Latest on the Migrant Caravan

After 35 days of traveling through Mexico, a group of Central American migrants prepared to cross to the United States on Sunday and request asylum. While approximately 200 members of the Pueblo Sin Fronteras Caravan went over final details of their asylum petitions in Tijuana, U.S authorities announced Sunday afternoon that they had “reached capacity” at the San Ysidro Port of Entry for processing persons “without appropriate entry documentation” — a status that would apply to all caravan members. 

Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan told the people who were denied admittance that they "may need to wait in Mexico." Undeterred by the president and the Customs and Border Patrol announcement, the first group of 50 Caravan members walked into San Ysidro’s PedWest entrance at about 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, waving farewell, as activists and fellow caravan members cheered them on. Most were women and children. But several hours later, members of the group had yet to enter the U.S. facility for processing. 

The CBP worked with Mexican officials to accept limited numbers each day so as not to overwhelm the port’s processing capacity. CBP officials in recent days have said that the agency has the capacity to detain as many as 300 people at the San Ysidro Port of Entry. 

Last week, President Donald Trump ordered Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen to deny entry to the migrants, calling the caravan a "disgrace." Nielsen answered the president's orders by announcing on Wednesday that the Department of Homeland Security would be enforcing "the immigration laws as set forth by Congress." Nielsen went on to say, "If you enter our country illegally, you have broken the law and will be referred for prosecution.”

El Paso Journalist, Emilio Gutierrez Soto & Son, Oscar, Detained by ICE

Since December 2017 (at a cost to the taxpayers of some $250 a day), Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have been holding Emilio Gutierrez Soto, 54, and his 24-year-old son, Oscar, in an El Paso detention center, despite pleas for their release from the local Catholic bishop and many journalism organizations. 

On Monday, the government is scheduled to respond to a writ of habeas corpus, filed by Rutgers University Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic and supported by 20 news organizations, that aims to free the two men. 

Before coming to the United States in 2008, Emilio Gutierrez worked in the small Mexican town of Ascencion, about 118 miles southwest of El Paso. Emilio reported on the official corruption that is so rampant in Mexico. For that, he was threatened multiple times. When a confidential source informed him that he was on a hit list, Emilio Gutierrez Soto, a single father, took his then-15-year-old son and fled north. Emilio Gutiérrez Soto and his son drove across the U.S. border with only $58.14 in the summer of 2008. The father and son entered the United States legally, requesting asylum as they came through a port of entry in New Mexico. 

After keeping them separately for several months in detention, immigration officials determined they had “credible fear” of returning to Mexico and released them to live and work in the U.S. while their asylum claim was adjudicated. 

In July 2017, immigration Judge Robert Hough said they should be sent back to the country where the father has been threatened with death. The judge’s reasoning was the following: 1) The elder Gutierrez might not be a journalist (despite the support of such respected organizations as the Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders), 2) The government of Mexico had made “quite an effort" to protect Gutierrez from reprisals — for his journalism. 

During a routine check-in on December 7, Immigration and Customs Enforcement handcuffed Gutierrez and his son and announced they were deporting them immediately, ignoring their lawyer’s request for time to get a ruling from the U.S. Board of Immigration Appeals. It has been reported that they were detained due to Gutierrez’s attorney’s failure to mail in some paperwork in time. Emilio Gutierrez Soto has never been accused or convicted of a crime. 

The Board of Immigration Appeals issued an emergency stay before ICE managed to ferry them the short distance from El Paso to Juarez. ICE then threw the Gutiérrez’s into detention, refusing to release them despite personal appeals from Bill McCarren, executive director of the National Press Club, Mark Seitz, the bishop of El Paso, and Rep. Beto O’Rourke, a Democrat who represents El Paso.This month, the Department of Homeland Security told the Board of Immigration Appeals it should throw out new evidence that the Press Club and its allies offered in support of the Gutierrez asylum case and uphold Hough’s decision because it is “not clearly erroneous.”

Decline of the Press

Comedy Central writer and comedian, Michelle Wolf, attacked Mike Pence, Sarah Huckabee Sanders and others from the Trump Administration during Saturday’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner. 

Several journalists came to the White House press secretary’s defense and criticized the comedian’s jokes. Several attendees at Saturday night's annual dinner in Washington, D.C., sat in silence as Wolf launched her attacks on President Trump and members of his administration. 

Wolf’s jokes drew laughs and gasps when she took a jab at Sanders, who was at the dinner as a representative of the Trump administration and sitting just a feet away as Wolf commented on Sanders' appearance, criticized her job performance and even her Southern roots. 

On Sunday night, White House Correspondents' Association president Margaret Talev issued a statement which said the monologue "was not in the spirit" of the association's mission. “Last night’s program was meant to offer a unifying message about our common commitment to a vigorous and free press while honoring civility, great reporting and scholarship winners, not to divide people. Unfortunately, the entertainer’s monologue was not in the spirit of that mission.”

Joy Reid and Media Matters

Joy Reid’s previous blog posts resurfaced, and they contained various homophobic and anti-LGBT comments. The posts repeatedly mocked gay people and specific individuals (by name) who were allegedly gay. The posts, for example, suggested without much, if any, evidence that Tom Cruise, Karl Rove, and Chief Justice John Roberts’ son are gay. 

Other posts made derogatory remarks about gay people, claiming that “most straight people cringe at the sight of two men kissing” and that “adult gay men tend to be attracted to very young, post-pubescent types.” One post acknowledged, “Does that make me homophobic? Probably.” 

The blog posts under fire were written in the 2000s under her blog titled, “the Reid Report.” Joy Reid has publicly claimed that she doesn’t “believe” she wrote the post but there is no evidence that she had her blog hacked at any point in time. 

In a statement to Mediate on Monday, Reid said that the blog posts were the work of hackers and “part of an effort to taint my character with false information by distorting a blog that ended a decade ago.

Media Matters for America said that they will not launch any advertiser boycott against Joy Reid. In a public Twitter conversation on Wednesday, Carusone answered a question from TheWrap, saying that Joy Reid’s past post will not trigger a Twitter boycott from his group. 

In response to John Levine’s tweet: “Serious question for @mmfa and @GoAngelo—Does the Joy Reid stuff rise to the level where you would consider an advertiser boycott? 

Angelo Carusone’s response tweet: “No. For a few reasons, none of them ideological in nature. At outset, I would underscore one thing: ad pressure campaigns are rare for us because threshold is high. Now… the reasons…

University of Texas’ New Program to Target Masculinity

The Counseling and Mental Health Center at the University of Texas at Austin recently launched a new program called “MasculinUT” to help male students “take control over their gender identity and develop a healthy sense of masculinity.” While many schools now have similar programs, this appears to be the first run directly out of a Counseling and Mental Health Center.  

“MasculinUT” will promote “healthy masculinity, through public events, educational workshops, and other forms of student involvement.” The website states its goals are to “promote healthy models of masculinities to prevent interpersonal, relationship, and sexual violence on campus.” 

This program was created as a resource and support for students who want to learn more about their masculine gender identities, including students traditionally understood as male, as well as female, transgender, genderqueer, and non-binary students who embody a diversity of masculinities.” 

Along with the “MasculinUT” program, the school has also rolled out at poster series. The posters promote, among other things, being a man and wearing nail polish, dresses and makeup. Another poster suggests men should wear flowers in their beards.

The program is currently without leadership, but not for long. The school is in the process of hiring a “healthy masculinities coordinator” to run the program. No one has been hired up to this point.

Mail Time!

• Bill, why can't they close all the VA hospitals and let the veterans go to any hospital they want. Many Vets have to travel several hours to get to a VA hospital and some have to depend on others for transportation because they are unable to drive. I feel like anyone that has served their country should be able to walk into any hospital in the US and get the best treatment available.
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Word of the Day: Puerile