Census 2020

Success! With the Supreme Court decision last week that the citizenship question would not be included in the census, we are moving forward in coalition to make sure everyone is counted to ensure equitable representation and allocation of resources to communities. Faith communities have an important role to play. We have census posters you can post in your facilities. We have also posted a faith toolkit to help your planning on our website. Please contact us if you would like to be part of this effort.

Immigration Action Alert

In light of the painful truth that our government is holding immigrants and refugees in horrendous conditions, separating children from their families and leaving them to fend for themselves, we commit to find continuing ways to respond. As people of faith and conscience, we decry the use of deplorable camps to hold and abuse our neighbors who come to our borders seeking a better life for themselves and their families. Below we have compiled a few actions you can take to protect and uplift our neighbors and demand that the government remedy these decisions. See also this great list of resources from the ELCA Advocacy Blog and Bend the Arc Jewish Action.

Local: The Yakima Immigrant Response Network monitors weekly ICE air flights at the Yakima Air Terminal. They meet on Tuesday mornings and Sunday afternoons to bear witness to these flights. Anyone interested in joining the effort can be added to the contact list through YakimaReponseNetwork@gmail.com.

Nationwide: On Friday, July 12, there will be nation-wide and some international protests against the inhumane treatment of immigrants and refugees in concentration camps in the United States. There will be vigils throughout Washington State. Find a vigil near you at lightsforliberty.org. Key events are planned in El Paso, Texas, where migrants are being housed in outdoor conditions under a bridge with no running water for months at a time; Homestead, FL, at a migrant child detention facility that has caused mass abuse and neglect; in San Diego, near the point of entry site from Tijuana; in New York City, at Foley Square, where hundreds of migrants are processed through detention a day; and in Washington, DC, in Lafayette Park, to demand action from Congress. Legislators, activists, organizers, and members of impacted communities will speak prior to the candlelight vigil. 

Federal: We have until July 9 to submit a comment against the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)'s proposed rule to threaten housing for families of mixed immigration status. Under this new rule, families in which some members are undocumented will be forced to choose between breaking up in order to receive housing assistance and not receiving assistance at all. The Washington Low Income Housing Alliance notes that 55,000 children in Washington could face eviction if this rule goes into effect, and they have a portal where you can submit a comment on this horrendous rule. Just as #FamiliesBelongTogether and should not be separated at our borders, they should remain together within our borders. Submit a comment today and tell HUD that we need to increase housing resources, not limit them! Remember that comments need to be unique statements in order to be counted.

Federal: For those of you who weren't able to see the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project's Facebook live event regarding the Supreme Court decision to take up the government's appeals for three different DACA cases, the recordings are now posted on NWIRP's facebook pages. There were sessions in both English and Spanish explaining the decision by the Supreme Court:
English link: https://www.facebook.com/NWIRP/videos/1306260492854899/ 
Spanish link: https://www.facebook.com/NWIRP/videos/2340862679522301/