immigration attorney & advocate for immigrant children and families. Until every child is free. Exec. Director at @aldea_pjc and partner w/Cambria and Kline.
Jun 14 • 14 tweets • 3 min read
Why parole for USC spouses is an important and massively humane step toward a more functional immigration system. A 🧵
As an immigration practitioner, nothing is more frustrating than meeting a married couple and trying to explain what the process is to legalize your spouse who is undocumented. There is no character limit possible to explain. The steps can fill a book, its insufferable.
May 28, 2021 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
Not the Friday news we need: Another Rocket Docket. Family raids are not far behind this. Way to hide behind legal service providers. As a family detention lawyer - these are the cities where most detained (raided) families didn't receive notice of hearings & didn't have lawyers.
Dilley and Karnes have for six years harmed families & failed to provide appropriate safeguards for children. We are grateful for the relentless work of @ProyectoDilley and @RAICESTEXAS who have protected families & will continue to hold ICE accountable.
Tonight in Berks, a mother and her three children working with @aldeapjc have reached 7 weeks of detention with no end in sight. It’s time to maintain accountability here in Pennsylvania.
Time to dive into the immigration bill. Literally the worst part about being a lawyer is that when you have time to read, you read stuff like this. I'm sure there will be a lot to like.
Leading the bill is the path to citizenship: An independent ground to a lawful status called “Lawful Prospective Immigrant Status.” Available in 6 year increments that permits adjustment after 5 years. There are limitations based on your crim history and presence in the US.
Feb 18, 2021 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Centers plural, which means both of the Family Jails in Texas. This means that 455 parents, children and infants are without power and water, in the custody of the government - by force and for no reason. #FreeThemAll.
No ability to choose clothes to keep warm or get blankets. Can't start a fire to keep warm. Can't ask their kids what resort they want to vacation in. No autonomy - only the forced imprisonment of kids & the parents who are doing everything they can to keep their kids alive.
Feb 2, 2021 • 6 tweets • 4 min read
It’s pretty terrible to be working to halt the deportation of children to harm, on the same day that the government announces a task force to evaluate how this government harmed children.
The lack of consent is immeasurable in immigration detention. Often it is detention staff who know the diagnosis and speak directly to medical practitioners - not detainees. Detainees often do not know why they are ill or what medicines they are taking.
Detainees are often not spoken to in their language - especially when off site accompanied by detention staff. Detainees make complaints but cannot actively participate in their care and are routinely refused care that will result in multiple trips offsite.
Sep 17, 2019 • 10 tweets • 3 min read
Myself, @AmyMaldonadoLaw, @HMAesq, @Allandaros, and @ColumbiaLaw's Elora Mukherjee sue on behalf of 126 detained mothers and kids subjected to impossible standards/procedures while seeking protection.
No child should be deported when there is a 49% chance they’ll die. #asylumban
The #AsylumBan is bad enough. But the admin is attaching policies and practices to the Ban to make it impossible to pass even a simple threshhold fear screening - even if you are a child.
Mar 22, 2019 • 13 tweets • 4 min read
I have to admit, I was very surprised to see so much outrage about what happened to our 10 year old client and her dad yesterday after I posed a question (mainly for my immig attorney friends). But perhaps we live in an immigration bubble where horrible things happen every day.1/
I know for sure that I am desensitized to many horrible things as a result, as our primary job is to help detained kids and their parents, to keep them from dying and to get them free. We hear terrible things, and battle a system that wants to send them back to terrible things 2/
