This week’s roundup covers the national Reform Immigration for America Campaign Summit, the United American Families act, a ruling reversal, and state news.
Immigration advocates and activists are gathered in Washington D.C for the Reform Immigration FOR America Campaign Summit. The summit, which began yesterday and will continue through Friday, is sponsored by the Campaign to Reform Immigration for America, a coalition of organizations and individuals pushing for comprehensive immigration reform. As the largest gathering of organizers and allies this year, the summit includes speakers from leading organizations that represent immigration as it encompasses the labor, faith, education, business and the community at large. This past Monday 40 separate local launch events occurred throughout the country. The summit precedes a meeting that President Obama and congressional leaders are planning on June 8 at the White House.
Senate hearings have begun on the United American Families act, a bill sponsored by Senator Patrick Leahy that would allow American citizens and legal immigrants to seek residency in the United States for their same-sex partners the same way spouses currently petition for foreign-born husbands and wives.
Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on Wednesday reversed a Bush administration ruling that held that immigrants did not have a constitutional right to effective lawyers in their deportation hearings. The order called for a thorough review of the law in such cases, and for a period of public comment that could lead to a new rule.
In Wisconsin, the Joint Finance Committee voted to include driver’s cards for undocumented immigrants in the state budget. These special cards would allow them to drive but not receive other rights that traditional licenses hold. Utah is the only state that issues these. Currently, only Washington, Illinois and New Mexico allow undocumented immigrants to receive regular driver’s licenses.
Note: The Opportunity Agenda has done work on this issue. We believe that forcing people into the shadows will never be a smart or workable solution for the security of our nation. Providing driver’s licenses is a real work, workable solution. For talking points in support of providing undocumented immigrants with driver’s licenses, please contact us at contact@opportunityagenda.org.
In Maryland, residents are now required to show proof of legal residence in the country when applying for a driver’s license. Until April 2009, Maryland was the only state on the east coast that did not require proof of legal status. Undocumented immigrants who already have licenses will be allowed to keep them and renew them once.
Deepak Bhargava, executive Director of the Center for Community Change, writes in the Huffington Post about the urgency of immigration reform and applying not only a moral, and human rights perspective, but also an economic perspective. Bhargava highlights that economic urgency has become greater during the recession and says documented workers are unable to advocate for fair wages or humane working conditions without the protection of legal status.
A new poll from Pew that finds (63% to 34%), most Americans favor a way for undocuments immigrants in the United States to gain legal citizenship if they meet certain conditions, including passing background checks and paying fines. This represents a 5 percentage point jump in support compared to 2007.
Read more at The Opportunity Agenda’s website.
