Recent headlines have suggested that there’s a “crisis” at the border. They’re wrong.
What we’re currently seeing is the predictable response to the right to seek asylum being systematically denied for years.
The Trump administration tried to all-out end asylum through multiple cruel and illegal policies.
These policies deliberately endangered lives and violated people’s right to seek safety in the US.
Because of these policies, tens of thousands of asylum seekers were denied entry and instead forced to pursue claims from Mexico — or were returned to the country from which they fled.
Many asylum-seekers have reported harsh, dangerous conditions.
Immigration is cyclical. Ebbs and flows of migrants have occurred along the southwest border for decades — under both parties.
What we’re seeing is in line with seasonal patterns of immigration, exacerbated by the backlog of people at the border. washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/…
Cruel policies like family separation and the denial of asylum did not stop people from coming to the border in large numbers under the prior administration.
They just bred confusion and suffering.
Then in February, Biden began allowing some people, mostly children, into the US to pursue asylum claims.
In doing so, he made moves to address the harms of the Trump administration and restore the right to seek asylum.
But merely ending Trump’s policies is not enough.
Many migrants from all over the world have been waiting months, even years, at the border for an opportunity to present their asylum cases.
We need a just process to manage the challenge presented by our broken asylum system.
No one makes the life-threatening decision to travel thousands of miles to the US because of policy changes.
They do so because their lives depend on it.
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As vaccination efforts ramp up in the states, so have the idea of so-called "vaccine passports," or credentials to prove vaccination status.
But little is known about how these systems would be implemented.
Rushing to develop a vaccine passport system could be bad for transparency, privacy, and user control.
This is precisely what we need to prevent.
We don't oppose the principle of requiring proof of vaccination in certain contexts. After all, vaccination is often required for school enrollment and some medical or other jobs.
There's no reason to believe that the existing system of proof is deeply broken.
President Biden just announced a massive infrastructure plan — including $100 billion to ensure everyone in this country can access broadband.
It’s encouraging that our leaders are finally starting to treat broadband as the basic necessity it is.
Broadband access is about more than the internet – it’s an issue of systemic equality.
People without broadband are more likely to be people of color, rural, and low-income. Without broadband, many opportunities in employment, education — even vaccine access — are out of reach.
COVID-19 showed us how important internet access is to our everyday lives — but the digital divide existed long before the pandemic and will continue unless our government takes necessary action.
On Trans Day of Visibility and every day, we should all follow and support local organizations doing the work on the ground in places like Arkansas, Alabama, and South Dakota.
THREAD ⤵️
SOUTH DAKOTA
Support and follow the Transformation Project Advocacy Network (@transadvocacySD), which aims to lessen the isolation of trans youth in the state by educating and supporting them and their families.
ARKANSAS
InTransitive (@intransitiveAR) focuses on community building, immigration support, and violence prevention for the trans community and all of our loved ones.
The trans community is facing a crisis in Arkansas.
Yesterday afternoon, the Arkansas legislature passed HB 1570, a bill that would strip trans youth of their health care.
The Governor of Arkansas must veto the bill when it reaches his desk.
This bill is catastrophic.
It cuts off trans people from health care that:
✔️ We need to survive
✔️ Every major medical association supports
✔️ Allows us to live as our true and authentic selves
Stopping this bill is necessary to defend and protect the lives of trans people.
Every trans and non-binary person deserves access to gender affirming health care, no matter where we live or what type of health insurance we have.