Advocacy

On August 12, 2021, we sent a letter to the Biden administration urging them to take action on LRIF. As the deadline for LRIF nears, the administration must acknowledge and address the perpetual limbo many LIberians have been sitting in, trying to apply for LRIF. 

We joined 100 orgs in a letter to President Biden asking that the administration immediately end the misuse of Title 42 public health authority that illegally and inhumanely expels asylum seekers and migrants at the border. 

Policy Recommendations and Priorities for the First 100 Days and Beyond

For policy inquiries, please contact:

Guerline Jozef, Executive Director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance at guerline.jozef@gmail.com

Haddy Gassama, Policy and Advocacy Coordinator at UndocuBlack Network at haddy@undocublack.org

Mustafa Jumale, Founder of Black Immigrant Collective at mustafajumale@gmail.com

November 25, 2020

The LRIF Strategy Group sent the Biden-Harris transition a set of recommendations for the new administration’s First 100 Days.  Read the recommendations here.

December 5, 2020

African Communities Together was quoted in Rep. Grace Meng’s press release announcing the letter she sent to the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention objecting to the requirement that states collect and share personal identification information of COVID-19 vaccine recipients.  See the press release here.

December 18, 2020

African Communities Together joined the No Muslim Ban Ever campaign, the Value Our Families campaign and several national, state and local organizations, in sending a letter to President-Elect Joe Biden to thank him for his commitment to rescind every iteration of the Muslim Ban, including the African Ban, on Day One and to urge him to expeditiously rescind related bans and Executive Orders.  See the letter here.

December 28, 2020

Yesterday, the President signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 which contained an extension of the Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness program.  Following several months of advocacy, this is yet another victory for the Liberian community. Eligible Liberians now have an additional year to file for their green cards.  The new deadline is now December 20, 2021.  See our press release here.

January 14, 2021

African Communities Together joined over 40 organizations in urging the Biden-Harris Administration to take immediate action to halt the Trump Administration’s denaturalization apparatus.  In 2017 and 2018, the Trump Administration filed double the average number of denaturalization cases filed in the prior 12 years with apparent targeting of people of color and Muslims. See the letter here.

January 14, 2021

African Communities Together recently contributed to the National Immigrant Justice Center and 

American Immigration Council FY2022 budget priorities document that was submitted to the Biden-Harris transition today.  The document, entitled Principles for a Values-Based Budget for Immigrant Justice, includes as a priority the funding of a White House Task Force on Black Immigrants.  See the full document here.

Recently, the State Department announced a change to the Diversity Visa (DV) online application that would require applicants to provide their current passport information.  In the past, someone who wanted to register for DV didn't need a passport until he/she was selected to actually apply for the visa (only 100,000 out of the roughly 14 million applicants are selected to apply for a diversity visa.) This allowed applicants to avoid the expense and log