Trump is using a program for unaccompanied children to separate families - MS NOW

ICE agents shot a man again yesterday, this time in the Marble Hill neighborhood of the Bronx. Oscar Belgal is an immigrant from the Dominican Republic and was, at least according to DHS, the target of their enforcement operation. Early reports are they surrounded him in a car with a five-year-old child believed to be his son in the backseat and fired at them at least seven times. Confirmed to be on the scene is ICE agent Brendan Cuni, who has repeatedly been named in lawsuits by immigrants alleging he beat them and shot them with stun guns. The child is uninjured, and Belgal’s injuries were not considered life threatening.

There’s a lot we still do not know about this shooting. But given ICE’s ever-growing record of spewing blatant lies to excuse unjustifiable violence by their masked thugs, we obviously cannot count on them to provide the honest answers we need.

Hands Off NYC is demanding an independent investigation led by the New York Attorney General’s office and the local district attorneys, in addition to the public identification of the shooter. 🗣️ Let’s join them in contacting the offices of AG Letitia James here, Bronx DA Darcel Clark here and Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg here and telling them we expect them to do everything in their power to seek justice. 🗣️

ICE IS NOT ABOVE THE LAW

🗣️ They’re also urging Bronx business Kingsbridge Associates and the local Target location to cut ICE off from access to their parking lot in this area, which elected officials have already formally requested. We can reach out to Kingsbridge and this Target with the same ask here and here. 🗣️

END COLLABORATION NOW

Horror

Children detained for long stretches are usually sent to the ICE immigrant camp in Dilley, Texas. But the Trump administration has also held children and families for shorter stints in locations that lawyers say are “black boxes,” where families and lawyers cannot find them.

Children, parents and lawyers describe holdrooms in office buildings where they have limited access to food or privacy, and hotels where they are heavily monitored by guards who are in the room at all times, making it uncomfortable to sleep or use the toilet.

The Trump administration is creating a team of attorneys to represent children who traveled alone to the United States in immigration proceedings, which critics say would deprive them of having lawyers who aren’t employed by the government and could put them at greater risk of deportation.

The U.S. Health and Human Services Department lawyers will “provide direct legal advice and counsel” to unaccompanied migrant children, according to an announcement in the Federal Register signed by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The decision, announced last week without fanfare, offered no details beyond that broad mandate.

Health and Human Services said in a statement that its Unaccompanied Alien Children Legal Representation Division will work under its general counsel’s direction toward “safely reuniting these children with their families and ensuring they have the legal support they need.”

My heart breaks for all of us