 |
 |
|---|
The latest episode of our podcast, “A is for America”, features an interview with Jon Rodney and Layla Razavi of the California Immigrant Policy Center, who spoke to us about the California Values Act and what hate groups have done to try and bring down the law in the Golden State. (Interview starts at 16:00.)
So much happened in immigration this week. On the separation of children and families at the border, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) was unable to visit a children’s detention center, leading us to ask why facilities run using taxpayer money are being closed off to members of the press and members of Congress, and operating apparently without oversight or accountability. The American Academy of Pediatrics weighed in against this practice, as did a federal judge who said that what the Trump Administration is doing “arbitrarily tears at the sacred bond between parent and child.”
Customs and Border Patrol took away $58,000 from a U.S. citizen trying to visit his family in Albania, and still haven’t given all of it back. A man delivering pizzas to a military base was detained and now faces deportation even though his U.S.-citizen wife has sponsored him for residency. A Dreamer who would have graduated this spring from a high school in Iowa was found dead in Mexico, with his throat split open three weeks after he was deported. A workplace raid in Sandusky, Ohio led to the arrests of 100 working men and women who were unnecessarily terrorized with semi-automatic weapons and a military-style assault.
California’s primary was held this week, and most large California counties experienced major increases in the number of Democratic ballots cast. A Democratic pickup in Missouri’s special election shows that the “coalition of the decent” continues to stand up to the Trump Administration. And House Republicans held an immigration meeting this week, where their moderate wing demanded a DACA deal by Tuesday if leadership doesn’t want to have to deal with a discharge petition.
“A is for America” is a podcast which tells stories from the front lines of a changing America. Each week, we’ll be talking to advocates and experts working in immigration reform, immigrants’ rights, immigration politics, and the forefront of what it means to be a new American. Tune in next week for more.
https://soundcloud.com/aisforamerica/episode-14-jon-rodney-and-layla-razavi-of-cipc
