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
Some are falsely told by dubious recruitment officers that citizenship is automatic after enlisting. Others simply get lost in a confusing maze of paperwork, red tape, and bureaucracy.
4/9
After returning to civilian life, many veterans suffer from untreated PTSD and mental illness that lead them to substance abuse and making poor choices that land them in jail.
5/9
President Clinton’s 1996 Illegal Immigration and Immigrant Responsibilty Act made all green card holders more vulnerable to deportation by reclassifying some lower-level offenses as “aggravated felonies” for which removal became mandatory.
6/9
Offenses like driving with an expired license or possession of marijuana suddenly became grounds for permanent expulsion without regard to military service. And Trump made it worse by eliminating certain programs designed to help military members get citizenship.
7/9
After serving their time in jail they are doubly punished by being deported to a country most have never known because they came to the U.S. as children. We must not let America’s deported veterans be left behind.
8/9
Some ways you can support #DeportedVeterans:

1. Support orgs like @UDeported @rep_our_pat and Deported Veterans Support House.

2. Amplify their stories.

3. Tell your Congressperson to support the New Way Forward Act and the Veteran Deportation Prevention + Reform Act.
9/9

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More from @AlOtroLado_Org

11 Nov
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
9 Jul
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
21 Jun
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
16 Jun
¡HUGE! news coming out of the immigration sphere today! AG Garland just overturned two devastating decisions made by ghouls, ahem, former AGs Sessions and Barr, that sought to restrict asylum even further by limiting the qualifications for protection.

1/
The first decision, Matter of A-B, all but precluded domestic violence as a reason to seek asylum. The second decision, Matter of L-E-A, seriously limited asylum for people who were being persecuted because of their family associations.

2/
So what does this mean exactly? It means that people fleeing domestic violence and persecuted families will now have the chance to seek protection under U.S. asylum law! This is going to make the difference between life or death for so many people fleeing danger.

3/
Read 4 tweets
25 Feb
Incredible news to share!
One of our clients who was expelled to Mexico under Title 42 with her U.S. citizen baby has been paroled into the U.S.!
CBP made her believe she was being released to her brother, instead they dropped her off in Mexico with a newborn baby.

1/
She is Haitian and barely speaks Spanish so she didn’t know how to ask for help. The first few nights she and her infant slept on the streets.

2/
We had been working with her to get her baby’s birth certificate, find safe housing, food, clothing and now humanitarian parole! Today she is safe with her baby in the U.S. and will soon be joining her brother and partner.

She’s been through so much. We’re so happy for her!

3/
Read 4 tweets
22 Feb
Our humanitarian work isn’t just about serving the needs of our clients, it’s about taking a holistic approach by working in tandem w other on the ground orgs in Tijuana to make sure they have what they need to address the most urgent needs of migrants affected by this pandemic.
Today, we were able to provide a water filtration system for @PrevencasaAc, a clinic fighting to reduce the impact of HIV by providing free medical services. Access to clean water is a basic human right.

But we didn’t do this alone. It was thanks to your generous donations to our Migrant Humanitarian Fund that we were able to provide clean water to a medical clinic today. If you’d like to make a donation or learn about the fund, click here!

alotrolado.networkforgood.com/projects/96006…
Read 4 tweets

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