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Your weekly summary from the Council
LATEST ANALYSIS
- Gainesville Takes Steps Toward Immigrant Inclusion with Gateways for Growth Program
The immigrant community in Gainesville, Florida has been steadily increasing over the years, already making up over 10% of our total population. Despite this, our local institutions and public agencies have a long way to go to create an inclusive environment. It was with this discrepancy in mind that the Gainesville Immigrant Neighbor Inclusion Initiative (GINI) was formed, with research and guidance from Gateways for Growth (G4G). Read More»
FACTS YOU SHOULD KNOW
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In the last week, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey began stacking thousands of shipping containers along the U.S.-Mexico border in a supposed effort to curb migration to the area. The shipping containers—welded together and topped with barbed wire—cross into a protected national forest.
Following warnings from the Biden administration that these actions were illegal, Gov. Ducey then filed a lawsuit against the federal government to try to prevent it from exercising jurisdiction along the Arizona-Mexico border. Environmental advocates have asked to join the lawsuit, warning that the shipping containers block migration paths for endangered animals like the jaguar and ocelot.
This fact sheet from the American Immigration Council highlights some of the many problems surrounding the construction of barriers along the southern border, including elevated dangers to both people and animals.
Read more: The High Cost and Diminishing Returns of a Border Wall
ACROSS THE NATION
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This week, the Council joined a team of nonprofits to write a letter to the director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) to express concern over lack of appropriate language access services for unaccompanied minors in ORR care.
Without proper access to language services, including interpretation and translation, children cannot meaningfully participate in their own reunification and legal cases. The letter argues that being able to communicate in their own language not only puts children’s minds more at ease, but it also lessens the amount of time they spend in government custody. The advocates ask ORR to create policies and training with the help of interpreters, lawyers, and cultural experts so ORR staff can provide children with the language services they need.
Read more: Letter Requesting Improved Language Access for Unaccompanied Children
MAKE A CONTRIBUTION
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"The U.S. Constitution protects the rights of people in immigration detention to retain, consult with and access counsel. The Department of Homeland Security only does minimal oversight of these facilities and recently admitted it doesn’t track how many facilities fail to meet its own low standards for attorney-client communication, much less the heightened requirements of the Constitution. These failures cost lives and divide families as people with meritorious claims are denied relief."
– Kate Melloy Goettel, Legal director of Litigation for the American Immigration Council
FURTHER READING
OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS
- Alongside Welcoming America, we are excited to announce that nine localities will receive the Gateways for Growth (G4G) award as part of the fifth cohort of the initiative.
Communities from across the U.S. – from Maine to New Mexico – were selected to join a growing network of nearly eighty communities that are working to ensure all residents are welcome and have the opportunity to thrive.
To learn more about the Gateways for Growth challenge and the growing network of G4G communities, visit the G4G Website»
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