Immigrant advocates getting cities to back them
Immigrant-rights advocates are turning to elected leaders across the nation to drive home their message to President Obama – stop deportations.
They are following the lead of the Los Angeles City Council, which in December adopted a resolution urging the president to cease them. Advocates are working with elected officials in Anaheim, Carson, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago and other cities to introduce similar resolutions.
“It’s a movement that is taking hold across the nation as the next step in the immigrant-rights front,” said Guillermo Gómez, spokesman for an alliance in Chicago that is working with elected leaders to introduce a resolution in his city on Tuesday.
In Orange County, the Anaheim City Council is scheduled to vote Tuesday on a resolution that urges the president to “protect our families from destructive and needless immigration deportations.” It asks Obama to suspend deportations and expand a program, now available to young people, to all unauthorized immigrants with no serious criminal history.
The resolution is similar to L.A.’s declaration, urging Obama to use his executive powers to expand the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program to all unauthorized residents until Congress decides what to do about reforming the country’s immigration system. Obama has said that he does not have that authority.
There have been about 2 million deportations since Obama became president – a record for any administration.
“Now, instead of calling for mobilization and fasting and vigils and prayers, we’re saying: ‘Go to your elected officials and have your representatives’ voices, through these resolutions, go to the White House,’ ” said Armando Vazquez-Ramos, a Cal State Long Beach professor and an organizer with the Protect Our Families Campaign.
On Friday, a group of religious leaders from different denominations joined Vazquez-Ramos, L.A. Councilman Gil Cedillo, who wrote the resolution in his city, along with other elected officials at a press conference as part of a “National Day of Action” on deportations. California Sen. Ronald Calderon, D-Montebello, presented a resolution he introduced on Thursday that echoes LA.’s declaration.
With phone calls and emails, advocates also are increasing pressure in hopes that the president will announce a moratorium on the forced removals during his State of the Union address on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Republican leaders are expected to announce in the coming week their proposal for immigration reform. And many Americans are asking their representatives to not give in to the pressure from immigrant supporters, saying that making citizens of the estimated 11 million unauthorized residents will hurt the nation and its citizens.
Opponents of illegal immigration plan to meet Monday with staff members of several California Republicans, including Congressmen John Campbell, R-Irvine; Dana Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach; Ed Royce, R-Fullerton; and Ken Calvert, R-Corona.
"We stand with the 16 Republican Congress members who recently submitted a letter to President Obama demanding that American workers – more than 22 million looking for a job – be the focus of legislation, not illegal aliens," said Robin Hvidston, executive director of We The People Rising in Claremont.
Supporters often cite the plight of children impacted by the deportations. On the Anaheim City School District, Jose Moreno, president of the Anaheim City School District Board of Education, said he plans to ask his colleagues to consider a resolution that would address the impact of deportations on children.
“In our schools, we have many students who are in mixed-status families – families where one adult/parent or a sibling is undocumented while other siblings are U.S.-born citizens,” Moreno said. “As educators, it is extremely difficult and morally unsustainable to engage children, build up their hopes for their futures, and push them to achieve to the best of their abilities when they are at daily risk of their families being torn apart.”
Carson Councilman Mike Gipson plans to ask his colleagues for their support in early February on a resolution that would be shared with South Bay cities.
“We have to speak with one voice, so that our president understands this affects all of us,” Gipson said.
Meanwhile, in Kern County, immigrant-rights advocates are working to produce similar resolutions, said Gonzalo Santos, a spokesman for the Kern Coalition for Citizenship. Last week, immigrant-rights supporters won “a big victory” in Kern County with the help of the American Civil Rights Union, Santos said. The Department of Homeland Security agreed to halt its practice of arresting people who went to Kern County courthouses to get married, pay fines or seek domestic-violence restraining orders.
Contact the writer: 714-796-7829 or rkopetman@ocregister.com
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Instan a parar deportaciones y protección a indocumentados
El senador estatal, Ron Calderón (sentado) y el Concejal Gil Cedillo, hablan sobre sendas mociones para instar al presidente Obama a detener deportaciones, en evento el 24 de enero de 2014 en el Instituto Cultural Mexicano de Los Ángeles. (Foto: Jorge Morales).
¿Qué pasaría si las deportaciones masivas que realiza Estados Unidos, las estuviera haciendo otro país?
Ese cuestionamiento fue planteado por Rosa María Carmolinga, de Los Ángeles, que tiene a su hijo Israel, de 38 años y padre de cuatro niños, detenido por la Oficina de Inmigración y Aduanas (ICE) en una cárcel de Adelanto.
"Yo creo que si las deportaciones fueran en otro país, Obama ya hubiera mandado a su Ejército para detener esa injusticia", respondió ella misma.
La señora Carmolinga ofreció ayer su testimonio en la presentación que hizo el senador estatal, Ron Calderón, de la resolución SCR 25 que busca exhortar al presidente Obama para que ordene detener las deportaciones de inmigrantes que son elegibles para la legalización basado en el proyecto de reforma migratoria.
El senador Calderón enfatizó que en California radican 2.6 millones de los 11.1 millones de indocumentados que se estima hay en el país.
"Bajo la Administración del presidente Obama las deportaciones han alcanzado niveles récord, incrementando a un promedio de 400 mil por año desde 2009", señaló el legislador durante el acto llevado a cabo en el Instituto Cultural Mexicano, ubicado en La Placita Olvera.
Calderón, quien está en la mira del FBI acusado de sobornos, presentó la resolución ante el Senado el jueves y aunque su medida no ha sido secundada por ningún otro legislador, en LA, recibió el espaldarazo de su ex colega, el ahora concejal Gil Cedillo.Ángela Sanbrano, directora de la Red Mexicana de Líderes y Organizaciones Migrantes, destacó que la resolución es parte de la Campaña de Protección a Nuestras Famialias, la cual respaldan más de 30 congresistas que están pidiendo al presidente Obama que durante su informe de gobierno, el próximo martes, suspenda las deportaciones mediante una orden ejecutiva.
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Senator urges Obama to halt deportations
Legislator intends to introduce resolution calling on president to include message in State of the Union.
State Sen. Ron Calderon, D-Montebello, plans to introduce a resolution calling on President Obama to suspend deportations of unauthorized immigrants with no serious criminal history.
The California resolution will be “very similar, almost identical” to one approved by the Los Angeles City Council last December, said Mario Beltran, a spokesman for Calderon, who represents a large Hispanic community in southeast Los Angeles.
Calderon's resolution will be announced Friday during a news conference in downtown Los Angeles, where a coalition of organizations will discuss the “Protect Our Families Campaign,” which calls on the president to include in his State of the Union address a message that he will halt deportations and grant protected legal status to immigrants living illegally in the United States.
“He has the executive authority and the moral responsibility to change this,” said Armando Vazquez-Ramos, a Cal State Long Beach professor and one of the organizers.
Officials in other cities, including San Francisco, are working to pass similar resolutions, Vazquez-Ramos said. Critics of illegal immigration say that assistance to undocumented residents equates to amnesty and hurts American workers, particularly the unemployed.
Calderon's resolution is expected to urge Obama to expand the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program to include undocumented residents who meet certain criteria, Beltran said. DACA allows certain young people to stay and work in the country legally for two years.
A group of U.S. House Democrats last month also called on Obama to halt deportations, which have numbered nearly 2 million since he took office. Last year, however, as advocates began fighting against deportations, their number declined by approximately 10 percent.
Organizations in several cities across the country are expected to hold events on Friday, part of a “National Day of Action.”
Contact the writer: 714-796-7829 or rkopetman@ocregister.com
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Protect Our Families Campaign
January 16, 2014
Dear President Obama,
Our hearts are heavy with increased reports throughout our beloved country of the massive separation of our families due to the politics of deportation pursued aggressively by your administration. In addition, the prospect of “comprehensive immigration reform” in 2014 is less likely than it was in 2013 due to the mid-term elections, and the accusatory finger-pointing and blame game playing out between Democrats and Republicans.
We and our families find ourselves caught in the middle and we refuse to wait and be misled anymore that the legislative process will solve the problem in the near future.
Never before in the history of America have so many of our family relatives been removed from the country due to their lack of legal status. You are familiar with the figures – 1,200 removals daily, 2 million in the first five years of your administration, separation of families, forced deportation of U.S.-born children, and the projection that by the end of your second term, 3 million immigrants will have been deported under your administration.
This is immoral and despicable ! ! !
So, we ask you, do you want this to be your legacy ?
We think not, but as a protest sign expressed: ‘you can’t court us and then deport us’ !
The PROTECT OUR FAMILIES CAMPAIGN seeks to intervene in defense of family integrity and the values that we hold so dear. Nothing is more important to us as our families.
Who are we? -We are working fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, compadres and comadres, veteran immigrant advocates, young Dreamers, and elected officials sworn by oath of office to uphold the U.S. Constitution and state constitutions.
We assume the responsibility to protect our own. And, we call upon you to do the same. If not us, who? If not now, when?
We ask you to take stock of the Los Angeles City Council Resolution (see attached Cedillo Resolution), which calls upon you to stop the separation of families and deportations, and to grant protected legal status to all legalization-eligible undocumented persons currently in the U.S., as called for in the letter sent to you on December 5, 2013, by Reps. Raul Grijalva and Yvette Clarke.
Unfortunately, you have not replied or even acknowledged this important expression of concern from your own democratic constituency in the House of Representatives. How do you expect democrats to take-back Congress in November and to count on the Latino vote?
While the Los Angeles City Council, representing the second largest city in the U.S., was the first jurisdiction to take this initiative, President David Chiu and 4 other San Francisco Board of Supervisors submitted for adoption their own resolution this week and is scheduled to be adopted on January 28, 2014 (see attached Chiu Resolution).
In addition, you should know that the California Latino Legislative Caucus and many other political jurisdictions in California, Illinois, Washington, and Arizona are considering similar resolutions, as you receive this letter.
This is now a broad and growing national movement to ask you to exercise your legal executive power to protect our families now, while Congress, especially the House, considers - or fails to consider - immigration reform with an inclusive and fair pathway to citizenship for our 11 million undocumented immigrant brothers and sisters.
For you and us, time is of the essence. How many more families will be removed before you take action to definitively stop the bleeding, stop the suffering, stop the removals reminiscent of the nefarious Repatriation “decade of betrayal” of the 1930’s, and the cruel Operation Wetback of the 1950’s ?
Mr. President, even Nancy Pelosi has publicly advocated for you to stop the deportation regime.
Hundreds of thousands of U.S.-born children are being forcibly deported along with their undocumented mothers and fathers. Tens of thousands of other children have been taken into the custody of local departments of social services and placed in foster care at a tremendous fiscal expense to the state and all taxpayers.
Your administration’s massive deportation of over 2 million immigrants has already earned you the legacy of “Deporter-in-chief”. In our community, you are perceived to be implementing Mitt Romney’s ‘self-deportation’ campaign solution.
Is this the HOPE we voted for? Is this the CHANGE we expected? We don’t think so! If you don’t act now, Democrats will have no one else to blame but themselves.
Mr. President, as we approach the national Martin Luther King holiday, we believe that you have the opportunity to be the great emancipator for immigrants and ask you to please join hands with us and the progressive members of congress led by Reps. Grijalva and Clarke.
This “Lincolnian moment” is your opportunity to define your legacy !
Mr. President, we ask that in your January 28, 2014 State of the Union address, you grant protected legal status to all legalization-eligible immigrants, begin their legalization process as you have done for the ‘dreamers’ and thereby end the deplorable massive deportations !
Respectfully,
The Los Angeles Region Protect Our Families Coordinators,
/s/ Father Richard Estrada, Jovenes, Inc.
Angela Sanbrano, Mexican Network of Migrant Leaders and Organizations, Red MX*
Prof. Gonzalo Santos, Kern Coalition for Citizenship
Armando Rodriguez, East Los Angeles College President (Retired)
Bertha Rodríguez, Binational Front of Indigenous Organizations (FIOB)*
Nativo Lopez ©, Hermandad Mexicana Humanitarian Foundation
Carlos Arango, Casa Aztlán
Olga Miranda, SEIU 87 Justice for Janitors*
Jose Antonio Aguirre, Mexican Cultural Institute of L.A.
Frank Martin del Campo, San Francisco LCLAA
Ron Gochez, Southern California Immigration Coalition
Xel’ha Lopez and Sergio Trujillo, Hermandad Mexicana
Anabella Bastida, Consejo de Federaciones Mexicanas en Norteamérica (COFEM)*
Taina Reyes, Mexican American Political Association (MAPA)
Amin David and Jose Moreno, Los Amigos de Orange County*
Ana Barbara Roman, CSULB Dreamer
Baldomero Capiz, Binational Ex-Braceros Association
Antonio Gonzalez, Willie C. Velásquez Institute
Elda Martinez, CARECEN*
Rafael Vasquez, Federación Oaxaqueña de Comunidades Indígenas en California*
Sara Zapata Mijares, Mundo Maya Foundation
Primitivo Rodriguez, Coalition for the Political Rights of Immigrants Abroad
Alan Benjamin, OPEIU Local 3*
David Bacon, Dignity Campaign
Al Rojas, Sacramento Latin American Committee for Labor Advancement (LACLA)
Mario Beltran, Southeast Leadership Network
Thomas Gonzalez and Kathy Jurado, LULAC Long Beach Council*
Prof. Armando Vazquez-Ramos, California-Mexico Studies Center
(* Denotes affiliation for identification purposes only)
Honorary Co-Chairs:
Rep. Raul Grijalva and L.A. City Councilman Gil Cedillo
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Piden a Obama que en su mensaje a la nación, anuncie alto a las deportaciones y legalización para indocumentados
Para entrevistas:
Angela Sanbrano (323) 371 73 05- Red Mx
Armando Vázquez-Ramos (562) 430 55 41- Centro de Estudios California-México
**
En una carta abierta al presidente Barack Obama, integrantes de la campaña “Protección a Nuestras Familias”, exhortan al primer mandatario a que durante su mensaje a la nación del 28 de enero, anuncie un alto a las deportaciones y la extensión del Programa de Acción Diferida para las personas sin documentos en el país.
La carta firmada por individuos y organizaciones pro-inmigrantes, es parte de una serie de medidas como parte del Día Nacional de Acción programado para el día 24 de enero, cuatro días antes de que el presidente Obama de su mensaje a la nación.
Para ese día se tienen programadas conferencias de prensa y otras acciones en varias ciudades de California, Illinois, Washington y Arizona como parte de un esfuerzo de pedir que el presidente rinda cuentas sobre los compromisos hechos a la comunidad latina respecto a arreglar el sistema migratorio.
En la misiva se informa al presidente sobre la resolución aprobada por el concejo de Los Angeles el 18 de diciembre, en respaldo a la iniciativa de los congresistas Raúl Grijalva e Yvette Clarke, quienes a principios del mes pasado, mandaron la primera carta al presidente pidiéndole -que ante la falta de acuerdo para reformar las leyes migratorias por parte del congreso-, él ejerza su poder ejecutivo y pare las deportaciones.
También mencionan la iniciativa de cinco miembros de la Junta de Supervisores de San Francisco, quienes sometieron una resolución similar y que será sometida a votación el 28 de enero.
“Además, debe saber que el Caucus Legislativo Latino en California y muchas otras jurisdicciones políticas en California, Illinois, Washington y Arizona están considerando lo mismo, al momento de que usted recibe esta carta. Este es el despertar de un movimiento nacional para proteger a nuestras familias”, indica la carta.
Menciona que cientos de miles de niños nacidos en Estados Unidos han sido deportados junto con sus padres indocumentados y que decenas de miles de menores han quedado bajo custodia de los departamentos locales de servicios sociales y dejados en centros de adopción, a expensas de altos costos de los contribuyentes.
“Las deportaciones masivas de más de dos millones de inmigrantes, han ganado a su administración el legado de ‘Deportador-en-jefe’”, dice la carta.
Mientras nos acercamos al día nacional en que se honra la memoria de Martin Luther King, agrega la carta, “creemos que usted tiene la oportunidad de ser un gran emacipador de los inmigrantes y le pedimos que por favor se una a nosotros y a los miembros progresistas del congreso encabezados por los representantes Grijalva y Clarke”.
“ Señor presidente, el 28 de enero del 2014, otorgue estatus legal protegido a todos los inmigrantes elegibles para la legalización, comience con su proceso de legalización como lo ha hecho con los “dreamers” y con ello ponga fin a las deportaciones”, le piden los miembros de la campaña.
La conferencia de prensa del 24 de enero en Los Angeles, se llevará a cabo a las 10:00 de la mañana en la galería del Instituto Cultural Mexicano, localizado en la Placita Olvera (125 Paseo de la Plaza, Los Angeles, California 90013). En la conferencia estarán presentes funcionarios electos a nivel local y estatal que respaldan esta campaña.
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