The Hill :
A top House Democrat this week is urging the Obama administration to halt the deportation of undocumented Bangladeshi immigrants pending a deeper dive into their asylum claims.
Rep. Joe Crowley (N.Y.), vice chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, said he’s hearing concerns within the Bangladeshi-American community-which is well-represented in his district-that a group of Bangladeshis “with legitimate claims of asylum are in imminent danger of deportation.” He did not say how many. In a March 28 letter to Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson, Crowley presses the administration to suspend those deportations “until there can be thorough assessments of the asylum claims.” “I have long believed that no one should be sent into a situation where they face danger or persecution,” wrote Crowley, who also heads the Congressional Bangladesh Caucus.
“While I do not know the details of all the individual cases, some members of the community here in the United States believe strongly that this scenario applies to those currently in detention.”
Democrats and other immigrant rights advocates have been hammering the administration’s asylum policies since the very start of the year, after DHS officials arrested scores of Central American immigrants deemed ineligible for the extra protective status and set them in line for deportation. Many of those rounded up were women and children who’d arrived as part of the 2014 southern border surge.
Behind the DHS’ Johnson, the administration has defended its operations, arguing that the agency is simply complying with guidelines, adopted in 2014, that prioritize the deportation of criminals and new arrivals. The administration also wants to avoid another surge by sending a clear message to would-be illegal migrants that not everyone reaching the United States gets to stay. Still, the critics contend the asylum screenings have been, from the start, rigged against the immigrants, many of whom don’t speak the language, don’t understand the process and have no legal counsel. The advocates fear that sending those folks back to El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala-which rank among the most violent and corrupt countries in the world-would endanger their lives. Crowley, in his recent letter, is extending those concerns to the situation in Bangladesh, another volatile nation plagued by sectarian violence, government corruption and religious extremism. Just this week a series of clashes surrounding local elections killed more than a dozen people. Crowley has posed a series of questions he says “must be answered” by the administration before more Bangladeshis are deported.
He wants assurances that the detainees won’t be endangered if they’re sent home, “including physical violence, threats, intimidation, or political retribution.”
He’s also asking if any one sect of Bangladeshis has been targeted for detention, and whether there’s evidence that anyone already deported “faced persecution upon their return home.”
The administration is not the only group in his sights. Crowley is also urging Republicans on Capitol Hill to take up the comprehensive immigration reforms that have eluded Congress for decades. Only then, he said, will the President have a clear blueprint “to guide our immigration enforcement policies, including deportations.”
“This includes a greater focus on solutions like strengthening legal representation for those requesting asylum and ensuring that our detention and adjudication policies protect civil rights,” he wrote.
