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Tent port court hearings in Brownsville, TX for asylum-seekers started this morning. A group of advocates and attorneys are here asking to be allowed into the court to observe *what should be* public hearings as per federal law.
In these tent port courts, asylum-seekers get their day in court via a webcam... as in, they virtually interact with a judge who is in a total different city, somewhere in the country. Also, these are migrants who are currently being forced by border agents to “remain in Mexico.”
“Curious” fact: the city of Brownsville offered to rent DHS an actual building for $1, but DHS was like “no, we’d rather build these makeshift courtrooms from scratch and waste money” (because severely violating human rights is not sinister enough)
latimes.com/world-nation/s…
latimes.com/world-nation/s…
Attorneys, media, and the public have been turned away from these hearings in other parts of the border. But we’re here because it’s our right to be able to observe these hearings. The government is just willingly choosing to violate that.
These makeshift port courts are right next to the Brownsville-Matamoros port of entry (Gateway). Asylum-seekers are only allowed to come into the U.S. for their court hearing and then are forced to go back to “remain in Mexico.”
Brownsville residents and attorneys asked to be let in to observe the port court hearings for asylum-seekers who are currently forced to “remain in Mexico.” Residents and attorneys are being turned away. Federal regulations say these hearings should be open to the public 
Attorneys are being turned away from port court hearing in Brownsville.
Guards at the Brownsville port court said only attorneys with clients are allowed inside. But most asylum-seekers don’t have attorneys. Giving all attorneys and public access to the court to observe is a way to make sure the rights of asylum-seekers are being respected.
We weren’t allowed into the Brownsville port court to observe MPP hearings. This makeshift court is where asylum-seekers are asked to show up to
The judge for today’s hearing is teleconferenced in from Harlingen (~26 miles away). @JodiGoodwin17 is there:
The judge for today’s hearing is teleconferenced in from Harlingen (~26 miles away). @JodiGoodwin17 is there:
