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Tom Jawetz Profile picture
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23 Nov, 4 tweets, 1 min read
Over the past four years, the Trump administration used the Department of Homeland Security to inflict maximum pain on millions of people, dismantling immigration and humanitarian protection policies while degrading and distorting the institution itself. /1
At a time when the country faced genuine threats to the safety of all Americans from a global pandemic to increasingly frequent and destructive extreme weather events caused by climate change, DHS under Trump took its eyes off the ball and failed the American people. /2
Having served in three Senate-confirmed posts, first as a U.S. Attorney, then as USCIS Director, and most recently as DHS Deputy Secretary, @AliMayorkas has the expertise to chart a new course for the department and the established trust of career staff to get the job done. /3
His nomination signals a total rejection of the anti-immigrant, anti-refugee, un-American policies of the Trump administration and a new day for DHS. /4

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More from @TomJawetz

Tom Jawetz Profile picture
30 Oct
A point about this task force.

For the past three years, NGOs on a court-appointed Steering Committee have moved heaven and earth to locate separated parents.

They did this because the USG after separating these families refused to play a role in helping to reunite them. /1
The creation of a task force—one that lives in the State Department, *not* DHS—must NOT be seen as a usurpation of the work that’s already taking place.

The USG has unclean hands. No credibility. The job off finding parents cannot be theirs. /2
It’s hard to imagine anything more counterproductive than the idea of sending US law enforcement personnel—especially DHS—into Central American countries to search for parents whose children were years earlier ripped from their arms.

That idea should cross no one’s mind. /3
Read 6 tweets
Tom Jawetz Profile picture
29 Oct
Great! After ripping these families apart, the federal government has completely shirked its responsibility for helping to reunite them.

A task force led by State—not DHS—should support efforts by NGOs to identify families and work with foreign leaders to assist in search. /1
Together with that important reform, the USG should parole these families into the US and offer them permanent protection here.

We need to further prevent this from ever happening again and provide restitution to help these children heal from the trauma we inflicted. /2
Finally, the people responsible just be held accountable. @amprog has some ideas that we will be sharing in the weeks ahead. /3
Read 5 tweets
Tom Jawetz Profile picture
28 Oct
*Thread*

Great piece by @DLind that serves as both an explainer about the network of policies the Trump admin has adopted to end humanitarian protections along the southern border and a way to ask provocative questions about the future.

A few thoughts. propublica.org/article/trump-…
Dara divides the Democratic approach into two camps: those who view #immigration as a national security matter who embrace deterrence and those who view is as a humanitarian issue.

I'd suggest a third approach: immigration as a regulatory matter.
Dara observes that prior to the early 2010s, deterrence was an "uncontroversial strategy."

1) That's not entirely true. The US strategy of deterring (and punishing) Guatemalan & Salvadoran asylum seekers in the 1980s birthed the sanctuary movement and loads of litigation.
Read 16 tweets
Tom Jawetz Profile picture
23 Oct
Below is my full thread on the debate tonight, but I'm rewatching the family separation exchange right now. A few thoughts. /1
Grateful @kwelkernbc asked Trump first what he would do to reunite all of the families separated due to his policies.

But it's not the US government that can't find the parents of 545 children separated in 2017.

The US government refused to look. It's never looked. /2
Instead, because the US government shirked its responsibility to reunite families, a federal court appointed a steering committee of NGOs--including the @aclu and @JusticeInMotion--to do it.

That's something @JoeBiden can change on Day 1. Take responsibility. Lend a hand.
/3
Read 13 tweets
Tom Jawetz Profile picture
23 Oct
#Immigration is not a debate topic.

But immigrants are central to any conversation about Fighting COVID-19, American Families, Race in America, Climate Change, National Security, or Leadership.

@kwelkernbc may not ask, but no answer‘s complete without raising it. #Debates2020
On #COVID19, millions of immigrants are working alongside Americans as essential workers to fight the pandemic.

3-in-4 undocumented workers are in jobs defined as essential by DHS itself. #ImmigrantsAreEssential
But despite the great personal sacrifices they have made, undocumented immigrants and their families--including US citizens--have been largely left out of the relief that Congress has passed to date.

This is what we have long needed. americanprogress.org/issues/economy…
Read 18 tweets
Tom Jawetz Profile picture
20 Oct
🚨 This is the story everyone who tracked Trump’s family separation at the beginning knew was coming but never wanted to see.

At least 545 children separated from their parents... permanently.

#FamiliesBelongTogether
This is 545 kids out of 1,000 separated during a 2017 pilot program uncovered by @lomikriel.

A pilot program.

And though they kept no records and had separated families permanently they EXPANDED family separation in 2018.

WE NEED TO TAKE AWAY CHILDREN. nytimes.com/2020/10/06/us/…
.@kwelkernbc, your NBC colleagues—@JuliaEAinsley and @jacobsoboroff—have doggedly pursued this story.

How can this not be a question for the candidates on Thursday?

This crime resulted either from Trump’s leadership or his failed leadership.

Either way he must answer for it.
Read 4 tweets

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