Anti-immigrant Bill Dies in Mississippi
So what’s got me smiling today? Could it be the “surprised kitten” YouTube clip floating around the office? No, as sweet as that is, I’m most excited about Tuesday’s civil rights victory in Mississippi which saw the state’s legislature kill the so-called “Immigration Reform Act of 2010” (SB2032).
The bill, which initially passed the senate, died in a house committee despite being promoted by the anti-immigrant group, the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI) and a last minute endorsement by the white supremacist hate group, Council of Conservative Citizens. Read more
Cross-post: Republican Bill Seeks to Deprive American-Born of Citizenship
Filed under: American Identity, Immigration, Politics
Alex DiBranco highlights an ongoing threat, not just to the children of immigrants, but to any American whose ability to prove birthright is compromised.
A proposed bill sponsored by Rep. Gary Miller (R-CA) wants people born in the U.S.A. to no longer receive automatic birthright citizenship.
The 14th Amendment, definitely one of the more awesome amendments in that it determined people born in the U.S. are all citizens, not slaves, states, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” Miller wants a federal law that says that “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” bit excludes children born in the U.S. to two undocumented parents. Read more
Cord Jefferson Gets it Wrong on Immigration and Black America
Let’s just say up front I am not sure when Cord Jefferson’s writing is tongue-in-cheek or trying to be serious. Recently, he blogged ‘In Defense of John Edwards’ and talks about why progressives do not have the right to be as upset with Edward’s actions as conservatives, which I am sure was written with tongue firmly planted in cheek. His latest blog in The Root, ‘How Illegal Immigration Hurts Black America’ Jefferson liberally mixes fact and fiction to weave his tale.
Jefferson brilliantly ignores his own sources or twists them like pretzels to craft his fictional piece so that it has the feel of legitimacy.
1. He conveniently ignores an entire paragraph in the referenced Washington Post article which explains why there is higher unemployment by young Blacks such as Dlonta Spriggs. “Traditionally the last hired and first fired, workers in Spriggs’s age group have taken the brunt of the difficult economy, with cost-conscious employers wiping out the very apprenticeship, internship and on-the-job-training programs that for generations gave young people a leg up in the work world or a second chance when they made mistakes. Moreover, this generation is being elbowed out of entry-level positions by older, more experienced job seekers on the unemployment rolls who willingly trade down just to put food on the table.” Read more
Anti-immigrant Forces Target Struggling American Communities
Kobach
Tanton
The man at the heart of the most influential anti-immigrant network in the country, John Tanton, has created an empire of organizations consisting of lobbyists, lawyers, legislators, and “experts” who have infiltrated the very depths of social and political debate.
Lately, that has been no more apparent than in Arizona’s Maricopa County, where the Tanton Network’s favorite attorney, Kris Kobach, is busy working with notoriously brutal Sheriff Joe Arpaio. A Kansas attorney, professor, and politician with controversial associations, Kobach has a history of preying on vulnerable communities. Communities weakened, for example, by corruption or political division. Read more
Make Justice Happen in 2010
2010 could be the year that our generation achieves its greatest civil rights victories. As with all things, the possibility of great success comes with the potential for crushing failure. Every activist, social worker, educator, and organizer will have to be at the top of their game to make this year historical and set the pace for years to come. Here are five things to strive for in 2010:
First, pass immigration reform. Pulling millions of residents out of the shadows will do wonders for our nation. It is imperative that we seize on the opportunity to push for reform that legalizes as many immigrants as possible. The societal problems that stem from a broken immigration system will fester and worsen if we don’t leverage everything we got in favor of a path to citizenship. Some say it’s complex, I say it’s just common sense; stop using taxpayer money to hunt, detain, and deport otherwise law-abiding residents. We’ve got better things to do with our hard-earned money than to terrorize our neighbors. Demand reform and advocate for spending resources to help Americans weather the economic storm. Read more
Panic Erupts in Wake of New Anti-Immigrant Law
This article by Valeria Fernández was published a few weeks in IPS News. Nationally, this situation has received little attention, despite its horrifying effects. According to sources on the ground in Arizona, the crisis is ongoing and getting worse by the day.
PHOENIX, Arizona, Dec 4 (IPS) – Arizona community activists and religious leaders are trying to mitigate fears over a new law that would require state employees to denounce undocumented immigrants.
“There’s panic in the community,” said Pastor Magdalena Schwartz from the Disciples of the Kingdom Free United Methodist Church. Read more
Gov. Arpaio Activates Guard, Proposes Hispanic Registry
Phoenix, January 17, 2011—At his inauguration today, Governor Joe Arpaio activated the Arizona Army National Guard to “round up illegals” and called for a “Hispanic registry” to identify “non-citizens.”
Arpaio’s inaugural speech, and emerging plans for his administration, focused entirely on advancing a statewide crackdown on undocumented immigrants. He announced that his first act as Governor “this afternoon” will be to mobilize some five hundred members of the state’s Army National Guard to supplement law enforcement officers in eight Arizona counties “facing an invasion of illegals.” The Governor also stated that “additional troops will be mobilized in the coming weeks and months until we put a stop to this takeover by foreign nationals.” He indicated that “the first Guard units will “be on the ground within three weeks.” Read more
Crosspost: Criminals Target Hispanic Immigrants
An interesting article, Criminals Target Hispanic Undocumented Immigrants, by the Utne Reader discusses how immigrant communities are victims of crime more often than ordinary citizens, and how a lack of trust in law enforcement contributes to the problem.
Thieves and violent criminals frequently target Hispanic immigrants in U.S. cities, zeroing in on a community that, due to an often justified distrust of law enforcement, is unlikely to report being victimized. Especially vulnerable are people who are undocumented.
“Day read more
Fringe Groups Distort Debate Over Health Care
Journalists should use caution when reporting on immigrants and health care.
Anti-immigrant groups with controversial histories are crying fire when it comes to health care and immigrants in an attempt to use mainstream media sources to stir up mass panic.
Amid a rash of articles muddying the waters on whether immigrants will and should have access to health care, both documented and undocumented immigrants suffer an unfair battering. And the best interests of the American public are obscured.
A Washington Times article of November 30, 2009 relied exclusively on the shaky data of Center for Immigration Studies, an anti-immigrant group founded by John Tanton. In order to assert that “health bills fail to block illegals from coverage”, the article liberally quotes Center for Immigration Studies’ research director, Steven Camarota, and Iowa Representative Steve King. Read more
Real Health Reform Leaves No Human Behind
Rosa Parks was well respected in Montgomery’s segregated world of black and white. Nearly fifty-five years ago today she chose to represent those who faced the daily indignities of being treated as a second class citizen by refusing to give her bus seat up to a white passenger. To be clear, the struggle to secure full civil and human rights continues to exist today.
Discrimination continues to deny many equal access to employment, housing, education, and health care—opportunities no person should be unfairly denied. It is clear that what made a defiant Rosa Parks successful was a movement which had come to realize that no one, from the most powerful clergy to the lowliest sharecropper, could be left behind. Read more
Dreams Stalled in Carolina for Undocumented Students
by Glenn Hutchinson
Consider this scenario: Your parents bring you to the United States when you are four years old. You are an undocumented citizen that grows up in the land of McDonald’s and American Idol. You attend public school and graduate high school. You want to pursue your American dream and attend college. Thousands of young people are in this kind of limbo: this is home but they are told it’s not their home.
So what can you do? Your options depend on many factors, including your home state. For example, although only 111 undocumented students were taking classes in 2007-08, North Carolina decided last year to ban them from their community colleges. However, there is an effort to reverse this ban.
Criticism of this policy prompted the State Community College Board to commission a study (at a cost to taxpayers of $75,000). The findings concluded that only one other state, South Carolina, prohibits by law undocumented students from school, and that there was no negative economic effect for undocumented students to take classes at their community college. Read more
Film Review: Those Who Remain
Imagine you are a child again, lying in bed asleep when all of a sudden you are awakened by your father. He kisses you on the cheek and says “goodbye”. Seven years later he returns from ‘up North’ but now you are 14 and to each other you are almost unrecognizable.
This is the hardship that thousands of Mexican families go through each year when the men of the family head to the United States in search of work. Those Who Remain documents exactly what the title says, those family members who are left behind, almost always women in children.
The film examines a wide range of families from all corners of Mexico, some live without electricity, others living in a second home built with the money sent back from up North, and still others trying to cope with the death of a husband and father who will never return home. Read more
“Amor de Lejos”
Last September in Chicago I saw a play called “Amor de Lejos,” which is Spanish for “love from afar.” It was performed by a theater company of high school students and offered a few short, but vivid slices from the grueling lives of day laborers from Mexico and Central America living and working in Chicago.
Watching it was one of the most moving and provocative experiences I’ve had in some time. Not simply because the performances themselves were so wonderful. Not just because these 14, 15, and 16 year-old students had conceived, researched and written the play themselves. And not even only because the real stories the students told were so compelling.
Tell Obama and Congress to Move on Comprehensive Immigration Reform
President Obama has invited Congressional leaders to the White House tomorrow for a working session on immigration reform. In the last few weeks the Reform Immigration FOR America campaign has urged supporters to contact Congress, and the response was overwhelming. 200,000 faxes, 30,000 phone calls, and 3,300 personal notes poured into the capital.
But to move this beyond just a few high-profile meetings and turn it into workable solutions, Congress needs to continue to hear from you. I sent a personal email to my representative today:
Dear Representative,
Working as a school administrator three years ago I watched helplessly as the family of one of my students was ripped apart by the immigration system. The young boy’s mother was deported while his father, who was a legal resident, stayed behind in the US to maintain the family’s small business and ensure that he could continue to support his family. Read more
FAIR Tries to Flee Sinking Anti-Immigrant Ship
The racist inspired pre-planned murder of the Flores family in Arizona on May 30, 2009 by anti-immigrant activists continues to stun the nation. Meanwhile the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), one of the nation’s most influential and controversial anti-immigrant organizations, is busy trying to spin itself out of the bigoted hole it has dug for itself over thirty year existence.
Over the last several days, writers across the blogosphere have been reporting that Shawna Forde, one of the murderers of nine year-old Brisenia Flores, was named as a representative of FAIR in 2006. Today FAIR finally released its own response to the charges. Instead of taking organizational responsibility for its role in creating the political climate that feeds anti-Latino hysteria, FAIR, in an Orwellian manner, uses its press release as an opportunity to attack the well respected civil rights organization the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). Read more
Fueled by Racism, Opposition to Immigrants is Spanning the Globe
Steeped in fear and contempt and fueled by racism, fierce opposition to migrants, immigrants, and refugees is growing across the globe and is likely to worsen as economic and political turmoil and environmental degradation uproots peoples.
Greece has taken dramatic steps to turn away or detain tens of thousands of refugees and asylum seekers from Iraq, Somalia, Sudan and other war-torn nations. Australia continues its harsh policies aimed at turning away boats packed with refugees. Italy has earned criticism by the UN for its forcible return of Libyans seeking asylum, even as its parliament mapped a path to steep restrictions and fines for undocumented immigrants, and authorization of “citizen patrols” to rein them in. Russia’s ultra-nationalist Movement Against Illegal Immigration is strong in spite of the recent imprisonment of its leader. And the Dutch Freedom Party PVV and its vile anti-Muslim fervor is gaining hold in The Netherlands. The list is long and sobering, particularly as governments bow to the winds of racism in crafting immigration policies. Read more
Minutemen Force Hispanic Vendors to Shut Down
At every sporting event in the United States, large or small vending and tailgating is an extremely common occurrence. In Horry County South Carolina, the local Hispanic community have a soccer league where on average 150 people attend each game. At each game local vendors sell food and other items to the soccer fans. The vendors are a part of the community and are widely accepted by both fans and players alike. This peaceful community coexistence was broken recently by the local chapter of the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps. The minutemen with the backing of Horry County officials succeeded in banning 5 vendors from selling items at the Sunday league. The minutemen are now enlisting the help of the local police department to enforce their new “no vending” policy. Read more
Chicago Immigrant Rights Activist Faces Deportation After Traffic Stop
Rigo Padilla is a 21 year-old college student facing deportation after a traffic stop. Padilla was detained and interviewed by the public defender. After the public defender found out that Padilla was not a US citizen, he walked out of the interview. Minutes later Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrived. After an interrogation he was transferred to a federal prison where he was interrogated again.
Once in federal prison, Padilla was offered the choice of paying a bond or wearing a tracking bracelet. The latter being described as a privilege by ICE officials for Padilla’s clean record up to that point. All of this is of course 100% illegal.
Everyone has the right to be represented by the public defender whether they are a citizen or not. When I was arrested less than a year ago I was given the option to be represented by the public defender even though I myself am not a US citizen. Mr. Padilla’s arrest and transportation to a federal prison is in violation of an executive order by former Chicago Mayor Harold Washington which states that city employees cannot enforce federal immigration laws. This law was passed in 2006 by the Chicago City Counsel as the Sanctuary for Undocumented Immigrants City Ordinance. Read more
Another CIS Charade Ignores the Power of the UFCW at JBS/Swift
Today the anti-immigrant Center for Immigration Studies (CIS)—an offshoot of the unabashedly anti-immigrant Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR)—reports that since the massive ICE raids on JBS/Swift meatpacking plants in late 2006 wages have risen and safety has improved because the company has hired more “authorized” workers to replace those undocumented employees taken in the ICE action.
This is akin to reporting that the sun rose this morning because it is March 18. The correlation is, to put it mildly, fleeting.
As of late 2008 all JBS/Swift plants in the U.S. are union shops—a factor of extraordinarily more import for all the company’s workers (regardless of their residency status) than the aftermath of the ICE raids. In December some 1,100 workers at the last non-union Swift plant in Hyrum, Utah voted overwhelmingly to join Local 711 of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), making the unionized Brazilian company a rarity among the red meat processing industry in the U.S. and bringing its workers into a new era. Read more
Migrant Children in Greece:Unintended Victims of the “War on Terror”
Collateral Damage is one of those terms that we learn to use when talking about wars, but we seldom, if ever, stop to think what it entails. It’s a nice word that helps obscure the true nature of wars, and it desensitizes the general public to the plight of those directly affected by them.
Discourse on “unintended victims of war” is used as a crutch in arguments against wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and for the most part that is where it stops. “Collateral Damage” is treated as an inevitable by-product of war, and as such the vast scope of human tragedy remains unexamined, making it easy for most people to accept the terror tactics of their own governments without questioning. Read more
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