FLIC Members in the News

Please check out FLIC's new blog!! If you are involved in a FLIC member group, please contact us so that we can highlight your important work!

FLIC member groups throughout the state are organizing against 287(g) agreements (currently in effect in Bay, Brevard, Collier and Manatee Counties, as well as the city of Jacksonville) , which allow Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to take local police away from their mission of fighting crime, and pull them into the murky territory of targeting immigrants for arrest without suspicion of crime. ICE described the 287(g) program as a public safety measure to target "criminal illegal aliens," but its largest impact has been on law-abiding immigrant communities. This report details findings from a year-long investigation of 287(g) by Justice Strategies, and recommends that the ICE program be terminated.

News & Upcoming Events

FLIC, Students Working for Equal Rights (S.W.E.R.) and WeCount! are Proud to Announce our 2009 Social Justice Scholars Scholars!

Click here for information about the program.

On Saturday, February 28th, approximately 1,000 Floridians, including members of Haitian Women of Miami (FAMN), Haitian Citizen United Taskforce (HCUT), the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center (FIAC), and Unite for Dignity, all members of the Florida Immigrant Coalition (FLIC), rallied at the Broward Transitional Center to acknowledge the contribution the Haitian community continues to make to our state and demand an end to the deportation of our Haitian sisters and brothers.

Please stay tuned for more news about our work for temporary protected status and click here to download a copy of the letter we sent to President Obama. If your organization would like to sign on, please email katherine@floridaimmigrant.org. Thank you!

KEEP WALTER'S DREAM ALIVE:

WE NEED YOUR HELP to Halt All Deportations of DREAMers!

Walter Lara, like many other undocumented students, immigrated to the U.S. when he was only a young child. Walter has lived in the United States his whole life and was completely oblivious to his undocumented status until he tried applying for college. He has never had any problems with the law. All he ever wanted to do was to go to school and have a successful career, but our country's laws prevented him to continue his education after he graduated from the Honors College at Miami Dade College.

He attained a job installing satellites. On a work assignment, he went to Fisher Island, and as he was about to get on the ferry when police officials became suspicious, questioned him, discovered that he was undocumented, and turned him over to ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), and was detained for 20 days in a detention center. After experiencing this hardship, Walter was forced to sign a document volunteering his deportation to Argentina, a country he has never known, on July 6th.

Every year 65,000 undocumented students graduate each year from high school with very little chance of pursuing their dreams of access to higher education, including 5,000 here in Florida. Because this is UNACCEPTABLE, please join us in taking action:

• Call your Representative and urge him or her to support the DREAM Act if they have not done so already. If they have already co-sponsored the bill, please thank them!
• Call Rep. Kendrick Meek's Washington D.C. office to thank him for supporting the DREAM act and introducing a private bill to stop Walter's deportation: (202) 225-4506. You can also call Rep. Corrine Brown to thank her for her co-sponsorship of this bill and support of the DREAM Act: (202) 225-0123
• Sign our online petition: http://www.gopetition.com/online/28773.html
• Join Walter Lara's Facebook group and help spread the word online!
• Check out FLIC's blog,where you can tell your story or comment on our posts!
• If you are a member of a church, mosque, temple or synagogue, please get a letter of support for Walter and the DREAM Act and email it to: SWERwolfson@gmail.com.

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Support Comprehensive Immigration Reform. Take Action NOW!

Close to 700 leaders from immigrant communities, labor, business, student and faith organizations from around the country just came back from a Washington, DC summit sponsored by the Reform Immigration for America Campaign. These leaders are working in their communities around the country to build momentum for the passage of just and humane immigration reform.

FLIC supports this campaign and invites you to take action now!

Please join this campaign by:

- Sending a free e-fax to your Senators, Representatives, and Congressional leaders

-Calling your Senator and congress person (Make sure to give them your name and zip code) and telling them that you support Comprehensive Immigration Reform

-Supporting AgJOBS (a bill that allows immigrant farm workers to earn the legal right to permanently stay in this country by continuing to work in agriculture and reforms the current H2A guest worker program, providing growers with a safe and stable workforce). More Info.

- Supporting the DREAM Act (a bill that would provide undocumented young people with a conditional path to citizenship in exchange for a mandatory two years in higher education or military service). More info.

Join FLIC's

Facebook group!

Check it out here:  

Members: Please Pay your 2009 Dues!

Your membership in the Florida Immigrant Coalition (FLIC) is invaluable as we work to build the immigrant rights movement for fair treatment of all throughout our state.

Florida is a key state in national immigration reform efforts, and FLIC is at the center of this struggle. We need your participation and support so we can continue to address key issues, defend our rights and promote positive change for all. We have so much to win!

FLIC is involved in local, state, regional and national coalition work, and throughout the next period we will unite to:

* Stop ICE raids that involve violations of our rights;

* Work for fair and humane immigration reform and to combat anti-immigrant legislation, like 287(g) agreements that force police to act as immigration agents. 

* Continue connecting people to information, ideas and more importantly to each other.

These objectives were adopted based on our 2008 FLIC Congress.

As you know, members of FLIC:

* Support the Coalition's mission and vision;

* Support Coalition campaigns, utilizing your strengths and abilities; and

* Participate in the Coalition's national congress and pay annual membership dues.

Your financial support is crucial to showing the strength of our grassroots movement, and we would appreciate your prompt dues payment to support the Coalition's work in key areas such as leadership training, community organizing and travel costs for mobilizations.