🏴‍☠️🤯🤮 A CENTURY OF PROGRESS ARRESTED: THE 1924 IMMIGRATION ACT REARS ITS UGLY NATIVIST HEAD AGAIN! — Felipe De La Hoz In The New Republic, Quoting Me Among Others!

Felipe De La Hoz Felipe is an investigative and explanatory reporter focusing on immigration in the U.S. He is a former reporter for the investigative site Documented, and has written for The Village Voice, The Daily Beast, WNYC, The New Republic, The Baffler, and other outlets. He is the co-founder of the weekly immigration policy newsletter BORDER/LINES. PHOTO: The Intercept

https://newrepublic.com/article/180494/america-broken-immigration-system-racist-origins

Felipe writes:

How a little-known, century-old law perpetuated the odious notion that certain types of immigrants degrade our nation’s character

As radical as the contemporary GOP has become in recent years, it remains generally verboten in mainstream circles to openly call for murder. At least, for all but one demographic: migrants, whom Texas Governor Greg Abbott earlier this year lamented he couldn’t order killed. At best, party officials might argue that they are disease-ridden freeloaders; at worst, that they’re a demographic ticking time bomb engineered to wipe out real, white America.

This rhetoric has often been mistaken as a new turn for American political discourse, but it’s more of a return to an earlier era, one cemented by a law signed a century ago this month by Calvin Coolidge: the Immigration Act of 1924, known as Johnson-Reed after its House and Senate sponsors.

. . . .

“Those of us that sort of thought the ’24 act was in the rearview mirror, you know, I think we’ve been proven wrong,” the former immigration judge [PWS] added.

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Read Felipe’s complete article, containing more quotes from me, at the link.

Texas Border
Abuse of migrants has a long ugly history in Texas and elsewhere along the border. The pushers of the 1924 Immigration Act must be smiling at how their toxic ideas have continued to be accepted and promoted by 21st Century politicos.
Public Realm (1948)

Turning back the clock to the worst impulses in American history is bad stuff! It’s as if we have collectively forgotten the lessons of the World War II age and why it was necessary to defeat Nazi Germany.

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

05-02-24 

🤯🗽 STUART ANDERSON @ THE HILL: DEMS MISSING THE POSITIVE MESSAGE ON IMMIGRATION: “The loudest voices in the room are usually not the ones with the best solutions.”

Stuart Anderson
Stuart Anderson
Executive Director
National Foundation for American Policy

https://thehill-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/thehill.com/opinion/4627011-biden-should-choose-legal-pathways-over-new-restrictions/amp/

Stuart writes in The Hill:

President Joe Biden would make a mistake if he issued a new executive order to block asylum seekers in the hope of improving his election standing. It is unlikely the order would be lawful or effective. Instead, the Biden administration should focus on policies that have worked by expanding legal pathways. Individuals and families allowed to enter lawfully do not immigrate illegally.

The Associated Press reports, “The White House is considering using provisions of federal immigration law repeatedly tapped by former President Donald Trump to unilaterally enact a sweeping crackdown at the southern border.” The effort shows how pressure over the upcoming rematch with Donald Trump influences U.S. immigration policy.

The president may declare that individuals crossing the southwest border are ineligible to apply for asylum. A court would block it, given the experience when Donald Trump tried a similar approach via regulation.

. . . .

America needs workers. A recent study by economist Madeline Zavodny concluded that the slowdown in the working-age foreign-born starting in 2017 under Donald Trump’s immigration policies (and compounded by COVID-19) likely shaved off a significant amount of real GDP growth in 2022. Real GDP growth, or economic growth, is needed to improve living standards.

Zavodny, an economics professor at the University of North Florida, found that U.S. real GDP growth was lower by an estimate of up to 1.3 percentage points in 2022. In other words, the growth rate was only 1.9 percent but could have been as high as 3.2 percent if “the working-age foreign-born population had continued to grow at the same rate it did during the first half of the 2010s.”

Congress should create temporary work visas for year-round jobs in sectors like hospitality and construction to complement the current seasonal visas that cover jobs mostly in agriculture and summer resorts.

The loudest voices in the room are usually not the ones with the best solutions. On immigration policy, those shouting have called for more enforcement measures, even if such policies are ineffective. The Biden administration should focus on a policy that has worked by expanding humanitarian parole programs and other legal pathways.

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Read Stuart’s full article at the link!

Unfortunately, the Biden Administration has lacked consistent, dynamic, expert leadership on immigration. Consequently, cycles of modest successful positive steps are followed by irrational, failed “deterrence only.”

The Trump Administration turned immigration policy over to notorious White Nationalist restrictionist Stephen Miller and let him have his way. By contrast, the Biden Administration has shown little leadership on this important issue, despite having access to what is probably the greatest intellectual “brain trust” of proven immigration expertise and innovative “practical scholars” in American history!

Preferring to avoid the discussion, the Administration has bounced aimlessly from modest improvements to proven failed cruelty and repression. It’s what happens when an issue of fundamental values that requires vision, courage, consistency, and creative leadership is improperly relegated to the realm of “political strategy” controlled by those who have never personally experienced the human trauma of failed immigration enforcement feeding into a dysfunctional, due-process-denying “court system.”

Stuart understands the issue far better than anyone I’m aware of in Administration leadership. The Biden campaign should “give him a call” and heed his advice!

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

04-30-24

⚖️🗽 EXPOSING THE “NO SHOW MYTH:” 99% Of Paroled Migrants Checked In With CBP!

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick
Policy Counsel
American Immigration Council
Photo: Twitter

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick reports on X:

@ReichlinMelnick
On May 12, 2023, Border Patrol briefly restarted using humanitarian parole as a mechanism to release migrants as a means of avoiding overcrowding. Of the 2,572 people released that day, 2,545 have since checked in with ICE as required. That’s 99% in total. They didn’t disappear.
Quote
Big Cases Bot
@big_cases
Automated
New filing: “Florida v. Mayorkas (migrant parole policy TRO)” Doc #74: STATUS REPORT Defendants’ Supplemental Report for April 2024 by ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, RAUL ORTIZ, UNITED STATES. (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit… [full entry below 👇] PDF: courtlistener.com/docket/6736730 #CL67367309
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The entry's text: STATUS REPORT Defendants' Supplemental Report for April 2024 by ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, RAUL ORTIZ, UNITED STATES. (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit Declaration of Donna Vassilio-Diaz, # 2 Exhibit Supplemental Data) (RYAN, ERIN) (Entered: 04/22/2024)

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So much of the one-sided “border debate” is based on myth rather than reality!

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

04-29-24

🇺🇸⚖️🗽 MARYLAND IMMIGRANT LEGAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (“MILAP”) HELPS KIDS FACING THE TRAUMA OF OVERWHELMED IMMIGRATION COURTS!

Cate ScennaDirector of PBRC's Maryland Immigrant Legal Assistance Project (MILAP)
Cate Scenna
Director of PBRC’s Maryland Immigrant Legal Assistance Project (MILAP)
PHOTO: Linkedin

From the Pro Bono Resource Center of Maryland:

Cate Scenna, Director of PBRC’s Maryland Immigrant Legal Assistance Project (MILAP), and Bill Meyer, a longtime volunteer with MILAP, spoke to the Baltimore Banner about the state of the Baltimore Immigration Court, and how the overwhelmed system is affecting asylum seekers’ lives.  

“One group — attorneys with the Pro Bono Resource Center of Maryland — has established a presence on the fourth floor of the George Fallon Federal Building, where the immigration court in Baltimore is located. This is where the five Salvadoran sisters waited.” 

Read more the growing and persistent need for pro bono representation at the Baltimore Immigration Court: https://lnkd.in/et63PTxe

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A system that lets kids face Immigration Court alone has lost touch with justice and common sense.

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

PWS

04-28-24

🇺🇸🗽⚖️👍 REPORT FROM KANSAS CITY! — The Sharma-Crawford Clinic Immigration Court Trial Advocacy College Reaches New Heights!

Rekha Aharma-Crawford
Rekha Sharma-Crawford ESQUIRE
Partner and Co-Founder Sharma-Crawford Law
Kansas City, KS

Rekha Sharma-Crawford writes in Linkedin:

The Clinic at Sharma-Crawford Attorneys at Law Immigration Court Trial Advocacy College Faculty, 2024. Kick ass trial lawyers sharing their wisdom and knowledge to elevate the practice before the immigration courts. Blessed to call them all friends! Thank you my friends!! 🙏🏽🗽⚖️💕 

Sharma-Crawford Faculty 2024
Sharma-Crawford Faculty 2024

 

Paul Schmidt Lory Rosenberg Elina Magaly Santana Erich Straub Michael Sharma-Crawford Kelli Stump Lindsay Gray David Bell Kelly Driscoll Nathan Dayani Davorin Odrcic Michelle Saenz-Rodriguez Sarah Owings Genevra Alberti Susan Roy Patrick Lewis Angel Marie Graf

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Immigration Court Trial Advocacy College Defensive Asylum Day 2! 

 

Sharma-Crawford 2024 Day 2
Sharma-Crawford 2024 Day 2
Sharma-Crawford 2024 Day 2
Sharma-Crawford 2024 Day 2

It’s incredible to witness the dedication and passion of our attendees as they dive into the world of defensive asylum cases.

 

#TheClinicSCAL #KansasCity #TrialCollege …see more

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Sharma-Crawford
The Clinic @ Sharma-Crawford Law

Immigration Court can, quite intentionally on the part of its “political handlers,” be intimidating, particularly for newer litigators.

Among the many “user unfriendly/due process denying features:”

  • Arbitrary, “make ‘em up as you go along” rules that apply to individuals, but not to DHS or EOIR;
  • Cosmically inconsistent adjudications;
  • Lack of universal asylum expertise among judges at both the trial and appellate levels;
  • Institutional bias against asylum seekers and failure to follow generous precedents such as Cardoza-Fonseca and Mogharrabi;   
  • Shifting political priorities driving “Aimless Docket Reshuffling” and creating unmanageable backlogs;
  • Permissive lack of discipline at DHS in intentionally overloading system; 
  • Grotesque overemphasis of “bogus productivity” over due process, quality, and fundamental fairness; 
  • One-sided “disciplinary procedures” that give DHS counsel a “free pass;” and
  • A “permissive culture” of racial bias and “any reason to deny” decision-making.  

Yet, despite this intentional, unethical “tilting of the playing field’ against migrants, particularly asylum seekers of color, and their representatives, well-represented individuals win their cases against the odds at all levels of this system every day! 

The faculty of the Sharma-Crawford Immigration Court Trial College is a unique blend of experienced, hard-nosed, gutsy, immigration advocates, criminal defense attorneys, former prosecutors and judges, teachers, and coaches. We teach skills and instill fearless attitudes that have proven to be successful in criminal, civil, and immigration litigation!

 The Trial College now has more the 150 “alumni” nationwide who are using their enhanced talents to force due process on a reluctant system, save lives, and “build America,” one case at a time!  The “Class of 2024” was larger than usual and showed exceptional seriousness, dedication, creativity, and commitment to changing the course of American Justice for the better at the oft-ignored but existentially important “retail level.”

I was particularly pleased to be “reunited” on the faculty with my colleagues and “EOIR Alums” retired Judges Lory Rosenberg, Sue Roy, and “new recruit” Ed Kelly! I also appreciate the courtesy of Assistant Chief Immigration Judge Jayme Salinardi and the  Kansas City Immigration Court in arranging for the students and faculty to observe some Master Calendar hearings.

I am privileged to be part of this amazing and inspiring multi-disciplinary effort! Thanks to Rekha Sharma-Crawford, Michael Crawford, Genevra Alberti, and the Clinic Staff for their leadership in making this happen!😎

Genevra W. Alberti, Esq. The Clinic at Sharma-Crawford Attorneys at Law
Genevra W. Alberti, Esq.
The Clinic at Sharma-Crawford Attorneys at Law
Kansas City, Mo.
PHOTO: The Clinic

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

04-27-24

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

Hamed Aleaziz
Hamed Aleaziz
Immigration Reporter
NY Times

Hamed posted on LinkedIn:

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

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

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

Here’s the link to LinkedIn:

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

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

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

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

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

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

 

PWS

04-25-24

 

🗽⚖️ TALIA INLENDER IN THE L.A. TIMES:  A Better Immigration System Is Possible, But It Would Take Political Will On the Part Of An Administration That Appears To Be “Walking (Or Running) Away” From Equal Justice For All!

Talia Inlender is deputy director of the Center for Immigration Law and Policy at UCLA School of Law.
Talia Inlender
Deputy Director of the Center for Immigration Law and Policy at UCLA School of Law
PHOTO: UCLA

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2024-04-21/immigration-court-representation-jose-franco-gonzalez

On a sunny January morning, in the windowless office of a nondescript government building, Jose Franco Gonzalez was sworn in as a United States citizen. There is not a lot of good news in immigration these days, with President Biden doubling down on proposals that would gut remaining asylum protections and former President Trump threatening mass deportations. But Franco’s story is a reminder that a better immigration system remains possible. His experience points toward a path for getting there.

. . . .

No system is perfect, and this one is no exception. There remain significant gaps in screening and identification, competency assessments are often done by judges without the aid of professional mental health evaluations, and people still languish in immigration custody for months or longer as their cases wind through the system. And, to our collective shame, the right to legal representation has not been extended to any other groups in immigration proceedings, including children. Still, there is no question that Franco’s namesake litigation not only changed the course of his own life, but also created a sea change in an immigration system that often feels impossible to move toward justice.

The next positive changes may be harder to win in the courtroom, and almost certainly won’t come from the halls of this Congress. But the Biden administration has the power to make good on its promise of a more humane immigration system, including by extending the National Qualified Representative Program to other groups, among them children and families. No court order or act of Congress is required to do so, just political will. And, of course, dollars: Diverting from the nearly $3 billion spent annually on immigration detention is a good place to start.

States and localities can also play a crucial role in expanding legal representation as well as other protections in the face of federal gridlock. And immigrant organizing, especially among youth, will continue to break open new paths for change. As we head into another election cycle in which the demonization of immigrants and the failures of our current system take center stage, Franco — now a U.S. citizen — is living proof that a better immigration system is possible.

Talia Inlender is deputy director of the Center for Immigration Law and Policy at UCLA School of Law.

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Read Talia’s full op-ed at the link.

Thanks, Talia, for all you do, and for sharing this inspiring “real life saga!” It’s always helpful to know “the rest of the story,” especially when there is a “happy ending.”

The Franco case is a “biggie” in modern immigration due process impact jurisprudence! While it didn’t apply in Arlington, Virginia, where I was sitting as a judge, I certainly remember colleagues assigned to do “TV Court” in 9th Circuit jurisdictions speaking about doing “Franco hearings!”

For a fraction of the cost of more cruel and counterproductive enforcement gimmicks being pushed by both parties in this election year, our nation could make real improvements in the immigration justice system, particularly at EOIR. Tragically, there appears to little political will to do the right (and smart) thing here!

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

04-23-24

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

Professor Erin Barbato
Professor Erin Barbato
Director, Immigrant Justice Clinic
UW Law
Photo source: UW Law
Sara McKinnonProfessor Pronouns: she/her/ella Email: smckinnon@wisc.edu Sara L. McKinnon is Professor of Rhetoric, Politics & Culture in the Department of Communication Arts, and Faculty Director of Latin American, Caribbean, and Iberian Studies. She is co-chair of the Human Rights Program
Sara McKinnon
Professor, U.W. Madison
Sara L. McKinnon is Professor of Rhetoric, Politics & Culture in the Department of Communication Arts, and Faculty Director of Latin American, Caribbean, and Iberian Studies. She is co-chair of the Human Rights Program
PHOTO: U.W
Jorge OsorioDirector, Global Health Institute Pronouns: he/him/él Email: jorge.osorio@wisc.edu Phone: 608-265-9299 Jorge Osorio, DVM, Ph.D., M.S., is a professor in the Department of Pathobiological Sciences in the School of Veterinary Medicine. Osorio has had a lengthy career in medical sciences, including virology, field epidemiological studies, vaccinology,…
Jorge Osorio
Director, Global Health Institute
Jorge Osorio, DVM, Ph.D., M.S., is a professor in the Department of Pathobiological Sciences in the School of Veterinary Medicine. Osorio has had a lengthy career in medical sciences, including virology, field epidemiological studies, vaccinology,…
PHOTO: U.W.

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

Migration in the Americas Project

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

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

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

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

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Here’s another related event:

Judges Without Borders.jpeg

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

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

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

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

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

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

04-22-24

⚖️ SENATE RAPIDLY REJECTS GOP’S FRIVOLOUS “MAYORKAS IMPEACHMENT STUNT!” 

Andrea Castillo
Andrea Castillo
Immigration Reporter
LA Times
Source: LA Times website

Andrea Castillo reports for the LA Times:

https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2024-04-17/senate-impeachment-trial-for-homeland-security-secretary-mayorkas

WASHINGTON — Senators were sworn in Wednesday for their third impeachment trial in four years, this time of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas. 

Three hours later, they had voted along party lines to dismiss both counts against Mayorkas. 

House Republicans, who say Mayorkas has failed to fulfill his duties in upholding immigration law, pushed for a full Senate trial of the case against him. Senate Democrats called the allegations baseless. 

. . . .

“Today’s decision by the Senate to reject House Republicans’ baseless attacks on Secretary Mayorkas proves definitively that there was no evidence or Constitutional grounds to justify impeachment,” Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Mia Ehrenberg said in a statement. “It’s time for Congressional Republicans to support the department’s vital mission instead of wasting time playing political games and standing in the way of commonsense, bipartisan border reforms.”

Ian Sams, a White House spokesperson, added that “President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas will continue doing their jobs to keep America safe and pursue actual solutions at the border.”

Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) sought to accommodate the wishes of Republican colleagues in agreeing to a period of debate before moving to dismiss the case against Mayorkas. 

Engaging in a full trial “would be a grave mistake and could set a dangerous precedent for the future,” he said, urging colleagues to save impeachment “for those rare cases we truly need it.” 

Schumer said the first impeachment article — for “willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law” — does not allege conduct that rises to the level of a high crime or misdemeanor and is therefore unconstitutional.

After breaking to discuss how best to proceed, Republicans began stalling by initiating a series of increasingly far-fetched motions, which failed: 

. . . . 

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Read Andrea’s full report at the above link.

I’ve often expressed doubts about whether Mayorkas is the right person for the job at DHS. This has been based primarily on his failure to stand up for and effectively implement the legal and moral right to seek asylum, at the border and in the interior, and his lack of leadership and creativity in addressing backlogs at DHS. But, that’s hardly a basis for impeachment.

The GOP is a party of insurrection and lawlessness, particularly in their attempts to eradicate the rights of asylum seekers, led by a man with absolutely no respect for the rule of law except where it personally benefits him. The GOP House has failed to constructively address a number of important governance issues, including Ukraine aid, while finding time for this wasteful nonsense. For the scofflaw GOP to pursue frivolous charges of impeachment against Mayorkas for not “complying with the law” has to be one of the greatest examples of “chutzpah” in recent political history. 

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

04-17-22

🤯 HAD ENOUGH “BORDER BLATHER” FROM GOP NATIVISTS AND THE “WOBBLIES” 🐥 @ THE BIDEN CAMPAIGN? — ⚖️👏🗽 Get The “Real Skinny” As Melissa Del Bosque Interviews Immigration Policy Expert Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @ The Border Chronicle! —  NO, The Prez Can’t “Waive A Magic Wand” 🪄 & “Close The Border!” 🔐

Melissa Del Bosque
Melissa Del Bosque
Border Reporter
PHOTO: Melissadelbosque.com
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick
Policy Counsel
American Immigration Council
Photo: Twitter

https://open.substack.com/pub/theborderchronicle/p/can-president-biden-really-shut-down?r=1se78m&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

From The Border Chronicle:

pastedGraphic.pngLast Tuesday, in an interview with Univision’s Enrique Acevedo, President Joe Biden again said he’s considering issuing an executive order to ban asylum at the border. It’s an idea that Biden has floated before as the presidential election season slogs on, and after the bipartisan border bill meltdown in Congress. “We’re examining whether or not I have that power. Some are suggesting that I should just go ahead and try it,” Biden told Acevedo. “And if I get shut down by the court, I get shut down by the court.”

If Biden were to do such a thing, he would rely on Section 212 (f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), which gives a president the authority to suspend entry or place restrictions on noncitizens.

If this sounds familiar, it’s because Trump tried this several times during his presidency, most notably with the xenophobic Muslim ban. None of them were successful, and they only injected more chaos into an already beleaguered immigration system. So why is Biden proposing this idea now? The Border Chronicle spoke with immigration expert Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, policy director at the American Immigration Council, about Biden’s proposal and what an asylum ban would mean for asylum seekers and border communities.

Biden is floating the idea of issuing an asylum ban. How will this impact people seeking asylum at the border? And can the president actually, you know, just shut down the border?

So I’ll start with the second question. The answer is no. Though there are some authorities that get you somewhere close to it, like Title 42. But it’s important to understand the distinction between the legalistic aspect of issuing an order that further bans crossing the border and actually, effectively shutting down the border.

The best example of issuing an order that I would point to is President Trump’s 212 restriction from November 2018, through February 2021, which suspended the entry of all migrants crossing the border illegally. So we already know what it looks like when a president invokes Section 212 (f) of the INA to suspend the entry of migrants. What it looks like is nothing, because nothing happened. And that is because it is already a violation of immigration law to cross the border without inspection. And so adding another reason, you know why that’s not allowed, doesn’t have any practical impact on people who simply walk across the border or wade through the river or climb over a wall. Because the important question is not whether a person is committing an unlawful act by crossing. The important question is, what can the U.S. government do to respond once a person is on U.S. soil? This is why Section 212 (f) is not a good tool for addressing irregular migration.

The other question is, how does that affect people seeking asylum? Well, not very much. We saw this with the Trump administration, in order to carry out their 212 ban. They had to do two things: They had to issue the proclamation suspending the entry of migrants. And then separately, they passed a regulation saying, we are going to ban asylum to anyone who crosses the border in violation of the proclamation. And it’s that regulation that got struck down as unlawful with a court in California, and then the Ninth Circuit saying and affirming that what that amounted to was a total ban on asylum for people who enter the country illegally, which is simply not permissible, because the INA says people, no matter how they arrive in the United States, may apply for asylum.

Photo courtesy of Aaron Reichlin-Melnick

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I think people often forget about this, right? I mean, the law says that you can arrive anywhere at the border and ask for asylum.

You can arrive anywhere, and you can have any status. You can be documented, undocumented, you can enter legally or illegally. The key issue is whether or not you are physically present in the United States. And in that case, then they are allowed to apply for asylum. Now, the Biden administration has imposed an asylum restriction that does target people primarily by how they enter the United States. It is currently on appeal at the Ninth Circuit, and the legality of it is not entirely clear. This is the circumvention of lawful pathways rule from last May. The Biden administration basically argued that it wasn’t a total ban on asylum, because it wasn’t technically based on the manner of entry, so it didn’t violate the INA. I think that was a weak argument, though.

If Biden were to implement the ban, would it impact legal migration?

Probably not at all. This would be a restriction, like the Trump restriction, that would apply only to migrants who cross the border between ports of entry, not those who go to ports of entry. So it would probably have no impact at all on legal migration. The crucial thing to understand is that, as a practical matter, even if they do manage to get an asylum restriction in place, which passes court muster, actually carrying out that restriction on migrants at the border is a very different story. And as we are seeing today, with the circumvention-of-lawful-pathways rule, even if you have banned asylum to nearly everybody crossing the border illegally, that does not actually mean that nearly everyone who crosses the border illegally is restricted from seeking asylum.

What impact could the asylum ban have on border communities? Do you think we’d see a buildup of people on the Mexican side and in camps just sort of waiting and trying to figure out what to do?

Anytime a new policy goes into effect, there’s a wait-and-see period. The Biden administration is already maximizing credible fear interviews. So it wouldn’t have a major change on how people are processed at the border. Other than that, the few 15 percent who were even put through credible fear, they would get denied. But even then, not all of them would get denied because, crucially, an asylum ban is discretionary. It’s just an asylum ban, and there’s more to humanitarian protection than just asylum that migrants can potentially invoke to avoid rapid removal or deportation proceedings. There’s withholding of removal, which is a form of asylum that’s harder to win and offers fewer benefits. And there’s protection under the Convention against Torture. So even today, people who are not eligible for asylum are still managing to pass their fear screenings because they could demonstrate eligibility for withholding or eligibility for protection under the Convention against Torture.

So, realistically speaking, having this asylum ban applied to 100 percent could mean only a few hundred people more a month being ordered removed. Not a huge shift. But for those people, obviously a very, very dramatic change. The question then is, how does the Biden administration talk about this? Does the ban discourage some people from showing up? You know if they falsely believe that this is a major shift? And, of course, how does Mexico respond?

These are the questions that are more important, because with Section 212 (f), I don’t see a way for the president to re-create something like Title 42, where people are simply expelled back across the border without being able to seek asylum. Even the Trump administration acknowledged that that’s not something that they could do with Section 212 (f).

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What strategy do you think Biden’s using here by floating this idea? Is it purely for political reasons? Because it’s an election year?

I don’t know. I think there’s a reason that they haven’t done anything yet. And that reason is likely to do with the fact that the lawyers have probably explained to Biden what happened when Trump tried and how unsuccessful that was.

Has the narrative around immigration and the border become so removed from reality that it’s just not helpful at this point?

Yes, I do think so. People want an easy solution, you know, build the wall, what have you, and are not acknowledging that this is an issue that the United States has been facing for, in its modern form, for 15 years. If you go back further, 100 years, really, ever since we first made it illegal to cross the border, we’ve been dealing with the challenges of how do you enforce that law? If you go back to the late 19th century, when Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, the United States created a Bureau of Immigration where they had an entire division whose job it was to try to stop Chinese people coming in from Mexico and Canada. And then, in the early 20th century, the biggest issue at the southern border was Mexican migrants crossing the border without permission. We have a nearly 2,000-mile land border on the south and a 3,000-mile land border on the north. That is a lot of territory to patrol even in a modern world with technology. And the United States has been through a period of high migration for 40 out of the last 50 years. For 40 years it was Mexicans, not entirely, of course, and there were Central Americans during the death squad years of the 1980s, who came to the United States for safety.

But the real shift that’s happened in the last three years has been people from further abroad. And it is just a challenging issue in a world that is more interconnected and hypermobile than at any point in human history. And we have to acknowledge that complexity when we talk about how to address this issue.

I think when people are talking about, you know, just shutting down the border, they forget about the billions in trade and citizens from both sides who are crossing the border every day.

Right, exactly. Oftentimes, people don’t even think about that, you know, most people don’t know that about the half a million people who enter the United States every single day at the southern border. That’s at least 16 million entries a month. And that’s people legally crossing back and forth for school, for work, for commerce, or tourism. So when people say, “Let’s shut down the border,” they mean to migrants, but they’re not thinking about the rest of it. And you have to go back to this question of, is that something the United States can do or wants to do? Let’s say you build a Berlin Wall with, you know, gun towers, and Trump’s moat filled with alligators and shoot migrants in the legs. That probably would deter some people. But then are you a country that is murdering people for trying to seek a better life? Do we want to be that kind of country?

So here’s a really tough question. Do you have any solutions?

An overwhelming majority of people who would like to come to the United States have no legal pathway to do so. Alternate pathway strategies are key. This puts a focus on those who haven’t yet made the decision to leave. I think it’s important to put that in that framework. Because once people have already left, they have sold their house, they’ve abandoned the lease, they, you know, liquidated a lot of their savings, they may have sent a child to a parent or an aunt or uncle. All of which means, at that point, that simply going back becomes much harder.

We also have to address the root causes for why people leave their home countries, which is the hardest to do, of course. This would require the United States to reckon with its own record of foreign policy in Latin America, which is something a lot of politicians do not want to do. Alternate pathways are a good middle ground there, because you can give people an opportunity to come to the United States temporarily and legally without breaking any laws, starving the smugglers of resources. And making it easier for people to get here without falling into the hands of bad actors.

Once people are at the border, though, it’s a different story. There have to be better options for people to cross legally at ports of entry. People still need the opportunity to seek asylum. But there should also be an enforcement component for people who don’t fall within our asylum laws. Right now, the issue is that the system can’t easily distinguish at the border between those who have slam dunk asylum claims from those who just want to come here for a better life. And that is because for years Congress has failed to provide enough resources to the asylum system, humanitarian protection, systems screening—all of that is grievously underfunded and has been for decades.

Given the scale of migration we see today, the system has buckled under its own weight. So, we have to build the system back up and allow it to function. And that means delivering a yes in a reasonable time and delivering a no in a reasonable time regarding asylum claims. You know, it shouldn’t take seven years.

And it’s important to keep reminding people that these issues didn’t just start in 2020 with the Biden administration.

This is not a new issue. And it’s one that requires us to think outside of a partisan lens. This is about U.S. government capacity, the underlying legal structures, and U.S. foreign policy across the region, which has gone on for generations. The underlying legal authorities haven’t changed in decades. And the external circumstances have changed dramatically.

The ability of migrants to get to the border is easier than it has ever been. Flights are cheaper, and people have cell phones and Google Translate. In the past, if you wanted to get to the border, you would need to speak some Spanish, you would need to know someone. Now you can find all the information online. You can find it circulating on WhatsApp, Telegram or TikTok. And once you’re in a foreign country, you know, if you’re an African migrant who speaks French when you come through Mexico, you can use Google Translate to talk to other migrants and find out what they know. And so moving and migrating across the world is easier now than it has ever been. And that’s not necessarily a genie that we can put back in the bottle. And I think people need to acknowledge that and start thinking more broadly about what that means for the modern world.

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

Undoubtedly, as noted in this interview, “the narrative around immigration and the border [has] become so removed from reality that it’s just not helpful at this point.”

The nativist GOP doesn’t want to acknowledge the reality of immigration, including by refugees and asylees, its inevitability, and its proven long-term benefits to America.

By contrast, Dems are afraid of the reality of immigration and too politically timid to stand up for the right to apply for asylum.

What both parties have in common is that they are perfectly willing to accept the benefits of immigration of all types — after all, this is a nation of immigrants — while denying the very humanity and the legal and human rights of those courageous and talented individual immigrants, of all types and statuses, who have built our nation and continue to do so. 🤯🤮👎🏽

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever.

PWS

04-17-24

🤥🤥🤥🤥 GOP BIG LIES ABOUT BIDEN PAROLE PROGRAM EXPOSED — AGAIN! — WashPost Fact Checker Glenn Kessler Gives Nativist Nonsense Spread By Corrupt GOP Politicos 🤮 Four (4) Pinocchios!

 

Glenn Kessler
Glenn Kessler
Fact Checker
WashPost
PHOTO: WashPost

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/04/05/taxpayer-dollars-being-used-fly-illegal-aliens-nope/

Kessler writes in WashPost’s “Fact Checker:”

By Glenn Kessler

April 5, 2024 at 3:00 a.m. ET

“Do you support American taxpayer dollars being used to fly illegal immigrants from countries like Venezuela and Haiti into America to be settled in cities and towns near you? If so, then vote against me. Vote no to preserve this practice of using taxpayer dollars to charter planes that move and import thousands of illegal aliens into your states.”

— Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), in a speech on the Senate floor, March 23

“Have you had to cancel or rethink any upcoming summer trips because of high prices? Don’t worry — your taxpayer dollars will be used to pay for illegal immigrants to fly into a town near you.”

— Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.), chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, in a post on X, April 2

Two lawmakers from Tennessee have issued misleading statements about a Biden administration program that permitted an increased use of a process known as humanitarian parole for migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela. Hagerty offered an amendment to a spending bill — defeated in a party-line vote — that he said would prevent taxpayer dollars from being used to fly in migrants. Green, on X, posted a Fox News article — headlined “All Senate Dems vote against barring taxpayer funds to fly illegal migrants to US towns” — and made a similar claim.

Under the Biden program, people from these countries who try to cross the border without the proper paperwork are ineligible for parole and subject to expulsion. Instead, before arriving, they must receive authorization to travel to the United States and a statement of financial support from a sponsor.

As of the end of February, the Department of Homeland Security says, more than 386,000 people from those countries had arrived lawfully in the United States and another 19,000 were vetted and authorized to travel. In other words, they are not in the country illegally, despite the rhetoric in the statements.

And beyond the question of whether these immigrants are “illegal,” if you listen to Hagerty and Green, U.S. taxpayers are footing the bill for their travel. That’s wrong.

. . . .

Four Pinocchios
Four Pinocchios
Source: WashPost

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

Get all the relevant facts in the complete report at the link!

Dems appear “chronically afraid of touting success” when it comes to immigration. These programs show that with leadership, creativity, and coordination, robust, realistic legal immigration programs will garner public support, be cost effective (particularly when compared with expensive, wasteful, ineffective, cruel “detention and deterrence”), take pressure off the border, and maximize America’s ability to capitalize and maximize the benefits of human migration.  

Despite the GOP’s disingenuous denial, human migration, including forced migration, is a reality! The countries that eschew “GOP-style” fear-mongering, xenophobia, and nativism to work with and manage human migration in an orderly, fair manner will own the future.

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

04-16-24

☠️⚰️ KILLER POLITICOS GET AWAY WITH MURDER: GOP NATIVISTS, SPINELESS DEM ENABLERS DRIVE DEATH @ THE BORDER: Locals Run Out Of Body Bags & Burial Plots As Gov’s Intentional, Immoral Failure To Properly Process Legal Asylum Seekers Takes Deadly Human Toll!🤮

Angel of Death Artist: Evelyn De Morgan 1880 Public Realm The Angel of Death (“AOD”) comes for another asylum seeker at the border. Biden border policies have created “full employment” for tge AOD!
Angel of Death
Artist: Evelyn De Morgan 1880
Public Realm
The Angel of Death (“AOD”) comes for another asylum seeker at the border. American border policies have needlessly and heedlessly created “full employment” for the AOD!

Arelis R. Hernandez, Mariana Dias, Danielle Volpe report from Eagle Pass, TX for WashPost:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/interactive/2024/texas-border-eagle-pass-migrant-deaths/

. . . .

“If they’ve been in the water awhile, their skin gets pruned and webby and starts to peel off. Their eyes, nose and mouth get swollen,” [Sgt. Aaron] Horta said with a far-off look in his eyes. “For a while, I couldn’t sleep.”

By the end of 2022, Horta had recorded 225 deaths. He said it bothers him when no one claims a body, so he tries to do what he can. This past Thanksgiving, 11-year-old Cristal Tercero Medrano of Nicaragua drowned while wearing a bright-yellow Tweety Bird sweater. Horta worked with Border Patrol agents to identify her. Not long after, they found the girl’s family. Relatives sent in a photo of Cristal wearing the same yellow sweater.

“I get mad, as the father of a little girl,” Horta said. “There should be a process that isn’t the river. It gets to me, but I have to be a professional.”

. . . .

As she swiped through the images in her photo album, she landed on one of a boy in his late teens who had been in the river so long that the current had wiped the features of his face away. In another, the braces inside the mouth of a sun-scorched child were still visible. Behind [Justice of the Peace Jeannie] Smith were rows of folders detailing each death.

“River. River. Ranch. Ranch,” she said as she thumbed through the files. “John Doe. Jane Doe. John Doe. Fetus, the mother gave birth at the river, but the baby didn’t survive. They come from everywhere. I say a little prayer for each one.”

. . . .

“There’s no dignity in this,” [forensic scientist Kate]Spradley said. “But this is what our state deems acceptable.”

. . . .

As for the total fiction that immoral politicos dishonestly present (and the “mainstream media” too often mindlessly and uncritically repeats) that “deterrence — even by death” will stop forced migrants from seeking legal refuge:

[Evelin Gabriella] Gue [of Guatemala] said she and her relatives are still struggling with denial and hoping that the body Texas officials found was not her mother. They want her home, if for nothing more than to be absolutely sure it is her as they grieve. Consular officials have confirmed to the family that it is her body, though they have not submitted DNA for further verification.

Cú Chub’s family is still in debt. To pay off the loan they took out for her to migrate, they may soon make the same journey that cost them their matriarch.

So much for the deadly, irresponsible “bipartisan BS” spouted by politicos who have lost their humanity and their sense of decency!

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Everyone should read the stomach-churning complete report at the link. 

It has lots of dramatic color photography, so folks can get “face to face” with this preventable human carnage. These are the truths and consequences that should — but aren’t —  being heard and heeded as border enforcement is discussed.

For the same amount, or likely much less, that governments at all levels are squandering on uncoordinated “proven to fail, illegal, gonzo enforcement and false deterrence,” that enriches cartels and human smugglers while killing legitimate refugees and harming our national psyche, the U.S. could build a first-class, timely, legally compliant, processing and resettlement system for forced migrants here and abroad that would reduce unnecessary border tragedies while capitalizing on the positive power of migration in today’s world. 

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

04-14-24

🤯☠️ BORDER DEBATE: HOW A COUPLE OF NIGHTS WITH ARROGANT NEO-FASCIST NEO-CONS 🤮  CAN POINT THE WAY TOWARD TRUE BORDER WISDOM! — Listen To The Oft-Ignored Voices Of Those Seeking Refuge — Todd Miller in The Border Chronicle!

Todd Miller
Todd Miller
Border Correspondent
Border Chronicle
PHOTO: Coder Chron

https://open.substack.com/pub/theborderchronicle/p/bridges-or-barricades-debates-in?r=1se78m&utm_medium=ios

Todd writes:

. . . .

I realized that it was really I who needed orientation and guidance from Juan Carlos. That if I wanted to understand the border, and what to do about the border, it was Juan Carlos, or anyone who was coming across for that matter, who knew the answers. He knew why he had to leave his land. He knew the specific injustices of Guatemala, which for more than a century has been a target for “unvarnished” U.S. imperialism.

[John] Bolton could have probably talked glowingly about Guatemala and the United Fruit Company, the 1954 CIA-instigated coup, a 36-year military dictatorship—supported and trained by the United States—that was behind the mass killing of civilians. Maybe being discombobulated was OK, that kind of knowing that there isn’t a clear-cut sheet of bullet-pointed answers to evolving situations around the world that uproot people, but rather an ability to courageously look across borders and actually be curious and engaged, and to listen to what people are saying. That was my indirect lesson from Bolton: maybe it is by listening, rather than talking, that debates are actually won.

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I encourage everyone to read Todd’s complete article at the link.

Bolton Clown
John Bolton
Former National Security Clown — Always reassuring to know that “Johnny B” remains arrogant, unapologetic, outrageous, unaccountable, immoral, and wrong about just about everything!  Republished under license.

 

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

04-12-24

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

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

Maria Daniella Prieshoff writes on LinkedIn:

Maria Daniella Prieshoff
Maria Daniella Prieshoff
Managing Attorney
Tahirih Justice Center
Baltimore, MD
PHOTO: Tahirih

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

Monica Mananzan
Monica Mananzan
Managing Attorney
CAIR Coalition
PHOTO: Linkedin

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

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

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

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

Registration Links here:

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

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

Trial By Ordeal
Litigating gender-based asylum cases can still be an “ordeal” at EOIR, despite some decent precedents. Learn how to avoid this fate for your clients!
17th Century Woodcut
Public Realm
Source: Ancient Origins Website
https://www.ancient-origins.net/history/trial-ordeal-life-or-death-method-judgement-004160

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

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

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

🇺🇸  Due Process Forever!

PWS

04-11-24

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

Melissa Del Bosque
Melissa Del Bosque
Border Reporter
PHOTO: Melissadelbosque.com

Melissa reports in the latest issue of The Border Chronicle:

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

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

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

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

MELISSA DEL BOSQUE
APR 9
READ IN APPpastedGraphic_2.png
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Illustration from the new report. Each red dot represents a life lost.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What surprised you most in working on this report?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Border Death
Too many members of the so-called “mainstream media” are ignoring their moral, professional, and ethical duties to report honestly on the known, preventable “human collateral damage” resulting from both current and proposed anti-asylum “border enforcement” policies!  It’s been going on for years, largely “under the political and media radar screens!” This is a monument for those who have died attempting to cross the US-Mexican border. Each coffin represents a year and the number of dead. It is a protest against the effects of Operation Guardian. Taken at the Tijuana-San Diego border.
Tomas Castelazo
To comply with the use and licensing terms of this image, the following text must must be included with the image when published in any medium, failure to do so constitutes a violation of the licensing terms and copyright infringement: © Tomas Castelazo, www.tomascastelazo.com / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0

Two things stand out: 

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

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

04-10-24