Immigration to be in the Daily News in the Second Trump Term: More Public Support for Immigration Enforcement and Border Wall, Lawsuit Challenges Guantanamo Detention of Migrants
It is going to be a busy four years on the immigration front. Here are just a few immigration news tidbits from today.
Republicans generally support President Trump’s tough immigration measures, NPR’s Joel Rose tells Up First. Four out of five Republicans see immigration at the southern border as an “invasion.” Democrats, on the other hand, oppose nearly all of Trump’s plans — especially his push to end birthright citizenship. Americans have shifted somehat on immigration since Trump’s first term. In 2018, 38% of Americans supported expanding a border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Now, support is up to nearly 50%.
At least 112 unidentified migrants have been sent to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, this past week. A group of immigrant rights and legal aid organizations, led by the American Civil Liberties Union, is demanding that the Trump administration give those migrants access to lawyers.
NPR’s Sacha Pfieffer reports the lawsuit claims that the migrants have been held “incommunicado, without access to attorneys, family, or the outside world.” ACLU lawyer Lee Gelernt points out that even suspected foreign terrorists who have been held there for decades have access to lawyers. The lawsuit alleges that these migrants’ isolation is not a coincidence and that flying migrants to a remote island is to make it especially difficult for them to communicate with lawyers who could explain their legal rights and possibly challenge their detention.
I found the public comments on this New York Post story on the Guantanamo lawsuit to be chilling.
KJ