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The latest episode of our podcast, “A is for America”, features an interview with Ghada Mukdad, a Syrian peace activist who fled her home country and currently lives in Texas. (Interview starts at 16:05.)
On immigration news this week, the Trump Administration continues to separate families at the border, leading to horrific stories of loss. A father was separated from his four-month-old baby, and accepted deportation so that he could be reunited with his child. However, he was deported while the child was not, and four months later both parents are still without their baby. Another father, Marco Antonio Muroz, was so distraught about being separated from his wife and child that he killed himself in detention. A baby was taken from its mother while she was breastfeeding; the mother was handcuffed because she “resisted”. The Trump Administration now wants to put children in inhumane “tent cities” because they are running out of space to hold them.
Jeff Sessions and his Department of Justice have been on a tear. They are trying to force an end to DACA by telling Judge Hanen in Texas that they think the program is unconstitutional. They have announced an effort to denaturalize citizens who may have minor irregularities on their paperwork, which would be an incredibly rare move. Finally, Sessions wants to change policy so that domestic abuse and gang violence would no longer be grounds for seeking asylum.
In policy and politics, House Republicans are preparing to vote next week on two bills that underscore Trumpian nativism while doing nothing for Dreamers. And, anti-immigrant extremist Corey Stewart’s nomination to be the Republican candidate for Senate in Virginia proves that the GOP is truly Donald Trump’s party now.
“A is for America” is a podcast which tells stories from the front lines of a changing America. Each week, we’ll be talking to advocates and experts working in immigration reform, immigrants’ rights, immigration politics, and the forefront of what it means to be a new American. Tune in next week for more.
