Migrant Rights

The Reality Of Border Patrol’s Confiscation Of Migrants’ Belongings

February 12, 2024 ACLU of Arizona. Educate! Border Patrol, Immigration, Migrant Rights, Theft

In our report we outline what CBP and Border Patrol should do to address this issue. In summary, CBP must ensure consistency in Border Patrol’s approach towards migrants and respect for their personal belongings by: Allowing migrants to retain as many of their personal belongings as possible, prioritizing essential belongings – from the Border Patrol’s initial encounter with migrants to their release from U.S. government custody; Ensuring that migrants in, and released from, its custody have continuous access to their medications or medical devices; Ensuring that Border Patrol affords care and respect towards migrants’ religious garb and other articles of faith and that it complies with the legal protections guaranteed under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

Asylum Seekers Stranded Along Border Wall Near Sasabe, Arizona

January 21, 2024 Ryan Fatica, Unicorn Riot. Educate! Arizona, Asylum, Border Patrol, Mexico, Migrant Rights

The afternoon sun cut diagonally through the 16-foot-tall concrete-reinforced steel bollards marking the international boundary between the United States and Mexico east of Sasabe, Arizona. The wall’s long shadows cast a strobe light effect on cars passing along the roughly graded road cut into the mountainside along the U.S. side of the desert.

80+ Groups Descend On DC, Demand Gaza Cease-Fire, Migrant Rights

December 20, 2023 Brett Wilkins, Common Dreams. Resist! Ceasefire, climate crisis, Gaza, Immigration, Israel, Migrant Rights, Palestine, Washington DC

Activists from more than 80 advocacy groups took to Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday to protest what they called the Israeli genocide in Palestine and "cruel" immigration policies here in the United States. The demonstrators demanded a permanent cease-fire in Gaza, an end to American military aid for Israel, and protection for migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border. "As the Biden administration and Senate Democrats indicate a willingness to advance cruel immigration proposals in order to pass a spending package that will send billions of dollars to Israel to continue its genocide in Gaza, we come together as a coalition of immigrant, Palestinian, and allied organizations dedicated to fighting for justice and liberation.

Migrant Health In Chicago Suffers Due To Lack Of Planning And Support

October 28, 2023 Candice Choo-Kang, People's Dispatch. Educate! Chicago, Health Care, Housing, Migrant Rights

Over 17,000 migrants from Latin American and Caribbean countries have been bused into Chicago since August 2022, the majority arriving since May 2023 when Title 42 expulsions ended. Chicago has struggled to house these new arrivals, and has resorted to hosting many in park field houses and police stations. As of October 13, about 3,000 migrants are being hosted at police stations, with hundreds of these families sleeping outside in recreational camping tents as the number of people allowed to stay inside the stations has been limited. To address the overflow problem, the city plans to create “base camps” where migrants will be sheltered in winterized tents.

Women-Led Groups In Chicago Spearhead Response To Migrant Influx

September 12, 2023 Rebekah Barber, Scheer Post. Organize! Chicago, Housing, Migrant Rights, Sanctuary, Women Activism

Over the past year, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has bused more than 13,000 migrants to Chicago. Many entered the city with next to nothing — and some didn’t even make it safely. Last month, the Texas Department of Emergency Management announced that a 3-year-old girl had died en route to Chicago from Texas — the first known fatality of Abbott’s Operation Lone Star. For years, Chicago has declared itself a sanctuary city, and substantial state and local resources have been allocated, helping many of the new arrivals tomove into more permanent housing. Still, about 6,500 of these migrants are spread out across 15 shelters, and about 1,500 are sleeping at airports and police stations.

Volunteers And Victims Of US Border Patrol Violence Demand Justice

April 17, 2023 Margaret Flowers, Clearing the FOG. Podcast - Clearing The FOG Border Patrol, Migrant Rights, Supreme Court, Violence

Hundreds of people die every year at the hands of US Border Patrol agents, either from being beaten, shot, car chases or being left stranded in the desert, simply for exercising their right to move. A US Supreme Court decision, Hernandez Vs Mesa, in February 2020 granted the US Border Patrol the ability to murder people on the Mexican side of the border without being held accountable. Clearing the FOG spoke with four women from the Border Patrol Victims Network - Ana Maria Vasquez and Tracye Peterson, who are volunteers, Marisol Garcia Alcantara, who was shot by border agents, and Yanelis Laurencia, whose 23-year-old son was murdered. They are working to raise awareness of the rampant violence on the border that targets migrants and local residents, and to demand justice.

IUVENTA: Humanity On Trial

May 28, 2022 Titus Molkenbur, Progressive International. Educate! Europe, Immigration, Legal System, Migrant Rights

On 2 August 2017, Italian authorities seized the IUVENTA, our search and rescue ship. We, a group of young students and activists from Germany, had started this journey by earning our first donations selling cookies and second-hand clothes at a flea market. Between the summer of 2016 and the IUVENTA's seizure, we had rescued more than 14,000 people who had embarked on the dangerous journey across the deadliest border in the world, the Central Mediterranean Route to Europe. Now, our comrades stand accused of "aiding and abetting unauthorized immigration". These charges are based on the testimony of a former police officer who worked as a security guard on another rescue ship.

Alarm Phone, The Hotline For People In Need Of Rescue

April 17, 2022 Ricard González, Equal Times. Create! Human Rights, Mediterranean, Migrant Rights, Refugees

In early March, in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the EU announced the activation of a never-before-used directive, authorising entry to the EU of an unlimited number of people fleeing disaster. Ukrainian refugees will have the right to reside and work in the EU for one year, extendable to three, a right that refugees fleeing other recent wars, such as those in Syria and Afghanistan, have been denied. It is not known how many people from these countries never reached European territory, having died in the attempt, drowned in the Mediterranean. Alarm Phone’s network of volunteers relies on two basic tools in its work to help prevent migrants and refugees from dying at sea.

Students March For Pathway To Citizenship At ‘Welcome Back Congress’

September 22, 2021 Ryan White, Diamondback News. Resist! Congress, Infrastructure Bill, Migrant Rights, Youth Activism

A steady chorus of drums and symbols filled Benjamin Banneker Park in Washington, D.C., as the sun peaked in the overcast sky above. A sea of protesters joined the beat and began chanting. “Congreso, escucha, estamos en la lucha,” the crowd roared in Spanish, each repetition growing louder. Their voices rose above the percussion and were greeted by an enthusiastic organizer speaking into a microphone. The “Welcome Back Congress” march had officially begun. Around a thousand activists and immigrants — including a humble contingent from the University of Maryland — converged in Washington, D.C., Tuesday as Congress returned from its August recess. The march, organized by CASA, a grassroots immigrant advocacy organization, demanded that a pathway to citizenship remain in the budget reconciliation package.

Daily movement news and resources