ENLIGHTENING BREAKFAST SPEAKER ON FRIDAY AT THE VILLAGE DELI!

The special guest speaker at Friday's breakfast was Christie Popp, partner at the local law firm of Popp & Bullman, where she practices exclusively immigration law. Christie has been in practice since 2005, when she graduated from Vermont Law School with her J.D. Before going into private practice, Christie was the Directing Attorney for the Immigrants’ and Language Rights Center at Indiana Legal Services. Christie had so much wisdom and information to impart and too little time. But here are some highlights:

• The Trump administration has instituted a zero tolerance immigration policy which involves prosecuting undocumented individuals for any and all offenses. For many years, the prior policy had granted prosecutors the discretion to prosecute as they saw fit, for example, not prosecuting misdemeanors. The bulk of the individuals currently being prosecuted are South American refugees seeking asylum.
• Trump is, in fact, changing almost all immigration policies that were in place. He may not yet have built his vaunted Mexican "wall," but he has erected an invisible wall, which is as bad or worse. Lest we attribute everything to the current administration, however, she noted that some of the Obama administration's policies (with which Hilary Clinton was also involved as Secretary of State) were not particularly immigrant friendly. Obama significantly increased deportations.
• In responding to a question, Christie confirmed that there is a "denaturalization" push from the administration. This consequence used to be reserved for cases of fraud and other similar issues, but now it is being applied to immigrants who volunteered to serve in the military in exchange for a guaranteed path to citizenship. The administration is starting to discharge such individuals from the military and refuse to live up to the citizenship promise. In addition, green cards are being rescinded with little or no basis.
• She noted in response to another question that a recent case overturned the use of domestic violence as grounds for asylum, which had been an available argument previously.
• Christie emphasized that the administration is using unsupported slogans and propaganda to scare Americans into believing that immigrants are criminals and losers who are causing the decline of our society. We need to find ways to fight back and get the truth out.
• Another participant asked how we can best offer help to both the children who have been separated from their parents and other immigrants. Christie said that there are lawyers and organizations working at the front lines and the best thing we can do is donate money to them. Here is a link to a helpful article on choosing an organization https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/20/where-to-donate-to-help-immigrant-children-and-families-at-the-border.html. The Bloomington Refugee Support Network is a local resource as well. Here is a link to their website. https://bloomingtonrefugees.org/
• Christie also pointed out that there might be opportunities to foster children, but adoption is not possible.
• The administration has stopped using alternatives to immigrant detention which averaged $36 per day per individual. Detention costs average $300 per day. They are also using private prisons for detention.
• Finally, we could make a difference by working to convince our county to stop honoring ICE holds. Marion County has stopped so why don't we?!

Thanks to Christie for a sobering talk with incredibly useful insights!

AND AN ENLIGHTENING SPEAKER AT THE DWC LUNCH AT GRAZIE ON FRIDAY AT NOON!

It was a day of great speakers for sure! Dee Owens gave a great talk at the DWC lunch at Grazie, providing some of her Washington insider information on the recent plan to re-organize the Federal Government. Just a few of the things we've heard about the plan include privatizing the USPS and merging of the Labor and Education Departments. For those who missed it, here is a link to the plan: http://www.democraticwomenscaucus.org/r?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.whitehouse.gov%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F06%2FGovernment-Reform-and-Reorg-Plan.pdf&e=f5aba68764d8ba0ec0ed5fc12fe3cc44&utm_source=democraticwomenscaucus&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=rmdr_7_5_18&n=3