Lynn Tramonte is the Deputy Director at America’s Voice. She is the organization’s primary liaison to Capitol Hill and policy groups in Washington, DC. Prior to joining America’s Voice, Lynn worked at the National Immigration Forum for eight years doing legislative and communications work. She is a veteran of numerous legislative battles, including the comprehensive immigration reform debates in 2006 and 2007, and led the nationwide campaign to defeat federal legislation that would turn state and local police into immigration agents and undermine community policing. Lynn is a nationally respected advocate, coalition-builder, and writer. She started her career in immigration as a consultant to the Immigration and Naturalization Service, after graduating with a Bachelor’s degree from Denison University in Granville, Ohio.
Tramonte Lynn
Lynn Tramonte is the Deputy Director at America’s Voice. She is the organization’s primary liaison to Capitol Hill and policy groups in Washington, DC. Prior to joining America’s Voice, Lynn worked at the National Immigration Forum for eight years doin
Blog Post List
January 14, 2013
Immigration reform will be a top legislative priority this year, and it won’t be some vague policy or philosophical change that we’re asking for. The coming battle to change our immigration policy is personal, and we fight it every day to protect our mothers, fathers, children, and family members. Last week was a powerful reminder of this when I received this email from my friend and colleague in the immigration movement, Erika Andiola of Arizona. Here’s what she wrote: My house just got raided by ICE and they took my mom and my brother. They had no reason to do this! I can't believe that...
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December 10, 2012
After Republicans reached an historic low among Latino voters in last month’s election, political analysts of all stripes began to say that the GOP should change its immigration plank and work with Democrats to enact reasonable and humane reform in Congress. They said the Democrats want it, and the Republicans need it. This is a rare moment where a single change in the law could help both parties politically and move us forward as a country. Immigration reform—specifically, what to do about the 11 million immigrants in our country who don't have papers—was an issue in a number of Republican...
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July 20, 2012
Cross-Posted at America's Voice: I'd like to believe that most Americans, perhaps with the exception of the hard-core nativists, like Rep. Steve King and Romney advisor Kris Kobach, knows our nation’s immigration policies need to be fixed. But behind these failed policies are real human beings: those who make decisions about how to enforce the law, and those whose lives are affected by their decisions. Two disturbing stories from this week show how bad decisions at the hands of the bureaucracy can have extreme consequences for real people. And, while no parent should lose his or her child --...
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May 24, 2012
Cross-Posted at America's Voice and Daily Kos : It’s painful to watch. Rep. Sandy Adams (R-FL), a victim of domestic violence, has let herself become the spokesperson for the grievously flawed and dangerous Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) passed by House Republicans. But asserting that “VAWA must protect all victims,” as Adams does in a new op-ed in The Hill, isn’t enough. Her bill has to actually do so. Protecting all victims has been the premise of VAWA for twenty years. But the GOP bill doesn't do that. Even Adams admits that the GOP bill weakens protections for Native Americans, the...
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May 18, 2012
Cross-Posted at America's Voice : “Russian Women are no longer the best kept secret of the cold war” notes the website of Encounters International , the mail-order bride company that is lobbying hard for the passage of the scary Republican version of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) -- the version that passed the House of Representatives earlier this week. An actual reauthorization of VAWA passed in the Senate last month by a 68 - 31 margin , in a rare show of bipartisanship. As I previously reported , the VAWA reauthorization provides Republicans with a unique opportunity to advance a...
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May 7, 2012
Last month we wrote about how Republicans were warring on immigrants and women by opposing revised health care standards for detainees. Now, a new front in the GOP war against both groups is emerging. Last Friday, Huffington Post's Ryan Grim and Elise Foley wrote about House Republicans’ plan to hijack the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) reauthorization and use it to advance their anti-immigrant agenda. The title spelled it out quite clearly -- GOP's Violence Against Women Act Would Open Up Undocumented Victims To More Abuse: The House Republican version of the new Violence Against Women...
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March 28, 2012
A few weeks ago, the right-wing Daily Caller ran a piece with the sensational headline “Transgender hormone treatments, abortion access for detained illegals irks congressman.” It’s about House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith’s opposition to humane treatment of immigrants detained by our government as they fight deportation. Smith, a Republican from Texas, is known for being one of the loudest and most aggressive anti-immigrant voices in Congress. You know what “irks” me? When politicians (or anyone for that matter) play politics with people’s lives. The Obama Administration recently announced...
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March 8, 2012
It’s International Women’s Day and one of the most amazing women I know, Angela M. Kelley , is reminding us about the special contributions, insights, and strength of immigrant women. Angie is the Vice President for Immigration Policy and Advocacy at the Center for American Progress (CAP). She and her colleague, Philip E. Wolgin, have just published a new piece entitled “10 Facts You Need to Know about Immigrant Women: They Contribute More than You Realize and Face Dangers You May Be Unaware Of.” It’s well worth a read. They make some important points, like the fact that immigrants are more...
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February 17, 2012
Last September, a federal court judge allowed a sweeping immigration crackdown law to take effect. That legislation, which was signed into law by Alabama's Governor Robert Bentley in June of 2011, quickly progressed into a unrelenting nightmare for immigrant families living in the state. Many in America had no idea what was happening, and many still don’t. The stories out of Alabama range from sad to scary to completely horrific. Mary Bauer, the legal director for the Southern Poverty Law Center, reported that a mother in northern Alabama was told she could not attend a book fair at her...
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