DHS Rejects Calls to End S-COMM

Immigrants' Rights News

July 1, 2011

...a digest of recent news and developments

Over the last couple weeks we have witnessed a number of immigration policy developments and proposals that likely foreshadow the continued challenges for fair and just immigration, especially leading into the November 2012 elections. And today, we have also experienced the energy and growing breadth of the movement for immigration justice. In cities around the country, activists have rallied against profiteering from the detention of immigrant men, women and children, and stood in solidarity with the Day of Non-Compliance in Georgia, where the much despised, anti-immigrant HB 87 came into effect.

1. DHS Rejects Calls to End S-Comm, Proposes Shallow 'Reforms'

Responding to mounting criticism, the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced on June 17 a handful of changes to the mis-named “Secure Communities” program, the Obama Administration’s cornerstone deportation program.

Community and advocate groups rejected the Obama Administration's so-called reforms to the problematic S-Comm program, calling it "more spin than substance."

While local jurisdictions and states stand in line to "opt-out" of the dangerous deportation program, the ICE changes fail to address the real issue with S-Comm, which creates a parallel criminal justice system punishing non-citizens twice for the same offense: once under the already problematic criminal justice system and once under the expanding immigration enforcement regime.¹

Click here for an analysis of S-Comm reforms offered by several immigration groups.

2. Mandatory E-Verify bill introduced in the House

On June 14, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX) introduced the “Legal Workforce Act,” H.R. 2164, to mandate that every employer in the country use the problematic E-Verify program to verify every workers’ eligibility to be employed in the U.S.

While the current program, in more limited use, requires employers to use E-Verify after they hire someone, the new proposal would allow employers to use E-Verify before they hire a person. Without an opportunity to adjust their immigration status, undocumented immigrant workers will be driven deeper into the underground economy, subject to greater exploitation and economic instability. The Center for American Progress also predicted that:

• An estimated 770,000 American workers could lose job offers due to E-Verify’s error-prone databases
• The mandate would cost small business an estimated $2.6 billion
• Based on a similar bill scored by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office in 2007, $17 billion in tax revenue would be lost over 10 years as more jobs move into the underground economy.

Click here for a brief summary of HR 2164 from National Immigration Law Center.

3. Senate Democrats introduce immigration reform bill

On June 22, Senators Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Harry Reid (D-NV), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Richard Durbin (D-IL), Charles Schumer (D-NY), Kristen Gillibrand (D-NY) and John Kerry (D-MA) introduced the "Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2011." Apparently an attempt to keep the Republicans' enforcement-only agenda at bay, the proposal also includes the expansion of E-Verify (see above) and numerous other punitive enforcement provisions, including even more border militarization. It includes a lengthy "legalization" process as well as a "DREAM" provision, and calls for a commission "to study" expansion of the guestworker program.

President Obama recently stated that E-Verify would not be acceptable without a path to legal status -- reaffirming the potential "trade-off" of the dangerous E-Verify program for some form of legalization when immigration reform once more emerges on the legislative agenda.

The bill had no Republican sponsors when it was introduced, and in the lead up to the November 2012 elections, is not likely to see much legislative movement.

For a short, unofficial summary of CIR Act of 2011, click here.

4. Georgia Fights Back Anti-Immigrant State Law

On May 13, Georgia's governor signed into law HB 87, one of the most aggressive anti-immigrant bills modeled after Arizona's SB 1070, despite widespread opposition by key civil and immigrant rights leaders and communities. HB 87 requires the use of E-verify to check the legal status of every worker in Georgia, and empowers local police to check the immigration status of anyone they stop and to arrest people just for their immigration status. Earlier this week, a federal temporarily blocked two sections of HB 87 that would allow racial profiling. However, the bill goes into effect today (July 1), and community advocates and leaders called for a Day of Non-Compliance, spearheaded by the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights, to challenge the implementation of this dangerous law and to rollback the criminalization of immigrant communities. Organizers calling for divestment in the prison construction industry, which is reaping huge profits off of the incarceration of immigrants and others, joined hands with the Georgia-based opposition to HB 87 in mobilizations in several cities.

"Unless the components of the [immigration control regime] are halted and dismantled, the long-held promise of immigration reform - the lifting of millions of immigrant workers and their families out of a life of fear and exploitation- wil be severely undermined."

-- Guilty by Immigration Status (2009)

www.nnirr.org

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Endnotes

1. See NNIRR's reports Guilty by Immigration Status and Injustice for All to read more about the "immigration enforcement regime."

2. Injustice for All: The Rise of the U.S. Immigration Policing Regime, pp iv.

Make Your Call for Justice: Support the Dream Act

Congress may consider the DREAM Act this week or sometime before the end of its lame duck session. As you may know, this legislation – the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act -- could provide access to legalization to tens of thousands of undocumented immigrant students.

Many more young people could be eligible and benefit long term if the bill is improved before final passage. Please join us in urging Congress to bring DREAM to more youth and students by including access and options tocommunity service, as well as educational opportunities and job training.

We urge you to call your congressional representatives NOW to ask for their support of DREAM. Click to get the contact info for your Representative and Senators.

A just DREAM must include options to community service & education

The current version of the DREAM Act requires applicants to complete high school, demonstrate good moral character and complete at least two years of higher education or U.S. military service.

Please ask your congressional delegation to add community service to the list of criteria for access to this program. This would restore a provision of the original bill and would embrace a broader cross section of students. It would provide more life choices and options for these young people beyond the controversial military service criteria, which could act as a de facto "poverty draft."

And ask representatives to support access of undocumented students to in-state tuition and federal financial aid.

Take a few minutes to call (202) 224-3121 to connect to your representatives’ offices and ask that they support and improve the DREAM Act.

[Click here to see the important message and commentary from our colleagues at the American Friends Service Committee.]

Tens of thousands of young immigrants -- "undocumented and unafraid" -- and their supporters have rallied to support DREAM. Let’s send a message to Congress that we stand on the side of justice and in support of immigrant youth and students, for their future and that of their families.

Latino Youth Defines DREAM Act as a De Facto Military Draft

By VAMOS Unidos Youth

We write this statement to raise our voices as Latino youth working and living in the Bronx, New York in opposition to the DREAM ACT as it stands. We demand that we return to our original DREAM ACT that had a community service option instead of a military one. The military has been losing their numbers due to the multiple wars the US has begun. The DREAM ACT would hand us over on a platter to fight these unjust wars. The DREAM ACT has been warped over the years to draft Latino youth into the military, as they need more and more soldiers to fight their wars.

We have been living under harsh conditions. Our communities have been historically underprivileged, with militarized streets, schools that seem more like jails than educational institutions, and poverty that pushes people to desperation and sadness. We have grown up with the trauma of having our family members and friends detained, jailed, and deported. But we are strong and determined, so we keep onwards. We have stood next to our parents as they worked as street vendors, as they were ticketed, arrested, and sometimes assaulted by police for trying to make a living. We, as youth, have also been ticketed and arrested alongside our parents. We have come to understand what it is to be humiliated and then stand and fight for what is right, what is principled, what is just. Our parents’ unrelenting strength to fight for us and their rights have taught us to always stand up for what is right and never sell out.

We have asked ourselves “Is the DREAM ACT an advantage or disadvantage for us as immigrant youth?” Many of us were excited about the possibility of getting documents and finally being able to be recognized as human beings, be able to get a job, an education, and help our families. Along with our teachers and mentors we delved into community organizing and becoming politically conscious. We began learning about our history and our people’s resistance. We then expanded to other cultures and histories and began to appreciate them. We marched side by side with youth from all over the world including South Asia and the Middle East. We saw that within our hearts there was no difference, and enjoyed each other’s company and diversity. Our spirits were momentarily paralyzed when we began learning about the effects of war and how their families and communities had been destroyed. We began to ask ourselves “How can we stop these wars, how can we help?” Our political education allowed us to see through the military propaganda and the army recruiters in our blocks and schools. Speaking to our peers we saw how the military was using them to fight wars that didn’t concern us and killed our friends. This forced us to look at the DREAM ACT a lot closer.

THE DREAM ACT REVEALED

In order to qualify for the DREAM ACT you have to have migrated before the age of 16 and have proof of residence in the United States for five consecutive years since the date of arrival. Also, you have to have graduated from high school or have a GED. This would eliminate many of our older youth, those that did not finish high school, and recent arrivals. You must then complete the following:

1. Serve two years in the military, or;
2. Finish two years of bachelor’s program or higher degree in the US.

What happened to the community service option that the original DREAM ACT contained? Why did our supposed advocates allow for the removal of the community service option? Was it because it became in this form the DREAM ACT became winnable? At what expense?

Two Years of College

The first option on the DREAM ACT is to go to school for at least two years; this is great for people who can afford the high tuition rates. But what about those of us who do not have enough money for the tuition, the books, and personal expenses? Also let’s not forget about our families who have more than one undocumented child who needs to go to school to get their papers.

DREAM ACT proponents say that most people will not go to the military, that they can afford school if we work. Unfortunately those folks are distanced from our realities and don’t understand our economic hardships. We broke down the cost of each year in school without the aid of Pell Grants or Financial Aid for attending two years of a four years University; our calculations were the following for a university in Ohio, which does not allow in-state tuition for undocumented students:

Cleveland State University: Out of State

• 12 Credit Hours - $7,884.00 X 2 = 1 Year = $15,768.00 X 2 years = $31,536.00
• Expenses for Students Living at Home with their Parents = $6,568.00 X 2 years = 13,136.00
• GRAND TOTAL = $44,672.00

Only 10 states allow for undocumented students to pay for in-state tuition. The majority of undocumented youth would have to pay amounts as stated in the example above. We are lucky to be in New York as it is one of the states that allow undocumented youth to apply for in-state tuition. At the same time we understand that by accepting the terms under the DREAM ACT most youth would not have the same opportunity we do here in New York. Undocumented youth in states like North Carolina, Virginia, Illinois, Ohio, New Mexico would be forced to take the military option in large numbers as they would not be able to pay the high prices of education. For this reason we do not support the DREAM ACT.

Two Years of Military Requirement

We, the VAMOS UNIDOS YOUTH, do not support the DREAM ACT due to the military component. The fact that it has been introduced as a defense appropriation bill adds insult to injury. The DREAM ACT is a de facto military draft, forcing undocumented youth to fight in unjust wars in exchange for the recognition as human beings, a Green Card. This is a trick by the politicians, Democratic Party, and DC immigration advocates. The same way many supposed “advocates” for immigrant rights sold out the community with Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR), they now sell us out with the DREAM ACT. We stand against any militarization- whether it is of the border, our communities, or our status. We will not kill innocent people in exchange for Green Cards.

Our parents have firmly stated in their fight for immigration reform, “We will not accept papers tainted with the blood of our people still crossing the border and dying,” in regards to CIR and it’s militarization of the border component. We say the same “We will not be used for the wars of the corporations and the rich in any part of the world in exchange of blood-stained immigration papers.”

We make a call out to all community organizations and allies to stand firmly on what is principled, against the DREAM ACT if it contains the military provision. Our fight will not be won in one or two years. We are prepared to organize our communities and struggle for many years. We cannot negotiate out our lives, our dignity, and the lives of others. We must rethink our strategies and take control away from the DC immigration advocates which have shown us they don’t have our interest. They have watered down good legislation at a very high cost to the community. Our communities need to decide and take control. We stand with our brothers and sisters affected by wars; we feel their pain and desperation. We will not be used to decimate other countries and their people. Thus, we stand together against the DREAM ACT with the militarization component and fight for what is principled, even if it takes us a very long time.

In Solidarity,

VAMOS UNIDOS YOUTH

vamosunidos@gmail.com

VAMOS Unidos: Vendedores Ambulantes Movilizando y Organizando en Solidaridad (Street Vendors Mobilizing and Organizing in Solidarity), is a Bronx, NY, community-based social justice organization founded by low-income Latina/Latino immigrant street vendors.

Make your Call for Justice -- Support the Dream

As you may know, today the U.S. Senate is set to consider the DREAM Act as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act. We urge you to call your Senator to urge his/her support of DREAM, to provide an opportunity for undocumented students to gain legal immigration status. Moreover, we ask you to urge the Senators to include community service to the list of criteria for access to this program, restoring a provision of the original bill that was designed to embrace a broader cross section of the students who could benefit from this important program.

Please take a few minutes to call (202) 224-3121 to connect to your Senators' offices and ask that they take action to support DREAM, the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act.

The DREAM Act -- particularly if it is broadened to include a greater number of immigrant youth and students -- deserves consideration as a "stand alone" bill. But in these weeks leading up to the mid-term elections, it has instead been offered by Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) as an amendment to the "must pass" defense appropriations bill. We resent that DREAM is being held hostage by the defense bill. We are very much aware that military conflicts produce millions of refugees and migrants every year, and in fact, many potential DREAM students and their families fled areas of conflict. Whether or not DREAM is included in the Defense Authorization Act, we further support the diversion of defense funds to education and social services.

The vote today will determine if DREAM will move forward at all and it faces stiff opposition. Tens of thousands of young immigrants -- "undocumented and unafraid" -- and their supporters have rallied to support DREAM. We need to send a message to Congress that we stand on the side of justice and in support of immigrant youth and students, for their future, and that of their families.

And whatever the vote on DREAM, we need to continue to work to make it more accessible for young immigrants: broaden access to include community sevice as a criteria; provide more funds for public education and for job training. Make the dream of a brighter future a reality!

Make your call now to 202-224-3121. Ask to speak to each of your Senator's offices.

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Who could benefit from DREAM?

* Just one year old, Daniel came to the U.S. from Mexico with an older sister to reunite with their parents. He is currently a student at the state university. He aspires to go into politics and give back to his community.

* Diana was three when she came to the U.S. She graduated from college with a degree in business and marketing. Since she is undocumented, she currently makes her living by cleaning houses and doing childcare. But she continues to hope for more meaningful employment where she can put her skills to work.

* John was born in Canada, but came to the U.S. when he was two as the child of a Filipino mother and Salvadoran father. He grew up in Oakland, graduating from high school in 2008. An exemplary student, John felt discouraged from applying to college because he would be ineligible for financial assistance due to his undocumented status. Since high school, John has become one of the youth leaders of ASPIRE, a Bay Area support group for undocumented Asian youth.

About the DREAM Act:

A number of different versions of the DREAM Act have been introduced over the past several years. Under the current proposal, upwards of 800,000 young undocumented immigrants could be eligible for conditional relief, and eventual permanent legal status if they meet certain critieria, including:

* Entered the U.S. before the age of 16

* Have lived continuously in the U.S. for the last 5 years

* Have completed high school (graduation/GED) or have been accepted into college

* Are between 12 and 35 years old at time of application

* Meet a "good moral character" standard

+ + + + + + + + +

National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights

310 8th St. Ste. 303 | Oakland, CA 94607

Tel: 510.465.1984 | fax: 510.465.1885 | http://www.nnirr.org

Letter to the DREAM Movement: My Painful Withdrawal of Support for the DREAM Act

By Raúl Al-qaraz Ochoa

17 September 2010

I have supported the DREAM Act, despite my critiques and concerns over the military service component. In fact, I was one of the arrestees at the sit-in at John McCain’s office in Tucson, AZ; an act of civil disobedience where four brave undocumented students risked deportation and put the DREAM Movement back in the national political stage. I made peace with my participation because I felt I was supporting the self-determination of a movement led by undocumented youth and I felt we could subvert the component that was to feed undocumented youth into the military pipeline if we developed a plan to support youth to the college pathway.

First, let me say that I applaud and admire the tireless work you have all done for the past 10 years. Your commitment and dedication parallels giant student movements of the Civil Rights era. Your persistence in organizing even when the world turned their back on you is inspiring; your creativity in tactics, visuals and media strategy is amazing. Your movement gives hope to hundreds of students I have come across here in Arizona and beyond. It is because of your grassroots efforts—not the politicians’ nor the national Hispanic organizations’—that the Dream is still alive and has come this far. As an organizer with permanent resident status privilege, let me assert that your cause for access to college and path to legalization is just. No one can tell you that what you are fighting for is wrong.

With that said, I want to share how I am deeply appalled and outraged at how Washington politics are manipulating and co-opting the dream. I understand that some folks may say, “we just want the DREAM Act to pass regardless”, but it is critical to examine the political context surrounding DREAM in its current state. It is disturbing to see how Democrats are attaching our community’s dreams for education/legalization to a defense appropriations bill. This is grotesque in a number of ways:

1) Democrats are using the DREAM Act as a political stunt to appeal to Latino voters for the November elections because it is seen as “less” threatening than a broad immigration reform. The Democrats have the political will to recently unite and pass a border militarization bill in a matter of hours ($600 million!), yet they won’t pass a broader immigration reform? And now they are up for the DREAM Act? I’m glad they feel the pressure of the Latino voting bloc, but they obviously do not care about our lives, they only seek to secure their seats in November—which by the way look very jeopardized if they don’t move quickly to energize their “base”. They are also seeking to secure the gay vote with the gradual repeal of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy as part of this same defense bill. All in all, insincere, token political gestures only serve to stall real justice.

2) Democrats are telling me that if I support access to education for all my people, I must also support the U.S. war machine with $670 billion for the Pentagon? Does this mean I have to support the military occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan? By supporting the DREAM Act, does this mean I automatically give a green light for U.S. forces to continue invading, killing and raping innocent people all over the world? This is really unfair. Here in Arizona I struggle with a climate of fear and terror. Yet even though I am so far away, I hear the cries of Arab mothers who are losing their children in U.S. sponsored bombings and massacres. There’s a knot in my throat because victims of U.S. aggression abroad look just like us… victims of U.S. aggression at home. This ugly and twisted political system is dividing us and coercing us into supporting the funding of more bloodshed and more destruction if we want the DREAM Act to pass. Does this mean that our dreams will rest upon the nightmares of people that suffer globally? Obviously, students that call their Senators are supporting their future NOT bloodshed abroad, but we have to be responsible to the larger political implications of this.

3) Democrats are vilifying and criminalizing our parents. A really insulting argument prominently used for passing the DREAM Act that I keep hearing over and over is that because undocumented students “didn’t choose to come to the U.S. to break the laws of this country” you shouldn’t have to pay for the“sins” or “illegal behavior” of your parents. Are they serious?!? It is not okay to allow legislation to pass that will stand on and disrespect the struggle, sacrifice and dignity of our parents. What about blaming U.S. led capitalist and imperialist policies as the reasons that create our “refugee” populations. Our parents’ struggle is not for sale. We must not fall for or feed into the rhetoric that criminalizes us or our parents. We all want justice, but is it true justice if we have to sell out our own family members along the way?

Again, I support this fight –- it’s part of a larger community struggle. It’s personal to all of us. Passage of the DREAM Act would definitely be a step forward in the struggle for Migrant Justice. Yet the politicians in Washington have hijacked this struggle from its original essence and turned dreams into ugly political nightmares.

I refuse to be a part of anything that turns us into political pawns of dirty Washington politics. I want my people to be “legalized” but at what cost? We all want it bad. I hear it. I’ve lived it. but I think it’s a matter of how much we’re willing to compromise in order to win victories or crumbs.

This again proves how it is problematic to lobby the state and put all our efforts in legislation to pass. We should know that this political route is always filled with racism, opportunism, betrayals and nightmares. History repeats itself once again.

So if I support the DREAM Act, does this mean I am okay with our people being used as political pawns? Does this mean that my hands will be smeared with the same bloodshed the U.S. spills all over the world? Does this mean I am okay with blaming my mother and my father for migrating “illegally” to the U.S.? Am I willing to surrender to all that in exchange for a benefit? Maybe it’s easier for me to say that ”I can” because I have papers, right? I’d like to think that it’s because my political principles will not allow me to do so, regardless of my citizenship status or personal benefit at stake.

Strong movements that achieve greater victories are those that stand in solidarity with all oppressed people of the world and never gain access to rights at the expense of other oppressed groups.

I have come to a deeply painful decision: I can no longer in good political conscience support the DREAM Act because the essence of a beautiful dream has been detained by a colonial nightmare seeking to fund and fuel the U.S. empire machine.

I am so sorry and so enraged that this larger political context has deferred those dreams of justice and equality that we all share.

In tears, rage and love,

-r

Youth wins stay of deportation, DREAM stays strong

Now, let’s continue pressing Pres. Obama and Congress to suspend all detentions & deportations and investigate the abuses

NNIRR thanks her members, partners, allies and friends who made calls and/or signed the petition to support Marlen Moreno-Peralta’s now successful bid to stop the Department of Homeland Security from deporting her. Marlen Moreno-Peralta is a DREAM-eligible community member in Tucson, Arizona. Her deportation was stayed as a result of DREAM-led efforts. We believe that today she is more determined than ever to fight for justice – for her family and her community. This is a significant victory for Ms. Moreno-Peralta and her family. This is also a sign of hope that only vigorous community-based organizing and solidarity can prevent an injustice from taking place.

Marlen’s situation, unfortunately, is not unique. Thousands of members of our communities, both documented and undocumented, are languishing either in immigrant jails awaiting deportation or are being deported as you read this update. Hundreds of thousands have already been deported. ICE tears families apart, disappears co-workers and neighbors and U.S.inhumane immigration laws and system continue shredding our rights.

The overwhelming majority of those in ICE deportation proceedings have had their rights violated where they lived and worked. Their rights are also violated and abused in the legal process, where ICE and other immigration enforcement officials coerce immigrants into signing away their rights, deny or have inadequate legal representation and/or jail and deport them with impunity for the smallest of offenses.

Since President Obama was elected to the U.S. Presidency, NNIRR has been calling on his administration to suspend all detentions and deportations, end all immigration-police collaboration programs, demilitarize immigration control and border communities. But this is not enough. The U.S. must also address the root causes of international migration by creating fair trade policies abroad and socially just economic development in the U.S. that promote sustainable communities, strengthens labor and civil rights protections. Fair and just immigration reforms are impossible without fair and just trade policies.

Click here to read the letter to Obama.

The struggle of DREAM youth and student activists and leaders, their courageous civil disobedience and organizing, has been inspiring. The rising movement against immigration-police collaboration, the national civil resistance being lead by the Puente Movement in Phoenix against SB1070, and the DREAMers’ demand for rights and legalization raise critical issues of how to stop the U.S. government humanitarian crisis now being imposed upon immigrant communities and people of color.

The U.S. federal government has created laws, policies, measures and practices that are fueling immigration policing in almost every social sphere of the country. Immigration checkpoints, usually associated with the border region, are cropping up everywhere. “Checkpoints” are being used by schools, landlords, employers, public and private social services, banks, stores, and others who feel empowered to ask a person for their papers to receive services or – in some cases – to turn them over to the police or ICE. U.S. immigration enforcement is fomenting xenophobia and racist violence, too.

NNIRR’s strategy of working to link our communities from the border to the interior has become more salient with the deepening U.S. militarization of immigration control and border communities and the extension of immigration policing. Why? Communities everywhere are facing the same immigration-police onslaught. U.S. federal immigration-police collaboration programs and border security spawned SB1070, Arizona’s anti-immigrant, racial profiling law. Other states are already excluding immigrants from services and as many as twenty states are considering copycat laws. Anti-immigrant hate is much easier to legalize and codify where the federal and state governments are implementing polices, laws, practices and measures that criminalize status and use outlawed forms of racial discrimination.

The U.S. federal immigration-police collaboration programs are no better than its offspring, SB1070. SB1070 and Arizona police may be the most notorious version of police collaboration that unabashedly uses racial, ethnic/nationality and religious profiling. But the federal programs, 287(g) and “Secure Communities,” are using the same methods and producing the same results: Immigration-policing destabilizes communities; people live in fear and anyone who is perceived to be or is an immigrant is more vulnerable to abuse and exploitation.

Stopping Marlen Moreno-Peralta’s deportation, at least temporarily, gives her and her family a brief respite. Our communities also won a small breathing space that we can use to continue envisioning how we demand and get the U.S. to suspend all detentions and deportations and stop the abuses and restore our rights.

If we can stop one deportation, we can eventually get the Obama Administration to suspend all detentions and deportations. Why? The DREAMERs and our communities continue rising up; they are keeping the fires of resistance blazing. Anything is possible when you dream in community.

Justice & Human Rights for All: Stop the deportation of Marlen Moreno-Peralta

Three days left for Aspiring Teacher and Mother of Two, Marlen Moreno-Peralta

Supporters to Announce Next Steps and Where the Case Stands

Contact: Rigo Padilla, (773) 614-9668

Tucson, Arizona. On August 5th, Marlen Moreno and supporters will gather to announce where her case stands after an outpouring of community support that has drawn the attention of local and national media. Her supporters will also discuss the next steps they will be taking to ensure that Marlen will not be separated from her husband, her sons, and her dream of going to college and becoming a teacher.

To this date, support to stop the deportation of Marlen Moreno has come from over 40 organizations nationwide and includes America's Voice, Coalicion de Derechos Humanos, No More Deaths, American Immigration Lawyers Association, National Council of La Raza, Center for Community Change and diverse organizations across the state of Arizona.

WHEN: Thursday, August 5, 2010 at 11:00 a.m.

WHERE: El Tiradito Shrine, 420 S Main Ave; Tucson, Arizona

WHO: Marlen Moreno, Arizona DREAMer facing deportation; Margo Cowan, Marlen's attorney; Tucson youth and community leaders.

Read more...

ACT NOW!! to stop Marlen Moreno's Deportation this Sunday, August 8!!

We ask that all friends and allies help spread the word about Marlen's situation-- please distribute widely!!

ACT NOW!! to stop Marlen Moreno's Deportation this Sunday!!

* Call Secretary Napolitano, and tell her to stop Marlen's deportation:
(202) 282-8495

* Call Assistant Secretary John Morton and tell him to stop Marlen's deportation:
(202) 732.3000

YOU SHOULD SAY: "I am calling to leave a message of support for Marlen Moreno who is being deported on August 8th. Marlen is eligible for the DREAM Act when it passes and should not be deported. I ask that Secretary Napolitano and/or Assistant Director Morton please step in to defer her deportation, she is an asset to this country. Thank you."

THIS IS ONLY FOR ORGANIZATIONS:

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE SIGN ON LETTER
http://action.dreamactivist.org/marlen/signon/

[EVERYONE] SIGN THE ON-LINE PETITION:
http://bit.ly/marlenpetition

Check out the FaceBook page:
http://bit.ly/marlenfb

Marlen's entire story is here:
http://bit.ly/marlenstory

Also, you can:

1. Call Rep. Grijalva (202-225-2435) and ask that he introduce a private bill on behalf of Marlen. Ask that he contact DHS and ICE immediately urging them to stop Marlen's deportation.

2. Call Rep. Gutierrez (202-225-8203) and ask that he also introduce a private bill on behalf of Marlen. Ask that he contact DHS and ICE immediately urging them to stop Marlen's deportation.

Script for speaking to member of Congress:

"Hi, my name is ____. I am calling about Marlen Moreno. She is a bright and talented DREAMer from Arizona. She is married to a legal resident and has two U.S. citizen children, but yet still faces an August 8th deportation. I am calling to ask that the representative step up to the plate and introduce a private bill for Marlen, in addition to directly contacting John Morton and Janet Napolitano, urging the both of them to immediately halt Marlen's deportation. Please do not allow for Marlen to be deported! Thank you."

BACKGROUND:

Marlen Moreno, 26-year old DREAMer is set to be deported on August 8th - this next Sunday!

Marlen is DREAM Act-eligible, is the mother of two US citizen sons and the wife of a Lawful Permanent Resident. Please follow the instructions below and act now to help keep Marlen in the United States . Please join us for a Press Conference tomorrow, 8/3, at noon at Southside Presbyterian Church to call on Secretary Napolitano to terminate Marlen's deportation proceedings.

Arizona- On Sunday, August 8th, less than a week from today, Marlen Moreno will no longer be in this country. She is a wife, married to a legal permanent resident, and a mother to two wonderful U.S. citizen children, Freddy Alan who is 3 and Leobardo, Jr. who is just 10-months old.

Marlen was brought to the United States when she was only thirteen years old. She has been living in Tucson, Arizona for over thirteen years and, like many DREAMers, considers this country her home. Since the start, her parents told her to value her education and, through hard work, she was the first person in her family to graduate from high school. Marlen aspires to become a pre-school teacher because she believes education is the key to success.

In 2008, as she slept with her 8-month old son in her hands, ICE showed up at her house to detain her. She would spend the next four months in jail and detention all because she needed to work to provide for her family. She now faces deportation from the only country she knows. Worst of all, she faces separation from her husband, a legal resident, and her two sons, both American citizens.

This action alert was provided by Coalicion de Derechos Humanos; Tucson, Arizona.

Students Go on Hunger Strike to Demand UC Berkeley Denounce Arizona Anti-Immigrant Law

Hungry for Justice

Students Go on Hunger Strike to Demand UC Berkeley Denounce Arizona Anti-Immigrant Law

By Arnoldo García | May 4, 2010

Youth and students continue leading the charge in the fight for immigrant justice and rights.

Some 25 UC Berkeley students from diverse Latino and Raza student campus-based organizations started a hunger strike yesterday at noon calling on UC Chancellor Birgenau to publicly denounce SB1070, the new Arizona anti-immigrant, racial profiling law.

Two of the hunger strikers, Elena and Natalie, explained that they would be on strike until they achieved their demands.

Calling themselves “Hungry for Justice,” this brave group of students want Cal Berkeley to come out on record against SB1070.

The hunger strikers also want UCB to fulfill its pledge to declare the campus a sanctuary for immigrant students. This includes providing a hot-line and urgent response network to report ICE or immigration policing on campus.

Hungry for Justice Unites Students

The Raza Caucus, a coalition of Latino campus organizations that meets regularly, decided on Monday to launch the hunger strike to respond to the severity of the crisis in Arizona. Along with SB1070, Elena and Natalie also noted the broadening danger after the Arizona legislature passed another racially discriminatory law banning ethnic studies in public schools.

Hungry for Justice is also demanding that Cal drop the charges against students arrested who last November occupied Wheeler Hall after they protested the 32% tuition fee hike and the massive budget cuts that promise to strangle California public education.

The students on hunger strike are part of burgeoning youth and student movement that is developing across the country demanding equal rights and access to education and other opportunities for all, regardless of their immigration or citizenship status.

Youth and student activists have organized a national march across the country demanding legalization for students. Nine students and youth carried out the first act of civil disobedience against SB1070 by chaining themselves to the front doors of the Arizona capitol state building the day after SB1070 was approved.

The latest action, the student hunger strike, is another beautiful act of resistance and organizing. Hungry for Justice's demand that UC Berkeley oppose SB1070 is a demand for a different type of relationship between communities and the public and private institutions that impact our daily lives.

Hunger Strikers Will Have Daily Actions in Front of California Hall

Every day the students are holding a mass or faith-based service at 11:00 a.m. and a rally at 7:00 p.m. to express support for the rights of Arizona and immigrant communities everywhere.

The students have set up two small canopies in front of Chancellor Birgenau's office at the California Hall building. Please visit and support the hunger strikers or join them in one of the rallies.

Hungry for Justice's action is a loud wake up call to UC Berkeley, President Obama, the Arizona legislature and other public officials and private institutions that they must condemn and reject SB1070 and the mentality behind it.

Click here to to find out more about or to support Hungry for Justice.

Arnoldo García works for the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights and heads up its Immigrant Justice and Rights Program.