News & Commentary

Shaw Drake, He/Him/His, Staff Attorney and Policy Counsel, Border and Immigrants’ Rights, ACLU of Texas

We know that all Texans are concerned about the spread of COVID-19 coronavirus cases in our state and across the country. This situation requires a large-scale response from state and local leaders. We’re counting on them to protect the health and safety of all Texans, and our rights and civil liberties. We sent the below letter to Gov. Abbott, Lt. Gov. Patrick, the Commissioner of Health and Human Services, and the mayors of Texas’ ten largest cities, urging that civil rights and civil liberties not take a backseat as we respond to this situation.

Maria Morris, Senior Staff Attorney, National Prison Project, ACLU

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Waskom. Naples. Joaquin. Tenaha. Rusk. Gary. Wells. These names might sound unfamiliar now, but you’ll be hearing more about them soon enough.

President Trump has launched attack after attack on the U.S. asylum system over the past three years. While the administration's atrocious forced return to Mexico (MPP) policy has appropriately received much attention, another particularly nefarious policy has flown under the radar. The policy — known as Prompt Asylum Claim Review (PACR) when it’s applied to people from countries other than Mexico and the Humanitarian Asylum Review Process (HARP) when it’s applied to people from Mexico — essentially bans access to lawyers while holding asylum seekers incommunicado in Customs and Border Protection (CBP) jails, rushing them through a screening process in inhumane conditions, and removing them.

In a U-shaped room, 30 defendants, mostly men ranging in age from their early 20s to late 40s, hurriedly walk into the court, all chained together around their waists and wrists. Some look tired, others look defeated.

Chris Gallegos is a young man born and raised in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV).Like many other young people, he goes to school, works, and hangs out with his friends. He also visits his girlfriend — who lives across the border in Matamoros, Mexico — on an almost daily basis. For many residents who live in the borderlands, crossing back and forth between the U.S. and Mexico is a part of everyday life.For Chris, it’s a little different. Unlike most other residents who are able to cross back into the U.S. at the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) check points without much fanfare, Chris faces another reality. Chris is transgender, and because of that, he is regularly harassed by CBP agents upon his daily returns to the U.S.

Retiring Border Patrol chief Carla Provost presided over one of Border Patrol’s most abusive and deadly periods – she does not get to rewrite history.

We asked the candidates running for Texas Senate in District 27 about policy reforms they would support if elected to office. Please see their responses below!