America's Voice Blog

Posted 04/30/10 at 06:05pm By Jackie Mahendra

Congressman, Community Leaders Will Risk Arrest Tomorrow at Immigration Protests

Originally posted at Crooks and Liars.

This May 1st, immigrant communities and citizens alike will hit the streets to say no to Arizona's new "show me your papers law" and yes to real, federal action on immigration reform this year. Eighty cities across the country are gearing up for major rallies, marches, and protests tomorrow. Students who had come in from New York, Florida, and California to participate in the Washington protests led their own action in front of Governor Jan Brewer's DC office today. They chanted, "Arizona, Shame On You! Immigrants Are People, Too!"

Watch it:

Tomorrow's marches are a follow-up to the major March for America: Change Takes Courage, which drew over 200,000 people to the National Mall on March 21st. At that event, President Obama delivered a firm message promising he'd work on comprehensive immigration reform "this year." Now, with Arizona's new law driving already-desperate communities into action, we're likely to see events in Chicago, New York, and L.A. turn out tens of thousands of people.

At the DC event, 40 protestors will go so far as to risk arrest, praciticing peaceful civil disobedience in the face of cyncial Washington politics.

Deepak Bhargava, Excecutive Director of the Center for Community Change, writes today at Huffington Post:

Tomorrow, there will be over 80 demonstrations in favor of immigration reform across America. One of them will be in Lafayette Park, across the street from the White House. There, some 40 dignitaries including a member of Congress, clergy, heads of organizations and community leaders will likely be arrested in acts of civil disobedience against unjust immigration enforcement and the political cowardice in addressing our broken immigration system. I will be one of those getting arrested.

I am willing to get arrested tomorrow because the massive deportations being undertaken by the Obama Administration are tearing apart families, separating children from their parents, risking the lives of disabled immigrants and vulnerable refugees, and spreading terror into our communities. I will be arrested because America needs to understand immigration reform is not merely a political issue; our broken system is a moral disaster unfolding in our nation. Civil disobedience is important at this point because it signals to our leaders that the current situation is so unjust and unsustainable that people are no longer willing to comply or be complicit in the injustices committed by our government.

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Posted 04/30/10 at 02:55pm By Mahwish Khan

WATCH: Trail of Dreams Students on CNN

As we reported earlier this week, the Trail of Dreams walkers have arrived in Washington, DC. Yesterday they went on CNN to tell their stories.

Watch the interview and be inspired:

Posted 04/30/10 at 12:06pm By Rafael Prieto

‘Qué Pasa’ in Immigration: Framework Introduced; Conservatives Talk; Latin Pop Stars join the cause

Democrats introduce “Framework”. Today, the Spanish-Language press highlights the new framework for legislation for comprehensive immigration by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and the reaction of President Barack Obama to the proposal. Sample headlines include. 

EFE: Democratic Senators Urge Republicans to Unite for Immigration Reform

La Opinión: Immigration Plan Gains Strength

Milenio: Democrats Solicit Republicans to Support Immigration Proposal

Univisión.com:  Immigration Plan is Introduced; Obama: “We cannot wait any Longer”.

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Posted 04/30/10 at 08:13am By Adam Luna

New Senate Framework for Immigration Reform: First Look at What’s Inside

GlassesLast night, Senators Reid, Schumer, Durbin, Feinstein and Menendez held a press conference to announce their framework for moving forward with a comprehensive immigration reform proposal.  At the press conference, the senators outlined their ideas for reform and invited Republicans to come to the table and work with them to advance a legislative proposal this year.

The proposal appears to be a good start to what we hope will be a serious process, leading to the enactment of comprehensive immigration reform legislation this year that resolves the status of 12 million unauthorized immigrants, reunites families, and restores the rule of law to our immigration system. The American Immigration Lawyers Association just released a thorough, six page analysis of the framework which you can find here.

Most importantly, there seems to be confusion about the framework's legalization program. Press reports suggest that unauthorized immigrants would be stuck in some sort of undefined legal limbo until stipulated border security measures are met, or that a substantial chunk of the undocumented population would not qualify.

In fact, these immigrants would be able to obtain temporary legal status as soon as the program is enacted, but they would not be able to “adjust status” to Legal Permanent Residency or a green card (the second phase of the process) until some of the border security and family immigration provisions are implemented. They would be afforded work authorization, travel permission, and protection from deportation in the meantime, but the proposal estimates that it will take eight years for them to be able to apply for green cards.  In addition, the outline states that the senators’ goal is to “encourage maximum participation in the legalization program” by creating a process that is both “broad” and “streamlined” – addressing concerns with previous legalization proposals, whose complicated procedures and eligibility rules excluded more immigrants.

The pros:   

  1. The framework describes a plan to immediately register undocumented immigrants and establishes a temporary immigration status so that they can work legally, pay taxes, travel abroad, and no longer live in fear of deportation.  Eligible immigrants and temporary protected status (TPS) holders will be considered for the first step of the legalization program, an interim “Lawful Prospective Immigrant” (LPI) status, as soon as the program is up and running.  After eight years, these immigrants can apply for green cards and get on a path to full U.S. citizenship. 

  2. DREAM Act is included.

  3. AgJOBS is included.

  4. Permanent partners immigration provisions included.

  5. On family-based immigration: family immigration backlog would be cleared in eight years. Spouses and children of Legal Permanent Residents are moved to “immediate relative” immigration category, reducing their waiting period to enter the U.S. now and in the future

  6. Increased labor protections and remedies, as well as a commission to determine future employment-based visa numbers based on labor market needs.

Click here to read more.
Posted 04/29/10 at 06:18pm By Jackie Mahendra

White House Statement: “We can no longer wait to fix our broken immigration system”

The White House responds swiftly to the new Senate proposal in the following statement. The statement reaffirms the President's commitment to work actively to gain bipartisan support for comprehensive immigration reform after yesterday's comments, but it provides no explicit timeline for federal action.

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

_______________________________________________________________________________________

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 29, 2010

 

Statement by the President on Senate Proposal Outlined Today to Fix Our Nation’s Broken Immigration System

“It is the federal government's responsibility to enforce the law and secure our borders, as well as to set clear rules and priorities for future immigration. The continued failure of the federal government to fix the broken immigration system will leave the door open to a patchwork of actions at the state and local level that are inconsistent and as we have seen recently, often misguided.

The proposal outlined today in the Senate is a very important step in the process of fixing our nation’s broken immigration system. I am especially pleased to see that this detailed outline is consistent with the bipartisan framework presented by Senators Chuck Schumer and Lindsey Graham last month, and is grounded in the principles of responsibility and accountability.

What has become increasingly clear is that we can no longer wait to fix our broken immigration system, which Democrats and Republicans alike agree doesn’t work. It’s unacceptable to have 11 million people in the United States who are living here illegally and outside of the system. I have repeatedly said that there are some essential components that must be in immigration legislation. It must call for stronger border security measures, tougher penalties for employers who hire illegal immigrants and clearer rules for controlling future immigration. And it must require those who are here illegally to get right with the law, pay penalties and taxes, learn English, pass criminal background checks and admit responsibility before they are allowed to get in line and eventually earn citizenship. The outline presented today includes many of these elements. The next critical step is to iron out the details of a bill. We welcome that discussion, and my Administration will play an active role in engaging partners on both sides of the aisle to work toward a bipartisan solution that is based on the fundamental concept of accountability that the American people expect and deserve.”

Posted 04/29/10 at 04:13pm By Jackie Mahendra

Mr. President, Americans Are Hungry for Immigration Reform

There's been a lot of buzz today about President Obama's comments aboard Air Force One last night, implying that there is no "appetite" to pass real immigration reform this year.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) weighed in this afternoon:

In perhaps her most stern words on immigration thus far, Pelosi put the pressure on the president.

“[A]s I said when President Bush was president and I’ll say it when President Obama is president,” Pelosi said in her weekly news conference. “If there is going to be any movement in this regard, it will require presidential leadership … as well as the willingness to move forward in the Congress.”

Pelosi was responding to a question about Obama’s comments aboard Air Force One Wednesday evening, where he said that he knows “there may not be an appetite immediately to dive into another controversial issue.” Pelosi said she didn’t hear the comments, but still told reporters that the administration must take the lead.

Immigration reform advocates are eager to see clarification from the White House on the Administration's timetable for moving real immigration reform forward. Especially given the crisis that has errupted around Arizona's new "show us your papers" immigration law, which the President himself has argued is "misguided" and must be countered with federal action.

To this effect, there will be major grassroots mobilizations across the country this Saturday, May 1st, including escalated calls for the President and Congress to act swiftly to fix our nation's badly broken immigration laws. These local marches are a follow-up to the major March for America, which drew over 200,000 people to the National Mall on March 21st. At that event, President Obama delivered a firm message promising he'd work on immigration reform "this year."

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Posted 04/29/10 at 01:29pm By Dara Lind

Sensing “Long-Term Damage,” Smart Republicans Distance Themselves from Arizona Bill

The Arizona GOP may not mind that it's hurtling off a demographic cliff and dooming itself to permanent minority-party status, but some prominent Republicans are taking a stand against Arizona's newly-passed law criminalizing undocumented immigrants.

During a television interview Tuesday, Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell said he was "concerned" about people being forced to carry documentation at all times under the law. As quoted in the Washington Post, McDonnell said:

"I'm concerned about the whole idea of carrying papers and always having to be able to prove your citizenship. That brings up some shades of some other regimes that weren't necessarily helpful to democracy."

Florida Senate candidate Marco Rubio released a statement that included some typical anti-immigrant posturing, but pointed out that the Arizona law contradicts Republicans' supposed preference for "small government." As Rubio wrote in the statement (reprinted by the St. Petersburg Times):

"I think aspects of the law, especially that dealing with ‘reasonable suspicion,’ are going to put our law enforcement officers in an incredibly difficult position.  It could also unreasonably single out people who are here legally, including many American citizens."

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Posted 04/29/10 at 11:26am By Guest Blogger

Weekly Diaspora: Boycotting Arizona

This post is a weekly feature by Erin Rosa, Media Consortium Blogger:

Anti-immigrant fervor could be more costly than Arizona lawmakers expected. Thanks to SB 1070, a new law that requires immigrants to carry papers at all times to prove their legal status, the state has become the focal point of the national immigration debate. The bill and the buzz surrounding it illustrates a desperate need for a federal fix to the broken immigration system.

President Barack Obama publicly condemned the measure shortly before Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed the bill on April 23, while human rights groups and immigration reform supporters are threatening national boycotts and lawsuits.

SB 1070 makes it possible for local police to racially profile Latinos by allowing them to check a person’s immigration status if there is “reasonable suspicion” that they might be undocumented. It elicits memories of South Africa under apartheid, when blacks were forced to carry passbooks or otherwise risk incarceration. For a good historical perspective of immigration in Arizona, check out Jessica Pieklo’s blog for Care2.

Hidden costs

Matthew Rothschild, editor of The Progressive magazine, joins many bloggers and immigrant rights supporters in calling for a boycott. “Arizona Representative Raul Grijalva is urging a boycott of his own state. San Francisco has already announced its intentions to boycott Arizona,” Rothschild writes. “The response from the Latino community has been instant and outraged. And the upcoming May Day rallies are sure to be huge.”

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Posted 04/29/10 at 11:11am By Maribel Hastings

‘DREAMers’ Bring Their Dose of Reality to Washington

While the stretches of tug-of-war continued between Republicans and Democrats (and internally between the parties) about how to respond to the pressure for action on the immigration front raised by the enactment of  law S.B. 1070 in Arizona, the group of young students who walked from Miami to the federal capital, Washington, D.C. for  immigration reform and the law that that would legalize them, the DREAM Act, challenged the government to shoulder its responsibility and provide real solutions to the immigration limbo of millions.

Click here to read more.
Posted 04/29/10 at 10:10am By Rafael Prieto

‘Qué Pasa’ in Immigration: CIR Framework; Arizona Backlash; DREAMers in DC

The Spanish-language press focuses on the release of a framework for immigration reform designed by Democratic senators Harry Reid (D-NV), Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Robert Menendez (D-NJ). Meanwhile, attacks on Arizona for its anti-immigrant law continue, and the Trail of DREAMs students arrive in Washington.

CIR framework. Details of the document, which started circulating yesterday on Capitol Hill, include strong border-security provision and legalization of undocumented immigrants who fulfill a series of requirements, including paying taxes and learning English. EFE, Univision.com, and La Opinión (Los Angeles) have more on the story. Meanwhile, EFE catches a quote from President Obama on the lack of “appetite” in Congress for immigration reform.

Click here to read more.

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