TL;DR July 7th
Welcome to our new(s) segment: TL;DR of Immigration News, for when the news is Too Long and you Didn’t Read it.
This is a weekly collection of important immigration-related news stories. These bite-size summaries will keep you up to date without overwhelming your inbox.
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You’ve probably heard a lot of American politicians condemning “political violence,” after an attempted assassination of Trump. And, no doubt, it is a frightening political moment. Yet these politicians are sanctioning and creating violence along our southern border, as well as abroad, by incarcerating vulnerable migrants, funding and arming genocide, and making it clear that they value profit and power above violence prevention.
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ICE detainee deaths could have been prevented, ACLU report says
As reported here many times, ICE fails to provide adequate medical care and people have suffered and even died as a result. The ACLU National Prison Project, with the help of medical experts from Yale, Columbia, and UT San Antonio, reviewed more than 14,500 pages of relevant records. They concluded that “The vast majority [49 of 52] of deaths that occurred in immigration detention could have been prevented if ICE had provided adequate medical care.”
These deaths have occurred at ICE facilities all over the country, including Michigan, Colorado, and other non-border states. Remember that you can take action to tell your representatives to shut down these kinds of facilities in the state where you live. Join Detention Watch Network in telling the Biden administration that we support #CommunitiesNotCages by signing here.
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Immigration justice orgs call out Mayorkas and ICE for cruelty, broken promises
Detention Watch Network and over 200 other organizations, including Never Again Action, sent a letter to Secretary Mayorkas this week, raising urgent concerns about the direction ICE is taking. The letter points to deteriorating conditions in ICE facilities, including the loss of free phone calls for detainees. This limits detainee access to legal counsel, which detainees are guaranteed in the Constitution. In order to raise awareness of this situation, detainees at several centers have gone on hunger strikes, and have been placed in solitary confinement (an internationally recognized form of torture) as a result.
The letter calls for accountability, and for DHS and the Biden administration to reverse course instead of continuing to break promises of reform, saying:
“Our organizations regularly represent, support, and advocate for people in immigration detention. We see every day that expanding detention and cutting necessary services imposes suffering on immigrants without advancing any rational policy goal. Detention does not provide an efficient or ethical means of border processing. Studies show that even the most punitive forms of detention do not deter people from coming to the United States to seek safety or a better life.
You can also send Mayorkas a message using this toolkit
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Indiana AG files suit against East Chicago Council over federal immigration law
Although sanctuary cities no longer get the headlines they did in the past, there are still communities that offer shelter to those most in need. That is, if attorneys general don’t sue them out of existence. Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita is attempting to do just that, suing the East Chicago Common Council in an attempt to enforce his own interpretation of national immigration laws.
Despite MAGA rhetoric, the East Chicago ordinance does not affect federal behavior. Rather, it restricts officials from requesting “information about or otherwise investigat[ing] or assist[ing] in the investigation of the citizenship or immigration status of any person,” unless a criminal warrant is presented. In other words, East Chicago complies with the law, just not with AG Rokita’s personal brand of vengeance.
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California heat has immigration activists bracing for a humanitarian crisis
As the California heat breaks global records, migrants make a dangerous trek across what is considered by the UN to be the deadliest land route in the world. Last year 39 people died of exposure while on this journey through Death Valley. Volunteers are working to provide relief in the form of water and medical attention, but Biden’s latest round of border policies are expected to make that death toll climb. Border Patrol has even been caught abandoning families in the desert for 6+ hours at a time, leaving them vulnerable to venomous snakes and dangerous insects, if the deadly heat doesn’t get them first.
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Deterring migration through cruelty
El Paso-based non-profit Hope Border Institute released a report about conditions for migrants along the US-Mexico border. The title of the report provides a succinct summary of its conclusions: “Pain as Strategy.”
The report argues that the Biden administration’s actions along the border, including last year’s Circumvention of Lawful Pathways rule and June’s executive action, are part of a broader strategy to deter immigration by making it as painful as possible. The report describes how federal-level policies reinforce Texas’ Operation Lone Star, and how collaboration with Mexico externalizes border closures. This enables the US government “...to evade its responsibilities to vulnerable migrants, militarize the border, and use pain as a form of migrant deterrence.”
In addition to our stories above about ICE detention and conditions in California, examples of the results of “Pain as Strategy” this week include one report that more women and children are dying at the border than ever before due directly to restrictions on asylum-seeking, and yet another report of mass injuries due to falls from a section of the border wall.
Prevention through Deterrence has not worked since CBP first implemented it in 1994, and it will never work. The current dangers that drive a person to leave home will always be greater motivation than potential danger on the road ahead. Or as poet Warsan Shire writes, “you have to understand/ that no one puts their children in a boat/ unless the water is safer than the land.”
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Republican VP nominee built his career telling lies about immigration
Surprising no one, the Republican National Convention has been obsessively talking about immigrants in ways that are equal parts inhumane and untrue. Today’s top story from Documented does an excellent job of breaking down the lies told by Republican Vice Presidential nominee JD Vance.
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It’s Movement Building Week, the best time to sign up to become a member of Never Again Action! If the news makes you discouraged and/or angry, one of the best things you can do is join a community working to change the root causes of immigration injustice.
More info on our Insta, and you can become a member here!
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Thanks for joining us for this week’s roundup! If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for next week’s roundup, drop us a line at neveragainaction@gmail.com.