Not only does @CBP violate the law by returning asylum seekers to almost certain persecution, but it violates even its own policies set by @DHSgov meant to provide even a bare minimum of protection. @clarychka, @espinosa_rios and I at @hrw have repeatedly documented such cases.
@CBP@DHSgov@clarychka@espinosa_rios@hrw@lopezobrador_ The cases from this report are based on research we did in Ciudad Juarez across the border from El Paso, meaning this @CBP failure is not limited to the #RGV, but I have continued to document asylum seekers w/ disabilities/health conditions being expelled to cities in Tamaulipas.
@CBP@DHSgov@clarychka@espinosa_rios@hrw@lopezobrador_ In Juarez the shelters are unequipped to accommodate such asylum seekers. In Tamaulipas, there are very few shelters to speak of, and the bulk of asylum seekers are either systematically kidnapped, forced to flee, or forced to live in squalid conditions in a make-shift camp.
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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.
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.
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?
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.
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/
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.