You may not have heard of Thomas Homan, but he’s one of the top officials responsible for the tens of thousands of deportations we’ve seen under the Trump Administration. Homan has been the acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) under Donald Trump, and now Trump wants him to be the official director of the agency. This means the Senate -- and first, the Senate Homeland Security Committee -- will have to vote on his confirmation. Homan has said that “no population is off the table” when it comes to deportations and that immigrants “need to be worried.” He wants all immigrants, from young children to Dreamers to parents, to live in fear of deportation. Even worse, ICE agents under Homan’s leadership have operated unchecked. Last month in Oregon, they entered a home to arrest a man without a warrant. All year, agents have detained immigrants outside schools, churches, hospitals, and courthouses -- “sensitive” locations where they’re not supposed to operate. Hate groups like the Federation for American Immigration Reform are celebrating Homan’s nomination, which makes him an unacceptable choice for ICE Director. Homan means bad news for immigrants and their allies, which is why we need to tell the Senate Homeland Security Committee to vote NO on his nomination. Learn more about Homan's unacceptable record as Acting Director of ICE here. https://americasvoice.org/blog/homan-nominated-ice-director/

Countless students at colleges and universities across Utah have enrolled on the hope for the promising future provided by DACA. Now they are in a state of limbo as they await the determination of their dreams' fate. These individuals have the right to an education and a fighting chance toward a successful future.

Congress needs to act before hard-working families have their lives torn apart. Taking away TPS status or letting it expire would throw hundreds of thousands of families into chaos as mothers and fathers lose their legal status to stay in the country. We could be forced to decide whether to divide our families or to take our children to dangerous and unfamiliar countries. TPS recipients are mothers, neighbors, caregivers, business owners and community members. We are parents to 273,000 children who have lived in the United States their whole lives and know no other home. Removing TPS recipients from the country is inhumane and makes no economic sense. It would cost employers nearly $1 billion in immediate turnover costs. It would cost our country an estimated $164 billion in gross domestic product over 10 years. It would destabilize housing markets. It would be especially devastating to fragile communities that are struggling to recover from hurricanes in Florida and Texas, where TPS recipients are on the frontlines of rebuilding communities. Please join me in asking Congress to keep the families of 273,000 children together by protecting TPS for 320,000 immigrants who currently have legal status in the U.S. because their countries are devastated by war and disaster.

A 287(g) certification is harmful for Dakota County. In general, deputized officers are authorized to: •interview individuals to ascertain their immigration status; •check DHS databases for information on individuals; •issue immigration detainers to hold individuals until ICE takes custody; •enter data into ICE’s database and case management system; •issue a Notice to Appear (NTA), the official charging document that begins the removal process; •make recommendations for voluntary departure in place of formal removal proceedings; •make recommendations for detention and immigration bond; and •transfer noncitizens into ICE custody. A study by the University of North Carolina School of Law and American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina (ACLU-NC) found that “287(g) encourages, or at the very least tolerates, racial profiling and baseless stereotyping, resulting in the harassment of local residents and the isolation of an increasingly marginalized community.” Please join us and urge the Dakota County Sheriff's office to withdraw their application to become 287(g) certified.

My husband, Moussa Mahaman, is being held at Buffalo Federal Detention Facility awaiting deportation back to the country of Niger. He has an extended American family who loves him dearly and is now suffering the imminent loss of a husband, step-father, and Baba (grandpa). Please speak out to help us stop this unjust removal of Moussa.

This is what our country has come to: We're imprisoning little children immediately following emergency surgery. Ten-year-old Rosa Maria Hernandez is now in a detention center, 150 miles away from her parents, after Border Patrol was alerted while she was on her way to a life-saving gallbladder surgery. Rosa Maria is undocumented, having been brought to the U.S. when she was just three months old. According to The New York Times, Border Patrol agents allowed Rosa Maria to continue to Driscoll Children's Hospital but followed the ambulance the rest of the way there, then waited outside her room until she was released from the hospital. Rosa Maria is now in a children's detention center for immigrants, over 150 miles away from her parents, who are both undocumented, in Laredo. Even for Trump's administration, this is a new low. The Border Patrol violated many of its own guidelines around avoiding sensitive places like hospitals and keeping children and families together whenever possible. If enough of us raise our voices, Trump will have no choice but to let Rosa Maria go, and we might even be able to make changes to make sure this sort of violation never happens again.

Imagine waking up one morning and being told that the only home you've ever known is not yours to have. Imagine rebuilding a life where you don't know the culture or in some cases, the language. These Dreamers are working hard and are constructive citizens in our country--why would we push them away for that? They deserve a path to legalization that helps them remain assets to our society!

The Trump administration has launched a concerted anti-immigrant agenda since day one. In order to fulfill its xenophobic vision, they need local law enforcement to act as deportation officers. California must take a stand against such attacks and protect those who call this state their home. Disentangling local law enforcement and ICE is one important step to take in order to protect our communities against Trump's deportation machine.

Immigration experts believe that the decision to require all DACA recipients whose permission expires in the next six months to have their renewal submitted by October 5 is a deadline that is arbitrary, unworkable, and cruel. It will result in tens of thousands of current DACA holders losing their protection from deportation and ability to work legally and contribute to our nation. We must ask Sec. Duke, Acting DHS Secretary, to meet with immigration advocates to discuss several policy recommendations, extend the deadline, and restore some measure of sanity to this process. 154,000 DACA beneficiaries have expiration dates between September 5, 2017, and March 5th, 2018. The actual effect of this Oct. 5 deadline is that there must be 5,133 applications filed every single day, including weekends, if the 154,000 current DACA holders whose permissions expire over the next six months are to be able to apply to renew their DACA. This would mean 214 applications must be filed every single hour, all night long, for 30 days. This is a mess. Furthermore, many DACA recipients will not have saved for the unexpected $495 expense. The result of this artificial Oct. 5th deadline is that tens of thousands of DACA recipients could lose their status, their jobs, their homes, and their security and be pushed back into the shadows. We urge DHS Secretary to take swift and immediate action to extend the DACA renewal deadline to January and meet with immigration legal experts immediately to hear other ways to rectify the current chaos created by Trump's decision.

Maria Mendoza-Sanchez is a well-known and loved oncology nurse. She and her husband, Eusebio, moved to the United States 23 years ago and have raised their children here, contributed to our country, and never broken any laws. But because of our broken immigration system in which there’s not even a line to stand in to get legal status, Maria and her husband have been unfairly cast out of our country as their children stay behind. President Trump said that his administration would only round up people who have broken laws, but Maria Mendoza-Sanchez is a trained oncology nurse, has never broken a law, and is a beloved community member. Trump lied and now the United States is unfairly kicking out highly qualified cancer nurses like Maria at a time the country is facing a severe nursing shortage. Sen. Dianne Feinstein said in a prepared statement, “This is a travesty, plain and simple, and evidence that Donald Trump’s immigration ‎policy is nothing more than a hateful deportation program targeting law-abiding families. It’s shameful and stands against the very ideals upon which this country was founded.” She has introduced a bill that would provide relief for the Mendoza-Sanchez family, giving them permanent resident status. Sign on now in support of this bill and help reunite the Mendoza-Sanchez family.

On Monday September 18, 2017, the Decatur City Commission voted unanimously to adopt a resolution that, among other things, condemns white supremacy. The City can now put that condemnation to action by passing a non-detainer policy whereby local law enforcement will not prolong the detention of an immigrant per request of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) without a judicially issued warrant. Six counties and cities around metro Atlanta, including DeKalb County, already have resolutions and policies limiting collaboration with ICE. However, Decatur has yet to act. In the wake of Trump’s revocation of President Obama’s EO granting Deferred Action to Childhood Arrivals (DACA), the Atlanta City Council voted overwhelmingly to adopt a non-detainer policy drafted by Project South, the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights, and the Georgia Not1More Coalition. Now it’s time for Decatur to do the same. Members of the Georgia Not1More Coalition provided Decatur City Mayor Patti Garrett and Decatur City Manager Peggy Merriss a similar Non-Detainer policy over three months ago and yet the City has made no affirmative steps to adopt it. This is unacceptable. As our immigrant friends and neighbors live in fear of ICE raids and arrests we must show our love and support for them by urging the City Commission to adopt the resolution below, drafted and presented to the Decatur City Mayor and City Manager by Project South, the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights, and the Georgia Not1More Coalition, which is in compliance with current state and federal law. The City needs to adopt this policy as a statement of support to our immigrant friends and neighbors, who live in fear of ICE coming into their homes, places of work and worship, brutalizing them and their families and communities. If this City truly believes it is a Welcoming City and a Compassionate City, then it is time for them stand behind their words and adopt this resolution. Otherwise the resolutions declaring the City as Welcoming and Compassionate are empty. Based on the foregoing, we, the signers of this petition, demand that the City of Decatur and the City Police of Decatur adopt the following non-detainer policy: The Decatur Police Department shall not detain or extend the detention of any individual at the request of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) unless ICE first presents the Decatur Police Department with a judicially issued warrant authorizing such detention. In particular, Decatur Police Department officials shall not arrest, detain, extend the detention of, transfer custody of, or transport anyone solely on the basis of an immigration detainer or an administrative immigration warrant, including an administrative immigration warrant in the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database. At no time may the Decatur Police Department detain a subject for additional time beyond when the criminal matter allows release solely to notify ICE of the subject’s release or to facilitate transfer to ICE. The Decatur Police Department shall not treat a detainer or request for notification as an indication that an individual is unlawfully present.Prior to any investigative interview of an individual in Decatur Police Department’s custody, ICE must notify the subject inmate’s attorney, provide a reasonable opportunity for counsel to be present during the interview, and certify to the Decatur Police Department that this notice and opportunity has occurred. Any person who alleges a violation of this policy may file a written complaint for investigation with the Decatur Police Department and with the internal complaints division of the Decatur Police Department.

Recently, Rosa Maria Hernandez was freed, after our national outrage and the #FreeRosa campaign forced Border Patrol to allow her to return to her parents. But the truth is, every day families in places like Corpus Christi, Texas, are either avoiding taking their sick kids to the hospital or dealing with inhumane separation as a result of an out-of-control enforcement system that forces ambulances to stop at immigration checkpoints and arrests sick family members. At Driscoll Children's Hospital, in Corpus Christi, Texas, two parents were arrested by Customs and Border Patrol while waiting for a critical operation on their two-month old son. Irma and Oscar Sanchez, were told that they would travel outside their residential area to the children's hospital two hours away to have the operation performed on their son, Isaac. But, it meant they would need to travel through a border patrol checkpoint. And after crossing through the checkpoint in an ambulance with their son who was getting intravenous fluids and had a tube in his stomach, they were "escorted" to hospital only to be arrested one-by-one and placed in deportation proceedings. Months later, ten-year-old Rosa Maria Hernandez was detained, 150 miles away from her parents, after Border Patrol was alerted while she was on her way to a life-saving gallbladder surgery. Border Patrol agents allowed Rosa Maria to continue to Driscoll Children's Hospital but followed the ambulance the rest of the way there, then waited outside her room until she was released from the hospital. This is horrific and inhumane. The Border Patrol has been violating many of its own guidelines around avoiding sensitive places like hospitals and keeping children and families together whenever possible, and the public deserves assurance that they will stop. Border Patrol and the Department of Homeland Security must stop making immigration arrests at sensitive locations, including ambulances and emergency vehicles going through Border Patrol checkpoints, hospitals, schools, churches, public demonstrations, and more.