Advocacy Campaigns
Undocumented Californians contribute billions of dollars to California’s economy, yet more than a million lack access to affordable health care coverage. Health care is a human right and providing health coverage to everyone – regardless of immigration status – is the right thing to do. Join us in fighting for #Health4All because a health care system that excludes anyone, hurts everyone.
Our goal is to continue increasing health access for everyone. We are currently working on the following campaigns:
In 47 other counties in California, non-emergency care services are provided for adult undocumented immigrants, according to the report titled “Coverage of Undocumented Immigrants.” San Bernardino County is 1 out of 11 counties in California that does not have a county safety net program that covers undocumented adults. There are various existing state programs that provide undocumented adults with significant coverage. In other counties, the coverage is available for services like prenatal care, breast, and cervical cancer screenings and treatment, HIV/AIDS-related treatments, emergency situations, STD screenings and treatment, and family planning services.
#Health4All SB 974
Health4All Act removes an eligibility barrier to full-scope Medi-Cal for low-income undocumented adults. SB 974 builds on the gains California has made and takes the Golden State one step closer to universal coverage. Ensuring that everyone has access to health care, regardless of their immigration status.
The rural community of Adelanto, California, is home to an immigration detention facility, a county jail, a state prison, and a neighboring federal prison that together hold an overwhelming 9,965 people—almost one-third of the city’s total population. With the unrealistic belief that prison building would revitalize the community, Adelanto struck a lousy deal that failed to make the city live up to its slogan of “Unlimited Possibilities.” Instead, the community suffers from a dearth of jobs, persistent low median income, an unhealthy prioritization of jails over schools, political scandal, and a populace that has come to view the local prison economy as a blight and a drain. To make matters worse, while the city continues to teeter on the edge of bankruptcy, large private prison corporations rake in millions of dollars in revenue from federal contracts secured by Adelanto. On July 1, 2015, one of the most profitable and notoriously inhumane private prison corporations, The GEO Group (GEO), finished the expansion of the Adelanto Detention Facility (ADF), making it the largest adult immigration detention center in the United States with the capacity to imprison 1,940 men and women.
The Adelanto Detention Facility currently houses our immigrant community that is currently waiting for their immigration court hearing. While in detention our individuals have suffered from mistreatment, inadequate healthcare, overuse of solitary confinement, and even death. There have been dozens of deaths since the facility began its operations in 2011.
At Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice (IC4IJ), we have been working to mitigate the damage caused by President Trump while educating immigrant workers to stand up against violence and criminalization. We don’t do it alone, we work to listen to vendors and their communities for best practices.
Street vendors make a living by selling anything from aguas frescas, face masks, to culturally rich food like musitas. They work to pay rent, medicine and other basic necessities for their families. This past July, many vendors were fined $100 for simply setting up to work in empty lots and other public spaces in our communities. Folks have unsuccessfully tried to contact various City offices to pay their fines, but by the time they contact city staff their citations had double or increase 10 times more than they originally owe.
Fortunately, vendors have come to IC4IJ, where our Policy team has successfully advocated City officials to reduce fines, we know that’s not the end all since thousands of vendors in San Bernardino and Riverside counties are working to survive more now than ever during this pandemic. Many vendors are essential workers in our communities because they provide accessible foods and important services at low cost.
Please join IC4IJ’s fight to defend working immigrant families. Please visit bit.ly/sbvendors or consider donating to support our work to empower vendors and help them come into compliance with permits and approved carts by going to www.ic4ij.org. With your donation we will be able to continue working with immigrants folks like Diana, Jose, and Maria. Any support or money donation will be appreciated very much and will go a long way in our fight to work with and protect working families.