⚖️ SEN COREY BOOKER (D- NJ) WENT TO THE BORDER TO CHECK OUT BIDEN ADMINISTRATION’S “CBP ONE APP!” — HE HATED WHAT HE FOUND! — “Inherently Discriminatory!”

Senator Cory Booker
U.S.Senator Cory Booker
D-NJ
PHOTO: Wikipedia
Rowaida Abdelaziz
Rowaida Abdelaziz
Immigration Reporter
PHOTO: Twitter

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/cory-booker-asylum-app-homeland-security_n_6422262de4b049e21e2dbf06

Rowaida Abdelaziz reports for HuffPost:

Sen. Cory Booker sent a letter to the heads of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection on Monday criticizing the newly rolled-out CBP One — a mobile application that allows asylum-seekers to secure an appointment with CBP to get through U.S. ports of entry.

“The United States is a beacon of hope for many around the world seeking safety and freedom. Unfortunately, migrants now have to contend with the CBP One app as the sole method to schedule asylum appointments, which has been plagued by technical problems since its introduction,” Booker told HuffPost in an emailed statement.

“We must ensure that our asylum process is just and equitable and protects those who are fleeing violence and persecution in a way that’s consistent with our nation’s most fundamental ideals,” he added.

. . . .

“Even if the CBP One app was as efficient, user friendly, fair, and inclusive as possible – which I hope one day it will be – it would still be inherently discriminatory,” reads Booker’s letter, noting the resources an individual must have to successfully navigate the application.

. . . .

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Read the complete article, with a copy of Sen. Booker’s letter, at the link.

Advocates at the border have been raising problems about the apps’ poor performance and the totally inadequate number of appointments available. And, even with an appointment there’s no assurance that an individual will get a fair audience on their asylum claim. Indeed, based on the current lack of transparency and atrocious proposed regulations from the Biden Administration, unfair treatment is almost guaranteed!

Notably, the clueless Biden “policy officials” who come up with cruel gimmicks and foist defective technology on the border stay far away from having to confront the faces of the humanitarian disaster they have created. They neither have the guts to meet with nor solicit the advice of advocates, NGO workers, and dedicated volunteers who, unlike the Administration, are trying to save lives, preserve human dignity, and maintain some semblance of the rule of law at the border!

There is no excuse for the Biden Administration’s cosmically poor performance on humanitarian issues at the border. None! And, while Sen. Booker and some of his colleagues have pushed back against the Administration’s abusive approach to asylum, other Dems shamefully have just “run away” from the racially-charged, totally unnecessary, disregard for competence, expertise, and the rule of law at the border. 

Another problem: The absence of legal integrity from the DOJ, ironically led by former U.S. Judge Merrick Garland, who is unwilling to stand up for the rights of asylum seekers and equal justice for all at the border.

Exactly what do Dems stand for anyway? Apparently, not much, except what they believe (however incorrectly) is “politically expedient” at any particular moment in time!

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

05-26-23

☹️PROGRESSIVE ADVOCATES SENT TO BACK OF THE BUS 🚌 AGAIN AS BIDEN HUMAN RIGHTS MISTAKES THEY WARNED AGAINST COST LIVES, PROMOTE CHAOS, DIMINISH AMERICA’S REPUTATION!☠️⚰️

Julian Castro
Julian Castro
American Politician

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/refugee-visas-afghanistan-withdrawal_n_61202499e4b029c152b4ff01

Kevin Robillard and Rowaida Abdelaziz report for HuffPost:

. . . .

There are currently more than 17,000 Afghan nationals — as well as an estimated 53,000 of their family members — awaiting visa approval through the Special Immigrant Visas (SIV) program. The U.S. brought over approximately 2,300 Afghans as part of the program from January to July, and another 2,000 over the last week.

The White House says it has cut the time necessary to approve SIV visas in half, and has issued more than 5,500 between April and July. But advocates say it needs to move faster.

“They seem to be afraid. They seem to be operating out of fear that being a bit bolder on issues with refugees, asylees and migrants will somehow cost them politically,” said former Housing Secretary Julian Castro, who made improving the country’s refugee system a central part of his 2020 presidential campaign. “This is an area where there’s growing disappointment and impatience ― and the stirrings of real anger ― towards the administration.”

. . . .

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Read the full article at the link.

Julian Castro should have been given a major role by the Biden Administration on cleaning house and straightening out the human rights disaster and dysfunction left behind by Trump and Miller. But, at this point, would he really want the job?

🇺🇸DPF!

PWS

08-23-21

HUFFPOST: ICE DETAINS NJ TEACHER WHO FACES DEATH SENTENCE IN EGYPT FOR PRO-DEMOCRACY ACTIVISM!

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/new-jersey-teacher-detained-egypt-death-sentence_us_5acfdbbee4b077c89ce6cd4f

Rowaida Abdelaziz reports for HuffPost

Ahmed Abdelbasit, a New Jersey teacher who faces a death sentence in Egypt for his pro-democracy activism, was detained last week outside his Jersey City apartment by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Three days later, a notice came in the mail saying his asylum case had been transferred to an immigration court.

On that Thursday morning, seven plainclothes ICE officers demanded that Abdelbasit get into an unmarked car. Confused, the physics teacher complied, all while frantically texting his friends and co-workers to let them he would not be in class that day at a private Islamic school in Union City.

HuffPost has learned that Abdelbasit, 33, was taken to a detention center in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where he was forced to turn over his belongings and was given an orange jumpsuit to wear. Abdelbasit has been held there ever since.

ICE confirmed to HuffPost that he is being held at Elizabeth Detention Center on administrative immigration violations. ICE would not elaborate on what those violations were.

It was only after Abdelbasit was detained did his lawyer learn that his asylum case was transferred to immigration court in a notice that arrived three days after Abdelbasit’s arrest, HuffPost has learned, leaving the teacher and his lawyer with more questions than answers.

“It’s not clear why they would feel the need to detain somebody who has no criminal record in the United States, who has been living a very law-abiding life here and has been doing everything correctly,” Anwen Hughes, Abdelbasit’s lawyer and the deputy legal director at Human Rights First, told HuffPost. “It’s very unclear why this happened. What we’re trying to find out at the moment is what the actual basis is for this.”

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Read the complete report at the link.

Based on the information in the report, it’s not obvious why ICE would choose to detain this individual. But, of course, we don’t know all of the facts at this point.

 

PWS

04-13-18