Riding the positive momentum created by the hard work of the DREAM Activists and their success in the House of Representatives, advocates protesting the Secure Communities program gathered for a peaceful rally outside Governor David Paterson’s office in New York City earlier today.
From the Restore Fairness blog-
Following a historic 216-198 vote in which the House of Representatives passed the DREAM Act last evening, today’s events in the Senate reflected a strategic decision on the part of Sen. Reid to buy time to ensure the support needed to get the DREAM Act passed in the Senate. Since the Republicans in the Senate have vowed to block all bills until the issue of tax cuts was resolved, Sen. Reid made a motion to table the cloture vote on the DREAM Act that was otherwise scheduled to take place at 11:00 AM this morning. By tabling it, the Senate Democrats will be able to bring the version of the bill that has already been passed in the House, up for a vote in the coming week, once the other issues have been resolved. Immigrant rights advocates now have additional time to build on the momentum created by the House victory yesterday, and work on getting more Senate support for the DREAM Act, so that when it does finally come up for a vote, it can have the same success that it had in the House of Representatives. According to the Vivir Latino blog-
All in all this gives DREAM a better chance in passing, especially when considering that there are Senators on the fence who do not want to be targeted and be in the spotlight twice. And obviously this gives advocates, activists, and you more time to call and ask that DREAM be supported.
According to the New York Times, once the bill wins the approval of the Senate, it will go straight to President Obama, signaling one of the most significant victories that immigrant rights will have seen in decades. The White House and the President’s support for the DREAM Act has become increasingly evident in recent weeks. While always a supporter of the bill, this is the first time he has actively worked for it to be passed. Over the last few weeks, and up until yesterday, he has been personally making calls to garner support for the DREAM Act.
The DREAM is very much alive and will have its final vote in the Senate in the next week or so. Take the time to follow the example of President Obama and pick up the phone to call your Senators! Tell them that it is important that they pass the DREAM Act and keep the dreams of millions of our country’s youth alive.
Riding the positive momentum created by the hard work of DREAM Activists, advocates protesting the Secure Communities program gathered for a peaceful rallyoutside Governor David Paterson’s office in New York City earlier today. Despite the bitterly cold morning, a number of activists and local groups turned up to urge Gov. Paterson to rescind the Memorandum of Agreement that New York State signed with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to approve the Secure Communities program in which local police will send fingerprints of all arrestees to federal immigration databases, with immigrants who are found "deportable" being directly pushed into the deeply flawed detention and deportation system. Sarahi Uribe of the National Day Labor Organizing Network spoke about the need for the rally-
To keep our families together, we need to keep police and ICE separate. The Orwellian-named Secure Communities program does the opposite of making us safer. We see innocent people swept up in a massive dragnet sending a chilling effect through migrant communities.
The advocates and religious leaders who spoke at the rally voiced their concerns about the implementation of the program: they stressed the ways in which it jeopardizes the relationship between law enforcement and the community, jeopardizing the safety of the community at large; it offends the values of liberty, due process and justice by undermining the basis of our legal system that aims to provide equal protection to all; it imposes significant costs on our localities, on the detention system, and the State; and it encourages racial profiling by law enforcement.
Following the rally that took place at 11:00 am, the Center for Constitutional Rights and the Kathryn O. Greenberg Immigration Justice Clinic of Cardozo Law requested an emergency injunction in federal court in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit NDLON v. ICE filed on behalf of the NDLON. The case requests information regarding the controversial Secure Communities program and the emergency injunction specifically requests documents related to the voluntary nature of the program, which has been vague so far. CCR’s staff attorney Sunita Patel said-
"As advocates across the country are pushing on the state and local levels to find a way to opt-out of Secure Communities, we are going to court to obtain information that the public and advocates need to determine how and if it’s possible to opt-out. Only the government has the information everyone needs."
We thank everyone who came out to show their support at the rally. It is important that we build on this momentum and keep working hard to make sure that we can honor the values that are the strength of this nation. As long as we continue to deny equality, justice, dignity and liberty to some, we cannot guarantee human rights for anyone. Together, we can stop the erosion of our fundamental human rights.
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