Category Archives: Immigration

Legislative Update: Republican Representatives Call for a Solution for Dreamers

Republican Representatives Call for a Solution for Dreamers

Sana Rizvi
December 6, 2017

On December 5, just days after Representatives Carlos Curbelo (R-FL-26) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL-27) said they refused to pass a budget that does not include a solution for Dreamers, 34 House Republicans led by Representative Scott Taylor (VA-02)  sent Speaker Paul Ryan a letter asking him to pass a permanent legislative solution for DACA before the end of the year. The letter acknowledges the numerous contributions DACA recipients have made to our country and recognizes the urgent need for a solution.

Moreover, the Representatives write that they realize the urgency needed is driven by fear for the most vulnerable in our communities:

“We are compelled to act immediately because many DACA recipients are about to lose or have already lost their permits in the wake of the program’s rescission. Not acting is creating understandable uncertainty and anxiety amongst immigrant communities.

We must pass legislation that protects DACA recipients from deportation and gives them the opportunity for a more secured status in our country as soon as possible. Reaching across the aisle to protect DACA recipients before the holidays is the right thing to do.”

Read more: Letter to Speaker Ryan from 34 Republicans Asking for A DACA Fix Before the End of This Year

The Speaker has yet to reply to the letter and government funding is set to end this Friday, December 8. NETWORK continues to fully endorse the Dream Act as the bipartisan, bicameral solution for DACA recipients which provides Dreamers with a pathway to citizenship and protects them from deportation. We express gratitude to the 34 Republicans who led this letter and ask them to honor their commitments and pass a Dream Act before the end of this year.

The letter’s signers:

Representative Scott Taylor
Representative Dan Newhouse
Representative Mia Love
Representative Mark Amodei
Representative David Valadao
Representative Dave Reichert
Representative Brian Fitzpatrick
Representative Mike Coffman
Representative Charlie Dent
Representative Frank Lobiondo
Representative Peter T. King
Representative Carlos Curbelo
Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
Representative Ryan A. Costello
Representative Fred Upton
Representative Jeff Denham
Representative Rodney Davis
Representative John J. Faso
Representative John Katko
Representative Chris Stewart
Representative Susan W. Brooks
Representative Adam Kinzinger
Representative Glenn Thompson
Representative Mike Simpson
Representative Mimi Walters
Representative Leonard Lance
Representative Pat Meehan
Representative Elise Stefanik
Representative Tom MacArthur
Representative Chris Smith
Representative Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon
Representative Joe Barton
Representative Will Hurd
Representative Bruce Poliquin

Powerful Young Voices for Justice

Powerful Young Voices for Justice

Emma Tacke
November 21, 2017

In early November I had the pleasure and honor of emceeing the 20th annual Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice (IFTJ).  This was a weekend where over 2,000 students from Jesuit affiliated high schools and colleges gathered in Washington D.C. to learn, celebrate, pray, and challenge one another to “row into the deep,” the theme for the conference. At a time when those in power continue to espouse prejudice, violence, and hate, the need for weekends such as these feel all the more necessary. It was restorative to spend time with such an energetic group of people who shared a common desire to build a more just world with fairer policies and a more empathetic and inclusive culture.

Let me be clear: this weekend was not reduced to a self-congratulatory party where we affirmed each other for being good socially and politically conscious people. This annual gathering was a chance for all who attended to put faith into action. It was a reminder that our commitment to God requires us to be resilient and dogged in the face of injustice.  The call of this year’s Ignatian Family Teach-In beckoned us to “Wake ourselves and others from dormancy” and to not “accept the status quo in either ourselves or our surrounding world . . . we will row into unfamiliar waters that will stretch and challenge us, but ultimately move us to magis, a greater, stronger, and more enduring love of justice.”

This theme of challenging ourselves to be courageous and work for justice was threaded throughout the conference’s breakout sessions. The narrative that we are powerless in the face of systemic injustices such as racism, classism, and institutionalized violence was rejected and tossed aside by dynamic and influential keynote speakers such as Father Bryan Massingale, Sister Patricia Chappell, and Dr. Maria Stephan. The weekend ended with a day of advocacy on Monday when over 1,400 IFTJ participants went to Capitol Hill to advocate for bills promoting criminal justice and immigration reform.

The students I met were engaged, smart, empathetic, and ready to talk about what they could do to be better advocates for justice. They queued up for a chance to speak with Jesuit priest Father James Martin, a celebrity in the Ignatian community. They packed crowded conference rooms to learn about the racial wealth gap, ending the death penalty, changing the civil discourse on immigration, and dozens of other topics. Hundreds of students made their way through the hall to visit the myriad of faith-based organizations that passed out information and advocacy tools.

Millennials are often dismissed as a self-absorbed, politically disengaged generation. As a millennial myself, it’s difficult for me to be objective, but what I witnessed at IFTJ and what I often see from my peers is anything but self-absorption and political apathy.  The momentum and energy generated by the 2,000 students at IFTJ wouldn’t have been possible if this group of young people were not aching to change the world. This desire to make a difference is not limited to IFTJ participants, nor should it be reduced to naiveté or foolish optimism. I am inspired by my peers to seek the truth and confront systemic and social injustice.  When working for justice, progress is often slow and pushing back against oppressive institutions is exhausting. It is not work that can be done alone. This year’s Ignatian Family Teach-In was a call to action many responded to wholeheartedly.

I want to bottle the collective energy I experienced throughout the IFTJ weekend and take a swig any time I feel lacking in courage to continue challenging myself to advocate for justice. There is strength in numbers and the Igantian Family Teach-In is an example of the power collective faith in action can have in the march towards a better future.

Emma Tacke is a former NETWORK Grassroots Mobilization Associate. She currently works as the Associate Director of Community Engagement at Catholic Mobilizing Network (CMN) in Washington D.C.

Time for Congress to Pass Legislation for Dreamers

Time for Congress to Pass Legislation for Dreamers

Mehreen Karim
September 18, 2017

In the wake of President Trump’s decision to rescind DACA, we must urge our members of Congress to pass legislation that will keep Dreamers safe. There is no time to waste while Congress navigates multiple bills concerning the fate of DACA recipients. After assessing the bills currently on the House and Senate floor, NETWORK has evaluated the varying implications of the Dream Act, the RAC Act, and the Bridge Act. Stay in the know about these legislative pieces:

BRIDGE Act

The BRIDGE Act is a House bill that provides a temporary extension of DACA’s protections. As the most conservative bill on the floor, the BRIDGE Act provides no pathway to citizenship, but legalizes DACA’s original protections for another three years. We at NETWORK support solutions to the danger Dreamers currently face, but we cannot let Congress place a Band-Aid of a bill on our deeply fractured immigration system. Dreamers deserve a permanent and long-term pathway to living a life of dignity in the U.S.

RAC Act

While the RAC Act provides similar pathways to citizenship as the Dream Act (described below), it narrows the pool of recipients by allowing only those who arrived before the age of 16 and have been in the U.S. for five years. They are granted paths to citizenship either through working, going to school, or joining armed services. However, these individuals must stay in conditional status for five years—no exception. In this aspect, the Dream Act proves more efficient in that Dreamers would be eligible for a green card after being in school or work for some time.

Dream Act

Unlike the RAC and BRIDGE Acts, which are solely House bills, both the Senate and House are looking at versions of the Dream Act. NETWORK places its full support behind the bipartisan Dream Act as it provides a long-term path to citizenship and safety for a much greater population of Dreamers. Both the RAC and Dream Act grant Dreamers conditional status, however, the Dream Act grants protection to anyone who’s been in the US since they’ve been 17 or younger and has lived here for four years. Better yet, Dreamers on conditional status can get green cards after they’ve been in college for a certain amount of time or have been employed for at least 75 percent of the time they’ve had a work permit.

SUCCEED Act

The SUCCEED Act is a new bill introduced in the Senate that would disadvantage Dreamers considerably more than previous proposals. The SUCCEED Act is a partisan bill that endangers Dreamers and their families instead of protecting them. In order to be eligible for the SUCCEED Act, participants must meet unfeasible requirements that inconvenience Dreamers in every aspect of their path to citizenship. Under the SUCCEED Act, a Dreamer would have to wait a total of 15 years to become a citizen—at the very least. Additionally, this bill imposes an arbitrary cap on Dreamers that have lived in America for more than 20 years. Even though these are the individuals with the deepest ties to their lives here, they would be subject to deportation. The SUCCEED Act widens the potential for families to be torn apart as it limits the ability of Dreamers to legally sponsor their family members for residency. Under this bill, Dreamers must have waited 10 years in conditional status before they attempt to sponsor family members for permanent residency. The SUCCEED Act and its cosponsors, Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC), James Lankford (R-OK), and Orrin Hatch (R-UT),  have no evidence nor intention of protecting Dreamers. Their partisan bill merely employs harsh provisions meant to cause difficulty and fear for Dreamers and their families.

Take action to ask your legislator to cosponsor the Dream Act today!

Sr. Simone responds to Bannon’s Comments about Immigrants and the Church

Sr. Simone responds to Steve Bannon’s Comments about Immigrants and the Church

September 7, 2017

 

 

NETWORK Opposes Legislation that Terrorizes Immigrant Communities

NETWORK Opposes Legislation that Terrorizes Immigrant Communities

Laura Muñoz
May 18, 2017

NETWORK opposes H.R. 2431, the Oliver-Davis Act, formerly known as the SAFE Act, which was introduced this week. This bill includes harsh and terrorizing interior enforcement proposals that would separate families through mass deportation efforts, encourage racial profiling by local law enforcement, and threaten community safety. Equally as horrifying is the policy proposal that would criminalize religious leaders, houses of worship, and people of faith who provide humanitarian assistance to all persons regardless of immigration status.

Sister Simone sent a letter to Congress expressing NETWORK’s opposition to H.R. 2431. Read the full text below:

Download as a PDF.

Dear Member of Congress,

On behalf of NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice, I urge you to oppose H.R. 2431, The Michael Davis, Jr. and Danny Oliver in Honor of State and Local Law Enforcement Act. This bill will lead to the mass deportation of men, women, and children who are full participants in our communities and add substantially to our churches, schools, and neighborhoods.  We believe that no amount of markup in the Judiciary Committee would make this bill palatable to the Catholic Sisters and activists of NETWORK who are committed to fixing our broken immigration system and whose mission is answering our faithful call to welcome the stranger and love our neighbor.

U.S. immigration policy must prioritize family unity and provide a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented people currently living in America.  The Davis-Oliver Act instead will embolden racial profiling, create deep fear in the immigrant community, and lead to family separation through deportations.  It must be rejected.

Further, the bill also criminalizes individuals who provide humanitarian assistance to the immigrant community. Should it be passed into law, the faith community could not comply with this act and still be faithful to our Gospel call.  Our mission is to provide assistance to all vulnerable people without regard of immigration status. H.R. 2431 criminalizes our mission to do justice.   An integral part of our Catholic identity is to respect the dignity of the every human person. Any policy that encourages family separation through mass deportations is inhumane and unjust.

I would like to remind you of the words of Pope Francis. During his address to Congress, Pope Francis asked you to remember the Golden Rule for our immigrant sisters and brothers:  “Let us treat others with the same passion and compassion with which we want to be treated. Let us seek for others the same possibilities which we seek for ourselves. Let us help others to grow, as we would like to be helped ourselves.”

The Davis-Oliver Act violates our faith mandate that we be a welcoming country that values and inspires people to love their neighbor, no matter the circumstances.   NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice urges you to reject H.R. 2431, the Davis-Oliver Act.  Instead, commit to fixing our broken immigration system to ensure family unity and provide a pathway to citizenship for the people who are undocumented in the United States.

Immigration reform, not the Davis-Oliver Act, is the faithful way forward.

Sincerely,

Sister Simone Campbell, SSS
Executive Director
NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice

Michigan Advocates Lobby

NETWORK Advocates Lobby on Mending the Gaps in Michigan

Meg Olson
April 26, 2017

On Thursday, April 13, 2017, members of the East Lansing Catholic Network, one of NETWORK’s advocates teams, Ed Welch, Joe Garcia, Pat Hepp, and Sandy Maxim met with Representative Mike Bishop (MI-08) at his Brighton, Michigan office.

The focus of the meeting was immigration. Ed, Joe, Pat, and Sandy requested Representative Bishop’s support for a pathway to citizenship and his help in protecting Dreamers from deportation. During the meeting, Representative Bishop acknowledged to the NETWORK advocates that the immigration system is “upside-down,” but stated that immigration will probably not be addressed in the near future because of other pressing issues in Washington, D.C.. Next, the advocates asked Representative Bishop to refuse funding a border wall in upcoming budget legislation.

As a NETWORK advocates team, the East Lansing Catholic Network has met with Congressman Bishop and his staff several times about issues such as the EITC and Child Nutrition Reauthorization. While the Congressman doesn’t always share NETWORK’s vision on how to mend the gaps, the team members continue to build a relationship with him and hold him accountable for his actions in Washington D.C.

A child wearing a cap walks with a backpack and a stuffed animal at the US-Mexico border

Time for Moral Leadership on Homeland Security Funding

NETWORK Lobby Position on Homeland Security Funding

Download as a print-friendly PDF to share with your friends, or elected officials!

Download PDF.

NETWORK believes security is achieved when communities come together in a spirit of fraternity and solidarity and cooperate generously for the common good.  The militarization of communities and the separation of families is an anathema to this objective.  As people of faith and a nation of immigrants, we are called to welcome the stranger and love our neighbor.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has consistently received additional funds each year to carry out operations at the border and in the interior. The Trump Administration has requested an additional $4.5 billion to the DHS budget for fiscal year 2018 to allow for: the construction of a concrete wall alongside the U.S. – Mexico border, 1,500 new enforcement agents, continued detention and removal costs, and the expansion of E-verify.  The goal of this spending is to restrict the flow of immigrants and asylum seekers, create a deportation force and vastly expand private detention centers in the name of national security.  Such expenditures will separate families and create terror in immigrant and border communities.  These proposals should be rejected.

What Congress Can Do

Reject funding for President Trump’s deportation force:  Hiring 1,500 new Customs and Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents only fuels a deportation forces that will separate families. There is little oversight and almost no accountability for these agents.  We must ensure that humane practices are used when detaining undocumented individuals and interacting with people at the border.  Communities of color will be the targets of racial profiling and hiring new agents will lead to the separation of families instead of detaining criminals that harm our communities.

Reject funding for President Trump’s expansion of detention centers and close existing ones:  We have seen the awful effects of detaining women and children, and an increase in detention bed spaces from 34,000 to 45,700 is unimaginable. New detention centers are being built to accommodate such an increase in this quota, allowing the private detention industry to become more profitable. Instead of this wasteful spending that benefits corporations, there are just and affordable alternatives to detention that DHS can utilize. Private detention centers should be closed.

Reject funding for a U.S. – Mexico border wall: Congress has previously acknowledged that additional barriers to the southern border are not necessary. The requested amount of money to expand upon the existing 650 miles of fencing is extremely wasteful, and additional fencing alone is projected to cost approximately $6.5 million per mile.  Border communities oppose a wall along the Southern border because of effects on private property, indigenous communities, and the environment.  Additionally, an internal Customs and Border Protection study in April 2016 showed that a concrete wall would make it more difficult for agents to see activity on the other side of the border, hindering effectiveness.

Blog: New Immigration Guidance Implements Dangerous and Unfaithful Policies

New Immigration Guidance Implements Dangerous and Unfaithful Policies

Department of Homeland Security Memos Strike Terror in the Heart of Our Communities
Laura Peralta-Schulte
February 22, 2017

Throughout the Presidential campaign, then-candidate Donald Trump promised he would build a wall between Mexico and the United States and deport millions of immigrants living in America.  Now, the Trump administration is setting forth a course to make good on that promise.

On February 20, Secretary John Kelly of the Department of Homeland Security released two memorandums providing guidance on enforcement of immigration laws and on issues related to border security. The two memorandums, titled “Enforcement of the Immigration Laws to Serve the National Interest” and “Implementing the President’s Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvement Policies,” work together to create a mass deportation system that targets virtually any of the 11 million undocumented Americans living across the United States for deportation. The new guidance expands the ability to detain and deport most immigrants and seeks to limit due process protections and seeks to expand a program which compels state and local law enforcement officers to act as agents of federal immigration offices.  Further, the guidance seeks to remove protections for unaccompanied children and asylum seekers who are seeking refuge in the United States.  By prioritizing detention and removal over protection the Trump administration turns its back on our obligation to protect vulnerable people seeking asylum.

This guidance fails to serve the national interest and is intended to create chaos and confusion in our communities. Criminalizing our undocumented sisters and brothers will make our communities less safe, less secure and less peaceful. It is not the faithful way forward. People of faith must stand with immigrants and insist our local and state governments support our immigrant neighbors. We must also meet with our Members of Congress and ask them to oppose efforts to criminalize our communities. A border wall and the deportation infrastructure outlined in the memorandum cannot happen unless Congress provides money to fund the projects. We must demand that Congress rejects the Trump administration’s funding requests for the good of our nation.

If the Trump administration moves forward unchallenged, families will be torn apart and communities will be ruined.  We can and must fight back.  Our faith calls us to love our neighbors and welcome the stranger.  Now is the time to put our pray into action.

Standing Together to Meet the Challenges Ahead

Standing Together to Meet the Challenges Ahead

U.S. Representative Luis V. Gutiérrez
Published in the First Quarter 2017 issue of NETWORK’s Connection Magazine

There is no doubt that this is going to be a difficult year for America. Immigrants, women, people of color, Muslims, environmentalists, the LGBT community – there are many groups firmly in the crosshairs of the new Administration and the new Congress. Though only supported by a minority of American voters, the new President, Donald Trump, will not be shy in taking action to enhance his brand. We do not yet know the specifics, and it is clear that his opinions change about as quickly as you can hit refresh on your Twitter feed. But Trump’s lieutenants are the most clearly ideological and dangerous set of leaders ever assembled in American government on immigration and any number of issues we may care about.  There is a vindictiveness coming to government the likes of which we have never seen, and with shadowy figures like Breitbart’s Steve Bannon or the Federation for American Immigration Reform’s Kris Kobach calling signals behind the scenes, there is reason to prepare for the worst.

Immigrants and immigration were important campaign themes – or I should say, slandering immigrants and immigration were. The irony is that support for sensible immigration reform actually increased and support for mass deportation decreased during the year and a half that Trump campaigned for the White House. Across numerous polls, roughly 80% of the American people favor letting undocumented immigrants stay in this country and about 60% among Trump supporters. But that is not likely to translate into any sensible policies coming out of Washington. We expect to see the same recycled, deportation-only bills come through the House Judiciary Committee, but the difference will be that we no longer have a reliable Senate or White House backstop to contain self-destructive immigration ideas.

Their game plan is simple: make legal immigration harder for everyone – and impossible for most people – and then rail against the resulting illegalities, decry the black market, label everyone as criminals, and use good old fashioned fear of “the other” to marginalize immigrants. The goals will be to demonstrate that Republicans are being tough, cruel, and unsympathetic to immigrants – especially undocumented immigrants — and tough on Mexico and Muslims in particular.

To most Republican lawmakers, the illusion is more important than the substance of legislation because they are trying to placate their own voters, whom they fear because their own voters are being whipped up by advocates for reduced immigration who will not be satisfied until every undocumented immigrant is marched across the border and the country is sealed off from the world. It is an unachievable goal, not to mention a self-destructive one, but the tail is wagging the dog, and the minority of immigration opponents are dictating what does and does not constitute being “soft on immigrants.”

That Trump and Congress are being driven by such ideological extremes will be the downfall of their agenda. Americans favor legal immigration and are rightly concerned about uncontrolled and illegal immigration, but those driving the issue in the Republican Party are opposed to immigration, period. They want fewer people – especially fewer people of color – in “their” country. The American people don’t believe we will deport 11 million undocumented immigrants and they are right. But those driving the issue are hooked on the mass deportation fantasy and the idea that more than 10 million people will self-deport.  Most Americans, however, do not think a wall will actually work as an immigration control strategy and they sense that immigration is broader and deeper than the physical border to the South.

But many Americans still voted for Trump because he tapped into the frustration many people feel because no one has been able to make immigration a safe, legal, and orderly process for the American people and those who seek to become Americans.

So, supporters of immigration and immigration reform need to stick to our principals and keep fighting for our vision of a modern, 21st century immigration system because our vision is what the American people actually want. We have to do a better job of communicating that immigration reform is about more than being kind or respectful to immigrants. In the transactional world of American politics, doing something “for” one group is often perceived as doing something “against” everyone else, which is simply not the case with immigration.

And we must support our allies who will also be targeted by the Republican agenda, be that women’s health care, LGBT rights, people of color claiming their rightful place in America, or a business-driven assault on working people and mother earth. We must join arms with clergy and labor, progressives, and moderates so that when Republicans try to come after one of us, they will have to come through all of us. If the new President comes for the Muslims, I will be a Muslim. If they come for women’s rights, I will stand with women. When they deny climate science, I will make my voice heard. We must heed the warning Benjamin Franklin made to his fellow signers of the Declaration of Independence: “We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.”

Congressman Luis V. Gutiérrez represents the fourth district of Illinois. He is nationally recognized for his tireless leadership championing issues of particular importance to Latino and immigrant communities.

In a Dark Time, the BRIDGE Act Stands Out

In a Dark Time, the BRIDGE Act Stands Out

Laura Muñoz
January 12, 2017

It’s now 2017 – a bright sunny year with new opportunities ahead and while I am excited for a new year I can’t help but notice the cloud of uncertainty hovering over my head. That cloud began to form when then Presidential nominee Donald Trump ran on the platform of repealing President Obama’s executive order on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).

As a recipient of DACA, I have been able to work at jobs that I love (like NETWORK), obtain a driver’s license that allows me to travel, and most importantly live without the fear of deportation. Unfortunately, the few rays of sunlight that DACA has brought into my life after years of living in the shadows have been recently covered with a cloud of uncertainty and fear. Trump’s plan to repeal DACA would be unimaginable and utterly devastating not only for me but also for the roughly 800,000 individuals who have protection through DACA. Ending the program will be the beginning of a storm that will bring about harsh economic and emotional conditions for immigrant families– DACA recipients will be unable to keep their current jobs, support themselves or their families, and most significantly, once again feel the fear of deportation thick in the air.

Today, U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) re-introduced their bipartisan legislation to protect the individuals who currently have or are eligible for DACA. Similar to DACA, the Bar Removal of Individuals who Dream and Grow our Economy (BRIDGE) Act would provide temporary relief from deportation and work authorization to young undocumented individuals who were brought to the United States as children. Temporary protection under the BRIDGE Act would allow individuals, such as myself, to continue to work and study and be protected from deportation while Congress works on legislation to fix  the broken immigration system.

The reality is that the BRIDGE Act is not a replacement for the comprehensive immigration reform that we desperately need, nor does it protect all undocumented individuals living in the United States. It won’t protect my parents from deportation nor will it protect thousands of DACA recipients’ parents. With the dark cloud of uncertainty and the fear of being separated from our families hovering over our heads, the BRIDGE Act gives us the chance for a hopeful forecast of staying in the country that we consider our home.