Rachel McGonagill Profile picture
Apr 19, 2019 51 tweets 469 min read Read on X
Following AG Barr’s decision to unilaterally disallow bail hearings for any asylum seekers, many folks admitted they do not grok the difference between immigration courts and our real justice system.

Information is the devil's mistress, so let's do this!
First, there is a difference between immigration courts and our actual real justice system. The justice system that everyone generally thinks of, with local county courthouses, district, circuit courts, all the way up to SCOTUS: that's a whole branch of government unto itself.
@ifindkarma @matt_cam @TrinityResists @AdamaEsq @axidentaliberal @jomareewade @ImmJusticeNOW @BryanDawsonUSA @brycetache @nycsouthpaw Immigration Courts, however, are a different breed. They're under the aegis of the Executive Branch, specifically part of the Department of Justice, and the AG is the Boss. ICs used to be part of INS, but a few years back, they were moved to DoJ in a hope for more impartiality.
@ifindkarma @matt_cam @TrinityResists @AdamaEsq @axidentaliberal @jomareewade @ImmJusticeNOW @BryanDawsonUSA @brycetache @nycsouthpaw @LiteraryMouse @MamaMayham @BABS5683 @TheLoyalO @LunaLuvgood2020 @ManInTheHoody @AdamParkhomenko @HriSherryb That worked out great. *biggest eyeroll in the universe*

In fact, immigration lawyer @matt_cam had this to say about the Immigration Court system, in which he works on behalf of his clients everyday:
@ifindkarma @matt_cam @TrinityResists @AdamaEsq @axidentaliberal @jomareewade @ImmJusticeNOW @BryanDawsonUSA @brycetache @nycsouthpaw @LiteraryMouse @MamaMayham @BABS5683 @TheLoyalO @LunaLuvgood2020 @ManInTheHoody @AdamParkhomenko @HriSherryb The problems w/Immigration Courts being part of DoJ are legion.

The American Bar Association (ABA) reported in 2010, w/an update just recently, the disaster our immigration courts have become.

2010 Report: americanbar.org/content/dam/ab…

2019 Report: americanbar.org/content/dam/ab…
@ifindkarma @matt_cam @TrinityResists @AdamaEsq @axidentaliberal @jomareewade @ImmJusticeNOW @BryanDawsonUSA @brycetache @nycsouthpaw @LiteraryMouse @MamaMayham @BABS5683 @TheLoyalO @LunaLuvgood2020 @ManInTheHoody @AdamParkhomenko @HriSherryb BIG PROBLEM #1: Immigration JUDGES are not independent because immigration courts are not.
IJs work for the AG.

They're hired by him, often used to work for DoJ/ICE.

Let that sink in.

The judges making decisions about asylum cases WORK FOR the guy making asylum claims harder.
@ifindkarma @matt_cam @TrinityResists @AdamaEsq @axidentaliberal @jomareewade @ImmJusticeNOW @BryanDawsonUSA @brycetache @nycsouthpaw @LiteraryMouse @MamaMayham @BABS5683 @TheLoyalO @LunaLuvgood2020 @ManInTheHoody @AdamParkhomenko @HriSherryb @DanaScottlo @funder @ScottHech @SusanBChurch11 @JainaResists @Augustus709 @mle_goldman @JynErso_Patriot @Norberta36 @lfkraus .@matt_cam had a great thread about this in 2017, when AG Sessions was appointing new IJs like woah. Around 100 in 6 months. Bias, ideology, and blatant partisanship shouldn't have a role in immigration hearings. His judges will be in places for YEARS.

@ifindkarma @matt_cam @TrinityResists @AdamaEsq @axidentaliberal @jomareewade @ImmJusticeNOW @BryanDawsonUSA @brycetache @nycsouthpaw @LiteraryMouse @MamaMayham @BABS5683 @TheLoyalO @LunaLuvgood2020 @ManInTheHoody @AdamParkhomenko @HriSherryb @DanaScottlo @funder @ScottHech @SusanBChurch11 @JainaResists @Augustus709 @mle_goldman @JynErso_Patriot @Norberta36 @lfkraus The 2010 ABA Report lays out issues with one guy hiring all the judges, especially if most were DoJ or ICE lawyers: they're likely to be homogenous, and think very much alike about How Things Should Be. In fact, studies show distinct biases in asylum grants by such IJs.
@ifindkarma @matt_cam @TrinityResists @AdamaEsq @axidentaliberal @jomareewade @ImmJusticeNOW @BryanDawsonUSA @brycetache @nycsouthpaw @LiteraryMouse @MamaMayham @BABS5683 @TheLoyalO @LunaLuvgood2020 @ManInTheHoody @AdamParkhomenko @HriSherryb @DanaScottlo @funder @ScottHech @SusanBChurch11 @JainaResists @Augustus709 @mle_goldman @JynErso_Patriot @Norberta36 @lfkraus @DemocracyStorm @TrisResists @L_Toczylowski @SirineShebaya @JessTherkelsen When the prosecutor and the judge both work for the same guy (ultimately--POTUS) it makes the idea of impartiality a farce. This plays out in ICs everyday.
Two weeks ago, 2 organizations filed a complaint against El Paso IJs about their culture of hostility towards non-citizens.
@ifindkarma @matt_cam @TrinityResists @AdamaEsq @axidentaliberal @jomareewade @ImmJusticeNOW @BryanDawsonUSA @brycetache @nycsouthpaw @LiteraryMouse @MamaMayham @BABS5683 @TheLoyalO @LunaLuvgood2020 @ManInTheHoody @AdamParkhomenko @HriSherryb @DanaScottlo @funder @ScottHech @SusanBChurch11 @JainaResists @Augustus709 @mle_goldman @JynErso_Patriot @Norberta36 @lfkraus @DemocracyStorm @TrisResists @L_Toczylowski @SirineShebaya @JessTherkelsen Some El Paso IJs standing orders: only allowing 100 pages of evidence, no matter how much more might exist; requiring all evidence for an asylum case be submitted even before a bond hearing; not allowing any supplemental evidence later on, if it becomes available.

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More from @RachelMcGonagi1

Sep 14, 2020
Disgusting, but not surprising. Of course they were sterilizing immigrant women at ICE facilities. They're excruciatingly racist. Do you think they *want* more brown people in this country?

#AbolishICE #AbolishDHS
Reminder that medical abuse--and whistlerblowers calling it out--are no strangers to ICE facilities. When your country has a for-profit prison system, steeped in racism and the legacy of slavery, these are the results.

This story, from a year ago, a whistleblower tells about ICE prisons' over-use of solitary confinement to "protect" detainees who identified as LGBTQ.

Also, to "protect" those who were deemed "suicidal."

Read 16 tweets
Aug 8, 2020
Tonight on Death Thread:

I told the Portland Doc, and then the hospice Doc today, that I'm ready to start hospice now.
An intake team will be coming to the house to do all the intake-y things sometime next week. It's a little up in the air cuz I'm staying on Dobutamine, and hospice needs to take over/work out the contract with the home infusion peeps *before* I sign myself over to their care.
I was able to decide on this now because the amazing folks at my cardiac rehab place know how much I value sweating it up with them, and are making accommodations for me to continue, whilst on hospice, even if it's not strictly kosher. Mostly, I go for the companionship, tho.
Read 220 tweets
Jun 12, 2020
The Karenning of America: a thread.

Nominees for #KarenOfTheYear are......

Karen Vs. The Drive Through
Karen Vs. The Electric Bike. #KarenOfTheYear

Karen Vs. Stairs #KarenOfTheYear nominee.

Read 221 tweets
Apr 19, 2020
There are ~320 million people in the US.

Every day, we consume ~320 million X 3 meals.

Many meals USED be at restaurants, schools, sporting events, food carts, etc.

Even if these venues are closed, people STILL NEED THOSE MEALS.

How can farmers have "EXCESS" food? #DemCast
Farmers have been dumping tons and tons of food and milk, plowing crops under, even as America goes hungry. Even while thousands line up for hours--and even overnight--for a box of groceries at one of the nation's thousands of food banks.

Why not donate?
wcnc.com/article/news/h…
The main reason? It's not worth their while, financially, to do so. Sure, there're questions of storage and logistics, but it basically comes down to the fact that the food being plowed under--ordinarily destined for restaurants and cafeterias, etc., who would've paid for it--
Read 6 tweets
Apr 18, 2020
My town is the centerpoint for first in the nation study of community spread of COVID-19.

In a cooperative effort led by @OregonState, about 4,000 non-symptomatic* people (or ~1 in 12 in town) will be tested for the virus in a door-to-door survey.

kgw.com/article/news/l…
Specific information about how the TRACE COVID-19 study in Corvallis, OR will be conducted can be found here:

Testing is the key to moving forward. Studying the prevalence of the virus in the community, esp. amongst those without symptoms, is crucial.
trace.oregonstate.edu
The university *vet* school made this possible.

Read 5 tweets
Mar 7, 2020
UPDATE on children separated from their parents at the border who were in custody on June 26, 2018:

ALL 2797 eligible children have been discharged from ORR. Over 2000 were reunited with parents, another 600 into "other appropriate circumstance."



BUT.
As @jomareewade points out, not only did this process take NINETEEN MONTHS longer than Judge Sabraw originally gave the govt to do it, but there are STILL 18 CHILDREN LEFT BEHIND.

These kids have been IN federal government CUSTODY SINCE JUNE 2018.

According to the rules governing their lives, that means no one has touched these children in over a year and a half.

No one has hugged them, even when they cried.

They've likely barely been in touch with any family.

It's likely they've been moved at least 3-5 times.
Read 6 tweets

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