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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 19, 2019)
A3 THE ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2019 Lawsuit says immigration courts are now deportation machines Response to Attorney General Barr’s moves By ANDREW SELSKY Associated Press SALEM — The immi- gration court system under the Trump administration has become a “deportation machine,” two groups said in a lawsuit fi led in fed- eral court in Portland on Wednesday. The lawsuit fi led by the Southern Poverty Law Cen- ter in Washington, D.C., and Innovation Law Lab of Portland, said that instead of being fair and impar- tial, judges in immigration courts answer to Attorney General William Barr and are pushed to deny applica- tions for asylum. “The immigration courts make life-and-death deci- sions every day: vulnerable people seeking asylum in the United States depend on a functioning court system to protect them from perse- cution, torture, and death. Yet, in the immigration courts, the tradition of judi- cial independence has been turned upside down,” the lawsuit against President Donald Trump and Attorney General William Barr says. Melissa Crow, senior supervising attorney at the Southern Poverty Law Cen- ter and a lead attorney in the case, said that some parts of the United States have become “asylum-free zones” because immigra- tion courts in 23 cities have denied more than 85% of applications for asylum, with El Paso having the Eric Gay/AP Photo Migrants who are applying for asylum in the United States go through a processing area at a new tent courtroom at the Migration Protection Protocols Immigration Hearing Facility in Laredo, Texas. highest denial rate at 96.6%. “We’ve come to call the current situation a depor- tation machine, and it really is because it is vir- tually impossible, particu- larly in some jurisdictions around the country, to effec- tively represent individuals in immigration court pro- ceedings,” Crow told t he Associated Press in a joint telephone interview with Stephen Manning, execu- tive director of Innovation Law Lab. The U.S. Department of Justice did not immedi- ately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit. “The immigration court system is actually the cen- tral knot in the entire immi- gration policy debate,” Manning said, adding that the Trump administra- tion uses the immigration courts’ dysfunctionality to justify increased detention and “totally inhumane prac- tices” like forcing asylum seekers from Central Amer- ica to remain in Mexico or be fl own to other countries. Ilyce Shugall, who defended immigrants in immigration court for 18 years, was sworn in in 2017 as an immigration judge, but resigned last March. “I swore to uphold the Constitution at my inves- titure. When the admin- istration made it impossi- ble to continue to do so, I resigned,” Shugall said Wednesday at a telephone news conference orga- nized by the plaintiffs. The judge who swore her in also resigned. To receive a satisfactory performance rating, immi- gration judges must decide approximately three cases per day and issue decisions on the merits of a case no more than 10 days after the fi nal hearing, Crow said. In some cases, judges would need to dig into the law and understand compli- cated facts but they instead have an incentive to deny a case, which is faster than granting asylum, to meet their performance goals, Crow said. Not meeting goals under a metrics pol- icy instituted by the Trump administration can result in a judge being fi red, the law- suit says. Pushing the judges to go through cases faster is a dashboard on their com- puter that shows, in real time, progress in achieving the attorney general’s per- formance metrics. Meters showing red, yellow or green indicate whether their cases are proceeding fast enough. “It was very stressful,” Shugall said. She eventually stopped opening the feature. Some cases, on the other hand, are left dangling for as many as fi ve years, mak- ing it harder for attorneys to fi nd witnesses and evidence after all that time, Manning said. Crow said this lawsuit has the potential to provide fairness to asylum seek- ers and others who have been the target of the Trump administration’s rhetoric and policies. The law groups, which have represented immi- grants, asked the federal court to require the attorney general to correct the dys- function of the immigration court system. The lawsuit also seeks an injunction restraining the Trump administration “from continuing to thwart the impartial adjudication of asylum claims” and to stop using the metrics policy on immigration judges. State hospital temporarily halts civil commitments Will prioritize people unfi t to stand trial By SAM STITES Oregon Capital Bureau The Oregon State Hos- pital is suspending all civil admissions until Dec. 27 to prioritize patients ordered by courts to receive compe- tency restoration treatment. The halt on civil com- mitments was announced in a letter Monday to the hos- pital’s statewide partners. It is effective immediately. According to hospi- tal spokeswoman Rebeka Gipson-King, the move is intended to help the hos- pital comply with a 2003 federal court ruling that requires criminal defen- dants ordered to receive treatment so they can meaningfully aid and assist in their own trial be admit- ted within seven days of a judge’s signature. “We wanted to make sure that we were still able to meet our legal obliga- tions to the people who are coming in under aid and assist within the seven days,” she said. Gipson said hospital administrators chose Dec. 27 for the suspension to expire because that’s when they feel the hospital will be able to start reaccepting civil admissions and not be in danger of violating the seven-day rule. As of Monday , the num- ber of civil patients await- ing admission to the hospi- tal had increased from 15 in January to 43 this month. The state hospital was sued early this year by advocacy group Disabil- ity Rights Oregon for not complying with the rule. In 2018, more than 200 patients had to wait longer than seven days, a prob- lem which hospital admin- istrators said was caused by an unforeseen infl ux of aid and assist patients the facility wasn’t equipped to handle. Gipson-King said the suspension of civil admis- sions would force local hospitals and psychiatric care units to hold patients awaiting civil commitment a little longer than they might have expected. “These are people whom a judge has said they aren’t able to take care of their own basic needs and civilly commits them to the Ore- gon Health Authority, so they’re already on a wait- list to get into the state hos- pital,” she said. “They’re already in an acute care hospital with staff trained to meet their needs as opposed to our (aid and assist) pop- ulation who we’re also try- ing to accommodate.” Melissa Eckstein, pres- ident of the Unity Cen- ter for Behavioral Health at Legacy Emanuel Hos- pital in Portland, said in a prepared statement that her organization is in conversa- tions with Oregon Health Authority and s tate h ospi- tal leadership to address Clatsop Post 12 Friday, December 20 TH AT 4 PM needs for improved access to behavioral health care throughout the region. Eckstein expressed hope that discussion will lead to positive change and faster, more comprehensive care for patients. “This situation has a huge impact on operations at Unity Center for Behav- ioral Health. More than 25% of our current adult patients are waiting for a bed at the Oregon State Hospital,” Eckstein wrote. “The lack of capacity at OSH is creating a patient fl ow crisis within Unity Center’s Psychiatric Emer- gency Services and long delays for patients who urgently need acute hospi- talization for their safety and wellbeing.” The Oregon Capital Bureau is a collaboration between EO Media Group, Pamplin Media Group and Salem Reporter. Salmon die-off linked to extremely dry weather By CASSANDRA PROFITA Oregon Public Broadcasting Extremely dry condi- tions have fueled a wide- spread die-off of fall C hi- nook salmon on the N orth C oast. After two months of low rainfall, hundreds of adult fi sh on multiple coastal streams are dying from an unusual outbreak of a nat- urally occurring parasite before they get a chance to spawn. According to the Ore- gon Department of Fish and Wildlife, extended low-wa- ter conditions have led to groups of salmon waiting to swim upstream in condi- tions that are conducive to the cryptobia parasite. The parasite doesn’t pose a risk to humans and only affects certain species of fi sh. In response to reports from the public of dead pre-spawned fall C hinook salmon in the Wilson River near Tillamook, the agency surveyed the stream and discovered at least 200 dead fi sh. To protect the remaining salmon, the agency closed the Wilson River to fi sh- ing earlier this month. Then the agency surveyed the Nehalem, Trask and Kilchis rivers and found similar numbers of dead salmon. The agency has now closed all fi shing for fall C hinook on the North Coast from the Nestucca to Necanicum rivers, includ- ing bays. Steelhead fi shing seasons are not affected. Robert Bradley, a district biologist for state fi sh and facebook.com/dailyastorian Consult a PROFESSIONAL Q: What does the row of F1, F2, etc. keys do? LEO FINZI WANTED Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber Northwest Hardwoods • Longview, WA Contact: John Anderson • 360-269-2500 GAME MEAT PROCESSING Debbie D’s will be at Cash & Carry in Warrenton at 10:00 a.m. every Saturday to pick up and deliver meat for processing. Fast, Friendly & Affordable! Windows 7 support ends Jan. 2020. Full upgrade only $199 Mon-Fri 10-6, Sat 11-4 77 11th Street, Suite H Astoria, OR • 503-325-2300 Astoria’s Best.com A: DEBBIE D’S Jerky & Sausage Factory 2210 Main Avenue N. • Tillamook, OR • 503-842-2622 JEFFREY M. 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Remember that a night-time bottle with milk has lactose (milk sugar) and juice has fructose or sucrose (sugar) and if it sits on teeth day after day problems are going to develop. Baby teeth are small with thin enamel so they are important to keep clean. is the Consult Q: What a Professional section Past Commanders Tom & Jerey Party ASTORIA AMERICAN LEGION F3 Opens a search feature. F4 or F6 Opens the Address Bar. F5 Refreshes a web page or starts the Find feature. F7 Opens Claret Browsing or opens Spell Check. F8 Selects larger sections each time depressed. F9 Starts Send-Receive in Outlook. F10 Activates the Menu feature. F11 Full Screen, and back. F12 Save as, or Inspect window. Depending on your computer, some functions may vary. Experiment! teeth? Please call or leave message by Friday so we know to expect you! Live Nativity Opens a help screen. A: F1 F2 Rename a highlighted icon, file or folder. should I use Q: What to clean my baby’s 20 lb. min • Each batch individual Bethany Lutheran Church wildlife , said the parasite has killed far more fi sh this year than it ever has before, and it’s cutting down an already depleted run of fall C hinook. “The observed pre- spawn mortality is on top of a reduced run of fall C hinook this year,” Brad- ley said. “We need to pro- tect the remaining spawners to help provide for future runs of fall C hinook on the North Coast.” National Weather Ser- vice hydrologist Andy Bry- ant says some river fl ows on the N orth C oast have dropped to just 10% of nor- mal in the past two months. On the Wilson River, where the parasite out- break was fi rst detected, river fl ows would nor- mally be around 2,000 cubic feet per second , but recently they’ve fl uctuated between 200 and 400 cubic feet per second . The num- bers are equally dismal on the nearby Nehalem River, which is normally fl owing at 1,500 and 2,000 cubic feet of water per second this time of year. It’s now fl ow- ing at 150 to 300 cubic feet per second . “Normally for the N orth Oregon Coast Range we’d be seeing quite a bit of rain and we just haven’t seen that,” Bryant said. “So the river has pretty much just stayed at the low fl ows we had seen earlier in the fall. With the lack of rainfall it hasn’t started to come up like it typically would.” Bryant said condi- tions are abnormally dry across most of the state and across the entire Pacifi c Northwest. www.dailyastorian.com BETHANY FREE LUTHERAN CHURCH 451 34 TH STREET ∙ ASTORIA 503.325.2925 949 Exchange St. Astoria, OR 503-325-3211 business and inform readers about the types of services you provide. 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