Title 42 – Page 5 – immigrationcourtside.com

🗽⚖️🇺🇸LEE GELERNT @ ACLU SAYS BIDEN ADMINISTRATION “cannot farm out the asylum system.” Yet, That Appears To Be Largely What They Are Doing Under New, Previously Unpublicized Program!

https://apnews.com/article/only-on-ap-united-nations-donald-trump-immigration-health-98d4da6cb6f2999787c3fcd3579de695?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=June4_MorningWire&utm_term=Morning%20Wire%20Subscribers

Elliott Spagat
Reporter
Associated Press

Elliot Spagot and Julie Watson report for AP:

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The Biden administration has quietly tasked six humanitarian groups with recommending which migrants should be allowed to stay in the U.S. instead of being rapidly expelled from the country under federal pandemic-related powers that block people from seeking asylum.

The groups will determine who is most vulnerable in Mexico, and their criteria has not been made public. It comes as large numbers of people are crossing the southern border and as the government faces intensifying pressure to lift the public health powers instituted by former President Donald Trump and kept in place by President Joe Biden during the coronavirus pandemic.

Several members of the consortium spoke to The Associated Press about the criteria and provided details of the system that have not been previously reported. The government is aiming to admit to the country up to 250 asylum-seekers a day who are referred by the groups and is agreeing to that system only until July 31. By then, the consortium hopes the Biden administration will have lifted the public health rules, though the government has not committed to that.

So far, a total of nearly 800 asylum-seekers have been let in since May 3, and members of the consortium say there is already more demand than they can meet.

The groups have not been publicly identified except for the International Rescue Committee, a global relief organization. The others are London-based Save the Children; two U.S.-based organizations, HIAS and Kids in Need of Defense; and two Mexico-based organizations, Asylum Access and the Institute for Women in Migration, according to two people with direct knowledge who spoke on condition of anonymity because the information was not intended for public release.

Asylum Access, which provides services to people seeing asylum in Mexico, characterized its role as minimal.

The effort started in El Paso, Texas, and is expanding to Nogales, Arizona.

A similar but separate mechanism led by the American Civil Liberties Union began in late March and allows 35 families a day into the United States at places along the border. It has no end date.

The twin tracks are described by participating organizations as an imperfect transition from so-called Title 42 authority, named for a section of an obscure 1944 public health law that Trump used in March 2020 to effectively end asylum at the Mexican border. With COVID-19 vaccination rates rising, Biden is finding it increasingly difficult to justify the expulsions on public health grounds and faces demands to end it from the U.N. refugee agency and members of his own party and administration.

. . . .

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

Read the full article at the link.

Well, I’ll give them this. “Farming out” the asylum system to these NGO experts is better than the Trump approach. The Trump regime “outsourced” the American asylum system to Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala.

The common denominators among those countries is that the are all notorious for human rights abuses, corrupt government, dysfunctional legal systems, and lack of any semblance of a fair, functioning asylum adjudication system. Additionally, all are major senders of asylum seekers to America.

But, the Biden Administration’s “under the counter” approach is still fundamentally wrong! It’s yet another “haste makes waste gimmick” that lacks transparency, clear standards, accountability, and most of all, operates outside of any legal framework!

That’s a recipe for arbitrariness, abuse, and unfairness. Even if the system were to produce decent results, the lack of transparency robs it of credibility. It’s therefore likely to be attacked by both advocates and restrictionists while being panned in the press — a self-created “worst case” scenario of the type Dem Administrations seem to specialize in when it comes to immigration and human rights!

The solution here is to do what many of us have been recommending since the day the election results became final. That is, bring in outside experts to USCIS to lead and revitalize the Asylum Officer screening program and bring in real judges, largely from the outside, — progressive practical experts in asylum law committed to human rights and due process — to EOIR to establish legitimate precedents and insure fair, humane, and uniform treatment of asylum seekers.

It’s possible, indeed probable, that the U.S. representatives of some of the NGOs involved would be among the best experts to do this — leading human rights authorities like Mark Hatfield at HIAS, Wendy Young at KIND, and Wendy Wylegala, also of KIND are obvious choices.

So, put them and other practical experts like Professor Karen Musalo (Center for Gender & Refugee Studies), Eleanor Acer (Human Rights First), Professor Stephen Legomsky (former USCIS Chief Counsel), Associate Dean Jaya Ramji Nogales (Temple Law), Judge Ilyce Shugall (Round Table), Dean Kevin Johnson (UC Davis), Michelle Mendez (CLINIC), Professor Lenni Benson (Safe Passage Project), Professor Ingrid Eagly (UCLA Law), Laura Lynch (NILC), Professor Stephen Yale Loehr (Cornell Law), Jason Dzubow (The Asylumist), Professor Debi Anker (Harvard Law), Professor Michele Pistone (VIISTA/Villanova Law), and others like them on the payroll at USCIS and EOIR and let them fix the asylum system!

Experts like this could, if properly empowered, in relatively short order, establish a system that is legal, constitutional, fair, generous, humane, practical, efficient, and that complies with all of our international obligations. In other words, a “model system” that would serve the best interests of humanity and our nation!

The current opaque, chaotic, arbitrary mess at our Southern Border (essentially the Biden Administration’s version of “Hunger Games”) serves nobody’s interests excepts cartels and smugglers. It’s also likely to kill record numbers of asylum seekers unless fixed, NOW! https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/summer-migrant-deaths-southern-border/2021/06/03/a03d7bb8-c3a6-11eb-8c34-f8095f2dc445_story.html

Bringing in the experts seems like an outstanding, “no brainer” alternative to the godawful, dysfunctional, disgraceful mess that the Trump kakistocracy left at USCIS and EOIR, much of which continues to ramble on, further off the rails all the time, under Mayorkas and Garland. The Biden Administration can’t, and won’t, get the job done on asylum and racial justice without radical, yet logical and badly needed, personnel and leadership changes at USCIS and EOIR!

🇺🇸🗽⚖️🧑🏽‍⚖️Due Process Forever!

PWS

06-04-21

🏴‍☠️🤮👎🏻☠️ARBITRARY, CAPRICIOUS, ILLEGAL, INHUMANE, DEADLY ⚰️ DEFINES BIDEN ADMINISTRATION’S SOUTHERN BORDER POLICY! — Gross Failure To Stand Up For Constitution, Rule Of Law, Human Dignity!

Biden Border Message — “Border Message”
By Steve Sack
Reproduced under license

NBC News Reports from the “Law Free Zone” (“LFZ”) established by Biden Administration at the Southern Border:

https://apple.news/A355LpPmARmKZtO-iBa6C7A

Under Biden, crossing the U.S. border has become like a lottery. Timing is everything.

“Sometimes I ask myself why they [let me stay] and they deported others,” said a 20-year-old Nicaraguan man. “And I give thanks to God.”

by Julia Ainsley, Didi Martinez and Kenzi Abou-Sabe | NBC NEWS

Julia Edwards Ainsley
Investigative Reporter, NBC News

. . . .

“We will see more deaths. And that’s the sad truth for us,” Copp said.

Immigration advocates also believe uncertainty surrounding the Title 42 policy is driving many migrants to take more dangerous routes to avoid being apprehended all together.

“The Biden administration’s retention of Title 42 and refusal to open the legal ports of entry is having the perverse effect of forcing desperate asylum seekers fleeing danger to cross between the ports, which is to nobody’s benefit,” said Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU’s immigrants’ rights project and a lead plaintiffs’ lawyer in a lawsuit challenging the use of Title 42.

For now, the Biden administration has made no promises of end dates for the Title 42 policy, even as Covid-19 restrictions ease across the country. Department of Homeland Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has said that the policy is in place to protect both migrants, who would need to be kept temporarily in congregate care settings if allowed in, and agents.

Gelernt said the policy of only guaranteeing unaccompanied children entry forces some families to self-separate in order to give their children the best chance of seeking asylum in the U.S.

. . . .

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

Read the full article at the link. A “lottery” for human lives! What’s next for the Biden/Harris Administration, “Hunger Games V?”

Mayorkas’s claim is pure BS! 💩 This inane, illegal, immoral, and unnecessary policy “protects” nobody except smugglers and traffickers! And, the idea that at this point, it is required by COVID is absurd on its face!

By contrast, Lee Gelernt of ACLU, a long-time inspirational leader of the NDPA, speaks truth! The Southern Border can’t be regulated without repealing the illegal Title 42 restrictions and immediately re-establishing the rule of law. That includes timely professional screening by expert Asylum Officers working for USCIS; a fair, robust, generous, practical, due-process-oriented application of asylum and other protection laws by a radically reformed EOIR utilizing the services of real Immigration Judges who are experts in asylum law; and close cooperation and support from NGOs, local governments, religious, and private bar groups to provide universal representation to asylum seekers and to lead and implement resettlement efforts throughout the U.S.

The expertise, practical problem solving ability, and resources are available. Most of it is in the private/NGO/academic sectors right now. These are the leaders and experts the Biden Administration should have brought into Government “right off the bat” to solve the problem, but has tragically failed to do so. Not like they were’t told well in advance!

It won’t happen with the bureaucrats and “tunnel visioners” the Biden Administration is relying upon — folks committed to repeating the failures of the past who lack the experience, vision, courage, independence, and creative problem solving ability necessary to lead the way to a better future. Using the law (or lack thereof) as a “deterrent” and issuing threats won’t stop desperate refugees from coming. As we can see, it only “turns them off” on using our (unavailable and now largely defunct) legal system and drives them first into the hands of traffickers and smugglers and eventually into our underground “extralegal” population.

Human migration is eons older than our republic! It won’t be eradicated or turned off and on by the utterances and actions of politicos and law enforcement officials. It requires a thoughtful, informed approach that has been largely absent from our government for decades, which is why the failures and resulting human trauma, wasted resources, and squandered human opportunities persist Administration after Administration, regardless of party and rhetoric.

Jeff “Gonzo Apocalypto” Sessions had no problem running all over the rule of law when he wanted to implement his illegal, White Nationalist, misogynist agenda and degrade asylum seekers with dehumanization and “Dred Scottification” of the other, primarily women, children, and individuals of color.

Unfortunately, by contrast, the Biden Administration, is too weak-kneed to stand up for the rule of law and human dignity!

But, folks like Julia Ainsley and her team are making a permanent public record. As in the Trump Administration, the Biden Administration doesn’t appear to recognize the concept of accountability in Government, particularly as applied to itself. But, I doubt history will be as kind and as accommodating to those, regardless of political affiliation, carrying out these illegal, irrational, inhumane, and “designed to fail” policies.

Perhaps, the “dead can’t speak!” ☠️⚰️ But, others certainly can and will speak for them and see that the abusers of humanity are held accountable.

🇺🇸🗽⚖️Due Process Forever!

PWS

06-02-21

🏴‍☠️🤮👎🏻⚰️☠️BIDEN, HARRIS, GARLAND, MAYORKAS CONTINUE THE ILLEGAL, RACIST TRUMP/MILLER ANTI-ASLUM POLICIES @ THE BORDER — It Must Stop, Say Advocates! — “The policy has disproportionately affected Black migrants, who are often Haitian.”

“Floaters” — “Floaters — How The World’s Richest Country Responds To Asylum Seekers”
EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT – The bodies of Salvadoran migrant Oscar Alberto Mart??nez Ram??rez and his nearly 2-year-old daughter Valeria lie on the bank of the Rio Grande in Matamoros, Mexico, Monday, June 24, 2019, after they drowned trying to cross the river to Brownsville, Texas. Martinez’ wife, Tania told Mexican authorities she watched her husband and child disappear in the strong current. (AP Photo/Julia Le Duc)

Star Chamber Justice — “Justice”
Star Chamber
Style

Stephen Miller Cartoon — Stephen Miller & Count Olaf
Evil Twins, Notorious Child Abusers: Their policies are still being carried out by Biden, Harris, Garland, and Mayorkas

https://edition.pagesuite.com/popovers/dynamic_article_popover.aspx?guid=d2efc621-ea7e-489e-b34c-ef6e7e509750&v=sdk

Quit using a pandemic policy to expel migrants

By Psyche Calderon, Hannah Janeway and Ronica Mukerjee

In a steadily growing encampment mere yards south of the U.S.-Mexico border, we are led to a little girl with a fever. She lies dehydrated and wrapped in her parents’ possessions inside a waterlogged tent. Recently deported from the United States under a Trump-era pandemic policy, the family is camped next to the border wall with thousands of others who have nowhere to go.

In recent months, much attention and political outrage have focused on unaccompanied children crossing into the U.S. and being detained in government custody. But less scrutiny has been given to the mass deportations of migrant families and vulnerable adults expelled with no due process during the pandemic under a U.S. health law called Title 42, which allows the government to bar people from countries where communicable disease exists.

For more than a year — and in the name of public health — the government has been summarily expelling migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border, ignoring epidemiologists and health experts, violating the migrants’ human rights and creating a critical situation in Tijuana and other border towns.

As medical professionals who provide care in encampments and shelters in Tijuana, we’ve seen how this expulsion policy has caused a humanitarian emergency in northern Mexico. Even as these encampments become increasingly overcrowded and unsafe, many migrants and their families are still being denied entry or quickly expelled by the U.S. government. The Biden administration has carried out roughly 350,000 expulsions, including nearly 50,000 families.

The administration, as part of a legal settlement, recently agreed to process up to 250 asylum seekers a day deemed vulnerable by advocacy groups so they may continue to pursue their asylum cases in the United States.

However, this is nowhere near sufficient to address the widespread human rights violations and humanitarian crisis we see every day in Tijuana. There are still many thousands of asylum seekers along the border who were previously subjected to inhumane detention and expulsions — and who are now grappling with the subsequent fallout and trauma.

Migrants in Tijuana are subjected to targeted violence by cartels, squalid conditions in encampments and shelters, and despair after the U.S. lied to many of them about their expulsions. Some asylum seekers have said Border Patrol agents told them they were being transferred to a shelter in another U.S. city when, in fact, they were sent to Mexico.

As co-founders of an organization providing healthcare to migrants stranded in Tijuana, we have been working around the clock to provide medical care.

We have seen increasing dehydration, malnutrition and infectious diseases associated with overcrowding. At an encampment in Tijuana that shelters about 2,000 asylum seekers, there are no formal sanitation facilities; gastrointestinal illnesses are causing severe illness in newborns and young children. Chronic diseases and mental health disorders, left untreated, could become death sentences. The migrants have been forced to camp amid very cold temperatures at night during winter months.

Disease is not the only threat. Families fear cartel activity and kidnappings since vulnerable migrants are often targeted for violence. More than 80% of LGBTQ refugees in Baja California reported surviving an assault in Mexico from mid-February to March. Last month, we received a late-night phone call from a lawyer asking for our help. The client — a transgender woman — had been stabbed, forced into hiding and was afraid to go to the local hospital in Tijuana because they are often unsafe places for sexual minorities. We were able to provide her basic medical care, but many others are not as lucky.

The Title 42 expulsion order has been used by the U.S. to essentially eliminate asylum at the border and put thousands of people in immediate danger by either returning them to their countries of origin or to Mexican border cities, even if the asylum seekers are not Mexican or do not speak Spanish. While the administration recently ceased cross-border expulsion flights — a reckless approach during the pandemic used to transfer and expel migrants to Mexico — officials have reserved the right to reinstate them as needed.

The policy has disproportionately affected Black migrants, who are often Haitian. They are expelled without due process back to persecution in Haiti or to pervasive anti-Black violence in northern Mexico — leaving them without access to healthcare, psychological support, safety or asylum.

. . . .

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

Read the rest of the article at the link.

I’ve said it many times: The Biden Administration’s efforts to achieve racial justice in America will fail as long as they carry out scofflaw racist immigration policies at the border and Garland runs White Nationalist star chambers @ EOIR under the guise of “courts.” Rhetoric is meaningless without action to back it up! And the fight for racial justice in America begins at the border and in our dysfunctional, lawless Immigration “Courts!”

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

🏴‍☠️🤮☠️⚰️👎🏻STILL SCOFFLAWS AFTER ALL THESE MONTHS: UNHCR SPEAKS OUT AS BIDEN, HARRIS, GARLAND, MAYORKAS CONTINUE TRUMP-MILLER POLICIES OF ILLEGAL, IMMORAL, UNNECESSARY RETURN OF ASYLUM SEEKERS WITH NO DUE PROCESS UNDER BOGUS TITLE 42 RATIONALE! — Ever Wonder Why Racial & Gender Justice & Equity Are Mirages In Today’s America? — Look No Further Than The “Dred Scottification” Of “The Other” @ DOJ & DHS On Display Every Day!

https://www.lexisnexis.com/legalnewsroom/immigration/b/outsidenews/posts/unhcr-calls-for-end-to-cdc-title-42-blockade

UNHCR Calls for End to CDC Title 42 Blockade

UNHCR, May 20, 2021, Statement attributable to UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi

“I appeal to the government of the United States to swiftly lift the public health-related asylum restrictions that remain in effect at the border and to restore access to asylum for the people whose lives depend on it, in line with international legal and human rights obligations.

I welcome the US government’s plans for much needed reform and capacity building to manage border processes and the positive steps that have been taken to exempt unaccompanied children and some families in situations of acute vulnerability from these severe restrictions. A system which allows a small number of asylum seekers to be admitted daily, however, carries with it a number of risks, and is not an adequate response. There is an urgent need to take further steps to provide access at ports of entry which remain closed to most asylum-seekers owing to the Title 42 public health order by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in place since March last year.

The Title 42 order has resulted in the expulsions of hundreds of thousands of people to Mexico or their countries of origin, denying their access to asylum procedures. Guaranteed access to safe territory and the prohibition of pushbacks of asylum-seekers are core precepts of the 1951 Refugee Convention and refugee law, which governments are required to uphold to protect the rights and lives of refugees. The expulsions have also had serious humanitarian consequences in northern Mexico.

We at UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, have maintained since the start of the pandemic that protecting public health and protecting access to asylum, a fundamental human right, are fully compatible. At the height of the public health emergency, many countries put in place protocols such as health screening, testing and quarantine measures, to simultaneously protect both public health and the right to seek asylum.

I encourage the US administration to continue its work to strengthen its asylum system and diversify safe pathways so asylum-seekers are not forced to resort to dangerous crossings facilitated by smugglers.

For our part, UNHCR stands ready to support the implementation of such a decision.”

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

The suffering of migrants continues as does the indifference of Biden officials to racial and gender injustice. Such tone deafness and spinelessness doesn’t bode well for voting rights, police reform, criminal law reform, pay equity, health care, or any other civil rights/social justice initiatives from the Biden Administration!

The Biden folks can’t keep relying on the crimes against humanity by Trump as an excuse for continuing them! Not rocket science — but it should be the number one national priority now that COVID-19 seems to be getting under control and the economy is rebounding.

We aren’t gong to solve the centuries-old problems in the Middle East tomorrow! But, we could and should begin fixing our broken and dysfunctional immigration system and Immigration Courts today (actually should have been underway since Day 1 of the Biden Administration)!

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

PWS

05-24-21

🏴‍☠️☠️HUMAN RIGHTS FIRST SLAMS BIDEN’S ILLEGAL, INHUMANE, INEPT BORDER POLICIES! — Even As Corrupt (Surprise) Rationale For Trump’s Racist Title 42 Policies Revealed, Biden Returns Legal Asylum Seekers To Peril In Mexico With No Due Process, CBP Abuses Continue, & Garland DOJ Mindlessly & Unethically Defends Illegal Actions At Border! — What’s Going On Here?

Dear Paul:

Human Rights First’s work to restore justice at the border took center stage this week. Our experts exposed the political origins of Title 42 and reported on the escalating danger faced by refugees expelled by the Biden administration.

We pushed the administration to more swiftly wind down “Remain in Mexico,” and called out Customs and Border Patrol’s mistreatment of migrants in their custody.

We also announced that Saturday Night Live main cast member Ego Nwodim will host our June 3rd Spring Social, and we have new opportunities to join Human Rights First’s New York City marathon team.

REPORTING ON DANGERS TO REFUGEES EXPELLED TO MEXICO

This week, Human Rights First, RAICES, and the Interfaith Welcome Coalition found that despite the epidemic of violence and kidnappings of migrants and refugees, the Biden administration is using Title 42 to expel adults and families with young children to Nuevo Laredo in Tamaulipas, MX.

Courtesy Reuters

Asylum-seekers in the Remain in Mexico policy living inside a

makeshift camp in the Mexican city of Matamoros.

Legal Fellow Julia Neusner highlighted Border Patrol’s shocking mistreatment of refugee and migrant families expelled to danger by the Biden administration in her newest blog post.

EXPOSING TITLE 42 AS A POLITICAL CALCULATION

Our Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request today revealed that a Trump administration Centers for Disease Control (CDC) political appointee with no public health expertise “work[ed] on” the Title 42 order’s near “final version” for “days” before the former CDC director signed it.

The findings of our FOIA confirm the political origins of the Title 42 order and further underline that the Biden administration’s continued use of Title 42 to block asylum at the border has no basis in public health.

URGING A SWIFTER WIND DOWN TO “REMAIN IN MEXICO”

Human Rights First led more than 50 organizations and law school clinics yesterday in issuing a letter to the Biden administration urging them to improve their wind down of the Trump administration’s ill-named “Migrant Protection Protocols,” and swiftly bring to safety those stranded under the cruel program.

“The lives and safety of asylum seekers still stranded in Mexico are in the hands of President Biden and his administration,” said Senior Director of Refugee Protection Eleanor Acer.

Courtesy Reuters

Migrants sent back to Mexico under MPP

occupy a makeshift encampment in Matamoros, Mexico.

PUSHING TO EVACUATE OUR ALLIES FROM AFGHANISTAN

As part of our effort to bring Afghan allies in the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program to safety, President and CEO Michael Breen penned an op-ed calling on President Biden to evacuate those remaining in the program.

“Leaving allies behind would strike at the very core of who we believe ourselves to be and fly in the face of our most sacred creed. What faith would we have left in ourselves? Who would ever stand with us again?” he wrote.

Take Action

You can join our effort to save our SIVs by contacting your Members of Congress and urging them to take action to protect these allies, many of whom sacrificed so much to work with American forces.

CELEBRATING HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS AT OUR SPRING SOCIAL

We’re excited to announce that Saturday Night Live’s Ego Nwodim will be hosting our Virtual Spring Social LIVE on June 3rd at 6:30pm EST!

Also featuring special guests Ernie Hudson (Ghostbusters, Grace and Frankie), Leeza Gibbons, Hill Harper, and an exclusive musical performance from mxmtoon, with more to come!

Don’t miss this festive, empowering event honoring human rights defenders.

Tickets start at $100.

Register Now

MARATHONING FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

Human Rights First has charity bibs for the 2021 TCS NYC Marathon!

If you want to be a part of the historic 50th marathon and support human rights, please complete our interest form by tomorrow, May 20.

EXPANDING OUR TEAM TO MEET NEW CHALLENGES

Human Rights First empowers Americans to fight for justice in our own communities and around the world. Our staff succeed at bringing real change, and many have gone on to lead at all levels of government.

Now, we’re seeking new talent to join this passionate and effective team.

news as our work for human rights continues. And please stay in touch on social media:

PLEASE MAKE HUMAN RIGHTS A PRIORITY IN YOUR LIFE

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***********

Requiring the restoration of the legal asylum system at the border is a legal and moral imperative that Garland continues to ignore (compare “Gonzo” Sessions’s willingness to use bogus legal opinions to effectively order DHS to institute illegal, racist, xenophobic policies like “family separation” at the border and an illegal end to DACA).

If Garland had acted promptly and competently, a “New EOIR” unburdened by bogus Trump-era anti-asylum precedents, with a new progressive BIA, and with asylum expert judges assigned to border asylum cases could be working through those cases right now without denying anyone’s rights! It’s not “mission impossible” despite all the right wing blather, reinforced to a large extent by the Biden Administration’s remarkable inability to handle a very predictable border scenario in accordance with the law and best practices, compounded by their inept and uninformed “flackies” whose lack of knowledge about the realities of our immigration system, the human impact, and the very future of our justice system and our democracy at stake continue to be mind boggling!

It’s not going to happen until Garland wises up, removes the “Miller leftovers” at EOIR, and puts progressive experts in charge of repairing and reforming the Immigration Courts as well as restoring law and order at the border. Knowledge is power! And the lack of human rights, immigration, asylum, due process, gender, racial equity, and Immigration Court expertise at DOJ is killing the Biden Administration, along with the folks they are illegally and immorally returning to danger and abuse every day!

Also, a greatly upgraded PIO Team that actually understands immigration, human rights, due process, and their links to racial justice policies, the economy, and other Administration priorities and can provide compelling, factually accurate information in support of reestablishing our legal immigration system and due process should also be a “must do” for the Biden Administration! The fascist, nativist right “misinformation and distortion factory” is “loaded for bear” on these issues; it’s once again “Amateur Night at the Bijou” for the Biden immigration and legal reform efforts, particularly at the inept and apparently clueless DOJ! It should not, and must not continue, to be this way!

Is this REALLY the best recruiting method for a crack immigration/human rights PIO Team at EOIR and DOJ? Are holdovers who spewed forth “Soviet-style” propaganda and misinformation defending the indefensible Trump/Miller White Nationalist viurulently anti-due-process, misogynist immigration agenda @ EOIR & DOJ REALLY the best spokespersons for an Administration pledged to institute progressive changes in immigration?
PHOTO: Thomas Hawk
Creative Commons
Amateur Night

🇺🇸⚖️🗽🧑🏽‍⚖️Due Process Forever!

PWS

05-20-21

BIDEN ADMINISTRATION’S AGREEMENT TO ALLOW A FEW MORE LEGAL ASYLUM SEEKERS TO BE PROCESSED FALLS FAR SHORT OF RESTORING THE RULE OF LAW @ OUR SOUTHERN BORDER!

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/biden-asylum-seekers-restrictions_n_60a3a360e4b014bd0cb0c284

Elliot Spagut reports for AP:

The Biden administration has agreed to let about 250 people a day through border crossings with Mexico to seek refuge in the United States, part of negotiations to settle a lawsuit over pandemic-related powers that deny migrants a right to apply for asylum, an attorney said Monday.

The government also said it would stop flying migrant families from Texas’ Rio Grande Valley to El Paso, Texas, and San Diego to then be expelled to Mexico under pandemic powers, said Lee Gelernt, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, which has sued in federal court in Washington, D.C. The government has reserved rights to resume flights “if it deems the circumstances warrant.”

The government concessions would dramatically reshape exercise of powers known as Title 42, named for a section of an obscure 1944 law that former President Donald Trump used to let the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention effectively end asylum at the border while it sought to prevent the coronavirus from spreading.

Biden has exempted unaccompanied children from Title 42 but kept it for single adults and many families. He has come under criticism from progressives for keeping asylum off-limits to many and for encouraging some parents to send children across the border alone. Enforcement-minded critics say exempting children traveling alone led to record numbers crossing and that lifting restrictions more will invite many more people to come.

The government and the ACLU agreed to “a streamlined process for assessing and addressing exemption requests brought by particular vulnerable families and other individuals,” Gelernt said. Once fully up and running, an estimated 250 particularly vulnerable individuals will be allowed in daily to seek humanitarian protection through a consortium of nongovernmental organizations. They must test for COVID-19 before entering the country.

About 2,000 people have already been allowed to enter the country, exempted from the pandemic-related powers to pursue asylum or other forms of protection while in the United States, Gelernt said.

“While these concessions will hopefully save lives, they are not a substitute for eliminating Title 42 and restoring asylum processing fully,” Gelernt said.

The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday night.

. . . .

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

The Administration basically has conceded that the bogus Trump-era Title 42 bar had little to do with public health (never much of a concern for the Trump kakistocracy) and everything to do with eliminating the rights of legal asylum seekers, particularly refugee women and those of color. The Biden Administration’s defense of this travesty is pretty disingenuous.

Due Process Forever!

PWS

05-18-21

PROFESSOR GEOFFREY HOFFMAN: This Is Progressive Liberalism? — Scofflaw Biden Administration Continues To Use Illegal Trump Subterfuge To Close Borders To Asylum Seekers (Disproportionately People Of Color) As AG Garland Looks The Other Way!

https://www.texasstandard.org/stories/advocates-say-continued-use-of-title-42-to-exclude-most-asylum-seekers-from-the-us-discriminates-against-them/

From the Texas Standard:

The Biden administration’s approach to the border and immigration has been heavily criticized. With Trump-era policies still in place, some advocates object to the way the rules are being enforced right now, specifically a provision known as Title 42.

Geoffrey Hoffman is a clinical professor and director of the immigration clinic at the University of Houston Law Center. Hoffman told Texas Standard that Title 42 authorizes the surgeon general to suspend immigration into the United States on public health grounds. It has been on the books since the 1940s, and though Title 42 has been evoked several times, its use increased significantly during the Trump administration.

“Back in March of 2020, the Trump administration used Title 42 to curtail, basically, entry of almost everyone from the Mexican border coming in to try to seek asylum,” Hoffman said. “And so that was a very, very big impact on those people.”

Hoffman says 600,000 people have been expelled from the country under Title 42.

Immigration advocates say Title 42 is being used as an “end run” around laws allowing asylum-seekers to enter the United States and pursue their claims.

“The issue is really that it’s being used at the land border in Mexico and Canada, and not through other entries. So it’s been seen as being discriminatory, and a racial-justice issue,” Hoffman said.

The Biden administration has continued to use Title 42, carving out an exception for unaccompanied minors who are being allowed into the country to pursue asylum claims. Some immigration advocates say applying Title 42 differently to different populations should be ended.

“You have Title 42 being used, according to immigration advocates, as a pretext,” Hoffman said. “It’s a pretext to prevent people who are otherwise legitimately seeking asylum, preventing them from seeking that relief.”

Hoffman says the United States has an obligation under the nation’s own laws, and under international law, to provide a means by which asylum-seekers can make their claims. Forcing migrants out of the country without a hearing, under Title 42, violates those laws, he says.

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Remember how Jeff “Gonzo Apocalypto” Sessions was never shy about intervening in matters outside his agency jurisdiction, like child separation and DACA, when it fit his White Nationalist political agenda?

But, Judge Garland has not only failed to restore an operating legal asylum system @ EOIR, but also has stood by and watched while DHS daily commits gross violations of international, constitutional, and statutory law — violations that threaten life and safety — under a pretext carried over from the Trumpists.

Significantly, a U.S. District Judge in D.C. recently ruled that:

It is the role of the political branches, and not the courts, to assess the merits of policy measures designed to combat the spread of disease, even during a global pandemic,” she continued. “The question for the Court is a narrow one: Does the Public Health Service Act grant the CDC the legal authority to impose a nationwide eviction moratorium? It does not.

This rationale appears equally applicable to CDC’s legal authority to suspend international conventions, asylum statutes, immigration laws, and constitutional due process on a cosmic scale as pretext for ending our legal asylum system without passing legislation!

https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/05/politics/cdc-moratorium-evictions/index.html

Sure, there are problems at the border. But, the solution is to:

restore legal screening at the ports of entry;
reinstate a fair and robust legal asylum process using more trained Asylum Officers and better Immigration Judges — progressive experts in asylum law (NOT like the “gang of 17” same old, same old “bureaucratic retreads” the tone-deaf Judge Garland just put on the bench);
repeal of the Sessions/Barr anti-asylum precedents and replacing the BIA with judges who are asylum experts;
creating more opportunities for legal immigration for both refugees and needed workers;
enlisting the support of the UNHCR, NGOs, religious organizations, universities, and local governments to aid in the processing, representation, and resettlement of asylum seekers; and
slashing artificial and unnecessary Immigration Court backlogs to allow qualified expert Immigration Judges to adjudicate on a “real time” basis represented asylum cases that can’t quickly be granted at the Asylum Office and to establish some positive precedents in asylum law to govern and guide practitioners, Immigration Judges, and Asylum Officers.

It’s not rocket science. But, it very clearly is beyond the capability of Mayorkas, Garland, and the other folks Biden has put in charge of the Administration’s immigration policies. There are folks out there who can do the job — Professor Hoffman is just one of many.

The responsible positions necessary to reform, restore, and revitalize our nation’s refugee, asylum, and immigration laws are mostly at the sub-cabinet level, not requiring Senate confirmation. EOIR is a prime example of a great opportunity for progressive change being inexplicably squandered by Garland and his clueless lieutenants. What is important, and has been conspicuously absent from Biden immigration policies to date, is some inspired leadership and enlightened personnel choices from Mayorkas, Garland, and Becerra.

For example, Jeff “Gonzo Apocalypto” Sessions had no hesitation about spreading false narratives about asylum seekers, demeaning their humanity, disrespecting their hard-working attorneys, and encouraging “his” judges to deny more cases (particularly those involving women of color), and to elevate productivity, cutting corners, and obedience to his policies over quality, fairness, due process, and protecting the legal rights of asylum seekers and other immigrants from DHS overreach.

But, what inspiring statement has Judge Garland made about the necessity of making adherence to fundamental fairness, due process, best practices, quasi-judicial independence, and humane treatment of all respondents the touchstone of EOIR? What visible appointments of widely respected practical scholars and human rights experts has he made in EOIR management, the Immigration Judiciary, OIL, or elsewhere in the DOJ. NONE! Sometimes silence speaks more loudly than words!

With the pandemic and Trump’s xenophobic illegal attack on our legal immigration system, in the face of a sharply declining birth rate, we have plenty room for more immigrants, be they refugees, family members, or essential workers. As Professor Hoffman and others of us had predicted, the racist attack on our immigration system by Trump, unfortunately largely continued by the Biden Administration, has turned our immigration system over to smugglers, cartels, gangs, and pure chance.

A rational, orderly, humane, and most of all legal and constitutional immigration system would benefit all of us. It’s a shame that those currently in Government can’t or won’t make it happen.

Due Process Forever!

PWS

05-07-21

Elliot Spagot and Julie Watson report for AP:

🇺🇸🗽⚖️🧑🏽‍⚖️Due Process Forever!

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NBC News Reports from the “Law Free Zone” (“LFZ”) established by Biden Administration at the Southern Border:

🇺🇸🗽⚖️Due Process Forever!

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Quit using a pandemic policy to expel migrants

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

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🇺🇸⚖️🗽🧑🏽‍⚖️Due Process Forever!

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Elliot Spagut reports for AP:

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