Tag Archives: deportations

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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A Trump-era law used to restrict immigration is nearing its end despite GOP warnings of a looming crisis at the Southern border

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*Hundreds of asylum-seekers gather on the banks of the Rio Grande to enter the U.S. on Dec. 12, 2022.*
*Jose Zamora/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images*

Ernesto Castañeda, American University

A key component of the Trump administration’s anti-immigration policies is currently set to expire on Dec. 21, 2022.

Officially called Title 42 of the U.S. Code, the little-known law was established initially in 1944 to prevent the spread of influenza and allow authorities to bar entry to foreigners deemed to be at risk of spreading the disease.

In March 2020, on the recommendation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, then-President Donald Trump invoked the law to minimize the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Continue reading →

‘Totally Unacceptable’: US Rejecting 90% of Afghans Seeking Asylum Under Humanitarian Program

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“We don’t feel safe,” lamented one Afghan asylum-seeker whose brothers translated for U.S. invasion forces. “We don’t know what will happen in an hour. We don’t know what will happen tomorrow.”

By Brett Wilkins Published 6-20-2022 by Common Dreams

Seven Afghan citizens arrived in Luxembourg to start a new life – 2021. Photo: NATO/flickr/CC

As a coalition of human rights groups on Monday implored the international community to do more to help Afghan refugees, new reporting revealed that the United States is rejecting the overwhelming majority of Afghans seeking to enter the country under a humanitarian program—including relatives of those who aided the U.S.-led invasion and occupation of their country.

“Today, over six million Afghans have been driven out of their homes and their country by conflict,” the Alliance for Human Rights noted in its World Refugee Day statement. “These numbers have been exacerbated by the Taliban’s seizure of power in Afghanistan in August 2021 and the critical humanitarian crisis Afghanistan is facing today.” Continue reading →

Study Reveals Sweeping Extent of ICE’s Secret Surveillance Dragnet

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“In its efforts to arrest and deport, ICE has—without any judicial, legislative or public oversight—reached into datasets containing personal information about the vast majority of people living in the U.S.”

By Brett Wilkins Published 5-10-2022 by Common Dreams

Photo: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement/flickr

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is operating a digital surveillance dragnet through which the agency is able to access information about nearly every person in the United States, a two-year investigation by researchers from the Center on Privacy & Technology at Georgetown Law revealed Tuesday.

The study—entitled American Dragnet: Data-Driven Deportation in the 21st Century—found that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) “has built its dragnet surveillance system by crossing legal and ethical lines, leveraging the trust that people place in state agencies and essential service providers, and exploiting the vulnerability of people who volunteer their information to reunite with their families.” Continue reading →

Advocates Denounce ‘Horrifying’ SCOTUS Ruling Upholding Indefinite Immigrant Detention

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“Today, six Supreme Court justices… sanctioned the United States’ use of punitive, prolonged, and arbitrary detention as a means of immigration enforcement and deterrence.”

By Brett Wilkins, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 6-29-2021

Demonstrators protest United States immigration policy in Washington, D.C. in 2017. Photo: Ted Eytan/CC BY-SA 2.0

In a decision called “horrifying” by human rights advocates, the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that the government may indefinitely detain previously deported immigrants who claim they will be tortured or persecuted if returned to their countries of origin.

The court ruled 6-3 along ideological lines in Johnson v. Guzman Chavez that a group of previously removed immigrants who were apprehended again after reentering the United States could not be released on bond while the government evaluates their claims of “reasonable fear” of torture or persecution. The decision reverses a U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in the immigrants’ favor. Continue reading →

‘Get These Agencies Under Control Immediately’: Despite Biden Moratorium, ICE and CBP Deport Hundreds

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“Don’t. Look. Away. We can’t trust ICE and CBP, even if their boss is a Democrat.”

By Jake Johnson, staff writer for Common Dreams. published 2-2-2021

Photo: SocialistWorker.org

“How many more lives must ICE ruin before action is taken?”

That urgent question was posed late Monday by the advocacy coalition Families Belong Together following news that Immigration and Customs Enforcement—which progressives have characterized as a “rogue agency” that must be abolished—has deported hundreds of people since President Joe Biden took office last month, including a 27-year-old woman who witnessed the 2019 mass shooting targeting Latinos at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas.

The flurry of deportations over the past several days came after a Trump-appointed federal judge in Texas last week temporarily blocked implementation of Biden’s 100-day deportation moratorium, a ban that could have prevented some—though, given its limitations, likely not all—of the latest removals. Continue reading →

Following Outcry, US Government Halts Deportations of Women Who Allege Medical Abuse in ICE Detention—At Least for Now

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“ICE and others at Irwin thought they could silence these women… But the women have organized and had the audacity to speak out.”

By Julia Conley, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 11-24-2020

Screenshot: WFAL

Women who have spoken out about alleged abuse by a gynecologist while in U.S. custody won a reprieve Tuesday when the U.S. Department of Justice agreed to halt their deportations until President Donald Trump is nearly out of office.

The motion filed by the DOJ must still be approved by a federal judge, but the department reached an agreement with the lawyers of several women who say Dr. Mahendra Amin abused them and subjected them to invasive procedures without their consent while they were being held at Irwin County Detention Center in Ocilla, Georgia. Under the agreement, the government will not deport the women until at least mid-January. Continue reading →

As Colleges Resort to Online Learning, ICE Issues ‘Needlessly Cruel’ Rule Pushing International Students Out of US

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“The Trump administration is using ICE to threaten universities into teaching in person by threatening international students with deportation if they’re all online.”

By Julia Conley, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 7-6-2020

Photo: pikist

Immigrant rights advocates were angered on Monday after Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced international students whose U.S. schools are moving to an online-only model for the Fall 2020 semester will no longer be welcome in the United States.

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, a physics and astronomy professor at University of New Hampshire, wrote that the Trump administration is likely attempting to pressure American colleges into abandoning their distance-learning plans even as the coronavirus pandemic rages across the country. Continue reading →

Guatemalan Leader Blasts Trump Admin’s “Contaminated” Deportation Flights as Rights Groups Say Expulsions Show “Reckless Disregard” for Rights and Health

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“Guatemala is an ally to the United States, the United States is not an ally to Guatemala,” said President Alejandro Giammattei.

By Andrea Germanos, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 5-22-2020

Guatemala’s right-wing President Alejandro Giammattei on Thursday attacked the U.S. government for deporting to Guatemala people infected with the coronavirus, actions he said are overwhelming the Central American country’s healthcare system and show the U.S. is not acting as an ally.

“Guatemala is an ally to the United States, the United States is not an ally to Guatemala,” Giammattei said at a virutal event with the Atlantic Council’s Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center, claiming that the country has not received “even one single mask from the United States” to help boost protective medical supplies. Continue reading →

Trump Accused of ‘Actively and Knowingly’ Spreading Coronavirus to Central America Through Deportations

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Trump seen as “global health threat” as Guatemalan health minister claims 75% of people on a recent deportation flight from the U.S. tested positive for the virus.

By Julia Conley, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 4-15-2020

Screenshot: YouTube

Days after the Trump administration threatened Central American countries with visa sanctions if they refuse to accept nationals who are deported from the U.S. during the coronavirus pandemic, the Guatemalan health minister said an estimated 75% of the people on one deportation flight from the U.S. later tested positive for the virus.

Health Minister Hugo Monroy’s claim raised fears that the U.S. is willfully sending sick people back to the countries they left, creating conditions for larger outbreaks in countries including Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. Continue reading →

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The Movement Continues – Globally

Tag Archives: deportations

Advocates Denounce ‘Horrifying’ SCOTUS Ruling Upholding Indefinite Immigrant Detention

“Today, six Supreme Court justices… sanctioned the United States’ use of punitive, prolonged, and arbitrary detention as a means of immigration enforcement and deterrence.”

Guatemalan Leader Blasts Trump Admin’s “Contaminated” Deportation Flights as Rights Groups Say Expulsions Show “Reckless Disregard” for Rights and Health

“Guatemala is an ally to the United States, the United States is not an ally to Guatemala,” said President Alejandro Giammattei.

Trump Accused of ‘Actively and Knowingly’ Spreading Coronavirus to Central America Through Deportations

Trump seen as “global health threat” as Guatemalan health minister claims 75% of people on a recent deportation flight from the U.S. tested positive for the virus.