Declaration (2018-12-06)
- Date
- 2018-12-06
Summary
Plaintiffs' Notice of Corrected Declaration in East Bay Sanctuary Covenant, et al. v. Donald J. Trump, President of the United States, et al., Case No. 18-cv-06810-JST, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, filed December 6, 2018 as Document 84 with the corrected declaration as Document 84-1. The notice states that a declaration filed December 4 as ECF No. 71-8 contained a typographic error in paragraph 18, which is corrected from "30 hours" to "3 hours", with no other changes. The attached declaration, by the Project Director for the Border Rights Project of Al Otro Lado, describes the organization's diversion of resources to assist unaccompanied children seeking asylum after the interim final rule. It also describes conditions at the Benito Juarez Sports Complex shelter in Tijuana. The notice is signed by Lee Gelernt for plaintiffs' counsel.
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Case 3:18-cv-06810-JST Document 84 Filed 12/06/18 Page 1 of 4
1 Jennifer Chang Newell (SBN 233033) Lee Gelernt*
Cody Wofsy (SBN 294179) Judy Rabinovitz*
2 Spencer Amdur (SBN 320069) Omar C. Jadwat*
Julie Veroff (SBN 310161) Celso Perez (SBN 304924)
3 ACLU FOUNDATION ACLU FOUNDATION
IMMIGRANTS’ RIGHTS PROJECT IMMIGRANTS’ RIGHTS PROJECT
4 39 Drumm Street 125 Broad Street, 18th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94111 New York, NY 10004
5 T: (415) 343-0770 T: (212) 549-2660
F: (415) 395-0950 F: (212) 549-2654
6 jnewell@aclu.org lgelernt@aclu.org
cwofsy@aclu.org jrabinovitz@aclu.org
7 samdur@aclu.org ojadwat@aclu.org
jveroff@aclu.org cperez@aclu.org
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9 Attorneys for Plaintiffs (Additional counsel listed on following page)
10 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
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East Bay Sanctuary Covenant, et al.,
12 Case No.: 18-cv-06810-JST
Plaintiffs,
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v. PLAINTIFFS’ NOTICE OF
14 CORRECTED DECLARATION
Donald J. Trump, President of the United States, et
15 al.,
16 Defendants.
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Case 3:18-cv-06810-JST Document 84 Filed 12/06/18 Page 2 of 4
1 Melissa Crow* Baher Azmy*
SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER Angelo Guisado*
2 1666 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 100 Ghita Schwarz*
Washington, D.C. 20009 CENTER FOR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS
3 T: (202) 355-4471 666 Broadway, 7th Floor
F: (404) 221-5857 New York, NY 10012
4 melissa.crow@splcenter.org T: (212) 614-6464
F: (212) 614-6499
5 Mary Bauer* bazmy@ccrjustice.org
SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER aguisado@ccrjustice.org
6 1000 Preston Avenue gshwartz@aclu.org
Charlottesville, VA 22903
7 T: (470) 606-9307 Christine P. Sun (SBN 218701)
F: (404) 221-5857 Vasudha Talla (SBN 316219)
8 mary.bauer@splcenter.org AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION
FOUNDATION OF NORTHERN
9 CALIFORNIA, INC.
39 Drumm Street
10 San Francisco, CA 94111
T: (415) 621-2493
11 F: (415) 255-8437
csun@aclunc.org
12 Attorneys for Plaintiffs vtalla@aclunc.org
13 *Admitted pro hac vice
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Case 3:18-cv-06810-JST Document 84 Filed 12/06/18 Page 3 of 4
1 The Declaration of Nicole Ramos filed December 4, see ECF No. 71-8, contained a
2 typographic error in paragraph 18, line 3. In the corrected declaration, attached hereto, “30 hours” is
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corrected to “3 hours.” No other changes have been made, except that the corrected declaration is
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dated today.
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1 Notice of Errata
18-cv-06810-JST
Case 3:18-cv-06810-JST Document 84 Filed 12/06/18 Page 4 of 4
1
Dated: December 6, 2018 Respectfully submitted,
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/s/Lee Gelernt
3 Jennifer Chang Newell (SBN 233033) Lee Gelernt*
Cody Wofsy (SBN 294179) Judy Rabinovitz*
4 Spencer Amdur (SBN 320069) Omar C. Jadwat*
Julie Veroff (SBN 310161) Celso Perez (SBN 304924)
5 ACLU FOUNDATION ACLU FOUNDATION
IMMIGRANTS’ RIGHTS PROJECT IMMIGRANTS’ RIGHTS PROJECT
6 39 Drumm Street 125 Broad Street, 18th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94111 New York, NY 10004
7 T: (415) 343-0770 T: (212) 549-2660
F: (415) 395-0950 F: (212) 549-2654
8 jnewell@aclu.org lgelernt@aclu.org
cwofsy@aclu.org jrabinovitz@aclu.org
9 samdur@aclu.org ojadwat@aclu.org
jveroff@aclu.org cperez@aclu.org
10
Melissa Crow* Christine P. Sun (SBN 218701)
11 SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER Vasudha Talla (SBN 316219)
1666 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 100 AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF
12 Washington, D.C. 20009 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA, INC.
T: (202) 355-4471 39 Drumm Street
13 F: (404) 221-5857 San Francisco, CA 94111
melissa.crow@splcenter.org T: (415) 621-2493
14 F: (415) 255-8437
Mary Bauer* csun@aclu.org
15 SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER vtalla@aclu.org
1000 Preston Avenue
16 Charlottesville, VA 22903 Baher Azmy*
T: (470) 606-9307 Angelo Guisado*
17 F: (404) 221-5857 Gita Schwarz*
mary.bauer@splcenter.org CENTER FOR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS
18 666 Broadway, 7th Floor
Attorneys for Plaintiffs New York, NY 10012
19 T: (212) 614-6464
*Admitted pro hac vice F: (212) 614-6499
20 bazmy@ccrjustice.org
aguisado@ccrjustice.org
21 gschwartz@ccrjustice.org
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2 Notice of Errata
18-cv-06810-JST
Case 3:18-cv-06810-JST Document 84-1 Filed 12/06/18 Page 1 of 5
CORRECTED DECLARATION OF NICOLE RAMOS
I, Nicole Ramos, declare under the penalty of perjury pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1746:
1. I make this declaration based on my personal knowledge except where I have indicated
otherwise. If called as a witness, I would testify competently and truthfully to these
matters.
2. I am a U.S. licensed attorney practicing in the area of immigration law and human rights.
I am barred by the State of New York, and I am a former Assistant Federal Public
Defender. I am over the age of 18.
3. I am the Project Director for the Border Rights Project of Al Otro Lado, a nonprofit
organization based in Los Angeles.
4. My colleagues and I currently represent about twenty unaccompanied children who wish
to apply for asylum in the United States.
5. Because of the interim final rule, Al Otro Lado has been and, without an injunction will
be, forced to divert substantial resources away from our core mission of providing legal
services to individuals and families with children, to instead address the basic needs of
unaccompanied children, who are our most vulnerable clients and who are presenting the
most urgent humanitarian concerns in Tijuana. As detailed below, Mexican officials are
not permitting unaccompanied minors – including numerous minors we represent – to
enter the United States at ports of entry, causing an enormous concentration of vulnerable
minors facing danger and desperation in Tijuana. The interim final rule categorically
prevents our clients and others from obtaining asylum should they cross between ports of
entry, and thus prevents children from crossing out of necessity between ports to seek
asylum. Absent an injunction of the rule’s operation, therefore, the humanitarian crisis in
Case 3:18-cv-06810-JST Document 84-1 Filed 12/06/18 Page 2 of 5
Tijuana – and the corresponding, overwhelming demands on our time and resources to
assist these minors – will escalate and divert our focus from our core mission.
6. Every one of the children Al Otro Lado is representing has articulated to me or a member
of our staff an intent to apply for asylum in the United States. In my opinion, most of the
children have strong claims. Several of the children are LGBT and have faced severe
persecution as a result. Others have been forced to engage in child labor. Some have
family members who have been targeted for violence, putting the children at serious risk
because of their family relationships. One child from Honduras was forced to watch the
murder of his cousin; after that, he fled because he understood his life was at risk because
of his family relationship. Several of the children fled after corrupt police perceived
them to be informants. Should the interim final rule not be enjoined, they would be stuck
in Tijuana, unable to be processed at a port of entry there, yet unable to cross between
ports to seek asylum.
7. Advising and assisting our unaccompanied minor clients has been particularly time-
consuming and emotionally draining. It has required staff on the Border Rights Project to
shift our focus away from our core mission of providing legal services in order to focus
almost exclusively on providing extensive non-legal services to unaccompanied minors.
8. As my colleague, Erika Pinheiro, explained in her supplemental declaration executed on
November 16, 2018, and filed in this case, these unaccompanied children have no way to
apply for asylum in the United States. Prior to the TRO, and without an injunction in
force, they will be categorically ineligible for asylum if they enter between ports. They
also are not being allowed to apply for asylum at ports of entry for the reasons detailed in
the declaration.
Case 3:18-cv-06810-JST Document 84-1 Filed 12/06/18 Page 3 of 5
9. Because unaccompanied children cannot apply on their own for asylum at ports of entry,
on November 21, nine Al Otro Lado legal observers escorted eight unaccompanied
children directly to the San Ysidro port of entry so that they could try to present
themselves to CBP and express their desire to seek asylum. This effort required many
hours of preparation to advise the children on what to expect and orient the legal
observers who would accompany them to the port of entry. Although we were able to
accompany these nine, we cannot accompany all children to the border due to resource
constraints.
10. Despite our efforts, Mexican officials apprehended two of the children near the end of the
line—a 17-year-old from Honduras and a 15-year-old from Mexico—before we reached
the port of entry. These two children were detained by the Mexican immigration
authorities for five days. They were released only after I spent dozens of hours over the
course of five days negotiating with the Mexican government to facilitate their
release. Both were severely traumatized as a result of this experience.
11. Our staff has worked many more hours than usual to address the non-legal needs of our
unaccompanied minor clients, including helping to find them accommodations and
coordinating with a local youth shelter to provide transportation. Immediately after the
interim final rule was announced, up to 15 children at a time were waiting in our office
around the clock while we arranged their accommodations. Our office often felt more
like a daycare center than a legal services organization. Because our office was being
used to shelter our unaccompanied minor clients, we could not spend as much time with
our other clients.
Case 3:18-cv-06810-JST Document 84-1 Filed 12/06/18 Page 4 of 5
12. After these clients moved to a local youth shelter, one of our attorneys spent several
hours purchasing cell phones to make sure the children could communicate with us. That
attorney’s time would otherwise have been spent on casework.
13. Al Otro Lado has also spent countless hours attending to the emotional and mental health
needs of our unaccompanied minor clients. Some of them have expressed suicidal
thoughts. Currently, two of our staff members spend about half their time addressing the
needs of our unaccompanied child clients.
14. Conditions for asylum seekers on the Mexican side of the border have become
increasingly intolerable.
15. The Tijuana government opened up the Benito Juarez Sports Complex (“Benito Juarez”)
as a temporary shelter/camp for the migrants. I have visited Benito Juarez on several
occasions. I have witnessed incredibly squalid conditions, with many migrants, including
pregnant women and children, sleeping in the dirt with only plastic sheeting to protect
them from the elements. I saw migrants sleeping in shelters made from branches that had
fallen from the trees. Many migrants were suffering from respiratory illnesses, as
evidenced by their persistent coughs.
16. More than 5,800 migrants had taken shelter at this outdoor facility by the end of
November. This figure represents about three times the capacity of the facility. Migrants
formed hours-long lines to get food and water, and migrants reported that there was not
enough food for everyone. People do not have basic necessities, including diapers,
blankets, or warm clothes.
17. The safety of the migrants at the camp is of grave concern. Recently, twenty migrants
were kidnapped outside the sports complex. Despite promises of paid work, these
Case 3:18-cv-06810-JST Document 84-1 Filed 12/06/18 Page 5 of 5
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