NYT on DACA

NYT on DACA

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court finally heard arguments over the future of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, a program that has kept roughly 700,000 young, unauthorized immigrants in limbo for years.

Here’s what you need to know:

Need a refresher on DACA and Dreamers?

In 2012, President Barack Obama introduced the program, which shields people who were brought to the United States as children from deportation. It was intended as a stopgap measure, and didn’t provide a pathway to citizenship.

But it did allow participants, known as Dreamers, to get work permits, and in some states, including California, to access in-state tuition and legally drive. Dreamers can renew their status in two-year intervals.

Recipients who aren’t veterans have to be enrolled in high school or have a diploma or G.E.D. and cannot — contrary to what President Trump has said — have a serious criminal history.

In 2017, President Trump moved to end the program after nine conservative state attorneys general threatened to sue over it. They said it was an overreach of presidential power. President Trump has been conflicted about the program, and his public statements have reflected that. editors note.  We should stop saying that the Democrats were as bad as the Republicans on immigration.  They were not.  The House has passed a new Dreamers bill. It languishes in the Senate.

DACA Safe- For Now

The Supreme Court just announced they will NOT take up a case on DACA this summer. This means that current DACA recipients can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that our DACA protections will be safe for a few more months.  So, if you have DACA, we recommend you continue to renew, visit RenewMyDACA.com for more information.

We know that DACA’s protections have provided hundreds of thousands of immigrant youth with peace of mind and safety as well as work and educational opportunities. Shamefully, Trump has done everything he can to rip that apart and is playing a cruel game with our lives. As we wait for the Supreme Court to announce whether or not they will take up the case for their session this fall, let’s get this info out!

It is crucial to get this information out to as many DACA recipients as possible  , can you help us share these top 5 things everyone should know?

It’s super important we get this information out ASAP:

Immigration Policy

The Hill.

The midterm elections are over and the new year is upon us. As new members get sworn in, the 116th Congress will be split with a House Democratic majority and a Senate Republican majority.


Despite the partial shutdown, a divided Congress can bring bipartisan opportunities to legislate towards modernizing our outdated immigration system. At the same time, the new House Democratic majority must also investigate President Trump’s erratic immigration policies.

Until now, only the federal courts that have remained resolute in their constitutional obligation to restrain the president’s arbitrary actions including dismissing the Justice Department policies that made it harder for immigrants to claim asylum because of domestic violence or gang violence.

It’s time for Congress to step up and work on meaningful immigration legislation. One of the first opportunities of this will be the DREAM Act.

Of the approximately 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States, more than 1 million are Dreamers or undocumented young people who were brought to the U.S. as children.

In 2012, then-President Obama created the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program to temporarily protect Dreamers from deportation. Trump terminated the program five years later. Fortunately, federal courts have blocked the White House from fully ending the immigration protection.

Congress still needs to find a permanent solution for the Dreamers, however. The DREAM Act has been introduced countless times over the past two decades with overwhelming bipartisan support. Giving Dreamers a path to citizenship — through education or military service — will allow these young people to transition out of DACA and out of the shadows to fully contribute to their communities.

Another opportunity for bipartisan support is to pass legislation that will bring more resources to clear bureaucratic red-tape and reduce the average processing time for green card applicants and permanent residents applying for naturalization.

Among a recent change causing delays is the expansion of in-person interviews to all employment-based applicants who are filing for green cards. Interviews for employment-based green cards were largely waived unless there were major issues, like criminal arrests, that needed to be reviewed in person.

Because the small number of immigrations officers will now have to schedule thousands of extra interviews, this delays processing times for other types of cases.

In fact, more than 700,000 immigrants are waiting on applications to become citizens, a process that once took about six months but has stretched to more than two years in some places under the Trump administration.

Another congressional opportunity will be to demilitarize immigration enforcement. While the president is the commander-in-chief, Congress ultimately has the power to declare war and defund the president’s military actions, especially when there is no immediate threat to our nation.

Bipartisan efforts continue to grow against Trump’s decision to deploy thousands of soldiers to the border to intercept asylum seekers from Central America. The military deployment has been deemed wasteful and unnecessary even in the eyes of military officials. The total price of the military deployment could reach $200 million.

Despite international outcry over the travel ban of people from majority-Muslim countries or the separation of children from their parents at the border, Republican-led committees held zero oversight hearings.

Trump hid behind a national security veil as an excuse to enact policies that have resulted in the violation of U.S. and international laws. 

Dreamers Conference

Justices Turn Down Trump's Appeal Against Dreamers- DACA

What happened:

• By denying the Department of Justice’s request to hear the University of California case, the Supreme Court has rightly allowed the brave DACA recipients and many others who brought legal challenges to the termination of DACA to have their day in court. 
• The Trump administration has the right to appeal the lower court rulings, but they tried to game the system by leapfrogging over the circuits. The Supreme Court reminded them that all of us -- even if we sit in the white house -- need to play by the same rules. 

What comes next:

• The cases will go back the lower courts. While these cases make their way through the courts, the injunctions secured in the California and New York cases will remain in place.

What this means:

• This means that immigrant youth who previously had DACA can continue, for now, to apply for renewals.
• Even as DACA renewals continue, without congressional action, the rate of DACA recipients losing protections daily will increase dramatically after March 5.
• There is immense urgency for Congress to do the right thing on the Dream Act, and nothing about today’s announcement diminished that. While the injunction helps ensure that immigrant youth can continue to reapply for DACA, immigrant youth need the certainty that can only come from legislation.
• The Trump administration created this crisis when they terminated DACA on September 5, and they perpetuated it by rejecting multiple bipartisan deals that would have provided a permanent solution for undocumented youth. The Trump administration, along with Republican leadership in Congress, has thwarted every attempt at a solution -- they will be to blame if they fail here.
• At the end of the day, an injunction is a temporary fix, and we need a permanent solution. If Trump is serious about his love for “Dreamers,” he will stop standing in the way of their futures and get behind a solution. 

Justices Turn Down Trump's  Appeal in 'Dreamers' Case By ADAM LIPTAK and MICHAEL D. SHEARFEB. 26, 2018 WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Monday declined to clear the way for the Trump administration to end the Obama-era program that protects about 700,000 young immigrants from deportation, meaning that the so-called "Dreamers" could remain in legal limbo for months unless Congress acts to make their status permanent. President Trump ended the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program last September, calling it an unconstitutional use of executive power by his predecessor and reviving the threat of deportation for immigrants who had been brought to the United States illegally as young children. But two federal judges have ordered the administration to maintain major pieces of the program while legal challenges move forward, notably by requiring the administration to allow people enrolled in it to renew their protected status. The Supreme Court's decision on Monday not to hear the government's appeal will keep the program alive for months. That will temporarily shield the young immigrants who already had signed up for the DACA program from immediate deportation, and allow them to keep working legally in the United States. Their status lasts for two years and is renewable. The court's decision also could relieve the immediate political pressure on lawmakers to permanently address the status of those immigrants, or to deal with the additional one million Dreamers who had never signed up for the DACA program. They remain at risk of deportation if immigration agents find them.

250 + Organizations call for Sensible Immigration Reform

Including DSA. 
February 13, 2018
Dear Members of Congress:
We, the undersigned immigration, refugee, faith, education, youth, health, labor and civil liberties organizations write to express our commitment to securing permanent protections for Dreamers and call on Congress to pass the Dream Act without further delay.
Securing permanent protections for all Dreamers, including but not limited to those eligible for protection under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, must be the guiding light for senators in the week ahead; the American people overwhelmingly support a path to citizenship, not a kick-the-can-down-the-road temporary solution. Importantly, protecting Dreamers cannot come at the cost of harming other immigrants or immigrant communities, nor can it entail militarizing the border, keeping families apart, or undermining life-saving humanitarian protections.
President Trump ended DACA on September 5th, 2017. Since then more than 19,000 immigrant youth who put their full faith in the U.S. government have lost the ability to work, study, and live without fear of deportation; hundreds of thousands more will lose protections in the months ahead. Despite President Trump’s promise to support a “bill of love,” he has rejected multiple bipartisan efforts at compromise. And now, through the White House’s ‘Legislative Framework’ on immigration, he has instead doubled down on efforts to radically reshape the United States’ immigration policies and, in doing so, the face of America to the world.
Let’s be clear: The White House Framework would take the country backwards in an echo of restrictive policies not seen since the 1920s, while using the fate of Dreamers as bait. Congress must reject these nativist overtures. President Trump and Congressional Republicans created this moral crisis and it is up to them to work in good faith with Democrats to reach a narrow agreement that pairs a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers with smart and sensible border security measures.
Members of Congress must oppose efforts to hold Dreamers hostage in exchange for a nativist wish list. Anything that goes beyond the scope of the original agreement from last fall—namely, protecting Dreamers and making additional investments in reasonable border security—must be rejected.
Here are the issues which our organizations will not accept in any legislation:
Border Militarization: Trump’s Wall and Deportation Force
Congress must oppose efforts to expand President Trump’s mass deportation force and build his wall—a wasteful and unpopular policy that will only harm border communities—and must oppose ramping up enforcement actions against asylum seekers, unaccompanied children, and immigrant communities across the country.

Demand a Clean Dream Act

Congress has once again ignored the crisis it has created for undocumented youth. That’s why we are walking from New York City to Washington, DCstarting February 15th until March 1st to demand a Clean Dream Act and answer the question: How far will you go to protect your home?

Immigrants are tired of false promises and of having their stories pushed to the side. These stories involve pain, suffering, happiness, and love. Yet, we are willing to walk 250 miles in the winter to show how we are willing to sustain the roots we have created in here in our home.

Would you donate $10 to support our journey to stay home?

We believe in you, as our classmates, coworkers, friends, and neighbors and we need your support as full time or part-time walkers. Can you support us with ensuring the wellbeing, nourishments, and sustainability of our walkers in the NY/NJ/DC area? The fight for permanent protection is a nationwide effort. Are you willing to take part in solidarity actions that help highlight the journey home and narratives of members in your community? 

Juan Carlos Carabantes, Seed Project

LULAC On Dreamers and the Trump Proposals

nd | Subscribe |  |  |  For Immediate Release January 31, 2018 LULAC OPPOSES TRUMP IMMIGRATION FRAMEWORK CALLS UPON CONGRESS TO PASS A CLEAN DREAM ACT Washington, D.C. – The League of United Latin American Citizens has long supported the passage of a clean DREAM Act that would provide a pathway to citizenship for 1.8 million immigrants who were brought to this country as children by their parents and have graduated from high school. The issue has taken on even more urgency with LULAC since the election of Donald Trump and his decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program by March 5, 2018. Our position on the DREAM Act has been clear: we believe that passing the DREAM Act is the right thing to do for the DREAMers and in the best interest of the United States who will benefit from their talent and work ethic. This position has been adopted by the National Assembly of LULAC on multiple occasions and remains in force today. We do not believe that the DREAM Act should be coupled with any additional border enforcement measures or the elimination of family visa categories, since the bill by itself represents the best of American values, and gives blameless young people the chance to succeed and contribute to our country. Not surprisingly, eighty-six percent of the American public agrees with us and supports the passage of the DREAM Act.

Trump Seeks to Use Dreamers as Bargaining Chips Against Immigrant Communities

Response to a Truth Challenged President

In the State of the Union, President Trump claims to offer a “down the middle compromise” on immigration.   It is not.  Instead  Trump  continues his attack on immigrants in the United States with his administration’s latest immigration plan. Rather than dealing humanely with the current crisis of immigration, the Trump Administration proposes to waste some 25 Billion dollars of taxpayer money to further militarize border communities by building walls and deploying more federal agents to immigrant communities across the nation. The changes in immigration law proposed by the Trump administration will not benefit  our people. They will only devastate communities while pleasing a few white nationalists.  

In his speech he repeats his proposed framework  as a compromise for revising immigration law. They demand 25 billion dollars for the border wall, more personnel for ICE, and an increased authority to deport immigrants. This proposal differs from prior plans released by the White House because the Republican administration included a provision that would grant legal status to 1.8 million immigrants, including DACA recipients. In exchange, the Republican White House expects to gain the resources and authorization to terrorize the 9.2 million immigrants who will not receive legal status.  The Trump administration’s immigration agenda is deplorable and unacceptable.

The White House framework is  another version of the list of demands they released October 2017. Those demands include deporting children seeking asylum, easing the requirements for deportations, expanding the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) authority, allowing state governments to enforce immigration laws and protecting those state governments from being sued after deporting and detaining immigrants.   Republican Congressmen justify these brutal proposals by saying that they are necessary for national security, including the need to fight gangs like MS-13. They further justify their proposals for mass deportations by saying that those who became refugees in this country did so by abusing loopholes.

Trump immigration Proposals : Whte Nationalism

The Trump Proposals. January 26, 2018.

For the Anglo community, this is an advance of the Nativist Wing of the Republican Party.

For Latinos and immigrants, this is fascism.

Our Coalition Partner United We Dream called the proposal . “ a white supremacist ransom note.”

Congress refused  to pass the DREAM act on Monday, leaving 800,000 immigrants vulnerable to deportation in the near future. For 16 years, those hundreds of thousands of DREAMERs have waited for congress to pass the DREAM act. In that time, the DREAMERs gained a fragile legal status thanks to DACA in 2012. Now they lack even that, with only a temporary injunction against Trump’s cancellation of DACA protecting them from losing their right to live and work in the U.S.

We condemn the Republican Party and President Trump for their assault on immigrants, their militarization of the border, their assault on sanctuary cities, their efforts to end family unification and for their termination of DACA and TPS. 

We must unite with others to oppose the Administration proposals.

The Democratic Socialists of America will stand with immigrant communities to fight for a just immigration reform bill. Congress must not pass the Trump administration’s version of immigration reform, which would destroy the lives of millions. Any bill that passes needs to protect the rights of immigrants by granting them citizenship. Anything else is unacceptable. The upcoming weeks will be critical. The next deadline is February 8^th. Now is the time to organize.

For a more detailed description, see our post of January 22.

http://www.dsausa.org/the_republican_shut_down_of_the_u_s_government

For daily coverage follow this blog. 

Immigrants’ Rights Committee. DSA.

DSA.immigration@gmail.com

Support for Dreamers

The Dreamers and the Border

The White House has demanded that an increase of 33 billion dollars in funding for anti-immigrant measures be included as a part of the DREAM act. 18 Billion dollars of this funding increase would be spent on the border wall and the rest on terrorizing immigrant communities in this country. 

 As the Southern Border Communities Coalition says, “The Administration’s  misguided and outlandish proposal would waste $33 Billion dollars of taxpayer money to further militarize border communities, by building walls and deploying more federal agents. This funding request is an affront to the 15 million people who call the borderlands home . The funding proposal  further  fails to address border residents’ true needs including oversight and accountability for abusive Customs and Border Protection personnel.  Increasing the number of agents would have little to no impact on security and would be fiscally irresponsible and unwarranted.”

The Administration’s   demands include more deportations, punishments for cities that protect their immigrants with sanctuary laws, and an increase in  ICE’s budget. 

These demands are unacceptable. If the White House’s version of the DREAM act passes, immigrants in this country will face arbitrary harassment by hostile federal agencies. The White House claims that this violence is necessary in order to fight terrorism and drug cartels. These threats used to justify their draconian demands are either imaginary or exacerbated by our deportation policy.

The Administration also claim that they want additional measures to punish those who use what the administration calls loopholes in our immigration laws including the preferences  for family unification.  Removing these “loopholes” would uproot thousands of people who know no other home, many of whom are children. Congress must instead pass a clean DREAM act. Anything else will wreck countless lives on both sides of the border."

Duane Campbell 
Immigrants' Rights Committee
Brandon Rey Ramirez
Immigrants Rights Committee  Co-Chairs

Some Democrats Join Deportation Caucus

"Senate Dems threw undocumented youth under the bus AGAIN. There are enough votes now to extended government funding to January 19th with some Dem votes. In the meantime, more and more Dreamers are losing their protection," reports Erika Andiola, undocumented American and Political Director of Our Revolution.

Who is responsible? The Deportation Caucus: 

• Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-IN)
• Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH)
• Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT)
• Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV)
• Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI)
• Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-MO)
• Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)
• Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM) 
• Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE)
• Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO)
• Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA)
• Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NV)
• Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) 
• Sen. Chris Coons (D-CT)

January 19th may be the last opportunity to force the DREAM Act before March 5, when all DACA protections expire. Shame on the Democrats who caved, but we'll remember what they failed to do and we'll keep on fighting.

And, of course, the entire Republican majority,

To the organizers, the activists, the supporters who fought back, thank you a thousand times.

To the Dreamers whose futures hang in uncertainty, we are are with you. The struggle continues.

In solidarity,

Brandon Rey Ramirez
DSA Immigrants’ Rights Committee Co-Chair
Los Angeles

Duane Campbell
DSA national Immigrants’ Rights Committee Co-Chair
Sacramento 

Republicans discuss a "Deal" on DACA

SENATORS EYE DACA DEAL IN JANUARY: "Top senators and White House officials are laying the groundwork for a major immigration deal in January to resolve the fate of young undocumented immigrants whose legal protections were put in limbo by President Donald Trump," write POLITICO's Seung Min Kim, Heather Caygle and Elana Schor. 

"At a Tuesday afternoon meeting with nearly a dozen senators deeply involved in immigration policy, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly pledged that the administration will soon present a list of border security and other policy changes it wants as part of a broader deal on so-called Dreamers, according to people who attended the meeting," POLITICO reports. "The plan could come in a matter of days, senators said."

"About a half-dozen senators have been negotiating a bipartisan package prompted by Trump's decision to kill the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, an Obama-era executive action that granted work permits to nearly 800,000 undocumented immigrants who came here as minors," the trio report. "Yet the senators could not fully flesh out a deal before they knew what Trump was willing to sign."

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday dismissed the idea that the Senate could grapple with DACA-related legislation before the end of the year. Congress needs to pass a spending bill by Friday to avoid a government shutdown. "No, we'll not be doing DACA ... this week," McConnell said. "That's a matter to be discussed next year. The president has given us until March to address that issue. We have plenty of time to do it." DACA enrollment will begin to expire in large numbers by March, according to the timeline crafted by the Trump administration. 

The prospect of a January bargain could give lawmakers cover if they opt to ignore DACA for now. But it isn't certain Democrats will go along. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer "put Republicans on notice Tuesday that they shouldn't count on Democratic votes for a short-term funding package that includes just some of Democrats' priorities - such as children's health insurance - while leaving immigration for next year." More from POLITICO's Kim, Caygle and Schor here.

From Politico

Right Now : DACA Recipients Risk Arrest in Washington, D.C.

Right now, I am one of 7 DACA recipients risking arrest on Capitol Hill demanding that Congress pass a clean Dream Act as part of the year-end spending bill. Click here and share our livestream! The plan is that Erika, Belen, Juan Carlos, Hector, Barbara, Li and I refuse to identify ourselves - attempting to remain in jail - until Congressional leaders confirm that they will block any spending bill without protection for Dreamers. This is a powerful demand and an unprecedented sacrifice from undocumented youth that needs to be amplified across the country! Click here to watch the action and hear from us why we are making this sacrifice and risking deportation. Over 3 months have passed since the White House repealed DACA, and Congress says there’s no urgency to act by the end of the year. But every day the Dream Act does not pass, undocumented youth are at risk of detention and deportation. Thousands have already lost their work permits, jobs, and sense of safety. Right now in Washington, D.C., DACA recipients are making a deep sacrifice--risking deportation--as a call to action to the nation. Can you share the livestream of our action? This is it. We have until December 22nd to ensure Congress passes a clean Dream Act and grants permanent protection to undocumented youth as part of the spending bill. And with brave DACA recipients risking deportation in D.C., we are building the momentum to make that possible! But to win, we need to make tons of noise and demand #NoDreamNoDeal. All the politicians who claim to “stand with the Dreamers” must do more -- they must commit to rejecting any spending bill that does not include the Dream Act. Can you share our story? With hope, Cata Santiago