Immigration Project Helping Save Thousands of Illinoisans DACA 'Dreams'

This week, nearly 80,000 young students, workers, and householders who’ve spent much or nearly all their life in the U.S. learned that over the next 2 ½ years, they could lose their adopted home.

“This is really going to hurt our economy; it’s really going to hurt all these individuals and their families,” warns Charlotte Alvarez, executive director of Normal-based The Immigration Project, which is working to help thousands of Illinois “DREAMers” cope with the White House-announced phase-out of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

Under the announcement, individuals whose DACA designation expired prior to Sept. 5 cannot file a new program renewal application, and are effectively “terminated,” Alvarez reported. Those with pending renewals can still be processed -- The Immigration Project is helping ensure client applications are processed in a timely manner.

Currently, those facing DACA expiration between Sept. 5 and March 5, 2018, must file a two-year renewal application with receipt by immigration officials before Oct. 5 or lose their shot at renewal.

“In this state, we have about 10,000 young people who must file renewal applications within the next month,” Alvarez advised. “We’re recommending that if anybody in our service area – in Central or Southern Illinois – needs to file a renewal, and their DACA expires between Sept. 5 and March 5, they should contact our office as soon as possible. We’ve had a lot of panicked DACA clients calling us up wondering what this announcement means to them, what will happen to people who have DACA once their work permit and their permission to remain expires.”

In fact, the Project has dedicated a staff member, Thalia Novoa, to focus on DACA renewal, and callers (309-829-8703) can listen for a specific DACA renewal extension to begin the process. If applicants prefer to handle the process themselves or decide they need legal consultation, the Project can identify resources or clarify the process.

“One of the things that’s a challenge for people is affording the application,” Alvarez noted. “The application in each case costs $495 to file. I know people whose DACA expired, and they saved up enough money to pay the fees again, but they’re now not able to. And now we have all these people who either were saving up money por planning to renew in the future who suddenly have to renew in the next month.”

Some applicants thus have launched Gofundme or similar campaigns to raise the money necessary to renewal, and The Immigration Project is seeking organizations that might be willing to provide financial support for clients.

DACA, signed in June 2012, stated that the government would not deport those who arrived here before the age of 16 and are under 31 years of age on June 15, 2012; who are in school or possess a high school diploma; who have lived here for at least five years; and who have not committed serious crimes.

DACA supporters are pinning long-term hopes on congressional intervention. Two federal immigration proposals – the BRIDGE (Bar Removal of Individuals Who Dream and Grow Our Economy) Act and the DREAM (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors) Act – propose to address concerns by creating what Alvarez terms “a real path to citizenship.”

The Project joined Tuesday with “a fairly sizeable crowd” of DACA supporters in an Uptown Normal rally, requesting that Republican U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis, whose office is in Uptown, meet with those affected by new DACA rules and support either bills. As of Thursday, no meeting date had been scheduled.

At the same time, attorneys general of 15 states and the District of Columbia, including Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, have filed a lawsuit alleging the administration’s action violated the due process rights of the young immigrants by failing to safeguard the personal information they initially gave the government in order to enroll in DACA.

“The solution is, either the administration reconsiders this policy, or Congress acts and creates a law and protections for these kids,” Alvarez said. “A lot of the DACA kids we have came to the country when they were two or three. They barely remember or don’t remember the country they were from. We’ve had clients who have gotten bachelors degrees, relying on DACA to be able to work. I have clients who are nurses, who are students, who are professionals. This is just going to pull the rug from beneath their dreams. It’s a real blow for them.”

For more information, visit The Immigration Project at www.immigrationproject.org.

Immigrant Alliance Training Plants New Seeds of Security

It's a challenging time for foreign-born students, amid politicized scrutiny of immigration and refugee issues and a flare-up in verbal and even physical attacks on students even by isolated teachers across the U.S..

NIOTBN thus met recently with Unit 5/District 87/University High students and staffers in a first-time immigrant alliance training session. Thirty U High, Bloomington Junior High and High School, and Normal Community and Community West representatives participated in what may develop into a communitywide "train the trainer" effort.

"There's a lot of work to be done," NIOTBN Education Subcommittee Co-Chair Mary Aplington maintained.

Helping lead the three-hour program was David Hirst, a member of The Immigration Project board and former head of Normal West's World Language Department.

Protecting immigrant students from individuals within the school is not the only challenge for families. The controversy over federal immigration officials ramping up arrests and deportations -- even venturing into schools -- spurred District 87 Superintendent Barry Reilly to stress that while the district is required to cooperate with immigration officials, schools “would not let an agent meet with any student without the consent of a parent,” assuming an agent has no criminal warrant.

He said “in the end, FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) protections apply to all students.”

“Unit 5 has policies regarding interviews by outside law enforcement officers,” said Curt Richardson, that district's attorney. According to administrative procedures in the Normal-based district, interviews of minor students by outside law enforcement officers without permission of the parents is not permitted at school unless a legal process is presented.

Immigration arrests in cities such as Memphis, Tenn., have led to growing fears some families may keep their children home from school.

May 1 March Declares 'Immigrants Are Welcome Here'

Paul Swiech

The Pantagraph

Chanting "No hate, no fear, immigrants are welcome here" and "Immigrant rights are human rights," about 300 people marched Monday evening from outside the McLean County Museum of History to outside Bloomington City Hall to support immigrant families in McLean County.

Photo by Gabriel Jiminez Glez

Responding to Trump administration comments about increasing deportations through partnerships between local law enforcement agencies and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, several speakers called for the City Council to adopt a "Welcoming City" ordinance, which would bar the city and Bloomington police from reporting people suspected of being in the U.S. illegally.

"We can't control what is happening in (Washington) D.C., but we can here," said Illinois People's Action board member Sonny Garcia, who was among several people who spoke at the rally in front of City Hall. He asked the City Council — which swore in newly elected members Monday evening in City Hall just before the rally — to "stand up and say 'no' to hate and be an example to the nation."

Bloomington Mayor Tari Renner came outside to welcome the marchers.

Calling the United States, "a nation of immigrants," Renner said "the better part of humanity has to prevail and, here in Bloomington, it will prevail."

Renner told the marchers that "our police force does not work with ICE" but stopped short of endorsing the Welcoming City ordinance.

"In this moment, there is no moral choice but to fight back. Because all of us are all implicated in what is being done, in our name, to our immigrant sisters and brothers." D. Dontae Latson, CEO, YWCA McLean County.

"In the face of overwhelming national enforcement, we need more than promises and words. We cannot only declare we are on the side of our immigrant neighbors and tell them everything is okay. We must decide to do more. We must decide to pass the Welcoming City ordinance." Charlotte Alvarez, executive director, The Immigration Project.

"I am an Uber driver. About a month and a half ago I had some riders try to assault and kidnap me. This was very traumatizing and I wanted my attackers to be prosecuted. But, I was advised not to press charges as it would be worse for me and my family because of our immigration case. I decided not to press charges against my attackers because of my husband's immigration status. It makes me very sad to know that these men never had any consequences for their actions and may act again." 'Stephanie,’ Bloomington resident.

"We may not be able to control what is happening in DC, but we certainly have the power to determine how our immigrant brothers and sisters are treated right here in McLean County," Sonny Garcia, Board Member of Illinois People's Action.

"We are here today to join our immigrant brothers and sisters in building power to advance our shared struggle. Together, we will fight for and win our collective liberation." Divah Griffin, Black Lives Matter Bloomington-Normal.

He told The Pantagraph earlier that the city legal department is analyzing a Welcoming City ordinance, but there are concerns.

Normal Mayor Chris Koos also told The Pantagraph earlier, "While I'm generally supportive of what they're trying to accomplish, that particular document is difficult to support because there are legal issues."

Renner and Koos have expressed concern about endorsing a document that puts police at odds with federal agents. Renner may issue a mayoral proclamation as an alternative to the ordinance.

But Jenn Carrillo, YWCA McLean County mission impact director, told The Pantagraph after the rally, "We need to go beyond a proclamation and codify it in an ordinance."

Carrying signs that read "Blono is better when we keep families together" and "Migration is Beautiful," many marchers — some shivering in the wind and 47-degree temperatures during the lengthy rally — also held plastic monarch butterflies. They have become a symbol of the immigration rights movement because they migrate from Mexico to the United States and Canada.

"Migration is not only natural but beautiful," said YWCA CEO D. Dontae Latson.

The Rev. Doug Hennessy, retired pastor of Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Bloomington, said: "God's Word tells us every person without exception has inherent human dignity and is worthy of respect. That families are meant to be together. That this one small planet is meant to be shared, not divided."

A Welcoming City ordinance "would be an important way for our community to say to our brothers and sisters and families who are most immediately threatened by the current situation, that we stand in solidarity with them," Hennessy said.

"The war against immigrants is a war against people of color," said Divah Griffin of Black Lives Matter Bloomington-Normal.

Among those who marched and rallied were David and Abby Warfel of Bloomington and their sons, Sam, 15, and Joe, 10.

"We're here to support the immigrant community," Joe said. "No human is illegal."

"We want to help families to stay together," Abby said. "We wouldn't want to be separated from each other. We want others to have that same sense of safety."

"The national climate on immigration is very distressing and we want to do something to make our community safer," said David Warfel, noting his ancestors emigrated from Germany.

"I want other families to have the same opportunities that my family had," he said.

For highlights of the march, visit https://www.facebook.com/YWCAMcLeanCounty/videos/10155242100266382/

Hanna: The Immigration Project Undertakes 'Compelling' Mission

Amid global poverty and violence and current U.S. rhetoric, many individuals and families are seeking basic safety or stability in the U.S.

Hanna Tarbert, AmeriCorps VISTA communications and development coordinator with the Normal office of The Immigration Project, is committed with Project attorneys and volunteers to helping provide it.

The Immigration Project provides quality citizenship and other legal assistance for immigrants in 85 counties across downstate Illinois, from Kankakee on the east to Moline on the west and on a north-south line from Fairmount City to Carbondale. Statewide, the Project serves an estimated 53,000 undocumented immigrants.

Tarbert previously worked for six months with refugee resettlement in Dayton, Ohio, where she met several immigration attorneys and became interested in legal advocacy for those who’ve sought a better or simply safer life in the States.

“There are people fleeing conflict; they’re fleeing for their lives,” she related. “From a human element, I don’t think there’s anything more compelling than that. Refugees have literally lost everything, and they’re starting over.

“We did get a lot of people coming out of Central America who were fleeing gang violence. There were people there leaving poverty, or they were reunifying with family. There are a lot of good reasons to work in immigration and help people get status here.”

The Project’s largely rural-regional approach includes regular local information clinics with staff attorneys and partnerships with area groups who set up permanent webcam sites to facilitate long-distance interviews and case preparation. An August 19 clinic is set for Bloomington-Normal.

Tarbert – who graduated with a Master of Arts in International and Comparative Politics and a Master of Arts Certificate in Women’s Studies from Wright State University in 2015 -- must grapple with a variety of “huge misconceptions” particularly about undocumented immigrants. “A lot of people don’t think immigrants pay taxes, and they do,” she said, noting Project clients must document that “they have been contributing.”

In fact, unauthorized immigrants in Illinois paid $499.2 million in state and local taxes in 2010 alone, according to data from the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy. That includes $85.4 million in state income taxes, $45.8 million in property taxes, and $368 million in sales taxes.

Further, the 2012 purchasing power of Illinois’s Latinos totaled $46.1 billion — an increase of 422.2 percent since 1990. Asian buying power totaled $28.7 billion — an increase of 463 percent since 1990, according to the Selig Center for Economic Growth at the University of Georgia.

While U.S. immigration debate focuses largely on Latino populations, The Immigration Project deals with immigrants from across the globe, including a growing influx of French-speaking arrivals from Togo and other African countries and Canadian and European immigrants.

Immigrants who currently must remain in the legal shadows effectively are “living in limbo,” Tarbert said, limiting work or educational opportunities. On a national level, she argued the Immigration Project and similar groups would benefit from a U.S. Supreme Court re-review of the currently court-deadlocked case challenging President Obama’s immigration reform plan, which had reflected elements of a stalled bipartisan Senate package. The 2012 purchasing power of Illinois’s Latinos totaled $46.1 billion—an increase of 422.2% since 1990. Asian buying power totaled $28.7 billion—an increase of 463% since 1990, according to the Selig Center for Economic Growth at the University of Georgia.

The case, United States v. Texas, concerned a 2014 executive action by the president to allow as many as five million unauthorized immigrants who were the parents of citizens or of lawful permanent residents to apply for a program that would spare them from deportation and provide them with work permits, called Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA).

“Just having those programs implemented would go a long way toward helping a lot of people,” said Tarbert. “It would really have made a lot of things easier for a lot of our clients.”

Project clinics in 2014 and 2015 nonetheless covered a range of issues beyond DAPA, including citizenship application assistance. The group also assists in visa petitions, consular processing for family members, and waivers of inadmissibility, and provides immigrant crime victim support addressing domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking.

“We tend to be more service-based than advocates,” Tarbert advised. In 2015, 37 percent of client “intakes” involved those seeking naturalization and citizenship. Nearly 30 percent of clients sought support for childhood arrivals.

Clients pay an initial $25 consultation fee, though many other services are free or charged based on a sliding financial scale based on case type, family size, and household income.

The Project also taps a healthy volunteer base, which provides English/Spanish/French translation, case follow-up management, or coordination of legal clinics and area citizenship workshops.

“There are a lot of people who want to support the attorneys,” Tarbert noted.

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The Immigration Project receives no federal funding, depending instead on low legal fees, donations, and grants. Those who wish to support the Project can check to see if their employer is eligible for Matching Gift Programs to match personal donations or offers any Volunteer Grant Programs which allow an employee to volunteer a set number of hours.  Amazon donates 0.5 percent of the price of an eligible purchase to The Immigration Project for every purchase made through AmazonSmile when the buyer opts to make it the charitable organization of their choice. And PayPal enables donors to use their credit card without making an account.

Immigration Discussion, Film Wednesday Evening

Twin Citians are welcome Wednesday to gain a perspective on "Living in B-N as an Undocumented Immigrant," during a Drinks & Dialogue get-together at 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the Marriott Hotel and Conference Center in Uptown Normal.

The discussion will be led by Jasmine McGee, executive director of The Immigrant Project, and Jennifer Carrillo from Illinois People's Action.

After the discussion, all those interested can take the short walk down the street to the Normal Theater at 7 p.m. to view the film Documented. The Immigration Project and its community partners are sponsoring the screening of the film, created by Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas about his experience as an undocumented immigrant in the United States. The film tracks his journey from the Phillipines as a child and becoming one of the most well-known immigration reform activists in the U.S., to reconnecting with his mother after more than 20 years. 

The screening will be followed by a discussion with the Immigration Project, immigrants, and other immigration advocates and experts. This event is free, but donations are requested to support The Immigration Project.

Community partners include the League of Women Voters, Illinois People’s Action, Moses Montefiore Temple, First Presbyterian Church, Mennonite Church, Holy Trinity Church, and St. Mary’s Church.

Not In Our Town: Bloomington-Normal's Kelley Becker notes that "we are struggling with how to respond to the strangers who are crossing our southern borders, to live in our communities, to work in our businesses and farms, and to learn with our children." Amid current sociopolitical hysteria,  she stressed most of the estimated 11.7 million "undocumenteds" in the U.S. are here for economic reasons, and "are not here to harm us."

Becker witnessed ramped-up federal border security/immigration enforcement activity during a tour centered in Tucson, including "Operation Streamline" prosecution and deportation of selected individuals who'd illegally entering the country, including minors who did not wish to be separated from other families. "I would not have believed this was a courtroom in the United States," Becker said, arguing those proceedings divert federal resources away from prosecution of drug smugglers and human traffickers who pose a palpable threat to the U.S.

That experience, as well as inspecting the border areas where Mexicans crossed into the U.S., highlights the need to "legislatively, socially, and ethically" deal with the immigration issue, she maintained. An Arizona host showed Becker objects including a bottle of insulin and a baby shoe discarded by individuals fleeing Mexico.

"We began to think about the people who left these things behind in the desert," she recalled. "We cannot disagree about the value of these human beings."

Project Seeks to Protect Potential Deportees

Expansion of a federal program that defers deportation for parents who are in the country illegally is expected to keep lawyers with the local Immigration Project busy this year.

Executive Director Jasmine McGee said efforts are under way to help people understand changes in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program that could affect some of the estimated 2,500 McLean County residents in the U.S. illegally.

"The interest and demand for help with paperwork will definitely be there," said McGee, who took over as executive director several months ago.

McGee works with three other staff attorneys to assist a population of 53,000 residents in the country illegally who live outside the Cook and surrounding counties.

The new provision of the DACA program defers deportation for qualified parents of youths who are U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents. Parents must pass a criminal background check and have lived in the U.S. since Jan. 1, 2010, for the deferral, which is renewable every three years.

The meetings hosted by The Immigration Project in six Illinois cities will give people guidance on what documents they need for the deferrals. Lawyers also will advise against scams by lawyers and others who take advantage of immigrants who are in the country illegally, said McGee.

"There is a concern with people taking $1,000 or $2,000 and they either don't file or file the wrong paperwork," said McGee.

Illinois put strict requirements in place about who may legally complete paperwork for a DACA application out of concern for such scams, said McGee.

While most of the 1,000 clients helped by the Bloomington office are Hispanic, the Twin Cities also has a substantial Indian and West African population that needs help with immigration issues, according to McGee.

Data released last year by the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights indicates that 145,000 Illinois families have at least one parent who entered the country illegally. Of those families, 126,000 have at least one U.S.-born child and 107,000 report having only one U.S.-born children.

The 13,000 downstate families with at least one parent who entered the U.S. illegally could be affected by the expansion of the DACA program.

"We're interviewing a lot of parents who have been here since the 1990s," said McGee.

Three of every four such immigrants in Illinois are between the ages of 25 and 44, according to the ICIRR.

The state's population of immigrants who entered the country illegally includes 58,000 children under 18 and 78,000 who are 18 to 24 years old.

The majority of the state's such immigrants are living in family households and about 30 percent are married and living with their own minor children, according to ICIRR.

The same benefits realized by youths under the DACA program will be available to parents, said Fred Tsao, ICIRR policy director.

"They will be able to get work permits, support their families and have opportunities for better employment," said Tsao.

The anxiety felt by families who are at risk for being separated by deportation proceedings will be reduced, said Tsao.

McGee said her work as a lawyer comes when her clients realize they have postponed possible deportation. Although the DACA program does not equate to legal immigration status in the U.S., it does provide a sense of security, even if it's temporary, said McGee.

"Seeing how happy they are the moment they have residency in the U.S. and don't have to hide makes me feel really good," said McGee.