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'They just took them?' Frantic parents separated from their kids fill courts on the border
By Michael E. Miller ~ Washington Post ~ May 31, 2018
MCALLEN, Texas - The words "all rise" were still ringing in the brightly lit South Texas courtroom last week when Peter E. Ormsby slipped unceremoniously into his seat.
"Good morning," the 62-year-old federal magistrate said as the courtroom filled with the clanking of shackled defendants returning to their wooden benches. "We're here to take up a number of criminal cases that allege that the defendants violated the immigration laws of the United States."
Seated in front of Ormsby were 71 disheveled immigrants caught illegally crossing the Rio Grande. The number of defendants has soared amid President Trump's crackdown on a new surge of border crossers. But the mass hearing was remarkable less for its size than for who it included: parents.
For the first time, federal courtrooms here and across the Southwest are being flooded with distraught mothers and fathers who have been charged with misdemeanor illegal entry and separated from their children - a shift in policy touted by the administration as a way to stop families from trying to reach the United States but decried by critics as traumatizing and inhumane. Last month a Honduran father separated from his wife and 3-year-old son killed himself in a Texas jail cell, The Washington Post reported Saturday. Read More
Republicanos programan voto sobre DACA para esta semana
By Maria Peña ~ La Opinion ~ June 8, 2018
WASHINGTON - Líderes republicanos de la Cámara de Representantes se comprometieron este martes a programar un voto sobre el futuro de los "Dreamers" tan pronto como la próxima semana, sin garantías de destrabar el estancado debate migratorio y en medio de una rebelión demócrata.
La oposición demócrata y un puñado de republicanos moderados, que han venido presionando por la legalización de los "Dreamers", tenían plazo hasta hoy para lograr reunir 218 firmas para una petición especial que obligase a la Cámara Baja a votar sobre inmigración para el próximo 25 de junio, con o sin la venia de los conservadores.
Al final, aunque esa herramienta parlamentaria, conocida en inglés como "discharge petition", tenía el apoyo de varios republicanos moderados, no recabó las dos firmas que faltaban para que la Cámara Baja programase un voto antes de fin de mes.
Pero, en una clara estrategia para descarrilar esos esfuerzos -que además hubiesen causado una vergüenza para su partido-, el presidente de la Cámara Baja, el republicano Paul Ryan prometió hoy a su bancada programar el voto de dos medidas republicanas para determinar el futuro de los "Dreamers". Leer Más
WORLD PREMIERE:
Documentary Film Premiere: 'Advance Parole' Broken unDACAmented dreams
A DACA-mented immigrant's plight to re-establish Advance Parole to be able to reunite with her family in times of hardship.
Watch the full feature in English with Spanish subtitles:
Watch the full feature in English-only with no subtitles: https://vimeo.com/273236805
For more information on Advance Parole, visit: www.advanceparole.org
Follow the cause on social media: Facebook | Instagram
In the midst of the chaotic political debate regarding the termination of DACA and the uncertain legal state of Dreamers, lies the suspension of a little-known immigration provision called Advance Parole, which has caused an unacknowledged humanitarian crisis for many Dreamers and their families ever since. In the past, DACA recipients were allowed to take short trips for humanitarian, educational or employment purposes. This is how the CMSC took 160 Dreamers to Mexico since 2014, but this is no longer the case and the consequences have been devastating.
Mayra Garibo, a Senior at CSU Dominguez Hills and a DACA recipient, could not attend her dad's funeral when he passed away in Mexico early this year. She applied for humanitarian Advance Parole and was denied twice. Mayra was unable to pay the last respects to her beloved father whom she had not seen in 17 years. Now one of her grandparents has cancer and she wants to see him and take care of him before it is too late. But given the administration's heartless decision to suspend Advance Parole for Dreamers, Mayra has to choose between her family in Mexico and her life in the United States.
The film Advance Parole follows Mayra Garibo's efforts and leadership to challenge the system and pave the way not only for her to reunite with her family in Mexico, but also to prevent Dreamers from suffering a humanitarian and emotional crisis as she endured when her father passed away early this year.
Estreno Premier de Documental:
'Advance Parole' Sueños Quebrantados de Dreamers
Mayra Garibo, una Dreamer beneficiaria de DACA solicita el re-establecimiento de Advance Parole por razones humanitarias para poder reunirse con su familia en momentos difíciles por la muerte de su padre y la condición de salud precaria de sus abuelos.
Entre el caos del debate político sobre la eliminación de DACA y el precario estado legal de los Dreamers, se encuentra la suspensión de una provisión de DACA poco conocida y llamada Advance Parole (Permiso de Viajero), la cual ha causado una crisis humanitaria para los beneficiaros de DACA y sus familias en el exterior del país. En el pasado, a los beneficiarios de DACA se les permitía realizar viajes cortos con fines humanitarios, educativos o de empleo. Este fue el permiso que el CMSC uso para llevar 160 Dreamers a México, pero ya no es posible y las consecuencias han sido devastadoras.
Mayra Garibo, en cuarto año de su licenciatura en CSU Dominguez Hills y una beneficiaria de DACA, no pudo asistir al funeral de su padre cuando falleció súbitamente por un accidente en México a principios de este año. Ella solicitó un permiso de Advance Parole humanitario y fue rechazada dos veces. Mayra no pudo darle el último adiós a su amado padre, a quien no había visto en 17 años y solo pudo ver por teléfono su misa fúnebre. Ahora su abuelo tiene cáncer y su abuela esta delicada por una grave operación y Mayra quiere ver a sus abuelos y cuidarlos antes de que sea demasiado tarde. Pero dada la despiadada decisión de la administración de Trump al suspender la provisión de Advance Parolepara los soñadores DACA-mentados, Mayra se ve forzada a elegir entre su familia en México y su vida en los Estados Unidos.
El documental Advance Parole sigue la trayectoria y liderazgo de Mayra Garibo para desafiar el sistema y allanar el camino no solo para reunirse con su familia en México, sino también para evitar que otros Dreamers sufran una crisis humanitaria y emocional como la que ella tuvo que aguantar cuando su padre falleció a principios de este año.
Para más información sobre Advance Parole, visit:
The CMSC has launched a campaign to restore Dreamers' travel abroad authorization through DACA's Advance Parole provision, unjustly denied since Sept. 5, 2017 by the Trump administration, with the following letter and the documentary "Advance Parole."
CMSC letter to Trump administration & Congress
President Donald Trump
DHS Secretary Jeff Sessions
House Speaker Paul Ryan
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell June 7, 2018
President Trump, DHS Secretary Sessions, Speaker Ryan and Senate Majority Leader McConnell:
We write to urge you to reinstate the Advance Parole provision for DACA recipients, to continue to operate on the same terms in place as before it was suspended on Sept. 5, 2017, and to resume granting requests for the I-131 Advance Parole travel permits for DACA recipients.
Since Sept. 5, 2017, when the administration rescinded the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, simultaneously, DHS also suspended the Advance Parole provision for DACA recipients. Advance Parole is an immigration travel document (Form I-131) issued by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which enables DACA recipients to be paroled into the United States, after short trips abroad for humanitarian, educational and/or employment purposes.
This is no longer the case and the consequences have been devastating.
In particular, the suspension of Advance Parole has caused an unacknowledged humanitarian crisis for countless of Dreamers and their families, especially when severe illness and/or sudden death of immediate relatives has occurred, and humanitarian Advance Parole has been denied.
For instance, Mayra Yazmin Garibo, a Cal State Dominguez Hills senior and DACA recipient, went through an emotional and humanitarian crisis when her father passed away in an accident in Mexico on January 11, 2018. As a participant of the CMSC's California-Mexico Dreamers Study Abroad Program, we helped Ms. Garibo immediately to gather all the necessary documentation and to apply for an emergency humanitarian Advance Parole permit to attend her father's funeral, and to join her grandparents and family in those times of emotional hardship.
However, her Advance Parole request was denied twice based on the premise that USCIS was no longer accepting or approving any Advance Parole applications after September 5th, 2017, despite the January 9, 2018 federal court order that forced the government to re-open the DACA program.
Thus, Mayra was unable to pay the last respects to her beloved father whom she had not seen in 17 years. Moreover, her 87-year old paternal grandfather has cancer and Mayra is still waiting approval of a humanitarian parole, to be able to care for him and ensure that he is being properly taken care of in place of her father, who used to take care of him.
Like Mayra, there are stories of DACA recipients who are suffering similar trauma, directly related to the punitive, arbitrary, and capricious suspension of Advance Parole, and causing irreparable emotional, psychological and physical harm to Dreamers, as depicted by the CMSC's documentary "Advance Parole" released on June 4, 2018.
Thus, we urge you to promote and support the Advance Parole Campaign that has been launched by the California-Mexico Studies Center and many other concerned organizations, to advocate for DACA recipients' need to receive Advance Parole authorization to travel abroad for humanitarian, educational, and employment purposes, as it was prior to September 5, 2017.
Denial of Advance Parole for DACA recipients, as provided prior to the cancelation of DACA is causing severe irreparable harm to Dreamers who are facing a humanitarian crisis, such as the loss of an immediate family member at their place of origin, or for justified educational and employment purposes.
Please terminate this inhumane and discriminatory application of the law and reinstate the Advance Parole provision of DACA for Dreamers.
Respectfully yours,
Prof. Armando Vazquez-Ramos, President/CEO & Lidieth Arevalo, Media Director
California-Mexico Studies Center, Inc.
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