The friend's email included these specific instructions and talking points:
1.) Please call 855-589-5698 to reach the Capitol switchboard and press 1 to connect to your Senator. Once you are connected to the Senator's offices, please ask the person on the phone to deliver this simple message to your legislator:
"I urge you to support a bipartisan, common-sense, and humane solution for Dreamers:Protect Dreamers from deportation and provide them with a path to citizenship.Reject proposals that undermine family immigration or protections for unaccompanied children. As a Catholic, I know that families are not “"chains," but a blessing to be protected. Act now to protect Dreamers, our immigrant brothers and sisters."
2.) Next, please call 855-589-5698 to reach the Capitol switchboard one more time and press 2 to connect to your Representative. Once you are connected to the Representative's offices, please ask the person on the phone to deliver this simple message to your legislator:
"I urge you to support a bipartisan, common-sense, and humane solution for Dreamers:Protect Dreamers from deportation and provide them with a path to citizenship.Reject proposals that undermine family immigration or protections for unaccompanied children. As a Catholic, I know that families are not "chains," but a blessing to be protected. Act now to protect Dreamers, our immigrant brothers and sisters."
It seems that these instructions and talking points are not directly from the JVC, but rather from an organization called Justice For Immigrants (JFI). This organization seems to be a group venture between the US Conference of Catholic Bishops and "a diverse group of Catholic organizations with national networks" which are not named individually on the group's website About page, although it seems reasonable to infer that the JVC is one of the member organizations.
However ...
A news bulletin hit my inbox a about four hours ago that the Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal from the Trump Administration to set aside lower court rulings that kept the DACA program in place. While I never would discourage anyone from reaching out to their senator or congressperson, it seems that the Trump Administration will not be able to end the DACA program on March 5th, and so perhaps the urgency to take immediate action has dissipated.
I saw that news bulletin too, and it was encouraging. It buys some time. However problems remain, and who knows how long the respite will last:
ReplyDelete"While DACA remains in effect for people already approved for the program, it isn’t open for new applicants, including Dreamers who would otherwise be aging into the program. Some current recipients are also likely to temporarily lose their work authorization and deportation relief as they await approval of their renewal applications, which typically takes months."
All the SCOTUS did was leave deportations of Dreamers on hold. When the lower court solidifies its ruling, SCOTUS may decide the case is ripe and step in. Or it may be waiting for a federal appeals court to rule the other way so it can have a "controversy" to settle. Roberts & Gorsuch know what they were put there to do. (Cf. Today's public union case.) It may well be that neither Obama nor Trump has acted constitutionally, in which case Yeeee-haw, go get 'em, ICE. And ICE will.
ReplyDeleteBetter to call. My email urging calls came directly from Catholic Charities.