Archive for the ‘Immigration Reform’ Category

US Immigration Reform: Deportation and Asylum – Inkstick – Inkstick

Recent attention to large numbers of migrants, including unaccompanied minors, arriving at the border has inspired anti-immigrant activists and politicians to broadly criticize the Biden administrations proposal for comprehensive immigration reform. However, the proposed legislation that has been introduced to both the House and the Senate addresses two very different populations of migrants, whose distinct circumstances should be considered separately: those who are to be or have been deported and those who are seeking asylum.

The Humanizing Deportation Project, which I designed and have coordinated since its launch in 2016, has documented the personal stories of over 250 migrants, including both those deported from the United States, and those in process of migrating along the Central AmericaMexicoUnited States corridor. Their stories help illuminate the issues at hand.

ISSUE ONE: DEPORTATION

The first issue that must urgently be addressed is the lack of a humane approach to the many undocumented immigrants who have lived long term in the United States. Currently these immigrants are subject to deportation at any moment, often causing long-term family separation, or breaking up families entirely. It is nearly impossible to introduce family hardship as a mitigating factor in deportation cases, which generally assign penalty periods of ten years or more during which deported migrants are ineligible to apply for any type of visa to enter the United States.

No other country in the world has been as aggressive or harsh in its treatment of such large numbers of long-term undocumented immigrants as the United States, which routinely expels hundreds of thousands per year. For example, the European Union, which also expels significant quantities of undocumented migrants, focuses much of its attention on asylum seekers whose applications have recently been rejected, with regularization programs available to some longer-term migrants. EU member states also use discretionary power in those cases in which deportation would imply human rights issues.

No other country in the world except the United States has been as unrelenting in breaking up families, nor has any other nation maintained such large numbers of childhood arrivals in the precarious position that is faced by hundreds of thousands of adult immigrants. Karla Estrada tearfully describes the arrival of her younger brother, who, like her, was brought to the United States as an infant, upon his deportation to Mexico: He did not know what it meant to be in that country, he did not know how to appropriately speak the language, or dress, or anything of the culture of Mexico. In order to protect him, her undocumented parents decided to return to Mexico, leaving Karla, a University of California, Los Angeles grad and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipient, alone. As she puts it: I still cant find the words to describe how much it hurts to lose my family so fast; it feels like, like is a slow deep wound inside you that never quite heals, adding that very rarely we talk about the effects of deportation, not only for the deportees and veterans, but also the families left behind in the US. It is a pain that I dont wish upon anyone, not even in my worst enemy.

Nor has any other nation been as unforgiving of its noncitizen military veterans, who routinely get deported from the United States for committing criminal offenses, including some minor drug offenses. US Navy veteran Alex Murillo was brought to the United States at age one, and obtained legal permanent residency. He served respectfully and proudly in the US military and was stationed in the Middle East. After his discharge he lost his way, ending up convicted in federal court of marijuana charge, which automatically triggered his deportation. He left behind four young children, who, he recalls, were waiting for me and I never made it back home. Neither Alex nor his family can understand why he was good enough to fight and die for America, but Im not good enough to live there.

The effects of the United States heavy reliance on deportation have been devastating to immigrant communities. With an aim to keeping families together, the Biden immigration reform proposal offers many long term immigrants, including childhood arrivals, a path to citizenship, and also gives discretionary power to immigration judges and new authority to the Secretary of Homeland Security and Attorney General to take the hardship that deportation would cause to families in consideration, allowing them to both block deportations of migrants who pose no security risk, and to facilitate the readmission of previously deported family members. The past 25 years have seen a relentless assault on immigrant communities, which has become only more and more severe. It is time that we take a more humane approach with long-term undocumented immigrants.

ISSUE TWO: THE MIGRANTS AND ASYLUM SEEKERS

The question of migrants arriving at the border is a separate one, perhaps a bit more complicated. The majority of these migrants come from the northern triangle of Central America (Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras) and aim to seek asylum in the United States. The situation at the border is unfortunate, the culmination of several years of efforts to deter these migrants ability to complete or, more recently, even initiate the asylum application process. The Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) program, launched in January of 2019 has kept tens of thousands of migrants on the Mexican side of the border awaiting court dates in the United States, while the Title 42 express deportation procedure has expelled nearly all asylum seekers that have tried to cross into the United States since March 2020, under the premise of safeguarding public health during the pandemic. This decision was revised recently to allow unaccompanied minors and some families with children into the country.

The Biden proposal promises to address the problem at its root by offering aid to northern triangle countries to help them assure the economic stability and personal safety of their citizens so as to prevent them from departing in large numbers. This is obviously a long-term solution. In the short term, given both the now huge backlog of asylum seekers due to MPP and Title 42, as well as the steady arrival of new asylum seekers, it is urgent for the United States and Mexico to coordinate logistics and offer basic protections, such as safe lodging for migrants, on both sides of the border.

Another underlying issue is especially troubling: that of refugees. The migrants who have spoken to scholars and the press represent themselves as refugees who are migrating not on a whim, but rather out of desperation. It is logical that refugees seek asylum. But US asylum law requires applicants to demonstrate that they are being persecuted based on race,religion,nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group. Threats of violence from organized criminal groups do not necessarily align with these criteria. This is one of several reasons why the rate of success of asylum cases for Central American migrants is very low and falling.

For example, a Honduran migrant who traveled with the 2018 caravans had to close his auto repair shop when he was unable to pay extortion demands from criminal gangs. He was also witness to a kidnapping and agreed to testify for the state, assuming he would be protected. He was instead required to testify in front of the accused and eventually convicted defendant, then denied any form of government protection. He fled Honduras in fear. Upon crossing to the United States to apply for asylum, he was questioned by Customs and Border Protection agents who allowed him to tell only the first part of his story. They refused to let him file an asylum case, and ordered him to sign a voluntary removal form. When he refused to sign, he recalls: they insulted me, they told me that I looked like a delinquent. They then screamed obscenities in his face and got rough with me. Three agents grabbed my hands and bent me backwards, forcing him to put a fingerprint onto the form, which they then used to deport him.

While in 20162017, asylum was granted to roughly 25% of applicants from all three northern triangle nations (compared to about 40% among all applicants worldwide), by 20192020, success rates of northern triangle applicants had dropped to below 15% (versus an aggregate rate for all applicants of about 28%), with 91% of MPP cases ending in deportation. In other words, even though these migrants see themselves as refugees, US immigration courts infrequently see them as refugees.

While it is important to address the problem at its root by improving living conditions for Central Americans, and to offer humane and secure conditions for asylum seekers at the border, it will also be important to better align expectations with reality. Either the United States must revise its criteria of evaluation for asylum cases in order to better account for real dangers of extortion, assault, kidnapping, rape and murder to which so many of these migrants are exposed in their home countries, or Central American migrants, who often risk life savings and face all kinds of dangers on the migrant trail, should be better informed of what lies ahead once they reach the US border, as currently the vast majority of them are ending up getting deported back to their countries of origin.

It is clear that more humane legislation is needed for both long-term immigrants and newly arriving asylum seekers. Given the very different challenges each group faces, it makes sense to consider them separately.

Robert McKee Irwin is the deputy director of the Global Migration Center at the University of California, Davis.

The images that appear in the body of this piece are from the Humanizing Deportation Project.

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US Immigration Reform: Deportation and Asylum - Inkstick - Inkstick

It’s the Law: Immigration reform bills – 41 NBC News

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Macon, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) Attorney J Davis from James W. Davis and Associates joins 41NBCs Shelby Coates for our weekly segment Its the Law.

President Joe Biden is appointing Vice President Kamala Harris to lead efforts to reduce migration across the U.S./Mexico border.

At the same time, the U.S. House has approved two immigration related bills.

Davis takes a look at both bills and their impact. The first bill is the American Dream and Promise Act which focuses on a path to citizenship. The second measure is the Farm Workforce Modernization Act which focuses on allowing farmers to earn temporary status.

Shelby Coates is an evening anchor/producer at 41NBC News. She anchors the 5, 5:30, and 6 evening newscasts. She also works behind the scenes producing the 5:00pm and managing newsroom assignments. She returns to 41NBC after working in Evansville, Indiana as the Morning/Noon Anchor and Executive Producer for WEVV. Shelby also spent time in Spartanburg, South Carolina, where she spent three years anchoring and producing the weekend morning newscasts at WSPA-TV. She also worked as a general assignment reporter, receiving several honors for her investigative and consumer reporting. Shelby has spent time working as a news anchor/reporter in Chattanooga, Tennessee; Macon, Georgia; and Abilene, Texas. Shelby is a native of Clarksville, Tennessee. She graduated from Abilene Christian University in Texas with a bachelors degree in Broadcast Journalism and Mass Communication and a minor in sociology. Shelby has a passion for empowering local communities, church ministry, public speaking, strengthening women and mentoring young people.

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It's the Law: Immigration reform bills - 41 NBC News

‘It’s Not The Place They Should Be’: U.S. Rep. Castro Discusses Visit To Carrizo Springs And Immigration Reform – Texas Public Radio

Congressman Joaquin Castro led a Democratic delegation on a tour of a temporary shelter for migrant children in Carrizo Springs Friday. It is one of at least eight temporary facilities in Texas opened or announced by the Biden administration to house a large number of unaccompanied minors arriving at the border. TPRs Maria Mendez spoke with him after the tour.

The conversation has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Mendez: Could you tell me why you decided to go to Carrizo Springs today?

Castro: Our congressional delegation went to Carrizo Springs because we wanted to make sure that these kids these unaccompanied minors are being treated humanely and respectfully and with dignity. And so this was the first "influx shelter" that was opened during the Biden administration. And we're also going there to try to get a better understanding of how we can fix this broken system, and what recommendations we can make to the president and the executive branch, and how we can work with them on improving the system.

Mendez: Can you tell me what you saw and what the conditions were? Were they as troublesome as some of the reports that we've heard?

Castro: Well, the conditions in these places are always spartan. And there were about 800 or 900 kids today that were in the facility. These facilities are in a lot better condition than the CBP processing centers. And that's where we often see the pictures of people sleeping with what look like aluminum blankets, and they're in cramped conditions, in holding cells that look like jails. This facility looks different than that.

Mendez: And was there social distancing?

Castro: Yeah, there was social distancing that was being practiced. There were educational services that were being provided. There's people that are working there that as far as we could tell were doing their best to try to take care of these kids. But it's not the best environment for that. It's not the place they should be. What the administration needs to focus on is building out the capacity of the asylum system to move people as quickly as possible, from when they present themselves for asylum at the border, to their family sponsors who can take care of them while they wait for their claim to be processed.

Mendez: And you've been in Congress for a while now, and so you've seen the seasonal increase in migration before. How does this compare to what you've seen under past administrations?

Castro: Well, in terms of the numbers, it's comparable to what we saw in 2019. And the increases tend to be cyclical. Now, part of the difference here is that the Trump administration did everything it could to damage the system for the infrastructure for processing and settling asylum seekers. So they reduce the capacity that we have to hold kids in a humane setting. And so that's part of the reason that you see now more than ever, the CBP facilities just overrun with kids, because it's harder to send them places. Because Donald Trump essentially let a lot of that infrastructure go.

Mendez: Biden, yesterday, in his White House press conference, said that he is working on building up capacity to house migrant children. Do you think he could have moved quicker on that? Should he have started doing that, you know, maybe early in February, than when he did start?

Castro: I know that the Biden transition team, I think it recommended to the Trump administration that they do something about increasing capacity. As we started to see the flows of folks increase. Unfortunately, the Trump administration was not very cooperative. And so look, this administration inherited a very tough problem with a political party and the Republican Party that always tries to use immigration, and asylum as a wedge issue, to try to convince Americans that there's a bunch of brown people coming in here to hurt them. And so, you know, it's it, they're in a tough spot. And so we're going to try to do everything we can to work with the administration to treat these kids right, but also to fix this problem.

Mendez: And what are your thoughts on some of the terminology that we've seen, you know, particularly from Republicans about this being another border crisis? Do you agree with that assessment?

Castro: I think the conditions that these folks are fleeing certainly constitutes a crisis. I'm not going to fault anyone for calling this a humanitarian crisis. It's a very deep humanitarian challenge. But if they mean that it's a crisis in the sense that these people are all terrorists coming here to harm all of us as Americans I think a lot of them, that's exactly what they're trying to imply then, no, I think it's just politics at that point.

Mendez: And do you think there are ways to sift through some of that rhetoric? A lot of people have already started pointing out that it seems like history is repeating itself in terms of Biden trying to work on broader immigration reform and the situation at the border already prompting some Republicans to say that they're concerned about immigration reform, due to what's happening on the border.

Castro: Well, look, there's a group of Republicans who are going to use the issue of immigration to try to stop immigration reform, to try to convince the American people that it's too scary to do immigration reform. And so that's kind of to be expected at this point. You know, they've done it for years. They've done it for a generation at least, and they're going to do it again. And we just have to work through that. I hope that bills like the U.S. Citizenship Act, DREAM and TPS Act, the Farm Work Force Modernization Act I hope that these bills can ultimately be bipartisan, truly bipartisan in the Senate, but that remains to be seen.

Mendez: Do you think there has been some sort of progress? Because, on one hand, for example, we have seen Sen. Cornyn say that he supports Dreamers or DACA recipients. Do you think that that's maybe a sign of progress and possibility for that type of reforms?

Castro: No. I mean, look, the issue with Sen. Cornyn, I appreciate his words. But that's mostly what they did over the years, is words. And when it comes down to it, Sen. Cornyn has not acted on a DREAM Act. Now, he could support a clean DREAM Act bill that's going to be coming to him shortly in the Senate, and if he supports that piece of legislation, then he should sign his name as a cosponsor to the bill. He has every opportunity to do that. It's time that we move past words and action.

Mendez: I also wanted to ask you about Biden's comments yesterday. He said that he will continue accepting migrant children, despite some of the challenges in housing them at the moment. But he said that most families he actually said all families should be turned away. What do you make of those comments? And do you agree with that policy?

Castro: I know that the Biden ministration has been accepting only unaccompanied minors, and otherwise continuing to expel asylum seekers under Title 42 because of the public health exception. The administration needs to work as quickly as possible so that it will be in a position to fully honor international and U.S. law and discontinue expelling people under Title 42. The nation is on the brink of coming out of the pandemic. It looks like we got to be careful for the variants, for any surges, of course. But, you know, as we expect that the country, as the president said, by the end of May every adult American over the age of 18 will have the opportunity to take COVID-19 vaccine at that point, then they need to build up a capacity to deal with these folks in a humane way, and to discontinue expelling people under Title 42.

Mendez: Well, thank you for your time.

Castro: Yeah, absolutely. Take care.

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'It's Not The Place They Should Be': U.S. Rep. Castro Discusses Visit To Carrizo Springs And Immigration Reform - Texas Public Radio

Biden Taps Harris, a Staunch Foe of Immigration Enforcement, to Deal with the Border Crisis He Denies Even Exists, Says FAIR – PRNewswire

WASHINGTON, March 24, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --Taking heat from everyone from the President of Mexico to border state Democrats for the humanitarian, health, and national security border crisis his administration has triggered in just two months, President Biden has thrown one architect of the mess, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas under the bus, and tasked another architect of the mess, Vice President Kamala Harris, with fixing it.

"Today's move by President Biden is like pulling Inspector Clouseau off the case and replacing him with Lieutenant Drebin," quipped Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). "Like Secretary Mayorkas, Vice President Harris has a long record of open hostility toward controlling our borders and enforcing our immigration laws."

Given the vice president's track record of encouraging illegal immigration and disparaging immigration enforcement agencies, President Biden's announcement that she will lead the effort to restore order would be comical if it were not so serious. "I have asked her, the VP, today, because she is the most qualified person to do it, to lead our efforts with Mexico and the Northern Triangle and the countries that are going to need help in stemming the movement of so many folks, stemming the migration to our southern border," Biden said, apparently without irony.

"President Biden's memory may be a bit faulty, but the rest of us remember that we actually had agreements with Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries that were helping us stem mass migration. He tore them up!" Stein charged. "He also halted construction of the border wall and scrapped numerous other policies put in place by his predecessor that discouraged people from abusing our political asylum process and from putting their kids into the hands of criminal cartels that smuggle them across the border. Until President Biden and Vice President Harris are prepared to restore the policies they blew up, the crisis will continue no matter who's making the photo ops at the border," concluded Stein.

Contact: Matthew Tragesser, 202-328-7004 or [emailprotected]

ABOUT FAIR

Founded in 1979, FAIR is the country's largest immigration reform group. With over 3 million members and supporters nationwide, FAIR fights for immigration policies that serve national interests, not special interests. FAIR believes that immigration reform must enhance national security, improve the economy, protect jobs, preserve our environment, and establish a rule of law that is recognized and enforced.

SOURCE Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR)

http://www.fairus.org

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Biden Taps Harris, a Staunch Foe of Immigration Enforcement, to Deal with the Border Crisis He Denies Even Exists, Says FAIR - PRNewswire

Groups urge Biden to hire more immigration judges and fight drug cartels – WNCT

EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) Several groups are calling on Joe Biden to invest more federal dollars to deal with the migrant surge on the southern border.

That money should be used to immediately hire more immigration judges and shore up border infrastructure. That includes expanding temporary holding facilities and child shelters, as well as modernizing border security through technology. That, in turn, will free border agents to deal with this or future challenges, participants in a Border Solutions Roundtable said this week.

The groups are also calling on Biden to involve the governments of Mexico and Northern Triangle countries of Central America in addressing internal crises that make so many people leave their homes and seek and end to persecution or a better way of life in the United States.

I really think solutions have to begin south of the border, said Danilo Zak, senior policy and advocacy associate at the National Immigration Forum. That [] really represents the only path toward an ideal scenario where children, families and other migrants are safe and secure in their own country (with) no need to flee or migrate irregularly in the first place.

Analysts and advocates say the U.S. should help Central American nations address the root causes of migration like insecurity and poverty and provide a reliable structure for people there to apply for asylum remotely, without putting their lives and those of their children in jeopardy by making a dangerous trip through Mexico.

We should do more to combat cartels and smugglers. Part of that is engaging in a more effective messaging campaign to dispel some of the fiction sold by these cartels to desperate migrants, Zak said. And thats not just dont come, but to inform them about asylum laws and the immigration system to dispel misinformation by the smugglers.

But while that happens, the Biden administration must make immediate changes to the way it deals with the thousands of family units and single adults that are showing up at the border, they say.

The problem with the border right now is not that so many people want to come here, but solely that people are coming illegally and when they do come Border Patrol treats them inhumanely by caging them or dumping them in destitute and dangerous cities in Mexico, said David J. Bier, senior policy analyst at the Cato Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based public policy research organization.

Bier suggests the federal government apply the same standard to would-be refugees today as it did to Cuban emigres who showed up to ports of entry prior to 2017.

The government should grant asylum immediately at the border to as many applicants as possible. It should grant the rest parole status and admit them to pursue their applications, Bier said. This would end the illegality and inhumane treatment. Perhaps more people would come but if they crossed legally this wouldnt be a problem any more than the millions of legal crossers that we (process) each week.

Bier says refugee admission policies are behind the steep rise in unaccompanied minors coming across the border.

We will accept 100 percent of them but only if they cross illegally. If they seek asylum at ports of entry, nearly all will be refused entry. This approach means that nearly all kids are being forced into the hands of smugglers, he says. If they are with their parents, in many cases theyre expelled to Mexico. So, many parents are sending their kids alone and trying to sneak in behind them, leading to repeated attempts over and over by parents to reunite with their kids.

The migrants wouldnt have to resort to smugglers if, for instance, theyre given Temporary Protected Status on account of hurricanes that struck the Northern Triangle late last year and devastated communities and farms.

And Biden should boost the H2-B visa cap for temporary workers, he said, because despite the pandemic millions of job openings exist in certain industries.

Monica Weisberg-Stewart, chair of the Texas Border Coalition, said border security issues must also be addressed or else the Mexican drug cartels will continue to exploit women and children, smuggle drugs and inflict pain on our American way of life.

She said immigration reform, better equipped and staffed ports of entry and new asylum laws are a must.

Asylum laws need to be updated. The children traveling alone needs to be addressed. We believe keeping Title 42 on the border is essential given what is happening at the border currently, she said. Title 42 is a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention order allowing federal officials to immediately expel unauthorized migrants to prevent cross-border spread of COVID-19.

More immigration judges are needed to deal with the surge and Biden should engage border leaders and residents before making decisions that affect them, she said.

We are right here on the border. Our mayors are dealing with these issues every day, Weisberg-Stewart said.

She added border agents need to be allowed to do their jobs because theres a lot of mixed messages.

Visit theBorderReport.com homepagefor the latest exclusive stories and breaking news about issues along the United States-Mexico border.

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Groups urge Biden to hire more immigration judges and fight drug cartels - WNCT