URGENT NEED! YOU can help the Immigrant Children already in Dallas! If you missed the Far North Dallas Richardson Democrats meeting on Thursday night, you missed Carol Jablonskis impassioned plea to protest the Rocket Docket which has been put in place by the Obama Administrations Justice Department. The letter below is a sample written by Carol which explains the problem. You can use this letter or write your own, but please just do it and send it to those listed below the letter. The Rocket Dockets for Refugee Children Must Stop Children appearing in Dallas Immigration Court (as well as other areas of the country) are being railroaded into deportations because of the absurdly short times they are being given to prepare their cases. Children completely unfamiliar with our legal system are being given as little as one week to find a lawyer. If they are unsuccessful, they are being told to come back in a few days with an asylum form completed in English. The chances that they will correctly complete this form without a lawyer are none. If they can’t complete the form, they are deported. The Immigration Judge handling children’s cases in Dallas has said that expedited time schedules are being dictated from “higher up”. I don’t think that these time tables would strike anybody as due process of law or adequate protection of these children from violence in their home countries. These children should be given a fair hearing and a realistic opportunity to be represented by an attorney. Whoever is dictating these schedules must stop. Vice President Biden called upon the private bar to step up and help. There are many attorneys in private practice who want to help, but they need time. An adequately prepared asylum case can take 60-100 hours if it goes to trial. An application for Special Immigration Juvenile Status requires first filing a case in state court and obtaining an order that the child has been abandoned, abused or neglected by one or both parents and that it is not in the child’s best interest to return to their country of origin. This can’t be done overnight. Moreover, there is a huge increase in the number of children’s cases. This is straining the ability of non-profits to help mentor and oversee private attorneys. Attorneys who are willing to help don’t feel that they can responsibly agree to take a case on the time limits being imposed by the Immigration Court. You need to give the lawyers time to help these kids. Finally, I can’t imagine how stressful it is for the judges and government attorneys to have to function in what are essentially kangaroo courts. Knowing that they are sentencing some of these kids to death with deportation orders must be horrendous. A morgue director in Honduras told the Los Angeles Times that at least 5, and possibly as many as 10, of the 42 children killed in his area were recent deportees. Do you really want these children’s blood on your hands? As Democrats, we certainly can do better. I am calling on you to stop this travesty of justice and allow these children to have their day in Court. It costs this country almost nothing to allow them to have a more realistic court schedule. They are reunited with family and friends who support them and they do not qualify for government benefits like Medicaid and food stamps. Do the right thing and allow these children justice in our courts. You can send letters to President Obama and Vice President Biden at: The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500 You can send letters to Attorney General Eric Holder at: U.S. Department of Justice 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20530-0001 Emails can be sent at the following sites: Attorney General Eric Holder - [email protected] President Obama: whitehouse.gov/contact We urge everyone to take this simple step which can make the difference between life and death to these kids. Then pass this on to everyone you know and ask them personally to write a letter! Thanks for Caring and Sharing!
Posted on: Mon, 25 Aug 2014 22:37:32 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015