Last month, Mayor Bill de Blasio traveled to Texas to a visit a facility where the children separated from their families were being held, and he was denied entry. He then went across the border into Mexico and crossed back into the U.S. to get a different view of the facility. A Border Patrol officer noticed de Blasio and his group and detained them. A NYPD representative on de Blasio’s security detail told the agent they crossed over from Mexico, according to a letter from the agency. “The mayor crossed the border with the direct approval and under the supervision of the border patrol supervisor at this port of entry,” de Blasio spokesman Phillips told the AP in an email. Associated Press
Arrests Create Fear Around IDNYC
In the wake of the detention of two Mexican grandparents visiting their grandson at a New York State Army Base, holders of the IDNYC cards the husband and wife were carrying are worried that the cards may put them at risk. An Army official told News 4, the lack of a barcode on the back of the card led the army officials to seek further identification and allowed them to find out their immigration status. Pablo Villavicencio, the pizza deliveryman who was detained in June also carried a city ID card. Cynthia Nixon and Andrew Cuomo used the occasion to trade barbs about the state’s lack of driver’s license programs for undocumented immigrants. NBC New York
Detainees Left in the Dark About Transfer to Albany Jail
Asylum seekers and immigrant detainees who were transferred to a jail near Albany “don’t know where they are. They don’t know the day. No one has explained anything to them.” ICE has transferred 330 men and women to the Albany County Correctional Facility from the Southwestern border. Many of the detainees are charged with unlawful entry, even those who didn’t cross the border illegally. Many are asylum seekers. Over a dozen were separated from family members. Albany Times-Union
Poughkeepsie to Issue ID Cards
Poughkeepsie will begin issuing city IDs to undocumented people after a new measure passed through the city council. The ID program resembles IDNYC and will allow residents to use the library, pick up children at school at school and engage in other civic duties such as reporting crimes. Poughkeepsie is the second city — after New York City — in the state to issue such IDs. Spectrum News
How the Zero Tolerance Kids Spend Their Days
The children separated from the parents due to the zero tolerance policy spend their days taking English lessons, watching movies and meeting with the lawyers who are trying to reunite them with their families. At night, they return to their foster homes to mostly Dominican or Puerto Rican foster parents. They were sent here likely because of the city’s infrastructure for migrant foster care, according to public officials and migrant advocates. Los Angeles Times
New York Fashion Designer to Debut Runway Collection Inspired by Immigration Crisis, Pret-a-Reporter
New York Volunteers Win Release for Two More Migrants Separated From Children, The Wall Street Journal
National
It has been 97 days since Memphis-based journalist Manuel Durán was detained by immigration authorities after first being arrested by the Memphis Police Department while covering a protest. Documented will keep a running tally of how long Durán remains in detention.
Trump Policy Reversal Puts Detained Pregnant Women at Risk
An Obama era directive to not detain pregnant immigrant women not yet in their third trimester has been reversed under Trump and has had devastating consequences, according to a BuzzFeed News report. Women are not to be held into their third trimester, the new ICE directive says, and the agency is responsible for “ensuring pregnant detainees receive appropriate medical care including effectuating transfers to facilities that are able to provide appropriate medical treatment.” BuzzFeed found that women are denied proper medical care, have been restrained around the stomach while being transported and generally mistreated, psychologically and physically. BuzzFeed News
Government Child Separation Reunion Efforts Fall Short
The federal government reunited just four families on Tuesday, with another 34 slated to come before the end of the day. A court order on Monday directed the government to find the parents of all children under the age of 5 — 102 in total — in its custody by Tuesday. The process has been wracked with technological delays and human error. The New York Times
California Company Shares Information with ICE Contractor
A California real estate company has shared license plate data to Vigilant Solutions, a surveillance company that contracts with ICE, according to the advocacy legal organization the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The Irvine Company is providing information collected by automated license plate readers installed on its property. The company operates malls and mini-malls in Irvine, La Jolla, Newport Beach, Redwood City, San Jose and other locations in the state. Electronic Frontier Foundation
Woman Are Charged for DNA Test to Reunite Them with Their Children
Four women separated from their children were told they needed to pay for the DNA tests to show they are related to them, according to workers at Annunciation House, an immigrant shelter in El Paso where the women are staying. The tests are being administered by a private contractor on behalf of the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the care and housing of children. Similar tests can cost up to $800. The Daily Beast
ORR is Weighing Preparations to House 25,400 Minors
The Office of Refugee Resettlement is preparing for as many as 25,400 beds for immigrant minors by the end of the calendar year. According to documents uncovered by Slate, the agency is testing scenarios where they need to house a surge of children. There are currently about 11,800 children in ORR’s care. ORR officials are anticipating a surge in population over the next three months. If 25,400 beds are needed, the agency would be short a maximum of $585 million this fiscal year, leading to a shortfall of $1.3 billion in the first quarter of the next fiscal year. Slate
ACLU Sues After 9 Female Detainees Are Trapped in a Windowless van Without Food and Water
Nine women were left in a sweltering windowless van while being transported by ICE. The experience caused some to faint and vomit while they all struggled to breath in the van. The ACLU of Northern California filed a lawsuit on Tuesday that outlined the women’s ordeal and alleged they were also denied food and water for 12 hours during the journey in 2017. The Guardian
Airbnb to provide free housing for immigrant-family reunifications, Crain’s
Washington – DOJ Attorneys Present Possible Ultimatum for Immigrant Parents
Detained parents might soon be faced with a grave choice, government attorneys hinted at a court hearing on Tuesday. After a judge shot down a proposed Trump administration plan to detain families with their children — due to the 1997 Flores ruling which forbids children from being detained more than 20 days — the government fired back with a potential ultimatum.
Parents may soon have to choose between waiving their children’s right to be released — forcing them to remain in detention with them — or allowing them to be released, which would separate the families yet again.
Justice Department attorney Scott Stuart said that preventing children from being released would prevent their parents “to bootstrap a right to [their own] release.” Like the children separated from their parents so far, those kids would be thrust into the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Despite having a similar effect as this zero tolerance policy, this version of the Trump administration’s policy may have some legal grounds. ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt told the court on Tuesday that the 1997 Flores settlement does not require parents to be released with their children.
But, other legal advocates were skeptical as to the merits of the Trump administration’s policy. Karen Tumlin, director of legal strategy at the National Immigration Law Center, said it was unlikely Judge Dolly Gee would approve of the administration cajoling parents to sign away their kids’ right to release. HuffPost
Abolish ICE Bill Introduced
The momentum to abolish ICE continues to grow, as Democrats have drafted a proposal to dissolve the agency, investigate whether its agents have committed crimes and to create a special committee to restructure U.S. immigration system, particularly how the country processes asylum seekers and undocumented immigrants. Rep. Mark Pocan of Wisconsin helped draft the bill, which is being co-sponsored by Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington and Adriano Espaillat of Washington Heights. Pocan told The Washington Post the legislation would end the agency but not abolish all immigration law. The bill would dissolve ICE within one year. The Washington Post
Trump on Plight of Children Separated from Their Parents: “Tell People not To Come to Our Country Illegally.”
After missing the court appointed deadline, President Donald Trump was unapologetic about the plight of the families separated from their children due to his policy. “Well, I have a solution. Tell people not to come to our country illegally,” he said, as he left the White House on a trip to Europe. NY Post
USCIS Is Slowly Being Morphed Into an Immigration Enforcement Agency, Immigration Impact
