Earlier today, Rep. Luis Gutiérrez slammed an upcoming, Republican-led Judiciary Committee hearing on Central American refugees, saying it lacks any “serious attempt to legislate” and will only serve to “continue to feed the hucksterism and red meat politics that Americans hate.” Rep. Gutiérrez addressed the very real-life situation of immigrants...
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Earlier this week, the Obama Administration deported a recipient of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, despite the government earlier having approved her DACA application and granted her “advanced parole” request to travel to and from Mexico. The case of Lesly Sophia Cortez-Martinez is a troubling example of the...
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Last night, we learned that the Obama administration has ramped up efforts targeting young people who fled violence, for deportation. In Raleigh, North Carolina, a high school student who left Honduras in 2014 was arrested on his parents’ front steps and faces deportation to that crime-ravaged nation. In Charlotte, young men who...
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Yesterday, U.S. Congressman Dave Loebsack introduced legislation aimed at uniting deported Iowa City Pastor Max Villatoro with his family. Pastor Max’s case generated widespread local and national attention last year when—despite being a prime candidate for prosecutorial discretion under the Obama administration’s new guidelines—Max was separated from his family and deported to Honduras. Congressman Loebsack’s...
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On Tuesday, hundreds of demonstrators in San Francisco and Los Angeles held simultaneous actions in protest of recent ICE immigration raids targeting Central American women and children fleeing violence. In downtown San Francisco, 200 demonstrators protested in front of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement building. Ultimately, 16 of...
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Nearly 300 organizations have signed a letter to President Obama today urging his administration to grant some Central American refugees currently in the US temporary immigration relief. The organizations, ranging from immigrant, humanitarian, civil rights, labor rights, to faith-based groups, are asking the Administration to grant Temporary Protected Status (TPS)...
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Senators Patrick Leahy, Richard Durbin, and 20 of their Democratic colleagues in the Senate have sent a letter to President Obama calling for a halt to recent ICE raids targeting Central American mothers and children from El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala for deportation. “We are troubled by the priorities...
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As the Republican Governors and Attorneys General of 26 states play politically-motivated games, their lawsuit blocking the implementation of DAPA and expanded DACA is having real-life consequences for millions of immigrants across the nation. In a must-read piece, Esther Lee of ThinkProgress talks to immigrants whose families would be eligible...
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Rumors of deportation raids have caused student attendance rates at one majority-Latino high school in Maryland to drop. The school, High Point High School in Prince George’s County, is about 70 percent Latino. “It’s a student population that’s prompted the school’s principal, Sandra Jimenez, to term it ‘Central American...
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Ahead of Tonight’s GOP Debate in SC, Leading GOP Contenders Propose Mass Deportation or Self-Deportation During this week’s official Republican response to the State of the Union address, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley called on the country to resist “the siren call of the angriest voices” in how we welcome and treat...
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