The Immigrant’s Journal Vol. 128
Our leaders who stood for Unity & Justice
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Protecting God’s Children From Distant Lands
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ICE Reactivates in New York: Advocates Demand Investigation BY DANIEL PARRA, CITYLIMITS.ORG
I
t was about 6:20 a.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 7, when Andrea’s oldest son woke up to the loud knocking on his window and the shouts of “police open the door!” coming from someone wearing an NYPD jacket and walking down the fire escape. Andrea—her last name has been withheld—was feeding her youngest son in another room when her older son arrived, frightened, asking if he should open the door to the police. At that point Andrea remembered that the police could not enter an apartment without a warrant, so she told her son not to open the door because it might be ICE.
“He went up the fire escape and hit all the windows from the second floor to the fourth floor,” Andrea says on the phone. “Then he comes down shouts, ‘ICE police. Open up or we’ll knock your door down. I’m the police and I’m coming for you.’ He said it in English first and then in Spanish,” Andrea says. Andrea and her neighbors counted eight officers. As agents moved around the outside of the building and up to the roof, Andrea exchanged text messages and calls, whispering, with some neighbors. The officers were in the building for almost an hour. “It was a very ugly experience. Psychologically, you wonder if this is going to happen to us again?” Andrea
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Deeper Into the Darkness or a Chance for True Progress .... 2
Medical Abuse and Violation of Immigrant Women’s Reproductive Rights rights has become a significant area of achievement, with immigrants at the heart of policies, laws, and actions that have changed the persona of an average immigrant. As the years go by, the violations have increased, with unbelievable stories buttressing the administration's hostility toward immigrants. Keen political observers expect the situation to worsen. In 2017, a group sued Trump's
BY LINDA N
E
very human has an unreserved right to life, liberty, and freedom. Unfortunately, these rights violations make up the bane of man's inhumanity to another, especially among the powerful, including the United States, the acclaimed proponent of modern democracy. Unfortunately, with various incidents, since the beginning of Trump's administration, it seems like the violation of immigrants'
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Family Separation of Migrant Children Allowed U.S. Government to ‘Traffic in Kidnapping’ BY KRISH VIGNARAJAH
T
October 29, 2020
wo years ago, our country watched in horror as our own government literally ripped children from their parents' arms and locked them away behind chain-link cages. The images and recordings of children crying in the media were so disturbing, so alien
to who we thought we were as a free, civilized country, that politicians on both sides of the aisle called for its immediate end. The outcry was swift; the policy was ended. But for the 545 children who still haven’t been reunited with their parents, continued on page 2
Editorial credit: Eddie Hernandez Photos / Shutterstock.com
DOJ and DHS Publish Final Rule to Restrict Certain Criminal Aliens’ Eligibility for Asylum
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he Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the publication of a Final Rule amending their respective regulations to prevent certain categories of criminal aliens from obtaining asylum in the United States. The rule takes effect 30 days after publication of the Final Rule in the Federal Register, which is scheduled to occur on Wednesday, Oct. 21. Asylum is a discretionary immigration benefit that generally can be sought by eligible aliens who are physically present or arriving in the United States, irrespective of their status, as provided in section 208 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), 8 U.S.C. § 1158. However, in the INA, Congress barred certain categories of aliens from receiving asylum. In addition to the statutory bars, Congress delegated to the Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security the authority to establish by regulation additional bars on asylum eligibility to the extent they are consistent with the asylum statute, as well as to establish “any other conditions or limitations on the consideration of an application for asylum” that are consistent with the INA. To ensure that criminal aliens cannot obtain this discretionary benefit, the Attorney General and Secretary of Homeland Security have exercised their regulatory authority to limit eligibility for asylum for aliens who have engaged in specified categories of criminal behavior. The new mandatory bars prevent convicted felons, drunk drivers, gang members, and other criminal aliens from receiving asylum. Aliens who have committed certain domestic violence offenses, even if not convicted, will also be barred from asylum.l