ImmDef Profile picture
Jan 30, 2020 10 tweets 3 min read Read on X
Thank you @sdACLU for suing the govt to ensure access to counsel during fear of return to Mexico interviews. Now that we are allowed to participate, we see how terrifying, cursory and inadequate this system is. All the more reason to keep fighting to #RestoreAslyumNOW. (THREAD)
From @ImmDef Legal Services Director Joyce Noche: I was on the phone tonight while my client sat in a hielera at the border, pleading with an asylum officer in LA, with an interpreter who accidentally disconnected 3 times during the call.
My client described being kidnapped for 3 months in southern MX with her 5-year old son, she described being held in a house, unable to leave b/c her captors were demanding $6,000. She described how her son lived in fear in captivity, and they often threatened not to feed him.
She managed to escape after 3 months and made it to TJ with her son. There she described being followed & confronted by a man who attempted to grab her by her hands and threatened to take her child. She described being seen leaving a shelter and then being confronted by this man.
She was crying hard on the phone. I could hear her voice breaking as she re-lived the fear she felt for her son. She told the officer she feared her captors b/c they wanted money and it seemed they had found her in her shelter as they called there and asked for her by name.
The officer’s last question was whether there was anything more my client wanted to say. At that moment (I wasn’t prepared for this) she began sobbing & pleaded with the officer to not send them back to MX. She begged for her life, through gasping tears she begged for protection
She cried and pleaded. If the interview had been in person, I imagined her falling to her knees and pleading to please not send them back. She has no one in MX, nowhere to go. She is easily identifiable and her vulnerability as a young woman with a small child is apparent.
She begged to be detained in the US rather than sent back. Almost no one passes the non-refoulement interviews despite describing kidnappings, assaults, rapes, robberies, stalking & death threats.
I don’t know what the outcome will be for this client.
I am grateful that I was there to tell the officer why she should not be in MPP. But there are thousands of others who face similar deadly circumstances who do not have a lawyer fighting for them. What chance do they have in this crazy system? This illustrates why we must #EndMPP
There is no justice in a system that is designed to dehumanize. There is no justice in court hearings that railroad due process. There is no justice when our clients lives are being put at risk simply because they are seeking protection. This is why we fight to #RestoreAsylumNOW

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with ImmDef

ImmDef Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @ImmDef

Feb 9, 2022
Last week ImmDef's Directing Attorney of our Cross-Border Initiative in San Diego, @CargioliM, was in court on the first day of resumed MPP 2.0 hearings to observe. This thread details what she witnessed. #EndMPP #RestoreAsylumNow #WelcomeWithDignity #AccessToJustice
Asylum seekers in MPP only have from 10 to 12 to potentially meet w/ lawyers on their day in court. That is if they can find a lawyer willing to represent them while being forced to remain in Tijuana, one of the most dangerous cities in the world. #DueProcess #AccessToCounsel
On the first day of MPP court in San Diego since the Biden administration decided to resume the deadly program, there are two judges hearing 7 cases. In the days and weeks ahead these numbers will sadly increase as more and more human beings are placed into MPP.
Read 14 tweets
May 26, 2021
Today we’re proud to announce the official launch of the #WelcomeWithDignity campaign. We’re working with hundreds of advocates and organizations to say it loud and clear: we’re ready for a just asylum system that puts compassion and dignity first.
➡️welcomewithdignity.org
What does #WelcomeWithDignity mean to you?
The #WelcomewithDignity campaign is committed to transforming the way the U.S. receives and protects people who survived violence and left behind their homes. Together, w/our border orgs, we can build a more just and truly humane asylum system. Join us: bit.ly/WelcomeWithDig…
Read 10 tweets
May 4, 2021
This is Bryan. After 3 yrs of separation from his mom due to Trump’s zero tolerance policy, he will finally reunite w/her this week. Despite such a traumatic experience, Bryan is fighting back by joining #TeamImmDef to help children like him know their rights.
Thank you to @jacobsoboroff for joining us in celebrating this bittersweet moment. ImmDef met Bryan while he was in an ORR shelter. Since then he was reunited with siblings. This week his family becomes whole again.
“I didn’t have a chance to say anything. We were shocked, crying and didn’t expect to be separated from each other. That was the last time I saw my mom in person.” - ImmDef client Bryan, becomes one of the first children to reunite w/mother under Biden’s Task Force this week.
Read 8 tweets
Apr 23, 2021
Today is the first day ImmDef will begin providing legal services to unaccompanied children at the @LongBeachCity Long Beach Convention Center EIS. #WelcomeWithDignity 🧵1/10
Read: immdef.org/post/immdef-to…
Many of the children entering these EIS were forced to flee their home countries due to severe violence, persecution, natural disaster, & some may have been separated from parents or family members due to the Biden Admin's continued implementation of the unjust Title 42 policy. 2
While the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 requires that children be transferred from CBP custody into ORR facilities within 72 hours, ImmDef staff recently witnessed a child still in CBP custody after 26 days & allowed only 2 showers in that time. 3
Read 11 tweets
Apr 22, 2021
"It’s never left my mind. It was a horribly traumatic because I never thought I’d see my mom like that. They tricked us.” ImmDef client Julieta was separated from her mother while in CBP custody. Three years later, they still remain separated. @nlanard 🧵
motherjones.com/politics/2021/…
After one of Magdalena's daughters was sexually assaulted, she fled with her two girls to seek asylum in the U.S. But while in CBP custody, Magdalena was shackled and taken away from them, ripped apart by the Trump administration in front of her 9 yo and 16 yo daughters. 2/5
ImmDef's ED @L_Toczylowski, "This case perfectly exemplifies all of the trauma and the pain and the years of recovery that Zero Tolerance and family separation is going to cause...It’s a microcosm of what happened to hundreds and thousands of people.” 3/5 motherjones.com/politics/2021/…
Read 5 tweets
Apr 22, 2021
Biden’s #ProtectionFailure is endangering the lives of refugees and causing unspeakable human suffering. It’s time for the Biden administration to #WelcomeWithDignity.

To learn more, read @HumanRights1st @HaitianBridge & @AlOtroLado_Org’s new report: bit.ly/ProtectionFail…
@POTUS promised to build back our asylum system better than before. But after months in office, his admin is continuing to use a Trump-era public health order to block & expel refugees to danger.

We cannot let this #ProtectionFailure continue. It’s time to #WelcomeWithDignity
Refugees expelled to danger by the Biden admin under the Trump-era Title 42 policy face grave danger. It’s time to put an end to the Biden admin’s #ProtectionFailure, and #WelcomeWithDignity.
Read 4 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(