• Help these 3 sisters come to the US to be with their guardians.
    We can't make the Honduran orphanage do what is right but the US has the opportunity to step in and rectify it. With almost 200,000 orphaned children in Honduras and less than a handful adopted per year, Honduras refuses to process the adoption so that we can bring them to the US. They simply say that they don’t need to be adopted because we are their legal guardians and that is sufficient. However, the US Embassy in Honduras will not issue an immigrant visa nor will they allow them to visit us until they are adopted. It's a catch-22 that only the Secretary of State can resolve. There is no possibility of getting the adoption finished in Honduras due to existential corruption and an uncaring bureaucracy. The US embassy under State Department rules will not issue a travel visa until the adoption is finished. Only the Secretary of State can make an exception and grant a travel visa. Once in the US, we can easily adopt them due to their status, ie, they have been legally abandoned and we are their legal guardians. When my half-brother abandoned these girls to the state orphanage IHNFA, they were 6, 9 and 10 years old and were not in school. They are now 10, 13 & 14 and have reached educational parity because of their hard work and the opportunity we gave them in Honduras, but they need a real home with us and not just with a caretaker in the most dangerous country in the world (2012 UN Report). After 4 years, we have run out of options in what we thought was going to be a temporary arrangement. This petition is to ask the Secretary of State John Kerry to approve of the legal exception he is authorized to do under US law. To instruct the US Embassy in Honduras to issue visitor visas so they these children who are legally abandoned, who have no parents and whom we are their legal guardians, may come to the US and live in our home which they deserve.
    52 of 100 Signatures
    Created by neal
  • Support the Maryland Law Enforcement TRUST Act Vote FOR HB 29 and SB 554
    Meet Daniel Bonilla Maldonado. Daniel came to the United States in 2005 in order to escape extreme economic hardship and gang persecution in Honduras. Daniel has had steady employment for the past 9 years and lives with his wife and children including a US Citizen son. In 2012, Daniel was the passenger of a car that was stopped by police for a broken tail light. Though a background search on Daniel revealed no criminal record whatsoever, Daniel was arrested, along with the driver, and suffered abusive language, poor treatment, and ethnic slurs by the police officers. Daniel was transferred to ICE custody, where he was detained for 25 days before being released. After over a year of legal battles with expense but inadequate legal representation, he was denied a stay of deportation and ordered to report to ICE bi-weekly. Daniel says that he would be afraid to call the police, even if he was the victim of the crime. “After all that’s happened, I've lost faith in the strength of justice in this country. If I can be arrested for simply riding in the passenger’s seat of a car, surely I can be arrested for being a mere victim.” The TRUST Act would stop local law enforcement from turning people, like Daniel, over to immigration and help to restore the trust between immigrant communities and the law enforcement institutions they need to rely on for protection. Support the Maryland Law Enforcement TRUST Act Vote FOR HB 29 and SB 554
    313 of 400 Signatures
    Created by CASA de Maryland
  • Speaker Boehner: Move our Country Forward!
    This month, hundreds of women all over the country are fasting to tell the GOP: We are hungry for justice - STOP BLOCKING PROGRESS, give us a vote on immigration reform that keeps our families together and treats women fairly. Sign the petition to urge Speaker Boehner to do the right thing and move our country forward by passing humane immigration reform that's fair to women and keeps families together.
    1,227 of 2,000 Signatures
    Created by We Belong Together
  • Help this family stay together!
    When Yesenia volunteered for President Obama's campaign, she never imagined his Administration would also tear her family apart. Yesenia's husband, Jorge, was undocumented. But the couple tried everything they could to fix his situation. They filed all the right paper work. They took all of the proper steps -- or so they thought. At the last minute, during Jorge’s interview in Ciudad Juarez, immigration officials in the Obama Administration denied Jorge's appeal. The family was devastated, and Yesenia and their U.S. citizen son were forced to leave Jorge behind in Mexico. The Obama Administration has effectively made Yesenia a single mother. Now, financial hardships could cause her to lose the family's home. Yesenia has even considered dropping out of graduate school. Her medical condition has aggravated to the extent that she is unable to perform her job and has put her at risk of being hospitalized any minute. When Yesenia met President Obama at a reception in 2012, he personally thanked her for her work to keep him in the White House. But now, the Obama Administration is denying her husband a chance to return to the country he loves. It truly is tragic! Yesenia and her family need your help getting reunited. Tell immigration officials in the Obama Administration to expedite Jorge's case so he can return home to his family where he belongs!
    1,120 of 2,000 Signatures
    Created by Gabe Ortiz
  • The Obama Administration is tearing this family apart!
    When Yesenia volunteered for President Obama's campaign, she never imagined his Administration would also tear her family apart. Yesenia's husband, Jorge, was undocumented. But the couple tried everything they could to fix his situation. They filed all the right paper work. They took all of the proper steps -- or so they thought. At the last minute, during Jorge’s interview in Ciudad Juarez, immigration officials in the Obama Administration denied Jorge's appeal. The family was devastated, and Yesenia and their U.S. citizen son were forced to leave Jorge behind in Mexico. The Obama Administration has effectively made Yesenia a single mother. Now, financial hardships could cause her to lose the family's home. Yesenia has even considered dropping out of graduate school. Her medical condition has aggravated to the extent that she is unable to perform her job and has put her at risk of being hospitalized any minute. When Yesenia met President Obama at a reception in 2012, he personally thanked her for her work to keep him in the White House. But now, the Obama Administration is denying her husband a chance to return to the country he loves. It truly is tragic! Yesenia and her family need your help getting reunited. Tell immigration officials in the Obama Administration to expedite Jorge's case so he can return home to his family where he belongs!
    21 of 100 Signatures
    Created by Matt Hildreth Picture
  • Deportation should not be a punishment for exercising civil rights
    Jaime Arturo Valdez Reyes is the kind of leader we read about in history books. Since February 17th, Jaime had been leading a hunger strike from deep inside an Arizona detention facility. His Dad and five other families were participating outside the dentition center. They were protesting the unjust deportations tearing families apart -- families like Jaime's. Jaime's older brother was deported to Mexico and killed upon return. Almost a year ago, Jaime was arrested for a DUI. But rather than getting the maximum 10 day jail sentence, America's well-funded deportation machine turned Jaime's misdemeanor into an unjust 10 month detention. And it get's worse! Jaime has an appeal pending on his case in the 9th Circuit, but on the night of February 25th, Jaime was deported without notice to his attorney or to his family as punishment for hunger striking while in detention. It is illegal to use deportation as a punishment for exercising one's civil rights -- Jaime Arturo Valdez Reyes shouldn't have been punished for exercising his! He must be brought back to the US and allowed to continue his appeal and see his immigration case through. Please sign and share widely!
    19 of 100 Signatures
    Created by B. Loewe, NDLON
  • inmigration reform
    because we need it now and the inaction of speaker and the gop is just inaceptable anymore, they have to work in something, days, months and years are passing and this GOP does not work, is that old?
    2 of 100 Signatures
    Created by oscar zavala
  • Dear professor Temple Grandin Please help my autistic Canadian daughter ,she needs to have daddy ...
    Hi I Naser Bayat have lived outside of Iran from 1979 to 2013, I have lived in Canada for 12 years from 2001 to 2013.During this time I have never had any problems with the police or any other law enforcement. I have never had a drinking violation ticket. In 2002 I married Janice Mayfield who is a Canadian citizen, our daughter Jasmine was born in 2007. I gave up my job when our daughter was three months old because my wife was unable to care for her. I was with Jasmine day and night for six years, I was her father and mother. Many people around us were aware of Jasmine's conditions, I always kept in touch with her school teachers and her family docter. I was also involved with a few organizations involving children with special needs. Everyone I knew admired the amount of time and effort that was involved, not to mention the passion and love that I had for my daughter. Jasmine and I were like two bodies sharing one soul, there was nothing I would'nt do for her. At the age of three we realized that there was a lack of progress in her development. She was dianosed with autism, from that moment I promised to dedicate my entire life doing everything I could to keep her safe, happy and healthy. Jasmine is now six years old, she still eats baby food. I have tried giving her healthy alternatives such as avocado, honey, wheat and sweet potatoes. I have always made sure that she received the proper nutrients. I am proud to say that she is happy, healthy and full of energy, I have done my very best to provide her with everything she needed. I am sorry to say that I am also suffering from a disability, I have hearing problems that has required me to have surgery on my right ear. Dr. Westberg who did my surgery mentioned that I would need my left ear done as well. Everything was running smoothly until we received a letter from Immigration which noted I had to go and meet with them. I went to Immigration with my lawyer and my wife. While I was there I was told by one of the officers that I had to leave Canada in one month. I was shocked and speechless, why is this happening? what did I do wrong? what was going to happen to my Jasmine? My simple but happy life with my family had turned upside down. I was devastated and was filled with a great loss of never seeing my daughter again. Jasmine has only three people in her life, myself,her mom and her grandmother. She was about to lose the one person that has been with her day and night since birth. I believed that Canada was a country made of principals, human rights and democracy. How could such a thing happen to us? My daughter was no longer happy, she knew that something was wrong. She was no longer playful and full of energy, I did'nt know what to do. Thinking of never seeing my beautiful daughter again was unimaginable. I was so depressed that I decided the only option was to end my life, I was nothing without Jasmine. I was taken to the hospital without proper care and was surrounded by immigration authorities. The next day they sent me to a prision in Vancouver, the following day I went to the immigration detention center. This place was horrible and filled with very aggressive prision guards. I was naked and searched, then I was taken to cell number three. They gave me a very heavy coat to wear, I had to wear it for fourty days. I was heavily controlled and under survelliance 24/7. I was'nt allowed to do anything, not enen take a bath or shower. When the time came that I was allowed to take a bath, I had four guards with me. I was hand cuffed from behind and my feet were chained. When it was time for my hearing before the judge, I was hand cuffed, chained and bare foot. The court was located at the immigration building. There was a judge, my lawyer and a few officers. The whole process took just a few minutes and I was'nt allowed to say anything. I was detained for almost one and a half months and then escorted to the airport. I was heading to Germany and then to Iran. I was escorted all the way to Germany by three immigration officers. At the airport I had some of my belongings returned except for my drivers licence and my care card. I am now in Iran, depressed and devastated. I have so many questions that have been left unanswered. A country like Canada that critizes and treats people like prisoners is not the same country that I once loved. How can a person be hand cuffed, chained and treated like an animal and not have the right to speak for himself. Even the least democratic country would'nt do what Canada has done to a six year old autistic child. They have killed my Jasmine's soul and destroyed her life. They have taken her father who was the only one who cared and looked after her, we were everything to each other. Canada took away my daughters happiness, there is no joy left in her. The government of Canada thinks because of Jasmine's disability, that she has no feelings and thoughts of her own. They are wrong, she knows that I was taken away and she needs me more then ever. When we were together, she always wanted me to wrap my arms around her so she could fall asleep. She liked when I played with her hair and played games with her. She used to be sensitive and passionate, now she is depressed and lost without me. She has lost weight and I'm extremely worried. I will hold Canada responsible for what they have done to me and my family. I will hold them responsible if anything happens to my Jasmine. She was my soul, my life and my heart, she was my everything and my only reason for living. I hold the government of Canada responsible, particulary Jason Kenney, the former minister of immigration for signing my deportation order. He destroyed our lives and I have no desire to live without my Jasmine.
    308 of 400 Signatures
    Created by Naser Bayat
  • Help families stay together, reduce the age at which legalized citizens may sponsor their parents...
    Immediate relatives of U.S. citizens: Parent(s) - Parents of U.S. citizens are eligible to apply for permanent resident status as immediate relatives, but only if the citizen is 21 years of age or older. Individuals from all parts of the globe decided to leave their countries of origin because of different reasons related to: corrupt governments; difficulty sustaining families in decent basic conditions; education and health; insecurity and violence and many other reasons we would need much more lines to describe them here. Many people see America as the land of opportunity. Whether this is true or not, it becomes a matter of personal experience. For many, the move to America may be the best thing they ever did, and these are the people who built families in USA, working hard, seeking a better life for their children to give them a decent future and opportunities. For many years these same people are living in the shadows, cornered and scared the ghost of illegality. Now it is time to give them the opportunity to become legal residents and allow them to continue contributing to the country by the sweat of their hard work and support growth of their children and contribute to the future of America, forming citizens.
    64 of 100 Signatures
    Created by Uilton
  • President Obama: Stop the deportations.
    Every day on average, 1,100 people are deported to different countries. As a result, 17 children are placed in foster state every day, according to ICE. I'm tired of the abuse. As a mother of two citizens, I have fear that one day my children will be lonely, without knowing where to go. Mr. President, you have the power. Please stop deportations and stop separating our families.
    63 of 100 Signatures
    Created by Flory Chaver
  • nyanda spence
    I've been married for three and a half years did all my paper work and I still can't get an answer why we are still waiting on immigration yes I've been personally affected by this issue our daughter Summer turns two in June and ave to be growing up without a father for no reason we try to go to Jamaica twice a year to visit my husband but that is very costly as a single mom I've already contacted Jim Himes Richard Blumenthal Dan Malloy office and the department of state and even a letter to the president office one seems to be able to help me
    10 of 100 Signatures
    Created by nyanda spence
  • Tell ICE TO RELEASE DAVE JOHNSON TO HIS FAMILY
    My dad Dave Johnson has been detained by immigration since June and despite the fact the he has no criminal record and citizen children they have labeled him high priority for deportation. They are unable to locate his travel documents and refuse to release him to his family despite the law that requires them to release him if they are unable to deport him within 90 days; its been 8 months.He has been here since 1997 after fleeing danger in Jamaica please help my family and has been the prime caregiver to his children.
    131 of 200 Signatures
    Created by oneeka darby