The Golden Door: June 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.
Call to Action: Protect Asylum
On June 15, the Department of Homeland Security and the Executive Office for Immigration Review posted a proposed regulation that is a clear attempt to END asylum in the United States.
This sweeping regulation would apply to people seeking asylum at the border AND those who come to the U.S. on a visa and seek asylum. Worse, this proposed regulation may even apply to people who have already applied for asylum. If enacted, this change could impact thousands of our community members here in Maine. Click here to read more.
***THIS RULE IS PROPOSED AND YET NOT IN EFFECT.***
Submit a comment today to show the government and the public how important asylum is to people across the country.
When you write your comment, say you oppose this rule. If you need help getting started, you can find a template here, however we strongly encourage you to personalize your message! Tell your family and friends to also speak up and comment against this horrific proposed ban on asylum.
The deadline for all comments is JULY 15, 2020.
DACA Win!
This month, the Supreme Court ruled to uphold the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program! The Court found that the Trump administration's actions to terminate DACA were arbitrary and capricious, meaning that they failed to give any good reasons to shut down the program. For now, DACA recipients can continue to live, work, and be part of our communities in the United States!
In response, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) posted a statement on its website saying that the Supreme Court’s “opinion has no basis in law.” This astonishing display of antipathy toward an entire branch of government is concerning for a host of reasons – including our worry that USCIS will not follow the Court’s opinion and will refuse to accept new DACA applications.
While this decision is a positive development, it is only a temporary solution. Congress must pass immigration policies that provide a pathway to permanent status for everyone who has established their lives and families in the United States. We have seen Congress fail again and again to act on behalf of DACA recipients and their parents, Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders, asylum seekers, and many others who consider the United States home.
We urge you to contact Maine's Senators and demand they pass the Dream and Promise Act. We must also hold Congress accountable for the systemic racism ingrained in our immigration laws, and demand an immigration system that values all people who have come to the United States fleeing violence, joining family, and seeking a better life.
Two New Rules Limit Work Permits for Asylum Seekers
A new rule, which goes into effect August 21, removes the requirement that USCIS decide work permit applications within 30 days. We fear that after this rule goes into effect, USCIS will delay work permits for extended periods of time and, in effect, deny asylum seekers the right to work.
Another wide-reaching regulation goes into effect August 25. This regulation makes it nearly impossible for many asylum seekers to ever get a work permit, and delays work permits for those who could get one. The regulation would deny a work permit for:
Applicants who file for asylum more than one year after entry;
Applicants who enter the United States outside a port of entry; and
Applicants with certain crimes in their history.
The regulation also increases the wait period for a work permit from 180 days to 365 days after filing an asylum application.
Many families who entered the country at the southern border have waited nearly a year to be entered into the immigration court system. It is only then that they can apply for asylum and wait six months to get a work permit. The new regulation will mean that the wait for a work permit could be up to two full years after arriving in the U.S.
There is no sound policy justification for this cruel rule. Congress has made it clear that it is legal to seek asylum no matter how you enter the country, but this regulation would treat those who enter at the border differently than those who come through a port of entry.
We are hopeful that litigation will stop these rules from going into effect. The rules are complex and we will have more information on our website, Facebook, and Twitter in the next few weeks.
Judge Orders ICE to Free Detained Immigrant Children
On June 26, a federal judge ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to release all children from its custody due to the rampant spread of COVID-19. In the order, Judge Gee wrote: "The family residential centers are on fire and there is no more time for half measures.”
While this appears to be a victory, we are concerned that ICE will use this order as an opportunity to separate more children from their parents. Judge Gee did not order ICE to release the children's parents, so ICE may simply release the incarcerated children and keep their parents in detention facilities. Advocates are putting pressure on ICE to release everyone in its custody, not just children.
You can contact our Congressional delegation to demand the release of families together using this tool from RAICES.
Call to Address COVID-19 Racial Disparity in Maine
On June 25, Black, Indigenous, and Immigrant community leaders held a press conference with the express goal of holding Governor Mills and other elected leaders accountable for Maine’s COVID-19 racial disparity, which is now the worst in the nation.
Bright Lukusa, a home health care professional in Lewiston and educator at the Immigrant Resource Center of Maine, said during the Zoom call, “I am that disparity, I am that statistic. So is my brother, my mother, and many others in our communities...We are tired of being the statistics, we need change." Click here to watch a recording of the press conference.
Speakers called on Governor Mills to:
Convene a meeting with those on the call within one week
Allocate CARES Act funding and other sources of federal, state, and local funds directly to communities most impacted
Build a true working relationship between the state and communities of color where those on the ground are leading the process and given the necessary resources to work
Declare racism a public health emergency in the state of Maine
If you’d like to contact the Governor to re-enforce this urgent call to address Maine's COVID-19 racial disparity, here are ways to get in touch:
Call: 207-287-3531
A Closer Look
LGBTQ+ Rights and Immigration
LGBTQ+ immigrants often risk their lives to travel to the United States, only to face anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination and violence when they arrive – the very thing many were trying to escape in their home countries. Trans women, for example, are disproportionately detained in immigration centers in the U.S. where they experience neglect, violence, and even death. The Trump administration’s new proposed asylum rule (described above) attempts to further erode protections specifically for LGBTQ+ asylum seekers.
The Supreme Court recently ruled in favor of immigrant rights and LGBTQ+ rights in two momentous back-to-back decisions. But, as José Alonsa Muñoz, a queer Dreamer reminds us, “It’s important to be able to celebrate this moment as a victory while also recognizing that, for trans folks, specifically Black trans people, there’s still so much work that needs to be done to ensure that everyone is able to live and thrive without fear. It's such a great reminder that so many of us have such intersecting identities. LGBTQ people are undocumented. Black folks are DACA recipients.”
Today, we remember the sacrifices of Black queer and trans people in the Stonewall riots more than 50 years ago and honor all the Black and Brown activists who made these latest Supreme Court wins possible and continue to build the Black Lives Matter movement. We must continue to rewrite narratives of white supremacy, anti-blackness, and homo/transphobia by uplifting new narratives of Blackness.
ILAP is excited about the work of the Black LGBTQIA + Migrant Project (BLMP), a group that “builds and centers the power of Black LGBTQIA+ migrants to ensure the liberation of all Black people.” Ola Osaze, BLMP’s National Organizer, was recently featured in “Reenvisioning and Rebuilding the Immigration Justice Movement,” alongside other immigrants leaders and activists across the nation.