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Greetings IMPACT Participants!
Welcome to the Spring 2011 edition of the refugee and immigrant issues listserv. We hope that you have made it back to your campuses safe, sound, and ENERGIZED to continue the movement for refugee and immigrant rights.
Again, thank you for being a part of the Refugee and Immigration Issues Track at IMPACT a few weeks ago. Whether you joined us for one session or the whole track, we are inspired by your activism and interest. We enjoyed working with you and learning from you — and we're excited for what's to come!
It is our hope to build on this momentum with this e-mail listserv featuring resources, events, and ideas to support your activism and service in this issue area. Ideally, we'd like to get a national group of students together to begin thinking about having a conference on this issue in particular. More details on that later, though.
This edition features:
1) Update on Florida Immigration Policy
2) IMPACT Track Follow Up
3) Program Models: Initiatives You Can Start on Campus, at Your Site, and in Your Community
4) Policy Points: Ideas for Advocacy
5) Organizing Survey Coming Soon!
1) Update on Florida Immigration Policy
Did you hear? The day we left IMPACT, local Floridian immigrant activists gathered to rally against Arizona-like policies that are being discussed in the Florida legislature. Here are the details:
Florida immigration reform: 67 mini-Arizonas?
by Dara Kam | April 4th, 2011
On the anniversary of Martin Luther King’s assassination 43 years ago, immigrants and advocates rallied in the Capitol to protest immigration reforms one said would turn Florida into “67 little Arizonas.”
The Senate Judiciary Committee is hearing a measure (SB 2040) this afternoon that would, among other things, authorize sheriffs to enter agreements with federal officials that would allow them to operate as immigration agents.That could be dangerous, immigrant advocates cautioned, because that component was the cornerstone of Arizona’s much-maligned immigration reforms, many of which state lawmakers there are now rethinking.
The bill would “county-by-county implement little Arizonas all over Florida,” said Subhash Kateel, an organizer with the Florida Immigrant Coalition. “We don’t need 67 Arizonas in our state.” Betzy Rega, an American citizen of Guatemalan descent, traveled from Jupiter to attend the hearing. She said she’s afraid the bill would give the green light to police officers and sheriffs’ deputies for racial profiling. Rega said her dark-skinned nephew was interrogated by Palm Beach County sheriffs two years ago and accused of kidnapping his own, lighter-skinned son. Laws like Arizona’s are “feeding into the frenzy of racism,” Rega said. “We’re on a very dangerous track and it’s a form of abuse of power.”
And here is a pdf of the bill :
http://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2011/2040/BillText/Filed/PDF
Updates on FL SB 2040
In 2009 Hispanics accounted for 21.5 percent of Florida’s population, and 15.8 percent of the U.S. total population. In Alachua County, the Hispanic population for 7.7 percent. Now, thanks to Arizona-style laws that rely on racial profiling, all this may change.
The Florida Immigration Coalition, or FLIC, are collaborating with the American Civil Liberties Union and the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center to defeat what they call “the approaching threat of a racist, anti-immigrant legislation.” Recently, on April 14, they gathered in Jacksonville to protest the law and try to influence the legislators there. More on that on upcoming posts.
FLIC also says they want to end partnerships between immigration enforcement officials and local police. There are several programs already in place as experiments of the Arizona-style laws in Duval, Bay and Collier counties.
Now, Senate Bill 2040 is moving forward. It passed the Judiciary committee, skipped the Criminal Justice committee, and was up for a vote in the Budget Committee on April 13.
2) IMPACT Track Follow-Up
There are a variety of resources that we mentioned at the IMPACT track, and we've included them here, organized by session. We hope these are helpful to you as you serve with and advocate for refugee and immigrant communities across the country. If you have any questions on these or other resources, contact Kelly Behrend at kelly@bonner.org.
IMPACT Track 2011: Refugee and Immigration Issues
Personal Experiences, Public Issues: Refugees, Immigrants, and You
Friday, April 1, 9:00am
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Uncovering [Im]migrant Voices: Exploring the Narratives of the Uprooted
Friday, April 1, 1:00pm
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"To Legalize or Not to Legalize?": Refugee and Immigrant Political Debates
Friday, April 1, 4:00pm
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Your Service Toolkit: A Roundtable Discussion on the Essential Skills for Working with Refugees and Immigrants
Saturday, April 2, 9:00am
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La Plaza Comunitaria: A Model for Empowering Migrant Workers
Saturday, April 2, 4:00pm
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- Contact Information for Stetson Bonners serving at Plaza Comunitaria:
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"What Now?" Panel: Making an IMPACT for Refugees and Immigrants
Sunday, April 3, 9:00am
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Soon, we'll post the Workshop Guidelines for each of these, so you can replicate the workshops for others on your campus. You could use these materials to raise awareness, train volunteers, or share with your service sites. Let us know how you use them!
3) Program Models: Initiatives You Can Start on Campus, at Your Site, and in Your Community
Throughout the track, we discussed a wide variety of initiatives and programs that are considered "best practices" in supporting refugees and immigrants. These models can be replicated on your campus or in your community. To learn more or get advice on how to implement these and other programs, contact Kelly Behrend at kelly@bonner.org. Ready to get started? Why not...
Run a Citizenship Drive
Model: Citizenship Now!
The goal of Citizenship Now! events is to help eligible individuals prepare their forms N-400, Application for Naturalization. Most events are held on Saturdays. During our Citizenship Now! events applicants receive the following services:
- Evaluation of eligibility for naturalization.
- Assistance in completing the N-400 Application for Naturalization form.
- Information on gathering the documents necessary to be included in the application packet.
- Free photographs required for the application.
- Review of complete application packet by an attorney or an immigration counselor.
To learn more about Citizenship Now, check out their website or contact Giuseppe Cespedes (gicesped@rci.rutgers.edu) to learn how they adapted the model at Rutgers University.
CUNY Citizenship Now! also sponsors free legal services over the phone through their "Call-Ins", for legal permanent residents across the country. Check out the "Policy Points" section to learn more!
"Our citizenship drive at Rutgers University was extremely successful; we assisted 91 legal permanent residents from more than 15 countries with their citizenship application! We plan on coordinating future drives at the Rutgers campuses of Newark and Camden for the Fall 2011 semester. Our pilot drive, with the complete support of the CUNY Citizenship Now! personal and staff, has given us a steady platform to stand on to continue working on this initiative. We are also looking into the possibility of providing Food Stamp Application Assistance to patrons who qualify at future drives.
Here's a link to the article that appeared on the front page of our university’s newspaper: http://www.dailytargum.com/news/attorneys-offer-help-to-citizenship-seekers-1.2537742
-Giuseppe Cespedes"
Develop a Refugee/Immigrant Youth Leadership Group
Model: Heartland Youth Leadership Network
The Youth Leadership Network is a program of Refugee & Immigrant Community Services, of Heartland Human Care Services in Chicago, IL. The youth-led program brings refugee youth and their American peers together for leadership training, community service projects, and peer-to-peer impactor workshops, in order to build friendships, cross-cultural understanding and respect. The mission of the Youth Leadership Network is to discuss issues in our community, be active and give back to our community, to form new friendships in our community, and to advocate within and beyond our community, while having fun. To learn more about the Heartland Youth Leadership Network, contact Andrea Devening, Youth Case Manager with the Heartland Alliance, 312- 660-1300. Here's an excerpt on the program:
Heartland’s Youth Leadership Network provides youth a space to develop leadership skills, discuss issues relevant to them, and plan and implement activities that benefit their peers and communities. The youth involved in the program come together on a weekly basis to develop skills, learn new techniques and explore opportunities for personal growth. The youth leaders then use these skills in the design and implementation of community service projects and peer-to-peer workshops.
The Youth Leadership Network allows youth to grow as leaders while expanding their awareness of both global and local issues. The youth leaders are able to develop cross-cultural sensitivity and knowledge of issues affecting the larger world as a result of the collaboration between refugee, immigrant and mainstream American youth. In addition, through the particular emphasis on refugee youth, this population is able to acquire skills necessary in their new home while bettering their communities.
Advocate for Improved Parent/Child Relationships & Educational Support
Model: School Liaison Program
Commonwealth Catholic Charities of Richmond, VA (CCC of VA) sponsors a School Liaison Program. The program is designed to create a collaborative effort between immigrant students, parents, and schools in which youth can fully benefit from the American education system. CCC School Liaison Coordinator, Cao Kim (email), works with staff at local elementary schools to assist in the assimilation process. The on-site staff person is typically an ESL instructor or similar position. The quote below is reflective of the impact of this program:
“CCC staff are an integral part of our ESL family. They provide invaluable resources and information that assist us in providing the best instructional placement for students. School Liaison Cao Kim goes above and beyond the call of duty by taking school-related information to family homes and has even driven students to schools when there are transportation issues.”
- Valerie Gooss, Educational Specialist, Foreign Language and ESL K-12, Henrico County Schools of Virginia
Discuss an Immigrant Mapping Project with Professors on Campus
Model: Rutgers Immigrant Infrastructure Map
The Eagleton Program on Immigration and Democracy, in consultation with Rutgers faculty across the three campuses, as well as national experts and New Jersey leaders, has developed Rutgers Immigrant Infrastructure Map (RIIM) to facilitate the process of immigrant integration statewide.
RIIM is inventorying, categorizing and mapping the non-governmental community-based organizations critical to the process of immigrant integration. RIIM will offer users an interactive platform, including a GIS map and a searchable database of these organizations, enabling immigrant communities and immigrant-serving organizations to find each other and the resources they need. RIIM will help immigrants to build economic power, establish cultural and linguistic networks and accumulate political strength.
Homepage: http://www.eagleton.rutgers.edu/programs/immigration/RIIM.php
Connect International Students on Campus with Local International Community
Model: International Student Support Program
Kelly Behrend (kelly@bonner.org) started an informal program at the University of Richmond for international students studying at the university to connect with the immigrant and refugee communities in the area. If you work with an ESL program, you may encounter some clients who know little to no English. To alleviate the process, it can be helpful to have international students come serve with you and start of with some initial translating of the student's needs and interests. You may want to formalize this a bit more, inviting international students to serve regularly in the classroom or in planning social/cultural activities.
Investigate Campus Labor Rights for Immigrants and Refugees
Model: Campus-Based Labor Rights Organizing
Many track participants shared some of the organizing work they've done on campus in investigating labor rights of university employees. Although your university probably has equal opportunity policies, it is possible that they contract other operational elements to other companies (like dining or janitorial services). Some students have investigated and challenges the labor practices (typically the pay rate) of those contracted companies, which often hire immigrants and refugees. If you have engaged in this kind of organizing or know someone who has, please send along your information to Kelly Behrend (kelly@bonner.org).
Create a Campus-Community Issues Coalition
Model: Refugee and Immigrant Issues Coalition (RIICO) of Richmond, VA
Students at the University of Richmond identified the many campus groups that had to do with international service, study, or fellowship (such as the Bonner Scholars serving in ESL roles, the Multicultural Student Union, the South Asian Student Alliance, etc.) and invited them to join a coalition that meets regularly to discuss refugee and immigrant issues in the local community. Community organizations joined in as well, sharing their needs and observations from a grassroots perspective. The coalition's goals are to tighten up the communication between campus and community to better identify and meet community needs, as well as consolidate the service of many groups on campus to increase impact. Click here to read a recent article about RIICO, or contact Russ Gong (Richmond Bonner and coalition leader) for more information: russ.gong@richmond.edu.
Do you know of any interesting program models that others can implement on campus or in the community? Please share! Send an e-mail to Kelly Behrend at kelly@bonner.org.
4) Policy Points: Ideas for Advocacy
In this section, we'd like to share some of the policy issues ("hot button" topics) that have been cropping up at the local, state, and national level. Check them out to stay informed and also investigate how these policies might be playing out in your community.
Dream Act: What Now?
Check out this YouTube Presentation from Dr. Michael A. Olivas, the William B. Bates Distinguished Chair in Law at the University of Houston Law Center and Director of the Institute for Higher Education Law and Governance at UH. Both the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) and The Hispanic Bar Association of Houston have given him awards for lifetime achievement. His talk, called "I Had a DREAM (Act): Immigration, Higher Education, and Hope " talks about the possibilities for the DREAM Act now and in the future.
Alternatives to Detention
Shared by Kurt Crays, Lutheran Immigrant Refugee Service (official IMPACT partner for the track)
Our government detains over 230,000 people a year – more than triple the number of people in detention 9 years ago. The annual cost? $1.2 billion. Immigrants in detention include the sick and elderly, pregnant women, families including children, green card holders and people escaping torture abroad. Being in violation of immigration laws is not a crime. It is a civil violation for which immigrants go through a process to see whether they have a right to stay in the United States. Immigrants detained during this process are in non-criminal custody. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the agency responsible for detaining immigrants. The average cost of detaining an immigrant is $95 per person/per day.
Alternatives to detention, which generally include a combination of reporting and electronic monitoring are effective and significantly cheaper. Some alternative programs cost as little as $12/day. These alternatives to detention still yield an estimated 93% appearance rate before the immigration courts. Although DHS owns and operates its own detention centers, it also buys bed space from over 312 county and city prisons nationwide to hold the majority of those who are detained (over 57%). Torture survivors, victims of trafficking and other vulnerable groups can be detained for months or even years. Isolation often leads to depression and other mental health problems associated with their past trauma.
Connect:
- facebook.com/lirsorg
- twitter.com/lirsorg
- lirsblog.org
Visit:
Watch:
Resettlement Stipends for Refugees
The Refugee Cash Assistance program (RCA), funded through the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), is a program of financial support for eligible Refugee Resettlement Program participants while they are looking for, or preparing for work. Financially eligible refugees may start to receive cash assistance within the first month after arrival in the U.S., and may continue to do so until the end of the eighth month in the U.S. (provided they remain financially eligible).
The stipends are administered and determined at the statewide level. The current standard of assistance is $428/month for an assistance unit of 1, with an increment of $105 for each additional assistance unit member, but this number may be different depending on your state. Investigate the stipend amounts in your state (thinking about local living costs) to asses whether or not refugee communities are getting the support they need.
Permanent Legal Residents' Rights: Free Call-In Number & Resource
Raise awareness in your community about the rights of legal permanent residents. Citizenship Now! has lots of resources on this, specifically access to their free call-in law counseling services for legal permanent residents across the country. Here are the details:
CUNY Citizenship Now! provides free, high quality, and confidential citizenship and immigration law services to help individuals and families on their path to U.S. citizenship.
You can also check out the Citizenship Now! Guide which contains step-by-step instructions for filling out the N-400 application for citizenship and many other resources. This is the PDF version of the manuals we handed out in our last workshop at the IMPACT Conference.
Since 2004, the annual CUNY/ Daily News Citizenship NOW! Call-In has provided nearly 85,000 callers with free, confidential information on immigration issues ranging from U.S. citizenship to residency to family petitions. Hundreds of volunteers participate in this event each year, many of them trained by CUNY Citizenship Now! Anyone who needs this free service is able to call, so pass this along! For more information, visit the following webpage:
CUNY/ Daily News Citizenship NOW! Call-In
APRIL 25 - APRIL 29, 2011
9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
http://www.cuny.edu/about/resources/citizenship/call-in.html
State-Level Revisions of DREAM Act
"While the DREAM Act was voted down in Congress, some lawmakers are hoping to revive the bill on the state level that would make college life easier for undocumented immigrant students. NY1's Mara Montalbano filed the following report..."
Click here to read the latest report (and watch a video) on the possibilities for state-level DREAM Act revisions. One of our IMPACT Track participants is working on this in Utah. She'll share more information for the next newsletter.
5) Organizing Survey Coming Soon!
Just a heads up to you all — we'll be sending a survey next week that we'd like for you to complete. We'll be asking for your feedback on the track, your thoughts about this newsletter, and your ideas for future organizing. So be on the lookout!
Thanks again for all of the work you're doing on campuses and in your communities to make an IMPACT for refugees and immigrants. Keep up the good work!
Take care,
Kelly Behrend, Bonner Foundation: kelly@bonner.org
Giuseppe Cespedes, Rutgers Bonner Coordinator: gicesped@rci.rutgers.edu
Cynthia Douglas, AmeriCorps Full-Time Member: cynthia.douglas@rutgers.edu
You are receiving this e-mail because you signed up for an e-mail list at the 2011 IMPACT Conference Refugee and Immigration Issues Track. To unsubscribe, please e-mail Kelly Behrend at kelly@bonner.org.
Archived newsletters
1. Sneak Peek Edition - April 5, 2010
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