Welcome to IRTF’s May 2024 newsletter on Migrant Justice and the current situation at the US-Mexico border! After you’ve looked through the articles, we hope you can take a few minutes to see the TAKE ACTION items at the bottom.
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1- See Us. Hear Us. #ReuniteUS.
In the Media and on Capitol Hill, Ohio Immigrants Demand to Be Seen & Heard, Futures Embraced
Ohio Immigrant Alliance has been a lead organizer of the #ReuniteUS campaign.
Listen to this radio interview with Ohio Newsroom, two Ohio fathers and members of Ohio Immigrant Alliance, Birane Wane and Ibrahima Keita, addressed the Ohio Commission on Fatherhood about being a father after deportation. Tragically, one of his children died after his departure. Ibrahima’s experience in immigration court was also featured in an op-ed by the Vera Institute of Justice and National Partnership for New Americans.
In the latest installment of “Behind Closed Doors: Black Migrants and the Hidden Injustices of U.S. Immigration Courts”, Ohio Immigrant Alliance outlines how immigration laws and the structure of U.S. immigration courts are fashioned on a foundation of racism, power imbalance, and coercive control. “Immigration Courtside,” a blog by a retired immigration judge who wrote the precedent-setting decision in Matter of Kasinga, has called it a "blockbuster!" Download the report and executive summary here. Check out previous publications, and stayed tuned for the capstone of this multi-year research project, out later this year, at illusionofjustice.org.
Ohio Immigrant Alliance is leading a delegation to Capitol Hill on June 11. They invite impacted immigrants and allies to join them in delivering copies of “Broken Hope: Deportation and the Road Home” to every member of the U.S. House and Senate on June 11 in Washington, DC! Some expenses paid. Read more and sign up here.
Source
https://mailchi.mp/ohioimmigrant/see-us-hear-us-reuniteus-in-media-on-ca...
2- ICE Air: Update on Removal Flight Trends
The U.S. government’s COVID-19 public health emergency order expired on May 11, 2023 — this includes the Title 42 order that has expelled over 2.5 million migrants from the US-Mexico border. With the end of Title 42, the government started to ramp up Title 8 expedited removal deportations in June 2023.
Since the Biden Administration took office there have been:
A total of 24,444 ICE Air Flights
4,417 Removal Flights
Since the end of Title-42 in May 2023:
A total of 7,860 ICE Air Flights
1,538 Removal Flights
ICE Air Flights
The number of observed removal flights to ten different countries in Latin America and the Caribbean continues. Over the last 12 months, there have been 7,860 ICE Air flights; 1,538 of those have been removal flights. With an estimated average of 100 passengers per flight, this means that over the past 12 months, as many as 153,800 people could have been returned to Latin America, the Caribbean and a small number to Africa by air by the U.S.
Removal Flights, Lateral Flights, Domestic Shuffles:
In April 2024, there were 658 ICE Air flights, utilizing 20 different planes operated by 6 different charter carriers (IAero aka Swift (until April 3rd), World Atlantic, GlobalX, Eastern, Gryphon (ATS) and OMNI); this is up 38 from March, and above the prior 6 month average (617) by 41. Border Patrol encounters at the southern border were down by 3,158(2%) from 140,638 to 137,480.
Lateral flights:
Lateral flights in April increased from 27 in March to 36 in April. It is important to note that in the first 20 days of the month laterals averaged about 1 per weekday, but averaged almost 3 per weekday in the last 10 days of the month.
16 of the laterals originated in Tucson, 15 in El Paso, 3 in San Diego and 2 in Yuma.
Shuffle flights:
Shuffle flights of 349 increased by 46 from March. This is influenced by the increase in laterals from March 2024, and the decrease from April 2023.
Detention:
People in detention decreased by 2,750 to 34,373 in April.
Removal flights:
In April 2024, removal flights decreased from 133 in March to 128 in April. The Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala (42), Honduras (29), and El Salvador (10) were destinations for 63% of all removal flights in April. Adding the 13 flights to Mexico makes it 73% of all deportation flights.
In April, the estimated number of people returned to Northern Triangle countries represented 29% of March encounters from those countries.
Countries:
Venezuela (flights were suspended all of February and March and April after flights paused following an announcement by the US that some sanctions would be reinstated if Venezuela did not agree to allow candidates from the Unitary Party to compete in this year’s elections.)
Flights were suspended all of February after they paused the last week of January.
OCT = 3 flights
NOV = 3
DEC = 5
JAN = 4
FEB = 0
MAR = 0
APR = 0
Mexico
Flights continued under PRIM (Procedure for the Repatriation to the Interior of Mexico) Program
JAN = 1 (on January, 30 from San Antonio to Morelia, Mexico)
APR = 13 (under PRIM, with 1 every Tuesday and 2 every Thursday)
Guatemala
ICE Air flights to Guatemala decreased by 9 from 51 in March to 42 in April. ICE Air returned 4,852 Guatemalans by air. Mexico operated 5 deportation flights to Guatemala, in total 479 people were returned by air from Mexico.
OCT = 52
NOV = 45
DEC = 47
JAN = 52
FEB = 58
MAR = 51
APR = 42
Honduras
Flights to Honduras increased by 2 from 27 in March to 29 in April. Encounters of Hondurans dropped by 725 from 10,192 to 9,463. ICE returned an estimated 2,410 Hondurans by air in April from 2,504 in March.
OCT = 34 flights
NOV = 40
DEC = 40
JAN = 37
FEB = 29
MAR = 27
Mexico had 1 deportation flight to Honduras returning 41 unaccompanied children on a Marina Military plane. Honduras reported that a total of 795 people were returned from Mexico.
APR = 29
El Salvador
Flights to El Salvador unchanged from March
OCT = 20 flights
NOV = 14
DEC = 9
JAN = 11
FEB = 12
MAR = 10
APR = 10
Ecuador
Ice Air Flights to Ecuador increased by 5 from 2 in March to 7 in April.
OCT = 6 flights
NOV = 4
DEC = 3
JAN = 5
FEB = 4
MAR = 2
APR = 7
Peru
Flights increased by 2 from 1 in March to 3 in April.
OCT = 4 flights
NOV = 3
DEC = 2
JAN = 2
FEB = 3
MAR = 1 (the lowest since January 2023)
APR = 3
Colombia
ICE Air Flights to Colombia decreased by 3 to 9 in April.
OCT = 5 flights
NOV = 5
DEC = 4
JAN = 6
FEB = 7
MAR = 12
APR = 9
Other destinations:
Dominican Republic:
Flights remained steady at 2 for the last 8 months.
OCT = 2 flights
NOV = 2
DEC = 2
JAN = 2
FEB = 2
MAR = 2
APR = 2
Haiti:
Received the first flight since January 18th, deporting 52 people.
OCT = 1 flight
NOV = 1
DEC = 1
JAN = 1
FEB = 0
MAR = 0
APR = 1
Brazil:
Flights remained at 1 over the last 8 months.
OCT = 1 flight
NOV = 1
DEC = 1
JAN = 1
FEB = 1
MAR = 1
APR = 1
Cuba:
Experienced the first return flight since December 2020 on April 24, 2023. Followed by 1 in each of the following months, including April 2024
Sources: Witness At the Border
3 - Migration Declining
In the first few months of 2024, the number of migrants arriving at the US-Mexico border have dropped tremendously. It is rare to see a migration decline from winter to spring but that is what appears to be happening so far this year.
One of the most significant reasons for this is the Mexican government crackdown on people transiting their country. There are large numbers of people currently bottled up throughout Mexico. This is causing harm to migrants and is unsustainable. The decline in early 2024 is temporary. High levels of migration at the border are likely to resume in the medium term. With the high levels of migration it is probable that the Biden Administration may be tempted to “shut down” the asylum process. The shutdown could bring even more harm on thousands of people and would violate US and international law.
There is an urgent need for an increase in funding for the asylum process and efficient adjudication of those cases. The system only dedicates fewer than 725 judges to a backlog of 3 million cases and is unsustainable. The US government needs to invest in an immigration and asylum system that is faster, fairer, more humane, and sustainable.
With migration declining, Mexico is also cracking down on migrants within their borders. In January and February, Mexico’s migration forces broke their single-month migrant apprehensions record (97,969 apprehensions in November 2023) stopping 120,005 migrants in January and 119,943 in February. Recent laws however, prohibit Mexico from detaining migrant children or holding adult migrants in detention more than 36 hours. Instead Mexico appears to be busing migrants away from its northern border and sending them to destinations deep in the country’s interior or back to the southern border.
With the increase of apprehensions the number of allegations of abuse have also increased. In April, there were 49 Mexican human rights groups who shared detailed abuse allegations in Chihuahua, National Migration Institute agents roughing up a migrant while trying to keep a reporter from filming; abandoning 55 people, including children, at a gas station.
Mexico’s slowing of the flow of migrants for a few months is not a long-term solution. People hoping to turn themselves in to US authorities are now backed up throughout Mexico which is evident in wait times for CBP One Appointments.
Source:
https://www.wola.org/analysis/why-is-migration-declining-at-the-u-s-mexi...
4 - At the Border: Recent Incidents at and around the US-Mexico Border
This is a space where we share current incidents from the US southern border to show that these issues that we write about do, in fact, immediately affect people at the border and in detention, and the horrible things many migrants have to experience while seeking refuge in the U.S.
April 26 - Edixon Del Jesus Farias-Farias, a 26-year-old citizen of Venezuela and a detainee in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility in Conroe, Texas, died on April 18. “An autopsy is pending to determine the official cause of death,” read an ICE release. Farías had crossed the border near Eagle Pass on Christmas Day 2023 and was ordered removed to Venezuela on January 19. Venezuela is currently not accepting U.S. deportation flights.
May 3 - Two women were hospitalized and in need of “higher level care” after falling from the border wall in San Diego, local news reported. In San Diego, the report added, “This year so far, at least five migrants have died as a result of a border wall fall, while dozens more have been injured.”
May 3 - An article by the Migration Policy Institute evaluated the Title 42 pandemic expulsions policy, which expired a year ago on May 11. Despite nearly 3 million expulsions, it found, migration at the U.S.-Mexico border reached new highs during the 38 months that the policy was in place. The report debunked claims that bringing back Title 42 or a similar “asylum shutdown” policy would deter or significantly reduce irregular migration: “While Title 42 offers a campaign-style slogan to shut down the border, the reality is that it never met that promise. And whatever outcomes it had came at the very sizable cost of reneging on decades of U.S. commitments to guaranteeing humanitarian protection.”
SOURCES
Weekly U.S.-Mexico Border Update: Mexico blocks migration, U.S. legislation, migrant removals, nationalities - WOLA
Weekly U.S.-Mexico Border Update: April dip in migration, drug seizure data, investigations published - WOLA
Weekly U.S.-Mexico Border Update: April dip in migration, drug seizure data, investigations published - WOLA
Want to find out more about the conditions at the southern US border? Sign up for the weekly Border Update from WOLA. https://www.wola.org/tag/weekly-border-update/
5- Guatemalan Youth Defy Tragedy, Continue Trek to US Despite Familial Losses
In the rural town of Comitancillo, Guatemala, Glendy Aracely Ramírez, 17, regularly prays by the altar in her parents' bedroom, honoring her sister Blanca, who tragically perished with 50 other migrants in a Texas smuggling incident. Expressing her aspirations amid adversities, Glendy packs her bag for her own journey to the United States, undeterred by violence along migrant routes. She voices a common sentiment among Guatemalan youths: a longing for better opportunities. The migration wave, particularly of unaccompanied minors, reflects a pervasive sense of hopelessness in Guatemala's Indigenous Western Highlands, where poverty and limited prospects prevail. Despite the dangers, families often incur hefty debts to fund the perilous journey, viewing migration as the only chance for a brighter future. The narrative intertwines personal tragedies with broader socio-economic factors driving migration, including rising violence and climate change. Amidst the grief, a resilient spirit endures, as families grapple with loss while striving to persevere. Through faith and community support, individuals like Virgilio Ambrocio and Marcelina Tomás find solace amidst profound sorrow. Anderson Pablo's dream of a better life for his family lives on, symbolized by their new concrete home, yet his absence lingers, immortalized in the untouched room adorned with his pictures and memories.
Read the full article here
Source - 04/10/2024: Associated Press; “Desperate young Guatemalans try to reach the US even after horrific deaths of migrant relatives”
Desperate young Guatemalans try to reach the US even after horrific deaths of migrating relatives | AP News
6- Kidnapping of Migrants and Asylum Seekers at the Texas-Tamaulipas Border Reaches Intolerable Levels
Content warning: This feature discusses sensitive topics including sexual violence and other forms of abuse
Service providers along the Texas-Tamaulipas border paint a harrowing picture of the dangers faced by migrants. According to a religious worker, kidnappings, once rare, have become disturbingly common. The director of a humanitarian group reports that entire families are being targeted, with people dragged from their tents at night. An attorney working with asylum seekers reveals a grim reality: every woman they assist has been raped, prompting some to take birth control before their journey. These accounts, gathered from recent interviews, shed light on the perilous conditions migrants face along this route. Texas's Rio Grande Valley, bordering Tamaulipas, stands as the epicenter of this crisis, witnessing a surge in migrant traffic from 2013 to 2022.
To migrate through Tamaulipas is to face serious danger!
The state of Tamaulipas is entrenched in a harrowing reality where violent organized crime syndicates, sometimes in collusion with government officials, exert a heavy influence. Designated with a "level four—do not travel" warning by the State Department, akin to Afghanistan, Tamaulipas stands out as a perilous zone, particularly hazardous for migrants and asylum seekers. The grip of criminal factions in the region extends to various illicit activities, including drug trafficking, human trafficking, and migrant smuggling, which have surged due to stringent U.S. border policies. Migrants face rampant kidnapping, extortion, and other forms of abuse, with criminals exploiting any means of transportation for their nefarious ends. Despite being aware of the grave dangers, both Mexican and U.S. authorities have been accused of tolerating or even participating in criminal activities targeting migrants. The situation has escalated to unprecedented levels of violence and brutality, with numerous reports detailing horrific abuses suffered by migrants, including sexual violence and forced labor. Collusion between Mexican authorities and criminal groups exacerbates the crisis, while U.S. border policies inadvertently facilitate the exploitation of migrants by funneling them into perilous territories. Urgent action is needed from both governments to address this humanitarian catastrophe, including increasing access to asylum, enhancing security measures, and ensuring accountability for perpetrators of crimes against migrants.
Read the full article here
Source - 04/04/2024: WOLA; “Kidnapping of Migrants and Asylum Seekers at the Texas-Tamaulipas Border Reaches Intolerable Leve
7- President-elect of Panama pledges to close the Darién Gap
Three weeks before the presidential election in Panama, conservative party candidate José Raúl Mulino, who served as security minister under former president Ricardo Martinelli, pledged to close down the treacherous Darién Gap, through which more than a half a million migrants crossed last year. “The border of the United States, instead of being in Texas, moved to Panama.” He also pledged to “repatriate all these people.”
In response, Juan Pappier, the deputy director for the Americas at Human Rights Watch, said: “Closing the Darién Gap is virtually impossible…Restricting the flow would push people to take even more dangerous paths. People will risk their lives, organised crime groups will get richer, and Panama will have even less control.”
On May 5, José Raúl Mulino beat out seven other candidates. Mulino had stepped in as a candidate to replace former president Ricardo Martinelli after he was banned from running after being sentenced to 10 years in prison for money laundering. The pro-business Realizing Goals party was founded in 2021 by Martinelli and has made gains in the National Assembly.
Although the 64-year-old Mulino won just 35% of the popular vote, there is no run-off system in Panama, so he will be sworn into office on July 1.
Sources
https://www.npr.org/2024/05/06/1249293827/jose-raul-mulino-wins-panamas-...
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/apr/18/panama-darien...
8- Trans & Nonbinary Migrants File Complaint Over Treatment at ICE Detention Facility in Colorado
“Activists have filed a civil rights complaint with the Department of Homeland Security on behalf of five transgender and nonbinary migrants who say they were mistreated at an immigration detention center in Colorado.”
On April 9, a group of migrant justice advocacy organizations filed a complaint with DHS on behalf of five LGBTQ+ detainees at the Aurora Contract Detention Facility (operated by the for-profit corporation GEO) near Denver, Colorado. Detainees have been degraded or suffered mistreatment by staff. Victoria, who has been in ICE custody for more than two years, says she does not have regular access to hormones. Victoria further claims poor food, lack of access to exercise and stress and anxiety because of her prolonged detention has caused has made her health deteriorate.
A 2015 memorandum from ICE requires personnel to allow trans detainees to identify themselves based on their gender identity. It contains guidelines for a “respectful, safe and secure environment” for trans detainees and requires detention facilities to provide them with access to hormone therapy and other trans-specific health care. The recent legal complaint, however, states this memo does not go far enough to protect trans and nonbinary detainees.
“ICE’s 2015 guidance has some significant flaws,” it reads. “It fails to provide meaningful remedies for policy violations. It does not acknowledge the challenges that nonbinary people face when imprisoned by ICE and the lack of such guidance explains why the needs of nonbinary people are largely misunderstood and unmet.”
The Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network, the National Immigration Project and the American Immigration Council filed the complaint with the Department of Homeland Security’s Offices for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, Immigration Detention Ombudsman and Inspector General and ICE’s Office of Professional Responsibility on behalf of the detainees at the Aurora Contract Detention Facility near Denver.
Sources:
https://www.washingtonblade.com/2024/04/13/five-transgender-nonbinary-ic...
https://www.advocate.com/news/trans-migrants-mistreatment-detention?emci...
TAKE ACTION NOW
Now that you are up to date on the issues at and around the southern border of the U.S., here is what you can do to take action this week and act in solidarity with migrants and their families.
(A) Migrant Families in Cleveland Need Household Items
AMIS and NEO Friends of Immigrants are resettling three families into their first apartments in Cleveland by June 1. Furniture and household items needed. For a list, please email Rachel DeGolia at degolias@gmail.com or Anne Hill at anne.hill2@gmail.com.
(B) Root Causes: Cut US Militarism in Latin America
The U.S. military maintains 750 military installations abroad to police and surveil other sovereign nations, and sends military aid, including weapons, bombs, and tanks, to countries around the world. All too often this military aid is used against civilians. Endless money fuels endless war, at the expense of human needs at home and abroad. In FY 2023, less than $2 out of every $5 in federal discretionary spending was available to fund positive investments in people and communities, the rest went towards military programs. As we work to realign our national priorities, ending the Unfunded Priorities List (UPL), which allows additional, unchecked spending on weapons and war, is a critical first step.
TAKE ACTION
Click here to ask that your congressperson support all efforts in the upcoming National Defense Authorization Act process to end the requirement that the Department of Defense provide annual, Unfunded Priorities Lists (UPL) to Congress, which request funding for wish lists, over and above what is inside the President’s budget request.
(C) Root Causes: Stop Deportation Flights to Haiti
Despite the most recent round of violent civil unrest that has embroiled Haiti since February, on May 16 the government sent its second deportation flight to Haiti, with people seeking asylum on board.
TAKE ACTION
Click here to tell President Biden to halt all deportation flights and grant protected status to ensure no Haitian nationals are removed to a country in turmoil. You can read a number of policy proposals to help stabilize conditions in Haiti and protect those fleeing the violence here.
(D) Root Causes: Redesignate TPS for Nicaraguans
Recent extensions of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) are not sufficient to protect the thousands of Nicaraguans who have fled since 2018. It is the only country from the Cuban, Haitian, Venezuelan, and Nicaraguan Humanitarian Parole program that has been left unprotected. If the Biden Administration pushes forward sanctions against the Ortega government in Nicaragua for alleged human rights abuses, then it must realize that Nicaragua needs TPS.
TAKE ACTION
Click here to urge that the Biden-Harris administration redesignate TPS for Nicaragua
(E) Support Migrants in Detention
Piero Mendoza is a 19-year old Peruvian law student who was separated from his older sister at the border and sent to a Mississippi jail. Immigration attorney Brian Hoffman (of Ohio Center for Strategic Immigration Litigation & Outreach) is representing Piero, who is depressed.
TAKE ACTION
Please make time to send a card or brief note. Address it to :
Piero Carrasco Mendoza
A 241-493-611
Adams County Detention Center
PO Box 850
Washington, MS 39190
Questions? Contact brian@ocsilio.org.
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Thank you for reading IRTF’s Migrant Justice Newsletter!
