Immigration court proceedings are generally supposed to be open to the public, but on Wednesday journalists were blocked from entering the so-called “tent court” that the Trump administration has opened in Laredo, Texas, where a number of asylum-seekers who have been forced to wait in Mexico were finally having their cases heard.
BuzzFeed News reporter Adolfo Flores said that a Department of Homeland Security official “who wasn't wearing a name tag and declined to provide his name” blocked media, claiming that only law enforcement, government contractors, and attorneys who were representing clients could go inside. But at least one attorney with a client there told BuzzFeed that he couldn’t even find the entrance to the facility.
“A DHS official said that while immigration court proceedings are generally open to the public, asylum hearings at the tent facilities were unique from other immigration courts because of ‘the law enforcement sensitive priorities’ of the nearby official border crossings,” he reported.
But it’s the administration that decided to hold this assembly-line justice there—“immigration judges in San Antonio will hear those cases over a video link,” The Los Angeles Times reported—and it’s the administration’s inhumane “Remain in Mexico” policy that is further burdening already over-burdened immigration courts.
Officials are telling media and observers they can watch proceedings from the San Antonio court, but advocates are condemning the blocking “as a violation of the due process rights of asylum seekers,” The Times continued. Asylum-seekers sent to Mexico to wait out their cases have already described being stranded by the U.S. officials who are supposed to guide them to their hearings, and if they miss a hearing, they could lose their cases.
“It’s particularly critical here because the entire process is taking place with such a lack of transparency,” said Ashley Huebner of the National Immigrant Justice Center. She was told to leave because she didn’t have a client there. “The entire setup confirmed how absurd it is to call this a courtroom and court proceedings.”
