As power shifts in Washington, D.C. and Albany, IDP starts 2021 with a plan to push initiatives at the local, state and federal levels.
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Dear Friends:
The first week of 2021 reinforced the stark divide that we have to navigate. In the face of these challenges, IDP holds on to the promise and victories of the ongoing struggles for racial justice, including the historic victory due to long-term Black-led community organizing in Georgia. There will be a power shift in DC and in New York, and we are starting off 2021 with a plan to push initiatives at the local, state, and federal levels. With much appreciation for your ongoing support and solidarity, IDP is continuing the fight for the rights of all immigrants and pushing back against a racially discriminatory policing and punishment system. Please read on to learn more about the work we’ve started in 2021.
* Fighting for Inclusion During Biden's First 100 Days
* TeenVogue: How to Push the Biden Administration on Immigrants Rights
* Launching the 2021 Justice Roadmap!
* New York's Protect Our Courts Act is Now Law, What's Next?
* IDP Fights for Immigrant Communities in the Fight to Legalize Marijuana
* IDP Joins the Brooklyn Public Library in Hosting a #KnowYourRights Workshop!
** Fighting for Inclusion During Biden's First 100 Days
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As the Biden administration takes the reins, IDP’s federal advocacy team is preparing to fight for truly inclusive and just immigration policies. With our Immigrant Justice Network partners and other national and local allies, IDP is leading efforts to reverse the punitive 1996 immigration laws and continue the New Way Forward ([link removed]) campaign. This work is critical for ensuring that legislative proposals introduced in the first 100 days of the Biden administration will respect the rights of immigrants with criminal system contacts, and uplift the value that no one should be treated as disposable. IDP will also continue promoting the abolitionist vision of the Movement for Black Lives’s BREATHE Act ([link removed]) , a bill that divests resources from incarceration and policing and reimagines their use in building healthy, sustainable, and equitable communities.
Above: Elected officials, community members, and advocates attend a kick-off event for the #NewWayForward Campaign in early 2020.
** TeenVogue: How to Push the Biden Administration on Immigrants Rights
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[link removed] Senior Staff Attorney Genia Blaser published an Op-Ed in TeenVogue ([link removed]) this week with Palika Makam, of WITNESS ([link removed]) , asking us to confront what a "return to normal" looks like under the Biden administration. The piece also offers a list of actionable steps you can take to advance immigrant rights and push against harmful policies.
** Launching the 2021 Justice Roadmap!
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Alongside our Justice Roadmap partners, we unveiled the JR 2021 legislative agenda in December, with a launch ([link removed]) event ([link removed]) joined by state Senators and Assemblymembers, advocates, and directly impacted leaders. We heard from Javier Card, a friend of IDP currently serving his sentence at Green Haven Correctional Facility. A native of Panama who will face deportation if he is granted parole this year, Mr. Card spoke about the human capacity for transformation and the suffering he has witnessed during 30 years behind prison walls. Missed the launch? You can watch a recording of the event here
([link removed]) .
During the 2021 legislative session, the Justice Roadmap network will fight to win critical campaigns - from ending marijuana prohibition to achieving parole justice, ending solitary confinement, ending law enforcement collaboration with ICE, and more. The New York Times cited the Roadmap as the "far-reaching criminal justice agenda for 2021" of "activists and liberal lawmakers" in its legislative session forecast ([link removed]) . Read the full list of critical justice and immigration reforms for 2021 here ([link removed]) , and stay tuned for more Justice Roadmap updates! We're just getting started.
** New York's Protect Our Courts Act is Now Law, What's Next?
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Late last month, Governor Cuomo signed the Protect Our Courts Act into law ([link removed]) , taking a momentous step towards stopping Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from surveilling, arresting, and terrorizing immigrant New Yorkers at courthouses.
Beginning in 2017, IDP began tracking ICE raids at NY courthouses and documented an alarming 1700% increase in ICE courthouse arrests ([link removed]) under the Trump administration. This new law prohibits ICE from making civil arrests of people attending New York state courthouses without a judicial warrant. To learn more about what the Protect Our Courts Act and the protections this law provides to immigrant New Yorkers, check out our newly released Community FAQ, available in both English ([link removed]) and Spanish ([link removed]) .
** IDP Fights for Immigrant Communities in the Fight to Legalize Marijuana
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As a member of the Start SMART New York ([link removed]) coalition, for the last several years IDP has been working to ensure that marijuana legalization benefits the communities most impacted by the war on drugs, including immigrants. As New York State prepares to address marijuana legalization in the 2021 legislative session, our marijuana legalization framework must take into account the unique vulnerability of immigrants given our country’s harsh immigration laws that punish marijuana convictions with deportation, ineligibility for immigration status, and immigration detention.
Marijuana convictions can carry devastating consequences for immigrants--including deportation, detention, and the loss of eligibility for immigration status. Since 2003, the US has deported more than 45,000 people whose most serious conviction was marijuana possession. Despite this incredible harm, immigrant communities are often left out of the conversation around marijuana legalization. IDP is fighting to ensure New York:
* Uses revenue to reinvest in communities most harmed by the war on drugs,
* Creates or strengthens vacatur and expungement provisions that are recognized under federal immigration law, and
* Minimizes the risk of harsh negative immigration consequences that flow from the criminal penalties for marijuana-related activity that remain after legalization whenever possible
You can read IDP's statement in response to Governor Cuomo's renewed call for marijuana legalization here ([link removed]) . You can also check out a best practices memo that IDP issued on immigration and marijuana legalization here ([link removed]) .
** IDP Joins the Brooklyn Public Library in Hosting a #KnowYourRights Workshop!
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Later this month, IDP is partnering with the Justice Initiatives of the Brooklyn Public Library on a workshop around knowing your rights during interactions with ICE! Join us on January 19, 2021, from 4-5:30 pm, as we cover the current political climate related to ICE policing, how ICE operates, and your rights when interacting with ICE.
This workshop will stream on the Brooklyn Public Library's YouTube channel. For more information, see the event announcement here ([link removed]) .
Join IDP in the fight for Immigrant Rights! ([link removed])
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