Tag Archives: Immigration reform

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Watch this — and then fight for her

06/21/2013 Nativegrl77

Organizing for Action

Ola is the daughter of immigrants and a college student who wants to help cure cancer.
But when a clerical error brought her family’s immigration status under investigation, Ola’s future became uncertain — she didn’t know whether she would be allowed to stay in the United States or for how long.
Watch her story — then sign up to join an interactive livestream of the full 30-minute film, “The Dream is Now,” next Thursday, June 27th, at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

This incredibly moving documentary tells the story of four DREAMers who are just like you and me in that they call America home.
Their futures hinge on comprehensive immigration reform.
You’ve got to see this movie. It’ll be 30 minutes you won’t regret.
Ola will be one of several special guests joining us for an online chat after next week’s showing.
Watch her tell her story — then RSVP to join the livestream on Thursday:
http://my.barackobama.com/Watch-Olas-Story
Thanks,
Emmy
Emmy Ruiz Immigration Campaign Manager Organizing for Action

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A great way to save some money

06/21/2013 Nativegrl77

This week, we got some big news about the immigration reform bill. It’s a little wonky, but it’s so great that I couldn’t wait to share it with you.

The nonpartisan experts who estimate the financial impact of legislation for Congress concluded that because undocumented immigrants will start paying more in taxes for things like education and Social Security, the immigration proposal in the Senate will make the economy fairer for middle class families while cutting the U.S. deficit by almost $1,000,000,000,000 over the next two decades.

With every passing day, it’s becoming clear that we can’t afford not to act. Now we know exactly how much is at stake, and it’s the kind of news that can help to change the policy conversation in Washington.

So we’ve put together a graphic that explains exactly how this works, and we need your help to share it. If more people get the facts, it’ll be easier to build a nationwide, bipartisan consensus to get this done.

Take a look, then share this graphic with folks you know:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/share/1trillion

Thank you so much!

Cecilia

Cecilia Muñoz Director, Domestic Policy Council The White House

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Support comprehensive Immigration Reform

06/20/2013 Nativegrl77 1 Comment

It’s not what you look like or where you were born that makes you American. It’s how you live your life and what you do that makes you a part of this country.
That’s why all Americans deserve immigration reform that includes a pathway to citizenship.
Raise your voice for the millions of immigrant women and their families who make ours a stronger country. Tell your Senators to support a comprehensive immigration reform bill that meets the needs of women and families.
The next weeks will be critical in the immigration reform fight. Senators will consider hundreds of amendments that could affect the lives of immigrant women and their families for decades to come.
To meet the needs of women and their families, immigration reform must:

Help keep families together. Immigration reform should reunite families.
Ensure immigrant women have fair access to the path to citizenship and green cards. Women’s economic circumstances, the kinds of jobs they do, and their caregiving responsibilities should not prevent them from becoming citizens.
Protect against worker exploitation. Immigrant women workers who challenge workplace abuses like sexual harassment, discrimination, and wage theft must have meaningful protections and remedies available.
Make affordable health care available to lawfully present immigrants. Women on the path to citizenship should be able to get the same health coverage and services as other women across the country.
Preserve tax credits and Social Security benefits for lawful immigrants. Lawful, taxpaying immigrants must receive the full benefits they earned in Social Security and access to family tax credits.

We believe that families should be able to stick together and that we should help our neighbors. We all do our part to contribute, and we’re all the better for welcoming the immigrant women who play a key role in our nation and our economy as members of our communities.
Tell your Senators to support a comprehensive and strong immigration reform bill that meets the needs of women and their families.
Thank you for everything you do.
Sincerely,

Emily J. Martin Vice President and General Counsel National Women’s Law Center

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Border Overkill

06/17/2013 Nativegrl77

By ThinkProgress War Room

The Border is Already Secure

Republican senators like Chuck Grassley (IA) and John Cornyn (TX) have been offering various amendments to the immigration bill they claim are necessary to secure the border, but their real purpose is try and kill the bill by placing impossible roadblocks on the pathway to earned citizenship.

The truth is that the border is already as secure as it’s ever been and the immigration bill is already slated to invest billions more to make additional improvements. In fact, the border has already met the border security targets included in the failed 2007 immigration reform bill.

Check out this infographic to see why the border is already secure and we don’t need any poison pill amendments from Republicans to make sure it stays that way.

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84 Votes

06/13/2013 Nativegrl77

By ThinkProgress War Room

Senate Makes Major Move on Immigration Reform

Immigration reform including a pathway to earned citizenship moved one step closer to reality today as the Senate voted overwhelmingly, 84-15, to began debating and amending the bipartisan bill that passed the Judiciary Committee last month. Unsurprisingly, all of today’s no votes came from Republicans, including those leading the opposition to the bill: Sens. Jeff Sessions (AL), Mike Lee (UT), and Ted Cruz (TX).

While many of those who voted to take up the bill today are expected to oppose it in the end, today’s vote is the latest sign of strong momentum. By contrast, the vote to take up the 2007 immigration reform effort, which ultimately failed, was a much narrower 64-35.

Good news also came from the other side of the Capitol today, with Speaker Boehner (R-OH) predicting that the bill will become law before the end of the year. In another positive sign, Boehner also refused to rule out passing a bill through the House with mostly Democratic votes.

Finally, the president also held an event today with DREAMers and a bipartisan group of others who support reform with a pathway to earned citizenship.

The only unfortunate news on the immigration front today came from Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), who appears to want to have it both ways once again. Rubio was reportedly asking his Republican colleagues to refrain from coming out in support of the bill so he could use the appearance of a lack support among Republicans as an excuse to drag the bill to the right. Discouraging fellow senators from supporting one’s own legislation is a relatively unheard of move.

A new poll out today shows that 81 percent of Latinos polled reject the notion of the “border-security first” approach that Rubio is inching toward. That includes 76 percent of Latinos who have voted for a GOP candidate in the past. Instead, Latinos want to see the pathway to citizenship and border security implemented concurrently, just as it is in the Gang of 8 bill Rubio himself helped author.

BOTTOM LINE: We are closer than we’ve been in a generation toward achieving real reform to our broken immigration system. Reforming our broken system will allow 11 MILLION undocumented immigrants to come out of the shadows, something that will boost our economy by a cumulative $832 BILLION over the next ten years.