In this episode, I interview Robert Lopez, a community organizer with the Texas Civil Rights Project, one of several groups suing the Department of Homeland Security to stop it from detaining unaccompanied minors in hotels and deporting them without a court hearing.
Activists like Lopez charge that the Trump Administration is using the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse to expedite the deportation of children and asylum seekers at the border. Deportation has long been a lucrative business for private companies under contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), from providing deportation flights to now allowing minors to be housed in hotels.
Activists are calling these hotels "black sites", especially because ICE is not providing information about the whereabouts of children under federal custody.
Since the story broke last week, the Hampton Inn & Suites is no longer doing business with ICE, according to the Hilton hotel chain.