Ari Sawyer Profile picture
Sep 10, 2019 11 tweets 6 min read Read on X
Tfw you read @DHSMcAleenan's letter to Congress, which is full of blatant lies, misleading/incorrect data, Orwellian euphemisms, proposed human rights violations and really annoying, weirdly constructed sentences meant to camouflage obviously illegal and disturbing policies:
@DHSMcAleenan Just a couple of the things (sorry, I know I'm late to this). He claims that if lawmakers let him detain families indefinitely, it will help deprive traffickers of money/resources. There is literally no excuse for abusing children or adults. Find another way to solve the problem.
@DHSMcAleenan Now, your definition of "the problem" might be different, but no matter what, I think it's pretty safe to say that if McAleenan and the Trump administration cared a tiny bit about protecting children, they wouldn't be forcing thousands of them to wait mnths/yrs in Mexico in #MPP.
@DHSMcAleenan In late June, there were over 4,780 children who'd been forced back, or about 32 percent of all asylum seekers placed in the #MigrantPersecutionProtocols. I recently visited a shelter where there were 555 people, 230 of which were children, or about 41 percent. I can't know, but
@DHSMcAleenan judging by all the little children who were put in MPP and sent to Matamoros where they have to sleep in an encampment in an open plaza, I'd bet the ratio of kids to adults is still somewhere up there. We're probably talking between 12,800-16,400 kids forced to remain there.
@DHSMcAleenan I know the margin of error on that is probably not awesome, but I'd have better data if only @DHSMcAleenan would share them. Alas, damn dirty statistics. Anyway, maybe McAleenan could focus on those kids, rather than asking Congress to help him manufacture even more abuse.
@DHSMcAleenan Another thing that bugs me: He asks Congress to "help make it easier" for those seeking protection from persecution to do so "in their own country..." That's not how asylum law works. If they could get protection in their own country, they wouldn't be seeking asylum elsewhere.
@DHSMcAleenan He says Congress should help him make asylum seekers get asylum in their own country or in some adjacent country because that will stop them from making the "perilous and expensive journey north." The US is primarily responsible for why that trip is perilous/expensive. #History
@DHSMcAleenan Immigration officials have known for a long time that their policies caused a rise in smuggling. Keep in mind, this rise caused by presidential admins, including this one, is coming down on all those little kids McAleenan, etc. have forced to wait in MX. newsweek.com/trump-immigrat…
@DHSMcAleenan To recap, the US has expanded the smuggling market, forced thousands of kids to remain in Mexican border cities where they are vulnerable to smuggling and/or trafficking, and then used data from where they were smuggled/trafficked to try to justify locking kids up indefinitely.
@DHSMcAleenan Some better requests for @AppropsDems: 1) Defund MPP. It's a horrifying policy and the US will already have to spend years making amends for what it's done. 2) Defund DHS so long as they continue to use taxpayer money for abuse. 3) In general, stop the US from detaining migrants.

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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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