Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Saturday, November 25, 2017

Thursday, November 23, 2017

Dreamers Disrupt Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

This morning I disrupted the Macy's Day Parade in NYC with to demand permanent protection, dignity, and respect for my community. We are going to do whatever it takes for our right to live in the country we call home.

But I need you. We need you. Can you support us?

We are organizing National Days of Action on December 4th and 5th and a mass mobilization in Washington, DC on December 7th and 8th to continue the fight for #OurDream -- and win permanent protection for young undocumented immigrants.

We need to raise $20,000 to make these mobilizations a reality. Can you contribute now?

We are your classmates, your coworkers, and your neighbors. We are not just the future of this country, but we are also the present workers that it depends on. We are millions of young undocumented students and workers who are the backbones of our schools, industries, and communities.

Thank a Farm Worker

This Thanksgiving thank a farm worker

Happy Thanksgiving. We want to extend our warm thanks to you for being our loyal supporter and helping farm workers. As our families prepare to gather around the Thanksgiving table, we want to ask everyone to take a second to thank the men and women who labor to put the food on our Thanksgiving tables, and whose labor feeds us all year long. These hard working people labor day after day behind the scenes in heat, cold and rain to harvest the food that ends up in supermarkets and eventually on your table.

Join us in recognizing them and letting them know we appreciate everything they do, by signing the online Thanksgiving card our organizers will share with our members at their various farms and dairies. Please take an extra 30 seconds and add your own personal message.

UFW members are marking this Thanksgiving holiday season with a campaign they launched at their latest gathering of worker leadership. Members from Coachella, Ventura County, San Joaquin Valley, Monterey County, Sonoma County, and Oregon and Washington states have taken their message about the benefits of having a union contract out to their communities and social media. “From Our Hands to Your Tables” highlights their stories and the work they do every day.

To follow this campaign go to: https://www.facebook.com/unitedfarmworkers/ and https://twitter.com/UFWupdates or look for our #ThankAFarmWorker and #WeFeedYou hashtags on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Friday, November 17, 2017

Call Congress- Demand a Clean Dream Act

See post and photo below: Undocumented and Unafraid.

"I am doing this because we need change in our immigration system and we will no longer be ignored. We are not victims, we are warriors.

Now more than ever I need you to be in this fight with me. Call your Senators, call your Representatives, and demand a Clean #DreamActNow! Do it for the thousands of undocumented youth who don’t know what is going to happen to them in the next few months.

Send me your love and your rage.

Abrazos,

Belen

#UndocumentedUnafraidAndUnapologetic"

Are you inspired by Belén’s example? By her courage and clarity and commitment to her cause? Are you ready to contact Congress now? Send them emails and then call the Congressional Switchboard 202-224-3121 to tell your elected officials to pass a Clean DREAM Act.

Call these people:

Contact

215 Cannon House Office Building
(202) 225-5611

Sent to you by the Immigrants’ Rights Committee of DSA.

Also: See Democratic Left post today. It is an introduction to a piece by David Bacon. http://www.dsausa.org/migration_labor_and_u_s_policy

The linked articles are left analysis of migration and the role of U.S. policy.

Thursday, November 09, 2017

SAFE Cities Network Launches: 11 Communities United to Provide Public Defense to Immigrants Facing Deportation | Vera Institute

SAFE Cities Network Launches: 11 Communities United to Provide Public Defense to Immigrants Facing Deportation | Vera Institute

Including Sacramento.

Undocumented and Unafraid

One of the DREAMers arrested in DC Thursday was Belén Sisa, who shared the following message and image earlier:

Dear Friends and Movement Family,
If you are reading this, I have been arrested and am in jail for standing up to Congress and the Trump administration in Washington, D.C. demanding that they pass a Clean Dream Act Now before the end of this year.

I participated in this action because my heart led me to commit myself to put everything on the line for something much bigger than myself. Two months ago the Trump administration took away DACA, something we knew would happen, but it opened many old wounds. I could not help but think back to every struggle my family endured for us and for me to be who I am. We cannot and will not go back. As immigrant youth we know the power we hold and we will no longer settle for anything less than permanent protection, respect and dignity, for ourselves, our parents and our communities.

DACA Update

Congressional Democrats will also hold a press conference to "highlight the essential national security skills that Dreamers offer the U.S. military." Roughly 900 DACA enrollees currently serve in the military through a pilot program to attract enlistees with critical language and professional skills. In attendance will be Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), and Reps. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Salud Carbajal (D-Calif.), and Ted Lieu (D-Calif.). The event takes place at 11:30 a.m. in the Capitol Building, S-115. Watch a livestream here.

Wednesday, November 08, 2017

Latinos and California Schools

Jennifer Medina, a national correspondent based in Los Angeles.

Latinos make up the majority of students in California. And the state is widely regarded as being a bastion of Latino political power, with Latinos holding many of the top positions in Sacramento. And yet, a new report from The Education Trust-West shows a stark and persistent achievement gap between Latino and white students. In every county in the state the majority of Latino students are not proficient in math or English language arts.

The report also found that California’s Latino students attend some of the country’s most segregated schools, lack access to early childhood education, are often pushed away from college-prep coursework in high school and are more likely to be required to take remedial classes in colleges and universities.

“We continue to talk about Latinos in the education world as if they are a subgroup and a minority but they are absolutely the majority,” said Ryan Smith, executive director of The Education Trust-West. “So the question is what does that mean for our K-12 education system. I think of it like this: If we saw the type of challenges for white students that we see for Latino students, we know that the government and others would declare a state of emergency. Latinos have more political power than ever before, but students seem to be lagging behind in every indicator.”

It would be tempting to assume that at least some of the gap is because of struggles to learn English, Mr. Smith said, but only one-third of Latino students in the state are considered English Language Learners. And the report points out that 95 percent of the state’s Latinos who are younger than 18 are native-born.

“It challenges our belief that these students can’t achieve,” Mr. Smith said. “Given the numbers we have an economic and moral imperative to turn the corner.”

California Online

(Please note: We regularly highlight articles on news sites that have limited access for nonsubscribers.)

Tuesday, November 07, 2017

Puerto Rico Crisis

TPS; Protected Status for Some

Temporary Protected Status of some immigrants

TPS ON SHAKY GROUND: Acting Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke must decide today whether tens of thousands of people from Honduras and thousands from Nicaragua will continue to receive temporary protected status. Here's how the program works: If a country experiences a natural disaster, armed conflict, or some other extraordinary event, the DHS secretary can extend protected status to its nationals for up to 18 months if they're in the U.S. at the time of the event. Hondurans and Nicaraguans were initially granted TPS after Hurricane Mitch struck Central America in 1998; subsequently they received an extended series of renewals. Now protected status for the two countries is due to expire on Jan. 5. The department will also face decisions on TPS for Haiti later this month and for El Salvador in January.

The Trump administration has signaled it won't continue the virtually automatic renewals that were common in the past. Along those lines, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson wrote in a letter to Duke last week that conditions in Central America and Haiti no longer warranted a TPS designation, Nick Miroff and Karen DeYoung reported in the Washington Post Friday evening. "Tillerson's letter does not amount to a recommendation," the Post reported. "But DHS is required to seek the agency's input, and officials said the State Department's position carries significant weight." People from the aforementioned countries - Honduras, Nicaragua, Haiti and El Salvador - make up 94 percent of the roughly 439,000 approved for the program at the end of 2016.

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