Child Poverty Immigration Reform March
Child Poverty Immigration Reform March March 28, 2015.
By: United University Church
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Child Poverty & Immigration Reform March - Video
IMMIGRATION: State bills seek healthcare, other services for migrants
Sen. Ricardo Lara, D-Bell Gardens, left, Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Len, D-Los Angeles, and Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, at a 2014 news conference. The three are among the sponsors of immigration-related legislation unveiled Tuesday.
, RICH PEDRONCELLI, AP FILE PHOTO
Legislative Democrats Tuesday unveiled 10 immigration-related bills. Here's a description of the measures, in the words of their proponents. To read the bills in their entirety, go to http://www.leginfo.ca.gov.
Senate Bill 10 (introduced by Sen. Ricardo Lara, D-Bell Gardens) Office of New Americans: Establishes the California Office of New Americans within the Governor's office to ensure that California has a comprehensive approach to immigrant integration, including coordinating multi-agency, multi-sector efforts on immigration relief options, naturalization services, and civic engagement efforts.
Senate Bill 4 (Lara) Health Care for All: Extends access to healthcare coverage to all Californians, regardless of immigration status. The bill will expand Medi-Cal to include individuals who would qualify for enrollment in the program based on their income but who are denied based on their immigration status.
Assembly Bill 622 (Assemblyman Roger Hernandez, D-West Covina) Protecting Immigrant Workers from Unscrupulous Employers: Strengthens state Labor Code protections for all workers by limiting misuse of E-Verify and creating penalties for abuse by unscrupulous employers. SB 600 (Pan) Civil Rights Protection for California's Immigrants: Addresses ongoing discrimination against immigrants by amending the Unruh Civil Rights Act to make it unlawful for business establishments to discriminate against a person on the basis of their immigration status, citizenship, or language.
AB 60(Assembywoman Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego) Thwarting Immigration Services Fraud: Protects Californians from immigration attorneys and consultants demanding advanced payment for services related to pending immigration reform acts, such as President Obama's executive actions. It also requires service providers to furnish to the client a toll free 1-800 number that can be called to report the practitioner to the State Bar of California in cases of fraud. Justice for All
SB 674(Senator Kevin De Len, D-Los Angeles, and Toni Atkins, D-San Diego) Immigrant Victims of Crime Equity Act: Ensures all immigrant victims of crime in California have the opportunity to apply for the federal Victim of Crime Visa (U-Visa) if they were victims of a qualifying crime and have been helpful in the investigation or prosecution of that crime.
AB 899(Assemblyman Marc Levine, D-San Rafael) Juvenile Confidentiality: Protects immigrant children by safeguarding their records from unauthorized disclosure to federal immigration officials that may result in a child's deportation.
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IMMIGRATION: State bills seek healthcare, other services for migrants
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Immigration reform activists, from left, Martha Campos (LUNA) , Father Jon Pedigo (Our Lady of Guadalupe parish), and Geraldo Dominguez (UFCW) block traffic in protest near the Mi Pueblo Market off East Bayshore Road in East Palo Alto, Calif., on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2014. (LiPo Ching/Bay Area News Group)
SACRAMENTO -- Slamming the Republican Congress for dropping the ball on immigration reform, Democratic legislative leaders on Tuesday unveiled a sweeping package of bills that would dramatically expand protections for illegal immigrants far beyond what's offered by any other state.
The 10 pieces of legislation would offer state-subsidized health care coverage to the undocumented poor, make it illegal for businesses to discriminate against customers based on their immigration status or the language they speak, and make it harder for federal authorities to deport immigrants living here illegally.
Calling the bills a direct response to Congress' "intellectual laziness" and "lack of work ethic" on the issue, Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Len said the legislation is needed because deficiencies in state law unfairly limit the potential of immigrants -- both those who are here legally and those who are not.
"Our food, our clothing, our music, art and technology -- these are industries central to California's advancement, and they're all driven by immigrants," the Los Angeles Democrat said at a Sacramento news conference at which he unveiled the legislative package on a stage packed with other Democrats and immigration reform advocates.
Taken together, the proposals solidify California's reputation as a national leader on immigration policy, political experts said Tuesday. But groups opposing illegal immigration vowed to fight the bills.
"These proposals are the latest in a seemingly endless set of legislation designed to make illegal immigration a more comfortable thing," said Joe Guzzardi, national media director for Californians for Population Stabilization. "People living in Mexico and Central America are only going to want to come here more."
The biggest hurdle, however, may prove to be the legislative package's price tag.
"Californians at this point are strongly inclined to support undocumented immigrants," said Dan Schnur, director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at the University of Southern California. But "they become less enthusiastic about supporting undocumented immigrants when it comes to writing checks."
Often discussed immigration reform will most likely be a long time coming, but several county residents are taking matters into their own hands, lobbying Congress to act now to speed up the waiting time for green cards.
Germantown resident Shyam Sriram is one of them. He is vice president of the Maryland Chapter of Immigration Voice, a grass roots organization concerned about the backlog of green card applications.
Its not ridiculous, its outrageous, Sriram said. The way the laws are written it can take 70 years to [get a green card].
A green card allows an immigrant to become eligible for permanent resident status and work in the U.S. It is also a first step towards becoming a U.S. citizen. It allows holders to open new businesses, change jobs, ask for a raise, travel to their home countries and return to the United States and be assured that they will not have to leave the country if they lose their jobs.
With an H-1B visa for highly skilled workers, that most Immigration Voice members have according to Sriram, those simple acts are difficult if not impossible.
Sriram, 35, came to the United States from India to attend graduate school at the University of Texas, Arlington. He has a masters degree in electrical engineering and works in the transportation business. He has a H-1B visa which allows him to work.
He has to stay with the same employer, in the same job he said. His employer is his green card sponsor and any change in his employment means he must reapply for a green card with the new employer as his sponsor and that would bump him to the end of the line. He has had his application for a green card in for six years, he said, and thinks it will take another 10 years.
Its a complex issue, he said. We want [Congress] to understand the immigration system should be fair to immigrants as well as Americans.
The system as it is now set up works to the advantage of big corporations, he said.
The problem right now is bigger companies are taking advantage of the system by hiring people and keeping them in the same position, he said. The unintended consequence is it hurts Americans as well. The way the law is written employers hire immigrants and keep them.
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It's not easy getting green: Local workers among those seeking immigration reform
Raquel Garay lives just a few minutes walk from the U.S.-Mexico border, the line that has separated her from her family for more than two years. Since being deported from the U.S., where she lived for more than 40 years, in 2013, she lives alone in a country that feels foreign to her while her husband, children and grandchildren remain just a few hours away, across a border bridge she cant cross.
The story is familiar for many deported immigrants, potentially hundreds of thousands, who have been torn away from their families in the United States. Its what spurred President Barack Obama to pledge last year a smarter immigration policy that focuses on deporting felons, not families. While he has pushed executive action to shield those with strong family ties in the U.S., he has also touted an 80 percent increase in the number of immigrants with criminal convictions deported from the U.S. during his presidency.
That stirs conflicted feelings for Garay, who is a convicted felon who was removed from the U.S. for a deportable, although nonviolent, offense -- and also a mother, grandmother and wife of U.S. citizens who had barely recovered from two devastating medical traumas in the family before their lives were again upended by her deportation.
"Its affected all of us here, said Mario Jr., Raquels 24-year-old son. They separated a family.
Raquel, now 54, had lived in the United States since age 12 after her parents brought her over the border in the 1970s. Eventually she married Mario Garay, a U.S. citizen, got her green card and built a home and family with him in Grand Prairie, Texas.
But soon, the Garays discovered that their infant daughter Celia was having problems with her sight. After going from doctor to doctor, Celia eventually wasdiagnosed with retinoblastoma, a rare form of eye cancer. But the cancer already hadprogressed by the time the diagnosis came, and the Garays had to have both Celias eyes removed.
While Mario worked to support the family, Raquel ferried Celia to a slew of specialist visits and treatments while helping her navigate the world without sight. Eventually, Celias condition stabilized and Raquel enrolled her in a school for the blind. But years of stress and worry already hadtaken their toll, and during that time, Raquel said, she began to make mistakes.
I got into a lot of trouble in my relationship with my husband, with my drinking, she said. I was thinking of the future -- what was going to happen with my daughter? She was blind, and she was going to be blind forever.
In 1997 she was arrested for possession of a controlled substance: less than 3 grams of cocaine found in her car. She was convicted of a felony and deported in 2000.
I had a lot of anger and a lot of sadness, Raquel said. I was going through a lot of trauma with my daughter's cancer. Its something you never get over. But she acknowledges it was still a grave lapse of judgment on her part. I know I made a lot of mistakes, she said.
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Immigration Reform: When Deporting Felons Breaks Families Apart