Your Support to Lift Voices & Act for Migrant Rights
Your support – and action – as we close out 2018
When our Board met last January, we knew we were in for a rough ride this year. And at the year’s end, there has been no pause in the unrelenting assault on the rights and lives of immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers. As this message goes out to you today, the Senate is being asked to cave in to Trump’s outrageous demand for border wall funding — or face a government shutdown. Trump’s campaign rally cry for a border wall — used to stir his base around his racist, anti-immigrant agenda — has been transferred into funding demands to further militarize the border in line with the Administration’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy.
NO funding for the border wall: be sure to send your senator a message to reject all efforts (including procedural maneuvers) to add Trump’s border wall funding in the continuing resolution for the budget. Use this legislative look-up or call 202-224-3121 to connect to your Senator’s office.
Unfortunately, we haven’t seen the end of the push for the “the wall” (read: keep ‘those’ people out). A dozen critical issues in front of us, such as the detention of tens of thousands of migrants, including some 15,000 unaccompanied minors, many still living in places like the Tornillo, TX, tent city, described in a recent Associated Press report. Hundreds of thousands of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) recipients and their families face an uncertain future and potential deportation as that status window closes for several countries.
Many young children taken from parents at the border still remain separated and in government custody; the fate of DACA recipients remains up in the air; changes to “public charge” rules will limit access to permanent residency and public support programs; the right to asylum is under attack and refugee admissions are drastically reduced. Thousands of asylum seekers — the Central American exodus — seek safety and protection at the border; the U.S. is forcing these applicants to wait in Mexico for a resolution of their claims, a dangerous and contested precedent.
Military and National Guard troops are saturating the border region. The Administration continues to reject any understanding of climate change and its impact — and as we have described earlier this year in a new fact sheet on climate change and migration — the consequences of population displacement and migration.
We have witnessed and experienced a scale of support for immigrant rights that is unprecedented.
These serious issues directly affect the human rights and lives of migrants and their families, sometimes with fatal consequences. They have also sparked a broad outpouring of support and solidarity, throughout this year. This gives us hope that we can make a difference and turn back the wave of racism and anti-immigrant hostility centered by the White House. We will continue to organize and fight to mitigate the damage and build political influence for fair and just policies and practices. And we thank you for your support in this effort.
It was this hope for the future that emerged from the recent adoption of the UN’s Global Compact for Migration. For NNIRR and others from the U.S., we drew lessons and inspiration from our own experience to push for rights-centered policies. In the face of racist and xenophobic backlash from some countries, 85% of UN member states approved the Compact. (The Trump Administration withdrew from the Compact process last year, and has continued to condemn it, not unexpectedly.) The Compact provides a promising framework for international cooperation on migration that needs to be part of our agenda, now and in the future. We’ll be working with partners in the US and internationally over the next year on plans to strengthen key elements of the Compact at national and regional levels.
Thank you for your support in this journey. Your support during this end-of-year giving season helps to support our efforts throughout the year. Please give generously. Consider becoming a monthly or quarterly sustainer — spreading out (and increasing!) your contribution throughout the year.
Stay informed & actively committed to human rights for all migrants!
From all of us at NNIRR, our sincere wishes for peace and justice, health and happiness in 2019.
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