OUR WORK DOES NOT BEGIN OR END AT THE BALLOT BOX
November 8, 2024
Communities United for Status and Protection (CUSP) stands committed to justice and the long struggle of securing permanent and lasting protections for our communities. Our work does not begin or end at the ballot box. Our vision extends beyond the next four years to win permanent residency and create pathways for immigration to the U.S. We will continue to work to address racial disparities in our immigration system and organize our communities to protect one another.
This presidential election season, we witnessed Republicans, led by Trump, run the most vicious anti-immigrant election campaign from any major party in modern U.S. history, using xenophobia and racism as the vehicle to seek absolute and fascistic power. At the same time, we saw Democrats adopt Trump-era immigration policies and deploy $22.76 billion taxpayer dollars towards the vicious wars in Palestine and Lebanon. The Democrats made these policy decisions in spite of countless Americans experiencing economic instability, the needs of the working class communities and the progressive wing of their base.
As a Trump administration comes in, we reaffirm our commitment to grassroots organizing, providing community services, coalition-building, and fighting for a better world where communities can safely seek asylum, individuals have a right to stay and leave, where climate displacement is a standard to seek immigration protection and relief when homes are no longer safe from climate disasters, and our communities are not forced to contend with their job security, immigration status, and potential deportations every 18 months as Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders.
Communities United for Status and Protection (CUSP) will continue to disrupt, resist and fight to strike down any plans intended to harm, separate and attack our communities. Together, we move in solidarity and with resilience to forge the world we demand.
For our community members:
Our families and communities are rightly worried about what will happen as a result of this election. Many of us have been through a Trump administration before; through the heartbreak and the exhaustion and we know that we will see a bolder Trump that has vowed mass deportation and harsher immigration policies. As CUSP, we are prepared. We’ve made plans together, we’ve nurtured relationships across geography and discipline. We’re ready to act, to share information across organizations and movements, and to adjust to shifting circumstances. We have experience from the past, and clarity about the just and joyful future we are building together.
CUSP already embodies the world we want to see – one where Black, Asian, Middle Eastern and Arab immigrants see their struggle as collective and their stakes as shared with other marginalized communities. Now, more than ever before, we must exercise this muscle and keep rowing our boats in the same direction.
For the Biden-Harris Administration & Congress:
TPS/DED communities have directly been the targets of xenophobic and racist attacks during this election and need protection. We have pleaded with your administration to designate and redesignate TPS/DED and now is the time to act. We are looking to you to facilitate the conditions so Trump fails his promise of mass deportations. We urge you to protect vulnerable communities under Project 2025.
We’re calling on the Biden administration to act now to:
- Designate TPS/DED for the Democratic Republic of Congo to protect Congolese nationals from deportation to violence from armed conflict that has resulted in a humanitarian crisis causing death, displacement, and growing starvation in the country
- Protect TPS/DED holders rights to live and work in this country. This means redesignating and extending all TPS/DED countries or creating a pathway for permanent residency for TPS holders.
- Clear the immigration backlogs, speed up Advance Parole and allocate more resources to ensure people receive their TPS/DED status.
- Ensure TPS/DED holders data is protected so that it is not used by enforcement agencies to detain and deport people.
- Work with Congress to pass legislation to protect the most vulnerable communities targeted in Project 2025 and defund enforcement under the Department of Homeland Security.
- Demand a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, impose an arms embargo and stop military aid to Israel.
Communities United for Status and Protection (CUSP) is a collaborative of grassroots immigrant community organizations working together to win permanent status for our members and communities. We are:
Adhikaar (Nepali: rights) is a New York based non-profit, organizing the Nepali-speaking community to promote human rights and social justice for all. We are a women-led workers’ center and community center focused on workers’ rights, immigration rights, access to affordable healthcare, language justice and youth organizing. We center women and the most impacted communities in our leadership to provide social services, education and organize advocacy campaigns.
African Communities Together (ACT) is an organization of African immigrants fighting for civil rights, opportunity, and a better life for our families here in the U.S. and worldwide. ACT empowers African immigrants to integrate socially, get ahead economically, and engage civically. We connect African immigrants to critical services, help Africans develop as leaders, and organize our communities on the issues that matter.
The UndocuBlack Network (UBN), founded in 2016, is a multigenerational network of currently and formerly undocumented Black people that fosters community, facilitates access to resources, and contributes to transforming the realities of our people so we are thriving and living our fullest lives. UBN has chapters in New York City, the DC/MD/VA area, and Los Angeles, CA.
Haitian Bridge Alliance (HBA) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit community organization based in Southern California that advocates for fair and humane immigration policies and connects migrants with humanitarian, legal, social services, with a particular focus on black migrants, the Haitian community, women, LGBTQ individuals and survivors of torture and other human rights abuses.
The National Network for Arab American Communities (NNAAC) is a national consortium of independent Arab American community-based organizations. The Network’s primary mission is to build the capacity of Arab American non-profit organizations that focus on the needs and issues impacting their local community while collectively addressing those issues nationally.