Dignity Not Detention Coalition: Biden admin kills popular CA law to end private detention

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Dignity Not Detention Coalition: Biden admin kills popular CA law to end private detention

Today, a panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals directed the District court to block California’s AB 32, a state law signed in 2019 which banned private prisons and private immigration detention centers in the state. This same federal district court judge, Janis Sammartino, had largely upheld the law last year, but a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit - including two Trump appointees - reversed that decision today. The State of California now has the option of either appealing the decision to a larger “en banc” panel of judges on the Ninth Circuit or asking the U.S. Supreme Court to take the case.

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SIREN Statement: Updated Deportation Memo Rebrands Terror, Allows Enforcement Agents Broad Power

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SIREN Statement: Updated Deportation Memo Rebrands Terror, Allows Enforcement Agents Broad Power

The Sept. 30 Mayorkas memo is an underwhelming reiteration of the interim guidelines set into place by the Biden administration back in January. The resulting memo relies on the same tired, criminalizing language that enabled the Trump administration to reign terror on immigrant communities for four years. Unfortunately for the communities we serve, the result of Mayorkas efforts to reset immigration enforcement away from Trumpian levels of targeted, racist persecution did not match the bold proclamations of Democrat leaders on the campaign trail, who, under Biden’s leadership, promised more than they have delivered.

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SIREN Statement on Parliamentary Ruling Excluding Citizenship from Budget Reconciliation Process

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SIREN Statement on Parliamentary Ruling Excluding Citizenship from Budget Reconciliation Process

Today, Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough ruled against Democrat efforts to create a path to citizenship through the budget reconciliation process, citing that the measures effect to the budget would be “merely incidental,” in a three-page memo sent to the Associated Press.

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SIREN Statement on Draft Language for Pathway to Citizenship Released by House Democrats

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SIREN Statement on Draft Language for Pathway to Citizenship Released by House Democrats

This past Friday, Democrats in the House of Representatives released draft language for a much-needed immigration proposal to be included in the budget reconciliation process. The draft bill includes language that would put millions on the pathway to citizenship, including DACA Recipients, TPS Holders, Farmworkers and Essential Workers. Now, we await a complicated political showdown where the Senate Parliamentarian must approve this bill for the budget reconciliation process. This process is intended to get around the obstructionist filibuster, used by Republicans for years to block progressive legislation.

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SIREN Statement on DACA Trial Court Decision

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SIREN Statement on DACA Trial Court Decision

On July 16, 2021, a federal judge in Texas ruled that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival Program (DACA) was illegal, and barred DHS from approving new applicants to the program. Though the decision is likely to be appealed in courts, the emotional toll taken on the undocumented community by these constant attacks to their stability and livelihoods is incalculable.

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