Earlier this week, United We Dream Action, the Center for Community Change Action/Fair Immigration Reform Movement and America’s Voice announced a new effort called “DAPA Dinners.” This initiative “invites all 2016 candidates and Members of Congress to join an immigrant family for dinner on or around the one-year anniversary of the DAPA announcement on November 20, 2015.”
The week, UWD, CCC/FIRM and AV invited all presidential candidates of both parties to meet and share a meal with a DAPA-eligible family. At Huffington Post, Elise Foley wrote about DAPA Dinners:
In a letter to candidates shared with The Huffington Post, the organizers said they want the presidential hopefuls to “see for yourself how they are just like other American families.” They’re willing to do the dinners any time that’s convenient and in any state — a move that makes it harder for candidates to use scheduling conflicts as an excuse.
“With 2016 politics there’s been a lot written about what each of the candidates would do for our families — or against them, if you’re looking at the Republican stage,” said Greisa Martinez of United We Dream. “It’s important for that conversation to not only be had in the broad theoretical aspect but also to be had with the people that this would directly affect.”
Today, we learned that Governor Martin O’Malley is attending a DAPA dinner tomorrow in Austin. The Workers Defense Project in Austin helped organize this dinner. From the O’Malley campaign:
Tomorrow Governor O’Malley will join the Ramirez family, a New American family that would have benefited from the president’s Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA) for lunch in Austin, Texas. This week, the 5th Circuit Appeals Court ruled in favor of Governor Greg Abbott and the 25 Republican governors blocking President Obama’s DAPA program and the 2014 expansion of DACA.
Governor O’Malley spoke-out against the ruling and tomorrow, he hear first-hand how our inhumane immigration system and the ongoing court battles have impacted the Ramirez family.
DAPA and expanded DACA have been blocked in courts because of a lawsuit brought by Texas Governor Greg Abbott and 25 other Republican Governors and Attorneys General. After another adverse ruling by the Fifth Circuit this week, that case will be appealed to the Supreme Court.
Next week, Workers Defense Project bring the message about harm to families to Governor Abbott:
Join us on a three-day pilgrimage from the Hutto Detention Center to the Governor’s Mansion in Austin as we speak out and demand that Gov. Abbott meet with the immigrant families he has harmed in his opposition to immigration relief.
The pilgrimage will begin on Nov. 19 and end on Nov. 21 with 5,000 people rallying at noon at the Governor’s mansion. We will demand that Gov. Abbott stop playing politics with the lives of immigrant families
We’ll provide updates as we get more responses to our invitations.
Members of Congress have also been invited to participate in “DAPA Dinners.”
