Reform Immigration For America » immigration reform

Despite hundreds of calls, ICE deports Florida cousins

Allie — Mon, 21 May 2012 17:10:10 +0000

Last week, we launched an emergency SMS campaign to drive calls to stop the deportation of Adolfo Garcia Diaz and Julio Diaz Sales, immigrants who were attacked by ICE agents when their home was mistakenly raided. Thanks to our supporters, we drove hundreds of calls before the Friday deadline to the White House to urge a stop to their deportation proceedings. Despite these calls and the

Last week, the Senate reauthorized the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). The bill, originally enacted in 1994, provides federal funding toward the prosecution of violent crimes against women and includes provisions for undocumented immigrant women.

Now the reauthorization bill is before the House. But those vital protections for immigrant women are gone. In fact, the Adams-Foxx-Cantor proposal (H.R. 4970) gives abusers more power, not less, over their victims.

H.R. 4970 would require survivors of domestic violence and other crimes to be interviewed by local immigration offices, not specifically trained in victim issues.
H.R. 4970 requires women to report abuses within 60 days, placing further restrictions on women who have limited access to services, fear law enforcement, or may have language barriers to report the crimes committed against them.
H.R. 4970 would allow abusers to participate in the self-petition process — a process that allows women married to citizens or Legal Permanent Residents to apply for legal status without their spouse using their immigration status as a tool of abuse.

There is another option.

Rep. Gwen Moore has introduced her version of VAWA (H.R. 4271). Moore’s bill protects critical resources for immigrant women seeking help. Her bill makes sure that every single woman in this country can fully access the protection granted under a true Violence Against Women Act.

Tell your representative: Support all women. Support H.R. 4271 and oppose H.R. 4970.

Moore’s bill ensures the protections all women – including immigrant women – have received for 18 years under VAWA remain intact.

With your help, we can stop the Adams-Foxx-Cantor bill and support a bill that would keep immigrant women safe. Tell your representative now to support H.R. 4271 and oppose H.R. 4970.

Two years later, the fight continues

Allie — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 15:16:29 +0000

April 23 marks the two year anniversary since Arizona’s SB 1070 was signed into law by Governor Jan Brewer. For all those in Arizona and around the nation who have fought back against this law and others like it, it has been a long struggle, often with no end in sight. As we approach the day of the US Supreme Court’s hearing on SB 1070, and the moment of decision on the law, we wanted to review everything that has happened since the initial vigils against the bill, to the national repercussions that have resulted from its passing, and how our communities are keeping the spirit against the law alive.

Guest blogger Susie Haslett, who was a part of the original group that started the 24 hour vigil outside of the Arizona capitol days before SB 1070 was signed into law, wrote about her experience and reflections immediately after the law was passed:

Days and weeks after, people continue to come out and support. With a cross made out of candles, it is a symbolic beacon of hope in the midst of darkness. With our Virgin Mary present, it is a reminder of the protection our community has. However, what we face is people getting more and more restless, wanting to do more than just pray. This is a great problem to have as an organizer, but perhaps not in terms of spiritual preparation for the fight ahead. We must remember prayer, not as simply as a political strategy, but as something sacred we engage our souls in, to tune into ourselves and into something greater than ourselves for renewed strength. There comes various moments in our lives where we must draw upon a strength greater than our own. Now is one of those moments.

Across the country, organizations of all kinds condemned the state of Arizona for passing SB 1070. Musicians including Zach de la Rocha of Rage Against the Machine, Sonic Youth, Kanye West, Conor Oberst, and Los Tigres del Norte launched a campaign called The Sound Strike to protest SB 1070 and stand with Arizona families. “Fans of our music, our stories, our films and our words can be pulled over and harassed every day because they are brown or black, or for the way they speak, or for the music they listen to,” said de la Rocha in an open letter. “Some of us grew up dealing with racial profiling, but this law takes it to a whole new low.” And the US Conference of Mayors, which includes an estimated 200 US mayors, passed two resolutions on both the law, as well as the desperate need for national immigration reform:

The first resolution opposing the Arizona law was sponsored by Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon, who received a standing ovation when he spoke to the group Sunday. The resolution also opposes the enactment of similar laws in other states, supports court challenges to the Arizona measure and calls on Congress to approve comprehensive immigration reform.

The second resolution, introduced by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa both condemned our current immigration system and called for comprehensive immigration reform. “The current lack of a comprehensive immigration policy has resulted in the breaking up of families, the exploitation of undocumented workers by employers (and) the deportation of workers who provide needed goods and services to their communities,” Villaraigosa’s resolution said.

In the wake of its passage, SB 1070 sent immigrant families into crisis: the law bred fear and mistrust against law enforcement, and sowed hate between neighbors and communities. The National Day Laborer Organizing Network compiled this detailed timeline of the violence in Arizona since the passing of SB 1070:

A History of Hate: Political Violence in Arizona on Prezi

Marking last year’s anniversary of SB 1070, RI4A members across the country took part in a vigil outside the White House. We lit candles for the activists on the ground in Arizona, San Francisco, New York, Chicago and everywhere else across the country, and we lit candles for the 27,000 of you who stood with us by texting LIGHT to 69866.

Since SB 1070 has taken effect, communities across the US have taken sides for and against the law. There have been over 60 measures proposed or adopted in opposition to the law. Meanwhile, other states have attempted to pass their own “copycat” versions of the law — and in the case of Alabama, have succeeded in launching an attack on their immigrant communities. Despite the struggle, groups in Arizona like Promise Arizona continue to organize and push back against the law and the politicians that created it, including their victory in unseating Arizona Senator Russell Pearce.

One of our guest bloggers from a May 1 rally in Arizona makes our feelings today very clear:

The other special joy of the day was to listen to the cheers of religious excitement when this great congregation heard that they were not just twenty-five thousand Arizonans gathered today. Over half a million people throughout the nation and around the world were in the streets with one single message, “Today, we are all Arizona.”

On this anniversary — and every day since SB 1070 was passed — we are united with Arizona families. As we reflected last year, until we pass real and just comprehensive immigration reform, we risk continuing this fight state-by-state, an Arizona-style domino effect that will do nothing to solve the civil rights crisis currently facing our communities. We will not forget the devastation that SB 1070 has inflicted, and as the Supreme Court decides the fate of the law, thousands are keeping vigil at VigilforJustice.org to show their solidarity and declare in one voice: We are all Arizona.

Today: Call with Congressman Grijalva on Supreme Court & AZ’s SB1070

Allie — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 13:47:32 +0000

Today, Reform Immigration FOR America coalition members are hosting an important national State of Play call with AZ Congressman Raul Grijalva, who will talk about the Supreme Court case on AZ’s SB1070 from his unique perspective, as a Representative from AZ who has consitently been a champion of immigrant, civil, and human rights.

In less than two weeks, the nation’s attention will once again turn to immigration as the Supreme Court hears arguments on the Department of Justice’s challenge to Arizona’s discriminatory anti-immigrant law, SB 1070.

The Supreme Court’s decision will impact all of us, in every state and community across the country. The decision will determine whether our 50 states can enact 50 different sets of immigration laws, and whether legislators practicing the politics of fear and hate will continue to abuse our communities or be forced to stop their legislative attacks.

Please join leaders from around the country for this important national call to discuss upcoming local and national actions, and how every individual, community, and organization can take action and help impact the national debate and the Court’s decision.

Please join us:

Today, Friday, April 13th at 1 p.m. Eastern, 12 noon Central, 11 a.m. Mountain, and 10 a.m. Pacific.

Please call: 1-800-895-0198. Your password for the conference call is SCOTUS.

(Please note: This call is closed to members of the press. For press inquiries, please contact Katherine Vargas at kvargas@immigrationforum.org.)

Looking forward to your participation!

Join the Vigil for Justice and the American Dream

Donna — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 17:01:47 +0000

The tradition of holding candlelight vigils is close to our community: we gather together and light candles to remember, to protest, and to inspire. The light represents our faith and our dreams overcoming the darkness.

Today, we are launching the Vigil for Justice and the American Dream, a virtual vigil to stand for equality under the law. While the Supreme Court hears the case against Arizona’s SB 1070, we will light our candles in solidarity with immigrant families across the US.

When you light your candle, you can see it appear on an interactive map with those joining our vigil around the country. While we wait for a decision from the court, our vigil will light up the darkness with hope and strength.

The Supreme Court needs to know that it doesn’t matter where these anti-immigrant laws are passed — state-sponsored discrimination hurts us all.

Help light up entire nation for justice for every family. Click here to light candle and join the vigil.

Indonesian community to New Jersey: Don’t send us back

Michael — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 14:34:53 +0000

Since the late 1990s, a community of approximately 2,000 Christian Indonesians has resided in the United States as refuges seeking asylum from religious persecution. For the past decade, these people have tried to make a life in this country, all the while living with the uncertainty that comes with being an undocumented person. That uncertainty saw a brief respite last summer when the White House asked enforcement agencies to refrain from deporting non-criminal undocumented individuals who have been living in the United States for several years.

For the refugee community of Highland Park, NJ, the respite came to an abrupt and unexpected end this year when the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Newark issued letters to several people telling them to report to ICE offices for deportation. One of those people was Saul Timisela.

Rather than report for deportation, Saul sought asylum with the Reformed Church of Highland Park, which at the time of writing is still giving him Sanctuary from deportation. Pastor Seth Kaper-Dale is now reaching out to the faith community and other partners, asking for help for Mr. Timisela, as well as other members of the Indonesian refugee community of Highland Park.

If you want to stand with the beleaguered undocumented refugees of Highland Park please show your support encouraging your friends, family, and community members to sign on to the Reformed Church of Highland park’s petition on Change.org and to visit www.keepfamiliestogether.org for more information.

The immigration crisis of the Indonesian community of Highland Park is just one more testament to the failure of America’s current immigration policy. With a unified effort, we can keep hardworking, law-abiding people in the communities they have called home for many years. Through organization, we can make immigration reform a reality.

Top 5 things we ♥ about our community

Allie — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 15:35:44 +0000

On this Valentine’s Day, we want to do something that we never get the chance to do enough: to thank you all for being active members of this online community. Whether you take action via email, on social media, or through or SMS alerts, you’re helping create the change we want to see for our country. Here are our top 5 reasons why we want to share the love with you today –

5) Your commitment to help, however you can
Your enthusiasm to take action never fails to amaze us. Your stories, calls, emails, photos, videos, and texts keep us inspired. We’re always looking for more opportunities to have you get involved – if you have talents or ideas you want to volunteer, please reach out to us at info@reformimmigrationforamerica.org.

4) Your diversity of backgrounds
Our community of activists across the country encompasses so many: faith communities, small business owners, unions and labor advocates, direct service providers, families, women, and people young and old, with ties around the globe. Your diversity makes us more inclusive and better representatives for immigrants around the US.

3) Your joy
When there are moments of humor and happiness, we’re thankful that our
members are ready to celebrate them with us. It can be a challenge to stay positive, but laughing together makes the victories even sweeter.

2) Your steadfast support for each other
We can always count on you to be generous with each other in your kindness and support. So many of us feel isolated by our struggles, but every time someone tells their story, they are always met with open arms. Your love makes us all stronger!

1) Your dedication to the movement
You continue to organize, to empower each other, and to fight back for all our families because we are fuelled by the knowledge that it will be our time. As Dr. King said so eloquently: “The arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice.” Let us continue to work toward a better future for all our children.

Have a love-filled Valentine’s Day!
- Nicole, Allie, Donna, Ali, Mayron, Gabe, Shu and the RI4A team

Guest post: How our backwards immigration system tore our family apart

Allie — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:31:59 +0000

Too often, it can feel like the reality of this country’s broken immigration system is something we face alone. It’s a system meant to isolate us, so that we do not join together to share our pain and organize to fight back. Individual stories on losing loved ones to deportation are incredibly difficult to read, but we must share and communicate them as loud and as far as we can — until our demand for humane, comprehensive immigration reform is met with national legislation. Our sincerest thanks to Veronica G. for courageously sharing her family’s story with all of us.

My family and I are still living the results of the broken immigration system and its events from 2006. My uncle was detained and deported as product of the meatpacking plant raid that took place in Marshalltown, IA. This was a very difficult time for our family, as we have always been close. My uncle’s absence left a strong impact on my cousin, who was then 2, who stopped talking and needed to regularly attend therapy.

Within a year of my uncle’s departure, immigration proceedings continued with my aunt. She was also eventually deported — regardless of having two citizen children, and having lived and worked in this country for over 15 years.

I found this old letter, from when my aunt was in a detention center prior to her removal proceedings. I think this is very illustrative of the situation at that moment:

My very dear sister, the purpose of this letter is to greet you, with hopes that you are well, as those are my best wishes. I am well, thank God. The days pass by and I feel calmer, here we pray the rosary every day. And I always pray a lot and I know that God is giving me lots of strength to go through this situation, which isn’t by any means easy. In the beginning I would cry a lot. The thought of going to Mexico terrorized me, but now God has cleared things up in my mind. And the most important thing is to be with my children. If God wants me to go then that is how it will be. God never abandons us and I know things will get better. I know that in the beginning it’s going to be difficult but not impossible, I’m going to fight so that my children are well. They will become accustomed to the lifestyle [in Mexico]. I only ask of God that they don’t suffer and that they don’t miss this life too much.

I don’t want you guys to worry — you did all that you could. And this is how God wanted things to happen. Here I send you these addresses of some women that I met and I told them I’d write them. I send you these so that you can keep them for me, in case I were to lose my little notebook, that I have here. Well, please take care, later on with calm we can come upon an agreement on how you can send me my children. I miss them so much. I know that you’re going to visit Alex. I wish that everything does well with her, that her baby is born well. Send her my greetings and pass on my wishes that everything goes well. Take lots of care and God bless and God willing we see each other soon.

Your sister that loves you very much.
Elizabeth

My cousins were ages 2 and 4 at the beginning of these events, and were 4 and 6 by the time their mother was deported. They moved in with my family, where we cared for them, until finally deciding that they needed to be with their parents. They were reunited with their parents in Mexico in 2010.

My cousin is now 9, and notices the geographical, educational, and social differences. He feels alienated as he had never even visited the country. He dislikes his school and his environment. He regularly asks me why he has to be there, and if he could come back. I visited them over my winter break, and when I was talking to my cousin about the differences he noted. He said “Here, there are not a lot of toys, it’s poor here and there it’s rich, even if you’re poor. There’s no jobs, we don’t have a car, and everything is far… just that.” When I asked him if he would like to return one day he said, “I want my mom to go over there…but she can’t…”

Today, February 6th, is his birthday. His second birthday in Mexico and he is now 10. As citizens of the United States, it is truly a shame that both of these children are being denied their rights and benefits to have brighter future as a result of our outdated and broken immigration laws.

Victory: East Haven Chief of Police is out

Allie — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:03:37 +0000

Breaking news this morning – Connecticut’s Joe Arpaio is now out of a job. Thanks to more than 15,000 signatures on our petition calling on East Haven, CT Mayor Maturo to fire Chief Gallo, it was announced that Chief Gallo will be stepping down.

This campaign started receiving major attention and support for last week’s text-a-taco action and delivery to Mayor Maturo’s office, but it quickly focused attention on the serious underlying structural problems in the police department of East Haven. Let’s be clear: Chief Gallo resigned because his department had a history of racism and that those issues have not been seriously addressed.

The resignation is a welcome step, but the institutional racism running rampant in East Haven will not be overcome by a single act. We are committed to making sure it becomes a step forward in rebuilding the respect and trust desperately needed between East Haven leadership and the Latino community.

We are committed to holding the mayor and the town’s police department accountable in these next steps. We will be working with our allies at JUNTA for Progressive Action to plan the upcoming community dinner, and we invite the Mayor to use the dinner as an opportunity to begin serious conversations toward a future of greater racial understanding.

It took serious attention and outrage to address a problem that many thought would not be solved. Thank you all for stepping up to the challenge, and demanding the righting of years of wrongs in East Haven — please share this victory far and wide online, as a reminder of the power of immigrant families united!

Self-deportation: A real tactic to dehumanize immigrants

Allie — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 22:11:22 +0000

If there was one memorable phrase from yesterday’s Republican presidential debate in Florida, based on what’s buzzing on social media, it has to be “self-deportation.” GOP hopeful Mitt Romney used the term to describe his approach to immigration in America, saying that the voluntary practice would reduce the number of undocumented immigrants. Self-deportation isn’t a Romney-ism – it’s an actual process that is meant to make life so unbearable for undocumented immigrants that they are forced to leave.

From America’s Voice 2011 report “‘Attrition through Enforcement’: Just Another Name for Mass Deportation” –

[The Center for Immigration Studies Executive Director Mark] Krikorian’s paper described a combination of policies, many of which have been systematically put into place by the Republican leadership of the House Judiciary Committee, and the rest of which are being proposed for the 112th Congress. His attrition doctrine would “combine an increase in conventional enforcement — arrests, prosecutions, deportations, asset seizures, etc. — with expanded use of verification of legal status at a variety of important points, to make it as difficult and unpleasant as possible to live here illegally.”

In addition to forced deportations, Krikorian argued that “additional measures would be needed to promote self-deportation”: “firewalls…that people could pass through only if their legal status is verified.” The primary example of such a “firewall” is the implementation of a mandatory E-Verify policy which would “require proof of legal status before starting a job.”

How bad can this policy get? We’ve already seen states like Alabama turn off water services to the homes of undocumented immigrants, and implement policies to scare families away from public schools and even health facilities – risking the public health of an entire population in order to demean the undocumented. And as Mother Jones points out, “This approach is notable for its complete lack of discretion and flexibility. Unauthorized immigrant parents with citizen children who need to go to school? Americans who are married to an undocumented immigrant who needs medical treatment? ‘Self-deportation’ hits them all with the same mailed fist.”

Reliable and safe access to food, water, health and education should not be luxuries in America — and denying them in order to promote self-deportation is a despicable solution to a far more complex problem. Jose Antonio Vargas summed up why he refuses to take part: