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PRIVATE SPONSORS — More details on the administration’s new program allowing private citizens to sponsor Afghan evacuees from Axios’ Stef Kight: "Groups of at least five adults can apply, complete background checks and start fundraising the $2,275 per refugee required." Meanwhile, for the Sahan Journal, Hibah Ansari tells the story of how Muhammad Nishat — an Afghan who worked on a U.S. government project — and his family escaped the country after the Taliban’s takeover. The challenging 44-day journey led his family of nine to safety in two Minnesota hotel rooms. Here’s today’s series of local stories:
REMEMBERING EFRAÍN — An internal ICE investigation found that medical and security staff at Georgia’s Stewart Detention Center violated numerous agency rules when dealing with a detainee with mental illness in 2018, José Olivares reports for The Intercept. Efraín Romero de la Rosa, who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia before being detained, took his own life after 21 days in solitary confinement that summer. ICE’s External Reviews and Analysis Unit "found that staff had falsified documents; improperly dealt with Romero’s medication; neglected to follow proper procedures for his care; and improperly placed him in disciplinary solitary confinement — despite multiple warnings of Romero’s declining mental health." UNACCOMPANIED IN COURT — There is currently no plan for providing legal counsel to unaccompanied migrant children in U.S. immigration courts — and that’s a problem, writes Sarah Burr, a former assistant chief immigration judge in New York and Immigrant Justice Corps board member, in an op-ed for The Hill. "How does a child, already intimidated and confused by the courtroom setting, understand the nature of the court proceedings and the charges against them? How can a child understand the complexities of immigration law, their burden of proof, and possible defenses against deportation? The short answer is they cannot." Despite the Biden administration’s Counsel for Children Initiative and nonprofit organizations’ efforts to hire and train immigration attorneys to represent minors, Burr writes, more needs to be done to ensure children are not alone in courts. Thanks for reading, Ali |
