PRESS RELEASE - BREAKING: Yuba Contract Termination

PRESS RELEASE - Yuba Liberation Coalition
Contact: Edwin Carmona-Cruz | 415-933-4922 | edwin[@]ccijustice.org

December 9, 2022

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BREAKING: LAST ICE CONTRACT WITH A CALIFORNIA COUNTY JAIL TERMINATED

Advocates and supporters urge safe releases of the four people detained at the Yuba County Jail, instead of transfers

MARYSVILLE, CA – On Thursday, December 8, 2022, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed the termination of their Intergovernmental Service Agreement (IGSA) with the Yuba County Sheriff’s Department (YCSD) to hold individuals detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the Yuba County Jail. The contract, which dates back to 1994, was the last contract between the federal agency and a county in California. There are currently four individuals detained in ICE custody at the Yuba County Jail. 

“Directly impacted individuals, advocates and legal service providers have worked tirelessly for years to end the contract between ICE and the Yuba County Jail,” said the Yuba Liberation Coalition. “Today we proudly celebrate the end of a lucrative agreement that caused immense harm to our communities. We call for the immediate release of the remaining detained community members--we have depopulated the facility in the past without transfers and believe this is both possible and just.”

Yuba County Jail has operated under a federal-court-ordered consent decree since 1979 due to deficiencies in “medical and mental health care, staffing, grievances, and exercise and recreation.” Although the consent decree was amended due to minimal improvements in health and recreation conditions as well as disability access, recent reports by Rosen Bien Galvan & Grunfeld LLP (RBGG), the court-appointed monitor of the consent decree, consistently show that Yuba County Jail remains persistently non-compliant with numerous provisions of the Amended Consent Decree, particularly with regard to inadequate medical care. 

Yuba County Jail’s repeated record of violations of human rights and failed facility inspections prompted the California Congressional Delegation, led by Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren and Congressman Lou Correa, to send a letter to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on October 21, 2021, urging the federal government to terminate its IGSA with the county jail.

“A part of me can finally be at peace knowing that the place where I spent the worst two years of my life is finally closing,” said Carlos Sauceda, member of the Yuba Liberation Coalition who was detained at the Yuba County Jail between 2017-2019. “Today is a day of victory for those of us who were detained at Yuba County Jail, for our families and for the advocates who have fought to make this possible.” 

In 2018, after the state banned new contracts between local law enforcement and ICE, the government extended the IGSA with Yuba indefinitely, setting the date of expiration to the year 2099. The contract awarded the county jail located in Marysville, California over $8.6 million dollars of taxpayer money per year to detain individuals fighting their civil immigration cases.

The Yuba Liberation Coalition will continue to work to ensure that the remaining community members in ICE custody at the Yuba County Jail retain legal representation and are released to their communities instead of being transferred to another ICE facility. 

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The Yuba Liberation Coalition, previously the #FreeTheYuba11 Coalition, began in April 2021. The coalition has two goals: release everyone detained at Yuba County Jail and end the contract between Yuba County and ICE. Members of the Yuba Liberation Coalition include, but are not limited to: ACLU of Northern California, California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice, Carlos Sauceda, Faithful Friends, and Pangea Legal Services

PRESS RELEASE - Mesa Verde & Golden State Labor Strikers Collective and Leaders Detained at Imperial Regional Detention Facility

Contact: Edwin Carmona-Cruz | 415-933-4922 | edwin[@]ccijustice.org

Esperanza Cuautle Velazquez | 415-271-5644 | advocate[@]pangealegal.org

Alex Mensing | 619-432-6378 | alexm[@]innovationlawlab.org

September 14, 2022

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BREAKING: Detained Leaders file simultaneous federal complaints against ICE, GEO Group & MTC

The federal complaints detail retaliation, medical negligence, and other abuses at three detention centers in California

CALIFORNIA — Labor strikers at the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center and the Golden State Annex, owned and operated by The GEO Group, and Leaders detained at Imperial Regional Detention Facility, operated by Management and Training Corporation, released the following statement:

“Today, a collective of leaders and individuals detained at multiple facilities in California, filed two simultaneous complaints to the Department of Homeland Security Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties outlining the continued retaliation we face at the hands of ICE officials and its private prison operators for exercising our constitutional rights. Those officials have taken aggressive steps to try to suppress our voice, including attempts to transfer us out of state and unlawful placement in solitary confinement. The retaliation we face is also manifested through the delayed or out-right denial of proper medical care. These facilities operate by instilling fear and intimidation so that we do not speak out against these abuses. We stand united and will continue to raise our voices to hold these facilities accountable.

We understand that these are not isolated incidents. Complaints of this kind are filed against ICE and its private prison operators frequently across the country. In fact, this is the second such complaint filed to this office in a single year for the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center and the Golden State Annex, and the second complaint in eight months for the Imperial Regional Detention Facility. Additionally, the incidents described in these complaints are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the abuse, neglect, and retaliation that goes on in ICE detention. Many abuses go unreported due to fear or other barriers.

This is why we demand meaningful action from federal officials. They must launch a full and transparent investigation into the pattern of retaliation, recommend that ICE terminate its contracts with GEO Group and MTC, and recommend that funds that fuel detention be reinvested into community resources and programming.

We call on Members of Congress, particularly those from California, to ensure an investigation is conducted and completed without interruption or interference, as complaints and reports like this continue to supplement our calls for a complete shutdown of these facilities.

We call for the immediate release of all individuals detained at Mesa Verde, Golden State Annex, and Imperial Regional Detention Facility so that we may heal with our loved ones from our traumatic experiences in these facilities and obtain the proper medical care we so desperately need.”

A copy of the complaints can be found here and here.

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PRESS RELEASE - Mesa Verde & Golden State Labor Strikers Collective

Contact: Edwin Carmona-Cruz | 415-933-4922 | edwin[@]ccijustice.org

Esperanza Cuautle | 510-910-9325 | advocate[@]pangealegal.org

July 14, 2022

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BREAKING: Detained Labor Strikers Sue GEO Group Over $1-A-Day Pay

A complaint was filed in federal court amidst retaliation and a COVID-19 outbreak

KERN COUNTY — Labor strikers at the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center and the Golden State Annex, owned and operated by The GEO Group, released the following statement:

“When we launched this labor strike at Mesa Verde 77 days ago and at Golden State Annex 37 days ago, our demands were clear: to cease the exploitation of our labor by paying workers according to CA minimum wage of $15 per hour, being treated with dignity and respect by the facility administration, and the improvement of substandard conditions we are forced to live in, in direct violation of the Performance-Based National Detention Standards (PBNDS). Our requests for meetings with facility administration and ICE to discuss ways to remedy the violations were done in good-faith, yet we were met with retaliation and aggressive behavior. In fact, the violations of the PBNDS and ERO’s Pandemic Response Requirements have accelerated the spread of COVID-19, where 11 of our dorm mates have tested positive for the virus. 

We want to be very clear: We are human beings and we have rights. GEO and ICE run these facilities with unchecked power. We are inspired in our fight by detained workers in Washington State, who sued GEO and won $17 million on back pay, and detained workers in Adelanto and Aurora, who are fighting for recognition of their rights as workers. We too are here to say that enough is enough. This lawsuit is not just about labor exploitation with the $1-a-day pay, it is about the never-ending list of violations that put our lives–and the lives of thousands across the country–at risk, and the dehumanization of immigrants. 

Despite the growing animosity the facility has against the individuals who refuse to participate in the ‘volunteer worker program,’ we will continue to explore any and all tools to ensure justice is served.” 

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PRESS RELEASE - GSA Labor Strikers Collective

Contact: Esperanza Cuautle | 510-910-9325 | advocate[@]pangealegal.org

June 17, 2022

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Golden State Annex Price-Gouging Initiates Labor Strike

Inedible food in commissary marked-up and heavily taxed

MCFARLAND, CA – Immigrant workers detained at the Golden State Annex (GSA) issued the following statement due to the exorbitant cost of commissary items that are often sold past expiration date, and are now being heavily taxed without advanced notice: 

“We are individuals detained at the Golden State Annex. We might be detained here due to our civil immigration matters, however, we are also workers inside this facility. Many of us participate in the “volunteer worker program” to lift some of the financial burden our families must deal with due to the extremely high cost of phone calls and commissary items. We are being exploited for our labor and are paid $1 per day to clean the dormitories. Meanwhile, private prison corporations like The GEO Group receive tens of millions each year to accommodate us detained in ICE custody. 

The food that is provided to us at GSA lacks any level of nutritional value. In fact, we are consistently served spoiled milk and inedible food with foreign objects found in them, as a new report has found. Those of us who get food at the dining hall last are regularly served watered down food because the facility allegedly ran out. GSA is well-aware that many of us rely on the $1 we earn to purchase items from the commissary to supplement our daily diets as well as make phone calls to our families and loved ones. The commissary items, such as tortillas, Honey Buns, chips, and meat pouches, are not nutritious. The worst part is they are sold past their expiration date, as evident by the mold that grows on the items and their stale flavor. 

If this was not enough, GSA increased both prices and taxes on items that we buy frequently without advanced notice. We buy commissary once a week and GSA is pretty much taking a week's worth of pay in taxes per order. Are the millions of taxpayer dollars and profits not enough for The GEO Group? This is a clear sign of exploitation and cruel treatment of every individual at this facility. 

Lastly, we stand in solidarity with the workers detained at the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center who are on their 50th day of strike protesting the unsanitary conditions the facility puts them through, especially during the ongoing pandemic, a situation many of us here also experienced. These are not isolated events as The GEO Group has made clear that their priorities lie in profits over people, a business model that inherently violates human rights to increase profit margin.

We will be on strike until the facility eliminates the commissary tax, provides a variety of items that are not expired, and reduces prices on popular items.”

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Many participants in the “volunteer worker program” rely on the $1 per day compensation to call their family members and loved ones or purchase items in commissary, which are often expired or moldy, as a new report has found. A fundraiser has been launched to support the labor strikers’ efforts. 

PRESS RELEASE - Mesa Verde Labor Strikers Collective

Contact: Esperanza Cuautle | 415-254-0475 | advocate[@]pangealegal.org

June 7, 2022

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Detained Immigrant Workers Formally Announce Labor Strike

Labor strikers issue demands for private prison operator to fulfill

BAKERSFIELD, CA – Today is the 40th day since the individuals detained at the Mesa Verde ICE Detention Facility have been on a labor strike. This is the second labor strike launched within eight months at the facility owned and operated by The GEO Group. Workers enrolled in the “voluntary work program” – who earn $1 per day to clean the dormitories – coordinated a work stoppage due to the unsanitary and unsafe conditions the private prison operator has subjected them to throughout the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. 

“We don’t understand the hypocrisy: outside of detention we’re not allowed to work because of our immigration status, and here we’re told we can work but they only pay us $1 a day. We feel they’re taking advantage of us and our situation,” said a labor striker inside Mesa Verde. The labor strike is inspired by the mass labor movement and worker unionization taking place across the country, where workers are demanding a living wage, better working conditions, and better worker treatment. 

Labor strikers in immigrant detention call on supporters to help amplify their demands:

1. Detainee treatment: That all individuals detained are treated with respect and dignity by all Mesa Verde officers; 

2. Voluntary Worker Program: That the number of volunteer workers increase to 12 and the worker salary be in accordance with CA Labor Law minimum wage of $15 per hour;

3. Facility issued linen and clothing: Per Performance Based National Detention Standards (PBNDS), detained individuals “shall be issued clean clothing, climatically suitable and presentable.” We’re constantly being issued old, torn and unserviceable or indelibly stained linen and clothing. We request this practice to cease. Furthermore, climatically suitable clothing issued: 1) shorts for the summer and 2) sweatpants and wool blankets for winter. Three days of laundry for jumpsuits and an extra pair of shoes to use for the recreational yard. 

4. Personal Hygiene Items: We request hygienic supplies including razors that don’t give razor burns, irritation or cuts to skin (preferably double-blade), shaving cream, deodorant, dental flossers and better quality toothbrushes. 

5. Food Service: We request that hot water be available during all meals. Per PBNDS “better quality food, proportioned servings, food (meals) cooked properly,” more access to and properly washed fruit given at every meal. 

6. Maintenance: Per PBNDS, “safe potable water shall be available throughout the facility”. We request that maintenance to fix and sustain livable conditions in the facility.

7. Visitation: In accordance with the announcement by ICE regarding a new visitation guidance, we urge a full fledge and reinstatement of in-person visitation at the MV facility just like at GSA, by June 16, 2022. In addition, we request that free virtual visitation be made available so each person at MV has an equal opportunity to see their family members, friends and loved ones. 

8. Health Care: We request that proper health care be provided by MV to all detained individuals, e.g. hire a doctor to be on site and not shared with another facility, to be referred to outside specialists promptly, and offer preventative health care like providing sunscreen in the summer. 

Requests to convene a meeting with the facility administrator has been met with hostility, nonetheless, the labor strikers welcome open negotiations with The GEO Group.

Many participants in the “volunteer worker program” rely on the $1 per day compensation to call their family members and loved ones or purchase items in commissary, which are often expired or moldy, as a new report has found. A fundraiser has been launched to support the labor strikers’ efforts. 

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Enrique Is Free!

Contact: jessica@pangealegal.org

Date: February 28, 2022

For immediate release

Enrique Is Free!

After a combined 18+ years of incarceration and ICE detention, Pangea client, Enrique Cristobal Meneses, is finally home!!!

While incarcerated at Soledad State Prison, Enrique transformed himself into a powerful and steadfast community leader. There, he earned the equivalent of a master’s degree in drug and alcohol counseling through the Offender Mentor Certification Program. With this certification, he taught courses on anger management, thinking errors, grief counseling, and denial management. He was also formative in co-founding National Crimes Victims’ Rights Week at Soledad, which is an annual event focusing on restorative justice. Enrique is remarkable, and his countless achievements cannot be adequately summarized in one update!

On November 10, 2020, California Governor, Gavin Newsom, rightfully commuted Enrique’s sentence. However, on the day Enrique was set to be released, ICE arrested him. Soon after, Pangea attorney, Jessica Yamane Moraga, stepped in to take on Enrique’s representation in his bond proceedings. Together, they compiled one of the most robust release packages, in no small part because Enrique’s name preceded him and organizations were jumping at the opportunity to bring him on board as staff post-release. Enrique’s bond was ultimately denied because the Immigration Judge fixated on Enrique’s 2005 attempted murder conviction, while ignoring all of the evidence of rehabilitation – including the commutation by Governor Newsom.

Jessica challenged the judge’s decision all the way to Northern District Court of Appeals. Unsurprisingly, the system failed Enrique once again, denying his freedom. Pero, la lucha continuó!!! On February 11th, Centro Legal De La Raza’s attorneys, Priya Patel and Susan Beaty, successfully litigated Enrique’s case for long-term relief under the Convention Against Torture before the Immigration Court …. And we WON! Enrique is now Free and home with his family with job offers to begin work as a restorative justice counselor.    

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Confirmed ICE Custody Repopulation at Yuba County Jail

Contact: Edwin Carmona-Cruz | 415-933-4922 | edwin[@]ccijustice.org

December 30, 2021

For immediate release

Confirmed ICE Custody Repopulation at Yuba County Jail

As Omicron cases surge, advocates worry so will immigrants in detention

Northern California – As of December 27, 2021, at least 1 person is confirmed to be detained in ICE custody at the Yuba County Jail (YCJ). The “suicide jail” sat empty of civil immigrant detainees since October 27, 2021, when Ricardo Vazquez Cruz was the last person released from the notorious jail. The news of repopulation comes on the heels of a surge of the highly contagious Omicron variant that has resulted in the highest number of new daily COVID cases the country has ever seen. Yuba County Jail is known for its inhumane conditions, retaliation by guards, medical neglect and tragic deaths, the most recent of which occurred on December 1, 2021.

“It is unconscionable that ICE would start to repopulate Yuba during the holiday season, a time when families are meant to be together,” said the FreeTheYuba 11 Coalition. “This situation could have been completely prevented if DHS Secretary Mayorkas had terminated the contract between the Yuba County Sheriff’s Department and ICE when the facility held 0 individuals in its custody, as 25 Members of Congress urged him to do over two months ago. Meanwhile, the sheriff’s department pocketed over $1.4 million from ICE for two months for an empty facility. Secretary Mayorkas’s failure to swiftly act will result in more community members experiencing severe harm or even death from COVID-19 and and the inhumane conditions at the jail.”

ICE has a known pattern of conducting enforcement operations late at night or during the holidays, which makes it far more difficult for targeted community members to access due process. The FreeTheYuba11 Coalition will continue to work with the robust infrastructure of legal service providers located in Northern California to ensure that any and all individuals detained at YCJ have access to legal representation and a fighting chance for freedom. Immigrants who survived ICE custody at Yuba County Jail continue to call on Secretary Mayorkas and ICE to terminate the contract immediately. 

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225 Organizations Slam USCIS Policy on Afghans Seeking Humanitarian Protections

For immediate release: December 13, 2021

Contact: Laila Ayub, laila@projectanar.org 

225 Organizations Slam USCIS Policy on Afghans Seeking Humanitarian Protections
Advocates working with Afghans seeking emergency Humanitarian Parole anticipate mass denials after USCIS announces exclusionary practices. 

Two hundred twenty-five organizations have signed a letter raising concerns about the fate of thousands of Afghans who remain trapped in Afghanistan, and have applied for humanitarian protections with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. The organizations fear mass denials of applications, leaving tens of thousands of vulnerable Afghans at risk under deadly Taliban rule. The letter, led by Project ANAR (Afghan Network for Advocacy and Resources), is the second appeal organized by the group to the Biden Administration and members of Congress, and is part of a broader grassroots effort to organize protection for Afghan asylum seekers. 

“As legal service providers, advocates, and members of the Afghan diaspora, we seek not only adjudication of Afghan Humanitarian Parole applications, but the favorable use of the wide discretion that USCIS has to grant parole. Instead, USCIS has laid out a plan that will close the door to tens of thousands of Afghans seeking safety in the United States,” the letter notes.

The letter notes USCIS standards that many believe are insurmountable, including:

1. Third party evidence naming the applicant and documenting threats or risks of serious harm, a burden of proof that is not normally part of the humanitarian process, and often impossible to fulfill given the realities on the ground in Afghanistan. 

2. USCIS has arbitrarily heightened the threat standard required for these applications, in contradiction of their own prior Humanitarian Parole Trainings and Guidelines.

3. Heightened standards produce a potential for mass denials in the absence of alternative pathways. Afghans have turned to Humanitarian Parole because other pathways are inaccessible, backlogged, and insufficient for the urgent needs produced by the Taliban takeover of the country. Advocates have long urged special programs to address the inaccessibility of existing pathways, yet no such plans have been developed by the US government. 

“Advocates are concerned by USCIS Humanitarian Parole denials that rely on insurmountable evidentiary standards, and pull the rug out from under tens of thousands of pending applications with no alternative pathways for relief. USCIS has adopted an exclusionary policy toward Afghans that contradicts its own guidance,” said Laila Ayub for Project ANAR. 

A full explanation of these concerns, as well as seven clear recommendations on the issue, are detailed in the Project ANAR letter that you can read here.

“We remain gravely concerned that the United States is abandoning tens of thousands of Afghans to die by cutting off their last available pathway to refuge. The United States has an obligation to keep pathways open for Afghans who have no alternative ways to seek asylum and reunite with family in the United States,” said Juliette Chisam-Majid for Project ANAR. 

Project ANAR is an Afghan-led immigration organization that has connected thousands of Afghans with legal volunteers in order to apply for Humanitarian Parole to the United States.

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BREAKING: 24 Members of Congress led by Lofgren and Correa urge closure of 3 ICE detention centers in CA

Contact:

Laura Duarte Bateman | laura[@]ccijustice.org | 415-684-5463

Tamara Marquez tamara[@]ic4ij.org 562-212-2664

Adriana Jasso | ajasso[@]afsc.org | 619-808-7277

October 21, 2021

For immediate release

BREAKING: 24 Members of Congress led by Lofgren and Correa urge closure of 3 ICE detention centers in CA

California — Today, Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren and Congressman Lou Correa led an additional 22 Members of the California Delegation, including U.S. Senator Alex Padilla, in sending a letter to the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas urging the immediate closure of two privately owned and operated ICE detention facilities, Adelanto ICE Processing Center and Otay Mesa Detention Facility, and an end to the Intergovernmental Service Agreement (IGSA) between ICE and Yuba County Jail, the last ICE contract with a public facility in California.

Over 60 organizations across the state of California endorsed the letter, displayed in a unified message against immigration detention. The letter highlights the long record of serious abuses, mistreatment, lack of COVID-19 safety protocols, unsanitary conditions, and other disturbing deficiencies outlined in recent reports from the Office of Inspector General (OIG). Organizations thank Members of Congress for championing this issue, which is about protecting the health and safety of all California residents.

Although detention numbers in the state are currently at an all-time low, California has the fourth-largest detained population in the country. It is time for California to lead the charge to reject immigration detention nationally. Organizations across the state welcome the call to end the contracts of Yuba, Adelanto, and Otay Mesa. Yet, it is a collective realization that this is only the beginning in our fight to ensure that we are free from all cages.

ICE deprives thousands of people of liberty each day in conditions that give rise to systemic abuse and rampant medical neglect. The three detention centers which the letter signatories are calling to be closed are no exception:

• Yuba County Jail has been operating under a court-ordered consent decree since 1979 due to numerous constitutional violations and lack of adequate care. Only one person, Ricardo, remains detained in ICE custody at the Yuba County Jail.

• Otay Mesa was the site of the first COVID-19 related death in ICE detention in the country when Mr. Carlos Ernesto Escobar Mejia passed away last year. Recently the OIG issued a report outlining various violations of ICE's own detention standards that compromised the health, safety, and rights of people in this facility.

• The Adelanto ICE Processing Center has been reprimanded by several government oversight agencies due to their consistent violations, including the use of a harsh disinfecting chemical, HDQ Neutral, which caused serious health problems to the hundreds of immigrants who were directly sprayed with this chemical. Due to the harmful effects of HDQ Neutral, a federal judge enjoined Adelanto from continuing to use it.

Advocates call on California and its elected leaders to step up and shut down all detention centers. The congressional letter is one part of a larger call to action from community organizations to release all community members from immigration custody, and to focus on community-based care as an alternative vision to detention. Local community vigils calling for the shutdown of these three detention centers and the release of detained individuals will be held in the forthcoming weeks.

You can read a copy of the letter here.

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Organizations in Support:

Al Otro Lado

Alianza Sacramento

AFSC-San Diego

Asian Law Alliance

California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice

Campaign for Immigrant Detention Reform (CIDR)

Centro Legal de la Raza

Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto

Council on American-Islamic Relations - Sacramento Valley

Desert Support for Asylum Seekers

Dolores Street Community Services

Education and Leadership Foundation

Espacio Migrante

Faithful Friends

Immigrant Defense Advocates

Immigrant Legal Resource Center

Kern Welcoming and Extending Solidarity to Immigrants

Law Office of Helen Lawrence

Long Beach Immigrant Rights Coalition

Multicultural Center of Marin (MCM)

National Immigration Law Center

NorCal Resist

North Bay Rapid Response Network: Napa, Solano and Sonoma Counties

Orange County Rapid Response Network (OCRRN)

Pangea Legal Services

Rapid Response Network of Kern

Santa Cruz Welcoming Network

SB County Immigrant Legal Defense Center

SIREN (Services, Immigrant Rights and Education Network)

South Bay People Power

STEP UP! Sacramento

Ventura County Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE-VC)

VIDAS Legal Services (North Bay)

120 Organizations Call for Transparency, Action Following Freeze in Afghan Humanitarian Parole Application Process

PRESS RELEASE

Media Contact:
Laila Ayub, projectanar.info@gmail.com 
Roxana Moussavian, roxana@pangealegal.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 20, 2021

120 Organizations Call for Transparency, Action Following Freeze in Afghan Humanitarian Parole Application Process 

Despite grassroots efforts by an Afghan-led organization to file thousands of applications, the humanitarian parole process remains frozen and opaque.

Nearly 120 organizations have signed on to a letter calling for transparency and action on Humanitarian Parole applications from Afghans. The letter, led by Project ANAR (Afghan Network for Advocacy and Resources), was directed to the Biden Administration and members of Congress, and demanded accountability and clarity on thousands of applications filed by the group.

Project ANAR is an Afghan-led immigration organization that is connecting over 9,000 Afghans with over one thousand legal volunteers in order to apply for Humanitarian Parole to the United States. An outpouring of grassroots financial support has also raised more than $350,000 to help pay the USCIS $575 filing fee per application, which Project ANAR has distributed to cover fees for hundreds of Afghans’ applications. 

Throughout the United States, more than 30,000 humanitarian parole applications are anticipated to be filed by non-profit organizations in order to assist vulnerable Afghans in obtaining refuge from the Taliban.  Despite these efforts, reports have emerged that United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has not granted any Humanitarian Parole applications since August 31, 2021 for anyone who remains in Afghanistan. Advocates are now demanding clarity about the fate of thousands of vulnerable Afghan refugees.

“We have a duty both to our clients, and to the amazing volunteers and donors who have helped us collectively file thousands of these applications, to allow Afghans to seek asylum and reunite with family in the U.S. We cannot provide them guidance or ensure that these efforts are properly directed unless the administration clarifies what is happening and what it plans to do with these applications,” said Laila Ayub, an immigration attorney and coordinator for Project ANAR. 

The letter focuses on five key demands from advocates:

1. Public Transparency

2. Congressional Hearing and Oversight

3. Community Coordination

4. Safe Passage

5. New Pathway to Relief

For a full explanation of these demands, read the letter here.

“The United States owes a unique duty to the people of Afghanistan given not only the events of the last year, but the last few decades in the region. The least our government can do is act in good faith in responding to this community-led effort to provide critical support to Afghans,” said Wogai Mohmand, an attorney and coordinator for Project ANAR. 

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PROJECT ANAR LAUNCHES TO SUPPORT THOUSANDS OF AFGHAN REFUGEES

PRESS RELEASE

Media Contact: Jesus Chavez, jchavez@centrolegal.org (559) 213-6841

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 12, 2021

PROJECT ANAR LAUNCHES TO SUPPORT THOUSANDS OF AFGHAN REFUGEES

Oakland/San Francisco Bay Area - On August 14, 2021, Taliban forces took control of Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul. In response to this crisis, a small team of Afghan organizers rallied advocates from across the country and began frantically working to help a long list of Afghan nationals; some are extremely high-risk young people, some are single women who have worked in TV journalism and women’s rights, and some are folks who collaborated closely with the US and are in deep danger.

This team became Project ANAR (Afghan Network for Advocacy and Resources), and began filing humanitarian parole applications for Afghans. This is a rapid-response emerging crisis. The Project’s main focus is humanitarian parole. Humanitarian Parole is a pathway for entry to the United States for urgent humanitarian reasons. It is usually granted when someone has no other alternatives for entry. It's essentially a temporary permission to come to the United States, on a humanitarian basis, and stay for up to one year (as granted at USCIS discretion). For many of our families, that permission could allow time for their other pending SIV and P-2 visas to be processed or for family reunification processes to be submitted. For some, it may be one of their only pathways to rapid safety. Typically, Humanitarian Parole applications are processed quicker than permanent status visas.

Humanitarian Parole is also important as a strategy because it might allow families to leave harm's way more quickly and also provide them with papers that would count as "onward travel" confirmation, which helps with evacuation efforts. Currently there are evacuation limitations for people with no documents and few countries still willing to take refugees. Humanitarian Parole could provide many families with an important missing stepping stone in their efforts to flee to safety.

The Project has also focused on a large congressional pressure campaign and created initial infrastructure to disperse critical financial and legal assistance to Afghan refugees. The coalition is composed of predomiately BIPOC and/or queer lawyers and Afghan organizers, which is currently housed at Pangea Legal Services. 

Our legal and community partners include: 

• Afghan American Community Organization

• Afghan Diaspora for Equality & Progress

• Berkeley Law for Afghanistan Project

• Centro Legal de la Raza

• Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC) 

• Innovation Law Labs

• Oasis Legal Services

• PARS Equality Center 

• Southeast Asian Resource Action Center

Ways You Can Help

• Donate! Donations cover humanitarian parole filing fees ($575/each), paralegals, and legal coordinators.

• Become a volunteer sponsor! This is open to US Citizens and Green Card Holders. There is no enforceable ability for wages to be garnished like a permanent status immigration sponsorship. But it does require submission of a tax return to prove you have means at about 125% of the poverty rate, based on the number of people in your household. If anyone has access to a mosque, church group, book club, or workplace social responsibility program or some other kind of community of people who care, they could be transformative change agents in this effort. Bonus points if volunteer sponsors are Muslims who understand the cultural specifics more readily.

• Become a volunteer lawyer! If you or someone you know is an attorney, please consider providing pro bono hours. Training is provided.

To learn more, visit projectanar.org and keep up to date with our project on Instagram and Facebook (@projectanar), and Twitter (@project_anar).