Views from Alongside a Border
By Michael Seifert
Last week I was helping clean up the small room that serves as a clinic at the Sacred Heart Respite Center in McAllen, Texas. Looking for a broom, I noticed a woman seated in a chair in the corner of the hallway, her ankle monitor plugged into a wall socket. She looked nervous and sad, and so I introduced myself. Our conversation was halting—she was from the Quiche region of Guatemala and Spanish was her second language, as she had grown up speaking her mother tongue.
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An Arizona-based advocacy group is accusing US Border Patrol of using the desert's harsh terrain as a ‘weapon'
By Rory Carrol
The US Border Patrol agency has engineered the death and disappearance of tens of thousands of undocumented immigrants by using the desert wilderness as a “weapon”, according to an advocacy group.
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La nominación de John Kelly para el Departamento de Seguridad Interna preocupa a las comunidades fronterizas
Activistas y líderes comunitarios temen que Kelly genere más militarización en la frontera y afirman que 'los generales pertenecen al campo de batalla y no a las comunidades'.
TUCSON, Arizona - Organizaciones fronterizas expresaron su preocupación por la nominación del general jubilado del USMC John Kelly para dirigir el Departamento de Seguridad Interna (DHS), el cargo con más responsabilidades en el control de la frontera y las deportaciones.
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Lawmaker proposes state legal help for noncitizens, as Trump adminstration draws near
By Kate Morrissey
State Sen. Ben Hueso, D-San Diego, introduced a bill Monday in the state legislature that would fund legal representation for noncitizens facing deportation.
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Warrants detail alleged smuggling scheme by Customs and Border Protection officer
By Kristina Davis
To U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officer Jose Luis Cota, the unauthorized immigrant women he fingerprinted and processed before their return to Mexico weren’t just detainees — they were potential customers, investigators say.
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Court Orders Government to Fix Inhumane Conditions in Border Patrol Holding Cells
Washington D.C. - A federal district court today found that U.S. Customs and Border Protection is violating the constitutional rights of people detained in holding facilities in Arizona and ordered the government to take steps to improve conditions in these facilities, known as hieleras. This is the latest turn in a legal challenge filed in June 2015 by the American Immigration Council, National Immigration Law Center, Morrison & Foerster, the ACLU of Arizona, and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights.
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A board set up to investigate Border Patrol shootings and deaths has cleared agents every time
By Joseph Tanfani
In rural Arizona, a border agent shot at and missed a migrant who had cocked his arm to throw a rock. At a California border station, a man died after being hit with a Taser three times.
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Cities Vow to Fight Trump on Immigration, Even if They Lose Millions
By Jennifer Medina and Jess Bidgood
LOS ANGELES — Here in Los Angeles, where nearly half of the city’s residents are Latino, Mayor Eric Garcetti has vowed to do everything he can to fight widespread deportations of illegal immigrants.
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U.S. Government Settles Lawsuit with ACLU Client Over CBP Officer Abuse
Today, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Texas, the University of Texas Civil Rights Clinic, and the Law Office of Gilberto Hinojosa & Associates announced a settlement in which the U.S. Government paid $85,000 to a U.S. citizen with a physical disability who suffered an unconstitutional and vicious takedown by a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agent at the Brownsville Port of Entry while trying to watch the search of her purse. The agent’s attack of our client, coupled with her subsequent, unwarranted arrest, violated her Fourth Amendment rights to be free from excessive force and unreasonable seizure.
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House Republicans test Trump on his U.S.-Mexico wall
By Julia Edwards Ainsley
Republicans in the House of Representatives hope to offer President-elect Donald Trump an alternate plan to his proposed U.S.-Mexico border wall, a first test by lawmakers from his own party of one of his key campaign promises.
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