Advocacy and Activism
Taha's Deportation Deferred
Published July 24, 2009 @ 10:42PM PT
I want to thank Prerna for guest blogging here for the last week while I was on vacation.
And I was happy to come back today to the news of another successful campaign to stop the deportation of a Dreamer. As Prerna blogged yesterday, Taha was set to be deported next week, 16 years after he was brought to the U.S. as a toddler from Bangladesh.
Kyle is right that we need now to broaden this effort from a piecemeal case-by-case approach to a comprehensive deferral for Dreamers similar to the one DHS recently implemented for surviving foreign-born spouses of U.S. citizens who died while their green card petitions were being processed. Or better yet, just pass the DREAM Act. That is exactly what Prerna and the other Dreamactivists are trying to get done.
You can be a part of this effort. Visit Dreamactivist.org and the Dream Act Portal to find out what you can do to make sure your local members of Congress support the Dream Act. Watch here and elsewhere in the pro-migrant blogosphere so you can mobilize when necessary to stop individual deportations and ask that DHS not use your tax dollars to deport future scholars and entrepreneurs.
Long Island Wins: Working for Immigrants in New York
Published July 16, 2009 @ 08:00AM PT
Maryann Sinclair Slutsky is Campaign Director at Long Island Wins, an immigration-centered communications campaign based on Long Island, NY.
In the 1980s, Long Island experienced a massive influx of Latino immigrants, most of them fleeing civil war, crippling poverty, and natural disasters in Central America. As these immigrants became increasingly visible—while they waited to be picked up by employers on street corners, in vacant lots and parking lots, and at more formal “shape-up sites”—tensions grew between the mostly white, middle-class, longer-term residents and these Spanish-speaking newcomers. The September 2000 beating of two Hispanic workers in Brookhaven’s hamlet of Farmingville shone a national spotlight on Long Island’s accelerating immigration problems, and attracted the active attention of anti-immigrant organizations such as the Minuteman Project, which quickly gained footholds in communities from one end of the island to the other (see our series on the history of the Minutemen here).
With these tensions in mind, the Hagedorn Foundation [Ed.: fixed the link]—a Nassau County-based organization that promotes social equality on Long Island—decided to take action. The foundation convened a group of local immigrant advocates and then commissioned a survey to determine how Long Islanders thought about immigrants. The results were discouraging: a majority of Long Island residents agreed that “immigration, overall, hurts Long Island more than it helps.” Based on those findings, the Hagedorn Foundation decided to launch a media campaign that would, over time, shift public opinion towards a reasonable solution for immigration issues.
That media campaign became Long Island Wins (LIW). Our mission is to highlight the contributions of immigrants in our community, enhance public perception of immigrants, and build support for public and private immigration initiatives that benefit all Long Islanders. We consider ourselves a sensible voice on Long Island immigration issues, and we build support for local solutions where everyone “wins.”
I'm a U.S. Citizen and my Wife Was Deported
Published July 10, 2009 @ 07:42PM PT
This week's guest Dream Act guest post is written by Brian, a U.S. citizen, and his mother, Debra. Visit Dreamactivist.org to find out how you can help pass the Dream Act.
Brian:
I want to tell the story of my wife, through the eyes of my mother. My wife would have been someone who would have been the ideal Dream Act beneficiary. Instead we were harshly deported. My mother's story, below, is a very heartfelt outline of what has happened to us.
Debra:
As I write, my daughter-in-law, Anya is on a plane, headed to the Ukraine, with my only grandchild in her womb. It is difficult to see the words on my computer screen, through the tears that are falling uncontrollably. These tears began a little over two months ago when I first heard that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had issued a final order of deportation for Anya. After appealing to the court for several years to obtain legal status, all of her requests had been denied and she had no further legal options. Now she must leave and is banned from re-entering the U.S. for 10 years.
I cry because Anya is being treated so unfairly. At the age of 13, Anya came to the U.S. ten years ago with her mother. Her mother overstayed her visa. As a young child, Anya was unaware of the fact that she was not following Immigration laws, and would have been incapable of leaving on her own even if she had been aware and understood the laws. So now she is being severely and cruelly punished for actions that were beyond her control.
I cry because this is creating such an emotional and financial hardship for this young couple. My son Brian married Anya in December of 2007. They were excited to learn in January of this year that they will be having a baby (a girl!) in September. At what should be such a joyous time, they are having to deal with leaving behind all their family, friends, jobs, and everything that they have worked so hard for in their lives. This is a very frightening experience because they are being forced to go to a country that neither of them know. Brian cannot speak the language and it will be highly improbable that he can find employment there.
I cry because I am scared for their well being. They will lose their medical insurance, which is much needed not only for the delivery of the baby, but also to cover the enormous medical bills that Brian incurs because of a severe case of Crohn's disease. He needs surgery in the very near future. The U.S. embassy recommends that anyone with health problems not travel to the Ukraine, because of the poor medical facilities. They advise purchasing evacuation insurance in case of needing medical care. Because Anya does not have a passport, traveling to another country to help insure the safe delivery of the baby would not be an option. It is for this reason that she has returned to the Ukraine three months before her deadline. She is hoping that she can get her Ukrainian passport and get to a country that has good medical care before the baby is due.
I cry because this whole situation makes no sense. Anya has done nothing wrong. She was an honor student throughout high school and college. She worked hard to pay her own way through college and received a degree in interior design. Her talent enabled her to quickly secure a job. She paid taxes on her income. She never did anything illegal - not even a parking ticket. The only reason ICE had to deport her was the fact that her mother overstayed her visa. She was hurting no one and contributing greatly to society. Her deportation is devastating to a great many people left behind.
Rockstar Commits to LGBT Rights
Published July 09, 2009 @ 10:20PM PT
Interesting things are going on in our neck of the woods here at change.org.
I don't know how many of this blog's readers followed the happenings over at the Gay Rights blog with regard to Rockstar Energy Drink. A couple months ago, blogger Michael Jones posted an item drawing a connection between Rockstar Energy Drink and Rockstar CEO Russ Weiner's father, conservative radio host Michael Savage. (Savage is no friend of immigrants, and perhaps the only view we share in common is that he should be able to travel freely, as should any other human being.)
The post contained some factual errors and was later removed under pressure from Rockstar. Negotiations ensued. Then something surprising happened:
Six weeks ago lawyers from ROCKSTAR Energy Drink contacted us about a post we wrote in April 2009 that raised questions about ROCKSTAR and LGBT rights, which at the time had begun circling the web. In the time since, we have worked with all of the parties involved to reach an agreement that will affirm and dramatically expand the company’s support for LGBT rights and will substantially benefit LGBT organizations that work day-in-and-day-out to fight for equal rights and the dignity of LGBT people throughout the country, especially LGBT youth.
Specifically, Rockstar has agreed to donate $100,000 to LGBT rights organizations, publicly affirm its commitment to LGBT rights, and expand its LGBT-friendly company policies.
Some may find fault with this outcome. I believe it is a welcome development. What you have today that you didn't have two months ago is a global company now publicly dedicated to LGBT rights that just gave a chunk of funding to LGBT nonprofits that can certainly use the help in this down economy. (Disclosure: my wife worked for GLSEN, one of the organizations receiving a donation, for a time before we met.)
Change is about, well, changing people's minds, as well as sometimes your own. It is about not holding children guilty for the sins of their fathers because often, they don't believe the same things their fathers believed. That is in part how the civil rights movement of the 1960s sustained the victories it did--as the Flower Children replaced their parents in positions of influence, they jettisoned some of that generation's harmful baggage.
Today's world is far from problem-free. Change is not about denying culpability for bad acts or closing one's eyes to injustices past or present. But change looks forward, change is Idealistic, change must maintain hope or it will never get out of bed in the morning.
Generational change is one reason the LGBT rights movement stands on the cusp of sweeping public policy reforms that will mirror the striking changes in public opinion of the past several years. It is why activists and organizers do what they do, in the hope that their children's world will be better than their own.
To give credit where due:
Both Change.org’s CEO, Ben Rattray, and Gay Rights blogger Michael Jones, have been leading discussions with ROCKSTAR.
And it says something about the persuasive power of internet action and the good sense of Rockstar when one of the company's previously most trenchant critics says this about it today:
Not many companies would be willing to reach out to their main critics and find common ground for a solution that leaves all parties satisfied; ROCKSTAR should be commended for their eagerness to correct any previous problems.
Activists, take heart! One day on this roller coaster brings elation, the next despondency. The last few weeks have brought some hard hits at my day job, and some days it is hard to see much reason for optimism. Today's news about Rockstar gave me some hope that has lately been hard to come by.
Grassroots Effort Halts Walter Lara's Deportation
Published July 02, 2009 @ 07:50PM PT
From America's Voice comes great news today:
[A]fter a strong coordinated effort this week, led by Dream Activist.org and SEIU, to allow Walter Lara to stay in this country, we've scored an important victory. Walter was granted a one-year stay of deportation today. The 23-year-old honor student will now get to spend this Fourth of July watching fireworks with his family in Florida instead of waiting to be deported to a country he's never known. Congratulations to everyone who worked to make this happen!
This was a effort initiated on the ground by local student organizers coordinating with the national Dream Graduation Day, then propelled through new media strategies by Dreamactivist.org and the SEIU. There have been stories of other Dreamers that hit the mainstream, but none so forcefully, enlisting allies like Kos and Senator Bill Nelson. This is not because Walter's story is unique--unfortunately, Walter's legal situation is all too common among ambitious undocumented youth. But today's result gives me hope in a time when hope is in short supply. Hope that the balance is tipping in favor of compassion and common sense.
Walter graciously thanked DHS Secretary Napolitano for exercising discretion to defer an action that made no sense to anyone--the deportation of an honor student who came to the U.S. at the age of three. He also looks forward, calling for Congress to remember the others who could benefit from the DREAM Act:
But even as the dust settles on this tremendous personal victory, my sights are clearly set on the struggle ahead to build a long-term future for me and the more than 2 million like me whose lives may be cut short and dreams deferred.
The action taken by the leaders in Congress and the Department of Homeland Security is an acknowledgment that our immigration laws are broken. The DREAM Act, if passed, would help people like myself, who came here through no fault of their own, stay in this country, be put on a path to citizenship and contribute to our nation.
Congratulations, Walter, and thanks to all who worked to make this day possible!
A Facebook Favor
Published June 30, 2009 @ 06:00AM PT
I have a favor to ask. If you get a moment, please stop by our Immigrant Rights Facebook page and become a fan.
Otherwise, treat this as an open thread for (positive/productive) suggestions on how to improve this blog or the wider site.
Thanks!
Friday Immigration Review: Kos Predicts Reform This Year
Published June 26, 2009 @ 03:56PM PT
If you're wondering what is going on with immigration reform a day after Obama met with congressional leaders to discuss proposed legislation, read Kyle's overview at Citizen Orange. This is important:
the world cannot wait another year or two for U.S. migration reform. People are dying, lives are being ruined, and families are being torn apart, now.
Kos took note of the meeting, predicting that the political winds favor reform.
Ente Breed laments the U.S.'s discriminatory immigration laws on same-sex couples at Immigration Equality:
These couples have made the painful decision, dictated by U.S. immigration law, to leave the life, family and friends of their American halves behind. Their relationship, even before marriage, is recognized all over Europe, in Australia, Canada, Israel and South America. But the United States of America refuse to grant equal rights to the foreign partners of thousands of its citizens and, therefore, forces these Americans to pack their bags.
As DHS signals plans to limit the scope of state and local immigration enforcement under Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, Utah moves in the other direction. More reason to pass immigration reform!
Marisa Treviño reports that Chuck Kuck's mantra (Litigate!) has paid off again, with the State Department backing down on its policy of denying U.S. passports to Mexican-Americans birthed by midwives.
