For the last week, Britain has been consumed by drama surrounding ex-soccer superstar Gary Lineker’s temporary removal from his role as a BBC commentator after he took to twitter to attack the government’s new asylum policy. In early March, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s conservative government proposed a new law that would make it impossible for people to claim asylum if they entered the country… Source Source / Read More: BBC Disciplined Commentator Who Spoke Out Against UK’s Anti-Immigrant Law
Asylum Seekers
Inside the Underground Network Fighting for Asylum Seekers in Scotland
This article was originally published by Waging Nonviolence. Every Sunday for the past six weeks, far-right protesters have been gathering in the small Scottish town of Erskine to complain about plans to house some 200 asylum seekers in a local hotel. However, they are not alone. Asylum seekers in Scotland and their local allies have also been protesting the use of these hotels, and for a much… Source Source / Read More: Inside the Underground Network Fighting for Asylum Seekers in Scotland
Biden Admin Plans to Expand Title 42 to Expel Cubans, Nicaraguans and Haitians
Even as Biden administration lawyers fight to end a cruel anti-immigrant policy that has been used millions of times to expel asylum seekers, administration officials are seeking to once again expand the policy, this time to ramp up expulsions of asylum seekers from Cuba, Nicaragua and Haiti. According to Reuters, officials say that the administration is planning to implement new rules for the… Source Source / Read More: Biden Admin Plans to Expand Title 42 to Expel Cubans, Nicaraguans and Haitians
Greg Abbott Blasted for Bussing Migrants to Kamala Harris’s Home in Cruel Stunt
Human rights defenders condemned Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and “extremist Republicans’ cruel values” after several busloads of migrants were dropped off outside U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris’ Washington, D.C. home in subfreezing temperatures on Christmas Eve. For the second time since September, Central and South American migrants were bussed from Texas to the vice president’s residence at the U. Source Source / Read More: Greg Abbott Blasted for Bussing Migrants to Kamala Harris’s Home in Cruel Stunt
Nearly 200 Rohingya Refugees Adrift at Sea Desperately Seek Rescue
A United Nations refugee advocate on Friday joined human rights defenders in imploring South and Southeast Asian nations to rescue nearly 200 Rohingya refugees “on the verge of perishing” after drifting on the Andaman Sea for weeks — an ordeal that’s already reportedly claimed around 20 lives aboard the vessel. The refugees — who are fleeing ethnic cleansing and other severe state repression in… Source Source / Read More: Nearly 200 Rohingya Refugees Adrift at Sea Desperately Seek Rescue
Community-Based Programs Offer Alternative to Detention for Asylum Seekers
This story was originally published at Prism. CW: This article contains descriptions of violence and mentions of suicide. Community-based programs for immigrants and asylum-seekers remain grossly underfunded despite a desperate need for their services, especially as the U.S. government drags its feet on implementing any such program on the federal level. In 2017, the Trump administration shut down… Source Source / Read More: Community-Based Programs Offer Alternative to Detention for Asylum Seekers
Judge Blocks Biden from Ending Title 42 in “Arbitrary, Racist” Ruling
Immigrant rights advocates on Friday denounced a federal judge’s injunction blocking the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden from lifting Title 42, a Trump-era public health order that both presidents have invoked to deport around two million asylum-seekers under the pretext of the Covid-19 pandemic. Judge Robert Summerhays of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana — an appointee of then-President Donald Trump — concurred with 24 Republican-controlled states’ assertion that the Biden administration’s decision to terminate the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) rule “violates the Administrative Procedures Act” because it “failed to consider the…
Despite Biden’s Promises, US Offers Few Supports for Ukrainian Refugees
During the first four months of fiscal year 2022 (October 1, 2021, to January 31, 2022), more than 6,000 asylum seekers from Ukraine and Russia were apprehended at U.S. border crossings and deported. Then, in late February, Russia invaded Ukraine and, virtually overnight, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) shifted gears to accommodate the influx of Ukrainians who began showing up at the U.S.-Mexico border. In fact, whether arriving on foot and in cars, most were allowed in and given “humanitarian parole.” But not all displaced people have entered through Mexico. Many have flown…
Biden Backs Out of Negotiations to Compensate Separated Migrant Families
Human rights advocates were incensed Thursday after lawyers for the U.S. Department of Justice informed representatives for hundreds of families separated at the U.S.-Mexico border that they were walking away from talks over compensating the families, as President Joe Biden had promised. Instead of settling more than 900 claims, the administration signaled it will go to court to determine what compensation is owed to the families, many of whom were forcibly separated for several months by the Trump administration under its so-called “zero tolerance” anti-immigration policy. Lee Gelernt of the ACLU, who is serving as the lead counsel for the…