With the expiration of Title 42 on May 11, 2023, we thought it apt to share the Last Week Tonight with John Oliver April 30, 2023 episode “Biden and the Border” which examines President Biden’s failure to deliver on a key campaign promise to asylum seekers allowing them back on US soil to file for asylum. The British-American comedian, political commentator, and television host, appropriately notes “we’re just entering a different phase of an immigration dystopia, particularly for asylum seekers.” Mr. Oliver shines a light on the administration’s “bad policy and s*itty apps”, namely the “CBP One” app.
Read more53 Migrants Died After Human Traffickers Abandoned Them in a Scorching Truck
Desperate to flee political unrest, gang violence, extreme poverty, or extreme climate disasters, thousands of people resort to risking their lives every year to seek safety for themselves and their families in the United States. On Monday, June 27, 2022, a tragedy occurred that is “among the worst episodes of migrant death in the United States in recent years.” Sixty-two migrants who had crossed the US border were locked into an unventilated tractor trailer in the scorching heat outside of San Antonio, Texas and left to die. The bodies of forty-six people hailing from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador were found dead inside the truck after a person working in the area reported hearing a cry for help and spotted at least one body. Sixteen others, including four children, were hospitalized for heat stroke. Unfortunately, seven more lives have been lost since June 27th, raising the total fatalities to fifty-three at this time.
Read moreThe Washington Post: “’They just took them?’ Frantic parents separated from their kids fill courts on the border”
Under the Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance” policy, federal courts across Texas have become flooded with undocumented immigrant mothers and fathers that have been separated from their children and criminally charged for illegally crossing the US border. This new policy shift has become an increasingly popular tactic amongst border patrol officials as a way to stop undocumented immigrants and their families from entering the US. “If you’re smuggling a child, then we’re going to prosecute you, and that child will be separated from you,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions says. “If you don’t want your child to be separated, then don’t bring him across the border illegally.”
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