Author Archives: Richard Irwin

Trump Executive Order Makes Border Crisis Worse

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 20, 2018

CONTACT
Hayley Burgess, [email protected], 202-805-0375

Trump Executive Order Makes Border Crisis Worse

Jailing families is not a solution

WASHINGTON — President Trump has signed an executive order mandating that families be jailed by the U.S. Departments of Homeland Security or Defense. This order will likely have the effect of jailing, for months or even years, immigrant families seeking safety in the U.S. The National Immigration Law Center has long decried the practice of jailing immigrant families, filing lawsuits when necessary to defend their rights. Below is a statement from Marielena Hincapié, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center, who visited family detention facilities in 2014:

“The Trump administration has created a crisis and committed horrific human rights abuses by separating children from their parents at the border. Clearly on the defense, today it used a political sleight of hand to try to placate Americans who have been rightly outraged by their government’s repugnant policies, including separating children and babies from their parents and housing them in cages.

“Jailing families is not an acceptable solution to putting children in cages. The best — and safest — place for these children is with their families and in their communities. The Trump administration pretends that alternatives to detention don’t exist. This is false. There are numerous alternatives that are both more humane and less costly, but this president refuses to use them. Our country has a system in place to process asylum claims, and these families should be allowed to go through this legal process.

“The Trump administration may not care much for the basic constitutional rights of people seeking safety. We do, and we’ll work with communities and in courtrooms to protect them. Not a single one of us should be standing on the sidelines as this administration inflicts lifelong trauma on these children. It is up to all of us to hold this administration accountable and stop this nightmare.”

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Ryan and Goodlatte Immigration Bills Are Ransom Notes, Not Solutions

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 19, 2018

CONTACT
Email: [email protected]
Juan Gastelum, 213-375-3149
Hayley Burgess, 202-384-1279

Ryan and Goodlatte Immigration Bills Are Ransom Notes, Not Solutions

WASHINGTON — The U.S. House of Representatives this week is expected to vote on two anti-immigrant bills that would make sweeping, harmful changes to our immigration system and provide inadequate protections for Dreamers. Republican House leaders advanced the two proposals — commonly known as the Ryan bill and the Goodlatte bill, after their respective sponsors — in order to stave off good-faith efforts to bring bipartisan, narrowly tailored legislative solutions for Dreamers up for a vote.

The expected votes come in the midst of widespread outrage over the Trump administration’s policy resulting in the separation of children and their parents seeking asylum. Among a litany of extremist, anti-immigrant provisions, the Ryan and Goodlatte bills both call for extreme border militarization and enforcement, including funding for President Trump’s border wall. Neither would end the jailing of children and families.

Kamal Essaheb, policy and advocacy director at the National Immigration Law Center, issued the following statement:

“Paul Ryan and likeminded Republicans for months have played into the Trump White House’s cruel and repulsive ploy to use Dreamers as a bargaining chip to enact an extremist, anti-immigrant agenda and build his border wall. These latest efforts in the House only show Republican leadership’s commitment to thwart any real solution for immigrant youth and their complicity in this administration’s efforts to hurt the broader immigrant community and people of color.

The Ryan and Goodlatte bills are ransom notes. And what’s worse, Trump and his enablers in Congress are now taking more hostages: kids ripped away from their parents and jailed. Any lawmaker who truly cares about finding a real solution for Dreamers must reject these partisan, extremist proposals.”

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Untangling Trump’s Mass Deportation Agenda (The Torch)

Untangling Trump’s Mass Deportation Agenda

THE TORCH: CONTENTS

By Mahnoor Hussain, SAALT policy associate
JUNE 15, 2018

Since its colonization of indigenous lands, the United States has built its immigration policies on principles of racial exclusion and exploitation. The immigration struggles that our communities face today are not unique to the Trump administration but are the culmination of a series of discriminatory policies on which this country was built.

The Naturalization Act of 1790 established citizenship for “free white persons,” excluding millions of enslaved African Americans who were forced to give their lives and freedom to build America.
The Immigration Act of 1882 allowed screening of arriving passengers to bar the entry of those deemed a “convict, lunatic, idiot, or person who may become a public charge.”
The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 suspended immigration of Chinese laborers and set a precedent for the establishment of discriminatory race- and class-based immigration laws in the U.S.
In 1996, the Clinton administration implemented the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, which laid the groundwork for the immigrant criminalization and deportation policies we have today.
In 2002, the Bush administration launched the Secure Communities program and began 287(g) agreements, essentially deputizing local police officers with immigration enforcement power, which paved the way for current anti-sanctuary legislation in states across the country.

Under the Clinton administration, 12 million deportations occurred between 1993 and 2000; under the Bush administration, over 10 million deportations occurred between 2001 and 2008; and under the Obama administration, 5 million deportations occurred between 2009 and 2016. President Trump is exploiting the tools and infrastructure set in place by previous administrations to (1) expand the definition of who should be banned and deported and (2) militarize federal agencies and build up the deportation machine.

The MUSLIM BAN is linked to REFUGEE policy, which is linked to TPS, which is linked to DACA, which is linked to H1-B AND H-4 VISA policy, which is linked to WORKSITE RAIDS, which are linked to FAMILY IMMIGRATION, which is linked to DENATURALIZATION, which is linked to DEPORTATION, which is linked to INCARCERATION — which all together comprise a broken immigration system.

By terminating the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, rescinding temporary protected status (TPS) for people from certain countries, issuing the Muslim ban, and banning certain refugees, the current administration has made clear that its agenda is to bar entry of immigrants and deport both documented and undocumented individuals. Our immigration struggles are linked to this larger agenda of exclusion and expulsion.

In January 2017, President Trump signed an executive order essentially prohibiting people from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S., a policy now referred to by many as the Muslim ban. As a result of legal challenges brought against it, Trump has issued three different iterations of the ban, the third of which is awaiting a decision by the Supreme Court. Refugees who are racialized as Black and/or Muslim have also been barred from entering the country. In the first three months of 2018, 5,225 refugees have been resettled in the United States, a 65.8 percent drop from the first three months of 2016. Only 11 Syrian refugees have been granted entry into the U.S. in 2018. In June 2018, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the U.S. Department of Justice established a “zero tolerance policy” to criminally prosecute asylum-seekers as they enter the U.S. This administration has not only made it impossible for immigrants of color to enter the U.S., but has forced our communities to live in constant fear of deportation.

Individuals from countries on the Muslim ban list, such as Syria, Somalia, and Yemen, are also facing the rescission of temporary protected status (TPS). TPS enables nationals of designated countries who are in the U.S. to live and work here if their country is facing war, disease, or natural disaster. Often these conditions are a result of previous U.S. intervention in these countries and result in long-term, endemic challenges that require decades of recovery.

Desis Rising Up and Moving (DRUM), based in New York City, coproduced (with MoveOn and United We Dream) a video that connects the fight to protect DACAmented and undocumented folks with the fight against the Muslim registry. DRUM is also addressing an additional concern about personal information provided by both TPS and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients being at risk of cross-agency data sharing. There is no guarantee that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) information on current and former recipients of TPS, DACA, and their undocumented family members is not accessible by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Undocumented immigrants and temporary visa–holders registered for these programs in confidence that their personal information would not be used to deport them, and now their trust and safety may be violated.

This administration has drawn a wedge between recipients of DACA and H1-B and H-4 visa–holders. Some H-4 visa recipients feel that their struggle has been overlooked by the “noise” on the DREAM Act. This administration uses divisive tactics to make it harder for immigrants to stay in the U.S., whether they are H1-B and H-4 visa–holders or TPS or DACA recipients. If and when these groups lose their status, they become part of the ever-expanding population that’s particularly vulnerable to being deported. This is an opportunity to confront the larger white supremacist deportation agenda led by this administration, which has failed to create meaningful pathways to permanent residence and citizenship for all immigrant communities.

As part of this administration’s ongoing deportation agenda, the last six months alone have seen the largest workplace raids under the Trump administration. Nearly 200 individuals were arrested and detained in Tennessee and Ohio, and one-hundred 7-Eleven stores were raided across the country.

In their continued attack on low-income immigrants and families, the Trump administration is intending to expand the criteria for finding that a person is likely to become a public charge, i.e., likely to become dependent on the government for subsistence. An immigrant found likely to become a “public charge” may be denied a visa or lawful permanent resident status. Under a new proposed rule whose provisions were leaked to the press earlier this year, a person could be found likely to become a public charge if they were unemployed, retired, and/or disabled — or if their U.S. citizen children benefit from the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), SNAP (“food stamps”), or if they attend Head Start. Penalizing immigrants for utilizing social services is a calculated policy by this administration to limit legal permanent residence, and it represents a direct attack on the possibility of immigrant families here reuniting with their loved ones abroad who are seeking to immigrate.

Another deliberately anti-immigrant piece of legislation, H.R. 4760, the Securing America’s Future Act (also known as the Goodlatte bill), which will come to a vote any day now and is being framed as a compromise solution for DREAMers, attacks family immigration by cutting entire categories of visas that help families reunite. The Goodlatte bill also would criminalize the undocumented population by making their mere presence a criminal violation. The bill also would separate vulnerable children and families seeking asylum at the border by sending parents to criminal proceedings and inhumanely placing their children in detention centers hundreds of miles away. Despite all these unimaginable enforcement-oriented provisions, the bill provides only temporary second-class protection to DACA recipients.

This administration doesn’t limit its deportation targets only to visa-holders and undocumented immigrants, it is also quietly denaturalizing and deporting naturalized citizens through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS’s) Operation Janus. According to USCIS, failure to comply with any eligibility requirement for naturalization is subject to revocation of naturalization. DHS identified about 315,000 cases of “missing” fingerprint data from the centralized digital fingerprint repository. The U.S. Department of Justice filed civil denaturalization complaints against Baljinder Singh of New Jersey, Parvez Manzoor Khan of Florida, and Rashid Mahmood of Connecticut under Operation Janus. In January 2018, Baljinder Singh was denaturalized by the USCIS.

The administration has used an anti-immigrant and xenophobic political framework to promote an intersectional web of negative policies that affect all of our communities, and we must use an intersectional analysis to counter this violence and discrimination.

What to Look for in Any “DACA Solution” (The Torch)

What to Look for in Any “DACA Solution”

THE TORCH: CONTENTSBy Ignacia Rodriguez, NILC immigration policy advocate
JUNE 14, 2018

Earlier this year, on February 15, the U.S. Senate debated and voted on immigration-related bills and amendments, all aimed at solving the crisis created by President Trump’s decision to terminate the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) program. However, the Senate ended up not approving any of the proposals or bills. Of the four amendments they voted on, one that mirrored President Trump’s proposal received the least support, with only 39 votes. The bipartisan USA Act, sponsored by Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Christopher Coons (D-DE), which included a pathway to U.S. citizenship for immigrant youth as well as immigration enforcement–related provisions, garnered majority support but fell shy of the 60 votes needed to proceed.

Over the past few weeks, there has been a lot of buzz about a discharge petition that, if it had received enough signatures, would possibly have forced a vote on the “Queen of the Hill” resolution, which would bring four immigration measures to a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives. However, the discharge petition fell shy of receiving enough signatures this week. Now attention is focusing on the proposed Securing America’s Future Act of 2018 (also known as the “Goodlatte bill,” after its sponsor, Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-VA) and a “compromise bill” that mirrors the White House anti-immigrant wish list, which could be brought up for a vote next week.

As these developments unfold, it’s important to pause, reflect on, and take some lessons from what’s taken place in Congress over the past few months with regard to immigration legislation. And we need to continue emphasizing the need for our Republican and Democratic legislators to enact a narrowly tailored solution that will provide permanent immigration relief to our DACA-eligible neighbors and friends.

What are some of the elements that any truly effective DACA solution should contain? In other words, what questions should we be asking when evaluating the legislative proposals we’ve seen thus far or any new proposals that may be offered?

First, does the proposal provide a path to citizenship? Early on, the BRIDGE Act was introduced to provide a path by which certain immigrant young people would be able to legalize their immigration status, but it did not include a path to U.S. citizenship. Essentially, it would have placed the DACA program into the immigration statute, making it a law rather than an administrative policy. Although various bills introduced after the BRIDGE Act included provisions for permanent relief (including the ultimate possibility of U.S. citizenship), the Goodlatte bill would instead take several steps backwards. For example, it proposes that immigrant youth become a completely new category of immigrants, to be known as “contingent nonimmigrants,” and that they receive authorization to live and work in the U.S. for a three-year period that could be renewable but would include no path to citizenship.

Immigrant youth deserve permanent immigration relief that provides a path to U.S. citizenship, with all the rights citizens have; anything less would be relegating those who are granted the proposed new status to a permanent second-class existence in this their de facto home country. Any bill that simply makes the current DACA program permanent by codifying it — making it part of the immigration statute — would create a situation in which people with DACA would have to periodically and continually renew it, perhaps for the rest of their lives. Immigrant youth, like everyone else, need and deserve long-term stability.

Second, if the proposal provides a path to U.S. citizenship, is it a reasonable one? What are its requirements? How long would the person have to wait before being eligible to apply for citizenship? The longer the wait, the more insecurity people will feel about applying, since the program they’re counting on could conceivably be rescinded by Congress. Even if such a development is unlikely, remember that immigrant youth have experienced the ups and downs of having the government make DACA available and then take it away. So any lack of trust they have in the government is well-earned by the latter; going forward, they need a secure and reliable path that they can count on.

Third, is the path to citizenship fair? For example, minimum and maximum age requirements should be evaluated critically. An amendment (No. 1958) to the Immigration Security and Opportunity Act, introduced by Senators Rounds (R-SD), King (I-ME), and Collins (R-ME), includes an age cap of 38; and an amendment (No. 1959) to the Secure and Succeed Act, introduced by Sen. Grassley (R-IA), includes an age cap of 31 — i.e., to be eligible to apply for the immigration benefit, a person must have not been older than either age 38 or 31, respectively, on June 15, 2012, the date when the DACA program was announced. Sen. Grassley’s amendment also provides that, to be eligible, the immigrant must have arrived in the U.S. by the age of 16 (rather than 18), thus excluding many minors from a program intended to provide relief for immigrant youth. If someone meets every other requirement to qualify for relief, why should they be excluded for the one thing they have no control over: their age when they arrived in the U.S. and/or their age on June 15, 2012?

Fourth, what’s the real cost of applying? For example, under Sen. Grassley’s amendment to the Secure and Succeed Act, an applicant who is 18 or over would have to “sign, under penalty of perjury, an acknowledgement confirming that the alien was notified and understands that he or she will be ineligible for any form of relief or immigration benefit … other than withholding of removal … or relief from removal based on a claim under the Convention Against Torture” if they violate any ground of eligibility for conditional temporary resident status. In other words, in exchange for receiving relief, which could be taken away, they would have to waive the ability to seek most other forms of immigration relief in the future.

The grounds of eligibility for conditional temporary resident status under the bill include ones the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has the authority to alter and redefine. For example, one such ground is that an applicant is not likely to become a “public charge” — and for months it’s been known that the Trump administration is in the process of expanding the criteria for finding that a noncitizen is or is likely to become a public charge (see, for example, NILC’s issue brief Changes to “Public Charge” Instructions in the U.S. State Department’s Manual).

And under the Rounds-King-Collins amendment, a person granted relief under the Immigration Security and Opportunity Act would not be allowed to sponsor their parents for immigration relief if the parents knowingly assisted the person in entering the U.S. unlawfully. Many young immigrants would feel severely conflicted about applying for much-needed immigration relief through a process that criminalizes and punishes their parents. Applying for immigration relief should not put immigrant youth or their families at risk in the future.

Fifth, does the proposed DACA fix include other unacceptable trade-offs? Immigrant youth have made it clear that they won’t allow their lives and futures to be used as bargaining chips so the Trump administration and Trump’s allies in Congress can further a harmful and racist anti-immigrant agenda. Thus, any DACA fix that isn’t narrowly tailored should be evaluated carefully and critically. Legislative proposals including a DACA fix have included at least some of the following proposed provisions:

Permanent changes to family immigration sponsorship — for example, no longer allowing any citizen to sponsor their adult child for immigration relief.
An end to the Diversity Visa Program, which would predominantly affect migration from Africa and Asia.
More funding and intrusive technology for border enforcement.
Attacks on policies adopted by states, cities, and localities intended to build trust between all residents (including immigrants) and local authorities.

Therefore, it’s critically important to carefully read and evaluate any proposed bill. The public messaging about a bill may be focused on “protecting DACA and immigrant youth,” but we must look at the entire bill and understand any potential harm it may have on immigrant communities and broader communities of color. It’s usually the case that, until you read a bill section by section, you can’t really tell what its real purpose is, regardless of its title.

What Does the Masterpiece Cakeshop Ruling Mean for Immigrant Communities? (The Torch)

What Does the Masterpiece Cakeshop Ruling Mean for Immigrant Communities?

THE TORCH: CONTENTSBy Josh Rosenthal, NILC staff attorney
JUNE 5, 2018

In a narrow ruling announced yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the Colorado Civil Rights Commission’s citation of a Denver-area bakery, Masterpiece Cakeshop, for having violated Colorado’s public accommodations law by refusing to create a cake for the wedding of a same-sex couple, Charlie Craig and David Mullins. In Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, the Court based its reversal of the state commission’s decision on a finding that the commission had shown a bias against the bakery owner’s religious beliefs.

Public accommodations laws provide important protections for LGBT and non-LGBT immigrants

Public accommodations laws are intended to ensure that everyone can participate in the U.S. society and economy, regardless of their membership in a protected group. As the hashtag says, public accommodations laws help ensure that businesses are #OpenToAll. At the federal level, Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. § 2000a) prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, or national origin by restaurants, hotels, gas stations, and places of entertainment. The Americans with Disabilities Act further provides that people with disabilities have access to a wider range of public accommodations.

In addition to these federal protections, 45 states and the District of Columbia have their own public accommodations laws. These laws provide for equal access to a wider range of businesses and may include protections based on sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, age, or other personal characteristics. These protections are inconsistent, however: Only 22 states prohibit sexual orientation–based discrimination in public accommodations, and only 19 prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity.

In its Masterpiece Cakeshop opinion, the Supreme Court recognizes the importance of public accommodations laws. The Court cites the long “history … of civil rights laws that ensure equal access to goods, services, and public accommodations,” which exist to prevent “community-wide stigma” and ensure that members of protected groups can “acquir[e] whatever products and services they choose on the same terms and conditions as are offered to other members of the public.”

Public accommodations laws thus provide essential protections for the approximately one million immigrants who identify as LGBTQ (including an estimated 10 percent of DACA recipients), as well as for other immigrants who may face bias on the basis of their race, skin color, religious beliefs, or ethnicity.

Religious beliefs are not a license to deny goods or services to a member of a protected class

The Court reaffirmed the longstanding principle that “[religious and philosophical] objections do not allow business owners and other actors in the economy and in society to deny protected persons equal access to goods and services under a neutral and generally applicable public accommodations law.” For example, in Newman v. Piggy Park Enterprises, Inc., 390 U. S. 400, 402, n. 5 (1968) (per curiam), the Court rejected the idea that the owner of a barbecue restaurant could avoid complying with public accommodations law because he held a religious objection to racial integration. The Court made clear that similar religious beliefs cannot be used to justify discrimination on other bases either, including against gays and lesbians. Nor should religious beliefs shield discrimination against trans or gender nonconforming individuals.

However, the Court did leave open the possibility that individuals may refuse to provide certain expressive services, notwithstanding public accommodations laws, if providing the good or service would require the individual to “exercise the right of his own personal expression for the [customer’s] message, a message he could not express in a way consistent with his religious beliefs.” Because the Court did not resolve this issue, it is not clear what kinds of goods and services, if any, would fit in this category. The question may be resolved by this case on remand to the Colorado court system or by other cases that are being presented to state and federal courts, including the Supreme Court.

Biased statements by officials are relevant to determining whether an apparently neutral decision is legitimate

The Supreme Court ultimately decided this case by finding that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission failed to provide the baker with “neutral and respectful consideration” of his religious beliefs. The Court pointed to statements by a commissioner that described the baker’s religious beliefs as “despicable” and other statements that the Court interpreted to be “inappropriate and dismissive comments showing lack of due consideration for [the owner’s] free exercise rights and the dilemma he faced.” The Court also noted that the commission apparently applied a different standard to the baker than it had to other bakers who refused to bake cakes with anti-gay messages.

Several commentators have noted similarities between the “official expressions of hostility” to religious beliefs in this case and the anti-Muslim comments made by President Trump in relation to his Muslim ban executive orders. It remains to be seen whether the Court will take Trump’s comments as seriously, while it considers the constitutionality of the administration’s Muslim ban in the Trump v. Hawaii case. However the Court rules, NILC is committed to fighting for #NoMuslimBanEver.

Montgomery County Policy Falls Short in Providing Legal Representation to Immigrants

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 1, 2018

CONTACT
Email: [email protected]
Juan Gastelum, 213-375-3149
Hayley Burgess, 202-384-1279

Montgomery County Policy Falls Short in Providing Legal Representation to Immigrants

WASHINGTON — The Montgomery County, MD, Council last week approved a legal defense fund for some immigrants facing deportation. The program is an attempt to ensure due process for people in immigration court, who — unlike those in civil and criminal proceedings — are not afforded access to a lawyer if they cannot afford one.

Numerous politically and geographically diverse localities around the country, including Los Angeles, New York City, Baltimore, Columbus, Denver, San Antonio, Prince George’s County, and Washington, DC, have instituted similar legal aid programs for immigrants based on financial need. Disappointingly, however, Montgomery County’s program excludes many immigrants, even when they may be eligible for immigration relief, based on past criminal convictions. The exclusions are so vast that they would make the program unavailable to as many as 75 percent of the clients served by the Capital Area Immigrant Rights (CAIR) Coalition, which has successfully represented Montgomery County residents in fighting their immigration cases for years.

Avideh Moussavian, a senior policy attorney at the National Immigration Law Center, issued the following statement:

“While we are pleased to see Montgomery County take this important step in protecting its residents from our harsh immigration policies and in ensuring that more people get a fair day in immigration court, we are deeply disappointed by these due process carveouts.

“These programs aim to increase fairness and efficiency by ensuring that no one should have to face the devastating consequences of deportation or navigate our complex immigration courts on their own simply because they cannot afford a capable lawyer. But due process carveouts that leave behind so many immigrants — including those with strong, viable cases for fighting their deportation — make the program fall far short of its intended goals. At a time when the federal government routinely criminalizes immigrants and communities of color, local and state governments need to reject this harmful narrative of dividing immigrant communities along these harmful lines.

“It is a testament to the tireless work of local advocates, such as the Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights (CAIR) Coalition and CASA, that Montgomery County leaders approved such an investment, and we hope the county fulfills the intended goals of the funding by ensuring due process for all.”

Emily Tucker, a senior staff attorney for Immigrant Rights at the Center for Popular Democracy, said:

“There is still time for the county to realize that these carveouts defeat the entire purpose of the program. We are hopeful that local leaders will look to the example set by several other initiatives of this kind around the country, which protect the due process rights of all people facing deportation and do not discriminate against people with past convictions.”

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POWER Act Would Empower U.S. Workers at a Critical Time

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 22, 2018

CONTACT
Email: [email protected]
Juan Gastelum, 213-375-3149
Hayley Burgess, 202-384-1279

POWER Act Would Empower U.S. Workers at a Critical Time

WASHINGTON — Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA) and Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) today reintroduced the Protect Our Workers from Exploitation and Retaliation (POWER) Act, which would strengthen the labor and civil rights of immigrant workers.

The POWER Act would provide workers with tools to exercise their rights to organize for safe working conditions and fair wages without fear of retaliation from abusive employers or deportation. It has the support of a broad and diverse cross-section of labor, civil rights, and immigrants’ rights organizations that, collectively, represent millions of working people across the United States.

Key provisions of the bill include expanding eligibility for U visas for workers who are involved in a workplace claim and who fear or have been threatened with force, physical restraint, serious harm, or other abuses. The POWER Act would also allow stays of removal and employment authorization for workers who have filed or are material witnesses in a workplace claim.

Jessie Hahn, a labor and employment policy attorney at the National Immigration Law Center, issued the following statement:

“Our current immigration and labor systems provide a perverse set of incentives for abusive employers to exploit immigrant workers. Under the Trump administration, these conditions have been exacerbated by attacks on existing protections for workers and ramped up immigration enforcement, including the reemergence of violent worksite raids designed to intimidate and silence workers. Unscrupulous employers are exploiting fearful workers to undercut honest employers trying to play by the rules.

“The POWER Act would provide the means to hold abusive employers accountable, while also promoting fair wages and fair working conditions for all workers and creating a level playing field for all employers. This sensible legislation, rooted in the principle that all workers should be able to take a stand against labor violations, is now more important than ever. We applaud Congresswoman Chu and Senator Menendez for reintroducing the POWER Act and implore Congress to give it serious consideration.”

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National Immigration Law Center Launches Winning in the States Initiative

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 21, 2018

CONTACT
Email: [email protected]
Hayley Burgess, 202-384-1279

National Immigration Law Center Launches Winning in the States Initiative

NILC plans to invest more than $5M over next three years to drive advances in the states

Washington — Today, the National Immigration Law Center (NILC) is launching the Winning in the States initiative to fast-track policy advances at the state and local levels and build momentum for reforms at the federal level.

Together, NILC and its state partners will prioritize encouraging state policies that include making college accessible by enabling immigrants to qualify for in-state tuition and financial aid, improving public safety by ensuring that immigrants have access to driver’s licenses, ensuring that law enforcement can focus on keeping communities safe rather than being deputized as deportation force agents, and enabling immigrant children to have access to health protections.

In the first year of the initiative, the effort is providing deep, strategic investments and hands-on campaign support in Colorado, New Jersey, Oregon, and Tennessee while offering a more robust support infrastructure for states across the country that rely on NILC for legal, policy, and communications expertise.

Marielena Hincapié, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center, issued the following statement:

“Despite efforts that seek to divide us, immigrants and their allies are successfully advocating for policy change at the state and local levels, working in close partnership with elected officials and leaders in business, labor and faith communities. Through our Winning in the States initiative, NILC will deepen its support of these efforts, helping bring about an America where all residents, regardless of their immigration status, are treated fairly, feel safe in pursuing their daily activities, and are welcomed as full, contributing members of society. By building on victories at the state and local levels, we’ll help shape a more inclusive narrative where immigrants are recognized as integral to making local communities stronger and healthier. We firmly believe this will help create the political conditions needed for federal reforms.”

Johanna Calle, director of the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice (NJAIJ), said:

“NILC’s Winning in the States Project is a game-changer for us. Their hands-on help with bill drafting, political strategy, and communications, along with financial support, is invaluable as we work to take advantage of pro-immigrant momentum in the Garden State this legislative session to grant access to driver’s licenses for immigrants and pass Fair and Welcoming actions at the state level.”

Nicole Melaku, executive director of the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition (CIRC), said:

“This legislative session, we worked to secure protections for Colorado’s immigrant communities and successfully expanded access to driver’s licenses for all. From strategic counsel in dealing with legislative leaders to support drafting legislation and crafting polling, the NILC team has become a crucial partner to us.”

Stephanie Teatro, co-executive director of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC), said:

“Tennessee is one of America’s newest immigrant gateways and home to one of the country’s fastest growing immigrant populations. When our state and local policies make it easier for all families to fully participate, contribute, and belong, our whole community will be stronger.”

Andrea Williams, executive director of Causa Oregon, said:

“We’re readying to fight a November ballot initiative that would undo Oregon’s 30-year-old sanctuary policy, and the road ahead will be a challenge. We’re thankful to have a key national partner on the campaign’s executive committee helping us beat back this effort.”

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The Promise of America? (The Torch)

The Promise of America?

THE TORCH: CONTENTSBy Ramla Sahid
MAY 8, 2018

Ramla Sahid on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Early in the morning late last month, while it was drizzling, cold, and still a little dark, I stood with a dozen others on the steps of this country’s highest court feeling a lot of anxiety and some hope as I waited in line to get a seat for the oral arguments in Trump’s latest Muslim ban.

When we were ushered into the gallery of the Supreme Court of the United States on April 25, 2018, I sat down on an observer bench near the mid-right corner of the audience and felt the weight of that room. Sitting there, apprehensively waiting for the oral arguments in Trump v Hawaii to begin, knowing how consequential the ultimate decision would be, I reminded myself that the fight for justice and freedom is a constant, and that whatever the result, our task is to keep that fight alive. As a former refugee from Somalia, one of the banned Muslim-majority countries, my foremost thought was, “The promise of America should be open to every human being, regardless of how they pray and how they worship.” My fear, though, was that the justices might not be taking that promise into account.

The presidential proclamation being reviewed by the Court that day was Trump’s latest directive on this issue, announced in September 2017, similar to his two previous executive orders that federal courts barred from being implemented because they were clearly intended to express Trump’s unconstitutional hostility to Muslims. Those Muslim bans were discriminatory and illegal because they banned entire populations of people based upon their religion (using national origin as a proxy).

The September proclamation has the effect of indefinitely banning from entering the U.S. people from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen — all Muslim-majority countries — and this ban is currently in effect. Its results are broken families, deferred dreams, lack of access to life-saving medical treatment, and a perversion of American principles and values. My own family fled the civil war in Somalia when I was five years old, so I know from firsthand experience what these thousands of families, students, academics, and skilled workers are experiencing, and I can imagine what it would mean to be told that the promise of America is no longer open to you.

The Trump administration’s lawyer, Noel Francisco, argued that latest directive was based on a lengthy “worldwide, multi-agency review,” but the president’s own tweets belie that fantasy. Even as the Court was considering whether to hear this case, Trump tweeted, in response to the September 15, 2017, bombing of a London subway, “The travel ban into the United States should be far larger, tougher and more specific — but stupidly, that would not be politically correct!” During his campaign for the presidency, Trump called for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.”

Though given many opportunities to backtrack on that declaration, he never has, and as recently as April 30th reiterated that there was “no reason to apologize.” This statement alone undercuts Francisco’s argument that the president had disavowed his campaign rhetoric. It’s hard to predict the outcome, but I hope that the justices reject this unilateral effort to legislate unfounded fear, discrimination, and bigotry.

But there is hope. Hope because I was able to be there to bear witness to this historic moment with my community of Muslim, Arab, South Asian, and African activists from all over the country, as well as allies supporting our communities’ call for religious freedom and fairness. Our presence was felt inside and outside. And the rally held outside the Supreme Court that morning replenished my energy.

Yes, we are being threatened in bold ways, and our communities are under constant assault. But this hasn’t happened spontaneously. In fact, this is the reality of America for far too many of its citizens and residents. So we do what we have always done in this country. We resist. We continue to educate and politicize our people and allies, we organize, and we build a more connected and accountable multiracial movement.

Ramla Sahid is executive director of Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans.

3 Important Points to Know about Texas’s DACA Lawsuit (The Torch)

3 Important Points to Know about Texas’s DACA Lawsuit

THE TORCH: CONTENTSBy Ignacia Rodriguez, NILC immigration policy advocate
MAY 4, 2018

On May 1, 2018, Texas and six other states filed a lawsuit against the federal government challenging the legality of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program. They filed the case in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, where it ended up being assigned to Judge Andrew Hanen. He’s the same judge who in 2014 issued an injunction that blocked the Obama administration’s expansion of the DACA program and the related Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents, or DAPA, program.

Naturally, Texas’s latest lawsuit has created confusion and concerns about what it means for immigrant youth and the fight to protect immigrant families across the country.

Here are three important points to know about the Texas lawsuit:

1. Judge Hanen in Texas cannot undo the California and New York injunctions (currently in place) that protect DACA recipients from President Trump’s unlawful actions. Both court orders require U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to accept DACA renewal applications. Only the circuit courts of appeal corresponding to those states and the U.S. Supreme Court have the authority to undo either injunction. No case related to DACA is expected to go before the Supreme Court until after this summer. The Texas lawsuit does not change that situation.

2. USCIS is still accepting DACA renewal applications. If you are eligible to renew your DACA, we recommend that you apply to do so at this time. Here’s the reality: We don’t know what will happen next, so having DACA for an additional two years may provide some peace of mind for you and your family as all these DACA-related court cases make their ways through the courts.

3. Your voice and efforts are making a real difference. The states that filed the latest lawsuit in Texas are among the same states that sued to block the Obama administration’s expansion of DACA to protect additional immigrant youth as well as its creation of DAPA. DAPA would have allowed certain parents of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents to apply for and receive temporary protection from deportation as well as work permits. That first lawsuit, which was filed in the same federal court district as the present one, became known as U.S. v. Texas after the Obama administration appealed Judge Hanen’s nationwide injunction blocking DAPA and expanded DACA.

The U.S. v Texas lawsuit against DAPA and DACA+ included 26 plaintiff states. The letter from some of these states threatening to sue the federal government if DACA were not terminated bore the signatures of state officials from only 9 states. The latest lawsuit was filed by only 7 of the 26 states that sued in U.S. v. Texas.

The progress we’ve made is clear. As support for protecting Dreamers and their families continues to grow, many states and localities are hearing our voices. In fact, state officials should keep in mind that the vast majority of Americans support DACA. This indisputable fact is a testament to the work of immigrant youth and their allies. Together we must continue highlighting the importance of the DACA program and pushing for congressional action to protect immigrant youth and their families. We need the Dream Act now!

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