Tag: Trump immigration policy

Laura Ingraham’s advice for asylum seekers reveals her ignorance of asylum law

“If you want to apply for asylum, that’s fine. But you should do so in the safety of your home country.”

Fox News host Laura Ingraham argued on her show Wednesday night that asylum seekers shouldn’t make the journey north to the U.S.-Mexico border, but should instead simply apply for asylum “in the safety of [their] home country.”

“If you want to apply for asylum, that’s fine,” Ingraham said. “But you should do so in the safety of your home country or, as is beginning to happen now, once you’re in the United States and you declare [asylum], you should be sent to Mexico until your case comes up for hearing. We have a backlog right now of 800,000 immigration cases.”

Ingraham added that a policy of forcing asylees to make their claims in a country other than the U.S. would discourage migrant families and those “posing” as family units from coming here.

 

DHS Secretary: Cages For Migrant Kids Are ‘Larger’ Than Dog Cages

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen’s Wednesday testimony on the Trump administration’s child separation policy was an unmitigated disaster.

Nielsen showed up to the hearing, which was called by Democrats who now hold the House majority, completely unprepared and unable to defend the practice of ripping migrant children from their parents at the border.

In one truly jaw-dropping exchange with Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ), Nielsen tried and failed to explain why the facilities used to house some migrant children were any different from the kinds of cages dogs are kept in.

View the complete March 6 article by Emily Singer on the National Memo website here.

Nielsen claims asylum seekers are not being turned away at ports of entry

Homeland Security Secretary Nielsen testifies before the House Homeland Security Committee on border security on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, March 6, 2019. Credit: Jim WATSON, AFP, Getty Images

“Madam Secretary, either you’re lying to this committee or you don’t know what’s happening at the border.”

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen faced brutal questioning about the rights of asylum seekers from Rep. Nanette Barragan (D-CA), during a hearing Wednesday before the House Homeland Security Committee.

Seeking asylum in the United States is not a crime. However, under the Trump administration, asylum seekers from several Central American countries have been turned away at ports of entry. In some cases, they are forced to remain in Mexico while they await their cases in U.S. immigration court.

Barragan challenged Nielsen about that practice, and questioned whether she was even aware of its existence.

View the complete March 6 article by Rebekah Entralgo on the ThinkProgress website here.

At Least Nine Infants Are Being Detained By US Immigration Authorities, A Complaint Says

Immigration advocacy groups say they’ve seen more infants in US detention in recent weeks than in the past three years combined.

At least nine infants under the age of 1, and some as young as 6 months, have been detained by US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement at a Texas detention center where they lack adequate medical care, immigrant advocates said in a complaint filed with the federal government on Thursday.

The complaint submitted by the American Immigration Council, American Immigration Lawyers Association, and the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, said there was an “an alarming increase” in infants and their mothers detained at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas.

At least one infant has been detained for more than 20 days, the complaint said, a potential violation of the decades-old Flores settlement that stated children can’t be held in custody for more than 20 days.

View the complete February 28 article (updated March 1) by Adolfo Flores on the BuzzFeed website here.

Pentagon wants Congress to replenish funds Trump taps for border wall

Wasserman Schultz calls plan an end-run around Congress

The Pentagon every year comes to Congress to defend its ever-growing budget, highlighting the decrepit military installations and decades-old equipment that must be refurbished or replaced to defend the nation.

But now, Pentagon officials are telling lawmakers that diverting dollars from defense projects to build President Donald Trump’s desired border wall is justified and won’t weaken the military — so long as Congress replenishes the accounts Trump could tap to build the wall.

“Some current military construction projects may be deferred” if military construction money is used to pay for the wall, Robert H. McMahon, assistant secretary of Defense for sustainment, told the House Military Construction-VA Appropriations Subcommittee on Wednesday. “The fiscal year 2020 president’s budget request will include a request for funds to replenish funding for these projects.”

View the complete February 28 article by Patrick Kelley on The Roll Call website here.

When Trump declared national emergency, most detained immigrants were not criminals

Credit: David J. Phillip, AP

Before President Trump declared a national emergency on the U.S. southern border on Feb. 15, he cited concerns that the United States was being flooded with murderers, kidnappers and other violent offenders from foreign countries.

According to new U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement figures obtained by The Washington Post, the nation’s immigration jails were not filled with such criminals. As of Feb. 9, days before the president’s declaration, nearly 63 percent of the detainees in ICE jails had not been convicted of any crime.

Of the 48,793 immigrants jailed on Feb. 9, the ICE data shows, 18,124 had criminal records. An additional 5,715 people had pending criminal charges, officials said, but they did not provide details. ICE also did not break down the severity of the crimes committed by or attributed to detainees.

View the complete February 22 article by Maria Sacchetti on The Washington Post website here.

Stephen Miller’s claim that ‘thousands of Americans die year after year’ from illegal immigration

The president has made this claim for over two years — but there is still no evidence. (Meg Kelly/The Washington Post)

“This is a deep intellectual problem that is plaguing this city, which is that we’ve had thousands of Americans die year after year after year because of threats crossing our southern border.”

— Stephen Miller, senior adviser to President Trump, in an interview with “Fox News Sunday,” Feb. 17, 2019

Miller slipped this line in the final seconds of his contentious interview with host Chris Wallace over President Trump’s emergency declaration to fund a wall along the southern border, so some viewers might have missed it. But it’s an astonishing statement, suggesting that undocumented immigrants kill thousands of Americans every year.

The White House did not respond to a query concerning Miller’s math, but other anti-immigration advocates have made similar claims. Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) claimed in December that there are “thousands of Americans who are dead each year because [of] the Democrats’ refusal to secure our borders.” President Trump claimed in 2018 that 63,000 Americans have been killed by illegal immigrants since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, which works out to about 3,700 a year.

View the complete February 21 article by Glenn Kessler on The Washington Post website here.

Mexican national dies in Border Patrol custody after apprehension for ‘illegal reentry’

Credit: Evan Vucci, AP

A 45-year-old Mexican national detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection died Monday at a medical facility in McAllen, Tex., after twice seeking medical attention, the agency reported.

The fatality followed the deaths in December of two migrant children in government custody, which prompted a vow from CBP to conduct health checks on all children in its “care and custody,” as the agency’s commissioner, Kevin K. McAleenan, said at the time. The fate of those two children, both from Guatemala, renewed concerns about the “zero-tolerance” immigration policy pursued by President Trump.

Another death is likely to raise fresh questions for the border control organization at the forefront of that policy, especially as the president crusades for a wall at the southern border. Trump’s critics point to a humanitarian crisis fomented by his own hard-line approach, rather than a crisis of illegal entries that he falsely claims is overwhelming the Southwestern United States.

View the complete February 19 article by Isaac Stanley-Becker on The Washington Post website here.

Rep. Phillips Leads on Legislation to Protect Liberian Refugees

As March deadline approaches, Phillips offers permanent solution for thousands of families

WASHINGTON, DC – Rep. Dean Phillips (MN-03) announced today that he is an original sponsor to the Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act, H.R. 1169, aimed at providing legal status and a pathway to citizenship for qualifying Liberian refugees. Phillips represents a large and vibrant Liberian community and has been a consistent advocate for Liberian Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) holders.

“Minnesota is home to the largest Liberian population in the United States, and I’m proud to represent the vast majority of them,” said Phillips. “They are our extraordinary neighbors, friends, care givers, and local business owners. Minnesota is their home. Uprooting them after decades of living and working in our community would be inhumane and would cause extraordinary disruption to our local economy. If Pres. Trump does not reverse his Executive Order, it is incumbent upon Congress to quickly ensure that our Liberian neighbors are protected from deportation.”

President Trump terminated DED by Executive Order last year. On March 31, 2019 over 4,000 Liberian DED holders, many of whom have called the United States home for more than 20 years, will become undocumented citizens and subject to deportation unless legislation is passed to protect them. Continue reading “Rep. Phillips Leads on Legislation to Protect Liberian Refugees”

DNC on Report that Thousands More Children Were Separated From Their Families at the Border Than Previously Reported

DNC Chair Tom Perez released the following statement after the U.S. Health and Human Services Department’s Office of Inspector General reported that the Trump administration likely separated thousands more children from their families than previously believed:

“The cruelty and incompetence of this administration knows no bounds. Just when we thought the family separation nightmare at the border couldn’t get any worse, we find out that Trump has been lying about the full scope of the humanitarian disaster he created. What will it take for the rest of the Republican Party to wake up and take a stand against this president’s inhumane policies? Democrats believe that families belong together, and we will keep fighting to reunite all children who have been separated from their parents.”