Tag: undocumented immigration

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News News Blog News Feature

Stop Work Order to Affect Legal Services for Immigrant Children in Tennessee

Photo: Tingey Injury Law Firm via Unsplash

A notice from the federal government has impacted how advocacy groups can provide legal services for unaccompanied immigrant children in Tennessee.

Yesterday evening Advocates for Immigrant Rights (AIR), a subgrantee of the Acacia Center for Justice, was notified by the organization that a “stop work order” had been issued. The center, which helps support unaccompanied youth migrants through legal aid, provides funding to AIR for children in Tennessee.

In a letter addressed to the Acacia Center, the United States Department of the Interior said the group must “stop all work” associated with a contract between them and the department.

Photo: Advocates for Immigrant Rights

“This sudden decision cuts off legal services that help ensure due process for these kids, leaving 26,000 children across the U.S. vulnerable to deportation and potential harm,” AIR said in a statement.

Casey Bryant, executive director of AIR, said through their contract with the Acacia Center, they’ve accepted 200 cases. Bryant said the stop work order advises them to stop all work on their cases.

“This creates a serious quandary for us as attorneys who have a legal and ethical obligation to represent clients who we’ve agreed to represent,” Bryant said. “We’re representing them through universal representation.”

Bryant explained through this process they agree to be their client’s attorney for “anything that they need that has to do with their immigration proceedings.” They added this agreement lasts until the client receives legal status.

The population of unaccompanied immigrant children represent “some of the most vulnerable people in the country,” Bryant said. As a result, they don’t have access to immigration proceedings or representation in court.

Bryant said they are not changing the way they represent their clients at this point; however, they’re hoping they can reach a resolution through litigation. Even if there is no plan for the contract between the Acacia Center and AIR to be extended, Bryant hopes they can receive funding to represent their current cases.

“We’ve agreed to representation; we’ve already entered our appearance with the courts,,” Bryant said. “The courts are relying on us to provide representation. It’s impossible for us to not do work on these cases.”

This recent order is the newest addition of those issued by the Trump administration that targets immigrants including acts of mass deportations, family separation, and expansions of detention centers.

“We’re moving towards a dictatorship where a select group of people gets to make decisions about the way that we live and move through the country,” Bryant said. “I don’t think the Trump administration and these decisions speak for the people of the United States. He’s being influenced by big money, and they are making decisions to make this country — and the state — inhospitable to people who they don’t want to be here. That’s not how we as a country act or believe.”

Bryant mentioned they believe that governors like Bill Lee who have voiced their support for Trump’s mission and policies are “riding on the coattails of whatever authoritarianism the president and government are enforcing.”

“It’s not benefitting the people of Tennessee,” Bryant said. “It doesn’t benefit the people of Tennessee to act like this and to treat people who are residents, who pay taxes, and who add to the diversity and fabric of our communities.”

Update February 2, 2025: According to the Acacia Center, the order has been rescinded. Both the Acacia Center and AIR can resume their services.

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At Large Opinion

ICE, ICE, Baby

(Photo: TaconGanas | Facebook)

There are about 1,200,000 children enrolled in Tennessee public schools in grades K-12. The Migration Policy Institute estimates that of that number, 10,000 are undocumented immigrant children, less than 1 percent. 

In order to deal with this horrific problem, Tennessee House Majority Leader Representative William Lamberth and state Senator Bo Watson have introduced a bill that would allow local public school boards to ban students without legal citizenship. The bill would challenge the 1982 U.S. Supreme Court Plyler v. Doe decision, which entitles all children to public education regardless of immigration status. 

Watson and Lamberth say the bill “seeks to challenge” the court decision. “The flood of illegal immigrants in our country has put an enormous drain on American tax dollars and resources. Our schools are the first to feel the impact,” Lamberth said. 

Watson added, “An influx of illegal immigration can strain LEAs [local educational agencies] and put significant pressure on their budgets. This bill empowers local governments to manage their resources more effectively and builds upon the legislative action taken during the special session to address illegal immigration at the local level.”

So, in order to save all those precious tax dollars being spent on less than 1 percent of Tennessee’s schoolchildren, these bozos intend to spend millions of dollars challenging a Supreme Court ruling that has been law for more than 40 years. This isn’t about saving money. It’s just more performative GOP cruelty wrapped up in a legislative package.

Look, every politician knows how to stop illegal immigration: arrest the employers who hire undocumented labor. Problem solved. But their money is green and their skin is white and their profits depend on cheap labor, so we’ll just continue to get this crap legislation targeting the weakest link in the chain. 

Speaking of which: Another recent GOP bill would require the parents of children without citizenship to pay tuition for public school. It’s called the Tennessee Reduction of Unlawful Migrant Placement Act. And yes, those initials spell “TRUMP” because there’s nothing more amusing than effing up the lives of innocent children. 

These same Trumpaholics also passed a bill that would fine and/or jail any local government officials who don’t cooperate fully with federal and state deportation efforts. That bill is also headed to the courts.

Which brings us to Memphis-Shelby County Schools, which, to its credit, has established a legal hotline and guidelines for school principals in response to a new federal directive allowing immigration-enforcement officials to make arrests at schools. Principals are instructed to ask for identification and the purpose of the visit, and demand to see a warrant or other documents. If there are documents, they are to scan them and send them to the central office.

From the directive: “Federal government agencies like ICE are required to follow proper legal procedures when engaging immigration enforcement activities. … It is reasonable and appropriate to request that the official wait until you have received a response from the Office of General Counsel.”

“Reasonable and appropriate” are not terms I would use to describe behavior we have seen locally by federal agents, most notably the bizarre raid conducted by masked and hooded men on a TACOnganas food truck last week. But the raid, in which three men were escorted from their jobs and reportedly sent to an immigration facility in Louisiana, had the desired effect of sending many local immigrants into hiding. 

A landscaping service in my neighborhood was working with half as many laborers as usual last week, and taking “twice as long” to do the job, according to the crew leader I spoke with. And at my favorite Mexican restaurant last Friday, the usual servers were nowhere to be seen. The manager was waiting tables, the kitchen was behind on orders, the understaffing was obvious. 

Across Memphis and across the country, untold numbers of people are staying home, avoiding work, avoiding school. There will be a cost for all of this — financially, yes, as food prices rise and restaurants and other businesses struggle to stay afloat. But there is another price we’ll all pay: a diminished sense of community and the pointless pain being caused by these laws that are passed solely to inflict suffering on the least of us. We’re all going to pay the price for that, one way or another.

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Opinion Viewpoint

The Pain of Not Knowing

Photo: picture.jacker | Dreamstime.com

At work, the therapist often shares a psychoeducational handout that describes ways to cope with anxiety. The recommended tools of deep breathing and meditation can be helpful, and yet she doubts they are adequate in the present situation. Even classic cognitive restructuring — scaling back worst-case-scenario thinking — seems to her duplicitous. She wants to conjure exercises that banish all anxiety, particularly worries around Trump’s threats of mass deportation. But she isn’t that good. 

Undocumented immigrants living in the United States have been in this spot before, and so has the therapist, who worked in this small office eight years ago, when Trump first set up residence in the White House. She has waited for this fear to resurface as a concern for those who visit the family medicine clinic to treat diabetes or high blood pressure and then stop in to discuss their life stressors. Soon after the 2024 presidential election, a patient brought up Trump’s aggressive threats. “I don’t belong anywhere in this country,” she said sadly. Some patients report difficulty controlling worrying, trouble relaxing, and feeling as if something catastrophic might happen. 

Trained to maintain confidentiality, the therapist nevertheless believed back in 2017 that it was important to move outside the bubble of therapy and raise awareness of the toxic impact Trump’s immigration policies had on mental health. During Trump’s first term, she wrote an article for Memphis Parent magazine introducing Karla’s story. An article reflecting similar concerns could be written today. “Sixteen-year-old Karla plans a special Mother’s Day celebration. The high school junior will serve breakfast in bed to her mom, honoring her mother’s presence in her life. Throughout the day, she’ll try to push aside the anxiety she has experienced the past few months. ‘I try to cherish every moment.’ Inevitably, though, she will read a news report or social media post outlining President Donald Trump’s immigration policies. Karla is a U.S. citizen, and her parents are undocumented immigrants from Mexico. ‘I worry that one day my parents may not come back to my house,’ she said. ‘My 9-year-old sister looks at the news and worries when someone knocks on the door.’” 

When at school, the distracted girls found it difficult to concentrate on academics. In many ways, Karla’s parents were typical — they worked hard, paid taxes, and built strong relationships in the community. The children looked forward to attending college. 

Another source for the article was Mauricio Calvo, the director of Latino Memphis, who said, “Children are hearing the conversation at the dinner table, ‘What happens if I don’t come back today?’ For a community where family is everything, the fear of separation touches us at our core. People fear that any interaction with the government will result in deportation — applying for food stamps for their U.S. citizen families, or going to any court, not just immigration court. Some skip doctors’ appointments, and fear of deportation may prevent crime victims from filing police reports. Even if nothing happens, anxiety makes people sick.”

He noted that at one elementary school, parents from four families approached a teacher, pleading with her to take custody of their children in the event of their deportation. 

That year, local artist Yancy Villa shared her perspective with the Barrier Free installation displayed in pop-ups around the country. In silhouettes portraying a father carrying a child and a caregiver pushing a wheelchair, the artist left void spaces representing missing persons. Her project built on the controversial idea of Trump’s proposed wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Instead of concrete, the installation consisted of portraits of local families and individuals representing Memphis’ diverse tapestry. “Everyone is an essential part of our community, and separating us, physically, emotionally, or in any other form, makes our community incomplete,” she said.

It is now early 2025 just after the festive holiday season. In some areas of Mexico and the United States, children recently celebrated Epiphany, commonly known as Three Kings Day or El Día de Los Tres Reyes, by leaving out shoes filled with hay for the kings’ camels. It is a happy and joyful time. Weeks later, the 60th presidential inauguration ceremony took place, ushering in a period with many unknowns. It is vital for undocumented immigrants to know their rights, and the Latino Memphis website describes those rights and how to apply them.

The therapist is not fluent in Spanish, the “heart language” of many patients, and relies on medical interpreters to facilitate conversations about the ways of the heart and mind. Still, the pain comes through loud and clear, and Mauricio Calvo’s words from eight years ago return to the therapist. “Even if nothing happens, anxiety makes people sick.” 

Stephanie Painter is a behavioral health consultant and freelance writer.