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8/1/19

NATIONAL ISSUES




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CONTINUED IMMIGRATION ATROCITIES:  As the awareness grows of the Trump administration-made humanitarian crisis, there are many ways we can help.  Suggestions in previous editions of Rogan’s List are still appropriate to work on.

NEW “PERMANENT” CHILD DETENTION CENTERS: Since June 2018, more than 58,000 children have been apprehended by DHS, an increase of 57% from the previous year. The Trump administration is now looking into building a “permanent” child detention centers, and assessing vacant properties in Central Florida, Virginia, and Los Angeles.   https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/immigration/article233310512.html  Let’s tell our MoCs not to allocate any more funds for child detention. We should be working on reuniting children with their families, not permanently detaining them. 

ASYLUM ELIGIBILITY FOR FAMILY MEMBERS: Attorney General William Barr has further threatened people’s safety and reversed years of precedent by limiting asylum claims of family members of people who have been directly threatened. https://time.com/5638421/asylum-relatives-new-limits/ Let’s contact the Department of Justice (202-353-1555; 950 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC, 20530-0001; website form; Facebook; Twitter: @TheJustice Dept.) and give our opinion on this ruling. If we know people who have been personally affected, let’s make sure to tell their stories. Let’s also ask our MoCs to pass legislation that clearly defines asylum eligibility.

IMMIGRATION- RACIAL PROFILING & BUSING: From Act 4 Progress: The ACLU says that for over a year, it has documented U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents boarding Greyhound Buses and targeting passengers, having resulted in "the harassment and racial profiling of people of color and families—regardless of immigration status." SIGN the petition: http://bit.ly/2Zl0wvT, TWEET at their parent company @firstgroupplc, Comment on their Facebook page Greyhound Bus and tell them to STOP fueling Trump's deportation machine.

IMMIGRATION- PRESSURING ICE-SUPPORTED COMPANIES: From 
Sleeping Giants: This spring, Deloitte Chair of the Board Janet Foutty was the commencement speaker at NYU Stern, where she spoke on personal responsibility and accountability. She also serves on Stern's Tech MBA advisory board. We're now able to confirm Ms.Foutty heads a business that has over $100 million contracts with ICE, including work that helps ICE agents separate immigrant families, abuse children and lock up asylum-seekers indefinitely. NYU Stern School of Business is a top-ranked business school with a core mission is to “develop people and ideas that create value for business and society.” They're also home to NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights. Will NYU continue to partner with Deloitte and Ms.Foutty in light of Deloitte’s key role in human rights abuse? Help us find out: Contact: Raghu Sundaram, Dean of NYU Stern School of Business: raghu.sundaram@stern.nyu.edu. We can find a template message here: https://bit.ly/331LL3v

CHILD SEPARATION:  According to numbers filed with a Federal District Court charged with supervising family separations, 911 children were separated from their families or caregivers between June 2018, when the “zero tolerance” policy purportedly ended,  and this June; of these 481 were under 10 and 185 under 5, their separation has averaged 68 days: 
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-children/over-900-children-separated-at-us-border-since-policy-halted-aclu-idUSKCN1UP2KZ  The ACLU claims that the government justifies these separations by “citing minor criminal history, highly dubious allegations of unfitness, and errors in identifying bona fide parent-child relationships.”  Let’s tell our MoCs and AG William Barr that we will not tolerate these separations:  DoJ, 202-353-1555 or 950 Pennsylvania Ave, NW, Washington DC 20530-0001

GREYHOUND AND BORDER PATROL: “The American Civil Liberties Union is calling on transport giant Greyhound to stop allowing Border Patrol agents to board its buses to "racially profile and target" people of color in a bid to identify undocumented immigrants.”  https://www.newsweek.com/aclu-calls-greyhound-stop-letting-border-patrol-buses-1450884  Let’s contact Greyhound and let them know what we think of this travesty: https://mobile.greyhound.com/contactus.html   Let’s also sign this ACLU petition on this issue:  https://action.aclu.org/petition/buses-are-no-place-border-patrol

CUTS TO SCHOOL LUNCH PROGRAM:  Over 500,000 children could lose automatic eligibility for free school lunch thanks to a Trump proposal to cut access to SNAP benefits; Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program would no longer provide benefits to as many as 3.1 million recipients solely because they are enrolled in food assistance programs run by the states where they live, but Agriculture Secretary Sonny Purdue failed to mention the impact on school lunches when he announced this rule change last week: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/07/29/500-000-kids-could-lose-free-school-lunch-trump-plan/1863720001/   We must comment on this rule change by September 23rd:  
https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/fr-072419

CHANGE IN “DISPARATE IMPACT” REGULATIONS IN HOUSING:  The rule change has not yet been posted, but Trump’s Department of Housing and Urban Development wants to  change the “disparate impact” regulations so that the intent to discriminate will have to be proved.  We should learn more about how this change will make racial discrimination not only easier but legal, and comment when it appears in the Federal Register.  For more information:  https://nlihc.org/resource/huds-proposed-changes-disparate-impact-regulations-clear-oira

SENSIBLE GUN LAWS: “California has among the strictest gun laws in the country. The state has universal background checks, waiting periods, and severe limits on the design and functionality of the semiautomatic rifles it allows residents to own. Late last year, lawmakers raised the minimum age for purchasing a rifle to 21. But nearby states like Nevada and Arizona have no such laws. As a result, these border states have become hotspots for gun traffickers and criminals eager to bring weapons into California.” 
https://www.thetrace.org/2019/07/gilroy-garlic-festival-california-nevada/.  Let’s ask our MOCs to produce a national residency bill on gun sales. If the guns a person wants to buy or their age restricts them from purchase in their resident state, then no other state can sell those items to that person. 

SEESAWS BRIDGE THE WALL: “A set of fluorescent pink seesaws has been built across the US-Mexico border by a pair of professors seeking to bring a playful concept of unity to the two sides of the divide.”  https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jul/30/pink-seesaws-reach-across-divide-us-mexico-border  Let’s thank Ronald Rael, a professor of architecture at the University of California, Berkeley (https://ced.berkeley.edu/ced/faculty-staff/ronald-rael), and Virginia San Fratello, an associate professor of design at San José State University (http://www.sjsu.edu/design/design_programs/interior_design_program/intd_faculty/virginia_san_fratello/) for their creative way of showing us all that walls can be breached in the name of friendship.

KEEP CALLING RESISTANT REPUBLICAN REPRESENTATIVES: Those of us in Red districts with Republican Representatives may wonder what good our calls and protests do when our Reps do not listen to our concerns, duck townhalls, and avoid accountability at every turn. The good news is that they can have a much stronger effect than we dreamed, driving these resistant Republicans out of office completely. As one of the several Republicans fleeing Congress this week says:  “Every day there is some indefensible tweet or comment to defend or explain. It is exhausting and often embarrassing.” We can read more about the rash of Republicans deciding not to run for re-election here, then take heart to call, visit, tweet at and protest against our most recalcitrant representatives, knowing that no matter how hard they try to ignore us, our voices are being heard:  https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-republican-congressman-retires-mike-conaway-2020-election-gop-a9029126.html

CONGRESSIONAL RECESS:  The House is already on break and the Senate will follow at the end of this week.  They will return following Labor Day.  While they are in their home districts, let’s reach out to them to see how we can best meet up with them:  in person, at a townhall, etc.  Let’s be creative!

ADOPTEE CITIZENSHIP ACT: ““Due to a loophole in the Child Citizenship Act, thousands of internationally-adopted children, who were raised by American parents, have been denied the same rights of citizenship as biological children,” Sen. Hirono said. “These adoptees were raised as Americans in American families and would have received the stability and security that the Child Citizenship Act provided if they had been under the age of 18 when that law went into effect. The Adoptee Citizenship Act would fix this loophole and right this wrong.””    https://bigislandnow.com/2019/05/30/senators-introduce-adoptee-citizenship-act/  This bill, The Adoptee Citizenship Act (H.R. 2731) has been referred to the Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship.  Let’s reach out to those committee members (https://judiciary.house.gov/subcommittees/immigration-and-border-security-116th-congress) and help them understand how important this is so how essential this is to so many now-adults who were brought here as children and through no fault of their own do not have the necessary paperwork to have the rights and privileges of a U.S. citizen. Let’s also let our own reps know that we want them to co-sponsor and support this bill. 

ELECTION/VOTING

2020 ELECTION ACTION—If we’re going to win in 2020, we have to get to work now. Swing Left is holding a Weekend of Action August 3-4. On the agenda: registering voters and gearing up to win in 2020, up and down the ballot. Let’s sign up and get involved: https://swingleft.org/take-action

STATE SPECIFIC ISSUES

STATES (MANY): MEDICAID EXPANSION: A study by economists has just been published at the National Bureau of Economic Research which finds that states that adopted the Medicaid expansion experienced a lower mortality rate than states which did not (https://www.nber.org/papers/w26081). Based off of their data, it is estimated that had all the states in the U.S. opted for Medicaid expansion, over 15,000 deaths could have been prevented (https://bit.ly/2SxWOfNhttps://lat.ms/2OepR9G). With Medicaid expansion, the federal government covers 90% of the costs, with states picking up the remainder. Let's see where our state stands, and if Medicaid expansion has not been passed, let's urge our state legislators and governor to pass it ASAP: https://www.kff.org/medicaid/issue-brief/status-of-state-medicaid-expansion-decisions-interactive-map/

CA: ATTEND INLAND EMPIRE RESISTANCE TRAINING:  This Saturday, August 3rd, a coalition of activist groups, including Mi Familia Vota, Swing Left, NOW, and Field Team 6 have teamed up to present a day of inspiration, training, and action at the Caesar Chavez Center in Riverside. We can attend a supercharged rally and get hands-on how-tos in crucial skills that will help flip seats nationwide this year and build the 2020 blue wave (canvassing, phone & text banking, voter registration...) then meet and sign up with local flipping-focused orgs.
Sign up and more details are here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/resistance-boot-camp-volunteer-fair-inland-empire-tickets-62357094749  We can also sign up to volunteer to help out at the event if we like here:  https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60b0a4fadab2ca1ff2-volunteer3

RALLIES/GATHERINGS/TRAININGS

WEBINAR W/ACTIVISTS FROM PUERTO RICO: Today at 6:00pm ET, The Majority, an intersectional coalition of organizations, will be hosting a webinar with Puerto Rican activists. Voices From Puerto Rico will look at the history, future, and lessons from current struggles. Let's sign up and attend: 

NATIONAL NETWORK ASSEMBLY:  The first National Network Assembly, made up of hundreds of local grassroots leaders and organizers from around the country is happening in Des Moines, IA, August 22 to 25.   https://mailchi.mp/thedemlabs/nationalnetworkassembly There will be workshops, sessions, and meetings in which participants will strategize, plan, and learn skills to take home to their groups.  The 2019 National Network Assembly will strengthen the connective tissue between grassroots groups by bridging multiple networks and organizations that represent over 1,000 leaders across all 50 states.  We can find more information, register to attend, and donate to the scholarship fund here: https://www.nationalnetworkassembly.org/ We can use this document to invite others to attend:   https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oKWdGLESqQYFVIa3JXQrtsXO9zrZv7ihCdGfnmSZ0-M/edit

READING/WATCHING

Have We No Decency? A Response to President Trump - https://cathedral.org/have-we-no-decency-a-response-to-president-trump.html

Russian election-hacking probe proved that it’s way past time to free Reality Winner - https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/reality-winner-whistleblower-exposed-russian-election-hacking-20190730.html

Photo Of Mother Pleading With Mexican Soldier Draws Attention To Migrant Patrol - https://www.npr.org/2019/07/24/744934308/photo-of-mother-pleading-with-mexican-soldier-draws-attention-to-migrant-patrol
George Wallace’s daughter: ‘I’ve never seen anything like it’ - https://www.al.com/news/2019/07/george-wallaces-daughter-ive-never-seen-anything-like-it.html


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We can stay up to date on Congress by checking out their schedules. a) The House publishes a weekly schedule at The Weekly Leader (published and dated Friday) as well as daily schedules at The Daily Leader. b) The Senate updates their schedule daily at the Senate Floor Schedule



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