A Unitarian Universalist State Action Network
Last year, the Trump administration rolled out several policies that restricted access to asylum as well as employment-based and family-based immigration pathways. With a presidential election on the horizon, 2020 could bring even more restrictions as US President Donald Trump makes a final push to fulfill his agenda before voters head to the ballot box.
Here are 10 immigration issues we’re watching this year . . .
Since 2017, ICE and Border Patrol have arrested hundreds of immigrants in approximately 20 counties across Washington state.
They could show up to court for any number of reasons: to pay a traffic ticket, serve as a witness or seek a protection order.
Increasingly, however, immigrants have been reluctant to visit local courthouses because they fear the presence of federal immigration officials and, consequently, a possible arrest.
Now, Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson, in what is the 53rd lawsuit against the Trump administration, is seeking to bar federal immigration officials from making arrests at courthouses. Ferguson’s office wants immigrants to feel safe enough to access the justice system.
by Lilly Fowler, Crosscut, November 26, 2019
The new rule would increase the cost of citizenship applications for green card holders by 83%, from $640 to $1,170. It would also, for the first time ever, add a fee to asylum applications.
With a slew of immigrant rights advocates standing behind them, Mayor Jenny Durkan and U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Seattle, joined forces to condemn the Trump administration’s attempt to dramatically increase fees for immigrants trying to gain citizenship and make the United States only the fourth country to charge a fee for asylum applications.
Proclamation 9945 of October 4, 2019
While our healthcare system grapples with the challenges caused by uncompensated care, the United States Government is making the problem worse by admitting thousands of aliens who have not demonstrated any ability to pay for their healthcare costs. Notably, data show that lawful immigrants are about three times more likely than United States citizens to lack health insurance. Immigrants who enter this country should not further saddle our healthcare system, and subsequently American taxpayers, with higher costs.
Read the Proclamation here.
by Lilly Fowler / August 27, 2019 . . .
When awake, the children were told by guards, “Don’t touch me, I don’t want to get your diseases.” The guards threw food on the ground, prompting fights among hungry children.
Children were never given toothbrushes or toothpaste and had limited showers and soap. Girls on their period were provided only one sanitary pad a day. One girl who had bled through her clothing said she “had no choice but to continue to wear her soiled underwear and pants.”
These are the stories told by immigrant children recently detained at the border, unaccompanied, and transferred to various facilities in Washington state, where 100 beds are reserved for migrant children in facilities contracted by the Office of Refugee Resettlement. The allegations all pertained to incidents at border facilities.
Last month, licensors from the Washington Department of Children, Youth, and Families and staff from the Washington state Attorney General’s Office heard these stories during interviews with 22 immigrant children 12 to 17 years old.
Now the accounts will serve as supporting evidence in a new lawsuit being filed by Washington and 18 other states, in addition to the District of Columbia. They are suing the Trump administration over its attempt to effectively undo the two-decade-old Flores Settlement Agreement. The suit targets U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the U.S. Border Patrol and the Department of Homeland Security, among others.