Stop the government’s assault on immigrants

Latest

Immigrant rights march, Michigan. The sign says, “The holocaust was legal. Slavery was legal. Segregation was legal. Legality isn’t a guide for morality”.
Photo/daymonjhartley.com

 
The assault on the immigrants’ human rights began before Trump, but Trump’s policies have made it far worse.
In early July, the Department of Homeland Security released a report on conditions in migrant detention centers. Time magazine said DHS reported that “Adults and children have been held for days, weeks, or even months in cramped cells, sometimes with no access to soap, toothpaste, or places to wash their hands or shower. Some reports have emerged of children sleeping on concrete floors; others of adults having to stand for days due to lack of space. . . .At an Arizona facility, a 15-year-old girl from Honduras reported that an officer groped her during a patdown in front of other migrants and officers.” There have been outbreaks of flu, lice, chicken pox and scabies.
In July, Yazmin Juárez, an asylum seeker from Guatemala whose 19-month-old daughter Mariee became ill in ICE detention and later died, told Congress, “I noticed immediately how many sick children there were in detention, that no effort was being made to separate the sick from the healthy.”
The Center for American Progress in mid-June reported on Covid-19 in ICE facilities, saying that the virus “has spread quickly and dramatically within detention facilities and throughout the network of facilities around the country” and that ICE “has ignored commonsense measures to halt its spread.”
Another aspect is the government’s “Remain in Mexico” program, which allows US border officers “to return non-Mexican asylum seekers to dangerous locations in Mexico as their claims are adjudicated in US immigration courts,” according to Human Rights Watch. The thousands sent back to wait in Mexico face “kidnapping, sexual assault, exploitation, lack of basic necessities, abuse and other dangers in Mexico, with no meaningful access to due process in the United States.”
Finally, as Alexis Goldstein reported recently in Truthout, Trump has “manufactured a [funding] crisis” at the federal agency responsible for green cards, citizenship, and asylum. The agency may have to furlough two-thirds of its workers in August. This would further suppress immigration and could deny the vote to hundreds of thousands of potential new voters.
No one should be imprisoned for seeking life and freedom, and no one should be imprisoned in dangerous conditions. There is plenty to go around. The people get little from our government while the rich get trillions. The real criminals are in high places. They need to be removed so we can get the resources we need to take care of all of us.
 

Who are the refugee children?


 

PT Logo collage
+ Articles by this author

Bob Lee is a professional journalist, writer and editor, and is co-editor of the People’s Tribune, serving as Managing Editor. He first started writing for and distributing the People’s Tribune in 1980, and joined the editorial board in 1987.

Free to republish but please credit the People's Tribune. Visit us at www.peoplestribune.org, email peoplestribune@gmail.com, or call 773-486-3551.

The People’s Tribune brings you articles written by individuals or organizations, along with our own reporting. Bylined articles reflect the views of the authors. Unsigned articles reflect the views of the editorial board. Please credit the source when sharing: ©2024 peoplestribune.org. Please donate to help us keep bringing you voices of the movement. Click here. We’re all volunteer, no paid staff.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Featured

Chicago Teachers Union Says: Trump, Stay Out of Our City

The Chicago Teachers Union rejects any attempt at an unlawful federal occupation of their city. They welcome federal leadership that fully funds public education, restores SNAP, and expands Medicaid to healthcare for all.

Journalist Says Why ‘I Can No Longer Work With Reuters’

A photojournalist says why it is impossible for her to maintain a relationship with Reuters "given its role in justifying and enabling the systematic assassination of 245 journalists in Gaza."

Abrego Garcia Detained Again, Could be Deported to Uganda

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran immigrant worker, was freed from detention in Tennessee Aug. 22 and then re-arrested by ICE on Aug. 25 in Maryland. The Trump administration is trying to deport Abrego Garcia to Uganda.

An Open Letter to Mayor Matt Mahan of San Jose, CA.

From the San Jose CA Frontlines: Stop the sweeps. Unhoused people want a safe place to stay. All people should be respected, shown compassion, understanding.

Global Food Authority Declares Catastrophic Famine in Gaza

On Aug. 22, the world's top authority on hunger crises officially declared that a catastrophe-level famine in Gaza exists—a humanitarian disaster engineered by Israel's relentless blockade of food aid and other life-saving supplies.

More from the People's Tribune