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Eugene

(61,595 posts)
Wed Jun 26, 2019, 08:07 PM Jun 2019

U.S. asylum officers say Trump's 'Remain in Mexico' policy is threatening migrants' lives, ask feder

Last edited Wed Jun 26, 2019, 09:01 PM - Edit history (1)

Source: Washington Post

U.S. asylum officers slammed President Trump’s policy of forcing migrants to remain in Mexico while they await immigration hearings in the United States, urging a federal appeals court Wednesday to block the administration from continuing the program. The officers, who are directed to implement the policy, said it is threatening migrants’ lives and is “fundamentally contrary to the moral fabric of our Nation.”

The labor union representing asylum officers filed a friend-of-the-court brief that sided with the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups challenging Trump’s Migrant Protection Protocols program, which has sent 12,000 asylum-seeking migrants to Mexico since January. The policy is an effort to deter migrants from seeking entry into the United States and to keep them out of the country while courts weigh their claims.

The union argued that the policy goes directly against the nation’s long-standing view that asylees and refugees should have a way to escape persecution in their homelands, with the United States embracing its status as a safe haven since even before it was founded — with the arrival of the Pilgrims in the 17th Century. The union says in court papers that the policy is compelling sworn officers to participate in the “widespread violation” of international and federal law — “something that they did not sign up to do when they decided to become asylum and refugee officers for the United States government.”

“Asylum officers are duty bound to protect vulnerable asylum seekers from persecution,” the American Federation of Government Employees Local 1924, which represents 2,500 federal workers, including asylum officers, said in a 37-page court filing with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in California. “They should not be forced to honor departmental directives that are fundamentally contrary to the moral fabric of our Nation and our international and domestic legal obligations.”

-snip-

By Maria Sacchetti June 26 at 8:42 PM


Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2019/06/26/u-s-asylum-officers-say-trumps-remain-in-mexico-policy-is-threatening-migrants-lives-ask-federal-court-to-end-it/



Full headline: U. S. asylum officers say Trump’s ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy is threatening migrants’ lives, ask federal court to end it

EDIT: article updated at link
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U.S. asylum officers say Trump's 'Remain in Mexico' policy is threatening migrants' lives, ask feder (Original Post) Eugene Jun 2019 OP
Kick Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin Jun 2019 #1
'The officers, who are directed to implement the policy elleng Jun 2019 #2
K&R 2naSalit Jun 2019 #3

elleng

(130,152 posts)
2. 'The officers, who are directed to implement the policy
Wed Jun 26, 2019, 08:47 PM
Jun 2019

said it is threatening migrants’ lives and is “fundamentally contrary to the moral fabric of our Nation.”

The labor union representing asylum officers filed a friend-of-the-court brief that sided with the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups challenging Trump’s Migrant Protection Protocols program, which has sent 12,000 asylum-seeking migrants to Mexico since January.'

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