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One_liners

_Here’s a reminder that it was Trump who said a president is ultimately responsible for a government shutdown.

_Rep. Will Hurd (R-TX) and Rep. Peter Aguilar (D-CA) were the first to release a bipartisan proposal that offered a DACA fix combined with the most reasonable, common-sense border enforcement yet.

_No More Deaths and La Coalición de Derechos Humanos issued a deeply troubling report illustrating the systematic destruction of humanitarian aid by U.S. Border Patrol agents.

_ Five U.S. representatives called for an investigation into abuses by ICE and CBP officials who may have violated a policy that limits enforcement activities in sensitive locations.

_Thank you to Univision and our border colleagues in El Paso, Las Cruces, Yuma, Imperial Valley, Riverside, and San Diego for driving calls to U.S. congressional members to urge them to protect Dreamers without additional border militarization.

Must_reads

_Commander in Tweet? Gotta admit, things are super screwy in DC right now. Contradictory tweets and expletives flying, proposals on a DACA fix with border enforcement measures introduced left and right (literally and figuratively), a government shutdown looming, and congressional members frozen, waiting to see if Trump will get behind something and not change his mind. This is atypical. What should be happening is each congressional chamber passes a bill, they go to conference, and then take it to the President for a signature or veto. Waiting for a green light first from the President feels...um...not very democratic.

_"Still Have a Good Number of Disagreements.” Young immigrants and strong believers in social justice held their breaths today when Sen. Schumer (D-NY) met with President Trump today and hoped a grand deal would be struck to avoid a government shutdown. Sadly, this didn’t happen. Lights out?

_Who’s Holding Who Hostage? The military is being held hostage, young immigrants are being held hostage and traded against the safety and dignity of border communities, children’s health care and disaster relief are also being held hostage. Ironically, these are things that the majority of Americans overwhelmingly support. So what’s the problem? Just make a deal, pass these bills and go home already. It’s really our American values of equality, justice, and dignity that are being held hostage.

_Making it Real. We brought another powerful delegation of Border Dreamers this week to DC to participate in direct actions and to educate congressional members about the plight of young immigrants living in the border region. Jessica Garcia Rodriguez, an SBCC Border Dreamer from Tucson, Ariz., shared her experiences at a vigil Thursday night.

_Border Life. SBCC steering committee members Cynthia Pompa, field organizer with the ACLU Regional Center for Border Rights, and Johana Bencomo, community organizer at New Mexico Comunidades en Acción y de Fé (CAFé), painted a frank and candid picture of what it’s like living under the iron fist of border militarization.

_Know Your Rights. In a story about American Friends Service Committee’s efforts to share rights information to travelers at a port of entry near San Diego, Pedro Rios, director of the AFSC’s US/Mexico Border Program and SBCC steering committee member noted, “There is a fear factor and people don’t want to file complaints because of that. That’s why it’s important for us to be out here.” Everyone has rights, regardless of immigration status.

_Congressional job description. Congressional members need to hear from their constituents reminding them that their job is to make policies that preserve the safety, dignity and freedom of border communities and to stop using the lives of young immigrants as bargaining chips for more draconian measures at the border. Tell them to get back to work until a deal is done. #NoBootsNoBedsNoWall #ProtectDreamers