Page 13 - Sonoma County Gazette March 2018.indd

IMMIGRATION cont’d from page 12
OPINION cont’d from page 6
However, the Trump Administration has changed deportation policy by no longer focusing on immigrants with criminal records as Obama had. Now, everyone here without papers—and there are about 11 million people like this—is subject to deportation. So far, the impact on our community is rather random, but tragic for the individuals involved. The unlucky undocumented immigrant who has contact with ICE is now put into deportation proceedings; the family with a deportation order frozen by Obama is now routinely removed from the country; visa recipients who let their status lapse are now deported without a hearing.
Moreover, the Director of ICE told Congress that all undocumented immigrants “should be worried” and he has made publicized statements about his intention to focus deportation e orts on sanctuary communities like ours. It becomes ever more important that we support and defend our immigrant communities in case they are pulled into the deportation dragnet that ICE promises is coming.
Slashing Legal Immigration. The Administration is pushing legislation that would restructure our existing immigration system, eliminating many of the current ways people immigrate. As of now, adult U.S. citizens can petition their elderly parents to immigrate, something traditionally known as family reuni cation, but what Donald Trump calls “chain migration”. His proposal would eliminate that possibility, and also prevent U.S. citizens from sponsoring their adult children or siblings – something that takes 20 years or more for Mexican citizens under current waiting periods. (Importantly, the proposal would apply these limits to the future only, continuing to process pending applications.) Trump’s proposal would also reduce our legal immigration by 50%.
CONCLUSION:MWe did not expect a lot of good news for immigrants from the Trump Administration and the result has been largely what we expected.
It has taken his administration almost a year to ll the top positions in the Department of Homeland Security, but now we’re beginning to see real changes in the implementation of existing immigration law. The pro-immigrant factions in Congress have so far blocked any of his proposed legislative changes; hopefully they will continue to safeguard the limited paths to legalization that currently exist.
But as for comprehensive immigration reform, we will likely have to wait for a new administration to see any hope of that coming to pass.
OneJustice is coming to Petaluma
Thursday, March 8th to host a Free Naturalization,
We would really appreciate it if you could help make an announcement about our upcoming event for people who need Free Immigration Services in Petaluma, post our yer. share with your networks, or hand out the yers. We rely on organizations like yours who are trusted in the community to give out our information,
Just to provide a bit of background, this event is part of
The mission of the JusticeBus Project is to increase the capacity of legal service providers and community based organizations serving isolated and vulnerable populations throughout the state. The clinic is an opportunity for residents
of San Joaquin County to meet one-on-one with a law student supervised by an expert immigration attorney about their eligibility to apply for citizenship and be screened for other forms of immigration relief.
and DACA clinic from 3:00 - 7:00 PM.
OneJustice’s Justice Bus Project initiative.
In the past year alone, the Justice Bus Project has organized free
legal clinics in 23 counties throughout California and partnered with over 25 community based organizations to coordinate legal services for more than 1,000 low-income individuals. I invite you to learn more about OneJustice and the Justice Bus Project by visiting our website at onejustice.org/ probonojustice/.
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