SUMMARY
Hundreds of Families Remain Separated
Close to 600 children remain separated from their parents as a result of the Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance” policy, more than a week after the initial deadline Judge Dana Sabraw set for the government to reunite all families.
After the administration attempted to shift the responsibility for reuniting families to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other nonprofits, Sabraw called the plan “unacceptable” and ordered the government to name a point person in the administration to coordinate the reunification of children with the more than 400 parents whom the government already been deported, leaving their children behind.
Although Sabraw chastised the government’s attempt to shift the burden of reunification to nonprofits, he has asked the Justice Department to share information with the ACLU and others involved in the case on a rolling basis to speed up the reunification process. The government must provide the ACLU with all information by Friday.
Legal Battle over DACA Continues
A federal judge ruled on Friday that the Trump administration must fully resume Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), upholding an initial order to restore the program. While previous court rulings required the Trump administration to continue renewing existing applications, Friday’s decision requires the government to begin accepting new applications again.
The catch: D.C. District Judge John Bates agreed to a 20-day delay of implementation of his decision to give the administration time to respond and potentially appeal the ruling. But Bates concluded the Trump administration has failed to adequately justify ending the program, the product of a 2012 administrative action by then-Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, which 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.
On Wednesday, a district judge in Texas will hear arguments over another DACA-related case — the Texas-led, seven-state lawsuit to halt the program. Federal District Judge Andrew Hanen could issue a decision on the case any time after the hearing, potentially setting up conflicting rulings that would lead to a Supreme Court ruling in the fall.
As litigation continues to wind through the courts without a permanent legislative solution from Congress, hundreds of thousands of Dreamers remain in limbo. Ending the DACA program without passing a permanent solution would seriously damage U.S. economic interests, possibly costing the Texas economy alone $6 billion a year.
LEGISLATIVE BULLETIN
Summary of immigration legislation introduced and government reports on immigration: https://immigrationforum.org/article/legislative-bulletin-thursday-august-2-2018/
MUST READS:
CNN.COM (Noorani Op-Ed): Why adding a citizenship question on the census will hurt red states
By Ali Noorani
Aug. 4, 2018
Is adding a citizenship question to the 2020 US census a benign way to help the government obtain more robust data about a changing country, or is it discriminatory? The debate is picking up steam. Last month, a federal judge gave a green light to a lawsuit trying to block the question, on the grounds that it was intended to discriminate against immigrants. Looking at President Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric and the sequence of events leading up to the question’s insertion, the judge wrote that the claims of intentional discrimination by the administration went from “conceivable to plausible.”
While Trump may not want to count immigrants in the 2020 census, his political base depends on them being counted. Read more
USA TODAY (Jones Op-Ed): It’s time for America to stop thanking our veterans for serving then deporting their wives
By Jim Jones
Aug. 3, 2018
Sgt. Cuauhtemoc “Temo” Juarez served on three continents as a member of the U.S. Marine Corps from 1995 to 1999. After that, he joined the Florida National Guard and served a deployment in Iraq.
All of us should certainly thank him for his service to his country. Unfortunately, our outdated immigration laws and policies are about to split his all-American family apart.
Temo got married in 2000. He and his wife of 18 years, Alejandra, have two daughters, 8-year-old Estela and 16-year-old Pamela, both of whom are United States citizens. Alejandra is scheduled to be deported to Mexico on Friday, because she crossed unlawfully into the U.S. twice about 20 years ago. Her record is clean since that time and she is a respected member of her community in the Florida panhandle. Her church community at the Church of Agape Love is heartbroken for her and her family. Read more
WALL STREET JOURNAL: Trump Considers Slashing Number of Refugees Allowed to Resettle in U.S.
By Vivian Salama
Aug. 1, 2018
WASHINGTON—The Trump administration is considering slashing the number of refugees it allows to come to the U.S. next year by as much as 44% as it looks to tighten its immigration crackdown, a senior administration official said.
The plan under discussion seeks to cap the number of refugees granted resettlement in the U.S. in 2019 to 25,000 people, the official said. President Trump has already reduced the number of refugees allowed in since taking office. This year the limit is 45,000, low by historical standards.
A National Security Council meeting to discuss the proposed plan is scheduled for this week, the official said. If the plan is implemented, the number of refugees granted admission into the U.S. would be at its lowest level in about four decades. Read more
CHRISTIANITY TODAY (Thomas Op-Ed): My Foster Daughter Was Separated from Her Family at the Border
By Gena Thomas
Aug. 2, 2018
When the mother of my five-year-old foster daughter ran toward her and scooped her up in tears and smiles after an eight-month separation, I knew I was seeing shalom embodied.
Julia had lived in my home since February, one of the more than 3,000 children separated from their parents at the US-Mexico border since last fall. After her sponsor family neglected her, social services took her into custody and within hours, I became her foster mom.
Restoring children to their parents is the goal of foster care, but it’s also what repels many people from fostering in the first place. Why? The potential heartbreak is hard to reckon with. That prospect of loss is what I feared most last summer when my family and I initially embraced the call to foster. Read more