The latest episode of our podcast, “A is for America”, features an interview with Stephanie Teatro, the co-director of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC). Listen below or tune in via iTunes, Google Play, or your favorite podcast app.
This week, a federal judge handed down another ruling against the Trump Administration on DACA, saying that Donald Trump and Jeff Sessions must comply with the Administrative Procedure Act within 90 days or else accept new DACA applications for the first time since September 2017. Meanwhile, the New York Times reported that the Administration has separated more than 700 children from their parents at the border, including more than 100 children under the age of four. A special election in New York, won by Democrat Steve Stern, once again showed the failures of the GOP anti-immigrant playbook, while new polling warns Republican candidates running this fall to oppose DACA at their peril.
In Tennessee, advocates have had a nonstop month, first dealing with the aftermath of a massive workplace raid that detained 97 workers, with 54 still in detention. In the days following, 500 children missed school, and a community worked to come together. Yet the state legislature this week passed an anti-immigrant bill that will make communities less safe by mandating local cooperation with ICE. In the next few weeks, TIRRC and other Tennessee advocates will be mobilizing Governor Bill Haslam to veto the bill. Sign the petition to bring the Morristown workers home or donate here to contribute to the fight. (Stephanie’s interview begins at 10:55.)
“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-8-stephanie-teatro-tirrc