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Spring 2014 National Immigrant
Solidarity Network Monthly News Digest and News Alert!
National Immigrant Solidarity
Network
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2014: What’ll be Happen to the Immigration
Reform?
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In This Issue:
1) Obama’s 2015 Budget Adopts Contradictory Stance
on Immigration
2) Washington Continues to Spend Billions on Immigrant
Detention
3) San Francisco Board of Supervisors' Vote for Immigrant Rights
Resolution Is Unanimous
4) New US Border Policy Could Be Boon For Defense
Firms
5) SCA-5: A step forward or backward?
6) Updates, Please Support NISN! Subscribe the Newsletter! |
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Please download our
latest newsletter: http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/Newsletter/Spring14.pdf
Obama’s 2015 Budget Adopts Contradictory Stance on
Immigration
Walter Ewing - American Immigration Council
[March 7, 2014] The Obama Administration’s Fiscal Year 2015 budget proposal
is of two minds about how to deal with the broken U.S. immigration system. On
the one hand, the document calls for the creation of “a pathway to earned
citizenship for hardworking men and women” who are in the United States without
legal status. On the other hand, the budget would continue to devote significant
sums of money to the detention and deportation of many of the same people for
whom the administration would like to create a path to citizenship. In other
words, the administration pledges that it will do its best to deport from the
country the very same people it wants to help stay.
The budget’s
commitment to continued deportations is evident from its proposed spending on
immigration enforcement (found in the DHS Budget in Brief ). Although the budget
does contain little nuggets of pro-immigrant spending—such as “$10 million to
continue support for immigrant integration grants that assist lawful permanent
residents in preparing for naturalization and citizenship”—the fact is that a
few million dollars spent on integration pales in comparison to the billions
spent on enforcement:
- $2.6 billion for Enforcement and Removal Operation within Immigration and
Customs Enforcement (ICE).
- $124 million to expand the E-Verify employment-authorization
system.
- $24 million for ICE’s 287(g) program, which deputizes local and
state law-enforcement officials to enforce federal immigration laws.
- A
reduction of only 10 percent—from 34,000 to 30,539—in the controversial “bed
quota,” which specifies how many immigration-detention beds must be filled every
day.
Just as troubling as the administration’s spending choices are the
misleading comments that the budget document makes about the U.S. deportation
system. For instance, the budget says that “ICE will continue to work with the
Department of Justice to expedite removal of convicted criminal aliens, reducing
costly stays in immigration detention prior to deportation.” What this statement
glosses over is the fact that many “convicted criminal aliens” are non-violent
individuals who have misdemeanors on their records or committed immigration
offenses. The definition of “criminal alien” has been slowly expanding over the
years, capturing more and more people who don’t come close to being “criminal”
in the commonly understood sense of the word.
Likewise, the budget skims over the truth when it proclaims that it aligns
ICE “capabilities with immigration enforcement priorities and policies so that
mandatory and priority individuals, including violent criminals and those who
pose a threat to national security, are kept in detention, while low-risk
non-mandatory detainees are allowed to enroll in alternatives to detention
programs, including electronic monitoring and supervision.” While the expansion
of alternatives to detention is a noble cause, it is misleading to lump together
“mandatory and priority individuals” with “violent criminals.” Most people on
ICE’s priority list are not violent criminals. As with the term “criminal
alien,” a “priority individual” is simply a person whom ICE defines as such.
In short, the administration’s budget simultaneously lauds immigrants while
providing the funds needed to place hundreds of thousands of them in deportation
proceedings over the coming year. The budget says that “we must fix our broken
immigration system” and that “common sense immigration reform will also boost
economic growth, reduce deficits, and strengthen Social Security.” It pledges
its support for “the bipartisan Senate approach, and calls on the House of
Representatives to act on comprehensive immigration reform this year.” Yet,
ironically, it states that “While repairing the Nation’s broken immigration
system will require congressional action, the Budget continues investments to
streamline the current system while looking forward to comprehensive
reform.”
While rightly blaming Congress for failing to pass immigration reform
legislation, this statement glosses over the fact that the President has
considerable authority to at least temporarily halt the deportations of men and
women who do not have serious criminal records and do not represent a threat to
public safety or national security. The President can and should act to lessen
the needless human suffering of families being torn apart by a pointless
campaign of mass deportation.
Link to the Article: http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=Issues&report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=1572
Washington Continues to Spend Billions
on Immigrant Detention
Larry Benenson - National Immigration Forum
[March 05, 2014] On Tuesday, President Obama released his proposed budget for
the upcoming fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1. Regarding immigration, it’s a
mixed bag.
While the budget underscores how we’ll benefit from commonsense immigration
reform by accounting for savings the Congressional Budget Office has forecast,
it continues our dysfunctional and illogical immigration detention system. As in
past years, the budget includes billions of dollars for the detention operations
of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) — part of the Department of
Homeland Security — including funding for 30,539 detention beds.
Believe it or not, that’s a slight improvement: The current budget includes
nearly $2 billion for immigrant detention — or $5.46 million per day. That money
pays for ICE to maintain 34,000 detention beds at a cost of just under $161 per
bed per night.
The White House proposed budget for the upcoming year would fund these same
operations at $1.808 billion in the next fiscal year, which amounts to just
under $5 million per day spent on immigration detention, around a 10 percent
decrease. The president’s request for 30,539 detention beds for the
incarceration of immigrants is less than the 34,000 mandated by Congress this
year but still would require that we spend about $5 million each day on
detaining a largely nondangerous immigrant population.
As noted in the August 2013 update of our paper “The Math of Immigration
Detention,” the costs of our current dysfunctional, illogical detention system
are exorbitant. Simply by using alternatives to detention that cost between 17
cents and 17 bucks per individual per day, we could save billions of dollars.
The budget includes a small increase in funding for such alternatives, but we
can and should do more.
With our nation’s fiscal health and hundreds of thousands of lives in the
balance, replacing our broken immigrant detention system remains a necessary and
urgent component of commonsense immigration reform.
Link to the Article: http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=Issues&report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=1571
Also Read..
3/7: California's SCA-5 Education Bill--A step forward or
backward?
http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=Issues&report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=1569
http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=Issues&report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=1570
2/14: New US Border Policy Could Be Boon For Defense
Firms
http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=Issues&report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=1568
2/11: 2013 GAO Report on Sexual Abuse in Detention Centers SEXUAL
ASSAULTS GO UNREPORTED
http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=Issues&report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=1567
1/29: San Francisco Board of Supervisors' Vote for Immigrant Rights
Resolution Is Unanimous
http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=Issues&report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=1565
Tear Down the Walls Day of Action! Earth Day to May Day!
http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=Issues&report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=1566
Useful Immigrant Resources on
Detention and Deportation
Useful Handouts and Know Your Immigrant Rights
When Marches
Immigrant Marches / Marchas de los Inmigrantes
(By ACLU)
Immigrants and their supporters are participating in marches all over the
country to protest proposed national legislation and to seek justice for
immigrants. The materials available here provide important information about the
rights and risks involved for anyone who is planning to participate in the
ongoing marches.
If government agents question you, it is important to understand your rights.
You should be careful in the way you speak when approached by the police, FBI,
or INS. If you give answers, they can be used against you in a criminal,
immigration, or civil case.
The ACLU's publications below provide effective and useful guidance in
several languages for many situations. The brochures apprise you of your legal
rights, recommend how to preserve those rights, and provide guidance on how to
interact with officials.
IMMIGRATION Know
Your Rights When Encountering Law Enforcement | Conozca Sus Derechos Frente A Los Agentes Del Orden
Público ACLU of Massachusetts - Your Rights And
Responsibilities If You Are Contacted By The Authorities English | Spanish | Chinese
ACLU of Massachusetts - What to do if stopped and questioned about your immigration status
on the street, the subway, or the bus | Que hacer si Usted es interrogado en el tren o autobus acerca
de su estatus inmigratorio ACLU of South Carolina - How To Deal With A 287(g) | Como Lidiar Con Una 287(g) ACLU of Southern
California - What
to Do If Immigration Agents or Police Stop You While on Foot, in Your Car, or
Come to Your Home | Qué Hacer Si Agentes de Inmigración o la Policía lo Paran
Mientras Va Caminando, lo Detienen en su Auto o Vienen a su Hogar
ACLU of Washington - Brochure for Iraqis: What to Do If the FBI or
Police Contact You for Questioning English | Arabic
ACLU of Washington - Your Rights at Checkpoints at Ferry Terminals | Sus Derechos en Puestos de Control en las Terminales de
Transbordadores
LABOR / FREE SPEECH Immigrant Protests - What Every Worker Should Know: | Manifestaciones de los Inmigrantes - Lo Que Todo Trabajador
Debe Saber
PROTESTERS ACLU of Florida Brochure - The Rights of Protesters | Los Derechos de los Manifestantes
STUDENTS Washington State - Student Walkouts and Political Speech at School | Huelgas Estudiantiles y Expresión Política en las
Escuelas California Students: Public School Walk-outs and Free Speech
| Estudiantes de California: Marchas o Huelgas y La Libertad de
Expresión en las Escuelas Públicas
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