US Immigration Policy Megathread

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hobotrashcanfires: Jul 24, 2013

Crosby B. Alfred posted:

The United States has at least in modern history Post World War 2 treated immigrants legal or illegal like poo poo. For a Country built on immigrants, the United States is incredibly xenophobic and largely still is to this day.

What are you trying to tell me?

I think first and foremost I'm sorry by nature of replying to a singular post any and all content in that response comes off as a singular rebuttal/attack on that post, whereas it was also a springboard to responding to the thread at large as well. You come across as worth engaging in discussion that could amount to more than arguing whether present atrocities match closely enough to historical atrocities to use a term which if anything was devised to minimize the atrocity that was being carried out then and led to far worse.

The United States has always ever treated immigrants like poo poo which is pretty rich considering the mythos it teaches. The length and shittiness is of course measured by color of skin, and whether we're pretending a culture we're at war with embodies the genetic make-up of the region.

Crosby B. Alfred posted:

Yes, you are correct he United States in the 1960s exploited the hell out of Latin America and for anyone reading Tears of Latin American is excellent book on the topic. Essentially, the Western World (US + Europe) has given themselves to have democratic governments but not for anyone else.

That's not just since the 1960s, it's the continuation of the genocide that began with the caravel and all the various European colonies, but yeah it's the same war versus the now descendants of slaves and native populations for the most part. We were absolutely meddling in that world to horrid affect before, post WW2 we simply embraced our ability to control the world. If that has and continues to mean we prop up dictators, death squads, drug trade, and immiseration seemingly means nothing to the debate over whether we have a humane border policy.

Crosby B. Alfred posted:

I don't agree. People are being held accountable. Leaders of various agencies are being removed along with a whole host of other changes. You are right, we should do more but Biden is not Trump. Period.

Who has actually been held accountable for anything? Losing your post and going into the private sector is the norm. Accountability is an actual accounting not moving into the private sector with your new big bolded government experience. Trump did manage to bring a lot of what people worried about the DHS at its inception (pretty loving fascistic then) into full fruition.

There has not been acountability, people wanna scream about 1/6, we haven't even tried to deal with the fact that not only were many capitol police letting people in, but that crowd had police theoughout it.

And oh, in the meantime we're threatening Bolivia for arresting members of a coup government and treating them well. We're prioritizing deporting Haitians while propping up the latest flimsiest dictatorship we can which will almost certainly require the latest humanitarian intervention. Who's keeping count in Haiti anyway? We've been doing that there for some reason ever since gosh what did they manage and we still say they owe debt for?

# ? Apr 3, 2021 03:05

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# ? Jun 5, 2024 12:04

Nix Panicus: Feb 25, 2007

'They got fired' is not actually being held accountable for crimes against humanity. This is going to be like the Bush torturers all over again

# ? Apr 3, 2021 03:30

fool of sound: Oct 10, 2012

There's a new donation drive thread for immigrants and refugees

# ? Apr 3, 2021 04:08

Gucci Loafers: May 20, 2006; Ask yourself, do you really want to talk to pair of really nice gaudy shoes?

hobotrashcanfires posted:

The United States has always ever treated immigrants like poo poo which is pretty rich considering the mythos it teaches. The length and shittiness is of course measured by color of skin, and whether we're pretending a culture we're at war with embodies the genetic make-up of the region.

If we look back at the 1920-1930s it was a terrible place unless you happen to have been a Wealthy White Land Owning Male in good health. That said, the United States is a crazy, insane, unique and rare multicultural experiment. In that context, it is probably one of the absolute coolest things to ever happen in the history of humanity. This no myth but I'd agree that we aren't living up to our ideals and there certainly "Parallel Americas" where one is a predominately Christian Capitalist Country largely run by wealthy white men and the other an actual multi-cultural Democracy. And remember, the United States is a young Country compared to the rest of the world.

hobotrashcanfires posted:

That's not just since the 1960s, it's the continuation of the genocide that began with the caravel and all the various European colonies, but yeah it's the same war versus the now descendants of slaves and native populations for the most part. We were absolutely meddling in that world to horrid affect before, post WW2 we simply embraced our ability to control the world. If that has and continues to mean we prop up dictators, death squads, drug trade, and immiseration seemingly means nothing to the debate over whether we have a humane border policy.

I mean - sure the US has meddled in world affairs but prior to WW2 the United States largely isolated themselves purposefully. I would say that much of the civil instability in Africa and South America is largely due to colonialism, this will take generations to solve and I do strongly disagree with much of our foreign policy.

hobotrashcanfires posted:

Who has actually been held accountable for anything? Losing your post and going into the private sector is the norm. Accountability is an actual accounting not moving into the private sector with your new big bolded government experience. Trump did manage to bring a lot of what people worried about the DHS at its inception (pretty loving fascistic then) into full fruition.

There has not been acountability, people wanna scream about 1/6, we haven't even tried to deal with the fact that not only were many capitol police letting people in, but that crowd had police theoughout it.

And oh, in the meantime we're threatening Bolivia for arresting members of a coup government and treating them well. We're prioritizing deporting Haitians while propping up the latest flimsiest dictatorship we can which will almost certainly require the latest humanitarian intervention. Who's keeping count in Haiti anyway? We've been doing that there for some reason ever since gosh what did they manage and we still say they owe debt for?

You cannot claim there hasn't been accountability when the FBI is regularly rounding up protestors and even investigating our own members of Congress including charges of sedition. I don't know what to tell you - our foreign policy is extremely poor but given that we have folks like the Squad - which is growing - I am much more optimistic than pessimistic.

# ? Apr 3, 2021 04:09

Lester Shy: May 1, 2002; Goodness no, now that wouldn't do at all!

Crosby B. Alfred posted:

You cannot claim there hasn't been accountability when the FBI is regularly rounding up protestors and even investigating our own members of Congress including charges of sedition.

What does this have to do with immigration?

Also :toxx:

no member of Congress will be charged with sedition for their involvement in 1/6.

# ? Apr 3, 2021 04:23

Ghost Leviathan: Mar 2, 2017; Exploration is ill-advised.

'Rounding up protestors', yeah, you sure have been. Where's Kyle Rittenhouse again? And half the Squad is already defending the practices they once denounced.

# ? Apr 3, 2021 04:35

hobotrashcanfires: Jul 24, 2013

Crosby B. Alfred posted:

If we look back at the 1920-1930s it was a terrible place unless you happen to have been a Wealthy White Land Owning Male in good health. That said, the United States is a crazy, insane, unique and rare multicultural experiment. In that context, it is probably one of the absolute coolest things to ever happen in the history of humanity. This no myth but I'd agree that we aren't living up to our ideals and there certainly "Parallel Americas" where one is a predominately Christian Capitalist Country largely run by wealthy white men and the other an actual multi-cultural Democracy. And remember, the United States is a young Country compared to the rest of the world.

I get what you're saying and where you're coming from but that literally is the mythos. The crazy, insane, unique, and multicultural experiment depended on two continents being slightly behind the rest possibly only due to running north south and having vastly fewer cultivatable staple foods, falling slightly behind technologically and not outright killing from the start many who became some of histories greatest monsters. It is the utmost accident of history, biology, geography, and agriculture which set the stage for what is likely the most genocidal event in human history and if you want to be real about is still occurring in all these camps.

You could also just go through one of many scattered and desolate reservations. Just imagine such fortune being relegated to some of the most undesired and unlivable places only to discover you're on a treasure trove of minerals. Now maybe it's a superfund site but hey, we're supposed to be talking about desperate people elsewhere.

Crosby B. Alfred posted:

I mean - sure the US has meddled in world affairs but prior to WW2 the United States largely isolated themselves purposefully. I would say that much of the civil instability in Africa and South America is largely due to colonialism, this will take generations to solve and I do strongly disagree with much of our foreign policy.

No? Not in any conceivable way. Both in Africa where we could but especially everywhere south of the US we just replaced the existing colonialism at every opportunity. We invented banana republics, the people of those countries were meant to slave for our industry and if the best figurehead is some puffed up strongman absurdly festooned with medals well good enough so long as he keeps everyone producing profit.

The US never isolated itself prior to WW2, we were at war constantly fighting for colonial possessions within our sphere of influence. We don't have a naval/torture base in Guantanamo, Cuba by some quirk of history. They tear up the couple thousand dollar check we send them for that "lease" every year.

I asked you if you could identify any country in this hemisphere we are not actively loving with, provably, within living memory for a reason though. Immigration is a normal thing, it happens all throughout history. People however don't uproot themselves from places and move en masse without external factors.

We are and have been the primary external factor ever since old European colonial powers lost their sway to us. Calling them concentration camps is frankly inadequate when we've created murderous dictators and supplied and trained death squads which have driven desperate people to come here.

They not only deserve automatic asylum they deserve reparations. They're almost all fleeing to the same place that sucked every bit of profit it could.

Crosby B. Alfred posted:

You cannot claim there hasn't been accountability when the FBI is regularly rounding up protestors and even investigating our own members of Congress including charges of sedition. I don't know what to tell you - our foreign policy is extremely poor but given that we have folks like the Squad - which is growing - I am much more optimistic than pessimistic.

Not even gonna bother much with that because no, we never dealt with police riots across the country that probably injured thousands or more over people being constantly murdered and almost never being held to account for it. So glad theyre investigating and we keep finding out how many on duty and off duty law enforcement were involved and defund the police is contentious.

# ? Apr 3, 2021 06:23

Nosfereefer: Jun 15, 2011; IF YOU FIND THIS POSTER OUTSIDE BYOB, PLEASE RETURN THEM. WE ARE VERY WORRIED AND WE MISS THEM

fool of sound posted:

There's a new donation drive thread for immigrants and refugees

Thank you for this.

# ? Apr 3, 2021 14:30

Fritz the Horse: Dec 26, 2019; ... of course!

Sarcastr0 posted:

Huh. I did not know that. Good stuff!

I recall growing up hearing all sorts of awful INS-related human rights violations back when NPR was less centrist, and so assumed this was the same. But I was unaware of how the new agency got more specialized, nor had I made the connection to the timeline of the staffing-up.

I'd imagine DHS generally is a nightmare of anti-Muslim sentiment to this day.

Hi there, is there an email address you're willing to share I can reach you at? Would like to discuss something and you don't have PMs.

# ? Apr 4, 2021 02:02

Sarcastr0: May 29, 2013; WON'T SOMEBODY PLEASE THINK OF THE BILLIONAIRES ?!?!?

Fritz the Horse posted:

Hi there, is there an email address you're willing to share I can reach you at? Would like to discuss something and you don't have PMs.

Color me intrigued!

I just laid out the :10bux:

for PMs.

# ? Apr 4, 2021 03:21

Fritz the Horse: Dec 26, 2019; ... of course!

Sarcastr0 posted:

Color me intrigued!

I just laid out the for PMs.

cool!

I think you still need to enable PMs. Go to User Control Panel -> Edit Options and then under "Messaging and Notifications" you'll need to toggle "yes" on "Enable Private Messaging" and Submit Modifications at the bottom.

# ? Apr 4, 2021 03:27

Lester Shy: May 1, 2002; Goodness no, now that wouldn't do at all!

https://twitter.com/kenklippenstein/status/1379511583534161925

(USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)

# ? Apr 6, 2021 20:33

generic one: Oct 2, 2004; I wish I was a little bit taller
I wish I was a baller
I wish I had a wookie in a hat with a bat
And a six four Impala; Nap Ghost

Lester Shy posted:

https://twitter.com/kenklippenstein/status/1379511583534161925

Good lord. :stare:

The signal I�m getting from this is HHS is woefully understaffed to deal with the situation at the border and can�t process new hires quickly enough to fill all the need they have.

Is there another way to read this? That�s all I�ve got.

# ? Apr 6, 2021 22:19

1337JiveTurkey: Feb 17, 2005

It looks like it's a request for current government employees to work temporarily with the ORR for the next few months. This is likely because current employees are likely to have already completed other background checks (potentially simplifying the childcare checks) and have travel cards, most of the generic government employee training and are in the system for payroll etc. In other words they can start working fast.

The listing can be seen here. Among other things it mentions that if accepted you may need to relocate within 48 hours. There are basically two jobs according to the email but the listing has one sort of super-job:

Babysitter/Minder--All the children need someone to watch over them like a parent or teacher and handle problems as they arise. This isn't a guard job but more about feeding them, checking if they're not feeling well and so forth. That's why they're looking for NASA employees among others and not BOP guards or the like.
Interviewer--This is someone who can talk to the children and use that information to set up calls to relatives that the child may know. In addition to knowing Spanish it's also useful to know various indigenous dialects. This also apparently has a project management slant. Can you juggle all the information that you can find to reach the best people to place the child with?

If you are a current government employee who knows Spanish, has an ID card and some other requirements, you're eligible for this job and should strongly consider it.

# ? Apr 6, 2021 22:24

generic one: Oct 2, 2004; I wish I was a little bit taller
I wish I was a baller
I wish I had a wookie in a hat with a bat
And a six four Impala; Nap Ghost

1337JiveTurkey posted:

It looks like it's a request for current government employees to work temporarily with the ORR for the next few months. This is likely because current employees are likely to have already completed other background checks (potentially simplifying the childcare checks) and have travel cards, most of the generic government employee training and are in the system for payroll etc. In other words they can start working fast.

Yeah, that makes sense. Skip the onboarding process bottleneck for new hires by just recruiting existing government employees to fill a temporary need. Seems... good?

I think we all knew how badly they were understaffed, it�s just surprising to see it out there in the open, bat signal all lit up and whatnot.

# ? Apr 6, 2021 22:36

Herstory Begins Now: Aug 5, 2003; SOME REALLY TEDIOUS DUMB SHIT THAT SUCKS ASS TO READ ->>

generic one posted:

Good lord.

The signal I�m getting from this is HHS is woefully understaffed to deal with the situation at the border and can�t process new hires quickly enough to fill all the need they have.

Is there another way to read this? That�s all I�ve got.

Pretty much, yeah. HHS has always had a fraction of the manpower they should have, and that's been fairly consistent both on federal and state levels.

Other than the downside of potentially exposing children to engineers, which admittedly is a huge liability, I'd much rather they try to source emergency staff from there than pretty much anywhere else within dhs/cbp/ice.

E: removing redundant paragraph about background checks that people above me already addressed

Herstory Begins Now fucked around with this message at 22:54 on Apr 6, 2021

# ? Apr 6, 2021 22:50

1337JiveTurkey: Feb 17, 2005

generic one posted:

Yeah, that makes sense. Skip the onboarding process bottleneck for new hires by just recruiting existing government employees to fill a temporary need. Seems... good?

I think we all knew how badly they were understaffed, it�s just surprising to see it out there in the open, bat signal all lit up and whatnot.

Staffing's going to be an issue as long as there's huge fluctuations in the number of people showing up. Changes in administrations is going to make that far worse because honestly you'd have to be a loving maniac to send your kid over the border as a refugee half a year ago. Now it's not good but clearly many families consider it worth a shot.

# ? Apr 6, 2021 23:27

Ghost Leviathan: Mar 2, 2017; Exploration is ill-advised.

And how many staff is the government basically trying to keep away from these kids now?

Christ, just get all the people out of the ICE facilities, lock the staff in there and throw away the key.

# ? Apr 7, 2021 04:52

Ruzihm: Aug 11, 2010; Group up and push mid, proletariat!

x-posting this (few days old) article from the gently caress ice thread in cspam

Algund Eenboom posted:

Dead thread https://prismreports.org/2021/04/01/bidens-treatment-of-asylum-seekers-looks-a-lot-like-trumps/

A man calls the Phoenix Police Department on January 29�his uncle has been kidnapped. Smugglers are holding his uncle at a drop house. They had helped his uncle, a newly arrived undocumented immigrant, cross the border. Now, they want more money.

After the police arrive, agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement show up. They apprehend the uncle and dozens of migrants from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua, including three children.

So far, the events that unfolded are disturbing but standard practice. In Phoenix, local police and federal immigration authorities have long cooperated.

But what happened next was part of something new.

To find out where these migrants were taken, grassroots migrant justice organization Puente Human Rights Movement tapped its network of activists and legal advocates. Some were detained at the Florence Correctional Center in Florence, Ariz. Others, at the Eloy Detention Center in Eloy Ariz. According to advocates (who spoke with one migrant�s family members), the migrants were never asked if they were asylum seekers, and they were never asked to participate in a criminal investigation into human trafficking, which could have earned them temporary immigration visas.

Instead, advocates say, the migrants were held and expelled under an obscure provision in U.S. Code Title 42, the part of the law that covers public health and welfare. President Donald Trump weaponized Title 42 during the Covid-19 pandemic as a way to expel border-crossers more quickly and with less fuss, a practice that continues under President Joe Biden.

Title 42 explained

The Trump administration invoked Title 42 early in the Covid-19 pandemic, under the pretense of protecting public health, to authorize Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to expel migrants without documentation near the border or at ports of entry. Migrants subjected to Title 42 are whisked away, leaving almost no trace in the U.S. immigration system.

That mechanism�expulsion�is different from deportation.

In deportation, migrants are first admitted into the United States. They receive an Alien Registration Number, or A-Number. And, unless they qualify for �expedited removal,� they get to appear before a judge. Even in expedited removal cases, asylum seekers who pass a �credible fear interview� get a hearing. No matter how broken and punitive the process is, there is, at least, a process. Expulsion results in the same ejection of migrants from the United States, but without any of this process.

Title 42 has sealed the border in a way that anti-immigrant zealot Stephen Miller, a top Trump aide and the policy�s biggest proponent, could have only dreamt of.

At the start of the pandemic, Title 42�s forerunner, the 2019 Remain in Mexico policy, had already pushed approximately 60,000 asylum seekers to Mexico�people who previously would have been allowed to wait in the United States for their cases to be adjudicated. At the urging of Miller, the Trump administration effectively closed the border using Title 42. Remain in Mexico hearings were indefinitely postponed and newly arrived migrants�including asylum seekers�were expelled.

Of course, for the anti-immigrant Trump administration, public health concerns were a mere fig leaf. According to the Associated Press, experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention balked at the Title 42 order, saying there was no evidence it would slow the virus. Public health experts stated that there was no scientific justification for the policy. Masks, social distancing and screening measures at the border could make migration safe.

Crucially, experts noted, the government would also need to stop holding newly arrived migrants in group detention centers and instead allow them to shelter with their families or community contacts in the United States. These alternatives to detention programs have existed for years, enabling asylum seekers to reside in the United States as their cases are adjudicated.

Beginning in February, the Biden administration began its slow reversal of Remain in Mexico (frustrating those who wanted it immediately rescinded) by processing a couple dozen asylum seekers a day in some ports of entry, including San Diego and El Paso.

Title 42 expulsions continue on a daily basis.

On February 10, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki had a message for migrants seeking life-saving asylum: �Now is not the time to come.� Psaki cited Biden�s limited time in office as the reason �a humane, comprehensive process for processing individuals� at the border does not yet exist. In the meantime, Psaki said, a �vast majority of people will be turned away.�

Trump�s kids

Outrage over the Trump administration�s Title 42 expulsions exploded in summer 2020 after federal immigration authorities secretly contracted with a private security firm to detain children and families at hotels. Unaccompanied children were of particular concern.

Otherwise known in the immigration system as �unaccompanied alien child[ren],� these minors migrate alone to the United States without authorization. In theory, minors have significantly more protections than adults, because of laws such as the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act and the Flores settlement agreement (which outlines basic standards of care for immigrant children in federal custody). Before being sent back across the border, Mexican and Canadian children must be screened to determine if they are trafficking victims, eligible for asylum, or can�t make decisions for themselves. Unaccompanied children from other countries are transferred to the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, where they are detained in shelters or placed with a sponsor (typically a family member) until a judge hears their case.

This process for unaccompanied children impeded the Trump administration�s ability to deport newly arrived children as easily as it wanted. So, instead, under Title 42, children as young as one year old were put into black sites under the supervision of unlicensed transportation workers employed by a private company, contracted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The Texas Civil Rights Project (TCRP) spoke with some of these children. According to TCRP senior attorney Karla Marisol Vargas, the organization learned that there were children held in hotel rooms, watched over by guards, for days. Phone calls were generally forbidden. This meant children could be driven to the airport for expulsion flights in the middle of the night, with many of their families not even knowing they had been in federal custody.

Beyond violating asylum laws, the Trump administration�s use of Title 42 also created a shadow system that made tracking these migrants impossible.

There was no record of these children in the regular immigration system, no A-Number, no information about where they were detained. It was as if they didn�t exist, according to Vargas, who has advocated for children subject to Title 42. Attorneys eventually learned these children instead received Title 42 identification numbers, which were entered into a shadow tracking system.

An ongoing class action lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children prompted a judge in November 2020 to block the federal government�s ability to continue using Title 42 to detain children in black sites. Another court reversed the ban on January 29, but there have been no reports to date of children being held in hotels under the Biden administration.

The use of Title 42 to expel adults who cross the border without documentation, however, continues.

Biden�s migrants

Presently, under Title 42, adult migrants found at the border without documentation (who are not �amenable to immediate expulsion to Mexico or Canada,� per a CBP memo) are detained, then expelled to their home country. Border Patrol�s �portable command stations� process migrants in the field, allowing �expeditious� expulsion�meaning they are transferred to ICE custody, where, in the name of public health, they are detained in crowded facilities where Covid-19 is known to spread. ICE then expels these immigrants (and the virus, if they have contracted it) all over the world.

In total, between March 2020 and January 2021, Title 42 was used more than 450,000 times at the U.S.-Mexico border. Many of these people would otherwise have undergone the asylum process.

In the first 11 days of February, the Biden administration commissioned planes to fly about 900 Haitians seeking asylum back to Port-au-Prince under Title 42, according to an analysis by Jake Johnston of the Center for Economic and Policy Research.

On February 23, more than 60 members of Congress signed a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas calling for an end to Title 42 expulsions, focusing specifically on expulsions to Haiti.

�Many migrants are at high risk of exposure to Covid-19 while being detained in the United States pending their expulsion or deportation to less-resourced countries with severely strained health systems,� the letter says. �Haiti, for example, has only 124 [intensive care] beds and the capacity to ventilate 62 patients for a country of 11 million. The island nation also is mired in severe economic, security, and constitutional crises, yet has received more than 900 migrants since February 1. This includes a recent February 8 flight in which 72 people were deported to Port-au-Prince, including a two-month-old baby and 21 other children.� (Although the letter used the term �deported,� this was actually an expulsion.)

Red flags

The use of Title 42 in Arizona is unprecedented.

Phoenix is a major metropolitan area that is a 150-mile drive from the nearest U.S. border, far from where enforcement of Title 42 would be expected, given that the policy is directed at people in the act of crossing over. But in September 2020 and January 2021, under Title 42�in different operations and during different presidential administrations�advocates report at least 125 newly arrived migrants were apprehended and processed.

The morning of Sept. 16, 2020, Sandra Solis, director of organizing and movement building for Puente, received a text message from a colleague about a multi-agency raid unfolding in Phoenix. Solis is accustomed to providing support when immigrant communities are targeted, but when she arrived at a home on residential 27th Avenue, something seemed off.

According to Solis, the chaotic scene included about 30 officials with the Department of Homeland Security (including CBP), the Phoenix Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Undercover officers mixed with armed officers in paramilitary gear as unmarked SUVs and trucks�and a tank�stood in front of the house. Migrants apprehended in the raid were herded into vans parked in an alley.

Solis says she became suspicious because CBP and DEA officials were on the scene�two agencies that almost never participate in Phoenix-area immigration raids. Later that day, in nearby Chandler, a similar raid was staged. Grassroots organizers and legal advocates were able to determine the migrants apprehended were expelled from the United States within hours.

No records of these migrants exist by A-Number in the U.S. immigration system, Solis says. They were disappeared.

The speed of the expulsions meant Puente was unable to establish contact with the migrants. Advocates never learned if they were trafficked or asylum seekers.

�The city of Phoenix has its own protocol for when people are victims of trafficking [and] essentially this was trafficking,� Solis says. �All of these people should have been provided U-Visas [for victims of crime]. Instead, they were [expelled] without due process.

�I think that�s one of the biggest, most important things to note: They�re utilizing Title 42 to deny people who are victims of trafficking.�

Local news outlets reported on the raids and cited narcotics search warrants, potential criminal activity and the apprehension of several dozen people �suspected of entering the country illegally,� but only one referenced Title 42.

The use of Title 42 was confirmed, however, by Javier Gurrola, CBP executive officer of law enforcement operations, in an email to Losmin Jim�nez, who worked in partnership with Puente as a former senior attorney at the Advancement Project, a racial justice nonprofit in Washington, D.C. First, he confirmed Border Patrol participated in a �multi-agency operation� Sept. 16, 2020, in two Phoenix-area locations, and took custody of 65 people, including unaccompanied minors, suspected of being undocumented.

Then, the email reads: �The majority of these detainees have been processed as per [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] guidelines (T42) to prevent the introduction of Covid-19 into the United States.�

Solis says the multi-agency September raids remind her of how Arizona has piloted a partnership between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities before, with a 2010 law known as SB 1070 that attracted attention and outrage nationwide for explicitly allowing racial profiling. The law, at the time, was the strictest anti-immigrant measure in the United States. Portions of the law were struck down by the Supreme Court, but the �papers please� provision that critics say allows racial profiling was not� meaning that police officers in Arizona are still required to make a reasonable attempt to determine the immigration status of anyone lawfully stopped if the officer has �reasonable suspicion� they are undocumented.

Copycat bills were introduced in other states, although most failed to make it into law.

SB 1070 solidified a police-ICE partnership in Arizona, creating what advocates call a poli-migra state, a slang term used in some Spanish-speaking immigrant communities to refer to the coordination of local police with federal immigration authorities.

Expelling victims

Even before Arizona�s SB 1070 law, the state had a history of piloting deeply harmful immigration policies and practices. For example, in 2006, Arizona became one of the first places to implement Operation Streamline, under the radar. This joint Homeland Security and Justice Department initiative created �zero-tolerance immigration enforcement zones� in which authorities could criminally prosecute migrants for �illegal entry��where, previously, Mexican migrants would be returned to Mexico and non-Mexican migrants would have to appear before an immigration judge.

In effect, Operation Streamline pioneered the �crimmigration� system the U.S. now has, in which undocumented migrants are prosecuted through the criminal justice system, rather than processed through the civil immigration system.

Advocates with Puente fear it�s only a matter of time before immigration authorities use Title 42 to expel migrants in cities beyond Phoenix�if it�s not happening already.

After the September 2020 raids, Jim�nez thought the use of Title 42 so far from the border could have been a �one-off thing.� Then, it happened again.

On January 29, someone called Puente�s crisis line to report a number of unmarked vehicles in front of a house on 14th Avenue. There are few media reports about the January 29 raid, but a statement to Prism and In These Times from Mercedes Fortune, Phoenix Police Department public information sergeant, confirms police responded to a caller reporting �a person who was being held against their will.�

Officers found more than 50 people inside the residence and �determined the persons were involved in human smuggling,� according to the February 19 statement. �The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement were advised and they have taken over the investigation.�

In instances of suspected human trafficking, the Phoenix Police Department is supposed to perform its own investigation. According to the department�s Operations Order 4.48, the �papers, please� provision of SB 1070 does not apply if it may hinder an investigation by undermining cooperation. The order notes, in particular, the need for �significant cooperation of those involved� in human trafficking cases.

Instead, in the January 29 raid, the Phoenix Police Department appears to have simply handed the case to ICE. The police department did not respond to a query about whether it was conducting its own investigation. ICE, in an emailed statement to Prism and In These Times, says it took 60 people to the ICE office for processing. From there, according to advocates, the migrants wound up at the Florence and Eloy Detention Centers. (The Eloy Detention Center, in June and July of 2020, had one of the largest coronavirus outbreaks of any immigration detention facility in the country, and both centers had confirmed cases as of January.)

Solis and her colleagues at Puente maintain ICE processed the migrants under Title 42, based on information from someone who was picked up in the raid and held at Eloy. (The names of undocumented migrants and their family members have been withheld for their protection.) Puente says it confirmed with a legal-aid attorney that the person was detained at Eloy and that they do not appear to have an A-Number. Since this person�s release, members of Puente say another aid group has confirmed similar Title 42 findings.

A great deal of murkiness still surrounds the use of Title 42, including whether ICE even has authority to use it. The Trump administration�s original memo outlining the use of Title 42 was directed at CBP and �specifically the United States Border Patrol,� separate from ICE. In the first Arizona raid in September 2020, CBP was at the scene; at the January raid, advocates saw only ICE and the Phoenix Police Department.

When asked directly whether ICE has authorization to process newly arrived undocumented migrants under Title 42 without coordination from CBP, ICE spokesperson Alexx Pons would only say Title 42 is within the purview of CBP and �expulsions under Title 42 are not based on immigration status and are tracked separately from immigration enforcement actions.�

ICE referred further questions to CBP. CBP did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

A rogue system

The raids that unfolded around Phoenix are perhaps the first (documented) cases of Title 42 used to expel migrants far from the borders.

It is relevant to note that, while many associate CBP directly with the U.S. border, its reach is actually much larger. It has authority within 100 air miles of any land border or coastline, a territory that encompasses Phoenix, New York and many other major cities. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, nearly two-thirds of the U.S. population resides within CBP�s jurisdiction�in other words, the territory where Title 42 grants CBP license to quickly expel newly arrived migrants under the guise of public health.

That the Biden administration has so far chosen to continue Title 42 expulsions may surprise some, but not Solis. The community organizer anticipated Biden taking an �Obama-style� approach, a nod to the raids and mass deportations that occurred during President Barack Obama�s years, when Biden was vice president.

�The people affected the most are those whose lives are affected by the immigration system, and this administration�s not really doing anything super proactive,� Solis says. �Title 42 is serving its purpose. It�s doing what [Homeland Security] intended it to do, which is create a rogue system.

�Regardless of the presidency, when it comes to immigration, there�s always a rogue system.�

As mentioned before, this is not exactly news, so I'm wondering if the Biden admin has commented on a timeframe to reduce these expulsions.

Ruzihm fucked around with this message at 16:17 on Apr 7, 2021

# ? Apr 7, 2021 16:12

Fritz the Horse: Dec 26, 2019; ... of course!

Ruzihm posted:

x-posting this (few days old) article from the gently caress ice thread in cspam

As mentioned before, this is not exactly news, so I'm wondering if the Biden admin has commented on a timeframe to reduce these expulsions.

To my knowledge no they have not. The Biden admin's messaging has been "stay put, apply for asylum in your home country" and they've continued expelling adults and families at the border. Unlike under Trump, unaccompanied children are now allowed through but the system is overwhelmed and cannot process them through to host families and we end up with huge overcrowding and terrible conditions for the children.

My guess is the reasoning for continuing to expel adults and families under Title 42 is to avoid a situation similar to the crowding of unaccompanied minors. If we allowed the migrant adults and families through that system would be overwhelmed too and we'd have both children and adults/families crowded in camps in unacceptable conditions. I don't think it's morally/ethically right to accept unaccompanied children but expel adults and families back into unsafe conditions.

The bottlenecks in both systems are different, too:

We're letting all unaccompanied minors through. The bottlenecks are in matching them with host families and housing them while they're being processed through. This can be addressed with an increase in staffing and facilities.

We're currently not letting any adults or families through. The bottlenecks there are the court system for hearing asylum cases and legislative caps on how many refugees are allowed in, plus facilities for housing (though adults and families could be released pending hearings too but I think we ought to be providing adequate food/shelter/medical care etc). To serve migrant adults and families we need staffing, more immigration judges, facilities, but also legislative action to increase the number of migrants granted asylum.

So it doesn't seem like they're moving to reduce expulsions, no. The system is built for deterrence and expulsions, not for humanely housing and accepting migrants. If we allowed adults and families through you'd quickly have a similar situation to the crowded camps of unaccompanied minors with the added bottleneck of a limited number of asylum-seekers eventually being allowed in. Under the current system most of those adults and families would still end up expelled they'd just spend time in crowded border camps and towns in the US while they await hearings. I don't think continuing expulsions is the moral thing to do, though. It's a bit of a catch-22, do you expel them or house them in unacceptable conditions and then expel them after a hearing?

As I've said repeatedly, what we need is to push a complete overhaul of the immigration system through Congress. Massively increase the number of migrants allowed in, expand facilities to humanely house them as they're processed through, expand courts to process applications, reduce deterrence and enforcement. That's what we need imo.

I'm not defending the Biden admin's messaging or policies here, I'm saying they can only do so much with stopgaps available through executive action and instead really need to get comprehensive immigration reform through Congress.

Fritz the Horse fucked around with this message at 17:37 on Apr 7, 2021

# ? Apr 7, 2021 17:34

Sjs00: Jun 29, 2013; Yeah Baby Yeah !

yall seen this

# ? Apr 8, 2021 04:44

sexpig by night: Sep 8, 2011; by Azathoth

Sjs00 posted:

yall seen this

that * is doing a lot of work in a pretty narrow margin of negative incarceration after months of abuse and violations

# ? Apr 8, 2021 04:49

Slow News Day: Jul 4, 2007

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/march-border-crossing-numbers/2021/04/07/2c252c52-97dd-11eb-8e42-3906c09073f9_story.html

quote:

Border agents took more than 172,000 into custody in March, Biden officials say

During the busiest month along the Mexico border in nearly two decades, U.S. authorities took more than 172,000 migrants into custody in March, according to enforcement statistics released Thursday that provide a stark measure of the challenges facing the Biden administration.

The total included 18,890 teens and children who arrived without parents, a record quantity that overwhelmed U.S. shelter capacity and produced crisis-level crowding inside government border tents. The March statistics from U.S. Customs and Border Protection show the fastest-growing group were members of family units: 52,904 were taken into custody in March, up from 19,246 in February.

The increase last month was so large that it did not fit on the y-axis of the CBP chart that tracks changes in monthly enforcement data. The figures confirm preliminary data reported by The Washington Post and other news organizations last week.

[...]

Said chart:

It is only April and we've had more refugees coming in than the entirety of last year, or the entirety of 2018. And we're well on our way to smash 2019's record by mid-summer.

# ? Apr 8, 2021 15:29

Thorn Wishes Talon: Oct 18, 2014; by Fluffdaddy

https://twitter.com/NickMiroff/status/1380245802560405511

quote:

With a record number of unaccompanied minors arriving at the border in the past several weeks, HHS quickly filled the 7,700 available beds in its network of permanent shelters, where the cost of caring for a child is about $290 daily and capacity has been reduced by covid protocols.

The administration has raced to set up at least 10 large emergency facilities, creating 16,000 temporary beds for migrant children in convention centers, converted oil worker camps and on military bases. About 8,500 children are living at these pop-up sites, and 4,000 more are waiting to be transferred from cramped border facilities.

The cost of these emergency sites is more than 2� times higher than the more-permanent shelters �due to the need to develop facilities quickly and hire significant staff over a short period of time,� said Kenneth Wolfe, a spokesman for HHS�s Administration for Children and Families. He said the average daily cost per child is �approximately $775 per day based on past experience.�

Reporters have repeatedly asked the Biden administration for cost data associated with the emergency shelters, aside from the $775 figure. Officials have not provided a breakdown by location or indicated whether there are financial savings associated with the use of military bases, for instance, in comparison with other sites.

Teens and children are spending an average of 31 days in HHS custody before they are released to a vetted family member already in the United States or to an eligible sponsor, according to the most recent HHS data, so the government is spending about $24,000 for each minor held at the temporary facilities. That doesn�t include time spent in a Border Patrol facility.

Pretty crazy situation, and it looks like things will get worse before they start to get better.

# ? Apr 8, 2021 20:58

Sjs00: Jun 29, 2013; Yeah Baby Yeah !

Thorn Wishes Talon posted:

https://twitter.com/NickMiroff/status/1380245802560405511

Pretty crazy situation, and it looks like things will get worse before they start to get better.

Yes Mexico as a country will not stop producing immigrants any time soon Eisenhorn

# ? Apr 9, 2021 02:07

Fritz the Horse: Dec 26, 2019; ... of course!

Sjs00 posted:

Yes Mexico as a country will not stop producing immigrants any time soon Eisenhorn

Do you... do you think that Mexico is "producing" most of these refugees?

# ? Apr 9, 2021 02:50

Sjs00: Jun 29, 2013; Yeah Baby Yeah !

Fritz the Horse posted:

Do you... do you think that Mexico is "producing" most of these refugees?

Mexico is certainly where they originate from and I'm saying that the conditions aren't going to change soon . So yes I do but not nearly in the way you think . Posts like 'things will get worse before they get better' deserve derision .
And so do posts by horses

# ? Apr 9, 2021 02:55

sexpig by night: Sep 8, 2011; by Azathoth

Sjs00 posted:

Mexico is certainly where they originate from and I'm saying that the conditions aren't going to change soon . So yes I do but not nearly in the way you think . Posts like 'things will get worse before they get better' deserve derision .
And so do posts by horses

what do you believe Mexico is doing, in detail

# ? Apr 9, 2021 03:26

sexpig by night: Sep 8, 2011; by Azathoth

since the conspiracy theorist got probed and can't answer, forgive the double post.

https://twitter.com/theintercept/status/1379686125195862020

Remember when Biden ran on restoring the soul of America? Feels like someone who wanted to do that would at least treat his mass deportations with a bit of dignity.

# ? Apr 9, 2021 03:53

Jaxyon: Mar 7, 2016; I’m just saying I would like to see a man beat a woman in a cage. Just to be sure.

Sjs00 posted:

Mexico is certainly where they originate from

https://www.lawfareblog.com/whos-really-crossing-us-border-and-why-theyre-coming

Mostly it's Central Americans now.

# ? Apr 9, 2021 05:49

Lester Shy: May 1, 2002; Goodness no, now that wouldn't do at all!

Biden set to accept fewest refugees of any modern president, including Trump, report says

quote:

Since his days on the campaign trail, President Biden has tried to cast himself as diametrically opposed to President Donald Trump when it comes to welcoming refugees into the United States.

Within two weeks of taking office, Biden signed an executive order to rebuild and enhance federal programs to resettle refugees � programs he said had been �badly damaged� under the Trump administration. Biden also revoked some restrictive immigration policies Trump had put in place, including ones that sought to ban refugees from certain countries. In February, Biden announced he was raising the annual cap on refugee admissions to 125,000 for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1, up from Trump�s historically low limit of 15,000.

However, Biden has yet to do one thing that would make all of those changes official: sign what is known as a presidential determination. Without that action, Trump�s old policies and his 15,000-person cap on refugee settlements remain in effect.

Signing a presidential determination typically takes place almost immediately after such policy announcements. The delay has so far lasted eight weeks.

Because of it, Biden is on track to accept the fewest refugees this year of any modern president, including Trump, according to a report released Friday from the International Rescue Committee, a nonprofit humanitarian aid group.

The Biden administration has admitted only 2,050 refugees at the halfway point of this fiscal year, despite Biden�s promises to reverse Trump-era immigration policies, dramatically raise the cap on refugee settlements and respond to what his officials have called �unforeseen and urgent situations,� the IRC report noted.

The group estimated that, at the current pace and without the reversal of Trump-era policies, the Biden administration will admit only about 4,510 refugees into the United States this fiscal year, less than half of the figure admitted in Trump�s final year.

�I don�t know the specific reason why [Biden] hasn�t signed, and it�s really unusual that he hasn�t signed,� said Nazanin Ash, the IRC�s vice president for global policy and advocacy. �It is typically a standard, automatic last step in the process.�

A State Department representative on Sunday referred all questions about the presidential determination on refugee admissions to the White House. The White House did not respond to requests for comment.

# ? Apr 12, 2021 05:05

Fritz the Horse: Dec 26, 2019; ... of course!

Lester Shy posted:

Biden set to accept fewest refugees of any modern president, including Trump, report says

The headline is a little misleading, the full context is in the block you quoted. Biden admin announced they were going to increase the cap on refugee admissions from 15k to 125k (good, still not enough obviously) but hasn't actually signed the final paperwork for unknown reasons (bad).

My guess is that the hesitation to actually finalize the increase in refugee cap is twofold: they want to wait until they have facilities and staff to be able to adequately house and process refugees in and second Biden is aware he's politically vulnerable on immigration and doesn't want to "rush" reforms and fumble. Not that those are good reasons, but they're what make most sense to me as to why they are hesitating on the final signature.

In related news:
https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/547660-biden-picks-vocal-trump-critics-to-laad-immigration-posts

quote:

President Biden on Monday nominated two vocal Trump critics to fill top immigration and border policy spots in his administration.

Biden pegged Tucson, Ariz., Police Chief Chris Magnus to lead Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Ur Jaddou to head United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
----
Magnus is a somewhat unorthodox pick to lead a federal agency. White and gay, he has spent the majority of his career leading local police departments in several cities, previously serving in similar roles in Richmond, Calif., and Fargo, N.D., before landing in Tucson.

The longtime police chief made headlines during his time in California when he held a "Black lives matter" sign while on the job at a Black Lives Matter demonstration.

The photographs of him holding the sign while chatting with protesters landed him in trouble with the Richmond Police Officers Association, which said the move violated state laws against politicking while in uniform.

�It certainly wasn�t intended to be a political statement,� Magnus told SFGATE at the time. �It was intended to be a humane statement.�

During his time in Tuscon, Magnus was a vocal critic of former President Trump�s immigration policies.

�The administration�s crackdown on immigrants is already having a chilling effect on police-community relations here. Many community members have told me that Latinos are not turning to us for help or working with us as often as they have in the past. Their growing sense of fear and distrust is clearly a consequence of the anti-immigrant rhetoric coming from Mr. Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions,� Magnus wrote in a 2017 op-ed in The New York Times.

But his department came under criticism for aggressive police tactics after Carlos Ingram L�pez, a Latino man, died in the custody of Tucson police officers late last year after being held face down for 12 minutes while being restrained.

Magnus offered to resign in the wake of that death, but ultimately the three responding officers were fired from the department.

Still, Magnus's nomination is a sign that the Biden administration views the Tucson police chief as someone who managed well the excessive force allegations in the death of Ingram L�pez.

Biden pegged Tucson, Ariz., Police Chief Chris Magnus to lead Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Ur Jaddou to head United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
---
During the Trump administration, Jaddou led DHS Watch, a project within America's Voice, a progressive immigration advocacy firm.

Her credentials as the agency's head counsel under Obama and later as a progressive immigration advocate will likely guarantee Jaddou support among Senate Democrats pushing her nomination.

Seems like pretty good picks to head CBP and USCIS.

# ? Apr 12, 2021 18:56

FlapYoJacks: Feb 12, 2009

For those interested, the Biden administration seems to be seizing land for new border wall construction. Here is an article from the Brownsville Herald:

https://myrgv.com/featured/2021/04/14/judge-grants-govt-immediate-possession-of-private-land-for-border-wall/

quote:

Judge grants gov�t �immediate possession� of private land for border wall

During a federal court hearing Tuesday, a family learned that a portion of land they�ve called home since the 1950s is no longer theirs, but instead, belongs now to the federal government.

It was a decision that came as a shock for the Cavazos family, who have spent years trying to keep their land from the reach of the federal government.

�I just cried,� said Baudilia Cavazos Rodriguez of her reaction to the order handed down by U.S. District Judge Micaela Alvarez on Tuesday granting immediate possession of her family�s land for future border wall construction.

The land � some 6.5 acres near the river � belongs to Cavazos Rodriguez�s sister and brother, whom she said rely on the rent from some 30 tenants who use the land for recreational purposes as their income.

Members of the Cavazos family, including Cavazos-Rodriguez, were listening in to the court hearing Tuesday, where they expected to hear more delays regarding the government�s motion to take immediate possession of the land.

With a new president in the White House � one who, on his first day in office, ordered a 60-day moratorium on border wall construction � her family was hopeful the government would walk back its efforts to take the land for that construction.

But that�s not what happened.

Cavazos Rodriguez said she didn�t realize at first that the judge had rendered a decision to strip the family of their land until she spoke with the family�s attorney afterward. By that point, Alvarez�s 21-page opinion explaining her decision had already been posted for public view.

�Court STRIKES Defendant�s defenses and objections, DENIES Defendant�s motion to dismiss, and GRANTS the United States� motion for immediate possession,� the opinion reads, in part.

�It kind of took my breath away,� Cavazos Rodriguez said.

The family�s attorney was equally taken by surprise.

�Biden said on the campaign trail, �Not one more foot. We�re gonna dismiss the lawsuits. We�re not gonna take the land,�� said Ricky Garza, an attorney with the Texas Civil Rights Project, which has been helping Rio Grande Valley landowners fight similar land condemnation lawsuits.

�I didn�t appreciate after all of these years � the family fighting, the promises from this new administration, the hope they held out � that where we are right now� that the land was given to the government under a president that said he was not going to build another foot. That�s really troubling for me,� Garza said.

Alvarez�s decision marks a first under the young term of President Joe Biden, who campaigned on stopping the border wall.

Shortly after being sworn in Jan. 20, Biden issued an executive order that halted border wall construction for 60 days and set border wall funding for review. But what the order failed to mention was a directive on what the U.S. Department of Justice should do in regard to any pending land condemnation lawsuits.

With more than 140 such suits pending in federal courts from Brownsville to Laredo, government prosecutors have, up to now, been unsure of how to proceed on the cases in the wake of the order�s expiration. And the response has differed from court to court.

While the Cavazos family has known that U.S. Customs and Border Protection has been interested in their land since 2017, it wasn�t until last August that prosecutors filed for immediate possession of the land � one of dozens such suits the government filed in the waning days of the Trump administration.

Reached for comment Wednesday, a spokesperson for CBP said the White House has not issued new guidance on the suits and the agency is still operating under the directives of the president�s Jan. 20 executive order.

�CBP and USACE (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) have suspended real estate acquisition activities, such as surveys and negotiations with landowners, in accordance with the President�s Proclamation,� the spokesperson said via email.

�Any questions related to activities with court proceedings should be referred to the Department of Justice.�

Garza believes Alvarez rendered her decision, in part, simply due to timing.

�I think that Judge Alvarez, faced with these cases, ruled on the motions before her,� Garza said.

�We disagree with the outcome, but ultimately the one that could have remedied this immediately was the Department of Justice,� he said, referring to the ability for prosecutors to nonsuit the case.

Alvarez declined to offer comment on her ruling.

For Cavazos Rodriguez and her cousin, Rey Anzaldua, the decision feels like a betrayal from the president himself.

�Our strategy was to delay, delay, delay until Trump was out of office. And then when Biden started saying, �Well, not one more foot wall,� we were kind of happy about that, and then this hit us here,� Anzaldua said.

�Refusing to withdraw the motion for immediate possession based on executive orders that came from Trump, it feels like a betrayal at this point,� said Garza, the family�s attorney.

The family said they will continue to fight for their land, continue to fight to honor the last wishes of their grandmother, Eloisa Garza Cavazos � a Hispanic woman who purchased the land in the 1950s when it was rare for women to do so.

�She said, �Don�t ever sell this property because it�ll feed you. You can always farm it, you can always raise animals. You can always do something. You can always have something,�� Anzaldua said.

That their mother, Elvira Vecchione Cavazos � an Italian woman who married their father, Raul Cavzos during World War II, was herself an immigrant makes the government�s plans to build a border wall to keep immigrants out of the country anathema to the family.

�This wall, to me, it�s a symbol of hate and racism. � This is a feel good project for the idiots up north,� Anzaldua said.

So it looks like a judge ordered the land seized and when it was brought to the attention of the DOJ so far their response is :shrug:

I really hope Biden unfucks this situation because building new border wall on freshly seized land would be a REALLY bad look.

# ? Apr 15, 2021 19:02

sexpig by night: Sep 8, 2011; by Azathoth

Unfortunate this thread seems to be dead, there's been a lot of border news lately, what with the reveal that we're 'emptying the camps' by just moving people to camps run by different ghouls and all, and now this lovely case against harm reduction.

https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1391037448646496258

quote:

The Biden team has hired a slate of immigration judges initially selected during the Trump era, angering advocates who argue the White House is already failing to deliver in its pledge to push back against the prior administration's shaping of the judiciary.

The first 17 hires to the court system responsible for determining whether migrants get to remain in the country is filled with former prosecutors and counselors for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as well as a few picks with little immigration experience.

Almost none have made their career representing migrants in court.

The Thursday announcement from the Department of Justice (DOJ) initially perplexed immigration attorneys, advocates and even some former immigration judges who wondered why the group so closely mirrored the jurists favored by the Trump administration.

�The 17 new immigration judges referenced in the notice all received their conditional offers under the prior administration,� a Justice Department spokesperson told The Hill.

Critics said the Biden administration has an obligation to fully vet the judges hired under their watch and rebalance a court system heavily shaped by the Trump team.

It�s also a surprising move for a president that has otherwise sought to quickly reverse a number of Trump immigration policies while calling for a more humane response to migration.

�This is a list I would have expected out of Bill Barr or Jeff Sessions, but they're not the attorney general anymore. Elections are supposed to have consequences,� said Paul Schmidt, now an adjunct professor at Georgetown Law School after 21 years as an immigration judge. That included time serving as the chair of the Board of Immigration Appeals, the highest administrative body dealing with immigration cases.

Weird how Trump was a dangerous fascist threat to America's very soul but apparently these guys get their job because his DoJ wrote their names on the way out the door and we wouldn't want to be improper by just...not appointing the people the losing side wanted.

# ? May 8, 2021 18:39

Goatse James Bond: Mar 28, 2010; If you see me posting please remind me that I have Charlie Work in the reports forum to do instead

It's unclear to me how much cause has to be shown to yank a conditional offer of federal employment. Iirc immigration judges (despite the name) are a perfectly normal justice department employee, subject to all the usual federal employment procedures and protections.

My takeaway _{from the clickbaity article in a moderately clickbaity publication, that goes into absolutely no detail on whether Garland could feasibly pull the offers without getting sued} is that it's mostly a nothingburger but Biden needs to get right on appointing actual good immigration judges.

also

quote:

Biden�s budget calls for hiring 100 new immigration court judges � a figure many argue will hardly make a dent in a backlog of 1.3 million cases that will take an estimated four years to get through.

And his designated White House counsel wrote in a letter to lawmakers in December seeking suggestions for who to nominate to the bench, writing that they were �focused on nominating individuals whose legal experiences have been historically underrepresented on the federal bench, including ... those who represent Americans in every walk of life.�

quote:

["Blah blah blah,"] Greg Chen, director of government relations for the American Immigration Lawyers Association, told The Hill by email.

�The Biden administration is rushing to hire more judges to address the massive 1.3 million backlog in cases, but on its own more judges won�t fix the fundamental lack of fairness in the immigration courts which is why Attorney General [Merrick] Garland must immediately institute reforms to restore the court�s integrity,� he said.

totally right, jeff sessions did a whole lot more than appoint judges he hoped would be bad, he also completely tied their hands as far as offering mercy. garland needs to get right on undoing that

and indeed,

quote:

DOJ pushed back against criticism that the new judges would contribute to a pattern of rulings that favor government attorneys over immigrants, saying it �takes seriously any claims of unjustified and significant anomalies in adjudicator decision-making and takes steps to evaluate disparities.�

�Note also that the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) continually evaluates its processes and procedures to ensure that immigration cases are adjudicated fairly, impartially and expeditiously and that its immigration judges uniformly interpret and administer U.S. immigration laws,� the spokesperson said.

Goatse James Bond fucked around with this message at 22:00 on May 8, 2021

# ? May 8, 2021 21:57

sexpig by night: Sep 8, 2011; by Azathoth

Why should any president be forced to continue on the appointment plans of the last administration? Who the gently caress cares about being sued? Trump never did and his reward was getting to do whatever the gently caress he wanted because these things take ages to arbitrate. The Trump list is full of ICE ghouls with no experience in immigration law, I'd argue that's inherently disqualifying anyway. I find it hard to take seriously the Biden's admin's claim of taking these issues seriously when this is who he's letting through to begin with. It's like putting a neo nazi in charge of refugees and going 'well if they get bigoted about it Ill take that very seriously'.

# ? May 8, 2021 22:20

Fritz the Horse: Dec 26, 2019; ... of course!

Yeah it's not clear to me how these appointments work, how the Biden DOJ could withdraw the hires etc. The Hill article seems pretty ragebait-y and misses the forest for the trees, I'd like to point out-

quote:

Under the Trump administration, the Justice Department, which oversees the immigration court system, filled roughly two-thirds of the 520 seats on the bench, often picking those with long careers in ICE who argue in favor of deporting people.

The Hill article is talking about 17 judges while apparently the Trump admin appointed more than 300 of 520 immigration judges. The problem is much, much larger than just these 17. Also, the DOJ spokesperson quoted in the article implies that they did some vetting of these 17 and are monitoring immigration judges broadly through the EOIR.

I've said it multiple times itt but we really need comprehensive immigration reform. Preferably yesterday.

sexpig by night posted:

Trump never did and his reward was getting to do whatever the gently caress he wanted because these things take ages to arbitrate.

Trump did not actually get to do whatever he wanted, far from it. He was stopped by the courts quite often.

The GOP has been stacking the courts for quite a while, the Biden admin inviting lawsuits that are heard by Trump-appointed judges seems like a poor strategy.

# ? May 8, 2021 22:38

Thorn Wishes Talon: Oct 18, 2014; by Fluffdaddy

sexpig by night posted:

Why should any president be forced to continue on the appointment plans of the last administration? Who the gently caress cares about being sued?

Trump didn't care about getting sued because he didn't care about governing. He only cared about causing immense harm and suffering on his enemies and people he perceived as subhuman.

Why should Biden, who got elected to put an end to all of that, proceed to govern in the exact same manner?

sexpig by night posted:

Trump never did and his reward was getting to do whatever the gently caress he wanted because these things take ages to arbitrate.

Not really. The vast majority of his awful attempts to do whatever he wanted (such as repealing DACA) were halted by preliminary injunctions by the court system fairly quickly. That is why preliminary injunctions exist in the first place: the system recognizes that it moves slowly, and puts whatever practice is being litigated on hold while it is sorted out.

# ? May 9, 2021 00:12

Josef bugman: Nov 17, 2011; Pictured: Poster prepares to celebrate Holy Communion (probablY)

This avatar made possible by a gift from the Religionthread Posters Relief Fund

Thorn Wishes Talon posted:

Trump didn't care about getting sued because he didn't care about governing. He only cared about causing immense harm and suffering on his enemies and people he perceived as subhuman.

Why should Biden, who got elected to put an end to all of that, proceed to govern in the exact same manner?

Because, from a consequentialist viewpoint, if you go about things in the "correct" way and it results in harm then that is a moral failure.

# ? May 9, 2021 00:27

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# ? Jun 5, 2024 12:04

Neurolimal: Nov 3, 2012

The opposite of malice and harm isn't procedure. Trump was bad because his actions harmed people, not because he ignored decorum and proper channels.

# ? May 9, 2021 00:30

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > US Immigration Policy Megathread

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