Tag: fairness

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Long-term NoVa immigrants in TPS program face expulsion

By Brad Swanson:

Organized labor and allies rallied Saturday morning against Trump Administration plans to deport an estimated 20,000 protected status immigrants from northern Virginia.

“This is a cruel and vicious attack on families,” said Virginia Diamond, president of the Northern Virginia AFL-CIO. Many of these immigrants have been in the USA for a generation and have sunk deep roots into their communities, she pointed out.

Nationwide, the federal government plans to withdraw Temporary Protected Status (TPS) covering 400,000 immigrants from El Salvador, Haiti and Honduras in 2019 and 2020.

TPS was originally granted because of political turmoil and elevated violence levels in home countries but supporters say that after many years of living in America, TPS holders have become American in all but name – homeowners, job holders, valuable members of their communities. Moreover, 300,000 children, all US citizens, have been born to these families and raised in this country. Their fate if their parents are forced to leave is in question.

After hearing speeches outside the Northern Virginia Labor Federation office in Annandale on Saturday morning, rally participants dispersed to canvass for Jennifer Wexton, a Democratic state senator who is in a tight race against incumbent Barbara Comstock as representative for the 10th Congressional district – the second biggest region for protected status immigrants, after Long Island, New York.

“Comstock has been silent on the [TPS] program,” commented Jaime Contreras, vice-president of Service Employees International Union 32BJ. “Wexton has been a supporter of labor in Richmond.”

More in The Blue View

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Fairfax NAACP Recognized as Best Branch in the United States

By M. J. O’Brien:

The Fairfax County NAACP has been named the top branch in the country by the national organization. The branch will receive the prestigious Thalheimer Award, given annually to the branch with the most outstanding achievements, next week at the NAACP’s Annual Convention in San Antonio, Texas.

Kofi Annan, President, Fairfax County NAACP

“Fairfax County is the home of the best branch in the NAACP in the nation,” said Kofi Annan, president of the Fairfax branch in announcing the award. “We’ve always felt that way … but today it became official!”

Established in 1944, the Thalheimer Award recognizes “outstanding achievements” by local branches in “the implementation of the Association’s strategic priorities and goals.” These include “enhancing advocacy, civic engagement, economic and political empowerment, criminal justice, and educational equity.” The award is named for Dr. Ross Thalheimer, a psychologist who was executive director of the Community Guidance Service and also founder of the American Institute for Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis.

In its application for the award, the branch cited a variety of activities and initiatives, including the successful two-year “Change the Name” campaign that sought to convince the Fairfax County School Board to change the name of J.E.B. Stuart High School. Name change proponents pointed out that naming the most diverse high school in the county after a Confederate general was a detriment to learning and an insult to students and residents alike.

In July 2017, the school board voted that the name of J.E.B. Stuart had to go and later in the year support coalesced around the name Justice High School. The school is being revamped this summer and will officially open with its new moniker next month.

Read the rest at The Blue View

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Photo Essay: Thousands rally in Washington, D.C., to bring families together

Tens of Thousands of demonstrators rallied Saturday in Washington, D.C., to protest the Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance” immigration policy and separating children from their parents.

On a sweltering day in the capital, the crowd gathered at Lafayette Square across from the White House to protest separating thousands of children from their parents at the border and the new plan to detain families together. Some 600 “Families Belong Together” rallies were held around the country.

The rally began with Sebastian Medina-Tayac of the Piscataway Indian Nation addressing the crowd in Spanish and English, reminding people that this is a nation of immigrants. Then he beat the drum.

Then Jocelyn, an undocumented immigrant who didn’t want to give her full name, told of how she was separated from her son when she came to the United States from Brazil last August and she was held at a detention facility in Texas. She said that she was told that her son could be adopted. It took 9 months for them to be reunited.

Celebrities Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator of the smash musical “Hamilton,” singer Alicia Keys and actress America Ferrera were among the rally speakers. Miranda sang a lullaby from “Hamilton,” Keys read a letter from a mother separated from her son and Ferrera talked about being a new mother, her Honduran roots and her duty to defend justice.

After the rally, protesters marched down Pennsylvania Avenue past the Trump International Hotel to the Department of Justice.

Read the rest at The Blue View

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Medicaid Expansion, Huge Win for Virginia

You may have heard that yesterday the Virginia legislature approved a budget that includes an expansion of Medicaid, making it the 33rd state in the country (including the District of Columbia) to do so since passage of the Affordable Care Act.

It is hard to overstate the impact of this victory. In Fairfax County alone, 15,000 families will be eligible for health coverage. At least 27,000 individuals could receive health care. Throughout Virginia, over 400,000 people are eligible for coverage.

Thank you to every member of the Hunter Mill Democrats for your part in helping make life better for everyone in Virginia. Your work will literally save lives. Check out Fairfax County Democratic Committee Chairman Dan Lagana’s statement on this incredible victory.

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Win-win tax reform: Restoring fairness and spurring growth

By William Berkson:

Tax reform is not a zero-sum game. Since Ronald Reagan lowered taxes in the 1980s, followed by George W. Bush in the early 2000s and Donald Trump last year, middle class income has stagnated despite productivity increases, and overall economic growth has been mediocre. Instead of lose-lose, we can have win-win, bolstering both fairness and economic growth through sensible tax reform and wise investment of added revenues.

Fairness in taxation means finding the right balance between the taxpayer’s ability to pay and the benefits from government use of tax dollars.  As I showed in a previous article government investment in education, research, and infrastructure could hugely benefit economic growth and good jobs.

The rich are not paying their fair share today. The chart accompanying this article the Economic Policy Institute shows the growing gap between median family incomes and the value of goods and services that a worker creates. Since 1980, the additional value added by each worker has gone more and more to bosses, not employees

Eliminating the Republican-passed tax breaks for the wealthy, and publicly investing the revenues would create better paying jobs, and help close this gap.

Read the rest at The Blue View.