0:00:01.523,0:00:02.960
Twice a week,

0:00:02.984,0:00:05.492
I drive from my home near Tijuana, Mexico,

0:00:05.516,0:00:08.674
over the US border,[br]to my office in San Diego.

0:00:08.698,0:00:12.854
The stark contrast between the poverty[br]and desperation on one side of the border

0:00:12.878,0:00:14.737
and the conspicuous wealth on the other

0:00:14.761,0:00:16.449
always feels jarring.

0:00:16.473,0:00:19.203
But what makes this contrast[br]feel even starker

0:00:19.227,0:00:22.514
is when I pass by the building[br]that those of us who work on the border

0:00:22.538,0:00:24.855
unaffectionately refer to[br]as the black hole.

0:00:24.879,0:00:27.316
The black hole is the Customs[br]and Border Protection,

0:00:27.340,0:00:28.641
or CBP facility,

0:00:28.665,0:00:30.466
at the San Ysidro port of entry,

0:00:30.490,0:00:32.879
right next to a luxury outlet mall.

0:00:32.903,0:00:34.975
It's also where, at any one time,

0:00:34.999,0:00:36.791
there's likely 800 immigrants

0:00:36.815,0:00:40.259
locked in freezing, filthy,[br]concrete cells below the building.

0:00:40.609,0:00:43.291
Up top: shopping bags and frappuccinos.

0:00:43.315,0:00:47.093
Downstairs: the reality[br]of the US immigration system.

0:00:47.117,0:00:50.212
And it's where, one day[br]in September of 2018,

0:00:50.236,0:00:52.465
I found myself trying to reach Anna,

0:00:52.489,0:00:56.347
a woman who CBP had recently separated[br]from her seven-year-old son.

0:00:57.101,0:00:58.412
I'm an immigration attorney

0:00:58.436,0:01:01.220
and the policy and litigation director[br]of Al Otro Lado,

0:01:01.244,0:01:05.497
a binational nonprofit helping immigrants[br]on both sides of the US-Mexico border.

0:01:05.982,0:01:09.188
We'd met Anna several weeks earlier[br]at our Tijuana office,

0:01:09.212,0:01:13.196
where she explained that she feared[br]she and her son would be killed in Mexico.

0:01:13.220,0:01:16.871
So we prepared her for the process[br]of turning herself over to CBP

0:01:16.895,0:01:18.220
to ask for asylum.

0:01:19.109,0:01:22.341
A few days after she'd gone[br]to the port of entry to ask for help,

0:01:22.365,0:01:23.947
we received a frantic phone call

0:01:23.971,0:01:26.365
from her family members[br]in the United States,

0:01:26.389,0:01:29.762
telling us that CBP officials[br]had taken Anna's son from her.

0:01:30.357,0:01:32.243
Now, not that this should matter,

0:01:32.267,0:01:34.791
but I knew that Anna's son[br]had special needs.

0:01:34.815,0:01:35.973
And once again,

0:01:35.997,0:01:38.744
this news filled me with the sense[br]of panic and foreboding

0:01:38.768,0:01:41.576
that has unfortunately become[br]a hallmark of my daily work.

0:01:42.020,0:01:44.957
I had a signed authorization[br]to act as Anna's attorney,

0:01:44.981,0:01:46.989
so I rushed over to the port of entry

0:01:47.013,0:01:48.901
to see if I could speak with my client.

0:01:49.259,0:01:52.349
Not only would CBP officials[br]not let me speak to Anna,

0:01:52.373,0:01:54.753
but they wouldn't even tell me[br]if she was there.

0:01:55.063,0:01:57.269
I went from supervisor to supervisor,

0:01:57.293,0:02:00.476
begging to submit evidence[br]of Anna's son's special needs,

0:02:00.500,0:02:02.778
but no one would even[br]talk to me about the case.

0:02:03.133,0:02:06.240
It felt surreal to watch[br]the shoppers strolling idly by

0:02:06.264,0:02:08.860
what felt like a life-and-death situation.

0:02:09.490,0:02:12.506
After several hours[br]of being stonewalled by CBP,

0:02:12.530,0:02:13.918
I left.

0:02:13.942,0:02:15.101
Several days later,

0:02:15.125,0:02:17.704
I found Anna's son[br]in the foster-care system.

0:02:17.728,0:02:19.760
But I didn't know what happened to Anna

0:02:19.784,0:02:21.133
until over a week later,

0:02:21.157,0:02:24.132
when she turned up[br]at a detention camp a few miles east.

0:02:24.458,0:02:26.871
Now, Anna didn't have a criminal record,

0:02:26.895,0:02:29.672
and she followed the law[br]when asking for asylum.

0:02:29.696,0:02:33.353
Still, immigration officials[br]held her for three more months,

0:02:33.377,0:02:35.250
until we could win her release

0:02:35.274,0:02:37.511
and help her reunify with her son.

0:02:37.893,0:02:41.162
Anna's story is not[br]the only story I could tell you.

0:02:41.186,0:02:44.037
There's Mateo, an 18-month-old boy,

0:02:44.061,0:02:46.125
who was ripped from his father's arms

0:02:46.149,0:02:48.831
and sent to a government shelter[br]thousands of miles away,

0:02:48.855,0:02:51.772
where they failed[br]to properly bathe him for months.

0:02:51.796,0:02:52.968
There's Amadou,

0:02:52.992,0:02:54.668
an unaccompanied African child,

0:02:54.692,0:02:59.759
who was held with adults for 28 days[br]in CBP's horrific facilities.

0:03:00.581,0:03:02.799
Most disturbingly, there's Maria,

0:03:02.823,0:03:07.108
a pregnant refugee who begged[br]for medical attention for eight hours

0:03:07.132,0:03:09.599
before she miscarried in CBP custody.

0:03:09.926,0:03:12.982
CBP officials held her[br]for three more weeks

0:03:13.006,0:03:15.069
before they sent her back to Mexico,

0:03:15.093,0:03:17.030
where she is being forced to wait months

0:03:17.054,0:03:19.236
for an asylum hearing[br]in the United States.

0:03:20.331,0:03:23.656
Seeing these horrors[br]day in and day out has changed me.

0:03:23.680,0:03:25.736
I used to be fun at parties,

0:03:25.760,0:03:29.343
but now, I inevitably[br]find myself telling people

0:03:29.367,0:03:32.248
about how our government[br]tortures refugees at the border

0:03:32.272,0:03:34.264
and in the detention camps.

0:03:34.288,0:03:36.074
Now, people try to change the subject

0:03:36.098,0:03:40.488
and congratulate me for the great work[br]I'm doing in helping people like Anna.

0:03:40.512,0:03:42.599
But I don't know[br]how to make them understand

0:03:42.623,0:03:46.179
that unless they start fighting,[br]harder than they ever thought possible,

0:03:46.203,0:03:49.504
we don't know which of us[br]will be the next to suffer Anna's fate.

0:03:50.337,0:03:53.022
Trump's mass separations[br]of refugee families

0:03:53.046,0:03:54.202
at the southern border

0:03:54.226,0:03:55.997
shocked the conscience of the world

0:03:56.021,0:03:58.838
and woke many to the cruelties[br]of the US immigration system.

0:03:59.307,0:04:00.466
It seems like today,

0:04:00.490,0:04:03.791
more people than ever are involved[br]in the fight for immigrant rights.

0:04:03.815,0:04:07.101
But unfortunately, the situation[br]is just not getting better.

0:04:07.749,0:04:10.685
Thousands protested[br]to end family separations,

0:04:10.709,0:04:13.185
but the government[br]is still separating families.

0:04:13.209,0:04:16.050
More than 900 children[br]have been taken from their parents

0:04:16.074,0:04:17.701
since June of 2018.

0:04:18.188,0:04:22.034
Thousands more refugee children[br]have been taken from their grandparents,

0:04:22.058,0:04:24.823
siblings and other[br]family members at the border.

0:04:24.847,0:04:26.432
Since 2017,

0:04:26.456,0:04:30.022
at least two dozen people have died[br]in immigration custody.

0:04:30.046,0:04:32.878
And more will die, including children.

0:04:34.006,0:04:37.387
Now, we lawyers can[br]and will keep filing lawsuits

0:04:37.411,0:04:40.537
to stop the government[br]from brutalizing our clients,

0:04:40.561,0:04:43.265
but we can't keep tinkering[br]around the edges of the law

0:04:43.289,0:04:46.089
if we want migrants[br]to be treated humanely.

0:04:46.614,0:04:50.720
This administration would have you believe[br]that we have to separate families

0:04:50.744,0:04:52.458
and we have to detain children,

0:04:52.482,0:04:55.553
because it will stop more refugees[br]from coming to our borders.

0:04:55.577,0:04:57.220
But we know that this isn't true.

0:04:57.244,0:04:59.149
In fact, in 2019,

0:04:59.173,0:05:01.577
the number of apprehensions[br]at our southern border

0:05:01.601,0:05:03.212
has actually gone up.

0:05:03.236,0:05:05.347
And we tell people[br]every day at the border,

0:05:05.371,0:05:07.514
"If you seek asylum in the United States,

0:05:07.538,0:05:09.212
you risk family separation,

0:05:09.236,0:05:11.560
and you risk being detained indefinitely."

0:05:11.584,0:05:14.909
But for many of them,[br]the alternative is even worse.

0:05:15.862,0:05:19.980
People seek refuge in the United States[br]for a lot of different reasons.

0:05:20.004,0:05:22.941
In Tijuana, we've met refugees[br]from over 50 countries,

0:05:22.965,0:05:24.949
speaking 14 different languages.

0:05:25.267,0:05:28.180
We meet LGBT migrants[br]from all over the world

0:05:28.204,0:05:31.061
who have never been in a country[br]in which they feel safe.

0:05:31.418,0:05:33.323
We meet women from all over the world

0:05:33.347,0:05:35.641
whose own governments[br]refuse to protect them

0:05:35.665,0:05:39.053
from brutal domestic violence[br]or repressive social norms.

0:05:39.619,0:05:41.667
Of course, we meet[br]Central American families

0:05:41.691,0:05:43.484
who are fleeing gang violence.

0:05:43.508,0:05:45.524
But we also meet Russian dissidents,

0:05:45.548,0:05:47.032
Venezuelan activists,

0:05:47.056,0:05:51.016
Christians from China, Muslims from China,

0:05:51.040,0:05:53.436
and thousands and thousands[br]of other refugees

0:05:53.460,0:05:56.006
fleeing all types[br]of persecution and torture.

0:05:56.563,0:06:00.103
Now, a lot of these people[br]would qualify as refugees

0:06:00.127,0:06:02.563
under the international legal definition.

0:06:02.871,0:06:06.196
The Refugee Convention[br]was created after World War II

0:06:06.220,0:06:09.063
to give protection to people[br]fleeing persecution

0:06:09.087,0:06:13.527
based on their race, religion,[br]nationality, political opinion

0:06:13.551,0:06:15.813
or membership[br]in a particular social group.

0:06:16.115,0:06:19.980
But even those who would be refugees[br]under the international definition

0:06:20.004,0:06:22.807
are not going to win asylum[br]in the United States.

0:06:22.831,0:06:25.029
And that's because since 2017,

0:06:25.053,0:06:29.109
the US Attorneys General have made[br]sweeping changes to asylum law,

0:06:29.133,0:06:33.101
to make sure that less people qualify[br]for protection in the United States.

0:06:33.474,0:06:36.244
Now these laws are mostly aimed[br]at Central Americans

0:06:36.268,0:06:38.101
and keeping them out of the country,

0:06:38.125,0:06:41.165
but they affect other types[br]of refugees as well.

0:06:41.498,0:06:45.450
The result is that the US[br]frequently deports refugees

0:06:45.474,0:06:47.541
to their persecution and death.

0:06:48.689,0:06:52.839
The US is also using detention[br]to try to deter refugees

0:06:52.863,0:06:55.448
and make it harder for them[br]to win their cases.

0:06:55.472,0:07:00.321
Today, there are over 55,000 immigrants[br]detained in the United States,

0:07:00.345,0:07:02.797
many in remote detention facilities,

0:07:02.821,0:07:04.551
far from any type of legal help.

0:07:04.575,0:07:06.577
And this is very important.

0:07:06.601,0:07:09.616
Because it's civil[br]and not criminal detention,

0:07:09.640,0:07:11.918
there is no public defender system,

0:07:11.942,0:07:14.831
so most detained immigrants[br]are not going to have an attorney

0:07:14.855,0:07:16.354
to help them with their cases.

0:07:16.768,0:07:18.823
An immigrant who has an attorney

0:07:18.847,0:07:21.863
is up to 10 times more likely[br]to win their case

0:07:21.887,0:07:23.287
than one who doesn't.

0:07:23.760,0:07:26.862
And as you've seen, I hate[br]to be the bearer of bad news,

0:07:26.886,0:07:30.220
but the situation is even worse[br]for refugee families today

0:07:30.244,0:07:32.673
than it was during family separation.

0:07:32.697,0:07:35.189
Since January of 2019,

0:07:35.213,0:07:36.991
the US has implemented a policy

0:07:37.015,0:07:41.038
that's forced over 40,000 refugees[br]to wait in Mexico

0:07:41.062,0:07:44.000
for asylum hearings in the United States.

0:07:44.024,0:07:46.849
These refugees, many of whom are families,

0:07:46.873,0:07:49.999
are trapped in some of the most[br]dangerous cities in the world,

0:07:50.023,0:07:51.985
where they're being raped, kidnapped

0:07:52.009,0:07:54.180
and extorted by criminal groups.

0:07:54.204,0:07:57.815
And if they survive for long enough[br]to make it to their asylum hearing,

0:07:57.839,0:08:01.179
less than one percent of them[br]are able to find an attorney

0:08:01.203,0:08:03.203
to help them with their cases.

0:08:04.363,0:08:08.923
The US government will point[br]to the lowest asylum approval rates

0:08:08.947,0:08:11.455
to argue that these people[br]are not really refugees,

0:08:11.479,0:08:15.185
when in fact, US asylum law[br]is an obstacle course

0:08:15.209,0:08:16.994
designed to make them fail.

0:08:17.018,0:08:19.967
Now not every migrant[br]at the border is a refugee.

0:08:19.991,0:08:22.078
I meet plenty of economic migrants.

0:08:22.102,0:08:25.197
For example, people who want to go[br]to the United States to work,

0:08:25.221,0:08:27.007
to pay medical bills for a parent

0:08:27.031,0:08:29.674
or school fees for a child back home.

0:08:29.698,0:08:32.709
Increasingly, I'm also meeting[br]climate refugees.

0:08:32.733,0:08:36.543
In particular, I'm meeting[br]a lot of indigenous Central Americans

0:08:36.567,0:08:39.313
who can no longer[br]sustain themselves by farming,

0:08:39.337,0:08:41.526
due to catastrophic drought in the region.

0:08:42.061,0:08:43.799
We know that today,

0:08:43.823,0:08:46.561
people are migrating[br]because of climate change,

0:08:46.585,0:08:48.776
and that more will do so in the future,

0:08:48.800,0:08:52.513
but we simply don't have a legal system[br]to deal with this type of migration.

0:08:53.522,0:08:56.841
So, it would make sense, as a start,

0:08:56.865,0:08:58.704
to expand the refugee definition

0:08:58.728,0:09:01.585
to include climate refugees, for example.

0:09:01.609,0:09:04.490
But those of us in a position[br]to advocate for those changes

0:09:04.514,0:09:06.371
are too busy suing our government

0:09:06.395,0:09:10.410
to keep the meager legal protections[br]that refugees enjoy under the current law.

0:09:10.434,0:09:12.467
And we are exhausted,

0:09:12.491,0:09:14.691
and it's almost too late to help.

0:09:15.760,0:09:16.918
And we know now

0:09:16.942,0:09:19.221
that this isn't America's problem alone.

0:09:19.245,0:09:22.490
From Australia's brutal[br]offshore detention camps

0:09:22.514,0:09:27.807
to Italy's criminalization of aid[br]to migrants drowning in the Mediterranean,

0:09:27.831,0:09:30.641
first-world countries[br]have gone to deadly lengths

0:09:30.665,0:09:33.260
to keep refugees from reaching our shores.

0:09:33.640,0:09:36.985
But they've done more[br]than restrict the refugee definition.

0:09:37.009,0:09:40.350
They've created parallel,[br]fascist-style legal systems

0:09:40.374,0:09:44.469
in which migrants have none of the rights[br]that form the basis of a democracy,

0:09:44.493,0:09:48.207
the alleged foundation of the countries[br]in which they're seeking refuge.

0:09:48.776,0:09:50.721
History shows us that the first group

0:09:50.745,0:09:54.538
to be vilified and stripped[br]of their rights is rarely the last,

0:09:54.562,0:09:57.054
and many Americans and Europeans

0:09:57.078,0:10:01.239
seem to accept an opaque[br]and unjust legal system for noncitizens,

0:10:01.263,0:10:03.001
because they think they are immune.

0:10:03.025,0:10:04.231
But eventually,

0:10:04.255,0:10:07.889
these authoritarian ideals bleed over[br]and affect citizens as well.

0:10:08.644,0:10:10.149
I learned this firsthand

0:10:10.173,0:10:13.172
when the US government placed me[br]on an illegal watch list

0:10:13.196,0:10:15.744
for my work helping[br]immigrants at the border.

0:10:16.411,0:10:18.363
One day, in January of 2019,

0:10:18.387,0:10:20.298
I was leaving my office in San Diego

0:10:20.322,0:10:22.950
and crossing the border[br]to go back to my home in Mexico.

0:10:23.609,0:10:26.912
Mexican officials, although they had[br]given me a valid visa,

0:10:26.936,0:10:29.675
stopped me and told me[br]that I couldn't enter the country

0:10:29.699,0:10:33.523
because a foreign government[br]had placed a travel alert on my passport,

0:10:33.547,0:10:36.229
designating me[br]as a national security risk.

0:10:36.253,0:10:39.993
I was detained and interrogated[br]in a filthy room for hours.

0:10:40.017,0:10:41.493
I begged the Mexican officials

0:10:41.517,0:10:44.389
to let me go back to Mexico[br]and pick up my son,

0:10:44.413,0:10:46.699
who was only 10 months old at the time.

0:10:47.515,0:10:48.675
But they refused,

0:10:48.699,0:10:51.141
and instead, they turned me over[br]to CBP officials,

0:10:51.165,0:10:53.910
where I was forced back[br]into the United States.

0:10:53.934,0:10:57.406
It took me weeks to get another visa[br]so that I could go back to Mexico,

0:10:57.430,0:11:00.065
and I went to the border, visa in hand.

0:11:00.089,0:11:02.136
But again, I was detained and interrogated

0:11:02.160,0:11:05.033
because there was still[br]a travel alert on my passport.

0:11:05.597,0:11:06.871
Shortly after,

0:11:06.895,0:11:08.928
leaked internal CBP documents

0:11:08.952,0:11:11.006
confirmed that my own government

0:11:11.030,0:11:14.174
had been complicit in issuing[br]this travel alert against me.

0:11:14.538,0:11:17.506
And since then, I haven't traveled[br]to any other countries,

0:11:17.530,0:11:19.403
because I'm afraid I'll be detained

0:11:19.427,0:11:21.760
and deported from those countries as well.

0:11:22.228,0:11:24.514
These travel restrictions, detentions

0:11:24.538,0:11:26.625
and separation from my infant son

0:11:26.649,0:11:30.727
are things I never thought[br]I would experience as a US citizen,

0:11:30.751,0:11:34.703
but I'm far from the only person[br]being criminalized for helping immigrants.

0:11:34.727,0:11:38.489
The US and other countries[br]have made it a crime to save lives,

0:11:38.513,0:11:41.442
and those of us who are simply[br]trying to do our jobs

0:11:41.466,0:11:44.914
are being forced to choose[br]between our humanity and our freedom.

0:11:45.498,0:11:47.410
And the thing that makes me so desperate

0:11:47.434,0:11:49.998
is that all of you[br]are facing the same choice,

0:11:50.022,0:11:51.903
but you don't understand it yet.

0:11:52.553,0:11:54.895
And I know there are[br]good people out there.

0:11:54.919,0:11:56.831
I saw thousands of you in the streets,

0:11:56.855,0:11:58.788
protesting family separation.

0:11:59.268,0:12:02.910
And that largely helped[br]bring about an end to the official policy.

0:12:03.588,0:12:06.461
But we know that the government[br]is still separating children.

0:12:06.485,0:12:08.525
And things are actually getting worse.

0:12:08.549,0:12:11.368
Today, the US government[br]is fighting for the right

0:12:11.392,0:12:14.826
to detain refugee children[br]indefinitely in prison camps.

0:12:15.538,0:12:16.958
This isn't over.

0:12:16.982,0:12:20.196
We cannot allow ourselves[br]to become numb or look away.

0:12:21.077,0:12:23.291
Those of us who are citizens of countries

0:12:23.315,0:12:27.220
whose policies cause detention,[br]separation and death,

0:12:27.244,0:12:29.869
need to very quickly decide[br]which side we're on.

0:12:30.401,0:12:35.259
We need to demand that our laws respect[br]the inherent dignity of all human beings,

0:12:35.283,0:12:38.584
especially refugees[br]seeking help at our borders,

0:12:38.608,0:12:41.997
but including economic migrants[br]and climate refugees.

0:12:42.719,0:12:45.501
We need to demand[br]that refugees get a fair shot

0:12:45.525,0:12:47.680
at seeking protection in our countries

0:12:47.704,0:12:50.076
by ensuring that they have[br]access to council

0:12:50.100,0:12:51.926
and by creating independent courts

0:12:51.950,0:12:55.315
that are not subject[br]to the political whims of the president.

0:12:56.069,0:12:57.847
I know it's overwhelming,

0:12:57.871,0:13:00.228
and I know this sounds cliché, but ...

0:13:01.267,0:13:03.722
we need to call[br]our elected representatives

0:13:03.746,0:13:05.412
and demand these changes.

0:13:06.094,0:13:07.674
I know you've heard this before,

0:13:07.698,0:13:09.587
but have you made the call?

0:13:09.611,0:13:11.746
We know these calls make a difference.

0:13:12.897,0:13:16.635
The dystopian immigration systems[br]being built up in first-world countries

0:13:16.659,0:13:19.223
are a test of citizens

0:13:19.247,0:13:22.545
to see how far you're willing[br]to let the government go

0:13:22.569,0:13:26.545
in taking away other people's rights[br]when you think it won't happen to you.

0:13:27.427,0:13:29.966
But when you let the government[br]take people's children

0:13:29.990,0:13:31.625
without due process

0:13:31.649,0:13:34.831
and detain people indefinitely[br]without access to council,

0:13:34.855,0:13:36.522
you are failing the test.

0:13:37.109,0:13:39.276
What's happening to immigrants now

0:13:39.300,0:13:42.934
is a preview of where we're all headed[br]if we fail to act.

0:13:43.442,0:13:44.610
Thank you.

0:13:44.634,0:13:49.730
(Applause)