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“Goal 3: Full Political, Economic and Civic Participation of Communities of Color and Immigrants

Immigration Global and domestic events continued to impact the immigrant rights field. Members of Congress and state and local jurisdictions responded swiftly to the terrorist attacks in Paris in November, leading to proposals to restrict and reject resettlement of refugees from Iraq and Syria in the U.S. Following the San Bernardino shootings in December by a U.S. citizen and his Pakistani spouse, there were additional proposals to limit the immigration of foreign nationals from specific Muslim countries, including restrictions on the visa waiver program. US Programs’ Reserve Fund request, already in pipeline since the Syrian refugee crisis erupted last summer, received tentative approval. This request, which includes both c3 and c4 components, will provide communications capacity and advocacy support to refugee groups. It will also bolster immigrant rights groups’ ability to respond to anti-Muslim and anti-refugee rhetoric, which has been prominent in the race for the Republican 2016 presidential nomination.

As many governors and state legislatures took up restrictive measures meant to limit or bar the flow of Syrian refugees, USP grantee Faith in Public Life mobilized its faith leaders to take a strong stand, using moral framing and religious references. A faith-based communications and strategy organization, the group is a core grantee for USP and has built an impressive coalition of 30,000 progressive Christian (Protestant, Catholic) and Jewish clergy that it engages and mobilizes on tax and budget priorities, combatting Islamophobia, advancing LGBTQ equality, and achieving immigrant justice, among others. It delivered thousands of petition signatures – from clergy – to seven conservative governors who had said “no” to resettlement. In the very religious state of Georgia alone, 1,200 clergy members are part of FPL’s network and over 100 priests, rabbis, and pastors were part of sustained and strategic advocacy and media efforts to call out Governor Nathan Deal for his un-Christian-like response to the refugee crisis, among the most aggressively anti-refugee in the nation. In early January, following a legal ruling, the governor rescinded his order to bar refugees from coming to Georgia or receiving public benefits.

Additionally, during the last quarter of 2015, there was an uptick in migrants fleeing violence from Central America’s Northern Triangle. The Obama administration had established family detention facilities for the Central American mothers and children after the 2014 surge, but, in a case led by grantees, a federal judge chided the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for detaining children in violation of a 1997 settlement agreement and ordered that it provide alternatives to detention. Subsequently, the administration announced it was opening new shelters and campsites to house the children, including the new surge of unaccompanied minors crossing the southwest border. Around
the holidays, DHS also started conducting raids to target Central American families who have not been granted asylum. Citing due process violations, grantees American Immigration Council and Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC) were able to successfully obtain stays of removal for 12 families – 33 mothers and children – who were among the 121 families rounded up in a three-state raid.

Moreover, in contrast to last summer, grantees are increasingly referring to these mothers and children as asylum-seekers and refugees, analogizing this migration to that of Syrian refugees.

Meanwhile, the effects of the San Francisco shooting of a woman by an undocumented immigrant in July continue to reverberate, threatening hard-won gains by immigration advocates in creating “sanctuary cities”— the more than 300 communities around the country that have limited cooperation between local law enforcement and the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Notably, North Carolina’s recently passed HB 318, an “anti-sanctuary city” law that also prevents police and government agencies from accepting identification from foreign governments, is likely to lead to additional copycat laws in other states. A number of grantees have also been working to defend their successes in maintaining community trust policies across the country. In mid-December, grantees from all over the country convened in New York for the National Immigrant Integration Conference to discuss rights and freedoms for immigrants, naturalization, economic justice, education, and administrative relief. Influencers, such as Democratic presidential primary candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez of Illinois, spoke to thousands of advocates on the urgency of immigration reform and the need to stop using harsh immigration policies to break up families.”

See: feb 2016 usp board book.pdf