Dear Friends, 

     Yesterday the Supreme Court made a decision to deny people the right to seek asylum on our Southern Border (there are complicated exceptions to this including being from Mexico). It isn't a final decision.The Trump administration wants to completely ban asylum and the courts are trying to decide if that is legal and constitutional. SCOTUS decided that in the interim, they will uphold the ban. To put it a different way, while figuring out if it is legal to categorically deny asylum protection to persecuted people, the Supreme Court, rather than err on the side of protecting them, has decided to put hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people in an objectively dangerous situation where they will die.
      Our country's commitment to asylum was born out of the holocaust and the great failure of nations to deliver jews from genocide. We created a legal obligation to catch us when our moral duty failed. Now, as our sense of moral responsibility has all but collapsed on the Southern Border, the Supreme Court has eroded that legal obligation and given us the constitutional cover we need to turn hundreds of thousands of people back to slaughter.
     What does restoring our moral obligation to asylum seekers looks like now that the legal duty is no longer there? Perhaps it is a gift that now we don't have to leave it only to judges and law enforcement to make sure those protections are in place. Maybe, in one sense, there is an opportunity, power here. Perhaps now that the duty to protect rests on the hearts of everyone, we can figure out what we, the people, need to do to make sure our neighbors are not left alone to be brutally killed. Our hearts are stronger than racist, facist, oppressive laws. We know this. I am reflecting on what we will be able to do when we accept this immense and positive power. 

Below you will find news both good and bad, events, ways to get involved with SFDP, and more. Thank you for your support. Stick with us and we will stick with you. We are in this together. 

Best,

Allegra Love
Executive Director.
 

• We may as well kick off our newsletter with great joy. We started our naturalization program a little over a year ago under the leadership of Ms. Kerry Sherck and we have been steadily helping people become citizens. This coming week at the naturalization oath ceremony in Santa Fe, 8 of our clients are going to swear their oaths and become US citizens. We are so proud to welcome them and to have been a part of their journey. 
• We are also thrilled to announce that our weekly asylum clinic, SAFE Place, finally launched last Friday after a summers worth of scheming and planning. Held every Friday at the United Way, SAFE Place is a legal clinic for families who recently arrived in the US seeking political asylum and are being called to appear in the dreadful El Paso Immigration Court. We have received support from the Santa Fe Community Foundation and 100 Women Who Care to get it started. Our first day brought 30 people (8 kids) to the clinic. We had five trained volunteers from the community. Overall it was an amazing launch and we are excited to see where it goes and what we can accomplish with these families and the supportive Santa Fe Community. Thanks to Nick Valenzuela and Lynne Canning who are leading the charge!
• As usual, vox.com does a very solid job of explaining yesterdays SCOTUS decision. Not to mention an analysis of the immigration questions we have not had answered in the Democratic debates after endless platitudes by candidates. 
• We were also super excited to see SFDP featured in Teen Vogue highlighting our work with LGBTQ asylum seekers. For those who don't know, Teen Vogue is not simply a fashion magazine for girls but has gained a reputation for being a publication that empowers young people to change the world. We felt cool. 
• Prepare yourself for this read. Our friends at the American Immigration Council made a report of first hand accounts of medical negligence of children in Border Patrol custody. Reading this is a chilling, disgusting experience that sheds light on how so many children have died in US custody this year.
• Bravo to New Mexico! After last month when the  Department of Workforce Solutions denied ICE access to worker information in our state, CYFD followed suit and denied the license application of a for profit company wanting to set up a shelter for detained immigrant youth in Albuquerque. Surely thanks to the excellent organizing from within the immigrant community and beyond, NM continues to show that we do not have to thow our immigrant neighbors under the bus due to governmental and corporate pressure. 
• We are hiring an attorney to join Team Defense and help us get our trans clients out of prison and move on to beautiful futures in the US. If you, or anyone you know, are interested in this position you can find more information here. 
• We recently, along with a nationwide team of advocates, helped present 12 transgender women at the El Paso Port of Entry. It was dramatic because Juarez is a very deadly place for trans women and our clients were ready to move and we were fearful that they would spend a long time in border patrol custody. Fortunately, people from all over the country called into the Port-of-Entry and Border Patrol quickly transfered all 12 women to ICE custody and they were transferred to Cibola County. Now, Cibola is a terrible place to be detained but these women were organized and ready to present their parole applications and hopefully, with the help of SFDP's Team Defense, will be liberated soon and on their way to a bright future. 
• For those of you who have been wondering what is going on with DACA and the courts. Here is a piece that summarizes what is at stake in the coming term when SCOTUS takes on the DACA issue. 
• Our work in El Paso and our new project, EPIC continues to grow. We are currently hosting our third week of on the ground volunteers. Our volunteers go to detention centers in NM and TX and visit with detainees to gather information and documents so that we can place their cases with remote pro-bono attorneys. We are meeting many friends and interesting colleagues in EL Paso and are excited to host volunteers who are willing to come down for a week. Check out the very beginning of our EPIC website for more information: https://elpasojuntos.org/
• We are overjoyed to welcome two new staffers to our team: Ms Grace Laria just graduated from Georgetown University and is part of the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. She will be working as a legal assistant for our community programs and supporting  the work happening at the apartment in ABQ where our trans clients stay when they are released from jail. Ali Boyd joins us in El Paso having just graduated from American University Law School and sat for DC bar exam. She is helping us launch our EPIC program as the volunteer coordinator. We are extremely lucky to have these women on our team and grateful for the work they are doing on behalf of our clients. 
• This Saturday 9/14, in Santa Fe there are free health screenings from the Villa Therese Catholic Clinic at our office from 9-12 (1213 Mercantile Rd). There will be general checkups, diabetes checks, blood pressure checks, dental screenings, vision screenings, and other medical education.