Read on Twitter
Today, @CBP Acting Director Mark Morgan will testify before the Senate.Since he last testified in Feb., border processing has dramatically transformed under an unlawful policy that's used COVID as an excuse to extralegally expel 40k+ people.
Watch: https://bit.ly/3ezc5r4
First up, @SenRonJohnson touts the "success" of the cruel and unlawful set of programs CBP has put in place, suggesting that "we may not agree" with all of them, but "the law must be followed." Interesting how those laws, in Sen. Johnson's mind, don't include the Refugee Act.
. @CBP's Mark Morgan is up. "Viruses don't know borders," he says. (Agreed!) Yet he follows this up by arguing this is why "border security" is so important. ???
He begins by touting the CDC order, which he says "has been a critically important tool in this public health crisis. It has allowed CBP to prevent further spread of the virus."
Wrong. 40+ public health experts have concluded that this is not the case: https://bit.ly/2NqFpUR
Wrong. 40+ public health experts have concluded that this is not the case: https://bit.ly/2NqFpUR
Morgan: "This order is not about immigration enforcement. It's about taking immediate and decisive actions to protect public health."
And yet, he follows this up by boasting the order has reduced border apprehensions by 50%.
CDC hasn't talked about the order publicly at all.
And yet, he follows this up by boasting the order has reduced border apprehensions by 50%.
CDC hasn't talked about the order publicly at all.
He cites the circular logic in the CDC order, suggesting the people now being extralegally expelled would be held in unsafe border facilities w/o the order.
But that's because @CBP *CHOOSES* to process them that way. They could easily instead be paroled in to the US.
But that's because @CBP *CHOOSES* to process them that way. They could easily instead be paroled in to the US.
Morgan has the gall to claim that COVID is "far worse" in Mexico and the wider region. The US leads in COVID cases worldwide and is recklessly deporting people after holding them in tinderbox conditions. The US is spreading COVID-19 through its immigration enforcement practices.
"We may philosophically disagree" about the "multitude of [anti-asylum] programs" in place, but "they've been effective," says Morgan, heartlessly.
Effective in re-persecuting people seeking safety and making a mockery of our asylum system, sure.
Effective in re-persecuting people seeking safety and making a mockery of our asylum system, sure.
He boasts about the success of programs that: send people seeking safety to danger (MPP, unsafe third country agreements), that hold asylum-seekers incommunicado & w/o legal counsel (PACR/HARP). "Without these programs, we'd see thousands of people illegally entering ever day."
A periodic reminder for @CBP's Mark Morgan and @SenRonJohnson: seeking asylum is a right. What DHS is doing right now is what's illegal, immoral, and absolutely cruel.
Meanwhile, though we apparently don't have the resources to respond to people exercising their right to seek asylum, we do have billions of dollars to waste on a harmful, environmentally unsafe, wasteful border wall, which @SenRonJohnson + Mark Morgan now discuss admiringly.
Now, @SenGaryPeters asks Morgan about northern border restrictions, and when they'll be lifted. Yesterday, @camiloreports described a Bolivian asylum-seeking family expelled after entering the US via the northern border: https://twitter.com/camiloreports/status/1275853561683902465?s=21
Peters now asks about CBP's covid testing & containment. Disappointingly, he doesn't ask why CBP agents still aren't routinely wearing PPE nor why the CDC order targets people seeking humanitarian protection, while ignoring the many other people who cross borders daily.
Sorry, long pause while I digested the Supreme Court's disgraceful evisceration of due process for asylum-seekers (except you, Sonia).
Now up is @SenJackyRosen, who asks critical questions about the CDC order dismantling vital, bipartisan protections for unaccompanied kids.
Now up is @SenJackyRosen, who asks critical questions about the CDC order dismantling vital, bipartisan protections for unaccompanied kids.
. @CBPgov's Morgan says that "about 2,000" unaccompanied kids were "processed" under Title 42, and "just shy of 300" were processed under Title 8.
Morgan shockingly claims 100% of children encountered are screened for trafficking. This isn't true - Title 42 "processing" isn't processing at all. When Sen. Rosen clarifies, he says: "we are complying with our nonrefoulement obligations." That's a different set of obligations.
So either Morgan has lied under oath or is confused. But the fact is: the Title 42 non-process complies neither with our obligations to unaccompanied children nor with our obligations to asylum-seekers. (The court in a suit abt Title 42 this week preliminary concluded as much.)
Now, a question about @CBPgov personnel who've contracted COVID: "several hundred" agents have contracted the virus, per Morgan, and he cites those working at the SW border as especially at risk.
Now, @senrobportman applauds (!!) Morgan for conducting trafficking screenings, saying: "None of us want to see these kids trafficked." What dystopian nightmare is happening right now? These children are not being screened. Period.
Morgan has the audacity to claim that CBP is trying to quickly and safely reunite these children with family (false!), before boasting that the numbers of unaccompanied children at the SW border has plummeted.
THAT'S BECAUSE YOUR AGENCY HAS EVISCERATED PROTECTIONS FOR THEM.
THAT'S BECAUSE YOUR AGENCY HAS EVISCERATED PROTECTIONS FOR THEM.
Don't just take my word for it - read this NYT piece, which describes the 100s of children the US deported alone under the new border order, in many cases without notifying their families. It's appalling to watch an official lie so brazenly. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/20/us/coronavirus-migrant-children-unaccompanied-minors.html
Now up is @SenKamalaHarris, who starts by asking about CBP's disturbing deployment of 400 personnel to BLM marches, including reports of mass surveillance. "Given your mission to focus on our borders, why are you deploying your folks to the protests?"
Morgan claims that CBP "was asked" by "several different agencies" for a "certain type of assistance," and deployed "all over the country." Disturbing considering CBP's history of rights abuses & misconduct ( @SenKamalaHarris notes @immcouncil's report of 809 complaints of abuses)
Morgan claims (!!) that this number is 'actually very low' for a workforce of 61,000. Ignoring, of course, that those complaints are just the absolute tip of the iceberg.
