U.S. detention and deportation policies have long been the source of separation for immigrant families seeking to be together. María crossed the U.S.–Mexico border twice to visit her father who she has not seen in a decade, but it is not clear how or when that reunion will take place. María came to the KBI in mid-August, after serving 30 days in a U.S. prison and being deported to Nogales, Sonora. She hasn’t seen her dad in 10 years, and her goal was to live with him in Atlanta, work to send … [Read more...]
Archives for November 2017
The Immigration Prosecution Factory
Initiated in 2005 to expedite immigration court proceedings, Operation Streamline is rife with problems—due process concerns, asylum seekers lost in the shuffle, separated families, the whole enterprise an offense to human dignity and presumptive innocence. Prosecutions are not a substitute for solid, sensible immigration reform. Yet the program has expanded in the past, and we are likely to see it grow yet again under the Trump Administration. As Central Americans flooded the U.S.–Mexico … [Read more...]
KBI Media Report: October 2017
The major news stories this past month concern the renewal of temporary protected status for eligible immigrants, border wall plans as a diversion from immigration reform and human suffering, and the arrest and detention of a Texas child soon after emergency surgery. Temporary Protected Status: The Trump Administration has announced that it will not renew the temporary protected status (TPS) extended to Nicaraguans in the U.S. who came here after Hurricane Mitch hit Central America in 1998, … [Read more...]
KBI November Announcements
We are pleased to share news about an award granted to the KBI by the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA); the results of the annual Tucson fundraiser; our participation in the Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice; recent immersions; and a just-released documentary about the worldwide immigration crisis. Award from the Washington Office on Latin America: On Tuesday, October 24, at the Mayflower Renaissance in Washington, D.C., the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) presented … [Read more...]
Defending Temporary Protected Status
In the coming months, the Department of Homeland Security will determine the fate of more than 300,000 people from El Salvador, Honduras, and Haiti who emigrated to the U.S. after receiving temporary protected status (TPS) in response to climate events and armed conflict in their home countries. DHS has already decided not to renew TPS for some 2,500 Nicaraguans, and extended TPS for Hondurans by only 6 months. After close to 20 years in the U.S., these immigrants have integrated into their … [Read more...]