Music on Monday - Wyclef Jean, Akon, Lil Wayne, and Niia - Sweetest Girl (Dollar Bill)
This week's music embed has been disabled, but you can click over to YouTube to add your view to 18,354,441 others for Sweetest Girl (Dollar Bill) from Wyclef Jean (Haiti), Akon (Senegal), Niia Bertino (Massachusetts), and Lil Wayne (New Orleans). (Do yourself a favor and don't read the comments, they will only make you dumber.)
The video is set in a refugee camp in an unspecified country, as Niia has a few fleeting moments in an interview to convince an unsympathetic border official not to deport her. It's something I've never experienced myself directly, but I've watched it close up with clients many times. Often, thankfully, the interview goes well. But when the officer (or judge) has already made his mind up before you sit down, has a quota to fill, or just wants a blow job for a favorable decision (I had cases with this fucker before he was arrested) the sense of powerlessness is overwhelming, followed by a wave of anger.
The news of DHS's hold on deportations to Haiti a week and a half ago was so softly announced that I don't even know if the policy is still in place. Almost certainly, the government will not trumpet the end of the hold, they'll just fire up the engines and move the planes down the runway to their waterlogged destination. But in light of the recent renewal of Temporary Protected Status for Nicaraguans, Salvadorans, and Hondurans, I hope that FIAC and other advocacy groups are successful in finally getting TPS for Haitians. It is long overdue.
The video is set in a refugee camp in an unspecified country, as Niia has a few fleeting moments in an interview to convince an unsympathetic border official not to deport her. It's something I've never experienced myself directly, but I've watched it close up with clients many times. Often, thankfully, the interview goes well. But when the officer (or judge) has already made his mind up before you sit down, has a quota to fill, or just wants a blow job for a favorable decision (I had cases with this fucker before he was arrested) the sense of powerlessness is overwhelming, followed by a wave of anger.
The news of DHS's hold on deportations to Haiti a week and a half ago was so softly announced that I don't even know if the policy is still in place. Almost certainly, the government will not trumpet the end of the hold, they'll just fire up the engines and move the planes down the runway to their waterlogged destination. But in light of the recent renewal of Temporary Protected Status for Nicaraguans, Salvadorans, and Hondurans, I hope that FIAC and other advocacy groups are successful in finally getting TPS for Haitians. It is long overdue.
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