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julian castro
All People Who Believe in Press Freedoms Must Condemn the Extradition of Julian Assange
Biden's Justice Department is ignoring the dire warnings of virtually every major civil liberties and human rights organization in the country.
Jun 17, 2022
The British home secretary has formally approved the extradition of WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange to the United States, in the latest development in a dangerous and misguided criminal prosecution that has the potential to criminalize national security journalism in the United States.
This is one more troubling development in a case that could upend journalists' rights in the 21st century.
Previously, a major coalition of civil liberties organizations, including Freedom of the Press Foundation, implored U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to drop the case against Assange in the name of protecting the rights of journalists everywhere. So, too, have the editors of major news outlets such as The New York Times and Washington Post.
By continuing to extradite Assange, the Biden DOJ is ignoring the dire warnings of virtually every major civil liberties and human rights organization in the country that the case will do irreparable damage to basic press freedom rights of U.S. reporters.
The prosecution, which includes 17 charges under the Espionage Act and one under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, covers events that took place more than a decade ago, but was brought only under the Trump administration--after the Obama Department of Justice reportedly considered charges but dismissed them for their dangerous First Amendment implications.
Reports suggest Assange may have at least one more avenue of appeal, so he may not be on a flight to the United States just yet. But this is one more troubling development in a case that could upend journalists' rights in the 21st century.
You don't have to like Assange or his political opinions at all to grasp the dangerous nature of this case for journalists everywhere, either. Even if you don't consider him a "journalist," much of the activity described in the charges against him is common newsgathering practices. A successful conviction would potentially make receiving classified information, asking for sources for more information, and publishing certain types of classified information a crime. Journalists, of course, engage in all these activities regularly.
You don't have to like Assange or his political opinions at all to grasp the dangerous nature of this case for journalists everywhere.
There is some historical irony in the fact that this extradition announcement falls during the anniversary of the Pentagon Papers trial, which began with the Times publication of stories based on the legendary leak on June 13, 1971, and continued through the seminal Supreme Court opinion rejecting prior restraint on June 30, 1971.
In the months and years following that debacle, whistleblower (and FPF co-founder) Daniel Ellsberg became the first journalistic source to be charged under the Espionage Act. What many do not know is that the Nixon administration attempted to prosecute Times reporter Neil Sheehan for receiving the Pentagon Papers as well--under a very similar legal theory the Justice Department is using against Assange.
Thankfully, that prosecution failed. And until this one does too, we continue to urge the Biden administration to drop this prosecution. Every day it continues to further undermine the First Amendment.
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Biden Decries 'Outrageous' Treatment of Haitians at Border--But Keeps Deporting Them
"I'm glad to see President Biden speak out about the mistreatment of Haitian asylum-seekers. But his administration's use of Title 42 to deny them the right to make an asylum claim is a much bigger issue."
Sep 24, 2021
After several days of global outrage over footage of mounted U.S. agents using their horse reins as whips and menacing Black migrants at the southern border, President Joe Biden on Friday finally condemned the conduct, while his administration continued mass deportations to Haiti.
A reporter asked the president whether he takes responsibility for the "chaos that's unfolding" at the border and if he was failing to deliver on his campaign promise to restore the moral standing of the United States, in part by ending the Trump administration's immigration policies.
"Of course I take responsibility. I'm president," Biden said, adding that it was "horrible... to see people treated like they did: horses nearly running them over and people being strapped. It's outrageous."
"I promise you, those people will pay," he said of the mounted agents, noting that a federal investigation is underway. "There will be consequences. It's an embarrassment. But beyond an embarrassment, it's dangerous; it's wrong. It sends the wrong message around the world. It sends the wrong message at home. It's simply not who we are."
Biden had been under pressure to speak out about the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents' recent actions at the border.
"The horrific conduct by CBP in Del Rio, Texas, including officers charging into crowds of Haitian asylum-seekers on horseback, violently dispersing them, taunting them, and forcing them away from safety, is reprehensible and underscores a deeper problem of systemic and racist treatment against Haitian and other Black migrants in the U.S. and at the southern border," said Paul O'Brien, executive director at Amnesty International USA.
Former 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Julian Castro said Friday that "I'm glad to see President Biden speak out about the mistreatment of Haitian asylum-seekers."
"But his administration's use of Title 42 to deny them the right to make an asylum claim is a much bigger issue. End Title 42," Castro added, referring to a controversial policy first implemented under former President Donald Trump that the Biden administration is still using to swiftly deport people on public health grounds due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Castro, on Thursday, had slammed Biden's silence about the CBP agents as "baffling and disappointing," and said--referring to one of Trump's senior advisers--that "this administration's use of Stephen Miller's Title 42 policy is a terrible error--in more ways than one. It should end."
Responding to Biden's Friday comments, the humanitarian aid group No More Deaths said that federal agents attack migrants "every day in the remote desert, away from cameras," and that "the problem isn't a few bad apples... it's a system rotten to the core."
During a Friday afternoon press conference at the White House, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas addressed the agents' actions and the resulting investigation.
The secretary explained that the use of horse patrol units has been halted in the area, at least for now, and "the agents involved in these incidents have been assigned to administrative duties and are not interacting with migrants while the investigation is ongoing."
He also confirmed there are no more migrants at the encampment in Del Rio, Texas, where about 15,000 people, mostly Haitians, had gathered days earlier to seek asylum. The Biden administration has faced criticism for responding by ramping up deportations.
Daniel Foote, the administration's special envoy to Haiti, resigned in a Wednesday letter that highlighted the current conditions of the Caribbean country, which is still reeling from the July assassination of former President Jovenel Moise that was followed by an earthquake and tropical storm.
Foote wrote that he will not be associated with the "inhumane, counterproductive decision to deport thousands of Haitian refugees and illegal immigrants to Haiti, a country where American officials are confined to secure compounds because of the danger posed by armed gangs," adding that the Biden administration's "policy approach to Haiti remains deeply flawed, and my recommendations have been ignored and dismissed."
The Associated Press reports that "a U.S. official with direct knowledge of the situation said six flights were scheduled to Haiti on Friday, with seven planned Saturday and six Sunday, though that was subject to change. The official was not authorized to speak publicly."
Mayorkas said that as of Friday, about 2,000 people had been deported to Haiti over the past week on 17 expulsion flights; another 12,400 migrants will have their cases heard by an immigration judge; and 5,000 are being processed by the Department of Homeland Security.
The DHS chief also noted the limitations of the U.S. asylum system and defended the administration's Title 42 expulsions, declaring that it's a "public health imperative" not an immigration policy and has been broadly applied to migrants regardless of their home country.
"Title 42 inflicts immense harm--stranding asylum-seekers in grave danger where they are targets of brutal kidnappings and attacks, turning away Black and LGBTQ asylum-seekers to suffer bias-motivated violence, separating families, and endangering public health," Human Rights First tweeted Friday, calling on Biden to scrap the policy, which his administration is currently defending in federal court.
Noting the dire conditions in Haiti, Amnesty's O'Brien said that "these mass deportations demonstrate that the government is not committed to upholding the rights and well-being of the asylum-seekers they are sending back to danger."
"The U.S. government has a moral and legal responsibility to welcome Haitians and all people who have fled their homes in search of safety," he added, "and the Biden administration can and must do better."
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Biden Raises Refugee Cap to 62,500--While Admitting US Will Fall Short
"This erases the historically low number set by the previous administration of 15,000, which did not reflect America's values as a nation that welcomes and supports refugees."
May 03, 2021
Following intense pushback from migrant rights campaigners and progressive politicians after President Joe Biden said last month that he would continue his predecessor's historically low refugee cap, the White House on Monday officially announced it would more than quadruple the number of refugees allowed into the United States this year--while also acknowledging that the actual number of people admitted would fall short of the ceiling.
"Welcoming refugees is not only a moral imperative, but also promotes U.S. national security, bolsters our economy, enriches our communities, and demonstrates that we're willing to work together with other governments."
--Eric P. Schwartz,
Refugees International
"I am revising the United States' annual refugee admissions cap to 62,500 for this fiscal year," Biden said in an executive memorandum. "This erases the historically low number set by the previous administration of 15,000, which did not reflect America's values as a nation that welcomes and supports refugees."
In a separate statement, Biden said that "we are going to rebuild what has been broken and push hard to complete the rigorous screening process for those refugees already in the pipeline for admission."
However, the president warned that while his administration is "working quickly to undo the damage of the last four years" under former President Donald Trump, "the sad truth is that we will not achieve 62,500 admissions this year."
Biden reiterated his "commitment to the goal of 125,000 refugee admissions" in the first fiscal year of his presidency. Although that figure is more than 10 times the number of refugess actually admitted into the U.S. last year and represents the highest ceiling since 1993, it is still much lower than the inaugural cap of 231,700 set for 1980, the final full year of Jimmy Carter's presidency and the height of the migrant crisis that followed the end of the Vietnam War and the Cambodian genocide.
The new ceiling will open the door to more refugees from Africa, Central America, and the Middle East, a stark departure from Trump's frequent disparagement of Global South nations, some of which he once called "shithole countries."
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) lamented that the Biden administration had so far only resettled 2,050 refugees in the United States this year. However, the New York-based nonprofit welcomed Monday's White House announcement, calling it "a step towards rebuilding America's welcome."
Other advocacy groups and progressive politicians also praised the administration's move. Eric P. Schwartz, president of Refugees International, called Biden's move "a profoundly important step" that will "pave the way for the administration to make good on its commitment to rebuild the U.S. refugee admissions program and restore U.S. leadership on this critical issue."
"This is a proud and historic moment," added Schwartz. "At a time of great humanitarian need, welcoming refugees is not only a moral imperative, but also promotes U.S. national security, bolsters our economy, enriches our communities, and demonstrates that we're willing to work together with other governments on some of the world's most complex problems."
Andrew Albertson, executive director at Foreign Policy America, said in a statement that "the most powerful thing we can do as a country is to lead by example."
Obama-era Housing and Urban Development secretary and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Julian Castro tweeted that "the U.S. has always been a place of refuge and opportunity for those escaping violence and persecution. Trump tried to end that legacy. I'm glad the Biden-Harris administration is working to reverse the damage he's done."
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America 'Should Be Ashamed': Texas Teen Forced to Use College Savings to Prevent Mom's Eviction
"Americans owe $70 billion in back rent that they won't be able to pay. If we don't get them relief, there will be millions of stories like these."
Feb 09, 2021
After Alondra Carmona, a high school senior in Houston, recently exhausted all of her college savings to prevent her unemployed mother from being evicted, one media outlet on Tuesday tried to portray it as an "act of kindness," but progressives are emphasizing that the all-too-common story is an indictment of a deeply unequal society reliant on private charity as a result of policymakers' failure to guarantee livable incomes, affordable housing and higher education, and more.
"The fact that anyone has ever needed to use GoFundMe to pay for things like rent or healthcare is a symptom of a social sickness far older than Covid-19."
--Ben Burgis, philosopher
"In February of 2020, my mom broke her ankle and was not able to work," Carmona explained in a GoFundMe ad she created to support her family. "Come March, the coronavirus started, which added to the financial problems we already had. Today, I found out that my mom has not had a job for 3 months and hid it from us. She owes two months of rent and will most likely get evicted in March."
"All of my college savings will go to paying the rent that we are behind on," wrote Carmona. "As much as I dream of going to Barnard College, it is not looking promising right now. I am turning to this as a last resort because Barnard will not be able to change my financial aid package."
While the performance of Carmona's online fundraising page suggests there may be a happy ending in this particular instance for the Barnard-bound aspiring scientist, critics slammed ABC News 7 for framing the story as a heartwarming tale of generosity rather than an opportunity to reflect on society's failure to meet people's needs--especially, but not only, during a pandemic.
Critics asserted that Carmona's effort--though undoubtedly selfless--is a devastating expression of how ordinary people, left behind by a government that caters to the wealthy while workers fend for themselves in a market-fundamentalist rat-race, are forced to suffer and beg privately--typically not as successfully--amid worsening inequality made even more intense by the coronavirus crisis.
"This is a heartbreaking story and one our nation should be ashamed of," said Julian Castro. The former Housing and Urban Development secretary also pointed out that if the federal government refuses to deliver adequate rent relief to Americans who "owe $70 billion in back rent that they won't be able to pay... there will be millions of stories like these."
Alan MacLeod, a sociologist and journalist, in 2019 published an article denouncing corporate media outlets for spinning "horrifying stories as... perseverance porn."
"Any of these stories could have been used to explore the pressing social and economic realities of being poor in the United States, and having to work for things considered fundamental rights in other countries," the media critic wrote in Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. "But instead they are presented as uplifting features, something only possible if we unquestionably accept the political and economic system."
MacLeod continued:
What these articles highlight so clearly is not only the grim, inhuman, and unnecessary conditions so many Americans are forced to live under, but the degree to which mainstream corporate journalists have completely internalized them as unremarkable, inevitable facts of life, rather than the consequences of decades of neoliberal policies that have robbed Americans of dignity and basic human rights. Because corporate media wholly accept and promote neoliberal, free-market doctrine, they are unable to see how what they see as "awesome" is actually a manifestation of late-capitalist dystopia.
As philosopher Ben Burgis argued in Jacobin in May 2020, rather than forcing people to convince strangers to help them on crowdfunding sites, the U.S. needs a strong welfare state funded through redistributive taxation to ensure that everyone's basic needs are met.
"The scale of the current crisis casts the absurdity of relying on GoFundMe for these social needs into sharp relief," wrote Burgis. "It's as if we were living on an island about to be wiped out by a volcano and we were relying on a multitude of individual fundraisers, each jostling for attention, to purchase each individual boat or plane to be used in the evacuation."
"But it's even worse," he added. "The fact that anyone has ever needed to use GoFundMe to pay for things like rent or healthcare is a symptom of a social sickness far older than Covid-19."
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'Enough Is Enough': 8 Senate Dems Slammed for Going 'Hand-in-Hand With GOP' to Oppose Covid Relief for Undocumented Workers
"Let us be clear on this. Not only do undocumented community members pay taxes, they are also suffering as much as anyone else because of this pandemic."
Feb 04, 2021
As the U.S. death toll from the coronavirus pandemic topped 456,000 and U.S. senators participated in a 15-hour overnight voting session, eight Democrats elicited outrage and condemnation from rights advocates and progressives for backing a GOP amendment to explicitly exclude undocumented immigrants--including essential frontline workers--from receiving direct Covid-19 relief.
"We expected this vote from Republicans, but seeing Democrats vote this way is a betrayal to the values they say they stand for."
--RAICES
The "vote-a-rama" on a series of nonbinding Republican amendments culminated in the Senate approving along party lines a budget resolution that could eventually enable congressional Democrats to implement President Joe Biden's $1.9 American Rescue Plan--which does not include relief checks for undocumented immigrants.
Given the limits of Biden's plan, the amendment introduced by Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.) was seen as largely symbolic. Still, Democrats who voted for it--Sens. Maggie Hassan (N.H.), John Hickenlooper (Colo.), Mark Kelly (Ariz.), Joe Manchin (W.Va.), Gary Peters (Mich.), Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.), Debbie Stabenow (Mich.), Jon Tester (Mont.)--swiftly came under fire and sparked warnings about what it could mean for more broadly immigration policy during Biden's first two years as president.
In a series of tweets, RAICES, the largest immigration legal services nonprofit in Texas, called out the senators by name for what the group described as a "betrayal."
"There is a promise that has been made to the immigrant community for decades by Democratic leaders. A promise of a path to citizenship. A promise that recognizes the humanity of the immigrant community," the group said. "We as RAICES won't stop reminded them to #KeepThePromise. Enough is enough."
The amendment--co-sponored by Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), and Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.)--was ultimately removed from the final version of the relief package, according to Reuters. While welcoming that development, RAICES added that "needless to say, we still have to hold these eight Dems accountable for their vote."
Many critics recalled the widely condemned anti-immigrant policies of former President Donald Trump:
The vote also served as a reminder of just how much undocumented immigrants contribute to the United States and have been negatively impacted by the pandemic--which Lonnie Scott, executive director of Progress Michigan, highlighted in a Friday statement blasting Stabenow and Peters for backing Young's amendment.
"Covid has impacted people in every community. The virus doesn't distinguish by immigration status--and neither should our response to it," Scott said. "Undocumented immigrants, just like everyone else in Michigan and around the country, have struggled with this pandemic for nearly a year and they need just as much help as anyone else."
"Undocumented immigrants contribute taxes which are being used to fund this relief, and many work on the frontlines fighting this pandemic," he continued. "They deserve access to relief, but more than that they deserve our humanity. We're incredibly disappointed that Michigan's Democratic senators voted with Republicans to withhold this relief and urge them to reconsider their position and apologize to the communities who will be harmed by their decision."
Former 2020 Democratic presidential primary candidate Julian Castro--who previously served as mayor of San Antonio and U.S. secretary of Housing and Urban Development--echoed those points in Friday morning tweet:
Earlier this week, the Center for American Progress (CAP) noted that "five million undocumented immigrants--nearly 3 in 4 of those working--are on the front lines of the United States' response to the coronavirus pandemic, keeping all Americans safe, healthy, and supported." The group released a set of fact sheets detailing the contributions of undocumented workers in terms of construction (pdf), food chain supply (pdf), the care economy (pdf), and healthcare (pdf).
"These workers and sectors are vitally important to both the U.S. response to the pandemic and its recovery from the resulting economic devastation, and they cannot be jeopardized," wrote Nicole Prchal Svajlenka, associate director for research on the Immigration Policy team at CAP. "The Biden administration and the new Congress must pass protections for these critical workers, including by putting them and their families on a pathway to citizenship."
Tuesday, the same day CAP's research was released, Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas)--Julian Castro's twin brother--joined with Sens. Alex Padilla (D-Calif) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) to publish an opinion piece on CNN's website arguing that "Covid relief is vital for undocumented essential workers."
"The daily danger essential workers face during this pandemic is more than a public health failure--it is a moral failure, and one we can finally address with a new president and Democratic majority in Congress," the trio wrote. "We must swiftly enact the full suite of rights, protections, and benefits all essential workers should have been guaranteed months ago, including by immediately acting to provide a pathway to citizenship for undocumented essential workers in the next Covid-19 relief package."
More broadly, a majority of likely U.S. voters and the vast majority of Democrats "strongly" or "somewhat" support offering undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship, according to a poll conducted January 29 to February 1 by Vox and Data for Progress (DFP). There is even greater support for offering that opportunity those brought to the United States as children, a group widely known as Dreamers--a reference to the Dream Act, which was reintroduced Thursday.
"It is clear that only legislation passed by Congress can give Dreamers the chance they deserve to earn their way to American citizenship," said Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), incoming chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who introduced the bill with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).
Noting that more than 200,000 people who would be affected by the legislation are "essential critical infrastructure workers," including 41,700 in the healthcare industry, Durbin declared that "it would be an American tragedy to deport these brave and talented essential workers in the midst of this pandemic."
"I first introduced the Dream Act 20 years ago, and I'll continue fighting until it becomes the law of the land," he added. "This is a matter of simple American fairness and justice."
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'A Big Step': Progressives Welcome Biden Executive Order Ending DOJ Private Prison Contracts, But Say This Is Just the Start
"There's more to be done to end the for-profit caging of people in the U.S.," stressed Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Jan 25, 2021
Criminal justice reform advocates on Tuesday welcomed an executive order from President Joe Biden phasing out Department of Justice contracts with private prisons as a meaningful first step, even as the president faced criticism over the order's limited scope and impact.
"We've never fully lived up to the founding principles of this nation... that all people are created equal and have a right to be treated equally throughout their lives."
--President Joe Biden
In announcing Tuesday's orders, Biden acknowledged the wave of racial justice protests that swept the nation in the wake of last year's killing of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, by Minneapolis police, which the president said "opened the eyes of millions."
"We've never fully lived up to the founding principles of this nation... that all people are created equal and have a right to be treated equally throughout their lives," Biden admitted, declaring that "now's the time to act."
"More than two million people are currently incarcerated in the United States, including a disproportionate number of people of color," the executive order states. "There is broad consensus that our current system of mass incarceration imposes significant costs and hardships on our society and communities and does not make us safer."
"To decrease incarceration levels, we must reduce profit-based incentives to incarcerate by phasing out the federal government's reliance on privately operated criminal detention facilities," it adds.
To that end, Biden's order directs the office of the attorney general--currently headed by Monty Wilkinson in an acting capacity pending the Senate confirmation of Merrick Garland--to "not renew Department of Justice contracts with privately operated criminal detention facilities."
The order will affect around 14,000 federal inmates currently incarcerated in private prisons, or about 9% of the federal prison population--and just 0.6% of the approximately 2.3 million people incarcerated in US prisons and jails. It does not apply to other federal agencies that contract with private prisons, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the U.S. Marshals Service.
Progressive lawmakers, organizations, and advocates welcomed the order, even while many noted its considerable limitations.
The order on prisons was one of a set of racial equity measures enacted by Biden on Tuesday. The president also issued a memorandum ordering the Department of Housing and Urban Development to "redress historical racism in federal housing policies" and fully implement the requirements of the Fair Housing Act.
Additionally, he signed an executive order re-affirming the federal government's commitment to Indigenous sovereignty, and another memorandum condemning "racism, xenophobia, and intolerance" against Asian and Pacific Islander Americans, which has spiked during the coronavirus pandemic, in part due to racist rhetoric from former President Donald Trump.
Dorian Spence, director of special litigation and advocacy at the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, issued a statement praising Biden's actions on Tuesday as a "welcome change."
"Following four years of the Trump administration turning a blind eye to racial inequity and injustice at every turn, we are pleased that this new administration is centering its focus around issues impacting the lives and reality faced by people of color in this country," he said.
"The forerunners of these executive orders and other future actions for racial equity were embodied in last summer's protests in the streets, and through a commitment from the millions of registered voters who turned out during a pandemic to vote in numbers not seen in our nation's history," Spence added.
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'Damning' New IG Report, Says ACLU, Shows Just How Far Trump Team 'Was Willing to Go to Destroy' Immigrant Families
"Just when you think the Trump administration can't sink any lower, it does."
Jan 13, 2021
As a former leading U.S. Justice Department official on Thursday said he regretted the role he played in the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" migrant family separation policy in the wake of a scathing inspector general report, human and civil rights groups pointed to the probe's findings as "damning" proof of the administration's cruelty toward people seeking refuge in the United States.
"The incoming administration must reunite the separated families in the United States, but we cannot stop there. These families deserve citizenship, resources, care, and a commitment that family separation will never happen again."
--Lee Gelernt, ACLU
The inspector general's report (pdf) concluded that President Donald Trump, ex-Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and other senior officials were woefully unprepared when U.S. agents started seizing thousands of migrant children from their asylum-seeking parents and relatives who were often imprisoned in concentration camps after entering the United States, first in a 2017 DOJ pilot program and then nationwide the following year.
The report, based on interviews with dozens of DOJ officials and a review of over 200,000 emails and other electronic files, directly implicates Trump in the disastrous policy. It also found that senior administration officials were "fully aware" that the policy would result in children being separated from their families but pressed ahead with it anyway.
In response to the report, former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein on Thusday released a statement of regret.
"Since leaving the department, I have often asked myself what we should have done differently, and no issue has dominated my thinking more than the zero tolerance immigration policy," Rosenstein told NBC News. "It was a failed policy that never should have been proposed or implemented. I wish we all had done better."
The ACLU--which successfully sued to block family separation and immediately reunite families--led human and civil rights groups in reacting to what it called the "damning" report.
"The barbaric family separation practice was immoral and illegal," said Lee Gelernt, the ACLU lawyer who led the family separation suit, in a statement on Thursday. "This new report shows just how far the Trump administration was willing to go to destroy these families. Just when you think the Trump administration can't sink any lower, it does."
The new DOJ report's findings correspond with those of a 21-month House Judiciary Committee investigation published last October that accused the Trump administration of "reckless incompetence and intentional cruelty" in its implementation of the zero tolerance policy. In November, Conmon Dreams reported that 666 children--about 20% of whom were under the age of 5 when they were ripped away from their parents--remained separated from their families.
As a result of the separation policy, both parents and children--who were often told by U.S. officials that they would never see each other again--have suffered tremendous emotional and psychological trauma that Physicians for Human Rights has called "torture" and "state-sanctioned child abuse."
Some of the seized children have been placed in U.S. families, who are sometimes able to petition for permanent custody, and it is feared that some of the children may indeed never see their parents again.
In late June 2018, as public outrage mounted in the face of stories like a breastfeeding baby being torn away from her mother and a father driven to suicide after being separated from his wife and child, the administration reluctantly rolled back the policy--which, along with forced surgical removal of reproductive organs of migrant women has been called the Trump administration's worst domestic human rights violation.
During the 2020 election, President-elect Joe Biden vowed to form a task force to reunite all of the separated children with their relatives. Gelernt stressed that he must now follow through on his promise.
"The Biden-Harris administration will inherit the legacy of family separation, and we don't doubt that more horrific details will continue to emerge," the ACLU attorney said. "We need them to act with urgency--every day without action makes it harder to find and reunite families."
"The incoming administration must reunite the separated families in the United States, but we cannot stop there," Gelernt added. "These families deserve citizenship, resources, care, and a commitment that family separation will never happen again."
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'Five-Alarm Fire': As Trump Plots 'Flat-Out Coup,' Voters Urged to Deliver Biden Landslide to Avoid Chaos
"The president is openly and explicitly considering a coup to hold onto power. Make no mistake: Autocracy is at our doorstep."
Sep 24, 2020
Democratic lawmakers and progressives did not mince words Thursday regarding President Donald Trump's refusal to commit to a peaceful transfer of power after the election, warning that Trump--and Republicans who continue to enable and support him--are paving the road towards a fascist takeover that threatens the fabric of American democracy.
"How can you watch this and not see democracy being discarded for fascism?" Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) asked on Twitter after watching the president tell a reporter that he would "have to see what happens" in November as votes are counted in the general election.
Pocan's warning was echoed by former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro.
"This is fascism, alive and well in the Republican Party," Castro wrote.
Other Democratic leaders and government watchdogs employed descriptors including "flat-out coup" and "autocracy" after Trump told the press that election officials should "get rid of the ballots" in order to "have a very peaceful...continuation" of his presidency.
"The president is openly and explicitly considering a coup to hold onto power," tweeted Public Citizen.
The president's statement to the press Wednesday evening followed the publication in The Atlantic of an article titled, "The Election That Could Break America," by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Barton Gellman.
As Common Dreams reported, Gellman described a scenario in which, while questioning as he has for months the validity of mail-in ballots while they're counted in the days following November 3, the president could enact a "contingency plan"--reportedly already being discussed by his campaign and state Republican officials--in which Trump loyalists could be appointed as electors in battleground states where Democratic candidate Joe Biden wins the popular vote.
Taken together--the reported plot, Trump's statements acknowledging his desire to fill the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's seat in time for the election so a right-leaning high court can decide the election amid the so-called "hoax" of mail-in voting, and his comments at Wednesday's press briefing--these developments amount to a "five-alarm fire," wrote legal scholar Richard L. Hasen at Slate.
"I've never been more worried about American democracy than I am right now," wrote Hasen, noting that there are currently more than 250 coronavirus-related lawsuits filed in 45 states--creating legal uncertainty over the validity of mail-in voting despite the fact that millions of Americans, including Trump himself, have voted by mail for years, as the president's campaign tries to block the expanded use of mail-in ballots.
"We should not think of the litigation and the wild claims of voter fraud as separate from one another. Instead, they are part of a play to grab power if the election is close enough," wrote Hasen. "There are good legal arguments against a power grab, but if another body tries to overturn the will of the people in voting for president, there will be protests in the streets, with the potential for violence."
The key to avoiding chaos following Election Day, Hasen wrote, is a landslide victory for Biden.
"If we are lucky enough, the election will not be close, and we will avoid this election meltdown only to start panicking again in the run-up to 2024," he wrote. "But if it is close, all bets are off."
At Stand Up America, which has joined with Indivisible and other advocacy groups to form the Protect the Results initiative, press secretary Ryan Thomas noted that the president is making his current threats because he is "behind in the polls" and "desperate to cling to power."
"That's why progressives are turning out in record numbers to help elect Joe Biden in a landslide and working to ensure that every vote is counted," Thomas told Common Dreams. "We know that voting is not enough--and that we must be prepared to protect the results. That's why Stand Up America and Indivisible created a coalition of 90 organizations to meet the moment should Trump contest the valid results."
The Protect the Results coalition, which also includes Public Citizen, Common Cause, and MoveOn, says it will demand that every in-person and mail-in vote is counted, and will "show up to demand that the losing candidate put their ego aside and concede for the good of our country."
Political observers echoed Stand Up America's call on social media.
"In practice, right now, most of us can do a lot more to make a Biden electoral win more likely than we can do [to] make a Trump coup less likely, so most of us should be putting most of our energy there," Johnston tweeted.
"Working to win the election AND working to stop the attempt to rig it are both necessary," he added.
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Beyond Attacking Trump, Sanders Says Biden Campaign Must 'Give People a Reason to Vote for Joe'
"I think Biden is in an excellent position to win this election, but I think we have got to do more as a campaign than just go after Trump," the Vermont senator said on Sunday.
Sep 14, 2020
Bernie Sanders on Sunday refuted the veracity of a weekend Washington Post article that reported the independent Vermont senator has concerns about the way Joe Biden is running his presidential campaign--but that doesn't mean Sanders hasn't been sharing some concerns he has with the way Biden is running his presidential campaign.
Appearing on MSNBC for a Sunday interview with Ali Velshi, Sanders--who lost the party's nomination to Biden after what some critics called a coordinated Democratic effort to thwart the democratic socialist and his progressive agenda--said he believes Biden is in "an excellent position to win this election."
"But I think we have got to do more as a campaign than just go after Trump," he told Velshi. "Trump is a disaster. I think most people know it. But we also have to give people a reason to vote for Joe Biden."
Sanders added that voters want to hear "a little bit more" from Biden about issues including raising the minimum wage to at least $15 an hour, creating millions of jobs, combating the climate crisis, closing the gender pay gap, and expanding healthcare.
Sanders' comments came as leading Latinx Democrats and others also expressed concerns about Biden's campaign, warning that the candidate needed to improve his outreach and engagement with the nation's fastest-growing voter group. The "little bit more" theme voiced by Sanders was echoed in comments by former primary rival and current Biden supporter Julian Castro.
Responding to widespread frustration that Biden has not given a major speech on Latinx issues, Castro told the Post on Sunday that "the [Biden] campaign understands that this is a priority, but at the same time there needs to be a little bit more support shown."
"If we allow a narrative to take shape that somehow the issues of concern to this growing community are not prioritized, then we risk backsliding in the years to come," Castro added.
Filmmaker, activist, and prominent Sanders supporter Michael Moore--who predicted that disaffected white voters would lift Trump to victory in 2016--sounded the alarm on Biden's lack of Latinx outreach in a Friday tweet that showed the president with a four-point lead over Biden among Latinx voters in Florida in a recent NBC News/Marist poll.
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'Utterly Shameful': Progressives Slam Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott's Decision to Refuse New Refugees
The move, which critics called "deeply disappointing" but "not surprising," was enabled by an executive order from the president.
Jan 10, 2020
Progressive politicians, refugee advocates, and human rights groups swiftly condemned Republican Gov. Greg Abbott's announcement on Friday that Texas will no longer accept the resettlement of new refugees--a move enabled by an executive order President Donald Trump signed in September.
"This is not what America is supposed to be about. Under my administration we will not turn our backs on refugees."
--Sen. Bernie Sanders
Along with slashing the refugee cap for the 2020 fiscal year to a record low of 18,000, Trump issued an order requiring the federal government to get written consent from states and localities prior to resettling refugees. In response to that order, Abbott sent a letter (pdf) to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo informing him that "Texas cannot consent to initial refugee resettlement for FY2020."
Abbott, who noted that the decision does not deny refugees access to the United States or bar refugees from moving to Texas after initially settling elsewhere, said that approximately 10% of all refugees in the U.S. have settled in his state over the past decade. The governor wrote that "in addition to accepting refugees all these years, Texas has been left by Congress to deal with disproportionate migration issues resulting from a broken federal immigration system."
RAICES, the largest immigration legal services nonprofit in Texas, charged in a series of tweets that Abbott's move was "prompted by xenophobia and fear," and that "there's absolutely no reason for this decision."
"We've an important announcement to share on Monday that will make Abbott regret this," RAICES added. "Stay tuned..."
Julian Castro--a former Democratic presidential candidate and mayor of San Antonio--took to Twitter Friday to forcefully speak out against the Abbott's political track record and recent decision about refugees. According to Castro: "Governor Abbott has targeted the homeless, scapegoated immigrants and refugees, and handed out blank checks to big corporations. His fear-mongering doesn't represent our state."
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a leading candidate in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary race, called the governor's decision "utterly shameful." The White House hopeful tweeted that "this is not what America is supposed to be about. Under my administration we will not turn our backs on refugees."
Putting the development into a national context, the Associated Press reported:
Governors in 42 other states have said they will consent to allowing in more refugees, according to the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service [LIRS], which works with local agencies throughout the U.S. to resettle refugees. The governors who haven't chimed in are all Republicans and are from Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Wyoming.
Fierce debates have occurred in several parts of the country, including North Dakota and Tennessee, over whether to opt into refugee resettlement under the executive order. Many Republican governors have been caught between immigration hardliners and some Christian evangelicals who believe helping refugees is a moral obligation.
LIRS is also part of a lawsuit challenging the order. A federal judge on Wednesday heard arguments on a request by resettlement agencies to prevent the Trump administration from enforcing it.
Krish O'Mara Vignarajah, LIRS president and CEO, said in a statement responding to Abbott's letter: "This is a deeply disappointing decision--although not surprising given Texas' previous but unsuccessful opposition to refugee resettlement a few years ago. This is precisely why we filed a lawsuit against President Trump's unlawful executive order and we are confident that justice will be served--allowing children and families who have been waiting in desperation for years to be reunited with their family in Texas."
"This is precisely why we filed a lawsuit against President Trump's unlawful executive order and we are confident that justice will be served--allowing children and families who have been waiting in desperation for years to be reunited with their family in Texas."
--Krish O'Mara Vignarajah, LIRS
Highlighting her group's work with Houston, Dallas, and Fort Worth communities, she added that "historically, Texas has served as a beacon of hope for refugees from across the globe, having resettled the highest number of any state." Those communities and others across the state are not able to override the decision of the governor and take in new refugees.
"It is shameful that the state is once again trying to illegally reverse this legacy of welcome and compassion now," O'Mara Vignarajah said. "We will continue to coordinate with our partners on the ground in Texas. There are simply too many lives hanging in the balance to give up now."
The governor's letter also elicited strong condemnation from Jennifer Sime, senior vice president of resettlement, asylum, and Integration at the International Rescue Committee. In a statement, she said that "Gov. Abbott's decision to opt out of the U.S. refugee resettlement program is as shameful as it is out of touch."
"It is out of touch with Texas's tradition of welcome. Out of touch with 42 governors across the country who approved resettlement, and out of touch with the business community that needs refugees. This is not good for refugees and it is not good for Texas," she added.
Sime warned that "in addition to making refugees' lives harder, Texas now forfeits the opportunity for a growing business community that depends on refugees. It forfeits the cultural contributions, the growth, and ingenuity the state has come to enjoy through resettling refugees."
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