What’s Happening in Immigration?
Recent News
Court rules Remain in Mexico is causing “extreme and irreversible harm,” but policy remains in effect
On Friday, 2/28, a federal appeals court found the Administration’s Remain in Mexico (MPP) program invalid and held that asylum seekers awaiting their day in court cannot be forced to wait in Mexico. But, on Wednesday, 3/4, the court decided to keep the program in place while the government appeals the decision to the Supreme Court. As of 2/28, there were 1,001 publicly reported cases of murder, rape, torture, kidnapping and other violent assaults of people stuck in the Remain in Mexico program.
Coordinated Efforts in the Americas Block African Asylum Seekers from Safety
“Ecuador is closing its doors as one of the few countries in North and South America to welcome African visitors, depriving them of a starting point for their dangerous journeys north by land. If asylum-seekers make it to Mexico, they face a virtual barricade near its southern border with Guatemala. Trump’s allies are blocking a path for Africans fleeing violence in their homelands as those countries face a U.S. president who has used economic leverage to get help curtailing immigration. Ecuador is pursuing a trade deal with Trump, while Mexico is trying to stay in his good graces after his threat to increase tariffs prompted its crackdown on illegal immigration last year.” Read more from the Associated Press.
ICE Transfers 47 Protesting Asylum Seekers from Hutto to Laredo
Dozens of Cameroonian women were transferred from the Don Hutto Residential Center to a detention center in Laredo, in response to a sit-down protest at the facility. Join our friends at Grassroots Leadership to demand their release on humanitarian parole by calling ICE and CoreCivic.
Dallas-area immigrants rights groups are working to allay fears ahead of Census
“Some organizations are working to overcome the fear. When members of the immigration support and civic engagement group Mi Familia Vota go out into the community, they do hear concern about confidentiality and citizenship, said Liz Magallanes, the group’s Dallas coordinator. ‘[The census has been] highly politicized even though it’s not a partisan thing … so we’re definitely fighting that narrative,’ she said.” Check out more in the Dallas Observer.
Federal Court Voids Two Asylum Policies Implemented Under Ken Cucinelli
On Sunday, a federal court held that Ken Cucinelli’s appointment was illegal, in response to a case brought by RAICES, CLINIC, Democracy Forward, and Proskauer Rose. The ruling invalidated two asylum-related directives he issued: “The first directive shortened the length of time asylum-seekers have to prepare for ‘credible fear interviews’ with officials from 48 or 72 hours to ‘one full calendar day from the date of arrival at a detention facility.’ With the second, Cuccinelli prohibited asylum officers from granting extensions to this new policy ‘except in the most extraordinary of circumstances.'” Read more about the ruling and its implications from NPR.