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Submitted by Sitara Nath

And what makes this country great for me, as an immigrant and now, a United States citizen, is really that America is a place I can finally call home, said Meenu Nath, a local Olympia constituent and one of the 12 community members who lobbied Congressmen Denny Hecks Lacey office for compassionate immigration reform on Thursday, May 18. The combination of leaders, local activists and faith-based organizations came together to ask Representative Heck to cosponsor the BRIDGE Act, a bipartisan bill which will protect young, undocumented immigrants if their protected status is revoked.

The visit was organized by Sitara Nath, a local community organizer who takes part in the Advocacy Corps Intern Program with the Friends Committee on National Legislation, a DC based Quaker lobbyist group in the public interest. Last year, after attending a conference in Washington D.C. just days after the presidential election, Naths interest in compassionate immigration reform grew stronger as anti-immigrant rhetoric continued emanating from the White House. Now back in Olympia, Nath has teamed up with the Strengthening Sanctuary Faith Network, a local coalition of faith activists who seek to support immigrant communities in the area. Dallas Roberts, the congressmans district representative, met with the constituents and reiterated the power of stories in immigration advocacy.

What we really need is people like all of you out there and sharing these stories with other members of Congress as well it would really support the Representative if other Washington leaders were united on this issue, said Roberts, who also noted that the Representative is supportive of the BRIDGE Act but, due to the bipartisan nature of the bill, needs a Republican congressional member to sign on alongside him.

At the visit, the constituents discussed their personal stories in relation to the BRIDGE Act in an effort to bring politics back to personal roots. Beth Halpern, a member of Strengthening Sanctuary and an ally through the Temple Beth Hatfiloh, shared a moving story of a young woman she is acquainted with who has excelled in her education but is restricted from further pursuing her dreams due to her undocumented status.

Charo Portaro, the Director of Educational Programs at CIELO (Central Integral Educativo de Olympia) also joined the visit to discuss how the Congressmans legislative decisions impact the immigrant communities she works with.

We are working to change lives through education, said Portaro of the programs which CIELO offers, including English classes, GED preparation courses and sewing classes, to build support for immigrant families in Olympia. Portaro concluded firmly that, This is an issue which comes down to our basic humanity and thats why I am here thats why we want the Representative to support this issue.

You can learn more about CIELO and their volunteer-based programs by visiting the CIELO websiteor by emailingcieloproject@comcast.net. You can also find information regarding the Strengthening Sanctuary Faith Network, which provides Know Your Rights training and Family Safety Planning, through the local Interfaith Works newsletter. To contact Sitara Nath about local lobbying opportunities for compassionate immigration reform, you can email her at sitaranath@gmail.com.

Excerpt from:
Olympia Community Members Advocate for Compassionate Immigration Reform - ThurstonTalk

U.S. Apple Association leaders met with top Trump administration officials in late May to press the case for reform to the H-2A program and expanding trade opportunities.

U.S. Apple vice chairman Mark Boyer, owner of Ridgetop Orchards LLC, Fishertown, Pa., was joined by U.S. Apple president and CEO Jim Bair and senior vice president Diane Kurrle at the White House meeting, according to a news release. They met with Ray Starling, President Trumps special assistant for agriculture, trade and food assistance and Richard Chalkey, associate director of the National Economic Council, according to the release.

Boyer said he was encouraged by the meeting.

We, the apple industry, represent one link in a long list of industries and the communities and families they support whose livelihood depends on labor and open trade, Boyer said in the release. The apple industry cannot sustain itself, and our business will not survive long term unless we address labor reforms and future trade implications now.

Topics raised during the meeting included the gains the apple industry has experienced with the North American Free Trade Agreement, the need for an overhaul of the H-2A visa program, and the continued importance of adhering to science-based rules in regulating trade in apples, according to the release.

Originally posted here:
Apple leaders make case for expanded trade, immigration reform - The Packer

Hiring in IT is already a challenge due to a small talent pool, and each day is an indication that this struggle will worsen. Turn on the TV or open an internet browser and youll quickly discover yet another news item regarding U.S. immigration policies. Flooded by so many proposed changes, opinions, analyzations, and court decisions, the topic has become a murky river that we are all floating down but cannot see through. In an effort to grasp a clearer picture of whats happening and what it means for you, lets take a step back and look at how immigration reform is impacting IT staffing.

The current H-1B visa process was designed as a lottery system allowing 85,000 total visas to be granted each year. While on the surface it sounds simple, this system has descended into chaos due to outdated laws that see poor monitoring and enforcement. There are widely known ways to abuse the system. Large offshore firms flood the program with tens of thousands of applications, greatly increasing their success rate in being granted H-1B visas compared to the U.S companies that are playing by the rules. And thats just the start.

These large Asian firms are not only receiving an unjustly large majority of the allotted visas, but they are blatantly violating U.S. law and treating genuinely hard-working immigrant workers unfairly. In many instances, they will pay a worker a fraction of the appropriate salary reported to the government. These workers also have seen their paychecks cut off until a client pays their employer, which is a distinct violation of labor law.

Still worse, firms with ill-intent have gone even further, knowingly bringing over workers that lack the necessary skills for success by faking resumes and references. A worker could be forced to live in a company-owned housing complex, pay 60% of their salary back to that company in rent, and have no idea that they are being taken advantage of. These workers are often abandoned by such firms, which wont sponsor them for an extension or green card so that the firm can profit from the turnover. Such turn-and-burn abuse has been allowed to flourish due to a lack of regulatory oversight.

Love it or hate it, there are many proposed H-1B visa changes meant to curb such abuse through stricter enforcement, raising fees, improving site visits, and more. Executive orders cannot change laws on their own and have simply been calling for congress to review how current legislation is being enforced, especially in relation to the lottery system. While 85,000 visas are granted each year, those three-year visas can be renewed for three more plus a one year extension, effectively making them valid for seven years.

Its currently estimated that there are up to 900,000 H-1B visas currently employed in the United States, a number that the government itself cant even pinpoint. On top of this, a large number of those visa holders have spouses that have been granted an H-4 visa, allowing them to work just like any American citizen. There are believed to be roughly 250,000 people on this type of spouse visa, and the government is currently looking to reverse the 2015 measures that made these visas possible.

Additionally, premium processing of H-1B visas has been suspended, curtailing the ability to pay a larger fee for an expedited visa. However, any larger-scale changes congress passes will take longer to be implemented, as its already too late to change processes for 2018. With court interpretations and rulings constantly being delayed and congress debating endlessly, the chaos has proliferated to dangerous levels.

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In the midst of potential change, organizations are already considering their hiring alternatives. Studies show 59% of companies will consider offshoring as a solution, as it can provide cheaper access to international tech talent. Major Asian firms such as Infosys and TCS are already preparing for an onslaught of offshoring requests by investing in and building new offshore data centers. Likewise, U.S. companies with global presences will consider hiring more employees in their non-U.S. locations.

Unfortunately, there is no practical way for the U.S. government to punish or curtail such activities. An employee of Walmart working abroad is still the employee of an American company. Likewise, combatting offshoring by issuing fines will paralyze entire organizations. If they cannot find talent inside the U.S. already, are not allowed to bring in the candidates they need on a visa, and cannot affordably outsource their work, then they would be left with zero options. Roles would never get filled, productivity would slow to a halt, and financial statements would quickly suffer.

Even before any major reform has become law, there has already been a distinct impact to IT hiring. A chilling effect is discouraging talented tech minds from coming to America. In fact, this years 199,000 H-1B visa applications are a distinct drop from the 236,000 received in 2016. Imagine all the bright IT talent from renown tech hubs such as India deciding to take their skills to Europe and encouraging their children to follow suit. The repercussions to the U.S. IT staffing landscape could be long-lasting.

Further, those great tech minds that are currently here are hesitant of transferring their visa to another company out of fear they will lose their work status. Many of these workers will be stuck, continuing to work for large offshore body shop firms that are mistreating them. Bright talent in these situations often receive unwarranted blame for a system that can work if regulated appropriately. The huge amount of H-1B and H-4 workers are contributing heavily to the U.S. economy, and calls for eliminating these legal, tax-paying workers that are purchasing homes, leasing cars, pursuing higher education, and buying local goods will have a massive negative effect on American businesses.

Overall, the chaos surrounding H-1B visa reform is making it harder for employers to quickly locate the right talent out of a smaller base of workers, magnifying the current talent shortage. As talk of changes scare newcomers away and current visas expire for others, the dwindling talent pool is likely to make skilled talent less available and more costly for tech employers. Businesses can attempt to offshore or ramp up their internal training and career path development, but without better regulation and thoughtful change, hiring in IT will become more of a struggle than ever.

Understanding immigration reform and deciding how to curb exploitative practices seems to be difficult for even lawmakers. Its an unclear and rapidly changing area that is already affecting every business in the country, especially those that hire tech workers. But why deal with the confusion surrounding IT staffing when you should be focusing on your core business? The right staffing partner can take this burden off your shoulders and provide you with the talent you need quickly, regardless of changing laws.

Read more here:
How Immigration Reform Is Impacting IT Staffing - Business 2 Community

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler speaks during a press conference on January 17, 2017 in Portland. Don Ryan / AP

"It may be tempting to shut down speech we disagree with, but once we allow the government to decide what we can say, see, or hear, or who we can gather with, history shows us that the most marginalized will be disproportionately censored and punished for unpopular speech," said the organization in a statement immediately following Wheeler's call to block the parades.

"The mayor is not just anyone on the street, he's a government official who has to uphold the Constitution," said Mathew dos Santos, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon. "And he's not doing that," he said.

"Portland has a proud history of protest. I am a firm supporter of the First Amendment, no matter the views expressed. I believe we had a case to make about the threats to public safety posed by this rally at this place and at this time. My job is to protect the safety of everyone... protesters, counter-protesters, and bystanders alike," said Wheeler in a

Alt-right groups have scheduled a "Trump Free Speech Rally," on June 4. A "March against Sharia" event was scheduled for June 10 but organizers decided to cancel the rally in Portland and move it to Seattle instead.

Organizers felt the city was no longer safe for them.

"Due to Mayor Wheeler's inflammatory comments and what we feel is an incitement of violence, he has shamefully endangered every scheduled participant. Consequently, in order to ensure the safety of those who had planned on attending, we have taken the decision to cancel the Portland March Against Sharia," wrote the organization planning the march in a

June 4th parade organizer Joey Gibson said the mayor "needs to sit down and take a minute and listen," and feels that he is trying to "pin" Jeremy Christian on his movement.

Christian, who was arraigned on

The City of Portland has already

Wheeler also urged the federal government to follow in his footsteps and revoke federal permits issued to the group.

But the U.S. General Services Administration, charged with issuing permits, announced on Wednesday that it would allow the parades.

"All rules and regulations were followed by the applicant for the permit, including the timeframe for review. Since the permit was lawfully obtained to assemble at this federal location, GSA has no basis to revoke the permit," the agency said in a statement.

Revoking permits amounts to government suppression of speech, which has always been illegal, dos Santos said. You cannot withhold permits based on people's viewpoints, he said.

The case is a mirror image of another First Amendment battle out near Chicago 40 years ago.

In 1977, a neo-Nazi organization chose to stage their parade in the suburban Chicago town of Skokie, which at the time was home to thousands of Holocaust survivors.

Parade goers were slated to wear Nazi uniforms and emulate salutes and anti-Jewish chants from Nazi Germany.

Outraged community members tried to put a stop to the parade by using the same arguments set forth by Wheeler. The group said the parade promotes hate speech that would inflict emotional distress upon survivors of the Holocaust.

A girl leaves a message at a makeshift memorial for two men on May 29, 2017 in Portland. The men were killed on a commuter train while trying to stop another man from harassing two young women who appeared to be Muslim. Terray Sylvester / Reuters

Ultimately the Nazi group, represented by the ACLU, won at the Supreme Court level and was legally allowed to march under the first amendment. The group ended up holding a rally downtown instead.

"Part of the problem with hate speech is that it's in the eye of the beholder," said Geoffrey Stone, a professor at the University of Chicago Law School. "There is no neutral way to decide what hate speech is and courts will not even attempt it," he said.

The alt-right group has not made any indication that they are planning to incite imminent danger or violence during the parade, which may be questionable under the law, he said. "The idea that you can ban speech because it's offensive or may cause anxiety is not consistent with the first amendment."

Thus far, the alt-right group has not brought suit against the city for revoking their permits, but if the situation does arise, it's an open and shut case, Stone said.

"It's inconceivable to me that a court would uphold the mayor's argument," he said. "This is long standing, well-settled law, and the mayor has it completely wrong," he said.

The rest is here:
Does the First Amendment Protect Alt-Right Parades in Portland? - NBCNews.com

Quad-City Times Editorial Page Editor Jon Alexander was recognized with a national award for editorials written in 2016 pushing for government transparency.

He received the APME First Amendment Award, competing against work by newspapers nationwide in the 40,000 to 149,999 circulation category. His editorials, published in early 2016, pushed against the practice of closed-door meetings by Davenport City Council, which are now open to the media and the public.

The 2017 Associated Press Media Editors Awards were given to watchdog journalism that saved lives, exposed bias, held government officials accountable and shed light on hidden practices.

This is a huge honor to be recognized by our peers on a national stage for doing what I believe to be one of the key roles of newspapers, to advocate for our readers, Quad-City Times Executive Editor Autumn Phillips said.

Alexander will receive the award during a reception in October in Washington, D.C., at APMEs annual News Leadership Conference.

Other recipients of the First Amendment Award this year were The (Charleston, S.C.) Post and Courier, in the 150,000 and over category and the Peoria Journal Star, in the 39,999 and under circulation category.

The Chicago Tribune earned the grand prize in Public Service for Dangerous Doses, which exposed pharmacies that were dispensing drug combinations that could cause harm or death.

The Sarasota Herald-Tribune and Springfield (Ill.) State Journal-Register also received top honors in Public Service.

The annual APME contest honors excellence and innovation in journalism and reflects the Associated Press Media Editors mission of fostering newsroom leaders, empowering journalists to succeed and cultivating ideas that work. Teams of judges are comprised of APME national board members and top editors at The Associated Press. Phillips is on the board of APME but was not a judge in the First Amendment contest.

"I believe quality journalism and the commitment to the communities we serve is central to our newspaper's success," said Publisher Deb Anselm. "A big part of that is to watch out for this community by exercising our First Amendment Rights."

Continue reading here:
Quad-City Times wins national First Amendment Award - Quad City Times