IMMIGRATION/
REFUGEES
There are an estimated 11 million undocumented people living in the United States and hundreds of thousands who come annually via temporary work visas. Work visas are issued through multiple government agencies with the largest work programs offered through the Departments of State, Labor, and Homeland Security. Temporary Work Visas are generated from legitimate programs aimed at helping employers find labor for specific tasks that may not be available in homeland markets. However, there is no interagency coordination or unified database. So, it is difficult to tell exactly how many people are present in the United States on work visas and this ambiguity is exactly makes systemic abuses and even Human Trafficking easy for profiteers.
Unfortunately, there is no ONE problem with immigration. The immigration system and temporary guest worker programs are just VERY broken and it is the marginalized that fall through the cracks between insufficient regulatory enforcement and the lack of oversight. The cumulative resultant is a vulnerable people group ripe for victimization and exploitation. They remain isolated from assistance by cultural, language, complex systems, fear, mistrust, coercion, fraud, threats to family members, and economic barriers to resources. The following provides some background on the most relevant issues.
The Connection
The Migration Policy Institute is an exceptional resource for non-partisan information on needed reform as well as the issues at the root of immigration and migration concerns both here in the US and abroad. Resources include a spectrum of publications and resource materials that explain the nuances of our very complex immigration system including a robust data-informed set of analytics on our changing immigrant population.
Temporary Work Visas provide human traffickers with an ideal tool to proliferate the 150 billion dollar a year industry of modern slavery by catering to the incentivized employers who keep regulators complacent. Polaris’ report on Temporary Work Visas describes how traffickers use temporary work visas to recruit, defraud, and coerce foreign-born workers into human trafficking.
Victims of Human Trafficking may qualify for other forms of immigration benefits depending on the individual’s circumstances for Continued Presence (Temporary Immigration Status for Victims of Human Trafficking). ICE has a victim assistance coordinator that provides referrals to non-governmental service providers who can help with legal assistance, crisis intervention, counseling, medical care, housing, job skills training and case management. Trafficking victims may be eligible to stay in the US for up to 4 years and it can lead to lawful and permanent residence. For human trafficking-related policy issues, please contact the ICE Headquarters Human Smuggling and Trafficking Unit at: ICEHumanTrafficking.helpdesk@dhs.gov
The North Carolina Justice Center’s Budget and Tax Center Report for April 2019 details the impacts of forced collaboration with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on public safety priorities, the Constitutional rights of individuals detained, and local law enforcement budgetary limitations.
Active Projects
Project 1
In collaboration with the Equitable Access Roundtable, the CPN seeks to open access to services for immigrants and refugees experiencing barriers to resources including culture, language, and/or citizenship. Efforts to support Immigration and Refugee initiatives will be combined with our Equitable Access and Human Trafficking Roundtables to concentrate resources effectively.
Identifying and recruiting service providers specific to immigrant and refugee challenges;
Raise public awareness about the needs of immigrants and refugees in Wake County (congregations, civic, and professional associations);
Recruit multi-lingual volunteers for community outreach. Tasks include, but are not limited to, the following:
Helping families connect with resources;
Partnering with congregations to help open opportunities for accessing ESL services (work and family conflicts);
Tutoring and advocating, alongside parents, for children not meeting grade performance expectations in school;
Developing language specific presentations about work and housing related rights (safety, discrimination);