Migrant Justice Newsletter - NOV 2023

You can TAKE ACTION for Migrant Justice + NOV 2023 newsletter

You can read this monthly newsletter at https://www.irtfcleveland.org/blog.

In this monthly newsletter, we include the fiscal year-end numbers from Customs and Border Patrol. CBP reports 2,475,669 “encounters” of migrants at the US-Mexico border from OCT 2022-SEP 2023. That’s up about 100,000 from last fiscal year. 

Let’s be clear. There is no “border crisis.” But there is a humanitarian crisis at the border.

The numbers don’t justify any increased funding for CBP. Federal agents are not having to chase down tens of thousands of migrants along the river bank or into the desert along the 2,000 mile border. A large portion of the “encountered” migrants (roughly 30,000 per month) have actually turned themselves in voluntarily at ports-of-entry to request political asylum. Presenting themselves at ports of entry (i.e., the “legal” way to cross) are these nationalities in this order: Haiti, Venezuela, Mexico, Cuba, Honduras, Guatemala, Colombia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Peru.

But the waiting time to schedule an appointment at the border crossing (via the CBP One app) and then waiting for the actual appointment—this is causing tens of thousands of migrants to seek humanitarian assistance on the Mexico side of the border as they sit it out and wait.

As burdensome as the asylum process is, a group of US senators is trying to make it worse. They are threatening to stall any supplemental budget request that Biden is submitting for the war in Ukraine, Israel/Gaza, and the US-Mexico border. They say that won’t approve any Biden request unless it contains new border restrictions, including: more detention, family and child detention, restrictions on humanitarian parole, and banning the right to asylum for migrants who do not present themselves at ports-of-entry (note: this is clearly an illegal provision that violates both domestic and international asylum law.). 

See the Take Action items listed at the bottom of this newsletter. Our advocacy is needed to maintain some modicum of humanity in the nation’s immigration system and to address root causes of migration. 

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Welcome to IRTF’s November 2023 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.

In this newsletter, please read about 

1.  ICE Air: Update on Removal Flight Trends

2.  Migrants Coming to US-Mexico Border from All Over the World

3.  Georgia Detention Center

4.  At the Border: Recent Incidents at and around the US-Mexico Border

5.  Senate Republicans Demand Restrictions on Asylum, More Detention

6.  Biden Border Plan

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) Stop Border Militarization

B)  Jews Demand: No More Money to Harm Migrants

C) Tell Congress: Create a Children’s Immigration Court

D) Root Causes of Migration: Haiti

E) Help Migrants & Refugees Here in Cleveland

1- 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 termination of the Title 42 order that resulted in the expulsion of over 2.5 million migrants from the US-Mexico border. With the end of Title 42, in June the government started to ramp up expedited removal deportations under Title 8 (“non-citizens who cross the border illegally, without legal basis to remain will be processed for removal”).

Since the Biden Administration took office, there have been:

• a total of 20,739 ICE Air Flights
• 3,621 Removal Flights (1,410 over the past 12 months) 

ICE Air Flights

DOWN is the number of domestic flights transporting migrants in the processing and detention system within the US.

UP is the number of removal flights sending migrants back to their countries of origin (75% of them to Northern Triangle countries). 

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 8,379 ICE Air flights; 1,410 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 141,000 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 October 2023, there were 653 ICE Air flights, utilizing 28 different planes operated by 4 different charter carriers (IAero aka Swift, World Atlantic, GlobalX, and Gryphon). This is down from September, and below the prior 6 month average of 708 by 55. 

Removal flights:

In October 2023, removal flights increased from 127 in September to 135 in October. 

The Northern Triangle countries of Honduras (34), Guatemala (47), and El Salvador (20) are 75% of all removal flights.  Removal flights are a mix of migrants being sent back to their home countries under  Title 8 (“inadmissables”),  and deportations. 

Lateral flights:

Lateral flights in October decreased from 26 to 20. El Paso received the most lateral flights at 12 followed by Laredo and McAllen, both cities having 4. Most lateral flights originated in Tucson with 7. The most flights originated in Tucson with 12, followed by Yuma with 6 and Del Rio and El Paso with 4 each. 

Shuffle flights:

Shuffle flights decreased from 397 in September to 361 in October. 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 above.

Country Details:

Venezuela

Removal flights resumed with 326 people being returned, based on reports from the Venezuelan government. Flights have been about 1 per week: Oct 18, 23, 30. 

Honduras

AUG = 51 flights

SEP = 44 flights

OCT = 34 flights

Guatemala

AUG = 52 flights

SEP = 45 flights

OCT = 47 flights

October was the  2nd highest month in 46 months–behind 52 in August 2023. 

Ecuador

AUG = 8 flights

SEP = 9 

OCT = 6

Colombia

AUG = 7 flights

SEP = 5

OCT = 5

ICE Air Flights to Colombia remained steady at 5 after decreasing for 6 consecutive months.

El Salvador

AUG = 9 flights

SEP = 10

OCT = 20

Flights to El Salvador increased from 10 in September to 20 in October!

Dominican Republic:

AUG = 4 flights

SEP = 2

OCT = 2

Peru:

AUG = 11 flights

SEP = 4

OCT = 4 

Haiti: 

AUG = 2 flights

SEP = 1

OCT = 1

Brazil:

AUG = 0 flights

SEP = 1

OCT = 1

Cuba:

On April 24, 2023, the US sent its first removal flight to Cuba for the first time since December 2020. There has been one removal flight per month since, the most recent in October. The Cuban government has announced that only 349 people have been returned on the 6 flights this year.

Mexico Operated Removals to Central America

Flights surprisingly stopped altogether in June, July, August, September, and October. 

Number of Migrant Encounters at the US-Mexico Border

ENCOUNTERS (SOURCE: cbp.gov)

Here is the breakdown for some of the top countries:

Mexico

Guatemala

Honduras

Colombia

Nicaragua

El Salvador

Sources: Witness At the Border

3- Shifting Patterns of Migration: Migrants Coming to US-Mexico Border from All Over the World 

The 2.5 million encounters of migrants occurring at the U.S.-Mexico border in fiscal year (FY) 2023 represent a new historic high. In FY 2023, the Border Patrol had 160,598 fewer encounters of migrants crossing illegally in FY 2023 than the prior year, but the numbers arriving at ports of entry more than doubled from FY 2022. The numbers of migrants arriving in family units is surpassing those who come as single adults. And for the first time ever, a majority of migrants are coming from places other than Mexico and Central America.

The increase of migrants of nationalities other than Mexican and Central American poses new challenges for the Biden administration. When Title 42 ended in May 2023, the Border Patrol reverted to its Title 8 authority to process arrivals, using consequences that include expedited removal. Diplomatic relations and agreements between the United States and governments in Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala facilitate repatriation of nationals from these countries. But for other countries, the U.S. government may lack repatriation agreements. That is partially why Biden started the humanitarian parole program for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans. In addition to these humanitarian parole programs, the administration also initiated Family Reunification Parole (FRP) programs for Colombians, Salvadorans, Guatemalans and Honduras (in July 2023) and Ecuadorians (Oct 2023).

The top four countries for migrants at the border used to be Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. In FY 2023 that changed with Venezuela taking the number 3 spot. Venezuelans continued to significantly cross the border illegally, with just 25 percent presenting themselves at a port of entry. Venezuelans are the nationality with the second most beneficiaries of the humanitarian parole programs (a separate legal pathway) and are consistently in the top three nationalities seeking CBP One appointments. Other countries represented in large numbers are Colombia, Ecuador, China, and India.

The emigration of Venezuelans has been going on for years. Many human rights groups point to repressive policies of the Maduro government and economic hardship. Many call it a humanitarian crisis.  Tough sanctions imposed by the United States in 2019 have exacerbated the situation. In addition to high prices and scarcity of jobs, the public sector (education, health care, electricity, water) has also suffered.

The volatile political situation is another factor. Maduro has exercised arbitrary detentions, especially of opposition members. Between January 2014 and March 2023, Venezuelan NGO Foro Penal documented the cases of 15,792 people detained for political motives. And the impacts are much more severe for women. The UN Human Rights Council established an independent fact-finding mission on Venezuela in 2019 to investigate extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions, torture and other cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment since 2014. The Mission has released four reports since its creation. Acts of sexual violence investigated by the Mission were committed by at least four national security agencies. These acts, committed while victims were in custody or in prison, were typically directed against men and women perceived to be connected to military dissidence or political opposition. IN addition to rape, women are subjected to forced nudity and coercive transactional sex.

Presenting themselves at ports of entry (i.e., the “legal” way to cross) are these nationalities in this order: Haiti, Venezuela, Mexico, Cuba, Honduras, Guatemala, Colombia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Peru.

When looking at total encounters by Customs and Border Patrol (which include apprehensions outside of ports of entry) the rankings are: Mexico, Venezuela, Guatemala, Honduras, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Haiti, Peru. Note: Haitians and Cubans are much more likely to present themselves at ports of entry than to cross illegally somewhere else.  

The rise in family migration also presents new challenges because families and unaccompanied minors require differentiated accommodations from single adults.  Biden implemented the Family Expedited Removal Management (FERM) program, which subjects families to an expedited credible fear process in, according to the US government,  a non-detained setting. The family encounters in FY 2023 were predominantly of Mexicans, Hondurans, and Guatemalans, with the numbers increasing steadily after the termination of Title 42. There were 87,000 apprehensions of Mexican family units in FY 2023—more than the total number of Mexican families encountered from 2016 through 2022.

Sources:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/24/world/americas/why-are-so-many-venezuelans-going-to-the-united-states.html?emci=90dcc0d9-835c-ee11-9937-00224832eb73&emdi=a14be971-865c-ee11-9937-00224832eb73&ceid=4629123

https://www.ohchr.org/en/hr-bodies/hrc/ffmv/index

https://www.wola.org/analysis/sexual-violence-against-detained-women-in-venezuela-a-government-strategy/

https://www.dhs.gov/news/2023/10/18/dhs-announces-family-reunification-parole-process-ecuador

https://www.migrationpolicy.org/news/border-numbers-fy2023?eType=EmailBl...

4- Georgia Detention Center 

More than 120 people detained in a detention center in Georgia, called Stewart Detention Center, submitted a petition in October to local officials and the Biden Administration demanding action in response to conditions within the detention center. The individuals detained in the detention center are living in conditions including, mold leading to eye conditions, spoiled food causing food poisoning, denial of hot water and medical care neglect. Stewart Detention Center is privately operated by mega prison corporation CoreCivic and contracted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The petition was filed alongside a civil rights complaint detailing medical neglect along with a petition filed in late August describing how the mold issue has led to serious eye and vision problems. Stewart is known to be one of the largest and deadliest centers in the country. The people there have faced avoidable deaths, violent use of force, sexual assault, forced labor, and other human rights violations. Nine people have died at Stewart since 2017.

The petition has the following demands:

-Address the mold problems found throughout the detention facility; 

-Fix plumbing issues, ensuring reliable access to hot water for showers and for the kitchen;

-Improved medical and mental health care; petition signatories report difficulty scheduling medical appointments and failure to receive treatment for food poisoning, PTSD, chronic injuries and other issues;

-Edible, healthy and safe food; 

-Bathroom and water access within the law library; 

-Greater staff accountability (employees often refuse to perform their duties related to individuals’ cases). 

Source: https://www.freedomforimmigrants.org/news/mass-petition-filed-stewart-detention-center

5- 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.

OCT 16 - El Paso, Texas, has become a focal point of national debate due to media coverage of migrant surges at the U.S.-Mexico border. Major outlets like The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal describe the strain on the city, the nation, and the economy, terming it a “crisis.” El Paso resident Nastassia Artalejo and activist Ivonne Diaz express frustration over polarizing opinions, emphasizing that media coverage often lacks the perspective of locals. The city, being the second-most crossed entry point to the U.S., dances increasing militarization, with federal agents and soldiers deployed. Critics like Robert Heyman criticize the deployment, highlighting the risks of involving soldiers trained for combat in civilian roles. El Paso’s history, including tragic incidents tied to military presence, illustrates the impact of militarization. Activist Juan Paul Flores Vazquez and organizer Juan Ortiz point out the danger of the situation, with federal agencies and militias intensifying repression. Despite federal spending on border security, El Paso remains one of the poorest areas in the U.S. Flores Vazquez and Ortiz advocate for a human-centered approach, emphasizing that the crisis is policy-induced and that community support is crucial. According to Ortiz, the people of the border are the “order” in the face of chaos.   

OCT 18 - The Biden-Harris Administration is implementing a Family Reunification Parole (FRP) process for certain Ecuadorian nationals with U.S. citizen or permanent resident family members, aiming to enhance lawful pathways and minimize irregular migration. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas emphasizes the promotion of family unity and the reduction of reliance on dangerous journeys. The FRP allows parole on a case-by-case basis for up to three years, providing eligible individuals with employment authorization while awaiting immigrant visa availability. The discretionary parole authority is in line with the administration's strategy to establish lawful and safe migration options. The detailed application process and eligibility criteria will be outlined in a forthcoming Federal Register Notice.

OCT 18 - The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the largest federal law enforcement agency, faces issues of accountability and oversight, contributing to a culture of violence. Despite 288 fatal encounters since 2010, no CBP agent has been successfully convicted in the agency's 90-year history. These encounters include deaths resulting from use of force, vehicle collisions, failure to provide medical attention, and off-duty homicides. According to SBCC's analysis, 77 deaths were caused by on-duty CBP agents' use of force, 101 due to vehicle collisions, and 74 related to inadequate medical attention. The reported deaths are likely an undercount, and CBP's reliability in reporting such information is questioned, as highlighted in a 2020 Government Accountability Office report. To read the full article visit the Website

NOV 14 - The number of Venezuelans crossing the US-Mexico border has significantly dropped by 46% following the resumption of deportation flights last month, according to Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) statistics. In October, 29,637 Venezuelans were apprehended, down from the record high of 54,833 in September. The US government, under President Joe Biden, had announced the deportation of ineligible Venezuelans for asylum or temporary legal status. The decline is attributed to the "resumption of removal flights," as stated by Acting CBP Commissioner Troy Miller, emphasizing consequences for unlawful border crossings. Despite this, the handling of the influx has drawn criticism, with even Democratic officials like New York City Mayor Eric Adams faulting the federal government for inadequate support in accommodating and assisting newly arrived migrants. The Venezuelan migration issue, fueled by the collapse of the country's economy under President Nicolás Maduro, remains a contentious and politically charged concern.

SOURCES 

1. El Paso Residents Say “Border Crisis” Is Manufactured, Reject Militarization | Truthout
2. DHS Announces Family Reunification Parole Process for Ecuador | Homeland Security
3. Fatal Encounters with CBP - Southern Border Communities Coalition
4. Number of Venezuelan migrants at US-Mexico border halves (bbc.com)

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- Senate Republicans Demand Restrictions on Asylum, More Detention

Calling themselves the “Republican Working Group,” three Republican senators issued a one-page document on November 6 summarizing the border and migration proposals they demand to include in the supplemental budget request that Biden is submitting for the war in Ukraine, Israel/Gaza, and the US-Mexico border. Drawing its demands from H.R. 2, the “Secure the Border Act of 2023,” which passed the House of Representatives on May 11, this “Republican Working Group” is demanding extreme measures that would block access to asylum.

Here are nine of the most alarming proposals, among many in the radical legislation that passed the House in May (without a single Democratic vote in favor):

 1. Ban asylum access for people who did not cross the border at ports of entry. (If they crossed elsewhere—the Rio Grande, a desert, over the border wall—people who just underwent a treacherous journey would be deported without a fair hearing.)

2. Ban the use of the CBPOne app to schedule appointments for asylum or other migration relief—currently the only mechanism for scheduling appointments. (For all its flaws, the app provides at least a mechanism for 1,450 daily appointments at the official border crossings. Without a system for appointments, CBP officers at ports of entry could return to blocking all but a trickle of asylum seekers.)

 3. Ban asylum access for people who pass through other countries without seeking asylum there. (Asylum seekers, then, would even have to seek asylum in the most impoverished, dangerous, and poorly governed countries through which they passed.)

 4. Heighten eligibility standards to pass a credible fear interview. (Currently,credible fear interviews, which often take place during rushed “expedited removal” procedures, already raise due process concerns, but about 2/3 of migrants do pass their credible fear interviews.)

 5. Revive “Safe Third Country” agreements. (The Trump administration had convinced Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador to sign agreements in which those countries would accept asylum seekers of other nationalities, flown there from the U.S.-Mexico border.)

 6. Revive the “Remain in Mexico” policy. (This is a Trump-era program that forced 71,068 asylum seekers from third countries to await their U.S. immigration court dates inside Mexico. At least 1,500 asylum seekers suffered violent attacks after being made to remain in Mexico, according to information compiled by Human Rights First.)

 7. Expand the detention of migrants, including asylum seekers, and reopen infamous Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facilities. (These Republicans want to require detention for the duration of a migrant’s  asylum adjudication process, meaning some people would be detained for years. This would force the re-opening of some ICE detention centers that have been shut down for abuse and neglect.)

 8. Restart and expand family and child detention. (At a cost well above $300 per family per day, in contractor-managed detention centers, children would be exposed to trauma that can have long-lasting impacts on their development and well-being.)

9. Restrict temporary humanitarian parole. (This would end Biden’s current program that allows nationals of Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela to be paroled into the US each month rather than go through the credible fear process at the border. It would also likely end Biden’s “Uniting for Ukraine” program.)

 If the Senate Republicans’ November 6 proposal were to become law, it would deny asylum to almost all protection-seeking migrants, unless:

-that migrant sought asylum and received rejections in every country through which they passed en route to the United States.

-that migrant presented at a land-border port of entry (official border crossing), even though CBP strictly limits asylum seekers’ access to these facilities.

-the U.S. government could not send that migrant to a third country to seek asylum there.

-in an initial “credible fear” interview within days of apprehension, that migrant met a higher screening standard.

If an asylum seeker clears those hurdles, the Republican* proposal would require them to await their court hearings in ICE detention—even if they are a parent with children—or while “remaining in Mexico.”

This proposal is extraordinarily radical. 

 *The authors of this demand re border/asylum/detention policy are: U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee; U.S. Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas), member of the Senate Judiciary Committee; and U.S. Senator James Lankford (R-Oklahoma), Ranking Member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Government Management and Border Operations.  

Source:

https://www.wola.org/analysis/us-congress-must-not-gut-right-asylum-time-historic-need

6- Biden Border Plan

The Biden Border Plan is facing hardships.  Record numbers of families are arriving with children, intensifying strains on US cities and charitable organizations. US agents along the southern border have made more than 9,000 arrests a day, including a number of families. This is making it even more difficult for the government to accommodate the rising numbers than adults traveling by themselves. More than 103,000 parents traveling with children crossed the southern border undocumented in September, the highest number ever. 

With the influx of migrant families, more and more of them end up sleeping on the streets. Republican governors signed a letter to Biden saying his policies are encouraging undocumented immigration, on Sept. 19. “New York Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, this week headed to Mexico, Ecuador and Colombia on what he called a fact-finding mission after saying thousands of migrants have overwhelmed the city’s shelters.” In Chicago, migrants are camped out at O’Hare International Airport and on the tile-floor of neighborhood police departments, some are even asleep on sidewalks outside. 

The Biden Administration had warned that crossings at the border could soar after the end of Title 42 in May. They expanded opportunities for migrants to arrive legally and threatened harsher penalties for crossing illegally. The legal ways for migrants to cross the border are being challenged by the court systems. The Biden Administration is getting little to no help from Congress, which for years has failed to pass broad new immigration laws, and since Biden took office, has ignored his exhortations to create more legal immigration pathways to relieve labor shortages and improve border security. 

Even though adult men have been dominating migrant streams in the past, now records show that families are arriving from all over the world without any friends or relatives in the US willing to sponsor them. These migrants are being rushed onto buses heading to other cities, such as Chicago, where they end up experiencing homelessness. 

The Biden Administration says that it is continuing to strictly enforce immigration laws at the border, and families are not immune. However, these enforcement initiatives are not keeping up with the number of arrivals. More than 800,000 migrants crossed illegally between May and September. Authorities deported about 295,000 during that span. Biden officials proposed a more restrictive model that would assign migrant families to “community residential centers,” housing facilities where they would stay until their asylum case was completed. A White House supplemental funding request asked Congress to allow U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to set up and operate the facilities, where migrants would have access to medical services, legal assistance, counseling, and educational and recreational programming. Asylum seekers would be allowed to come and go during the day, a provision that administration officials believe would exempt the facilities from the 20-day limit set by federal courts on the amount of time children can be held in immigration detention.

Source:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2023/10/06/border-families-migrants-biden-chicago/?emci=5609139b-d266-ee11-9937-00224832eb73&emdi=575a9eef-d466-ee11-9937-00224832eb73&ceid=4629123 

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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) Stop Border Militarization

Every U.S. taxpayer dollar given to ICE (Immigration Customs Enforcement) and CBP (Customs and Border Protection) is money that harms people in our communities and those seeking refuge from devastating conditions. As Congress considers a new funding bill for FY24, we must move away from funding state violence—in forms of arrests, detentions, and deportations—to focusing on investing in education, healthcare, and supporting families. 

TAKE ACTION

Click here to call on Congress to cut funding to ICE and CBP, end border militarization, reduce invasive border surveillance technologies, and cut surveillance-based Intensive Supervision Appearance Program (ISAP) of asylum applicants.

B) Jews Demand: No More Money to Harm Migrants

Right now, Congress is debating whether to send billions more dollars to the agencies that separate, detain, and deport our immigrant family and militarize border communities. Twice in two months, Bend the Arc and our partners in the Defund Hate coalition helped block billions of dollars for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Now we must keep up the pressure — $7.8 billion is still on the table for CBP and ICE, and Congress is still considering whether to grant these agencies this funding.

TAKE ACTION

Click here to to tell your senators and congressperson to reject supplemental funding to ICE and CBP and any policy changes that would harm our immigrant family.

C) Tell Congress: Create a Children’s Immigration Court

Unaccompanied children have traveled hundreds or even thousands of miles to the United States, often completely on their own, to escape extreme violence, sexual abuse, human trafficking, and other dangers. 

Once they have reached the United States, these children must navigate the complex U.S. immigration system, including an immigration court system that was designed for adults.  

The Immigration Court Efficiency and Children’s Court Act of 2023 is commonsense, bipartisan and bicameral legislation that would help strengthen due process for unaccompanied children and alleviate the immigration court backlog. Please, join KIND today and urge your members of Congress to pass this groundbreaking bill. 

TAKE ACTION

Click here to urge your legislators to support the Immigration Court Efficiency and Children’s Court Act (HR 6145/S 3178), which has bipartisan support.

D) Root Causes of Migration: Haiti

The violence in Haiti is untenable. Gang violence in Haiti has killed over 1,230 people between July and September of this year alone. In response, the United Nations, with U.S. leadership, has authorized Kenya to deploy troops on the ground. This U.S.-backed police intervention will only escalate the violence, and more violence is never the solution. Tell your members of Congress to take these five, concrete steps for peace. 

TAKE ACTION

Click here to tell Congress to 1. Help pass the Haiti Criminal Collusion Transparency Act S. 396/H.R. 1684; 2. Pressure the Department of Homeland Security to eliminate illegal gun smuggling from the U.S. to Haiti; 3. Call on Secretary of State Blinken to end U.S. support for Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who was not elected, and has impeded civil society efforts to a democratic transition; 4. change USAID's approach to hunger and agriculture in Haiti to invest in initiatives to mitigate the impact of drought, as well as training and technology for small-scale farmers; 5. Call on the White House and DHS to halt deportations of Haitians and accelerate work permits to migrants who have received TPS and Humanitarian Parole.

E) Help Migrants & Refugees Here in Cleveland

The Refugee Resource Center assists refugees and other displaced people, including the Ukrainians and Afghans resettled by Catholic Charities Migration and Refugee Services. It operates in the basement of St. Colman’s Parish and opens up on Saturdays from 9-12 for new arrivals to come get necessities that are not provided by other assistance. Currently the Resource Center sees 25-35 families per week, many of whom are very large. Currently there is a great need for diapers, feminine napkins, toilet paper and laundry detergent. Other things that they always need: Shampoo, body soap, deodorant, dish soap and general household cleaner. If you or your parish could collect some of these items, please let Kelly know at kabon@ccdocle.org and she will help you arrange drop off at the site. Contact the parish at StColmanParish@gmail.com or call 216 651 0550

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Thank you for reading IRTF’s Migrant Justice Newsletter!

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