Time is running out to protect immigrants. On Monday, Congress ended a three-day government shutdown due to Senate Democrats caving under pressure to pass a short-term spending bill to keep the government operating.¹ But the short-term bill passed without including any clear protections for nearly 800,000 young undocumented youth who are recipients of the Deferred Action Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and over 300,000 Temporary Protected Status (TPS) recipients. Now Congress must work quickly to approve funding legislation by February 8th. This time it must include a passage of a clean Dream Act and save TPS.

Trump drove the government to shut down in the first place. Because of Trump’s clear racist agenda to push out Black and Brown immigrants, annihilate these programs, increase raids and deportations, and refer to Black immigrants as being from “sh*thole” countries, we are now at the brink of many more immigrants losing more protections and rights.  Right this moment hundreds of thousands of families and loved ones are anxiously waiting and living in fear. Already over 54,000 Color of Change members have signed the petition calling on Congress to protect Black immigrants. 

We cannot let Trump keep shutting down the government because his administration rather attack and criminalize Black and Brown immigrants than ensure our entire country has access to healthcare, the ability to work and protect immigrants from detention and deportation. Congress must oppose Trump and be on the right side of history.

Sign the petition.

Until justice is real,

Clarise, and the rest of the Color Of Change team

1. “Government Shutdown Ends After 3 Days of Recriminations,” New York Times, Jan 22, 2018

P.S. Below is the original email from Scott on why we need to protect all immigrants:

Yesterday, Jeff Sessions announced that the Trump administration will end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals DACA.¹ Today, more than ever our communities must continue to fight back against the Trump regime.  DACA currently protects over 800,000 young immigrants from being deported. It allows immigrants to stay in the U.S., live with their families, work, go to school, and thrive in their communities. Without such a program, millions of families will be torn apart.

But there’s more: Trump is refusing to extend the Temporary Protected Status program for hundreds of thousands of immigrants who have sought safety here in the U.S. from harm, climate disaster, violence in their home country. Many Haitian immigrants and other Black immigrants benefit from this program. It is expected to expire in January. When it expires, many of these immigrants will be immediately deported — forcing many to live in fear. There is already bipartisan support for the extension of TPS. But not for Haitian immigrants.The Trump administration has even said, “Haitians should be prepared to go home.”² No one should have to live in that kind of fear. There is no time to waste — Congress must act quickly to protect all immigrants.

Tell Congress to pass the DREAM Act and extend the Temporary Protected Status program. Sign the petition.

Since the start of Trump’s occupation in the White House, he has laid out an agenda that harms immigrants. It began with the executive orders to strip funds from Sanctuary Cities and issuing travel bans that target Muslim immigrants. We cannot forget the Trump administration is determined to build a border wall. One of the country’s largest private prison companies GEO Group received one of the first contracts from the Trump administration that resulted in the opening of a large Texas detention center for children and families. All of this is happening right on the heels of Trump abusing his power and pardoning former Maricopa County, Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio who was just convicted weeks ago for human rights abuses. He is a known racist who spent his entire tenure as sheriff racially profiling Latinx communities. But at every turn, people have fought back: blocking the travel ban, stalling the funding of the border wall, and cities filing lawsuits to protect Sanctuary Cities. So we know together we will continue to win each and every battle.

Trump’s agenda is all part of a larger racist, white supremacist agenda to get rid of communities of color, and Black and Brown immigrants. Congress must stop Trump now. Congress must put forth the effort to not allow Trump use immigrants as pawns for his agenda to build a wall and must stop the increased policing. Their silence must end today.

Sign the petition to demand Congress pass the DREAM Act and extend TPS.

Trump does not care about any immigrant. He wants to get rid of every immigrant and their families. This is a clear attack on all Black and Brown immigrants regardless of their status. Congress can no longer stay on the sidelines and let Trump continue his vicious attack on immigrants. For years, people have been on the frontlines pushing for change that will end the discrimination and violence against immigrants. The reality is, more needs to be done to ensure all immigrants are protected. Congress must not exploit immigrants to promote Trump’s agenda for building a wall or increasing funding for harsher policing and law enforcement. Instead, the legislation must reflect the justice our communities. We must end all criminalization of Black and Brown people. Every single person deserves the right to freely live their lives with dignity and without shame. This means, no ban, no wall, no deportations, no detention centers, #DefendDACA #SaveTPS, pass the DREAM Act, and protect our communities.

Sign the petition.

Until justice is real,

Scott, Rashad, Arisha, Scott, Anay, Clarise, Enchanta, Malaya, Katrese, and the rest of the Color Of Change team

References

1. “Watch: Attorney General Jeff Sessions expected to announce end of DACA immigration program,” CNBC, 09-05-2017
https://act.colorofchange.org/go/8754?t=12&akid=8982%2E1174326%2EfVR7BM

2. “‘Temporary’ Doesn’t Mean What You Think It Means” National Review, 05-22-2017
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/8730?t=14&akid=8982%2E1174326%2EfVR7BM

Dear Friends,

My name is Lane. I’m a worker, a mom, and a Working Washington member in Seattle. I’m writing to you today to talk to you about the gender pay gap in Washington. It’s going to take a lot of work to turn things around and make progress on equal pay for women — but there’s one way we can help make it happen now.

HB 1506, the equal pay bill, has passed the Washington House & is coming before the Senate. I’d like to share my own story with you, and let you know why I support HB 1506.

Demand equal pay for women: Tell your state legislators why you support HB 1506.

My daughter Emily is 16, and I was a stay-at-home mom for most of her life. But when I got divorced a few years ago, I needed to go back to work.

Me with my daughter, Emily, when she was younger

I have a master’s degree and I’ve held management-level jobs, so I thought I’d be able to re-enter the workforce smoothly. But I was wrong.

(To read the rest of Lane’s story, click here.)

Right now, women in Washington make 79 cents for every dollar earned by a man. The gap in earnings is even more severe for women of color, who are paid just 60 cents for every dollar earned by a white man.

If we want to change that, we need to update our laws. That’s where HB 1506 comes in.

The bill would strengthen Washington’s Equal Pay Act with provisions like prohibiting discrimination in career opportunities, making it illegal for employers to prevent workers from discussing their wages with each other, punishing employers who retaliate against workers for filing a complaint, and improving enforcement.

I’m asking you to support the bill by sending a letter to your state legislators so they know where Washington’s workers stand.

If we stand together, speak out, and share our stories, we can make real change for women in Washington.

Thanks for your support,
Lane, Working WA member

#staywoke

“The fact that you’re basically accusing the president of being complicit in a school shooting is outrageous.” – Sarah Huckabee Sanders

“President Trump is right: Build the wall. Deport criminals. Stop illegal immigration now,” a voiceover says. “Democrats who stand in our way will be complicit in every murder committed by illegal immigrants.” – GOP ad

The president is supposed to be negotiating with Democrats, but instead he’s tying them to immigrants who’ve committed violent crimes.

By Elise Foley 

huffingtonpost

                                                        or

Dear Friends,

Did you see the news this morning? Starbucks announced that they are making a big improvement to their corporate paid family leave policy.

They’re saying it’s about tax cuts. But we know that baristas made this happen.

Here’s how:

• 1/19/2017 — Starbucks announced a wildly inequitable parental leave policy. Their policy idea was that store employees would get dramatically less parental leave than corporate employees, and baristas would only get paid leave if they were birth mothers (not dads, not adoptive parents). In response, petitions sprouted up across the country — including a Working Washington effort to try and get the corporate PR department to explain.
• 3/17/2017 — PL+US releases The Haves and Have Nots of Paid Leave, a report which highlighted the inequitable corporate paid leave policies at companies like Starbucks.
• 3/21/2017 — Jess Svabenik, a barista from Gig Harbor, and Kristen Piccolo, a barista from Ohio made a huge splash in the media when they delivered tens of thousands of petitions to Starbucks headquarters calling on the company to make their paid leave policy more equitable. They are able to meet with the VP of Global Benefits and share their concerns.
• 3/22/2017 – The very next day, Kristen attends the annual shareholder meeting and takes the opportunity ask the new CEO about the inequitable policy — and he says he’ll consider improvements if he hears more feedback. She’s joined by Adam Sachs, who worked at a Starbucks store in Seattle when he became a new parent and was unable to afford family leave.
• 6/23/2017 – Starbucks partner Niko Walker leads an effort to highlight the impact of Starbucks’ inequitable leave policy on LGBTQ employees in the stores.
• 6/30/2017 – The Washington State Legislature passes statewide paid family and medical leave. The new law will provide 12 weeks of paid leave to everyone who works in Washington State, regardless of whether they work in a corporate office, in food service, or in some other job. The law is set to take effect on January 1, 2020.
• 9/19/2017 – Investment firms file a shareholder resolutioncalling on Starbucks to address issues of discrimination in their paid leave policy.
• 10/1/2017 – Starbucks’ paid parental leave policy takes effect. It is modified to include some people who had been previously excluded… but it’s pretty weird and it’s entirely unclear why they’re making it so complicated.
• 1/1/2018 – The minimum wage increases statewide in Washington to $11.50/hour, and to $15.00/hour or $15.45/hour for Starbucks baristas in Seattle.
• 1/24/2018 – Starbucks finally expands policy to provide paid parental leave for all baristas and also announces raises. It’s a big breakthrough (although baristas still get less time off than corporate employees).

And at that point, after a year-long campaign and several intermediate improvements along the way, Starbucks says they’re making the change…because of tax cuts.

But we know better. The real credit goes to the baristas with Working Washington and other organizations across the country who led the way, the customers who spoke out in support, and organizations like PL+US who kept on organizing, pushing for change, and making it all happen.

And our work continues — with your support.

Cheers,

Working Washington