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FIRM: New Phase of Escalation and Deadline in Push for Reform and Relief for Families

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The following is a press release from the Fair Immigration Reform Movement:

The Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM) announced on a call today its newest phase of escalation: the STOP SEPARATING FAMILIES campaign. The movement is issuing a deadline on House Republicans to act on immigration reform by June 28. At the same time, they are demanding that President Obama act immediately to stop needless deportations.

The family-separation crisis is a very real and terrifying burden to a generation of parents and children who either live in crippling fear or continue to be tragically torn from one another. On one hand, President Obama’s policies lead to scores of needless deportations and family separations. On the other hand, Republicans seem happy to abdicate their responsibility and take up the family separation mantle as a party platform. Together, they’ve manufactured a painful moral crisis in Latino and immigrant communities.

During the STOP SEPARATING FAMILIES phase of action, FIRM will escalate both tone and activity, channeling the energy behind families’ plea to Congress and the Administration to stop the family-separation crisis.

While more details will become available, the participants announced the following premises for the STOP SEPARATING FAMILIES phase:

  • Upcoming significant event in the Washington, D.C. area, featuring a civil disobedience, and showing the increasing energy, pain, and frustration that families feel
  • On May 1st, FIRM will join partners in the labor movement to hold events taking place across the country, calling for immigrant and worker rights
  • The will team up with others for key civic engagement days, registering and empowering Latino and immigrant communities
  • FIRM will continue the effort to build and expand the movement, building capacity among regional and local leaders who will carry this movement to victory
  • Throughout this period – late April through late June – there will be continued, bold, and escalating actions and mobilizations
  • FIRM will culminate with large mobilizations across the country on the June 28 deadline

After the deadline, the group will roll out a scorecard on who are the most notorious Family Dividers in Congress, and who have been the Family Uniters. The organizations will also be closer to moving fully into their electoral organizing phase.