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Daily Dispatch
October 29, 2019
The Trump administration unilaterally rewrote asylum rules through an executive order in September. The administration declared that no one would be permitted to apply for asylum in the United States if they crossed through another country first, unless they had attempted to get asylum in that third country and been denied. Effectively, this means that no one can apply for asylum at the U.S. southern border unless they are from Mexico, or applied for asylum in Mexico and were denied.
The rule is being challenged in court. However, an effort to get an injunction against the rule, while legal proceedings are underway, failed. So, Trump is moving forward - but not simply with the new rule. The administration is piloting a program to expedite removals at the border; a program that grants extensive powers to border patrol agents and effectively denies immigrants access to counsel. From CBS News:
According to a Homeland Security official, the pilot program in the El Paso sector is a "whole of government approach" to expedite the processing of single migrant men and migrant families subject to a regulation allowed by the Supreme Court last month that renders most non-Mexican migrants ineligible for asylum when they reach the U.S.
The existence of the pilot program was first reported by The Washington Post.
The Department of Homeland Security has not publicly revealed specifics about how the secretive program is operating, but El Paso-based immigration lawyers who've found out about it say it denies migrants due process, restricts access to counsel and effectively ensures their prompt deportation.
According to the attorneys, migrants subject to the pilot initiative, which they believe began this month, are not placed in the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) program, another experimental and controversial policy the administration implemented in late 2018. The program, also referred to as "Remain in Mexico," has required more than 55,000 asylum seekers to wait in Mexico for the duration of their court proceedings.
Instead, the attorneys say, these asylum-seeking migrants encountered along the El Paso sector are detained by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents and quickly given a fear of persecution screening while in the agency's custody.
The policy is a departure from previous procedures because asylum seekers not returned to Mexico were typically detained by Border Patrol for a few days or weeks and then transferred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers, where they would undergo what is called "credible fear" interviews that are overseen by asylum officers.
Lawyers have been typically granted access to clients in ICE facilities to offer them advice before the interviews, but under the pilot program, they are not allowed to see and speak to their clients, who are detained in a Border Patrol station. Detained migrants can request phone calls, but lawyers are not allowed to call their clients in detention.
Every now and then I check the interwebs to make sure we still have a congress. As of today, we do. What are they doing exactly?
Who guards the guardians when...wait, who are the guardians anyway…
Trump does not like to be told he’s wrong, or what to do, or how to make improvements, or really anything accept “well done” and “that’s huge.” One result is that his cabinet is a mess - and a further result is that no one in charge of anything to do with immigration has been through a confirmation for the position they are currently holding. Trump has said he “likes acting” directors, because he can move them around at will. The problem, is this another example of the incredible lack of accountability in this administration. With the news that yet another DHS official has left (Julie Kirchner, formerly with FAIR - an anti-immigrant hate group, yeah that group) I thought it would be worth a quick round up of who is actually doing stuff on immigration. As you can see, not a single person in a director position is a confirmed, permanent staff.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary (acting), Kevin K. McAleenan | Secretary's Corner
Deputy Secretary (vacant), David P. Pekoske, Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Deputy Secretary
Chief of Staff (acting), Brandon Wales
Executive Secretary (acting), Juliana Blackwell
General Counsel (acting), Joseph B. Maher
Director, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (acting), Ken Cuccinelli
Deputy Director, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Mark Koumans
Commissioner, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Kevin K. McAleenan (currently serving as Acting Secretary, Department of Homeland Security)
Chief Operating Officer and Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Commissioner, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Mark A. Morgan
Deputy Commissioner, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Robert E. Perez
Director, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), (vacant), Matthew T. Albence (Deputy Director), Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Director, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement