NEWS

The annual Palisades Park Health Fair will be held on Saturday, September 26, 2015, from 10 – 6 and CoFiA has been invited to have a table. Caryn Maxim, of Grupo Cajola, will provide hand woven pulseras (bracelets) that we will give to the children who attend. In addition she is donating one of the lovely hand made aprons that the weavers in Cajola make.

Volunteers are welcome to help staff the table. A good way to see the Palisades Park community in action!

Many immigrants who work steadily in the U.S. do not have Social Security numbers. However, it may be against the law not to file an income tax return even though the government will not allow the person to have an SSN. Fortunately, it is possible to obtain an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN).

Many people don’t want to pay taxes! However, there are several benefits of getting an ITIN and paying them: you can claim a tax refund from the IRS; you can claim the child tax credit and file a joint tax return with a spouse; and it allows you to obtain tax exemptions for minor children.

In addition, having a record of having paid taxes can be a major advantage if you ever become eligible to apply for an immigration status: it shows that you are of good moral character, and documents your physical presence in the U.S. Also it allow you to open a bank account at some banks.

For more information go to the web site of the Legal Services of New Jersey, www.lsnjlaw.org or call them at 1-888-576-5529. The IRS is not allowed to report you to Immigration if you have applied for an ITIN.

The Guatemalan consulate will hold a Mobile Consulate in Fairview, New Jersey, on Saturday, August 15 and Sunday, August 16, from 9 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. each day. Guatemalan citizens will be able to have their passports and consular identifications renewed, and many other services will be provided.

The event will be held at the Church of St. John the Baptist, 239 Anderson Avenue, Fairview, NJ 07022

For information about what documents must presented, call 212-686-3837 or go to www.consuladoguatemalanuevayour.org. For general information call CoFiA at 201-681-5133. The cost is $65 dollars in cash or money order payable to the consulate.

I am honored to have received this lovely art from a seven year old recent arrival from Guatemala. What a lively imagination! I am happy that she has been able to join her parents after what was very likely a difficult and expensive journey. She will have her first exposure to school when classes begin in September.

Calling rates for all people held in prisons or jails are much higher than for other people. In New Jersey the rates are absurdly high. For example, an inmate or immigration detainee (detainees are NOT criminals!) held in a state-contracted facility pay about 4.5 cents per minute. In other facilities, such as the Bergen County jail, the rate is about 11 cents per minute, and the county is proposing a new rate that would be 22 cents a minute.

This exorbitant rate is due in large part to the fact that the county builds in a 60.5% commission on each call, and is proposing raising the commission to 65%. This commission goes directly to the facility. In addition there is a mysterious 8% “validation fee”. The end result is a charge that is over five times the cost of a similar call from any state facility and county jail tied to the state contract.

These high fees are incorporated in a proposal received in response to a recent RFP from Bergen County. All final bids are due on July 231, 2015, and comments on them must be received by that date.

New Jersey Advocates for Immigrant Detainees, First Friends of NJ and NY, and the New York University School of Law, Immigrant Rights Clinic have submitted comments, and Assemblyman Gordon Johnson has written to the County Sheriff, Executive, and Freeholders opposing the bid. CoFiA was represented in the conversation.

For more information and to sign on to the letter of opposition, contact Alix Nguefack at Anguefack@AFSC.org.

Some people who have DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) immigration status are being required to return 3-year work permits issued or mailed after February 16, 2015 because of the current stand-off in Congress over President Obama’s immigration initiatives.

The permits must be returned by JULY 30, 2015. When the 3-year work permit is turned in, the individual will be issued at 2-year card instead. But if the 3-year permit was mailed by USCIS after February 16, 2015 and is not turned in by July 30, the individual could lose his or her DACA status and work permit entirely.

Please spread the word as widely as possible. For more information go to http://www.ailalawyer.org or http://www.immigrationlawhelp.org.

The Community of Friends in Action has launched a summer campaign to raise money to hire a community organizer. Our good friend Elias Garcia, who worked with us for many years as a volunteer, has had to return full-time to paid employment. We miss him!

We are fortunate to have had several inquiries about the position and also a good response to our initial appeal for funds. We are hoping to have the funding in hand by September so we can get started on this new chapter in our work.

For more information about the position, go to the “Job Description” page on this web site. To make a donation, make checks payable to CoFiA, Inc., and mail to P.O. Box 313, Leonia, NJ 07605-0313.

Here are some snapshots of our work over the years.

Leonia resident Maria Andreu, a long-time member and volunteer of CoFiA, was recently featured in an article in The Record on her new book, The Secret Side of Empty. This Young Adult novel is based on her own experience growing up as an undocumented teen in the United States. The article, by Kara Yorio, asks, “What is diversity” in the young adult context?

Andreu says, “There’s a lot of conversation in the book world among writers and editors and such about what it means….I think it’s both characters that represent a range of human experience, ethnicity, gender and ability–sometimes that’s not talked about as much, but differently-abled–but also giving fice to authors from different backgrounds, because obviously people with different experiences will tell stories in different ways.”

For more information and the full article, go to http://www.northjersey.com/arts-and-entertainment/books/two-bergen-county-authors-show-diversity-trend-in-books-for-teens-video-1.1373166

On Wednesday, July 15, 2015, the Jersey City Council passed an ordinance to protect workers from having their wages stolen by employers. Jersey City is the fifth city in New Jersey to pass laws to permit suspension or revocation of business licenses from employers found to be in violation of state law governing proper compensation of employees. Under the ordinance, an employer has committed wage theft when they are found liable in a judicial or administrative hearing of violating federal, state or local laws that regulate the payment of wages or the collection of debt owed to unpaid wages.

Without such laws, workers denied wages must negotiate with the NJ State Department of Labor and Workforce Development Wage and Hour Division. This can be a lengthy process and even if a judgment is rendered in the worker’s favor, the penalty is only what the worker is owed. Unscrupulous employers typically regard this as just the cost of doing business.

New Brunswick was the first municipality in New Jersey to pass a wage theft law in 2013, followed by Princeton, Highland Park, Newark, and now Jersey City. Partners advancing local wage theft ordinances include New Jersey Working Families, New Labor, Unity Square, and the New Jersey Immigrant Justice Alliance.

The Wage Theft Recovery Committee of the Community of Friends in Action receives many calls for assistance from workers who have been cheated of earned wages, and have been remarkably successful in recovering some of the stolen money. A local ordinance like that passed in Jersey City would be very useful in helping to retrieve more.

CoFiA has received a request from Kids in Need of Defense (KIND) for volunteer interpreters and translators.  KIND is a non-profit organization that provides unaccompanied immigrant children free legal assistance.  With the recent influx of families and unaccompanied children into the U.S., the need for interpretation and translation is growing daily.

This is a very flexible volunteer opportunity for a great cause!  For more information about the organization visit www.supportkind.org.  To inquire about volunteering, email interpreters@supportkind.org or call 862-926.2084.