Know Your Rights Materials For Youth.

Know Your Rights Materials for Youth
A Know Your Rights & Responsibilities Resource for Immigrant Youth



Immigration issues are tricky. There are many ways in which your immigration status – whether you're a green card holder or undocumented – can impact your ability to get a job, go to college, or even remain in the United States. That's why the Immigrant Legal Resource Center created this resource especially for immigrant youth.



The newly released Spanish version can be downloaded at:
http://www.ilrc.org/resources/sijs/Youth_Handbook_Spanish.pdf



The newly released Korean version can be downloaded at:
http://www.ilrc.org/resources/sijs/Youth_Handbook_Korean.pdf

The English version can be downloaded at:
http://www.ilrc.org/resources/sijs/Youth%20Handbook.pdf

Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Prepares to Raid Gulf-Coast

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE



Friday, August 22, 2008



TO: Editor/News Director



Contact: Patricia Ice—office 601-354-9355

Bill Chandler—office 601-968-5182





JACKSON, MS—A series of preparations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on the Gulf Coast has local advocates on edge about the possibility of yet another worksite raid, and yet another devastating blow to businesses, families and communities in the name of immigration enforcement.

“The preparations we are seeing ICE make are alarmingly similar to what occurred immediately prior to the raid on the Agriprocessors, Inc. Kosher meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa, a few months ago, “ said Patricia Ice, an immigration attorney and spokesperson for MIRA. ICE has reportedly booked dozens of rooms in hotels on the Gulf Coast. They may be checking in as early as tonight.

Perhaps even more worrisome are the reports that the federal court in Hattiesburg is being readied for a response similar to the response to the raid in Postville, when nearly 400 plant workers were arrested on trumped up identity theft charges, and slammed through criminal prosecution and judicial removal (being forced to waive all their criminal defense and immigration claims) within just days of the raid. “What happened in Postville was an absolute travesty of justice that must never happen again,” said Ms. Ice. “ICE must assure that any future enforcement actions are conducted in a humane manner and that detainees are permitted their constitutional rights to due process and to legal counsel.”

With all the signs pointing to an impending raid, Ms Ice, other staff and local leaders are working quickly to identify possible targets, educate workers and assemble a team of attorneys to offset the burden on public defenders and provide immigration advice.

The Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance (MIRA) is a membership-based alliance which guarantees the human rights of immigrants and all workers in Mississippi. MIRA works to support immigrants in the exercise of their rights through providing services, organizing, advocacy and public education.




******************************************************************
Catherine Tactaquin, Executive Director
National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights
310 8th St. Ste. 303
Oakland, CA 94607
tel: 510.465.1984 ext. 302
fax: 510.465.1885
ctactaquin@nnirr.org
www.nnirr.org
www.migrantdiaries.blogspot.com

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Queer Activists And Immigrant Activists: Finding Intersections and Working Together

(image from Windy City Times)



Queer Activists And Immigrant Activists: Finding Intersections and Working Together


Posted by: Xiomara Corpeno . Monday, Aug 18, 2008
Cross-issue work between queer and immigrant communities is possible. What are the connections that bring these communities together? And how does a struggle for liberation connect us all?

I started as an activist/organizer while I was getting my bachelor's degree at UC Riverside. I worked on a lot of different issues at that time. Although most of my activism focused on issues most directly affecting people of color, I also spent a lot of my time at the Lesbian Gay Bisexual & Transgender Resource Center after I re-connected with an old high school friend who had since come out of the closet. While my current work focuses on organizing for immigrants rights, I am struck by the similarities of the struggle between queer youth and immigrant youth and the intersections of the systems of oppression which seek to marginalize and divide queer, poor and people of color communities.

When I was in college, hanging out at the LGBT Center eventually turned into being an ally; I worked with the Center and other Student Program offices on joint activities, trying to promote solidarity and understanding between groups. Two successful, albeit sad events, that brought together a wide coalition of campus and community groups were the vigil for Matthew Shepard, as well as the march and memorial services for Tyisha Miller, both victims of hate crimes. Matthew was a young white gay man in Wyoming who was beaten to death by two men he had just met. Tyisha was a young Black woman who was shot and killed by the police while she was passed out in her car in Riverside. At the time, these incidents made it crystal clear for me how homophobia, sexism, and racism were all inevitably intertwined.

While there have been significant gains for the queer movement over the years, many youth remain silent about their identity for fear of violence and/or rejection. And the threat is real. Theresa is a 2008 college graduate who was confronted by her parents about her sexual orientation and over night was cut off from any financial assistance from her parents. Lawrence King, a fifteen year old boy, was murdered earlier this year because of his sexual orientation and gender expression.

Fear of violence is also pervasive in immigrant communities. Incidents like the 2000 beating of two immigrant men in Farmingville, NY are a reminder that hate and racism are still prevalent in the United States. In 2007, plots to attack immigrants with grenades and semi-automatic weapons by white supremacists were uncovered in Alabama, Maryland and Washington, D.C by federal authorities. Of course, the threat of a knock on your door in the middle of the night by ICE agents as well as raids in the workplace make these fears more palpable.

Undocumented youth, like their queer counterparts, live a closeted lifestyle. Even in Los Angeles, one of the largest immigrant cities, there is a clear line (including amongst Latinos) that there is some inherent difference between Latinos on the basis of immigration status. "Wetback, Chunt(aro) and FOB" are still popular insults on the playground. My friend Anita had to endure years of threats from her younger sister who would pick up the phone to call immigration when they would get into petty teenage arguments.

Undocumented students also face depression and feelings of isolation and rejection, as they try to navigate a system that wants them to stay in the 'undocumented closet.' Some student leaders have admitted that they have endured jobs with low-pay and other exploitative conditions because they felt they had few prospects for finding a better job. Others have faced deep depression after graduating from college still unable to find work. Undocumented youth, like queer youth that are in the early stages of coming out to themselves, sometimes reject other undocumented people as a way to negotiate their identity. Sometimes they blame their parents, arguing that they were brought to the United States through no fault of their own. Sometimes we encounter families who will emphasize how their immigrant child deserves a college education for their hard-pressed effort, but they are reluctant to be "tossed" in with the immigrant rights movement.

In response to these struggles, students have developed on-campus clubs in order to form support groups. Like their queer counterparts, these students face the challenge of attracting other undocumented students, without necessarily outing themselves or others because of some of the repercussions that might bring. On some campuses, like Cal-State Dominguez Hills, organizations like these have blossomed, but on other campuses, like Bakersfield Community College, there are just two friends who hope to be able to transfer soon. Our biggest success is in the California DREAM Network, made up of over 25 campus groups who have joined together in the fight for access to higher education.

Over 65,000 undocumented youth graduate from high school every year with little means to attend college. When we talk about undocumented youth, we mostly focus on the top students who are trying to make it against the odds. But this figure does not account for all undocumented young people, because just as many drop out of high school when they figure out there are few options for them upon graduation.

While we should also recognize the unique struggles faced by both groups, we must be clear that both of these communities have been marginalized as part of the same system of oppression that took land away from Native Americans, legalized slavery, and placed U.S. Citizens of Japanese descent in concentration camps. Cross-issue work is difficult in the United States. For many organizations, their funding relies on being an "expert" in their field. Cross-issue work is a process and there are gains and misunderstandings along the way. But the first step is to start open, honest and respectful dialogue to bridge understanding, instead of avoiding topics that can be construed as sticky or controversial.

CHIRLA, in conjunction with Mobilize the Immigrant Vote first began with conversations about how "wedge" issues are created and who benefits from the divisions they create. The next steps have included educational workshops for our members on Lesbian, Gay, and Transgender definitions and issues, as well as workshops on the historical context of oppression in the United States. Our conversations are far from over because the struggle for liberation of all peoples is on-going.

Karl Heinrich Ulrichs is credited for being one of the first gay rights activists and in the 1860s he began to promote the idea of coming out as a means of liberation. Ulrichs understood that while people remained in hiding, ashamed or fearful of embracing their identity, it would be impossible to challenge and eventually change the dominant world view about being gay. As activists and organizers in these or other struggles, the concept of liberation should ring true for all communities. My hope is that this piece inspires queer activists and immigrant justice activists to find ways to get together and work for liberation together.

Xiomara Corpeno is the Director of Organizing with the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA). She is also a 2008 Taproots Fellow. Read her bio here.

http://communitychange.org/our-projects/movementvisionlab/blog/queer-activists-and-immigrant-activists/view

Cops Enforcing Immigration Laws Bust County Budgets

Cops Enforcing Immigration Laws Bust County Budgets

By Anthony D. Advincula

New American Media, Posted on August 14, 2008

http://www.alternet.org/immigration/95092/

When local cops enforce federal immigration laws, the police department may not only incur significant costs, but may also fail to attend to more serious crimes and delay response times to most emergency calls, according to a report released by the Immigration Policy Center (IPC).

Take the case of Maricopa County, Ariz. Since Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio transformed his department into an immigration-enforcement agency,following a partnership made by the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on January 19, 2007, his
office has incurred a $1.3 million deficit in just three months.

Maricopa's police officers began working 4,500 extra hours every two-week pay period during the first month of the partnership, as compared to 2,900 extra hours the previous month, the report said. In April 2007, police officers worked more than 9,000 overtime hours and cost the county's
taxpayers $373,757.

Maricopa County is not an isolated case. More and more cities across the country that allow the police to carry out federal immigration laws get themselves in a similar economic quagmire. Many of them find that it is much
more expensive than they thought.

Recently, the initiative against illegal immigration in Prince William County, Va., raised its costs to $6.9 million for the budget year that starts July 1, because of overcrowding at the county jail.

Immigrant rights advocates also say that even cities like Valley Park, Mo.and Hazleton, Pa. -where local enforcement takes a more aggressive approach than simply relying on ICE to perform federal immigration operations -may fall into deep budget pits soon. "This kind of local enforcement just leaves
counties broke, aside from many other negative consequences," said Michele Waslin, senior policy analyst for IPC. "It makes the community frightened and forces many businesses to close down."

While police officers arrest undocumented immigrants, Waslin says that they fail to catch the human smuggling rings. "I don't think that cops who become immigration agents are effective to help in stopping the flow of illegal
immigration," she said.

The two-page IPC report, based mainly on the findings of a series of
investigative stories published in Phoenix-based East Valley Tribune , also revealed that since Maricopa County cops started looking for undocumented immigrants, the county's arrest rate for serious crimes -including robberies, aggravated assaults and sex crimes -decreased dramatically -and these crimes received little or no investigation. Arpaio's office in 2005
cleared 10.5 percent of its investigations with arrests. When immigration
operations began, according to the report, that number dropped to 6 percent.

In July 2007, the county's police only made arrests on 2.5 percent of their investigations. Because more officers need to be added to the immigration
team, the report said that Arpaio pulled deputies off patrol beats and used them to staff the human smuggling unit, resulting in more delays when responding to 911 and other emergency calls. Patrol districts, trails and lake divisions as well as the central investigations bureau all lost deputies. Allegations of racial profiling have also stung the county, as
Arpaio's team increasingly conducts large-scale operations without any evidence of criminal activity in Latino neighborhoods or sites where day
laborers convene.

"Some of these will ultimately lead to costly lawsuits," Waslin added. "In any way, the idea of cops doing federal immigration enforcement is very problematic. It's not just going to work.

Anthony D. Advincula is a New York based editor at NAM.

AUGUST 30: INTERNATIONAL DAY OF THE DISAPPEARED

AUGUST 30: INTERNATIONAL DAY OF THE DISAPPEARED

In Your Community and Everywhere
A Day to Remember, A Day to Take Action

FREEDOM TO POLITICAL PRISONERS - APPEARANCE OF THE DISAPPEARED!

In solidarity with the international call from the Association of Families of the Disappeared and Victims of Violations of Human Rights in Mexico (AFADEM), and by the Latin American Federation of Associations of Families of Disappeared Detainees (FEDEFAM)...

We of the Solidarity Without Borders Delegation call upon groups in the United States to participate in August 30, as a day of remembrance and a day of action for those disappeared and those detained.

As repression rises across the United States against immigrant communities and communities of color...

As political prisoners continue to struggle for freedom behind bars, and as more dissidents are taken captive as "terrorists" under the pretext of homeland security...

As Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) imposes a reign of terror with raids, roundups, deportations, detentions and disappearances...

As the government strips detainees of their rights from Guantanamo to Iraq to Black Sites across the globe...

As private corporations, multinationals and security contractors profit from every detention, disappearance, and incarceration, from our communities to occupied territories abroad...

MAKE AUGUST 30 A DAY FOR MEMORY AGAINST FORGETTING. A DAY FOR STRUGGLE AGAINST SILENCE.

As the US exports this repression globally to serve and protect its corporate interests, to enforce its capitalist agenda on the world...

As the US sponsors state and paramilitary violence against people's movements in Mexico, such as the Zapatistas in Chiapas and the popular struggles in Oaxaca...

As the US continues its 30-year campaign to silence those who resist in Latin America, from Plan Colombia to Plan Mexico and on to the Security and Prosperity Partnership...

As occupying forces continue to disappear thousands of people from their homes and streets in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Haiti, and beyond...

As those who commit these crimes against humanity have never been brought to
justice, and as impunity reigns in the halls of power...

MAKE AUGUST 30 A DAY TO GLOBALIZE OUR REMEMBRANCE, A DAY TO GLOBALIZE OUR RESISTANCE.

ON AUGUST 30 WE ALSO STAND IN SOLIDARITY WITH...

Those commemorating Black August, in memory of the freedom fighters.
Those still struggling in New Orleans and beyond on the anniversary of Katrina.
Those mobilizing for political prisoners and for immigrant rights at the DNC and those mobilizing against the RNC.
Those struggling every day in their communities and behind bars.

THIS AUGUST 30 AND BEYOND, WE UNITE WITH OUR SISTERS AND BROTHERS IN AFFECTED COMMUNITIES TO DEMAND...

Freedom to All Political Prisoners!
Appearance of the Disappeared!
Not One More Raid! Not One More Deportation!
Not One More Detention! Not One More Murder!

WHAT SHAPE COULD THE AUGUST 30 DAY OF ACTION TAKE IN YOUR COMMUNITY?

A March of Silence?
A Disappear-In? Direct Action Street Theatre?
An action at your local Detention Center?
An act of solidarity around the DNC or RNC?
A display of the faces and names of those disappeared or detained in your community?
A dialogue or forum with the families and communities hit hardest by repression?
Building local coalitions, supporting existing movements of resistance in your community?
It´s up to you...

EDUCATE. AGITATE. ORGANIZE.

For Our Dead and Disappeared
Not a Moment of Silence But a Lifetime of Struggle!

From Oaxaca, Mexico in struggle,

Solidarity Without Borders Delegation


ORIGINAL CALL TO ACTION FROM AFADEM/FEDEFAM

International Day of the Disappeared Detainee

Since 1981, we have commemorated the International Day of the Disappeared Detainee in Latin America. The purpose of this day is to remember men and women who were taken from their homes by criminal hands. They were beings who did not hesitate to offer their life to construct a world where peace with justice predominates.

They were taken prisoner by those who thought themselves lords of their lives, who applied the doctrine of national security through the most ferocious terrorism of the State, commiting grave violations of human rights, excelling by their cruelty to the forced disappearance.

Throughout these years, families have been added to the commemoration of the disappeared in Asia, Africa, and the European Continent. Various governments of these continents have recognized the proposal pushed by the Latin American Federation of Associations of Families of Disappeared Detainees (FEDEFAM), the establishment of the 30th of August as the International Day of the Disappeared Detainee, among them the Bolivarian of Venezuela.

Sadly, in Colombia, the forced disappearance is still practiced. Every day many Colombians are victims of disappearance and other violations of human rights, they are assassinated and tortured. But also in other countries of our Latin America, repression and the perpetual violation of rights live on, above all those that apply the economic project designed by the government of the USA. For this reason we demand the termination of any attempt to continue training soldiers to repress and murder the peoples.

Impunity is a grave problem that we confront day to day in many of our countries, thanks to which those who committed crimes against humanity have never even been brought to justice nor punished. This is leaving grave consequences among our people. Human life is devalorized, confidence in justice is lost, and democracy is degraded.

We, FEDEFAM, together with social organizations, will continue pushing preventative actions so that the forced disappearance will be definitively eradicated in Latin America and in the world.

FEDEFAM:
25 Years of Struggle for Truth
For Justice and Against Impunity!
For the Right Not to Be Disappeared!
Association of Families of Disappeared Detainees and Victims of Violations of Human Rights in Mexico, AFADEM-FEDEFAM
FEDEFAM: 20 years of struggle against impunity
AFADEM: 30 years of struggle against impunity

FREEDOM TO POLITICAL PRISONERS - APPEARANCE OF THE DISAPPEARED

A survey for and about Families of Color

Lifting Voices, a survey for and about Families of Color


Dear friends and colleagues, as many of you know Family Equality Council just launched Project Harmony.

Project Harmony is a voice for families of color within and outside of Family Equality Council. As such our mission as a program is to actively:



raise issues relevant to our combined oppressions, leading us to challenge ourselves and the overall LGBTQ movement on our assumptions and actions;
raise and promote an anti-oppression agenda with, for and by our 40,000+ constituent membership, partnerships and programs;
promote racial equality and economic opportunities that include, but are not limited to, access to services, maintaining cultural heritage in mixed race adoptions, building community for those in mixed raced families, and to support and work collectively with other local, statewide, and national organizations to address oppression


As part of this project we will be conducting a participatory research initiative which will produce a report on the conditions of LGBTQ-headed Families of Color to guide program creation and capacity building for the Family Equality movement and organizations.



The quantitative part of this project is the Lifting Voices Survey. We would like to encourage you to distribute the link to the survey and promote the participation of your members and colleagues on it!



To fill out the survey please visit: www.familyequality.org/harmony and click on the Lifting Voices Survey Box!!!!!!

National Queer and Transgender Vision Statement on Immigration Reform

QUEERS AND IMMIGRATION: A VISION STATEMENT

Two of the most divisive issues in the United States today are those concerning Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer rights and immigration. There is little discussion of how immigration is also an issue for queer people, and even less analysis of the structural similarities between queer and immigrant struggles. Queer immigrants are marginalized or invisible at the intersection of two identities. As a whole, more complex family structures -- such as those of binational same-sex couples and extended families -- are completely absent from the larger struggle for immigration reform.

The immigrant advocacy movement places undue emphasis on heteronormative relationships and conceptions of normality in an effort to gain basic citizenship rights. The mainstream LGBTQ rights movement tends to focus on those immigrants who are partners of US citizens. This leaves out the predicament of, for instance, single people and/or those who do not define themselves within conventional relationships like marriage or conjugality. Both movements are depriving themselves of the power and strategic insights that LGBTQ immigrants can provide. We, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and gender-nonconforming people and allies, stand in solidarity with the immigrant rights movement. With this statement, we call for genuinely progressive immigration reform that helps LGBTQ immigrants.

We recognize that many in our community live as queers and immigrants and we are taking this opportunity, at a historic moment for both groups, to articulate our analysis of the immigration debate. We call for an end to the stigmatization of queer individuals, the recognition of our varied, unique, and flexible kinship networks, the end of the restrictive and dangerous criminalization of migrant and queer communities, and an immigration reform package that puts progressive labor reforms into practice.

The 2006 elections provided mixed results for our communities. Even though anti-LGBTQ ballots were being passed around the country, Arizona voters defeated a measure that would further stigmatize LGBTQ people (Proposition 107). Nationally, voters rejected anti-immigrant candidates running for Congress. Sadly, draconian anti-immigrant amendments were approved at the state level in Arizona (Propositions 100, 102, 103, and 300) and Colorado (Referendums H and K). These measures will have a severely negative impact on the lives of LGBTQ immigrants, virtually nullifying the positive gains of the election. We are strongly against states initiating laws that have detrimental effects on both queer and non-queer-identified people. In the past year we have seen bills such as HR4437 and the Senate Bill S261. There are several problematic aspects of these bills, and none of these bills address the needs of LGBT immigrants. We focus on the following issues:

HIV Ban
We call for an immediate repeal of the HIV ban and bar on travel and immigration. The bar forces several immigrants to hide their HIV status and into criminalization. Moreover, the HIV bar is an unscientific public health measure because it perpetuates the stigma about HIV/AIDS. In many cases, the mandatory immigrant visa-related HIV test at the time of the adjustment of status application is the first diagnosis of HIV for an immigrant who may not be subsequently offered counseling or treatment options. The ban is ostensibly designed to keep the virus out, but it only penalizes HIV positive people, many of whom are already in the country. Moreover, immigrants are often infected in the US. The ban defines them as public health risks instead of ensuring their access to health care.

Under the current ban, waivers are offered on the basis of qualifying familial relationships. The ban does not offer waivers for non-conjugal relationships/kinship networks/same-sex partnerships and perpetuates the traditional devaluing of non-heteronormative bonds. We call for the reinstating of individual hardship waivers that would allow an individual to self-petition for humanitarian reasons or reasons of public interest—similar to those in place before the 1996 reforms which instituted the familial relationship requirement.

Policing the Border
The proposal for a national wall along the 20,000 mile border between US and Mexico is economically unsustainable and takes away from programs like education and public assistance. A wall would expand the existing police state and harm inflicted upon immigrants entering at the border. As the National Immigration Forum has reported, increased surveillance only results in increased desperation as migrant workers face injury, exploitation by coyotes, and the increased possibility of dying: “From January 1995 through March 2004, more than 2,640 migrants died. In the last four years there has been on average more than one death per day. A record 460 migrants lost their lives this past year compared to 325 in 2004, according to the U.S. Border Patrol.” Clearly, spending on border security drains much-needed resources from US society and is not effective. These same resources could be used to strengthen social services for all within the US and to improve the economies of countries that send immigrants. Paradoxically, the demand for the wall comes with an increase in demand and need for immigrant labor in the US (Mexicans form 40% of California’s agricultural labor force). It heightens anti-immigrant sentiment among US citizens and only extends the exploitation of immigrant labor.

The proposed wall is also detrimental to Native Americans and indigenous peoples. There are 26 federally recognized Native American tribes that live between Mexico and the US. These tribes are currently allowed to move freely in the border region; the wall would drastically change their way of life. Immigrants follow a travel cycle dependent upon work demand. This cycle would be interrupted by a wall and increased security by forcing them to stay in the US when it may be in their best interests to travel back to their country of origin. The construction of a wall would be counterproductive, increasing rather than reducing undocumented migration into the US.

Family
The current definition of family in immigration law is limited to parents, spouses, and children. This definition also implies a heterosexual family structure. Unfortunately it is very restrictive because it leaves out most of the family structures in which LGBTQ immigrants live. Partners in same-sex binational couples, aunts and uncles, grandparents, cousins, nieces and nephews, and other extended family members are not considered eligible under this narrow definition (if recognition is granted, such as in the case of siblings, the time it takes to obtain a family-based visa is so long that it is equivalent to not having the benefit at all). As a result, the broad universe of non- heteronormative family units created by LGBTQ immigrants is automatically excluded from receiving immigration benefits. Both the LGBTQ and immigrant rights communities need to work towards expanding their narrow definitions of “family” in order to better serve all immigrants, including LGBTQ immigrants.

Asylum
Applying for asylum based on sexual orientation is the only way for some of the most vulnerable LGBTQ immigrants to legalize their status. Currently, those who apply for asylum based on sexual orientation must do so within a year of entering the country. This disproportionately affects LGBTQ immigrants since many of them are unaware of the asylum provision or are recovering from torture and persecution. Many LGBTQ immigrants are affected by homophobia and transphobia in their day to day lives. This leads to isolation and lack of access to information and resources and delays their applying for asylum based on sexual orientation. We call upon removing the one year deadline for applying for political asylum. Moreover, the category of aggravated felony is being expanded to include offenses such as shoplifting and prostitution; this expansion only applies to immigrants. Individuals charged with aggravated felony are barred from any immigration relief including asylum. This is unjust and only a way of keeping more people from applying for immigration relief.

Harboring Provisions
Harboring is the act of protecting or in any way assisting an undocumented immigrant. Harboring provisions appear in both the House and Senate Bills and target individuals and organizations
that provide assistance to undocumented immigrants with financial aid, food, housing, and other basic social services. Currently
individuals--friends or partners--who live with undocumented immigrants and immigrants who overstay their visas for any significant
length of time are targeted under harboring provisions. US citizen partners of many foreign nationals, who are often denied
legal relationships with their partners, could be targeted and prosecuted under harboring provisions and face fines, asset
seizure, and imprisonment. We oppose efforts to criminalize those who assist the immigrant community, their families, and
loved ones through harboring provisions.

Guest Worker Programs
The guest worker program provisions create a two-tiered system that divides our communities into “better” and “worse” immigrants depending on how long they have been in the country and what kind of work they do. It establishes hierarchies among immigrants based on their income potential and class categories. Under the guest worker program, employers may underpay and/or mistreat low-wage, temporary workers who cannot seek redress for fear of being left without employer sponsors. The program allows work-visa holders in supposedly more prestigious industries to gain citizenship more quickly. Such programs undercut and divide the labor rights movement in the U.S. by making it impossible to regulate immigrant workers’ rights. This hurts US workers, especially those with fewer skills and low income. Moreover, the proposed guest worker program calls for mandatory HIV testing, making it the only non-immigrant visa worker program that actively discriminates against immigrants by requiring them to take an HIV test. We support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and call for it to be extended to immigrants, especially since an LGBTQ immigrant may lose his or her ability to live in the U.S. if fired for sexual or gender identity.


Reforms

We demand genuine legalization and opportunities to adjust status for all undocumented immigrants. We believe that the current immigration system is broken and in need of repair. To that end, we demand the following:

• Enact genuinely progressive immigration legislation at the state level that respects the human rights of immigrants. We call for all states to opt out of the Real I.D. Act, reinstate in-state tuition fees for undocumented immigrant students, and not pass legislation that will disallow undocumented immigrants from accessing public benefits. Proposed legislation would allow for greater collaboration between local police and immigration enforcement officials. We are against such collaboration because turning police officers into immigration officials would further jeopardize the already fragmented relationship between police and immigrant communities.

• Repeal the HIV ban immediately.

• End the one year deadline for applying for asylum

• End the heightened policing and criminalization of immigrant communities, including the increased militarization of the border, the construction of any wall around the US-Mexico border, and/or the use of city and state government agencies to enforce federal immigration law.

• End the indefinite and mandatory detention of non-citizens and ensure the safety and self-determination of all people, regardless of national origin, religion, race, gender or sexuality. Detention is particularly harsh for LGBTQ and HIV positive detainees. Rape, harassment, abuse, and denial of HIV treatment/hormone therapy are some of the routine forms of hardship that LGBTQ people face in detention.

• Strengthen labor laws and protections for all workers, native and foreign born, and end guest worker proposals that would continue the exploitation of many low-wage workers.

• End penalties imposed upon service providers and family members of undocumented immigrants.

• Repeal the Real I.D. Act, which creates a national database and makes it more difficult to obtain legal identification, thus causing hardship for thousands of people who cannot obtain identification. In addition, we demand that the Federal government not penalize states that opt out of the Real I.D. Act by, for instance, withdrawing support for educational programs. This Act is particularly hostile to transgender people who can be penalized and deported if birth records do not match current IDs. The national database is also worrisome for transgender workers who may not be open about their transitions at work.

• Eliminate the high-income requirements for immigrant sponsors.

• Eliminate the 3 and 10-year bars for so-called unlawful presence.

• Support efforts to create and affirm the broader definitions of family and kinship patterns in which LGBTQ people already live. Currently, LGBTQ US citizens and Green Card holders cannot sponsor their partners for immigration. The Uniting American Families Act would allow them to do so. We urge the passage of the Uniting American Families Act. But this is only a first step in the direction of the expansion of the definition of “family.” A truly fair immigration system should recognize all families in our LGBTQ and immigrant communities, including non-immediate relatives and non-traditional families of our choice. We call for the end of immigration reform based on the notion of conjugality and instead support efforts to broaden definitions of “family” and end inequality.

• Support legalization for all immigrants, including undocumented immigrants. End the criminalization of immigrants by preventing the expansion of deportation criteria and increased penalties for minor offenses.

As LGBTQ people (both immigrants and non-immigrants) we would like to express our disappointment with President George W. Bush. In addition to promoting the Federal Marriage Amendment, he has given in to the radical elements in his party and backed down on his commitment to immigration reform by choosing to focus on enforcement. The LGBTQ community is once again let down by lawmakers who are playing with our lives.

The undersigned are coming out as LGBTQ immigrants and allies in support of genuinely progressive immigration reform. Our natural allies are the LGBTQ and immigrant rights communities and we are eager to work with you towards achieving social justice for all. We will insist that both movements’ strategies address the intersection where we live and love and struggle.


List of Endorsing Organizations as of 03/01/2007:

If your organization would like to be added to the list of signatories,
please email Debanuj DasGupta at debanuj@q4ej.org

ALLGO, A Statewide Queer People of Color Organization
701 Tillery St. Box 4
Austin, TX 78702
Phone: (512) 472-2001
Fax: (512) 385-2970

American Friends Service Committee
1501 Cherry Street
Philadelphia, PA 19102
Phone: (215) 241-7000

The Audre Lorde Project
85 South Oxford Street
Brooklyn, NY 11217-1607
Phone: (718) 596-0342
Fax: (718) 596-1328

Boston Mayday Coalition
c/o Kaveri Rajaraman

The Center Project
307 Highway 15
PO Box 3448
Myrtle Beach, SC 29578-3448
Phone: (843) 626-4953
Fax: (843) 626-9900

El CENTRO de Igualdad y Derechos
1701 Broadway SE
Albuquerque, NM 87102
Phone: (505) 246-1627

Chicago Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Immigrants Alliance (CLIA)
c/o Latinos Progesando
Phone: (312) 850-0572

Chican@/Latin@ Academic Student Development
MultiCultural Student Development
245 Cesar E. Chavez Student Learning Center
University of California, Berkeley
Phone: (510) 642-1802


Chinese for Affirmative Action/Center for Asian American Advocacy
17 Walter U. Lum Place,
San Francisco, CA 94108
Phone: (415) 274-6760

COLAGE National Office
1550 Bryant Street
Suite 830
San Francisco, CA 94103
Phone: (415) 861-5437
Fax: (415) 255-8345

The Colorado Anti Violence Program
P.O. Box 181085
Denver, CO 80218
Phone: (303) 839-5204
Fax: (303) 839-5205

Coloradans For Immigrants Rights (CFIR)
901 W. 14th Avenue #7
Denver, Colorado 80204
Phone: (303) 623-3464
Fax: (303) 623-3492

Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition (CIRC)
1212 Mariposa St, Suite 5
Denver, CO 80804
Phone: (303) 893-3500
Fax: (303) 893-3505

The Colorado Progressive Coalition
1600 Downing Street, Suite 210
Denver, CO 80218
Phone: (303) 866-0908
Fax: (303) 832-6416

Colorado Stonewall Democrats
c/o Colorado Democratic Party
777 Santa Fe Drive
Denver, CO 80204

Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES)
168 7th St.
Brooklyn, NY 11215
Phone: (212) 465-8115

DRUM – Desis Rising Up and Moving
72-26 Broadway, 4th Floor,
Jackson Heights, NY 11372
Phone: (718) 205 3036
Fax: (718) 205 3037
Equality Alabama
P.O. Box 13733
Birmingham, AL 35202
Phone: (205) 445-4843

Equality Illinois
3712 North Broadway,#125
Chicago, IL 60613
Phone: (773)477-7173

Filipinos for Affirmative Action
310 8th Street, Suite 306
Oakland, CA 94607
Phone: (510) 465-9876

GABRIELA Network
PO Box 403
Times Square Station
New York, NY 10108 USA
Phone: (212) 592-3507

GABRIELA Network Chicago Chapter
P.O. Box 259 392
Chicago, IL 60625
Phone: (708) 439-4071

GABRIELA Network, SF Bay Area Chapter
3543 18th Street, #17
San Francisco, CA 94110

Gay Men’s Health Crisis
Tisch Building
119 West 24th Street
New York, NY10011
Phone: (212)367-1200

Highlander Research and Education Center
1959 Highlander Way
New Market, TN 37820
Phone: (865) 933-3443
Fax: (865) 933-3424

Indigenous Dialogue
c/o Jesse Lokahi Heiwa
lavenderblock@yahoo.com

Joplin Gay & Lesbian Center
PO Box 4383
Joplin, MO 64803-4383
Phone: (417) 642-5626

La Raza Centro Legal
474 Valencia Street, Suite 295
San Francisco, CA 94103
Phone: (415) 575-3500
Fax: (415)
255-7593

The Latina SafeHouse Initiative
Denver, CO
Phone: (303) 433-7208

LGBT Community Center of Central Iowa
3839 Merle Hay Road, Suite 227
Des Moines, IA 50312
Phone: (515) 277-7884

Lighthouse Community Center
1217 A Street
Hayward, CA 94541
Phone: (510) 881-8167

Love Sees No Borders
P.O. Box 60486
Sunnyvale, CA 94088
Fax: (413) 502-4758

LUZ: A Reproductive Justice Think Tank
www.luzthinktank.org

Movement for a Democratic Society (MDS), New York City
www.movementforademocraticsociety.org

National Center for Lesbian Rights
870 Market Street, Suite 370
San Francisco, CA 94102
Phone: (415) 392-6257

National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs
240 West 35th Street, Suite 200
New York, NY 10001
Phone: (212) 714-1184
Fax: (212) 714-2627

National Immigration Project
The National Lawyers Guild
14 Beacon Street, Suite 602
Boston, MA 02108
Phone: (617) 227-9727
Fax: (617) 227-5495


National Lawyers Guild
132 Nassau Street, Rm. 922
New York, NY 10038
Phone: (212) 679-5100
Fax: (212) 679-2811

National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights
310-8th St., Ste. 303
Oakland, CA 94607, USA
Phone: (510) 465-1984
Fax: (510) 465-1885

National Transgender Advocacy Coalition
PO Box 76027
Washington, DC 20013
Phone: (978)373-8898

New York City Anti-Violence Project
240 35th St, Suite 200
New York, NY 10001
Phone: (212) 714-1184, ext. 50

Northwest Immigrant Rights Project
615 Second Ave., Ste. 400
Seattle, WA 98104
Phone: (206) 587-4009
Fax: (206) 587-4025

People of Faith CT
POB 270811
West Hartford, CT 06127
Phone: (860) 841-5006

Pride At Work, AFL-CIO
815 16th St, NW
Washington, DC 20006
Phone: (202) 637-5085
Fax: (202) 508-6923

Queens Pride House
Diversity Center of Queens
76-11 37th Ave. Suite 206
Jackson Heights, NY 11372
Phone: (718) 429-5309

Queer Immigrant Rights Project (QuIR)
590 Fort Washington Avenue, Apt. 2J
New York, NY 10033


Queers for Economic Justice
16 W. 32nd St., #10H
New York, NY 10001
Phone: (212) 564-3608
Fax: (212) 564-0590

R.U.1.2? Queer Community Center
PO Box 5883
Burlington, VT 05402
Phone: (802) 860-7812

South Asian American Leaders of Tomorrow (SAALT)
6930 Carroll Avenue, Suite 400L
Takoma Park, MD 20912
Phone: (301) 270-1855
Fax: (301) 270-4000

South Asian Network
18173 S. Pioneer Blvd, Suite I
Artesia, CA 90701
Phone: (562) 403-0488, ext. 108
Fax: (562) 403-0487

Southerners On New Ground / S.O.N.G.
c/o Paulina Hernandez
Phone: (865) 387-8236

Sylvia Rivera Law Project
322 8th Avenue, 3rd Floor
New York, NY 10001
Phone: (212) 337-8550
Fax: (212) 337-1972

Triangle Foundation
19641 West Seven Mile Road
Detroit, Michigan 48219-2721
Phone: (313) 537-3323
Fax: (313) 537-3379

Unid@s, the National Latina/o Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Human Rights Organization
1403 Fifth Avenue #6 New York, NY 10029
Phone: (646) 358-1479