News Dive: The Great De-Legalization, H-1B Follies, and Midterm Predictions
We plunge beneath the latest immigration headlines to make sense of the senseless.
What is the human cost of revoking deportation protections from over a million people? Why is the newly proposed H-1B fee precisely $103,265? Why are your taxpayer dollars giving ICE electric-shock gloves and robot dogs?
Plus planning for a Democratic House majority to rein in these abuses (and a likely Constitutional crisis in the meantime).
In This Episode
- Introduction
- What’s going on with ICE?
- Electric-shock gloves and robot dogs
- “I would argue that Border Patrol is worse.”
- Deaths in detention
- Redirecting resources to conspiracy theories
- Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and the Great De-legalization
- The suicide of Pierre Damas Bel
- How TPS is supposed to work
- Supporting the Haitian Bridge Alliance
- Arresting authorized immigrants
- Denying green cards based on “public charge”
- Democracy Dies in HR
- The deportation of Milo Yiannopoulos
- Attacks on international students and H-1B workers
- Birthright citizenship, again?
- Citizenship ceremonies and one little victory
- What does “winning the midterms” mean?
- Have you read Game of Thrones…?
- What should Democrats do with a House majority?
- LOL nothing matters?
- Imagine AOC gives you a call…
- Claire knows all about fishing expeditions
- Let’s talk about candidates
- Conclusion
Learn More
Amanda, Claire, and Doug express their own personal opinions on The Melting Pod. This episode was produced by Michael Palmer (palmer.media). Read more about the topics in this episode:
Democrats found their border message. ICE is another story.
American support for abolishing ICE hits record 50% in new poll
ICE plans to give officers gloves that can deliver painful electric shocks
Dying in Detention: Rising Deaths in an Expanding US Immigration Detention System
The Great Delegalization
Pierre Damas Bel died in an apparent suicide. His family says he felt ‘humiliated’ by his ICE ankle monitor
Years of Trump Support Came Undone in 15 Minutes in an Airport
Actually, Democracy Dies in H.R.
Milo Yiannopoulos says he was ‘terrified’ by the ‘brutality’ of his ICE deportation
Trump Said He’d Target Illegal Immigration. That Was a Lie. (w/ Doug Rand)
U.S. may ask parents to prove citizenship or immigration status to get passports for children
League of Women Voters, Campaign Legal Center Celebrate Victory as Court Blocks USCIS Rule
Trump Administration Launches Blitz to Find Elusive Voter Fraud Ahead of Midterms
Give More
Want to help build a more sane and humane immigration system? Support hardworking organizations like these:
National
Working to ensure the U.S. keeps its promise to our Afghan allies
The country’s largest membership organization of asylum seekers, working together for change
Organizing and advocating for racial, social and economic justice
Providing humanitarian, legal, and social services
Strategic litigation and advocacy to uphold the rights of people seeking safety
Immigrant justice through litigation and storytelling
Local
Legal and humanitarian support to refugees, deportees, and other migrants in the U.S. and Tijuana
Providing assistance to the poor and most vulnerable populations in the Rio Grande Valley community
Free and low-cost legal services to immigrants and refugees in West Texas, New Mexico, and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico
Asylum Is Not a Loophole, with Colleen Zengotitabengoa
What is asylum? Simply put, the United States must not return someone to a country where they have a well-founded fear of persecution. Following the atrocities of World War II, Congress created a U.S. asylum system under international treaty and federal law. But in recent years, as many more people sought asylum at the U.S./Mexico border, this moral and legal obligation became a political lightning rod. Colleen Zengotitabengoa has seen these challenges first-hand, in her two decades serving at the Department of Homeland Security, the White House, and Congress. As an attorney, she has directly represented asylum-seekers – real people who were not “exploiting a loophole.” Colleen will help you understand what happened to our asylum system, why it matters, and what we as a nation need to do next.
Next EpisodeFrom Suing the Man to Serving the Man, with Lucas Guttentag
What happens when you spend decades suing the government, and then help run the government? Back in the 1980s, Lucas Guttentag started the Immigrant Rights Project at the ACLU. He and his team argued hugely consequential cases across the country and all the way to the Supreme Court, securing fundamental due process and nondiscrimination rights for the most vulnerable immigrant communities. Then, during the Obama and Biden eras, Lucas went to work for his longtime courtroom opponents: the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice. We’ll explore the games lawyers play, what it’s like to pursue change from inside a giant bureaucracy, how the courts became a potent weapon for anti-immigrant forces – and, in the end, how to win.