Immigration coalition shares concerns

By Barb Arland-Fye
For The Catholic Messenger

DAVENPORT — Six members of the Immigration Coalition of the Quad Cities met with a representative of U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks in her Davenport office Sept. 17 to express their concerns and to request the Congresswoman’s support on several immigration-related measures.

Allison Ambrose provided a brief description of the nearly 200-member ecumenical coalition, which she facilitates, to Elias Castellanos, a Veterans Fellow serving in Miller-Meeks’ office. Recent news reports concerning immigrant and refugee policy in the U.S. have been of special concern to the coalition, Ambrose said.

Five of the six coalition members present — Allison Ambrose, Barb Arland-Fye, Beth Cook, Loxi Hopkins and Mary Maher — are members of parishes in the Diocese of Davenport. They, along with coalition member David Anderson, shared their belief that immigrants are individuals with equal human rights. They identified specific concerns about the current Administration’s policy practices. Among those concerns:

• A proposed rule to establish a $103,265 fee on every H-1B visa petition subject to the annual cap. H-1B visa workers are immigrants with temporary approval to work in the U.S. Highly educated, they work in Information Technology (IT), engineering and architecture, health care and medicine.

KFF.org, an independent health policy organization, reports that the proposed fee could lead to reductions in the health care workforce, creating barriers to care for people living in lower income and rural areas where these health care workers often are employed.

• Additional detention centers. TIME magazine reported in July that the Administration is “seeking construction companies to build additional immigration detention units in as many as 14 different locations in the United States, documents show — including the Virgin Islands and Guantanamo Bay.”

National Public Radio (NPR) reported in March that “The price tag to expand the detention system in dollars is $45 billion, pushed through last summer as part of … the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill Act.’”

• ICE tactics. NPR reported on Aug. 12 that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) plans to “give its officers high-tech gloves that deliver electric shocks to people they’re trying to detain, according to plans posted by the Department of Homeland Security.” The cost could be as high as $20 million.
• TPS limbo. Salvadoran communities nationwide are in a frightening predicament because of conflicting messages from the Administration regarding Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for El Salvador. The uncertainty about whether and when TPS status might be revoked is already impacting their livelihoods and lives, according to the Catholic Legal Immigration Network. Many Salvadorans were among the first immigrant groups granted TPS, initially in 1990 for those fleeing the country’s civil war and then again in 2001 for survivors of two catastrophic earthquakes. They have become part of the fabric of their communities.

(See FINDING on Page 4)

The coalition’s concern led to the following requests for Castellanos to pass on to Miller-Meeks, whom the group had hoped to meet in person. Ambrose had been told last month by other staffers that Miller-Meeks was unavailable to meet with the coalition.

• Get involved with a solution, such as sponsorship of S. 4361, which “expands Department of Homeland Security (DHS) authority to address the processing of non-U.S. nationals (aliens under federal law) and provides supplemental appropriations for related purposes” (congress.gov). The bill “Extends and establishes immigration pathways for Afghan citizens or nationals, including by (1) making certain individuals admitted or paroled to the United States eligible for conditional permanent resident status, and (2) expanding eligibility for special immigrant visas for certain individuals who were injured while supporting the U.S. mission in Afghanistan.”
• Support the idea to end construction of or purchase of additional immigration detention facilities.
• Support abolishment of the use of gloves by ICE officers that deliver a painful electric shock.
• Support the Dream and Promise Act (HR 1589), which would give more than 4.4 million Dreamers, DACA recipients and TPS holders a pathway to citizenship and permanent legal stability.

Dreamers are individuals who were brought to the United States as children and who lack legal status. TPS holders were granted Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and individuals with DED designation have been granted Deferred Enforcement Departure (DED). This legislation aims to help keep family members together and allow law-abiding members of their communities to continue making their economic and social contributions.

The National Immigration Forum reports that this bill would provide temporary protection from deportation for three years and a work authorization document for the 750,000 young adults and other undocumented youths brought to the U.S. as children.

Castellanos assured the coalition he would forward a written report to the appropriate staff member of Miller-Meeks and that the group could anticipate a response.  A request for comment from Miller-Meeks that was submitted by a member of the Immigration Coalition was not returned as of The Catholic Messenger’s deadline.