August, 25 2021, 11:54am EDT
IRC: US Supreme Court revival of disastrous MPP program will send people fleeing danger back into harm's way
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds today to the U.S. Supreme Court decision to require the U.S. Government to restart implementation of the previous Administration's disastrous and harmful 'Remain in Mexico' policy, also known as the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) while litigation continues.
NEW YORK
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds today to the U.S. Supreme Court decision to require the U.S. Government to restart implementation of the previous Administration's disastrous and harmful 'Remain in Mexico' policy, also known as the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) while litigation continues.
MPP will potentially impact tens of thousands of asylum-seekers who will also be sent back to wait out their claim for months for a chance to meet with a U.S. judge, with little to no access in Mexico to U.S. legal support outside of what overstretched civil society organizations can provide. The IRC's teams in the field have seen the difficult conditions that 70,000 asylum-seekers had to endure for a chance to find safe haven.
Olga Byrne, Director of Immigration for the IRC said:
"The U.S. Supreme Court decision is the latest chapter of disastrous and harmful policies in the American asylum system. People fleeing persecution and conflict to seek safety at the U.S. border must be protected--instead this policy if implemented would worsen the growing insecurity that asylum-seekers have to endure in border towns along Mexico.
"MPP had sent 70K asylum seekers back to danger during the previous administration. This adds to recent policy decisions that block vulnerable people's right to seek protection within U.S. territory, including continuation of Title 42 and flying expelled asylum seekers away from the border. This only adds to the sense of chaos and confusion for people at the border in times when humanitarian needs are increasing, and services in Mexico are already overloaded.
"The U.S. must swiftly and, with finality, end this illegal program and close this dark chapter in American history. In replacement, it must invest in dignified welcome and reception, while addressing root drivers of migration in Latin America and working with regional governments to offer protection and alternatives for the most vulnerable people. Seeking asylum is legal. We call for the U.S. to end harmful immigration policies.
The IRC operates in Latin America across the arc of crisis, delivering protection services and humanitarian assistance to people on the move, refugees, asylum seekers, and returnees. The teams on the ground have seen living conditions in the region worsening, including in northern Central America, where in 2020 alone more than 1.4 million people were forced to leave their homes due to conflict and climate change. At the same time, as expulsions continued--like the more than 733,000 that took place between March 2020 and April 2021--people encountered ongoing violence and limited resources and services to meet their most basic needs.
Meghan Lopez, the IRC's Regional Vice President for Latin America, said:
"In times when humanitarian needs are particularly increasing, with the effects of the pandemic, multiple natural disasters, and ongoing conflict, by expelling asylum seekers, the United States is instituting a policy of sending people back to the violence and persecution that they sought refuge from in the first place.
"We call for the U.S. government to rescind harmful policies like MPP and Title 42, and to deliver instead a comprehensive response to address the humanitarian crises in Latin America. Investments and collaboration with all sectors, including INGOs are required to offer protection and alternatives for people in the most vulnerable situations, including addressing the root drivers of migration--a strategy the IRC welcomes. Additionally, asylum systems and policies must be strengthened in countries like Mexico, that under specific circumstances might be an alternative for some people."
The IRC's work along the Mexican northern border, especially with gender-based prevention and attention programs for women, girls, and LGBTQ+ people demonstrates that many cities where people are returned are not safe for asylum-seekers to wait out their claims in court. Policies like MPP have left asylum-seekers subject to significant security, health, and protection risks, often for months--exposing them to serious threats to their safety, as well as considerable challenges in accessing legal representation or even basic logistical information about how to attend their court hearings in the US. Along with lack of services, this leaves women, often with young children, at particular risk. No matter where asylum-seekers get blocked or are forced to wait along the border, they remain highly vulnerable in Mexico to the same type of exploitation, abuse and targeted violence that forced them to flee in the first place.
The IRC will work with partners to ensure MPP-impacted families and individuals are given every chance possible to be one step closer to having a fair chance at having their asylum claims heard. The IRC continues to call on the U.S. Congress to pass legislation, like the Refugee Protection Act, that would strengthen and expand protections for those in need of safe haven.
The International Rescue Committee responds to the world's worst humanitarian crises and helps people whose lives and livelihoods are shattered by conflict and disaster to survive, recover, and gain control of their future.
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Supreme Court Urged to 'Rule Quickly' After Trump Immunity Arguments
"It'd be a travesty for justices to delay matters further," said one legal expert.
Apr 25, 2024
After about three hours of oral arguments Thursday on former President Donald Trump's immunity claims, legal experts and democracy defenders urged the U.S. Supreme Court to rule swiftly, with just over six months until the November election.
Trump—the presumptive Republican candidate to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden, despite his 88 felony charges in four ongoing criminal cases—is arguing that presidential immunity should protect him from federal charges for trying to overturn his 2020 loss to Biden, which culminated in the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Justices across the ideological spectrum didn't seem inclined to support Trump's broad immunity claims—which critics have said "reflect a misreading of constitutional text and history as well as this court's precedent." However, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) shared examples of what it would mean if they did.
"Trump could sell pardons, ambassadorships, and other official benefits to his wealthy donors, members of his clubs, or cronies who helped him commit other crimes," CREW warned. "Trump could sell nuclear codes and government secrets to help pay back crippling debts."
"But this isn't just about what Donald Trump could do. It's really about how total immunity for the president would threaten our democratic system of checks and balances," the group continued. "The president could order the military to assassinate activists, political opponents, members of Congress, or even Supreme Court justices, so long as he claimed it related to some official act."
After warning that a president could also order the occupation or closure of the Capitol or high court to prevent actions against him, CREW concluded that "the Supreme Court never should have taken this appeal up in the first place. They should rule quickly and shut these ludicrous claims down for good."
The organization was far from alone in demanding a quick decision from the nation's highest court.
"In the name of accountability, the court must not delay its decision," the Brennan Center for Justice said Thursday evening. "The Supreme Court's time is up. It needs to let the prosecution move forward. The court decided Bush v. Gore in three days—it should act with similar alacrity in deciding Trump v. U.S."
In Bush v. Gore, the case that decided the 2000 election, the high court issued a related stay on December 9, heard oral arguments on December 11, and issued a final decision on December 12.
On Thursday, the arguments "got away from the central question: Is a former president immune from criminal prosecution if he tried to overthrow a presidential election, using private means and the power of his office to do so?" the Brennan Center noted. "The answer is simple: No."
"It is not an 'official act' to try to overthrow the peaceful transfer of power or the Constitution, even if you conspire with other government officials to do it or use the Oval Office phone," the center said. "Trump's attorney was pushing the court to come up with a sea change in the law. That's unnecessary and a delay tactic that will hurt the pursuit of justice in this case."
In a departure from previous claims, Trump's attorney, D. John Sauer, "appeared to agree with Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is leading the prosecution, that there are some allegations in the indictment that do not involve 'official acts' of the president," NBC Newsreported, noting questions from liberal Justice Elena Kagan and conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a Trump appointee.
Barrett summarized various allegations from the indictment and in three cases—involving dishonest election claims, false allegations of fraud, and fake electors—Sauer conceded that Trump's alleged conduct sounded private, suggesting that a more narrow case against the ex-president that excluded any potential official acts could proceed.
Due to Trump attorney's concessions in Supreme Court oral argument, there's now a very clear path for DOJ's case to go forward.\n\nIt'd be a travesty for Justices to delay matters further.\n\nJustice Amy Coney Barrett got Trump attorney to concede core allegations are private acts.\u2b07\ufe0f— (@)
According to NBC:
Matthew Seligman, a lawyer and a fellow at the Constitutional Law Center at Stanford Law School who filed a brief backing prosecutors, said Sauer's concessions highlight that Trump is "not immune for the vast majority of the conduct alleged in the indictment."
Ultimately, he said, the case will go to trial "absent some external intervention—like Trump ordering [the Justice Department] to drop the charges" after having won the election.
At the same time, Sauer's backtracking might have little consequence from an electoral perspective. Further delay in a trial, which Sauer is close to achieving, is a form of victory in itself.
Slate's Mark Joseph Stern pointed out that when Barrett similarly questioned Michael Dreeben, the U.S. Department of Justice lawyer arguing the case for Smith, it seemed like they "were trying to work out some compromise wherein the trial court could distinguish between official and unofficial acts, then instruct the jury not to impose criminal liability on the former."
"It was fascinating to watch Barrett nodding along as Dreeben pitched a compromise that would largely preserve Smith's January 6 prosecution but limit what the jury could hear, or at least consider," Stern added. "That, though, would take months to suss out in the trial court. More delays!"
Stern and other experts signaled that the decision likely comes down to Barrett and Chief Justice John Roberts, with the three liberals seemingly supporting the prosecution of Trump and the other four conservatives suggesting it is unconstitutional.
People for the American Way president Svante Myrick said in a statement that "today's argument brought both good and bad news. It was chilling to hear Donald Trump's lawyer say that staging a military coup could be considered part of a president's official duties."
"Thankfully, the majority of the court, including conservative justices, did not seem to buy that very broad Trump argument that a former president is absolutely immune from prosecution under any circumstances," Myrick added. "On the other hand, it's not clear that there is a majority on this court that will quickly reject the immunity arguments and let the case go forward in time for a trial before the election. That's a huge concern."
Trump was not at the Supreme Court on Thursday; he was at his trial in New York, where he faces 34 counts for allegedly falsifying business records related to hush money payments to cover up sex scandals during the 2016 election cycle. The are two other cases: a federal one for mishandling classified material and another in Georgia for interfering with the last presidential contest.
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Twenty more demonstrators were arrested Thursday, the second day of Earth Week protests targeting Citigroup's Manhattan headquarters in what organizers called "the beginning of a wave of direct actions to take place over the summer targeting big banks for creating climate chaos that is killing our communities and our planet."
Protest organizers—who include Climate Defenders, New York Communities for Change, Planet over Profit, and Stop the Money Pipeline—said 53 activists were arrested over two days of demonstrations, which included blocking the entrance to Citigroup's headquarters, to "demand that the bank stop funding fossil fuels."
Organizers said this week's demonstrations "were just the beginning" of what they're calling a "Summer of Heat" targeting big banks for their role in the climate emergency and for "polluting our land, air, and water, and threatening the health of children, families, and our planet." Citigroup is the world's second-largest fossil fuel financier.
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Jonathan Westin, executive director of Climate Defenders, asserted that "Citigroup's racist funding of oil, coal, and gas is creating climate chaos that's devastating communities of color across the country."
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"We're going to keep organizing and taking direct action until Citi listens to us," he vowed.
Stop the Money Pipeline co-director Alec Connon said: "To have any chance of reigning in the climate crisis, we must stop investing in fossil fuel expansion. Yet, Citibank is pumping billions of dollars into new coal, oil, and gas projects."
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According to the protest organizers:
Citi has provided $668 million in funding to Formosa Plastics between 2001-2021, which is trying to build a $9.4 billion plastics facility in a majority Black community in the heart of Cancer Alley in Louisiana.
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A Biden administration spokesperson once again brushed off calls for an independent investigation into how hundreds of Palestinians found in mass graves near Gaza hospitals died when asked Thursday about new reports that many of the victims were tortured, summarily executed—and in some cases, buried alive by Israeli invaders.
During a Thursday U.S. State Department press conference in Washington, D.C., a reporter noted Gaza officials' claim that mass grave victims "including children were tortured before being killed" and that "some even showed signs of being buried alive, along with other crimes against humanity."
"What's wrong with an independent, scientific, forensic investigation?"
Noting calls by Palestinian officials and United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk for an independent probe into mass graves, the reporter said that "this administration repeatedly said that it asks... the Israeli government to investigate itself."
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Patel replied: "We continue to find these reports incredibly troubling. And that's why yesterday you saw the national security adviser for this to be thoroughly investigated."
While National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on Wednesday called reports of mass grave atrocities "deeply disturbing" and said that "we want answers" from Israel, he did not call for an independent investigation.
When the reporter pressed Patel on the legitimacy of asking Israel to investigate itself, Patel said, "we believe that through a thorough investigation we can get some additional answers."
Thursday's exchange followed a similar back-and-forth on Tuesday between Patel and Said Arikat, a journalist for the Jerusalem-based
Palestinian news outlet al-Quds who asked about the mass graves.
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Gaza Civil Defense official Mohammed Mughier told reporters that "we need forensic examination" to definitively determine the causes of death for the 20 people believed to have been buried alive.
Previous reporting on the mass graves quoted rescue workers who said they found people who were apparently executed while their hands were bound, with some victims missing heads, skin, and internal organs.
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