Tag: immigration

War on immigrants escalates as pandemic worsens

Trump steps up assault on immigration and immigrant communities
by Sunita Sohrabji | Posted August 12, 2020

photo by Leslie Layton
Demonstrator at a Women’s March several years ago calling for immigrant rights.

The Trump administration has made 400 policy changes detrimental to immigrants through its tenure at the White House, with 63 fresh blows meted out amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) in a report released July 31.

“Many of the changes reflect the administration’s really strong knowledge of immigration law and regulations, and their willingness to enforce things that have been on the books for years, but have never been implemented,” said Sarah Pierce, a policy analyst at MPI, who co-authored the report with MPI Associate Policy Analyst Jessica Bolter. read more

Asylum processing suspended as travel restrictions increase

Migrant management strategies are a tool, not a solution
by Lucy Hood | Posted March 29, 2020

photo by Leslie Layton
Migrants in crowded shelters on the Mexican side of the border who are pursuing asylum in the United States may be stuck there indefinitely.

The United States has implemented travel restrictions on an unprecedented scale in recent weeks that immigration experts say are riddled with loopholes and devised in a way that puts vulnerable populations at risk.

This is especially true at the U.S.-Mexican border, they said, where tens of thousands of migrants living in shelters in northern Mexico now have a very slim, if any, chance of pursuing their asylum cases in U.S. immigration courts.

The Trump Administration recently closed the border to nonessential traffic, and in the process invoked a little-known health code to effectively bring asylum petitions to a standstill, said Alex Aleinikoff, director of the Zolbert Institute on Migration and Mobility and a former United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. read more

Teens lead Chico immigration policy protest

High schoolers worry that "history will repeat itself"
by Leslie Layton | Posted July 28, 2019

photo by Leslie Layton
Students from PATCH (Politically Active Teens of Chico High) staffed a voter registration booth.

In matching teal-colored T-shirts, a group of Chico teens Saturday led some 100 people on a downtown march to protest immigration policy and conditions for refugees at the border.

The teens, all of whom are students at Chico High and Inspire School of Arts & Sciences, said they chose teal to reflect the color in the Statute of Liberty torch-holder for a protest designed to recall the conditions that led to the Holocaust.

The protest was titled “March for Freedom: Never Again is Now,” and opened with student and parent speakers at City Plaza downtown.

Jordan Michelena, an organizer who is an Inspire student, said the protest “turned out pretty well for such short notice.” read more

Citizenship gives Santa Rosa dad sense of security

Green-card holders seek protection through citizenship
by Lindajoy Fenly | Posted June 25, 2019

photo by Lindajoy Fenley
Joel Verdejo Flores with children David and Gabriela.

Joel Verdejo Flores worked without authorization for nearly five years in California before obtaining a green card that made him a permanent resident in 1995.

He was 20 years old, Bill Clinton was president and moving beyond residency to citizenship didn’t seem like a pressing matter. But that changed in 2016 with the election of President Donald Trump.

As Trump’s supporters continued shouting, “Build that wall,” the Santa Rosa father of two U.S.-born children heard that immigration enforcement was becoming more rigorous. He stopped wavering.

“When the new president entered, I think that a lot of residents got worried and began to look for a way to become citizens,” he told ChicoSol in an interview in Santa Rosa’s Bicentennial Park, a neighborhood playground his children enjoy. “In the airports, they check your record more and detain you more frequently,” he added. read more

Chico’s “undocumented” attorney earns U.S. citizenship

Sergio Garcia says family-based migration is crucial
by Leslie Layton | Posted June 19, 2019

photo by Karen Laslo
Salvador Covarrubias (left) brought his young son Sergio Garcia to Chico, knowing that the boy would qualify for residency.

It took Sergio C. Garcia longer to become a U.S. citizen than it took for his native country, Mexico, to win independence from Spain.

It took longer than it took for him to win the right to practice law, becoming the nation’s first, so-called undocumented attorney.

Garcia will be sworn in as a U.S. citizen in a ceremony today in Sacramento – the end of a journey that began in 1994 when he was brought to the country as a teen who knew even then that if he was going to live in the United States, he wanted to belong as a participating citizen.

That it took Garcia 25 years to arrive at the belonging he longed for shows how cumbersome the immigration machine can be for people like him who qualify. His story also shows how family ties – one of several ways to qualify for a green card – can be weakened or broken by distance. read more

Protesters oppose policy that hurts children

People line the Skyway to call for migrant family unification
by Leslie Layton | Posted September 7, 2018

photo by Leslie Layton

Almost 50 people showed up for a protest Thursday in Paradise to oppose the Trump administration’s policy of separating children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border. Many of the people passing by on the Skyway honked in support of the protesters.

“I never thought I would be a person outside with a sign,” said one of the organizers, John Tackitt (pictured above behind the banner.) “But even if it’s just doing a little something, it’s something.”

Almost 500 children remain in government-run shelters, and it was reported today that the Trump administration wants to eliminate restrictions on the length of time minors can be held in detention centers. Under new regulations, children will be held indefinitely while their parents’ cases are pending in immigration court. read more