Since CV broke out, the Trump administration has deported hundreds of migrant children

[ThelmaLou]

Not at the top of the headlines anymore, but still going on.

10 Years Old, Tearful and Confused After a Sudden Deportation

The last time Sandra Rodríguez saw her son Gerson, she bent down to look him in the eye. “Be good,” she said, instructing him to behave when he encountered Border Patrol agents on the other side of the river in the United States, and when he was reunited with his uncle in Houston.

The 10-year-old nodded, giving his mother one last squinty smile…

Ms. Rodríguez expected that Gerson would be held by the Border Patrol for a few days and then transferred to a government shelter for migrant children, from which her brother in Houston would eventually be able to claim him. But Gerson seemed to disappear on the other side of the river. For six frantic days, she heard nothing about her son — no word that he had been taken into custody, no contact with the uncle in Houston.

Finally, she received a panicked phone call from a cousin in Honduras who said that Gerson was with her. The little boy was crying and disoriented, his relatives said; he seemed confused about how he had ended up back in the dangerous place he had fled.
…

Hundreds of migrant children and teenagers have been swiftly deported by American authorities amid the coronavirus pandemic without the opportunity to speak to a social worker or plea for asylum from the violence in their home countries — a reversal of years of established practice for dealing with young foreigners who arrive in the United States.
…

Historically, young migrants who showed up at the border without adult guardians were provided with shelter, education, medical care and a lengthy administrative process that allowed them to make a case for staying in the United States. Those who were eventually deported were sent home only after arrangements had been made to assure they had a safe place to return to.

That process appears to have been abruptly thrown out under President Trump’s latest border decrees. …

The Trump administration is justifying the new practices under a 1944 law that grants the president broad power to block foreigners from entering the country in order to prevent the “serious threat” of a dangerous disease. But immigration officials in recent weeks have also been abruptly expelling migrant children and teenagers who were already in the United States when the pandemic-related order came down in late March.
…

Chad F. Wolf, the acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, said the policy had been “one of the most critical tools the department has used to prevent the further spread of the virus and to protect the American people, D.H.S. front-line officers and those in their care and custody from Covid-19.”
…

Beginning in 2017, the government traumatized thousands of children by separating them from their parents at the border. Administration officials have also left young migrants to languish in filthy Border Patrol holding cells with no adult supervision and argued in court that the children were not legally entitled to toothbrushes or soap.

Democratic members of Congress argue that the swift deportations taking place now violate the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, a 20-year-old federal law that lays out standards for the treatment of foreign children who arrive at the American border without an adult guardian.
…

My bold.

Don’t need or care about any stinkin’ laws or precedents!

Anyway I thought we were keeping them out because they were potential terrorists. No, wait, because they were drug dealers and rapists. Because they were going to take American jobs? Losing track…

[Senegoid]

So where do they send these children to, if they aren’t making any effort to send them back to parents or other relatives? Just drop them off on some busy street corner in some big city?

Sounds like Gerson was one of the (relatively) lucky ones, ending up with a cousin. Where do all the others end up?

These are crimes against humanity.

[ThelmaLou]

The short answer is that in general, nobody knows, and those who are trying to find out and help are overwhelmed by the magnitude of the task.

From the article:

…Some of the young people have been flown back to Central America, while others have been pushed back into Mexico, where thousands of migrants are living in filthy tent camps and overrun shelters.
…

Since the coronavirus was first discovered in the United States in January, 239 unaccompanied minors have been returned to Guatemala, and 183 have been returned to Honduras, according to government figures.

“The fact that nobody knows who these kids are and there are hundreds of them is really terrifying,” said Jennifer Nagda, policy director of the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights. “There’s no telling if they’ve been returned to smugglers or into harm’s way.”
…

Before daybreak one morning late last month, Pedro Buezo Romero, 16, was taken from his bed in a shelter in New York and told to pack a suitcase so he could be taken to a court appearance in Florida.

Instead, the teenager ended up on four flights over two days. He was able to sleep for a few hours in a hotel room in Miami shared by three adult employees of a private security company hired to transport him and two other migrant teenagers.

Only before boarding his final flight to Honduras from Texas did the adults reveal to Pedro that he was being deported. When he arrived in Honduras, he had to borrow the cellphone of an immigration official to ask his cousin for a place to stay.

Pedro’s mother has not been seen since the shelter in Mexico where they had been staying together was ransacked by gang members. He and his mother were separated during the ordeal, after which Pedro decided to cross the border alone.
…

Last week, Hannah Flamm, an immigration lawyer in New York, had only hours to try to stop the repatriation of a 14-year-old client after learning the girl had been booked by ICE on a 3 a.m. flight to Honduras.

The girl’s family had not been notified of her imminent arrival. Ms. Flamm managed to secure an emergency stay of the deportation at 11:47 p.m., at which point the girl was allowed to go back to sleep in the shelter where she was staying.
…

My bold.

FOUR FLIGHTS over two days and escorted by THREE ADULT employees of a “private security company” to transport three teenagers? Does that make even one molecule of sense? I’m guessing that “private security company” is cleaning up on this financially. :dubious: (No evidence, just a hunch.)

[ThelmaLou]

The horrific drama of migrant children continues.

The Washington Post: Opinions | Migrant children are still confined and vulnerable. It’s a gratuitous act of cruelty.

Opinion | Migrant children are still confined and vulnerable. It’s a...

…
As the pandemic gathered speed In March, a federal judge called the government’s immigrant detention centers “hotbeds of contagion” and ordered that migrant children be released from them without delay. Some have been. But the Trump administration has dragged its feet in freeing many migrant children detained with their families, offering parents the formal “option” of letting their children go — to be separated from their mothers and fathers.
…

On May 13 and 14, parents at those facilities, mainly mothers, were herded into sudden encounters with ICE officials, who presented them with forms to sign. The detainees’ lawyers were neither notified nor aware of what was going on. The forms presented parents with the option of allowing government agents to place their children with relatives or other sponsors elsewhere in the United States, while the parents would stay behind in detention. Very few of the parents assented, though plenty were shaken by the experience; some agreed without realizing the repercussions, according to a subsequent court filing.
…

According to advocates and attorneys for the migrant parents, the parents summoned by ICE officials were confused and intimidated. Some thought they risked being deported if they refused to let their children be taken away. In at least one instance, according to a court filing, a mother who signed the form asked an ICE officer if she could change her mind; she was told no.
…

[Mangosteen]

Good thing Obama didn’t deport any!

Biden calls Obama deportations ‘big mistake’

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/time-biden-calls-obama-deportations-big-mistake-69010125

[RTFirefly]

The cruelty is the point with these guys.

@Mangosteen

Good thing Obama didn’t deport any!

We*'ve been around and around this in plenty of other threads, and I don’t have the energy anymore to explain what a stupid thing this is to say in the present context.
*Maybe not you and me specifically, but yes, this one has been beaten into the ground here on the Dope.

[Euphonious_Polemic]

@RTFirefly

The cruelty is the point with these guys.

We*'ve been around and around this in plenty of other threads, and I don’t have the energy anymore to explain what a stupid thing this is to say in the present context.
*Maybe not you and me specifically, but yes, this one has been beaten into the ground here on the Dope.

It’s like playing a game of whack-a-mole on continuous loop.

Sometimes the moles are the same, sometimes different.

[ThelmaLou]

At least the Democrats are noticing.

House Democrats Demand Trump Administration Stop Rushing Through Deportations of Migrant Children

Democratic congressional leaders expressed alarm Wednesday at a sudden acceleration in the deportation of migrant children and in a strongly worded letter requested that the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement “cease this practice immediately.”

The letter signed by five key House leaders overseeing immigration cited a May 18 ProPublica/Texas Tribune story that found the U.S. government has aggressively begun to rush the deportations of unaccompanied children in its care to countries where they have been raped, beaten or had a parent killed, according to attorneys, court filings and congressional staff.

That comes on top of more than 900 unaccompanied children the government has turned back at the border under an emergency declaration in March by President Donald Trump’s administration to stop the spread of COVID-19. Usually children traveling alone qualify for expansive protections under the law.

U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, a Texas Democrat who chairs the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and helped author the letter, said in a statement that the United States has both a legal and moral responsibility to protect migrant children from possible abuse and human trafficking.

“It is appalling and unacceptable that the Trump administration is deporting and denying due process protections to the most vulnerable of the most vulnerable people — unaccompanied children who were forced to wait in Mexico for a chance at asylum in America,” Castro said. “President Trump is using the guise of public health to advance his anti-immigrant agenda.”
…

Congressional Democrats in the letter said the Migrant Protection Protocols program has imperiled many of the more than 60,000 people who have been returned to Mexico under that 2019 initiative. Of those, more than 1,100 have been kidnapped, raped or assaulted in Mexico, including children, according to Human Rights First, an advocacy group.

The U.S. State Department has long warned against travel to the state of Tamaulipas, which borders Texas, because of crime and kidnapping, classifying it at the same danger level as war zones like Syria.
…

The article is not paywalled, but it will take a strong stomach to read the whole thing.

[ThelmaLou]

This story is still going on in the background.

Advocates Sue Trump Administration Over Mass Border Expulsions

Advocacy organizations have sued the Trump administration to stop a 16-year-old boy from being summarily sent back to Honduras after he crossed into the U.S. last week to join his father. It’s the first challenge to the Trump administration’s policy of mass expulsions of border-crossers, under which nearly 45,000 migrants — including 2,000 children — have been pushed out of the U.S.

The suit was filed Tuesday night in U.S. District Court in Washington by the American Civil Liberties Union, the Texas Civil Rights Project, the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies and Oxfam. A judge has put a 24-hour hold on the boy’s expulsion, pending further consideration of the case.

While the suit is limited to the boy, it sets up a broader argument over the legality of the policy. Advocates accuse the Trump administration of using the coronavirus pandemic as an excuse to violate U.S. and international law.
…

In March, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an order barring unauthorized immigrants from entering the U.S. The order rests on an obscure federal law giving the government power to ban the entry of people or things that could “introduce” an infectious disease — in this case, the novel coronavirus.
…

The child at the center of the lawsuit is referred to by his initials, J.B.B.C. His father, Carlos Barrera Rodriguez, lives in the U.S. and has a pending asylum case.

According to the lawsuit, the teenager fled Honduras this spring after being threatened by gang members. When he crossed the border into El Paso, Texas, however, he was not given any opportunity to explain why he was afraid of being returned to Honduras.

The lawsuit says that the father received a call from an anonymous official asking him to confirm the father’s identity, but that he was told nothing about his son’s whereabouts. For the last five days, the suit alleges, the 16-year-old has been held in a hotel. He was originally scheduled to be put on a Wednesday flight to Honduras, before the judge issued a temporary stay Tuesday night.

“J.B.B.C. has not exhibited any symptoms of COVID-19,” the lawsuit states, “and is in good health.”

My bold.

The kid obviously suffers from a terminal condition: brown skin. No vaccine and no cure for that.

[ThelmaLou]

This is not strictly about deportation of children, but it’s related to immigration, so I’m putting it here instead of digging up an old immigration policy thread. While we’re all focused on COVID, demonstrations, and the ins and outs of the upcoming election, the Republican anti-immigration grist mill is still grinding away quietly in the background.

White House Moves to Solidify Restrictive Immigration Policies

WASHINGTON — Under the cloak of a pandemic and the convulsions of anti-racist protests, the Trump administration continues to advance its policies to restrict legal immigration, halting the flow of foreign workers and raising the bar for asylum seekers hoping for sanctuary.

This week, the administration proposed a fallback for when they need to lift “emergency” border closure rules for the coronavirus, proposing regulations that would raise the standard of proof for migrants hoping to obtain asylum and allow immigration judges to deny applications for protection without giving migrants an opportunity to testify in court.

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos issued an emergency rule on Thursday night barring colleges from granting virus relief funds to foreign and undocumented students, including tens of thousands protected under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival program, or DACA.

If adopted, the rules would cement restrictions extended last month that effectively blocked tens of thousands of migrants from seeking asylum at the southwestern border and cutting off aid even to students who have been in the country almost all of their lives. In April, President Trump issued an executive order temporarily suspending the issuance of green cards to many outside the United States and is expected to limit certain visas issued to immigrants seeking temporary work in the country.

And the administration is examining restrictions on new skilled-worker H-1B visas in the coming weeks.
…

“Whether it’s restrictions to legal immigration or further gutting the asylum system, the goal to reduce immigration to its lowest level possible continues to be at the forefront of this administration’s decision-making,” said Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, the policy counsel at the American Immigration Counsel.

In defending the initial executive order and border restrictions, White House officials said those moves were needed to conserve American jobs and prevent potential outbreaks during a pandemic that has left tens of millions out of work and ravaged the economy, despite multiple studies that show immigrants bolster the economy. And long before the coronavirus, Mr. Miller sought to use health authorities to turn away migrants at the border.

**The Department of Homeland Security has pointed to the pandemic in “expelling” more than 20,000 migrants to Mexico and their home countries without providing due process. **In the coming days, Customs and Border Protection is expected to announce an increase in the number of migrants turned away under that policy, which is intended to last for the duration of the pandemic.
…

My bold.

Yeah, keeping pandemic numbers down? That part is working great. :dubious:

[ThelmaLou]

Not 100% sure about formatting. Anyhoo, this is still happening while we watch trump drink a glass of water on national TV.

From The New York Times: The White House Is Quietly Deporting Children The Trump administration is flouting the law to turn away minors in desperate need of protection. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/22/opinion/coronavirus-children-border-deportation.html?smid=em-share

The Supreme Court decision last week protecting the DACA program was reason for celebration, but the Trump administration’s assault on immigration isn’t over. President Trump has already said he plans to keep pushing to end DACA. But more immediately, under the guise of the pandemic, the Trump administration is turning back unaccompanied children at the border in violation of federal law.

In October 2017 the White House issued a wish list of immigration policies it wanted to carry out. First on the list was building the border wall. No. 2 was deporting children who were traveling on their own. That is quietly happening right now, with public health as the excuse.

Last week, the Centers for Disease Control indefinitely extended an order barring the entry of migrants seeking protection at land borders, including children. This order, first issued in March, flouts the federal anti-trafficking law that requires the government to place unaccompanied children into protective custody and allow them to go before an asylum officer or judge.

So far, Border Patrol agents, who have not been trained on how to ask for or evaluate testimony, have turned back more than 2,000 children, either sending them back over the bridge to Mexico, or putting them on Immigration and Customs Enforcement flights back to their home country…

ETA: Pretty sophisticated-- the board brought over the links within the quoted passage. Cool.

[ThelmaLou]

Simmering away in the background… almost forgotten in light of everything else (bad) going on…

Federal Judge Orders U.S. To Release Migrant Children During Pandemic

…In May, ICE said it was detaining 184 children at the three detention centers, which are separate from U.S. Department of Health and Human Services facilities for unaccompanied children that were holding around 1,000 children in early June. The numbers in both systems have fallen significantly since earlier in the Trump administration because the U.S. is expelling most people trying to cross the border or requiring them to wait for their immigration cases in Mexico.
…
More than 2,500 people in ICE custody have tested positive for COVID-19. The agency says it has released at least 900 people considered to have heightened medical risk and reduced the populations at its three family detention centers. But in court filings last month, ICE said it considered most of the people in family detention to be flight risks because they had pending deportation orders or cases under review.