SEIU's Eliseo Medina; It's Time to Step on the Gas on CIR

by: alijost

Fri Jan 29, 2010 at 14:54:16 PM EST

This is our time to, in Obama's words, "overcome the numbing weight of our politics." For the good of our economy, of America's workers, and of our country, it's time to overcome. It's time to get immigration reform done right; to get it done quickly; and to make sure it works for America."

You can read the full post here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...

MLK Day: What Martin Luther King Jr. Day means to me

by: juansaaa

Mon Jan 18, 2010 at 15:07:06 PM EST

Crossposted from DreamActivist

Martin Luther King has alway been a hero of mine, whom I adopted early on as I learned more about American History.

He has served as an inspiration to the work that I conduct on a daily basis, his hopes for a better future for a nation continue to move me and push me to accomplish all that i have set out to do.

In honor of Dr. King, his great quest to achieve the Dream, and to bring communities together while building alliances, I will share a speech that I hoped to give once I finished my Associates Degree and moved on to the University of my dreams.

Dr. Martin Luther King once said:

“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically… Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.”

He like many of my now defunct heroes, had a vision.

A vision of equality, freedom, and opportunity for all.

A vision in which hard work was to be recognized and praised, where those who had big dreams could accomplish them regardless of the obstacles presented to them.

To some extent Dr. King’s vision is remains alive today. His journey proved to America that hard-work, coupled with determination, and education could overcome any barrier, and moreover discredit any nay-sayer.

Today is a symbolic day for me.

As I take off to continue pursuing my education, I embark on my own journey to find my place within Dr. King’s vision, and maybe even bring it a little closer to a full reality.

As many of you know I am one of the thousands of beneficiaries of the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act; or DREAM Act for short, a piece of legislation that would allow exemplary students like myself attain a legal status within this country by means of a higher education or military service.

Let us remember that my lack of status is not due to a personal choice, or a punishment brought upon to me by my parents. I, like many others am a victim of the failed and broken immigration system of this country, and while my status does limit my capabilities to attain to certain documents, or benefits which I have earned along the way; my hopes and strengths remain up-high to fight for equality for those who find themselves in similar positions as mine.

As I look back from this current point in time, and see some of my accomplishments ranging far and wide, I cannot help to feel but an immense sense of success. From stellar High School graduate, to immigrant rights activist….

All very important milestones in my life which have shaped my character, and person to be who I am today. All of which has been done and planned yo make you (my audience) proud of me.

You, who stood by me, supported me, and encouraged me as I took on the heavy course-loads, and endured the long working hours to get me to where I am today.

Some more than others, but all of this positive energy has summed up to be a tremendous help that has accompanied me in this short-lived journey. So to you, friends new and old, family close or distant, I owe you my gratitude for helping me get to where I stand as of right now. It is with your help that I am able to deliver this speech, because without all of you by my side none of this would be possible.

'Fight, Fight, Fight'

by: MaverickLal101

Fri Sep 04, 2009 at 17:21:34 PM EDT

That's the mantra my immigrant mother has adopted towards financial institutions who are threatening to foreclose her house. A house that she bought back in 2005 with the help of two different mortgage lenders and that she never failed to make hefty payments for till late last year.

Undocumented immigrants were blamed for the subprime mortgage crisis even though statistics lay out the fact that we are better homeowners. Regardless, our story shows how the real fault lies in a financial system that seeks profit over helping people.

My mother has a cleaning business, which I used to work for till I broke my hand last April. After that unfortunate incident, we lost 50% of our income to businesses downsizing and hiring cheaper janitors. Our house lost more than 50% of its real estate bubble spiked value. Paying the two loans on the house in addition to the property taxes became harder as time went on. She sought help late last year but it was not forthcoming. The financial institutions--Indymac and Citibank--both told her that she would have to miss a payment and ruin her credit in order for them to renegotiate the mortgage payment and grant her a package.

RI4A: Finding the right Dr. Seuss metaphor for our movement

by: Sneetch

Wed Jun 10, 2009 at 13:28:01 PM EDT

Immigration Hell

by: rhildreth01

Sun Jan 11, 2009 at 18:10:24 PM EST

The conflict has all the markings of an immigration policy gone terribly wrong: a wall stretching endlessly along a border, punctured by armed checkpoints with long lines of immigrants seeking either to work in Israel or blow it up. They mass outside the gates in refugee camps filled to overflowing, lobbing rockets, a clear and present danger to Israel. It's a bloody mess.

This could be our own southern border in a few years if some immigration opponents get their way.

Intial thoughts while on valium AND meclizine

by: tejascubbie

Tue Dec 09, 2008 at 16:19:22 PM EST

Thought I'd take a crack at articulating what draws me, an incredibly overeducated, cynical (lately), pro-union, anti-globalization, chronically-ill (R.A.), hitched to the enemy (old white guy) Tejana academic into the fray of immigration and politics.

Well, I do have a blog (see profile) which I am just getting back to after the hysteria of the Messiah being elected (can ANYONE live up to the expectations people have of the president elect, bless him?).  The whole sick mania of how the election campaigning went down jaded me intensely, and no, I wasn't really excited about either candidate. I admit to the fact I would have rather chopped off a hand than vote Red, but I did not vote Blue. I voted for something I could honestly believe in (so of course, I did Nader/ Gonzales!). I was in IL when BO was running for senator, and Jack Ryan's wife accused Ryan of abusing her, then he dropped out, they brought in Alan Keyes... BO wasn't going to be elected, but you know Chicago politics.  So I'm not a True Believer (tm).  I wish him the best, but I do not have illusions that the world will change overnight.

More importantly, I don't believe that by ignoring the past due to a biracial man being elected is going to be helpful.  We have such a pained racist history, and it's multicolored. When I was small, probably about 7 or 8, I distinclty rememebring seeing in a Dairy Queen in TX a "No Dogs, No Mexicans" sign as our six member family ate in our Sunday best.

I get furious when people try to pooh-pooh this history, as the blood of some of my ancestors was spilt by their for something as cavalier as land.  That lynching was a spectator sport should be acknowledged,and we should be forced to have a national dicussion and not lie to ourselves about whose backs we stand on, "documented" and
"undocumented", slave, servant, peasant, farmworker, laborers of all kinds.

This is why building bridges IS important, but we build them knowing others are trying to blow them up because the status quo is too tempting to remain. And I also want my people, La Raza, to get up, organized, and moving! If we can do it-- then let's do it! Time to stop holding hat in hand and hope for the best. We have always been survivors-- not victims.  Andale Raza!

Forget Janet Napolitano; Dismantle the DHS

by: DreamActivist

Sun Nov 23, 2008 at 17:11:45 PM EST

The appointment of Janet Napolitano to the top Homeland Security post has elicited a diverse number of reactions. In a New York Times article, some immigration hardliners are calling it a travesty, NumbersUSA thinks that President-elect Barack Obama could have done worse, while ‘liberals’ think that Napolitano represents a balanced and constructive view, given that she is in favor of a comprehensive immigration reform that legalizes 12 million undocumented migrants. Conservatives in Arizona are happy that finally power might shift towards them with the election of Jan Brewer to Governorship.

Few are questioning the rise of ‘immigration’ as a matter of national security to the point where debates over the chief post of Homeland Security now include major immigration groups. Is this a failure of the imagination, ignorance or just plain historical amnesia? Discourses surrounding the appointment of Napolitano simply serve as polemical devices to achieve political ends while doing nothing to actually address the epistemological and ontological flaws in the actual nature of the Department of Homeland Security.

Writing for the Washington Post, Edward Alden is one of the few mainstream and liberal commentators who comes close to hitting the nail on the head with this statement in ‘Close Minded on the Border:

Instead of continuing to embrace the massive flow of talent, energy and initiative that the rest of the world has long offered the United States, we launched an expensive, futile experiment to see whether we could seal our borders against the ills of the world, from terrorists to drugs to illegal migrants. This effort has betrayed both our ideals and our interests.

Yet, he notes that Janet Napolitano has a rare opportunity to set the nation back on track—to improve security without sacrificing American values and ideals.

On November 25, 2002, President Bush signed into law the Homeland Security Act of 2002 which created the Department of Homeland Security that effectively took over the INS (now CIS). This reorganization blurred the line between immigration policy and terrorism policy to the detriment of many immigrants in the United States – immigration policy became an issue of national security, widening the nexus of security concerns, and hence, granting more policing power to the State.

This incorporation of immigration as national security has far-reaching implications—apart from the fact that immigration is now treated as a security concern rather than an economic and cultural benefit, the dehumanization and scapegoating of undocumented immigrants has proliferated out of control. From local enforcement and state laws to election battles, the unnamed and othered ‘illegal immigrant’ is the big bad bogeyman against whom we need protection.

Liminal - DREAM Act Poem

by: DreamActivist

Sun Aug 17, 2008 at 23:01:58 PM EDT

Today
I am paperless,
A refugee in my own land, homeless
Freeze-framed and lifeless,
In-limbo, my existence timeless
But never fear, certainly not peerless

In the waiting rooms of history,
A growing community
Sharing and caring,
Joking, laughing, ribbing, riling.
But never despairing
We are strong, kind and capable
Our DREAMs quite inevitable

They want to punish, banish and vanish
guilt us for crimes we have not commited, What rubbish?
their vile hate speech so Outlandish
Try as they might to tarnish and diminish
We shall try harder to establish and accomplish.

Tomorrow,
We shall become doctors and lawyers,
engineers and teachers,
managers and leaders,
movers and shakers.

You STILL say Illegal is illegal?
I say your ignorance is abysmal.

McCain still refusing to clarify position on immigration

by: Duke Reed

Mon Aug 04, 2008 at 20:42:47 PM EDT

Since securing his party's nomination back in March, McCain has toned down some of the more strident rhetoric that marked his noticeable shift towards the right on the issue during the primary contests, yet he still remains firmly planted on the fence when it comes to discussing the specifics of what  his presidency would mean in terms of immigration reform.

According to the winds of political expediency, or the particular interest group he's speaking to on any given day, he's vacillated between claiming himself a champion for comprehensive reform on one hand to disavowing any connection to his previous legislative attempts to repair our nation's broken immigration system on the other.  

This has left those on both sides of this thorny debate scratching their heads, wondering where the legendary "straight talker" stands on this vital issue.

While taking every opportunity to meet with Latino leaders to assure them of his commitment to "all God's children" and an immigration policy that reflects our tradition of being a "nation of immigrants",  he has yet to explain in any meaningful way what the specifics of a McCain immigration policy would look like.

And for good reason .... It would force him to finally explain to both his anti-immigrant Republican base, and the general public that favors comprehensive reform, exactly where he stands on the issue ...risking alienating one of those constituencies.

In June, the editors of The Sanctuary, a multi-ethnic community of on-line activists concerned about migrant rights, human-rights, and immigration reform, asked the major presidential candidates to respond to a detailed questionnaire concerning their positions on the specific aspects of immigration policy.

After more than a month, the Obama campaign responded with a detailed response to the lengthy survey ...The McCain campaign has remained mum. ...Well not exactly mum:

"The first phone call I placed was answered cordially.  I was told that someone would get back to me.  I never heard back from anyone," said  The Sanctuary editor Kety Esquivel of CrossLeft.org who has appeared on CNN to discuss the questionnaire.  "The second time I called, the person I was  speaking with hung up and the third time I called the line was disconnected."

Obviously McCain wants to stonewall as long as possible before being held accountable for his various positions on this issue.

While those of us on the left, or representing the broader Latino community, deserve to know McCain's real stance on immigration prior to Election Day, so too do those on the opposite side of this debate. He can no longer continue to talk out of one side of his mouth to one important constituency while saying, or implying, the opposite position to another.

In this momentous election season, marked by a new kind of politics that shuns the old ways of the past and gives hope for a truly meaningful national dialogue and debate on the great issues of the day, it's unfortunate to see that Mr. McCain is still mired down in the old politics of the past, and refuses to live up to his legendary position as a maverick and supply the American people with a healthy dose of  "straight talk" when it comes to immigration reform.

MORE FROM THE BLOGTOPIA™

Deadline passes and McCain campaign refuses to answer Latino bloggers' questionnaire- From Latina Lista

Missing McCain - No Answer To The Sanctuary's Questionnaire - From American Humanity

Obama Campaign Responds to Quesionnaire on Immigration. McCain Camp Can't be Bothered - From Vivir Latino

Obama Campaign RespondsS To Survey On Immigration Reform/Public Policy, McCain Campaign Silent - From CrossLeft

McCain still refusing to clarify position on immigration - From Migra Matters

Obama Responds to Immigration Policy Questions, McCain Avoids Them - From Standing Firm

Sanctuary Press Release - Obama Answers Questionnaire, McCain Ducks - From Zuky

McCain Neglects the Pro-Migrant Blogosphere - From Citizen Orange

McCain Won't Even Feign Concern for Latino Community - From The Unapologetic Mexican

Obama Campaign Responds To Immigration Reform Survey While McCain Campaign Remains Silent - From ¡Para Justicia y Libertad!

McCain Dodges Immigration Issue As Feds Advertise Voluntary Deportation Program - From The Huffington Post

So Much For McCain's Outreach To Latinos - From Firedoglake

View complete survey after the fold    

Welcome to The Sanctuary

by: Manuel

Mon Jul 21, 2008 at 15:29:53 PM EDT

The mission of this site says in part that "we believe that immigration is a vital part of maintaining a healthy and vibrant America, and has set this nation apart from all others since its inception."  Speaking for myself, I've found the lack of the human rights aspect of reform in conversations to be appalling and unacceptable.  That's why it brings me a Texas-sized smile to see outlets like the Washington Post, CNN and the Wall Street Journal take notice of our message, as well as our call for some clarity from the candidates on their policy stances.

Millions of families in the United States will be directly affected by the decisions of the next administration, which is why we, their advocates, seek substance to the platforms of the campaigns.  The hardliners like to pretend that it's a no-brainer to start mass deportations since the current immigration system is so perfect, but the reality is that families are being ripped apart with children having to fend for themselves, human rights are being violated in the massive prison-for-profit industry that has seen an infusion of money, and border policy has created a DMZ-type zone in the desert southwest with growing numbers of border-crosser deaths still rising.

A ton of hard work is being done across the U.S. to remind the country of its immigrant roots and the need to respect the rights of all human beings regardless of citizenship status, and we hope that The Sanctuary will be an aide to better organizing and information-sharing among advocates - professional and those in the streets simply being.

Thanks for visiting, and we hope you'll consider becoming a member and contributing to this pro-migrant sanctuary on the web.

paz

The in-between Generation in a Nation of Immigrants

by: CristinaDMI

Wed Jul 16, 2008 at 10:56:07 AM EDT

no match, no justice

by: rachelfirm

Wed Jul 16, 2008 at 10:48:00 AM EDT

http://www.progressive.org/mp/...

to read the orginal post and comment!

The Bush Administration is wrongly forcing government contractors to verify the legal status of their work force with the Social Security Administration.

For me, this is personal.

My mother taught me how to write my numbers. Raised in the Philippines and schooled by nuns who traced their roots back to Spain, she makes her 1s like a lot of Europeans - straight sticks with a leaf-like line coming off the top toward the left and the whole thing leaning toward the right as resting in the shade from the afternoon sun.

My 1s are my mother's descendants, but anyone might easily mistake my 1s for 7s. And if a clerk for the Social Security Administration makes that mistake or other mistakes like that it could cost me and 13 million Americans our jobs.

The Social Security Administration's "match list" is notoriously error prone. The agency's own inspector general found that 13 million of the 17.8 million "no matches" were actually U.S. citizens. So the assumption that if you don't have a match, then you're here illegally is wrong at least 70 percent of the time! The discrepancies had occurred because of clerical errors or other innocent things, such as name changes from marriages or divorces.

The unreliability of the "match list" figured prominently in the reasoning of the U.S. District Court for Northern California, which ruled last year that the practice would harm thousands of innocent workers and employers. In another case, an appellate court in California this June ordered the company that runs the Staples Center in Los Angeles to reinstate 33 janitors it had summarily fired after receiving "no match" letters.

But this has not deterred President Bush. On June 9, he signed an executive order requiring all contractors and other companies that do business with the federal government to verify their employee's identity in the federal Social Security database.

The Social Security Administration has better things to do. Chasing after undocumented immigrants who have Social Security taxes deducted from their incomes but don't ever withdraw from the system because their ID numbers are false, not only wastes government's time but actually robs us of that additional tax income.

Meanwhile, millions of U.S. citizens are also terrorized in the process by businesses looking for any excuse to abuse and fire workers.

And employers looking to evade the ruling will resort to sub-contracting more of their workforce, a practice that reliably lowers wages and benefits across the economy. In an interconnected economy, we need solutions that help all of us, rather than finger-pointing as we collectively race to the bottom.

My 1s might look funny, but why put me and 13 million Americans at risk at a time of growing economic uncertainty? Unfortunately, that's not a typo.

Marissa Graciosa is the campaign coordinator for the Fair Immigration Reform Movement, a national coalition of more than 300 grassroots organizations led by the Center for Community Change. She can be reached at pmproj@progressive.org.

They just don't get it, do they?

by: Duke Reed

Wed Jun 04, 2008 at 09:43:03 AM EDT

While rightfully acknowledging that the right-wing has been extremely effective in using the web to rally their troops and dominate debate with the dissemination of propaganda and misinformation, the role played by pro-migrant web activists was totally misunderstood and underestimated by both the article's author and the pro-migrant Washington strategists he consulted with for the article.

NYT on The Great Immigration Panic

by: Duke Reed

Tue Jun 03, 2008 at 12:30:05 PM EDT

Someday, the country will recognize the true cost of its war on illegal immigration. We don't mean dollars, though those are being squandered by the billions. The true cost is to the national identity: the sense of who we are and what we value. It will hit us once the enforcement fever breaks, when we look at what has been done and no longer recognize the country that did it.

A nation of immigrants is holding another nation of immigrants in bondage, exploiting its labor while ignoring its suffering, condemning its lawlessness while sealing off a path to living lawfully. The evidence is all around that something pragmatic and welcoming at the American core has been eclipsed, or is slipping away.

...This is not about forcing people to go home and come back the right way. Ellis Island is closed. Legal paths are clogged or do not exist. Some backlogs are so long that they are measured in decades or generations. A bill to fix the system died a year ago this month. The current strategy, dreamed up by restrictionists and embraced by Republicans and some Democrats, is to force millions into fear and poverty.

...The restrictionist message is brutally simple - that illegal immigrants deserve no rights, mercy or hope. It refuses to recognize that illegality is not an identity; it is a status that can be mended by making reparations and resuming a lawful life. Unless the nation contains its enforcement compulsion, illegal immigrants will remain forever Them and never Us, subject to whatever abusive regimes the powers of the moment may devise.

Every time this country has singled out a group of newly arrived immigrants for unjust punishment, the shame has echoed through history. Think of the Chinese and Irish, Catholics and Americans of Japanese ancestry. Children someday will study the Great Immigration Panic of the early 2000s, which harmed countless lives, wasted billions of dollars and mocked the nation's most deeply held values.

NYT

Reversing National Self-Sabotage: All Immigrants Are Valuable

by: SylviaM

Wed May 21, 2008 at 22:44:01 PM EDT

Are Americans Losing Jobs to Foreign and Undocumented Workers?

by: DreamActivist

Wed May 14, 2008 at 00:46:35 AM EDT

The House Committee on Education and Labor held hearings this past Tuesday to investigate whether existing federal programs like H-2A, H-2B ensure that American workers are recruited before employers hire from abroad.

Of particular concern to us was the testimony of Bill Beardall, Director for the Equal Justice Center in Austin, Texas. His major premise was that due to the failure of our government in enforcing wage laws for ALL workers, employers took advantage and exploited undocumented workers, causing a downward spiral of wages, working conditions and job opportunities for American citizens. The best way to ensure labor protections and job opportunities for U.S. workers was to ensure that wage laws and labor protections are fully enforced for all workers regardless of immigration status. Instead of scapegoating undocumented immigrants, Beardall lays emphasis on the need for equal protection of the law in order to find a solution to scrupulous employers benefitting from cheap labor sources.

According to this scenario, the undocumented worker is not to 'blame' for Americans working for less wages and losing their jobs; rather it is the federal government along with scrupulous employers that are at fault. If all workers were treated equally in wages, working conditions and labor protections, we would not see a downward spiral of wages, and hiring an undocumented worker over an American citizen would not be enticing anymore. Consequently, this would also discourage 'illegal immigration' since the concept of 'cheap labor' for hire would not exist.

This take on policymaking makes more sense than raiding workplaces and locking up undocumented workers in our jails. What do you think about Bill Beardall's testimony?

Why this site exists

by: Duke Reed

Mon Apr 21, 2008 at 23:03:21 PM EDT

The last round of negotiations on Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR), the so-called "Grand Compromise", provided a huge wake-up call for the immigrant-rights community. We found out just how badly the right-wing had out-flanked us both in Washington, and in the old and New Media.

For Eddie on St Patrick's Day

by: Duke Reed

Mon Mar 17, 2008 at 18:28:09 PM EDT

Two years ago, in 2006, this day had brought great promise.

The Kennedy-McCain Bill was making its way through the Senate and the first wave of the great immigration rallies were but only days away.  Millions, including Irish and other immigrants from around the world, would take to the streets and demand meaningful reform.

We all thought change would surely come....yet it hasn't.

I'm not Irish, and don't partake in the revelry that marks the day. It usually passed for me rather uneventfully. But once I started blogging about immigration, in some strange way, it's become a milestone that marks the passage of time.  

Somewhere today in the mainstream media, or in the blogosphere, there will be a story about what's become annual rite of spring that takes place every St Patrick's Day.

At a parade in New York, or Boston, or in the halls of Congress in Washington, some political leader will pose with members of the  Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform , or some other advocacy group, and make promises they have no intention of keeping.  

Donning their best green ties, and an eagerness to pander on the day when "everyone's Irish," even the most ardent anti-immigration hawk will promise to "look into the Irish immigration situation." ... but of course they won't.

So to mark this day I have chosen not to write the obligatory St Patrick's Day "Politicians Promise" post ...instead I offer a story first published in the Boston  Globe this past January.  

Dems sin cojones - how about you just take baby steps

by: Duke Reed

Tue Feb 19, 2008 at 23:30:00 PM EST

For the first six years of the Bush presidency the Democratic leadership continually stepped away from the hard fights. At each impasse, whether it was war funding, judicial appointments, or oversight, they acquiesced to the ruling majority out of fear that they would be even further marginalized. Yet, even after regaining control of the Congress, they still behave as if they are the minority party. With a President whose approval ratings are in the toilet, and a Congress where Republicans would rather "retire" than face the electorate, one would think that Democrats would be emboldened.  But to the contrary, the mere thought of being called "weak" on any given issue by the Republican noise machine drives them to abandon all principle, and grab hold of the right-wing bandwagon for dear life.

Nowhere is this truer than with the Republican formulated wedge issue of immigration reform.

Despite consistent polling that shows the vast majority of the American people prefer a comprehensive policy that is firm but fair, an accusation of supporting "amnesty" or being "weak" on border enforcement, leaves the Democratic leadership quivering and looking for "middle ground" that's been defined more by the fringes of the Republican Right than the American people.

Nowhere is this more obvious than in the advice doled out by Democratic strategists like Rahm Emanuel and the beltway boys at Democracy Corps and Greenberg Quinlan Rosner.  Emanuel has advised Democratic candidates to avoid the "third rail of American politics" and shift to the right on immigration issues, while James Carville and other DLC/centrists are advising that despite the fact that much of the current anti-immigrant sentiment is based on "improbable" beliefs, and "impressions (that) conflict with the facts", Democrats would be wise to pander to the misinformed and ignorant and play it safe with a triangulated "Republican lite" strategy.