Category: Immigration Justice

Oppose New Jersey Redistricting

by UU FA Office Leave a comment

NJ legislative leaders–primarily Democrats–are supporting a horrible amendment to the NJ constitution, a purely political proposal to increase the ability of politicians to choose their voters.  The usual term for it is “gerrymandering.” It would also embed the two-party system into the state’s constitution, a blatant attempt to weaken third parties like the Green and Libertarian parties. Every group that testified on the proposed amendment this past week opposed it. UUs and our allies should oppose this most recent attempt to codify gerrymandering too. 

Despite the fact that this doesn’t easily fall under one of UU FaithAction’s six issue areas, it flies directly in the face of our 5th Principle: “The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large.“

For example, the amendment not only gives the sitting Senate president, House speaker, and minority leaders the power to appoint eight members to the redistricting commission.  It also requires that four of those appointees must be sitting legislators. This would clearly empower elected officials to have an oversized influence on who votes in their own or their own party’s races.

Furthermore, an analysis by the Princeton Gerrymandering Project demonstrates that in creating districts that the amendment calls “competitive” could actually lead to an overrepresentation of the majority party in the legislature. 

While the proposed amendment would mandate respecting “communities of interest”, there are no protections for racial equity and too few public hearings to establish truly representative communities of interest.

Additionally, the explanatory paragraphs that describe the amendment on the required statewide ballot are also misleading: they give no hint of the radical change to representative democracy this amendment entails. What seem like “motherhood and apple pie” goals are more like poisoned apples presented to an innocent public.

Finally, New Jersey would be much better served by a non-partisan redistricting process like California’s, rather than a partisan (even if bipartisan) process designed to protect incumbents, party loyalists, and further entrench the Democratic and Republican parties themselves.  Our partners at the League of Women Voters proposes such a non-partisan process in their Fair Districts New Jersey Project. 

Please make it a priority!  Call or write your senator and assembly members to oppose SCR152 and ACR205 (and earlier SCR43 and ACR60).

 

What You Can Do:

1. Send an email to your legislators letting them know New Jersey deserves a fair redistricting process and fair maps!

2. Call your legislator’s district office to voice your opposition to SCR152/ACR205. Review our sample script and talking points here

3. Visit the League’s “Partisan Gerrymandering” resource webpage and learn more about the undemocratic proposals being fast-tracked through the Legislature

Thank you for your attention to this very important issue!

Executive Director Rob Gregson attends Gov. Murphy press conference

by UU FA Office Leave a comment

A last minute press conference called by NJ Governor Phil Murphy, with State of New Jersey Attorney Generals Office AG Gurbir Grewal to announce a new push on gun violence prevention legislation following the Pittsburgh massacre at Tree of Life Synagogue. Pleased to be in the company of longtime GVP activist, Kathy Allen Roth, UU FaithAction GVP Task Force and Beacon Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Summit member.

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UU FaithAction Supporting Driver’s License Initiative

by UU FA Office Leave a comment

Executive Director Rob Gregson, center, at the NJ State House

On Monday, October 29, Executive Director Rob Gregson, along with fellow Immigration Task Force Chair, Ted Fetter, and Eileen Bird (Princeton), Clara Haignere (Princeton), Jasmine Ueng-McHale (Washington Crossing), Hannah Gallo, and Barbara Jensen attended a rally at the New Jersey State Assembly to show Unitarian Universalist support of issuing undocumented immigrants a New Jersey driver’s license.

 

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UU FaithAction Marches to Keep Families Together

by Carol Wolf Leave a comment

When, in mid June 2018, we learned that the Trump administration’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) was–on top of everything else–separating children from their parents at the U.S. border, UU FaithAction NJ stepped up our efforts to speak out.  12 UU protestors and our friends marched at the June 30th “Keep Families Together” rally in Newark NJ.

Read More “UU FaithAction Marches to Keep Families Together”

Major Rally to Support Driver’s Licenses/Push Back Against ICE Immigration Regime

by Rev. Rob Gregson Leave a comment

Sept. Rally Save the Date – Thurs. Sept. 6th 2018

UU FaithAction, along with many of our immigration rights allies, faith and human rights groups, will come together at 12 noon on Thurs., Sept. 6 in front of the Statehouse in Trenton to protest the continuing harsh “crackdown” on undocumented immigrants in NJ and across the US.

One important protection we can offer here in NJ is legislating a legal process (as they have already done in California, D.C. and elsewhere) for people with limited documentation to prove who they are, take the driver’s exam, purchase insurance and get back out on our roads safely and LEGALLY.

With a valid license, residents with an otherwise unblemished (or very minor) record can’t be detained and deported–simply because of a routine traffic stop.

We hope many of you will join us on Thursday, Sept. 6th at 12 noon at the NJ Statehouse.  Buses will be leaving from various locations across the state to help make transportation there and back easier–more information on that will be forthcoming.

What to do about ICE contracts with NJ Jails??

by UU FA Office Leave a comment

By now you may have seen several of our recent action alerts about the growing furor over multimillion dollar contracts several NJ counties have with ICE to house immigrant detainees in our county jails.

With recent news reports (click here to read a WNYC report from earlier this week.)

Several of us from UU FaithAction NJ attended county freeholder meetings Weds. and Thursday of this week in Essex and Hudson Counties respectively.  You can see a picture and some thoughts from both these meetings on our FB page here.

With the increased press and mounting frustration–and really, horror–at the size, pace and intention of the Trump administration’s campaign to round up undocumented immigrants, children AND asylum seekers there is mounting pressure to DO SOMETHING IN NEW JERSEY.

There is a renewed call in some quarters to pressure elected county officials to end their jail bed contract with ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement).

Progressives, including UU FaithAction supporters and our allies, are suddenly caught in a difficult position.

On the one hand, our usual coalition partners (American Friends Service Committee, NJ Alliance for Immigrant Justice, First Friends, Wind of the Spirit and others)–though they continue to call for the immediate end of ICE’s veritable “war” on immigrants and the jailing of detainees in criminal settings, separating children from families, and denying potential asylum seekers at the border (now to include those fleeing gang and domestic violence, according to Attorney General Jeffery Beauregard Sessions)–do not support is the immediate or imminent closure of ICE contracts wtih Hudson, Bergen, Cape May and Essex counties.

On the other hand, it raises the legitimate question, being raised publicly by our concerned progressive partners at Resist the Deportation Machine Coalition and national immigrant-led group COSECHA: Why not? 

These groups–who are gaining support and greater news coverage with their direct challenge to the Democratic county freeholders and vested interests–demand to know why we wouldn’t support an end to these morallly indefensible contracts that–in the case of my own county, Essex–brings in $36 million dollars ANNUALLY to the county budget, on the backs of thousands of immigrant black and brown detainees.

Many of us have struggled these past several weeks with that question.  Below is our response as UU FaithAction NJ.  In the meantime, we hope you will share this Education Alert with your congregations, ministers, neighbors and friends who may–in their desire to do SOMETHING–be swayed to agree with the END ICE CONTRACTS NOW argument which, in our analyses, would do THE WRONG THING AT THIS MOMENT IN TIME.

PLEASE CONSIDER THIS CAREFULLY: what detainees and their families have been telling us for several years now, and what we continue to fear given the Trump administration’s deep antipathy towards immigrants from south of our border, is that CLOSING THESE LOCAL FACILITIES WILL NOT FREE OR OTHERWISE MAKE THE DETAINEES’ SITUATION BETTER.

The simple truth is that NJ counties have no control over the actual status of the Federally-governed, ICE-administered “inmates.”  The perverse (and most likely scenario) if we end ICE contracts in NJ is that the Trump administration would simply transfer detainees from NJ to more distant and more Republican states, out of the reach of their families, to state and local governments even less concerned with their dignity or welfare.

Here is a useful short statement from Sally Pillay of First Friends, a group that supports detainees in the various jails and helps them when they are released:

“We care about the plight of individuals incarcerated, and we believe if the facilities are closed in New Jersey, then ICE will transfer individuals to remote locations where there is no access to advocates holding ICE and facilities accountable to the conditions,” she said. “These individuals will suffer more without support.”

What can you do in the midst of all the fray?  Sign this petition and educate your congregation, clergy, liaisons and anyone else you can think of in NJ on the Fair and Welcoming STATE movement currently before the Governor and others.  The link is here:  https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/new-jersey-leadership-make-new-jersey-fair-and-welcoming-to-all-protect-families-from-deportation 

Do you have a more relaxed coffee hour, fellowship time, worship setting during the summer?  Please consider championing this issue as a topic of conversation sometime over the next few weeks.

Below is a synopsis of what we and others are calling for through the Fair and Welcoming State initiative.  We of course recognize that among UUs, as among all individuals, there will be, at times, differences of opinion among well-meaning and informed individuals.  We appreciate the continued sharing of ideas, news and opinion among all UUs and our friends (this often happens on our FB page, link above.)

New Jersey must end all relationships with ICE and CBP now 

  • We call on our state leadership to declare New Jersey a Fair and Welcoming state by ensuring that no state, county, or local New Jersey agency, department, or law enforcement body is involved in cruel and unjust detention and deportations.
  • New Jersey has the third largest percentage of immigrant population in the United States with thousands of immigrant families and children who are fearful of ICE detention and deportation. Children are traumatized by this separation and uncertainty over their future.
  • Our state and local taxpayer resources – including funds, facilities, equipment, and staff – should not be used for civil federal immigration enforcement.
  • Our families deserve to go to school, shelters, hospitals, courthouses, police stations, and state agencies without fearing ICE’s presence in those space.
  • Our local and state resources must not be used to detain our immigrant families for federal immigration enforcement purposes. New Jersey will not be a part of this system of family separations.
  • In addition, New Jersey leadership should expand access to driver’s licenses for all so that people won’t have to fear that driving without a license will lead to a referral to ICE and family separation

As ever, we appreciate your ongoing support and the free and respectful exchange of ideas among all of us who care about the inherent worth and dignity of our immigrant neighbors and friends, regardless of their official status.

In faith, with love, for justice,

Ted Fetter, Immigration Reform Task Force Chair

Rev. Rob Gregson, Exec. Director, UU FaithAction NJ

Immigration Justice

Immigration Justice Task Force video from 2021 Justice Gala
Immigration Justice Task Force Chairs: 
Ted Fetter (UU Congregation of Princeton)
Email: immigration@uufaithaction.org

Immigration – legal and illegal. It is a hot topic in NJ today; but sound bites, ideology, fear-driven responses and violent rhetoric obscure the real conversations that need to happen. What does it mean for us, as Unitarian Universalists, to respond to this complex and emotional issue? What resources are available? How do we even begin, and how can we help right here in New Jersey?

As Unitarian Universalists, we have a long history of supporting civil rights, and this includes the rights of immigrants. We have committed to a national campaign called “Side with Love,” a campaign focused on telling the stories of individuals and families who have been denied equal rights in our country. We hope that people of all faiths and ethnicities can agree that it is better to act out of love and respect for our common humanity, rather than be guided by voices of fear and hate. We are here to lift up the voices of those who support the worth and dignity of all people, and to encourage public policy which reflects our commitment to justice and equity.

At the annual Fall Issues Conference in October 2021 discussion was started on what should be the IJTF priorities for 2022. By December of 2021 the following priorities were set for the Task Force:

  1. Relief for Refugees Given the rapidly increasing number of refugees in the world, the IJTF expanded its focus beyond immigration work to include refugee relief. The Afghan refugees fleeing Afghanistan when the US pulled its troops prompted this priority. The work on this priority involves both advocating for public policies in New Jersey that assist refugees and providing assistance to refugees where we can and assist or coordinate with Congregations of many faiths and others providing such assistance. Since the Fall conference, in addition to supporting Afghan refugees, a dire need arose to support the Ukrainian refugees fleeing the war in their country. The IJTF reached out to Interfaith-RISE of Highland Park New Jersey. Interfaith-RISE is a well-established refugee and immigrant support organization that works with the US State Department to provide refugees who come to New Jersey with housing and “getting settled “support. The IJTF met with the volunteer coordinator of Interfaith-RISE to establish a connection with them. IJTF will monitor the work of Interfaith-RISE and will inform the UU congregations of the type of support needed. A poll of the UU Congregations of New Jersey found that many are working at their local area usually with another agency such as Catholic Charities. Legislatively, the task force will advocate for public policy that will provide refugees a full free life in New Jersey through freedom from detention and oppressive or unnecessary forms of monitoring, and through access to education, housing, health care, and other basic necessities.
  2. The Values Act. The biggest current legislative effort is for the Values Act (S512/A1986). This bill would codify the Immigration Trust Directive of three years ago, which limits how much information our own law enforcement agencies share with ICE or other federal agencies. The Values Act also accomplishes a number of other changes that would improve the ability of undocumented persons to interact with state and local government, in effect to live their lives with much less fear that they will become a target for deportation. State and local governments would not collect information on immigration status except when federal law requires it. And in one more element, the bill removes the word “alien” from existing state statutes and replaces it with words such as “non-citizen,” using much less degrading terms. Your Immigration Justice task force is helping line up co-sponsors and will ask for you to contact legislators when the bill comes before the Legislature.
  3. Support for Legal Assistance to those threatened with deportation. The task force shall continue its support of using NJ state funds to provide legal assistance to detainees and others threatened with deportation.
  4. Assist undocumented persons to expunge records from minor marijuana offenses. Under the legalization of marijuana in New Jersey, many persons have been able to expunge prior records of marijuana-related offenses, but that ability does not apply to undocumented persons. There is no reason for this continued harassment.
  5. Urge ICE to “release, not transfer” persons held in NJ facilities for immigration offenses. All three counties who had previously entered into contacts with ICE to house federal detainees in their local jails have ended those agreements. Currently only one private detention center operates in New Jersey, and its contract cannot be renewed. So there are fewer detainees being held in our state. Nevertheless, ICE has moved many persons from New Jersey locations to detention centers in other states. We believe the need to hold them in detention is very low, and they should be released rather than transferred.

In addition to our current priorities the task force continues to work on driver license implantation for undocumented immigrants In May 2023, the federal government will require all those who use commercial flights to present enhanced identification in order to board. Since the spring of 2021, undocumented persons in New Jersey have been able to secure driver’s licenses, thus enabling them to drive legally in our state. Our task force was part of a large coalition that worked for years to get that done, and New Jersey is among about 13 states that permit the undocumented to drive, get automobile insurance, and travel safely. Knowing of the upcoming requirement for commercial flight, the new legislation established two kinds of licenses – so-called REAL ID and standard – and the undocumented are able to secure only the standard license. We are now seeing announcements that all of us will need the enhanced licenses soon. But that is not true, since there are other forms of federal identification that will continue to let persons fly – passports, military identification, and so forth. The Immigration Justice Task Force encourages all citizens to renew their driver’s licenses as a standard license if they have alternative federal ID such as a passport. Doing so is important to avoid any stigma about showing a standard license while driving.

We are proudly part of New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice: www.njimmigrantjustice.org

Resources

Articles

Policy Brief

 

Immigration Justice Books, Ted Talks, Podcasts

Sanctuary/Fair and Welcoming Congregations: Rapid Response Teams

by Rev. Rob Gregson

How to Form a Rapid Response Team in Your Congregation

From An interview with Pedro Sosa, director of AFSC’s Project Voice Immigrant Rights Program in Oregon and Washington state
With thanks to Clara Haignere, editor
May 18th, 2017

https://www.afsc.org/blogs/news-and-commentary/responding-to-immigration-enforcement-under-trump

Each team is made up of five smaller teams:

  • The legal team works with lawyers and does intake with people who are victims of raids. They are trained as legal observers, and they document any violations of the Fourth and Fifth Amendments.
  • The service team includes schools, social service agencies, faith groups, and others who help victims after raids. They provide food, accompany families to courts, help find care for the children if their parent or guardian is taken.
  • The media team alerts the news media when a raid happens, organizes press conferences, and distributes information about the rapid response team in the community.
  • The government team includes people who have connections with city officials or the governor or representatives. They lift up the stories of people affected to advocate for policies to prevent raids.
  • The political action team mobilizes people if we need to plan a march or rally to pressure elected officials.

24-hour Hotline with 15 volunteers taking turns answering the phone calls – two at a time. The calls are forwarded to their cell phones. If the first person can’t get to the call, the call goes to the backup person.

The idea is to record ICE activity in the community, and then we can mobilize the rapid response team if needed. Sometimes we get a call, and somebody needs help; other times, it’s just a rumor of ICE activity being reported.

We can get up to 15 calls a day. We spend a lot of time verifying rumors about ICE activities—we don’t want to put out bad information.

Q: Can you give us an example of how the rapid response team has successfully handled a raid?

A: In February, I got a call from Woodburn. The caller reported that they saw la migra (ICE) on the highway, and I called someone to verify that was true. I drove out to the scene and saw two vans had been stopped by ICE—workers who were [headed to pick ornamental shrubs in a nearby forest]. Nineteen workers were detained, and eight were arrested and sent to Tacoma detention facility.

We mobilized our rapid response team in Salem, which we had just developed a couple of months earlier. Within hours, we had a group of lawyers—including the ACLU and professors from Lewis and Clark University—come to talk with workers after they were released to document what happened and provide support. Most of the workers were released, although two were held, and lawyers began to help them and their families with their cases. We also alerted the media,  and the story was covered on local TV and in newspapers.

We originally developed the rapid response team model in 2006. Today, we have more technology. We use the SMS Seal app for messaging. We’re also in conversation with the ACLU, which has a phone app that lets you record and upload videos that get automatically sent to their system, just in case your phone is taken away from you.

 

What is the 287(g) policy and why is it bad for New Jersey (and the nation?) (RG May 2017)

by Rev. Rob Gregson

Thanks to Steve Ramshur and the Hudson Civic Action Group for this excellent discussion of the immigration policy–called “287(g)” in government speak–that pays counties to do the work of the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency–by providing local jails and detention facilities.

287(g) is a totally voluntary program.  Hudson County is now one of only 41 counties in the entire country (out of 3,144) to sign–effectively putting greed for dollars before the necessary boundary between local law enforcement and national immigration policies.

In other words–now Hudson Co. taxpayers are now subsiding the increasingly harsh, arbitrary and wholly unnecessary pursuit of nonviolent, often long-established undocumented people.  Throwing many parents and hard-working people who have been here for 5, 10, 20 years into immigrant prisons.

Here is the link to the Hudson Civic Action article.  It’s an easy and good read–highly recommended.   http://hudsoncivicaction.org/287g/

A Challenge to Our Congregations: Make NJ a Fair and Welcoming UU State!

by Rev. Rob Gregson

At the April 8 UULMNJ Plenary (Annual Meeting) held at the Ridgewood Unitarian Society, the Immigration Justice Task Force, in cooperation with the UULMNJ Board and Executive Director, publicized a Resolution of Support for Undocumented Persons Fair & Welcoming UU Resolution and a 7 month Challenge to NJ UU congregations to take action Fair and Welcoming UU Challenge.

Above are the links to the text of the Resolution and the Challenge to Act along with recommended action steps your community can take.

The proposal and the goal?  That every member UU congregation in New Jersey will take 3 out of the following 5+ actions to halt the misguided and overly harsh detentions and deportations of undocumented immigrants in our state and across the nation.

For more information, please get in touch with either Rev. Rob Gregson at the UULMNJ office or Ted Fetter, Chair, Immigration Task Force (fetter4@verison.net)