Aaron Reichlin-Melnick

Senior Fellow @immcouncil. Tweeting on immigration policy and data. Formerly immigration lawyer with @IJCorps. Views my own, retweets =/= endorsements.

[Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @ReichlinMelnick]

Today I testified on behalf of @immcouncil in front of House Homeland's Border Security and Enforcement subcommittee. I testified about how Trump's diversion of thousands of law enforcement officers to mass deportation work is making us less safe. Watch my opening statement here.

[Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @ReichlinMelnick]

@JonathanAEvers @PolitiBunny I have no clue. I neither know who she is or remember why I blocked her.

[Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @ReichlinMelnick]

@Yofinks A lot of people stayed home and didn’t want to go into the city.

[Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @ReichlinMelnick]

As someone who’s lived in DC for 13 of the last 15 years, this is just a total lie. The idea that rampant crime caused “all the restaurants” to close is just total nonsense.

You what did government policy decision DID hurt restaurants badly? Last year’s ICE surge!

[Aaron Rupar @atrupar]

Trump: "In Washington, all the restaurants were closing. People were being held up. They'd walk into a restaurant. Like Jesse James. 'Stand up! Give us all your money.' They're eating dinner at a fancy restaurant. All the restaurants were closing. Now if you're a restaurateur you can't even get a restaurant."

[Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @ReichlinMelnick]

Bit of a heads up. I’ll be offline for the next week and a bit on some personal business and so won’t be able to respond to any breaking news in the immigration world.

[The Washington Post @washingtonpost]

Of the 55 deaths of people in ICE custody since President Trump returned to office, at least 10 were suspected suicides.

Medical experts say this can raise questions about lack of oversight. https://t.co/ZqVS7ZCudk

[Rep. Pramila Jayapal @RepJayapal]

Today I received notification of the 60th death in ICE custody since Trump returned to office. Sadly, this appears to be a death by suicide.

When our country detains people, we have the responsibility of ensuring both their physical and mental health — not driving them, though incredible cruelty, to commit suicide. Dismantle ICE.

[Josh Gerstein @joshgerstein]

JUST IN: 9th Circuit will hear arguments remotely at 1PM PT tomorrow (Sunday) on the Trump DOJ bid to segregate ballots from 20K suspected foreigners registered in CA. Judges Bennett (Trump), Bumatay (Trump), Sanchez (Biden). Doc:
https://t.co/wAsW6uutmq https://t.co/Jje4wu3Xj9

[Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @ReichlinMelnick]

@EdWhelanEPPC Right, which is such an outrageous thing to ask a court to do!

[Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @ReichlinMelnick]

Think this one through for a second; how could any government official determine whether or not a voter was “confused” by the dual Sullivan situation?

Votes are secret. The state has no idea of knowing who voted for whom, let alone why. What investigation could be carried out?

[Attorney General Todd Blanche @AGToddBlanche]

The Department of Justice does not seek to stop any ballot from being cast or to stop the certification of Alaska's election. This litigation seeks to ensure that after Alaskans cast their ballots, they are preserved in a manner so that only Alaska's governing officials have the information necessary to make a determination as to whether Alaskan voters were confused or mislead.

The lawsuit was written by Justice Department attorneys and the Department did not coordinate with any campaign or candidate, but rather relied solely on federal law.

[Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @ReichlinMelnick]

He also repeatedly spread misinformation about TPS, including making wild claims like that it wasn’t a legal status or that it was granted to countries, not people. He’d condescendingly mock me, then when I showed him the text of the law he’d just ignore it or move the goalposts.

[Law Boi @LawBoi3]

@ReichlinMelnick lol funny enough I just came across this. And he’s got the gall to lecture about legal misinformation when he’s endorsing a lawsuit just because it raises awareness lol

[Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @ReichlinMelnick]

I blocked @shipwreckcrew because he is one of the worst bad-faith debaters on the site, a man seemingly incapable of engaging with actual legal arguments without resorting to insults and nonsequitors; a feature his followers share, as this example shows.

[The🐰FOO @PolitiBunny]

I came to your timeline to ask why you blocked @shipwreckedcrew only to find I’m blocked as well.

What a coward. -> @ReichlinMelnick

[Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @ReichlinMelnick]

You clearly did not pay attention to the piece: his country had no role here.

The US sent him to Ghana because it was illegal to deport him to “his country.” Ghana, knowing this, then deported him to his home country; exactly as the U.S. knew would happen.

[. @ChocolateRain40]

@ReichlinMelnick Let me guess your blaming the US for his country sending him somewhere else even after being ordered not to? Holy fuck

[Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @ReichlinMelnick]

This is known as “chain refoulment” and it’s a violation of both U.S. and international law.

[60 Minutes @60Minutes]

Within five days of being deported from the U.S., Moussa Diawara says Ghanaian officials forced him onto a flight to Mali, the very country a U.S. immigration judge ruled he could not be deported to. Diawara says he was homeless and went into hiding.

Watch the 60 Minutes report Sunday at 7 p.m. ET/PT on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.

[Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @ReichlinMelnick]

Yes, of course. When I was still practicing, one of my main jobs was to advise people how to comply with the law.

But that has nothing to do with whether the U.S. government is breaking the law by sending people via chain to countries where they will be persecuted or tortured.

[MiddleIsntBad @MiddleIsntBad]

@ReichlinMelnick Do you believe it's important immigrants follow immigration laws?

[Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @ReichlinMelnick]

@mecalnan @HaleBrief @MattArchambeau1 I think that is maybe more what the case was 10 to 15 years ago, pre-Trump. The Chamber of Commerce has very little sway on immigration these days.

At this point, the extremists have made even a popular compromise very difficult.

[Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @ReichlinMelnick]

@Tupelobee @USAttyEssayli @shipwreckedcrew @PolitiBunny I have absolutely no idea who she is or why I blocked her, but I would presume she said something insulting or bigoted in a reply to a viral tweet I had at some point. That is the number one reason that I block people.

[Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @ReichlinMelnick]

Two Fridays ago, @USAttyEssayli put out a statement claiming that I was flat wrong that the 20,000 people on the list given to California were only people DHS/DOJ “believe” were noncitizens.

Now, below, he outright says as much; “we believe” they are noncitizens.

[F.A. United States Attorney Bill Essayli @USAttyEssayli]

It's simple. California does not verify citizenship status. We did the work for them. We obtained the registered voter list and told them who we believe are noncitizens on their rolls. Knowingly processing noncitizen ballots is a federal crime under 18 U.S.C. §§ 611 and 2. We will hold election officials accountable. No one is above the law.

[Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @ReichlinMelnick]

@WhiddonLeann You don’t think calling someone a coward is an insult?

[Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @ReichlinMelnick]

@mecalnan @HaleBrief @MattArchambeau1 Yes, Congress has utterly failed to deal with the realities of the modern immigration situation. As I often talk about, it’s been 30 years since the last major immigration enforcement bill and 36 years since the last major legal immigration reform bill. That’s way too long.

[Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @ReichlinMelnick]

@HaleBrief @MattArchambeau1 Read more here: https://t.co/Ns05ok3wLR

[Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @ReichlinMelnick]

@HaleBrief @MattArchambeau1 I’ve engaged with your position repeatedly. Our official stance is that Congress should create a path to permanent legal status for long-time residents who are not public safety threats and who can demonstrate their ongoing ability to come into compliance with the law.

[Serhii Sternenko @sternenko]

Elon Musk claims that Ukraine allegedly violated Starlink's terms of use and used the system on combat drones.

As someone who was inside the process at the Ministry of Defense, I can say with certainty that this is not true.

In February of this year, whitelists were introduced. Stationary terminals could be registered by both military personnel and civilians.
But for any satellite terminal to work while on the move, it had to be added to a special list and connected to the military Starshield system. Otherwise, no satellite communication terminals in Ukraine would work.

In other words, using civilian Starlink for drone missions was technically impossible. All drone missions that required satellite communication could only be carried out using Starshield.

We are very grateful to the United States and SpaceX for access to critically important satellite communications. Ukraine did not violate the terms of use.