Here are the policies we are supporting at #ImmigrantDay2022!

Are you ready to take the lead and advocate for equity on April 26?

There are only 6 more days left to sign up for Immigrant Day of Action 2022 and guarantee a visit with your own legislator!  These visits are a crucial step in ensuring that our policy priorities are humanized in the eyes of our state’s decision makers. Your stories make that possible. This year, our Policy Platform is more expansive than ever before: including, for the first time, both budgetary and legislative priorities that will guarantee a better future for many generations to come.

This year’s Policy Platform for Immigrant Day of Action (IDA), informed by our movement partners across the state, consists of a set of bills and a budget request that we all deem crucial. These bills are decisive steps towards investing in everyone in our state and interrupting the criminalization of our community members, regardless of where they were born.

The IDA 2022 Policy Platform is also informed by how the pandemic laid bare the heaviest burdens placed on our low-income Black, Indigenous, immigrant communities of color. As we think through recovery, there is no better time than now for our state to invest in the communities that have been historically excluded from relief and a safety net.

CIPC is proud to take the lead on training all IDA participants this year to powerfully advocate for budgetary and legislative bills. We want to ensure that California is a state where residents can survive and thrive. We’re excited to announce our 2022 Immigrant Day of Action Policy Platform:

Immigrant Equity Budget (IEB): Sponsored by CIPC

The IEB would allocate $2.5 billion to address historic exclusions by:

Investing in immigrant workers who have been historically excluded from unemployment benefits ($690 Million)(#SafetyNet4All: AB 2847 – E. Garcia)
Providing comprehensive health care access to all income-eligible Californians through Medi-Cal ($1.3 Billion)(#Health4All: AB 4 – Arambula/SB 56 – Durazo)
Ensuring that every household can put food on the table by making CalFresh available to all income-eligible Californians ($548 Million)(#Food4All: SB 464 – Hurtado)

California ID’s for All: AB 1766 (Stone, Jones-Sawyer, Rivas, Gipson)

AB 1766 will expand access to California Identification Cards to all Californians, regardless of immigration status. Lack of identification is one of the largest barriers to successful reentry into the community as IDs are essential to securing housing, social services, and other benefits.

The VISION Act: AB 937 (Carrillo)

AB 937 would further limit California’s participation in the arrest-to-deportation pipeline. AB 937 protects immigrants and refugees—who have earned release from state prisons and local jails after serving their time—from being transferred to ICE upon their release, essentially preventing them from facing double punishment.

The Alternate Plea Act: AB 2195 (Asm Jones-Sawyer, Bonta, Stone; Senator Becker)

AB 2195 will protect Californians from the lasting harmful consequences of drug convictions by providing prosecutors with the discretion to offer an alternative plea. People facing a possible drug conviction would be able to plead to a felony or misdemeanor public nuisance as a substitute for a drug charge, as long as the prosecutor and public defender are in agreement.

Enhancing Safety of Sidewalk Food Vending: SB 972 (Gonzalez)

SB 972 will modernize the California Retail Food Code (CRFC) to include sidewalk food vendors and bring thousands of micro-entrepreneurs, who are immigrants, into the food economy. Sidewalk vending is a crucial and culturally significant means for undocumented immigrants to earn a living.

Join us on Immigrant Day 2022 to take the lead by advocating for these important steps to better the lives of our immigrant communities across the state.

Interested in taking a leadership role? You can sign up to become a Legislative Lead who will help organize and guide the legislative visit.Please click here to sign up for our final Legislative Lead Training on Tuesday, April 11th, which will be in both English and Spanish.

#ImmigrantDay2022 is about educating and empowering our community to engage in the legislative and budgetary process. It is a crucial step in ensuring that our future is in our own hands. We look forward to seeing you there!