The Wall – Page 2 – immigrationcourtside.com

🗽⚖️ AS CONGRESS & ADMINISTRATION DITHER OVER GOP’S OUTRAGEOUS NATIVIST DEMANDS, LONG OVERDUE DUE PROCESS & STRUCTURAL REFORMS LANGUISH, LEAVING ASYLUM-SEEKING REFUGEES TWISTING IN THE WIND! — A Report On The Ever Growing EOIR Backlog From AP’s Giovanna Dell’Orto!

Giovanna Dell’Orto! — Giovanna Dell’Orto
Journalist, Global Region
Associated Press
PHOTO: X.com

Giovanna writes:

https://apnews.com/article/immigration-asylum-border-courts-deportation-miami-56098ced64bf136172f0224113dabeb6

BY GIOVANNA DELL’ORTO

Updated 8:32 AM EST, January 15, 2024

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MIAMI (AP) — Eight months after crossing the Rio Grande into the United States, a couple in their 20s sat in an immigration court in Miami with their three young children. Through an interpreter, they asked a judge to give them more time to find an attorney to file for asylum and not be deported back to Honduras, where gangs threatened them.

Judge Christina Martyak agreed to a three-month extension, referred Aarón Rodriguéz and Cindy Baneza to free legal aid provided by the Catholic Archdiocese of Miami in the same courthouse — and their case remains one of the unprecedented 3 million currently pending in immigration courts around the United States.

Fueled by record-breaking increases in migrants who seek asylum after being apprehended for crossing the border illegally, the court backlog has grown by more than 1 million over the last fiscal year and it’s now triple what it was in 2019, according to government data compiled by Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.

Judges, attorneys and migrant advocates worry that’s rendering an already strained system unworkable, as it often takes several years to grant asylum-seekers a new stable life and to deport those with no right to remain in the country.

. . . .

Experts like retired judge Paul Schmidt, who also served as government immigration counsel while the last major reform was enacted nearly forty years ago, say the broken system can only be fixed with major policy changes. An example would be allowing most asylum cases to be solved administratively or through streamlined processes instead of litigated in courts.

“The situation has gotten progressively worse since the Obama administration, when it really started getting out of hand,” said Schmidt, who in 2016, his last year on the bench, was scheduling cases seven years out.

. . . .

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

At the above link, read Giovanna’s excellent full article, based on interviews with those who actually are involved in trying to make this dysfunctional system function. Thanks, Giovanna, for shedding some light on the real, potentially solvable, “human rights crisis” enveloping and threatening the entire U.S. legal system. Contrary to “popular blather,” fulfilling our legal obligations to refugees is not primarily a “law enforcement” issue and won’t be solved by more border militarization and violations of individual rights of asylum seekers and other migrants!

There are lots of ways to start fixing this system! Gosh knows, most of them have been covered here on Courtside, sometimes several times, and they are all publicly available on the internet with just a few clicks. See, e.g.,

https://immigrationcourtside.com/2024/01/11/%e2%9a%96%ef%b8%8f-expert-to-congress-fix-your-border-mess-stop-picking-on-asylum-applicants-ruth-ellen-wasem-the-messenger-do-they-really-think-that-raising-the-bar-will-dete/

https://immigrationcourtside.com/2023/12/19/%e2%9a%96%ef%b8%8f%f0%9f%a4%af%f0%9f%91%a9%f0%9f%8f%bd%e2%9a%96%ef%b8%8f%f0%9f%91%a8%f0%9f%8f%bb%e2%9a%96%ef%b8%8f-as-garlands-backlog-hits-3-million-way-past-time-to-clean/.

The “debate” on the Hill defines “legislative malpractice!” The voices of legal integrity, experience, and practicality aren’t being heard! Also, lots of great ideas from experts on fixing EOIR are stuffed in the “Biden Transition Team” files squirreled away in some basement cubbyhole at Garland’s DOJ.

But most politicos aren’t interested in listening to the experts, nor do they seem motivated to understand the real human problems at the border, in the broken Immigration Courts, and how many of the things they are considering will make the situation worse while empowering smugglers and cartels! Those are real human corpses piling up along the border, carried out of immigration prisons, being abused in Mexico, and floating in the river — mostly due to the brain-dead “enforcement only” policies now being given an overdose of steroids by congressional negotiators.

So, things just keep deteriorating. Many in the backlog who deserve a chance at a permanent place in our society, and the ability to contribute to their full abilities and potential, remain in limbo! That’s bad for them and for us as a society!

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

01-16-24

☠️⚰️🤯 MARY MEG McCARTHY @ CHI SUN TIMES: Elected Officials Must Be Held Accountable 👎 For Unnecessary Migrant Deaths!

Remain in Mexico — A girl peers out from an encampment at the U.S.-Mexico border where she and several hundred people waited to present themselves to U.S. immigration to seek asylum. Politicos of both parties disgracefully treat the lives of asylum seekers as “collateral damage” and apparently expect no consequences from their deadly, inhumane, and often illegal actions against legal asylum seekers! / Photo by David Maung

https://chicago.suntimes.com/2023/12/21/24007965/migrant-death-jean-carlos-martinez-rivero-immigration-chicago-city-council-israel-gaza

Elected officials must act to prevent more migrant deaths

The United States has the resources to welcome new neighbors, but it is going to take cooperation, from the White House to the mayor’s office, to prevent further loss of life and improve safety for migrants.

By Letters to the Editor Dec 21, 2023, 3:32pm CST

It was heartbreaking to learn of the death of 5-year-old Jean Carlos Martinez Rivero, who had been living with his family at a privately contracted Chicago migrant shelter. This tragedy must be a wakeup call for all levels of government to start working together to protect people’s basic human rights at a time of increasing global humanitarian displacement.

For months, community members raised concerns about conditions inside the city’s shelters and volunteered to help better meet migrants’ basic needs. The accounts of life inside the shelter now coming to light are disturbingly similar to those that my colleagues at the National Immigrant Justice Center hear from clients held in immigration detention centers.

The city and the companies profiting from shelter contracts must be held accountable.

No doubt, the city has been forced to face the unprecedented challenge of welcoming thousands of new neighbors with minimal support from the federal government. The Biden administration and Congress must also be held accountable to repair the broken immigration system, support cities like Chicago that are welcoming migrants, and provide legal pathways so new arrivals have access to employment, secure housing and safety.

Jean Carlos’ death occurred at the same time the Biden administration and some U.S. senators are considering signing off on extreme anti-immigrant legislation in exchange for military aid for Ukraine and Israel.

The proposals under negotiation would create permanent new barriers to asylum protection and put U.S. immigrant communities at heightened risk of mass deportations. The proposals are structured to put Black, Brown and Indigenous communities at most risk.

Biden seems to have lost sight of his prior promises to defend immigrants’ rights, not to mention the U.S. government’s obligations to uphold international human rights law. Chicagoans should be holding our own Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth accountable to loudly oppose these proposals.

The United States has the resources to welcome new neighbors, but it is going to take cooperation at every level — from the White House to the mayor’s office — to prevent further loss of life and improve access to safety for migrant communities.

Mary Meg McCarthy, executive director, National Immigrant Justice Center

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

Unfortunately, accountability seems unlikely unless it happens at the ballot box. The GOP has become the party of inhumanity, irresponsibility, and immunity. And, although the Biden Administration and “wobbly” Dems tend to avoid overtly dehumanizing asylum seekers with their language, their actions and attitudes too often mirror those of Trump, Miller, and the GOP nativists. Indeed, quite disgustingly, politicos of both parties appear to expect to harvest political gains from the blood of migrants! 🤮

The Senate is basically engaging in “bipartisan” negations to knowingly and intentionally violate domestic and international protection laws, abrogate constitutional due process, and increase the number of unnecessary deaths of asylum seekers. That arrogant politicos, on both sides of the aisle, although primarily the GOP, openly advocate for such actions shows just how little fear of any type of accountability they have.

In many ways, that’s precisely the message that Trump and his MAGAmaniacs have been pushing — intentionally hateful and inflammatory language, followed by horrible, sometimes deadly, actions with little or no fear of any type of accountability. Sadly, the Dems seem to think that a program of cowardly acquiescence, rather than principled opposition, is the key to political success.

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

01–03-23

🇺🇸🗽⚖️ ANOTHER VIEW, FROM DAN KOWALSKI @ SUBSTACK: “An Opportunity, Not a Crisis — Let them in. Give them work permits. Watch America thrive!”

An Opportunity, Not a Crisis

Let them in. Give them work permits. Watch America thrive.

DAN KOWALSKI

DEC 29

READ IN APP

Reading* the news, it appears that many are freaking out about the “crisis” along the U.S. / Mexico border.

In fact, there is no crisis. Yes, there are logistical problems around feeding and housing migrants, and legal problems around sorting out their legal claims in immigration court.

Thanks for reading Dan’s Substack! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Pledge your support

But the numbers are the numbers: “[T]he past decade has seen unusually slow growth in immigration. In fact, the period from 2012 to 2022 saw slower growth in the immigrant share of the population than the 2000s, 1990s, 1980s and 1970s. You have to go all the way back to the 1960s, when the immigrant population actually shrank, to find a lower growth rate.” – David J. Bier, Oct. 3, 2023

America is graying. We need more immigrants, not fewer, and the younger the better. “With the national unemployment rate reaching a historic low of 3.4% in 2023—and states like Massachusetts (2.5%) and Pennsylvania (3.5%) reaching record lows—employers and elected officials have been desperate to find new workers.” – Andrew Kreighbaum, Dec. 29, 2023.

But under current law, it can take many months, if ever, for migrants to obtain work permits. Meanwhile, they are forced to work for cash, under the table, exposed to horrible working conditions, sub-market wages and the continual threat of deportation. Once they have work permits, however, they gain bargaining power.

Hein de Haas, professor of sociology at the University of Amsterdam, and the author of How Migration Really Works, says: “Fundamental choices have to be made. For example, do we want to live in a society in which more and more work – transport, construction, cleaning, care of elderly people and children, food provision – is outsourced to a new class of servants made up mainly of migrant workers? Do we want a large agricultural sector that partly relies on subsidies and is dependent on migrants for the necessary labour? The present reality shows that we cannot divorce debates about immigration from broader debates about inequality, labour, social justice and, most importantly, the kind of society we want to live in.”

Many years ago I was “on the bus” for a border journalism junket. With me was Wall Street Journal editorial writer Jason Riley. His 2008 book, Let Them In: The Case for Open Borders, is still fresh as a daisy.

Look I get it: I was lucky enough to grow up bilingual, enjoy the benefits of “higher ed,” and travel a lot, so I am not afraid of immigrants. Many Americans aren’t so lucky. Still, unless we are OK with China and India eating our economic lunch, we need to face facts and let in more immigrants, stat.

* Pro Tip: Never watch television.

Thanks for reading Dan’s Substack! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Pledge your support

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

There’s plenty of empirical support for Dan’s view that we are largely creating a “crisis” while missing a golden opportunity. Indeed, while the U.S. is the world’s richest and most powerful nation, many smaller and poorer countries are able to resettle more asylum seekers, refugees, and other types of forced migrants, by both absolute numbers and proportion. See, e.g., https://www.nrc.no/shorthand/fr/a-few-countries-take-responsibility-for-most-of-the-worlds-refugees/index.html.

What we appear to have is more of a politically-driven crisis of lack of confidence, political will, and basic competence to manage a humanitarian situation that is predictable, largely inevitable, and an opportunity to harness the human capital of migration — the same energy that actually built our nation and made it great. We’ve wasted huge amounts of money, resources, and time on cruel, failed, counterproductive enforcement gimmicks, while underfunding and failing to creatively update adjudication and resettlement functions.

Sadly and disturbingly, politicos of both parties and the Administration are basically pledging and scheming to ignore the advice of experts and creative problem-solvers and to do an even worse job next year and into the future. They will certainly leave a scurrilous trail of fraud, waste, abuse, cruelty, futility, failure, death, and missed oportunities in their wake — if we let them get away with it!

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

Dan’s essay also reminds me of another recent Substack essay from immigration expert and statistical guru, Professor Austin Kocher. Austin’s theory is that backlogs in and of themselves might not be as bad as we often portray them — particularly in light of the alternatives and the intentional failures to make obvious reforms to improve the “robustness” and fairness of our immigraton system. See https://austinkocher.substack.com/p/3-million-cases-are-now-pending-in.

Here’s the core of what Austin says:

First, it is worth questioning our basic assumptions about whether the “backlog”, as it is somewhat sensationally referred to, is actually a bad thing. Unlike the Obama administration, when the rapid growth of court cases was more attributable to people who lived in the U.S. for a long time getting caught up in interior enforcement, the recent growth is almost entirely due to the arrival of asylum seekers into the country. If you believe that asylum seekers deserve an opportunity to have their cases heard, then these numbers might be a positive sign. More people will have at least a nominal opportunity to apply for asylum instead of being turned away outright at the border.

Second, it remains absurd to me that the current practice in the U.S. is to force recently arrived asylum seekers into court in front of an immigration judge rather than to direct their cases toward asylum officers at USCIS who are trained for precisely this purpose. Immigration courts were designed to adjudicate cases of non-citizens who are suspected of violating U.S. immigration laws. The courts are adversarial environments that, as far as I can tell, require far more taxpayer resources and migrant resources than non-adversarial asylum interviews do. The fact that there are 3 million cases in court is, to me, an indictment of a system that treats humanitarian crises through the lens of quasi-criminalization.

Third, since no real change is likely forthcoming, I think we should rethink our sensationalization of the backlog number and simply accept the growing immigration court backlog much like we accept the U.S. national debt ticker in New York City.2 It’s just going to keep going up unless something absolutely fundamental changes about the world we live in. Get over it. This is how things work now. We need to end the delusional thinking that reforms—even much-needed reforms, such as the creation of an independent court system—are going to “solve” the backlog. The U.S. immigration system either needs radically rethought or we need to simply accept that the number of pending cases will reach 4 million, 5 million, or 6 million cases in the next few years.

Lastly, if we really want to solve the backlog, the easiest way to resolve the backlog is for Congress to give everyone with an NTA (i.e., everyone with a pending court case) and who meets certain minimal criteria a special visa that regularizes their status and puts them on a path to citizenship just like other lawful permanent residents. Yes, yes—I know that not everyone will like that solution for political reasons, but at least admit that you don’t like it for political reasons, not because it wouldn’t solve the backlog (because it would). After all, the US Census Bureau is already forecasting absolute population decline in the US within our lifetimes. Three million new citizens now wouldn’t solve that problem, but it might not hurt in the long run.

I was struck by his second point. One of the positive regulatory changes made by the Biden Administration was to confer authority on USCIS Asylum Officers to grant asylum immediately, at the border or in reception centers, rather than referring all arriving asylum seekers who pass credible fear to the Immigration Courts. Nevertheless, as I among many pointed out, the Administration had neither the personnel nor the training in place to make this change effective.

I also argued that without a new BIA of expert Appellate Judges and exceptionally-well-qualified asylum expert Immigration Judges assigned to key Immigration Courts to provide dynamic leadership, de facto supervision, and a series of far better positive precedents guiding adjudicators to grant asylum in many repetitive situations, this positive change was doomed to failure.

Sure enough, the Administration botched the implementation — running inept, timid, and minute “pilot programs” that could only be termed “sad jokes.” To make matters worse, when recently faced with a humanitarian situation at the border, where a “surge” of qualified Asylum Officers working with NGOs to screen arrivals could have made a huge difference, the Administration inexplicably “suspended” this most useful part of their regulations. Meanwhile, they opted to keep more problematic provisions in effect.

To compound the problem, nativist GOP State AGs mounted frivolous court challenges to the expanded role of Asylum Officers. Stripped of its legal gobbledygook, they essentially and absurdly argued that the Administration lacked authority to empower statutory Asylum Officers to grant asylum.

Dan’s essay found favor with well-known expert Careen Shannon:

This post about the opportunity presented by migrants who want to live in the United States is a sensible message with which to end the year. Kudos to Dan Kowalski for stating what should be obvious but apparently cannot be repeated often enough.

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

12-31-23

🤮☠️ AS CONGRESS ENGAGES IN TRUTH & REALITY FREE (NON) DEBATE ON HOW TO INFLICT MORE CRUELTY AND MAYHEM ON VULNERABLE ASYLUM SEEKERS, THE REAL IMMIGRATION PROBLEMS GO UNADDRESSED — “No Fair Day” Documents Continuing Abuse Of Kids In Immigration Court!

Stephen Miller Cartoon — Stephen Miller & Count Olaf. Despite promises to the contrary, the Biden Administration still channels Stephen Miller in its approach to kids in court. And, now they are working with GOP nativists and wobbly Dems in Congress to make things even worse, for kids and other asylum seekers!
Evil Twins, Notorious Child Abusers

A new “white paper” investigation from UCLA Center for Immigration Law and Policy documents shocking abuses already being inflicted on children Immigration Court even as Congress and the Administration look for more ways to strip asylum seekers of legal rights and human dignity:

https://law.ucla.edu/sites/default/files/PDFs/Center_for_Immigration_Law_and_Policy/No_Fair_Day_Children_in_Immigration_Court_White_Paper.pdf

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This white paper provides a comprehensive assessment of the Biden

administration’s treatment of children facing removal in immigra-

tion court. While much attention has rightly been given to the Biden

administration’s border and asylum policy, less attention has been

paid to child-specific policies in immigration court. This matters

both because tens of thousands of removal orders have been issued

against children during the Biden administration, and because chil-

dren’s cases present unique legal issues—including most obviously

that children generally bear little, if any, legal responsibility for the

situations in which they find themselves.

We find that the Biden administration took important steps at the

outset to protect children in ways the prior administration did

not. The decision to exempt children from the border expulsion

policy known as Title 42 was particularly significant in this respect.

However, for children who were permitted to enter the system and

ordered to appear for proceedings in immigration court, the Biden

administration has largely continued the policies of previous admin-

istrations. Those policies have utterly failed to protect the rights of

children in court.

These failures are all the more striking because they have continued

even as the administration has signaled support for the principle

that children deserve legal representation in immigration court as

a matter of basic fairness. Department of Homeland Security Sec-

retary Mayorkas—the nation’s foremost immigration enforcement

official—has repeatedly stated that he does not believe children can

receive fair removal hearings without legal representation, even as

prosecutors under his purview have proceeded with thousands of

such hearings and obtained thousands of removal orders against

unrepresented children through those grossly unfair processes.

The administration’s policies toward children in immigration court

have far-reaching impacts. In the first five months of Fiscal Year 2022,

almost one third of all new cases in immigration court involved chil-

dren, including tens of thousands of children under the age of five.1

Some of these children are “unaccompanied” because they arrived

1 TRAC, One-Third of New Immigration Court Cases

Are Children; One in Eight Are 0-4 Years of Age

(Mar. 17, 2022), https://trac.syr.edu/immigration/

reports/681/.

NO FAIR DAY: THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION’S TREATMENT OF CHILDREN IN IMMIGRATION COURT 3

alone, while others are in “consolidated proceedings” with their fami-

lies. The immigration system, and the Biden administration, has failed

both. Many of these children proceeded without counsel, and a huge

number of children have been ordered removed for failure to appear.

We explain why these two policies—the imposition of in absentia

removal orders against unrepresented children and the failure to

provide counsel—are unlawful, and we provide recommendations

for how the Biden administration can remedy this crisis.

. . . .

It should be obvious that immigration court proceedings are far too

complex for children to navigate without legal representation. As

Secretary Mayorkas acknowledged earlier this year, “a nine-year-old

child cannot navigate the immigration system.”44 Attorneys General

under the Obama administration made similar statements, as had

the government’s own expert in litigation challenging the failure to

provide counsel for children several years ago.45 Prior to that conces-

sion, one supervisory immigration judge was extensively ridiculed

for stating his view that he could teach three- and four-year-olds to

understand immigration law and represent themselves in immi-

gration court.46 Yet, despite the obvious absurdity of that view, the

Biden administration’s immigration courts—like the immigration

courts of all prior administrations—recognize no age below which

children cannot proceed without a lawyer in court.

. . . .

CONCLUSION

Despite taking some strong symbolic and practical steps in its early

days, the Biden administration has failed children in immigration

court under its watch. In the last three years, Immigration Judges

have issued removal orders against tens of thousands of children in

violation of basic due process principles. Though the administration

has not enforced most of those removal orders, nothing will stop a

future administration from doing so without ever providing those

children a fair day in court.

But there is time to reverse course. We urge the administration to

adopt the concrete recommendations laid out in this paper: prohibit

the issuance of in absentia removal orders against unrepresented

children; terminate the Dedicated Docket; and ensure legal represen-

tation for all children in removal proceedings. To do so would make

real the Biden administration’s promise of a fair and humane immi-

gration system for children.

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

Read the complete report at the above link.

This should be a fixable problem! Instead, Congress and the Administration are fixated on making things worse for children and other legal asylum seekers at the border. What’s happening in the Senate now is neither a “negotiation” nor does it have much to do with “national security.”

It’s mostly about bullying the most vulnerable while diverting attention from the failure of all three branches of Government to address human migration and human rights in an rational, lawful, and constructive manner.

Artificially inflating and manipulating “in absentia” order statistics has been a long-time practice of EOIR under Administrations of both parties. The DOJ and EOIR use their own unfair procedures to paint a false picture of individuals evading the system.

In reality, statistics show that the overwhelming majority of those able to secure representation and therefore understand the “system” want fair merits decisions on their asylum applications.

But, as many who, unlike Garland and his minions, have actually practiced in the dysfunctional Immigration Courts know, getting a timely merits hearing on meritorious, already-prepared cases can be “mission impossible” in a system wedded to “Aimless Docket Reshuffling” and lacking in dynamic due-process-focused expert leadership!

Additionally, “notice” problems at EOIR are endemic — now reaching the Supremes for the third time (after being blown out on the first two trips) in a “supreme dereliction of duty” by Garland’s DOJ. Haphazard notice procedures and endless delays are also major contributors to the abuse of children in Immigraton Court.

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

12-18-23

😢 CRIES IN THE WILDERNESS: The Voices Of Experience & Reasonableness Are Being Drowned Out By Nativism, Butt-Covering, & Imagined Political Expediency In The One-Sided “Border Debate” Taking Place In The Senate!

Caitlyn Yates Fellow Strauss Center for International Law & Security PHOTO: Strauss Center — Caitlyn Yates
Fellow
Strauss Center for International Law & Security
PHOTO: Strauss Center

This podcast from Melissa Del Bosque of The Border Chronicle and Caitlyn Yates, who actually works with migrants in the Darien Gap, gives real life perspective on the humanitarian crisis and all the reasons why more cruelty, punishment, and deadly deterrence isn’t going to solve the flow of forced migrants. But, unhappily, policy makers aren’t interested in the voices of those who actually have experience with forced migrants, nor are they interested in learning from the forced migrants themselves — a logical — if constantly ignored — starting point for making sound policy decisions!

https://substack.com/app-link/post?publication_id=373432&post_id=139696609&utm_source=post-email-title&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=1se78m&token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjoxMDgxNTc5OTAsInBvc3RfaWQiOjEzOTY5NjYwOSwiaWF0IjoxNzAyMzkzMzIwLCJleHAiOjE3MDQ5ODUzMjAsImlzcyI6InB1Yi0zNzM0MzIiLCJzdWIiOiJwb3N0LXJlYWN0aW9uIn0.CSjTGVDSTEoVPMU3vd7l-vjE2t6LYzS6bfkSQ-qMOcU

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

In the Wilderness — Migration and human rights experts have excelled in court and academia. Yet, they have been consigned to wander the political wilderness, their wisdom, expertise, and real world solutions are routinely ignored or mindlessly rejected by both political parties.
Colmar – Unterlinden Museum – The Isenheim Altarpiece 1512-16 by Matthias Grünewald (ca 1470-1528) – Visit of Saint Anthony the Great to Saint Paul the Hermit in the Wilderness
Creative Commons

Four “takeaways” on what a consensus on migration should be:

Human migration is real;
Forced migration is largely beyond the unilateral control of any one nation;
Deterrence alone won’t stop migration;
More legal pathways for migration are necessary.

We’re a long way from that needed consensus right now!

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

12-16-23

🗽 THIS BUDD’S FOR YOU! — Ex-Agent, Author, Border Expert Warns Dems Against Walking Into GOP Nativists’ “Border Trap!” — Once Again!🤯

FROM X:

Post

See new posts

Conversation

Charles Kuck reposted

I

Jenn Budd

@BuddJenn

A robust asylum system is essential to national security. A closed border is as dangerous as an open border. If you close the asylum system, they will just cross illegally. Republicans need the border out of control. This is a trap!

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

That’s it in a nutshell! Reality and practicality have nothing to do with it. It’s about the GOP creating chaos and fanning hate! Unhappily, Dems fall for it — every time! That’s why American democracy is on the ropes!

The Dems have ready access to the greatest “treasure trove” of real life expertise and truth about the border in history. Yet, they routinely ignore it and let themselves be “hoodwinked” by GOP nativists peddling lies, hate, and myths. It’s seriously undermining our democracy while squandering human lives and potential!

There’s deep irony in “national security” being disingenuously parroted by a party lead by a demagogue who encouraged actual insurrection against the U.S. Government! Yet Dems and the “mainstream media” fall for it! Gimmie a break!

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

12-15-23

🤯 “DESPERATE PEOPLE DO DESPERATE THINGS!”

Rebecca Santana
Homeland Security Reporter
Associated Press
PHOTO: AP

https://www.theitem.com/stories/biden-and-congress-consiering-big-changes-on-immigration,408794

REBECCA SANTANA

Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden is taking a more active role in Senate negotiations about changes to the immigration system that Republicans are demanding in exchange for providing money to Ukraine in its fight against Russia and Israel for the war with Hamas.

The Democratic president has said he is willing to make “significant compromises on the border” as Republicans block the wartime aid in Congress. The White House is expected to get more involved in talks this week as the impasse over changes to border policy has deepened and the money remaining for Ukraine has dwindled.

Republican Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma, who is leading the negotiations, pointed to the surge of people entering the U.S. from Mexico and said “it is literally spiraling out of control.”

But many immigration advocates, including some Democrats, say some of the changes being proposed would gut protections for people who desperately need help and would not really ease the chaos at the border.

Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, the top Democratic bargainer, said the White House would take a more active role in the talks. But he also panned Republican policy demands so far as “unreasonable.”

. . . .

Critics say the problem is that most people do not end up getting asylum when their case finally makes it to immigration court. But they say migrants know that if they claim asylum, they essentially will be allowed to stay in America for years.

“People aren’t necessarily coming to apply for asylum as much to access that asylum adjudication process,” said Andrew Arthur, a former immigration court judge and fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for less immigration in the U.S.

Some of what lawmakers are discussing would raise the bar that migrants need to meet during that initial credible fear interview. Those who do not meet it would be sent home.

But Paul Schmidt, a retired immigration court judge who blogs about immigration court issues, said the credible fear interview was never intended to be so tough. Migrants are doing the interview soon after arriving at the border from an often arduous and traumatizing journey, he said. Schmidt said the interview is more of an “initial screening” to weed out those with frivolous asylum claims.

Schmidt also questioned the argument that most migrants fail their final asylum screening. He said some immigration judges apply overly restrictive standards and that the system is so backlogged that it is hard to know exactly what the most recent and reliable statistics are.

. . . .

WHAT MIGHT THESE CHANGES DO?

Much of the disagreement over these proposed changes comes down to whether people think deterrence works.

Arthur, the former immigration court judge, thinks it does. He said changes to the credible fear asylum standards and restrictions on the use of humanitarian parole would be a “game changer.” He said it would be a “costly endeavor” as the government would have to detain and deport many more migrants than today. But, he argued, eventually the numbers of people arriving would drop.

But others, like Schmidt, the retired immigration court judge, say migrants are so desperate, they will come anyway and make dangerous journeys to evade Border Patrol.

“Desperate people do desperate things,” he said.

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

Ignoring both the powerful forces that drive human migration and folks who actually work with migrants at the border and in foreign countries seems like a totally insane way to “debate policy.” But, then, whoever said this “nativist-driven debate” on enhanced cruelty, dismantling the rule of law, and de-humanization is rational?

You can read Rebecca’s full article, with an “accessible” explanation of what’s at stake and what’s being proposed at the above link.

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

12-14-23

☠️🤯 HISTORIC SETTLEMENT OF FAMILY SEPARATION CASE SHOWS LEGAL & MORAL BANKRUPTCY OF TRUMP’S “OFFICIAL CHILD ABUSE PROGRAM!” — So Why Are Spineless Dems On The Hill & In The Biden Administration “Negotiating” With GOP Sponsors Of Even Worse “Crimes Against Humanity?”🤮 — “It does represent, in my view, one of the most shameful chapters in the history of our country,” U.S. District Judge Dana M. Sabraw said!

Maria Sacchetti
Immigration Reporter, Washington Post

Maria Sachetti reports for WashPost:

Federal judge approves settlement barring migrant family separations

A federal judge approved a settlement that prohibits U.S. officials from separating migrant families for crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally.

By Maria Sacchetti

https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2023/12/08/trump-migrants-family-separations-biden/

Download The Washington Post app.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2023/12/08/trump-migrants-family-separations-biden/

. . . .

The settlement involves a 2018 lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union to block the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy, which called for separating parents from their children to prosecute the adults for crossing the border illegally. Officials sent parents to detention centers and children to shelters, without a plan to reunite them, under the policy. Some were apart for months, some for years.

“It does represent, in my view, one of the most shameful chapters in the history of our country,” U.S. District Judge Dana M. Sabraw said before he approved the settlement in a hearing that recalled the shock and disbelief surrounding the policy in 2018.

Under the settlement approved Friday, crossing the border illegally will no longer be a reason to separate a family, at least for the next eight years, which is how long that provision will last, lawyers said. The Justice Department has said the government will not prosecute parents for crossing the border without permission, a misdemeanor, or for the felony crime of reentering after being deported.

The settlement also offers aid to once-separated families so that they may apply to stay in the United States permanently. Those who were deported may apply to come back. Their immigration records will be cleared, giving them a fresh start on applying for humanitarian protection such as asylum.

Once they are in the United States, formerly separated families may apply for three-year work permits, six months of housing assistance and one year of medical care, according to the settlement. The families also are eligible for three years of counseling under the settlement.

Sabraw, a Republican nominee, declared the separations unlawful and ordered the families reunited in June 2018, after President Donald Trump halted the policy amid widespread condemnation.

Trump’s zero-tolerance policy ran from May to June 2018. Later, investigations determined that officials separated migrant families throughout Trump’s four-year term, which ended in January 2021.

Biden administration officials said the Trump administration separated more than 4,000 children from their parents, though past estimates have put that figure as high as 5,500. Lawyers for the ACLU, which represented the migrant families in court, estimated that as many as 1,000 children may still be separated from their parents. Advocates are trying to track them down.

The ACLU has called the case the most significant settlement in the organization’s 103-year history.

“This settlement brings much needed help to these brutalized children but there remains significant work to ensure that every family is now reunited and to monitor that no future administration tries to circumvent the agreement and reenact the same horrific policy,” Lee Gelernt, an ACLU lawyer and the lead counsel in the case, said in a statement.

. . . .

**********

Read the rest of Maria’s report at the link!

The human and fiscal costs of this illegal policy, developed and implemented by GOP White Nationalist child abusers, is beyond comprehension! Some of the damage can never be repaired!

Notably, there has never been any accountability for the architects of this clearly unconstitutional abuse and the Government attorneys who failed to do “due diligence” and misrepresented the facts surrounding child separation in Federal Court. The truth was only brought out when the ACLU was forced to do the DOJ’s job for it! It’s also curious how a prohibition on clearly unconstitutional conduct could have only an “eight year shelf life.”

But, there are even worse developments on the horizon — immoral, illegal, and unconscionable policies under consideration that will dwarf even this horrible episode in terms of preventable deaths, disregard for humanity, dereliction of duty, moral cowardice, and degradation of our nation!

Why are Dems ignoring their “core supporters” and negotiating with this notorious human rights abuser! Attribution: Stephen Miller Monster by Peter Kuper, PoliticalCartoons.com

So why are Dem legislators and the Administration “negotiating” even more outrageous legal violations, moral transgressions, and human rights abuses with the GOP? Talk about “shameful!” If Dems don’t get some backbone and live up to their professed values and the law, “shameful” will have a whole new meaning!

Here’s a link to tell your Congressional representatives to “just say no” to the truly repulsive proposals to bully and inflict pointless harm on the most vulnerable and to arrogantly violate human rights on a massive scale being pushed by the GOP and some so-called Dems. https://lnkd.in/gp2RteRr.

Trading away human rights that are not yours to dispose of for unrelated foreign military aid is beyond unconscionable! 🤮

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

12-09-23

👏⚖️ TELLING IT LIKE IT IS! — Immigration Guru & Pundit Dan Kowalski Slams The Immorality & Intellectual Dishonesty Of The Viral “Border Debate” In Congress!

Dan writes on Substack:

Let’s Abandon Ukraine So We Can Be Mean To Mexicans, et al.

Or, How To Further Debase Congress

DAN KOWALSKI

DEC 6, 2023

U.S. immigration law and policy, including border security and asylum, have nothing to do with Ukraine, NATO, Russia and Putin. Right?

Wrong, if you are a Republican in Congress. Here, let Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) explain: “I think … Schumer will realize we’re serious … and then the discussions will begin in earnest.”

Thanks for reading Dan’s Substack! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

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If you are still having trouble with the concept, I’ll translate for you: “Yes, we understand and agree that Russia cannot be allowed to take over Ukraine, and we will fund aid to Ukraine, but in exchange, we insist on fundamental changes to our immigration laws to make sure no more Brown people come to America, starting right effing now.” (“Brown,” in this context, means anyone who is poor, Latin American, Asian, African, non-Anglophone…you get the idea.)

How will this play out in the next few weeks? I see three options: 1) Biden and the Dems cave, so the 1980 Refugee Act is scrapped, Dreamers get deported, the southern border is further militarized, and the economy tanks because a good chunk of the workforce is afraid to come to work; or 2) the GOP does a Tuberville and caves; or 3) the Unknown Unknown.

Stay tuned…

Thanks for reading Dan’s Substack! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

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

Thanks for telling it like it is, Dan! There is no validity to the GOP’s attempt to punish asylum seekers by unconscionably returning them to danger and death with no process.

The cruelty and threat to life from forcing desperate seekers to wait in dangerous conditions in Mexico, pushing them to attempt entry in ever more deadly locations along the border, detaining them in inhumane substandard prisons in the U.S., and or returning them without meaningful screening by qualified independent decision-makers is overwhelming. That Congress, the Administration, and much of the “mainstream media” choose to ignore, and often intentionally misrepresent, truth and reality about the horrible human and fiscal wastefulness of “border deterrence” doesn’t change these facts!

Border Death — Casket makers expect a huge boon from the deadly “border negotiations” going on in the U.S. Congress. But, the bodies of many of the victims of U.S. cruelty and blatant trashing of human and legal rights of asylum seekers might never be located. Those about to be sacrificed for political ends have “no voice at the table.” 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.
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

The Administration’s three year failure to build a functional, robust asylum system at the border with humane reception centers, access to legal assistance, a rational resettlement system, and sweeping, readily achievable, administrative reforms and leadership changes at EOIR and the Asylum Office (as laid out by experts, whose views were dismissed) is also inexcusable.

Yet, the media misrepresents this farce as a “debate.” It’s a false “debate” in which neither disingenuous “side” speaks for the endangered humans whose rights and lives they are bargaining away to mask their own failures and immorality.

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

12-08-23

🇺🇸🗽⚖️ CAMILLE MACKLER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AT IMMIGRANT ARC ASKS “WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?” — Human Migration Is A Reality & An Opportunity — But, Many Insist On Seeing It Only As Problem!

Camille J. Mackler
Executive Director
Immigrant ARC
PHOTO: JustSecurity

Camille writes on Linkedin:

I truly believe that when we look back on the evolution of migration trends and responses, 2022 will be remembered as the year we entered a new era of policy making. What began as a political stunt by the Texas Governor has turned into a full-on, ad-hoc secondary resettlement system, fueled by the seeming inability of the Federal Government to take meaningful responsibility to support a cohesive response.

We’ve been seeing this since the first buses began arriving in New York City, when City staff and local non-profits would walk people directly to ticket counters in the bus terminal and help them continue onward travel. This has of course expanded into a full-on operation here, but we’ve also seen similar efforts – all carried out with very little coordination between local governments – in other cities including Washington, DC, Denver, and Chicago.

But its not just within the US – countries in Central America are also getting into the business of transporting migrants “anywhere but here.” Nicaragua, ostensibly to spite the US and to force better policy solutions for the region, is allowing and likely even encouraging charter flights from Cuba and Haiti to help individuals from those countries travel North (making money off tourist visa applications and other concessions along the way). Costa Rica, Panama, Honduras, and Mexico are busing individuals and families North to speed their passage through those countries.

The Los Angeles Declaration, which came out of the 2022 Summit of the Americas, promised to create a regional framework and approach to migration in the Americas, but national governments are moving so slowly that cities are getting ahead of them out of pure necessity. Existing networks (such as Cities For Action, e.g.) turned out to be insufficient to help create the necessary connectivity, so instead we are seeing ad hoc attempts with varying levels of engagement by local non-profits.

And regardless of the level of cooperation from local government, civil society is looking for ways to get involved and minimize the harm caused by this perverse game of “hot potato”. A webinar Immigrant ARC and the National Partnership for New Americans is organizing next week on best practices for rapid responses to new arrivals had over 250 sign-ups within three days of announcing registration was open.

So I guess what I’m trying to say is.. What are we going to do? I can’t remember a time that more clearly highlighted how immigration – at its core – is a local issue. But this is our new normal. Migration is natural and, if global trends are any indication, is not abating any time soon. So our challenge is – how do we treat this as an opportunity, not a challenge? And how do we get our elected officials – from local government all the way to the White House – to remember that we are dealing with human lives, full of promise and courage, and not political pawns to be played with at the whims of those currently in power.

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

Follow Camille on LinkedIn.

The “problems” are short term, very visible, and over-hyped by nativist politicos and the media — mainstream as well as far right. Folks wading the river, sleeping in the streets, camping in tents, crowded schools, overwhelmed social services, angry and frustrated local officials are all very much in the public eye and easy to sensationalize for the media.

By contrast, the overwhelming benefits of migration — including refugees and other forced migrants — are more abstract and in the future. Expansion of the the workforce, supply chain improvements, innovations, opportunities created by enriching culture, economic expansion, and robust increases in tax revenues don’t happen overnight. In today’s “instant gratification/instant news” culture, people tend not to pay much attention or give credence to things that aren’t happening in “real time.”

So, the solution is to make the tangible benefits of immigration to everyone in society happen more rapidly and more obviously. “Real life concrete examples” of benefits connect with individuals more than projections and statistics about the future. The challenge would be to:

Get asylum applicants to places where food, shelter, education, legal assistance, and job placement are available;
Concentrate on welcoming locations;
Do it in an orderly fashion so that the benefits of migration are rationally distributed and no particular community feels overwhelmed;
Assist individuals to get them through the legal asylum more rapidly so that those who are successful achieve full legal status, work authorization, and can progress toward green cards and citizenship. Those who aren’t eligible won’t “wander the U.S. forever.”

Neither Congress nor the Administration appear to be interested in making this happen. Indeed, the nativist GOP “border proposals” now being debated would make things demonstrably worse in every way! Yet, too many Senate Dems lack the guts to “just say no” to what are basically “enhanced human rights abuses!”

Therefore, it would be up to NGOs working with receptive state and local governments and taking advantage of things like “public-private partnerships.”

NGOs could set up a “national clearinghouse” and a network of local organizations in welcoming communities where migrants could be placed. In that way, they would be “emulating” that which the Federal Government should, but isn’t, doing, as well as obviating the problems caused by GOP governors who are weaponizing migration to support their nativist “invasion” myths.

It could also provide concrete examples of success in enhancing the quality of life and economic opportunities in communities that welcome migrants. Conversely, it could also take some of the pressure off communities who believe (whether correctly or not) that they are overwhelmed or overburdened.

As to Camille’s question:

And how do we get our elected officials – from local government all the way to the White House – to remember that we are dealing with human lives, full of promise and courage, and not political pawns to be played with at the whims of those currently in power.

Unfortunately, I don’t see that happening without a different set of elected officials. The facts are out here. Politicos primarily on the right, but also too many Dems, have gone out of their way to ignore the truth about asylum seekers because they believe it suits their short-term political interests. That’s a tough nut to crack without a new political movement and some new faces of power.

Even now, too much of the “border debate” is vociferous, but one-sided and ill informed. As one successful NGO at the border recently said:

If you really want to know what’s happening on the Mexican side of the border, follow the humanitarian groups like the Sidewalk School, who are working there,” [Felicia] Rangel-Samporano says. “We are there every day, seven days a week.”

Felicia Rangel-Samparano
Director
The Sidewalk School
PHOTO: The Sidewalk School

Fat chance for a visit to the Sidewalk School or any other humanitarian organization at the border from those in power, or, for that matter, for the “mainstream media” to show much interest in injecting truth and expertise into their border reporting. Organizations like The Sidewalk School appear to have the keys to successful border and asylum policies. But, they will need help from their friends — lots of it!

Don’t expect it from Dems on the Hill. As cogently pointed out by Greg Sargent in today’s WashPost, they are tuning out experts like Camille and Felicia Rangel-Samparano — folks with real solutions that would improve border security while actually furthering human rights — in favor of “negotiating” (for war funding abroad) with those driven by the neo-fascist anti-human-rights agenda of Miller and Trump. As stated by Greg:

Sen. Thom Tillis wants you to know that he’s very “reasonable.” That’s the word the North Carolina Republican used with reporters this week while describing immigration reforms that the GOP is demanding from Senate Democrats in exchange for supporting the billions in Ukraine aid that President Biden wants. But the demands from Tillis and his fellow Republican leading the talks, Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma, are not reasonable at all — they’re following Donald Trump’s playbook. Under the guise of seeking more “border security,” they’re insisting on provisions that would reduce legal immigration in numerous ways that could even undermine the goal of securing the border. According to Democratic sources familiar with the negotiations, Republican demands began to shift soon after the New York Times reported that in a second Trump term, he would launch mass removals of millions of undocumented immigrants, gut asylum seeking almost entirely, and dramatically expand migrant detention in “giant camps.”  As one Senate Democratic source told me, Republicans started acting as though Trump and his immigration policy adviser Stephen Miller were “looking over their shoulders.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/11/29/trump-ukraine-senate-republicans-border/

How vile is this “debate” about “sacrificing” other (vulnerable) humans’ lives and rights — things that neither party has a right to use as “bargaining chips?” The GOP, a far-right party that basically has never seen a bomb it didn’t want to drop or a weapon it didn’t want used on some “enemy,” is threatening to withhold weapons for a war against Russian aggression abroad unless Dems agree to kill more folks seeking refuge (ironically, many fleeing from the far-left government of Venezuela) at our border!

In “normal” times, Dems would stand firm for humanitarian assistance, better border processing, and reasonable resettlement assistance (to end the Abbott/DeSantis travesty). But there’s nothing “normal” or remotely “reasonable” about the farce going on in Congress!

You can read and listen to more about The Sidewalk School at this link: https://open.substack.com/pub/theborderchronicle/p/education-instead-of-barbed-wire?r=1se78m&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post%0A

It’s remarkable how little attention the “mainstream media” focuses on those working hard and solving problems, on a daily basis, at the border, like the folks running the Sidewalk School! Compare publicity for the “good guys” who are actually solving problems and saving lives with the amount of time and attention given to GOP nativist politicos spreading anti-immigrant myths and demanding yet more cruelty and expensive, deadly, proven to fail, deterrence!🤯

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

11-29-23

🏴‍☠️ BLACK DECEMBER! — DEMS READY TO SELL OUT ASYLUM SEEKERS’ LEGAL & HUMAN RIGHTS TO GET WAR FUNDING DEAL? — Experts Rip GOP’s End Asylum Proposal, Even As Some Dems Signal Willingness To Cave!

https://apple.news/AV6SKpJ3_Sr6s28WOna6z1A

Jennifer Habercorn and Burgess Everett report for Politico:

A growing number of Senate Democrats appear open to making it harder for migrants to seek asylum in order to secure Republican support for aiding Ukraine and Israel.

They are motivated not just by concern for America’s embattled allies. They also believe changes are needed to help a migration crisis that is growing more dire and to potentially dull the political sting of border politics in battleground states before the 2024 elections.

“Look, I think the border needs some attention. I am one that thinks it doesn’t hurt,” said Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), one of the Senate’s most vulnerable Democrats in next year’s midterm election.

Tester said he’s eager to see if a bipartisan group of negotiators can come up with an agreement on a policy issue as elusive as immigration. While he refused to commit to supporting a deal until he sees its details, he didn’t rule out backing stronger border requirements. And he’s not alone.

“I am certainly okay with [border policy] being a part of a national security supplemental,” said Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), another Democrat facing reelection next year. On changes to asylum policy, she said: “I would like to see us make some bipartisan progress, which has eluded us for years. The system’s broken.”

. . . .

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

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

Meanwhile, the GOP’s proposal to essentially end asylum — going well beyond the unfair and unduly restrictive policies already imposed by the Administration — has been condemned in the strongest possible terms by human rights and immigration experts. For example, here’s what Professor Karen Musalo, Founder & Director of the Center For Gender & Refugee Studies at Hastings Law, and an internationally-renowned human rights expert, said yesterday:

CGRS Urges Senators to Reject GOP Push to End Asylum

Nov 28, 2023

As negotiations over President Biden’s supplemental funding request continue, the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies (CGRS) urges lawmakers to reject Republican-led proposals that would upend the U.S. asylum system and eviscerate life-saving protections for people fleeing persecution and torture. If enacted, they would erase our longstanding tradition of welcoming asylum seekers and lead to the wrongful return of refugees to countries where they face persecution or torture, in violation of international law.

“These radical proposals amount to a complete abandonment of the U.S. government’s legal and moral obligations to extend protection to refugees fleeing persecution,” Karen Musalo, Director of the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies (CGRS), said today. “In practice, they would result in the persecution, torture, and deaths of families, children, and adults seeking safe haven at our nation’s doorstep. It is utterly shameful that Republican lawmakers are attempting to exploit the budget negotiations process to advance an extremist, anti-immigrant and anti-refugee agenda. The lives of people seeking asylum are not political bargaining chips. We urge lawmakers to join Senator Padilla and other congressional leaders in rejecting these cynical proposals.”

https://cgrs.uclawsf.edu/news/cgrs-urges-senators-reject-gop-push-end-asylum

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

Read the complete Politico article at the first link above.

To me, expressions like “attention” and “bipartisan progress” used by Dem politicos in connection with the Southern border are “code words” for appeasing the GOP nativist right by agreeing to “more border militarization” and “abrogation of the human rights of refugees and asylees!”

I see little “attention” or “bipartisan progress” being discussed on measures that, unlike the GOP “end of asylum/uber enforcement” proposals, would actually address the humanitarian situation on the border (and elsewhere) in a constructive and positive manner:

More, better trained, expert Immigration Judges and Asylum Officers;
Organized resettlement assistance and expedited work authorization for asylum applicants;
Legal assistance for asylum seekers;
An independent Article I Immigration Court;
Revision of the refugee definition to more clearly cover forms of gender-based persecution;
Increased DHS funding for sophisticated undercover and anti-smuggling operations targeting smugglers and cartels;
Adjustment of status for long-term TPS holders.

These are the types effective measures that have long been recommended by experts, yet widely ignored or even directly contravened by those in power. The negative results of “enforcement only” and “extreme cruelty” at the border are obvious in today’s continuing humanitarian situation.

The idea that a forced migration emergency will be “solved” by more draconian enforcement, eradication of human rights, and elimination of due process, as touted by GOP nativists, is a preposterous! Yet, many Dems seem ready, even anxious, to throw asylum applicants and their advocates under the bus — once again!

Unhappily, Congress and the Biden Administration have paid scant attention to the views of experts and those actually involved in relieving the plight of asylum seekers at the border. The politicos continue to dehumanize and demean forced migrants while stubbornly treating a human rights emergency as a “law enforcement crisis” that can be solved with more cruelty and repression.

As experts like Karen Musalo continue to point out, experience shows us that more deterrence and harshness will only make things worse, squandering resources and attention that could more effectively be used to address and alleviate unnecessary human suffering and finally making our refugee and asylum systems function in a fair and efficient manner.

Yet, politicos are more interested in grandstanding, “victim shaming,” and finger pointing than in achieving success and harnessing the positive potential of forced migration for countries like ours fortunate enough to be “receivers” rather than “senders!”

Ending asylum will NOT stop refugees from coming — at least in the long run. Every Administration manipulates or misrepresents statistics to show immediate “deterrent” effect from their latest restrictionist gimmicks (some ruled illegal by Federal Courts). But such “bogus successes” are never durable!

As the current situation shows, decades of failed deterrence merely creates new flows, in different places, piles up more dead migrant bodies, and surrenders the control of border policies to smugglers and cartels. That, in turn, fuels calls by restrictionists and their enablers for harsher, crueler, and ever more expensive (and profitable to some) sanctions imposed on some of the world’s most vulnerable humans.

If asylum ends, America will find itself with a larger, less controllable reality of a growing underground population of extralegal migrants. Contrary to nativist alarmism, this population has remained largely stable recently.

But, that will change as the legal asylum system contracts. Right now, most asylum seekers either apply at ports of entry (often undergoing unreasonable and dangerous waits and struggling with the dysfunctional “CBP One App”) or voluntarily surrender to CBP shortly after entering between ports. The GOP and Dem “go alongs” are determined to change that so that those seeking refuge will have no choice but to be smuggled into the interior where they can become lost in the general population.

This, in turn, will fuel demands by GOP White Nationalists and their Dem enablers for even more expensive and ultimately ineffective border militarization. It will also turn DHS into an internal security police.

Unable to “ferret out” and remove the underground population — because, in fact, they look, act, and are in many cases indistinguishable from native-born Americans and often perform essential services — they will concentrate on harassing and spreading fear among minority populations in America. Also, Trump has also promised that if re-elected, he will abuse his Executive authority to punish his critics and political opponents. Further empowerment of DHS in the interior would be handy in this respect.

Underground populations are also more susceptible to exploitation — another unstated objective of GOP restrictionist policies. What’s better for employers than a disenfranchised workforce who can be fired and turned over to DHS if they demand fair wages or better treatment?

Senate Dems appear to be on the verge of doing precisely what Karen and other experts have repeatedly warned against: using the lives and rights of asylum seekers as a “political bargaining chip” to appease the GOP right and secure military funding for Israel and Ukraine. It’s exactly what happens when experts and those with “on the ground” experience dealing with forced migrants are “locked out of the room” where decisions are made!

While White Nationalist neo-fascists like Stephen Miller and his cronies have remained “at the heart” of GOP policy making on eradicating human rights and punishing asylum seekers, lifetime experts on human rights and asylum find themselves reduced to the role of “outside critics” and “kibitzers” as the Dem Administration and Senate Dems bumble along on the border and human rights. That’s a shame that will certainly diminish and threaten the future of American democracy! And, it’s hard to see how appeasing the GOP restrictionist right will help Dems in 2024!

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

11-29-23

🇺🇸🗽⚖️ ANDY J. SEMOTIUK @ FORBES: A 5-MINUTE “PLAIN ENGLISH” READ (OR LISTEN) WITH TRUTH & CLARITY ABOUT ASYLUM & IMMIGRATION POLICY — “In short, national leaders must prioritize bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform and give it enough focus, time and effort for it to be achieved. There is just no other way!”

https://www-forbes-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.forbes.com/sites/andyjsemotiuk/2023/11/16/the-best-way-forward-on-immigration-reform-in-america/amp/

Three principles are at the core of Andy’s article:

. . . .

International Obligations and Refugee Protection

Key international obligations regarding refugees also play a crucial role in shaping the discourse. The United States, as a signatory to the 1967 Protocol to the United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, is bound by several obligations, including:

Non-refoulement: Prohibiting the return of refugees to countries where they would face persecution or harm based on their race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group.

Access to asylum procedures: Ensuring a fair and accessible process for individuals to seek asylum and present their claims for protection.

Non-discrimination: Preventing discrimination against refugees based on factors such as nationality or place of entry.

. . . .

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

Read the complete article at the link!

I think that the U.S. is in violation of all three of these essential, mandatory legal obligations.

Gimmicks like Title 42, “Remain in Mexico,” coercive detention, “CBP One,” and artificial roadblocks for those applying between ports of entry have violated and continue to violate our “non-refoulment” obligation.

These provisions, along with conducting interviews in detention settings, improperly limiting access to representation, and “expedited dockets” to limit the ability to prepare and present claims are examples of violations of our obligation to provide “fair access” to our asylum system.

And, by intentionally designing our system to discourage and deny applicants of color from the Western Hemisphere, Africa, and Muslim nations, and imposing illegal higher burdens on those not applying at ports of entry, we clearly are violating the “non-discrimination” requirement.

The GOP answer is simply to double down on the violations and abrogate our domestic and international obligations. While the Biden Administration at least nominally acknowledges these obligations, their actions and policies, some actually carried over or borrowed from the Trump Administration, blatantly undermine these principles of protection.

Indeed, the whole “movement” by both parties to use the refugee/asylum system for “rejection and deterrence” rather than “enhanced protection” is a “bipartisan legal and moral travesty!”

What if our “number one priority” was what it should be: Establish a world-class, expert, efficient, robust, generous system that is driven by, and true to, these three governing obligations?

Only after achieving that can we discuss and achieve “border security” in a realistic and effective manner! And, it couldn’t possibly be more expensive, in both fiscal terms and human lives cost, than decades of costly failed deterrence gimmicks and schemes! It’s a case of badly screwed up priorities aggravated by political cowardice!

Institutionalized cruelty, deterrence, and unlawful behavior by our Government has failed to create order at the border and has demonstrably destroyed or diminished human lives. Why not give adherence to laws and to humanitarian values and principles a chance?🤯

We can diminish ourselves as a nation, but it won’t stop human migration!

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

11-25-23

☠️🏴‍☠️ BORDER REALITY: TRAUMA TO THOSE SEEKING ASYLUM AT BORDER STARKLY CONTRASTS WITH POLS’, MEDIA’S “OPEN BORDERS” MYTH! — Women’s Refugee Commission (“WRC”) Releases New Report: “This reinforces yet again that the asylum ban does not appear to have any deterrence effect on their decision to seek protection in the United States and instead simply results in chaos and harm.”

Katharina Obser
Director of Migrants Rights and Justice
Women’s Refugee Commission
PHOTO: Women’s Refugee Commission website

Close to San Diego, California, hundreds of people seeking asylum are being held in deplorable conditions. So-called open-air detention sites are desolate areas in the US at or close to the US-Mexico border, where men, women, and children seeking protection wait outside, exposed to the elements. Nonprofit organizations and volunteers do their best to provide desperately needed water, meals, snacks, first aid, diapers, clothing, and blankets.

Last month, the Women’s Refugee Commission traveled to San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico, to assess the conditions that people seeking asylum at the US-Mexico border face. Our short report, released today, is heartbreaking. We heard about families being separated. About people scared to go to hospital for treatment in case they aren’t reunited with their loved ones. And about rampant exploitation of people seeking asylum as they travel through Mexico to reach the United States.

READ OUR NEW REPORT

We will use our findings to advocate that the Biden administration rescind its asylum ban; ends the use open-air detention sites; and that Congress significantly increase investment in organizations providing short-term aid, housing, and services. And we will continue to call for those seeking asylum to be treated humanely and with dignity.

Katharina Obser
Director, Migrant Rights and Justice Program

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Compare this with the “border BS” spread by the GOP and the media that ignores the human and legal traumas at the border and falsely insists that competently administering domestic and international refugee and asylum laws is “mission impossible” for the world’s most prosperous superpower.

It appears that the politicos are too busy spreading lies and myths about the most vulnerable among us to solve problems in a humane, reasonable, and efficient manner!

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

11-24-23

🦃 TALKING TURKEY @ THANKSGIVING DINNER — Handy Facts About Immigration To Educate Those Who Bring Nativist Myths To The Dinner Table — An NILC Primer! — “[E]ach conversation contributes to building a more informed and compassionate society.“

Paul, the holiday season is a time filled with joy, festivities, and yes, perhaps even a few challenging political discussions at the dinner table.

Most of us can relate to that moment when someone decides to bring up a political topic just as the turkey is being carved, or right before dessert. Our country is undeniably divided, and sometimes these divisive conversations can even make their way into our family gatherings.

The NILC-IJF team is committed to equipping you with the tools and information you may need to navigate tough conversations on immigration this holiday season.

Here are a few quick facts to keep in your back pocket:

When someone mentions the so-called “border crisis”…
- There is not a “border crisis,” but rather a humanitarian crisis at our border.
- This humanitarian crisis has worsened over the years because of an overwhelming backlog of cases, resources not being funneled to lawful and humane processing, and harmful policy choices, such as the implementation of the Title 42 expulsion order. These choices have decimated our asylum system, making it almost impossible for people fleeing violence and seeking safety to access their legal right to seek asylum.
When someone starts talking about DACA…
- DACA recipients contribute so much to our communities — they are students, teachers, nurses, doctors, and loved ones who have lived in the U.S. for most of their lives.
- Year after year, in poll after poll, a majority of Americans across party lines support Congress passing a pathway to citizenship for immigrant youth.
- In fact, a survey from Pew Research Center found that 74% of Americans support a law that would provide permanent legal status for immigrant youth.
When someone mentions taxes or the economy…
- Undocumented immigrants pay billions of dollars in federal, state, and local taxes nationwide (Source: Internal Revenue Service).
- Immigrants play a crucial role in contributing to the U.S. economy, starting businesses, creating jobs, and driving innovation.
- According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, immigrants were responsible for over half of the U.S. startup companies valued at $1 billion or more in 2020.

Engaging in difficult political conversations with family and friends is a crucial step in advocating for immigrants’ rights. Sometimes, it only takes one conversation to make a difference, while other times, it may take many more. But each conversation contributes to building a more informed and compassionate society.

Thank you for taking the time to read through the quick facts we shared above, and we hope they are helpful if someone brings up immigration this holiday season.

Sincerely,

— NILC Immigrant Justice Fund

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Paid for by NILC Immigrant Justice Fund, immigrantjusticefund.org, not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.

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Yes, I know that the “rule of thumb” is to avoid politics, religion, and other potentially divisive topics at the Thanksgiving table. But, not everybody follows the rules. So, it’s always prudent to be prepared.

Sadly, according to this highly negative article by Aaron Blake in today’s WashPost, on immigration, the border, and human rights, truth is losing out to myth, even among some Dems. See, e.g., https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/11/21/democrats-border-problem-is-getting-real/.

Aaron gives a very one-sided report: No mention of the plight of migrants arriving at the border, what forces them to leave their homes, the largely artificially-created obstacles they face in presenting their legal claims, and the extraordinary efforts of many NGOs, religious groups, local governments, bar associations and other informed humanitarians to take up the slack left by the cruel stunts of GOP nativist governors and the lack of effective planning and coordination by the Federal Government. See, e.g., https://immigrationcourtside.com/2023/11/21/%F0%9F%87%BA%F0%9F%87%B8%F0%9F%97%BD%E2%9A%96%EF%B8%8F%F0%9F%98%87-the-story-the-mainstream-media-ignores-faith-commnities-in-chicago-continue-to-aid-forced-migrants-despite-gop-stu/. Unfortunately, for many, perception, no matter how distorted or inaccurate, becomes their reality!

Courtland Milloy
Columnist
WashPost
PHOTO: WashPost

We can’t give up on advancing and advocating for truth, hope, and humanity over myths, fear, loathing, and misunderstanding! In that respect, this more hopeful article by local columnist Courtland Milloy in today’s WashPost illustrates how a diverse group of his “Gen Z” students are embracing rational dialogue and problem solving to build a better future! https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/11/21/courtland-milloy-northern-virginia-community-college/. Courtland observes:

Having access to a supportive community college such as NOVA, where an international student body tends to coalesce around a common struggle to make it against the odds, added to the students’ sense of optimism about their future.

Immigration, of all types, can and should be a source of optimism and dynamism for the future! But, it won’t happen unless we are willing to take on the myths and naysayers head-on with truth and reality!

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

11-22-23

🇺🇸🗽⚖️😇 THE STORY THE “MAINSTREAM MEDIA” IGNORES: Faith Commnities In Chicago Continue To Aid Forced Migrants Despite GOP Stunts & Feds’ Indifference!

From Rev. Craig Mousin:

Dear Paul,

I trust you are well. You might be interested in the 2023 Annual meeting of Chicago’s Community Renewal Society as it focused on the bussing of asylum-seekers to Chicago and the response of faith communities and community-based organizations:

Although many reports in the media critique Chicago and other major cities response to southern governors who bus asylum-seekers and newcomers from the southern border to Chicago, we have not heard as much about the outpouring of support and hospitality offered by Chicagoans through faith communities, community-based organizations, and volunteers. The held its 2023 Virtual Meeting on November 9, 2023, to highlight some of that hospitality and welcome. You can view the entire meeting at the link below. You will hear some great preaching about Chicago faith communities’ responses from Rev. Dr. Waltrina Middleton, CRS Executive Director, (starting at 0.15), and Rev. Dr. Beth Brown, Pastor at Lincoln Park Presbyterian Church (starting at 30.16). Fasika Alem, Programs Director of the United African Organization described their work as part of the Sanctuary Working Group (starting at 7:56). I provided a brief review of the Refugee Act of 1980 and a description of former Mayor Harold Washington’s first Executive Order banning city cooperation with federal immigration enforcement agents (starting at 44:30). You can view the entire meeting at: https://www.communityrenewalsociety.org/videos/v/2023ama #CRSAMA2023

Please share this resource regarding CRS and Chicago faith communities’ responses to migrants arriving in Chicago. If you would like more information about Mayor Harold Washington’s first Executive Order and the coalition that supported the welcome of immigrants and refugees to Chicago, see my article in the Southern Illinois Law Journal: “A Clear View from the Prairie: Harold Washington and the People of Illinois Respond to Federal Encroachment of Human Rights,” 29 S. Ill. L. J. 285 (Fall, 2004/Winter, 2005): https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2997657

If you have any questions, please let me know.

Best wishes for a blessed and Happy Thanksgiving.

Craig

Craig B. Mousin

You can find some of my publications at either:

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=667812or

https://works.bepress.com/craig_mousin/

You can find my digital story at:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9VTkjhzIcI

You can follow the podcast Lawful Assembly at:https://lawfulassembly.buzzsprout.com

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Thanks, Craig!

Human migration is inevitable and has huge benefits to societies that learn how to deal with it in a robust, legal, humane, realistic manner, rather than exhibiting “fear and loathing.” See, e.g., https://www.forbes.com/sites/andyjsemotiuk/2023/11/15/new-report-details-huge-contribution-immigrants-are-making-to-america/.

Yet, the so-called “mainstream media” exhibits little interest in the realities and benefits of migration. Instead they prefer to uncritically repeat White Nationalist “talking points” about “invasions,” “burdens,” “costs,” and “unprecedented crises.”

They also regularly blur the distinction between “unauthorized entrants” and the many asylum seekers who are screened and allowed into the U.S. to exercise their legal rights to apply for protection under U.S. and international laws (in, I might add, a legal system intentionally stacked against them). Such individuals are here with official permission; they are “NOT” “illegal entrants” as White Nationalists like to incorrectly characterize them. Indeed, the “scofflaws” here are actually those who seek to deny both the humanity and the legal rights of asylum seekers!

The Administration aggravates this situation by failing to speak out forcibly in favor of immigrants’ rights and the realities and benefits of immigration. They also have not developed a coordinated reception and resettlement approach to combat the shenanigans of GOP nativist governors and politicos. The Dems thus have mistakenly turned the initiative on human rights and immigration over to haters, nativists, and fabricators — folks with no interest whatsoever in instituting humanity, efficiency, and the rule of law at the border!

Thus, the truth about immigration and its benefits as well as humane, realistic ways of improving our immigration system (including the process for accepting refugees and asylees) remains largely hidden “beneath the radar screen.”

Jorge Gonzalez, Esquire
Senior Counsel, Patent Litigation
AbbVie
PHOTO: Linkedin

In a recent post, Attorney Jorge Gonzalez stated his actual experience helping asylum seekers at the southern border:

I interviewed many migrants awaiting their credible fear interview. All of them suffered persecution during their time in Mexico, whether they were robbed by police, cartel members, or ordinary citizens. Many were kidnapped and held for ransom. Some had group members that did not finish the journey.

⚖️🗽🇺🇸 AT THE BORDER: AS WHITE NATIONALIST CANDIDATE TAKES CAMPAIGN OF HATE, LIES, & RACISM TO THE BORDER, JORGE GONZALEZ, ESQUIRE, REFLECTS ON A WEEK OF HELPING PEOPLE STRUGGLING TO SURVIVE & ASSERT LEGAL RIGHTS ROUTINELY DENIED TO THEM!

This speaks loudly about those, from both parties, who seek to impose “gimmicks” and “further restrictions” at our already over-militarized border that would “deter” legal asylum seekers by forcing them to remain in Mexico or denying them fair hearings on their applications. The question of “right or wrong” here is not fairly debatable! Intentionally mistreating asylum seekers is wrong from both a legal and a moral standpoint! Yet, one sure wouldn’t know that from listening to the “mainstream media!”

The GOP prefers demagoguery to truth. Meanwhile, the Dems are scared to embrace the truth about immigration.

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

11-21-23

Giovanna writes:

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

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A new “white paper” investigation from UCLA Center for Immigration Law and Policy documents shocking abuses already being inflicted on children Immigration Court even as Congress and the Administration look for more ways to strip asylum seekers of legal rights and human dignity:

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

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FROM X:

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Maria Sachetti reports for WashPost:

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Dan writes on Substack:

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Jennifer Habercorn and Burgess Everett report for Politico:

CGRS Urges Senators to Reject GOP Push to End Asylum

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From Rev. Craig Mousin:

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

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