The Golden Door: July 2020

 

Legal and Policy Issues

We are closely monitoring state and federal immigration law and policy. Please check our social media accounts for more frequent updates.

Urgent Action Needed On COVID-19 Relief Legislation

The latest COVID-19 relief bill, the HEROES Act, passed in the House of Representatives and includes:

  • Extension of stimulus payments to anyone filing with an Individual Tax Identification Number (ITIN) and their family members, both for the first round of payments and for another round that the bill would provide;

  • Clarification that emergency Medicaid can be expanded to include all treatment, testing, and vaccines for COVID-19 for those eligible for Medicaid regardless of immigration status;

  • Extension of eligibility for higher education emergency relief grants to college students regardless of immigration status; and

  • Some expanded language access for select programs, like mental health or small business outreach.

Despite passing the House over two months ago in May, the Senate has failed to act at all, and is now considering legislation that does not include any of these provisions.

Right now, many Maine immigrant families are not getting support to access the critical care or economic support that they need. The COVID-19 racial disparities we are experiencing in Maine make this even more unconscionable.

Call or email Maine's Senators and tell them you want the HEROES Act introduced and passed in the Senate. Make it clear that we demand that immigrant families be included in COVID-19 relief!

Senator Collins:
📞 (202) 224-2523
https://www.collins.senate.gov/contact

Senator King:
📞 (202) 224-5344
https://www.king.senate.gov/contact

Court Temporarily Blocks Public Charge Rule Due To COVID-19 Crisis

In a victory for immigrant families, a federal district court has temporarily blocked the Department of Homeland Security from implementing the public charge rule for any period during which there is a declared national health emergency in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. The court also temporarily stopped the Department of State from applying its similar “public charge” rules to applicants for visas at U.S. embassies and consulates abroad.

We had seen the chilling effect of the punitive public charge rule even before COVID-19. Now, the pandemic has forced families to choose between risking their health or their immigration status. As the judge wrote in his decision, "[a]ttempting to effectively combat this plague has immediately come in conflict with the federal government’s new ‘public charge’ policy, a policy which is intended to discourage immigrants from utilizing government benefits and penalizes them for receipt of financial and medical assistance.”

This means that immigrant families can focus on staying healthy and safe. We fully expect the government to appeal and will keep our website, Facebook, and Twitter updated.

Trump Administration Ignores Supreme Court’s DACA Decision

The Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad F. Wolf issued a memo on July 28 that shortens the renewal period for current Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) holders to one year (from two), and prevents new applicants from receiving DACA.

ILAP condemns the administration's blatant disregard for the Supreme Court's decision upholding the DACA program. The Supreme Court was clear: the Trump administration must continue DACA and accept new applications. The administration's refusal to accept a binding decision from the nation’s highest court is very disturbing.

ILAP stands with our Dreamers - our Maine DACA recipients and nationwide. Remember that Congress can act at any time and end this cruel uncertainty faced by DACA recipients. 

Proposed Asylum Rule Weaponizes Pandemic Against Families Fleeing Persecution

This month, the Trump administration published yet another proposed rule that seeks to block families fleeing violence from entering the United States. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) issued a proposed rule designed to exclude asylum seekers fleeing from or traveling through a country in which infectious or highly contagious diseases are "prevalent," or exhibit symptoms "consistent with" such disease or illness.

Take five minutes to comment against the proposed rule – tell the Trump administration that we must protect asylum seekers. All comments are due by August 10, 2020.

Rule Restricting Work Permits for Asylum Seekers Goes Into Effect In August

The recent regulation aimed at restricting asylum seekers' ability to secure work permits, described in-depth in last month's Golden Door, goes into effect on August 25th. ILAP recently held a virtual community workshop to discuss the impacts of this rule and answer questions. Click here to watch a recording of the workshop or visit our website for additional details about the rule.

Hope House in Portland is committed to helping asylum seekers complete work permits every Wednesday, by appointment. Call 207-274-6005 to reserve a time or click here for more information. 

We are hopeful that litigation will stop this rule from going into effect. We will continue to post updates on our website, Facebook, and Twitter. 

A Closer Look

Immigration Detention

Detention is a shared experience far too common among immigrants, especially Black immigrants in this country. The U.S.’s legacy of anti-blackness leads to the over-policing of Black communities, in turn feeding Black immigrants into the hands of immigration enforcement, often leading to their detention and/or deportation. Thus exists the “double oppression” for Black immigrants. 
 
The Bangor Daily News recently reported that between 2015 and 2019, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) paid the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office nearly $300,000 to detain immigrants in their facility, showcasing how the criminal justice and immigration systems work together to ensure the continued detention of immigrants. 
 
Not only are Black immigrants detained more readily, they face worse treatment while in detention. For example, Black immigrants face solitary confinement six times more often than their fellow cell mates.
 
Inhumane conditions have become startlingly common across immigration detention facilities, the majority (81%) of which are privately owned and/or operated. Facilities across the country (check out this map) were dangerous before the COVID-19 outbreak and are now putting immigrants at further risk. 
 
Over “Independence Day” weekend earlier this month, a coalition of artists organized nationwide feats of skywriting over 80 U.S. detention facilities, immigration courts, and borders, launching a project called In Plain Sight. The #XMAP: In Plain Sight website shared the hope that, “[a]s the planes soar, they will make visible in the sky what is too often unseen and unspoken on the ground: the appalling, profoundly immoral, imprisonment of immigrants." 

 
"Artist and Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors' message 'Care Not Cages' in Los Angeles on July 3." Photo credit: Chris Mastro, CNN article 

"Artist and Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors' message 'Care Not Cages' in Los Angeles on July 3." Photo credit: Chris Mastro, CNN article

 

ILAP hopes we can all continue seeing and speaking about the abuses of immigrant detention long after the skywriting has faded. By building a better world for Black immigrants, we are building a better world for everyone. Check out #XMAP’s Take Action page for ways you can help and look to the list below for resources to keep learning about this issue.

Keep Learning:

The Golden Door, ILAP NewsILAP MaineCOVID-19, Public Charge, Public Comment, DACA, Asylum, Work Permit, Detention, Racism