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IN THIS ISSUE
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Read this issue of IMMIGRANTS' RIGHTS UPDATE online at:
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http://www.nilc.org/pubs/iru/iru2009-06-10.htm |
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NEW ON NILC's WEBSITE (since December 18, 2008)
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| New Reports on U.S. Immigrant Detention System Raise Troubling Issues |
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EDITOR'S NOTE: Since December, Immigrants' Rights Update has been on hiatus (to borrow a TV industry term) as I focused on helping to prepare a new report about the U.S. immigration detention system that will be published jointly by NILC, the ACLU of Southern California, and the law firm Holland & Knight. Due for release later this summer, the report presents the first-ever system-wide look at the federal government's compliance with its own standards regulating detention facilities. It is based on analysis of approximately 18,000 pages of previously unreleased portions of hundreds of detention facility review reports that the government made available only as a result of court-ordered discovery in a class action lawsuit, Orantes-Hernandez v. Holder.
Meanwhile, other organizations deeply concerned about issues arising from the dramatic expansion of the immigrant detention system over the past several years have published reports detailing what they have learned via interviews with detainees and former detainees, site visits, and other information sources. I've provided links to some of these reports, below and on our "Arrest and Detention" webpage.
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U.S. Detention of Asylum Seekers: Seeking Protection, Finding Prison (Human Rights First, Apr. 2009).
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Detained and Dismissed: Women's Struggles to Obtain Health Care in United States Immigration Detention (Human Rights Watch, Mar. 17, 2009).
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Dying for Decent Care: Bad Medicine in Immigration Custody (Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center, Feb. 2009).
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Jailed Without Justice: Immigration Detention in the USA (Amnesty International, Mar. 2009).
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Unseen Prisoners: A Report on Women in Immigration Detention Facilities in Arizona (Southwest Institute for Research on Women and Bacon Immigration Law and Policy Program, Univ. of Arizona, Jan. 2009).
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| Ninth Circuit Affirms District Court's Order Upholding the Injunction in Orantes-Hernandez v. Holder |
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The Ninth Circuit issued its affirmation of the district court's order on April 6, 2009. Information on our "Arrest and Detention" webpage about the Orantes case, a lawsuit originally brought in 1982 to challenge coercive practices by immigration agents that pressured nationals of El Salvador fleeing their country's civil war to forfeit meritorious claims to asylum, includes newsletter articles, news releases, and court documents.
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| Immigration Officials Sued for Holding Detainees in Appalling Conditions at Los Angeles Detention Facility |
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The lawsuit, Castellano et al. v. Napolitano, charges that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) holds detained immigrants in a facility, known as Room B-18, under egregious, unsanitary conditions -- without soap, drinking water, toothpaste or toothbrushes, sanitary napkins, changes of clothing, or showers. The lawsuit was filed by NILC, the ACLU of Southern California, and the law firm of Paul, Hastings, Janofsky and Walker LLP on April 1, 2009.
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Read the news release.
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Read the complaint.
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| More Questions Than Answers about the Secure Communities Program |
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Secure Communities, a program in which (a) the fingerprints of persons arrested by local law enforcement agencies are checked against U.S. Department of Homeland Security databases and (b) U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is automatically notified of matches so it can take "appropriate action," applies to arrested immigrants regardless of their guilt or innocence, how or why they were arrested, and whether or not their arrests were based on racial or ethnic profiling or were just a pretext for checking immigration status. ICE fact sheets and press releases about the program leave many critical questions unanswered, according to a March 2009 issue brief prepared by Joan Friedland, NILC's immigration policy director.
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| DREAM Act Reintroduced in House and Senate |
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The Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act is bipartisan legislation that addresses the situation faced by young people who were brought to the United States years ago as undocumented immigrant children, and who have since grown up here but are being denied the ability to fully contribute to society. In the present session of Congress, the DREAM Act was introduced on March 26, 2009. Our statement about the legislation's introduction also links to statements made by its principal sponsors in the House and Senate.
If you would like to see DREAM become law, please make whatever use you can of our updated DREAM-related materials (see the list, below) and keep abreast of the latest developments by checking out our DREAM Weekly Updates.
You can also get to know a little more about some who stand to benefit from passage of DREAM by reading testimonials, collected by Dreamactivist.org, that relate the daily challenges and inspirational life experiences of undocumented youth who were brought to the U.S. when they were children.
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DREAM Act: Basic Information (updated 3/30/09)
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DREAM Act: Summary (updated 3/31/09)
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Why Enactment of the DREAM Act Would Aid the Ailing Economy and Generate Tax Revenues (3/26/09)
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Basic Facts about In-State Tuition for Undocumented Immigrant Students (updated 2/23/09)
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| Legalizing Undocumented Immigrants: An Essential Tool in Fighting Poverty |
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Immigration reform that both broadly legalizes undocumented immigrants currently in the U.S. and legalizes future immigration flows would (1) improve the economic well-being of legalized immigrants and their families, who are disproportionately low-income; (2) have a positive economic impact on other low-income individuals and on economic recovery and growth; and (3) create political space for broader antipoverty legislation, Jonathan Blazer and Josh Bernstein argue in this article, first published in the Nov.-Dec. 2008 issue of Clearinghouse Review. Jonathan is a NILC public benefits policy attorney, and Josh was formerly NILC's director of federal policy.
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| Facts About the New State Option to Provide Health Coverage to Immigrant Children and Pregnant Women |
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The recently enacted Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 (CHIPRA) provides states with a new opportunity to provide affordable health coverage to many immigrant children and pregnant women through Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). This new law was drawn from earlier legislation, the Immigrant Children's Health Improvement Act (ICHIA), which had longstanding bipartisan support. By allowing states to cover more immigrant children and pregnant women, the new law begins to address some of the health inequities and disparities in our health care system. A NILC fact sheet, posted on April 2, highlights the key elements of this new law.
Other information about ICHIA and CHIPRA, including links to President Barack Obama's remarks upon signing the new legislation, are available on our ICHIA webpage. "In a decent society," the president declared, "there are certain obligations that are not subject to tradeoffs or negotiation; health care for our children is one of those obligations."
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| Social Security Administration Issues Final Instructions on SSI Extension for Asylees and Other Humanitarian Immigrants |
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The Social Security Administration has issued new instructions for implementing the SSI Extension for Elderly and Disabled Refugees Act (P.L. 110-328), which provides a temporary extension of SSI benefits to refugees and other "humanitarian immigrants" whose seven-year period of eligibility has expired. Humanitarian immigrants whose benefits ended due to this time limit may receive at least two additional years of benefits, retroactive to October 2008. Their benefits may continue until September 30, 2011, if they have a pending naturalization application or are waiting to be sworn in as a U.S. citizen. Humanitarian immigrants newly applying for SSI, or whose benefits have not yet expired, can receive SSI during the nine-year period since they were granted the relevant status, or if they have a pending naturalization application. Humanitarian immigrants must meet a few other conditions in order to obtain the SSI extension. (See this article and these FAQs for more information on the law's requirements.) CONTINUE READING >
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| U.S. Department of Agriculture Issues Policy Clarifications That Facilitate Immigrant Access to Food Assistance |
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Immigrants who are eligible for federal nutrition assistance often face daunting obstacles in their attempts to complete the application process for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly the Food Stamp Program). The Food and Nutrition Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture recently issued policies that seek to reduce two of the access barriers faced by eligible immigrant households. One is national guidance on verification of a sponsor's income, and another is a letter to one state clarifying procedures for verification of an immigrant's income. CONTINUE READING >
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| Updated Information: Immigrant Eligibility for Federal and State Programs |
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We have updated posted resources concerning immigrants' eligibility for federal and state programs, including the following tables (originally published in the Guide): "Overview of Immigrant Eligibility for Federal Programs" and "State-Funded Medical Assistance Programs" (both updates posted in April).
The errata sheet for the Guide also has been revised, as well as the table containing the federal poverty guidelines (which provides the figures for 125% of poverty, useful when, e.g., completing affidavits of support).
In a related development, NILCsters Tanya Broder (public benefits policy director) and Jonathan Blazer (public benefits policy attorney) have updated their "Overview of Immigrant Eligibility for Federal Programs" article with information resulting from new developments, including enactment of the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009.
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| Memos on "Public Charge" (When It's Safe to Use Public Benefits) Updated |
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We have updated two memos that interpret the federal government's guidance regarding when immigrants can receive help from federal programs without this affecting their immigration status or their ability to travel outside of the United States. One of the memos has a national/federal focus, the other (prepared for the California Immigrant Policy Center) addresses issues specific to persons living and receiving benefits in California.
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| OTHER NEW AND UPDATED RESOURCES AVAILABLE |
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Summary of Final Rule Requiring Federal Contractors to Use E-Verify
The Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council published a final rule on Nov. 14, 2008, that amends the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) by requiring certain federal agency contracts and subcontracts to include a provision mandating use of Basic Pilot/E-Verify. The final rule initially was scheduled to take effect on January 15, 2009; however, on December 23, 2008, business groups filed a lawsuit with a request for injunctive relief. Subsequently, the litigation was put on hold, and DHS announced that it would suspend implementation of the rule until September 8, 2009, in order to "allow the Administration to complete its review of the Final Rule." We posted an updated summary of the FAR rule on June 1.
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E-Verify: Three New or Revised Advocacy Resources
Laying out specific details and succinct arguments, three NILC memos warn that the flawed federal E-Verify employment eligibility verification system creates at least as many problems as it solves. The memos are (1) Why States and Localities Should Not Require Employer Participation in Basic Pilot/E-Verify (Feb. 2009), (2) Oppose State and Local Proposals to Make Basic Pilot/E-Verify Mandatory (talking points, 1-pager, Feb. 2009), and (3) Basic Pilot/E-Verify: Why Mandatory Employer Participation Will Hurt Workers, Businesses, and the Struggling U.S. Economy (Feb. 2009).
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Two New Reports on Electronic Employment Eligibility Verification
In March the Congressional Research Service published a new report titled simply Electronic Employment Eligibility Verification, and in April the Labor, Immigration and Employee Benefits Division of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce published one titled Electronic Employment Verification Systems.
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| Overview of States' Driver's License Requirements Updated |
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This one-page chart, which NILC's employment policy director, Tyler Moran, has been keeping current for years, provides a snapshot of where states stand with respect to eight important driver's license-related policies.
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