June 2 Updates

Written By Emily Wheeler

National

  • The Supreme Court has allowed the CHNV parole program to end. This will affect more than half a million people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela who entered legally with parole. We are waiting to see what will happen to the Humanitarian Parole programs available to people from other countries (like Ukraine, Afghanistan, etc).

    • See more from Politico here.

    • See an explainer from WelcomeUS for anyone with Humanitarian Parole (TPS) here.

  • TPS for Afghans was terminated by DHS on May 13th.

  • For the past two weeks, we have been seeing a very concerning trend of people being arrested in immigration court after ICE lawyers ask judges to dismiss cases. 

    • There were two nation-wide calls last week hosted by NLG/NIP talking about what we have been seeing and trying to identify any trends.

      • The majority of people being arrested are those who qualify for Expedited Removal (been here under 2 yrs). 

      • See the National Immigration Forum’s Expedited Removal Expansion Fact Sheet here.

    • The Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC) condemns courthouse arrests - read more here.

    • In NYC, allies in the courthouse as well as protestors outside were arrested last week. Read more here.

    • DocumentedNY has an article going over some concerning trends they are seeing in NYC here.

    • Read more about some of the earlier arrests, specifically those in Southern CA, and what they tell us here

    • The Chicago Sun Times published an article on May 22 about activity in Chicago’s immigration court here.

  • Trump Admin plans to deploy hundreds more CBP officers to the interior to carry out immigration enforcement alongside ICE. Read more from CBS News here.

  • Budget Reconciliation Bill passed the house narrowly, and is now in the Senate. 

    • See explainer detailing effects on immigration here.

    • If you have any family or friends who live in other states, please urge them to call their senators and tell them to vote NO on this bill.

Illinois

  • Find your state legislators here (this is an interactive map – you can select any district on the map and see who the state senator and state rep are for that place).

  • HBIA Call to Action:

    • We have been fighting to maintain the HBIA program, or at least part of the HBIA program, to ensure some coverage for current recipients. The federal context is definitely impacting how state legislators are seeing this and responding, so we are pushing against pre compliance and capitulation strategy. It is important to note that federal changes won't go into effect for a few years, so we need to find ways to continue covering folks. It is especially important that legislators know how important these programs are especially for individuals who have no other options.

-Enddy Almonord, Campaign Director, Healthy Illinois

  • Specific state legislators who need to be targeted at this time:

    • Governor’s Office and Staff

    • Sen. Aquino (Humboldt Park, Hermosa, Belmont Cragin)

    • Rep. Avelar (Bolingbrook, Romeoville, Lockport, Fairmont)

    • Rep. Buckner (Gold Coast down to Bronzeville, parts of Hyde Park, Woodlawn, and down to 87th)

    • Sen. Castro (Elgin, Hanover Park, Hoffman Estates, Carpentersville)

    • Rep. Delgado (Belmont Cragin, Hermosa, Wicker Park)

    • Rep. Gabel (Northern Roger’s Park up to Winnetka)

    • Rep. Guzzardi (Logan Square area)

    • Sen. Harmon (Oak Park, Melrose Park, Franklin Park, O’Hare)

    • Sen. Lightford (Oak Park to Oak Brook, Melrose Park to Hodgkins)

    • Rep. Lisa Hernandez (Cicero, Lyons, Stickney, Brookfield)

    • Sen. Hunter (South Loop, Canaryville, Fuller Park, BotY, Englewood)

    • Sen. Sims (from South Shore/Auburn Gresham all the way down to Kankakee)

    • Sen. Villanueva (Chinatown, Pilsen, Bridgeport, Brighton Park, Little Village)
      Rep. Welch (Forest Park, Bellwood, Broadview, Oak Brook)

    • Rep. Ann Williams (parts of Lincoln Park, Lakeview, Buena Park, Ravenswood Manor)

  • Good news - HB 2436 (the bill to expand the jurisdiction of the Cook County Public Defender Immigration Unit so they can represent county residents regardless of where they're detained) passed out of committee in the State Senate last week. It now moves on to a final vote on the floor - (hopefully) the last step before it's signed into law! Call your legislators!

    • This bill is cost neutral

    • State Senate target list:

      • Belt, Christopher

      • Faraci, PaulGlowiak 

      • Hilton, Suzy

      • Jones, Emil

      • Joyce, Patrick

      • Koelher, David

      • Loughran Cappel, Meg

      • Sims, Elgie

      • Stadelman, Steve

      • Turner, Doris

      • Villivalam, Ram

  • Exciting news: Safe Schools for All, HB 3247, just passed the IL General Assembly and is one step closer to becoming law in Illinois.

    • Thank you to everyone who pitched in to make this happen!

Emily Wheeler
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June 9 Updates
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May 19 Updates