My friend Morgan Smith wrote this note about the Rio Grande in July 2024. Learn more about Morgan here , here and here .
J.A.M. v. USA "The Court holds that Oscar is entitled to a much lower, but still notable award of $175,000 because he was somewhat older at the time of the incident, was detained for about half...
Path2Papers, July 17, 2024 " What are the policy changes the Biden administration is implementing regarding temporary work visas? On June 18, 2024, the Biden administration announced a policy...
DOJ, July 18, 2024 "The Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against Southwest Key Programs Inc. (Southwest Key), a Texas-based nonprofit that provides housing to unaccompanied children who are...
Jeanne Kuang, CalMatters, July 18, 2024 "Even with all the industries where Californians went on strike during last year’s “hot labor summer,” some of the most active sites of...
Adolfo Flores, BuzzFeed News, Sept. 11, 2019
"Tent border courts for asylum-seekers forced to return to Mexico under a Trump administration policy have opened for hearings Wednesday in Laredo, Texas — but few got to see inside as the public, including media, was denied access.
A DHS officer who didn’t wear a name tag and declined to offer his name said the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) hearings were not open to the public and that only law enforcement, attorneys with clients who had hearings that day, and government contractors would be allowed inside.
“It’s not a public hearing,” the DHS officer told BuzzFeed News.
A DHS official said that while immigration court proceedings are generally open to the public, asylum hearings at the tent facilities were unique from other immigration courts because of “the law enforcement sensitive priorities” of the nearby official border crossings.
“These soft-sided facilities will not be open to in-person public access, including media access,” the DHS official said.
The public, including the media, will have the ability to observe proceedings at immigration courts in San Antonio, DHS said, where judges who are conducting hearings via video teleconference are located more than 150 miles away. MPP hearings at tents in Brownsville are expected to start Thursday."
[Editor's Note: I'm hoping media organizations will sue DHS and DOJ. This is a clear violation of 8 C.F.R. 1003.27.]