House to Vote Today on Dream Act

HAPPENING TODAY

The House will vote today on the American Dream and Promise Act H.R. 6 (116) , which would provide a pathway to citizenship for more than 2 million undocumented people who came to the U.S. as children. House leaders agreed Monday night to send the bill to the floor and to waive rules requiring Congress to offset the bill's costs, two sources with knowledge of the meeting tell POLITICO's Sarah Ferris. (The legislation would increase budget deficits by about $35 billion, according to CBO estimates.)

Stand Up for Immigrants

Let us be clear.  The shut down of the U.S. government in January was due to a dispute over spending because Donald Trump ordered the end of the DACA program ( Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals).  Trump created this crisis and the Republicans are using the crisis to promote their anti immigrant agenda.

A wise man once said, “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” As the leader of the Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King Jr. changed the hearts and minds of the American people and is rightfully lauded as one of the most important figures in modern history. Once again, we are confronted with a new Civil Rights Movement to resist a government that looks to rob people of opportunity and criminalize their existence. Once again, the stakes are extremely high.

We are confronted today with the tragic reality that undocumented young people who were once protected by the DACA program are now at risk of expulsion from the only home they have ever known.

These are people who came here as children and have been here for the last two decades. Some did not even know they were born in another country until they applied for a driver’s license as teenagers. They identify with American life just like any citizen. Their life experience is no less qualified, and no less deserving.

To prevent their expulsion and protect their place in our country, American citizens need to step forward and act boldly on the right side of history: the side of justice. The opposite has been the case far too often: supporters staying at home while opponents work aggressively to undermine and uproot young immigrants out of American life. Recently, I read a post where a young man bragged about calling Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on a fellow student at his university, a Dreamer. Crippled with a gut-wrenching sensation, my senses were inflamed by the similarities between this troubled young man and certain horrifying historical figures. Calling ICE to deport a fellow student, a neighbor, or even a stranger, is similar to a Northerner in 1855 calling the police to report a runaway slave. It is similar to Germans in 1939 calling the Nazi Gestapo on their child’s teacher. The term for this is ethnic oppression.

Immigration Reform; Divisions on Strategy

by David Iaconangelo.  Latin Times 

The New York Times reports that on Tuesday, a group of pro-immigration reform groups including the Service Employees International Union and the US Conference of Catholic Bishops urged President Barack Obama to delay executive action on immigration enforcement until the August Congressional recess in order to give House Republicans time to act on legislation.  A day later, the administration said it was ordering Homeland Security secretary Jeh Johnson to hold off on final recommendations to the president on how immigration-enforcement policies could be made more “humane” – a task understood as preliminary to any potential executive action taken by Obama. 

Eliseo Medina, chief organizer with the SEIU, told the Times that the move would force the hand of Republicans in the House, saying that it would be “absolutely crystal clear for Latino and Asian voters that they blocked” immigration reform if the GOP did not act.  Democratic leaders in Congress have also gotten on board with that strategy; New York senator Chuck Schumer, a key proponent of reform and member of the eight-man bipartisan team that wrote last summer’s comprehensive Senate bill, said last Friday that Obama would have “no choice but to act on his own” if House Republicans refused to pass legislation. 

But some immigrant advocates express anger and impatience with the strategy as deportations of undocumented immigrants continue

Border Issues Deserve a Humane Solution

INTRODUCTION - There is probably no one who can speak to the citizenry from a greater moral high ground than Enrique Morones from Border Angels.  He has been at the forefront on the ground for over a decade offering humanitarian aid to the sick, elderly, young, and dying migrants attempting to cross the Mexico-United States border in search of a new and better life than the one they left behind.  His work became ever more urgent with the imposition of Operation Gatekeeper in 1994 thanks to President Bill Clinton and Senator Diane Feinstein.  More than 10,000 migrants have perished since that inhumane policy was enacted.  Enrique has become the nation's moral conscience on the border.  This is what he has to say about immigration reform and the urgent tasks of the day.  

THE HERMANDAD FAMILY.

Border Issues Deserve a Humane Solution

By Enrique Morones

The U.S.-Mexico border has never been more secure, but we still hear from many people: "Secure the border!" "Get in line!" "Citizenship for all."

We rarely hear from the migrants themselves. Not only do I hear from them everyday, I also see them daily - both dead and alive. For the past several months we have had a growing coalition asking for a piecemeal approach to humane immigration and not the militarized version being offered now. The migrant community wants the Dream Act, DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), to process those already in the system and passage of the agricultural jobs bill. This would qualify more than 4 million of the current 11.5 million undocumented people in this country today.

When most of our forefathers and foremothers came to this country, there was never any question of legal vs. illegal. They just came. Many even had a statue welcome and encourage them. "Give me your poor, your tired, your huddled masses."

IN Support of Fair and Just Immigration Reform

An Open Letter to the Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee In Support of Fair and Just

Immigration Reform

May 20, 2013
Dear Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee:
As we stand on the threshold of a potentially new, sweeping immigration reform bill, we write to voice our support for fair, just and humane legislation that will not only bring distressed immigrant communities “out of the shadows,” but which will stay true to the country’s values and respect for human rights and commitment to justice.
Substantial improvements must yet be made to SB 744, the Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act. While the proposal includes some provisions that will benefit immigrant communities and future immigrants, we are extremely disappointed with both overarching themes and particular provisions that we believe will continue to undermine basic human and worker rights, foster greater racial discrimination and feed the separation and trauma of immigrant families and their communities. We fear that this bill will keep immigrants in an underclass.
We understand that this is a rare opportunity to engage sweeping immigration policies. Immigrant communities have waited years for the chance to reunite with family members, to be free from the threat of deportation after having lived, worked and raised families here for decades. They have waited for the same labor protections as their citizen co-workers and for the opportunity to become citizens and to vote.
The present proposal fails to reflect our communities’ needs and our collective concerns and aspirations for human rights, fairness and justice in U.S. immigration policy -- the promise of “equality and justice for all”. With the mark-up process underway and before the bill reaches the full Senate for consideration, we urge you to address the following:
Substantially improve the path to citizenship. This path should be inclusive, fair, and safe, without obstacles, undue burdens and lengthy waiting periods. 10 years in a provisional status is too long a wait to obtain a green card. The wait should be reasonable and humane and should not exceed five years, the same as DREAM eligible applicants. While work eligibility and ability to travel are important features of the current proposal, those on the path to citizenship should have access to healthcare and economic supports programs. This includes the removal of the five-year bar on access to vital healthcare and family economic support programs.