JUUstice Washington

A Unitarian Universalist State Action Network

Standing with the People of Afghanistan and Haiti

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Northwest Immigrant Rights Project is deeply concerned about the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and stand in solidarity with Afghan people everywhere. We are grateful for the local community partners who are working to support Afghan people who have recently had to flee their country and have been arriving in our state. For those of you who are interested in assisting with local efforts, Aneelah Afzali from MAPS-AMEN has created an email list for volunteer opportunities. You can sign up for updates at this link. And we also want to encourage you to support the Emergency Afghan Refugee Fund for Washington State.

We also stand in solidarity with the people of Haiti. In addition to ongoing political upheaval, violence, and the COVID-19 pandemic, conditions in Haiti have only worsened in recent months with the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse and more recently, a massive 7.2 earthquake that has claimed over 2,200 lives. Even as Haiti faces these natural and political crises, deportation flights from the U.S. of Haitian nationals have continued. We recently joined over 300 organizations and advocates in urging the Biden Administration to immediately halt deportations and extend further protections to Haitian immigrants. The letter to the administration may be viewed here.

Petition Congressional Parliamentarian for Path to Citizenship Decision

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The chance to get a path to citizenship for millions of people— youth, farmworkers, and other essential workers— is very close!
A process for citizenship is being debated in Congress at the moment and a key person, called the parliamentarian, will decide if citizenship language will enter the budget reconciliation bill.
Take action
No matter what she decides on the citizenship language, we will be demanding that Congress authorize a path to citizenship now! The Senate will vote on this bill in the next few weeks, and we have to demand our senators not let this opportunity pass. Send a message to your senator to demand that she take leadership and ensure that we will have a path to citizenship on this bill.
En soladaridad,
Cariño Barragán Talancón
Policy and Advocacy Manager

Immigration Days of Action, July 17 to 31, 2021

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The Interfaith Immigration Coalition and the Welcome With Dignity campaign are hosting Days of Action from July 17-31 to create awareness and end Title 42 and expand asylum protections. The Biden Administration is expected to make a series of announcements on a Trump-era anti-asylum policy known as Title 42 which has been used to block asylum since March 2020, sending families back to dangerous situations and blocking their legal and moral right to seek asylum. #Faiths4Asylum has a Prayer Vigil Toolkit, an action letter to send to your Congressmembers, and a Welcome with Dignity Pledge you can sign. 

FARM WORKFORCE MODERNIZATION ACT (FWMA) IS BAD FOR FARMWORKERS-Please Add Your Opposition

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On Thursday March 18th the Farm Workforce Modernization Act passed the house with a 247-172 vote; the majority of votes in favor coming from Democrats.

C2C and Farmworker organizations nationally have opposed this legislation since it was introduced in 2019 during the Trump administration. We are deeply concerned that Democrats are giving in to political pressure to move quickly on immigration bills; with a dangerous tradeoff that will set in place the long-term implications of the FWMA.

We remain opposed to the FWMA as it is written.

We urge our supporters to reach out to your senators and tell them to vote “NO” on this bill.

While it is being touted as a bipartisan effort to attain a path for citizenship, what is being left out of the conversation is that this bill’s “path” sets up an 8-year period of exploitation that farmworkers have to survive in order to eventually qualify for citizenship. Workers who are injured during the eight-year process will be disqualified. The ultimate recommendation for citizenship will have to come from employers, which further entrenches the longstanding power imbalance between workers and farm owners.

Two dangerous long-term mandates in this bill are forcing agricultural employers to use E-Verify, the faulty audit system that has resulted in massive detention and deportation. This will put millions of undocumented people living and working in the United States at risk.

The other mandate is linking legalization to the exploitative federal H2A (guest worker) program, and permanently expanding it, making it harder for workers to organize and easier for corporate agriculture to obtain and exploit cheap labor, instead of hiring farmworkers already living in the U.S.

Read our joint statement with the Food Chain Workers Alliance here.

Sign on to Oppose FWMA Here!
Call and write your senators THIS WEEK and ask them to vote NO on the FWMA. Find your senator’s contact info here!

Private prison ban could limit ICE detention in the Pacific Northwest

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After years of pressure from activists, the detention of adults and teens by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement could be severely curtailed in the Pacific Northwest, thanks to action in the courts and in the Washington Legislature.

Last week, the Washington state House passed a bill aimed at banning private for-profit prison companies that contract with local, state and such federal agencies as Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, from operating in Washington state. The proposed legislation, now heading to the Senate, seems to have support and could soon become law.

Read more here.