SUMMARY
Government Outlines New Plan for Reuniting Families It Separated
With hundreds of children still separated from their families as a result of the government’s “zero-tolerance” policy, the Trump administration has submitted an updated plan for reuniting children with the nearly 400 parents whom the government deported.
U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw — who has overseen the reunification process and imposed multiple deadlines for reuniting families — emphasized that responsibility for the process lies fully with the government, but asked the Justice Department to share information with the American Civil Liberties Union and others involved in the case on a rolling basis to speed up the reunification process. The deadline for all information to be provided was Friday.
Judge Sabraw praised the updated plan, which outlines the methods and system used to locate parents, and applauded the collaborative efforts of the administration and the various nonprofits assisting in the process. According to officials, all but 26 of the 386 parents identified have been contacted.
While the majority of the children initially separated at the border have been reunited with their families, the federal government is returning to an approach focused on family detention, despite less expensive, extremely effective alternatives that allow families to be released into communities while their cases are pending.
Decision Looms in Texas DACA Lawsuit
Today is the deadline for attorneys to submit new briefs to Judge Andrew Hanen in the Texas-led, seven-state lawsuit to halt Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).
Hanen, who is presiding over the case, asked for the new briefs in a hearing Wednesday, during which he asked both sides how DACA compares to his 2015 ruling against an expansion of DACA, which also blocked Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA). DAPA would have protected undocumented parents of U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident children from deportation and provided them authorization to work in the U.S. In 2015, Hanen ruled that DAPA violated the Administrative Procedure Act, which requires federal regulations to undergo formal notice-and-comment rulemaking procedures.
Hanen could issue a ruling any time after receiving the briefs. His decision could conflict with an Aug. 4 ruling by a federal judge in D.C. that, barring a government appeal by Aug. 23, would fully restore DACA and require the government to begin accepting new applications again. Other court orders halted the Trump administration’s revocation of DACA and permitted the renewal of existing applications. The conflicting rulings could lead to a Supreme Court decision in the fall.
DACA, the product of a 2012 administrative action by then-Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, grants individuals who came to the U.S. as children authorization to work and protection from deportation if they meet certain criteria and pass background checks. Ending the program without passing a permanent solution for Dreamers would have serious economic repercussions, potentially reducing U.S. gross domestic product by between $280 billion and $430 billion over the next decade.
LEGISLATIVE BULLETIN
Latest summary of immigration legislation introduced and government reports on immigration: https://immigrationforum.org/article/legislative-bulletin-thursday-august-2-2018/
MUST READS:
WALL STREET JOURNAL: Inside a Texas Detention Facility for Immigrant Families
By Alicia Caldwell
Aug. 10, 2018
DILLEY, Texas—In the past 10 months, more than 25,000 immigrant mothers and their children caught illegally crossing into the U.S. at the border with Mexico have spent their first weeks in the country living in a sprawling compound of trailers, tents and playgrounds.
The children go to school most days and their parents meet with lawyers and immigration advocates who volunteer at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center. Almost everyone will ask for asylum in the U.S., a process that could take several years.
For most, the stay will last no more than 20 days, because of a federal court ruling that bars the government from detaining children with their parents for any longer. Read more
MINNESOTA PUBLIC RADIO: At shuttered St. Paul bakery, immigration audit left bitter taste
By Riham Feshir
Aug. 13, 2018
Tucked in an industrial district outside of downtown St. Paul is a 7,500-square foot warehouse with red floors and high ceilings. For 15 years, ovens, sinks and baking benches lined the walls. The sound of large spiral mixers, handling 300 pounds of dough at a time, would echo throughout the building.
Even seven months after St. Agnes Baking Co. closed, the aroma of butter and flour still permeates the air.
“There is probably enough flour in the walls … it’s probably enough up there to still smell like something,” said Mike Mitchelson, former chief operating officer for the wholesale bakery. “There was a great chemistry with everybody that worked here.”
In January, St. Agnes Baking shut down as a result of an immigration audit that found half its employees were unauthorized to work in the United States. Read more
SARASOTA HERALD-TRIBUNE (Editorial): A tearful goodbye should inspire immigration change
Aug. 12, 2018
Recently at Orlando International Airport, accompanied by tearful family members and a media throng, Alejandra Juarez of Davenport bid an intensely emotional goodbye to her husband and two daughters and boarded a plane for Mexico.
The 39-year-old Juarez was deported to her native country under the Trump administration’s tough stance on immigration. Her husband, Temo, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran of the Iraq war and owner of a home-improvement company, is a naturalized U.S. citizen. Their daughters, Pamela and Estela, are Americans. Yet Alejandra, who first entered America in 1998, was forced from the country five years after a traffic stop exposed her as an illegal immigrant.
The Obama administration had turned a blind eye to her status so long as she checked in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials twice a year. That changed, however, under President Donald Trump’s intensified efforts to police the borders and reduce illegal immigration. Read more