Douglas R Benner

Campaigns

• Stop Alejandra Juarez's Deportation

  Update: Alejandra Juarez was deported on August 3, 2018. A bill has been introduced in the new Congress that will allow her to come home. Please sign our petition in support of the new bill. https://petitions.moveon.org/sign/bring-alejandra-home?source=c.em&r_by=18069385 Alejandra Juarez (Case # A077265754) is scheduled to be deported in August. She has lived in the United States for more than twenty years and has not committed any crimes since her illegal entry as a teenager. She came to the United States in 1998 to escape violence in Mexico. Since then, she has learned English, married a United States marine, raised their first daughter alone for two years while he served in Iraq, and continued to raise two daughters who are both U.S. citizens. She is a valued member of her church where she assists with their ministry to feed the poor. Alejandra’s deportation will cause great harm to her children who were not even born when she came to the United States. Her oldest daughter Pamela wants to become a doctor and now faces the likelihood that she will graduate high school and start college without her mother, who has always been her biggest supporter, at her side. Pamela recently started working to save up money so that she can visit Alejandra in Mexico. Her youngest daughter Estela is too young to be without her mother, so Alejandra’s deportation will essentially deport her as well, even though she is a U.S. citizen and this country is the only home she has ever known. Please allow Alejandra to stay in the United States with her children.

  39,266 of 40,000 Signatures

  Created by Douglas R Benner
• Stop the deportation of Alejandra Juarez

  Update: Alejandra Juarez was deported on August 3, 2018. A bill has been introduced in the new Congress that will allow her to come home. Please sign our petition in support of the new bill. https://petitions.moveon.org/sign/bring-alejandra-home?source=c.em&r_by=18069385 Alejandra Juarez (Case # A077265754) is scheduled to be deported later this month. She has lived in the United States for more than twenty years and has not committed any crimes since her illegal entry as a teenager. She came to the United States in 1998 to escape violence in Mexico. Since then, she has learned English, married a United States marine, raised their first daughter alone for two years while he served in Iraq, and continued to raise two daughter who are both U.S. citizens. She is a valued member of her church where she assists with their ministry to feed the poor. Alejandra’s deportation will cause great harm to her children who were not even born when she came to the United States. Her oldest daughter Pamela wants to become a doctor and now faces the likelihood that she will graduate high school and start college without her mother, who has always been her biggest supporter, at her side. Pamela recently started working to save up money so that she can visit Alejandra in Mexico. Her youngest daughter Estela is too young to be without her mother, so Alejandra’s deportation will essentially deport her as well, even though she is a U.S. citizen and this country is the only home she has ever known. Please allow Alejandra to stay in the United States with her children.

  35,274 of 40,000 Signatures

  Created by Douglas R Benner
• Pass American Families United Act

  This bill protects immigrants from being deported for minor offences committed as a minor and helps keep immigrant families together.

  3,597 of 4,000 Signatures

  Created by Doug
• No funding for border wall

  A border wall is an ineffective and wasteful solution to illegal immigration.

  79 of 100 Signatures

  Created by Douglas R Benner
• Vote NO on Brett Kavanaugh

  Brett Kavanaugh believes that a sitting president is immune to prosecution and possibly even investigation. His nomination is intended to protect Trump from the independent counsel investigation. Kavanaugh has suggested that Roe v. Wade was decided incorrectly, implying that he would vote to overturn it.

  234 of 300 Signatures

  Created by Douglas R Benner
• Immigrant Veterans Deserve Better

  “Men and women willing to wear our uniform shouldn’t be deported by the same nation they risked their lives to defend.” – Senator Tammy Duckworth. This would seem obvious, but many of our veterans are being deported, often for non-violent charges when they turn to marijuana or other drugs to cope with PTSD after serving in combat. The Veterans Visa and Protection Act would prevent further deportations of veterans for non-violent crimes and allow those who have already been deported for non-violent crimes to return to the United States. https://www.duckworth.senate.gov/news/press-releases/one-year-after-trump-administration-deported-illinois-veteran-duckworth-re-introduces-comprehensive-bill-package-to-protect-veterans-and-servicemembers-from-unfair-treatment?fbclid=IwAR2n1nelIOWF0rqMHOrGvgwUT0KOA1bnA-7JET_VjYjJDGM8QDp3BXYhUg4 https://grijalva.house.gov/press-releases/rep-grijalva-reintroduces-veterans-visa-and-protection-act-of-2019/

  572 of 600 Signatures

  Created by Douglas R Benner
• Investigate detention camps for migrant children

  When the government takes children from their parents, it has a legal and moral obligation to provide appropriate care for the children. We have seen and heard alarming reports that the government has failed to fulfill this obligation to immigrant children separated from their parents and detained upon entering the country. The executive branch has had more than enough time to correct these issues. It is past time for Congress to take a more active role.

  439 of 500 Signatures

  Created by Douglas R Benner
• Stop Deporting Military Spouses

  Over the last two decades, hundreds of thousands of American men and women have risked their lives serving in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. For the most part, they have done so secure in the knowledge that if they are killed, their country will provide for their families. For those whose spouses are undocumented immigrants, however, this is an obligation our government has not met. Last year, Univision reported that nearly 12,000 military spouses were in deportation proceedings. Earlier this year, the Trump administration announced plans to remove protections for the spouses of servicemen and women currently deployed. Cuauhtemoc “Temo” Juarez served in combat as a Marine in Iraq from 2003 to 2005. While he was deployed overseas, his wife Alejandra cared for their infant daughter Pamela, now a high school senior. They later had another daughter Estela, now ten years old. Temo and both children are US citizens, but Alejandra, an undocumented immigrant, was deported to Mexico in 2018 despite having no criminal record. Estela, too young to be left alone while Temo is working, also moved to Mexico with Alejandra. Cindy Furman served in the Air Force in Iraq. She met her future husband Demetry, who was serving in the Canadian military, while he trained with US forces. He held US security clearances and later served in Afghanistan as part of the US-led coalition. In 2018, he was arrested in Ohio and later deported. His crime? A minor drug conviction in Canada in 1992, for which he served 28 days of community service and paid a fine. He was pardoned in 2002, but is still ineligible for a visa as a result. He now lives in Ontario. Cindy, suffering from health problems, remained in Ohio to be near her adult children, and is unable to travel to visit her husband. Alejandra and Demetry are two of the many military spouses who have been deported, tearing apart the families of those who have served this country. The Protect Patriot Spouses Act, introduced by Congressman Darren Soto of Florida, would allow many of these spouses to pursue legal permanent residency, an opportunity they do not have under current immigration law. https://www.npr.org/2019/06/27/736362986/trump-wants-to-withdraw-deportation-protections-for-families-of-active-troops https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/557?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22%5C%22protect+patriot+spouses%5C%22%22%5D%7D&s=1&r=1

  1,163 of 2,000 Signatures

  Created by Douglas R Benner
• Bring Alejandra Home

  Last August, Alejandra Juarez was deported to Mexico after living in the United States for twenty years. During that time, she built a life here and married her husband Cuauhtemoc “Temo,” a naturalized citizen and U.S. Marine who would later serve in combat in Iraq. After Temo’s service in Iraq, this country has rewarded him by tearing his family apart. They have two children, both U.S. citizens, Pamela (17) and Estela (9). Estela now lives with her mother in Mexico where she struggles to learn Spanish, a language she never used in the United States. Temo and Pamela live in Florida and travel to Mexico as often as possible to visit Alejandra and Estela. Alejandra was accused of making a false statement to immigration officials when she first entered the country as a teenager, on a form that was not translated into Spanish, and as a result is the subject of a lifetime ban from entering the country. The legal system currently offers no means to reunite the Juarez family, but their congressman, Darren Soto has introduced H.R. 581, a bill that would allow Alejandra to return to the United States as a permanent legal resident. https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2018/08/03/facing-deportation-former-marines-wife-leaves-for-mexico/ https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/aug/02/military-family-separation-immigration-trump-mexico

  8,152 of 9,000 Signatures

  Created by Douglas R Benner
• Stop deportation of military spouses

  Almost 12,000 spouses of active duty, reserve, and veteran military personnel are currently in deportation proceedings. Many of them have U.S. citizen children. We should not be tearing these families apart. H.R. 5593, the Patriot Spouses Protection Act, recently introduced in the House of Representatives, would enable these families to stay together.

  640 of 800 Signatures

  Created by Douglas Benner