Tag: Trump immigration policy

US-Mexico deal offers few new solutions, political victory

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s deal to avert his threatened tariffs on Mexico includes few new solutions to swiftly stem the surge of Central American migrants flowing over America’s southern border.

But it delivers enough for Trump to claim a political win.

The decision — announced by tweet late Friday — ended a showdown that business leaders warned would have disastrous economic consequences for both the U.S. and one of its largest trading partners, driving up consumer prices and driving a wedge between the two allies. And it represented a win for members of Trump’s own party who had flooded the White House with pleading calls as well as aides who had been eager to convince the president to back down.

View the complete June 9 article by Jill Colvin, Zeke Miller and Colleen Long on the Associated Press website here.

DHS watchdog finds spoiled food, nooses at multiple immigration detention centers

The results confirmed suspicions that ICE is routinely violating the human rights of the individuals in its custody.

The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) released a report Thursday detailing the horrific conditions at immigration detention centers across the United States. Inspectors found “immediate risks or egregious violations of detention standards” including nooses in detainee cells, overuse of solitary confinement, and spoiled food, among other issues.

DHS OIG inspected four Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities, including the Adelanto ICE Processing Center in California, the Aurora ICE Processing Center in Colorado, the LaSalle ICE Processing Center in Louisiana, and the Essex County Correctional Facility in New Jersey.

According to the report, the “inspections of the four detention facilities revealed violations of ICE’s detention standards and raised concerns about the environment in which detainees are held.”

Trump administration cancels English classes, soccer, legal aid for unaccompanied child migrants in U.S. shelters

The Trump administration is canceling English classes, recreational programs and legal aid for unaccompanied minors staying in federal migrant shelters nationwide, saying the immigration influx at the southern border has created critical budget pressures.

The Office of Refugee Resettlement has begun discontinuing the funding stream for activities — including soccer — that have been deemed “not directly necessary for the protection of life and safety, including education services, legal services, and recreation,” said Department of Health and Human Services spokesman Mark Weber.

Federal officials have warned Congress that they are facing “a dramatic spike” in unaccompanied minors at the southern border and have asked Congress for $2.9 billion in emergency funding to expand shelters and care. The program could run out of money in late June, and the agency is legally obligated to direct funding to essential services, Weber said.

View the complete June 5 article by Maria Sacchetti on The Washington Post website here.

Over 200 Allegations Of Abuse Of Migrant Children — And One DHS Employee Disciplined

From 2009 to 2014, at least 214 complaints were filed against federal agents for abusing or mistreating migrant children. According to the Department of Homeland Security’s records, only one employee was disciplined as a result of a complaint.

The department’s records, which have alarmed advocates for migrants given the more aggressive approach to the treatment of minors at the border under the current administration, emerged as part of a federal lawsuit seeking the release of the names of the accused agents.

Last month, attorneys for DHS argued before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco that disclosing the names of the federal agents would infringe on their right to privacy. A district judge had earlier ordered the department to make the names public.

View the complete June 1 article by A.C. Thompson on the National Memo website here.

Trump signs memo requiring immigrants’ sponsors to pay back the government for welfare

Trump is using the 1996 welfare reform bill to go after immigrants who use public benefits like SNAP and Medicaid.

President Trump is getting serious about going after immigrants who use public benefits.

In a presidential memorandum issued Thursday, Trump announced he will direct federal agencies to enforce a longstanding rule requiring the sponsors — usually U.S. citizen family members — of immigrants to reimburse the government for any public benefits they use, including Medicaid, SNAP, TANF, and the federal Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

“Financial sponsors who pledge to financially support the sponsored alien in the event the alien applies for or receives public benefits will be expected to fulfill their commitment under law,” Trump said in the memo.

View the complete May 24 article by Rebekah Entralgo on the ThinkProgress website here.

Power Up: Trump’s new immigration coordinator has a lot to coordinate

NOT A CZAR BUT: Former Virginia attorney general Ken Cuccinelli II finally found his way into the Trump administration: the hard-right firebrand will serve as Trump’s immigration policy coordinator at the Department of Homeland Security, three administration officials told my colleagues Josh Dawsey and Nick Miroff on Tuesday.

The appointment of the hawkish conservative comes on the heels of major upheaval at DHS after Trump ousted Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, replacing her with acting DHS secretary Kevin McAleenan — all while the administration scrambles to contain a record number of Central American families overwhelming U.S. immigration authorities at the U.S.-Mexico border.

  • “Cuccinelli will work at DHS in a senior role and will report to acting DHS secretary Kevin ­McAleenan, while also providing regular briefings to President Trump at the White House, according to two officials briefed on the appointment,” per Josh and Nick.

View the complete May 22 article by Jacqueline Alemany on The Washington Post website here.

Detained, Abused & Denied Medical Care: How Trump Immigration Policies Led to Child Deaths at Border

A 16-year-old Guatemalan boy died in U.S. custody Monday after spending a week in immigration jail. Carlos Gregorio Hernandez Vasquez was found dead at a Border Patrol station at Weslaco, Texas, just one day after being diagnosed with the flu. He was not hospitalized. This marks the fifth death of a Guatemalan child apprehended by Border Patrol since December. Before last year, it had been more than a decade since a child died in the custody of U.S. immigration officials. We speak with Fernando Garcia, the founding director of the Border Network for Human Rights, an advocacy organization based in El Paso, and Jennifer Harbury, a longtime human rights lawyer based in the Rio Grande Valley, Texas.

View the May 21 video on the Democracy Now! website here.

 

16-year-old migrant boy dies in U.S. custody, 5th child to die since December

The boy, who was apprehended after crossing the border May 13 near Hidalgo, Texas, was found unresponsive Monday morning during a welfare check.

A 16-year-old Guatemalan boy who died Monday in immigration custody in south Texas was diagnosed with the flu a day before, a Customs and Border Protection official said. The teenager is the fifth migrant child to die in U.S. custody since December.

Carlos Gregorio Hernandez Vasquez was found unresponsive Monday morning during a welfare check at Weslaco Border Patrol Station, a CBP official familiar with the case said in a Monday afternoon teleconference.

He had been transferred to the station Sunday from the Rio Grande Valley Sector’s Central Processing Center, the official said.

View the complete May 20 article by Daniella Silva on the NBC News website here.

How Many Americans Would Pass an Immigration Test Endorsed by Trump?

NOTE:  If you have free articles left or a subscription to the digital access to The New York Times, it’s worth taking this survey to see if you’d be allowed into our country. Not many we know who’ve taken it would be.

President Trump this month endorsed legislation that would effectively cut immigration to the United States by half. The bill, known as the Raise Act, would sharply reduce the share of people admitted through family ties and create a skills-based system that scores applicants on factors including age, education, income, job prospects and proficiency in English.

The Senate sponsors of the bill say their system, modeled on merit systems used by Canada and Australia, would make the United States more competitive. If passed — and immigration overhaul has defied decades of attempts — it would replace standards largely established in the Johnson administration.

View the complete August 23, 2017 article by Quoctrung Bui on The New York Times website here.

He voted for Trump. Now he and his wife raise their son from opposite sides of the border

She is there when he wakes up, telling him she loves him and helping him coax their son, Ashton, to finish his Honey Nut Cheerios before the school bus whisks him to kindergarten.

She is there when he is at work delivering UPS packages, and she’s there to greet their 6-year-old when he gets home from school, bounces up and down the stairs, and pulls the arms and legs of his Stretch Force Fireman.

Yet Jason Rochester’s wife, Cecilia, is not really there.

View the complete May 19 article by Jennie Jarvie on The Los Angeles Times website here.