For artist Nancy Coyne, it’s personal:
“My family grew up in Europe, and would have been killed in Europe, and massacred during the Holocaust, and also massacred by the first period of the persecution of Jews, had we not fled,” she said. (CBS)
Coyne created a new exhibit in the skyways that connect downtown St. Paul, with an artist’s vision illuminating the lives and stories of Minnesota immigrants from all over the world. The exhibit, which officially opened on Monday, September 18, will run for six months. Coyne said in a press release:
“Planning for this project began long before the more recent immigration policies became a national discussion, and long before downtown Saint Paul residents and businesses raised concerns over the security in the skyways,” said Nancy Ann Coyne, Speaking of Home principal. “However, it is more important than ever – to make immigrants feel welcome here — while the nation debates immigration policies, travel bans and sanctuary cities, two of which are Saint Paul and Minneapolis.”
St. Paul’s skyway project won’t let us look away from each other (MPR, 9/14/17)
St. Paul celebrates Minnesota immigrants with the city’s first skyway art exhibit (Go MN, 9/18/17)
St. Paul unveils skyway art celebrating lives and journeys of immigrants (CBS, 9/18/17)
The Rust Belt Needs Legal Immigration (The Atlantic, 9/18/17)
“The study, from the nonpartisan Chicago Council on Global Affairs, concludes that immigration has been “a demographic lifeline” that has helped several Midwestern cities partially reverse decades of population loss among native-born residents.
“For the cities of the Midwest, restricting current immigration levels is the last thing they need: an unnecessary tourniquet applied to a precious supply of new regional residents and workers,” reads the report, written by demographer Rob Paral, a non-resident fellow at the council.”
DACA and Dream Act
What DACA’s End Could Mean for Colleges (The Atlantic, 9/18/17) If DACA ends with no Dream Act replacement, there will be impacts on student enrollment, tuition, scholarships, etc.
“College leaders say they have myriad reasons to oppose a prospective repeal of DACA. Undocumented students, they argue, often bring unique viewpoints and backgrounds to campus, excel academically, and contribute to the economy after graduating….
“The loss of work permits could also mean that DACA beneficiaries who plan on attending college would be all the more reliant on financial aid, which can be hard to come by. DACA recipients, like all undocumented students, do not have access to federal financial support for higher education, but depending on where they live they may be eligible for other forms of publicly funded aid.”
Republicans Are Happy Trump Ended DACA. They’re Less Sure About Deporting DREAMers. (NPR, 9/17/17)
“After learning that President Trump is working with Democratic congressional leaders on codifying the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, furious Trump supporters burned their Make America Great Again hats. Fox News’ Sean Hannity tweeted that “@POTUS needs to stay the course and keep his promises or it’s over.” And in response to a Trump tweet about allowing DREAMers to stay in the country, conservative commentator Ann Coulter tweeted, “At this point, who DOESN’T want Trump impeached?”…
“While 71 percent of strong Trump approvers told Morning Consult that rescinding DACA was “the right thing to do,” only 27 percent of people who strongly approve of Trump said they wanted Congress to pass a law that “removes or deports DREAMers.” In comparison, 38 percent said they wanted a law that created a path to citizenship and 23 percent wanted a path to legal status.
“One caveat here — issue polling is notoriously difficult to parse.”
DACA, A Student’s Story: ‘They Are The Types Of Immigrants You Want In Your Country’ (NPR, 9/16/17)
“My parents, they were scammed by a supposed immigration attorney and [they] didn’t speak English. They didn’t know how the American system worked. They didn’t know the laws here and they just assumed, “Oh, if we hire an attorney, everything will work out.” Turns out it didn’t….
On waiting to learn the fate of DACA
“It’s like when you’re on a chair and you lean a little too back and you’re just about to fall, right? And it’s like feeling that perpetual falling feeling. I just want to be able to know if I’m going to be able to keep what I built here. I want to be able to one day own a house, have a family, have a job and watch football on Sundays peacefully.”
Opinion: RAISE Act is DACA poison pill (Forbes, 9/1817)
“The most immediate impact of the RAISE Act would be to eliminate the applications of more than 4 million people currently waiting in immigration backlogs.” Wiping out pending applications for family and employment-based immigrants is hypocritical for those who claim the “rule of law” banner.”
Led by a Republican member, 51 Minnesota lawmakers plead for ‘Dreamers’ (Pioneer Press, 9.18.17) Saying that “the spirit of DACA is not controversial,” MN State Representative Rod Hamilton (R-Mountain Lake) collected signatures for his letter to Trump supporting DACA from 51 fellow Minnesota legislators.
Immigration news 