Thread by @kazweida

This #SundayMorning we're taking a look at the current status of immigration in the United States. Now that the headlines have dried up and the public has moved on, what's happening at the border?

As you might expect, it's incredibly alarming.
(THREAD)
npr.org/2020/05/20/859…

(2) It's not just that the Trump administration has used the pandemic to effectively close the border to everyone but essential workers.

It's also that they've used it as an excuse to end the asylum program, ban green cards, and crackdown on work visas.
vox.com/2020/6/12/2128…

(3) Despite using the pandemic to effectively end legal immigration, the Trump administration has NOT used the contagion as a reason to release thousands of detained migrants and families suffering in crowded, contagious for-profit detention centers.

vox.com/the-highlight/…

(4) They can't use the pandemic as cover indefinitely, but Stephen Miller is hard at work checking off his wishlist.

The WH will leverage this opportunity to negotiate stricter immigration rules that revoke the right to court hearings for asylum seekers

sandiegouniontribune.com/news/immigrati…

(5) Most alarmingly of all, the pandemic has allowed the reinstatement of family separation. Parents arriving with children are given a choice:

Sign away their parental rights & be separated from their children or be detained together indefinitely.

amnestyusa.org/press-releases…

(6) Take this case of this family, whose kids spent 2 months in a detention camp while their Mom was held in Mexico

The kids (ages 10, 14 & 16) are threatened with deportation back to El Salvador alone unless Mom stops petitioning to join them in the US

latimes.com/politics/story…

(7) The reinstatement of family separation is widespread. 366 families were told in May they could agree to be separated from their children so the kids could be released from detention or face detention together indefinitely.

Not a single parent agreed.
newsweek.com/ice-accused-us…

(8) House Democrats have already asked the Inspector General that oversees the Department of Health and Human Services to open an investigation into the family separation policy being enacted, calling for a halt to unaccompanied minor proceedings.

mic.com/p/the-trump-ad…

(9) "Individuals, including families, are forced to make an unreasonable & unacceptable choice: Either remain in areas of Mexico that the State Department recognizes as unsafe, or abandon their opportunity to claim asylum before an immigration judge."

documentcloud.org/documents/6929…

(10) As the pandemic surges again and protests against police brutality rage on, it's certain that our eyes will be elsewhere while the immigration crisis continues.

But spare a thought for thousands of asylum seekers and refugees whose families are currently being ripped apart.

(END) Thanks to @spiritmoon7 for the #SundayMorning thread suggestion. Come back next week and we'll do this again.

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