Trump administration's latest experience at the border: Tent courts



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["Celaenlèvetoutespoir"lesmigrantsauMexique["Thistakesawayallhope":MigrantsinMexico[«Celaenlèvetoutespoir»:lesmigrantsauMexique[“Thistakesawayallhope”:MigrantsinMexicofear new rules on asylum.]

But immigration lawyers and lawyers have said that these new measures have a high cost. They called the new tents courts a secret assembly line procedure for legal asylum seekers, and said that this policy had subjected them to kidnappings, assaults and extortions. Homeland security officials denied the public and the media access to tents, but allowed access to courtrooms such as the San Antonio courtroom where judges hear cases.

"The historic opening of immigration hearings has been an essential guarantee to prevent abuse," said Lee Gelernt, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union, who has fought in court over a number of policies. immigration. "The administration must guarantee access to these hearings so that any illegality can be revealed, especially at the beginning, given the novelty of the new" Rest in Mexico "process."

Amnesty International plans to travel to South Texas next week to gain access to tent courts, which are officially known as "harbor courts" as they are built at entry points.

An official of the Department of Homeland Security, the agency responsible for customs surveillance and border protection, said in a statement, citing "enforcement priorities," that even if immigration court hearings were generally open to the public, "the nature of the temporary hearing facilities located on CBP's property makes these court operations unique compared to other immigration courts."

On Thursday morning, several of the people who appeared by teleconference at the Laredo tents were from Honduras, but others from Cuba. They were part of the so-called Rest in Mexico program, where people whose business is in progress are routed from Mexico for their hearings and then sent back across the border. Several of the migrants who appeared on Thursday had first sought to enter the United States by an international bridge in Laredo on August 14 or 15. A large number of them were to be heard on November 7th.

With the help of an interpreter, Judge Craig A. Harlow was able to see and hear the migrants through the video link. The migrants seemed to hear him clearly and answered all his questions. Few of them were represented by lawyers. Most sat alone or with their loved ones at the table, telling the judge that they had agreed to speak on their own behalf. Those who claimed to want to seek asylum were allowed to do so by the judge, who instructed the agents in Laredo to provide applications to the migrants.

Lorena, the woman of Cuban origin, did have a lawyer, but her case was heard by the judge before her lawyer arrived in the courtroom in San Antonio. The judge gave him a new date of hearing in November.

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