Causa Oregon Announces New Phase of Escalation and Deadline in Push for Immigration Reform

STOP SEPARATING FAMILIES: CAUSA OREGON ANNOUNCES NEW PHASE OF ESCALATION AND DEADLINE IN PUSH FOR REFORM AND RELIEF FOR FAMILIES

Causa, Part of Nation’s Largest Immigrant-Rights Organization, Announce Deadline and Next Phase of Action

*President Obama Must Act Now to Stop Needless Deportations*

Representative Greg Walden and Republicans in Congress Will Have Until June 28 to Pass Meaningful Reform

Salem, Ore. – With the ongoing family-separation crisis deepening in Latino and immigrant communities across the country, Causa Oregon, a member of the Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM), the nation’s largest immigrant-rights coalition, is announcing its new phase of escalation of action:

STOP SEPARATING FAMILIES

Our movement is issuing a deadline to House Republicans to act on immigration reform by June 28^th of this year. At the same time, we are demanding that President Obama act immediately to stop needless deportations.

“The family-separation crisis is a very real and terrifying burden to a generation of parents and children who live in crippling fear and continue to be tragically torn from one another. We simply cannot allow it any longer. We will once again take action along with our allies across Oregon and the country to show our strength to members of Congress and President Obama, and to show them that the status quo is immoral and unacceptable,” said Andrea Miller, Executive Director of Causa.

On one hand, President Obama’s policies have lead to scores of needless deportations and family separations. On the other hand, Republicans seem happy to abdicate their responsibility and take up the family separation mantle as a party platform. Together, they’ve manufactured a painful moral crisis in our communities.

Going forward, under the STOP SEPARATING FAMILIES initiative, our network of organizations across the country will take continuous action, stepping up the intensity of our activity. By our June 28 deadline, depending on progress, we will unveil a list of political leaders who have acted and voted to divide families, and those who have been family uniters.  At that time, we will also unveil our civic engagement efforts. Immigrants rights organizations, our allies, and the broader Latino and immigrant community will exact a political cost for inaction.  The burden for legislation is on the Republicans, and consequences will play out both in 2014 - and in 2016. 

Congress and President Obama must both understand that for our families, there is no congressional calendar or administrative convenience that condones losing a mother, father, or child to deportation. We will continue to call out anyone who supports family separation. We have one message for all of them: STOP SEPARATING FAMILIES.

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Causa, a member of the Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM), is Oregon's Statewide Immigrant Rights Organization and the largest Latina and Latino civil and human rights and advocacy organization in the Pacific Northwest. We work to defend and advance immigrant rights through coordination with local, state, and national coalitions and allies. For more information, visit www.causaoregon.org, and follow us on Facebook and Twitter

The Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM) is the nation’s largest coalition of grassroots organizations in 30 states fighting for immigrant rights at the local, state and federal level. For more information, go to fairimmigration.org, or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.