Yesterday, hundreds of DREAM students gathered on the Capitol for the first-ever DREAM Act hearing despite being first introduced nearly 10 years ago.

Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, and others testified in support of the bill. Napolitano stated the act would promote Homeland Security’s current mission:

Without the DREAM Act, young people will continue to be caught up in the immigration removal system, siphoning resources from other, more pressing needs.

In the hearing, Durbin made his case for the DREAM Act, telling the story of Ola Kaso, a pre-med student who was nearly deported because of an error in paperwork. The state-wide DREAM Act in Michigan saved her from being deported this year.

Durbin estimates passage of the act would also make 2 million immigrants eligible for citizenship and result in a $1.4 billion deficit reduction.

Nearly 200 undocumented students from around the country came to the Capitol to take part in the hearing and other events on the Hill. Today, these DREAM students will participate in a graduation ceremony in the Senate. Jose Antonio Vargas, a Pulitzer Prize author who ‘came out’ last week as an undocumented immigrant and is a former DREAM student himself, will join Durbin and others at the ceremony.

Watch the ceremony live on United We Dream’s website beginning at 10:30 AM.

As the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) and its agents come under increased scrutiny, some of ICE’s programs are also receiving serious attention.

Manhattan borough President Scott Stringer recently wrote an op-ed regarding ICE’s Secure Communities program, leaders in Illinois recently blasted the program and the federal government recently implemented the plan in Rhode Island over the objection of local leaders.

The American Prospect did some research into Secure Communities, and the findings are startling:

Until May 2009, Jose Reyes was a small-business owner, a father, and a 19-year legal resident of the United States. But on May 13, 2009, Reyes ran afoul of the police, who arrested him after an argument with a man who had rear-ended his car. Charges against Reyes were dropped three days later, but Reyes wasn’t free. “I asked the police, ‘If the charges are dropped, why aren’t you letting me go?’” he says.

The answer was that the arrest triggered deportation proceedings because Reyes had been convicted of marijuana possession 14 years before, long before the post-September 11 anti-immigration crackdown.

In the years between Reyes’ conviction and second arrest, of course, the system changed. Detentions or arrests by local police now automatically trigger immigration holds. Policies like the Criminal Alien Program and Secure Communities gave local and federal officials powers to work together as they never had before. These policies were meant to target undocumented immigrants or potential terrorists who would otherwise slip through the cracks, and immigration officials had a mandate to concentrate on deporting the highest risks to “national security, public safety and border security.”

Instead, officials have spent most of their time deporting men like Reyes. Newly released internal data from the the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement unit, or ICE, shows that 60 percent of “removals” between October 2008 and February 2011 were of individuals who had either no criminal background or were in the lowest priority category for removals — i.e. individuals like Reyes who had a past violation for an old crime.

And in March, the New York Civil Liberties Union released a study on the implementation of Secure Communities — the 2008 program that gives federal immigration officials access to any detainee at the point of arrest — in New York that found that in the first 49 days of the program, 80 percent of the immigrants targeted for deportation had no criminal background. An additional 6 percent were classified in the lowest tier of priorities because they only had misdemeanor offenses. In six out of 11 counties in New York, 100 percent of the immigrants identified through the Secure Communities program had no criminal record.

Secretary of Homeland Security Napolitano recently more or less confirmed you are “guilty until proven innocent“. It’s past time for the Obama Administration to re-examine its immigration policies and rein in ICE.

From America’s Voice

Last Friday at an event sponsored by NDN, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano made an outrageous comment in defense of the controversial Secure Communities program (you can watch her address here). When challenged to explain why a program targeting serious criminal offenders is sweeping up so many non-criminal immigrants, Napolitano responded:

“It looks like there was no crime committed, but when you go in and look at the arrest plot, why were they getting fingerprinted to begin with? There was a crime there.”

Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty?

According to the government’s own data, at least 28% of the people identified for deportation by Secure Communities were not convicted of any crime.

As Chris Newman, legal director of the National Day Laborer Network, told the Huffington Post:

It sort of inverts the presumption of innocence when it comes to immigrants. There’s no reason why people at the point of being booked should be screened for immigration status. If they were really serious about deporting only serious criminals, they would screen only after people had been convicted of a crime.

Unfortunately, Secure Communities is not a program that is narrowly focused on dangerous, convicted criminals. The program uses significant amounts of our tax dollars to sweep up civilians who pose no threat to the community. At the same time, it also creates insecure communities by letting immigrant residents think that contacting the police will lead to deportation, thus silencing crime victims in the process.

As the New York Times recently editorialized:

Secure Communities won’t make the country more secure, not the way it is working. Police departments that don’t want to participate should be able to opt out. The Obama administration needs to fix it or jettison it.

If Secure Communities targeted convicted criminals, it wouldn’t be as controversial as it is and police agencies wouldn’t be asking to opt out. Frank Sharry, executive director of America’s Voice, said:

It’s time for the DHS leadership to overhaul or end Secure Communities, not coddle the cowboy culture that permeates it.

In case you haven’t heard (because you’re living under a rock of some sort) the DREAM Act will go to vote today in both the House and the Senate.

Update: Check out the speech that Colorado Senator Bennet gave on the floor today.

Update: Check out the most recent footage of Gaby Pacheco and fellow DREAMers outside the halls of Congress. It’s only hours before the vote and DREAMers are ready to talk to lawmakers to be sure they are on the right side of history.

This morning, Senator Durbin Secretary of Education Arne Duncan,  Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano,  Congressman Luis Gutierrez and Congressman Howard Berman held a press conference in anticipation of today’s vote.

First up, champion of the movement, Luis Gutierrez:

And next, Sec. Arne Duncan:

DREAMers themselves are all over the Hill today, asking Representatives and Senators for last minute YES vote. Check out one DREAMers asking Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) for her vote. Hutchison has been a target for a lot of DREAM activism in the past few weeks, including a hunger strike outside of her office.

Check out the DREAM Army at the Vietnam War Memorial, asking Congress to let them serve the country they love.

Yesterday, DREAMers visited Senate offices, offering giant checks for $2.4 billion – the same amount of revenue that the DREAM Act would create in the next 10 years if passed.

Last night, Promise Arizona held a candlelight vigil and prayer for the DREAM Act in Phoenix.

Earlier this week, Los Angeles showed support for the DREAM Act with a vigil and a rally:

And last but not least, CNN featured two DREAMers this morning: Cesar Vargas and Gaby Pacheco.

DREAMers are taking over DC today and phonebanking across the country. The least the rest of us can do is make a phone call, right?

House: 866-967-6018
Senate: 866-996-5161

Let’s make some history today.

By Frank Sharry, executive director of America’s Voice. Cross-posted at Huffington Post.

In testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano reiterated the Obama Administration’s plan to push for Comprehensive Immigration Reform legislation early next year.

In her opening statement, Napolitano said:

Finally, we look forward to working with you on immigration reform.  The President is committed to that.  He is committed to reform that includes serious, effective and sustained enforcement, that includes improved legal flows for families and workers, and a firm way to deal with those already illegally in the country.

We need to demand responsibility and accountability from everyone involved.  The Department of Homeland Security, our law enforcement partners, businesses who must be able to find the workers they need here in America, and immigrants themselves as we enforce the law moving forward.

So I look forward to working with you, Mr. Chairman and Senator Sessions and others on this Committee to develop a path forward early next year to reform the immigration system as a whole.

Napolitano’s testimony yesterday echoed her November 13th speech at the Center for American Progress, where she laid out a vision of a “three-legged stool” that includes a commitment to serious and effective immigration enforcement, improved legal flows for families and workers, and a firm but fair way to deal with those who are already here.”

Importantly, Napolitano again gave us a timeline – and as the President himself has stated:

[I]f there are no deadlines, nothing gets done in this town.

Providing a timeframe is yet another indicator of a real commitment from the White House to keep the President’s campaign promises on immigration reform. Not to mention, it further disabuses the conventional wisdom that immigration reform just won’t move in this Congress.

We also saw real leadership from the Chair of the Judiciary Committee, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT). He offered unequivocal support for sensible immigration reform, stating:

“Sensible enforcement of current law will not by itself solve our nation’s immigration problems…We need reform, comprehensive reform. The immigration system is broken.”

Senator Al Franken (D-MT) also distinguished himself as a forceful advocate for reform at the hearing yesterday. He spoke eloquently about the current problems in our detention system for immigrants, noting the 104 deaths of immigrants in those federal facilities since 2003. Franken added a human element that too often gets lost in these discussions.

On the other hand, the leading Republican on the Judiciary Committee, Sen. Jeff Sessions, with his long and tawdry history on the issue of immigration, did not fail to disappoint in his comments to the committee. He called on DHS to return to the Bush era of highly politicized, ineffectual and inhumane workplace raids, which put the focus of immigration enforcement on rounding up undocumented immigrants in massive, military-style operations, instead of going after employers who knowingly exploit the system.

Senator Sessions showed his true colors during the Sotomayor debate – and made it obvious again yesterday that we can expect more of the same when immigration hits the Senate floor.

While many of her comments focused on deploying “smarter” enforcement strategies, Secretary Napolitano made clear again yesterday her intentions to put the Administration’s muscle behind working with Congress to pursue comprehensive immigration reform legislation in early 2010.

This muscle will be pivotal in the next couple of months as Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) and Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) gear up to introduce and pass comprehensive immigration reform.

It’s looking more and more like 2010 will be the time for politicians of all political parties to set aside partisanship, to do what’s right for the country, and to provide a lasting fix to this intractable problem.

On November 13, when Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano addressed advocates and the media at the Center for American Progress, she pointed to the “fundamental changes” from 2007 that have shifted the debate on comprehensive immigration reform making it more attainable this time around.

She cited the greater involvement of key constituencies like law enforcement and faith communities as evidence that a larger and more diverse coalition is deeply involved in the fight for a workable solution to our current broken immigration system.

Last week, people of faith at events nationwide demonstrated their strong commitment to immigration reform. Faith leaders agree: immigration reform is a moral issue, and we must craft a new system that is fair, humane, and the right thing to do.

Breaking Bread and Barrier

The Interfaith Immigration Coalition, a partnership of faith-based organizations that advocates for immigration reform, hosted the Breaking Bread and Barrier Events during the Thanksgiving week. In cities all over the country, people of faith organized prayer vigils, potlucks and townhalls, and met with their members of Congress to push for immigration reform.

The events highlighted the stories of immigrants in local communities, the work of faith communities in welcoming immigrants, and the urgent need to fix the immigration system now.

A Prayer for Immigration Reform in Riverside

The New Jersey Immigration Policy Network and faith-based organizations and coalitions from throughout the state, including the New Jersey Catholic Conference, hosted an interfaith gathering in support of immigration reform in Riverside, New Jersey on November 23.

The town of Riverside has experienced first hand the negative impact of a broken immigration system. Because of Congress’s inaction on immigration reform,, Riverside decided to take immigration enforcement into their own hands and embraced restrictive local immigration policies. An anti-immigrant ordinance enacted in 2006 led to a chain of events that had devastating economic consequences for the town. In addition to expensive and exhaustive legal disputes due to this ordinance, immigrants —who had been attributed prior to the ordinance to the revitalization of Riverside — left the town taking their entrepreneurship and purchasing power with them.

The New Jersey’s Trenton Monitor reported on the Riverside’s interfaith vigil:

Situated in a community that has had more than its share immigration related concerns in recent years, St. Peter’s Church in Riverside … provided a most appropriate setting to host an interfaith gathering Nov. 23 where people of all faith traditions came together to pray and show their support of humane immigration reform.

…

Marlene Lao-Collins, director of social concerns for the New Jersey Catholic Conference, said she viewed the interfaith gathering as a way of bringing a diverse group of religious leaders, lay people and immigrants together to demonstrate a common ground for just, humane and comprehensive immigration reform regardless of their status and to bring attention to the “positive contributions that [immigrants] make to our society.

Evangelical Church of America: We Need Comprehensive Immigration Reform

The Evangelical Church of America, the largest Lutheran organization in America, approved a resolution titled, “Toward Compassionate, Just and Wise Immigration Reform.” The resolution provides guidance to its congregation on issues related to immigration reform and the protection of immigrant families and workers. The ELCA resolution declares that “now is the time…to pursue comprehensive immigration reform through the establishment of laws better aligned with America’s historic values…and more responsive to the needs of immigrants, society, and the economy.”

People of faith are joining forces and raising their voices in strong support for a humane solution to our broken immigration system. Their voices reaffirm the moral urgency for reform and the need to have an immigration system that reflects our American values of fairness, justice and shared responsibility and keeps American families together.

Also posted at the ImmPolitic Blog.

Originally posted at Immigration Impact.

Postville, Iowa—home to one of the largest immigration raids in U.S. history—made headlines again this month when Sholom Rubashkin, owner of Agriprocessors Inc., was convicted of “all but five of the 91 business fraud charges listed in a 163-count indictment.” Although the 72 immigration charges were dropped (since they would have little impact on his final sentence), Rubashkin still faces a total maximum sentence of up to 1,255 years, according to the Des Moines Register. Justice served? Perhaps. But the people of Postville may have a different take on “justice” given the current state of Postville’s crippled economy—an economy that once, like many across the U.S. currently do, depended on immigrants.

The lingering legacy of Postville extends beyond a miscarriage of justice to the decimation of a local economy in the year following the raid. According to Postville, U.S.A.: Surviving Diversity in Small-Town America , the loss of jobs and people also meant steep losses in taxes and revenue:

By May 2009, Postville lost 40% of its pre-raid population, the economy was in shambles, the city government teetered on the brink of financial collapse, and the future of the town’s major employer grew increasingly doubtful with time.

As in many states across the nation, immigrants are vital to Iowa’s economy. According to the Selig Center for Economic Growth, Asian and Latino purchasing power topped $4 billion in Iowa and the business they own had sales and receipts of $745 million. Unauthorized immigrant families also contribute to the local economy—somewhere between $40 million and $62 million in state and local taxes in 2007, according to the Iowa Policy Project. Another study shows that if all unauthorized immigrants were removed from Iowa, the state would lose $1.4 billion in expenditures and $613 million in economic output, not to mention 8,819 jobs.

Other states and communities can learn an important lesson from Postville. Not only will wanton immigration enforcement waste millions of taxpayer dollars, but it will deport and potentially scare away vital members of our local communities. Postville’s crippled economy teaches us that we can’t enforce our way out of our immigration problems. Even with DHS’s re-prioritized enforcement goals, enforcement isn’t a long-term solution. We need immigration reform.

To quote Janet Napolitano, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security:

Over the past ten months, we’ve worked to improve immigration enforcement and border security within the current legal framework. But the more work we do, the more it becomes clear that the laws themselves need to be reformed.

Photo by Fronteras.

Today, we’re releasing a new video that features Congressman Luis Gutierrez unveiling his principles for reform in October, and which calls on all of us to help build the movement for real immigration reform:

We all know our immigration system needs fixing.

Immigration has been used as a wedge to obstruct progress on everything from the Stimulus to health care reform–even the 2010 Census. There are many skeptics out there who believe Congress doesn’t have what it takes to pass reform in 2010 – or that even if they have what it takes, they don’t have the nerve to do it.

But just last week, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano reinforced the administration’s commitment to reform, laying out the details for why this push is different, and why we need to get it done.

What’s more, the national movement for real immigration reform is growing–and we are only getting bigger.

On Wednesday night, there were over 1,000 house parties in 45 states, with supporters gathered together anxiously to hear what they could do to help make reform a reality. All across the country, people are primed and ready to do whatever it takes to win this battle, and if you are not one of those people, now is the time to join the fight.

Watch our new video, sign up for the text message network, and help spread the word today.

In 2007, opponents of immigration reform took credit for stopping legislation in its tracks, overwhelming Congressional offices with a flood of angry phone calls and faxes. They took control of the debate and scared the pants off of vulnerable members of Congress.

This time around will be different, but it will take all of us to make real immigration reform a reality.

Today, during a speech at the Center for American Progress, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano reiterated the administration’s commitment to achieving comprehensive immigration reform. A former border state governor who has a deep understanding of the complexity of immigration issues, Napolitano has been designated by the President as the administration’s point person on immigration reform.

Napolitano made the case that law enforcement, and specifically the Department of Homeland Security can not keep the country safe or do their jobs effectively without comprehensive immigration reform. “Law enforcement and government at every level are asking for reform. And at the Department of Homeland Security, we need reform to do our job of enforcing the law and keeping our country secure,” said Napolitano.

Secretary Napolitano indicated that she expects to see legislation in early 2010, and that the administration was committed to solving the problem. Continued Napolitano, “The President is committed to this issue because the need for immigration reform is so clear. This administration does not shy away from taking on the big challenges of the 21st century, challenges that have been ignored too long and hurt our families and businesses. When Congress is ready to act, we’ll be ready to support them.” Napolitano also indicated how much different reform will be this time. “I’ve been dealing hands on with immigration issues since 1993, so trust me: I know a major shift when I see one, and what I have seen makes reform far more attainable this time around”  Napolitano noted that faith and law enforcement leaders are speaking out about the vital need for reform, as well as business and labor leaders.

Reform Immigration FOR America is ready to partner with Secretary Napolitano and the administration as they push for comprehensive immigration reform. Campaign Manager Rich Stolz said, “We are committed to achieving reform that treats immigrants humanely and fairly, enhances our national security, and puts the undocumented on a path to legal status and eventually citizenship.  Secretary Napolitano made clear that the political and policy context for reform is decidedly better and different than it was the last time reform was attempted in 2007. Now it is up to the President, Congressional leaders, and us to make reform a reality. We are ready to get to work”