🧵 As we enter deeper into the storm of the election don’t get swept up into the notion that if Biden gets elected everything will finally be better + we can stop fighting. Did racism suddenly disappear when Obama was elected? Were Black people finally treated w dignity?
1/4
These problems didn't start with Trump. The hate was always there bubbling beneath the surface. Trump just turned up the heat to max. He made it ok to finally let that bigoted freak flag fly. In fact, he proudly encouraged it. Made made it the cornerstone of his presidency.
2/4
Don’t get us wrong, this isn't to underscore how absolutely crucial it is for Trump to be defeated because FR, we immigration lawyers/advocates may not survive 4 more years of this “genocidal toddler,” as our Co-Founder + Legal Director @Noraistired lovingly refers to him.
3/4
This is simply to say that Joe Biden getting elected is not the end game. It is a continuation of the work started by the abolitionists and civil rights leaders that came before us like Sojourner Truth, Fannie Lou Hammer and Joe Lewis.
La lucha sigue. ✊🏽❤️🔥
4/4
*John Lewis
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ICE recently released a Gazan Palestinian client of ours from over a year of immigration detention. They finally gave up trying to deport him… to Gaza…in the middle of the war. A thread 🧵 on why ending the genocide in Palestine is a refugee rights issue.
So obviously ICE didn’t really care much about the ongoing war or the White House’s proclamation that it wouldn’t be deporting Palestinians absent compelling national security needs. That’s normal ICE stuff. They’re always trying to deport people to war zones.
First, let’s talk about how most of the Palestinians dying in Gaza are refugees. What does that mean? The United Nations defines Palestinian refugees as the people who were displaced from the British Mandate of Palestine in 1948 as well as their descendants. Our client’s grandparents were born in Yibna in the Mandate of Palestine and fled to Gaza in 1948.
As Al Otro Lado continues to assist with the @CBP street releases of asylum seekers in San Diego we continue to encounter families that have been separated. Every day we meet dozens of people who have no idea where their spouse or child is. 1/6 🧵
Some lost loved ones may still be in CBP custody, others were dropped off at a different transit station sometimes over 1hr away from each other or dropped off at a hospital due to medical concerns. No info is given to the family member as to where their spouse or child is. 2/6
Other disappeared family members have been shipped off to ICE detention centers as far away as Louisiana.
Al Otro Lado staff have been calling hospitals looking for individual family members, emailing CBP, and in some cases, filing missing person reports. 3/6
Did you know that being willing to die for your country is not enough to guarantee you automatic citizenship? Yes, that’s right. We’re talking about the thousands of veterans who have been deported after serving their country.
1/9
Contrary to popular belief, you do not have to be an American citizen to serve in the U.S. Armed Forces nor does your service automatically qualify you for citizenship.
2/9
Immigrant service members are eligible for citizenship after their service, but not all get to complete their naturalization.
3/9
Today, we, along with @ImmDef@TransLawCenter@JFSSD + @sdACLU filed a complaint asking @DHSOIG to investigate @CBP’s failure to expeditiously process urgent humanitarian parole applications. Right now humanitarian parole is practically the only path to safety in the U.S.
In recent months, dozens of applications for urgent humanitarian parole filed by all of us have gone unanswered for weeks, if not months or denied with no explanation
Some of the pending applications include:
- A family with a 3yr old child who has urgent medical needs due to suffering from epilepsy + the frequent seizures caused by the condition.
- A family with a baby who has intracranial hypertension, epilepsy + fluid in the brain.
Late last year we started to notice a disturbing trend. Migrant mothers who had given birth on US soil, therefore making their babies American citizens, were being immediately expelled by @CBP just days after giving birth + before babies’ birth certificates could be issued.
1/
Not only were these newborns sent back to some of the most dangerous cities in the world, but without any proper paper work, these babies were essentially left stateless making it even more difficult to get vaccinations and essential government benefits like food assistance.
2/
To get to the bottom of what was happening we demanded answers from @CBP by filing a Freedom of Information Act requesting information regarding these expulsions including the treatment of pregnant women in CBP custody and stats on of the total number of mothers expelled.
3/
This weekend, for the first time in over three years, our client Luis was able to hold his son in his arms again. His son was only five years old when @CBP officers callously took him while Luis was in court. He was told his son would be there when he got back. He wasn’t. 1/8
But Luis’ story isn’t the only happy one we have to share. He’s 1 of 13 parents that were reunited with their kids over the weekend + 8 more will be reunited this week! These were parents who were separated + deported from their children during the terror of #zerotolerance.
2/8
For two years we have been fighting to reunite these parents with their children, some of whom have been separated nearly four years. But the journey is not over. It will take years to undo the damage that has been done to these families. Reunification is just the first step.
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