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Rabbi Jill Zimmerman @RabbiJill
, 18 tweets, 6 min read Read on Twitter
I'm live-tweeting @HIASrefugees conference call happening right now abt. the state of asylum seekers right now.@truahrabbis #KeepFamiliesTogether
The conditions people are fleeing from: gang violence, failed states, gangs extorting money, gangs asking young girls to be their "girlfriends", family members killed in front of them...@HIASrefugees
TODAY - hundreds of cases where families are still separated. Our gov't MISSED the deadline & they have no clear plan to reunite. Hundreds parents deported while their kids still here.
The govt did not keep good records on family separations. It's a mess & STILL a mess. There is no clear time plan. (so please keep public pressure up)
Since 1951, the world passed an internat'l law which allows ppl to seek asylum. Our country agreed. In 1980 we passed the Refugee act. RIGHT NOW our govt is not following the law. @HIASrefugees
It has never been easy to seek & be granted asylum, however, one @HIASrefugees lawyer said it has never ever been this bad. Our govt has made it difficult, if not impossible, for people to legally come into this country.
Demand your MOC & your local officials to get Sec Nielsen to reunite all families & Jeff Sessions to PROTECT, not erode our immigration policy. @HIASrefugees
So Rabbi Rachel Grant Meyer just spoke eloquently about our trip to Mexico last week. How important "witnessing" is - when we show up for people who are suffering, it validates their reality & helps create a new reality. Witnessing is deep, powerful, and essential @HIASrefugees
@HIASrefugees sending a delegation of volunteer lawyers to Texas for a full week to help asylum seekers w/their rights. Liz Sweet is amazing.
There's so much content on the call, I know I'm missing important points. Would appreciate other @HIASrefugees @truahrabbis to add tweets on what we are learning. TY Rabbi @KirzBecka & others on the call: Meryl, Liz Sweet, Rabbi Rachel Grant-Meyer, Melanie?
There are MANY alternatives to detention of families/children that have been proven effective & are much more humane, but this admin is choosing not to use them. @HIASrefugees
We need a fair, humane immigration & asylum process. There is no need for the cruelty shown by this admin. NO NEED. There is a broad attack on the immigration process by this admin that is unprecedented. @HIASrefugees
The current policies of this admin are cruel, & seemingly designed to create suffering, & dehumanize. This must stop. People need to continue to send this message to MOC & local officials. Do not stop your activism.
We do not yet know how the remaining hundreds of separated families will be re-united. A federal judge ordered it, the govt missed the deadline & there is no plan. (I do not like this either ) Not sure the next move from @ACLU
People are actually being turned away at the border (STILL) who are seeking asylum. again, this is LEGAL. (I just can't take this in bc they are being turned away to sure death/violence that they have made an arduous journey to escape.)
Huge takeaway: DO NOT STOP YOUR ADVOCACY. It makes a difference - all of it. Call, sign petitions, KEEP doing it. Do not give up. @HIASrefugees
more than 150 ppl took an hour to listen to this call. Please check out @HIASrefugees website for how to follow this issue & to help. THANK YOU HIAS.
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More from @RabbiJill see all

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1/ Whenever I go into despair re: the painful times we are living in, I think of ancestors who survived the worst, & still maintained their humanity. I’m going to share about one tonight. #SpiritualGuidance4Now #FamiliesBelongTogether
Rabbi Kalonymous Kalman Shapira was the rabbi of the Warsaw ghetto during the Holocaust. Despite the harrowing, murderous conditions, he counseled his community to make sure they continued to develop their inner life...#SpiritualGuidance4Now #FamiliesBelongTogether 2/
even in the darkest of time. He called his people to not go into despair, & instead, to continue to look for holiness & light in the everyday. Teaching in the Hasidic tradition, he taught that the Divine Presence is everywhere. #SpiritualGuidance4Now #FamiliesBelongTogether 3/
Read 8 tweets
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1/ THREAD: Concerned abt the heinous policies separating families? Here's a whole list of actions u can take. TY to Rabbi @salempearce @truahrabbis You can 1) educate yourself 2) Donate 3) call your MOC & senators to support bills. Here we go:
2/ LEARN: @truahrabbis Rabbi @rebamy1 & Lorena Melgarej of @FIABayArea wrote this op-ed on the issue in The Forward. op-ed on the issue in @jdforward forward.com/scribe/402569/…
3/ LEARN:@WSJ on the crisis: wsj.com/articles/mass-…
Read 16 tweets

Related threads

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Top Myths About #Asylum and why you should care:

Myth: Asylum seekers should file at US consulates in their home countries.

Reality: Asylum can only be sought at the border or inside the US. US consulates do not accept asylum applications.
Myth: Asylum seekers must present themselves at a port of entry.

Reality: The law (8 USC 1158) specifically says a person may apply for asylum whether they enter legally or not.

They can be technically prosecuted for unlawful entry, but that doesn't prevent asylum.
Myth: Asylum is only for political persecution, not for fear of gangs and terrorists.

Reality: There is NO requirement in the law that an asylum seeker's fear be politically based.

I've won many gang and terrorist related cases.
Read 9 tweets
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UPDATE: The Presidential proclamation barring certain non-citizens from seeking #asylum after crossing the Southern border is out. How will they limit it to the #MigrantCaravan? How much more illegal can this thing get?

I haven't even read this, so let's get through ittogether
(This thread is going to be a sequel to yesterday's on the "final interim rule" rushed into effect in anticipation of this proclamation, so you might want to read that one first.)

These #s appear to be the entire justification for the proclamation, and they badly need context. They may sound scary if you're new to the issue, but check out the overall historical picture & tell me this is a natl. emergency worthy of suspending a 4,000 year-old legal right
Read 16 tweets
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SO MANY LIES BEING SPREAD BY TRUMP!

It's important for us to know the truth about Trump's immigration policy & how it compares to Bush/Obama's policies to be clear about what our demands should be.

I asked @Blibal to help me understand.

Here's what I learned: (THREAD)
Kids being stolen from their parents in mass is new, and is entirely the result of Jeff Sessions' decision to prosecute all people crossing the border, including asylum-seekers and parents with kids.
Laws that allow mass criminal prosecution of migrants have been on the books for decades-8 USC 1325 unlawful entry (misdemeanor punishable by up to 2 yrs) & 8 USC 1326, unlawful reentry (felony punishable up to 20 yrs depending on previous deportation and criminal history).
Read 14 tweets
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As a fmr immigration attorney let me be unambiguously clear. Crossing a boarder to claim asylum is *not* a crime; no under US or international law. Any child separated from a parent under that pretext is done so in direct contravention to the laws of the USA. ⚖ THREAD Pls RT.
If you came to the US without permission to apply for asylum, youmetjod of entry, whether legal or illegal *should* in no way effect your application process. Illegal entry is not a ground of inadmissibility for asylum applicants.
Unlike many other categories of applicants for immigration benefits, ppl seeking asylum in the US are not barred by having made an illegal entry; for example, sneaked across the U.S. border or overstaying a valid visa (one of the top ways people are in the country illegall).
Read 35 tweets
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I’m with @NARAL, @MoveOn, @WomenBelong, @domesticworkers and more. We’re fired up and we’re fighting back against Trump’s cruel, inhumane, unjust family separation policy. #KeepFamiliesTogether
This is about more than immigration, it is about the soul of our country.

Trump’s administration cannot rip that soul away. We won’t let them. We demand just immigration policies. We demand hearings in House Judiciary Committee. We demand justice.
Yesterday, with @repjohnlewis and more @HouseDemocrats colleagues, we created some #GoodTrouble outside of Customs and Border Protection. We marched in the streets, we blocked the entrance and we demanded that they stop tearing apart families and arresting women.
Read 7 tweets
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1/ BREAKING: @TheJusticeDept has just authorized immigration judges to deny #asylum applications without a hearing. Like most Trump-era administrative violence, it has been unnoticed & unreported.

*sound of Scotch pouring into glass*

THREAD

#TrumpImmigration #HereToStay
2/ Important context: As head of @TheJusticeDept, the Attorney General has final say over all cases before the administrative #immigration courts. AG may snatch a case away from the Board of Immigration Appeals anytime and decide it himself by directing BIA to refer it to him.
3/ Here is the 2014 BIA holding--upholding precedent from 1989--which the AG was so intent on getting to his own desk. It may not mean much to anyone who had the good sense not to go to law school, but take a shot. (No, really: *take an actual shot* and give it a try.)
Read 11 tweets

Trending hashtags

#fails #witnessrelocation #WereSendingOurLoveDowntheWell #SIJ #immigrantchildren #BlueHairedLawyer #SecureAmericasFutureAct #CentralAmerican #transphobic #TheFlinstones #KeepFamiliesTogether #humanrights #AngryDad #nibrexit #IMAGine #TheProblemwithApu #SecuringAmericasFuture #Basta #Brockway #OccupyICE #CentralAmerica #Asylum #TexAverySyndrome #Afghanistan #travelban

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