Matt Cameron Profile picture
Jun 13, 2018 19 tweets 13 min read Twitter logo Read on Twitter
The horrific #Goodlatte #immigration bill soon up for debate isn't something to be "compromised" with. It's a harsh, intentional, irrevocable shift Trumpward.

Shred it.

Burn the ashes.

Scatter them upon the Antarctic plains.

Here are just a few of many reasons.
(1) CRIMINALIZATION of unlawful presence in the United States: White supremacy writ into law. For past 228 years, simply *being in U.S.* w/o permission was a civil offense w/no consequence other than deportation.
(NB: This was quickly rejected in 2005, but much more likely now)
(2) ONE HUNDRED THIRTY BILLION UNITED STATES TAXPAYER DOLLARS to fully militarize the Mexican border.

Even @Heritage, which otherwise mostly likes the bill, balked at this as "hard to justify." You don't say.
(3) ENDING FAMILY IMMIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES.

Current law allows U.S. citizens to request greencards for parents, adult children, & siblings. This bill would not only end that, but effectively CANCEL NEARLY ALL pending family visas. How do you "compromise" with that?
(4) ALLOWING SAME BRANCH OF GOVERNMENT TO DEFINE, DETAIN, AND DEPORT "GANG MEMBERS" W/OUT DUE PROCESS

The feds would be able to designate anyone as a gang member without evidence, hold them without bail, and deny them all future immigration options. This is terrifying.
5/ PERMANENT LIMBO & RESTRICTED RIGHTS FOR #DREAMERS

The #Goodlatte bill is not a "DACA fix." (Media: *please push back on this language*) It's a permanent state of "contingent non-immigrant status," renewable every 3 yrs, with international travel restricted to 15 days per trip
(6) JAILING AND DEPORTING CHILDREN

Most immigrant children are given special due process & other protections under current law. This bill would remove those protections, severely restrict #SpecialImmigrantJuvenile visa protections, & let #ICE jail & deport children much faster
(7) PERMANENTLY BARRING APPOINTED COUNSEL FROM #IMMIGRATIONCOURTS

Under current law, non-citizens are not given attorneys in #ImmigrationCourt and only have right to counsel "at no expense to the Government." This would bar any funding for any future appointed counsel system.
(8) SEVERELY RESTRICTING #ASYLUM RIGHTS

Current law gives asylum seekers an informal "credible fear interview"--in detention, in haste, usually w/o an attorney--w/an asylum officer to screen claims. This bill would make these much harder to pass, and deport many w/real claims.
(9) DEPORTING #ASYLUM SEEKERS OF ALL NATIONALITIES TO MEXICO

The international terrorists many #CentralAmerican asylum seekers are trying to flee thrive safely in Mexico. This bill would declare Mexico "safe" & permit us to deport asylum seekers there without Mexico's consent.
To that last point: Despite popular belief, the majority of people presently crossing the southern border are not from Mexico, but #CentralAmerica. As of now, Mexico is far from a "safe third country" and the same criminal gangs are operating with impunity there. (See below)
What kind of person would support the fascist excess of the #Goodlatte #SecuringAmericasFutureAct?

Let's start here: they believe that allowing 6-year-olds to have a non-adversarial interview to save them the trauma of appearing before a judge in a courtroom is a "loophole."
#Goodlatte says that (in direct contradiction to U.S. history & values) #immigration should be solely defined by net worth & earning potential, & that U.S. citizens should have to spend the rest of their lives in this country without their parents, adult children, and siblings
Anyone supporting #SecuringAmericasFutureAct is signing on to "solving" Trump-created crisis of children being taken from parents at the border by.... detaining & deporting the children alone ASAP. This is like "curing" cancer via mass execution of terminal cancer patients.
Rep. #Goodlatte, author of the #SecuringAmericasFutureAct, believes that keeping families together is a "random need" which should not be a consideration for our nation's immigration policy.

Has Trump really debased "family values" voters *this* badly?

#RepublicanFamilyValues
#SecuringAmericasFutureAct would massively explode mass detention of children, asylum seekers, and many others facing #deportation. This is a feature, not a bug. It is a gift to the Republican party's generous donors in the private prison industry.

usatoday.com/story/news/pol…
My worst fear of the Trump era: #GOP rushing something like #SecuringAmericasFuture before #BlueWave2018 & calling it #ImmigrationReform.

Oh, and that mystery "compromise" bill up against #SecuringAmericasFuture?

I'll risk it all on this hot pre-take:

It will also be bad.
But you know what *could* pass right now?

The #DREAMAct.

#DREAM has the Congressional votes, the bipartisan (~8/10 Americans!) popular support, and the moral and demographic urgency at a time when we desperately need a young US-educated workforce.

#Basta!

#CleanDREAMActNow
If you're still reading this thread, you're probably already the kind of person who knows how to do your part to stop a bad law. Be sure to let your elected reps know today that you don't want to live in the American future that #SecureAmericasFutureAct will bring.

/THREAD

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More from @matt_cam

Sep 25, 2018
1/ One of the worst parts of the proposed new DHS "public charge" rule would resurrect a 400-yr-old idea, punish lower-income immigrants, AND deliver a massive new giveaway to Wall Street.

Not seeing much out there on this piece right now, so here's what you need to know:
2/ The idea of a "public charge bond" goes back to the earliest colonial days. If someone coming over from Europe didn't seem like they would be able to support themselves, the ship's captain would have to put up a given amount of money to keep them off the dole or take them back
3/ As part of the "Passenger Cases," SCOTUS struck down the city of Boston's attempt to collect public charge bonds from ship captains as unconstitutional in 1849, finding that only the federal government had this kind of power. But it didn't actually exercise it until 1882.
Read 16 tweets
Aug 27, 2018
Appalling, but no surprise here.

No member of Congress should ever be able publicly comment on immigration--alone work on imm legislation--without answering one simple question:

"How does an undocumented person get a greencard?"
Not, like, step-by-step but generally what are the paths available under current law. If the answer is any variation on "get in line like everybody else," an automatic 6-month bar on any immigration rhetoric/legislation until finishing a mandatory US Immigration 101 course.
If you or your staff are not willing to take the time to understand the system we have, there is no place at the table for you in working toward a new one. None.
Read 4 tweets
Aug 22, 2018
1/ Ten years ago this June a recent immigrant was sentenced to life for the vicious, violent, cold-blooded murder of his wife and infant daughter before trying to flee to his home country.

Here's what *didn't* happen:

wickedlocal.com/news/20180626/…
2/

--@bostonherald didn't run an angry editorial blaming our imm. vetting processes

--No one used this tragedy to call for an end to all British immigration

--The media never used a booking photo; always images like this one to remind us of his wealth & whiteness
3/ Neil Entwistle shot his wife in the head, and then his infant daughter in the stomach as she lay sleeping in her mother's arms. He then withdrew every dollar they had and fled to London. Mass state troopers grabbed him on a tube platform.
Read 12 tweets
Aug 22, 2018
If you're ever up for listening in on what your local Deep State is up to, may I recommend one of my favorite eateries in #Boston: the cafe in the JFK fed. building. Decent, reasonably-priced food with a nice view and plenty of space to relax while waiting for #immigrationcourt
1/ Two VA managers are having a lunch meeting nearby, talking through how to deliver faster/better services to a 94-year-old veteran & review implementation of a new process.

A USCIS officer is having a quick salad before another round of immigration interviews. In + out in 10
2/ Friends, this is your actual "Deep State."

Career public servants who take pride in keeping their agencies on mission and making the best use of tax dollars doing it, no matter the President or policies. Dedication, commitment, and institutional knowledge. We can't lose them.
Read 8 tweets
Aug 4, 2018
ICE IS BAD BECAUSE IT IS BAD.

The people running it & the President directing its policies are also bad.

But ICE was still bad when the President was better.

Its purpose is bad.

Its mandate is bad.

Its unaccountability is bad.

Okay, so any questions on that

#AbolishICE
SO WHAT ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO INSTEAD?

Maybe *not* have a rogue, unaccountable, armed secret police force & threat of indefinite detention in a disgusting American gulag archipelago terrorizing immigrant communities in the name of enforcing civil immigration orders
BUT WE HAVE TO HAVE IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT

Coordinated internal immigration enforcement is a very new idea in US history. But apart from that: we've only been doing it this way for 15 years. If you are doing anything to make this model inevitable, you're on the wrong side
Read 6 tweets
Jul 30, 2018
1/ Live-tweeting from the Boston immigration court's detained docket:

Detainee is on video. I can't see his face but he has a heavy Massachusetts accent--you'd never know he wasn't born here. He is seeking bond.
2/ He has a series of drug-related convictions together with a record consistent with an addiction. Judge leaves his bond at "no bond" without hearing from him.
3/ Like most people on the detained docket, he doesn't have and can't afford a lawyer. (No appointed counsel here.) He is now speaking for himself.
Read 32 tweets

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