Read full newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/affa85e3146c/red-alert-uscis-under-bidenharris-is-derelict-and-unresponsive-to-dreamers
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
USCIS under Biden/Harris is derelict and unresponsive, failing to approve 84 Dreamers’ Advance Parole applications for CMSC’s Summer Study Abroad Program after 8 months delay
A month after the CMSC requested the Biden/Harris administration’s new Secretary of Homeland Security and USCIS Director for expedited approval of 84 Dreamers’ Advance Parole applications pending since last summer, they remain unresponsive and behaving no different than under the Trump administration.
The following letter was sent a week ago on Thursday April 8, 2021 and CMSC President Armando Vazquez-Ramos asked again today for a response and a meeting with Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and USCIS Director Tracy Renaud:
If you haven't read the letters yet, you can read the first letter (March 18, 2021) and the follow-up letter (April 8, 2021).
But since the CMSC’s Summer 2021 California-Mexico Dreamers Study Abroad Program begins in a month on May 15, a Dreamers-led “Good trouble” mobilization was launched today by all 84 Dreamers emailing directly the USCIS Director, to appeal for their own applications’ expedited approval.
While the CMSC will continue to press for a meeting and expedited approval of all pending Advance Parole applications, we are considering any legal recourse due to arbitrary administrative changes and delays, which have caused upon Dreamers severe hardships and suffering, in violation of USCIS’ due process for review and determination of Advance Parole applications within 5.5 months.
Collectively, this represents a total of $48,300 in I-131 application fees paid to USCIS at $575 each. This amount does not include additional costs such as an initial program acceptance fee of $500, mailing and shipping fees, passport renewal and photos fees, etc.
After next week, participating Dreamers will seek additional public pressure support and conceive other “good trouble” actions, as well as continue the political pressure being provided by Reps. Alan Lowenthal and Lou Correa, Senator Alex Padilla and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. Unfortunately, USCIS has been unresponsive to them as well but we’ll keep trying !!!
The gravest concern we all share is the potential ruling by a Texas court that could again suspend DACA entirely, and thus aborting our summer plans !!! (Read article below)
No ruling in case deciding fate of DACA immigration program
By: Associated Press – March 30, 2021
HOUSTON (AP) — A federal judge did not immediately rule Tuesday on a closely watched case over the fate of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which confers limited protections on hundreds of thousands of immigrants brought into the U.S. as children.
U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen set an early April deadline for lawyers on both sides to provide more information. Texas heads a coalition of Republican-led states that want Hanen to invalidate the DACA program, instituted in 2012 by then-President Barack Obama. Defending the program is the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the state of New Jersey.... Read Full Article
A Milestone of Misery: More Than 100K US Latinos Have Died From COVID-19
By: Rogelio Sáenz, Latino Rebels – April 15, 2021
More than 100,000 U.S. Latinos have now lost their lives to COVID-19. This past week we went over this lamentable threshold. It took about ten months for 50,000 Latinos to die from the pandemic, but it only took four months to add another 50,000.
While Latinos have died from COVID-19 in every state except in Vermont (where very few Latinos live), a little more than half of the 100,000 Latino deaths have occurred in California and Texas. More than 29,000 Latinos have died in California and more than 23,000 in Texas. In fact, more Latinos than whites have died from the pandemic in these two states. The numbers are also quite large in five other states, including New York with nearly 11,000 deaths, Florida with nearly 7,900, Arizona with more than 4,700, New Jersey with a little more than 4,600, and Illinois with close to 3,400... Read Full Article
Why ‘vaccine passports’ are a good idea and good business
By: DOYLE MCMANUS, LOS ANGELES TIMES – APRIL 11, 2021
After a year of angry battles over lockdowns, mask mandates and vaccinations, a new front has opened in the coronavirus culture war: vaccine “passports.”
If you travel overseas this summer, European countries will demand a document proving you’ve been vaccinated or have tested negative. Closer to home, Hawaii is moving toward a similar requirement for travelers from the mainland who want to avoid quarantine. At least one big cruise line, Norwegian, has announced that it will require vaccinations of all passengers and crew... Read Full Article
Half of California bachelor’s degrees are awarded by Cal State, report says
By NINA AGRAWAL, Los Angeles Times – April 1, 2021
The California State University, the largest four-year university system in the nation, is showing off the scale of its impact: More than 100,000 job-ready graduates every year, $27 billion of economic activity stimulated annually and a sevenfold return on every dollar that the state invests.
That’s the message the university hopes to get out with a report released Thursday. “The Impact of the California State University,” an analysis commissioned by the university and conducted by an outside consulting firm, quantifies the university’s economic contributions to the state, helping the university make its case to government and private funders for continued support amid uncertain budgets and persistent high demand... Read Full Article
SPECIAL SECTION ON DR. JORGE BUSTAMANTE'S PASSING
Jorge A. Bustamante, PRESENTE
On March 25, 2021 our binational community lost a great friend, advocate and researcher in the areas of International Migration, Mexican Immigration to the United States, US-Mexico Border Region phenomena, US.-Mexico Relations.
Dr. Jorge A. Bustamante was a Mexican sociologist with a Ph. D. from the University of Notre Dame, where he also holds an endowed chair (Eugene Conley Professor of Sociology) since 1986. He was promoted to National Researcher by the Mexican National Council for Science and Technology (CONACYT), and Professor Emeritus by El Colegio de la Frontera Norte (COLEF), a research and degree granting institute located in Tijuana, Mexico. He was COLEF's founder and became its first President in 1982 until January, 1998.... Read Full Article
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Conmemoración del Dr. Jorge A. Bustamante
Comunicado por: El Colegio de la Frontera Norte
El Dr. Jorge A. Bustamante falleció el día jueves 25 de marzo. Originario de Chihuahua, a lo largo de su vida contribuyó a forjar un importante legado en la frontera entre México y Estados Unidos mediante el fortalecimiento del conocimiento social de esta región fronteriza desde una mirada no centralizada.
Ante la falta de datos producidos en México que reflejarán las particularidades del espacio geográfico de la frontera norte y sus dinámicas con Estados Unidos, el Dr. Jorge A. Bustamante fundó en 1982, en la ciudad de Tijuana el Centro de Estudios Fronterizos del Norte de México (CEFNOMEX), que cambiaría su nombre a El Colegio de la Frontera Norte (El Colef), y que con los años, tendría sedes en los estados fronterizos del norte de México... Leer Más
Video conmemorativo para Homenaje al Dr. Jorge A. Bustamante, fundador de El Colef
En Paz Descanses Jorge, by Jose Angel Gutierrez
By José Angel Gutiérrez, Latinopia.com – April 3, 2021
He introduced himself to me in most modest terms. He walked into the huge cafeteria at John Kennedy High School in San Antonio’s southwest side off General McMullen Drive looking for the “Lideres de MAYO” he said. Someone brought him to me as I was one of the 5 “lideres” of the Mexican American Youth Organization (MAYO). He introduced himself to me in most modest terms, “Soy Jorge Bustamante. Vengo de Notre Dame. Quiero saber del Movimiento Chicano”... Read Full Article
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Read full newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/affa85e3146c/red-alert-uscis-under-bidenharris-is-derelict-and-unresponsive-to-dreamers