To the editor:
Dear neighbors, please join me at 4:30 p.m. this Sunday, Jan. 12, at the State House in Concord to demonstrate solidarity with activists gathered at our Mexican border to begin a long-term vigil, Witness at the Border. This vigil will continue until the Trump administration’s inhumane immigration policy, Remain in Mexico (MPP) is repealed and due process and asylum rights are restored.
Under MPP, asylum seekers must remain on the Mexican side of the border while waiting for their number to be called to attend the first of many asylum hearings held in the US immigration “tent courts.” Meanwhile, they are living without adequate shelter, food nor safety. Cartels control everything in these border cities, leaving migrant families vulnerable to murder, rape, and kidnapping, all documented daily occurrences.
Another policy called Safe Third Country forces asylum seekers to apply for asylum in the first country they enter. That means families from El Salvador and Honduras attempting to reach their families in the U.S., are being detained in Guatemala, another violent country, where they are strangers without resources.
And it gets worse. Just this week it was just announced that the U.S. will facilitate shipping out asylum applicants from Mexico to Guatemala, 2,000 miles away from the “tent courts”, which exist only along the U.S.-Mexican border.
Each new Trump administration immigration policy is more outrageous evidence that the Trump administration is not interested in legal proceedings, nor in the safety of our fellow human beings.
It is not illegal to seek a safe life in America. Our families did.
Witness at the Border begins this Sunday in Brownsville, Texas with solidary events throughout the country. I hope to see you at 4:30 p.m. outside the State House in Concord. We must end this cruelty being perpetrated in our name.
Marjorie Margolis
Sharon