Trump administration officials are calling the newly opened border tents where asylum-seekers who have been forced to wait in Mexico began to have their cases heard last week a “soft-sided” immigration court, but attorneys and immigration advocates are instead calling them “ridiculous.”
While asylum-seekers are in a so-called “tent court” in Laredo, Texas, the judges hearing their cases are appearing via video feed, over 150 miles away. Attorneys have further described widespread confusion inside, on anything from how to file paperwork, to even how to get inside these tents. And because media and court observers have been blocked from entering even though immigration court proceedings are generally supposed to be open to the public, this is all happening under a shroud of secrecy. "It's ridiculous to call these tents a court," said the National Immigrant Justice Center’s Ashley Huebner.
Advocates call the video conference hearings “deeply problematic,” in particular. “Imagine people speaking about the deepest traumas they are fleeing from while the video feed is cutting out,” said Denise Gilman of the University of Texas, Austin. That, by the way, is nothing new: the government has already used video hearings as a cost-cutting measure, but “as lawyers and legal experts explain, a video hearing can mean a losing battle from the start, especially for poor immigrants with limited English, no lawyer, little access to court documents, and little ability to gather evidence.”
Under the inhumane “Remain in Mexico” policy, a number of asylum-seekers have been forced to wait in dangerous areas where violence and kidnapping are rampant. “They have difficulty finding lawyers,” Vox reported. Even getting escorted back into the U.S. so they can attend their hearings has been an ordeal for some, and if they miss their court date, they can lose their case. And this is all even before they can step foot in these so-called “tent courts.”
The administration has taken radical steps to decimate the asylum system, and the Supreme Court has been a willing accomplice in that process. Now asylum-seekers are supposed to believe that this assembly line justice could be fair to them. NBC News continues: “Attorneys concerned over the new expansion described tent court hearings as a ‘faux process. This system is set up to turn people away,’ Gilman said, adding that legal counsel is critical to win asylum cases.”