Health – Page 2 – immigrationcourtside.com

CLOSE THE PRISONS FOR THOSE WHO AREN’T CRIMINALS IN THE FIRST PLACE! — 3,000 Experts Press For Migrants’ Release From Trump’s Gulag!

Professor César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández
Denver Sturm Law

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/19/opinion/coronavirus-immigration-prisons.html

By César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández and Carlos Moctezuma García in The NY Times:

Inside an immigration court in southern Texas this week, a judge asked one of us to stand at the far end of the courtroom and not submit any documents on behalf of a client, perhaps as a health precaution. Inside a nearby federal court, dozens of migrants were being processed for violating federal immigration law. The coronavirus has paused most of our lives. But for migrants, life under a pandemic looks a lot like life before it: suffering because President Trump has an insatiable appetite for imprisoning migrants.

It’s time to shut down immigration prisons.

Across the country, the federal government locks up tens of thousands of people every day who are suspected of violating immigration law. The Border Patrol crams people into holding cells that resemble large kennels. Immigration and Customs Enforcement runs a network of hundreds of prisons — from a county jail north of Boston to an 1,100-bed facility tucked in a southern Texas wildlife refuge. While it’s good that ICE will stop some immigration enforcement, it should release the detainees in its custody. Another government agency, the Marshals Service, holds thousands more who are being prosecuted for violating criminal immigration law.

No matter which agency is in charge, there are only two reasons recognized under U.S. law to confine these people: flight risk or dangerousness. But in this moment, the risks to life and public health that come with imprisoning migrants far outweigh either reason.

Image

A protest against migrant detention centers in Los Angeles last year.

Credit…

Ronen Tivony/SOPA Images — LightRocket, via Getty Images

Decades of research teaches us that crime goes down as the migrant population goes up. On top of that, pilot projects going back decades show that with the right support, migrants almost always do as they are asked. Inside immigration prisons, there are children too young even to tie their shoelaces. Families of asylum seekers hold on to the hope that in the United States, they might find refuge. There are longtime permanent residents with families, careers and homes here. Few have any history of violence. Most have powerful incentives to build lives just as ordinary as the rest of ours.

. . . .

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

https://apple.news/Aqvg6fBneSUWVSl192qWCsA

J. Edward Moreno reports in The Hill:

More than 3,000 medical professionals are calling on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to release detainees amid the coronavirus pandemic.

In an open letter, the clinicians said the conditions inside detention facilities make it easy for the virus to spread and difficult for those in custody to seek medical attention.

“We strongly recommend that ICE implement community-based alternatives to detention to alleviate the mass overcrowding in detention facilities,” they said. “Individuals and families, particularly the most vulnerable—the elderly, pregnant women, people with serious mental illness, and those at higher risk of complications— should be released while their legal cases are being processed to avoid preventable deaths and mitigate the harm from a COVID-19 outbreak.”

The letter points to the spread of disease public health officials have seen in places like nursing homes, such as Life Care Center in Kirkland, Wash., where more than half of residents have tested positive for the virus and more than 20 percent have died in the past month.

“Considering the extreme risk presented by these conditions in light of the global COVID-19 epidemic, it is impossible to ensure that detainees will be in a ‘safe, secure and humane environment,’ as ICE’s own National Detention Standards state,” the letter added.

Since the start of the outbreak, some have raised concerns about immigration policies.

In February, Rep. Norma Torres (D-Calif.) wrote a letter to the administration’s coronavirus task force and later led a group of Democrats asking them to stop the implementation of the “public charge” rule amid the spread of COVID-19.

On Monday the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit against ICE, calling them to release migrants in civil detention at the Tacoma Northwest Detention Center who are at high risk for serious illness or death if a COVID-19 outbreak spreads to the facility.

. . . .

*******************
Read both of the foregoing articles in their entirety at the respective links.

OK, here’s my prediction: DHS will hold migrants until coronavirus breaks out “big time” in the Gulag and folks start getting sick and dying. At that point, DHS will dump them on the streets to fend for themselves. DHS will disclaim any responsibility, blaming the deaths and public health risks on the victims, their attorneys, judges, asylum laws, “sanctuary cities,” Democrats, and countries that decline to accept deportees.

What a great time for the fools at the BIA to make it virtually impossible for asylum seekers to get released from detention! https://immigrationcourtside.com/2020/03/18/latest-outrage-from-falls-church-bia-ignores-facts-abuses-discretion-to-deny-bond-to-asylum-seeker-matter-of-r-a-v-p-27-in-dec-803-bia-2020/

Politically biased, anti-asylum decision making by “judges” who work for the regime actually kills!

And, we should never forget that the Gulag, the BIA, and many other aspects of this politically biased, irrational, unconstitutional system that threatens human lives and debases humanity only continue to operate because of the fecklessness of Congress and the complicity of Article III Courts.

Due Process Forever! The New American Gulag Never!

PWS

03-19-20

UPDATE: FROM IMMPROF: U.S. Court in Seattle stuffs ACLU’s bid to spring vulnerable migrants from Gulag!

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/immigration/2020/03/federal-court-denies-aclu-request-for-release-of-vulnerable-immigrant-detainees-in-seattle.html

Let’s see. We know conditions are bad in DHS facilities, and 3,000 health professionals say that the Gulag is a “coronavirus trap” waiting to happen. Many localities are releasing nonviolent criminals as a prudent measure to prevent the spread of disease.

But, the judge thinks it’s a great idea to wait and see if the disaster happens and the bodies stack up. By then, of course, it will be too late to stop the spread. But, I guess the judge is very confident that ICE practices “social distancing” and carefully wipes everything down in their Gulags. What could possibly go wrong?

As an incidental point, how would you like to be on the staff of one these high-risk prisons?

Gotta hope the judge is right for everyone’s sake. But, I greatly fear he’s wrong. Dead wrong!

PWS

03-20-20

UPDATE:

From: Matt Adams, Northwest Immigrant Rights Project [mailto:matt@nwirp.org]
Sent: Thursday, March 19, 2020 5:10 PM
To: Dan Kowalski
Subject: NWIRP and ACLU Statement on Court Refusal to Release People at High-Risk of COVID-19

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NWIRP and ACLU Statement on Court Refusal to Release People at High-Risk of COVID-19

March 19th, 2020

Media contacts

Matt Adams, Legal Director, NWIRP

(206) 957-8611, matt@nwirp.org

Hannah Johnson, ACLU

(650) 464-1698, hjohnson@aclu.org

SEATTLE, WA — A federal district court ruled today that it will not immediately release immigrants detained at the Tacoma Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington, as requested in a lawsuit filed Monday against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The suit — filed by Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (NWIRP), the American Civil Liberties Union, and the ACLU of Washington — sought the release of people in civil detention who are at high risk for serious illness or death in the event of COVID-19 infection due to their age and / or underlying medical conditions. The court indicated that it would continue to consider the case, particularly as the situation related to COVID-19 rapidly evolves.

Public health experts have repeatedly warned that release of vulnerable people from custody is critical in light of the lack of a vaccine, treatment, or cure for COVID-19 — both for the health and safety of people in detention, as well as for the staff who work at these facilities and the communities they return home to every day. As the healthcare system in the Seattle-area is increasingly overwhelmed with COVID-19 cases, this step is urgent to reducing the toll on its infrastructure.

Matt Adams, legal director for NWIRP, issued the following statement:

“We strongly disagree with ICE’s assertion that the harm is not imminent simply because ICE has not yet publicly confirmed any cases of COVID 19 at the NWDC,” said Matt Adams. “We will continue pushing forward to challenge the detention of our vulnerable clients during this pandemic. I just hope our clients do not succumb to severe illness or death before we can procure their release.”

Eunice Cho, senior staff attorney at the ACLU’s National Prison Project, issued the following statement:

“We will continue to fight for our clients, who face tremendous danger to their health while in detention. Public health officials are in agreement — it is not a matter of if there is a COVID-19 outbreak in immigrant detention centers, but when. ICE should heed their warning. By refusing to immediately release our clients, ICE is jeopardizing their lives and the lives of its staff and their families.”

You can read the today’s order here

About Northwest Immigrant Rights Project

Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (NWIRP) is a nationally-recognized legal services organization founded in 1984. Each year, NWIRP provides direct legal assistance in immigration matters to over 10,000 low-income people from over 130 countries, speaking over 60 languages and dialects. NWIRP also strives to achieve systemic change to policies and practices affecting immigrants through impact litigation, public policy work, and community education. Visit their website at www.nwirp.org and follow them on Twitter @nwirp.

FOLLOW NWIRP

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Northwest Immigrant Rights Project | 615 2nd Avenue , Suite 400 , Seattle, WA 98104

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STUPIDITY ISN’T JUST FOR THE YOUNG: IT’S ENDEMIC IN THE GOP: Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) 🤡🤡🤡🤡 Is Just The Latest To Demonstrate Why Throwing The GOP Out Of Office At All Levels Must Be Our Highest National Priority!

https://apple.news/AVg2viCFHQWG9XWU6P3SXfg

Caroline Kelly reports for CNN:

Republican Sen. Ron Johnson cast doubt on the severity of federally issued guidance aimed at staunching the spread of the novel coronavirus, urging people to consider the economic drawbacks of the recommendations as health officials plead with the American public to heed them.

“I’m not denying what a nasty disease COVID-19 can be, and how it’s obviously devastating to somewhere between 1 and 3.4 percent of the population,” Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Tuesday. “But that means 97 to 99 percent will get through this and develop immunities and will be able to move beyond this.”

“But we don’t shut down our economy because tens of thousands of people die on the highways. It’s a risk we accept so we can move about,” Johnson continued, in apparent reference to recent guidance issued at the federal and state levels for people to avoid large groups and stay away from bars, restaurants and other businesses to help blunt the spread of coronavirus. “We don’t shut down our economies because tens of thousands of people die from the common flu.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has urged Americans to practice social distancing, and the White House on Monday issued guidelines that all Americans avoid gathering in groups of more than 10, avoid non-essential travel and that urged older people to stay at home.

The recommendations — which come as the coronavirus continues to take hold in the US with at least 8,525 cases and 145 deaths as of Wednesday night — has caused some states and cities to implement drastic regulations on businesses. But the death toll from the virus, the nation’s top infectious disease expert has warned, depends on how seriously Americans commit to the actions necessary to curb the outbreak.

Johnson said that he was not discrediting those restrictions, but said they were disproportionate to the virus’ actual threat.

“I really don’t want to say that” efforts to contain the virus have gone too far, Johnson said. “It may be exactly what we need to do. But again, what I do want to do is put this all in perspective as we move forward here.”

. . . .

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

Read the rest of Caroline’s article at the above link.

Hey Ron, 1% of the U.S. population would only be 3.3 million. 3.4% would be around 11.2 million. But, who cares about little stats like that?

And, Ronnie, my man, here’s what experts say could happen in the U.S. if others do as you suggest and put short-term economic considerations over public health:

Between 160 million and 214 million people in the United States could be infected over the course of the epidemic, according to a projection that encompasses the range of the four scenarios. That could last months or even over a year, with infections concentrated in shorter periods, staggered across time in different communities, experts said. As many as 200,000 to 1.7 million people could die.

And, the calculations based on the C.D.C.’s scenarios suggested, 2.4 million to 21 million people in the United States could require hospitalization, potentially crushing the nation’s medical system, which has only about 925,000 staffed hospital beds. Fewer than a tenth of those are for people who are critically ill.

The assumptions fueling those scenarios are mitigated by the fact that cities, states, businesses and individuals are beginning to take steps to slow transmission, even if some are acting less aggressively than others. The C.D.C.-led effort is developing more sophisticated models showing how interventions might decrease the worst-case numbers, though their projections have not been made public.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/13/us/coronavirus-deaths-estimate.html?referringSource=articleShare

200,000 to 2.1 million dead! While those might be “little numbers“ to you, Ronnie, I’m guessing they will seem rather serious to the families of those who needlessly die! Could cause quite a stench if all of those bodies were piled up at your door! Perhaps taking an “economic hit” that is more or less inevitable in the time of worldwide pandemic anyway is better than running the risk of killing hundreds of thousands to millions, something that appears to have gone over Ronnie’s head.

Scary as the image might be, Johnson actually would be more at home with the young idiots partying down on Clearwater Beach. The thought of him as a legislator is positively terrifying.

Unfortunately, Wisconsin voters won’t be able to oust this fool they have inflicted on America until 2022. But, the rest of us could be saving our country and our lives if we get rid of Mitch and the GOP wrecking crew in November! That would consign Ron and others like him to the “back benches” where they could do less damage to our nation until the time comes when they can be voted out of office.

“Four Clowns” for you, Ronnie!🤡🤡🤡🤡

Vote ‘Em Out!

PWS

03-19-20

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

UPDATE FROM THE GUARDIAN: FAUCI RIPS JOHNSON FOR DANGEROUS STUPIDITY:

Dr Anthony Fauci criticized senator Ron Johnson for downplaying the threat of coronavirus and questioning the drastic government response to it.

“I’m not denying what a nasty disease COVID-19 can be, and how it’s obviously devastating to somewhere between 1 and 3.4 percent of the population,” Johnson saidearlier this week.

“But that means 97 to 99 percent will get through this and develop immunities and will be able to move beyond this. But we don’t shut down our economy because tens of thousands of people die on the highways.

Fauci said it was a “false equivalency to compare traffic accidents” to coronavirus and emphasized a drastic response was necessary when a new and dangerously contagious virus was uncovered.

Last Updated: 13:05 Friday, 20 March 2020

29m ago

HERE’S WHAT’S NEW IN IMMIGRATION: PRISCILLA ALVAREZ @ CNN GIVES US A NICE CONCISE LIST OF 12 MAJOR CHANGES BROUGHT ABOUT BY CORONAVIRUS!

https://apple.news/ACTEYnrSLRfWcWwTWOOBfyQ

Priscilla writes:

As the United States responds to the coronavirus pandemic, the Trump administration has made sweeping changes to the country’s immigration apparatus, altering daily operations and disrupting the lives of thousands.

In a little over a week, there have been a dozen changes, ranging from postponing immigration hearings to pausing deportation flights to certain countries and suspending refugee admissions. The tweaks to the system are being made incrementally, though rapidly, as the pandemic spreads across the country.

Against the backdrop of the coronavirus outbreak, the Trump administration is also trying to move forward with some of its most restrictionist policies that have struggled to be put into practice, including blocking entry to asylum seekers.

President Donald Trump confirmed he’s planning to bar entry to migrants during a White House briefing Wednesday. “The answer’s yes,” Trump said when asked if he was planning to take that step, which he said would come “very soon,” adding, “Probably today.”

Below is a list of the changes to the immigration system over recent days:

. . . .

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

Read the complete article with Priscilla’s list at the link.

What if our “immigration bureaucracy” provided information in such a clear and timely manner as Priscilla? Thanks, Priscilla for your constant excellent reporting and for all you do for our society. Truly, one of many “heroes” out there!

PWS

03-19-20

GIMMIE A BREAK: YOUNG, DUMB, AND SELFISH IN THE AGE OF TRUMP — The Rest Of Us Are Fighting To Save The Future For These Self-Centered, Overprivileged, Clueless Clowns?🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡

Ed Mazza reports for HuffPost:

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/coronavirus-spring-break_n_5e72e7e3c5b63c3b648a40a6

Some young spring breakers insist the party’s on and they’re planning to keep at it despite pleas from health authorities to help stop the spread of the coronavirus.

“If I get corona, I get corona,” Brady Sluder, an Ohio resident on spring break in Florida, told Reuters. “At the end of the day, I’m not gonna let it stop me from partying.”

He was hardly alone.

Footage from Florida over the weekend showed packed beaches even though last week the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other authorities issued warnings to avoid crowds and keep in small groups as “social distancing” measures to hinder the spread of the virus.

Early reports suggested that younger people may be less susceptible to COVID-19. However, new data from the CDC showed that nearly 40% of those who required hospitalization for the infection were between the ages of 20 and 54. Even if they don’t get sick, people in this age group could pass the virus on to more vulnerable populations, especially older people.

“You have a responsibility ― a societal responsibility ― to protect the vulnerable,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on CNN on Wednesday. “You do that, interestingly, by not letting yourself get infected.”

As of Wednesday, more than 9,400 Americans have been infected and 150 have died.

Interviews with some of the spring breakers showed that they didn’t seem too concerned.

. . . .

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

Read the complete article, along with interviews of some of the “dumbest of the dumb” at the link.

How very discouraging! And, to me, rather surprising, yet enlightening. Usually, I’m a “dissenter” when groups of “my generation” criticize the younger generations.

I deal with students on a regular basis as an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown Law, and as a guest lecturer at colleges, universities, and seminars. Many of them are also “in touch” with me through “Courtside.” They form the core of the “New Due Process Army.”

These are the kinds of young people who spend spring break helping migrants at the border, summers in refugee camps, and internships giving “know your rights” presentations in migrant detention centers.

A number of them have volunteered to serve in “high risk locations” where most of us would fear to go, to help their fellow human beings and make the world a better place. Many of them are multilingual and also engaged in research and scholarship in human rights. I remember having interns at the Arlington Immigration Court whose lists of publications and achievements would have made many professors envious.

Indeed, one of our former interns organized an “Alternate Spring Break” at her law school consisting of lectures and panel discussions with immigration experts that I was privileged to be a part of. Another helped start an Immigration Law Group at her school and led them on a spring break trip to the Southern Border to help organizations assisting detained asylum seekers.

I also saw many young migrants who came before me in court. A number of them had made death-defying journeys to get here, had mastered English in a short time, were doing well in school, and also working jobs and helping take care of their families. Some of them even found time to engage in extracurricular activities.

Of course, I also saw a few “bad actors” who had “gone off the path” and gotten themselves into detention. But, these were certainly the minority.

Guess I’m just “out of touch” with the “clueless Spring Break crowd.” Probably just as well. What horrible role models! And, I predict that many of these selfish nincompoops will live to regret the moronic interviews and videos now posted all over the internet.

Due Process Forever. Selfish, Clueless Spring Breakers, Never!

“Clueless Spring Breakers” get this week’s coveted “Courtside Five Clown Award,” marking the first time this prestigious award has ever been given to a person or group who was NOT a member of the Trump regime!

🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡

PWS

03-20-207

KAKISTOCRACY’S COSTS: Trump’s Obsession With Immigration Enforcement @ DHS Strips Competent Leadership, Kneecaps Ability To Protect National Security, Endangers Employees & Public!

Two items. First, Shannon Pettypiece @ NBC News:

Shannon Petteypiece — Shannon Pettypiece
Senior White House Correspondent
NBC News Digital

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/dhs-faces-coronavirus-scores-vacancies-leadership-vacuum-n1160946

WASHINGTON — As President Donald Trump imposes sweeping entry restrictions in a bid to stop the spread of the coronavirus — and considers still more — he’s relying on an agency to help implement them that has been hollowed out at the top ranks in a revolving door of leadership, potentially hampering his administration’s response to the crisis.

It has been nearly a year since the Department of Homeland Security has had a Senate-confirmed leader. Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf, the fourth person to lead the agency in three years, has been on the job less than six months.

In addition, 65 percent of top jobs in the department are vacant or filled by acting appointees, more than in any other federal agency, according to the Partnership for Public Service, a nonprofit group that advocates for more effective government. Among the vacancies are the No. 2 official at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the department’s top lawyer and the head of the country’s immigration system.

That has led to a cascade of other unfilled jobs, a vacuum of leadership causing major decisions to be deferred and a drop in morale at the agency that was born out of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, to coordinate the government’s response to threats, said people close to DHS. After a chaotic rollout over the weekend of restrictions on many travelers from Europe — where those returning to the U.S. were held for hours in cramped conditions — there are new concerns that the agency isn’t prepared to manage what’s to come.

“You have the vacancies, the musical chairs with positions throughout the organization and policies that come down without a lot of forethought putting added stress on a workforce that already has an extremely crucial job to protect the homeland,” said David Lapan, who was a spokesman for DHS during Trump’s first year in office. “So at what point do we break them?”

To Lapan, the chaotic scenes at airports over the weekend were a reminder of what happened when, in the early days of his presidency, Trump abruptly announced travel restrictions on passengers coming from predominately Muslim countries without giving DHS time to prepare.

. . . .

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

Now, lets hear from the always amazing Betsy Woodruff Swan over at her “new home” Politico on how DHS has, predictably, tried to “hide the ball” on the coronavirus exposure of its own employees:

Nearly 500 Homeland Security employees are quarantined because of the novel coronavirus, and at least 13 are confirmed or presumed COVID-19 positive, according to documentation reviewed by POLITICO.

A DHS spokesperson would not to comment on the record for this story.

Advertisement

The department previously revealed that eight Transportation Security Administration officers had contracted COVID-19.

But the latest numbers are higher and highlight the challenge the novel coronavirus poses to the federal workforce. More than 240,000 people work for DHS, making it the third-largest workforce in the federal government. Many of those employees interact with numerous people every day as part of their work, including employees with Customs and Border Protection and the TSA.

“The department’s leadership is going to have to pay very close attention as this public health crisis evolves,” said John Cohen, former acting undersecretary of intelligence and analysis. “It has to be concerned that its ability to carry out its core mission could be compromised if there’s a widespread outbreak of the virus among DHS personnel. And quite frankly, that’s something that federal, state, and local officials need to be concerned about across the board — that this virus will spread among first responders, law enforcement, and Homeland Security personnel, compromising the ability of those organizations to protect the public.”

. . . .

“Because of the president’s outsized focus on the immigration enforcement part of the DHS mission set — since immigration is not the only thing in DHS’ mission — the organization has been under a lot of strain over the last three years,” he said. “The focus on immigration, lots of attention, lots of presidential pressure, vacancies, changes in leadership, the government shutdown, people having to work without pay — after all of that, add on this pandemic and I think you have cause for concern about a workforce that has been under extended stress now having to endure yet more.”

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

Go to the links above for the complete articles.

The vast, vast majority of so-called “civil immigration enforcement” has little to do with legitimate national security. In fact, the regime’s obsession with inflicting unnecessary cruelty and dehumanization on desperate migrants, most of whom, at worst, are merely seeking to save or improve their lives, has actually hampered the Government’s prosecutions of serious crimes, clogged courts and jails with minor immigration offenders, and reduced removals of those with serious criminal records. https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/the-trump-administrations-immigration-jails-are-packed-but-deportations-are-lower-than-in-obama-era/2019/11/17/27ad0e44-f057-11e9-89eb-ec56cd414732_story.html In other words, misguided priorities, wasted resources, and unnecessary pain.

So, it’s hardly surprising that faced with a genuine crisis that threatens health and safety, the DHS is rudderless, ill-prepared to respond, and continues to hide the real human consequences of its malicious incompetence, thereby endangering both its own line employees as well as the entire U.S. public.

Betsy Woodruff Swan is one of my favorite guest panelists on “Meet the Press.” Clear, concise, articulate, analytical! I assisted Betsy occasionally in the past when she was at The Daily Beast. I hope that in her new role she will get “re-involved” in immigration coverage. In any event, great to “post” you again, Betsy!

PWS

03-19-20

BREAKING: FINALLY, SOME COMMON SENSE & DECENCY PREVAILS, AS DHS WILL SUSPEND MOST INTERIOR ENFORCEMENT!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/ice-halting-most-immigration-enforcement/2020/03/18/d0516228-696c-11ea-abef-020f086a3fab_story.html

Maria Sacchetti & Arelis R. Hernandez report for WashPost:

United States immigration authorities will temporarily halt enforcement across the United States except for its efforts to deport foreign nationals who have committed crimes or who pose a threat to public safety. The change in enforcement status comes amid the coronavirus outbreak and aims to limit the spread of the virus and to encourage those who need treatment to seek medical help.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement said late Wednesday that its Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) will “delay enforcement actions” and use “alternatives to detention” amid the outbreak, according to a notification the agency sent to Congress.

ICE told members of Congress that its “highest priorities are to promote lifesaving and public safety activities.”

[[Mapping the spread of the coronavirus]]

“During the COVID-19 crisis, ICE will not carry out enforcement operations at or near health care facilities, such as hospitals, doctors’ offices, accredited health clinics, and emergent or urgent care facilities, except in the most extraordinary of circumstances,” according to the notification. “Individuals should not avoid seeking medical care because they fear civil immigration enforcement.”

The agency, which is a part of the Department of Homeland Security, did not immediately respond to questions about how many of the approximately 37,000 detainees it has in custody will remain there. Nearly 20,000 in ICE custody have some sort of criminal history, but it remained unclear how many of those people have serious criminal violations in their past.

. . . .

*********

Read the complete article at the link.

Finally, a ray of sanity and humanity from DHS! Still no definitive word from EOIR.

Just today, the BIA went to the trouble of disingenuously and stupidly giving DHS authority to detain nearly all asylum seekers, even those who pose neither security nor absconding risks. https://immigrationcourtside.com/2020/03/18/latest-outrage-from-falls-church-bia-ignores-facts-abuses-discretion-to-deny-bond-to-asylum-seeker-matter-of-r-a-v-p-27-in-dec-803-bia-2020/

We’ve actually gotten to the sad point where DHS occasionally acts more rationally than EOIR. Nothing to write home about. But, shows how totally perverted justice has become under Barr and the toadies at EOIR. Also says loads about those in Congress and the Article III Judiciary who have allowed EOIR to continue to heap abuses on migrants in clear violation of the Due Process Clause of our Constitution.

Due Process Forever!

PWS

03-18-20

PWS

BORDER CLOSINGS GO BOTH WAYS: Guatemala Refuses More U.S. Deportations — Regime’s “4-D” Approach About To Hit a Brick Wall?

Molly O’Toole
Immigration Reporter
LA Times

https://edition.pagesuite.com/popovers/dynamic_article_popover.aspx?guid=e7303b6a-98d8-40e2-af8f-cc25ea5200ab&v=sdk

Molly O’Toole and Cindy Carcamo report for the LA Times:

GUATEMALA CITY — Guatemala on Tuesday became the first Central American nation to block deportation flights from the United States in an effort to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, a dramatic turnabout on Trump administration policies barring entry to asylum seekers from the region.

Guatemala’s Foreign Ministry announced that all deportation flights would be paused “as a precautionary measure” to establish additional health checks. Ahead of the announcement, President Alejandro Giammattei said in a Monday news conference that Guatemala also would close its borders completely for 15 days.

“This virus can affect all of us, and my duty is to preserve the lives of Guatemalans at any cost,” he said.

Guatemala, a major source of migration to the United States as well as a primary transit country for people from other nations headed to the U.S.-Mexico border, in recent days has blocked travelers from the U.S., as well as arrivals from Canada and a few European and Asian countries.

The Guatemalan government under Giammattei’s new administration had confirmed six coronavirus cases as of Monday morning. But it has taken a hard tack in its response to the pandemic to try to prevent the rapid spread seen in North America and elsewhere, becoming among the first in the region to bar entry of Americans.

Other nations in the Western Hemisphere, including El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Argentina, Chile and Peru, also have taken steps to bar foreigners and, in some cases, to shut their borders, including to their own returning citizens.

Guatemala’s move to refuse deportations will have a significant impact on the Trump administration’s efforts to ramp up a controversial agreement under which the United States sends migrants who are seeking asylum in the United States to Guatemala instead, even those who aren’t Guatemalan citizens.

The deal between the U.S. and Guatemala, called the Asylum Cooperative Agreement, denies the asylum seekers the opportunity to apply in the United States for refuge and instead allows them only to seek asylum in Guatemala.

Guatemala’s highest court initially blocked the agreement. Since November, the U.S. has sent Guatemala more than 900 men, women and children who have arrived at the border from El Salvador and Honduras.

. . . .

On Monday, the ACLU and other groups filed suit against ICE, seeking the release of immigrants in detention who are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19. Immigration judges, prosecutors and lawyers also called on the Justice Department to close immigration courts.

Judge A. Ashley Tabaddor, president of the National Assn. of Immigration Judges, said judges had been told to continue holding hearings with immigrants during the health crisis.

“Call DOJ and ask why they are not shutting down the courts,” she said, referring to the Justice Department.

O’Toole reported from Guatemala City and Carcamo from Los Angeles. Times staff writer Maura Dolan in Orinda, Calif., contributed to this report.

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

Read the full article at the link.

I suppose that the regime will just start dumping all deportees from all countries in Mexico. But, viruses know no borders.

To date, Mexico’s reported number of coronavirus cases is much lower than the U.S. However, we don’t know whether or not that is a product of there actually being fewer cases or Mexico having poor testing and reporting procedures. But, eventually what happens in Mexico will affect the U.S. Of that, we can be sure. And, no wall or Executive Order will stand in the way.

Seems like it would be a good time for some mutual cooperation between the U.S. and Mexico to determine the best mutually effective ways of handling border control issues in the time of pandemic, consistent with controlling the spread of disease in both countries. The regime did reach an agreement with Canada on border limitations today. But, when dealing with countries to our south, the regime has shown a strong preference for unilateral actions or bogus “agreements” obtained by duress and threats.

In any event, the end of direct deportations by air could be a consequence of the pandemic. And, given the limitations on detention and its health risks, the regime might be forced to come up with other approaches on how best to treat all persons within our borders, whether we like it or not. The regime’s “4-D Immigration Policy” — Detain, Deny, Deport, Distort — might be “hitting the wall.”

Still not clear what’s happening in the Immigration Courts.

PWS

03-18-20

WHERE JUSTICE IS BLIND, DEAF, & REALLY, REALLY DUMB — AMERICA’S COURTS FLUNK CORONAVIRUS TEST — ROBERTS’S FECKLESS LEADERSHIP — AILA CALLS FOR CLOSING ALL IMMIGRATION COURTS!

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/03/courts-coronavirus-spread.html

Mark Joseph Stern reports for Slate:

For weeks, public health officials have warned that the coronavirus will spread rapidly in the United States but the infection rate could slow with social distancing and severe restrictions on mass gathering. The nation’s judiciary did not listen. Civil, criminal, and immigration courts continued to operate normally, with very few exceptions, until late last week. Even on Monday, after both the president and most governors had declared a state of emergency, a huge number of America’s courts continued to operate, forcing judges, attorneys, litigants, defendants, immigrants, and court staff into close quarters with potentially infected individuals. Conversations with more than two dozen lawyers and court staff (who requested anonymity to avoid professional blowback) across the country reveal a system that is disastrously unprepared for a pandemic—and facilitating the coronavirus’s spread.

Because the American judiciary is so decentralized, there is no single contingency plan that governs all courts in case of an emergency. Most state and federal courts are making up their own rules as they go. All 94 federal district courts and 13 federal appellate courts are scrambling independently to devise a strategy for COVID-19. In many states, individual trial and appeals courts are also struggling to meet their legal obligations without contributing to the spread of the virus. Immigration courts are under the control of the discombobulated and ineffectual Trump administration. So are agencies, like the Social Security Administration, that hold administrative hearings to adjudicate individuals’ access to public assistance. Meanwhile, thousands of jails, prisons, and immigrant detention facilities remain unwilling or unable to meaningfully address COVID-19, putting both detained people and staff at risk of infection. The legal system is actively jeopardizing millions of people’s health and lives.

The legal system is actively jeopardizing millions of people’s health and lives.

State judiciaries’ sluggish response to the crisis was on display Monday in courtrooms around the country. Slate spoke with defense attorneys in Florida, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Washington state, and the District of Columbia who witnessed large groups of defendants congregating in courthouses after police arrested them for low-level offenses. Many people had been jailed for at least one night for crimes like driving without a permit and possession of drug paraphernalia. In northern New Jersey, according to an attorney who was present, a prosecutor argued on Monday that defendants are, in fact, safer from the virus behind bars. But a defense attorney in the region told Slate that her clients in jail have no access to soap or toilet paper.

. . . .

As of Monday, federal district courts around the country were still in operation, though many had suspended jury trials. Chief Justice John Roberts, the head of the federal judiciary, has not issued public guidance to these courts, leaving them to fend for themselves. The chief judge of each federal district court must decide when, and if, to shutter completely. Similarly, the chief judge of each federal appeals court must determine how, and if, to hold oral arguments, and how to keep deciding cases in spite of the interruption. The Supreme Court has canceled March’s oral arguments.

Many immigration courts, which are controlled by the Executive Office for Immigration Review at the U.S. Department of Justice, were still operating on Monday too. EOIR cancelled all master calendar hearings on Sunday—these are short hearings, scheduled months or years in advance, that typically begin the deportation process. But courts are still holding other kinds of hearings, except in Seattle, whose immigration court has shut down entirely. According to a DOJ official at the Los Angeles Immigration Court, the agency has failed to provide employees with any meaningful guidance. This official told Slate that last week, a court administrator told staff that COVID-19 is “like the flu” and “not a big deal.” All last week, she said, “people were coming into courtrooms sick.” EOIR was just beginning to develop a telework plan on Monday and was withholding all information about future operations from staff.

An employee at the New York City Immigration Court spoke of similar disarray. This individual told Slate that her supervisor ignored repeated pleas to mitigate the risk of infection to staff. Immigrants with symptoms of COVID-19 have repeatedly appeared in court. When judges canceled hearings for the day to limit exposure to these individuals, this supervisor reportedly expressed anger that they had not simply moved to a different courtroom.

On Sunday, the union representing Immigration and Customs Enforcement prosecutors joined immigration judges and lawyers to call on the Department of Justice to shutter immigration courts entirely. This unprecedented alliance of frequent foes condemned the DOJ’s response as “insufficient” and “not premised on transparent scientific information.” (The agency has yet to answer this letter.)

There are currently more than 50,000 individuals in immigrant detention. There are already coronavirus outbreaks cropping up at these detention facilities. But the government has put forth no comprehensive plan to test and treat patients. The same is true for inmates in state and federal facilities. A defense attorney in King County, Washington—a COVID-19 hot spot—told Slate on Monday that “there is no plan to protect people in jail from coronavirus. People are still held on nonviolent charges, and people are still cycling through on all sorts of minor charges.” As long as police continue to arrest individuals for low-level offenses, these people will be put in jail and then sent to a courthouse. Even if prosecutors decline charges, these individuals may have already been exposed to the virus and could spread it.

. . . .

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Read the complete article at the link.

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Here’s the latest from Laura Lynch over at AILA:

The Honorable William P. Barr Attorney General

U.S. Department of Justice

James McHenry

Director

Executive Office for Immigration Review

Matthew T. Albence

Deputy Director and Senior Official

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Submitted via email

March 16, 2020

Dear Attorney General Barr, Director McHenry, and Deputy Director Albence,

The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) is writing to follow up on our March 12, 2020 letter requesting that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) immediately implement procedures for the prevention and management of COVID-19 and our March 15, 2020 statement calling for the emergency closure of the nation’s immigration courts, sent in conjunction with the National Association of Immigration Judges (NAIJ) and the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 511 (the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Professionals Union).

We appreciate the important measures already taken by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Justice (DOJ), including the suspension of non-detained master calendar hearings. However, the evolving nature of this crisis demands more aggressive action. Since our initial letter to ICE, President Donald Trump proclaimed that the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States constitutes a national emergency, beginning March 1, 2020. States and localities across the country have suspended school, put in place restrictions on the size of gatherings, closed restaurants and bars, and shut down tourist activities.

DOJ and DHS must acknowledge the severity of this pandemic, and take the following steps to protect DOJ employees, DHS employees, respondents, representatives, interpreters, experts, and other immigration court stakeholders, as well as the general public:

• Immediately Close Immigration Courts: DOJ should immediately close immigration courts for a minimum of two to four weeks so that public health officials have an opportunity to test and gain valuable information about who can transmit the COVID-19 virus and to reassess how to ensure a safe environment for immigration court hearings.

AILA Doc. No. 20031666. (Posted 3/16/20)

• Hold Telephonic Bond Hearings and Stipulate to Bond in Writing: DOJ should proceed with fully telephonic bond hearings so that detained individuals who are eligible can be released from custody as soon as possible and allow supporting documents to be faxed and emailed to the appropriate clerk. When possible, ICE OPLA should stipulate to bond in written motions so it is not necessary to hold hearings.

• Cancel ICE Check-Ins: ICE should cancel and/or reschedule all OSUP and/or ISAP appointments that are scheduled for at least the next 60-90 days and extend the same for several months as conditions warrant.

• Immediately Release Anyone With Vulnerabilities from Custody: ICE should immediately release vulnerable populations from ICE custody, including people 60 and over, pregnant people, and people with chronic illnesses, compromised immune systems, or disabilities, and people whose housing placements restrict their access to medical care and limit the staff’s ability to observe them.

• Decrease the Number of People in Detention to Limit Exposure: ICE should liberally use its discretion to release individuals from custody and decrease the overall ICE population, including through the increased use of parole authority, stipulating to bond in written motions, and use of alternatives to detention (with no check-in requirements for thirty days or more).

• Take Proper Care to Prevent Transmission in Custody: ICE should immediately test detainees who exhibit any symptoms and/or present risk factors, as delayed confirmation of cases will necessarily be too late to prevent transmission. ICE should also provide proper hygienic supplies at all ICE detention and check-in facilities, allowing easy access to all detained persons, the population under ICE supervision, and ICE staff. ICE should halt transfers from facility-to-facility and to out-of-state locations in order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus throughout individual states and the U.S.

• Allow Stays of Removal and Other Emergency Motions to Be Submitted Via Mail: ICE should allow requests for stays of removal, and other emergency motions, to be submitted by mail instead of requiring an in-person filing with the applicant present.

• Issue a Blanket Extraordinary Circumstances Exception for One-Year Filing Deadlines: DOJ should issue a blanket extraordinary circumstances exception for asylum one-year filing deadlines that fall from March 1, 2020 (the beginning of the National Emergency) through the reopening of immigration courts.

2

AILA Doc. No. 20031666. (Posted 3/16/20)

• Provide Flexibility on All Deadlines: ICE and DOJ should liberally agree to and/or grant requests to extend filing deadlines based on imposition of remote work, loss of staff, necessity for child, elder, and family care based on school and institutional closures.

• Commit to Flexibly and Favorably Addressing COVID—19-Caused “Age Outs” on a Case-By-Case Basis. In the context of cancellation of removal for nonpermanent residents under INA § 240A(b), the Board of Immigration Appeals has acknowledged its ability to review the particular facts in a case in addressing a respondent’s argument that the age of qualifying relative should be “frozen” prior to the final administrative decision. Matter of Isidro, 25 I&N Dec. 829, 832 (BIA 2012) (rejecting respondent’s contention that age should be locked where there was no “undue or unfair delay” in the course of proceedings); see also Martinez-Perez v. Barr, No. 18-9573 (10th Cir. 2020) (BIA has jurisdiction and authority to interpret cancellation statute in a way that fixes the age of respondent’s daughter in light of undue or unfair delay).

• Stipulate to Relief When Appropriate, Especially in Detained Cases: ICE should stipulate to relief in cases where individual hearings are already scheduled, but must be re-calendared based on COVID-19 disruptions, and where the record in itself demonstrates that the respondent has meaningfully met her burden of proof based on a well-developed record of proceedings and evidentiary submissions that compel a grant of relief from removal.

• Parole Respondents in the Remain in Mexico Program: DHS should parole all respondents in the Remain in Mexico program (also known as MPP) into the U.S. on the date of their scheduled immigration court hearing date and provide them with a new hearing date in a non-detained court. At a minimum, EOIR must work with CBP to issue a new EOIR hearing notice and CBP must provide the respondent with both the new EOIR hearing notice and an MPP tear sheet. If the respondent does not have an MPP tear sheet containing a future U.S. immigration court date, the respondent would be out of status in Mexico and Mexico’s migration institute (INM) will likely refuse to renew the individuals’ temporary status in Mexico.

We respectfully request a response as soon as possible given the emergent circumstances. Please feel free to contact Kate Voigt (kvoigt@aila.org) with questions.

Sincerely,

THE AMERICAN IMMIGRATION LAWYERS ASSOCIATION

CC: Barbara M. Gonzalez, Assistant Director, ICE Office of Partnership and Engagement; Richard A. Rocha, ICE Spokesperson; Lauren Alder Reid, Assistance Director, EOIR Office of Policy.

3

AILA Doc. No. 20031666. (Posted 3/16/20)

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

So, the spread of the coronavirus worldwide was months in the making. Why didn’t Roberts convene a meeting of the Judicial Conference, the Administrative Office, and the ABA to come up with an emergency plan?

Why didn’t EOIR, which has time for endless counterproductive “management” (actually “mismanagement”) nonsense (how about “judicial dashboards” for a mindless waste of time and money?), get together with the NAIJ, ICE, and AILA months ago to develop an emergency response plan for the Immigration Courts? No, the “powers that be” at EOIR were too busy trying to “decertify” the NAIJ with frivolous and unethical litigation.

The recent joint action by the NAIJ, AILA, the ICE union is a prime example of the way in which an Independent Article I Immigration Court, free of DOJ political mismanagement and improper influence, will foster cooperation, implement best practices, further efficiency, and make due process and fundamental fairness realities, not overnight, but certainly over time. https://immigrationcourtside.com/2020/03/15/as-eoir-dithers-immigration-professionals-take-cooperative-action-immigration-judges-prosecutors-and-attorneys-call-for-the-nationwide-closure-of-all-immigration-courts/Due process with humanity and efficiency! The “post-regime future” of an independent Immigration Court holds great promise and unlimited potential for good government and public service if we can only “get there!”

Once this emergency is over, America also needs a top to bottom re-examination of the leadership and administration of our diverse judicial systems. As a whole, they are obviously “not quote ready for prime time” (“NQRFPT”) when it comes to protecting the public or using technology for the common good.

Obviously, at many levels, Federal, State, and Local, we have some of the wrong people serving as judges. First and foremost, the law is about humanity and protecting and saving lives to the greatest extent possible. That’s a fundamental human message that Roberts and many other right wing judicial zealots, out of touch with the needs of the public and wedded to stilted semi-absurdist and contrived interpretations of the law, simply don’t get. America needs better judges, with some empathy, humanity, and common sense! Again, it won’t happen overnight, but we have to start somewhere to get anywhere in the future!

PWS

03-16-20

TRUMP’S MALICIOUS INCOMPETENCE THREATENS OUR NATION’S HEALTH & WELFARE! — “Leading a cult is not the same as leading a country. Presidential leadership is born of character — morality, honesty, courage, stability — traits foreign to Trump, traits to which he is actively hostile.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/15/opinion/coronavirus-trump-leadership.html

Charles Blow in the NYT:

This is what it looks like when a crisis of leadership makes its way into our health and our homes, when lack of prudence induces panic, when the president himself cannot be trusted.

The coronavirus pandemic changes the view of Donald Trump’s incompetence, because this time it is intimate. This time what’s at stake isn’t abstract in the mind of the average American, like constitutional law or international relations. It is not far away, like families at the border or Nazis in Charlottesville. It is not about carnal and craven acts that take place between two people or are committed by one against another, like assaulting women or paying them off.

No, this is about all of us and all the things closest to us: our health and safety, our children and parents, our ability to move freely and sleep soundly, our ability to go to work and send our children to school. This is about our ability to participate in America’s two great religious non-religions: politics and sports.

This crisis is transcendent, which makes Trump’s disastrous approach to dealing with it all the more transparent.

The Trump administration finally appears to be taking this crisis seriously, after months of Trump himself trivializing and politicizing it. The virus was never a hoax or a media creation or a flash in the pan that would affect few and miraculously vanish.

But Trump, the supposed leader of the country, wasted precious time — weeks and weeks — telling the American public just that, while not taking the drastic measures that the government is now, belatedly, taking.

That puts lives in danger, and surely, in the end, will have cost lives.

America needs a leader; it has a lout.

. . . .

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Read the rest of Charles’s column at the link.

Those of us working in the field of immigration, trying to save the lives of the most vulnerable among us, have seen Trump’s cruelty, stupidity, racism, and malicious incompetence up close.

Now, the rest of the nation is getting a dose of what it really means to have elevated a Kakistocracy to leadership.

Due Process Forever; The Trump Kakistocracy, Never!

PWS

03-16-20

AMERICA’S HOMEGROWN TORTURERS: Physicians For Human Rights Confirms What Many of Us Have Been Saying For Years: Trump Regime Tortures Families With Children With Impunity!

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/feb/25/trump-family-separations-children-torture-psychology?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Amanda Holpuch reports for The Guardian:

The trauma Donald Trump’s administration caused to young children and parents separated at the US-Mexico border constitutes torture, according to evaluations of 26 children and adults by the group Physicians for Human Rights (PHR).

The not-for-profit group’s report provides the first in-depth look at the psychological impact of family separation, which the US government continued despite warnings from the nation’s top medical bodies.

“As a clinician, nobody was prepared for this to happen on our soil,” the report co-author Dr Ranit Mishori, senior medical adviser at PHR, told the Guardian. “It is beyond shocking that this could happen in the United States, by Americans, at the instruction and direct intention of US government officials.”

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Legal experts have argued family separation constituted torture, but this is the first time a medical group has reached the determination.

PHR volunteer psychiatrists evaluated 17 adults and nine children who had been separated between 30 to 90 days. Most met the criteria for at least one mental health condition, including post-traumatic stress disorder, major depressive disorder or generalized anxiety disorder “consistent with, and likely linked to, the trauma of family separation”, according to the report.

Not only did the brutal family separation policy create trauma, it was intensified by the families’ previous exposure to violence on their journey to the US and in their home countries of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.

All but two of the adults evaluated by PHR said they had received death threats in their home countries and 14 out of the 17 adults said they were targeted by drug cartels. All were fearful their child would be harmed or killed if they remained at home.

Almost all the children had been drugged, kidnapped, poisoned or threatened by gangs before they left. One mother told investigators she moved her daughter to different schools in El Salvador several times so gang members couldn’t find her and kill her.

In the face of these threats, parents tried to move within the country, change their phone numbers, meet extortion demands and go silent on social media. Ultimately, however, the report said: “Parents were confident that the journey to the United States would result in protection for their children.”

This is not what happened at the border.

The Trump administration instituted a policy in April 2018 that formally enabled the mass separation of children and parents at the US-Mexico border. Trump ended the policy in June 2018, but it has since been revealed that the administration separated thousands of families before and after the policy was in place.

There was also no system to reunite the families, according to an internal government watchdog. The Trump administration also ignored warnings from the nation’s leading medical organizations that family separation would traumatize children and adults.

How Trump’s immigration policies hurt people’s lives – in pictures

People who experience trauma, especially as children, have higher rates of medical conditions such as cancer and cardiovascular disease. They also have an increased risk of psychiatric disorders and detrimental coping behaviors such as alcohol and drug abuse.

“Something like that does not just resolve once you’re reunified with your parents, it’s something you carry with you possibly forever,” Mishori said.

One Honduran father described how badly his son reacted the four times a psychologist came to their apartment for treatment in the report: “Each time the son would refuse to cooperate and would throw things at the therapist … It appears his son was afraid of strangers, afraid they will take him away from his father.”

Kathryn Hampton, a senior officer in PHR’s asylum program, said the group PHR had assessed was small but represented separated families from different detention centers and foster homes across the country over a two-year period.

“This is a really disparate group of people and yet their stories are practically identical,” said Hampton. “So that’s very disturbing, to see that level of consistency.”

Amid the despair, PHR has seen an outpouring of support in money and volunteers. Hampton said since the beginning of 2018, its Asylum Network had more than doubled to 1,700 clinicians who provide free medical and psychological evaluations to asylum seekers. There were also three times as many medical school clinics partnering with the organization in that period.

Dr Stuart Lustig, a California-based psychiatrist and longtime volunteer, evaluated a seven-year-old girl from Guatemala. He said when he and the girl did a common evaluation tool called the Squiggle Test, she had one of the more inhibited reactions he had seen in 20 years.

“These kinds of separations were filled with uncertainty, there was no information about where people are going, so it is not surprising at all that these separations ended up being extremely traumatizing for kids and parents,” Lustig said.

In November, a federal court ordered the US to compensate for the trauma separated families faced at the hands of the government. Lustig said there were many treatment options for children who experienced this deep level of trauma in the US, but he and PHR were concerned about how these families would have access to them.

Lustig said: “Part of the work is simply building trust in humanity again.”

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We are diminishing ourselves as a nation; but, in the end, it won’t stop human migration. While the purpose of torture is dehumanization and degradation of the “other,” torture actually increases the humanity of its victims while dehumanizing the torturers and their enablers.

It’s also worthy remembering the next time “Big Mac With Lies,” Nielsen, Kelly, ”Gonzo” Sessions and other noted torturers want to “clean up their images” and capitalize on their misdeeds by speaking to an organization to which you belong or attend. Remember who they REALLY are beneath their facades: unpunished perpetrators of “Crimes Against Humanity.”

PWS

02-26-20

THANKSGIVING WISH: JUSTICE FOR THOSE HELD IN TRUMP’S DEADLY “NEW AMERICAN GULAG” — DHS KID KILLERS: CDC TELLS CBP TO VACCINATE DETAINED MIGRANTS: CBP Chooses To Kill Kids & Spread Disease!

https://apple.news/Ag7KzWmcGSWqY5RAzCSzygg

Robert Moore reports in the WashPost:

CDC recommended that migrants receive flu vaccine, but CBP rejected the idea

EL PASO — As influenza spread through migrant detention facilities last winter, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that U.S. Customs and Border Protection vaccinate detained migrants against the virus, a push that CBP rejected, according to a newly released letter to Congress.

The CDC recommendation was revealed in a letter from the agency to Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro (D-Conn.), chair of the House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees funding for the Department of Health and Human Services, which includes the CDC. The agency’s director, Robert Redfield, issued the letter Nov. 7 in response to questions DeLauro posed last month after the flu had taken a toll on migrants in U.S. custody during the past year.

An 8-year-old Guatemalan boy died of the flu while being detained near El Paso in December, a month before the CDC’s vaccination recommendation. In the months after CBP rejected the recommendation, at least two children — one in El Paso and one in Weslaco, Tex. — died after being diagnosed with the flu in Border Patrol custody, autopsy reports showed. Influenza outbreaks in Border Patrol detention facilities continued through May, sickening hundreds of people, including agents and detainees.

DeLauro said CBP’s continuing refusal to provide flu vaccines to detained migrants is “unconscionable,” especially given Trump administration policies and migrant influxes that at times have caused U.S. facilities to be significantly overcrowded.

“CDC’s recommendations are clear: flu vaccines should be administered to people as soon as possible to prevent the spread of this deadly disease,” she said. “Worse still, administration policies that kept families locked in cages for extended periods of time greatly increased their risk of illness.”

Officials with CBP have never provided immunizations for detained migrants and does not plan to do so now, according to Kelly Cahalan, an agency spokeswoman.

“CBP has significantly expanded medical support efforts, and now has more than 250 medical personnel engaged along the Southwest border. To try and layer a comprehensive vaccinations system on to that would be logistically very challenging for a number of reasons,” she said. “The system and process for implementing vaccines — for supply chains, for quality control, for documentation, for informed consent, for adverse reactions — is complex, and those programs are already in place at other steps in the immigration process as appropriate.”

The two agencies that hold migrants for extended periods, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Office of Refugee Resettlement, provide flu vaccines. Adults and families who cross the U.S. border increasingly are being sent back to Mexico under the Migrant Protection Protocols program before they are turned over to ICE and thus do not get vaccinated. Unaccompanied children generally go to ORR shelters.

A Trump administration strategy led to the child migrant backup crisis at the border

The CDC recommends that most people in the United States age 6 months and older receive a flu vaccination, as it is the primary preventive measure against what can be a potentially severe illness. In the 2018-2019 flu season, nearly 63 percent of children under the age of 18 received the flu vaccine and just more than 45 percent of adults received the vaccine.

CDC officials visited Border Patrol detention facilities in El Paso and Yuma, Ariz., in December and January, at CBP’s request. The CDC’s January report warned that because of inadequate medical infrastructure in the facilities, “illness in the Border Patrol facilities stresses both the Border Patrol staff and community medical infrastructure.”

The report made nine recommendations for minimizing the spread of the flu, and CBP adopted many of them, including expanding medical staff at detention facilities and increasing flu surveillance.

But CBP did not implement a recommendation for an aggressive vaccination program that would prioritize children and pregnant women.

Brazilian families spent weeks in tent-like border facility, far longer than typical

In his Nov. 7 letter to DeLauro, Redfield reiterated the vaccination recommendation: “CDC recommends that priority should be given to the screening and isolation of ill migrants, early antiviral treatment, and flu vaccinations for all staff. CDC further recommends influenza vaccination at the earliest feasible point of entry for all persons at least six months of age, which is in concurrence with our general influenza vaccine recommendations.”

Other health experts also have recommended vaccines for migrants detained by CBP, especially children. A group of physicians that reviewed autopsy reports of children who died in CBP custody made that recommendation in an August letter to DeLauro and others in Congress.

A new report from the Brookings Institution warns that risk factors such as lackluster sanitation, overcrowding and poor nutrition are creating a “perfect storm” of conditions in CBP detention facilities that could lead to severe outbreaks of the flu and other communicable diseases. The report recommends vaccinating detained migrants as a way of limiting outbreaks.

Robert Moore is a freelance journalist based in El Paso.

Democracy Dies in Darkness

© 1996-2019 The Washington Post\

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Trump’s White Nationalist “DUD” (“Detain Until Dead”) policy in action! Might also include in your Thanksgiving thoughts those abused under Trump’s “Let ‘Em Die in Mexico” program as well as those who will soon be “orbited” to potential harm or death under bogus “Dangerous Third Country Agreements.”

Will Markie “Fund My TGIF” Morgan and his fellow killers, child abusers, and human rights abusers at DHS ever be held accountable for their arrogant misdeeds in Trump’s service? Don’t count on it. But, removing this truly cruel, immoral, and otherwise horrible group of “kakistocrats” and their Supreme Leader in 2020 is both possible and necessary for the continued existence of our country and would be a service to the future of the human race.

Doesn’t mean it will happen; but, our nation might not survive if it doesn’t.

Give thanks for the New Due Process Army!

Due Process Forever; New American Gulag Never!

Happy Thanksgiving,

PWS

11-28-19

SECONDARY TRAUMA: Defenders & Advocates Also Suffer From Trump’s Constant Attacks On Migrants’ Humanity

From theAmerican Psychological Association

Compassion Fatigue: A Side Effect of the Immigration Crisis

The immigration crisis is taking a toll on professionals who are trying to help. By Rebecca Raney October 15, 2019

APA has been closely following the recent and ongoing threats to immigrants and refugees living in the United States. These groups are “at risk of psychological harm due to factors including the stress of starting a new life away from family and culture, as well as prejudice and discrimination.”

This article series takes a look at some of the ways psychologists are working to help immigrants, the communities where they live and the resources that are available to clinicians who want to help these at risk groups.

1

Several years ago, immigration attorney Nora Phillips was chatting with a friend. She told her that she was sick, exhausted and couldn’t stop thinking about work.

Her friend, Annabel Raymond, is a licensed marriage and family counselor.

“I thought, ‘This isn’t burnout,’ ” Raymond said. “ ‘This is secondary post- traumatic stress disorder.’ “

At that moment, Raymond identified a little-talked-about component of the nation’s immigration crisis: Compassion fatigue among professionals who are trying to help.

The work with the victims of terrorism, war and domestic violence among immigrants is different from the challenges of, say, working with victims of a natural disaster.

“This trauma treatment is different because there’s no end in sight,” Raymond said.

She and Phillips started a therapy group for immigration attorneys in Los Angeles. Six attorneys routinely attend.

Phillips, the legal director of Al Otro Lado, a nonprofit legal services organization, has been doing legal work at the border since 2011. The work was never easy, she said. But policies enacted since 2017 have left attorneys — and judges — with no wiggle room to help people. In the past, deportation cases could be terminated. The government could apply prosecutorial discretion as to whether to proceed. People who were brought to the United States as children could apply for citizenship. But now, those tools are gone or are under threat by

an administration that wants to curtail immigration.

Because she has lost so many legal tools to help clients, Phillips’ sense of powerlessness can be overwhelming. She said she throws up in the shower before work. She’s never free of the sense that when she loses immigration cases, her clients could face violence or death when they return to their home nations.

“I refer to myself a lot as a depository of human sadness,” said Phillips, who sobbed throughout the interview and then joked that she cries through every interview.

2

It was clear to her friend Raymond that Phillips was going to need more than a few days off.

“You’re not getting the right support, because you’re treating it as a burnout issue,” she said.

Treating attorneys, Raymond said, presents its own challenges.

“You’re looking at a population that’s already vulnerable, but they don’t want to tell you they’re vulnerable.”

Raymond said that the monthly group in Los Angeles works on trauma resolution skills and mindfulness.

The goal of the therapy, she said, is “keeping you upright, because you’re on the front line of an international humanitarian crisis….The best we can do is to trust that our bodies and brains can keep going.”

“You’re not going to be able to dictate how these events land on your nervous system,” she added.

The attorneys who attend the group, she said, are doing well. They’ve gone from feeling overburdened to managing their boundaries. They decide how heavy a caseload to take, depending on the levels of other stresses in their lives.

“Some of these people were talking about getting out of the field,” Raymond said, “and now they’re staying.”

Keeping attorneys in the field is a big achievement.

A strong feeling of helplessness is common among professionals who advocate for immigrants, said Gabriela Livas Stein, a psychologist and associate professor of psychology at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

“Compassion fatigue is very real,” Stein said. “In talking personally with providers, it is clear that they feel helpless advocating for folks and knowing the unpredictability that they face.”

Seeing ever-more-restrictive national policies and an oppressive political climate for immigrants exacerbates the sense of helplessness, she said.

3

“A lot of folks who are doing this work are also identified as immigrants or Latinx,” Stein said. “Folks that have this profile are showing heightened symptomology,” she said, particularly if they or members of their families are at risk of detention or deportation.

She recommends two types of action for frontline immigration professionals: Build social support.
Engage in social justice activities.

Stein herself has gotten involved; she stepped up to present data on the psychological effects of deportation on families to the Governor’s Council on Latino Affairs in North Carolina.

State and local officials are divided over whether local law enforcement agencies should work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on raids and deportations.

Stein reviewed literature and reported findings to the governor’s council, including a 2017 study in the International Journal of Epidemiology that found that Latina women, one year after a massive immigration raid in Iowa, had a 24 percent greater risk of having babies with low birth weight, compared with the same date one year earlier. Stein also drew on a survey (PDF, 483KB) of research in Social Policy Report on how the “chronic uncertainty” surrounding families’ stability compromises immigrants’ physical and mental health.

Stein said that many immigration officials believe the best policy change would be to make health-care services accessible for immigrants.

“It’s hard for people to even pay for services,” she said. “As a society, we benefit a lot from the work of undocumented workers. Policies need to help people not live in the shadows.”

For Phillips, recruiting young attorneys to immigration law has lifted her spirits.

“God, we need reinforcements,” she said. “So many people have closed their practices.”

She has recently spoken to law schools at Loyola, DePaul and Northwestern Universities to encourage students to consider immigration law.

4

“Through this chaos, we have gotten incredibly good at organizing people,” she said. “Once we come out of this, we’re going to have tools that would only have come out if we had been at war.”

Phillips tries to stay strong as an example to her own staff of 25 people. Also, she prepares them for the work.

She said that she tells them that “the pain is never going to stop. There will never be a shortage of clients. You need to take care of yourself.”

The attorneys who are least prepared to handle the trauma of the job, Phillips said, are solo practitioners who have no support or preparation from an organization.

Elizabeth Carll, a trauma and health psychologist and chair of the Refugee Mental Health Resource Network, said that professionals who work with immigrants and refugees need training before tackling the job.

“I see the long-term effects,” she said. “First responders, they’re under chronic stress…The worst thing you can do is have no training.”

At a minimum, she said, organizations should talk about trauma with the workers before they go to detention centers or conduct evaluations.

The Refugee Mental Health Resource Network, which is partially subsidized by APA, maintains a database of psychologists and other mental health professionals who want to volunteer to help with evaluations and support services for refugees and asylum seekers. The organization has also produced a series of webinars for volunteers.

Carll, who has trained workers who respond to disasters for many years, recommended that professionals who work with immigrants receive strong mentoring. A mentor, she said, can help them limit their vicarious trauma.

“Someone new should be mentored,” Carll said.

She gave an example of how a mentor can help. In 1996, after the crash of TWA Flight 800 off the coast of Long Island, she led a team of psychologists to help families. In mentoring the group, she recommended that the psychologists not accompany families into the room where people were identifying bodies, but to

5

stay in the back of the room or outside the door to offer support, if the families requested it.

Unlike other emergency personnel, mental health counselors do not typically have the ongoing experience and training for viewing bodies, she said. Without training, that process may trigger trauma from the past.

By sparing themselves that trauma, she said, counselors would be in a better position personally to help families.

Because of the scope, the technical nature and the never-ending timeframe of the immigration crisis, Carll made a bold prediction: that immigration psychology would become a new specialty in the field.

“Immigration psychology will be another specialty,” she said, “just like trauma psychology division became after it started.”

That prediction is worth noting. Carll was a founding member of APA’s Division of Trauma Psychology.

APA Immigration Coverage (links only active on APA website) APA Policy and Advocacy Efforts

APA Calls on Government to Ensure Immigrants and Refugees Can Access Health, Mental Health Services | Official Statement (PDF, 169KB)

APA CEO: Administration Decision to Penalize Immigrants Who Rely on Public Programs Will Harm Vulnerable Populations | History of ‘Public Charge’ Determination

APA Calls for Action on Border Crisis | Letter to President Trump (PDF, 937KB) APA Letter to Congressional Leaders Supports Dreamers (PDF, 141KB)
APA’s Advocacy on Immigration
Recently Published Research

Middle-School Latino Children Report More Depressive Symptoms After Family Member Arrested, Study Finds

Psychological Research on Immigrants and Refugees Further Reading and Resources

6

Oct. 9, 2019 Webinar: The Effects of Separating Families at the Border Podcast: On the Front Lines of the Immigration Crisis
Psychologists Partner to Tackle the Escalating Immigration Crisis
The Dire Consequences of Family Separation for Refugee Mental Health LGBTQ Asylum Seekers: How Clinicians Can Help (PDF, 534KB)

Div. 43 Presidential Initiative on Social Justice
Psychologists Help Youth Who Return to Mexico Because of Deportation Threats Immigration Topic Page

© 2019 American Psychological Association
750 First St. NE, Washington, DC 20002-4242 | Contact Support Telephone: (800) 374-2721; (202) 336-5500 | TDD/TTY: (202) 336-6123

https://www.apa.org/members/content/compassion- fatigue?fbclid=IwAR0mmXpfqenA1T5QSNxva5ZUX8_va4XdqZziDS0kh0CpGEufbwz5THP7G4I

7

hygi9

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

A sobering reminder that the Trump Administration’s unrelenting attack on the rights and humanity of migrants is also directed at those fighting to uphold the Constitution, the rule of law, and American values. No aspect of humanity is safe from the intentional cruelty and misconduct of the Trump Administration and their enablers (some, sadly, judges and other so-called “professionals” who refuse to acknowledge what’s really happening and try to “normalize” or disingenuously “overlook” — in the guise of bogus “deference” to a lawless Executive — Trump’s obvious misconduct, racism, and lies.)

PWS

10-26-19

DIALOGUE? – Shot In The Head In Guatemala, He Sought Legal Refuge In the U.S. – What He Found At DHS Was Something Quite Different — “Some days, Rolando would bleed out of his eyes, ears and nose. Other days, he’d lie on the floor, dizzy or barely conscious.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/oct/08/us-immigration-ice-asylum-seeker-detention-rolando?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Sam Levin reports for The Guardian:

This asylum seeker was shot in the head. Ice jailed him and gave him ibuprofen

US immigration

Rolando, an indigenous man who survived a shooting and torture in Guatemala, was suffering blinding headaches when he arrived in the US

Sam Levin in San Diego

@SamTLevin

Email

Wed 9 Oct 2019 01.00 EDT

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Some days, Rolando would bleed out of his eyes, ears and nose. Other days, he’d lie on the floor, dizzy or barely conscious.

But every time the jailed Guatemalan asylum seeker sought help from a doctor, staff at his US immigration detention center offered the same treatment: ibuprofen.

The 27-year-old migrant survived a gunshot wound to the head in Guatemala and was suffering from excruciating headaches and possible brain hemorrhaging when he presented himself at the San Ysidro port of entry earlier this year. US authorities responded by isolating him in solitary confinement and jailing him for months at the Otay Mesa detention center in San Diego, giving him sporadic access to medical staff and medicine, his records show.

“I feared I was going to die,” Rolando, who asked not to use his full name due to threats against his life, told the Guardian. “I thought in this country, there is really good medical care … but I wasn’t getting any treatment.”

Rolando made it out of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) detention alive, but his battle isn’t over. He’s still fighting to get asylum, based on the physical torture and persecution he fled as an indigenous Guatemalan. Every step of his journey has collided with the Trump administration’s aggressive attacks and expanding restrictions on migrants and refugees.

Now, the White House is moving to block Central Americans like Rolando from presenting their cases at the border, a move that experts agree will have devastating and fatal consequences.

“I came to the United States because I’d like to at least make it to 30,” Rolando said.

An orphan who escaped death: ‘I don’t have anyone left’

When he met the Guardian on a recent morning, Rolando carried the charger for his ankle monitor, which asylum seekers awaiting hearings are frequently forced to wear. He’s often worried about it running out of battery.

Seated inside the small legal services office of Al Otro Lado, above a pizza shop in San Diego, Rolando looked down and wove a bracelet with his hands as he talked, a practice he developed inside detention to pass the time and distract from his health problems. His native Mayan language is Qʼeqchiʼ, but he talks to his attorney in Spanish, which he was forced to speak in jail.

Rolando was born into chaos in 1992 in the Petén region of northern Guatemala. His father had been a member of the armed forces but resigned and became a supporter of the pro-indigenous movement. He was killed as a result, just after Rolando’s birth, and his mother died soon after “from the trauma”, he said.

He was an orphan at age one: “My brothers and sisters couldn’t take care of me … and they gave me to neighbors.”

Rolando became homeless and later a frequent target of violence by the people who he believes killed his father. Police tortured him when he sought help. According to his asylum application, that included placing nails in his hand and foot and burning his arms with hot knives.

In 2016, while at a soccer game, assailants shot Rolando in the head and left him with a written death threat that referenced his father’s murder. He survived, was forced into hiding and was unable to get medical attention. He said he had to remove the bullet himself. Police later refused to help and assaulted him, according to his file.

“I don’t have anyone left,” he said, adding that fleeing to the US was his only option: “Giving me an opportunity to be here is giving me an opportunity to stay alive.”

He escaped to Mexico and joined a caravan last year, eventually making it to Tijuana. Then the waiting began.

As part of a vast crackdown on migration, border patrol under Trump has instituted a policy known as “metering”, which limits the number of people who can apply for asylum each day. In Tijuana, this has led to a waitlist that has more than 10,000 people, with a few dozen allowed to cross daily, creating a wait time of roughly six to nine months, lawyers estimate.

Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy has also resulted in nearly 50,000 migrants from Central America being returned to Mexico while their cases move forward. That has translated to overcrowded shelters, tent encampments and a struggle to access medical and legal services.

It also leaves migrants like Rolando vulnerable to the same violence they were escaping in their home countries. Rolando said he was beaten in Tijuana, suffering injuries to both his arms and forcing him to wear a cast.

In February, he was finally able to enter the US through the San Ysidro port of entry. In his initial processing, authorities took his injured arms – and placed him in handcuffs.

In detention, in agony and without treatment

The latest major Trump resignations and firings

Read more

Once he was in custody, Rolando’s health problems worsened. More than 150 pages of Ice’s medical records paint a picture of repeated health crises and his persistent struggle to get help.

Rolando regularly was bleeding from his eyes, ears and nose – the cause of which was unclear to doctors but might have been related to his gunshot wound. Rolando said he was bleeding soon after he was taken into custody and that as a result, he was placed in isolation: “They said, ‘We don’t know what’s wrong with you.’”

It’s unclear how many days he spent in solitary, but he said he had difficulty getting any treatment while isolated, and that he would spend all day in a small cell with no window to the outside. Staff would pass him meals through a small slat.

“I didn’t even know what was night and what was day,” he recalled. “I was sick already, but I was starting to get worse … Nobody was coming to see me.”

Once in the general population of Otay Mesa, Rolando continued to suffer periodic bleeding, and at times his head pain was so severe, he would lose consciousness, or he would lie on the ground so that he would not injure himself if he passed out.

Rolando would frequently sign up for “sick call” to visit medical staff, but he said the appointments did little to help. Records show that on one visit, a nurse told him to drink more water and “wash hair/head thoroughly”.

Eating the facility’s meats also started to make him sick, but he often struggled to get alternative food options, even though the medical staff said he needed to change his diet. Sometimes he made bracelets and sold them to other detainees so he could buy instant soup, he recalled.

The records show that the main form of treatment Rolando received was prescriptions for ibuprofen – in increasingly high doses as his pain worsened. Sometimes, he said, he ran out of ibuprofen and had difficulty getting a refill. He also received an ointment for his eyes.

Anne Rios, his attorney with Al Otro Lado, said she was stunned when she was finally able to get a copy of his medical records: “It seems unbelievable, almost too absurd to be true, but it’s not only documented, it’s the government’s own records.”

By August, Ice had twice refused to release him while his asylum case was pending even after dozens of medical visits, including multiple to the emergency room. One ER doctor had written that he was a “serious patient that presents with significant complexity of risk”, adding that he might have some kind of brain hemorrhage.

He had no criminal history or immigration violations.

Rolando grew increasingly desperate. At one point, he considered giving up and deporting himself back to Guatemala – a certain death, Rios said, recalling him telling her on one visit: “‘I’m gonna die here or in Guatemala, so I would at least rather go to my home country … I just can’t take it any more.’”

After a third request by Rolando’s attorneys, a judge ruled that he could be released – but only if he paid a $5,000 bond.

“For many, $5,000 might as well be $5m,” said Rios. “They come here with nothing, no resources, no family members, absolutely no way to pay for that.”

Rolando was only able to get out when Al Otro Lado found a way to cover the amount through its bond fund.

Ice declined to comment on Rolando’s case, citing his privacy. A spokeswoman said “everyone in our custody receives timely access to medical services and treatment”, including a full health assessment with two weeks of custody, daily sick calls and 24-hour emergency care. A dietician ensures detainees’ “unique health (included allergies), dietary, and religious needs are met” for each meal, and all food “must be visually appealing, palatable, and taste good”.

A final plea: ‘I followed the rules and I am telling the truth’

Rolando struggles to understand why the US has treated him like a criminal: “I followed all the rules and I asked for admission.”

Trump, however, is working to make the asylum process much more restrictive than what Rolando has experienced. His administration passed a policy in July banning migrants from seeking asylum at the US-Mexico border if they came from another country, saying they must first seek protections elsewhere.

Rolando was released in September and is awaiting an asylum hearing scheduled for next week. He said he wanted to speak out because he was particularly upset about the treatment he saw other detainees face at Otay Mesa. Some were disabled and unable to walk to the cafeteria to get food, he said, noting that he got reprimanded when he tried to bring them food.

“They abuse their power with us,” he said.

Otay Mesa has repeatedly faced accusations of severe medical neglect. Last week, a detainee died in custody.

Rolando said he wanted the government to understand that people seek asylum because they have no other option – and that officials should believe him: “When you’re asking for asylum, you’re swearing to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I am telling the truth.”

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

Following the rules and telling the truth seems to make little difference these days in an America where the Administration pointedly does neither, and the institutions that are supposed to enforce the rule of law and insure at least a modicum of accountability from the Executive Branch have largely gone “belly cup.”

A prerequisite to any true “dialogue” would be an end to MPP (“Let ‘Em Die in Mexico”), cancellation of the bogus “first country” regs and the illegal “Safe Third Country Agreements” with the failed states of the Northern Triangle, and an end to inhumane and intentionally coercive detention. At that point, there could be at least the beginnings a “true dialogue” on how to work within existing law to solve Southern Border issues, rather than intentionally aggravating them! And that could eventually lead to the necessary legislative changes to make our immigration laws more sensible, generous, due-process-oriented, and in the real national interest (rather than the exclusive interests of a White Nationalist minority).

PWS

10-09-19

KIT JOHNSON & NOLAN RAPPAPORT UNITED IN CAUSE OF JUSTICE FOR MARIA ISABEL BUESO — Different Methods, But One Objective: Justice!

Kevin R. Johnson
Dean
UC Davis School of Law

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/immigration/2019/09/trumps-death-sentence-for-immigrant-who-followed-the-law-merits-private-bill.html

Summary from Dean Kevin Johnson @ ImmigrationProf Blog:

Nolan Rappaport: Trump’s ‘death sentence’ for immigrant who followed the law merits private bill

Thursday, September 5, 2019

Kit Johnson has been blogging on the case of Maria Isabel Bueso, who at age 7 came to the United States for specialized health care for a life-threatening matter and now is threatened with removal — and possible death — by the Trump administration.

Nolan Rappaport on the Hill is more optimistic than Kit on the possibilities for a private bill allowing Bueso to gain lawful immigration status and remain in the United States. He writes, “In 30-some years as an immigration lawyer, I have not seen a more compelling justification for a private bill than the way the administration has treated Maria `Isabel’ Bueso.”

KJ

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

Go on over to ImmigrationProf Blog at the link for all the links to the story highlighted by Nolan and Kit.

Sometimes Trump’s immigration policies bring folks together: in united opposition.

Thanks to Nolan and Kit for highlighting this case! Hopefully, unity and publicity will bring success and save lives in this and other cases

PWS

09-07

-19

JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT HE’D HIT ROCK BOTTOM, TRUMP OUTDOES HIMSELF: War On Kids With Cancer Shows America’s Cowardly, Racist Leader At His Worst!

https://apple.news/AqbWMB-62RZuFir_I5xBMlQ

Bess Levin in Vanity Fair:

Evil

The Trump Administration Is Now Deporting Kids With Cancer

The new policy is a major departure from longstanding legal practice, which allowed the federal government to exercise discretion where a little humanity is warranted. Unfortunately for sick kids, humanity is not part of Trump’s agenda.

When you’ve already separated families, thrown children in cages, and held them in conditions that “could be compared to torture facilities,” it’s a bit of a challenge to come up with your next act. Evil takes creativity, and once you’ve forced migrant kids to go weeks without a shower or change of clothes and fed them expired food, it’s tough to continue nailing those Hitler comparisons. Somehow, though, the Trump administration always rises to the occasion:

The new policy is reportedly a major departure from long-standing legal practice; for decades, the federal government has used it to exercise discretion where a little humanity is warranted, like when a child is critically ill and will die if ordered to leave the country. Unfortunately for such children, humanity is not part of the Trump administration’s agenda. Per the Boston Globe:

“I can’t go back to Haiti,” Marie said in an interview on Monday organized by local immigration advocates. “I won’t find this medical care for him there.” According to Mahsa Khanbabai, chair of the New England chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, the exact number of immigrants potentially affected by the change is unclear, but estimated to be in the thousands, including children with cystic fibrosis, leukemia, and muscular dystrophy.

“This is a new low,” Senator Ed Markey told the Associated Press of the news. “Donald Trump is literally deporting kids with cancer.”

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

Read the complete article with “missing quote boxes” at the link. But, you get the gist from this.

Pretty much says it all about what we have become as a morally bankrupt nation under Trump.

PWS

08-27-19

Tag: Health

CLOSE THE PRISONS FOR THOSE WHO AREN’T CRIMINALS IN THE FIRST PLACE! — 3,000 Experts Press For Migrants’ Release From Trump’s Gulag!

Due Process Forever! The New American Gulag Never!

UPDATE: FROM IMMPROF: U.S. Court in Seattle stuffs ACLU’s bid to spring vulnerable migrants from Gulag!

STUPIDITY ISN’T JUST FOR THE YOUNG: IT’S ENDEMIC IN THE GOP: Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) 🤡🤡🤡🤡 Is Just The Latest To Demonstrate Why Throwing The GOP Out Of Office At All Levels Must Be Our Highest National Priority!

“Four Clowns” for you, Ronnie!🤡🤡🤡🤡

Vote ‘Em Out!

UPDATE FROM THE GUARDIAN: FAUCI RIPS JOHNSON FOR DANGEROUS STUPIDITY:

HERE’S WHAT’S NEW IN IMMIGRATION: PRISCILLA ALVAREZ @ CNN GIVES US A NICE CONCISE LIST OF 12 MAJOR CHANGES BROUGHT ABOUT BY CORONAVIRUS!

GIMMIE A BREAK: YOUNG, DUMB, AND SELFISH IN THE AGE OF TRUMP — The Rest Of Us Are Fighting To Save The Future For These Self-Centered, Overprivileged, Clueless Clowns?🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡

Due Process Forever. Selfish, Clueless Spring Breakers, Never!

“Clueless Spring Breakers” get this week’s coveted “Courtside Five Clown Award,” marking the first time this prestigious award has ever been given to a person or group who was NOT a member of the Trump regime!

🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡

KAKISTOCRACY’S COSTS: Trump’s Obsession With Immigration Enforcement @ DHS Strips Competent Leadership, Kneecaps Ability To Protect National Security, Endangers Employees & Public!

BREAKING: FINALLY, SOME COMMON SENSE & DECENCY PREVAILS, AS DHS WILL SUSPEND MOST INTERIOR ENFORCEMENT!

Due Process Forever!

BORDER CLOSINGS GO BOTH WAYS: Guatemala Refuses More U.S. Deportations — Regime’s “4-D” Approach About To Hit a Brick Wall?

WHERE JUSTICE IS BLIND, DEAF, & REALLY, REALLY DUMB — AMERICA’S COURTS FLUNK CORONAVIRUS TEST — ROBERTS’S FECKLESS LEADERSHIP — AILA CALLS FOR CLOSING ALL IMMIGRATION COURTS!

TRUMP’S MALICIOUS INCOMPETENCE THREATENS OUR NATION’S HEALTH & WELFARE! — “Leading a cult is not the same as leading a country. Presidential leadership is born of character — morality, honesty, courage, stability — traits foreign to Trump, traits to which he is actively hostile.”

Due Process Forever; The Trump Kakistocracy, Never!

AMERICA’S HOMEGROWN TORTURERS: Physicians For Human Rights Confirms What Many of Us Have Been Saying For Years: Trump Regime Tortures Families With Children With Impunity!

THANKSGIVING WISH: JUSTICE FOR THOSE HELD IN TRUMP’S DEADLY “NEW AMERICAN GULAG” — DHS KID KILLERS: CDC TELLS CBP TO VACCINATE DETAINED MIGRANTS: CBP Chooses To Kill Kids & Spread Disease!

Give thanks for the New Due Process Army!

Due Process Forever; New American Gulag Never!

Happy Thanksgiving,

SECONDARY TRAUMA: Defenders & Advocates Also Suffer From Trump’s Constant Attacks On Migrants’ Humanity

DIALOGUE? – Shot In The Head In Guatemala, He Sought Legal Refuge In the U.S. – What He Found At DHS Was Something Quite Different — “Some days, Rolando would bleed out of his eyes, ears and nose. Other days, he’d lie on the floor, dizzy or barely conscious.”

This asylum seeker was shot in the head. Ice jailed him and gave him ibuprofen

An orphan who escaped death: ‘I don’t have anyone left’

In detention, in agony and without treatment

The latest major Trump resignations and firings

A final plea: ‘I followed the rules and I am telling the truth’

KIT JOHNSON & NOLAN RAPPAPORT UNITED IN CAUSE OF JUSTICE FOR MARIA ISABEL BUESO — Different Methods, But One Objective: Justice!

JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT HE’D HIT ROCK BOTTOM, TRUMP OUTDOES HIMSELF: War On Kids With Cancer Shows America’s Cowardly, Racist Leader At His Worst!

Due Process Forever! The New American Gulag Never!

UPDATE: FROM IMMPROF: U.S. Court in Seattle stuffs ACLU’s bid to spring vulnerable migrants from Gulag!

Related posts:

“Four Clowns” for you, Ronnie!🤡🤡🤡🤡

Vote ‘Em Out!

UPDATE FROM THE GUARDIAN: FAUCI RIPS JOHNSON FOR DANGEROUS STUPIDITY:

Related posts:

Related posts:

Due Process Forever. Selfish, Clueless Spring Breakers, Never!

“Clueless Spring Breakers” get this week’s coveted “Courtside Five Clown Award,” marking the first time this prestigious award has ever been given to a person or group who was NOT a member of the Trump regime!

🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡

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Due Process Forever!

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Due Process Forever; The Trump Kakistocracy, Never!

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Give thanks for the New Due Process Army!

Due Process Forever; New American Gulag Never!

Happy Thanksgiving,

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This asylum seeker was shot in the head. Ice jailed him and gave him ibuprofen

An orphan who escaped death: ‘I don’t have anyone left’

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