Yliana Johansen-Mendez
ylianajm.bsky.social
Yliana Johansen-Mendez
@ylianajm.bsky.social
Chief Program Officer at Immigrant Defenders Law Center. Los Angeles based attorney. Former EOIR Attorney Advisor. Former Asylum Officer.
Wife. Mother. Daughter. Big sister.
Fighting for love, community, human rights and dignity.
Reposted by Yliana Johansen-Mendez
#BreakingNews On 3/21/25 we received a near total termination of our federal contract for legal services under the Unaccompanied Children Program (UCP). No child should ever face a heartless immigration system w/o a lawyer by their side. #SaveUCP
Read:
www.immdef.org/blog/ucpcont...
March 22, 2025 at 12:47 AM
Reposted by Yliana Johansen-Mendez
Ugh, this article is a slap in the face. Biden previously pledged to stop the use of private jails. How can he justify actually expanding them, especially knowing he is helping Trump's massive detention and deportation plans?
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024...
Revealed: Biden lays groundwork to expand immigration jails as Trump readies for office
In the past year, the Biden administration has extended contracts for private sector jails before Trump’s plan for mass deportations
www.theguardian.com
December 5, 2024 at 6:17 PM
Reposted by Yliana Johansen-Mendez
“Long Beach and Los Angeles would not be cooperating and we expect our community leaders in these cities and counties to stand up for families, neighbors and coworkers,” said ImmDef's Director of Legal Services, Amanda Schuft.

Read more:
lbpost.com/news/politic...
What does Trump’s promise of mass deportations mean for Long Beach?
The longtime sanctuary city is gearing up for a fight. Here’s what experts and local officials learned from Trump’s first term.
lbpost.com
December 4, 2024 at 12:09 AM
Reposted by Yliana Johansen-Mendez
Behind every Trump policy, their are oligarchs making bank.
Private prison companies may not create aggressive immigration policies, but they’re the enablers and biggest financial beneficiaries of mass detention. We break down the perverse incentives driving the industry:
What Trump’s Victory Means for the Private Prison Industry
The two largest companies that manage detention centers and correctional facilities are poised to profit from aggressive immigration policies.
www.brennancenter.org
November 27, 2024 at 1:43 AM
Reposted by Yliana Johansen-Mendez
“Leaving aside the human issues, leaving aside the law issues, we think that would be very destructive economically,” said the president of the Peterson Inst. for Int'l Economics. “I don’t think people have really understood how potentially big that effect is.” foreignpolicy.com/2024/11/25/t...
What Trump’s Mass Deportations Would Mean for the U.S. Economy
The economic costs of such a campaign may be bigger than the president-elect has bargained for.
foreignpolicy.com
November 26, 2024 at 2:42 PM
Reposted by Yliana Johansen-Mendez
Her spouse was undocumented when she entered Congress. Trump’s mass deportation plans are personal.

Rep. Delia Ramirez’s experiences with the nation’s broken immigration system will shape Democrats’ resistance to Trump's proposed policies. 19thnews.org/2024/11/deli...
Her spouse was undocumented when she entered Congress. Trump's mass deportation plans are personal.
Rep. Delia Ramirez’s experiences with the nation’s broken immigration system will shape Democrats’ resistance to Trump's proposed policies.
19thnews.org
November 26, 2024 at 2:48 PM
A former #SIJS client whose case faced incredible resistance from ICE, was sworn in as a US #Citizen today!🎉
As a 14-yr-old orphan he fled Ghana on a cargo ship, across an ocean and multiple countries to reach the US. At 25, he's a college graduate & US citizen. His courage & resilience inspire me.
November 27, 2024 at 3:16 AM
PSA: As fear and uncertainty rise, it’s natural for people to feel desperate for protection and answers. But please, be cautious. Desperation can make us vulnerable to bad advice—whether it’s from well-meaning but unqualified individuals or outright charlatans and scammers (including notarios).
November 25, 2024 at 5:17 AM
Don’t miss SEPARATED! This film is a reminder of what we’re fighting & an example of resistance in action.

Family separations decreased significantly under Biden (but see @immdef.bsky.social ‘s post re: mom reuniting with daughters after 8 months), but expect Trump to ramp up the cruelty.
SEPARATED, a film by Errol Morris, is coming to MSNBC.

December 7. 9PM ET.
November 24, 2024 at 4:58 PM
In his last term, children who had been abused remained a priority, even if they had been classified as a special immigrant juvenile by USCIS. I expect that the benefits and protections afforded to SIJs under Biden will quickly disappear after he’s taken office.
ICE already prioritizes people with criminal convictions so let’s be clear, if they want to ever get the high numbers they’ve been bragging about they’ll have to expand much more broadly to people without criminal convictions.
Notable - Mike Johnson on CNN walks back Trump's promise to deport as many as 20m people, saying "I'm not sure that's what's gonna happen. I think what the president is talking about is beginning w/the dangerous persons that we know are here. There are criminals, known criminals"
November 21, 2024 at 2:37 PM
Reposted by Yliana Johansen-Mendez
The real trap here is that the Republicans have made defending civil rights seem like a frivolous thing and a whole lot of liberals are falling in line. Even if it was a culture war, so what? This would be a war worth fighting. What are we even doing here, people? Get it together.
November 21, 2024 at 4:13 AM
Reposted by Yliana Johansen-Mendez
"Mass deportations could lead to a loss of about 4.2% to 6.8% of annual GDP," the American Immigration Council reports, "amounting to between $1.1 trillion and $1.7 trillion. For comparison, the national GDP declined 4.3% during the 2007-09 Great Recession."
The industries that could be hardest hit by Trump's immigration crackdown
Construction and agriculture workforces had the highest shares of undocumented workers as of 2022.
www.axios.com
November 19, 2024 at 9:29 PM
So grateful for cities that are committed to protecting their residents.👏 Today I have been in calls & meetings discussing how we will work as a team, as a coalition of organizations, & as a community of immigration advocates to protect our neighbors & keep families together as we face Trump 2.0.
Los Angeles passes sanctuary city ordinance to protect immigrants

The Los Angeles City Council Tuesday adopted a sanctuary city ordinance that prohibits the use of city resources in immigration enforcement.
Read: bit.ly/3ZjziGv
November 20, 2024 at 10:02 PM
Reposted by Yliana Johansen-Mendez
After being forcibly separated at the border for 8 months, our client Carla has finally reunited with her daughters thanks to the help of our legal team. For her twins, the separation lasted nearly a third of their lifetime. 🧵👇
November 19, 2024 at 5:55 PM
Reposted by Yliana Johansen-Mendez
Hello & welcome new followers! Immigrant Defenders Law Center (ImmDef) is a next-generation social justice law firm that defends our immigrant communities against injustices in the immigration system. Share our profile w/friends & follow us to learn how to support the fight for due process for all.
November 19, 2024 at 5:45 PM
Reposted by Yliana Johansen-Mendez
Workplace immigration raids have always been about fear, not deportation. They require enormous resources and coordination, typically from multiple federal, state, and local agencies, they net very few deportations, and they generate tons of lawsuits that cost taxpayer money.
November 19, 2024 at 12:39 PM
Reposted by Yliana Johansen-Mendez
Spent today at a shelter for asylum seekers in Tijuana where hundreds of people are still waiting for CBP One appts that could be difference between life and death. Met so many families desperate to get to safety, and so little we can offer them in terms of options & answers for what comes next.
November 19, 2024 at 12:04 AM
Reposted by Yliana Johansen-Mendez
This little one and hundreds more sat in on legal consultations with our team today in Tijuana. What awaits them under a Trump admin? We have yet to see, but we know we will be there for him and all asylum seekers as we continue the fight to preserve asylum for those who need it.
November 18, 2024 at 8:58 PM
Reposted by Yliana Johansen-Mendez
Thank you @jacobsoboroff.bsky.social & #ThisIsAboutHumanity for having the @immdef.bsky.social team for a screening of “Separated,” which details the horrors of Trump’s family separation policy. However painful, we need to remember what happened to plan how to fight back now. See it 12/7 on MSNBC!
November 18, 2024 at 4:51 AM