Video: Bring exiled couples home for the holidays!

Video source: GetEQUAL



Across the globe this year, binational LGBT couples are living in exile or living separated from one another simply because of discriminatory laws in the United States. Despite being U.S. citizens, the American half of these couples is forced to choose between love and country.

But this wrong could be solved tomorrow. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano has the power to issue these couples "humanitarian parole," bringing binational couples home for the holidays. Please go to www.getequal.org/gethome to sign our petition asking Secretary Napolitano to bring Jesse, Max, and thousands of other exiled and separated couples home this holiday season!

Related articles

• New Immigration Rules Could Help Same-Sex Couples (towleroad.com)

The appalling treatment of a trans asylum seeker in US detention

By Paul Canning

The appalling treatment of a transgender asylum seeker held in US detention has drawn a lawsuit from the ACLU.

The suit is against the federal government, local government and Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and charges that they failed to protect Tanya Guzman-Martinez from sexual violence, assault and other mistreatment.

Guzman-Martinez was being held at the Eloy Detention Center in Arizona. She was sexually assaulted by a guard who threatened to deport her back to Mexico if she did not comply with his demands. Pinal County court records show that the guard was charged with 'attempted unlawful sexual contact' but was only sentenced to two days, with time served.

After the sexual assault, she was placed back in a male population rather than in a woman's cell and suffered further abuse including another sexual assault.

The accusations, according to the ACLU court papers, include that "on one occasion, a detention officer told other detainees that they could “have her” if they gave him three soup packets."

Alessandra Soler Meetze of the ACLU of Arizona said:

“They did nothing. They failed to protect her from abusive staff members. They failed to protect her from male detainees."

ACLU of Arizona Immigrant Rights Attorney, Victoria Lopez, said:

“Tanya left Mexico to seek refuge from the persecution she suffered because of her gender identity, and was exposed to even greater trauma at the hands of  immigration officials who failed to take appropriate measures to protect her while she was in their custody.”

A spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Arizona,Amber Cargile, told Fronteras Desk:

"While U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) does not comment on pending litigation, the agency is firmly committed to providing for the welfare and humane treatment of all those in its custody. ICE is currently in the process of implementing comprehensive reforms to the agency’s detention system. The reforms are designed to prioritize the health and safety of detainees in ICE’s custody, while increasing federal oversight and improving the conditions of confinement within the detention system. ICE is focused on sensible, sustainable reforms that are attentive to the unique needs of the individuals in our custody.”

Although Guzman-Martinez was released from detention more than a year-and-a-half ago, she still suffers from the emotional pain she endured while at Eloy.

The US has come in for consistent criticism over persistent sexual abuse in immigration detention centers and its refusal to extend the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) to those in immigration detention. The ACLU has gathered more than 185 reports of sexual abuse in immigrant detention facilities across America, which they say represents a small proportion of cases.

ACLU of Arizona cooperating attorney Kirstin Story, of the law firm of Lewis and Roca LLP, said:

“When we tout our country as a beacon of freedom, fairness, and individual liberties for all, the United States, as well as state and local governments, and the people and entities with whom they routinely contract, must live up to those values, especially for those people who seek refuge in this country because of those values. Unfortunately, that did not occur in the Tanya Guzman-Martinez case and in many others. We hope that this lawsuit is a step toward remedying these failures.”

The ACLU-AZ report "In Their Own Words: Enduring Abuse in Arizona Immigration Detention Centers," details further maltreatment of other LGBT detainees.

ACLU Guzman - Complaint

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Contradiction in how Obama admin treating LGBT refugees

By Paul Canning

In his 'international LGBT rights Tuesday' policy announcement President Obama pledged support for LGBT refugees and asylum seekers. In a memorandum , he directed agencies, including Homeland Security, to "protect vulnerable LGBT refugees and asylum seekers".

The State Department laid out work it is doing on plans on supporting LGBT refugees, in conjunction with UNHCR and NGOs, and even pledged to directly help with relocation if activists are under dire threat.

In the US, a recent announcement on how immigration cases will be prioritised for decision to focus on those involving criminals has draw LGBT criticism because it does not offer explicit protection for lesbian and gay bi-national couples. However the new policy has drawn little attention for its impact on LGBT asylum seekers, those the President said Tuesday that his administration will protect.

Asylum lawyer Jason Dzubow points out that the new shifting of priorities on decision making has put asylum seekers at the bottom of the pile and describes the impact as "devastating".

The Executive Office for Immigration Review (“EOIR”, the Immigration Courts) is re-arranging its dockets to expedite priority cases in a pilot program running in Baltimore and Denver. Dzubow has already seen the impact in one case, of an Eritrean almost certain to receive sanctuary, re-scheduled from this December to May 2014.

According to EOIR, the goal of the Pilot Program is “to ensure that [limited] resources are focused on the Administration’s highest immigration enforcement priorities.” 

"Unfortunately, in this case, the Administration’s “enforcement priorities” (i.e., removal of aliens) comes at the expense of our country’s humanitarian obligations," says Dzubow.

"Delaying asylum hearings for 2+ years is devastating to many asylum seekers."

The stress of delayed decisions is well-documented around the world. Homeland Security could adopt a policy, Dzubow says, of starting the 'Asylum Clock' if decisions are delayed, which would at least allow asylum seekers to work. It should also offer at least some space in the courts for decision making for asylum seekers within a reasonable time frame for those like his Eritrean client.

The Obama administration has also been accused of doing nothing to protect detained LGBT asylum seekers in the US, from either maltreatment by those running detention centers or sexual violence, even rape. Here, 'protection' from such threats can often mean being held for long periods in solitary confinement - recognised as a form of torture.

There are also ongoing concerns about how LGBT asylum cases are treated in the immigration courts, with vastly differing approaches in different court systems across the US with many cases showing either a too high 'bar' for asylum seekers to reach or even homophobic treatment.

Said Physicians for Human Rights (PHR):

"This memorandum is a step in the right direction. But we urge the Obama administration to take a close look at the treatment of LGBT immigrants and asylum seekers in the US and work to reform our nation’s broken asylum and immigration detention systems, especially for the most vulnerable. We cannot expect to credibly protect the human rights of LGBT persons abroad when we cannot do so at home."

Dzubow says that "it might be futile to argue that we should not be prioritizing removals over protecting people fleeing persecution." However given Obama's pledge on LGBT asylum seekers the administration appears to have set up a clear conflict of priorities with how these refugees are actually treated by them.

Related articles

• Obama admin to 'leverage' foreign aid for LGBT Rights (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
• Report: Asylum and 'credible fear' issues in US immigration policy (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
• Why is Arizona shacking, isolating gay, raped immigration detainees? (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
• Obama Offers Asylum to Overseas Gays (usnews.com)

LGBT families not mention in new Obama immigration policy

Image by xtopher1974 via Flickr

Source: Washington Blade

By Chris Johnson

The omission of bi-national same-sex couples from recent guidance from the Obama administration is troubling advocates who fear the omission may mean LGBT families won’t be covered under new immigration policy.

The Department of Homeland Security issued guidance on Thursday to attorneys with U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement detailing which undocumented immigrants could be deemed a low priority and taken out of the deportation pipeline.

The guidance is the result of the announcement from the Obama administration in August that it will conduct a case-by-case review of about 300,000 undocumented immigrants facing possible deportation. Those who have been convicted of crimes or pose a security risk will be a higher priority for deportation, while those who are deemed lower priority will be taken out of the pipeline.

Administration officials have said they’ll weigh a person’s ties and contributions to the community and family relationships in considering which immigrants are low priority, and these criteria would be inclusive of LGBT families.

According to the New York Times, the process for determining which immigrants could be taken out of the deportation pipeline began on Thursday.

But in the guidance spelling out the details for this review, no mention of immigrants who are in same-sex relationships with U.S. citizens is enumerated among the categories of people who are listed as those who could be considered low priority.

Categories that are identified as low priority include immigrants who had enlisted in the armed forces or those who came to the United States under the age of 16 and are pursuing a college degree. Such immigrants would be eligible for citizenship under passage of the DREAM Act.

Other categories deemed low priority are those who older than age 65 and have lived in the country for more than 10 years and those who have been the victim of domestic violence.

Read more »

Update: Denial of US asylum to gay Saudi diplomat

Image via Wikipedia

By Paul Canning

Last week I reported on how a gay Saudi diplomat had been denied US asylum. It was claimed that this was for political reasons.

Jason Dzubow who writes for The Asylumist and is an immigration attorney who specializes in political asylum, immigration court and appeals points out that the initial decision of the case is correct in law.

The story, as reported first on Arab news website Rasheed’s World, quotes a Saudi dissident living in Washington DC, Ali al-Ahmed. He is is the founder and director of the Institute for Gulf Affairs (formerly the Saudi Institute), an independent think tank in Washington, DC. He has testified before Congress on several occasions on the issue of civil rights and religious freedom in the Middle East.

al-Ahmed said:

“This was a political decision by the Obama administration, who are afraid of upsetting the Saudis.”

He told the news website that the diplomat, Ali Ahmed Asseri:

“Had been an inspector to make sure that judicial punishments, such as lashings, were carried out within the law—not more, not less.”

And reported that the Asylum Office member who interviewed Asseri “then accused him of participating in a form of torture.”

Dzubow points out that people who persecute others are barred by statute from obtaining asylum.

“There is nothing political about this, and it has nothing to do with the Obama Administration somehow trying to appease the Saudis,” he writes.

Dzubow says that, despite this background, Asseri is possibly eligible for ‘Withholding of Removal‘. This is relief ‘to prevent removal to a country where the alien has a clear probability to suffer persecution based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group.’ Ironically, he is “certainly eligible for relief under the UN Convention Against Torture” because of  Saudi Arabia’s treatment of gay people, Dzubow says.

As al-Ahmed reports, Asseri has appealed the refusal of asylum and will thus get his day in court — where Dzubow says, as a high-profile gay man, he probably has a good chance of gaining US sanctuary.

Ali Ahmed Asseri was the first secretary of the Saudi consulate in Los Angeles. It was reported last year that he told US officials that his diplomatic passport was not renewed after Saudi officials discovered him going to gay bars and that he was close friends with a Jewish woman. He had also posted a critical note on a Saudi website, it was reported, and threatened to make public embarrassing information on members of the Saudi royal family living in the US.

Last year Ally Bolour, his lawyer, told NBC that other Saudis had been granted asylum by the US on grounds of sexual orientation, but Asseri’s case was unusual because of his diplomatic status. Another gay Saudi asylum case was approved quickly in Dallas in September this year.

Related articles

• Report: political reasons block US asylum for gay Saudi (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
• In Australia, gay Saudi wins review of asylum claim (madikazemi.blogspot.com)

In US, LGBT couples facing increased immigration tensions

Goodman and Pulung-Hartanto

Source: La Raza

By Fabiola Pomareda, Translated by Edwin Franco

According to the Immigration Policy Center, there are approximately 36,000 same sex, bi-national couples living in the United States. These couples have to reach out to alternative methods such as student visas or other legal resources in order to remain together.

Kevin Goodman is associate dean at St. James Cathedral, in Chicago. He met Anton Pulung-Hartanto, who is originally from Indonesia, at Disney world in 2000.

“I went to Disney with a youth group, to try to show them that one could have a religious experience in a place like that, and that’s where I met my partner”, said Goodman at a forum on LGBT Immigrant Rights held at the Adler School of Professional Psychology on September 27th.

Pulung-Hartanto worked at Disney, in Florida, as a cultural host with a Q-1 visa, which is provided specifically for cultural exchange programs.

They have been together for 12 years and plan on marrying next spring in Vermont, said Goodman.

The Final Option

Goodman is from New Orleans and grew up tied to the All Saints’ River Ridge Episcopal church. He studied communication and worked as a television producer. But he’s always been interested in Asian cultures, which is why he traveled to Xi’an in the Republic of China and has taken Asian Studies courses. He also studied in the theological seminary in New York, where his work with indigent youth and people with HIV began.

When he arrived in Chicago he worked with The Night Ministry program, specifically with indigent youth in the Lakeview neighborhood. He was also working with the St. Matthew church in Evanston through the Ravenswood Community Services agency and now with St. James Cathedral.

When Pulung-Hartanto’s Q-1 Visa expired, he applied for a Student I-20 visa which allowed him another 10 years in this country. He studied culinary arts at Saint Augustine College.

When asked why they don’t move to Indonesia, Goodman explains that there they would be even further marginalized for both being gay, and him being White and a Christian pastor in a country which is mainly Muslim. The couple has concerns over their safety especially during a time in which the environment for the LGBT community over there can be increasingly challenging.

The couple decided to recruit the help of a lawyer from the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) in Chicago and last year petitioned for asylum. Currently, the case is in process but Pulung-Hartanto has received authorization to work while they wait.

Goodman and Pulung felt it necessary to follow through with this final option. “Under the DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act), the idea that the federal government will recognize our relationship is something very, very far off”, expressed Goodman.

Back and Forth

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Report: political reasons block US asylum for gay Saudi

Image via Wikipedia

By Paul Canning

Important update

A gay Saudi diplomat has been denied US asylum in what observes believe is a political move.

Arab news website Rasheed's World quotes a Saudi dissident living in Washington DC Ali al-Ahmed:

“This was a political decision by the Obama administration, who are afraid of upsetting the Saudis. His initial interview with [the Department for Homeland Security (DHS)] was very positive, but then they came back and grilled him for two days after they found out that he had worked in the public prosecutor’s office in Saudi Arabia."

"He had been an inspector to make sure that judicial punishments, such as lashings, were carried out within the law—not more, not less. They then accused him of participating in a form of torture,” explained Ahmed.

Ali Ahmed Asseri,was the first secretary of the Saudi consulate in Los Angeles. It was reported last year that he told US officials that his diplomatic passport was not renewed after Saudi officials discovered him going to gay bars and that he was close friends with a Jewish woman. He had also posted a critical note on a Saudi website, it was reported, and threatened to make public embarrassing information on members of the Saudi royal family living in the US.

Last year Ally Bolour, his lawyer, told NBC that other Saudis had been granted asylum by the US on grounds of sexual orientation, but Asseri's case was unusual because of his diplomatic status. Another gay Saudi asylum case was approved quickly in Dallas in September this year.

"It's very difficult to comment on an asylum case without knowing the specific facts, but Saudi Arabia is certainly a very dangerous place for gay men and we hope that the US government would not remove any LGBT person to a country that routinely violates LGBT people's human rights," said Victoria Neilson, legal director of Immigration Equality, a national organization fighting for equality under US immigration law for LGBT individuals.

Only last month, according to a news brief published by the Emirates website 24 / 7, twenty gay men were arrested in Saudi Arabia during a wedding celebration, and over 200 other "wanted persons were also seized".

The news comes at the same time that the White House has announced that a new federal working group tasked with a system-wide review of pending deportations will include an LGBT liaison, DHS executive secretary Philip A. McNamara. However the report says that this will be solely to oversee cases involving same-sex binational couples. They are denied equal citizen sponsorship rights under the Defense of Marriage Act.

The liaison will reportedly not cover asylum cases, and there has also been disquiet over the treatment of other deportation cases not involving couples, particularly those of young LGBT who might qualify under a DREAM Act. The movement in support of that has many young LGBT in its leadership.

As well there are significant issues with the mistreatment of LGBT in detention. At the end of last month Heartland Alliance's National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) filed more complaints with DHS of inhuman, degrading and in some cases life-threatening treatment of LGBT detainees.

NIJC's LGBT Immigrant Rights Initiative said:

"Having a member of the working group who understands the dynamics of LGBT families is definitely a positive first step, but it is only the first step. The process for review of all 300,000 cases has not yet begun and in the meantime, individuals continue to be separated from their families on a daily basis. We hope the working group will develop a fair and transparent system that facilitates the exercise of prosecutorial discretion in favor of both same-sex binational couples and LGBT individuals facing persecution in their home countries."

Ali al-Ahmed said that the gay Saudi asylum seeker Asseri is planning to appeal the decision, and that this process could extend for several years.

• Sign the petition

Related articles

• Video: LGBT immigrants 'come out' at US Netroots Nation conference (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
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Video: Adjudication of LGBTI Asylum Claims

Emilia Bardini - Director of the San Francisco Asylum Office within the Refugee, Asylum and International Operations Directorate of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security - and LeRoy Potts - Chief of Research for the San Francisco Asylum Office within the Refugee, Asylum and International Operations Directorate of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security - provide unique governmental views on the interpretation of LGBTI claims for asylum.

This lecture was delivered as part of Organization for Refuge, Asylum and Migration's Second Annual Lecture Series held June 24, 2011, in San Francisco, CA.

Related articles

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More complaints filed on treatment of LGBT refugee and immigrant detainees in US

Image by gianlucacostantini via Flickr

By Paul Canning

Complaints filed this week show that some LGBT detainees in the United States who are refugees, asylum seekers or undocumented are being subjected to inhuman, degrading and in some cases life-threatening treatment.

Heartland Alliance's National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) has filed four more complaints with the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL), taking it to 17 filed since April.

All of these individuals are seeking protection from persecution in their native countries.

In one new case, a detainee was denied HIV treatment, which can be life-threatening.

Alexis* was detained at Boone County Jail, Kentucky, for two weeks in September then moved to Tri-County Detention Center, Illinois, where he remains. He immediately informed nurses that he was HIV+ and that he believed he had herpes. He has been seen by one doctor but in a public setting where it was unsafe to discuss his HIV status and a private exam was refused. He has still not been given HIV medication despite repeated requests to nurses and at Boone he was denied toothpaste, a toothbrush and soap for a fortnight.

Another new complaint tells of a transgender individual who was arbitrarily held in solitary confinement for 49 days.

The 13 complaints filed in April by NIJC detail instances of rape, sexual violence, misuse of segregation and punitive conditions in solitary confinement, denial of HIV treatment and hormone therapy, as well as pervasive discrimination and humiliation by guards on account of individuals' sexual orientation and gender identity.

"These latest reports highlight that abuse of vulnerable populations remains a systemic, pervasive problem in the immigration detention system," said NIJC Executive Director Mary Meg McCarthy.

"It is unlawful for the U.S. government to detain individuals that it cannot protect."

One transgender woman detained in California was abused and singled out for public searches where guards forced her to remove her outer clothing and mocked her exposed breasts.

Both transgender and lesbian or gay people in immigration detention are often segregated and kept in cells for 22 hours per day. They have far less access to recreation compared with the general detainee population. When this transgender woman asked why she could have recreation access for only a couple of hours she was abused by a guard, told it was to "teach her not to be transgender." When she asked for toilet paper she was abused.

Transferred to a Jail she suffered further mistreatment and discrimination, including denial of access to a doctor.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) released government documents this week containing 185 allegations of sexual abuse against female immigration detainees in federal detention centers since 2007.
Many of these women are refugees fleeing persecution including torture and rape.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) explicitly excludes immigration detention facilities from coverage under the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA).

ACLU has provided detailed narratives by three women describing sexual assaults by guards whilst they were being transported in prison vans.

Human Rights Watch released a report last August that documented sex crimes committed in detention centers across eight states.

Since 9/11, the detainee population has increased from 7,500 people per day in 1995 to approximately 33,000 per day in 2010. With few dedicated immigration detention centers available to house the growing number of detainees, authorities began renting out beds in a variety of facilities primarily used for housing criminal convicts under very restrictive conditions. Often these facilities are in remote areas, restricting access to legal help. The intermingling and eventual conflation of civil and criminal detainees pushed immigration detention towards the highly punitive model prevalent today. Today nearly 400,000 undocumented immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers are detained every year.

*Name changed.

Related articles

• In the US, growing concern over treatment of LGBT asylum seeker, refugee detainees (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
• End ICE Abuse: Immigration Detention: A Death Sentence for Far Too Many (huffingtonpost.com)
• Report: Jails no place for U.S. immigration detainees (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
• US government defending asylum seeker exclusion from prison rape law (madikazemi.blogspot.com)

Video: Watch PBS' hour long investigation of Obama's immigration policy

Source: PBS

FRONTLINE and the Investigative Reporting Workshop explore the secretive world of immigration detention and examine the Obama administration's controversial get-tough immigration policy.

Watch Lost in Detention on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.

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Chicago forum addresses key LGBT immigration issues

Image by NidalM via Flickr

Source: Windy City Times

by Yasmin Nair

The Chicago-based LGBTQ Immigrant Rights Organization hosted a town hall forum to discuss immigrant issues Sept. 27 at the Adler School of Professional Psychology.

Mona Noriega, commissioner of human relations for the City of Chicago, was the moderator and took online questions ( as the event was streamed live online ) as well as inquiries from the floor. Panel presenters included U.S. Reps. Luis Gutierrez, D-Chicago, 4th District; and Mike Quigley, D-Chicago, 5th District.

Other panelists included Karen Zwick, supervising attorney for the LGBT Rights Initiative at the National Immigrant Justice Center ( NIJC ) ; Fred Tsao, policy director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights ( ICIRR ) ; Reyna Wences, co-founder of the Immigrant Youth Justice League ( IYJL ) ; and Tania Unzueta, advocacy coordinator for the Association of Latino Men for Action ( ALMA ) . Unzueta is also a co-founder of IYJL.

Both lawmakers left an hour after the start of the forum, while the remaining panelists stayed to take questions from the audience in the room. The panel addressed four issues particularly relevant to the LGBTQ immigrant community: prosecutorial discretion, as outlined in an Aug. 18 Obama administration memorandum that lists 19 factors, including age at entry and a lack of a criminal record that enforcement authorities take into account when considering immigration and deportation cases; same-sex binational couples and the Defense of Marriage Act; detention conditions for LGBTQ immigrants; and asylum on the basis of sexual orientation.

As to the issue of prosecutorial discretion, Gutierrez said that it provided "an opportunity to show the strength of the movement." Both he and Zwick emphasized that the memo did not mean that immigrants no longer faced the possibility of being picked up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement ( ICE ) . Zwick said the benefits "should not be overstated."

Gutierrez talked about the Uniting American Families Act ( UAFA ) , proposed legislation which would enable LGBT citizens and permanent residents to sponsor their same-sex partners for immigration. He said that "UAFA will be an important part of CIR." Both legislators talked about the importance of recognizing a broader definition of family that would recognize LGBTQ relationships.

Kevin Goodwin took the floor to describe the struggle facing him and his Indonesian partner, who is applying for asylum.

Read more »

US set to remove Indonesian gay man married to American

Source: Windy City Times

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office in Philadelphia has refused to stop the deportation that would separate Anton Tanumihardja, an Indonesian citizen, from his American husband, Brian Andersen, despite new guidelines issued by the Obama administration that are intended to set aside all low-priority deportation cases and keep all families together — including gay and lesbian couples.

Specifically, ICE rejected their request for "deferred action," a remedy that allows individuals meeting specific criteria to stay in the country indefinitely, even though they are technically deportable. At a meeting today with a Philadelphia deportation officer, Anton was told that unless there was some intervention in his case that reversed this decision, he would face deportation by January.

In its decision, ICE said only that they denied the request because there was nothing "extraordinary" about their case. The Field Office Director did not explain how he arrived at this decision or why he would only grant deferred action to "extraordinary cases." ICE did not explain why they were not applying the guidelines set forth on June 19 by ICE Director John Morton. ICE made no mention of the August 18 letter by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano announcing the administration's intent to conduct a system-wide review to ensure that all low-priority deportation cases were set aside, and made no mention of the DHS clarification on that day that LGBT families are included in the guidelines.

Statement from Lavi Soloway, lawyer for Anton Tanumihardja and Brian Andersen, and founder of Stop The Deportations:

"We are shocked and disappointed that ICE has failed to implement the guidelines set forth by this administration. The Obama administration made a commitment to stop deportations that would tear apart families, including gay and lesbian couples, and yet in its decision the ICE office in Philadelphia is failing to make good on that commitment. The administration must take immediate action to ensure that the new deportation policy is being implemented fairly and consistently by ICE deportation officers in local offices, or this policy announcement is meaningless."

Read more »

Report: Jails no place for U.S. immigration detainees

Image via Wikipedia

Source: Human Rights First

A report issued 6 October by Human Rights First reveals that despite a 2009 commitment made two years ago today to overhaul the immigration detention system, the United States continues to hold the overwhelming majority of its nearly 400,000 detained asylum seekers and other civil immigration law detainees in jails and jail-like facilities across the country. The facilities are expected to cost American taxpayers more than $2 billion in 2012.

The report, “Jails and Jumpsuits: Transforming the U.S. Immigration Detention System – A Two-Year Review,” notes that former prison officials and other corrections experts have found that less penal conditions in detention can actually help improve safety inside a facility, a finding echoed in multiple studies. It outlines steps that the administration should take to end its reliance on facilities with conditions that are inappropriate for asylum seekers and other civil immigration law detainees, and to bring U.S. detention practices into compliance with international human rights standards.

Two years ago today, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) committed to shift the immigration detention system away from its longtime reliance on jails and jail-like facilities, to facilities with conditions more appropriate for civil immigration law detainees. The government’s commitment followed years of findings from bipartisan groups including the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, the Council on Foreign Relations task force on immigration policy, and the Constitution Project’s Liberty and Security Committee – as well as the DHS Special Advisor charged by DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano with reviewing the immigration detention system – that jails and jail-like facilities are inappropriate and unnecessarily costly to hold asylum seekers and other civil immigration detainees.

“The administration has plans to create more appropriate conditions for about 14 percent of their immigration detention beds, but the transformation away from the jail model still has a long way to go,” said Human Rights First’s Ruthie Epstein, the report’s primary author. “Right now, the overwhelming majority of asylum seekers and other immigrants are still held in jails or jail-like facilities, where they wear prison uniforms and have limited if any real outdoor access.”

Read more »

Video: New musical looks at asylum seeker struggle in America

Source: VillageTheatre1



Source: Bellevue Reporter

By Garrielle Nomura

Desperation, longing and full musical theater belting rocked the house, as actors performed "Take me America" at Village Theatre opening night, Sept. 14.

The name of the musical was also the the cry for help uttered by seven of the characters in the show, refugees who had come to the U.S. from all over the world, including Algeria, Darfur, China, El Salvador, Haiti and Palestine.

Those seven actors grappled with an added challenge of singing and acting with accents from their character's respective homelands. Whereas Aaron Finley, Dennis Batemen and (a hilarious performance by) Leslie Law, played the U.S. officials who determined whether they would stay or go.

Standout acting included Ben Gonio, who played a Chinese poet fleeing persecution under Communist China. Gonio's dramatic performance was gripping as he recounted atrocities he suffered in prison. On the other hand, performer Diana Huey, who played his wife, sparkled with an impressive vocal range and tenderness in her duets with Gonio.

In many cases, the characters in the musical were fleeing from certain death, such as Malith, a Dinka from Darfur, played by Ekello Harrid Jr.

More immediate than immigration, asylum requires people to prove they are fleeing from harm's way in their homeland.

In reality, this life-and-death situation happens everyday in the U.S.

"Take Me America" writer and lyricist Bill Nabel was inspired by the PBS documentary "Well Founded Fear," where filmmakers Michael Camerini and Shari Robertson enter the closed corridors of the Immigration and Naturalization Services. The film reveals a stark, haunting true story where human rights and American ideals collide with the nearly impossible task of trying to know the truth.

Some refugees seeking asylum lie about their reasons for wanting to come to the U.S.

That was touched on in Nabel's show with the character Jean, a Haitian refugee played by J. Reese. Jean lied about his reasons for seeking asylum, because no one will believe that he is actually a gay man.

This brings up another success of "Take Me America" – it's ability to entertain, while still presenting a serious topic. It's a musical that both excites, and wrenches the heart.

While Jean's story of being discriminated against for his sexual orientation was somber, the song "Not Gay Enough" was upbeat and humorous, depicting the various lengths Jean went to "look the part" for the U.S. bureaucrats, including dressing in drag and throwing glitter.

Finally, the show closed with projections of Lady Liberty over the simple, yet versatile set (a series of file cabinets) as refugees once again cried out the show's signature phrase.

Hearing these desperate cries, to be taken or rescued by America, was a reminder to audience members of their own freedoms in the U.S. As Nabel had hoped, the show redefined conventional notions of the American experience with both poignancy and a powerful delivery.

Take Me America runs now until Nov. 20 at Village Theatre, 303 Front St. N., Issaquah. For more information, go to www.villagetheatre.org or call the box office at 425-392-2202.

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Report: Obama regime removing thousands denied due process

Image by StephenMitchell via Flickr

Source: National Immigration Law Center

Using a little-known government program, the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has pushed nearly 160,000 immigrants — many with deep ties to the United States — through an expedited deportation process, sometimes without adequately informing them of their right to a day in court, according to a new analysis of thousands of pages of released government documents.

The report, written by attorneys and law professors at Stanford Law School, the National Immigration Law Center, and Western State University College of Law, determined that DHS agents administering the program provided legally inaccurate portrayals of the opportunities to remain in the United States in order to boost deportation numbers, even though judges and others involved in the program voiced their concerns about how the program short-circuited individuals’ rights.

Authors procured the previously unreleased documents, which included emails, memos, and data, through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit. According to the report, the documents revealed evidence that agents involved with the program routinely provided inaccurate and misleading information to detainees in deportation proceedings to coerce them into signing “stipulated orders of removal.” Such an order waives a noncitizen’s right to a day in court in exchange for speedy deportation. At least one immigration judge involved in the program determined that, “the waiver is not knowing in almost all cases.”

“The stipulated removal program has hit some of the most powerless members of our society the hardest:  poor immigrants who are in immigration detention, who don’t have lawyers, and who are facing minor, civil immigration charges.  Some of these noncitizens might actually have qualified to apply for lawful immigration status,” said Jennifer Lee Koh, lead author of the report and assistant professor of law at Western State University College of Law. “Unfortunately, the documents reveal a government agency that is willing to cut corners around immigrants’ constitutional due process rights in the name of boosting deportation numbers.”

Among the most troubling documents obtained through the lawsuit is a Spanish-language script, apparently used by agents administrating the program, to convince immigrants to sign the stipulated order of removal. The script, which is replete with grammatical errors and legal inaccuracies, erroneously informs immigrants that the “only” way to “fix” their papers is through certain family relationships and openly discourages immigrants from taking their cases to court.

“This report confirms what attorneys working in detention centers have heard for years: non-citizens, especially those with limited English skills, are pressured into signing documents without being informed of the severe consequences of their actions,” said Karen Tumlin, managing attorney at the National Immigration Law Center and co-author of the report. “Such activity flies in the face of our constitutionally-protected due process rights. Sadly, the DHS seems to have determined that flagrant disregard for the Constitution is a fair price to pay for the expedient expulsion of thousands of members of our communities.”

The report shows that the program, which began nearly a decade ago and dramatically expanded in 2003, has been encouraged by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers at various levels of the organization. According to documents reviewed by the authors of the report, field offices were encouraged to use the program to boost deportation numbers and given incentives to increase the number of stipulated orders of removal signed by detainees in their jurisdictions.

“The stipulated removal program is a misguided solution to the U.S. government’s practice of over-detaining immigrants,” said Jayashri Srikantiah, professor of law and director of the Immigrants’ Rights Clinic at Stanford Law School and co-author of the report. “The Obama administration should reconsider its detention practices instead of pressuring detainees to sign their own deportation orders.  Due process requires more than a coerced choice between continued detention and giving up one’s day in court.”

The documents released show evidence that the noncitizens ensnared by the program were not given accurate information about their rights or current immigration law, and the documents reviewed suggest there are no policies preventing administrators from offering stipulated orders of removal to juveniles, the mentally ill, or other vulnerable populations.

In 96% of all cases under the program analyzed by the authors of the report, immigrants did not have access to a lawyer, who could have provided immigrants with an accurate description of the often permanent ramifications of signing a stipulated order of removal. Authors propose a variety of policy recommendations to prevent future misuse of the program, including mandating that those who sign stipulated orders of removal hold brief meetings with judges to discuss the consequences of participation in this program, and expanding access to legal information and attorneys.

The FOIA lawsuit was filed by Stanford Immigrants’ Rights Clinic and the National Immigration Law Center on behalf of the National Immigration Law Center, the ACLU of Southern California, and the National Lawyers Guild-San Francisco Bay Area Chapter. The documents procured are available at http://blogs.law.stanford.edu/stipulatedremoval/.

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Is the USA closing the door to LGBT Mexican asylum seekers?

Source: Beach-Oswald Immigration Law Associates

For over a decade, the United States has been granting asylum to homosexuals Mexico. This is due to the fact that homosexuality was not tolerated by Mexico's strongly Catholic and macho culture.In fact, according to a gay rights group in Mexico, between 1995 and 2006, an estimated 1,200 Mexicans were killed as a result of the discrimination against homosexuals.

In modern-day Mexico, however, the situation is changing. National laws are becoming more liberal and accepting of homosexuality, and pride parades and other events are beginning to emerge. For these reasons, attorneys are claiming that it is now much more difficult to win these asylum cases. This is very unfortunate, as it takes decades to erase discriminatory attitudes completely, and many people are still very intolerant of homosexuals in Mexico.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) claims that there has not been any change in policy for homosexual asylum applicants. DHS does not keep record of which asylum cases are in the homosexual category (or any other category), so there is no way of knowing whether asylum officers and immigration judges have become more skeptical of homosexual asylum cases. However, immigration attorneys insist that it is now much more difficult to win asylum cases than it was several years ago. In fact, just recently US circuit courts rejected the asylum claims of two homosexual men from Mexico, and a policy has been set in place that requires all asylum requests from Mexico to go through a separate review process once they are filed with DHS.

With the current situation, it is important to have a very experienced attorney to increase your chances of winning a homosexual asylum claim from Mexico.

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• Paper: How America's 'social visibility' test effects LGBT asylum claims (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
• Video: In Mexico, first national march against anti-gay hate crime (madikazemi.blogspot.com)

In the US, growing concern over treatment of LGBT asylum seeker, refugee detainees

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

By Jane Zurnamer, National Immigrant Justice Center

Defending the rights of sexual minorities in the custody of the U.S. immigration detention system has gained momentum since the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) filed a mass civil rights complaint with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in April 2011. The complaint, submitted to DHS’s Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties on behalf of 13 gay and transgender individuals in immigration detention documented the discrimination, abuse, and medical neglect that these individuals suffered in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The complaints report instances of rape, sexual violence, misuse of segregation and punitive conditions in solitary confinement, denial of HIV treatment and hormone therapy, as well as pervasive discrimination and humiliation by guards on account of individuals’ sexual orientation and gender identity.

Since NIJC filed the complaint, policy makers and advocates from across the country have come out to join us in defending the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) immigrants in detention:

• Media all over the country reported on the systemic abuse detailed in the complaints. Several of the complainants courageously spoke out about the abuse they suffered.
• Members of Congress held a briefing on the mistreatment of sexual minorities in immigrant detention, and are pressing the Obama administration to provide a full and comprehensive investigation into the complaints. On June 29, 38 members of Congress sent a letter [see below] to DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano and Attorney General Eric Holder calling for thorough investigations into the complaints and for the Obama administration to apply protections and remedies contained in the Prison Rape Elimination Act to immigration detention facilities.
• One of the Southern California jails which formerly held a blanket policy prohibiting the provision of hormone therapy for transgender individuals – violating DHS standards – has tweaked its policies. Still falling short of recognized medical standards, the facility now provides access to hormone prescriptions for individuals who can document they were receiving treatment prior to their detention.
• Another of the Southern California jails has modified its practice and is no longer holding transgender individuals in 22-hour lock down.
• NIJC filed an urgent appeal with the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture describing repeated instances of torture, cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment against sexual minorities in U.S. immigration custody, adding further pressure on the Obama administration to expedite the investigation process and issue public findings.
• Lambda Legal and 16 other advocates issued a letter [PDF] in support of NIJC’s recommendations calling on the Obama administration to end the pervasive discrimination against sexual minorities in immigration custody.
• New York City Council Member Daniel Dromm introduced a resolution on June 29, urging DHS to investigate the abuse allegations and to take action to ensure the safety of LGBT immigrants in its custody.

Despite these local, national and international efforts, NIJC continues to receive complaints from LGBT immigrants of routine mistreatment.

Since the filing of the mass complaint we are aware of at least 10 new cases of abuse. Further, five of the 13 original complainants are still detained. All of these individuals are seeking protection from persecution in their native countries. They are not flight risks, nor do they pose a danger to the community.

The U.S. government cannot continue to detain people whose basic human rights it cannot protect. What will it take for the Obama administration to meaningfully address this systemic abuse?

House Letter in Support of LGBT Civil Rights Complaint

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'Breakthrough' as US cancels deportation of half of same-sex married couple

Dozens rally  6 May outside of the Newark, NJ Federal Court House before Henry Velandia's deportation hearing. Two hours later the judge ordered an adjournment on the case www.allout.org/tornapart

Source: New York Times

By Kirk Semple

In a decision that could have far-reaching effects on immigration cases involving same-sex couples, federal officials have canceled the deportation of a Venezuelan man in New Jersey who is married to an American man, the couple’s lawyer said Wednesday.

The announcement comes as immigration officials put into effect new, more flexible guidelines governing the deferral and cancellation of deportations, particularly for immigrants with no serious criminal records.

Immigration lawyers and gay rights advocates said the decision represented a significant shift in policy and could open the door to the cancellation of deportations for other immigrants in same-sex marriages.

“This action shows that the government has not only the power but the inclination to do the right thing when it comes to protecting certain vulnerable populations from deportation,” said the couple’s lawyer, Lavi Soloway.

The case has been closely watched across the country by lawyers and advocates who viewed it as a test of the federal government’s position on the Defense of Marriage Act, a federal law that bars the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages.

In February, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. announced that the administration viewed the act as unconstitutional and would not defend it in the courts. Gay rights advocates asked the administration to postpone all deportations for same-sex married couples until the courts decided whether the marriage act was constitutional, but the administration said it would continue to enforce the law.

The Venezuelan man, Henry Velandia, 27, is a salsa dancer who immigrated in 2002 and was legally married last year in Connecticut to Josh Vandiver, 30, a graduate student at Princeton University. But Mr. Velandia was denied legal residency as Mr. Vandiver’s spouse because of the Defense of Marriage Act. Under immigration law, an American citizen can petition for legal residency for a spouse, as long as the spouse is not the same sex.

Last month, an immigration judge in Newark suspended Mr. Velandia’s deportation, saying he wanted to allow time for the attorney general and the courts to work out whether, under some circumstances, a gay partner might be eligible for residency.

On June 9, Mr. Soloway received a call from Jane H. Minichiello, the chief counsel at the Newark office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, an arm of the Homeland Security Department, informing him that the agency had agreed to his request to close the deportation proceedings. According to Mr. Soloway, Ms. Minichiello said pursuing Mr. Velandia’s deportation “is not an enforcement priority at this time.”

Immigration agency officials confirmed Mr. Soloway’s account of the conversation but would not comment further.

The judge granted the motion to close the case on June 13, and Mr. Soloway received an official copy of the order on Wednesday.

The decision to cancel the deportation came as federal immigration officials were thoroughly reviewing their deportation policies.

“I can start breathing now after so many months of fighting,” said Mr. Velandia, 27. “I was holding my breath for fear of any moment being sent away.”

But he pointed out that while the decision was “a big step forward,” it still did not address the underlying issue of whether same-sex marriages should be recognized by the federal government.

“The fight isn’t over,” Mr. Velandia said.

Related articles

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In the US, abuse of LGBT asylum seeker and migrant detainees "is on the rise"

Image by adamj1555 via Flickr

Source: The Arizona Republic

By Daniel González

The assault took place while Ramon Catalan, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, was detained by federal immigration authorities in a Pinal County jail.

Catalan, a transgender man who lives as a woman, was in a cell when four other immigration detainees began insulting her in Spanish.

"One guy said he didn't want to be around a (homosexual)," said Catalan, who prefers to be called Monica and wears her hair long and plucks her eyebrows.

Then, the beating started. While one man stood lookout, the others threw her onto the floor, then repeatedly punched and kicked her. The attack lasted four or five minutes. By the time it was over, Catalan's face was covered in blood.

The assault was not an isolated incident, immigrant advocates and lawyers say.

Reports of similar attacks and other abuses against gay and transgender detainees are on the rise around the nation as the number of undocumented immigrants in custody has skyrocketed as part of the federal government's crackdown on illegal immigration.

In Arizona alone, the ACLU found five cases of transgender or gay detainees who were sexually assaulted or abused over a two-year period, according to a study released Thursday. Catalan was not among them.

The 36-page report, "In Their Own Words: Enduring Abuse in Arizona Immigration Detention Centers," [PDF] is based on 115 interviews with detainees in facilities in Eloy and Florence from March 2009 through March 2011. ACLU attorney Victoria Lopez also reviewed hundreds of reports and records, including 500 grievances, some of which were filed by gay and transgender detainees like Catalan who were abused while in detention.

"While (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) does not systemically track the number of sexual assaults in detention facilities across the country, these and other reported cases very likely represent only a fraction of the actual cases of sexual abuse of immigrants in detention," Lopez wrote.

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In US, new bill aims to strengthen refugee protections

Senator Patrick Leahy image via Wikipedia

Source: Human Rights First

March 15 Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) introduced the Refugee Protection Act of 2011. The bill is co-sponsored by Senators Carl Levin (D-MA), Daniel Akaka (D-HI), and Dick Durbin (D-IL). Companion legislation will be introduced in the House of Representatives by Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (D-CA).

This bill would repair some of the most severe problems in the U.S. asylum and refugee systems and strengthen the U.S. commitment to providing refuge to victims of religious, political, ethnic, and other forms of persecution.

“Despite this country’s strong tradition of protecting refugees from persecution, a barrage of laws, policies, and practices have badly damaged our asylum system over the years,” said Human Rights First’s Eleanor Acer.

“These flaws have led the United States to deny its protection to refugees who have fled from serious religious, political, ethnic, and other forms of persecution. The Refugee Protection Act would address some of the most severe problems in the system and help restore our nation’s commitment to protecting vulnerable refugees.”

In 2010, Human Rights First issued “Renewing U.S. Commitment to Refugee Protection: Recommendations for Reform on the 30th Anniversary of the Refugee Act,” reporting that asylum seekers are detained in the United States without basic due process safeguards, and that their access to asylum has been limited because of technical filing deadlines, expedited screening procedures, overly broad exclusion provisions, and flawed maritime interdiction polices. Even refugees with well-founded fears of persecution are denied asylum due to these flawed laws and policies.

The new Refugee Protection Act of 2011 includes provisions that would:

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