Be the first on your block to sport one of our stylish new Sanctuary badges, designed by XOLAGRAFIK.
With two different slogans available, in three tasty color schemes, even the most discerning blogger should find a Sanctuary badge just right for their little patch of Blogtopia™
Here's just a little taste of what we're talking about:
To get one of these fine peices of graphic art to display with pride in your little corner of the blogosphere, simply go to:
Sanctuary badge page
and copy the little snippet of code provided.
Then paste it anywhere you want to display your solidarity with the cause and pride of being a member of the Pro-Migrant SanctuarySphere
tool box
how to help
learn more Working for Justice in Our Communities Since 1929
My name is Nico and I’m undocumented. I’m coming out of the shadows because I am no longer afraid. I came to this country in 1992, following my mother to the land where the bread that would feed her children was. I have recently lost my mother to cancer, undoubtedly from the chemical factory she worked at most of her life. She was unable to demand better health and safety conditions due to her “status.” But she kept on working for me and the rest of my family. She worked everyday in fear not knowing if “la migra” would come and take her away from us. Now she is buried in the land of freedom, the land where she’s considered a criminal. I’m standing up today for her, myself, and the millions of families like ours.
Nico was just one of dozens of undocumented youth who took the decision to take to the streets and “come out” of their undocumented status in mobilizations across the country yesterday. “Coming Out of the Shadows Week” is an initiative of Dream Activist and the Chicago-based Immigrant Youth Justice League which which will culminate in the nation-wide “March for America”. Inspired by gay rights activism, the initiative empowers undocumented youth who are tired of being persecuted by the system to stand up and break the silence about their status.
Its kick off began yesterday in Chicago when eight undocumented youth surrounded by a thousand supporters holding signs saying “Undocumented and Unafraid” gathered outside Senator Richard Durbin’s office to ensure the introduction of the bipartisan immigration reform bill in the Senate. 26 year old University of Illinois student Tania Unzueta, one of the founders of the Immigrant Youth Justice League, was one of the eight.
Like thousands of others, Tania was brought to the U.S. on a tourist visa by her parents at the age of 10, who stayed on with the hope of a better future. Despite being captain of the swim team, Tania has always had to keep her status a secret and make up stories to justify not having a driver’s license and not being able to travel out of the country with her swim team. Tired and frustrated of being trapped in a scenario that she had no hand in creating, she has taken steps to become active in the movement for the passage of the Dream Act. Speaking about “Coming Out” as a radical and extremely personal act, she said,
It’s scary on one hand, but it’s also liberating. I feel like I’ve been hiding for so long…There’s a sense of urgency. We’re angry. We’re frustrated. We thought this would be a good strategy to get our community mobilized.
Every year, about 65,000 undocumented immigrants graduate from U.S. high schools and live in constant fear of being kicked out of college, losing their scholarships, and not being able to apply for jobs. Research indicates that there are currently 3.2 million undocumented young adults living in a state of limbo whose status prevents them from using their education to become fully contributing members of society. First introduced by Senator Richard Durbin and Representative Howard Burmen, the provisions of the Dream Act allows undocumented youth to be eligible for a conditional path to citizenship. If you are an undocumented youth and need help to come out, here’s some great advice on why and how to do so. To get started, check out Gabriel’s brave coming out story.
The pressure mounting on Congress seems to be yielding some results. Three grassroots meetings are slated for today, ones that we hope will lead to concrete action. At 1 pm, grassroots leaders will meet with senior White House staff. This will be followed by a much publicized meeting between President Obama and Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) (who are working on a bipartisan immigration reform bill), seen as a move to insert immigration back onto a congressional agenda. And finally, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus is also meeting with the President today to discuss health care and immigration.
Ed. Note: After a brief hiatus, the Diaspora is back! We're very excited to have Erin Rosa on board for this project. Please stay tuned for a the latest developments on the immigration reform front every Thursday morning.
Fed up with Congress and frustrated with President Barack Obama's brief mention of immigration reform in the State of the Union address, immigrant rights supporters are now organizing around the clock to push legislators to move on reform in 2010. It will not be an easy feat.
Congress is already bogged down with health care reform and a lingering economic crisis. While Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) has proposed a bill in the House of Representatives to provide a pathway to citizenship for the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States, immigration reform could be doomed for 2010 if it's not introduced in the Senate by this Spring. Otherwise, it's very unlikely that Congress will get around to debating the issue by the end of the year.
Aware of these bitter facts-and even more cognizant of the human rights abuses that will continue so long as the status quo is maintained-reform proponents are gearing up for a number of key battles to improve the immigration system.
La marcha
Born from dissatisfaction with Congress and Obama's inability to deliver reform, organizers from around the country are preparing to march on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. On March 21, the first day of Spring. The objective is to draw tens of thousands of immigrant rights supporters to Capitol Hill. As New America Media reports, March for America "will be a test of immigrant advocates' organizing capacity and their increasing use of technology to stoke a popular groundswell on immigration."
The march, which is organized by the Reform Immigration For America coalition, will also "bring together advocates focused on different parts of the immigration policy agenda," including supporters of agricultural labor, better immigrant detention standards, and the DREAM Act, federal legislation that provide a pathway to citizenship for certain immigrants who entered the United States before the age of 16.
While mainstream media coverage of the march has been relatively quiet, with many English-language outlets ignoring it completely, the organizing behind the scenes has been even more hush hush. This is a massive grassroots effort to raise public awareness around the country. Members from hundreds of state immigration groups are attending churches, making phone calls, knocking on doors, and organizing caravans to get people to Washington in March. Even mainstream Spanish-language outlets have gotten involved and encouraged their audiences to contact the Reform Immigration For America campaign for all the latest information.
Perhaps most refreshing is that unlike the immigration reform fight in 2007, which was plagued by a number of organizational hurdles, national immigration organizations in Washington have reached out to grassroots groups across the nation for the march. As Bill Chandler, an executive director for the Mississippi Immigrant's Rights Alliance, told the National Radio Project recently, "The grassroots groups were left out of the discussion [in 2007] and what we're trying to do is make sure that doesn't happen again."
Speed bumps on the Trail of Dreams
While organizers are preparing for his month's march, four young students are continuing a 1,500 mile trek on foot, dubbed the "Trail of Dreams," in support of the DREAM Act. The students, three of whom are undocumented immigrants, started their journey on Jan 1. in Miami and are currently hiking through Georgia on their way to Washington, where they are expected to arrive in May. Along the way, they are educating people about how the DREAM Act would help kids like them.
Under current law, some of the walkers still face deportation, even though they were only children when their parents brought them into the United States. While the four students have encountered a lot of support from the communities that they've visited, they've also come across some ugly opposition. As AlterNet notes, a recent Ku Klux Klan rally in Georgia "was timed to occur when the Trail of Dreams walkers were passing through the area," and there was a "a stark difference between the messages of the two groups: one for tolerance and human rights, the other for hatred and racism.
Immigration Detention Abuses Continue
The Varick Federal Detention Facility, a privately-run immigration prison in New York city that was overseen by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, is closing and relocating approximately 250 of its inmates to a New Jersey lockup. As RaceWire reports, the move is "partially because of public pressure" since "Varick has a well-documented track record of detainee abuse and fatal medical negligence," but "shutting down one facility doesn't address the broader system."
When immigration officials granted a media tour to The Nation shortly before the prison closed, reporter Jackie Stevens described the scene inside: "The dorms are packed with rows of narrow beds, fifty in all; the law library has dated resources; there is no privacy; and there is no natural light, ever."
On top of that, even "the agents hosting the tour seemed embarrassed and emphasized the upcoming transfer as we looked through a long hall window at men slouching, feet on the floor, using their beds as backless chairs." Varick is just one of many immigration detention facilities with documented abuses, and while the Department of Homeland Security, the agency that ultimately controls ICE, has promised to reform the system, they have still refused to introduce any legally-binding regulations for detainee treatment.
This post features links to the best independent, progressive reporting about immigration by members of The Media Consortium. It is free to reprint. Visit the Diaspora for a complete list of articles on immigration issues, or follow us on Twitter. And for the best progressive reporting on critical economy, environment, and health care issues, check out The Audit, The Mulch, and The Pulse. This is a project of The Media Consortium, a network of leading independent media outlets.
On January 1st, four courageous students embarked on a 1500-mile symbolic walk from Miami to Washington D.C. to strengthen and inspire the immigration movement. Inspired by the idea of non-violent resistance, the Trail of Dreams has been joined by hundreds of inspired folks who walk along with the students in small towns and cities, to stand together for the passage of the DREAM Act.
But Felipe, Gabby, Carlos and Juan have also met with their share of challenges along the way. Coping with limited resources, finding shelter at each stop on their journey, and being away from their families for four months, they have also had to contend with some opposition to their cause. Now in the deep south, the most recent, and decidedly the most jarring of these, has been their encounter with the Ku Klux Klan in Nahunta, Georgia last week.
Yes, we too thought the KKK had no place outside of the embarrassments of history. Apparently we were all wrong on that. While the group is not very strong or active nowadays, there are still a few thousand Klan members scattered around the country, 50 of whom decided to hold a rally “against the Latino invasion” in Georgia at the same time that the “dreamwalkers” were passing through the area. One of the students, 20 year old Juan Rodriguez, wrote about the encounter on the Trail of Dreams blog -
Today we drove to Nahunta, GA where the Ku Klux Klan was organizing an anti-immigrant demonstration, under the premise that “God put each race in their respective continent and they were meant to stay there”. I can’t help but keep being amused by these concepts that the very organization can’t seem to be able to uphold appropriately. Is the KKK secretly on a campaign to reclaim all lands back for the indigenous people of North America and preparing for the voyage back to Europe? I find this highly unlikely….It is disappointing that after so many years of social reformation, we still have organizations filled with so much hate convening and gaining the support of communities….Ultimately, the success of today was to be able to stand hand in hand with our friends from the NAACP; singing liberation songs together and acknowledging our united struggle for racial justice. We ALL deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.
It seems unacceptable that while the walkers and the NAACP (who had organized a rally to counter the KKK) were promoting tolerance, dignity, and humanity, the KKK were propagating hatred and racism. And it’s far from over. After completing 600 miles of their walk, the four students are in a part of the country that is notorious for its anti-immigrant sentiment. This week they will enter Gwinnett County, Georgia, home of Sheriff Conway, known for his anti-immigrant stance.
It takes a lot of courage and determination to do what the dreamwalkers are doing and that’s why they need your support. Check where your Member of Congress stands on immigration reform and let them know what you think about it.
In this day in age communication has bridged all gaps. Well, most of them, but if you want to know about a specific issue is very easy to get plugged in and be flooded with information about it.
People often compliment me for how well read I am on current issues, especially on the immigration system and its issues in this country, but the reality of it is that all it takes is a couple of tweaks here and there in your routine within the internet in order to get as much information as possible. Moreover, you can be on the move and have a basic cell-phone with a text message plan and still be kept up to date on recent developments in the news.
What I am trying to say is that we should all be a little be a little more open and receptive to the information available to us, the more we know the more tools we have to combat the misinformation that is out there, or spread the accomplishment we have compiled so far. Within this post I will be covering Twitter and how to use it as a pro-migrant tool, not only to get direct updates from on the trenches activists to publications from various forms of media, but also to help spread awareness about immigration system in the United States. For all intents and purposes we will focus on covering the DREAM Act and help promote it within the Twitterverse (common term to depict the universe within Twitter).
So lets treat this as the Twitter guide to the DREAM Act, I will be answering many FAQs and if you have any remaining questions or points that I missed or did not cover you can always drop me a comment. So here we go:
Why is Twitter so important to the DREAM Act and its movement?
In a world that seems to be clogged up with blogs, editorials, news articles, and spam it seems almost impossible to read every single piece or at least go on the hunt for it across the vast depths of the internet.
Twitter takes care of this by using asking the question “What are you doing?” in which users may reply in a variety of ways. To the average Joe, Twitter is nothing more of a Facebook status updater, where they will often type “Im eating a slice of pizza yum…”, but us here at the DREAM Activist team and in the pro-migrant movement use Twitter as a may to publicize everything we do, from our blogs to what others are doing, in order to spread awareness in a quick, short, and easy way for others to see.
Often you’ll see things like this coming from our Twitter account” “@DreamAct: “New Blog Post ‘Post Name Here’”. Upon reading this, our friends (followers as denoted by Twitter) will continue to re-post this over to their accounts so their ‘followers’ can see what they are reading as well. In turn this creates a huge chain of what are known as ‘RTs’ or “re-tweets” that give credit to the original source in which the article came from.
However, we are not the only ones Tweeting about the DREAM Act. There are articles published every day covering the story of a DREAM Act student, one of our actions, or an organization that is promoting the DREAM Act. By “re-tweeting” and organizing the tweets we can create a network of pro-migrant advocates that keep us informed of news being published within their communities, or actions that they are conducting.
I am very grateful as always to have your support. It's been three months since the day I started my campaign to stop my deportation. Thanks to my pro bono attorneys Shannon Underwood and Karol Brown, partners at Global Justice Law Group PLCC , my deportation deadline on September 25th was extended through a Sua Sponte legal filing. As of today I have 21 days left until what could be my final day in America, which has become my home. Senator Maria Cantwell's staff is still analyzing their options on my private bill. The hope is still alive!
Campaign's Website & "ALONSO LIVE" Show LAUNCHED
These past three weeks after seeing that my campaign has been losing momentum, I decided to do something about this and take it to the next level. Last Wednesday I launched a website for my campaign. The purpose of this site is to make it easier for you to further learn about my case, its latest updates, and to act on my behalf in the easiest way possible by integrating various social media and online tools in one place.
Below are the screenshots of the "ALONSO DREAM Act Candidate Facing Deportation" website and of my new show "ALONSO LIVE" that broadcasts everyday at 8pm PST.
The idea of the live show is to provide you with a more entertaining way for you to keep in touch with my campaign and thus act on my behalf on time when needed. I am looking forward to stay, join all national efforts in support of the DREAM Act and Comprehensive Immigration reform, and help others become socially aware. I am thinking only of the best, working only for the best, and expecting only the best.
As always thank you for your support,
And God Bless You.
My name is Alonso and I qualify for a legislation that is based on Earned Legalization; the DREAM Act.
However I am facing deportation and these past two months I have been running a campaign to stop my deportation.
Some suggested that I have been working too hard and that I should take a break sometime. This weekend I decided to relax by watching a movie. All through the movie I kept being hit by images that reminded me of my own life and the DREAM Act so I decided make a video about it. I hope you like it.
Maegan at Vivir Latino, Prerna at Change.org, and Marisa Trevino at Latina Lista have already expressed their thoughts and I thought I'd add my own. I'll be the first to admit that I was skeptical of Gutierrez's announcement. The way Gutierrez and other members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) have treated the migrant youth movement leaves much to be desired. Why members of the CHC have still not co-sponsored the Development, Youth, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act is beyond me. The justification offered is that they want to wait for the DREAM Act to be a part of comprehensive immigration reform, but that doesn't mean you can't cosponsor the DREAM Act to show your support! 100 Members of the U.S. House of Representatives have already cosponsored the DREAM Act, and it is an embarrassment that a supposed "champion" of migrant rights like Gutierrez has not.
My name is Alonso and I qualify for a legislation that is based on Earned Legalization; the DREAM Act.
However I am facing deportation and these past two months I have been running a campaign to stop my deportation.
I have been doing some research lately as an attempt to further understand my current situation. I feel that what I have learned so far it has provided me with a good start to defend myself and educate others. This new obstacle in my life is not over yet and I plan to make of it a positive experience.
Please keep an eye open since I will need your help anytime soon. Thank you for your support!
My name is Alonso and I qualify for a legislation that is based on Earned Legalization; the DREAM Act.
However I am facing deportation and these past two months I have been running a campaign to stop my deportation.
During these difficult times and this endless campaign, it is the support of all you that keeps me running and optimistic.
I don't even know how to thank you enough for co-signing and writing those letters, and making those calls on my behalf.
I am still in the country because you cared and did something about it.
So far over 3,400 people have co-signed the letters from Senators Cantwell and Senator Murray to ICE,
5,200 people have written letters to DHS and ICE (surpassing our goal of 5K letters),
and over 680 calls were made on Friday to the Senators office.
Because of your work so far, my deportation has been delayed. Unfortunately this is not yet a moment for celebration. Nothing has changed, I am still to be deported and my future is still hanging in the balance. Only the Senators can help me by filing a private bill on my behalf
Your calls are being heard but we still need more pressure on Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell to make the difference. I humbly ask you to keep making those calls. Keep urging Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell to introduce a private bill that will stop my deportation for the long term.
TAKE ACTION
Thanks to click-to-call software this is really easy to do and it doesn't take too long.
In the link below you will be able to call both Senators on my behalf.
Jorge-Alonso Chehade is an undocumented recent grad from the University of Washington who qualifies for a still debated legislation that is based on Earned Legalization; the DREAM Act. However Jorge-Alonso is under an order of voluntary departure due on September 25th.
On Wednesday, September 23, 2009, U.S. Congressman Jim McDermott, 7th Congressional District in Seattle, introduced a private bill on behalf of Jorge-Alonso Chehade-Zegarra to allow him to become a lawful permanent resident of the United States. On September 24, 2009, a motion to reopen Jorge-Alonso's immigration case will be filed to the Seattle Immigration Court which will terminate the previously issued order of voluntary departure and eliminate the September 25, 2009 deadline by which Jorge-Alonso must leave the United States. The filing of Representative McDermott's bill could enable Jorge-Alonso to delay his removal from the United States while Congress is considering the legislation.
Although the introduction of this bill is a huge step forward in Jorge-Alonso's case, there is a tremendous amount of work still to be done to enable him to remain permanently in the United States. For now, we request that supporters of Jorge-Alonso's case contact Representative McDermott's Seattle and DC offices to offer thanks and gratitude for his support of this bill and his staff's incredible efforts in making it happen.
TAKE ACTION
CALL Congressman Jim McDermott at both of the following
numbers to thank him and show your support on Alonso's Private Bill
DC Office: (206) 553-7170
Seattle Office: (202) 225-3106
Suggested Comment:
Hi, my name is ________ and I am just calling to express my gratitude and support to Congressman McDermott and all his staff for having taken a stand on Jorge-Alonso Chehade's case by introducing a private bill on his behalf.
My name is Alonso and I qualify for a legislation that is based on Earned Legalization; the DREAM Act.
However I am facing deportation on September 24th.
I've only got 4 days until ICE deports me and I need you to help me step up the campaign to defer my deportation.
Senators Cantwell and Murray have already written letters to Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE), requesting that ICE grants me a deferral so that Congress has time to pass the DREAM Act and comprehensive immigration reform.
Please co-sign Senators Murray's and Cantwell's letter on my behalf to ICE and I'll deliver them with your co-signatures to ICE next week. Help me show ICE that you, the community support me.
My name is Alonso and I qualify for a legislation that is based on Earned Legalization; the DREAM Act.
However I am facing deportation on September 24th.
I was brought to the United States from Peru when I was 14 years old. During these past 8 years Washington has become my home. I graduated from High School with honors, attended Community College and transferred to the University of Washington where I recently got my bachelors degree in Business Administration. On the side, I have found time to be involved in soccer, student clubs, business case competitions, and served as student chair for a Global Social Entrepreneurship Competition.
I am very grateful to the many opportunities that America has offered me and I am ready to give back. This is why I would like to stay in the country, work, pay taxes, and bring change by joining all national efforts in support of the DREAM Act.
I write to humbly request that you take action to immediately halt my deportation.
I was brought to the United States from Peru when I was 14 years old. Eight years later, I am being deported for reasons I cannot comprehend. On March 14, 2009, a friend and I went to visit some friends at Western Washington University and rather than driving back home late at night we decided to stay at our friends' place. The next morning, not being familiar with the area we took a wrong turn on the highway. By the time we noticed we were heading north rather than south, there was one more exit to turn around before the border. This was blocked by construction which left us no choice except to enter Canada and turn around behind the port of entry to return to the United States. I was stopped by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) authorities and when it was discovered that I was undocumented, I was arrested and jailed for 2 weeks. I am set to be deported on September 25th to a country that I barely know.
I have lived in the United States for 8 years. I have never had any problems with the law. All I ever wanted to do was to go to school, work, have a normal life and help others. Unfortunately because of a broken immigration system I am being prevented from continuing my life and career path after I graduated from the Michael G. Foster School of Business at the University of Washington.
Unless you step up and help there is little hope that I won't be deported on September 25. I humbly urge you to immediately take action to stop my deportation.
Originally posted on Citizen Orange. I missed a whole day of Netroots Nation pouring my heart out into this post. Please digg it, tweet it, stumble it, etc.
Another day another DREAM. Over the last few days, I have been working hard with Herta Llusho and her brother Lirjon to support their campaign to defer Herta's deportation on August 19, 2009. If you haven't read her story yet, I recommend that you do. Please, take the following actions in support of Herta and help her stay in the only country she knows as her home:
Call
Senator Carl Levin at (202) 224-6221. Urge him to a) introduce private
bill for Herta, and b) write letter to DHS asking them to stop Herta's
deportation.
Call Senator Stabenow at (202)
224-4822. Urge her to a) introduce private bill for Herta, and b) write
letter to DHS asking them to stop Herta's deportation.
Call
Congresswoman Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick at (202) 225-2261. Urge her to
a) introduce private bill for Herta, and b) write letter to DHS asking
them to stop Herta's deportation.
(Please take action to delay Herta's deportation, now. - promoted by kyledeb)
My name is Herta Llusho, I am 19 years old, and I writing this because
I am about to be deported. I was born in Albania and was brought to
the United States when I was 11 years old. With the help and support
of my family, I have struggled through more than seven years of legal
proceedings to find a way to stay in this country legally. Despite our
best efforts, on August 19, I will be removed by the Department of
Homeland Security (DHS) from the only place I know as my home. I will
be sent back to a country that has become a foreign place to me. I
don't even speak Albanian well anymore. My only hope of staying here
is for as many people as possible to ask DHS to delay my deportation
until the DREAM Act is passed.
President Obama has often stated that immigration reform cannot be approached in a piecemeal fashion, and that his administration would tackle the issue in 2009. This week, Obama will be meeting with members of Congress to kick off a bi-partisan approach to reform. These meetings don't guarantee any legislative action will take place this year, but are at least an encouraging sign. In the meantime, the deportation industry shows no sign of slowing, hate crimes are rising and hate groups are being main streamed. As a result, the polarization between reform advocates and foes is getting worse.
It's a story that has been told time and time again. It has been written in poems. It has been captured in photos. It has been screened in videos.
If you're on the Internet and you haven't heard of the DREAM Act, you're not doing it right. Seriously, just throw your computer out the window right now. Keeping your computer is not worth your money or your time...
If you're still here, I'll let you get away with watching this video:
I took the weekend to rest after what was a hectic last two weeks of school. I won't be able to relax until I get my grades back, but I've started to ease into a summer of pro-migrant advocacy. There's so much that I want to write about, but I should start with Drew Faust's endorsement of the DREAM Act.
Receive information on the latest action items, media campaigns, and legislative initiatives from ProMigrant
No spam or press release dumps from DC advocacy groups, lobbyists, or politicos. No requests for donations, or re-directs to astroturf groups looking to harvest your e-mail information.
Just real action for real change from real grassroots activists.
Yesterday, Representative Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) unveiled his "
Receive information on the latest action items, media campaigns, and legislative initiatives from ProMigrant
No spam or press release dumps from DC advocacy groups, lobbyists, or politicos. No requests for donations, or re-directs to astroturf groups looking to harvest your e-mail information.
Just real action for real change from real grassroots activists.
