Read more about InAlienable.
Support Quixote Center's InAlienable program!
InAlienable
Daily Dispatch
March 4, 2019
“Big Labor” Endorses Protections for Dreamers and TPS Holders
30 labor unions sent a letter to Congress today, asking for a permanent legislative solution that includes a path to citizenship for holders of Temporary Protected Status, Deferred Enforced Departure, and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (“Dreamers”).
“As labor organizations representing millions of workers in the U.S., we urge you to renew Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designations and pass legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives as soon as possible, but no later than the first 100 days of the 116th Congress, to provide permanent protection and a path to citizenship for Dreamers and individuals with TPS or Deferred Enforced Departure (DED)….
…When TPS holders and Dreamers are at risk, all workers are more vulnerable to employer abuses. However, when workers, including TPS holders and Dreamers, have legal status and rights, all workplaces benefit from higher wages, safer workplaces, and the right and ability to form and join a union.”
Immigrant activist detained after helping with film that debuts in Miami this week
ICE has detained an immigration activist, who is now slated to be deported, after he assisted with the making of a film exposing conditions at a for-profit detention facility in Broward County, Florida. From the Miami Herald:
Weeks after a documentary exposing injustices at a South Florida for-profit immigration detention center debuted at a national film festival, Claudio Rojas— the film’s inside source— was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Miramar during his annual visa check-in, records show.
The film, “The Infiltrators,” also will premiere at the Miami Film Festival on#elevent"> Tuesday and Wednesday at the Silverspot Cinema. Rojas was planning to attend.
Records show Rojas remained detained at Krome detention center in South Miami-Dade as of Sunday. His attorneys say he was apprehended Wednesday without cause and is now facing immediate deportation.
“They called Claudio’s name and then three agents just grabbed him,” one of his lawyers, Sandy Pineda, told the Miami Herald over the weekend. “He has no criminal record. They did not allow us any due process, did not allow his attorneys to talk to him and took away his passport. They told us we had nothing to say to him and that his order for arrest came from the higher-ups. It’s grotesque.”
The film was based on an investigation conducted by undocumented youth, who intentionally got themselves detained in order to record conditions inside the facility. Their detentions and the original investigation took place in 2012, while Obama was still president, a reminder that conditions in these facilities have been horrendous for a long time. Trump’s contribution to the horror has been to expand the scale of detentions, and justify them with nationalistic jargon that has contributed to a deeper polarization in society. However, his “success” in doing is based on the precedents set during previous administrations - a fact we mustn’t ever forget because the problems here run deeper than Trump.