CARECEN was originally founded to protect and advocate for immigrant rights and today continues to labor towards this end. CARECEN believes that our country must adopt an immigration policy that acknowledges the valuable contributions immigrants bring and that respects the basic human rights of all immigrants and allows them to live a life full of dignity and equal opportunity. Furthermore, our country must acknowledge the role it has played in disrupting the lives of those living beyond our borders, and must adopt policies that enable the development of countries that do not further inequalities, and drive individuals to leave their homes.

History

U.S. immigration policy reflects a policy toward the global workforce better suited to dictatorships than democracies. In today’s globally enmeshed and integrated economic systems, students, skilled and unskilled workers and professionals from around the globe are demanding just, humane and generative immigration/migration regulations that foster individual and societal growth and economic equity.

Unfortunately, the U.S. immigration system is not meeting the needs of individuals, business or countries. CARECEN is working to change repressive regulations that separate family members, undermine educational opportunities and encourage racial and ethnic discrimination.

2006
CARECEN plays a key role in organizing the largest nation-wide mobilization, with 1.5 million people marching on March 25 in protest of HR4437, the Sensenbrenner Bill that would have criminalized, with a felony conviction, undocumented immigrants and anyone who assisted them in any way. CARECEN also participates in subsequent marches on April 10 and May 1, witnessing Wilshire Boulevard packed with over a million marchers stretching from MacArthur Park to La Brea.

2002
Comité and staff collect thousands of post cards to send to President Bush urging the extension of TPS.

CARECEN legal services add pro-se filing under Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). Serve 30 women in the first year.

2001
An historic new alliance of labor, immigrant rights and religious leaders hosts march and immigrant workers forum at LA Sports Arena to call for immigration parity and justice for those who are currently victimized by employers due to the fragility of their immigration status. Over 20,000 join in march and forum.

1997
CARECEN’s legal department works with the Clinton administration to draft the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act (NACARA) in order to regain the rights lost under the IIRAIRA. CARECEN reactivates the ABC committee of class members, relatives and friends to work for permanent residency status.

A partial victory is won when Congress passes NACARA, granting permanent residency to Nicaraguans and Cubans and giving limited rights to seek suspension of deportation to Salvadorans and Guatemalans.

1996
Under the Clinton administration, the U.S. Congress passes the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRAIRA) as part of the Republican Contract with America. The act eliminates suspension of deportation and surgically puts at risk over 250,000 Salvadoran and Guatemalan American Baptist Church (ABC) class members. CARECEN, the Central American Coalition of LA and SANN launch a national emergency campaign of marches and visits to Washington to educate legislators on how to regain lost rights.

1994
Proposition 187 passes. CARECEN and other Latino organizations challenge the constitutionality of the proposition in Gregorio T. v. Pete Wilson. There is an immediate injunction against implementation and the federal district court in 1995 declares the law unconstitutional.

1993
CARECEN in conjunction with other legal service providers files CARECEN v. Reno, a lawsuit challenging conditions and treatment of detainees at the INS San Pedro Detention Center. CARECEN provides legal assistance to 602 detainees in 1993.

CARECEN achieves a partial victory for the extension of DED for Salvadorans which grants 18 months of safe-haven and work authorization for 187,000 Salvadorans in the U.S. With the assistance of approximately 200 pro bono attorneys, CARECEN represents hundreds of applicants who have complications in their cases with the INS.

1992
CARECEN in coordination with the Association of Salvadorans (ASOSAL) launches an international campaign for the extension of protected status, now known as Deferred Enforced Departure (DED), which expires on June 30, 1993. CARECEN and ASOSAL mobilize Salvadorans for dozens of demonstrations at the L.A. Federal Building and meet with members of the U.S. Congress and Justice Department to build support for the extension. CARECEN organizes several delegations to El Salvador to build support for the campaign.

1991
In June alone, CARECEN processes nearly 8,000 applicants for TPS. By the end of the TPS application period, CARECEN registers 14,430 applicants – 7% of the national total of 200,000 and twice as many an any other agency nationwide.

CARECEN, Legal Aid Foundation of LA, MALDEF and the National Immigration Law Center file CARECEN et al v. Daryl Gates. This case challenges the L.A. Police Department’s practice of illegally inquiring into people’s immigration status – victims and suspects alike – and calling the INS to pick up the victims of smugglers.

1990
The U.S. Government settles the ABC law suit. The ABC settlement requires the INS to provide new and fair asylum interviews to over 250,000 Guatemalan and Salvadoran asylum applicants. This litigation also allows 250,000 ABC class members and their family members to obtain employment authorization. This is only a partial victory because refugees who arrive in the U.S. after 1990 are not eligible for these programs. Thousands continue to be detained and deported by the INS.

1988
CARECEN wins a significant victory in the class action suit Orantes-Hernandez y Meese, on behalf of all Salvadorans detained by the INS. The court issues a nationwide permanent injunction to protect the due process rights of Salvadorans while in detention and the right to seek legal counsel and apply for asylum.

CARECEN maintains more than 500 open asylum cases and, contrary to the norm of a 97% denial of asylum for Salvadorans, CARECEN prevails in nearly 70% of all cases adjudicated, a remarkable achievement. CARECEN attorneys and others actively educate judges presiding over immigrations cases in the courts regarding asylum cases, greatly contributing to the 70% success rate. The ABC class action suit continues its progress toward a decision.

1986
Years of organizing pay off as the Los Angeles City Council declares Los Angeles a City of Refuge ("refugio") for Central Americans fleeing torture and political persecution in their homelands. The ordinance reminds Los Angeles police of Special Order 40 (instituted on November 27, 1979) which bars police officers from operating as immigration agents to question and deport refugees.

Congress passes the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA), also known as the 1986 amnesty. In the following two years a significant number of Central Americans apply for permanent residency/amnesty under IRCA.

1985
CARECEN and co-counsel litigate two important class action lawsuits: 1) Orantes-Hernandez v. Meese, a nationwide class action lawsuit that challenges the patterns and practices of INS in denying Salvadorans access to counsel and otherwise discouraging them from seeking asylum in the United States; and 2) Perez-Funes v. District Director, resulting in a nationwide injunction that requires the INS to cease coercing juveniles to waive their right to a deportation hearing and to provide detained juveniles access to legal advice.

CARECEN provides critical testimony for the pivotal nationwide class action lawsuit, American Baptist Church (ABC) v. Thornburgh. The suit challenges INS discriminatory treatment of asylum applicants from El Salvador and Guatemala, who are proved to have been denied at the rate of 97%.

Immigration Reform Contact: Marvin Andrade (213) 385-0312