MEDIA ADVISORY: Congressional Hispanic Caucus Members, Doctors and Lawyers Speak Out Against Trump’s Efforts to Dismantle the Asylum System
WASHINGTON — On Thursday, February 27, 2020, Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) Chairman Joaquin Castro (TX-20), CHC members, doctors and lawyers working on the US-Mexico border and affected families will discuss the impacts of the Trump Administration's anti-asylum policies, including such policies as "Remain in Mexico", metering at ports-of-entry, the expansion of "safe third country" agreements; and two new programs—Prompt Asylum Claim Review (PACR) program and the Humanitarian Asylum Review Process (HARP)—which rush asylum seekers through the credible fear process without meaningful access to legal counsel. Doctors, lawyers, and impacted individuals will provide first-hand accounts of how devastating the Trump Administration policies are on immigrants and asylum seekers.
Earlier this year, CHC led a delegation to Brownsville, Texas and Matamoros, Mexico to witness the impact of the Remain in Mexico program and meet with groups working along the border. This delegation marked approximately one year since the Remain in Mexico policy was implemented on January 25, 2019. The Remain in Mexico policy has turned away approximately 60,000 migrants, with thousands of families forced to wait in dangerous border towns in Mexico. At the same time, the Trump Administration has recently begun deporting asylum seekers to Central America through "safe third country" agreements, as part of a larger effort to eliminate the appearance of a humanitarian crisis at the US border while refusing to acknowledge how administration policies are worsening the border situation.
WHO:
Congressman Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus
Congresswoman Veronica Escobar (TX-16), Freshman Representative of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus
Congresswoman Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (FL-26), Chair of the CHC Women's Task Force
Congressman Jesús "Chuy" García (IL-04)
Noah Gorelick, M.D. Doctors for America
Toby Gialluca, J.D. Project Lifeline
Professor Rainer Rodriguez, who was impacted by the Remain in Mexico policy
WHEN:
9:45 am EST on Thursday, February 27, 2020
WHERE:
House Triangle, US Capitol Grounds
RSVP:
Interested media should RSVP to elena.pino@mail.house.gov. The press conference will also be live streamed here: https://www.facebook.com/congressional.hispanic.caucus/
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The Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), founded in December 1976, is organized as a Congressional Member organization, governed under the Rules of the U.S. House of Representatives. The CHC is dedicated to voicing and advancing, through the legislative process, issues affecting Hispanics in the United States, Puerto Rico and U.S. Territories.