Back from Travel

It’s been a long stretch of travel, from DC to Milwaukee and Chicago and back again. Got to checkout the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights conference on immigrant integration.

New meeting place: www.immigrantintegration.org

Are you looking for resources on integration plans for your local community? Want to hear the latest integration stories from around the country?

Check out www.immigrantintegration.org. The site is still new, but they are expanding. They are searching for new resources to add to their website. If you have a doc or powerful story to share, you should contact the site directly (info on the page).

Help set the NY Times straight on immigrant veterans…

In a recent article, the New York Times covered the story of a veteran of the Persian Gulf War that has been detained by ICE for the last three years. He has finally won a hearing to fight for his freedom after three years of suffering in detention.

(the article is pasted below)

Thanks to a Detention Watch Network member for pointing out - “The article ends: “Jim Benson, a spokesman for the Department of Veterans Affairs, said that in his eight years with the agency he had not heard of any other veterans in danger of being deported”

It is unbelievable that the spokesman for the Department of Veteran Affairs says that he has never heard of a veteran in danger of deportation. There has been lots of press on this issue, as well as reported cases (e.g. Marquez in the 2d Circuit) and proposed legislation from Leahy and Serrano that was introduced various times.   It would be great if folks with veteran cases would write to the New York Times and impress on them how common it is for veterans to face detention and deportation.”

The article:

Veteran Facing Deportation Wins Hearing for Freedom
By TINA KELLEY
NEWARK, May 22 — A veteran of the Persian Gulf war of 1991 who has been in custody for three years while United States immigration officials have tried to deport him has been granted a hearing to determine if he is being held legally.

Walk in her shoes towards citizenship

I’ve attached an article below that was published in the Boston Herald a few weeks ago…. it got me rethinking the way the connection between immigration and citizenship….

Though we may not always acknowledge it, citizenship is at the heart of most debates on immigration. When we discuss how immigrants should be treated by police, or how long the wait for a visa should be, or if day laborers should be allowed in a community- the bottomline is always the same: any decision we make about immigrants is a decision we make about the values of American citizenship and how american citizens should be treated.

Though not all immigrants to this country become or desire to become citizens, the path to citizenship is a facet of all migration stories- realized or not. All too often it is easy for US citizens to judge migrants harshly and often cruelly without recognizing the deep connection between the values and sacredness of citizenship and the path of immigration. Our citizenship experience reaches its pinnacle when an individual decides to take the oath to become a citizen. Yet, citizenship doesn’t begin the day one takes the oath. It begins the day one leaves one’s house for the US- it is embodied in the crossing of the border, it continues in the day laborer center, the factory, university and community that immigrants thrive in.

We can’t allow ourselves to separate the citizen from their pathway citizenship- that would be the greatest disrespect that we could do to our american citizenship. If we really value our country- then we must begin to demand that all citizens, present and future, be treated with the respect and given the rights they deserve.

New Resource on Immigrant Integration

I recently read the latest report on immigrant integration from the Immigration Policy Center, a project of the American Immigration Law Foundation- This report provides an interesting overview of integration in the US and it makes a clear and powerful point: the US must move beyond simply regulating the flow of people. Our government must work to address the challenges of immigrating to this country and help communities to harness the rich benefits of migration. Read the full report HERE