April 10th - National Day of Action For Stop the Raids! Stop Deportations!

WHY ARE WE CALLING FOR A NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION ON APRIL 10th 2007?

A. To commemorate the first anniversary of the nationally coordinated
immigrant mobilizations that defeated proposed legislation (HR4437) that
attempted to criminalize immigrants.
B. To proactively energize and coordinate nationally coordinated community
activities and voices calling for humane, just and responsible immigration
reform.
C. To launch a postcard and letter-writing campaign from voters and
members of the community asking congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform
this year.

WHAT ARE THE COMMON NATIONAL MESSAGES WE WANT TO SPREAD ON APRIL 10TH?

v KEEP OUR FAMILIES TOGETHER! Stop Tearing Apart Families! Stop the
Raids! Stop Deportations!

In the last six months, the Bush administration has acted unscrupulously by
launching a series of workplace raids that have resulted in the apprehension
and subsequent deportation of hard workingmen and workingwoman. This
insensible act has divided families and left hundreds of children (mostly US
citizens) alone, without their parents. Furthermore, the secret White House plan on
immigration reform continues the administration’s assault on families. The
energies and resources of the federal government must be utilized to unify
families and to look for fair and workable solutions, NOT TO bully and tear
apart American families.

v Pass Just, Humane and Comprehensive Immigration Reform NOW!

But just not any kind of reform. The changes to our immigration system and
laws that are needed, and that our communities are calling for, have to
encompass workable solutions that respect the contributions and rights of immigrant
families in the US.



WHAT ACTIVITIES CAN BE DONE ON APRIL 10TH?

Ø On April 10 kick off of a major letter writing and postcard campaign
from voters and other members of our community
Ø Organize town hall meetings with Members of Congress to ask for their
commitment to family unity, an end to raids and deportations, and to pass CIR

Ø Organize marches and rallies with children and families
Ø Organize community education forums on the immigration reform bills
being introduced

(Display images of families and children impacted by raids at all of the
above events.)
WHAT ARE OUR COMMON PRINCIPLES ON IMMIGRATION REFORM?
For immigration reform to be comprehensive, it ought to REFLECT the
following principles:
I. Immigrant Legalization and Regularization Policies
Congress ought to implement a broad and serious legalization program with
access to permanent residency for immigrant workers and families already in the
US, with special emphasis on the following:
· We call for an expansive program that would make eligible the
maximum number of undocumented immigrants currently residing in the United States.
Some proposals, such as a “touch back” or “tiers” provisions, are simply
unworkable and unrealistic.
· A legalization program must not include retroactive exclusion
provisions, and must not exclude persons with outstanding deportation orders or
persons who have committed document fraud.
· Any reform needs to allow for the adjustment of status of targeted
groups including those covered by the DREAM Act, AgJobs, and Temporary
Protected Status (TPS).
II. New Immigrant Work Program
The entry of future immigrant workers and families to the United State must
be regulated through the creation of a new work program that contains
fundamental rights:
· The new programs must allow immigrant workers to come to the US
legally and orderly, without violence.
· These new immigrant worker visa programs must provide strong worker
protections that include the right to change jobs (portability) and the
opportunity to gain permanent US residency and, later on, citizenship.
· Past and present “guest worker” programs are extremely flawed.
Therefore, they are unacceptable.
III. Strengthen Worker’s Protection and Reassure Labor Rights of Immigrant
Workers
Congress needs to ensure that immigration enforcement complements rather
than undermines the enforcement of labor and employment laws.
· Strengthen the enforcement of existing labor laws regardless of
immigration status, including additional funds to the Department of Labor to
enforce wage and hour laws. Labor and employment laws must hold bad employers
accountable when their actions undermine conditions for all workers.
· Ensure that any new employment eligibility verification system is
implemented in a manner that minimizes both disruption to workers and the
likely increase in discrimination and privacy violations.
· Until complete accuracy of data is ensured and safeguards are in
place preventing discrimination and abuse, the use of SSA no match letters or
other employment verification should be prohibited.
· Create job training resources for low-income workers, including
native-born workers, so the entire workforce benefits from immigration reform.
IV. Enforcing the Law: A Responsible and Accountable Immigration Enforcement
We cannot fix our immigration system with an “enforcement-only approach”
and by continuing to enforce dysfunctional laws. Comprehensive Immigration
Reform must include the revision of current border and interior enforcement
policies and allow the creation of effective accountability mechanisms to protect
human and civil rights.
· Replace border operations such as “Safeguard” and “Hold the Line”
with Border Community Safety and Security Operations. These operations would
be based on strategies that uphold the human and civil rights of migrants,
are accountable to border communities, can distinguish between criminal
activity and immigration violations, and integrate technologies that respect the
environmental, economic and social quality of life on the border.
· Our nation’s strategy towards the border and interior must include
the creation of a Federal Independent Review Commission, with local and
regional offices, to oversee the trainings, policies, internal practices,
complaint processes and activities of federal immigration agencies.
· Immigration enforcement should continue to be a responsibility of
federal immigration agencies. Enforcement strategies must clearly separate the
authority of those federal agencies and local law enforcement.
V. Restoring Due Process Rights and Judicial Discretion
Current detention and deportation laws and procedures are unduly harsh and
counterproductive. Immigrants arrested for relatively minor criminal and/or
immigration violations are often detained indefinitely under mandatory
detention policies.
· Everyone deserves a fair day in court and access to the courts
should be improved rather than restricted. A judge should consider a person’s
case before that individual is incarcerated or deported.
· Restore judicial discretion. Deportation means exile from the U.S.
for life and, therefore, judges should be able to make sure that
deportations proceedings are fair.
· We oppose any provision that would mandate expansion of ‘expedited
removal,’ a system that allows the government to deport an individual without
any hearing or access to a lawyer. Individuals should not be jailed or
deported without an opportunity for independent court review in fair and open
proceedings.
· Prevent expansion of the number of minor offenses that make
non-citizens deportable.
· Through immigration law reform and improvements in the management
of the immigration system, we ought to decrease the need for mass detention,
detention centers and detention beds and allow for alternatives to detention.
VI. Fixing the Administrative Process of the Immigration System
Immigration reform must provide for the overhaul of the immigration
administrative system and structure to eliminate backlogs and expedite, among other
things, the adjustment of status, asylum and refugee applications.
· It is imperative that reform measures ensure that the family
backlog is eliminated and the number of visas expanded to reunite families.
Immigrant families contribute to our society and culture and help to meet our labor
force needs.
· Restore the number of refugees’ visas to pre 9-11 levels.
VII. New Policies for Immigrant Integration
The US Congress must develop effective programs of integration to allow
immigrant to fully participate and engage in the social, economic and political
life of the US society.
· Facilitation of immigrant integration through increased resources
for English as a Second Language classes, naturalization and legal services,
rolling back increases in application fees and simplifying the application
process for naturalization.
VIII. Addressing the Root Causes of Migration
Beyond immigration policy reform, we need a brand new international economic
policy to address the root causes of migration.
· We strongly believe it is imperative for the U.S. to engage in the
engineering, from the bottom up, of a brand new international economic and
social policy initiative. Such an initiative must have as a strategic goal the
substantial elevation of social and economic standards of living in immigrant
sending countries. Unless we manage to promptly and significantly reduce the
current asymmetries between the U.S. and its neighbors in the South, no
migration policy will prove manageable and sustainable in the long haul.




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National Immigrant Solidarity Network
No Immigrant Bashing! Support Immigrant Rights!
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