Peace, hope and action for justice in 2020

Moving towards justice in 2020 – with peace and justice for all

Even as we reflect on this past year with friends and family, we are making plans for the next year, with barely a break in step. We are all too aware of those who are experiencing hard times and all forms of injustice, and many have spent their holidays assisting migrants and others, sharing contributions and material goods. Throughout the year, in fact, so many people stepped forward to protest and provide direct support in the face of injustice.

NNIRR is especially grateful for the support we have received throughout the year. 

All financial donations, whatever their size, have helped to grow and sustain our operations and activities during this chaotic time.

This New Year’s Eve, there’s still time to include NNIRR in your year-end donations.

Your support helps us to move a human rights agenda, make durable connections, and provide strategic opportunities for coordination and movement-building.

Up Ahead

 We are ending 2019 with the impeachment of Trump and a highly charged partisan battle in which the white supremacist base remains emboldened. We know that immigrants will reemerge as targets of Trump’s ire in the coming year. The undocumented and their families, asylum seeks and other migrants, in particular, have born a disastrous human toll from restrictive and repressive policies. There is much at stake, especially for immigrant communities, with Census 2020 and presidential elections — including a long campaign period — looming. Against this backdrop, we are mindful of the need for vigilance to uphold immigrant rights. We must also use 2020 to strategize beyond the November elections — whatever the result — and halt the continued and deteriorating conditions for immigrants at the border and throughout the U.S.

• Thousands of asylum seekers — including children — from Central America have been stymied in their attempts to seek safety and survival in the U.S., those allowed to enter are begin held in detention, stranded outside bus stations or place in “temporary” facilities, including tents cities, while tens of thousands have been sent to Mexico to await court hearings, but who have little or no safety or support. Children are still forcibly separated from parents as groups from both sides of the border work around the clock to support families’ legal and humanitarian needs.

• Further militarization of the U.S.-Mexico border. In December, Congress announced a budget deal that perpetuates enforcement mechanisms responsible for human rights violations and terrorizing border communities. These allocations include close to $1.4 billion for Trump’s “wall,” increased funding to Customs and Border Protection (CPB) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). We will pressure Congress in 2020 to roll back funding for enforcement and hold these institutions accountable for abuses against immigrants and refugees at our borders.

• New changes in administrative rules and fee structures that pose major barriers to adjustment of status or asylum access.

• Continued insecurity for over 300,000 TPS (Temporary Protected Status) recipients — immigrants from countries deemed unsafe by the U.S. State Department — and their families.

• Changes to “public charge” rules, with multiple legal actions still in play, will limit access to permanent residency and undermine immigrant access to public support programs.

• Almost 800,000 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients face an uncertain future, in spite of legal challenges that have prevented the Administration from ending the program.

• Refugee admissions to the U.S. have been drastically reduced — just 18,000 set for FY 2020, a 40% cut from 2019, and the lowest number of refugees in a single year since 1980, when Congress created the U.S. refugee resettlement program.

• White House proposals persist to eliminate family-based immigration and cut overall numbers of legal immigration.

• While the “citizenship” question as not added to the 2020 Census, we know that efforts to inhibit immigrant households from participating in the Census will continue. We will call on the Administration to cease all enforcement activities prior to and during the Census.

• Pressure to address climate change, which has a direct bearing on homes and livelihoods for people in some of the world’s poorest countries — as the number of people who must cross borders due to climate-related displacement rapidly grows. Every year counts in the effort to mitigate short and long-term damage and address the needs and rights of those who are affected. (Read our fact sheet on climate change and global migration)

We’ll need to step up our challenge to hate and division, repressive and inhumane policies!

Please give generously to this year-end appeal with a donation online or through the mail.  Monthly or quarterly sustainers help us throughout the year and spread a total donation through multiple payments over the year. 

Thanks again for your support, and best wishes in the new year!