Ari Sawyer Profile picture
Aug 15, 2019 13 tweets 4 min read Read on X
I spent the day doing court observation at hearings for asylum seekers forced to wait in Mexico under the #MigrantPersecutionProtocols in El Paso. One Central American man there with his 11-year-old daughter had a lot to say to the judge. The school year is supposed to begin. 1/
His little daughter had already lost a year of school because the family had to run for their lives - first his wife and son, followed by him and their daughter. Wife and son have already been let into the US, he said. But he and his daughter were placed into MPP, sent to 3/
Ciudad Juárez, a very dangerous Mexican border city. It’s so dangerous, he said, that even if he had work authorization there, he can’t leave his kid alone. @hrw and others have documented migrants being targeted for kidnapping, extortion, sexual assault, robbery, etc., 3/
The judge told him DHS would refer them for an interview with an asylum officer to see whether or not they could be returned to Mexico again. “Another thing you need to understand is that DHS can detain you in the US if you’re successful in that interview,” the judge said. 4/
“I don’t say that to scare you, but I want you to be prepared,” he said. When the judge asked if the man and others needed more time for an attorney, the man stood up again, thanking everyone in court for being there today. “Can I tell you a little joke?” he said. 5/
Because his wife and son had gone first, and because he’d been trapped in Ciudad Juárez for the past 4.5 months where he was not authorized (and anyway too afraid) to work, he said he had no money to get an attorney. “So I don’t have an attorney here today but I do have proof 6/
that shows why we fled our country for our lives,” he said, gesturing with the thick folder he held in his hand. Unfortunately, there are very few attorneys capable of representing asylum seekers forced to wait in Mexico. Here’s a report on that by @hrw hrw.org/report/2019/07… 7/
In fact, there aren’t many attorneys representing asylum seekers in MPP for a fee. Only 1.3% of those in MPP had an attorney. The program has no meaningful access to due process. Here’s @humanrights1st on that, plus many other troubling updates: humanrightsfirst.org/sites/default/… 8/
In fact, none of those present in the courtroom had an attorney and almost all expressed fear at the prospect of being sent to Mexico - AGAIN. Well folks, the judge told this man and his kid to keep trying and to come back in 3 weeks. His daughter’s education will likely 9/
continue to be disrupted, along with the education of thousands of other children currently forced to remain in Mexico. And it’s important to remember that this is an unnecessary and abusive choice DHS has made over other rights-respecting alternatives. 10/
I often feel like if ppl could just talk to these folks, see them fighting for their lives and somehow still trying to be polite and follow every new made up rule, they’d see that the Trump administration’s claim that the US is dealing with an “invasion” is a total lie. 11/
Anyway, since @DHSgov won’t end the MPP immediately, Congress must act to fight for the soul of America: defund the program and pass comprehensive immigration reform to stop this and other horrendous policies promulgated by the Trump administration. 12/
Please and thank you /FIN

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More from @AriMSawyer

Jun 25
So proud to release this beautiful and devastating project in collaboration with the @colibricenter.

For 30 years, US border policies have killed and led to the disappearance of tens of thousands of mostly Indigenous, Brown, and Black people.

It's time for a new approach.
The US should respect the right to life, the right to self-determination, and the acknowledge the right to MOVE. It should publicly apologize to the families who have lost loved ones as the result of its deterrence policies and immediately invest in life-saving measures.
Asylum isn't the only valid reason to move. People may want to be with family, pursue education, find work or a higher quality of life, or seek adventure. They don't deserve to die for it. US politicians like Biden and Trump should stop using racist policies to win elections.
Read 5 tweets
Feb 9, 2023
Drug trafficking and migration are intricately connected, but not in the way US politicians make it sound. The US demand for drugs funds and empowers the criminal organizations that make life unsafe for people in the region, playing a huge role in driving migration. 1/
The US government's response to the opioid crisis using police and punishment and futile attempts to stop the supply by militarizing the border in turn plays a massive role in driving abuses at the border. The US has a drug problem. US citizens smuggle, buy and consume drugs.
The more people overdose, the more politicians call for border security, the more border security companies get richer, the more people die crossing, the more residents are abused and overpoliced. Meanwhile, the overdoses never stop. And around and around we go.
Read 5 tweets
Feb 8, 2023
Biden has failed to follow through on his promise to create a humane and rights-respecting border. Instead, he has continued to use and expanded Trump policies, leading to record numbers of dead at the border. Watch @POTUS give the State of the Union here: c-span.org/video/?525522-…
@POTUS I'll be live tweeting with an eye on immigration and policing. In an earlier hearing, politicians falsely linked migrants with drugs and violence. They continued to call for abusive border policies. Will Biden be any different?
"Power for the sake of power...gets us nowhere." I agree. Why then doesn't @POTUS show real leadership and take a principled stance on US immigration and border policy and follow through on promises to create humane policies?
Read 10 tweets
Feb 7, 2023
Watching today: House Committee Hearing "On The Front Lines of the Border Crisis: A Hearing with Chief Patrol Agents"
I'll leave the very excellent live coverage to @ReichlinMelnick. This thread is about the bigger picture. Why are we having this conversation in the first place? Who is really in crisis at the southern border? What drives smuggling, deaths and kidnappings?
The House Committee on Oversight and Accountability have invited from Border Patrol RGV Sector Chief Gloria Chavez and Tucson Sector Chief Patrol Agent John Modlin. They've been doing their best to answer questions, but they are not equipped to answer questions about WHY.
Read 23 tweets
Mar 1, 2021
The DR is building a border wall between itself and Haiti. Securitized borders there are an import from the US Border Patrol, part of an initiative to "fight terror." In truth, it is another effort to externalize migration, to force refugees to stay in their countries of abuse 1/
Context: Haiti is in the midst of a political uprising and pandemic. Despite both of these facts, the US has continued to deport and illegally expel (with no screening for fear of return) Haitian nationals, including children. It continued to do so during #BlackHistoryMonth. 2/
Some of the conditions that exist in Haiti today are related to the US' support for father and son dictators in Haiti. Also, DR dictator Rafael Trujillo, who first trained with the US military, ordered the Parsley Massacre where tens of thousands of Haitians were slaughtered. 3/
Read 6 tweets
Jan 25, 2021
A horrifying report from the Government Office of Accountability (@USGAO) on two secretive and abusive DHS programs at the US-Mexico border. Before the analysis, a reminder that neither @POTUS nor DHS secretary nominee @AliMayorkas have agreed to end them. gao.gov/assets/720/711…
Very troubling to see the stunning lack of context on the length and conditions of detention from @USGAO. @CBP held asylum seekers in unsanitary, punitive conditions well beyond the 72-hour limit. GAO also takes for granted certain false or misleading assertions by DHS.
Before I dig into those issues, a couple of highlights from the data. CBP placed a total of 5,290 people into either program (HARP for Mexicans, PACR for non-Mexicans), which hold asylum seekers effectively incommunicado while they are rushed through a “credible fear” interview.
Read 20 tweets

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