Tag Archives: immigration

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Support comprehensive Immigration Reform

1 Comment

National Women's Law Center
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 Emily J. Martin Vice President and General Counsel National Women’s Law Center
~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

We want this to be a conversation, so we made this video

2 Comments

The White House, Washington

Hi, all —

In the past few weeks, people from all over the country have written in to the White House to share the stories of how their families came to America. Each one we read is a reminder that many of us share a similar experience. That’s certainly true for my own family — my parents came as newlyweds from Bolivia. These are narratives that Washington needs to hear as this town debates the right way to reform our broken immigration system.

At the White House, we’re no different from any other office anywhere else in America. As a team, we have a lot of stories that began outside the United States.

To help make this an actual dialogue about who we are as a country, we thought we’d share some of those stories with you.

That’s why we put together this video. Watch it, then pass it along to help get a conversation going in your community about your American immigration stories.

President Obama wants the result of this debate to be legislation that reflects who we are as a country — as much a nation of laws as we are a nation of immigrants. And he wants his White House to reflect who we are as a people — individuals from different circumstances united by a shared set of values and a common set of goals.

This issue is personal, as much for my colleagues here as for people anywhere else. And the thing I love about this video is that these folks help to make it clear why it’s important to fix this broken system. All of them are fulfilling huge dreams, and if others get the chance to have that same opportunity, we’ll all benefit as a nation.

And if more people understand that the motivation for this reform is about living up to our values as Americans, it will be easier to get this done.

So will you take a minute to watch?

http://www.whitehouse.gov/share/wh-immigration-stories

Thank you so much!

Cecilia

Cecilia Muñoz Director, Domestic Policy Council The White House

 

Visit WhiteHouse.gov
~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Immigration reform bill


 

immigrationWe are fast approaching the critical moment that our movement has made possible: S. 744, the bipartisan immigration bill, is expected to be introduced to the full Senate early next week for debate, amendment and a full vote.

We must keep up the pressure to ensure the bill we have been fighting for continues to move forward.

Dial 888-891-3271 or click here to call your Senator now.

We have proven the power of our movement before. Our calls, faxes, and contacts to the Senate helped advance the bill this far — but as this bill moves to the full Senate, it will be even more vulnerable to amendments that could jeopardize the path to citizenship for millions of families.

Dial 888-891-3271 or click here to call your Senator in support of reform with a path to citizenship.

The Senate has the opportunity to make history by passing a reform law that keeps families together and strengthens our country by creating a pathway to full citizenship. We must make sure that the Senate passes this important bill. Millions of American families depend on it.

Click here to be immediately connected to your Senator and tell them to support immigration reform.

With hope,

Donna De La Cruz Reform Immigration FOR America

P.S. We need your help to ensure that Congress hears our message. Forward this email to your friends — together we will make immigration reform a reality!

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

The weekly Share


 

Want to hear about it?

ATTENTION: We Know A Way To Add $1.5 Trillion To The U.S. Economy
She’s not afraid to spell out the kind of people we are (and aren’t). WATCH:

Elizabeth Warren Isn’t Going To Sit Back While They Try To Cut Benefits For Folks Like Her Aunt Bea
Well, now we really know how he really feels. WATCH:

Paul Ryan Casually Drops This Slur And Shows The GOP’s Effort To ‘Reach Out’ Is B.S.
~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

CUNY Honors The Internatio​nal Youth Associatio​n (TIYA)


TBI_Header_(1).jpg

The Black Institute’s (TBI) subsidiary organization The International Youth Association (TIYA) will be honored at CUNY’s first annual Murphy Institute Scholarship fundraiser. The Co-Founders Alden Nesbit and Mikhel Crinchlow will participate in a pre-event symposium where they will present their organizing plan for the immigration reform campaign as well as future campaign plans.

CUNYhonorsTIYA1.jpg Thursday, May 16, 2013 Click here to go to the event page.

For years several grassroots black-immigrant rights groups have been advocating for immigration reforms pertaining to Caribbean and African communities including family reunification, a pathway to citizenship for temporary status holders and affordable fines and fees associated with new citizenship. The International Youth Association (TIYA) has been instrumental in organizing the youth effort to be heard in the debate and has called for widespread changes to be made to the current Immigration Reform compromise.

This awards ceremony and symposium is a celebration of TIYA’s work but there is still so much more work to be done. TIYA believes our communities will not thrive under the current compromise because of the DREAM Act provision, backlog and triggers, and the elimination of the Diversity Visa Program. This first attempt at Comprehensive Immigration Reform is a valiant effort. But, it is clear that there is a lot of work ahead. Immigration Reform cannot be comprehensive nor common sense if it is exclusive and unfair.

Goals of The International Youth Association for the Outcome of Comprehensive Immigration Reform:

  • Comprehensive reform of Immigration policy to include protections for recruited immigrant professionals and their children (e,g, an expedited  pathway to Green Card status, a special category that includes recruited professionals from non-STEM disciplines, etc.).
  • Fulfill the promises of citizenship, education and job opportunity to recruited immigrant professionals and their families, including “aged-out” immigrant children.
  • End the criminalization and detention of immigrants, and implement safeguards to protect against racial profiling and ensure due process for all immigrants.
  • Reunite families torn apart by current Immigration policy by expanding benefits to include extended family, and altering the current DACA guidelines to allow children up to the age of 20 to enter the US.
  • Lessen the economic burden caused by current Immigration policy by investing resources and decreasing processing fees.
  • Expand the focus of the Immigration reform discourse to include the needs of Black immigrants and their children, who are often marginalized and ignored. This includes amending the language of the DREAM act to include children of immigrant professionals, and allowing the voices of Black immigrants to be heard.

Please help support our Organizing and Immigration Work. The gift that you give today will help our small but effective staff work to shed light on the issues that plague Black communities; empowering our men, women and children to speak out against injustice, maltreatment, ineffective government, poor public policy, inadequate and inefficient social service programs, and poor working conditions. Any amount you can give will help further our mission.

Please make a tax deductible donation or become a monthly Sustainer TODAY.

The Black Institute http://www.theblackinstitute.org/