Non-Citizens Eager to Serve in U.S. Military Blocked by Government Bureaucracy

Today, while we celebrate and honor those who have proudly served in the U.S. military, we need to remember that among those veterans are immigrants who fight and die on behalf of Americans every single day

The article below was originally posted at Immigration Impact. Immigration Impact is a project of the American Immigration Council whose mission is to strengthen America by honoring our immigrant history and shaping how Americans think about and act towards immigration now and in the future.

Non-Citizens Eager to Serve in U.S. Military Blocked by Government Bureaucracy
BY MARGARET D. STOCK, COUNSEL TO THE FIRM, LANE POWELL PC
November 11, 2011

This Veterans Day, we celebrate those who have proudly served in the U.S. military, including immigrants. Immigrants have long served in all branches of the U.S. military as infantry soldiers, medics, foreign-language translators, and in every other job open to them. At last count, foreign-born service members made up about 8% of the 1.4 million military personnel on active duty. However, some highly qualified non-citizens have been blocked from serving due to the Obama Administration’s suspension of a recruiting program called the Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest (MAVNI). Frustrated by the government bureaucracy responsible for halting MAVNI, those non-citizen volunteers are petitioning the government in hopes of reopening the program.
Started under the Bush Administration in 2008, MAVNI was a highly successful military recruiting program open to certain legal aliens who were also U.S. licensed medical professionals or who spoke certain strategic languages. Applicants were required to pass special immigration and security screening before being approved for enlistment and were put on an accelerated path to U.S. citizenship. If they failed to serve honorably for five years, they could lose their U.S. citizenship.

Although MAVNI was highly successful and saved the Pentagon hundreds of thousands of dollars, the program came to an end in 2010 when newly confirmed Obama Administration political appointees failed to extend it, even though MAVNI was scheduled to continue for several more years. Many blame government inefficiencies at the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness at the Department of Defense, which is primarily responsibility for the program and has reportedly experienced turbulence in the last year.

In the meantime, hundreds of frustrated MAVNI applicants began a White House petition, asking family members, friends, and colleagues for their signatures in a quest to get the attention of the Obama Administration and get the MAVNI program re-opened. Under White House petition rules, the MAVNI applicants need 25,000 signatures on their petition to earn a response. At this point, they have about 700.

Unlike many White House petitions that ask for legal changes or budget appropriations, the MAVNI petition does not seek Congressional legislation or taxpayer money. Leon Panetta, the Secretary of Defense, can put the program back into operation immediately by signing a memo. One would hope that the White House petition process might get Secretary Panetta’s attention, as MAVNI applicants report that letters and Congressional inquiries have not yet resulted in any action.

There is no question that MAVNI is critical in filling military shortages of medical professionals and foreign language speakers. In fact, senior military leaders testified repeatedly before Congress about the value of the program. MAVNI recruits many highly educated people who would not normally find an easy path to serving America due to America’s dysfunctional legal immigration system.

This Veterans Day, let’s hope the administration recognizes the vital role immigrants have and continue to play in the U.S. military and makes a greater effort to reopen the MAVNI program.

Photo by USACEpublicaffairs.

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Rep. Blumenauer Meets with Latino Community Members in NE Portland

November 10, 2011

Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-OR)

Portland, Ore.—On Wednesday, Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-OR, 3rd District) met with members of the Latino Community at a NE Portland Church. The meeting was one of many organized Leaders' Assemblies taking place around Oregon where members of the community talk to their elected leaders about issues important to them.

Among the issues raised during the hour long meeting with Congressman Blumenauer included Legalization and the Dream Act, Making Prosecutorial Discretion Work, Local Law Enforcement and ICE Collaboration on Immigration Enforcement, Uniting families (hardship waivers for the 3-/10-year bars), Immigration Detainers/ICE Holds, Detention Reform, and Customs and Border Protection Reforms.

Leaders' Assembly Participants

During opening remarks, Causa’s Executive Director Francisco Lopez highlighted the support Congressman Blumenauer has given to the DREAM Act, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America's Security and Prosperity Act (H.R. 4321, CIR ASAP) and the Family Reunification Act. He also praised the Congressman for a recent letter he signed on with other legislators addressed to President Obama asking for the elimination of the Secure Communities Program.

Several members of the NE Portland Community also had a chance to tell their personal stories to Congressman Blumenauer. Among the issues they have been touched by in their personal lives includes the difficulty for people to obtain citizenship through the current broken immigration system, having their families torn apart by programs like Secure Communities, the need for passage of the DREAM Act so children of immigrants can realize their full potential and the need for restoration of driver's licenses so that familes can take their children to the doctor and drive to work so they can support their familes.

During his address, Congressman Blumenauer highlighted the special skills and contributions that immigrants bring to the United States and their importance in the fabric of the community. Blumenauer confirmed that he would continue working towards positive solutions for immigrant families in 2012 and would fight against anything in congress that represents hate, division or right-wing anti-immigrant ideology seeking to destroy the values of this country.

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New Report Reveals Families Shattered by Immigration Enforcement

November 2, 2011

Groundbreaking National Report by the Applied Research Center Releases First Data on the Intersection Of Immigration Enforcement And Child Welfare Systems

New York, NY--A new report from the Applied Research Center (ARC) conservatively estimates that there are more than 5,000 children currently living in foster care whose parents have been either detained or deported. To date, there has been no national data available on the numbers of children impacted by the intersection of immigration enforcement and child welfare systems. http://arc.org/shatteredfamilies/

"Shattered Families" offers groundbreaking national research on the perilous intersection of immigration enforcement and the child welfare system. Historic levels of detention and deportation, combined with a clear lack of child welfare policies are resulting in the separation of thousands of families across the United States. These families face formidable barriers to reunification, and in many cases will be permanently separated. ARC projected that at least 15,000 more children will face these threats to reunification in the next five years, if the same rate holds true for new cases.

“Immigration enforcement greatly increases the chances that families will never see each other again,” said ARC President Rinku Sen. “Detaining and deporting parents shatter families and endanger the children left behind. It’s unacceptable, un-American, and a clear sign that we need to revisit our immigration policies.”

In fiscal year 2011, the United States deported a record-breaking 397,000 people and detained nearly that many. According to never before released federal data acquired by ARC through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, a growing number of deportees are parents. In the first six months of 2011, the federal government removed more than 46,000 mothers and fathers of U.S.-citizen children.

For the first time, ARC’s “Shattered Families” provides evidence on the scale and scope of this growing national problem. These impacts are not confined to border jurisdictions or states. In fact, ARC identified at least 22 states across the country where children in foster care are separated from their parents because of immigration enforcement. http://arc.org/shatteredfamilies/

“Our research found time and again that families are being left out of decision-making when it comes to the care and custody of their children,” said Seth Freed Wessler, author and principal investigator of “Shattered Families.” “As a result, children of detained and deported parents are likely to remain in foster care when they could be with their own family.”

“Shattered Families” analyzes these problems, identifies key barriers, and presents policy recommendations for Department of Homeland Security, various levels of legislature, state child welfare departments, and juvenile dependency courts on how we can better protect families from separation and reunify families in a timely way.

About ARC - The Applied Research Center (ARC) is a 30-year-old racial justice think tank that uses media, research and activism to promote solutions. ARC’s mission is to popularize racial justice and prepare people to achieve it. ARC also serves as the publisher of Colorlines.com. For more information on ARC’s work, please visit www.arc.org.  

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More Fear and Loathing from the House Judiciary Committee

The following release comes from the Immigration Policy Center. The Immigration Policy Center (IPC) is the research and policy arm of the American Immigration Council. IPC's mission is to shape a rational national conversation on immigration and immigrant integration.

More Fear and Loathing from the House Judiciary Committee

Committee to Take Up Reps. Smith and Goodlatte's Restrictive Immigration Bills

Washington, D.C. (June, 13, 2011) – Tomorrow, the House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to take up two immigration bills that supposedly address community safety, but in reality are simply the latest attempts to restrict immigration and limit due process for immigrants. Neither Chairman Lamar Smith’s (R-TX) “Keep Our Communities Safe Act of 2011,” or Rep. Bob Goodlatte’s (R-VA) “Security and Fairness Enhancement for America Act of 2011” (SAFE Act) offer solutions to the immigration crisis. Instead, Chairman Smith’s bill would authorize indefinite detention for a wide range of immigrants, while Rep. Goodlatte’s bill would eliminate the diversity visa—a lottery that offers 50,000 visas per year to immigrants from countries that send few people to the U.S. Once more, the House Judiciary Committee is using fear to restrict our immigration system.

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Amy Spicer: LGBTQ community speaks out on immigration despite risks of deportation and persecution

Originally posted at Imagine 2050. Imagine 2050 is project which includes activists, immigrants, artists and students who are invested in a future nation that embraces multiculturalism and tolerance.


LGBTQ community speaks out on immigration despite risks of deportation and persecution
February 25, 2011
by Amy Spicer
http://www.imagine2050.net/

Same-gender sex is illegal in more than 80 countries. Even more shocking, gays and lesbians face the death penalty in several of those countries, including Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

With the recent murder of Ugandan gay activist David Kato after a newspaper published photos of him and other activists next to the words “Hang Them.”

Despite the threat of violence internationally against the LGBTQ community, there continues to be brave individuals who are taking a stand for gay and immigrant rights, even at the risk of deportation to homelands where their lives may be in danger.

Mohammad Abdollahi’s story first came to light last spring. Abdollahi is a 25-year-old who came to the U.S. as a child from Iran and was raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Abdollahi is an undocumented immigrant and he is openly gay.

Last May, he was arrested with three other youth leaders for staging a sit-in protest at the Arizona office of Sen. John McCain (R-AZ).

Their goal was to encourage the passage of the DREAM act, which would allow qualifying undocumented youths to stay in the U.S. while pursuing a degree or enlisting in the military. He was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities after the protest.

He did this despite the risk of being deported to a country where he faces severe persecution for his sexual orientation. In Iran, homosexuality is punishable by death.

Doug Gentry and Alex Benshimol have been together nearly six years. Benshimol is a Venezuelan immigrant who married his partner Doug in Connecticut last year. However, Benshimol is not provided the same opportunity to stay with his spouse as heterosexual married couples, because the U.S. government doesn’t recognize same-sex unions.

Rather than stay quiet and avoid attention, Benshimol has risked deportation to speak up and talk not only about the anti-gay repression he continues to face, but also the need for changes to the system.

Equality California Institute recently held a forum to discuss the challenges that undocumented gays and lesbians face. It was one of a series of workshops on the issue being held throughout California by the Institute, the nonprofit arm of Equality California, the state’s largest gay-rights group.

Mohammad and Alex are just two examples of individuals who are putting their freedom and safety on the line to build a more just future for all Americans.

With these brave steps these individuals are true inspirations both in the fight for equality and in giving a face to the plight of undocumented immigrants.

LINK: http://imagine2050.newcomm.org/2011/02/25/lgbtq-community-speaks-out-on-immigration-despite-risks-of-deportation-and-persecution/

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Reports Show Immigrants Boost the Economy

Originally posted at the Reform Immigration For America

Driving home our point: Immigrants boost the economy

We’ve been saying for months that immigration is an overall net-positive for our recovering economy. With unemployment at a scary high and our economy still limping slowly towards recovery, many have repeated history by scapegoating immigrants as “taking our jobs” and have pointed fingers at the undocumented immigrant population as somehow responsible for the current economic climate.

These same finger-pointers are those yelling ‘amnesty’ loudly at the top of their lungs and arguing against comprehensive immigration reform.

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Jim Wallis: This Thanksgiving Remember the Immigrant, Pilgrim

This Thanksgiving Remember the Immigrant, Pilgrim

by Rev. Jim Wallis

As I take time to reflect on what I am truly thankful for, my family certainly tops the list. I've just been out of the country for a week, so I will cherish the time sitting around the table with my kids, asking one another to share what we are most thankful for. And this year, my wife Joy will celebrate her first Thanksgiving as a U.S. citizen.

I am painfully aware that not every family is as fortunate as mine. The broken nature of America's immigration system is deeply felt during the holidays by millions in the United States who long to be reunited with their loved ones.

Long backlogs in our nation's family immigration system have kept families apart for years - even decades, in some instances. I was also shocked to learn that over the past ten years, more than 100,000 parents of U.S. citizen children have been deported by our government. Four million U.S. citizen kids live in "mixed-status families" - families comprised of both legal and undocumented residents who are fighting to stay together in the face of deportation and permanent separation. For us in the faith community who value and cherish families, this should not be acceptable.

In the coming months, you'll be hearing a lot more from us about the broken U.S. immigration system and how you can advocate for just and humane immigration reform that builds up families. Sign up for our Christians for Comprehensive Immigration Reform newsletter and we promise to keep you up to date on ways you can advocate and engage in our work.

When you gather around the table with friends, family, and loved ones this Thanksgiving, remember the immigrant. Think of the empty seats at the tables of households across this nation. And join with me in imagining what next year's Thanksgiving might look like if we are successful in reforming our nation's immigration system with strong measures that reunite families. Now that would be something to be grateful for.

Jim Wallis is CEO and Editor-in-Chief of Sojourners. Sojourners' mission is to articulate the biblical call to social justice, inspiring hope and building a movement to transform individuals, communities, the church, and the world.

http://faithandimmigration.org/blog/thanksgiving-remember-immigrant-pilgrim-jim-wallis

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Cristina Lopez to discuss Oregon & Oaxaca Connection at Willamette University tonight

Tonight Cristina Lopez will present on The Connection Between Oregon and Oaxaca and the Impact of Immigration on Families at 7:00 p.m. in Eaton Hall at Willamette University in Salem.

Currently Oaxacans make up the largest group of immigrants in Oregon, bringing a variety of indigenous languages and cultures with them. Her presentation is sponsored by the Willamette University's departments of Sociology, Politics, History, Women and Gender Studies, Latin American Studies, and Spanish as well as the International Studies Program and the Chaplain's Office.

Cristina Lopez was born in Santo Domingo Tonala in the Mixteca region in Oaxaca. She was raised in the Napa Valley in California after immigrating to the US with her family in 1984. Cristina attended UCLA and received a BA in Women's Studies, and Chicana/o Studies in 2005. Cristina joined the Frente Indígena de Organizaciones Binacionales (FIOB) after learning about the organization and its support of the APPO (Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca) in the 2006 conflict in Oaxaca. Cristina serves as the Coordinator of the Los Angeles FIOB Committee, and is on the Board of Directors of the Binational Center for the Development of Indigenous Oaxacans (CBDIO) a non-profit organization created by the FIOB in 1993.

The FIOB is a community-based organization and a coalition of indigenous organizations, communities, and individuals settled in Oaxaca and Baja California in Mexico and in the State of California in the United States. FIOB works to promote leadership development and self-determination in indigenous migrant and non-migrant communities, and to defend the human rights of these communities with justice and gender equity.

For more information contact Ted Richardson at trichard@willamette.edu

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David Ostendorf: Roy Beck, Dairyman

Roy Beck, Dairyman
August 17, 2009

By Rev. David L. Ostendorf
www.imagine2050.net

The ever-media-hungry Roy Beck of NumbersUSA and The John Tanton Network hoisted on his virtual coveralls recently and pontificated on the growing number of immigrants whose labor puts milk on our tables every day. Roy—who likely doesn’t know a Holstein from a Jersey or a milk parlor from a Beltway parlor—ranted as usual about immigrants taking jobs on dairy farms at “… a time when we know it’s possible to find Americans to do this work.”

Roy definitely needs to get outside the Beltway more often…

The nation’s dairy farms are increasingly reliant on immigrant labor to do the hard work that, as most any farmer will tell you, “Americans won’t do.” Upwards of forty percent of the dairy workforce is comprised of immigrant workers, now responsible for two-thirds of the country’s milk production. As dairy farmer Ray Souza states in the same Wall Street Journal article citing Beck, “Once Americans get the job description, they lose interest real quick.”

Continue article at http://imagine2050.newcomm.org/2009/08/17/roy-beck-dairyman/

Rev. David L. Ostendorf is the managing editor for Imagine 2050. Contributors to the Imagine 2050 include activists, immigrants, artists and students who are invested in a future nation that embraces multiculturalism and tolerance.

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Rev. David Ostendorf: White Hot -- The Health Care and Immigration Debacle

Rev. David L. Ostendorf is the managing editor for Imagine 2050. Contributors to the Imagine 2050 include activists, immigrants, artists and students who are invested in a future nation that embraces multiculturalism and tolerance.

White Hot: The Health Care and Immigration Debacle
August 12, 2009

By Rev. David L. Ostendorf
www.imagine2050.net

While not as crude as the raucous Rushian rabble with their swastika placards at town hall actions, serious white nationalists are unfolding their three-for-one strategy to derail health care and immigration reform, and the Obama Administration itself. In light of the tepid response of Administration and Congressional reformists to the health care debacle, the possibility of more setbacks on all fronts grows by the day: to wit, the President’s announcement this week that immigration reform will see action “when we come back next year.”

When Members of the U.S. House of Representatives lamely cut and run in the face of “angry crowds” screaming about the alleged repeal of Medicare, forced euthanasia of the elderly, and free health care for “illegal immigrants,” it’s clear that Congressional backbone replacement should be the health reform order of the day. One can scarcely imagine what the Members will do when the anti-immigrant crowds are cranked up and come out in force.

Continue article at http://imagine2050.newcomm.org/2009/08/12/white-hot-the-health-care-and-immigration-debacle/

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Support Students, Support the DREAM Act

This is the latest video from Campus Progress (www.campusprogress.org):

The DREAM Act is a bipartisan proposal that would create a pathway to citizenship for thousands of young students who were brought to the United States years ago as children.

If Congress fails to act this year, another entire class of outstanding, law-abiding high school students will graduate without being able to plan for the future, and some will be removed from their homes to countries they barely know.

This tragedy will cause America to lose a vital asset: an educated class of promising immigrant students who have demonstrated a commitment to hard work and a strong desire to be contributing members of our society.

After you watch the video, sign the petition at http://www.campusprogress.org/dreamact

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Rev. David Ostendorf: ICEing the White House

Rev. David L. Ostendorf is the managing editor for Imagine 2050. Contributors to the Imagine 2050 include activists, immigrants, artists and students who are invested in a future nation that embraces multiculturalism and tolerance.

ICEing the White House

July 15, 2009

By Rev. David L. Ostendorf
www.imagine2050.net

Let’s face it. With the expansion of the 287(g) program, the new employer audit initiative, the growth of the Border Patrol, and the relentless, unconscionable construction of the border fence, the Obama Administration has completely succumbed to the ICE (and Democratic Party) enforcement agenda.

The new and expanded agreements that enable local and state law enforcement agencies to act as ICE surrogates build on a program (287(g))that has wreaked havoc across the country. In those jurisdictions where the agreements prevail, no immigrant has been safe from zealous law officers who turn a minor traffic stop, for example, into a wider deportation roundup. Instead of curbing the practice, the White House is expanding it into even more jurisdictions.

Continue article at http://imagine2050.newcomm.org/2009/07/15/iceing-the-white-house/

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Jill Garvey: The John Tanton Network and the Anti-Immigrant Movement in America

Jill Garvey is the managing editor for Imagine 2050. Contributors to the blog include activists, immigrants, artists and students who are invested in a future nation that embraces multiculturalism and tolerance.

The John Tanton Network and the Anti-Immigrant Movement in America

July 7, 2009

By Jill Garvey
http://www.imagine2050.net/

One man is at the heart of the most influential anti-immigrant network in the country. This man, John Tanton, has created an empire of organizations consisting of lobbyists, lawyers, legislators, and “experts” that have permeated the very depths of social and political debate.

What appears to the public as a myriad of voices advocating for severe immigration enforcement is nothing more than a series of front groups, “coalitions,” and spin-offs seeking to overwhelm reasonable debate on immigration. Tanton founded the Federation for American Immigration Reform 30 years ago and shortly thereafter U.S. Inc. These two groups jointly fund and support most of today’s national anti-immigrant groups.

Continue article at http://imagine2050.newcomm.org/2009/07/07/the-john-tanton-network-and-the-anti-immigrant-movement-in-america/#more-2448

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When the Tide of Anger on Immigration Turns to Threats of Violence

Opinion Editorial
June 21, 2009

Contact:
Francisco Lopez, Executive Director: (503) 269-5694
Erik Sorensen, Communications Director: (503) 488-0263

When the Tide of Anger on Immigration Turns to Threats of Violence

A response to The Oregonian article “A tide of anger on immigration”

The Sunday Oregonian's Opinion section featured a commentary on the topic of Immigration, which included statements from those opposed to reform. It didn't take long after the article was posted online for outrageous comments to start popping up. Among the scapegoating, hyperbole, bombast and fear-mongering, it wasn't hard to find a comment with a violent connotation directed at immigrants: "send them home on a bus or in a box." That offering has since been removed.

The despicable comments didn’t end at attacking immigrants; they were also levied at the editor of the article, The Oregonian staff, elected officials and churches, among others. The comments are all left by those using aliases to conceal their identity.

As Professor HoSang from the University of Oregon stated in the article, "There's not much interest in scapegoat politics. There isn't the audience, and the parties realize there's costs to this kind of strategy." This fact, of course, does not prevent members from groups opposed to immigration reform from engaging in it. And, is probably why Professor HoSang believes that immigration restrictionist organizations like OFIR or the Minutemen "are close to becoming fringe organizations", if they aren’t already.

With polls reflecting well over 70% of Americans supporting immigration reform, the claims by these immigration restrictionist groups that Oregonians support their position and message is a weak one, at best.

The views espoused by such groups and individuals are not new. According to Rita Simon, professor of public affairs at American University in Washington, D.C, the American public's attitude toward immigrants is part of an “old pattern”. She explains in the Oregonian article that there is a belief that immigrants who came earlier to the United States were better than those who are coming now.

"When the Irish immigrants first came, there were riots. When the Chinese came, they were banned," Simon said. "Now the Irish and the Chinese are looked upon as a positive experience. Because many recent immigrants come from Mexico and are illegal, they now tend to get the ire."

One has to question how productive these articles are when people can leave comments anonymously scapegoating, denigrating and inciting violence against immigrants. Just this month, members of a Washington State Minutemen group were charged with the brutal home invasion murder of a 9 year old Latina child and her father. In Ohio, a 17 year old Hispanic boy was assaulted by four teens who put a noose around the boy’s neck and dragged him through a parking lot while using racial epithets. And this last week, two others were sentenced for the brutal beating death of Luis Ramirez, a 25-year-old Mexican immigrant. The teens involved in this case shouted ethnic slurs and told Ramirez to “go back to Mexico”.

There are no doubt countless of other incidents of violence directed at immigrants that either don’t make headlines or go unreported by the victims fearful of being re-victimized by a system that would separate them from their families. The Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) said that there has been a 40 percent rise in hate crimes against Latinos between 2003 and 2007. It is disturbing to think that such hateful speech and incitement might be causing the escalating violence against immigrants.

Although CAUSA supports the free exchange of views on immigration reform both for and against, we vehemently oppose the hateful rhetoric, scapegoating and the incitement of violence that has become such a common vehicle of those who can’t debate the merits of their anti-immigrant views effectively. Even without The Oregonian article, there is no shortage of hatred directed at immigrants on the internet and on radio talk shows.

The question is, at what point do these hateful comments on internet and radio turn into vicious and violent acts toward Latinos and immigrants? And, at what point do these incitements of violence affect our youth who turn to committing violence towards immigrants and ethnic minorities?

Our members, and surely many readers, look forward to The Oregonian holding listening sessions for those who have been affected by our nation’s broken immigration system and who believe that it is critical for Congress to pass Comprehensive Immigration Reform this year.

Posted at The Oregonian on June 23, 2009

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Comments Advocating Violence Turn-up at KATU YouNews

What a positive week it has been.

On Monday, CAUSA held a press conference at the Oregon State Capitol with Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste (PCUN), Rural Organizing Project, Mujeres Luchadores Progresistas and the Oregon Association of Nurseries to kick-off the National Campaign to Reform Immigration FOR America. Similar events were held in states all around the nation.

On Wednesday, a delegation from Oregon traveled to Washington D.C. to attend the Reform Immigration FOR America Summit. They joined over 700 other delegates from 48 states to learn what needs to be done to win the Campaign to Reform Immigration and to lobby their legislators.

Today, our delegates met with Oregon's Congressional Leaders in their D.C Offices. Although we are dedicated to working hard throughout the summer to send the message to our legislators that Immigration Reform needs to be passed this year, the report back from our delegates was positive and very promising.

When we posted the video of our June 1st Press Briefing on KATU's YouNews page, we envisioned it as an opportunity for KATU News viewers to learn about our broad coalition of Faith, Labor, Business, Civil Rights and Immigrant Advocacy uniting to pass Fair and Just Immigration Reform. Although we were ready to see the same tired arguments and hyperbole from those who oppose any sort of reform, we were shocked to see remarks advocating violence against immigrants at KATU's website.

We hope readers will take the time to visit our video at KATU's YouNews page and leave a positive comment. We cannot allow this type of vitriol and hatred from anti-immigrant activists go unchallenged at KATU's website. It is time for us to speak up!

http://www.katu.com/younews/46742187.html

To contact KATU News about their screening process that allows such threatening content, you can reach their front desk at 503-231-4222 or send an email to their General Manager at gm@katu.com

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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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AGJOBS Act Reintroduced in U.S. Congress

Today California Senator Dianne Feinstein reintroduced the Agricultural Job Opportunities, Benefits, and Security Act. Sixteen senators have signed on as co-sponsors.

According to a release from Senator Feinstein's office, "The Agricultural Job Opportunities, Benefits and Security Act (AgJOBS) would reform the broken H-2A seasonal worker program, provide farmers with the stable, legal workforce they deserve, and offer a pathway to citizenship for hard-working, law-abiding immigrants already employed on American farms."

The passage of AGJOBS is necessary to alleviate the nation’s ongoing crisis shortage in agriculture labor. Across the nation, Farmers report not having enough labor to do the jobs necessary to keep food on American tables. There is simply not enough labor to plant, tend and harvest crops or milk cows. This blows apart the false notion that American citizens are lining up to do the jobs.

For the full release, visit this link

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Oregon to Join Nationwide Day of Action in Support of Workers and Just and Humane Immigration Reform

MEDIA ADVISORY
April 30, 2009

Contact:
Francisco Lopez, Executive Director: (503) 269-5694
Erik Sorensen, Communications Director: (503) 488-0263

CAUSA to Join Thousands Nationwide in Day of Action on May 1st in Support of Workers and Just and Humane Immigration Reform

Immigration, labor and religious groups across the country gather to demand reform this year
WHAT: MAY DAY UNITY MARCH & RALLY

WHEN: 11:00a.m. Friday, May 1, 2009

WHERE: OREGON STATE CAPITOL, 900 COURT ST. NE, SALEM, OREGON

WHO: CAUSA, Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste (PCUN), Service Employees International Union, Rural Organizing Project, Voz Hispana Causa Chavista, and others

The momentum for immigration reform this year is growing. President Obama has expressed his support for immigration reform. The Senate Judiciary Committee is hosting a hearing at 2 p.m. today to discuss a common sense approach to immigration reform featuring economist Alan Greenspan. On Friday, the grassroots community is demonstrating its support for reform this year by taking to the streets.

From New York City to Los Angeles and every major city in between, immigrant rights grassroots groups will join forces with labor and religious groups to show that Americans want immigration reform this year. We are asking for a common sense approach that gives the hard working men and women already here an earned path to citizenship, keeps families together and provides legal avenues for future workers to seek out opportunities here and join our struggle to strengthen our economy.

Our broken immigration system and broken economy are linked. In order to get the economy going again, we need a common sense solution to immigration. Economists know it. Businesses know it. Labor leaders know it. And the American people demand action. They don't want more excuses from Washington. That's what today's hearing is about, and that is what the May 1st marches are about.

CAUSA is Oregon's statewide, grassroots immigrant rights coalition. We work to defend and advance immigrant rights through coordination with local, state, and national coalitions and allies.

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For a detailed and up-to-the-minute listing of May 1st events, please visit http://www.anewdayforimmigration.org/

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President Obama Responds to Question About Immigration Reform

Yesterday during President Obama’s 100 Day Press Conference, reporter Lori Montenegro with Telemundo Hispanic National News Network asked about Comprehensive Immigration Reform.

Here is the transcript from that exchange:

REPORTER LORI MONTENEGRO: Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, when you met with the Hispanic Caucus a few weeks ago, reports came out that the White House was planning to have a forum to talk about immigration and bring it to the forefront.

Going forward, my question is, what is your strategy to try to have immigration reform? And are you still on the same timetable to have it accomplished in the first year of your presidency?

And, also, I'd like to know if you're going to reach out to Senator John McCain , who is Republican and in the past has favored immigration reform?

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, we reach out to -- to Senator McCain on a whole host of issues. He has been a leader on immigration reform. I think he has had the right position on immigration reform. And I would love to partner with him and others on what is going to be a critical issue. We've also worked with Senator McCain on what I think is a terrific piece of legislation that he and Carl Levin have put together around procurement reform. We want that moved, and we're going to be working hard with them to get that accomplished.

What I told the Congressional Hispanic Caucus is exactly what I said the very next day in a town hall meeting and what I will continue to say publicly, and that is we want to move this process.

We can't continue with a broken immigration system. It's not good for anybody. It's not good for American workers. It's dangerous for Mexican would-be workers who are trying to cross a dangerous border.

It is putting a strain on border communities, who oftentimes have to deal with a host of undocumented workers. And it keeps those undocumented workers in the shadows, which means they can be exploited at the same time as they're depressing U.S. wages.

So, what I hope to happen is that we're able to convene a working group, working with key legislators like Luis Gutierrez and Nydia Velazquez and others to start looking at a framework of how this legislation might be shaped.

In the meantime, what we're trying to do is take some core -- some key administrative steps to move the process along to lay the groundwork for legislation. Because the American people need some confidence that if we actually put a package together, we can execute.

So Janet Napolitano , who has great knowledge of this because of having been a border governor, she's already in the process of reviewing and figuring out how can we strengthen our border security in a much more significant way than we're doing.

If the American people don't feel like you can secure the borders, then it's hard to strike a deal that would get people out of the shadows and on a pathway to citizenship who are already here, because the attitude of the average American is going to be, well, you're just going to have hundreds of thousands of more coming in each year.

On the other hand, showing that there is a more thoughtful approach than just raids of a handful of workers as opposed to, for example, taking seriously the violation of companies that sometimes are actively recruiting these workers to come in. That's again something we can start doing administratively.

So what we want to do is to show that we are competent and getting results around immigration, even on the structures that we already have in place, the laws that we already have in place, so that we're building confidence among the American people that we can actually follow through on whatever legislative approach emerges. OK?

I see the process moving this first year. And I'm going to be moving it as quickly as I can. I've been accused of doing too much. We are moving full steam ahead on all fronts.

Ultimately, I don't have control of the legislative calendar, and so we're going to work with legislative leaders to see what we can do.

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Immigration Restrictionists Attempt to Spread Swine Flu Hysteria

According to a recent article from Imagine 2050, anti-immigration groups are using the Swine Flu scare to promote their own hateful messages about immigrants.

Over the weekend, William Gheen, President of ALIPAC blamed President Obama for Americans getting sick because he "failed to secure the border". Author Jill Garvey said in Immigrant Haters Promote Flu Hysteria that,

"Gheen seems to have forgotten what century it is! While ALI-PAC is busy berating the government for not erecting a barbed-wire fence against those pesky desert crossers, wealthy tourists are carrying the flu into the US fresh off their Cancun vacations." [via airplane]

Like all of the rhetoric coming from folks like Gheen, there is always an attempt to use unsupported claims against immigrants and/or immigration to sway the public to their way of thinking. The fact is, news reports all week have been highlighting that those in the U.S. who have contracted the Swine flu have either recently traveled to Mexico or have been in contact with someone who traveled there.

An article appearing in the New York Times reported on 12 teenagers from St. Francis Preparatory School in Queens that visited Mexico for Spring Break. Of the 45 cases reported yesterday in the United States, 28 of those are students from St. Francis. (Teenagers From Queens in Swine Flu Spotlight, New York Times, April 27, 2009)

Yesterday, the Department of Homeland Security and the World Health Organization said that shutting down the U.S. border to Mexico would do nothing to stop the the spread of Swine Flu into the United States. Napalitano had this to say,"You would close the border if you thought you could contain disease - the spread of the disease, but the disease already is in a number of states within the United States so the containment issue doesn't really play out.

With over a 1/2 million people traveling between the two countries each day, the only thing "sealing" the border would do at this point is stop commerce, further damaging the economy of the United States.

The article points out that the real tragedy in the situation is in Mexico, saying that,

"The U.S. could have strengthened the Mexican economy and in turn promoted development of a sustainable food and health system. Instead the U.S. decimated the infrastructure of Mexico with economy-destroying trade agreements, a nation of willing drug customers, and a free flow of firearms.

It finishes by refuting those that seek to spread Swine Flu hysteria as an anti-immigration tool that, "This is a global health crisis, not an immigration issue and not a U.S. security issue. If we want to protect ourselves, we should start protecting our neighbors."

Read the full article by linking here or visiting http://imagine2050.newcomm.org/2009/04/28/immigrant-haters-promote-flu-hysteria

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