Immigrants in Sunset Park, Brooklyn were quick to blame President Trump for the mass shooting that occurred in El Paso, Texas on Saturday.
The shooter had posted a manifesto shortly before the attack took place which said it was in response to an “invasion” of Hispanics coming across the southern border. Residents in the immigrant-heavy Sunset Park told Pix11 News that the president’s rhetoric had caused the shootings.
One community member cited an incident during a Trump rally in Panama City, Florida in which a member of the audience called for shooting migrants at the border and the president made a joke about it.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement had recently attempted arrests in the area and, combined with the hateful rhetoric on Saturday, community members said they felt targeted. “The ICE raids that are happening that are impacting Mexican communities, the president has been really focused on criminalizing us as a community,” said Councilmember Carlos Menchaca, who represents the Brooklyn neighborhood. “And now this? A targeted attack — it’s just too much.” Pix11
Hello, I’m Mazin Sidahmed with today’s edition of Early Arrival. You can email me at mazin.sidahmed@documentedny.com.
We are local, independent, and not-for-profit. Please support our work.
Find us on Facebook and on Twitter.
Local
Judge Throws Out IDNYC Case
Manhattan Judge Nancy Bannon rejected on Monday a bid by Republican assemblymembers to force New York City to turn over redacted versions of documents people provided to apply for IDNYC, an immigrant-friendly municipal ID card. The card was launched to provide immigrants who previously could not access driver’s licenses with a form of government ID. About 900,000 were issued since the program’s launch in 2015. GOP State Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis and then-Assemblyman Ronald Castorina Jr. had sued to receive cardholders’ passports and other application information after the city moved to destroy the records to protect cardholders’ identities. Associated Press
NY Clerks Aiming for SCOTUS with Lawsuit
The way New York state issues driver’s licenses has empowered county clerks who oppose legal challenges against the Green Light Bill to grant undocumented immigrants access to driver’s licenses. Erie County Clerk Michael Kearns and Rensselaer County Clerk Frank Merola have filed federal lawsuits challenging the new law that lets undocumented immigrants get licenses, and Kearns has vowed to take his fight to the Supreme Court. Kearns argues that he would be violating the federal law of harboring someone who is in the country illegally by implementing the bill. Advocates are confident the argument will not hold water in court. Buffalo News
National
El Paso Still Grieving From Anti-Immigrant Attack
Residents in El Paso were engulfed in grief after alleged shooter Patrick Crusius drove 10 hours from his home in Dallas to kill immigrants in the border city. One in four residents in El Paso is an immigrant, and many are naturalized citizens. The city is 80 percent Hispanic and has always had a similar proportion. Crusius killed 22 people in a brutal attack on a Walmart that was a cross-section of the community, as people from Juarez, Mexico and other parts of Texas would shop there. The Washington Post
ACLU Sues Trump Over Expedited Cases
The American Civil Liberties Union sued the Trump administration on Tuesday for its broad expansion of deportation powers. Last month, the administration extended the policy of allowing immigration officers to fast-track deportations nationwide for immigrants who had been in the U.S. less than two years. Fast-tracking was previously only applicable within 100 mils of the U.S. border and for immigrants who had been in the country less than two weeks. The plaintiffs argue that the expansion violates constitutional rights and could lead to errors, including deporting U.S. citizens. Associated Press
Immigration Court Judges Ignore Case Law, Says Federal Judge
Federal Judge Patti B. Saris said immigration judges are ignoring her ruling and not acting based on case law. Saris is presiding over a case on bond hearings for detained immigrants, but because immigration judges had ignored her previous rulings, she said so she was concerned they would not abide by the rulings in this case. The case Saris is currently overseeing involves the ACLU of Massachusetts, which argues that due process rights are violated in bond denials. Saris granted a request by the plaintiffs to make the suit into a class action affecting current and future ICE detainees. Mass Live
Canada’s Safe Third Country Agreement Comes Under Scrutiny
As the U.S. continues to broker a safe third country agreement with Guatemala, the country’s agreement with Canada has come under scrutiny. Amnesty International Canada is calling on the nation to withdraw from its safe third country deal with the U.S., which prohibits asylum seekers from claiming protection in Canada if they arrived at the U.S. first, and vice versa. Amnesty International and others are currently suing to have the agreement annulled on the grounds that the U.S. is not safe for immigrants. NPR
纽约州“能源补助”申请指南
Trump Admin Faces Lawsuit Over Border Wall
Environmentalists have filed an injunction request on Tuesday to block Trump’s border wall in Arizona. They argue the administration unlawfully waived laws that protect the wildlife habitat, and that the wall will block the cross-border migration of wildlife. The injunction seeks to block 68 miles of replacement barriers in different wildlife and conservation areas where construction is set to begin on Aug. 21. Similar challenges to those waivers are currently taking place in California, New Mexico and Texas. If successful, the construction of the wall will halt until there is a ruling on the merits of the challenges. Associated Press
Washington — Trump’s Anti-Immigrant Facebook Ads, Guatemalans Protest, Public Charge Denials Rise
President Trump’s re-election campaign is full of inflammatory claims about immigrants. The term “invasion” in reference to the southern border has appeared in more than 2,000 Facebook ads from his campaign. The suspect in the shooting in El Paso that left 22 people dead also used the word in his manifesto, writing that “this attack is a response to the HIspanic invasion of Texas.” Trump has used the word repeatedly in a similar context, and has spent $1.25 million on Facebook ads about immigration since late March, according to data from Bully Pulpit Interactive. The New York Times
Guatemalan farmers are blocking roads through the country in protest of the recent election of President Jimmy Morales and his immigration deal with the U.S. The country’s leaders, namely Morales recently agreed to a safe third country agreement with the U.S. that would block asylum seekers from seeking protection the U.S.–Mexico border if they had traveled through Guatemala. Associated Press
Visa denials for Mexicans based on the risk of them becoming a “public charge” have skyrocketed under the Trump administration. They have risen from just 7 denials during the last full year of the Obama administration to 5,343 in this fiscal year up until July 29, according to State Department data. Politico
