By Alex Mikuilch, Ph.D.

Americans won a crucial battle for democracy in the 2012 election.  In the face of vicious racism, voter suppression and intimidation, hurricanes and inclement weather, millions of Americans endured long lines and witnessed to the hope of democracy:  that government gains its power only by the will and consent of the governed, to paraphrase the Declaration of Independence.  

Update on Obama Executive Action for Undocumented Youth

By Sue Weishar, Ph.D.

On August 15 the Department of Homeland Security began taking applications for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), an initiative of the Obama Administration that provides a two year grant of reprieve from deportation, as well as work authorization, for unauthorized immigrants who entered the U.S. as children. DACA applicants must demonstrate they meet the following criteria:

1. Entered the U.S. before the age of 16;

A Framework for Faithful Citizenship

Alex Mikulich, Ph.D.

Celebrating The Church in the Modern World

by Fred Kammer, SJ

On October 11, 2012, we observed the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council—an event in Church and world history that is unprecedented in many ways.  It was the largest and longest meeting ever held—over 2,000 bishops, cardinals, and other prelates meeting for four months every fall over the course of four years.  Moreover, the tone and texture of its documents were like nothing before and have shaped public discourse in the Church ever since.

Some policy-makers have cited the 1966 replacement of the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFCD) program with the Temporary Assitance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant as a model for dramatically restructuring other federal programs for low-income families.  The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities report provides abundant caution about block-granting these essential safety-net programs. See their report here.

JSRI is helping to organize a conference on human trafficking for October 24 and 27 at Loyola Univeristy New Orleans: Preventing Human Trafficking at the Super Bowl and Beyond: A Conference to Mobilize the New Orleans Community to Prevent and End Trafficking. Conference information and required pre-registration (space in limited!) is found here.

On October 9, 2012, The Southern Poverty Law Center filed a lawsuit against the Alabama State Department of Education, saying it refused to release school data showing the impact the state's immigration law--HB56--has had on Latino students' access to a public education.  The SPLC requested data on student enrollment for kindergarten-through-12th grade students enrolled in Alabama's public schools before and after the immigration law was enacted. See press report here.

The Women’s Refugee Commission has written a new report on unaccompanied minors from Central America to the U.S.:Forced from Home: The Lost Boys and Girls Central America. The report can be found here.

See recent report on reforming the H-2B guestworker program, by the Dickenson School of Law at Penn State and the National Guestworker Alliance, headquartered in New Orleans here.

A North Carolina report from the Budget and Tax Center of the North Carolina Justice Center indicates that implementing the Medicaid expansion provision of the Affordable Care Act could "reduce racial health disparities and reap the benefits of improved health coutcomes and resulting cost savings." See full report here.