Featured Issue: Port Courts

DHS has erected tent structures in Laredo and Brownsville, Texas, where individuals subjected to the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), commonly known as the Remain in Mexico program, will have their cases heard via video teleconference (VTC) by an immigration judge (IJ) in another location.

AILA Delegation Visits Port Court | AILA Resources | Congressional Efforts | Media Reports | Government Announcements

AILA Delegation Visits Port Court (November 13-15, 2019)

AILA President Marketa Lindt, Executive Director Ben Johnson, Chair of the Southern Border Taskforce Andrew Nietor, and Policy Counsel Leidy Pérez-Davis visited Brownsville, Texas where DHS opened a massive temporary tent facility that functions as a virtual courtroom for asylum seekers subject to the Remain in Mexico (RIM) policy. These tent courts have been shrouded in secrecy since they were opened in September 2019. Despite many requests, DHS has consistently denied AILA and other organizations access to the facilities.

Join AILA in urging members of Congress to demand public access to the tent courts and defund the dangerous RIM program altogether by sending an email to your legislators:

• Take Action: Tell Congress to Defund Remain in Mexico and Demand Public Access to Tent Courts
• Encourage your friends, colleagues and network to take action by sharing on social media:
  • Click to tweet: #RemainInMexico denies #asylumseekers their right to be represented by counsel and prevents them from a #FairDayInCourt. Join @AILANational in urging members of Congress to demand public access to the port courts and defund #RemainInMexico. http://ow.ly/6IDU30pSrCA
  • Click to tweet: Call on Congress to defund #RemainInMexico so that every #asylumseeker gets their #FairDayInCourt! http://ow.ly/6IDU30pSrCA
  • Click to tweet: #RemainInMexico makes it difficult, if not impossible, for #asylumseekers to find lawyers and have a #FairDayInCourt. That’s why I am calling on Congress to allow public access to the port courts and to halt #RemainInMexico. http://ow.ly/6IDU30pSrCA

AILA Resources

• AILA Press Call Recording: AILA Experts and Asylum Officer Whistleblower Discuss “Remain in Mexico” Program and Secretive Tent Courts – November 18, 2019
  
  • Speakers: (1) Ben Johnson, American Immigration Lawyers Association (moderator); (2) Andrew Nietor, Chair of AILA’s Southern Border Taskforce; (3) Dana Gold, Senior Counsel and Director of Education at the Government Accountability Project (GAP); and (4) Doug Stephens, Whistleblower and Former Asylum Officer.
    
    
    
    
    
• AILA Sends Letter to Congress Demanding Public Access to Tent Courts – November 12, 2019
• NGOs Urge Congress to Conduct Significant Oversight of Remain in Mexico and Use of Tent Courts by DHS and DOJ – October 7, 2019
• AILA Sends Letter Requesting Information and Access to Port Courts - September 26, 2019
• Think Immigration Blog: Searching for Fairness and Transparency – A Firsthand Look At the Port courts in Laredo and Brownsville – Last updated September 20, 2019
  • AILA Press Call Recording: On a press call on September 20, 2019, AILA Senior Policy Counsel Laura Lynch and AILA Policy Counsel Leidy Perez-Davis shared their insights from a week on the ground in Laredo and Brownsville, TX, observing MPP hearings and the government’s use of “port courts.”
• AILA Press Statement: Immigration Law Experts Debrief Press on “Port Courts” and Due Process Concerns – September 12, 2019
• Press Call About Port Courts - September 12, 2019
  • Speakers: (1) Denise Gilman, Director, Immigration Clinic, University of Texas, Austin; (2) Ashley Huebner, Associate Director of Legal Services, National Immigrant Justice Center; (3) Jodi Goodwin, Immigration Attorney, Harlingen, TX; and (4) Kate Voigt, American Immigration Lawyers Association (moderator).
• AILA Policy Brief: DHS and DOJ Are Opening Secretive Port Courts Along the Southern Border – September 6, 2019

Congressional Efforts

• House Democrats Demand Information from DOJ and DHS on its Use of Tent Courts - November 25, 2019
• On November 22, 2019, the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs held a field hearing, Humanitarian Aspects of the U.S. Migratory Crisis, in San Ysidro, California.
• On November 19, 2019, the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security held a hearing, Examining the Human Rights and Legal Implications of DHS’ ‘Remain in Mexico’ Policy. Read AILA’s Statement as well as the prepared statements of Laura Peña, American Bar Association; Erin Thorn Vela, Texas Civil Rights Project; Todd Schneberk, Physicians for Human Rights; Michael Knowles, Asylum Officers Union; and Thomas Homan, Former Acting Director ICE (minority witness). Also see statement from whistleblower and former asylum officer, Douglas Stephens.
• Senator Merkley’s office published a report, Shattered Refuge, A U.S. Senate Investigation into the Trump Administration’s Gutting of Asylum - November 12, 2019
• Rep. Filemon Vela (D-TX) speaks on the House floor about the inhumane Migrant Protection Protocols – October 30, 2019
  
  
  
  "The administration claims that by creating secret sham tent courts along the border, it is processing asylum claims. This is nothing more than a glaring effort to obliterate due process. In these so-called courts, constitutional protections vanish and civil liberties disappear. The administration’s policy is severely restricting and imposing barriers on the fundamental bedrock of our legal system, the attorney client relationship." – Rep. Filemon Vela (D-TX)
• Rep. Nanette D. Barragán (D-CA) asks the Acting Director of DHS, Kevin McAleenan, questions about the Migrant Protection Protocols – October 30, 2019
• Members of Congress Call for Investigation of Tent Courthouses - October 17, 2019
  • Vox: House Democrats Say Migrants Aren't Getting Fair Hearings at Tent Courts on the Borders - October 18, 2019
• Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) Announces Oversight Visit to Laredo Tent Courts on Tuesday, October 8, 2019 - October 4, 2019

Media Reports

• CNN: More immigration judges to be assigned to cases at tent facilities – December 6, 2019
• Forbes: Here’s The Company Behind Trump’s Controversial Border ‘Tent Courts’ For Migrants – December 5, 2019
• CQ Roll Call: ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy faces internal critiques at House Hearing – November 19, 2019
• This American Life (podcast): The Out Crowd – November 15, 2019
  
  • Reports from the frontlines of the Trump administration’s “Remain in Mexico” asylum policy. We hear from asylum seekers waiting across the border in Mexico, in a makeshift refugee camp, and from the officers who sent them there to wait in the first place.
• Los Angeles Times: Asylum officers rebel against Trump policies they say are immoral and illegal – November 15, 2019
• San Diego Tribune: CBP's explanation for writing fake court dates on migrants' paperwork doesn't make sense, lawyers say - November 13, 2019
• San Diego Tribune: CBP agents wrote fake court dates on paperwork to send migrants back to Mexico, records show – November 7, 2019
• American Immigration Council's Immigration Impact: What’s Happened to the People Returned to Mexico Under the Migrant Protection Protocols? - November 6, 2019
• Vox: The demise of America's asylum system under Trump, explained – November 5, 2019
• The Texas Tribune: Trump’s controversial “remain in Mexico” immigration policy expands along Texas’ southern border – October 28, 2019
• Fox 6 Milwaukee: Amnesty International delegates denied access to asylum court in South Texas - October 25, 2019
• Vox: House Democrats Say Migrants Aren't Getting Fair Hearings at Tent Courts on the Borders - October 18, 2019
• CBS News: Doctors risk lives tackling Trump policy sending migrants back to Mexico: "I've seen people kidnapped twice" - October 12, 2019
  
  
• Reuters: Exclusive: U.S. migrant policy sends thousands of children, including babies, back to Mexico – October 11, 2019
• The Takeaway: U.S. Asylum Policy is Sending Migrants to Mexico, Where They Face Kidnapping, Assault and Violence - October 3, 2019
• WBEZ News: A Month After Visiting The Border, What I Saw Still Keeps Me Up At Night - September 30, 2019
• Texas Observer: Immigration Judge Slams 'Remain in Mexico' Tent Courts - September 24, 2019
• CNN: Confusion and frustration in tent courts along the Texas border – September 21, 2019
• CBS: Farce of due process": Lawyers denounce new border tent courts for migrants – September 19, 2019
• Vice News: Trump's Asylum Policies Sent Him Back to Mexico. He Was Kidnapped Five Hours Later By a Cartel - September 16, 2019
• NBC News: What asylum hearings are like inside tent courts along the border – September 16, 2019
• Los Angeles Times: Tent Courts Open as Latest Hurdle for Migrants Seeking Asylum in the U.S. – September 16, 2019
• The Marshall Project: Border Courts Swamped With New Asylum Cases - September 13, 2019
• NBC News: New Border Tent Courts Create a 'Faux Process' for Asylum Seekers, Attorneys Say - September 12, 2019
• Los Angeles Times: Trump Administration Bars Access to Immigration Tent Courts - September 11, 2019
• BuzzFeed News: The Trump Administration Opened Secretive Tent Courts At The Border. The Public Is Not Allowed Inside. - September 11, 2019
• The Wall Street Journal: Tent Courts Open to Hear Immigration Cases Closed to the Public - September 11, 2019
  • The National Association of Immigration Judges, which represents U.S. immigration judges, said barring public access to the tent courts "highlights another glaring reason why the immigration courts have been deprived of key characteristics of what it means to be a court in the United States."
• Reuters: Hasty rollout of Trump immigration policy has ‘broken’ border courts – September 10, 2019

Government Announcements

• Local EOIR Liaison Meeting Minutes with ACIJ Clay Martin - September 19, 2019
• EOIR Provides AILA with Information on New Port Courts - September 11, 2019

Cite as AILA Doc. No. 19091660.