Mosaic’s DACA Meeting
Thursday October 19th
Guest Speaker-Michelle Lampach, Immigration Attorney
Mosaic welcomed Michelle Lampach, Executive Director and founder of UnLocal, Inc. UnLocal, Inc. seeks to re-imagine the way legal services are delivered to immigrants in New York City. They are committed to serving the unmet legal needs of New York City’s immigrant communities. Ms. Lampach also heads the Immigrant Collaborative Project, helping to deliver education and legal consultation to immigrants and communities traditionally underserved by legal services.
Michelle began the meeting by asking attendees to introduce themselves and to say the first word that comes to mind when you think about immigration. Some of the responses were: alarm, scary, crisis, depressing and sad. Michele’s purpose was to present a picture of the current state of Immigration difficulties, as well as give us a brief history and share her insight and experience.
Michele spoke a bit about the history of immigration. Immigration laws have not changed since 1996 under President Clinton. There are very limited opportunities for an unlawful immigrant to change their official status. Under President Obama there were 3 million people deported. There was however a sense of order to the process, a priority list of people for deportation that could be relied on and a person’s status was clear. Now enforcement seems highly unpredictable and erratic.
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) came about after Congress failed to pass the DREAM ACT. DACA assists undocumented people brought here as children, enabling them to apply for permanent residence and ultimately apply for citizenship. DACA covers 800,000 young people who arrived here before 6/15/07 while under the age of 16. DACA was accomplished due to the activism of young undocumented people. The recent deadline to apply for DACA status was 10/5/17 and about 36,000 people did not apply either due to the $495 cost or to protest the new rules. DACA is not a full proof answer as it doesn’t extend to family members and can be revoked. Michele next explained Temporary Protected Status (TPS), a status available to some based on civil unrest or environmental catastrophe in their home country. One million people are covered by this status. There was also discussion regarding the H1B program and its potential elimination. Lampach says, “We have laws that don’t reflect our populous. A lot of people came in on a H1B visa who should have a path to citizenship, still find themselves at risk.”
Lampach is working with a large restaurant group based in NYC and Washington DC. Eleven percent of restaurant workers are undocumented. Deporting these workers would have a profound impact on the restaurant business.
An attendee asked what is the argument against allowing these immigrants to remain. Michele states that it really comes down to a dogmatic argument of “They broke the law”. The argument loses coherence when it is pointed out that the children in question were not responsible for their entrance into the country.
Lampach addressed some pervasive myths about immigration, At present, far more people are entering the country coming legally, few are “sneaking in” anymore, any that try are apprehended. “The idea that people don’t bother to legalize their status I false. Anyone who could do so legally would do so. There is, and has been, no path, for people to do this.”
Another attendee asked what can be done on the local level? Michele replied that one can sign up with local organizations that are helping undocumented people. A presence at 26 Federal Plaza is useful to show ICE that people in the community are watching and expecting detainees be treated fairly. Calling your representatives is always helpful. “What is needed at this time is activism and people who have power and access to politicians to effect change.”
Michelle spoke about the risk to immigrants of stepping forward in this current climate. Some DREAMERS are working as activists, but there is a split in philosophy and approach. “Some are focused on pressing DACA cases in reform but others are saying now is the time to extend protections to others in the family”.
Lampach says that HCCS should be a safe space for people who are directly affected. Inclusive, declarative signs in multiple languages are key, so people can see immediately the message of welcome and safety. She outlined procedures to follow if ICE were to show up at HCCS and importance of knowing the proper protocol and delegation of responsibilities. “We should all be finding the answers to these questions”