Choosing Democracy: antiracismdsa: Defend DACA, TPS, the Immigrant Community

Choosing Democracy: antiracismdsa: Defend DACA, TPS, the Immigrant Community

Defend DACA, TPS, the Immigrant Community

By Greisa Martinez Rosas, Javier H. Valdes, and Marisa Franco

The first two weeks of Joe Biden’s presidency brought relief to millions of people across the country, including those who fight for immigrant justice. So far, we have seen several immigration actions by the Biden administration—including the restoration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), the end of the Muslim Ban, the creation of task force to reunite children with their families, the announcement of a moratorium on deportations, and the introduction of legislation to provide a path to citizenship for millions of undocumented people.

In short, President Biden has started the long process of undoing the damage wrought by the Trump administration and is turning federal immigration policies in a new direction.

President Biden deserves credit for honoring key Day One commitments to our communities. But reversing Trumpism can only be the first step. We don’t want to return to “normal.” We need to build toward a more just future.

We need a presidential administration that is prepared to dismantle cruel and inhumane detention and deportation policies and detention centers and reunite families who have been separated.

The Biden administration needs to keep taking action to dismantle the enforcement system, fundamentally reform the government agencies CONTINUE READING: Choosing Democracy: antiracismdsa: Defend DACA, TPS, the Immigrant Community

Actions Last Week Extend the Student Loan Debt Cliff and Protect DACA | janresseger

Actions Last Week Extend the Student Loan Debt Cliff and Protect DACA | janresseger

Actions Last Week Extend the Student Loan Debt Cliff and Protect DACA

There is a lot to worry about right now—an unhinged President who has given up governing, a divided Congress, a raging pandemic, and, so far at least, Congressional failure to pass an economic relief bill as the COVID-19 recession intensifies.

Two developments last week should, however, be seen as hopeful. Both will protect vulnerable young people through the Presidential transition and into the Biden administration, when it is expected that policies will be revised.

Student Loan Debt Cliff Extended until January 31st to Protect 41 Million Borrowers

Last Friday, Betsy DeVos extended a COVID-19 moratorium on the collection of student loan payments, a moratorium that had been expected to expire on New Years Eve. The moratorium on student loan payments began with the CARES Act and last summer had been extended by President Trump’s executive order until December 31.

Politico‘s Michael Stratford reports: “The Trump administration on Friday granted an extra month of student loan relief to the 41 million Americans who have been benefiting from a freeze on monthly payments and interest that was set to expire at the end of the year. The relief was set to expire on Dec. 31, but will now end on January 31. The last-minute extension averts what could have been a potentially chaotic resumption of payments just weeks before President-elect Joe Biden takes office…  Roughly 33 million of those borrowers have had their payments paused, and the Education Department has stopped seeking to collect from the 8 million other borrowers who were in default.”

Back in November, Stratford warned about the chaos that would happen in January if the CONTINUE READING: Actions Last Week Extend the Student Loan Debt Cliff and Protect DACA | janresseger

antiracismdsa: Defend DACA And All Undocumented #DEFENDDACA

antiracismdsa: Defend DACA And All Undocumented

Defend DACA And All Undocumented

Editor’s Note: On Monday morning, Latino Rebels received the following open letter for publication. It has since been published on Medium by the organizers who drafted the letter and gathered signatures.

On the eighth anniversary of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, also known as DACA, we’re releasing this open letter to the immigrant rights movement with a clear demand: not a single person or organization should use the rescission of DACA to seek compromises that further fund any immigration enforcement in exchange for relief for some of us. Do not sell out immigrant communities.

We are a group of DACA recipients, undocumented or formerly undocumented allies with more than ten years of experience and knowledge rooted in organizing and community work. Our politics have expanded and shifted beyond our own lived experiences.

The immigrant rights movement must also commit to fighting for justice for all communities of color, including Black communities—who are disproportionately impacted by deportations. We believe that this is the right moment to echo the Black Lives Movement’s demand to defund the police and be clear that we must also abolish ICE.

Contrary to popular belief, President Obama didn’t announce DACA out of the goodness of his heart. Undocumented immigrant youth and our CONTINUE READING: antiracismdsa: Defend DACA And All Undocumented

As pandemic tests public schools, Betsy DeVos pushes school choice - The Washington Post

As pandemic tests public schools, Betsy DeVos pushes school choice - The Washington Post

As pandemic tests public schools, Betsy DeVos pushes school choice

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has long believed that the federal government should have little to do with education.

This spring, with schools facing their most significant crisis in decades, DeVos has stuck to that core conviction. She hasn’t weighed in on how schools might teach remotely. She’s said little about what they should consider when reopening, beyond the need to consult health authorities.

And through it all, she has pressed her central agenda: that students and families should have choices beyond their traditional public schools, and that tax dollars should follow those choices. She calls it “education freedom.”

The coronavirus, she has said, offers a “silver lining,” showing Americans that traditional schooling is not the only way. “This really is a moment for transformation,” she told conservative talk show host Glenn Beck in April.

“Education freedom” is also part of the solution to issues raised by the death of George Floyd at the hands of police, President Trump and DeVos said last week. Trump — at the urging of his education secretary, according to a DeVos aide — called on Congress to pass a school choice program, citing it as an example of how he is “leading efforts to revitalize America’s underserved communities.”

“School choice is a big deal because access to education is the civil rights issue of our time,” he said in Dallas.

Teachers unions and many Democrats oppose school choice plans because they divert money from public schools to private and religious schools, some of which discriminate on the basis of religion or sexual orientation.

DeVos, though, was thrilled with Trump’s shout-out to her $5 billion tax credit proposal, which would CONTINUE READING: As pandemic tests public schools, Betsy DeVos pushes school choice - The Washington Post

‘This is cruel’: Betsy DeVos bars certain students, including DACA recipients, from COVID-19 relief funds – Raw Story

‘This is cruel’: Betsy DeVos bars certain students, including DACA recipients, from COVID-19 relief funds – Raw Story
‘This is cruel’: Betsy DeVos bars certain students, including DACA recipients, from COVID-19 relief funds

“These extreme eligibility requirements will not only harm students, but they are also contrary to congressional intent,” said Sen. Patty Murray.

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos sparked outrage Thursday by doubling down on an April guidance that bars U.S. higher education institutions from giving any federal coronavirus relief funds to foreign, undocumented, and certain other students.

“As students across the country are struggling to make ends meet in the face of unprecedented financial challenges, Secretary DeVos’ efforts to deny some much-needed aid is cruel.”
—Sen. Patty Murray

“Secretary Betsy DeVos’ rule makes clear that even though Covid-19 doesn’t discriminate, this administration does,” declared Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the nation’s second-largest educators union.

“Our country is facing three major crises—a public health crisis, an economic crisis, and a racial justice crisis—all of which exacerbate the inequalities in our communities and require more help from our federal government, not less,” she said. “Yet in our moment of greatest need, this administration doubles down on its bigoted, anti-immigrant stance, and DeVos does the dirty work by cutting off any aid that could help our undocumented students.”

The announcement came after Eloy Ortiz Oakley, chancellor of California Community Colleges, and Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson brought legal challenges against the April guidance in May—the same month the Department of Education claimed (pdf) the guidance was “preliminary” and would not be enforced.

However, the new interim final rule (pdf)—which reiterates the guidance’s eligibility requirements—will carry the force of CONTINUE READING: ‘This is cruel’: Betsy DeVos bars certain students, including DACA recipients, from COVID-19 relief funds – Raw Story