America's Voice Blog

Posted 03/10/10 at 03:17pm By Guest Blogger

Senator Durbin: Change Takes Courage—Just Ask Immigrant Youth!

By Rachel LaBruyere, Reform Immigration for America. Originally posted on Standing FIRM:

  

Today, in Chicago, hundreds of immigrant youth will meet in Union Park to for a National "Coming Out" Day (part of National Coming out week led by the United We Dream Coalition). Led by the Immigrant Youth Justice League, in partnership with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, today''s action is aimed at pressuring Senator Dick Durbin to show active leadership in passing comprehensive immigration reform and the Dream Act.

From the IYJL site:

This action is a call for leadership from Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), who has worked for and promised the DREAM Act and comprehensive immigration reform for years. Now, as the Senate’s second-ranking leader, he is in a position to deliver. As our senator, and a long-time supporter of immigrant youth, we need him to lead on the DREAM Act and comprehensive immigration reform this year.

“We cannot wait any more. Not while our parents are getting deported and our youth’s dreams fall apart due to an obsolete immigration system that has failed us and the country. I have supported Senator Durbin and President Obama, and now we need them to act. This country cannot wait anymore, we will not wait any longer,” said Ireri, IYJL member.

Click here to read more.
Posted 02/26/10 at 10:17am By Jackie Mahendra

‘Trail of Dreams’ in Georgia: Four Youth Face the KKK on “Latino Invasion”

This week I was struck all over again by the power and courage of a very simple act: four young people who decided to take matters into their own hands and make an epic journey from Florida to Washington DC, on foot. Their goal? To raise awareness about the Dream Act and show the urgency of real immigration reform for youth who were brought to the U.S. at a young age.

Gaby, Carlos, Felipe, and Juan are the four bold young people who make up the "Trail of Dreams," but they are also facing challenges along the way. An email I got from their website yesterday suggests that they are entering hostile anti-immigrant territory as we speak. Just last weekend, they came head to head with the KKK in Georgia. The assembeled clansmen were protesting what they call the "Latino invasion" of the United States.

In a post called "Contradictions," Juan writes about the jarring encounter:

Ultimately, the success of today was to be able to stand hand in hand with our friends from the NAACP; singing liberation songs together and acknowledging our united struggle for racial justice. We ALL deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. We all deserve to be acknowledged for our humanity.

Tweeting from the rally, the marchers commented about how sad it was to see young kids wearing the KKK robes. These children were already being taught to fear and hate.

Click here to read more.
Posted 01/25/10 at 08:14am By Jackie Mahendra

Jessica Alba on Immigration Reform: “It’s something that needs to be solved”

The folks over at DreamActSeries just uploaded this video yesterday, of Jessica Alba making comments on immigration that seem just as relevant today as they would have been during her 2007 premier of "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer." Check it out:

According to a site that tracks celebrity videos:

The actress is of Mexican descent and she made her opinions known on the American immigration debate.

She said: ”There’s no denying that it’s something that needs to be solved. There needs to be a mutual, beneficial agreement. We’re not going anywhere and I think we need think of ourselves as being part of a global world rather than America living in it’s own little bubble. The world just doesn’t function like that anymore."

The DreamActSeries channel features other great videos, like this one about four students who have launched what they are calling the "Trail of Dreams," a civil rights trek from Florida to Washington, D.C. to raise awareness and support for immigration reform that includes the critical Dream Act. For students waiting for the Dream Act to pass, there's no denying that immigration reform is "something that needs to be solved" ASAP:

Posted 01/20/10 at 06:54pm By Mahwish Khan

Thousands of Emails and Calls Helped Delay Deportation of Anees Sous, Father of Six

Anees Sous, the father of six US citizen children, has been living in the United States for over 27 years – that’s over 27 years of paying taxes, putting his children through school, setting up his own business, and essentially doing what most immigrants come here to do: search for the American dream.

But thanks to the thousands of emails and calls and extraordinary work of grassroots groups like DreamActivist.org, as well as the crucial support he received from Representative Conyers (D-MI), the Department of Homeland Security granted Anees an extra 30 days yesterday, so that they could review his case. Mohammed at DreamActivist.Org gives this update:

Just a day before Anees was set to be on a plane to Jordan he got word that ICE would be granting him a 30-day extension so that they can look into his case more. This small win is largely due to the support he was able to get from Congressman Conyers office, and the support of each of YOU.  Anees is eternally thankful to all of you and can’t wait for this extension to turn into a permanent fix.

Anees recently spoke at a Reform Immigration for American rally, where he introduced his family, telling the crowd that his children mean everything to him.  In his heartfelt narrative, he conveys how his dedication to his work stemmed from a desire to give his children an education, and his desire to commit to a country that could make his dreams possible. He says:

I came here to work and to contribute because here, it doesn’t matter who you are -- it matters what can you do…this country has allowed me to achieve much, and I have tried to give back. 

Though he’s been given an extra month with his family and friends, his fight is still not over. Help put an end to his almost 30 years of battling with a broken immigration system.  Head to change.org and sign the petition so that Anees can stay in Michigan -- so that his wife will have a husband, and so that his children will have a father.

To learn more about Anees and his campaign, visit his website, follow him on twitter, or join his facebook page.

Posted 01/14/10 at 04:12pm By Marjorie Valbrun

A Maribel Hastings Exclusive: The Key Players in Immigration Reform

The immigration reform movement is more sophisticated than ever, encompassing a greater diversity of support among various sectors of American society.  As the immigration debate heats up this year, America’s Voice today releases a special report, “Immigration Reform: Know the Players,” providing an indispensable reference for anyone following the issue of immigration reform.

The series, which was originally published in Spanish on MaribelHastings.com in eight thematic installments, provides background information, statistics, and other detailed information on the roles played in the urgent battle for reform by the following groups of supporters: law enforcement; undocumented students; anti-immigrant groups; the pro-immigrant movement; faith communities; farmers and agricultural laborers; business and labor interests; and, of course, the main actors: the White House, Senate and House of Representatives.

Click here to download a copy of the series “Immigration Reform: Know the Players,” or listen to the audio actuality here.

Posted 12/22/09 at 06:24am By Jackie Mahendra

Immigrant Students Struggle to Define Themselves, Win ‘Subtle’ Change at USA Today

Rigo et alLast week we brought you the story of immigrant students putting pressure on USA Today to change a provocative and misleading headline on a piece about young people who would benefit from the DREAM Act.

Well, today those same advocates have cause to celebrate what they are calling a "subtle" victory on the road toward self-definition.

Prerna Lal writes in "USA TODAY Changes Gears in Reference to Immigrant Youth:"

Today, after more than 500 letters from all of you at Change.org, USA TODAY responded subtly and changed the phrase to "illegal immigrant students," a reference that is getting pervasive in the mainstream media. New York Times also used this to reference immigrant youth quite recently. This forces the issue into a longer public education campaign and the need for mainstream media to re-evaluate their policies in referring to undocumented immigrants. They simply fail to grasp the issue that no person can be illegal.

At the same time, this subtle change tells us that a few hundred emails and calls have the power to drive change. There should be some solace in knowing that any media source that refers to immigrant students as "illegal students"  will have to bear the brunt of young immigrants who simply want the right to define themselves.

Every subtle victory is an important step forward (or, in this case, an important reminder that we cannot afford to step backward with blatantly inaccurate and misleading terminology) -- great work to the Change.org and DreamActivst.org advocates and dedicated bloggers who kept the pressure on USA Today to change their flawed headline.

Posted 12/18/09 at 06:20am By Jackie Mahendra

Fresh From Major Organizing Success, Dream Advocates Challenge USA Today on “Illegal Students”

Last week was a good week for advocates for undocumented youth, like those at DreamActivist.org, who are rallying support for a critical component of immigration reform called the Dream Act. Good news came out of Chicago, when the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights announced that honor student and community volunteer Rigo Padilla would be able to stay in the country he calls home. Then, "DREAM'er" Andrea Huerfano’s deportation was halted.

Tens of thousands of faxes, emails, and phone calls from advocates across the country helped pave the way to restoring justice in these young people's lives.

Now, DREAM'ers have set their sights on a slightly different target than DHS: USA Today. Why?

According to Prerna Lal, in "Ask USA Today: What Do You Mean By "Illegal Students?" at Change.org:

The USA Today article "Groups try to delay deportations of illegal students" gets it wrong once again by calling immigrant students in the United States "illegal." [...] 

But wait, I get the “illegal immigrant” because that slur is familiar. However, WHAT is an “illegal student?”

How do you recognize an "illegal student?" [...]

Sign the petition to tell Emily Bazar and USA Today that no student and no human being can be illegal.

The action has caught fire on twitter and continues to spark outrage a day later.

Erin Rosa at Campus Progress has a thorough (and snarky) response in "What's an 'Illegal Student,' Anyway?":

That’s a good question. First off, schooling for primary and secondary education is compulsorily in the United States, meaning that public schools are obligated to teach every child, undocumented or not. Even if Bazar is talking about higher education, universities and colleges are not legally bared from teaching to undocumented immigrants so long as they pay their own tuition bills. (Obtaining financial aid or in-state tuition is another story.) So, if “illegal” is being used by USA Today as an adjective to describe students in the United States, what is it about their status as scholars that would specifically make them illegal?

While it’s not uncommon for other established media outlets to use a term like “illegal immigrant,” a problematic title that assumes an individual is guilty of breaking immigration laws, it’s nearly impossible to be an “illegal student” in the United States.

What’s next? Will there be “illegal Church goers,” or “illegal Guitar Hero players?”

Imagine 2050, The Sanctuary, DreamActivist, and MAGraduate (Daily Kos) also carried the story.

http://www.dreamactivist.org/update-andrea-huerfanos-deportation-halted/
Posted 12/11/09 at 06:40am By Jackie Mahendra

Success: Rigo Will Stay, “We Have the Power to Fix It”

This little video made me smile today:

Earlier this month, Angela Caputo of Progress Illinois described Rigo Padilla, the 19-year-old honors student facing deportation, pictured in the video above, as "A Local Posterchild For Our Broken Immigration System:"

Well, according to the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR):

Today, December 10th, we got some great news. Rigo Padilla's deportation has been deferred.

This victory is due to the unified support for Rigo by Chicago municipal, state, and federal elected officials; the University of Illinois at Chicago community; youth, immigrant advocates, community and faith leaders. People across the Presidents hometown of Chicago and from around the country lifted their voices to end this senseless deportation and move towards just and humane immigration reform.

The campaign to stop Rigo's deportation exemplifies two things. Our immigration system is broken and that we have the power to fix it.

Click here to read more.
Posted 12/09/09 at 03:05pm By Jackie Mahendra

For Children, Immigration Reform is a Poverty Reduction Strategy

kidThe Washington Post has a devastating feature today entitled, "Left behind: A child's burden," and subtitled, "An undesirable inheritance." In it, N.C. Aizenman reports on the diverse ways in which the U.S.-born kids of undocumented Latino immigrants are coping with poverty, as well as the fact that they are two times more likely to face poverty than other American children.

Aizenman reports that a full forty percent of U.S-citizen children of Hispanic immigrants have one parent (at least) who is living in the U.S. without proper legal status, arguing:

Of all the disadvantages that U.S.-born children of Hispanic immigrants might confront, none is more significant than being raised by parents who are in the country illegally.

Forty percent -- or 3.3 million of these children -- have at least one parent who is an illegal immigrant, mostly from Mexico or Central America, according to a recent analysis of census data by demographer Jeffrey S. Passel of the Pew Hispanic Center. And researchers warn that the long-term consequences for the country could be profound.

"The fact that so many in this population face these initial disadvantages has huge implications in terms of their education, their future labor market experience, their integration in the broader society, and their political participation," said Roberto Gonzales, a professor at the University of Washington who has studied this generation.

The most immediate result has been a substantial increase in the number of American children growing up in poverty. Partly because illegal immigrants tend to have low levels of education and partly because their immigration status makes it harder to move up the job ladder, their U.S.-born children are almost twice as likely to be poor as the children of legal immigrants or native parents, the Pew Hispanic Center found.

The piece quotes America's Voice Executive Director, Frank Sharry, who argues that, "When you talk about someone who is undocumented, the chances are extremely high that they are in a mixed-status family. . . . Legalization would be one of the best anti-poverty strategies we could employ."

Click here to read more.
Posted 09/28/09 at 05:28pm By Web Team

Update from “Dreamer” Jorge-Alonso: Call Senators Cantwell and Murray Now

UPDATE: Last week, over 5,000 emails were sent to the Department of Homeland Security and ICE, which has helped delay Dream Act eligible, business student Jorge-Alonso’s deportation.  In the following video message, Alonso thanks his supporters for the work they’ve done so far, and what it is that they can do to help further. Watch:

His appeal for help issued as an email this morning read:

As of today, my only remaining hope to stay in the United States is for one of my US Senators -- Maria Cantwell or Patty Murray -- to immediately introduce a private bill on my behalf.

Call Senator Cantwell or Murray and urge them to introduce a private bill in order to keep Jorge-Alonso at home with his family and friends where he belongs.

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