Fil-Am lawyers sound off on Trump’s zero tolerance immigration policy

Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County’s Immigration Legal Service (ILS) Program Director Robert Yabes observes that the immigration problem has been used time and again for political gain. INQUIRER/Jun Nucum

OAKLAND, California — Filipino American immigration lawyers weighed in on the separation of children from parents accused of violating immigration laws, and suggested fixes to “the broken immigration system.”

Since May immigration authorities have placed some 2,300 children, including infants, in detention shelters, separating them from their mothers or fathers when they crossed the Mexico-US border without authorization.

Oakland-based Atty. Robert Uy says that instead of being indefinitely detained, parents and children should be housed together temporarily and be released on parole if they are seeking asylum. INQUIRER/Jun Nucum

Oakland-based Atty. Robert Uy explained some of the more important features of President Trump’s June 20, 2018 executive order (EO) halting the separation of children from love ones:

1. Adults will not be turned over to the Justice Department and can stay with children in detention, except when there is concern of risk to the child. Families can be detained to the “extent permitted by law and subject to the availability of appropriations”;

2. The EO does not reunite families already separated, so it’s up to the parents to find their children and find a way to reunited with them;

3. Families are now a priority for deportation;

4. The EO initiates a process by which to challenge the 1997 Flores settlement, which required children to be released from detention in three weeks, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions is filing a request in court to change the Flores settlement an open the door for “indefinite detention”;

5. Family detention will be set up by federal agencies. Military facilities could house families.

Uy branded the EO as an imperfect measure: Parents and children should be housed together temporarily and be released on parole if they are seeking asylum, Instead of being indefinitely detained.

Asian Law Alliance Managing Attorney Bea Pangilinan maintains that it is never humane to separate children from their parents without just cause. INQUIRER/Jun Nucum

“Bonds may be issued but they should be low enough so that the families can reasonably be able to pay for them,” Uy believes. “There is already a program to track people who are released from immigration detention, called Intensive Supervision Appearance Program, which provides for an Electronic Monitoring device. Asylees are not criminals. They should be released especially since the government has a plan to track them already.”

Uy regards the earlier Trump zero tolerance policy of separating loved ones crossing the borders illegally as inhumane and on the level of what the Nazis did in World War II.

“I do not agree that this will curb Illegal immigration. The reason why there is so much movement by people towards the United States is because of factors in home countries that are unresolved,” Uy asserts.

“When people fear for their lives they will try to escape. Instead of persecuting people and taking away children from people who are already fleeing for their lives, we should instead consider a more humane process to allow people to apply for asylum in the United States,” he adds.

As a long-term solution, Uy says the Trump administration should help “put an end to corruption and violence in neighboring countries, establish a process by which asylees are not detained but instead paroled in and allowed to apply for status and if detention is necessary not to separate families and children

 San Francisco-based lawyer Johnson Lazaro strongly believes that even border patrol agents never really wanted to separate families but had to follow orders. INQUIRER/Jun Nucum

Virginia-based Atty. Arnedo S. Valera, executive director of the Migrant Heritage Commission (MHC), echoes Uy:

“Many of these parents and their children are fleeing their countries in Central America in grave fear for their lives because of gang violence and drug cartel’s atrocious criminal activities. They are now seeking asylum and refugee status in the US and I appeal to President Trump, release the parents and their children temporarily while their asylum claims are being processed.”

San Francisco-based lawyer Johnson Lazaro strongly believes that “no one, especially the border patrol agents, really wants to separate families, but they were only waiting for the President to give the order to halt this deplorable policy. A comprehensive immigration reform is still badly needed to stabilize the growing immigration issue in America.”

Lazaro laments that “these little children who are taken from their parents will suffer lasting emotional, psychological, and mental damage as result of this government sanctioned child abuse. Curbing illegal immigration does not have to be cruel and inhumane. We can be compassionate and enforce the laws at the same time. We have a system now in place to screen and evaluate potential asylum seekers.  And as far as I know, it’s been working.”

Virginia-based Migrant Heritage Commission (MHC) Executive Director Arnedo Valera welcomes Trump’s executive order, but appealed for the temporary release of the parents and their children while their asylum claims are being processed. CONTRIBUTED

Lazaro said further, “I had a Filipino family who arrived from Mexico, and immigration officers interviewed the parents and the young kids separately. The kids were ages 10 and 11. After two hours they were reunited. But this experience proved extremely traumatic for the children.”

Filipinos entering U.S. may be impacted by the zero-tolerance policy as immigration enforcement in U.S. airports can be as cruel as in the borders, Lazaro warned.

Asian Law Alliance Managing Attorney Bea Pangilinan also objects to Trump’s attempts to lay the blame on others.

“Trump is blaming the Democrats for not coming up with a comprehensive immigration reform. He says that his administration is merely enforcing the law. However, there is no law that requires the separation of families at the border,” Pangilinan points out.

“These people have gone through a lot to get here with most of them fleeing dire conditions. They have a legal right to seek asylum and other forms of humanitarian relief. Treating them like criminals and punishing children for their parents wanting to enter the United States is contrary to American values,” she argues.

Program Director Robert Yabes of the Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County Immigration Legal Service (ILS) contends that the immigration issue “has been used time and again for political gain.”

“Temporary measures meant to let undocumented immigrants get out of the shadows, like the deferred action on childhood arrivals (DACA) and temporary protected status (TPS), have been terminated although a million of immigrants under these programs are already contributing to the economy,” observed Yabes.“We share common values of dignity and respect for every human being. Filipinos should [view the issue] with compassion, especially for those who are suffering.”

Reuters reported that the U.S. government says it still had 2,053 children in custody who were separated from their parents under President Donald Trump’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) stated that it had a “well-coordinated” reunification process in place where a total of 522 children already been reunited with parents as of June 23, 2018.