Articles

5/8/19, New York Times: The Real Threat Uncovered by Armed Civilians at the Border

5/8/19, Politico: The Surprising New Effect Of Trump’s Immigration Crackdown

Zamarrón, 32, initially vowed to fight her removal from the U.S. as long as she could. But as the months in detention dragged on, she changed her mind and asked for “voluntary departure,” which would allow her to leave the U.S. without a deportation on her record. “My family decided the best bet was for me to leave and fight from the outside,” Zamarrón said in a phone call from the detention center, before she returned to Mexico in November.

5/8/19, Immigration Impact: How Has Immigration Changed in the Last 100 Years?

5/8/19, Center for Public Integrity: Data Defies Trump Claims That Refugees and Asylees are a Taxpayer Burden

In fact, researchers found that during the 10 years between 2005 and 2014, refugees and asylees here from 1980 on contributed $63 billion more to government revenues than they used in public services. Senior administration officials, possibly including White House aide Stephen Miller, quashed the 55-page draft and submitted a three-page report instead, The New York Timesreported. Soon after, the White House released a fact sheet selectively borrowing from the draft report by noting that the U.S. “spent more than $96 billion on programs supporting or benefiting refugees between 2005 and 2014.”

5/8/19, New York Times: Pentagon Has Redirected Money to Build 256 Miles of Border Barriers, Shanahan Says

5/7/19, Washington Post: The U.S. has slashed its refugee intake. Syrians fleeing war are most affected.

5/7/19, The Guardian: Fortress Europe: what happens to the refugees sent back to Libya? (podcast)

5/7/19, New York Times: Trump Administration Can Keep Sending Asylum Seekers to Mexico, Court Rules

Legal advocates for migrants have denounced the policy, saying a spike in violence and overwhelmed shelters in Mexican border towns put the migrants at risk.

Being forced to remain in Mexico while their asylum cases are being prepared also limits the migrants’ access to legal counsel because they cannot reach the help that is available on the American side of the border, immigration lawyers said.

5/6/19, The Hill: ICE announces program to allow local law enforcement to make immigration arrests

5/5/19, Vox: Trump picks former Border Patrol chief to lead ICE

5/3/19, Indianapolis Star: ICE officers showed up at a Crawfordsville restaurant. What happened next has people talking.

5/3/19, ProPublica: Pediatrician Who Treated Immigrant Children Describes Pattern of Lapses in Medical Care in Shelters

Levites-Agababa’s concerns were recently substantiated by New Jersey regulators, who found numerous failures in CFS’ care of immigrant children. But despite the violations, the state agency lacks the ability to fine the shelter operator or remove kids from its care.

Levites-Agababa said she fears she could be fired for speaking out but agreed to go public in hopes of drawing attention to the care of children in the shelters.

5/3/19, NBC News: Why can’t immigrant teens be with sponsors, foster families? Attorneys push for changes

Opinion

5/9/19, New York Times: The Supreme Court, the Census Case and the Truth

But if the plaintiff states are going to lose, it seems to me that it matters greatly how they lose. What was depressing and even scary about the April 23 argument was the disingenuous lengths to which the conservative justices were willing to go to tilt the case in the administration’s favor. They played dumb. They pretended not to know what they surely knew: that the citizenship question will depress the census count in a way that is predictably harmful and that the administration’s brief concealed the real story of how the citizenship question made its way onto the census. In other words, I have enough respect for the justices’ basic intelligence, which includes the ability to read the same briefs and opinions that I read, to conclude that they know full well what game is afoot.

5/7/19, New York Times: The Abandoned Vans of Atlanta

Once engines of economic opportunity, the vans are now tombstones for the disappeared. In the counties that make up metropolitan Atlanta, immigration-related arrests have spiked over the last two years, as ICE and local law enforcements agencies have moved to vigorously enforce immigration law at the behest of the Trump administration.

As Mr. Guevara’s videos reveal, a predator does indeed stalk these quiet corners and busy streets. The “wolf” arrives in the form of an unmarked car, or cars. The human target is quickly ushered into an S.U.V. by immigration agents wearing body armor.

Mr. Guevara’s job, and his obsession, is to stalk the wolf.

5/3/19, New York Times: A Century Ago, America Built Another Kind of Wall

Publications

Migration Policy Institute: A Profile of Highly Skilled Mexican Immigrants in Texas and the United States

The fact sheet offers a socio-demographic profile of college-educated Mexican immigrants and examines their destinations, legal status and top industries of employment in the state that is home to more than one-fourth of all highly skilled Mexican immigrants nationwide. It also includes select U.S. data.

The number of Mexican immigrants in the United States with a bachelor’s degree or higher rose from 269,000 in 2000 to 678,000 in 2017. In Texas, a gateway state for Mexicans, the number increased from 61,000 to 185,000 over the same period. Only California, with 215,000 highly skilled Mexican immigrants, has a larger number.

Migration Policy Institute: Eight Key U.S. Immigration Policy Issues: State of Play and Unanswered Questions

American Immigration Lawyers Association, April 15, 2019: Featured Issue: Border Processing and Asylum

This featured issue page provides updates, analysis, and other resources on these policies that include the “Migrant Protection Protocols” program, the “turnback” of asylum seekers at ports of entry, a “zero tolerance” plan for prosecuting asylum seekers, the separation of families, and the increased use of detention on asylum seekers. Combined, the policies form an ever-present and increasing barrier to due process protections for migrants, threatening fundamental rights like access to counsel, and a fair day in court.

Crossings: Journal of Migration and Culture: Refracting exoticism in video representations of the victim-refugee: K’Naan, Angelina Jolie and research responsibilities (pay-walled)