Regarding the big announcement last week on a new waiver process for the 3- and 10-year bars, here are some resources from USCIS and AILA :
More info on immigrant waiver process
January 11, 2012
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Posted by Tammy Alexander
Big news for immigrant families
January 6, 2012Big news today! A new waiver process (for the 3- and 10-year bars) should help keep thousands of undocumented immigrants from being separated from their families in the U.S. From the Associated Press:
(AP) WASHINGTON — The Obama administration plans a rule change to help reduce the time illegal immigrant spouses and children are separated from citizen relatives while they try to win legal status in the United States, a senior administration official said.
Currently, illegal immigrants must leave the country before they can ask the government to waive a three- to 10-year ban on legally coming back to the U.S. The length of the ban depends on how long they have lived in the U.S. without permission.
The official said Thursday the new rule would let children and spouses of citizens ask the government to decide on the waiver request before the illegal immigrant heads to his or her home country to apply for a visa. The illegal immigrants still must go home to finish the visa process to come back to the U.S., but getting the waiver ahead of time could reduce the time an illegal immigrant is out of the country.
The waiver shift is the latest move by President Barack Obama to make changes to immigration policy without congressional action.
Leave a Comment » | Immigration, News Stories | Tagged: 3 and 10 year bars, immigrant families, Immigration, waivers | Permalink
Posted by Tammy Alexander
‘We don’t know who really won in the Congo’
January 6, 2012Patricia Kisare provides analysis on the November elections in Congo.
W don’t really know who won the presidency, because there are many indications that the electoral process was flawed. Local and international election observers found the elections to be fraught with widespread irregularities. The Carter Center reported that “the quality and integrity of the vote tabulation process has varied across the country, ranging from the proper application of procedures to serious irregularities, including the loss of nearly 2,000 polling station results in Kinshasa.”
Read the article here.
Leave a Comment » | Africa, Articles, Issues | Tagged: DR Congo, elections, Third Way Cafe | Permalink
Posted by jesseeppfransen
January 9: National Faith and Immigration Webinar
January 5, 2012- Monday, January 9, 2012, 3:30pm Eastern Time
- RSVP here.
Please join the Interfaith Immigration Coalition on January 9th for the National Faith and Immigration Webinar on Secure Communities.
The webinar will provide concrete tools to launch a community campaign to demand your city or state to stop turning people over to ICE and to halt unjust deportations.
Lines will be limited, so register today!
- Monday, January 9, 2012, 3:30pm Eastern Time
- RSVP here.
See the full action alert announcement here.
Leave a Comment » | Action Alerts, Crime and Justice, Events, Immigration, Issues | Tagged: deportation, ICE, Immigration, Interfaith Immigration Coalition, MCC, MCC U.S. Washington Office, Secure Communities | Permalink
Posted by emilywh
Land stolen from the poor
January 4, 2012
Patricia Kisare writes about the increasing problem of land grabs in the latest issue of Mennonite Weekly Review. Large purchases of agricultural land, often in Africa, by international corporations leads to economic and environmental degradation.
Dubbed “land grabbing,” this trend is a stark reminder of colonial-era practices when poor countries’ natural resources were controlled by foreigners and a few local elites. Not surprisingly, conditions under which most of these land deals are being pursued are extremely poor and lack transparency.
A growing number of reports have shown that these large-scale land acquisitions promote an unsustainable form of agriculture and are not a solution to the serious food crisis with which we are faced.
Read the article online here and let us know what you think in the comment section or on twitter or facebook.
Leave a Comment » | Africa, Global Economic Justice, Issues | Tagged: africa, agriculture, food security | Permalink
Posted by jesseeppfransen
In a world of turmoil, a light appears
January 3, 2012Jesse Epp-Fransen reflects on the need for hope in a world full of turmoil, both in the biblical era, and today.
We… live in a turbulent world, desperately in need of good news. In America 15 percent of the population experienced poverty in 2011. More than 2 million people are in federal or state prisons, or in jails awaiting trial. One in nine African-American males ages 25-29 was in prison or jail in 2009, according to The Sentencing Project(1). The Mayor of New Orleans recently noted in a statement that “from September of last year to February of this year, a student attending John McDonough [High School] was more likely to be killed than a soldier in Afghanistan”(2).
Read the full article here.
Leave a Comment » | Articles, Crime and Justice, Issues, Uncategorized | Permalink
Posted by jesseeppfransen
A Year of Revolutions?
December 23, 2011Theo Sitther writes for Third Way Cafe of the revolutions around the world and the connections to the Christmas story.
In this season of Advent, the words of Mary bring hope. Christ enters our broken world, uplifts the lowly, and feeds the hungry. Christ’s birth brings hope of newness and renewal. Was this a year of revolutions? In many ways, yes. How will we in our comfort respond to the injustice in our own communities and our world?
Read the article here and let us know what you think in the comment section.
Leave a Comment » | Articles, Global Economic Justice, Issues, Uncategorized | Tagged: Advent, Christmas, egypt, Mary, revolution, tunisia | Permalink
Posted by jesseeppfransen
