NILC), Professor Stephen Yale Loehr (Cornell Law), Jason Dzubow (The Asylumist), Professor Debi Anker (Harvard Law), Professor Michele Pistone (VIISTA/Villanova Law), and others like them on the payroll at USCIS and EOIR and let them fix the asylum system!

Experts like this could, if properly empowered, in relatively short order, establish a system that is legal, constitutional, fair, generous, humane, practical, efficient, and that complies with all of our international obligations. In other words, a “model system” that would serve the best interests of humanity and our nation!

The current opaque, chaotic, arbitrary mess at our Southern Border (essentially the Biden Administration’s version of “Hunger Games”) serves nobody’s interests excepts cartels and smugglers. It’s also likely to kill record numbers of asylum seekers unless fixed, NOW! https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/summer-migrant-deaths-southern-border/2021/06/03/a03d7bb8-c3a6-11eb-8c34-f8095f2dc445_story.html

Bringing in the experts seems like an outstanding, “no brainer” alternative to the godawful, dysfunctional, disgraceful mess that the Trump kakistocracy left at USCIS and EOIR, much of which continues to ramble on, further off the rails all the time, under Mayorkas and Garland. The Biden Administration can’t, and won’t, get the job done on asylum and racial justice without radical, yet logical and badly needed, personnel and leadership changes at USCIS and EOIR!

🇺🇸🗽⚖️🧑🏽‍⚖️Due Process Forever!

PWS

06-04-21

WASTEFUL, DANGEROUS ICE DETENTION (THE “NEW AMERICAN GULAG”) CONTINUES TO UNDERMINE HUMANITY & OUR NATIONAL INTERESTS — Cornell Students From the NDPA Intervene To Save A Cuban Doctor From Mindless and Life-Threatening Detention, But Her Problems Linger Under Garland’s Dysfunctional Immigration “Courts” (That Aren’t “Courts” At All, By Any Sane Definition)!

Trial by Ordeal — Is this really the ‘preferred method’ for handling an asylum claim by a female Cuban refugee doctor? Judge Garland seems to think so!” Woman Being “Tried By Ordeal”
17th Century Woodcut
Public Realm
Source: Ancient Origins Website
https://www.ancient-origins.net/history/trial-ordeal-life-or-death-method-judgement-004160

https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2021/06/asylum-clinic-wins-release-cuban-doctor-detained-ice

Asylum clinic wins release for Cuban doctor detained by ICE

By Owen Lubozynski | June 1, 2021

In April 2020, COVID-19 reached the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Detention Center in Eloy, Arizona. Dr. Merlys Rodriguez Hernandez, who had been detained there for six months, said she knew it would spread quickly.

Rodriguez Hernandez is originally from Cuba, where she and her husband, Lazaro, practiced medicine before they were forced to flee government persecution, she said. When they reached the U.S. border, they applied for asylum. Both were detained, in separate facilities, Merlys said. After eight months, Lazaro was granted protection from having to return to Cuba. Merlys’ petition, based on identical circumstances, was tried in a different immigration court – and denied, she said.

Cornell Law School’s Asylum Clinic took her case, under the direction of Stephen Yale-Loehr, professor of immigration law practice, and Ian M. Kysel, visiting assistant clinical professor of law. Law students Conor Bednarski, J.D. ’21, and Michelle Zhu, J.D. ’21, litigated an appeal to the U.S. Board of Immigration Appeals.

Conor Bednarski

Michelle Zhu

Meanwhile, Rodriguez Hernandez was trapped in a detention system raging with COVID-19, she said. She fell ill with the virus in May 2020 and spent 40 days in isolation, suffering from joint pain, body aches and severe diarrhea and confined to a cell she was expected to sanitize herself, she said. Tara Pilato, co-executive director emerita of the Weill Cornell Center for Human Rights at Weill Cornell Medicine, who consulted on the case, observed that “the conditions Merlys reported were not only inhumane, but against all best practices for caring for patients with COVID-19.”

Kayleigh Yerdon

“Watching this preventable tragedy unfold week after week, as we were told to shelter in place, was the hardest part of working on this case,” Bednarski said.

As the pandemic spread, Bednarski and Zhu tried to secure Rodriguez Hernandez’s release, and then supported a collaboration with pro bono counsel who filed a habeas corpus writ in federal court.

Kayleigh Yerdon, J.D. ’21, took the lead on the case during the fall 2020 term. With Spanish interpretation assistance from Cornell doctor of juridical science student Ana Ruival, LLM ’19, Yerdon won her client’s release on bond. Rodriguez Hernandez was released in October 2020, after 13 months in detention, Yerdon said.

“As a law student, being able to step into court for the first time via teleconference and win, knowing my client would walk free as a result, was just an incredible experience,” Yerdon said. She also took on Lazaro’s case, successfully litigating a motion to reopen his case, and eventually securing him asylum, she said. Yerdon was recently honored with the Law School’s Freeman Award for Civil-Human Rights, in part in recognition for her clinical work.

Meryls’ case shows that some of the most harmful flaws in the immigration system can be addressed by applying basic rights principles, Kysel said.

Rodriguez Hernandez and her husband are now living in Kentucky as they work to appeal the denial of her request for asylum. She said she hopes to become an advocate for immigrants who remain detained during the pandemic. Meanwhile, the legal team has continued its efforts to engage in other advocacy and to amplify the impact of their legal work on the doctor’s case, Kysel and Yale-Loehr said.

Recently, Rodriguez Hernandez told her story in a first-person essay in the New England Journal of Medicine, with the support of her Cornell Law clinic team and a team from the Weill Cornell Center for Human Rights, led by Pilato and Dr. Gunisha Kaur, assistant professor of anesthesiology.

“As one of our colleagues in the medical field, Merlys’ harrowing experience deserved attention from a medical-legal perspective,” said Pilato and Kaur. “The inhumane conditions in ICE detention centers have triggered some of the worst COVID-19 outbreaks in the country.”

In the piece, Rodriguez Hernandez wrote, “It is a bitter irony that while the first waves of the pandemic ravaged the U.S., I remained in a detention system when I could have made a difference to patients in a health care system in dire need of providers.”

Owen Lubozynski is a freelance writer for Cornell Law School.

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

Thanks to my good friend and renowned Immigration “Practical Scholar/Expert” Professor Stephen Yale-Loehr @ Cornell Law for alerting me to this item. And, many many congrats to these amazing students and members of the NDPA!😎👍

Note that in the dangerous and defective “court system” being run by Garland, the Respondent continues to struggle with appeals of her asylum denial even though her husband’s identical case was GRANTED! Worse yet, both cases should have been “no brainer” asylum grants that could have been rapidly granted by the Asylum Office without detention or Immigration Court in a properly functioning system with expert judges setting correct asylum precedents at the BIA.

No wonder this system is continuing to deny justice, threaten lives, waste resources, and create backlogs under Garland! As noted in the above posting, even the New England Journal of Medicine is up in arms about this outrageous situation and mockery of our legal process!

But, Garland and his merry band at DOJ and EOIR seem impervious to criticism, rationality, or the rule of law! And to date, they have shown little or no willingness to engage constructively with progressive human rights and Immigration experts. I guess that’s what “Miller Lite Justice” is all about!

There is simply no excuse for Garland’s continued mishandling of EOIR and asylum law generally! And, bureaucratic “Dedicated Dockets” run from the Falls Church Tower won’t solve the problem. Not by a long shot!

Progressive advocates and members of the NDPA need to stay energized, stay angry, and keep letting the Biden Administration feel the outrage at Garland’s inexcusable continued mishandling of EOIR! These problems will NEVER be solved with the group currently calling the shots at EOIR!

So, the question remains, with all this expertise available and some obvious solutions to some really dumb and life-threatening procedures and policies, why are Garland and Mayorkas “groping in the dark” rather than bringing in and empowering the progressive experts who will solve these problems?

Due Process Forever! Let your continuing outrage at EOIR’s failure to deliver due process and fundamental fairness with efficiency and humanity be heard and felt by the Biden Administration! Don’t take “Good Enough for Government Work” as Equal Justice in America from Democrats or Republicans! “Just say no” to more “Miller Lite Dred Scottification” of asylum seekers and other migrants! Wonder why our nation is struggling with racial justice? Look no further than Garland’s mishandling of EOIR!

President Biden has put Vice President Harris in charge of border issues and racial justice reforms. Progressive advocates should let her know directly that Garland is NOT getting the job done at Justice, and that they are sick and tired of not being consulted and having their expert candidates for EOIR snubbed in favor of Trump holdovers and non-progressives! If her “legacy” includes EOIR’s racially and gender insensitive, due-process denying, intentionally non-diverse “Kangaroo Courts” carrying out the Miller/Sessions/Barr White Nationalist nativist agenda, it won’t be a “good look” for her or her future! And, it most certainly will be bad, perhaps fatal, for our nation’s future as a liberal democracy!

Kangaroos — “Diversity @ EOIR” “What’s wrong with this picture? Let Vice President Harris know that you want a new, diverse, progressive, expert, humanitarian, due-process-oriented judiciary in our now broken, biased, and dysfunctional Immigration Courts!”
https://www.flickr.com/photos/rasputin243/
Creative Commons License

PWS

06-02-21

GARLAND/MAYORKAS UNILATERAL “IN YOUR FACE” 🤮 ASYLUM POLICIES CONTINUE TO INFLAME, OUTRAGE, PROGRESSIVE OPPOSITION! — More Haste Makes Waste “Special Asylum Dockets,” Continuation Of “Miller Lite” Racist/Misogynist Anti-Asylum Policies, Unqualified Judges, Likely To Deny Due Process, Create Aimless Docket Reshuffling, Increase Backlogs — Congress Needs To Remove Immigration Courts From Garland’s Dysfunctional DOJ — Now!

Here’s yet another “big middle finger” 🖕 to progressives and experts from Garland and Mayorkas:

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

Office of Public Affairs

DHS and DOJ Announce Dedicated Docket Process for More Efficient Immigration Hearings

WASHINGTON – Today, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas and Attorney General Merrick B. Garland announced a new Dedicated Docket process to more expeditiously and fairly make decisions in immigration cases of families who arrive between ports of entry at the Southwest Border. This new process should significantly decrease the amount of time it takes for migrants to have their cases adjudicated while still providing fair hearings for families seeking asylum at the border.

“Families arriving at the border who are placed in immigration proceedings should have their cases decided in an orderly, efficient, and fair manner,” said Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas. “Families who have recently arrived should not languish in a multi-year backlog; today’s announcement is an important step for both justice and border security.”

“The mission of the Department of Justice’s immigration courts is to decide the cases that come before them promptly and fairly,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “This new program for certain newly arriving families will help achieve that critically important goal.”

Under this new process, certain recently arrived families may be placed on the Dedicated Docket. Families may qualify if they are apprehended between ports of entry on or after Friday, May 28, 2021, placed in removal proceedings, and enrolled in Alternatives to Detention (ATD). DHS, in partnership with the Department of Justice (DOJ) Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), will make available information services to help families understand the immigration system and refer families to pro bono legal service providers for possible representation.

EOIR has identified immigration courts in 10 cities with established communities of legal services providers and available judges to handle the cases. The designated cities are Denver, Detroit, El Paso, Los Angeles, Miami, Newark, New York City, San Diego, San Francisco, and Seattle.

Under the Dedicated Docket, EOIR’s immigration judges will work generally to issue a decision within 300 days of the initial master calendar hearing, subject to the unique circumstances of each case including allowing time for families to seek representation where needed. While the goal of this process is to decide cases expeditiously, fairness will not be compromised.

# # #

U.S. Department of Homeland Security
www.dhs.gov

Here are “statements in opposition” from the National Immigrant Justice Center and Human Rights First:

https://immigrantjustice.org/press-releases/bidens-return-failed-immigration-court-rocket-docket-will-deprive-asylum-seekers

https://www.humanrightsfirst.org/press-release/human-rights-first-concerned-biden-plan-risks-new-rocket-dockets-when-it-should-end#.YLEQ7NuEm7k.twitter

Here’s the “statement of outrage and solidarity in opposition from the experts at the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies at Hastings Law:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contact: Brianna Krong, (415) 581-8835, krongbrianna@uchastings.edu

CGRS Concerned Biden Policies Will Undermine Fairness, Endanger Refugee Families

San Francisco, CA (May 28, 2021) – The Center for Gender & Refugee Studies (CGRS) is deeply concerned by today’s announcement that the Biden administration will begin fast-tracking asylum cases for certain families seeking refuge. By establishing a “dedicated docket” for asylum-seeking families, the administration will sacrifice fairness in the name of speed, adopting a misguided approach that under both the Obama and Trumpadministrations contributed to record backlogs in the immigration system, eroded due process, and endangered lives. Instead of reviving the failed policies of past administrations, the Biden administration should swiftly end cruel and illegal Trump-era policies and fully restore safe asylum processing at the southern border.

Today’s announcement arrives at a time when families seeking asylum face enormous roadblocks to safety and justice. Over four months into its first term, the Biden administration has failed to end myriad Trump-era policies that continue to place refugees at risk of grave violence, and even death. It is shameful that the administration is prioritizing fast-tracked adjudications while continuing to illegally expel asylum seekers to danger under the widelydebunked pretext of the pandemic. So long as the Title 42 policy remains in place, there can be no safe or fair process for asylum seekers.

The Biden administration also has yet to address Trump policies that have gutted protections for people escaping domestic violence and gang brutality, including many of the families impacted by this new policy. Until Attorney General Garlandtakes action to reverse these policies, the asylum system will remain rigged against families fleeing violence in their homes and communities, who will be wrongly denied protection and ordered deported to the very dangers they’ve fled. Rushing adjudications will make it even more difficult for these families to find safety, further undermining any semblance of fairness in the asylum process.

“CGRS and our partners have set forth a clear roadmap for the Biden administration to adjudicate asylum cases in a timely manner and mitigate backlogs, all while improving fairness and protecting due process,” CGRS Legal Director Blaine Bookey said today. “As advocates, we’ve been down this road before. We know policies that rush asylum adjudications fail to keep families and children safe. We implore the administration not to make the mistake of putting speed above justice.”’

Advocates, asylum seekers, and communities are coming together to demand an asylum system that provides every person a safe and fair opportunity to seek protection, with full access to legal representation and community-based support. The Biden administration should put humanity first, reject the cruel policies of the past, and welcome people seeking asylum with dignity.

Brianna Krong | Communications and Advocacy Coordinator

Center for Gender and Refugee Studies

200 McAllister Street | San Francisco, CA 94102

(415) 581-8835 (Phone) | (415) 581-8824 (Fax)

krongbrianna@uchastings.edu
Pronouns: she/her/hers

Twitter| Facebook | Donate

Request Assistance or Report an Outcome in Your Asylum Case

Here are other initial comments from asylum experts:

I don’t think there was any consultation w/ private bar. NGOs are very upset. Biden administration just held a q and a about two hours ago to answer NGO questions but there’s a lot of unknowns remaining.

Lots of NGOs are off today because of the long weekend but many are working to respond to this and the President’s budget.

See NGO press release in response to President’s budget:

For Immediate Release: May 28, 2021

Contact: press@wearehome.us

We Are Home Campaign Deeply Disappointed by Biden’s DHS Budget Request

Calls on Congress to Do Better

Washington, DC —President Biden’s FY 2022 budget, released today, requests $2.7 billion from Congress for ICE detention – almost the same amount enacted by Congress last year under the Trump Administration. It includes funds for 2,500 family detention beds. Alongside recent increases in the number of people jailed by ICE, this budget request is an alarming signal that DHS and the President are not heeding the call of the immigrant justice movement to reduce and ultimately end the federal government’s harmful and unnecessary reliance on incarceration for immigration processing.

In response to the news, Bridgette Gomez, Director of the We Are Home campaign, said:

“We are deeply disappointed to see that DHS plans to continue Trump-era levels of ICE detention. Candidate Biden promised an immigration policy that reflects our highest values as a nation. As president, Biden has repeatedly emphasized his commitment to racial equity. Any plan that doesn’t dramatically shrink ICE’s incarceration system – which mostly jails Black and Brown people – betrays those commitments. We’ll be looking to Congress to do better and cut ICE’s budget significantly.”

In March, We Are Home joined the Defund Hate coalition in calling on Congress to cut funding for ICE and CBP by at least 50 percent.

In February, the campaign sent comprehensive recommendations to DHS to overhaul enforcement and begin to dismantle the detention and deportation machinery that has devastated millions of families, mostly Black and Brown, and squandered billions of taxpayer dollars. These recommendations included policies to cut detention, including 1) a comprehensive file review of all people in ICE custody, with a presumption of release, and 2) an end to the use of private prisons and state and local jails for ICE detention. The urgency to reduce the detained population is even greater during the pandemic, since people in jails and prisons face particular risk of contracting COVID. ICE has no centralized plan to provide vaccines for people in its custody.”

We Are Home is a nationwide campaign to fight for immigrant communities on three fronts: prioritizing and demanding a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants in America; a moratorium and overhaul of interior enforcement; and broad affirmative relief from deportation. We Are Home is co-chaired by Community Change/Community Change Action; National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA)/Care in Action; Service Employees International Union (SEIU); United Farm Workers/UFW Foundation; and United We Dream.

###

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

The NGOs are quite upset.Note that this comes days after the Fourth Circuit enforced an IJ’s duty to fully develop the record even in represented cases.And yet here is the administration speeding up the assembly line.

In my view, this will lead to more pro se I-589s being filed.And as Sessions vacated Matter of E-F-H-L-, there is now no safeguard in either case law or regs preventing IJs from summarily denying those I-589s for e.g. failing to correctly delineate a PSG.

I can’t for the life of me understand this administration’s determination topreserveTrump’s policies.

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

Quick takes:

Because the system would depend almost entirely on NGOs and pro bono groups to provide counsel, developing policies without consulting those groups or providing grants to increase representation is totally inappropriate, not to mention stupid and insulting;
Special expedited asylum dockets have failed in the last two Administrations, so why try a “proven failure” once again?
Assigning certain Immigration Judges to these “priority dockets” – without first removing non-priority cases from the docket, will result in more “Aimless Docket Reshuffling” and increased backlogs;
As a recent article by respected experts Professor Karen Musalo and Professor Stephen Legomsky shows, the current system has been “gamed against asylum seekers” by both EOIR and DHS; https://www.justsecurity.org/76671/asylum-and-the-three-little-words-that-can-spell-life-or-death/; without radical progressive changes, the new policy will just produce more unfairness;

Professor Karen Musalo
Director, Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, Hastings Law

Stephen Legomsky — Professor Stephen H. Legomsky
Emeritus Professor of Law. & Former USG Senior Executive
Washington U. Law
PHOTO: Washington U. Law website

The 10 Immigration Courts selected for this project have widely varying asylum denial rates. For example, for the period 2015-20, according to TRAC, El Paso (an “Asylum Free Zone”) had a denial rate of 90% and New York a denial rate of 32%. How can a system including such extremes be “fair?”
As recent litigation has pointed out, Garland’s Immigration Judges are making basic mistakes and failing to develop records in their rush to screw asylum seekers. Without bringing in expert judges and emphasizing fairness, scholarship, record development, and quality above bureaucratic, enforcement related goals, this proposal is going to increase the due process disaster in Garland’s broken “courts;” https://immigrationcourtside.com/2021/05/26/%e2%9a%96%ef%b8%8f%f0%9f%97%bd4th-circuit-blasts-garland-eoirs-indolent-haste-make-waste-denial-centric-asylum-adjudication-in-another-victory-for-round-table-due-proces/
In just a short time, Garland’s outrageous mishandling of the Immigration Courts, and his disdain for expert progressive advice and appointments, shows exactly why Congress must remove these “courts” from the incompetent and biased administration of the DOJ and create an independent U.S. Immigration Court;
Until that happens, progressives and advocates will have to deal with Garland’s “in your face arrogance and ignorance” the same way they dealt with Sessions and Barr — with massive resistance and unending litigation until Garland’s corrupt, incompetent, biased system grinds to a halt.

Turning potential powerful and helpful friends into motivated and committed enemies! Seems pretty stupid to me.

Stephen Miller rightfully made lots of enemies with his racist, neo-Nazi shenanigans. But, he did please and energize his nativist, White Nationalist supporters!

By contrast, Garland has rapidly turned progressive supporters into enemies. But, he won’t get one iota of appreciation or support from Miller and his White Nationalist nativist supporters in the GOP.

Creating policies that are universally opposed or panned. That takes some impressive negative leadership and political idiocy!

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

PWS

05-29-21

🏴‍☠️🤮👎🏻⚰️☠️BIDEN, HARRIS, GARLAND, MAYORKAS CONTINUE THE ILLEGAL, RACIST TRUMP/MILLER ANTI-ASLUM POLICIES @ THE BORDER — It Must Stop, Say Advocates! — “The policy has disproportionately affected Black migrants, who are often Haitian.”

Star Chamber Justice — “Justice”
Star Chamber
Style

Stephen Miller Cartoon — Stephen Miller & Count Olaf
Evil Twins, Notorious Child Abusers: Their policies are still being carried out by Biden, Harris, Garland, and Mayorkas

https://edition.pagesuite.com/popovers/dynamic_article_popover.aspx?guid=d2efc621-ea7e-489e-b34c-ef6e7e509750&v=sdk

Quit using a pandemic policy to expel migrants

By Psyche Calderon, Hannah Janeway and Ronica Mukerjee

In a steadily growing encampment mere yards south of the U.S.-Mexico border, we are led to a little girl with a fever. She lies dehydrated and wrapped in her parents’ possessions inside a waterlogged tent. Recently deported from the United States under a Trump-era pandemic policy, the family is camped next to the border wall with thousands of others who have nowhere to go.

In recent months, much attention and political outrage have focused on unaccompanied children crossing into the U.S. and being detained in government custody. But less scrutiny has been given to the mass deportations of migrant families and vulnerable adults expelled with no due process during the pandemic under a U.S. health law called Title 42, which allows the government to bar people from countries where communicable disease exists.

For more than a year — and in the name of public health — the government has been summarily expelling migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border, ignoring epidemiologists and health experts, violating the migrants’ human rights and creating a critical situation in Tijuana and other border towns.

As medical professionals who provide care in encampments and shelters in Tijuana, we’ve seen how this expulsion policy has caused a humanitarian emergency in northern Mexico. Even as these encampments become increasingly overcrowded and unsafe, many migrants and their families are still being denied entry or quickly expelled by the U.S. government. The Biden administration has carried out roughly 350,000 expulsions, including nearly 50,000 families.

The administration, as part of a legal settlement, recently agreed to process up to 250 asylum seekers a day deemed vulnerable by advocacy groups so they may continue to pursue their asylum cases in the United States.

However, this is nowhere near sufficient to address the widespread human rights violations and humanitarian crisis we see every day in Tijuana. There are still many thousands of asylum seekers along the border who were previously subjected to inhumane detention and expulsions — and who are now grappling with the subsequent fallout and trauma.

Migrants in Tijuana are subjected to targeted violence by cartels, squalid conditions in encampments and shelters, and despair after the U.S. lied to many of them about their expulsions. Some asylum seekers have said Border Patrol agents told them they were being transferred to a shelter in another U.S. city when, in fact, they were sent to Mexico.

As co-founders of an organization providing healthcare to migrants stranded in Tijuana, we have been working around the clock to provide medical care.

We have seen increasing dehydration, malnutrition and infectious diseases associated with overcrowding. At an encampment in Tijuana that shelters about 2,000 asylum seekers, there are no formal sanitation facilities; gastrointestinal illnesses are causing severe illness in newborns and young children. Chronic diseases and mental health disorders, left untreated, could become death sentences. The migrants have been forced to camp amid very cold temperatures at night during winter months.

Disease is not the only threat. Families fear cartel activity and kidnappings since vulnerable migrants are often targeted for violence. More than 80% of LGBTQ refugees in Baja California reported surviving an assault in Mexico from mid-February to March. Last month, we received a late-night phone call from a lawyer asking for our help. The client — a transgender woman — had been stabbed, forced into hiding and was afraid to go to the local hospital in Tijuana because they are often unsafe places for sexual minorities. We were able to provide her basic medical care, but many others are not as lucky.

The Title 42 expulsion order has been used by the U.S. to essentially eliminate asylum at the border and put thousands of people in immediate danger by either returning them to their countries of origin or to Mexican border cities, even if the asylum seekers are not Mexican or do not speak Spanish. While the administration recently ceased cross-border expulsion flights — a reckless approach during the pandemic used to transfer and expel migrants to Mexico — officials have reserved the right to reinstate them as needed.

The policy has disproportionately affected Black migrants, who are often Haitian. They are expelled without due process back to persecution in Haiti or to pervasive anti-Black violence in northern Mexico — leaving them without access to healthcare, psychological support, safety or asylum.

. . . .

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

Read the rest of the article at the link.

I’ve said it many times: The Biden Administration’s efforts to achieve racial justice in America will fail as long as they carry out scofflaw racist immigration policies at the border and Garland runs White Nationalist star chambers @ EOIR under the guise of “courts.” Rhetoric is meaningless without action to back it up! And the fight for racial justice in America begins at the border and in our dysfunctional, lawless Immigration “Courts!”

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

🏴‍☠️🤮☠️⚰️👎🏻STILL SCOFFLAWS AFTER ALL THESE MONTHS: UNHCR SPEAKS OUT AS BIDEN, HARRIS, GARLAND, MAYORKAS CONTINUE TRUMP-MILLER POLICIES OF ILLEGAL, IMMORAL, UNNECESSARY RETURN OF ASYLUM SEEKERS WITH NO DUE PROCESS UNDER BOGUS TITLE 42 RATIONALE! — Ever Wonder Why Racial & Gender Justice & Equity Are Mirages In Today’s America? — Look No Further Than The “Dred Scottification” Of “The Other” @ DOJ & DHS On Display Every Day!

https://www.lexisnexis.com/legalnewsroom/immigration/b/outsidenews/posts/unhcr-calls-for-end-to-cdc-title-42-blockade

UNHCR Calls for End to CDC Title 42 Blockade

UNHCR, May 20, 2021, Statement attributable to UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi

“I appeal to the government of the United States to swiftly lift the public health-related asylum restrictions that remain in effect at the border and to restore access to asylum for the people whose lives depend on it, in line with international legal and human rights obligations.

I welcome the US government’s plans for much needed reform and capacity building to manage border processes and the positive steps that have been taken to exempt unaccompanied children and some families in situations of acute vulnerability from these severe restrictions. A system which allows a small number of asylum seekers to be admitted daily, however, carries with it a number of risks, and is not an adequate response. There is an urgent need to take further steps to provide access at ports of entry which remain closed to most asylum-seekers owing to the Title 42 public health order by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in place since March last year.

The Title 42 order has resulted in the expulsions of hundreds of thousands of people to Mexico or their countries of origin, denying their access to asylum procedures. Guaranteed access to safe territory and the prohibition of pushbacks of asylum-seekers are core precepts of the 1951 Refugee Convention and refugee law, which governments are required to uphold to protect the rights and lives of refugees. The expulsions have also had serious humanitarian consequences in northern Mexico.

We at UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, have maintained since the start of the pandemic that protecting public health and protecting access to asylum, a fundamental human right, are fully compatible. At the height of the public health emergency, many countries put in place protocols such as health screening, testing and quarantine measures, to simultaneously protect both public health and the right to seek asylum.

I encourage the US administration to continue its work to strengthen its asylum system and diversify safe pathways so asylum-seekers are not forced to resort to dangerous crossings facilitated by smugglers.

For our part, UNHCR stands ready to support the implementation of such a decision.”

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

The suffering of migrants continues as does the indifference of Biden officials to racial and gender injustice. Such tone deafness and spinelessness doesn’t bode well for voting rights, police reform, criminal law reform, pay equity, health care, or any other civil rights/social justice initiatives from the Biden Administration!

The Biden folks can’t keep relying on the crimes against humanity by Trump as an excuse for continuing them! Not rocket science — but it should be the number one national priority now that COVID-19 seems to be getting under control and the economy is rebounding.

We aren’t gong to solve the centuries-old problems in the Middle East tomorrow! But, we could and should begin fixing our broken and dysfunctional immigration system and Immigration Courts today (actually should have been underway since Day 1 of the Biden Administration)!

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

PWS

05-24-21

CHARLES M. BLOW @ NYT BEGS TO DIFFER WITH GOP SENs SCOTT & GRAHAM: “However, it is important to remember that nearly half the country just voted for a full-on racist in Donald Trump, and they did so by either denying his racism, becoming apologists for it, or applauding it. What do you call a country thus composed?”

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/02/opinion/america-racism.html?referringSource=articleShare

. . . .

I personally don’t make much of Scott’s ability to reason. This is the same man who said in March that “woke supremacy,” whatever that is, “is as bad as white supremacy.” There is no world in which recent efforts at enlightenment can be equated to enslavement, lynching and mass incarceration. None.

Colfax

It seems to me that the disingenuousness on the question of racism is largely a question of language. The question turns on another question: “What, to you, is America?” Is America the people who now inhabit the land, divorced from its systems and its history? Or, is the meaning of America inclusive of those systems and history?

When people say that America is a racist country, they don’t necessarily mean that all or even most Americans are consciously racist. However, it is important to remember that nearly half the country just voted for a full-on racist in Donald Trump, and they did so by either denying his racism, becoming apologists for it, or applauding it. What do you call a country thus composed?

Historically, however, there is no question that the country was founded by racists and white supremacists, and that much of the early wealth of this country was built on the backs of enslaved Africans, and much of the early expansion came at the expense of the massacre of the land’s Indigenous people and broken treaties with them.

Eight of the first 10 presidents personally enslaved Africans. In 1856, the chief justice of the United States wrote in the infamous ruling on the Dred Scott case that Black people “had for more than a century before been regarded as beings of an inferior order, and altogether unfit to associate with the white race, either in social or political relations; and so far inferior, that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect.”

The country went on to fight a Civil War over whether some states could maintain slavery as they wished. Even some of the people arguing for, and fighting for, an end to slavery had expressed their white supremacist beliefs.

Abraham Lincoln said during his famous debates against Stephen A. Douglas in 1858 that among white people and Black ones “there must be the position of superior and inferior, and I, as much as any other man, am in favor of the superior position being assigned to the white man.”

Some will concede the historical point and insist on the progress point, arguing that was then and this is now, that racism simply doesn’t exist now as it did then. I would agree. American racism has evolved and become less blunt, but it has not become less effective. The knife has simply been sharpened. Now systems do the work that once required the overt actions of masses of individual racists.

. . . .

As Mark Twain once put it: “The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter. ’Tis the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.”

Being imprecise or undecided with our language on this subject contributes to the murkiness — and to the myth that the question of whether America is racist is difficult to answer and therefore the subject of genuine debate among honest intellectuals.

Saying that America is racist is not a radical statement. If that requires a longer explanation or definition, so be it. The fact, in the end, is not altered.

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

Read Blow’s full article at the link.

Four things that are clear to me:

The “history” that most of us in my generation learned in high school was “whitewashed;”
The monumental achievements of non-white Americans, women, and children which allowed this country to exist, prosper, and flourish have consistently been ignored or downplayed;
America still has race issues;
The GOP, in particular, has failed to come to grips with the issue of race in 21st century America (apologists Scott & Graham notwithstanding).

🇺🇸⚖️🗽Due Process For All Persons Under Law, Forever!

PWS

05-03-21

☠️⚰️🤮👎🏽BIDEN/GARLAND/MAYORKAS WITH MASSIVE HUMAN RIGHTS FAILURE: 40% Of Asylum Seekers Illegally Returned By Biden Administration Suffered Attacks, Kidnapping Upon Return To Mexico — None Were Given Legal/Human Rights To Apply For Asylum (Under A System Already Biased Against People of Color & Women)! — This & Other News In The Gibson Report, Prepared By Elizabeth Gibson, Esquire, NY Legal Assistance Group!

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

COVID-19 & Closures

Note: Policies are rapidly changing, so please verify information with the government and colleagues.

EOIR Status Overview & EOIR Court Status Map/List: Unless previously specified on the court status list, hearings in non-detained cases at courts are postponed through, and including, May 14, 2021. (It is unclear when the next announcement will be. EOIR announced 5/14 on Mon. 3/29, 4/16 on Fri. 3/5, 3/19 on Wed. 2/10, 2/19 on Mon. 1/25, 2/5 on Mon. 1/11, and 1/22 on Mon. 12/28.) There is no announced date for reopening NYC non-detained at this time.

USCIS Office Closings and Visitor Policy

TOP NEWS

An Early Promise Broken: Inside Biden’s Reversal on Refugees

NYT: Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken was in the Oval Office, pleading with President Biden. In the meeting, on March 3, Mr. Blinken implored the president to end Trump-era restrictions on immigration and to allow tens of thousands of desperate refugees fleeing war, poverty and natural disasters into the United States, according to several people familiar with the exchange. But Mr. Biden, already under intense political pressure because of the surge of migrant children at the border with Mexico, was unmoved.

Trump Asylum Work Rules Under Review, Changes Possible, DOJ Says

Bloomberg: Trump regulations aimed at lengthening the amount of time an asylum seeker had to wait to apply for work authorization are now under review, with potential changes coming, according to a new government filing in a federal lawsuit over the rules.

New Report Documents Nearly 500 Cases Of Violence Against Asylum-Seekers Expelled By Biden

Intercept: A joint human rights report published Tuesday, based on more than 110 in-person interviews and an electronic survey of more than 1,200 asylum-seekers in the Mexican state of Baja California, documented at least 492 cases of attacks or kidnappings targeting asylum-seekers expelled under a disputed public health law, known as Title 42, since President Joe Biden’s January inauguration.

Biden’s open to doing immigration through reconciliation, Hispanic lawmakers say

Politico: A push from Biden touting the economic benefits of immigration reform could supplement efforts by progressive groups to sell a pathway to citizenship for undocumented people as a $1.4 trillion boon for the U.S. economy. It also may boost efforts by some on Capitol Hill to argue that a pathway to citizenship for some undocumented immigrants can be passed in a reconciliation package that, if sanctioned by the Senate parliamentarian, could move through the chamber with just 50 votes.

How ICE’s Mishandling of Covid-19 Fueled Outbreaks Around the Country

NYT: To date, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has reported over 12,000 virus cases. Our investigation found that the impact of infection extended beyond U.S. detention centers.

Nearly 4,000 MPP Cases Transferred Out of MPP Courts Under Biden, But Most Cases Still Remain In Mexico

TRAC: Rates of case transfers out of MPP varied by court, from a high of 28 percent of cases assigned to the MPP court in Brownsville, Texas, transferred to a non-MPP court, to a low of just three percent of cases assigned to the MPP court in Laredo, Texas.

They missed their U.S. court dates because they were kidnapped. Now they’re blocked from applying for asylum.

WaPo: Many missed their court dates because they were kidnapped and held hostage, or detained by Mexican officials, or because they couldn’t find a safe way to get to the border in the middle of the night, when most were told to arrive for their hearings, according to lawyers, advocates and the migrants themselves. Some had medical emergencies related to the conditions in which they waited. An untold number, their asylum cases now closed, remain in hiding in northern Mexico.

Unaccompanied migrant children spend weeks in government custody, even when their U.S.-based parents are eager to claim them

WaPo: More than 40 percent of the minors released by the government have at least one parent already living in the United States, but HHS has been taking 25 days on average to approve release and grant custody to the mother or father, a number that dipped to 22 days Thursday, according to the latest internal data reviewed by The Washington Post. It takes an average of 33 days to release minors to other immediate relatives, such as siblings.

Despite Biden’s union support, immigration judges left waiting

Roll Call: More than a month after former D.C. Circuit judge Merrick B. Garland was confirmed as attorney general, the Justice Department — which houses the U.S. immigration court system — has not intervened.

What America would look like with zero immigration

CNN: In short, if immigration remained at near-zero levels, within decades, the country could be older, smaller and poorer. But if the US government welcomed more newcomers, within decades, the country could be younger, more productive and richer.

Sex Work Prosecution Changes in New York Are a Welcome Step — but Not Enough

Intercept: Historically, the criminalization of “promoting” sex work has left the loved ones and roommates of sex workers, as well as sex worker rights advocates, vulnerable to prosecution. For many immigrant workers, the risk of deportation will remain. The DA’s office said that it would continue to bring other charges that stem from prostitution-related arrests. “Trafficking” will no doubt be used to carry out raids and harass survival workers.

LITIGATION/CASELAW/RULES/MEMOS

Justices Won’t Hear Texas Bid To Revive Public Charge Rule

Law360: The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ruled Texas and 13 other states moved too quickly in attempting to revive the Trump-era public charge rule, saying the states would have to first make their case at the district court level.

BIA Finds Attorney Provided Ineffective Assistance by Missending Medical Examination

Unpublished BIA decision finds prior attorney provided ineffective assistance by mistakenly submitting medical examination to USCIS rather than immigration court. Special thanks to IRAC. (Matter of Samuels-Foster, 7/30/20) AILA Doc. No. 21042002

BIA Finds IJ Improperly Drew Falsus in Uno Inference

Unpublished BIA decision finds IJ improperly drew falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus inference where sole false testimony related to whether respondent rather than his prior attorney signed his adjustment application. Special thanks to IRAC. (Matter of Luwaga, 7/31/20) AILA Doc. No. 21042001

CA3 3rd Circ. Says Courts Can’t Help Asylum-Seeker Define Group

Law360: Immigration courts were not required to help a Mexican immigrant refine his definition of the persecuted group he identified with in order to prevent his deportation, a Third Circuit panel has ruled.

CA3 Holds That INA §237(a)(2)(B) Provides No Pardon Waiver for a Controlled Substance Offense

Denying the petition for review, the court held that INA §237(a)(2)(B), which provides for removal of a noncitizen convicted of a violation of any law or regulation of a state relating to a controlled substance, contains no pardon waiver. (Aristy-Rosa v. Att’y Gen., 3/16/21) AILA Doc. No. 21041934

CA8 Upholds Denial of Asylum to Somali Petitioner Who Was a Member of a Minority Islamic Sect

The court held that the petitioner was removable because his Minnesota conviction for possession of khat related to a federal controlled substance pursuant to INA §237(a)(2)(B)(i), and found that the petitioner had failed to prove that he was entitled to asylum. (Ahmed v. Garland, 4/8/21) AILA Doc. No. 21041935

CA8 Says “Serious Reasons for Believing” Standard Under INA §208(b)(2)(A)(iii) Requires a Finding of Probable Cause

Where BIA had denied asylum to petitioner based on a finding that serious reasons exist to believe he committed a serious nonpolitical crime, the court held that the “serious reasons for believing” standard requires a finding of probable cause. (Barahona v. Garland, 2/3/21, amended 4/15/21) AILA Doc. No. 21021636

CA8 Concludes That Petitioner Was Barred from Cancellation of Removal Based on His Iowa Conviction for Possessing Marijuana

The court held that the BIA did not err in determining that petitioner’s Iowa conviction for possession of a controlled substance disqualified him from relief in the form of cancellation of removal, because the Iowa statute is divisible as to marijuana offenses. (Arroyo v. Garland, 4/14/21) AILA Doc. No. 21041937

CA9 Affirms District Court’s Grant of a Preliminary Injunction Against Third Country Transit Ban

The court upheld the district court’s grant of a preliminary injunction against the implementation of a DHS/DOJ joint interim final rule that categorically denies asylum to individuals arriving at the U.S./Mexico border. (East Bay Sanctuary Covenant v. Garland, 7/6/20, amended 4/8/21) AILA Doc. No. 20070636

CA9 Concludes IJ’s Adverse Reasonable Fear of Torture Determination Was Not Supported by Substantial Evidence

Granting the petition for review and remanding, the court held that the IJ’s decision to affirm the asylum officer’s adverse reasonable fear of torture determination as to the Honduran petitioner was not supported by substantial evidence. (Alvarado-Herrera v. Garland, 4/13/21)

AILA Doc. No. 21042032

CA11 BIA Mishandling Of Forged Letter Resurrects Removal Appeal

Law360: The Eleventh Circuit has revived a Gambian man’s bid to remain in the U.S., chiding the Board of Immigration Appeals for misrepresenting how attorney misconduct, including an alleged forgery, skewed his removal proceedings.

Texas Says Biden Admin. Ignores COVID-19 Immigration Rule

Law360: Texas’ attorney general said in a federal court complaint Thursday that the Biden administration was not abiding by Trump-era U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention rules meant to reduce the spread of COVID-19 by restricting illegal immigration.

ICE Must Hand Over Alternatives To Detention Records

Law360: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement must hand over records related to its Alternatives to Detention program by May 3, in response to a lawsuit in New York federal court seeking information on how the agency surveils immigrants in its supervision.

ICE Rescinds Civil Penalties for Failure to Depart

Posted 4/23/2021

DHS announced that ICE has rescinded two delegation orders related to the collection of civil financial penalties for noncitizens who fail to depart the United States. ICE had initiated enforcement of civil penalties in 2018; as of January 20, 2021, ICE ceased issuing these fines.

AILA Doc. No. 21042331

DHS Notice of Suspension of Requirements Governing Employment for Venezuelan F-1 Students

Posted 4/22/2021

DHS notice of the suspension of certain requirements governing employment for F-1 students from Venezuela who are experiencing severe economic hardship as a result of the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela. (86 FR 21328, 4/22/21)

AILA Doc. No. 21042106

DHS Notice of Suspension of Requirements Governing Employment for Syrian F-1 Students

Posted 4/22/2021

DHS notice of the suspension of certain requirements governing employment for F-1 students from Syria who are experiencing severe economic hardship as a result of the civil unrest in Syria. (86 FR 21333, 4/22/21)

AILA Doc. No. 21042105

CBP Memo Updating Terminology for CBP Communications and Materials

Posted 4/21/2021

Troy Miller, senior official performing the duties of the commissioner, issued a memo establishing guidance on the preferred use of immigration terminology within the federal government. The memo provides a table listing prior terminology and the new terminology CBP will use moving forward.

AILA Doc. No. 21042100

ACTIONS

USCIS Request for Public Input on Reducing Administrative Barriers: Comments are due May 19, 2021.

March to Victory: Relay Across America

RESOURCES

AIC: The First 100 Days: Biden on Immigration Detention

AILA: Client Flyer: Extension of DED for Liberians

AILA: Client Flyer: Receipt Notice Delays and Related Intake Issues

AILA: From China’s One-Child Policy to Central America’s Gender-Based Violence Epidemic: An Argument for Expansive Application of the “Coercive Population Control” Political Opinion Ground

Asylos

Sierra Leone: Support for former victims of trafficking (AFR2021-01)

Namibia: Situation for people from Ovahimba tribe and treatment for diabetes (AFR2020-30)

Ecuador: Indigenous female children’s protection from domestic abuse and harassment, and young Indigenous mothers’ access to education and employment opportunities (AME2021-03)

India: Harassment and violence against Christians (ASI2021-01)

Ethiopia: Discrimination and violence against Eritrean children in Ethiopia (MEN2021-03)

Azerbaïdjan : Etat des lieux sur la corruption, l’opposition et les rapatriés (CIS2021-01)

CLINIC: Department of Homeland Security (DHS), I-9 and REAL ID Policies

CLINIC: Five Things to Know about Fraud and Marriage-Based Petitions

CLINIC: Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR)

CLINIC: Legislative Relief Packages

CLINIC: Presidential Proclamations and Other White House Policies

CLINIC: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)

CWS: COVID-19 Vaccine Informational Videos for Refugee Communities (multiple languages)

DOJ OIG: Limited-Scope Review of the Executive Office for Immigration Review’s Response to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic

HRF: Failure to Protect: Biden Administration Continues Illegal Trump Policy to Block and Expel Asylum Seekers to Danger

IAN: Webinar Handout: Mendez Rojas Settlement Agreement

Immigrants Rights Voices – Map of Retaliation

ImmProf: Chart of Terminology Changes at CBP

NIP/NLG: Aggravated Felonies and the Harmful Exclusion of People from Immigration Relief

Witness Radio: Title 42, The Invisible Border Wall

EVENTS

4/26/21 Clean Slate Advocacy Day training

4/27/21 The Relationship Between Immigration and Journalism

4/27/21 Dusting Off DACA

4/27/21 Relief for immigrant youth under the Biden administration – Deferred Action for Childhood

4/28/21 Spring 2021 Asylum Seminar

4/28/21 A Chance to Come Home: A Roadmap to Bring Home the Unjustly Deported

4/28/21 Community Defense: Legal Service Partnerships with Organizers

4/29/21 Adjudication of trauma in immigration proceedings

4/30/21Dismantling MPP Moving Forward: Lessons Learned From Working With Detained People and Formerly Separated Families

5/3/21 Finding A New Norm: Resilience Fundamentals

5/4/21 Dealing with Difficult People

5/4/21 Avoiding Future Travel Issues for Clients with COVID-19 Travel Complications

5/4/21Public Charge: Current State of Play

5/5/21 100 Days: Accountability on Immigration

5/5/21-5/6/21 U Visas: Advanced & Emerging Issues

5/5/21 Straight Talk on Stress in Law and How to Cope: Mindfulness for Lawyers

5/6/21 IDP: The Ethics of Representing Clients with Criminal Contacts

5/6/21Hot Topics in Asylum Law

5/6/21 Advanced Considerations in TPS & DED (Late-breaking)

5/10/21All About DOJ Recognition and Accreditation

5/12/21 NYIC: Legal Research and Writing Training Series

5/12/21New Virtual Workshop Models

5/13/21Marijuana and Immigrants

5/17/21-5/20/21CLINIC Convening 2021

5/18/21 DOJ Recognition & Accreditation

5/18/21Ethics in Representing Family Members in U Visa, U AOS/929, and VAWA Cases

5/19/21 Phase 1 of a SIJS case: the intersection of immigration law and family law

5/20/21 Understanding your Client’s Contact with the Criminal Legal System in New York City

5/26/21Hot Topics in Removal Defense

6/1/21VAWA Adjustment of Status Fundamentals

6/2/21-6/23/21 CLINIC Webinar Series: Overview of Immigration Consequences of Crimes

6/8/21-6/29/21 CLINIC Webinar Series: Citizenship and Naturalization

6/9/21-6/12/21 2021 AILA Virtual Annual Conference on Immigration Law

6/9/21Hot topics: Adjudication and Enforcement Trends

6/10/21Public Charge and Hot Topics in Consular Processing

6/14/21Taxes at the Border: Understanding the Tax Consequences of Immigration Status

6/15/21U Visa Hot Topics

6/15/21Motions to Reopen in Immigration Court: Part III – VAWA Self-petitioners

6/16/21 Phase 2 of a SIJS case: Preparation & submission of the immigration forms to USCIS

6/22/21Defending Immigration Removal Proceedings 2021

6/30/21Immigration Update – June 2021

7/21/21 The ethics of dual representation (child and guardian) in SIJS practice

7/22/21PLI: Defending Immigration Removal Proceedings 2021

9/23/21Representing Children in Immigration Matters 2021: Effective Advocacy and Best Practices

ImmProf

Monday, April 26, 2021

Immigration Article of the Day: Regional Immigration Enforcement by Fatma Marouf

Sunday, April 25, 2021

Map of Retaliatory Actions Against Immigrant Activists

Human Smugglers Bypass Border Patrol, Deaths on the Border in South Texas

Immigration Article of the Day: The War Against Asian Sailors and Fishers by Gabriel Jack Chin and Sam Chew Chin

Saturday, April 24, 2021

Protagonist of The Infiltrators Speaks Out Against Deportation of Whistleblowers

Immigration Article of the Day: Athletes in Transit: Why the Game is Different in Sports and the Visas Should be Too by David P. Weber

Friday, April 23, 2021

Balls of F$%*ing Steel

April 29: Bridging the Scientific-Legal Divide in the Adjudication of Trauma in Immigration Proceedings, UC Davis Global Migration Center

Immigration Article of the Day: (Un)Equal Immigration Protection by Carrie Rosenbaum

American First Legal (a/k/a Stephen Miller’s Foundation) teams with Texas in challenge to Biden immigration policies

Accolades: Emily Ryo

Thursday, April 22, 2021

April 24: Access to Justice Scholar Showcase

May 07: ABA Administrative Law Section Virtual Live Spring CLE Conference

From the Bookshelves: Taste of Belonging by Welcoming America

Wednesday, April 21, 2021

Conference June 9-11, 2021: ‘Ageing Gracefully? The 1951 Refugee Convention at 70’

Tuesday, April 20, 2021

Chart of Terminology Changes at CBP

In Defense of Chain Migration

What America would look like with zero immigration

Rutgers Law: Latinx Civil Rights Conference

Call for Proposals: Global Borderlands: getting to the core of Crimmigration

Monday, April 19, 2021

Oral Argument in Sanchez v. Mayorkas

From the Bookshelves: The End of Asylum by By Andrew I. Schoenholtz, Jaya Ramji-Nogales, and Philip G. Schrag

Peter Margulies: Biden’s Border Problem, and How to Fix It

More inclusive language for immigrants at ICE, CBP

America First Caucus Scrapped

Senator Booker Revives Bill To Overhaul Immigration Detention

Immigration Article of the Day: Expanding the Geographies of ‘Sanctuary’ and the Deepening and Contentious Nature of Immigration Federalism: The Case of California’s SB 54 by William Arroacha

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

The failure of President Biden, Judge Garland, and Secretary Mayorkas to end the grotesque abuse of asylum seekers at our borders will be a blot on their records. Human lives are at stake!

And establishing a due process compliant, robust, generous asylum adjudication system in the U.S. is not “rocket science.” With better, more courageous leadership, and different judges (a number of whom are already on the EOIR payroll), and a partnership with NGOs and organizations who know asylum law, a much better system could have been up and functioning well before now!

Just one word to describe the performance so far: INEXCUSABLE!

Biden Border Message — “Border Message”
By Steve Sack
Reproduced under license

Due Process Forever!

PWS

04-28-21

🏴‍☠️☠️HOW RACIST DISTORTIONS & ABROGATIONS OF EQUAL PROTECTION & DUE PROCESS IN IMMIGRATION LAW FEED & REINFORCE INSTITUTIONALIZED RACISM IN AMERICAN LAW GENERALLY! — New Scholarship By Carrie Rosenbaum Highlights An Old Problem That Is Destroying American Law & Ripping Apart Our Society!🤮👎🏽

James “Jim” Crow

“Jim Crow” is still alive and well @ EOIR. To date, Judge Garland & his team seem to think that the rest of us won’t notice what’s happening in “his” Immigration Courts and how it undermines every aspect of his claim to be restoring faith in the DOJ and the American justice system. A progressively-oriented, independent, expert Immigration Judiciary is a prerequisite for finally achieving racial justice in 21st Century America. So far, Judge Garland has NOT enunciated any plan to “get there,” nor has he even publicly acknowledged the many disgraceful problems plaguing EOIR!

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/immigration/2021/04/immigration-article-of-the-day-unequal-immigration-protection-by-carrie-rosenbaum.html

From ImmigrationProf Blog:

(Un)Equal Immigration Protection by Carrie Rosenbaum, 50 Sw. L. Rev. 232 (2021)

ABSTRACT

This article will contribute to immigration equal protection jurisprudential discussions by highlighting the way in which the plenary power in immigration equal protection cases creates a barrier parallel to the intent doctrine—both prohibit curtailment of government action resulting in racialized harm. The scant recognition of the double duty done by plenary power and the intent doctrine reflects the banality of what may appear as a mere redundancy at first glance. However, the insidiousness of the double-barrier all but ensures that equal protection challenges to facially race-neutral immigration laws with disparate impact will fail. Plenary power is effectively duplicative of the intent doctrine because the intent doctrine already results in great deference to lawmakers.

. . . .

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

Read the full abstract at the link.

Unquestionably, immigration jurisprudence has intentionally misread the due process and equal protection clauses to achieve racist immigration policies. Getting rid of these perversions — analogous to the legal and judicial gobbledegook used by White men to make the 14th and 15th Amendments (and to a large extent, the 13th Amendment) “dead letters” for African Americans following Reconstruction — isn’t a matter of complicated legal thinking. It’s a matter of better Federal Judges and better legislators. And, the mess @EOIR — our Immigration “Courts” — is the best and most logical place to begin the long overdue task of instituting constitutional compliance and equal justice for all.

To date, Judge Garland’s failure to demonstrate a commitment to eliminating unconstitutional racism and misogyny (not to mention poor quality decision-making which also disproportionately affects individuals and communities of color) in his Immigration “Courts” threatens to destroy our legal system and “kneecap” American democracy.

We are in the perilous position we are today because past Administrations, to the extent they have even tried to address systemic racism (obviously, the Trump Administration sought the exact opposite — to deepen, protect, and promote racism and hate), have intentionally or negligently ignored the clear link between immigration law and racism in the rest of our legal system.

🇺🇸⚖️🗽🧑🏽‍⚖️Due Process Forever!

PWS

04-26-21

🏴‍☠️☠️⚰️🆘GARLAND, MAYORKAS FAIL TO CORRECT GROSS ABUSES OF DUE PROCESS CAUSED BY MPP SYSTEM! — Reopening All Of The Unconstitutionally Denied MPP Cases Should Be A “No Brainer” For Competent Officials & “Real” Judges! — Tell Judge Garland His Unconstitutional & Abusive Immigration Courts Can’t Wait To Be Fixed! — Lives Are Being Lost & Suffering Continues While He Diddles!

Four Horsemen — Judge Garland & Secretary Mayorkas continue to abuse asylum seekers at the Southern Border & in the U.S.
Albrecht Dürer, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Kevin Sieff
Latin American Correspondent, Washington Post

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/04/24/mexico-border-migrant-asylum-mpp/

By Kevin Sieff

April 24 at 11:16 AM CT

MATAMOROS, Mexico — Carolina had memorized the date, but she triple-checked her documents just to make sure. For months, her life had revolved around the court hearing at which she could finally make her asylum claim.

Like tens of thousands of asylum seekers who reached the U.S. border during the Trump administration, the 36-year-old from Honduras had been sent to wait in Mexico for her immigration hearing. She was told to return to the border on her court date.

So on Feb. 26, 2020, she woke up early and put on her best blouse. She said a short prayer. But not long after her bus left for Laredo, Tex., gunmen stopped the vehicle. They kidnapped Carolina and her 15-year-old daughter, took them to a stash house packed with other kidnapped migrants and demanded thousands of dollars in ransom.

By the time they were released a few days later, Carolina had missed her day in court.

Her asylum case, it turned out, had been closed in absentia because she hadn’t shown up. Of the 68,000 asylum cases processed under the Trump-era Migrant Protection Protocols, the policy also know as “Remain in Mexico,” 28,000 were closed for the same reason: Because asylum seekers didn’t present themselves.

. . . .

“MPP deprived people of due process and fundamental fairness,” she said. “In order to restore access to asylum in a meaningful way, the Biden administration needs to reopen cases for people ordered removed under MPP and allow them to pursue their claims safely from within the United States.”

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

Read Kevin’s full article at the link.

The last statement, from Haiyun Damon-Feng, the director of the Adelante Pro Bono Project and assistant director of the William H. Gates Public Service Law Program at the University of Washington School of Law, sums it up. It’s not rocket science! It’s basic “Con Law 101” with some common sense and human decency thrown in! It’s also an essential part of the Biden Administration fulfilling basic campaign promises! Folks like Damon-Feng are the ones who should be running this system, solving the problems, and reconstructing the legal asylum system!

In what kind of “court” system are kidnapped individuals, some of them minors and children, further penalized and the Government allowed to get away with not keeping accurate addresses of individuals in their process and of knowingly sending them into danger zones? The victims remain in limbo and suffering while the perpetrators of these illegal outages — both current and former government officials — have not been held accountable. This is a national disgrace compounded by the fact that neither Judge Garland nor Secretary Mayorkas have taken corrective actions. Nor have they cleaned out the deadwood from their own legally and morally bankrupt systems and put competent individuals in charge!

Qualified Immigration Judges and competent administrators at the DOJ and DHS could have started solving these problems beginning the day after the inauguration. That 100 days into the Biden Administration this system is still operating illegally and taking a human toll is both a betrayal of campaign promises and an abuse of humanity! It’s also horrible and clearly illegal policy!

How does an Administration that is actively engaged in “Dred Scottifying” people of color at the border and in their wholly owned Immigration “Courts” — actually modern day “Star Chambers” — have any “legitimate voice” on racial justice in America?

🇺🇸⚖️🗽Due Process Forever! Human lives matter! The Constitution matters! Asylum law matters!

PWS

04-26-21

LATEST CMS UPDATE BASICALLY CATALOGUES BIDEN ADMINISTRATION’S FAILURE TO GET A HANDLE ON RESTORING REFUGEE & ASYLUM SYSTEMS — Illegally Pushing Folks Back Across The Border, “Orbiting” Them To Harm Or Death, & Funding Human Rights Abuses Beyond Our Borders In The Mold Of Trump, Miller, & Wolf Might Fool The Public, At Least For Awhile — But Experts & Advocates See The Biden Administration’s Failures On Immigration Quite Clearly, As Will History!

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April 20, 2021

Check out this week’s digest of news, resources, faith reflections, and analysis of international migration and refugee protection, brought to you by the Center for Migration Studies of New York (CMS).

Haga clic aquí para la versión en español de la Actualización de Política.

Hopelessness Continues Driving Hondurans to Migrate

The Associated Press (April 17, 2021)

Last month, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported more than 41,000 encounters with Hondurans along the US-Mexico border, an increase of 12,000 over the same period in 2019. Eugenio Sosa, a sociologist at the National Autonomous University in Honduras, said that pervasive violence, deep-seated corruption, lack of jobs, and the devastation of two hurricanes in November 2020 have contributed to hopelessness among Hondurans. “The people don’t go just because it’s really bad,” Sosa said. “The people go because it’s bad and because they are certain that it is going to continue to be bad and that the country has rotted forever.” The Biden administration continues to expel adults arriving at the border under Title 42, which permits immigration authorities to bar foreign nationals for public health reasons and to prevent them from seeking asylum. The policy has not stopped Hondurans from arriving at the US-Mexico border. According to Sosa, small, positive changes in Honduras would encourage some to stay in their home country.

READ MORE

White House Walks Back Order On Refugee Limits After Backlash

NPR (April 16, 2021)

On April 16, 2021, the White House released a memorandum reallocating the 15,000 refugee admission spots for Fiscal Year (FY) 2021.The historically low admissions ceiling was set by the Trump administration. In the early days of his presidency, Biden promised to raise the cap via a presidential determination (PD) to 125,000 for FY 2022 and a February Department of State report recommended an increase in FY 2021 to 62,500 admissions. Friday’s memo reallocated admissions but did not increase the admissions cap. After backlash from Democratic lawmakers, refugee advocates, and human rights groups, the Biden administration issued a statement saying that its memorandum opened up refugee resettlement to regions that had previously been blocked under the Trump administration. The administration said it will raise refugee admissions for the current fiscal year on May 15th. The fiscal year ends on September 30, 2021. It is uncertain what the new cap will be for FY 2021.

READ MORE

READ Memorandum for the Secretary of State on the Emergency Presidential Determination on Refugee Admissions for Fiscal Year 2021

SIMI Interview with Fr. Marvin Ajic, c.s., Director of Casa del Migrante Nazareth in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, on the Situation on the US-Mexico Border

Scalabrini International Migration Institute (April 19, 2021)

In an interview sponsored by the Scalabrini International Migration Institute (SIMI), Fr. Marvin Ajic, c.s., reflects on the situation on the US-Mexico Border, differences between Trump- and Biden-era policies, and the important work of Casa del Migrante Nazareth in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, which he directs. The interview is in Spanish.

WATCH NOW

In Tijuana, Desperate Migrants Not Waiting For Godot But For Governments

Crux (April 17, 2021)

The United States government continues to deport from 200 to 500 migrants daily across its southern border under Title 42. Title 42 of the US Code gives US immigration authorities broad power to expel migrants it deems a danger of spreading COVID-19. It has severely curtailed access to asylum. Meanwhile, migrants continue to arrive at the US-Mexico border with the mistaken belief that they will be able to cross the border and receive asylum. The result is a “grim situation,” according to some immigrant advocates. Fr. Pat Murphy, Director of the Casa del Migrante Tijuana, says that US immigration authorities “keep sending more and more people under Title 42, and that means the pressure is on here in Mexico. We’re completely overwhelmed.” Tijuana’s 30 migrant shelters are all full, and approximately 2,000 migrants are camping outside a Mexican immigration facility waiting for the asylum process to resume. Fr. Murphy said that ending Title 42 and a resumption of the asylum process in Mexico would improve the situation. “All people are looking for is a chance,” he said.

READ MORE

Indonesian Asylum Seekers Survived Trump’s Attempt to Deport Them, But Now They’re Facing Off Against Biden

The Gothamist (April 15, 2021)

The Biden administration is continuing efforts started by the Trump administration to deport about two dozen Indonesian Christians who have been living in Central New Jersey for decades. The Obama administration protected them from deportation and gave them work authorization, but the Trump administration sought to deport them. In February 2018, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order, which is still in effect but the order could be lifted any day. Advocates are surprised that the Biden administration is trying to deport the Indonesian asylum seekers because they do not fit the administration’s revised enforcement priorities. Senators Cory Booker and Robert Menendez of New Jersey along with members of the New Jersey congressional delegation submitted a letter to the Secretary of the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Alejandro Mayorkas asking that the group not be detained or deported. The letter states, “For nearly 30 years, these Christian refugees have raised families, bought homes, attended church services, and volunteered countless hours to aid neighbors. . . . These New Jerseyans exemplify the best qualities of our state. Their ability to continue living and working safely in New Jersey is critical to the well-being of their U.S. citizen children and to the benefit of their church communities and neighbors they serve.”

READ MORE

Ottawa Opens New Pathway to Permanent Status for Temporary Essential Workers and Graduates

New policy will allow up to 90,000 workers and international graduates to obtain permanent residency.

CBC News (April 14, 2021)

Canadian Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino announced the creation of a new pathway to permanent residence for up to 90,000 foreign nationals. The program is geared toward workers and international graduates with temporary visas and in designated “essential jobs.” Minister Mendicino said, “Since COVID-19 first arrived on our shores, we have charted a course guided by one north star — that immigration is key to Canada’s short term economic recovery and long term prosperity. . . . Fundamentally, we know that by attracting and retaining the best and the brightest … we will add more jobs, growth and diversity to our economy.” To qualify as an essential worker, a foreign national must have at least one year of work experience in one of 40 health-care jobs or 95 other “essential jobs.” Some listed essential occupations include electricians, metal workers, farmworkers, cashiers, home childcare providers, and French immersion teachers. For international graduates to qualify, they must have completed an eligible Canadian post-secondary program within the last four years. Minister Mendicino hopes that the program will encourage immigrants to put down roots in the country. The application period will be from May 6, 2021 through November 5, 2021. The Canadian government will accept up to 20,000 applications from temporary workers in healthcare, 30,000 from temporary workers in essential jobs, and 40,000 from international students.

READ MORE

Venezuelan Military Offensive Sends Thousands Fleeing, Recharging One of the World’s Worst Refugee Crises

The Washington Post (April 1, 2021)

In mid-March, the Venezuelan military launched a campaign against Colombian guerrillas operating in the jungle of the western Venezuelan state of Apure. The guerrilla group, the 10th Front, became a target for interfering in the Venezuelan government’s profitable narco-trafficking business. The Venezuelan government reports that nine camps have been destroyed, 32 people arrested, and nine people killed during the offensive. Thousands of Venezuelans have fled the offensive, crossed into Colombia, and are in makeshift shelters in the border town of Arauquita. As of the beginning of April, nearly 5,000 refugees, 40 percent of them children, arrived in Arauquita. UNHCR employees are providing the refugees with tents, mattresses, hygiene kits, and face masks. Jose Miguel Vivanco, Director for Human Rights Watch’s Americas division, claims that there is “credible evidence” that the Venezuelan military carried out extrajudicial killings of three men and a woman during the offensive. The Venezuelan government, however, claims that every person killed during the offensive is a terrorist.

READ MORE

The American Dream & Promise Act: It Feels Like Deja Vu

Ignatian Solidary Network (March 26, 2021)

On March 18, 2021, the US House of Representatives passed HR 6, the American Dream and Promise Act by 228 to 197 votes. The bill proposes a pathway to citizenship for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients as well as for certain immigrant youth. In the Senate, there are two separate bills that would open a pathway to citizenship for TPS holders, DACA recipients, and certain immigrant youth. The DREAM Act would legalize DACA recipients and immigrant youth. The SECURE Act would legalize TPS beneficiaries. Each bill needs 60 votes in the Senate to pass, and thus will require bipartisan support. For 20 years, the Dream Act has been introduced in Congress, but has never become law. Although many people were excited by HR 6’s passage, many DACA recipients were not. Instead, their past experience has given them a sense of déjà vu. They are tired of the same story of a bill that progresses and does not become law. DACA recipients have been in limbo with no path to legalize. They continue to fight for a pathway to citizenship for all undocumented immigrants.

READ MORE

NEW FROM CMS

The Next Presidential Determination on Refugee Resettlement: The Time to Act is Now

On Friday, April 16, President Biden issued a long-awaited “Memorandum for the Secretary of State on the Emergency Presidential Determination on Refugee Admissions for Fiscal Year 2021.” The presidential determination opened up refugee admissions to regions blocked by the Trump administration but did not raise the historically low cap of 15,000 for the current fiscal year. The White House later stated it would decide on a new admissions ceiling by May 15. In this CMS essay, Susan Martin — Donald G. Herzberg Professor of International Migration Emerita for Georgetown University — outlines how the Biden administration can prepare to admit more refugees and how the United States will benefit from welcoming them.

READ MORE

Daniela Alulema on the Contributions of DACA Recipients

As the Supreme Court heard oral arguments regarding the Trump administration’s efforts to terminate the DACA program, CMS released a paper offering detailed estimates of DACA recipients, their economic contributions, and their deep ties to US communities. The paper, which also features testimonies of several DACA recipients, was published in CMS’s Journal on Migration and Human Security (JMHS). In this episode, Daniela Alulema — who is author of the JMHS paper, CMS’s Director of Programs, and herself a DACA recipient — describes the paper’s findings, shares the stories of the DACA recipients, and outlines potential policy directions for the DACA program.

Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, and cmsny.org.

POLICY UPDATE

On April 16, 2021, President Biden signed an emergency presidential determination that keeps in place the Trump administration’s historically low refugee admissions cap of 15,000 for FY 2021 but returns to allocating refugee admissions based on region. The next day the Biden administration released a statement saying it expects to increase the 2021 refugee ceiling next month but did not specify the number. In February 2021, President Biden proposed welcoming 62,500 refugees to the United States in 2021. Under former President Trump’s directive, stringent restrictions were placed on accepting refugees from certain African and majority-Muslim countries and priority was given to Christians who faced religious persecution and Iraqis who worked for the US military. The new allocations include 7,000 slots for Africa, 1,000 for East Asia, 1,500 for Europe and Central Asia, 3,000 for Latin America/Caribbean, 1,500 for Near East/South Asia, and 1,000 slots that are unallocated.

On April 14, 2021, Washington Governor Jay Inslee signed a bill that will ban for-profit detention centers in the state. Under the bill, one of the largest for-profit immigrant detention centers, the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, will be shut down by 2025 when its contract with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) expires. Washington is one of the first states to pass legislation that bans private prison companies, including immigration facilities, from operating.

On April 13, 2021, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced that Texas and Missouri filed a lawsuit demanding that the Biden administration reinstate the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) program to reduce the influx of migrants at the southwest border. MPP was established by the Trump administration in January 2019. It allowed border officers to send non-Mexicans who sought asylum at the US southern border to Mexico to await their immigration hearings. In January 2021, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) suspended the MPP program and the Biden administration began admitting program enrollees into the United States in February. The lawsuit alleges that the Biden administration’s decision to suspend the program led to a surge of Central American migrants coming to the southwest border to make asylum claims.

On April 12, 2021, President Biden nominated Chris Magnus to lead Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Ur Jaddou to head United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Magnus is currently the police chief in Tuscon, Arizona, and Jaddou was head counsel of USCIS under the Obama administration. Biden also nominated John Tien, the former senior director for Afghanistan and Pakistan of the National Security Council, as deputy director of DHS.

On April 12, 2021, the Biden administration secured agreements with Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala to tighten their borders and stem the flow of migration to the United States. Under the agreements, the countries will put more troops at their own borders to monitor migration and prevent traffickers and cartels from taking advantage of migrants and unaccompanied minors. CBP apprehended a record number of 18,890 unaccompanied minors last month and more than 172,000 people attempting to cross the US-Mexico border. In March 2021 President Biden tasked Vice President Kamala Harris with coordinating efforts with Central American countries to address the root causes of migration.

ACTUALIZACIÓN DE POLÍTICA

El 16 de abril de 2021, el presidente Biden firmó una determinación presidencial de emergencia que mantiene el límite de admisiones de refugiados históricamente bajo de la administración Trump de 15.000 para el año fiscal 2021, pero vuelve a asignar las admisiones de refugiados según la región. Al día siguiente, la administración de Biden emitió un comunicado diciendo que espera aumentar el límite de refugiados de 2021 el próximo mes, pero no especificó el número. En febrero de 2021, el presidente Biden propuso dar la bienvenida a 62.500 refugiados a los Estados Unidos en 2021. Según la directiva del ex presidente Trump, se impusieron estrictas restricciones a la aceptación de refugiados de ciertos países africanos y de mayoría musulmana y se dio prioridad a los cristianos que enfrentaban persecución religiosa e iraquíes. que trabajaba para el ejército de los EE. UU. Las nuevas asignaciones incluyen 7.000 espacios para África, 1.000 para Asia Oriental, 1.500 para Europa y Asia Central, 3.000 para América Latina / el Caribe, 1.500 para Cercano Oriente / Asia Meridional y 1.000 espacios sin asignar.

El 14 de abril de 2021, el gobernador de Washington, Jay Inslee, firmó un proyecto de ley que prohibirá los centros de detención con fines de lucro en el estado. Según el proyecto de ley, uno de los centros de detención de inmigrantes con fines de lucro más grandes, el Centro de Detención del Noroeste en Tacoma, se cerrará para el 2025 cuando expire su contrato con el Servicio de Control de Inmigración y Aduanas (ICE). Washington es uno de los primeros estados en aprobar una legislación que prohíbe el funcionamiento de las empresas penitenciarias privadas, incluidas las instalaciones de inmigración.

El 13 de abril de 2021, el fiscal general de Texas, Ken Paxton, anunció que Texas y Missouri presentaron una demanda exigiendo que la administración Biden restableciera el programa de Protocolos de Protección a Migrantes (MPP) para reducir la afluencia de migrantes en la frontera suroeste. El MPP fue establecido por la administración Trump en enero de 2019. Permitió a los oficiales fronterizos enviar a personas no mexicanas que buscaban asilo en la frontera sur de Estados Unidos a México para esperar sus audiencias de inmigración. En enero de 2021, el Departamento de Seguridad Nacional (DHS) suspendió el programa MPP y la administración Biden comenzó a admitir inscritos en el programa en los Estados Unidos en febrero. La demanda alega que la decisión de la administración Biden de suspender el programa provocó un aumento de migrantes centroamericanos que llegaron a la frontera suroeste para presentar solicitudes de asilo.

El 12 de abril de 2021, el presidente Biden nominó a Chris Magnus para dirigir la Oficina de Aduanas y Protección Fronteriza (CBP) y a Ur Jaddou para dirigir el Servicio de Ciudadanía e Inmigración de los Estados Unidos (USCIS). Magnus es actualmente el jefe de policía en Tuscon, Arizona, y Jaddou fue el abogado principal de USCIS bajo la administración de Obama. Biden también nominó a John Tien, ex director senior para Afganistán y Pakistán del Consejo de Seguridad Nacional, como subdirector del DHS.

El 12 de abril de 2021, la administración Biden aseguró acuerdos con México, Honduras y Guatemala para reforzar sus fronteras y detener el flujo migratorio hacia Estados Unidos. Según los acuerdos, los países pondrán más tropas en sus propias fronteras para monitorear la migración y evitar que los traficantes y los carteles se aprovechen de los migrantes y los menores no acompañados. CBP detuvo a un número récord de 18,890 menores no acompañados el mes pasado y más de 172,000 personas que intentaban cruzar la frontera entre Estados Unidos y México. En marzo de 2021, el presidente Biden encargó a la vicepresidenta Kamala Harris que coordinara los esfuerzos con los países centroamericanos para abordar las causas fundamentales de la migración.

The CMS Migration Update is a weekly digest produced by the Center for Migration Studies of New York (CMS), an educational institute/think-tank devoted to the study of international migration, to the promotion of understanding between immigrants and receiving communities, and to public policies that safeguard the dignity and rights of migrants, refugees, and newcomers. CMS is a member of the Scalabrini International Migration Network – an international network of shelters, welcoming centers, and other ministries for migrants – and of the Scalabrini Migration Study Centers, a global network of think tanks on international migration and refugee protection, guided by the values of the Missionaries of St. Charles Borromeo. If you wish to submit an article, blog, faith reflection, or announcement for the CMS Migration Update, please email cms@cmsny.org.

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

Biden and Harris campaigned, quite logically and convincingly, on a pledge to do away with the illegality, cruelty and stupidity of the Trump/Miller White Nationalist, racist immigration program.

But, following the inauguration, Biden supporters working at the “retail level” of our failed immigration system have seen few meaningful changes, little if any honest dialogue, and most disturbingly, far, far too few progressive experts who can solve problems in key positions!

Encouraging Northern Triangle countries notorious for corruption and human rights abuses to stop their nationals from fleeing to safety is NOT a solution. It’s the moral equivalent of having encouraged the Soviet Union and East Germany to machine gun those attempting to flee to the West during the (not so) Cold War!

The right to leave one’s country to seek refuge is a basic human right. See, e.g., https://www.peacepalacelibrary.nl/ebooks/files/GCIM_TP8.pdf

Basically, the Biden Administration is encouraging and funding some of the most corrupt and repressive nations in the Hemisphere to violate human rights, just as the Trump Administration did. See, “Policy Update,” above. That’s NOT the way to establish positive international leadership on human rights and migration issues!

Two other nuggets particularly worthy of note:

“According to [Eigenio] Sosa, small, positive changes in Honduras would encourage some to stay in their home country.” This contradicts the “conventional wisdom” that addressing the roots of the problem in sending countries is either futile or such a long-term project that it can’t be part of addressing today’s flow of forced migrants.
“In this CMS essay, Susan Martin — Donald G. Herzberg Professor of International Migration Emerita for Georgetown University — outlines how the Biden administration can prepare to admit more refugees and how the United States will benefit from welcoming them.” Professor Susan Forbes Martin is a long-time friend and a brilliant “practical scholar.” Her point that we should welcome refugees, rather than fearing them, is well taken and the key to better, far more robust, legal immigration laws and policies.

Due Process Forever!

PWS

04-21-21

CATHERINE RAMPELL @ WASHPOST: Biden Implements Stephen Miller’s Immigration Policies! ☠️⚰️ “On Twitter, Miller took a victory lap. He urged Biden to reduce refugee admissions to zero, which he declared would be the ‘most popular’ thing to do.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/04/19/joe-biden-is-president-why-is-he-maintaining-trumps-immigration-agenda/

Catherine writes:

. . . .

Biden campaigned, and won, on a very different message.

He promised to “restore the soul of America,” which he argued included welcoming the stranger. It was a message he had promoted for decades. Upon taking office, he declared plans to roll back the Miller/Trump immigration agenda. Among them: raising the refugee admissions ceiling from 15,000 to 62,500.

Biden’s rationale for this policy was partly moral, partly practical. Unlike their predecessors, Biden and his immigration advisers recognized that creating more pathways for people to come to the United States legally would actually promote “law and order” and alleviate stress on the immigration system. In a February report to Congress, the State Department said one reason to “increase the overall refugee admissions number” was to “facilitate safe and orderly migration and access to international protection and avert a humanitarian crisis at the U.S. southern border.”

Then, inexplicably, Biden got cold feet.

He delayed signing the paperwork necessary to put his policy into effect, leaving hundreds of vetted refugees in limbo. White House spokespeople could not explain the holdup. Reports leaked that Biden worried about the “optics” of letting in more refugees amid a surge of migration at the southern border, even though he knew the two issues were unrelated.

In other words: Biden seemed to concede that Miller’s propaganda had worked and that the public might view all immigrants as a dangerous, undifferentiated horde of intruders the new administration was failing to contain.

Rather than fighting the confusion and fear Miller had sown, Biden caved. Friday’s White House announcement even invoked the same weaselly excuse Trump officials had used to justify their record-low cap — that it was necessitated by the (irrelevant) border surge.

On Twitter, Miller took a victory lap. He urged Biden to reduce refugee admissions to zero, which he declared would be the “most popular” thing to do.

But Biden and Miller both misread the politics. Biden’s announcement drew immediate, widespread backlash. Perhaps unsurprisingly: Despite Team Trump’s relentless smears of refugees and other immigrants, polls show the public has grown more pro-immigrant in recent years — with support reaching record highs.

Within hours of its initial announcement Friday, the White House backtracked, saying a higher refugee ceiling would be forthcoming. Officials refused to specify the new level and will not commit to the 62,500 Biden previously promised. Biden is leaving his options open — perhaps in case Miller’s political assessment turns out to be right.

It’s not clear why Biden has been so timid. As Biden himself has persuasively argued, admitting more refugees is in the country’s moral and national security interests. What’s more, he was elected on a popular mandate to do it. The White House must exorcise the ghost of Stephen Miller and deliver the agenda that our new, soul-restoring president promised.

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

Catherine Rampell
Opinion Columnist
Washington Post

Thanks, Catherine, for continuing to speak out about the Biden Administration’s ill-informed approach to immigration, racial justice, and human rights — particularly refugee issues! You can read the rest of Catherine’s op-ed at the link.

No such “Victory Laps” for those who worked to get Biden, Harris, Garland, and Mayorkas their jobs!

As I’ve pointed out, Miller’s execs and “judges” remain in key positions at Garland’s EOIR as our Immigration Courts continue to fail to provide due process while institutionalizing racial injustice in America, just as Stephen Miller planned it.

Indeed, the racist, misogynist, xenophobic, “worst practices” precedents issued by Trump’s AGs remain in effect under Garland. And, the borders remain closed to most legal asylum seekers in violation of our Constitution, the statute, common sense, and simple human decency.

Equally discouraging is Judge Garland’s apparent indifference to the unparalleled opportunity given him to create a progressive Immigration Judiciary that would actually reflect the humane, due process ideals upon which Biden and Harris campaigned and won the election. Additionally, he could also bring diversity, expertise, and independent progressive thinking to a currently non-diverse judiciary that is often disconnected from both the laws they administer and the stakeholder communities most affected by their decisions, conduct, and attitudes.

I have said many times that Immigration Judges “teach from the bench” every day. The messages being sent and lessons being taught to many of those seeking justice and to their lawyers, basically the “heart and soul” of the next generation of our profession, do not reflect well on the Biden Administration or Judge Garland, nor will they be treated kindly by legal and social historians.

That’s a real shame, because once squandered, the ability to send positive messages about equal justice for all, due process, and respect for human dignity is not easily, if ever, regained! Every case is an opportunity to send a better message; every day the current mess remains in place in our Immigration Courts is a missed opportunity for Judge Garland.

So far, human rights and immigrants’ advocates groups are in a familiar position in a Dem Administration — locked out of the power structure, largely ignored, and treated with indifference bordering on contempt. Strange way to treat those who helped you gain power in the first place!

The good news: the brainpower and talent to force positive change out of incompetent, valueless, and intransigent bureaucracies is still out here in the NDPA. We’ll just have to continue to take the fight to the “powers that be” — in the legal, political, educational, and public opinion arenas until job gets done!

⚖️🗽🇺🇸👩🏽‍⚖️Due Process Forever!

PWS

04-20-21

FULL DISCLOSURE: I am a retired member of the NAIJ.

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

Related posts:

Opinion by James Fredrick in WashPost

🇺🇸🗽Due Process Forever!

Related posts:

By Natalie Gonnella-Platts and Jenny Villatoro In the Dallas Morning News:

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Lindsay and Sarah write in USA Today:

🇺🇸⚖️🗽Due Process Forever! The Garland/Mayorkas “Miller Lite Nonsense” at the border, never!

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Elliot Spagot and Julie Watson report for AP:

🇺🇸🗽⚖️🧑🏽‍⚖️Due Process Forever!

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Here’s yet another “big middle finger” 🖕 to progressives and experts from Garland and Mayorkas:

Here are “statements in opposition” from the National Immigrant Justice Center and Human Rights First:

Here’s the “statement of outrage and solidarity in opposition from the experts at the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies at Hastings Law:

Here are other initial comments from asylum experts:

Quick takes:

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

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Quit using a pandemic policy to expel migrants

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

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🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

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🇺🇸⚖️🗽Due Process For All Persons Under Law, Forever!

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Due Process Forever!

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🇺🇸⚖️🗽🧑🏽‍⚖️Due Process Forever!

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🇺🇸⚖️🗽Due Process Forever! Human lives matter! The Constitution matters! Asylum law matters!

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Due Process Forever!

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⚖️🗽🇺🇸👩🏽‍⚖️Due Process Forever!

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