Alan Webber

Pilot project to study guaranteed basic income impacts on immigrant and mixed status families starts in March

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A group of 330 undocumented and mixed status families living in 13 counties in New Mexico will participate in a pilot project starting in March that will study the impact of those families receiving a guaranteed basic income for 12 months. The families will receive $500 a month for 12 months and participate in online surveys as well as more in-depth interviews on how the 12-month guaranteed income impacts their lives, officials said during a press conference held virtually on Monday. The New Mexico Economic Relief Working Group, a coalition of immigrant-based and advocacy organizations, is spearheading the project in conjunction with UpTogether, a California-based nonprofit that will be supplying $2 million of the grant money. The coalition also received an initial grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to support the project, Marcela Diaz, executive director of Somos Un Pueblo Unido, said during the press conference. Jesús Gerena, chief executive officer of UpTogether, said the families studied will be selected through a randomized lottery system.

Amber Wallin

Immigrants left out

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Without relief aid from the federal and state government, immigrant families could suffer homelessness and hunger. Amber Wallin, NM Voices for Children’s deputy director, said that without any aid during the public health emergency and economic crisis, the crisis will worsen for immigrant families, leading to homelessness and hunger. That could also mean there will be children who live in immigrant or mixed-status homes who won’t be prepared to learn due to hunger in the coming school year. Some immigrant-owned businesses will be unable to restart, leading to more job losses, she said. “We had huge challenges already.

American Civil Liberties Union Regional Center for Border rights

Federal politics unite unlikely coalitions at the border

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The last two years of the Trump administration have been challenging for both environmental and immigrant advocacy groups at the border. Renewed calls to build a $25 billion wall that would cut through important wildlife habitat for species like the jaguar and the Mexican gray wolf, combined with the impacts of ramped-up militarization in border communities, have increasingly united conservationists and social justice activists. This newfound collaboration is especially strong in Las Cruces, in southern New Mexico. This story originally appeared at High Country News and is reprinted with permission. Here, in the Borderlands, groups like the faith-based organization NMCAFé and the American Civil Liberties Union Regional Center for Border Rights have long worked on immigration reform and fought for immigrant rights at detention facilities.

Comunidades en Accion y de Fé

On Facebook, Doña Ana County Commissioner goes after activist’s mother

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A southern New Mexico county commissioner appeared to take personal shots at the mother of a female activist and constituent on Facebook Wednesday night. Screenshots from progressive activist Johana Bencomo show comments from Democratic Doña Ana County Commissioner John Vasquez, saying Bencomo’s mother asked him for “wierd (sic) favors” from the commissioner. In a time of #MeToo and public discussions regarding treatment of women by men in positions of power, Vasquez may have put himself, the county commission and the state and local Democratic party in an unwanted spotlight. Bencomo said Vasquez’s personal shots came after she commented on a post he made criticizing other politicians for endorsing candidates seeking election in 2018. “I just simply asked a question,” Bencomo told NM Political Report.

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals

Churches emerge as important refuge for immigrants

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Martha Lorena Rivera of Alamogordo had been checking in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) since 2011 to renew a stay of removal she said she’s been given annually for humanitarian reasons. In past years she received approval in the mail, but this year was different. On the morning of Oct. 10, her “world came down,” she said in an interview with New Mexico In Depth. When she presented her application in late September at the El Paso ICE processing center, agents gave her a follow-up appointment for two weeks later.