NGOs – Page 3 – immigrationcourtside.com

🇺🇸 NATIVISTS’ SPITE STUNT CREATES OPPORTUNITY FOR AMERICAN HUMANITARIANS TO SHINE!🗽😎 As Biden Administration Bumbles & Fumbles On Resettlement, NGOs Step Up To Save The Day!

Theresa Vargas @ WashPost:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/04/15/migrant-buses-year-later/

A year after Texas sent the first buses, this is clear: From a political stunt grew a network that now coordinates welcoming efforts across state lines

. . . .

When Abbot announced that he was sending the buses, many people across the country saw it for what it was: a political stunt. In a statement at the time, Abbot criticized the Biden administration as turning “a blind eye to the border crisis” and said, “Texas should not have to bear the burden of the Biden administration’s failure to secure our border.”

We can debate Abbot’s actions, and some of us undoubtedly will see a show of strength where others of us see a show of cruelty, but what is not debatable is what happened after those buses started arriving. People stepped up. From a political stunt grew a network of dedicated community members in D.C., New York and elsewhere who now coordinate across state lines to help migrants.

“What started it was no one else was going to do it,” said Madhvi Bahl, an organizer with the Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid Network, a group of community members and organizations in the D.C. region dedicated to welcoming migrants. She said that because the city didn’t get involved until months after the buses started arriving, volunteers were on their own to greet arrivals, collect supplies and raise money to provide temporary housing.

. . . .

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

Read Theresa’s complete article at the link.

Once again, the Biden Administration failed to take leadership and to plan for the obvious. Some have suggested that leaving asylum seekers to be political pawns for GOP nativist governors was part of the Administration’s cruel and inept “border deterrence program” which they have substituted for competently administering asylum laws.

Not for the first time, NGOs and advocates have been left to pick up the pieces from the Administration’s failed immigration policies. Fortunately, these NGOs are more talented, creative, and motivated than Administration politicos and bureaucrats.

Along the same lines as Theresa’s article, my friend and NDPA stalwart Rev. Craig Mousin reports similar successful responses in Chicago:

I forgot to add one more item of good news that your talk suggested. You mention the nativist driven bus rides from Arizona, Florida, and Texas. We have had something remarkable happen in Chicago. A group of five or six faith-based individuals and NGOS had been meeting prior to the bus trips to try and find housing for asylum-seekers. That group, the Chicago Sanctuary Working Group (SWG) meets weekly. It remains an informal group, but it now includes over 30 organizations and individuals. It has found private housing for over 100 families or individuals along with case management for the social service needs while attempting to link them to attorneys from NIJC, CLINIC, other Chicago based groups as well in some cases helping to find funding to pay low bono AILA attorneys. Housing has included individual families welcoming asylum-seekers into their homes for varied amounts of time, some temporary financial support, and some churches opening their doors. In addition, it has received a grant and now rents a building housing about 15 families along with in premise social workers. The national United Church of Christ gave it a small grant and they are hosting a Chicago-area breakfast on May 3 to encourage more congregations to open their doors or recruit individual families to offer asylum-seekers a room in their homes. Almost completely volunteer-driven, it has been an amazing response to this difficult problem. Full disclosure, my wife is on the steering committee, but the stories have been inspirational as a citizen-driven response to bad federal and state policies.

Think what could be accomplished with better Federal leadership and coordination! Why can’t the Biden Administration get its act together on social justice?

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

04-18-23

🇺🇸⚖️🗽 THE POLITICS OF SOCIAL JUSTICE: PROGRESSIVES WIN KEY RACES IN WISCONSIN & CHICAGO!😎 — Instead Of “Running Away” From The Humanitarian Values That Got Them Elected, Biden, Harris, & So-Called “Centrist Dems” Should Be Embracing The Practical, Universal Values Of Due Process, Fundamental Fairness, Equal Justice Under Law & The Human Dignity Of All!

Equal Justice
FROM: United Nations, Creative Commons LIcense

From HuffPost:

Liberals Take Control Of Wisconsin Supreme Court

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/janet-protasiewicz-wins-wisconsin-supreme-court-race_n_642c7201e4b0ba5d603c81ed

Brandon Johnson, Progressive Union Organizer, Elected Mayor Of Chicago

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/brandon-johnson-elected-chicago-mayor_n_642caf1be4b0ba5d603cc31a

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It’s also remarkable, if not surprising, that 33,000 of us, many representing larger groups, filed written comments OPPOSING Biden’s tone-deaf, anti-due-process, anti-rule-of-law, racially-targeted, designed-to-fail, Stephen-Miller-inspired “death to asylum (and asylum seekers)” proposed regulations! https://default.salsalabs.org/Ta42828aa-7c89-4fca-a530-ab64d55d9cdf/e9c83407-de3b-4bcf-a318-704cbcd599a2. As someone who spent considerable time analyzing public comments on regulations during my career, that’s an astounding show of unified opposition.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that Biden, Harris, Garland, Mayorkas, or anyone else in the Administration will listen. But, they should!

Unfortunately, the ridiculously short 30-day comment period and that this major reversal of the positions and values that Biden and Harris campaigned upon, without meaningful input and discussion with experts who actually understand the borders and have been present there, indicates that the the comments are likely to be largely ignored. That’s going to lead to big time litigation — from both progressives and GOP nativist/restrictionists.

But, discouragingly, the Biden Administration has shown itself to be willing to tie up time and resources insanely (and not necessarily successfully) doing battle with its own would-be supporters rather than fighting the right! Just who they think is going to be the “winner” here — other than, perhaps, Donald Trump and Jim Crow — is beyond me!

James “Jim” Crow
Symbol of American Racism. Biden’s ill-advised and tone-deaf nativist asylum policies appear designed to appease this guy rather than to please those who actually voted for him and other Democratic candidates!

Instead of “running away” in the face of the GOP’s scurrilous “Anti-Woke Campaign:” targeting immigrants, the LGBTQ+ community, African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, Jews, Muslims, women’s reproductive rights, teachers, free speech, libraries, public education, medical science, the environment, social justice, the Federal Government, voting rights, unions, the working poor, and just about all “mainstream American” individual freedoms, the Biden Administration and Dems in general should stand up for what’s actually great about America and against the GOP’s vile, ignorant, hateful “culture warriors” and “Jim Crow racists and misogynists. Defending the legal rights and humanity of asylum seekers and other migrants would be a good place to start a real defense of American values and democracy! That is, if someone in power were really interested in those things!

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

04-05-23

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Get the details here:

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

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

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

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

03-14-23

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

My friend, NDPA star Chelsea NAYLOR writes:

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

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

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

WCLEqual Justice Foundation — WCL
Equal Justice Foundation

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

Thanks, Chelsea!

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

PWS

03-13-23

⚖️🗽 CONGRATULATIONS! 🎉👏 CORNELL LAW ASYLUM & CAT CLINIC CELEBRATES TWO DECADES OF SAVING LIVES & PROMOTING JUSTICE! — “The clinic has been a highlight of my legal career,” says Professor Stephen Yale-Loehr!

https://www.lawschool.cornell.edu/news/clinic_20th_anniversary/y

From Cornell Law:

News

“Juana,” a client of the Asylum & Convention Against Torture Clinic and Annunciation House in Texas, after she won asylum and was released from detention in spring 2019.

Asylum and Convention Against Torture Appellate Clinic Celebrates 20th Anniversary

February 17, 2023

Twenty years ago, Cornell Law School established its Asylum and Convention Against Torture Appellate Clinic. Since then, some 200 students have represented close to 100 clients. In a system where the vast majority of asylum seekers lose their appeals, the clinic has won an estimated sixty-six percent of its cases.

“Because of the complexity of immigration law, it is very hard to win asylum for someone,” says clinic codirector Stephen Yale-Loehr, professor of Immigration Law Practice. “We are fortunate that we have excellent students who work tirelessly to save their clients from persecution or torture.”

Emily Rivera ’23, who is taking the clinic for a second year, writes, “This has been the most rewarding experience of my law school career. From working on federal court appeals to submitting request releases on behalf of detained clients, I have had the chance to engage in work that I am deeply passionate about.”

The experience has inspired careers in immigration law—and also deeply informed alumni’s work in other areas. Neethu Putta ’19, who took the clinic for two years as a student and now contributes to its work as an adjunct professor, observes, “The clinic taught me how to artfully frame issues and tell a client’s narrative in a way that leaves the court no choice but to find for them. As a practicing commercial litigator, I now use those skills daily.”

Clinic codirector Estelle McKee, clinical professor of law (Lawyering), notes that the clinic offers students a unique glimpse into the lives of individuals whose paths they would otherwise never cross. “Our clients are brave; many have undergone unspeakable persecution and torture, and have embarked on treacherous journeys to protect their families,” she says. “Their experiences and persistence offer students deep insight into the importance of zealous advocacy.”

McKee shares some comments sent to her by clinic clients. A Salvadoran asylum-seeker wrote, “I sincerely want to thank you for all your willingness, commitment, responsibility, and the respect with which you offer me your help. Few people do what you did for me, so I will be forever grateful to you.” [translated from Spanish]

Another reflection comes from a Cameroonian client who had been found “not credible” by an immigration judge and was ailing in a for-profit prison when the clinic took up his case. Against the odds, McKee and her students were able to get the case reopened and will represent this asylum-seeker as he returns to court. He says, “I continue to appreciate your care and concern and effort to my case… [Y]ou have really been a blessing to me… I will never forget you.”

For the professors as well, the experience has been unforgettable. Says Yale-Loehr, “The clinic has been a highlight of my legal career. I feel honored to have worked with so many excellent students over the years to help persecuted people win asylum and start a new life in the US.”

McKee adds, “There is nothing like clinical teaching. Not only does it present the opportunity to provide the representation so desperately needed by underserved populations, but it also enables a teacher to help shape the next generation of lawyers while also having an impact on the development of the law.”

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Clinical education has been the biggest development in modern legal education — applied scholarship, practical skills, changing lives, problem solving, and developing the law, all before students join the bar! No better way to learn than at the chaotic, high-stakes “retail level” of our justice system. As I often tell students, “If you can win one of these cases, in this environment, everything else in law and many of the challenges of life will be a piece of cake!”

Immigration and human rights clinics, like Cornell and many others, have been at the very forefront of innovation and the clinical teaching movement. That’s why many of the “superstars” of clinical teaching are now being “tapped” by their institutions for leadership positions as Deans, Associate Deans, Assistant Deans, etc.

Where U.S. law remains “behind the eight ball:” Bringing these extraordinarily well-qualified “practical scholars,” leaders, and administrators onto the Federal Bench and in key leadership positions within the Government’s struggling legal bureaucracy, particularly in the dysfunctional agencies responsible for immigration, human rights, racial justice, due process, and equal justice. And, what passes for “policy making” on these issues in the Biden Administration is nothing short of a preventable and embarrassing humanitarian disaster!

Nowhere is this glaring disparity more obvious than between the dynamic talent and creativity in the private sector and the “backward looking, stuck in a rut, timid, uninspired” leadership inflicted on the public by these downward-spiraling, hugely wasteful and inefficient USG bureaucracies and the poorly-conceived and too often disingenuous “policies” (actually cruel “recycled Stephen Miller Lite gimmicks”) coming out of the West Wing!

🇺🇸 America needs change. And that requires some new faces, courage, innovation, and better solutions from the USG! The talent is available! Why are we being subjected to “Amateur Night at the Bijou” — or worse?

The Biden Administration has looked in some mighty strange places to assemble its amazingly inept human rights/immigration team. Why didn’t they try clinical programs and NGOs where the “real talent” is? That’s a question that the ghosts of dead and damaged legal asylum seekers might be asking for a long time to come!
PHOTO: Thomas Hawk
Creative Commons
Amateur Night

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

02-02-23

🤯🤮 AUTOMATED CRUELTY: FAMILY SEPARATION? — THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION HAS AN APP FOR THAT! — Latest Failed Gimmick From Administration Inflicts Unnecessary Chaos On Vulnerable Individuals Trying To Work Within An Incredibly Incompetent & Poorly Administered System!

Andrea Castillo reports for the LA Times:

http://enewspaper.latimes.com/infinity/article_share.aspx?guid=b5d4d78a-33fb-4da8-9a0c-cdc6120dbb7d

Asylum seekers must wait for appointments in U.S. for everyone, or leave some behind.

By Andrea Castillo

WASHINGTON — Inside a tent near the Rio Grande in Matamoros, Mexico, Jeyson woke up before 3 a.m. every day for a month to fill out applications to request asylum for his family of four through a U.S. government mobile app.

The 25-year-old from Venezuela eventually secured appointments for himself and his wife, but the slots filled up so quickly that he couldn’t get two more for their children. They weren’t worried, though — they had heard about families in similar situations being waved through by border officials.

Instead, he said, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent told them recently that because each member of the family did not have an appointment, “you two can enter, but not your children.” Jeyson asked The Times to withhold his last name out of fear for his family’s safety.

Now, many families like Jeyson’s have found themselves confronted with a seemingly impossible decision: Wait indefinitely for enough appointments for the whole family, or split up. It is unclear how many migrants have been put in this position.

. . . .

“We already risked it all,” he said. “What can we do? We are hopeful that we can get three appointments. Three, in the end, is less than four.”

Advocates said some parents have decided to leave their children with extended family or friends in order to keep their appointments.

Jeyson said a couple from his encampment did just that, leaving their five children at the border bridge and entering the U.S. after managing to get only two appointments.

Children who are unaccompanied by a parent are exempt from Title 42. Those in the care of adults who are not their legal guardians — even if they are extended family — are separated until a guardian can be properly vetted. Jeyson said he watched as the children walked up to a border agent and were taken into custody.

Felicia Rangel-Samponaro, director of the Sidewalk School, a nonprofit that offers education, medical care and other assistance to migrants in Mexican border towns, has organized sessions with parents at various shelters and encampments in Matamoros and Reynosa to explain what will happen if they send their child across the border unaccompanied.

“We don’t want them to think you cross and then your child crosses and will come back to you a day later,” she said. “We were surrounded by parents who were showing us, one after the other, [who] have an appointment but their child does not.”

Rangel-Samponaro recommended to parents that they cancel their appointments and restart their search. But some parents told her they would separate from their kids anyway.

“Family separation has never stopped,” she said, referencing the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” border policy that led to thousands of migrant children being taken from their parents. “The only difference here is that CBP One is now doing it instead of the other ways it’s been done since 2018.”

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Read Andrea’s complete article at the link.

Let’s start with one undisputed fact: The number of appointments available on CBP One is pathetically, ridiculously inadequate for the KNOWN number of potential applicants waiting in Mexico! Why would this be after the Administration has had over two years to work on this perhaps challenging, yet very solvable problem?

Unnecessary delay is just another form of “bureaucratic deterrence through incompetence” used by the Trump Administration and, inexcusably, continued under Biden.

Just how bonkers is this DHS-created problem? Dependents are included on a primary asylum seeker’s application. Consequently, in most cases one application covers the entire family.

And, dependents don’t have to “prove” independent eligibility for asylum. Therefore, anything beyond biographical information and perhaps proof of relationship is unnecessary.

There is absolutely no reason for requiring a separate “appointment” for each family member. The current system is “pure harassment and deterrence through bureaucratic incompetence.”

In Immigration Court, a family of five required only ONE asylum hearing slot — NOT FIVE!

Most legal asylum seekers at the border want to “do things the right way” — present themselves to DHS and submit an application. It’s neither profound nor “illegal.”

The BEST way of getting applicants to use the ports of entry is to work with experts and NGOs to establish a user-friendly, generous, timely system that prioritizes the many strong claims and grants them promptly at the Asylum Office rather than feeding them into a backlogged and dysfunctional EOIR.

In other words, if you BUILD a fair, credible, user-friendly legal application system at legal ports of entry, applicants will USE it. That the Trump White Nationalists destroyed our legal, statutory refugee and asylum systems was well-known at the time. Indeed, Biden and Harris campaigned on a pledge fix the system and restore legal asylum!

Instead, the Administration failed to utilize the skills and experience of experts to have a planned fix ready on “day one.” Since then, over more than two years, they have inexplicably ignored expert advice, wasted time, squandered resources, and bobbled through a bewildering series of mindless “Stephen Miller Lite deterrence gimmicks,” including “dedicated dockets,” prioritizing the wrong cases, “Aimless Docket Reshuffling” on steroids, a “Miller Lite holdover” BIA known for hostility to asylum seekers, ignoring the need for pro bono representation, failing to train and deploy enough Asylum Officers to the border, and not working with advocates, NGOs, and asylum seekers to prescreen cases, start granting asylum and moving qualified refugees (and their families) through the system and into durable legal status prior to the lifting of Title 42.

The CBP One screwup is just the latest in a string of “unforced errors” by the Biden Administration that abuse asylum seekers without any systemic benefits to anyone — “random acts of cruelty and stupidity!” This app was obviously designed by non-users for use by USG “gatekeepers” without any idea of what its like to be an asylum seeker stuck in Mexico.

Indeed, it appears that the app’s developers have little idea of how the legal asylum system works. Talk about “amateur night at the Bijou!”

“Family separation” has never stopped; now it has been “automated” — by a Dem Administration that has abandoned humanity and betrayed its campaign promises! Inexcusable!

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

02-27-23

🇺🇸⚖️🗽 GROUPS LEADING RESISTANCE 🛡⚔️ TO BIDEN’S “MILLER LITE” ASSAULT ON ASYLUM SEEK COMMENTS OPPOSING LATEST ASYLUM-BASHING, SCOFFLAW PROPOSALS!

Here’s the link to the “comment website:”

https://immigrationjustice.quorum.us/campaign/44910/

“I’m gone, but my ‘evil spirit’ lives on in the West Wing! They have even ‘one-upped’’ me with a ‘family separation app’ called CBP One! Never has inflicting gratuitous cruelty been so easy!” Attribution: Stephen Miller Monster by Peter Kuper, PoliticalCartoons.com

The Biden proposal has picked up somewhat tepid endorsements from the likes of Trumpsters DHS official Chad Wolf and leading GOP insurrectionist Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH). Tells you all you really need to know about just how cruel and counterproductive these harebrained proposals are!

These are the folks that the Biden administration is pandering to while ignoring and disrespecting experts and asylum advocates who have centuries of collective experience working on asylum and the border. They also have plenty of good ideas for real asylum/human rights/border reforms that will combat cruelty and promote orderly compliance with the rule of law. The Biden Administration just isn’t interested in, or perhaps capable of, “doing the right thing.”

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Here’s the text of my “custom revision” of the standard comment posted on the website:

I am a retired US DOJ attorney with more than 35 years of government experience, all of it in the immigration field, mostly in senior positions. I have been involved in immigration and human rights, in the public and private sectors, for five decades

My last 21 years were spent as an EOIR Judge: eight years as an Appellate Immigration Judge on the BIA (six of those years as BIA Chair), and 13 years as an Immigration Judge at the (now legacy) Arlington Immigration Court. I was involved in the enactment of the Refugee Act of 1980 as well as developing implementing regulations and setting precedents thereunder.

I state unequivocally that these unnecessary proposed regulatory changes are a disavowal of more than four decades of U.S. (and international) asylum law as well as a shocking betrayal of the promise by the Biden Administration to stand up for the rights of legal asylum seekers and end the White Nationalist attempt by the Trump Administration to kill asylum without legislation.

The proposed rule is contrary to well-established United States law regarding the right to seek asylum in our country. There is absolutely no basis in law for the proposed “presumption of denial” for those who seek asylum outside a port of entry or who have transited other countries (as most have) without seeking asylum.

Indeed, the Administration’s approach is in direct contravention of the INA, which establishes rigorous criteria for designating “safe third countries” for asylum seekers. Only Canada has met those rigorous criteria to date, and even then only for a very limited class of applicants.

The idea that Mexico or other countries in Central America that asylum seekers customarily transit on the way to our southern border are “safe havens” for asylum seekers is patently absurd and counterfactual! Indeed, all legitimate experts would say that these are some of the most dangerous countries in the world — none with a fairly functioning asylum system.

Individuals are specifically entitled by the Refugee Act of 1980, as amended, to access our asylum system regardless of how they enter, as has been the law for decades. They should not be forced to seek asylum in transit to the United States, especially not in countries where they may also face harm. The ending of Title 42—itself an illegal policy—should not be used as an excuse to resurrect Trump-era categorical bans on groups of asylum seekers.

As you must be aware, those policies were designed by xenophobic, White Nationalist, restrictionists in the last Administration motivated by a desire to exclude and discriminate against particular ethnic and racial groups. That the Biden Administration would retain and even enhance some of them, while disingenuously claiming to be “saving asylum,” is beyond astounding.

The rule will also cause confusion at ports of entry and cause chaos and exacerbate backlogs in our immigration courts. Even worse, it will aggravate the already unacceptable situation by making it virtually impossible for most asylum seekers to consult with pro bono counsel before their cases are summarily rejected under these flawed regulations.

People who cannot access the CBP One app are at serious risk of being turned away by CBP, even if the rule says otherwise. Additionally, every observer has noted that the number of “available appointments” is woefully inadequate. In many cases, observers have noted that this leads to “automated family separation.” Rather than fixing these problems, these proposed regulations will make things infinitely worse.

Additionally, as was demonstrated by the previous Trump Transit Ban, the rule is likely to create confusion and additional backlogs at the immigration courts as individual judges attempt to apply a complicated, convoluted rule.

Under the law, the U.S. Government has a very straightforward obligation: To provide asylum seekers at the border and elsewhere, regardless of nationality, status, or manner of coming to the U.S., with a fair, timely, opportunity to apply for asylum and other legal protections before an impartial, expert, adjudicator.

The current system clearly does not do that. Indeed, EOIR suffers from an “anti-asylum,” often misogynist “culture,” lacks precedents recognizing recurring asylum situations at the border (particularly those relating to gender-based persecution), and tolerates judges at both levels who lack asylum expertise, are not committed to due process and fundamental fairness for all, and, far from being experts, often make mistakes in applying basic legal standards and properly evaluating evidence of record, as noted in a constant flow of “reversals and rebukes” from Circuit Courts.

We don’t need more mindless “deterrence” gimmicks. Rather, it’s past time for the Administration to reestablish a functioning asylum system.

🇺🇸Due Process Forever! The treachery of an Administration that abandons humane values, and fears bold humanitarian actions, never!

PWS

02-26-23

⚖️ 🧑🏽‍⚖️👨🏾‍⚖️ HOPE FOR THE FUTURE! — More NDPA “Practical Scholars” Appointed To Immigration Bench!

Here are the “official bios” of the 23 newest U.S. Immigration Judges appointed by A.G. Merrick Garland:

https://www.justice.gov/eoir/page/file/1567516/download

Here’s the”scorecard”from Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, Policy Director, American Immgration Council;

Going off of most recent jobs/backgrounds, we’ve got:

6 ICE trial attorneys

5 nonprofit immigration attorneys

4 private bar immigration attorneys

2 state gov counsels/ALJs

2 federal prosecutors

2 JAG/military hearing officer

1 FBI general counsel

1 OIL attorney

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Here some names that “stand out” for me personally:

Judge Jennie L. Kneedler (Sterling Immigration Court) appeared in pro bono cases in Arlington when with Steptoe. She also worked for CAIR and ABA Immigration Commission. Her father, Ed Kneedler, is Deputy SG, handles immigration among other areas. He holds the record for OAs before the Supremes for active lawyers. See, .https://immigrationcourtside.com/2017/01/18/usg-bid-to-max-criminal-deportation-law-may-be-on-the-rocks-before-the-supremes/.

Judge Sarah B. Yeomans (Sterling Immigration Court) practiced before me in Arlington.

Judge Alysha M. Welsh (Annandale Immigration Court) worked for Round Tabler Judge (Ret.) Bill Joyce and most recently Human Rights First.

Judge Vimala S. Mangoli (Richmond Immigration Adjudication Center) is long-time Catholic Charities attorney.

Judge Jason E. Braun (Annandale Immigration Court) is most recently from Restoration Immigration Legal Aid of Arlington.

Per Round Table’s Hon.”Sir Jeffrey” Chase:

Judge Abby Anna Batko-Taylor, was appointed to the Falls Church Adjudication Center. Abby Anna while with Texas RioGrande Legal Aid won an unpublished, 39-page, unanimous panel decision [on asylum] in the 5th Circuit (attached) that she unsuccessfully moved that court to publish. The Round Table filed an amicus brief in support of the publication request.

CA5 No. 18-60251 Morales Lopez v. Garland OPINION

While Garland has not made the long overdue systemic and leadership changes necessary to institutionalize due process, fundamental fairness, expert scholarship, and best practices at EOIR, positive change from below can still take place and will improve the quality of justice, one courtroom at a time! See, https://immigrationcourtside.com/2023/01/12/🇺🇸⚖️👨🏽⚖️👩🏽⚖️🗽-i-want-you-to-be-a-u-s-immigration-judge/. Seeing the “ball go in the basket” 🏀 on the “court of justice” ⚖️ inspires others in the NDPA to keep fighting for human rights, fair treatment of asylum seekers, and due process at the retail level of justice!

Full bios of the new Immigration Judges are available at the above link. Congratulations to all!

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

02-13-23

😎🗽🇺🇸👍🏼 TEAM OF MAINERS SAVES YOUNG REFUGEE! — Another NDPA Success!

Kelly Bouchrd — Kelly Bouchard
Staff Writer
Portland Press Herald
PHOTO: Linkedin

https://www.pressherald.com/2023/01/29/caught-in-the-crossfire-mainers-aid-in-medical-rescue-of-afghan-boy/

LOCAL & STATE Posted January 29 Updated January 31

Caught in the crossfire: Mainers aid in medical rescue of Afghan boy

Fawad, then 6 years old, was hit by a bullet as his family tried to flee Afghanistan during the U.S. withdrawal. A network that included Maine residents came together to bring him to safety.

BY KELLEY BOUCHARDSTAFF WRITER

11:55

Zohra would later recall that she felt the wind of a bullet graze her skin as she ran toward the airport gate, clutching her oldest child in her arms.

Only when she sat her son on a chair inside Kabul’s airport did she realize the bullet had torn through Fawad’s face. He was just 6 years old. Zohra fainted.

Fawad was caught in the crossfire in August 2021, as thousands tried to flee Afghanistan in the final days of U.S. withdrawal.

RELATED

Afghans, attorneys in Maine anxiously work to help families evacuate by deadline

In the year that followed, a network of Americans, including family members in Portland and their immigration lawyer in Damariscotta, would fight to get Fawad, his parents and his younger brother to the U.S. for reconstructive surgery.

Fawad’s condition was too severe for any hospital in Afghanistan, where he received only basic medical care and faced a lifetime of chronic illness and persecution because of his injuries and disability.

Last October, Fawad and his family arrived at Nemours Children’s Hospital in Wilmington, Delaware, where he has successfully undergone two reconstructive surgeries and will need several more. The team overseeing Fawad’s care includes an Army communications specialist with expertise in getting people out of life-threatening situations and a world-renowned surgeon who specializes in facial reconstruction after bullet and bomb blasts.

17-year-old Marwa listens to her mother speak about her cousin Fawad, who was shot while trying to evacuate Afghanistan. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer

Foremost among the Mainers who worked to rescue Fawad is his cousin Marwa, a senior at Casco Bay High School. Her calm, determination and skill as an interpreter and advocate for her family are credited with making Fawad’s life-changing surgeries possible.

“Marwa was on speed dial for us,” said Jennifer Atkinson, the Damariscotta attorney. “The whole time I’m dealing with this amazing 16-year-old girl who is a lifeline for this traumatized family in Afghanistan.”

Now 17, Marwa spoke no English when she arrived in the U.S. six years ago. The Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram decided not to use family members’ last names because of their fear that the Taliban could punish or even kill relatives still in Afghanistan.

During and immediately after the U.S. evacuation, Atkinson worked to help more than 20 families try to get out of Afghanistan. Almost all of the 160 or so people had ties to Afghans now living in Maine.

RELATED

Afghans in Maine fearful as Taliban seize power in Afghanistan

“The response to helping Fawad was very different,” she said. “Doors opened for him that weren’t opening for other Afghans, probably because he was a child who suffered this awful trauma and survived. But also because he had this amazing cousin in the States, Marwa, to help us advocate for him.”

. . . .

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

Read the complete article at the link.

Lots of heroes here, starting with 17-year-old Marwa who was determined to save her brother!

Jennifer Atkinson Esquire — Jennifer Atkinson, Esquire
Damariscotta, ME
PHOTO: Law firm

Also, to crib from my friend Dan Kowalski over at LexisNexis, “hats way way off” to life-saving NDPA superstar lawyer Jennifer Atkinson of Damariscotta, Maine. I have previously featured Jennifer’s humanitarian exploits. https://wp.me/p8eeJm-70K

Additionally, I appreciate PPH staff writer Kelly Bouchard for her outstanding coverage of then “human side” of refugee resettlement in Maine.

Great teamwork saves lives!

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

02-01-23

🗽FROM LA TIMES ED BD: TWO BIG LIES & A WIDELY IGNORED TRUTH ABOUT THE S. BORDER: 1) LIE #1: Title 42 Is Effective Border Control; 2) LIE #2: The Border Is Wide Open; 3) TRUTH: There Is A Humanitarian Crisis At The Border & Many Gov. Actions Are Making It Worse!

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

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-12-28/la-ed-border-myths

BY THE TIMES EDITORIAL BOARD

DEC. 28, 2022 3 AM PT

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The myths — or, rather, convenient lies — that some politicians keep circulating about the U.S.-Mexico border have resulted in another disappointing congressional session for immigration reform.

Instead of crafting much-needed solutions to address the fate of young immigrant “Dreamers,” the backlog of cases in immigration courts or any of the myriad problems caused by outdated immigration laws, policymakers spent most of their time wrangling over Title 42, a public health order invoked during the COVID-19 pandemic to manage border crossings.

Disinformation prevents policymakers from having honest discussions and enacting sensible solutions. The complex U.S.-Mexico border region is a confluence of cultural, social and economic communities whose problems need sophisticated solutions not easily summarized by sound bites. Yet many people continue to peddle misconceptions about the border and engage in partisan theater such as dispatching migrants to Vice President Kamala Harris’ home or creating a wasteful wall of shipping containers, as the Arizona governor has done.

The debate on immigration and border control is likely to intensify in early 2023, when the GOP takes control of the House. Though there’s little expectation of significant legislation in a divided Congress, the constant arrival of migrants at the border is sure to keep the topic in the news. Because it’s important to look beyond sound bites, we’re fact-checking the misconceptions about the U.S.-Mexico border you are likely to hear in the coming months.

. . . .

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

Read the complete editorial at the link.

The lies and myths are largely pushed by GOP nativist politicos, and some right wing activist Federal Judges, although disgracefully some Dems have adopted, enabled, or gone along with certain aspects of them.

NGOs, communities, and advocates are about the only ones acting with urgency on the truth of this solvable humanitarian crisis. In doing so, they too often face roadblocks or lack of competence, honesty, and urgency from government officials at all levels.

🇺🇸🗽⚖️Due Process Forever!

PWS

12-29-22

🗽🇺🇸🤗 DMV AREA CONTINUES TO WELCOME MIGRANTS, EVEN AS NATIVIST GOP GOVS CONTINUE TO PLAY POLITICAL GAMES WITH HUMAN LIVES! 🏴‍☠️ 🚌

Theresa Vargas reports for WashPost:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/12/24/toy-donations-migrant-children/

. . . .

Migrant families have been used in political stunts this year. The governors for Texas and Arizona have sent them on buses to the District to make a statement, and in doing so, have treated people as the problem instead of the country’s immigration system, which doesn’t provide clear paths to citizenship for many. An estimated 11,000 migrants have been bused to the District, and while many have since left the region, hundreds alone remain in local hotels and shelters. Many of those are children.

Migrant children brought by bus to D.C. need help, not politics

A donated item dropped off at those hotels in recent days was one that a mom had been hoping to give her daughter — a toy kitchen.

Woods cried as she talked about the impact of that and the many other gifts that were received. The strangers who came together to help the families recognized the system is broken, not people, she said.

“They wanted to support people who have escaped trauma, climate crisis, gang violence and the most inhumane things possible to arrive here,” she said. It didn’t matter that they didn’t speak the same language or share the same experiences as those families, she said. “Everyone wanted to make sure they felt welcomed and had a good Christmas, and that’s the true spirit of Christmas.”

Here’s more on GOP political stunts with vulnerable humans as pawns from today’s WashPost:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2022/12/25/migrants-dc-christmas-eve/

Three buses full of migrants arrived at Vice President Harris’s residence in Washington from Texas on Christmas Eve amid bitingly cold weather, a mutual aid group said, the latest in an influx of newcomers sent to the Northeast by Southern states.

About 110 to 130 men, women and children got off the buses outside the Naval Observatory on Saturday night in 18-degree weather after a two-day journey from South Texas, according to the Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid Network. On the coldest Christmas Eve day on record in the District, some migrants were bundled up in blankets as they were greeted by volunteers who had received word that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) had sent the caravan.

Volunteers scrambled to meet the asylum seekers after the buses, which were scheduled to arrive in New York on Christmas Day, were rerouted due to the winter weather. In a hastily arranged welcoming, a church on Capitol Hill agreed to temporarily shelter the group while one of the mutual aid groups, SAMU First Response, arranged 150 breakfasts, lunches and dinners by the restaurant chain Sardis.

“D.C. continues to be welcoming,” the network’s core organizer, Amy Fischer, told The Washington Post. “Whether it’s Christmas Eve, whether it’s freezing cold outside or warm outside, we are always ready to welcome people with open arms and make sure they have a warm reception in this community.”

. . . .

In D.C., the buses had been arriving all week — three from Arizona, another three from Texas — so Tatiana Laborde knew it was going to be an “intense” time. But on Friday, Laborde — who is the managing director of SAMU First Response, one of the agencies along with the mayor’s office and the mutual aid network helping with the migrants — found out about the three rerouted buses. They were scheduled to arrive Sunday morning, Christmas Day.

But then there was another surprise — the buses, from Del Rio, Tex., got in early, parking near the vice president’s Naval Observatory residence on Christmas Eve.

That destination appears to have more political significance than logistical purpose: While other buses have stopped at Union Station, the Naval Observatory is not near any other transportation hubs. The vice president was in D.C. this weekend.

. . . .

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

While Biden Administration spokesperson Abdullah Hasan claimed that they were “willing to work with anyone,” the reality is quite different. The Biden Administration campaigned on the need to end the abusive, deadly Title 42 charade and restore order and the rule of law at the border. Yet, after two years they have accomplished little of substance in addressing this very predictable and urgent humanitarian situation.

The asylum system at both USCIS and EOIR remains a backlogged mess. Regulatory changes, some enacted over the strong objections of human rights legal experts, have failed to meaningfully improve the system.

The administrative legal precedents governing asylum are still unhelpful, often unrealistically restrictive, and frequently impede efficient granting of relief. Improvements for gender-based asylum seekers — directed in one of Biden’s first Executive Orders — are well over a year “overdue” and appear to have fallen off the “radar screen.”

The refugee system outside the U.S., which could have reduced asylum pressure, remains largely as broken and underutilized as the day Trump left office. Leadership and personnel changes at DHS and DOJ that should have been made early on were ignored by the Biden Administration.

Significantly, the Administration has neither taken a leadership role nor developed a coherent plan for the orderly, systematic, and rational resettlement of most asylum seekers away from border communities. This has left vulnerable individuals who are legally entitled to apply for asylum at the mercy of grandstanding GOP nativist governors.

It has also overtaxed and overwhelmed border communities and NGOs in “receiving localities” throughout the U.S. There has been no coordination of essential Immigration Court and Asylum Office notices and scheduling with the actual destinations of asylum seekers and with those available to support and represent them. In other words, the Administration has presided over an inexcusable, and unnecessary, mess!

Regardless of its merits, so-called “comprehensive immigration reform” clearly isn’t on the horizon. That means that it’s up to the elected officials — the Biden Administration — to make the current law work — without resorting to illegal and counterproductive gimmicks like Title 42 and “expedited dockets.” That means cutting the whining and finger pointing and getting to work governing and solving immigration problems!

That takes courage, boldness, expertise, human values, creativity, urgency, and competence — seven areas where the Biden Administration has been sorely lacking when it comes to immigration, human rights, and racial justice!

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

12-26-22

🤯🏴‍☠️🤡🤮👎🏽INCOMPETENCE WATCH: Lacking Integrity & Skills To Follow The Law, Tone-Deaf, Dangerous, & Disingenuous Biden Immigration Officials Consider Additional Massive Violations Of Human Rights For Asylum Seekers! — ACLU & NDPA Ready To Resist Administration’s Latest Unwarranted Assaults on Human Rights, Common Sense, & Human Decency!

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/01/us/politics/biden-immigration-asylum-restrictions.html

From Michael Shear & Eileen Sullivan the NY Times:

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is considering substantial new limits on the number of migrants who could apply for asylum in the United States, according to people familiar with the proposal, which would expand restrictions similar to those first put in place along the border by former President Donald J. Trump.

The plan is one of several being debated by President Biden’s top aides as the country confronts a high number of illegal crossings at the border. It would prohibit migrants who are fleeing persecution from seeking refuge in the United States unless they were first denied safe harbor by another country, like Mexico.

People familiar with the discussions said the new policy, if adopted, could go into effect as soon as this month, just as the government stops using a public health rule that was put in place at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic by the Trump administration and became a key policy to manage the spike in crossings during Mr. Biden’s tenure. A federal judge has ordered the administration to stop using the health rule on Dec. 21.

But the idea of broadly prohibiting migrants from seeking asylum strikes directly at the heart of decades of American and international law that has shaped the United States’ role as a place of safety for displaced and fearful people across the globe.

. . . .

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

Read the complete article at the link.

[U.S. District Judge Emmet ]Sullivan wrote that the federal officials knew the order “would likely expel migrants to locations with a ‘high probability’ of ‘persecution, torture, violent assaults, or rape’ ” — and did so anyway.

“It is unreasonable for the CDC to assume that it can ignore the consequences of any actions it chooses to take in the pursuit of fulfilling its goals,” Sullivan wrote. “It is undisputed that the impact on migrants was indeed dire.”

What part of Judge Sullivan’s very clear ruling on their “crimes against humanity” and knowing violations of U.S. and international law doesn’t the “Biden Administration Clown Show” 🤡 understand? Just follow the asylum law and due process, already! If you can’t do that, resign and let folks who can do the job (of which there are plenty out here in the “real world”) take over and do the job you have been failing at for two years!

In any event, the talent is out here in the private/NGO sector and will resist this latest insult to humanity and degradation of the rule of law and due process that Administration officials are “pondering!” “Studying and deciding whether or not to violate the law (again)?” Sounds like a potential criminal conspiracy to me!

In any event, expert litigators like Lee Gelernt of the ACLU and other NDPA superstars are prepared to “beat the Biden Administration’s brains (if any) out” in court again if they try to implement any more of their illegal and immoral immigration gimmicks!

“If the Biden administration simply substitutes the unlawful and anti-asylum Trump transit ban for Title 42,” Mr. Gelernt said, “we will immediately sue, as we successfully did during the Trump administration.”

The Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations committee was also “not on board” with the Biden Administration’s latest harebrained ideas on diminishing human rights that they have substituted for basic competence over the past two years of disasters, and unforgivable policy screw-ups on immigration, human rights, and racial justice issues:

“If the reported story is true, the Biden administration would further step away from our nation’s commitment to offer refuge to asylum seekers,” Senator Bob Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey and the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement on Thursday. “I will firmly oppose this misguided attempt to rewrite our asylum laws without congressional approval, just as I firmly opposed the same efforts under President Trump.”

I also have to wonder how Judge Sullivan will react when he learns how Biden Administration officials are using his “reluctantly granted” five weeks of delay in implementing his “cease and desist order.” Instead of, at long last, getting their collective tails in gear to finally put in place a competent legal system for re-establishing legal asylum at the southern border, these disgraceful petty bureaucrats and so-called “policy” officials have been scheming to evade the rule of law and commit yet more “crimes against humanity.”

The NDPA is not going to let them get away with it. Even if it means ripping apart the “so-called Democratic Coalition” going into the 2024 elections!

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever! Tyranny & Stupidity From either Dems or the GOP, never!

PWS

12-05-22

🇺🇸THE GIBSON REPORT — 11-29-22 — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Managing Attorney, NIJC — HEADLINER: After Two Years Of Dithering & Ongoing Human Rights Abuses, Biden Administration Heading For Failure In Re-Instituting Rule Of Law For Legal Asylum Seekers @ S. Border, According To Many Experts!

Weekly Briefing

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

CONTENTS (jump to section)

NEWS

LITIGATION & AGENCY UPDATES

RESOURCES

EVENTS

NEWS

Biden administration preps for a rocky end to Trump-era immigration rule

Politico: Experts in the immigration field say they’re expecting a stressful and chaotic transition when a court-ordered deadline to end the Trump directive is hit, one that could drive a new rush to the border and intensify GOP criticism. See also States move to keep court from lifting Trump asylum policy.

U.S. talking to Mexico, other countries to facilitate return of Venezuelan migrants

Reuters: The United States is in talks with Mexico and other countries to facilitate the return of Venezuelan migrants to their homeland, a senior U.S. official said in a call with reporters on Tuesday.

ICE Detains More Individuals

TRAC: The South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, which currently houses single adults (mostly females) has more than doubled the number of individuals it is holding since September. ICE reports this facility run by CoreCivic now has the largest average daily population of detainees (1,562) in the country

Homeland Security chief could face impeachment in GOP-led House if he does not resign, Kevin McCarthy warns

CBS: McCarthy also threatened to use “the power of the purse and the power of subpoena” to investigate and derail the Biden administration’s immigration and border policies, saying Republican-led committees would hold oversight hearings near the U.S.-Mexico border.

LITIGATION & AGENCY UPDATES

CA2 CAT Remand: Lopez De Velasquez V. Garland

LexisNexis: “Remand is required in this case because the BIA did not give consideration to all relevant evidence and principles of law, as those have been detailed by this Court’s recent decision in Scarlett v. Barr, 957 F.3d 316, 332–36 (2d Cir. 2020). … Because Mejia did not fear torture at the hands of the Guatemalan authorities, the relevant inquiry is whether government officials have acquiesced in likely third-party torture. To make this determination, the Court considers whether there is evidence that authorities knew of the torture or turned a blind eye to it, and “thereafter” breached their “responsibility to prevent” the possible torture.”

CA2 on CAT, Honduras: Garcia-Aranda v. Garland

LexisNexis: “Having reviewed both the IJ’s and the BIA’s opinions, we hold that the agency did not err in finding that Garcia-Aranda failed to satisfy her burden of proof for asylum and withholding of removal, but that the agency applied incorrect standards when adjudicating Garcia-Aranda’s CAT claim.”

3rd Circ. Says Jargon, Other Flaws Didn’t Prejudice CAT Bid

Law360: The Third Circuit has backed a decision denying a Dominican man’s bid for deportation relief based on his fear of being tortured, saying the procedural flaws he claimed tainted his proceedings — including the use of legal jargon and a videoconferencing glitch — did not prejudice him.

8th Circ. Finds Persecution Evidence Lacking In Asylum Bid

Law360: An English-speaking Cameroonian lost her chance to stay in the U.S. after the Eighth Circuit ruled that she failed to provide enough evidence showing that military officers had attacked her for her presumed support of Anglophone separatists.

CA9 Appeal Waiver Remand: Phong v. Garland

LexisNexis: “Without record evidence that Phong orally waived his right to appeal before the IJ, we decline to address his alternative arguments that any waiver was unconsidered, unintelligent, or otherwise unenforceable. Rather, we remand to the BIA to develop the record on the waiver issue and, if it deems it appropriate, to consider Phong’s remaining arguments in the first instance.”

No Second Bite At Bond Needed For Detainee, 9th Circ. Says

Law360: A divided Ninth Circuit on Monday ruled that the federal government was not constitutionally required to provide a Salvadoran immigrant a second bond hearing amid his prolonged detention during removal proceedings, while also bearing the burden to show he was a flight risk or danger to the community.

Immigrants, DHS settle case seeking activist targeting info

AP: The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has agreed to pay a Vermont-based immigrant advocacy organization $74,000 in legal fees to settle a lawsuit seeking information about whether advocates were being targeted by immigration agents because of their political activism.

USCIS Extends and Expands Fee Exemptions and Expedited Processing for Afghan Nationals

USCIS: Today, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced it is extending and expanding previously announced filing fee exemptions and expedited application processing for certain Afghan nationals.

RESOURCES

NIJC’s Fall Pro Bono Asylum Training, Nov. 2022

DHS: State Immigration Data Sheets include immigration benefits data across topics for all 50 states

EVENTS

11/29/22 Building an Asylum Claim

11/30/22 CGRS Preserving the Record for Appeal in a Fear-of-Return Claim

12/6/22 Emerging Strategies for Prolonged Detention

12/6/22 Immigration Reform: Might Past Be Prologue?

12/7/22-12/8/22 Defending Survivors: Strategies for Immigrant Survivors Seeking Justice

12/7/22 Parole in Immigration

12/13/22 The Effects of Absences on Naturalization

12/13/22 USCIS: Asylum Quarterly Stakeholder Engagement

12/14/22 Hot Topics in Asylum Law

12/14/22 CLINIC Working Through Vicarious Trauma With Self-Care Strategies

12/15/22 NLG: Obtaining Criminal Records with guest speaker, Gabriela Kahrl

1/10/23 CLINIC: Comprehensive Overview of Immigration Law (COIL)

1/11/22 Preventing and Responding to RFEs and NOIDs for U and VAWA Cases

1/19/23 NLG: Top Ethical Issues Facing Legal Representatives in Removal Hearings with guest speaker, Retired Immigration Judge Dana Marks

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

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

Elizabeth Gibson (Pronouns: she/her/ella)

Managing Attorney for Capacity Building and Mentorship

National Immigrant Justice Center

A HEARTLAND ALLIANCE Program

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

www.immigrantjustice.org | Facebook | Twitter

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

Folks, it’s about re-instituting the law and screening system for legal asylum seekers which was in effect, in one form or another, for four decades before being illegally abrogated by the Trump Administration’s abusive use of Title 42. Outrageously, after promising to do better during the 2020 election campaign, the Biden Administration has “gone along to get along” with inflicting massive human rights violations under the Title 42 facade until finally ordered to comply with the law by U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan last month.

One of Judge Sullivan’s well-supported findings was that the scofflaw actions by both Trump and Biden officials had resulted in knowingly and intentionally inflicting “dire harm” on legal asylum applicants:

Sullivan wrote that the federal officials knew the order “would likely expel migrants to locations with a ‘high probability’ of ‘persecution, torture, violent assaults, or rape’ ” — and did so anyway.

“It is unreasonable for the CDC to assume that it can ignore the consequences of any actions it chooses to take in the pursuit of fulfilling its goals,” Sullivan wrote. “It is undisputed that the impact on migrants was indeed dire.”

Contrary to the “CYA BS” coming from Biden Administration officials, making the law work at the Southern Border requires neither currently unachievable “reform” legislation nor massive additions of personnel! It does, however, require better personnel, expert training, accountability, smarter use of resources, and enlightened, dynamic, courageous, principled, expert leadership currently glaringly lacking within the Biden Administration.

The Administration’s much ballyhooed, yet poorly conceived, ineptly and inconsistently implemented, “revised asylum regulations” have also failed to “leverage” the potential for success, thus far producing only an anemic number of “first instance” asylum grants. This is far below the rate necessary for the process significantly to take pressure off the backlogged and dysfunctional Immigration Courts, one of the stated purposes of the regulations! Meanwhile, early indications are that Garland’s ill-advised regulatory time limits on certain arbitrarily-selected asylum applications have further diluted quality and just results for EOIR asylum decisions. That, folks, is in a system where disdain for both of these essential judicial traits is already rampant!

It’s not rocket science! It was well within the capability of the Biden Administration to establish a robust, functional asylum system had it acted with urgency and competency upon taking office in 2021:

Better Asylum Officers at USCIS and Immigration Judges at EOIR — well-qualified asylum experts with practical experience in the asylum system who will timely recognize and grant the many valid asylum claims in the first instance;
Cooperative agreements with NGOs and pro bono organizations to prescreen applications in an orderly manner and represent those who can establish a “credible fear;”
A new and improved BIA of qualified “practical scholars” in asylum law who will establish workable precedents and best practices that honestly reflect the generous approach to asylum required (but never carried out in practice or spirit) by the Supremes in Cardoza-Fonseca and the BIA itself in its long-ignored and consistently misapplied precedent in Mogharrabi;
An orderly refugee resettlement program administered under the auspices of the Feds for those granted asylum and for those whose claims can’t be expeditiously granted at the border and who therefore must present them in Immigration Court at some location away from the border.

The Biden Administration has nobody to blame but themselves for their massive legal, moral, and practical failures on the Southern Border! With House GOP nativist/restrictionists “sharpening their knives,” Mayorkas, Garland, Rice, and other Biden officials who have failed to restore the legal asylum system shouldn’t expect long-ignored and “affirmatively dissed” human rights experts and advocates to bail them out!

The massive abrogations of human rights, due process, the rule of law, common sense, and human decency that the GOP espouses — so-called enforcement and ineffective “deterrence” only approach — will NOT resolve the humanitarian issues with ongoing, often inevitable, refugee flows!

But, the Biden Administration’s inept approach to human rights has played right into the hands of these GOP White Nationalist politicos. That’s an inconceivable human tragedy for our nation and for the many legal refugees we turn away without due process or fair consideration of their life-threatening plight! These are refugees — legal immigrants — who should be allowed to enter legally and help our economy and our nation with their presence.

If we want refugees to apply “away from the border,” we must establish robust, timely, realistic refugee programs at or near places like Haiti, Venezuela, and the Northern Triangle that are sending us refugees. In the Refugee Act of 1980, Congress actually gave the President extraordinary discretionary authority to establish refugee processing directly in the countries the refugees are fleeing. This was a significant expansion of the UN refugee definition which requires a refugee to be “outside” his or her country of nationality. Yet, no less than the Trump and Obama Administrations before, President Biden has failed to “leverage” this powerful potential tool for establishing orderly refugee processing beyond our borders!

Meanwhile, down on the actual border, a place that Biden, Harris, Mayorkas, Garland, Rice, and other “high level architects of failed asylum policies” seldom, if ever, deign to visit, life, such as it is, goes on with the usual abuses heaped on asylum seekers patiently waiting to be fairly processed.

A rational observer might have thought that the Biden Administration would use the precious time before Dec. 22, 2022, reluctantly “gifted” to them by Judge Sullivan, to pre-screen potential asylum seekers already at ports of entry on the Mexican side. Those with credible fear and strong claims could be identified for orderly entries when legal ports of entry (finally) re-open on Dec. 22. Or, better yet, they could be “paroled” into the U.S. now and expeditiously granted asylum by Asylum Officers.

This would reduce the immediate pressure on the ports, eliminate unnecessary trips to backlogged Immigration Courts, and expedite these refugees’ legal status, work authorization, and transition to life in the U.S.

I have no idea what the Biden Administration has done with the time since Judge Sullivan “gifted” them a stay. The only noticeable actions have been more BS excuses, blame-shifting, and lowering expectations.

But, in reality, by their indolent approach to humanitarian issues and the law, in the interim the Administration has consciously left the fate of long-suffering and already “direly-harmed” legal asylum seekers to the Mexican Government. According to a recent NBC News report, the Mexican Government forcibly “rousted” many awaiting processing at a squalid camp near the border and “orbited them’ to “who knows where.” https://www.nbcnews.com/now/video/mexican-authorities-evict-venezuelan-migrants-from-border-camps-155516485544

Judge Sullivan might want to take note of this in assessing how the Biden DOJ has used the “preparedness time” that he reluctantly granted them following his order.

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

11-29-22

🇺🇸🗽⚖️⭐️🥇♥️🦸🏻‍♀️ PATRIOT, HERO, HUMANITARIAN, DYNAMIC LEADER, ROLE MODEL: Paula Fitzgerald, Executive Director of AYUDA, “Lt. General” of the NDPA, Will Receive Georgetown University’s Prestigious John Thompson Jr. Legacy of a Dream Award, “given to a local individual who exemplifies the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.!” — (She’s also a “Great Fiduciary!”)😎

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The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Georgetown University Announce 2023 “Legacy of a Dream” Awardee

featuring

Leslie Odom, Jr.

and

THE LET FREEDOM RING CHOIR,

Nolan Williams, Jr., Music Producer

In a musical tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Monday, January 16, 2023 at 6 p.m.

(WASHINGTON)—The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Georgetown University celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with a free, ticketed musical tribute, the Let Freedom Ring Celebration. The annual program, part of the Center’s Millennium Stage free daily performance series, features Leslie Odom, Jr. and the Let Freedom Ring Choir led by Music Producer Nolan Williams, Jr., on Monday, January 16, 2023 at 6 p.m. in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall.

Georgetown University will present the annual John Thompson Jr. Legacy of a Dream Award to Paula Fitzgerald, executive director of Ayuda. Since 1973, Ayuda has served more than 150,000 low-income immigrants throughout Washington DC, Maryland and Virginia. The award is given by Georgetown University to a local individual who exemplifies the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. For more information about this year’s awardee and the Legacy of a Dream Award, please visit: https://www.georgetown.edu/mlk-initiative/

Free tickets—up to two per person—will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis at the Hall of Nations box office, beginning at 4:30 p.m. on Monday, January 16. This performance will be close-captioned and will be live streamed on the Kennedy Center Facebook and YouTube pages, and on the website at www.kennedy-center.org.

ABOUT LESLIE ODOM, JR.

Leslie Odom, Jr. is a multifaceted, award-winning vocalist, songwriter, author, and actor. With a career that spans all performance genres, he has received recognition with Tony® and Grammy Awards® as well as Emmy® and, most recently, two Academy Award® nominations for his excellence and achievements in Broadway, television, film, and music. Odom most recently starred in and performed the songs of legendary singer Sam Cooke in the critically acclaimed Amazon film adaptation of One Night in Miami…, directed by Regina King. His portrayal of the soul icon was met with widespread praise and critical acclaim, earning him nominations for an Academy Award®, BAFTA Award, Critics’ Choice Award, Golden Globe Awards®, and Screen Actors Guild Awards, among others. King also enlisted Odom to write, compose, and perform the film’s original song, “Speak Now,” for which he was nominated for an Oscar and has since earned him a Critics’ Choice Award for Best Song as well as several other award nominations.

Odom recently starred in The Many Saints of Newark, a prequel to David Chase’s Award-winning HBO series The Sopranos that was released in theaters and on HBO Max in October 2021, and he can also be heard voicing the character of ‘Owen Tillerman’ in Season 2 of the Apple TV+ animated musical-comedy series Central Park, for which he received an Emmy® nomination for Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance in 2020. He also hosted CBS’s “The Tony Awards Present: Broadway’s Back!” special live concert event., during which he performed various musical numbers throughout the 2-hour celebration along with David Byrne, John Legend, Audra McDonald and many others. His other upcoming projects include Rian Johnson’s highly anticipated sequel, Knives Out 2; and David Gordon Green’s new Exorcist trilogy. Additional film and television credits include the Disney+ filmed musical performance of the original Broadway production of Hamilton, the limited series Love in the Time of Corona, which he executive produced and co-starred opposite Nicolette Robinson, Harriet, Murder on the Orient Express, Only, Red Tails, and Smash.

Best known for his breakout role as the original ‘Aaron Burr’ in the smash hit Broadway musical Hamilton, Odom won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical and a Grammy Award ® as a principal soloist on the original cast recording for his performance. He made his Broadway debut in RENT at the age of 17. He also starred opposite Lin-Manuel Miranda and Karen Olivo in a 2014 City Center Encores! revival of Jonathan Larson’s Tick, Tick…Boom! In December 2017, Odom returned to the New York City stage in a solo concert at Jazz at Lincoln Center. The cabaret-style performance was crafted around signature songs and music that shaped this artist’s journey, all performed with a world-class band in front of a live audience. The show was filmed for broadcast as an hour-long PBS special as part of the 17-time Emmy Award®-winning series, Live from Lincoln Center, and premiered in April 2018.

A Grammy Award®-winning recording artist, Odom’s self-titled debut album was part-funded by a successful Kickstarter campaign and released in 2014 by Borderlight Entertainment, Inc. His new label home, S-Curve, re-released an expanded version with additional material in June 2016, and the album reached #1 on the Billboard Jazz charts and charted in the Billboard Top 200. In winter 2017, Odom topped the charts once again with the re-release of his second album and first holiday album, Simply Christmas, as a deluxe edition with new arrangements and new songs. Simply Christmas hit #1 on iTunes and the Billboard Jazz charts, #4 on the Billboard Holiday chart, and #31 on the Billboard Top 200 chart. Odom released his third full-length album and first of original material, Mr, in November 2019, and the following October teamed up with nine-time Grammy-nominated and multi-platinum artist Sia to debut a new version of standout track “Cold.” His critically acclaimed second holiday album, The Christmas Album, was released in November 2020. He has performed at the White House, Super Bowl, and on hallowed stages such as Lincoln Center, Rockefeller Center, and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

In March 2018, Odom added the title of author to his resume with the release of his book—Failing Up: How to Take Risks, Aim Higher and Never Stop Learning. Written in the style of a commencement speech, the book brings together what Odom has learned in life so far, tapping into universal themes of starting something new, following your passions, discovering your own potential, and surrounding yourself with the right people. Failing Up is about unlocking your true potential and making your dreams come true even when it seems impossible. The book was published by Feiwel & Friends, an imprint of Macmillan Publishers.

ABOUT THE AWARDEE

Paula Fitzgerald, Esq. is the executive director of Ayuda, a nonprofit that provides legal, social and language services to help low-income immigrants in the Washington, DC, area navigate the immigration and justice systems, heal from trauma and overcome language isolation.

As executive director, Fitzgerald leads Ayuda’s efforts to increase the availability of direct services for more than 8,000 immigrants annually. Under her leadership, Ayuda’s programs have expanded throughout the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia to reach more low-income immigrants. She began her work with Ayuda as an immigration staff attorney and quickly advanced to managing attorney of Ayuda’s Virginia office. Prior to joining Ayuda in 2008, Fitzgerald served as an immigration staff attorney at Hogar Hispano of the Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Arlington and as an associate at Hunton & Williams LLP.

Her immigration legal work focused on humanitarian relief for individuals, children and families. She also has extensive experience in family-based immigration matters, consular processing, waivers and NACARA cases. Fitzgerald credits her mother, a Colombian immigrant who was a social worker at a school with a large Latin American immigrant population, and her father, who worked as a psychologist for the mentally ill at Saint Elizabeth’s Hospital, for instilling the values that led to her work.

Fitzgerald earned a certificate in Nonprofit Management from Georgetown in 2016 and a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law. She graduated cum laude with a B.A. in psychology from James Madison University. Paula and her family have lived in northern Virginia for more than 40 years.

ABOUT LET FREEDOM RING CELEBRATION

As part of Georgetown University’s MLK Initiative: Let Freedom Ring!, this event builds on the success of the first joint program in January 2003, which featured the legendary Roberta Flack and attracted more than 5,000 patrons. The second, held in August of 2003, commemorated the 40th anniversary of Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech and featured actor, civil rights leader, and 2004 Kennedy Center Honoree, Ossie Davis. Past concerts have featured Jessye Norman in 2004; Aaron Neville in 2005; Yolanda Adams in 2006 and in 2016; Brian McKnight in 2007; Denyce Graves in 2008; Kennedy Center Honoree Aretha Franklin in 2009; India.Arie in 2010; Patti LaBelle in 2011; Bobby McFerrin in 2012; Smokey Robinson in 2013; Dionne Warwick in 2014; Natalie Cole in 2015; Gladys Knight in 2017; Vanessa Williams in 2018; and Audra McDonald and Brian Stokes Mitchell in 2019, and Chaka Khan in 2020.

ABOUT GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY

Established in 1789 by Archbishop John Carroll, Georgetown is the oldest Catholic and Jesuit university in the United States. Located in Washington D.C., Doha, Qatar, and around the world, Georgetown University is a leading academic and research institution, offering a unique educational experience that prepares the next generation of global citizens to lead and make a difference in the world. For more information about Georgetown University, visit Georgetown.edu or connect with Georgetown on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Instagram.

Georgetown’s annual MLK Initiative honors Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. through a series of academic, artistic, and extracurricular programs that examine Dr. King’s life and work and address the contemporary challenges our nation faces in order to fulfill his dream of justice and equality for all people. For more information visit: https://www.georgetown.edu/mlk-initiative/

ABOUT THE KENNEDY CENTER’S MILLENNIUM STAGE

Millennium Stage is a manifestation of the Kennedy Center’s mission and vision to welcome all to celebrate our collective cultural heritage in the most inclusive and accessible way possible. Millennium Stage offers free live community performances, streamed live Wednesday–Saturday each week and Sunday matinee film screenings in the Justice Forum.

The series aims to eliminate financial and geographical barriers to the arts and celebrate the human spirits and arts in our society, hopefully, ultimately leading to intercultural understanding. The programs are varied with artists from many different communities and mediums of performing arts so that we are showcasing the story of our country and our world.

A full list of our generous sponsors can be found online.

Discover the Kennedy Center on social media.

# # #

KENNEDY CENTER CONTACT:
Brendan Padgett
BEPadgett@kennedy-center.org

Camryn Hardy
CHardy@kennedy-center.org

GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY CONTACT:

Georgetown University Media Relations
media@georgetown.edu
(202) 687-4328

From Paula:

“I am humbled to be selected as the 2023 Legacy of a Dream recipient. My mission has always been to make a lasting impact in the lives of others. I can think of no greater honor than being recognized alongside past recipients – fierce advocates and change-makers in our DMV community.”

— Paula Fitzgerald, Esq.

Executive Director, Ayuda

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

Congratulations Paula, my friend!

As I have said many times, “you are totally awesome.” Your brilliance, creativity, “institutionalized kindness,” courage, integrity, work ethic, and leadership by example have built AYUDA into an ever more powerful and dynamic NGO that incorporates all that is best in the DMV area. AYUDA serves as a beacon of hope, humanity, and “grass roots support” for members of our community from around the world.

You empower and inspire everyone around you, which is what great leadership is all about. You are also “one heck of a fundraiser and executive with a vision and the practical skills to make it happen!” And, you continue to recruit, attract, support, and nurture super-talented staff who embody and carry out AYUDA’s community values!

I remember a function honoring the retiring chief executive of an organization I worked for in the past. That individual was highly competent, but not particularly “warm and fuzzy.” The MC, perhaps at a loss for words, turned to the honoree and said: “You were a great fiduciary!”

Being a “vet” of countless retirement ceremonies, I had expected the more traditional good natured “roast” or heartwarming personal anecdotes. At the time, I found the “fiduciary accolade” pretty weird.

Since then, however, carrying that “heightened awareness” with me, I have observed many “not so great fiduciaries.” So, Paula, I’m going to say it: “You are a great fiduciary!”

AYUDA’s many dedicated donors can be assured that you treat each incoming dollar the way you treat each of AYUDA’s clients and staff: With great appreciation, deep respect, and a determination to unlock the full potential for the greater good.

Thanks for all you do for America and humanity, Paula! You indeed “exemplify the spirit of Dr. King!”

FULL DISCLOSURE: I am a member of the AYUDA Advisory Council and an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown Law. I have known Paula and admired her work and values since she first appeared before me as an attorney at the “Legacy” Arlington Immigration Court almost two decades ago.

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

11-20-22

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

By Paul Wickham Schmidt

Courtside Special

Oct. 26, 2022

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

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

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

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

Among the signers:

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

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

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

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

Here’s a copy of the letter, as sent:

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

🇺🇸“Due Process Forever!”

Paul⚖️🗽😎

10-26-22

Theresa Vargas @ WashPost:

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

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From HuffPost:

Liberals Take Control Of Wisconsin Supreme Court

Brandon Johnson, Progressive Union Organizer, Elected Mayor Of Chicago

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

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

Get the details here:

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

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My friend, NDPA star Chelsea NAYLOR writes:

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

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

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From Cornell Law:

Asylum and Convention Against Torture Appellate Clinic Celebrates 20th Anniversary

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

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Andrea Castillo reports for the LA Times:

Asylum seekers must wait for appointments in U.S. for everyone, or leave some behind.

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

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Here’s the link to the “comment website:”

Here’s the text of my “custom revision” of the standard comment posted on the website:

🇺🇸Due Process Forever! The treachery of an Administration that abandons humane values, and fears bold humanitarian actions, never!

Related posts:

Here are the “official bios” of the 23 newest U.S. Immigration Judges appointed by A.G. Merrick Garland:

Here’s the”scorecard”from Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, Policy Director, American Immgration Council;

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

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Caught in the crossfire: Mainers aid in medical rescue of Afghan boy

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

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🇺🇸🗽⚖️Due Process Forever!

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Theresa Vargas reports for WashPost:

Here’s more on GOP political stunts with vulnerable humans as pawns from today’s WashPost:

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

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From Michael Shear & Eileen Sullivan the NY Times:

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever! Tyranny & Stupidity From either Dems or the GOP, never!

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🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

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The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Georgetown University Announce 2023 “Legacy of a Dream” Awardee

From Paula:

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

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By Paul Wickham Schmidt

Courtside Special

Oct. 26, 2022

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

Here’s a copy of the letter, as sent:

🇺🇸“Due Process Forever!”

Related posts: