TL;DR February 12
Welcome to our news 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 immigration-related news stories. These bite-size summaries will keep you up to date without overwhelming your inbox.
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ICE has arrested scores of migrants in the U.S. who have no criminal records
Despite repeated use of the bogus phrase “criminal aliens,” the current regime terror targets undocumented people very broadly. Undocumented border crossing remains a misdemeanor, not a criminal offense, and, though “alien” derives its power from a long science fiction tradition, it has gone out of circulation as a term to describe human beings since the 19th century.
Ask 18-year-old Venezuelan-American Carlos, apprehended on January 26 at his home in Texas without a warrant. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents alleged without evidence that Carlos appeared in a video featuring guns and drug use and took him away from his family.
But you can’t ask Carlos or the 1100 people that were apprehended on the same day that he was. They are caught up in the gears of the deportation machine, including a network of private detention centers, deportation flights, and the expanded use of the disgraceful black site at Guantanamo Bay. And that is the point of the deportation terror: it separates families and communities, all under the false pretense that the United States is besieged by foreign born criminals.
The Immigrant Defense Project maintains Know Your Rights materials as well as an interactive map of deportation raids.
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Mass deportations will depend on local police
NPR reports on the machinations of Tom Homan to recruit local law enforcement to do his agency’s job. Leading tactics to do so include bribery and flattery--telling sheriffs he can’t do this work without them, while Homan and friendly state legislatures unlock funding to support more sheriffs joining the 287(g) program, deputizing local officers as ICE agents. No surprise, they’re looking to expand the program massively, giving officers more power to racially profile and spread terror in immigrant communities.
Now more than ever we need to double down on efforts to end 287(g). Even if your local sheriff has not been part of the program in the past, they will be experiencing pressure to do so now. ACLU and ILRC have resources to help fight this program on a local level. Sheriff Accountability Action is an excellent organization working to reimagine law enforcement altogether.
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Miami-Dade teacher deported to Honduras after being detained at immigration check-up
Hey remember how lots of people were saying not to worry, Trump and his right wing cronies are only going after criminals? Well, turns out, mass deportation is a bad idea, no matter how much you lie in advance about who you’re going to round up, for what dubious reasons. Case in point: a DACA recipient, living in the US, teaching science to middle schoolers, was detained and deported after a routine immigration appointment.
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Relief for immigrants as legal services restored after Trump-induced chaos
The judicial branch provided a much needed check on the executive branch’s overreach after the federal government issued a stop-work order targeting programs that provide guidance to people facing deportation. The Department of Justice halted four programs that have been restarted as a result of a court order, the outcome of a lawsuit brought against the Trump administration.
These programs are vital to ensuring justice for those fighting in court against being forced to repatriate. About two thirds of such immigrants, including children in the US on their own, are unrepresented. Many are behind bars in isolated facilities with limited internet access. The justice department’s federally funded legal orientation and legal representation programs are often the only way for some of the country’s most vulnerable people to access credible legal advice. “Taking away the immigration court help desk, the legal orientation programs, all of this is really engineered to create the kind of chaos that will lead to unlawful deportations,” said Azadeh Erfani, policy director at the National Immigrant Justice Center.
Without the help of such organizations, untold numbers of immigrants and asylum seekers would likely be deported without ever seeing a judge for such petty reasons as failing to file a form. “I think what’s lost sometimes is that people have risked their lives to get to this point,” said Adela Mason, director for two of the targeted orientation programs at Acacia. “They’ve traveled across multiple countries, often in life-threatening circumstances. People aren’t trying to evade their court date.”
While the court order is a win in the short-term, long-term outcomes are still uncertain. Organizations are having to deal with whiplash as they bring back staff members who were just furloughed, reschedule court dates after missed consultations, and reorganize scrambled information.
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In LA, Eastside students walk out to protest Trump’s immigration policies
People in Los Angeles have been protesting in solidarity with immigrants on a weekly, even daily basis since Trump was inaugurated, and now students are taking up the mantle. Last week at various LAUSD high schools on the east side of the city, students walked out of their classes to join immigration protests going on around LA’s city hall.
Nathan, 17, a senior at Garfield High, said walking out was important to him “because it’s a moment for us to speak up for our community, showing the nation that us Latinos matter and contribute much more than what people think.”
People marched around city hall with Mexican and Salvadorian flags, and continue to gather in LA on a weekly basis to show solidarity and strength with their neighbors.
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4 Actions you can take Right Now
Respond to reports of suspected raids in your area in real time by reading and sharing the information in this 1-page guide. For those of us who are allies especially, learn how to watch for ICE and protect your neighbors.
On February 19, 6:00pm - 7:30pm, join Jews for Racial & Economic Justice (JFREJ) for a virtual Know Your Rights / ICE Watch training to learn more about the current threats to our local communities and how we can protect our immigrant neighbors. Facilitators will share the latest on what actions you can take against anti-immigrant policies and deportations, and how you can get involved with JFREJ's migrant justice and community safety organizing. Register here.
Never Again Action is equipping members to organize themselves into neighborhood groups (or “pods”) to be trained and respond to deportation threats on a hyperlocal level. Learn more: bit.ly/BuildAPod2024
Support Never Again Action’s organizing by making a donation today. You can make a tax deductible donation via our fiscal sponsor at this link, or you can donate directly to our 501(c)(4) organization at this link.
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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.