Do you think people are racist towards immigrants?

Do you think people are racist towards immigrants?

Well, I do.

My opinion was particularly solidified when I saw this video about racism towards blacks on CNN's iReport. I realized that racism is racism, no matter how you frame it, towards blacks, immigrants, or anyone.


It then became clear to me that, oftentimes, immigrants are the subject of racism similar to the racism that blacks have faced for centuries. American society views blacks, immigrants, and other groups as "different."

There is a certain air that comes with discussing both blacks and immigrants because both groups, historically, have been subject to prejudice. A pattern of thought to automatically exclude blacks or immigrants, or to treat them worse or differently, than the dominant group(s) of white men has become a learned behavior.

In effort to stop this racism, we all could open our minds and train our brains to think twice before falling into racist thoughts, speech, or actions with any group or anyone. Watching this video is a good step in doing so.

Dissolved: 22-year-old travel, immigration against those with AIDS/HIV

Photo Credit: Associated Press, Gerald Herber

President Barack Obama lifted a 22-year-old travel and immigration ban against those with HIV/AIDS today, in an attempt to eliminate a stigma against the diseased for years. Changes will take effect Monday.

Since 1987, those with the disease have been barred by the Department of Health from entering the United States, including students, refugees, and tourists. Under immigration law, those with the disease have been classified as "inadmissible."

Obama announced the change while renewing a bill to extend the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program, which provides medical care and services to nearly half a million people.

What are people saying about this issue?

Q: What does Obama think?

A: "If we want to be the global leader in combatting HIV/AIDS, we need to act like it," he said. Obama hopes to end the stigma against those with the disease and encourage more people to get tested.

Q: What does a college student think?

A: "I think it's pretty messed up to discriminate against diseased people," Michelle Oliveria, a freshman at Florida Atlantic University said. She continued, it's the same mentality as: "let's not let old people into the country since they are not assets."

Q: What do others think?

A: "Now, those families can be reunited, and the United States can put its mouth where its money is: ending the stigma that perpetuates HIV transmission, supporting science and welcoming those who seek to build a life in this country," said Executive Director of Immigration Equality, Rachel B. Tiven. Tiven says that the ban has not benefited public health.

Q: What do I think?

A: Widespread fear and ignorance regarding HIV/AIDS dominated our country in 1987, but it does not need to exist now. The ban was a 22-year-old manifestation of discrimination that did not benefit our country at all. It is time to let people with the disease know that they are welcome here.

Q: What do you think?

A: Leave a comment. You have the right for your voice to be heard. Use the list of pros and cons I have formulated below to help formulate your opinion. *Note this list is based on my opinion and is not necessarily what will or even could happen as a result of the lift on the ban*

Pros of lifting the ban:

• Ends discrimination
  
• Normalizes the disease
  
• Encourages people to immigrate to the United States
• Encourages awareness about the disease
• Promotes HIV/AIDS testing
• Supports open-minded thinking
• Places the U.S. at the global forefront in addressing the disease

Cons of lifting the ban:

• HIV/AIDS could spread more
  
• People could use the disease as an excuse to gain rights in the U.S.
• More discrimination could occur
• It could be globally counter-productive for the U.S.
• People could become more closed-minded
• An even greater stigma against people with HIV/AIDS could be developed
  

Removal of Widow Penalty Effects Canadian Immigrant

Donna Bowen, a Canadian immigrant, is a surviving spouse whose story was previously posted on Real Immigration Stories.

Her lawyer, Angel Arias, is one of many making history and setting the stage for future immigration law. Arias recently took steps to end Donna's removal proceedings by coming to a joint agreement with United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Angel Arias can be reached at 786-728-8700 or at www.ariaslawgroup.com

As soon as Donna's I-360 form is filed, Donna will be able to petition independently for legal permanent residency. She no longer needs to apply for the temporary program of deferred action.

President Obama Eliminates the Widow Penalty

President Obama approved a new law ending the "widow penalty," a rule that prevented widows of U.S. citizens from applying for legal permanent residency if they were married for less than two years, on Wednesday, October 28.

This means a number of things for surviving spouses...

1. Surviving spouses now have the opportunity to petition on their own for legal permanent residency, instead of being placed in removal proceedings.
2. The new law does not apply to those who have re-married.
3. Spouses of the deceased need to prove that their marriage was in good faith.
4. Widow/widower(s) have two years from the enactment of the law to apply independently for legal status.
5. Any widow/widower currently in removal proceedings can file an I-360 with USCIS and file a motion to terminate their removal proceedings.
6. The Department of Homeland Security has heard the voices of those involved in a class action lawsuit because of the widow penalty.
7. Immigration law reform is possible.

Who does this effect?

Before it was removed, the widow penalty affected nearly 200 people, according to Brent Renison, a pro-bono lawyer who works for Surviving Spouses Against Deportation. Renison filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of the surviving spouses against The Department of Homeland Security.

The widow penalty, when in effect, impacted immigrants like Donna Bowen, previously profiled on Real Immigration Stories. Find out how this is effecting Donna, with the most recent update.

Listen &Understand: What is Immigration and Customs Enforcement?

Audio Credit: Sivan J. Fraser
Photo Credit: "D.C. Atty." (Flikr)

Defenseless Immigrant Children Puzzled by Legal Maze

"More than 8,000 children come to the United States each year without a parent or legal guardian and are put into the custody of the U.S. government," according to Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), a pro-bono network of law firms that represent immigration children. "Numerous others enter alone but live "underground" in secrecy and deprivation in a desperate attempt to evade U.S. authorities."

Angelina Jolie says, "No child should face deportation from the United States without representation."

KIND was established by Microsoft Corporation and actress Angelina Jolie, but organizations that help immigrant children are scarce. Sometimes, defenseless babies are carried into immigration court. Many children are searching for a way out of poverty, while others are looking for mommy or daddy, who left them many years ago to find a better quality of life. Either way, the numbers of illegal children continue to grow and so does the lack of pro-bono lawyers with experience in immigration.

Immigration, on its own, can be tricky for adults. Just imagine how it feels to be a child trapped in the maze of immigration law, especially if you are a child who has been detained.

"Getting a good defense can literally mean the difference between life and death for a child who is fleeing war or is the victim of human trafficking," Wendy Young, director of KIND, said in an interview with CNN. "The impact [of having fewer legal services] would be devastating, because these are children who can't get through legal proceedings alone. It's just not realistic."

Photo Credit: ERproductions Ltd, Getty Images

Young told CNN that almost 50 percent of detained children went before a judge with no lawyer last year. It's becoming increasingly difficult for immigrant children to obtain legal counsel, due to financial cutbacks and lack of knowledge.

Children who are detained by the Federal Office of Refugee Resettlement live a life in limbo. They estimates that 7,211 immigrant children illegally entered the U.S. in 2008.

Photo Credit: Mark Hill, CNN

Take a look inside the life of a child in detainment , a piece CNN did on a 12-year-old girl from Central America named "Marta." Marta came to the U.S. illegally, but her lawyer helped her obtain a U.S. Visa for abused and neglected children. She now lives in a foster home.

Where do immigrants settle?

Photo Credit: New York Times, "Immigration Explorer"

A total of 1,107,126 legal permanent residents resided in the United States in 2008, according to statistics from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

If you're wondering where these immigrants reside, the New York Times created an interactive map to illustrate the dispersion--the "Immigration Explorer."

Immigrants from Mexico, China, and India were among the most popular in 2008.

Dos Familias Separadas: Two Families Separated

Photo Credit: Yosie Crespo

"I remember one day I had a final math test, and mom went out to the streets of Pinar del Rio to find me lunch before going to school,” Yosie Crespo, an immigrant from Cuba said. “She came back empty-handed, with money, but no food. She then realized that it was time for a change.”

Yosie also remembers when, at age 13, her mom asked if she would sneak onto a boat to get to the United States. “Of course,” she recalls saying innocently, as if it was as simple as snapping her fingers. Yosie and her family did not take a boat to leave Cuba, but it still was not easy; a popular phrase in Cuba is “it’s not easy” or “no es facil.”

“God really helped us though and someone up there put his hand on us so that we didn’t have to travel that way,” she said.

Yosie wound up leaving Cuba by means of her mother’s sham marriage to a political prisoner, which left her family forever separated and changed her whole life. Despite the better quality of life Yosie and some her family obtained, a typical scenario amongst Cubans played out: “Dos familias separadas”—two families separated through immigration to the United States.

Yosie’s mother was married to a man named Pedro Gonzalez for seven years and, it just so happened, that the political prisoner, Nico, had the same last name. When her family filled out paperwork with the U.S. Embassy, they listed her real husband as a step-son on the application; however, a day before Yosie and her family’s appointment with the U.S. Embassy, Pedro’s permission to travel was held.

“People in Cuba are often and very quickly influenced by the powers of money,” Yosie said. “Nico became interested in my mom, and, after knowing that my mom would not sleep with him, he threatened to stop the trip the day before we received our permission to travel.”

As a result, the embassy told Pedro that he could travel at a later date. But he was never allowed to do so and, after many years of separation, married someone else in Cuba. Yosie hypothesizes that this was a result of Nico’s jealousy.

“We all made it to the United States, safely, up until this very moment. Nico went his way, and my mom, my grandparents, and I also went our way,” Yosie said. “We were a happy family now, but without Pedro.”

Yosie immigrated to the United States in 1993, right in the middle of what she calls “el periodo especial,” the special period, when a lack of resources was widespread.

“I remember having to go to school with a piece of bread filled with brown sugar,” she said. “That was my lunch and I ate it as it was a Quizno’s sandwich.”

Despite the troubles Yosie and her family endured, she successfully immigrated to America. She remains faithful to Cuba and is currently working in hospitality and aspires to be a writer. She is still troubled by the issue of her family being separated and the structure of communism that changed her life.

“I hope that one day, I can go back and visit Cuba as many times as I want to, without a government dictating how many times I can go back to my own country, never mind whether anyone can or cannot leave at all.”

The "Immigration Police": ICE.

When people refer to the "immigration police," who they are really referring to is the law enforcement division of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) known as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). ICE is the largest investigative branch of DHS.

The law enforcement division was established in 2003, following the Homeland Security Act of 2002. ICE assumes many of the previous duties of the United States Customs Service (Treasury), Immigration and Naturalization Service (Justice) and Federal Protective Service.

ICE is responsible for enforcing over 400 federal statutes and has 17,200 employees. It's $5 billion budget allows for a strong presence with more than 50 locations around the world. With such a large task force, ICE is able to dedicate time to investigation on a variety of topics, including:

• smuggling and document fraud operations
• sexual predators
• visa security
• illegal arms trafficking
• document and identity fraud
• drug trafficking
• child pornography and sex tourism
• immigration and customs fraud
• intellectual property rights violations
• financial crime, human smuggling and trafficking

A huge component of ICE is its National Fugitive Operations Program, which aims to identify and arrest fugitive aliens. Typically, officers engaged in this program are the ones most often viewed by the public. Like all topics of interest, there are many who support ICE and many who are against it. Check out this video about the fugitive program from Ledger Live, a multimedia component from New Jersey-based newspaper the Star Ledger.

Ledger Live: ICE raids go off target; journalist loses hope

According to ICE , "a fugitive alien is someone who "has failed to depart the United States pursuant to a final order of removal, deportation, or exclusion; or who has failed to report to a Detention and Removal Officer after receiving notice to do so."

I do not consider myself an American because…through the eyes of Alisa Levina

Photo Credit: Alisa Levina

*Note: This story was written by Sivan J. Fraser, as told through Alisa Levina's perspective*

Even though I have been an American citizen for the past three years and a resident for about 10, I do not consider myself an American. I am blessed to be here and thankful for the freedom of this country, but I cannot call myself an American.

I was born in Riga, Latvia a former USSR country in 1989. In 1995, my family and I moved to New York City, then back to Russia, and finally to Jacksonville, FL. My heritage, my upbringing, my first language, my taste in food, and all things cultural are Russian.

Looking at me, I doubt you'd be able to tell that I am Russian. I am a white, brown-haired, brown-eyed, 20-year-old girl, whose entire thought process is in a different language.

In reality, I am an immigrant. My family worked very hard to get here. My father worked for the government and was not allowed to leave for a year after I left with my mother, and my grandmother and grandfather on my mom’s side. My father worked under Mikhail Gorbachev for the KGB and, with the fall of the USSR in 1995 and the change of government, it was very risky and dangerous for our family. In Russia, they have a quota of how many people can leave the country—they do not care if it’s a life or death situation, they will not violate their quota.

We honestly packed a suitcase for each person and just left. You cannot really come to America with a lot, I think. It was a very tumultuous time. If we had not left in the exact moment we did, I do not think we could have ever left.

We had family in the United States and they petitioned for us to come, so our voyage here was very much legal and direct. However, we did have an upper hand. Only a certain amount of immigrants were allowed to leave the country and it took my aunt six years after us to immigrate. Coming here was a struggle. My grandmother on my dad’s side stayed behind with my dad, but I came to America within two days with my mom and my grandmother and grandfather from my mom’s side. My life changed drastically.

Our life was wonderful in Russia we had financial freedom, a beautiful house, and a very care-free life, and we had our own chauffeur. My parents came here with nothing and worked hard for what they have. We are currently in a very good-standing in the United States, with no remaining debt. But, when we came here, my mom started off with odd jobs, working in food service and as a teacher. She never had to work a day in her life, so it was very different. My mom worked three jobs, went to school and learned English, and finally got a degree as a computer programmer. My dad currently owns a Russian produce store. It was hard to adjust.

On the SAT, I always marked "other." I think those questionnaires are quite bogus. They ask for your nationality, and, although my skin may be white, it does not make me an American.

International student, immigrant, or BOTH?

Q: Is an international student considered an immigrant?

A: Yes, according to definitions created by the Immigration and Nationality Act upheld by United States Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS).

The Immigration and Nationality Act States that an immigrant can be “an alien having a residence in a foreign country which he has no intention of abandoning, who is a bona fide student qualified to pursue a full course of study and who seeks to enter the United States temporarily and solely for the purpose of pursuing such a course of study.”

Photo Credit: Sergio Leone Berry

Sergio Leone Berry, a sophomore at the University of Miami, is an international student on an F-1 visa and immigrant to the United States.

“I’ve been here a lot, most of the times in Miami and Boston, but I just feel I blend in easily,” said Sergio, who is proud to be Ecuadorian but feels extremely blessed to study in America. “[But] I know that I am an immigrant. I do not have citizenship here and I am on a visa.”

Sergio, who is majoring in international studies, is a 20-year-old who was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador. His family in Ecuador runs a major tuna fishing business that is a supplier to Starkist Co., a fact that Sergio believes contributed to his ability to the study in the United States.

“My guess is that a lot of people in Ecuador would kill just to come here,” Sergio said. “I understand the enormous effort my family is making to keep me here, so I must give that back to them.”

Additionally, Sergio worked for the United States Consulate General in Ecuador as a political and economic intern. He feels that this job opportunity, combined with his family’s hard work, has put him in a more than fortunate position, despite how difficult it is to start life in another country.

“I guess that they [immigrants] are brave. It’s not just easy leaving you country. You look back and you left your family, your home, your people, your neighbors,” Sergio said. “Immigrants are trying just to make each day better for themselves and their families. And that’s what I’m doing.”

Motivational Words form Sergio about Immigration:
“I would say that first you need to feel you made the right decision, because it is not easy leaving one’s country and family behind to try and come to the United States. You do this because you want to succeed, get better in your life, and give a better life to your family. You must put faith into it. Success doesn’t come [as easy as] night and day, as fast as anyone would like. You need perseverance, you need discipline, and, sometimes, the right people to talk to—contacts really help…I believe there is a road for everyone to walk on. Those roads lead to success, in many ways.”

Donna Bowen: Deferred Action

Donna Bowen, a Canadian immigrant, is currently applying for deferred action with United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. Deferred action is a temporary program that provides relief for widow(er)s of the deceased who were married less than two years when their spouse died.

Photo Credit: Scazon (Flikr)

“I feel more American than I do Canadian, to be honest with you,” said Donna Bowen, a Canadian who has resided in the United States. for 23 years. However, she was recently served a “Notice to Appear” (NTA), making her eligible for deportation, in immigration court for residing without status in the America.

Donna was born in Montreal, Canada. She first came to the United States in 1986 as she had bought a vacation home in Florida. Up until June 9, when the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) was passed, only an oral declaration of citizenship by Canadian citizens was needed to enter the U.S. The WHTI puts an end to oral declarations and enforces document requirements for all previously exempt travelers entering America, including citizens from Canada, Bermuda, and the United States.

Click here for a list of document requirements and frequently asked questions about WHTI.

Donna only intended to vacation in Florida, but, through a natural, unplanned process, wound up residing there for the past 23 years. Her spouse, who she had been married to for less than two years, recently passed away, making her ineligible for status as a legal permanent resident.

The question of her status was brought into question when she traveled outside of the country to Ireland and was stopped by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). As a United States domicile, Donna returned to her home in Florida and was then served her NTA in immigration court. Fortunately, USCIS created an interim program for widow(er)s to obtain temporary status for up to two years in the United States known as deferred action.

“God doesn’t make mistakes—that’s why I’m a believer,” Donna said in reference to her applying for deferred action with USCIS.

In Donna’s first hearing, a master calendar, her immigration lawyer, Angel L. Arias, declared Donna’s intention to file an I-360 form for deferred action and terminate removal proceedings. He feels confident that Donna will qualify for relief.

“Deferred action allows a group of individuals who normally wouldn’t benefit any relief from immigration, due to the fact that their spouse passed away, to maintain some form of legal status,” said Arias.

Donna’s next hearing is set for Jan. 21, 2010. Check out my blog again soon to see what happens next with Donna Bowen’s real immigration story.

LISTEN to Part 2 of M.A.'s Story: 10 years in the U.S. without status

Audio and Video by: Sivan J. Fraser

LISTEN to Part 1 of M.A.'s Story: 10 years in the U.S. without status

Audio and Video by: Sivan J. Fraser

Deferred Action: Interim Relief for Surving Widow(er)s

Photo Credit: Shayne Kaye (Flickr)

Applying for any form of status, legal permanent residency or United States citizenship, is not an easy process. But imagine how much harder it is when your spouse dies—not only do you lose your partner in life, but, typically, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) gives you the “widow penalty.”

Historically, the widow penalty prevents widows/widowers of deceased U.S. citizens from obtaining legal permanent residency if their spouse dies before they have been married for two years. However, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) created an interim program of relief for widow(er)s, due to the overwhelming amount of immigrants in this situation called deferred action on June 9.

Click here to fill out the USCIS I-360 for deferred action.

Quick deferred action facts:
- USCIS will NOT proceed with removing an alien for a specific time period of two years
- Involves a temporary suspension of any form of adjusting status
- If granted, an alien will be eligible for employment and travel authorization by filling out necessary forms (I-131: application for travel document)
- The decision cannot be appealed

According to a fact sheet released by the American Immigration Lawyer’s Association, surviving widow(er)s whose spouses were U.S. citizens and died before their second marriage anniversary, are eligible for deferred action if they:
“1. Were married to, but not legally separated or divorced from, their U.S. citizen spouse at the time of that spouses death;
2. Did not remarry; and
3. Are currently residing in the United States, regardless of whether the U.S. citizen spouse filed an I-130 petition for the foreign spouse before his or her death.”

Deferred action also applies to qualifying children of the survivor if the child is under the age of 21, not married, and currently lives in the United States.