Michael Seifert
ACLU of Texas Border
Advocacy Strategist
Brownsville Office
mseifert@aclutx.org
956 459 6827
Michael Seifert
ACLU
of Texas Border Advocacy Strategist
Brownsville
Office
956
459 6827
The Communities of the Rio Grande Valley, Texas
·
1.5 million
people live in the four counties that make up what is known as the Rio Grande
Valley.
·
“Mixed-status”
families (the same family with US citizens, or legal permanent residents
sharing life with unauthorized people), form a part of the heart and soul of
our Valley.
·
The poorest
region in the USA has no public hospital.
·
Border Patrol
checkpoints on the two highways leading out of the region restrict access to needed medical care for families of mixed immigration
status. A potentially fatal chokepoint in case of hurricane
evacuation.
·
According to FBI
statistics, the area is one of the safest (in terms of violent crime). Despite
this, it is a militarized zone with:
ü More than 3,000 Border Patrol Agents (a workload of
roughly three (3) arrests per agent per month).
ü 230 State Troopers
ü 1000 National Guardsmen
Updated
material will be at the foot of this document
Immigration:
A
guide to understand some of those most common misperceptions around
immigration:
Since January 2018
A scholar sets out how the
Trump anti-immigrant machine got set into place:
The Fresh Air interview with
the author is excellent:
Immigration and the Rio Grande Valley
How the federal government
came to adopt the notion that it is ok for people to die trying to save their
lives:
State troopers use a sniper
who kills two immigrants just outside of McAllen:
State troopers roam our
neighborhoods, hunting human beings:
In Court: The
Government Does Not Want You to See This
A sketch artist goes to
immigration court (be sure to watch her video at this site):
A volunteer lawyer goes to try and observe court in
the famous “tent courts” recently set up to block public access to the lack of
due process and justice for asylum seekers now a part of our national pastime: https://resourcesfortheborder.blogspot.com/2019/10/hidden-courts-hidden-injustices.html
The Border Wall
Bottom line: Residents
of the Rio Grande Valley are overwhelmingly against the construction of a
border wall. We already have an existing border wall which has been unnecessary
(the amount of immigration is at an all-time low; terrorists, drugs and other
threats to our nation's well-being come through the border across bridges
(smuggled in) or through our northern border.
There are currently more than
sixty miles of border presently in place. This construction causes flooding,
pushes immigrants into more dangerous crossing areas (remember that most
immigrants are young families seeking to surrender to Border Patrol), and
benefits human smugglers and government contractors.
See our blog on the wall: https://www.aclu.org/blog/immigrants-rights/theres-no-real-difference-between-border-walls-and-border-fences
For a comprehensive explanation of the wall: https://www.aclu.org/report/death-damage-and-failure
Our New Friends: Immigrants fleeing violence
Samantha
Bee offers an irreverent, but accurate overview of what asylum seekers experience
crossing into the Rio Grande Valley:
A
moment of great shame was the release of the audio of the screams and tears of
children separated from their parents: https://www.propublica.org/article/children-separated-from-parents-border-patrol-cbp-trump-immigration-policy
Local attorney Jodi Goodwin
helps reunite a mother and her child.
Ports of Entry:
On April 6, 2018, Attorney
General Jeff Sessions notified all U.S. Attorney’s Offices along the Southwest
Border of a new “zero-tolerance policy” for offenses under 8 U.S.C. § 1325(a),
which prohibits both attempted illegal entry and illegal entry into the United
States by an alien. A person who entered the United States, but avoided
inspection by a Customs and Border Protection agent could be charged with this
crime. In the past, Border Patrol used their discretion whether or not to
enforce this offense. With this
announcement, the discretion was removed from CBP and all people who were
apprehended were charged with this violation.
Why this matters:
1. Adults who were in CBP detention centers would be
brought to federal magistrate’s court for the hearing on this charge. During
their absence, federal agents would remove children from the facility and place them
with the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). More than 2800 children were separated during this
time.
2. This action was one more in a series of moves by the
federal government designed to criminalize and humiliate asylum seekers.
Starting June 15, 2018, Customs
and Border Patrol agents (CBP) began refusing to allow people seeking asylum
their right to a timely entrance into the USA. Before this, asylum seekers
would typically cross the international bridge, go inside the Customs and
Border Protection offices, present themselves to an officer, and tell the
official that they were seeking asylum. After June 15, CBP stationed two or
three armed agents at the International Boundary Line on the bridges, stopping
asylum seekers for setting foot into the United States.
Why this matters:
1.
There is now no
“right way” to enter into the United States. Even is an individual wanted to
follow the rules, the US blocks this process from the beginning
Asylum-seeking families were
made to wait on the international bridges without access to food, water or
restroom facilities. The US would admit only two or three individuals a day, a
process that authorities have quietly acknowledged came “from above.” After the Mexican election (July 1, 2018),
Mexican immigration agents began to inspect refugees at the bridge, refusing
entry to those without travel documents, detaining and deporting many. During
this time, immigrants created a self-organized “list” of those awaiting entry.
The list was taken over by the Mexican immigration authorities on the Gateway bridge,
demanding bribes of up to $500 for people to jump line on the list.
Over the year, the number of
people waiting in Matamoros grew to a thousand people, half of them children.
Volunteers from Brownsville and from across the United States responded,
offering basic necessities (food, water and other basic needs). There was no
access to public restrooms or showers. Many people decided to cross the Rio
Grande to enter; most people coming to the northern border were not given the
option by their smugglers of even going to the bridge.
On June 10th,
2019, the US threatened Mexico with tariffs if they failed to cooperate with
the US in preventing Central Americans from coming to the border with the
United States. The president of Mexico created a special national guard charged
with enforcing Mexican (read, “American”) immigration law.
On July 19, 2019, the United
States implemented the Migrant Protection Protocols in Laredo and the Rio
Grande Valley. Asylum seekers who managed to cross into the United States were
processed, and then returned to Mexico where they were to await their court
date. Several large “soft-sided” structures were set up next to the Gateway
International Bridge in Brownsville. These were intentionally constructed on
federal land so as to more easily block access to these courts that are
supposed to be open to the public.
Asylum seekers who have been
given a hearing date are to report to CBP officers on the bridge at 4a.m. where
they are inspected for lice and other skin diseases. If one passes this
inspection, the hearing takes place with a judge on a video camera. There is no
public access to these hearings (in the actual tent court). One can witness the
hearing from an immigration court from which the judge is presiding (in Harlingen),
although this access is limited as well if the judge is broadcasting from the
Port Isabel Processing Center.
Detention Facilities:
The Customs Border Protection
operates a number of processing/detention centers in the Rio Grande Valley.
These were the sites of the infamous “iceboxes” and “dog kennels.” The ACLU of
Texas staff interviewed hundreds of people who were detained in these
facilities. The testimonies were horrific evidence of wide-spread abuse of
children, of adults, and of our law.
The facilities:
Recently released reports from the internal review of Customs and
Border Protection’s detention practices:
Office of Inspector General’s
Report: https://www.oig.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/assets/2019-07/OIG-19-51-Jul19_.pdf
New
additions to this document:
Ports and Courts participant: https://medium.com/@terramcdaniel/i-spent-a-week-at-the-texas-mexico-border-heres-what-i-learned-f0cded996eca
CNN video on conditions in the MPP camp (Nov 2019) https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2019/11/01/asylum-seeking-migrants-mpp-conditions-border-camp-valencia-pkg-newday-vpx.cnn
Ports and Courts opinion piece published:
