“Sexual Assault Of Detained Migrant Children Reported In The Thousands Since 2015” (NPR 2/26/19) https://www.npr.org/2019/02/26/698397631/sexual-assault-of-detained-migrant-children-reported-in-the-thousands-since-2015 “Administration officials expressed their concern while defending the Office of Refugee Resettlement.
“We share the concern that I think everyone in this room feels, anytime a child is abused in the care of ORR is one time too many,” said Jonathan White, the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps commander.
“The vast majority of allegations prove to be unfounded when they are investigated by state law enforcement and federal law enforcement and the state licensure authorities to whom we refer them,” he added.
Reportedly around 13,000 so-called unaccompanied migrant children are in the custody of the ORR.
Trump compares border enforcement to keeping people off ‘your front lawn’ http://thehill.com/latino/395592-trump-compares-border-enforcement-to-keeping-people-off-your-lawn
President Trump on Thursday tweeted that Congress must pass immigration laws that would allow the U.S. authorities to summarily kick out would-be immigrants “just as they would if they were standing on your front lawn.” In three tweets, Trump called U.S. immigration laws “insane,” railed against the potential hiring of more immigration judges, said the United States is the “only Country in the World that does this,” and praised law enforcement at the border.
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Thursday that none of the “fewer than 3,000” immigrant children separated from their parents have been reunited with each other so far despite a court order to do so. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/05/trump-health-chief-alex-azar-issues-update-reunifying-immigrants.html HHS has until Tuesday to reunite children up to the age of 4 with their parents in custody of the Immigration and Custom Enforcement, and a deadline of July 26 to reunite the remaining kids.
President Trump’s Well being and Human Companies Secretary Alex Azar, the official chargeable for the wellbeing of the migrant kids detained in U.S. amenities, says the nation is performing an “act of generosity” by preserving them locked up. https://uspolitics.10ztalk.com/2018/07/11/trumps-hhs-secretary-detaining-migrant-youngsters-is-an-act-of-generosity/
“It is among the nice acts of American generosity and charity, what we’re doing for these youngsters who’re smuggled into our nation or come throughout illegally,” Azar advised CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Tuesday.
Blitzer pressed Azar concerning the ban on media entry to the detention facilities, which has been the topic of controversy in latest weeks because the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” coverage has separated 1000’s of kids from their dad and mom on the border. “Individuals everywhere in the world are questioning what’s occurring,” Blitzer mentioned.
Azar responded by explaining that case managers are working by particular person instances to get them reunited with their dad and mom and don’t have time for media.
“These are teams of essentially the most well-meaning, altruistic people,” he mentioned. “These youngsters are completely happy, they’re beloved, they’re cared for, it’s a compassionate setting.”
A federal judge said in a court hearing on Friday that because the Trump administration “improperly separated” thousands of immigrant families at the border, it should also cover the costs to reunite them. A government lawyer pushed back, calling that “a huge ask” and saying there weren’t enough resources to pay for families’ flights and other reunification expenses. http://www.thisisinsider.com/trump-administration-must-pay-travel-dna-costs-for-separated-immigrant-families-2018-7 The Trump administration said it has reunited 58 of the 103 youngest immigrant children separated from their parents, though lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union alleged that some of the families had been asked to pay hundreds of dollars to reunite with their children. Other reports have emerged that families have been told to cover the costs of the DNA tests the government has been using to match parents with their children.
The Trump administration missed its deadline to reunite the 103 youngest separated children, all of whom were under the age of five. Its next move is to reunite the remaining, older children, of which there are more than 2,000.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement left one mother stranded at a bus stop with her children — one of whom was six months old — after reuniting them this week, the ACLU said in a joint status report filed Thursday. The mother made a series of phone calls to her attorney and another advocate, and eventually obtained a bus ticket at midnight.
“Detaining immigrant children has morphed into a surging industry in the U.S. that now reaps $1 billion annually — a tenfold increase over the past decade, an Associated Press analysis finds. Health and Human Services grants for shelters, foster care and other child welfare services for detained unaccompanied and separated children soared from $74.5 million in 2007 to $958 million in 2017. The agency is also reviewing a new round of proposals amid a growing effort by the White House to keep immigrant children in government custody. http://time.com/5338098/family-separation-immigration-trump-billion-dollar-industry/
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) handed out nearly $1 billion in grants last year for child welfare services for detained migrant children http://thehill.com/latino/397017-health-and-human-services-grants-for-detained-children-approach-1b-report
HHS in May requested bids for five projects involving detained immigration children that could add up to more than $500 million. Those projects include beds, foster and therapeutic care and “secure care,” which refers to hiring security guards. HHS officials said that it will not reunite all of the children with the people who accompanied them to the States.
ACLU of New Mexico staff attorney Maria Martinez Sanchez’ testimony July 16, 2018 Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee hearing regarding privately operated prisons in New Mexico with contracts to house federal immigration detainees https://www.nmlegis.gov/handouts/CCJ%20071618%20Item%203%20ACLU%20Written%20Testimony.pdf
The Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee held a hearing Monday afternoon concerning two privately-operated prisons in New Mexico that detain immigrants. The committee invited Ronald D. Vitello, the acting director of ICE, but he did not attend or even acknowledge the invitation. The wardens of the two privately-run facilities in N.M. declined to attend.
p/s: “Private prison investors set for giant windfall from Trump tax bill : Prison firms that restructured as real estate investment trusts see substantial tax cut – more good news for those who benefit from increased incarceration” https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/dec/28/private-prisons-investors-trump-tax-bill
“Meet the deported nurse aiding asylum seekers at US-Mexico border : Francisco ‘Panchito’ Olachea drives a beat-up ambulance around Nogales, taking care of those trying to get to the US.” https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/meet-deported-nurse-aiding-asylum-seekers-mexico-border-180701103254357.html
“Lourdes Gonzales was sitting with her son and daughter on a pair of old blankets with two duffel bags full of her belongings next to her.
Panchito told Gonzales he was a nurse.
“I’m here to see if you and your children are doing okay,” he said.
Panchito asked about her health and sat down to take her blood pressure. It was normal.
The 28-year-old told Panchito that she had just arrived from the Mexican state of Guerrero, which has been torn apart by violence. [link]
“I had to leave my home,” Gonzales told Al Jazeera.
“Some people started to send me these notes in which they threatened me. They told me I had to pay them money and they would kill me if I didn’t comply.”
One of the notes that Gonzales carried said: “Your days are numbered.”
She also carried documents showing the official charges she made against these people.
She said the police didn’t help her. And, making a living as a single mother from selling clothing, she didn’t have the money to pay the people who were threatening her.
“I ran away because of my children,” she said.
After checking her health and determining she wasn’t carrying diseases, Panchito told Gonzales someone would take her to one of the shelters where she could wait until it was her turn to come back to the port of entry to request asylum.
“You will have to wait your turn. It can take some weeks,” he said.”
“Trump administration targeted immigrants traveling with children at the southern U.S. border for prosecution rather than childless adults, government data shows” http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6024095/Trump-administration-targeted-immigrant-parents-traveling-children-government-data-shows.html Under a zero-tolerance immigration policy, the Trump administration chose to prosecute parents over childless adults at the border, resulting in separation. Government officials blamed parents for the separation of families, saying everyone who crossed the border would be prosecuted for illegal immigration. But new data shows only 32 percent of illegal crossings were prosecuted and government attorneys could have used discretion to avoid targeting families. More than 2,500 children were separated from their parents, although adults without kids crossed at a rate more than five times that of parents with children.
“Where is my son?”: A migrant father was deported in May. His son is still in a Texas shelter.
(Texas Tribune, Aug 21, 2018) http://nmpoliticalreport.com/870949/where-is-my-son-a-migrant-father-was-deported-in-may-his-son-is-still-in-a-texas-shelter/?mc_cid=5bb94e0f92&mc_eid=4b85ca587f “…with the summer drawing to a close, more than 500 migrant children remain apart from their parents, despite a court order requiring the U.S. government to reunite every separated family by July 26. Parents of 366 of the still-separated children have already been sent back to their home countries. Xol’s case highlights the legal and bureaucratic obstacles preventing the government from swiftly reuniting those families, as well as the emotional toll that the zero-tolerance policy continues to exact on separated parents and children.
“For every parent who is not located, there will be a permanently orphaned child,” U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw, who has overseen the reunification process, said in his San Diego courtroom earlier this month. “That is 100 percent the responsibility of the administration.”
“Taking away people’s passports and citizenship is a precursor to genocide.”
It’s what happened to Jews in Germany in 1938 when their passports were declared invalid. That is what is beginning to happen here, now, to Hispanic citizens along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Oh, is it bad to compare the GOP to Nazis? Well, if members of the GOP do not like being compared to Nazis, they should consider not behaving exactly like Nazis.
Hispanic U.S. citizens, some of whom were in the U.S. military, are not being allowed to renew their passports. This is reportedly happening to “hundreds, even thousands” of Latinos, according to a report in the Washington Post. They’re getting letters from the State Department saying it does not believe they are citizens. The government claims their citizenships are fraudulent.
The Washington Post also reports on ICE officials coming to citizens’ homes and taking their passports away. This is an escalation from a few months ago, when Americans were detained by ICE officials just for speaking Spanish to one another.” (Harper’s BAZAAR 9/7/18) https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/politics/a23010174/stripping-american-citizens-passports-genocide/
Trump administration is holding at least 12,800 children in immigration detention facilities https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/09/detained-migrant-children-record.html A new report from the New York Times [link] has found that, despite the Trump administration’s efforts under a court order [link] to release hundreds of children who were separated from their families at the border, the number of migrant children being held in federal shelters has surged to a new record, straining the facilities nearly to capacity.
“Population levels at federally contracted shelters for migrant children have quietly shot up more than fivefold since last summer, according to data obtained by The New York Times, reaching a total of 12,800 this month. There were 2,400 such children in custody in May 2017.
The huge increases, which have placed the federal shelter system near capacity, are due not to an influx of children entering the country, but a reduction in the number being released to live with families and other sponsors, the data collected by the Department of Health and Human Services suggests. Some of those who work in the migrant shelter network say the bottleneck is straining both the children and the system that cares for them.” https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/12/us/migrant-children-detention.html
In shelters from Kansas to New York, hundreds of migrant children have been roused in the middle of the night in recent weeks and loaded onto buses with backpacks and snacks for a cross-country journey to their new home: a barren tent city on a sprawling patch of desert in West Texas.
Until now, most undocumented children being held by federal immigration authorities had been housed in private foster homes or shelters, sleeping two or three to a room. They received formal schooling and regular visits with legal representatives assigned to their immigration cases.
But in the rows of sand-colored tents in Tornillo, Tex., children in groups of 20, separated by gender, sleep lined up in bunks. There is no school: The children are given workbooks that they have no obligation to complete. Access to legal services is limited.
These midnight voyages are playing out across the country, as the federal government struggles to find room for more than 13,000 detained migrant children — the largest population ever — whose numbers have increased more than fivefold since last year. (New York Times Sept 30, 2018)
Xalapa, Veracruz (Mexico): On Saturday morning, armed people attacked a group of migrants who were traveling through the southern area of Veracruz . The assault left one woman dead, and at least three wounded, including a three year old. The migrants are originally from Guatemala, they were traveling aboard a cattle truck, which had left San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, and which was intended to take them to the north of the country. http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2018/12/armed-commando-attacks-truck-w-ca.html#more
“In recent years armed groups have kidnapped migrants passing through Veracruz and held them hostage for ransom payments. Nearly 200 skulls have been found in clandestine mass graves in the state since September.
Representatives of migrants who crossed Mexico in a caravan over the last two months called the journey through Veracruz the “route of death.” http://www.startribune.com/gunmen-in-mexico-kill-guatemalan-migrant-wound-3-others/502300071/
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers dropped off more than 200 undocumented immigrants outside a Greyhound bus terminal in El Paso, Texas, on Sunday night without an apparent plan for housing them, according to Sgt. Robert Gomez, spokesman with the El Paso Police Department. https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/24/us/el-paso-immigrants-ice/index.html The waiting area at the bus terminal is small, Gomez said, and many people were left standing outside in the cold {down to 34 °F} He said the group of 211 undocumented immigrants included some families and small children. Four buses later arrived for people to board and stay warm, he said.”We weren’t going to put 200 people on the streets of El Paso on a cold night. We wouldn’t do that,” Gomez said. Authorities found housing for the migrants, including at a hotel and a nearby Catholic school, Gomez said.
President of the United States of America Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump 10:30 AM – 29 Dec 2018: “Any deaths of children or others at the Border are strictly the fault of the Democrats and their pathetic immigration policies that allow people to make the long trek thinking they can enter our country illegally. They can’t. If we had a Wall, they wouldn’t even try! The two…..
(continued at 10:36 AM – 29 Dec 2018) …children in question were very sick before they were given over to Border Patrol. The father of the young girl said it was not their fault, he hadn’t given her water in days. Border Patrol needs the Wall and it will all end. They are working so hard & getting so little credit!”
In a first step toward a potential lawsuit, a group of undocumented migrant mothers who were separated from their children at the border last year are seeking millions of dollars in damages from the U.S. government. https://fronterasdesk.org/content/760287/first-step-taken-toward-lawsuit-over-family-separations Advocates for the asylum-seeking families say the emotional and physical trauma caused by separation was intentional and may last a lifetime. So administrative claims were sent to several federal agencies Monday demanding $3 million for each mother and each child.
“Now Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Health and Human Services will have six months to take responsibility for their actions in separating these families,” said Mark Fleming, associate director of litigation at the National Immigration Justice Center. The money would help the families pay for mental healthcare and other social services, Fleming said.
Federal officials did not comment.
Óscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez, an El Salvadoran immigrant, and his 23-month-old daughter Valeria on the shore of the Rio Grande River on Monday — after they drowned while desperately trying to cross into the United States.little girl
Ramírez, had grown frustrated that his family was not able to request asylum from US authorities near Brownsville, Texas, and swam his daughter across the fast-moving river.
But when he began to swim back for his wife, Tania Vanessa Ávalos, the young girl jumped in after him. He grabbed his daughter but the pair were taken away by the current, Ávalos told police.
Their bodies were found several hundred yards downriver, near Matamoros, Mexico.
They are at least the fifth and sixth people in the last week week to die trying to cross the border — the bodies of four people, including two infants and a toddler, were found in Hidalgo County, Texas, on Sunday.
“President Trump on Wednesday said he hated to see the photograph of a father and his young daughter who drowned trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border but blamed the situation on congressional Democrats.” https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/450470-trump-goes-after-democrats-over-photo-of-drowned-migrants
“President Trump, I want you to look at this photo. These are not drug dealers or vagrants or criminals. They are people simply fleeing a horrible situation in their home country for a better life.” Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) as he displayed the photo on the Senate floor today.
(3/6/19): The Trump administration argued in court earlier this week that reuniting migrant children separated from their parents at the border would require too much effort and “would present grave child welfare concerns”, as the children would be traumatized by leaving their current sponsors’ homes.
Though concerns for the psychological well-being of the children are specious at best, considering the original trauma was inflicted by the administration, the situation has a second nefarious element: many of these children are being sent to a Christian adoption agency with ties to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. https://mavenroundtable.io/theintellectualist/news/migrant-children-are-being-given-to-an-adoption-agency-linked-to-betsy-devos
Eideard 
Letters from detained immigrant mothers who have been separated from their children (L.A. Times July 2, 2018) http://www.latimes.com/nation/immigration/la-na-letters-detained-mothers-20180702-storygallery.html
“Sexual Assault Of Detained Migrant Children Reported In The Thousands Since 2015” (NPR 2/26/19) https://www.npr.org/2019/02/26/698397631/sexual-assault-of-detained-migrant-children-reported-in-the-thousands-since-2015 “Administration officials expressed their concern while defending the Office of Refugee Resettlement.
“We share the concern that I think everyone in this room feels, anytime a child is abused in the care of ORR is one time too many,” said Jonathan White, the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps commander.
“The vast majority of allegations prove to be unfounded when they are investigated by state law enforcement and federal law enforcement and the state licensure authorities to whom we refer them,” he added.
Reportedly around 13,000 so-called unaccompanied migrant children are in the custody of the ORR.
Trump compares border enforcement to keeping people off ‘your front lawn’ http://thehill.com/latino/395592-trump-compares-border-enforcement-to-keeping-people-off-your-lawn
President Trump on Thursday tweeted that Congress must pass immigration laws that would allow the U.S. authorities to summarily kick out would-be immigrants “just as they would if they were standing on your front lawn.” In three tweets, Trump called U.S. immigration laws “insane,” railed against the potential hiring of more immigration judges, said the United States is the “only Country in the World that does this,” and praised law enforcement at the border.
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Thursday that none of the “fewer than 3,000” immigrant children separated from their parents have been reunited with each other so far despite a court order to do so. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/05/trump-health-chief-alex-azar-issues-update-reunifying-immigrants.html HHS has until Tuesday to reunite children up to the age of 4 with their parents in custody of the Immigration and Custom Enforcement, and a deadline of July 26 to reunite the remaining kids.
(7/7/18): Judge orders Trump administration to share list of separated children https://www.cbsnews.com/news/judge-orders-trump-administration-to-share-list-of-separated-children/
“1-Year-Old Baby Appears In Immigration Court, Cries Hysterically : : The judge said he was “embarrassed” to ask if the boy understood the proceedings.” https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/year-old-baby-appears-in-immigration-court_us_5b4290e3e4b07b827cc1e76c “
President Trump’s Well being and Human Companies Secretary Alex Azar, the official chargeable for the wellbeing of the migrant kids detained in U.S. amenities, says the nation is performing an “act of generosity” by preserving them locked up. https://uspolitics.10ztalk.com/2018/07/11/trumps-hhs-secretary-detaining-migrant-youngsters-is-an-act-of-generosity/
“It is among the nice acts of American generosity and charity, what we’re doing for these youngsters who’re smuggled into our nation or come throughout illegally,” Azar advised CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Tuesday.
Blitzer pressed Azar concerning the ban on media entry to the detention facilities, which has been the topic of controversy in latest weeks because the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” coverage has separated 1000’s of kids from their dad and mom on the border. “Individuals everywhere in the world are questioning what’s occurring,” Blitzer mentioned.
Azar responded by explaining that case managers are working by particular person instances to get them reunited with their dad and mom and don’t have time for media.
“These are teams of essentially the most well-meaning, altruistic people,” he mentioned. “These youngsters are completely happy, they’re beloved, they’re cared for, it’s a compassionate setting.”
Pregnant women in the United States Immigration detention centers have been denied medical care, subjected to abuse and are miscarrying as a result, according to a new report. https://www.buzzfeed.com/emaoconnor/pregnant-migrant-women-miscarriage-cpb-ice-detention-trump?utm_term=.llWYKV81o#.ropKGR1NZ
Former employees of companies that contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs are now senior Trump administration law enforcement officials https://theintercept.com/2018/07/05/donald-trump-law-enforcement-appointees-previously-worked-for-ice-contractors/
Least we forget, what the Nazi architects of the Holocaust required from the German and European public was not just the scapegoating of Jews, but something more appalling: general indifference to their ultimate fate. http://www.thecommentator.com/system/articles/inner_pictures/000/004/595/original/Holocaust_78671c.jpg
A federal judge said in a court hearing on Friday that because the Trump administration “improperly separated” thousands of immigrant families at the border, it should also cover the costs to reunite them. A government lawyer pushed back, calling that “a huge ask” and saying there weren’t enough resources to pay for families’ flights and other reunification expenses.
http://www.thisisinsider.com/trump-administration-must-pay-travel-dna-costs-for-separated-immigrant-families-2018-7 The Trump administration said it has reunited 58 of the 103 youngest immigrant children separated from their parents, though lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union alleged that some of the families had been asked to pay hundreds of dollars to reunite with their children. Other reports have emerged that families have been told to cover the costs of the DNA tests the government has been using to match parents with their children.
The Trump administration missed its deadline to reunite the 103 youngest separated children, all of whom were under the age of five. Its next move is to reunite the remaining, older children, of which there are more than 2,000.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement left one mother stranded at a bus stop with her children — one of whom was six months old — after reuniting them this week, the ACLU said in a joint status report filed Thursday. The mother made a series of phone calls to her attorney and another advocate, and eventually obtained a bus ticket at midnight.
“Detaining immigrant children has morphed into a surging industry in the U.S. that now reaps $1 billion annually — a tenfold increase over the past decade, an Associated Press analysis finds. Health and Human Services grants for shelters, foster care and other child welfare services for detained unaccompanied and separated children soared from $74.5 million in 2007 to $958 million in 2017. The agency is also reviewing a new round of proposals amid a growing effort by the White House to keep immigrant children in government custody. http://time.com/5338098/family-separation-immigration-trump-billion-dollar-industry/
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) handed out nearly $1 billion in grants last year for child welfare services for detained migrant children http://thehill.com/latino/397017-health-and-human-services-grants-for-detained-children-approach-1b-report
HHS in May requested bids for five projects involving detained immigration children that could add up to more than $500 million. Those projects include beds, foster and therapeutic care and “secure care,” which refers to hiring security guards. HHS officials said that it will not reunite all of the children with the people who accompanied them to the States.
ACLU of New Mexico staff attorney Maria Martinez Sanchez’ testimony July 16, 2018 Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee hearing regarding privately operated prisons in New Mexico with contracts to house federal immigration detainees https://www.nmlegis.gov/handouts/CCJ%20071618%20Item%203%20ACLU%20Written%20Testimony.pdf
The Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee held a hearing Monday afternoon concerning two privately-operated prisons in New Mexico that detain immigrants. The committee invited Ronald D. Vitello, the acting director of ICE, but he did not attend or even acknowledge the invitation. The wardens of the two privately-run facilities in N.M. declined to attend.
p/s: “Private prison investors set for giant windfall from Trump tax bill : Prison firms that restructured as real estate investment trusts see substantial tax cut – more good news for those who benefit from increased incarceration” https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/dec/28/private-prisons-investors-trump-tax-bill
A U.S. judge struck back late Friday night at a Trump administration claim that speeding up the reunification of immigrant families separated at the U.S.-Mexican border would put children at risk, saying the government had either misunderstood his instructions or was “acting in defiance of them.” https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration/us-judge-trump-administration-spar-over-immigrant-child-safety-idUSKBN1K40TQ The judge also ordered the government to pay the costs of reunification, rather than charging parents, at the hearing on Friday.
“Immigration Story Missing Context of Hunger and Freedom” https://fair.org/home/immigration-story-missing-context-of-hunger-and-freedom/
“The story of newborn babies in Iowa shows how immigration crackdowns hurt Americans, too” https://qz.com/1324215/the-startling-study-that-shows-how-crackdowns-on-immigrants-affect-the-children-of-us-born-latinos/
250,000 Mexican citizens living in the United States served in the American forces during WWII; over 1000 were killed in combat. (National Security and United States Policy Toward Latin America, p 175) https://books.google.com/books?id=A_X_AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA175#v=onepage&q&f=false
“Arias Bernal’s Trip to Washington”: a Mexican Cartoonist Joins the War Effort. (National Archives) https://text-message.blogs.archives.gov/2017/09/26/arias-bernals-trip-to-washington-a-mexican-cartoonist-joins-the-war-effort/ (includes examples of his work) Antonio Arias Bernal 1913-1960
“Meet the deported nurse aiding asylum seekers at US-Mexico border : Francisco ‘Panchito’ Olachea drives a beat-up ambulance around Nogales, taking care of those trying to get to the US.” https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/meet-deported-nurse-aiding-asylum-seekers-mexico-border-180701103254357.html
“Lourdes Gonzales was sitting with her son and daughter on a pair of old blankets with two duffel bags full of her belongings next to her.
Panchito told Gonzales he was a nurse.
“I’m here to see if you and your children are doing okay,” he said.
Panchito asked about her health and sat down to take her blood pressure. It was normal.
The 28-year-old told Panchito that she had just arrived from the Mexican state of Guerrero, which has been torn apart by violence. [link]
“I had to leave my home,” Gonzales told Al Jazeera.
“Some people started to send me these notes in which they threatened me. They told me I had to pay them money and they would kill me if I didn’t comply.”
One of the notes that Gonzales carried said: “Your days are numbered.”
She also carried documents showing the official charges she made against these people.
She said the police didn’t help her. And, making a living as a single mother from selling clothing, she didn’t have the money to pay the people who were threatening her.
“I ran away because of my children,” she said.
After checking her health and determining she wasn’t carrying diseases, Panchito told Gonzales someone would take her to one of the shelters where she could wait until it was her turn to come back to the port of entry to request asylum.
“You will have to wait your turn. It can take some weeks,” he said.”
“500 Fathers And Their Kids Declare A Strike At An Immigrant Detention Center In Texas”
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/adolfoflores/500-fathers-and-their-kids-declare-a-strike-at-an-immigrant “We are decent people who only come for a better life, people who travel to this country in search to help our loved ones back home. Help us.”
“Trump administration targeted immigrants traveling with children at the southern U.S. border for prosecution rather than childless adults, government data shows” http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6024095/Trump-administration-targeted-immigrant-parents-traveling-children-government-data-shows.html Under a zero-tolerance immigration policy, the Trump administration chose to prosecute parents over childless adults at the border, resulting in separation. Government officials blamed parents for the separation of families, saying everyone who crossed the border would be prosecuted for illegal immigration. But new data shows only 32 percent of illegal crossings were prosecuted and government attorneys could have used discretion to avoid targeting families. More than 2,500 children were separated from their parents, although adults without kids crossed at a rate more than five times that of parents with children.
A federal judge in Washington halted a deportation in progress Thursday and threatened to hold Attorney General Jeff Sessions in contempt after learning that the Trump administration started to remove a woman and her daughter while a court hearing appealing their deportations was underway.
“This is pretty outrageous,” U.S. District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan said after being told about the removal. “That someone seeking justice in U.S. court is spirited away while her attorneys are arguing for justice for her?” https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/immigration/judge-halts-mother-daughter-deportation-threatens-to-hold-sessions-in-contempt/2018/08/09/a23a0580-9bd6-11e8-8d5e-c6c594024954_story.html?utm_term=.f959b8158528
ACLU: Federal Agencies Set ‘Traps’ for Immigrants Seeking Legal Status https://www.colorlines.com/articles/aclu-federal-agencies-set-traps-immigrants-seeking-legal-status Court filing shows that ICE and USCIS lured immigrants of undocumented status and their United States citizen spouses into interviews before arresting and, in some cases, deporting them.
ACLU estimates almost 600 children still separated from parents (8/13/18) https://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/aclu-estimates-almost-600-children-still-separated-from-parents-1297860163527
How Trump Radicalized ICE (The Atlantic Sept 2018 issue) https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/09/trump-ice/565772/
“Where is my son?”: A migrant father was deported in May. His son is still in a Texas shelter.
(Texas Tribune, Aug 21, 2018) http://nmpoliticalreport.com/870949/where-is-my-son-a-migrant-father-was-deported-in-may-his-son-is-still-in-a-texas-shelter/?mc_cid=5bb94e0f92&mc_eid=4b85ca587f “…with the summer drawing to a close, more than 500 migrant children remain apart from their parents, despite a court order requiring the U.S. government to reunite every separated family by July 26. Parents of 366 of the still-separated children have already been sent back to their home countries. Xol’s case highlights the legal and bureaucratic obstacles preventing the government from swiftly reuniting those families, as well as the emotional toll that the zero-tolerance policy continues to exact on separated parents and children.
“For every parent who is not located, there will be a permanently orphaned child,” U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw, who has overseen the reunification process, said in his San Diego courtroom earlier this month. “That is 100 percent the responsibility of the administration.”
“Mollie Tibbett’s Friends And Family Push Back On Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric Using Her Death” https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mollie-tibbetts-friends-and-family-push-back-on-immigration-attacks-involving-her-death_us_5b806a41e4b072951512ddf0 “The 20-year-old’s death is being used by the president and others to push an anti-immigrant agenda.”
“Taking away people’s passports and citizenship is a precursor to genocide.”
It’s what happened to Jews in Germany in 1938 when their passports were declared invalid. That is what is beginning to happen here, now, to Hispanic citizens along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Oh, is it bad to compare the GOP to Nazis? Well, if members of the GOP do not like being compared to Nazis, they should consider not behaving exactly like Nazis.
Hispanic U.S. citizens, some of whom were in the U.S. military, are not being allowed to renew their passports. This is reportedly happening to “hundreds, even thousands” of Latinos, according to a report in the Washington Post. They’re getting letters from the State Department saying it does not believe they are citizens. The government claims their citizenships are fraudulent.
The Washington Post also reports on ICE officials coming to citizens’ homes and taking their passports away. This is an escalation from a few months ago, when Americans were detained by ICE officials just for speaking Spanish to one another.” (Harper’s BAZAAR 9/7/18) https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/politics/a23010174/stripping-american-citizens-passports-genocide/
Trump administration is holding at least 12,800 children in immigration detention facilities https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/09/detained-migrant-children-record.html A new report from the New York Times [link] has found that, despite the Trump administration’s efforts under a court order [link] to release hundreds of children who were separated from their families at the border, the number of migrant children being held in federal shelters has surged to a new record, straining the facilities nearly to capacity.
“Population levels at federally contracted shelters for migrant children have quietly shot up more than fivefold since last summer, according to data obtained by The New York Times, reaching a total of 12,800 this month. There were 2,400 such children in custody in May 2017.
The huge increases, which have placed the federal shelter system near capacity, are due not to an influx of children entering the country, but a reduction in the number being released to live with families and other sponsors, the data collected by the Department of Health and Human Services suggests. Some of those who work in the migrant shelter network say the bottleneck is straining both the children and the system that cares for them.” https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/12/us/migrant-children-detention.html
“Checkpoint Nation : Border agents are expanding their reach into the country’s interior” (Harper’s Magazine Oct 2018 issue) https://harpers.org/archive/2018/10/checkpoint-nation-cbp-search-and-seizures-civil-rights-abuses/
In shelters from Kansas to New York, hundreds of migrant children have been roused in the middle of the night in recent weeks and loaded onto buses with backpacks and snacks for a cross-country journey to their new home: a barren tent city on a sprawling patch of desert in West Texas.
Until now, most undocumented children being held by federal immigration authorities had been housed in private foster homes or shelters, sleeping two or three to a room. They received formal schooling and regular visits with legal representatives assigned to their immigration cases.
But in the rows of sand-colored tents in Tornillo, Tex., children in groups of 20, separated by gender, sleep lined up in bunks. There is no school: The children are given workbooks that they have no obligation to complete. Access to legal services is limited.
These midnight voyages are playing out across the country, as the federal government struggles to find room for more than 13,000 detained migrant children — the largest population ever — whose numbers have increased more than fivefold since last year. (New York Times Sept 30, 2018)
“Migrant Children Moved Under Cover of Darkness to a Texas Tent City” (NYT Sept. 30) https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/30/us/migrant-children-tent-city-texas.html
“The Government Is Moving Migrant Children to a Texas Tent City. Here’s What’s Behind It.” (NYT OCt 1) https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/01/us/migrant-children-tent-city-camp-texas.html
Xalapa, Veracruz (Mexico): On Saturday morning, armed people attacked a group of migrants who were traveling through the southern area of Veracruz . The assault left one woman dead, and at least three wounded, including a three year old. The migrants are originally from Guatemala, they were traveling aboard a cattle truck, which had left San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, and which was intended to take them to the north of the country. http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2018/12/armed-commando-attacks-truck-w-ca.html#more
“In recent years armed groups have kidnapped migrants passing through Veracruz and held them hostage for ransom payments. Nearly 200 skulls have been found in clandestine mass graves in the state since September.
Representatives of migrants who crossed Mexico in a caravan over the last two months called the journey through Veracruz the “route of death.” http://www.startribune.com/gunmen-in-mexico-kill-guatemalan-migrant-wound-3-others/502300071/
“On Fox News, White House senior adviser Stephen Miller uses death of 7-year-old girl in DHS custody to push Trump’s wall” (MediaMatters) https://www.mediamatters.org/video/2018/12/14/fox-news-white-house-senior-adviser-stephen-miller-uses-death-7-year-old-girl-dhs-custody-push/222315
Customs and Border Protection failed to notify Congress of the death within 24 hours, as required by law, even as CBP Commissioner Kevin McAleenan testified before a Senate Judiciary Committee. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/12/a-seven-year-old-girl-died-in-border-patrol-custody-last-week-members-in-congress-were-left-in-the-dark/
“Future of Tornillo immigration center is unclear after contract expires” (The Texas Tribune) https://www.texastribune.org/2018/12/07/future-tornillo-immigration-center-unclear-after-contract-expires/
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers dropped off more than 200 undocumented immigrants outside a Greyhound bus terminal in El Paso, Texas, on Sunday night without an apparent plan for housing them, according to Sgt. Robert Gomez, spokesman with the El Paso Police Department. https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/24/us/el-paso-immigrants-ice/index.html The waiting area at the bus terminal is small, Gomez said, and many people were left standing outside in the cold {down to 34 °F} He said the group of 211 undocumented immigrants included some families and small children. Four buses later arrived for people to board and stay warm, he said.”We weren’t going to put 200 people on the streets of El Paso on a cold night. We wouldn’t do that,” Gomez said. Authorities found housing for the migrants, including at a hotel and a nearby Catholic school, Gomez said.
President of the United States of America Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump 10:30 AM – 29 Dec 2018: “Any deaths of children or others at the Border are strictly the fault of the Democrats and their pathetic immigration policies that allow people to make the long trek thinking they can enter our country illegally. They can’t. If we had a Wall, they wouldn’t even try! The two…..
(continued at 10:36 AM – 29 Dec 2018) …children in question were very sick before they were given over to Border Patrol. The father of the young girl said it was not their fault, he hadn’t given her water in days. Border Patrol needs the Wall and it will all end. They are working so hard & getting so little credit!”
Immigrant children were recorded being dragged, pushed and slapped by staff members at an Arizona shelter in September, according to footage obtained by the Arizona Republic. https://people.com/human-interest/immigrant-children-pushed-dragged-video-arizona-shelter/
Videos from a Southwest Key shelter for migrant children show staffers dragging and pushing children, incidents that occurred shortly before the federal government suspended the shelter’s operations early this fall. https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/immigration/2018/12/28/migrant-kids-dragged-shoved-video-footage-arizona-shelter/2436296002/ (includes video)
Arizona state law permits the kinds of ‘restraint techniques’ shown in the videos according to a spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Office. State health officials declined to comment on the videos.
“They steal, they are cruel and bloody, full of revenge, and delighting in deadly execution, licentious, swearers and blasphemers, common ravishers of women, and murderers of children.”(“When the Irish Weren’t White”) https://www.theroot.com/when-the-irish-weren-t-white-1793358754
In a first step toward a potential lawsuit, a group of undocumented migrant mothers who were separated from their children at the border last year are seeking millions of dollars in damages from the U.S. government. https://fronterasdesk.org/content/760287/first-step-taken-toward-lawsuit-over-family-separations Advocates for the asylum-seeking families say the emotional and physical trauma caused by separation was intentional and may last a lifetime. So administrative claims were sent to several federal agencies Monday demanding $3 million for each mother and each child.
“Now Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Health and Human Services will have six months to take responsibility for their actions in separating these families,” said Mark Fleming, associate director of litigation at the National Immigration Justice Center. The money would help the families pay for mental healthcare and other social services, Fleming said.
Federal officials did not comment.
Óscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez, an El Salvadoran immigrant, and his 23-month-old daughter Valeria on the shore of the Rio Grande River on Monday — after they drowned while desperately trying to cross into the United States.little girl
Ramírez, had grown frustrated that his family was not able to request asylum from US authorities near Brownsville, Texas, and swam his daughter across the fast-moving river.
But when he began to swim back for his wife, Tania Vanessa Ávalos, the young girl jumped in after him. He grabbed his daughter but the pair were taken away by the current, Ávalos told police.
Their bodies were found several hundred yards downriver, near Matamoros, Mexico.
They are at least the fifth and sixth people in the last week week to die trying to cross the border — the bodies of four people, including two infants and a toddler, were found in Hidalgo County, Texas, on Sunday.
“President Trump on Wednesday said he hated to see the photograph of a father and his young daughter who drowned trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border but blamed the situation on congressional Democrats.” https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/450470-trump-goes-after-democrats-over-photo-of-drowned-migrants
“President Trump, I want you to look at this photo. These are not drug dealers or vagrants or criminals. They are people simply fleeing a horrible situation in their home country for a better life.” Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) as he displayed the photo on the Senate floor today.
(3/6/19): The Trump administration argued in court earlier this week that reuniting migrant children separated from their parents at the border would require too much effort and “would present grave child welfare concerns”, as the children would be traumatized by leaving their current sponsors’ homes.
Though concerns for the psychological well-being of the children are specious at best, considering the original trauma was inflicted by the administration, the situation has a second nefarious element: many of these children are being sent to a Christian adoption agency with ties to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. https://mavenroundtable.io/theintellectualist/news/migrant-children-are-being-given-to-an-adoption-agency-linked-to-betsy-devos
“We need to take away the children” : The secret history of the U.S. government’s family separation policy. By Caitlin Dickerson, The Atlantic, September 2022 https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/09/trump-administration-family-separation-policy-immigration/670604/
How a Trump-era policy that separated thousands of migrant families came to pass (Transcript PBS interview Caitlin Dickerson Aug 13, 2022) https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/how-a-trump-era-policy-that-separated-thousands-of-migrant-families-came-to-pass
Former White House senior adviser and family-separation architect Stephen Miller sues to block January 6 committee’s subpoena for his phone records https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/stephen-miller-cell-phone-family-plan-january-6-1319036/
7AM MDT, tomorrow morning, 17th