The Economic Impact of Immigrant-Related Local Ordinances

Americas Society
October 20, 2011

This Americas Society white paper provides the first comparative look at the average economic effects of how restrictive versus non-restrictive immigration-related city ordinances affect a city’s business environment. In a context of high unemployment and lackluster business growth, along with rising anxieties regarding immigration in the United States, we believe it essential to provide a better understanding of how policies that seek to restrict immigration and those that support more flexible approaches affect the economies of communities across the country.

The Economic Impact of Immigrant-Related Local Ordinances finds that restrictive ordinances have a negative impact on the number of employees in a city when compared to cities that instead chose to enact non-restrictive ordinances. In fact, an average city with a restrictive ordinance has 0.18 times fewer expected number of employees than its non-restrictive counterpart. […]

Read the full article at:
http://coa.counciloftheamericas.org/article.php?id=3709

Download the report at:
http://www.as-coa.org/files/ASImmigrationWhitePaper.pdf

Crime Data and Spillover Violence along the Southwest Border

Christopher Wilson, AL DÍA: News and Analysis from Mexico Institute
October 14, 2011

As organized crime-related violence has increased in northern Mexico, so has the heated rhetoric regarding the U.S. side of the border. The title of National Geographic’s program, Border Wars, exemplifies the sentiment, echoed by several politicians, that the border region is lawless and dangerous. For residents of the U.S. border region, thankfully, the reality is anything but that.

In fact, as violent crime surged in parts of Mexico, the U.S. border region became safer. While in Mexico the murder rate climbed 29% between 2005 and 2010, it declined 24% in the U.S. border states. This suggests that despite a smattering of violent incidents perpetrated by members of Mexican criminal groups in the United States, widespread “spillover violence” has not occurred.[…]

Read the full article:
http://mexicoinstitute.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/border-violence-brief-10-14-2011.pdf

Hay Que “Ocupar” Alabama! Occupy Alabama!

Por Elvira Arellano
October 26, 2011

English translation follows

Quisiera dedicar esta columna a nuestra gente en el estado de Alabama. Deseo que sepan que estamos al pendiente de ustedes y respaldándolos en nuestros hogares y nuestras comunidades en todo Estados Unidos, México y Centro América. […]

I would like to dedicate this column to our people in the state of Alabama. I would like them to know that we are watching and supporting them in our homes and communities all over the United States, Mexico and Guatemala. […]

Read the full article (Spanish and English):
http://fluenglish.wordpress.com/2011/10/26/hay-que-%E2%80%9Cocupar%E2%80%9D-alabama/

Free books from the NY Nicaragua Solidarity Network

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Saturday, Oct. 15, 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm
Wednesday, Oct. 19, 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Saturday, Oct. 22, 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm
At 339 Lafayette Street, buzzer 11 (or buzzer 10 if there's no answer)
(at Bleecker Street in Manhattan; 6 train to Bleecker Street, or D or F trains to Broadway-Lafayette; also, B and M trains on weekday; a short ride from Occupy Wall Street)
Free books * Magazines * T-shirts and political buttons from historic campaigns, and more
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REALLY and TRULY LAST CHANCE GIVEAWAY!! Everything must go!!

More information at:
http://weeklynewsupdate.blogspot.com/2011/10/still-more-free-books-from-new-york.html

NYC, 10/6/-10/911: "Undocumented," by Katherine Chua

What happens when everything you know is about to be taken away? What can you do when you have to leave the only place you call home? Where do you go when you get tired of hiding, but too scared to run? What do you do when you’re not sure if you’re a victim or a criminal?

These are just some of the barriers that young undocumented immigrants must confront. In the multimedia play Undocumented by Katherine Chua, she highlights the inner turmoil of a girl called Frida, who has been found out by the authorities as being in the country illegally. Although she has been living in the U.S. since the age of 8 and is now 25, she will be taken from all she's ever known and deported "home" to her native country. The only light is the possibility of having the DREAM Act bill get passed by legislation. But before Frida can find solace and trust in this bill being past she must find solace, trust and forgiveness in those around her and most importantly herself.

SIX PERFORMANCES!
Thursday, October 6th (8pm Show)
Friday, October 7th (8pm Show)
Saturday, October 8th (3pm Show followed by Q&A & an 8pm Show)
Sunday, October 9th (3pm Show followed by Q&A and a 7pm Show)
Tickets are $15 at the door. First come first served, so please come 20-25 minutes before showtime.
The Shell Theater located in the Times Square Art Building, 300 West 43rd Street (off 8th Avenue), 4th Floor (403), NY 10036
Contact: undocumentedThePlay@gmail.com

CAST: Sahar Muradi, Dorcas Evelene Davis, Madelene De Leon, Ryan Johnson, Roberto C. Chavez and Charlotte MacDougall

Directed by David Mitnowsky
Asst. Directed by Lexy Nistico

Designers: Nick van der Grinten, Jonathan Spencer, Melanie Patterson

"plant a seed of knowledge . . . incite the growth of a revolution."

http://www.katchua.com/

Please visit here for info on"Undocumented"

http://undocumentedtheplay.com/

http://www.facebook.com/undocumentedbykatchua
http://kck.st/kfKygA
twitter us @undocAplay

Sharin Chiorazzo, ¡Presente!

Educator and Palestine activist Sharin Chiorazzo died on September 30 after a long struggle with cancer. She was 51; she is survived by her daughter Nadia, her sister Cathy and her parents, Joan and Joseph.

Sharin was an adjunct professor in Middle Eastern studies at several New Jersey colleges and also taught elementary Arabic. She had degrees from the New School for Social Research and New York University; her PhD dissertation, A theoretical discussion of the nation-state in Western discourse and its application to non Western peoples, is available from ProQuest. Sharin co-edited Palestine Rising, Dawud A. Assad’s memoir of surviving the 1948 massacre at the Palestinian village of Deir Yasin.

Starting in 2002 Sharin was a member of the committee that worked for the release of her friend Farouk Abdel-Muhti, a New York-based Palestinian activist then being held in immigration detention. After a federal judge ordered Farouk released in April 2004, he and Sharin made plans to marry. Sharin was with Farouk the night of July 21, just three months after his release, when he died suddenly of a heart attack while in Philadelphia to speak on the struggles for Palestinian and immigrant rights.

Several friends from the Farouk campaign visited Sharin on September 24 at her home in southern New Jersey, where she was surrounded by family and friends. Lucid and still committed to the Palestinian cause, she entrusted us with papers, letters, and photographs from Farouk and from her years of Middle Eastern activism.

Visiting hours will be Monday, October 3, 7-9 pm, and Tuesday, October 4, 2-4 pm and 7-9 pm, at Riewerts Memorial Home at 187 South Washington Avenue, Bergenfield, NJ, 07621-2987, phone 201-384-0700. There will be a funeral mass Wednesday, October 5, at 10 am at St. John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church on Washington Ave near Main Street in Bergenfield (phone 201-384-0101).

Donations in Sharin’s memory can be made to Hospice or to Nadia's Trust Fund c/o Helen Richards, 521 Piermont Ave., Apt. 109, River Vale, NJ 07675.

Sharin at home last week with Konrad Aderer, the director of “Enemy Alien,” and his son, Kiyoshi. The photo at the top shows Sharin at the July 22, 2005 vigil in Farouk’s memory (from NY Indymedia).