Vetting – immigrationcourtside.com

🇺🇸🗽🤯 HISTORY: 100 YEARS AGO, AMERICA TRIED, BUT ULTIMATELY FAILED, TO STAY “WHITE & PROTESTANT” WITH THE 1924 IMMIGRATION ACT — Many Were Hurt Or Died From This Bias In The Interim — Now Trump & The Nativist Right Want To Revive One Of The Worst Eras In U.S. History — Will Indifference & Ignorance From Dems & So-Called “Centrists” Let Them Get Away With Turning Back The Clock? ⏰☠️🤮 — Two Renowned Authors Offer A View Of A Biased, Deadly, & Ultimately Highly Counterproductive Past That Still Poisons Our Politics & Threatens Our Future As A Beacon Of Hope! — PLUS: Kowalski & Chase Take On The “False Scholars” 🤮 Who Disingenuously Attempt To “Glorify” Xenophobia & Racism!🤯

1924 Act — The 1924 Immigration Act vilified, dehumanized, and barred many of those immigrants who have made America great, like Italian Americans being demeaned in this cartoon. Yet, some descendants of those unfairly targeted appear oblivious to the mistakes of the past and willing to inflict the same immoral lies, harm, and suffering on today’s migrants.
IMAGE: Public Realm

Eduardo Porter writes in WashPost:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/interactive/2024/immigration-history-race-quota-progress/

“I think that we have sufficient stock in America now for us to shut the door.”

That sounds like Donald Trump, right? Maybe on one of his campaign stops? It certainly fits the mood of the country. This year, immigration became voters’ “most important problem” in Gallup polling for the first time since Central Americans flocked to the border in 2019. More than half of Americans perceive immigrants crossing the border illegally as a “critical threat.”

Yet the sentiment expressed above is almost exactly 100 years old. It was uttered by Sen. Ellison DuRant Smith, a South Carolina Democrat, on April 9, 1924. And it helped set the stage for a historic change in U.S. immigration law, which imposed strict national quotas for newcomers that would shape the United States’ ethnic makeup for decades to come.

. . . .

The renewed backlash against immigration has little to offer the American project, though. Closing the door to new Americans would be hardly desirable, a blow to one of the nation’s greatest sources of dynamism. Raw data confirms how immigrants are adding to the nation’s economic growth, even while helping keep a lid on inflation.

Anyway, that horse left the stable. The United States is full of immigrants from, in Trump’s memorable words, “s—hole countries.” The project to set this in reverse is a fool’s errand. The 1924 Johnson-Reed immigration law might have succeeded in curtailing immigration. But the restrictions did not hold. From Presidents Johnson to Trump, efforts to circle the wagons around some ancestral White American identity failed.

We are extremely lucky it did. Contra Sen. Ellison DuRant Smith’s 100-year old prescriptions, the nation owes what greatness it has to the many different women and men it has drawn from around the world to build their futures. This requires a different conversation — one that doesn’t feature mass expulsions and concentration camps but focuses on constructing a new shared American identity that fits everyone, including the many more immigrants who will arrive from the Global South for years to come.

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Gordon F. Sander, journalist and historian, also writes in WashPost, perhaps somewhat less optimistically, but with the same historical truth in the face of current political lies and gross misrepresentations:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2024/05/24/johnson-reed-act-immigration-quotas-trump/

. . . .

Johnson and Reed were in a triumphant mood on the eve of their bill’s enactment. “America of the melting pot will no longer be necessary,” Reed wrote in the Times. He remarked on the new law’s impact: “It will mean a more homogenous nation, more self-reliant, more independent and more closely knit by common properties and common faith.”

The law immediately had its intended effect. In 1921, more than 200,000 Italians arrived at Ellis Island. In 1925, following the bill’s enactment, barely 6,000 Italians were permitted entry.

But there were less intended consequences, too, including on U.S. foreign relations. Although Reed insisted there was nothing personal about the act’s exclusion of Japanese people, the Japanese government took strong exception, leading to an increase in tensions between the two countries. There were riots in Tokyo. The road to Pearl Harbor was laid.

During the 1930s, after the eugenics-driven Nazis seized control of Germany, the quotas established by the act helped close the door to European Jews and others fleeing fascism.

At the same time, the law also inspired a small but determined group of opponents led by Rep. Emanuel Celler (D-N.Y.), who were committed to overturning it. Celler’s half-century-long campaign finally paid off in 1965 at the Statue of Liberty when, as Celler looked on, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Immigration and Nationality Act, which ended national origin quotas.

But with anti-immigration sentiment on the rise and quotas once again on the table, it’s clear that a century after its enactment, the ghost of Johnson-Reed isn’t completely gone.

Gordon F. Sander is a journalist and historian based in Riga, Latvia. He is the author of “The Frank Family That Survived: A 20th Century Odyssey” and other books

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

Many thanks to my friend and immigration maven Deb Sanders for alerting me to the Sander article. I strongly urge everyone to read both pieces at the links above.

Perhaps the most poignant comment I’ve received about these articles is from American educator, expert, author, and “practical scholar” Susan Gzesh:

And because of the 1924 Act, my grandparents lost dozens of their siblings, parents, aunts, uncles, nieces, and nephews to the Holocaust in the 1940s because Eastern European Jewish immigration to the US had been cut off. They would have been capable of sponsoring more family to come to the US in the late 1920s and 30s, but there was no quota for them.

I have no words to describe my feelings about so-called experts who would praise the 1924 Act. I know that Asian Americans must feel similarly to my sentiments.

Well said, Susan!

Susan Gzesh
American scholar, educator, expert, author
PHOTO: U. Of Chicago

I’ll leave it at that, for you to ponder the next time you hear Trump, DeSantis, Abbott, and the like fear-monger about the bogus “invasion,” spout “replacement theory,” and extoll the virtues of extralegal cruelties and dehumanization inflicted upon “the other” — typically the most vulnerable who are seeking our legal protection and appealing to our senses of justice and human dignity! And, also you can consider this when the so called “mainstream media” pander to these lies by uncritically presenting them as “the other side,” thereby echoing “alternative facts!”

It’s also worth remembering this when you hear Biden, Harris, Schumer, Murphy, and other weak-kneed Dem politicos who should know better adopt Trumpist White Nationalist proposals and falsely present them as “realistic compromises” — as opposed to what they really are — tragic acts of political and moral cowardice!

Eventually, as both of the above articles point out, America largely persevered and prospered over its demons of racism, anti-Catholicism, and anti-immigrant nationalism. But, it would be wrong to view this “long arc” analysis as “zeroing out” the sins and horrors of our past.

Susan Gzesh’s relatives died, some horribly and painfully, before their time. That can’t be changed by future progress. Nor can the children they might have had or the achievements they never got to make to our nation and the world be resurrected.

As Susan mentions, the 1924 Act also reinforced long-standing racism and xenophobia against Asian Americans that led to the irreversible harm inflicted by the internment of Japanese American citizens, continuing Chinese Exclusion, and a host of state laws targeting the Asian population and making their lives miserable. Belated recognition of the wrongfulness and immorality of these reprehensible laws and actions does nothing for their past victims.

Many Irish, Italian, and other Catholics and their cherished institutions died, lost property, or were permanently displaced by widespread anti-Catholic riots brought on and fanned by the very type of biased and ignorant thinking that undergirded Johnson-Reed. They can’t be brought back to life and their property restored just by a “magic wave of the historical wand.”

U.S. citizens of Mexican-American heritage were deported and dispossessed, some from property their ancestors had owned long before there was even a United States. Apologizing to their descendants and acknowledging our mistakes as a nation won’t eliminate the injustices done them — ones that they took to their graves!

Despite the “lessons of the Holocaust,” America continues to struggle with anti-Semitism and anti-Islamic phobias and indifference to human suffering beyond our borders.

And, of course, the poisonous adverse impacts of slavery on our nation and our African-American compatriots continue to haunt and influence us despite disingenuous claims to the contrary.

Hon. Jeffrey S. Chase
Jeffrey S. Chase Blog
Coordinator & Chief Spokesperson, Round Table of Former Immigration Judges

My friends immigration experts Dan Kowalski and Hon. Jeffrey Chase also had some “choice words” for the “false scholars” who extol the fabricated “benefits” of White Nationalism and racism embodied in “laws” that contravened the very meaning of “with liberty and justice for all” — something to reflect upon this Memorial Day. See https://dankowalski.substack.com/p/true-colors.

That prompted this response from Susan:

Susan Gzesh

11 hrs ago

Thank you, Dan! In memory of my Gzesh, Wolfson, Kronenberg, and Kissilove relatives who were victims of the Holocaust – after their U.S.-based relatives failed to get visas for them.

I also recently weighed in on the horrors of the 1924 Act in a recent article by Felipe De La Hoz, published in The New Republic: https://immigrationcourtside.com/2024/05/02/🏴☠%EF%B8%8F🤯🤮-a-century-of-progress-arrested-the-1924-immigration-act-rears-its-ugly-nativist-head-again-felipe-de-la-hoz-in-the-new-repub/.

Heed the lessons of history, enshrine tolerance, honor diversity, and “improve on past performance!” We have a choice as to whether or not to repeat the mistakes of the past — to regress to a darker age or move forward to a brighter future for all! Make the right one!

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

05-27-24

🇺🇸⚖️🗽 EXPLODING THE NEGATIVE “BIPARTISAN MYTHS” ABOUT ASYLUM SEEKERS: TRAC’S 10-YR. STUDY SHOWS THAT HUGE MAJORITY (2/3) OF ASYLUM SEEKERS GET FAVORABLE RESULTS IF (A BIG “IF”) THEY CAN GET A DECISION FROM EOIR — Representation Is Critical To Success — Hundreds Of Thousands Who Deserve To Stay Languish In Garland’s Endless Backlogs, While He Continues To Enable “Aimless Docket Reshuffling” (“ADR”), The Bane Of Due Process, Fairness, & Efficiency!

Austin Kocher, Ph.D.
Research Assistant Professor
TRAC-Syracuse
PHOTO: Syracuse U.

From Professor Austin Kocher @ Linkedin:

New Report! “Two-Thirds of Court Asylum Applicants Found Legally Entitled to Remain.”

Out of 1M+ asylum cases decided by immigration judges over the past decade, 685,956 (66%) were legally entitled to remain in the United States due to asylum or other relief.

https://trac.syr.edu/reports/742/

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Remember, this is in a system that has, over decades, been intentionally rigged, manipulated, and skewed AGAINST legal asylum seekers, particularly those of color from certain arbitrarily “disfavored” countries! (Think Haiti, The Northern Triangle, and many African Nations). While this anti-asylum bias has “peaked” in GOP Administrations, Dems have also been guilty including the Biden Administration’s flailing, legally problematic efforts to abuse the asylum adjudication system as a “deterrent” to those legally seeking asylum!

Trial By Ordeal — The U.S. Asylum system over the past two decades has prided itself in making the experience of asylum seekers as restrictive, difficult, complex, arcane, arbitrary, and “user unfriendly” as possible for many of the most vulnerable. Even so, courageous asylum seekers who can actually get a decision persevere and succeed against the odds! What if Administrations of both parties worked to make the system fair and timely, rather than trying to use it as a false “deterrent?” 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

Austin’s post triggered this exchange between Beckie “Deportation Defender” Moriello and me on LinkedIn:

BECKIE: It’s really higher than that, once we factor in all the wrongfully denied cases for clients who can’t afford to appeal.

PWS: Thanks for speaking truth, Beckie! If true asylum experts were on the BIA, IJs were experts who applied or were held by the BIA to the Cardoza, Mogharrabi, Kasinga, 8 CFR 208.13 framework, the asylum adjudication system had dynamic leadership, and individuals were competently represented, many more cases would be granted much more efficiently and backlogs would eventually come under control and start to diminish. In fact, individuals should be considered eligible for asylum even where persecution on a protected ground is “significantly less than probable” — the 10% rule! Moreover, asylum seekers who testify credibly are supposed to be given “the benefit of the doubt.” These and the presumption of future persecution established by past persecution, thereby shifting the burden to DHS, are still too often ignored, misapplied, or manipulated against asylum seekers. There is nothing that will make a backlog at least a decade in the making disappear overnight. But, a legitimate, legally compliant, properly generous asylum adjudication system would benefit all involved. It’s sad that Biden, Harris, Garland, and Mayorkas are afraid to comply with the rule of law for asylum seekers and other migrants!

Beckie “Deportation Defender” Moriello ESQUIREPHOTO: Linkedin — Beckie “Deportation Defender” Moriello ESQUIRE
PHOTO: Linkedin

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

PWS

05-21-24

⚖️🗽 REV. CRAIG MOUSIN @ LAWFUL ASSEMBLY PODCAST URGES US TO TELL THE ADMINISTRATION & CONGRESS TO WITHDRAW ANTI-ASYLUM PROPOSED REGS: “Let’s give courage to those who recognize the benefits of a working asylum system. There are many positive ways to cut down on inefficiencies at the border!”

Listen here:

https://www.lawfulpod.com/restrictions-to-an-already-compromised-asylum-system/

MAY 17, 2024

Restrictions To An Already Compromised Asylum System

This week we talk about a proposed rule from the Biden Administration that may change asylum proceedures and allow adjudicators to turn away people without proper research on their background.

Read the proposed rule: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/05/13/2024-10390/application-of-certain-mandatory-bars-in-fear-screenings

Read the NIJC’s breakdown: https://immigrantjustice.org/press-releases/nijc-denounces-new-biden-rule-adding-restrictions-already-compromised-asylum-system

Contact your Representative: https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative

Contact your Senator: https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm

Craig’s paper he mentions: Health Inequity and Tent Court Injustice

Next week we should have a call to action with templates for you to help submit your comment. Watch this space!

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

Thanks, Craig, for speaking up! Why does the Administration keep proposing likely unlawful restrictionist regulations that won’t help the situation at the border?

As Craig notes, there are “many positive ways” to improve the treatment of legal asylum seekers and promote fair and efficient consideration of their claims! Why is the Biden Administration “tuning out” the voices of those with border expertise who are trying to help them make the legal asylum system work?

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

05-20-24

⚠️ “SIR JEFFREY” OF THE ROUND TABLE ⚔️🛡 SAYS THAT SUCCESSIVE ADMINISTRATIONS HAVE UNDERMINED THE RULE OF LAW BY CONTRAVENING BINDING INTERNATIONAL REFUGEE STANDARDS: “[I]t is only when international law becomes normalized in the process that our asylum law will function as it should.” — Stop Mocking The Rule Of Law At The Border! ☠️

https://www.lexisnexis.com/community/insights/legal/immigration/b/insidenews/posts/proposed-asylum-bar-regs-are-at-odds-with-international-law-and-why-that-matters

Proposed Asylum Bar Regs Are At Odds With International Law (And Why That Matters)

In 2003, the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees published Guidelines for applying the bars to asylum known internationally as the “exclusion clauses” (because they exclude an applicant from being recognized as a refugee under international law). Addressing the proper procedure for applying these bars, the UNHCR Guidelines state:

Given the grave consequences of exclusion, it is essential that rigorous procedural safeguards are built into the exclusion determination procedure. Exclusion decisions should in principle be dealt with in the context of the regular refugee status determination procedure and not in either admissibility or accelerated procedures, so that a full factual and legal assessment of the case can be made.1

This week, the Biden Administration published a proposed rule seeking to do precisely the opposite of what UNHCR advises.2 The rule would empower USCIS asylum officers to apply certain bars to asylum eligibility up front, at the border, as part of a preliminary admissibility determination. The goal is to effect the immediate deportation of certain asylum seekers, foreclosing their ability to have their eligibility for asylum decided by an Immigration Judge pursuant to a full-fledged hearing.

Advocates have already pointed out the dangers of the proposed approach, which will require quick decisions on highly complex issues at a point at which applicants very rarely have access to lawyers or evidence; their responses should be read.3 However, I would like to focus here on the rule’s conflict with international law, and why this is problematic.

Since 1804, the Supreme Court’s decision in Murray v. The Schooner Charming Betsy 4 has required domestic statutes to be interpreted consistently with international law whenever possible.5

This general requirement carries a particular urgency in its application to refugee law. The purpose of the 1951 Refugee Convention (which applied to those made refugees by World War II), and the 1967 Protocol (which extended the 1951 Convention’s definitions and protections to all) was to create a single, universal refugee standard to replace the patchwork of protections that reflected individual states’ own political preferences and biases.

This is not a small matter. International refugee law scholars James C. Hathaway and Michelle Foster have warned that “[i]nconsistency and divergence in interpretation of the Convention definition would clearly undermine the principled goal of ensuring a single, universal standard for access to refugee protection.”6 They further quote a decision of the Australian Administrative Appeals Tribunal in support of this contention: “[i]nconsistency is not merely inelegant; it brings the process of deciding into disrepute, suggesting an arbitrariness which is incompatible with commonly accepted notions of justice.”7

Congress apparently agreed with this approach when enacting the 1980 Refugee Act. In its landmark 1987 decision in INS v. Cardoza-Fonseca, the Supreme Court pointed this out:

If one thing is clear from the legislative history of the new definition of “refugee,” and indeed the entire 1980 Act, it is that one of Congress’ primary purposes was to bring United States refugee law into conformance with the 1967 United Nations Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, 19 U.S.T. 6223, T.I.A.S. No. 6577, to which the United States acceded in 1968.8

And in adhering to Congress’s clear intent, the Supreme Court in Cardoza-Fonseca looked for guidance in interpreting the 1980 Refugee Act to UNHCR, citing its Handbook first issued in 1979 as an important tool for interpreting the Convention’s provisions. In a footnote, the Court found that while it was not binding, “the Handbook provides significant guidance in construing the Protocol, to which Congress sought to conform. It has been widely considered useful in giving content to the obligations that the Protocol establishes.”9

As leading scholar Deborah E. Anker has noted, “One of the most important developments in U.S. asylum law is the weight that U.S. authorities – including the USCIS Asylum Office, the Board, and the federal courts – give to the UNHCR’s interpretation of the refugee definition contained in its 1979 Handbook….” Anker noted that UNHCR has issued other interpretive documents since 1979 that “complement and expand on the Handbook.”10 I would argue that those other documents (which include the 2003 guidelines addressing the exclusion clauses that is quoted above) are deserving of the same interpretive weight.

So given (1) the Supreme Court’s Charming Betsy doctrine mandating conformity with international law whenever possible; (2) the stated intent of Congress to bring U.S. asylum law into conformity with international refugee law (as recognized in Cardoza-Fonseca); and (3) the purpose of the 1951 Convention to “ensure a single, universal standard” for refugee status, according great weight to UNHCR guidance in interpreting the Convention provides the best means of adhering to all of the above requirements.

However, another leading scholar, Karen Musalo, provided a recent reminder of how far U.S. law has strayed from international law standards for determining nexus (i.e. when persecution is “on account of” a statutorily protected ground), and in determining the validity of particular social groups. Musalo posits that realignment with international standards would resolve the erroneous interpretations that have arisen under present case law, and would remove unwarranted barriers to protection that presently exist.11 But with its new proposed regulations, the government instead seeks to veer even further off course in its procedures for determining bars to asylum eligibility.

In December 2020, I presented in a blog post a “wish list” for the incoming Biden Administration. One of the items on my list was to create a “Charming Betsy” regulation requiring adherence to international law refugee standards. It included the hope “that the Biden Administration would codify the Charming Betsy doctrine in regulations, which should further require the BIA, Immigration Judges, and Asylum Officers to consider UNHCR interpretations of the various asylum provisions, and require adjudicators to provide compelling reasons for rejecting its guidance.”12

I am not so naive to expect that a regulation like this will be proposed anytime soon. But I do believe that the direct contradiction of the proposed regs with international law guidance should be included in comments and talking points by those both inside and outside of government. Through these rules, the Biden Administration seeks to engage in the type of politically-motivated action that the Refugee Convention and 1980 Refugee Act sought to eliminate. For the above reasons, such action would violate the intent of Congress, our treaty obligations, and over two centuries of U.S. case law.

Moving forward, whether an asylum-related law, rule, policy, or case holding conforms with international law should instinctively be the first question asked by all of us. When refugee protection is viewed in such neutral, legal terms, the urge to politicize decisions will be lessened.

As those scholars referenced above have been saying far longer and more articulately than myself, it is only when international law becomes normalized in the process that our asylum law will function as it should.

Copyright 2024 Jeffrey S. Chase. All rights reserved.

Notes:

UNHCR, Guidelines on International Protection: Application of the Exclusion Clauses: Article 1F of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, 4 Sept. 2003, https://www.unhcr.org/us/media/guidelines-international-protection-no-5-application-exclusion-clauses-article-1f-1951 (emphasis added).

Application of Certain Mandatory Bars in Fear Screenings, 89 FR 41347 (May 13, 2024), https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/05/13/2024-10390/application-of-certain-mandatory-bars-in-fear-screenings.

See, e.g., American Immigration Council, “The Biden Administration’s Proposed Regulations On Asylum Bars: An Analysis,” (May 10, 2024), https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/biden-administration-proposed-regulation-asylum-bars-analysis; Human Rights First Press Release (May 9, 2024) https://humanrightsfirst.org/library/human-rights-first-opposes-new-asylum-proposals-that-would-deny-asylum-hearings/.

6 U.S. 64 (1804).

See Weinberger v. Rossi, 456 U.S. 25, 32 (1982) (noting that construing federal statutes to avoid violating international law has “been a maxim of statutory construction since the decision” in Charming Betsy).

James C. Hathaway and Michelle Foster, The Law of Refugee Status (Second Ed.), (Cambridge, 2014) at 4.

Hathaway and Foster, supra at n.18 (quoting Brennan, J., in Re Drake and Minister of Immigration and Ethnic Affairs (No. 2) (1979) 2 ALD 634 (Aus. AAT, Nov. 21, 1979) at 639.

480 U.S. 421, 436-37 (1987).

Id. at 439.

Deborah E. Anker, Law of Asylum in the United States (2023 Ed.) (Thomson Reuters) at 20-21.

Karen Musalo, “Aligning United States With International Norms Would Remove Major Barriers to Protection in Gender Claims,” International Journal of Refugee Law (2024).

Jeffrey S. Chase, “A Wish List for 2021,” https://www.jeffreyschase.com/blog/2020/12/14/a-wish-list-for-2021 (Dec. 14, 2020).

MAY 16, 2024

Reprinted by permission.

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

The Charming Betsy — The schooner Charming Betsy sailed into Supreme Court history. Hon. Jeffrey Chase and other legal experts aren’t “charmed” by AG Merrick Garland’s approach to binding international standards for asylum!
PHOTO: The Constitutional Law Reporter

Thanks, “Sir Jeffrey” for a great and timely analysis!

For the second successive Administration, we have an Attorney General who does not take seriously his oath of office to uphold the Constitution and laws of the United States when it comes to those seeking asylum.

Garland has too often signed off on regulations and policies that are clearly at odds with domestic and international law as well as our Constitution. The current abominable proposed regulations, referenced by Jeffrey and opposed by all experts on asylum law and human rights, are just the latest example. Those politicos behind these toxic policies won’t confront in person or acknowledge the well-documented unnecessary human trauma and degradation caused by scofflaw actions and policies that intentionally fail to make fair, humane, safe, and timely asylum processing available to all who come to legal ports of entry as required by law (not to mention human decency)!

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

05-17-24

🇺🇸⚖️🗽 W&M IMMIGRATION CLINIC STUDENTS SHOW ESSENTIAL ROLE OF GREAT REPRESENTATION IN A SYSTEM GEARED TO “REJECT, NOT PROTECT!”

https://wmimmigrationclinicblog.com/2024/05/07/our-clients-story-sang-instead-of-whispered-immigration-clinic-students-represent-client-in-asylum-trial/

From the William & Mary Law School Immigration Clinic Blog:

“Our Client’s Story Sang Instead of Whispered”: Immigration Clinic Students Represent Client in Asylum Trial

7MAY 2024

Caitlin Parets, J.D. ’24 (left) and Alison Domonoske, J.D. ’24 (right) after their trial in Immigration Court (Spring 2024).

During the last week of Law School classes, Immigration Clinic Students Caitlin Parets, J.D. Class of 2024 and Alison Domonoske, J.D. Class of 2024 represented their client in a four-hour asylum trial. The students traveled with Clinic Professors Nicole Medved and Stacy Kern-Scheerer to appear before the Department of Justice on behalf of the Clinic’s client, Ms. B*.

Ms. B fled to the United States from Central America after suffering death threats at the hands of the powerful maras. After moving to Hampton Roads to find safety with her family, Ms. B reached out to the Immigration Clinic for assistance with her case before the Immigration Court.

Simply having representation in a case before the Immigration Court makes a difference in an asylum seeker’s case. Currently, there is no right to an appointed lawyer in Immigration Court. This means that, if someone cannot afford an attorney or find a nonprofit or law school clinic to represent them, they must represent themselves in court. As of January 2024, less than half of all immigrants facing deportation in immigration court in Virginia had a lawyer. Those who do have representation are significantly more likely to win their case. A 2016 study by the American Immigration Council “found that immigrants were five times more likely to obtain legal relief if they were represented by counsel.” Knowing the impact of representation on cases like Ms. B’s, the Clinic accepted Ms. B as a client.

In the Fall 2023 semester, Alison Domonoske, J.D. Class of 2024, was assigned to work with Ms. B on her asylum case. Alison first got to work preparing to take pleadings in the Immigration Court at Ms. B’s first hearing, called a Master Calendar Hearing. At that hearing, after pleadings were taken, the Immigration Judge scheduled Ms. B for her trial, known as an Individual Hearing, on April 25, 2024. Now, with the trial scheduled, the Clinic jumped into action. At the beginning of the Spring 2024 semester, Caitlin Parets, J.D. Class of 2024, joined the case to prepare for the trial.

In every asylum case, country conditions evidence is critical to provide context for each asylum seeker’s claim, helping the adjudicator understand why an asylum seeker deserves protection. Federal Courts of Appeals again and again have found this information critical in their decisions. In Central American cases, especially those involving violence by the maras like MS-13 and Barrio 18, country conditions are essential to helping judges consider the case beyond American conceptions of “gangs” and “gang violence.” Dr. Thomas Boerman, an expert on Central American gangs best summarized these misunderstandings in his 2018 article in Immigration Briefings:

“[U]nless one has extensively researched and witnessed firsthand the ways in which gang culture manifests in Central America, it is not possible to possess a comprehensive understanding of their influence, the level of control that they exert, or the level of terror, trauma, desperation, and helplessness that they engender in the population in areas under their control.”

These general misunderstandings of life in Central America presented unique challenges to Alison and Caitlin in preparing Ms. B’s case. Not only did they have to show how the facts of Ms. B’s case meet the high standards for asylum, but they also had to overcome misunderstandings of Central American gang violence in order to make their case.

Alison and Caitlin faced these challenges head-on. They conducted extensive country conditions research and legal research to write a brief in support of Ms. B’s case for asylum. They also met regularly with Ms. B to better understand her experience and focus their research. Alison and Caitlin also met weekly with their supervising attorney, Professor Nicole Medved, to discuss each step of their progress.

“Alison and Caitlin worked so hard to prepare a thorough, detailed, and nuanced record for the case,” said Professor Medved. “Preparing a record for trial, always with an eye toward preserving the record for appeal, is difficult for practicing attorneys. It is even moreso difficult for law students as they work on their cases, classwork, and other responsibilities as law students. In spite of all of this, Alison’s and Caitlin’s work product on this case was exemplary.”

“I could not have appreciated at the beginning of the semester how much our understanding and our arguments would evolve and grow in stature and creativity until we were left with the robust and finely crafted case we presented to the judge,” shared Caitlin.

After submitting their brief and supporting evidence, Alison and Caitlin prepared the case for trial. Alison carefully drafted direct examination questions for Ms. B, while Caitlin wrote the closing argument to address the complex legal issues and the extensive evidence in the record. Throughout April, Alison and Caitlin continued to meet regularly with Professor Medved to review their progress.

Alison (left) and Caitlin (right) during the mock hearing (Spring 2024).

As part of their preparation, Caitlin and Alison also had a mock hearing in mid-April. Ashley Warmeling graciously volunteered her time to serve as the judge for their mock hearing, Professor Kern-Scheerer was opposing counsel, and classmate Christina Kim, J.D. Class of 2024 served as the client. After the hearing, Ms. Warmeling provided feedback on the case and what they could expect from a judge in court and offered her advice on their preparation. This mock hearing was a critical step in the students’ preparation for the April 25 trial.

“I was impressed by the students’ preparation and commitment to their client,” said Ms. Warmeling. “This mock hearing–especially when played out in a courtroom setting–gave them a safe space to respond to unexpected curveballs that could come up at their actual trial. Without the Clinic’s intervention, this client would have likely had to navigate the immigration system alone. She would not have been able to assert the creative arguments set forth by these law students. No matter the outcome, this client is so fortunate to have had the advocacy of such a devoted legal team.”

During the trial, Alison and Caitlin represented Ms. B under Professor Medved’s supervision in a four-hour hearing. Alison conducted direct examination of Ms. B through an interpreter and asked redirect questions after cross-examination. Through her questions, she laid the factual foundation needed for closing argument. At the end of the hearing, Caitlin gave her closing argument, showing how Ms. B’s testimony, the record evidence, and Fourth Circuit case law supported a grant of asylum. At the end of the hearing, the Immigration Judge decided to issue a written decision in the case, which will be sent to the Clinic at a later time.

“I’m very grateful for the learning experience of clinic and being able to see Ms. B’s case from the beginning in the Clinic through her individual hearing,” said Alison. “That feels unique since it was such a quick turn-around with the individual hearing date. I’m also happy that I feel like I built good rapport with Ms. B through our interviews and that she trusted me as an advocate. It was challenging but I’m really proud of what we were able to do.”

“As I sat in the courtroom and watched the proceedings unfold, I kept thinking about all the people who do not have an attorney in immigration court,” said Caitlin. “Ours was a case that the judge probably would not have bat an eye at denying after first glance, but because we were able to fully listen to our client’s story, peel back its layers, dig into the facts, and articulate the nuances of her case, our client’s story sang instead of whispered.”

“I could not be prouder of Alison and Caitlin and all of their hard work this semester,” said Professor Medved. “Alison and Caitlin put in so many hours to prepare so thoroughly to be such extraordinary advocates for our client. Trials are always a roller coaster, requiring advocates to be nimble and responsive to the Judge’s concerns and opposing counsel’s arguments. Alison and Caitlin never broke their stride and advocated thoughtfully and zealously for our client. I am so proud of everything they accomplished. Regardless of the judge’s decision, Alison and Caitlin gave Ms. B the best chance possible at winning asylum.”

Experiences like these are made possible by the Clinic’s generous supporters. You can make more student experiences like this possible by donating to the Immigration Clinic.

The Clinic cannot guarantee any particular results for any particular individual or particular case. While the Clinic celebrates our victories and hard work, we recognize that each case is unique. Every noncitizen should consult with a licensed attorney about their case if they are concerned about their situation or are interested in applying for any form of immigration relief. The Clinic cannot promise any particular outcome or any timeframe to any client or potential client.

*All client names and initials have been changed for confidentiality and security

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This is a great illustration of why more gimmicks, such as the ones recently proposed by the Biden Administration, intended to cut off access to both representation and a hearing process at which proof and informed legal arguments can overcome anti-asylum biases built into the system, will result in more denials of due process, wrong decisions, and improper returns of bona fide refugees.

The Biden Administration and Congress should be focusing on improving our asylum adjudication system so that it provides fundamentally fair, timely, and correct decisions. Instead, far too much attention and too many resources are devoted to a futile attempt to institutionalize cruelty and over-denial as “deterrents.”

Congrats and great appreciation to the students and faculty at the W&M Law Clinic for “getting the message on due process,” even if our political leaders ignore it! The “youth brigade” of the NDPA is our hope for America’s future! 🇺🇸

🇺🇸 DUE PROCESS FOREVER!

PWS

05-13-24

🇺🇸⚖️🗽👍 UW LAW PROFESSOR ERIN BARBATO SPEAKS TO THE MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL: Gutsy “Practical Scholar” Goes Where Politicos Fear To Tread, Sees Toxic Human Impact Of Misguided Enforcement Policies!

https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/local/2024/04/30/erin-barbato-wisconsin-madison-undocumented-immigrant-justice-clinic-legal-help-deportation/73501762007/

TMJS’s Eva Wen interviews Erin:

. . . .

Under the Trump administration, most of the people we met there [in immigration detention in the Dodge County Jail] had benefits (some protection against deportation) that they were eligible for. They were asylum seekers, people with family ties, or people with DACA (people who were brought to the U.S. when they were children). It would be shocking every time I went to see the number of people that needed representation. They had strong claims to remain in the U.S. and often had family ties. Some were employed at certain jobs for a very long time and had no criminal record.

. . . .

Everybody deserves a fair chance, and legal representation is part of the fair chance.

Most people who have a conviction for an aggravated felony are not going to be allowed to remain in the U.S. But certain individuals are from countries that are unsafe for them to return to, and our laws say we will never deport anybody that will more likely than not be tortured or killed. And these individuals need representation because the stakes are so high.

No one is perfect, and our legal system certainly isn’t perfect. But without legal representation, we cannot ensure that people have their rights and have a fair due process in immigration proceedings.

. . . .

Every day, I witness the politicization of this topic. And political parties are taking on the rhetoric to fearmonger in a lot of ways. I find that horrifying and discouraging.

I can understand why these ads and messaging incite fear and why people can be scared by the messaging, even though the messaging is often untrue. It scares me that that’s what we’re doing to people that I work with everyday, who are mostly families and children who’ve become part of our communities.

. . . .

Q: Tell me more about the work you’re doing in collaboration with others in Colombia.

A: The program is called Safe Passage. It’s a collaboration with Sara McKinnon at the Department of Communications, us at the Law School, and Jorge Osorio at the Global Health Institute.

People often have to take an extremely dangerous journey just to arrive at the southern border to ask for asylum in the U.S. We are looking at whether some alternative, regular routes for migration can be beneficial in decreasing the pressure on the southern border.

. . . .

The last time I was in Colombia, there were people from all over the world. There were people from Afghanistan who probably had very strong claims for asylum. There were people from China, and they generally have very high approval rates for asylum. But in order to seek the benefits under the law, they have no option but to take a very dangerous journey.

So I think if we were able to expand the safe mobility offices in these other countries to process applications from other people who could potentially be eligible, we could ensure safety and take pressures off of the southern border. I think that’s something that everybody wants.

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Read the complete interview at the link.

Here’s a comment about Erin that I recently received from Professor Juliet Stumpf at Lewis & Clark Law:

I had the pleasure of meeting Erin when we both took students to Tijuana to work with asylum seekers at Al Otro Lado in 2020. She is a wise, kind, and collaborative colleague, and I was lucky enough to benefit from her deep experience and her generosity in sharing it.

Amen to that, Juliet!

Another innovative idea that ties into Erin’s work with Safe Passage is “Judges Without Borders” proposed by retired Wisconsin Circuit Judge and fellow UW Law ‘73 grad Judge Tom Lister and me! https://immigrationcourtside.com/2023/12/13/👩🏽⚖️👨🏻⚖️-⚖️🗽judges-without-borders-an-innovative-op/.

Tom and I had the honor of appearing at a recent luncheon at U.W. Law hosted by Erin and her colleague Professor Sara McKinnon to discuss our proposal with students.

You can find out more about Erin’s and Sara’s amazing work beyond the border with Safe Passage here: https://immigrationcourtside.com/2024/04/22/🇺🇸🗽👏-filling-the-gap-migration-in-the-americas-project-u-w-madison-creative-interdisciplinary-approach-seeks-to-provide-migrants-with-better-info/.

What a difference it makes to hear from experts like Erin and Sara who actually understand the laws, the realities of forced migration, and deal directly with the human trauma caused by short-sighted government “deterrence only” policies. The latter, promoted by politicos who have lost their moral bearings, intentionally misconstrue or ignore legal protections for migrants while failing to acknowledge or take responsibility for the proven, unnecessary human trauma caused by bad policies like “Remain in Mexico, “Title 42,” and “Mandatory Detention.”

Border Death — This is a monument for those who have died attempting to cross the US-Mexican border. Each coffin represents a year and the number of dead. It is a protest against the effects of Operation Guardian. Taken at the Tijuana-San Diego border. Politicos of both parties avoid discussing the deadly consequences of the proven to fail “deterrence-only policies” they advocate.
Tomas Castelazo
To comply with the use and licensing terms of this image, the following text must must be included with the image when published in any medium, failure to do so constitutes a violation of the licensing terms and copyright infringement: © Tomas Castelazo, www.tomascastelazo.com / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0

For example, Doctors Without Borders documented in 2020 that the majority of migrants fleeing the Northern Triangle had “experienced the murder, disappearance or kidnapping of a relative before their departure.” https://immigrationcourtside.com/2020/02/12/doctors-without-borders-more-than-two-thirds-of-migrants-fleeing-central-american-region-had-family-taken-or-killed-were-speaking-of-human-beings-not-n/.

That same report showed that “violence against migrants transit[ing] Mexico is escalating, the study found: 39.2% of interviewees were assaulted in the country, while 27.3% were threatened or extorted – with the actual figures likely higher than the official statistics as victims tend not to report crimes committed against them.”

Yet, despite these facts, politicos of both parties shamelessly press for the reinstitution of these demonstrably harmful, ineffective, immoral, and arguably illegal policies. Never do they acknowledge or discuss the infliction of human carnage they are irresponsibly promoting. Perhaps even worse, the so-called “mainstream media” seldom, if ever, has the integrity to confront these politicos of both parties with the deadly human consequences of the immoral, yet predictably ineffective, actions they advocate!

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

O5-03-24

⚖️🗽‼️ ATTENTION NDPA LITIGATORS! — Hamed Aleaziz, Immigration Reporter @ The NY Times Wants To Speak With YOU About The Dysfunctional Mess Facing Asylum Seekers & Their Representatives @ EOIR!

Hamed posted on LinkedIn:

We are looking to connect with immigration attorneys who have clients who crossed the border in recent years and have sought asylum in immigration court.

Specifically, we are looking to talk to asylum-seekers who have waited years/months for their cases to be heard in immigration court and are STILL waiting for a final decision.

Please comment or send me a message if you have a client who would be interested in speaking with us.

Here’s the link to LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7188327072870682624?updateEntityUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afs_feedUpdate%3A%28V2%2Curn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7188327072870682624%29

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I want you — . . . To tell Hamed Aleaziz at The NYT the truth about the “under the radar” mess at EOIR that is systemically treating those with valid claims and sound defenses unfairly and threatens, with its unrelenting disorder and “deterrence bias,” to destabilize the entire U.S. Justice System!
Public Domain

The (largely avoidable), backlog building, due-process-denying mess at Garland’s EOIR is one of the “unsung drivers” of bad immigration policies and myths about migrants, particularly asylum seekers.

To the extent that this glaring problem is covered at all by the so-called “mainstream media,” it’s usually superficial: reference to the 3.5 million case backlog, long delays, and the need for more Immigraton Judges and court personnel.

Here’s your chance to correct that “cosmetic coverage” by giving Hamed input on the overall unfairness, unnecessary inefficiencies, “user-unfriendliness,” and grotesque lack of overall legal expertise, consistency, and common sense in this broken system! It has improperly become a tool of “deterrence” in behalf of DHS Enforcement and has lost sight of its only proper role of insuring Constitutionally-required due process and fundamental fairness for individuals coming before the Immigration Courts!

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

04-25-24

🇺🇸🗽👏 FILLING THE GAP: MIGRATION IN THE AMERICAS PROJECT @ U.W. MADISON: Creative Interdisciplinary Approach Seeks To Provide Migrants With Better Information & Options Before They Reach Our Borders!

Sara McKinnonProfessor Pronouns: she/her/ella Email: smckinnon@wisc.edu Sara L. McKinnon is Professor of Rhetoric, Politics & Culture in the Department of Communication Arts, and Faculty Director of Latin American, Caribbean, and Iberian Studies. She is co-chair of the Human Rights Program — Sara McKinnon
Professor, U.W. Madison
Sara L. McKinnon is Professor of Rhetoric, Politics & Culture in the Department of Communication Arts, and Faculty Director of Latin American, Caribbean, and Iberian Studies. She is co-chair of the Human Rights Program
PHOTO: U.W

Jorge OsorioDirector, Global Health Institute Pronouns: he/him/él Email: jorge.osorio@wisc.edu Phone: 608-265-9299 Jorge Osorio, DVM, Ph.D., M.S., is a professor in the Department of Pathobiological Sciences in the School of Veterinary Medicine. Osorio has had a lengthy career in medical sciences, including virology, field epidemiological studies, vaccinology,… — Jorge Osorio
Director, Global Health Institute
Jorge Osorio, DVM, Ph.D., M.S., is a professor in the Department of Pathobiological Sciences in the School of Veterinary Medicine. Osorio has had a lengthy career in medical sciences, including virology, field epidemiological studies, vaccinology,…
PHOTO: U.W.

https://migrationamericas.commarts.wisc.edu/

Migration in the Americas Project

A policy and research collective of the University of Wisconsin-Madison focused on assessing migration policy and developing ways to reduce risk and harm to make movement and residence safer for migrants throughout the Western Hemisphere. We approach this goal from a range of methodologies and perspectives, and share our work in a range of formats including research reports, policy documents, field briefings, narratives and stories, videos, and audio recordings or podcasts. We hope you find our research and information to be helpful in your own work.

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Get more information on this amazing initiative at the above link.

Also, here’s a link to a video of the recent UW Global Health Symposium, where Sara and Erin explain their truly amazing work in detail (starting at about 1:22 of the video):

https://videos.med.wisc.edu/videos/118169

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Here’s another related event:

Judges Without Borders.jpeg

I am also proud that my U.W. Law ’73 classmate retired Judge Tom Lister and I will be Erin’s guests at a public luncheon presentation at the U.W. Law School tomorrow (April 23, 12pm-1pm, ) where will will discuss, among other topics related to justice, our concept for “Judges Without Borders.” This innovative idea ties in well and supports the objectives of the Migration In The Americas project of analyzing and providing accurate, unbiased information about the situations of migrants before they reach our border utilizing the huge potential of retired State and Federal judges.

We hope you will join us if you are in the Madison area! (The room assignment was “pending” when the flyer went to press, so you should call the Clinic or ask at the Law School on arrival for the latest).

Hon. Thomas Lister
Retired Jackson County (WI) Circuit Judge

You can read more about “Judges Without Borders” here:

👩🏽‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️ ⚖️🗽”JUDGES WITHOUT BORDERS” — An Innovative Open Letter Proposal For Budget-Friendly Assistance With The Humanitarian Situation At & Beyond Our Southern Border By Retired Judges Thomas E. Lister & Paul Wickham Schmidt!

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

04-22-24

⚖️🗽 SPECTACULAR NDPA OPPORTUNITY: GENDER-BASED ASYLUM LITIGATION — Sharpen Your Skills With This Two-Part Webinar From Tahirih Justice Center, Featuring Experts Maria Daniella Prieshoff, Monica Mananzan (CAIR Coalition), & Judge (Ret.) Lisa Dornell (Round Table) — April 23, April 25!

Due Process is a true team effort!PHOTO: Tahirih Justice Center — Due Process is a true team effort!
PHOTO: Tahirih Justice Center

Maria Daniella Prieshoff writes on LinkedIn:

Want to level up your #advocacy skills for your #genderbased #asylum cases in #immigrationcourt?Want to learn from a real immigration judge the basics of presenting your case before the immigration court?Then join me for Tahirih Justice Center’s”Advancing Justice: Gender-Based Violence Asylum Litigation in Immigration Court” webinar series!

Monica Mananzan
Managing Attorney
CAIR Coalition
PHOTO: Linkedin

Part 1 of the series is on April 23, 12-1:30pm. It will focus on the case law and strategy you’ll need to present your best gender-based asylum case, including how to handle credibility, competency, and stipulations.Monica Mananzan from CAIR Coalition will join me in this webinar. To register for Part 1: http://bit.ly/3xvwPyt

Honorable Lisa Dornell
U.S. Immigration Judge (Retired)
Member, Round Table of Former Immigration Judges

Part 2 of the series is on April 25, 12-1:30pm. Retired Immigration Judge Lisa Dornell will explain the best practices of litigating gender-based asylum cases before an immigration judge, as well as recommendations for direct examination, cross-examination, and how to handle issues with a client’s memory, trauma, or court interpretation.To register for Part 2: https://bit.ly/3PXJqRn

Please share with your networks!Our goal for this webinar series is to help pro bono attorneys and advocates enhance their the advocacy for #genderbasedviolence to have #immigrationjustice – we’d love for you to join us!

Registration Links here:

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/maría-daniella-prieshoff-61884435_advocacy-genderbased-asylum-activity-7183838321515626498-byB_?utm_source=combined_share_message&utm_medium=member_desktop

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Wonderful learning opportunity! Many thanks to everyone involved in putting it together!

Wonder whatever happened to the “gender-based regulations” that Biden ordered to be drafted by Executive Order issued shortly after taking office? At this point, given his “lobotomized/running scared/retrograde/Trumpy Lite” position on asylum seekers and immigrants’ rights, probably just as well that they died an unheralded bureaucratic death (just as similar assignments have in the last three Dem Administrations over a quarter century).

Outside of a few Immigration Judges, who, because they understand the issue and have worked with asylum-seeking women, would never be asked anyway, I can’t really think of anyone at DOJ who would actually be qualified to draft legally-compliant gender-based regulations!

GOP are misogynists. Dem politicos are spineless and can’t “connect the dots” between their deadly, tone-deaf policies and poor adjudicative practices aimed at women of color in the asylum system and other racist and misogynistic polities being pushed aggressively by the far right! While, thankfully, it might not “be 1864” in the Dem Party, sadly, inexplicably, and quote contrary to what Biden and Harris claim these days, it’s not 2024 either, particularly for those caught up in their deadly, broken, and indolently run immigration, asylum, and border enforcement systems!

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

04-11-24

☠️ ⚰️ DEADLY “BIPARTISAN BORDER POLICIES” CONTINUE TO TAKE AN UGLY HUMAN TOLL 🤮 WHILE FAILING TO DETER REFUGEES FROM SEEKING PROTECTION, EVEN IF THEY DIE IN THE PROCESS! — Melissa Del Bosque Interviews Leader Of “No More Deaths” About Shocking Increase In Preventable Deaths Caused By Cruel, Costly, & Ineffective “Bipartisan Deterrence!” — As Innocents Die, The “Mainstream Media” Take A “Moral & Ethical Holiday!” 🤯

Melissa Del Bosque
Border Reporter
PHOTO: Melissadelbosque.com

Melissa reports in the latest issue of The Border Chronicle:

https://open.substack.com/pub/theborderchronicle/p/a-new-report-shows-skyrocketing-deaths?

Your paid subscription makes a difference at The Border Chronicle. Thank you for your support!

A New Report Shows Skyrocketing Deaths in El Paso, New Mexico Border Region

“It’s really just shocking how close to help a lot of people died,” says Bryce, who led the report for the nonprofit No More Deaths.

MELISSA DEL BOSQUE

APR 9

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Illustration from the new report. Each red dot represents a life lost.

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As safe corridors for migration disappear, more people risk their lives crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. And more people die. A new report by the nonprofit No More Deaths, along with a searchable map and database, documents the increasing number of migrant deaths at the border in New Mexico and far West Texas. Until now, not much research has been done on the deaths of people migrating through this section of the border. The project was led by Bryce, a No More Deaths volunteer (who asked that we not use his last name because the Far Right has recently been targeting the group). He, along with several others, have created the most comprehensive database to date of deaths in the Border Patrol’s El Paso Sector, which includes New Mexico and two counties in Texas, El Paso and Hudspeth. The report covers 15 years, from 2008 to 2023, and it shows many disturbing trends, including the acceleration of deaths that has accompanied “prevention through deterrence,” the U.S. government’s strategy implemented in the 1990s to push migrants into more remote, dangerous crossings. That strategy is now morphing into something all the more tragic as people, increasingly women and children, are barred from accessing asylum and are dying at the doorstep of American cities and towns. In this Q&A, Bryce talks about documenting these deaths, and the discoveries that both shocked and angered him in creating this new report.

Why did you study this particular part of the border in New Mexico and far West Texas?

A couple of years ago, a few of us started getting interested in what’s happening in New Mexico, and whether there’s any need for humanitarian aid out there, just because we hadn’t really heard anything but assumed there must be something happening out there. Quickly, we noticed that there was not much data in general about the area. So I started doing public records requests. And pretty quickly, just with the first batch of data, we got about 20 deaths for 2022. We went to some of those locations to see if we’d see trails. And while we were checking out some of these locations, we found human remains right across the street from a cemetery and about 50 feet from a main road in Sunland Park [New Mexico]. It was not a remote place. It was right in town. So we started looking at the Sunland Park Fire Department’s social media page, and quickly realized that there was a lot happening and quickly. And then 2023 ended up being this record deadly year for the area.

It’s shocking that you found a dead person right there in the middle of Sunland Park. Can you tell me more about this person? Were they identified? How long had the person been there? And how could this have been missed by people who live there?

He was later identified as a man from Colombia. [His name was Johan Orozco Martinez, age 36.] He had been there for a couple of days. I’m not joking when I say he was right across the street from the Memorial Pines Cemetery, and near the shoulder of the road. Many cars drive this road, but I think typically people look toward the cemetery, and I guess they didn’t see him because they were looking in the other direction. He was in his 30s and so older than many of the usually young men you see, for instance, crossing through southern Arizona.

Two findings that really stand out to me from your report are the number of women who have died, and how increasingly people are dying within city limits and no longer just in remote areas that are hard to access. I mean, you found a person in the middle of Sunland Park. What’s going on, do you think?

The dynamics of migration are complex. But one thing that seems pretty clear is that the asylum policies in the last few years have led to an increase in some of these deaths, just from people trying to get asylum and being prevented either by metering or by turnbacks. And then feeling they have no choice but to cross through the desert. A lot of people who are crossing are older, they’re women, they’re people with health problems. The demographics, we found, were much different in the El Paso sector than in southern Arizona, with people being older and more than 50 percent of the deaths in 2023 being of women, which is unusual.

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When did the deaths start increasing? And has the increasing militarization of the border and Operation Lone Star in El Paso contributed to these deaths?

Up until 2015, there were very few deaths in this area. But especially since 2018, the deaths have just been ramping up every single year. We were in New Mexico watching Operation Lone Star soldiers put up a barbed-wire fence between New Mexico and El Paso in an area where a lot of people cross. So once you’re in the United States, even crossing into Texas from the New Mexico side has become more deadly. And you can see National Guard in El Paso patrolling and pushing people back. The more enforcement, the more the deaths increase. In El Paso, there are what I call “moats” because if people climb the border wall, there’s an irrigation canal right on the other side, which at times can be moving very quickly. Then beyond that there’s multiple highways and more canals. So if someone is being chased by Border Patrol or Operation Lone Star, there are multiple deadly obstacles.

In 2022 there was a two-week period when 15 people died in the canals, one right after the other. This was during irrigation season in El Paso. Water is released from a reservoir in New Mexico into the canals and the river to irrigate farmland further east of El Paso. When that happens, the water can be going like 20 miles per hour. Unless somebody physically rescues you, there’s no way of getting out once you’ve fallen in. I watched a news broadcast in El Paso where they made a public service announcement about drowning deaths in El Paso, saying like, “Irrigation season is here, stay away from the canals, watch out for drowning.” But if you read all the autopsy reports, it’s almost all migrants dying. Because the medical examiner doesn’t flag whether it’s a migration-related death, you end up getting these weird statistics about drowning deaths being on the rise in El Paso. And so they’re directing these public safety messages toward El Paso residents who are actually in very little danger of drowning. And the people who are in danger of drowning, the migrants, have no idea.

Did you also find an increase in the deaths of children?

Definitely, yes. In 2018, two eight-year-old Guatemalan kids died. There’s a lot of teenagers dying, crossing the border wall, a lot of them drowning in El Paso city itself. For instance, there was a Russian man and his teenage daughter who both fell into a canal and drowned. They were running from Border Patrol agents. I believe that happened in 2021. We saw fewer deaths of younger people in New Mexico.

You also found that Customs and Border Protection is significantly undercounting deaths related to enforcement. Can you talk about this finding?

CBP is supposed to keep track of migrant deaths and CBP enforcement-related deaths, but we found that the agency is severely undercounting them. There’s been a lot of documentation in the past, talking about that fact, but there hasn’t been a whole lot of quantifying that undercount. Aside from the Arizona data that the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner and Humane Borders have reported. For example, in one year we found 39 deaths, while CBP reported only 10 deaths.

We looked at investigator reports and so we were able to read the narratives, and learn circumstances around the deaths. We were able to see if someone was chased by Border Patrol, either on foot or by vehicle, or if they died in Border Patrol custody. We found that Border Patrol had tried to underplay some of these deaths.

We found that 15 percent of all migrant deaths in the El Paso sector were caused directly by Border Patrol due to chases or use of force, also due to custody deaths, or falls from the border wall. Humane Borders doesn’t track deaths related to Border Patrol enforcement. So this is the first instance that I’m aware of, where we are able to quantify the CBP undercount of Border Patrol-related deaths.

For 2022, for instance, we found 16 deaths that should have been reported by CBP as CBP-related deaths. CBP had only reported six of those deaths. Of the 16 we found, I think it’s still an undercount, because a lot of the investigative reports use vague or passive language about a person “jumping into the canal,” for instance. So you don’t know if the person was actually chased. So we only included cases where it’s very explicit.

What surprised you most in working on this report?

It’s really just shocking how close to help a lot of people died. I’m used to southern Arizona, where the terrain and trails are very remote. But we found people dying across the street from the cemetery, people dying a short walk from the Dollar General store. We’ve had this narrative of “prevention through deterrence” for the last few decades, which has pushed people away from cities into remote areas where they’re more prone to dying from heat exposure or something else. But now the border is militarized to the point where even Sunland Park, this suburb of El Paso, can be as deadly as the middle of nowhere in southern Arizona.

Last June, for instance, something like 40 percent more people died in Doña Ana County in New Mexico than the entire state of Arizona. Most of these deaths were close to the highway or close to a town. It’s a dynamic that has not really been studied. And the fact that it’s been happening for years without anybody really noticing is really scary.

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With these findings, are No More Deaths and other humanitarian groups mobilizing to do search-and-rescue and water drops in this area?

Like Texas, much of the land in New Mexico where people are dying is privately owned land, so it’s difficult to access for humanitarian groups.

We’ve been going there about once a month for the past year to try to organize some support. There’s a group that doesn’t have a name yet that we’ve started to work with, that’s putting out water in some of these areas. There’s another group from southern Arizona that has moved over to New Mexico to search for remains in the desert.

We’re hoping the news will spread and that others will join to help. We have some money to help out some groups that are forming. We’re really hoping that groups will form on their own for search-and-rescue and putting out water. Because right now, Border Patrol is the only game in town if you call 911 as a migrant. And Border Patrol has a horrible track record of actually helping anybody.

To get involved, learn more, or support humanitarian efforts, contact No More Deaths here.

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Two things stand out:

A complete lack of accountability for the misguided politicos and bureaucrats who are dishonestly pushing these immoral and ineffective policies without “owning up” to both the known deadly consequences and the lack of long-term “deterrent” value (even assuming, as I do not, that effective deterrence could justify immoral and illegal policies) of the actions they are touting; and
A complete abdication of professional journalistic standards and performance from the many members of the so-called “mainstream media” who fail to include in each report on draconian “border control” proposals and “policies” the deadly, well-documented human consequences of those policies and who provide a toxic forum for politicos and supposed “pundits” spouting myths and nativist propaganda about “border enforcement,” without presenting experts like Melissa, Todd Miller and many others who have actual experience with the unending trauma and futility caused by our current misguided, often flatly illegal, and clearly immoral approach to “border enforcement.”

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

04-10-24

🤪 DISTORTED JUSTICE: From Inanely Denying Persecution To Ignoring Evidence, Garland’s Biased Courts Warp The Immigration Narrative By Improperly Rejecting Many Valid Claims!🤮

Two More Classic Examples of AG’s “Judicial Malpractice” With Lives At Stake From Dan Kowalski @ LexisNexis:

1. CA9 on Persecution: Singh v. Garland

https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2024/03/22/22-211.pdfl

https://www.lexisnexis.com/community/insights/legal/immigration/b/insidenews/posts/ca9-on-persecution-singh-v-garland

“Singh experienced multiple physical attacks and death threats over an eight-month period, from November of 2014 to June of 2015. No reasonable factfinder would conclude that Singh did not experience serious harm rising to the level of persecution. … For all these reasons we find that the record compels a finding that Singh suffered harm rising to the level of persecution. … [T]he BIA did not independently analyze relocation and determine that the government met its burden. Rather, the BIA expressly adopted the IJ’s reasons for finding that internal relocation was safe and reasonable. In doing so, the BIA adopted the IJ’s flawed relocation analysis, which did not afford Singh the presumption of past persecution or shift the burden to the government to prove that Singh can safely and reasonably relocate within India. … In sum, because the BIA erred in its relocation analysis, we grant Singh’s petition to review his claim for asylum and remand to the BIA for consideration in light of Singh v. Whitaker, 914 F.3d 654. … For the reasons set forth above, we GRANT Singh’s petition in part and REMAND to the BIA to consider (1) whether Singh is eligible for asylum because he suffered past persecution on account of statutorily protected grounds by the government or individuals whom the government was unable or unwilling to control; (2) if so, whether the DHS rebutted the presumption of a well-founded fear of future persecution; and (3) whether Singh is entitled to withholding of removal.”

[Hats off to Inna Lipkin!]

Inna Lipkin, Esquire
PHOTO: Law Office of Inna Lipkin

—

Daniel M. Kowalski

Editor-in-Chief

Bender’s Immigration Bulletin (LexisNexis)

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

2. BIA Ignores Evidence, CA2 Remands

https://ww3.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions/isysquery/b4acba28-c76c-439c-bf1f-032d1674929f/15/doc/22-6420_so.pdf

https://www.lexisnexis.com/community/insights/legal/immigration/b/insidenews/posts/bia-ignores-evidence-ca2-remands

Mendez Galvez v. Garland (unpub.)

“The agency entirely overlooked evidence material to the hardship determination in this case: evidence regarding Mendez’s serious back injury and its implications for his ability to support his qualifying relatives through work in El Salvador. … The BIA’s decision is VACATED and the case is REMANDED for further proceedings consistent with this order.”

[Hats off to H. Raymond Fasano!]

H. Raymond Fasano, Esquire
PHOTO: Super Lawyers Profile

—Daniel M. KowalskiEditor-in-ChiefBender’s Immigration Bulletin (LexisNexis)

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

What if a brain surgeon or a heart surgeon were routinely engaging in “surgical malpractice?” Wouldn’t it be a cause for grave concern?🤯

Almost every week, sometimes multiple times, the BIA mishandles the basics in potential “life or death” cases. Yet, Garland somehow shrugs it off! This not only adds to the “dehumanization” of migrants (their lives don’t count), but also badly skews the statistical profile that undergirds much of the misguided immigration (non) dialogue.

If the anti-immigrant, anti-asylum, huge “over-denial” problem at EOIR were addressed with better qualified judges and adjudicators, it would become apparent that many more, probably a majority, of those caught up in the dysfunction at EOIR and the Asylum Office are qualified to remain in the U.S. in some status. And, proper positive precedents would guide practitioners, ICE Counsel, Immigration Judges, and Asylum Officers to correct results without protracted litigation that eventually burdens the Courts of Appeals, causes avoidable remands, fuels “Aimless Docket Reshuffling,” and contributes mightily to the mushrooming EOIR backlog!

As a result, these cases could be prepared, prioritized, granted, and individuals could get on with their lives and maximize their human potential to help our nation — just as generations before them have done including the ancestors of almost all Americans! How soon some of us forget!

The real, largely self-created, “immigration crisis,” is NOT insufficient “deterrence, detention, and cruelty” at the border! It’s the grotesque failure of all three branches of Government to insist on a fair, timely, well-staffed, professionally-managed, due-process-compliant adjudication, review, and resettlement system for asylum seekers and other immigrants. It’s also the ongoing attempt to “cover up” and minimize our Government’s mistreatment of asylum seekers, particularly those asserting their legal right to apply at our borders and in the interior regardless of status!

The racially-driven “targeting” of asylum seekers at the border is a ruse designed to deflect attention from the realities of human migration, what drives it, and the failure of governments across the board to come to grips with them and to fulfill their legal responsibilities to treat all persons fairly, humanely, and in accordance with correct interpretations and applications of the law!

Here’s additional commentary on Singh from my Round Table ⚖️⚔️ colleague “Sir Jeffrey” Chase:

The IJ was really determined to deny on this one. And I guess Vandyke had filled his quota of once in a lifetime for finding fault with the government, and thus had no choice but to dissent.

How would YOU like to face a system “determined to deny” with your life on the line? How would Garland like it?

Actually, under the generous “well-founded fear” standard applicable to asylum (Cardoza-Fonseca/Mogharrabi) and the authoritative guidance in the U.N. Handbook on adjudication, applicants like Singh who testify credibly are supposed to be given “the benefit of the doubt.” Garland has, quite improperly, like his immediate predecessors, allowed this key humanitarian legal principle to be mocked at EOIR! Instead, as cogently pointed out by “Sir Jeffrey,” here the IJ and the BIA actually went the “extra mile” to think of “any reason to deny” — even totally specious ones!

Also, half-baked, legally deficient “reasonably available internal relocation analysis” is a long-standing, chronic problem at EOIR, despite a regulation setting forth analytical factors that should be evaluated. Few, if any, such legitimate opportunities are “reasonably available” in most countries sending asylum applicants!

Moreover, once past persecution is established, the DHS has the burden of showing that there is a reasonably available internal relocation alternative, something that they almost never can prove by a preponderance of the evidence! Indeed, in my experience, the DHS almost never put in such evidence beyond rote citations to generalized language in DOS Country Reports!

The “judicial competency/bias” problems plaguing EOIR are large and well documented. Yet, Garland pretends like they don’t exist!

Has Alfred E. Neumann been “reborn” as Judge Merrick Garland? “Not my friends or relatives whose lives as being destroyed by my ‘Kangaroo Courts.’ Just ‘the others’ and their immigration lawyers, so who cares, why worry about professionalism, ethics, and due process in Immigration Court?”
PHOTO: Wikipedia Commons

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

03-28-24

⚖️ BREAKING: 5TH CIR. LEAVES STAY OF SB 4 IN PLACE!

J. David GoodmanHouston Bureau Chief NY Times PHOTO: NYT website — J. David Goodman
Houston Bureau Chief
NY Times
PHOTO: NYT website

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/27/us/texas-migrant-law-appeals-court.html?unlocked_article_code=1.f00.EVy6.W8k2Dmf2Odr-&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&ugrp=u

J. David Goodman reports for NYT:

A federal appeals court late Tuesday ruled against Texas in its bitter clash with the federal government, deciding that a law allowing the state to arrest and deport migrants could not be implemented while the courts wrestled with the question of whether it is legal.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which has a reputation for conservative rulings, sided in its 2-to-1 decision with lawyers for the Biden administration who have argued that the law violates the U.S. Constitution and decades of legal precedent.

The panel’s majority opinion left in place an injunction imposed last month by a lower court in Austin, which found that the federal government was likely to succeed in its arguments against the law.

. . . .

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

Read the complete report at the link.

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

03-27-24

🐦‍⬛JIM CROW LIVES IN TEXAS: GOP’S RACIST “CASTE SYSTEM” HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH “SECURITY,” EVERYTHING TO DO WITH WHITE NATIONALIST INSURRECTION! — 🐓🐥🐥🐥“Democrats cannot, should not, be bystanders. . . . ‘“Evil asks little of the dominant caste other than to sit back and do nothing.’” — Beatriz Lopez, Narrative Intervention, on Substack!

https://open.substack.com/pub/beatrizlopez/p/this-is-texas-theres-a-holdem?r=1se78m&utm_medium=ios

Beatriz writes:

“A caste system is an artificial construction, a fixed and embedded ranking of human value that sets the presumed supremacy of one group against the presumed inferiority of other groups.”

― Isabel Wilkerson, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents

Last year, a dangerous and despotic Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed into law SB 4, heralding the legislation as a form of defense in his war against President Biden’s immigration policies that have apparently left Texas unsafe and vulnerable. Obviously, nothing could be further from the truth; in fact, Texas is privileged to be the second state in the union with the largest immigrant population that has contributed over $40 billion in federal and state taxes, with a spending power of more than $110 billion. According to a report by the Immigration Research Initiative and Every Texan:

Once provided a work permit, new immigrants earn an average of $20,000 in their first year, which increases to $29,000 by their fifth year living in Texas. […] For every 1,000 workers, immigrants and asylum seekers contribute $2.6 million to state and local taxes within their first year of eligibility. Far from a burden on Texas communities, newly arrived immigrants and asylum seekers are as essential to our state’s economy as they are to our families and communities.”

Abbott and the state have reaped from the contributions of immigrant families, regardless of immigration status, only to waste millions in taxpayer dollars to cruelly militarize the border against their own border communities and the children and families seeking refuge and safety. With SB 4, Abbott and Texas would make it a felony for any undocumented immigrant to enter the state and empower local law enforcement and state judges to arrest and deport undocumented immigrants.

. . . .

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

Read Beatriz’s complete article at the link.

The proposition, uncritically reported by many in media and mindlessly repeated by politicos of both parties, that effectively eliminating asylum at the border, thereby turning the ability to seek protection in the U.S. over to smugglers, cartels, and thugs, will “enhance security” is beyond preposterous! Obviously, it will do the exact opposite by improperly treating desperate individuals seeking legal protection from the U.S. the same as the small number of actual security threats who might seek to cross the border (at least some of whom are actually caught).

Just ask yourself the question that the media never presses on Abbott, DeSantis, Trump, GOP nativists, or their spineless Dem enablers: Why would a “real terrorist” spend weeks or months trying to get a “CBP One” appointment to be screened by CBP? Alternatively, why would such an individual risk the irregular border crossing and then turn themselves in to CBP for processing or wait weeks in filthy conditions to be processed by CBP? Answer: Obviously, they wouldn’t.

There are many easier ways for those smuggling or seeking to engage in criminal behavior to enter (think thousands of miles of lightly guarded Northern Border, false visas, entering legally at an airport under false pretenses, or concealing contraband in legitimate commerce — the way most fentanyl enters the U.S.). And, they are all “facilitated” by the USG’s insanely bad policy decision to concentrate “law enforcement” resources overwhelmingly on those who present no realistic threat and want only fair consideration of their legal claims! Sure it generates (largely misleading) “numbers,” but does little to actually enhance security.

Indeed, one might well suspect that the inordinate hoopla and intentionally exaggerated fears focused on asylum seekers is largely a “cover-up” and diversion from the Government’s poor record on dealing with the fentanyl crisis.

As I have repeatedly said, what if the Feds and states stopped disingenuously wasting unconscionable amounts resources on bogus enforcement and deterrence and instead invested in building a fair and timely asylum reception, screening, adjudication, and resettlement system that encouraged and rewarded those presenting themselves at ports of entry? That would make it easier for law enforcement to concentrate on those actually seeking to avoid our legal system (rather than inanely concentrating on those who merely want our legal system to fairly consider their claims)!

What would happen if the “mainstream media” actually fulfilled their professional, ethical, journalistic responsibilities to research, understand, and report honestly about the right to asylum, those seeking it, and those assisting them in presenting their claims to an intentionally hostile and dysfunctional system! What if the media stopped uncritically and irresponsibly reporting nativist propaganda, such as Abbott’s babbling, as “news,” and began concentrating on informing the public of the truth about asylum seekers, the legitimacy of many of their claims, and their great potential benefits to America!

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

03-25-24

♟️MARCH MADNESS: “Maine’s biggest upset this March hasn’t been on the court. It was on a chess board!” — Migrant Teen Comes Through For Underdog Team!😎

Bonnie Washk — Bonnie Washuk
Reporter
Portland Press Herald
PHOTO: Portland Press Herald

https://www.pressherald.com/?p=7282871

Bonnie Washuk reports for the Portland press Herald:

In the lobby of Portland’s Baxter Academy for Technology and Science, a chess board is on prominent display – for good reason.

Earlier this month, the school’s chess team – which didn’t even exist a few months ago – won the Maine State Scholastic Chess Championship against 15 of the state’s best teams, including Kennebunk High School.

Going into the championship, facing established high school chess teams, Baxter was not expected to win.

The player who clinched the big win for school’s six-member team is freshman João Vuvu-Nkanu Maviditi, a teen from Angola who last year was living at the Portland Expo when it served as temporary shelter for asylum seekers.

João Vuvu-Nkanu Maviditi, left, and Abdallah Ali ponder their next moves while playing a game of chess in class at Baxter Academy on March 12. The school’s chess team won the state championship last weekend for the first time. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer
Reprinted under license

. . . .

For Baxter to grab the championship win “is hugely impressive,” Cimato said in an email. “Baxter’s team held up extremely well under pressure and in sharp tactical positions. Their patience and calculation in those two end games were the difference.”

Baxter’s other chess team players are Jacob Kaiser, Abdallah Ali, Gibson Holloway and Sean Glass.

The team’s coach is Majur Juac, an internationally known chess master who once was one of the “Lost Boys” of Sudan who fled the civil war in their country and undertook long and dangerous treks to safety, spending years in refugee camps and eventually resettling in the United States.

Juac now lives in Falmouth and is on the faculty at Baxter, where he teaches chess.

. . . .

Baxter offered chess play after school, not just for its students but for other young people, including those who attend the downtown Boys and Girls Club.

When the games first started, “a few of those kids didn’t know how the pieces moved,” she said. “But Juac soon changed that.”

The school held tournaments in the summer, fall and winter. It’s hosting another next month and inviting in other schools.

In the fall, Baxter also launched a chess class taught by Juac, and 16 academy students signed up right away, Klein-Christie said.

She said the chess students are “really into it” and put their phones down and talk to one another as they play.

With a limited budget, it’s a stretch for a charter school to expand programs, Klein-Christie said.

“But it’s has been a worthwhile investment. Chess is a way of teaching them strategic planning, math skills. And it’s lovely for them to be building community.”

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

Read Bonnie’s complete article at the link!

Immigrants get it done for their communities in ways big and small! The reality of migration is quite different from the cowardly bombast of Abbott, DeSantis, and other White Nationalists!

Folks like Abbott and the Feds are wasting incredible (and immoral) sums of money on misguided, cruel, counterproductive, dehumanizing, and ultimately futile enforcement, militarization, and imprisonment. They should be investing in a timely, fair, well-run asylum system, planned reception and resettlement, and community integration that would maximize the benefits for both the migrants and the U.S. communities they seek to enrich and help with their presence.

If only politicos of both parties would get beyond the racist myths, pandering to fear, encouraging “worst instincts,” and instead lead the way to a better future for America! 🇺🇸

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

03-21-24

⚖️ WINOGRAD WHOMPS 🥊 GARLAND’S EOIR AGAIN, THIS TIME ON “PARTICULARLY SERIOUS CRIME” (“PSC”)! — Annor v. Garland — Following Precedents, Analyzing Correct Statute Proves Elusive For Garland’s Dysfunctional Courts! 🏴‍☠️ — “Because the BIA analyzed the wrong statute 🤯 at the first step of its analysis, and omitted the most important factor 🤯🤯 at the second, we vacate the BIA’s decision and remand to the BIA for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.”

From the CAIR Coalition on Linkedin:

Today, we’re celebrating the Fourth Circuit’s decision in Annor v. Garland. The court ruled that immigration judges must follow proper analytical steps in determining whether noncitizens have been convicted of a particularly serious crime (PSC).

This is an important decision because anyone convicted of a PSC is ineligible for asylum and withholding of removal, so PSC determinations have life-or-death consequences for immigrants facing persecution if they are deported to their home countries.

“Today, the Fourth Circuit spoke clearly: the immigration court system must treat PSC determinations with the care they deserve,” stated Immigration Impact Lab Senior Attorney Peter Alfredson, who worked on the amicus brief alongside Lab Deputy Program Director Samantha Hsieh.

CAIR Coalition submitted an amicus brief, also signed by RAICES, in support of Mr. Annor, who was represented by Ben Winograd of the Immigrant & Refugee Appellate Center, LLC.

Here’s the decision (PANEL: HEYTENS and BENJAMIN, Circuit Judges, and MOTZ, Senior Circuit Judge): https://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/opinions/231281.P.pdf

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

Come on, man! How is this a competent adjudication by the BIA? It isn’t! So, why is it happening time and again under Garland?

“[T]he immigration court system must treat PSC determinations with the care they deserve!” Absolutely! But, it’s not happening in Garland’s “any reason to deny/defend garbage” DOJ! At least it’s not happening systemically under Garland!

Rather than correcting IJ errors and insisting that the legal rights of migrants be respected and protected, the BIA too often has been a big part of the problem! Sloppiness, lack of expertise, “any reason to deny,” “reject don’t protect” have all become hallmarks of Garland’s dysfunctional system!

Contrary to GOP White Nationalist restrictionist blather, accepted by many spineless Dem politicos and the media, and enabled by Garland, this system should be identifying, screening, facilitating representation, expediting protection (not rejection), and arranging reception and resettlement, NOT engaging in more mindless “deterrence” and “uber enforcement.”

Garland’s abject failure to insist on due process and stand up for the legal and human rights of asylum seekers and other migrants has undermined our democracy! There is a huge “over-denial“ problem in our asylum adjudication system that skews the entire “debate!”

Our nation, our politicos, and our media are simply too gutless and morally vapid to admit that there are many, many more individuals arriving at our borders who should qualify for some sort of legal protection under a fair and legitimate screening and adjudication system!

Best comment, from Dan Kowalski @ LexisNexis: “Something is seriously wrong at DOJ when a seasoned IJ and BIA member make these kinds of mistakes, and when OIL attorneys defend such errors in court. Crimmigration should not be so hard that it takes a team of litigation superstars to achieve a just result!”

You betcha, Dan! “Something is seriously wrong at DOJ” is an understatement! Dan, Hon. “Sir Jeffrey” Chase, and I are among the many who have been saying that since the Obama Administration. It’s painfully obvious that Garland isn’t the answer (nor is Mayorkas), and that NDPA superstars like Ben and others should be in charge of the human rights legal and adjudication bureaucracies at DOJ and DHS in a Dem Administration!

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

03-18-24

Eduardo Porter writes in WashPost:

Gordon F. Sander, journalist and historian, also writes in WashPost, perhaps somewhat less optimistically, but with the same historical truth in the face of current political lies and gross misrepresentations:

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

Related posts:

From Professor Austin Kocher @ Linkedin:

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

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Listen here:

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

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Proposed Asylum Bar Regs Are At Odds With International Law (And Why That Matters)

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

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From the William & Mary Law School Immigration Clinic Blog:

“Our Client’s Story Sang Instead of Whispered”: Immigration Clinic Students Represent Client in Asylum Trial

🇺🇸 DUE PROCESS FOREVER!

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TMJS’s Eva Wen interviews Erin:

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

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Hamed posted on LinkedIn:

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

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Migration in the Americas Project

Here’s another related event:

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

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Maria Daniella Prieshoff writes on LinkedIn:

Registration Links here:

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

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Melissa reports in the latest issue of The Border Chronicle:

Two things stand out:

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

Related posts:

Two More Classic Examples of AG’s “Judicial Malpractice” With Lives At Stake From Dan Kowalski @ LexisNexis:

1. CA9 on Persecution: Singh v. Garland

2. BIA Ignores Evidence, CA2 Remands

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

Related posts:

J. David Goodman reports for NYT:

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

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Beatriz writes:

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

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Bonnie Washuk reports for the Portland press Herald:

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

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From the CAIR Coalition on Linkedin:

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

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