Immigration

A Digital Brick in the Trump-Biden Wall

April 21, 2024
Agencies, Immigration

Solomon Steen, MJLST Staffer

“Alexander explained to a CBP officer at the limit line between the U.S. and Mexico that he was seeking political asylum and refuge in the United States; the CBP officer told him to “get the fuck out of here” and pushed him backwards onto the cement, causing bruising. Alexander has continued to try to obtain a CBP One appointment every day from Tijuana. To date, he has been unable to obtain a CBP One appointment or otherwise access the U.S. asylum process…”>[1]

Alexander fled kidnapping and threats in Chechnya to seek security in the US.[2] His is a common story of migrants who have received a similar welcome. People have died and been killed waiting for an appointment to apply for asylum at the border.[3] Children with autism and schizophrenia have had to wait, exposed to the elements.[4] People whose medical vulnerabilities should have entitled them to relief have instead been preyed upon by gangs or corrupt police.[5] What is the wall blocking these people from fleeing persecution and reaching safety in the US?

The Biden administration’s failed effort to pass bipartisan legislation to curb access to asylum is part of a broader pattern of Trump-Biden continuity in immigration policy.[6] This continuity is defined by bipartisan support for increased funding for Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for enforcement of immigration law at the border and in the interior, respectively.[7] Successive Democratic and Republican administrations have increased investment in interior and border enforcement.[8] That investment has expanded technological mechanisms to surveil migrants and facilitate administration of removal.

As part of their efforts to curtail access to asylum, the Biden administration promulgated their Circumvention of Lawful Pathways rule.[9] This rule revived the Trump administration’s entry and transit bans.[10] The transit ban bars migrants from applying for asylum if they crossed through a third country en route to the US.[11] The entry ban bars asylum applicants who did not present themselves at a port of entry.[12] In East Bay Sanctuary Covenant v. Biden, the Ninth Circuit determined the rule was unlawful for directly contradicting Congressional intent in the INA granting a right of asylum to any migrant in the US regardless of manner of entry.[13] The Trump entry ban was similarly found unlawful for directly contravening the same language in the INA.[14] The Biden ban remains in effect to allow litigation regarding its legality to reach its ultimate conclusion.

The Circumvention of Lawful Pathways rule effecting the entry ban gave rise to a pattern and practice of metering asylum applicants, or requiring applicants to present at a port of entry having complied with specific conditions to avoid being turned back.[15] To facilitate the arrival of asylum seekers within a specific appointment window, DHS launched the CBP One app.[16] The app would ostensibly allow asylum applicants to schedule an appointment at a port of entry to present themselves for asylum.[17]

Al Otro Lado (AOL), Haitian Bridge, and other litigants have filed a complaint alleging the government lacks the statutory authorization to force migrants to seek an appointment through the app and that its design frustrates their rights.[18] AOL notes that by requiring migrants to make appointments to claim asylum via the app, the Biden administration has imposed a number of extra-statutory requirements on migrants entitled to claim asylum, which include that they:

(a) have access to an up-to-date, well-functioning smartphone;
(b) fluently read one of the few languages currently supported by CBP One;
(c) have access to a sufficiently strong and reliable mobile internet connection and electricity to submit the necessary information and photographs required by the app;
(d) have the technological literacy to navigate the complicated multi-step process to create an account and request an appointment via CBP One;
(e) are able to survive in a restricted area of Mexico for an indeterminate period of time while trying to obtain an appointment; and
(f) are lucky enough to obtain one of the limited number of appointments at certain POEs.[19]

The Civil Rights Education and Enforcement Center (CREEC) and the Texas Civil Rights Project have similarly filed a complaint with Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties alleging CBP One is illegally inaccessible to disabled people and this has consequently violated other rights they have as migrants.[20] Migrants may become disabled as a consequence of the immigration process or the persecution they suffered that establish their prima facie claim to asylum.[21] The CREEC complaint specifically cites Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, which says disabled members of the public must enjoy access to government tech “comparable to the access” of everyone else.[22]

CREEC and AOL – and the other service organizations joining their respective complaints – note that they have limited capacity to assist asylum seekers.[23] Migrants without such institutional or community support would be more vulnerable being denied access to asylum and subject to opportunistic criminal predation while they wait at the border.[24]

There are a litany of technical problems with the app that can frustrate meritorious asylum claims. The app requires applicants to submit a picture of their face.[25] The app’s facial recognition software frequently fails to identify portraits of darker-skinned people.[26] Racial persecution is one of the statutory grounds for claiming asylum.[27] A victim of race-based persecution can have their asylum claim frustrated on the basis of their race because of this app. Persecution on the basis of membership in a particular social group can also form the basis for an asylum claim.[28] An applicant could establish membership in a particular social group composed of certain disabled people.[29] People with facial disabilities have also struggled with the facial recognition feature.[30]

The mere fact that an app has substituted a human interaction contributes to frustration of disabled migrants’ statutory rights. Medically fragile people statutorily eligible to enter the US via humanitarian parole are unable to access that relief electronically.[31] Individuals with intellectual disabilities have also had their claims delayed by navigating CBP One.[32] Asylum officers are statutorily required to evaluate if asylum seekers lack the mental competence to assist in their applications and, if so, ensure they have qualified assistance to vindicate their claims.[33]

The entry ban has textual exceptions for migrants whose attempts to set appointments are frustrated by technical issues.[34] CBP officials at many ports have a pattern and practice of ignoring those exceptions and refusing all migrants who lack a valid CBP One appointment.[35]

AOL seeks relief in the termination of the CBP One turnback policy: essentially, ensuring people can exercise their statutory right to claim asylum at the border without an appointment.[36] CREEC seeks relief in the form of a fully accessible CBP One app and accommodation policies to ensure disabled asylum seekers can have “meaningful access” to the asylum process.[37]

Comprehensively safeguarding asylum seeker’s rights would require more than abandoning CBP One. A process that ensures medically vulnerable persons can access timely care and persons with intellectual disabilities can get legal assistance would require deploying more border resources, such as co-locating medical and resettlement organization staff with CBP. Meaningfully curbing racial, ethnic, and linguistic discrimination by CBP, ICE, and Asylum Officers would require expensive and extensive retraining. However, it is evident that the CBP One is not serving the ostensible goal of making the asylum process more efficient, though it may serve the political goal of reinforcing the wall.

Notes

[1] Complaint, at 9, Al Otro Lado and Haitian Bridge Alliance v. Mayorkas, (S.D. Cal. Jul. 26, 2023), No. 3:23-CV-01367-AGS-BLM.

[2] Id. at 46.

[3] Ana Lucia Verduzco & Stephanie Brewer, Kidnapping of Migrants and Asylum Seekers at the Texas-Tamaulipas Border Reaches Intolerable Levels, (Apr. 4, 2024) https://www.wola.org/analysis/kidnapping-migrants-asylum-seekers-texas-tamaulipas-border-intolerable-levels.

[4] Letter from the Texas Civil Rights Project & the Civil Rights Education & Enforcement Center (CREEC), to U.S. Dept. Homeland Sec., Off. Civ. Rts. & Civ. Liberties (Mar. 25, 2024), at 28, https://4b16d9e9-506a-4ada-aeca-7c3e69a4ed29.usrfiles.com/ugd/4b16d9_e98ae77035514157bc1c4c746b5545e6.pdf.

[5] Linda Urueña Mariño & Christina Asencio, Human Rights First Tracker of Reported Attacks During the Biden Administration Against Asylum Seekers and Migrants Who Are Stranded in and/or Expelled to Mexico, Human Rights First, (Jan. 13, 2022),  at 10, 16, 19, https://humanrightsfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/AttacksonAsylumSeekersStrandedinMexicoDuringBidenAdministration.1.13.2022.pdf.

[6] Actions – H.R.815 – 118th Congress (2023-2024): National Security Act, 2024, H.R.815, 118th Cong. (2024), https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/815/all-actions, (failing to pass the immigration language on 02/07/24).

[7] American Immigration Council,The Cost of Immigration Enforcement and Border Security, (Jan. 20, 2021), at 2, https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/sites/default/files/research/the_cost_of_immigration_enforcement_and_border_security.pdf.

[8] Id. at 3-4.

[9] Fact Sheet: Circumvention of Lawful Pathways Final Rule, Dept. Homeland Sect’y., (May 11, 2023), https://www.dhs.gov/news/2023/05/11/fact-sheet-circumvention-lawful-pathways-final-rule.

[10] E. Bay Sanctuary Covenant v. Biden, 993 F.3d 640, 658 (9th Cir. 2021).

[11] Complaint, at 22, Al Otro Lado and Haitian Bridge Alliance v. Mayorkas, (S.D. Cal. Jul. 26, 2023), No. 3:23-CV-01367-AGS-BLM.

[12] E. Bay Sanctuary Covenant v. Biden, 993 F.3d 640, 658 (9th Cir. 2021).

[13] Id. at 669-70.

[14] E. Bay Sanctuary Covenant v. Trump, 349 F. Supp. 3d 838, 844.

[15] Complaint, at 2, Al Otro Lado and Haitian Bridge Alliance v. Mayorkas, (S.D. Cal. Jul. 26, 2023), No. 3:23-CV-01367-AGS-BLM.

[16] Fact Sheet: Circumvention of Lawful Pathways Final Rule, Dept. Homeland Sect’y., (May 11, 2023), https://www.dhs.gov/news/2023/05/11/fact-sheet-circumvention-lawful-pathways-final-rule.

[17] Id.

[18] Complaint, at 57, Al Otro Lado and Haitian Bridge Alliance v. Mayorkas, (S.D. Cal. Jul. 26, 2023), No. 3:23-CV-01367-AGS-BLM.

[19] Complaint, at 3, Al Otro Lado and Haitian Bridge Alliance v. Mayorkas, (S.D. Cal. Jul. 26, 2023), No. 3:23-CV-01367-AGS-BLM.

[20] Letter from the Texas Civil Rights Project & the Civil Rights Education & Enforcement Center (CREEC), to U.S. Dept. Homeland Sec., Off. Civ. Rts. & Civ. Liberties (Mar. 25, 2024), at 2, https://4b16d9e9-506a-4ada-aeca-7c3e69a4ed29.usrfiles.com/ugd/4b16d9_e98ae77035514157bc1c4c746b5545e6.pdf; see also 29 U.S.C.A. § 794d (a)(1)(A)(ii) (West).

[21] Ruby Ritchin, “I Felt Not Seen, Not Heard”: Gaps in Disability Access at USCIS for People Seeking Protection, 12, (Sep. 19, 2023) https://humanrightsfirst.org/library/i-felt-not-seen-not-heard-gaps-in-disability-access-at-uscis-for-people-seeking-protection.

[22] Letter from the Texas Civil Rights Project & the Civil Rights Education & Enforcement Center (CREEC), to U.S. Dept. Homeland Sec., Off. Civ. Rts. & Civ. Liberties (Mar. 25, 2024), at 6, https://4b16d9e9-506a-4ada-aeca-7c3e69a4ed29.usrfiles.com/ugd/4b16d9_e98ae77035514157bc1c4c746b5545e6.pdf; see also 29 U.S.C.A. § 794d (a)(1)(A)(ii) (West).

[23] Letter from the Texas Civil Rights Project & the Civil Rights Education & Enforcement Center (CREEC), to U.S. Dept. Homeland Sec., Off. Civ. Rts. & Civ. Liberties (Mar. 25, 2024), at 2, https://4b16d9e9-506a-4ada-aeca-7c3e69a4ed29.usrfiles.com/ugd/4b16d9_e98ae77035514157bc1c4c746b5545e6.pdf; see also Complaint, at 4, Al Otro Lado and Haitian Bridge Alliance v. Mayorkas, (S.D. Cal. Jul. 26, 2023), No. 3:23-CV-01367-AGS-BLM.

[24] Dara Lind, CBP’s Continued ‘Turnbacks’ Are Sending Asylum Seekers Back to Lethal Danger, (Aug. 10, 2023), https://immigrationimpact.com/2023/08/10/cbp-turnback-policy-lawsuit-danger.

[25] Complaint, at 31, Al Otro Lado and Haitian Bridge Alliance v. Mayorkas, (S.D. Cal. Jul. 26, 2023), No. 3:23-CV-01367-AGS-BLM.

[26] Id.

[27] 8 U.S.C.A. § 1101(a)(42)(A) (West).

[28] Id.

[29] Hernandez Arellano v. Garland, 856 F. App’x 351, 353 (2d Cir. 2021).

[30] Letter from the Texas Civil Rights Project & the Civil Rights Education & Enforcement Center (CREEC), to U.S. Dept. Homeland Sec., Off. Civ. Rts. & Civ. Liberties (Mar. 25, 2024), at 9, https://4b16d9e9-506a-4ada-aeca-7c3e69a4ed29.usrfiles.com/ugd/4b16d9_e98ae77035514157bc1c4c746b5545e6.pdf.

[31] Id.

[32] Id.

[33] Complaint, at 9, Al Otro Lado and Haitian Bridge Alliance v. Mayorkas, (S.D. Cal. Jul. 26, 2023), No. 3:23-CV-01367-AGS-BLM.

[34] Complaint, at 22, Al Otro Lado and Haitian Bridge Alliance v. Mayorkas, (S.D. Cal. Jul. 26, 2023), No. 3:23-CV-01367-AGS-BLM.

[35] Id. at 23.

[36] Id. at 65-66.

[37] Letter from the Texas Civil Rights Project & the Civil Rights Education & Enforcement Center (CREEC), to U.S. Dept. Homeland Sec., Off. Civ. Rts. & Civ. Liberties (Mar. 25, 2024), at 10-11, https://4b16d9e9-506a-4ada-aeca-7c3e69a4ed29.usrfiles.com/ugd/4b16d9_e98ae77035514157bc1c4c746b5545e6.pdf.

Undocumented Americans and a Pathway to Health Care Coverage

October 2, 2019
Health, Immigration

Jacob Hauschild, MJLST Staffer

In a June Democratic Primary debate, moderator Savannah Guthrie asked the field of candidates who would provide undocumented immigrants access to health care coverage. When all ten candidates raised their hands, the issue of health care access for undocumented immigrants was pushed to the forefront of the health care reform debate.

Despite this apparent unanimity, Democrats are far from aligned on the issue—never mind the policy’s poor popularity among voters. But lacking from the public discourse is due attention to how undocumented immigrants currently engage with our health care system.

Health care coverage is usually attained by U.S. citizens through one of three sources: (1) employer-sponsored insurance (ESI), (2) public health care programs (for example, Medicare and Medicaid), and (3) the individual market. Not all of these doors are open to undocumented immigrants, however. While some do have access to ESI, undocumented immigrants are generally prohibited from enrolling in federal public programs such as Medicare and Medicaid[1], and they are also not permitted to purchase health insurance on the federal or state-based marketplaces. While they can buy short- or long-term coverage directly from an insurer or an insurance broker, this coverage is often prohibitively expensive. Therefore, undocumented immigrants who cannot access health care insurance through their employer are often left with no coverage options; in fact, undocumented immigrants are uninsured at a rate of about 45%, compared to the only 8% of citizens who are uninsured.

The lack of access to health care coverage causes lower utilization of health care services, particularly preventative care. Some uninsured patients have access to income-based Community Health Centers—which are an “important source of primary care” for the uninsured—but these facilities often lack “stable revenue streams [and] sufficient staffing support.” Further, most hospital systems have “Charity Care” programs, but these programs tend to focus on paying for health care costs already incurred, rather than promoting use of preventative care to help patients stay healthy and reduce future cost.

Low access to preventative care services results in poorer health care outcomes and more complex and expensive health care needs later in life for the undocumented and other uninsured groups. That care is often delivered in the emergency room, where care for an emergency medical condition cannot be denied due to ability to pay. The financial burden of this uncompensated care weighs on the entire health care system and poses a detriment to the financial and physical wellness of our communities. Further, the financial loss from this uncompensated care is ultimately spread among all health care consumers—for example, through increased taxes; diversion of public funds from other programs; and, as is often claimed, increases to the costs of private health insurance—and is leading to the insolvency of health care systems in communities with fewer commercially insured patients.

Keeping in mind the impact of high uninsurance among undocumented immigrants, the manner in which health care access is “expanded” is of tremendous consequence. Proposals like Joe Biden’s only allow for undocumented immigrants to purchase coverage at full cost on the ACA marketplaces, without access to tax subsidies. Due to excessive cost and the fact that undocumented immigrants live in poverty at twice the rate of U.S. born citizens, it is unlikely for such a policy change to reduce uninsurance amongst this population. Meanwhile, plans like Bernie Sanders’ Medicare-for-All apparently cover all residents of the United States, regardless of immigration status. Such expansive health care reform is controversial in its own right, and should Medicare-for-All or a similar proposal advance through Congress in the future, it seems likely that access—and the extent of that access—to undocumented immigrants will be a dividing point among Democrats, as well as a nonstarter among many Republicans.

Yet the issue merits attention. Because the health care costs of undocumented immigrants are spread across the health care system regardless of whether or not they have access to coverage, it is good policy to curb those costs with preventative care, particularly when we consider the specific health care needs of the population, which in the modern era include significant trauma. A solution could take several forms, ranging from full access to the marketplace and its tax credits; to Medicaid benefits for income-eligible, undocumented children; to expanded funding for Community Health Centers and culturally competent outreach. Whatever that solution may be, it will affect not only the 10.7 million undocumented immigrants in the United States but also each and every health care consumer in the country.

[1] Sixteen states permit undocumented women who are pregnant and meet income guidelines to temporarily access Medicaid by utilizing federal CHIP funding to cover the unborn child, and income-eligible individuals who receive emergency services in an emergency room may be eligible for Medicaid to exclusively cover those costs.

How Yuge Will Trump’s Influence Be on United States Science?

November 16, 2016
Education, Immigration, Regulatory

Daniel Baum, MJLST Staffer

Science was only a minute fragment of the candidates’ campaigns, but many researchers have expressed fears about Trump. “Trump will be the first anti-science president we have ever had,” Michael Lubell, director of public affairs for the American Physical Society, told Nature. “The consequences are going to be very, very severe.” How severe, and which kinds of science will Trump influence?

One science topic that was explicitly discussed in the campaigns was climate change. Trump has long denied climate change, and as Trump turned to the Republican Party’s conservative base, he said that his administration will focus on “real environmental challenges, not phony ones.” However, Trump has expressed support for economically beneficial climate change research: he told Science Debate that “[p]erhaps we should be focused on developing energy sources and power production that alleviates the need for dependence on fossil fuels” and specified that those energy sources worth developing include wind, solar, nuclear, and bio-fuels.

Trump has also taken the Republican Party’s businessman’s approach to space and public health research. For space research, Trump thinks that we should seek global partners and would like to expand the role of the commercial space industry in the US space program. Discussing public health research, Trump told conservative radio host Michael Savage, “I hear so much about the NIH, and it’s terrible.” Trump told Science Debate that instead of giving the NIH all the funding it needs, “efforts to support research and public health initiatives will have to be balanced with other scarce resources” by Congress, where the Republicans now control both houses.

In order to do good science, the United States needs the best researchers. However, Trump’s strong anti-immigration stance may dissuade foreign scientists from coming to or staying in the United States to do research—why should a highly skilled researcher come to or stay in the U.S. if he or she will have to do research in an environment hostile to immigrants? With fewer noncitizen scientists, we’ll need to train our own scientists with great science education. Unfortunately, Trump has expressed essentially anti-education policies. He argues that some colleges and universities should bear the burden of students’ loan debt and that the federal government should stop making money off student loans. Trump also wants to pull federal funding from the Department of Education, or demolish it altogether, and make management of public education at the state and local level while removing federal funding for low-income public schools.

Overall, Trump will change science in the United States bigly. If he sticks to the points he made on the campaign trail, the United States will have fewer scientists, and they will mostly only receive federal funding to do research on things that the Republican Party thinks will make Americans money. That could include the development of new environmentally friendly energy sources, but most likely not space or public health research. But there is still hope: this change will only be so yuge if Trump sticks exactly to what he said while campaigning. Already, less than a week after being elected, Trump has backpedaled on his rabid anti-Obamacare stance, and maybe he’ll realize that the best way to make America great again is to make Americans and American science great again.

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