In the past few years, public attention in the US has increasingly focused on the issue of so-called
“illegal immigration”. In April 2005, a vigilante group called the Minuteman Project undertook armed patrols of
the Arizona- New Mexico border, allegedly to help capture undocumented migrants. A year later, the mainstream was shaken when
millions of immigrants and their supporters (one million in Los Angeles alone) took to the streets in protest of new bills
that would further criminalize immigrants and militarize the US-Mexico border. Liberal pundits declared the birth of a new
civil rights movement, while those on the right began to mutter about the possibility of a coming culture or race war.
Liberal solutions have predictably failed to address the root causes of migration or the sources of
racist injustice. Amnesty and legalization will undeniable make life better for migrants currently living in the US, but they
will do nothing to prevent yet more indigenas and latinos from being driven from their homes, and they will
do nothing to change the US economy's dependence on cheap migrant labor.
A truly radical analysis of migration must acknowledge that most migrants would prefer to stay home,
but desperate circumstances force them to risk their lives in the hopes of finding work in the US. It must recognize the effect
of treaties like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which forces hundreds of thousands of campesin@s off their
land every year by dumping cheap, subsidized, US corn on the Mexican market (according to some estimates, migration across
the US's southern border has tripled since NAFTA went into effect in 1994). It must take into account the way that the Central
American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) will exacerbate the problem, and it must acknowledge the role of infrastructure projects like the PPP in facilitating these trade agreements.
Infrastructure projects, in and of themselves, also dislocate millions of people every year. The World
Trade Commission on Dams estimates that those directly displaced by dam construction in the last 60 years number 40-80 million
worldwide. In Latin America, these dislocations inevitably feed northward migration.
A truly radical solution to the plight of migrants in the US society must address the underlying causes
of this migration. It must not only defend the safety of those who choose to migrate, it also must defend the right of the
indigenous and campesino (subsistence farmer) peoples to preserve their lands and cultures—to live at home, with dignity, if that is their wish. It must address
the racist, colonialist economy that demands cheap labor and forces migrants and people of color into these roles. Attacking
the infrastructure of this colonialism might be a good place to start
Ten Ways to Celebrate Diversity
Ten Ways to Celebrate Diversity
1. Respect Everyone
We're all human beings, and we're all equal too. Treat others the way you want them to treat you.
2. Make the connection
We are much more alike than at first it seems. We all have hearts and minds and dreams.
3. Be Proud of Your Heritage
You are special - don't keep it inside. Share your culture backgroup with pride.
4. Keep an Open Mind
Listen to what others have to say. You're sure to learn something new that way.
5. Learn About Other Cultures
Explore the world that we all share. It's you world, too, so show you care.
6. Avoid Sterotyping
Don't judge others based on their looks. It's what's inside that matters - just like with books.
7. Enjoy Multicultural Activities
Go to cultural festivals, concerts, and more. The world's full of interesting things to explore.
8. Study Another Language
You discover other cultures as you learn what people speak, whether it's Japanese, Spanish, Swahili, or Greek.
9. Reach Out
Friends of all backgrounds bring something new. Get to know people different from you.
10. Build Peace
Kind actions and words help spread peace with ease. Tolerance, love, and trust are the keys.
The Center for Intercultural Organizing was originally
created to combat widespread anti-Muslim sentiment after 9/11/2001. Today, the Center has grown into a diverse, grassroots
organization working to build a multi-racial, multicultural movement for immigrant and refugee rights through education, policy
advocacy, community organizing and mobilization, and intergenerational leadership development.Read more ...
.
# 1
The men on the corner
Day
laborers struggle to provide for their loved ones
The men gather everyday at 4 a.m. at Newark,
New Jersey’s busy Five Corners intersection. Some are teenagers; others
could be grandfathers. Regardless of the weather, anywhere from 20 to 100 men stand and wait for hours, each one hoping he’ll
find work that day.
Jorge Flores (not his real name) is a day laborer, one of
the regulars at Five Corners. He came from Ecuador
in 2001 without documentation and considers himself an economic refugee. Following Ecuador’s economic collapse in the late 1990s, the value of money there plummeted.
Scene from
a workplace safety training for day laborers in Newark, New Jersey.
“Everything we had in the bank disappeared, so people
had to find other horizons,” Jorge says in Spanish. “Now there’s no work, no way to feed our families, no
medical care or education for the kids. I looked to the U.S.
because here there’s the American dream.”
When he can get work, it varies from construction to cleaning
to selling flowers or ices from mobile street carts. “We live day to day,” Jorge says. “If we don’t
work, we don’t eat.”
Meanwhile, Jorge hasn’t seen his family since he left
Ecuador, which has put a tremendous strain
on his marriage. He sends money home when he can, but it’s never much because his wages—typically $60 to $80 a
day—have not kept pace with his cost of living.
Do these hardships make him long for home?
“Yes, I would like to return,” Jorge says. “But
what would I do? How would I support my family? At least by being here, I can send some money home.”
*
Jorge’s story is all too familiar to Esther Chavez.
“Almost all the day laborers we work with have left
families in their countries of origin, and they’ve all left for economic reasons,” says Esther, who until recently
was the community organizer for AFSC’s Immigrant Rights Program in Newark.
“We live
day to day,” Jorge says. “If we don’t work, we don’t eat.”
The program’s work with day laborers includes providing
information about workers’ rights, organizing workplace safety trainings in conjunction with the U.S. Occupational Health
and Safety Administration, and helping some workers file cases in small claims court for unpaid wages.
Esther notes that U.S. immigration rules are so restrictive that those who have come seeking economic
security have almost no way to obtain legal status. Yet she and other immigrant rights advocates say the laborers are often
vilified because most are undocumented.
“There’s no intent to violate the law, there’s
intent to feed their families,” says Amy Gottlieb, director of the Newark
program. “It’s very easy to scapegoat undocumented immigrants for everything from increased crime to depressed
wages, but the data just doesn’t support any of that.”
Unfortunately, research that shows immigration has little
to no effect on wages and employment for U.S.-born workers, for example, has a hard time competing with public perception.
In Miami,
Florida, that perception has led to a crackdown by local authorities.
Herman Martinez is the community social activist for AFSC’s
American Friends Immigrant Services in Miami. He began organizing
day laborers in several neighborhoods when he heard stories about community members pressuring police to arrest workers and
conduct immigration sweeps with Immigration and Customs Enforcement units.
To help ease tensions, AFSC is one of the groups trying to
establish a nonprofit worker center where day laborers can seek employment in a safe and healthy environment, and contractors
can find short-term workers in an organized way.
Together with other immigrant rights, labor, and faith-based
groups, Herman also has offered a variety of community education workshops and helped forge agreements with local police that
benefit both the day laborers and the neighborhoods where they wait for work.
*
While some see the workers as threats, others see them as
inspiration. In Washington, D.C., Peta Ikambana, director
of AFSC’s Peace and Economic Justice Program, is moved by the sacrifices many immigrants have made to come to the United States.
As part of a coalition of immigrant rights groups, Peta has helped day
laborers organize a union, understand their legal rights when confronted by law enforcement and immigration authorities, and
obtain warm winter clothes.
He knows one day laborer from El
Salvador who raised $3,000 to go to Mexico and then
cross the U.S. border to find a job. The
man regularly sends money home to his wife and three children.
“When I see this gentleman and reflect on everything
I hear about immigrants, I can’t stop thinking about my own people back in Africa who
would have done the same thing to honestly provide for their families,” says Peta, who’s originally from the Democratic
Republic of Congo. “This is an honest, hard-working person. He is my daily motivation to keep working for immigrant
rights.”
More information
about AFSC’s immigrant rights work is available online at www.afsc.org/ immigrants-rights/. To learn about nationwide efforts to improve the lives of day laborers, see the
web site of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network at www.ndlon.org.
“We live day to day, If we don’t work, we don’t eat.”
# 2
Suspending
Civil Liberties in Our Own Backyard
3--01-07
The story of 9-year-old
Kevin, a Canadian boy held in a Texas lockup, drove home the fact that the U.S. is now imprisoning immigrant children and
their families in its detention centers at a prolific rate. On the February 23 edition of Democracy Now!, Amy Goodman interviewed Kevin and his father, who were on their way from Guyana to Canada, when an emergency
stop in Puerto Rico detoured their family to the T. Don Hutto Residential Facility. Kevin told Amy,
"I want to be free. I want to go outside, and I want to go to school!" (Read also Amy Goodman's article on Truthdig.)
Grassroots Responses in Texas: BORDC groups throughout Texas were outraged at the treatment of this family, and
asked how they could help. Two groups are working in the Taylor, Texas area to provide advocacy,
support and legal help to detainees. Texans United for Freedom (TUFF) and the American Civil Liberties
Union of Texas.
Meanwhile,
On February 28 in nearby San Marcos, the San Marcos Committee wore bright orange "Shut Down Guantánamo/Stop
Torture" t-shirts to protest an appearance of Karl Rove. They also carried signs referring to Rove's
reputation as a spin doctor.
Orange County, North Carolina, Resolution: The Orange County Bill of Rights Defense Committee is asking the Chapel
Hill town council to pass a resolution to protect immigrants from being detained when the national database shows they may
have a minor civil infraction.
My point to her and her readers on May 23 2007 was this:
Well when slavery was OK to do ...some seen through
it and made changes. Other said blindly "it is The Law"
-if you want to march to Mexico and demand then do it ....
I live here, was born here and I am marching in my "own country" for ..ummmmm "Justice For All"
-yes let them fix their
problems or maybe you and I could go down there and HELP (I would) ...no not with guns killing the ones we are "claiming to
help" (insert Iraq here as an example)
-obey the law? Heck 1/2 the Republicans in office these days are heading
for jail or getting booted out, ...and you want to demand poor immigrants to follow the law, probably like all these under
the table employer's who were "following the law" ....man that is a high horse you hoist your ass up on.
-you mean
the Saudi hijackers? or did you mean the hijackers who were said to be "the hijackers and then it turns out some are alive
and they are not at all the ones we were told were "the hijackers"
-my rant hit the people who are calling on walls
and jails for brown people, right on the true word, that describes their intentions. (Note rise in hate groups and KKK groups
to help with the Mexican border etc,)
-thanks for reminding me it was another "war" (Mexican American War)...The US
is good about having "just wars" I notice how you excluded the Native American reference?
-rally..., real men do the
work? what are you talking about ... I am taking a Vacation Day to go down there and support peace love human rights and
compassion, you stay the course your on .... for I know where that road is leading already!
-I know the mirror comment
brings it home....but really, hatred for humans can be abolished by looking in a mirror and marveling on how well the person
in the mirror needs it all for himself and how much you deserve this land for your self, and your family "and your kind" ...you
earned it or deserve it or some other selfish excuse. That man in the mirror is all great and the true owner, it is "those
others" that need to leave.
-racism is blind its fueled from hate...its hard to see when your proud of your righteousness
and authority over others, to a point where your decisions can be that people will die from your point of view.... must be
a "tough love" which, I am calling .... HATE.
I DIDNT GET A CARD ?
FROM THE NATIVE AMERICANS
TO LIVE HERE IN THE US
- WE STOLE THE LAND -
NOW WE ARE ASKING
OTHERS FOR A CARD?
An Aquaintence over the internet
and a fellow left Journalist that I respect allot had this commnet on his website on June 24th
I couldnt help but comment
my two cents worth, which is posted below Roberts article found at this link:
The latest death
toll figures from Hurricane Katrina can be seen on this website here.
I have a friend who would like very much to come to the US
and visit this country. She lives in the Philippines. She is 28 years old, single, owns her own home in Manila, works full-time
and makes about $150/month (typical wage over there). She doesn't have enough in the bank to come to the US yet, but there
is a serious question of whether or not she can even come here even if she had the money.
You really do not need to
know much more about her other than that I know her and have known her for 2 1/2 years.
I do not believe that she intends
to illegal if and when she comes here. She just wants to visit, stay for a while and then go home.
Easier said than
done.
As I said, there is a serious possibility that her application for a tourist visa may be turned down by the US
Embassy.
It seems kind of silly to be turning down tourists who want to visit the US but the Embassy does it all the
time. This did not use to be the case. The reason they turn down so many Filipinos is apparently because so many of them go
illegal once they come there. There is also a serious problem of fraudulent marriage.
In any sane country, this would not really be a problem. Most sane countries make it kind of hard for you to invade
and then roam around the country as an illegal alien, working anyplace you want to, using government services and so on.
Many rational countries
will not let you send your kids to their schools or utilize their hospitals or any other public services if you are there
illegally. I am not advocating that the US ban illegal aliens from our hospitals and K-12 schools. But I am pointing out that
the US is far from the global norm in this regard.
The reason my friend is going to have a hard time getting a Visa
is due to the ridiculous flood of illegal immigration into America, which has been aided and abetted by the elites of both
parties.
The advocates of illegals are always asking who gets hurt by illegals.
I will tell you who gets hurt:
Those
who wish to visit America on tourist visas or become legal immigrants to the US. Since the illegal flood, it has become harder
to apply for legal immigration and tourist visas, since so many such applicants simply go illegal once they get to the US.
As
an example, I recently met a fellow who works in a local grocery store where the vast majority of the customers speak Spanish
and many don't speak much English. He's a great guy, especially with the 1970's bushy hairdo. He came to the US as a legal
immigrant in 1977. Since then he has become a US citizen. He was not happy at all about illegal
aliens. He did it the right way, waiting in line, paying money, learning English.
The illegals just shine on
all that and get in anyway. Illegals are a gross insult to everyone, even every Hispanic, who played by the rules, waited
in line up to 15 years, filled out endless forms, paid lots of money, and did it the legal way. Why should anyone immigrate
legally as long as they can just sneak in illegally with a lot less hassle?
Once they have gone illegal, they are pretty
much lost to the system. There are over 500,000 illegal immigrants who were apprehended by US Immigration, let go on bail,
and then disappeared. They are presently roaming around our country as fugitives.
Forget Right and Left, forget Democrats
and Republicans.
Does any sane person think that what I just described above makes any sense in any sane society? Of
course it doesn't. Maybe it makes sense in some ruined failed state like Iraq or Afghanistan.
Which begs the question.
Is
America, as far as immigration goes anyway, a failed state?
JOE-ANYBODY's RESPONSE FOLLOWS
I question the relativeness
of:
"I will tell you who gets
hurt"
Your friend, who I seriouslywish and think she should be able to visit the US, "is not hurt" in the sense of those
being jailed, dieing in the deserts, jailed, starving at home, and who are just trying to somehow ...somewhere have a better
life. Many die trying to get to America...some are even children.
"That is who gets hurt."
Hi there Robbert!
Its me Joe-Anybody, obviously
we see this issue from different standpoints, but that isn't surprising most of the US are not agreeing on..... this "divide".
It is a good diversion that
turns Americans against each other and fingers start pointing at "brown people" when the neo cons continue to kill thousands
through war, they steal our treasury and constitution, and manipulate the press, when NAFTA crosses all borders ...but the
poor Mexican people cant cross the same border to preserve a life and earn a modest living, while corporations can and do,
all the time.
Your friend should be able
to visit. I blame not, the illegal, (for lack of better word) I blame our administration(sic) and the Immigration Department.
When I hear people complain that the illegals are taking our health care .... I blame the health care industry ...not the
poor man or woman needing medical help.
Yes, laws and prisons for
those that cant follow the laws are needed. I just want no part of the prison industry. In retrospect I want nothing to do
with this border enforcement issue.
I simply want to support
"people" I want to support "humanity" I want to have compassion, regardless if you have the USA card of approval inyour wallet.
I tried to briefly help a
poor Mexican woman downtown last week. She had only a clear plastic bag with her "stuff in it" and was crying and alone in
downtown on a corner. Everybody was walking by her. Yes it broke my heart I tried to help her by giving her a few bucks and
a list of homeless shelters I had ironically in my hand. I made a few calls for her on my cell standing on that corner. Another
lady stopped by and offered to take her in for the night. The lady that took her indidn't ask if she had "the card" .... in doing all this we were not trying to ruin it for your friend to visit here.
I like to see these as two separate issues.
It is a real struggle out
hear in the streets, people are barley getting by, on both sides of the border. I don't even care in the slightest what country
they are from or what their origin is. I care about them personally, and from a humanitarian standpoint. I care about their
civil rights and their human rights...... period!
And when I do think back
to my (born in the USA) "card" .... to
"my USA papers" ... (?)
I am mot so sure the Native
Americans gave me one...?
Or that I ever got one in
the first place?...
I think the US just took the land from the indigenous people!!!
Oh! that made me think about
how we took Texas etc, from the Spanish back then too.
How cynical for us to get
so possessive of land we stole.
I see this as hypocrisy.
The shear gall we have to
allow our Government to chain, in-prison, steal, rendition, torture, and lie the whole time its a NSA security .... all in
the name of USA Patriotism, Nationalism, or "stopping terrorism" is massively disturbing and extremely saddening to me.
I enjoy reading your website,
keep up the Frontline information. I am dedicated to being a "peacemaker" and want so bad in my ignorant Utopian way for us
all to get along.
Peace ~ joe-anybody.com
is found on:
<July 9 2007>
Immigrating to U.S. becomes much costlier
July 19 2007
Many fees to skyrocket by end of the
month — $1,010 for a green card
Telemundo and MSNBC.com
Updated: 4:42 p.m. PT July
20, 2007
Immigrants could end up paying thousands of dollars more to enter and stay in the country after July
30, when dozens of application fees will double or even triple, sparking opposition from a broad coalition of activists and
a rush by immigrants to submit their paperwork before the little-publicized changes take effect.
Altogether, 39 fees will rise an average of 66 percent, but some of the largest increases will come
in charges for the most basic documents immigrants must seek. Most notably, the fee to apply for a green card, establishing
legal residence in the United States, will almost triple, from $395 to $1,010.
Applying for citizenship will rise from $400 to $675.
It cost $90 as recently as 1991.
The increases are expected to raise an extra
$1.1 billion a year for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, or USCIS, which is required to cover its costs with the
fees it collects from the hundreds of thousands of foreigners who seek residency and citizenship each year.
Simply put, “we need the money,” USCIS Director Emilio Gonzalez said. “To do nothing
is to invite organizational disaster, because we are just not covering the cost of doing business.”
Heavy burden on
poorer immigrants
But immigration activists said the higher fees would be a permanent obstacle
for many immigrants, many of whom take minimum-wage day labor jobs paying $5.15 an hour. They calculated that a worker would
have to save every penny he or she earned for five weeks just to apply for a green card.
The National Association of Latino Elected Officials said it “strongly
condemns” the higher fees, which it said will “put the dream of U.S. citizenship beyond the reach of many of our
nation’s newcomers.” It urged all eligible legal residents to apply for naturalization before July 30.
“The USCIS does need to make major investments to enhance the delivery of its services, and it
does face serious fiscal challenges,” the association said in a statement. “However, placing the full costs of
these investments on the back of hardworking newcomers is driving fees to a level that immigrants simply cannot afford.”
Some Democrats in Congress pressured USCIS to abandon the increases. They said much of the agency’s
budget pays for enforcement, which legal applicants should not be responsible for.
Sen. Barack Obama and Rep. Luis Gutierrez, both D-Ill., have introduced
legislation to lessen the burden by shifting funding from USCIS fees to the federal budget, while Rep. Loretta Sanchez, D-Calif.,
sent a letter to President Bush calling for a fairer system.
Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., chairman of the Judiciary subcommittee on
immigration, border security and citizenship, criticized the hefty fee hikes when they were first proposed in January, saying
they would “price the American dream out of reach for qualified immigrants” seeking to become citizens.
Opposition from variety of sources The new fee schedule also drew opposition from
a spectrum of groups representing business, education and the arts.
Business groups, led by the trucking industry, criticized higher fees for
waivers allowing foreigners with criminal records into the country on business. The new fee, $545, will sharply raise costs
for commercial cross-border trucking and shipping, they said, costs that would inevitably be passed on to consumers.
International students applying for a practical training or employment authorization
form will pay $340, nearly double the $180 they pay now. Fees for several other documents important to international students
will also rise by $100 or more, including applications for non-immigrant arrival and departure records, petitions for non-immigrant
workers and applications for extended stays as a non-immigrant.
