Tag: Artesia

Under Pressure over Family Detention, the Administration Finally Agrees to Exercise a Little Humanity

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July 14, 2015
Under Pressure over Family Detention, the Administration Finally Agrees to Exercise a Little Humanity Since last summer, when the Obama Administration hastily resurrected the concept of family detention to jail refugee women and children seeking asylum, thousands of women and children have languished in inhumane conditions, have been refused meaningful access to counsel and interpreters, have been hurled through bond proceedings with predetermined results, and have been sent directly and expeditiously back to the danger from which they fled – all in violation of U.S.

House Democrats (and Dree!) Call on Obama to End Family Detention

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May 22, 2015
House Democrats (and Dree!) Call on Obama to End Family Detention Yesterday, several prominent House Democrats called on the administration to end family detention.  Organized by Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren of California, the Democrats decried the Obama administration’s detention of women and children fleeing violence in Central America.  From the creating of a truncated form of due process in refugee protection to a novel interpretation of bond eligibility to conditions which have caused serious illnesses in the children being jailed by the administration, the entire experience of the gulag archipelago of detention centers was designed not to follow the law and protect asylum-seekers, but as a means of deterrence to other potential refugees. 

BR Attorneys Lobby the Administration and Congress to End Family Detention

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April 27, 2015
Once a year immigration attorneys from all over the country march to Washington, D.C. to meet with their elected officials and to encourage them to take action toward fixing this country’s broken immigration system. The event is organized by the American Immigration Lawyers Association and is appropriately called the National Day of Action. This year, one of the issues we put on the list of things to discuss is family detention.

Injunction Against the Dysfunction of Family Detention

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February 23, 2015
Injunction Against the Dysfunction of Family Detention Artesia. Karnes. Dilley.  Before the administration decided it would be a great idea to lock up Central American women and children fleeing from persecution, these towns were unknown.   Artesia was the hometown of our government’s rejuvenation of family detention.  The makeshift facility, warmly referred to by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) as the Artesia Family Residential Center, was the hub of so many human rights violations that it was ultimately shut down. 

Kira and Ricky, Clients of the Month, January 2015

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January 1, 2015
Kira and Ricky, Clients of the Month, January 2015 At a time of year when we honor togetherness and fresh starts, we are comforted to know that Benach Collopy clients, Kira and her four-year-old son Ricky, have finally been granted asylum and are reunited with their husband/father, Andre, here in the United States.* This family of faith was torn apart by targeted and systematic violence at the hands of the M-18 gang, the de facto government in Guatemala, all because they preached about peace and encouraged non-violence in their community – in the eyes of the M-18, a message of disloyalty and dissidence that needed to be eradicated.

FOBR Olsi Vrapi Tries to Represent a Child in Artesia, New Mexico

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July 21, 2014
FOBR Olsi Vrapi Tries to Represent a Child in Artesia, New Mexico Olsi Vrapi is a Friend of Benach Collopy who practices in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  He recently found himself on the front line of the battle of how to handle the major influx of refugee children at the Southern Border.  In this chilling blogpost entitled “The Artesia Experience,” Olsi describes his experience visiting his client in the new facility in Artesia, New Mexico where the government is detaining Central American children and families.