Family detention
Although the news is no longer covering the stories about children being separated from their parents, the fact is that the Trump Administration is continuing to block parents and children from seeking safety in the U.S.
Last week, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced that in August it apprehended 12,774 arriving families. They are coming because of the transnational gang violence and lack of protections in their home countries. They are coming to save their children’s lives. Many of them will seek and, hopefully, win asylum because they qualify under our current laws.
However, the Dept. of Homeland Security is trying to change the rules to allow these families to be detained, jailed long term, while the asylum applications are processed. This is just another part of the invisible wall that the Trump Administration is building.
It is so difficult for a lawyer to represent a client detained in a jail that is hundreds of miles away; where the client has limited access to a telephone to contact the lawyer, and the trials are held by video. It is inhumane to the immigrants and costly to the tax payers who pay for the detention.
Imagine having a deathly sick child, going to the emergency room, only to find out that you and your child will be put in a cell until the life-saving operation is performed a year from the date you sought help. That is the situation that these parents are often facing - desperation to save lives.
Despite all of the efforts of this government to deter asylum seekers, many still come.
We have an obligation under international law to provide applicants to a fair and just legal proceeding. Our government should end family detention altogether, and reform our Immigration Court system, so that it is independent of the Attorney General's office. Having the Courts under the Dept. of Justice means that the “fox is in charge of the chicken coop.” There is little chance of fairness in a system where the Attorney General is the boss of the Immigration Judges, and the AG is telling the judges to deny these cases before even hearing the evidence.
The need for reform could not be more urgent. Please let your congressional offices know that you support positive immigration reform and independent immigration courts.
