#complaints from deportees

[bharatkhabarnama]

US deportation of Indians: Punjab Police intensifies crackdown against travel agents- registers two more firs - Total reaches 10

Chandigarh, February 12, 2025 (Bharat Khabarnama Bureau) Continuing its crackdown on fraudulent immigration consultants exploiting innocent individuals, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the Punjab Police has registered two more first information reports (FIRs) against travel agents, taking the total number of FIRs to 10. The latest FIRs were filed against agents who allegedly…

[marta-bee]

News of the Day 4/8/25: Those Dangerous Tren de Aragua Gangbangers

Bye bye, Mr. Paywall.

First, because apparently it still needs saying: fuck those guys. (Meaning the current administration.)

Last night, the Supreme Court ruled on those deportations to the El Salvador mega-prison without due process. At a technical level, they're probably not the worst decision ever, though there's an awful lot of hypocrisy baked in. Practically speaking it's going to make things much more difficult for a bunch of people already in a really serious and unjust situation.

Once I get past my anger that all this is happening after these people were deported rather than before (that's the whole point of due process), I'm mostly fascinated by how these judicial reviews will all happen in TX. I always hate talking about Reagan-appointed or Clinton-appointed or whatever judges, as if that proves they'll always side with the Democrat or Republican or MAGA or whatever policy preferences.

It's not always that simple; Amy Coney Barrett's position here and elsewhere proves that. (X) But one of Trump's biggest complaints recently has been against nation-wide injunctions. The idea is a single judge federal district judge shouldn't be able to make decisions for the whole country. And I'm actually a bit sympathetic to that concern, even as I recognize conservatives have abused this kind of thing at least as often as liberals. Which is probably why it's so interesting and frustrating to see all these immigration cases funneled to infamously conservative district. Louisiana at least has a well-known tilt to their immigration judges, and there's a reason conservatives trying to strike down Biden always seemed to file suit in Ft. Worth (X). But surely it's pure coincidence deportees from all over the country are being processed through their neck of the woods.

*ahem*

Y'all know the drill: smarter, more educated people on these issues than me displaying more journalistic restraint now get to have their say.

SCOTUS has its say, for good or ill

Trump Admin Dismisses Judge’s Order to Bring Back Man Accidentally Sent to El Salvador. "We suggest the judge contact President Bukele," said White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt (X)

Judge reaffirms order to return Maryland man erroneously deported to El Salvador. She rejected the idea that the Trump administration has no power to bring the deportee back. (X)

Trump Asks Supreme Court to Let Him Deport Migrants Without Due Process (X)

Supreme Court pauses midnight deadline to return man mistakenly deported to El Salvador (X)

The Supreme Court’s New 5–4 Bailout for Trump Couldn’t Be More Ominous (X)

‘A Path of Perfect Lawlessness’. The Trump administration’s arguments in a high-profile immigration case have much broader implications. (X)

El Salvador Deportations

What the Venezuelans Deported to El Salvador Experienced (X)

‘The government’s errors are unsurprising’: Judge asked to enjoin Trump’s deportation plans after ICE allegedly mistook ‘autism awareness’ and ‘soccer’ tattoos for gang affiliations (X)

Trump’s immigrant purge is part of a larger agenda. By denying immigrants due process, the Trump administration launches an assault on the rule of law. (X)

Joe Rogan calls the possibility of non-criminals being deported with violent gang members ‘horrific’ (X)

ICE : ‘Administrative error’ sent a Maryland man to an El Salvador prison

ICE Can’t Bring Back Man Deported to El Salvador Prison in Error, Agency Says (X)

Wife of Wrongfully Deported Maryland Dad Breaks Her Silence (X)

‘Maryland Father’ or MS-13 Gang Member? The case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia offers a neat Rorschach test on immigration. (X)

Justice Department places attorney who struggled to explain Maryland man's deportation on leave. The DOJ attorney said in court that the administration should not have deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a protected legal resident. (X)

Other Deportation Stories - Asylum Seekers, Child Immigrants, etc.

Federal Judge Orders Legal Funds for Solo Migrant Children to Be Restored (X)

Legal services for unaccompanied migrant children still uncertain after judge orders reinstatement

As children are pulled into immigration court, many must fend for themselves (X)

Legal groups helping immigrant children who survived sex trafficking, abuse sue to regain federal funding (X)

Catholic Community Services ending aid to refugees, immigrant children due to funding cuts (X)

US appeals court allows Trump to pause refugee program as litigation continues (X)

Immigration protections under Biden humanitarian parole are ending. What you need to know (X)

Judge Pauses Trump Administration’s Plans to End TPS for Venezuelans (X)

Local view: Haitian immigrants in Alabama begin ‘self-deporting’ to Mexico, Chile after Trump ends parole program (X)

Daughter of couple deported with no criminal record says they were transported 'like animals' (X)

My Family Was Almost “Repatriated” to Mexico in the 1930s. I See It Happening Again (X).

Years ago, John Oliver did a really funny but heartbreaking piece on unaccompanied minor immigrants. Get educated, then have a well-earned smile at the adorable skit at the end.

Student Deportations

ICE Is Canceling Students’ Legal Status Without Informing Them or Their Schools: Report (X)

Dozens of schools, including the University of California and Harvard, said the Trump administration ended the visas of their students in recent days. For many, the reasons are unclear. (X)

Trump’s war on international students hurts us all

Other Immigration-Related Bits and Bobs

Pew Research Center: Americans’ Views of Deportations (X)

'A-plus' or 'Solid F?' Americans offer polarized reaction to Trump immigration policies in first 100 days (X)

A previously undisclosed FEMA review could block disaster assistance to millions of undocumented people and deter legal immigrants from seeking help in extreme weather (X)

DHS considers axing disaster and counterterrorism grants that help sanctuary cities

Sanctuary policies aren't just good for public safety and economics—they also promote justice and human rights (X).

‘Trump Slump’ Looms as Foreign Visitors Rethink Travel to U.S. (X) A growing number of travelers say they are worried about feeling unwelcome or unsafe in America and are reluctant to support the economy of a country that may be destabilizing other nations.

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Inside a Chaotic U.S. Deportation Flight to Brazil

The Trump administration’s first flight deporting Brazilians involved aborted takeoffs, sweltering heat, emergency exits and shackled deportees on a wing.

Temperatures were rising inside the plane. Eighty-eight Brazilian deportees, most of them handcuffed and shackled, were getting restless on Friday under the watch of U.S. immigration agents. The passenger jet, dealing with repeated technical problems, was stuck on the tarmac in a sweltering city in the Amazon rainforest.

Then the air conditioning broke — again.

There were demands to stay seated, shoving, shouting, children crying, passengers fainting and agents blocking exits, according to interviews with six of the deportees aboard the flight. Finally, passengers pulled the levers to release two emergency exits, and shackled men poured out onto the plane’s wing, shouting for help.

Brazil’s federal police quickly arrived and, after a brief standoff, told the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to release the deportees, though they had not yet reached their scheduled destination.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva ordered a Brazilian Air Force aircraft to pick up the deportees and take them the rest of the way. His government’s ministers then publicly slammed the Trump administration’s handling of the deportees as “unacceptable” and “degrading.”

It was those complaints about the Brazilian flight that President Gustavo Petro of Colombia was replying to on social media when he announced Sunday that his government had turned away two deportation flights from the United States. That set off dueling threats of tariffs between the United States and Colombia that ultimately ended in Mr. Petro backing down.

The diplomatic dust-up over the deportation flights to Brazil and Colombia marked a turbulent first weekend for President Trump’s hard-line policy to deport millions of undocumented immigrants.

Continue reading.

[rightsinexile]

Detention & Deportation News

AUSTRALIA: There are fears that coronavirus could spread to immigration detention centres in Australia after a guard at a Brisbane centre tested positive for the virus. Advocates are calling for potentially vulnerable asylum seekers and refugees being held in the centres to be moved into communities as the virus spreads. 

MEXICO: There is concern that the deportation of persons from Mexico, as well as the US, could accelerate the spread of coronavirus in Central America, after authorities in Honduras suspended repatriation flights and confirmed the first two cases in the country. Activists fear that the constant flow of deportees from the US and Mexico could complicate the region’s ability to contain the virus. 

SPAIN: Spain releases unreturnable detainees because effecting returns has been made impossible due to movement restrictions across the globe relating to the COVID-2019 emergency.

USA: The Trump administration had moved towards deportation of thousands of Laotians and Hmong people who hold final deportation orders, with talks between the USA and Laos intensifying. Until now, Laos has refused to recognise Laotian or Hmong people as citizens and both countries remain in negotiation. Despite this, the US is already funding a reintegration programme to assist those recently deported and is pursuing further deportations aggressively. 

Meanwhile, a complaint has been filed in New York federal district court against local Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) authorities concerning the tightening of the algorithm used to decide whether a detainee should be released on bond.

Furthermore, the deportation of El Salvadorian nationals from the US and Mexico has been suspended, following El Salvador’s migration authority stating that the country’s borders were closed to travellers. The deportation flights have been suspended until further notice in an effort to prevent the spread of coronavirus. However, the Guatemalan government will continue to receive deportation flights from the US, despite having temporarily suspended them due to the spread of coronavirus. But the transfer of Salvadoran and Honduran nationals to Guatemala under the “Asylum Cooperative Agreement” will remain suspended.

[idratherdreamofjune]

Ashes in the Snow Movie Review

I read Between Shades of Gray soon after it first came out, and have since reread it several times. It is excellent, and taught me so much I didn't know about history. Naturally, I was quite excited for the film!

 I wonder what I would think of the movie if I hadn't read the book. Yes, it is historically accurate, and this is a story that people need to see. The acting was all excellent, as were the technical aspects of the movie. [SPOILERS below] There were some unexpected problems - gratuitous nudity (beyond the one scene from the book, which was awful but well done) and an unnecessary subplot involving another character’s attempted assault of Mrs. Vilkas. These issues mean I sadly can’t recommend the movie to my family. My biggest complaint, though, is that the story felt completely void of hope from start to finish.

   Every little bit of what kept the story in the book bearable was changed: we quickly find out that Lina's father is dead, and she never manages to get her art smuggled out. Kretzsky is still conflicted and helpful, but his motivations are much less vague and a lot less sympathetic. He quickly twists from uncertain ally to the plot's final antagonist, deprived of the small redemptions afforded him in the book in favor of a tragic end which felt like scapegoating. If I sound bitter it's because I am! If you’re going to change so much about the character, change his name too!

  Now, I realize that the movie (and certainly the book) is, if anything, too uplifting to truly represent the experience of deportees. But the book honours the human spirit and our desire to always hope, always overcome. The movie does not. It is full of unrelenting darkness and despair. The chilling character of the Commander looms large, dominating every scene - whether he is present or not - and imbuing the whole film with his overpowering evil.

  Again, this film is valuable as a small insight into what so many people suffered during this little-known period of history. And it does adapt some excerpts of Between Shades of Gray artistically. Some changes even made sense. But the hopeful soul of the book was ultimately abandoned - trampled, even.  As an adaptation I would give this maybe three stars. I rate the movie, as a standalone, up to four stars.

[rpgsandbox]

The dark and malevolent forces of the Cthulhu Mythos mostly ignore humankind. But these entities are also shrewd opportunists. Many of them see humans as a resource to be harvested, corrupted or enlisted for their dark plots. Humanity, with all its noble aspirations, has many flaws. Greed, lust, envy, hatred and fear are ripe fruits for these forces to exploit. Division and separation makes the humans easier to control. While the best of humankind fights for just laws and civilization, those who cling to power and privilege stand ready to quash protections for those who need them most. In the shadows of human injustice lurk loathsome, inhuman entities. As investigators square off against the worst aspects of mankind, they also find themselves entangled with the parasitic powers of the Mythos.

Welcome to An Inner Darkness, from Golden Goblin Press. 

This is collection of Classic 1920’s era scenarios of 7th edition the Call of Cthulhu Roleplaying Game (published by Chaosium, Inc) with several goals in mind. We hope to present well researched, historically accurate and challenging adventures, with a slightly darker, harsher and more brutal tone than our fans might be used to. For Golden Goblin Press, this will be a more mature book, one focused on adult themes, designed to spark deep conversations among your players for years to come.  

These scenarios will of course feature the malignant taint of the Cthulhu Mythos, but at the forefront of each will be one or more examples of social injustice, societal corruption, and mankind’s inhumanity to man. The 1920’s was a period of great social upheaval in America, when the borders between classes, races, and genders were changed. In this time of social upheaval and chaos, eldritch forces found fertile ground to exploit us. Mankind is never so vulnerable than when we are divided from within.

When this Lousy War is Over, by Brian M. Sammons – Arkham, Massachusetts, 1923. At the local chapter of the Veterans of Foreign Wars association, men who fought in the “war to end all wars” gather together, seeking a bit of solace from those who’ve shared similar experiences. Many are wounded in body, in mind, and in spirit. Many suffer from horrifying nightmares, violent outbursts, disfiguring injuries, or alcoholism, but their pain and struggles are mostly ignored by society. They are reminded that the war is over, and told to just “get over it” by a public who finds it all too easy to judge. Then, chapter members start to mysteriously die in violent and terrible ways, with clues pointing to the occult, possibly involving a member of the association no less! Can the investigators find those responsible and stop them, before it’s too late?

They Are From Away, by Charles Gerard - Bangor, Maine, 1923. Maine has become a major battleground for the Ku Klux Klan. Protestant nativists have grown fearful about the recent influx of Catholic Immigrants, mostly Irish and French-Canadians. This provides the KKK with fertile ground for spreading their message of hate, division, and violence. Enter Eugene Farnsworth, a charismatic former stage magician, hypnotist and filmmaker, now known as King Kleagle, the head KKK recruiter for Maine. He hosts “wholesome” public events while spearheading an aggressive recruitment drive, making alliances with area politicians and heads of industry. Meanwhile, macabre, inexplicable and unnatural events begin to occur, aimed at humiliating and terrorizing the area’s Catholic citizens. Investigators must discover if there is a link between the two, and find a way to stop it if they can.

Fire Without Light, by Helen Gould - Tulsa, Oklahoma, 1922. Less than a year has passed since the Tulsa Race Massacre, when the wealthiest black community in the United States was destroyed and hundreds of innocent people were murdered by rampaging white mobs. Though most of the 10,000 black residents left Tulsa, some remained to rebuild their devastated community. Now tensions are on the rise once again. A new pastor and his wife have arrived, preaching hate and violence to the white population. Their congregation is growing at an alarming rate, and violence is spilling out from their church and into the streets. Strangely, even families and friends of the same race are turning against each other. Something very wrong is going on here. Investigators must tread carefully to discover just who - or what - is fanning the flames, pushing the citizens of Tulsa towards another wave of catastrophic violence.  

A Fresh Coat Of White Paint, by Jeff Moeller - Los Angeles, California, 1931. Early in the Great Depression, the U.S. institutes its first mass deportation policy, supported by a cross-section of interests such as racist nationalists, eugenicists, paternalistic "charities", and labor unions "looking out for their own." This leads to a roundup of thousands of ethnically Mexican families, many of them U.S. citizens, carried out federal employees, local police, various "charities", and outright vigilante groups. The deportees were (sometimes) given summary hearings, detained in makeshift conditions, and then loaded onto trains. On the outskirts of Los Angeles, one such "charity" is refurbishing an old prison to "give the unfortunates somewhere to stay." However, this long abandoned facility has a dark past, which is quickly becoming a horrible, otherworldly nightmare for those interred there. Can the investigators get to the bottom of things in time to save the prisoners?  

A Family Way, by Oscar Rios – New York, New York, 1925. The investigators must come to the aid of a dear friend, a student at Columbia University. She’s found herself "in trouble" after what should have been a harmless girls' night out. Her group ended up drinking and dancing with the wrong sort of fellas, the kind willing to slip them a mickey and take what they wanted from their unconscious victims. Now the girls need help, as the authorities won't act, or even take their stories seriously. These men have deep pockets, powerful allies, and dark secrets. When the men return with offers of marriage and gifts of strange, pale gold jewelry, it becomes clear they aren't the sort to take no for an answer. There aren’t many options for girls in their “condition”, and one of the few happens to be illegal. But your friend just wants this nightmare to be over, if such a thing is still even possible.  

Dreams of Silk, by Christopher Smith Adair (Stretch Goal bonus scenario) – Pennsylvania, 1922. The cosmetics industry is growing fast, as the public’s obsession with youth and beauty grows. As profits soar and businesses expand workers at such companies suffer due to lax regulations and poor conditions. At Hempstead Cosmetics, located in Brights Mill, Pennsylvania, a state infamous among labor advocates, conditions are especially bad. Local government turns a blind eye to protect their economic boom, ignoring any indiscretions or complaints against chemist and owner Mervyn Hempstead. Consumers marvel at their newest skin cream, promising to give a complexion as smooth as dreams of silk, and the youthful glow of Imelda Hempstead, Mervyn’s wife and chief model.  Meanwhile, his employee’s bodies and minds deteriorate and their complaints of rashes and troubled sleep are ignored.  But things are much worse than anyone can possibly imagine, as they are drawn into a web of literal nightmares as unspeakable horrors from beyond our reality are tied to Hempstead Cosmetics' “miraculous” secret ingredients.

Kickstarter campaign ends: Mon, April 15 2019 4:59 AM BST

Website: [Golden Goblin Press] [facebook]

[berniesrevolution]

THE INTERCEPT

For a brief moment in December 2017, the international spotlight shined on the case of 92 deportees who were on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement-chartered flight to Somalia. Most such flights unload their human cargo once they land, but this flight, for logistical reasons, returned home — and brought witnesses back with it.  

The Somalis told of abuse on the flight, saying they were shackled with chains on their wrists, waists, and legs for more than 40 hours; forced to urinate in bottles or on themselves; and that ICE officers beat and threatened some passengers. (ICE has denied that it mistreated detainees on the flight.)

But even after the spotlight dimmed, the abuse continued. The Somalis are still being held at the Krome Detention Center and the Glades County Detention Center in Florida, as their lawyers try to fight their deportations. At Glades, where half the group is being held, they have complained of a litany of abuses, including violent assaults by guards, denial of medical care, lack of access to their lawyers, and racism.

“The guards and the administration up there at Glades, they think they’re immune. To me, it’s so brazen to be doing this. They know there’s a federal case. They know we’re up there all the time. They know there are investigators up there,” said Lisa Lehner, an attorney at Americans for Immigrant Justice, one of the groups representing the Somalis. “They called them ‘niggers.’ They called them ‘boy.’ They’ve said things like, ‘We’re sending you boys back to the jungle.’” An ICE spokesperson in Miami declined to answer questions about the complaints coming from Glades, citing pending litigation.

The treatment of the 92 Somalis, both on board the ICE-chartered plane and at the Glades detention center, is not a case of a few operators gone rogue and exposes the very limited avenues for accountability available to those who are abused in ICE custody, as well as the particular vulnerability of those who experience aggression on their way out of the United States.

Rebecca Merton, a program coordinator at Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in Confinement, or CIVIC, said that there is a logic to the mayhem: The abusive conditions eventually wear down the will of detainees to stay and fight their deportation orders in court. “One way that ICE, and particularly [Enforcement and Removal Operations, an ICE sub-office], achieves its goal of mass deportation is by subjecting people to indefinite detention in terrible conditions without any source of hope, or sometimes, outside contact,” said Merton

(A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), security contractor carries chains for Honduran immigration detainees before their deportation flight to San Pedro Sula, Honduras on February 28, 2013 in Mesa, Arizona.)

Two weeks after the failed deportation flight, the 92 Somalis sued ICE for “inhumane conditions and egregious abuse” on the flight and asked the court to halt their deportations.

“As the plane sat on the runway, the 92 detainees remained bound, their handcuffs secured to their waists, and their feet shackled together,” the complaint — filed by a team of lawyers from the Immigration Clinic at the University of Miami Law School, Americans for Immigrant Justice, the James H. Binger Center for New Americans at the University of Minnesota Law School, and Legal Aid Service of Broward County — reads.

“When the plane’s toilets overfilled with human waste, some of the detainees were left to urinate into bottles or on themselves. ICE agents wrapped some who protested, or just stood up to ask a question, in full-body restraints. ICE agents kicked, struck, or dragged detainees down the aisle of the plane, and subjected some to verbal abuse and threats.”

ICE Air Operations is a division of the agency responsible for deportation flights. “ICE Air Operations personnel follow best practices when it comes to the security, safety and welfare of the aliens returned to their countries of origin,” its website reads. “There are a variety of [Enforcement and Removal Operations] personnel on board who ensure the health and safety of the aliens and officers during removal flights.”

(Continue Reading)

DISMANTLE ICE! DISMANTLE ICE! DISMANTLE ICE! 

[esrescuer]

Mexican Repatriation

The Mexican Repatriation was a mass deportation of Mexicans and Mexican-Americans from the United States between 1929 and 1936. Estimates of how many were repatriated range from 400,000 to 2,000,000. An estimated sixty percent of those deported were birthright citizens of the United States. Because the forced movement was based on race, and ignored citizenship, the process arguably meets modern legal definitions of ethnic cleansing.

Widely blamed for exacerbating the overall economic downturn of the Great Depression, Mexicans were further targeted because of "the proximity of the Mexican border, the physical distinctiveness of mestizos, and easily identifiable barrios." While supported by the federal government, actual deportations were largely organized and carried out by city and state governments, often with support from local private entities.

Large numbers of Mexican nationals and Mexican-Americans were repatriated during the early 1930s. This followed the Wall Street crash of 1929 and resulting growth in nativist sentiment, exemplified by President Herbert Hoover's call for deportation and a series on the racial inferiority of Mexicans run by the Saturday Evening Post.

Scope of Repatriation

Reliable data for the total number repatriated is difficult to come by. Hoffman estimates that over 400,000 Mexicans left the US between 1929 and 1937, with a peak of 138,000 in 1931. Mexican government sources suggest over 300,000 were repatriated between 1930 and 1933, while Mexican media reported up to 2,000,000 during a similar span. After 1933 Repatriation decreased from the 1931 peak, but was over 10,000 in most years until 1940. Research by California state senator Joseph Dunn concluded that 1.8 million had been repatriated.

This constituted a significant portion of the Mexican population in the US. By one estimate, 1/5th of Mexicans in California were repatriated by 1932, and 1/3rd of all Mexicans in the US between 1931 and 1934. The 1930 Census reported 1.3 million Mexicans in the US, but this number is not believed to be reliable, because some Repatriations had already begun, illegal immigrants were not counted, and the Census attempted to use racial concepts that did not map to how many Spanish-speakers in the Southwest defined their own identities.

Repatriation was not evenly geographically distributed, with midwestern Mexicans being only 3% of the overall US Mexican population but perhaps 10% of repatriates.

Besides coverage in local newspapers and radio, deportation was frequent enough that it was reflected in the lyrics of Mexican popular music.

Justifications for Repatriation

Even before the Wall Street crash, a variety of "small farmers, progressives, labor unions, eugenicists, and racists" had called for restrictions on Mexican immigration. Their arguments focused primarily on competition for jobs and the cost of public assistance for indigents. These arguments continued after the beginning of the Great Depression.

For example, in Los Angeles, C.P. Visel, the spokesman for Los Angeles Citizens Committee for Coordination of Unemployment Relief (LACCCU), wrote to the federal government that deportation was necessary because "[w]e need their jobs for needy citizens". A member of the Los Angeles County board of Supervisors, H.M. Blaine, is recorded as saying "the majority of the Mexicans in the Los Angeles Colonia were either on relief or were public charges." Similarly, Congressman Martin Dies wrote in the Chicago Herald-Examiner that the "large alien population is the basic cause of unemployment." Independent groups such as the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and the National Club of America for Americans also thought that deporting Mexicans would free up jobs for U.S. citizens and the latter group urged Americans to pressure the government into deporting Mexicans. Secretary of Labor William Doak (who at that time oversaw the Border Patrol) "asserted that deportation... was essential for reducing unemployment".

Contemporaries did not always agree with this analysis. For example, in a study of El Paso, Texas, the National Catholic Welfare Conference estimated that deportation of parents who were non-citizens would cost more than roundup and deportation, because previously ineligible remaining children and wives would become eligible for welfare. Modern economic research has also suggested that the economic impact of deportation was negligible or even negative.

Racism was also a factor. Mexicans were targeted in part because of "the proximity of the Mexican border, the physical distinctiveness of mestizos and easily identifiable barrios."

Mechanisms of Repatriation

In response to these justifications, the federal government, in coordination with local governments, took steps to remove Mexicans. These actions were a combination of federal actions that created a "climate of fear", along with local activities that encouraged repatriation through a combination of "lure, persuasion, and coercion".

Early "voluntary" Repatriation

Mexicans were often among the first to be laid off after the crash of 1929. When combined with endemic harassment, many sought to return to Mexico. For example, in 1931 in Gary, Indiana, a number of people sought funding to return to Mexico, or took advantage of reduced-rate train tickets. By 1932, such repatriation was no longer voluntary, as local governments and aid agencies in Gary began to use "repressive measures ... to force the return of reluctant voyagers". Similarly, in Detroit, by 1932 one Mexican national reported to the local consul that police had "dragged" him to the train station against his will, after he had proven his residency the previous year. Mexican Consulates across the country received complaints of "harassment, beatings, heavy-handed tactics and verbal abuse".

Federal government action

As the effects of the Great Depression worsened and affected larger numbers of people, feelings of hostility toward immigrants increased rapidly and the Mexican community as a whole suffered as a result. States began passing laws that required all public employees to be American citizens and employers were subject to harsh penalties such as a five hundred dollar fine or six months in jail if they hired immigrants. Although the law was hardly enforced, "employers used it as a convenient excuse for not hiring Mexicans. It also made it difficult for any Mexican, whether American citizens or foreign born, to get hired." The federal government imposed restrictions for immigrant labor as well, requiring firms that supply the government with goods and services refrain from hiring immigrants and as a result, most larger corporations followed suit and as a result, many employers fired their Mexican employees and few hired new Mexican workers causing unemployment to increase among the Mexican population.

President Hoover publicly endorsed Secretary of Labor Doak and his campaign to add "245 more agents to assist in the deportation of 500,000 foreigners." Doak’s measures included monitoring labor protests or farm strikes and labeling protesters and protest leaders as possible subversives, communists or radicals. "Strike leaders and picketers would be arrested, charged with being illegal aliens or engaging in illegal activities and thus be subject to arbitrary deportation."

Repatriation in Los Angeles

Beginning in the early 1930s, local governments instigated Repatriation programs, often conducted through local welfare bureaus or private charitable agencies. Los Angeles had the largest population of Mexicans outside of Mexico and had a typical deportation approach with a plan for "publicity releases announcing the deportation campaign, a few arrests would be made 'with all publicity possible and pictures,' and both police and deputy sheriffs would assist". This led to complaints and criticisms from both the Mexican Consulate and local Spanish language publication, La Opinión. The raids were significant in scope, assuming "the logistics of full-scale paramilitary operations" with cooperation from Federal officials, country deputy sheriffs and city police who would raid public places who were then "herded" onto trains or buses. Jose David Orozco  described on his local radio station the "women crying in the streets when not finding their husbands" after deportation sweeps had occurred."

Several Los Angeles raids included roundups of hundreds of Mexicans with immigration agents and deputies blocked off all exits to the Mexican neighborhood in East LA, riding "around the neighborhood with their sirens wailing and advising people to surrender themselves to the authorities."

After the peak of the Repatriation, Los Angeles again threatened to deport "between 15,000 and 25,000 families" in 1934. While the Mexican government took the threat seriously enough to attempt to prepare for such an influx the city ultimately did not carry through on their threat.

Legal process of deportations

Once apprehended, requesting a hearing was a possibility but immigration officers rarely informed individuals of their rights and the hearings were "official but informal", in that immigration inspectors "acted as interpreter, accuser, judge and jury". Moreover, the deportee was seldom represented by a lawyer, a privilege that could only be granted at the discretion of the immigration officer.  This process was likely a violation of US federal due process, equal protection and Fourth Amendment rights.

If no hearing was requested the second option of those apprehended was to voluntarily deport themselves from the US. In theory, this would allow these individuals to reenter the US legally at a later date because "no arrest warrant was issued and no legal record or judicial transcript of the incident was kept".  However, many were misled and on departure given a "stamp on their card [which showed] that they have been county charities". This meant that they would be denied readmission, since they would be "liable to become a public charge".

Mexican government response

Mexican governments had traditionally taken the position that it was "duty-bound" to help repatriate Mexicans who lived in the annexed portions of the southwest United States. However, it did not typically act on this stated policy, because of a lack of resources. Nonetheless, because of the large number of Repatriations in the early 1930s, the government was forced to act and provided a variety of services. From July 1930 to June 1931, it underwrote the cost of Repatriation for over 90,000 nationals. In some cases the government attempted to create new villages ("colonias") where Repatriates could live, but the vast majority returned to communities in which relatives or friends lived.

After the peak of the Repatriation had passed, the post-1934 government led by Lázaro Cárdenas continued to speak about encouraging Repatriation, but did little to actually encourage that to occur.

[marta-bee]

There's so much going on in the world just now, I want to do twice-a-week news story roundups. Here you go.

Immigration

DOJ orders investigation of local and state compliance with Trump immigration actions.

Afghan refugees approved for resettlement in US under Biden feel betrayed by Trump orders blocking their travel here.

Advocacy groups ordered to stop distributing aid to recent refugee arrivals. (RP)

Trump officials issue quotas to ICE officers to ramp up arrests (RP)

Trump issues 25% tariff against Columbia after Columbia refuses to accept plane of deportees. (RP)

Racism and DEI:

Trump eliminates help for Black and Latino communities hit hardest by pollution.

Trump orders DOJ to pause all civil rights actions, including investigations into state and local police. (RP)

Trump administration to start firing DEI staffers. He's since announced all federal DEI offices will be closed within the next 30 days.

Foreign Affairs

Sec. State Rubio discusses Taiwanese independence with Chinese counterpart.

Donald Trump addresses world leaders about economic issues at Davos.

Trump foreign aid freeze includes all funds for PEPFAR, a successful program fighting HIV/AIDS internationally. (RP)

Autocracy & Oligarchy

FCC reinstates complaints against ABC, CBS, and NBC for bias in election coverage. Biden FCC chair had rejected the complaint as an attempt to weaponize the FCC.

Trump defends decision to pull security details from first-term security advisors. (RP) Also Anthony Faucci and others.

'I am terrified': Workers describe dark mood inside federal agencies.

Gender & Abortion

Trump pardons anti-abortion activists arrested for blocking access to abortion clinics. (RP)

Trump re-instates Mexico City policy forbidding global aid recipients from talking to recipients about abortion.

JD Vance addresses anti-abortion rally, calls for baby boom. (.... Yeah.) (RP)

Anti-abortion activists emboldened by recent executive orders, presidential actions. (RP) A good discussion of what the anti-abortion side hopes to accomplish under Trump.

Congress's first transgender member, Sarah McBride, faces anti-trans pushback. (RP)

[xtruss]

Why Aren’t There More Women Economists at the United Nations?

Female economists are rising to the top—everywhere but the U.N.

— By Colum Lynch, a senior staff writer at Foreign Policy. | May 17, 2021

Then-European Parliament Vice President Isabelle Durant, who currently serves as acting Secretary General of the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development, attends a yearly remembrance ceremony for the Jewish deportees of World War II in Mechelen, Belgium, on Sept. 9, 2012. Kristof Debecker/AFP/Getty IMages

From all appearances, it is a golden age for women in economics, a traditionally male-dominated field that has recently seen women appointed to the top jobs at the U.S. Treasury, the World Trade Organization, and the International Monetary Fund—the latter, twice in a row. The World Bank’s chief economist, Carmen Reinhart, is a Cuban American woman.

So, why is the United Nations struggling to appoint qualified women economists? A top U.N. trade and development official said her agency is grappling with a shortage of female economics applicants with a doctorate, undermining her agency’s efforts to hire enough qualified women to meet the U.N. goal of reaching gender parity in its hiring practices before the end of the decade. A number of female economists say there are plenty of qualified women in the market and that the U.N. is just not working hard enough to recruit women.

The most credentialed women economists are generally underrepresented throughout the workplace, with more than two-thirds of economics doctoral degrees in the United States awarded to men, and only 40 percent of entry-level economists in Europe are women. That disparity shows up in big institutions. The World Bank, for example, employs more women (53.2 percent of its core operations workforce) than men (46.8 percent). But among staffers with “economist” in their titles, men outnumber women 784 to 514, according to World Bank figures.

The figures are even more lopsided at the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) a Geneva-based agency that promotes investment, development, and trade in the developing world. At UNCTAD, women account for only 36 percent of professional staff, placing it among the worst U.N. departments when it comes to gender parity in the workplace. The head of UNCTAD is now trying to turn that around with a drive to recruit more women.

The pursuit of greater female representation at UNCTAD is part of a wider push by U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres to achieve gender parity for senior U.N. officials by the end of 2021 and throughout the organization by 2028. The U.N. says that it achieved parity in senior ranks as early as January 2020. U.N. figures indicate that there are currently more women than men, 57 percent, at the undersecretary general level and nearly 50 percent at the assistant secretary general level. But the representation of women falls sharply in U.N. peacekeeping missions, particularly in Darfur and Libya, where less than a quarter of staff are female, and the U.N. Department of Safety and Security, where only 22 percent of posts are held by women.

In an effort to reverse that trend at UNCTAD, Isabelle Durant, a former Belgian politician and UNCTAD’s acting secretary-general, instructed her senior managers last month in an internal memo to scrap a requirement that new hires have doctorate degrees, saying that it limits the pool of potential female candidates. She also insisted that women be included in shortlists for potential job recruits, that managers undertake training to detect potential unconscious bias against women in their hiring practices, and that women serving in the lower and middle professional ranks be given “priority consideration” during the hiring.

“We know that it is a difficult task to identify a diverse and significant pool of qualified female candidates, noting that statistics reveal that female graduates in economics are overall still underrepresented,” she wrote in an internal April 16 memo to staff. “Nevertheless, there is a substantial pool of competent women economists, also reflected in the fact that many institutions dealing with economic development are led by women.”

The World Trade Organization is currently led by its first female director-general, a Nigerian American economist, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who recently appointed two women to fill the organization’s four deputy director-general posts. Only one woman had previously held a deputy spot since the trade organization was established in January 1995.

But as some U.N. agencies struggle, many women economists say there are plenty of qualified women with doctoral degrees, but that the U.N. has done too little to find them, relying on candidates from a tiny handful of elite universities in the United States and Europe.

“I am a bit shocked,” said Emmanuelle Auriol, a French economics professor at the Toulouse School of Economics. “I know lots of women who hold Ph.D.s that would love to join a U.N. organization.”

“It is laziness, they are not reaching out,” added Auriol, who has conducted a study of the representation of women economists along with a group of European economists.

Durant’s memo—which was obtained by Foreign Policy—was prompted by complaints from U.N. headquarters that the Geneva-based agency is falling short of Guterres’s goal of achieving gender parity throughout the international institution’s myriad agencies. Ana Maria Menéndez, a senior policy advisor to Guterres who is running point on the U.N. chief’s gender equality effort, recently expressed concern that UNCTAD is lagging behind most other U.N. agencies, ranking 36th among some 41 non-field U.N. Secretariat departments. Durant said that the trade and development agency has performed poorly, particularly among midlevel professional staff.

“Concern of bias against women, at times unconscious, has been repeatedly brought to my attention,” she said. “Stereotyping of gender roles is a factor that contributes to not giving women and men equal opportunities.”

Some male employees have taken issue with her characterization of bias against women. One male UNCTAD official said managers have recently been hiring as many women economists as male, but that the historical gap is providing an unfair disadvantage to younger men.

“Everyone understands the need for a diverse workforce, but what does that mean for men?” the official said. “We are tackling issues created by previous generations that are now falling on the shoulders of younger generations.”

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press, said that Durant was guilty of her own outdated stereotyping about gender, pointing to remarks she delivered at a women’s conference in which she said: “There is a gender difference in how women and men lead and approach consensus building. For instance, women are more likely to ensure that negotiations actually happen at the table and not at the golf course.” The younger generation of staffers, he added, are not particularly interested in golf.

A second male U.N. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, acknowledged the sensitivity of fighting a historical injustice. “There are definitely many men who know their chance of getting the next higher grade are greatly affected by the gender parity strategy,” he said. “There is no question about that. Most of us accept that, but some still grumble.”

However, the official added that men are still getting promotions to senior positions.

Men have traditionally dominated economics, with fewer women than most other academic professions. For instance, women accounted for 55 percent of all U.S. undergraduates in 2019, but only 34.1 percent of economics majors in 2020, according to a survey by the Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession (CSWEP). In 1972, the earliest period for which CSWEP documented the gender disparity in economics, only 7.6 percent of new Ph.D.s in economics were awarded to women in the United States, and women held only 2.4 percent of full professorships in economics. Janet Yellen, the U.S. treasury secretary, was the only woman in her 1971 Yale University doctoral graduating class.

The share of female economists has been steadily growing, but women remain underrepresented, particularly in academia. In 2020, women accounted for 35.3 percent of students entering Ph.D. programs in economics in the United States, according to the CSWEP report. An even smaller share of women—27.4 percent—have secured tenured associate professorships, and fewer than 15 percent of tenured full professors are women. In Europe, women account for just over 40 percent of entry-level economic research posts, but they only achieve 22 percent of full professorships.

“Are there too few female economists in international institutions? That must be true,” said Betsey Stevenson, a professor of economics and public policy at the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. “Can they solve the problem by dropping the Ph.D. requirement? I think not. To drop the Ph.D. requirement will lead to men with more credentials than women and that will likely create unequal work dynamics.”

Stevenson said the U.N. needs to search harder, interview more women, expand its job ads, and consider hiring from less prestigious universities. “I know plenty of women who finish their Ph.D. and are not inundated with job offers,” she added. “There are plenty out there even if they are underrepresented.”

In a telephone interview, Durant acknowledged that her agency needed to do more to identify and recruit qualified women, saying that women account for only 30 to 35 percent of overall job applicants. She said that UNCTAD generally recruits from only a handful of U.S. and European universities. Most hires who come from other parts of the world generally earn degrees from the same major U.S. universities.

Durant touched on concerns among men that they are being denied opportunities, saying she understands “how delicate it can be for men in those levels where gender balance is not achieved. But combating this inequality is our responsibility and duty.”

— Colum Lynch is a senior staff writer at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @columlynch

[narcisbolgor-blog]

Iraqi detainees in Michigan fear deportation

Detroit (CNN)Brianna Al-Dilami met her Iraqi husband the day he came to America in 1998 and they've been together ever since. But her husband was arrested by US immigration officers last weekend, and she has been searching for answers about his fate, fearing he'll be sent back to Iraq.

More than 100 Iraqis in Michigan and northern Ohio, who fall under the jurisdiction of the Immigration Customs Enforcement's Detroit office, have been targeted for deportation. ICE says most of them have criminal records.

Ali Al-Dilami, Brianna's husband, is one of seven people named in a class action lawsuit filed Thursday by the ACLU of Michigan, which hopes to stop the deportations of those named in the suit and the others covered by the Detroit ICE office.

Five of the suit's petitioners are Christian, the other two -- including Al Dilami -- are Shiite Muslims.

The ACLU argues in the complaint that it is illegal to deport the detainees without giving them an opportunity to prove they could face torture or death if returned to Iraq.

The ACLU complaint was filed against Rebecca Adducci, the director of the ICE Detroit district office, and the ACLU requested a hearing on Friday for the detainees.

Many of the Iraqis are Chaldeans, members of an Iraqi Christian group. Historically, they have faced problems in Muslim-majority Iraq. The Detroit metropolitan area is home to the largest US group of Chaldeans. Community members are fighting for the Iraqi families at risk of losing their loved ones.

"Not only is it immoral to send people to a country where they are likely to be violently persecuted, it expressly violates United States and international law and treaties," said Kary Moss, executive director for the ACLU of Michigan in a news release. "We are hoping that the courts will recognize the extreme danger that deportation to Iraq would pose for these individuals. Our immigration policy shouldn't amount to a death sentence for anyone."

ICE has arrested 199 Iraqi nationals since May, 114 of them from Detroit last weekend, according to ICE press secretary Gillian Christensen.

Iraq recently agreed to accept deportees in exchange for being removed from the countries listed in President Donald Trump's travel ban. That agreement triggered a shift in the focus of ICE raids, Christensen said in a statement.

Many detainees have criminal records

"The vast majority of those arrested [in] the Detroit metropolitan area have very serious felony convictions, multiple felony convictions in many cases. I applaud the efforts of the law enforcement personnel who, day in and day out, put their lives on the line to protect this community," Christensen said.

Lawyers from the ACLU acknowledge the criminal history of those arrested, but say most of the detainees have complied with their conditions of supervision and have had no further run-ins with the law, according to the news release.

Ali Al-Dilami served five months of a one-year sentence for an assault that happened 17 years ago and his record was later expunged, according to the complaint filing.

Al-Dilami -- who has a history of mild heart attacks, according to his family -- had a seizure when officials arrested him. He was initially hospitalized, but now awaits his fate in a detention center in Youngstown, Ohio.

His wife, an American citizen born and raised in Ohio, has prepared travel documents for herself and the couple's two sons, in case her husband is sent back to Iraq.

"If he leaves on a Tuesday, I'm leaving on a Thursday. I cannot let this government tear our family apart. The only option we have is to pack up and go, and hope to come back to America one day and see my family," Brianna Al-Dilami said.

'Everyone here like me is scared to death'

Family members like Brianna are nervously searching for answers from the government, worried they'll run out of time to keep their loved ones in the United States.

The sprawling home of Shoki Konja, 57, with its perfectly manicured lawn and ornate furnishings, is his symbol of the American dream. He and his brother, Najah, immigrated to the United States from Tel Kaif, Iraq, nearly 40 years ago with their family. Slowly, decade by decade, hundreds of his family, who are Chaldeans, found their way to the United States, where they felt safer.

But now Najah Konja, 55, does not feel safe. He calls his brother from the ICE detention center in Youngstown.

"Everyone here like me is scared to death," Najah Konja said. "Please don't send us to Iraq, because you are sending us to our death."

Najah Konja has a criminal record. After coming to the country as a 15-year-old, his brother said he fell in with the wrong crowd. He was convicted of drug conspiracy charges as a 21-year-old and spent about 20 years behind bars. Since getting out, his brother said, he has turned his life around. He owns a tobacco shop in the Detroit area. He's engaged and has been staying out of trouble. He lost the ability to have a Green Card because of his conviction, but he has been checking in annually with ICE, most recently in November.

Then, on Sunday, he was awakened at home and taken into custody and told he would be deported back to Iraq, where he has no family, does not know the language and has not lived for 40 years.

"Is this United States?" Shoki Konja asked. "Is this what this country is about?"

Shoki Konja thought the country was in good hands. He voted for Donald Trump in the November election, and said he agreed with Trump's promises to deport troublesome undocumented immigrants.

"The honest truth, we thought they (were) picking up hard-core criminals," Shoki Konja said. "We thought they (were) not going to touch innocent people, or people who turned their life around."

Two days before Najah Konja was picked up, the US Department of Justice Executive Office for Immigration Review Board of Immigration Appeals agreed to reopen his Green Card case. Now that case is in limbo.

Chaldeans in the Detroit area

Leaders of the Chaldeans are pursuing any possible special consideration for the members of their community at risk of being sent back to Iraq, according to Chaldean Community Foundation President Martin Manna.

The community has reached out to the US State Department and the US Department of Homeland Security, but have yet to make headway, Manna said.

"We are pleading with the government to reconsider," Manna said.

Community members were wary of President Trump's campaign rhetoric, Manna said, but were completely caught off guard by the sudden ICE raids.

The Detroit metropolitan area is home to over 150,000 Chaldeans, according to Manna. Since 2007, over 30,000 Chaldean refugees have come into the area, fleeing violent conditions in Iraq.

The biggest wave of Chaldeans first settled in Detroit in the late 1960s, escaping the regime of Ahmad Hasan al-Bakr, and later Saddam Hussein, according to Manna. Detroit was a good fit for the community because of the job opportunities in the city and its proximity to Canada, where other Chaldean communities grew over the years, he said.

"People who came as children, this is the only country that they know. They're culturally illiterate and fearing being killed. Now we're hoping and praying there will be some relief. They are not a threat to national security," Manna said.

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[rightsinexile]

Detention and Deportation News

Australia

Australia’s agreement with Nauru to detain refugees was a “deal with the devil”, the island’s former president has claimed, in an extraordinary deathbed interview with The Project.

Leaked video and audio show Australian detention centre guards using excessive force as onshore detention centres become more like prisons and increasingly house people awaiting deportation. The onshore detention centres will be a focus of the Senate’s budget estimates hearings next month, following the revelations of alleged mistreatment and complaint cover ups within the facilities.

The Australian government has announced it will close the Christmas Island detention centre before 1 July, just weeks after reopening it at a cost of more than AUD 185 million. Not a single refugee or asylum seeker has been transferred there.

Egypt

Egyptian authorities were asked to reveal the whereabouts of five deportees, which are at serious risk of torture and ill-treatment for their past political activities, after Malaysia and Turkey deported them back to Egypt.

Germany

The German Refugee Council expressed concerns over cooperation between the governments of Germany and The Gambia with regard to identification of Gambian citizens without passports or other identity documents in order to carry out their deportation.

Germany's top security official said the country agreed on a set of rules aimed at making it harder for failed asylum seekers to avoid deportation.

Libya

UNHCR Issues Urgent Appeal for Release and Evacuation of Detained Refugees Caught in Libyan Crossfire.

Refugees and migrants arbitrarily detained in Sabaa detention centre in Tripoli and are suffering from alarming rates of acute malnutrition, says international medical organisation Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF).

UK

The UK High Court has issued an interim injunction preventing the Home Office from removing or deporting individuals without notice as to date and time until a full hearing is heard in June or July.

USA

US Immigration Judge called the Justice Department’s latest move to deny asylum-seekers bond hearings “highly problematic,” saying courts should not be used as a political tool by law enforcement.

[todaynewsstories]

Croatia police accused of abusing refugees | Europe| News and current affairs from around the continent | DW

A middle-aged man steps out of a line of refugees. They are waiting for food at a makeshift camp in the northwest of Bosnia-Herzegovina. He removes his t-shirt to reveal welts and dried blood across his back. It is becoming a familiar image, one similar to those shared on social media several days ago, which also blame Croatian police.

The refugees near the Bosnian village of Velika Kladusa have tried to reach Croatia, an EU member state; the border is not far from here. Of the 10 refugees speaking to journalists, nine reported abuse by Croatian police; violence and insults, stolen money and damaged phones. Their efforts to apply for asylum have also been thwarted, they said, including being forced to walk back to Bosnia through dense forests.

“Show Europe what’s happening here,” a few refugees said, baring their wounds.

This man and others claim that Croatian police abused them

Campaign of ‘systematic violence’

Photos of the beaten man from Algeria were first shared on social media by “No Name Kitchen.” The aid organization’s volunteers help refugees in Rome, in Sid in Serbia and here in northwestern Bosnia-Herzegovina. In addition to helping them with food, blankets, clothing and showers, the organization is part of a larger network reporting police violence along the so-called Balkan Route, which many refugees take to reach the EU. More than 200 cases across the region have been recorded on the website borderviolence.eu since the start of 2017.

“There are one or two new cases every day. We don’t have the ability to document everything,” Marc Pratllus from No Name Kitchen told DW. “It’s clear on a daily basis that the violence is systematic. You just have to visit a refugee camp and ask them.

Yesterday we were at a bus station where 25 people were sleeping who had been sent back from Croatia. Fourteen had been beaten, and a few had broken ribs.”

Violence as part of new EU refugee policy?

Migrants pushed out of Croatia and back into Bosnia-Herzegovina have reported that Croatian police treated them particularly brutally. In one statement on borderviolence.eu, a 47-year-old Iraqi woman speaks of injuries to the face, arms and legs, sustained from police beatings. Her 14-year-old son was also reportedly beaten. They also took her money, a phone and a laptop.

NGOs in the region have warned that it is just one of many examples. “We have documented 17 women being forcibly returned to Bosnia from Slovenia and Croatia in the last two weeks. More than half of the cases involved minors,” reported the organization, Are You Syrious.

“In returning them, the Croatian police make it impossible to apply for asylum, a violation of Croatia’s own constitution and international law,” said Emina Buzinkic from Dobrodosli (Welcome), a refugee aid umbrella group for more than 60 Croatian civil society organizations.

Read more: Germany: More than half of deportees go missing

The change in Croatian authorities’ attitude from helping refugees in 2015 to abusing them today is a result of the EU’s new “detain and deport” refugee policy, they say.

Croatian government: ‘No means of coercion’

Dobrodosli filed two complaints with Croatia’s Interior Ministry last year, each with ample evidence of systematic violent refugee deportation. “We’re still waiting for an answer,” Buzinkic said.

“No means of coercion were used in any of the cases investigated that involved bodily harm or seizure of property by the police against migrants,” the ministry told DW in an e-mail. In Croatia, migrants’ basic rights and dignity were respected, the statement added, and access to international protection was provided for.

“The Republic of Croatia has an active and successful return agreement with Bosnia-Herzegovina that regulates the return of those who have entered illegally,” the statement said.

Many migrants claim they have been abused by police

Last year, 4,808 people were picked up who crossed the border illegally, according to Croatian government statistics. In the first seven months of 2018, that number stood at 3,172. Meanwhile, official Bosnian statistics show that, in the same time period, a mere 300 people were returned based on the bilateral agreement.

“In reality, the bilateral return agreement does not work at all,” said Bosnia-Herzegovina’s security minister, Dragan Mektic.

Looking for the truth

Refugee reports of violent returns are impossible to corroborate, said Peter Van der Auweraert, the Balkans Coordinator for the International Organization for Migration. “I also know about violence among migrants,” he said. “And it’s sometimes difficult to find out where the injuries come from, without a proper investigation.”

Read more: From refugees to Russia: Merkel’s foreign policy problems

Aid organizations’ monitoring police work along Croatia’s border with Slovenia has led to more refugees applying for asylum in Slovenia. But here, too, their rights are systematically violated, said Andrej Kurnik a social sciences researcher in Slovenia’s capital, Ljubljana. “Mutual blackmail” in the EU is the real reason behind police brutality in both Slovenia and Croatia, he said.

“Slovenia takes back refugees from EU member states further north, such as Austria, which is closing its border with Slovenia. In turn, Slovenia blackmails Croatia, which is also hoping to join the Schengen zone.” Croatia’s excessive police abuse began, he added, when Slovenia’s interior minister threatened drastic measures against Croatia if Croatia did not do more to stop refugees.”

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[ralphmorgan-blog1]

ACLU argues that deporting 1,400 Iraqis would jeopardize their lives

(CNN)The American Civil Liberties Union has expanded a petition to prevent the deportation of Iraqis in Michigan and Northern Ohio into a nationwide class action covering more than 1,400 Iraqis facing removal orders.

The ACLU and detainees argue that if the Iraqis were forced to return to Iraq, they would face "persecution, torture, or death."

A hearing is set for Monday morning at the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

Stay of removal

A federal judge on June 22 granted a 14-day stay of removal for more than 100 Iraqi detainees under the jurisdiction of Detroit's Immigration Customs Enforcement office (ICE), after the ACLU filed its initial complaint on June 15.

The stay prevents any of the Iraqis detained by Detroit ICE agents from being deported for two more weeks. It also gives detainees an opportunity to go before an immigration judge and make their case for why they believe they should be allowed to stay in the United States.

In his decision granting the temporary stay, US District Judge Mark Goldsmith argued that the potential "harm far outweighs" the government's interest in immediately enforcing the removal orders, according to court documents.

As well as expanding its class action nationwide, the ACLU filed a motion Saturday asking Goldsmith to extend his stay-of-removal order nationwide. It said it had asked the judge for a ruling by Monday because ICE had indicated that it might start deportations as early as Tuesday.

ICE last week said it was reviewing the judge's stay of removal order in the Michigan case and intended to comply with its terms.

Shift in ICE focus

In its amended complaint, the ACLU said plaintiffs had in many cases been living in the United States for decades.

"According to government officials, there are more than 1,400 Iraqi nationals with final orders of removal.

"Although most were ordered removed to Iraq years ago (some for overstaying visas, others based on criminal convictions for which they long ago completed any sentences), the government released them, often under orders of supervision," the ACLU said in its amended complaint.

The ACLU said the plaintiffs had been complying with the conditions of their release when "with no warning" ICE began arresting and detaining them because Iraq had agreed to take them back.

Iraq recently said it would accept deportees in exchange for being removed from the countries listed in President Donald Trump's travel ban.

That agreement triggered a shift in the focus of ICE raids, according to ICE's press secretary Gillian Christensen. The office had arrested 199 Iraqi nationals since May, 114 of them from Detroit, Christensen said in a statement earlier this month. ICE says most have criminal records.

Jurisdiction issue

Over the next two weeks, Judge Goldsmith will try to determine whether or not a federal district court has jurisdiction over the matter in the first place.

The US attorney's office argued that a federal district court did not have jurisdiction over whether or not these Iraqis can be deported. They believe it should be handled by an immigration court, according to Gina Balaya, public information officer for the US attorney's office for the Eastern District of Michigan.

Goldsmith granted the 14-day stay "pending the Court's determination regarding whether it has subject-matter jurisdiction," according to court documents.

Many of the Iraqis who were detained are Chaldeans, members of an Iraqi Christian group that has historically faced problems in Iraq. The Detroit metropolitan area is home to the largest US group of Chaldeans.

Some of them started immigrating to the United States in the 1920s for opportunities and freedom, the Chaldean Community Foundation said.

Many faced persecution during the Saddam Hussein era, during the Iraq war and after ISIS seized territory in Iraq.

"The court took a life-saving action by blocking our clients from being immediately sent back to Iraq," Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project, who argued the case, said in a statement last week. "They should have a chance to show that their lives are in jeopardy if forced to return."

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[hadadedali]

Home sweet, not home anymore…

Texas has made me appreciate Tijuana, and this picture speaks in great part as to why.

I was born and raised in this infamous border town, where we aren’t foreign to the influx of immigrants, mostly from all over México and Latin America but also Asians and more recently, Africans and Haitians, and of course, always our fair share of convicted felons from the US… and some escapists. Not to forget all the deportees… from, well, pretty much, all of the above.

Do we have the infrastructure? No

Do we have the resources? Nope

Do we have the heart? Yes

I can freely say that my town is very inclusive. It is a noble city that gives hardworking people a chance to thrive.

The above description actually reminds me of how people like to see the U.S. -“The land of opportunity”. “The land of the free”. I guess it’s never been marketed as “The land of inclusion” but it would seem implied in how people feel about this country. Unfortunately Texas has not felt that way to me.

In the part of Texas I live, Mexicans are second class citizens, papers or not.

Granted, the world in general has socio-economic tears, but, there is something about Texas that just feels overboard in terms of racism/classism.

In New Braunfels, where I live, there are many (too many) social clubs that are formed by exclusively white people, they might not say so in their guidelines, but people seem to gravitate towards being amongst their own, no one is to blame, right?

When I visited TJ (short for Tijuana) in December 2016, there were thousands of Haitian and African immigrants, making long lines to enter the U.S. Apparently, they understood they were going to be admitted for political asylum, but in the time it took them to arrive at the border, politics changed and they were left stranded for Tijuana to take care of it. I was worried they would get segregated and turn to drugs and become criminals in our already violent town.

Instead, locals employed them. They opened up restaurants to serve them Haitian food. Midwives volunteered to give the pregnant women humane prenatal care. We had some help from U.S. midwife groups for this as well.

I took this picture as I was buying tortillas to bring back to Texas. It helps me illustrate how now that I came back for the summer, it warmed my heart to see these Haitian and African immigrants are working all over town, casually walking down Revolution street, enjoying their Sunday afternoon, looking healthy, clean and clearly integrated into society. Some even enrolled in college. I didn’t hear fearful stories about them in the news. Nobody is complaining about how they are taking our jobs or our already scarce resources.

There is no hate speech or spreading of ideas about sending them back to their countries, or saying they are “illegal” . They did not enter the country legally. We were not prepared to receive them. Yet, here they are and we have a heart, so, we make the best of it.

I know Mexico is terrible in the way they treat people trying to cross the border down in the south. They abuse immigrants from the rest of latin America trying to come into Mexico, I don’t think we are righteous as Mexicans… but Tijuana, TJ is a different story and I’m proud to say I was born and raised in such an awesome place.

I have to acknowledge that people from Tijuana often look down and complain about people from Mexico city and Sinaloa. Those, however, are superficial complaints because we all have good friends from those places, we always give individuals a chance and are friendly with everyone, that is until they act on their stereotypical flaws as “chilangos” or “sinaloenses” … we find those living to their stereotypes, unpleasant, since the ‘chilango’ attitude involves taking advantage of others, and the 'sinaloense’ type is violent and rude.

As much as I love TJ, it has ruined food for me elsewhere though. There are many people from, well, everywhere, and the variety and quality of food, at affordable prices, is so great, that it cannot be replicated.

I can only dream of a time where I can afford to live in San Diego so I can visit Tijuana for food anytime I want.

I say San Diego because unfortunately, I don’t want to live in Tijuana anymore; we have terrible politicians that have just signed a deal to sell our water to San Diego. The roads and traffic keep getting worse since the politicians give the jobs to friends and they implement terrible plans for solving transportation and road problems, and the cycle seems far from over. A day to day life there is just too stressful.

I really hope we get better leaders there in order to make it a more enjoyable city, day in and day out. Meanwhile I’ll just dream of living close enough to be able to enjoy the great things it does have to offer. Like food, beer and art, but specially, my friends.

I do wish Texas was more tolerant and inclusive and I wish I would stop coming across comments like “go back to Commiefornia” every time I read into comment threads of my local representatives’ Facebook pages, anytime someone complains about how bad all the conservatives decisions are, people just respond that way whether you are Texan or not, they’ll tell you -go back to Commiefornia… not only on politician pages, also on some mom groups I belong to, people openly complain about all the Californians coming here… people really want to preserve their conservative views and it just feels suffocating.

I hope I can share in Texas some of the Tijuana greatness to a point where it could feel more like home, but we’ll see…

[tuesdayblogworld]

Forget Trump’s complaints about sanctuary cities. Most communities are actually helping enforce …

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