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Issue #53 — June 28, 2019 

U.S. (Im)migration News


That inescapable image: The photo of Óscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez, 25, and his young daughter, Valeria, lying face down in the Rio Grande after a doomed attempt to reach the U.S. spread like wildfire this week, instantly becoming a powerful symbol of the Trump administration’s deterrence policies. It also ignited a debate over whether news organizations should have published it. After all, it’s a horrific image, one that — while newsworthy — raised questions on whether Western media would have treated the bodies of white people the same way.

The Trump administration’s “metering” policy has dramatically reduced the number of migrants permitted to request asylum at ports of entry, and waits to request asylum are increasingly longer. A Mexican government official confirmed that this family from El Salvador had gone to the U.S. Consulate in Matamoros, Mexico, on Sunday in an attempt to request asylum after waiting for over two months in a shelter in Mexico near the border with Guatemala. It’s not clear what happened to the family at the U.S. Consulate, but later in the day they attempted to cross the river (Warning: graphic image via Associated Press). Their deaths are not isolated. Border deaths have risen since the 1990s, when the U.S. implemented deterrence policies that forced people to more remote and dangerous crossing points (CNN). 

The photo was published widely, including on the front page of The New York Times. Some questioned whether such an image was necessary. “If you haven’t been moved by now by the many reports of abuses, injustices, in-custody deaths, and bodies that have turned up in the borderlands, then you cannot be moved,” wrote immigration reporter Tina Vasquez (The New York Review of Books). 

What we’re watching:
 
Census citizenship question blocked — for now: The Supreme Court on Thursday blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to include a citizenship question on the 2020 Census, calling the government’s reasoning “contrived.” In tweets afterward, Trump said he is seeking to delay the census “no matter how long” until his administration can come up with a better explanation for why the question should be included (NPR). Related: With or without a citizenship question, the political climate has made immigrant communities wary of opening their doors for census workers (The New York Times).
 
“Safe and sanitary” conditions for migrant children: Last week, the Trump administration argued in court that children do not require basic hygiene products such as soap and toothbrushes in order to meet "safe and sanitary" conditions (Newsweek). And last Friday, the Associated Press reported that children in a migrant detention center in Clint, Texas, were held with inadequate access to food, water and sanitation. Children as young as eight were taking care of four-year olds, and unable to shower. The reports came from a group of lawyers who interviewed 60 children at the Clint facility near El Paso (Associated Press). As Customs and Border Protection struggles to cope with record levels of families and children crossing the border, Department of Homeland Security inspectors visited several border facilities in the Rio Grande Valley earlier this month. Their draft report recommended that DHS take immediate steps to alleviate dangerous overcrowding and prolonged detention of children (BuzzFeed News). Related: People want to donate diapers and toys to children at border facilities. They’re being turned away (Texas Tribune).

DHS shakeup continues: Trump has purged most top Department of Homeland Security officials since April, leaving most immigration-related agencies with interim leaders. In the latest shakeup, Trump installed Mark Morgan as acting commissioner of Customs and Border Protection. He is replacing John Sanders and has worked his way into Trump’s good graces through appearances on Fox News, during which he praised the president (Washington Post).

What we're reading:
  • The Washington Post: U.S. asylum officers say Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy is threatening migrants’ lives, ask federal court to end it. 
  • Vox: The furious, last-minute fight over the House and Senate border aid bills, explained.
  • Houston Chronicle: Trump administration still separating hundreds of migrant children at the border through often questionable claims of danger.
  • The New Yorker: ICE agents are losing patience with Trump’s chaotic immigration policy. 
  • NPR: Trump wants to withdraw “parole in place” deportation protections for families of active troops.
  • Vox: Why Julián Castro started a Democratic debate fight over repealing “Section 1325” on illegal entry.
  • CNN: The short life and long journey of the 6-year-old girl from India who died near the U.S.-Mexico border.
  • Slate: What you need to know about the crisis at the border — and how you can help.
  • TRAC reports (data): ICE shifts focus away from dangerous criminals to those who have never been convicted of even minor violations.
  • UC Berkeley (study): Deportation worries fuel anxiety, poor sleep among U.S.-born Latinx youth.
  • The Guardian: Why migrants who speak indigenous languages slip through the cracks in U.S. schools.
  • The New Yorker: A victim of terrorism faces deportation for helping terrorists under the United States’ expanding definition of the anti-terror provision.
  • Los Angeles Times: The Supreme Court agreed Friday to decide whether President Trump may end Obama-era protections for the young immigrants known as Dreamers.
The Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo gave an emotional acceptance speech when named NBA MVP on Monday.  The so-called Greek Freak was born in Athens to Nigerian migrants, and tearfully thanked his parents, brothers, and fans for their support.
Longreads & Listens:
  • The New Yorker: How families at the border could make the U.S. government pay hundreds of millions of dollars in legal damages.
  • ProPublica Illinois: “You’re destroying families:” How Illinois’ child welfare agency fails to adequately serve Spanish-speaking families with children in its care.
  • Pacific Standard: “Irredeemably dysfunctional and on the brink of collapse:” Chicago’s immigration court reveals the failings of the nation’s asylum system.
  • WBEZ (listen): Deported U.S. veterans feel abandoned by the country they defended.
  • WNYC (listen): The Trump administration’s plan to deport victims of human trafficking.
  • The Guardian: The story of how one refugee in the UK became stuck in indefinite detention.

Around the World

Migrant rescue ship defies Salvini: The Sea-Watch 3, a migrant rescue ship on the Mediterranean Sea, entered Italian waters Thursday carrying 42 migrants, against the orders of the Italian government (Deutsche Welle). It’s the latest chapter in a monthslong effort by Italian interior minister Matteo Salvni to block migrants through whatever means necessary. The ship rescued them off the coast of Libya more than two weeks ago. Eleven people in need of medical attention were allowed to disembark in Italy, but the government has denied the ship’s crew permission to land with the rest. The Libyan port authority invited Sea-Watch 3 to take the migrants back to Tripoli, but the captain refused. The IOM says Libya is not safe for migrants and has appealed for “urgent” disembarkation of the migrants in Italy (ReliefWeb). Sea Watch has asked the European Court of Human Rights to order Italy to allow the migrants to disembark (ANSA). In the meantime, the ship’s captain says she is prepared to go to jail and brought the vessel into Italian waters on Wednesday (The Local).

Related: A court in Rome is considering whether to pursue charges against Italian officials over a 2013 shipwreck near Lampedusa in which at least 268 migrants died, for which nobody has ever been held responsible (Al Jazeera).

What we’re reading:

Americas:

  • PRI’s The World: Facing U.S. pressure to reduce migration, Mexico cracks down on migrant activists and shelters.
  • Al Jazeera: Colombian refugees in Ecuador are staging a weeks-long protest against UNHCR, saying the agency is failing to protect them.
  • Al Jazeera: Colombia is deporting undocumented Venezuelans entering through Cucuta.
  • The Wall Street Journal: Guatemala and the U.S. Discuss a controversial safe-third-country treaty which would require asylum seekers from Honduras, El Salvador to make their claims there.
Middle East & North Africa:
  • The New Humanitarian: Smugglers report booming market as people try to escape Syria to Turkey. 
  • The Guardian: More than 30 Bangladeshi migrants who were stranded at sea off Tunisia for three weeks have now been forced to return to Bangladesh, aid groups say. 
  • National Geographic: Fleeing Syria, these child refugees become child laborers in Turkey.

Europe:

  • The Guardian: How the Italian mafia makes millions by exploiting migrants.
  • The Independent: The UK will expand its resettlement program, settling 5,000 refugees in 2020 and more if they are sponsored by private citizens.
  • The Guardian: Evictions of refugees from camps in northern France are at record levels as officials try to stop flows into the UK.
  • CNN: A German man with a history of anti-migrant violence confessed to killing a pro-immigration politician earlier this month. Two others have been arrested.
Sub-Saharan Africa:
  • Al Jazeera: Uganda strains as thousands flee violence in the east of DR Congo. 
  • NPR: African migrants are becoming a new face of the US border crisis, as many fly to South America to escape violence and then travel over land to the southern border.
  • National Geographic: Refugees in Uganda risk a war zone to bury their dead at home in South Sudan.
Asia-Pacific:  
  • AFP: International Criminal Court prosecutor seeks full probe into Myanmar crimes against Rohingya. 
  • Daily Mirror: Sri Lankan refugees who have spent most of their lives in India are seeking citizenship to avoid having to return to Sri Lanka.
  • The Guardian: An asylum seeker who set himself on fire on Manus Island, where he is being held by the Australian government, is facing criminal charges for attempting suicide.
  • Al Jazeera: The stress of possible return stalks refugees from Myanmar in camps along the Thai border.
Miscellaneous Things We Love
  • Los Angeles Times: Sikh drivers are transforming U.S. trucking. Take a ride along the Punjabi American highway.

  • Bloomberg: Amsterdam’s hire-a-refugee program takes on a tight labor market.

  • WBUR (listen): U.S. law schools see ‘Trump effect’ with more students studying immigration law.

  • The New York Times: Maine needed new, young residents. African migrants began arriving by the dozens.

  • Al Jazeera: Must-watch documentaries about refugees and asylum seekers.

  • Longreads: Migrant children, many of whom are unaccompanied minors, are traveling to the U.S. border to escape violence and seek asylum. These are some of their stories.

Welcome to our biweekly newsletter on global migration policy, with a U.S. focus. 

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Tania Karas is a reporter and editor for PRI The World's immigration desk. She has reported from Greece, Turkey and Lebanon and was previously a staff reporter for the New York Law Journal. Find her on Twitter at @TaniaKaras.

Lolita Brayman is a U.S.-based immigration attorney focusing on refugee and asylum issues and a staff attorney with the Defending Vulnerable Populations Project with CLINIC. Find her on Twitter at @lolzlita.


Moira Lavelle is a freelance reporter focusing on gender, migration, and borders. She has written for Broadly, Rewire, and PRI. Find her on Twitter @alohamoira.

Fergus Peace is a researcher and journalist writing about refugees and migration. He's recently written for the Financial Times and Apolitical, and tweets at @FergusPeace.


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