Undocumented immigrants contribute billions of dollars per year to Social Security funds, reports the New American Economy, a bipartisan research and advocacy immigration organization. If all undocumented immigrants were removed from the US, there would a tremendous negative impact, both short and long term, on Social Security, explains Monique Morrissey, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington D.C.-based think tank. Undocumented immigrants’ contributions to Social Security are especially beneficial since undocumented individuals are not able to later receive benefits. Though Morrissey argues that these contributions are “not good” given that they are made by some of the most vulnerable people in society who are not themselves able to benefit, Abigail Zapote, the executive director of the D.C.-based nonprofit Latinos for Secure Retirement, notes: “The government, the IRS, will never say no to your tax dollars.”
Read moreMarketplace: “Undocumented immigrants quietly pay billions into Social Security and receive no benefits.”
Basic Fairness and Decency
DOJ and DHS Issue New Rule to Block Certain Asylum Seekers at US/Mexico Border
On November 8, Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen announced an Interim Final Rule declaring that foreign nationals “who contravene a presidential suspension or limitation on entry into the United States through the southern border with Mexico issued under section 212(f) or 215(a)(1) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) will be rendered ineligible for asylum.” Under the new rule, based on the “Presidential Proclamation Addressing Mass Migration Through the Southern Border of the United States” that was signed by President Trump on November 9 the following day, migrants seeking asylum will have to make their claims only at official ports of entry on the border where according to the rule they will “be processed in a controlled, orderly, and lawful manner.”
Read moreNew York Times: "President Wants to Use Executive Order to End Birthright Citizenship"
President Trump announced last week that he was preparing an executive order to nullify the long-standing constitutional guarantee of birthright citizenship in the US, one of the many aggressively anti-immigrant actions he and his administration have made leading up to the midterm elections, including sending over 5,000 troops to the US/Mexico Border. “We’re the only country in the world where a person comes in and has a baby, and the baby is essentially a citizen of the United States for 85 years, with all of those benefits,” Mr. Trump falsely told Axios in an interview.
Read moreA Decent Life
The Essence of Patriotism
Somos 11 Millones/We Are 11 Million
Somos 11 Millones/We Are 11 Million by Andrea Bowers (with Movimiento Cosecha)
Los Angeles-based artist Andrea Bowers uses video, drawing, and installation pieces to combine art and activism in the struggle for social justice. For this piece on the High Line, Bowers collaborated with the immigrant rights activist group Movimiento Cosecha to write a slogan in support of DREAMers. The neon sign reading “Somos 11 Millones / We Are 11 Million” references the number of undocumented immigrants in the US. The piece is part of a group exhibition on the High Line that looks at the “power of art to change society, the role of art in public space, and whether art can be a form of protest.”
A Better Tomorrow
NPR: “Deported Parents Describe Agonizing Wait To Be Reunited With Their Children”
More than three weeks after the court-mandated deadline for all migrant children to be reunited with their families, over 500 children are still separated and in federal custody. More than 360 of these children have parents who have already been removed (deported, as it’s commonly called) from the US. Trump administration officials initially argued that the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other groups should be responsible for locating these parents; however, US District Judge Dana Sabraw from California ordered the government to take responsibility.
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