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Immigration News

Immigrant Families to Highlight End of ‘Old GOP Era’ With Action on Sen. Ted Cruz

Posted by Zack L. on May 22, 2013

Immigrant families, including families from Texas, will highlight the end of the ‘old GOP era’ during an action today on Sen. Ted Cruz at his DC office today, Wednesday, May 22, at 12:30. The resounding defeat of Cruz’s amendments to the immigration bill and other GOP-sponsored anti-immigrant amendments show that the glory days for these lawmakers is over.

The families will continue to speak of the importance of including a right to reunite in the bill as they tell their stories of the emotional and financial hardship caused by the current broken immigration system.

This action is part of an effort to increase immigrant presence in Congress as the immigration bill debate continues.  Families from across the country have engaged in a range of actions including vigils, lobby visits, and protests such as today’s to call on Congress for a real, clear and direct path to citizenship, not an endless, unworkable obstacle course.  In many ways, Senator Cruz’s actions during committee debate, largely defeated, represent the worst attacks on immigrant families the process has seen to date.

DETAILS:

What: Immigrant Family Reunion
Where: Senator Ted Cruz office, B40B Dirksen Building, U.S. Senate
When: Wednesday, May 21st 2013 12:30 PM
Who: Immigrant Families, CASA in Action, the Fair Immigration Reform Movement, and Border Network for Human Rights

On Day President Obama Meets with Immigrant Families, Senate Judiciary Members Overwhelmingly Pass Bill out of Committee

Posted by Zack L. on May 22, 2013

Hours after President Obama and Vice President Biden met with immigrant families, Senate Judiciary members overwhelmingly passed the immigration reform bill out of committee by a vote of 13-5.

“Our country’s immigrant families have become an unshakable force to be reckoned with in Washington,” said Kica Matos, spokesperson for the Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM). “Today FIRM families met with President Obama at the Oval Office — a first for any president — and then they witnessed the successful passage of immigration reform in the Judiciary Committee.”

“This is not a coincidence, but the fruit of strenuous, constant work, struggle, and organizing. Our families will continue to be out in force for the remainder of the process, until President Obama signs into law an immigration bill that keeps families together and paves a path to citizenship,” Matos added. “Too many mothers have been ripped away from their children. Too many children fear losing their parents. This is when the fear and separation stops. Our families will not be separated, and we will prevail.”

Mehdi Mahraoui of New York was one of the seven people who met with Obama and Biden today, and then went to Capitol Hill to continue the daily presence FIRM families have had every day there has been a markup session.

“The President urged us to continue telling our stories to the American public, and we will do just that,” said Mahraoui, affiliated with the New York Immigrant Coalition, a FIRM member. “As a DREAM student, I have a path to citizenship but my parents do not. This is why I will continue to tell my story and the stories of countless others.”

The Immigration Bill: An Historic First Step

Posted by Sarah English on April 17, 2013

The 844-page immigration reform bill released early this morning is a victory on many fronts.  Spokesperson for the Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM) Kica Matos called it a “monumental achievement for our movement.”

To learn more about the specific provisions of the bill from Gang of 8 member Sen. Robert Menendez and to ask questions, join a community call tonight at 8pm ET.  Text LISTEN to 228466, and you will automatically receive a call this evening that will dial you in to this important national conversation. If you want to listen in Spanish, text ESCUCHA to 228466. The Spanish call will be held at 9pm ET.

The bill will provide a pathway to citizenship for millions of the undocumented immigrants living in the United States today and serves as an historic first step toward a more just immigration system.  But the bill is just that—a first step.  FIRM and its partner organizations will continue to work with Congress to make improvements on some of the weaker aspects of the bill.

The cutoff date, for instance, automatically prevents hundreds of thousands of families from becoming eligible for citizenship.  In addition, the 13-year path to citizenship is an unreasonable length of time and should be shortened considerably.

In a statement, Matos explains that FIRM also opposes all so-called “triggers,” saying, “Our families’ well-being should not be conditioned on arbitrary border measures or any political or bureaucratic process which holds their loved ones hostage to regulations over which they have no control.”

The current draft of the bill also fails to include important provisions about family unity, LGBT families, and the diversity visa program.  Immigrant-rights organizations around the country will continue to put pressure on Congress until these measures are made a priority.

Petra Falcon, Executive Director of immigrant-rights group Promise Arizona, said in a statement, “We’re not happy with everything in the bill, but we’re glad Congress is paving a path to citizenship for the undocumented, and we plan to continue to work diligently in the coming weeks to guarantee the final bill unites immigrant families and respects their enormous contributions to our society.”

The Florida Immigrant Coalition, Arizona Comprehensive Immigration Reform Coalition and the Alabama Immigration Advocates are among the groups that have already held press conferences in response to the newly-released bill, in which they reacted to the draft and outlined their next steps.

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