#Not1More Deportation

President Obama: Reverse Your Decision to Delay Deportation Policy Review; Immediately Expand Deferred Action Instead

President Obama’s recent decision to delay the Department of Homeland Security’s deportation policy review until September 1st, 2014, will result in 60,000 to 90,000 more people being deported to give “space” to House Republicans to consider legislation.Positive administrative action on immigration is a first step, not a last resort. It cannot be put on hold in order to see whether nativist House Republicans will succeed yet again in blocking long overdue legislative reforms that are supported by the vast majority of Americans.
Please join the National Day Laborer Organizing Network in strongly opposing any delay and call for immediate administrative action, including–at minimum–the expansion of deferred action to immigrant workers and families.


Sign-On Letter to President Obama:

Dear President Obama,

We write to urge you to reverse your decision to delay the Department of Homeland Security’s deportation policy review and instead immediately use your existing legal authority to provide relief to millions of undocumented immigrants living and working in the United States. Positive administrative action on immigration is a first step, not a last resort. It cannot be put on hold in order to see whether nativist House Republicans will succeed yet again in blocking long overdue legislative reforms that are supported by the vast majority of Americans. To the contrary, immediate administrative action is necessary to alleviate suffering, allow directly impacted individuals to make their voices heard, and show that the Democratic Party is not using immigration as a political football, but rather is committed to real, tangible change.

According to news reports, you ordered this review three months ago to make deportation policy more humane. Implicit in your order was an important acknowledgement: deporting over one thousand people a day is inhumane. By delaying the review that you yourself ordered, you are perpetuating an immoral status quo. In the months since you ordered this review, the situation has only deteriorated. Most recently, DHS has responded to the decision of dozens of states and localities to limit participation in the dangerous and misguided Secure Communities deportation program by deploying new, equally misguided enforcement efforts, including expanding arrests of immigrants in homes, at courthouses, and in indiscriminate street sweep—all in an apparent effort to meet an arbitrary quota of 400,000 deportations per year endorsed by former and current members of your Administration.

The justification offered for this most recent delay is that continued inaction by your Administration is necessary to give House Republicans “space” to consider legislation. This reflects a failed Democratic strategy, which, for years, has promised that immigration reform will be achieved only when Democrats prove their enforcement credentials to anti-immigrant Republicans. The logic was shaky to begin with, the equivalent of trying to pass climate change legislation by proving Democrats can pollute more than any anti-environmentalist. Indeed, it is impossible to imagine arguing for a delay of the recent EPA regulations on the ground that such a delay would yield legislative victory. After a decade of failure in Congress, the apparent strategy of political triangulation on immigration has become indefensible. We can no longer allow relief for our families—relief that is fully within your existing power to grant—to be held hostage to the demands of obstructionist Republicans or those within the Democratic Party who seek political advantage by preserving the status quo.

We are aware that six national organizations put out a statement last week supporting a delay in relief. Those groups do not represent the immigrants’ rights movement as a whole. For the reasons described above, the under-signed organizations strongly oppose any delay and call for immediate administrative action, including—at a minimum—the expansion of deferred action to immigrant workers and families and all those who would qualify for legalization under Senate Bill 744. Current immigration policy constitutes a crisis for the country, and this crisis demands action from both the executive and legislative branches of government. We have reached a moment where your leadership is required to move things forward. Please act without delay.

Add Your Organization



List of Recent Organizations Who’ve Signed On:

(signatures do not appear automatically, this list is manually updated)

Number ORGANIZATION
1 99 Unite Civic Forum
2 ACCESS of Western New York
3 ACIJ
4 ACLU
5 Actors Equity – AFL-CIO
6 Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus
7 AF3IRM (Association of Filipinas, Feminists Fighting Imperialism, Re-feudalization & Marginalization)
8 Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice
9 Alianza de Mexico-Americanos de Connecticut
10 Alianza Mexicana
11 Alianza Para el Futuro
12 American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)
13 Amnesty International
14 Arab American Action Network
15 Arab American Association of New York
16 Arizona Community Health Worker Network
17 Arizona Dream Act Coalition (ADAC)
18 Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Chicago
19 Asian Americans Advancing Justice – LA
20 ASPIRE-Bay Area
21 ASPIRE-LA
22 Atlanta Jobs with Justice
23 Áztlan Media Kollective
24 Bare Face Productions
25 Barnet Academy
26 Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI)
27 Cabrillo College
28 California Immigrant Policy Center (CIPC)
29 California Immigrant Youth Justice Alliance (CIYJA)
30 Casa Freehold
31 Casa Latina
32 Centro Autonomo
33 Centro de Ayuda
34 CENTRO DEL INMIGRANTE
35 Centro Laboral de Graton
36 Chadash Community UCC
37 Channing Church
38 Chicago Immigrant Defense Committee
39 Church of Our Saviour/La Iglesia de Nuestro Salvador Episcopal
40 Church World Service
41 Citizen Orange
42 CLEAN Carwash Campaign
43 CLILA
44 Coloradans For Immigrant Rights, of the AFSC
45 Commitee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador
46 Community to Community
47 Congress of Day Laborers New Orleans
48 CRECE
49 CSUN Young Democrats
50 D.C. Center for Immigrant Justice
51 Detention Watch Network
52 Dominican Development Center
53 Dominican Sisters of Houston
54 Dream Activist DC
55 DRM Action Coalition
56 Durango Unido en Chicago
57 Ecumenical Peace Institute
58 El Comite
59 El Pueblo, Inc.
60 El Reportero Newspaper
61 Enlace
62 Entre Hermanos
63 Familia: Trans Queer Liberation Movement
64 Farmworker Association of Florida
65 Fe y Justicia Worker Center
66 First Baptist Church Huntersville
67 First Existentialist Congregation of Atlanta\’s Social Justice G
68 First Presbyterian Peace and Justice
69 Florida Immigrant Coalition
70 Flying Over Walls/Black and Pink
71 Foster First
72 Free Speech Radio
73 Frente de Mexicanos en el Exterior
74 Fresno Immigrant Youth In Action
75 Friends of Miami-Dade Detainees
76 Fuerza del Valle Workers’ Center
77 Georgetown University Hoyas for Immigrant Rights
78 Georgia Detention Watch
79 Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights (GLAHR)
80 Georgia Women’s Action for New Directions (Georgia WAND)
81 Grassroots LEadership
82 Grupo Cajola
83 Grupo de Solidaridad-Arenal (GRUDESA)
84 Haziel Ministry “Vision of God”
85 High Flight Arts and Letters
86 HOPE
87 IDEAS at UCLA
88 Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights
89 Immigrant Youth Coalition (IYC)
90 Immigration Reform For Nevada
91 Indigenous United
92 Integral Movement for AB540 Student Success
93 Interfaith Movement for Immigrant Justice
94 Iowa CCI
95 ISAAC (Immigrant Support And Assistance Center)
96 Jobs With Justice
97 Journey For Justice
98 Junta for Progressive Action
99 Juntos
100 Just Communities
101 Kern Coalition for Citizenship
102 La Union Brooklyn
103 La Union del Pueblo Entero (LUPE)
104 Labor/Community Strategy Center
105 Latin@ Youth Action League (L@YAL)
106 Latino Advocacy
107 Latino Advocacy Foundation of Fairifield County
108 Latino Union of Chicago
109 Latinos United of Carroll County
110 Long Beach Immigrant Rights Coalition
111 Long Island Wins
112 Los Angeles Immigrant Youth Coalition (LA-IYC)
113 LULAC-Syracuse chapter
114 MACT/Phila.
115 Madre Tierra Collective
116 MAKAT
117 Marin Interfaith Task Force on the Americas
118 MEChA
119 Merced College
120 Mercy Students for Peace and Justice
121 Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC)
122 Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance (MIRA)
123 Mississippi NOW
124 MN Conference – UCC Immigration Team
125 Montana Immigrant Justice Alliance
126 MoveMaster EcoLines Inc.
127 Movement Strategy Center
128 National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON)
129 National Guestworker Alliance (NGA)
130 National Latino Progressive VOTER Party U.S.
131 National Network for Arab American Communities (NNAAC)
132 NCJW, SouthEast Atlantic Section
133 Needham Area Immigration Justice Task Force
134 New Immigrant Community Empowerment (NICE)
135 NIDIL-CGIL
136 NJDAC
137 No More Deaths Phoenix
138 Northern Illinois University Dream Action
139 NTEU
140 Occupy Greeley
141 Ohio Action Circle
142 Olneyville Neighborhood Association
143 One Horizon Institute
144 OneAmerica
145 Orange County Dream Team (OCDT)
146 Organized Communities Against Deportations
147 Out4Immigration
148 Pasadena Community Job Center
149 Peace & Justice Committee, First Churches, Northampton, MA
150 PeterCares House
151 Phoenix Proud
152 phoenix ventures
153 Phoenix Women Take Back the Night
154 PICO National Network
155 Pilgrim United Church of Christ, Carlsbad CA
156 Pittsburgh LCLAA
157 Porterville Immigrant Youth United
158 Portland Jobs with Justice
159 Progressive Democrats of America. – Arizona
160 Pueblo Sin fronteras
161 Puente Human Rights Movement
162 Racial Justice Action Center
163 Radical Women
164 RENASE BAY AREA
165 Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of W Mich.
166 Rio Grande Valley Equal Voice Network
167 San Diego Dream Team
168 SF Gray Panthers
169 Sisters of Mercy
170 Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia
171 SITES TRAILER COURT LLC
172 Sky Island UU Church
173 Society of Friends
174 somos tuskaloosa
175 Southeast Immigrant Rights Network
176 Southerners On New Ground (SONG)
177 Southwest Suburban Immigrant Project (SSIP)
178 St. Robert Bellarmine Church
179 Stateline Beekeepers Association
180 Student Action with Farmworkers
181 Student/Farmworker Alliance
182 Studio Revolt
183 Tahoma Unitarian-Universalist Congregation
184 Texas Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church
185 Texas Civil Rights Project
186 The Church of the Covenant (Presbyterian)
187 The Real Cost of Prisons Project
188 Trabajadores Unidos de Washington DC
189 Trans(forming)
190 TRUST South LA
191 UCSB IDEAS
192 UFCW local 1473
193 Undocumented Students and Allies
194 Unidad Latina en Acción – New Haven
195 UNIDAD LATINA EN ACCION NJ
196 Unidos Bridging Community
197 Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Phoenix
198 United Domestic Workers of America
199 United Farm Workers (UFW)
200 United for a Fair Economy
201 United Methodist Church, General Board of Church and Society
202 United We Dream (UWD)
203 Unity Housecleaners LLC
204 Vashon Unitarian Fellowship
205 Vellanoweth and Associates
206 Voces de la Frontera
207 Voz Workers Rights
208 WA State Labor Council, AFL-CIO
209 Waco Immigration Alliance
210 Washington Dream Act Coalition
211 Washington New Sanctuary Movement
212 we build
213 WeCount!
214 West Valley Neighborhoods Coalition
215 Western Mass. Jobs with Justice
216 White Rabbit Grove RDNA
217 WORKPLACE PROJECT
218 World Wide Enterprises
219 Yakima County Dream Team
220 Yaotlyaocihuatl Ameyal Asociación Civil. México
221 Youth Empowered in the Struggle (YES)

 
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