Advocacy and Activism
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Senator Feinstein, Why Are You Deporting U.S. Citizens?
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DREAM Act Not Controversial After All
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My Name is Ashley and I am Undocumented
Napolitano Speaks: The Price for Immigration Reform
Published November 13, 2009 @ 05:00PM PT
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano spoke at a Center For American Progress conference revealing a three-legged stool plan on immigration reform that "includes a commitment to serious and effective enforcement, improved legal flows for families and workers, and a firm but fair way to deal with those who are already here."
After backing away from its promise of immigration reform in 2009 and revisiting raids, the President and his lackeys have persistently pointed to early 2010 as a timetable for reforming our broken immigration system.
With that timetable, comes a steep price. Can we afford the cost of immigration reform? This does not refer to monetary cost, since the Congressional Budget Office has estimated that a legalization program would bring an excess of $60-$130 billion into our coffers. Cost refers to the human cost of an enforcement and crimmigration regime, a get-tough crackdown mentality that increasingly targets people of color and their employers for alleged transgressions.
The question has been flipped by some to say, "Can we afford not to reform our immigration system?" Indeed, some are willing to pay the price, no matter what it entails. That's noble and understandable, given the desperation of a population denied the right to exist in a country they call home.
But what price does Napolitano have in store for undocumented immigrants to finally gain a pathway to citizenship?
Deportation Today: Helen Mejia Speaks
Published November 04, 2009 @ 06:00AM PT
This is Helen Mejia, a citizen of the United States. If Senator Feinstein fails to introduce a private bill for the Mejia-Perez family today, Helen Mejia will be deported back to Guatemala--a place she has never seen.
Help stop this atrocity by taking the actions outline here.
(Video Credit: DreamActivist)
Senate Delivers Death to the Widow Penalty
Published October 20, 2009 @ 10:06PM PT
The House voted 307 to 114 last week to pass the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Conference Report (HR 2892), which included an amendment to abolish the widow penalty. Yesterday, the Senate voted 79 to 19 to pass the bill and President Obama is expected to sign it into law, thereby ending a long-standing United States immigration policy known as the 'widow penalty.'
Adoption of this measure means that the death of a U.S. citizen spouse will no longer result in automatic deportation of widows and widowers and their children. The new law removes the two-year marriage requirement, permitting widows and widowers of U.S. citizens to apply for a green card for themselves and on behalf of their foreign-born children. It is also retroactive so everyone qualifying for relief can file a petition for permanent residency up to two years after passage of the measure.
Brent Renison, an attorney who has been fighting widow cases for over five years, along with Surviving Spouses Against Deportation, is largely responsible for bringing national attention to the issue through the use of both litigation and media coverage. His work should serve as a model for other attorneys fighting similarly ridiculous immigration battles. 'Following the law' and litigation alone, cannot bring about much-needed changes in our broken immigration system.
(Picture: Creative Commons Attribute)
H/T: Dave Bennion
Michigan Parents Being Deported Without Their 3 Young Children
Published October 13, 2009 @ 06:00AM PT
With the holiday season around the corner, the Department of Homeland Security is celebrating festivities by separating more children from their parents.
After the baby-napping incident where a woman posing as an ICE agent stole a baby from a Latino family, ICE decided that it did not want to be beaten at what it does best: terrorizing our homes and separating our families. So this week, our national security priority is to deport two parents to Bangladesh without their children.
Mus'ab (on the left) is only 5 years old and has a disease known as Hemophilia A; he needs special care and attention his whole life. He also has an older sister, Mariyam (7 years old) and a younger sister, Ameena (3 years old). Because of their ages, all three need constant parental supervision. With their parents deported to Bangladesh, Mus'ab, Mariyab and Ameena will become the responsibility of the United States government and a 'taxpayer burden.' That is probably what nativists desire, short of deporting the American citizen children, including Mus'ab, to Bangladesh so he can die without proper health care, while Mariyam and Ameena grow up as second-class citizens in a poor, war-torn, and ravaged society.
It may be too little, too late, as the parents are reportedly set to be deported today, but there is a demonstration rally planned in solidarity with the family today in Detroit, Michigan:
TIME: Tuesday Oct. 13 at 12 p.m.
LOCATION: 333 Mt. Elliot
(Corner of Mt. Elliot and Jefferson)
Federal Building
Detroit, MI
MEET PLACE: On Conant Ave. (Bangladesh Ave).
Corner of Conant Ave. and Eldridge St.
Hamtramck, MI- 48212
AT 11 a.m.
Update: The couple has been granted a one-week reprieve, which their attorney will use to buy more time so that the Board of Immigration Appeals can look at this case.
(Source: Chicago Tribune)
Other noteworthy deportation cases this week involve deporting the father of a Marine and a legal resident of the United States who received bad legal advice.
Netroots Nation: The Promigrant Blogosphere
Published August 24, 2009 @ 09:26PM PT
Speaking from one of the panels at Netroots Nation week before last, Prerna and XicanoPwr say what needs to be said about Democratic weaseliness on immigration reform and the inhumanity of locking up entire families for civil immigration violations.
Also I recognized someone else up on the stage there :) I'm getting a couple last emoticons in (not that I've ever used them before) before our style guide comes into force and Strunk and White rule the day ;)
Also I truly did appreciate the opportunity to participate in the panel and the invitation to Netroots Nation. The whole four-day experience opened my eyes in many ways and I am very grateful I was able to attend.
Herta Thanks Her Supporters, But Not Out of the Woods Yet
Published August 21, 2009 @ 12:01AM PT
ICE has granted Herta an order of supervision until November 9, 2009, but she still may be deported or detained on that day.
DHS and ICE need to grant Herta deferred action on her deportation.
Help SEIU and Herta reach their goal of 5,000 letters by the end of the week!
Sign Alonso's Petition, Stop His Deportation
Published August 20, 2009 @ 10:41PM PT
Alianza Student Organization has featured a story about another DREAM Act-eligible student who is about to be deported, Alonso Chehade. Please take a moment to sign the petition to stop his deportation.
We could read different stories like Alonzo's and Herta's every day for the next year and still there would be millions of Dreamers living in the shadows. What good does it accomplish to use government resources to deport them one by one, ripping apart families and demoralizing communities? That is why Alonso's call to DHS to put a hold on the deportations until the DREAM Act can be voted on is so important (see his video statement below).
Alonzo's story is both compelling and potentially heartbreaking, like those of the many Dreamers I have met online and offline. The Dreamers and the movement they built from the ground up, with very little outside support, is a constant source of inspiration and positive energy for me. It gives me hope that other migrant groups like deported veterans, separated families, and LGBT migrants (none of these groups being mutually exclusive) will be able to build forward momentum as the Dreamers have. I had not felt this sense of hope until quite recently, and I don't feel I am exaggerating when I say I can feel it is changing my life for the better.
Alonso was brought to the United States from Peru when he was 14 years old. Eight years later, he is being deported for reasons we cannot comprehend. On March 14, 2009, Alonso and a friend went to visit some friends at Western Washington University and rather than driving back home late at night they decided to stay at their friends ' place. The next morning, not being familiar with the area they took a wrong turn on the highway and ended up near the Canadian Border. Alonso was stopped by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) authorities and when it was discovered that he was undocumented, he was arrested and jailed for 2 weeks. He is set to be deported on September 25th with a flight ticket scheduled for September 17 to a country he barely knows.
Alonso has lived in the United States for 8 years. He has never had any problems with the law. All he ever wanted to do was to go to school and have a successful career - but our country's laws prevented him from continuing his career path after he graduated from the University of Washington. It would be a disservice to both him and to our country's values to deport him.
We urge you to immediately take action to stop the deportation of Alonso by singing the petition below.
We, as leaders and allies to the grassroots youth movement:
1- UNDERSTAND that Alonso’s story is just one of numerous others, and we should not have to save each one of them case by case, because unfortunately, many end up falling through the cracks.
2- RECOGNIZE the urgency in passing a private bill that would allow this American to stay in the country where he has been shaped.
3- WILL PUSH for the enactment of the DREAM Act (H.R.1751 and S.729) now!. It is the key piece of legislation and it is of utmost importance to millions of undocumented students like Alonso currently living in the shadows.
4- DEMAND a meeting with the Department of Homeland Security to halt all deportations of those eligible for the DREAM Act. If we continue our ruthless raids and senseless deportations, the DREAM Act will not be able to save those who need it most.
