Now Haitian advocates are wondering if the Obama era will bring in fair immigration reform or just more of the same.
by Desiree Evans, Facing South
February 20, 2009
The United States is set to deport more than 30,000 Haitians to their impoverished homeland, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials announced this week. A protest in response to the decision has been planned for Saturday, Feb. 21 in Broward County, Florida. Haitian activists and immigrants are calling for a halt to the arrests and a suspension of the deportations.
Deportation orders have been processed for 30,299 Haitians and they are starting to be implemented. Hundreds of Haitians have been put in camps awaiting the return home, while others have been put under a form of house arrest and are being monitored with electronic ankle bracelets, the AFP reported.
As the poorest nation in the western hemisphere, Haiti's troubles significantly increased with the passage of four deadly back-to-back storms last fall -- Fay, Gustav, Hanna and Ike -- that killed more than 800 persons and worsened the nation's food crisis. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.southernstudies.org/2009/02/will-obama-help-haitian-immigrants.html
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Sheriff Joe--6,500 Signatures to Go
From America's Voice
February 19, 2009
Dear Friend --
We all know Sheriff Joe Arpaio loves the spotlight.
Well, now he's got plenty of it: the spotlight of Rep. John Conyers and the House Judiciary Committee. They want Sheriff Joe investigated by the Department of Justice for his appalling, unjust law enforcement tactics-- just like the 3,500 of you who've already signed our petition!
With your help, we can finally get Sheriff Joe the attention he really deserves. We're counting on your help to get 10,000 signatures to Attorney General Holder to investigate Sheriff Joe by the first week of March.
Sign the petition now:
http://www.sheriffjoemustgo.com/
On Friday the Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, saying:
"We write today concerning allegations of misconduct on the part of Maricopa County, Arizona, Sheriff Joe Arpaio that we believe merit federal investigation and action."
It's obvious that Arpaio's latest publicity stunt crosses the line. On February 4th, he rounded up hundreds of immigrant detainees and forced them to march, shackled, through Phoenix to a segregated "tent city" surrounded by electric fencing in the Arizona desert.
Thousands of you have already signed our letter to the Attorney General, calling for an investigation into Joe's abuse of power. Thousands have denounced Joe's blatant racial profiling and civil rights violations. But with this week's big news from the Judiciary Committee, and with major events being organized across the country to protest Arpaio, we believe it's time to do more.
Help us get to 10,000 signatures to Attorney General Holder by the first week of March.
Sign the petition to investigate Joe now:
http://www.sheriffjoemustgo.com/
February 19, 2009
Dear Friend --
We all know Sheriff Joe Arpaio loves the spotlight.
Well, now he's got plenty of it: the spotlight of Rep. John Conyers and the House Judiciary Committee. They want Sheriff Joe investigated by the Department of Justice for his appalling, unjust law enforcement tactics-- just like the 3,500 of you who've already signed our petition!
With your help, we can finally get Sheriff Joe the attention he really deserves. We're counting on your help to get 10,000 signatures to Attorney General Holder to investigate Sheriff Joe by the first week of March.
Sign the petition now:
http://www.sheriffjoemustgo.com/
On Friday the Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, saying:
"We write today concerning allegations of misconduct on the part of Maricopa County, Arizona, Sheriff Joe Arpaio that we believe merit federal investigation and action."
It's obvious that Arpaio's latest publicity stunt crosses the line. On February 4th, he rounded up hundreds of immigrant detainees and forced them to march, shackled, through Phoenix to a segregated "tent city" surrounded by electric fencing in the Arizona desert.
Thousands of you have already signed our letter to the Attorney General, calling for an investigation into Joe's abuse of power. Thousands have denounced Joe's blatant racial profiling and civil rights violations. But with this week's big news from the Judiciary Committee, and with major events being organized across the country to protest Arpaio, we believe it's time to do more.
Help us get to 10,000 signatures to Attorney General Holder by the first week of March.
Sign the petition to investigate Joe now:
http://www.sheriffjoemustgo.com/
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Obama's Immigration Conundrum
Don't expect this mess to be cleaned up soon, especially with Secretary Napolitano sounding like a hard-liner.... The detention centers were built with a bipartisan stamp of approval, with Democrats as well as Republicans supporting their expansion.
By Bill Boyarsky, Truthdig
February 10, 2009
One of the worst messes facing the Obama administration is the disgraceful state of the federal government's immigration detention centers.
There are 350 of these centers around the country, housing almost 30,000 men, women and even children waiting for the Department of Homeland Security to decide whether or not they will be deported. Some have been in custody for years. The centers are overcrowded. Newspapers and academic and civil liberties studies tell of physically and mentally ill inmates being denied help. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.alternet.org/immigration/126336?page=1
By Bill Boyarsky, Truthdig
February 10, 2009
One of the worst messes facing the Obama administration is the disgraceful state of the federal government's immigration detention centers.
There are 350 of these centers around the country, housing almost 30,000 men, women and even children waiting for the Department of Homeland Security to decide whether or not they will be deported. Some have been in custody for years. The centers are overcrowded. Newspapers and academic and civil liberties studies tell of physically and mentally ill inmates being denied help. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.alternet.org/immigration/126336?page=1
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Is the NY Times Starting to Get the Message?
Helping Workers in Hard Times
Editorial, New York Times
February 14, 2009
Immigration hard-liners have wasted no time harnessing their dreams of mass expulsion to the recession. The avalanche of lost jobs and grim national mood cry out for the laying of blame, and restrictionist groups are angrily pointing the finger at illegal immigrants. Workers without papers have already been accused of causing leprosy, crime waves, environmental ruin, global warming and the decline of Western civilization, so tying them to a bad economy seems only natural.
But maybe we should think this through. [...]
Read the full editorial:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/opinion/15sun1.html?ref=opinion
Editorial, New York Times
February 14, 2009
Immigration hard-liners have wasted no time harnessing their dreams of mass expulsion to the recession. The avalanche of lost jobs and grim national mood cry out for the laying of blame, and restrictionist groups are angrily pointing the finger at illegal immigrants. Workers without papers have already been accused of causing leprosy, crime waves, environmental ruin, global warming and the decline of Western civilization, so tying them to a bad economy seems only natural.
But maybe we should think this through. [...]
Read the full editorial:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/opinion/15sun1.html?ref=opinion
Friday, February 13, 2009
The Real Economics of Immigration Reform
By ignoring the role of immigration policy in our economic situation, Americans are actually hurting themselves
by: Cristina Jimenez, The American Prospect
February 12, 2009
.
Shortly after the November election, a few congressional offices privately acknowledged that it would be smart for the Obama administration to try to include pro-immigration provisions in the upcoming stimulus package. Some policy staffers were reading studies and hearing testimonies about how hardworking immigrants drive productivity and job creation across many different sectors of the economy. But as the stimulus bill gets finalized in conference this week and heads to Obama's desk for a signature, immigration will be debated only in the narrow terms of E-verify, the Bush-mandated system that all businesses benefiting from the stimulus may be required to use to verify the immigration status of their employees.
What more can we expect? After all, immigration reform is a tougher sell in a recession. That's the blunt observation Wall Street Journal columnist Gerald Seib recently offered: "Pushing any kind of immigration reform, particularly one that includes a path toward legalization, is a lot harder in an environment in which Americans are losing jobs." [...]
Read the full article:
http://prospect.org/cs/articles?article=the_real_economics_of_immigration_reform
Also available at:
http://www.truthout.org/021209LA
by: Cristina Jimenez, The American Prospect
February 12, 2009
.
Shortly after the November election, a few congressional offices privately acknowledged that it would be smart for the Obama administration to try to include pro-immigration provisions in the upcoming stimulus package. Some policy staffers were reading studies and hearing testimonies about how hardworking immigrants drive productivity and job creation across many different sectors of the economy. But as the stimulus bill gets finalized in conference this week and heads to Obama's desk for a signature, immigration will be debated only in the narrow terms of E-verify, the Bush-mandated system that all businesses benefiting from the stimulus may be required to use to verify the immigration status of their employees.
What more can we expect? After all, immigration reform is a tougher sell in a recession. That's the blunt observation Wall Street Journal columnist Gerald Seib recently offered: "Pushing any kind of immigration reform, particularly one that includes a path toward legalization, is a lot harder in an environment in which Americans are losing jobs." [...]
Read the full article:
http://prospect.org/cs/articles?article=the_real_economics_of_immigration_reform
Also available at:
http://www.truthout.org/021209LA
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Great Wall of Boeing to Benefit From Stimulus?
Handful of Firms Benefit in Senate Bill
by Cam Simpson and Brody Mullins, Wall Street Journal
February 11, 2009
WASHINGTON -- The stimulus package the Senate approved Tuesday may technically be free of "earmarks," but it nonetheless includes several provisions that would likely benefit only a handful of specific corporations.... One example: The Senate added $200 million for a "virtual fence" along the nation's Southwestern border, a project headed by Chicago-based Boeing Co. The bill directs that stimulus money for the program be spent by the end of September 2010. [...]
Read the full article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123431519760470837.html
See also:
http://thepoliticsofimmigration.blogspot.com/2008/09/great-wall-of-boeing.html
by Cam Simpson and Brody Mullins, Wall Street Journal
February 11, 2009
WASHINGTON -- The stimulus package the Senate approved Tuesday may technically be free of "earmarks," but it nonetheless includes several provisions that would likely benefit only a handful of specific corporations.... One example: The Senate added $200 million for a "virtual fence" along the nation's Southwestern border, a project headed by Chicago-based Boeing Co. The bill directs that stimulus money for the program be spent by the end of September 2010. [...]
Read the full article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123431519760470837.html
See also:
http://thepoliticsofimmigration.blogspot.com/2008/09/great-wall-of-boeing.html
Sunday, February 8, 2009
When Xenophobia Meets Homophobia
The killing of Jose Sucuzhañay...challenges Latino/a and LGBT leaders to build a broad-based vision for social justice that acknowledges the linkages between various communities and struggles.
by Marisol LeBrón, NACLA.org
February 2, 2009
An ugly blame game ensued after the passing of California’s Proposition 8, which restricted the definition of marriage to a union between a man and a woman. With exit polls reporting 70 percent of Blacks and 53 percent of Latinos/as supporting the ban on gay marriage, many white members of the LGBT community blamed people of color for the ban’s success.
The December issue of gay news magazine The Advocate stepped into the fray. The cover of the issue provocatively announced, “Gay is the New Black.” Although the cover story's author, Michael Joseph Gross, dismissed blaming Black voters as a "false conclusion" and a "terrible mistake," comments posted to the site took him to task for other reasons. Most comments strongly disagreed with Gross' Black/gay comparison, but many others asked why communities of color and queer communities are still considered mutually exclusive in the mainstream LGBT rights movement. [...]
Read the full article:
http://nacla.org/node/5476
by Marisol LeBrón, NACLA.org
February 2, 2009
An ugly blame game ensued after the passing of California’s Proposition 8, which restricted the definition of marriage to a union between a man and a woman. With exit polls reporting 70 percent of Blacks and 53 percent of Latinos/as supporting the ban on gay marriage, many white members of the LGBT community blamed people of color for the ban’s success.
The December issue of gay news magazine The Advocate stepped into the fray. The cover of the issue provocatively announced, “Gay is the New Black.” Although the cover story's author, Michael Joseph Gross, dismissed blaming Black voters as a "false conclusion" and a "terrible mistake," comments posted to the site took him to task for other reasons. Most comments strongly disagreed with Gross' Black/gay comparison, but many others asked why communities of color and queer communities are still considered mutually exclusive in the mainstream LGBT rights movement. [...]
Read the full article:
http://nacla.org/node/5476
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