The Borderline: 04/14–04/20
Bringing you the latest on immigration and border issues.
EDITORS’ NOTE
Hi everyone! We hope you are safe and healthy, wherever you happen to be. This is the eighteenth edition of The Borderline, Stories from the Border’s weekly newsletter on immigration and border issues. This is our curated summary of what we’ve been reading and working on throughout the semester. With all of us social distancing and doing our part to cure the COVID-19 pandemic, we’re publishing from our own corners of the country: Arizona, California, Texas, and Chicagoland.
This week, we’re learning more about the Trump Administration’s emergency immigration measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. On Monday, Trump announced that he would temporarily suspend all immigration to the U.S. by executive order in an effort to curb the spread of COVID-19. Earlier this week, the United Nations has warned that the U.S.’s policy of expelling migrants and asylum seekers who arrive at the U.S. without valid papers violates international law; in 18 days, 10,000 people were deported within two hours of arriving on U.S. soil. In one case, Customs and Border Patrol used emergency measures to deport Gilmer Barrios, a Guatemalan man with a wife and family in the U.S. Barrios was sent to Mexico, where he did not have permission to live, but was eventually able to return to the U.S. because he was expelled without due process. Barrios’ case to remain in the U.S. legally is currently pending in immigration court.
America’s stringent deportation measures are causing problems for return countries as well. At least 44 migrants on the same deportation flight from Brownsville, Texas tested positive for coronavirus. Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei worries that the passengers could infect remote areas without access to healthcare, but it is not clear where and when they were first infected.
In Arizona, the ACLU has reported that Border Patrol vehicles have been present at multiple drive-through COVID-19 testing centers, which could prevent undocumented people from seeking medical help for fear of legal repercussions. Border Patrol and ICE both said that they will not conduct enforcement operations at “sensitive locations” like hospitals and testing centers. At the border, the Mexican government approved the construction of a 20-bed field hospital for migrants in an asylum camp near Brownsville. However, a truck containing cots, heart monitors, generators, an X-ray machine, medical tents and other equipment has been parked in Brownsville for almost three weeks due to red tape regarding the importation of medical equipment. Due to FEMA restrictions on exporting personal protective equipment (PPE), volunteers had to remove surgical masks, gloves and N95 masks from the truck.
Protests are erupting along the border after manufacturing plant employees at American-owned companies Honeywell, Lear, and Regal-Beloit have died of coronavirus-related complications. Some factories have been closed, but others remain open as their employees are deemed “essential workers, and companies have been criticized for not providing medical care, PPE or even soap in restrooms and dining hall sinks. At Lear Corp., a Michigan-based company that makes textiles for automobile seats, workers began complaining of fevers and coughs at the on-site infirmary about a month ago. According to employees, nurses diagnosed them with allergies or colds and told them to get back to work after giving them painkillers. Official reports vary on the numbers, but families and employees at the Lear plant in the Juarez area estimate that as many as 20 employees have died. At least 29 people in Juarez have died of coronavirus, possibly making Lear ground zero for the local outbreak. Lear shut down on April 1.
To stay updated, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook @borderstoriesAZ.
– Anna Kate and Jeromel
DEEP DIVES
We’re learning about some of the extraordinary financial difficulties that immigrants, especially undocumented people, are facing as a result of quarantines and business closures. Many people are still considered essential workers, but do not have masks or other personal protective equipment and cannot effectively social distance at their jobs. Undocumented migrants, despite paying $1 billion in taxes across the U.S., are excluded from the COVID-19 stimulus bill and cannot file for unemployment if they lose their jobs. Financial difficulties are also affecting migrants’ abilities to send money back to family in their home countries. In better news, California recently announced a $125 million fund for undocumented migrants affected by coronavirus, and movements like #ShareMyCheck are encouraging financially stable people to donate all or part of their stimulus checks to immigrants who will not receive any government aid.
WEEKLY ROUNDUP
NATION
ENFORCEMENT:
- The U.S. continues to deport thousands of people, many of whom are testing positive for coronavirus: The Trump Administration is citing fears of migrants bringing COVID-19 into the U.S., but very few actually have, and the U.S. currently has the highest number of cases in the world; can the U.S. continue to deport people in these conditions, and if so, what safety precautions will they take? Will any countries or international actors step in to stop the virus from spreading further?
- Children forced to stay in Mexico with their families for the duration of the asylum proceedings under the Migrant Protection Protocols are being turned away at the border: How will unaccompanied minors be treated at the border as a result of COVID-19? How long will these stringent policies be enforced?
- ICE has released nearly 700 detained migrants as coronavirus spreads through its facilities: How are courts deciding which migrants should be released, and are cases varying by court and state? Could the effectiveness of releasing migrants with ankle monitors set a precedent for future immigration detention?
- 11 ICE agents from the Alexandria International Airport in in Louisiana have tested positive for coronavirus: To what extent are ICE officers putting detainees and other migrants in danger of coronavirus? While infected staff members quarantined, how will their absence affect ICE’s operations?
RULINGS:
- A judge in Cleveland will not release three detainees from ICE custody, but asked if there was a way to release one man with preexisting health conditions: As more options are explored for immigration detention, like house arrest and ankle monitors, how could they affect the future of detention? Will future conditions in detention facilities change to stop the spread of illnesses like COVID-19?
- Several immigration rights groups have filed a lawsuit against ICE, alleging that they are violating federal guidelines by grouping hundreds of detainees together if they have COVID-19 symptoms or test positive: The lawsuit’s authors say that thousands could be infected, and “many will die;” if detainees do die, would ICE face legal consequences? What kind of long-term changes could this pandemic bring about for immigration detention?
ARIZONA:
- ‘Unnecessary panic’: Groups urge Border Patrol to stop enforcement at hospitals during pandemic: With conflicting reports on whether or not Border Patrol is conducting enforcement at sensitive sites like hospitals, who should immigrants trust? Are there any laws or regulations that enforce Border Patrol’s behavior at hospitals?
- ICE ‘cohorting’ of Az detainees at risk of COVID-19 stirs controversy: With the Centers for Disease Control (CDC)’s guidelines saying that “cohorting should only be practiced if there are no other viable options,” does the CDC have any power to pressure ICE and private prison operators to improve the standard of detention facilities or to release detained migrants?
CHICAGOLAND:
- 37 immigrant children in three Chicago-area shelters test positive for COVID-19: As most unaccompanied children coming through the U.S. have parents or relatives within the country, would the Office of Refugee Resettlement who processes unaccompanied migrant children release detained children to relatives and sponsors? Would they expedite this process in the context of the pandemic?
CALIFORNIA
- Why California is giving its own stimulus checks to undocumented immigrants: Would other states follow California’s example to acknowledge, consider, and support its undocumented population many of whom are working in essential industries?
- Otay Mesa COVID-19 outbreak now the largest at a U.S. immigration detention center: With Otay Mesa detainees protesting the inadequate COVID-19 prevention measures of the private prison operator CoreCivic as well as their avoidance of any liability as a result, would the federal government still continue to rely on the private prison industry to facilitate its detention centers despite its inability to abide by CDC guidelines?
TEXAS:
- U.S. District Court grants release of individual from immigration detention center due to COVID-19 concerns: Since this is “the first decision in Texas granting someone’s release from an immigration detention center because of COVID-19,” will more cases be filed to compel ICE detention centers in Texas to release detainees, especially those vulnerable from the virus?
- Civil rights groups suing ICE over COVID-19 safety in Texas detention centers: Would ICE wait until a judicial ruling is made to release detainees with pre-existing conditions?
