deportation

The battle lines are drawn: a government shutdown over DACA appears likely

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Back in September before the last threatened government shutdown, Donald Trump surprisingly worked out a deal with Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi to keep the government open and raised expectations that a deal could be struck on DACA and the DREAMers. I warned you at the time, A DACA deal with ‘Amnesty Don’? Don’t believe it until it actually happens.

The Trump administration had rescinded DACA in early September, giving Congress a March 5 deadline to pass a bill allowing its nearly 690,000 beneficiaries to stay and work in the United States.

It was not long afterwards that Trump reneged on his deal for DACA and the DREAMers. Deal making with the devil on DACA. I warned you.

The next deadline for a government shutdown is Friday, December 8. Democrats have vowed to withhold votes from the spending bill should it not address DACA and the DREAMers. Government shutdown looms in December over DACA.

A government shutdown now appears more likely after the antics of our Twitter-troll-in-chief today. “President Trump on Tuesday cast doubt on Washington’s ability to avoid a government shutdown, writing on Twitter that he didn’t believe a deal could be reached with Democrats.” Trump: ‘I don’t see a deal’ to avoid government shutdown:

The tweet came hours before Trump was to meet at the White House with GOP congressional leaders as well as Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

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Ah, now there’s the “@realDonaldTrump” we all know and despise, the xenophobic, anti-immigrant white nationalist racist who takes his cues from his alt-right white nationalist advisers, Stephen Bannon and Stephen Miller, who are willing to take the DREAMers hostage in order to extort funding from Congress for Trump’s “big beautiful wall” along the Mexican border that even the GOP leadership in Congress does not want and has not provided funding.

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deportation

‘Uncovering the Truth’: Day Laborer Network Leaders Travel to El Salvador

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NDLON poster
NDLON poster

Leaders from the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON), faith leaders, and academics are in El Salvador to assess the situation and determine why thousands of Central American children are traveling to the US, seeking asylum and relatives.

From NDLON:
Between Over-Complication and the Overly Simple:
Day Laborer Network Leading US “Deported Dreams” Delegation 
in El Salvador
Migrant RIghts Organizers, Faith Leaders, Academics to Convene Forums, Initiate Community Development, Release Study Profiling Deportees
 
On the last day of college, the director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, Pablo Alvarado, left his home country atop a train headed toward the US with his little brother who had become the target of threats by death squads. Decades after their journey North, Alvarado is leading a delegation in the opposite direction to expand the conversation on migration, investigate root causes, and release a study of those Salvadorans who were returned by deportation instead of by choice.
 
Beginning Sunday, July 19th to the 27th, the National Day Laborer Organizing Network will bring organizers from the front-lines of the domestic immigrant rights movement accompanied by faith leaders and academics, hosting public forums on the dynamics of migration and releasing a new study “Deported Dreams” by the University of Central America in San Salvador.
 
“We are going to uncover the truth of what’s happening in Central America without the political spin,” explains Alvarado.  “To advocate effectively, we have to be grounded in reality and that is what we are going to witness in El Salvador.”

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Migtants

Migration Policy Institute Report Clears the Way for Evolution of Deportation Policy

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MigtantsFrom the National Day Laborer Organizing Network…

Today, the Migration Policy Institute issued a new report, The Deportation Dilemma, that helps shed light on unprecedented deportations and criminal prosecution of immigrants.   In recent weeks, as the President hit the inauspicious milestone of 2 million deportations, there has been considerable confusion about the characteristic of deportations.  Former acting ICE director John Sandweg’s comments that “run of the mill immigrants” aren’t getting deported has been belied by hunger strikers on the White House lawn and called into question given explosive allegations that he doctored an Inspector General report to cover up misrepresentations about deportation policy made to Congress.

The MPI report attempts to shed light on this debate through detailed data analysis, and its findings open the opportunity for executive action to strengthen discretion and reduce the harm of outdated existing laws.

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Dealing with the Devil: Should Maricopa County Latinos ‘Play Nice’ with Arpaio? (video)

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by Pamela Powers Hannley

Earlier in February, Maricopa County Latino leaders, organized by Phoenix City Councilman Michael Nowakowski, met with Sheriff Joe Arpaio and offered prayers and support– not protest signs or recall petitions.

Should Latinos play nice with Arpaio in hopes of winning him over, or should they work to recall the “toughest sheriff in the US”, stop deportations of hard-working, law-abiding people, and push for immigration reform?

If there is any doubt in your mind that we all should fight back against the racism that Arpaio embodies, check out this video by Dennis Gilman after the jump.

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Arrests, deportations, protests: Is Tucson an immigrant-friendly city or not?

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On Sunday, Tucson Police and the Border Patrol arrested Rene Meza Huertha, in front of his wife and children, and arrested activist Raúl Alcaráz Ochoa, who was trying to prevent the arrest of Huertha. This action by TPD is in direct violation of the City Council's vote in August 2012– making Tucson an "immigrant friendly" city. From the Arizona Daily Star…

"We don't want people to feel fear when traveling to work, to school, to the store," [City Councilwoman Regina] Romero said before the meeting. "We also don't want people to be afraid to call the police to report a crime."

She said a conversation now will begin among the city, immigrant communities, businesses, the Tucson Police Department and others about how to make the city more welcoming.

Activists are calling for a protest and press conference today, Monday, February 18 at 4 p.m., outside of TPD. 

On a related note, the American Friends Service Committee, Border Links, Derechos Humanos, and other immigrant supporters, including the Unitarian Universalist Church of Tucson, will hold a press conference and protest of Operation Streamline on Tuesday, February 19, at 12:30 at the Federal Courthouse. The Operation Streamline action leads up to a Congressional hearing on this policy on February 22 in DC. Details and background on both of these actions after the jump.