Updates | The Week of March 27, 2017
Derek Reinbold // 4/2/17 //
CNN reported that ICE is targeting sanctuary cities with increased enforcement operations.
- On NPR, Karen Grigsby Bates reported that police departments in sanctuary cities worry that fear of deportation discourages immigrants from reporting crimes.
- On the Immigration Professor Blog, Bill O. Hing discussed several incidents of ICE retaliating against activists for immigration advocacy.
- Also on the Immigration Professor Blog, Kit Johnson noted that after an ICE raid in Las Cruces, New Mexico, a public school in that community saw a sixty percent spike in absences compared to the previous week.
Despite ongoing legal challenges, President Trump’s immigration policies—from the travel ban to threatening sanctuary cities—are exacting immediate harm, argues Heather Digby Parton (Salon).
- Agency officials report that fearful undocumented workers have stopped cooperating with Department of Labor investigations, which have historically operated independently of immigration enforcement (The Guardian).
- Human rights advocates say ICE has frequently refused to comply with a policy that allows the public to monitor conditions in detention centers, according to Renée Faltz (Rewire).
The United States settled for $1 million with an undocumented migrant’s family after border agents beat the family member to death (WaPo).
The Knight First Amendment Institute has sued DHS and ICE over cellphone and laptop record searches at the border (US News and World Report).
- The complaint can be found here.
- Murtaza Hussain offered analysis at The Intercept.
- Cyrus Farivar of Ars Technica covered the suit here.
Leah Litman explains, on Take Care, how President Trump’s recent executive orders make the Supreme Court’s decision in Jennings v. Rodriguez even more important.
- In Jennings, the Court will decide whether the government must afford a bond hearing to all persons detained for immigration-related reasons for longer than six months.
Individuals who relied on Obama-era immigration and marijuana non-enforcement policies should be protected against sudden enforcement by the Trump Administration, writes Zachary Price at Take Care.
Los Angeles should provide attorneys to immigrants in the wake of escalating immigration raids, argues Bruce Einhorn (LA Times).
Hundreds of churches are ready to fight the Trump Administration to prevent immigrants living legally in the U.S. from being deported, as Adrian Florido explains on an NPR podcast.
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) beneficiary Daniel Ramirez Medina was released from ICE detention on Wednesday (Rewire).
Legislation in Texas could license private prison companies to operate family detention centers as child-care facilities (Rewire).
The Chief Justice of California used her annual State of the Judiciary Address to criticize President Trump’s immigration policies (WaPo) (LA Times).
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has proposed building a border wall on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande (WaPo).
- This proposal has garnered criticism from Democrats (The Hill).
- Patrick Clark suggests that the cheapest way to build the wall might be to use the U.S. military (Bloomberg).
President Trump has proposed $18 billion in domestic budget cuts to finance the border wall (NYT) (Chicago Tribune).
A podcast on the Washington Post breaks down the dangers of using eminent domain to seize the large amount of property that would be necessary for President Trump’s proposed border wall.
- California Governor Jerry Brown claims he will fight back against the proposed border wall strategically, but will not be running to the courthouse (Politico).