Thousands in US join May Day protest and economic blackout

Welcome to our news segment: TL;DR of Immigration News, for when the news is Too Long and you Didn’t Read it.

This is a weekly collection of immigration-related news stories. These bite-size summaries will keep you up to date without overwhelming your inbox.
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This time next week key leaders within Never Again Action, including two of the members who write this newsletter, will be traveling to Philadelphia to help define our organizational strategy and priorities for the rest of this administration. To enable all of our leaders to get there and to have everything they need, we still need financial support. Can you give $18 today to support this critical strategic work?
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Thousands in US join May Day protest and economic blackout

Following the success of the recent No Kings Day, opponents of the regime organized a coordinated series of actions (at least 3500 separate actions across the nation) on International Workers Day as part of a refusal to normalize the fascist state. Participants abstained from work, refrained from shopping, and (many with their teachers) left schooling to join gatherings. Major themes of the massive nationwide protest included “Tax the rich!” and ending funding for DHS and ICE.

Several of these actions led to peaceful confrontation with the regime’s forces or their supporters and enablers. Some participants were arrested as a result, including in Portland, Minneapolis, San Francisco, where the targets were DHS- and ICE-related.

Many of the actions were supported by local and national unions, which have historically used this day to air grievances. Organizers have said that this action is part of a lead-up to a proposed national general strike on May 1, 2028.
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Appeals court rules against ICE’s mandatory detention policy

The Federal 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals found that an ICE policy was deeply unconstitutional. Last year, ICE Director Todd Lyons broke precedent and probably federal law when he declared it ICE policy to jail without bond the majority of people ICE was trying to deport. This means that a person seeking asylum or citizenship in any capacity could be giving up their personal freedom, could be separated from their family, and could essentially be imprisoned with no possibility of parole until whenever a judge can hear their case.

According to Politico, the Circuit Court panel said legal interpretation on which the policy rests “could raise acute constitutional concerns by instituting ‘the broadest mass detention-without-bond mandate in our Nation’s history’.”

The good news is the judges (including one Trump appointee) shutting this policy down 3-0 is tempered by the fact that the 5th and 8th Federal Circuits have ruled in favor of the policy, a scenario likely to see this case come before the Supreme Court. It’s worth highlighting this case and keeping an eye on the issue, because the outcome could determine the shape that deportation defense takes for many years to come.
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State Dept. Quietly Rewrites the Visa Interview

In its endless assault on international law, the current regime has added two new questions for all visa applicants to answer. Those seeking non-immigrant visas for travel, study, or work will be asked to reveal whether they have been harmed in their home country and if they fear going back.

These new questions target people who may eventually seek asylum under the international refugee regime certified by the United Nations High Commission on Refugees in 1951. If a traveler answers that they do not fear going back to their home country may disqualify them from subsequently petitioning for asylum. If a traveler answers that they do fear going back, the regime flags them for suspicion of the regime’s latest made-up crime: so-called “asylum shopping.”

As with so much of this regime’s policy, these laws are likely to intimidate and harm those most in need of protection.
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Fear and Opportunity: Immigration Scams Surged as Trump's Sweeps Lured Desperate People to Eager Defrauders

A consequence of the administration’s draconian deportation policies is a significant rise in immigration scams. ProPublica analyzed more than 6,200 complaints filed with the Federal Trade Commission by victims and advocates. They found that complaints of immigration scams have doubled since Trump was elected. In all, at least scammers have gotten away with at least a reported $94.4 million.

That number is certainly an undercount, as not all immigrants report wrongdoing for fear of deportation, and not every report included dollar amounts.

Immigration scams are not new, but advocates say predators have become more sophisticated, using technologies like artificial intelligence and targeted ads. At the same time, immigrants have become increasingly anxious about mass deportations, making them more likely to fall for scams.

The best advice to avoid scams: make contact outside of social media channels, ideally in person.
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Poli Ed corner

The Southwest's Ellis Island: Q&A with Jazmine Ulloa, author of El Paso

Jasmine Ulloa, a Boston Globe reporter who grew up in El Paso, TX, has just written an insightful new book about El Paso’s role in US immigration history and how that role has shifted and changed with the rise of the MAGA right, both in Texas and in the White House.

Taking us through the history or El Paso and Juarez as Mexican cities before Texas became a state, up through the 2019 Walmart shootings by a self-described white supremacist, Ulloa highlights just how vital the open border in El Paso has been to the American labor market, and how families there have endured in times of severe racism and state oppression of immigrants.

Read the entire interview and find out more about Jasmine Ulloa’s book at the link above.

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