Migrant Justice Newsletter - JULY 2023

Migrant Justice Newsletter and Urgent Actions – JULY 2023

JULY 2023

In this newsletter, please read about

1. Immigration Court in Cleveland, OH
2. ICE Air: Update on Removal Flight Trends
3. The Human Costs of the Asylum Ban
4. At the Border: Recent Incidents at and around the US-Mexico Border
5. Darién Gap: Tourism Booms while Migrants Suffer
6. Texas Deploys Floating Buoys in the Rio Grande

TAKE ACTION NOW

Here is what you can do to take action this week and act in solidarity with migrants and their families. (See details at the bottom of this newsletter.)

A) Tell Biden to Cut Immigration Enforcement and Detention and Instead Fund REAL Human Needs

B) Tell your senators to oppose the Supplemental Border Funding Bill

C) Tell your congressperson to vote no on the House Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Bill

D) Tell Congress to reject new bills that deny access to asylum at the southern border

E) Sign up for the Biden Deportations Tracker

F) Urge Congress to Pass the Afghan Adjustment Act

1- Immigration Court in Cleveland, OH

Ohio ranks #14 in filing deportation proceedings (out of 31 states that have immigration courts). (Up 4 places from last month.)

Ohio ranks #11 in ordering deportations. (Up 6 places from last month.)

June 2023 saw a slight slow down of deportations from the United States. In June 116,120 new deportations were filed. This is a drop of 29,758 new monthly deportations compared to May (145,878 compared to 116,120). The slowdown could be related to summer vacations of immigration judges.

In June, at the Cleveland EOIR (the only immigration court in Ohio), DHS filed 2,540 new deportation proceedings, for a total to 16,856 this fiscal year. Like the nationwide trend, this number is lower than May when 3,489 were filed. Ohio now ranks #14, four higher than in May when it was #18. Even with this rising in ranks, Ohio carries on the nationwide trend of fewer deportation proceedings filed with it being 949 less than in May (2,540 new cases filed in June compared to 3,489 in May).    

Central Americans no longer top new deportations filed.

In the Cleveland EOIR in June 2023, these are the top 5 nationalities:

1- Mauritania

2- Venezuela

3- Mexico

4- Colombia

5- Guatemala

Nationally, Venezuelans, Mexicans, and Colombians top the list.

New Deportation proceedings filed at the Cleveland EOIR:

In April, 2,261 new deportation proceedings were filed.

In May, 3,489 new deportation proceedings were filed.

In June, 2,540 new deportations filed.

Cleveland EOIR - Deportations Ordered

(please see the chart below)

Looking at new deportations ordered, the trend of a slower rise in June, compared to May, continues. Nationally 20,088 new deportations were ordered, bringing this fiscal year's total up to 172,401. The slowdown could be related to summer vacations of immigration judges.

In the Cleveland EOIR, 4,021 deportations have been ordered, with 511 of those filed in June.  Ohio now ranks #11 in total deportations ordered. The four countries topping the list in June are: Guatemala (915 cases), Honduras (676), Nicaragua (530) and Mexico (453).   

MINORS GIVEN DEPORTATION ORDERS

In June, 17 new deportations were ordered by the Juvenile Court Docket Cleveland against minors, 14 fewer than in May. The total number this year rose to 254. The most orders were against Guatemalans with 140 deportations ordered. Hondurans are #2 with 93 orders, followed by Salvadorans with 9 orders, Nicaraguans with 7, Mexicans with 4 and Chileans with 1. 

MINORS ordered deported from Cleveland EOIR (juvenile docket) in recent months:

Ordered deported in June 2023:

17 Overall

8 Guatemalan minors

8 Honduran minors

0 Salvadoran minors

1 Nicaraguan minor

0 Mexican minors 

0 Chilean minors 

Current fiscal year - minors ordered deported from Cleveland (since OCT 2022)

254 Overall

140 Guatemalan

93 Honduran

9 Salvadoran

7 Nicaraguan

4  Mexican

1 Chilean

MINORS ordered deported from Cleveland EOIR (juvenile docket) each month of FY 2023:

30: OCT 2022

27: NOV 2022 

37: DEC 2022 

27: JAN 2023 

47: FEB - MAR 2023

38: APR 2023 

31: MAY 2023

17: JUN 2023

Source: TRAC at Syracuse University (Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse)

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, June started the ramp up of Title 8 expedited removal deportations. Removal flights under T8 increased by 16 (15%) from 106 in May to 122 in June. The average removals per weekday increased to 5.5 per weekday from the May exit rate of 5. The average for the last 10 days of June was up to 6.8 per day. Activity at Alexandria LA, traditionally a major deportation staging location, increased in prominence. All deportation flights to South America and the Caribbean departed from Alexandria (except Cuba – Miami) and 25% of the flights to Northern Triangle countries departed from Alexandria. 73% of the flights to Northern Triangle countries departed from the Texas cities of Harlingen, Laredo, El Paso, and to a much lesser extent, Houston, and San Antonio.

On July 18, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) released new information for June (the first full month since T42 ended). This information shows that there was a 30% drop in encounters from May to June, from 206,702 in May to 144,571 in June, that includes migrants that made it to ports of entry and people who cross in the spaces between ports of entry. The number of people apprehended by Border Patrol has dropped by 42% from May to June, from 171,387 in May to 99,545 in June. Border Patrol apprehensions of migrants of neary every nationality declined, with Colombia (down 78%), Turkey (down 73%), and Peru (down 70%; these are the nationalities with over 1,000 apprehensions that declined most sharply. Border Patrol’s 99,545 apprehensions in June are at the lowest level since February 2021, Biden administration’s first full month in office.

Here is a caveat, however, about the decreased number of apprehensions. WOLA (WAshington Office on Latin America) notes that while U.S. border authorities’ encounters with migrants dropped significantly, the number of migrants processed at ports of entry increased to a record level, amid a jump in appointments granted using the “CBP One” smartphone app. The 45,026 people processed at the ports is almost certainly a record. It is more than 4 times the monthly average in fiscal year 2019 (10,500), the last full year before the pandemic hit.

Since the Biden Administration took office there have been:

• A total of 17,963 ICE Air Flights
• 3,107 Removal Flights

ICE Air Flights

The number of observed removal flights to ten different countries in Latin America and the Caribbean continues to rise. Over the last 12 months, there have been 8,255 ICE Air flights; 1,368 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 136,800 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 June 2023, there were 670 ICE Air flights, utilizing 24 different planes operated by 5 different charter carriers (IAero aka Swift, World Atlantic, GlobalX, Eastern, and Gryphon);  this went up 16 from May but remained below the average of the prior 6 months (697) by 27. 

Shuffle flights:

Shuffle flights decreased from 436 in May to 354 in June. Shuffle flights are domestic flights transporting migrants from either from one processing center along the border to another, or from one detention center to another.  Shuffle flights include the lateral flights, listed below.

Lateral flights:

Lateral flights in June decreased from 44 to 21, the lowest level in 15 months since March of 2022. There are two known reasons for the decrease in June: one being the drop in encounters and second because of the opening of the new soft sided CBP processing center in El Paso that has an increased capacity of 2,500. 

Removal flights:

In June 2023, removal flights increased from 106 in May to 122 in June. This is the first month with all flights as deportation flights since March 2020 when Title 42 began. But, the number of deportation flights are already higher than the 6-month average of primarily rapid expulsion flights.

In May removal flights to Northern Triangle countries comprised 57% of all removal flights, while in June they increased to 70% of all removal flights.  

Removal flights are a mix of migrants being sent back to their home countries under Title 8 (“inadmissables”) and deportations. 

Honduras

Flights to Honduras increased by 12 from 26 in May to 38 in June, the highest month since 39 in June 2022. Despite the ramp up in flights, returns in June only represented about 21% of the encounters of Hondurans at the US southern border (last reported in May 2023). 

Guatemala

ICE Air flights to Guatemala increased by 8 from 26 in May to 34 in June. June removal flights were 4 over the prior 6-month average. 

Based on reports by Guatemala Migration, the US returned an estimated 3,750 Guatemalans by air in June, 591 (19%) more than May, with 110 people per plane, compared to the prior two months at 121 per plane when T42 was in force.

After two months each of only 1 Mexico deportation flight to Guatemala (in April and May), there were 0 in June, the only month without a flight since at least May 2021 when I started to monitor. 

Ecuador

Ice Air Flights to Ecuador decreased to 6. 

Colombia

In June 2023, ICE Air Flights to Colombia decreased to 11 from 17 in May.

El Salvador

Flights to El Salvador increased to 13 in June (compared to 8 in May)

Other destinations:

Dominican Republic:

Flights decreased by 2 from the 3-year high of 7 to 5. 

Peru:

Dropped by 1 from an over 3-year high of 8 to 5.

Haiti: 

Experienced 1 flight of 35 people. 

Brazil:

Flights remained at 1 in June.

Cuba:

Experienced the first return flight since December 2020 on April 24. Followed by 1 in May and 1 in June. 

Small Jet Removals

Observations included two flights on a Gryphon Air Gulfstream that carries 12-15 passengers as a maximum. Deportations on this route included Kenya (2), Nigeria, Tanzania, and Chad.

Other destinations for ICE Air flights this month were:

Nicaragua (2)

Jamaica (1)

Mexico Operated Removal

Flights surprisingly stopped altogether in June following just 1 flight in each April and May to Guatemala.  Moreover, land returns of Hondurans at El Carmen dropped from 1,389 in March to an estimated 400 in June, down 989 (71%) from March. Returns of Guatemalans at Tecún Úman dropped from 3,261 in March to an estimated 1,100 in June, down 2,161 (66%) in June.

Land returns of Guatemalans and Hondurans by Mexico fell by an estimated 5,224 (78%) from June 2022 (6,714) to June 2023  

Sources

Witness At the Border 

https://www.wola.org/2023/07/weekly-u-s-mexico-border-update-texas-razor...

3- The Human Costs of the Asylum Ban (BEKKAH)

To review, in May of this year, the Biden Administration introduced a rule that makes people ineligible for asylum if they traveled through another country on their way to the U.S. UNLESS they applied for asylum in a third country and were denied OR scheduled one of the limited asylum appointments through CBP One, a smartphone app. This new rule is very confusing and full of glitches along the way. The CBP One app has several technical issues that block migrants from successfully using the app and a safe “third country” doesn’t exist for migrants. The countries that have an asylum system, like Mexico, are overwhelmed, too dangerous, or lack economic opportunity. Most of the Central American countries, like Panama and Honduras, don’t have an asylum process. 

The rule has negatively impacted the number of single adults passing their initial asylum screenings, from an average of 83% approvals between 2014-2019 to just 46% now. The Biden Administration has also increased the number of asylum seekers placed in expedited removals, meaning that they have a shorter amount of time and more things to prove their asylum case. Thousands of migrants wait in makeshift camps in dangerous border towns as they wait to get one of the 1,450 appointment slots through the CBP One app each day. 

Conditions are critical at the border with reports of malaria and dengue and migrants being easy targets for criminal groups, who often kidnap, murder, or assault people in the border towns. There are also reports that authorities are making it hard for asylum seekers to even reach the border, preventing them from requesting asylum without the CBP One app. In Mexico, the cartels and Mexican immigration officials have been extorting money from people with CBP One appointments, threatening to make them miss their appointments unless they pay the exorbitant fees. 

While the Biden Administration sees the new asylum system as a success with irregular crossings having dropped because migrants fear harsher penalties, the cruelty that is happening can only amplify the failure that the new asylum rule is. The migrants in the border towns are finding ways to be resilient and coming together by helping each other understand the new policies. The migrants without CBP One appointments have organized their own lines with waiting times to present to U.S. officials to request asylum. 

Migrant justice and constitutional law organizations are challenging Biden’s new restrictions. In the US District Court of Northern California on July 19, Judge Jon Tigar presided over an initial  hearing in a lawsuit brought by the ACLU and others. A ruling (or injunction) is expected soon.

Source: Quixote Center

4- At the Border: Recent Incidents at and around the US-Mexico Border (BRIAN)

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. 

July 4 – Four migrants drowned over a three-day period. On 1 July, federal border patrol agents saw a mother and two children struggling in the Rio Grande. They took the mother and one child from the water, and they were pronounced dead at the hospital. The second child was never found. From July 1-4, there were four reported drownings. In an attempt to deter illegal border crossings, on July 7 state workers began installing the first 1,000 feet of a floating water barrier (a string of buoys anchored to the bottom of the river, and surrounded by concertina wire) near Eagle Pass, TX.  A legal challenge to Governor Abbott’s draconian “border security” effort is expected.

July 18 - Texas Troopers told to push children into Rio Grande and deny migrants water.  Reported in a story published by The Guardian: On June 30, Texas State Troopers treated a four-year-old girl who passed out from heat exhaustion after she attempted to pass through the concertina wire on the Texas side of the border, amid 100F.  Texas National Guard soldiers pushed her and her group back towards Mexico. The same day, a pregnant woman was treated after troopers found her caught in the wire and in extreme pain. The woman was having a miscarriage and emergency responders took her to a hospital. On 25 June, troopers discovered a group of 120 people along a fence on the river.  The group, including small children and infants who were nursing, were exhausted and hungry. But a commanding officer ordered troopers to “push the people back into the water to go to Mexico.”   …Texas State Troopers told The New York Times that “there were explicit orders to deny water to migrants and to tell them to go back to Mexico.”  Three troopers said they had been told by supervisors that troopers were not to inform the Border Patrol when migrants were in the water or at the Texas riverbank.

July 19 – Lawsuit challenging Biden’s new asylum rule goes to court. The US District Court of Northern California held a hearing on a suit brought by the ACLU, Center for Gender and Refugee Studies, and National Immigrant Justice Center.  On the day that Title 42 expired (May 11), the Departments of Homeland Security and Justice implemented a new rule: “Circumvention of Legal Pathways,” which presumptively denies asylum, with some exceptions, to migrants who (a) fail to make an appointment at a port of entry, and (b) were not refused asylum in another country through which they passed en route to the United States. Asylum seekers subjected to the new rule often end up in “expedited removal” proceedings, where they must defend their cases within days of apprehension, from jail-like CBP facilities, usually without counsel or even a decent amount of rest. District Judge Jon Tigar, an Obama appointee who, in 2019, struck down a Trump administration “asylum transit ban,” ruled on July 25 that Biden’s asylum ban is unlawful, but delayed the ruling from taking effect for 14 days. The Justice Department plans to appeal and to request to extend the current 14-day pause on the asylum ban policy.

July 22 – In Reynosa, a clandestine grave of 27 suspected migrants found.  A group called Love Collective for the Disappeared of Tamaulipas (the border state where the city of Reynosa is located, across from Hidalgo/McAllen, TX), discovered three bodies on July 14 another five the next day. Then another 14. Then another five. Families of the disappeared received anonymous phone calls that directed them to the mass grave, at the edge of the Canall Guillermo Rodhe, in the neighborhood of Infonavit Arboledas. On July 18, the attorney general of Tamaulipas informed the group that there would be an investigation, but according to spokesperson Edith González, no state or federal agents have arrived. The only government presence is the Mexico National Guard, which the collective solicited to come and protect the mass gravesite.

SOURCES

https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/04/us/migrant-drownings-texas-mexico-border/index.html

https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/09/us/texas-marine-floating-barriers-migrants/index.html

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jul/18/texas-troopers-inhumane-migrants-greg-abbott-border-initiative https://www.wola.org/2023/07/weekly-u-s-mexico-border-update-texas-razor-wire-june-migration-data-asylum-rule-lawsuit/#note1 https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/19/us/texas-border-migrants-abbott.html

 https://www.animalpolitico.com/estados/encuentran-cuerpos-fosas-clandestinas-reynosa-tamaulipas

https://humanrightsfirst.org/library/federal-court-finds-asylum-ban-unlawful/ 

https://rollcall.com/2023/07/25/judge-strikes-down-biden-administration-asylum-restrictions/

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- Darién Gap: Tourism Booms while Migrants Suffer

At the border of Colombia and Panama lies a region of mountains, rivers and lush forests. The Darién Gap is a magnet for influencers and adventure tourists exploring the region; for many migrants it is suffering and even death. The Darién Gap is an unavoidable obstacle for migrants from South America on their way north to the United States, especially after more restrictive migration policies have been established.

Because visa restrictions by the United States keep migrants from entering countries closer to the US, migrants take the remote and dangerous route through the eastern Darién Gap’s jungle along the Caribbean Sea. In contrast, tourists are taking guided tours with provided hiking equipment rations and everything to make the adventure along the Pacific Ocean in the southwest of the region. The refugees have no such support. 

For many families (men, women and even children) the trek exposes them to hostile conditions, like lack of food, drinking water and hygiene products, as well as having to sleep outside without any protection. In addition to the harsh conditions, which claim lives every day, the migrants are exposed to kidnapping and robberies by criminal organizations making the region even more hostile to people seeking a better life. According to the U.N.'s International Organization for Migration (IOM), 137 people (including 13 children) died or went missing in the Darién Gap last year. Taking into consideration that around a quarter million refugees traveled through the region last year, this number is most likely far below the actual deaths n the routes. Again and again, migrants who made it through to Mexico or the United States report on people dying and corpses on their way to the dream of a better life.

Meanwhile tourists from western countries are enjoying all inclusive trips, many of which are organized by international companies. With social media turning the Darién Gap into a desirable vacation destination, Panama’s government has plans to turn the Darién National Park into "the main eco-tourism destination in Central America," according to the country's 2020-2025 master plan for sustainable tourism. This plan is criticized by humanitarian aid groups.. Luis Eguiluz, the leader of Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Colombia and Panama, stated that "The Darién  is a humanitarian crisis zone, not a place for vacation.”

But the Darién Gap is not only a jungle through which migrants pass and corporate vacation companies make profits, it is also Indigenous land. For the Indigenous communities in the area, such as the Embera people, a complete halt to tourism would dry out one of the few sources of money the communities have in the region. Some even own their own eco-tourism companies. .

In the end, this moral question can only be resolved if migrants have a safe and secure way to seek asylum in the United States. In the short run, support for these human beings is urgently needed, something that the Panama state is more than unlikely to provide. In April, the United States, together with Panama, established a campaign to halt migration through the Daríen Gap. Under pressure, Panama stated that it would step up its efforts against migration, but still the number of refugees passing through keeps growing. With this coalition of states, the suffering and dying will keep on happening. 

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/migrants-darien-gap-is-hell-adventure-tourists-its-magnet-2023-07-22/

6- Texas Deploys Floating Buoys in the Rio Grande 

Texas is spending about $1 million dollars to deploy a string of buoys into the Rio Grande River in order to deter migrants from crossing the border near the Texas town of Eagle Pass. On July 7, state workers began stringing together the first 1,000 feet of buoys in Maverick County, Texas, in an area often used by smugglers. The buoys sit about 4 feet above the water, anchored to the riverbed below with webbing to prevent people from swimming underneath. The Texas Department of Public Safety has tested the buoys and says that it is very difficult for people to go over or through the buoys and that overcoming the buoys takes a lot of effort, special skills and equipment. 

Eagle Pass is part of a Border Patrol sector that has the 2nd highest number of migrant crossings this fiscal year at about 270,000 encounters, which is lower than it was at this time last year. This is because of the end of Title 42 and the implementation of new asylum rules. The Texas governor’s policy for these buoys targets the migrants who might get frustrated with the complicated asylum process and cross the river. 

Immigrant advocate Sister Isabel Turcios, a nun who oversees a migrant shelter in Piedras Negras Mexico, has met with the Texas Department of Public Safety before the floating barriers were placed and was told that the buoys would be in deep waters to function as a warning to migrants in the area. Turcios has made it clear that with the sharp concertina wire, the migrants spend more time in the river and says “That’s more and more dangerous each time ... because it has perches, it has whirlpools and because of organized crime.” (ABCNews, Gonzalez and Coronado 2023) 

The Department of Justice has recently advised Texas Gov. Greg Abbott that the use of the buoys in the Rio Grande is in violation of federal law. “The United States intends to file legal action in relation to the State of Texas's unlawful construction of a floating barrier in the Rio Grande River. The State of Texas's actions violate federal law, raise humanitarian concerns, present serious risks to public safety and the environment, and may interfere with the federal government's ability to carry out its official duties," the Justice Department said in its letter. 

In response to this letter, Abbott said that Texas has sovereign authority to defend their border under both the U.S. Constitution and the Texas Constitution. There have been more than 80 Democratic lawmakers who have sent President Biden letters calling on him to investigate the plans Abbott has made for the border. 

Sources: NBCDFW, ABCNews, UPI

https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/texas-news/texas-to-install-a-string-of-buoys-to-deter-migrants-from-crossing-the-rio-grande/3273761/#:~:text=The%20state%20of%20Texas%20will%20deploy%20new%20inflatable,migrants%20from%20crossing%20the%20border%20near%20Eagle%20Pass. 

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/texas-prepares-deploy-rio-grande-buoys-governors-latest-100858634 

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2023/07/21/justice-department-warns-texas-governor-greg-abbott-floating-barrier-is-illegal/6921689972152/ 

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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) Tell Biden to Cut Immigration Enforcement and Detention and Instead Fund REAL Human Needs

For Fiscal Year 2023, the Biden Administration requested almost $26 billion for ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and CBP (Customs and Border Protection). This funding is used to jail, deport and profile immigrant communities. In one year, that same $26B could fund: 3.11 million public housing units for 1 Year, or 285,888 school teachers, or 2.4 million Head Start slots for pre-K kids, or VA medical care for 1.84 million vets. More funding for ICE and CBP means more militarization and surveillance while the necessary funding for support personnel that provide the services for immigrants to be processed into the U.S. and humanitarian needs go under-funded.

TAKE ACTION

Click here to tell President Biden to choose hope over hate.

Click here to send a message to your congresspersons and US senators.

B) Tell your senators to oppose the Supplemental Border Funding Bill
Join the Defund Hate Campaign in calling our elected officials to reject funding to harmful immigration detention, surveillance, and border militarization. 

TAKE ACTION

Click here to take action. 

C) Tell your congressperson to vote no on the House Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Bill

Members of Congress are giving concessions to the far-right to come up with dangerously misguided bipartisan “security-first” border policies. 

TAKE ACTION

Click here to tell your US representative to reject proposals that increase militarization, detention, and surveillance technologies. 

D) Tell Congress to reject new bills that deny access to asylum at the southern border

If S.1473 and its House companion bill HR 3234 become law, we’ll see an increase in family separations, an unrealistic standard for asylum seekers to prove that their lives are endangered (for asylum claims), and mass expulsions of people seeking safety for themselves and their loved ones. 

Ohioans should be concerned that Senator Sherrod Brown has signed on as a co-sponsor of S.1473, which was introduced by Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona on May 4, 2023. 

TAKE ACTION

Click here to tell your senators and US reps to reject these anti-asylum bills. 

E) Sign up for the Biden Deportations Tracker

Migrant justice advocates are tracking the number of people President Biden has deported and expelled from the country during his time in office.  See the re-launched tracker at  BidenStopDeportations.com with an updated count: over 4 million people.People always have and always will migrate. No matter the reason, everyone should be able to move freely and without fear of criminalization, deportation, and family separation. 

 TAKE ACTION

-Amplify the latest posts on social media! Share on Facebook // RT on Twitter //  Repost on IG 

-Post the Deportation Tracker on your own pages by using the social samples below and graphics here

F) Urge Congress to Pass the Afghan Adjustment Act

Nearly two years since the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, over 85% of those evacuated remain dependent on humanitarian parole or other temporary protections, and the vast majority are unlikely to attain asylum or special immigrant status. Just like legislation enacted after the U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam, the Afghan Adjustment Act would address this defect, fulfilling our nation’s promise to these families. It would allow Afghans to apply to become lawful permanent residents, the same status they would have received had they been admitted through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program.

TAKE ACTION

Click here to urge your congressperson and US senators to pass the Afghan Adjustment Act.

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Read the full IRTF Migrant Justice Newsletter each month at https://www.irtfcleveland.org/blog .