For the cost of mass deportations, we could instead erase medical debt, provide universal school lunches, and end homelessness. The American Immigration Council estimates mass deportations will cost $88 billion per year over the course of a decade.
First, they came for the immigrants…
Iowa and New Hampshire were big wins for Bernie, but in neither state did his vote total reach 30%. Bernie will have to substantially expand his base if he is going to capture the nomination, not to mention succeed in beating Trump in November.
Cities across the US have enacted sanctuary measures to resist the Trump administration’s escalation of anti-immigrant policing, but most municipal measures have a central weakness: They only protect immigrants deemed as “law-abiding,” leaving those already ensnared in a racist system unprotected.
The committee’s vote comes a year after advocates pushed lawmakers to declare L.A. a sanctuary city amid concern that Trump would make good on his campaign promise to aggressively deport immigrants in the country illegally and build a border wall.
The art installation and protests puts a spotlight on the $95 million police academy proposed by the Mayor, the killing of Black and Brown youth by the Police Department, and the City’s role in contributing to deportations of immigrants and the criminalization of Black and Brown Chicagoans.
“While many officials champion their status as ‘sanctuary cities’ and have taken meaningful steps to protect immigrant communities, sweeping criminal laws in these places leave many immigrants trapped within an arm’s reach of deportation.”
On January 20, our organizations -- Project South, GLAHR and SONG -- joined more than 25 other Georgia-based groups for an action we called the People's Inauguration. Together, we demanded that the City of Atlanta declare itself a sanctuary city by addressing a list of demands to protect the human rights of our communities.
Black traditions of struggle and defiance to oppression helped define the meanings of freedom and citizenship in the United States.
Immigrant rights activists have developed a strategy to defeat deportations. Those arrested are encouraged to refuse to sign the “voluntary departure," and insist upon having legal counsel. All persons inside the U.S. have a right to counsel (not only citizens). If some 20%- 30% of those arrested begin to refuse to sign, the jails will fill within days – even the private prisons. If those arrested insist on legal counsel, the courts will be overloaded.
Spread the word