You are here

IRTF News

News Article

In April, immigration judges set two alarming records by closing over 11,000 asylum cases and denying 80% of them in a single month. An avalanche of asylum denials is just beginning.

News Article

By Melissa Berkey-Gerard

Bryan Stevenson says, “Everyone is more than the worst thing they’ve ever done.” Stevenson, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, defends those who are unfairly imprisoned, especially those wrongfully condemned to death row in the US. He has dedicated his life to ending the injustice that is the death penalty. If we start with the belief that each person is deserving of grace and dignity, regardless of what they have done, we can imagine a different approach. A premise that people deserve a second chance, a real opportunity for transformation and restoration, healing from trauma and a way out of poverty. An outlook that recognizes that the current system both criminalizes poverty, and profits from incarceration. 

News Article

The arrest of López, a prominent lawyer in El Salvador who helped uncover alleged government corruption, has become emblematic of the increasing authoritarianism of President Nayib Bukele.

The arrests are part of an escalating crackdown by Bukele on the last bastion of dissent in a country where he already controls all state institutions, analysts and activists say. López’s arrest and a new law targeting nongovernmental organizations have accelerated an exodus of civil society: In recent weeks, dozens of academics, lawyers, researchers, human rights defenders and journalists have fled the country.

Their departures resemble the flights of critics from autocratic regimes in Nicaragua and Venezuela, but with a key difference. This time, the United States isn’t condemning the repression — it’s deepening ties with its author.

The Trump administration, which is paying Bukele’s government to imprison migrants deported from the U.S., is praising his leadership and holding him up as a model for the region. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau traveled to El Salvador last week as part of his first foreign trip, the purpose of which was to “further strengthen diplomatic ties and cooperation.”

Pages