Immigrant Rights Organization Recognized for Work in Oregon

Immigrant Rights Organization Recognized for Work in Oregon

Sen. Merkley presenting award to Causa

We are honored to announce that Causa was presented with two awards—one from Basic Rights Oregon (BRO) and the other from the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA).

During BRO's "Ignite!" Gala on October 7th, Aeryca Steinbauer and Christian Baeff accepted the Equality Champion-Racial Justice award on behalf of Causa in recognition of our efforts to integrate lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equality into the core work of our organization. The award was presented by US Senator Jeff Merkley.

Examples of the work recognized by Basic Rights Oregon include Causa's LGBT Latin@ leaders group, inclusion of LGBT equality as a priority at Causa's Immigrant Action Day and May Day, leadership classes on issues of equality, and Spanish-language educational radio ads about family acceptance and marriage equality.

Causa Director Francisco Lopez

On October 14th, during AILA's 8th Annual Immigrant Achievement Awards Benefit, Francisco Lopez, Causa's Executive Director was presented with the Oregon Immigrant Achievement Award for his work and his leadership at Causa. The award was presented by Oregon Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul DeMuniz.

Past recipients include: Serge D'Rovencourt, Former General Manager, Portland Hilton (1986-2000); Sokhom Tauch, Executive Director of Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization (IRCO); Kayse Jama, Executive Director of Center for Intercultural Organizing; Heinz Rudolf, BOORA Architechts; Junki Yoshida, Founder & President, Yoshida Group; Gert Boyle, Chair of the Board of Directors, Columbia Sportswear Company; and Vera Katz, Mayor of Portland (1992-2005)

We would like to thank both Basic Rights Oregon and the American Immigrant Lawyers Association for their awards and recognition of Causa.

For more details about Causa and our work, please visit http://www.causaoregon.org/

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New Report Challenges DHS on Use of Resources and Targeting of Harmless Individuals

The American Immigration Lawyers Association has just released a new report challenging the claim made by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that it is focusing its finite resources on the "highest enforcement priorities" - namely those who present threats to public safety and national security.

AILA's report, Immigration Enforcement Off Target: Minor Offenses With Major Consequences, shows 127 cases where people all over America being picked up by police for minor offences like loitering or failing to signal before changing lanes. Others have even been picked up for no offences at all.

According to AILA, the stops were so trivial as to betray the real motive for the stop—namely to question someone about their immigration status. None of the people were stopped or charged for anything that could be considered a “serious crime.” In a few cases, police said they made the stop because the person “looked illegal.”

For more on the report and AILA’s recommendations for DHS, please link here: http://immigrationimpact.com/2011/08/17/new-report-shows-dhs-way-off-target-going-after-harmless-individuals/

The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) is the national association of immigration lawyers established to promote justice, advocate for fair and reasonable immigration law and policy, and advance the quality of immigration law practice.

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Bill to Reunite Families Reintroduced in Congress

On Wednesday, US senators reintroduced bill that would bring together immigrant families who are torn apart for years due to a severe backlog.

As the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) had to say in their press release, the Reuniting Families Act would place a priority in helping legal immigrants reunite with their families and end decade-long waiting times for legal immigrant visas.

AILA stated that the legislation would reinforce the commitment to families and reduce current wait times in the family immigration system by:

- Helping an estimated 322,000 spouses and children under the age of 21 of lawful permanent residents who are waiting in line to reunite with their families by reclassifying them as immediate relatives

- Addressing the decades-long backlogs for certain countries by raising the per-country immigration limits from 7 percent to 10 percent of total admissions

- Protecting widows, widowers and orphans by allowing them to continue to wait in line for a visa after the death of the sponsoring relative.

- Recapturing an estimated 400,000 family-sponsored and employment-based visas that went unused between 1992 and 2007.

- Respecting the contribution of Filipino World War II veterans by reducing their children's waiting times for an immigrant visa.

- Promoting family unity by allowing more people who are already eligible for an immigrant visa to efficiently use our legal family immigration system.

- Providing equal treatment for stepchildren and biological children by allowing stepchildren under the age of 21 to immigrate upon their parents' marriage (current age limit is 18).

In a statement to the Associated Press, Senator Menendez, a co-sponsor of the bill, said that “the United States had "clear societal and economic reasons" to put a priority on reuniting families”.

Menendez finished by saying that, "Strong, unified immigrant families help maintain stable communities and tend to work hard, pay taxes and start businesses that create jobs.”

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