Weekly Diaspora: Hitting Immigrant Kids Where It Hurts

by: The Media Consortium

Thu Sep 09, 2010 at 13:24:47 PM EDT

by Catherine A. Traywick, Media Consortium blogger

After a long summer of name-calling and absurd attempts to deny birthright citizenship to children of immigrants, immigration hawks are now bullying immigrant children on their own turf: Public schools.

California, New York, Iowa and Colorado are among the states that have cracked down on immigrant students by hiring ICE agents to investigate residency statuses or unlawfully barring students from enrolling. Such blatant discrimination flies in the face of the 14th amendment and Supreme Court precedent, both of which guarantee all children the right to a public education regardless of immigration status.

The latest assault on immigrant students comes not from over-zealous school districts, however, but from state lawmakers adamant about stripping immigrants of the few rights they possess.

Kicked out of school

As Matt Vasilogambros of the Iowa Independent reports, Iowa's lieutenant gubernatorial candidate Kim Reynolds recently came out in support of denying public education to undocumented children, a sentiment she shares with her running mate, former Gov. Terry Branstad. Branstad's position is even more extreme, however. He has argued that the Supreme Court decision in Plyer v. Doe-the 1982 case which guarantees immigrants the right to public education-should be overturned.

So far, only Colorado third party gubernatorial candidate Tom Tancredo has fully endorsed Branstad's extreme opinion. Tancredo has even gone so far as to say that, if elected, he would ignore the Supreme Court ruling altogether.

Branstad and Tancredo may be on their own for the moment. Bu, if this summer's birthright citizenship fiasco is any indication, anti-immigrant conservatives must be delighted to fall back on the age-old myth that immigrants are here to steal social services.

New York Stands Up

Last week, the New York Department of Education fired back at anti-immigrant activism in schools by issuing a memo directing schools not to investigate the immigration status of their students.

According to Braden Goyette of Campus Progress, the memo came in response to a New York Civil Liberties Union report charging that 139 New York school districts were collecting information about prospective students' immigration statuses-and barring or discouraging children from enrolling if they failed to provide proof of their citizenship.

Goyette notes that federal law only requires students to fulfill two simple requirements before enrolling: residency in the school district, and intent to remain in the school district. Immigration status is not a factor.

The memo is a victory for immigrant rights advocates, especially as it comes on the heels of reports that two California school districts are adopting even harsher anti-immigrant policies.

Negating Pylver v. Doe

As New America Media's Jacob Simas and Elena Shore translate from a La Opinión, a daily Spanish-language newspaper based in Los Angeles. Both the Unified School District of Calexico and the Mountain Empire School District near San Diego have hired staff exclusively to investigate the immigration statuses of their students. The school districts are attempting to get around Pyler v. Doe by arguing that their proximity to the border necessitates stricter enforcement of federal residency requirements.

In other words, they're worried that Mexican children are crossing the border to take advantage of our first-class, world-renowned public school offerings. The simple fact that student residency can be determined without revealing immigration status is obviously beside the point.

Cutting Social Services in New Jersey

Meanwhile, immigrants in New Jersey may be robbed of their own social services, as the state threatens to removes 12,000 non-citizens from the it's low-income family insurance plan.

As Change.org's Prerna Lal reports, several legal immigrants have joined a class action lawsuit against New Jersey's Department of Human Services, alleging that the state is violating "the equal protection guarantees of the United States and New Jersey Constitutions" by denying health care subsidies to legal permanent residents. Lal notes that legal permanent residents possess nearly all of the same rights as U.S. citizens, and pay taxes to both state and federal governments. They should, therefore, be safe from public policy discrimination.

But, while it's well documented that both legal and undocumented immigrants pay into our social services system through income taxes, that fact is persistently overlooked by the anti-immigrant zealots who want to keep immigrants off Medicaid and out of public schools.

Even former President George W. Bush's Council of Economic Advisors agreed that immigrants have a positive fiscal impact Social Security and Medicaid, contributing $80,000 more in taxes than they receive in public services. Other studies put that figure much higher.

Given their immense contribution to the social services net, guaranteeing immigrants' access to those public services is more than a matter of justice-it's a matter of fiscal responsibility.

This post features links to the best independent, progressive reporting about immigration by members of The Media Consortium. It is free to reprint. Visit the Diaspora for a complete list of articles on immigration issues, or follow us on Twitter. And for the best progressive reporting on critical economy, environment, and health care issues, check out The Audit, The Mulch, and The Pulse . This is a project of The Media Consortium, a network of leading independent media outlets.

DREAM Now Letters to Barack Obama: Saad Nabeel

by: kyledeb

Thu Sep 02, 2010 at 13:42:09 PM EDT

DREAM Now Letters to Barack Obama: Lizbeth Mateo

by: kyledeb

Mon Aug 30, 2010 at 14:27:04 PM EDT

DREAM Now Letters to Barack Obama: Carlos A Roa, Jr.

by: kyledeb

Tue Aug 24, 2010 at 14:10:08 PM EDT

DREAM Now Letters to Barack Obama: Selvin Arevalo

by: Duke Reed

Wed Aug 18, 2010 at 10:53:00 AM EDT

1. "Like" his Facebook page
2. Join the Facebook group "We Are Selvin"
3. Follow Citizen Orange for more updates

1. Sign the DREAM Act Petition
2. Join the DREAM Act Facebook Cause
3. Send a fax in support of the DREAM Act
4. Call your Senator and ask them to pass the DREAM Act now.
5. Email kyle at citizenorange dot com to get more involved

Time to take the ball and go home?

by: Duke Reed

Fri Aug 13, 2010 at 19:33:00 PM EDT

While many of his responses were the kind of predictable boilerplate we've come to expect from those running for office,  a quick glance back allows us to see just how little his promises and pronouncements actually meant.

1. Could you please articulate what you think are the most pressing issues for the U.S. immigrant community, at home AND abroad, and how you would hope to address those issues as President?

At home, the immigrant community faces a real challenge from the tension our inability to fix our immigration system has engendered. Abroad, not enough is being done to encourage job creation and economic development and to decrease the pressure to immigrate without authorization to the U.S. in search of work.

2. Do you support comprehensive immigration reform?

Yes.

3. What policy conditions would comprehensive immigration reform have to meet in order for you to support it? Please be specific.

I fought in the U.S. Senate for comprehensive immigration reform. And I will make it a top priority in my first year as president. Not just because we need to secure our borders and get control of who comes into our country. And not just because we have to crack down on employers abusing undocumented immigrants. But because we have to finally bring the 12 million undocumented out of the shadows.

We should require them to pay a fine, learn English, abide by the law, and go to the back of the line for citizenship - behind those who came here legally. But we cannot - and should not - deport 12 million people. That would turn American into something we're not; something we don't want to be

Two years out, it's become painfully apparent that reform has been far from a "top priority" for the Obama administration and Democrats in general...  But more troubling than the broken campaign promises, is the reality of how this inaction has effected Latino and immigrant communities across the country.

At the time, he claimed he didn't want to "turn America into something we're not; something we don't want to be" ... yet that is exactly what has happened.  

Is America supposed to be a place where people are rounded up and detained because of the color of their skin?  A place where the citizenship  of those born on it's soil is open for debate? A place where masked vigilantes, empowered by local lawn enforcement, are sanctioned to terrorize entire communities like nightriders of the old south?  Where local demagogues set up self proclaimed "concentration camps" to detain whole segments of the population?  A place where municipalities and states pass Juan Crow laws aimed at driving out and intimidating ethnic minorities?

Yet, this is the current state of affairs under Barack Obama's leadership.

Enough!

Rather than standing up to the extremists and radical fringe of the far right, he has looked to compromise and appease them. .... perhaps not always in word...but certainly in deed.

He's arrested, detained, and deported more non-criminal undocumented migrants and spent more money on "border enforcement" than any other president in history. ..  recently adding an additional 600 million dollars to the already bloated border-security budget.

And for what?

To appease the right-wing extremists who question the very validity his presidency and now pull the strings of a Republican party aimed at destroying him through obstruction and inaction.?

To save the butts of vulnerable blue-dog democrats who provide his party a majority in name only and work at odds to its core principles in order to preserve their power?

To further the machinations of political hacks like Schumer and Emanuel whose Machiavellian political worldview revolves solely around the acquisition and maintenance of power?

Like another great political orator who promised us a "shinning city on the hill," but forgot to mention that it would be built on a mountain of debt and the broken backs of the poor and working classes,  Obama promised hope and change, but neglected to tell us that it wouldn't be for those to whom he promised it.

Enough!!

It's time to take the ball, leave the playground,  and let those who've allowed the bullies to rule figure out how to play their game without one.

For far too long Democrats have relied upon being the lesser of two evils to maintain their coalition. As long as Republicans can be counted on to be more racist, homophobic, misogynistic, xenophobic, anti-labor, greedy and hypocritical, Democrats have had little to do but throw a crumb here or there to their core constituencies to mollify them and keep them in line.

Extremists like Rand Paul, Sharron Angle, and the rest of the tea-party nutcases, are gleefully pointed out by Democratic operatives to instill fear in their base just as the Republicans rely on other fears to motivate theirs.  

We hear it even now as Latino voters become increasingly disenchanted with the Democratic Party. Various operatives tell them,  "but look at how much worse it will be for you  if you let Republicans take control?"  . ... and that is in fact true.... but how much longer can they be asked to withstand being pawns in a political chess game that tears families apart and forces them to live in constant fear.

Enough!!!

It's time to play hardball.

Until Congressional Democrats realize that they were returned to power after ten years in the minority in order to fix the mess left behind from Republican rule, and that Obama sits in the Whitehouse because he was supposed to spearhead change ... they deserve no more consideration than their opposition.

"Give us a majority" was their mantra ..."and we will turn this mess around". ...And millions of new voters took to the polls to give them that majority.....and in return they got watered-down healthcare reform, more endless war, and no immigration reform. In fact what they got was more troops on the border and more people criminalized,  jailed and deported for simply trying to make a better life.... precisely the same situation that would have occurred five years earlier with HR4437, if not for millions taking to the streets. Yet at the end of the day, Sensenbrenner's enforcement only policies now prevail ...thanks to the current Democratic leadership.

Enough!!!!

Rahm Emanuel and Chuck Schumer can count heads with the best of them. Let them try to figure out how they hold power without the Latino, immigrant, and pro-migrant vote. Let them decide if holding blue-dog seats in deep red states is worth losing races easily won in blue and purple states with the help of Latinos and immigrant voters.  Let them do the math.  Let them try to put together a winning electoral map while those who provided the margin of victory in so many crucial races in 2008 boycott elections until some real meaningful change is made.

A few weeks back, while talking to his netroots supporters in Las Vegas, Obama told them to continue to hold him accountable. But holding him accountable is not about writing blogposts and tweets about what he's doing wrong ... it's about votes.

It's about control of Congress....It's about the subpoena power of the majority to tie up an administration in endless investigation.  If Republicans gain control of Congress, Obama becomes a lame-duck, one-term president...if Democrats remain in control, he has a chance at greatness if he so chooses.

But to attain that victory he and his party MUST deliver something. They MUST make the hard choices and decisions to insure those who hold the key to re-election have some relief.

No more promises. No more platitudes, No more excuses. The time for action is NOW.  

DREAM Now Letters to Barack Obama: Stop Ivan Nikolov's Deportation

by: Manuel

Wed Aug 11, 2010 at 14:54:03 PM EDT

1. Sign this petition to DHS
2. Send a fax to DHS
3. Call Janet Napolitano, Director of the Department of Homeland Security (202-282-8495)
4. Call John Morton, Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (202-732-3000)
5. Call Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) and ask him to lead on getting the DREAM Act passed this year (202-224-6221)
6. Call Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and ask her to co-sponsor the DREAM Act (202-224-4822)

I am calling to leave a message of support for Ivan (A#078-251-095)  who is going to be deported any day now. I ask that Director Morton please step in to defer his deportation, he is an asset to this country.  Thank you.

Immigrant Stories from the 5%

by: Manuel

Tue Aug 10, 2010 at 13:32:53 PM EDT

Immigrant Stories from the 5% is a Facebook-centered effort for Asian Immigrant communities to connect and amplify their perspective on the brokenness of the U.S. immigration system.  

Their mission:

This is an interactive online space for collecting and broadcasting stories of Asian and Pacific Islander immigrants and their descendants.

To be invisible no more. To uplift the immigrant stories of Asian and Pacific Islanders in America in order to transform the way in which the media currently portrays the immigrant experience - that all immigrants are Latino.

Please help us reshape the dialogue around comprehensive immigration reform by sharing your story. Let's stand in solidarity with all American immigrant communities, and let's show our Latino brothers and sisters that we've got their back.

Here are the links to the sites associated with this effort:

• FaceBook Group
  
• @AsianImmigrant on Twitter
  
• Drop.io

The Political Complexity of Immigration

by: Manuel

Tue Aug 10, 2010 at 01:46:13 AM EDT

The telephone poll of 800 heads of households across the six-county Chicago region July 8-14 found that 57 percent of the respondents did not want police to seek illegal immigrants for deportation.

Almost half of those polled, 48 percent, said they believed that illegal immigrants snatched jobs and resources, taking away from society and the economy.

Nearly all of those who responded, 87 percent, believed that some sort of legal status should be offered to the nearly 11 million people in the country illegally, provided that the immigrants aren't dangerous felons, that they learn English and that they pay fines and back taxes.

ChicagoTribune.com

I've been blogging immigration for over five years now.  Earned blisters from marches, protests and vigils close to home and across the country.  Voted and advocated for promigrant/prohumanity candidates.  Networked to help relief find the random email from a scared brother or sister without documents.

To be honest, it feels unsettling to talk about immigration as a political issue, because it has been used a weapon to destroy the lives of migrant workers, youth, and the communities that give our neighborhoods the vibrant sense of home that we love and cherish.

On the national level, both parties have bought into the notion that there is such a thing as having enough border security - the mirage of satiating the bloodlust of nativists who would rather see a fence hundreds of miles along a desert homeland that has experienced the migration of human beings for as long as the species walked the earth.  

We have to be willing to change the way we think about immigration.  

We must have the courage to look in the mirror for the reasons that the Summer of 2010 will go down as the deadliest in Arizona.  214 as of July 31st.  

We should challenge politicians who are trying to save their careers by offering soundbites that are reckless and unconstitutional.

We must - because it will be the only thing that slows down this march to extremism by the United States.  We must remember who we are as human beings.

We must.  

Which is why The Sanctuary is back.

Weekly Diaspora: Local Laws Target Immigrants; Activists Take to the Streets

by: The Media Consortium

Thu Apr 15, 2010 at 13:18:32 PM EDT

By Erin Rosa, Media Consortium blogger

While immigrant rights groups pressure the federal government via high-profile marches and rallies, anti-immigration forces are pushing punitive laws on the state and local levels. Thousands of immigration reform proponents rallied last week to push federal lawmakers to pass reform this year, but the Arizona House of Representatives passed one of the toughest immigration laws in the country, which enables racial profiling of Latinos.

If the Senate fails to propose a reform bill this Spring, immigration reform won't be on the agenda for 2010. With elections at the end of the year, it's uncertain if reform will pass after that, as the resulting Congress could be more conservative.

More rallies from the grassroots

As Seth Freed Wessler reports at RaceWire, "Rallies for immigration reform were held in at least seven cities on Saturday, including Las Vegas, Seattle and Chicago, and were meant to maintain momentum from the massive march in Washington last month." The rallies were part of a sustained effort by reform supporters to pressure the Senate to take up reform this year.

In Las Vegas, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) made an appearance and told supporters that the Senate would start work on reform soon after legislators came back from a brief recess this week.

"Speaking before a crowd of more than 6,000, Reid, a vulnerable incumbent, assured his audience of his commitment," Steve Benen wrote for the Washington Monthly.

"We're going to come back, we're going to have comprehensive immigration reform now," Reid was quoted as saying. "We need to do this this year. We cannot wait."

New America Media cites a report from Univision, writing that "Reid, fresh from the fight for health system reform and with a difficult re-election campaign ahead, told demonstrators that there is some urgency to passing legislation to reform the immigration system, including improving border security and creating a guest worker program for seasonal workers."

New America Media also reports on a surprising conservative-evangelical alliance that supports comprehensive immigration reform that protects children and families. "While not entirely new, the involvement of conservative Latino and evangelical leaders in the immigration debate puts additional pressure on Congress and the president to take up the issue this year."

In Seattle, AlterNet reports  on the large presence of Asian immigrants at the local rally, quoting Diane Narasaki, executive director of the Asian Counseling and Referral Service:  "There are about 1 million Asians living in this country who are undocumented, so comprehensive immigration reform is really key to our community," Narasaki said.

Local laws target immigrants

Meanwhile, the GOP-controlled Arizona House of Representatives voted along party lines this week to pass a state law that would, as RaceWire's Freed Wessler reports, "make it a criminal offense simply to be an undocumented immigrant on Arizona soil and to require local cops to determine a person's immigration status if there is any 'reasonable suspicion' the person is undocumented."

"The law would essentially require police to racially profile Latinos and threatens to terrorize immigrant communities already trying to survive in what is arguably the country's most anti-immigrant state," writes Freed Wessler.

In Colorado, where a similar state law passed despite wide criticism of civil rights abuses, there are reports on an effort in Denver to push back against a a local city-wide anti-immigrant  law that encourages police to impound vehicles of undocumented immigrants.

"Members of the city council here are considering eliminating a controversial vehicle impound law that has raised financial and constitutional questions," Joseph Boven reports for the Colorado Independent. "It's unconstitutional, for example, to require Denver police to judge whether someone driving in Denver without a license might be an illegal alien."

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Linking national concerns with local issues, the National Radio Project reports on a panel called "Race, Immigration and the Fight for an Open Internet," which focused on how telecommunications corporations' moves to restrict internet access could affect immigrant communities.

"Right now, telecommunications companies are pursuing a restrictive pay-for-play business model for online access that many say will only further the digital divide, discriminating between those who have Internet access and those who do not," the news outlet notes.

This post features links to the best independent, progressive reporting about immigration by members  of The Media Consortium. It is free to reprint. Visit the Diaspora for a complete list of articles on immigration issues, or follow us on Twitter. And for the best progressive reporting on critical economy, environment, and health care issues, check out The Audit, The Mulch, and The Pulse . This is a project of The Media Consortium, a network of leading independent media outlets.

Arizona's harsh anti-immigrant bill gives racial profiling the green light

by: Restore Fairness

Wed Apr 14, 2010 at 18:05:04 PM EDT

From the Restore Fairness blog.

The passage of SB 1070 by the House of Representatives in Arizona  will have chilling repercussions if signed into law by Governor Brewer.  The bill dramatically expands police powers to stop, question and detain  individuals for not having proper identification, a move that will  instigate racial  tension and fear and driving a wedge between groups.

SB 1070 effectively makes it a crime to be undocumented in   Arizona,  and will be one of the harshest anti-immigrant legislations in the U.S. if  it becomes law. The bill passed in Arizona’s House of Representatives  and is to be combined with a similar bill that passed in the  Senate,  after which it is expected to be signed into law Governor Brewer. Senator  Russell K. Pearce (R-AZ) who introduced the bill has publicly  stated that if it passes, 10 other states will follow suit with similar  legislation.

So what’s in it? The bill requires the police to  investigate the immigration  status of every person that they come  across, whom they have “reasonable suspicion” to believe is in the  country unlawfully. This implies that everyone has to carry their papers  with  them at all times in order to avoid being stopped, arrested, and   detained, effectively fashioning Arizona into nothing short of a police  state. Currently,  police officers can only inquire about a person’s immigration status if   the person is a suspect in a crime. In addition, the bill allows anyone  to sue a local, country or state agency if they   believe that the agency is not enforcing immigration law, expressly  forbids cities from adopting “sanctuary”  policies that prevent  police from carrying out immigration  enforcement, and makes  it illegal to solicit work or hire day laborers.

While opponents of immigration have been rooting for this measure for   a long time, immigrant rights advocates have unanimously condemned the   bill as an affront on the civil liberties of the residents of Arizona.  From business groups and faith leaders to municipal governments and  police chiefs, the bill has seen increasing opposition. Even within the  police, while police  unions support the bill, the state  police chief’s association has opposed the bill,  saying that it  will hamper the trust that immigrant communities place  in the their  services. Outraged by its potential passage, groups like the ACLU,  NDLON, Bordern  Action Network and  national networks have gone into  overdrive to  protest the bill. According to Alessandra Meetze,  President of the ACLU of Arizona,

Instead of working on real solutions to  the  immigration crisis, our  legislators have devised a proposal that  is full  of  shortcuts…Contrary to what proponents of SB1070 say, the  bill does   not prohibit officers from relying on race or ethnicity in  deciding who   to investigate…A lot of U.S. citizens are going to be  swept up in the application of  this law for something as simple as  having an accent and leaving their  wallet at home.

While Senator Pearce believes the bill simply  “takes   the handcuffs off of law enforcement and lets them do their  job”, in reality, it promotes racial profiling and cements  anti-immigrant sentiment already prevalent in Arizona. The grounds of  “reasonable suspicion” on  which police officers will  investigate  people about their immigration  status will in many cases be based on  racial and ethnic grounds. One immigration group, Somos America,  likens it to the  system operating under apartheid or pre-civil rights  America  with Jim Crow laws, where people of color were disallowed from   entering “white” land, yet were exploited for their labor by  the white  population. Given Arizona’s infamous Sheriff Arpaio whose dictatorial methods  favor neighborhood sweeps, tent city detentions, and racial stops the  fear of the misuse of the bill is not far fetched.

Sign a petition to tell Governor Brewer to stand up  for Arizona and stop  signing a bill into law that will terrorize communities and create  painful divisions.

Learn. Share. Act. Go to restorefairness.org

How many more hate crimes against immigrants will it take?

by: Restore Fairness

Mon Apr 12, 2010 at 18:12:52 PM EDT

From the Restore Fairness blog.

Quintessentially ‘New York,’ Port Richmond is a diverse and vibrant neighborhood that has been home to most of Staten Island’s Latino community for many years. In incidents that often go unreported, in the past few years this neighborhood has seen more hate crimes against Latino immigrants than one can bear to count. The latest one took place early morning on April 5th when 26 year-old Mexican immigrant Rodulfo Olmedo was attacked by four young men outside his apartment. In this horrifyingly vicious assault, the attackers yelled racial slurs at him, beat him with wooden planks, metal chains and a baseball bat, and took his money, leaving him with a fractured skull.

Although Olmedo is home from the hospital and recovering from his injuries, the entire community is reeling from the psychological and emotional trauma caused by yet another episode of race-based violence in their midst. Last night, there was a combination of sadness and outrage as 150 community members gathered for a candlelight vigil outside the bakery where Olmedo was employed. Led by a local priest, they prayed for an end to the violence that has plagued the immigrant community for years. Speaking about the frequency of hate crimes in the area, Gonzalo Mercado, the director of the Center for Immigrant Families in Port Richmond, said that “the community is living in fear, because these types of situations are not new to this area.”

Rodulfo’s mother, Margarita Olmedo, said that the family is traumatized by the violent attack and is determined to make sure that it does not go unnoticed. She spoke to local press on Rodulfo’s behalf-

He’s under a lot of medication, so he’s resting sleeping…He just wants to make sure that everybody says something about it, that nobody should keep quiet. He does not want this to happen to anybody else.

The attack was captured by two surveillance cameras, and was broadcast on the local television channel (NY1). Following the broadcast the police received a tip, and, after searching their “stop-and-frisk” database, they arrested four suspects on Friday, the 9th of April.  The arrested youth face assault and hate crime charges, and if convicted, could received up to 25 years in prison. The arrest of the suspected perpetrators has given rise to a controversy around the NYPD database that contains information of all the people they stop, question or frisk on grounds of “reasonable suspicion,” as a part of their “stop-and-frisk” policy.

Begun in 2001, the database was started as a safeguard that recorded information of all police stops, thereby ensuring against racially disproportionate action on the part of the police. This case has brought to light the fact that a database that was initiated to prevent against racial profiling, is being used by the police to track down suspects, raising concerns amongst civil liberties advocates like the New York Civil Liberties Union. Speaking about the potential of the database to allow for racial profiling, Chris Dunn, associate legal director of the ACLU said-

The prospect of occasionally finding additional information about suspects already known to the police does not come close to justifying a police database of millions of innocent black and Latino New Yorkers.

While this case received coverage in the press, most of these cases go unreported. On Friday, community leaders in Staten Island gathered to tell people that the only way for concrete action towards putting an end to such violence is if people who are victims or witnesses of hate crimes come forward and report them. The “April 5 bias crime,”as the press has named it, drives home the fact that race-based violence against immigrants has seen a dangerous surge in the past few years.

As the momentum is growing towards just and humane immigration reform, it is important to keep in mind the horrific reality of individual stories like Rodulfo’s, unfolding in our own neighborhoods, right before our eyes.

Will Sen. Scott Brown Meet With Massachusetts Immigrant Youth Before April 17?

by: kyledeb

Mon Apr 12, 2010 at 09:28:52 AM EDT

1. SIGN the petition at change.org and ask all of your friends and family to do the same, especially if they are Massachusetts residents. 
2. CALL Brown's D.C. office (202-224-4543) and his local office (617-565-3170) to ask whether or not Brown will meet with us before April 17.
3. JOIN the Facebook group and ask your Facebook friends to do the same
   
4. HELP us fight any misinformation or nativism that you see online regarding our meeting request.   

Meet the Dream Walkers: Felipe, Gaby, Carlos and Juan - join up and walk with them

by: heiderose1

Thu Apr 08, 2010 at 20:44:34 PM EDT

Felipe Matos, 23, Gaby Pacheco, 25, Carlos Roa, 22, and Juan Rodriguez, 20, decided that life in the shadows without a chance for a meaningful future was no longer tolerable. They saw their friends and schoolmates lose hope, drop out of school, sink into depression and turn to self-destructive behavior, including suicide. How can these young people believe in themselves if the country they call home does not believe in them or their future? So the four students decided that they had to break the silence and come out of the shadows themselves, risking detention and deportation, to raise awareness about the unbearable plight of undocumented youth in our nation. Thus the Trail of Dreams was born.

http://www.trail2010.org/

"We have the same hopes and dreams as other young people, and have worked hard to excel in school and contribute to our communities. But because of our immigration status, we've spent our childhoods in fear and hiding, unable to achieve our full potential.

We walk for our dreams, and the dreams of millions of others that currently live in the shadows -- in a state of hopelessness, and paralyzing fear. We walk the Trail of Dreams in the spirit of nonviolence and peaceful dialog.

We walk to tell our stories to the world, so we can engage each other in a fruitful conversation to stop the suffering by keeping our families together and our dreams alive.

We walk in order to call on our leaders to fix the system that forces people like us into the shadows, stripping us of the opportunity to participate meaningfully in society."

http://www.youtube.com/...

The four dreamers started walking on January 1 and plan to reach Washington on May 1 to urge President Barack Obama and members of Congress to pass the DREAM Act, which would offer a path to permanent residency for young undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. by their parents. The act would allow those who came to the U.S. before the age of 16 and who have lived here for at least five years and graduated from high school or received a GED to get temporary residency for six years while they enroll in higher education or serve in the military for two years. After those six years, they can apply for permanent residency and work towards eventually becoming citizens. It's a long and difficult journey, but it offers these students a chance to have a real future.

http://www.flickr.com/...  

"(Pre)Viewing the Right-Wing Playbook on Immigration"

by: Restore Fairness

Thu Apr 08, 2010 at 17:08:41 PM EDT

From the Restore Fairness blog.

As we continue to fight for immigration reform, one  thing that we can  be sure about is a right-wing attack. A preview of  this came about in  the days building up to the successful immigration march in D.C. when fringe right-wing   groups like Numbers USA, The John Tanton Network and the Tea Party Movement started pulling out all the stops to counter the building   momentum for immigration reform. Predictably, their approach mirrored   the strategies they employed a few years ago, during the last big push   for reform that took place in 2007 under former President George Bush.

A report by liberal advocacy group People for the American Way called “(Pre)Viewing the Right-Wing Playbook on Immigration”  has pulled from years of expertise on the right to lay out a list of   the key strategies that are traditionally employed to defeat immigration   reform, followed by tools to retaliate against these irrational and unsound attacks.

One of the  most common strategies employed by the right is an appeal  to racial  fear. This is carried out in a number of ways, including the  positing  of the “Brown” threat to a “White America,” and the outrageous   portrayal of immigrants and their supporters as invaders and enemies of   the United States. Inciting prejudice against Latinos, Rep. Tom  Tancredo  commented in November 2006-

Look at what  has happened to Miami. It  has become a Third World country…. You would  never know you’re in the  United States of America. You would certainly  say you’re in a Third  World country.

Not to be  left behind, former Presidential candidate Pat Buchanan  continued in  the vein of this fear-mongering around the “immigrant  invasion”. He wrote in 2007-

What is  happening to us? An immigrant  invasion of the United States from the  Third World, as America’s white  majority is no longer even reproducing  itself. Since Roe v. Wade,  America has aborted 45 million of her  children. And Asia, Africa and  Latin America have sent 45 million of  their children to inherit the  estate that aborted American children  never saw.

It goes without saying that claims that  America has been built by and  for White people are historically  incorrect and intensely racist. More  importantly, this country  continues to be shaped by immigrants and draws  immense political and  economic strength from its diversity.

Continuing in the vein of  racial divisiveness is the idea that  immigration rights advocates are  themselves racist, a notion that has  emerged in the post Obama election  days. While television personality  Glenn Beck has referred to  President Obama as someone who was opposed to  white people, he has  generated the idea from numerous accusations of  racism thrown at  pro-immigration advocates during the 2007 push for  reform. At that  time, the radio host Michael Savage attacked the National Council of La Raza by calling it “the Ku Klux Klan of the Hispanic   people.” He went on to say that it was “the most stone racist group I’ve   ever seen in this country”.

Portraying undocumented immigrants  as responsible for terrorism and   crime waves, as well as positing them  as “unclean” carriers of disease   and bio-terrorism is one of the  tactics that the far right has employed   on both local and national  levels during past debates around   immigration. Such as when  Lou Dobbs claimed immigrants were   causing an   epidemic of  leprosy in the country which was simply untrue. Or when   during the debates over immigration reform, Rep. Steve King, of the   House Republicans’ “Immigration Reform Caucus” extrapolated fictional   statistics claiming that 12 American citizens “die a violent   death at the hands of murderous illegal aliens each day”. If that’s so,   then why is it that the President’s  Council of Economic Advisers reports that immigrants have lower crime rates than   U.S. citizens and that immigrant men ages 18 to 40 are less likely  than  other U.S. residents to be incarcerated.

While we hope that  most of you would be taken by the impulse to laugh  off these  strategies as racist, rabble-rousing garbage, we must take  note that  such nativist fear-mongering has the power to garner  significant  support from many, especially within the current climate of  an unstable  economy. Work such as People For the American Way’s “Right Wing Watch: In Focus” series gives us the   best tool to fighting these attacks – truly understanding the reasoning   behind them, and countering them on their own territory.

Let’s  fight racism on our route to humane immigration reform!

Learn. Share. Act. Go to restorefainess.org

Quotes from a White Supremacist

by: Manuel

Thu Apr 08, 2010 at 13:38:20 PM EDT

In the article, a white supremacist posing as a credible source is given the opportunity to spread his bigotry:

Glenn Spencer, president and founder of American Border Patrol, a nonprofit group that aerially monitors the border, favors stricter illegal-immigration policies.

He said he generally was in favor of Pearce's bill, provided it includes sufficient limits on interagency information-sharing.

"It's time we have to stretch the envelope" (on immigration enforcement), he said. "It's time we have to take some firm action." Loose immigration policies, he said, would be tantamount to "importing poverty" and would "destroy Arizona."

Here's a refresher, courtesy of the Southern Poverty Law Center on some of Mr. Spencer's previous rants:

"Americans, especially white Americans, should get out of California -  now, before it is too late to salvage the equity they have in their  homes and the value of their businesses."
- Glenn Spencer, "White  Fight or Flight," American Patrol website, 2003

And the Anti-Defamation League has this to say about him:

Spencer's rhetoric departed sharply from that of legitimate immigration reform groups; Spencer did not target immigration so much as he targeted Hispanics, particularly those of Mexican origin, regardless of whether they were immigrants or not. Many of his writings and comments were simply thinly veiled diatribes against "Mexicans" (like many anti-Hispanic activists, Spencer rarely differentiated between Mexicans and Americans of Mexican descent). In a 1996 letter to the Los Angles Times, for example, Spencer said that "the Mexican culture is based on deceit." Spencer denied the letter was racist. "It has nothing to do with race," he said. "It has to do with culture...there's no way to pass enough laws to protect yourself from a deceitful culture."

linkage - .pdf warning

The Star should teach its apprentices the importance of researching who they're using as quotable sources before allowing them free reign on its pages to escalate the already dangerous situation for Latinos in Arizona.

A story a day should keep enforcement at bay

by: Restore Fairness

Wed Apr 07, 2010 at 18:04:09 PM EDT

From the Restore Fairness blog.

No matter what the cause, it’s always the individual stories that resonate deeply. These stories really shed light on how broken the immigration system really, giving us deep insights into the immigrant experience.

Vozmob or “Mobile Voices” is an open-source platform that gives immigrant day laborers in L.A. access to the digital sphere by letting them use cellphones and MMS technology to create photographic, narrative slide-shows as a way to share stories about their lives and communities. In “Working Hands,” a seamstress uses photographs to illustrate the painstakingly detailed and skillful work done by immigrant workers across Los Angeles. The images tell the story of personal dignity and pride in the work done by hundreds of people across the nation.

Vozmob harnesses the power of personal stories to change the way immigrant communities are perceived. In an early Vozmob workshop, a Google search for the phrase “day laborer” revealed a disturbing stereotype, that many crimes are committed by illegal aliens who work as day laborers. By allowing immigrant workers to share their lives, both within their community and outside, the project launched by USC’s Annenberg School for Communication and the Institute of Popular Education of Southern California is changing these false perceptions.

The power of storytelling has been embraced as dramatically by the DREAM Act movement, a movement led by undocumented youth to claim their right to live freely. A moving narrative by Matias Ramos, an immigrant rights advocate since high school describes what he went through while facing deportation. An excerpt from Chapter 1, “The Deported”-

Rush hour traffic in Downtown Minneapolis, and it’s snowing again. I look out the blurry window and can barely see the faces of the people in the van next to ours. I know for a fact, however, that nobody in that packed freeway can see me or any of the other six illegal immigrants on our way to be deported from the United States. The two ICE agents sitting in the front live in a different world, their radio muting any sounds from us: the illegals in the back. An unmarked van, owned by the Department of Homeland Security, is taking us to a county jail in Albert Lea, Minnesota, near the border with Iowa. There, we will wait for our deportation date when the paperwork clears….I try to get my mind somewhere else by going back to the church songs we sang as kids…

In Chapter 2, “We don’t have papers,”, Matias candidly writes about his lack of papers, and his involvement with the DREAM Act movement-

Way before being trapped in a van in Minneapolis, and because my papers expired, I started working for immigration reform in the United States. I work on immigration because I don’t have papers. There are a lot of people like me. They should really be doing something else, but they work on immigration. They have degrees in engineering, political science, and education. They have acting careers and business plans on hold – while they work on immigration…I did not go back to Argentina in 2008 because we had just helped Obama win and because we were going to work hard to pass the DREAM Act in the first 100 days.  The DREAM Act is an old but little-known proposal to start reforming immigration like you would start rescuing a sinking ship: with the kids…

Some days it is hard to be optimistic. But it’s stories like these, from the hundreds of day laborers whose work goes unnoticed on a daily basis and brave activists like Matias, that power the movement. So don’t stop reading, watching, learning, sharing and telling stories. And whatever you do, don’t stop dreaming.

End it. Not mend it. Message to the administration over failed immigration program.

by: Restore Fairness

Mon Apr 05, 2010 at 16:41:00 PM EDT

From the Restore Fairness blog.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the agency responsible for detention and deportations of immigrants, is on a roll. Haitian earthquake survivors and mentally ill detainees are amongst those locked up in inhumane detention centers. Memos leaked last week confirmed a desire for growing deportations of immigrants. And now, the government’s own agency, the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General delivers a scathing critique of ICE’s 287(g) program that gives local police the power to enforce immigration law.

60 police forces across the country have signed agreements with ICE that allow their local officers to detain suspected immigrants for deportation. Various reports have documented racial profiling concerns, but the government has failed to listen. Even Members of Congress and police foundations have spoken out against the program, which diverts scarce resources from the police and endangers community safety as people are afraid to report crimes.

The OIG points out serious flaws in ICE’s 287(g) program for its lack of training, oversight and transparency, and its failure to protect against racial profiling and civil rights abuses. In one example, a victim of a traffic accident who was also an immigrant was taken straight to the local jail until federal officers arrived to check his legal status. And although the program is supposed to focus on “Level 1″ offenders or those who have committed serious crimes, almost half of those reviewed had no involvement in such crimes, revealing a misdirection of resources.

The issue around a lack of supervision is grave. “In the absence of consistent supervision over immigration enforcement activities, there is no assurance that the program is achieving its goals.”This has led to severe violations, with Sheriff Arpaio type neighborhood sweeps to locate undocumented immigrants. Other horrific examples – Juana Villegas, 9 months pregnant, was detained on a minor traffic stop and remained shackled while giving birth, while Pedro Guzman, a mentally ill U.S. citizen was mistakenly deported to Mexico.

And finally, the 287(g) training of police officers is very inadequate. In one example, two officers who were enrolled in the program had been defendants in past racial profiling lawsuits, indicating a flawed selection process. The performance records of local officers are not examined properly while many officers are given only a cursory training in immigration law.

While ICE claims that the report was researched before it has made radical changes to the program, the changes that have been made are largely superficial and problems continue unchecked. Many groups consider this report a wake up call and have demanded the 287(g) program be “ended, not mended.” Take action to “Reign in the Cowboys at ICE.”

Photo courtesy of thenation.com

Weekly Diaspora: The Game Plan for Immigration Reform

by: The Media Consortium

Thu Apr 01, 2010 at 13:04:15 PM EDT

By Erin Rosa, Media Consortium blogger

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), started a hubbub among comprehensive immigration reform advocates last week when he expressed  to members of the Capitol press corps that  progressive immigration legislation was "dead" for 2010 due to the contentious passage of health care reform. But the battle isn't over yet. In an interview with Sandip Roy at New America Media, Frank Sharry, the executive director of DC-based immigration organization America's Voice, says, "I think we have a good chance of seeing a bipartisan bill being introduced in April."

Graham's declaration mirrors similar antics that happened around the health care debate-where insurance reform was pronounced dead countless times by a wide array of pundits and lawmakers.  In fact, Seth Freed Wessler of ColorLines reports that Graham, who has been working with Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on an immigration reform bill for a year later changed his tune, stating that he would continue to craft a bipartisan bill.

The Battle in the Senate

Gabriel Arana with The America Prospect questions just how the GOP lawmakers will react to the upcoming immigration debate, arguing that, "Even for those Republicans who are willing to publicly  support immigration reform, partisan rancor all but ensures it won't go  anywhere."

And outside the Capitol? As Laura Flanders of GRITtv points out, the immigration debate, "has the potential to be far, far messier-and more violent-than the health care battle," and will likely galvanize those with xenophobic tendencies on the far Right to become even more unhinged.

On top of that, providing a pathway to citizenship for the 12 million undocumented immigrants in the United States will most likely be dead in 2010 if a bill isn't proposed in the Senate this Spring. There needs to be time to debate the issue before the end of the year, and more importantly, before election season kicks off in the Fall. While there's already an immigration bill in the House of Representatives, a timeline for when one will actually be introduced in the Senate is unknown.

Immigration agents go rogue

Combined with the uphill battle for immigration reform, AlterNet reports on a government memo revealing that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency has set quotas to initiate more deportations of undocumented immigrants, targeting those who had committed no crimes. The memo was in stark contrast to the Obama administration's stated goal to focus on deporting criminal offenders with violent histories, and prompted immigration rights groups to question the White House agenda.

At the same time, anti-immigration activists are also trying to label all immigrants as criminals. As the Colorado Independent documents, the shooting death of an Arizona rancher near the Mexican border has influenced former Colorado lawmaker Tom Tancredo and his followers to demand that the National Guard be sent the border-even though the death has not even been tied to an undocumented immigrant at this time. (The Department doesn't have jurisdiction over the National Guard to begin with.)

The Inter Press Service also reports on the  results of such criminalization, as human rights abuses in immigration detention continue to increase each day. "More abuses in the U.S. immigration detention system came to light last week," notes the media outlet, writing that "It was revealed that two mentally disabled men continue to be held in detention while facing possible deportation for criminal assault convictions, despite having already served their time." The inmates were later released after the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California filed legal petitions against federal government.

For more links on immigration check out:

• On how I became an American - Feministing
• How Health Care Reform Affects Immigrants - New America Media

Delaying immigration reform gets expensive

by: Restore Fairness

Mon Mar 29, 2010 at 17:46:14 PM EDT

From the Restore Fairness blog.

Sirens, helicopters, immigration agents with guns  swarming into    factories and homes, this was standard game for  immigration raids during    the Bush administration. But all that was  supposed to change during    President Obama’s tenure. In a disturbing  turn of events, documents    procured by the Washington Post have exposed a senior-ranking     Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official explicitly  stating     that even while deportation of those with  criminal charges has  risen,    the overall number of deportations is “well  below the  agency’s goal”    and what is needed is a reversal of the   downward   trend of    deportations.

Rather than reflect the plans of the  Obama  administration that is   committed to an enforcement agenda  focused on  immigrants that commit   serious crimes, the exposed ICE  memo has laid  out a plan that will -

pump up  the numbers by  increasing  detention space to hold more  illegal  immigrants while they  await  deportation proceedings; sweep  prisons and  jails to find more   candidates for deportation and offering  early release  to those  willing  to go quickly; and, most  controversially, include a  “surge”  in efforts  to catch illegal  immigrants whose only violation was  lying  on  immigration or visa  applications or reentering the United  States  after  being deported.

In keeping with this plan, ICE field  offices in  Dallas, Chicago and   Northern California have set their  agents an  incentive system that  calls  for them to process 40-60 cases  in a month  in order to earn  “excellent”  ratings. Such a policy  encourages agents  to target “easy”  cases rather  than focus on high  risk, criminal cases  that take longer  to process.

ICE  immediately distanced themselves from Chaparro’s memo.

Our    longstanding focus remains on smart, effective immigration     enforcement  that places priority first on those dangerous criminal     aliens who  present risk to the security of our communities. This focus    has yielded  real results – between FY2008 and FY2009,  criminal    deportations  increased by 19%… Significant portions of the memo cited    in The  Washington Post did not reflect our policies, was sent without    my   authorization, and has since been withdrawn and corrected.

Mixed   signals from an agency known for its harsh implementation of    detention  and deportation policies. A report published by the Center for      American Progress weighs the fiscal damage that would result from     mass deportation of all immigrants, the alternative to     comprehensive reform that is championed by immigration hardliners, and     the results should worry us all.

Based on federal spending on   border enforcement and deportation for   2008, the report estimates the   cost of detention and deportation for   10.8 million undocumented   immigrants present in the U.S. at around 200   billion dollars.  Referring  to the option of mass deportation as the   “status-quo on   steriods”, it  points to this option as a highly   irresponsible one  that would require  “$922 in new taxes for every man,   woman, and child  in this country.”  The bad news, the National   Immigration Forum puts this number on the lower side.

The good news. Americans aren’t  buying  this option and are demanding   immigration reform in record  numbers.  The Public    Religion  Research Institute asked American voters (predominantly    white  Evangelicals, Catholics and Mainline Protestants) what they think     about immigration reform, and found-

Two-thirds  of Americans believe in a   comprehensive approach that  offers illegal  immigrants an earned path   to citizenship. Overwhelming  majorities of  those asked believed that   immigration reform should be  guided by values  of fairness, security,   dignity and keeping families  together.

On the other side is Public Agenda,    a non partisan group that decided  to find out what immigrants think about their lives     in the United States. What did they find?

The    overwhelming  majority of immigrants say they’re happy in the  United    States, and  would  do it all over again if they could.  Immigrants “buy   in” to  American  society, for themselves and their  children. They  rate  the  United States  as an  improvement over their  birthplace in  almost  all  dimensions, and most  say they expect their  children to  remain in  this  country. A  solid majority says that  illegal  immigrants become   productive citizens and an overwhelming 84   percent  support a “guest   worker” program

So what’s next? We’ve marched. We’ve rallied. We’ve practically     shouted from  rooftops demanding immigration reform. And now it’s time     to make sure  that we get some concrete action. With the current system     broken, expensive and inefficient, and with 10.8 million people eager to     contribute to the nation’s economy and society, everyone should be  on    board for finding a sustainable, just, and humane solution to the     current immigration system. We rest our case.

Photo courtesy  of  americanprogress.org