Interactive report features firsthand stories from people in Florida harmed by our current immigration laws; dozens of true-life stories to be submitted to Library of Congress
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 10, 2013
CONTACT: ACLU of Florida Media Office, (786) 363 - 2737 media@aclufl.org
MIAMI - Today, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida released Florida Voices for Immigration Reform, an interactive report featuring the real stories of Floridians who have been impacted by our nation’s broken immigration system. The report calls on Congress to pass legislation reforming our nation’s broken immigration system and including a path to citizenship for America’s aspiring citizens.
In creating the report, the ACLU of Florida established a toll-free hotline which individuals used to share their personal stories of how the immigration system has impacted their lives. These stories were collected by the ACLU of Florida and the Florida Immigrant Coalition as part of the “Say Yes” campaign. Dozens of stories were collected, describing the experiences of aspiring citizens and their families who have faced hardships, been kept from participating in our economy, and even broken families apart. Many of these individuals shared their stories anonymously or under pseudonyms because of the fear that comes with living in the shadows as our current laws force millions of aspiring citizens to do every day.
The stories make up the backbone of the report, and all of the collected stories will be submitted to the Library of Congress to be preserved as part of the record of our nation’s ongoing legislative debate over immigration reform.
“Because our state has such a large immigrant population, any action taken by Congress to change our broken immigration system will have an outsize impact in Florida,” stated Shalini Goel Agarwal, ACLU of Florida staff attorney and a primary author of the report. “What we discovered in putting together this report was the real human side of what for too many has become an abstract issue. Florida Voices for Immigration Reform reflects the real stories of real people whose voices have too long gone unheard. By publishing this report, we lift their voices up and call on Congress to take action to let all aspiring Americans join in the promise of America.”
Among the stories featured in the report are those of Jose Machado, whose mother was deported when he was in high school, resulting in him and his brother being placed in foster care; Cassandra, a student who came to the U.S. for education and who has scholarship offers she cannot accept due to her immigration status; Jesús Guevara, a former farm worker who was jailed by ICE following a case of mistaken identity at the workplace; Alex Galeas Hernández , an undocumented immigrant who has not seen his children in years after he was sent back to Honduras when he was arrested for an immigration violation; “Rosa” (a pseudonym), a Colombian-American widow and mother of three who is in deportation proceedings; and many others.
Based on the personal stories shared with the ACLU and research by public policy groups, and by business and faith leaders on the impact of various immigration reform proposals, the report makes policy recommendations for members of Congress on various specific issue areas including the path to citizenship, protections for workers, the so-called SAFE Act, and due process rights for immigrants. The ACLU also collected the names of over 2,000 Floridians who signed a petition calling on Congress to pass common-sense, comprehensive immigration reform which provides aspiring citizens with a path to citizenship.
“The ongoing gridlock in Congress makes the release of this report all the more important, because our leaders need to be reminded what’s at stake in the effort to reform our immigration system and the power they have to make peoples’ lives better,” continued Agarwal. “The need for reform is urgent and the time is now to pass meaningful reforms that will help hundreds of thousands of people in Florida become citizens, grow our economy, and make real the rights and liberties promised by the Constitution.”
When viewed as an interactive PDF, the report allows users to click to hear MP3s of the stories featured in the report as well as links to the sources of data and other quotes.
The full report, all of the collected stories as MP3s and transcribed text, and the names of the Floridians who signed the petition are available here: www.aclufl.org/FLvoicesforCIR
Print copies of the report are available upon request.
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