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January Immigrant Affairs Update |
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The City of Austin has gone back up to Stage 5 of COVID-19 risk-based guidelines. Find resources here. Everyone 5 years of age and older is eligible to be vaccinated.
Vaccines
Boosters
- Booster shots are available at all APH vaccination locations.
- Pfizer boosters are available for anyone age 12 and over at least five months after their second shot.
- Moderna boosters are available for all adults 18 years and older at least six months after their second shot.
- Johnson & Johnson boosters are available for all adults 18 years and older at least two months after receiving their first J&J shot.
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Refugee Services of Texas
Pashto and Dari Speakers Needed for Youth Mentoring Program
RST's Youth Mentoring Program is in need of volunteer mentors, especially those who speak Pashto and Dari!
If you're interested in volunteering, please contact the Youth Mentoring Program Coordinator, Kamilia. |
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Salaam Neighbors
Austin Jews for Refugees and partners are launching the "Salaam Neighbors" program. Volunteer teams will assist new Afghan arrivals as they resettle in Austin. A three-month minimum commitment is required to fully support families during this big transition.
The Salaam Neighbors program pairs a group of volunteers with a refugee family, in partnership with Refugee Services of Texas (RST). Volunteers will assist one or more Afghan families with specific tasks that will help them adjust and thrive in Austin. To volunteer, please contact Russ Apfel |
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Needed: Winter Preparedness Kits for Caritas of Austin
Winter Preparedness Kits will help Caritas of Austin clients currently in housing or in the process of getting housed be prepared for another winter storm.
To prepare a kit, fill a backpack with a combination of the following items (NEW ONLY): Blanket or sleeping bag (wool blankets preferred since they're lightweight, waterproof & warm); Flashlight; Batteries; Radio; Bottled water; Snacks; Socks; Handwarmers; Bungee cords
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- The use of illegal traffic stops and arrest practices by federal immigration enforcement officials will be curtailed under an agreement to resolve a lawsuit brought by Chicago area residents detained in ICE sweeps in 2018. The District Court for the Northern District of Illinois yesterday evening preliminarily approved a class action settlement which will require U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to end its practice of making unlawful “collateral arrests” through vehicle stops and other community enforcement actions in Illinois and five other Midwestern states.
- A coalition of Texas and national legal groups submitted a formal complaint regarding Operation Lone Star to the Department of Justice. Through Operation Lone Star, migrants are being prosecuted on state trespass charges and being jailed in infamous state prisons now set aside for immigrant incarceration. To facilitate these arrests, Governor Abbott has deployed more than a thousand state troopers to already heavily militarized border regions in West and South Texas. He has also sent the Texas National Guard, whom he has given unprecedented arrest authority for state trespass charges.
- The 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the Biden administration's termination of the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), also known as the "Remain in Mexico" policy. Under this policy, non-Mexican migrants must stay in Mexico until their U.S. immigration court dates. Most are living in inhumane conditions.
- DHS announced commitment to enhance protections for people who are considered "stateless" in the United States. Without legal recognition, people who are considered stateless are unable to obtain identification, open bank accounts or get healthcare and many have been separated from their families for decades. Yet, because they're considered stateless, they aren't recognized as citizens of any country and don't have a way to obtain a passport or travel abroad to reunite with family.
- Biden had promised during his campaign to end for-profit detention, but he did not include ICE in his January executive order eliminating the use of private prisons. Instead, the Biden administration has expanded immigration detention.
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Friday, January 14 @ 10am CST
My API Live
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Thursday, January 20 @ 2pm CST
Austin Refugee Roundtable Meeting
The Austin Refugee Roundtable is comprised of local agencies working with refugees in Austin. The monthly meetings are a space to provide updates as well as share information and resources in order to better support our refugee communities. Please contact ARR in order to receive their newsletter and join the monthly meetings. |
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Friday, January 21 @ 10:30am CST
Immigrant Services Network of Austin monthly meeting
Sign up for ISNA membership here in order to receive access to the Zoom meeting information. ISNA is a working group of diverse community stakeholders and immigrant service providers operating together to coordinate efforts, increase public awareness, and inform policy, in order to better serve our immigrant communities. |
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Thursday, January 27 @ 1pm CST
Immigration Advocates Network: How to Support Citizenship in your Community
In this presentation, Immigration Advocates Network (IAN) will share a variety of tools and resources they have created to help low-income immigrants navigate the path to legal status/citizenship. Welcoming Network member the City of Jersey City will provide actionable context about how they implemented the IAN's Citizenshipworks Project to support local immigrants who are going through the citizenship process and how you can do the same. Register here. |
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Saturday, February 19 @ 10am CST
Refugee Services of Texas - Saturday Book Club
Art of Resilience: The Refugee State of Mind shares the refugee heritage, life, and art of Hussein Al-Baiaty. A graphic designer by trade, Hussein uses the wearable medium of printed T-shirts to promote understanding—expressing the stories of hardship, inspiration, and resilience that so often define the refugee experience.
Interwoven throughout these stories are Hussein's own principles for surviving and thriving in any new situation. Learn through his eyes how the most impossible conditions can teach us to overcome any obstacle and create the future we want. Register here. |
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ICYMI: Post-NIIC Webinar Series
As we begin 2022, we continue to wrestle with the pandemic, climate change, the repair of our immigration system, uneven economic recovery and more. Despite these challenges, we're also marking a year with meaningful movement on barriers to equity and inclusion, and landmark investment in infrastructure. We touched on these topics and many others at last year's National Immigrant Integration Conference (NIIC) that took place in October in Las Vegas, NV.
Our field is one of continual growth and we are grateful for those of you that were able to join us for our first-ever series of Post-NIIC Web Sessions! We are pleased to share our playlist of these Post-NIIC Web Sessions in case you want to tune in as you start the new year. These webinars, generally about an hour in running time each, touch on some of the most pressing issues in our work.
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ICYMI: Access to Housing, Disaster Relief, and Homelessness Assistance Programs for Immigrants
The law related to immigrant eligibility for certain public assistance can often be a confusing area and one that is often in flux as administrations change. Join the Welcoming America Network for an important conversation about access to housing, disaster relief, and homelessness assistance programs for immigrants. Watch the recording of the webinar here. |
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CWS Call Center
The CWS Call Center, launched in January 2019, is a free national service connecting immigrants, regardless of their legal status, to free or low-cost resources in their area.
Resource referrals include food, housing, medical care, legal support, court date information, school enrollment, and more.
Callers are not required to provide names or other identifying information.
The Call Center is open from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM EST, Monday through Friday.
Call Center Specialists are bilingual in English and Spanish and have access to a language line with over 200 languages. |
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The Asian American Foundation Rapid Response Toolkit
This toolkit was created as a landing place for our Asian American, Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander (AANHPI) communities and allies to mobilize at scale across nonprofits, media outlets, and advocacy and public safety groups, to protect AANHPI everywhere. A better future is a multi-faceted effort. View the toolkit here. |
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