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Feb 8 • 10 tweets • 6 min read
Biden has failed to follow through on his promise to create a humane and rights-respecting border. Instead, he has continued to use and expanded Trump policies, leading to record numbers of dead at the border. Watch @POTUS give the State of the Union here: c-span.org/video/?525522-…
@POTUS I'll be live tweeting with an eye on immigration and policing. In an earlier hearing, politicians falsely linked migrants with drugs and violence. They continued to call for abusive border policies. Will Biden be any different?
"Power for the sake of power...gets us nowhere." I agree. Why then doesn't @POTUS show real leadership and take a principled stance on US immigration and border policy and follow through on promises to create humane policies?
Biden introduces the parents of Tyre Nichols, beloved son and father who was beaten and killed by police. His funeral was last week. The US must invest in other ways to advance community safety beyond policing. @OliviaEnsign and @Laurapitter: hrw.org/news/2023/01/2…
Glad to hear Biden talking about investing in communities. The American people need action. Police reform is not enough.
Biden cites the record number of #border agents, applauding the arrest of smugglers and seizures of fentanyl. Biden asks Congress to help him "secure the border" then quickly moves on. Enforcement and deterrence-focused border policies are abusive and deadly. Disappointing. #SOTU
If @POTUS really cared about the fentanyl crisis, he would decriminalize drugs and invest in harm reduction and public health solutions. @ThomasRachkoJr and @Laurapitter: hrw.org/news/2021/12/1…
More on fentanyl. Very disappointing to hear Republicans shouting "BORDER" followed by Biden's own border reference. Deterrence and criminalization will not stop tragic overdose deaths and fentanyl trafficking. It actually fuels the crisis. americasvoice.org/blog/debunking…
Most fentanyl is trafficked across the border by US citizens at legal ports of entry. Stop scapegoating migrants. uprootingthedrugwar.org/wp-content/upl…
Biden gets a D on human rights at the border for the #SOTU23. Continuing to use and expand Trump anti-asylum policies is nothing to be proud about. A record number of people have died crossing the border on his watch, a fact @POTUS didn't bother mentioning hrw.org/news/2022/12/0…

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More from @AriMSawyer

Ari Sawyer Profile picture
Feb 9
Drug trafficking and migration are intricately connected, but not in the way US politicians make it sound. The US demand for drugs funds and empowers the criminal organizations that make life unsafe for people in the region, playing a huge role in driving migration. 1/
The US government's response to the opioid crisis using police and punishment and futile attempts to stop the supply by militarizing the border in turn plays a massive role in driving abuses at the border. The US has a drug problem. US citizens smuggle, buy and consume drugs.
The more people overdose, the more politicians call for border security, the more border security companies get richer, the more people die crossing, the more residents are abused and overpoliced. Meanwhile, the overdoses never stop. And around and around we go.
Read 4 tweets
Ari Sawyer Profile picture
Feb 7
Watching today: House Committee Hearing "On The Front Lines of the Border Crisis: A Hearing with Chief Patrol Agents"
I'll leave the very excellent live coverage to @ReichlinMelnick. This thread is about the bigger picture. Why are we having this conversation in the first place? Who is really in crisis at the southern border? What drives smuggling, deaths and kidnappings?
The House Committee on Oversight and Accountability have invited from Border Patrol RGV Sector Chief Gloria Chavez and Tucson Sector Chief Patrol Agent John Modlin. They've been doing their best to answer questions, but they are not equipped to answer questions about WHY.
Read 23 tweets
Ari Sawyer Profile picture
Mar 1, 2021
The DR is building a border wall between itself and Haiti. Securitized borders there are an import from the US Border Patrol, part of an initiative to "fight terror." In truth, it is another effort to externalize migration, to force refugees to stay in their countries of abuse 1/
Context: Haiti is in the midst of a political uprising and pandemic. Despite both of these facts, the US has continued to deport and illegally expel (with no screening for fear of return) Haitian nationals, including children. It continued to do so during #BlackHistoryMonth. 2/
Some of the conditions that exist in Haiti today are related to the US' support for father and son dictators in Haiti. Also, DR dictator Rafael Trujillo, who first trained with the US military, ordered the Parsley Massacre where tens of thousands of Haitians were slaughtered. 3/
Read 6 tweets
Ari Sawyer Profile picture
Jan 25, 2021
A horrifying report from the Government Office of Accountability (@USGAO) on two secretive and abusive DHS programs at the US-Mexico border. Before the analysis, a reminder that neither @POTUS nor DHS secretary nominee @AliMayorkas have agreed to end them. gao.gov/assets/720/711…
Very troubling to see the stunning lack of context on the length and conditions of detention from @USGAO. @CBP held asylum seekers in unsanitary, punitive conditions well beyond the 72-hour limit. GAO also takes for granted certain false or misleading assertions by DHS.
Before I dig into those issues, a couple of highlights from the data. CBP placed a total of 5,290 people into either program (HARP for Mexicans, PACR for non-Mexicans), which hold asylum seekers effectively incommunicado while they are rushed through a “credible fear” interview.
Read 20 tweets
Ari Sawyer Profile picture
Sep 22, 2020
Some things to keep in mind ahead of @DHS_Wolf's nomination hearing tomorrow before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee:
1) Wolf helped create Family Separation
2) He was previously caught blatantly lying about that fact to this very same committee 1/
3) As I type this, and as he likely tries to explain away that torturous policy inflicted on vulnerable families in need of protection, he is overseeing Family Separation 2.0. He is *doing it again.* Plus, hundreds of families remain separated from the initial version. 2/
4) Wolf was illegally appointed and has been serving illegally.
5) He deployed DHS resources against US protestors exercising their right to free speech. Peaceful protesters were abducted in unmarked vehicles, taken to an unknown location, interrogated, and detained w/o charges.
Read 8 tweets
Ari Sawyer Profile picture
May 12, 2020
The @DHSgov justification for turning away asylum seekers at the US-MX border is ludicrous. First of all, asylum seekers do not "need" to be held in congregate settings, and in fact should generally not be detained, per international law the US has signed. foreignaffairs.house.gov/_cache/files/1…
That goes especially for the unaccompanied children border agents have been expelling with no screening for fear of return to their country of origin or due process. More than 90 percent of asylum seekers have family or friends in the US with whom they could shelter in place.
The fact that border agents are now quickly processing folks and recording biometric information prior to expulsion demonstrates that they could rapidly process asylum seekers and work with civil society orgs along the border to keep folks out of congregate settings.
Read 6 tweets

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