CMSC Letter to the Trump administration & Congress re: Advance Parole for DACA recipients - Newsletter June 7, 2018

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The CMSC has launched a campaign to restore Dreamers' travel abroad authorization through DACA's Advance Parole provision, unjustly denied since Sept. 5, 2017 by the Trump administration, with the following letter and the documentary "Advance Parole."

CMSC letter to Trump administration & Congress

President Donald Trump

DHS Secretary Jeff Sessions

House Speaker Paul Ryan

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell

June 7, 2018

President Trump, DHS Secretary Sessions, Speaker Ryan and Senate Majority Leader McConnell:

We write to urge you to reinstate the Advance Parole provision for DACA recipients, to continue to operate on the same terms in place as before it was suspended on Sept. 5, 2017, and to resume granting requests for the I-131 Advance Parole travel permits for DACA recipients.

Since Sept. 5, 2017, when the administration rescinded the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, simultaneously, DHS also suspended the Advance Parole provision for DACA recipients. Advance Parole is an immigration travel document (Form I-131) issued by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which enables DACA recipients to be paroled into the United States, after short trips abroad for humanitarian, educational and/or employment purposes.

This is no longer the case and the consequences have been devastating.

In particular, the suspension of Advance Parole has caused an unacknowledged humanitarian crisis for countless of Dreamers and their families, especially when severe illness and/or sudden death of immediate relatives has occurred, and humanitarian Advance Parole has been denied.

For instance, Mayra Yazmin Garibo, a Cal State Dominguez Hills senior and DACA recipient, went through an emotional and humanitarian crisis when her father passed away in an accident in Mexico on January 11, 2018. As a participant of the CMSC's California-Mexico Dreamers Study Abroad Program, we helped Ms. Garibo immediately to gather all the necessary documentation and to apply for an emergency humanitarian Advance Parole permit to attend her father's funeral, and to join her grandparents and family in those times of emotional hardship.

However, her Advance Parole request was denied twice based on the premise that USCIS was no longer accepting or approving any Advance Parole applications after September 5th, 2017, despite the January 9, 2018 federal court order that forced the government to re-open the DACA program.

Thus, Mayra was unable to pay the last respects to her beloved father whom she had not seen in 17 years. Moreover, her 87-year old paternal grandfather has cancer and Mayra is still waiting approval of a humanitarian parole, to be able to care for him and ensure that he is being properly taken care of in place of her father, who used to take care of him.

Like Mayra, there are stories of DACA recipients who are suffering similar trauma, directly related to the punitive, arbitrary, and capricious suspension of Advance Parole, and causing irreparable emotional, psychological and physical harm to Dreamers, as depicted by the CMSC's documentary "Advance Parole" released on June 4, 2018.

Thus, we urge you to promote and support the Advance Parole Campaign that has been launched by the California-Mexico Studies Center and many other concerned organizations, to advocate for DACA recipients' need to receive Advance Parole authorization to travel abroad for humanitarian, educational, and employment purposes, as it was prior to September 5, 2017.

Denial of Advance Parole for DACA recipients, as provided prior to the cancelation of DACA is causing severe irreparable harm to Dreamers who are facing a humanitarian crisis, such as the loss of an immediate family member at their place of origin, or for justified educational and employment purposes.

Please terminate this inhumane and discriminatory application of the law and reinstate the Advance Parole provision of DACA for Dreamers.

Respectfully yours,

Prof. Armando Vazquez-Ramos, President/CEO  &  Lidieth Arevalo, Media Director

                California-Mexico Studies Center, Inc.

To view original letter, click here.

To continue reading click here.

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WORLD PREMIERE:

Documentary Film Premiere: 'Advance Parole'

A DACA-mented immigrant's plight to re-establish Advance Parole to be able to reunite with her family in times of hardship.

Watch the full feature in English with Spanish subtitles:

Watch the full feature in English-only with no subtitles:https://vimeo.com/273236805 

For more information on Advance Parole, visit: www.advanceparole.org

Follow the cause on social media: Facebook | Instagram

In the midst of the chaotic political debate regarding the termination of DACA and the uncertain legal state of Dreamers, lies the suspension of a little-known immigration provision called Advance Parole, which has caused an unacknowledged humanitarian crisis for many Dreamers and their families ever since. In the past, DACA recipients were allowed to take short trips for humanitarian, educational or employment purposes. This is how the CMSC took 160 Dreamers to Mexico since 2014, but this is no longer the case and the consequences have been devastating.

Mayra Garibo, a Senior at CSU Dominguez Hills and a DACA recipient, could not attend her dad's funeral when he passed away in Mexico early this year. She applied for humanitarian Advance Parole and was denied twice. Mayra was unable to pay the last respects to her beloved father whom she had not seen in 17 years. Now one of her grandparents has cancer and she wants to see him and take care of him before it is too late. But given the administration's heartless decision to suspend Advance Parole for Dreamers, Mayra has to choose between her family in Mexico and her life in the United States.

The film Advance Parole follows Mayra Garibo's efforts and leadership to challenge the system and pave the way not only for her to reunite with her family in Mexico, but also to prevent Dreamers from suffering a humanitarian and emotional crisis as she endured when her father passed away early this year.

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Estreno Premier de Documental: 

'Advance Parole'

Sueños Quebrantados de Dreamers

Mayra Garibo, una Dreamer beneficiaria de DACA solicita el re-establecimiento de Advance Parole por razones humanitarias para poder reunirse con su familia en momentos difíciles por la muerte de su padre y la condición de salud precaria de sus abuelos.

Entre el caos del debate político sobre la eliminación de DACA y el precario estado legal de los Dreamers, se encuentra la suspensión de una provisión de DACA poco conocida y llamada Advance Parole (Permiso de Viajero), la cual ha causado una crisis humanitaria para los beneficiaros de DACA y sus familias en el exterior del país. En el pasado, a los beneficiarios de DACA se les permitía realizar viajes cortos con fines humanitarios, educativos o de empleo. Este fue el permiso que el CMSC uso para llevar 160 Dreamers a México, pero ya no es posible y las consecuencias han sido devastadoras.

Mayra Garibo, en cuarto año de su licenciatura en CSU Dominguez Hills y una beneficiaria de DACA, no pudo asistir al funeral de su padre cuando falleció súbitamente por un accidente en México a principios de este año. Ella solicitó un permiso de Advance Parole humanitario y fue rechazada dos veces. Mayra no pudo darle el último adiós a su amado padre, a quien no había visto en 17 años y solo pudo ver por teléfono su misa fúnebre. Ahora su abuelo tiene cáncer y su abuela esta delicada por una grave operación y Mayra quiere ver a sus abuelos y cuidarlos antes de que sea demasiado tarde. Pero dada la despiadada decisión de la administración de Trump al suspender la provisión de Advance Parole para los soñadores DACA-mentados, Mayra se ve forzada a elegir entre su familia en México y su vida en los Estados Unidos.

El documental Advance Parole sigue la trayectoria y liderazgo de Mayra Garibo para desafiar el sistema y allanar el camino no solo para reunirse con su familia en México, sino también para evitar que otros Dreamers sufran una crisis humanitaria y emocional como la que ella tuvo que aguantar cuando su padre falleció a principios de este año.

Para más información sobre Advance Parole, visita: www.advanceparole.org

➡➡ Read the full newsletter here: https://conta.cc/2Jnampe