JuiceBlender: Daily Kos Prefers O'Malley to Cuomo, Cuomo Hesitates on Dream Act, Bartlett Slams Obama on Immigration

Here's a random blend of political tidbits from recent news, starting with commentary from journalists and pundits comparing MD Governor Martin O'Malley with NY Governor Andrew Cuomo:

JUICE #1: DIFFERING RESPONSES FROM O'MALLEY & CUOMO TO OBAMA DREAM ACT ANNOUNCEMENT - Maryland Juice recently reported on President Barack Obama's major announcement that his administration would halt the deportation of young undocumented residents (aka Dreamers). This week, Politico's Maggie Haberman covered the differing responses to the new policy development from Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo -- two rivals in the 2016 Democratic White House race.

Initially, Haberman wrote about O'Malley's support for Obama's actions, compared to Cuomo's silence. But days later, Cuomo is now praising Obama's immigration position. Notably, Gov. O'Malley had backed a Maryland version of the Dream Act which provides for in-state college tuition for all high school graduates, regardless of their immigration status. Gov. Cuomo apparently did not support the New York version of this legislation. See excerpts from the pair of articles below:

VIDEO TRIBUTE: One Month of #JSA Student Organizing // Plus, Anthony Muse No-Show at Town Hall with Sen. Ben Cardin

BACKGROUND: Maryland Juice has produced a special video chronicling what one short month of organizing by the #JSA activists looks like. What started as a campaign to stop the deportation of Jorge Steven Acuna, an area student, has morphed into a vigorous youth-driven campaign to defend the Dream Act and draw attention to the problem of Secure Communities deportations. But more importantly, we are witnessing the political coming-of-age of the children of immigrants around the region. Many thanks to the Tea Party and the Maryland GOP for the assist -- they get a large chunk of the credit here!

BEN CARDIN & ANTHONY MUSE TOWN HALL: The video below takes you through a 2-minute summary of #JSA's recent efforts, including rallies, civic association meetings, candlelight vigils, marches, town hall meetings, voter registration drives, and more. The piece also includes shots from #JSA's town hall meet & greet with U.S. Senator Ben Cardin this weekend. #JSA organizers tell Maryland Juice that State Senator Anthony Muse had confirmed attendance at the event but stood them up without explanation. I guess he didn't want to explain to them why he voted against the Dream Act:

#JSA Gets Political: Letter from Jorge Steven Acuna Re: Today's Meeting With U.S. Senator Ben Cardin & MD Sen. Anthony Muse

UPDATE: Apparently, State Senator Anthony Muse stood up the #JSA students and was a no-show at their meet-and-greet today. Organizers indicate that Muse had confirmed attendance at the event. One student commented: "Didn't even have the courtesy to let anyone know he wasn't coming. I feel like it might be a good representation of what will happen if he is elected to the US Senate: he'll promise things and never show up to the immigrant community." OUCH!

BACKGROUND:Maryland Juice has been covering the inspiring story of the student activists involved in the #JSA movement. As apolitical MoCo youths, they "got political" after Homeland Security tried to deport one of their friends, Jorge Steven Acuna (aka JSA). JSA and his family were jailed and being readied for deportation after their application for asylum from Colombia was denied. The student activists called on Rep. Chris Van Hollen to intervene -- and in just a few days -- they amassed a 12,500 member Twitter following and several thousand petition signatures. Their efforts got the attention of Rep. Chris Van Hollen, and the Acuna family was promptly released and granted a one-year-stay on their deportation.

NEXT STEPS FOR #JSA: Yesterday we reported that today the #JSA students were hosting town hall style meet and greets between their members and U.S. Senator Ben Cardin and State Senator Anthony Muse. Both men are vying for the Democratic nomination to the U.S. Senate. When I asked for more information on their plans, organizers stated that students around the nation wanted to join their effort. #JSA now announces that high school and college chapters are in progress around the nation -- in places ranging from Virginia to Florida (ie: key swing states). They are now rebranding their efforts as Justice for Students in America and are an explicitly multiracial progressive movement.

After their foray into the U.S. Senate race, organizers tell Maryland Juice they are launching a voter registration drive and will move into the 6th Congressional District race next. They call CD6 the epicenter of their membership, due to the Jorge Steven Acuna case. In fact, the Acuna family appears to be among those households moved from CD8 to CD6. On a side note, we also hear the #JSA students have been in touch with MoCo's anti-curfew organizers to build synergy. Rock on!

Below we print a letter from the newly freed Jorge Steven Acuna. He discusses his detention and highlights how the #JSA activists are getting political:

"Some say tragedies are hard to get over, but sometimes that tragedy means it's over."

To a certain extent that is how it feels. You see, it all happened growing up, through my teenage years, I felt it coming, i felt the fear that one day the tragedy would arrive. The morning my father woke me up telling me it was over, i realized that my fear had finally come to an end. It's rather ironic to think that you grow up with a certain fear for years and years, and then one day, your biggest fear happens. So what happens? What did i truly feel? Nothing. Everyone that visited me came out of the jail inspired by my optimism, when those who visited saw me most would go into tears, and what would i try to manage? A smile. It's a sick thing what happened to me, i had to see some of the closest people in my life cry in front of my eyes, even harder thing was that i had to make sure I was strong. It turned out to be a huge injustice, and I say this not as someone who is an immigrant but rather as a human being.

But then, it happened, perhaps our lives are limited to few or none miracles, for me this was it. My miracle, and when it happened i was free. My story is not to target any feelings in your heart but rather to let everyone now that I do not plan on letting this miracle only be mine. It's crazy how my life has changed in the past two weeks, mostly because now i feel like i have a voice, and i don't feel that fear i grew for all those years.

Today JSA gives you the opportunity to meet our Maryland Senator, and a State Senator running against him. I urge you to come out and see it for yourself, because together we all have a voice, and together we can make a difference.


U.S. Senator Ben Cardin & State Senator Anthony Muse
Saturday March 24, 2012 at 12:30 p. m. on the
Montgomery College Rockville Campusm TC room 136
Let's make our voice be heard so that no one ever lives through what i lived through. Furthermore, let's do this for those who suffer countless of other injustices, because we are all human, and we all have the right to be treated as some.

Sincerely,

Jorge Steven Acuña

Maryland Juice will report back on the results of the U.S. Senate Primary candidate meetings, as well as on future plans for JSA soon!

BREAKING: Rep. Chris Van Hollen Reports Jorge Steven Acuna & Family Have Been Released // One Year Stay for Deportation

UPDATE: Casa de Maryland is still planning on hosting the rally in Rockville today at 3:30. The event will be in Rockville Town Square, and is designed to highlight the problem of deportations more generally. They hope to draw attention to the situation of others in a similar position to Jorge Steven Acuna.

Maryland Juice just received the following breaking news from Rep. Chris Van Hollen's office. Jorge Steven Acuna (aka #JSA) and his family have been released!

"I'm pleased that ICE reviewed the facts of the case and decided to release Jorge and the Acuna family and stayed their removal for a year. In light of the circumstances in this situation, it was the fair and humane decision." -- Congressman Chris Van Hollen

Thanks to the politicians who are stepping up in this fight. Let's keep the momentum going!

Rep. Chris Van Hollen & Montgomery County Councilmembers Respond to Planned Deportation of Jorge Steven Acuna #JSA

Yesterday, Maryland Juice reported on a sudden and new movement for immigrant justice in the Free State. The campaign emerged due to the planned deportation of Jorge Steven Acuna -- a Dream Act student at Montgomery College. Casa de Maryland earlier today provided details on his case (read here). Essentially, Jorge and his family have been detained by ICE after their application for asylum status was rejected. They came here over a decade ago due to political violence in Colombia. The quality of their prior representation is in question, given that their attorney was later disbarred.

The issue has rallied the community in Montgomery County and beyond, as young people have launched a social media-driven awareness campaign to save their friend. Their initial target for their communications was Rep. Chris Van Hollen, since Jorge and his family are residents of Van Hollen's 8th Congressional District. Their efforts are getting noticed. Below we print a message from Rep. Van Hollen's office on the matter, along with a statement of support from all nine members of the Montgomery County Council:

CVH: "Congressman Van Hollen is deeply concerned about Jorge and the Acuna family.  He has shared his concerns with ICE and has spoken personally to the Maryland Field Office Director to urge him to issue a deferment of removal proceedings against this family." -- Bridgett Frey, spokesperson for Congressman Chris Van Hollen.

PRESS RELEASE

Montgomery County Council Statement on 
Pending Deportation of Acuña Family

ROCKVILLE, Md., March 12, 2012—All nine members of the Montgomery County Council today signed a statement expressing their concern about the Department of Homeland Security’s detention and pending deportation of Germantown resident Jorge Steven Acuña (age 19), his mother, Blanca, and his father, Jorge.

“We urge the White House and the Department of Homeland Security to intervene in this terrible situation,” the statement reads. “We also call on Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform to finally fix this broken system.”

The complete Montgomery County Council statement on the detention and pending deportation of the Acuña Family:

We are deeply concerned by the Department of Homeland Security’s detention and pending deportation of Germantown resident Jorge Steven Acuña (age 19) and his mother, Blanca Susana Acuña and father, Jorge Acuña.

This issue was brought to our attention because of the incredible outpouring of support and activism by students at Montgomery College. More than 4,000 people have signed a petition and joined a Facebook group in an effort to stop this unjust action by the federal government.

Jorge’s parents brought him to the United States from Colombia when he was 8 years old. He grew up in Montgomery County, was an honor student at Northwest High School, and is only a semester away from graduating from Montgomery College. His parents, in an effort to do the right thing and seek legal asylum status, were caught up in our nation’s broken immigration system and now face the prospect of deportation. The entire family is currently being held in an ICE facility on the Eastern Shore.

In a similar situation earlier this month in Florida, ICE used its prosecutorial discretion and decided to defer deportation of an 18-year-old high school valedictorian who was born in Colombia and came to the United States at 4 years old. We encourage ICE to use the same good judgment again, this time in the case of the Acuña Family.

We stand committed to working with Congressman Chris Van Hollen and Senators Ben Cardin and Barbara Mikulski to help the Acuña Family avoid deportation. The Acuña Family’s attorney has prepared an emergency stay application and the Montgomery County Council is strongly supportive of this request.

We urge the White House and the Department of Homeland Security to intervene in this terrible situation. We also call on Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform to finally fix this broken system.

For additional information:

• Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/groups/300409916692389/
• Change.org Petition: http://www.change.org/petitions/jsa
• Twitter Hashtag: #JSA
• Florida Case: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/07/us-usa-florida-student-idUSTRE8261KA20120307
• www.lethimstay.net

                                                                                # # # #

Casa de Maryland Responds to Planned Deportation of Jorge Steven Acuna // Hundreds to Rally in Rockville: WED @ 3:30 PM

PRESS RELEASE (en español)

Hundreds of Students, Teachers & Community Members Call on ICE to 

Halt Deportation of a Maryland Dream Act Student & His Family 

Case of family of 3 from Germantown, MD sparks a grassroots revolution of support

• WHAT: Press Conference, rally and vigil
• WHERE: Rockville Town Square, Rockville, MD 20850
• WHEN: Wednesday, March 14, 2012 at 3:30 P.M.
• WHO: Friends and family of Jorge Steven Acuña, Members of St. Rose of Lima church, St. Martins church, Mother Seton Parish, Northwest High School Teachers, Montgomery College Professors, Soccer Coaches, Hundreds of students, Members of the community, CASA de Maryland

Rockville, MD - This Wednesday, hundreds of students, community members, faith leaders, and teachers will join together to urge justice for the Acuña family. On March 8th 2012, Blanca, Jorge Sr., and Jorge Steven Acuña were taken from their home by immigration agents and are now being held at Snow Hill Detention Center in a maximum security unit.

The Acuña family came to the United States in 2001 to escape the political violence of their home country of Colombia. Moving first to Florida then to Montgomery County, Maryland, they quickly adopted to their new community buying a home, working multiple jobs to support the family, and getting active in their church St. Rose of Lima in Gaithersburg. Jorge Steven started his education at the grade school level in the United States, graduated with a 3.8 GPA from Northwest High School in Germantown, and started his studies at Montgomery College this year where he has made the Dean's List, excelling in academics and athletics. Jorge's dream is to go to Johns Hopkins and become a surgeon.

When the Acuñas came to the United States, they applied for asylum. Despite the tens of thousands they spent on representation, their case did not receive adequate legal attention from their attorney who was later disbarred. Asylum was denied and last week ICE officials came to pick the family up, putting the star student in leg irons for transport to the lower Eastern Shore of Maryland.

“This terrible news is sending shockwaves through our community not just because the Acuñas are productive members of our society, but especially because of the loss of a young, inspiring, and successful college student,” said Julio Castillo, a classmate, teammate and close friend of Jorge’s. “This must stop with Jorge”

Hours after his detention, Jorge’s friends and family organized an impressive social media campaign with viral videos and photos. Within 48 hours their online petition gathered almost 5,000 signatures while their twitter campaign #JSA is trending as one of the most talked about topics in the Washington D.C. Metro area. They have gained the attention of thousands across our county and state prompting a unanimous statement of support from the Montgomery County Council.

“It is good to see hope in jail, a place where I never see daylight,” said Jorge Steven to his supporters when they visited him in an Eastern Shore detention center over the weekend.

In late August of last year, the Obama administration announced it planned to review cases of people currently in removal proceedings and focus their resources only on the highest priorities. In other words, DREAM ACT- students, relatives of veterans, victims of domestic violence and other individuals would be able to stay in the country and get work permits. Actions tomorrow will draw attention and recruit supporters to the cause of the Acuña family while continuing to highlight the impact of the broken immigration system on local communities.

Links:

• Online petition: www.lethimstay.net
• Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/groups/300409916692389/
• Twitter: #JSA

MoCo Residents Fight Back Against Politicians' War on Immigrants // Students Fight Deportation of Their Friend #JSA

UPDATE: Rep. Chris Van Hollen, all nine members of the Montgomery County Council, and Casa de Maryland have published responses to the case of Jorge Steven Acuna.

Jorge Steven Acuna = #JSA

BACKGROUND: In the course of the last few years, Maryland Juice has been evangelizing the power of the Internet and peer-to-peer information sharing to advance social causes and political candidates. Over the weekend, numerous readers have flagged the latest experiment in social change, driven by otherwise ordinary individuals. Rather than tackling a global issue -- like the now famous Kony 2012 effort -- young people in Montgomery County are trying to make a difference in their own community. Their efforts center around a young man named Jorge Steven Acuna.

A reader who has been helping this cause provides information about Jorge: "There is a young Germantown kid – Jorge Steven Acuña – who was picked up with his parents by ICE to be deported after their multi-year application for asylum was denied.  It is a very typical story.  What is different here is that the community has exploded around it. Jorge is a resident of the 8th Congressional District and a Montgomery College student (future surgeon as his YouTube bio says). All of his supporters started out as apolitical young people who grew up in Montgomery County but have become totally politicized by the case."

LAME MARYLAND DEMOCRATS: Members of the Maryland Congressional delegation, along with state and county leaders, are completely LAME on immigrant justice. For the last two years, I have watched Democrats in other states fight back against rampant and careless deportations, reject the ridiculous "Secure Communities" program, and file private bills for DREAM Act students. But none of that happens in Maryland (aka "The Free State"). Once again, this Democratic complacency has led to youths taking matters into their own hands.

A NEW CAMPAIGN IS BORN: Friends of Jorge Steven Acuna have launched a multi-faceted campaign to raise awareness of his cause and have launched a viral YouTube video, Facebook effort, Twitter hashtag (#JSA), and change.org petition. Their request is simple: They want Rep. Chris Van Hollen to intervene, and they are doing everything they can to make sure he gets their message. See their kick-off video and numerous examples of guerilla marketing below:

CONCLUSION: Indeed, Maryland Juice has wondered why there has been deafening silence from Maryland Democrats (who are high-ranking officials in the Party) about Barack Obama's record-setting deportations of (mostly Latino) immigrants, and their seeming lack of interest in doing anything about Secure Communities. I was just in Dublin, Ireland last week and learned a great deal about the flood of immigrants to the United States during the great famine in Ireland. I am planning to write about my trip soon, but in the meantime, I have to point out that the parallels between the Irish immigrants of the last century and the immigrants of today are obvious. The biggest difference is that today's immigrants have a different skin color and speak a different language. The fact that this difference allows for such a massively lame response today is sickening.

Our political system stinks, and we're getting sick of this. 
Young people, I think it is time for a political rumble. 
We need to dislodge the oldsters if things don't start changing.

DC Rejects Anti-Latino "Secure Communities" Deportation Program // Plus, Restaurant Eve Top Chef Weighs In?

Yesterday, the District of Columbia announced that it was refusing to participate in the Department of Justice's controversial "Secure Communities" deportation program. According to the Washington Post, Mayor Vince Gray signed an Executive Order "that prohibits public safety agencies from asking about a person’s immigrant status or contacting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement."  The announcement came on the same day that researchers released a new report calling into question the record number of deportations occurring under the Obama administration. According to PBS, Secure Communities really does break up families (lots of them) and racially profiles Latinos:

...a new report, released today, raises major questions about a program that has lead to many of those deportations. 

Secure Communities, a high-tech way of tracking immigration violators via fingerprint data, has led to the disproportionate arrest of Latinos, the wrongful detention of U.S. citizens and families being split apart when a spouse or parent is deported, according to a new study, [PDF] released today by the Warren Institute at the University of California, Berkeley Law School, in conjunction with the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. 

The study is the first to analyze government data on the program. Among its findings:

Another GOP Cog Defects: A Border Patrol Agent Speaks Out

Earlier this week, we pointed Maryland Juice readers toward an article written by a former GOP cog. The page-turner of a post is titled "Confessions of a GOP Operative: The Inside Story on Republican Sabotage." The article it discusses was written by a veteran Hill staffer who spent years working for Republicans. One observation from the author that we didn't highlight previously (but do below), is the perfect introduction to the topic of this post:

While Democrats temporized, or even dismissed the fears of the white working class as racist or nativist, Republicans went to work. To be sure, the business wing of the Republican Party consists of the most energetic outsourcers, wage cutters and hirers of sub-minimum wage immigrant labor to be found anywhere on the globe. But the faux-populist wing of the party, knowing the mental compartmentalization that occurs in most low-information voters, played on the fears of that same white working class to focus their anger on scapegoats that do no damage to corporations' bottom lines: instead of raising the minimum wage, let's build a wall on the Southern border (then hire a defense contractor to incompetently manage it). Instead of predatory bankers, it's evil Muslims. Or evil gays. Or evil abortionists.

Yes indeed, this blog is also prone to shouting about nativism. We are, after all, witnessing the exploitation of the recession as a motivator for unprecedented anti-immigrant animus. That's why I thought Monday's "Confessions of a GOP Operative" post would make a nice introduction to today's post. In what may just be a coincidence, yet another GOP cog has seen the light. This time it is a former border patrol agent:

John Randolph is a retired US Border Patrol/ICE Agent. In his twenty six year career, he worked as a US Border Patrol Agent, INS Criminal Investigator, and a DHS Special Agent assigned to the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force.

TONIGHT: Homeland Security Hosts DC Area Hearings on Deportation Program - Will MD Officials Speak Out?

UPDATE: Washington Post coverage of the DHS hearings:  "Maria Bolanos told [ICE]... that she was arrested after calling police in Maryland during a fight with her partner.... Now she’s facing deportation because her fingerprints were shared with immigration authorities and she was identified as an illegal immigrant as part of the Secure Communities program....  200 people walked out of the meeting, chanting “end it, don’t amend it.” 

Earlier this week, my friends at the Bill of Rights Defense Committee alerted me to tonight's DC-area Department of Homeland Security public hearing. DHS is gathering input on their controversial "Secure Communities" deportation program (see email alert below). We discuss what the fuss is all about in greater depth below, but first a little bit of political background on the issue.

At issue is DHS's program asking local law enforcement officers to check the immigration status of people they detain. People flagged as present without documentation could be instantly whisked away by immigration officials (note: currently deportation occurs whether or not they are guilty of the crime in question -- they may even be the crime victim!)

Democratic Governors in Illinois, New York, and Massachusetts have ensured their states refused to participate in "Secure Communities." Will Maryland officials follow?