All Over the World, Migrants Demand the Right to Stay at Home

A global consensus is emerging on immigration policy–and the U.S. isn’t heeding it.

By David Bacon, In These Times
October 30, 2013

Such voices here in the U.S. and abroad deserve a greater audience. If there is no effort to examine the impact of trade agreements, or to look at the danger of the growth of new international guest worker programs, a decade from now, the world we live in will be one we will hardly recognize.

The United States has become home to a large number of people born outside its borders—there were some 40 million as of 2010, according to various estimates. That was up from approximately 20 million in 1990.

The immigration debate in the United States usually treats the migration of people into this country as something unique. But it is not. The United Nations estimates that 232 million people worldwide live outside the countries where they were born—3.2 percent of the world's population. In 2000 it was 175 million, and in 1990, 154 million. The number of cross-border migrants has grown by 78 million people in just over 20 years—enough to fill 20 cities the size of Los Angeles. [...]

Read the full article:
http://inthesetimes.com/article/15793/all_over_the_world_migrants_demand_the_right_to_stay_at_home/

The Torture of Children

By Elvira Arellano, Centro Sin Fronteras
October 30, 2013

What would drive a ten year old child to want to take his own life? What cruelty? It is happening – and they are not victims of bullies among their classmates. These bullies are fully grown.

Every day the T.V. commentators suggest that the politicians in Washington DC are acting childishly – shutting down the government as if they are pouting because they can’t get their way. They suggest that the politicians should act like adults instead of children.

I don’t agree. Those who say this must not have children, especially children that have suffered. I think the politicians should act more like children. [...]

Read the full article:
http://lavozprcconline.org/csf/?p=441

La Tortura de Niños
Por Elvira Arellano
30 de octubre, 2013

¿Cuál sería el motivo que impulsa a un niño de 10 años a que se suicide? ¿Qué nivel de crueldad? Pero sucede, y no me refiero a las víctimas de matones entre sus compañeros de clase. Los matones en cuestión son adultos.

Todos los días oímos en la televisión de que los políticos en Washington actúen en una forma infantil—cerrando el gobierno como niños cuando no logran conseguir lo que desean. Los locutores sugieren que los políticos deben portarse como adultos y no como niños.

No estoy de acuerdo con eso. Quienes dicen eso probablemente no tienen hijos, y sobre todo niños que han sufrido. En mi opinión, los políticos deben portarse más como niños y menos como adultos. [...]

Lea el artículo completo:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/sanctuarymovement/jY7zSbqepic

New York must stand up for immigrant workers rebuilding Sandy-hit areas

Contractors are exploiting immigrant workers, and it's time for the city to protect their rights

By Ligia Guallpa and Jessica Acee, AlJazeera
October 29, 2013

Hurricane Sandy struck fast and furious, and when the waters receded it became clear just how much money and people power it would take to put New York City back together.

As the cleanup began, another reality became clear. Immigrant construction workers, especially day laborers, who became first responders after the hurricane were operating as an underclass in an under-regulated construction industry. [...]

Read the full article:
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2013/10/29/contractors-immigrantsreconstructionhurricanesandy.html

Obama renews immigration call, but ignores deportation crisis

By Richard Trumka, People's World
October 24 2013

The following is a statement released by the president of the AFL-CIO, Richard Trumka, on President Barack Obama's speech, calling on Congress to pass immigration reform.

Today millions of immigrants received needed reassurance from the president that despite chaos in Washington, immigration reform can get done. We commend President Obama for renewing his commitment to passing immigration reform this year and urging Republicans in the House to act quickly. As pointed out by the president our current system, which allows businesses that exploit workers through wage theft, lack of benefits and intimidation, is unfair to all workers and unfair to responsible businesses that play by the rules. Republicans who support business should be able to get behind this. [...]

Read the full article:
http://peoplesworld.org/obama-renews-immigration-call-but-ignores-deportation-crisis/

Queens 'Carwasheros' Strike to Demand Owner Recognize Union

By Stephanie West,  Labor Press
October 29, 2013

New York, NY – Workers at Off-Broadway Car Wash in Queens walked off the job today to demand that the owner recognize the union. The owner has been ducking the efforts of the National Labor Relations Board to set up an election despite a government subpoena being issued.

The “carwasheros” left their posts at 42-08 80th St. in Elmhurst, at 8:30 a.m., soon after clergy, elected officials, the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), community supporters and advocates from New York Communities for Change and Make the Road New York held a press conference denouncing the owner for ignoring federal regulators. [...]

Read the full article:
http://laborpress.org/sectors/union-retail/2963-queens-carwasheros-strike-to-demand-owner-recognize-union

Growing Clash Between Immigrant Rights Activists and Washington Power Brokers

Political heavyweights and local activists are moving in opposite directions. Their visions of the kind of changes needed in immigration law are fundamentally different.

By David Bacon, Truthout
October 23, 2013

This fall, when Congress couldn't pass immigration reform bills - even ones deeply unpopular among many immigrants themselves - one of the most important responses came from Oaxaca. In the capital of this southern Mexican state, a representative of a Silicon Valley union sat down with a state agency and an organization of indigenous migrants and signed an agreement for mutual cooperation.

All three groups pledged to work to protect the rights of Oaxacans who have migrated to the US. [...]

Read the full article:
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/19564-growing-clash-between-immigrant-rights-activists-and-washington-power-brokers

Calls For Immigration Reform Ramp Up, But What Fuels Migration to U.S.?

The Real News Network
October 28, 13

JESSICA DESVARIEUX, TRNN PRODUCER: Welcome to The Real News Network. I'm Jessica Desvarieux in Baltimore.

Immigration reform is back in the spotlight in Washington. President Obama renewed calls for Congress to act on comprehensive immigration reform. Immigration advocates are expected to carry out actions this week as well, to push for congressional action.

Now joining us to discuss why people are even coming to the United States to begin with is Peter Watt. He teaches Latin American studies at the University of Sheffield, and he is coauthor of the book Drug War Mexico: Politics, Violence and Neoliberalism in the New Narcoeconomy.[...]

View the video (with transcript):
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=10920

Indigenous Migrants Organize

By Frontera NorteSur
October 27, 2013

The presence of migrant voices in the Mexican political landscape continues to expand. In the southern border state of Chiapas, returning migrants from Mayan indigenous communities have organized a new association to fight for two rights they say are fundamental: the right to freely migrate without violence and the right to stay home.

Meeting in San Cristobal de las Casas this month, representatives of 35 communities held the first assembly of the Chiapas Coalition of Indigenous Migrants (Cimich). Persons deported or voluntarily returned from the United States were instrumental in forming the new group. [...]

Read the full article:
http://fnsnews.nmsu.edu/indigenous-migrants-organize/

Rallying for Detained Dreamers

By Voices of NY, Via NYCity News Service
October 21, 2013

Friends and relatives of detained Dreamers rallied in front of Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s New York office in hopes of getting her support, reports NYCity NewsService‘s Jonathan Moffie.

Those still in detention are part of 34 undocumented immigrants known as the Dream 30 who were raised in the U.S. and left to Mexico, whether through their own accord or deportation, before President Obama unveiled the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Unable to see a future in Mexico, they came back to the U.S. through the port of entry at Laredo, Texas and sought humanitarian parole to be able to stay in the country. [..,]

Read full article, with video:
http://www.voicesofny.org/2013/10/rallying-for-detained-dreamers/

Viewpoint: Immigration Bill’s New Bracero Program Will Hurt Farmworkers

David Bacon, Labor Notes
October 3, 2013

This Saturday immigrant rights groups will rally in many cities to demand immigration reform. Some are asking the House of Representatives to pass a bill similar to the one passed by the Senate in June (S. 744). The Republican leadership in the House has refused to hold such a vote.

There is no question that we need immigration reform. Eleven million people have no legal status. Four hundred thousand are deported every year. Hundreds of thousands of workers have been fired because they’re undocumented. But as we push for reform, we need to look closely at what’s actually on the table. We need a reality check.[...]

Read the full article:
http://www.labornotes.org/2013/10/viewpoint-immigration-bills-new-bracero-program-will-hurt-farmworkers