SUMMARY
Family Reunification Deadline Looms
A federal court in California will decide today whether to extend the Tuesday deadline for reuniting children under the age of 5 with their parents after administration policies separated them at the border.
The U.S. Department of Justice requested an extension Friday.
On June 26, a federal court initially ordered the government to reunite children under 5 with their parents within two weeks, and all other separated children under the age of 18 — a total of about 3,000 — within 30 days. The Justice Department has argued that it does not have the resources to reunite the roughly 100 separated children under 5 by tomorrow’s initial deadline.
While the administration claims the extension is necessary to properly vet parents and ensure children are released into safe environments, widespread concern remains over the absence of a specific plan and lack of progress in reuniting families. How children in detention centers as far away from the Southern border as Michigan and Maryland will be reunited with their parents remains unclear.
President Trump issued an executive order last month asserting that his policies would “maintain family unity,” but the order itself suggests that the Trump administration wants to increase family incarceration, which could last for months or more. Last month, more than 50 law enforcement leaders signed a letter urging congressional leadership to consider alternatives to family detention, which have proved to be effective, more humane and more cost-effective.
Military Abruptly Discharging Immigrant Recruits
The Associated Press reported last week that immigrant recruits and reservists who enlisted with the promise of a path to citizenship through the Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest (MAVNI) program are being discharged from the military, often without a clear explanation.
MAVNI, which was created during the George W. Bush administration and implemented in 2009, was initially suspended last year, although the Department of Defense continued to process existing MAVNI recruits. Some of these recruits are now being discharged, even as the Army has been unable to meet its 2018 recruiting goals.
Military experts and other leaders have criticized the decision, pointing out that immigrant recruits, including MAVNI program participants, enhance our military readiness and possess language and other skills vital to national security.
LEGISLATIVE BULLETIN
Summary of immigration legislation introduced and government reports on immigration: https://immigrationforum.org/article/legislative-bulletin-friday-july-6-2018/
MUST READS:
NEW YORK TIMES (Olivares Op-Ed): A Day in the Life of an Attorney at the Border
By By Efrén Olivares
July 5, 2018
In the Italian film “Life Is Beautiful,” a Jewish bookstore owner uses creative stunts to distract his child from the horrible reality of being held in a Nazi concentration camp. I was reminded of that movie recently as I found myself part of an eerily similar heartbreaking moment.
As lawyers with the Texas Civil Rights Project, my team has been working around the clock to document hundreds of cases of children taken from their parents since the Trump administration started its “zero tolerance” immigration policy. Under that policy, the government charges every immigrant apprehended at the border with illegal entry, a misdemeanor offense — regardless of whether they’re fleeing violence and seeking asylum, or traveling with children.
Before zero tolerance, immigration and Department of Justice officials exercised their discretion on whether to press criminal charges against some immigrants and asylum seekers, particularly those traveling with children and those with special circumstances. Read more
NATIONAL REVIEW (Salam Column): Advancing a Restrictionist Immigration Agenda in the Age of Trump
By Reihan Salam
July 8, 2018
Donald Trump has made immigration restriction his signature issue. So far, the net effect of his immigration rhetoric has been to make the restrictionist cause markedly less popular. I warned that this would happen on several occasions in 2015 and 2016, but even I’m struck by the extent to which public opinion has shifted, as evidenced by a recent report from the Pew Research Center: The number of Americans who want immigration levels increased now surpasses the number who want to see them decreased.
It is hardly surprising that Democrats would turn against a very visible stance taken by a polarizing Republican president. Partisanship is a powerful force, and as Trump deemphasizes other conservative causes, such as entitlement reform and spending restraint, and as he devotes more time and attention to a highly controversial border-enforcement strategy, immigration has emerged as one of the chief dividing lines between the parties. Read more
NEW YORK TIMES (Isaacs and Preston Op-Ed): Deporting the American Dream
By Anita Isaacs and Anne Preston
July 9, 2018
Mexico City — To hear the Trump administration talk about the immigrants it has deported back to Mexico, you would think they were all criminals and potential drains on the nation’s economy and welfare system, with no interest in participating in what used to be called the American dream.
In fact, none of that is true. We know, because the two of us talked to hundreds of them.
Over the last few weeks we were in Mexico, beginning an oral history project documenting the migrant experience. Over the course of three weeks our team surveyed and interviewed more than 200 returning Mexican migrants, the vast majority of them deportees. Some were caught in roadblocks. Others were pulled over for running a stop light or for speeding. They were detained in American county jails and immigration detention centers before being sent to Mexico. Many had lived in the United States almost their entire lives. Read more
HOUSTON CHRONICLE (Grieder Column): Republicans and Democrats should have serious debate about the border we need
By Erica Grieder
July 5, 2018
In recent weeks, Texas Democrats have been grappling with the question of what to do with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency tasked with enforcing America’s immigration laws.
The issue has arisen because ICE has, as of late, been enforcing Donald Trump’s controversial policies in addition to our extant laws. And some, on the national left, have argued that the agency should be abolished outright.
Most Texas Democrats have been reluctant to take such a stark position. Most have argued that ICE should be reformed; some have argued that ICE should be disbanded and replaced with something else.
But the mainstream consensus, at least among Texas Democrats, is along the lines recently laid out by U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke.
“I understand the urgency of this,” said O’Rourke, this year’s Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, at a Friday town hall in San Antonio. Read more