#deportation defense lawyer near me | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

newstfionline · 3 years

Text

Friday, April 9, 2021

The $50 billion race to save America’s renters from eviction (Washington Post) The Biden administration again extended a federal moratorium on evictions last week, but conflicting court rulings on whether the ban is legal, plus the difficulty of rolling out nearly $50 billion in federal aid, means the country’s reckoning with its eviction crisis may come sooner than expected. The year-old federal moratorium—which has now been extended through June 30—has probably kept hundreds of thousands or millions of people from being evicted from their apartments and homes. More than 10 million Americans are behind on rent, according to Moody’s, easily topping the 7 million who lost their homes to foreclosure in the 2008 housing bust. Despite the unprecedented federal effort to protect tenants, landlords have been chipping away at the moratorium in court. Treasury Department officials have been armed with nearly $50 billion in emergency aid for renters who have fallen behind, and are racing to distribute it through hundreds of state, local and tribal housing agencies, some of which have not created programs yet. The idea is to get the money to renters before courts nationwide begin processing evictions again.

A court filing says parents of 445 separated migrant children still have not been found. (NYT) The parents of 61 migrant children who were separated from their families at the U.S.-Mexico border by the Trump administration have been located since February, but lawyers still cannot find the parents of 445 children, according to a court filing on Wednesday. In the filing, the Justice Department and the American Civil Liberties Union indicated slow progress in the ongoing effort to reunite families that were affected by a policy to prosecute all undocumented immigrants in the United States, even if it meant separating children from their parents. Of the 445 remaining children, a majority are believed to have parents who were deported, while more than 100 children are believed to have parents currently in the United States, according to the court filing. The government has yet to provide contact information that would help locate the families of more than a dozen children.

N Ireland leaders call for calm after night of rioting (AP) Rioters set a hijacked bus on fire and hurled gasoline bombs at police in Belfast in at least the fourth night of serious violence in a week in Northern Ireland, where Brexit has unsettled an uneasy political balance. Youths threw projectiles and petrol bombs at police on Wednesday night in the Protestant Shankill Road area, while rioters lobbed bricks, fireworks and petrol bombs in both directions over the concrete “peace wall” separating the Shankill Road from a neighboring Irish nationalist area. Police Service of Northern Ireland Assistant Chief Constable Jonathan Roberts said several hundred people gathered on both sides of a gate in the wall, where “crowds ... were committing serious criminal offenses, both attacking police and attacking each other.” He said a total of 55 police officers have been injured over several nights of disorder. The recent violence, largely in pro-British loyalist areas, has flared amid rising tensions over post-Brexit trade rules for Northern Ireland and worsening relations between the parties in the Protestant-Catholic power-sharing Belfast government.

Biden seems ready to extend US troop presence in Afghanistan (AP) Without coming right out and saying it, President Joe Biden seems ready to let lapse a May 1 deadline for completing a withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan. Orderly withdrawals take time, and Biden is running out of it. Biden has inched so close to the deadline that his indecision amounts almost to a decision to put off, at least for a number of months, a pullout of the remaining 2,500 troops and continue supporting the Afghan military at the risk of a Taliban backlash. Removing all of the troops and their equipment in the next three weeks—along with coalition partners who can’t get out on their own—would be difficult logistically, as Biden himself suggested in late March. “It’s going to be hard to meet the May 1 deadline,” he said. “Just in terms of tactical reasons, it’s hard to get those troops out.” Tellingly, he added, “And if we leave, we’re going to do so in a safe and orderly way.”

One in six Latin American youths left work since pandemic’s start (Reuters) Across Latin America and the Caribbean, one in every six people aged 18 to 29 has left work since the coronavirus pandemic began, forcing many to abandon their studies, a report said on Thursday. The precariousness of employment for young people rose across the region, according to an investigation by Canadian charity Cuso International based on data from a U.N. commission and a poll by the International Labour Organization. “It’s extremely difficult for young people to access the labor market due to issues around specialization, lower wages, and poverty,” the advocacy group’s Colombia director Alejandro Matos told Reuters. More than half of those who stopped working since the start of the pandemic were let go by their employers, the report said, while others saw their businesses close and those employed in the informal sector could not work due to lockdowns.

Myanmar ambassador in London locked out of embassy after speaking out against military (Washington Post) Myanmar’s ambassador to Britain, who has spoken out again the military coup in his country, said he was barred from the embassy in London on Wednesday by officials loyal to the military junta. “They are refusing to let me inside,” Kyaw Zwar Minn told the Telegraph. “They said they received instruction from the capital, so they are not going to let me in.” Kyaw Zwar Minn told the British newspaper that when he left the embassy during the day, colleagues and officials linked to the military stormed the premises and kept him from reentering that evening. In early March, the ambassador, a former military colonel, spoke out against the military’s detention of the former British colony’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi, drawing criticism from the junta that had orchestrated her ouster and praise from the British government for his “courage.” The London-based ambassador was recalled, according to Myanmar state television, after he posted a statement on the embassy’s Facebook page demanding “the release of State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and President U Win Myint,” but he did not return to Myanmar.

Merkel tells Putin to pull back troops as Kremlin accuses Ukraine of provocations (Reuters) German Chancellor Angela Merkel told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday to pull back the Kremlin’s military buildup near the border with Ukraine, while he in turn accused Kyiv of “provocative actions” in the conflict region. Ukraine has raised the alarm over an increase in Russian forces near its eastern border as violence has risen along the line of contact separating its troops from Russia-backed separatists in its Donbass region. Russia has said its forces pose no threat and were defensive, but that they would stay there as long as Moscow saw fit. A senior Kremlin official said on Thursday that Moscow could under certain circumstances be forced to defend its citizens in Donbass and that major hostilities could mark the beginning of the end of Ukraine as a country.

China builds advanced weapons systems using American chip technology (Washington Post) In a secretive military facility in southwest China, a supercomputer whirs away, simulating the heat and drag on hypersonic vehicles speeding through the atmosphere—missiles that could one day be aimed at a U.S. aircraft carrier or Taiwan, according to former U.S. officials and Western analysts. The computer is powered by tiny chips designed by a Chinese firm called Phytium Technology using American software and built in the world’s most advanced chip factory in Taiwan, which hums with American precision machinery, say the analysts. Phytium portrays itself as a commercial company aspiring to become a global chip giant like Intel. It does not publicize its connections to the research arms of the People’s Liberation Army. The hypersonic test facility is located at the China Aerodynamics Research and Development Center (CARDC), which also obscures its military connections though it is run by a PLA major general, according to public documents, and the former officials and analysts, many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter. Phytium’s partnership with CARDC offers a prime example of how China is quietly harnessing civilian technologies for strategic military purposes—with the help of American technology. The trade is not illegal but is a vital link in a global high-tech supply chain that is difficult to regulate because the same computer chips that could be used for a commercial data center can power a military supercomputer.

Indonesia landslides death toll rises to 140, dozens missing (AP) The death toll from mudslides in eastern Indonesia has risen to 140 with dozens still missing, officials said Wednesday, as rain continued to pound the region and hamper the search. East Flores district on Adonara island suffered the highest losses with 67 bodies recovered so far and six missing. Mud tumbled down from surrounding hills early on Sunday, catching people at sleep. Some were swept away by flash floods after overnight rains caused rivers to burst their banks. On nearby Lembata island, the downpour triggered by Tropical Cyclone Seroja sent solidified lava from a volcanic eruption in November to crash down on more than a dozen villages, killing at least 32 and leaving 35 unaccounted for, according to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency.

Reversing Trump, Biden Restores Aid to Palestinians (NYT) The Biden administration announced on Wednesday that it would restore hundreds of millions of dollars in American aid to Palestinians, its strongest move yet to reverse President Donald J. Trump’s policy on the protracted Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The package, which gives at least $235 million in assistance to Palestinians, will go to humanitarian, economic, development and security efforts in the region, and is part of the administration’s attempt to rehabilitate U.S. relations with Palestinians, which effectively stopped when Mr. Trump was in office. The restoration of aid amounted to the most direct repudiation so far of Mr. Trump’s tilt toward Israel in its decades-old conflict with the Palestinian population in Israeli-controlled territories.

Royal rift ends (NYT) Jordan’s King Abdullah II said on Wednesday that the “discord” that has roiled the kingdom for days has “been stopped,” signaling a resolution to a rare royal rift that resulted in the house arrest of Prince Hamzah bin Hussein, the former crown prince, and the detention of several Jordanian officials who were accused of plotting a foreign-backed coup against the monarchy.

Conflict and COVID driving record hunger in DR Congo, warns UN (Al Jazeera) A record 27.3 million people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are facing acute hunger, one-third of the violence-wracked Central African country’s population, largely because of conflict and the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the United Nations has warned. The DRC is “home to the highest number of people in urgent need of food security assistance in the world,” the World Food Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organization said on Tuesday in a joint statement, describing the scale of the crisis as “staggering”. “For the first time ever we were able to analyse the vast majority of the population, and this has helped us to come closer to the true picture of the staggering scale of food insecurity in the DRC,” Peter Musoko, WFP’s representative in the country, said. “This country should be able to feed its population and export a surplus. We cannot have children going to bed hungry and families skipping meals for an entire day,” he said.

Beware The Carpet Cleaner (The Guardian) Parkinson’s disease is the fastest-growing neurological disorder in the world, and the US is experiencing an explosion of cases. In the last decade, the number of Parkinson’s cases in America has increased 35%, and a neurologist at the University of Rochester Medical Center thinks over the next 25 years it will double again. Most cases of the disease are considered idiopathic—without a clear cause. But researchers now believe one factor is environmental exposure to trichloroethylene (TCE), a chemical compound used in industrial degreasing, dry-cleaning, and household products like some shoe polishes and carpet cleaners. TCE is a carcinogen already linked to renal cell carcinoma, cancers of the cervix, liver, biliary passages, lymphatic system and male breast tissue, fetal cardiac defects, and more. Several studies point to a link between Parkinson’s and workplace exposure to TCE. The US Labor Department issued guidance on TCE saying exposures to carbon disulfide (CS2) and TCE are presumed to “cause, contribute or aggravate Parkinsonism.”

‘Tantalizing’ results of 2 experiments defy physics rulebook (AP) Preliminary results from two experiments suggest something could be wrong with the basic way physicists think the universe works, a prospect that has the field of particle physics both baffled and thrilled. Tiny particles called muons aren’t quite doing what is expected of them in two different long-running experiments in the United States and Europe. The confounding results—if proven right—reveal major problems with the rulebook physicists use to describe and understand how the universe works at the subatomic level. “We think we might be swimming in a sea of background particles all the time that just haven’t been directly discovered,” Fermilab experiment co-chief scientist Chris Polly said in a press conference. “There might be monsters we haven’t yet imagined that are emerging from the vacuum interacting with our muons and this gives us a window into seeing them.” If confirmed, the U.S. results would be the biggest finding in the bizarre world of subatomic particles in nearly 10 years, since the discovery of the Higgs boson, often called the “God particle,” said Aida El-Khadra of the University of Illinois, who works on theoretical physics for the Fermilab experiment.

Unlikely chauffeur (Foreign Policy) Kevin Rudd is best known as a former Australian prime minister. Last Tuesday night in Queensland, he was mistaken for an Uber driver. The former Labor party leader became an unlikely chauffeur when a group of revelers—described as “tipsy” by Rudd’s daughter—piled into his car as he sought parking at a local restaurant. Rudd obliged the passengers, reportedly driving half the journey to the town’s main drag before being recognized by his would-be customers. “Four young Melburnians getting drenched in a Queensland subtropical downpour at Noosa last night with no Uber in sight … So what’s a man to do?” Rudd later wrote on Twitter.

#headlines #news

3 notes · View notes

jacksonwhitelawph · 4 years

Text

JacksonWhite Law

JacksonWhite Attorneys at Law is a full-service law firm located in Phoenix, Arizona. We offer a full range of legal services to assist individuals, families and businesses in achieving success in a wide range of legal matters. Our practice areas include elder law, criminal law, family law, estate planning, personal injury, immigration law, employment law, eminent domain, real estate, probate, Social Security disability and other areas. Founded in 1983, the firm has grown steadily to include a full complement of highly experienced attorneys and staff who are proud to be a part of the largest law firm in Phoenix’s East Valley, with additional offices in Mesa, Scottsdale and Peoria. Contact us today to learn more about how we can serve you. Contact us: JacksonWhite Law Address: 2330 N 75th Ave Suite 211A, Phoenix, AZ 85035, USA Phone: (602) 698-5504 Email: [email protected] Website: https://www.jacksonwhitelaw.com/ External Links: Phoenix Immigration Lawyer Phoenix Citizenship Lawyer Phoenix Deportation Lawyer Phoenix Criminal Lawyer Phoenix Criminal Defense Lawyer Immigration Lawyer near me Citizenship Lawyer near me Deportation Lawyer near me Criminal Lawyer near me Criminal Defense Lawyer near me Immigration Lawyer Phoenix Citizenship Lawyer Phoenix Deportation Lawyer Phoenix Criminal Lawyer Phoenix Criminal Defense Lawyer Phoenix Immigration Lawyer in Phoenix Citizenship Lawyer in Phoenix Deportation Lawyer in Phoenix Criminal Lawyer in Phoenix Criminal Defense Lawyer in Phoenix

1 note · View note

lastsonlost · 5 years

Text

What the fuck!?

The Dec. 18 document from the FBI specifies an alleged plan for activists to purchase guns from a “Mexico-based cartel associate known as Cobra Commander,” or Ivan Riebeling.

When federal law enforcement officials last year began collecting dossiers on mostly American journalists, activists and lawyers in Tijuana involved with the migrant caravan, one part of their investigation focused on an alleged plot by a drug cartel to sell guns to protesters, according to a Federal Bureau of Investigation report.

A Dec. 18, 2018, document from the FBI, obtained by the Union-Tribune, specifies an alleged plan for activists to purchase guns from a “Mexico-based cartel associate known as Cobra Commander,” or Ivan Riebeling.

The protesters wanted to “stage an armed rebellion at the border,” the FBI reported to dozens of federal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and Mexico.

The unclassified report was provided to the Union-Tribune on the condition the person providing it would not be named, and with the request that the entire document not be shared online because of the ongoing nature of the investigation.

The document warns of “anti-fascist activists” that “planned to disrupt U.S. law enforcement and military security operations at the US/Mexican border.”

Two additional law enforcement officials confirmed the investigation is ongoing, although no one has been charged. “Unclassified” means information can be released to people without a security clearance, but the document was also labeled “law enforcement sensitive,” which means it was intended to be seen only by those in law enforcement.

“This is an information report, not finally evaluated intelligence,” the six-page report states. “Receiving agencies are requested not to take action based on this raw reporting without prior coordination with the FBI.”

The FBI sent its report with “priority” to the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Drug Enforcement Agency, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Administration, among other agencies.

Two people named in the report, Ivan Riebeling and Evan Duke, said the accusations are untrue and illogical.

Duke said he never met Riebeling and that Riebeling was not someone he would have associated with.

Riebeling also said the accusations in the FBI’s report are illogical.

“It doesn’t make any sense that someone from the United States would purchase guns in Mexico. And the Hondurans certainly didn’t bring money to buy guns. It doesn’t make any sense; in fact it’s extremely absurd to say the Hondurans wanted to attack the United States at the border,” said Reibeling.

A few names included in the FBI report overlap with names included in a secret database of people being monitored by Customs and Border Protection and Homeland Security Investigations, originally reported by NBC San Diego and Telemundo 20.

However, the database includes many others not included in the FBI’s report, and it remains unclear why those people — mostly American journalists, activists and attorneys — were targeted and monitored.

In March, it was discovered that Customs and Border Protection had compiled lists of people it wanted to stop for questioning at the border. Agents questioned or arrested at least 21 of them, according to documents obtained by NBC San Diego. On that list, Reibeling is described as an “instigator,” and Duke’s name and picture is also included.

CBP said the names on the list are people who were present when violence broke out at the Tijuana border in November and January, when agents deployed tear gas. The agency said people were being questioned so that the agency could learn more about what started the altercations.

Some of the people detained and questioned said they were asked whether anyone was encouraging migrants to rush the border during the two incidents. Several people confirmed they were told they were being questioned as part of a “national security investigation.”

The FBI’s report says a group of activists in Tijuana supporting the migrant caravan “were encouraged to bring personally owned weapons to the border and the group also intended to purchase weapons from a Mexico-based cartel associate known as Cobra Commander, AKA the Mexican Rambo, and smuggle the weapons into the United States.”

Several activists involved with the migrant caravan said the accusation that they would try to purchase weapons in Mexico is especially absurd, given that buying guns in the United States is easy and legal.

“Here I find the government again trying to tie me into some (stuff) I wasn’t involved in,” said Duke, a U.S. activist who is opposed to President Donald Trump’s immigration policies and whose work in Tijuana was monitored by federal authorities.

Duke said Riebeling was not someone he would have associated with because he didn’t trust him and because Riebeling had expressed negative views in social media videos about the migrants in the caravan.

“We were warned to look out for him,” said Duke. “We took the precaution to find out who he was and where he was, but we never had any contact with him. And we never saw him around the migrant caravan.”

Riebeling said he was originally helping an earlier caravan of mostly women and children who arrived in Tijuana, but he quickly decided he “no longer wanted to help Hondurans.”

“I can send you several videos of myself attacking the Hondurans because they are my enemies,” Riebeling said during a recent interview.

Reibeling said he was never detained or interrogated by the FBI about his involvement with the migrant caravan. He said he took no part in trying to sell guns to anyone and that he’s not a cartel member.

“I am not cartel. I don’t sell drugs. I don’t sell arms,” said Riebeling. “I’m a revolutionary. A man who believes in his ideals, and I’m going to defend Mexico.”

The unclassified FBI report identifies Riebeling as being “associated with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel,” but Riebeling, a Tijuana resident, said he is not.

“If I were selling drugs, or guns, they would kill me,” said Riebeling.

Riebeling said he was upset by the accusations in the report.

“The government of the United States knows perfectly well that I am not a member of any cartel,” said Riebeling. “I have associates with several of the cartels, yes I do, but I am not a narco-trafficker and they know that.”

Riebeling said he became angry with members of the Central American caravan in Tijuana after he discovered some were selling items he brought them for humanitarian relief, like blankets, water and shoes.

“They were exchanging these items for drugs and it made me mad, and I no longer wanted to help them and I was vocal about it,” he said.

In a video he posted online, he encouraged members of drug cartels to attack migrants with bats and “hunt down” migrants to take them to Mexican immigration authorities to be deported.

Many members of the migrant caravan were attacked with rocks and tear gas. Two Honduran teenagers were brutally killed.

Duke said he was told to avoid Riebeling because of his negative views about migrants.

“I was warned about him when I arrived in TJ,” said Duke. “His name came up to me from a couple different sources to watch out for this guy.”

The FBI’s report says Duke was working with Riebeling and others not just to procure weapons, but to help set up camps to train activists to become “community defense militias, also known as autodensas.”

“Organizers planned for the camps to be used as staging platforms from which five person units would form to train anarchists in fighting, combat, and conducting reconnaissance, and then launch to disrupt U.S. government operations along the border,” the report states.

After the report was distributed to dozens of law enforcement agencies, Duke faced intense scrutiny when crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.

Duke said that along with another activist, he was twice hot-stopped — held at gunpoint by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers and detained for hours — as he tried to cross.

In one instance, Duke said, he was driving into San Diego from Tijuana at the San Ysidro Port of Entry after delivering supplies to migrants at shelters in Tijuana.

When he got near the CBP checkpoint, border officials drew their guns and ordered him out of the car, Duke said.

“My first thought was: ‘Wow I don’t think this is good. This can’t be good,’” said Duke. “I overheard their radios and someone was saying, ‘You’ve got so many guns on these guys. You’re only supposed to have six guns on them.’ I think there were 25 guns on us at that moment.”

Based on questions investigators asked him, Duke said he believes it’s possible that authorities are acting upon information provided to law enforcement by right-wing conspiracy groups. He said a North Dakota radio talk-show host bragged on the air about reporting him and his colleagues to law enforcement.

In mid-November, Duke and a group of activists began renting a house in Tijuana and hosting about 25 volunteers at a time working to counter what they viewed as the U.S. government’s violation of asylum seekers’ human rights.

The FBI’s report says the rental house in Tijuana was guarded by armed group members.

Riebeling, who also goes by the names Ivan del Campo, Ivan Mariano Martin del Campo and Jose Ivan Reiveling Sierra, has criminal records in Mexico and the United States, according to a Mexican state police document and confirmed by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

Riebeling was arrested in 1997 by CBP for allegedly trying to smuggle nine to 10 pounds of marijuana into the United States, but the charges against him were dropped, according to a June 2017 letter from the DEA to Baja California’s Policía Estatal Preventiva.

In March 2007, Chula Vista police arrested Riebeling on suspicion of carrying a concealed stolen gun in his car, according to the letter. DEA agents in San Ysidro arrested Riebeling in March 2008, and he was convicted in federal court for kidnapping and robbery. He was sentenced to 48 months in prison but received clemency, the DEA’s letter states.

The “Procuraduría de Justicia del Estado de Baja California,” which is the equivalent of the attorney general for the state of Baja California, confirmed that Riebeling has at least two criminal records in Mexico for assaulting police officers.

14 notes · View notes

laurellynnleake · 6 years

Photo

Fight To Protect Immigrants! - Resource & Organization Masterlist (updated: 6/22/18)

If you need help and/or want to help others trapped in the brutal US immigration system, let me get you started! Regardless of your time and abilities, you can help in countless ways big and small. Head to Informed Immigrant to find local/national/global orgs supporting undocumented immigrants - you can donate money/time/transportation, join protest actions, register voters, cook dinners, watch kids, and simply provide emotional support to people!

I’ve gathered together some useful links and resources here - please help me spread ‘em around, and add any of your own links and info too (and let me know if you donate/contact reps and I’ll draw you some art).

Calling Scripts:

Check out Celeste Pewter’s twitter for up-to-date call scripts and resources for contacting your reps and fighting for human rights (@ her or use #Icalledmyreps after you call to get a boost and/or share info). She eventually transcribes most scripts here, but can take several days, so while these links below go to images on twitter I’ve also included captions under the cut.

Tips for calling your electeds

Calling Senate/House for Feinstein/Nadler’s Keep Families Together Act post EO (6/22), and for Texans near the border (6/13)

Call scripts pushing for House/Senators to investigate DHS’s Zero Tolerance Policy (6/22), and for contacting the DOJ/DHS to protest the Zero Tolerence Policy post executive order (6/20)

Call scripts for governors to refuse to send the National Guard to the border (6/22) and calling for Sec Nielson’s resignation (6/18)

Calling Congress re: Kids already separated, and rumors of military lawyers (06/22)

Calling governors, federal reps, and state attorney’s about joining the multi-state lawsuit (6/22)

General Guides for Contacting Reps:

Find My Reps

Resistbot (emails and faxes reps for you)

5calls

Herd on the Hill a FB group of dedicated volunteers who will print out your letters, and deliver them.

How to Call Your Reps When You Have Social Anxiety

Legislative & Organizing Resources:

Join a local protest at FamiliesBelong.org. Donate here.

ACLU Know Your Rights pocket guides includes ICE Visits (ICE Visitas), If Questioned About Imm. Status (Que Hacer Si Le Preguntan Acerca de su Estatus Migratorio), and What To Do If Stopped By Police (Qué Debe Hacer Si la Policía/Agentes de Inmigración/FBI) in English and en Español, as well as guides for protests.

Know Your Rights Handouts: If ICE Raids a Home/Employer/Public Space (AILA) in Español, Chinese, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, & Punjabi

Indivisible’s Immigration News Resources

Indivisible’s Immigrant Ally Toolkit

Tisp for attending protests and rallies and advice for white allies

Look up ICE detention centers here

Internet security: FB centric, basic computer security, more elaborate

Organizations to Join/Support:

Use the Informed Immigrant to find groups near you, find legal aid, and join the fight!

Pueblos Sin Fronteras provides humanitarian aid to migrants and refugees. Donate here.

Al Otro Lado is a bi-national, direct legal services organization serving indigent deportees/migrants/refugees in Tijuana, Mexico. Donate here.

The Florence Project provides free legal services to adults and unaccompanied children in imm. custody in Arizona. Donate here.

Border Angels serves San Diego County’s immigrant population through various migrant outreach programs such as Day Laborer outreach, a free legal assistance program, and more. Donate here.

RAICES provides free and low-cost legal services to underserved immigrant children, families, and refugees in Texas. Donate here.

The Immigrant Children’s Assistance Project is an American Bar Association project currently helping unaccompanied children in South Texas w/ knowing their rights. Donate here.

United We Dream is the largest immigrant-youth led group in the USA, and their site provides news, event info, as well as guides and toolkits for fighting the system, protecting LGBTQ immigrants, and taking care of your mental health. Donate here.

The Black Alliance for Just Immigration “educates and engages African American and black immigrant communities to organize and advocate for racial, social, and economic justice.” Donate here.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is one of the largest civil rights and advocacy organizations dedicated to fighting against discrimination against Muslims. Click here to donate to the national organization or a specific campaign, or click here to find your local CAIR chapter (which needs your support as much/even more).

CUNY CLEAR provides representation and rights training to Muslim communities targeted by law enforcement. Donate here.

Families for Freedom fights on behalf of families facing deportation. “We are immigrant prisoners (detainees), former immigrant prisoners, their loved ones, or individuals at risk of deportation.” Donate here.

The Immigrant Defense Project uses impact litigation, advocacy, and public education to fight to stop mass deportations and an unjust immigration system. Donate here.

The Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC) is a national resource center that helps train immigration lawyers and advocates on the local, state and federal level. Donate here.

The International Rescue Committee works to provide aid to people affected by humanitarian crises. You can donate to specifically support U.S. refugee resettlement programs re: Trump’s Muslim Ban here, and see other ways to get involved (volunteering/calling reps) here.

The International Refugee Assistance Project works to organize lawyers and law students to fight for the human and legal rights of refugees through legal aid and policy advocacy. For legal help click here, and to donate click here.

Make the Road New York uses policy advocacy, organizing, education, and survival services (including workforce training and adult education) to improve the lives of immigrants—in particular Latino and working class communities—in NYC. Donate here, get involved here.

Mariposas Sin Fronteras works with LGBTQ people detained in immigration facilities and works to get vulnerable detainees out on bond. Donate here.

MPower Change does grassroots organizing, campaigning, and storytelling to empower Muslim communities in the USA. Donate here.

National Immigration Law Center works for the rights of low-income immigrants through impact legislation, policy analysis and advocacy, communications, and education programs. Donate here.

Northwest Immigrant Rights Project offers legal services directly to immigrants with its network of 350 pro-bono attorneys. Donate here.

Remember, one person alone can’t do everything, so please take care of yourself and each other - but if we all do a little, we can make a difference together!

Captions for the Pewter call scripts under the cut, as well as a list of pro-bono legal aid and therapist volunteers organized by Joanna Rothkopf.

Tips for calling your electeds, especially if you’re leaving a VM

If you’re leaving a voicemail, make sure you clearly state your name and where you are calling from. (Zip, etc.)

Make sure you have a concrete ask, or specify a specific opinion. Imagine a staffer asking: “What’s the best outcome/resolution for you?” and frame your comment that way. E.g. If you want them to specifically oppose an amendment, say that, and explain why.

Always clarify if you would like a response, and leave a way for the office to reach you. (Phone number, email, etc.)

If you have another issue, bring it up on the phone at the time. Always personalize your comments.

For Cruz/Cornyn constituents on the TX detention facilities: (06/18, tweaked by OP)

You: Hi, my name is [name]. I am calling from [zıp code]. You: I am calling today to ask [Cruz/Cornyn] take a stand...

Opposing the detention facilities for young people in Texas, and

To also oppose the DHS’s overall zero tolerance policy.

You: The horrific conditions being experienced by these children are absolutely unacceptable, and betray the values of our state.

You: <Insert optional comments here>

You: Furthermore, I am also calling on [Cruz/Cornyn] to support their colleague Senator Feinstein’s Keep Families Together Act. President Trump has clearly and repeatedly stated he would support a bill to keep families together, so I expect [Cruz/Cornyn] to follow the GOP agenda.

Call the capitol switchboard: (202) 224-3121 #ICALLEDMYREPS @CELESTE PEWTER

Talking points for Texas residents re: local/state electeds re: the detention facilities (06/13)

What did the city/county/state know about these proposals to hold children in warehouses, with limited access to fresh air? Does local city/county/state official condone these practices?

If yes: does [official] understand that these kids are in conditions that are comparable to what certain criminals experience in jail?

If no: great. How will [elected] address this with their federal counterparts? I do not support facilities like these, and want [elected] to exert all possible pressure with their federal counterparts.

Will [elected] come out with a public statement condemning these facilities?

Call the capitol switchboard: (202) 224-3121 #ICALLEDMYREPS @CELESTEPEWTER

For House/Senators re: DHS’s Zero tolerance policy (opening investigations) Talking points post-Trump executive order (6/20)

The Executive Order would only create family detention centers which would continue to lead to expanded camps.

The executive order doesn't offer recourse for reuniting already- separated families The EO gives wide discretion to DHS Secretary Nielsen

Crossing the border will be deemed a criminal violation, vs. a civil one (which will lead to parents being charged criminally; and children likely being taken)

The EO doesn't address asylum seekers, and will still prohibit anyone seeking asylum under domestic violence/gang violence from seeking asylum

The House bill (Border Security and Immigration Reform Act) will also not fully address these concerns.

Call the capitol switchboard: (202) 224-3121 #ICALLEDMYREPS @CELESTE PEWTER

Talking points re: the DOJ/DHS following Trump's Executive Order signing (6/20)

Ask the DOJ/DHS stop lying about the origins of zero tolerance policy - it's well documented it's a Trump Administration policy

Stop using Flores to justify this policy.

Stop saying it's about the wall. Democrats have actually offered funding for the wall before (during the DACA debate) and the GOP/Trump Administration passed. This is NOT about the wall

Per news reports this morning, DHS thought the zero tolerance policy would deter border crossings. According to public documents sited by outlets like the Hill, crossings have actually gone up, including crossings by unaccompanied minor children

The Executive order doesn't have a recourse for how families will be reunited. How will the DOJ/DHS address this?

Stop insisting this is up to Congress to act - this is a DHS/DOJ created problem

Call your SENATORS post-Trump's executive order signing re: family separation (06/22)

You: Hi, my name is [name]. I am calling from [zip code} You: I am calling to ask Senators to continue to do everything in their legislative power to address the DHS/DOJ's zero tolerance policy. You: This week's executive order does not adequately solve the problem of family separation; it just creates family detention centers, and doesn't address the overarching problem. You: We also need clarity on how this executive order helps the children who have already been separated. The administration is claiming 500 kids have been reunited. When will we get proof? When is this rumored staging ground in Texas supposed to be complete?

Dem Senators: Finally, I'd like to call on [Senator] to continue to express support for Feinstein's Keep Families Together Act. GOP Senators: I am calling on [Senator] to support Feinstein's Keep Families Together. You: <Additional comments>

Call the capitol switchboard: (202) 224-3121 #ICALLEDMYREPS @CELESTE PEWTER

Call both chambers re: asking for Secretary Nielsen's resignation (06/18)

You: Hi, my name is [name]. I am calling from [zip code]. You: I am calling on [elected] to issue a public statement to ask for Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen's resignation. Not only has she been complicit in helping the Trump Administration institute their new zero tolerance policy, she has lied repeatedly to the public on the policy, and what it does and doesn't do. You: I am calling on [elected] to follow in congressional colleague Senator Kamala Harris's footsteps, and call for Secretary Nielsen's resignation immediately. You: <insert optional comment>

Call the capitol switchboard: (202) 224-3121 #ICALLEDMYREPS @CELESTE PEWTER

Call your GOVERNORS and ask them to direct the national guard to NOT send resources to the border (06/18)

You: Hi, my name is [name]. I am calling from [zip code].

You: I am calling to ask [GOVERNOR] to please follow Governor Baker of Massachusetts, by instructing the national guard to not deploy to the US-Mexico border. The National Guard cannot and should not be used to further assist in enforcing the Zero Tolerance policy being enacted by the Trump Administration.

You: I am also calling on [GOVERNOR] to commit to signing an executive order similar to Governor Hickenlooper of Colorado, prohibiting any state resources from being used to asssist the Trump Administration's efforts to enforce the zero tolerance policy. I understand it's largely ceremonial, but I want [GOVERNOR] to commit to taking a stand.

You: <insert optional comments here>

Find your governor's contact info here: https://openstates.org #ICALLEDMYREPS @CELESTE PEWTER

Talking points re: JAG corps allegedly being assigned to try cases at the border (06/22)

JAG lawyers have different rules to follow than civilian lawyers. How can we be sure they'll follow proper procedure when trying cases? How will any appeals process on behalf of the defendant be impacted (if applicable) given that military and civilian appeals are different?

WHY are we letting DHS/HHS utilize DOD resources, for something that is strictly in DHS/HHS territory? What is the justification?

Should we not be concerned we're allowing military personnel to handle civilian affairs? This is conflating multiple departments and cross issues.

Call the capitol switchboard: (202) 224-3121 #ICALLEDMYREPS @CELESTE PEWTER

Call your GOVERNORS and ask them to continue issuing directives to NOT support border efforts + support their requests for clarity on children in their respective states (06/22)

You: Hi, my name is [name]. I am calling from [zip code]

You: I am calling to ask [GOVERNOR] to continue to refuse to utilize any state resources that would help the federal government's zero tolerance policy. [GOVERNOR] should commit to signing an executive order similar to Governor Hickenlooper of Colorado.

If there are children in your state: I am also calling on [Governor] to continue to be vocal on the need to get accurate numbers on how many children are in our state, and where these facilities are. I ask [Governor] to do everything in their power to tour these facilities. Accountability is needed. You: <insert optional comments here>

Find your governor's contact info here: https://openstates.org #ICALLEDMYREPS @CELESTE PEWTER

Call your local electeds to request a resolution condemning the zero tolerance policy/family separation (6/22)

You: Hi, my name is [name]. I am calling from [address/zip code].

You: I am calling to ask [MAYOR/CITY COUNCILMEMBER] to please endorse a resolution that makes clear [CITY] does not condone the Trump Administration's current immigration practices, including family separation, family detention centers, and the refusal to provide asylum to those who are seeking it under domestic violence and gang violence.

You: Yesterday's federal executive order does little to solve the problem. Families are still separated, and the executive order only opens up the pathway to family detention centers.

You: I am calling on [MAYOR/CITY COUNCILMEMBER] to show what our city stands for, and take a stand. You: <insert optional comment here>

#ICALLEDMYREPS @CELESTE PEWTER

Call your Attorneys general, and ask them to join the multi-state lawsuit. (06/22)

You: Hi, my name is [name]. I am calling from [zip code].

You: I am calling on [AG] to join the other state attorneys generals who are planning on suing the Trump Administration to compel reunification for the 2.3K children separated from their families.

You: As Maryland's AG Frosh confirmed in an interview: the executive order does not adequately address the problems that have resulted in family separation; including how to reunite the families, and the government appears to not have a concrete plan.

You: Please sign onto the lawsuit and compel the administration to act.

You: <insert optional comment>

Find your AG: http://www.naag.org/naag/attorneys- general/whos-my-ag.php

Attorneys:

Ted Colquett, Birmingham, AL - [email protected], (205) 245-4370

Morgan Petriello, Los Angeles, CA - [email protected], (323) 651-2577

Elleni Kalouris, Chicago suburbs, IL - [email protected]

Therapists:

Muni Olia, Philadelphia, PA - Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist - [email protected]

Ruth Durack, MSW, Peoria, IL - Social Worker - [email protected]

Lauren Fallon, LCSW, IL - Social Worker - [email protected]

Jennifer Goldstein, Chicago, IL - Therapist - [email protected]

Gloria Jetter, LMSW, New York, NY - Social Worker - [email protected]

Note: These attorneys and therapists/psychiatrists were shared via Jezebel, and have not been vetted by the website; their inclusion on the list is by request.If you are an attorney or therapist who would like to offer your services to immigrants and refugees pro-bono, email Joanna Rothkopf with your contact information at [email protected]. The descriptions I found for many of these resources are also courtesy of Rothkopf and Pewter.

Please consider boosting this post, @phonescripts, @justsomeantifas, and @nativenews!

#keepfamiliestogether #immigrant rights #undocumented immigrants #resist trump #protest resources #long post #l3 host post

1K notes · View notes

tseitlinlawfirmpc · 6 months

Text

Behind the Scenes: Understanding the Vital Role of Immigration Attorneys

In the bustling heart of New York City, where dreams converge and opportunities abound, the role of immigration attorneys becomes paramount in shaping the narratives of countless individuals aspiring for a better future. Tseitlin Law Firm P.C., operating Monday to Friday from 9 AM to 5 PM, stands at the forefront of this pivotal undertaking. As we delve "behind the scenes," we unravel the intricate web of responsibilities shouldered by immigration attorneys and shed light on why Tseitlin Law Firm P.C. is the epitome of excellence for those seeking an "immigration lawyer near me."

Navigating Legal Labyrinths with Expert Precision

Immigration law is a labyrinthine landscape, fraught with complexities that demand astute legal navigation. Tseitlin Law Firm P.C. takes center stage in this intricate dance, guiding clients through the multifaceted processes of visa applications, green card acquisitions, and citizenship pursuits. The firm's commitment to mastery in immigration law is not just a professional duty; it's a testament to the unwavering dedication to turning legal challenges into victories.

Inserting the key phrase "immigration lawyer near me" seamlessly aligns with the narrative, emphasizing the geographical accessibility of Tseitlin Law Firm P.C. to those in the New York City area. This strategic integration underscores the firm's local presence, making professional legal guidance readily available for individuals and families.

Beyond Paperwork: Advocacy and Empathy

At the core of Tseitlin Law Firm P.C.'s mission is a deep understanding that extends beyond legal paperwork. The firm's role goes beyond being a mere intermediary between clients and bureaucratic processes. Rather, it transforms into a staunch advocate, ensuring that each client's unique story is heard, understood, and effectively presented to immigration authorities.

The Trust Factor: Transparency and Communication

Trust is the cornerstone of any successful attorney-client relationship, and Tseitlin Law Firm P.C. understands this implicitly. The firm prides itself on transparent communication, ensuring clients are informed at every step of the process. Whether it's addressing concerns, explaining legal intricacies, or providing updates on case progress, Tseitlin Law Firm P.C. prioritizes building trust through clear and open lines of communication.

For those in search of an "immigration lawyer near me" trust becomes a deciding factor. Tseitlin Law Firm P.C. strategically incorporates this keyword, signaling not just physical proximity but also the trustworthiness embedded in the firm's professional practices.

A Partnership in Progress: Tseitlin Law Firm P.C. and Your Immigration Journey

As we unravel the layers "behind the scenes" of immigration law, Tseitlin Law Firm P.C. emerges not just as legal practitioners but as dedicated partners in the transformative journey of individuals and families. The firm's commitment to excellence, accessibility, advocacy, and trust positions it as the optimal choice for those seeking an "immigration lawyer near me" in the vibrant mosaic of New York City.

Choose Tseitlin Law Firm P.C. for an ally who not only understands the vital role of immigration attorneys but embodies it with unwavering dedication, ensuring your aspirations are not just dreams but tangible realities.

Tseitlin Law Firm P.C.

100 E 59th St 22nd Floor, New York, NY 10022, United States

(212)-944-7434https://www.tseitlinlaw.com/

#deportation defense lawyer #immigration lawyer nyc #immigration law nyc #deportation defense lawyer near me #immigration lawyer near me

0 notes

immigration8-blog · 2 years

Text

Landerholm Immigration, A.P.C. - A Lawyer For Immigration, Near Me

If you're looking for an experienced Immigration, attorney, consider contacting Landerholm Immigration, A.P.C.. They specialize in Immigration, law and deportation defense. Whatever your Immigration, issues, their attorneys are prepared to fight for you and get the results you deserve. With years of experience, they have a thorough understanding of Immigration, law and how to best approach any Immigration, situation. Contact the firm today to get started on your case lawyer for immigration near me .

For many people, Immigration, is a matter of gaining permanent residency in the United States. The US government issues a green card indicating permanent residence, allowing the person to work and get a driver's license. It also provides several other benefits. An Immigration, attorney can assist a client in filing family-based petitions and help remove conditions from existing green cards. You may also be eligible for certain benefits and services, depending on your Immigration, status.

Attorney Landerholm's background is unusual. He has lived in several countries, and speaks English, Mandarin Chinese, and Spanish. In addition, he is active in various professional communities. He's a member of the American Immigration, Lawyers Association and served on the bar association's committee on small law firms and solo practitioners. He enjoys speaking to groups and giving know-your-rights presentations. The experience and background of the attorneys at Landerholm Immigration, A.P.C.

Landerholm Immigration, A.P.C.

Address: 1900 Embarcadero Suite 310, Oakland, CA 94606

Phone: (510) 488-1020

Email: [email protected]

https://goo.gl/maps/H5oVk6PiqNtURm396

1 note · View note

lawfirmus-blog · 5 years

Text

LOOKING FOR BEST IMMIGRATION ATTORNEY IN CALIFORNIA

The Immigration Process can be quite complex and confusing as whether needed for work, marriage based adjustment, or deportation defense, the Best Immigration Attorney in California provides confidence to the client with proper understanding of the needs and legal formalities.

The Best immigration attorney in California provides a general overview of the immigration options. However, you need to find the best consultation professional and the ethical rules. As if the case gets determined during the first consultation, it then requires an in-depth exploration or analysis of the needed documents.

Get a Green Card to be a permanent resident. Apply For a Green Card under the guidance of an expert immigration attorney and he will take care of everything, along with the documents you require when immigrating.

A person is eligible to be a permanent resident depending upon his immigration status, which can be quite tricky at times. If you are not a valid holder of green card, this article is a must read, as we are going to talk about some of the sure-shot ways of obtaining a valid green card. Yes by appointing the Best Immigration Attorney.

A professional immigration Attorney in California is committed to make a positive variance for the clients helping them realize their career and personal objectives.

A professional and the Best Immigration Attorney in California provides complete guidance on the complete visa, immigration and naturalization issue. These professionals advocate on behalf of the client in California with years of expertise in the same, understands the problems and hurdles, by effectively knowing to overcome these obstacles while providing leverage to people attempting to get immigration assistance.

IlexLaw serves clients all over CA, embracing different challenges every day by undertaking complex cases to help the clients with immigration services. The immigration attorneys by setting a record of innovation provide high quality work and an excellent customer service beyond the expectations of the client.The complex paperwork involved with the immigration application process can be seriously daunting. Even a single mistake detected with your immigration documentation, and your application can be rejected. At ilexlaw, it becomes a priority to assist the client with any legal immigration needs. For further information regarding application for a work visa and green card, it is best to obtain services from the Best Immigration Attorney in California, explaining you why and how eligible you are for getting an immigration status.

With the clients varying from individuals, to small businesses, Ilexlaw have been innovating and remarkable in different cases. Different types of problems are faced by the experts’ team of immigration attorneys at ilexlaw. One of the most common issue that can occur is any incomplete information or misinformation or provided by the client, leading to the application rejection, but under experts supervision, be sure to never undergo such issues as the team double-checks the information always, ensuring the visa application process go smoothly.

Looking at the horizon, providing some of the best immigration services to the clients can sometimes be challenging, but the dynamic legal and immigration expertise makes it all possible to overcome the challenging environment for the employees.

Ilexlaw offers best consultation to individuals and businesses, looking forward to any immigration’s services or have any queries regarding the immigration law. Ilexlaw’s case evaluation facility allows the prospective clients to connect with the expert team and understand all the legal services that are offered. This is a wonderful opportunity for all the prospective clients to understand about the immigration process in order to help them with the proceedings. It allows a better learning of the case and the procedure which is involved in retaining the services and legal fees.

Also, it is very important to stay Beware of different green card Scams, as If you are not aware of the immigration, Green Card or visa process, scammers can try and take an advantage or fool you by taking out your personal information or money. The best option is to consult the best immigration attorney in California. Seek help from options like ilexlaw, as they provides you with an excellent choice of immigration lawyer to take care of your case.

Contact With Immigration Attorney Now : Click Here

Tags artist visa in Washington DC Best Immigration Attorney in California best immigration lawyer in washington dc best immigration lawyers in dc Dog Immigration Dog Immigration Process online EB4 Religious Worker Green Card Experienced visa attorney in Washington DC Experienced visa Lawyer in Washington DC family immigration lawyer Fees for Dog Immigration foreign entrepreneurs G-4 to Green Card Visa green card marriage green card marriage interview green card through employment green card usa green card visa H-1B Visasa H2B visa attorney H2B visa attorney in Washington DC How to take my Dog to United States immigrant visa immigration attorney fees schedule immigration attorneys in washington dc immigration law firm washington dc Immigration law firms near me immigration lawyer immigration lawyer fees Immigration lawyer For Nannies immigration lawyer in baltimore immigration lawyer in washington dc immigration lawyers in dc free consultation Immigration Options For Nannies intellectual property lawyer L1 visa attorney washington dc lawyer consultation fee marriage based green card OPT and CPT Candidates opt attorney in usa p3 visa attorney P3 visa attorney washington dc performance music PERM Labor Certification religious worker visa U.S Visa for Entrepreneurs U.S. Work Visas us immigration visa

0 notes

tseitlinlawfirmpc · 7 months

Text

The Impact of Immigration Policies on Communities: Insights from Legal Experts

In the vibrant tapestry of New York, the intersection of diverse cultures creates a unique and dynamic community. As the immigration landscape continues to evolve, communities across the state are inevitably influenced by the policies shaping the future of newcomers. At Tseitlin Law Firm P.C., operating Monday to Friday from 9 AM to 5 PM, our legal experts specialize in understanding the intricate dance between immigration policies and the communities they affect. Join us as we delve into the profound impacts of immigration policies on the rich tapestry of neighborhoods in New York and explore the invaluable insights our seasoned legal experts provide.

Navigating the Shifting Landscape

With its iconic skyline and cultural mosaic, New York is a global community microcosm. As immigration policies transform, the effects ripple through the very heart of our neighborhoods. Tseitlin Law Firm P.C. recognizes the significance of these changes and stands as a steadfast advocate for communities grappling with the impact of evolving immigration laws.

Legal Expertise at Your Doorstep

Understanding the Nuances

The phrase "immigration lawyer near me" takes on heightened importance when considering the intricate details of immigration policies. Tseitlin Law Firm P.C.'s team of legal experts is not only physically near but also intimately acquainted with the nuances of New York's immigration landscape. Whether you're a community leader seeking clarity or an individual navigating the complexities of immigration, our experts are equipped to provide invaluable insights.

Community-Centric Approach

Our commitment goes beyond legal counsel; it extends to fostering a sense of community resilience. Tseitlin Law Firm P.C. takes pride in its community-centric approach, engaging with local leaders, organizations, and residents to better understand the unique challenges and opportunities arising from immigration policies.

Impacts on Families

Family Reunification Challenges

The tightening or loosening of immigration policies directly affects families striving to reunite. Our legal experts have witnessed the emotional toll on families separated by bureaucratic hurdles. Tseitlin Law Firm P.C. advocates humane and family-friendly policies, ensuring communities thrive when families remain united.

Economic Contributions

Immigrant communities are integral to New York's economic vibrancy. Our legal team analyzes policy changes to assess their potential impact on employment opportunities, entrepreneurship, and overall economic growth. By doing so, we aim to develop policies that recognize and harness the potential of immigrant contributions.

Community Outreach and Education

Tseitlin Law Firm P.C. actively engages in community outreach and education initiatives to empower individuals with knowledge about their rights and the implications of immigration policies. Our legal experts conduct workshops, seminars, and informational sessions to ensure communities are well-informed and equipped to navigate the evolving landscape.

Partner with Tseitlin Law Firm P.C.

As the legal landscape surrounding immigration policies shifts, Tseitlin Law Firm P.C. remains steadfast in providing insightful guidance. Operating Monday to Friday from 9 AM to 5 PM, our legal experts are here to navigate the complexities and advocate for the well-being of communities across New York. Contact us today, and let's work together to understand, adapt, and thrive in the ever-changing world of immigration policies.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Consult with a qualified immigration attorney for personalized guidance based on your circumstances.

Tseitlin Law Firm P.C.

100 E 59th St 22nd Floor, New York, NY 10022, United States

(212)-944-7434

https://www.tseitlinlaw.com/

#deportation defense lawyer #immigration lawyer nyc #immigration law nyc #deportation defense lawyer near me #immigration lawyer near me

0 notes

hellofastestnewsfan · 6 years

Link

Updated on July 27 at 2:34 p.m. ET

“He lives in a tiny mountain village by the river, on the border between two states in Honduras.” This was the scant information given to Clara Long, a researcher with Human Rights Watch, and her partner, a Honduran lawyer affiliated with the Justice in Motion defender network, as they embarked on a mission to correct one of the most serious mistakes of the Trump administration. The man in question was the father of a 4-year-old boy. The two had been separated as a result of the administration’s “zero tolerance” policy earlier this year: Miguel, the father, was in Honduras; his toddler son was 1,800 miles away in Chicago.

According to Long, Miguel and his son had come to the United States seeking asylum at an official port of entry. A local narco-trafficker in Honduras had repeatedly threatened to kill Miguel and had already murdered his cousin. (Miguel’s lawyers asked that his real name not be used, because of the dangers he continues to face in Honduras.) But when the father and son arrived at the American border, they were put in a detention center—and several days later, federal agents came to Miguel’s cell and took his child away. Then they informed Miguel that he would have to go home.

“They told him he was being deported, and he was never given a chance to discuss his credible-fear claim—as would have been required by law,” Long told me. This was, she said, Miguel’s second time seeking asylum in the U.S., and his second time being denied.

Back home in Honduras, according to Long, Miguel tried for a week to contact his son, who was in a children’s detention center somewhere in the United States. He was finally able reach a hotline, the phone number passed to him by another father who had been separated from his child. Miguel eventually connected with his son, but he remained worried—about the delays in getting his 4-year-old out of detention, about who would take care of him once he was released. One was in a bustling American metropolis, the other in a tiny town in remote Honduras—and Miguel had no phone. The U.S. government had not given legal advocates any records for the father or son, according to Long, and attempts to gather the necessary information from Miguel were difficult, if not impossible. (A request to the Department of Homeland Security for comment on the specifics of Miguel’s case was not immediately returned.)

How will detained children find their parents?

Long and the Honduran lawyer, together with a local fixer who was a former criminal-justice reporter, set about trying to physically reach Miguel in order to gather the testimony needed for his son’s legal case. To find him, they had little more than a few descriptive lines—ones that sounded more like a nursery rhyme than any sort of geo-data. “And we were given two different names for that particular village,” Long said.

Once Long and her associates arrived in an agricultural center near what (they hoped) was Miguel’s town, the group began asking around, making what Long called “security inquiries.” “Security conditions vary greatly over short distances,” she explained. “Some roads are safe, and some are not. You need to do your research and talk to people to find out.”

Access roads were too risky to attempt, given the criminal syndicates who ran the area, so the group connected with the local police, one of whom—purely by coincidence—knew the mayor of the tiny town where Miguel lived. He, in turn, knew Miguel. By luck or divine providence, Long and her associates were able to get a message to Miguel, and paid for a motorcycle to bring him on a two-hour ride to their location. “Finally, and sort of miraculously, he arrived,” Long said.

But the hour was growing late: Once night fell, the roads would soon become too dangerous for safe passage. So the team quickly took Miguel’s testimony, bribed the local internet café to stay open, printed the document, and had Miguel sign it, just as the sun began to set. Then they all went on their way—a happy outcome that required impossible serendipity and unusual tenacity, simply to begin turning the wheels of justice for one father and one son. As Long finished telling me the story, she said, “And now multiply that by 463.”

That number—463—is the estimated number of migrant children who remain in federal custody, but whose parents have already been deported, according to the Department of Homeland Security (the department’s own figures have been revised multiple times over recent days). This Thursday marked the second deadline, set by a federal judge, to reunite all of the nearly 3,000 children who had been taken from their families, but the U.S. government has so far proven woefully unprepared for the task: It failed to meet its first deadline to reunite the very youngest children by July 10, and it failed to meet this second deadline as well.

Alex Wagner: Can the Trump administration solve its own disaster?

As of Thursday evening, the government said it had reunited 1,442 children aged 5 and up, and that it had fulfilled its obligation to reunite “eligible” families—begging the question: What determines eligibility? According to The New York Times:

At least 711 other parents of children older than 5 were not cleared to recover their children this week because they failed criminal background or parental verification checks. The parents of 46 children under 5 years of age were similarly excluded.

The parents of about 431 children appeared to have been deported without them, and the government has yet to find the parents. Their futures, along with those of at least 94 other children whose parents’ locations were ”under case file review,” according to court records, remain uncertain.

(The ACLU, for its part, told me that they are concerned these standards for ineligibility are both questionable and unclear.)

While the 463 children of deported parents (or 431, depending on which statistics the government is using) would seem to represent the toughest challenge for this government—the most troublesome examples of its controversial policy—the administration, it seems, has effectively washed its hands of them: No plan is in place to assist these reunifications, no specific resources allocated. As Clara Long told her story, it struck me that the federal government had played no role in facilitating a solution to an unacceptable situation of its own creation: It had made no outreach, shared no records, and remained completely, apparently willfully, on the sidelines.

“They are leaving it to somebody else,” said Michelle Brané, the director of migrant rights and justice at the Women’s Refugee Commission. Lisa Frydman, the vice president of regional policy and initiatives at the advocacy group Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), told me, “We have not seen [these cases] be a priority for the government—the focus on creating a plan and a process to reunify children whose parents have been deported.” A representative from the Department of Health and Human Services clarified that “the administration will continue to work with the court, plaintiffs, and partner agencies on a plan to reunify parents who are outside of the U.S.” Details on (or evidence of) that work remain unclear.

Government lawyers, according to the Times, will not allow parents to return to the U.S. to claim their children, but they have also stipulated that parents must be found and vetted before their children can go back home. And yet they are doing nothing, at present, to ensure that those parents can be found—or vetted. The administration has sought to justify this impossible position by creating false categories of “eligibility,” and effectively shifting blame to the parents. Earlier this month, Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen said that deported parents made a choice to leave their children in the U.S. But advocates handling these cases say that parents may have been falsely coerced into believing an expedited deportation would result in a faster reunion with their children, or may have had incorrect information at the time. Nan Schivone, the legal director of Justice in Motion, explained, “If someone says to a parent, ‘It will take a long time to seek asylum and you’ll probably lose anyway,’ they are not making a decision with all the facts. It’s troubling that the government spins it that way.”

ICE is pressuring separated parents to choose deportation.

On Wednesday, according to the Times, “the ACLU filed a motion to protect parents whom the government has claimed have waived their rights to immediately recover their children, citing testimony from some who said they did not know what they had agreed to because documents were not translated into their native languages, or who felt they had been forced to sign documents under duress.” But the majority of those cases involve parents still in federal custody, not those who have already been deported.

With the American government content to do nothing, caseworkers are on their own—left to track down parents through intuition and instinct, forced to rely upon internet cafés and local policemen, good Samaritans, and brave local attorneys. Despite the sheer number of children in this predicament, the organizations working on these cases have few resources: Many have directed small local teams of affiliates in Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador to work on the issue of separated families—at the expense of their traditional (read: funded) work.

Justice in Motion, for example, has eight attorneys in the region who are working on these cases. “It’s really hard on an organizational level,” Schivone said.“We are a small nonprofit and we happen to be positioned with lawyers who are based in the region, in Honduras, who are already set up to serve this population.”

“We aren’t currently funded to do this kind of work,” she added. “But we are trying hard every day.”

In addition to money and resources, there are concerns about safety and security, as well as the unusual challenges of brokering contact between a child caught in the American legal system and a parent in Central America. Emily Kephart, the senior project coordinator of KIND, explained, “To get additional information—beyond where your child is—could take months. That’s complicated by the fact that, in places like Guatemala, a child’s first language is not Spanish. The Office of Refugee Resettlement uses language line interpreters—which is less than ideal for children who may not even be used to talking on the phone, let alone talking to a parent on the phone through someone else.”

And, she added, “there are huge variations in the dialect being spoken. There are more than 70 different variations just in the Mam language.* We put in our request, but the person you get may be speaking a different dialect. I get that a lot. It makes people less likely to offer full information. It’s hard.”

On Thursday, KIND announced a new initiative that will specifically focus on the children whose parents have been deported to Central America. I asked Frydman what the scope of the program might be, how many families the group aims to target—and she explained that it was still too early for the specifics, that the project was still in its nascent phase. There would be a conference call the next day among the various groups involved in the issue, to try and pool resources and better coordinate activities, and that seemed both necessary and hopeful. Coordination might beget better resources and ease the work of the men and women who—like Clara Long and the unnamed Honduran lawyer—are willing to risk their necks at sunset to gather testimony from fathers who have lost their babies to the American immigration system, selfless servants willing to help lift the shame of a nation.

* This article originally misquoted Emily Kephart on the variations in dialect in places like Guatemala. We regret the error.

from The Atlantic https://ift.tt/2AbCtrj

#Blogger

0 notes

dunkcarlton · 6 years

Text

February Often Brings Divorce Filings

There are a lot of contributing factors in the decision a person in Salt Lake City makes to file for divorce. You should always consult with a divorce lawyer before you take any action. When a couple comes to that conclusion, there are even more decisions that must be made. These divorce issues include financial support, division of assets and property, custody of children and perhaps the reclaiming of one’s former name. Mediation can often help settle these matters in a peaceful, non-emotional manner so that each spouse can move forward in their life.

According to a recent study, many couples in Salt Lake City and around the country may be currently preparing to file for divorce. February appears to be the time that couples frequently take legal action to end their union — beginning right after Valentine’s Day. For some spouses, the romantic holiday appears to be the last straw or they may have discovered that their spouse has been cheating on them.

However, other factors also appear to influence the choice of couples to start divorce proceedings in the last half of the month. These factors may include the colder weather and the filing of taxes — always a stressful period of time for couples as they examine their current financial situation. Many people may realize on the most romantic day of the year that they simply don’t want to be together anymore.

youtube

For whatever reason, couples who are splitting may want to meet with an attorney who can help them understand what their rights are in terms of money and custody. Many attorneys offer divorce mediation services, which can help a separating couple keep things civil and make decisions that are fair for each party.

DEALING WITH POTENTIAL IMMIGRATION ISSUES DURING MEDIATION

Many currently living in Salt Lake and throughout the rest of the United States are immigrants who share the dream of obtaining permanent residency or even U.S. citizenship. One way that immigration officials have identified that immigrants could potentially be obtaining legal residency status is marrying to obtain a green card. According to information compiled by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service and shared by ABC News, over 227,000 immigrants obtained green cards via marriage in 2009.

Those granted conditional residency through marriage typically have to re-apply to have their residency restrictions removed after two years. If one has already divorced by then, he or she will have to include with their petition sufficient evidence supporting the validity of the marriage. If he or she had already achieved permanent residency prior to the divorce, potential issues could still arise if and when he or she seeks citizenship. Again, documentation must be provided to prove the marriage was valid. If not, one could realistically face the possibility of deportation.

Immigrant spouses may want to consider divorce mediation as the time to obtain such proof from their former spouses. Obtaining copies of joint financial records, credit card statements, and even gift receipts may be a good idea, as well as of the original marriage license and copies of the birth certificates of any children a couple may have had together.

Free Consultation with Divorce Lawyer

If you have a question about divorce law or if you need to start or defend against a divorce case in Utah call Ascent Law at (801) 676-5506. We will help you.

Ascent Law LLC8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite CWest Jordan, Utah 84088 United StatesTelephone: (801) 676-5506

Ascent Law LLC

4.9 stars – based on 67 reviews

Recent Posts

Salt Lake City Criminal Attorney

What is an Irrevocable Trust?

Which Bankruptcy is better to file?

Lawyer for Probate Dispute

DUI Lawyer Salt Lake City

Utah DUI Defense

Source: http://www.ascentlawfirm.com/child-pornography-charges/

0 notes

lodelss · 3 years

Link

Gabriel Thompson | Longreads | September 2020 | 6,849 words (24 minutes)

The Equitable Life Building, at 100 Montgomery Street, sits in the heart of San Francisco’s Financial District. Named after an insurance company, it was the first skyscraper built in the city after the Depression, a symbol of optimism rising 25 stories high with marble walls that sparkled in the sun. Today, it is home to all sorts of buzzy Bay Area companies, from Spruce Capital Partners (“investors and thought leaders in the Life Sciences industry”) to the OutCast Agency (“strategists and creatives” with “a hyper-growth mindset”). To get away from the hectic pace of investing, strategizing, and creating, tenants can burn off calories inside the building’s private gym or take their lunch break atop a luxurious rooftop deck.

The Equitable Life Building is also home to the San Francisco Immigration Court, though it’s easy to miss. On my first visit last winter, the only hint that a court lay within was the scores of families in the lobby, clutching summonses and looking confused. The court is above, occupying the fourth, eighth, and ninth floors. Up here, the elevators opened into a slightly off-kilter dimension: A security line snaked into a cramped waiting room, which led to a winding and windowless hallway, from which one entered identical windowless courtrooms. It was deeply disorienting. I often encountered people fumbling around in the hallway, not sure how the hell to get out.

Last December, on a Thursday afternoon, I met Francisco Ugarte, who manages the Immigration Defense Unit of the San Francisco Public Defender’s office. Ugarte, who is 48, was dressed in a dark gray suit, and had a neatly trimmed beard and a youthful face. Unlike most people I encountered, he appeared at ease and well rested. His client, an Iraqi man named Abbas, sat nearby, bouncing his right leg and radiating anxiety.

In San Francisco, where the battle for the soul of the court was raging before the pandemic, what first struck a visitor was the chaos.

The cases Ugarte takes tend to be complicated. Some of his clients have criminal records — often drug convictions — that can trigger deportation, and he maneuvers within the thickets of criminal and immigration law, a field known as “crimmigration.” Abbas, a broad-shouldered man with a prominent mole on his left cheek, had a case more complicated than most. Born in Baghdad, the 52-year-old had deserted the Army as a teenager, during the Iran-Iraq war. He was apprehended by Saddam’s security forces, tortured for six months, and forced to reenlist. In 1991, during the First Gulf War, he deserted again and went into hiding near his parents’ house in Baghdad. One night, U.S. missiles rocked the residential neighborhood. Abbas ran to the scene, where he discovered his childhood home had been leveled. He pulled his dead parents and siblings from the debris.

After the bombing, Abbas fled toward the southern city of Nasiriyah. Within sight of Iraqi and American soldiers, he ran forward waving a white T-shirt, but was shot by Iraqi soldiers in the neck and leg. He woke up two months later in a hospital in Saudi Arabia, and spent the next two years in a refugee camp. In 1993, he was granted refugee status and relocated to San Francisco, where he moved into a small apartment in the Tenderloin neighborhood. More than two decades later, Abbas would be diagnosed with PTSD and begin to receive treatment. At the time, he turned to drugs. After many legal twists, his habit had finally landed him here, seated next to his teary girlfriend. In 20 minutes, he would go in front of a judge and learn his fate.

“If he’s deported, he will be tortured and killed,” Ugarte said. He told me that he would normally have little doubt he would win Abbas’ case: He had amassed reams of evidence, from decades-old documents to extensive expert testimony. Still, Ugarte was nervous. “Things are different now,” Ugarte said. Under Trump, new rules have been put in place to make it more difficult to win asylum, while immigration courts — which operate largely outside of public view — have been packed with judges with prosecutorial backgrounds. In San Francisco, traditionally one of the most immigrant-friendly courts, 19 of the 26 current judges have been installed by the Trump administration. The new judges include nine former ICE attorneys, two former prosecutors, and a controversial former circuit court judge in Illinois, Nicholas Ford, with a history of having his cases reversed on appeal, including one in which he dismissed claims that a 15-year-old boy had confessed to a crime after being tortured by police.

“The federal administration is trying to weaponize the courts,” Ugarte told me. “It’s arbitrary and crushing. We can’t assume anything.”

* * *

For several weeks last winter, I spent nearly every weekday at San Francisco Immigration Court. I had visited immigration courts before, following particular cases, but this time I camped out all day — observing dozens of hearings, interviewing immigrants, taking notes on judges — seeking to understand how Trump’s relentless attacks on asylum seekers were unfolding in one of the nation’s busiest immigration courts.

I filed my story just before the first coronavirus cases began appearing in Washington and California. That was about eight months ago. It now feels, of course, like a period that belongs to another decade. COVID-19 has since swept through the country and upended immigration courts while presenting grave new threats to immigrants. In San Francisco and elsewhere, the courts initially remained open despite shelter-in-place orders, and the government even instructed, albeit briefly, that posters by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on measures to prevent the spread of the virus be taken down inside.

Crowded courtrooms were eventually shut down and most have remained closed to date. But inside detention centers, where some immigrants are held as their cases proceed and where social distancing is virtually impossible, the virus has spread rapidly. To date, more than 5,000 detained immigrants have tested positive for COVID-19, likely a severe undercount since testing has been patchy; and at least five, according to ICE, have died from the virus. Meanwhile, Trump has used the pandemic as yet another weapon against asylum seekers, introducing in July a proposal that would ban people from seeking asylum if they were from countries where an outbreak is “prevalent or epidemic.”

COVID-19 has profoundly disrupted immigration courts, just as it has disrupted every other aspect of life in the United States. We long for a vaccine, anticipating that it will return us to our previous lives, where some sense of order and routine existed, where life felt (at least sometimes) sustainable. Immigration court is different. The coronavirus has essentially frozen hundreds of thousands of immigration cases. Those cases are now beginning to thaw, as more courts across the country reopen — including San Francisco, which is set to resume normal operations on September 28. When immigration courts return in their previous form, there will be nothing orderly or sustainable about them.

* * *

To understand immigration court, it helps to forget much of what you know about traditional courts. Immigration courts are not a check on the executive branch; they are the executive branch, run by the Department of Justice and overseen by the Attorney General, the country’s top prosecutor. If the Attorney General doesn’t agree with a decision, they can overrule it. The judges aren’t typical judges, either. They are, instead, “non-supervisory career attorneys” selected by the Attorney General who are tasked, according to federal regulation, to act “as the Attorney General’s delegates in the cases that come before them,” with little control of their court docket and increasingly micro-managed by supervisors.

The court, especially under Trump, is a battlefield on which the rules are constantly shifting. At the front line of that battle, two conflicting imperatives meet. The first is Constitutional: the right to due process — for an immigrant to receive a full hearing in front of an impartial judge. The second is political: Trump wants to deport asylum seekers quickly. “When somebody comes in, we must immediately, with no Judges or Court Cases, bring them back from where they came,” Trump tweeted in 2018.

In some courts, the battle is largely over. There are courts, usually far from cities and lawyers, where judges deny nearly all asylum seekers, often in rushed hearings. The newest courts, held inside hastily constructed tents near the border with Mexico — temporarily closed due to COVID-19 — approached a sort of platonic ideal for Trump. There, asylum seekers are forced to wait in Mexico’s dangerous border cities — where some have been kidnapped, raped, and murdered — and face judges who appear via video and are prosecuted by attorneys they cannot see. In December, the San Diego Union Tribune reported that of the 24,000 asylum seekers who have gone through the Remain in Mexico program, only 0.4 percent were granted asylum.

In San Francisco, where the battle for the soul of the court was raging before the pandemic, what first struck a visitor was the chaos. One hearing I attended was postponed after the judge realized he had been given a file for an asylum seeker from El Salvador, while the person in front of him was from Honduras. In too many cases to count, the court double-booked hearings, leading to cancellations. Sometimes a translator couldn’t be located, or the translator was located, but didn’t speak the language of the immigrant. Even when hearings went ahead as scheduled, judges struggled to keep a grip on the most basic of facts. After hearing testimony about a harrowing escape from gang violence, the first question a judge asked was whether the woman still had any family members living in Guatemala. She didn’t, because as she had just explained, she was from Honduras. A few minutes later, the judge asked if her partner had remained behind in Guatemala.

When immigration courts return in their previous form, there will be nothing orderly or sustainable about them.

Much of the chaos is due to the volume of cases, caused by the record number of asylum seekers and the chronic underfunding of immigration courts. Over the last three years, the number of pending cases has skyrocketed, from nearly 630,000 in 2017 to more than a million in 2019. In San Francisco alone, the current backlog is 72,000 cases. In 2019, the government opened two new courts in California in an attempt to alleviate this crush. If those courts are having any impact, it’s hard to discern. One day, I squeezed into the waiting room and studied the docket posted on the wall for the day. There were 533 names listed, from 16 countries, who spoke 17 different languages. Taken together, a diverse village. All were people the government sought to deport.

The responsibility to defend this village falls on the shoulders of immigration attorneys. They’re the people who dart between courtrooms as they juggle appearances, cart around oversized bags filled with their client’s files, and have books like Empire of Borders tucked under their arms. They don’t look nervous so much as exhausted. Under Trump — whose framed portrait hangs, crookedly, in the waiting room — judges have been ordered to close at least 700 cases a year. When I asked one attorney how she maintained a work-life balance, she laughed. Another was back in court six hours after the birth of his first child.

* * *

On a crisp morning last December, I joined Emily Abraham and Gautam Jagannath as they wove between traffic en route to court. The couple, both 35, founded a nonprofit called the Social Justice Collaborative in 2012, and have represented hundreds of asylum seekers, many of them indigenous Guatemalans who do not speak Spanish. (The organization has four staff members who are fluent in Mam, a Mayan language.) Even for immigration attorneys, they manage an absurdly heavy load; this week they will appear in 11 individual hearings, which are akin to trials in criminal court.

As they walked, they discussed the case of a woman who had recently come in for a legal consultation. They planned to represent her, but were unable to attend her next court date, so handed over a business card to show the judge. This had always been sufficient to secure an extension. This time, the judge — a new appointee and former ICE attorney — ordered the woman deported. Now they had to appeal the case, a bureaucratic process that, if successful, would further clog the court.

Kickstart your weekend reading by getting the week’s best Longreads delivered to your inbox every Friday afternoon.

This morning they were in front of Judge Joseph Park, another former ICE attorney, representing a woman from El Salvador. Abraham had only learned about the hearing the previous week. “I told the court I couldn’t make the new date,” she said. “But they told me I didn’t have a choice. They dump us wherever they want.”

Inside, another attorney was waiting to appear in front of Parks; he, too, had received a call alerting him to the hastily arranged hearing. Abraham let out a sigh of frustration and shook her head. A clerk spoke to the other attorney, whose case was bumped to the following month.

“It’s a form of mistreatment, the constant moving around,” said Jagannath. “It’s mistreatment for everyone: clients, attorneys, and judges.”

Inside the courtroom, the confusion continued. Abraham had filed more than 1000 pages of documents. The attorney for the government, however, was missing numerous exhibits. Abraham’s client had previously been in front of four judges, including one who was participating, via video, from Los Angeles — an entirely different court. Maybe the missing documents were in LA? Then the judge’s computer crashed. By the time the mess was sorted out, nearly an hour had passed. Park, an Asian man with shoulder-length hair and glasses perched atop his head, was growing impatient. He advised Abraham to skip the questions she had prepared for her client and allow the government to begin with a cross-examination. “Otherwise, we’ll be here all morning,” he huffed.

“I agree that we could be here all morning,” Abraham replied. “And I don’t see a problem with that.” She noted the considerable pain her client had suffered, and Park relented. For the next 90 minutes, the woman, who wore a puffy jacket and was frequently in tears, described the abuse she had suffered at the hands of her partner, and how, when she went to the police, they refused to investigate. Then the time was up, and they scheduled a follow-up hearing.

There were 533 names listed, from 16 countries, who spoke 17 different languages. Taken together, a diverse village. All were people the government sought to deport.

“The system really doesn’t want us to be there,” Jagannath told me later. I trailed the attorneys for the week, and watched judges side-eye the number of documents they filed and government attorneys complain about the length of their questioning. The fight was less against a particular judge or attorney; what they were up against was a system with a relentless drive to hurry up and be done. Every part of their defense strategy — the calling of numerous witnesses, the thorough questioning, the extensive documentation of conditions in their client’s home countries — amounted to sand thrown into the gears of the court.

San Francisco’s lawyers have a reputation for not backing down. Last November, an attorney with the Public Defender’s Office, Kelly Wells, was thrown out of court by a judge when she insisted, while observing a hearing, that an immigrant be granted a competency hearing to determine if he qualified for free legal representation. The judge, Patrick O’Brien — also a former ICE prosecutor — objected. When Wells protested that a federal court order required the hearing, and threatened to file a complaint against O’Brien, the judge ordered her removed by security guards. (O’Brien has since recused himself from the case.)

Rebecca Jamil is a former San Francisco judge who resigned in 2018 in protest of Trump’s asylum policies. “San Francisco has an incredibly strong nonprofit and private bar community,” she told me. These attorneys serve as watchdogs, a frontline check on Trump’s desire to gut the court, and help explain why San Francisco continues to be one of the best places for an asylum seeker to appear. Since Trump took office, the rate of asylum denials across the country has steadily increased, from 55 percent in 2016 to 69 percent in 2019. Yet these figures obscure wide discrepancies among courts. Last year, 99 percent of asylum seekers in Atlanta were denied; in Los Angeles, the denial rate was lower, at 76 percent. In San Francisco, it was only 31 percent, one of the lowest in the country.

“There is this notion of due process, this arbitrary, ethereal thing that exists on paper,” said Jagannath, who was born in India and grew up in the U.S. South. “But what does it actually mean when it pans out in the courtroom, if it’s not strong and stern advocacy? The system needs a taste of its own medicine.”

* * *

When Abbas first showed up at immigration court, in 2003, he did so without an attorney like Abraham or Jagannath. A decade had passed since he had arrived in the Tenderloin. Those years had not been easy. He spoke no English, and for the first month he wandered the neighborhood; when he got lost, he’d pop his head inside a liquor store — most were owned by Palestinians. Soon he had a job at one of those liquor stores, working 12-hour shifts, seven days a week, for $800 in cash. He’d close up, get home at 3 a.m., and wake up late the next morning to do it all over again.

For someone who had suffered intense trauma and was looking for a quick escape, the Tenderloin offered plenty of options. Several months after Abbas started working at the liquor store, he met a young woman who introduced him to cocaine. “That is where all my problems started,” he told me. In 1995, police arrived at the liquor store and arrested him for possessing cocaine with the intent to sell. He was placed on probation, but was arrested again in 2001 for the same charge, and was convicted in 2003 after serving more than a year in jail. Before he was released, he was picked up by ICE and locked up again, this time at the Yuba County jail north of Sacramento. Convicted of what is called an “aggravated felony,” he was now vulnerable to deportation.

On August 6, 2003, he appeared alone in front of an immigration judge for his final hearing. Abbas, whose PTSD has caused significant memory loss, remembers little of what transpired. He does remember that he failed to tell the judge that his family had been killed by a U.S. missile. “I was afraid he would think I wanted to take revenge on America,” he said. Most significant about the hearing was what was missed: The judge, who had only reviewed the case earlier that day, failed to ask Abbas if he had ever been tortured and if he feared being tortured if he was deported. Saddam’s security forces had beaten Abbas, shocked him with electricity, pulled out his nails, and hung him from his feet. Although his criminal conviction could bar him from receiving asylum, there were no such limitations under the Convention Against Torture, which prohibited signatories like the U.S. from sending people to a country where they were likely to be tortured. Abbas didn’t know this, of course.

“The number one thing that is relevant is whether Abbas has been tortured before, and the judge never asks,” Ugarte told me. “It just never comes up — that’s what happens when people aren’t represented. They don’t have a real chance, a meaningful opportunity to present their case.”

The judge ordered Abbas deported. The deportation was stayed, however, because Iraq was once again a war zone. Abbas was released and returned to the Tenderloin, but his final deportation order still hung over his head, ready to be enforced the moment Iraq began accepting deportees.

* * *

In immigration court, unlike criminal court, the government does not provide individuals with attorneys. There are those, like Jack Weil, who argue attorneys aren’t necessary. Weil is a longtime immigration court judge who now supervises other judges. In 2015, he claimed that immigration law was simple enough for preschoolers to understand. And yet, here, for example, is a section of an oral decision by judge Gregory L. Simmons, delivered at the end of an asylum hearing I observed:

On protected grounds, with regards to the PSG I am relying on the original BIA decision for that PSG nexus analysis, and my cite there is—I’m not talking about the Attorney General’s opinion in L-E-A-, I’m talking about the original L-E-A- BIA decisions, 27 I&N, December 40, BIA 2017, at page 45. This is the original BIA decision overruled with regards to cognizability but not to nexus. Court still finds the nexus analysis technically persuasive after the AG’s opinion in L-E-A- 2.

If that means something to you, you’re probably an immigration attorney. The hearing was for Cristina, a mother of three who had fled gangs in San Pedro Sula, one of the most violent cities in Honduras. She testified that her partner, David, who drove passengers in a minibus, had stopped paying members of MS-13 after they doubled their extortion fees. Days later, the gang spotted his minibus in front of Cristina’s mother’s house, where the family had gathered to celebrate the birthday of the couple’s 2-year-old son. David fled in the vehicle as they opened fire; he escaped, but the gang members killed one of their own in the crossfire. Enraged, two MS-13 members showed up at the door, heavily armed and demanding to know Cristina’s whereabouts. Cristina’s mother convinced the men that her daughter wasn’t home, and they fled that evening, reuniting with David and departing for the U.S. Cristina, who had since separated from David, now lived in Santa Rosa, where a community of activists had stepped in to help her find housing and an attorney, Richard Coshnear, who runs a nonprofit in Santa Rosa called VIDAS.

As Simmons read his decision, the faces of Cristina’s informal support group, almost all elderly women, remained tense as they struggled to decipher his words. Finally, he concluded, “I intend to grant the asylum application.” I looked over at Julie Wall, one of the supporters, a retired Teamsters president who had earlier regaled me with stories about her brushes with Hunter S. Thompson. Tears streamed down her face. She stepped outside to find Cristina’s daughter, Angela, in the waiting room. The 9-year-old had been at the scene of the shooting, and had testified in court about the armed men who demanded to know the whereabouts of her mother.

“We won!” Wall shouted, hugging the girl and dancing in the hallway. “You were our super weapon!” The waiting room broke into applause. Several people, unaffiliated with the group, wiped away tears.

Trump’s Attorneys General have limited asylum protections for people who are persecuted based on their family ties, just as they have made it more difficult for people fleeing domestic and gang violence. This doesn’t mean that such individuals can’t win. But it does mean that a person must weave together a complicated argument (nexus, cognizability, PSG, or “particular social group”) that to a layperson, much less a person fleeing for their life, is incomprehensible to the point of meaningless. Cristina was fortunate that she had an experienced lawyer who could make meaning of it.

She likens immigration law to sedimentary rock, in which layers are added with time.

The majority of immigrants seeking asylum in San Francisco are able to find attorneys. Even as the number of cases has grown, the percentage of people appearing at their final asylum hearing without a lawyer has dropped — from 8.8 percent in 2016 to 6.5 percent in 2019, according to TRAC Immigration. (In comparison, last year more than half of all asylum seekers in the Jena court, in rural Louisiana, did not have an attorney at their final hearing; of these, 96 percent were denied.) But finding a lawyer outside the Bay Area is still a challenge. Ana Alicia Huerta, an attorney with the United Farm Workers Foundation, told me that her organization is the only nonprofit that provides deportation defense in Kern County, a vast stretch of land with just over 900,000 residents — the same population as San Francisco — and where one in five residents are immigrants. In neighboring Tulare County, population 466,000, there are only three immigration attorneys.

One morning I noticed a woman seated alone in the corner. Felicia, a 32-year-old with an intense stare, had traveled from her home in Orland, a small town 150 miles north of San Francisco. In 2018, she had fled the region of Tierra Caliente, in the Mexican state of Michoacán, where rival cartels were battling for control. The State Department had issued a Level 4 advisory against travel to Michoacán, the same category given to countries like Syria and Afghanistan; last October, 14 police officers in Tierra Caliente were ambushed and killed. Felicia flipped through photos she had brought to show the judge. In one, a man was crumpled in the driver’s seat of a car, his body riddled with bullets. In another, the body of her friend was splayed on a concrete courtyard, his severed head rested several feet away.

Felicia entered the courtroom alone and returned 45 minutes later, her asylum denied. She was fuzzy about what had actually happened inside. The judge was not in the room, but appeared via video from a courtroom in Los Angeles, a controversial practice that had been introduced in San Francisco in 2019. The Los Angeles judge, Nathan Aina, quickly gained a reputation among San Francisco lawyers for rejecting almost all asylum claims, earning the nickname the “quiet assassin.” The combination of nerves and confusion over the video proceeding made it hard for Felicia to recall exactly why he had denied her case. There was only one thing she was certain of, she told me. “I cannot take my kids back to Mexico.”

* * *

The undisputed elder of San Francisco’s court is Dana Leigh Marks, who presides over room 12 on the ninth floor, usually in the company of her service dog, a boxer mix named Joker. Marks, who has curly white hair and sharp blue eyes, began as an immigration attorney in the late 1970s, when she often represented Central Americans who were fleeing violent governments backed by the Reagan administration. In 1986, she argued one of her cases, INS v. Cardoza-Fonseca, in front of the Supreme Court. At issue was the burden of proof asylum seekers had to meet. The government argued that their risk of persecution, if returned, needed to be greater than 50 percent. Marks pushed for a less restrictive standard, citing the language of the U.S. Refugee Act of 1980, which affords asylum protection to individuals with a “well founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.”

Marks became a judge in January 1987, two months before the court issued its landmark asylum decision. They sided with Marks, finding that an asylum seeker needed only to show that “persecution is a reasonable possibility.” In his oral decision, Justice John Paul Stevens suggested an asylum seeker with a 10 percent chance of persecution could be eligible for relief — a standard that remains in effect today.

I met Marks during her lunch break, after she had heard the case of a middle-aged man from Mexico. Atop her desk was a towering stack of blue files secured with a rubber band. Before we began, she emphasized that she was speaking in her capacity as the president emerita of the judges’ union, called the National Association of Immigration Judges. Union leaders are the only judges allowed to speak to the public. When they do, they tend to be highly critical of the Trump administration, which is likely one reason the administration is currently trying to dismantle the union. (The week before we met, Marks had been in Washington, D.C. to defend the union during a hearing.)

The court, especially under Trump, is a battlefield on which the rules are constantly shifting.

Many of her complaints are the same ones I’d heard from lawyers: The drive for speed is not compatible with a fair court. She swiveled her monitor and invited me to approach the bench. On the screen was her current performance evaluation, updated in real time, based on two goals and six benchmarks set by the government. All but one had to do with speed. The benchmarks were illustrated by graphics that resembled a car’s speedometer. “If you’re in the red, you’re in trouble, and I’m in the red,” she said. Her current ranking is unsatisfactory, because she has failed to finish 95 percent of her cases after the first individual hearing.

“You walked in as I was sending people out because I ran out of time to complete the case,” she said. Her morning workload has doubled, cutting hearing times by half. If she had ruled on the case, despite the issues that still needed to be resolved, she would drive her performance numbers up, but an appeal would have likely followed, creating more work for the court. Now she had to schedule a follow-up hearing in a month’s time. She doesn’t have any openings on her schedule, so she will have to bump another case — of a person who has already been waiting two years — into 2023.

Marks told me that her experience allows her to make quicker decisions than many other immigration judges. She likens immigration law to sedimentary rock, in which layers are added with time. “Every once in a while, you have to excavate through all those layers to figure out what rule applies,” she said. “I think it takes no less than five years to really be a comfortable, competent judge.” She pulled up a seniority list of San Francisco judges. Other than Marks, who has been a judge for 33 years, no other judge in San Francisco has yet reached the five-year mark. Six have less than a year under their belt. Contributing to the problem of judicial inexperience has been a wave of resignations and early retirements — including at least three in San Francisco — by judges who oppose the Trump administration’s changes to the court and asylum law.

“I don’t want to dis’ the new people,” she said. “I think they’re hiring qualified, smart people. But I think they’re being put in an unfair position.” New judges are placed on probation for two years. Every time they log on to the computer, they are reminded that they are being evaluated by how quickly they dispatch cases, and have to respond to the shifting enforcement priorities of the administration. Both the judge’s union and the American Bar Association have called for the creation of an independent immigration court, one that would be insulated from political pressure.

Before Marks excused herself to walk Joker, I asked about the increasingly widespread use of videos to conduct asylum hearings, which had sparked fierce criticism among San Francisco attorneys. “I am very troubled by it,” she said. “So much of the evidence is based on whether or not you believe someone’s testimony. And I do think there’s a human element where it is much easier to be disconnected from the individual. If you’re going to deport somebody, you should be feeling it, up close and personal.”

* * *

Several blocks from the main courthouse is another, smaller court at 630 Sansome Street. Known as “detained court,” hearings are held here for immigrants locked up by ICE, who participate via video from either the Yuba County jail, north of Sacramento, or a detention center in Bakersfield, Mesa Verde, run by the GEO Group, a for-profit company. In San Francisco, as in many courthouses across the country, detained cases are the only ones that have continued to proceed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Many of the immigrants appearing in this court are longtime residents whose criminal convictions, sometimes from decades ago, have triggered deportation proceedings. There is a desperation here, a sense of futility, as men in orange jumpsuits make brief appearances from far away, nervously squinting into a camera as their wives and children watch silently from the benches, dressed in their Sunday best.

Mounting a defense while detained is much more difficult than while free, as the cases move quickly, giving immigrants and their attorneys less time to gather documents and prepare a case. It’s a challenge for lawyers to communicate with their clients when they are detained, and conditions inside can be dangerous. In one detained hearing I attended, an attorney had recently discovered that his client, without warning, had been transferred to Arizona, where he now faced deportation in a different court. In the next case, the judge perfunctorily asked a man, who was being held at the Yuba County jail, how he was doing. “Not very good, because a few days ago gang members beat me up,” he said softly. The judge asked if he wanted to continue, the man replied in the affirmative, and the judge continued without further inquiry. Complaints about medical care are also widespread. NPR recently reported that an internal investigation of the Adelanto detention center in southern California, also run by GEO Group, found that faulty medical care “more likely that not” contributed to detainee deaths, and recommended all “at-risk” individuals — which included anyone over 55 years of age — be immediately transferred. (It doesn’t appear the advice was followed.) During the coronavirus pandemic, inadequate medical care and crowding conditions has also led to outbreaks; last month, a federal judge in San Francisco ordered all detainees at Mesa Verde, in Bakersfield, be tested after court documents revealed officials were intentionally not testing people to keep their numbers low.

We count on member support to bring you thought-provoking essays. Please consider a one-time, or — better yet — a recurring annual or monthly contribution. Every dollar counts!

$50 per year

$5 per month

$100 One-time

Under Trump, the number of immigrants held in detention rose dramatically, to more than 55,000 by last fall, though it has since dropped to about 21,000 due to the coronavirus. This steep pre-COVID-19 increase sparked a backlash in California, where activists recently pressured Contra Costa County, north of Oakland, to stop holding immigrants for ICE. They also pushed for a new law to phase out all private prisons in the state, including those that hold immigrant detainees; that law went into effect on January 1 of this year. Less than two weeks before the deadline, however, ICE signed new contracts worth a combined $6.5 billion for four detention facilities in California, which can be extended for 15 years and could double the number of detained immigrants in the state.

On March 8, 2018, Abbas appeared in front of judge Alison Daw at Sansome Street, hoping to win — at least briefly — his freedom. He had spent the last 10 months at the Contra Costa jail, after being swept up in an ICE raid the previous summer that targeted hundreds of Iraqis with final deportation orders. Trump had campaigned on the promise to ramp up deportations, and he had recently removed Iraq from the travel ban, as long as they promised to begin accepting deportees like Abbas.

When Ugarte visited Abbas at the jail, soon after his arrest, he found a broken and vacant man. Before his arrest, Abbas had grown close to Jeff Adachi, the late San Francisco Public Defender, who had represented him on a drug charge in 2016. At first, Abbas was a bit confused by Adachi’s interest in his personal life. What was so interesting about a guy who always got into trouble? Yet Adachi, known for his fanatical devotion to clients, seemed able to envision a different, brighter future for Abbas. At his urging, Abbas had stopped using drugs and, with a clear head, began to slowly piece his life back together. He had finally moved out of the Tenderloin. He had a new girlfriend, LaDawn, who he had helped extricate from an abusive relationship. He had Adachi in his corner.

And then, just like that, he was back in trouble again.

“Get me out of here,” Abbas pleaded with Ugarte. “Just get me on a plane and I’ll go home.” Ugarte was taken aback. “I can still hear his voice,” he told me. “He was so desperate. It was a suicide wish, really.”

Ugarte told Abbas to hold on, that it was too early to give up. The ACLU of Michigan, where many of the arrested Iraqis lived, had filed a federal lawsuit to halt the imminent deportations. Soon after, a federal judge granted a temporary injunction against the deporations. This gave Ugarte the ability to file for a bond hearing, in which he could argue for Abbas to be released, as well as an opportunity to reopen the original case.

Abbas’ first victory was at the bond hearing. To determine whether a person can be released as their case proceeds, judges are supposed to consider whether they pose a public danger or flight risk. Under Trump, the rate of bond denials has increased, but the judge agreed to release Abbas on two conditions: that he report directly to a residential treatment house, and never step foot in the Tenderloin again (he was outfitted with an ankle monitor). He spent two months at the Walden House, in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood, where he was diagnosed with PTSD and received the first mental health and substance abuse counseling of his life.

The second victory came when the Board of Immigration Appeals ruled in favor of Abbas. This sent his case back to immigration court, to be heard by a new judge. Which is where I met Abbas, knee bouncing wildly in the waiting room, as he prepared for his final hearing to begin.

A few minutes before 1 o’clock, Abbas walked down the hallway and entered Courtroom 3, accompanied by LaDawn. Inside, he took the witness stand and was sworn in by Judge Elizabeth Young, considered a veteran even though she was only appointed in 2016 during the Obama administration. Handling the initial questioning was Ugarte’s colleague, Nuha Abusamra, an Arabic speaker who had worked closely with Abbas to prepare for the hearing. Opposite her was the attorney for ICE, who informed Ugarte she would not appeal Young’s decision if she ruled in favor of Abbas — another good sign.

For 20 minutes, Abbas answered Abusamra’s questions, detailing his torture in a quiet but steady voice through an Iraqi interpreter flown in from Denver. When he described finding the corpses of his family members after the missile strike, his voice finally cracked. Young stepped in. Earlier, she had said that she didn’t believe Abbas needed to recount every traumatic experience, but to focus on his past torture and why he feared returning. “Let’s try not to make it overly emotional for the respondent,” she said now. “I don’t want a long drawn-out trial where he’s weeping the entire time.”

This turn of events seemed to catch Abusamra and Ugarte a bit off guard, as they had prepared Abbas for a long, detailed, and wrenching experience on the stand. Instead, Abusamra moved on to the reasons Abbas feared returning to Iraq, and then turned it over to the government attorney. She only had a few questions, mostly to confirm that Abbas had no living relatives in Iraq. Abbas stepped down from the stand and took his seat between Ugarte and Abusamra. Ugarte closed with a final sentence. “It’s a miracle Abbas is alive today.”

Young looked down at her desk, shuffled through papers, and looked up at Abbas. “I am granting you deferral of removal under the Convention Against Torture,” she said. Next to me, LaDawn, who had been noticeably shaking throughout, began to weep. Ugarte embraced Abbas, who was now crying as well. Young had remained judgelike throughout, stoic and difficult to read. Now she let a smile escape. “Congratulations,” she said, “and I wish you the best of luck.”

Afterward, the group, which included two volunteer observers who had come to support Abbas, gathered in a small room to debrief. Abbas appeared dazed. “I’m done with court?” he asked. It was true, Ugarte confirmed. He could now get his ankle monitor removed. He could get a work permit. He and LaDawn lived in a noisy hotel in the Mission district, where they paid $1600 a month to share a bathroom that was often littered with the used needles of other residents. They could move out of San Francisco, to someplace quieter and cheaper. For some reason, the image of a life on a farm in Louisiana had lodged in Abbas’ head.

Later that day, I talked to Ugarte over the phone. The fight to protect Abbas had lasted more than two years, and he was ebullient. “Today is one of those days when you believe in the system,” he said. But it, of course, was not so simple. Abbas would not be deported due to a long string of fortunate breaks: Abbas had met Jeff Adachi; Adachi had sent Ugarte to visit Abbas in detention; the ACLU had filed a lawsuit to temporarily halt the deportations of Iraqis; a judge had granted the injunction; Ugarte’s subsequent appeal had been successful; another judge had allowed Abbas to be released; the ICE attorney hadn’t been hostile; Judge Young was sympathetic. It was certainly miraculous that Abbas was not going to be deported. Which was another way of saying that the system is broken beyond repair.

Gabriel Thompson is a journalist in Oakland and mostly writes about immigration, labor, and organizing.

Editors: Katie Kosma, Cheri Lucas Rowlands Fact-checker: Julie Schwietert Collazo

#IFTTT #Blogger

0 notes