Defend DACA, TPS, the Immigrant Community

 

By Greisa Martinez Rosas, Javier H. Valdes, and Marisa Franco

The first two weeks of Joe Biden’s presidency brought relief to millions of people across the country, including those who fight for immigrant justice. So far, we have seen several immigration actions by the Biden administration—including the restoration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), the end of the Muslim Ban, the creation of task force to reunite children with their families, the announcement of a moratorium on deportations, and the introduction of legislation to provide a path to citizenship for millions of undocumented people.

In short, President Biden has started the long process of undoing the damage wrought by the Trump administration and is turning federal immigration policies in a new direction.

President Biden deserves credit for honoring key Day One commitments to our communities. But reversing Trumpism can only be the first step. We don’t want to return to “normal.” We need to build toward a more just future.

We need a presidential administration that is prepared to dismantle cruel and inhumane detention and deportation policies and detention centers and reunite families who have been separated.

The Biden administration needs to keep taking action to dismantle the enforcement system, fundamentally reform the government agencies tasked with enforcing immigration to put human rights and needs first, and ensure that Congress adopts a path to citizenship for all of our community members.

Through several hundred executive orders and actions, Trump expedited the building of a racist border wall, tore children from their parents’ arms, banned people based on their religious identity, stripped immigrant youth and Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders of their protections from deportations, imposed a racist wealth test on our immigration system, and turbo-charged an enforcement apparatus that was already well known for systematically violating people’s rights. The list goes on.

Of course, the Biden administration must make the full reversal of these nativist actions a top priority, and all of these executive actions must be undone. But returning to the 2016 status quo is simply not an acceptable option. It’s worth reiterating what we already know.

First, since 2001, the federal government has poured billions and billions of dollars into an immigration enforcement system that fuels human misery. More money is now spent on immigration enforcement than on all other federal enforcement combined, and the agencies in charge —Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Patrol, both part of the Department of Homeland Security— are notorious for violating detainees’ rights, torture, and even murder. In the last fiscal year, 21 immigrants died in ICE detention. A 2018 analysis found that CBP agents had killed 97 people over the prior 15 years, under both Republican and Democratic administrations.

Second, despite the widespread reporting on rampant abuses, these agencies have proven allergic to accountability. Immediately after Biden’s moratorium announcement, it became clear that ICE officials were refusing to implement the new administration’s policies—unsurprising given what we know about the white supremacist views of many within ICE and CBP.

These are not cases of bad apples who need to be retrained. These are ruthless agencies that must be dismantled.

In addition to fighting to protect the moratorium that has now been attacked by Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton, President Biden and incoming DHS Secretary-Elect Alejandro Mayorkas should establish a goal of ending immigration detention within two years. They can achieve this by immediately reducing detention levels starting by releasing everyone at heightened risk of COVID and simultaneously initiating a file review of every person in ICE custody.

The administration should also end state and local entanglement with federal immigration enforcement that has torn apart families across the country, end the notorious Operation Streamline, and immigration-relation prosecutions.

As it ends these policies, Biden and Mayorkas should adopt new prosecutorial discretion guidelines to significantly reduce the universe of people targeted for deportation with the goals of keeping families together; counteracting racial injustice in the immigration system; declining to pursue charges that are stale via a policy akin to a five-year statute of limitations; allowing people who are eligible for affirmative pathways to legal status a fair chance to comply with the law; and undertaking a complete EOIR docket review consistent with these new guidelines.

This list is not exhaustive, but provides a clear set of policies that would truly move this country away from the racist, abusive enforcement that has characterized the past two decades, and especially the past four years.

Finally, the Day One bill cannot just be a messaging bill. The administration must make it a top priority for passage this year, using every tool at its disposal to ensure legislators pass it on Capitol Hill. With Democrats in control of the White House and both chambers of Congress, there is no reason for delay. President Biden, Speaker Pelosi, and Majority Leader Schumer must work together to deliver the path to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants this year.

***

Greisa Martinez Rosas is the Executive Director of United We Dream. Javier H. Valdes is Co-Executive Director of Make the Road New York. Marisa Franco is the Director of Mijente.

Latino Rebels

Migrant Families at the Border

 https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/06/us/migrants-border-coronavirus-san-diego.html?

Migrant Families Force Biden to Confront New Border Crisis

In recent days, hundreds of migrant families have been released into the United States by Border Patrol agents. Thousands more are hoping for a chance to enter under looser policies.

Feb. 6, 2021, 5:00 a.m. ET

 

ICE CONTINUES Deportations !

 HOUSTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s administration has deported hundreds of immigrants in its early days despite his campaign pledge to stop removing most people in the U.S. illegally at the beginning of his term.

A federal judge last week ordered the Biden administration not to enforce a 100-day moratorium on deportations, but the ruling did not require the government to schedule them. In recent days, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has deported immigrants to at least three countries: 15 people to Jamaica on Thursday and 269 people to Guatemala and Honduras on Friday. More deportation flights were scheduled Monday.

It’s unclear how many of those people are considered national security or public safety threats or had recently crossed the border illegally, the priority under new guidance that the Department of Homeland Security issued to enforcement agencies and that took effect Monday.

Some of the people put on the flights may have been expelled —which is a quicker process than deportation— under a public health order that former President Donald Trump invoked during the coronavirus pandemic and that Biden has kept in place.

In the border city of El Paso, Texas, immigration authorities on Friday deported a womanwho witnessed the 2019 massacre at a Walmart that left 22 people dead. She had agreed to be a witness against the gunman and has met with the local district attorney’s office, according to her lawyers.

Rosa was pulled over Wednesday for a broken brake light, detained based on previous traffic warrants, then transferred to ICE, which deported her before she could reach her attorney, said Melissa Lopez, executive director of the nonprofit Diocesan Migrant & Refugee Services, which represents her.

Rosa is being identified only by her first name because she fears for her safety in Juárez, a city across the U.S.-Mexico border from El Paso that’s known for violence and gang activity.

Jail records confirm that Rosa was booked into the El Paso jail on Wednesday for the warrants and left Friday. ICE had issued what’s known as a “detainer,” seeking to hold her on immigration violations the day she was arrested, according to the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office.

The El Paso district attorney’s office confirmed in a statement Monday that it had given Rosa’s attorneys the documentation needed to request a U.S. visa for crime victims. But the statement also said Rosa “is not a victim of the Walmart shooting case.” The district attorney did not immediately respond to follow-up questions.

Her lawyers say Rosa pleaded guilty in 2018 to driving under the influence and ICE later released her, underscoring that authorities under Trump previously found she wasn’t a threat to the public, Lopez said.

Both Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris vocally opposed the Trump administration’s immigration priorities during the presidential campaign.

“It’s important that President Biden and Vice President Harris realize that despite their very clear desires about how immigrants are treated, we continue to see on a local level immigrants being mistreated and disregarded,” Lopez said.

ICE said Friday that it had deported people to Jamaica and that it was in compliance with last week’s court order. The agency did not respond to several requests for further comment on additional deportation flights or Rosa’s case.

Officials in Honduras confirmed that 131 people were on a deportation flight that landed Friday. Another flight that landed in Guatemala on Friday had 138 people, with an additional 30 people expected to arrive Monday, officials there said.

The White House referred questions to the Department of Homeland Security, but a spokesman did not return requests for comment.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar of Texas, whose district includes El Paso, said her office had flagged Rosa’s case to the White House.

“My concern is that ICE will continue to move quickly before the Biden administration has an opportunity to make assessments and provide further directives,” Escobar said Monday.

Two legal experts say that regardless of the judge’s order on the deportation moratorium, ICE could release immigrants with deportation orders, keep people detained or otherwise delay the deportation process.

“Scheduling deportations is still a matter of discretion for the agency,” said Steve Yale-Loehr, an immigration law professor at Cornell University.

U.S. District Judge Drew Tipton last week granted a temporary restraining order sought by Texas that bars enforcement of a 100-day deportation moratorium that had gone into effect January 22. Tipton said the Biden administration had violated the federal Administrative Procedure Act in issuing the moratorium and had not proven why a pause in deportations was necessary.

Tipton on Friday said he would extend his order through February 23. The Justice Department has not yet asked Tipton or a federal appeals court to block the order.

The White House on Friday reissued a statement saying it believed a moratorium was “wholly appropriate,” adding that “President Biden remains committed to taking immediate action to reform our immigration system to ensure it’s upholding American values while keeping our communities safe.”

Biden is expected to issue a series of immigration-related executive orders Tuesday amid the expected confirmation of Alejandro Mayorkas as Homeland Security secretary. Those orders are expected to include the formation of a task force to reunify families separated during the Trump administration.

***

Associated Press journalists Will Weissert in Washington, María Verza in Mexico City, and Sonia Pérez D. in Guatemala City contributed to this report.

What did the executive orders do?  Form commissions to study the situation.

Trump Official’s Last-Day Deal With ICE Union Ties Biden’s Hands

A whistle-blower accused Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II of an abuse of power in making sweeping concessions to pro-Trump Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

 

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/01/us/politics/cuccinelli-biden-ice.html

Mijente National Call: Biden Immigration Announcements

ICE Detention Centers Remain

 Private prisons cover only about 8 percent of the prison population at the federal, state, and local level. Ending Justice Department contracts certainly sends a signal, but private prisons just don’t have that much of a footprint in domestic incarceration. They have an enormous footprint in immigration detention, where something like 72 percent of migrants under ICE’s control sleep in privatized detention beds, mostly managed by the two big private prison companies, CoreCivic and GEO Group. Yet the Biden order, like the Obama order from 2016 that it restores, only ends contracts between the Justice Department and the private prison industry, not the Department of Homeland Security. The latter would make an actual difference to the private prison business model, and make it extremely hard to detain immigrants in the near term. That road wasn’t taken.

David Dayen , American Prospect. 

What Biden can do.

https://capitalandmain.com/will-president-biden-keep-candidate-bidens-immigration-reform-promises-0115

Moratorium on Deportations- And Court Order

   EFFECTS OF COURT ORDER BLOCKING DEPORTATION MORATORIUM

100-Day Moratorium on Deportations and Enforcement Priorities

On January 20, 2021, the DHS Acting Secretary issued a memo that:

(A) Ordered the agency (including ICE & CBP) to review all enforcement policies and consider what they should change;

(B) Ordered ICE to prioritize certain groups of people for removal proceedings, arrest, detention, and deportation. These categories go into effect on February 1 and may change after ICE issues more guidance. The categories include:

● People the government suspects of terrorism or espionage or considers to be a danger to national security;

● People who entered the US on or after November 1, 2020;

● People who were released from criminal custody in jail or prison on January 20,

2021 or later, and who have an “aggravated felony” conviction (a type of conviction according to immigration law that may include misdemeanor and nonviolent offenses), and who the government believes pose a threat to public safety; and

(C) Paused most deportations, except:

● People who entered the US on or after November 1, 2020;

● People the government suspects of terrorism or espionage or considers to be a

danger to national security;

● People who, after talking to a lawyer, voluntarily sign a form saying they agree to

be deported; and

● People the ICE Director determines must be deported by law.

Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) Temporarily Stopping the Moratorium on Deportations

On January 22, 2021, Texas sued the US government to stop the January 20 Memo from taking effect. On January 26, a judge in Texas issued a TRO against the moratorium.

A TRO is a temporary block on a government action so that the judge can consider the case before the government action happens. In this case, the judge said that the Biden Administration cannot pause deportations while the judge is considering Texas’s case.

Although the reasoning behind the TRO is wrong and deeply unjust, it unfortunately means that the moratorium on deportations is temporarily paused.

Here are the key things to know about what the TRO does and does not do:

 

● The TRO does not block the change in ICE’s priorities. ICE is still ordered to focus its enforcement on the more limited groups of people from the memo, starting February 1. People who do not fall into one of those groups may request prosecutorial discretion, which means that ICE may agree not to deport or take other actions against them.

● The TRO applies to the moratorium on deportations. ICE may now deport people who have a final order of removal. A final order of removal is when an immigration judge has ordered a person removed and that person either decided not to appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals, or lost their appeal.

● The TRO does not require the government to deport people. It just stops the government from automatically pausing all deportations. People who have final orders of removal can still apply for stays of removal (a request that ICE not deport someone even when they have a final order) or other forms of prosecutorial discretion. ICE should still consider the new enforcement priorities when deciding whether or not to grant stays and prosecutorial discretion. And other federal courts can still issue their own stays of removal in other cases (for example if a person has a petition for review at a Circuit Court).

● The TRO does not stop people who are detained from asking for release. For example, people who are especially at risk of severe illness or death from COVID may still ask for release from detention under Fraihat, and detained people may still ask for release under bond or orders of supervision.

The TRO is in effect for 14 days. The judge has ordered another round of briefing in the case, which means there is likely to be another hearing and a new decision sometime in the next week or two. We will continue to issue advisories as the situation develops.

Please note this information is intended as a resource for community members and does not constitute legal advice. If you have questions about this fact sheet, please contact Joseph Meyers at jmeyers@nipnlg.org or La Resistencia at resistenciasolidarity@gmail.com or at 800-357-3196.

           2

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ngajQ2Lk2GEY0jPwA0IwCEaHcUVolcZZ/view?usp=drivesdk

-- 

Details of New Immigration Proposals

 Mijente's 12-minute video reaction to Biden legislative proposal and moratorium

Fact sheet on proposed immigration law

Biden Immigration Proposal:

 FACT SHEET:

President Biden Sends Immigration Bill to Congress as Part of His Commitment to Modernize our Immigration System

The U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021 establishes a new system to responsibly manage and secure our border, keep our families and communities safe, and better manage migration across the Hemisphere

President Biden is sending a bill to Congress on day one to restore humanity and American values to our immigration system. The bill provides hardworking people who enrich our communities every day and who have lived here for years, in some cases for decades, an opportunity to earn citizenship. The legislation modernizes our immigration system, and prioritizes keeping families together, growing our economy, responsibly managing the border with smart investments, addressing the root causes of migration from Central America, and ensuring that the United States remains a refuge for those fleeing persecution. The bill will stimulate our economy while ensuring that every worker is protected. The bill creates an earned path to citizenship for our immigrant neighbors, colleagues, parishioners, community leaders, friends, and loved ones—including Dreamers and the essential workers who have risked their lives to serve and protect American communities.

The U.S. Citizenship Act will:

PROVIDE PATHWAYS TO CITIZENSHIP & STRENGTHEN LABOR PROTECTIONS

● Create an earned roadmap to citizenship for undocumented individuals. The bill allows undocumented individuals to apply for temporary legal status, with

the ability to apply for green cards after five years if they pass criminal and national security background checks and pay their taxes. Dreamers, TPS holders, and immigrant farmworkers who meet specific requirements are eligible for green cards immediately under the legislation. After three years, all green card holders who pass additional background checks and demonstrate knowledge of English and U.S. civics can apply to become citizens. Applicants must be physically present in the United States on or before January 1, 2021. The Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) may waive the presence requirement for those deported on or after January 20, 2017 who were physically present for at least three years prior to removal for family unity and other humanitarian purposes. Lastly, the bill further recognizes America as a nation of immigrants by changing the word “alien” to “noncitizen” in our immigration laws.

 

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Embargoed for 5 AM January 20

• ●  Keep families together. ​The bill reforms the family-based immigration system by clearing backlogs, recapturing unused visas, eliminating lengthy wait times, and increasing per-country visa caps. It also eliminates the so-called “3 and 10-year bars,” and other provisions that keep families apart. The bill further supports familes by more explicitly including permanent partnerships and eliminating discrimination facing LGBTQ+ families. It also provides protections for orphans, widows, children, and Filipino veterans who fought alongside the United States in World War II. Lastly, the bill allows immigrants with approved family-sponsorship petitions to join family in the United States on a temporary basis while they wait for green cards to become available.

• ●  Embrace diversity. ​The bill includes the NO BAN Act that prohibits discrimination based on religion and limits presidential authority to issue future bans. The bill also increases Diversity Visas to 80,000 from 55,000.

• ●  Promote immigrant and refugee integration and citizenship. ​The bill provides new funding to state and local governments, private organizations, educational institutions, community-based organizations, and not-for-profit organizations to expand programs to promote integration and inclusion, increase English-language instruction, and provide assistance to individuals seeking to become citizens.

• ●  Grow our economy. ​This bill clears employment-based visa backlogs, recaptures unused visas, reduces lengthy wait times, and eliminates per-country visa caps. The bill makes it easier for graduates of U.S. universities with advanced STEM degrees to stay in the United States; improves access to green cards for workers in lower-wage sectors; and eliminates other unnecessary hurdles for employment-based green cards. The bill provides dependents of H-1B visa holders work authorization, and children are prevented from “aging out” of the system. The bill also creates a pilot program to stimulate regional economic development, gives DHS the authority to adjust green cards based on macroeconomic conditions, and incentivizes higher wages for non-immigrant, high-skilled visas to prevent unfair competition with American workers.

• ●  Protect workers from exploitation and improve the employment verification process. ​The bill requires that DHS and the Department of Labor establish a commission involving labor, employer, and civil rights organizations to make recommendations for improving the employment verification process. Workers who suffer serious labor violations and cooperate with worker protection agencies will be granted greater access to U visa relief. The bill protects workers who are victims of workplace retaliation from deportation in order to allow labor agencies to interview these workers. It also protects migrant and seasonal workers, and increases penalties for employers who violate labor laws.

  PRIORITIZE SMART BORDER CONTROLS

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Embargoed for 5 AM January 20

• ●  Supplement existing border resources with technology and infrastructure. ​The legislation builds on record budget allocations for immigration enforcement by authorizing additional funding for the Secretary of DHS to develop and implement a plan to deploy technology to expedite screening and enhance the ability to identify narcotics and other contraband at every land, air, and sea port of entry. This includes high-throughput scanning technologies to ensure that all commercial and passenger vehicles and freight rail traffic entering the United States at land ports of entry and rail-border crossings along the border undergo pre-primary scanning. It also authorizes and provides funding for plans to improve infrastructure at ports of entry to enhance the ability to process asylum seekers and detect, interdict, disrupt and prevent narcotics from entering the United States. It authorizes the DHS Secretary to develop and implement a strategy to manage and secure the southern border between ports of entry that focuses on flexible solutions and technologies that expand the ability to detect illicit activity, evaluate the effectiveness of border security operations, and be easily relocated and broken out by Border Patrol Sector. To protect privacy, the DHS Inspector General is authorized to conduct oversight to ensure that employed technology effectively serves legitimate agency purposes.

• ●  Manage the border and protect border communities. ​The bill provides funding for training and continuing education to promote agent and officer safety and professionalism. It also creates a Border Community Stakeholder Advisory Committee, provides more special agents at the DHS Office of Professional Responsibility to investigate criminal and administrative misconduct, and requires the issuance of department-wide policies governing the use of force. The bill directs the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to study the impact of DHS’s authority to waive environmental and state and federal laws to expedite the construction of barriers and roads near U.S. borders and provides for additional rescue beacons to prevent needless deaths along the border. The bill authorizes and provides funding for DHS, in coordination with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and nongovernmental experts, to develop guidelines and protocols for standards of care for individuals, families, and children in CBP custody.

• ●  Crack down on criminal organizations.​ The bill enhances the ability to prosecute individuals involved in smuggling and trafficking networks who are responsible for the exploitation of migrants. It also expands investigations, intelligence collection and analysis pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act to increase sanctions against foreign narcotics traffickers, their organizations and networks. The bill also requires the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and DHS, in coordination with the Secretary of State, to improve and expand transnational anti-gang task forces in Central America.

  ADDRESS ROOT CAUSES OF MIGRATION

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Embargoed for 5 AM January 20

• ●  Start from the source. ​The bill codifies and funds the President’s $4 billion four-year inter-agency plan to address the underlying causes of migration in the region, including by increasing assistance to El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, conditioned on their ability to reduce the endemic corruption, violence, and poverty that causes people to flee their home countries. It also creates safe and legal channels for people to seek protection, including by establishing Designated Processing Centers throughout Central America to register and process displaced persons for refugee resettlement and other lawful migration avenues—either to the United States or other partner countries. The bill also re-institutes the Central American Minors program to reunite children with U.S. relatives and creates a Central American Family Reunification Parole Program to more quickly unite families with approved family sponsorship petitions.

• ●  Improve the immigration courts and protect vulnerable individuals. ​The bill expands family case management programs, reduces immigration court backlogs, expands training for immigration judges, and improves technology for immigration courts. The bill also restores fairness and balance to our immigration system by providing judges and adjudicators with discretion to review cases and grant relief to deserving individuals. Funding is authorized for legal orientation programs and counsel for children, vulnerable individuals, and others when necessary to ensure the fair and efficient resolution of their claims. The bill also provides funding for school districts educating unaccompanied children, while clarifying sponsor responsibilities for such children.

• ●  Support asylum seekers and other vulnerable populations.​ The bill eliminates the one-year deadline for filing asylum claims and provides funding to reduce asylum application backlogs. It also increases protections for U visa, T visa, and VAWA applicants, including by raising the cap on U visas from 10,000 to 30,000. The bill also expands protections for foreign nationals assisting U.S. troops.

  ###

4

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Georgia Con Ganas: We'll Never Give Up

Latinos Win in Georgia !

 

We just made history: We pulled off the biggest Latinx voter turnout operation in Georgia history and contacted EVERY Latinx voter in the state!   The polls recently closed, so we don’t yet know the results of the election.But we do know this: When the surprise runoff was announced, we put our heads down and hit the pavement, working with our partners GLAHR Action network to hire 200 organizers and recruit an army of hundreds of volunteers.    In just 8 weeks, our team broke record after record. We knocked on 321,000 doors, made 276,000 phone calls, and sent 377,000 text messages to get our gente to the polls and build power for our community.    Thank you to each and every one of you who participated in our phone and text banks, joined our door knocking, or helped amplify our message. Here is a little bit more of what we would like to highlight: Check out the video released today telling the history of our organizing in Georgia</strong>. Read this twitter thread from Mijente’s political director about our field work and how we were able to reach every Latinx vote.  Share this speech by Adelina Nicholls about how Georgia won’t have another election without the Latinx community and people of color. Read this story about the impact of our organizing.    But we still have lots of work to do. So we have an important question: If you are Latinx, Boricua, or Chicanx, will you become a Mijente member today and join the fight for justice and radical change?   As AOC said yesterday: Mijente “no juegan.” And she’s right. We throw down for our gente and run history-making campaigns. But the numbers don’t tell the whole story.    For example, earlier today, two of our organizers, Julio and Sandra, were asked to stick around at their local polling location to help dozens of Spanish speaking voters who needed assistance casting their ballots because the polling location did not have interpreters. Without Julio and Sandra -- and dozens of other organizers like them across the state -- it’s possible that hundreds or even thousands of our people could be disenfranchised.    Our victory today is of a lineage of long term, grassroots community organizing by organizations like GLAHR Action Network and Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights who have been on the front lines for human and civil rights for the growing Latinx community in Georgia.    Victories like the one today will only embolden community members who are everyday discovering their power and potential.    But we have a lot of work ahead of us. And we’re going to need to work together and organize together to ensure our communities are treated with the respect and dignity they deserve. Mijente is a national movement of everyday Latinos standing up to the injustices and building safety for our gente. We are organizers, teachers, caretakers, healers, lawyers, council members, and so much more — each of us doing what we can.   Join us by becoming a member today.   En la lucha,  Tania Unzueta Political Director

Biden Backtracks- Already !

 

Reversal of Trump immigration policies will ‘take time,’ Biden team says

Maria Sacchetti

Top advisers to President-elect Joe Biden said Tuesday they will not immediately roll back asylum restrictions at the Mexican border and other Trump immigration policies, tamping down expectations for the kind of swift reversals Biden promised on the campaign trail.

Speaking to reporters on a conference call, several members of the Biden transition team said the incoming administration would “need time” to undo “damage” to the U.S. immigration system and border enforcement policies that have severely limited the ability of asylum seekers to qualify for humanitarian protection.

The transition officials echoed statements made by Susan E. Rice, Biden’s incoming domestic policy adviser, and Jake Sullivan, his pick for national security adviser, in an exclusive interview published Monday with the Spanish wire service EFE urging patience with their immigration agenda.

Rice told EFE that Biden will use executive authority to implement his immigration agenda, but her cautious statements appeared to reflect the incoming administration’s worries that easing up too quickly on Trump’s enforcement system could trigger a new migration surge at the border.

“Migrants and asylum seekers absolutely should not believe those in the region peddling the idea that the border will suddenly be fully open to process everyone on Day 1. It will not,” Rice said, according to a translation of the interview transcript.

Immigrant advocacy groups and others who deplore Trump’s policies have pushed Biden to embrace wholesale changes to a U.S. enforcement model designed to deter illegal migration through a system of detention and deportation.

Biden’s policies on immigration

Rice told EFE the new administration would offer a “transformative vision for addressing migration in our region” and would work to build “a fair, humane, and orderly immigration system.”

“We will be able to take some steps to change policies right away,” Rice said. “Others will take time to put in place, and the situation at the border will not transform overnight due in large part to the damage done over the last four years. But we are committed to addressing it in full.”

Rice said Biden will not immediately end the practice of rapidly “expelling” migrants to Mexico, measures implemented by the Trump administration in March, citing public health concerns. The measures allow U.S. agents to wave off normal asylum procedures and promptly return most border-crossers to Mexico, an arrangement Homeland Security officials say is needed to prevent further spread of the coronavirus inside border stations and detention centers.

Rice told EFE “processing capacity at the border is not like a light that you can just switch on and off.”

Said Rice: “Our priority is to reopen asylum processing at the border consistent with the capacity to do so safely and to protect public health, especially in the context of covid-19. This effort will begin immediately, but it will take months to develop the capacity that we will need to reopen fully.”

Similarly, Sullivan told EFE that the administration would not immediately end the Migration Protection Protocols that Biden had promised to terminate on his first day in office. Under those Trump measures, asylum seekers are sent back to Mexico to wait outside U.S. territory — some in squalid tent camps — while their claims are processed in U.S. courts.

Biden vows to ‘restore and defend’ legal immigration, reversing Trump administration visa policies

“MPP has been a disaster from the start and has led to a humanitarian crisis in northern Mexico,” Sullivan said. “But putting the new policy into practice will take time.”

Rice and Sullivan told EFE that Biden will hold to his commitment to immediately introduce legislation creating a path to citizenship for 11 million people in the United States illegally. Such a proposal will face long odds in a divided Congress.

“We need legislative changes to make enduring repairs to our immigration system, and the president-elect will share his vision with Congress,” Rice said. “He is committed to working collaboratively with members of Congress to achieve the needed reform that has long eluded the country.”

Officials from Biden’s transition team said Tuesday the president-elect will suspend deportations from the U.S. interior while it “sorts out” new policies for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Rice and Sullivan told EFE the Biden administration would redouble efforts to stem emigration from Central America by creating jobs, battling corruption and improving security. Biden “will work to promptly undo” Trump’s deals with Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador allowing U.S. authorities to transfer asylum seekers to those countries, Sullivan said.

“As currently written, the outgoing administration’s so-called ‘asylum cooperative agreements’ deny the right to apply for asylum in the United States to desperate asylum seekers rather than helping create alternative pathways to protection,” he said.

The Obama administration also prioritized controlling the border and swiftly deported tens of thousands of migrants seeking work in the United States. As vice president, Biden traveled to Central America as part of a push to foster investment in migrants’ home countries so that they would not feel compelled to leave home.

But dramatically more people are arriving at the border to seek asylum — meaning they feel their lives are at risk in their homelands — posing a new challenge for Biden, because advocates say many of their fears are real.

Trump has alleged that migrants are seeking asylum because it is easier to gain entry into the United States, and his administration has implemented different programs to hold them at bay. Thousands who attempted to cross at legal ports of entry were sent to Mexico and added to waiting lists, a process called “metering” that Biden transition team officials have promised to end.

More than 65,000 others crossed the border and were sent to Mexico under Trump’s Migrant Protection Protocols; of these, about 23,000 remain in shelters and camps along the border, according to a new report by Human Rights First, a nonprofit organization that has been tracking conditions on the border.

Officials also have expelled at least 8,800 unaccompanied minors and thousands of adults, many to the nations they fled, under the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention order barring entry during the pandemic, the report said.

Kennji Kizuka, a senior researcher and policy analyst Human Rights First, said migrants in Mexico are struggling to make a living and to protect themselves in high-crime border cities. Human Rights First has tracked at least 1,300 acts of violence against migrants in Mexico, including murder.

“We want them to adopt all the safety measures that are needed,” he said of the Biden administration. “At the same time, there needs to be some sense of urgency. There are a lot of refugees who are in danger in Mexico and who can be processed safely.”

He said many were headed to the United States in part because they have family here who can shelter them.

“It can’t all happen on Day 1,” he said. “But it also shouldn’t wait until June.”

In their statements Monday and Tuesday, Biden officials did not address the incoming administration’s plans for the $15 billion border wall project, but the president-elect said during the campaign he would not build “another foot” of the barrier.

The Reality Check: WILL THE SUPREME COURT OVERRULE FARMWORKER UNION R...

The Reality Check: WILL THE SUPREME COURT OVERRULE FARMWORKER UNION R...: WILL THE SUPREME COURT OVERRULE FARMWORKER UNION RIGHTS? By David Bacon Capital & Main, November 20, 2020 https://capitalandmain.com/wil...

America’s Farmworkers—Now ‘Essential,’ but Denied the Just-Enacted Benefits

America’s Farmworkers—Now ‘Essential,’ but Denied the Just-Enacted Benefits: The undocumented workers who pick the nation’s food are excluded from the CARES Act.

Guides to the DACA Decision

DACA

On December 4, 2020 a federal judge ordered the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to fully restore the original DACA program.


What does this mean for me?

USCIS must start accepting initial DACA requests from first-time applicants.

Effective December 4, 2020, USCIS must begin to process DACA first-time requests. This includes all people who were eligible for the program but were not able to apply before the September 2017 termination, and those who applied after the June 2020 Supreme Court decision but had their request rejected.

A person can be eligible for DACA if they:
Were born after June 15, 1981;
Came to the United States before their 16th birthday;
Were physically present in the U.S. on June 15, 2012 and when applying for DACA;
Had no lawful status on June 15, 2012;
Have continuously resided in the U.S. since June 15, 2007 until the present;
Meet certain educational requirement or were honorably discharged from the U.S. Armed Forces; and
Have not been convicted of certain crimes

Individuals who are interested in applying for the program should consult a legal service provider to see how they can prepare and file a request. To find a legal service provider in your area, visit: https://bit.ly/ianimmhelp.

USCIS must process applications according to the 2012 DACA Program requirements.
All applicants who are eligible to renew their DACA can continue to submit their DACA renewal applications. This includes people who currently have DACA, whose DACA has expired, and those whose DACA was terminated, but are still eligible.

USICS will automatically extend all DACA grants issued for one year to two years.
People who applied and had their applications processed after the publication of the July 28, 2020 memo were issued DACA protections valid for one year. Now that the Court invalidated this memo, these DACA protections will be automatically extended to two years. Recipients should receive notice from USCIS indicating this extension of their case.

USCIS will process Advance Parole request for DACA recipients who can demonstrate they need to travel due to education, employment, or humanitarian reasons.
DACA recipients can apply for an international travel permit called “Advance Parole” if they can show they need to travel for “humanitarian, education, or employment” purposes. It is important that people consult a legal service provider before they apply for and travel on advance parole to discuss any risks, including COVID-19 restrictions.




Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA/DAPA) | ILRC This is ILRC's statement. and next steps.

LULAC Wants Food, Agricultural And Meat Packing Workers To Get Vaccine First

Nation’s Oldest and Largest Latino Civil Rights Organization Says Kansas Governor is Right in Prioritizing Essential Workers

Washington, DC - Domingo Garcia, LULAC National President on Saturday issued the following statement:

“LULAC supports Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly who said meatpacking plant workers and grocery store employees are essential workers putting them in line for coronavirus vaccines. Tens of thousands of essential workers got up before dawn today and went back as they do every day, into the agricultural fields and meatpacking plants across our country to provide the food that feeds us. LULAC is calling for prioritization of distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine to food and agricultural workers alongside our nation’s doctors and nurses plus first responders. Food and agricultural workers are heroes. They have been on the front lines of the pandemic, ensuring American’s have access to safe, nutritious, affordable food, and they should be at the front of the line for the vaccine as well.

Latinos are the largest minority community working in the agricultural industry and meat processing industry. Latinos are farmers and ranchers raising cattle and poultry delivered to dinner tables of millions of families each and every day. Latinos labor on the agricultural fields planting and harvesting fruits and vegetables. Latinos work the food lines in meat processing plants to feed our families. Latinos stock the grocery shelves across the country. Latinos are preparing the meals at restaurants and delivering food to millions of families during this pandemic. Americans depend on the hard work and contributions of Latinos in the food industry.

Latinos have also been disproportionately affected by COVID-19 due to worsening historical inequities. The hospitalization rate related to COVID-19 is 217.2 per 100,000, according to the latest CDC data. Hospitalization rates for Latinos are 4.2 times the rate among whites, and COVID-19 deaths among Latinos are at an all-time high of 32.4% when weighted for population distribution. In fact, during a record-breaking week of reported COVID-19 cases nationwide, Latinos fared the worst. The Latino community continues to experience the harshest outcomes, including economic impact, social upheaval, and, most significantly, mortality rates.

The agricultural and meatpacking workers are on the frontline delivering vital services and deserve to be protected as soon as possible to keep our nation safe and nourished. LULAC is the first community-based Latino organization that has gone into the meatpacking plants to see firsthand the conditions in some of the most challenging workplaces in our country. We have met face-to-face with the workers, met with the unions, and talked with CEO’s of the largest meat companies in the United States discussing the steps they are taking daily to make their facilities safer. The virus is an elusive, fast-moving threat facing the agricultural and meatpacking industry; owners, operators and workers alike. LULAC is committed to keep fighting for more PPE, safer line speeds, free onsite testing, paid time off for workers who become sick and paid leave for workers who are at risk during this pandemic. Equally important now is ensuring that essential workers are part of the first wave of individuals who are able to access the vaccine. As COVID-19 spreads, the number of cases at many of these agricultural and meat processing plants will increase. We must act quickly and decisively if we are to stop the rate of COVID-19 infections and save lives.

Our priority from day one has been and will continue to be the workers. This is our mission because we know essential workers are not only keeping so many of us nourished, but also safe at home and keeping the American economy running. Nobody can survive without food and it’s important we understand that a disruption to the food supply has a grave impact on all of us.”

# # #

About LULAC

The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) is the nation’s largest and oldest civil rights volunteer-based organization that empowers Hispanic Americans and builds strong Latino communities. Headquartered in Washington, DC, with 1,000 councils around the United States and Puerto Rico, LULAC’s programs, services and advocacy address the most important issues for Latinos, meeting critical needs of today and the future. For more information, visit www.LULAC.org. 

Current U.S. Immigration Policy

 

Judge Orders U.S. Government to Reinstate Data - Immediately

Judge Orders Government to Fully Reinstate DACA Program

Up to 300,000 additional undocumented immigrants could be allowed to apply for protection from deportation under a new court ruling. President Trump had sought to cancel the program.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/04/us/daca-reinstated.html

A federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to fully restore an Obama-era program designed to shield young, undocumented immigrants from deportation, dealing what could be a final blow to President Trump’s long-fought effort to end the protections.

The program, known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, was created by President Barack Obama in 2012. Over the years, it has protected more than 800,000 individuals, known as “dreamers,” who met a series of strict requirements for eligibility.

But those protections have been under legal and political siege from Republicans for years, leaving the immigrants who were enrolled in DACA uncertain whether the threat of deportation from the United States could quickly return with a single court order or presidential memorandum.

Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis of the U.S. District Court in Brooklyn directed the administration on Friday to allow newly eligible immigrants to file new applications for protection under the program, reversing a memorandum issued in the summer by Chad Wolf, the acting secretary of Homeland Security, which restricted the program to people who were already enrolled. As many as 300,000 new applicants could now be eligible, according to the lawyers who pushed for the reinstatement.

The memo from the Department of Homeland Security also limited benefits under the program, including permits to work, to one year, but the judge ordered the government to restore them to a full two years. Judge Garaufis, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton, also said the government must find a way to contact all immigrants who are eligible for the program to inform them of the change.

The judge said the government must announce the changes to the program on its website by Monday.

Lawyers who had challenged the Trump administration in the case celebrated the decision, saying that amid a pandemic and global economic recession, it granted some stability to a vulnerable group.

“This is a really big day for DACA recipients and immigrant young people,” said Karen Tumlin, director of the Justice Action Center, who litigated the class-action case. “It’s a day that many of them have been waiting for for over three years.” She said it could open the door for hundreds of thousands of immigrant youths “who have been unfairly denied their chance” under the DACA program.

The program still faces other challenges, including a case in federal court in Texas, where Republican attorneys general have asked a judge to declare it unlawful. And Mr. Trump’s administration could appeal the ruling by Judge Garaufis in the days ahead.

Immigration advocates said they hoped the administration would not continue its legal fight to end the program given the arrival of a new, Democratic administration in less than two months.

President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. has vowed to restore the DACA program when he takes office, but a legislative solution that would permanently allow the dreamers to live and work legally in the United States remains elusive, leaving their fates to the shifting political winds in Washington.