Over the years we have seen how much immigrants have been affected by unjust immigration policies. A designated humanitarian protection that exists in the U.S. for specific undocumented immigrant communities is in jeopardy of being stripped away. This protection is known as Temporary Protected Status (TPS). There are an estimated 354,645 TPS holders in the U.S., with 254,550 being Central American nationals. Under new redesignations, TPS beneficiaries from El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Honduras would have their immigration protections extended for a determined amount of time by Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas. One thing to know is that there is no pathway to permanent residency status for TPS recipients. Ahead of creating this petition, Seeds of Resistance/ American Friends Service Committee (FL) launched a letter drive with directly impacted immigrants and refugees outside of the Miramar ICE Facility in Florida in which we denounced the unjust treatment of immigrants and the need for real relief for migrants. In addition, we urged Secretary Mayorkas, President Biden, and Secretary Blinken to redesignate TPS for El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Honduras and issue a new TPS designation for Guatemala. Secretary Mayorkas has the power to designate a country for TPS when a country is facing the following conditions: 1) Ongoing armed conflict (such as civil war); 2) An environmental disaster (such as an earthquake or hurricane), or an epidemic; 3) Other extraordinary and temporary circumstances that prevent a safe return to a person's country of origin. During a designated period, individuals who are TPS beneficiaries or who are found preliminary eligible for TPS upon initial review of their case. 1) Are not removable from the United States; 2) Can obtain an employment authorization document (EAD); 3) May be granted travel authorization. In addition to urging the Biden administration to issue new TPS designations for Central American nationals, we also affirm the need for our government to divest from the immigrant detention apparatus and instead invest in case management programs that help immigrants find legal representation to guide them through the immigration court system, and connect them with other community resources that are successful and more affordable.

Petition English Version here: https://somos.presente.org/petitions/tps-for-nationals-of-central-american-countries-impacted-by-hurricanes-and-storms-1 Gracias al liderazgo de muchas organizaciones dirigidas por comunidades negras, latinas y migrantes en todo Estados Unidos, el 22 de mayo de 2021, la administración Biden-Harris escuchó nuestra demanda y emitió una nueva designación de Estatus de Protección Temporal (TPS, por sus siglas en inglés) para Haití. Más de 100,000 haitianos que residen en los Estados Unidos podrán vivir sin temor a ser detenidos y deportados al país del que huyeron. Felicitamos a la administración por su decisión de proporcionar una nueva designación de TPS para los ciudadanos haitianos y le pedimos que emita una nueva designación de TPS para El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala y Nicaragua. La crisis climática junto con la pandemia de COVID-19 en curso requiere una acción inmediata por parte de los líderes electos.

Right now, the US government is dynamiting our borderlands, destroying ecosystems, violating sacred native territories, and carving a path of destruction through our US border cities. Joe Biden can stop all of this immediately, fulfilling his campaign promise that "There will not be another foot of wall constructed on my administration." (8/5/2020) Despite being defeated, Trump ignored the election results and has continued building the wall at warp speed, setting the stage for wall construction to continue well into the Biden administration. It can only be stopped if Biden issues an Executive Order. Your signature will be delivered to members of the Biden/Harris team, and help save countless communities under attack. Your signatures will: HALT THE DESTRUCTION: The wall is not a fence. It is a 3-story-tall prison-style barrier (more than twice the height of the Berlin Wall) surrounded by a militarized security zone the width of a football field. It has lasting, devastating impacts on every US community in which it is built. It destroys natural ecosystems and sacred native sites. For example, in just a single U.S. city that the wall would impact, Laredo, TX, the wall will carve a path of destruction through over 1,000 people's homes, public parks, and even an orphanage run by nuns. https://bit.ly/3hJq3sN SAVE BILLIONS, SAVE LIVES: Halting wall construction and tearing it down would save the U.S. government billions of dollars that can be devoted to the real emergency needs of our country, like Covid relief. The wall costs between $20-30 million for every single mile, which we can instead use to fund housing, education, health care and other real needs. For example, just a single mile of wall can fund over 300,000 Covid vaccine doses. https://bit.ly/2WtkHrX STOP FUELING VIOLENT RACISM: For Trump's most violent supporters, the wall is their single greatest symbol of inspiration, one that fuels violent racist attacks across the country. "Build The Wall!" has become a chant at MAGA rallies in Washington D.C., and a slur shouted during assaults on people of color in states as far away from the border as Michigan and Pennsylvania. The wall is a national issue. Stopping the wall helps shut down this engine of racism. https://bit.ly/2WtkHrX END THE FAKE "EMERGENCY": There is no "national emergency" happening on the border. FBI statistics show border cities are among the safest in the United States. The wall is based on a lie and serves no actual security purpose on the border. Data: https://bit.ly/37ytD5u RESTORE EQUAL RIGHTS: To build the wall, Trump has been seizing public and private lands of thousands of U.S. citizens and tossing aside over 40 federal laws like the Clean Water Act. As a result, people who live on the border have fewer constitutional rights than those who live in the rest of the U.S. Help restore the rights of border citizens. STOP THE CORRUPTION: The wall is a feeding frenzy for corrupt contractors, putting billions of dollars of taxpayer handouts directly in the hands of Trump cronies, some of whom are currently under federal investigation for fraud. You can help end this corrupt spending spree. https://bit.ly/34v8es4 Tell Biden to immediately halt all construction and cancel all funding for this harmful and wasteful wall.

Version en español aqui: https://somos.presente.org/petitions/un-nuevo-tps-para-los-nacionales-de-centroamerica-y-haiti-ahora Climate catastrophes ravaged through Central America late 2020 leaving entire communities struggling to rebuild. The aftermath of Hurricanes Eta and Iota have made it nearly impossible for communities to rebuild with dignity. There is a severe social and economic crisis happening now and families need our urgent support. The climate crisis coupled with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic requires swift action by elected leaders. We call on the Biden-Harris administration to issue a new Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation for El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, and Nicaragua. The human costs in Central America are heartbreaking at it’s time leaders take swift action to protect immigrant families. It is impossible for the nationals from these countries to live with dignity under the current circumstances.

Right now, the Trump administration is in a mad dash to build a border wall before the elections in order to rally an increasingly violent racist base of supporters, seizing public and private lands and tossing aside over 40 federal laws. The flagship piece of the wall runs right through the city of Laredo, TX a densely populated city right on the Rio Grande river. If built, the wall would stoke further anti-immigrant hatred across the country, and impose destruction on border towns and cities for generations. There is no "national emergency" happening in Laredo. That is a manufactured story created by the administration. Laredo is actually safer and more peaceful than most US cities. The wall serves no actual security purpose. In truth, the wall is a symbol meant to stoke racism across the country. It also has lasting, devastating impacts on the communities in which it is built. The border wall in Laredo would carve a path of destruction through Laredo, TX destroying public spaces, historic structures, public parks, private homes, places of worship, even a children's home run by Catholic nuns. The wall is not just a fence, it would be a 30 foot tall prison wall more than twice the height of the Berlin Wall. It is a 200 foot wide security corridor, that would militarize the entire waterfront of Laredo, which is precious to the people of Laredo, and has been theirs for for 265 years. Laredo depends on the Rio Grand for 100% of it's drinking water. If built, the zone would not only cut off all 250,000 residents from accessing their river, the now federally owned zone would void over 25 federal laws protecting water, land, and air quality. As Congress returns to session and a presidential election right around the corner, it's imperative that we stop this wall. We support human rights and urge you to do the same. Stand with the vets who are defending their city. Please sign this petition to have our vets' backs. Thank you! FOLLOW US on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Vets-United-To-Stop-The-Wall-111198500719227 Once you sign the petition, there are 3 other things you can do: 1) Send the vets a PERSONAL LETTER OF SUPPORT https://forms.gle/L2rZdn2e8YJc1EcP7 2) SIGN UP with No Border Wall Coalition for updates on the Vets' actions: http://www.noborderwallcoalition.com/ 3) DONATE to support the upcoming Veterans' actions: Donate here: https://bit.ly/NBWMuralDonate All solidarity is welcomed, Deepest thanks, Vets United to Stop The Border Wall, The No Border Wall Coalition, Laredo, TX

This is important to me because I want my dad to be here every step of my journey of becoming a successful women. He needs to see me graduate high school. He needs to see all of us graduate. I am only 14 years old. I need my dad here. He’s my rock.

As a Member State of the United Nations, the United States government has the moral, ethical and legal obligation to adhere to international law and protect the human rights of the vulnerable. Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) states that “Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.” As such, governments are responsible for protecting people who seek safety in their territory without discrimination on the basis of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or physical incapacity. As a signatory to the UDHR, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment; the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination; and the Convention and Protocols Relating to the Status of Refugees, the US has international legal obligations to ensure refugees exercise their basic human rights and live securely and with dignity. Moreover, the US has the obligation to ensure refugees right to seek asylum is respected and they are not forcibly returned. Closing the U.S.-Mexico border port of entry, the use of lethal force, subjecting asylum seekers to forcibly return to their countries where they risk persecution (refoulement), as enacted by U.S. officials in the San Isidro-Tijuana U.S. port of entry on 25 November 2018, are gross violations of international law and the human rights of refugees. The US government must end its hostile treatment of refugees and uphold its international legal obligations. This effort is a collaboration between among the US Human Rights Network, Puente Arizona, Mijente and Presente.org. Reference: 1. "Mexico to deport up to 500 migrants who tried to cross US border." The Guardian. November 26, 2018. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/nov/25/us-mexico-border-crossing-closes-migrants?fbclid=IwAR1DNsKtC67Evcx2z0GIBAfMv6EHh8_y-7iUFjVQO4P33Hza_lCLSE_z_B0

While we applaud the many ways in which Southwest Key Programs have worked long and hard to establish its reputation for serving youth and families in the Latino communities of Texas and beyond, we are writing this letter because we are extremely concerned about your radical shift in mission. Your collaboration with and acceptance of the federal government’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy that has included separating children from their parents is not in line with your wholesome and ethical work in education. http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/06/reporter-migrant-children-incarcerated-in-texas-facility.html Some of the children horribly separated from their parents are now in your custody, without any clear path for reunification, and your former CEO’s affirmation that he sleeps well at night is completely inappropriate given the dire circumstances these children and families, and immigrants and Latinos in this country now face. As you know, many Americans, and Latinos find the separation and imprisonment of children and other actions on the border extraordinarily objectionable. A Washington Post headline titled “What separation from parents does to children: The effect is catastrophic” stresses the long term trauma that the separated children will suffer while imprisoned in yours and similar facilities. As of now, hundreds of children have not yet been reunited with their families, and there is no trust as to the end of inhumane family incarcerations that will now be moved to military bases where the families will be rendered invisible. Each day brings more news of bureaucratic mismanagement of people’s lives. Each day, the children are further and further traumatized. Each day, immigrant families are at risk of being further tormented and abused. We urge you to take action and separate yourselves from this administration and shut down all portions of your organization that have any part of the incarceration and imprisonment of immigrants.

The images and audio we’ve all seen and heard in the past few days have been beyond heartbreaking. We are watching our communities, our families, being torn apart in ways many of us never thought we’d see. Thousands of children are being taken from their parents, often unable to find each other, speak to each other, without any guarantee of being reunited. Here in Florida, an emergency shelter in Homestead is now filled beyond capacity with over 12 hundred children. People across the country are demanding a stop to this brutality.

I believe that what is happening to my brother Juan is unjust and unfair. There is nothing wrong with fighting for your dreams and it is not a crime people should be imprisoned for. Juan always seeks a way to surprise us. I remember that he used to always tell me that for him I was his mother, since our mother passed away in February 2004. It is very important for him to be with our family because we make sure that we are taking care of his special needs. In our home country of Guatemala, there's nobody who can take care of him. I know that without his family it will be very difficult for him to be safe and cared for. We are always there for each other. Juan does not have to go through this. I’m sure that he needs me at this moment. I cannot imagine how scared he is right now, and he has no idea of what is happening to him right now. He deserves the right to be with his family and to feel safe again. Please help us keep our family together!

On January 19th, Border Patrol agents boarded a Greyhound bus traveling from Miami to Orlando, demanding proof of citizenship from shocked passengers who argued that they had no reason to carry such documents on a local bus route that wasn’t crossing any borders. An elderly, Black, Jamaican lady was profiled, targeted, removed from the bus, detained, and is now imprisoned in a GEO for-profit immigrant prison, leaving her family wondering where she could be and what had happened to her. Then, less than a week later, it happened again, when a Black man from Trinidad was targeted and dragged away from the bus in handcuffs. This has been a repeated practice on Greyhound buses, while Customs and Border Patrol claims jurisdiction anywhere within 100 miles from a border, covering virtually the entire state of Florida and two-thirds of the U.S. population. The rogue agency can arbitrarily board buses without a judicial warrant, with free reign to target immigrants anywhere in Florida. This discriminatory and invasive practice has been denounced by nearly 20 members of Congress. Unlike twelve other states, Florida restricts access to drivers licenses for immigrants, leaving families few to no options for mobility. Corporations like Greyhound value immigrant dollars, but not immigrant lives. Until Greyhound does more to protect their rights, immigrant passengers are not safe from harassment by law enforcement and civil rights violations. Americans deserve to ride the bus in peace without having to carry a birth certificate or passport to travel. In 2018, it is outrageous that there is an apartheid-like passbook requirement to travel within your own state.

In a 6 month period last year, 4 community members died in Clarke's jail, including a newborn baby and Terrill Thomas, who died of dehydration after guards shut off his water for 8 days. Clarke later threatened the medical examiner in an attempt to obstruct the investigation into Thomas' death. Clarke is being sued by dozens of women who were shackled by his deputies while giving birth. Clarke has wasted hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars in litigation while enriching himself as a mouthpiece for white supremacists. He has referred to the Black Lives Matter movement as "black slime" and "garbage," and compared the movement to ISIS. He has slandered Muslims. He has called for beating up protesters and said he wants to round up 1 million dissenters for Guantanamo. He has threatened violence against elected officials and community members opposed to his policies. Clarke wants to turn Milwaukee County Sheriffs deputies into Immigration agents through the discriminatory 287g program, which Joe Arpaio used in Arizona to racially profile and terrorize immigrant communities. Clarke would use his new position to continue his vicious rhetoric against immigrants, Muslims, and Black people, and to bully sheriffs and chiefs of police into adopting 287g, which is opposed by the vast majority of local law enforcement and elected officials. Secretary Kelly, do not appoint Sheriff Clarke to any position in the federal government!