Transformative Politics: Green Party: #Stopthedeportations, enact legal protections for #undocumentedimmigrants

GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES

http://www.gp.org

For Immediate Release:

Friday, April 18, 2014

This release is online at http://www.gp.org/newsroom/press-releases/details/4/692

Contacts:

Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-904-7614, mclarty@greens.org

Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene@gp.org

Green Party: Stop the deportations, enact legal protections for undocumented immigrants

• Green Party Speakers Bureau: Green leaders available to speak on immigration policy

http://www.gp.org/speakers/speakers-labor.php

• Global Climate Convergence: Earth Day to May Day, 2014

http://globalclimateconvergence.org

http://www.gp.org/green-party-press-releases/details/4/681

WASHINGTON, DC -- Candidates and leaders of the Green Party of the United States expressed support for the ongoing protests against deportations and confirmed the party's demand for protected legal status for undocumented immigrants currently in the U.S.

Recent protests against deportations include hunger strikes and a peaceful sit-in by members of the Orange County DREAM Team at the Washington D.C. office of Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez (D-Calif.).

• Margaret Guttshall, Green candidate for Wayne State University Board of Governors in Michigan:

"Greens call for the protections of the Dream Act to be extended to all undocumented immigrants, not just those who arrived as minors or graduated from high school. The unprecedented spike in deportations -- nearly 2 million, averaging 1,100 per day -- under President Obama has meant brutal raids, destroyed families, and a climate of fear and helplessness. The President promised to work for passage of the Dream Act but has also surrendered to pressure from xenophobic Republican politicians."

• Howie Hawkins, Green candidate for Governor of New York (http://www.howiehawkins.org):

"Along with deportations, the lack of protections for undocumented immigrants has had numerous other effects. Employers hire undocumented immigrants to work at wages below the minimum. Latinos, Asians, Arabs, Africans, and West Indians face suspicion, discrimination, and harassment in various parts of the U.S. regardless of their status.

Civilian police forces in some states have been enlisted to question and round up suspected undocumented immigrants. Enacting and enforcing basic human rights and legal protections for the undocumented will correct these gross injustices."

• Nancy L. Wade, Illinois Green candidate for the U.S. House, 5th Congressional District (http://www.wadeincongress.org):

"It's time to repeal and renegotiate trade agreements like NAFTA that have imposed poverty on villages throughout Mexico and our other neighbors for the benefit of powerful corporations, especially agribusinesses, that are favored by trade authorities. NAFTA's passage resulted in a flood of undocumented immigrants beginning in the mid 1990s.

Greens demand trade policies that don't force people to seek relief from poverty by fleeing to the U.S. and we demand immigration policies that uphold basic human rights when they do come here. We want the U.S. to be a country that welcomes newcomers."

• Laura Wells, Green candidate for Controller of California (http://www.LauraWells.org):

"The record-high incarceration rate in the U.S. has been inflated further by federal prison sentences for people whose only crime is stepping across the border. The private-prison lobby, eager to increase profits by filling up more cells, contributes to Republican and Democratic members of Congress to build up support for expanding deportations. This is one of many reasons why the Green Party insists on public campaign financing and the repeal of Supreme Court decisions like Citizens United and the recent McCutcheon v. FEC ruling (http://www.gp.org/newsroom/press-releases/details/4/689)."