March For Immigrant Lives

March For Immigrant Lives!

Wednesday, Dec 18th - 2 pm to 5 pm - Meet at Liberty Bell, 510 Chestnut St. Philadelphia

Join immigrants' rights movement leaders at the Liberty Bell (510 Chestnut St) for a rally and march for immigrant, migrant and refugees' lives. The Trump administration plans to expand immigrant detention, deputizing local law enforcement and the military to execute mass raids and deportations, denaturalizing immigrant citizens and ending birthright citizenship. Biden must not make the mistakes of the past, demand that the Biden/Harris administration does not hand over an expanded detention and deportation system to Trump.

The Biden administration must dismantle as much of the deportation machine as possible before inauguration day. Full list of demands below.

1. End ICE contracts to close immigrant detention centers and release people in detention. 
2. Halt expansion efforts of immigrant detention system. 
3. Enforce that the Department of Homeland Security to use its prosecutorial discretion to cancel pending deportation cases.
4. Lift the June presidential executive order that closes the border and guts asylum.
5. Use presidential pardoning power to protect all undocumented people.

Let's raise our voices and fight for the freedom and safety of our neighbors, friends and family!

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Full list of Demands

1. End ICE contracts to close immigrant detention centers and release people in detention. 
2. Halt expansion efforts of immigrant detention system. 
3. Enforce that the Department of Homeland Security to use its prosecutorial discretion to cancel pending deportation cases. Many people are currently in deportation proceedings despite their cases not being in a priority set out by the White House. DHS should direct the Office of Principal Legal Advisor (OPLA) to prioritize and promptly respond to pending prosecutorial discretion requests under current guidance.
4. Lift the June presidential executive order that closes the border and prosecutes people through the Department of Justice who enter without appointments. This violation of asylum rights is a Trump era policy, and lifting it now can give an opportunity for people pursuing asylum as we speak. 
5. Use presidential pardoning power to protect vulnerable communities such as people with DACA. 
6. Cutting funds to ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
7. Publicize information to assist state and local governments in limiting their involvement in mass deportations. The administration should publicize guidance, training manuals, memoranda and other materials regarding Customs and Border Protection (CBP)/ICE enforcement, e.g., current CBP/ICE contracts, as well as riders on other agencies’ contracts, including but not limited to U.S. Marshals, and CBP/ICE access to state and local government-held data, ICE “at large” arrest tactics including impersonation of local law enforcement, and programs that seek to tap state and local agencies for immigration enforcement.  
8. Prohibit enforcement of removal orders entered against unrepresented children absent a hearing to determine validity of notice. DHS should issue a memo stating that prior to physically removing any individual who was ordered removed in absentia while unrepresented and under the age of twenty-one, it will request that the respondent receive a hearing to determine whether the individual’s removal order should be rescinded due to their age.
9. Redesignate TPS for currently designated countries by no later than the statutory deadline which is January 8, 2025. Beyond being right on the merits, redesignating TPS for these countries and others would also provide further protections from deportation, and fulfill the administration’s original promise to protect people from being returned to places where they would be in danger.
10. Issue new TPS or Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) designations for all other countries that merit protection. 
11. Finalize the Rule providing automatic extensions for those with work permits and prioritize work permit processing. USCIS should finalize the temporary final rule to permanently extend the automatic extension period from 180 days to ideally 720 days to ensure work authorized immigrants do not lose their jobs. DHS and USCIS should also take immediate action to prioritize work permit processing across all categories of work permits (e.g. asylum applicants, DACA, TPS).
12. Review and conduct re-paroles. DHS should review all CHNV, CAM, and CBP One paroles and grant four-year parole extensions on a case-by-case basis as has been done for U4U and Afghan allies. 
13. Expedite the processing of DACA and TPS renewal applications, SIJS deferred action renewal applications, and DALE recipients, or first-time applicants. With the ongoing uncertainty around the future of DACA, we urge USCIS to process all DACA renewals, Advance Parole requests, and H-1B premium processing applications as expeditiously as possible. USCIS should also allow early renewals of DACA outside the 150 day window and allow sequential grants of status to maximize each individual’s time in status. Likewise, all TPS applications should be expeditiously processed and granted. Similarly, USCIS should promptly issue SIJS deferred action renewals for an additional 4-year period.
14. Expand legal pathways and employment opportunities for DACA recipients who have graduated from American colleges and universities. We urge you to finalize those portions of a proposed H-1B regulation that clarify the rules around cap-exempt status under the H-1B program. Clearer cap exemption rules may encourage more employers, including public school systems, hospitals, and other city, county, and state agencies, to petition for H-1B visas on behalf of DACA holders and would ensure qualified DACA recipients have opportunities to gain legal status through their employers.
15. Protect farmworkers and other seasonal workers by finalizing the H-2 reform rule. We urge the administration to finalize the September 2023 proposed rule to improve protections for temporary and seasonal workers, including farmworkers.
16. Protect the ability for DACA, TPS, DALE, SIJS deferred action holders and others to travel on advance parole by Trump-era proposed rule.  
17. Dedicate Asylum Officers to adjudicate as many cases pending in the asylum application backlog as possible to ensure that those who started the process, in some cases years before the Biden administration even took office, are able to complete their cases. 
18. Stop conducting Credible Fear Interviews in Customs and Border Protection (CBP) custody and issue a directive granting lawyers physical access to CBP custody. For more than a year, the Biden-Harris administration has pushed people through Credible Fear Interviews and Immigration Judge reviews while in CBP custody. This practice results in wrongful deportations because people are unable to quickly articulate their asylum claim so soon after their arrival at the border. This practice causes particular harm to many of the most vulnerable people seeking asylum including rare language speakers, survivors of gender-based harm, and LGBTQI individuals. Further, access to legal services is extremely compromised in CBP custody. Continuing this practice will open the door for further due process abuses in the next administration. The administration should announce an end to this practice and recommit to protecting the due process rights of people seeking asylum. Regardless of whether this practice continues, the administration should also issue a directive granting physical access to attorneys at CBP facilities; having visibility into the practices put in place in CBP custody by the next administration will be absolutely crucial to safeguarding and protecting against the worst abuses. 
19. Codify details about improving overseas refugee processing. Continue rebuilding the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) and codify in publicly available documents such as the USCIS Policy Manual and Department of State Foreign Affairs Manual, the steps it undertook to streamline and improve overseas processing.
20. Take urgent action to protect Afghans. The administration should expedite processing of SIV applications, including issuing as many COM approvals as possible, asylum applications, and adjustment of status applications of any Afghan nationals along with the family reunification petitions. 
21. Frontload funding to insulate programs. Distribute as much dedicated funding in Q1 for FY25 as possible, to insulate federally-supported programming for asylum seekers, unaccompanied children, and populations served through ORR. This includes the remaining tranches of the Case Management Pilot Program (CMPP), FY23 and FY24 Shelter and Services Program (SSP) funds, and ORR programs like Refugee Support Services (RSS), Matching Grant, and the Unaccompanied Children Lived Experience and Youth Engagement Program.
22. Eliminate all Trump-Era asylum restrictions. The administration has left in place multiple regulations put in place during the Trump administration that unlawfully restrict access to asylum, some of which are inconsistent with the current administration’s own approach to the issue and most of which have not even taken effect because they remain blocked by court injunctions. To eliminate confusion, the administration should publish a final rule rescinding all Trump-era asylum restrictions. The administration should also take urgent action to vacate Trump-era attorney general decisions that impose unwarranted bars to asylum.

Host or Publisher Pennsylvania Immigration Coalition