Daily Archives: July 7, 2019

2019-07-07: News Headlines

Staff (2019-07-07). Sanctuary Leaders Fight Back Against ICE's "Psychological Violence" and Fines. truthout.org Ivan Ramirez, a 13-year-old Guatemalan asylum seeker, says he can't remember a time in his life when he felt free. Now that the federal government intends to fine his mother more than $300,000, he worries that whatever semblance of safety they have in sanctuary is being threatened. | Ivan and his mother Hilda Ramirez came to the United States fleeing familial violence in 2014. Since then, they have been "under attack" by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the elder Ramirez said. They were detained together for almost a year after first arriving in the United States. Since their release from detention,…

Repost, Democracy Now! (2019-07-07). Japanese American Internment Survivors Protest Plan to Jail Migrant Kids at Prison Camp. indybay.org Japanese Americans, including at least one from San Francisco, demonstrated at Ft. Sill in Oklahoma on June 22, one day after President Trump directed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to conduct a mass roundup of migrant families that have received deportation orders. They were met by uniformed military police who told them they did not have permission to congregate and might face arrest. "You need to move right now!" one of the officers shouted. "What don't you understand? It's English: Get out."

Staff (2019-07-07). More Details Emerge About Horrible Conditions at Immigration Detention Centers. therealnews.com A DHS Inspector General report and a visit by members of Congress to detention centers, the inhumane conditions become clearer and spark more outrage…

Trevor Aaronson (2019-07-07). FBI's Leniency Toward Border Vigilante Contrasts With Harsh Treatment of "Black Identity Extremist" theintercept.com While militia leader Larry Hopkins remained free to terrorize immigrants, Christopher Daniels was jailed for months, losing his home and his job.

Jake Johnson via Common Dreams (2019-07-07). Trump Blames Migrants for Appalling Conditions at Detention Centers. indybay.org Reposted from Common Dreams under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.

Philip Alston (2019-07-07). US Can't Ignore That Climate Crisis Will Force 120 Million People Into Poverty. commondreams.org Climate change is making headlines this summer with record temperatures, devastating floods, and climate-related migration. But in the U.S., mainstream discussions about climate change are remarkably out of touch with the scale of the crisis and the economic and social upheaval it will bring. Political leaders have failed to put forward a vision for avoiding catastrophic consequences or protecting those most affected.

Text: RR Photos: Jack Owicki, Pro Bono Photo (2019-07-07). In Palo Alto, 300 Demonstrators Protest Detention Camps. indybay.org On July 2, tens of thousands of people attended over 175 protests across the US to call on the Trump administration to close detention camps where migrants are being held under horrific conditions. Palo Alto, California, the site of one such protest, is the location of grassroots effort Caravan to Clint, a group that goes on trips to a children's detention facility outside El Paso.

WSWS Repost (2019-07-07). American Independence Day 2019. indybay.org This article, reposted from the World Socialist Web Site, recalls and examines the elementary proposition, first established in 1776, that the United States is a nation of immigrants.

Maximillian Alvarez & William Lopez (2019-07-06). Trump Wants to Transform Immigrant Communities Into a Permanent, Hyper-Exploited Underclass. commondreams.org When the president announced in an ominous tweet two weeks ago that mass immigration raids targeting "millions of illegal aliens" around the country were imminent, those who would suffer the worst did not have the luxury of wondering whether or not he was bluffing. Days later, the worst fears of many were seemingly confirmed.

WSWS (2019-07-06). Madrid threatens migrant rescue ship with massive fines. wsws.org Spain's social-democratic government has warned it will impose hundreds of thousands of euros in fines on vessels for rescuing refugees in the Mediterranean.

teleSUR (2019-07-06). Italy: Second Ship Violates Salvini's Anti-Migrant Legislation. telesurenglish.net Forty-one migrants docked on Italian shores Saturday in a second outright violation of the exclusionary legislation instituted by far-right Interior Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini. | RELATED: | German Sea-Watch Captain To Sue Italy's Salvini for Hate Speech | Flying the Italian flag, 'Alex' landed in the Lampedusa port where members of the national police were waiting. After a difficult two days of awaiting permission to enter the dock, the Alex crew was able…

Fight Back (2019-07-05). Chicanos protest raids and deportations. fightbacknews.org Los Angeles, CA – A protest on June 29, at the busy intersection of Soto Street and César E. Chávez in Boyle Heights, demanded an end to ICE raids and deportations. Attended by 30 people, the participants included students, parents and Centro CSO. The protest was energetic and extremely well-received by locals, people driving by, public transportation bus drivers and everyone in between. | Chanting, "When I say, 'Stop the raids' you say, 'Now!' Stop the raids! Now! Stop the raids! Now!" and "Dump! Trump!" the energetic protest gathered much support. One Boyle Heights resident joined after hearing the chant, " &de…

Staff (2019-07-05). Immigration Detention Center Conditions Cause Massive Outcry. therealnews.com The revelation of extreme immigration detention center conditions for exhausted asylum seeking children, who are separated from their relatives, sparked outrage nationwide. In Phoenix, Arizona, Jews for Justice demonstrated, demanding permanent medical staff for Border patrol's Provisional Detention Centers…

United Nations (2019-07-05). Six children among 53 confirmed fatalities after Libya detention centre airstrikes: Security Council condemns attack. un.org The toll from Tuesday's reported airstrikes on a detention centre in the suburbs of Tripoli has risen to 53 dead and more than 130 injured among the "severely traumatized" surviving migrants and refugees, UN aid agencies said on Friday, reiterating their appeal to close all such facilities in the embattled country.

Rémi Carayol (2019-07-05). What Happened When the EU Moved Its Fight to Stop Migration to Niger. thenation.com What Happened When the EU Moved Its Fight to Stop Migration to Niger…

WSWS (2019-07-05). Detroiters oppose Trump's war on immigrants at Fourth of July protest. wsws.org Over 150 people gathered in front of the ICE Enforcement & Removal Operations Field Office in downtown Detroit Thursday to register their opposition to the most recent wave of horrific attacks on immigrants by the Trump administration.

Ryan Devereaux (2019-07-05). Border Patrol Agents Tried to Delete Racist and Obscene Facebook Posts. We Archived Them. theintercept.com The scrubbing began quickly. At 10: 55 a.m., ProPublica published a story reporting the existence of a secret, invitation-only Facebook group for current and former Border Patrol agents that featured vulgar, violent, and misogynistic content directed at migrants and lawmakers. | A little over two hours later, Rep. Bennie G. Thompson, chair of the House Committee on Homeland Security, called for active-duty agents responsible for…

Barbara Nimri Aziz (2019-07-05). Abu Graib at Home in America. counterpunch.org "This is not what America is about" argues a U.S. reporter referring to revelations of misogynist, violent, racist behavior by employees of the U.S. Border Patrol 'guarding' migrants held in detention centers.Sorry Mr. Thompson (Pro Publica reporter who broke this story); THIS IS what America is about. Vulnerable people, i.e. women, men and children held More

teleSUR (2019-07-05). Nearly 1,000 Killed, 5,000 Injured in Pursuit of Tripoli: WHO. telesurenglish.net Over 100,000 people have been displaced, 5,000 injured and nearly 1,000 killed since the rogue military leader Khalifa Haftar set his eyes on the Libyan capital of Tripoli last April, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Friday. | RELATED: | Libya: 40 Dead and 80 Wounded in Airstrike on Migrant Center | Three months ago, Haftar launched a military offensive to capture the city of Tripoli from the U.N.-backed forces of the Government of National Accord (GNA). | Air strikes and skirmishe…

Lizet Ocampo (2019-07-05). Our Immigrant Prisons are an Atrocity. counterpunch.org Over the past several weeks, the brutal terror that immigrants face at the hands of our government has come into even sharper focus. As reports surface about immigrant children sleeping on concrete floors and people being forced to drink water from toilets, one fact has become unmistakably clear: It's well past time to demand an More

Staff (2019-07-04). There Are Alternatives to Caging Immigrants in Dehumanized Conditions. therealnews.com We talk with Vicki Gaubeca from Southern Borders Community Coalition about the conditions in the immigration prison camps, the Border Patrol's FB page, and proposals for humane treatment of refugees…

Staff (2019-07-04). Libya's Civil War is Becoming a Proxy War. therealnews.com The shooting down of a Turkish drone near Tripoli and the capture of six Turkish sailors by Gen. Haftar's forces reveals the Turkey's and Egypt's involvement on both sides of the civil war. Meanwhile Haftar's forces are accused of bombing a migration detention center near Tripoli, killing 44 and injuring 130…

Fight Back (2019-07-04). Dallas protesters march against Trump's concentration camps. fightbacknews.org Dallas, TX – About 100 protesters gathered at Dealey Plaza in Dallas in the evening of July 2 to demand an end to the Trump administration's immigrant concentration camps. After the rally, the protesters marched through downtown Dallas. | The protest was organized by North Texas Action Committee, North Texas Dream Team, Party for Socialism and Liberation, the Monsignor Romero Community Center, and Freedom Road Socialist Organization. | Signs demanded an end to the concentration camps and legalization for all. Chants included "Down, down deportations, up, up, education," and "No Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA.

The Mind Unleashed (2019-07-04). Pediatricians Release Migrant Children's Drawings of Their Time in US Border Prisons. theantimedia.com (TMU) — Pediatricians have shared harrowing images drawn by migrant children separated from their parents while in U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) detention camps that show people in prison-like conditions. The drawings were released by a social worker at the Catholic Charities Humanitarian Respite Center in McAllen, Texas to the American Academy of Pediatrics, who …

The Canary (2019-07-04). Paediatricians share children's drawings after release from 'inhumane' US detention camps. thecanary.co Pictures drawn by children recently detained by the United States border force depict their "inhumane" treatment, with figures of people in cages.The pictures were drawn by children following their release by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP).Detention centres are the first places children go after they are picked up by customs officials.Immediate past president of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Collen Kraft said: "The cages they are kept in are metal cells. They are kept cold, there is not enough food or water, and they are crowded. There are open toilets and the lights are kept on 24/7."A picture…

Fight Back (2019-07-03). Minneapolis: 4000 march against Trump's separation of families, concentration camps at the border. fightbacknews.org Minneapolis, MN – On June 30, 4000 people marched in South Minneapolis to stand with immigrants and Muslims who are under attack by the Trump administration. | The skies cleared from an earlier downpour as marchers went from Lake Street and Nicollet Avenue in the heart of the immigrant community, through Uptown and to the First Universalist Church, where there was an indoor rally. The church sanctuary as well as an overflow room were filled to capacity, with more people continuing to rally outside. | The huge protest came together quickly as word of the horrific conditions in the border concentration camps spread…

Fight Back (2019-07-03). Tucson protest tells Trump: No raids! No deportations! No family separations! fightbacknews.org Tucson, AZ – Over 100 people braved the intense desert sun Tuesday morning, July 2, to demonstrate their anger at Trump's threat for ICE raids aimed at thousands of undocumented families. Many demonstrators also expressed their demand to reunite families and to close the concentration camps operating as detention centers. | Outside the federal building protesters held signs reading "Close the camps!" and "Dismantle ICE!" The group then marched to the Pima County Office to demand an end to the Sheriff's collaboration with ICE and Border Patrol. Organizer from Coalición de Derechos Humanos, Isabel Garcia, said "The…

Staff (2019-07-03). Scott Warren of No More Deaths Faces Retrial for Providing Humanitarian Aid to Migrants in Arizona. democracynow.org Federal prosecutors announced Tuesday they will retry humanitarian aid volunteer and immigration rights activist Scott Warren on two charges related to aiding migrants along the U.S.-Mexico border. This comes just a few weeks after a jury refused to convict Warren for providing water, food, clean clothes and beds to two undocumented migrants crossing the Sonoran Desert in southern Arizona. Eight jurors found Warren not guilty; four said he was. Federal prosecutors will make their case against Warren again in an 8-day jury trial in November. They have dropped a conspiracy charge against him. If convicted on the tw…

Maryam Saleh (2019-07-03). As Trump Announces Mass Immigration Raid, Documents Show How ICE Uses Arrest Quotas. theintercept.com As U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, at the behest of President Donald Trump, plans mass raids following the July Fourth holiday, newly released documents shed light on the tactics the agency employs during such operations. | The documents, released Wednesday by the immigrant rights groups Mijente, Just Futures Law, and Detention Watch Network, show that ICE officials are building arrest target lists for mass raids to meet specific numbers, even as the agency continues to internally and publicly stress a "public safety" rationale for immigration arrests. | Most…

John Washington (2019-07-03). The US Is Making a Mockery of Its Asylum Obligations. thenation.com The US Is Making a Mockery of Its Asylum Obligations…

Staff (2019-07-03). Headlines for July 3, 2019. democracynow.org DHS Watchdog: "Dangerous Overcrowding" and Dire Conditions at Texas Migrant Jails, 30-Year-Old Honduran Migrant Dies in U.S. Custody, Federal Judge Blocks Trump Plan to Deny Bail to Asylum Seekers, DHS Fining Immigrants Up to $500,000 for Not Leaving the U.S., Nationwide Protests Demand Lawmakers #CloseTheCamps, Cory Booker Vows to End Immigrant Detention in 2020 Proposal, In Defeat for Trump Admin, 2020 Census Will Not Include Citizenship Question, House Dems Sue Treasury and IRS over Trump's Tax Returns, Airstrike Hits Migrant Detention Center in Libya, Killing At Least 40, Ethiopian-Israeli Community Protests…

United Nations (2019-07-03). Wednesday's Daily Brief: Libya 'war crime' attack, Sudan, Myanmar rights violations continue, 'xenophobia' in Assam, South Sudan update. un.org In the news this Wednesday: "Outraged" Guterres demands independent inquiry into fatal Libya migrant centre airstrike deaths; Violence and broken promises in Sudan and South Sudan, while Rohingya violations continue in Myanmar; "xenophobia" and citizenship in India's Assam state.

Emile Schepers (2019-07-03). Trump proposes dumping migrants into Guatemala, a supposedly "safe third country" peoplesworld.org The horrific image of a drowned father and his little daughter in the Rio Grande on the U.S.-Mexico border has intensified efforts in and out of Congress to deal with the situation of refugees and migrants trying to reach the United States from the Northern Triangle of Central America—Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador—and points beyond. …

United Nations (2019-07-03). Libya detention centre airstrike could amount to a war crime says UN, as Guterres calls for independent investigation. un.org An airstrike on a detention centre in Tripoli that killed scores of migrants and refugees "deserves more than condemnation", UN agencies said on Wednesday, as both the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the head of the UN mission in Libya (UNSMIL), insisted that it may amount to a war crime.

Staff (2019-07-03). Border Agents Caught Posting Racist, Sexist Messages About Migrants & AOC in Secret Facebook Group. democracynow.org Customs and Border Protection has opened an investigation into…

Dennis J Bernstein (2019-07-03). Japanese Internment Camp Survivor: 'Never Again Is NOW!'. progressive.org A filmmaker and therapist tells of her family's internment in a maximum security camp during World War II, and her views on the current imprisonment of people from south of the border.

Special to People's World (2019-07-03). The crisis at the southern border: What you need to know. peoplesworld.org "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. The retched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door." — Statue of Liberty inscription, written by Emma Lazarus Roughly a year ago, the American public became aware of the …

Marcos Lugo (2019-07-03). Secret Border Patrol agents' Facebook group exposes vile racism, sexism. liberationnews.org This is only the latest incident to reveal law enforcement personnel's connections to facsist and reactionary tendencies.

Ryan Devereaux (2019-07-02). Amnesty International Condemns U.S. Attacks on Border Journalists and Human Rights Defenders. theintercept.com The shape of the Trump administration's approach to policing immigration is at this point familiar. Since January 2017, federal agents and officers have been under orders to enforce a harsh interpretation of immigration laws without restraint. The result has most infamously manifested in the forced separation of immigrant parents from their children and, more recently, a series of horrific reports detailing conditions in border-area detention centers. | Though undocumented people have always been the core target of this campaign, the blast radius of the government's hyper-politicized crackdown has steadily expand…

Staff (2019-07-02). Headlines for July 2, 2019. democracynow.org Lawmakers Decry Dire Conditions and Lack of Accountability During Visit to Texas Migrant Jails, Migrant Child Freed from Clint Border Patrol Jail: "They Treated Us Badly", ProPublica: Secret Border Patrol Facebook Group Rife with Racist, Sexist and Anti-Immigrant Posts, Migrant Father and Daughter Who Drowned in Rio Grande Buried in El Salvador, #CloseTheCamps Protests Planned Across the U.S., Mexico Deploys National Guard, Ramps Up Crackdown on Immigrants, Hong Kong Protests Continue as Activists Renew Demands to Withdraw Extradition Bill, Iran Surpasses Enriched Uranium Stockpile Allowed Under Nuclear Deal, Jap…

Editor (2019-07-02). WW editorial: Worker self-defense at the border. workers.org The heartbreaking image went viral: Oscar Ramirez and his daughter Valeria, 23 months old, both dead, facedown in the waters of the Rio Grande — Salvadoran migrants, drowned attempting to cross into the U.S. Reports had come in, almost simultaneously, from legal and medical observers that migrant children were suffering . . . | Continue reading WW editorial: Worker self-defense at the border at Workers.org

Matt Bors (2019-07-02). Straw Man Argument. thenation.com Straw Man Argument…

Staff (2019-07-01). Headlines for July 1, 2019. democracynow.org Trump Sets Foot in North Korea in Historic First, Hong Kong Protesters Take to Streets, Enter Gov't Building, U.S. and China Ease Trade Tensions, Trump Lavishes Praise on MBS at G20 Summit, At Least 10 Killed in Sudanese Anti-Gov't Protests, Afghanistan: Violent Attacks Kill 100s in Recent Days as U.S.-Taliban Peace Talks Resume, Italian Police Arrest Captain of Migrant Ship After She Rescues 53 Refugees, Senate Rejects Effort to Prevent Trump from Attacking Iran Without Congressional Approval, Charles Koch and George Soros Team Up to Fund New Anti-Interventionist Think Tank, SCOTUS Rejects Alabama Ban on Most Co…

Thomas Harris (2019-07-01). Billionaires, mercenaries and middle class gangs build secret border wall in NM town. liberationnews.org We Build the Wall is a private billionaire-backed rightwing extremist organization.

unitedEditor (2019-06-30). G20: Primary Results. uwidata.com A large two-day summit of the world's leading economies was held in Osaka, Japan. Following the meeting, the participants crafted a joint statement on security, ecology, migration, economics, etc. International politics The leaders touched on the topic of Iran, expressing concern over the ongoing and escalating conflict. In recent weeks the conflict between the United …

Staff (2019-06-30). Is the $4 Billion Border Aid Bill for ICE or for Children? therealnews.com Progressives are battling the border aid bill because its lack of accountability provisions means there would be no way to tell if the money was spent on enforcement instead of aid…

Staff (2019-06-28). Dem Candidates All Support Healthcare for Undocumented People, Split on Decriminalizing Immigration. democracynow.org Immigration was among the top issues in the second night of the first Democratic presidential debates, with California Senator Kamala Harris saying she would reinstate Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a program that provides a temporary work permit and deportation relief for undocumented youth, on her first day in office. South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg spoke of the criminalization of immigration as the basis for family separation, referring to the Trump administration's "zero tolerance "policy as "dead wrong." While most candidates are running on different platforms to address the criminalization of immig…

Amrita SD (2019-06-28). Wayfair workers protest company's complicity in migrant concentration camps. liberationnews.org Community and labor join in solidarity.

ACLU (2019-06-28). How to Help Families at the Border Right Now. aclu.org We know that a better future is possible, and we at the ACLU, along with our supporters and allies, are daring to create it. | The images of Oscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez and his daughter Valeria, who lost their lives trying to seek refuge in the United States, have left us haunted. They serve as an ever-important reminder of the urgency of the fight for immigrant justice on our southern border and the need to stand up to the Trump administration's policies denying humanitarian protection and basic due process to families fleeing for their lives. | We remain at the frontlines of the family separation fight…

Staff (2019-06-28). Headlines for June 28, 2019. democracynow.org Supreme Court Says Partisan Gerrymandering Can't Be Challenged in Federal Courts, Trump Threatens to Delay Census After Supreme Court Blocks Adding Citizenship Question, Kamala Harris Takes on Joe Biden over Working with Segregationists and His Opposition to Busing, Congressional Hispanic Caucus Decries New Border Bill as an Unacceptable Betrayal, U.S. Helps Block Progress at German Climate Summit as Europe Sizzles in Record Heat, With a Smile, Trump Tells Putin at G20 Not to Meddle in U.S. Elections, Trump's Chief of Diplomatic Protocol Resigns After Accused of Carrying Whip at Work, Brazilian Air Force Officer…