The Migrant Center works in collaboration with other organizations to stand up for immigrants’ rights.

Pending Impact Litigation Cases

We File an Amicus Brief in Supreme Court Against MPP
January 22 – We filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court, along with 107 other organizations and law schools, calling for the immediate end to MPP and the restoration of meaningful access to refugee protection in the U.S. Our legal commitment to the principle of non-refoulement, prohibits U.S. from sending individuals to any country where they would face a well-founded risk of persecution, torture, or other serious human rights violations. From the moment individuals are returned to Mexico under MPP, they face unrelenting violence that threatens their lives and effectively blocks their access to humanitarian protection in the United States. There are “at least 1,314 public reports of murder, torture, rape, kidnapping, and other violent attacks against asylum seekers and migrants returned to Mexico under MPP.” 25% had been threatened with or experienced physical violence while in Mexico. 75% returned to Nuevo Laredo under MPP in October 2019 alone had been kidnapped. Part of the danger is caused by the U.S.’ requirement that people show up to the bridge for court at 4:30am. Tamaulipas, where 30,000 migrants have been returned, is designated by the U.S. Department of State as a Level 4, “Do Not Travel” zone—the same threat level assigned to Afghanistan, Iran, Libya, and Syria. Children, many under five, make up at least 33% of those returned to danger under MPP.

 

U.S.-based pro bono attorneys have been threatened with kidnapping and violence in connection with their work with individuals subject to MPP. MPP applicants cannot meet with an attorney before their hearing unless they are already represented, limiting the ability of consultations and attorney case screening, and then for only an hour or less in non-confidential spaces. MPP substantially impairs their ability to communicate with their counsel. Many lack access to phones with reliable service (including at shelters to limit gang access), access to the internet or the financial resources necessary to facilitate remote communication. All of this increases the likelihood that their claims will be denied.

 

Among the 24,000 MPP cases still pending, 70 percent of those individuals will have been waiting in Mexico for a court hearing for one year or more, causing some to cross the Rio Grande into the U.S. Read here for a story from a Cuban refugee. Read our One Year update on MPP for more background and resources.

We Submit an Amicus Brief to the Fifth Circuit to Halt MPP

 

September 27 – We filed an amicus brief in the Fifth Circuit in Texas v. Biden, arguing that any form of MPP would violate U.S. law and our treaty obligations to people escaping persecution. Our amicus brief argues that the district judge’s Administrative Procedures Act holding is grounded in numerous factual errors, including judge’s incorrect conclusion that the termination of MPP contributed to a border “surge;” that high rates of in absentia removal orders indicate high rates of meritless asylum claims; and that a 44% rate of in absentia removal orders is acceptable. Arguments are calendared for November 2. 

 

A recent report based on government data of nearly 3,000,000 immigration court hearings found that 83% of nondetained immigrants with completed or pending removal cases attended all their hearings from 2008 to 2018, and 96% of those represented by a lawyer attended all their hearings. 15% of those immigrants who did miss a court hearing and were ordered deported were later able to successfully reopen their cases and had their removal orders rescinded suggesting that many of the individuals who fail to appear in court wanted to attend their hearings, but never received a hearing notice or faced some hardship in getting there. The study found that only 6% of those seeking asylum failed to appear, while only 3% of those seeking cancellation of removal and 2% of those seeking adjustment of status did. The results of the study support releasing far more people from custody.

 

We File an Amicus Brief to Uphold Processing of Asylum for Children and Families

 

September 24 – We filed an amicus curiae brief with 28 legal service and advocacy organizations in opposition to Texas’ motion for preliminary injunction that would end the Title 42 exception for unaccompanied children and families, subjecting them to forced expulsion to Mexico. In light of our expertise and experience working with individuals subject to the Title 42 Policy, we explained to the court why such an injunction would potentially harm tens of thousands of individuals, highlighting the exceptional vulnerability of children and their families. In addition, we argue that expelling unaccompanied children violates the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA), which affords special protections to unaccompanied children in recognition of their “specialized needs” and in response to the “special obligation [of the US] to ensure that these children are treated humanely and fairly.”

 

We assert that Title 42 is unlawful and should not be applied to anyone, as denounced by epidemiologists and public health experts as having no basis in science. More than 1,300 medical professionals from 49 states and territories signed Physicians for Human Rights’ e-action, calling on CDC Director Walensky to end Title 42. Since Biden took office, investigators havedocumented over 6,300 violent attacks on people expelled to Mexico.

Challenging CBP’s Unlawful Practice of Turning Away Asylum Seekers

One of the Migrant Center’s clients is participating as a plaintiff, victim, and witness to this harmful and unlawful practice.

Ms. L v. ICE suit challenging family separation

The Migrant Center has provided information to class counsel about the cases we see and clients we represent on the ground.

Matter of M-S-

The Migrant Center joined with around 50 immigrant rights advocates and community organizations around the country filed a “People’s Amicus Brief” to condemn Jeff Sessions’ latest power grab in Matter of M-S- to further constrict the power of judges to make decisions on whether people looking for refuge in the US should remain in detention centers or be allowed to have a hearing to pay bond. Read our op-ed on why the right to a bond hearing is so crucial and how taking away the right to a bond hearing will lead to the prolonged, unnecessary detention of people fleeing persecution in violation of our Constitutional due process and liberty rights.

Community Sign-Ons
The Migrant Center has added its voice to the following calls for justice.

December 2021

We Demand Better Processing for Afghan Humanitarian Parole Cases

December 8 – We wrote to express our extreme concern regarding USCIS’ plan to largely exclude over 30,000 Afghans who have applied for humanitarian parole. As Secretary Mayorkas and Secretary Blinken have separately stated, the United States has a moral imperative to protect vulnerable Afghans. USCIS is requiring types of evidence that are virtually impossible to obtain and that is more than needed to get asylum. The 2017 Humanitarian Parole and Significant Public Benefit Training Module allow USCIS to grant parole to individuals to come to the United States “Due to Fear of Harm Due to Generalized Violence that Occurs During a Civil Conflict, based on Ethnic, Tribal, or Religious or Political Violence.”  Humanitarian parole is necessary as other pathways are inaccessible, backlogged, and insufficient for the urgent needs produced by the Taliban takeover of the country. Due to these USCIS-imposed limitations we urge the government to implement a special parole program for Afghans. We also feel that USCIS needs to favorably exercise its discretion in these matters, apply a reasonable evidentiary standard, and make information about processing publically available.

We Petition for Better Case Record Keeping

December 9 – We sent a petition to EOIR and DHS under the APA, 5 U.S.C. § 553(e), to ameliorate systemic access to records problems, explaining that requiring submission of a FOIA request to obtain an A-File violates non-citizens’ due process rights as the time needed for FOIA processing denies a meaningful opportunity to be heard in immigration proceedings. Respondents have the right to “examine the evidence against [them]” and access all records “pertaining to [their] admission or presence in the United States,” codified in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) at 8 U.S.C. § 1229a(b)(4)(B) and (c)(2)(B), respectively. The EOIR Proposed Rule to begin using electronic filing will only partially solve the problem of barriers to ROP access as it applies only to new cases and those with internet access. All of these limits stand in stark contrast to the access provided to ICE attorneys, who typically have convenient access to ROPs and DARs, on top of possession of the entire A-File of documents. We are calling on all records to be provided within 14 days for a detained respondent and within two months for a non-detained respondent.

Writing to Close Down Farmville Detention Center

December 13 – We wrote to DHS Secretary Mayorkas urging him to terminate the contract with the Town of Farmville, Virginia and close the Farmville Detention Center, to bring an end to over a decade of well-documented abuse, mistreatment and medical neglect of immigrants, including excessive use of force against people detained who protested their unsafe conditions, solitary confinement, and limited access to counsel and family members. Due to the facility’s mismanagement during the COVID-19 pandemic, in July 2020 more than 300 people (93%) became infected. Due to a court injunction resulting from ICA-Farmville’s mismanagement of the COVID-19 crisis, the facility currently holds an all-time low of 12 people in detention, down from an average of well over 700 prior to the beginning of the pandemic. Our letter requests a meeting.

Decrying the Expansion of MPP

December 17 – We were part of a mass effort of over 240 organizations that sent a letter to the administration in response to the restart and expansion of Remain in Mexico (MPP) and the continuation of T42. As the union representing USCIS asylum officers and more than 50 former Immigration Judges and Members of the Board of Immigration Appeals have made clear, this deadly program cannot be implemented safely, humanely, or in compliance with U.S. law. The decision earlier this month to renew the Title 42 order issued by the CDC for another 60 days despite senior CDC scientists and other public health experts, including Dr. Fauci, repeatedly explaining to Congress and the public that this is unnecessary. Continuing to turn away asylum seekers is particularly galling, as vaccinated tourists and shoppers with visas are permitted to cross the border while people in search of refuge are turned away. Human rights organizations have documented more than 7,600 reported kidnappings and attacks against people blocked in or expelled to Mexico under Title 42. A group of refugees similarly urged President Biden to stop MPP and Title 42 expulsions and uphold the protections granted under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and welcome all people seeking safety with dignity and humanity. On December 29, the Biden administration asked the Supreme Court for permission to end MPP and requested that the Supreme Court review the case this term. 

There have been 152nd expulsion flights just to Haiti under the Biden administration, expelling over 15,423 Haitians, many who have not been screened for asylum beforehand and some of whom have been shackled (IOM reported 10,776 Haitians repatriated from September 19 through December 17, of whom 56% were men, 26% women, and 18% children; all 116 expulsion flights to Haiti since September 19 are here.)

Asking that Liberians Have Longer to Apply for Citizenship

December 17 – We joined an organizational sign on letter to Congressional leadership to request that Congress eliminate altogether, or extend for at least two years, the Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness (LRIF) deadline that is intended to provide a pathway to citizenship for Liberians who have lived in the U.S. for many years. Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota has introduced a bill in the House that would reopen the program after the deadline on December 20, 2021). Out of potentially 10,300 eligible Liberians, only 3,529 applications have been submitted, with 69% still pending adjudication. Of those eligible, 96% speak English, 100% have a household income above the poverty level.

Remedying the Harms of the Muslim and African Bans

December 21 – We joined over 100 organizations in a sign-on letter urging the Biden administration to reconsider visa denials issued  under the Muslim and African Bans, expedite cases that are still pending, and grant humanitarian parole to those who won the diversity visa lottery from FY 17 through FY 22, but whose visas were not issued as a result of the bans. Over 41,000 visa applicants from the banned countries were denied as a result of the Muslim and African Bans. 

November 2021

We Call for Expeditious Processing of Work Permits, Language Access, and Gender Neutrality

November 17 – We joined 74 organizations in a letter urging USCIS to decrease wait times for employment authorization documents (EADs) and rescind a harmful Trump regulation that increased the minimum wait time from six months to one year after submitting an asylum application. 19 state Attorney Generals oppose the proposed rule because it would make it harder for asylum seekers to work, “lower tax revenue for the States, harm the States’ industries, increase reliance on State-funded programs, and make it harder for the States to enforce their labor and civil rights laws.” A federal court found USCIS had “simply paid lip service” to the devastating economic hardship the regulation would inflict on asylum seekers. Yet President Biden ratified the regulation and is defending the regulation in court. Our letter further calls on USCIS to allow asylum applicants to apply for EADs when they indicate an intent to apply for asylum, lodge or file the application, or pass a credible fear determination; provide and accept the application in common languages and establish a translation service to help with their completion; and ensure more accurate gender options such as the “X” allowed on U.S. passports.

We Ask for an Investigation into the use of The WRAP to Restrain Immigrants

We asked for an investigation into the allegations voiced in The WRAP complaint filed with the Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and Office of the Inspector General; bring all parties to complaint back to the US under humanitarian parole so that they may participate fully in any investigations; and investigate ICE’s use of other full-body restraining devices, including the “Emotionally Disturbed Person” (EDP) restraint. The WRAP is a Federal Drug Administration (FDA) registered medical device meant to be used only in extreme situations, when a person has become a threat to him or herself and is in need of immediate medical attention. The complaint raises alarming allegations that it was instead used to threaten, coerce, and punish people who were already shackled. ICE agents cinch people until their upper bodies are at a 45 to 60° angle with their legs, a “stress position” as defined by the United Nations Convention Against Torture, agaist manufacter instructions that state it should immobilize the legs, leaving its victims sitting up at a 90° angle so their lungs and airways are not compromised. ICE also improperly used it on those with medical conditions, such as asthma or heart disease; left people unattended for as many as ten hours on flights that lasted for 16 hours, including when they were shrieking in pain; and deployed it at detention centers, during transport on busses, and at ICE staging facilities when it is only authorized by the agency for use in flight. There are also reports that the device was left out on the ground before flights as a warning sign and that some individuals were hooded. Here’s how to file a Civil Rights Complaint. Read CBP’s FY2021 report on Apprehensions and Expulsions at the Southwest Border, including enforcement policies, encounters by demographic category and country, and more. See also this brief explainer on DHS’s new deportation priorities that went into effect on November 29.

October 2021

Expressing Concern on Lack of Afghan Humanitarian Parole Adjudication

O​​ctober 20 – We sent a letter to President Biden and Congress expressing extreme concern about the growing backlog of unadjudicated humanitarian Parole applications from Afghans expected to reach 30,000 with no adjudications happening since August 31. We are calling for a full public accounting including pending adjudication times and how fee waivers are being processed, a congressional oversight hearing to explain what the administration is doing to fix this delay, biweekly stakeholder update calls, and safe passage out of Afghanistan and third countries. Tens of thousands of Afghans who helped American forces over the two-decades-long war who are U.S. citizens, LPRs, or SIVs are now arriving in the U.S. as the Taliban-controlled country as it erupts into more violence. Most will start the new American chapter of their lives at military installations scattered across the U.S. where they’ll be vetted before moving on to more permanent destinations. Those who do not meet these criteria, including many who have worked as U.S. contractors, remain reliant on the humanitarian parole process to escape situations of imminent danger.

Calling for TPS or DED for Cameroonians

October 25 – The Migrant Center joined 203 organizations in a  letter calling for TPS or DED for Cameroonians due to “extraordinary and temporary conditions” impacting most regions of the country, which make safe return to Cameroon impossible. The Migrant Center has heard many first-hand accounts of the government’s brutal repression of freedom of expression and association, crackdowns on political opposition and dissent, and frequent use of incommunicado detention and torture. There has also been a spike in Boko Haram attacks in the last two years with security forces arbitrarily arresting hundreds of individuals, detaining them in inhumane conditions, and subjecting them to torture and enforced disappearance. There are currently over 100 Cameroonians in ICE custody. An estimated 38,790 Cameroonians currently living in the United States would benefit from a TPS or DED designation. Deported Cameroonians have been arbitrarily detained and abused upon return, and had their IDs confiscated by the authorities, making them subject to one year imprisonment and fines, harassment, and barriers to freedom of movement, obtaining employment, registering for a SIM card, sending or receiving money, and finding housing.

Sending Recommendations to Biden on How to Fix Access to Legal Help Barriers

October 29 – We collaborated on a detailed letter to the Biden administration highlighting the host of obstacles to attorney access that exist in immigration detention facilities nationwide and making recommendations on ways to eliminate the barriers.

Seeing Immediate Success in Response to Civil Society Letter to Stop MPP

October 19 – In response to Biden’s October 14 decision that it would soon re-implement the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), which has been used to return 70,000 asylum seekers to danger in Mexico, including sexual assault, injury, and even death, the Migrant Center joined 72 organizations, law schools, and firms in writing to President Biden to reiterate that there is no way to make this program safe, humane, or lawful. Conditions have worsened since MPP first started, rendering it far more dangerous for both the people seeking protection, as well as any who want to help them. Since the Biden administration took office, there have been another 6,356 reports of kidnapping, rape, torture, and other attacks against migrants blocked at ports of entry or expelled to Mexico by the U.S. government. U.S.-based attorneys have been threatened with kidnapping and violence in connection with their representation of people in MPP. Extensive territorial control by cartels and complicity by Mexican government agents in violent attacks and kidnappings against vulnerable asylum seekers and migrants makes clear that the U.S. government cannot re-implement MPP without subjecting vulnerable individuals to pervasive violence. There is no way for asylum seekers living in these conditions to have a fair chance in court. Only 7% of those in MPP have been able to obtain a lawyer and fewer than 1% won asylum in tent court videoconference hearings (521 people). Those inside the U.S. typically win asylum in 10-30% of cases, or more.

We also asked the Administration to inform the Government of Mexico that the United States cannot guarantee access to counsel. The Administration announced that it will reinstate the program in mid-November if Mexico agrees. In a statement, the government of Mexico declared it had multiple concerns that must be addressed before it would allow MPP to resume, including whether the U.S. government could guarantee increased access to counsel and better screening for vulnerable migrants. The Migrant Center was contacted by EOIR on October 28 to see if we would like to be placed on a list of MPP legal service providers. We responded: 

Dear EOIR,

Thank you for your efforts to increase access to legal representation for individuals in MPP. However, unless and until EOIR or DHS can guarantee that we will have access to a confidential space to meet with potential clients to conduct intakes with sufficient time before the hearing or interview to prepare the case, and provide a means for MPP respondents to scan and e-mail us documents, we cannot in good conscience, and for state bar ethical reasons, agree to show up to an MPP hearing or interview.

As you are aware, it is unreasonable to expect potential clients living in tent cities, shelters or other temporary housing in Mexico to have the confidential space and sufficient technology and funds to remotely and effectively communicate with counsel based in the United States. It is similarly not possible for us to travel to Mexico due to the extraordinary cost and serious risk of cartel violence.

To the extent that the U.S. government insists on continuing MPP, we believe strongly that access to counsel must be provided by the U.S. government, as it is our government’s current execution of this program that is preventing MPP respondents from consulting with us and other U.S. immigration attorneys.

I am forwarding your invitation to other potentially interested organizations and attorneys so that they can sign up if available. I sincerely hope that you are able to work with us to ensure a system of justice that guarantees respondents access to counsel and their other constitutional due process rights.

Thank you for your efforts.

We sent our position to other NGOs. Many others are similarly refusing to be complicit.

We also demanded the end to the unlawful Title 42 expulsion policy, which has largely replaced MPP. By the time Biden took office, MPP had largely been suspended because of the COVID-19 pandemic, with just 1.18% of people who crossed the border from March 2020 through January 2021 put into MPP. Since March 2020 CBP has conducted 1,163,000 expulsions, with only 3,217 migrants who made a “spontaneous and reasonably believable claim” referred for a Convention Against Torture interview (8% passed). The president of AFGE Local 1924, a union that represents hundreds of U.S. government asylum and refugee officers, stated that “officers are being prevented from carrying out their mission, which is to ensure that people asking for asylum have a fair hearing and are treated humanely.” During President Biden’s first seven months in office, U.S. border officials carried out 704,000 expulsions, 92,000 of which led to parents and children traveling as families being turned back, while 541,000 migrants were processed under U.S. immigration laws, which allow them to seek asylum. Public health experts, advocates, the United Nations, former Biden administration officials and lawmakers like Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer have denounced Title 42 as an illegal policy. Three federal judges have also concluded the policy is likely unlawful. CBS News reported that CDC officials were pressured to authorize the expulsions by Trump administration political appointees, even though they did not believe there was a sufficient public health basis for such a measure. When asked about Title 42 recently, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Mr. Biden’s chief medical adviser, said, “[f]ocusing on immigrants, expelling them or what have you, is not the solution to an outbreak.” Asylum expulsions continue while plans move forward to lift “nonessential” border travel restrictions for vaccinated travelers for tourism and family visits from the Schengen Area, the UK, Ireland, Brazil or South Africa. In its most recent order extending the Title 42 authority the “CDC believes that the gradual resumption of normal border operations under Title 8 is feasible.” Additionally, the administration has been applying it inconsistently by nationality as opposed to health threat. Since Biden took office, human rights investigators have documented over 7,647 violent attacks on people expelled to Mexico.

ICE Air Title 42 direct expulsion flights to Guatemala began on September 2. In October there were 37 flights to Guatemala, up 3 from September. Before Title 42 expulsions, there were 10 flights in August (10) and 3-5 per month during the prior 6 months. On August 5, Title 42 Expulsion flights began to Southern Mexico of Guatemalans, Hondurans, Salvadorans, and maybe Nicaraguans to the cities of Villahermosa and Tapachula, with flights to each city almost every weekday. In August there were 36 flights, in September 42, and in October 35 for a 3-month total of 113. Once the people expelled reach these cities, Mexico subsequently expels them by foot into Guatemala. In all cases, it appears that no form of removal protection is made available. In October, as in September, there were only 8 total flights to Mexico City, Guadalajara and Morelia compared to 17 in August.

We called on Biden to issue a new memo terminating MPP that provides a more detailed explanation for the decision to terminate MPP to resolve any Administrative Procedure Act issues identified by the district court.

October 29 – DHS issued a second MPP termination memo to remedy issues the District Court found with the June 1 memo. On August 13 the District Court stated that the June 1 memo was not in compliance with the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) because it failed to address all the relevant considerations. In Texas v. Biden the District Court ordered DHS to “enforce and implement MPP in good faith” until certain conditions are satisfied, including that MPP be “lawfully rescinded in compliance with the APA.” DHS has appealed and continues to contest several of the District Court’s conclusions, including that MPP discouraged unlawful border crossings and decreased the number of non-meritorious asylum claims. The new memo finds that the benefits of MPP are far outweighed by the costs of continuing the program, stating that while MPP “likely” reduced numbers it did so by “imposing substantial and unjustifiable human costs” and that “the United States has limited ability to ensure the safety and security of those returned to Mexico”. “Mexico has made clear that it will not agree to accept those the United States seeks to return to Mexico under MPP unless substantial improvements are made to the program.” The memo also highlights “the difficulties in accessing counsel and traveling to courts separated by an international border,” that “MPP detracts from other regional and domestic goals, foreign-policy objectives, and domestic policy initiatives,” “diverting attention from more productive efforts to fight transnational criminal and smuggling networks and address the root causes of migration,” and “unproductive, redundant screenings per case given the many different times individuals are returned to Mexico.” “I have concluded that there are inherent problems with the program [that “fails to provide the fair process and humanitarian protections that all persons deserve”] that no amount of resources can sufficiently fix. DHS plans to restart MPP until the court’s injunction is vacated. We filed an amicus brief in the Fifth Circuit in Texas v. Biden, arguing that any form of MPP would violate U.S. law and our treaty obligations to people escaping persecution.

Relatedly, on October 2 Department of State Senior Legal Advisor Koh resigned due to how the Administration continues to use Title 42 “to violate our legal obligation not to expel or return (“refouler”) individuals who fear persecution, death, or torture, especially migrants fleeing from Haiti”: “In my judgment, Title 42 is currently being implemented in a manner thatviolates the Refugee Convention’s Article 33 prohibition against direct expulsion or return to persecution and 8 U.S.C. 1231(b)(3)(A) (“the Attorney General may not remove an alien to a country if the Attorney General decides that the alien’s life or freedom would be threatened in that country because of the alien’s race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion.”)”. He explains that because migrants “are not screened for fears of persecution upon return unless they affirmatively raise their fear, in what is informally known as the “shout test…” this “inevitably create an unacceptably high risk that a great many people deserving of asylum will instead likely be returned to countries where they fear persecution, death, or torture.” He points out that although Trump officials pointed to an exception to our Article 33 non-refoulement obligation for refugees for whom “there are reasonable grounds for regarding as a danger to the security of the country in which he is” there is no “exception in the Refugee Convention applies or allows the US Government to exclude individuals categorically on a public health basis” as these exclusions “requires an individualized, evidence-based assessment into whether a particular asylum seeker himself or herself is an actual danger to the security of the country in which he or she seeks refuge. He cites a Migrant Center September 17 joint letter and explains that this policy “seriously degrade[s] U.S. credibility when advocating for other countries to welcome refugees and respect the principle of nonrefoulement.” As the UN writes: ““Discriminatory public discourse portraying human mobility as a problem risks contributing to racism and xenophobia and should be avoided and condemned.”

The UNHCR, along with IOM, UNICEF, OHCHR, has expressed “serious concern” with expulsions to Haiti without “individual assessments,” writing “International law prohibits collective expulsions and requires that each case be examined individually to identify protection needs under international human rights and refugee law.” From September 19 to October 31, over 8,000 Haitians have been expelled on 78 flights. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, “[t]he back-to-back disasters are exacerbating preexisting vulnerabilities. At the time of the disaster, Haiti is still reeling from the 7 July assassination of President Jovenel Moïse and still facing an escalation in gang violence since June that has affected 1.5 million people, with at least 19,000 displaced in the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince. Some 4.4 million people, or nearly 46 per cent of the population, face acute food insecurity, including 1.2 million who are in emergency levels… and 3.2 million people at crisis levels… An estimated 217,000 children suffer from moderate-to-severe acute malnutrition.” The head of Haiti’s national migration office, Jean Negot Bonheur Delva, requested a humanitarian moratorium on the mass deportation of Haitian migrants from the United States stating that the prospect of resettling thousands of new arrivals is hard to imagine, because Haiti cannot provide adequate security or food for the returnees. Mr. Koh called on the administration to, among other things, determine whether Haitian migrants may have legal status and family ties in other countries, which could be an alternative to direct refoulement to Haiti. DHS Secretary Mayorkas has indicated that more than 12,000 of the Del Rio Haitians have been processed and placed in immigration proceedings as of September 26. Mr. Koh calls for “this process should be applied to all similarly situated individuals.” Previously, Migrant Center Executive Director Sara Ramey spoke with KSAT on the evening news on the migrant caravan situation under the Del Rio bridge, where about 14,000 Haitians were camped. 

According to one report, since the inauguration of President Biden there have been 4,547 likely ICE Air flights, almost 33% above the pre-inauguration pace in November/December 2020. Almost 70% of the removal flights in October are attributed to flights to Guatemala (37) and the T42 flights to Haiti (21), Villahermosa (20), and Tapachula (35). Adding Honduras (12) and El Salvador (11) we capture almost 85% of removal flights. The 2,144 flights recorded over the last 3 months is 1.5x higher than any prior 3-month period since we started recording in January 2020.

October 15 – The Congressional Research Service recommended that Congress clarify the framework governing inspection of immigrants seeking admission in light of recent metering practices.

September 2021

We Support the Fair Adjudications for Immigrants Act

We signed on to endorse the Fair Adjudications for Immigrants Act which will amend the definition of “conviction” in the Immigration and Nationality Act to “a formal judgment of guilt of the noncitizen entered by a court” and would except the following from being considered a conviction: 1) An adjudication or judgment of guilt that has been dismissed, expunged, deferred, annulled, invalidated, withheld, vacated, or pardoned; 2) Any adjudication in which the court has issued a judicial recommendation against removal, an order of probation without entry of judgment, or any similar disposition; and 3) A judgment that is on appeal or is within the time to file direct appeal. Immigrants with criminal convictions face serious immigration consequences – such as being barred from naturalization – even after a conviction is no longer considered valid in the court of conviction. Currently, the Immigration and Nationality Act defines a “conviction” as a formal judgement of guilt or a judge has ordered some form of punishment, penalty, or restraint on the immigrant. This Act would apply retroactively to any conviction.

August 2021

Responding to the Permanent Injunction Restarting the Remain in Mexico Program

August 17 – In response to a district court’s August 13 nationwide permanent injunction halting DHS’s June 1 memo that ended MPP and ordering DHS to “enforce and implement MPP in good faith” we joined 107 organizations in a letter to DHS to take all measures necessary to prevent this order from going into effect, up to and including an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court. The decision requires DHS to detain every asylum seeker and falsely claims that ending MPP led to an increase in border crossings, although this was largely a result of the Title 42 expulsion policy that caused migrants to try crossing multiple times. From 2014 to 2019, before the Title 42 expulsion policy went into effect, only 15% of the migrants apprehended by CBP had been apprehended previously in the same year. In contrast, in May 2021, recidivists accounted for 38% of apprehensions. Since the enactment of the Title 42 policy, CBP has turned away over 980,000 migrants (fact sheet on 2021 increase in border apprehensions). Human Rights First has documented over 6,356 kidnappings, sexual assaults, and other violent crimes against expelled migrants from the day that Biden took office (read their report). Physicians for Human Rights concluded in an extensive report on the policy that “every aspect of the expulsion process, such as holding people in crowded conditions for days without testing and then transporting them in crowded vehicles, increases the risk of spreading and being exposed to COVID-19” instead of mitigating the risk as the policy is designed to do. Earlier this year, DHS medical experts filed a whistleblower disclosure condemning the policy for lacking a public health justification. A group of public health experts condemned the Administration’s August 2 renewal of the Title 42 policy. The district court’s decision also ignores extensive evidence of the way in which MPP violated the right to apply for asylum, including a representation rate of just 7% and an asylum grant rate below 2% — rates that are dramatically lower than those experienced by asylum seekers allowed to enter the United States (for October 2020 30% of cases were granted). See Important News below for more information.

July 2021

Calling on DHS to Not List Asylum Seekers as Enforcement Priorities

July 13 – The Migrant Center joined in a letter to DHS raising up concerns of detention cases that should not be enforcement priorities. As we explain in the letter: “Punishing recently arrived asylum seekers by designating them as enforcement priorities is cruel and inhumane. It inflicts further trauma on those who have left everything behind to find safety… studies have repeatedly confirmed that asylum seekers overwhelmingly appear for hearings after they are released from DHS custody.” Detention is especially problematic during the pandemic, with at least nine people dying of COVID inside detention. ICE’s COVID data is incomplete, with at least one man having died from the virus following his release (which would not be counted), limited access to testing, and individuals who had been tested who never received their results. Find a list of ICE enforcement actions here.

June 2021

Asking for Immigrants to Receive Pardons on Racial Equity Grounds

June 2 – The Migrant Center joined 186 organizations in calling on President Biden to include immigrants in his pardon review that is intended to focus on racial equity so that those with deportable convictions can receive clemency. According to one statistic, 76 % of black immigrants are deported because of contact with the police. A digital toolkit is available for advocates.

Speaking Out to Prevent Asylum Changes Without Community Engagement

June 8 – The Migrant Center sent a letter expressing concern that the Biden administration is considering plans to initiate new asylum processing potentially through an interim final rule, which would deprive the public of an opportunity for notice and comment. The administration’s plans may include limiting the role of immigration court hearings (to only a review of an asylum officer’s decision and not a de novo hearing) and continued reliance on the flawed expedited removal process, a policy that has already diverted asylum office resources and greatly contributed to the current asylum office backlog. Other key aspects of the plans, including timelines, deadlines, appeals, guarantee of counsel, and other due process safeguards, are unclear. See this Factsheet on expedited removal and the asylum screening process for an explanation of some of the problems, and this Report for a background.

July 7 – We received confirmation that the Biden administration will issue a proposed rule, rather than an Interim Final Rule, giving the community opportunity to comment on any changes.

Calling on Biden to Not Discriminate Against Adult Asylum Seekers

June 30 – We, along with the 104 organizations, sent a letter to President Biden to express our alarm that the administration is reportedly considering plans to continue using Title 42 to block and expel adult asylum seekers for at least two more months and may use punitive measures such as ankle monitors and expedited removal in processing families. Not only does the Title 42 policy violate U.S. refugee law and treaties, but it also endangers people seeking U.S. protection, with over 3,250 kidnappings, rapes, and other attacks on people expelled or blocked at the U.S.-Mexico border since Biden took office. Many have been forced into squalid and dangerous conditions in several new camps near the border. The Title 42 policy has also driven family separations as it presents families with the impossible choice of keeping children in danger or sending them alone across the border for their safety.  The use of Title 42 has been widely discredited by epidemiologists and public health experts who have confirmed it has “no scientific basis as a public health measure.” Rational, science-based measures, recommended by public health experts, exist to mitigate COVID-19 concerns and safely process asylum seekers at the border. Recent reports indicate that while your administration may end the policy in July for families, it may continue to subject adult asylum seekers to the policy for at least two months, despite no justification for disparate treatment between families and adults.

May 2021

Submitting Letter on How to Wind Down the Migration Protection Protocols
May 18 – We sent a letter to Secretary of State Blinken, Attorney General Garland, and DHS Secretary Mayorkas applauding the 10,000 people brought to safety in the United States under “the first phase of a program” and to call on the Administration to stop the misuse of Title 42 to block and expel asylum seekers, endangering their lives. The next phase of the wind down of MPP must include all individuals subjected to the illegal MPP policy, including those who received in absentia removal orders, had their cases terminated, were unfairly denied protection (whether or not their cases are on appeal), or have “inactive” cases caused by government procedural errors. In absentia removal orders issued under MPP were fundamentally flawed. Many asylum seekers received in absentia orders of removal because they were kidnapped at the time of their hearings or otherwise unable to return to court because they feared further violence, lack of proper notice, illness, or because they were blocked by CBP. Additionally, over 10,000 MPP cases were terminated because of DHS procedural violations. Other problems that we are asking to be remedies are the lack of safe, accessible transportation to the U.S.-Mexico border jeopardizing their safety, the inability to apply for parole at U.S. consulates in non-border cities, and lack of access for attorneys at CBP facilities. We are also asking that the Administration hold  bi-weekly calls with stakeholders to ensure that problems can be identified and communicated expeditiously.

Call for TPS for Haitians Has Immediate Success
May 20 – The Migrant Center joined over 220 organizations in a letter to President Biden calling for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti. The U.S. initially designated Haiti for TPS in January 2010 based on extraordinary and temporary conditions within the country, specifically the effects of a 7.0-magnitude earthquake. In January 2018, a Federal Register notice announced termination of Haiti’s TPS designation effective July 22, 2019. Four separate lawsuits challenged that termination. Due to court injunctions and other rulings, TPS for Haiti remains in effect pending case outcomes.

 

“Haiti is suffering from a fresh wave of lethal widespread, political violence and national upheaval”. DOS issued a level 4 notice against travelling to Haiti because of the country’s deadly conditions. Specifically, the travel advisory states “do not travel to Haiti due to crime, civil unrest, kidnapping, and COVID-19…” highlighting the rampant violence, widespread demonstrations and riots, and political turmoil with an unstable central regime. Since January 2020, the political situation has been fraught with instability, with the national government seemingly pivoting toward authoritarianism after President Jovenel Moïse dissolved Parliament — following parliamentarians’ mandates expiring due to delayed elections — and decided to rule unconstitutionally by executive decree. This governmental instability and lack of legitimacy have contributed to impunity and widespread violence.

 

May 22 – DHS Secretary Mayorkas announced a new 18-month designation of Haiti for TPS for those residing in the United States as of May 21 due to extraordinary and temporary conditions in Haiti that prevent nationals from returning safely, specifically, a political crisis and human rights abuses; serious security concerns; and the COVID-19 pandemic’s exacerbation of a dire economic situation and lack of access to food, water, and healthcare. In his statement, Mayorkas said: “Haiti is currently experiencing serious security concerns, social unrest, an increase in human rights abuses, crippling poverty, and lack of basic resources, which are exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.” With an authoritarian president who refuses to step down and daily massive protests, the political situation is unstable, fragile and extremely dangerous. According to Human Rights Watch’s 2021 World Report, Haiti is currently experiencing one of the worst outbreaks of violence in decades. Haitians of all ages face powerful gangs who rule with impunity and in some cases with government complicity. The lack of rule of law also makes it difficult to hold those responsible for the ever-increasing violence accountable. As Human Rights Watch reported, “some 4.1 million Haitians—more than a third—live with food insecurity, and 2.1 percent of children suffer severe malnutrition.” See the Congressional Research Service’s Report on TPS and this Toolkit in English and Creole.

Asking for Halt to Exorbitant Fee Increases
May 21 – We sent a letter to the Attorney General opposing the EOIR Fee Rule as it erects an insurmountable barrier to justice and can therefore lead to due process violations. The EOIR Fees Rule imposes excessive fees on already vulnerable noncitizens—many of them unrepresented—seeking to defend their liberty, and often their lives, in proceedings before the Immigration Courts and the BIA. They include, for example, a nearly 9-fold increase to file an appeal (from $110 to $975), raised more than 8-fold the cost of motions to the BIA to reopen or reconsider (from $110 to $895), increased fees more than 5-fold to appeal certain DHS decisions to the BIA (from $110 to $595), and more than tripled the fees to apply for cancellation of removal (from $100 to $305 for cancellation of removal for lawful permanent residents (LPRs) or suspension of deportation and from $100 to $360 for non-LPR cancellation). The EOIR Fee Rule also for the first time ever imposes a $50 fee to file an asylum application, without examining the notable differences in the circumstances of those who can apply affirmatively for asylum and those who must apply defensively in Immigration Court — especially those in detention — who have often only recently arrived in the U.S. and lack work authorization at the time of filing, thus making it next to impossible for many them to afford this fee. The EOIR Fee Rule mentions the “possibility” of a fee waiver as protection for indigent respondents but establishes no clear standards for eligibility and makes this process entirely discretionary. DOJ and EOIR have themselves admitted that waiver requests are inconsistently adjudicated. On January 18 a federal district court issued a nationwide preliminary injunction stopping nearly all of these new fees from taking effect while the judge considers the case.

Calling on DHS to Stop ICE Detention Transfers
May 25 – We collaborated in a letter to DHS Secretary Mayorkas to express our deep concern given the recent increases in the number of people detained and transfers resulting in a rise in COVID-19 cases. ICE increased the number detained from 13,529 people at the end of February to 20,430 people in just over two months. On March 12 ICE reported 4 COVID-19 cases at ACDC. On May 11, ICE reported 356 cases, representing an increase of 8,900%. ICE then transferred immigrants from ACDC to other detention facilities and communities. After one transfer to the Richwood Detention Center in Louisiana COVID-19 cases increased from 2 to 169. The death rate per 100,000 people in ICE custody increased from 1.499 in FY 2019 to 10.833 to FY 2020. Over 70% of deaths in ICE custody since the pandemic hit are attributed to COVID-19.

Working to Ensure Historical Records of DHS Abuse are Preserved

 

May 3 – We joined a letter to DHS to withdraw and reevaluate the National Archives and Records Administration (“NARA”) three records disposition schedules authorizing ICE to destroy records documenting abuse, neglect, misconduct, and civil rights violations of people in ICE detention. NARA is also currently considering a proposed records disposition schedule covering similar CBP records. Since the records at issue were initially appraised, several alarming reports of ICE and CBP abuse, neglect, and misconduct have come to light, particularly following the outbreak of COVID-19. A 2018 NARA report lamented that many records destroyed previously because they were erroneously “thought by some to have little or no future value fifty years ago,” are “now considered priceless by historians, social scientists, and genealogists” highlighting the importance of a thorough analysis of the possible long-term value for legal, research, historical, or accountability purposes. Additionally, a federal judge previously called into question the government’s overall approach to appraising the value of records reflecting abuse and neglect in the U.S. immigration system, vacating in part NARA’s approval of ICE’s “Detainee Records” disposition schedule on March 12 as it was arbitrary and capricious because to fail to consider the research value of the records and did not take into account the views of Congress, advocacy organizations, historians, and others. The case is CREW. We are calling on prompt action to ensure that critical evidence of abuse and misconduct in our immigration system is not erased from history. See this letter from 27 members of Congress.

 

Advocating for Protection for Victims of Domestic, Gang, and Family-Based Violence

 

May 7 – We sent a letter to Attorney General Garland, along with 356 other humanitarian and human rights organizations, law school clinics, professors, law firms, and practitioners, to calling for the prompt vacator of Matter of A-B-, Matter of A-C-A-A- and Matter of L-E-A- while the agency engages in its longer-term review and rulemaking process. Immediate action is needed because decision-makers continue to use these cases to justify categorical foreclosure of relief for survivors of domestic, gang, and family-based violence, unjustly putting survivors’ lives and safety at grave risk. Matter of A-B- severely restricted protection for survivors of domestic and gang violence and suggested that protection is not possible when the government turns a blind eye, while Matter of A-C-A-A- cast gender-based persecution as a “personal” dispute and stated that adjudicators should be skeptical of affording protection for survivors simply because such violence is so pervasive, a backwards view that denies that women’s rights are human rights. Matter of L-E-A-, inexplicably held that “average” families are generally not recognizable as a group in society despite the fact that all the circuit courts to consider the issue from 1993 through 2019 have determined that family can be a particular social group, additionally relying on an alternative motive for harm even though he would not have been threatened but for his relationship to his father.

February 2021

Supporting a Fair and Efficient Court System
February 1 – Along with 164 organizations the Migrant Center sent a letter to President Biden to establish fairness and integrity in immigration enforcement priorities and the immigration courts. In 2020, immigration courts denied 72 percent of all asylum cases, a historic record and an increase of about 20% compared to both the Obama and Bush Administrations. Because immigration court hearings are now taking over 1,600 days on average, with a quarter of immigrants waiting over five years, we are calling on the Administration to conduct a review of the pending 1.3 million cases on the docket to systematically remove those that are not enforcement priorities, by our estimate at least 600,000 cases. These would include many cases where relief can be adjudicated by USCIS or previously closed under prior administrations. We are also calling on the Administration to rescind policies that compel the courts to rush to judgment at the expense of due process such as case- completion quotas, undo Attorney General certified opinions that grossly mis-interpreted asylum, halt efforts to decertify the judges’ union, restore the authority to order administrative closure, termination continuances, and other powers stripped of immigration judges, make the immigration courts independent of the Department of Justice, and guarantee legal counsel for every person facing removal if they cannot afford it. Lastly, we are calling for the revocation of the 2017 policy calling for maximal prosecutions under the smuggling statute (8 U.S.C. 1324), including of family members, and issue new policy specifying that humanitarian related work and advocacy is not subject to prosecution.

Demanding to End Operation Streamline
February 4 – We joined around 170 groups in a letter calling for an end to Operation Streamline, an end to private DHS detention, and a halt to migrant prosecutions for unauthorized entry and reentry under 8 U.S.C. 1325 and 1326. Prosecutions made up 57% of all federal criminal cases in 2017 and 2018.

Using the Power of Community to Stand Up for Freedom

February 5 – We signed onto the letter demanding release for RAICES’ client Mr. F who came to the U.S. with his family seeking asylum, escaping criminalization and persecution based on his religion, Islam. Unfortunately, due to systemic Islamophobia, ICE labeled him a “national security” risk and separated him from his family. His wife recently gave birth to their third child and was alone taking care of their three children without Mr. F’s support while he remained sick and in need of critical medical attention in detention. We are happy to report that after receiving our letter Mr. F was finally released on February 8.

Calling for Rescission of Visa Bans Sees Immediate Success

February 5 – The Migrant Center joined AILA and 172 organizations in a letter to President Biden to rescind the immigrant and nonimmigrant visa bans. These bans are jeopardizing the once in a lifetime opportunity for thousands of 2020 Diversity Visa (DV) lottery recipients to enter the United States. The bans are keeping U.S. citizens and permanent residents separated from their parents, adult children, siblings and delaying the entry of valuable foreign workers, creating delays and uncertainties for U.S. employers, their foreign-born professional workers, and their families. In FY2020, approximately 100,000 family-based preference visas were lost. Immigration promotes diversity, family unity, and economic growth and will advance our nation’s prosperity.

February 24 – President Biden signed a proclamation 10149 revoking Proclamation 10014, Section 1 of Proclamation 10052, and Section 1 of Proclamation 10131, which suspended entry of certain immigrants. Trump’s April 2020 ban blocked employment and family-based immigration under the pretense of “protecting” American jobs during the economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. There is no evidence that it helps American workers. In fact, many jobs remain unfilled if immigrants do not fill them. 80% of those who applied for green cards through the employment-based categories did so from within the United States and so would not be affected. On the other hand, DHS data show that over 94% of noncitizens who obtained permanent residency through family ties did so from abroad, and therefore would be affected by the ban. Furthermore, unused family-based visas become available on the employment-based side in the next fiscal year so in FY2021 there will be 261,000 immigrant visas available for immigrant workers, nearly double the annual allocation. The ban significantly contributed to the backlog of family-based visas, which has now reached 437,000. Trump’s proclamation also kept out winners of the diversity visa lottery, which allows 55,000 immigrants from underrepresented countries come to the United States each year. Thousands of people came close to losing their visas completely, before a judge stopped them from expiring. The entirety of the Trump administration’s immigration ban has been challenged. Last year, a court ruling exempted employers that belong to several large professional organizations from the ban. Biden still has not ended a similar ban on non-immigrant work visas, set to expire on March 31. The ban continues to block exchange and temporary worker visas. For more information watch this video update and see additional DOS information.

Reminding DHS of Necessity to Review Custody for All

February 11 – We submitted a letter to DHS Secretary Mayorkas along with over 120 organizations around the country calling on the government to implement a file review process for the 14,000 people who remain in detention, operating under a presumption of release for everyone. Even where the immigration statutes otherwise appear to require confinement, it has long been acknowledged that ICE maintains discretion to release even individuals in mandatory detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(c) for urgent humanitarian reasons. Furthermore, we are calling on DHS to create an independent review system conducted by an independent agency such as the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties or Office of the Detention Ombudsman. With medical neglect escalating during the COVID-19 pandemic and two people dying this month in custody, independent review is critical to the integrity of this process. A recent ​study​ shows that over an 11-year period, 96% of all individuals with counsel appeared in court for every one of their hearings. A network of community-based support programs and faith-based organizations stand at the ready to provide housing and services.

December 2020

December 14 – The Migrant Center joined over 120 organizations in a letter calling for Congress to establish an independent court system. This issue is of fundamental importance to ensuring that the immigration judiciary treats all parties equally and interprets the law in a neutral manner, so that everyone has a fair day in court as required by the due process clause of our Constitution. We have been working on this issue since our founding in the summer of 2017. For more, read our Op-Ed and our Public Comments.

December 8 – The Migrant Center joined more than 230 organizations in a call to Trump and President-elect Biden to grant immediate protection, in the form of Temporary Protected Status (TPS), to Nicaraguans, El Salvadorans, Hondurans, and Guatemalans due to the devastation wrought by Hurricanes Eta and Iota, that have exacerbated the challenges of extreme poverty, violence, and the adverse effects of COVID-19. More than 4.9 million people are affected and conditions are life-threatening. It is not the time to return people to their countries.

October 2020

October 9 – The Migrant Center, along with St. Mary’s University, the University of Texas, American Gateways, and RAICES submitted a stakeholder’s letter to Field Office Director Correa to set up a meeting to resolve access to counsel issues presented by COVID-19, specifically the inability to have private phone calls and lack of access to video conferencing, at the South Texas Detention Complex.

September 2020

The Migrant Center joined 147 organizations in a letter to Trump and DHS Acting Secretary Wolf calling for an 18-month designation of TPS (Temporary Protected Status) or DED (Deferred Enforced Departure) due to the recent Beirut explosions where approximately 200 people were killed, at least 6,000 injured, 2,500 homes were left “uninhabitable,” six hospitals, 20 health clinics, 120 schools, and 200,000 other homes were damaged, and at least 300,000 people are newly displaced. DHS may designate a country for TPS if conditions in the country meet requirements regarding ongoing armed conflict, natural disasters (including epidemics), or other extraordinary and temporary conditions in the country that temporarily prevent safe return. DED is similar but designated by the President directly. Before the explosion COVID-19 cases were quickly rising and 3.2 million people, more than half of Lebanon’s population, were in need of humanitarian aid due to economic collapse that has accelerated since 2019 with the currency losing 60 percent of its value and at least 70,000 people losing their jobs, making it difficult to purchase essentials like food and medication.

July 2020

On July 17 the Migrant Center joined organizations around the country in a letter to DHS calling for the immediate release of children from detention with their parents. The Administration had been forcing parents to waive their children’s rights to be with their parents by offering parents the binary choice of having their children either leave detention without them or stay together locked up with them. As of July 2 ICE had completed voluntary COVID testing at the family residential centers and had no positive case. Since testing began at Karnes, 14 individuals have tested positive. Relatedly, a group of doctors previously wrote Congress warning that “poor conditions” at U.S. children detention facilities are increasing the risk of spreading deadly infectious diseases.

On July 21 the Migrant Center joined the community in writing a letter to Congress calling for immigrants to be included in any COVID-19 protection legislation. Immigrant families, workers, taxpayers, and their U.S. children and spouses, were previously excluded from the CARES Act and other COVID-19 recovery packages. We cannot protect the nation from COVID-19 and its economic impacts if we deny health care and financial relief to a large segment of our communities. The letter also calls on Congress to clearly state that uninsured immigrants with low incomes in all states can receive COVID-19 testing, treatment, and vaccines for COVID-19. We urge everyone to contact their members of Congress and explain how important it is for immigrants to be included.

April 2020

Standing in solidarity with detained Pennsylvanians the Migrant Center joined 47 organizations and over 500 individuals on the Release Our Loved Ones petition to call for their release.

On April 21 the Migrant Center joined a letter calling on Congress to pass legislation to ensure that everyone has access to health care, nutrition, and income support they need during COVID-19. We were deeply disappointed to see that the Families First and the CARES Acts left many low- and moderate- income immigrants out of its public health and stimulus policies. This exclusion threatens the well-being of immigrants, their families – which include millions of U.S. citizen children – and our communities as a whole.

The Migrant Center joined a petition to release immigrants from PIDC where they are on hunger strike due to the lack of safely measures, including the requirement that they buy their own soap.

March 2020

On March 24 the Migrant Center signed onto a letter to Attorney General Barr to end arrests and criminal prosecution referrals for unauthorized entry (8 USC §1325) and unauthorized reentry (8 USC §1326), to drop all pending charges on these grounds, and to prioritize release and re-sentence people held in government custody on these grounds. While some federal courts in Arizona and New Mexico are suspending certain prosecutions others are continuing to prosecute and incarcerate migrants.We are calling on the Department of Justice, in conjunction with CBP, ICE, and the U.S. Marshals, to immediately enact changesto Operation Streamline to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

On March 23 the Migrant Center joined over 630 organizations in calling on Congress to include immigrants in the health and economic support measures being considered. Later that evening a House bill was introduced that reflected the language in our letter.

October 2019

On October 17 the Migrant Center joined 100 advocacy organizations around the country in sending a letter to the Georgia Congressional Delegates urging them to investigate the human rights violations occurring at the Stewart Detention Center, including a severe lack of medical and mentalhealth care, the use of force on immigrants including gas bombs and rubberbullets, the misuse of solitary confinement, forced labor and more.

July 2019

The Migrant Center joined 95 civil society organizations, and an additional 120 individuals with expertise in migration, refugee law and human rights, in submitting a request to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights asking that the Commission conduct a comprehensive visit to the US-Mexico border and to use all mechanisms available to protect the human rights of migrants. Read the letter in English here and in Spanish here.

The Migrant Center joined 153 organizations in sending a letter to Congress opposing Senator Graham’s S. 1494 bill, the Secure and Protect Act of 2019 in time for the Senate Judiciary Committee’s mark up. S. 1494 would eviscerate the United States’ current asylum system, enable the prolonged detention of children and families by eliminating the Flores Settlement Agreement, and does nothing to address the root causes of migration.

The Migrant Center joined organizations around the country in calling on nine major hotel chains to not sell their rooms to ICE for use as temporary detention of immigrants picked up in raids. Read the letters.

May 2019

The Migrant Center joinedover 100 community organizations in demanding that DHS address our concern about surveillance and targeting of activists, journalists and lawyers that implicate First Amendment freedoms (speech, association, press), the Privacy Act of 1974, and access to legal counsel. There have been reports that CBP has created dossiersand targeted activists, journalists and lawyers working with individuals seeking asylum for heightened screening.ICE and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) have hidden an undisclosed number of covert surveillance cameras inside streetlights, traffic barrels and road signs around the country, federal contracting documentsreveal. ICE Homeland Security Investigations monitored and disseminated a list of “anti-trump” protestsin New York City.Amazon has expressed interested in outfitting DHS with facial recognition, according to emails. First-hand accounts revealed a pattern of harassment including extended detentions and interrogations, electronic device searches at ports of entry, and denial of re-entry to Mexico. Subsequent to sending our letter, Senators Udall, Warren, Harris and Blumenthal sent a letter to DHS echoing the concerns raised in our letter.

The Migrant Center joined 400 organizations in signing onto an organizational letter in support of HR 6, the American Dream and Promise Act of 2019 which has 207 Congressional cosponsors. This bill would provide a pathway to citizenship for up to 2.5 million Dreamers – including those who do not have DACA – and TPS and Liberian Deferred Enforced Departure recipients. The legislation would allow 10 year conditional permanent residencyfor those who arrived in the U.S. before turning 18, who have been in the U.S. for at least four years, who are in a high school / GED program or have graduated, and who have not committed a felony or three misdemeanors with jail time of 90 days. In most cases they could apply for a green card after working ¾ time and completing two years of college or serving in the military for two years. Read more here. 795,000 U.S.-born children have Dreamer parents who would be eligible for residency.These individuals and their families contribute $75.4 billion in spending power, and $27.1 billion in taxes each year. Households that include Dreamers specifically generate $15.5 billion in federal taxes and $8.5 billion in state and local taxes annually. They hold $66.4 billion in spending power. State-by-state estimates are here. HR 6 subsequently passed the House and is now up for consideration in the Senate.

April 2019

The Migrant Center joined organizations across the country in calling on Congress to decrease funding to ICE and CBP as increasing funds is unnecessary to ensure border security and the smooth operation of our immigration system. There are many other common-sense, and more humane, methods of money management. The letter states: “We are deeply disappointed with the passing of the 2019 Consolidated Appropriations Act because it increases funding to both ICE and CBP, including a 12% increase for immigration detention and $1.375 billion for more border wall, and fails to rein in the agencies’ ability to overspend and siphon money from other accounts.” Read the full letter here.

February 2019

The Migrant Center signed on to support the humanitarian aid work that NGOs like No More Deaths provide along the southern border and condemn the prosecution of those who provide this aid to migrants. The Code of Conduct for the International Red Cross, Red Crescent Movement and NGO’s in Disaster Relief states that “the right to receive humanitarian assistance, and to offer it, is a fundamental humanitarian principle which should be enjoyed by all citizens of all countries.” Mid-February the government dropped criminal changes against four of the defendants but other cases are still pending and volunteers face up to 18 months in prison and fines of $15,000. Individuals can sign the petition here.

January 2019

The Migrant Center joined onto a community public comment submitted as part of the federal Notice and Comment process opposing the Presidential Proclamation attempting to deny asylum to refugees who cross the border without documentation. As part of the comment we attached the Complaint in O.A. et al v. Trump, the case challenging this proclamation. The Administration asked for the court’s review of O.A. to be put on hold during the shutdown.

November 2018

The Migrant Center joined organizations around the country in an NGO sign-on letter urging Democratic leadership in Congress to take steps to reduce funding for this administration’s harmful border militarization and immigration enforcement policies. Specifically, this letter calls for passing a clean (without border wall funds or extra enforcement funds for ICE and CBP), short-term continuing resolution for DHS when DHS’s current funding runs out on December 7th to allow for a more permanent resolution when the new Congress is sworn in in January.

September 2018

The Migrant Center joined several organizations around the country in calling for the Administration to not redefine the meaning of the “public charge” ground of inadmissibility in such as way as to discriminate against low-income individuals. Under the proposed regulation, immigrants who rely on public assistance such as food stamps (SNAP), housing assistance, and Medicaid benefits will have a more difficult time achieving legal status. The administration estimates 382,000 low-income people per year will be affected.

August 2018

The Migrant Center joined more than 175 other organizations in calling for Congress not to expand immigration detention any more. In fiscal year 2018 the budget for immigration detention already rose to 4.11 billion. In fiscal year 2018 the daily detained population has averaged 40,500 people, many of whom do not need to be in detention. Read the letter here.

July 2018

In collaboration with over 200 other organizations the Migrant Center has asked Congress to decriminalize ‘illegal entry’ and ‘illegal reentry’. Under the Administration’s “Zero Tolerance” policy, criminal prosecution and incarceration of more than 200,000 people per year is possible. You can find a fact sheet on this decriminalization demand here. The letter calls on Congress to (1) repeal the laws that make migration a crime (8 U.S.C. 1325, 1326) and (2) oppose anti-immigrant legislation that expands these laws, that would make it easier to convict and incarcerate immigrants for longer periods of time.

We also signed on to a letter calling for greater transparency in detention centers by asking that Congress pass the Private Prison Information Act of 2017 (S.1728) which would strengthen accountability and oversight by requiring for-profit detention facilities under contract with federal agencies like ICE to comply with the same Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requirements as their government-operated counterparts. In 2017, ICE incarcerated a daily average of over 38,000 people, and the President is requesting that detention facilities be expanded to hold 52,000 people per day for fiscal year 2019. Therefore, we will likely see an increase in contracts with private prison companies. Read the letter here.

June 2018

The Migrant Center joined 225 organizations calling for the defeat of the Goodlatte immigration bill Securing America’s Future Act of 2018 H.R. 4760. The bill was subsequently defeated 231 to 193.

We also signed on in opposition to Speaker Ryan’s repressive immigration bill, which under pressure never advanced. The Border Security and Immigration Reform Act of 2018 slashes our family-based immigration system, guts our asylum laws, waives laws that protect communities within 100 miles of the borders, wastes $23 billion taxpayer dollars to build a wall and militarize border communities, and puts children in more danger by keeping them in jail for longer periods of time with fewer standards for their wellbeing. Read the complete letter here.

May 2018
Groups Call upon the United Nations for an Investigation into Rights Violations at Georgia Immigration Detention Facilities

April 2018
The Migrant Center joined other organizations around the country in calling for ICE to reverse its recent change in policy that eliminates the presumption that ICE should not detain pregnant individuals except in extraordinary circumstances and also removes critical reporting requirements regarding the treatment of pregnant individuals in detention. The organizational letter was sent to ICE Deputy Director Thomas Homan.

February 2018
The Migrant Center joins with 250 organizations around the country in calling on Congress to pass a clean Dream Act, to stop unnecessary expansion of the country’s deportation force and the border wall, and to protect family unity visas and the diversity visa lottery program. Read the letter here.

November 2017
The community requests that the Georgia congressional delegation investigate the conditions at the Stewart and Irwin County immigration detention centers in Georgia. Among other things, detained immigrants are denied access to a lawyer, discriminated against, and are forced to work without just compensation. Read the letter here.

October 2017
The Migrant Center added its voice to calls for renewal of Haitian TPS. Read the letter here.

The Migrant Center joined 173 community organizations in demanding the release of Rosa Maria, a 10-year old with cerebral palsy detained after receiving treatment at the Driscoll Children’s Hospital in Corpus Christi. Rosa Maria was followed to the hospital by Customs and Border Patrol when they discovered she was undocumented while passing through a checkpoint. She was brought to the U.S. by her parents when she was three months old so that she would have access to good medical care. On Friday November 3, 2017 she was released and returned to her family. She had been separated for 11 days. The letter also asks for administrative closure of her removal case. The Migrant Center believes ICE should go further and terminate her removal case. Read the letter here.