PRESS CONFERENCE DATE: TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 2013 TIME: 10:30 AM LOCATION: CASA VIDES 325 LEON STREET EL PASO, TEXAS 79901 SUBJECT: INTIMIDATION, DENIAL OF RIGHTS, AND CRIMINAL PROSECUTION OF ASYLUM SEEKERS BY CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION (CBP) AND IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT (ICE) For thirty-five years, Annunciation House has offered hospitality to the poor in migration, many of who have sought asylum. Asylum, a legal process serving the most marginalized, ideally protects those who articulate a “well-founded fear of persecution” and are thus “unwilling and unable to return to their home country.” Instead of offering the protection guaranteed to them under international and domestic law, asylum seekers have suffered violations of their fundamental human rights. This press conference is being called to highlight disconcerting abuses of asylum seekers who explicitly state they are fearful and thus unwilling to return to their home country. If a CBP Officer determines that the arriving individual is subject to expedited removal, the CBP Officer is required by procedure to notify the individual about the expedited removal process, and take a sworn statement concerning the individual’s admissibility. When taking the sworn statement, the CBP Officer is required by procedure to read a statement30 explaining the right to seek protection in the United States and is also required by procedure to ask the individual a set of questions31 to determine whether the individual fears return to his or her country and is seeking protection in the United States. The CBP Officer records the answer to each question on the form. CBP Officers are required by procedure to refer any individual who expresses an intention to apply for asylum, or a fear of return to his or her home country, to an Asylum Officer for a threshold screening determination under the Safe Third Agreement and, if it is determined that the Agreement does not preclude an asylum application in the United States, a Credible Fear Interview.32 The CBP Officer provides the individual with the Information about Threshold Screening Interview notice, and the Form M-444, Information about a Credible Fear Interview, as well as a list of free legal services providers.33 The Information about Threshold Screening Interview notice describes the threshold screening process, and identifies the exceptions to the Agreement. (USCIS Chapter 5). The violence in Mexico has obligated many families to flee and seek protection (Asylum or Withholding of Removal) in the United States. In law and procedural field manuals, individuals “expressing fear” at Ports of Entry or upon detention within the U.S. have the right to seek protection and must be afforded the opportunity to a Credible Fear Interview. Disturbing examples where this right is denied and or manipulated have surfaced. They include: •Migrants, who upon being detained within the U.S. and express fear, being denied Credible Fear Interviews and instead removed to Mexico, the country they’re fleeing. •Criminal Prosecution of migrants who make subsequent attempts to seek protection in the U.S. after initially being denied Credible Fear Interviews. •Intimidation of Asylum petitioners at Ports of Entry by threatening family separation, long periods of detention, and the removal and detain of minor children from parents
Posted on: Sat, 10 Aug 2013 17:21:14 +0000
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