Immigration Advocates Criticize DOJ's New Deportation Rules As An Opaque Attack on Due Process https://lawandcrime.com/immigration/immigration-advocates-criticize-dojs-new-deportation-rules-as-an-opaque-attack-on-due-process/
Needs more lawn hearts. pic.twitter.com/yKilb2ujir
— Caitlin Johnstone ⏳ (@caitoz) February 25, 2021
THIS is what a human rights violation looks like. pic.twitter.com/2fyqIBj9Hb
— Abolitionist (@womenbaseball1) February 25, 2021
Kids In Cages Need More Lawn Hearts
by C. A. Matthews
Migrant children without parents or adult sponsors are being held in locked "facilities" in Texas. Essentially, these places are prisons since children's camps don't usually lock up their campers to prevent any contact from the outside world. No, this isn't an old news story that happened under Trump's neglectful eye. This is same activity still happening under the auspices of the current neglectful regime.
The more things change, the more they remain the same (if not grow worse).
I realize many of you are holding out hope that visas will be granted to family members to come and claim these kids as soon as possible. But if our history gives us any clues, we know this isn't going happen--Biden's "promise" or not. How do we know this? Because this is not the first time America hasn't open its arms to embrace those who are suffering from the affects of war, poverty, and persecution.
One thing that has stayed with me after taking my first course to become an accredited immigration advocate is that US immigration law hasn't changed much since it was first laid out in the 1920s. The first US immigration laws and quotas were created to stop the influx of "genetically inferior races" from such scummy places like Sicily and Eastern Europe. One hundred years later, it is still perfectly legal to discriminate against immigrants based solely on their place of origin via our quota system. (Too bad if that country is made up of mostly black and brown peoples who don't practice a religion we like, but those are the breaks.)
Of course, there were some immigration laws made before the 20th century. The most famous was the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. This law was meant to stop the "invasion" of California, which began in the 1870s by Chinese laborers who came to help build our country's railroad system. We thanked these Chinese immigrants for all their hard work with low wages and forbidding them to become naturalized citizens until 1943. We further went on to perfect our treatment of Asian-Americans by interring Japanese-Americans in prison camps during World War II when FDR signed Executive Order 9066.
War and economics makes racial discrimination necessary, after all.
The next time you buy take-out burgers or chicken, don't forget to give thanks for all the predominantly Central American migrant farm and food processing workers who butcher and process all those dead cows and birds for you to chow down on. Don't forget to give thanks for all those ill-treated Chinese railroad workers who built the infrastructure that allows the meat processors to ship meat across the country to your local restaurant, too.
Another amazing fact I've learned from my immigration studies is that the US doesn't take in the most refugees in the world like we've been led to believe. We're actually way down the list--we don't even make the top ten. Our neighbor to the north, Canada, outdoes us in accepting refugees and immigrants. Believe it or not (and many won't believe it), the US is not being flooded with immigrants, but give the climate catastrophe and the rising oceans some time and then…?
Most people displaced from their homelands by natural disasters, wars, persecutions, etc., end up living next door. For instance, Venezuelans have flooded into Colombia by the millions and Syrians… Well, those Syrians we haven't bombed this past week have migrated to the neighboring countries of Turkey, Jordan, and Lebanon.
The US has blockaded Venezuela and bombed Syria, yet we don't open our arms wide to accept all the people we've hurt who are fleeing troubles exacerbated by our actions. Quite the opposite. We've created bans to prevent them from coming here. We've begrudged helping out the UN when it comes to assisting these refugees, too, by not paying our full dues.
For those who were expecting Biden to enact a "kindler, gentler" immigration policy with the "kids in cages" being set freed (or not being locked up in the first place), it's time to stop fooling yourself. US immigration policy hasn't fundamentally changed in over a hundred years. It's not going to be changed by the looks of things coming (or rather not coming) out of this White House, either. The Biden administration has accepted many contributions from the various corporations of the military-industrial complex as well as the private immigration detention center lobbyists, so why would Biden change immigration and war-making policies that make him and his friends rich?
Locking up predominantly poor and non-white human beings is what America does best. Take a good hard look at our prison-industrial complex and how it mimics slavery. Obviously, we're not ready to change our ways. Why should we change when locking up people helps to create a slave class of prison workers forced to work for little or nothing? Immigration laws that create more free labor make capitalists wealthier. Non-billionaires don't have much say so in the matter. The Citizens United Supreme Court ruling proves this to be the case.
In the coming months, be ready for the suppression of immigration horrors and drone bombing stories by the corporate media. Anyone who doesn't think that cut-out hearts placed on the White House lawn cures a vast variety of societal ills is, of course, suspect.
That makes me one of the most "suspicious" characters around. I believe protecting human rights is far more important than fatuous news stories about rich neoliberals pretending to care about anyone other than themselves as they install fake candy hearts in DC and continue to lock up kids in cages. I think history will bear me out on this, too.
"The Biden administration is instead trying to sell us an image of a kinder, gentler imprisonment." -- Moustafa Bayoumi
Related Articles:
Biden Is Locking Up Migrant Children. Will the World Still Care with Trump Gone? https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/feb/24/biden-is-locking-up-migrant-children-will-the-world-still-care-with-trump-gone
More Than 700 Unaccompanied Migrant Children Being Held At US Border https://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/68002-more-than-700-unaccompanied-migrant-children-being-held-at-us-border-says-report
First Migrant Facility For Children Opens Under Biden https://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/67966-first-migrant-facility-for-children-opens-under-biden
Why Biden's ICE Is Still Deporting People https://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/67823-why-bidens-ice-is-still-deporting-people
New Claims of Migrant Abuse As ICE Continue Deportations
https://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/67631-new-claims-of-migrant-abuse-as-ice-defies-biden-to-continue-deportations
The US Immigration System Treats Workers As Disposable https://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/68048-the-us-immigration-system-treats-workers-as-disposable
Biden Jeopardizes Nuclear Talks With Iran By Bombing Militias in Syria https://truthout.org/video/biden-jeopardizes-nuclear-talks-with-iran-by-bombing-militias-in-syria/
***
I’ll get right to the point: Asylum-seekers in ICE detention centers in Texas and across the Southern United States are living in dire conditions--and it’s not just because of the cold weather.
According to reports, ICE detention guards are retaliating against families and children who dare mention the freezing temperatures, unhygienic conditions, or lack of water. When detainees voice concerns about the cold, ICE agents have reportedly blasted fans or thrown blankets in the trash.
What’s happening in Texas is a crisis for so many people, and what’s happening in ICE detention centers is just outright cruel. The truth is, the system was designed this way, which is why I’m calling on you to take action now.
Ted Cruz fleeing Texas with his family during a state-wide emergency is a mockery of the thousands of families and children seeking safety who’ve been separated and left to suffer in ICE detention centers.
Now is the time to turn our attention away from politicians and policies that don’t serve us, and towards a future where families are reunited and safe.
Weathering a state-wide emergency during a global pandemic is hard enough. Now imagine being a parent separated from your child as you’re detained in an ICE facility--without heat or water.
It’s time to put an end to the immigration system that prioritizes profits over people, separates children from parents, and leaves asylum-seekers out to freeze in conditions more dangerous than the ones they risked their lives to flee from.
If the last week has reminded us of anything, it’s that change comes from within. It’s going to take every one of us to reunite families, end ICE’s legacy of cruelty, and build a nation where safety is more than an empty promise.
Thanks for all that you do,
Paola Luisi, Director
Families Belong Together
***
From Ultraviolet:
For Black women, pregnancy could be a deadly proposition, as they are three to four times more likely than white women to die during childbirth. The United States has the worst maternal mortality rate in the developed world, and it continues to rise. We can and must do better.
Representative Lauren Underwood and members of the Black Maternal Health Caucus have introduced the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act of 2021 to save Black pregnant people's lives.1 Will you add your name to become a citizen co-sponsor of the Momnibus?
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Become a citizen co-sponsor of the Momnibus! |
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The Momnibus is a package that includes multiple pieces of legislation with solutions to this crisis, including investing in community-based care for Black mothers, improving maternal health data collection, improving maternal health outcomes for incarcerated mothers, supporting programs to improve mental health for postpartum mothers, and examining policies on continuing health insurance coverage, including Medicaid, up to one year postpartum. In addition, the package includes solutions specific to the COVID-19 pandemic, including research and data on vaccinations for pregnant and lactating people.
The legislation would not only protect Black women's lives during what should be a joyful event, but addresses preventable complications and improves maternal care at hospitals for Black women. It would center the well-being of Black women, who--because of medical racism and violence, are often not believed when they experience problematic symptoms or pregnancy complications, and are denied access to expedient care as a result. This is true across class, and even impacted Serena Williams when she gave birth to her daughter and had a near-death experience.2 Will you add your name to help save the lives of Black pregnant people?
To be clear, this is not inevitable, this is intentional. The maternal health crisis in the U.S. is the result of decades of medical sexism and political negligence that has sacrificed the health, autonomy, and well-being of women. Medical research and interventions often lack a gender focus. Women are routinely disbelieved or gaslit when they seek out medical care.
Meanwhile, conservative politicians have worked overtime to throw up barriers to accessing basic health care, like birth control or abortion, all while closing clinics in rural and urban areas that serve vulnerable populations. When you add in the centuries of systemic racism that pervades our health care system, which routinely sees Black people's pain or medical needs as less urgent than that of white people, the weight of this history of racism and sexism is especially heavy for Black pregnant women.
But we can change this. Now that Democrats have full control in Washington, we're confident that the Momnibus has a path toward becoming law--but not without your support. Add your name to become a citizen co-sponsor of the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act of 2021, and let's save Black pregnant parents' lives.
Thanks for adding your name!
--Shaunna, Kathy, Sonja, Melody, Lindsay, Maria, Kimberly, Elisa, KaeLyn, Katie, KD, and Bridget, the UltraViolet team
Sources:
1. UNDERWOOD, ADAMS, BOOKER UNVEIL THE BLACK MATERNAL HEALTH MOMNIBUS ACT TO ADDRESS AMERICA'S MATERNAL HEALTH CRISIS, Lauren Underwood, February 8, 2021
2. Serena Williams: What my life-threatening experience taught me about giving birth, CNN, February 20, 2018***
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