Congressman Polis meets with immigrant mothers detained in Aurora who were separated from their children at the border
Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., along with Rep. Luis Gutiérrez, D-Ill., visited with migrant mothers at the immigration detention facility in Aurora yesterday. The Trump administration separated the mothers from their young children at the southern border in May, and has detained them ever since, now in Colorado.
Coloradoan: Fort Collins residents sought asylum at the US border. I know because I represented them.
Fort Collins immigration attorney, Kim Baker Medina, tells the stories of her asylum-seeking clients. “These people are real. I know because I represent or have represented each of them. But what is not real are the stories our president tells about them.”
CNN: Immigrant mom speaks out on child separation
An immigrant from El Salvador and RMIAN client shares her story of being separated from her daughter at the border.
Vice: This 6-year old was separated from her mother by ICE. It changed her.
Two RMIAN clients, a mother and daughter from El Salvador, tell their story of being separated at the border. “When I decided to leave with my daughter, I thought we would be together,” Sara said. “When I arrived and they separated us, it was so hard.”
Photo: Associated Press
Denver Post: 50 parents separated from their children await fate at Aurora ICE facility
RMIAN’s Brittany Hurley tells The Denver Post about RMIAN’s work with parents being held in detention in Aurora. “One woman I met with today used the word ‘anguish’ to describe it all,” Hurley said.
Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty
Families Belong Together: Separation Endangers any Chance for Lifelong Health
Colorado Health Foundation President & CEO, Karen McNeil-Miller, discusses the ways in which family separation can negatively affect the lifelong health of children and why the Foundation is supporting RMIAN in this critical time.
CBS4 Denver: Parents Separated From Children Housed At Aurora ICE Center
RMIAN's Executive Director, Mekela Goehring, speaks with CBS4's Rick Sallinger about RMIAN’s work with separated families.
Denver7: Approximately 50 undocumented immigrant parents separated from children held in Colorado facility
Managing Attorney of RMIAN's Children's Program, Ashley Harrington, speaks with Jackie Crea from Denver7 News about RMIAN’s work with parents separated from their children.
9News Denver: What the turmoil in the immigration system has to do with Aurora
RMIAN’s Megan Hope joins Kyle Clark from 9News Denver to speak about how families at a detention center in Aurora have been impacted by recent policy changes.
NYT: Migrant Parents Wait and Hope for Their Children: ‘I Feel Like I’m Going to Die’
RMIAN’s Laura Lunn speaks with The New York Times about three detained mothers who have been separated from their children.
Photo: Sandy Huffaker/The New York Times
Free Webinar: Family Separation and Family Detention at the Border
RMIAN’s Laura Lunn and other advocates will provide an update on ‘Family Separation and Family Detention at the Border’ next Wednesday, June 27th. The webinar is offered by the Practising Law Institute (PLI). Register here.
The Colorado Independent: Held in ICE facility in Colorado, immigrant mothers share stories of separation from their sons
Three RMIAN clients, Guatemalan women who were separated from their children at the border, share their stories of family separation.
Photo: Quimgil/Flickr
RMIAN Responds to Executive Order and Continues Fighting for Families in Colorado
“The Executive Order signed today by the President trades one cruel policy for another, replacing family separation with prolonged family detention, and does nothing to address the nightmare that thousands of families remain separated, including here in Colorado,” said RMIAN’s Executive Director Mekela Goehring.
“The Executive Order signed today by the President trades one cruel policy for another, replacing family separation with prolonged family detention, and does nothing to address the nightmare that thousands of families remain separated, including here in Colorado,” said RMIAN’s Executive Director Mekela Goehring.
RMIAN’s attorneys and social workers are tirelessly advocating for the mothers and fathers being held in immigration detention in Colorado, working with over 50 parents who were callously separated from their children at the border, some as young as five years old. These parents’ testimonies are heart-wrenching. Some have spent weeks or months in detention without knowing where their children are and who is caring for them. One mother was told by officials that her son was being taken for a bath inside a detention facility near the border; she never saw him again. Her last memory is of him crying for her as a door slammed between them.
Please join RMIAN in continuing to fight these abhorrent policies and help us demand that our country protect the most basic of human rights – the right of a family to be together.
Please donate here so that RMIAN can provide legal representation and social services support to separated families here in Colorado.
FOX31 Denver: Colorado housing dozens of detainees who were separated from their children at the border
Managing Attorney of RMIAN's Detention Program, Laura Lunn, discusses family separation on FOX31 Denver.
The Daily Beast: DHS Deporting Women Without Asking If They’re Afraid to Go Home, Advocate Says
RMIAN’s Laura Lunn tells The Daily Beast that numerous detained women she’s spoken to say they were placed in expedited removal proceedings without being asked by Customs and Border Patrol officials if they were afraid of returning to their home countries.
Photo: John Moore/Getty
New Report: Poor Medical Care, Deaths, in Immigrant Detention
Poor medical treatment contributed to more than half the deaths reported by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during a 16-month period, Human Rights Watch, the American Civil Liberties Union, Detention Watch Network, and National Immigrant Justice Center said in a report released today.
Image: Mitch Blunt/Human Rights Watch
Immigrant Justice Legal Fellowship Announcement
Through generous funding from The Gateway Fund at The Denver Foundation, RMIAN has an opening for a one-year Immigrant Justice Legal Fellow in RMIAN’s Detention Program starting July 2018.
Through generous funding from The Gateway Fund at The Denver Foundation, RMIAN has an opening for a one-year Immigrant Justice Legal Fellow in RMIAN’s Detention Program starting July 2018.
Despite the overwhelming complexity of the law and the often life-and-death consequences of the courts’ decisions, individuals in immigration removal proceedings have no right to court-appointed counsel. As a result, studies show that over 84% of immigrants in civil immigration detention are unrepresented by an attorney, creating unjust disparities in court outcomes based on clients’ income levels. A 2012 study, headed by a federal judge, showed that immigrants in detention are six times more likely to win their removal proceedings if they are represented.
These disparities, and the resulting unequal access to justice, are certain to be compounded in this time of increased immigration enforcement and detention. Through this initiative, the Immigrant Justice Legal Fellow will represent immigrants in civil immigration detention in Colorado, thereby ensuring due process and equal access to justice for those ensnared in increased immigration enforcement efforts. The Fellow will have a full caseload of clients before the Aurora Immigration Court, representing clients in bond hearings, full merits cases, parole requests, representing asylum-seekers in credible fear proceedings, as well as possible appeals before the Board of Immigration Appeals.
Position Requirements:
- Admission to any state bar
- Minimum two years of experience in immigration law, preferably in removal defense and with detained populations
- Spanish fluency - both written & oral, and demonstrated cultural competency
- Strong sense of personal initiative, commitment to and understand of working with clients in detention, ability to multi-task, and interest in creative lawyering
- Passion for RMIAN's mission, and demonstrated commitment to social justice
- Excellent oral & written communication skills, as well as legal research and writing skills
Compensation:
- Salary DOE; includes generous benefits package
To apply, please send a detailed cover letter, resume, writing sample, and list of three references to hr@rmian.org
RMIAN is an equal opportunity employer and recognizes the importance of diversity in the workplace; individuals from diverse backgrounds are encouraged to apply.
Slate: Here's How You Can Help Fight Family Separation at the Border
Slate adds RMIAN to a growing list of organizations helping families separated at the border.
Photo: Edgard Garrido/Reuters
Governor Hickenlooper Signs Executive Order Limiting Use of State Resources to Separate Families
RMIAN applauds Governor Hickenlooper for his leadership in standing up to this cruel policy of separating families and for reaffirming that “Colorado is a safe and welcoming place for all of its residents, regardless of immigration status.”
RMIAN Denounces Attorney General's Decision to Limit Protection for Victims of Domestic Violence
RMIAN joins its partner organizations across the country in condemning this decision as an “affront to the rule of law” and yet another politically-motivated attack on those seeking refuge in the U.S.
Contacts: Mekela Goehring, mgoehring@rmian.org, 720-370-9102
Ashley Harrington, aharrington@rmian.org, 720-370-9104
Laura Lunn, llunn@rmian.org, 720-370-9100
On June 11, 2018, Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a far-reaching and abhorrent decision that will have a devastating impact on asylum-seekers, in particular for domestic violence survivors. Invoking a rarely-used procedural mechanism, Sessions unilaterally overturned a Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) decision granting asylum to a victim of ongoing, brutal domestic violence and overruled Matter of A-R-C-G, a 2014 precedential BIA decision, which solidified that victims of domestic violence could be eligible for asylum protection in the United States. RMIAN joins its partner organizations across the country such as the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies and the National Immigrant Justice Center, as well as many former immigration judges and BIA members, in condemning this decision as an “affront to the rule of law” and yet another politically-motivated attack on those seeking refuge in the U.S.
“This decision is the latest blatant attempt by this administration to inflict harm on the most vulnerable refugees fleeing to the U.S. to save their lives and the lives of their children. Just like the administration’s recent appalling policies of ripping children away from their parents when they reach our border, this decision sends a clear message that the United States will no longer be a safe haven for these desperate families,” said RMIAN’s Children’s Program Managing Attorney Ashley Harrington.
This decision will have grave consequences for many of the clients in RMIAN’s Children’s Program, as well as many of the parents currently separated from their children and detained at the immigration detention center in Aurora, Colorado.
“How do I explain to my detained client that yesterday, she had a well-recognized bona fide asylum claim and today, she is facing the very real risk of deportation and indefinite separation from her daughter? This decision is antithetical to how a healthy judicial system should operate. Human lives depend on a consistent application of the law that is not politicized in such a way where one man has the authority to change decades of hard-fought legal precedent. This decision is tantamount to a death sentence for innumerable survivors of domestic violence who will be sent back to their home countries and punished for fleeing their abusers,” said RMIAN’s Detention Program Managing Attorney Laura Lunn.
RMIAN is committed to resolutely fighting for the rights of all families and children to pursue asylum and protection under the law. If you are a RMIAN attorney with a domestic-violence or child-abuse asylum case, please await further guidance unless your case is scheduled for an interview or hearing within the next 90 days. RMIAN refers over 200 cases a year to pro bono attorneys. RMIAN is working diligently and collaborating with national experts to ensure that everyone gets the best guidance possible regarding next steps and best practices to continue fighting for asylum-seeking clients.
Please consider taking action against this shameful decision and standing up for justice with RMIAN through one of the following ways:
1) Publish an op-ed or letter to the editor expressing your support for survivors of domestic violence seeking asylum in the U.S. See sample here.
2) Share your support on social media.
3) If you are a lawyer, contact RMIAN’s Children’s Program Pro Bono Coordinator Lauren Duke at lduke@rmian.org or RMIAN’s Detention Program Pro Bono Coordinator Jessica Burnett at jburnett@rmian.org to sign up to provide pro bono representation to an asylum-seeker facing deportation under this new ruling
4) Donate to RMIAN to support critical efforts in Colorado to provide free legal representation to women and children affected by this decision.