On Friday, July 27, the Guardian reported that the Trump administration is planning to rescind work permits for spouses of individuals on H-1b visas. These are the visas issued to our international colleagues; if carried out, this action by the administration will damage them and their families. Immigration policy and policing affect many of our students as well as other workers who are employed at the University while on temporary visas.
When our colleagues and our students are hurt in this manner, it affects us all; and we must stand up alongside them in fighting unnecessary policies, rooted in racist nationalism.
Activism in support of migrants who are in the country, many of whom are seeking asylum as protected by U. S. and international law, has been growing and is proving to be effective. By supporting this activism, we are supporting reasonable immigration policies. Among other benefits, these policies will allow the University to attract and retain scholars and their families who will be able to live, study, and be productive in this country without threats to their work or residency status.
The repercussions of the “zero tolerance” border policies of the Trump administration, which resulted in the separation of children from their parents, may take years to sort out, and the damage done to those targeted by it may be irreparable. If it were not for the outrage expressed throughout the U.S. against it, what would it say about our country? What would it say about us?
Last week, after mounting pressure from local activist groups, Mayor Kenney declared that he will not renew the City’s Preliminary Arraignment Reporting System (PARS) contract with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) which allowed real-time sharing of arrest data between the Philadelphia Police and ICE.
This data was able to be used to arrest victims of crime who lacked legal status in the country, and advocacy groups report that it made migrants more vulnerable to manipulation and abuse as they were hesitant to report crimes that were aimed at them. PBS has reported last week that thousands have reported sexual abuse while in ICE custody as well, a crime that is notoriously under-reported.
The activist groups that were able to sway Mayor Kenney are now moving toward their second of three goals: closing the Berks County Residential Center. Berks is a low-security detention center where families are sent to for an indeterminate amount of time while they await asylum hearings. Families end up at Berks after being randomly selected. Some who cross the border are released after posting bond money or wearing ankle monitors. Others are sent to Berks for detention. Many, including Philadelphia’s City Council, are calling on Governor Wolf to close of the facility so that the detainees can be released until their petitions for asylum are heard. (For more information click here.)
The third goal of the activist groups is to abolish ICE. This is more complicated, as ICE performs many important functions. But immigration oversight existed far before ICE came to be. ICE is an entity that resulted from the restructuring of the Department of Homeland Security after 9/11 when “Congress granted ICE a unique combination of civil and criminal authorities to better protect national security and public safety”. Given the xenophobia in the U.S. at this moment, such authorities are too easily abused and must be reconsidered.
A member of the coalition of activists approached TAUP for support of their upcoming action, the March for a Sanctuary City on August 4th. The Executive Committee voted in support, and we hope you will join us in pushing Governor Wolf to shut down the Berks County Residential Center and for the abolition of ICE, whose functions can be restructured in a manner that does not invite the unnecessary over-policing and abuse of migrants seeking asylum in this country.
Please join us:
March for a Sanctuary City, August 4th, 11am-2pm, beginning at Philadelphia’s Liberty Bell, 6th and Market Streets