By Mark Hedin, Ethnic Media Services / Broadcast version by Stephanie Carson
Reporting for the Ethnic Media Services-California News Service Collaboration

SAN FRANCISCO – Warning that the country is heading down a white-nationalist, nativist path, four immigrant-rights advocates issued a call to action last week just hours before the U.S. Senate rejected all four proposals to change U.S. immigration policy, and a second federal court found the president’s “Muslim ban” unconstitutional.

The advocates spoke at a national telebriefing for ethnic media sponsored by Ready California, a collaborative cross-sector effort led by the Immigrant Legal Resource Center.

“We’ve all learned to expect the unexpected,” said Sameera Hafiz, an attorney and ILRC senior policy strategist in Washington, D.C. “The reason we’re here is because of Trump’s decision in September to rescind the DACA program and throw the lives of close to 800,000 young people into chaos and uncertainty."

“But, while the Senate was ostensibly debating the future of the DACA program,” Hafiz argued, “the reality is that any DACA proposals go hand in hand with eliminating the diversity visa program, severely curtailing the family immigration program and expansive border enforcement measures – far beyond what we think about when we think about border security.”

“While we’ve been focused in D.C. on the legislative side, we’ve been distracted from what the administration is already doing,” Hafiz continued, citing attacks on jurisdictions with sanctuary policies and other enforcement actions against Dreamers, mothers and activists.

Angelica Salas, director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA), agreed that what is underway is an attack on legal immigration itself which she called “a white nationalist agenda, [whereby] certain individuals are not qualified to come into the United States based on their country of birth and their religion.”

On average, Salas noted, “Our clients being deported from Los Angeles had been in the country more than 25 years. With the crippling of various legal channels like the Central American minors program, the separation of children from parents, the ending of diversity visas, the list goes on,” she said. "We’re destroying people’s lives.”

“This is not just about the immigrant community anymore," she continued. "It’s about what kind of country we want and who we are, as Americans.”

Zahir Billoo is the executive director of the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and a civil-rights attorney. She hailed the decision by the Fourth Circuit which joined a chorus of courts across the country who have said that the Muslim ban is unconstitutional.

Nevertheless, she noted, “Whether you are from Iran or Somalia, it does not matter what your story is, you cannot come to the US.” Billoo quoted a Georgetown University estimate that 60,000 people had been impacted in their efforts to get an education or see their families.

“We’re optimistic,” Billoo said, but cautioned that what’s legal doesn’t always align with what’s moral. “The court in the past has allowed many unjust things, such as the Japanese internment.”

Adoubou Traore, director of the African Advocacy Network, which provides legal counsel for immigrants of the African diaspora, highlighted the dramatic growth of the African immigrant community, from 816,000 in 1980 to more than 4 million in 2016. Largely faceless and voiceless, this population has borne the brunt of every new restrictive immigration measure, from the Muslim ban to the removal of Temporary Protective Status (TPS).

As immigrants and as Blacks, said Traore, “We are the only group that has been named racially, and coming from countries that have been named in ways that I don’t even want to repeat, but we all heard it.”

Asked about the future of the immigrant rights movement, Salas noted the “tremendous mobilization by immigrant youth. This will only increase as people mobilize around the March 5 Congressional deadline for a solution on DACA."

“But this is a call to the broader immigrant community and Americans in general,” Salas emphasized.

“We need to stand up not just to be in solidarity with immigrants and refugees, and our brothers and sisters from the Muslim community," she added. "We need to stand up as Americans – as a country – saying this is not who we are or what our values are. I think this is what’s missing.”


The broadcast version of this story was produced by Stephanie Carson for California News Service in collaboration with Ethnic Media Services.


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During last week's Republican National Convention, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said Americans are not safe due to immigrants committing violent crimes.

That's just one claim being challenged by leading immigration experts.

Nancy Foner, Ph.D., professor of Sociology at City University of New York's Hunter College, said labeling immigrants as criminals is an old, but persistent, myth.

She pointed to data showing that the vast majority of immigrants are not violent criminals.

"The foreign born, in fact, are much less likely than the native-born to commit violent crimes," said Foner. "And in fact, cities and neighborhoods with greater concentrations of immigrants have much lower crime and violence than comparable non-immigrant neighborhoods."

Immigrants were also blamed for smuggling fentanyl across the 2,000-mile southern border.

But according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 90% of the drugs linked to overdose deaths are smuggled by U.S. citizens through legal ports of entry.

Cruz also said immigrants were being allowed into the U.S. to vote in the upcoming elections - a conspiracy theory about something that never, or almost never, happens.

David Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation & Research, pointed out that non-citizens are not legally allowed to vote in federal elections, and don't in part because they could be immediately deported if caught.

"To cast one ballot in an election in which 160 million ballots are going to be cast, it happens exceedingly rarely," said Becker, "largely because the states and federal government already have really good policies in place."

Others claimed immigrants were "receiving welfare."

Pia Orrenius, vice president and senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, said immigrants are not eligible for the SNAP program (formerly known as food stamps), Social Security or other benefits - although they do pay payroll and other taxes that fund those programs.

She said immigrants actually strengthen America's economy, but local governments can feel squeezed if immigrants earn low wages.

"That negative impact, it mostly comes from education," said Orrenius. "K-12 education is expensive. The spending on education is an investment. Those investments are going to pay back many times what's invested."



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Leaders at the 5th annual Immigration Summit, which wrapped up in Los Angeles Friday, have vowed to stand strong no matter what happens with the November election.

The Republican candidate for president has called for mass deportations.

Miguel Santana, president and CEO of the California Community Foundation, said it alarms many people in a county where more than one-third of the residents of all ethnicities are foreign-born, and about 60% of children have at least one immigrant parent.

"We've been engaged in scenario planning," Santana explained. "We've prepared our immigrant community so that they know their rights, that we have the proper defense, but also, we're advancing comprehensive immigration reform. That is really what's needed."

The summit was co-sponsored by the California Community Foundation, the Council of Immigrant Inclusion and the Equity Research Institute at the University of Southern California.

Manuel Pastor, director of the institute, said deportations would leave a huge hole in the economy and tear families apart.

"In L.A. County, about a fifth of all Angelenos are either undocumented themselves or living with a family member who is undocumented," Pastor pointed out. "Fear of deportation, problems with accessing services because of status, affect a wide number of families."

Researchers also released the 5th annual State of Immigrants in Los Angeles report, which found naturalizations and wages for immigrants are up over the past few years. It also recommended continued support for county programs providing legal aid and help people access services in their preferred language.


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The Missouri House of Representatives has formed a special committee to look into what the House Speaker refers to as crimes committed by immigrants living illegally in Missouri.

The formation of this committee has sparked a debate between those who see it as a necessary step for public safety and those who view it as a misuse of resources driven by political motives.

House Speaker Dean Plocher - R-St. Louis County - said he's convinced this committee's findings will increase the safety of Missourians.

"The message needs to be," said Plocher, "'If you're not here in the state of Missouri legally, you're going to be detained - and you're going to be deported if you're committing crimes.'"

Data provided by Customs and U.S. Border Protection show last year, there were more than 1,200 violent crimes by committed non-citizens in the U.S. nationwide, and more than 2,000 related to drug trafficking and possession.

The first committee hearing will be in Jefferson City on July 11.

State Rep. David Tyson Smith - D-Columbia - said this isn't an issue in Missouri, and believes the committee is a waste of time and resources. He said it's all being done for political talking points.

"If we are really serious about these issues," said Smith, "we would form a special committee on gun violence to crack down on the shootings that are happening all over our state, that need to be clamped down on."

Studies have repeatedly shown that immigrants - legal and illegal - are more law abiding than people born here.

Research from The Marshall Project has found no correlation between undocumented immigrants and a rise in violent crimes.

However, some committee members believe people living in the U.S. illegally are to blame for an increase in Fentanyl and sex trafficking.




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