On Friday evening, Caitlin Dickerson of the New York Times reported on disturbing new details of how the Trump Administration separated hundreds of children from their parents as part of an effort to deter those fleeing violence from seeking asylum in the U.S. Confirming the worst fears of advocates and observers, the article... Continue »
In a profound loss for immigrants living in immigration detention — sometimes indefinitely — the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last week they do not have a legal right to periodic hearings to determine if they should be released on bond. Many detainees are lawful permanent residents, asylum seekers, and/or... Continue »
Over the years, we’ve seen repeated examples of how Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) abuse their authority when it comes to treating immigrants and protecting individual privacy. This week, two articles from the New York Times showed CBP unrestrainedly using their authority within... Continue »
A recording of today’s call can be found here. On a press call today immigration and refugee advocates from the Women’s Refugee Commission (WRC), Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS), Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights and Center for American Progress (CAP) reacted... Continue »
In the past 24 hours, the Trump Administration and their Republican allies have taken their assault on the American idea of welcoming immigrants and refugees to new heights. They have: Attacked Dreamers and the future of the DACA program in a coordinated and dangerous backdoor legal assault led by the... Continue »
John Kelly reveals his true colors Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly was on Capitol Hill this week testifying in front of both the House and Senate Appropriations Committees on Donald Trump’s fiscal year 2018 budget. Early in Trump’s presidency, many hoped Kelly would turn out to be... Continue »
This week, Trump and DHS Secretary John Kelly floated plans to begin separating parents and children at the border, and outrage ensued. The New York Times described the idea as “cruelty disguised as compassion” while former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg wrote that: Imposing this kind of cruelty on children... Continue »
When it comes to US immigration policy, what Trump has said is that he wants to deport “bad hombres” in order to better protect Americans. What Trump, abetted by DHS Secretary John Kelly, has done in practice is devise and implement some of the cruelest possible ways to sow... Continue »
On an early morning in late January of this year, a young man named Pedro Salmeron was riding in the passenger seat of his father’s truck in Charlotte, NC when ICE agents stopped the truck and detained Pedro. His crime: fleeing gang members in El Salvador that had just... Continue »
Earlier this year we learned that the Obama administration, in an attempt to deter illegal border crossings, had started to target recently arrived Central American teenagers for deportation. Despite outcry from the community and increasing reports of violence in the Northern Triangle countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, these cruel... Continue »