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WASHINGTON The Trump administration is naming some names in its efforts to shame local jails that don't cooperate with immigration authorities. It's putting the spotlight on Travis County, Texas, home of liberal Austin.

The administration released a list of 206 cases of immigrants released from custody before federal agents could intervene. Roughly two-thirds were from Travis County.

The 206 figure is somewhat murky. It doesn't represent all the cases in which immigration authorities sought custody of people facing criminal charges, with major cities like New York and Los Angeles underrepresented on the list. It's also unclear what period it covers. The cases were identified by the administration between Jan. 28 and Feb. 3, but most of the detention requests had been made before then, as far back as early 2014. Also unclear is the status of the immigrants -- whether some are in federal or state custody.

The release of the list by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was prompted by an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in January. That order called on the government to document which local jurisdictions aren't cooperating with federal efforts to find and deport immigrants in the country illegally.

Trump has made immigration a key issue in his administration and has promised to deport "bad dudes" living in the United States illegally. The report highlights a variety of crimes, including the case of a Jamaican national in Philadelphia charged with homicide, along with multiple sex offenses, assaults and driving under the influence cases. The majority of the immigrants whose cases are highlighted are from Mexico or Central America. The Travis County cases also include a mix of convictions and charges ranging from drunken driving to aggravated assault and sexual assault.

Travis County Sheriff Sally Hernandez, a Democrat, was elected last fall after campaigning on refusing to comply with immigration detainers in cases where people were arrested on minor offenses unrelated to their being in the country illegally. Detainers are government requests that an immigrant who could face deportation be turned over to immigration authorities.

Hernandez's office has continued to honor detainers for more serious offenses, including murder. All but 26 of the declined detainers were issued by the Obama administration and before Hernandez took office.

Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott responded to Hernandez's policies by blocking $1.5 million in state grant funding to Travis County.

Jails and police agencies around the U.S. have opted in recent years not to cooperate with immigration authorities, in some cases citing federal court rulings that immigrants cannot be held in those jails strictly because of their immigration status. Other jurisdictions have passed local ordinances barring cooperation.

As a result, the Obama administration dramatically reduced the number of detainers filed annually, a trend Trump's immigration authorities have pledged to reverse.

ICE said that nationwide, from Jan. 28 to Feb. 3, it made 3,083 new requests to jails that immigrants accused of a crime be held long enough for ICE agents to take them into custody. It is unclear how many of those requests were honored.

The number of requests made and declined is likely to increase as the government issues more detainer requests, immigration officials said. The officials briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity despite Trump's complaints that anonymous sources should not be considered reliable.

Acting ICE Director Thomas Homan said that when detainer requests aren't honored and serious offenders are released, "it undermines ICE's ability to protect the public safety and carry out its mission."

Trump has said he plans to crack down on so-called "sanctuary cities" and other jurisdictions that do not cooperate with immigration authorities and has threatened to eliminate access to some federal grants. He also plans to restart the Secure Communities program that used fingerprints collected in local jails and shared with the FBI to identify immigrants who could face deportation. The program was scrapped under the Obama administration amid multiple court challenges and widespread complaints that it resulted in the deportations of people accused of only low-level offenses.

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DHS names local jails that won't hold illegal immigrants - Fox News

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An illegal immigrant activism organization is hosting a week of events to train allies, using the experience of Palestinians in Israel as the backdrop.

The DREAMers On Grounds at the University of Virginia are hosting DREAM Weekfrom March 27 to April 2, during which students will have the opportunity to attend these events and others. DREAM stands forDevelopment, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors and refers to the DREAM Act, which originally aimed togrant illegal immigrants permanent residency in the United States.

The week kicks off with an UndocuALLY Training, which aims to teach students and faculty about illegal immigrants and recruit them as allies.

DREAMers on Grounds wish to create a more inclusive environment for all undocumented students at UVA through education, advocacy, and allyship, reads the Monday event, which is co-sponsored by the University Democrats. Now, more than ever, DREAMers and undocumented communities need allies. Discover better ways to become an ally and learn more about your fellow peers.

DREAMers On Grounds will host an Undocumented At Home Photo Exhibit, comparing the experience of illegal immigrants to the experience of Palestinians in Israel.

Can you imagine how it would be to live in a place that you consider home and not be accepted, feel marginalized and like you dont belong? asks the event description.

While Wednesday boasts a Know Your Rights presentation to discuss how to prepare and defend immigrant communities, Thursday hosts a, We Gon Be Alright open mic.

Join us for a night of expression and unhinged optimism as artists share their poetry and spoken word, proclaims DREAMers On Grounds. As an organization, DREAMers on Grounds has faced numerous obstacles since its inception. These obstacles are minuscule compared to the obstacles faced by undocumented people past and present.

Join us for a night of expression and unhinged optimism as artists share their poetry and spoken word, says the illegal immigrant activist group.

The Daily Caller News Foundation reached out to DREAMers On Grounds to inquire whether or not the group received funds from UVAs Student Council.

While we have co-sponsored with Student Council for UndocuAlly Trainings in the past and have received funding through them, we have not received appropriations from Student Council for this years DREAM Week, saidPaola Sanchez Valdez, president of the organization.

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UVA Illegal Immigration Activists Host Training Events To Recruit 'Allies' - Daily Caller

Story Highlights

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Fifty-nine percent of Americans say they worry "a great deal" or "a fair amount" about illegal immigration. This level of concern is typical of what Gallup has measured over the past 17 years, apart from a window between 2006 and 2011 when roughly two-thirds of Americans expressed worry.

Each March, as part of its annual Environment poll, Gallup asks Americans how much they worry about a series of problems facing the U.S. Illegal immigration typically has ranked in the lower half of that list, even when concern about the issue was 70% or greater in 2006 and 2008.

Illegal immigration to the U.S. increased significantly between 2000 and 2005, and news media and government leaders paid increasing attention to the issue. In 2007, a bipartisan bill on immigration stalled in the U.S. Senate. After that, concern about illegal immigration receded as the nation turned its attention to economic problems during and after the recession. Also, illegal immigration to the U.S. has in recent years declined to the lowest level in decades. Still, it remains a key political issue and was a major focus of Donald Trump's presidential campaign and his early policy moves as president.

The declining recent concern has brought the level of public concern back to where it was before 2006. From 2001 through 2005, an average of 58% of Americans worried a great deal or a fair amount about illegal immigration; since 2012, it has been 59%. Between 2006 and 2011, an average of 68% of Americans were worried about the problem.

Republican Concern Stays High, Other Groups Less Concerned

Before 2006, Republicans, Democrats and independents expressed similar concern about illegal immigration. Republicans' concern then surged 20 percentage points between 2006 and 2011, compared with a 12-point increase for independents and a four-point uptick for Democrats.

Since then, Republicans' worry has remained elevated, while Democrats' and independents' worry has fallen significantly, with fewer Democrats worried now than in the early 2000s. Those changes have resulted in the Republican-Democratic gap growing from a narrow two points at the beginning of the 21st century to an average 31 points in recent years.

Like climate change, the issue of illegal immigration has become more politicized in recent years. Each party's leaders and supporters take increasingly distinct positions on how urgent the problem is, as well as what actions are necessary to address it.

Republicans tend to prioritize taking government actions to secure the borders over developing a plan to deal with immigrants illegally in the U.S. In a July 2016 Gallup poll, a majority of Republicans favored building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, and half favored deporting all immigrants living in the U.S. illegally back to their home country, something Democrats overwhelmingly opposed. In that same poll, however, Republicans as well as Democrats favored a path to citizenship for immigrants living in the U.S. illegally.

More Hispanics Than Whites, Blacks Worry About Illegal Immigration

Over the past six years, an average of 67% of Hispanics have said they worry a great deal or fair amount about illegal immigration. That is higher than worry among non-Hispanic whites (59%) and blacks (57%).

There were slightly smaller differences by racial and ethnic group between 2001 and 2005. From 2006 through 2011, all groups showed increases in worry, with the largest increase among whites. In recent years, whites' and blacks' worry has subsided, while Hispanics' worry is unchanged.

Hispanics' slightly greater concern about illegal immigration does not appear to be motivated by politics because Hispanics are a Democratic-leaning group politically. Whereas Republicans' heightened concern with illegal immigration appears to focus on limiting it, Hispanics' greater concern may reflect worries about the treatment of immigrants who are illegally in the U.S.

Hispanics have shown higher support for policies to aid immigrants living in the U.S. illegally, including President Barack Obama's 2014 executive orders. Gallup has also found much higher levels of reported discrimination among non-U.S.-born Hispanics than among native-born Hispanics. Hispanics may be growing more concerned in reaction to the increased focus on dealing with immigrants in the country illegally, which could affect themselves, their family members or their neighbors.

Implications

Immigration was a major issue in the 2016 presidential campaign, largely because of Trump's strong positions and strident language on the subject. The issue concerns Republicans more than Democrats and independents, and this lack of consensus causes it to rank behind many other issues when Americans rate their level of worry about it. At the same time, illegal immigration often ranks near the top of the list in open-ended questions about issue importance, such as Gallup's most important problem question, suggesting it is a highly salient issue to a more limited segment of the population.

Immigration will continue to receive great attention in the coming years as Trump attempts to address what was one of his signature campaign issues. His predecessors were unable to pass meaningful immigration reform legislation despite their concerted efforts to do so. Trump has focused his policy efforts on limiting immigration more broadly, including by building a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border and restricting access to the U.S. for those traveling from certain Muslim-majority countries. Those policies have proven to be controversial and opposed by a majority of Americans, but supported by most Republicans. Trump's odds of passing immigration legislation may be improved by working with a Republican-majority Congress, assuming his policies can survive legal challenges or possible filibuster attempts by Senate Democrats.

Historical data are available in Gallup Analytics.

Results for this Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted March 1-5, 2017, with a random sample of 1,018 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. For results based on the total sample of national adults, the margin of sampling error is 4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. All reported margins of sampling error include computed design effects for weighting.

Each sample of national adults includes a minimum quota of 70% cellphone respondents and 30% landline respondents, with additional minimum quotas by time zone within region. Landline and cellular telephone numbers are selected using random-digit-dial methods.

View survey methodology, complete question responses and trends.

Learn more about how the Gallup Poll Social Series works.

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In US, Worry About Illegal Immigration Steady - Gallup

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is known for being pro-immigration and pro-refugee, but it appears that a large number of Canadian citizens fail to share the same opinions.

Almost half of the Canadian citizenry (48 percent)are now calling for the deportation of illegal immigrants in Canada, according to aReuters/Ipsos poll released Monday.A similar number (46 percent) disapprove of how Trudeau,are following suit.,is dealing with the numbers of immigrants.

This all comes amidst an influx of African and Middle Eastern asylum seekers in Canada from the U.S.The Royal Canadian Mounted Police issued astatement on February 16noting that, "the number of migrants crossing the Canada-US border illegally has increased significantly in Quebec, Manitoba and British Columbia." However, no exact numbers were produced.

Canadian citizens are now starting to adopt the American viewpoint on illegal immigration, which largely aided in Trump's election.

These numbersmirror those of the United States, where 50% of Americans support the deportation of illegal immigrants-- divulged by a similar poll by Reuters, which ran at the same time as the Canadian poll.

Further, in a December 2016 poll, only 19 percent saw immigration becoming a national issues, whereas now, that number has moved up to a quarter of Canadians.

The details on the poll are as follows, according to Reuters.

"The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted online in English and French throughout Canada. It included responses from 1,001 people 18 years or older. Individual responses were weighted according to the latest population estimates, so that the results reflect the entire population."

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Americans Aren't the Only Ones Wanting Illegal Immigration Crackdown - Townhall

Recent news reports indicate that the Department of Homeland Security is considering causing children psychological harm as a strategy to curb illegal immigration from Central America. It is contemplating separating mothers and children who cross the border without authorization.

Regardless whether this practice becomes official policy, it is already happening in Texas, and it is not deterring women from escaping violence in their home countries.

Texas immigration advocates recently noted cases of mothers who have had their children sent to detention facilities 300 miles away from them. Even though family detention centers have capacity for more families, children are being taken from their mothers at the border and bussed to different locations.

Mothers have no means of contacting their children or knowing that they are safe. It has been a common practice to not house adolescent males in family detention once they reach 16 years old. However, much younger children are being separated from their mothers.

Since 2011, the United States has seen a dramatic increase in arrivals of Central American immigrant women and their children. During the past two years, our government apprehended more than 100,000 immigrant families, primarily Central American women traveling with their children.

Central American womens motivations to migrate are often tied to poverty, violence and persecution in their home countries. Crossing the border is often a decision of last resort as they search for safety and refuge. The journey and potential detention in America may still be a safer option even if there is potential for detention and separation from a child.

As one woman told us, I die here or I take my chances and maybe die on the way.

As social workers, we have worked with women in these situations. We have heard consistent themes in their stories of rape, severe domestic violence, threats from gangs, human trafficking and lack of police protection. When murders of women are not investigated and when bodies are left in streets in their home countries, there is a clear message that womens lives do not matter.

As parents ourselves, we acknowledge that separation and psychological harm to our children is something we would avoid at all costs. Thus, we appreciate the urgency with which many immigrant parents seek the safety and protection of their children when faced with violence and persecution.

As researchers, we also understand that the criminalization of immigrant mothers comes with a price a price that will largely be paid by children. Separating children from their mothers erodes mental health and disrupts attachment, dynamics that may persist even after families are reunified. Even when families are not separated, the pervasive fear of such an event carries damaging consequences.

Regardless of the lens one might use to consider immigration policy, separating mothers from their children is inhumane and has not, and will not, deter unauthorized entry into our country. Women coming from Central America have more to fear in their own countries than they do here. When choices are so constrained that mothers must choose between certain death and separation from children for a temporary period, mothers often choose separation because at least they will still be alive to fight for their children.

Ripping children from their mothers arms and sending them to separate detention facilities is not a deterrent. There is simply no other rational reason to implement such a policy.

We must resist the notion that a humane response is not feasible. Rather, we have both the know-how and the responsibility to keep families together and to offer a comprehensive, trauma-informed response to those seeking asylum in the United States. Women and their children should be released to the community together, where they can apply for asylum, but taxpayers will not have to foot the bill for detaining them, and children will not experience harm.

Faulkner is a research associate professor and director of the Texas Institute for Family and Child Wellbeing in the School of Social Work at the University of Texas. Cook Heffron is an assistant professor of social work at St. Edwards University.

Originally posted here:
Separating children and moms won't deter illegal immigration - MyStatesman.com