TALKING POINTS ON IMMIGRATION
Updated 8/17/2024, Beryl Flom
Note: The LWV position on Immigration is in italics. This document is educational while the position is designed for advocacy, so there is not a lot of overlap. The outline precedes the background information.
1) The Border, Customs and Border Patrol, and Asylum Seekers
a) A division of ICE
b) Entering through a Port of Entry
c) Crossing the border between Ports of Entry (electronic monitors can now survey 2.8 km. along the border)
d) An asylum seeker can seek asylum based on a well-founded fear of persecution because of their race, nationality, religion, political opinion or member of a particular social group (The League supports the following criteria for legal admission of persons into the United States: flight from persecution or response to humanitarian crises in home countries...)
e) Processing of Asylum Seekers and sending them to their Sponsors
f) Humanitarian parole
g) CBP One
2) Refugees and Asylum Seekers
a) Difference between refugees and asylum seekers
b) Process for refugees to enter the U.S.
c) Limit on the number of refugees admitted each year is set by the President; but recently, the U.S. has not filled its quota.
3) Immigration Courts The Leagues supports due process for all persons, including the right to a fair hearing, right to counsel, right of appeal, and right to humane treatment...)
a) Judges work under the DOJ/Department of Justice; implications of judges appointed by the DOJ
b) Shortage of judges and staff (and funding)
c) Problem with notification to appear in court; people miss court dates
d) It usually takes several sessions in court before a decision is made to be granted asylum
e) Effect of lack of defense attorney on the decision
f) Variation in number of cases of people ordered removed between various judges or regions
4) ICE and Detention Centers
a) Developed after 9/11
b) ICE works along all borders and inland 100 miles from the border
c) Largest police force in the U.S.
d) Detention Centers are like prisons
e) Inhumane treatment by both CBP and ICE agents
f) Alternatives to ICE Detention
g) Immigration courts held in the detention centers
5) Separating Families (The League of women Voters believes that immigration policies should promote reunification of immediatefamilies...The League supports...
family reunification of spouses or minor children...)
a) separation of families has continued under Republican and Democratic
administrations
b) men are separated from women unless they are clearly a couple of family
c) children and mothers are housed in separate facilities run by Health & Human
Services
d) ICE arrests usually cause removal/deportation of a family member
e) Legal Permanent Citizen veterans who break the law are often deported for life
f) Deported veterans can appeal with the VA if laws have changed since their arrest
6) DACA and DREAMers (The League supports a system for individuals living in the country
without legal permission to earn legal status, including citizenship, by paying
taxes, studying civics, and meeting other relevant criteria...The League does not
support deporting these immigrants who have no history of major and/or violent
criminal activity.)
a) Definition of a DACA recipient
b) Definition of a DREAMer
c) What benefits and restrictions do they have
d) Renewal of their status and high cost
e) Political football
f) Funding of USCIS from fees
7) What States Can Do to Help Migrants - CA Is an Example:
a) Include migrants in Medicaid coverage
b) Provide food stamps for migrants/all people who qualify
c) Allow migrants to get a state ID or drivers license
d) Allow migrants to qualify for in-state tuition
e) Include migrants in tenant rights
f) Limit law enforcement work with ICE
g) Grant some professional licenses to those who qualify regardless of immigration
status
h) Pay for legal defense for migrants without felonies in deportation proceedings
Background Information
1). The Border, Customs and Border Patrol, Asylum Seekers
DHS/The Department of Homeland Security includes ICE/Immigration & Customs Enforcement and CBP/Customs and Border Protection. CBP includes BP/Border Patrol which is responsible for control between ports of entry while CBP is responsible for control at ports of entry. A port of entry is a facility staffed by CBP agents; there are 328 ports of entry along the southern border of the U.S. Both look for drugs and screen undocumented people crossing the border. Someone crossing the border illegally between ports of entry is sometimes detained or removed/deported. Someone who has applied through the app called CBP One and, at their appointment with CBP, asks to seek asylum and explains their persecution as well as their fear of being deported may be given a court date and allowed to enter the U.S. All others are put in detention or deported.
In June, 2024, President Biden issued an order saying that all asylum seekers (except minors and certain others) must use CBP One. The suspension of entry will apply until 14 calendar days after there has been an average of less than 1,500 encounters between the ports of entry over a 7-day period. The suspension of entry will continue to, or again, apply if there has been a 7-day average of 2,500 encounters or more.
CBP One was initiated by President Biden in January, 2023. It is an app used by asylum seekers to apply for an interview with CBP, but they must apply from their home country or the first country they enter on their way to the U.S. Applicants must have a sponsor in the U.S. who will finance them and initiate the application process. The CBP One application is now in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole and Russian but the instructions are only in Spanish, Haitian Creole & English. Mexico has agreed to take 30,000 people/month who are not admitted under this program. Appointments are only at 8 ports of entry on the southern U.S. border. There are still major kinks to work out such as: many more people are trying to apply than there are slots; the facial recognition of those with dark skin is unreliable; and people are having problems with their cell phones or the wifi connection.
Humanitarian Parole is provided to people with serious health/mental health issues or who have a compelling emergency. It lasts 1-2 years and recipients can get a work permit. Afghans, Haitians, Venezuelans, Nicaraguans, Cubans and Ukrainians were given humanitarian parole at the time of those crises. DACA recipients are here on humanitarian parole and have to renew their status every couple of years. Congress can and does extend humanitarian parole, but it is unpredictable. Those on humanitarian parole do not really have a path to Legal Permanent Residency/LPR or citizenship. They can work once they arrive here.
2) Refugees and Asylum Seekers
Refugees usually come from refugee camps in other countries and are often processed through the United Nations. The U.S. sets an annual quota for the number of refugees. Once they arrive in the U.S., there are designated agencies funded by the Office of Refugee Resettlement/ORR who help them with housing, education, immigration, and job placement. Refugees receive minimum funding from the U.S. government for about 4-6 months so they have time to get on their feet. They receive a work permit soon after they arrive. They also are eligible for various benefits including Temporary Assistance for Needy Families/TANF, MediCal and food stamps in some states.
Asylum seekers go through the approval process in the U.S. through the immigration court system and have to document and prove their case. Many are deported by the judge. While they wait, some may be put in detention or given an ankle bracelet or cell phone so they are tracked. Within a year, they must apply for asylum and six months after that, they can apply for their work permit so they can work legally. There is now a pilot system __________ allowing them to get a work permit sooner.
People who enter with legal permanent resident (LPR) status (i.e., visas for those sponsored by family members who are U.S. citizens or LPRs, employment-based visas, or diversity visas) can work upon arrival; they are eligible for citizenship three or five years after entry (those married to US citizens may apply after 3 years).
3) Immigration Courts Immigration judges are often prosecutors before being appointed by the Department of Justice (directly related to the President). People sometimes don't know when or where they should appear in court because the notice was sent in English and they don't understand it, the notice is sent to a previous address, or the notice is not sent. When they are located, they can be deported for not showing up in court. When people can't find an immigration attorney to represent them, their chances of being successful in seeking asylum is way lower than those who have attorneys. It takes quite a while to gather their evidence because they either didn't bring it, it was lost, or it was taken (often by Border Patrol agents). There is a significant variation in decisions made by immigration judges in different courts or regions. The laws are always changing.
4) ICE and Detention Centers
ICE was created after 9/11 as part of the Patriot Act which allows law enforcement agencies to share data among each other. Thus, in many parts of the country, local sheriffs and police tip off ICE agents as to someone they could arrest and deport. ICE agents are looking for people who have overstayed their visa, crossed the border between ports of entry, or committed any kind of crime or some misdemeanors. ICE often outsources the administration of their detention centers to private, for-profit companies which results in shortcuts particularly in health care and more recently temperature control. Many immigration courts are held inside detention centers; asylum seekers can challenge why they are in detention but it is difficult to have legal representation while in detention. ICE is now often using LexisNexis surveillance on people who are waiting for court dates instead of putting them in detention or putting ankle bracelets on them but this has been shut down by the courts in March 2023_______________.
5) Separating Families
CBP separates men from families and separates children from their guardians (non-parents) in order to do DNA screening. They are sometimes sent to different places and have a lot of trouble finding each other again partly because CBP keeps no records of their
whereabouts. Families and unaccompanied children are housed near the border in institutions run by the Department of Health and Human Services. ICE separates undocumented people from US citizens (often their children) when they remove/deport those who are undocumented. Veterans who have served in the U.S. military and enlisted with just a green card or permanent resident status, return home (often with PTSD) and commit some infraction, are often deported for life; they can return in a casket for burial. The VA has developed a portal where deported veterans can reapply to return to the U.S.; they often return to the U.S. on humanitarian parole.
6) DACA and DREAMers
Someone who is a DACA/Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipient arrived as a child into the U.S. with their parent(s) at age 15 or under; has continuously resided in the U.S. since 6/15/2007; and was under 31 years of age as of June 15, 2012. Unless they break the law, they cannot be deported. DACA recipients cannot travel outside the U.S. They have to register with the U.S. government and re-register every two years; a large fee accompanies the registration. They can work and they pay taxes and Social Security, but they don't get any benefits from that such as retirement or MediCare. Most DACA recipients have aged out now.
A DREAMer/Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors is someone who arrived into the U.S. as a minor but does not fit the definition of DACA. They are treated like undocumented immigrants.
USCIS/US Citizenship and Immigration Services is largely funded from fees they collect for passports, DACA renewals, visas, and other services they perform.
Resources
- Migration Policy Institute/MPI (migrationpolicy.org) - Research & data on international & national
- Bipartisan Policy Center/BPI (bipartisan.org) - Think tank on immigration and other topics
- National Immigration Forum (immigrationforum.org) - Non-partisan group for reform
- Documented (documentedny.org) - news from NY and other parts of the U.S. on immigration
- Southern Border Communities Coalition/SBCC (southernborder.org) - advocating for border demilitarization
- Detention Watch Network (detentionwatchnetwork.org) - Coalition to abolish immigration detention in the U.S.
- American Civil Rights Union/ACLU (acluca.org) - several offices
- International Rescue Committee/IRC (rescue.org) - several offices
- California Immigrant Policy Center/CIPC (caimmigrant.org) - Statewide immigrant rights organization with offices in Los Angeles, Oakland, Sacramento and San Diego
- Immigrant Defenders Law Center (immdef.org) - Legal aid program in Los Angeles
- Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles/CHIRLA (chirla.org)
- San Diego Union Tribune (sandiegouniontribune.com)
Government Offices
- U.S. Citizens Information Network (uscis.gov)
- U.S. Customs and Border Protection (cbp.gov)
- Office of Refugee Resettlement (https://www.acf.hhs.gov/orr)
Other LWV Immigration Groups
- LWV CA Immigration Interest Group, contact Beryl Flom, Chair, berylflom@gmail.com; Jane Andrews or Katherine Gavzy
- LWV US Immigration Interest Group, contact Jane Andrews, jmlandrews@gmail.com
- LWV San Diego Immigration & Deportation Committee, contact Beryl Flom, berylf@lwvsandiego.org