I’m not exactly sure of the point of this topic. Are you talking about legal immigration or illegal immigration? There is a huge difference. Immigration itself can’t be lumped into one broad post without defining what immigration you are asking about. That is if you are interested in actually talking about issues and problems.
What ? Yes we all know immigration needs reform ! Are you ok with kids dying in captivity? Are you ok with kids sleeping on the ground with tin foil blankets etc etc are you ok with separating kids from parents? All easy ?s you are either ok with it or your not ..
There's currently like 52,000 migrants in "captivity." I put captivity in quotations because...are they "captured?" Or are they allowed to turn and go back? I ask that seriously because I don't know the answer. And nobody wants to see kids sleeping on the ground in tin foil blankets. But what is the US government to do? Give immediate free room and board to every migrant seeking asylum? They can't do that. But the migrants keep coming and coming. And now there's no room for them all, and that's why there are pictures of kids sleeping on ground.
The separation of kids and families is moronic. I don't think they're doing that anymore (though I'm not sure), but the damage is already done. Many of those kids that were separated from their families around the time of the mid-term election will never see their families again. That's horrible.
Children are still being separated from their families. The Trump administration is exploiting loopholes that were meant to be for rare circumstances. Is anyone surprised?
I am actually a little surprised. I thought there might be enough of a humanitarian outcry/backlash that they'd stop doing this, if for no other reason, political points.
If you read the article, you can see that Nielsen reports that they stopped doing it because there was no political percentage in it; not because it was vile and inhumane, but because it wasn't politically useful. And yet, the practice continues, under the guise of "protecting children".
And that’s unsurprising part: that they don’t give a fuck if it doesn’t hurt then politically. Where has all the outcry gone? The left was up in arms about the family separations during the mid-terms, but I haven’t heard much since.
I’m guessing “the left” doesn’t have much in the way of an alternative plan?
The left is getting exhausted trying to make the right do the right thing.
It might be the time for Trump voters such as yourself to try and hold your representatives to account. That might actually do something, they sure don't give a fuck what anyone on the left thinks.
So...what is “the left’s” alternative “right” plan regarding immigration reform? Your retort is that the left is tired? Really?
The left has offered plenty of plans for immigration reform, some of it bi-partisan (Flake and others).
Your boys McConnell and Trump have no interest to getting a deal done as shown by their actions.
This is a manufactured crisis by design, as has been shown here on this thread many times. Maybe you just aren't paying attention?
So, are you with me in holding the current administrations feet to the fire? They've had 2+ years to fix this problem and its only gotten exponentially worse.
“Your boys”...lol, I guess i’ll claim too tired to respond now too. But I am with you on holding administrations accountable to get some reform of the immigration system, just haven’t seen many good ideas.
I’m not exactly sure of the point of this topic. Are you talking about legal immigration or illegal immigration? There is a huge difference. Immigration itself can’t be lumped into one broad post without defining what immigration you are asking about. That is if you are interested in actually talking about issues and problems.
What ? Yes we all know immigration needs reform ! Are you ok with kids dying in captivity? Are you ok with kids sleeping on the ground with tin foil blankets etc etc are you ok with separating kids from parents? All easy ?s you are either ok with it or your not ..
There's currently like 52,000 migrants in "captivity." I put captivity in quotations because...are they "captured?" Or are they allowed to turn and go back? I ask that seriously because I don't know the answer. And nobody wants to see kids sleeping on the ground in tin foil blankets. But what is the US government to do? Give immediate free room and board to every migrant seeking asylum? They can't do that. But the migrants keep coming and coming. And now there's no room for them all, and that's why there are pictures of kids sleeping on ground.
The separation of kids and families is moronic. I don't think they're doing that anymore (though I'm not sure), but the damage is already done. Many of those kids that were separated from their families around the time of the mid-term election will never see their families again. That's horrible.
Children are still being separated from their families. The Trump administration is exploiting loopholes that were meant to be for rare circumstances. Is anyone surprised?
I am actually a little surprised. I thought there might be enough of a humanitarian outcry/backlash that they'd stop doing this, if for no other reason, political points.
If you read the article, you can see that Nielsen reports that they stopped doing it because there was no political percentage in it; not because it was vile and inhumane, but because it wasn't politically useful. And yet, the practice continues, under the guise of "protecting children".
And that’s unsurprising part: that they don’t give a fuck if it doesn’t hurt then politically. Where has all the outcry gone? The left was up in arms about the family separations during the mid-terms, but I haven’t heard much since.
I’m guessing “the left” doesn’t have much in the way of an alternative plan?
The left is getting exhausted trying to make the right do the right thing.
It might be the time for Trump voters such as yourself to try and hold your representatives to account. That might actually do something, they sure don't give a fuck what anyone on the left thinks.
So...what is “the left’s” alternative “right” plan regarding immigration reform? Your retort is that the left is tired? Really?
The left has offered plenty of plans for immigration reform, some of it bi-partisan (Flake and others).
Your boys McConnell and Trump have no interest to getting a deal done as shown by their actions.
This is a manufactured crisis by design, as has been shown here on this thread many times. Maybe you just aren't paying attention?
So, are you with me in holding the current administrations feet to the fire? They've had 2+ years to fix this problem and its only gotten exponentially worse.
I think it’s absolutely that the current admin does not have a holistic plan. I think it’s absolutely true that the Republican Party does not have a holistic plan. I and believe it’s also true that the democrats do not really have a holistic plan and the willingness to actually do it when they have power. That said - this admins approach has been awful, so despite me having about 0% faith that anyone on the democrat side has the plan and fortitude to actually do something, it’s better than what we got right now.
I’m not exactly sure of the point of this topic. Are you talking about legal immigration or illegal immigration? There is a huge difference. Immigration itself can’t be lumped into one broad post without defining what immigration you are asking about. That is if you are interested in actually talking about issues and problems.
What ? Yes we all know immigration needs reform ! Are you ok with kids dying in captivity? Are you ok with kids sleeping on the ground with tin foil blankets etc etc are you ok with separating kids from parents? All easy ?s you are either ok with it or your not ..
There's currently like 52,000 migrants in "captivity." I put captivity in quotations because...are they "captured?" Or are they allowed to turn and go back? I ask that seriously because I don't know the answer. And nobody wants to see kids sleeping on the ground in tin foil blankets. But what is the US government to do? Give immediate free room and board to every migrant seeking asylum? They can't do that. But the migrants keep coming and coming. And now there's no room for them all, and that's why there are pictures of kids sleeping on ground.
The separation of kids and families is moronic. I don't think they're doing that anymore (though I'm not sure), but the damage is already done. Many of those kids that were separated from their families around the time of the mid-term election will never see their families again. That's horrible.
Children are still being separated from their families. The Trump administration is exploiting loopholes that were meant to be for rare circumstances. Is anyone surprised?
I am actually a little surprised. I thought there might be enough of a humanitarian outcry/backlash that they'd stop doing this, if for no other reason, political points.
If you read the article, you can see that Nielsen reports that they stopped doing it because there was no political percentage in it; not because it was vile and inhumane, but because it wasn't politically useful. And yet, the practice continues, under the guise of "protecting children".
And that’s unsurprising part: that they don’t give a fuck if it doesn’t hurt then politically. Where has all the outcry gone? The left was up in arms about the family separations during the mid-terms, but I haven’t heard much since.
I’m guessing “the left” doesn’t have much in the way of an alternative plan?
The left is getting exhausted trying to make the right do the right thing.
It might be the time for Trump voters such as yourself to try and hold your representatives to account. That might actually do something, they sure don't give a fuck what anyone on the left thinks.
So...what is “the left’s” alternative “right” plan regarding immigration reform? Your retort is that the left is tired? Really?
The left has offered plenty of plans for immigration reform, some of it bi-partisan (Flake and others).
Your boys McConnell and Trump have no interest to getting a deal done as shown by their actions.
This is a manufactured crisis by design, as has been shown here on this thread many times. Maybe you just aren't paying attention?
So, are you with me in holding the current administrations feet to the fire? They've had 2+ years to fix this problem and its only gotten exponentially worse.
Every administration in the last 40 years is responsible. None of them have been successful is slowing down the problem.
I’m not exactly sure of the point of this topic. Are you talking about legal immigration or illegal immigration? There is a huge difference. Immigration itself can’t be lumped into one broad post without defining what immigration you are asking about. That is if you are interested in actually talking about issues and problems.
What ? Yes we all know immigration needs reform ! Are you ok with kids dying in captivity? Are you ok with kids sleeping on the ground with tin foil blankets etc etc are you ok with separating kids from parents? All easy ?s you are either ok with it or your not ..
There's currently like 52,000 migrants in "captivity." I put captivity in quotations because...are they "captured?" Or are they allowed to turn and go back? I ask that seriously because I don't know the answer. And nobody wants to see kids sleeping on the ground in tin foil blankets. But what is the US government to do? Give immediate free room and board to every migrant seeking asylum? They can't do that. But the migrants keep coming and coming. And now there's no room for them all, and that's why there are pictures of kids sleeping on ground.
The separation of kids and families is moronic. I don't think they're doing that anymore (though I'm not sure), but the damage is already done. Many of those kids that were separated from their families around the time of the mid-term election will never see their families again. That's horrible.
Children are still being separated from their families. The Trump administration is exploiting loopholes that were meant to be for rare circumstances. Is anyone surprised?
I am actually a little surprised. I thought there might be enough of a humanitarian outcry/backlash that they'd stop doing this, if for no other reason, political points.
If you read the article, you can see that Nielsen reports that they stopped doing it because there was no political percentage in it; not because it was vile and inhumane, but because it wasn't politically useful. And yet, the practice continues, under the guise of "protecting children".
And that’s unsurprising part: that they don’t give a fuck if it doesn’t hurt then politically. Where has all the outcry gone? The left was up in arms about the family separations during the mid-terms, but I haven’t heard much since.
I’m guessing “the left” doesn’t have much in the way of an alternative plan?
The left is getting exhausted trying to make the right do the right thing.
It might be the time for Trump voters such as yourself to try and hold your representatives to account. That might actually do something, they sure don't give a fuck what anyone on the left thinks.
So...what is “the left’s” alternative “right” plan regarding immigration reform? Your retort is that the left is tired? Really?
The left has offered plenty of plans for immigration reform, some of it bi-partisan (Flake and others).
Your boys McConnell and Trump have no interest to getting a deal done as shown by their actions.
This is a manufactured crisis by design, as has been shown here on this thread many times. Maybe you just aren't paying attention?
So, are you with me in holding the current administrations feet to the fire? They've had 2+ years to fix this problem and its only gotten exponentially worse.
Every administration in the last 40 years is responsible. None of them have been successful is slowing down the problem.
I don't think that's true. There have been ebbs and flows. But no administration has went out of their way to make a problem at the border get worse for political purposes, except this one, which has been well documented.
This isn't a situation as they are all bad so this President gets a pass. This one is by far the worst.
I’m not exactly sure of the point of this topic. Are you talking about legal immigration or illegal immigration? There is a huge difference. Immigration itself can’t be lumped into one broad post without defining what immigration you are asking about. That is if you are interested in actually talking about issues and problems.
What ? Yes we all know immigration needs reform ! Are you ok with kids dying in captivity? Are you ok with kids sleeping on the ground with tin foil blankets etc etc are you ok with separating kids from parents? All easy ?s you are either ok with it or your not ..
There's currently like 52,000 migrants in "captivity." I put captivity in quotations because...are they "captured?" Or are they allowed to turn and go back? I ask that seriously because I don't know the answer. And nobody wants to see kids sleeping on the ground in tin foil blankets. But what is the US government to do? Give immediate free room and board to every migrant seeking asylum? They can't do that. But the migrants keep coming and coming. And now there's no room for them all, and that's why there are pictures of kids sleeping on ground.
The separation of kids and families is moronic. I don't think they're doing that anymore (though I'm not sure), but the damage is already done. Many of those kids that were separated from their families around the time of the mid-term election will never see their families again. That's horrible.
Children are still being separated from their families. The Trump administration is exploiting loopholes that were meant to be for rare circumstances. Is anyone surprised?
I am actually a little surprised. I thought there might be enough of a humanitarian outcry/backlash that they'd stop doing this, if for no other reason, political points.
If you read the article, you can see that Nielsen reports that they stopped doing it because there was no political percentage in it; not because it was vile and inhumane, but because it wasn't politically useful. And yet, the practice continues, under the guise of "protecting children".
And that’s unsurprising part: that they don’t give a fuck if it doesn’t hurt then politically. Where has all the outcry gone? The left was up in arms about the family separations during the mid-terms, but I haven’t heard much since.
I’m guessing “the left” doesn’t have much in the way of an alternative plan?
The left is getting exhausted trying to make the right do the right thing.
It might be the time for Trump voters such as yourself to try and hold your representatives to account. That might actually do something, they sure don't give a fuck what anyone on the left thinks.
So...what is “the left’s” alternative “right” plan regarding immigration reform? Your retort is that the left is tired? Really?
The left has offered plenty of plans for immigration reform, some of it bi-partisan (Flake and others).
Your boys McConnell and Trump have no interest to getting a deal done as shown by their actions.
This is a manufactured crisis by design, as has been shown here on this thread many times. Maybe you just aren't paying attention?
So, are you with me in holding the current administrations feet to the fire? They've had 2+ years to fix this problem and its only gotten exponentially worse.
Every administration in the last 40 years is responsible. None of them have been successful is slowing down the problem.
I don't think that's true. There have been ebbs and flows. But no administration has went out of their way to make a problem at the border get worse for political purposes, except this one, which has been well documented.
This isn't a situation as they are all bad so this President gets a pass. This one is by far the worst.
I’m not exactly sure of the point of this topic. Are you talking about legal immigration or illegal immigration? There is a huge difference. Immigration itself can’t be lumped into one broad post without defining what immigration you are asking about. That is if you are interested in actually talking about issues and problems.
What ? Yes we all know immigration needs reform ! Are you ok with kids dying in captivity? Are you ok with kids sleeping on the ground with tin foil blankets etc etc are you ok with separating kids from parents? All easy ?s you are either ok with it or your not ..
There's currently like 52,000 migrants in "captivity." I put captivity in quotations because...are they "captured?" Or are they allowed to turn and go back? I ask that seriously because I don't know the answer. And nobody wants to see kids sleeping on the ground in tin foil blankets. But what is the US government to do? Give immediate free room and board to every migrant seeking asylum? They can't do that. But the migrants keep coming and coming. And now there's no room for them all, and that's why there are pictures of kids sleeping on ground.
The separation of kids and families is moronic. I don't think they're doing that anymore (though I'm not sure), but the damage is already done. Many of those kids that were separated from their families around the time of the mid-term election will never see their families again. That's horrible.
Children are still being separated from their families. The Trump administration is exploiting loopholes that were meant to be for rare circumstances. Is anyone surprised?
I am actually a little surprised. I thought there might be enough of a humanitarian outcry/backlash that they'd stop doing this, if for no other reason, political points.
If you read the article, you can see that Nielsen reports that they stopped doing it because there was no political percentage in it; not because it was vile and inhumane, but because it wasn't politically useful. And yet, the practice continues, under the guise of "protecting children".
And that’s unsurprising part: that they don’t give a fuck if it doesn’t hurt then politically. Where has all the outcry gone? The left was up in arms about the family separations during the mid-terms, but I haven’t heard much since.
I’m guessing “the left” doesn’t have much in the way of an alternative plan?
The left is getting exhausted trying to make the right do the right thing.
It might be the time for Trump voters such as yourself to try and hold your representatives to account. That might actually do something, they sure don't give a fuck what anyone on the left thinks.
So...what is “the left’s” alternative “right” plan regarding immigration reform? Your retort is that the left is tired? Really?
The left has offered plenty of plans for immigration reform, some of it bi-partisan (Flake and others).
Your boys McConnell and Trump have no interest to getting a deal done as shown by their actions.
This is a manufactured crisis by design, as has been shown here on this thread many times. Maybe you just aren't paying attention?
So, are you with me in holding the current administrations feet to the fire? They've had 2+ years to fix this problem and its only gotten exponentially worse.
Every administration in the last 40 years is responsible. None of them have been successful is slowing down the problem.
I don't think that's true. There have been ebbs and flows. But no administration has went out of their way to make a problem at the border get worse for political purposes, except this one, which has been well documented.
This isn't a situation as they are all bad so this President gets a pass. This one is by far the worst.
Particularly in light of Team Trump Treason running on the issue, demonizing immigrants and pronouncing the wall as the only viable solution to stem the flow he created and even with both houses of Congress for his first two years, couldn’t get anything done other than shutting down the gubmint, stealing money from other agencies to pay for repairs and renovations to existing barriers and not build a damn thing. The emperor has no clothes.
I’m not exactly sure of the point of this topic. Are you talking about legal immigration or illegal immigration? There is a huge difference. Immigration itself can’t be lumped into one broad post without defining what immigration you are asking about. That is if you are interested in actually talking about issues and problems.
What ? Yes we all know immigration needs reform ! Are you ok with kids dying in captivity? Are you ok with kids sleeping on the ground with tin foil blankets etc etc are you ok with separating kids from parents? All easy ?s you are either ok with it or your not ..
There's currently like 52,000 migrants in "captivity." I put captivity in quotations because...are they "captured?" Or are they allowed to turn and go back? I ask that seriously because I don't know the answer. And nobody wants to see kids sleeping on the ground in tin foil blankets. But what is the US government to do? Give immediate free room and board to every migrant seeking asylum? They can't do that. But the migrants keep coming and coming. And now there's no room for them all, and that's why there are pictures of kids sleeping on ground.
The separation of kids and families is moronic. I don't think they're doing that anymore (though I'm not sure), but the damage is already done. Many of those kids that were separated from their families around the time of the mid-term election will never see their families again. That's horrible.
Children are still being separated from their families. The Trump administration is exploiting loopholes that were meant to be for rare circumstances. Is anyone surprised?
I am actually a little surprised. I thought there might be enough of a humanitarian outcry/backlash that they'd stop doing this, if for no other reason, political points.
If you read the article, you can see that Nielsen reports that they stopped doing it because there was no political percentage in it; not because it was vile and inhumane, but because it wasn't politically useful. And yet, the practice continues, under the guise of "protecting children".
And that’s unsurprising part: that they don’t give a fuck if it doesn’t hurt then politically. Where has all the outcry gone? The left was up in arms about the family separations during the mid-terms, but I haven’t heard much since.
I’m guessing “the left” doesn’t have much in the way of an alternative plan?
The left is getting exhausted trying to make the right do the right thing.
It might be the time for Trump voters such as yourself to try and hold your representatives to account. That might actually do something, they sure don't give a fuck what anyone on the left thinks.
So...what is “the left’s” alternative “right” plan regarding immigration reform? Your retort is that the left is tired? Really?
The left has offered plenty of plans for immigration reform, some of it bi-partisan (Flake and others).
Your boys McConnell and Trump have no interest to getting a deal done as shown by their actions.
This is a manufactured crisis by design, as has been shown here on this thread many times. Maybe you just aren't paying attention?
So, are you with me in holding the current administrations feet to the fire? They've had 2+ years to fix this problem and its only gotten exponentially worse.
Every administration in the last 40 years is responsible. None of them have been successful is slowing down the problem.
Immigration flow was decreasing for the last decade prior to the last couple years. Pretty ironic....
More tariffs for you Yanks. It's okay though. Trump thinks Mexico will pay for them (I can't believe that actually isn't a joke). This at the exact same time as Trump tries to ram the new trade agreement through before Congress has had enough time to properly review and discuss it. Unreal.
Trump prepares to threaten Mexico with new tariffs in attempt to force migrant crackdown
President Trump is preparing to threaten Mexico with new tariffs as
part of an attempt to force the country to crack down on a surge of
Central American migrants seeking asylum in the United States, according
to three administration officials who described the “big league”
statement Trump teased to reporters Thursday morning.
Trump is
planning to make the announcement Friday but some White House aides are
trying to talk him out of it, arguing that such a threat would rattle
financial markets and potentially imperil passage of the USMCA trade
agreement, according to these officials, who requested anonymity in
order to discuss internal administration plans.
A senior White
House official, however, said there is broad support across the
administration to push Mexico further and that Trump’s announcement is
likely to happen Friday. This official said aides were meeting late
Thursday to make sure the implementation is ready.
The
White House on Thursday sent a draft of the trade deal to Congress in
an attempt to expedite its passage. The deal aims to curb the type of
tariffs Trump is now threatening to impose if Mexico does not stop the
migrants.
The president told reporters outside the White House Thursday morning that he was preparing a “major statement” about the surge.
About
7,000 migrants are waiting to enter the United States via El Paso,
either by the metered number system, or those which are part of the
remain in Mexico policy, Migrant Protection Protocols. (Paul
Ratje/AFP/Getty Images)
“It will be a statement having
to do with the border and having to do with people illegally coming over
the border and it will be my biggest statement so far on the border,”
Trump said.
“This is a big league statement,” he added, without
going into detail. “We are going to do something very dramatic on the
border because people are coming into our country.”
On Wednesday,
more than 1,000 Central Americans crossed into the El Paso area to
surrender to U.S. authorities, the largest group of migrants that U.S.
border agents have taken into custody in a single event.
Trump’s
planned threat would follow immediately after the White House sent a
draft of its new trade agreement to Congress that, if ratified, would
replace the 1994 NAFTA deal. The draft allows Trump to send the final
agreement in 30 days, a timeline that is much faster than House speaker
Nancy Pelosi has said would be acceptable.
It is not clear if
Trump could successfully impose new tariffs under the terms of the USMCA
as it awaits congressional approval. The agreement is intended to limit
tariffs and trade barriers between the United States, Mexico and
Canada.
A Mexican official, speaking on condition of anonymity,
said talks with U.S. officials have remained “positive,” and noted that
Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador was also preparing to send
the deal to lawmakers for approval. The official declined to say
whether the White House has conditioned the trade deal on a migration
crackdown by Mexican authorities.
Jared Kushner, the president’s
son-in-law who has taken responsibility for the relationship with
Mexico, is traveling in the Middle East to promote his potential peace
plan for the region.
U.S. agents have detained more
than 100,000 at the border for the past two months, and the numbers in
May are expected to be the highest yet, DHS officials say.
Post edited by PJ_Soul on
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be careful. Strive to be happy. ~ Desiderata
U.S.
Customs and Border Protection agents in McAllen, Tex., on Wednesday
apprehend a 15-year-old boy found in a drainage ditch after crossing
into the United States from Mexico. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
MCALLEN, Tex. —
Many of the nearly 2,000 unaccompanied migrant children being held in
overcrowded U.S. Border Patrol facilities have been there beyond legally
allowed time limits, including some who are 12 or younger, according to
new government data obtained by The Washington Post.
Federal law
and court orders require that children in Border Patrol custody be
transferred to more-hospitable shelters no longer than 72 hours after
they are apprehended. But some unaccompanied children are spending
longer than a week in Border Patrol stations and processing centers,
according to two Customs and Border Protection officials and two other
government officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss
the unreleased data. One government official said about half of the
children in custody — 1,000 — have been with the Border Patrol for
longer than 72 hours, and another official said that more than 250
children 12 or younger have been in custody for an average of six days.
Because the crush of migration at the southern border
in recent months has overwhelmed U.S. immigration infrastructure,
initial incarceration for the tens of thousands of unaccompanied
children who have arrived there has averaged four days, the officials
said.
“I
don’t have any beds, because we’re meant to be short-term processing —
not even holding,” one CBP official said of the agency’s facilities here
in the Rio Grande Valley, at which some children are sleeping on mats
on the floor. “I have stools and benches, but I have no beds. . . . Our
facilities are not built for long-term holding, and they’re certainly
not built to house children for very long at all.”
The
government agencies responsible for the care, transport and sheltering
of the unaccompanied children have described a bureaucratic tangle
linked largely to the influx of youths, passing the blame for the
delays. Because the Border Patrol is the first agency to have them in
custody, it has been seeing the backup directly in its stations along
the southern border.
Border
officials said the immigration system is so overwhelmed that the normal
conduits meant to funnel children out of Border Patrol custody and into
Department of Health and Human Services shelters have broken down.
Migrants are arriving faster than Customs and Border Protection can
process them. Immigration and Customs Enforcement typically transfers
the children to HHS shelters, but it said the Department of Homeland
Security — which oversees ICE and CBP — has been facing “numerous
operational challenges,” according to a spokesman.
HHS officials
said that the agency is aware that 2,000 children are detained and
awaiting transfer and that it has space for them — but they said the
agency’s responsibility for the minors begins only once they are
delivered to the department’s custody. DHS officials at multiple
agencies said HHS is not placing children in shelters fast enough.
A
migrant who was picked up in a group of about 100 in Los Ebanos, Tex.,
is loaded into a transport van Wednesday. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington
Post)
Migrants’ shoelaces are removed as they wait to be searched Wednesday in Havana, Tex. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
Migrants’ belongings are sealed in bags after their apprehension in Los Ebanos. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
Border
Patrol has apprehended nearly 45,000 unaccompanied children since
October, according to government data. A spokesman for HHS, whose Office
of Refugee Resettlement is tasked with providing longer-term shelters
for those children, said border authorities had referred approximately
40,800 unaccompanied children to its custody as of the end of April.
That marked a 57 percent increase from the previous year, and HHS said
it is on pace to care for the largest number of unaccompanied minors in
the program’s history this fiscal year.
As of May 19, HHS said there were approximately 13,200 unaccompanied children in its custody.
The
U.S. government ranks unaccompanied children as the most vulnerable of
the migrants that cross into the United States each year. They are more
susceptible to illness, trauma and abuse during and after an arduous
journey north from Central America. They pose unique challenges for the
U.S. government because of their health and care needs and because they
cannot be immediately deported or released.
Following
regular protocols, Border Patrol, a law enforcement agency, must
quickly process children and then notify the Office of Refugee
Resettlement. That agency then designates a shelter placement —
sometimes thousands of miles away in places such as New York and
Massachusetts. The refugee office then coordinates the child’s movement
with Border Patrol and ICE.
All
of it is meant to happen within 72 hours of a child’s apprehension,
barring what U.S. law generally refers to as “extraordinary
circumstances.” Instead, a crushing backlog of detainees has turned
extraordinary into average.
The backlogs are heaviest here in the
Rio Grande Valley — the most-trafficked stretch of border in the nation
— where authorities liken their daily operations to a form of triage,
regularly transferring children and others from concrete cells to
military-grade tents to other stations that have more space.
The
McAllen Border Patrol station, a facility near the southern tip of Texas
that is routinely overwhelmed, was holding 775 people Tuesday, nearly
double its capacity.
The Washington Post this week made a rare
visit inside the facility, where adults and their toddler children were
packed into concrete holding cells, many of them sleeping head-to-foot
on the floor and along the wall-length benches, as they awaited
processing at a sparsely staffed circle of computers known as “the
bubble.” Hallways and offices previously designated for photocopying and
other tasks now held crates and boxes of bread, juice, animal crackers,
baby formula and diapers.
(continued in next post)
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be careful. Strive to be happy. ~ Desiderata
One
cell held adolescent boys, many of whom stood in the small space,
peering out through a glass wall. One stood urinating behind the low
wall that obscured the toilet in back. In the adjacent cell, several
boys who appeared to be of elementary school age slept curled up on
concrete benches, a few clutching Mylar emergency blankets. Outside in
the parking lot, a chain-link fence enclosure held dozens of women and
children, many of them eschewing the air-conditioned tents to lie on the
pavement.
Migrants
and Border Patrol agents outside the McAllen, Tex., border station in a
makeshift encampment this month. (Loren Elliott/Reuters)
Officials
did not allow a visit to the larger central processing center nearby,
where they said they try to send all unaccompanied minors upon their
arrest and where they remain until they are transferred. There,
detainees have access to showers and contractor-provided meals. The
processing center was meant to be a stopgap measure when it was
constructed to accommodate 1,000 people after the migrant-family spike
in 2014, and it has since been extended to accommodate 500 more, said
Xavier L. Rios Jr., the deputy patrol agent in charge of the station.
Rios
said Border Patrol officials in Texas were often forced to hold
unaccompanied children for five to 15 days in 2014, when the federal
agencies were less equipped to handle the influx. Attorneys for children
held in custody say such extended detentions are a flagrant violation
of the law, a 1997 consent decree known as the Flores Settlement
Agreement, and CBP guidelines.
Carlos
Holguín, a lawyer in the Flores case, said this week that he had never
heard of so many children held beyond the limit. He called the trend
“disturbing.”
“Children are supposed to be transferred out of
those facilities rapidly,” Holguín said. “The system does not seem to be
working if it’s taking that long.”
Experts say transferring
children out of detention facilities as quickly as possible is critical,
especially for “tender age” children — those 12 or younger, who face
physical and mental health issues even during short periods in
detention. They sleep fitfully, do not eat well and suffer anxiety, said
Amy Cohen, a child psychiatrist and expert witness in the Flores case.
“We
know their experiences are horrible,” Cohen said. “It’s a very, very
scary place. . . . Kids will tell me, even if they’ve been there for two
days, they will have flashbacks about it. They have nightmares about
it. Children absolutely experience this as a trauma. You can see it in
their faces.”
Many
also end up with respiratory or other infectious illnesses because they
are housed in close quarters. Officials in recent weeks have spotted
cases of chickenpox and scabies, moving quickly to isolate the sick from
others.
Six children — five from Guatemala and one from El Salvador — have died after being taken into federal custody at the border since
September. A teenager who had contracted the flu died last week in the
Rio Grande Valley while in Border Patrol custody, leading agents to
identify a small-scale flu outbreak.
Families wait to be searched and loaded into transport vans in Los Ebanos. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
Families wait to be processed in Los Ebanos. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
Border
Patrol officials say there are 6,400 people in custody in the Rio
Grande Valley, including 931 unaccompanied children. The facilities are
so overcrowded that officials say roughly 40 percent of the sector’s
3,100 Border Patrol agents are working on processing new migrant
detainees at any given time.
That
has left fewer agents out in the vast and wild tangle of brush that
stretches for hundreds of miles along the twisting Rio Grande.
Agents
on Tuesday morning struggled to pick up and transport more than 170
people — nearly all of them families with small children — that emerged
from across the river in the space of an hour.
One group of more
than 100 people had crossed in rafts before dawn, and as the sky
lightened they sat in the dirt — exhausted parents cradling sleeping
babies beneath a cluster of mesquite trees — as a pair of agents
collected basic information, instructed them to place the few personal
belongings they had carried into plastic bags, and called for transport.
Among
the group were five children who had traveled alone, including a
10-year-old boy from Honduras who was wearing an adult’s oversize
sweatshirt. He was trying to get to his mother in Lafayette, La., he
said, producing from his pocket a folded piece of paper with her phone
number on it.
A thin, bleary-eyed 10-year-old from Honduras said
she was en route to reunite with her father in Ohio, but she was not
sure where. A 16-year-old Guatemalan in rectangular glasses said he was
heading to Florida. And a 17-year-old Honduran said he hoped to reach
his brother in Houston.
On a dirt road a few miles away, a sole
Border Patrol agent was simultaneously running through the same routine
with about 30 people, also families and unaccompanied children, also
waiting for pickup. And less than a mile from him, a local police
officer who had radioed CBP for assistance was standing with 40 more.
“It’s
a daily battle,” said one agent who spoke on the condition of anonymity
to comment candidly about the work at the border. “You catch a thousand
people a day, and then you can only process 750 a day. The agents are
working their tails off trying to get this squared away, but it’s a
daily struggle with the amount of people we’re encountering.”
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be careful. Strive to be happy. ~ Desiderata
I have only been along the US/Mexico border in San Diego...could the US and Mexico not build climate controlled holding centres along the border...just low-quality apartment type facilities where families stay together, with cafeteria type food service and laundry services? At least that would be humane and it would keep families together.
I do agree with Trump, Mexico needs to step up and slow some of the flow from their southern borders. But then again, the US is not stopping people from illegally crossing into Canada. Maybe Canada needs a wall...s/
i live in a country that has no land borders. the majority of people who are in australia 'illegally' are ones that overstay their visas...so by law they actually are illegal. how we deal with people headed towards australia 'illegally', by boat is to ship them off to detention in a third country and more or less wipe our hands of the matter. it is not illegal to seek asylum in another country, in fact its a right we all have. lets hope we never have to use it.
hear my name
take a good look
this could be the day
hold my hand
lie beside me
i just need to say
House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), along with other Democratic
representatives, speaks to the media about the American Dream and
Promise Act at the Capitol on June 4.
The
House on Tuesday passed a bill that would offer a path to citizenship
to more than 2 million undocumented immigrants, including “dreamers” who
were brought to the United States as children.
The vote was 237-to-187 for the American Dream and Promise Act of 2019,
which would grant dreamers 10 years of legal residence status if they
meet certain requirements. They would then receive permanent green cards
after completing at least two years of higher education or military
service, or after working for three years.
Cheers
erupted in the chamber when the bill got the necessary votes along with
chants of “yes we can.” Only seven Republicans broke ranks to join
Democrats in backing the bill.
The measure would
provide long-awaited clarity to the millions of dreamers who have been
caught in legal limbo amid years of partisan maneuvering on the issue.
The Obama administration granted work permits to many of them through
the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, but President
Trump ended the program in late 2017. Its fate rests with the Supreme
Court, which may take up the issue in the coming months.
Democrats
are proposing the bill as Trump and Republicans argue that more needs
to be done to address the humanitarian crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border,
underscoring that the parties are approaching the issue of immigration
overhaul from markedly different perspectives.
“This
is legislation that is consistent with who we are as Americans, as an
aspirational people, as a nation of immigrants and as a place where
people can come to pursue the American Dream,” Rep. Hakeem Jeffries
(N.Y.), chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, told reporters ahead of
Tuesday’s vote.
Versions of the bill have been
introduced in Congress over the years but never passed despite support
among members of both parties. The debate over the legislation has been
emotional at times; in 2010, more than 60 young people crowded into the Senate gallery to push for passage of a previous version of the bill known as the Dream Act. The chamber ultimately defeated the measure.
Rep.
Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Calif.), the lead sponsor of the current bill,
noted that Tuesday will mark “the first time the Dream Act will be
passed by a chamber of Congress as a top Democratic priority.”
The House measure was introduced in March. That same month, two groups of senators introduced similar legislation
that would protect dreamers. One bill was authored by Sens. Lindsey O.
Graham (R-S.C.) and Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.). The other was introduced
by a group of Democrats, including Sens. Chris Van Hollen (Md.), Ben
Cardin (Md.), Dianne Feinstein (Calif.) and Tim Kaine (Va.).
House
Democratic leaders on Tuesday voiced optimism that Senate Majority
Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) would bring up the legislation in the
Senate.
“There should be nothing partisan or
political about this legislation,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)
said at a news conference where she was flanked by other Democrats and
supporters of the measure. “We are proud to pass it, we hope, in a
bipartisan way.”
But
it is unlikely that the Senate will consider the bill: McConnell and
other Senate Republican leaders made no mention of the bill at their
weekly news conference Tuesday afternoon.
The measure’s consideration comes more than a year after the Senate rejected
four competing immigration proposals. Among those proposals was one
backed by Trump that included citizenship for dreamers, billions of
dollars in funding for the president’s U.S.-Mexico border wall and
changes to laws to speed up deportations, as well as sharp cuts to legal
immigration.
As the 2020 presidential race heats up, Trump has taken a host of actions
— such as declaring a national emergency over his border wall and
threatening tariffs on imports from Mexico — that suggest that
immigration will be a central focus of his reelection campaign.
House
Republicans contended Tuesday that Democrats have not offered a
proposal to pay for the legislation, which the Congressional Budget
Office estimates would cost more than $30 billion.
They also argued that the bill does not include funding for border security or reforms to U.S. asylum laws, an issue that Trump emphasized in a White House memo in April proposing fees for those applying for humanitarian relief.
“If
Democrats were serious about immigration, they would do something about
the humanitarian and national security crisis along our southern
border, but Speaker Pelosi has chosen to spend the House’s time on H.R.
6, an expensive, partisan show vote,” House Minority Whip Steve Scalise
(R-La.) said in a statement.
Rep. Douglas A.
Collins (Ga.), the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, said
that his party wants to provide legal status to DACA recipients, but
“we want to do it the right way — to minimize fraud, ensure criminals
cannot get legal status and bolster border security.”
“Sadly,
Democrats are making us consider a bill to worsen the border crisis by
incentivizing more people to cross our borders illegally in hopes of
getting a piece of the amnesty pie,” Collins said. “No doubt at this
very minute, the smuggling cartels are getting the word out: Congress is
going to legalize millions.”
In addition to
dreamers, Tuesday’s bill would offer protections to people with
temporary protected status, which has allowed people from El Salvador,
Haiti, Honduras and other countries to avoid being deported to nations
engulfed in war or affected by natural disasters.
A
smaller group of Liberians that has been granted “deferred enforced
departure” also would be protected. Trump also has sought to end these
protections, spurring lawsuits that halted at least one of the efforts.
Immigrants
with temporary protected status or deferred deportations could
immediately apply for green cards if they have been in the country for
at least three years, had their status as of September 2016 and pass
background checks. Five years after obtaining a green card, members of
both groups could apply for citizenship.
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be careful. Strive to be happy. ~ Desiderata
Can’t read it. Not paying for the Washington post. Kinda interesting really.... I’m unsure how i feel about the English and soccer. I’ll see if I can find it elsewhere to read
Can’t read it. Not paying for the Washington post. Kinda interesting really.... I’m unsure how i feel about the English and soccer. I’ll see if I can find it elsewhere to read
Some of us do pay for The Post. You can just ask us to paste it (I actually always try to remember to do that with The Post, since I know there is a paywall). Here you go:
Migrant
children play soccer at the Homestead Temporary Shelter for
Unaccompanied Children in Homestead, Fla., on April 19. The Trump
administration is canceling educational and recreational programs at
such shelters, saying the government has run out of funding for them
amid a crush of migrants crossing the border. (Wilfredo Lee/AP)
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.
Surging
migration at the southern border has been overwhelming the U.S.
immigration system and has been fueling the budget strain at HHS
facilities, as the country has been seeing a record number of families
and children coming in from Mexico. On Wednesday, U.S. authorities said more than 144,000 migrants were taken into custody in May, a 32 percent jump from April and by far the largest one-month arrest total since President Trump took office.
Children
who arrive with or without a parent accounted for nearly 40 percent of
U.S. Customs and Border Protection apprehensions in May, the latest
figures show.
The
move to curtail services for unaccompanied minors — revealed in an
email that an HHS official sent to licensed shelters last week, a
message that has been obtained by The Washington Post — could run afoul
of a federal court settlement and state-licensing requirements that
mandate education and recreation for minors in federal custody. Carlos
Holguin, a lawyer who represents minors in a long- running
lawsuit that spurred a 1997 federal court settlement that sets basic
standards of care for children in custody, immediately slammed the cuts
as illegal.
'Conditions are not acceptable': Acting DHS secretary testifies on migrant detention facilities
Kevin McAleenan, the acting
homeland security secretary, acknowledged May 22 during a House hearing
the deteriorating conditions at migrant detention centers.
(Reuters)
“We’ll see them in court if they go through with it,”
Holguin said. “What’s next? Drinking water? Food? . . . Where are they
going to stop?”
An HHS official sent an email Thursday to
shelters notifying them that the government will not pay for education
or recreational activities retroactive to May 22, including related
personnel costs. The official characterized those costs as
“unallowable.”
Holguin said schooling and exercise are “fundamental to the care of youngsters.”
A
shelter employee, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to address
the internal government directive, said the Trump administration’s cuts
have alarmed workers, who fear that the quality of care for the children
will suffer. The employee said educational classes and sports
activities are crucial to maintaining physical and mental health while
the children are in custody.
“What are you going to do all day?”
the shelter employee said. “If you’re not going to have any sort of
organized recreation or physical activity, what are you going to do,
just let them sit in their rooms?”
Children
line up to enter a tent at the Homestead Temporary Shelter for
Unaccompanied Children in Homestead, Fla., in February. (Wilfredo
Lee/AP)
Democratic lawmakers and advocates for
immigrants blasted the Trump administration for a policy decision that
will directly affect children who already are in difficult situations.
Many of the unaccompanied minors who appear at the border are fleeing
gang violence and extreme poverty in Central America; the services they
receive at U.S. shelters are part of their recovery and provide some
amount of diversion as they await placement.
(Continued in next post)
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be careful. Strive to be happy. ~ Desiderata
Mary
Meg McCarthy, executive director of the National Immigrant Justice
Center, said she fears that the cuts are an effort to pressure Congress
to fund the Trump administration’s broader immigration agenda. She
called it “another ploy to secure tax dollars to lock people up.”
Amnesty International USA called the cuts “unconscionable.”
Breaking point: Five hours of the migrant crush in Texas
Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (D-Fla.) decried the cuts that would affect
facilities like the Homestead Temporary Shelter for Unaccompanied
Children in Homestead, Fla., where many unaccompanied minors go after
they are apprehended. She and others this week called on HHS to close
Homestead, on the southern tip of Florida, urging the agency to send
minors there to smaller, nonprofit facilities. HHS has said it is
planning to expand Homestead from 2,350 to 3,200 beds.
“These are
children that are going through tremendous suffering,” Mucarsel-Powell
said. “If the Trump administration does cancel these basic necessities
like education, exercise and legal services, they are robbing them of
their humanity.”
Lawyers
said denying migrants access to legal services could put them in
danger, because they will lack the ability to defend themselves against
possible deportation to the countries they fled.
“We are deeply
troubled that these services are being cut for children, who are among
the most vulnerable population of immigrants in detention,” said Kica
Matos, director of the Center on Immigration and Justice at the Vera
Institute of Justice, which manages the legal-aid programs for the
federal government. She said HHS had not notified the organization about
the cuts.
Joella
Brooks, interim CEO of Southwest Key Programs, which shelters hundreds
of minors in Texas and other states, told staff in an email obtained by
The Post that she is working with the government “to understand the
reasons behind this decision and what, if anything, we can do to
continue offering these vital services.”
“In
the meantime, remember the service, encouragement and compassion you
provide to these youth every day matters a great deal,” she wrote.
“Please continue to stay focused on taking good care of them.”
Yolo
County, which has a contract to shelter up to 24 minors — generally
boys — in a secure setting in California, expressed concern that the HHS
directive might conflict with the 1997 federal court settlement. Among
the services it provides children are a library, a game room, movie
nights, art classes, poetry writing and pet therapy.
“For the
time being, we are not making any changes to programming for the
minors,” said county spokeswoman Beth Gabor. “We can’t rule out changes
in the future if costs are effectively shifted to the county.”
Trump
declared a national emergency at the border in February and has urged
Congress to pass $4.5 billion in emergency border funding, including
$2.9 billion for HHS. The administration also is pushing for more
funding for enforcement operations.
Customs and Border Protection apprehended 11,507 unaccompanied minors in May, a 29 percent jump from the month befor
May
was the third month in a row that border detentions topped 100,000, led
by record-breaking levels of illegal crossings by Guatemalan and
Honduran parents bringing children. Of the 144,278 taken into CBP
custody in May, 132,887 were apprehended after crossing illegally by
Border Patrol agents, and 11,391 were deemed “inadmissible” after
arriving at U.S. ports of entry.
“We
are in a full-blown emergency, and I cannot say this stronger: The
system is broken,” said acting CBP commissioner John Sanders.
Sanders
said his agency has detained more than 680,000 border crossers in the
past eight months, noting that the total is “more than the population of
Miami.”
Most parents who arrive with children are quickly
processed and released into the U.S. interior with a court appointment, a
practice that Department of Homeland Security officials characterize as
a loophole migrants are exploiting to gain easy entry to the country.
Trump administration officials want lawmakers to give them the authority
to detain parents and children long enough to process their immigration
cases, rather than continuing the releases they say have become the
biggest “pull factor” for unauthorized migration.
The
May figure amounts to a 182 percent increase over May 2018, and it is a
sixfold leap from May 2017, when border arrests were near their lowest
level in half a century and U.S. authorities detained fewer than 20,000.
HHS
officials said they have warned Congress for months that the border
influx is straining its budget and that the federal Anti-Deficiency Act
requires them to prioritize essential services.
“As we have
said, we have a humanitarian crisis at the border brought on by a broken
immigration system that is putting tremendous strain on the Office of
Refugee Resettlement and its Unaccompanied Alien Children program,”
Weber, the HHS spokesman, said Wednesday.
U.S.
Customs and Border Protection agents apprehend a 15-year-old boy who
had just crossed from Mexico into the United States on May 29 in
McAllen, Tex. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro (D-Conn.), chair of the House Appropriations
subcommittee on labor, health and human services, and education, said
she would support emergency funding for unaccompanied minors if the
federal government could ensure that the children are held in
state-licensed shelters and discharged quickly to sponsors. She said
many children “languish for months.”
“Congressional
Republicans need to stop holding up the emergency supplemental
negotiations and agree to necessary and reasonable protections to ensure
the health and safety of the thousands of unaccompanied children,”
DeLauro said.
More than 40,800 unaccompanied children havebeen
placed in HHS custody after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border this fiscal
year, a 57 percent increase from last year that is putting the Office
of Refugee Resettlement on track to care for the largest number of
minors in the program’s history. Federal law requires Homeland Security
to move unaccompanied minors from austere border jails to more
child-appropriate shelters, and they must do so swiftly.
Federal
shelters had an overall average of 12,500 minors — mostly teenagers —
nationwide during April, according to HHS. They stayed an average of 48
days while waiting for a case worker to place them with a sponsor,
usually a relative. While they wait in the shelters, minors attend
school, study math and English, and participate in extracurricular
activities such as table tennis, soccer and other sports.
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be careful. Strive to be happy. ~ Desiderata
Can’t read it. Not paying for the Washington post. Kinda interesting really.... I’m unsure how i feel about the English and soccer. I’ll see if I can find it elsewhere to read
I use Chrome as my browser. I right click the link and select "open link in incognito window". WaPo's paywall must track cookies or IP or something, and gives you x number of free articles, but when you go incognito, it doesn't track that and just lets you in. This trick doesn't work with all paywalls, but seems to work with WaPo.
"I'll use the magic word - let's just shut the fuck up, please." EV, 04/13/08
Can’t read it. Not paying for the Washington post. Kinda interesting really.... I’m unsure how i feel about the English and soccer. I’ll see if I can find it elsewhere to read
I use Chrome as my browser. I right click the link and select "open link in incognito window". WaPo's paywall must track cookies or IP or something, and gives you x number of free articles, but when you go incognito, it doesn't track that and just lets you in. This trick doesn't work with all paywalls, but seems to work with WaPo.
President Trump renewed his
tariff threat against Mexico June 6 and dismissed Republican senators
who have expressed concerns about his plan.
(Reuters)
U.S.
and Mexican officials are discussing the outlines of a deal that would
dramatically increase Mexico’s immigration enforcement efforts and give
the United States far more latitude to deport Central Americans seeking
asylum, according to a U.S. official and a Mexican official who
cautioned that the accord is not finalized and that President Trump
might not accept it.
Faced with Trump’s threat
to impose escalating tariffs on Mexican goods beginning Monday, Mexican
officials have pledged to deploy up to 6,000 National Guard troops to
the country’s border region with Guatemala, a show of force they say
will make immediate reductions in the number of Central Americans
heading north toward the U.S. border.
The
Mexican official and the U.S. official said the countries are
negotiating a sweeping plan to overhaul asylum rules across the region, a
move that would require Central Americans to seek refuge in the first
foreign country they set foot upon after fleeing their homeland.
Under
such a plan, the United States would swiftly deport Guatemalan asylum
seekers who set foot on U.S. soil to Mexico. And the United States would
send Honduran and Salvadoran asylum applicants to Guatemala, whose
government held talks with acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin
McAleenan last week.
The officials described the
accord’s framework on the condition of anonymity, citing the
sensitivity of the international negotiations, but they expressed
optimism that the deal was attainable. Officials from both countries
said they did not know if the terms would assuage Trump and alleviate
the tariff threat; Trump plans to charge a 5 percent tariff on Mexican
goods unless the country can show it will take steps to reduce the flow
of migrants streaming to the U.S. border.
Significant
differences remain about how quickly and how much Mexico can reduce
unauthorized migration through tougher enforcement measures, the U.S.
official said. Last month, U.S. authorities made more than 144,000
arrests along the southern border, the highest level in 13 years.
Mexican president announces 'unity rally' on border amid U.S. trade tensions
Mexican president Andrés
Manuel López Obrador said he is "confident" a trade deal will be reached
with the U.S. and announced a "unity" event in Tijuana June 8.
(Reuters)
Mexico has told the United States
that the National Guard deployment — along with promises to build more
migrant detention centers and checkpoints to catch Central Americans and
deter their passage — will quickly reduce migration flows to the levels
of last fall, when arrests averaged about 50,000 per month.
Trump
officials have told Mexico that is not enough, making it clear that the
White House will only be satisfied with a return to the numbers tallied
in the months after Trump was inaugurated, when arrests fell below
20,000, the lowest level in half a century.
U.S.
authorities continue to push for a more forceful and intimidating
enforcement approach from Mexico, while Mexico is urging the United
States to address the underlying structural problems in Central America —
poverty, violence and drought — that are driving emigration.
Trump gave indications Thursday that the talks had made progress, but he told reporters that he had not made up his mind.
“Something
pretty dramatic could happen,” he said, referring to the talks with
Mexican diplomats, which continued Thursday in Washington. “We’ve told
Mexico the tariffs go on. And I mean it, too.”
Trump
also dismissed Republican senators who have threatened to block his
tariff plans, saying they “have no idea what they’re talking about when
it comes to tariffs.”
Trump spoke before
leaving Shannon, Ireland, for Normandy, France, where he took part in
ceremonies commemorating the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings that
helped turn the tide of World War II.
On
Capitol Hill, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard E. Neal
(D-Mass.) said he would introduce a resolution of disapproval if the
president proceeds with the planned tariffs. Lawmakers could thwart
Trump’s import tax plan only if they can deliver a two-thirds vote,
enough to override a presidential veto.
“The
president’s proposed tariffs would hurt American workers, businesses,
and consumers. Commandeering U.S. trade policy to influence border
security is an abuse of power,” Neal said. “If the president does
declare a national emergency and attempt to put these tariffs into
place, I will introduce a resolution of disapproval to stop his
overreach.”
In
Mexico City, meanwhile, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador
said he was “optimistic” that the two sides would reach an accord.
The
Trump administration is demanding that Mexican authorities intensify
efforts to prevent Central American migrants from crossing Mexico to
reach the United States.
Trump threatened last
week to impose a 5 percent tariff on all goods imported from Mexico
starting June 10 to force the Mexican government to address what his
administration calls a migration “emergency.”
If
Mexico fails to satisfy Trump, the tariff would increase by 5
percentage points at the start of subsequent months until it hits 25
percent on Oct. 1.
Vice President Pence, who
led Wednesday’s talks, said the two sides had “a good discussion.” But
the Mexican government’s proposed remedies were “not nearly enough,” he
said.
“We need Mexico to do more,” Pence said.
In
May, U.S. border agents detained roughly 144,000 people trying to enter
the country without authorization — almost three times the figure from
the same month one year ago.
Talks were scheduled to continue Thursday at the State Department.
Speaking
at a news conference, López Obrador announced plans to travel to the
border city of Tijuana, where he said he would hold a “unity” rally on
Saturday to “defend the dignity of Mexico” and support “friendship with
the United States.”
López Obrador said without
providing details that the event would be open to the public and would
feature politicians, religious figures and business leaders.
(Continued in next post)
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be careful. Strive to be happy. ~ Desiderata
Comments
But I am with you on holding administrations accountable to get some reform of the immigration system, just haven’t seen many good ideas.
6th child died back in sept 2018 I guess never reported damn not sure what can be said anymore..
This isn't a situation as they are all bad so this President gets a pass. This one is by far the worst.
Libtardaplorable©. And proud of it.
Brilliantati©
Great care these kids receive in America ha ...
Now we have this vile human trampling the immigrants yet yet he will vote to ban abortions!
Trump prepares to threaten Mexico with new tariffs in attempt to force migrant crackdown
President Trump is preparing to threaten Mexico with new tariffs as part of an attempt to force the country to crack down on a surge of Central American migrants seeking asylum in the United States, according to three administration officials who described the “big league” statement Trump teased to reporters Thursday morning.
Trump is planning to make the announcement Friday but some White House aides are trying to talk him out of it, arguing that such a threat would rattle financial markets and potentially imperil passage of the USMCA trade agreement, according to these officials, who requested anonymity in order to discuss internal administration plans.
A senior White House official, however, said there is broad support across the administration to push Mexico further and that Trump’s announcement is likely to happen Friday. This official said aides were meeting late Thursday to make sure the implementation is ready.
The White House on Thursday sent a draft of the trade deal to Congress in an attempt to expedite its passage. The deal aims to curb the type of tariffs Trump is now threatening to impose if Mexico does not stop the migrants.
The president told reporters outside the White House Thursday morning that he was preparing a “major statement” about the surge.
“It will be a statement having to do with the border and having to do with people illegally coming over the border and it will be my biggest statement so far on the border,” Trump said.
“This is a big league statement,” he added, without going into detail. “We are going to do something very dramatic on the border because people are coming into our country.”
On Wednesday, more than 1,000 Central Americans crossed into the El Paso area to surrender to U.S. authorities, the largest group of migrants that U.S. border agents have taken into custody in a single event.
Trump’s planned threat would follow immediately after the White House sent a draft of its new trade agreement to Congress that, if ratified, would replace the 1994 NAFTA deal. The draft allows Trump to send the final agreement in 30 days, a timeline that is much faster than House speaker Nancy Pelosi has said would be acceptable.
It is not clear if Trump could successfully impose new tariffs under the terms of the USMCA as it awaits congressional approval. The agreement is intended to limit tariffs and trade barriers between the United States, Mexico and Canada.
A Mexican official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said talks with U.S. officials have remained “positive,” and noted that Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador was also preparing to send the deal to lawmakers for approval. The official declined to say whether the White House has conditioned the trade deal on a migration crackdown by Mexican authorities.
Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law who has taken responsibility for the relationship with Mexico, is traveling in the Middle East to promote his potential peace plan for the region.
U.S. agents have detained more than 100,000 at the border for the past two months, and the numbers in May are expected to be the highest yet, DHS officials say.
Hundreds of minors held at U.S. border facilities are there beyond legal time limits
U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents in McAllen, Tex., on Wednesday apprehend a 15-year-old boy found in a drainage ditch after crossing into the United States from Mexico. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
MCALLEN, Tex. — Many of the nearly 2,000 unaccompanied migrant children being held in overcrowded U.S. Border Patrol facilities have been there beyond legally allowed time limits, including some who are 12 or younger, according to new government data obtained by The Washington Post.
Federal law and court orders require that children in Border Patrol custody be transferred to more-hospitable shelters no longer than 72 hours after they are apprehended. But some unaccompanied children are spending longer than a week in Border Patrol stations and processing centers, according to two Customs and Border Protection officials and two other government officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the unreleased data. One government official said about half of the children in custody — 1,000 — have been with the Border Patrol for longer than 72 hours, and another official said that more than 250 children 12 or younger have been in custody for an average of six days.
Because the crush of migration at the southern border in recent months has overwhelmed U.S. immigration infrastructure, initial incarceration for the tens of thousands of unaccompanied children who have arrived there has averaged four days, the officials said.
“I don’t have any beds, because we’re meant to be short-term processing — not even holding,” one CBP official said of the agency’s facilities here in the Rio Grande Valley, at which some children are sleeping on mats on the floor. “I have stools and benches, but I have no beds. . . . Our facilities are not built for long-term holding, and they’re certainly not built to house children for very long at all.”
The government agencies responsible for the care, transport and sheltering of the unaccompanied children have described a bureaucratic tangle linked largely to the influx of youths, passing the blame for the delays. Because the Border Patrol is the first agency to have them in custody, it has been seeing the backup directly in its stations along the southern border.
Border officials said the immigration system is so overwhelmed that the normal conduits meant to funnel children out of Border Patrol custody and into Department of Health and Human Services shelters have broken down. Migrants are arriving faster than Customs and Border Protection can process them. Immigration and Customs Enforcement typically transfers the children to HHS shelters, but it said the Department of Homeland Security — which oversees ICE and CBP — has been facing “numerous operational challenges,” according to a spokesman.
HHS officials said that the agency is aware that 2,000 children are detained and awaiting transfer and that it has space for them — but they said the agency’s responsibility for the minors begins only once they are delivered to the department’s custody. DHS officials at multiple agencies said HHS is not placing children in shelters fast enough.
A migrant who was picked up in a group of about 100 in Los Ebanos, Tex., is loaded into a transport van Wednesday. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
Border Patrol has apprehended nearly 45,000 unaccompanied children since October, according to government data. A spokesman for HHS, whose Office of Refugee Resettlement is tasked with providing longer-term shelters for those children, said border authorities had referred approximately 40,800 unaccompanied children to its custody as of the end of April. That marked a 57 percent increase from the previous year, and HHS said it is on pace to care for the largest number of unaccompanied minors in the program’s history this fiscal year.
As of May 19, HHS said there were approximately 13,200 unaccompanied children in its custody.
The U.S. government ranks unaccompanied children as the most vulnerable of the migrants that cross into the United States each year. They are more susceptible to illness, trauma and abuse during and after an arduous journey north from Central America. They pose unique challenges for the U.S. government because of their health and care needs and because they cannot be immediately deported or released.
Following regular protocols, Border Patrol, a law enforcement agency, must quickly process children and then notify the Office of Refugee Resettlement. That agency then designates a shelter placement — sometimes thousands of miles away in places such as New York and Massachusetts. The refugee office then coordinates the child’s movement with Border Patrol and ICE.
All of it is meant to happen within 72 hours of a child’s apprehension, barring what U.S. law generally refers to as “extraordinary circumstances.” Instead, a crushing backlog of detainees has turned extraordinary into average.
The backlogs are heaviest here in the Rio Grande Valley — the most-trafficked stretch of border in the nation — where authorities liken their daily operations to a form of triage, regularly transferring children and others from concrete cells to military-grade tents to other stations that have more space.
The McAllen Border Patrol station, a facility near the southern tip of Texas that is routinely overwhelmed, was holding 775 people Tuesday, nearly double its capacity.
The Washington Post this week made a rare visit inside the facility, where adults and their toddler children were packed into concrete holding cells, many of them sleeping head-to-foot on the floor and along the wall-length benches, as they awaited processing at a sparsely staffed circle of computers known as “the bubble.” Hallways and offices previously designated for photocopying and other tasks now held crates and boxes of bread, juice, animal crackers, baby formula and diapers.
(continued in next post)One cell held adolescent boys, many of whom stood in the small space, peering out through a glass wall. One stood urinating behind the low wall that obscured the toilet in back. In the adjacent cell, several boys who appeared to be of elementary school age slept curled up on concrete benches, a few clutching Mylar emergency blankets. Outside in the parking lot, a chain-link fence enclosure held dozens of women and children, many of them eschewing the air-conditioned tents to lie on the pavement.
Migrants and Border Patrol agents outside the McAllen, Tex., border station in a makeshift encampment this month. (Loren Elliott/Reuters)
Officials did not allow a visit to the larger central processing center nearby, where they said they try to send all unaccompanied minors upon their arrest and where they remain until they are transferred. There, detainees have access to showers and contractor-provided meals. The processing center was meant to be a stopgap measure when it was constructed to accommodate 1,000 people after the migrant-family spike in 2014, and it has since been extended to accommodate 500 more, said Xavier L. Rios Jr., the deputy patrol agent in charge of the station.
Rios said Border Patrol officials in Texas were often forced to hold unaccompanied children for five to 15 days in 2014, when the federal agencies were less equipped to handle the influx. Attorneys for children held in custody say such extended detentions are a flagrant violation of the law, a 1997 consent decree known as the Flores Settlement Agreement, and CBP guidelines.
Carlos Holguín, a lawyer in the Flores case, said this week that he had never heard of so many children held beyond the limit. He called the trend “disturbing.”
“Children are supposed to be transferred out of those facilities rapidly,” Holguín said. “The system does not seem to be working if it’s taking that long.”
Experts say transferring children out of detention facilities as quickly as possible is critical, especially for “tender age” children — those 12 or younger, who face physical and mental health issues even during short periods in detention. They sleep fitfully, do not eat well and suffer anxiety, said Amy Cohen, a child psychiatrist and expert witness in the Flores case.
“We know their experiences are horrible,” Cohen said. “It’s a very, very scary place. . . . Kids will tell me, even if they’ve been there for two days, they will have flashbacks about it. They have nightmares about it. Children absolutely experience this as a trauma. You can see it in their faces.”
Many also end up with respiratory or other infectious illnesses because they are housed in close quarters. Officials in recent weeks have spotted cases of chickenpox and scabies, moving quickly to isolate the sick from others.
Six children — five from Guatemala and one from El Salvador — have died after being taken into federal custody at the border since September. A teenager who had contracted the flu died last week in the Rio Grande Valley while in Border Patrol custody, leading agents to identify a small-scale flu outbreak.
Families wait to be searched and loaded into transport vans in Los Ebanos. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
Families wait to be processed in Los Ebanos. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
Border Patrol officials say there are 6,400 people in custody in the Rio Grande Valley, including 931 unaccompanied children. The facilities are so overcrowded that officials say roughly 40 percent of the sector’s 3,100 Border Patrol agents are working on processing new migrant detainees at any given time.
That has left fewer agents out in the vast and wild tangle of brush that stretches for hundreds of miles along the twisting Rio Grande.
Agents on Tuesday morning struggled to pick up and transport more than 170 people — nearly all of them families with small children — that emerged from across the river in the space of an hour.
One group of more than 100 people had crossed in rafts before dawn, and as the sky lightened they sat in the dirt — exhausted parents cradling sleeping babies beneath a cluster of mesquite trees — as a pair of agents collected basic information, instructed them to place the few personal belongings they had carried into plastic bags, and called for transport.
Among the group were five children who had traveled alone, including a 10-year-old boy from Honduras who was wearing an adult’s oversize sweatshirt. He was trying to get to his mother in Lafayette, La., he said, producing from his pocket a folded piece of paper with her phone number on it.
A thin, bleary-eyed 10-year-old from Honduras said she was en route to reunite with her father in Ohio, but she was not sure where. A 16-year-old Guatemalan in rectangular glasses said he was heading to Florida. And a 17-year-old Honduran said he hoped to reach his brother in Houston.
On a dirt road a few miles away, a sole Border Patrol agent was simultaneously running through the same routine with about 30 people, also families and unaccompanied children, also waiting for pickup. And less than a mile from him, a local police officer who had radioed CBP for assistance was standing with 40 more.
“It’s a daily battle,” said one agent who spoke on the condition of anonymity to comment candidly about the work at the border. “You catch a thousand people a day, and then you can only process 750 a day. The agents are working their tails off trying to get this squared away, but it’s a daily struggle with the amount of people we’re encountering.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/31/us/illegal-immigration-employers-prosecutions.html
Libtardaplorable©. And proud of it.
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https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/31/politics/inspector-general-warns-overcrowded-conditions/index.html
Libtardaplorable©. And proud of it.
Brilliantati©
I do agree with Trump, Mexico needs to step up and slow some of the flow from their southern borders. But then again, the US is not stopping people from illegally crossing into Canada. Maybe Canada needs a wall...s/
it is not illegal to seek asylum in another country, in fact its a right we all have. lets hope we never have to use it.
take a good look
this could be the day
hold my hand
lie beside me
i just need to say
Kids in vans what a country ha ..
House passes immigration bill to protect ‘dreamers,’ offer a path to citizenship
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), along with other Democratic representatives, speaks to the media about the American Dream and Promise Act at the Capitol on June 4.
The House on Tuesday passed a bill that would offer a path to citizenship to more than 2 million undocumented immigrants, including “dreamers” who were brought to the United States as children.
The vote was 237-to-187 for the American Dream and Promise Act of 2019, which would grant dreamers 10 years of legal residence status if they meet certain requirements. They would then receive permanent green cards after completing at least two years of higher education or military service, or after working for three years.
Cheers erupted in the chamber when the bill got the necessary votes along with chants of “yes we can.” Only seven Republicans broke ranks to join Democrats in backing the bill.
The measure would provide long-awaited clarity to the millions of dreamers who have been caught in legal limbo amid years of partisan maneuvering on the issue. The Obama administration granted work permits to many of them through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, but President Trump ended the program in late 2017. Its fate rests with the Supreme Court, which may take up the issue in the coming months.
Democrats are proposing the bill as Trump and Republicans argue that more needs to be done to address the humanitarian crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border, underscoring that the parties are approaching the issue of immigration overhaul from markedly different perspectives.
“This is legislation that is consistent with who we are as Americans, as an aspirational people, as a nation of immigrants and as a place where people can come to pursue the American Dream,” Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.), chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, told reporters ahead of Tuesday’s vote.
Versions of the bill have been introduced in Congress over the years but never passed despite support among members of both parties. The debate over the legislation has been emotional at times; in 2010, more than 60 young people crowded into the Senate gallery to push for passage of a previous version of the bill known as the Dream Act. The chamber ultimately defeated the measure.
Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Calif.), the lead sponsor of the current bill, noted that Tuesday will mark “the first time the Dream Act will be passed by a chamber of Congress as a top Democratic priority.”
The House measure was introduced in March. That same month, two groups of senators introduced similar legislation that would protect dreamers. One bill was authored by Sens. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) and Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.). The other was introduced by a group of Democrats, including Sens. Chris Van Hollen (Md.), Ben Cardin (Md.), Dianne Feinstein (Calif.) and Tim Kaine (Va.).
House Democratic leaders on Tuesday voiced optimism that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) would bring up the legislation in the Senate.
“There should be nothing partisan or political about this legislation,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said at a news conference where she was flanked by other Democrats and supporters of the measure. “We are proud to pass it, we hope, in a bipartisan way.”
But it is unlikely that the Senate will consider the bill: McConnell and other Senate Republican leaders made no mention of the bill at their weekly news conference Tuesday afternoon.
The measure’s consideration comes more than a year after the Senate rejected four competing immigration proposals. Among those proposals was one backed by Trump that included citizenship for dreamers, billions of dollars in funding for the president’s U.S.-Mexico border wall and changes to laws to speed up deportations, as well as sharp cuts to legal immigration.
As the 2020 presidential race heats up, Trump has taken a host of actions — such as declaring a national emergency over his border wall and threatening tariffs on imports from Mexico — that suggest that immigration will be a central focus of his reelection campaign.
House Republicans contended Tuesday that Democrats have not offered a proposal to pay for the legislation, which the Congressional Budget Office estimates would cost more than $30 billion.
They also argued that the bill does not include funding for border security or reforms to U.S. asylum laws, an issue that Trump emphasized in a White House memo in April proposing fees for those applying for humanitarian relief.
“If Democrats were serious about immigration, they would do something about the humanitarian and national security crisis along our southern border, but Speaker Pelosi has chosen to spend the House’s time on H.R. 6, an expensive, partisan show vote,” House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) said in a statement.
Rep. Douglas A. Collins (Ga.), the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, said that his party wants to provide legal status to DACA recipients, but “we want to do it the right way — to minimize fraud, ensure criminals cannot get legal status and bolster border security.”
“Sadly, Democrats are making us consider a bill to worsen the border crisis by incentivizing more people to cross our borders illegally in hopes of getting a piece of the amnesty pie,” Collins said. “No doubt at this very minute, the smuggling cartels are getting the word out: Congress is going to legalize millions.”
In addition to dreamers, Tuesday’s bill would offer protections to people with temporary protected status, which has allowed people from El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras and other countries to avoid being deported to nations engulfed in war or affected by natural disasters.
A smaller group of Liberians that has been granted “deferred enforced departure” also would be protected. Trump also has sought to end these protections, spurring lawsuits that halted at least one of the efforts.
Immigrants with temporary protected status or deferred deportations could immediately apply for green cards if they have been in the country for at least three years, had their status as of September 2016 and pass background checks. Five years after obtaining a green card, members of both groups could apply for citizenship.
Trump administration cancels English classes, soccer, legal aid for unaccompanied child migrants in U.S. shelters
By Maria Sacchetti ● Read more »
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Nuff said....
Migrant children play soccer at the Homestead Temporary Shelter for Unaccompanied Children in Homestead, Fla., on April 19. The Trump administration is canceling educational and recreational programs at such shelters, saying the government has run out of funding for them amid a crush of migrants crossing the border. (Wilfredo Lee/AP)
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.
[Hundreds of minors stuck at U.S. border beyond legal limits]
Surging migration at the southern border has been overwhelming the U.S. immigration system and has been fueling the budget strain at HHS facilities, as the country has been seeing a record number of families and children coming in from Mexico. On Wednesday, U.S. authorities said more than 144,000 migrants were taken into custody in May, a 32 percent jump from April and by far the largest one-month arrest total since President Trump took office.
[Arrests along Mexico border surged again in May]
Children who arrive with or without a parent accounted for nearly 40 percent of U.S. Customs and Border Protection apprehensions in May, the latest figures show.
The move to curtail services for unaccompanied minors — revealed in an email that an HHS official sent to licensed shelters last week, a message that has been obtained by The Washington Post — could run afoul of a federal court settlement and state-licensing requirements that mandate education and recreation for minors in federal custody. Carlos Holguin, a lawyer who represents minors in a long-
running lawsuit that spurred a 1997 federal court settlement that sets basic standards of care for children in custody, immediately slammed the cuts as illegal.
Kevin McAleenan, the acting homeland security secretary, acknowledged May 22 during a House hearing the deteriorating conditions at migrant detention centers. (Reuters)
“We’ll see them in court if they go through with it,” Holguin said. “What’s next? Drinking water? Food? . . . Where are they going to stop?”
An HHS official sent an email Thursday to shelters notifying them that the government will not pay for education or recreational activities retroactive to May 22, including related personnel costs. The official characterized those costs as “unallowable.”
[Read the HHS email to shelters across the country]
Holguin said schooling and exercise are “fundamental to the care of youngsters.”
A shelter employee, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to address the internal government directive, said the Trump administration’s cuts have alarmed workers, who fear that the quality of care for the children will suffer. The employee said educational classes and sports activities are crucial to maintaining physical and mental health while the children are in custody.
“What are you going to do all day?” the shelter employee said. “If you’re not going to have any sort of organized recreation or physical activity, what are you going to do, just let them sit in their rooms?”
Children line up to enter a tent at the Homestead Temporary Shelter for Unaccompanied Children in Homestead, Fla., in February. (Wilfredo Lee/AP)
Democratic lawmakers and advocates for immigrants blasted the Trump administration for a policy decision that will directly affect children who already are in difficult situations. Many of the unaccompanied minors who appear at the border are fleeing gang violence and extreme poverty in Central America; the services they receive at U.S. shelters are part of their recovery and provide some amount of diversion as they await placement.
(Continued in next post)Mary Meg McCarthy, executive director of the National Immigrant Justice Center, said she fears that the cuts are an effort to pressure Congress to fund the Trump administration’s broader immigration agenda. She called it “another ploy to secure tax dollars to lock people up.” Amnesty International USA called the cuts “unconscionable.”
Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (D-Fla.) decried the cuts that would affect facilities like the Homestead Temporary Shelter for Unaccompanied Children in Homestead, Fla., where many unaccompanied minors go after they are apprehended. She and others this week called on HHS to close Homestead, on the southern tip of Florida, urging the agency to send minors there to smaller, nonprofit facilities. HHS has said it is planning to expand Homestead from 2,350 to 3,200 beds.
“These are children that are going through tremendous suffering,” Mucarsel-Powell said. “If the Trump administration does cancel these basic necessities like education, exercise and legal services, they are robbing them of their humanity.”
Lawyers said denying migrants access to legal services could put them in danger, because they will lack the ability to defend themselves against possible deportation to the countries they fled.
“We are deeply troubled that these services are being cut for children, who are among the most vulnerable population of immigrants in detention,” said Kica Matos, director of the Center on Immigration and Justice at the Vera Institute of Justice, which manages the legal-aid programs for the federal government. She said HHS had not notified the organization about the cuts.
[New ICE chief says agency plans to target more families for deportation]
Joella Brooks, interim CEO of Southwest Key Programs, which shelters hundreds of minors in Texas and other states, told staff in an email obtained by The Post that she is working with the government “to understand the reasons behind this decision and what, if anything, we can do to continue offering these vital services.”
“In the meantime, remember the service, encouragement and compassion you provide to these youth every day matters a great deal,” she wrote. “Please continue to stay focused on taking good care of them.”
Yolo County, which has a contract to shelter up to 24 minors — generally boys — in a secure setting in California, expressed concern that the HHS directive might conflict with the 1997 federal court settlement. Among the services it provides children are a library, a game room, movie nights, art classes, poetry writing and pet therapy.
“For the time being, we are not making any changes to programming for the minors,” said county spokeswoman Beth Gabor. “We can’t rule out changes in the future if costs are effectively shifted to the county.”
Trump declared a national emergency at the border in February and has urged Congress to pass $4.5 billion in emergency border funding, including $2.9 billion for HHS. The administration also is pushing for more funding for enforcement operations.
Customs and Border Protection apprehended 11,507 unaccompanied minors in May, a 29 percent jump from the month befor
May was the third month in a row that border detentions topped 100,000, led by record-breaking levels of illegal crossings by Guatemalan and Honduran parents bringing children. Of the 144,278 taken into CBP custody in May, 132,887 were apprehended after crossing illegally by Border Patrol agents, and 11,391 were deemed “inadmissible” after arriving at U.S. ports of entry.
“We are in a full-blown emergency, and I cannot say this stronger: The system is broken,” said acting CBP commissioner John Sanders.
Sanders said his agency has detained more than 680,000 border crossers in the past eight months, noting that the total is “more than the population of Miami.”
Most parents who arrive with children are quickly processed and released into the U.S. interior with a court appointment, a practice that Department of Homeland Security officials characterize as a loophole migrants are exploiting to gain easy entry to the country. Trump administration officials want lawmakers to give them the authority to detain parents and children long enough to process their immigration cases, rather than continuing the releases they say have become the biggest “pull factor” for unauthorized migration.
The May figure amounts to a 182 percent increase over May 2018, and it is a sixfold leap from May 2017, when border arrests were near their lowest level in half a century and U.S. authorities detained fewer than 20,000.
HHS officials said they have warned Congress for months that the border influx is straining its budget and that the federal Anti-Deficiency Act requires them to prioritize essential services.
“As we have said, we have a humanitarian crisis at the border brought on by a broken immigration system that is putting tremendous strain on the Office of Refugee Resettlement and its Unaccompanied Alien Children program,” Weber, the HHS spokesman, said Wednesday.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents apprehend a 15-year-old boy who had just crossed from Mexico into the United States on May 29 in McAllen, Tex. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro (D-Conn.), chair of the House Appropriations subcommittee on labor, health and human services, and education, said she would support emergency funding for unaccompanied minors if the federal government could ensure that the children are held in state-licensed shelters and discharged quickly to sponsors. She said many children “languish for months.”
“Congressional Republicans need to stop holding up the emergency supplemental negotiations and agree to necessary and reasonable protections to ensure the health and safety of the thousands of unaccompanied children,” DeLauro said.
More than 40,800 unaccompanied children have been placed in HHS custody after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border this fiscal year, a 57 percent increase from last year that is putting the Office of Refugee Resettlement on track to care for the largest number of minors in the program’s history. Federal law requires Homeland Security to move unaccompanied minors from austere border jails to more child-appropriate shelters, and they must do so swiftly.
Federal shelters had an overall average of 12,500 minors — mostly teenagers — nationwide during April, according to HHS. They stayed an average of 48 days while waiting for a case worker to place them with a sponsor, usually a relative. While they wait in the shelters, minors attend school, study math and English, and participate in extracurricular activities such as table tennis, soccer and other sports.
Mexico aims to avoid tariffs with potential deal limiting migrants going north, allowing U.S. to deport Central American asylum seekers
President Trump renewed his tariff threat against Mexico June 6 and dismissed Republican senators who have expressed concerns about his plan. (Reuters)
U.S. and Mexican officials are discussing the outlines of a deal that would dramatically increase Mexico’s immigration enforcement efforts and give the United States far more latitude to deport Central Americans seeking asylum, according to a U.S. official and a Mexican official who cautioned that the accord is not finalized and that President Trump might not accept it.
Faced with Trump’s threat to impose escalating tariffs on Mexican goods beginning Monday, Mexican officials have pledged to deploy up to 6,000 National Guard troops to the country’s border region with Guatemala, a show of force they say will make immediate reductions in the number of Central Americans heading north toward the U.S. border.
The Mexican official and the U.S. official said the countries are negotiating a sweeping plan to overhaul asylum rules across the region, a move that would require Central Americans to seek refuge in the first foreign country they set foot upon after fleeing their homeland.
Under such a plan, the United States would swiftly deport Guatemalan asylum seekers who set foot on U.S. soil to Mexico. And the United States would send Honduran and Salvadoran asylum applicants to Guatemala, whose government held talks with acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan last week.
The officials described the accord’s framework on the condition of anonymity, citing the sensitivity of the international negotiations, but they expressed optimism that the deal was attainable. Officials from both countries said they did not know if the terms would assuage Trump and alleviate the tariff threat; Trump plans to charge a 5 percent tariff on Mexican goods unless the country can show it will take steps to reduce the flow of migrants streaming to the U.S. border.
Significant differences remain about how quickly and how much Mexico can reduce unauthorized migration through tougher enforcement measures, the U.S. official said. Last month, U.S. authorities made more than 144,000 arrests along the southern border, the highest level in 13 years.
Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador said he is "confident" a trade deal will be reached with the U.S. and announced a "unity" event in Tijuana June 8. (Reuters)
Mexico has told the United States that the National Guard deployment — along with promises to build more migrant detention centers and checkpoints to catch Central Americans and deter their passage — will quickly reduce migration flows to the levels of last fall, when arrests averaged about 50,000 per month.
Trump officials have told Mexico that is not enough, making it clear that the White House will only be satisfied with a return to the numbers tallied in the months after Trump was inaugurated, when arrests fell below 20,000, the lowest level in half a century.
U.S. authorities continue to push for a more forceful and intimidating enforcement approach from Mexico, while Mexico is urging the United States to address the underlying structural problems in Central America — poverty, violence and drought — that are driving emigration.
Trump gave indications Thursday that the talks had made progress, but he told reporters that he had not made up his mind.
“Something pretty dramatic could happen,” he said, referring to the talks with Mexican diplomats, which continued Thursday in Washington. “We’ve told Mexico the tariffs go on. And I mean it, too.”
Trump also dismissed Republican senators who have threatened to block his tariff plans, saying they “have no idea what they’re talking about when it comes to tariffs.”
Trump spoke before leaving Shannon, Ireland, for Normandy, France, where he took part in ceremonies commemorating the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings that helped turn the tide of World War II.
On Capitol Hill, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard E. Neal (D-Mass.) said he would introduce a resolution of disapproval if the president proceeds with the planned tariffs. Lawmakers could thwart Trump’s import tax plan only if they can deliver a two-thirds vote, enough to override a presidential veto.
“The president’s proposed tariffs would hurt American workers, businesses, and consumers. Commandeering U.S. trade policy to influence border security is an abuse of power,” Neal said. “If the president does declare a national emergency and attempt to put these tariffs into place, I will introduce a resolution of disapproval to stop his overreach.”
In Mexico City, meanwhile, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said he was “optimistic” that the two sides would reach an accord.
The Trump administration is demanding that Mexican authorities intensify efforts to prevent Central American migrants from crossing Mexico to reach the United States.
Trump threatened last week to impose a 5 percent tariff on all goods imported from Mexico starting June 10 to force the Mexican government to address what his administration calls a migration “emergency.”
If Mexico fails to satisfy Trump, the tariff would increase by 5 percentage points at the start of subsequent months until it hits 25 percent on Oct. 1.
Vice President Pence, who led Wednesday’s talks, said the two sides had “a good discussion.” But the Mexican government’s proposed remedies were “not nearly enough,” he said.
“We need Mexico to do more,” Pence said.
In May, U.S. border agents detained roughly 144,000 people trying to enter the country without authorization — almost three times the figure from the same month one year ago.
Talks were scheduled to continue Thursday at the State Department.
Speaking at a news conference, López Obrador announced plans to travel to the border city of Tijuana, where he said he would hold a “unity” rally on Saturday to “defend the dignity of Mexico” and support “friendship with the United States.”
López Obrador said without providing details that the event would be open to the public and would feature politicians, religious figures and business leaders.