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7/18/19 

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.  Past Rogan’s List suggestions are still appropriate to work on:  http://roganslist.blogspot.com/2019/06/62519-nationalissues-deplorable.html 
Here are more:

ADVOCATES FOR IMMIGRANT CHILD FACING DEPORTATION NEEDED:  If we live in or near Chicago, Houston, San Antonio, Harlingen, Phoenix, Los Angeles, New York, or Washington, D.C, we can help immigrant children separated from their parents by Trump’s cruel policies by volunteering as a child advocate, spending time with and advocating on behalf of an individual unaccompanied immigrant child while he or she is subject to deportation proceedings. Volunteers must be at least 21 and are welcome from all cultures, professions, races, ethnicities and social backgrounds. There is a particular need for bilingual volunteers who speak Spanish. Chicago needs volunteers who speak Mandarin, Hindi, Punjabi, Gujarati, Bengali, Romanian and other languages. 
When we click here, we will learn more about the Child Advocate duties, training and support offered and how to apply:  https://www.theyoungcenter.org/volunteer-at-the-young-center  We can also find out more about The Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights and other ways we can help when we click this link:  https://www.theyoungcenter.org/

DEPORTATION AND THE MILITARY: Many legal immigrants “joined the military through a special Defense Department program promising an expedited path to citizenship”, however, recently they have been “abruptly discharged with little or no explanation.   https://www.npr.org/2018/07/09/626773440/u-s-army-is-discharging-immigrant-recruits-who-were-promised-citizenship  At the same time, some immigrant military members fear that after they are deployed, their family members will be deported despite “a program designed to prevent the deportation of undocumented residents whose husbands, wives, sons or daughters are fighting overseas for the United States.”  https://www.npr.org/2019/07/12/739841785/facing-deployment-while-fearing-that-family-members-will-be-deported  Let’s tell our MoCs that these brave men and women deserve to have promises kept.

PRESSURE DELOITTE, PRICEWATERHOUSE COOPERS, AND BOOZ HAMILTON TO STOP DOING BUSINESS WITH ICE: According to recent New York Times articles, McKinsey Consulting has recently ended its contracts with ICE https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/09/business/mckinsey-ends-ice-contract.html, but two of the “Big Four” accounting firms, Deloitte and PWC, along with Booz Allen Hamilton, still have a consulting contracts.https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/12/business/deloitte-ice-contract-uproar.html?  If we have relationships with any of these companies, it’s time to put pressure on them to follow McKinsey’s lead and stop doing business with ICE. We can contact them directly, or on Facebook or Twitter. If we are affiliated with any universities, we should check to see if these companies recruit our students and urge our colleagues to add to the pressure. Deloitte: 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY, 10112-0015, United States, Phone: 212-492-4000, contact form, Facebook, Twitter: @Deloitte; PWC: Colonial Brookwood Center 569 Brookwood Village Suite 851 Birmingham, Alabama 35209 United States 205-414-4000, contact form, Facebook, Twitter @PWC; Booz Allen Hamilton Contact form, Facebook, Twitter: @BoozAllen

JOIN/SUPPORT ICE BLOCKADES: One thousand Jewish and immigrant activists participated in an action in Washington DC on Tuesday that shut down ICE for five hours. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/immigrant-rights-activists-surround-ice-headquarters-demand-agency-s-closure-n1030456. The march was organized by Movimiento Cosecha, an immigrant rights group, and Never Again, a Jewish activist group determined to do everything possible not to repeat the Holocaust. If we want to find out more information and possibly join or financially support these groups, we should check out Movimiento Cosecha and Never Again Action

GOVERNMENT REFUSES TO DELIVER LETTERS OF SUPPORT TO MIGRANT CHILDREN: Hundreds of children in the U.S. have written letters to the migrant children in Homestead, but the government refuses to deliver them. https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/Young-Messages-of-Hope-to-Migrant-Children--512121202.html. Let’s ask our MoCs to intervene. Perhaps if they are planning a trip to see the conditions, they can personally hand some of the children the letters. 

HOTELS AS ICE DETENTION CENTERS:  The latest sweep of ICE raids starting Sunday will arrest families and hold them in detention centers—but if the government runs out of space, some might be held in hotels. 
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/11/us/politics/ice-families-deport.html Marriot has announced that they will not allow their hotels to be used by the US government to detain people. https://www.mymcmedia.org/protesters-object-to-hotel-chains-assisting-ice-raids/ Let’s contact these hotel chains (h/t Southern Poverty Law Center) and tell them to follow Marriot’s lead and refuse to be accomplices in Trump’s round-up and concentration of arrested people:  1) Best Western: David Kong, President & CEO, Best Western International, P.O. Box 42007, Phoenix, AZ 85080, 800-780-7234, 2) Choice Motels: Stewart W. Bainum, Jr., Chairman of the Board, and Patrick Pacious, President & CEO, 1 Choice Hotels Cir., Ste. 400, Rockville, MD 20850, 301-294-2200, 3) Drury Hotels: Chuck Drury, President, Drury Hotels Company LLC, 721 Emerson Rd, Ste 400, Saint Louis, MO 63141, 800-378-7946, 4) Red Roof: Andrew Alexander, President, Red Roof Inns, 605 S Front St, Columbus, OH 43215, 800-733-7663, 5) Wyndham: Stephen P. Holmes, Chairman of the Board, and Michael D. Brown, President & CEO, Wyndham Destinations, Inc., 6277 Sea Harbor Drive, Orlando, FL 32821, 407-626-5200.  Bonus points for thanking Marriot: J. Willard Marriott, Jr., Chairman of the Board, and Arne M. Sorenson, President & CEO, Marriot International, Inc., 10400 Fernwood Rd, Bethesda, MD 20817-1102, 800-721-7033

CORRECTION:   DRIVERS’ LICENSE CAMPAIGNS AND DRIVERS’ LICENSE FACIAL RECOGNITION: One of the ways ICE has been able to target undocumented residents is through facial recognition software on drivers’ license records. The state of Oregon recently forbid the FBI and ICE from accessing these records.
https://www.oregonlive.com/commuting/2019/07/fbi-and-ice-wont-have-access-to-oregon-drivers-records-for-facial-recognition-sweeps-oregon-lawmaker-says.htmlOther states prohibit undocumented immigrants from obtaining drivers’ licenses, which puts people in peril from being arrested for driving without a license when they are simply trying to go to work, and also makes the roads less safe for all of us. If our state allows undocumented residents to legally drive, let’s ask our state legislators to follow Oregon’s lead in preventing ICE from accessing driver records. If our state doesn’t allow drivers’ licenses, let’s contact our state legislators and ask them to introduce a law that would allow undocumented residents to obtain drivers’ licenses and would also prevent ICE from accessing driver records. 

IMPEACHMENT: Nothing gets better or easier with Trump as a new and challenging story emerges each and every day: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jul/17/trump-jeffrey-epstein-party-footage-surfaces Let’s keep up the drumbeat with our MoC. If THIS president should not be impeached, what is impeachment for? Let’s also reach out to three passive allies in our circles and ask them to contact their MoC too – and let’s provide the phone number.

CALL OUT REPUBLICANS FOR SUPPORTING RACISM: Only four Republicans, Will Hurd (R-TX); Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Fred Upton (R-MI) and Susan Brooks(R-IN), along with Justin Amash (I-MI), who recently left the Republican party, voted to condemn Trump’s racist comments. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/07/17/four-gop-house-members-voted-condemn-trump-racist-tweets/1753365001/. Let’s thank these reps if they, and also call out our own Republican reps for turning a blind eye to racism. Let’s ask them straight out if they would have voted the same way if Hillary Clinton or Obama had made these remarks. 

IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY: Some members of the House are not yet ready to impeach Trump, but are considering opening an inquiry into impeachment (https://n.pr/2KxHm27https://nyti.ms/2XlZvTo). A House resolution (H.Res.257) has already been introduced, which would instruct the Judiciary Committee to begin the impeachment inquiry. Let's urge our representatives to cosponsor the resolution and hold Trump accountable. Indivisible has resources we can use to get H.Res.257 passed, as well as a toolkit to help us prepare for the August recess, when we can pressure our representatives in person: https://indivisible.org/resource/impeachment-inquiry-event-toolkit 

WORKERS' RIGHTS: Amazon employees in the U.S., U.K., Spain, Poland, and Germany, have been striking over the past two days, protesting unsafe working conditions and low pay, with the general public also boycotting the corporation over its cooperation with ICE and the Department of Homeland Security, as well as its threat to local small businesses (https://bit.ly/2NWTOuX). We can help support these workers by not crossing the virtual picket line, and making sure that we are not shopping at Amazon and Amazon-owned companies. Instead, we can check out this resource, which lists alternatives for purchasing and subscriptions, whether its for shopping, watching TV, listening to music, wanting the convenience of free shipping, or just looking to "buy less stuff": https://threshold.us/c/cancelprime/amazon-alternatives

SWEATSHOP LOBBYIST AS ACTING LABOR SECRETARY:  However pleased we may be at the departure of Alex Acosta, his replacement for acting Labor secretary, Patrick Pizzella, is not much better.  https://www.politico.com/story/2019/07/12/trumps-acting-labor-secretary-pick-feared-by-unions-1589621  Let’s let our MoCs and the White House know what we think of this. 

RELOCATING FEDERAL AGENCIES:  Let's not lose sight of the depletion of federal resources, safeguards, and agencies; in their continuing effort to hollow out not only the federal protections on which we depend but the responsible federal agencies themselves, the Departments of Agriculture and Land Management as well as the EPA have all relocated their employees (and lost many of them, as they’d no doubt hoped). “Two vital research agencies at the U.S. Department of Agriculture are hemorrhaging staff as less than two-thirds of the researchers asked to relocate from Washington to the Kansas City area have agreed to do so”; some call it a "blatant attack on science":  https://www.npr.org/2019/07/17/742519999/future-of-key-farming-research-uncertain-as-2-3-of-usda-staff-say-they-wont-move ; “The reorganization [of the BLM]  . .  . is aimed at putting more agency officials closer to the lands they manage out West, though critics have questioned moving tenured policy officials far from the nation's capital”: https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/453321-bureau-of-land-management-to-move-headquarters-from-dc-to-colorado
And the EPA has “moved employees around several of its offices outside of D.C.”  We should express our alarm to our MoCs at the systematic undermining of scientists and policy experts and their relocation as far as possible from Congressional oversight.

TRAINING FOR COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTORS, CANDIDATES AND CAMPAIGN STAFF:  The Arena offers trainings for candidates and campaign staff in various locations, with separate tracks for directors, finance directors, communications staffers, digital directors, data directors, and organizers. If we are interested in training for Communications Directors or want an introduction to messaging for our political or advocacy work, we can check out The Arena Academy’s online introductory lesson on how to craft a compelling message. This sample of what they would cover in one of their upcoming workshops it is also some good information for someone interested in learning a little more about crafting messages.  https://arena.run/blog/campaign-communications-101
We can also find out more about the Arena Academies trainings for Candidates and Campaign Staff, including their upcoming workshop in Houston when we click this link:  https://arena.run/academy

BEES AT RISK:  ““The Trump EPA’s reckless approval of this bee-killing pesticide across 200 million U.S. acres of crops like strawberries and watermelon without any public process is a terrible blow to imperiled pollinators,” Lori Ann Burd, the director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s environmental health program, said following EPA’s announcement. “With no opportunity for independent oversight or review, this autocratic administration’s appalling decision to bow to industry and grant broad approval for this highly toxic insecticide leaves us with no choice but to take legal action.””  https://www.rollcall.com/news/congress/epa-approves-use-of-bee-killing-pesticide  We all know that the bee population needs protecting.  Once again industry wins out over environmental concerns.  Let’s tell our MoCs that we want them to find a way to protect our bees.

SELF-CARE:  This has been an especially rough stretch in a 2 ½ year rough stretch. Let’s check-in with ourselves. Do we need a break? More support? A change in self-care routine?

ELECTION/VOTING

GET-OUT-THE-BLUE-VOTE COLLEGE FELLOWSHIP—The deadline to apply for Swing Left’s “3-month, highly interactive remote training & organizing program” for college students is July 26, 2019. Students come away with the tools and knowledge they’ll need to organize their campuses and communities to get out the vote in 2020. If we’re college students, let’s apply. If we have connections to college students, let’s tell them about this opportunity: 

VOTER SUPPRESSION: Spread the Vote, an outstanding organization that helps poor people get the IDs they need to vote, has voter education, voter information, and Section 208 Americans With Disabilities Act information cards available online. Let’s fight voter suppression by going to:  https://www.spreadthevote.org/resources , printing them out, and distributing them in our communities.

AUGUST ELECTIONS:  For a listing of state and federal elections in August, we can check here:  https://politicalcharge.org/2019/07/17/elections-in-august-2019/

STATE SPECIFIC ISSUES

MOST: WORKERS' RIGHTS- RACIAL DISCRIMINATION: One of the ways that racism is exhibited in the U.S. is through workplace and school grooming policies which prohibit natural hairstyles (https://bit.ly/32m2ezi).  New York and California have both recently passed the CROWN Act (Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural hair) to ban natural hair discrimination, and New Jersey has introduced legislation (A5564/S3945) in both chambers to prohibit discrimination based on hair. Let's contact our state legislators and tell them that we want to see the CROWN Act passed in our own state. We can learn more about these bills and the CROWN Coalition, which includes Color of Change, the National Urban League, Western Center on Law and Poverty, and Dove, at their official website here.  

ME: GRANTS FOR COMMUNITY-BASED RACIAL JUSTICE ORGANIZATIONS:  Maine Initiatives is looking for people to read grant proposals submitted by community-based organizations advancing racial justice. This year, Maine Initiatives is prioritizing grants to Native American/Wabanaki and African American/Black American organizations.  https://www.facebook.com/suitupmaine/posts/2387017741384062 Application deadline is July 26. Let’s read about the process and apply:   http://maineinitiatives.org/grants/grants-for-change/participatory-grantmaking/

RALLIES/GATHERINGS/TRAININGS

SIGN UP FOR CANDIDATE TRAINING:  Emily’s List is offering a Candidate training on Saturday, July 27 in Philadelphia from 9:30 am to 2:30 pm. We can find out more about the event, Run to Win 101, a free half-day training for pro-choice Democratic women thinking about running for elected office and sign up, if we choose to, here:  https://secure.emilyslist.org/page/s/20190713_email_RunToWinPhiladelphia

NATIONAL NETWORK ASSEMBLY:  The first National Network Assembly, made up of hundreds of local grassroots leaders 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

A Border Patrol Agent Reveals What It’s Really Like to Guard Migrant Children - https://www.propublica.org/article/a-border-patrol-agent-reveals-what-its-really-like-to-guard-migrant-children

New leak claims Trump scrapped Iran nuclear deal 'to spite Obama' - https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-48978484

Homestead isn’t just for kids at the border, it’s for kids living in the U.S. their whole lives - https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/immigration/article232579432.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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