• Immigrants' Rights Update Index

Immigrants’ Rights Update

Volume 21, Issue 5  |  June 21, 2007

IN THIS ISSUE

New on NILC’s Website (since May 10, 2007)

• NILC Annual Report for 2006

• State and Local Policies on Immigrant Access to Services: Promoting Integration or Isolation?

• 6th National Low-Income Immigrant Rights Conference: December 6-8, 2007

• NILC Statement on the Thursday, June 7, Senate Vote: Not the End

• Update on the Senate’s Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill: Interim Report

• NILC’s Statement on the Senate-White House Immigration Reform Proposal

• Senate Immigration Bill Proposes Unworkable Employment Eligibility Verification System

• H-2B Guest Workers Win Landmark Decision in Suit against Luxury Hotel Chain

• Title III of the STRIVE Act of 2007 (H.R. 1645): Employment Eligibility Verification

• Facts About Immigrant Workers

• Immigrant Children’s Health Improvement Act (ICHIA)-related items

• Medicaid Citizenship Documentation

• Facts About Immigrants and the Food Stamp Program

New on NILC’s Website (since May 10, 2007)

Featured Items

■ NILC Annual Report for 2006 
     Summarizes succinctly major challenges low-income immigrants and their advocates faced last year and continue to grapple with so far in 2007. Among the topics covered:  workplace raids, immigration reform, state and local anti-immigrant initiatives, the Orantes injunction (detention and due process issues), the impact of new citizenship verification rules, and issues impacting immigrants that have arisen as a result of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath.
>> www.nilc.org/nilcinfo/2006_nilc_annualreport.pdf

■ State and Local Policies on Immigrant Access to Services: Promoting Integration or Isolation? (State-Funded Benefit Programs page). 
     Summarizes the proposals affecting access to health care and other critical services for immigrants in 2006 and the first half of 2007, including policies that deter eligible families from seeking services, as well as affirmative efforts to promote immigrant integration into our country’s communities.
>> www.nilc.org/immspbs/sf_benefits/statelocalimmpolicies06-07_2007-05-24.pdf
 

Low-Income Immigrant Rights Conference

■ 6th National Low-Income Immigrant Rights Conference: December 6-8, 2007 (6th National Conference: December 6-8, 2007 information page).
     Who is expected to participate?  500 of the leading advocates, organizers, and other experts from across the country representing local, state, and national immigrant and refugee rights, civil rights, health care, anti-poverty, legal, faith-based, ethnic, labor, community, and low-wage worker groups.
>> www.nilc.org/dc-conference2007.htm
 

Immigration Reform

■ NILC Statement on the Thursday, June 7, Senate Vote: Not the End (Comprehensive Immigration Reform page). 
     “. . . In our view, the seeds of this setback were sown when the compromise was first struck and the bill was laden with poisonous provisions such as attacks on family immigration, a temporary worker program that failed to meet the needs of workers or business, and punitive obstacles to lawful status for undocumented immigrants. . . .”
>> www.nilc.org/immlawpolicy/CIR/cir025.htm

■ Update on the Senate’s Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill: Interim Report (Comprehensive Immigration Reform page). 
     “On May 25, the Senate completed its first week of debate on immigration reform, voting on 12 amendments to the ‘grand bargain’ that was negotiated by Senators Ted Kennedy (D-MA) and Jon Kyl (R-AZ), the White House, and others, and then introduced on the Senate floor. . . .”
>> www.nilc.org/immlawpolicy/CIR/cir024.htm

■ NILC’s Statement on the Senate-White House Immigration Reform Proposal (Comprehensive Immigration Reform page). 
     “The National Immigration Law Center was one of the first national organizations to support the legalization of undocumented immigrants, and we have consistently encouraged and supported steps toward the goal of comprehensive immigration reform. . . .  ¶ That said, the deal that Senate negotiators have consummated is a step in the wrong direction. . . .”
>> www.nilc.org/immlawpolicy/CIR/cir022.htm

■ Senate Immigration Bill Proposes Unworkable Employment Eligibility Verification System (Immigrant Worker Issues in Comprehensive Immigration Reform page). 
     “The following issues reflect our top concerns with the EEVS in the new Senate immigration reform bill.  It is our hope that these issues will be addressed through the amendment process . . . .”
>> www.nilc.org/immsemplymnt/cir/07senbill_titleIII_topconcerns_ 2007-05-21.pdf
 

Employment Issues

■ H-2B Guest Workers Win Landmark Decision in Suit against Luxury Hotel Chain (Resources for Hurricane Katrina Survivors page). 
     Guest workers expose hotelier’s scheme to profit from immigrant labor while excluding African Americans.
>> www.nilc.org/immsemplymnt/LWIW/pressrelease-final.pdf  (news release)
>> www.nilc.org/immsemplymnt/LWIW/Castellanos_Decision.pdf  (decision)

■ Title III of the STRIVE Act of 2007 (H.R. 1645): Employment Eligibility Verification (Immigrant Worker Issues in Comprehensive Immigration Reform page). 
     “The following summary is not a full analysis of Title III.  Rather, we hope to highlight the provisions in the STRIVE Act that should be included in any EEVS proposal, and the provisions that should be opposed.”
>> www.nilc.org/immsemplymnt/cir/strive_title3_highlights_2007-03-29.pdf

■ Facts About Immigrant Workers (updated fact sheet on Research on Immigrants and Employment page). 
     Headings:  ¶ Foreign-born workers make up a significant portion of the U.S. workforce.  ¶ Immigrants are critical to the current and future growth of the U.S. economy.  ¶ But despite high participation in the workforce . . .  ¶ Low-wage immigrant workers are among the most vulnerable to workplace exploitation, such as wage-and-hour and health-and-safety violations.
>> www.nilc.org/immsemplymnt/resrch_emplymnt/factsaboutimmigrant workers_2007-04.pdf
 

Public Benefits Issues

■ Immigrant Children’s Health Improvement Act (ICHIA)-related items (Immigrant Children’s Health Improvement Act page). 
     ¶ Statement of the American Academy of Pediatrics on State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) reauthorization, calling for coverage of lawfully residing immigrant children and pregnant women.
>> www.nilc.org/immspbs/cdev/ICHIA/schip_reauth_AmAcad Pediatrics_2007-06.pdf
     ¶ Letter from the National Governors Association to Senate Finance Committee leadership re: governors’ priorities for 2007 reauthorization of SCHIP, which includes covering lawfully residing immigrant children and pregnant women, a long-standing NGA policy.
>> [Link to letter on Nat’l Governors Assoc. website.]
     ¶ Faith Community Supports ICHIA:  The heads of 20 national religious organizations representing 50 million Americans joined with PICO National Network and the National Council of Churches USA in asking Senate Finance Chair Baucus and Majority Leader Reid to allow states to “cover pregnant women and legally documented immigrant children” as part of the 2007 SCHIP reauthorization.
>> [Link to letter on PICO Network website.]
     ¶ Letter from California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to leadership of the Senate Finance Committee supporting inclusion of ICHIA in SCHIP reauthorization.
>> www.nilc.org/immspbs/cdev/ICHIA/schip_reauth_calgovletter_ 2007-06-05.pdf
     ¶ Letter from California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to leadership of the House Energy and Commerce Committee supporting inclusion of ICHIA in SCHIP reauthorization.
>> www.nilc.org/immspbs/cdev/ICHIA/schip_reauth_calgovletter house_2007-06-05.pdf
     ¶ “Health Care Opinion Leaders’ Views on Priorities for SCHIP Reauthorization,” by Katherine K. Shea, Karen Davis, Anne Gauthier, Rachel Nuzum, Barry Scholl, and Edward L. Schor (The Commonwealth Fund, Apr. 25, 2007).
>> [Link to report on The Commonwealth Fund website.]
     ¶ Immigrant Children’s Health Improvement Act Fact Sheet (California Immigrant Policy Center, May 2007).
>> [Link to fact sheet on CIPC website.]

■ Medicaid Citizenship Documentation (Verification & Reporting page). 
     Statutory changes suggested by the American Public Human Services Association (APHSA) and the National Association of State Medical Directors (NASMD) “to provide states with the flexibility that they need to ensure that Medicaid services are provided to eligible individuals through cost-efficient methods.”
>> [Link to issue paper on NASMD website.]

■ Facts About Immigrants and the Food Stamp Program (updated fact sheet on Food and Nutrition Programs page). 
     Headings:  ¶ Food stamps are available only to U.S. citizens and limited categories of lawfully residing immigrants.  ¶ Noncitizens work at the same rate as U.S. citizens but are twice as likely to be poor, in part because they work predominantly in low-wage jobs.  ¶ As a result, children in immigrant households suffer more from economic hardship and food insecurity than other children.  ¶ Yet immigrants are far less likely to receive food stamps than citizens with similar incomes.  ¶ Immigrants pay taxes, work hard, and make vital contributions to the U. S.; they should not be subject to special restrictions on basic food assistance.  ¶ There is broad, bipartisan consensus that the Food Stamp Program should serve both citizens and lawfully residing immigrants.
>> www.nilc.org/immspbs/fnutr/foodasst/foodstampfacts_2007-05-30.pdf