⚖️🗽 LA TIMES: RENOWNED REFUGEE EXPERT/SCHOLAR PROFESSOR KAREN MUSALO SAYS UNDER TRUMP THE U.S. IS FAILING TO MEET LEGALLY BINDING OBLIGATIONS TO REFUGEES — BIG TIME!🤯

 

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

In times like these, we should not depend solely on the courts. There are many of us here in the U.S. who believe that the world’s refugee framework — developed in response to the profound moral failure of turning back the St. Louis — is worth fighting for. We need to take a vocal stand. The clear message must be that those fleeing persecution should never be returned to persecution.

If we take such a stand, we will be in the good company of those who survived the Holocaust and continue to speak out for the rights of all refugees.

https://lnkd.in/gTjBKb5K

It’s been a busy time for Karen. She writes in Linkedin:

I was very honored to be chosen by the 2025 graduates of UC Law, San Francisco, to be their faculty speaker. Our students truly inspire me, and make me hopeful for the future.

Karen Musalo
Karen Musalo speaking at UC Law graduation, May 2025.
PHOTO: Linkedin

 

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Thanks for speaking out so forcefully and articulately, my friend! Sticking to and standing up for values and the rule of law is important, particularly in an age of scofflaws, myth spreaders, and dehumanizers! One need look only as far as the St. Louis incident that you cite to see how even with the benefit of historical knowledge and fact, some among us stubbornly stick to lies, myths, and xenophobia with tragic and deadly results.

⚖️ Due Process Forever!

PWS

05-22-25

HISTORY: YOUNGER THEN THAN NOW! — “Sir Jeffrey” Chase & Me @ The International Association of Refugee Law Judges’ Seminar in Nijmegen, The Netherlands, 1997

“Sir Jeffrey and Me
“Sir Jeffrey & Me
Nijmegen, The Netherlands 1997
PHOTO: Susan Chase

Well, we’re not as young as we were. But, we’re still working together to raise awareness and advance the principles of the U.N.Convention & Protocol on the Status of Refugees and to restore due process and fundamental fairness to the dysfunctional Immigration Courts through all of our amazing colleagues on the Round Table of Former Immigration Judges.

Jeffrey S. Chase
Hon. Jeffrey S. Chase
Jeffrey S. Chase Blog
Coordinator & Chief Spokesperson, Round Table of Former Immigration Judges
Me
Me

 

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

PWS

06-27-21

🏴‍☠️🤮☠️⚰️👎🏻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!

“Floaters”
“Floaters — How The World’s Richest Country Responds To Asylum Seekers”
EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT – “Can we really be proud of this ‘policy?’ Is spineless complicity in wrongdoing really ‘enlightened policy?’ What’s the purpose of an Attorney General who lacks the courage and backbone to stand up and demand immediate reinstitution of Constitutional standards and the rule of law at the border? How do we propose to put a woman or man on Mars when we can’t institute a basic asylum system?” (AP Photo/Julia Le Duc)

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.”

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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