Obama and Democrats in Congress arent pushing as hard now to change the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act because Obama is already speedily deporting Central American refugees. The government is doing this through administrative measures like misinterpreting the credible fear asylum standard, detaining families in remote areas where they dont have access to counsel, and pressuring them to give up existing legal rights. Why is it that, 9 times out of 10, when Obama exercises his executive prosecutorial prerogative, it is to detain and deport rather than to reunite families? Its likely small comfort to the deported mothers and children that the Republicans would be worse. From the article: In Artesia, Wittevrongel has 10 clients and a list of 20 other women who have asked for legal representation. From the beginning, Wittevrongel says she has struggled to represent her clients in an isolated facility with no access to photocopiers, scanners or a place to file documents. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials who have been deployed from across the country to staff the detention facility have been courteous and helpful to attorneys but they’ve made it known that their goal is to deport the families as quickly as possible. “The officer in charge told me, ‘I want you to know that all of these people are going to be deported,’” says Wittevrongel. “He said, ‘Our job is to get them deported and there’s maybe one in 1,000 entitled to stay in the United States, and the rest are going to go,’” she says. Wittevrongel was startled by the admission. “I told him, ‘I appreciate you giving me such a clear statement about it because the whole place feels that way.’” All 10 of Wittvrongel’s clients had signed a form while in Border Patrol custody, agreeing to expedited removal, a fast-track process to deportation. “They are kept two or three days in custody at the border and processed under difficult, cramped conditions,” she says. “A client told me she was held for several hours in a room with several other women and children. They called her in at 3:00 a.m. and told her to sign the papers. She told me she was so tired and confused she had no idea what she was signing.”
Posted on: Thu, 24 Jul 2014 19:29:20 +0000
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