Immigrant Rights for DACA

 

June 15 marks the anniversary of President Obama establishing the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in 2012. We had hope that between DACA and widespread support for Dreamers, we’d be able to pass legislation to protect them, but for nearly 14 years, Republicans in Congress and President Trump have blocked any meaningful help for Dreamers, leaving hundreds of thousands vulnerable to detention, deportation and separation from their families. The attack on Dreamers is nothing short of horrific. Write to your members of Congress to demand protections for Dreamers. While the Trump administration is undermining the DACA renewal process and targeting Dreamers for deportation, Republicans in Congress just approved sending over $70 billion in new funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to expand detention and deportation operations while sowing fear and instability in schools, workplaces and communities across the country. Combined with the more than $100 billion already available for immigration enforcement, this would bring total federal spending on immigration enforcement to nearly a quarter-trillion dollars—an unprecedented investment in detention, deportation and enforcement rather than solutions that keep families together and strengthen our economy. Just this past week, ICE detained two parents at a preschool graduation ceremony in Baltimore. It is an unconscionable assault on the values of safety, sanctuary and common decency that schools are meant to uphold, and it underscores how critical it is that we do all we can to protect our immigrant neighbors. Ahead of DACA’s anniversary, take action now and demand Congress provide Dreamers with the permanent protections and pathways to citizenship they deserve. In the more than a decade since DACA was established, the policy has enabled more than 825,000 young people who were brought to the United States as children to live, work and contribute to the communities in the only country many of them have called home. Dreamers are teachers, paraprofessionals, nurses, healthcare workers, university staff, public employees, students and essential workers. They help educate our children, care for our patients, strengthen our communities and keep our economy moving forward every day. But right now, so many of our friends, family and community members are experiencing delayed renewals, denials, detention and wrongful deportation. Every delay, denial, detention or wrongful deportation puts opportunity, economic security and family stability at risk. Dreamers are part of our communities, our workplaces and our families. They deserve the dignity of knowing that they can build their futures without fear of being torn away from the only home many have ever known. Write to your members of Congress and urge them to place partisan politics aside and give Dreamers a pathway to citizenship now. In unity, Randi Weingarten AFT President P.S. The AFT has resources available for members to keep themselves and their communities safe during enhanced federal immigration crackdowns, which you can find here.

Don't Be Stupid- Don't Deport DACA Health Care Workers

Opinion

Don’t Deport DACA Health Care Workers 

If the Supreme Court affirms the administration’s termination of DACA, thousands of vital health care workers could be deported.

By Bill Aseltyne, Beth Essig, Debra L. Zumwalt and Abbe R. Gluck

Mr. Aseltyne, Ms. Essig and Ms. Zumwalt are general counsels for health care systems. Ms. Gluck is a professor at Yale Law School and Yale School of Medicine.

·       April 2, 2020

·       https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/02/opinion/trump-coronavirus-daca.html?

The Covid-19 pandemic is stretching our public health system to its limits and challenging our ability to meet the urgent and critical medical needs of the country as never before. As executives responsible for the legal affairs of major hospitals and lawyers working in Covid-19 hot spots, we know how crucial it is to have every available front-line medical worker fighting this pandemic.

But 29,000 of those workers are being threatened with deportation by the Trump administration. They have been protected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, under which undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children can obtain protection against deportation and authorization to work in the United States. The Trump administration terminated that program, the Supreme Court is currently considering the lawfulness of that determination, and the court’s decision could come at any time.

New data from the Center for American Progress reveals that the DACA-recipient health care work force includes more than 6,000 diagnosing and treating practitioners, including respiratory therapists, physicians assistants and nurses; some 8,000 health aides, including nursing assistants and orderlies; more than 7,000 other health care support workers; and some 5,500 health technologists and technicians.

The Association of American Medical Colleges told the Supreme Court that nearly 200 physicians, medical students and residents depend on DACA for their ability to practice medicine and serve their communities. Those 200 trainees and physicians alone would care for hundreds of thousands of patients per year in normal times — the association estimates as many as 4,600 patients per year, per person. Under the demands of the Covid-19 pandemic, those numbers will be much higher.

The Center for Migration Studies found that 43,500 DACA recipients work in the health care and social-assistance industries, including more than 10,000 in hospitals.

If the Supreme Court upholds the decision to terminate DACA, nearly 700,000 people — including those health care workers — will lose their ability to work and live in the United States. The administration is preparing to deport DACA recipients and has repeatedly stated that it will do so if the Supreme Court gives it the green light, something that could happen as soon this coming Monday, April 6. There are many reasons for the Supreme Court to hold the administration’s decision invalid, and the pandemic confirms those flaws.

Even before the crisis, primary-care doctors, nurses and other health professionals were in short supply. The Association of American Medical Colleges and over 30 other groups told the Supreme Court last fall that our health care system relied on DACA health care providers.

That need is even more acute now. For example, as of last week, more than 300 workers in four of Boston’s biggest hospitals had tested positive for the coronavirus. As Covid-19 hospitalizations increase, health care professionals are increasingly likely to become ill. This is especially true because of the current national shortage of personal protective equipment in some health systems that puts health care workers at an even higher risk of infection.

Each health care worker who tests positive must self-quarantine for at least two weeks, further intensifying the current worker shortages. We have already seen the disastrous impact of provider shortages in Europe, particularly in hardest-hit Italy and Spain. Their experiences demonstrate that expanding provider capacity will be key to reducing Covid-19’s death toll.

DACA Goes To Supreme Court

DACA BEFORE SCOTUS: The Supreme Court tomorrow morning will hear oral arguments over the termination of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program . The high court will debate whether it can review President Trump's decision to phase out work authorization and deportation protections for 669,000 Dreamers who were illegally brought to the U.S. or overstayed a visa as children. 

DACA, which was established in 2012 as an executive-branch program by former President Barack Obama, provides deportation relief and work permits to Dreamers brought to the United States as children. Trump, arguing that DACA would not withstand legal challenges, moved to phase out the initiative in September 2017. But federal courts blocked the decision. 

"All eyes will be on Chief Justice John Roberts when the court hears arguments Tuesday," Mark Sherman reports for the Associated Press. "Roberts is the conservative justice closest to the court's center who also is keenly aware of public perceptions of an ideologically divided court."

He points out that Roberts sided with the high court's four conservatives on upholding Trump's travel ban and it's four liberals in rejecting the administration's move to add a citizenship question on the census. "His vote could be decisive a third time, as well," Sherman writes. Read more on Washington Post. 

DACA- Home is Here

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Ahead of the November 12 U.S. Supreme Court oral arguments in three consolidated cases regarding President Trump’s unlawful termination of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, DACA recipients and a broad coalition of immigrants’ rights organizations today launched the Home Is Here campaign to highlight what is at stake for 700,000 DACA recipients, their families (including 256,000 U.S. citizen children), our communities, the economy, and our country if the Court overturns the lower court rulings currently allowing DACA renewals to continue.

“For the past seven years, DACA has been an incredibly successful program, providing temporary protection from deportation and peace of mind to nearly 800,000 young people who have lived in the U.S. for most of their lives. These Dreamers are part of the fabric of our country, but their futures are once again hanging by a thread as DACA heads to the Supreme Court,” said Karen Tumlin, Director and Founder of the Justice Action Center, manager of the Home is Here Campaign, and part of the counsel team for McAleenan v. Batalla Vidal.

“Ending DACA was both immoral and unlawful, as multiple courts across the country have found. We will continue to fight for DACA recipients and their families whose home is here, in the United States,” Tumlin added.

Organizations participating in the campaign include CASA, the Center for American Progress, Community Change/FIRM, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), FWD.us, Justice Action Center, Make the Road New York, NAKASEC, National Immigration Law Center (NILC), and United We Dream (UWD).

The Home Is Here campaign tells the stories of and commits to protect DACA recipients who arrived in the United States as children and their families. Over the past seven years, more than 700,000 immigrant youth have been able to work, attend school, better support their families, and make even greater contributions to our communities and our country because of the temporary protection from deportation granted by the DACA program. If DACA ends, DACA recipients would be added to the list of those targeted in the deportation dragnet and threatened with deportation to a country that they may not remember, and where they may not even speak the language, sparking a new wave of family separation crises nationwide. Their homes are here in the United States.

The campaign will underscore why DACA is legal, constitutional and highly successful through events across the country over the next six weeks, including DACA renewal clinics and other efforts to encourage DACA recipients to renew their protections as soon as possible, digital storytelling, paid advertising, organizing, and rallies at the Supreme Court and in multiple cities across the country on November 12.

On November 12, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in McAleenan v. Batalla Vidal, Department of Homeland Security v. Regents of the University of California, and Trump v. NAACP. The lower courts in each of these cases ruled that the Trump Administration’s September 2017 termination of the DACA program was unlawful. Nationwide injunctions and other orders in place have allowed DACA renewals to continue since early 2018; however, no new applications have been considered or granted since the attempted termination. A decision from the Supreme Court is expected between January and June 2020.

The Deputy Solicitor General of California Michael Mongan and noted Supreme Court advocate Ted Olson, Solicitor General of the United States under the George W. Bush Administration, will argue on behalf of a number of individual DACA recipients and the other plaintiffs in these cases, including the Regents of the University of California, Microsoft, Princeton University, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

Current DACA recipients are encouraged to consult with an attorney as soon as possible to consider their renewal options. More information is available at RenewMyDACA.com. Americans can also contribute to a DACA recipient in need of the $495 renewal fee by visiting GoFundMe.com/DACA.

Key DACA Facts:

• DACA recipients, on average, arrived in the United States at the age of 7, and have lived here for 20 years. More than a third arrived before age 5. They are our classmates, our coworkers, and our friends. Most know no other country as home.
• DACA recipients are parents to nearly 256,000 U.S. citizen children, and nearly every DACA recipient is part of a mixed-status family. Ending DACA would rip apart hundreds of thousands of families.
• DACA recipients contribute significant federal, state, and local tax revenues that help provide important benefits to millions of Americans.
  • DACA recipients and their households pay $5.7 billion in federal taxes and $3.1 billion in state and local taxes annually.
  • DACA recipients boost Social Security and Medicare through payroll taxes.
  • DACA recipients own 59,000 homes and are directly responsible for $613.8 million in annual mortgage payments.
  • DACA recipients pay $2.3 billion in rent to their landlords each year.

Keeping the Dream Alive

·      Students participate in a panel discussion during the "Keeping the Dream Alive" gathering in the University Union Ballroom on Dec. 3. (Sacramento State)

Hundreds of educators and allies of so-called Dreamers filled the University Union Ballroom at Sacramento State for the third annual “Keeping the Dream Alive” conference, where personal stories of hope provided inspiration for those looking to improve the college experience for undocumented students. 

The Dec. 3-4 conference highlighted best practices to promote success, remove barriers and reduce fear for students laboring under ongoing uncertainty about the future of DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) and the program’s protection for Dreamers, whose status remains at risk.

“ 'Keeping the Dream Alive’ is about moving forward ... education in the K-12, community college and higher-education system (for students) who are seeking to advance their lives, become educated, and contribute to society,” said Viridiana Diaz, assistant vice president of strategic diversity initiatives.

The conference provided an opportunity to share knowledge, expertise and emerging practices on topics from supporting resource centers and safe spaces for undocumented high school students to maximizing funding for college and finding legal solutions.

This year’s theme, “Rising Beyond the Unimaginable: Visionary Approaches to Promoting Success Among Undocumented and Mixed-Status Students,” has special significance in the current national political climate, University President Robert S. Nelsen said.

“With DACA still in limbo, our students continue to face uncertainty about their future," said Nelsen, a member of the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration. "Now more than ever, we have a responsibility to intensify our efforts and show them just how deeply we care and that we plan to support them despite the actions or inactions of our government.” 

Alma Valverde, a dream center coordinator at Santa Rosa Junior College, was among more than 300 participants seeking practical knowledge to share.

“I want to bring back a lot of ideas on how to increase student activism and awareness and intercampus collaboration and relations with the high schools,” said Valverde. “The variety of interests has stood out so far to me, so it’s not just supporting a section of students, it’s also how to develop allies.”

Amanda Staack, an undocumented-center advisor at Humboldt State University, also hopes to become an agent of change within the CSU.

“Scholars without Borders is a student-run center, so we’re looking to find ways to navigate and find resources on our campus, and also to institutionalize it and to make connections with other people and what they’re doing,” she said.

Attendees heard stories about personal struggles related by speakers such as Aurora Chang, assistant professor and program chair in Higher Education at Loyola University’s School of Education.

Chang, once an undocumented immigrant from Guatemala, was reared in a family of eight in Richmond. She encouraged participants to “write the text you have always dreamed of reading,” telling them “our stories are our resistance.”

Author and inspirational speaker Reyna Grande echoed that advice, telling her story of entering the United States illegally and eventually becoming the first person in her family to graduate from college.

“One of the things I thought when I succeeded crossing the border after my third attempt, I thought there would be no more borders for me to cross," she said. "And then I realized that I came to a country that loves to put up borders for its immigrant populations, so I have been crossing borders ever since.” 

In 2015, the University opened its Dreamer Resource Center that provides academic and financial guidance, access to legal immigration services, and support for 500-800 students each year. For more information, visit the Dreamer Resource Center website. - Anita Fitzhugh

-->CSU Media Services

House Republicans Advance Monster Immigration Bill

House Republicans Prepare Monster Bill

Republicans seek to protect their vulnerable candidates, not to protect people.

Funds border wall. 

Restricts asylum rules.

Legalizes separation of children and families. 

Offers limited protection for current DACA recipients. 

Reduces over all immigration. 

Unclear what it would do on TPS. 

This is Fascism

U.S. Catholic Bishops say current policy of separating families is immoral.

A survivor of the NAZI Death Camps remembers life in Germany this way;

Pastor Martin Niemöller is best remembered for the quotation: 

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me. 1947.

We still talk about American fascism as a looming threat, something that could happen if we’re not vigilant. But for undocumented immigrants, it’s already here.

There are countless horror stories about what’s happening to immigrants under Trump. Just last week, we learned that a teenager from Iowa who had lived in America since he was 3 was killed shortly after his forced return to Mexico. This month, an Ecuadorean immigrant with an American citizen wife and a pending green card application was detained at a Brooklyn military base where he’d gone to deliver a pizza; a judge has temporarily halted his deportation, but he remains locked up. Immigration officers are boarding trains and buses and demanding that passengers show them their papers. On Monday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions decreed that most people fleeing domestic abuse or gang violence would no longer be eligible for asylum.

See post: First They Came for the Migrants. http://antiracismdsa.blogspot.com/2018/06/first-they-came-for-migrants-then-they.html

Putting Trump On Notice About DACA: Fix What You Broke.

Don’t be fooled by Trump’s immigration “plan”

Immigration: Response to a Truth Challenged President

Response to a Truth Challenged President

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

Read the Immigrants’ Rights Committees response to the President on immigration.

https://medium.com/@DSA_Immigration/2018-sotu-response-325b6b959093

Duane Campbell,  Immigrants’ Rights Committee

 Sacramento

dsa.immigraton@gmail.com