rolling US immigration reform thread for 2013 and beyond

http://www.santaferadiocafe.org/sfradiocafe/2014/07/22/allegra-love/

hey guys plz listen to one of my best friends talk about immigration, thx

http://www.sfreporter.com/santafe/article-9136-deportation-mill.html?utm_source=The+Santa+Fe+Reporter+List&utm_campaign=cf8419e470-Wednesday_Newsletter_09_03_14_OFFICIAL&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b77a98714b-cf8419e470-36801049

Revolting NYT Mag article about a detention center for women and children fleeing rather apparent mortal terror in Central America. We incarcerate and malnourish them before denying 90%+ of the asylum cases.

As the pro bono project in Artesia continued into fall, its attorneys continued to win in court. By mid-November, more than 400 of the detained women and children were free on bond. Then on Nov. 20, the administration suddenly announced plans to transfer the Artesia detainees to the ICE detention camp in Karnes, Tex., where they would fall under a new immigration court district with a new slate of judges.

That announcement came at the very moment the president was delivering a live address on the new protections available to established immigrant families. In an email to notify Artesia volunteers about the transfer, an organizer for AILA named Stephen Manning wrote, “The disconnect from the compassionate-ish words of the president and his crushing policies toward these refugees is shocking.” Brown was listening to the speech in her car, while driving to Denver for a rare weekend at home, when her cellphone buzzed with the news that 20 of her clients would be transferred to Texas the next morning. Many of them were close to a bond release; in San Antonio, they might be detained for weeks or months longer....

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/08/magazine/the-shame-of-americas-family-detention-camps.html

def worth reading --- one of my dearest friends is working as counsel down there (quoted in the article, even) and every time we talk its heart breaking

http://dartmouthalumnimagazine.com/articles/law-and-border

4ll3gra is one of my oldest and dearest friends and posting a lil article about the work she does feels p small and insignificant but anyway heads-up y'all there's work that needs doing out there

dear prez, fuck you

https://theintercept.com/2016/12/13/a-mother-and-child-trapped-in-obamas-brutal-family-deportation-system/

https://medium.com/@allegralove1/i-totally-stand-with-immigrants-6cee0810e5bf#.7ga7hl6dt

Ty ty ty ty that answers questions I was having just last week. I have a parent whose children are citizens due to their deceased father being a citizen, but the mother is not. I was wondering what her timeline was and some other details I won't share, and now I know!

np

i honestly had no idea how long the wait was for some folks...decades! it's just incredible

God bless HOOS btw

https://www.texasobserver.org/15-protesters-arrested-demonstration-defending-daca-texas-capitol/

Out. Shouts to the team. #OutragedAndUnafraid pic.twitter.com/MAexjKn7wL

— justinjacobysmith🌹 (@hoosteen) July 27, 2017

hey i wasn't thinkin about putting his tweet on that post, if a mod wants to edit it out that's fine

Is the United States still a "nation of immigrants"? @USCIS will remove the phrase from its mission statement. https://t.co/xv47yWxCiB Great scoop by @rdevro pic.twitter.com/ifts0wZhTN

— Travis Mannon (@TravisMannon) February 22, 2018

https://www.buzzfeed.com/adolfoflores/a-huge-caravan-of-central-americans-is-headed-for-the-us?utm_term=.atKJEnkjj#.je9KR3g2

absolutely incredible story. i want to see a documentary about this

ICE raids meat processing plant, arrests 97

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/immigration/ice-raids-meatpacking-plant-in-rural-tennessee-more-than-95-immigrants-arrested/2018/04/06/4955a79a-39a6-11e8-8fd2-49fe3c675a89_story.html

families of the missing are gathered at a church trying to find information. one person there describes it as "like a refugee situation"

2. FIRSTHAND ACCOUNT BY A LAWYER CURRENTLY IN MORRISTOWN - SHARE ON SOCIAL MEDIA
From Betsy Hardin Stibler, lawyer friend-of-a-friend who is at ground zero in Morristown/Russellville. We have permission to share far and wide:

What would Jesus do? Back awhile ago this saying was very popular. I’m ashamed to say that yesterday I saw what I believe Jesus would NOT do.

I also saw our teachers and administrators practice what they preach- love, compassion, goodness and I am proud. They opened up our school, provided food and water for those waiting, gave hugs to the hurting, and quickly copied materials for me to distribute.

Our National Guard Armory was turned into an armed detainment camp for approximately 150. It eerily reminded me of my trip to the Holocaust museum in DC (the herding of the “criminals,” the scared faces, the internment of “foreigners.”).

I was the first and only Attorney on the ground at the Armory yesterday for hours. I was met with heartbroken faces, scared children, confused family. I answered what questions I could and I provided a Notice of Rights in Spanish to those released and those waiting. I started the process of obtaining Powers of Attorney for the care of children. I sent out a call for REAL immigration attorneys to come to Morristown (and they did come and are coming back).

I was amazed and impressed by how quickly our Hispanic community rallied around these families. They were welcoming and grateful for help. They interpreted for me. They embraced me and I’m grateful to them.

I heard many say that these detained folks were criminals (and as my good friend Terrance Wallace pointed out so are those who hired them), that they deserve this, that it’s just too bad for the children their parents didn’t do things the “right” way, they are a drain on society, etc. I could go on and on and it makes me sick. First- it’s still nearly impossible to comply with immigration requirements if you have entered the US illegally at any point. Second- it’s not easy to enter legally from Mexico. Third- the only reason most of us are citizens is the happy accident we were born here. I have seen no evidence that that fact makes us superior beings. Fourth- kids don’t pick their parents. These left behind children ARE CITIZENS JUST LIKE US by the happy accident of their birth. These folks were working a job (at a slaughterhouse)- I don’t know one single person who would work there- not being a “drain” on society and without legal status they are paying into a system that will never provide back for them.

I saw the tear stained face of an 8 year old (the age of my baby) who kissed his Momma goodbye to attend some of the finest public schools in Tennessee and he came home and she was gone. GONE. No visit, no kiss goodbye.

My heart is broken. But I am a warrior. I believe I have a special responsibility as a Christian, an Attorney, and a Mother with a tender heart. These folks have rights- Constitutionally guaranteed and God given human rights.

If you know of ANYONE who was affected yesterday or could be affected in the future I BEG you to send them to St. Patrick’s tomorrow where there will be a mobilized team of immigration attorneys and other attorney volunteers ready to help.

People life is short. Be good to each other. Jesus was a foreigner upon His birth. Truly ask yourself What Would Jesus Do and this time mean it.

-Betsy Hardin Stibler

defund and disband ICE

please read this:

https://medium.com/@allegralove1/looking-north-from-the-refugee-caravan-3b2d9c2e9a44

https://deadspin.com/boxer-wears-anti-immigrant-trunks-gets-soundly-beaten-1825241614

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bzm_w5h78A

welp laura ingraham called out my friend on fox news (by name, and with a picture) and suggested that she and lawyers like her, who held a legal clinic in mexico advising some of the caravan of their rights to asylum, could (subtext: ought to) be prosecuted for encouraging illegal immigrants

fuck these ppl

I think we all know laura is not an honorable person. Asylum is a tradition that goes back for millennia. It once was considered a sacred duty, a way of honoring god.

fuck these ppl

hear! hear!

my admittedly irrational worry is that my friend will actually be targeted by this garbage administration but i think -- hope -- the law is on her side

prosecuted for encouraging illegal immigrants

In my wildest imagination, I can't believe Congress would have passed a law against speaking to foreigners about the laws and regulations of the USA. I mean, they are stupid and reactionary, but there's no chance that any SCOTUS to date would uphold such a law as constitutional.

my admittedly irrational worry is that my friend will actually be targeted by this garbage administration but i think -- hope -- the law is on her side

― gbx, Wednesday, April 25, 2018 10:30 PM (six days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

turns out she has been targeted by anonymous death threateners

so, she's being persecuted instead of prosecuted. it's probably not a difference that is very comforting to her.

jesus

Desperate asylum seekers are being turned away by U.S. border agents claiming there’s “no room” https://t.co/AzOyznAlOc by @DebbieNathan2

— Jon Schwarz (@schwarz) June 16, 2018

The Trump administration is implementing a new asylum policy at the border that will result in potentially thousands of asylum seekers being turned away before they can plead their case in court.

The guidance, reviewed by CNN, also applies to refugee applicants -- immigrants seeking similar protections in the US who are still abroad.

Under new guidance given Wednesday to the officers who interview asylum seekers at the US' borders and evaluate refugee applications, claims based on fear of gang and domestic violence will be immediately rejected. In addition, the guidance tells officers they should consider whether an immigrant crossed the border illegally and weigh that against their claim, potentially rejecting even legitimate fears of persecution if the immigrant crossed illegally.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/11/politics/border-immigrants-asylum-restrictions/index.html

Wow, ICE is ... really desperate for recruits. #abolishICE pic.twitter.com/wOxn4pQX0E

— The Break with Michelle Wolf (@thebreaknetflix) July 20, 2018

An ICE detainee diagnosed with schizophrenia spent 21 days in solitary confinement — then took his own life https://t.co/qLZcpIeyak by @jlosc9

— Jon Schwarz (@schwarz) July 27, 2018

The Trump administration on Thursday announced a new rule that would allow the government to indefinitely detain migrant children with their parents, abandoning in the process a decades-old settlement that banned the government from holding migrant children after 20 days....

A DHS official told NBC News that the average length of detainment for migrant adults awaiting their court cases is 39 days. As the San Diego Union-Tribune reported this week, however, the national immigration court backlog had reached nearly 750,000 by the end of July. On top of that, wait times are getting longer as well; according to a June report by Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, wait times in several cities such as Houston, San Antonio, Chicago, and Arlington, VA, are now more than 1,400 days long “before an immigrant is even scheduled for a hearing on his or her case.”

In a statement to the network, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen called the ban on detaining children for more than 20 days one of the “primary pull factors for illegal immigration.”

“Today, legal loopholes significantly hinder the Department’s ability to appropriately detain and promptly remove family units that have no legal basis to remain in the country,” Nielsen said.

The ACLU, which is involved in ongoing litigation against the government over its family separation policy, strongly disputed that characterization.

“It is sickening to see the United States government looking for ways to jail more children for longer,” ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project director Omar Jadwat said in a statement. “That’s the complete opposite of what we should be doing — and it’s yet another example of the Trump administration’s hostility toward immigrants resulting in a policy incompatible with the most basic human values.”

This will get buried by other news. Most of it not as important as this. This is fueled by malice and stupidity, so you knew it was bound to happen. Godspeed, ACLU, but I don't think the courts will stand against the executive on this one.

Why is HHS expanding its tent city to detain immigrant children? It's not grappling with an emergency. It's making a choice, and telling us what future it envisions: mass incarceration of immigrants and people the administration decides are non-citizens. https://t.co/kK7JBskrqY

— Carly Goodman, Ph.D. (@car1ygoodman) September 12, 2018

GO CARLY, FORMER ILXOR AND CANDY STORE DENIZEN!

Oh dang I thought she was the author of the article. Well, go her anyway, she's awesome.

https://secure-hwcdn.libsyn.com/p/b/6/f/b6f40defd83a8e64/_____ALLEGRA_LOVE_12.07.2018_01.mp3?c_id=28416059&cs_id=28416059&expiration=1544403010&hwt=1eb62832dd9fdea2e990c67036c2d16a

no idea if this link will work, and I don't know anything about the podcast in general, but I would like it if you would listen to it

we are not too far gone to respond to caravanistas (and all other immigrants) with kindness and love*

*credit A- L- for the phrasing

also hit me up on FB if you want to find a way to help, we are looking for sponsors, particularly for trans chicas looking for asylum

street-teaming fulltime do NOT @ me

In the wake of the largest-ever immigration raid in a single state, child welfare services were left grappling with children who came home from school to find their parents had been arrested at one of the seven Mississippi food processing plants targeted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Wednesday.

The agency said it took some precautions to ease the burden on families, but as one ICE official said, “We are a law enforcement agency, not a social services agency.” The official said that any advance notice to welfare agencies or schools could have alerted undocumented immigrants to the raid and botched the operation.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/what-ice-did-did-not-do-kids-left-behind-mississippi-n1040776

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/08/09/poultry-industry-recruited-them-now-ice-raids-are-devastating-their-communities/?fbclid=IwAR2cqCxa0htZvqtMRGUepccZKhKkqj9sDOcLbJ3bVljzhYI7k2iN2uqyTE0

In a nutshell:

1) African American workers start to organize against bad conditions and low pay
2) poultry plants replace them with immigrant workers who they obviously know are going to be mostly undocumented -- in fact, they go out of their way to encourage these workers to bring their family and friends, some of whom probably even cross the border for the jobs
3) eventually these immigrant workers also start to complaint, protest, raise issues about conditions
4) suddenly, whaddyaknow mass raids
5) no evidence that "American" workers benefit, jobs will probably eventually be filled with undocumented immigrants again, who will now be more circumspect about complaining (or else Trump will create some kind of bullshit "guest worker" program to fill them)

Here's acting USCIS director Ken Cuccinelli saying on NPR this morning that the Statue of Liberty plaque should be changed to read, "give me your tired and your poor who can stand on their own two feet, and who will not become a public charge." pic.twitter.com/q8OoNn3k6r

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 13, 2019

In keeping with the values of the French Republic, of course.

As the meeting ended, Miller held up his hand to make a final comment. “I didn’t mean to come across as harsh,” he said. His voice dropped. “It’s just that this is all I care about. I don’t have a family. I don’t have anything else. This is my life.” https://t.co/TA6oFlZ1cq

— Grace Panetta (@grace_panetta) February 21, 2020

ProPublica: ICE Guards “Systematically” Sexually Assault Detainees in an El Paso Detention Center, Lawyers Say

The allegations, detailed in a filing first obtained by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune, maintain that guards systematically assaulted at least three people in a facility overseen by Immigration and Customs Enforcement — often in areas of the detention center not visible to security cameras. The guards told victims that no one would believe them because footage did not exist and the harassment involved officers as high-ranking as a lieutenant.