Immigration Day of Action - Sacramento

In 2017, this event focused on The California Trust Act, which became SB 54, the California Sanctuary bill.  The effort was successful. SB 54 became California law in January 2018.

This year's platform emphasizes the drive towards a California that works for all individuals and families. These five powerful bills form a forward-thinking agenda which recognizes the contributions of California’s immigrants while advancing community health, greater economic prosperity, and racial justice. 

Join us in Sacramento on May 20th to support an inclusive vision for all Californians!

INTRODUCING THE IMMIGRANT DAY OF ACTION 2019 POLICY PLATFORM!

As cruel federal policies threaten the well-being of immigrant communities across the state, we are called to uphold our values of compassion and equity. We must stand strong in our advocacy for protections and provisions that ensure all residents of the Golden State have the opportunity to thrive.

The following package of bill proposals will take historic strides to protect and provide for the most vulnerable populations who are our family, friends, neighbors and co-workers. This Immigrant Day of Action, we focus our fight on:

1) Health4All: SB 29 (Durazo) / AB 4 (Bonta, Chiu, Santiago)

Co-Sponsored by CIPC and Health Access

With the Trump administration’s policies harming immigrants’ physical and mental health, we must expand access to health care to include all Californians. Our healthcare system is stronger when everyone is included, and no one should suffer or die from a treatable condition, no matter where they were born. People who are ineligible for health coverage due to their immigration status continue to make up the largest group of California’s remaining uninsured population. AB 4 and SB 29 would provide access to comprehensive Medi-Cal to all low-income Californians, regardless of immigration status.

2) CalEITC: AB 1593 (Reyes)

Co-Sponsored by CIPC, United Ways of California, and the California Children’s Defense Fund

The California Earned Income Tax Credit (CalEITC) provides low-income individuals and families, particularly those living below the poverty line, a modest financial credit to secure basic necessities such as food and school supplies. While Governor Newsom proposed to greatly expand the CalEITC, immigrant tax filers remain excluded. CIPC, in partnership with the CalEITC Advocacy Coalition, is working to change this. AB 1593 would make the CalEITC a more inclusive policy by removing these harmful exclusions for working immigrants who file their taxes with an ITIN or SSN.

3) Immigrant Student Access to Higher Education: AB 1620 (Santiago)

Sponsored by the Korean Resource Center

There are still many undocumented students who have lived in California for numerous years and yet are unable to qualify as residents to pay in-state tuition and receive financial aid. AB 1620 would expand the in-state tuition eligibility to more undocumented students by reducing the three-year attendance requirement of AB 540 to two years, adding attendance at all California schools toward establishing total attendance, and removing the two-year limit on counting community college attendance for establishing attendance eligibility.

4) No Private ICE Act: AB 1282 (Kalra)

Sponsored by Asian Americans Advancing Justice

In recent years, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has increasingly relied on private contractors to carry out its extensive enforcement operations in California, including in-state prisons. Many immigration enforcement arrests in state prisons are conducted not by ICE officers, but by employees of private security corporations. AB 1282, the “No Private ICE Act,” prohibits the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) from facilitating or allowing private security guards to conduct immigration enforcement arrests of individuals in CDCR custody.

5) California Act to Save Lives: AB 392 (Weber)

Co-Sponsored by ACLU of California, Alliance for Boys and Men of Color, Anti Police-Terror Project, Black Lives Matter CA, CA Faculty Association, Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice, PICO CA, Silicon Valley DeBug, STOP Coalition, UDW America – AFSCME Local 3930, and Youth Justice Coalition

The California Act to Save Lives would update the state’s use of force laws by restricting police officers’ use of deadly force – to only when other alternatives are not available. It limits the ability of the police to “kill at will,” whether in self-defense or defense of another. This bill bars the use of this defense if the peace officer acted in a criminally negligent manner that caused the death, including if the officer’s actions created the necessity to use deadly force. Modeled after policies such as the ones found in San Francisco and Seattle, this bill can reduce serious uses of force without compromising the safety of officers.

For more information about this policy platform, please don't hesitate to contact me at asayeed@caimmigrant.org.