Trump on undocumented immigrants: 'These aren't people. These are animals.'

[*PhilHos*]

(06-25-2018, 03:36 PM)GMDino Wrote: Oh, it happens.

With the results I mentioned.

"fake news"

Well, by all means, don't criticize the president if you can't handle him defending himself even if he resorts to lying and misdirection to do so.

[GMDino]

(06-25-2018, 03:46 PM)PhilHos Wrote: Well, by all means, don't criticize the president if you can't handle him defending himself even if he resorts to lying and misdirection to do so.

But what's the point?

His supporters don't believe he is lying or using misdirection.

His opponents know he is lying and using misdirection.

I don't even think its criticizing him anymore...it's just reporting what he's doing to people who probably already made up their mind on whatever the next subject is.

[*PhilHos*]

(06-25-2018, 03:54 PM)GMDino Wrote: But what's the point?

His supporters don't believe he is lying or using misdirection.

His opponents know he is lying and using misdirection.

I don't even think its criticizing him anymore...it's just reporting what he's doing to people who probably already made up their mind on whatever the next subject is.

Look, if you want to criticize the man, criticize him. Who cares what other people say or think of him or you or your criticism? But, don't act like they are preventing you or not "allowing" you from criticizing him.

[GMDino]

(06-25-2018, 04:03 PM)PhilHos Wrote: Look, if you want to criticize the man, criticize him. Who cares what other people say or think of him or you or your criticism? But, don't act like they are preventing you or not "allowing" you from criticizing him.

Oh, no one is "preventing" me from doing anything.

My initial response was to the question of "who would call him out"...and my answer is the same:  Doesn't matter because his supporters believe whatever he says.

I haven't stopped sharing what the POTUS does and says...I just realize that his fan base doesn't care because unless he says it it is "fake news".

[Dill]

(06-25-2018, 03:46 PM)PhilHos Wrote: Well, by all means, don't criticize the president if you can't handle him defending himself even if he resorts to lying and misdirection to do so.

It is not the "defending" in itself that Trump critics question.

It is how Trump is doing that and what it means for the country, coming as it does from the highest office in the land and supported by millions of followers.  Lying and misdirection are not good things in a leader, nor good things for supporters to ignore. But that is now the case. Trump and supporters are a massive, angry political force separated from the usual accountability to the facts.

Sometimes people say "all politicians lie."  But until now, they have not been able to do so daily and with such impunity. Clinton lied and was impeached. Nixon lied and resigned before he could be impeached. People went to jail who lied for him.  Nixon's own party turned on him when he placed himself above the rule of law. That does not appear to be happening today.

Even some who claim not to support Trump, and agree that our top diplomat and role model is vulgar and ignorant, still find it easier to criticize Democrats on civility and honesty when they demand accountability.

It is this total situation, not just Trump, that people criticize. If Trump resigned to today there would still be the problem of lowered standards of civility, of truth in public discourse, and millions of voters who dismiss accountability. How can this be good?

[GMDino]

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ny-news-mar-a-lago-foreign-workers-20180705-story.html#

Quote:Mar-a-Lago seeks permission to hire 40 more foreign workers on H-2 visas
[/url]




President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump greet Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and wife Akie Abe as they arrive for dinner at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida in April. (MANDEL NGAN / AFP/Getty Images)



President Trump’s private Palm Beach resort is seeking permission from the government to hire 40 additional temporary foreign workers to staff Mar-a-Lago during the ritzy Florida community’s busy season, according to [url=https://lcr-pjr.doleta.gov/index.cfm?event=ehLCJRExternal.dspJobOrderView&frm=PJR&task=view_job_order&view=external&lcjr_id=136842]United States Department of Labor records released Thursday.

The club seeks to hire the non-American employees as the Trump administration cracks down on illegal entry into the United States with a so-called “zero tolerance” immigration policy.


The request, first reported by BuzzFeed, was made despite Trump’s urging American companies to hire locals, arguing immigration puts pressure on wages and takes jobs away from hard-working Americans.



Mar-a-Lago seeks to hire 40 foreign waiters and waitresses under the H-2B visa program, which allows American employers to hire foreigners on a seasonal basis if there is not a sufficient supply of qualified Americans.

If the request is approved, Mar-a-Lago will be allowed to employ the workers from October 2018 until May 2019.



The workers would earn an hourly wage of $12.68 with the possibility of making $19.02 an hour in overtime pay.


Trump defended the practice of hiring foreign workers, telling MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” it “is very hard to get people in Florida for seasonal jobs.


“For about a five month period during what they call the Palm Beach season, which is a big deal, you can’t get help,” he said. 
“So we tend to get help from different places including Europe.”


Trump has for years been staffing the resort, built by the wife of stockbroker E.F. Hutton in 1927, with foreign employees.
Mar-a-Lago — dubbed the “Winter White House” — was for the 2017-2018 season given permission to hire 70 foreign maids, cooks and servers.


Trump has been criticized for his hiring practices by Floridians who claim they want to work and have been turned down for Mar-a-Lago jobs for no apparent reason.

[Yojimbo]

(07-06-2018, 02:12 PM)GMDino Wrote: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ny-news-mar-a-lago-foreign-workers-20180705-story.html#

The request was just bumped to 61, because they need more foreign cooks.

[GMDino]

(07-06-2018, 07:34 PM)Yojimbo Wrote: The request was just bumped to 61, because they need more foreign cooks.

[GMDino]

So this is fun.  

This is so unacceptable on so many levels. I don’t even know where to start.  https://t.co/sDI2OTWxee pic.twitter.com/dv0TZR1H7f

— Rep. Barbara Lee (@RepBarbaraLee) July 10, 2018

[GMDino]

[GMDino]

A 10-year-old from Honduras describes her experience in federal custody (from a court filing) pic.twitter.com/4zsPEOujVy

— Emma Platoff (@emmaplatoff) July 19, 2018

[GMDino]

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2018/08/02/trump-administration-aclu-should-find-deported-parents-not-government/894466002/

Quote:Trump administration says ACLU — not government — should find deported parents

The Trump administration believes that the responsibility for finding parents who were deported after they were separated from their children should rest with immigration advocacy groups, not with the federal government, according to a court document filed Thursday.

The administration reunited more than 1,400 children with their parents by a July 26 deadline imposed by U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw. But the judge gave the government more time to reunite more complicated cases, including an estimated 431 children whose parents had already been deported.

Justice Department lawyers wrote on Thursday that the government would turn over whatever identifying information it could on the parents who were deported, including last known phone numbers and addresses. But they wrote that the ACLU "should use their considerable resources and their network of law firms, (non-governmental organizations), volunteers, and others" to establish contact with the deported parents.

ACLU lawyers argued that the Trump administration is trying to shirk its responsibility by passing its work off to private groups despite its own considerable resources.

"Not only was it the government's unconstitutional separation practice that led to this crisis, but the United States Government has far more resources than any group of NGOs (no matter how many NGOs and law firms are willing to help),'" they wrote.

The ACLU attorneys said they "hope that the Government will take significant and prompt steps to find the parents on their own."

The ACLU lawyers also complained that the government is not even sharing information it already has on parents who have been deported, mostly to the Central American nations of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. They wrote that they found at least 12 parents who were already in contact with U.S. government officials, proving that the administration has established contact information with some deported parents but didn't pass that information along to the ACLU.

Even when information is being shared, the ACLU argues that it's only coming in pieces. Some addresses for parents list only a street, some merely a city. 

It remains unclear what will happen when the parents are located. They could waive their right to be reunified and allow their children to remain in the U.S. to fight for legal status. But the ACLU is asking Sabraw to give parents the additional option of flying back to the U.S. to consult with lawyers and their children, a proposal that Trump administration officials have refused.

More: Ivanka Trump calls father's immigrant family separation policy 'low point' for administration
More: Top HHS official warned Trump administration against separating immigrant families
More: Bipartisan senators grill ICE, border patrol and other officials about family separations

The disagreement over the deported parents marks the latest step in the arduous process of reunifying more than 2,500 children who were separated from their parents under President Donald Trump's "zero tolerance" policy.

The policy required that most people apprehended trying to illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border were to be charged with a criminal violation, and sent to immigration detention centers or federal prisons to await deportation hearings. That prompted the government to separate them from their children, due to a U.S. law and a 1997 court settlement, known as the Flores Consent Decree, that limits the detention of children to no more than 20 days.

The policy was widely condemned and the president signed an executive order ending the practice in an attempt to mitigate the problem.

A week later, U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw, based in San Diego, ruled that the practice may have violated the due process rights of the families, and ordered the administration to reunite them within 30 days.

Lawyers on both sides are now at odds over whether the government has met the judge's deadlines, and whether the government is doing enough to reunite parents who have been deported.

On Tuesday, a bipartisan group of senators grilled administration officials over the family separation crisis. During the hearing, a senior Department of Health and Human Services official said he repeatedly warned the Trump administration that the separation policy would not be in "the best interest of the child."

On Wednesday, a group of 14 bipartisan senators sent a letter to the heads of the departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and Health and Human Services, demanding information on the status of separated families, including those where the parents have been deported.

"Unfortunately, the flow of information to the public and to congressional offices with important oversight responsibilities has been both incomplete and below acceptable standards," the senators wrote.

And on Thursday, Ivanka Trump, the president's daughter and senior adviser, weighed in calling the family separation practice a "low point" in her father's presidency. 

Sabraw is scheduled to hold a hearing on Friday to decide who should bear the responsibility to find the deported parents.

Trump's an ass.

Just like his businesses he screws the pooch because of his own incompetence and then tries to pass the clean up off on someone else.

[BmorePat87]

(08-03-2018, 12:41 AM)GMDino Wrote:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2018/08/02/trump-administration-aclu-should-find-deported-parents-not-government/894466002/



Trump's an ass.

Just like his businesses he screws the pooch because of his own incompetence and then tries to pass the clean up off on someone else.

They argued that the ACLU has a network of NGOs and law firms they can use, to which the ACLU responded saying the federal government has more resources than any number of NGOs.

[*Nately120*]

Trump only hires undocumented workers because liberals make him give too much of his money to freeloaders. Er, right?

[GMDino]

Only in Trumpland does this make sense...

https://kdvr.com/2018/08/09/colorado-parents-fighting-to-stop-legally-adopted-four-year-old-daughter-from-being-deported/

Quote:Aurora parents fighting to stop legally adopted 4-year-old daughter from being deported

AURORA, Colo. -- An Aurora family is scrambling to figure out how to keep their 4-year-old daughter in the United States.

Angela Becerra starts pre-kindergarten on Monday. Three weeks into her new school year, though, she will be legally at risk of being deported.

Her parents, Amy and Marco Becerra, are U.S. citizens. Marco Becerra also has citizenship in Peru, where he is originally from.

Amy Becerra works for the State of Colorado and Marco Becerra works for the federal government.

The couple also own a home in Peru and decided to move there for a few years before selling it.

While they were in Peru, their daughter Angela was born on May 23, 2014.

“She was 11 days old when she was brought to the orphanage,” Amy Becerra said.

Angela was abandoned at birth. Her mother was developmentally disabled and unable to care for her.

“[Her mother] was treated like a dog. She was chained to the table and sex-trafficked. That’s the reality. No running water. No electricity. Very little food,” Amy Becerra said.

A woman from the orphanage suggested the Becerras foster the newborn.

“She literally placed this little 5-pound baby in our hands and said do you think you guys can take care of her?” Amy Becerra said.

Of course, they said yes.

“The unique thing about Angela’s adoption is it’s not an international adoption. It’s a domestic adoption in Peru,” Amy Becerra said.

Angela’s adoption was finalized in Peruvian court in April 2017. At that point, the Becerras decided it was time for their family to move back to Colorado.

“We wanted her to have the opportunities that are available here, the education that’s available here. The American dream,” Amy Becerra said.

That is when she says their dream turned into a nightmare.

In March 2017, Amy accepted a job in Colorado and moved back with the understanding that her husband and daughter would be a few weeks behind her.

However, Angela’s immigration application kept hitting roadblocks that delayed her case.

She was unable to travel to the United States because the U.S. does not grant travel visas to anyone with a current immigration application.

The Becerras had to stay in Peru for 13 months before a visa was granted. Angela came to the United States for the first time in March.

“So she has a visa. She’s here on a tourist visa that expires Aug. 31,” Amy Becerra said.

Less than a month before it expires, Angela’s immigration case has been denied.

“We’re both citizens. My husband and I have a full legal binding adoption completed and we have a birth certificate that lists no other parent,” Amy Becerra said.

“I don’t know what it takes to reopen a case. Once it’s closed, it’s closed.”

There is an appeals process, but it likely cannot be completed in the next three weeks before Angela’s tourist visa expires.

“If she expires her visa, she is officially here as an undocumented alien. And legally is at risk for deportation even though both her parents are citizens,” Amy Becerra said.

She says either they all have to permanently move back to Peru together or else risk raising Angela in the U.S. without papers.

“It’s inconceivable that a child of two citizen parents would have to live out their life as an undocumented alien in this country,” Amy Becerra said.

In the meantime, Angela has no access to health insurance or other benefits of American citizenship.

The family said it has reached out to immigration attorneys but has been unsuccessful in figuring out why
Angela’s case has been denied.

A letter explaining the decision should be available within the next few weeks.

Maybe Trump's people think MS-13 means "might someday turn 13"?

[GMDino]

https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/ice-handcuffs-immigrants-on-18th-birthday-at-homestead-childrens-center-sends-them-to-jail-10651093

Quote:CE Handcuffs Immigrant Kids on Their 18th Birthdays, Drags Them to Jail


When one of his abusive mother's gangbanger friends held a gun to his chest and threatened to pull the trigger, Nolbiz Orellana knew he'd die in Honduras. So this past January, the then-17-year-old made the harrowing journey to the U.S.-Mexico border, crossed over, and asked for asylum.


Instead of releasing him to his relatives in Nebraska, though, the feds sent him to the Homestead Temporary Shelter for Unaccompanied Children. Orellana spent three months in the remote South Miami-Dade facility until April 8 — his birthday.


That's when Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents showed up at the children's shelter, slapped handcuffs on Orellana's wrists, chained them to his waist, and shackled his legs together. The agents drove Orellana to the Broward Transitional Center, an infamous immigration jail in Pompano Beach, where he was thrown into a cell with men twice his age.


Orellana's saga isn't just shocking — it's also illegal, say Miami immigration attorneys who have succeeded in forcing ICE to release several other 18-year-olds in recent months. Even worse, they say what happened to the Honduran refugee seems to have become ICE's national policy.


"When they turn 18, it's basically, 'Happy birthday,' and then they slap on handcuffs and take them off to adult detention centers," says Lisa Lehner, an attorney with the nonprofit Americans for Immigrant Justice who is representing Orellana.
Since April, at least 14 children at the Homestead center have been handcuffed on their 18th birthdays and taken to a jail cell in Broward, Lehner says. And at least one of those kids had been separated from his father under the Trump administration's since-abandoned policy to rip apart families that crossed the border together.


Lehner and her colleagues have filed seven lawsuits since early July on behalf of those 18-year-old immigrants. In five of those cases, ICE has quickly released the immigrants to relatives or guardians while their cases work through the courts. (Two cases are still pending, and Lehner expects to file several more in the coming weeks.)


"We've been successful in filing these petitions and getting ICE to act, but it would be much better if ICE would just stop this process in the first place," Lehner says. "The law is crystal clear."


Asked about the cases, Nestor Yglesias, a Miami-based ICE spokesperson, says the agency "conducts targeted enforcement in compliance with federal law and agency policy."


But Lehner says there are actually three legal precedents that should prevent ICE from throwing immigrants like Orellana who crossed the border as juveniles into lockup when they turn 18 without seriously working to release them to family members instead.


The first dates to 1997, when a group of immigrant children in detention centers sued the federal government; in settling the case of a young El Salvadoran named Jenny Flores, the government agreed to begin releasing juveniles as quickly as possible, preferably to family — but always into the "least restrictive" setting available.


Those protections grew even stronger in 2008 under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, which set into law the rule that unaccompanied minors should be sent to the "least restrictive" option as soon as possible.


In 2013, Congress amended the law so it also applies to immigrant children who turn 18 and are transferred into ICE's custody.


The Obama administration mostly followed those rules, advocates say. In 2014, only 1 percent of young people in shelters run by the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) "aged out" by turning 18, meaning ICE had to take them into custody, according to data compiled by Documented, an immigration news site; in the 2017 fiscal year, the number of kids handed to ICE on their 18th birthdays more than doubled.


Why? Because ORR is making less effort to hand kids off to relatives, activists told Documented, and also because many of their family members are also undocumented and hesitant to come forward under Trump's aggressive ICE policies.


Now it's clear that once those kids are handed over to ICE, they're immediately being thrown into adult jails without a day in court or any attempt to find the least restrictive option required by law, Lehner says. The crisis intensified in April, when ICE began separating families in immigration proceedings, leading to thousands of children — including infants — being taken from their parents and placed in shelters. Since then, more than 1,000 kids have been sent to the Homestead facility. Some of them have been separated from their families, and some crossed the border alone.


Although Trump said he would abandon his separation policy, his administration requested leeway to keep kids in detention indefinitely. A federal judge denied that request in July, citing the Flores settlement. The White House has said it plans to appeal.


These days, ICE is outright ignoring the rules set out by the Flores agreement and later put into law by Congress, Lehner says. Instead of trying to release the 18-year-old migrants to relatives or guardians, ICE is simply putting them in jail cells at facilities such as the Broward Transitional Center without due process.


"They're supposed to find the least restrictive setting, and instead of that, they're putting them in the most restrictive place," she says. "It's clear that this is a nationwide problem."


In some federal shelters, ICE agents show up at 11:30 p.m. the night before a young immigrant's birthday, says Janet Gwilym, the Seattle-based managing attorney of Kids in Need of Defense. When the clock strikes midnight, the agents handcuff and take the now-18-year-old kid away.


"I believe it's a psychological strategy they're using to try to get them to just give up and go back home, even if they know they'll be killed if they go back," Gwilym says.


In April, the National Immigrant Justice Center, a Chicago-based advocacy group, filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of two minors detained by ICE when they turned 18. A judge quickly ordered the two immigrants released, but the larger class-action case — which aims to stop ICE's policy altogether — is still pending in federal court.


In the meantime, ICE's illegal policy has had devastating real-world impact on children at the Homestead shelter, Lehner says. Their stories, which are outlined in the federal cases brought by Lehner and her colleagues, share a common theme: Kids flee violence in Guatemala or Honduras but find only more pain in the United States thanks to ICE. (Honduran refugees lost temporary protected status in May thanks to a Trump order.)


Some examples:

• Maribel Calmo Mendoza's father was a high-ranking member of a political party that had recently lost elections before she left Guatemala. After his defeat, the ruling party brutally targeted her family. In January, men wearing masks and armed with machetes stormed her family's house, raped her mother, and tried to rape her. She managed to fight off an attacker, who severely slashed her hand with a machete. After another attack in May, the 17-year-old fled to America and turned herself in at the border, where she asked for asylum. She was sent to Homestead and, when she turned 18 on July 16, was handcuffed by ICE and taken to the Broward jail.
• Wilfredo Rivas-Barrera fled his native Guatemala when he was 17 because "gangs were regularly forcing teenage boys to either join them or face death." He made an "arduous" journey north, where he often feared for his life and suffered a gruesome injury to his arm when it caught on a nail in a car door. He hoped to stay with a cousin in Philadelphia while his asylum request was considered, but instead was sent to Homestead and then taken away in shackles by ICE agents on his 18th birthday on July 10.
• Junior Flores-Macias left violence-wracked Honduras on May 10, eventually crossing the U.S. border on June 16. He was quickly shipped to the Homestead shelter and then handcuffed on his birthday on July 17.
• Francisco Pacheco Azurdia started working as a welder when he was eight years old in Guatemala. Amidst the country's violent gang clashes, he fled to the U.S. on March 30 and was sent to Homestead. On April 9, when he turned 18, ICE sent him to Broward, where he was "surrounded by men in their 20s," according to his legal complaint. "He lies restless in his room while guards come in and slam the doors every 20 minutes," the complaint says. Asked how he was coping, he told his attorneys bien duro — really bad.
• Edgar Ahilon-Pablo fled Guatemala when he was 17 years old after being "threatened by gangs and criminals due to his poverty status and unwillingness to join the gangs," according to his complaint. He was sent to Homestead earlier this year. On July 6, his 18th birthday, he was cuffed by ICE and taken to Broward. He has a cousin in Oakland, California with whom he he hoped to stay while his court case proceeded. He told his attorneys that he is "marked for death" if he returns to his homeland.
• Tomas Teletor Garcia, unique among these cases, didn't travel to the U.S. border alone. He was 17 when he fled Guatemala with his father. When they reached the border, they were separated under Trump's immigration policy. With "no explanation," he was sent to Homestead and then spirited away by ICE on July 4, his birthday. When he pleaded for word on his dad, officials said he had already been deported. "[Tomas] was never contacted by any official of the U.S. government regarding his father's deportation," his complaint reads, "and no efforts were made to reunite him with his father."
  

Orellana, meanwhile, was born in Honduras April 8, 2000, and began working full-time on farms when he was 8 years old. He made it through only third grade, and his mother beat him and "threatened to kill him," according to his legal complaint. 
She also "associated with gang members," who eventually threatened Orellana with a gun.


He fled Honduras this past January 1 and eventually made it to the U.S. border. After asking for asylum, he spent four days in hielaras — or "iceboxes," immigration detention centers that critics say are rife with inhumane conditions — before being sent to Homestead.


Since being detained in Broward, he's endured significant psychological abuse, Lehner says.


"They're going in and handcuffing people who were children the prior day and taking them to adult detention," she says. 
"The Broward Transitional Center is a jail. It's an adult facility."


Orellana has suffered from severe headaches since the traumatic experience, Lehner says. As in her other cases, she's demanding that ICE follow the law by releasing him to his relatives in Nebraska while his asylum case works its way through the court system.


In five of Lehner's cases, ICE released the 18-year-olds before a judge could rule on her petitions. But those quick court victories haven't changed the agency's policy.

"They've picked up five more kids from the shelter just since we've filed these five successful petitions," she says.
Lehner's ultimate goal is to force ICE to stop its policy of handcuffing children — many of whom survived traumatic violence just to reach America. "This will eventually become a nationwide class action," she says. "But in the meantime, these kids are suffering and sitting in adult jails."

Update 5 p.m. In a statement, ICE declined to comment on the legal cases but defended its practice of taking 18-year-olds to adult detention centers on their birthdays. Here's the statement:

Quote:ICE is unable to comment on pending legal matters. ICE makes arrest and custody determinations on an individual basis based on the totality of the circumstances and does so in compliance with federal law and agency policy.

[GMDino]

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/hamedaleaziz/sessions-new-immigration-judges-sympathy

Quote:Sessions Urged Immigration Judges To Show Less Sympathy, Setting Off A Firestorm Of Complaints


The attorney general's comments were immediately criticized by the group representing immigration judges.



Allison Shelley / Reuters

Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Monday warned incoming immigration judges that lawyers representing immigrants are trying to get around the law like “water seeping through an earthen dam” and that their responsibility is to not let them and instead deliver a “secure” border and a “lawful system” that “actually works.”



He also cautioned the judges against allowing sympathy for the people appearing before them, which might cause them to make decisions contrary to what the law requires.


“When we depart from the law and create nebulous legal standards out of a sense of sympathy for the personal circumstances of a respondent in our immigration courts, we do violence to the rule of law and constitutional fabric that bind this great nation. 
Your job is to apply the law — even in tough cases,” he said.

The comments immediately drew criticism from the union that represents the judges and from former judges.


“The reality is that it is a political statement which does not articulate a legal concept that judges are required to be aware of and follow,” said Dana Marks, a spokesperson for the National Association of Immigration Judges and an immigration judge in San Francisco. “It did appear to be a one-sided argument made by a prosecutor.”


Jeffrey Chase, a former immigration judge and now an immigration attorney, said the comments overlooked the fact that asylum laws were designed to be flexible.


“We possess brains and hearts, not just one or the other,” he said. It is sympathy, Chase said, that often spurs legal theories that advance the law in asylum law, civil rights, and criminal law.


“Sessions is characterizing decisions he personally disagrees with as being based on sympathy alone,” he said, “when in fact, those decisions were driven by sympathy but based on solid legal reasoning.”

Unlike other US courts, immigration judges are employees of the Justice Department whose evaluations are based on guidelines Sessions lays out. In that role, Sessions already has instituted case quotas, restricted the types of cases for which asylum can be granted, and limited when judges can indefinitely suspend certain cases. Advocates believe the Trump administration has made these decisions in order to speed up deportations. His comments on sympathy to immigrants appeared intended to bolster a decision he made recently to limit when asylum can be granted out of fear of domestic or gang violence.


Sessions also told the judges that they should focus on maximum production and urged them to get “imaginative and inventive” with their high caseload. The courts currently have a backlog of hundreds of thousands of deportation cases.


Ashley Tabaddor, an immigration judge in Los Angeles and the president of the National Association of Immigration Judges, which represents the nation’s 350 immigration judges, said Sessions’ speech was notable for its lack of any mention of fairness or due process. “We cannot possibly be put in this bind of being accountable to someone who is so clearly committed to the prosecutorial role,” said Tabaddor.


The union has long called for its separation from the Department of Justice in order to be truly independent of political decision-making.


“Good lawyers, using all of their talents and skill, work every day — like water seeping through an earthen dam — to get around the plain words of the [Immigration and Nationality Act] to advance their clients’ interests. Theirs is not the duty to uphold the integrity of the act. That is our most serious duty,” Sessions said in a speech to 44 newly hired judges who were being trained in Falls Church, Virginia.

He ended his speech by telling the incoming judges that the American people had spoken in laws and “in our elections.”


“They want a safe, secure border and a lawful system of immigration that actually works. Let’s deliver it for them,” Sessions said.


From the beginning of October through the end of June, immigration judges had granted around 22% of asylum cases and denied around 41% of cases. The rest of the cases were closed. The rate is similar to previous fiscal years. Sessions' decision to limit the types of cases in which asylum should be granted was made in mid-June.

[Vlad]

(06-25-2018, 04:34 PM)Dill Wrote: It is not the "defending" in itself that Trump critics question.

It is how Trump is doing that and what it means for the country, coming as it does from the highest office in the land and supported by millions of followers.  Lying and misdirection are not good things in a leader, nor good things for supporters to ignore. But that is now the case. Trump and supporters are a massive, angry political force separated from the usual accountability to the facts.

Sometimes people say "all politicians lie."  But until now, they have not been able to do so daily and with such impunity. Clinton lied and was impeached. Nixon lied and resigned before he could be impeached. People went to jail who lied for him.  Nixon's own party turned on him when he placed himself above the rule of law. That does not appear to be happening today.

Even some who claim not to support Trump, and agree that our top diplomat and role model is vulgar and ignorant, still find it easier to criticize Democrats on civility and honesty when they demand accountability.

It is this total situation, not just Trump, that people criticize. If Trump resigned to today there would still be the problem of lowered standards of civility, of truth in public discourse, and millions of voters who dismiss accountability. How can this be good?

Because democrats make it easier.
You call the behavior of democrats at the Kavanaugh hearings civil?

Trump really doesn't lie, he just at times happens to say things that aren't true, or only half true....usually trivial, harmless 'lies" that happen to only knot up the panties of haters.
They are mainly off the cuff...not premeditated. He doesn't plan to lie...  But people are too consumed by hate for the man that they refuse to take into account the difference.

Yet not a peep out of you folks when the liar in chief was president.

Never heard you Dill talk about Obamas lies and misdirection.
 
https://www.politifact.com/personalities/barack-obama/statements/byruling/false/

Remember this:

When the scumbag talked about when his parents met.

"They looked at each other and they decided, 'We know that in the world, as it has been, it might not be possible for us to get together and have a child, but something is stirring across the country because of what happened in Selma, Ala., because some folks are willing to march across the bridge.' And so they got together and Barack Obama Jr. was born. So don't tell me I don't have a claim on Selma, Ala.!"

Obama was born in 1961; the Selma march was four years later.


My my, speaking of misdirection...

1. "I will have the most transparent administration."

2. "I have shovel ready jobs."

3. "The IRS is not targeting anyone."

4. "If four Americans get killed…uh…. it is not optimal." (Benghazi)

5. "ObamaCare will be good for America."

6. "If you like your doctor, you can keep him, period."

7. "Premiums will be lowered by $2500"

8. If you like your health insurance, you can keep it, period. 

9. "I did not say you could keep your health care." (Regardless that 29 recorded videos show I did)

10. "No one making less than $250,000 will see their taxes raised one dime."

11. "Benghazi was because of a youtubevideo."

14. "I will put an end to the type of politics that “breeds division, conflict and cynicism".

15. "You didn't build that."

16. "I will restore trust in Government."

17. "The Cambridge police acted stupidly."

20. "I have been practicing...I bowled a 129. It's like -- it was like Special Olympics."

21. "I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody."

22. "The Public Will Have 5 Days To Look At Every Bill That Lands On My Desk"

23. "It's not my red line it is the worlds red line."

24. "Whistleblowers will be protected."

25. "We got back every dime we used to rescue the banks, with interest."

26. "I will close Gitmo." (Guantanamo)

27. "The point I was making was not that Grandmother harbors any racial animosity. She doesn't, -- but she is a typical white person."

28. "I am not spying on American citizens."

31. "ObamaCare will lower costs for everyone."

32. "More Americans will be insured under obamacare"

33. "Islam is the religion of peace and tolerance….Muslims are our friends" (then he bows to the muslim leaders)

34. “That’s thegood thing about being President, I can do whatever I want,” 

35. "my father served in WW2"

39. “I promise 100% transparency in my administration.”

40. "Buying health care insurance will be like using Amazon."

41. “I will end Income Tax for seniors making less than $50K a year.”

42. "I will bring ALL of our troops home within ONE year."

43. “I’ll put the Health Care negotiations on CSPAN so everyone can see who is at the table!”

44. “I’ll have no lobbyists in my administration."

50. "Obamacarewill not be used to fund abortions."

71. "The United States maintains a 'rock-solid' commitment to Israel"

86. "We're focused like lasers on job creation!!!"

87. "Jobs are our number one priority!!!!"...then says manufacturing jobs aren't coming back.

89. "Republicans still can’t bring themselves to admit that the Affordable Care Act is working."

[GMDino]

(09-11-2018, 10:59 PM)Vlad Wrote: Because democrats make it easier.
You call the behavior of democrats at the Kavanaugh hearings civil?

Trump really doesn't lie, he just at times happens to say things that aren't true, or only half true....usually trivial, harmless 'lies" that happen to only knot up the panties of haters.
They are mainly off the cuff...not premeditated. He doesn't plan to lie...  But people are too consumed by hate for the man that they refuse to take into account the difference.

(09-11-2018, 10:59 PM)Vlad Wrote: Yet not a peep out of you folks when the liar in chief was president.


Never heard you Dill talk about Obamas lies and misdirection.
 
https://www.politifact.com/personalities/barack-obama/statements/byruling/false/

Four pages of false statements by Obama.

https://www.politifact.com/search/statements/?q=trump%20false

20 pages of false statements by Trump.

(09-11-2018, 10:59 PM)Vlad Wrote: Remember this:

When the scumbag talked about when his parents met.

"They looked at each other and they decided, 'We know that in the world, as it has been, it might not be possible for us to get together and have a child, but something is stirring across the country because of what happened in Selma, Ala., because some folks are willing to march across the bridge.' And so they got together and Barack Obama Jr. was born. So don't tell me I don't have a claim on Selma, Ala.!"

Obama was born in 1961; the Selma march was four years later.

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=77042

Quote:What happened in Selma, Alabama and Birmingham also stirred the conscience of the nation. It worried folks in the White House who said, "You know, we're battling Communism. How are we going to win hearts and minds all across the world? If right here in our own country, John, we're not observing the ideals set fort in our Constitution, we might be accused of being hypocrites." So the Kennedy's decided we're going to do an air lift. We're going to go to Africa and start bringing young Africans over to this country and give them scholarships to study so they can learn what a wonderful country America is.

This young man named Barack Obama got one of those tickets and came over to this country. He met this woman whose great great-great-great-grandfather had owned slaves; but she had a good idea there was some craziness going on because they looked at each other and they decided that we know that the world as it has been it might not be possible for us to get together and have a child. There was something stirring across the country because of what happened in Selma, Alabama, because some folks are willing to march across a bridge. So they got together and Barack Obama Jr. was born. So don't tell me I don't have a claim on Selma, Alabama. Don't tell me I'm not coming home to Selma, Alabama.

I'm here because somebody marched. I'm here because you all sacrificed for me. I stand on the shoulders of giants.

Please stop making it so easy.

(09-11-2018, 10:59 PM)Vlad Wrote: My my, speaking of misdirection...

Yeah I cut out all the misdirection you posted.

[*bfine32*]

(09-11-2018, 10:59 PM)Vlad Wrote: Because democrats make it easier.
You call the behavior of democrats at the Kavanaugh hearings civil?

Trump really doesn't lie, he just at times happens to say things that aren't true, or only half true....usually trivial, harmless 'lies" that happen to only knot up the panties of haters.
They are mainly off the cuff...not premeditated. He doesn't plan to lie...  But people are too consumed by hate for the man that they refuse to take into account the difference.

Yet not a peep out of you folks when the liar in chief was president.

Never heard you Dill talk about Obamas lies and misdirection.
 
https://www.politifact.com/personalities/barack-obama/statements/byruling/false/

Remember this:

When the scumbag talked about when his parents met.

"They looked at each other and they decided, 'We know that in the world, as it has been, it might not be possible for us to get together and have a child, but something is stirring across the country because of what happened in Selma, Ala., because some folks are willing to march across the bridge.' And so they got together and Barack Obama Jr. was born. So don't tell me I don't have a claim on Selma, Ala.!"

Obama was born in 1961; the Selma march was four years later.


My my, speaking of misdirection...

1. "I will have the most transparent administration."

2. "I have shovel ready jobs."

3. "The IRS is not targeting anyone."

4. "If four Americans get killed…uh…. it is not optimal." (Benghazi)

5. "ObamaCare will be good for America."

6. "If you like your doctor, you can keep him, period."

7. "Premiums will be lowered by $2500"

8. If you like your health insurance, you can keep it, period. 

9. "I did not say you could keep your health care." (Regardless that 29 recorded videos show I did)

10. "No one making less than $250,000 will see their taxes raised one dime."

11. "Benghazi was because of a youtubevideo."

14. "I will put an end to the type of politics that “breeds division, conflict and cynicism".

15. "You didn't build that."

16. "I will restore trust in Government."

17. "The Cambridge police acted stupidly."

20. "I have been practicing...I bowled a 129. It's like -- it was like Special Olympics."

21. "I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody."

22. "The Public Will Have 5 Days To Look At Every Bill That Lands On My Desk"

23. "It's not my red line it is the worlds red line."

24. "Whistleblowers will be protected."

25. "We got back every dime we used to rescue the banks, with interest."

26. "I will close Gitmo." (Guantanamo)

27. "The point I was making was not that Grandmother harbors any racial animosity. She doesn't, -- but she is a typical white person."

28. "I am not spying on American citizens."

31. "ObamaCare will lower costs for everyone."

32. "More Americans will be insured under obamacare"

33. "Islam is the religion of peace and tolerance….Muslims are our friends" (then he bows to the muslim leaders)

34. “That’s thegood thing about being President, I can do whatever I want,” 

35. "my father served in WW2"

39. “I promise 100% transparency in my administration.”

40. "Buying health care insurance will be like using Amazon."

41. “I will end Income Tax for seniors making less than $50K a year.”

42. "I will bring ALL of our troops home within ONE year."

43. “I’ll put the Health Care negotiations on CSPAN so everyone can see who is at the table!”

44. “I’ll have no lobbyists in my administration."

50. "Obamacarewill not be used to fund abortions."

71. "The United States maintains a 'rock-solid' commitment to Israel"

86. "We're focused like lasers on job creation!!!"

87. "Jobs are our number one priority!!!!"...then says manufacturing jobs aren't coming back.

89. "Republicans still can’t bring themselves to admit that the Affordable Care Act is working."

Without checking the validity of any, I consider the vast majority of those to be political speak that most politicians engage in. I will say if his Special Olympics quote is legit then that is something that would have been/ will be made much more of a deal if Trump said anything close.

Personally I think he lied about a lot more important things: ie he heard about Hillary's private server the same time we did, his lack of knowledge of Benghazi in the early hours, ect... But this is what politicians do.