Watch me talk about immigration on NETFLIX!
Also, Joe Biden joins CNN for a town hall and pledges to review certain deportations
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Good Morning,
If you are reading this, then Amend: The Fight for America, Netflix’s latest docuseries, is now available for your viewing (or binging) pleasure.
A couple of months ago, I had the opportunity to travel to Los Angeles to join Netflix and become part of this amazing project regarding the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Now, I didn’t get to meet any of the celebs you see on the trailer below — but I did get to share my immigrant story and what the promise of America means to me.
So, in the spirit of hype, I hope you will consider watching Amend: The Fight for America in its entirety (hint: I appear in the last episode of the series).
Now, let’s dive into what is driving the week on immigration ➔
National Politics 🏛️
PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN spoke to a socially distanced and mask-wearing audience at CNN's town hall in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Among the issues covered were the rise of White Supremacy as a threat to our nation and the minimum wage.
On immigration, the President reiterated his commitment to treating asylum seekers with dignity and mentioned that a “reasonable path to citizenship” for 11 million undocumented immigrants was something he wanted to get done — whether it’s in a single bill or smaller piecemeal bills.
SPEAKING OF IMMIGRATION BILLS, the bill that President Biden pledged to send to Congress on day one of his Administration, is expected to be rolled out this week. According to CNN:
Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey will take lead on the Senate side. The bill is expected to be introduced by the end of the week, according to a Democratic source.
Biden's bill, titled U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021, addresses the millions of undocumented immigrants living in the US, boosts border technology, and targets the root causes of migration, according to a White House fact sheet.
Notably, the bill provides an immediate pathway to citizenship for farmworkers, DACA recipients, and Temporary Protected Status holders. It also sketches out a plan for undocumented immigrants that would allow them to eventually apply for green cards if they pass background checks and pay taxes.
Other immigration-related actions taken by the Biden White House will be a review of the deportations of veterans and military families, as well as using more inclusive language across immigration agencies when referring to noncitizens (read: the derogatory term “alien” will no longer be used)
MICHELLE BRANÉ of the Women's Refugee Commission has been named the executive director of the task force to reunite migrant families separated by the Trump administration. NBC News has the full story.
JEN SMYERS, formerly with Church World Service, is headed to the Office of Refugee Resettlement at the Department of Health and Human Services.
State Policy 🏢
ARIZONA Republican legislators passed SCR 1044 in the state’s Senate Education Committee. If enacted into law, this bill would provide in-state tuition to all students who graduate from a high school in Arizona, regardless of immigration status. ALIENTO AZ provides a full breakdown of the vote.
Enforcement 👥
A FEDERAL JUDGE has allowed a lawsuit challenging by workers from a Knoxville meat processing plant, who alleged that they were detained by federal officials during an immigration raid in 2018, to move forward. According to the National Immigration Law Center, “the plaintiffs allege that armed federal law enforcement officers used militaristic tactics and illegally targeted Latinx workers.”
THE INTERCEPT ran a story earlier this month regarding allegations from four immigration detainees in two different immigration facilities of how ICE agents threatened to expose them to COVID-19 if they failed to follow orders. The detention facility is run by the GEO Group, a private prison operator with a long history of intimidation practices and abuse of detainees.
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