Advocacy Update
February 2006

LIRS Sets Challenging Priorities for 2006
By Bernadette Passade Cissé, LIRS Vice President for Policy and Advocacy

On the night of January 5 I was with several LIRS board members and partners on a tour of the U.S.-Mexico border. We were in Tijuana, Mexico, and had parked our van near the border fence when I saw an image that seemed to capture what I felt during the trip. From a hole in the ground near the fence, a shovel regularly appeared, depositing dirt onto piles on either side. The piles blocked our view of whoever might be in the hole. I wasn’t sure of exactly what I was witnessing, but I thought immediately that the fence is not the immigration reform we need. I also wondered what economic, social or political forces compelled someone to be digging a hole at the fence, and the stories of the various migrants and refugees whom I know came to mind. Their various stories have one common theme: migrants and refugees resort to extreme measures to live in dignity with their families.

LIRS’s advocacy priorities in 2006 all relate to ensuring that people have a safe and legal way to flee human rights violations and lack of opportunity to take care of their families:

• increasing levels of appropriations and resettlement to address the needs of refugees and migrants—including victims of trafficking, survivors of torture and those in detention—and the communities in which they will integrate;
• protecting and preserving the right to asylum;
• protecting refugee and migrant children; and
• promoting just and comprehensive immigration reform.

I am excited to be working with LIRS Director for Policy Matt Wilch, Director for Refugee Policy Florentina Chiu, Director for Legislative Affairs Milton Roney, Policy Advocate Emily Butera, Legislative Assistant Sara Speckhard, Policy Assistant Scott Lewis, and Administrative Assistant for Policy and Advocacy Melanie Gibbons in pursuing these priorities for 2006.

Like 2005, this will be a year of advocacy challenges and opportunities. For example, in 2005 there were welcome funding increases for migrant children, alternatives to detention and legal orientation programs, as well as money allocated to newly resettled refugees for fiscal year 2006. But in spite of these funding increases and other advocacy successes (see the December 2005 Advocacy Update), LIRS’s Policy and Advocacy Department will need to continue to work with service, advocacy and church partners on recent developments that threaten the pursuit of several of our priorities. We will be asking for your help in achieving the following in the coming year:

• reversing the impact of the REAL ID Act of 2005 on asylum seekers and refugees;
• promoting comprehensive immigration reform that unites families, protects human rights and provides a path to legal permanent residence for certain migrants; and
• ensuring that we and our government commit adequate resources and craft pragmatic responses to meet our legal and moral obligations to migrants and refugees.

Thank you for your continued partnership with LIRS as we seek to create fair policies and welcoming communities!

Read past Advocacy/Washington Updates.