June, 08 2021, 05:25pm EDT
#WelcomeWithDignity Campaign Responds to Today's Family Reunification Report
WASHINGTON
The Interagency Task Force on the Reunification of Families released an initial progress report today. The Task Force states 'one child was reunited with their parent in March 2021 and six children were reunited in May 2021 -a small but significant number that reflects the challenge of reuniting families that were callously separated by government officials without even an adequate paper trail. In light of these challenges, the newly launched #WelcomeWithDignity campaign appreciates these first signs of progress in addressing the harms that should have never been done, but much more needs to be done to ensure families can seek asylum, stay together, and be welcomed with dignity in the United States.
Representatives from the more than 60 organizations that comprise the #WelcomeWithDignity, campaign seeking to restore and re-envision asylum in the United States, responded:
Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project (ASAP) member, Daniel Paz who was separated from his daughter said: "I am thankful for the opportunity to share my story. I share my story because my daughter and I want to ensure that no other families suffer the pain and trauma that is caused by family separation. I have already won asylum, but many families still live in fear of deportation after being reunited. Families who were separated at the border should know that they are not going to be deported, and that they can live in the United States without fear of persecution or deportation. We deserve to be treated humanely and with respect."
"I am so glad that the government is prioritizing the reunification of families who were separated at the border," said Conchita Cruz, Co-Executive Director of the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project (ASAP). "I hope to see more families reunited very soon, and believe the Family Reunification Task Force must then turn to ensuring that all families that were separated at the border have access to work permits, a path to citizenship, and monetary compensation for the pain they suffered at the hands of government officials. It is only by having long-term security in the United States, free from fear of deportation and further separation, that these families will be able to build a life for themselves and begin to heal from the pain they have endured."
"Today's report shows the Biden administration is working to reunify families the previous administration deliberately targeted for separation. We welcome these advances and urge the administration to move quickly now that processes are in place to reunify families. And there must be accountability for the heinous policies leading to family separations. Although the harm to families can never be fully healed, the task force is a serious attempt to begin providing redress to families targeted by the previous administration's incalculably cruel policy." Denise Bell, Researcher for Refugee and Migrant Rights, Amnesty International USA
"This report on the unwinding of the profound damage the Trump administration inflicted on thousands of children and families is a first step in the right direction to identifying, reunifying, and doing right by those who were wronged," said Paola Luisi, Director of Families Belong Together. "We welcome the progress made by the Task Force that has made a real life impact on families, but the sad reality is that hundreds of children are going to bed tonight with no idea where their parents are, almost three years after being torn apart. We will continue to support the Task Force's work until every family is reunited, gets the resources they need to begin to heal, and are able to build their lives here, together."
"We applaud the progress of the taskforce in beginning to reunite families cruelly separated under the Trump administration. This first taskforce report reflects the Biden administration's commitment to repair the damage inflicted under the zero tolerance policy by ensuring that all children are reunited with their parents in the United States and have access to crucial services. We urge the taskforce to continue working with civil society organizations on both sides of the border to bring justice to all of the families separated and help ensure that family separation never happens again. At the same time, we urge President Biden to ensure a humane and fair process at our border that welcomes men, women, children and families seeking safety with dignity." -Daniella Burgi-Palomino, Co-director, Latin America Working Group (LAWG)
Leah Chavla, senior policy advisor in the Women's Refugee Commission's (WRC's) Migrant Rights and Justice Program, said: "The Task Force's initial progress report shows a commitment to repairing the harms of family separation, which is very good to see. We are grateful for its efforts to-date and applaud the establishment of a process for families to reunite in the U.S. Going forward, we urge the Task Force to ensure this process is streamlined, transparent, and reflects the government's obligation to redress the harm caused over the last four years. WRC will continue to advocate for permanent status for these families to ensure stability, services for medical, mental health, and other needs, and the certainty that family separation won't happen again. We also call on the administration to harness this initial progress by expanding and accelerating its efforts to reunify and heal these families and restore faith in American justice."
Join the movement and sign our pledge to #WelcomeWithDignity here.
The Welcome with Dignity Campaign is comprised of more than 60 organizations committed to transforming the way the United States receives and protects people forced to flee their homes to ensure they are treated humanely and fairly. To learn more and join our campaign visit: welcomewithdignity.org
Amnesty International is a global movement of millions of people demanding human rights for all people - no matter who they are or where they are. We are the world's largest grassroots human rights organization.
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'Completely Un-American': Progressives Slam Trump Plan to End Birthright Citizenship
"Emboldened by a Supreme Court that would use its power to uphold white supremacy rather than the constitution of our nation, Trump is on a mission to weaken the very soul of our nation," said Rep. Delia Ramirez.
Dec 09, 2024
Progressives in Congress and other migrant rights advocates sharply criticized U.S. President-elect Donald Trump for his comments on immigration during a Sunday interview, including on his hopes to end birthright citizenship.
During a 76-minute interview with NBC News' Kristen Welker, Trump said he "absolutely" intends to end birthright citizenship, potentially through executive order, despite the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Among many lies the Republican told, he also falsely claimed that the United States is the only country to offer citizenship by birth; in fact, there are dozens.
In response,
outgoing Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) said on social media Monday: "This is completely un-American. The 14th Amendment guarantees birthright citizenship. Trump cannot unilaterally end it, and any attempt to do so would be both unconstitutional and immoral."
Congresswoman Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) similarly stressed that "birthright citizenship is enshrined in the Constitution as a cornerstone of American ideals. It reflects our belief that America is the land of opportunity. Sadly, this is just another in the long line of Trump's assault on the U.S. Constitution."
Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.), the daughter of Guatemalan immigrants, said in a statement: "'Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.' It is important to remember who we are, where many of us came from, and why many of our families traveled here to be greeted by the Mother of Exiles, the Statue of Liberty."
Ramirez argued that "the story of our nation wouldn't be complete without the sweat, tears, joy, dreams, and hopes of so many children of immigrants who are citizens by birthright and pride themselves on being AMERICANS. It is the story of so many IL-03 communities, strengthened by the immigration of people from Poland, Ukraine, Italy, Mexico, and Guatemala, among others. It is the story of many members of Congress who can point to the citizenship of their forebears and ancestors because of immigration and birthright."
"Let's be clear: Trump is posing the question of who gets to be an American to our nation. And given that today's migrants are from Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, and Latin and Central America, it is clear he is questioning who are the 'right' people to benefit from birthright citizenship," she continued. "Questioning birthright citizenship is anti-American, and eliminating it through executive action is unconstitutional. Donald Trump knows that."
"But emboldened by a Supreme Court that would use its power to uphold white supremacy rather than the Constitution of our nation, Trump is on a mission to weaken the very soul of our nation," she warned. "I—like many sons and daughters of immigrants and first-generation Americans—believe in and fight for a land of freedom, opportunities, and equality. To live into that promise, we must stand against white nationalism—especially when it is espoused at the highest levels of government."
Although Republicans are set to control both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives next year, amending the Constitution requires support from two-thirds of both chambers of Congress and three-fourths of the state legislatures, meaning that process is unlikely to be attempted for this policy.
Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.) highlighted the difficulties of passing constitutional amendments while discussing Trump in a Monday appearance on CNN. The incoming chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus was born in the Dominican Republic and is the first formerly undocumented immigrant elected to Congress.
As Mother Jones reporter Isabela Dias detailed Monday:
Critics of ending birthright citizenship for the U.S.-born children of undocumented immigrants argue it would not only constitute bad policy, but also a betrayal of American values and, as one scholar put it to me, a "prelude" to mass deportation.
"It's really 100 years of accepted interpretation," Hiroshi Motomura, a scholar of immigration and citizenship at UCLA's law school, told me of birthright citizenship. Ending birthright citizenship would cut at the core of the hard-fought assurance of equal treatment under the law, he said, "basically drawing a line between two kinds of American citizens."
Trump's NBC interview also addressed his long-promised mass deportations. The president-elect—whose first administration was globally condemned for separating migrant families at the southern border and second administration is already filling up with hard-liners—suggested Sunday that he would deport children who are U.S. citizens with undocumented parents.
"I don't want to be breaking up families, so the only way you don't break up the family is you keep them together and you have to send them all back," Trump told Welker.
Responding in a Monday statement, America's Voice executive director Vanessa Cárdenas said, "There's a growing consensus that the Trump mass deportation agenda will hit American consumers and industries hard, but the scope of what Trump and his team are proposing goes well beyond the economic impact."
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Under the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which opened the refuge for oil and gas drilling, the Biden administration announced the second of two lease sales, set to be held on January 9, 2025.
The first Trump administration held the initial lease sale in 2021, but with banks and insurance companies increasingly reticent to back drilling projects in the area, it generated little interest and led to less than 1% of the projected sale revenue.
Releasing its final record of decision, the Interior Department said Monday that 400,000 acres of wilderness in the refuge's 1.6-million-acre northwest Coastal Plain would be put up for bidding at a minimum price of $30 per acre—despite vocal opposition from the Gwich'in Nation and the Iñupiat Alaska Natives.
The land supports local communities as well as porcupine caribou herds and polar bears.
"Our way of life, our food security, and our spiritual well-being is directly tied to the health of the caribou and the health of this irreplaceable landscape," Kristen Moreland, executive director of Gwich'in Steering Committee, toldBloomberg News. "Every oil company stayed away from the first lease sale, and we expect them to do the same during the second."
The record of decision concludes the Bureau of Land Management's process for developing a supplemental environmental impact statement, which was required after President-elect Donald Trump's first administration completed an analysis with "fundamental flaws and legal errors," as the Sierra Club said Monday.
Selling the drilling rights just before Trump takes office could complicate the GOP's plans to hold a more expansive sale later on, but Dan Ritzman, director of Sierra Club's Conservation Campaign, emphasized that regardless of who is in office when the sale takes place, "oil and gas development in the Arctic Refuge is a direct threat to some of the last untouched landscapes on Alaska's North Slope and to the caribou herds that the Gwich'in people rely on."
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The former president, warned a broad rights coalition, "executed more people than the previous ten administrations combined."
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A large and diverse coalition of broad coalition of rights organizations on Monday sent a letter to U.S. President Biden Monday, urging him to commute the sentences of all 40 individuals who are on federal death row.
The letter adds to a chorus of voices—including prosecutors and law enforcement officials—advocating for Biden to use his clemency powers to issue such commutations before he departs office.
The calls for Biden to issue pardons and commutations have only grown since the president issued a pardon for his son, clearing Hunter Biden of wrongdoing in any federal crimes he committed or may have committed in the last 11 years.
The joint letter to Biden was backed by over 130 organizations, including the ACLU, Brennan Center for Justice, and The Sentencing Project, commends his administration's "actions to repudiate capital punishment, including imposing a moratorium on executions for those sentenced to death, and for publicly calling for an end to the use of the death penalty during your 2020 campaign. In the face of a second Trump administration, more is necessary."
"President Trump executed more people than the previous ten administrations combined. Of those he executed, over half were people of color: six Black men and one Native American. The only irreversible action you can take to prevent President-elect Trump from renewing his execution spree, as he has vowed to do, is commuting the death sentences of those on federal death row now," the letter states.
The letter cites additional reasons that Biden ought to commute the sentences, including that the death penalty "has been rooted in slavery, lynchings, and white vigilantism."
A separate letter to Biden—sent in November by group of attorneys general, law enforcement officials, and others—argues that "condemning people to death by the state does not advance public safety. The death penalty fails as an effective deterrent and does not reduce crime. As an outdated, error-riddled, and racially-biased practice, its continued use—and the potential for its abuse—erodes public trust in the criminal legal system and undermines the legitimacy of the entire criminal legal system."
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The call for commutations for death row prisoners aligns with a wider push for the President to use his clemency powers before he leaves office.
Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), who has been particularly vocal on this issue, said Sunday on social media that President Biden "must use his clemency power to change lives for the better. And we have some ideas on who he can target: Folks in custody with unjustified sentencing disparities, the elderly and chronically ill, people on death row, women punished for crimes of their abusers, and more."
Pressley was one of over 60 members of Congress who sent a letter to Biden last month, encouraging Biden to intervene to help these groups.
Several lawmakers have specific pardons or commutations in mind, according to Axios. For example, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) has urged Biden to pardon Julian Assange of WikiLeaks, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) has called for a pardon of Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier, per Axios.
So far, Biden has granted far fewer clemency petitions (161 total) than former President Barrack Obama, according to the Department of Justice's Office of the Pardon Attorney, and a few dozen less than President-elect Trump did during his entire first presidency. However, in 2022, Biden did grant full and unconditional pardons to all U.S. citizens convicted of simple federal marijuana possession—a move that was cheered by advocates.
According to The New York Times, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said last week that Biden was expected to make more clemency announcements "at the end of his term."
"He's thinking through that process very thoroughly," she said.
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