U.S. Supreme Court Temporarily Halt Citizenship Question In 2020 Census

The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) Educational Fund today released a statement from CEO Arturo Vargas following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to temporarily halt the citizenship question from moving forward in Census 2020.

“Today’s decision from the U.S. Supreme Court has for the moment walked our nation back from the brink of a catastrophic disaster that would have inflicted a wound on our constitution and democracy that may never have healed. 

“Choosing to send the case back to the district court in New York in a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court found that the U.S. Commerce Department’s rationale for adding the question was ‘contrived’ and raised questions about its motivations. The New York District Court previously ruled that the Administration acted in error, with two other similar lower court rulings finding that the addition of the citizenship question also violated the U.S. Constitution. The U.S. Commerce Department must now provide an alternative and reasonable justification to the lower court in order to move forward with a question on citizenship in Census 2020. 

“While this victory is far from settled, the nation’s highest court did send a clear message today that future cabinet members and administrations are not free to make arbitrary and politically motivated decisions at will, denying those with ill-intentions the power and discretion to fabricate excuses and ignore facts and laws free from consequences. 

“We now call on the New York District Court to remove the citizenship question once and for all so that the U.S. Census Bureau can proceed with the clarity and certainty it needs to execute a Census 2020 that is fair, constitutional and accurate.” 

“Even if the citizenship question is halted for good, we know this effort to undermine the progress of the Latino community and suppress the count of Latinos has left its mark on Census 2020. Our work mobilizing the nation’s second largest population group remains more important than ever as we attempt to rebuild the trust that has been eroded over the course of this fight. Standing alongside our nation’s Latino leadership and partners, we will work together to educate our community about this important development and make sure that every Latino is counted in the 2020 Census. 

“The Census Bureau understands as well as we do, that an undercount of Latinos, who account for nearly one of every five persons in the United States, would mean a failed Census for the country. We have our work cut out for us, but the lack of a citizenship question will at least give us a fighting chance to attempt to tackle the monumental task of counting every person living in the United States. We know it will still require millions in taxpayer dollars to overcome the lingering and chilling effects of the citizenship question effort on Census participation if we want a successful Census 2020. 

“Through our nationwide ¡Hágase Contar! (Make Yourself Count!) Campaign, we will do our part to save the decennial count by engaging Latinos from coast to coast about the importance of participating in Census 2020. Our toll-free bilingual hotline—877-EL-CENSO (877-352-3767)—will be in full operation to ensure that members of our community have the information they need to count themselves and their family members. 

“The stakes are too high for the Latino community and our democracy to rest on our laurels. Our dedication to a full portrait of this nation is unwavering, and we remain staunchly committed to ensuring a fair and accurate Census count of all persons in the United States, including Latinos and immigrants, as required by the U.S. Constitution. 

“We know the fight for a fair and accurate Census 2020 is far from over. We hope for swift and absolute resolution from the New York District Court so that we can devote our time and resources toward healing our nation and working towards a full count of all persons in Census 2020.” 

In a stark reversal, President Trump and the Justice Department say they are still looking at ways to add a citizenship question in the 2020 census. Trump issued several tweets and comments late last week, starting just one day after the Justice Department said the census would go ahead without the citizenship question on Tuesday following a Supreme Court ruling against the administration. Trump says he would consider an executive order to add the question, though it’s unclear if this would succeed given the recent ruling. 

Meanwhile, on Friday, a federal judge in Maryland said he is moving ahead with a case to determine whether the Trump administration added the question in order to discriminate against immigrant communities. 

Source: NALEO Educational Fund 

https://www.inmigracionyvisas.com/a4297-Citizenship-Question-In-2020-Census-United-States.html

Inmigrantes Indocumentados Demandaron Al Gobierno De Donald Trump

Un grupo de seis inmigrantes indocumentados demandaron al gobierno de Donald Trump el lunes ante un tribunal federal de San Francisco por la decisión del presidente de poner fin al programa de Acción Diferida para los Llegados en la Infancia que otorga a 800.000 jóvenes inmigrantes indocumentados, conocidos como DREAMers, el permiso para vivir y trabajar en Estados Unidos. 

En la demanda argumentan que el gobierno de Trump no siguió los procedimientos administrativos correspondientes para rescindir ese programa y que su revocación representa una violación de las leyes de debido proceso. 

DACA fue establecido en el año 2012, durante el gobierno de Obama, tras años de organización de los movimientos de base formados por jóvenes estudiantes indocumentados. Quince estados y el distrito de Columbia también iniciaron un juicio contra el gobierno de Trump por sus planes de derogar DACA. 

Dulce García es una de los demandantes y además es abogada de inmigración, que regularmente defiende a otros inmigrantes en los tribunales de California y vive en Estados Unidos desde que su familia inmigró proveniente de México cuando ella tenía cuatro años de edad. 

A continuación compartimos la entrevista que dio para democracynow.org

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: We’re continuing to look at the struggle over DACA. That’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which gives nearly 800,000 young people legal permission to live and work in the United States. On Monday, six DACArecipients sued the Trump administration in a San Francisco federal court over its plans to rescind the program. The lawsuit argues the Trump administration failed to follow proper administrative procedures in rescinding DACA and that revoking the program violates due process laws. DACA was instituted by President Obama in 2012 after years of sustained grassroots organizing by young undocumented students. Fifteen states and the District of Columbia have also sued the Trump administration over its plans to end DACA. 

AMY GOODMAN: Among the six plaintiffs is Jirayut Latthivongskorn, a fourth-year medical student who’s been living in the United States since he and his parents moved from Thailand when he was just nine years old. Two other plaintiffs are middle school teachers. Another plaintiff is Dulce Garcia, an immigration lawyer who regularly defends other immigrants in court in California. She’s been living in the United States since her family immigrated from Mexico when she was four years old. So we’re going to San Diego, California, to speak with her. 

Dulce Garcia, welcome to Democracy Now! Can you lay out what this lawsuit is all about and who you’re representing, not to mention yourself? 

DULCE GARCIA: Hi. Thank you so much for having me. On a personal level, what this lawsuit is to me, it’s a way to speak, to tell our stories, to tell who we are, to tell the stories of our parents and their sacrifices, as well, because although the dialogue has been centered around us as DREAMers, it’s clear and evident from the lawsuit itself that there was support from our parents all the way through to make sure that our dreams came true. So, for me, this lawsuit means a voice for us. We’re speaking on our own behalf. And we’re filing the lawsuit on behalf of 800,000 DACArecipients. So, it’s a very personal lawsuit. Being a lawyer, I trust our judicial system, and I am placing full faith on them to do what is right for us. 

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Well, tell us your own story and how it came to be, one, that you ended up as a lawyer and benefited from DACA yourself. Talk about your family’s journey. 

DULCE GARCIA: Yeah. Well, actually, the last memory that I have of my home country was when we were robbed at the border in Tijuana, in Tijuana, Mexico. That’s the very last memory that I have of my home country. I’ve been here for over 30 years now. And it’s been a difficult upbringing. We arrived in San Diego, which is a beautiful city. We settled there, loved it, but we struggled. We struggled at times with homelessness. Growing up, we had so much fear of our local police. We had fear of not just immigration officers, but also just in general authority. We would never step into a government’s office to ask for help for anything. So, my family, we would find ourselves, our siblings and I, sleeping under a table, because my parents, at that time, couldn’t afford a home for us, so we would rent out areas of a home. So, we had a difficult upbringing, to say the least. We definitely lacked healthcare. But we knew that with hard work that we would—we would be able to accomplish our dreams. And my dream, from very small, was to become a lawyer. In my mind—not realizing that I was not a U.S. citizen, in my mind, I was going to become a lawyer, a criminal defense lawyer, and work for the federal government as an FBIagent. And this is based on the books that I was reading, the TV that I was watching, and just looking around my neighborhood at the abuse by police at that time. It just inspired me to go into a field in criminal defense. I didn’t realize that I was undocumented and my dreams would be deferred for a very long time. And it’s still a struggle, 'til today, to keep going and accomplish those dreams. And they've changed somewhat. Now my area of focus is immigration, simply because I find that I have to understand my parents’ situation, my own situation and those of—in my community. But yeah, growing up, I didn’t realize that I was undocumented, and I thought everything that we were going through had to do with just being poor. I didn’t realize that a lot of what we went through, a lot of our experiences were precisely because we were undocumented. 

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Well, to explore that further, can you talk about the condition that your family was in? Your father was a welder. And could you talk about what your mother did? And also, you’ve spoken about the impact in terms of healthcare to your family, the lack of—the fact that you didn’t have health insurance, largely because your family was undocumented. 

DULCE GARCIA: Right. I didn’t step into a dentist’s office until I was an adult. 

Yeah, my dad is a welder. He did work unlawfully for another person. And at one point, he injured his arm. He shattered his arm and his wrist in several places. And we didn’t have health insurance, so for over a week he just worked through the pain, and not realizing that it was exponentially getting worse. He just toughened it up. And when, finally, we realized that his arm was getting infected, we went to a doctor. And he told us that had he waited any longer, he might have had his hand amputated, because it had gotten so bad. But we were just so terrified of seeking help, because of all the rhetoric going around us that it wasn’t safe to go out of our home. 

I didn’t get to experience everything that San Diego had to offer. I had a very sheltered life. I didn’t go to the park, see the beaches. I didn’t go to Disneyland, even though I could hear—I kept hearing all kinds of things from classmates about Disneyland. And it wasn’t until an adult that I actually was able to do that on my own, without depending on school field trips to go out, aside from—out of my home. So, it was a tough upbringing, because we felt terrified all the time. We felt scared all the time to step outside of our house, even to go to the movies or something like that. 

We wouldn’t do anything, really, that would be compromising our stay here, because we had a goal. My parents had a vision for us, and they didn’t want to compromise that. So they made sure that we would be very sheltered. And because of that, I also didn’t quite understand the reasons for it. I just, growing up, thought my parents were a little tough on me, and they were—I just assumed that a lot of the things that we were limited to doing was because we were poor. 

But as far as the healthcare, whenever any of us would get sick, we would toughen it up as much as possible. We didn’t have the regular checkups. And luckily enough, we were pretty healthy, considering the malnutrition that we suffered through—

AMY GOODMAN: Dulce Garcia—

DULCE GARCIA: —for quite a bit of time. 

AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to ask—

DULCE GARCIA: Yes. 

AMY GOODMAN: You’re not the first to sue. I mean, 15 states have sued around President Trump rescinding DACA. But you’re the first DACA recipient, representing other DACA recipients, to sue. Can you talk about the significance of this and your fellow DACA recipients, like the Thai medical student that you’re representing? 

DULCE GARCIA: Yes. I want to emphasize that the people that are named plaintiffs in this lawsuit, this is just a very small sample of the 800,000 DACA recipients. We’re not the best of the best. We’re not the brightest. We’re not the most accomplished. This is just a very small sample of what the 800,000 DACA recipients are doing in our community. They are just so amazing, and so many of them are doing such great work in our communities. But the named plaintiffs are very incredible people. So, I feel very privileged to be working with them and working with the team behind this lawsuit. 

But I want to emphasize that, you know, the 800,000 DACA recipients, we’re in our communities. We’re teachers, doctors, lawyers and mothers and hard-working parents, hard-working fathers, wanting to provide for their families. And a lot of them are in incredible schools and doing incredible work for our communities. And, to me, the fact that we are, in a way, providing a voice for the 800,000 DACA recipients, I am more than honored to be. 

AMY GOODMAN: Before we wrap up, can you tell us the grounds on which you’re suing? 

DULCE GARCIA: Yes. It’s several grounds. One of them is the promise that we relied on. We relied on the government telling us, "Come out of the shadows, give us your information, and you won’t be deported. You’ll renew your DACA permit for two years." And I very much depended on that. I have a practice, and I just opened a second law firm this year. And I signed a five-year lease this year in May, thinking that I would be able to renew this DACA work permit. And so a lot of us depended on this promise of the government saying, "If you step out of the shadows, you do the right thing, you follow the rules, and we’re going to protect you." And I went out into the community as a lawyer asking people to sign up for DACA: "Come out of the shadows. You’re going to be saved. It’ll be a life changer for you. There’s so many benefits to being able to walk around without the fear of being deported." And now I am scared and terrified—

AMY GOODMAN: Oh, it looks like we have just lost our satellite feed with Dulce Garcia. Dulce Garcia, an immigration and criminal defense lawyer in San Diego. She’s one of six DREAMERs who have sued the Trump administration—she’s one of six DREAMers who have sued the Trump administration over its plans to rescind DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. She’s been in the country since she was four years old. 

When we come back, President Trump’s childhood home in Queens is now, well, renting out as an Airbnb. So some refugees stayed overnight and talked about their dreams. Stay with us.

Fuente: www.democracynow.org  
http://inmigracionyvisas.com/a3694-Inmigrantes-Indocumentados-demandan-Gobierno-De-Donald-Trump.html

Tell Congress: Stand up for Dreamers

The petition to Congress reads: 
“Pass clean legislation to reinstate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program with no strings attached and block all right-wing attempts to use DACA as a bargaining chip to insert legislative poison pills to expand immigration enforcement, wall off our borders, or ramp-up attacks on other immigrants and refugees. ” 

The white supremacist in chief just struck again. Donald Trump killed the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and put more than 800,000 immigrants at risk of deportation.1

DACA gave immigrants who came to the United States as children, known as Dreamers, the ability to obtain driver’s licenses and work permits and live safely in the only country many of them have ever known. President Obama created DACA after thousands of undocumented young people took the risk to come out of the shadows and fight for protected status.

Trump knows that ending DACA is cruel and unpopular. He was too cowardly to make the announcement himself and has now put Dreamers’ fate in Congress’ hands. Republicans in Congress have had a bigoted, anti-immigrant agenda for years. And Trump premised his entire administration on a racist war on immigrants. Now, Trump and his racist party want to use Dreamers as a bargaining chip to advance their hateful agenda and put other immigrants at risk. Now more than ever, we must stand with our allies in the immigrant rights movement and make our demands crystal clear: No trade-offs. No compromises. 

Democrats and Republicans of good conscience must pass clean legislation to reinstate DACA with no strings attached. They must also stop right-wing extremists from using Dreamers as a bargaining chip and inserting legislative poison pills to expand immigration enforcement, build Trump’s wall or shut down our borders. Can you add your name? 

Tell Congress: Immediately restore and expand DACA by passing clean legislation without any poison pills from the extreme right wing. Click here to sign the petition. 

When Trump set his anti-immigrant agenda in motion, he said that Immigration and Customs Enforcement would focus on removing dangerous criminals from the country and told DACA beneficiaries that they could “rest easy.” Trump was lying. His rogue deportation force has targeted and attacked all immigrants since day one of his racist regime. Going after Dreamers is just another way to advance his white supremacist agenda and terrorize immigrant communities. 

Racist, anti-immigrant attorneys general from 10 states threatened to sue the Department of Justice if it did not end DACA by Sept. 5.2Their threats gave Trump license to kill the program. Trump says he admires Dreamers, but he is a coward and a liar. His attempt to shift the burden to Congress and give them six months to act is nothing more than a desperate attempt to appear compassionate and use Dreamers as political cover to advance his reckless and dangerous anti-immigrant agenda. Trump is now planning to phase out DACA, saying that current DACA beneficiaries will not be impacted until March 2018. But we cannot trust him to keep his word. To protect Dreamers, Congress must take bold action immediately. 

Democrats and Republicans have already introduced the 2017 DREAM Act and The American Hope Act, sister bills that would restore and expand DACA.3 If Congress passes the 2017 DREAM Act as-is, with no amendments, it would: 

• Immediately protect current Dreamers from deportation.
• Raise the program’s age entry requirement to 18. Immigrants who entered the country before the age of 18 would qualify for DACA under the new law.
• Expand eligibility for DACA to include college students, members of the military, workers and full-time caregivers of minor children.
• Add new paths to citizenship for Dreamers.

Dreamers embody the spirit of the United States in a way that small minded xenophobic Republicans like Trump will never understand. They came to the United States with parents who made the courageous and extremely difficult decision to leave their families, communities and countries of birth behind in the hopes of building better lives. Some families are displaced by war, others by climate change or corporate greed. All are seeking refuge, freedom from persecution and better economic opportunities for their families. There is nothing more American than that. Trump’s attacks on immigrants are attacks on the very fabric of our nation. We must push Congress to act now. 

Tell Congress: Immediately restore and expand DACA by passing clean legislation without any poison pills from the extreme right wing. Click here to sign the petition. 

Government funding is set to expire at the end of September, and Trump has threatened to shut down the government if Congress does not approve funding for his southern border wall in a broader must-pass government funding bill.4 Our activism pushed Senate Democrats to block funding for Trump’s wall before. Together, we can do it again. That is why CREDO is teaming up with our friends at United We Dream to make sure Democrats and Republicans of good conscience advance strong legislation to reinstate and expand DACA and stop anti-immigrant Republicans from leveraging the program to ramp-up immigration enforcement or wall off our borders. 

Restoring DACA will not protect all immigrants from Trump’s hate, but it would bring us one step closer to reaching that goal. Can you help us make sure Congress takes a stand for Dreamers and does not use them as bargaining chips? 

Tell Congress: Immediately restore and expand DACA by passing clean legislation without any poison pills from the extreme right wing. Click the link below to sign the petition. 

https://act.credoaction.com/sign/trump_daca?t=8&akid=24844%2E13254089%2EncCIB_

Thank you for your activism, 

Nicole Regalado, Campaign Manager CREDO Action from Working Assets

P.S. Click here to find an emergency #DefendDACA event near you. 

Sing the Petition

References: 
1. Matthew Yglesias, "Trump isn’t delivering his own DACA policy because he’s cowardly and weak, " Vox, Sept. 5, 2017. 
2. Molly Ball, "How Immigration Hardliners Are Forcing Trump's Hand on DACA, The Atlantic, Aug. 31, 2017. 
3. E. A. Crunden, "Sweeping new effort aims to protect undocumented immigrants, " ThinkProgress, July 28, 2017. 
4. Matthew Cooper, "Wake Trump up when September ends: President, Congress face debt limit, government shutdown deadlines, " Newsweek, Aug. 28, 2017. 



Source: www.act.credoaction.com
http://inmigracionyvisas.com/a3688-stand-up-for-Dreamers.html