2021 Immigration Action Plan Restoring Human Dignity Recovering - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

2021 Immigration Action Plan

Restoring Human Dignity Recovering the Economy Reinforcing American Values

September 15, 2020

Background Information and Purpose

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 Creation led by Immigration Hub

and America's Voice along with 100+ organizations

 Signed on by close to 200

• rganizations

 10 Actions with steps to reverse

the anti-immigrant racism and damage of the present administration and the criminalization and deportation policies of past administrations

 A clear pathway to TRUE

IMMIGRATION REFORM

The New Colossus

" Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries She with silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, The homeless, tempest tossed, to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" Emma Lazarus 1849 – 1887

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A QUICK LOOK AT THE RECENT PAST AND THE IMMIGRATION LANDSCAPE

 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act (amnesty and

enforcement)

 1990s Several additional acts to include an increase border

patrol, added employment verification, prioritized family-based immigration and skilled workers

 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigration Responsibility

Act (IIRAIRA) major deportations

 2000 Legal Immigration Family Equity Act (limited amnesty)  September 11, 2001

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A QUICK LOOK AT THE RECENT PAST AND THE IMMIGRATION LANDSCAPE

 2006/2007 Failed legislation of Comprehensive

Immigration Reform Act

 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)  2013 'Gang of Eight' amnesty legislation and Immigration

Modernization Act (failed)

 2016 to present: Strategic decimation of immigration

policies, the courts, asylum and refugee policies

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Transforming and Modernizing America's Immigration System

Step One

Prioritize Equity and Harm Reduction in Immigration System

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Prioritize Equity and Harm Reduction in Immigration System

• Provide protection to individuals with

meaningful ties to the United States

• Pause deportations until a comprehensive

review of immigration enforcement system is completed

• DACA

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Transforming and Modernizing America's Immigration System

Step Two

End the Anti-Black and Discriminatory Targeting

• f Certain U.S. Citizens and

Immigrants

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End the Anti-Black and Discriminatory Targeting of Certain U.S. citizens and Immigrants

• Ensure fairness by repealing the Muslim,

African, refugee and asylum bans, wealth tests and discriminatory vetting practices

• For USCs and LPRs applying for family

members replace the recently installed wealth, health and age tests

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Transforming and Modernizing America's Immigration System

Step Three

Rebuild the U.S. Economy

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Rebuild the U.S. Economy

• Support the legalization of immigrants in

a future economic recovery package

• Expand and diversify opportunities for

workers to gain lawful status in areas of greatest need

• Protect the rights of all workers

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Transforming and Modernizing America's Immigration System

Step Four

Commit to DHS Transformational Change

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Commit to DHS Transformational Change

• Appoint leaders across DHS, Department of

Justice, and State Department who are committed to restructuring our immigration system and who are representative of immigrant communities and committed to transformational change

• Establish a White House Office of New

Americans

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What History Tells Us

Chicago Sun- Times 2016 'From the days of the Puritans to the present, every generation of Americans has believed that the latest wave of immigrants is completely different from – and inferior to – their own immigrant ancestors and could never become true Americans."

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What History Tells Us

"Fear of something is at the root of hate of others."

• George Washington Carver

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Transforming and Modernizing America's Immigration System

Step Five

Decriminalize Immigration

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Decriminalize Immigration

• End all criminal prosecutions for

migration-related offenses

• End family separation
• Hold public officials responsible for

abuses

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Transforming and Modernizing America's Immigration System

Step Six

Protect Immigrant Children, Families and Communities

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Protect Immigrant Children, Families and Communities

• Support legislation requiring government
• fficials to consider the best interests of

immigrant children, honor the Flores Agreement

• End policies that jeopardize the safety
• f immigrant victims of crime and

violence

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Protect Immigrant Children, Families and Communities

• Terminate all agreements and programs

that turn local law enforcement into immigration agents

• Ensure access to health care during and

after the COVID-19 pandemic

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Transforming and Modernizing America's Immigration System

Step Seven

Phase Out Immigration Jails and Fund Community-Based Case Management

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Phase Out Immigration Jails and Fund Community- Based Case Management Programs

• End Family detention and contracts with

private prisons and county jails

• Apply a presumption of release
• Invest in community-based case

management programs

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Transforming and Modernizing America's Immigration System

Step Eight

Establish Thriving, Rights-Respecting Borders

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Establish Thriving, Rights-Respecting Borders

Halt border wall construction Protect due process and end racial profiling Protect sensitive

locations from enforcement actions

Increase safe channels of entry for

education, business, trade and travel

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Transforming and Modernizing America's Immigration System

Step Nine

Reimagine the Role

• f the Immigration Courts

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Reimagine the Role

• f Immigration Courts

Create an independent immigration court

system

Ensure due process for those in removal

proceedings

Provide access to counsel

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Transforming and Modernizing America's Immigration System

Step Ten

Restore the Right to Seek and Receive the Protection from Persecution, Torture, and Other Serious Human Rights Violations

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Restore the Right to Seek and Receive Protection from Persecution, Torture, and Other Serious Human Rights Violations

• Restore and Improve the U.S. asylum,

refugee and other humanitarian programs

• Undo the many regulations and

policies put in place to dismantle the asylum system

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"It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences."

• Audre Lorde

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What We Can Do.....

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Learn the truth about

these issues

Be willing to speak

• ut

Advocate Welcome the refugee,

the immigrant, the asylum seeker, ....

Vote

Thank God our time is now when wrong comes up to face us everywhere, Never to leave us till we take The longest stride of soul we ever took. Affairs are now soul size. The enterprise is exploration into God. What are you waiting for? It takes so many thousand years to wake, But will you wake, for pity's sake!

Christopher Fry A Sleep of Prisoners

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In Closing