Archive for the ‘Immigration Reform’ Category

Immigration Reform 2015: Central American Children May Become US Citizens Through Under-The-Radar Program

Thousands of children from Central America who have a parent in the United States may soon be reunited with them and could eventually gain U.S. citizenship. It's a plan that the Obama administration unveiled in November, but immigration advocates are just beginning to notice, the Washington Post reported Friday. The policy, separate from the presidents executive actions on immigration that are being held up due to court action, was created partly in response to the tens of thousands of unaccompanied minors who entered the U.S. to flee violence in their home countries.

The United States is establishing an in-country refugee/parole program in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras to provide a safe, legal, and orderly alternative to the dangerous journey that some children are currently undertaking to the United States, reads a joint November press release from the State and Homeland Security departments. This program will allow certain parents who are lawfully present in the United States to request access to the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program for their children still in one of these three countries.

The program also allows Central American immigrants in the U.S. to bring the childs mother or father to America.

Immigration advocates said the word has just started to spread about the program, which could pave the way for benefits such as green cards and U.S. citizenship for the children, the Boston Globe reported in February. It was surprising to see how big this [program] was. The size, the significance of this is bigger than we thought, said Eva Millona, executive director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition.

To qualify for the program, children from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras have to be under 21, residing in their native country, unmarried and have a parent in the United States, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The children can be considered for refugee status, which can open the door to them getting green cards and possibly U.S. citizenship. If they are denied, they can receive what is known as parole status, which allows them to come to the U.S. legally but not obtain any of the benefits of refugee status. Although the program is primarily aimed at minors, a childs other parent can be brought to the U.S. if they are part of the same household and economic unit as the qualifying child." The second parent must have been married and continue to be married to the parent in the U.S., who must file an affidavit confirming the relationship.

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Immigration Reform 2015: Central American Children May Become US Citizens Through Under-The-Radar Program

Latino group holds welcome rally for President Obama

Latino group holds welcome rally for President Obama

By Ben Lockhart

April 2nd, 2015 @ 10:43pm

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SALT LAKE CITY Several dozen immigrants and their supporters met in Liberty Park on Thursday to give speeches welcoming President Barack Obama to Utah and praising his efforts to enact immigration reform.

The rally was staged by Proyecto Latino de Utah, an advocacy organization for the Latino community in the state. Tony Yapias, director of the group, said he wants President Obama to understand there is a sizable Latino population in Utah that supports the executive actions on immigration he issued in November.

"We know executive actions work, Yapias said. "We know families are more prosperous when theyre paying taxes, going to school, getting an education.

Obamas most recent executive actions, issued Nov. 20, would defer the deportations of immigrants under 30 years old who came to the United States as children. They would also make provisions for immigrants who pursue degrees in science, technology, engineering and math degrees and who invest while they are in the United States.

Deferred deportations of young immigrants were blocked by a federal judge in February. A coalition of 26 states oppose Obamas orders and hope to defeat it in a lawsuit that argues the order exceed his constitutional authority.

Yapias said he is disappointed Utah is among that those who joined the coalition and called on Gov. Gary Herbert and Attorney General Sean Reyes to remove Utah from that group.

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Latino group holds welcome rally for President Obama

Immigration reform activist calls on WNC to redefine 'American'

Immigration reform activist Jose Antonio Vargas is calling on Western North Carolinians to redefine what it means to be an American. The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and filmmaker spoke to a packed house at Warren Wilson College Tuesday night, receiving a standing ovation.(Photo: Warren Wilson College / Special to the Citizen-Times)

SWANNANOA Immigration reform activist Jose Antonio Vargas is calling on Western North Carolina to redefine what it means to be an American.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and filmmaker spoke to a packed house at Warren Wilson College Tuesday night, receiving a standing ovation.

Vargas is one of the most high-profile, undocumented immigrants in the country.

The challenge is to connect the struggle of immigrants today with the historical narrative of immigration in America, Vargas told a crowd of more than 350 people.

The narrative needs to be modified, he said. The question should be asked of white America: Where are you from?

"So long as people call us illegal, so long as they obsess over the physical border, not the border in our minds, nothing is going to change," said Vargas, who urged people of all races and ethnicities to join together and broaden the immigration debate.

"A new South is being born, and how we make that as inclusive as possible, I think that is the challenge," he said.

North Carolina's immigrant population rose from 1.7 percent in 1990 to 7.6 percent in 2013, according to the Immigration Policy Center. That year, the state was home to at least 750,000 immigrants, nearly 32 percent of whom were naturalized U.S. citizens.

Unauthorized immigrants made up around 3.6 percent of the state's population, or 350,000 people, in 2012, according to data from the Pew Hispanic Center.

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Immigration reform activist calls on WNC to redefine 'American'

Immigration Reform is not possible – Video


Immigration Reform is not possible
To increase the tax base there has to be illegal immigration and a way to grant amnesty.

By: American Devolution

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Immigration Reform is not possible - Video

O’Malley sticks to script in New Hampshire – Video


O #39;Malley sticks to script in New Hampshire
Gov. Martin O #39;Malley sticks to his script of talking about middle-class issues, immigration reform and managing with programs like CitiStat. Subscribe to WBAL on YouTube now for more: http://bit.l...

By: WBAL-TV 11 Baltimore

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O'Malley sticks to script in New Hampshire - Video