Links and Information
Immigration Websites
Catholic Community Services Refugee and Immigration Services
Refugee and Immigration Services Mount Vernon 360-416-7095:
Ext. 225 or Ext. 226
Catholic Immigration Legal Services provides quality legal immigration assistance to low-income residents of Washington. We offer the following immigration services: family reunification, citizenship/naturalization (including fee and disability waivers), adjustments of status (Green Cards), travel documents, employment authorization, replacement of green cards, mock interviews, accompaniment to USCIS interviews, and resource/referral.
Pacific Northwest Columbia Legal Services (5 offices in
Washington)
www.columbialegal.org (800)
542-0794
Columbia Legal Services provides free civil (not criminal) legal
services to people who are low-income or have special legal needs
throughout Washington State.
Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (Seattle, Tacoma Detention
Ctr, Granger)
www.nwirp.org (800) 445-5771
Hours: 9:30 AM - 4:30 PM M-F
Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (NWIRP) advances the legal
rights and dignity of low-income immigrants in Washington State
by pursuing and preserving their legal status through legal
representation, education and public policy.
Northwest Justice Project (NJP) (Bellingham office: 360-734-4680,
1814 Cornwall Ave.)
www.nwjustice.org
Northwest Justice Project a not-for-profit statewide organization
that provides free civil legal services to low-income people. It
cannot assist persons who are undocumented, unless in a case of
domestic violence.
OneAmerica
www.weareoneamerica.org
OneAmerica's mission is to advance the fundamental principles
of democracy and justice at the local, state and national levels
by building power within immigrant communities, in collaboration
with key allies.
Washington Law Help - a service of Northwest Justice
Project
www.washingtonlawhelp.org/WA/index.cfm
Washington Law Help helps low-income people find solutions to
civil legal problems. Information available on many topics
including immigration - most in Spanish & English with some
in 18 other languages.
American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA)
www.aila.org
Founded in 1946, AILA is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit
organization that provides its members (immigration lawyers and
law professors) with continuing legal education, information,
professional services, and expertise. Web links and updates on
immigration changes.
Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL)
www.fcnl.org/issues/issue.php?issue_id=69
"We believe that the world should move toward becoming a
global community that safeguards the human rights and guarantees
the economic opportunity of all people in their country of
choice…. All those seeking to enter the United States or
residing here should, without regard to immigration status, be
treated with justice and equity." Website provides a variety
of resources about immigration and other topics including
analysis of legislation.
National Immigration Forum
www.immigrationforum.org/
The National Immigration Forum's purpose is to embrace and
uphold America's tradition as a nation of immigrants. It
provides facts on immigration, background issue information and
legislative analysis, and immigration reform resources.
National Immigration Law Center (NILC)
www.nilc.org
The National Immigration Law Center is a national support center
whose mission is to protect and promote the rights of low-income
immigrants and their family members.
National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights
www.nnirr.org
The National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (NNIRR) is
composed of local coalitions and immigrant, refugee, community,
religious, civil rights and labor organizations and activists.
Have training material available.
National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild
www.nationalimmigrationproject.org/
The National Immigration Project is a network of immigration
lawyers, law students, jailhouse lawyers, and legal workers who
work to end unlawful immigration practices.
Reform Immigration FOR America
http://www.reformimmigrationforamerica.org/
http://www.reformamigratoriaproamerica.org/?p=oa
- Reforma Migratoria PRO America - Spanish website
The (2009) Campaign to Reform Immigration FOR America is a united
national effort that brings together individuals and grassroots
organizations with the mission to build support for workable
comprehensive immigration reform. Includes: United Farm Workers
Foundation, 9 to 5, National Association of Working Women,
AFL-CIO, American Immigration Lawyers Association, League of
United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), Lutheran Immigration and
Refugee Service (LIRS), National Education Association, United
Food and Commercial Workers International Union, World
Organization for Human Rights, Northwest Federation of Community
Organizations, OneAmerica.
Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)
www.splcenter.org/index.jsp
The Southern Poverty Law Center was founded in 1971 as a small
civil rights law firm. Today, SPLC is internationally known for
its tolerance education programs, its legal victories against
white supremacists and its tracking of hate groups - which
currently are targeting immigrants.
Return to Top
Reports
NEW AILA report
Immigration Enforcement Off Target: Minor Offenses with Major Consequences. The report presents 127 case examples of people picked up by local law enforcement for minor offenses or no offense at all who were turned over to federal immigration authorities for deportation. The report is drawn from cases reported by AILA attorneys and covers incidents in 24 states and the District of Columbia.
Here's the link to the report and other resources: http://www.aila.org/content/default.aspx?docid=36646.
The NYTimes did a story on it Aug. 17, 2011: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/17/us/politics/17immig.html?ref=juliapreston.
The report challenges the claim made by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that it focuses its finite resources on the “highest enforcement priorities”—namely those who present threats to public safety and national security. The report’s anecdotal accounts are consistent with DHS’s own statistical data showing that DHS is deporting tens of thousands of people who have been picked up for minor infractions, like driving without a license or loitering, and who pose no threat to Americans and our communities.
The First Year of Immigration Policy Under the Obama Administration:
Struggling to Turn Principles Into Practice
March 2, 2010 Washington D.C. - The month of March marks the seventh anniversary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which is home to the nation's three immigration agencies. It also marks the end of a sweeping internal review ordered by DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano - a review which has not been made public. Therefore, in order to assess the first year of immigration policy under the Obama Administration, the Immigration Policy Center releases DHS Progress Report: The Challenge of Reform.
The report compares DHS's record to the "Transition Blueprint," a document delivered to the Obama transition team by immigration policy experts and advocates which focused on administrative improvements to the immigration system.
IPC's overall analysis finds that while DHS struggles towards reform it has failed to meet some key expectations in many of the blueprint areas. The department has engaged thoughtfully and strategically on some issues and has made some fundamental changes in how it conducts its immigration business. However, turning principles into practice has fallen short, and the practical realities for individuals caught up in the system have not necessarily changed for the better.
Ultimately, this first year was both promising and frustrating, a year in which the promise of reform seemed to conflict daily with the dynamics of an entrenched, enforcement-driven culture. For every two steps forward, it seems that the Department takes one step back, inching its way toward a more humane and just system. There is clearly much more that can and should be done at an administrative level. However, without Congressional action on immigration reform, there are limits to how much the system can be changed.
To read the report in its entirety see:
DHS Progress Report: The Challenge of Reform (IPC Special Report, March 2, 2010)
Guilty by Immigration Status
Online Report
Facing Our Future: Children in the Aftermath of Immigration Enforcement
The report is available online
Facing Race: 2010 Legislative Report Card on Racial Equity (Washington)
The report is available online
Facing Race: 2009 Legislative Report Card on Racial Equity (Washington)
The report is available online
CLOSE TO SLAVERY: Guestworker Programs in the United States
This report was prepared by the Southern Poverty Law Center in 2007. The pdf is available in English or Spanish. The report is available online
Return to Top
Written Materials on Immigration
Beyond Smoke and Mirrors: Mexican Immigration in an Era of Economic Integration.Douglas S. Massey. 2003. Migration between Mexico and the United States is part of a historical process of increasing North American integration. This process acquired new momentum with the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994, which lowered barriers to the movement of goods, capital, services, and information. But rather than include labor in this new regime, the United States continues to resist the integration of the labor markets of the two countries. Instead of easing restrictions on Mexican labor, the United States has militarized its border and adopted restrictive new policies of immigrant disenfranchisement. Beyond Smoke and Mirrors examines the devastating impact of these immigration policies on the social and economic fabric of the Mexico and the United States, and calls for a sweeping reform of the current system.
BRIDGE training guide by the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (NNIRR).
This can be purchased through www.nnirr.org. A chapter on legislation can also be downloaded.
Covering Immigration: Popular Images and the Politics of the Nation
Leo R Chavez. U of California Press. 2001.
A Different Mirror. Takaki, Ronald. 2008.
Upon its first publication (1993), A Different Mirror was hailed by critics and academics everywhere as a dramatic new retelling of our nation's past. Beginning with the colonization of the New World, it recounted the history of America in the voice of the non-Anglo peoples of the United States - Native Americans, African Americans, Jews, Irish Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos, and others - groups who helped create this country's rich mosaic culture. New to the book in 2008: The role of black soldiers in preserving the Union; The history of Chinese Americans from 1900-1941; An investigation into the hot-button issue of "illegal" immigrants from Mexico; A look at the sudden visibility of Muslim refugees from Afghanistan. This new edition of A Different Mirror is a remarkable achievement that grapples with the raw truth of American history and examines the ultimate question of what it means to be an American.
Habits of Whiteness: A Pragmatist Reconstruction. Terrance MacMullan. Indiana University Press. 2009.
How the Irish Became White. Noel Ignatiev. 1995.
Immigrants Out: The New Nativism and the Anti-Immigrant Pulse in the United Statesn. Juan F Perea, ed. 1997.
Refugees of a Global Era. Phillip Marfleet. 2006
White by Law: Legal Construction of Race. Ian Lopez Haney. (New York University Press,1996).
White Privilege: Essential Readings on the Other Side of Racism. . Paula Rothenberg. New ed. 2007.
World of Mexican Migrants: The Rock and the Hard Place. Judith Adler Hellman. (The New Press, NY. 2008).
Return to Top
Movies on Immigration
(The Lincoln Theatre has many of these. Members of the Lincoln may rent them for a week. Jo Beecher also has some.)Crossing Arizona. Sundance 2006. 97 min
www.crossingaz.com/
A Day without Mexicans. 2005.
Funny, but may be a good introduction to immigrant reality for many Anglos.
Gatekeeper. . 90 min.
A Minuteman goes into Mexico and pretends to be an immigrant trying to enter the USA - change of sentiment after his experience.
Granita de Arena. 2006. 63 min.
About Oaxacan uprising, related to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.
El Norte. Director: Gregory Nava, 1983.
. Still a very powerful movie.
MAID in America. 2005. PBS. 58 min.
Talks about the exploitation of domestic workers in L.A.
The Other Side of Immigration. 2009. 1 hr.
Interviews of families in rural Mexico about family in the USA, Mexican policies, NAFTA, and impact on immigration.
www.theothersideofimmigration.com. /
Papers, the movie. .2009. 60 min
5 Youth comment on what the DREAM Act enactment would mean to them.
www.papersthemovie.org/
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada. Director: Tommy Lee Jones. 2005.
Uprooted: Refugees of the Global Economy. NNIRR. 2001. 28 min.
"is a compelling documentary about how the global economy has forced people to leave their home countries. Stories of 3 immigrants (Bolivia, Haiti, Philippines). "These powerful stories raise critical questions about US immigration policy in an era when corporations cross borders at will." Highly recommended.
Can be purchased at www.nnirr.org/
Walking the Line: Vigilantes on the US-Mexican Border. Directors Jeremy Levine and Landon Van Soest. 2005. 58 min.
"offers a harrowing view of the chaos, absurdity, and senseless deaths along the US-Mexican border through the private citizens who are taking the law into their own hands." Night time raids by vigilantes, citizens who stash water for those crossing the desert - a Tucson pastor is indicted on federal felony chares for aiding and abetting and an American Indian faces banishment from the reservation for constructing water stations.
Wetback: The Undocumented Documentary. Director Arturo Perez Torres. 2005.
Follows immigrants risking their lives to cross from Central America into Mexico then through Mexico to cross into the USA - swimming.
Return to Top
Other Resources
CCS Family Immigration ServicePO Box 2909, MV 98273
Call for an appointment - (360) 416-7095.
The Family Immigration Service provides family-based immigration assistance to those who care to become citizen or legalize their status. Sliding scale. They can do referrals for other types of cases. This is the only non-profit program in Skagit working with a lawyer to provide this service. PLEASE do NOT refer anyone to any notario for this purpose! Immigration law is very complex - and the wrong application can red-flag a case.
Skagit County Community Action Agency
www.skagitcap.org - (360) 416-7585 across from Riverside Health Club in Mount Vernon.
Skagit Community Action provides a wide-range of programs to service under-served low income people. This includes emergency housing, English classes, citizenship classes and MUCH more. Each year, Skagit County Community Action Agency (SCCAA) helps over 25,000 low-income Skagit County families get past emergencies, make positive life changes, and achieve lasting self-sufficiency.
Return to Top