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Trump’s Cruel Immigration Policies Provoke Protests on the Left, Misinformation on the Right

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The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” – George Orwell, “1984”

On Fox and Friends this morning, host Steve Doocy told America what the Dear Leader wanted them to hear: No, these aren’t cages, the authorities simply “built walls out of chain-link fences.”

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen’s Sunday tweets denying the obvious– “We do not have a policy of separating families at the border. Period” –hasn’t worked.

Over the past few days, the American public has been told the practice of separating families is an “effective deterrent, biblically compliant and/or the Democrats’ fault,” depending on who was talking.

(Local Protests listed inside…)   [Read more…]

Immigrant Rights Advocates Mark Father’s Day with Vigils & Visits at Detention Centers

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By Jessica Corbett / Common Dreams

As families across the United States celebrated Father’s Day on Sunday, immigrants and advocates held a vigil at the Ursula Border Patrol Processing Center in South McAllen, Texas to express support for children who were torn from their asylum-seeking parents at the Southern border and are now being held in the facility.

In the just six weeks since President Donald Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions imposed a “cruel” so-called zero-tolerance policy that enables federal immigration agents to separate families at the border—to prosecute the parents and detain the children—Department of Homeland Security (DHS) records recently obtained by journalists show that nearly 2,000 children have been taken into custody.

“We are witnessing a whole new level of attack on migrant families,” said People’s Action director George Goehl, who attended the vigil in Texas.   [Read more…]

Rep. Beto O´Rourke Prepares to Visit the First ‘Tent Facility’ for the Overflow of Unaccompanied Minors | Video Worth Watching

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Yes folks, this is still happening. CNN‘s Jake Tapper speaks with Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX), the Democratic congressman as he prepares to visit the first 360 children at the Tornillo, Texas tent facility set up to accommodate the massive increase in the number of unaccompanied immigrant children, an increase created by the Trump administration’s new policy of “zero tolerance”. He points out that the process of separating families is “inhumane” and it’s up to everyone – Republicans and Democrats – to stop this practice.   [Read more…]

The Old Fascist

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Not unlike the maddened men of German infamy
Sending millions to death chambers of Zyclon B
Our own Mad King reaches out with fattened arms
And declares all the desperate invading swarms.
Here at our sun-washed and hurricaned shores
Stands Lady Liberty with mighty torch unflamed
Mother of Exiles until the Mad King came,
To extinguish the lightning of her eternal flame.   [Read more…]

‘We Have No Idea When Or If Mother And Child Will Be Reunited’ | One of the Detention Facilities is Here in El Cajon | More Video Worth Watching

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All In’s Chris Hayes speaks with Rep. Beta O’Rourke (D-TX) who visited several immigration facilities in McAllen, Texas this week and tells Chris Hayes what he saw.

Also, one of the detention facilities for the children is here in El Cajon. Chris Hayes speaks with MSNBC’s Gadi Schwartz reporting from outside the facility.
  [Read more…]

Trump Immigration Facility: ‘Effectively, These Kids Are Incarcerated’ | Video Worth Watching

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After Sen. Jeff Merkley was turned away from the Casa Padre Center in Brownsville, Texas, operated by the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, where immigrant children are being detained, the department began to provide access to the media. From the MSNBC YouTube website:

MSNBC correspondent Jacob Soboroff was one of a small group of reporters allowed inside the largest facility for immigrant children in the U.S. – the facility Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) was refused entry to earlier this month. Jacob joins Lawrence to share what he saw. Sen. Merkley also joins the discussion.

  [Read more…]

Immigrant Children’s Detention Center in Texas Displays Ominous Trump Mural

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By Julia Conley / Common Dreams

Children who are taken to the former Walmart which now serves as a detention center for young immigrants in Brownsville, Texas, are greeted by a mural of the man responsible for their incarceration—President Donald Trump.

MSNBC journalist Jacob Soboroff was given a tour of the facility, now known as Casa Padre. He shared images of the mural, which includes the quotation, “Sometimes by losing a battle you find a new way to win the war.”   [Read more…]

One Woman Who Knew Her Rights Forced Border Patrol Off a Greyhound Bus

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By Mitra Ebadolahi, Border Litigation Project Staff Attorney / ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties

On June 7, Tiana Smalls, whose Facebook profile describes her as owner of Fire Flower Beauty Company, was riding a Greyhound bus from Bakersfield, California to Las Vegas, Nevada. As the bus approached an agricultural checkpoint at the Nevada state line, Ms. Smalls said the driver made an unusual announcement: “We are being boarded by Border Patrol. Please be prepared to show your documentation upon request.” 

Ms. Smalls immediately reacted. According to a description she posted on Facebook, she stood up and loudly said, “This is a violation of your Fourth Amendment rights. You don’t have to show them *shit*!!!” She then used Google Translate to repeat her message in Spanish, reassuring the Spanish-speaking woman sitting beside her and probably countless other fellow passengers. 

Border Patrol agents boarded the bus and started to ask the passengers for their “documentation.” Ms. Smalls stood up again and shouted, “You have NO RIGHT to ask me for anything! This is harassment and racial profiling! We are not within 100 miles of a border so [these agents] have no legal right or jurisdiction here!”    [Read more…]

Rep. Pramila Jayapal: Mothers Didn’t Even Get To Say Bye To Kids | Video Worth Watching

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Another update on the Department of Justice policy of taking children away from their parents when taken into custody at the border: All In’s Chris Hayes speaks with Pramila Jayapal (D-WA7) who reports on her visit with 174 women being held in a Federal prison in Washington state. None of the women had yet even had a “Credible Fear” hearing.   [Read more…]

Pelosi to Visit San Diego as DC Ratchets Up the Racism

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As the administration’s war on immigrants and brown people reached new lows, it was announced that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi will visit San Diego next week, with a delegation of 15 Democrats organized by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

Things are looking bad, really bad, right now. Just about every part of the government is actively working hard to inflict cruel and unusual punishment on human beings who happen to lack identity papers.

We can only hope Pelosi’s trip to the border region will generate enough awareness to stimulate opposition to government actions that should be seen as violating international law and basic moral conduct.   [Read more…]

America, the UnBeautiful: Otay Mesa Protest, Border Patrol Harassment, & Children in Cages

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Border Patrol Targets Demonstrators

In what is likely the first in a series of immigration-related protests, several hundred people came to a rally outside the Otay Mesa Detention Center on Sunday demanding the release of asylum seekers fleeing gang violence and state repression.

They were taking up the cause of asylum seekers who –for the most part–have voluntarily turned themselves at the border. Little did the protesters know their own participation in the event would lead to harassment by border authorities.

Protests are spreading nationwide in the wake of horrific reports of abuse and mistreatment by immigration agencies. People are speaking out against a President who refers to immigrants as ‘animals’ and implements policies inflicting punishment on people whose rights to due process are rapidly vanishing.   [Read more…]

Missing Migrant Children Update, June 6, 2018 | Video Worth Watching

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Apparently Samantha Bee’s segment last week on migrant children being separated from their parents was permanently scrubbed and will not be coming back. At the beginning of this week’s show she made a brief statement regarding the controversy (and there’s an interesting discussion between Chris Hayes and Rebecca Traister: here). That intro was then followed by this segment with an update on the situation.   [Read more…]

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