Beyond the Border: Birthright citizenship upheld, international calls for investigating ICE facility deaths and a shelter network helping detained immigrants return to Minnesota
Here's what happened this week in immigration news.
Written by Jenna Ramiscal, Edited by Kate Morrissey
Welcome to another edition of Beyond the Border, which summarizes immigration news from across the country in a weekly roundup. Did we miss something? Message us via kate@daylightsandiego.org or on Instagram.
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ICE facility deaths
The Texas Tribune reported that a Mexican man’s death, which a medical examiner found to be from natural causes, marks the fifth in Texas Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities this year. His is the 20th death in ICE custody so far this year.
Dallas County’s medical examiner ruled the March death of an Afghan asylum seeker accidental, Houston Public Media reported. The Texas Monthly reported that the wife and son of Nazeer Paktiawal are waiting for the medical examiner to release the autopsy results.
United Nations posted a video on Instagram of Volker Türk, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, calling for independent investigations into deaths that occur in ICE custody.
ICE custody experience
The New York Times reported that ICE officials have detained more than 10,000 people in the last five days.
Allan Dabrio Marrero spoke with New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani on the “Talk With The People” livestream about being arrested by ICE after a routine green card interview. Marrero was detained at Delaney Hall and Alligator Alcatraz.
Univision reported that ICE ridiculed and discriminated against a young mariachi musician for wearing mariachi attire when officers arrested him.
The Los Angeles Times published a commentary piece from Brady Tillett, who has been in ICE custody for two years. Tillett, who is currently in California City Detention Facility, the largest detention center in California, said that people who are detained experienced negligent treatment and routine violations of their rights.
NBC News posted a video on Instagram showing the moment a nun, who was arrested while walking to mass near the border, was released from ICE custody. Migrant Insider reported that ICE officials confiscated Sister Leticia Ugboaja’s rosary when they arrested her and have not given it back.
El Paso Matters reported that journalist Ricardo Quintana Chávez wrote a book about his custody experience at Alligator Alcatraz and Camp East Montana, ICE facilities where detainees have alleged human rights abuses.
Targeting dissent
CBS News reported that a video shows a Delaney Hall facility worker driving into a protester.
A immigration attorney who helped win a class action lawsuit barring ICE from arresting immigrants during court hearings had to undergo enhanced screening from the Transportation Security Administration at the San Francisco airport, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
Court updates
The Supreme Court upheld birthright citizenship, which means that all children born on U.S. soil are citizens of the United States — regardless of the immigration status of their parents — the New York Times reported.
The Texas Tribune reported that a judge blocked federal officials from accessing an immigration database to check voter eligibility. The judge pointed to mistakes the database had made in flagging citizens as noncitizens.
Community organizing
Sahan Journal reported that Annunciation House, a migrant shelter made up of a series of homes in El Paso, is helping immigrants who were detained during Operation Metro Surge find their ways back to Minnesota.
Catholic leaders gathered for a pastoral conversation, Border Mass 250, to recognize the contribution immigrants have made in honor of the nation’s 250 year anniversary, the Arizona Republic reported.
Other stories to watch
NPR reported that President Donald Trump is nominating Lance Schroyer, former state trooper, as the next director of ICE.
The New York Times reported that the federal government is planning to give welcome bags to White South African refugees that include tablets and materials that criticize civil rights laws and promote claims of “reverse racism.”
Three Republican members of a congressional committee are demanding that Travis County’s district attorney provide them with documents related to the prosecution of noncitizens and communications with immigration officials, the Texas Tribune reported.
Construction of Trump’s border wall in Texas' Lower Pecos Canyonlands could destroy sacred Indigenous sites and rock art, The Border Chronicle reported.
After spending a month in ICE detention, a mother got to see her daughter graduate from the University of California, San Diego, inewsource reported. The outlet reported that within the first 14 months of Trump’s second term, ICE has made around 10,500 arrests in San Diego and Imperial counties.
Thanks for reading! Take care and stay well.
— Jenna
