
Ask HN: Anything we can do for those impacted by the US immigration ban? - pjmorris
Just posted this on my FB wall, figured someone around here might have ideas.<p>r.e. recent immigration policy changes, practically speaking: Anybody here, or know someone, who&#x27;s stuck in an airport&#x2F;country they expected to leave today, and needs a sandwich&#x2F;a ride&#x2F;a place to stay&#x2F;a friendly ear? Seems like we&#x27;re going to need a network of care to look after the stranded.
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tptacek
ACLU apparently just won a nationwide stay of the executive order in NYC, so
another thing you can do to help is to cue up the bit in the movie
Ghostbusters where they pull up to Dana's building to take on Zuul and listen
to the "Savin' The Day" montage music while you make a big ol' donation to the
ACLU.

At least, that worked pretty well for me. I was going to go protest, but we
apparently shut down ORD and now they're not even letting cars approach the
airport.

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benbreen
My wife is an Iranian green card holder who was going to leave the country for
a conference she's organizing next month (ironically, on human rights) so
we're directly impacted by this. Aside from what others have said, can I just
recommend that people who want to do something write short, empathetic notes
to friends or acquaintances who might be effected? My wife was in tears all
this morning, and when one of our friends wrote simply to say "You're welcome
in this country, this doesn't reflect our values, and I'm here for you if you
need me" it helped a lot.

~~~
wfunction
Just wanted to let you know about a couple positive pieces of breaking news:

\- [http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-immigration-
admi...](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-immigration-
administration-idUSKBN15C0R4)

\- [https://www.aclu.org/news/federal-court-grants-stay-
challeng...](https://www.aclu.org/news/federal-court-grants-stay-challenge-
trump-immigration-ban)

It's up to her whether she wants to risk it obviously (personally I'd be
hesitant), but being able to get back in with a green card _as of this
writing_ is not out of the question, because I'm aware that it has actually
happened today. (If it changes 5 minutes from now don't kill me...)

~~~
benbreen
Yeah, we're monitoring this pretty closely and have already gone back and
forth on it twice. The complicating factor is that I was supposed to join her
and we'd meet up with her family beforehand (who I've never met because they
live in Iran and haven't been able to get US visas). I think the plan, as of
right now, is to still go, but I'm going to change my original plans to allow
us to cross the border back into the country together too. If a problem
arises, I'm going to do everything I can to get the ACLU on it and publicize
it, and hopefully that pressure from a US citizen will be enough.

~~~
tyre
Also note that the Republic of Iran has said that it will likely put into
effect a reciprocal ban, meaning you won't be allowed into Iran.

~~~
benbreen
Yeah, I just learned of that a few hours ago. Not surprised though, I was
assuming they'd reciprocate and I honestly can't blame them in this case. The
visit is/was going to be in continental Europe, which seems like as good a
middle ground as any these days.

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empath75
Go to the nearest airport and protest.

At this point, trying to help individuals is valuable and important, but it's
still shuffling deck chairs on the titanic. We have to push trump out of
office.

~~~
mordant
>We have to push trump out of office.

On what grounds? His immigration actions are well within the ambit of the law.

Just because you don't like him?

~~~
tptacek
No, they were not. The Immigration and Nationalization Act forbids
discrimination on the basis of country of origin; even the notion that Trump
can exercise executive authority to single out nations as threats was
challenged, decades ago, and found false. Not only that, but they're denying
_lawful permanent residents_ at the border.

Trump won't be impeached for this, but with Bannon running the show --- he
just replaced (literally) the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the Director of
National Intelligence on the NSC Principals Committee --- it's just a matter
of time before he does something that leaves Congress with no choice.

~~~
TheSpiceIsLife
It's been mentioned a few times elsewhere that Obama banned Iraqis from
entering for 6 months in 2011.

Do you know anything about that and it's legality? How does it differ from
Trumps ban?

~~~
tptacek
Twice, I think, the Obama administration put a hold on refugee applications
from Iraq. Trump's order blocks entry to the country to all people from Iraq
and 6 other country, not just as refugees (who will reside here indefinitely)
but for any reason at all, even if they are already lawful permanent residents
of the US.

Anyone telling you that these are comparable actions has an agenda you should
be suspicious of.

~~~
TheSpiceIsLife
Thanks for clearing that up.

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badtuple
There's alot of meatspace stuff suggested, but I'm an American that's overseas
until April. Anything I can do to make an impact when I can't physically
protest? I've made donations to the ACLU and CAIR and sent emails to my
representatives, but willing to do more if there is something.

~~~
tyre
Call your representatives, don't email them. It is orders of magnitude more
effective.

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xapata
Call your local elected representatives. Frustratingly, that seems to be the
best way of getting their attention remotely. Even better is to visit them.

~~~
nharada
And please actually CALL, do not email them

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tajen
Maybe we should help them immigrate in a truely developed and free country,
build a tech hub over there and start building up the counter-power that will
take over the world's regulations in the XXIst century. I'm being sarcastic
against the situation, but at one point we need to recognize the US law
enforcement has been a huge failure for the last 30 years, with programs as
crazy as the TSA, the no-fly list, the NSA, the Civil Asset Forfeiture, with
results as crazy as 1% people in jail, a sustained failure to integrate black
people (with 6% of them in jail), a ratio of 95% in jail on plea deal (which
means they haven't been proven guilty), people being tagged as secual
predators for life for peeing against a tree, SWAT teams using military gear
to attack video game players or kill puppies.

And that's just on the law enforcement side on US soil. Let's not name drones
doing executions without due trial or outright lying about WMD in Irak ar the
UN.

Without denying that the remaining 90% of USA is awesome, USA being that way
is not new, we've known for years that we don't know how to democratically
react to that, but it's now the pace of those decisions which is accelerating.

Maybe we need to create a new ideal of where we want to go, and start drafting
a type of constitution that the XXII century will aspire to: A democracy which
would be resilient to terrorism and militarization of state.

~~~
du_bing
Interesting idea of tech hub

~~~
tajen
Australia would be a great place to start, since they have capacity for twice
the population and developed infrastructure, but they're not immune to
political decisions either.

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bound008
The ACLU just solved this in surprisingly quick speed with lawyers and money.

Give as much money as possible to the ACLU. On "Adam Ruins Everything" he
explains that sometimes money is the most effective way to contribute to
charity is money. (Try to balance your giving with the EFF as well).

~~~
tootie
I can only hope this case is so patently unconstitutional that it sails though
and is quashed for good.

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eachro
Donate to the ACLU.

EDIT: link [https://action.aclu.org/donate-
aclu](https://action.aclu.org/donate-aclu)

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aclsid
I thought HN was not about politics according to the guidelines.

~~~
shaunol
Was wondering the same thing.. come for tech news, get instantly put off by
vocal users forcing US politics in the conversations. I thought the no politic
rule would help with that.

~~~
dragonsky
Front page at the moment 30 stories, only one that concerns current US
politics. I think you can avoid politics pretty easily.

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hprotagonist
[http://www.universalhub.com/2017/protesters-lawyers-
converge...](http://www.universalhub.com/2017/protesters-lawyers-converge-
international-terminal)

meatspace time.

