Communities United for Status & Protection (CUSP) stands in solidarity with CASA de Maryland and with the thousands of members they serve in the wake of alarming calls to defund the organization.
For 35 years, CASA has been a pillar in the community by providing essential direct social services, building power in immigrant communities and leading advocacy that puts immigrants at the forefront of the fight to win campaigns and protection. For decades, CASA has been committed to improving the lives of immigrant and working-class Marylanders. From its humble beginnings, CASA and its grassroots members have built an organization that delivers real impact to people’s everyday lives. Its value to our community should not be taken lightly.
From its programs to its advocacy, CASA’s work is critical to immigrant families living in Maryland. The funding that CASA receives has allowed it to
- Provide legal services in housing, employment, and immigration for low-income immigrants throughout the state;
- Enrich our youth through after-school and in-school programs that provide academic support, leadership development, and social justice training in Baltimore City, Baltimore County, and Langley Park;
- Partner with local community colleges, labor unions, and nonprofit organizations to offer a range of vocational training to low-income immigrants;
- Fight for passage of the Access to Care Act to ensure that all Marylanders, regardless of immigration status, can purchase health insurance through the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange;
- Organize Mount Rainier tenants to win rent stabilization that caps annual rent increases;
- Pass the Dignity Not Detention Act to end private immigration detention in Maryland.
These are the things that are at stake.
CASA’s work is also critical to the broader national fight for immigrant justice. Hand in hand, CUSP and other national organizations have worked with CASA to push our elected officials to govern in a way that reflects the values of equity and justice. CASA boldly leads the way as we collectively fight for the rights and dignity of immigrants throughout the country. Its members’ leadership in TPS advocacy has, for example, ensured legal status for tens of thousands of TPS holders in the region.
CASA is a vital part of what makes Maryland a place where immigrant and working-class families can live, work, play, and thrive. We stand in support of its work. We stand in support of CASA.
Communities United for Status and Protection
Adhikaar
African Communities Together
Haitian Bridge Alliance
National Network for Arab American Communities
UndocuBlack Network, Inc.
Communities United for Status and Protection (CUSP) is a collaborative of grassroots immigrant community organizations working together to win permanent status for our members and communities, and build a more inclusive immigrant rights movement that centers the needs and experiences of African, Afro-Caribbean, Afro-Latinx, Arab/Middle Eastern, and Asian immigrants. CUSP members are:
Adhikaar (Nepali: rights) is a New York-based non-profit, organizing the Nepali-speaking community to promote human rights and social justice for all. We are a women-led workers’ center and community center focused on workers’ rights, immigration rights, access to affordable healthcare and language justice. We organize the Nepali-speaking community to create broader social change; build coalitions on advocacy campaigns that address our community’s needs; center women and the most impacted communities in our leadership; engage members in participatory action research; and implement community education, workplace development training, and support services.
African Communities Together (ACT) is an organization of African immigrants fighting for civil rights, opportunity, and a better life for our families here in the U.S. and worldwide. ACT empowers African immigrants to integrate socially, get ahead economically, and engage civically. We connect African immigrants to critical services, help Africans develop as leaders, and organize our communities on the issues that matter.
Haitian Bridge Alliance (HBA) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit community organization that advocates for fair and humane immigration policies and provides bond support and humanitarian, legal, and other social services, with a particular focus on Black immigrants, the Haitian community, women, LGBTQAI+ individuals and survivors of torture and other human rights abuses. Since 2015, HBA has provided services to asylum seekers and other migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border, in U.S. detention, and during U.S. immigration proceedings.
National Network for Arab American Communities (NNAAC) is a national consortium of independent Arab American community-based organizations. The Network’s primary mission is to build the capacity of Arab American non-profit organizations that focus on the needs and issues impacting their local community while collectively addressing those issues nationally.
The UndocuBlack Network (UBN), founded in 2016, is a multigenerational network of currently and formerly undocumented Black people that fosters community, facilitates access to resources and contributes to transforming the realities of our people so we are thriving and living our fullest lives. UBN has chapters in New York City, the DC/MD/VA area, and Los Angeles, CA.