This Newly Revised Paperback is a Very Disturbing Account of :how the Border Patrol Became the Most Dangerous Police Force in the United States” by a College Professor Reece Jones. It Can Be Ordered from Sherman’s Books, 49 Exchange Street, Portland.
“Due Process” a ‘constitutional Right of All in the US Has Been Illegally Denied by the Trump Administration.
Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) is calling on US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to immediately release Olivia Andre, a 19 year old student who has been detained in the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas since November. In a letter to ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons, PIngree questioned the legal basis for Andre’s continued detention, as no explanation has been given to A ndre or her legal counsel.
“ICE has failed to provide any clear, written explanation for why she alone continues to be detained. This lack of transparency, especially to Ms. Andre and her legal counsel, is unacceptable and indefensable,” Pingree said.
Andre and her family are asylum seekers from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and have been living in Portland, where Andre was a first-year nursing studet. The rest of her famly – mother Carine Balenda Mbizi; brother Joel Andre, 16, and sister Estafania Andre, 14 — were released from the Dilley Processing Center last month.
Pingree’s letter comes amid reports of deplorable conditions at ICE detention centers, particularly at the Dilley facility, where detainees have reported severe lack of medical care, inadequate access to food, water, personal hygiene and basic care. Andre has reportedlly lost over 20 pounds since being detained. Her mental health has suffered as a result of detention and unnecessary family separation, writing in a letter to Pingree that she feels “lost, alone, and many times feel like I no longer have the strength to keep going.”
This inhumane treatment is causing real long-term trauma for detainees — especially young people and children, who are particularly vulnerable to long term psychological and developmental harms.
“ICE’s failure to provide counsel with the basic grounds of her ongoing detention reflects a serious breakdown in process and raises profound due process concerns,” Pingree continued. “When the government deprives someone of their liberty, it should at the bare minimimum be able to cleary state why. Here, ICE has failed to do that.”
“ICE is not free to detain individuals without explanation,” Pingree said. “Every additional day that passes without a clear explanation only deepens my belief that this detention lacks any lawful or articulable basis.”