An Amor and Exile Year-In-Review, 2013 timeline
2013 was a big year for Amor and Exile and for the pro-immigration movement. Brush up on the issues of the past year with this Amor and Exile Year-In-Review for 2013.
January
Obama administration announces stateside waiver processing, creates relief for some families (Take Two, Southern California Public Radio)
February
- Senate “Gang of Eight” reveals comprehensive immigration reform plan
- Advocates for family-based immigration relief found group Action for Family Unity, create petition calling for end to time bans (Change.org)
- American citizens married to undocumented immigrants in the mainsteam press (CS Monitor)
March
- ‘Amnesty not enough’ for journalist who calls for apology to undocumented immigrants (Forbes.com)
- DREAMER convinces GOP lawmaker to oppose his own anti-immigrant law (ThinkProgress)
- ‘Illegal immigrant’ no more for AP (Associated Press blog)
April
- Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on immigration reform: “We have a strange immigration policy for a nation of immigrants. And it’s a policy unfit for today’s world.” (Washington Post)
- Amor and Exile prepares for publication, receives praise from authors, journalists, and immigration experts Helen Thorpe (Just Like Us), Glenn Greenwald, Jose Antonio Vargas (Washington Post/DefineAmerican.com), Maria Andrade JD, Michael Davis JD, and Ellin Jimmerson (The Second Cooler)
May
- Debate on Senate bill 744 begins in the judiciary committee (Politico.com)
- Send Amor and Exile to Washington campaign launched (Indiegogo.com)
- Amor and Exile: True Stories of Love Across America’s Borders is published by Cordillera West Books, Nathaniel and Nicole’s new imprint
- PBS airs series of commentaries on 5 families separated by immigration law (PBS Newshour)
June
- “Send Amor and Exile to Washington” campaign raises over $12,000 and delivers a copy to every member of Congress, the nine Supreme Court justices, President and First Lady Obama and Vice-President Biden and other D.C. officials
- A&E featured on the News and Politics section of BlogHer (BlogHer.com)
- Nicole and Nathaniel launch A&E on the East Coast with the first public readings at AILA D.C. headquarters and Ukazoo Books in Baltimore, MD
- Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) calls for relief for exiled/separated families with colleague letter supporting Amor and Exile (amorandexile.com)
- Nathaniel launches A&E in Boise at Hyde Park Books, with Nicole skyping in from Querétaro (facebook.com)
- SB 744 passed in the Senate (New York Times)
- A&E discussed in “All About Family” (Baltimore Jewish Times)
- Nathaniel’s work as Idaho journalist and A&E highlighted (Idaho Press-Tribune)
July
- Nicole launches A&E in Mexico with Nathaniel skyping in, starting in Querétaro at the Casa del Atrio (amorandexile.com)
- A&E and Nicole’s story covered in Boulder, Colorado (Boulder Weekly)
- Nathaniel hosts reading at the American Friends Service Committee in Denver with a call-in by Nicole
August
- Reading in San Miguel de Allende, home of J.W. Lown, profiled in A&E
- Edgar Falcon marries on the border in highly publicized wedding on the El Paso/Mexico border (Texas Tribune)
September
- A&E and Nathaniel featured in Boise magazine (Greenbelt)
- A&E available for sale on Powell’s and featured on Goodreads.com
- A&E receives positive review from AILA (AILA Voice, pg. 17)
October
- HR 15, a comprehensive immigration reform bill largely based on SB 744, is introduced in the House of Representatives (ImmigrationImpact.com)
- Nathaniel shares A&E at the International Institute of the Bay Area on October 24th
- A&E and Nicole and Margo’s story featured on PRI The World (PRI The World)
- Rift surfacing between some immigration reform activist groups (prernalal.com)
- House Reps Pearce (R-NM) and O’Rourke (D-TX) sponsor the American Families United Act (AFU website)
November
- Nicole and Margo’s story featured alongside series of profiles of SF Bay Area immigration activists (SF Bay Guardian)
- Town-hall discussion of A&E and immigration issues at Rediscovered Books in Boise and Baltimore event co-hosted by Chizuk Amuno and Beth-El congregations (amorandexile.com)
- “Illegal Immigration and Marriage,” discussion of A&E with Nathaniel and Nicole on “Midday with Dan Rodricks” (WYPR.org)
- Pre-Thanksgiving Reading of A&E in (Nicole’s hometown of Syracuse, NY (Post-Standard | Syracuse.com)
December
- Immigration reform officially “dead” for 2013 (Hispanic News Network)
- Fight for comprehensive immigration reform shaping up for 2014 (Grand Island Independent)
- A&E available on Kindle in the Amazon Prime Lending Library
- A&E has sold over 1,000 copies and hosted 14 public readings in the U.S. and Mexico in its first six months.
- Giveaway days planned in January to coincide with the start of the Congressional session, to help elevate the debate on immigration reform—stay tuned!