Will Democrats pay a price for Obama’s deportation raids?

There are lots of things the Obama administration is doing to make life miserable for survivors of extreme violence, going way beyond merely enforcing the law

One of the most popular themes of 2016 general-election prognosticators is that Donald Trump simply cannot find enough white males to carry him to victory—and that’s the only way he can win. His alienation of Latinos in particular, beginning when he denounced Mexican immigrants as rapists in his campaign announcement speech, has triggered a backlash, with surges of non-white voter registration in states like California. All Democrats need to do in November, the thinking goes, is sit back and collect the votes of people of color against a boor like Trump.
Amid polls showing Trump neck-and-neck with likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, this is a reassuring notion for Democrats and #NeverTrump types alike. But it also makes the Obama administration’s latest round of aggressive deportation raids, which will target Central American mothers and children fleeing violence and possible death, all the more puzzling.
The crackdown threatens to squander a historic political advantage in 2016. It could even disrupt a generational political realignment between Democrats and Hispanics. But putting politics aside (for a moment), the White House’s position is wholly indefensible. The political danger is real—but it’s ultimately a sidelight to a senseless human tragedy.
This all sprung from bad publicity after a surge of Central American migrants in 2014. The migrants came mostly from three countries—Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador—with staggering levels of violence. Homicide rates in the “Northern Triangle” countries range between seven and 24 times the U.S. average. Women and girls are in particular peril, targeted by gangs and organized crime for extortion fees, recruited into their organizations, or simply singled out for violence.
What if draconian Obama-era immigration policies cause Latinos to tune out the Democrats as well as the Republicans?
It’s not hard to find experts who agree that these people have legitimate asylum claims. That would include the U.S. government, at least ostensibly: According to federal statistics compiled by the Center for American Progress, 82 percent of women interviewed by asylum officers had a “credible fear of persecution or torture,” the initial step to receiving clearance to stay. But the Obama administration has endeavored to stop the migrations. More than 10,000 unaccompanied minors have been issued deportation orders in the past two years, to say nothing of adults. More recently, unprecedented home raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) began in January, with more planned for this month.
While these are small-scale operations, deporting hundreds rather than thousands, the implications are obvious. “The Obama Administration is trying to send a deterrence message to Central America to deter asylum-seekers from coming,” says Mary Small of the Detention Watch Network, a coalition of groups working on immigration enforcement. “There’s political signaling as well, proving they’re tough on border security.”
People don’t want to wrestle with the implications of this, so let’s lay it out: The U.S. government is sending people back to dangerous countries to face death. The Guardian investigated this and confirmed multiple cases of people gunned down in their hometowns shortly after being deported from the U.S. Local news reports in Northern Triangle countries put the number at 83 murders of deported asylum seekers, and this was in October 2015—before the home raids began.
The Immigration Policy Center interviewed women who were recently deported to the Northern Triangle, and they described living in constant fear. “The first time they called, they told me that if I didn’t join the gang they were going to kill me and take my children,” said Gabriela, a citizen of El Salvador. Andrea, a Guatemalan, said she never leaves her house: “I live practically encaged here.”
The three family detention centers where migrants with children are held, pending deportation, are simply inhumane. The two biggest, located near the border in Texas, are owned and operated by America’s two major private prison companies: Corrections Corporation of America runs the South Texas Residential Family Center in Dilley, and Geo Group manages a separate facility in nearby Karnes. Last July, the Dilley family detention center gave a hepatitis A vaccine in adult doses to children, sending them all to the hospital.
Activists fighting family detention liken the centers to Japanese internment camps, and claim the detentions have stunted cognitive development and increased trauma among children. In a controversial move, Texas designated these sites as child care centers in order to comply with a federal lawsuit called Flores, which requires immigrant children to be held in non-secure, licensed facilities. Considering that children cannot leave them, it’s impossible to see how the Texas detention centers could qualify as “non-secure.” Activists sued to reverse the designation, and Texas District Judge Karin Crump issued a temporary restraining order against it. The judge will decide the case this week.
The Obama administration pressured Texas to license these facilities to reach legal compliance—a rare instance of the White House and perhaps the most anti-Obama state in the nation working together. “They’re completely on the same side,” Mary Small says. In the past two years, she adds, ICE has stopped releasing asylum seekers if they passed the initial “credible fear” screening, leaving them to fight their cases from detention centers—which is exceedingly difficult because of the detainees’ limited access to legal counsel. “We’ve paid a lot of attention about how this is affecting kids, but we missed it on adults,” Small says.
In other words, there are lots of things the Obama administration is doing to make life miserable for survivors of extreme violence, going way beyond merely enforcing the law. And that brings us back to politics, because it cannot help but have an indelible impact on how those communities feel about Democrats over the long term.
    New Republic

Will Democrats pay a price for Obamas deportation raids?

There are lots of things the Obama administration is doing to make life miserable for survivors of extreme violence, going way beyond merely enforcing the law

One of the most popular themes of 2016 general-election prognosticators is that Donald Trump simply cannot find enough white males to carry him to victoryand thats the only way he can win. His alienation of Latinos in particular, beginning when he denounced Mexican immigrants as rapists in his campaign announcement speech, has triggered a backlash, with surges of non-white voter registration in states like California. All Democrats need to do in November, the thinking goes, is sit back and collect the votes of people of color against a boor like Trump. Amid polls showing Trump neck-and-neck with likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, this is a reassuring notion for Democrats and #NeverTrump types alike. But it also makes the Obama administrations latest round of aggressive deportation raids, which will target Central American mothers and children fleeing violence and possible death, all the more puzzling. The crackdown threatens to squander a historic political advantage in 2016. It could even disrupt a generational political realignment between Democrats and Hispanics. But putting politics aside (for a moment), the White Houses position is wholly indefensible. The political danger is realbut its ultimately a sidelight to a senseless human tragedy. This all sprung from bad publicity after a surge of Central American migrants in 2014. The migrants came mostly from three countriesGuatemala, Honduras, and El Salvadorwith staggering levels of violence. Homicide rates in the Northern Triangle countries range between seven and 24 times the U.S. average. Women and girls are in particular peril, targeted by gangs and organized crime for extortion fees, recruited into their organizations, or simply singled out for violence. What if draconian Obama-era immigration policies cause Latinos to tune out the Democrats as well as the Republicans? Its not hard to find experts who agree that these people have legitimate asylum claims. That would include the U.S. government, at least ostensibly: According to federal statistics compiled by the Center for American Progress, 82 percent of women interviewed by asylum officers had a credible fear of persecution or torture, the initial step to receiving clearance to stay. But the Obama administration has endeavored to stop the migrations. More than 10,000 unaccompanied minors have been issued deportation orders in the past two years, to say nothing of adults. More recently, unprecedented home raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) began in January, with more planned for this month. While these are small-scale operations, deporting hundreds rather than thousands, the implications are obvious. The Obama Administration is trying to send a deterrence message to Central America to deter asylum-seekers from coming, says Mary Small of the Detention Watch Network, a coalition of groups working on immigration enforcement. Theres political signaling as well, proving theyre tough on border security. People dont want to wrestle with the implications of this, so lets lay it out: The U.S. government is sending people back to dangerous countries to face death. The Guardian investigated this and confirmed multiple cases of people gunned down in their hometowns shortly after being deported from the U.S. Local news reports in Northern Triangle countries put the number at 83 murders of deported asylum seekers, and this was in October 2015before the home raids began. The Immigration Policy Center interviewed women who were recently deported to the Northern Triangle, and they described living in constant fear. The first time they called, they told me that if I didnt join the gang they were going to kill me and take my children, said Gabriela, a citizen of El Salvador. Andrea, a Guatemalan, said she never leaves her house: I live practically encaged here. The three family detention centers where migrants with children are held, pending deportation, are simply inhumane. The two biggest, located near the border in Texas, are owned and operated by Americas two major private prison companies: Corrections Corporation of America runs the South Texas Residential Family Center in Dilley, and Geo Group manages a separate facility in nearby Karnes. Last July, the Dilley family detention center gave a hepatitis A vaccine in adult doses to children, sending them all to the hospital. Activists fighting family detention liken the centers to Japanese internment camps, and claim the detentions have stunted cognitive development and increased trauma among children. In a controversial move, Texas designated these sites as child care centers in order to comply with a federal lawsuit called Flores, which requires immigrant children to be held in non-secure, licensed facilities. Considering that children cannot leave them, its impossible to see how the Texas detention centers could qualify as non-secure. Activists sued to reverse the designation, and Texas District Judge Karin Crump issued a temporary restraining order against it. The judge will decide the case this week. The Obama administration pressured Texas to license these facilities to reach legal compliancea rare instance of the White House and perhaps the most anti-Obama state in the nation working together. Theyre completely on the same side, Mary Small says. In the past two years, she adds, ICE has stopped releasing asylum seekers if they passed the initial credible fear screening, leaving them to fight their cases from detention centerswhich is exceedingly difficult because of the detainees limited access to legal counsel. Weve paid a lot of attention about how this is affecting kids, but we missed it on adults, Small says. In other words, there are lots of things the Obama administration is doing to make life miserable for survivors of extreme violence, going way beyond merely enforcing the law. And that brings us back to politics, because it cannot help but have an indelible impact on how those communities feel about Democrats over the long term. New Republic