News about Donald Trump’s immigration policies and the inhumane treatment of migrant detainees have flooded the news in recent days. In particular, Trump’s plans to detain migrant children indefinitely despite laws that require their release after no more than 72 hours and the refusal to vaccinate migrant children against the flu despite the deaths of some of these children as a result have been horrifying.
A DOJ spokesperson said the anti-Semitic blog post shouldn’t have been sent in the email to immigration court employees. No one would go on the record with that controversial insight? https://t.co/lyisRNldju
— Jonathan Allen (@jonallendc) August 22, 2019
Despite protests that the same vile treatment would not be tolerated against white children, the Trump administration continues to insist that the rise in white supremacist violence against hatred toward migrants has not increased because of the president’s rhetoric. On Thursday, a discovery by Buzzfeed in an email sent to immigration staff calls that even more into question.
Buzzfeed News reports that:
‘According to the National Association of Immigration Judges, the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) sent court employees a link to a blog post from VDare, a white nationalist website, in its morning news briefing earlier this week that included anti-Semitic attacks on judges.’
.@realDonaldTrump is seeking to codify child abuse, plain and simple. His family incarceration plan would rip away basic protections for children & violate every standard of morality. It will be swiftly defeated in the courts. https://t.co/QW8YQaQikn
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) August 21, 2019
Immigration court judges who uphold current laws barring even worse mistreatment of migrant detainees were criticized in the blog post using anti-Semitic language and words. Briefings are sent to immigration employees daily to update them on recent immigration law news, and this particular blog post centered around efforts by the Department of Justice to decertify the immigration judges’ union.
‘“The post features links and content that directly attacks sitting immigration judges with racial and ethnically tinged slurs and the label ‘Kritarch.’ The reference to Kritarch in a negative tone is deeply offensive and Anti-Semitic,” wrote Tabaddor. The VDare post includes pictures of judges with the term “kritarch” preceding their names.
‘Tabaddor said the term kritarchy is a reference to ancient Israel during a time of rule by a system of judges.
‘“VDare’s use of the term in a pejorative manner casts Jewish history in a negative light as an Anti-Semitic trope of Jews seeking power and control,” she wrote.’
Half the children who have died at these detention centers died from the flu. It's inhumane, cruel and worsens an already horrifying public health crisis that the Trump Admin won't provide families they’re detaining with this low-cost vaccine that could prevent even more deaths. https://t.co/5XMKCpBq21
— Tammy Duckworth (@SenDuckworth) August 21, 2019
While the Department of Justice insists that a third-party contractor sent the link and that it was not approved ahead of its dissemination, the move was seen as threatening by representatives for these judges. Union chief Ashley Tabaddor wrote in a letter to the director of the Justice Department’s Executive Office of Immigration Review to demand an apology and protection for the judges under attack.
‘Tabaddor called on McHenry to take immediate action over the distribution of white nationalist content.
‘“Publication and dissemination of a white supremacist, anti-semitic website throughout the EOIR is antithetical to the goals and ideals of the Department of Justice,” she wrote. The court, Tabaddor wrote, should immediately withdraw the email and issue an apology to all immigration judges, including those mentioned in the post.
‘“Separately, EOIR should take all appropriate safety and security measures for all judges given the tone and tenor of this posting,” she wrote.’
Trump has railed against the Flores Agreement saying "Judge Flores, […] that decision is a disaster."
Though the Flores Agreement is a powerful ruling, setting standards for migrant detention, it's named after Jenny Flores – a young girl who fled El Salvador in the 1980s. pic.twitter.com/MHM0TulcIv— TheBeat w/Ari Melber (@TheBeatWithAri) August 22, 2019
Featured image via Flickr by Office of Public Affairs under a Creative Commons license
