Immigration

[O Really]

Immigration and Customs Enforcement is a corrupt, rogue, unpatriotic agency.

Well, they're evil fershure, but I dunno about the corrupt, rogue part. Unfortunately, they seem to be doing exactly what their Administration* tells them to do.

[Vrede too]

Well, they're evil fershure, but I dunno about the corrupt, rogue part. Unfortunately, they seem to be doing exactly what their Administration* tells them to do.

Agreed, but I meant "corrupt, rogue, unpatriotic" relative to American needs and standards, especially with this hero and witness, not relative to corrupt, rogue, unpatriotic and "evil" 45SHOLE admin* standards.

[Vrede too]

Stand up for a fair path to citizenship and safety

On November 14, 2019, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a proposal to radically increase application fees paid by immigrants and introduce a new fee for asylum applications.


These new higher fees, including an exorbitant 83% increase for naturalization applications, will create an insurmountable obstacle for refugees, asylees, immigrants, and U.S. citizens seeking to change their status, receive a needed work or travel permit or re-unify with family members. This includes nearly nine million lawful permanent residents who may not be able to afford U.S. citizenship. In addition, if these fees take effect, the U.S. will become one of only four countries in the world that require asylum seekers to pay a fee.

We need you to send a strong message to USCIS insisting that people should not be priced out of safety, security, and fair process. Join the International Rescue Committee in submitting a unique public comment to the federal register opposing this proposal by December 16th.

[Vrede too]

Tell Amazon to stop powering ICE!

Hundreds of Musicians Call for Amazon Boycott Over ICE Contracts
Deerhoof, Ted Leo, Guy Picciotto of Fugazi, Speedy Ortiz sign No Music for Ice open letter

[Vrede too]

The Government Has Taken At Least 1,100 Children From Their Parents Since Family Separations Officially Ended

'Inhumane': US Border Officials Deny Request by Doctors to Administer Free Flu Vaccine to Detained Migrants
"The agency is willingly putting lives at risk of death."



To: Chief Operating Officer, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Mark A. Morgan
Stop Denying Medical Care for Jailed Children

[O Really]

What idiot Canadians agreed to this bullshit?
"Latest changes to Preclearance Agreement give U.S. officials dangerously extended power on Canadian soil"

https://www.cbc.ca/news/opinion/opinion ... -1.5382547

[O Really]

I've never had any significant problem with border crossings, at least in part because we go well prepared. If possible, pick a less-busy entry instead of the interstate. Passports, car/coach registration and insurance, list of food aboard, take off shades/hats, answer the questions simply. We got boarded for a cursory walk-through several years ago at Niagara Falls - otherwise, the only time we've been boarded was at the California border agriculture inspection. A couple of summers ago we crossed Vermont/Quebec several times. Smooth both ways. Wouldn't want to be looking middle-eastern, though.

But it's been a lot more recent than 1700's that border crossing to/from Canada as well as Mexico was easy. No passport needed, and you could walk back and forth with pretty much nothing but a wave. Border guards were around, but didn't actually check every single person. Times change, as paranoia rises.

[Vrede too]

Dear Friends,

Today, December 18th, we celebrate International Migrants Day. First and foremost, SOA Watch expresses our love and solidarity with all people who are forced to flee their homelands.

According to the latest UNHCR report, "Global Trends: Forced Displacement in 2018", by the end of last year, “almost 70.8 million individuals were forcibly displaced worldwide as a result of persecution, conflict, violence, or human rights violations.” In 2018, forced displacement was again at a record high. Nevertheless, numbers do not reflect how the situation is exacerbated by the increasing power of the Right globally, the closing and further militarization of borderlands, and the complete lack of accountability for state violence and neoliberal policies at the root of forced displacement from people’s territories, communities, and families.

Today, we remember and stand with all the people who are victims of these deadly policies and strategies that uproot people from their homelands and then further dehumanize, criminalize, and stigmatize them when they migrate. Today, we also denounce the Prevention Through Deterrence strategy, which was first implemented in 1994 by the Clinton administration to “control [the] borders of the United States between ports of entry”, forcing migrants through the most hostile terrain in such horrid conditions that the violence deters people from any attempt to cross. This strategy explicitly states that it seeks to put migrants in “mortal danger,” providing the framework to vastly expand Border Patrol and impose deterrents in the form of checkpoints, towers, walls, helicopters, and weapons in vast areas of the desert. Additionally, Prevention Through Deterrence fosters the criminalization of migrants forced into for-profit detention centers, the separation of children from their parents, the destruction of vital humanitarian aid, and the criminalization of concerned civilians who provide humanitarian aid to migrants and refugees. Since its implementation, officially more than 3,000 people have died in Southern Arizona since 2001; however the true number of those who have died or disappeared is closer to 10,000 in Southern Arizona alone.

Last month, SOA Watch Field Organizer, Dévora González wrote an article for Jacobin with Azadeh Shahshahani, Legal and Advocacy Director for Project South, outlining the egregious history and results of US training of Latin American state agents and how that training is now being provided to US Department of Homeland Security agents, specifically Border Patrol and ICE staff, for use against migrants and refugees at borders and within the US. The article also highlights how in October of this year, a contract confirmed that Border Patrol purchased 33 million rounds of bullets from Winchester Ammunition with the possibility of purchasing over 330 million additional rounds over the next five years. This is extremely concerning given that nearly one hundred people have been killed by US Border Patrol as a direct result of their excessive use of force over the last 15 years. This includes the cross-border killings of 15-year-old Sergio Adrián Hernández Güereca in 2010 and 16-year-old José Antonio Elena Rodríguez in 2012 -- both were killed by US Border Patrol agents who shot them from US soil when the teenagers were on Mexican soil. It is important to note that not a single Border Patrol agent has even been held legally accountable for these crimes and a recent internal government report even concluded that criminal misconduct by border officers is at a five-year high. Training of Border Patrol and ICE staff at Fort Benning, along with their increased firepower, will grossly exacerbate state violence against undocumented migrants and refugees at border crossings and within the United States.

At SOA Watch, we know that the result of the civilian-targeted warfare training provided at SOA/WHINSEC is lethally trained and militarized security forces that lack oversight and disproportionately target communities of color. It is our obligation to continue to resist and stand in solidarity with the victims of US-led and sanctioned state violence to end these egregious patterns of violence and the structures that uphold them. This March 27th-29th, we will be working in collaboration with other organizations to facilitate a weekend of panels and action in Tucson, Arizona to further our collective work to dismantle border imperialism and all forms of US-led and supported violence that threaten the well-being and autonomy of our communities and territories. We will be sending more information in the coming weeks.

We hope you will join us in Tucson and in our ongoing call for solidarity with migrants around the world who seek a dignified life. Together, we affirm the right to stay in one’s homeland with dignity, we affirm the right to migrate, and we affirm that no human being is ever illegal. Together, we will continue to fight for a better and more just world!

In solidarity,
Brigitte, Candice, Dévora, Pablo, and Roy
SOA Watch
http://www.soaw.org/home/

[Vrede too]

A Collaboratively Painted ‘Mural of Brotherhood’ Stretches for Over a Mile on Mexico’s Border
(article and a bunch of stills)



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YM4DP8NPOUk

[1 CAT FAN]

Not my God, but your President.

But the Impeached shithole President still can't set foot on my property

You have a WALL around your property...

A Collaboratively Painted ‘Mural of Brotherhood’ Stretches for Over a Mile on Mexico’s Border

ooh...billy can have his WALL painted too.

[Vrede too]

[Vrede too]

Deaths in custody. Sexual violence. Hunger strikes. What we uncovered inside ICE facilities across the US

Impeached President* Trump and acting ICE director Matthew Albence are the Hitler and Himmler of our time.

[Vrede too]

This Migrant Won In Immigration Court, And The U.S. Sent Him To Mexico Anyway

... Last week, however, Customs and Border Protection offered a different explanation. In a statement, the agency says it can return migrants to Mexico while authorities consider whether to appeal an immigration judge's ruling.

"When an immigration judge's decision is appealed or under consideration for appeal, immigration proceedings remain underway," a CBP spokesman said.

Immigration lawyers disagree with that interpretation.

"The proceedings in immigration court were finished. There were no more hearings to be held," said Kennji Kizuka, a lawyer with Human Rights First. He took on Jesus' case after he'd already won in immigration court.

When immigration authorities returned Jesus to Mexico, the paperwork they gave him listed a court date in November. But that date didn't appear on any court docket.

"They put a fake date on a piece of paper that says you have an upcoming hearing. And there was no hearing," Kizuka said.

The date is important, Kizuka says, because under the rules of Remain in Mexico, migrants can be returned only if their court case is still pending. "They wanted to return him to Mexico again, and they needed to convince the Mexican officials to take him back," Kizuka said.

CBP denies using fake court dates. The agency provides migrants "with a date that the individual can check in with U.S. officials about the status of the appeal," according to a spokesperson.

But Kizuka says the paperwork CBP provided to Jesus after his final court hearing contains a number of false statements. It says that Jesus was "currently in proceedings before an immigration judge" and that "an immigration judge ordered you to return to court for another hearing."

The document does not mention a possible appeal. In fact, the government did not appeal Jesus' case....

[neoplacebo]

Well, it would seem that Jesus is going to Mexico and the US is paying for it. I say that if this were THE Jesus, the outcome would have been the same or worse. USA! USA! Winning!

[Vrede too]

Well, it would seem that Jesus is going to Mexico and the US is paying for it. I say that if this were THE Jesus, the outcome would have been the same or worse. USA! USA! Winning!

45SHOLE and Repugs hate Jesus.


The Trump Administration Weakens Standards for ICE Detention Facilities

[Vrede too]

CBP Deported an Iranian Student With Valid Visa, Defying Court Order

Does the law matter anymore?

[Vrede too]

We are still a torture state:

Immigrant Kids Were Restrained to Chairs With Bags Over Their Heads at a Juvenile Hall in Virginia
The purpose of their detention, a group of district attorneys argues, should be “protect them from harm, not to punish them.”

[Vrede too]

Tell Congress: Stop Trump's Heartless "Remain in Mexico" Policy!

The crisis at the border is getting worse by the day. As a result of the Trump administration's cruel "Remain in Mexico" policy, families and babies are being forced to wait for their asylum hearings in dangerous, overcrowded, and unsanitary camps -- leaving them at high risk of sickness, or becoming victims of violence.

Congress is debating a bill that would immediately end the Remain in Mexico policy, and guarantee due process to asylum seekers. We need to do everything that we can to make sure it passes into law. You can help.

[Vrede too]

RIGHTWING National Interest reprint that originally appeared in the RIGHTWING “CATO at Liberty blog”:

Don't Listen to Trump: the Travel Ban Isn't About National Security
It won't effect international terrorism.

They've known it all along, but some rightwingers are starting to admit that 45SHOLE is a lying bigot that harms our national security.

[Vrede too]

Supreme Court denies Mexican family's damages claim for cross-border shooting

“I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters.”
— Donald Trump, 23 January 2016

“Donald Trump’s agent can murder an unarmed, nonthreatening child and he wouldn’t lose a sycophant Justice.”
— Stacked SCOTUS, 25 February 2020