WTF Community

Immigration: issues and policy

CBP officials knew about derogatory Facebook group years ago and have investigated posts from it before

This map supposedly shows every known US Customs & Border Protection facility in the South Border states.

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1laXX-r-5obEiKFSi6XqMoYkMqu4Iez2p&ll=30.68415514517496%2C-107.3284797&z=4&fbclid=IwAR20ZE6hBImYqkauPtP4-0xjzkaVVT0kFo8X7OrfEXc_elQjiaGG_oml8DM

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It’s beyond belief…more revelations and even worse than one could imagine.

WASHINGTON — The poor treatment of migrant children at the hands of U.S. border agents in recent months extends beyond Texas to include allegations of sexual assault and retaliation for protests, according to dozens of accounts by children held in Arizona collected by government case managers and obtained by NBC News.

A 16-year-old Guatemalan boy held in Yuma, Arizona, said he and others in his cell complained about the taste of the water and food they were given. The Customs and Border Protection agents took the mats out of their cell in retaliation, forcing them to sleep on hard concrete.

A 15-year-old girl from Honduras described a large, bearded officer putting his hands inside her bra, pulling down her underwear and groping her as part of what was meant to be a routine pat down in front of other immigrants and officers.

The girl said “she felt embarrassed as the officer was speaking in English to other officers and laughing” during the entire process, according to a report of her account.

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They’re already over-crowded and well past the legal limit Congress set for them.

And now this:

U.S. Prepares to Arrest Thousands of Immigrant Family Members

Nationwide raids to arrest thousands of members of undocumented families have been scheduled to begin Sunday, according to two current and one former homeland security officials, moving forward with a rapidly changing operation, the final details of which remain in flux. The operation, backed by President Trump, had been postponed, partly because of resistance among officials at his own immigration agency.

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“Your Judge Is Your Destiny”

Agnelis L. Reese has presided over more than 200 hearings during the past five years as an immigration judge. Unique among her peers, she has rejected every single case.

As Trump’s ICE prepares to arrest thousands of immigrants, creating potential for far worse situations than we’ve seen already, remember you are NOT helpless. Look after each other. Know your rights. And here is a list of sites you can volunteer with and resources for immigrants, advocates, and allies:

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Man Who Refused To Hand Over Immigrant Info To ICE: ‘Don’t Collaborate With Fascists’

“This is child abuse executed by the U.S. government,” he said of the Trump administration’s zero tolerance immigration policy.

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What with the glut of horrendous news, on many fronts, it takes a toll on a country such as ours…the intended chaos, the splintering of factions, the rigged elections, the tormenting of the free press are all signs of fascism. It is here and raising it’s ugly head.

To grasp what is going on in the world right now, we need to reflect on two things. One is that we are in a phase of trial runs. The other is that what is being trialled is fascism – a word that should be used carefully but not shirked when it is so clearly on the horizon. Forget “post-fascist” – what we are living with is pre-fascism.

It is easy to dismiss Donald Trump as an ignoramus, not least because he is. But he has an acute understanding of one thing: test marketing. He created himself in the gossip pages of the New York tabloids, where celebrity is manufactured by planting outrageous stories that you can later confirm or deny depending on how they go down. And he recreated himself in reality TV where the storylines can be adjusted according to the ratings. Put something out there, pull it back, adjust, go again.

Fascism doesn’t arise suddenly in an existing democracy. It is not easy to get people to give up their ideas of freedom and civility. You have to do trial runs that, if they are done well, serve two purposes. They get people used to something they may initially recoil from; and they allow you to refine and calibrate. This is what is happening now and we would be fools not to see it.

One of the basic tools of fascism is the rigging of elections – we’ve seen that trialled in the election of Trump, in the Brexit referendum and (less successfully) in the French presidential elections. Another is the generation of tribal identities, the division of society into mutually exclusive polarities. Fascism does not need a majority – it typically comes to power with about 40 per cent support and then uses control and intimidation to consolidate that power. So it doesn’t matter if most people hate you, as long as your 40 per cent is fanatically committed. That’s been tested out too. And fascism of course needs a propaganda machine so effective that it creates for its followers a universe of “alternative facts” impervious to unwanted realities. Again, the testing for this is very far advanced.

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Cross posting

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Must read!

At the 3,200-bed Homestead detention center for unaccompanied immigrant youths, one 15-year-old boy is an aberration: He has lived in the United States virtually his entire life.

Far from being a recent arrival at the southern border, the teen entered the country when he was a 9-month-old infant; he has lived in Houston his whole life, along with his mother, who brought him to the U.S. in 2004.

More than two weeks ago, the teen was detained in Texas when a local county cop pulled his uncle over for speeding. When they could not produce immigration documents, the boy and his uncle — the Miami Herald is not identifying either one because of their immigration status — were promptly arrested, then separated.

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This 1-minute raw video footage of Pence inspecting the cage says it all:

And Pence has the audacity to blame this on Democrats.

Shame. Shame. Shame. And Lie. Lie. Lie.

Vice President Mike Pence saw firsthand the extreme overcrowding migrants are often forced to endure at federal detention centers when he visited two Friday in Texas.

Agents wore face masks, and video showed detainees packed into their holding areas surrounded by chain-link fence, the concrete floors littered with silver thermal blankets. Reporters accompanying Pence described the facility as smelling "horrendous."

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URGENT

ICE raids have begun in NYC. Confirmed by Mayors office of Immigrant Affairs.

“We have confirmed reports of the ICE enforcement efforts in Sunset Park and Harlem.”

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Trump’s Day of Terror

His planned raid against undocumented immigrants on Sunday recalls some of the darkest chapters in American history.

Georgia, 2 other states eyed for permanent child detention centers

Proposals for the new sites in Georgia, Texas and Arizona are for long-term facilities.

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And here we go. The propaganda has started. Not how I expected. They sent Mike Pence in as their agent.

Video shows Mike Pence ‘callously’ turning back on caged migrants while touring border detention centres

One person said: ‘I saw not a single shred of pity or empathy in that empty man’s eyes’

‘No shower, no shower!’: Migrants shout as Pence visits Texas detention centers

House Dem calls Pence ‘deaf to humanity’ after his detention center visits

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This is devastating. :pleading_face:

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The NYT had a story on this also, how people are dying there. I’ve posted it here before.

Also… this:

The US is quietly opening shelters for babies and young kids. One has 12 children and no mothers

One of the babies (born in the US and therefore a citizen) in custody is just two weeks old living in a group home California.

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Immigration-Enforcement Raids Begin in New York

ICE agents attempt raids in at least two city neighborhoods; President Trump says roundups will focus on criminals

@Windthin - looks like the WSJ altered the headline to the article…

Later in the day, WSJ reports that the ICE roundups were a bust in NYC area. People were very much informed about what their rights were, and if there was not a warrant there for their arrest, no one was going to open their door.

It was another helter skelter attempt to destabilize and terrify people on the administration’s part…sending out a chill.

In New York City, ICE agents went to residences in the Harlem section of Manhattan and Brooklyn’s Sunset Park neighborhood, the person said. The agents were rejected by people at the residences because they didn’t have warrants, according to the person. New York City officials said Sunday there was no indication that they had returned.

A spokeswoman for ICE in New York said that the agency won’t offer specific details related to enforcement operations. “As always, ICE prioritizes the arrest and removal of unlawfully present aliens who pose a threat to national security, public safety and border security,” the spokeswoman said.

But there was no indication those raids were part of the nationwide roundup Mr. Trump had told reporters would happen beginning Sunday. Mr. Trump had announced a similar raid last month, but it was postponed amid concerns, including over officers’ safety. Some Democratic critics of the president said he was using the threat of raids to help consolidate his political base.

“Here’s the blunt truth: @realDonaldTrump isn’t trying to ‘secure our borders.’ He’s trying to make America HATE again,” New York Mayor Bill de Blasio—one of the many Democrats seeking to unseat Mr. Trump—said Sunday morning on Twitter.

As of Sunday afternoon, activist groups were reporting little other enforcement activity beyond Saturday’s New York City raids.

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Makes sense. You don’t announce raids ahead of time and expect them to succeed, and you don’t send agents out without warrants after weeks of the opposition prepping people on response and expect them to succeed either.

This was always about fearmongering. In fact, this whole DAY was about playing to his base:


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Lindsey Graham Says ‘I Don’t Care’ if Migrants are Detained for ‘400 Days’: ‘We’re not Going to Let These People Go’