Workers Criminalized, Employers Untouched

From a ImmigrationProf Blog today comes a commentary on the lack of employee convictions in the wake of the flurry of recent immigration raids.

Undocumented workers continue to face horrific consequences (including the new tactic of conviction of criminal offenses), while the employers remain unscathed by the law.

Statistical silence on the issue of employer criminal sanctions is not surprising.  Truth is that ICE does not spend many of its resources prosecuting employers, despite what is reported in the media immediately after a raid. And the reality of how raids are conducted suggests that employer prosecutions are hardly a priority.  Otherwise, why would the government remove and convict practically all the witnesses it needs to build a case against the employer – the workers themselves.

ICE continues to wage war on immigrants without addressing the root issues of workplace standards, living wages and job improvement. Scapegoating hard-working immigrants will not deter these employers from exploiting and abusing anyone in the future.

But the mainstream media remains focused on the spectacle of the raids, shouting that ICE is tracking down “illegal” people and perpetuating the myth that these raids are “working”.

But what does “working” mean? If it simply means a horrid fate for the undocumented workers and their families caught in the raids, then yes.  But if it means actually improving jobs and work conditions for U.S. workers or deterrence of bad practices by U.S. employers, then think again!

Click here for full post.

The Common Thread that Binds Us

From the Sanctuary today, a powerful post that speaks to the humanity of us all.

What follows are seven news stories, all from different places and times. Some happened only weeks ago … some years. Some are well known … others obscure. But a common thread runs through them all.

Click here to read the seven stories, from the original post on the Sanctuary.

From Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez dying from a lack of water, to Francisco Castaneda of neglect and cancer, to Luz Dominguez losing a job for having the audacity to ask for fair wages and treatment, to Adriana Torres-Flores left in a holding cell for days without food and water… they share a common thread that binds them.

They are part of the silent and forgotten, living in the shadows, unprotected by laws and regulations most take for granted. It matters not if they toiled in fields to put food on our tables, supplied the weapons of war, or cleaned the rooms we sleep in. Nor does it matter if they ran afoul of the law … they share a common thread that binds them.

They are the other.

They are those who go unseen even in the light of day.

We don’t want to know their names or their stories. We don’t want to hear of their suffering, or know about their dreams and aspirations. We don’t want to have to look them in the eye and see their humanity.

Because if we did for only just one moment, then we might be forced to see not only them …but us …for what we really are.

So hide your eyes, walk quickly as you pass. Don’t acknowledge their presence.

Don’t look at the mother holding her child and see the love between them. Don’t admire the workers, laboring to supply the goods and services on which you rely, for their industriousness. Don’t stop for a moment to smile or even nod a quick hello.

Because if you did, for only just one a moment, you might be forced to see …. the common thread that binds us.

MALDEF Joined United Farm Workers March In Memory of 17-Year-Old Worker

Taken from Immigration Prof Blog:

Last week, MALDEF President and General Counsel John Trasviña joined Arturo Rodriguez, President of the United Farm Workers of America (UFW), AFL-CIO, and marched with 500 farm workers to the state capitol in honor of Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez, a 17-year-old pregnant farm worker, who died from heat-related exhaustion. (For our story on this tragedy, click here.).Ms. Jimenez fell unconscious in the field but her contractors refused to take her to a clinic, costing the young woman her life.

Forty years ago, Senator Robert Kennedy brought national attention to the plight of America’s farm workers. MALDEF now marches in that spirit for basic protections for the men and women who are so vital to providing food for America and the world. During the march at Southside Park, Mr. Trasviña addressed the crowd and his prepared remarks were as follows:

Brothers and sisters, my name is John Trasviña and I am the President and General Counsel of MALDEF. Founded 40 years ago, MALDEF, the nation’s leading Latino legal organization, promotes and protects the rights of 50 million Latinos in the United States through litigation, advocacy, community education and scholarships. I am honored to join this pilgrimage with Arturo Rodriguez, President of the United Farm Workers, and all of you here today.

First, my deepest condolences to the family and survivors of Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez and the child she carried.

It is with great sadness that we are gathered here to honor and memorialize the lives of Maria Isabel and her unborn child. But their tragic deaths will not be in vain. Today and every day from this day forward we renew our commitment to bring justice, respect and honor to farm workers in the fields of California and across this nation.

Our anger and tears will become the determination and the fire that burns in our hearts to bring human decency in working conditions to the men, women, including pregnant women, and young people, who labor to provide food for our tables.

All workers deserve decent working conditions. But those who work the hardest should have the greatest protections. Instead we see that those who work the hardest, may have legal protection—but that protection is only good if it is enforced. The protections that could have saved Maria Isabel and her unborn child were not enforced. The governor has said we must make sure this never happens again, but it should not have happened even once. MALDEF vows to do everything possible to protect the rights of farm workers so that Maria Isabel and her unborn child did not die in vain.

SI SE PUEDE!

Thank you.

This fire isn’t out

From advocate Fredi Avalos:

Human Rights Workers, Friends, and Colleagues,
 
I am writing this to express my feelings about another “fire” that was lit a nearly year ago. 
 
A few weeks ago the Mayor went on the Roger Hedgecock show to express his support for the San Diego Minute Men’s project to “clear out the canyons.”  (see The southern Poverty Law center site www.splc.org or www.minutemenunvarnished for more on the S.D. Minutemen).  These canyons have been the sites for unspeakable hate crimes committed against Mexican workers. But perhaps even more disturbing, is that the Mayor himself gave credence to the growing rhetoric of hate being spread by White Supremacist groups who are trying to blame the migrants for the San Diego fires. He said in response to Hedgecock’s accusation that the immigrants are the real fire hazard, “we can’t have the camps down there with the fire danger”. Instead of using this forum to quell the reactionary fear mongering by right wing radio hosts, he decided to join forces with them.
 
His decision to repeat a wrong he was publicly chastised for not even a year ago requires examination. As many of you know, last year, the Mayor looked a contingency of human rights workers, which included me, in the eye and said he would “never again” lend the legitimacy of his office to organized violence in our communities. This was after he had gone on the Rick Roberts’ show and gave a “wink and nod” to White Supremacist groups planning to “campout” in the canyons last fall. In the interview with Roberts, he said “a fire had been lit.”  Prophetic words indeed. Two months later after over 150 phone calls and emails, and a prayer vigil in front of his office, told us that he “was sorry” and that “it was a mistake he would never make again.”
 
I have been lied to by politicians before - but I must say-this is the first time one looked directly in my face and lied so up close and personally.
 
One can only conclude that after coming out so courageously, in support of gay rights, he needed to find another way to let his right wing contingency know that he was still “one of them.” Mexicans and Mexican Americans it seems are easily used as scapegoats for this vicious campaign of hate and mean spiritedness. A campaign he has now willing become the poster boy for-again. 
 
Of course, what is very transparent here is that if  Sanders is really looking for answers, he should look to decisions made in his own office. He, and San Diego taxpayers, have continually refused to compensate firefighters fairly for the work they do. And they have continued to turn a deaf ear to the pleas of city leaders, including the former fire chief, for more and better fire fighting equipment. The last fire chief himself resigned in frustration.
 
Please write or call his office to express your concern at 619-236-6330 his fax number is 619-236-6330. People, we have to let our elected officials know that hate radio is not an appropriate public form. In this climate of fear, we can no longer stay silent.
 
Fredi Avalos

Video: Nafta, 10 years of broken promises — you be the judge

Here’s a video, what do you think?

Nevada communities won’t take attacks!!

After major raids in Nevada a few weeks ago, the community has reallycome together to say- stop the raids, these workers help our community and our economy! Check out these two articles that tie it all together:

Immigration raids reveal an issue with many perspectives in Hispanic community
GERALDA MILLER
RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
Posted: 10/13/2007

State’s Hispanics gaining in economic strength
STEVE TIMKO

Experts agree that loss of undocumented workers would rock state’s economy
RAY HAGAR
RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
Posted: 10/14/2007

Sentence commuted for 10 more days

Small businesses, industrial employers, and low-wage workers have been put on the chopping block by ICE. The Bush Administration is trying to use social security letters that indicate “no match” between a worker’s ID and the ssn number as  tool to prove employers knowingly hired undocumented migrants, and thereby penalize those employers.

These letters have a high-rate of error, were never intended to be used as an immigration enforcment tool, and there is no correlation between receipt of this type of letter and working status.

A judge has extended the initial restraining order against the sending of the social security no match letters by 10 days.

“There would be irreparable harm, serious irreparable injury,” to
legally employed workers if the government went ahead with its plan to send 140,000 letters to employers of 8 million workers in the next few months, Breyer said. [thanks to XicanoPower for the link]

Get the story at XicanoPower

Can you understand the reality of her death?

Today, I am haunted by Eli’s death. I think about how it could have been me in those tomato fields that day. I am a 66 year old Haitian man, I am a U.S. citizen, and I have spent nearly 30 years working in this country. Like Eli, I have great hope in my heart that sacrificing today will bring a greater tomorrow, but also like Eli, I have limited options.

Eli is a famrworker from Haiti who spent her life working in support industries throughout Florida. Her death brings to light everything that is wrong with America’s low-wage work industries. I can’t say more about it, because the piece written by her friend says it all. I’ll let you read the post and see for yourself.

One question that comes to mind as I read the post, is what would a mainstream American reader think about this story. What would they take away?

I take away sadness, anger. I have a vision of her hands, a vision of her children, tomatoes. I harbor a deep hurt as I realize, slowly, that she is not the first nor the last, but just a nother victim in a line of thousands of death due to poor wages, poor working conditions, and little access to care.

But part of this understanding comes from the fact that I’ve opend my eyes to the lives of those who suffer around me and next to me and under me. I wonder how someone who’s been sheltered all their lives thinks about these things.

I wonder how the young man who works as a policy analyst for a Congressman I visited yesterday would process her story (see previous post about congressional visits with UFW workers). Fresh out of college, gold rings on his fingers, ready for happy hour, being forced to meet with a bunch of migrant workers talking about their problems. I wonder if he has to shut them out to get through his day. I wonder if he has to stop reading articles like the one above, in order to maintain his little cruise up the ladder of power on the Hill.

And as I dit here, I reposition the lens on myself. Do I really understand the reality of eli’s life and death? And what am I willing to give up for her?

No more US produce

I spent all of yesterday walking the halls of the capitol with a group of amazing people. These four indivdiuals build the backbone of American agriculture. They keep my economy up, my farms staffed, and food on my table. They were four mexican migrant farmworkers from upstate New York. And they deserved every minute of my time.

The United Farmworkers Union, in coalition with 10 other groups from 15 states brought farmworkers to the capitol to continue to fight for AgJobs, the legislation that has been in the works for over 7 years. This legislation is an attempt to keep our  farms afloat. Period. It’s not about undocumented, it’s not about amnesty. It’s about keep american farms running.

Have you taken a walk in a field lately? Like me, you’ve probably admired the walden like serenity, and not seen the dynamo that keeps those fields planted, harvested and healthy: Migrant farmworkers. You take a walk through florida citrus fields and all you see are migrants, New York, Idaho, it’s all the same. There aren’t American workers to do these jobs, and with the increase of raids and scare tactics by our government, migrant workers aren’t coming to the fields.

I sat down yesterday and spoke with one grower who said he lost 28 acres of GORGEOUS Oregon strawberries (have you had one? if so, you know what I’m talking about) because he didn’t have enough workers to harvest the crop in time. This is a story multiplied by the hundreds across the country. Migrant workers aren’t coming to a place they are in danger, with low wages, no worker rights.  For some reason, many on the right have believed that they could treat migrant workers like dirt and still reap their labor (pogrom-style). Well, that isn’t the case. Workers are leaving, worker’s arent’ retunring, and our fields are in danger.

I heard a woman put it like this- “It is a fact that our food will be picked by foreigners, it just depends on if that happens here or there.”

The AgJobs bill is a COMPROMISE between growers and workers, democrats and republicans. By no means does this give migrant workers a free ride. It gives them a temporary visa for which they must PROMISE to work for five more years on the field, before being given a chance to become a citizen. Some workers have already been waiting for this legislation for 7 to 10 years. If you’ve ever picked a vegetable even for an hour- you know that’s no free ride.

The fight for migrant worker rights comes at exactly the same time that GM is resigning it’s contract with thousands of workers. How has the coverage of that worker’s rights fight differed from this? Hugely. For one, most people don’t even know how many migrant workers actually exist, nor do they understand the life they lead. No matter the difference in coverage, the struggle is exactly the same: rights for those that build the strength of our industries.

I wonder if next year I’ll be reading a recipe for awesome Oregon strawberry shortcake, or if instead I’ll lamenting the loss of US strawberries altogether. No more US produce, it’s not just a nightmare, it could be a reality. 

They Got Walter - A new, younger face of fear

Thanks to Elana at DMI for pointing me to this great post at Firedoglake. The author really captures the heart of so many struggles in communities across the country:

My daughter told me when I dropped her off at work at Market Basket last week: “They got Walter.” The police, or the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), had come to the supermarket and picked up “Walter.” He was a young Latino who had worked his way up to full-time. Nobody on the job knew where he was taken, and nobody knew why he was taken. In the following days it was said he had a false Social Security number. The large-scale raids were supposed to be aimed at the MS-13 gang, but others, including a union organizer, were caught up, and terror spread through the “New Immigrant” communities like a thunderstorm across the Kansas plains.

White neighborhoods didn’t even know about the raids. But the Latino neighborhoods were deserted. Around the corner from my union hall in Lynn, Mass., Union Street has been transformed in the past 20 years from an abandoned district inhabited largely by drug dealers into a bustling commercial center of Latino businesses. When news of the raids was spread by the Spanish radio stations, an eerie silence spread over Union Street and other Spanish neighborhoods down into East Boston. The little store selling religious icons of Jesus and Mary was empty. White employers complained their workers disappeared. Parents kept their children home from school, behind locked doors.

Legal residents were affected, as well as those who had crossed the border illegally or overstayed their legal welcome. People knew from the workplace raids in New Bedford earlier this year that you could be arguing your case from a jail cell in Texas with little access to legal help and far from your children and even prescription medicines. Better to miss pay and risk discipline on the job and stay home with your children. Read the rest>>