8/11/2019 BIN Principles for Administrative Relief for Black
Immigrant Communities
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BLACK IMMIGRATION NETWORK
tel:(347) 410- 5312 web:www.blackimmigration.net
email:[email protected]
BIN Principles for Administrative Relief for Black Immigrant
Communities
Recently, President Obama announced that his administration
would take
executive action to reform our broken immigration system, with
an eye toward reducing
deportations. In the absence of legislation, President Obama can
use his constitutional power to
alleviate some problems with existing immigration laws and
policies.
Immigrant rights are a matter of racial justice. Black
immigrants from Africa and the Caribbean
make up approximately 10% of the foreign-born population in the
U.S and experience a range
of social, economic and racial injustices. The Black Immigration
Network renews its call for a fair,
just and inclusive immigration system and believes that the
following reforms must be part of
any executive action taken by President Obama:
LEGALIZATION Expand Discretion: The Administration should expand
the use of prosecutorial
discretion, to allow immigration officials to look carefully at
individual cases and stop
deportations that devastate our communities and do not serve the
public interest.
Expand Relief to Every Immigrant: DHS should expand Deferred
Action for Childhood
Arrival (DACA) and create additional administrative relief
programs, more responsive to
black immigrants, through which individuals could apply for
protection from deportation
on a case-by-case basis.
STRENGTHEN PROTECTIONS FOR MIGRANTS
Due Process: Last year, nearly 70% of those deported were
deprived of a fair hearing. All
immigrants deserve due process, including a fair hearing and
appeals process, regardless
of whether they have a criminal history.
Protect Legal Permanent Residents from Deportation: The
Administration should no
longer initiate removal proceedings against people with old
convictions or with
convictions that would not have resulted in deportation at the
time they were
committed.
Protect Workers Rights: The Administration should protect
immigrant workers standing
up for fair pay and safer working conditionsthose involved in
labor or civil rights
8/11/2019 BIN Principles for Administrative Relief for Black
Immigrant Communities
2/2
BLACK IMMIGRATION NETWORK
tel:(347) 410- 5312 web:www.blackimmigration.net
email:[email protected]
disputes, and should prevent employers from using migrant status
to
retaliate against workers.
ENFORCEMENT
End Detention: The growing use of private, for-profit jails to
incarcerate immigrants,
mandatory detention laws, and rigid detention bed quotas
contribute to system-wide
human rights violations. The Administration should require a
bond hearing for anyone
detained and shift resources from institutional detention to
more humane less expensive
alternatives to detention.
End Profiling: Immigrants should never face detention or
deportation because of racial,
ethnic, or national origin profiling. The Administration should
close loopholes in current
policy to reflect a zero tolerance toward profiling.
NEW MIGRATION
Eliminate Backlogs in the Family Immigration System:Nearly
110,000 Haitians have
been approved for family-based immigrant visa petitions who
remain on waitlists of up
to 12 years in Haiti due to imposed annual per-country limits.
The Administration should
create a Haitian Family Reunification Parole Program, allowing
people, to come to the
U.S. as they wait for their visas to be processed. This promotes
family unity and stability.
