JFS official tells DHS abuses of asylum seekers

Other items in today’s column include:
*At the synagogues
*Torah and archaeology
*Political bytes

By Donald H. Harrison

SAN DIEGO – Attorney Kate Clark, who serves as the senior director of immigration services for Jewish Family Service, told a congressional panel on Friday that officials of the Department of Homeland Security at the southern border routinely ignore DHS’s own regulations concerning the protection of unaccompanied minors and individuals with significant medical issues.

Furthermore, she said, the Remain-in-Mexico program “has caused unnecessary suffering and harm to over 55,000 asylum seekers forced to return to Mexico and has completely overwhelmed the U.S. immigration courts—while still not giving those subject to it a chance to explain why they left their home countries and the fear they have of returning there.”

In testimony before members of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations, Clark related the story of a 16-year-old girl and her one-year-old baby who had been forced to live alone in Tijuana under the U.S. government’s remain-in-Mexico policy.  The teenager and her infant were told to report to the San Ysidro Port of Entry at 4:30 a.m. in order to be transported to San Diego Immigration Court for a 7:30 a.m. hearing on their eligibility for asylum.

“On top of the obvious logistical hurdles individuals and families who have been forced to return to Mexico have to face just to show up at the right place and the right time to be transported to court, our clients, an ever-vulnerable pair of an unaccompanied minor mom and infant, faced traveling through Tijuana in the dark of night to present themselves at the border.”

Jewish Family Service considered this inappropriate and unsafe, so Clark drove down to Tijuana at 2:30 a.m. to meet and accompany the children to the border.  Following the hearing the children were permitted to enter the U.S., but other minors and vulnerable members of the population awaiting asylum are not so lucky.  Clark said that there are only two non-profit legal services available to represent asylum seekers, and JFS has “been forced to focus our resources, time and attention on supporting the most vulnerable of MPP (Migrant Protection Protocols) cases who come into contact with JFS.

She estimated that less than 2 percent of the individuals who have been forced to return to Mexico under the U.S. policy have been able to secure representation. Most asylum seekers, she said, typically lack understanding of the process, don’t understand why they were returned to Mexico, do not know what their next steps in the process should be, and are concerned about their safety.

Requests by Jewish Family Service to provide “Know Your Rights” presentations to the migrants, at no cost to the U.S. government, have been summarily denied, Clark said.

Although there is a hearing process for migrants who fear that returning to Mexico will put them in mortal danger, “my staff and other attorneys representing individuals enrolled into MPP are regularly denied the ability to speak confidentially to our clients and adequately prepare them for the high stakes non-refoulement interview,” she said.  “Moreover, DHS refuses to allow retained counsel to participate in the interview.”  (Refoulement is a French word for forcibly returning a refugee to a place of danger.)

Clark spoke to a panel of Democrats chaired by Congresswoman Karen Bass of Los Angeles and attended by Reps. Susan Davis and Juan Vargas, both of San Diego, along with Reps. Barbara Lee of Oakland and Yvette Clark of New York City.

The San Diego attorney related to the panel the history of the Rapid Response Network that was created by JFS to assist migrants who were approved for entry to the United States.

Initially, she related, DHS used to just “dump” the migrants at the bus station, with no explanation of what the migrants should do next.  After JFS established a shelter downtown, DHS has been bringing the migrants there, where they receive medical checkups, food, clothing, warm beds, assistance in reaching their sponsors by telephone, logistical help, and, in cases of financial need, help in purchasing bus or plane tickets. JFS personnel escort the migrants to the bus station or airport, provide them with travel snacks, and make certain they board the right plane or bus.

Clark said that since the San Diego Rapid Response Network was created on Oct. 26, 2018, the network has assisted over 19,000 asylum seekers who were released by DHS into San Diego County. “The majority are traveling to destinations across the U.S., and it is in those final destinations that these families will continue their asylum proceedings, most without legal representation.”

During the intake process at the Rapid Response Network shelter, JFS personnel “have seen cases of chicken pox, scabies, lice, flu and other communicable conditions, exacerbated by close quarters in detention, with little or no medical screening and treatment happening while in detention,” Clark said.  “Most families who come to our facility are dehydrated.  We’ve consistently heard reports of Border Patrol facilities [that] have highly chlorinated water, serving old and half-frozen burritos, with the air conditioner at full blast, and the families being stripped down to one layer of clothing.

“I personally have seen a pregnant mother who was released from DHS custody who was in active labor,” she stated.

Clark cited a UC San Diego study which collected data collected from 7,300 asylum-seeking families who arrived at the JFS shelter.  The study found that one in three told of experiencing “sub-standard conditions and mistreatment while being held in immigration detention facilities along the U.S.-Mexico border.”

The Jewish Family Service representative concluded her written statement with the hope that the hearings “will result in much needed international attention to the urgent and escalating situation along the U.S./ Mexico border, and in turn, result in productive changes in U.S. policies and procedures.”

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At the synagogues
* Arlene LaGary, president of Temple Beth Shalom, sent out a Thanksgiving message in which she made it a point “to thank some people who have consistently supported Temple Beth Shalom”: Barry Scher, Dr. Louis Lurie, Ed Fishauf, Marcellino Rosales, Marie Sackett, Ron Cohn and Steve Goldkrantz. 

*Beth Jacob Congregation has presented the following slate for its board of directors, to be voted on at a congregational meeting on Sunday morning: President Philip Silverman;  Vice President Andrew Breskin; Chief Financial Officer Leopoldo Kohn; Recording Secretary Doris Jaffe; Trustees: Ariella Adatto, Rabbi Daniel Eden, Linda Eichler-Lepkowski, Jonathon Giebeler, Gavriel Gleiberman, Judy Kelin, Avi Kemp, and Mitch Wrosch; Immediate Past President Josh Cohen, Past Presidents: Stephen Reitman, M.D. and Raphael Silverman.

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Torah and archaeology  (This item corrected Nov. 24) 
Barnea Selevan and David Willner, in San Diego for the International Biblical Archaeology Conference, stopped by Soille San Diego Hebrew Day School to show students interesting Israeli artifacts, including a coin from the time of the Maccabees and a blade that dated back to  the wars between Israel and the Philistines – the period which Soille students now are studying.

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Political bytes
*The San Diego County Democratic Convention will be held from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 1, at the Center for the Arts in Escondido, with a morning keynote speech by State Treasurer Betty Yee; a luncheon with local Democratic mayors, and afternoon speeches by Senate president pro tem Toni Atkins and Assemblywoman Tasha Boerner Horvath.  During the day there will be breakout sessions and speeches by candidates for a variety of local offices.

*The Administrators Association of San Diego City Schools (AASD), which represents principals, vice principals and other administrators, has announced its endorsements for the San Diego Unified School District Board.  They are Stephen Groce in District A, from which John Lee Evans is retiring; and incumbent Board members Richard Barrera in District D and Sharon Whitehurst-Payne in District E.

*County Supervisor Jim Desmond has criticized the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) for spending on bike lanes in San Diego money that he says is needed for freeways.  Desmond, whose district is in the northern part of the county, complains, “As we continue to sit in traffic, paying numerous taxes, not getting the promised projects delivered, San Diego is getting bicycle lanes at the cost of $5 million per mile.  So far, SANDAG has spend $123 million on the Regional Bike Plan and only completed 8.8 miles.  Meanwhile we still need funding for 52, 67, 79 and 125 freeways.  Choosing bike lanes over roads and freeways is a decision for people to feel good about and not about doing the right thing.”

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Mazal Tov! Mazal Tov!

Doriane Zubkoff and Josie Zubkoff, daughters of David Zubkoff and Amy Blum, became b’not mitzvah today at Temple Emanu-El.

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Donald H. Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World.  He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com