Mijente
Mijente is creating people-powered change, and they need your help. Please read below to learn more about the issues they're working on and how you can get involved. Thank you!
Campaigns
-
President Obama: Pause Deportations ImmediatelyLast week, a Supreme Court ruling put approximately five million undocumented parents back at risk of deportation and continued the exclusion of those who wouldn’t have qualified under President Obama's executive action on immigration that Republicans have been trying to defeat for a while. Meanwhile, abusive immigration enforcement agents operate unchecked, raiding refugee families, brutalizing people near the border, and putting our loved ones into detention centers and deportation proceedings. The Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) executive action temporarily relieved parents of DREAMers and lawful permanent residents from deportation and would have provided them with work authorization. But the DACA and DAPA programs aren't the president's only option to protect migrant communities. As head of the executive branch, President Obama directs how and when enforcement resources are deployed. Under his administration, immigration enforcement agencies have expanded enormously but the undocumented people who would've received deferred action or who could someday benefit from legalization shouldn't be subjected to their abuse. While Republicans have been able to block reform and delay DAPA, they can't control how the president uses his executive authority for the implementation of immigration enforcement. He can make sure that families and communities are kept together by declaring a moratorium on deportations immediately.11,764 of 15,000 SignaturesCreated by #Not1More
-
Homeland Security: Cut Your Private Prison TiesThe Department of Justice announced that it is cancelling its contracts with private prison companies because of dangers and abuses outlined in exposés and a recent official government report(1). However, the majority of federal private prison contracts are actually held by the Department of Homeland Security for its sprawling immigrant detention facilities. While private prisons make up 8% of the prison population, they made up 62% of immigrant detention in 2014(2). In the wake of the Dept. of Justice announcement(3), the stock price for the main private prison companies plummeted. But they've told shareholders that immigrant detention is a stable investment and a growth industry. The Department of Homeland Security even has plans to open a NEW detention center to house transgender detainees in Texas. But all of those immigrant prisons are also dangerous and riddled with abuses. 12 people have died just at a single Corrections Corporation of America facility, the Eloy Detention Center in Arizona. Conditions there prompted a call for a Congressional investigation after a suspicious "suicide" last summer(4) and there are multiple demands for investigation into four sexual assault cases where guards are accused of abusing detainees. What is true about the findings of private prisons under the Department of Justice is true in immigrant detention under the Department of Homeland Security only at a larger scale. As long as private prisons exist, they'll just be recycled between government agencies. With the Department of Justice moving to end its contracts, private companies today will be looking for new customers and the Obama administration needs to make sure that DHS and no other government agency will be their clients. As we push for an end to immigrant detention, sign to remove the profit motive from detention. Background: 1. Inspector General Report on Private Prisons https://oig.justice.gov/reports/2016/e1606.pdf#page=2 2. The Problem With The DOJ’s Decision To Stop Using Private Prisons https://thinkprogress.org/the-federal-government-is-not-actually-ending-private-prisons-40e8c8dbf976#.uz5q79a4c 3. The Dept. of Justice Will Stop Using Private Prisons http://www.vox.com/2016/8/18/12536310/private-prisons-bureau-of-prisons 4. The Strange Death of Jose de Jesus http://latinousa.org/josedejesus/2,602 of 3,000 SignaturesCreated by #Not1More
-
Welcome Refugees in ChicagoChicago is better than the fear and anti-refugee platform Illinois' governor is taking. We will not close the door in the face of people seeking safety no matter what Gov. Rauner says. Welcoming refugees fleeing from violence is the best response to violence, and Mayor Emanuel has the responsibility of distinguishing our city policy from the governor's declaration.6,576 of 7,000 SignaturesCreated by Rosi Carrasco, #Not1More
-
Cancel Trump's Rally at UIC PavilionUIC is home to working students, immigrant, and students of color to have access to higher education and graduate. The platform Donald Trump would announce at the UIC Pavilion is a direct attack on much of the UIC student body - from mass deportation to a ban on muslims to a refusal to denounce the KKK, not to mention regular insults to women. If UIC is a "minority serving institution" that comes with specific responsibility. And that doesn't include serving white supremacists or hosting events that put the student body at risk of altercations with attendees who have a history of violent attacks on people of color at his rallies. Trump is a danger and so are his events. UIC should not be host to them.51,854 of 75,000 SignaturesCreated by Jorge Mena Robles, Graduate Student
-
Tell the Dept. of Justice to Send Monitors to Arizona for Election DayIn Maricopa County, the Sheriff is in charge of guarding the ballots. The DOJ shouldn't let him do it unwatched. Historic voter registration deserves historic protection of democracy. More than 150,000 people registered to be new voters and will seek to cast their ballot against Arpaio for the first time. Groups across the area are doing their part for a successful election and the Department of Justice needs to do the same. For the first time in years, the Department of Justice announced that it won't send federal monitors to the County where Trump ally and criminally-charged Sheriff Arpaio is running for re-election. The Department's decision to be absent is a dangerous one given that the Sheriff is the one in charge of guarding the ballots cast on election day. The County recorder has already gotten caught sending out wrong polling information in one instance. And local polling became a national embarrassment during the primaries when fewer locations led to hours-long lines.2 of 100 SignaturesCreated by People United for Justice
-
ICE Arrested Wilmer Without a Warrant, Broke His Arm, and then Put Him in Solitary Confinement. S...On May Day, Wilmer's family announced a lawsuit against Trump's deportation agency, ICE, and the Chicago police department for violating his civil rights. In retaliation, we got notice that Wilmer has been placed in isolation as punishment "for placing a towel over his head to block off the light." On Monday, March 27th, ICE agents targeted Wilmer based on Chicago police mysteriously and unknowingly adding him to a "gang database." They threw him to the ground, breaking his arm, and adding to injuries that he had suffered earlier this year, leaving him half paralyzed, when he was a bystander in a drive-by shooting. When ICE officials arrived at Wilmer's home they did not identify themselves as ICE, instead calling themselves detectives and pretending to be looking for a suspect named "Rubio." Wilmer's wife, Celene, asked the agents to leave as her husband was not in any position to see them. As soon as she began to open the door, agents pushed her and made their way into the home and which point they proceeded to apprehend Wilmer. Wilmer migrated from Guatemala to the United States in 2006 and was deported that same year as result of an ICE raid that took place in his workplace in 2006. Shortly after being deported, Wilmer returned to the United States and has since been living here. Wilmer is a part of a loving family; his two children are both US citizens and he is the main provider for his household. Please sign on to support Wilmer. He is being punished for standing up for his rights and ICE is attempting to place him in expedited proceedings because of his 2006 deportation. We will not stop until ICE is dismantled and families cease to be detained and torn apart by divisive and dehumanizing policies.328 of 400 SignaturesCreated by #Not1More
-
Halt the Raids and Give Relief to the VictimsAt the end of December, immigration authorities confirmed they would be expanding their home raids to include mothers and children who recently escaped violence in their home countries. On January 2nd, agents barged into homes across the Atlanta area, at times pretending to be local police in search of a non-existent suspect, pulling people from their beds, demanding identification, and taking away whomever they chose. At least 47 people have been flown from Georgia to a processing center in Texas where the agency may rush to deport them before pending cases can be heard or appeals can be filed. These raids are not the first and unlikely to be the last. Sign the petition asking the Obama administration and DHS to put a halt to immigration agents' violation of civil rights and stop the raids.3,245 of 4,000 SignaturesCreated by #Not1More
-
Accept Refugees into the U.S.The news in recent weeks has been awash with tragic images of drowned children and desperate parents fleeing violence and the chaos of war. The one heartening thing in this global crisis is the phenomenon of people lining the road with food and water or filling train platforms to warmly greet arriving refugees. Germany has set an example by opening its program and refusing limits, in sharp contrast to the terrifying scenes we've seen of Hungarian police chasing families through fields. The United States, too, should be be a leader to say #refugeeswelcome and raise the limit on refugees it accepts each year. President Obama has said the Administration is reconsidering the current cap on the refugee program. Sign to tell the White House to raise it immediately.2 of 100 SignaturesCreated by #Not1More
-
Tell the Boy Scouts to End their Partnership with Trump's Deportation ForceAfter Trump's speech to the Boy Scouts this week, the organization has some serious questions to ask itself. One of them is what role will it have in the harm being caused by some of the agencies under Trump's leadership. The Department of Homeland Security has announced that any undocumented person in the United States is a target for deportation - whether they are a parent, child, teen, student, or worker - that includes some who are scouts. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have begun to speak out about a culture of hostility and discrimination inside the agency. In various years though, the Boy Scouts have participated in an "explorers" program led by the agency. Trump's speech was enough propaganda to expose our youth to, ask the Scouts to cut any partnership with his deportation force as well.389 of 400 SignaturesCreated by Mijente
-
Release Alejandra PablosAlejandra's case is complicated. As a young person she was arrested and convicted of several charges, including Driving Under the Influence and possession of drug paraphernalia, some of which were felonies under Arizona state law. In 2011, after she complied with the orders from the court, she spent 2 years at the Eloy Detention Center in Southern Arizona, lost her residency, and was placed in deportation proceedings. But since Alejandra was released from detention she has worked to advocate for human and civil rights, dedicating her life to organizing against the attacks on immigrant rights and fighting for reproductive rights. As part of her local organizing, in early January of this year, as Alejandra was leading chants at a peaceful protest in Virginia outside of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), she was singled out and detained by DHS agents. Although she was released, this flagged her case. When Alejandra showed up to her check-in with ICE in Tucson, she was taken into custody and not allowed to pay a bond. Alejandra is a nationally recognized immigrant rights and reproductive rights, activist. She works as a Field Coordinator for the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, where she organizes to raise the voices of Latinas in Virginia for policy change at all levels of government on issues that impact their lives, women’s health care, and other social justice issues. Alejandra has been a staunch advocate for immigration reform and mass incarceration. She is a member of Mijente, a national political Latinx organization, and has worked with many immigrant rights and prison abolition organizers throughout the country.359 of 400 SignaturesCreated by Jacinta Gonzalez