S05.E06: Executive Office for Immigration Review

[Athena]

Happy long weekend! 

Quote

Other segments: 2018 Egyptian presidential election, Sinclair Broadcast Group
Guests: H. Jon Benjamin

 

[peeayebee]

Not 3/1, but 4/1, right?

[Annber03]

Okay, I would totally watch "Tot Bench". That segment, as well as the clips of the little girls being interviewed, had me in stitches :D. 

Seriously, though, for real, I truly did not know that about kids having to defend themselves like that. That is BEYOND fucked up. 

Those stories about the woman and man who were deported and assaulted/killed were heartbreaking, too. I really think we need to hear more stories like this. So many people just assume the worst of anyone who comes here illegally, and never stop to think about some of the serious reasons WHY they might be skipping past the legal channels. Most of them are not breaking the law just for pure shits and giggles. I wish more people would understand that. 

Sadly, Oliver's right that there's no hope for this administration to do anything worthwhile on this issue, but if we get a decent administration into office as soon as possible, hopefully they'll have better luck sorting this crap out. 

[selkie]

I was amused that Oliver used a fairly long clip of my local WEAR tv station in the Sinclair segment. Sue Strahan's face always kind of looks like that- I suspect it's why she hasn't been able to move up to a bigger market like Oklahoma City. I suspect Bob Solarski pretty much can't get another job in the business because of that pesky SUI incident where he got totally sloshed at Cordova Mall, tried to drive home, and the cops showed up after he'd hit about the tenth other car while only getting halfway through the mall parking lot. He had enough Pensacola local capital to burn through that WEAR let him come back after rehab, but I'm not sure who else would give him a chance after that. 

[attica]

The arrogance of the judge who insisted he could get pre-schoolers prepped in immigration law is downright delusional. I mean, does he have training in early childhood education? Or, really, any basic childcare expertise, or even experience? He does not know anything about the subject on which he is confidently pontificating, so I'm going to deduce... he's a white guy. 

I'm starting to really wonder about the weird aging processes afflicting the leaders of the Right.  First, Mike Pence and Sinclair's Boris (whatever his name is that I'm too lazy to google) look decades older than their ages, but Ralph Reed and Jeff Sessions are elfin. Something in that ideology must be monkeying with their genetic codes....

[ganesh]

11 hours ago, Annber03 said:

Sadly, Oliver's right that there's no hope for this administration to do anything worthwhile on this issue, but if we get a decent administration into office as soon as possible, hopefully they'll have better luck sorting this crap out. 

It's on congress too. Having courts under the executive branch seems like an egregious violation of separation of powers. I suppose the first action would be to make sure 3 YEAR OLDS CAN HAVE A LAWYER. 

I liked when the showed all the news anchors saying literally the same thing. Irony seems a little lost on them. How is Sinclair even legal? How isn't anyone calling them out? 

H Jon Benjamin killed. Asking about the name of the dog strikes me as something Archer would be interested in. I don't know why they thought of 'burning down the hospital' but it was killing me when the kids kept yelling at him. 

26 minutes ago, attica said:

The arrogance of the judge who insisted he could get pre-schoolers prepped in immigration law is downright delusional.

It's kind of beside the point to me. So what if he could? Who is going to prep the kids prior to their hearing. You can't get lawyers for them, you're not getting a counselor either. 

[Jamoche]

54 minutes ago, ganesh said:

Irony seems a little lost on them. How is Sinclair even legal? How isn't anyone calling them out? 

The news anchors get it, and even some of the stations that decide to only run Sinclair spew at 3AM, but their contracts are pretty harsh on quitting for stuff like that. But the wingnuts? Absolutely convinced that the people behind that are liberals!

[meowmommy]

1 hour ago, ganesh said:

H Jon Benjamin killed. Asking about the name of the dog strikes me as something Archer would be interested in. I don't know why they thought of 'burning down the hospital' but it was killing me when the kids kept yelling at him. 

Gotta love little kid logic.  "What's the difference between a banana and a cow?"  "I don't know."  "A banana is yellow" (duh, you stupid adult!).

If it takes less than two minutes to dispose of a case in immigration court, then how is it so backlogged?

[ganesh]

I think the just sheer numbers of people coming in seeking asylum is just that much. 

I know they were going for the joke and showing the most ridiculous food, but ballparks actually do have some good options. 

Edited April 2, 2018 by ganesh

[Annber03]

2 hours ago, ganesh said:

I liked when the showed all the news anchors saying literally the same thing. Irony seems a little lost on them. How is Sinclair even legal? How isn't anyone calling them out? 

That was so creepy. 

I think some people have been trying to investigate Sinclair for their practices and such recently, so hopefully something can come of that. 

2 hours ago, attica said:

The arrogance of the judge who insisted he could get pre-schoolers prepped in immigration law is downright delusional. I mean, does he have training in early childhood education? Or, really, any basic childcare expertise, or even experience? He does not know anything about the subject on which he is confidently pontificating, so I'm going to deduce... he's a white guy. 

Ha at your last sentence :D. Yeah, I was sitting here like, "Are you fucking kidding me with this?" during his explanation. Truly one of the weirdest things I've ever heard. 

Quote

I'm starting to really wonder about the weird aging processes afflicting the leaders of the Right.  First, Mike Pence and Sinclair's Boris (whatever his name is that I'm too lazy to google) look decades older than their ages, but Ralph Reed and Jeff Sessions are elfin. Something in that ideology must be monkeying with their genetic codes....

I loved Oliver seeming so utterly boggled at the guy's age throughout :p. 

1 hour ago, meowmommy said:

Gotta love little kid logic.  "What's the difference between a banana and a cow?"  "I don't know."  "A banana is yellow" (duh, you stupid adult!).

I think my favorite was when that one lady asked the little girl what her favorite country was (or something to that effect), and then there was a long pause, and then the girl goes, "Pizza!" Those children were so precious :D. 

Edited April 2, 2018 by Annber03

[ganesh]

11 minutes ago, Annber03 said:

I think some people have been trying to investigate Sinclair for their practices and such recently, so hopefully something can come of that. 

It's been all over the news this weekend. PBS reaired a piece they did on it last year. 

[Annber03]

I thought I'd heard something like that, yeah. I'll have to give that a look, then. 

[iMonrey]

The Sinclair robots all parroting the party line is maybe the scariest thing I have ever seen. They are basically telling their viewers any news that is negative towards Trump is fake. Holy shit. 

[peeayebee]

18 hours ago, Annber03 said:

Those stories about the woman and man who were deported and assaulted/killed were heartbreaking, too. I really think we need to hear more stories like this. So many people just assume the worst of anyone who comes here illegally, and never stop to think about some of the serious reasons WHY they might be skipping past the legal channels. Most of them are not breaking the law just for pure shits and giggles. I wish more people would understand that. 

I think for some people the facts of each case don't matter because the immigrants broke the law. What I say is, What are the pros and cons to letting the person stay vs making them leave. For example:

1. Pro - The rule of law is enforced. Breakers of law are punished. Con - The deportee will be likely be killed or tortured upon return.
2. Pro - The rule of law is enforced. Breakers of law are punished. Con - The community loses a doctor who has served his community for 25 years.

And so forth.

I'm absolutely so sick of what happening in this country. The proliferation of fake news (REAL fake news, that is) plus thousands (millions?) of people who take it in without question, the spreading of nationalism, the unashamed preeminence of money over EVERYTHING else -- community, country, humanity, law... I just don't know. A couple of months ago I was so despondent I was hoping for Death to come knocking at my door. "Elizabeth! I'm coming to join ya, honey!" I need to get my affairs in order, but many days I wouldn't mind leaving this darkening world.

Not only is Sinclair Broadcasting spreading like a fungus, but newspapers and magazines are being bought by conservative groups and changed.

It's sickening and maddening.

[Annber03]

24 minutes ago, peeayebee said:

I think for some people the facts of each case don't matter because the immigrants broke the law. What I say is, What are the pros and cons to letting the person stay vs making them leave. For example:

1. Pro - The rule of law is enforced. Breakers of law are punished. Con - The deportee will be likely be killed or tortured upon return.
2. Pro - The rule of law is enforced. Breakers of law are punished. Con - The community loses a doctor who has served his community for 25 years.

And so forth.

Exactly. I get the issue of a law being broken in and of itself for some people, but, well, just because something's a law doesn't automatically make it right, nor does it mean it can't be fine-tuned and improved upon. And people have broken laws for valid reasons in the past (defying segregation laws, anyone?). So those same arguments could apply here, too, easily.

I share in your rant about the stream of fake news in this country, too, and people's inability to tell fact from fiction. Somehow people have lost the ability/opportunity to use their critical thinking skills, and we're all paying the price for that failure. It's so frustrating. I just keep trying to remind myself there are people out there trying to fight back against all of that, and better days will eventually come. 

We need another Great Enlightenment period. 

Edited April 2, 2018 by Annber03

[stillshimpy]

5 hours ago, iMonrey said:

The Sinclair robots all parroting the party line is maybe the scariest thing I have ever seen. They are basically telling their viewers any news that is negative towards Trump is fake. Holy shit. 

I was commenting elsewhere that the biggest hack from the sci-fi writers' room of any series, ever, would have rolled their eyes at this concept in a script:  Men and women, dressed remarkably alike, modulating their voices in precisely the same way so as to make sure the inflection is one of dire concern for all that is right, in frame after frame.   Delivering precisely the same message, word-for-word.  And it works.   Brainwashing 101 type levels of "what is this subterfuge of which you speak?"

And somebody would call that writer out for the bullshit, over-the-top, please dig deeper in your creative wells, hackneyed rendering of "After they realized they couldn't silence the press, they understood they could control the stations, and thereby control the message and control the people with that message.  Mwhwhaahaha."    I cannot really be the only person that half-expected their skin suits to slip, revealing the reptilian race that has been sent to take us over. Yet, here we are with Stepford anchors sounding like a chatty Cathy designed by J. Edgar Hoover at the height of his paranoia.   Reality, it's current slogan is:  Weirder than Shit and Still Digging Deeper. 

There wasn't anything about that episode that failed to be entirely alarming.  Fixed elections in volatile areas, reinstalling an increasingly ruthless regime?  Oh, well, that's comforting.  We'll just add that to the "What the actual fuck, Italy?" pile, change one word to Egypt and Bob's your uncle, covered another geopolitical destabilizing base.   News Anchors that practically have Evil Mattel stamped on them.   I don't even know what the hell to say about "Toddlers: The Paper Chase Edition" that they are apparently enacting with real, live, people in real live courts, with really dire consequences. 

I feel like Tom Hanks in the Money Pit trapped in the floor playing the name game and hallucinating Care Bears.   It's just a case of, "Yeah, sure.  Seems about right.  I'm not sure whether to despair or drink freely."  

Also, we may need to spray for Stepford Anchors or something because there's a bit of an infestation.  

[ganesh]

31 minutes ago, stillshimpy said:

And somebody would call that writer out for the bullshit, over-the-top, please dig deeper in your creative wells, hackneyed rendering of "After they realized they couldn't silence the press, they understood they could control the stations, and thereby control the message and control the people with that message.  Mwhwhaahaha." 

Wasn't that the plot of the first Bond movie that Pierce Brosnon starred in? 

[stillshimpy]

There were evil, Stepford, Lizard invaders in a Bond film?  I feel like that would get more of a mention on Tropes or something. 

Edited April 3, 2018 by stillshimpy

[ganesh]

Controlling the media. 

[Jamoche]

John Rogers, former showrunner for Leverage, has said that if any of his writers had given him something even half as outrageous as what we get in the news, they'd have been laughed out of the writer's room.

[plurie]

It's even worse than that. The people who come to this country to claim asylum AREN'T breaking  any laws; they're refugees. Only those who DON'T try to claim asylum are law breakers ("undocumented immigrants").

[OneWhoLurks]

Quote

 

Under the new standards, for immigration judges to be rated “satisfactory,” they must complete 700 cases a year, with fewer than 15 percent of their cases sent back by the Board of Immigration Appeals or the federal appeals courts. Justice Department spokesman Devin O’Malley said immigration judges complete an average of 678 cases a year, but that some clear many more. Union officials told the Journal that clearance rates depend heavily on what kinds of cases the judge hears. There are also standards for specific types of cases: 85 percent of cases involving detained—jailed—immigrants must be completed within three days of a hearing on the merits, and 95 percent of merits hearings must be completed on their original scheduled dates. Judges are also asked to complete 100 percent of their reviews of asylum credible fear determinations on the initial hearing dates, unless the Department of Homeland Security fails to produce the immigrant.

The news was not welcomed by the National Association of Immigration Judges. Judge A. Ashley Tabaddor, the current president of the union, says the quotas are “an egregious example of the conflict of interests of having the immigration court in a law enforcement agency.” A quota system invites the possibility that judges will make decisions out of concern about keeping their jobs, she says, rather than making what they think is the legally correct decision. And even if they don’t, she points out, respondents in immigration court may argue that they do.

“To us, it means you have compromised the integrity of the court,” says Tabaddor, who is a sitting immigration judge in Los Angeles but speaking in her capacity as NAIJ’s president. “You have created a built-in appeal with every case. You are going to now make the backlog even more. You’re going to increase the litigation, and you are introducing an external factor into what is supposed to be a sacred place.”

 

Justice Department imposes quotas on immigration judges, provoking independence concerns
 

Quote

 

New York communicated with Smith in mid-November, after requesting an interview. “Appreciate the interest in your wanting to do a story but we don’t talk to the print media as a general principal as we find them to be so devoid of reality and serving no real purpose. Have a great holiday,” Smith said in response. Later, he added, “Again my experience has consistently been that even with an interview it’s of no consequence in terms of spin, facts or distortion, political bent etc. The print media is so left wing as to be meaningless dribble which accounts for why the industry is and will fade away. Just no credibility. see ya.”

For a pundit or a far-right politician, statements like Smith’s have become expected in the Trump era. But from one of the most powerful media executives in the country, they’re not. “The media” is typically talked about as though it’s a monolith, with no distinctions made between news or opinion, reporters or columnists, anchors or commentators. To cast doubt over certain swaths of the industry, then, is to risk unsettling whatever faith is left in the whole gamut. And if TV is the only pure and honest news source, what about the websites of TV networks, like NBC.com or CNN.com, where reporting that is technically considered print appears? Or what about TV reporting that’s informed by stories that appeared in the New York Times or the Washington Post? Is any information that doesn’t come directly from Sinclair or from the mouth of David Smith himself suspect? Perhaps that’s the idea.

When New York asked Smith if he’d be open to meeting off the record at least, he replied, “I have also learned that there is no such thing as off the record. Bye.”

 

Sinclair Chairman Claims Entire Print Media Has ‘No Credibility’

Edited April 3, 2018 by OneWhoLurks

[Annber03]

Quote

New York communicated with Smith in mid-November, after requesting an interview. “Appreciate the interest in your wanting to do a story but we don’t talk to the print media as a general principal as we find them to be so devoid of reality and serving no real purpose. Have a great holiday,” Smith said in response. Later, he added, “Again my experience has consistently been that even with an interview it’s of no consequence in terms of spin, facts or distortion, political bent etc. The print media is so left wing as to be meaningless dribble which accounts for why the industry is and will fade away. Just no credibility. see ya.”

Oh, fuck you, Smith. What a smarmy, snotty response. 

Good lord. Sinclair really are masters at gaslighting, aren't they? Everything's a conspiracy, only they can be trusted. Everyone else is the liars. Unbelievable. Man, I hope something or someone can finally take them down once and for all. 

The article on the immigration quotas is infuriating, too. What a fucked up situation all around. How the hell did we get to this point? 

[Calamity Jane]

On 4/1/2018 at 8:38 PM, Annber03 said:

Okay, I would totally watch "Tot Bench". That segment, as well as the clips of the little girls being interviewed, had me in stitches :D. 

Seriously, though, for real, I truly did not know that about kids having to defend themselves like that. That is BEYOND fucked up. 

Those stories about the woman and man who were deported and assaulted/killed were heartbreaking, too. I really think we need to hear more stories like this. So many people just assume the worst of anyone who comes here illegally, and never stop to think about some of the serious reasons WHY they might be skipping past the legal channels. Most of them are not breaking the law just for pure shits and giggles. I wish more people would understand that. 

Sadly, Oliver's right that there's no hope for this administration to do anything worthwhile on this issue, but if we get a decent administration into office as soon as possible, hopefully they'll have better luck sorting this crap out. 

It always puzzles me that so many people think so ill of not just illegal immigrants, but seemingly of all newcomers.  Unless you are 100% Native American, your ancestors came here from somewhere else (and ultimately so did the first inhabitants), and most did not come because they were doing so extremely well in their country of origin.  Our country was built by the labor of people who chose to come here, not for an easy life, but for a better one.  The hypocrisy of people condemning others coming for the same reason just leaves me gobsmacked.  

[iMonrey]

Quote

 Yet, here we are with Stepford anchors sounding like a chatty Cathy designed by J. Edgar Hoover at the height of his paranoia.   Reality, it's current slogan is:  Weirder than Shit and Still Digging Deeper. 

I'm somewhat relieved to see that this Sinclair story is getting play elsewhere, not just on John's show, so people are at least being made aware of it whether they subscribe to HBO or not.

Quote

I'm not sure whether to despair or drink freely.

Must those things be mutually exclusive?

[Rlb8031]

23 hours ago, OneWhoLurks said:

Sinclair Chairman Claims Entire Print Media Has ‘No Credibility’

And the greatest irony is that Smith got his start making porn. Nothing like a reformed reprobate to stoke the fires of hell. I swear to God the entire world is being run by the second string footballers from high school...

[Annber03]

12 minutes ago, Rlb8031 said:

And the greatest irony is that Smith got his start making porn.

For real? 

Did not know that. Huh.

[Rlb8031]

13 minutes ago, Annber03 said:

For real? 

Did not know that. Huh.

From the same article:

Quote

Founded as the Chesapeake Television Corporation in 1971 by his father, Julian Sinclair Smith, his company began its expansion and changed its name to Sinclair Broadcasting Company in 1985, the year before the Fox Broadcasting Company was launched. David Smith and his brothers assumed control of the business; previously, David had been a partner at Ciné Processors, a bootleg porn manufacturer owned by the elder Smith’s company, the Commercial Radio Institute, according to a 2005 story in Rolling Stone. Fox News is usually given credit for the media-induced changes to the conservative movement, and to American politics more broadly, over the last two decades. But in the Trump era, Sinclair’s creeping domination has emerged more obviously.

[Annber03]

Ahhh, okay, I must've skimmed past that part. 

[OneWhoLurks]

Quote

 

People in immigration court are entitled to an attorney, but because deportation is an administrative process, not a criminal one, the government has no obligation to provide lawyers to those who can’t afford them. Only about a third of people facing deportation are represented by counsel. The George W. Bush administration created the Legal Orientation Program in 2003 as a way of giving detained immigrants who don’t have lawyers some understanding of their rights and possible relief under U.S. immigration law.

The Justice Department provides grants to nonprofit agencies to conduct the LOP in 38 immigration detention centers, including ten in Texas. The Justice Department decided to suspend the program so that it could review its performance, said James McHenry, the director of the Executive Office for Immigration Review, in a Senate subcommittee hearing on April 18.

“We are reviewing the study from 2012. It was conducted, I would say, under some unorthodox circumstances. So we’re reviewing it to see if it can replicate it. And as I’ve said, it’s not been updated or reviewed since then,” McHenry said under questioning from Senator Dick Durbin, R-Ill. He didn’t answer Durbin’s question about why the Justice Department didn’t continue the grant program while doing the study. The American Bar Association and other groups have urged the administration to take that course.

 

Quote

 

El Paso’s Diocesan and Migrant Refugee Services provides LOP services at two detention facilities in West Texas and one in southern New Mexico. Their program reaches 7,000 to 11,000 people a year, executive director Melissa Lopez said. Most of the work is done in groups, where detainees learn about the deportation process and what relief they might be entitled to under the law. DMRS employees also provide one-on-one advice, but the Leadership Orientation Program does not provide legal representation, Lopez said.

“So having that knowledge of, ‘OK, I may qualify for this benefit or this benefit,’ or ‘You know, in looking at everything, it doesn’t sound like any of these things apply to me,’ that clarity can be really helpful for people,” she said. Many LOP participants choose to leave the country voluntarily after learning they have little to no legal chance to stay in the United States, Lopez said. That saves the government on detention and deportation costs. Without LOP, many people will stay in detention rather than return to their home country voluntarily, she said.

The Legal Orientation Program lets other detainees learn that they may be entitled to stay in the United States. “I can’t tell you how many times over the course of the 10 years that I’ve been involved with LOP that we have identified U.S. citizens, people that did not know that they were U.S. citizens and in fact were. U.S. citizens, as we all know, should not be deported from the United States,” Lopez said. She said the Legal Orientation Program grant provides 17 percent of her agency’s total budget. Losing the grant money will force her to lay off seven employees, and could threaten other programs provided by DMRS, she said.

 

Successful Immigration Program to End April 30

[MaryPatShelby]

On 4/2/2018 at 12:49 PM, iMonrey said:

The Sinclair robots all parroting the party line is maybe the scariest thing I have ever seen. They are basically telling their viewers any news that is negative towards Trump is fake. Holy shit. 

Yup.  Cuz you'll note that there are no examples of fake news given; just like when Trump rails on about it - he can't ever provide an example.

[Hanahope]

and the immigration horror stories continue.  JO was on this story early.

And definitely scary how conservative TV is taking over so many stations.