Read full newsletter here: https://mailchi.mp/bfaaa0002b5b/dreamers-ready-for-scotus-decision-on-daca-and-wage-the-fight-for-civil-rights?e=3637121f83
Supreme Court could force Congress into battle over Dreamers
By: Marianne Levine and Sarah Ferris ~ Politico ~ June 14, 2020
Yet lawmakers, facing a growing list of crises, may not have the bandwidth to help DACA recipients — especially in an election year.
In what is already one of the most turbulent years in Washington, Congress could soon be staring down another crisis — the possible deportation of 700,000 Dreamers.
The Supreme Court is expected to rule in the coming weeks on the fate of an Obama-era program to shield undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children, delivering a jolt to Washington amid a global pandemic and historic unrest over the killing of African Americans at the hands of police.
A Supreme Court decision necessitating Congress to act would add another monstrous task to its to-do list this year, while also thrusting lawmakers into one of the thorniest political debates just months before they, and President Donald Trump, are on the ballot. Read full article here
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UC Regents unanimously endorse restoring Affirmative Action
By: Teresa Watanabe ~ Los Angeles Times ~ June 15, 2020
More than two decades after affirmative action was outlawed at public campuses, University of California regents on Monday unanimously supported the repeal of Proposition 209, the 1996 state initiative that banned preferential treatment by government bodies based on race, ethnicity or sex — and has been blamed for a decline in diversity at UC’s most selective campuses.
With passionate remarks about the pernicious effects of racism, the regents endorsed Assembly Constitutional Amendment 5, which would repeal Proposition 209, clearing the way for affirmative action to once more be used in UC admissions and hiring.
Board Chairman John A. Pérez declared that a “colorblind” model for society denies the reality of racism and quoted South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s admonition that to remain neutral amid injustice is to choose the side of the oppressor. Read full article here
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DeVos Issues Rules that deny Dreamers COVID-19 Relief Funds
By: Anita Kumar ~ Politico ~ June 7, 2020
The Supreme Court is expected to allow Trump to end a program protecting Dreamers, but no one expects he will do so right away.
The fate of Dreamers is about to be dropped into a combustible election year — again.
Activists, lawmakers and White House officials are bracing for the Supreme Court in the coming weeks to allow the Trump administration to end the program that protects immigrants who came to the country illegally as children, known as Dreamers.
But no side expects President Donald Trump will immediately end the program if the ruling goes in his favor. Instead, Trump is expected to slowly wind down the program and use that as leverage to try and strike a broader immigration deal with Democrats this summer, according to six people familiar with the situation. But Democrats, already suspicious of any deals with Trump, want to wait to see if their party wins back the White House and Senate in November. Read full article here
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APPLY BY FRIDAY JUNE 19, 2020
CMSC-CHRCL to file class-action lawsuit against US Dept. of Education & Secretary Betsy DeVos
The California-Mexico Studies Center (CMSC) is working with the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law (CHRCL) to file a potential class-action lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education and Secretary Betsy DeVos’ discriminatory exclusion of DACA, TPS, and other immigrant students from the CARES Act benefits for colleges and universities. While the bill does not reflect the exclusion of undocumented students currently enrolled in a higher education institution, the department determined that this population would not be eligible.
Thus, we are calling upon DACA / TPS recipients and Asylum seekers that were denied this benefit to become plaintiffs to file the lawsuit along with the CMSC and CHRCL. We are also calling upon organizations that want to get involved as plaintiffs.
To sign up as an individual, fill out this form: https://forms.gle/PTbfxriL82rVHafv9
To sign up as an organization, fill out this form: https://forms.gle/ZT5d5c2eZvQvhDEHA
Please share these forms and invite others to apply!
Feel free to contact me and/or Prof. Armando Vazquez-Ramos if you have any questions armando.vazquez-ramos@csulb.edu (562) 430-5541
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As millions protest systemic racism, Californians could have a chance to restore Affirmative Action
By: George Skelton ~ Los Angeles Times ~ June 11, 2020
The Black Lives Matter movement, galvanized by the police killing of George Floyd, is propelling the once volatile issue of affirmative action onto the November ballot.
California voters will likely again be asked, as they were a generation ago, to answer this question: Is affirmative action necessary to attack racial and gender discrimination — or is it itself discriminatory?
The Legislature may have placed the proposed state constitutional amendment on the ballot anyway. But when a white Minneapolis cop crushed the life out of a handcuffed Black man by kneeling on his neck, the measure became practically unstoppable in the state Capitol.
The legislation, ACA 5, would repeal Proposition 209, a citizens’ initiative that was approved by a comfortable 9-percentage-point margin after a bitterly fought campaign in 1996. Read full article here
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Apoyara Muñoz Ledo a paisanos contra Morena para defender diputación chilanga
By: Abel Domoínguez ~ Conexion Migrante ~ 9 Junio, 2020
Muñoz Ledo calificó como decepcionante la decisión de Morena, sin embargo, apoyará a los migrantes en la batalla para reestablecer al diputado migrante
Tras la impugnación de Morena contra la figura del Diputado Migrante en la Ciudad de México; el diputado Porfirio MuñozLedo se comprometió a hablar con los legisladores capitalinos para que los derechos de los migrantes no vayan hacia atrás y revertir el atropello contra los mexicanos en el exterior.
En una conferencia de casi tres horas, Muñoz Ledo escuchó los argumentos de los migrantes sobre lo que ellos definieron como “una traición de Morena”.
Los paisanos recordaron que durante años tuvieron que luchar para ganar el derecho de votar y de obtener una representación en los congresos.
Leer el articulo completo aqui
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SAUSD Creates Ethnic Studies requirements in wake of George Floyd Protests
By: Hosam Elattar ~ Voice of OC ~ June 10, 2020
Come the 2022-23 academic school year, incoming high school students in Santa Ana will have to complete an ethnic studies course before they become eligible to graduate.
The Santa Ana Unified School District Board of Education voted unanimously Tuesday night to adopt a resolution creating a new graduation requirement that will mandate students to finish a one-year course of ethnic studies before receiving their diploma. The requirement is something for which members of the community have voiced support.
About 19 educators, parents and school district alumni called into the meeting urging board members to adopt the graduation requirement arguing that such a condition will improve attendance, graduation rates, develop critical thinking skills and teach students about racial inequalities that exist in Orange County today and its history.
“The racism and systemic oppression that permeates all of our institutions are what have brought us to today’s reality,” an educator and parent in the school district said at Tuesday’s meeting. Read full article here
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Why the United States Needs to Plan for the Coronavirus in the Americas
By Trevor Sutton, Dan Restrepo, and Joel Martinez Center for American Progress – May 5, 2020
The coronavirus pandemic is challenging the capabilities and resources of governments around the world, and the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean are no exception. The region’s widespread poverty, weak health infrastructure, and fragile economies mean its residents could suffer greatly if political leaders do not act swiftly to mitigate the crisis. To date, countries’ responses have varied from strict lockdown measures to relaxed approaches lacking urgency to outright denial. Of particular concern, the two most populous Latin American countries—Brazil and Mexico—have been the slowest to mobilize to contain the spread of the virus. In Venezuela, meanwhile, the pandemic has begun magnifying an already horrific humanitarian situation.
Although the United States faces an escalating health crisis at home, it cannot afford to ignore the progressing spread of COVID-19 among its neighbors in the Americas. Many countries in the region are closely linked to the United States economically, politically, and with regard to movement of peoples. The uncontrolled spread of the novel coronavirus in the region is likely to hamper the United States’ efforts to contain the pathogen, impede domestic economic recovery, and intensify the political instability and human suffering that have contributed to high levels of forced migration in recent years. To avoid these outcomes, the United States will need to work with its regional partners to forge a coordinated approach to the pandemic... Read full article here
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Urgent call upon Governor Newsom to help Mexico respond to COVID-19
By Prof. Armando Vazquez-Ramos, President and CEO
The California-Mexico Studies Center, Inc. ~ April 14, 2020
Given Governor Gavin Newsom’s commendable "Nation State" response to President Trump’s intransigence and failure to provide California with critical federal government assistance, the governor emerges as a novel international moral leader to abate the COVID-19 pandemic crisis.
Last week, during an interview on MSNBC, the Governor stated that he would use California’s massive purchasing power “as a nation-state” to secure the medical supplies that Trump’s government has failed to provide. In fact, the governor expressed that “California might even export some of those supplies to other states in need”.
This is the fundamental reason why the California-Mexico Studies Center is calling upon Governor Newsom and California’s legislative leaders to immediately respond to Mexico’s emerging COVID-19 crisis, at our neighboring state of Baja California... Read Full Article Here
Read and download the letter here or click on the image below.
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If you are interested in joining the support circle please scan the QR code or click here.
SAVE THE NEW DATE!
The "International Seminar on Chicano Studies: Politics and Collaboration between California-Mexico and Los Angeles-Mexico City" has been postponed to January 11-12, 2021. The seminar will take place in Mexico City's Congress. The CMSC will provide more information and any updates as we confirm them.
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Casting out DACA amid pandemic and police violence will be utterly inhumane
By: Zuleima Dominguez ~ Newsweek ~ June 15, 2020
As one of the 700,000 immigrant youth with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), I've felt anxious for much of the past six months, wondering how the Supreme Court will rule on the program's fate. Now, as COVID-19 has unleashed a plague on my community and Black and Brown communities face the additional plague of police violence, more than ever I cannot imagine losing DACA and my work permit. In addition to being focused on making sure my family is healthy and safe, I have the responsibility to keep paying not only my rent and expenses, but also to support my family—almost half of my salary goes to helping my family now.
With the spread of the coronavirus across the country and the crisis of police brutality, the lives of eleven million of undocumented immigrants like me are even more uncertain than ever. Read full article here
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Of course race matters. Put affirmative action back on the California's ballot
By: The Times Editorial Board ~ Los Angeles Times ~ June 12, 2020
Twenty-four years ago California voters made a mistake whose consequences continue to ripple through the state. They passed Proposition 209, a citizen initiative that barred state and local agencies from considering race, ethnicity or gender in hiring and public university admission. In so doing, voters bought into a false premise sold by misguided proponents: that giving women and people of color a small boost in a wildly unfair system was a worse kind of discrimination.
Nearly a quarter of century later, women and people of color are still at a sharp disadvantage by almost every measure. Women still make less than men for the same work, and women of color less than white women. Women and nonwhite people are still woefully underrepresented in the board rooms and in the halls of power. The economic picture for Black Californians is still exceptionally bleak; they are underrepresented in the University of California but overrepresented in the state’s prisons and among the homeless. Pretending we lived in a colorblind meritocracy for the past 24 years clearly didn’t make it so. Read full article here
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The CMSC is in dire need of funding support !!!
Please support the CMSC's 2020 projects, initiatives, and campaigns, including our advocacy to provide and facilitate immigrants' mental health services, our National Campaign to Restore DACA's Advance Parole the Help Mexico Abate COVID-19, the Ethnic Studies for All and the Chicano Studies in Mexico initiatives.
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