COALITION EFFORTS IN ST LOUIS
LEARN ABOUT PATH TO CITIZENSHIP
PRINCIPLES OF COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM
SUPPORT COMPREHENSIVE LEGISLATIVE
REFORM
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS AND RESOURCES
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS
WORK WITH LOCAL GROUPS
DETENTION WATCH NETWORK
STAND IN SOLIDARITY WITH IMMIGRANTS
COALITION EFFORTS IN ST LOUIS
Working with MIRA, ACLU, Faith and Community Leaders, Immigration Attorneys and local residents, IFCLA is working on:
- Gathering data to support the claim of racial profiling of Hispanics/Latin Americans by local law enforcement.
- Empowering immigrants to know and guarantee their rights.
- Advocating for immigrants with elected officials in Jefferson City.
- Educating communities about immigrants and the broken immigration system.
- Ending mandatory detention / raising awareness about the private prison industry.
LEARN ABOUT PATH TO CITIZENSHIP
PLAY THIS BOARD GAME
IFCLA has sets of a Path to Citizenship game which you may borrow. Contact IFCLA at 314-721-2977 to make arrangements. We invite you to play it with your family or friends or group… It will open your eyes and your hearts: IFCLA has resource persons to facilitate, as well as dvds as a follow up.
PRINCIPLES OF COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM
Restore the rule of law: A combination of legal immigration reforms and smart enforcement strategies at the border and the workplace will bring immigrants and immigration out of the shadows and under the rule of law. In particular, we need to get tough on bad actor employers who hire and exploit immigrant workers and undercut the wages and working conditions of all workers by doing so.
Earned path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants: As part of a workable reform package, it is time to encourage the nation’s 12 million undocumented immigrants to come out of the shadow and get onto a multi-step, multi-year path to legal work status and eventual earned citizenship.
Protect workers: In order to reduce illegal immigration, workplace exploitation, unfair competition with American workers, and deaths at the border, wider legal channels are needed so we replace the current flow of unauthorized immigrants with a controlled and legal flow of needed workers. But we oppose new guest worker programs. What we support is a new worker visa program that enables workers to enter legally and have access to full labor rights, the right to change jobs, prevailing wage protections, the right to join a union, the ability to be with close family members, and the option of getting on a path to earned citizenship.
Unite families: Close family members are separated for years, even decades by restricted visas and backlogged government processing. By reducing the backlogs, we promote stronger families, grow the economy, and ensure that those waiting in line get on a path to citizenship faster than those here without papers who come out of the shadows.
Respect due process: Effective enforcement requires checks and balances to guard against abuses by the government, discrimination against those who look or sound “different,” and the ability to have one’s day in court to impartially review questionable government decisions.
Promote English and citizenship; help local communities: As part of comprehensive immigration reform, America needs to renew its commitment to teaching English and promoting citizenship so that new immigrants can become fully-participating new Americans. We also need to provide assistance to local communities to help with legitimate education, health and other costs related to new arrivals.
SUPPORT COMPREHENSIVE REFORM LEGISLATION
Provide an opportunity for hard-working immigrants
to become lawful permanent residents
Reform the family reunification process (half
the undocumented are family members)
Create legal avenues for workers to enter
the US to work in a safe, legal, and orderly manner
Border protection policies consistent
with humanitarian values.
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
DENOMINATION websites or statements
WORK WITH LOCAL GROUPS
MIRA (Missouri Immigrant and Refugee Advocates)
www.mira-mo.org
Inter-Faith Legal Services for Immigrants
www.ilsilegal.org
Professional Latino Action Network
www.planstl.com
Hispanic Ministry of the Archdiocese of St.
Louis
www.archstl.org
Equal Housing Opportunity Council
www.ehoc.org
ACLU of Eastern Missouri
www.aclu-em.org
Legal Services of Eastern Missouri
www.lsem.org
International Institute
www.iistl.org
US Legal Solutions
www.us-legalsolutions.org
Intercambio!
www.ifcla.net/intercambio.php
Local congregations, universities, schools and organizations
DETENTION WATCH NETWORK
DetentionWatchNetwork.org
DWN is a coalition that addresses the immigration detention crisis head on. Together we work to reform the U.S. detention and deportation system so that all who come to our shores receive fair and humane treatment. IFCLA is a member of the DWN coalition.
DIGNITY NOT DETENTION CAMPAIGN
We are demanding that President Obama put an end to human rights abuses in detention centers
We are demainding that Congress restore due process to the enforcement of U.S. immigration laws and guarantee that every person has the right to a fair day in court.
We are demanding that the U.S. government put an end to the arbitrary detention of more than 300,000 people and start using cost-saving alternatives
We are working to monitor detention of immigrants in Missouri and raise awareness about conditions.
Restore due process to the immigration system, join the campaign to repeal mandatory detention. Learn more at
www.dignitynotdetention.org
Under current U.S. immigration law, over 200,000 immigrants are imprisoned every year during their deportation hearings without any individual assessment of their risk to public safety or their vulnerability in detention. Mandatory detention must be repealed in order to give all immigrants a fair opportunity to pursue their right to live in the U.S. and stay with their families and communities.
Restore due process to the immigration system, join our campaign to repeal mandatory detention. Endorse the campaign here
detentionwatchnetwork.org/node/2839
Through its Dignity, Not Detention campaign, Detention Watch Network, a national coalition working to reform the immigration detention system, is calling on Congress and the Obama Administration to:
- Repeal all laws mandating the detention of non-citizens.
- Put an end to all policies and programs that use the criminal justice system to target people for detention and deportation.
- Bring the U.S. into compliance with its obligations under international human rights law, which prohibits arbitrary detention.
THE INFLUENCE OF THE PRIVATE PRISON INDUSTRY IN IMMIGRATION DETENTION
Introduction
Since the late 1990’s, the number of people held in immigration detention has exploded. On any given day, ICE detains over 33,000 immigrants; this is more than triple the number of people detained in 1996. In the last 5 years alone, the annual number of immigrants detained and the costs of detaining them has doubled: in 2009, 383,524 immigrants were detained, costing taxpayers $1.7 billion at an average of $122 a day per bed. Nearly 2.5 million individuals have passed through immigration detention facilities since 2003.
Read more: The Influence of the Private Prison Industry in Immigration Detention
YEAR ONE REPORT CARD
Human Rights and the Obama Administration's Immigration Detention Reforms: DetentionWatchNetwork.org or MidwestHumanRights.org
Among the report's key findings:
Persistent human rights violations at many detention facilities indicate that ICE leadership’s commitment to reform has not been adopted by local ICE officials nationwide.
Due to the continued absence of robust oversight measures at detention facilities, local staff can disregard internal ICE policies and procedures resulting in grave human rights violations. Recent steps taken by the agency to improve oversight practices, including the appointment of regional detention managers and the creation of a Detention Monitoring Council, have not substantially increased transparency and accountability.
Systemic reform cannot be achieved if ICE and Congress continue to ignore the enormous human and economic costs of harsh and arbitrary immigration enforcement and detention practices. Exorbitant spending on expanding enforcement programs and detention beds remain fundamental obstacles to the detention reform process.
RECOMMENDATIONS
ICE leadership must work with its field offices to implement the agency’s reform agenda and bring the U.S. government in compliance with its international human rights obligations. Specifically, ICE must:
Use cost-effective alternative to detention programs for noncitizens who do not pose a security threat to ensure that individuals are not unjustly deprived of their liberty.
Provide the least restrictive setting for detained immigrants and facilitate civil, non-punitive detention, which includes access to lawyers and legal materials, case management services, regular family visits, recreation, and the freedom to worship.
Offer appropriate medical, dental, and mental health care to detained individuals and remedy the medical neglect, mistreatment, and abuse practiced by some local personnel.
Standardize and monitor practices and policies across local detention facilities to promote a culture of accountability among local officials, and ensure that all human rights grievances are addressed professionally and expeditiously.
Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announce:
- WASHINGTON—Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director John Morton today announced record-breaking immigration enforcement statistics achieved under the Obama administration—including unprecedented numbers of convicted criminal alien removals and overall alien removals in fiscal year 2010.
- Secretary Napolitano’s announcements reflect this administration’s continued focus on smart and effective immigration enforcement over the past 20 months—prioritizing the identification and removal of criminal aliens who pose a threat to public safety.
- “This administration has focused on enforcing our immigration laws in a smart, effective manner that prioritizes public safety and national security and holds employers accountable who knowingly and repeatedly break the law,” said Secretary Napolitano. “Our approach has yielded historic results, removing more convicted criminal aliens than ever before and issuing more financial sanctions on employers who knowingly and repeatedly violate immigration law than during the entire previous administration.”
- “ICE is committed to tough law enforcement that protects the safety and security of the American people,” said ICE Director John Morton. “These record-setting numbers are the result of strong, sensible enforcement programs and priorities, and the dedication of thousands of ICE agents and officers who work tirelessly every day to keep our communities safe.”
- Secretary Napolitano and Director Morton were joined by Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, Harris County, Texas, Sheriff Adrian Garcia, and Fairfax County, Va., Sheriff Stan Barry at today’s announcement.
- In fiscal year 2010, ICE set a record for overall removals of illegal aliens, with more than 392,000 removals nationwide. Half of those removed—more than 195,000—were convicted criminals. The fiscal year 2010 statistics represent increases of more than 23,000 removals overall and 81,000 criminal removals compared to fiscal year 2008—a more than 70 percent increase in removal of criminal aliens from the previous administration.
- DHS has also expanded the Secure Communities initiative—which uses biometric information and services to identify and remove criminal aliens in state prisons and local jails—from 14 jurisdictions in 2008 to more than 660 today, including all jurisdictions along the Southwest border. DHS is on track to expand this program to all law enforcement jurisdictions nationwide by 2013. This year alone, Secure Communities has resulted in the arrest of more than 59,000 convicted criminal aliens, including more than 21,000 convicted of major violent offenses like murder, rape, and the sexual abuse of children.
- Since January 2009, ICE has audited more than 3,200 employers suspected of hiring illegal labor, debarred 225 companies and individuals, and imposed approximately $50 million in financial sanctions—more than the total amount of audits and debarments than during the entire previous administration.
- For more information, visit www.dhs.gov
STAND IN SOLIDARITY WITH IMMIGRANTS
- Organize anti-racism listening sessions and educational programs
- Join marches and rallies
- Provide interpreters
- Support the Carl Kabat Catholic Worker House
for Immigrants
- Participate in the International Festivals
|
