Congressman calls for Immigration Reform as a Priority

Yesterday, Congressman David Price (D-NC), the chairman of the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, spoke at length about his take on Homeland Security. One of his main points was the need for comprehensive immigration reform.

Whatever the rationale, the next Administration must make immigration reform a higher priority and pursue it more effectively.  Such reform will strengthen our economy, reaffirm the rule of law, and enhance homeland security, allowing DHS to focus more effectively on that small percentage of illegal immigrants that has the capacity and the intent to commit crimes and do us harm.

He also touched on the administration’s recent turn to an enforcement only policy. This is the same policy which Angelica Salas is denouncing, which is tearing apart families nationwide, detaining US citizens and forcing thousands of people into inhumane detention conditions.

The current Administration made some effort last year to promote comprehensive immigration reform, but it now seems to have turned 180 degrees toward an enforcement-only approach.  This might be interpreted as an attempt to appeal to the most hard-line anti-immigrant segment of the population, but some have painted it as an effort to drive home the need for immigration reform by inflicting pain on businesses and communities who depend on these workers.  If it really is some sort of perverse “tough medicine” policy, I find it doubly hard to understand, given the negative impacts on hardworking immigrants and their children, and because it has tradeoffs with other activities that could be helping to make our country safer.

Click here to read Congressman Price’s full remarks.

The Consequences of Enforcement Without Reform

Check out this article, posted on the Center for American Progress Action Fund’s progress report from yesterday. It is full of good information and makes the case for reform and not the escalation in enforcement that we’ve seen recently.

Debunking the Myth that Today’s Immigrants are Somehow Different Than Past Immigrants

Yesterday a great article was written at Alternet that helped to disprove the idea that todays immigrants are somehow different than the immigrants of America’s past. Even though America has accepted the title of “Melting Pot” and the majority of us can trace our roots to foreign countries, the scapegoating of immigrants continues at a fever pitch.

Read the full article for an enlightening lesson in history and tolerance. Here is an especially interesting excerpt:

In every generation, the gloom and doom predictions about how those newer immigrants would ultimately lead to the nation’s destruction have proven overwrought and inaccurate. By the third generation, the Irish, Poles, Italians and all the rest of Europe’s immigrants had all become Americans. And so it will be with today’s new immigrants. According to a recent study cited in The Washington Post, immigrants today are no different; in fact, the study noted that “immigrants of the past quarter-century have been assimilating in the United States at a notably faster rate than did previous generations.”

Also, check out the Washington Post article here

Geraldo Rivera: “Secretary Chertoff, Call Off these Raids!”

Yesterday Geraldo Rivera wrote a biting criticism of the Department of Homeland Security’s use of ICE raids in communities across the nation. In light of the recent ICE raids in Iowa and California, Rivera comments that: 

Many hundreds of otherwise law abiding, hard working, family men and women have been arrested in recent weeks under circumstances more appropriate to operations targeting al Qaeda.

Rivera directly addresses all three Presidential candidates, saying:

…our votes will go to the presidential aspirant who has the courage to defy the mob and call for an immediate cessation of ICE’s draconian workplace campaign. Leaving a trail of broken hearts and disrupted communities is not the way to fix America’s broken immigration system.

Click here to read the rest of the article.

Hunger Strike Update: Groups Demand Justice for Guestworkers

Across the country, immigrant rights, human rights and labor rights groups are demanding justice for the Indian guest workers forced into slave labor conditions by Signal International in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Coalición de Derechos Humanos and the South Asian Network are among the voices calling on the U.S. Congress and State Legislatures to immediately stop the expansion of guest worker programs and investigate the slave labors conditions which employers routinely impose on immigrant workers.

“Instead of continuing to blindly support guest worker programs, members of Congress and state legislators from both political parties have a responsibility to hear directly from the experts on this issue — the Signal hunger strikers and the hundreds of thousands of other guest workers who have survived incredible brutality on the job,”

Additionally, Signal International is a sub-contractor of Northrop Grumman, who has profited from lucrative contracts with the Department of Homeland Security and a multi-billion dollar deal with the government to privatize border enforcement operations.

“Be it here in Tucson, or on the Gulf Coast, or in Iraq, U.S. policy on guest worker programs, immigration and military intervention are allowing these corporations to make billions of dollars off of human suffering.”

VIDEO: US System of Deportation and Detention Inhumane!

Over 30,000 people are housed within detention centers across the United States and last year, over 276,000 immigrants were deported.

Since the American government has failed to comprehensively reform the failed immigration system, it has placed pressure on ICE to ramp up its deportation activities. This is being played out in the rash of recent raids terrorizing communities.

Among the many prisons where immigrant families are housed is the T. Don Hutto “residential center”. Many families (including women, children and infants) are subjected to inhumane conditions during detention. Check out this video from The Real News Network detailing detention and its impact thousands of families and their loved ones.

 

FIRM’s Reaction to Recent ICE Raids

More Humanity and Fairness Needed to Solve Immigration Crisis
Government shouldn’t trample on immigrants and their communities

Today FIRM (Fair Immigration Reform Movement) reiterated its call for just and humane immigration reform and immigrant rights following the actions of Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Postville, Iowa last week and yesterday in San Rafael, Calif. Both raids have destroyed the families and communities of hardworking immigrants.

“All Americans should be outraged by these actions committed by our government toward human beings who have come to this country for a better way of life,” said Marissa Graciosa of FIRM. “Whether it’s the ‘denial of basic legal protections to immigrant workers’ as pointed out by ACLU or the traumatic experience of pre-dawn raids of family homes in San Rafael, we need to bring an end to these un-American tactics.”

FIRM and its partner organization, Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, and dozens of other allies helped organize the march to the Cattle Congress grounds and rally on Sunday, May 18 in response to the largest raid in U.S. history

“We can all agree that our immigration system is broken, but these raids and deportations aren’t going to fix it,” said Hugh Espey, executive director of Iowa CCI. “The cost of raids is not only sky-high in terms of taxpayer dollars, but in terms of damage done to the communities experiencing them. These communities have been traumatized, their economies destroyed, and their families ripped apart.”

FIRM demands President Bush step in to put an immediate stop to the raids. In addition, we call on all presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain, to promise just and humane immigration reform in their first 100 days in office. FIRM urges all Americans to ask their elected officials and community employers for better treatment of our hardworking immigrant neighbors.

As Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

SINK the SAVE ACT

Join David Neiwert, and countless other individuals in sinking the SAVE Act. David wrote a great post at Firedoglake on reasons we all need to speak out against the SAVE act,

 If there were political booby prizes handed out each year — something like the Razzies for the Beltway set — the award for Worst Legislation Proposed by a Democrat this year would have to go to Heath Shuler’s misbegotten “SAVE Act, an attempt to pass a “deportation only” approach to the immigration issue. Of course, it not only reflects the worldview of the anti-immigrant wing of the party, headed by Rahm Emanuel, but it’s a profoundly bad piece of legislation.

Among its more awful provisions, you may recall, are “verification” measures that essentially would require every American to get an OK from the federal government every time they get a new job or change jobs.

and provided the NAMES and contact info of all the reps that we need to email, call and target in this fights! Check out the list at the bottom of the post.

 The SAVE Act is a slap in the face to the American worker, immigrants, and everyone who believes in COMPREHENSIVE reform of our broken system.

When I Came Back from Iraq They Tried to Deport Me

The stories are growing, and the evidence is mounting- this administration has consistently been hunting down soldiers returned from Iraq to deport them, or their family members.

Listen to the story of one soldier, Corporal Phillipe Louis Jean, for yourself

RNC loses token- crucified over hate

“Shamnesty”? Could they have come up with a better epithet than that?

“Shamnesty” that’s what they yelled in Martinez’s face as he tried to negotiate a comprehensive immigration reform bill that would fix our broken system, while respecting human life. Let’s say, if Sen. Martinez was a baseball player, I wouldn’t necessarily collect his baseball card- BUT when it comes to trying to broker a compromise on immigration reform I admire his dedication and the efforts he put forth, even if he couldn’t get the job done.

Wow, I never thought I’d write something like that here- but in light of the commentary from a Miami Newspaper (below)- I feel compelled to say a word or two (a eulogy?) for (soon to be former)Mr. RNC himself, Mel Martinez.

When Mel was first chosen to be the head of the RNC, one word went through my mind… token. “Oh ok, they’ve chosen a latino NOW to try and court the vote…” Yes, he has a great track record, and he probably deserves the position- but really…. how pure are the machinations of EITHER party when it comes to putting leaders in positions of power.

He was admittedly put in a terribly difficult position on the comprehensive immigration reform bill, and at some level he crashed and burned with the legislation. But let us not be too hasty as to think that his failure on the legislation was all due to his own missteps. Sure, he made mistakes. But it was clear that key members of the RNC were going to use him as a punching bag on this issue to protect themselves.

Put a latino in power, and then crucify him on “his own” issue. et tu brutus?

I think we need to sit back and think deeply about the dynamics of this scenario in the US. congressional power politics do not take place in a vaccuum. Member’s gender and race play MAJOR roles in the power dynamics, and I’d like us to just reflect on that for a moment.

Put a latino in charge and it’s no longer the anglo-saxon’s fault for something going wrong? mmm i don’t know folks…..

I want to throw out these thoughts for us to think about. And frankly, I’d like to hear what you think about Mr. RNC, and his relatively quick demise….

George Diaz
COMMENTARY
October 7, 2007

Finding a natural fit in politics involves a journey of discovery no different than the rest of us face.It’s clear that Sylvester Stallone is a good action hero but miscast as a comic foil (see, or don’t see, Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot). Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of this generation but a second-rate outfielder in the minor leagues. Rush Limbaugh is great as a Republican bulldog but out of his league in an ESPN studio talking about black quarterbacks.

This brings us to Mel Martinez, and the non-news news item that he is resigning as general chairman of the Republican Party as soon as the GOP establishes a presidential nominee. Martinez is downplaying the story that “broke” when columnist Robert Novak reported it earlier last week.

Fittingly so, you will find no mention of it on the good senator’s Web site.