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Witnessing Arizona turn its congressional representation to Democrat was electrifying to see. However, this was no accident: Latinos and other underrepresented groups in Arizona broke turnout records that favorably supported Democrats. As a Latino immigrant who has lived in Arizona since 4th grade, this feels like progress, considering we are not that far removed from the days when Joe Arpaios deputies raided our neighborhoods and armed citizens showed up at the border regularly.

While Mark Kellys victory in November does not equate to Democratic control over Arizona, it appears as if the Arizona Democratic Party finally understands that if it wants more victories, it must support the policies and changes of their most effective supporters the community organizations that push for progressive changes. That Democrats elected state Rep. Raquel Teran to be the partys next chairwoman signals that we have found a formula for success.

It is also time to seize victories at the national level. Immigration has always been a divisive topic in Arizona, from xenophobic laws targeting some of the most vulnerable folks in our state to producing advocates rise to national prominence. For that reason, Democrats in Congress must advocate for a pathway to citizenship for undocumented individuals by supporting a legislative bill.

President Joe Biden has indicated he is not going to make the same mistake Obama did when his party had complete control in D.C. and is proposing immigration reform now rather than waiting. However, we are facing one last barrier within the Democratic party: the filibuster.

Getting rid of the Senate filibuster is not an attack to the value of compromise, as some assert. Instead, it is paying respect for the communities that have been tormented for the last four years and are in urgent need of policy changes that will allow these people to continue to live their lives. I know this because, as a DACA recipient, I am familiar with these struggles and am still hindered by them.

I welcome Kelly to his new role and will continue to cheer for the work of Sen. Kyrsten Sinema. But immigration reform for undocumented individuals is a must, and for that reason Democrats need to remove the Senate filibuster. This is not a time for Democrats to be wasting trying to be proper in a country that, for the last four years (and many other times before that), never prioritized being proper. Instead, lets be proper by providing answers to the people that propel the Democratic Party and who want to solve problems.

Arizona Mirror is part of States Newsroom, a network of news outlets supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arizona Mirror maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jim Small for questions: info@azmirror.com. Follow Arizona Mirror on Facebook and Twitter.

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Immigration reform is important enough for the Senate to scrap the filibuster - Arizona Mirror

This summary was featured in Documenteds Early Arrival newsletter. You can subscribe to receive it in your inbox three times per week here.

Migrants are hoping President Joe Biden will change immigration policies and provide them a better path to come into the U.S. Biden has already issued a wave of executive orders on immigration and will sign more on Friday, including orders to extend legal immigration, restore the asylum system and enhance the refugee processing system. Officials are afraid that these policy changes could cause a large group of migrants to arrive at the southern border. But even after just a week in office, some migrants have grown impatient as Biden fails to close detention camps over the southern border and overturn more of former President Donald Trumps migration policies. The New York Times

In other national immigration news

James McHenry, who had the top position at the Executive Office for Immigration Review during the Trump administration, will resign from his role at the Justice Department branch this weekend. The Biden administration has been replacing officials who played a role in former President Donald Trumps immigration restrictions. Since 2017, McHenry has restricted immigration judges ability to allow asylum, including stripping their ability to close cases and suspend deportation proceedings for certain immigrants. These decisions have led the immigration court backlog to top 1.3 million cases as of last month. Jean King, who serves as the chief administrative law judge, will replace McHenry. CBS News

U.S. immigration authorities have reunited Vladimir Fardin, a nine-year-old Haitian boy, with his family after separating him from his older brother Christian Laporte. U.S. Customs and Border Protection detained the brothers when they landed at San Francisco International Airport. CBP officers took away their visas because Laporte was missing paperwork and Fardin violated his tourist visa for previously attending school in the U.S. Advocates and attorneys tried to get Fardin reunited with his family, yet faced difficulty when the Office of Refugee Resettlement said he had to remain in a foster home to complete a 14-day quarantine. BuzzFeed News

Edisnoy Casals-Socarras and seven others filed a writ of habeas corpus in federal court to push ICE to release them from Stewart Detention Center in Georgia, which is run by the private prison company CoreCivic. The men claimed their detention violates a Supreme Court decision that blocked ICE from detaining individuals it is unable to deport for over six months and who do not pose a threat to public safety. According to Danielle Bennett, an ICE spokesperson, there are 1,091 Cubans held in detention, 680 of whom have deportation orders. ICE detained 1,805 Cubans in late September, which means hundreds of Cubans were released over the last few months. Cuba has only accepted one deportation flight since February. MotherJones

Felipe Ortega was on his way to work when immigration agents stopped his car in Midland, Texas. They informed him he had an outstanding deportation order from 15 years ago. He was then handcuffed, chained at the waist and feet, and put in a van that was going to Mexico during Bidens inauguration. By 6:30 p.m. that same day, Ortega was sent across the international bridge at El Paso and returned to Mexico for the first time in 30 years. This all happened about 24 hours before Biden signed an executive order that could have protected Ortega. But even with Bidens initial immigration changes, there is no guarantee of Ortegas return. Reuters

See the article here:
Latin Americans Getting Impatient With Immigration Reform - Documented NY

Olivia Douliery/Abaca Press/TNS

Protesters hold up signs during a rally supporting Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, outside the White House on Sept. 5, 2017. Biden has committed to preserving fortifying DACA during his term.

For Northwestern freshman and first-generation citizen Marcos Sanchez, the Biden administrations halt to the construction of the United States-Mexico border wall is representative of a positive shift from the Trump administrations harsh anti-migrant rhetoric.

President Biden halted construction of the $11 billion border wall Jan. 20, one of more than 30 executive orders he has signed since his inauguration aimed at reversing Trump-era policies and reforming other immigration policies.

Its just seeing people and your administration finally facing immigration as more of a humanitarian issue than like a disease, Sanchez said. Its just really comforting.

SESP freshman Freskida Sejdiu, also a first-generation citizen, echoed Sanchezs sentiment and said she is optimistic about his policies. As members of her family are also seeking citizenship, Sejdiu said it is comforting to know that they have a president who wont deport them.

Democrats have been talking about (it) for years, and hes finally the one to get to it, she said.

On his first day in office, Biden signed several other executive orders, including lifted a travel ban restricting people from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. He also overruled Trumps previous order to prioritize deportations of illegal immigrants in America, and has proposed a bill to make the path to citizenship easier for immigrants and members of the DACA community.

Biden also initiated a 100-day moratorium on deportations and halted the Migrant Protection Protocols, also known as the Remain in Mexico order, that has kept thousands from seeking asylum in the U.S.

Students like Sejdiu and Mccormick freshman Kobe Chamba said they are still trying to remain realistic as they wait for more change during Bidens presidency.

Its a pleasant surprise, but Im not 100 percent satisfied, Chamba said.

Political science Prof. Jacqueline Stevens said it will be important to look out for legislation not just executive orders Biden may implement to reform immigration policies in the United States.

These changes, however, will not come easily, she said, citing the Trump administrations efforts to barricade immigration reform efforts..

Theres a whole rulemaking comment process that has to be followed before you can unsnarl that stuff, Stevens said. Its gonna take a lot of bandwidth to just take care of rolling back the policies that Trump put in place, leaving aside actually trying to restart conversations about comprehensive immigration reform.

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Twitter: @KatrinaPham_

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Northwestern community weighs in on what Biden's presidency looks like for the future of immigration reform - Daily Northwestern

A trio of Massachusetts lawmakers refiled a bill on Tuesday that would make it illegal for local court and police officials ask about a persons immigration status, as well as limit cooperation between police and federal immigration agents.

There is no reason that someone who is pulled over by a police officer in a car or interacting in a court has to be asked about their immigration status, said Sen. Jamie Eldridge, an Acton Democrat, who first filed the bill eight years ago.

Eldridge filed the bill, SD. 532, on the Senate side Tuesday morning. Rep. Liz Miranda, a Boston Democrat, and Rep. Ruth Balser, a Newton Democrat, refiled the House version Tuesday morning.

The bill failed to move forward in the Massachusetts Legislature, even as the Trump administration removed priorities for who could be deported and made it difficult for certain foreigners to maintain legal status to stay in the United States.

We know how frightened so many members of our immigrant community feel, so frightened that many wont call a doctor to participate in contact tracing or even now take advantage of the vaccination rollout because of the fear, Balser said, referring to undocumented immigrants who fear going to the doctors office could lead to an encounter with immigration officials.

The bill cleared the Public Safety Committee last session, a first for the proposal, but was never put up for a vote in the Legislature. Balser and Miranda said theyre hopeful the bill will get a vote on the House floor.

Im really hopeful as well that our colleagues will join us because of this moment that were all trying to meet and the consciousness that I think has been raised, particularly in the last six months of the Legislature, Miranda said, noting that more than 90 legislators signed onto the bill last session.

More than 50% of Mirandas district is foreign-born, but immigrants with varying levels of immigration status live across Massachusetts. The Bay State is home to an estimated 250,000 people with temporary or no legal status, ranging from those who are undocumented to those who have protections under Temporary Protected Status or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.

The proposal would prohibit court and police officials from inquiring about someones immigration status unless its required by law. There would be an exception for judges and magistrates if the inquiry is necessary to adjudicate a case.

Under the bill, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents could only be notified of someones release from prison at the end of their sentence. Lawmakers say it would prevent ICE agents from detaining and deporting immigrants accused of crimes before they have their day in court.

The bill would require that federal immigration agents get written consent before interviewing someone in Massachusetts, which would effectively ensure Miranda rights are extended to non-citizens.

It would also bar local agencies from entering into 287(g) agreements with the federal government, a partnership thats come under scrutiny as local officers are effectively deputized as immigration agents.

Four Massachusetts agencies have 287(g) agreements with ICE. The Barnstable County Sheriffs Office, Bristol County Sheriffs Office, Plymouth County Sheriffs Department and the Massachusetts Department of Corrections renewed their contracts with ICE in 2020.

ICE touts the partnership as a way to get violent criminals off the streets. ICE highlighted a Dec. 3 arrest the Plymouth County Sheriffs Office made of an undocumented Dominican man on a charge of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. But the agency didnt name the suspect, and immigration records are often kept confidential.

Lawmakers say the 287(g) agreements have not made their communities safer as immigration agents have detained and deported immigrants with little to know criminal records.

More than half of the foreign nationals deported from Massachusetts between October 2009 and February 2020 had no criminal conviction, according to data compiled by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University.

Coming into office, President Joe Biden vowed to undo some of the changes the Trump administration made to crack down on illegal immigration and limit legal immigration. He signed an executive order reversing President Donald Trumps order that removed who is prioritized for deportation, among other immigration-related orders halting border wall construction, reversing the travel ban and preserving DACA.

He also introduced an immigration reform package that, among other things, would offer a path to citizenship for certain undocumented immigrants and those with temporary status.

But Bidens proposal does not limit the 287(g) program, Eldridge said. The was created under the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 and led to local-federal partnerships in Massachusetts over the past two decades.

The Biden administration has not yet suggested ending the 287(g) agreements, so that piece is critical, Eldridge said. Harmful immigration practices have existed in Massachusetts through both Democratic and Republican administrations. We cant wait for the federal government or Congress to act.

Related content:

Read more here:
Should police be able to ask about your immigration status? Legislators refile bill that would prohibit it - MassLive.com

President-elect Joe Biden plans to immediately introduce a sweeping immigration reform bill during his first days in office. The new legislation, currently being drafted by congressional Democrats and immigrant rights advocates, will include a pathway to citizenship for an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants.

Top Latino and immigrant advocacy groups were struck by the boldness of the coming legislation, saying they were floored by the aggressive agenda.

Bidens plan is the most aggressive agenda that I have seen on immigration reform from day one not only the legislative package but also executive orders, said Hector Sanchez Barba, head of Mi Familia Vota.

Jess Morales Rocketto, executive director of Care in Action, was also impressed: We were totally floored by the immigration plan and the level of clarity.

According to the LA Times, not only does the new aggressive plan give Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) a shorter pathway to citizenship but also is void of any provisions directly linking an expansion of immigration with stepped-up enforcement and security measures.

The bill will also make allowances for immigrants who are front-line essential workers.

I hope the Congress and our nation will recognize that these immigrants stepped up when the United States needed the most and put themselves in danger every day by serving as essential workers during this deadly pandemic, incoming Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) said on Friday.

The expected pushback from Republicans has already begun. Lora Ries, former acting deputy chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security under Trump, told the Times that the legislation undermines security.

Such rewards will attract more people to illegally enter the U.S. to await their eventual green card, undermining border security, Ries said.

It should be no surprise where the lack of empathy party stands on this issue. Just this week the DOJs inspector general found that former Attorney General Jeff Sessions and high-ranking Justice Department officials were the driving force behind separating migrant families at the U.S.-Mexico border, and they paid little mind to how those families would ever reunite. According to the investigation, Sessions told U.S. attorneys who raised concerns during a conference call, We need to take away children, and, If [undocumented immigrants] care about kids, dont bring them in.

Bidens legislation, if passed, would be the most extensive immigration policy since President Reagans Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 which, according to the Times, granted legal status to 3 million people who were in the country without documentation.

Its worth remembering, however, that former president Barrack Obama tried to pass comprehensive immigration reform during his two terms in office, but both Republicans and the Supreme Court blocked it.So Biden will not have an easy road ahead in Congress, although he will have some power to carry out certain portions of his plan using executive orders.

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Bidens Immigration Reform to Include Pathway to Citizenship for Millions - Rolling Stone