Category Archives: Immigration

Drowning of Women, Two Children Intensify Disgust Over Illegal Border Operations by Texas National Guard

“Gov. Abbott’s inhumanity has no limit. Everyone who enables his cruelty has blood on their hands.”

By Jon Queally. Published 1-14-2024 by Common Dreams

U.S. Border Patrol agents perform a water rescue and assist a migrant family in distress near Eagle Pass, Texas, August 20, 2019, CBP photo by Jaime Rodriguez Sr.

The drowning of a woman and two young children along the U.S.-Mexico border have sparked outrage and rebuke over the weekend after it was reported that U.S. Border Patrol agents attempting a rescue operation were denied access to the area by Texas security officials operating under the direction of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott.

According to Texas Public Radio:

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Teachers Union Sues NYC Mayor Over ‘Draconian’ Budget Cuts

“We are already seeing more overcrowded classrooms,” said a union leader. “We are seeing children with special needs not getting their mandated services. And if these cuts go through, all of these situations get worse.”

By Jessica Corbett. Published 12-21-2023 by Common Dreams

New York City Mayor Eric Adams hosted his inaugural Black History Month event, “Bridging The Gap” at The Apollo in Harlem on Thursday, February 24, 2022.. Photo: nycmayorsoffice/flickr/Public domain

As New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Thursday delivered a speech claiming he has been able to “get stuff done” for working people over the past two years, a teachers union in the largest U.S. public school district sued the Democrat for trying to slash the education budget for fiscal years 2024 and 2025 “by staggering amounts.”

“The approximate $547 million in immediate budget cuts to the New York City School District announced on November 16, 2023, together with the further cuts proposed that may amount to close to $2 billion stripped from city schools this fiscal year and next, will have a far-reaching and devastating impact on teachers and New York City children,” says the complaint filed in state court by the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) and individual educators.

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Appeals Court Tells Texas to Remove Rio Grande Buoy ‘Death Traps’

“Despite this small victory, the razor buoys are only a fraction of Gov. Abbott’s racist and murderous Operation Lone Star,” one group noted.

By Jessica Corbett. Published 12-1-2023 by Common Dreams

Photo: Texas Military Dept./X

A federal appellate court panel on Friday delivered a blow to Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s anti-migrant regime, ruling 2-1 that the state must remove from the Rio Grande a buoy barrier intended to block people from crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) sued Texas and Abbott over the buoys, which are part of the governor’s Operation Lone Star, in July. U.S. Judge David A. Ezra of the Western District of Texas, an appointee of former President Ronald Reagan, ordered the state to remove the barrier and prohibited new or additional blockades in September.

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Xenophobic Rumors About Stabbing Attack Fuel Far-Right Riots in Dublin

“We saw last night in Dublin a consequence of politicians spending years demonizing immigrants,” said one critic.

By Julia Conley. Published 11-24-2023 by Common Dreams

Dublin, on November 23, 2023. Photo: Dr. Eli David/X

Irish authorities on Friday condemned a far-right, anti-immigrant faction that rapidly spread rumors about the perpetrator of a violent knife attack in Dublin and ultimately tore through the streets of Ireland’s capital Thursday night, setting cars and buses on fire and smashing storefront windows.

The country was shocked Thursday by a mid-day stabbing attack on three young children—including a five-year-old girl who sustained serious injuries—and a woman who were reportedly on their way to a daycare facility when a man assaulted them.

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Win for ‘Hateful Far-Right Islamophobe’ Geert Wilders Sends Shockwaves

The outspoken Dutch xenophobe often compared to Donald Trump is poised to become the next prime minister of the Netherlands if he can cobble together enough support to form a coalition government.

By Jon Queally. Published 11-23-2023 by Common Dreams

Geert Wilders, Dutch right-wing politician and leader of the Party for Freedom (PVV). Photo: uair01/flickr/CC

National election results in the Netherlands on Wednesday sent shockwaves across Europe as “hateful far-right Islamophobe” Geert Wilders and his party have won the most seats in parliament and positioned Wilders himself to become the nation’s next prime minister.

Wilders, a xenophobic nationalist who is regarded as the “Dutch Donald Trump—but worse” by many of his critics, has for years spewed anti-immigrant rhetoric and speaks openly about making the Netherlands a home only for those he considers pure Dutchmen.

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Actions Across US Urge Biden to End ‘Cruel’ Immigration Detention and Deportations

Our tax dollars need to be used to strengthen our families and communities and uphold our human rights, not for the militarization of our beloved borderlands,” said one activist.

By Brett Wilkins. Published 9-15-2023 by Common Dreams

Migrant rights advocates rally outside the White House in Washington, D.C. on September 15, 2023. Photo: SBCC/Twitter

A coalition of over 80 advocacy groups on Friday co-sponsored demonstrations in eight U.S. states and Washington, D.C. as part of a national day of action demanding the Biden administration close all federal immigration detention centers, release all migrants in custody, and end deportations.

Throughout his campaign, President Joe Biden “pledged to create an immigration system that is just and humane, including ending for-profit immigration detention,” the coalition—which is organizing under the Defund Hate and Communities Not Cages banners—said in a statement.

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Watchdog Finds Trump Border Wall Harmed Environment, Indigenous Sites, and Wildlife

“This racist political stunt has been an ineffective waste of billions of American taxpayers’ dollars—and now we know it has caused immeasurable, irreparable harm,” said Congressman Raúl Grijalva.

By Jessica Corbett Published 9-7-2023 by Common Dreams

Donald Trump stands before a section of border fencing. Photo: rump White House Archived/flickr/CC

A U.S. government watchdog agency on Thursday released a report exposing how former President Donald Trump’s wall construction along the nation’s border with Mexico negatively affected cultural and natural resources, as critics have long argued.

“The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the Department of Defense (DOD) installed about 458 miles of border barrier panels across the southwest border from January 2017 through January 2021,” according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) report. “Most (81%) of the miles of panels replaced existing barriers.”

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‘Blood on His Hands’: Abbott Under Fire for Busing Migrants to Chicago After 3-Year-Old Dies

“Not sure how many migrants need to literally die on Greg Abbott’s watch for us to treat what’s happening at the Texas border as the national scandal that it should be,” said one journalist.

By Jessica Corbett Published 8-12-2023 by Common Dreams

Texas Governor Greg Abbott. Photo: Public domain

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott faced fresh criticism on Friday after officials confirmed a young child died during a bus trip from the border city of Brownsville to Chicago, Illinois—part of the Republican’s monthslong stunt of transporting migrants to communities with Democratic leaders.

“The Illinois Department of Public Health said the child was 3 years old and died Thursday in Marion County, in the southern part of that state,” according to The Associated Press.

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‘Openly Murderous’: DeSantis Outlines Border Proposal Modeled on War Zones

By admitting border agents would have to make their own “judgements” to determine whether to shoot a migrant, said one critic, the Florida governor signaled he would embrace “the large-scale murder of innocent people.”

By Julia Conley. Published 8=8-2023 by Common Dreams

Florida governor and 2024 Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis speaks during a news conference near the Rio Grande River in Eagle Pass, Texas on June 26, 2023.. Photo; Ron DeSantis/Twitter

Republican presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday night expanded on his proposed border policy, which he has said would include the use of “deadly force” against anyone suspected of drug trafficking—explaining to NBC News that border agents would use the same “rules of engagement” as U.S. forces in Iraq or police officers to determine when they should fire a weapon at someone.

DeSantis first proposed his border policy in June, saying he would “stop the invasion” by deputizing state and local police officers to arrest and deport migrants and detain unaccompanied children who cross the border, ending birthright citizenship, and empowering agents to use deadly force against people suspected of carrying drugs across the border—despite the fact that the vast majority of drug trafficking is carried out with commercial vehicles that travel through official ports of entry rather than people traveling on foot.

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Report Details ‘Shocking Pattern’ of Abuse by US Agents at Mexico Border

“The lack of accountability is so widespread that it helps cement in place a culture that enables human rights violations. The abuses keep coming because impunity is so likely.”

By Brett Wilkins. Published 8-2-2023 by Common Dreams

Photo: Sandor Csudai

A report published Wednesday by a pair of advocacy groups details rampant human rights abuses against migrants and some American citizens allegedly perpetrated by Department of Homeland Security personnel at the U.S.-Mexico border in recent years under both the Trump and Biden administrations.

The report—entitled Abuses at the U.S.- Mexico Border: How To Address Failures and Protect Rights—was published by the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) and the Kino Border Initiative (KBI) and reveals “frequent and severe alleged abuses” of migrants by members of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), including Border Patrol agents.

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