Students demonstrate outside a Broward County prison this week, in protest of ICE policies that detain immigrant youth. (Courtesy of SWER)
It was another important week for immigration, as the chorus for comprehensive reform continued to grow following more rallying calls from Washington and advocates across the nation.
The Politics of Reform
After last week’s hugely successful rally at the Capitol, this week in Washington was highlighted by even more political stewardship on the issue of comprehensive immigration reform. Three congressional leaders—Representative Mike Honda (D-CA), lead sponsor of the Reuniting Families Act in the House, Representative Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) chair of the House Judiciary Committee, and Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee—wrote strong op-ed columns this week, calling for reform in the name of family unity and civil rights. The columns, respectively featured in the two most widely-read Capitol Hill publications, Roll Call and The Hill (Nadler and Leahy penned theirs jointly), urged their colleagues of the need to look beyond the health care debate and remember their duty to fix the nation’s broken immigration system.
“Keep Our Families Together – Reform Our Immigration Laws” by Rep. Mike Honda
“Pass the Uniting American Families Act” by Sen. Patrick Leahy and Rep. Jerrold Nadler
The sentiment was echoed this week with a key legislative victory, as Congress finally acted to end the long-reviled “Widow Penalty.” As the New York Times writes, the move brings justice and relief to thousands of immigrants across the country whose grief over the loss of a spouse was absurdly compounded by deportation notices:
The Senate approved a measure on Tuesday that would end what has become known as the “widow penalty” — the government’s practice of annulling foreigners’ applications for permanent residency when their American spouses die before the marriage is two years old.
The measure would provide relief to a few hundred aggrieved immigrants who entered the country legally, followed the rules and have been subject to deportation because their spouses died, Mr. Renison said.
The “Widow Penalty” has stood for years as an ugly symbol of the evident injustices families incur through our broken immigration system. We can only hope that its termination portends progress on comprehensive reform.
The National Debate
The national movement for CIR continues to swell outside the beltway too, of course, as advocates across the country this week made their voices heard across the web and through the media.
The week began with a drive to pull the outrageous and offensive “Illegal Alien” costume off national shelves. As Fox News effortlessly played the role as the purveyors of ignorance, advocates took to the web, grabbed the attention of the media, and succeeded in pulling the costume off the shelves of one of the nation’s foremost retailers.
Advocates in Florida came out in force on Monday in an effort to keep the nation’s attention on the woeful state of the nation’s detention system. Over 150 students gathered outside a Florida detention center on Monday, to protest ICE’s policy of detenion-first-ask-questions-later for immigrant youth. Check out further info at our partner blog, FIRM, where there is video and press coverage of the event.
Finally, capping off an emotional week was the heightened controversy over CNN’s Lou Dobbs debacle. Many Latinos across the country were proud to see their contributions to American society take center stage for a few nights this week in CNN’s “Latinos in America” special. But for most, a few nights don’t make up for years of abuse from CNN anchor Lou Dobbs, whose racist, anti-immigrant rants take center stage every other night on the network. There are currently three (!) campaigns that are working to hold CNN accountable for their duplicity. We have links and coverage below, and be sure to follow updates from the America’s Voice blog.
Categories: California, New York, Uncategorized, Vermont
