Show Love to Immigrants this Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day! Celebrate by asking the DC Council to support the DC Immigrant Justice Platform! The DC Immigrant Justice Platform is a united effort by immigrants and immigrants’ rights groups to champion several local policy initiatives that would benefit DC’s immigrant community.

The platform comprises five campaigns that will directly impact immigrants in DC. We are asking council to:

• Fund the Local Residents Voting Rights Act

• Fund the Domestic Worker Employment Rights Act

• Pass the Vulnerable Youth Guardianship Protection Act

• Pass the Street Vendor Advancement Act

• Fix the Migrant Services & Supports Temporary Act

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About the campaigns:

• Local Residents Voting Rights Act

  • Beginning in the 2024 elections, this bill would give limited voting rights to the estimated 50,000 residents of the District who are not citizens of the United States, allowing them to vote in local elections.

• Domestic Worker Employment Rights Act

  • This historic bill ends the exclusion of domestic workers from key workplace protections and gives them new rights on the job. The law now needs funding so it can be implemented effectively!

• Vulnerable Youth Guardianship Protection Act

  • This bill extends DC Superior Court jurisdiction to align DC & federal law. It will 1) provide immigrant youth in DC increased opportunities for stability by having an adult guardian in their lives, and 2) increase access to immigration relief through Special Immigrant Juvenile Status.

• Pass The Street Vendor Advancement Act

  • This bill will decriminalize street vending without a license while making it cheaper and easier for vendors to both get a license and comply with vending laws and regulations. It will also create a sidewalk vending zone in Columbia Heights and Mt. Pleasant.

• Migrant Services and Supports Temporary Act

  • Amend the act to introduce health and safety standards to the Office of Migrant Services (OMS), outline services OMS is required to provide, and create a system of due process for people who are denied services.