MIAMI - "What's next?" is the question on the minds of thousands of Floridians today after President Obama's announcement Thursday night of an executive order regarding the future of as many as 5 million undocumented immigrants.
As many as 900,000 people living in Florida could be affected, according to the Urban Institute.
While the order delaying deportations isn't a permanent fix, said Cheryl Little, executive director of Americans for Immigrant Justice, it's at least a temporary reprieve.
"Those who are eligible will be able to apply for a work permit," she said. "In Florida, they can get a driver's license and, at least for some time, won't have to worry about whether or not there's going to be that knock on the door."
Obama said he will work with lawmakers on a bipartisan, comprehensive bill of permanent changes for the immigration system. He is being criticized by some who feel this executive order is an abuse of power, with some Republicans in Congress vowing to do what they can to impede the president's action.
Even as advocates for the immigrant community welcomed some progress, they said they're also seeking more permanent answers to keep families together, said Kica Matos, director of immigrant rights and racial justice for the Center for Community Change.
"We will celebrate this victory. We will welcome it with open arms, and so, we will be out of the streets today," she said. "And guess what we're going to do on Monday? We're going to go back to the hard work of continuing to fight for a permanent solution."
Little said she believes the next hurdle for immigration reform will be actually enforcing the protection offered by the president's order.
"My concern," she said, "is that, while this announcement I think is going to be great news to a lot of people, are we going to live to see the day when it's actually able to move forward in a fair and timely manner?"
The Urban Institute estimates that Florida's population of undocumented workers accounts for about 10 percent of the total in the United States. The institute's research is online at urban.org.
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A public health measure known as Title 42 was a response to the COVID-19 pandemic that allowed for immigrants to be immediately expelled if they crossed into the United States illegally. It ended several weeks ago - but in Iowa, the effects are not as dramatic as some immigration advocates anticipated.
Even though Title 42 has come to an end, they say it is not impacting immigrants seeking asylum in Iowa.
Jody Mashek - co-director of the Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice - said immigrants have returned to age-old ways of staying and seeking asylum if they make it in to the country, often using the same tactics they used prior to Title 42.
"People who are allowed to enter the country and pursue an asylum claim, if they're not otherwise detained by the immigration service," said Mashek, "then if they know a friend of family member that they could reach out to stay with, then that's how they wind up going to all these different states."
The end of Title 42 was considered by human-rights advocates the end of an unjust refusal to protect asylum seekers, but Mashek said existing laws are not much better - and mean a return of outdated rules that allow the U.S. to refuse immigrants protections they need.
Nearly two million people were expelled under Title 42, according to the Pew Research Center. And while detailed state numbers are still hard to come by - Mashek said, percentage-wise - the figures in Iowa largely reflected the national numbers, and so did the nations that the migrants come from.
"There are Cubans in small-town Iowa. There are Haitians," said Mashek. "We're just a microcosm. We tell people all the time 'whatever is happening on the border, you will see that trickle into Iowa.' "
Iowa has long been a draw for migrants who come to take jobs in the state's massive meat packing industry, which has often been criticized for having lax safety standards and dangerous working conditions.
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Immigrant's rights advocates are displeased with the provisions
for New York City's budget. According to New York City Mayor Eric Adams budget proposal, the city could be caring for 70,000 asylum seekers by June 2024, costing the city around $4.3 billion. Critics also said the proposal is unduly expensive, but New York City will keep welcoming immigrants.
"In the school system we need a three million dollar investment in English Language Learner Transfer School Programs. We need an additional 75 million dollars to hire additional social workers to help support students in need, especially newcomers," said Murad Awawdeh, Executive Director of New York Immigration Coalition.
Awadeh added they city needs other programs to help immigrants, including renewed funding for legal services programs through a $31.1 million investment for Action-N-Y-C and Admin Immigrant Opportunity Initiative. Meanwhile, the recently passed New York State budget allocates $43 million for additional funding for the Office for New Americans. This provides immigrants with free legal services, mental health support, workforce development, and English language learning.
But, Awawdeh explained the Adams Administration has been scapegoating immigrants as a means of passing off failures. This comes as Mayor Adams announced he will be bussing willing migrants
to communities throughout Upstate New York following the end of Title 42. Awawdeh said the city's leadership needs to aspire to different goals when it comes to immigrants.
"What we do need is for leadership in this moment to unite people, to serve people, and to ensure that our city is building up the infrastructure it needs to continue to be a beacon of hope for all people across the world who want to come here," Awawdeh continued.
He added after three years of the Covid-19 pandemic, people need to have employment, educational and legal supports in place to ensure they're on the road to a stable recovery.
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Thousands of immigrants arrive in the United States every year, knowing very little about the language, culture and civic ways of their new homeland.
Asian and Pacific Islanders are a growing part of America's immigrant community, accounting for 15% of all migrants. One nonprofit, the Asian and Pacific Islanders Vote-Michigan, serves as a bridge for newcomers, helping them get settled, learn the language and most importantly, navigate civic engagement and voting.
Rebeka Islam, executive director of the group, said unlike some other groups, Asian and Pacific migrants come from a wide variety of backgrounds.
"When you say Asian Americans, you're talking about 30-plus countries, 30-plus ethnicities, 30-plus languages, and for the most part, government," Islam explained. "Getting involved in civic engagement is not pretty accessible from countries that most of our folks come from."
According to the Census Bureau, 20.6 million people identify as Asian, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, making up 6.2% of the nation's population. While the majority live in large cities on the east and west coasts, the bureau estimates about 45,000 Asians live in Michigan.
Islam believes the most important thing her group does is help migrants register to vote, understand how the American voting system works and how to find out about the candidates. She emphasized it is important for her group to be represented at the ballot box.
"We get the information, we follow up and say, 'Hey, we registered you. There's an election coming. Here's what's on the ballot. This is what you can do, and this is what you can't do,' " Islam outlined. "We never tell anyone who to vote for, but we always tell them, 'This is your right; this is how you can vote.' "
Asian and Pacific Islanders Vote-Michigan hosts seminars on language, schools, housing and other basic life skills, as well as sponsoring naturalization ceremonies. Islam added like many immigrants; they may face hostility or even violence because of their race or ethnicity. She stressed they provide a space where people can feel safe.
"We really just try to meet our community where they are, get the message across and just give them the information that they need," Islam stated. "We serve like a community hub, basically for the community, with resources for the community."
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