News & Commentary

On May 8, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) elevated the crisis of federal and state governments’ disregard for protecting the right to counsel for people charged with crimes. She did so by introducing the Ensuring Quality Access to Legal Defense Act (EQUAL Defense Act) a bill that uses federal money – $250 million dollars annually for five years – to incentivize pay parity between public defenders and prosecutors, ensure manageable defender caseloads, and reauthorize the student loan repayment program benefitting public defenders. That such a bill is necessary speaks to the deleterious state of public defense in our country, which is underfunded and creates an unlevel playing field for public defenders against prosecutors. Therefore the EQUAL Defense Act would be a step forward in our nation living up to the Constitution’s pri

For many people behind bars, books can be a lifeline to the outside world. In the words of poet, attorney, and former prisoner Reginald Dwayne Betts, “Books weren't really magic when I was a child, they were just something that I [enjoyed] reading. I thought it was important, but when I got locked up it became magic, it became a means to an end.” Prisons are not, and should not be, just punitive institutions. They

In 2017, the Seattle City Council adopted an ordinance establishing a number of progressive police reforms aimed at strengthening community trust in police and ensuring police accountability. Fast forward to today and these reforms are under fire by a familiar opponent: Police unions. The comprehensive reforms in Seattle took great strides toward creating a fair and just policing system and positioned Seattle as a nationwide leader

Today we filed a lawsuit challenging Ohio’s ban on abortion starting at six weeks of pregnancy. Our lawsuit comes a day after Alabama passed a similar law and weeks after Georgia, Kentucky, and Mississippi passed similar measures. A ban on abortion starting at s

Kevin McAleenan, the new acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, abruptly assumed office in April because his predecessor reportedly wasn’t tough enough for President Trump. Ironically, McAleenan claims that “you can be tough and compassionate at the same time.” But actions speak louder than words.Don’t be fooled, McAleenan does not represent a new leaf. He is deeply implicated in many horrors over the last two and a half years. He recommended, and refuses to apologize for, family separations. He led Customs and Border Protection during the Muslim ban and oversaw the agency when two children died in its custody, toddlers were teargassed, and families were held for days in the dirt under a bridge. He stayed silent when Border Patrol abetted militias. No matter his job title, he serves and leads in an administration ideologically committed to dehumanizing immigrants — and that regrettably remains unchanged.  McAleenan and the rest of the administration are doubling down on an overarching deterrence through cruelty approach. At a time when Trump is misappropriating funds from defense and other accounts for his wall, they have asked Congress for billions more in "emergency" detention and enforcement money. The facts at our border require humanitarian, not draconian, responses. A wall, even with a “large gate,” is nothing but a political facade to capitalize on racism and fear while hurting border communities.Personnel changes are meaningless without changes to the Department of Homeland Security’s anti-immigrant, and frequently illegal, policies. The administration and the department are as dedicated as ever to its campaign of distorting the realities at the border to justify slamming America’s door on asylum seekers.We’ve sadly come to expect statistical spin and misleading political rhetoric from DHS and politicians like Senate Homeland Security Chairman Ron Johnson, who has a noted history of misleading statements about immigration. He recently went to El Paso and said: “It was amazing to me — when I talked to people, not one of them claimed credible fear or that they were fleeing persecution.” But when misinformation and DHS’ own misrepresentations are penetrating even the New York Times opinion page, a reset is warranted.First, walls don’t work — and they never have. They only serve to damage our borderlands and engender xenophobia. As research has shown, they result in border residents having their property confiscated, endangered species disappearing, and migrants being killed when forced into harsher terrain. Walls don’t contribute to the administration’s aim to unlawfully keep out those seeking safety. Asylum seekers have a right to seek protection no matter how they enter the United States.  Border barriers aren’t constructed on the precise line separating the U.S. from Mexico, meaning asylum seekers enter the United States before they even reach any wall, triggering their right to seek asylum. Building more border barriers wastes billions of dollars on pointless and damaging political theatre instead of upholding the law and processing arriving asylum seekers with adequate resources to ensure due process.Second, there is no security crisis at the southern border, and DHS’s crackdown on asylum seekers has exacerbated, rather than addressed, humanitarian needs. For example, DHS hypocritically tells migrants to present themselves at ports of entry for asylum, then under an unsupportable policy called “metering” makes them wait in dangerous conditions for weeks or months. One family subjected to this policy was kidnapped shortly after, extorted by Mexican authorities, detained for months, and pursued in Mexico by their Central American persecutors, all with a child suffering from a chronic heart condition. Over 13,000 asylum seekers are currently subjected to this illegal policy across the border.The Trump administration is also returning asylum seekers to Mexico during the pendency of their immigration cases, under its unlawful “Remain in Mexico” policy. No administration acting in good faith to address a regional refugee challenge would vilify mothers and children fleeing violence, prevent children from applying for protection in their home countries under the Central American Minors (CAM) program, or end programs to reliably supervise families in the U.S. through alternatives to detention. They certainly would not freeze the hiring of immigration judges needed to handle a massive backlog of cases.The Trump administration may be committed to pushing false narratives to justify its xenophobic and illegal attack on asylum seekers and immigrants. But there is another way.When policy makers and thought leaders seek real solutions to current border realities, by contrast, simple and smart answers exist. The administration should stop blocking asylum seekers at the border and strengthen regional protection options. DHS should allocate funds to modernize ports of entry and humanely, efficiently process asylum seekers as well as provide community-based alternatives to detention that are proven to ensure attendance at their legal immigration proceedings. As a country, we must prioritize work to address the problems in Central America that cause families to flee, not defund  assistance as Trump rashly did last month.Real solutions exist. Ignoring or countermanding them only further proves this dishonest administration is committed to keeping immigrants out rather than following the law and addressing the reality at our border.   

Over the last year, the country has been shocked by reports of the inhumane treatment of children and families in immigrant detention. Now, the Trump administration appears to be increasing the scope and severity of its immigrant detention scheme by potentially detaining immigrants at Guantanamo Bay. News broke last week that the Defense Department awarded a

This week, two of my home-state congressmen introduced bipartisan legislation to ensure that approximately 1,000 Iraqis who are now at risk of deportation or detention are given two years to have their immigration cases heard. I’m so grateful to Congressman Andy Levin (D-Mich.) and Congressman John Moolenaar (R-Mich.) for their action because no other family should have to suffer like mine did.A little over a year ago, my dad was one of more than 300 Iraqi nationals arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). With no warning, ICE planned to deport them back to Iraq where they would likely be persecuted, tortured or even killed. People in Iraq could become targets for crimes like kidnapping and even murder just for having lived in the U.S., and as Chaldean Catholics we are especially vulnerable to religious persecution.I’ll never forget the day my father was arrested. My parents, brother and sisters were getting ready for Sunday Mass. Four ICE agents came to our door and took my father away in handcuffs.  I still remember the look of fear in his eyes as we hugged and said goodbye, not knowing if we would ever see him again.  Later, my family learned that many others had been arrested and that they were all going to be deported.He was locked up for eight months. My mother tried her best to be both parents to her four children, but the emptiness pervaded our lives. My brother, normally a happy and social teen, rarely left his room. My sisters were quiet and kept to themselves.  Even together, we felt alone.Each week we drove three hours roundtrip for a 30-minute visit with our dad at the St. Clair County Jail. We were unable to touch or hug him, and could only look at him through a thick, smudged glass window. We had to shout over a loud, blaring fan just to talk. To keep him involved in our lives, we brought photos of my brother as the Walled Lake Central High School homecoming king, of our Thanksgiving dinner, and of Christmas.  It was excruciating to watch my dad realize he was missing these milestones. The once strong man, the rock for us and our entire extended family, seemed so helpless and afraid. The worst part came when we said goodbye, leaving our dad behind thick glass in a dingy jail—where he did not belong.The ACLU and partner organizations sued ICE to stop the deportations of my dad and the other Iraqis who were locked up. They argued that they would be sent back to a country with dangerous conditions based on removal orders from decades ago, and that their cases must be re-opened and re-evaluated. Thankfully, Judge Mark Goldsmith agreed. My dad’s case was reopened in December 2018, a year and a half after he was arrested.My dad is now safe at home with our family while we wait for January 14, 2020 when an immigration judge will decide whether he gets his green card back and can apply for citizenship. If it wasn’t for Judge Goldsmith’s order, we would have lost him to deportation long before an immigration judge had even opened his file.But a recent ruling from the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reversed Judge Goldsmith’s decision, and our community is at risk again. Approximately 1,000 Iraqis—many of them parents of kids like me—now can be immediately arrested and deported, before an immigration court even has a chance to decide if it is too dangerous for them to be sent back.As tough as this has been for our family, we are the lucky ones.  My dad will get his day in court. He can be with us for the little things, like family dinner, and the big things, like my graduation from the University of Michigan earlier this month. For now, at least, he does not have to fear being rearrested, detained or deported. And I don’t have to fear that another knock on the door will tear him from my life forever.My dad just needed an opportunity to show how dangerous it was for him to be sent to Iraq.  That’s why the legislation introduced this week is so critical. For these families, who all have deep ties to the U.S., this bill will be the difference between facing immediate deportation or having their day in court..Everyone should be afforded that justice. My community deserves that same opportunity to stand before a judge and make the case that their loved ones belong home with them, not arrested, detained, and deported—for their parents to be with them, for little and big moments, while they wait for that fateful decision in immigration court. Let’s make sure every family gets the chance my family has had and pass this bill.

Attorney General William Barr recently invoked a powerful, rarely used privilege to withhold information from the public, marking a dramatic turn of events in a battle over the release of a highly contested report. Only this time, we’re talking about a report that would provide much-needed information on the government’s spying activities.

This week the House Appropriations Committee advanced the Labor, Health, and Human Services appropriations bill, the annual bill that funds federal health and education programs.  It makes important strides forward on reproductive health and rights--and it also shines a light on the need for presidential leadership on abortion coverage. The bill, under the leadership of subcommittee chair Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and committee chair Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY), blocks funding for i