LGBTQ refugees and asylum seekers are facing myriad mental health challenges from the stresses of the migration experience, according to a report released last month.
As the Bay Area Reporter previously reported, #Out4MentalHealth, a project overseen by the California LGBTQ Health and Human Services Network and NorCal Mental Health America, released Surveying the Road to Equity: The Annual State of LGBTQ Communities, 2019 in November. The report is the result of a survey of 2,875 LGBTQ Californians, and includes within it 24 pages detailing the challenges faced by refugees and asylum seekers, specifically.
Poshi Walker, a queer and nonbinary person who is a project co-director with the mental health advocacy group CalVoices, told the B.A.R. that #Out4MentalHealth held a town hall in 2019 with advocates and providers to inform the writing of the section of the report dealing with refugees and asylum seekers.
ICE Arrests 117 Illegal Immigrants Who Failed to Self-Deport
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced Dec. 21 that, over a 10-day period in December, agents arrested 117 illegal aliens who vowed to leave the country voluntarily but failed to do so.
The agency said in a statement that the detained aliens had promised to leave on their own accord rather than face a formal deportation, but never did. The enforcement effort, called “Operation Broken Promise,” found that of the more than 150 individuals in total who were arrested between Dec. 7 and Dec. 17 and are now slated for deportation, 71 percent had criminal convictions or pending charges.
When Flavio first heard about a temporary farm work program in the United States, it sounded like a great deal. Everything from his salary to his housing would be guaranteed in advance by his employer, who would also sponsor his visa. He forked over more than $1,000 to a recruiter in Mexico and was approved in April for an H-2A agricultural visa through a farm labor contractor. These contractors, a small but fast-growing part of the legal migrant worker system, hire laborers directly and then pair them with farmers. They are also notorious for human trafficking, and many have a background in cross-border smuggling, according to the Farm Labor Organizing Committee. Several weeks after his visa was approved, Flavio boarded a bus, chartered by the contractor, that would take him from his hometown in Hidalgo to the farm in North Carolina.
POLITICO
A news release from Biden’s transition team described the appointees as “diverse, experienced, and talented individuals.”
President-elect Joe Biden arrives at the Queen Theater for a virtual appearance on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Dec. 17, 2020 in Wilmington, Delaware. | Joshua Roberts/Getty Images
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President-elect Joe Biden further filled out the incoming White House communications team on Friday, tapping several former campaign staffers for assistant and deputy-level roles in the West Wing’s press shop.
The personnel announcements come after Biden campaign aides have expressed frustration in recent weeks that they were being passed up for posts in the new administration in favor of veteran officials from former President Barack Obama’s White House.
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Biden names Indian-American Vedant Patel as Assistant White House Press Secretary
President-elect Joe Biden on Friday named Indian-American Vedant Patel to be the Assistant Press Secretary as he announced the additional members of the White House Communications and Press Staff.
Patel is currently the senior spokesperson of the Biden Inaugural and has been a part of the Biden Campaign as well where he served as Regional Communications Director.
During President-elect Bidenâs primary campaign, Patel served as the Nevada and Western Primary-States Communications Director.
Previously, he worked as Communications Director to Indian-American Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, Western Regional Press Secretary at the Democratic National Committee, and Communications Director to Congressman Mike Honda.