Professor of Law, University of Southern California Law School
Professor of Law at the University of Southern California Law School and Director of its Immigration Clinic
PROFILE
Niels Frenzen
Guest
FROM Niels Frenzen
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
“Migrant” vs “Refugee” The UN wants the US to start calling migrants at our borders “refugees.” We talk about the power of the distinction. What are the current hurdles in US law to being declared refugees for these unaccompanied children fleeing unstable Central American countries?
To the Point
Are Immigrants Dying in US Prisons for Lack of Decent Healthcare? US Immigration and Customs Enforcement has rounded up and detained increasing numbers of undocumented people in the past five years. The Washington Post says it has "thousands of pages of government documents," including autopsy and medical records, investigative reports, e-mails and memorandums that reveal "a hidden world of flawed medical judgments, faulty administrative practices, neglectful guards, ill-trained technicians, sloppy record-keeping, lost medical files and dangerous staff shortages." The paper says tens of thousands are being kept in overcrowded prisons with little access to the legal help or healthcare to which they're entitled. Many have died, but ICE denies its officials are well aware that inmates, including asylum seekers, are put at risk by an overtaxed system. We hear from a Post reporter, an ICE spokesman and others.
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To the Point
Who's to blame for the opioid crisis? Some of the lawyers who took on Big Tobacco are now going after Big Pharma. It’s all about the deadly epidemic of opioid use. Are the drug companies to blame? What about the users? Later, on today’s Talking Point: making sense of Britain’s upset election.
To the Point
Terrorism and tweets, hate speech and murder Just days before an election, Britain is coping with a rash of deadly terrorism, and Prime Minister Theresa May is on the defensive. And again today, President Trump has tweeted criticism of the Mayor of London. Later, a double murder in Portland, Oregon has revealed the ugly past of a supposedly “progressive” city. One immediate question: is “hate speech” protected by the First Amendment?
To the Point
Trump plays scolder-in-chief with NATO allies At the opening of NATO’s dramatic new headquarters in Brussels today, President Trump acknowledged that Article 5 — promising that “an attack on one nation is an attack on all” -- has only been invoked one time: in the aftermath of September 11. But the President failed to provide what 27 other Alliance members have been waiting for: a re-commitment by America’s new leader to Article 5. Instead, they got a scolding.
To the Point
Venezuela spirals into economic and political chaos Venezuela, a country whose potential for prosperity is unmatched, finds itself on the verge of civil war. What sustains the repressive government? With time running out, guest host León Krauze looks at what the international community can do to pull the country from the edge of collapse.