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Al Otro Lado Profile picture
@AlOtroLado_Org
Sep 11, 2020 • 4 tweets • 2 min read • Read on X
At the height of the #BlackLivesMatter protests, we started to hear heartbreaking feedback from clients, recent asylees, horrified at what they were seeing happening in America and beginning to wonder if they had made a mistake coming to seek safety in this country.

1/
Many of them found themselves reliving or being reminded of the same persecution they had fled.

The curfews in effect during #ArabSpring. The military brutalizing peaceful protests. The rise of fascism under this administration. . . .

2/
Our client Chris who was granted asylum 9/19, had been studying to be a lawyer before he escaped the Cameroonian Civil War w his mother. He asked us, "I don't understand. I thought in America the police + military were meant to protect you. Why are they the ones harming us?"
3/
We asked if he'd be interested in writing an OpEd to describe his feelings and experience. Here it is: a heart-wrenching + powerful commentary on racism + human rights amidst one of the biggest civil rights movements in modern history. @Newsweek

4/4
newsweek.com/black-refugee-…

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More from @AlOtroLado_Org

Al Otro Lado Profile picture
Oct 15
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. Image
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.
Read 12 tweets
Al Otro Lado Profile picture
Sep 28, 2023
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
Read 6 tweets
Al Otro Lado Profile picture
Nov 11, 2021
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
Read 9 tweets
Al Otro Lado Profile picture
Nov 11, 2021
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.
Read 4 tweets
Al Otro Lado Profile picture
Jul 9, 2021
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/
Read 6 tweets
Al Otro Lado Profile picture
Jun 21, 2021
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.
3/8
Read 8 tweets

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