The bipartisan U.S. Commission on Civil Rights released an extensive 200-page report this morning examining how the Trump administration’s asylum, detention and family separation policies are violating basic constitutional and civil rights, Claire Hansen writes for U.S. News and World Report.
The report states that current administration policies “appear to violate constitutional due process rights and basic standards of medical and mental health care, and seemingly target migrants based on demographics including national origin, language status, and gender … These new policies have resulted in the separation of family units, lasting trauma and heartache, and shocking detention conditions for both children and adults.”
Along these lines, CNN’s Blake Ellis and Melanie Hicken report this morning that “For more than a decade, ICE [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] has been taking a small number of immigrant teens it deems to be dangerous far from their families and detaining them for months at a time.” Attorneys and advocates say that this unstructured, secretive system means “it is far harder to make sure every kid actually obtains representation — making a lack of legal access one of their biggest concerns about the practice.”
From Houston, welcome to the “we’re up 2-0!” Thursday edition of Noorani’s Notes.
Have a story you’d like us to include? Email me at [email protected].
CONCERNS OVER CUCCINELLI – Ken Cuccinelli is reportedly Trump’s top pick to lead the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), but the president has expressed concerns about being rebuked by the GOP-controlled Senate, reports NPR’s Franco Ordoñez. Cuccinelli, who is currently acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), has made enemies with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and many Senate Republicans through his work funding primaries against many sitting senators. “Republican Senators are angry about Syria, weary of an impeachment trial and would rather not confirm somebody who is likely to cause more headaches,” said Alex Conant, a former staffer for Sen. Marco Rubio’s 2016 presidential campaign. Reminder: Trump’s own White House personnel office has deemed Cuccinelli ineligible for the job.
“THE SUNLESS WORLD” – An incredible in-depth photo essay from The New York Times explores the lives of the estimated tens of thousands of immigrants living in the basements of Queens, New York: “An open secret, the basements are a haven for thousands of people who work in restaurant kitchens, on delivery bikes, in small factories or on construction sites … The apartments are unquestionably dangerous. But there is also a kind of safety there. Immigrants from all over the world, undocumented and documented, have found sanctuary in Queens among people who share their language, food and culture.”
TAKEN FOR GRANTED – As hundreds of thousands of immigrants become U.S. citizens each year, their growing electoral strength could pose a serious threat to Republicans in 2020 — putting “historically red states” like Texas, Arizona and Georgia in play for Democrats, Matt Pearce writes in the Los Angeles Times. However, “Roughly three-fifths of foreign-born Asian American voters surveyed by APIAVote and AAPI Data said they were not contacted by the Democratic Party or the GOP before the 2018 election” — this is a fast-growing electorate that both parties take for granted.
ICE LAWSUIT – [Content warning: Rape, sexual assault] DHS and ICE have been hit with a federal lawsuit by an unidentified Honduran immigrant woman who suffered years of sexual abuse at the hands of a former ICE agent, who reportedly threatened her with deportation as he “raped her as often as four times a week for seven years, impregnating her three times,” Chris Ehrmann reports for the Associated Press. “She is not only seeking compensation for the physical and emotional damage she suffered but to change the way those who are cooperating with ICE are treated by those in a position of power and who often wield total control over the ability to remain in the United States,” her attorney said in an email.
MARINE DEPORTED – 38-year-old Marine veteran Jose Segovia-Benitez — who suffered from addiction after two tours in Iraq — was deported to El Salvador yesterday following multiple denials of his appeal. Segovia-Benitez’s alcoholism led to trouble with the law, but his family says that “while they do not condone his criminal actions, they believe the government failed to provide adequate care for him after he was discharged,” reports Aris Folley in The Hill. Earlier this week, The Washington Post’s Mary Beth Sheridan and Anna-Catherine Brigida reported that people are being “disappeared” in record numbers in El Salvador. In fact, “National police say at least 2,457 people were reported disappeared in 2018, the most in a dozen years.”
THE ART OF LEAVING HOME – Originally from Ecuador, photographer and artist Felipe Jácome immigrated to the U.S. with his family as a teenager and decided to pursue photography after producing a photo essay on a trip to Mexico’s southern border. His latest project, “Caminantes,” documents immigrant journeys through portraits of Venezuelan refugees. I spoke with Felipe about conditions in Venezuela, migration in Latin America, and what he wants people to take away from his work for this week’s episode of “Only in America” — be sure to tune in.
Thanks for reading,
Ali
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