ASYLUM SEEKERS HAVE RIGHTS TOO

Victims of Trump’s “Turnback Policy,” represented by several

organizations including the Southern Poverty Law Center, American
Immigration Council, and others, have asked a federal court to end the
illegal policy. The policy gives immigration officials at ports of entry to
turn back asylum seekers and force them to wait in Mexico, endangering
their health and safety.
The policy is illegal at several different levels. According to the plaintiffs
and their lawyers, the policy violates U.S. laws, the Constitution, and
international legal principles that “require that asylum seekers be given
access to the U.S. asylum process and prohibit them from being turned
back at the border.” It’s alleged that asylum seekers who have been
turned back “are in serious danger of disappearing, kidnappings, rape,
and sexual and labor exploitation.”
According to a whistleblower, Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agents
routinely lie to asylum seekers, saying the ports of entry are over
capacity when they are not, coerce them to withdraw their applications,
or physically force to turn them back. The agents know the policy is
illegal, but enforce it anyway. Some asylum seekers have been turned
back while standing on U.S. soil.
Such was the case of Oscar Martinez, his wife Tania, and their 23-
month old daughter, Valeria, in 2019. They were turned back when the
CBP told them that the Brownsville port was full, though it was only at
33% of capacity. They tried to swim across the river and drowned. They
were found at the river’s edge with Valeria clinging to her father’s neck.
Unfortunately, the motion before the Court only asks that the practices
by CBP be stopped and the “Turnback Policy” be declared unlawful. It’s
un-American and hypocritical for us, a nation that used to take action
against countries who routinely violated basic human rights, not to seek
punishment against CBP agents who knew the policy was illegal yet
enforced it anyway. The architect of the inhumane policy and whoever
ordered its enforcement at the White House, in violation of the US
Constitution, and national and international laws, should also be
charged. Maybe later, hopefully.

Dr. Juan Andrade, Jr.

President
United States Hispanic Leadership Institute, Inc
 View this email in your browser

Copyright © 2020 United States Hispanic Leadership Institute, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website.

Our mailing address is:

United States Hispanic Leadership Institute
431 S. Dearborn St.
Suite 1203
Chicago, IL 60605

Add us to your address book

Want to change how you receive these emails?

You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.