immigration

Before then, the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965 eliminated national origin quotas but set worldwide limits on the number of persons that could migrate to the U.S. This act is likely one of the biggest causes of the “hispanization” of North America because it established a system of family-based and employment-based preference for issuing visas. It was the driving force behind the enormous influx of immigrants from Mexico and Central America during the 70s and 80s, a period that is considered the crux of Latin American immigration. 

The interactive piece is community-based, and as such, is continually transformed by its participants, who are invited to write their own story of migration and post their family photos onto the gallery walls. A collage-like bilingual sound piece, streaming into the space, weaves together Muriel Hasbun's own reflections on migration as gathered from oral testimonies and other aural impressions  recorded in El Salvador.

Although the federal government is the supreme authority on broad matters like immigration, in some cases, states have sovereignty over more precise issues like health and public safety. That’s what Becerra asserted at a press conference on Tuesday where he expressed that, through the Tenth Amendment, California has the right to handle public safety in the ways it sees fit. Calmly poised, Becerra assured Californians that the claims made in the lawsuit demonstrated “there’s nothing really new there that we weren’t already familiar with.”

If America was once a country that opened its doors to immigrants and refugees, today its policies stand in stark contrast to this tradition, and its premise of open societies and sustainable, equitable growth are undermined by ineptitude and barely veiled racist intentions. It’s a country in which the immigrant becomes the enemy. To be sure the voice of opposition to the Trump White House and its assaults on civil liberties are reassuring.

The announcement that Donald Trump has become the presumptive Republican candidate for president following his resounding victory in Indiana’s primary is being met with amused approval in—of all places—Mexico City. Forget the man in the street in Mexico City selling a Donald Trump piñata. Despite official protestations to his anti-Mexican rhetoric, Mexico’s elite may actually favor Trump.

A federal judge this week blocked Obama’s executive actions from going into effect, a move immigration reform advocates are calling only a “temporary setback.” Texas U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen issued a temporary injunction on Monday, siding with Texas and 25 other states that signed on to a lawsuit against Obama’s executive actions on immigration. The White House announced on Tuesday that the Department of Justice is appealing the decision.

Twenty-three percent of non-voting Latinos who responded to the poll said that Obama’s decision to delay executive action made them more enthusiastic about the president and the Democratic Party, while 60 percent of non-voting Latinos said the delay made them less enthusiastic. This is notable because Latinos have historically backed Democrats by wide margins.

PIPH is one of several religious organizations in the Bay Area that have spearheaded a burgeoning Sanctuary Movement that began last summer in Arizona. So far 24 congregations offering sanctuary in 12 cities across the country have joined. Inspired by the Sanctuary Movement of the early 1980s, when at least 500 churches offered safe-havens for migrants escaping conflict in Central America, faith leaders today are looking to renew that commitment by providing shelter, food and even legal advice to this latest wave of child refugees.