ABLE/Gamaliel
Atlantans Building Leadership for Empowerment

 

IMMIGRATION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Immigration Task Force Co-Chairs

Beatriz Santeliz (l) and Renee Cail (c)

with Willa Rose Johnson (r), ABLE Organizer

_______________

 

 

TAKE ACTION NOW!

 

The Illegal Immigration Reform and

Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996

is the most anti-immigrant law enacted

in our nation's history!

 

BUT

 

We have an historic opportunity NOW to have some

of the more onerous provisions of this law repealed in

the lame duck session, as part of the economic stimulus

bill which will be before Congress when they reconvene.

 

WHAT YOU NEED TO DO:

 

 

Contact your representatives in Congress and ask

everyone you know to contact theirs.

Click here for AILA InfoNet to find your representative

 

Ask that positive immigration provisions be added to the

economic stimulus bill which will be before the Congress.

 

Specifically:

 

            1. Repeal the 3 and 10 year bars to return, of provision

                212(a)(9)(B) and (C).

                Too many families have been ripped apart as a result

                of these horrific provisions.

     

            2. Repeal 241(a)(5)-"Reinstatement  of Removal."

                Through this terrible provision, many unsuspecting

                 immigrants are arrested at their "adjustment of status"

                 interview, and then deported without a hearing.

 

             3. Reinstate and make permanent 245(i), and advance

                 the registry date by 20+ years (currently 1972).

 

 

        All of these changes would help keep families together,

        bring a windfall of filing fees and taxes to our government,

        and help our economy.

 

        Instead of spending millions to arrest, detain and deport

        immigrants, and tear apart their families, we will give many

        a chance to regularize their status, and their lives.

 

These changes can and should be added to the

economic stimulus bill and enacted this year!

 

They will be if enough of us who believe that

"we are a nation of immigrants, built by immigrants,

and continually enriched by a flow of immigration,"

work for their passage.
 

 

 

 ACTION ALERT

 

 

ABLE Action Report

Great job to everyone who participated in

ABLE'S  Immigration Action on Tuesday! 

 

For those of you who could not join us, this is what happened:

35 concerned people of faith came together to deliver a decorated

Christmas tree, a gift basket and 1,500 signed Christmas cards to

the Sheriff of Gwinnett County, who has been trying for months

to get his department into the 287(g) program (http://www.ice.gov/partners/287g/Section287_g.htm).

After praying outside, we brought the tree through security. 

We filled his office and presented the gifts to two representatives

of the department, who did not want us to come up to the office

but somewhat graciously accepted the gifts once we were there. 

We prayed together and sang Feliz Navidad as we left.

The action was covered by 11 Alive, Atlanta Latino, Mundo Hispanico,
Gwinnett Daily Post, Barash Productions (a documentary company), and the radio show GLAHR Informa. 

The AJC also announced the action on Monday, and the

radio station El Patron interviewed Pastor Carlos Gutierrez Monday.
 

ABLE Immigration Action

 

Join ABLE on

 

Tuesday, December 16th

10am 

 

Gwinnett Sheriff's Headquarters

(click for directions)

2900 University Pkwy. NE

 Lawrenceville, GA 30043

 

            The sheriff of Gwinnett County has applied to enter

             into the 287(g) agreement, a program that would allow

             local officers to enforce national immigration laws,

             thereby risking racial profiling and breaking up families. 

 

             We have already seen the unacceptable effects of 287(g)

             in Cobb and therefore stand firm in our opposition to its 

             implementation in Gwinnett. 

 

Come join us as we express our concern

to the sheriff and remind him that Jesus,

whom he calls Lord, was an immigrant.

December 9, 2008 Press Release:

ABLE Opposes 287g in Gwinnett County

For immediate release

ABLE, (Atlantans Building Leadership for Empowerment), will conduct a local action at the headquarters of Gwinnett County Sheriff Butch Conway on December 16, 2008, at 10AM, to demonstrate their opposition to the Sheriff’s application to enter into the 287g agreement with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).  Religious leaders, community leaders and ABLE organizers will present more than 1,000 signed Nativity cards, a decorated Christmas tree and a Christmas gift to Sheriff Butch Conway at his offices, located at 2900 University Parkway NE in Lawrenceville, GA.  Sheriff Conway has stated that the people of Gwinnett County support 287g and “have made it clear they think it is important.”  The Christmas cards that ABLE will bring to the headquarters dispute that claim.  ABLE will remind him that Jesus was an immigrant.

Atlanta, GA, December 9, 2008 - - The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, Section 287g, offers training in identifying illegal immigrants to local law enforcement and gives them the authority

to enforce certain laws in cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security.  At the current time, Cobb County, Hall County and Georgia State Police have obtained Memoranda of Agreement for participation in 287g.  ABLE feels that 287g seriously increases the risk of illegal racial profiling which has already been reported by some predominantly Latino churches in Gwinnett County.  There have been deportations of mothers and fathers whose children are legal citizens of the United States.  We must address the issue of illegal immigration in ways that protect the security of the United States, keep criminals out of our country, but also provide a path to citizenship for the millions upon millions of immigrants who came to this country seeking a better way of life and have broken no laws since their arrival.  ABLE believes immigration is a complex issue that is best addressed at the FEDERAL level.

ABLE is a multiracial, interfaith coalition of congregations, unions, and grassroots organizations that develops and empowers ordinary people to become leaders who effect change in their communities for the common good of all.  ABLE is an affiliate of the Gamaliel Foundation, for whom President-elect Barack Obama worked as a community organizer in Chicago.

For further information, please contact:

 Reverend Tracy Blagec , ABLE

542 Moreland Ave SE

Atlanta, GA  30316

404-218-7913 Phone, 404-377-4884 Fax

tblagec@aol.com, www.gamaliel.org/ABLE

 








Immigration




                                            ABLE is a multi-racial, interfaith regional coalition of congregations, unions and grassroots organizations that develops

                                            and empowers ordinary people to become leaders who effect change in their communities for the common good of all.