Spent this morning visiting a shelter for Ukrainian refugees in Tijuana.
Spent the afternoon at a shelter @ImmDef visits regularly to provide legal services to mostly Haitian & Central American families.
The differences between the two are stark and soul-shattering. 🧵
While the Ukrainian refugees at the Tijuana shelter are in extremely challenging circumstances, the shelter itself is secure, clean & well organized. There is safe transport to the border, plenty of food & clothing.
And most importantly: OPTIONS for those sheltered there.
Meanwhile, at shelter where we provide legal services to brown & Black migrants trapped in MX for months/yrs, conditions are incredibly challenging. Even more disturbing the men, women & children sheltered there have essentially no options to seek protection. #EndMPP#EndTitle42
Providing legal advice to Ukrainians in Tijuana is interesting because they are being processed as exceptions to T42. 100s of them everyday. Refugees at the shelter seemed relaxed, knowing they will only be there a few hours. And when ready, there is safe transport to the border.
At the shelter housing mostly Central Americans & Haitians things are very different. We repeat the same thing we have for yrs now: there are virtually no safe options at the moment for your families. Today I repeated that to more than one crying mom holding their child’s hand.
The main reason I went to the Ukrainian shelter today was to provide tech assistance to volunteers related to unaccompanied children. Yet again, the processing of these kids is happening much differently than we see normally. In many cases, family units are being kept together.
Yet at the other shelter things remain the same.We had to explain to an aunt traveling with her two orphaned nieces, including a 2 yr old w/ Down Syndrome & a heart condition, that separation at the border is the most likely outcome. She had tears in her eyes as we explained.
I point out these differences not to say that everyone should be treated equally inhumanely. In fact, the treatment of Ukrainians is proof we can welcome refugees w/ dignity, as we should.
But whether we have political will to do so should not depend on the color of their skin
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Spent a long day at #LongBeach Convention Center with my partner-in-good @Yliana_JM & team @ImmDef. A few things that I keep replaying in my head. Can’t stop thinking about a girl (11) and her little bro (7) who I met. They are nearly the exact same ages as my own son & daughter.
During a legal screening the siblings shared a truly heartbreaking story that I will not detail here explaining why they fled their home country. Suffice to say that they were harmed, at grave risk and are now desperate to reunite with their father who lives here in the US.
As part of our screening we ask specifically about how kids are treated in CBP custody. This young girl explained to me that her little brother and her were separated at the border in TX and placed into separate “hieleras.” They were separated for 4 terrifying days.
Spent the day touring the Emergency Intake Site at the Long Beach Convention Center & want to share thoughts. Our tour concluded about an hr before the first group of unaccompanied children arrived, & tomorrow myself & team @ImmDef will be back to begin providing legal services.
On the tour were multiple elected officials from Long Beach, including @LongBeachMayor, who reiterated throughout the day his hope that this facility will be a reflection of Long Beach’s rich history of welcoming immigrants and that these children will be met with love and care.
The Mayor’s call for meeting this moment w/ compassion translated into the facility which has been nicely decorated & seemed well equipped to house the 1000+ children who are expected. In the sleeping area large pink butterflies are projected onto walls giving a mural-like effect
I spoke to the LA Times this weekend about news that additional sites in CA, including the Long Beach Convention Center, may open as Emergency Intake Sites for unaccompanied children.
Trump spent 4 years decimating our asylum system and emergency measures are needed to protect children in the short term.
We need to meet this moment while also reimagining what our system should look like to truly #WelcomeWithDignity.
Children should never be in govt custody for a moment longer than absolutely necessary & we need to move towards a family first model, stop separating kids from non-parental caregivers and invest in community based resources including universal representation and social services.
Spent a long day touring the newly opened Emergency Intake Site (EIS) for unaccompanied minors at the San Diego Convention Center. Wanted to share a few thoughts on what I observed. The facility is currently detaining about 700 girls & at capacity will hold ~1400. (thread)
I will start with the positive: this is a significantly safer place for these girls than CBP custody. CBP is a deadly & dangerous place for UCs & it is a positive step that the administration is moving so quickly to open HHS facilities to get kids out of CBP. It will save lives.
The SD Convention Center is HUGE. Considering it’s only been open a few days, the infrastructure created is impressive. An on-site medical clinic, showers, laundry & 100s of cots set up w/ appropriate social distancing. Covid testing & isolation protocols are strictly adhered to.
Jose spent 888 days in ICE prisons before he was freed last April. He fled Guatemala as a child after being shot in the stomach and left for dead. He was ordered deported by Judge Tara Naselow in 2017 when he was just 17 y/o and unrepresented. (thread)
By chance, I met him shortly after & we began long fight to right this wrong. Over the next 2.5+ years I visited Jose in 4 ICE prisons & told him many times that we weren’t going to give up. Sometimes I cried leaving worried I was creating false hope while he continued to suffer.
And then today, a LA Superior Crt Judge made orders finding that Jose was abused, abandoned & neglected by his parents & that it is in his best interests to remain in the US. With this, we are able to apply for his SIJS visa & are now one (huge) step closer to keeping him safe.
Wierd thing happens when I watch border/asylum stories on tv. Like every Sunday, I’m watching @LastWeekTonight but this week its focus is asylum & I keep having to pause it to catch my breath. I have seen all this in real life but somehow watching it on tv rocks me every time.
This happened to me with the scene in @OITNB where Blanca was leaving prison and was put on an ICE bus. I was sitting in my living room inconsolable watching her boyfriend stand there with flowers waiting for her, knowing she wouldn’t come.
In the show Vida there was a scene where a guy got picked up by ICE & I wasn’t expecting it and I cried so hard I almost threw up. But in real life I would’ve been the lawyer there, all business, explaining what to do and not crying. Cause no one wants their lawyer to be crying.