Posts
3/20/20
It is almost impossible to get a clear idea of what the announced changes to immigration policy will be. Listening to the president and his chorus of evil, at the Coronavirus press conference, they seemed to say or imply the following:
1. Apprehended migrants will not be held. They will be transferred to airports and flown to their own countries.
2. Mexico will not accept anyone from any third countries.
3. There will be no judicial review of this procedure.
4. No asylum seekers will be allowed to cross.
3/16/20
Travel restriction. Meaningless for deportation flights so far. No one cares about these people. Observed three busses of human beings boarded in shackles to a plane headed for Guatemala, a country that said they would restrict all incoming flights from other countries...but not deportation flights.
3/15/20
Suspended: Witness at the Border
These are hard times, and the specter of the Coronavirus hangs over the vulnerable in a way that we can barely allow ourselves to pronounce, much less write it down and make it even more real. Imagine the scenarios, the way this plays out for those trapped at the border, and in prisons that have walls, as well, and I will imagine still another that is haunting me as I write.
3/15/20
This will be the first week in over a year that I’m not making a bridge calendar [for Team Brownsville]. We’ve been told that World Central Kitchen is taking food to be distributed in small groups, that people are not supposed to be congregating anywhere. That means we’re not needed for hand washing or water duty. Team leaders may be going across to distribute goods, but we’ve been told not to take extra people unless necessary for distribution. This is for their protection as well as ours.
3/8/20
The grocery clerk asked about the “Free Them” button I was wearing. I explained that it referred to people who are trying to claim asylum but are being denied entry to our country. He told me lovingly about his father, who years ago swam across a river to get here from Mexico. But the clerk was not sympathetic to people who are trying to get into our country today.
3/7/20
Thank goodness so far we have seen no evidence here of the announced increased militarization of the border. But we will witness changes. And actions. Uncertainty remains until possibly the 11th or 12th to see if SCOTUS reviews the current status of MPP - in place in the 5th District (TX and NM) and no MPP as of the 12th in the 9th (AZ and CA).
3/5/20
The asylum seekers who are stuck just outside Brownsville and at other border towns in Mexico may now have a compelling reason to risk a long journey full of danger. The 9th Circuit just ruled that as of March 12 they will have a new chance of getting into the U.S. On that day, the Trump administration's Remain in Mexico policy will no longer be in effect, because the temporary stay that the court had ordered dissolves and the injunction against the policy goes into effect.
3/1/20
Turnout for the Charro Days parade seemed smaller this year than in the past, despite the beautiful weather. No doubt it's because of the difficulty people have crossing the border and the climate of fear CBP has established. People seemed more hesitant than in the past to take our signs. Nonetheless a few brave souls did take them, and we celebrate them!
2/28/20
Let’s piece together the day. Its dramatic events began with a stunning ruling by a three-judge panel on the Ninth Circuit, one that lifted a stay on an injunction against MPP, Remain in Mexico. This was news that generated a lot of hope in the immigrants rights community, and among those in the the belly of the MPP beast itself.
