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Challenge and Opportunity in 2019

Posted on Jan 16 2019

In the past two years, we have seen that policies and practices can be changed even without Congressional action or actual changes in the laws. We will continue to support immigrants and refugees, and to fight back against anti-immigrant policies.  In Minnesota, drivers licenses and municipal ID will be on state and local agendas, along with privacy issues arising from both. At the federal level, protection of immigrants comes before both Congress and the courts: DACA, TPS, asylum, the border, and more.

Driver’s licenses

Currently, Minnesota blocks residents who are undocumented immigrants from obtaining driver’s licenses. And yet, it is nearly impossible to live in Minnesota without driving. Without a driver’s license,  seemingly everyday tasks like picking up children from after-school activities or driving to the doctor’s office can result in potentially life-altering consequences. For undocumented residents, something as minor as being pulled over for a burned-out headlight can trigger a series of events that results in separation from their families and the loss of their homes and livelihoods. That uncertainty traumatizes children and takes a deep toll on families and communities. As part of a broad-based coalition, ILCM is advocating for driver’s licenses for all legislation in this year’s Minnesota legislative session.

Municipal ID

Northfield began issuing municipal IDs last June, joining more than 20 U.S. cities or counties, including Milwaukee, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Detroit. Minneapolis voted last year to begin issuing municipal IDs, but is still in the planning stages.

Many undocumented residents face barriers to obtaining critical services as a result of not having a government-issued form of identification. Those services include opening a bank account, filing a police report, obtaining prescription medication for themselves or their children, and picking up children from school.

Municipal IDs offer one way to show that a city welcomes immigrants. Funding deportation defense for city residents is another important step. We support all welcoming city initiatives, including expansion of municipal IDs, state legislation to safeguard privacy of personal information, and local funding for deportation defense.

Comprehensive Immigration Reform

Likely to pass? Not really, but it’s important to remember and focus on this big picture. Our immigration system is broken. Immigrants wait for years for decisions on their petitions, for their spouse’s or children’s place in line to move forward, for their case to be heard by an immigration judge. Just one example: after a U.S. citizen pays the fees and files all the paperwork for their unmarried adult son or daughter to get a green card, the son or daughter must wait for seven to 21 years before their number comes up. (And if the unmarried son or daughter is a national of one of the Muslim ban countries, the petition will be denied.)

We also have 10-11 million undocumented people living in the United States, most of whom have lived here for more than a decade, building lives and families and contributing to their communities. We all need them to have a path to legal residence.

Dreamers and TPS

Both DACA recipients and people with Temporary Protected Status have had minimal protection from deportation and work permits. The Trump administration ordered those protections removed for all DACA recipients and most TPS holders. Congress needs to pass legislation to protect current DACA recipients and all Dreamers who came to this country as children and know this country as their home, and to give them a path to permanent legal residence. Congress also needs to protect TPS holders, who have lived here for decades and whose countries are still unsafe for return, and to give them a path to permanent legal residence.

Asylum

U.S. law protects asylum seekers and gives them the right to ask for refuge here. The Trump administration has tried to stop asylum seekers from even asking for admission, has removed protection for victims of domestic violence and gang violence, and has insisted on jailing asylum seekers for years while their cases languish in an overburdened and backlogged immigration court system.

We will continue to push in both Congress and the courts for the protection of asylum seekers, as already guaranteed in U.S. law.

Deportation Budget

Under previous presidents, undocumented immigrants with serious criminal records were prioritized for deportation, Under this administration, everyone is a priority: a child with cerebral palsy, a father caring for his handicapped son, even permanent residents with minor criminal convictions. People with DUI convictions are now a major category of deportation cases.

To support this contrary-to-common-sense deportation policy, the administration is asking for major increases in funding. Congress must deny these increases and insist on a return to reason.

The Border

We do not need a border wall or soldiers at the border. The number of undocumented immigrants crossing the border has fallen dramatically since 2000, and continues at a lower level than in earlier years, contrary to all the heated rhetoric from the White House. We do not need to militarize the border to stop people who want to turn themselves in to U.S. authorities and ask for asylum. We need more capacity at the border to process asylum seekers and release them to await their hearings.