IRAP, Sept. 19, 2024 "Today, the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) released a new report detailing the U.S. government’s practice of interdicting refugee families at sea and...
Center for Constitutional Rights, Sept. 16, 2024 "Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico, and the Center for Constitutional Rights submitted a petition...
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Human Rights Watch, Sept. 18, 2024 "Dear President Biden, Secretary Mayorkas and Secretary Blinken, We, the undersigned human rights, humanitarian, civil society , and faith-based organizations...
EOIR, Sept. 16, 2024 "The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) invites interested stakeholders to participate in its live Model Hearing Program (MHP) event on Sept. 30, 2024. The event...
"U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) regularly obstructs access to the asylum process for individuals who may qualify for protection, according to a civil rights complaint filed today on behalf of nine men and women who were unjustly deported by CBP officers to countries where they faced persecution.
A complaint filed with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, demonstrates that CBP officers at the southern border frequently flout federal law by failing to ask asylum seekers whether they fear persecution in their home countries, and intimidating and ignoring individuals who do express fear.
“CBP officers have tremendous power over the fate of people who come to our borders seeking refuge, and with that comes a corresponding obligation to ensure our government does not deport anyone back to countries where they may be persecuted or tortured,” said Keren Zwick, managing attorney for Heartland Alliance’s National Immigrant Justice Center. “Unfortunately, many officers abuse that power.”
The complaint provides detailed accounts of asylum seekers—individuals who fled Mexico, Central America, or South America because of gender-based violence, persecution by gangs, and persecution based on their indigenous or LGBT identities—whose efforts to obtain protection were thwarted by CBP officers who improperly screened them soon after their arrival or blatantly ignored their expressions of fear. In all of the cases, the individuals were processed for expedited removal and deported, without a hearing, to countries where they faced renewed persecution. When they were forced to flee to the United States again, they were deemed ineligible for asylum because of the original erroneous removal orders. The best they can hope for now is to live in a legal limbo called withholding of removal, in which they remain subject to removal orders which the government agrees to “withhold” for an indefinite period.
The complaint also contains statements from six legal service providers in Texas, California, and Arizona, showing that the complainants’ experiences are not isolated incidents but symptoms of systemic failures that result in permanent and life-threatening harm to hundreds, potentially thousands, of asylum seekers." - NIJC, Nov. 13, 2014.