{"id":588015,"date":"2018-06-01T07:13:38","date_gmt":"2018-06-01T13:13:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=588015"},"modified":"2018-06-01T07:13:38","modified_gmt":"2018-06-01T13:13:38","slug":"attorneys-push-to-end-separation-of-families-that-enter-u-s-illegally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/06\/attorneys-push-to-end-separation-of-families-that-enter-u-s-illegally\/","title":{"rendered":"Attorneys push to end separation of families that enter U.S. illegally"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_145694\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-145694\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/BorderPatrol-771x476.jpg\" alt=\"Border Patrol\" width=\"771\" height=\"476\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/BorderPatrol-771x476.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/BorderPatrol-336x207.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/BorderPatrol-768x474.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/BorderPatrol-1170x722.jpg 1170w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/BorderPatrol.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Heath Haussamen \/ NMPolitics.net<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">A scene from the U.S.\/Mexico border. In the foreground, behind a barbed-wire fence, U.S. Border Patrol agents speak with each other in El Paso, Texas. Across the Rio Grande, in the background, is Cuidad Ju\u00e1rez, Mexico.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>A coalition of Texas-based attorneys have opened up a new front in the effort to stop the Trump administration from separating immigrant parents from their children after they enter the country and seek asylum.<\/p>\n<p>The group said on Thursday it has filed an emergency <a href=\"http:\/\/texascivilrightsproject.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/20180531-Emergency-Request-For-Precautionary-Measures_Redacted.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">request<\/a> to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to order the United States to end the practice and also reunite families that have already been separated. The commission is part of the Organization of American States.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"module align-left half type-aside\">\n<h3>About this article<\/h3>\n<p>This article originally appeared in\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2018\/05\/31\/texas-based-attorney-ask-oas-order-feds-end-family-separation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Texas Tribune<\/a>,\u00a0a nonpartisan, nonprofit media organization that informs Texans and engages with them about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>The petition was filed by attorneys with the Alamo-based Texas Civil Rights Project, the Washington-based Women\u2019s Refugee Commission, McAllen-based Garcia and Garcia law firm and the University of Texas at Austin\u2019s school of law. The filing is on behalf of five families who were separated by Customs and Border Protection agents in South Texas.<\/p>\n<p>The separations increased exponentially after U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2018\/04\/06\/feds-order-border-prosecutors-adopt-zero-tolerance-policy-immigration\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">announced<\/a>\u00a0last month his office was imposing a \u201czero tolerance\u201d policy on people who enter the country illegally.\u00a0The practice went into full force earlier this month.<\/p>\n<p>The policy means that parents who enter the country illegally to seek asylum are prosecuted for illegal entry while their children are taken to shelters or placed elsewhere.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cChildren are forced into separate proceedings apart from their parents and asked to speak for themselves in court, while parents must fight for asylum from within remote immigration detention centers,\u201d Denise Gilman, the director and clinical professor for The University of Texas School of Law, said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>Zen\u00e9n Jaimes P\u00e9rez, the communications director for the Texas Civil Rights Project, said the filing specifically falls under Article 25 of the commission\u2019s rules of procedure, which addresses \u201can urgent and immediate human rights crisis.\u201d<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>He said the next step is to see if the commission, which meets again Friday, will\u00a0tell the U.S. Department of State it is investigating the issue.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEven if the United States doesn\u2019t comply with whatever order the commission makes, in the process of doing this we can start reviewing more information about what is actually happening with separated children and all of the other details a lot of folks are in the dark about,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat the commission does is say [as a member nation], &#8216;We\u2019re adopting these precautionary measures, and we\u2019re requiring you to do X, Y, Z.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The petition with the OAS comes as the American Civil Liberties Union is awaiting a decision on a class-action lawsuit that also seeks to end family separations at the border. The case was filed in California in February but was later amended to include as a plaintiff a Brazilian woman who was detained in El Paso after her minor child was sent to Chicago to a center for unaccompanied minors, according to court filings.<\/p>\n<p>P\u00e9rez said his organization completely backs the ACLU\u2019s efforts, but he said the OAS petition could mean faster relief for the petitioners, and he said not all of the families involved in the OAS matter would necessarily meet the class-action lawsuit\u2019s threshold.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne victory for us would be if the United States says, \u2018We don\u2019t want to deal with this. Just give these people their kids back,\u2019\u201d he said.<script async src=\"https:\/\/cdn.texastribune.org\/pixel\/dot.min.29c708b3d0da5d17a725.js\" integrity=\"sha384-8Xwf\/TlQnmHiajg1t3dn8w4qlF1rmV33o5NAQVXYu0T2q3rHV5579zrSmRjh+XnM\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\" data-tt-canonical=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2018\/05\/31\/texas-based-attorney-ask-oas-order-feds-end-family-separation\/\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A coalition of Texas-based attorneys filed an emergency request to order the United States to end the practice of family separation at the border.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":145694,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[140,234,2260],"class_list":["post-588015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-border-and-immigration","tag-children","tag-texas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=588015"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588015\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=588015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=588015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=588015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}