Organizing works

A guest blog by Melissa García, Associate Director of the Raíz program. Raíz is a program by Planned Parenthood Federation of America that works alongside the Latinx community to fight for reproductive health, sex education, and access to care. Raíz organizers work with Planned Parenthood affiliates and community partners across the country to train leaders and speak out about issues affecting local Latinx communities.

If you talk to our Raiz staff, you’ll hear the real stories of our community and patients: An undocumented woman not knowing where she could go to get her yearly exam but being asked for a social security number. Another patient seeking birth control but being questioned about her immigration status.

At Planned Parenthood, we believe that health has no borders, and that the ability to live and thrive without fear and to access health care are basic human rights. 

Planned Parenthood of Greater Washington and North Idaho (PPGWNI) is proud to provide high-quality care to everyone regardless of country of origin, documentation, and refugee status.

However, what’s troublesome is that the state of Washington is now seeing increased activity of Customs Border Patrol (CBP) and Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) at an alarming rate — a trend that’s happening across the country.

For example, August 8, 2018 marked a turning point when CBP detained an immigrant, Juan Bonilla, who was travelling after they asked about his citizenship status while conducting a warrantless search at a bus stop in Spokane. With more and more arrests by CBP in recent months and the tripling of ICE arrests of people without criminal convictions in the Spokane area, the Raiz team in Spokane began convening with community groups to say:

Enough. The community, including Planned Parenthood patients, deserve to feel safe, and travel freely without interrogation and harassment.

They began working with the American Civil Liberties Union and a local coalition group called “No Discrimination Spokane” to put a stop to CBP’s and ICE’s actions. One goal of the proposed ordinance was to get the Spokane City Council to prevent ICE and CBP from accessing non public spaces of city-owned without a federal judicial warrant, for purposes of employee and resident safety. Simply put, this ordinance puts Spokane and its people first.

They moved quickly to engage the Spokane City Council and amplified the stories of people and families impacted by ICE and CBP arrests. All in all, they helped turn out more than 300 community members for a city council meeting where a policy to protect residents and employees and deter ICE and CBP arrests would be voted on. They showed up in full force ranging from faith leaders to Indigenous representatives, while only three people spoke in opposition.

Their organizing worked. The policy passed, 6-1, which made it veto proof and effective immediately. The community won. It’s important to note that the key to our success was making sure PPGWNI staff, patients and families are living in a safe and welcome community.

However, as Spokane’s Mayor continues to defy the ordinance, PPGWNI and the coalition continue to ensure this policy is enforced to put an end to CBP’s and ICE’s violation of their rights. It’s simple: We all deserve to feel safe and travel in our communities without fear of interrogation or harassment.

Trump’s Cruel “Public Charge” Rule Would Harm Millions of Immigrant Families

It’s an inhumane attempt to deny immigrants access to health care, housing, and food.

In October, the Trump-Pence administration issued a proposed regulation known as the “public charge” rule. The rule would jeopardize immigrants' ability to stay in the U.S. if they’d used public benefits they’re legally allowed to access. Simply having accessed health care coverage, nutrition assistance, or public housing could mean they’d be denied visas, green cards, and entry into the country.

This policy is cruel and inhumane.

By linking people’s immigration status to whether they’ve used public benefits, the “public charge” rule would cause extreme harm to immigrants across the country — including documented and undocumented families alike.

What Would the “Public Charge” Rule Do?

Trump’s proposed rule would make a number of changes to U.S. immigration law. The rule would expand the government’s power to look at whether someone who’s applying for a visa, green card, or entry into the country has accessed public benefits —  so that this information could be used against them.

Someone could be penalized for having used:

The public charge rule would also penalize anyone who meets criteria that the government considers would make them LIKELY to use public benefits. That includes someone with a poor credit history, limited education, or a medical condition that requires extensive medical care or could interfere with their ability to go to work or school. Even a person’s limited English proficiency would count as evidence against them under the rule.

Ultimately, the rule would empower the government to prioritize wealthy immigrant families over families with low incomes who have waited years to be reunited.

How Would the "Public Charge" Rule Affect the Health of Immigrant Families?

If the “public charge” rule goes into effect, its harms would be serious and wide-ranging. It would directly affect nearly a million immigrants in the U.S. — in addition to millions more people living overseas who are trying to gain legal status in the country. Most of the immigrants that would be forced to pass the new “public charge” test have family members that are U.S. citizens, so the rule would add yet another obstacle to keeping families together.

Already, the “public charge” rule has caused widespread fear and confusion for all immigrants — including the 23 million noncitizens living in the U.S., which includes U.S.-born children of immigrant parents. Even before the rule was announced, immigrant communities had been avoiding essential public services, such as nutrition and health programs, out of fear of drawing scrutiny from the government.

The proposed “public charge” rule would make this problem much worse. It would force immigrant families to choose between permanent legal status and their ability to access basic needs like health care.

The combined effect would be incredibly harmful to the health and well-being of immigrants, their families, and the communities they live in. We’re likely to see large declines in Medicaid enrollment, a program that provides access to care and financial security for families with low incomes. This will mean worse health outcomes and less financial stability for millions of immigrant families, which would be worsened by losing access to affordable housing and food.

How Can I Help Oppose it?

You can tell the Trump-Pence administration that its proposed “public charge” rule is cruel, inhumane, and must be rejected. The administration is collecting input from the public until December 10, 2018. Leave a comment now to demand that the administration withdraw the rule.

In Solidarity With Immigrants: Families Belong Together

June is Immigrant Heritage Month — which should be a celebration of the diversity and contributions that immigrants add to this country every day. But we are saddened and outraged that, instead, the Trump-Pence administration has used disgusting family separation tactics (and now, family detention) at the U.S.-Mexico border toward families seeking asylum.

From slavery to Native American “boarding schools” to Japanese internment camps, separating families and interfering with the health and welfare of children of color have long been tactics of the U.S. government in the systematic oppression of communities of color.

Today, that violent legacy continues with the separation of immigrant children from their families and family detention. President Trump’s executive order to detain entire families is not the solution to the crisis he created — it is a jail sentence.

Children belong with their families, but they also belong in safe and healthy environments, not in cages alongside their parents and family members. Not to mention being separated from one’s family is extremely traumatic to children’s health and well-being.

As a leading provider of reproductive health care and an ally to the reproductive justice movement, Planned Parenthood stands with immigrants and will continue to be a vocal advocate alongside our immigration partners in the fight to end these atrocities.

We will not stand by and allow immigrant and refugee families to be stripped of their health and rights, or be separated from or detained with their families. We are committed to defending the rights of immigrants, refugees, and their families to safely access health care and protect them from institutionalized abuse, harassment, and discrimination.

Reproductive health care is a basic human right that everyone deserves regardless of who you are or where you come from or what your immigration status is. That’s what we mean when we say immigrant rights are a reproductive justice issue.

Are you as outraged as we are? Join us on June 30 at rallies across the country.

We need you to help demand that President Trump and his administration keep families together and end practices that criminalize immigrant communities. Find an event near you.

Want to do more? Here are three more ways to take action.

1. Make a donation to any of these organizations that are leading this work on the ground and nationally:

2. Call your senators now and tell them to co-sponsor legislation to end family separation and family detention.

3. Sign and circulate a petition from:

Donald Trump picked Lloyd to lead the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), which is housed under the Health and Human Services department (HHS). It is the agency that manages undocumented youth who enter the country without their parents.

And since joining the Trump-Pence administration, Lloyd has been using his position of power to threaten young immigrant women time and time again.

He compared abortion to rape. He’s been holding young women hostage for months. And a new report reveals that he and other HHS officials have vastly overstepped their position of authority. They’ve violated young women’s privacy, right to medical care and, in some cases, safety in order to keep them from accessing safe, legal abortion.

Simply put, Scott Lloyd is a creepy anti-abortion fanatic.

SIGN YOUR NAME AND DEMAND THAT SCOTT LLOYD RESIGN NOW

Congress has a choice: they can either protect immigrant youth or continue to expose thousands more to deportation from their home.

We can’t wait any longer. Take action now.

Here’s how to participate:

1) Dial 1-888-778-6856 and wait for the “Welcome” message.

2) Get connected to the switchboard.

3) Enter your zip code.

4) Wait for your call to be connected to your Representative or Senator and demand a #DreamActNow!

“I do not feel safe anywhere in here. I didn’t come here [to the U.S.] to work; I came here to try to survive. I never thought I would be detained for so long for trying to save my own life.”

We need a #DreamActNow

On November 9, 2017 — two months after the Trump administration ended the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program — over 500 advocates for immigrant youth spoke out and took action.

Operation Dream Act Now — organized by immigrant youth themselves  consisted of an upswell of student walkouts and activity in Washington, D.C. and across the country. Their message? Demand Congress pass a clean Dream Act with no dangerous enforcement add-ons before the end of this year.

WHAT IS A CLEAN DREAM ACT?

A clean DREAM Act means Congress must swiftly pass this widely popular bipartisan bill without any additions or amendments that will put families and immigrant community members at greater risk for undue detention and deportation.

Photo credit: Gabriela Rossner

#HereToStay

10 Conservative Attorney Generals filed a lawsuit asking the Trump Administration to rescind DACA. We can't let this happen! The lives of almost one million immigrant youth have changed with DACA. Help demand the program remains intact! Go to: weareheretostay.org

#HereToStay

URGENT!

10 Conservative Attorney Generals have filed a lawsuit asking to rescind #DACA by September 5th. We can't let this happen! The lives of almost one million immigrant youth have changed with DACA. 

We demand the program remains intact! #HereToStay