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Children in Jail: What It’s Like for Immigrants Held at Artesia Center
By Megan Jordi, legal director at the New Mexico Immigrant Law Center. The rule of law is only a mirage in the remote, dusty town of Artesia, New Mexico, where the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is holding more than 600 Honduran, Salvadoran, and Guatemalan women and children. The children in the 278 families range from […]
Read MoreTaking Their Message to Policy Makers in Transit
WASHINGTON — The epiphany hit Jeremy Robbins, appropriately enough, while he was riding in a taxi in the nation’s capital. Mr. Robbins, the executive director of the Partnership for a New American Economy, a group devoted to an immigration overhaul, was finishing up a day of lobbying on Capitol Hill when he began thinking about […]
Read MoreHouse Hearing Exploits Children’s Misery, Highlights Ideological Differences
In the last week before the August recess, House and Senate members are trying to finalize vastly different bills that would provide additional funding to address the government agency needs associated with the influx of unaccompanied children crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. The House’s $659 million bill falls short of President Obama’s request for $3.7 billion […]
Read MoreSealed UNHCR Report Warns of Poor Protections for Unaccompanied Mexican Children
As the Obama administration struggles to fashion a humane yet practical response to the influx of unaccompanied children from Central America, the president’s request for $3.7 billion to deal with the situation is becoming entangled with the fate of the Trafficking Victims Protection and Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) of 2008. More precisely, a number of lawmakers—including […]
Read MoreRestrictionists Spread Unfounded Rumors About Migrant Children and Disease
More often than not, anti-immigrant groups use their hateful rhetoric to blame immigrants for all of our nation’s ills. On a regular basis, restrictionist groups release reports that portray immigrants as criminals, terrorists, a threat to American workers, an economic and fiscal burden, or an obstacle to national unity, to mention just a few. The […]
Read MoreAvalanche of Local Detainer Limits Underscores Need for Federal Policy Reform
Across the United States, county after county continues to alter policies to limit compliance with immigration detainers because of constitutional concerns. A spate of federal rulings found that detainers were not mandatory, so local officials increasingly seem to be coming to the conclusion that honoring detainer requests from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which ask officers […]
Read MoreRefugee Children Don’t Need More Immigration Enforcement
A humanitarian crisis requires a humanitarian response. In the case of the unaccompanied children from Central America who are arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border, this would include decent food, shelter, and medical attention while in U.S. custody. Even more crucial, it would include careful screening of each child’s case to determine if he or she […]
Read MoreTaking Attendance: New Data Finds Majority of Children Appear in Immigration Court
As the number of unaccompanied children arriving at the United States border has increased, some lawmakers have argued that children frequently disappear into the woodwork, and propose mandatory detention as a solution. Some say as many as 90 percent fail to attend their immigration court hearings. Yet government data recently published by Syracuse University’s Transactional […]
Read MoreHow $3.7 Billion for Border Humanitarian Situation Would be Spent
The Obama administration is asking Congress for $3.7 billion to address humanitarian needs as child migrants cross the U.S.-Mexico border alone. Congress must approve the funding that, according to news reports, would speed up removal proceedings to decide if the children can stay in the U.S. or if they will be sent back to Central […]
Read MoreReport Says Obama Should “Go Big” on Immigration Action
This week, President Obama concluded that the House would not act on immigration reform this year, leading him to announce that he would use his executive authority to fix what he could of the immigration system on his own. This is a welcome decision, although details of his plans are unlikely to unfold until later […]
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