President Announces Executive Action on Immigration. Our Continued Demand?
Act NOW to Implement Broadest Relief Possible!

aug2MEMEAfter months of direct actions, town hall meetings, shutting down ICE offices, signing petitions, educating elected officials, and challenging ICE’s hold on local
 jurisdictions, the mounting pressure on President Obama reached a boiling point last week leading to his announcement foreshadowing Administrative Action AND even more money going into harsher enforcement at the border.  His announcement unveiled his stance that immigration policy will no longer be subject to a
 legislative strategy only and that he will do what is in the power of his Administration to “fix” the broken immigration system.

Our people of color, poor, and working class LGBTQ communities have always suffered at the hands of heavy-handed police, vice and ICE enforcement. We know this moment has come about because of the sacrifice, actions and shared risk our communities have taken to shine a light on the criminalization, detention and deportation crisis across the South and the country. From individuals fighting their deportation cases, to local communities no longer willing to do the dirty work of ICE enforcement – together we have created the possibility and vision of a united fight for our shared survival.

At SONG, we believe that he has the power to change the destiny of generations with his actions on immigration.  President Obama faces a choice ripe with consequence; he can take action to settle for the lowest common denominator of small cosmetic changes, or he can take a HUGE step forward to overhaul the system and provide the broadest relief possible under the law. To some, the compromise of Administrative Relief and heavier ICE enforcement seems inevitable, but President Obama has the executive power to invest federal funds where they are desperately needed, to acknowledge that the crisis at the border has historical roots in U.S. military interventions and trade policies, and to halt further militarization of the U.S./Mexico border that will costs thousands more lives.

The LGBTQ movement has made huge advances in marriage equality, but it is time for our own elected officials to recognize that detention and deportations affect us just as much as gay marriage. We call on the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus and LGBTQ legislative, advocacy and organizing efforts working on many issues that affect LGBTQ people to SUPPORT and AMPLIFY our communities’ call for Administrative Relief and an immediate halt to deportations!

How Can You Support This Work?

  1. Sign the NDLON LGBTQ ENDORSEMENT
  2. Join SONG, the Not 1 More Deportation campaign and our collaborating and sister organizations in our efforts to coordinate and escalate opposition to unnecessary and unjust deportations on AUGUST 2nd mobilization in Washington DC to make sure President Obama follows through with his promise for administrative relief!
  3. Want to part of making August 2nd happen?!
    Email salem@southernersonnewground.org

Stay tuned for more updates and in the meantime, call your friends, book your tickets, and get ready to join SONG in DC August 2nd!

Blue Ribbon Commission Report On Deportation Review

Growing pressure on the Administration led to the President to announce instructions to DHS to review deportation policies with the aim to make them “more humane.” Parallel to the White House directive, former and currently undocumented immigrant leaders formed a Blue Ribbon Commission to perform an independent review and present its recommendations to the President. Read the full report at http://www.notonemoredeportation.com/2014/04/10/not1morebrc/

  1. Expand relief. Deferred action should be expanded to the fullest extent of the law, to as many people as possible
  2. End all programs involving local law enforcement and ICE collaboration, including secure communities (SCOMM), criminal alien program (CAP), and 287(g)
  3. Protect basic rights by granting deferred action to individuals filing civil, labor or human rights complaints, and adopting a formal non-­retaliation policy prohibiting agents from targeting defenders of civil, labor and human rights for arrest, detention or deportation
  4. Eliminate the bed quota and drastically curtail use of detention
  5. Revise ICE’s enforcement priorities and expand ‘low priority’ criteria
  6. Improve conditions in detention facilities, and expand protections for vulnerable detainees including pregnant women, HIV+ and transgender individuals, and people with disabilities
  7. Stop collaborating with rogue sheriffs and terminate agreements with local law enforcement officials that undermine civil, labor, and human rights
  8. Expand use of humanitarian parole to ensure that people previously deported can return to the U.S.
  9. End all ICE home and community raids programs including the criminal alien removal initiative (CARI), eliminate the use of mobile biometric devices, and ensure the protection of civil rights during all enforcement operations
  10. End operation streamline
  11. Terminate all federal contracts with private prison conglomerates such as Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and Geo Group INC.
  12. End expedited removal of SIJS eligible youth
  13. Implement prosecutorial discretion policies for Customs and Border Protection (CBP), act to limit scope of CBP enforcement, including ending internal raids, and take action to end migrant deaths on the border
  14. Renegotiate trade agreements to eliminate provisions that cause displacement of communities and increase economic pressure on people to migrate and end negotiations on the trans pacific partnership