The actions surrounding the Supreme Court partially pushed the family separation issue out of the headlines this week. That doesn’t mean things have changed for the better, though. As of Friday, there are only six fewer children in detention than there were last week. District Judge Dana Sabraw in California issued an injunction forbidding family separation and giving the administration deadlines to reestablish communication between families and to reunite them. At the same time, the Trump Administration is trying to find a way around the Flores settlement, which only allows minor migrants to be detained for 20 days, with or without their parents.
The most frightening addition to the story is the proposed overhaul to the asylum process that would make it much harder anyone from Central America to successfully apply for asylum. As Vox.com’s Dara Lind wrote:
It would eliminate the path that thousands of Central Americans, including families, take every month to seek asylum in the US: entering between ports of entry and presenting themselves to Border Patrol agents. It would make it all but impossible for victims of domestic or gang violence to qualify for asylum — going even further than a June decision from Sessions that sought to limit asylum access for those groups. It would create a presumption against Central Americans who travel through Mexico on their way to the US.
On Saturday, Americans across the country will march in protest of the Trump Administration’s inhumane approach to immigration. In New Orleans, the "Freedom for Families" rally starts at noon at Congo Square, and you can go to MoveOn.org to see the site of the nearest rally if you live outside New Orleans. The vulnerability of the immigrant population makes it even more important that we come together to join them and support them.
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