New Wave of Local Intiatives Seek to Restore Trust Damaged by DHS Arizona Style Policies, Push Back Against Secure Communities Program

California TRUST Act, DC Bill Set New ‘Commonsense’ Trend 

07.10.2012. Washington, DC.

Days after the California senate passed a “Post- Arizona SB1070” bill called the TRUST act, and on the day the Washington DC council is signed a similar bill (Bill 19-585) into law, more than twelve cities launched efforts to develop local policies that restore the trust in law enforcement damaged by the Department of Homeland Security’s coercive Secure Communities program. Groups are calling for an end to the program and urging local officials to join a trend of municipalities led by Cook County, IL, California, and Washington, DC to counter the criminalization of immigrants, to protect against racial profiling, and to prevent the wrongful extended incarceration of residents for the sole purpose of deportation by setting commonsense standards for how to respond to immigration authority’s voluntary hold requests.

Newly released FOIA documents illustrate that new policies in Cook County, IL, Santa Clara, California, and several municipalities are acting on solid legal grounds.  While state laws seeking to regulate immigration in Arizona, Alabama, and elsewhere have been generally found to be unconstitutionally preempted and violative of civil rights, local legislation to limit the effect of failed Department of Homeland Security policies is clearly permissible.

The restoring trust effort seeks common-sense local solutions that ensure federal immigration enforcement will not undermine public safety. California Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, sponsor of AB1081, the TRUST Act, explains, “California’s TRUST Act will make the state a model for transparency in the way local authorities cooperate with federal immigration authorities. It will remove the fear from interactions between local police and immigrant communities and by doing so will make our communities safer.”

Ron Hampton,  Executive Director Blacks in Law Enforcement in America,  added that from law enforcement’s perspective, “The bottom line is that ICE’s Secure Communities program is incompatible with community policing. Policing relies on partnerships with the communities served. It’s foolish to sever those relationships in order to enforce civil immigration laws. Police officers must create relationships to stop and prevent crime by gaining people’s trust. Secure Communities shatters their ability to do that. The federal government should not coerce local law enforcement to do the federal government’s job at a time of scarce resources, and certainly not at the cost of public safety. The federal government should follow common sense and heed the calls of law enforcement professionals and of local and congressional officials and finally terminate this failed deportation program.”

As seen in Arizona where immigration policies have created a humanitarian crisis, how localities respond to wrongful deportation is at its heart a moral question. Cardinal Mahoney, Archbishop Emeritus of Los Angeles, says, “Our primary concern is the human dignity of immigrant brothers and sisters.  What ICE has done is created an enormous feeling of fear and threat throughout the immigrant community. Because of Secure Communities immigrants are even terrified to call police when they’re a victim of a crime because they’re afraid they’ll be deported. Immigrants can be so valuable to keeping our communities safe but are afraid to do so. We must seek anything that can be done to diminish that fear and increase respect for the dignity of all people.”

Jesus Garcia, Cook County Commissioner and an early leader in restoring trust, explains, “The Sheriff of Cook County was detaining people who were in custody for small infractions of the law, namely traffic related matters. [It] was resulting in placing them in deportation, causing pain and suffering to many families. The practice was resulting in an increase in racial profiling in the County.  As we researched the issue, we found out that the belief that the ICE requests were mandatory was false. Local law enforcement was being bullied into responding to ICE detainer requests.  ICE detainers are in fact voluntary not mandatory. We enacted an ordinance last September whereby the County of Cook ended all cooperation with ICE detainer requests unless they had a warrant as is the normal practice. Those in custody could, like anyone else arrested under the law, secure a bond and seek their release. There have been efforts to scare people and play on fears [but] as we have informed people, what is at stake here is ensuring the constitutional guarantees of all people in the County. We will not honor ICE detainers because they are not founded on constitutional practices and put our County at a liability if we were to hold people without being required to do so.”

On a tele-briefing announcing the week of action, Maria Poblano, mother of four in Florida, explained the impact Secure communities has had on her family. “On March 6, my husband and I took our son to the emergency room. On our return home, a police officer stopped the car and started our nightmare. My husband was arrested and was taken from me crying in front of our children. He was placed into deportation proceedings as a result of the Secure Communities program and now has a court date in October. How is it possible that we’re in this situation for taking our children to the hospital, for loving our children and taking care of our family?  S-Comm has caused us to suffer both emotionally and economically. I hope they’ll stop this program because there are so many families like mine in Florida and other states. It only destroys families and leaves us more insecure.”

Leaders are calling upon local elected officials to take their own initiative to turn the tide against the broken immigration and detention system by enacting local policies that draw a bright line between local police and civil immigration enforcement.

As part of the initiative, groups launched a new website www.restoringtrusttogether.org as a resource for faith leaders, local elected leaders, law enforcement leaders, and other concerned stakeholders.

Restoring Trust National Week of Action: List of Local Events July 9th-13th

CALIFORNIA

CONTRA COSTA, CA

Date/Time of Event:  Monday July 9th at 2:00pm pt

Location:  651 Pine Street – Martinez

Description: Vigil in front of Sheriff’s office to urge him to stop honor ICE holds and separating families and opposition to jail expansion in the county.

LOS ANGELES, CA

Date/Time of Event: Thursday July 12, 2012 at 9:30 am

Location: Los Angeles Men’s Central Jail 441 Bauchet Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012

Description: Press conference and rally outside detention center.

SANTA CLARA, CA

Date/Time of Event:  Monday July 9th – Friday July  13th

Description: Community based surveys happening throughout the week as part of the Trust Index Survey designed to measure how the community’s trust in law enforcement changes when local law enforcement agencies cooperate with Immigration and Custom’s Enforcement (ICE)

SAN MATEO COUNTY, CA

Date/Time of Event: Wednesday July 11th at 5:30pm pt – 8:00pm pt

Location: St Francis of Assisi Church 1425 Bay Road East Palo Alto, CA 94303

Description: Community forum impact of ICE holds on Juveniles. East Palo Alto and Redwood City are the highest cities to refer youth to ICE. Youth standing up to the immigration and detention will share powerful testimonies. Also 10min consultations with immigration lawyers.

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

Date/Time of Event: July 14th at 11:00am

Location: Benito Juarez High School 1510 W Cermak, Chicago, IL

Description: Democracy day includes workshops and a rally to continue to protect the ground breaking Cook County Ordinances on ICE holds and advance administrative relief for DREAMers

FLORIDA

MIAMI, FL

Date/Time of Event:  Monday July 9th – Friday July 13th

Location:  Miami, FL

Description: Community based surveys happening throughout the week as part of the Trust Index Survey designed to measure how the community’s trust in law enforcement changes when local law enforcement agencies cooperate with Immigration and Custom’s Enforcement (ICE)

MASSACHUSETTS

BOSTON, MA

Date/ Time of Event: Thursday July 12th at 11 am est

Location: Massachusetts State House (inside staircase) Beacon Street Boston, MA 02133

Description:  Press conference and announcement of commission to monitor S-Comm

NEW MEXICO

FARMINGTON, NM

Date/Time of Event: July 11, 2012 at 2:00pm

Location:  San Juan County Jail, Farmington, New Mexico

Description: Press Conference

OREGON

PORTLAND, OR

Date/time: Wednesday July 11th at 11:00 am

Location: Voz Workers Rights Education Project 1131 SE Oak, Portland, Oregon 97214

Description:  Visit offices of County Commissioners to provide information on voluntary ICE holds requests.

TEXAS

AUSTIN, TX

Date/Time of Event: Wednesday July 11 at 12noon pm

Location: Travis County Sheriff’s Office at 5555 Airport Boulevard Austin, TX 78751

Description: Restoring Trust in Travis County” and will be a press conference and media event

VERMONT

BURLINGTON, VT

Date/Time of Event: Wednesday July 11, 2012 at 6:00pm

Location: UU Church Burlington 152 Pearl Street, Burlington, VT 05401

Description: Migrant Justice, the UU Church, and NY Rural Migrant Ministry Will team up to share how the faith community can work in solidarity to stop anti-immigrant policies such as Secure Communities, and ‘ICE-Holds’ in defense of Human Rights.

WASHINGTON, DC

Date/Time of Event: Tuesday July 10th at 9:30am

Location: Steps of the Wilson Building 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington DC

Description: Press conference on the eve of passage of local bill to counteract impact of S-Comm and other harmful federal deportation programs

National Organizations Announce Record Latino Voter Mobilization Effort

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – The nation’s leading Latino advocacy and civil rights non-profit organizations have come together to mobilize eligible Latino voters across the country, protect their right to vote, and ensure that they remain a vital part of our democracy amid an increasing onslaught of discriminatory policies; including this week’s upholding of the racial profiling provision of Arizona’s SB 1070 immigration law by the Supreme Court.

As a diverse and multi-issue electorate, the Latino community also awaits policy developments on the issues all Americans care about: the economy, education, and healthcare.

The non-partisan effort will register over 400,000 Latinos to vote, and mobilize more than 700,000 registered Latino voters in several states across the nation.  The effort will also equip Latino voters with the skills and resources they need to become fully engaged in American democracy. These organizations include the Center for Community Change, the Hispanic Federation, the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA), the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), Mi Familia Vota Education Fund, the NALEO Educational Fund, the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), Presente, and Voto Latino.  The combined effort will include work in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.

“We will make our voices heard above the noise of political campaigns and show that Latino communities, their families and friends represent powerful constituencies at the ballot box, and a vital component of a vibrant country and healthy democracy,” said Rudy Lopez, National Political Director for the Center for Community Change.

“Latinos are part of America’s DNA and our voters will grow the ranks of those who care about solving the nation’s most pressing challenges.  It’s about solution, and it’s about respect—we are organizing and elevating the issues that matter to bring about change,” said Clarissa Martinez-De-Castro, NCLR Director of Civic Engagement.

“This program is designed to build a long-term vision that extends beyond 2012,’ said Jose Calderón, President of Hispanic Federation. “Our goal is to build sustainable electoral capacity that steadily grows an engaged participatory electorate.”

“The current and future vitality of our nation depends upon our ability to successfully integrate new Americans into our social and economic systems, and to empower all Americans to be active participants in civic affairs,” said Arturo Vargas, Executive Director of the NALEO Educational Fund. “This coordinated initiative will help ensure Latinos are woven into the fabric of the American democracy this November, and beyond.”

“In a political environment that has never been more negative – even hostile – towards the Latino community, Latino citizens are responding with a positive message by getting more engaged in the democratic process of our country,” said Ben Monterroso, National Executive Director of Mi Familia Vota Education Fund. ” Mi Familia Vota and our community allies will continue to work tirelessly to ensure that Latino participation reaches an all-time high in the November election. And by investing in the current and long-term capacity of our groups, we intend to strengthen the civic infrastructure of Latino communities for many election cycles to come.”

 

Follow FIRM on Twitter @Re4mImmigration

Supreme Court Says Yes to Racial Profiling

Latinos, Immigrant Communities Prepared to Voice Objections at Ballot Box

 

(WASHINGTON)—The Supreme Court today upheld Arizona’s vehemently anti-immigrant “show me your papers” law.

“The Supreme Court dealt a major setback to justice for everyone.  The impact of this decision will be an upsurge of racial profiling on a massive scale,” said Deepak Bhargava, Executive Director of the Campaign for Community Change. “The court has made a decision but the ultimate decision will rest with the voters.  The author of this law, state Senator Russell Pearce has already been recalled and voted out of office for his efforts and today’s divisive decision will undoubtedly result in record-breaking 2012 turnout in immigrant and Latino communities.”

“While today’s decision properly strikes down the majority of the Arizona law, our communities know that the only real solution is comprehensive immigration reform and we know that the only path forward to heal the country is for communities that are being targeted to mobilize, register and to vote in record numbers,” Bhargava added. “And that’s exactly what we will do in response to this sad day.”

The Campaign for Community Change and other groups advocating for comprehensive immigration reform, including Reform Immigration FOR America (RI4A) and the Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM), will unite in an unprecedented effort to register Latinos to vote to make sure that candidates who champion racial profiling laws are defeated in 2012. That goes for copycat Arizona laws on the ballot this year.

There will be voter registration rallies in many key states; voter education on why people must defeat anti-immigrant candidates and legislation, and; unprecedented grassroots efforts to turnout the largest number of Latinos in history to vote.

“Although the Supreme Court’s decision upheld an egregious law, we will not stop fighting to protect our basic civil rights,” Bhargava said. “We will build more power to demand respect and equal treatment under the law. Now is the time for fair-minded people from across the political spectrum to stand up to lawmakers who champion anti-immigrant, hate-filled policies by registering to vote so we can speak at the ballot box.”

You can follow our efforts on Twitter at #Justice4AZ and #SB1070.

Obama Administration Makes Dream Come True for DREAM Students

Halt to Deportation for ALL DREAMers

(WASHINGTON)—The Obama Administration today made the dream come true for DREAM students by immediately halting deportation for children who were brought to America by their immigrant parents and want nothing more than to continue their American dream.

 “Today’s decision is a huge victory for these courageous young men and women.  It grants them the opportunity to resolve their immigration status and work toward citizenship so they can continue giving back to the country they call home,” said Rich Stolz, Interim Director of the Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM). “This action makes sense, not only because it upholds basic notions of fairness, but because it is fully within the President’s authority.  We commend the Obama Administration for halting the deportation of young people whose parents brought them here as children. Now they can work on making their other dreams come true.”

“These children are American in every way, except for paperwork. They should be rewarded, not deported, for enrolling in school or joining the military so they can stay in their adopted country to study and work,” Stolz added.

“We have seen too many examples of young people full of potential facing deportation because they were not born in this country,” said Angelica Salas, Executive Director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights in Los Angeles, a member of FIRM. “As our opponents make every effort to demonize and dehumanize immigrants, it is a tremendous victory that the Obama Administration is showing America that immigrants and their families simply want to take part fully in American life, and want to give back to their adopted country. We will fight to defend this principled and important announcement.”

“The Obama Administration has also shown that it values keeping families united here in America as they work toward a path to citizenship. We hope the administration will continue on this forward path toward comprehensive immigration reform, and we will work with the Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies to ensure that the policy is implemented successfully to bring real relief to young people and hope for their families,” Stolz said.

FIRM is a network of community-based immigrant advocacy organizations in 30 states.

Latino and Immigrant Leaders, Attorneys and Advocates Say Implementation of Prosecutorial Discretion Policy is Failing

One Year After Obama Administration Announces New Deportation Policy, Progress Report Using DHS Data Shows Fewer Individuals Getting Relief and Those Getting Relief are Getting a Worse Deal

Washington, DC – After a growing outcry by immigrants, allies, and Members of Congress, outraged at the record number of deportations carried out by the Obama Administration, the Department of Homeland Security announced a new policy in June 2011 that was supposed to focus immigration enforcement on the “worst of the worst” and spare individuals who have been in the U.S. for years, raising families.  Immigrants and their allies applauded these changes and hoped they would be implemented fairly, finally allowing long-time U.S. residents, parents of U.S. citizen children, and young people eligible for the DREAM Act to live their lives with less fear.  Unfortunately, a year has passed since the policy was announced, and very little has changed.  In some cases, the situation has even gotten worse.

The Administration’s original policy changes, detailed in memos from ICE Director John Morton and DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano in the summer of 2011, involved an unprecedented review of hundreds of thousands of pending deportation cases.  The Department pledged to close the cases of individuals who didn’t meet their enforcement “priorities.”  On a press call today, immigration lawyers, community leaders, and advocates, representing a broad spectrum of Latino and immigrant communities, declared the Department of Homeland Security’s implementation of the new enforcement priorities is failing and asked the Obama Administration to take immediate action to fully implement this policy by protecting families, DREAM Act eligible youth, and those standing up for their civil and labor rights.

Leaders expressed serious alarm at information provided by DHS about the implementation of this policy.  Only 1.5% of pending cases have actually been closed and when the initial reviews are complete experts estimate that 4-5% of the cases reviewed will be closed. This number is abysmally low, given the huge number of immigrants with no criminal records who are currently in deportation proceedings.

According to Crystal Williams, Executive Director, American Immigration Lawyers Association, “In June 2011, ICE set out to make an irrational machine run a little more rationally.  They laid out all the best tools to do so, but then chose to work only with one worn wrench.  Is it any wonder that little has been improved?”

In an NPR interview over the weekend, ICE director John Morton made the hollow case that ICE has succeeded in focusing deportations on serious criminals and claimed that “people who’ve been here for a very long period of time and have no criminal record and are removed from the United States is, in fact, quite rare.  Those people are not our priority and we don’t seek to remove them in large numbers.”  However, a front page Washington Post story today highlights the case of a Virginia DREAMer, Heydi Mejia, a graduating high school senior who’s facing deportation just a few days after accepting a her diploma.  “In Mejia’s case, what should be done with an illegal immigrant who came to the country at age 4; who speaks better English than Spanish; who wants to attend Randolph-Macon College in Virginia and become a nurse; whose knowledge about modern Guatemala comes in part from what she’s read on Wikipedia?”

Said Frank Sharry, Executive Director, America’s Voice Education Fund, “Something is seriously wrong when an honor student who came at the age of 4 and who has broken no laws is scheduled for deportation under a program whose head administrator claims only focused primarily on serious criminals. A year ago, we applauded the changes the Obama administration announced to their deportation policies, and we were hopeful that they would bring a new era of humane immigration enforcement.  However, a year later we are sad to declare that the implementation of this policy change is failing. This policy has not made things better, in many cases it’s actually made things worse.”

On today’s call, speakers discussed the release of a new report from Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM), titled “Restore the Promise of Prosecutorial Discretion,” which focuses on the human impact of DHS’s failure, analyzes available data on the Administration’s initiative to date and its implications for the families of immigrants, and provides recommendations on what DHS and Immigration and Customs Enforcement must do to restore the credibility of this policy in immigrant communities. The report outlines four recommendations, the foremost of which is ensuring that the policy actually protects families from separation.

According to Angelica Salas, Executive Director, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, “Our patience has been exhausted.  The Obama Administration has to ensure that DHS implement prosecutorial discretion with the full intent and spirit of the policy.  DHS has to act otherwise we will conclude that the lack of implementation is purposeful and in direct contradiction to the original June 17, 2011 discretion memo.”

Saket Soni, Executive Director of the New Orleans Workers Center for Racial Justice, agreed.  He helped launch the Stand Up 2012: Make Justice Real campaign to fight for the rights of immigrants standing up for labor and civil rights, and holding the Administration accountable to promises laid out in a second memo, which instructs ICE to exercise “all appropriate discretion” for individuals “pursuing legitimate civil rights complaints” including  “individuals engaging in a protected activity related to civil or other rights (for example, union organizing or complaining to authorities about employment discrimination or housing conditions) who may be in a non-frivolous dispute with an employer, landlord, or contractor.” According to Soni: “The prosecutorial discretion policy calls on ICE to protect immigrants who are defending civil rights. Instead ICE is pressing for their deportation. And the Obama Administration is letting ICE break the promise of basic civil rights to millions of immigrants.”

Last month, leaders from the United We DREAM Network (UWD) and their locally-led organizations launched the “Right to DREAM” campaign with rallies, marches, and protests around the country to demand that President Obama use his power to stop tearing immigrant families apart and provide real and lasting relief for DREAM Act eligible youth.  In a newly released memo to the White House, nearly 100 law professors have outlined the three legal mechanisms that President Obama could apply, using his executive authority, to grant proactive relief for DREAM Act eligible youth.

Gaby Pacheco, Education not Deportation (END) Project Coordinator, United We Dream Network said, “I think all of us were really excited to see how the Administration’s prosecutorial discretion policy would roll out, but over the last year, all we’ve seen are families divided and DREAMers deported.  The President has clear legal authority to give our community relief, yet he continues to say he doesn’t have the power.  Rest assured, we will continue to move forward with our ‘Right to Dream” campaign and take our voices to the White House and to his campaign offices until we see Obama exercise leadership.  How can we believe in a powerless President?”

According to Clarissa Martinez de Castro, Director of Immigration and National Campaigns, National Council of La Raza, “Elevating national security and community safety above all else is a priority we can all get behind—it serves the public good and with it, brings some relief to families across America who continue to suffer the consequences of Congressional inaction on immigration.  We cannot be at war with our own values and principles, and the rightful  and effective use of prosecutorial discretion can help address that.  But so far, implementation has been dismal.  We need bold action to ensure that what can be done is reflected in what is being done.”

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

• Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FAIR) report: Restore the Promise of Prosecutorial Discretion
• Immigration Policy Center: Prosecutorial Discretion – A Statistical Assessment
• Immigration Policy Center Report: Updated Figures Highlight Shortfalls of Prosecutorial Discretion Program
• Prosecutorial Discretion memos from ICE Director John Morton and DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano in the summer of 2011
• Link to Press Call Recording: http://act.americasvoiceonline.org/page/-/americasvoice/audio/pd_06_11_12.mp3
• Stand Up 2012 campaign: www.makejusticereal.org
• Right to Dream campaign: www.unitedwedream.org/right-to-dream
• Washington Post, Virginia student graduates from high school, braces for deportation, June 10, 2012
• John Morton on NPR, June 9, 2012: New Plan Sees More Illegal Immigrants Deported From U.S.
• New York Times, Deportations Continue Despite U.S. Review of Backlog, June 6, 2012
• New York Times editorial, A Failure of Discretion, June 7, 2012

 

Prosecutorial Discretion in the News

Today, immigration lawyers, community leaders and advocates, representing a broad spectrum of Latino and immigrant communities, will review the Department of Homeland Security’s implementation of the new enforcement priorities regarding prosecutorial discretion over the past year.

Click here to FIRM’s report on this issue

Activists Press US Gov’t on Processing of Immigrant Families

Several pro-immigrant organizations demanded on Thursday that the Obama administration implement the proposal for a new procedure that would allow the spouses and children of U.S. citizens to remain in the country while their immigration situation is regularized.

On Jan. 6, the president and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, or USCIS, announced their intention to change the policy obligating undocumented immigrants without papers requested by relatives to leave the country to adjust their status, a process that could take between 3 and 10 years.

The new procedure is designed to alleviate the extreme hardship that U.S. citizens experience due to the prolonged separation from their family members, USCIS chief Alejandro Mayorkas said during the announcement.

Although in some cases the federal government can authorize a pardon, which takes many years to process and allows immigrants to return to the United States to reunite with their family, they have to prove that the separation caused hardship.

Under the new proposal, which still has not entered into force, it would be easier for families to avoid these punishments by requesting “family unity protection” with the aim of not having to leave the country while their papers are being processed.

“What we’re seeking is the rapid implementation of the exemption and above all that it be broadened, because many families will remain outside (its scope). There’s still time until tomorrow (Friday) to comment on the changes we consider necessary,” Javier Valdez, a representative from the Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM), said Thursday in a telephone press conference.

FIRM and the Alliance for a Just Society also released on Thursday the report entitled “Promesas que Mantener” (Promises to Keep), which gathers 19 stories of immigrants and their families who are facing separation and which shows the importance of changing the process.

About 400,000 people are deported from the United States every year and since 2008 1.2 million immigrants have been forced to leave the country.

According to a report by the Applied Research Center, at least 5,100 U.S. children in the country have been placed with the social services because their parents have been detained or deported.

Also, about 5.5 million minors, of whom 80 were born in the country, have at least one parent who is undocumented.

Read more: http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2012/05/31/activists-press-us-govt-on-processing-immigrant-families/#ixzz1wYsMFTCk

Family Unity Waiver Must be Implemented Fairly to Keep Families Together

The Fair Immigration Reform Movement today urged for the rapid implementation of a proposed rule change that would allow spouses and children of U.S. citizens to stay together in the United States while they wait for decisions on their waivers toward a path to citizenship.

Under current law, undocumented immigrants have to leave the United States and apply for a waiver to lessen the 3-year and 10-year bar they face before they can re-enter the country. Often, the process to obtain a waiver can take months or even years, meaning families have to endure prolonged separations and are exposed to significant hardship.

The Obama Administration has proposed the so-called “family unity waiver,” an important step that would allow some families to stay together while their paperwork is being processed.

“Rapid implementation of the family unity waiver is critical because too many immigrant families are being torn apart by our broken immigration system,” said Javier Valdes, Co-Executive Director of Make the Road NY. “Just yesterday, a newspaper published a story about an Indiana high school student who went back to Mexico to get her visa, and due to the length of the process, she could miss her graduation.  She was needlessly separated from her family, community and school, and could be barred from re-entering the country for 3 years due to a technicality in immigration law.”

Rosalia Quiroz is a U.S. citizen married to Gustavo, an undocumented immigrant. The couple has three U.S. born children together.

“We want to make things right and help him achieve legal status,” Quiroz said. “But in this immigration system there is no way to do it. If I follow the normal process and petition for him as a spouse, Gustavo will have to be separated from his family for 10 years.”

Quiroz’s family is just among the thousands who could benefit from the family unity waiver. The “Promises to Keep” storybook highlights some of the other families facing obstacles toward gaining citizenship. Fernando Mejia, regional organizer for the Alliance for a Just Society, said the storybook puts human faces on this issue. The story book can be found by going to this link: http://fairimmigration.org/share/family-unity-waiver-a-grassroots-toolkit-on-changes-to-the-3-and-10-year-bar/

The people in the storybook are among the thousands who could benefit from the family unity waiver, Mejia said. In April, it was reported that more than one in five people deported in the first six months of 2011 had U.S. citizen children.

“One estimate shows that 5.5 million children in the U.S., about 80 percent who are citizens, have at least one parent without proper documentation,” Mejia said. “Since 2009, the Department of Homeland Security has deported more than 1 million immigrants causing emotional and economic devastation to countless families.”

Angelica Salas, Executive Director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, urged the Administration to implement the family unity waiver, with a few improvements like clarifying the hardship standards to include the financial and emotional impact of family separation.

“The broken immigration system, and its impact on families and children, cannot be fully resolved until Congress enacts comprehensive immigration reform,” Salas said.

FIRM Says Proposal to Keep Families United While Processing Immigration Paperwork Must be Implemented

On Thursday, May 31, the Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM) will call on the Obama Administration to strengthen and implement a proposed change in federal regulations that matters dearly to the families of immigrants. The rule change would allow spouses and children of U.S. citizens to stay together in the United States while they wait for decisions on their waivers toward a path to citizenship. The comment period on the proposal ends on Friday, June 1^st.

Under current law, undocumented immigrants have to leave the United States and apply for a waiver to lessen the 3-year and 10-year bar they face before they can re-enter the country. Often, the process to obtain a waiver can take months or even years, meaning families have to endure prolonged separations and are exposed to significant hardship.

We are issuing a “storybook” that shows why the family unity waiver must be implemented. The book contains stories of the hardships undocumented immigrants and their families are facing as they work toward a path to citizenship.  You can find the storybook at:

http://fairimmigration.org/share/family-unity-waiver-a-grassroots-toolkit-on-changes-to-the-3-and-10-year-bar/

Here are the details of the telephone news conference:

DATE: Thursday, May 31, 2012

TIME: 12:00 p.m. ET

SPEAKERS:

**Javier Valdes, Co-Executive Director, Make the Road NY

**Angelica Salas, Executive Director, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles

**Wendy Cervantes, Vice President, Immigration and Child Rights Policy, First Focus

**Alysa Medina, telling her personal story

**Rosalia Borjas, telling her personal story

Special Guest: Honorable U.S. Representative Judy Chu

CALL-IN information:

Dial-in number: (866) 861-4870

States Introduce Fewer Immigration Bills

The number of immigration bills and resolutions appearing in state legislatures across the country declined steeply in the first quarter of this year, according to a report by the National Conference of State Legislatures.

More than 1,500 bills were introduced the first quarter of 2011. This year only 865 have been introduced in 45 state legislatures and the District of Columbia during the same period, said the report released Tuesday.

The number of laws enacted is also down. As of March 31, 27 states enacted 24 laws and adopted 74 resolutions. That represents a 30 percent drop in the number of measures enacted in the first quarter of 2012, compared to the same period a year ago.  An additional five bills were awaiting governors’ signatures.

State Sen. John Watkins, R-Va., said that the drop off is due to the case pending before the U.S. Supreme Court, regarding the constitutionality of Arizona’s controversial immigration law, known as SB1070.

“This issue has not dropped off of the radar screen in state legislatures,” he said in a NCSL news release. “Some states are waiting to see how the Supreme Court rules on immigration issues before moving ahead with their own policy debates.”

While the Supreme Court case may explain the drop in part, some states are questioning whether laws like SB1070 are good for their economy, said David Leopold, incoming general council for the American Immigration Lawyer’s Association.

“These types of laws don’t help the states economically,”  Leopold said. “In fact, there’s evidence out there that they actually hurt the state’s gross domestic product.”

This year, five states — Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Rhode Island, and West Virginia — introduced omnibus enforcement bills, each includin elements similar to those in SB1070, according to the report. Mississippi’s and West Virginia bills have failed; The others were pending as of March 31.

This was originally published by the National Journal.