235 Organizations Co-Sign 2021 Immigration Action Plan to Undo System Weaponized by Trump

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Ahead of President-elect Biden’s inauguration, the Immigration Hub applauded commitments by the incoming administration to prioritize critical immigration policy reforms within the first 100 days of the administration and called on the administration to consider specific reforms outlined in the 2021 Immigration Action Plan. The Action Plan, first unveiled in August 2020, lays out a blueprint for the next administration to not only restore human dignity to a system weaponized by the Trump administration, but to transform America’s immigration system — reinforcing core American values and powering the economic recovery of the nation.

Since the unveiling, 235 of the nation’s leading immigration and advocacy organizations have expressed their support for the 2021 Immigration Action Plan — including a strong, diverse cross-section of advocacy organizations from UnidosUS, SEIU, and Immigration Hub to Planned Parenthood, Children’s Defense Fund, and America’s Voice. The ten specific actions articulated in the plan will lay the groundwork to both reverse the racism and damage of the Trump years and repair long standing criminalization and deportation policies that have defined many past administrations and devastated families.

“Major changes are needed to build an immigration system rooted in humanity, hold agencies accountable and to finally turn the page on Trump’s shameful era of immigration policies,” said Sarnata Reynolds, Director of Policy for Immigration Hub. “We welcome the incoming Biden administration’s prioritization of legal status for Dreamers and other long-time residents, the repeal of racist and cruel Trump policies and the implementation of bold actions to scale back immigration enforcement until it can be implemented in a humane and fair manner. The 2021 Action Plan goes further, identifying dozens of other measures required to protect the dignity of immigrants and promote the success of communities. Collectively, they are integral to the Biden administration’s efforts to lead our country towards economic recovery and truly build back better.”

Ten Actions to Transform and Modernize America’s Immigration System

Priority reforms from the 2021 Immigration Action Plan include restoring the right to asylum, decriminalizing immigration, reforming our immigration courts, and reimagining the immigration system to prioritize equity over punishment.

• Action 1: Prioritize Equity and Harm Reduction in the Immigration System.

• Action 2: End the Anti-Black and Discriminatory Targeting of Certain U.S. Citizens and Immigrants.

• Action 3: Rebuild the U.S. Economy.

• Action 4: Re-envision Leadership in the Next Administration.

• Action 5: Decriminalize Immigration.

• Action 6: Protect Immigrant Children, Families and Their Communities.

• Action 7: Phase Out Immigration Jails and Fund Community-Based Case Management Programs.

• Action 8: Establish Thriving, Rights-Respecting Borders.

• Action 9: Reimagine the Role of the Immigration Courts.

• Action 10: Restore the Right to Seek and Receive Protection from Persecution, Torture, and Other Serious Human Rights Violations.

The 2021 Immigration Action Plan was a collaborative effort amongst local and national immigration advocacy organizations, spearheaded by the Immigration Hub and America’s Voice. The full text of the plan can be found here.

Below is a full list of the 235 organizations that have signed on to the 2021 Immigration Action Plan. 

Adhikaar

Adrian Dominican Sisters

Advocating Opportunity (AO)

African Bureau for Immigration and Social Affairs (ABISA)

African Communities Together (ACT)

African Public Affairs Committee (AfriPAC)

ALDEA The People’s Justice Center

Alianza Americas

Alianza Nacional de Campesinas

Alliance of Baptists

America’s Voice (AV)

American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)

Americans for Immigrant Justice (AI Justice)

Amnesty International USA (AIUSA)

Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF)

Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC

Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA), AFL-CIO

Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence (API-GBV)

Asian Pacific Islander Political Alliance (API PA)

ASISTA

Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project (ASAP)

AsylumWorks

Ayuda

Bellevue Program for Survivors of Torture (PSOT)

Bethany House of Hospitality, Chicago

Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI)

Black Immigrant Collective

Bread for the World

Break the Cycle

Bridges Faith Initiative

California Immigrant Policy Center (CIPC)

Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights Coalition (CAIR Coalition)

Care in Action

CASA

CASA in Action

Casa de Esperanza: National Latin@ Network for Healthy Families and Communities

Casa San Jose

Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC)

Center for Disability Rights

Center for Gender & Refugee Studies (CGRS)

Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP)

Center for Victims of Torture (CVT)

Center Global, a program of the DC Center for the LGBT Community

Central American Resource Center (CARECEN)

Central American Resource Center — CARECEN SF

Centro de los Derechos del Migrante (CDM)

Centro de Recursos Centroamericanos (CRECEN)

Centro Legal de la Raza

Centro Maya Guatemalteco

Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America (CRLN)

Children’s Defense Fund (CDF)

Church World Service (CWS)

Cleveland Jobs with Justice

Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA)

Coalition on Human Needs (CHN)

Colectivo de Mujeres Transnacionales

Columban Center for Advocacy and Outreach

Community EsTr(El/La)

Compass Immigration Legal Services (CILS)

Congregation Action Network

Congregation of Bon Secours, USA

Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, U.S. Provinces

Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes

Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph

Congregation of St. Joseph Justice Team

Demand Progress

Detention Watch Network (DWN)

Disciples Refugee and Immigration Ministries (RIM)

Dominican Sisters of Houston

Dominican Sisters of Sparkill

Durango Unido en Chicago

Equality California

Esperanza Immigrant Rights Project, CCLA Inc.

Every. Last. One.

Faith in Public Life (FIPL)

Families Belong Together (FBT)

Farmworker Association of Florida (FWAF)

First Focus on Children

Florida Immigrant Coalition (FLIC)

Florida People’s Advocacy Center (FL PAC)

For Good PGH

Franciscan Action Network (FAN)

Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Heart

Freedom Network USA (FNUSA)

Friends of Miami-Dade Detainees (FOMDD)

Frontera de Cristo

Future Coalition

Futures Without Violence (FUTURES)

Grannies Respond / Abuelas Responden, Inc.

Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart

Grupo de Apoyo e Integración Hispanoamericano

Haitian Bridge Alliance (HBA), also known as “The Bridge”

Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program (HIRC)

HEAL Trafficking

HIAS

HIAS Pennsylvania

Hispanic Federation (HF)

Hispanic Health Network

Human Rights First (HRF)

Human Rights Initiative of North Texas (HRI)

Immaculate Heart Community Commission on Immigration

Immigrant Defenders Law Center (ImmDef)

Immigrant Families Together Foundation

Immigrant Food

Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC)

Immigrant Legal Services of the Central Coast (ILSCC)

Immigrants Rising, a fiscally sponsored project of Community Initiatives

Immigration and Refugee Committee Sisters of the Most Precious Blood

Immigration Equality Action Fund

Immigration Hub

Indivisible

Innovation Law Lab

Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Interfaith Council for Peace & Justice (ICPJ)

International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP)

Japanese American Citizens League (JACL)

Jewish Family Service of San Diego

Justice for Migrant Women

Kids in Need of Defense (KIND)

La Raza Centro Legal (LRCL), San Francisco

La Union Del Pueblo Entero (LUPE)

Latin Advocacy Network (LATINAN)

Latin America Working Group (LAWG)

Latinx LGBTQI+ Initiative Inc. (LILA)

Lawyers for Good Government (L4GG)

Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWE)

Leadership Team of the Felician Sisters of North America

League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC)

Libertas Center for Human Rights

Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS)

March On

Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns

Massachusetts Immigrant & Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA)

Massachusetts TPS Committee

Mi Familia Vota

Michigan Immigrant Rights Center (MIRC)

Michigan United

Mision Guatemala Usa

MomsRising

Muslim Advocates

National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd

National Alliance to End Sexual Violence (NAESV)

National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF)

National Association of Social Workers (NASW)

National Coalition Against Domestic Violence

National Association of Social Workers- NYC Chapter (NAWS-NYC)

National Council of Jewish Women

National Disability Rights Network (NDRN)

National Equality Action Team (NEAT)

National Immigrant Justice Center  (NIJC)

National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild (NIPNLG)

National Justice for Our Neighbors (NJFON)

National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC)

National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (NNIRR)

National Partnership for New Americans (NPNA)

National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT)

National Resource Center on Domestic Violence (NRCDV)

Nebraska Appleseed

NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice (NETWORK)

New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC)

NILC Immigrant Justice Fund (NILC IJF)

North Carolina Justice Center (NC Justice Center)

Northern Illinois Justice for Our Neighbors

Office of Peace, Justice, and Ecological Integrity, Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth

Ohio Immigrant Alliance (OIA)

OneAmerica

Open Immigration Legal Services

Oxfam America

Partnerships for Trauma Recovery (PTR)

Pennsylvania Immigration and Citizenship Coalition (PICC)

People’s Action

Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA)

Poder Latinx

Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration

Provincial Council Clerics of St. Viator

Public Counsel

Reform Immigration for Texas Alliance (RITA)

Refugee Council USA

Refugees International

Removal Defense Corps (RDC),  Southwestern Law School

Resilience Force

RGV Equal Voice Network

Salvadoran Association of Los Angeles (ASOSAL)

San Antonio Region Justice For Our Neighbors

Save the Children Action Network (SCAN)

School Sisters of Notre Dame-Atlantic-Midwest Province

School Sisters of Notre Dame – Central Pacific Province

Service Employees International Union (SEIU)

SERVICES, IMMIGRANT RIGHTS AND EDUCATION NETWORK (SIREN)

Silver Stat Equality-Nevada

Sisters and Brothers of Immigrants (SBI)

Sisters of Mercy of the Americas – Justice Team

Sisters of Charity of New York

Sisters of Saint Joseph of Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, PA

Sisters of St AnneSisters of St. Francis Sylvania

Sisters of St. Joseph of OrangeSisters of St. Joseph TOSF

Sisters of St. Joseph, Brentwood NY

Sisters of the Humility of Mary

Sisters of the Living Word

Sisters of the Presentation, Dubuque, Iowa

Sojourners

South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice Center

South Texas Human Rights Center

Southeast Asian Resource Action Center

Southern Border Communities Coalition (SBCC)

SPLC Action Fund

Tahirih Justice Center

Texas Civil Rights Project (TCRP)

The Children’s Partnership

The Lifeboat Project, Inc.

The Rhizome Center for Migrants

Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International (TASSC)

Ujima, Inc.: The National Center on Violence Against Women in the Black Community

T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights

UnidosNow

UnidosUS

UNITED SIKHS

United Stateless

US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI)

U.S. Federation of the Sisters of St. Joseph

USC International Human Rights Clinic (HRC)

Utah Health & Human Rights (UHHR)

Virginia Coalition for Immigrant Rights (VACIR)

Voice for Refuge Action Fund

Voices For Freedom

Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA)

Welcoming Center for New Pennsylvanians

Wind of the Spirit Immigrant Resource Center (WOTS)

Witness at the Border

Women’s Refugee Commission

Women Working Together USA

Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights

# # #

The Immigration Hub is a national organization dedicated to advancing fair and just immigration policies through strategic leadership, innovative communications strategies, legislative advocacy and collaborative partnerships.