Immigrants' Children

05/02/2013

DREAM Act

VICTORY! Maryland and Oregon Extend Driving Privileges to All Immigrants

By Sirine Shebaya, ACLU of Maryland & Becky Straus, Legislative Director, ACLU of Oregon at 4:55pm

Today Maryland and Oregon are celebrating the signing of new laws expanding access to driver's licenses to all residents, including undocumented immigrants. We are part of a movement. Our hope is that our success inspires the passage of bills in more than a dozen other states considering similar measures.

In most states today, it is difficult, if not impossible, for people to go about their daily lives without the ability to drive. Simple but essential tasks such as driving kids to school or to extracurricular activities, picking up groceries, going to the doctor, and traveling to workbecome riddled with hardship. As a result, people without access to driver's licenses are faced with the difficult "choice" of either not meeting their basic needs or driving and risking arrest and other negative repercussions.

12/28/2012

Immigration Deportation

A Wish for the New Year: End Mass Deportation and Family Separation

By Shawn Jain, ACLU at 12:08pm

As families get together this holiday season, we thought we’d share one wish for the New Year: an end to a government policy that tears thousands of these families apart.

We’re talking about the Obama administration’s harsh immigration enforcement regime, which has led to more than 200,000 parents of U.S. citizen children deported in just the last two years.

06/14/2012

Plyler v. Doe

United We Dream

There are 2.1 million of us. Then, there are our parents, friends, and neighbors—courageous, hardworking undocumented Americans. Together, we are 11.2 million. We’ve met and overcome great hardship.

05/20/2013

Anti-Immigrant Laws

A Key Lesson from the 1986 Immigration Reform Is in Jeopardy

By Diana Scholl, Communications Strategist, ACLU at 12:45pm

Another day, another amendment to the Senate immigration reform legislation from Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) that would harm immigrants' civil liberties. Amendment 17, which will be up for consideration this week in the Senate Judiciary Committee's markup of the immigration reform bill, would unwisely (and unconstitutionally) restrict the ability of immigrants to correct erroneous denials of legalization by barring the courthouse door to them.

04/10/2013

Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Time is Now for Immigration Reform That Offers a Roadmap to Citizenship and Preserves Family Unity

By Vicki B. Gaubeca, ACLU of New Mexico at 11:25am

Immigration reform must not be contingent on the false premise that an airtight 2,000-mile border is required. Instead, Congress should turn to ameliorating the tragedy of family separation along the southern border.

Thousands of families from San Diego to Brownsville have suffered the loss of people they love to deportation. Many of these families are comprised of members who are U.S. citizens, lawful residents and people who've lived here for years and tried unsuccessfully--sometimes for decades--to become residents or U.S. citizens.

04/02/2013

Immigrants' Children

VICTORY! Bipartisan Group of Legislators Lead Oregon to Equal Access to Education Law

By Becky Straus, Legislative Director, ACLU of Oregon at 10:29am

Today in front of a packed room of supporters, Gov. John Kitzhaber signed into law HB 2787, a law that brings access to in-state tuition to all Oregonians, regardless of immigration status. The governor's action marked the culmination of an over ten-year-long campaign for tuition equity in Oregon. It is about time.

A Democratic majority in both chambers and the rising political influence of Latinos in the electorate contributed to this great victory, but ultimately it was the leadership of a few key legislators that cleared the path for this bill's passage. Sen. Frank Morse (R-Albany) and Sen. David Nelson (R-Pendleton), each now retired from the legislature, departed from the prevailing view of many in their caucus, and co-sponsored the tuition equity bill in the 2011 session. Their sponsorship demonstrated to Oregonians that tuition equity is about fairness rather than partisan politics. And their public support for the bill invited their colleagues to follow so that, despite the fact that Morse and Nelson are no longer in the legislature, eight Republicans (including Nelson's successor) helped tuition equity pass in 2013.

04/01/2013

Immigration and Customs Enforcement

VICTORY! Ohio Lets DREAMers Drive

By Michael Tan, Staff Attorney, Immigrants' Rights Project, ACLU at 5:18pm

Last week, Ohio officials confirmed that young immigrants who came to the United States as children—or “DREAMers”—will be eligible for driver’s licenses. The decision impacts an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 young people who stand to benefit from the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

Ohio joins the overwhelming chorus of states that have gotten with the DACA program. Generally, states limit driver’s licenses to immigrants who can show they are “authorized" or “legally present” in the United States. Consistent with guidance from the federal government, the overwhelming majority of states like Ohio have rightly acknowledged that immigrants granted DACA are legally authorized to be in the country, and thus eligible to drive.

01/02/2013

287(g)

The Consequences and Costs of a 287(g) Jail Agreement: One Tennessee County’s Story

By Lindsay Kee, ACLU of Tennessee at 1:31pm

Though street-level 287(g) agreements are ending, ICE is continuing the troubled 287(g) program in jails

11/07/2012

DREAM Act

DREAM Act Passage in Maryland Should Spark Federal Action

By Sirine Shebaya, ACLU of Maryland & Joanne Lin, Washington Legislative Office at 9:32pm

Last night was a watershed moment for immigrants’ rights in Maryland. Faced with federal inaction and a stalemate on immigration reform, Maryland stepped in to ensure that none of its children are left behind.

Voters in the state overwhelmingly approved Question 4, a ballot measure known as the Maryland DREAM Act, which expands access to higher education for all of Maryland’s students, regardless of their immigration status. We hope that this move will inspire the incoming Congress to act decisively to pass comprehensive immigration reform.

10/02/2012

Marriage for Same-Sex Couples

Important Breakthrough for LGBT Immigrant Families

By Ian S. Thompson, ACLU Washington Legislative Office & Joanne Lin, Washington Legislative Office at 1:57pm

In August, over 80 members of Congress, led by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), wrote to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) requesting recognition, explicitly and in writing, of the ties of a same-sex partner or spouse as a positive factor for determining discretionary relief in immigration cases. On Friday, it was reported that DHS had announced it would be issuing new, written guidance providing that relief to LGBT immigrant families.

American Civil Liberties Union