Tag: ice

squiditty:

ruffboijuliaburnsides:

Important twitter thread.

Source: https://twitter.com/jduffyrice/status/1000927903759110144?s=21

[Caption; A series of tweets by josie duffy rice/ @jduffyrice

Now that we’re all on twitter because of this game, I am making a public service announcement: PLEASE STOP SHARING THAT STORY ABOUT 1500 KIDS MISSING.  The outrage I’ve seen is the result of a total misinterpretation and could SERIOUSLY threaten the children you want to save.

Before I get to it, I’ll answer the question that 99 million ppl will inevitably ask: I know this because I’m a lawyer, i works on criminal justice issues (sometimes incl immigration), and 4 of my closest friends are immigration attorneys dealing with this EXACT THING.

There are two things going on.  1) HHS doesn’t know where 1500 unaccompanied minors are.  2) we are separating parents and children at the border. 

These are different.  The kids in 1) were not separated from their parents at the border.  They crossed the border alone* or arrived here without a parent.

That’s not really the point I want to make, though it is important. 

These kids were dealt with by ORR, the office of refugee resettlement.  They were released into the care of people that almost always fit within one of these three categories:

1) immediate family  2) extended family  3) other people that the child has a pre-existing relationship with.  If none of these categories apply, then the kids normally stay in a shelter.

(After a number of children were trafficked in 2014, these restrictions got tighter.)

So those kids are released and then they are no longer ORRs responsibility or problem.  THIS IS A GOOD THING.

One analogy I heard from my dear friend who I won’t tag without her permission, is that ORR is basically a jailer.  Do you want the jail keeping track of where every former inmate is?

Now I have more to say about that but before we do that, let’s talk about the word missing.  Basically by all accounts HHS did a cursory reach out to check on these kids, and couldn’t find out where they were exactly. 

When I say cursory I mean cursory.  We’re talking about phone calls.  Phone calls! Like, no door knocks.  No checking school records.  They called.  They didn’t find answers. 

There are so many reasons why people wouldn’t answer.  Maybe these kids are living with someone undocumented.  Maybe they aren’t but their sponsor is (legitimately) completely scared of immigration authorities in trumps America.

They aren’t missing!  They are almost certainly living with family members who almost certainly don’t want to interact with the government and WE SHOULDN’T ASK THEM TO

ORR’s job is NOT to track and monitor these kids, and it shouldn’t be.  As my friend said, if there were an issue- abuse, or other wrongdoing- it should go through the appropriate agency: children’s services or what have you.  It SHOULDN’T GO THROUGH HHS/ORR or DHS/ICE

When your school loans provider can’t reach you, are you missing?  No.  When your boss can’t find you on a Friday night, are you missing?  No.  They aren’t missing.  Some unanswered phone calls does not a missing child make.

Now, I started out identifying two things that were happening.  The second- the separation of children and their parents at the border- is goddamn unconscionable and sickening. 

But DO NOT confuse the two.  The potential for it backfiring is real.  What we’re demanding is that ORR, which works hand in hand with ICE, “keep better track” of kids they basically would like to deport if giving the chance.  We don’t want that!!!

You’re asking immigration authorities IN TRUMP’S AMERICA to BETTER MONITOR UNDOCUMENTED CHILDREN AND THEIR FAMILIES.  You don’t want this.  I promise you don’t.

I get it.  It sounds awful.  But at WORST it’s benign.  At best, it’s a GOOD thing that ORR doesn’t know where these kids are.  There’s a reason.  We actually now have pretty strict requirements before we release these kids.  They aren’t all being trafficked.  They aren’t dead.

It doesn’t mean life is easy, but life won’t be easier if ORR starts tracking them.  Trust me.  And trust my brilliant friends who know about this shit and have warned me and are now warning you.  DONT conflate the two things.

AND because some people are obviously taking this as an opportunity to exonerate the president- NO.  Trumps immigration policy is disgusting.  His separation of kids and parents at the border is SICKENING.  He’s a tyrant.  Just don’t conflate them.

Man oh man I forget that at least 50 percent of people on twitter refuse to learn basic reading comprehension.  Tonight should be fun!

] *[Also it says “alien” up there where it should say “alone”, cool, autocorrect.]

*corrected autocorrect/typo in my transcription for the sake of being less confusing, especially for anyone listening to the text rather than reading it visually.

Source: ruffboijuliaburnsides

What can one do in regards to ICE losing close to 1500 kids? It’s freaking me out. I never thought we’d go this far

brainstatic:

Read this twitter thread from an immigration lawyer. The Office Of Refugee Resettlement is essentially a jailer that takes in minors who cross the borders by themselves and discharges them to family members or other close relations. They’re “missing” in the sense that these families aren’t picking up the phone when the ORR calls to follow up. Because what immigrants wouldn’t want to talk to Trump’s government. The twitter thread above actually says how this misplaced outrage can backfire terribly: people might demand the ORR be given broader powers to track down the children that have left their control, and we really don’t want that.

Edit: because that lawyer is having a lot of trouble with people who aren’t getting this: the children missing are not those who were separated from their parents by ICE, they were unaccompanied minors.

U.S. Placed Immigrant Children With Traffickers, Report Says

rapeculturerealities:

The Department of Health and Human Services placed more than a dozen immigrant children in the custody of human traffickers after it failed to conduct background checks of caregivers, according to a Senate report released on Thursday.

Examining how the federal agency processes minors who arrive at the border without a guardian, lawmakers said they found that it had not followed basic practices of child welfare agencies, like making home visits.

The Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations opened its inquiry after law enforcement officials uncovered a human trafficking ring in Marion, Ohio, last year. At least six children were lured to the United States from Guatemala with the promise of a better life, then were made to work on egg farms. The children, as young as 14, had been in federal custody before being entrusted to the traffickers.

“It is intolerable that human trafficking — modern-day slavery — could occur in our own backyard,” said Senator Rob Portman, Republican of Ohio and the chairman of the subcommittee. “But what makes the Marion cases even more alarming is that a U.S. government agency was responsible for delivering some of the victims into the hands of their abusers.”

In addition to the Marion cases, the investigation found evidence that 13 other children had been trafficked after officials handed them over to adults who were supposed to care for them during their immigration proceedings. An additional 15 cases exhibited some signs of trafficking.

The report also said that it was unclear how many of the approximately 90,000 children the agency had placed in the past two years fell prey to traffickers, including sex traffickers, because it does not keep track of such cases.

“Whatever your views on immigration policy, everyone can agree that the administration has a responsibility to ensure the safety of the migrant kids that have entered government custody until their immigration court date,” Mr. Portman said.

In the fall of 2013, thousands of unaccompanied children began showing up at the southern border. Most risked abuse by traffickers and detention by law enforcement to escape dire problems like gang violence and poverty in Central America.

As detention centers struggled to keep up with the influx, the Department of Health and Human Services began placing children in the custody of sponsors who could help them while their immigration cases were reviewed. Many children who did not have relatives in the United States were placed in a system resembling foster care.

But officials at times did not examine whether an adult who claimed to be a relative actually was, relying on the word of parents, who, in some cases, went along with the traffickers to pay off smuggling debts.

Responding to the report, the Department of Health and Human Services said it had taken measures to strengthen its system, collecting information to subject potential sponsors and additional caregivers in a household to criminal background checks.

Mark Greenberg, the agency’s acting assistant secretary of the Administration for Children and Families, said it had bolstered other screening procedures and increased resources for minors.

“We are mindful of our responsibilities to these children and are continually looking for ways to strengthen our safeguards,” he said.

U.S. Placed Immigrant Children With Traffickers, Report Says