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Farmworker Justice Immigration Update 11/20/2015

On One Year Anniversary of the President’s Executive Action, Immigrants Wait for Relief

On November 20, 2014, in response to strong organizing and calls for relief by the immigrants’ rights community, President Obama announced a series of administrative actions aimed at addressing our broken immigration system. Farmworker Justice is deeply disappointed that two key actions, the creation of the DAPA (Deferred Action for Parents of Americans) program and expansion of the DACA (expanded Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) program, remain in limbo. One year later, millions of potentially eligible families are still waiting for the relief that they need to live in peace, free from the fear of deportation, and to contribute more fully to their communities.

Today we moved one step closer to resolution of the Texas v. US lawsuit with the Department of Justice filing its petition for review in the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court may choose whether or not to review the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals decision upholding the district court’s injunction (order) blocking expanded DACA and DAPA. The Texas v. U.S. lawsuit against the Obama Administration’s DAPA and expanded DACA programs and the ensuing injunction reflects judicial intervention in a political dispute between the Executive Branch and states that disagree with the President’s immigration policy. Farmworker Justice believes the injunction was issued in error and that the ongoing delays perpetuate our terribly broken, inhumane immigration system and stop the federal government from exercising its proper authority. We commend the Department of Justice for its prompt action to seek review of this case in the Supreme Court and we hope the Court will swiftly accept and rule on the case. Farmworker Justice participated in an amicus curiae brief to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and plans to do so for the Supreme Court case as well. We are optimistic that the Supreme Court will rule with the Administration.

DAPA and expanded DACA are vitally important to farmworker families, their communities and the agricultural system. Together, the programs could provide relief to an estimated 700,000 farmworkers and their family members. At least half the farm labor force is undocumented, which contributes to the low wages and labor abuses in the fields. With protection against the constant fear of deportation, farmworkers and other aspiring Americans will be empowered in their workplaces and communities.

Jaime Diaz’s story, published in a Miami Herald op-ed last year, provides just one example of a farmworker whose family could benefit from DAPA. Jaime and his wife have been cultivating and harvesting crops for some 20 years in the United States. With DAPA for Jaime and his wife, Jaime’s family would feel secure and his children would no longer have to fear the police as agents of family separation via deportation. Jaime and his wife and others like them feed us and benefit our economy; they deserve better.

Enforcement Priorities
One successful aspect of the administrative relief is the Department of Homeland Security’s memo that outlines new immigration enforcement priorities. Much work still needs to be done to make sure that the guidelines are followed by enforcement officers and careful consideration is given to exercise prosecutorial discretion in individual cases.

Administrative Action Needed to Curtail Retaliation Against Immigrant Workers

Farmworker Justice joins other allies in continuing to push for workers’ rights by supporting a roadmap to citizenship and urging the Administration to fulfill its goal of “protect[ing] all workers from exploitation and workers’ rights violations, regardless of immigration status.” To support the latter goal, President Obama’s administrative actions included the creation of the Interagency Working Group for the Consistent Enforcement of Federal Labor, Employment and Immigration Laws (“Interagency Working Group”).

The Interagency Working Group’s tasks include the important objective of “strengthen[ing] processes for staying the removal of, and providing temporary work authorization for, undocumented workers asserting workplace claims and for cases in which a workplace investigation or proceeding is ongoing.” While Farmworker Justice and other groups have participated in two stakeholder sessions, we still await concrete actions addressing these issues. Additionally, we hope that the Administration will issue memorandums of understanding between DHS and various federal and state government agencies, such as the NLRB, EEOC, and California’s ALRB.

We are disappointed at the lack of progress on these actions. Meanwhile, workers who seek to improve their working conditions continue to face threats of immigration enforcement in the workplace. In a meatpacking plant in Illinois, ICE conducted an investigation and raid while workers were in the midst of negotiating a new union contract. More about UNITE HERE!’s campaign on behalf of these workers can be found here.

Integral to democracy and human rights is the protection of all workers’ rights. And when some workers at an employer can be intimidated by threats of immigration enforcement, all workers at that employer can lose bargaining power. We urge the Obama Administration to use its remaining year in office to improve protections and establish clear procedures to encourage immigrant workers to exercise their workplace rights and ensure that they are protected from retaliation when they do so. This is extremely important in agriculture where the majority of workers are undocumented.

On this one-year anniversary of President Obama’s executive action on immigration groups across the country are engaged in actions to call for immigration relief and to make clear this is a battle that will continue until we have won immigration reform with a path to citizenship for the 11 million aspiring Americans. For more information on events in your area, please check the Alliance for Citizenship webpage: http://www.allianceforcitizenship.org/calendar.

 

On One Year Anniversary of the President’s Executive Action, Immigrants Wait for Relief

On November 20, 2014, in response to strong organizing and calls for relief by the immigrants’ rights community, President Obama announced a series of administrative actions aimed at addressing our broken immigration system. Farmworker Justice is deeply disappointed that two key actions, the creation of the DAPA (Deferred Action for Parents of Americans) program and expansion of the DACA (expanded Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) program, remain in limbo. One year later, millions of potentially eligible families are still waiting for the relief that they need to live in peace, free from the fear of deportation, and to contribute more fully to their communities.

Today we moved one step closer to resolution of the Texas v. US lawsuit with the Department of Justice filing its petition for review in the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court may choose whether or not to review the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals decision upholding the district court’s injunction (order) blocking expanded DACA and DAPA. The Texas v. U.S. lawsuit against the Obama Administration’s DAPA and expanded DACA programs and the ensuing injunction reflects judicial intervention in a political dispute between the Executive Branch and states that disagree with the President’s immigration policy. Farmworker Justice believes the injunction was issued in error and that the ongoing delays perpetuate our terribly broken, inhumane immigration system and stop the federal government from exercising its proper authority. We commend the Department of Justice for its prompt action to seek review of this case in the Supreme Court and we hope the Court will swiftly accept and rule on the case. Farmworker Justice participated in an amicus curiae brief to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and plans to do so for the Supreme Court case as well. We are optimistic that the Supreme Court will rule with the Administration.

DAPA and expanded DACA are vitally important to farmworker families, their communities and the agricultural system. Together, the programs could provide relief to an estimated 700,000 farmworkers and their family members. At least half the farm labor force is undocumented, which contributes to the low wages and labor abuses in the fields. With protection against the constant fear of deportation, farmworkers and other aspiring Americans will be empowered in their workplaces and communities.

Jaime Diaz’s story, published in a Miami Herald op-ed last year, provides just one example of a farmworker whose family could benefit from DAPA. Jaime and his wife have been cultivating and harvesting crops for some 20 years in the United States. With DAPA for Jaime and his wife, Jaime’s family would feel secure and his children would no longer have to fear the police as agents of family separation via deportation. Jaime and his wife and others like them feed us and benefit our economy; they deserve better.

Enforcement Priorities
One successful aspect of the administrative relief is the Department of Homeland Security’s memo that outlines new immigration enforcement priorities. Much work still needs to be done to make sure that the guidelines are followed by enforcement officers and careful consideration is given to exercise prosecutorial discretion in individual cases.

Administrative Action Needed to Curtail Retaliation Against Immigrant Workers

Farmworker Justice joins other allies in continuing to push for workers’ rights by supporting a roadmap to citizenship and urging the Administration to fulfill its goal of “protect[ing] all workers from exploitation and workers’ rights violations, regardless of immigration status.” To support the latter goal, President Obama’s administrative actions included the creation of the Interagency Working Group for the Consistent Enforcement of Federal Labor, Employment and Immigration Laws (“Interagency Working Group”).

The Interagency Working Group’s tasks include the important objective of “strengthen[ing] processes for staying the removal of, and providing temporary work authorization for, undocumented workers asserting workplace claims and for cases in which a workplace investigation or proceeding is ongoing.” While Farmworker Justice and other groups have participated in two stakeholder sessions, we still await concrete actions addressing these issues. Additionally, we hope that the Administration will issue memorandums of understanding between DHS and various federal and state government agencies, such as the NLRB, EEOC, and California’s ALRB.

We are disappointed at the lack of progress on these actions. Meanwhile, workers who seek to improve their working conditions continue to face threats of immigration enforcement in the workplace. In a meatpacking plant in Illinois, ICE conducted an investigation and raid while workers were in the midst of negotiating a new union contract. More about UNITE HERE!’s campaign on behalf of these workers can be found here.

Integral to democracy and human rights is the protection of all workers’ rights. And when some workers at an employer can be intimidated by threats of immigration enforcement, all workers at that employer can lose bargaining power. We urge the Obama Administration to use its remaining year in office to improve protections and establish clear procedures to encourage immigrant workers to exercise their workplace rights and ensure that they are protected from retaliation when they do so. This is extremely important in agriculture where the majority of workers are undocumented.

On this one-year anniversary of President Obama’s executive action on immigration groups across the country are engaged in actions to call for immigration relief and to make clear this is a battle that will continue until we have won immigration reform with a path to citizenship for the 11 million aspiring Americans. For more information on events in your area, please check the Alliance for Citizenship webpage: http://www.allianceforcitizenship.org/calendar.