Immigration Update

Immigration Update
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We told you this week about the case of "Mr. N.," a Buddhist monk, who sought refuge in the United States after being tortured in Tibet, and instead was detained for 10 months. MSNBC's Keith Olbermann called U.S. immigration detention practices "Gitmo Jr.-gate." Help us fix this broken, cruel detention system.

Unfortunately, Mr. N. is just one of countless individuals unjustly detained. Juana Villegas, who was nine months pregnant at the time, was arrested last July by the police for a minor driving offense in Nashville, Tennessee. After her arrest, authorities discovered that she was an immigrant from Mexico and transferred her to a county jail so that she could be picked up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Two nights later, Juana went into labor and was moved from jail to a hospital. She was shackled in the ambulance, while in her hospital bed, and again immediately after delivery. She even remained shackled to walk from her hospital bed to the bathroom, although there was never any reason to suspect that Juana was a flight risk or that she posed a danger to others.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Hands off the poor!

Portland Coalition Against Poverty stages protest downtown By Sarah Morrigan

Street Roots PORTLAND, Ore., July 9 -- Braving the 89 degree temperature, over 70 people representing student, veteran and activist organizations marched through downtown Portland Wednesday evening, holding short rallies at several locations in protest of the recent police sweeps of encampments under Portland's bridges.

We must build bridges instead of walls. Jobs with Justice can solve the problem

http://www.ifimages.com/public/image/40561/view.html

"Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Emma Lazarus (1849-1887)

"There is no immigration crisis�other than the one created by a small but vocal stripe of opportunist politicians, media demagogues and freelance xenophobes."

Truthdig - Reports - Legalize the �Illegals�

2006/03/28

"...The United States built the world's most powerful economy by producing and attracting human capital. To stay innovative, America must continue to attract the worlds sharpest minds or else it would decay soon.

Over the years the United States has been called a nation of immigrants. It is a melting pot for so many different cultures, races, and religions which makes it unique in the world. People bring their hopes, their dreams, and in turn contribute, enrich and energize America.

Because this country was founded in large part by those who fled various kinds of political and religious persecution, it has become of historical responsibility to serve as an advocate for human rights. The very foundation of America's greatness has been embodiment of hope, opportunity and the unwavering belief that tomorrow will always be better than today.

Finally who are the immigrants? Immigrants permeate the fabric of America. They are an integral part of our society, its goals and its values. The backbone that helps make this country great, they set us apart from every nation in this world.

Finally the Administration cannot afford to ignore the Undocumented Workers and the contribution they make to the US economy, nor can it afford to ignore the contributions Foreign Labor makes to the U.S. economy. The Bush Administration must look into the matter gravely and quickly with a more Humane approach before its too late and people continue to die at the borders, Undocumented People continue to be harassed and other countries take advantage of America's short sightedness on closing its doors for the biggest resource on this planet - People. The person who discovered America, Columbus, was not born here.

"The function of freedom is to free someone else"
- Toni Morrison

Ranjit Shaji
NJ - USA
http://www.sitnews.us/0105Viewpoints/012905_ranjit_shaji.html

Let's not turn our backs on our values - OregonLive.com

... D. Michael Dale is executive director of the Northwest Workers' Justice Project. ...
www.oregonlive.com/commentary/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/editorial/1193093715180730.xml&coll=7

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

"In moving to open a day labor center, the Portland City Council has shown leadership and courage at a time when speaking out for day laborers makes one an easy target. ...

Portland leaders are considering a solution that many other cities -- in such hotbeds of radicalism as Texas and Virginia -- have successfully adopted. As The Oregonian has reported ("Where to put day laborers," July 29) most police, including Portland police, support day labor centers because they attract people who are serious about working rather than those looking for a place to hang out.
...

Our immigration system is broken, and there are real, practical problems to be dealt with in a responsible way. But simply labeling human beings as "illegal" isn't helpful. A driver who runs a stop sign, an employer who doesn't pay overtime, a politician who fails to file a timely campaign report does not thereby become defined as an "illegal" human being. Respect for the law is important, but it's no justification for dehumanizing hard-working people who contribute to our economy by their sweat and blisters.

We are a nation of immigrants, a nation of people who left home in search of a better life, not because we wanted to but because we had to. The garment workers of New York, the meatpackers of Chicago and the railroad builders of the entire West had less in common with their modern middle-class descendants than with Portland's day laborers of today. America's prosperity has always hinged first and foremost on valuing and respecting work. To turn our backs on day laborers is to turn our backs on those values."

Please read the full article by D. Michael Dale i,
executive director of the Northwest Workers' Justice Project.

D. Michael Dale (michael@nwjp.org), NWJP Executive Director, worked for 25 years as a legal services attorney in Oregon, directing its migrant program. When, in 1995, federally funded legal services were restricted from representing undocumented individuals and from class action litigation, Michael helped establish the Oregon Law Center to meet those needs. He has litigated and won significant cases involving minimum wage law, immigration rights, and workers compensation in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and in the Oregon appellate courts.

New Scrutiny as Immigrants Die in Custody By NINA BERNSTEIN
Getting details about immigrants who have died in administrative custody is a difficult undertaking.

Women Build Groundwork in Makeshift 'Colonias'

Run Date: 08/23/07

By Laura Paskus
WeNews correspondent

Women engaged in grassroots activism in "colonias"--makeshift communities along the Mexico border--are working to improve access to basic infrastructure, services and help residents learn about their citizenship rights.

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (WOMENSENEWS)--Manufactured homes from the 1960s and '70s--boxy, with sharp corners and rusty hitches--huddle just down the block from the Colonias Development Council.
A green, white and red Mexican flag hangs in one of the trailer windows; New Mexico license plates grace the cars out front.
The council, a nonprofit staffed almost entirely by women, is just two blocks off the New Mexico State University campus, but it feels a world away. Here in southern New Mexico, poverty and affluence often share close quarters, even as economic disparities grow.
As developers gobble up farms and desert scrub--sending the fringes of Las Cruces, N.M., and El Paso, Texas, sprawling toward one another--the region's poorest residents often find themselves squeezed out of affordable housing, exploited by predatory lenders and unsure of their rights.
To the extent that anyone is coming to their aid, it's mainly female activists such those at the Colonias Development Council, says Esperanza "Espy" Holguin.
After 12 years as an activist or municipal employee involved with colonias issues Holguin eight years ago began working for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which administers a handful of grant programs designed specifically for colonias. She estimates that 80 percent or more of the activists in the colonias are female.
"They see the needs of their communities," she says. Then she laughs. "And we are good organizers."

Missing Basic Services

As defined by the federal government, "colonias" are U.S. communities within 150 miles of the Mexican border that lack basic infrastructure such as running water and sewage, electricity, natural gas, paved roads, and safe and sanitary housing. Aside from New Mexico, there are also colonias in Arizona, Texas and California.
While government agencies are beginning to focus more on the infrastructure needs of the colonias, such as water and sewage, Holguin says they have yet to address aging and unsafe houses or even the lack of public roads, never mind such essential social services as hospitals, clinics, schools, child care services or senior centers.
This means women lack prenatal care, says Sheila Black, marketing coordinator with the Colonias Development Council.
In the border community of Columbus, Black says paramedics can get almost 80 emergency obstetric calls a month from the community of some 2,000 to 3,000 people. "This is not just people coming across the border to have babies, as people like to say," she adds. "These are people who only feel like they have care when it's an absolute emergency."
The council is hoping to find a grant to bring midwives into the colonias, but Black is frustrated by the lack of social services for rural communities. "It's a bad situation when you have small nonprofits coming in to address these problems."

Bustling, Bilingual Office

The council focuses on 10 colonias in southern New Mexico on issues ranging from education to sustainable economic development, to opening day care centers and re-training farm workers, to fighting for environmental justice and civil rights. From a start as a Catholic farm worker organizing project the council has been an independent nonprofit for more than a decade.
Working with other community groups, the council encourages residents to engage with local government entities, attend county meetings, join water district boards and understand how the state legislature works.
In New Mexico alone, there are about 140 colonias. Some date to the 1800s and early 1900s, says Holguin. As parents parceled off their original land to children and grandchildren, the communities of trailers and homes grew without formal planning.
But in the past few decades, says Holguin, many more colonias have arisen as the result of unscrupulous developers and predatory lenders who have created what amount to illegal subdivisions.
Developers will sell parcels of land that lack basic infrastructure normally required under law, such as public roads, water and sewage or electricity. To make matters worse, these developers sell the land under terms where the fine print--unbeknownst to the buyers--prevents residents from technically owning their land until the loans are fully paid.
Despite making payments on this land, residents still lack equity or collateral and are unable to procure a bank loan for their homes, says Holguin. In order to build a house or more often, buy a trailer, residents end up turning again to predatory lenders.
At the end of the day, residents--with the American dream of homeownership--find themselves not only heavily in debt, but also living without basic infrastructure or services.
Despite popular misconceptions, colonias are not squatter's camps or hide-outs for undocumented immigrants. The vast majority of people living in colonias are legal immigrants or U.S. citizens. "Much of what's happening in rural, border New Mexico is reflected in rural America," says Black. "There is an interconnectedness between these little communities."
Environmental injustice is an example of this interconnectedness.
According to the council, 75 percent of the nation's landfills are built near minority or low-income communities. In Chapparral, for instance, the council is working with local leaders to stave off a landfill that would be the community's third.
The struggle to sustain good services is another example.
In 1997 five women in Columbus who called themselves Mujeres en Progreso--Women in Progress--started thinking about how to create a day care center. Today, the Columbus Child Development Center employs five women and provides other working women an alternative to unregulated home day care arrangements.
But Megan Snedden, the council's economic development director, says the center faces challenges to viability that would be familiar to any small, rural community.
With only 20 or 25 children, for example, hiring a cook puts a significant dent in the center's tight budget. Staff training is also difficult, since it often requires travel to a nearby urban center which requires three things in chronic short supply: time, money and transportation.
Laura Paskus is a writer living in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Women's eNews welcomes your comments. E-mail us at editors@womensenews.org.

For more information:

Colonias Development Council:
http://www.colonias.org/
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development:
http://www.hud.gov/groups/colonias.cfm

MSNBC: The Anti-Immigration Network [VIDEO] By Adam Howard
For seven hours, MSNBC only featured conservatives and journalists on the immigration issue, never once someone from the pro-immigrant community.

"It�s heartbreaking. How do you explain to people asking for refuge that even in the United States of America we can�t assure them they will receive due process and justice?" CHERYL LITTLE, executive director of the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center, on a study that found broad disparities in the nation�s immigration courts.

Senate Rejects Most Efforts to Change Immigration Bill By ROBERT PEAR
Architects of the legislation said they hoped they would gain support for a motion to end debate on the legislation.

It is neither logical nor prudent to ignore the elephant in the room.   In the three years before
implementing NAFTA, immigration  decreased by 18%.  In the six years after implementing NAFTA,
immigration increased by 61%.

The North American Fraudulent Trade Agreement, does not level the playing field. It forces under-funded
small businesses and poor farmers in central and south America to compete with deep-pocket transnational
corporations.  This has devastated the economies of our neighbors.  The victims of this wrong-headed gift to corporate transnationals are heading north in order to feed their families.

~~~Nafta's Failures Fuel Mexican Illegal Immigration Nafta's market failures drive illegal immigration
www.news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html

And even with this influx, the "immigration crisis" is more media hype than anything else.
"This is a moment of truth for America. It is time to acknowledge that we need immigrant workers as much
as they need us, and to begin to treat them with the respect they deserve. "
~~~ Our Fake Immigration Crisis: There is a very simple reason our country should embrace immigration,
... NAFTA, CAFTA and all the other trade agreements are at the root of
the problem(s). ...www.alternet.org/columnists/story/34202/

Perhaps Open Borders are the solutions....~~~BBC NEWS | World | Viewpoints: Should borders be open?Should there be open borders between countries? BBC online asked eight commentators for their views.
www.news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/3512992.stm

Poster Child By David Montgomery, Washington Post May 20, 2007

The girl in the picture has grief in her eyes, fear on her lips. Only later, when you meet her, do you realize she has world-class dimples. In the picture, fear has swallowed her dimples, while a maternal hand, with fingernails gnawed to the quick, strokes her head.

To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/19/AR2007051901212.html?referrer=emailarticle

April 10^th 2007: Immigration & A National Day of Action

Stop Tearing Apart Families! Stop the Raids! Stop Deportations!

Pass Comprehensive Immigration Reform, Now!!

WHY ARE WE CALLING FOR A NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION
ON APRIL 10^th 2007?

A. To commemorate the first anniversary of the nationally coordinated immigrant mobilizations that defeated proposed legislation (HR4437) that attempted to criminalize immigrants.

B. To proactively energize and coordinate nationally coordinated community activities and voices calling for humane, just and responsible immigration reform.

C. To launch a postcard and letter-writing campaign from voters and members of the community asking congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform this year.

WHAT ARE THE COMMON NATIONAL MESSAGES WE WANT TO SPREAD ON APRIL 10^TH?

v KEEP OUR FAMILIES TOGETHER! Stop Tearing Apart Families! Stop the Raids! Stop Deportations!

In the last six months, the Bush administration has acted unscrupulously by launching a series of workplace raids that have resulted in the apprehension and subsequent deportation of hard workingmen and workingwoman. This insensible act has divided families and left hundreds of children (mostly US citizens) alone, without their parents. Furthermore, the secret White House plan on immigration reform continues the administration�s assault on families. The energies and resources of the federal government must be utilized to unify families and to look for fair and workable solutions, NOT TO bully and tear apart American families.

v Pass Just, Humane and Comprehensive Immigration Reform NOW!

But just not any kind of reform. The changes to our immigration system and laws that are needed, and that our communities are calling for, have to encompass workable solutions that respect the contributions and rights of immigrant families in the US.

WHAT ACTIVITIES CAN BE DONE ON APRIL 10^TH?

� On April 10 kick off of a major letter writing and postcard campaign from voters and other members of our community

� Organize town hall meetings with Members of Congress to ask for their commitment to family unity, an end to raids and deportations, and to pass CIR

� Organize marches and rallies with children and families

� Organize community education forums on the immigration reform bills being introduced

(Display images of families and children impacted by raids at all of the above events.)

WHAT ARE OUR COMMON PRINCIPLES ON IMMIGRATION REFORM?

For immigration reform to be comprehensive, it ought to REFLECT the following principles:

I. Immigrant Legalization and Regularization Policies

Congress ought to implement a broad and serious legalization program with access to permanent residency for immigrant workers and families already in the US, with special emphasis on the following:

� We call for an expansive program that would make eligible the maximum number of undocumented immigrants currently residing in the United States. Some proposals, such as a �touch back� or �tiers� provisions, are simply unworkable and unrealistic.

� A legalization program must not include retroactive exclusion provisions, and must not exclude persons with outstanding deportation orders or persons who have committed document fraud.

� Any reform needs to allow for the adjustment of status of targeted groups including those covered by the DREAM Act, AgJobs, and Temporary Protected Status (TPS).

II. New Immigrant Work Program

The entry of future immigrant workers and families to the United State must be regulated through the creation of a new work program that contains fundamental rights:

� The new programs must allow immigrant workers to come to the US legally and orderly, without violence.

� These new immigrant worker visa programs must provide strong worker protections that include the right to change jobs (portability) and the opportunity to gain permanent US residency and, later on, citizenship.

� Past and present �guest worker� programs are extremely flawed. Therefore, they are unacceptable.

III. Strengthen Worker�s Protection and Reassure Labor Rights of Immigrant Workers

Congress needs to ensure that immigration enforcement complements rather than undermines the enforcement of labor and employment laws.

� Strengthen the enforcement of existing labor laws regardless of immigration status, including additional funds to the Department of Labor to enforce wage and hour laws. Labor and employment laws must hold bad employers accountable when their actions undermine conditions for all workers.

� Ensure that any new employment eligibility verification system is implemented in a manner that minimizes both disruption to workers and the likely increase in discrimination and privacy violations.

� Until complete accuracy of data is ensured and safeguards are in place preventing discrimination and abuse, the use of SSA no match letters or other employment verification should be prohibited.

� Create job training resources for low-income workers, including native-born workers, so the entire workforce benefits from immigration reform.

IV. Enforcing the Law: A Responsible and Accountable Immigration Enforcement

We cannot fix our immigration system with an �enforcement-only approach� and by continuing to enforce dysfunctional laws. Comprehensive Immigration Reform must include the revision of current border and interior enforcement policies and allow the creation of effective accountability mechanisms to protect human and civil rights.

� Replace border operations such as �Safeguard� and �Hold the Line� with Border Community Safety and Security Operations. These operations would be based on strategies that uphold the human and civil rights of migrants, are accountable to border communities, can distinguish between criminal activity and immigration violations, and integrate technologies that respect the environmental, economic and social quality of life on the border.

� Our nation�s strategy towards the border and interior must include the creation of a Federal Independent Review Commission, with local and regional offices, to oversee the trainings, policies, internal practices, complaint processes and activities of federal immigration agencies.

� Immigration enforcement should continue to be a responsibility of federal immigration agencies. Enforcement strategies must clearly separate the authority of those federal agencies and local law enforcement.

V. Restoring Due Process Rights and Judicial Discretion

Current detention and deportation laws and procedures are unduly harsh and counterproductive. Immigrants arrested for relatively minor criminal and/or immigration violations are often detained indefinitely under mandatory detention policies.

� Everyone deserves a fair day in court and access to the courts should be improved rather than restricted. A judge should consider a person�s case before that individual is incarcerated or deported.

� Restore judicial discretion. Deportation means exile from the U.S. for life and, therefore, judges should be able to make sure that deportations proceedings are fair.

� We oppose any provision that would mandate expansion of �expedited removal,� a system that allows the government to deport an individual without any hearing or access to a lawyer. Individuals should not be jailed or deported without an opportunity for independent court review in fair and open proceedings.

� Prevent expansion of the number of minor offenses that make non-citizens deportable.

� Through immigration law reform and improvements in the management of the immigration system, we ought to decrease the need for mass detention, detention centers and detention beds and allow for alternatives to detention.

VI. Fixing the Administrative Process of the Immigration System

Immigration reform must provide for the overhaul of the immigration administrative system and structure to eliminate backlogs and expedite, among other things, the adjustment of status, asylum and refugee applications.

� It is imperative that reform measures ensure that the family backlog is eliminated and the number of visas expanded to reunite families. Immigrant families contribute to our society and culture and help to meet our labor force needs.

� Restore the number of refugees� visas to pre 9-11 levels.

VII. New Policies for Immigrant Integration

The US Congress must develop effective programs of integration to allow immigrant to fully participate and engage in the social, economic and political life of the US society.

� Facilitation of immigrant integration through increased resources for English as a Second Language classes, naturalization and legal services, rolling back increases in application fees and simplifying the application process for naturalization.

VIII. Addressing the Root Causes of Migration

Beyond immigration policy reform, we need a brand new international economic policy to address the root causes of migration.

� We strongly believe it is imperative for the U.S. to engage in the engineering, from the bottom up, of a brand new international economic and social policy initiative. Such an initiative must have as a strategic goal the substantial elevation of social and economic standards of living in immigrant sending countries. Unless we manage to promptly and significantly reduce the current asymmetries between the U.S. and its neighbors in the South, no migration policy will prove manageable and sustainable in the long haul.

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