Immigration Attorney
Harlingen, TX
Immprof list subscribers: This post is from Jodi Goodwin, who is an immigration attorney in Harlingen, TX struggling to provide support to asylum seekers turned back due to the “Remain in Mexico” policy. This description is from a public post on her Facebook page, and she has given permission to share widely. Margaret Taylor
From Jodi:
Long post….please read. Especially if you are an immigration Judge or an ICE attorney.
Two days. 100 degrees. 100% humidity. And a beautiful rainbow to start our second day this weekend in Matamoros with Project MPP Matamoros. We saw about 80 plus principal applicants (that means we didn’t count spouses and children so the real reach is much higher) to help them understand immigration court proceedings and asylum applications.
But not just that….today I met with 5 pregnant or just had their babies in the last week women. One thrown back into Mexico after CBP had taken her to hospital to stop her contractions, one so heavily pregnant she spent 7 days in the hielera only to be sent to Mexico to give birth less than 12 hours after CBP threw her back. Another 13 weeks along dehydrated, sick, living in inhumane conditions on the streets of Mexico that she fainted and then began vomiting. No one from the Mexican authorities came to assist. Myself and some other refugees grabbed some chairs to make a makeshift bed, had her drink rehydration salts and used peppermint oil to bring her back after the fainting spell. More electrolytes, water, and a granola bar I had in my bag. It took about 40 minutes until her pupils returned to normal. Luckily, a Cuban refugee with some EMT training was barking orders for us to try to find the various things he thought could help her all while checking her vitals super old school style with a watch to count her pulse and listening for her breaths as she laid on the makeshift bed. I guess street lawyering means you are also a nurse/EMT. Glad I had the things the Cuban man was barking orders to find.
There are so many stories I can tell. MPP is wrong on a moral level. MPP is wrong legally.
Then there are all the court documents that have fake addresses where CBP puts in an address to a shelter that no one can get in. They are homeless. But the judges buy those fake addresses and use them to deport people. The “tear sheets” which are supposed to instruct refugees how to appear to court are either not given at all or given with wrong information telling them to appear at the bridge at the same time their hearing is supposed to start which ensures they will not make it to their hearing on time. Then there are those thrown back without even giving them their court documents. When they go to the bridge to ask about their paperwork they are told CBP doesnt handle that…..when in fact it is CBP who does! How in the world are refugees supposed to know when and where to go to court when CBP won’t even give them the court documents. And of course I can not fail to mention all the defects in the court charging documents….it goes on and on.
We are better than this. The humanitarian crisis has not gone away it is just south of the border and worse than ever. In 24 years as a lawyer I have never seen so much extreme cruelty. If you are a lawyer and have some time to work remotely on document preparation contact me. If you are a Spanish Speaking Immigration lawyer with asylum law experience, we could use you for 4 days of your life from Friday to Monday.
Jodi is a private immigration attorney, struggling to make a living as she tries to address this humanitarian crisis. Here’s her firm website with a contact form:
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Many thanks to my good friend Professor Margaret Taylor of Wake Forest Law for passing along Jodi’s message and request for help.
While I know that Jodi, Margaret, and other members of the “New Due Process Army” are “better than this,” it’s hard to say that about our country right now. After all, these U.S. Government sponsored attacks on the legal system, the rule of law, human rights, and human decency are happening right now, every day, “as we speak.”
Those carrying them out, like Trump, Miller, “Big Mac With Lies,” “Cooch Cooch,” Matt Albence, Bill Barr, and a host of other sleazy characters operate with total arrogance and impunity.
Appellate Judges of the 9th Circuit, 5th Circuit, and the Supremes, whose sworn duty is to uphold the rule of law against such attacks, have instead gone “belly up,” thrown away their moral compasses, and joined the abusers, cowardly hiding in their “Ivory Towers” from having to actually witness the terrors they are inflicting on the most vulnerable, needy, and deserving of our protection. A truly disgusting performance in judicial spinelessness and task avoidance. Don’t know how those “robed dudes” with lifetime sinecures sleep at night!
And, of course, under GOP Senate leadership, Congress, which could and should have acted by veto proof margins to rebuke Trump and restore the rule of law has functionally ceased to exist. The GOP has made human rights abuses and false racially charged narratives about immigrants part of its official party platform.
And the Dems are “running out the clock” on an impeachment debate that most folks have ceased to care about and which everyone and his brother knows is never going to happen. Where is the House-enacted “Immigration Reform Agenda” that could be a blueprint for future change?
PWS
09-18-19