Subject: Re: Update! US-Mexico Border & Immigration Task Force
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2009 13:21:47
From: dorinda moreno <fuerzamundial@gmail.com>
To: Donald Bahlinger <donald@jesuits.net>,Local/National/Global <Community4ImmigrantRights@yahoogroups.com>,Immigrant Solidarity Network <isn@lists.riseup.net>,National Alliance Immigration Rights Coordinating Committee <NAIR_CC@googlegroups.com>,Nitty Gritty <grassroots4obama@yahoogroups.com>,Progressives4Obama <progressivesforobama@yahoogroups.com>,ObamaBrigade <ObamaBrigade@yahoogroups.com>
thanks donald. timely advisory which i will outreach to the concerned. justice for the innocent children moves slowly and the grassroots is committed in keeping strong opposition to the ICE raids and detention centers as inhumane operatives serving in dividing familes and hindering the real threat provoking the necessity to migrate.
with appreciation, dorinda On 8/18/09, Donald Bahlinger < donald@jesuits.net > wrote:
i share this interesting information with you.
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Jennifer Allen < jallen@borderaction.org >
Date: Tue, Aug 18, 2009 at 11:27 AM Subject: Update! US-Mexico Border & Immigration Task Force To: zoe.hammer@gmail.com
Cc: Katie O'Connor < katie@borderaction.org >, Jen Allen < jallen@borderaction.org >
Dear Task Force members and friends: The last time most of us came together we were all speculating how DHS's Black Hawk helicopter could have possibly got a flat tire…remember that meeting with the Border Czar, Alan Bersin on June 18th in Tucson?! Much has happened since then, so I wanted to get us all up to speed and into gear. Below are a few activities updates and legislative updates. Task Force members in Cochise County met last week and we'll pull together meetings for Pima and Santa Cruz county members for the 1st week in September. In the meantime, enjoy the update and I look forward to talking with you soon,
Jennifer 1. Congressional Trip to the AZ Border –Next Week! Next week staff from Senators Udall, Bennet, Rep. Becerra and the House Judiciary Committee will spend three days with us to learn more about the US-Mexico border. The trip is timely: several staff from other offices were not able to attend because they had to stay in DC to work on immigration legislation. Those that are coming will have an intense three days meeting with local law enforcement, Border Patrol, ICE, biologists, property owners, business leaders, faith leaders, immigrant families, humanitarian aid groups, and hearing from border historians and researchers. Our expectation: staffers will leave with the first hand knowledge that there is indeed an workable solutions for border security that integrate and value human rights, local economies, community security and public safety, accountability and cost-effectiveness. The agenda for the trip is attached. Please join us at the
final event on Wednesday, August 26th from 1:00-3:00pm at Southside Presbyterian Church, 317 W. 23rd St in Tucson.
2. Off to Washington, DC August 18-19th I will be in Washington for a packed two days of meetings to check in with some key offices –Reyes, Giffords, Grijalva, Sanchez, Lieberman, Schumer, Lofgren and Menendez. Staff are already working on drafting the border section of immigration legislation and we need to check back with them to see what the likelihood is of getting some of our recommendations included. A few weeks ago, Senator Schuler reintroduced the SAVE Act –an enforcement-only, round 'em up bill. Our fear is that some in Washington will use this bill as the enforcement component of the immigration debate. I'll send a detailed report and assessment upon my return.
3. DHS is all ears…Napolitano receives our border policy report and responds to recommendations. While I'm not impressed with the rewrite of the 287g program and a few other announcements recently, I have to give lots of credit to DHS for holding true to their commitment of increasing the dialogue and communication with border communities. Task Force members have met with Alan Bersin three times on and up to the June 18th meeting in Tucson. Since then, the Texas members participated in the Border Security Conference in El Paso and presented the border policy report to Sec. Napolitano who was keenly interested in the training and accountability recommendations. We were also invited to participate in a live web broadcasting of the Homeland Security Advisory Council's meeting in El Paso and the Secretary's presentation. The agency continues to demonstrate unprecedented communication with local partners and local communities. The challenge, of
course, with open doors is the extent to which we can take advantage of them and successfully push through much-needed changes (our recommendations).
4. Task Force Meets with AZ Congressional Offices In July, Task Force and Border Action members continued to make the rounds with AZ Congressional offices. We met with Kirkpatrick's state director at their new Casa Grande office, Pastor, and Flake's State Directors. While we've come to know many of the DC staff, we wanted to make sure the AZ staff were familiar with the Task Force, our recommendations for effective border policy and that we're a great resource for border-related questions. The meetings were introductory in nature and didn't reveal any new ground.
There have been a lot of changes on the legislative front in the last two months. Below is a quick synopsis of some of the key bills (positive and negative—if you make it to the end you'll see Shuler's SAVE Act) introduced in the last couple weeks! I can't take credit for this extensive legislative update; it was prepared by the National Immigration Forum. Please enjoy!
5. Legislation - Health Care and Immigration Reform President Obama had asked Congress to send him a health care reform bill before the August recess. That deadline came and went. The three committees in the House that have jurisdiction over health care reform have completed their work, but a vote in the full House has been put off until after the recess. In the Senate, a bill is still being negotiated.
There are intense efforts going on to kill health care reform and, as one of my colleagues put it, opponents of health care reform seem to have rented out the anti-immigration movement to assist them. In town hall meetings around the country Congressmen and women are being shouted at by attendees who assert that the Democrat's health care reform would give health care to "illegal immigrants." It doesn't, but the charge gets repeated everywhere. Facts don't matter with this faction of the population that we see again and again in the debates around solving the many crises being faced by our nation. This is the faction that staunchly opposes solutions-the segment (and their Congressional champions) that Marshall Fitz of the Center for American Progress refers to in this blog post as the "status quo caucus."
While the health care debate preoccupies Congress and the Administration, the timeline for immigration reform has slipped. Senator Schumer was quoted in Congressional Quarterly on August 5th as saying that he now hopes to have the broad outline of a bill, rather than the complete bill he said a month ago, by Labor Day.
No surprise. It always takes Congress longer to complete consideration of any consequential legislation than the original timeline that is proposed, and this year Congress is trying to tackle a number of major reforms.
6. Detention Reforms Proposed in Congress, Announced by DHS On July 30, Senators Menendez (D-NJ), Gillibrand (D-NY), and Kennedy (D-MA) introduced the Protect Citizens and Residents from Unlawful Detention Act, S. 1549 . The bill would establish screening mechanisms so that U.S. citizens and vulnerable populations, such as children and pregnant women and others who are swept up in immigration enforcement operations, are considered for alternatives to detention.
Also on July 30, Senators Menendez and Gillibrand introduced S. 1550, the Safe Treatment, Avoiding Needless Deaths, and Abuse Reduction in the Detention System Act (the "Strong STANDARDS" Act) . Among other things, this bill would require DHS to provide access to adequate medical care, establish protocols when ICE transfers immigrants away from family and counsel, ensure access to functioning telephones inside detention centers, and mandate other improvements to the immigration detention system.
On August 6th, Senators Lieberman (I-CT), Kennedy (D-MA) and Akaka (D-HI) introduced the Secure and Safe Detention and Asylum Act. The legislation would implement recommendations first made in 2005 in a Congressionally-mandated report by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. For more information, read this Press Release from the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs .
The detention bills came in the wake of a decision by DHS to deny a petition for rulemaking on detention standards. In 2007, advocates petitioned DHS to conduct a formal rulemaking to develop standards for immigration detention. Regulations would be more enforceable than the existing detention standards that advocates say are often ignored. After more than two years, DHS decided that its "performance-based standards," a set of guidelines that were first issued in 2000 and revised most recently in 2008, adequately addressed the concerns raised in the petition.
In the context of bad press, unflattering reports , and proposed legislation, Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced on August 6th that it will be making reforms to its detention system. The agency will be creating an Office of Detention Policy and Planning (ODPP), headed by Dora Schriro, the current Special Advisor to Secretary Napolitano on Detention and Removal Operations. With the assistance of detention and health care experts, the Office will "design and plan a civil detention system tailored to addresses ICE's needs." The Office will evaluate the current detention system, focusing on population management, detention management, programs management, health care management, alternatives to detention management, special populations management, and accountability.
Other steps being taken include the discontinuation of family detention at the T. Don Hutto Family Residential Facility in Texas, the formation of two advisory groups of local and national organizations interested in ICE's detention system, the appointment of 23 ICE detention managers to work in 23 facilities that together house more than 40 percent of detainees, and the establishment of an Office of Detention Oversight.
More information can be found in ICE's Press Release .
ICE also put out a Fact Sheet, which can be obtained here .
The National Immigration Forum's press release on the DHS Action can be found here .
7. Other Legislative News
Integration legislation: On July 21, Senators Gillibrand (D-NY) and Alexander (R-TN) introduced the Strengthen and Unite Communities with Civics Education and English Skills Act, S. 1478. Among other things, the Act would provide more resources for English language teaching, and create incentives for business and teachers providing English language training. A summary of the bill can be found on this press release from Senator Gillibrand's office.
Text of the bill can be obtained here .
Representative Honda (D-CA) introduced a similar companion bill, H.R. 3249 , in the House.
Legislation to HELP separated children: On July 31, Representative Lynn Woolsey introduced the Humane Enforcement and Legal Protections for Separated Children Act (HELP Separated Children Act), H.R. 3531. Among other things the bill would provide nationwide protocols to help keep children with their parents or caregivers and out of the foster care system while their parent's or caregiver's case is pending by ensuring that vulnerable populations apprehended during immigration enforcement activities are identified and treated with dignity. Text of the bill can be obtained here .
SAVE Act redux: Representative Heath Schuler (D-NC) has reintroduced the SAVE Act, H.R. 3308, which would, among other things, make E-Verify mandatory. It was a bad idea last year; it's still a bad idea. Mr. Schuler still wants to quarterback the deportation-only team, but that team is not likely to take the field this year. You can find the text here .
Jennifer Allen Executive Director Border Action Network jallen@borderaction.org
www.borderaction.org
Office: 520.623.4944 Cell: 520.820.0360 Please join me as a Monthly Giver to Border Action Network and build the movement for human rights on the Arizona-Sonora border. https://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5262/t/5653/shop/custom.jsp?donate_page_KEY=219
-- Donald Bahlinger, S.J. Kino Border Initiative P.O. Box 159 Noigales AZ 85628 Phone: (520) 287-9001 (520) 287-2370 e-mail: donald@jesuits.net
-- Dorinda Moreno Elders of 4 Colors 4 Directions Hitec Aztec Collaborations/FM Global We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For! < fuerzamundial@gmail.net >
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