Advocates of legalization have crafted a plan that could alienate businesses and key Republicans, including Sen. John McCain. But it is designed to lure a powerful new ally--organized labor.
by Peter Wallsten, Los Angeles Times
March 27, 2009
Reporting from Washington -- With their prospects in Congress sinking along with the economy, liberal advocates of giving undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship are launching a risky strategy to push lawmakers and the White House to take up their cause.
They are devising a proposal in which millions of undocumented workers would be legalized now, while the number of foreign workers allowed to enter the country would be examined by a new independent commission, and probably reduced.
Read the full article:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-immigration27-2009mar27,0,4007105.story
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Anti-illegal immigrant groups launch Mexico tourism boycott
"I think people have enough sense and information to know to not pay attention to this," Mexican Consul Carlos Rodríguez y Quezada said.
by Cindy Carcamo, The Orange County Register
March 20, 2009
A coalition of anti-illegal immigrant advocates with a goal of halting American tourism to Mexico are distributing fliers along the San Ysidro border that accuse the country of being aggressive and hostile to the United States and disrespectful of its laws.
Americans United to Halt Tourism in Mexico – formed by Minutemen groups across the country and local groups such as Huntington Beach-based California Coalition for Immigration Reform – is urging Americans bound for sun and fun south of the border to instead visit the U.S. Southwest.
"Do not give your tourist dollars to Mexico!" the fliers say. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/mexico-flyers-say-2341374-border-immigration
by Cindy Carcamo, The Orange County Register
March 20, 2009
A coalition of anti-illegal immigrant advocates with a goal of halting American tourism to Mexico are distributing fliers along the San Ysidro border that accuse the country of being aggressive and hostile to the United States and disrespectful of its laws.
Americans United to Halt Tourism in Mexico – formed by Minutemen groups across the country and local groups such as Huntington Beach-based California Coalition for Immigration Reform – is urging Americans bound for sun and fun south of the border to instead visit the U.S. Southwest.
"Do not give your tourist dollars to Mexico!" the fliers say. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/mexico-flyers-say-2341374-border-immigration
Thursday, March 26, 2009
The Border’s “Agent Orange” Controversy
by Frontera NorteSur, Newspaper Tree (El Paso)
March 21, 2009
With the clock ticking, a growing network of activists on both sides of the border are lobbying high officials to prevent aerial spraying of chemicals meant to destroy Carrizo cane between the southern Rio Grande twin cities of Laredo and Nuevo Laredo.
In the Vietnam War, the United States sprayed vast tracts of land with the chemical defoliant Agent Orange as part of a counter-insurgency strategy aimed at removing forest cover for Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces. Although the toxic dioxin released by Agent Orange was later blamed by US veterans’ groups and Vietnamese officials for illnesses and diseases that struck thousands of former US soldiers and upwards of four million Vietnamese citizens, the US Supreme Court recently refused to consider a case by pursued by Vietnamese plaintiffs against the manufacturers of Agent Orange.
Four decades later, on the US-Mexico border, the US Border Patrol intends to employ a chemical herbicide in order to eradicate stands of the Carrizo cane, an invasive plant that grows as tall as 30 feet and provides convenient cover for undocumented border crossers and smugglers. The variety of Carrizo cane that is common in the Laredo-Del Rio borderlands is from the region of Valencia, Spain. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.newspapertree.com/news/3575-the-border-s-agent-orange-controversy
March 21, 2009
With the clock ticking, a growing network of activists on both sides of the border are lobbying high officials to prevent aerial spraying of chemicals meant to destroy Carrizo cane between the southern Rio Grande twin cities of Laredo and Nuevo Laredo.
In the Vietnam War, the United States sprayed vast tracts of land with the chemical defoliant Agent Orange as part of a counter-insurgency strategy aimed at removing forest cover for Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces. Although the toxic dioxin released by Agent Orange was later blamed by US veterans’ groups and Vietnamese officials for illnesses and diseases that struck thousands of former US soldiers and upwards of four million Vietnamese citizens, the US Supreme Court recently refused to consider a case by pursued by Vietnamese plaintiffs against the manufacturers of Agent Orange.
Four decades later, on the US-Mexico border, the US Border Patrol intends to employ a chemical herbicide in order to eradicate stands of the Carrizo cane, an invasive plant that grows as tall as 30 feet and provides convenient cover for undocumented border crossers and smugglers. The variety of Carrizo cane that is common in the Laredo-Del Rio borderlands is from the region of Valencia, Spain. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.newspapertree.com/news/3575-the-border-s-agent-orange-controversy
Monday, March 23, 2009
Support immigrant activist Victor Toro: NYC, Mar. 25
Wednesday, March 25, 2009, 8:30 am
Protest: Against ICE and DHS
In support of Victor Toro and millions of undocumented immigrants
Protesta: Contra de la Migra
En apoyo de Victor Toro y millones de inmigrantes indocumentados
At 26 Federal Plaza, New York, NY
(corner of Worth & Lafayette)
Information: Tel:718-292-6137, 212-631-7555, 212-561-1744
lapena2006@hotmail.com, MrnCrls@aol.com, may1@leftshift.org
Victor Toro is a citizen and national of Chile who was jailed and tortured there because of his opposition to the illegitimate Pinochet government (1973-1990). For more than 23 years, Victor and his wife Nieves Ayress (also a survivor of torture by the Pinochet regime) have been living in New York City and engaging in activism in the South Bronx, where they founded Vamos a La Peña, a nonprofit community organization that has served as a space for free expression and people's power for undocumented workers and other disenfranchised community members. On July 6, 2007,Victor Toro was arrested by US Border Patrol, an agency of the US Department of Homeland Security, while on board an Amtrak train in Rochester, New York. He was released on bond on July 9 and is now seeking political asylum with the help of his legal team. His wife Nieves is a US citizen; their daughter, Rosita Toro, is a legal permanent resident.
Victor Toro es un chileno quien fue encarcelado y torturado en ese pais por su oposicion al gobierno ilegitimo del dictador Pinochet (1973-1990). Durante mas de 23 años, Victor y su esposa Nieves Ayress (tambien sobreviviente de torturas bajo el regimen de Pinochet) han estado viviendo en la ciudad de Nueva York e involucrados en la lucha social en el Sur del Bronx, donde fundaron Vamos a La Peña, una organizacion comunitaria sin fines de lucro que ha sirvido como espacio de libre expresion y poder popular para los trabajadores indocumentados y otra gente marginada de esa comunidad. El pasado 6 de julio, 2007, Victor Toro fue arrestado por la Patrulla Fronteriza, agencia del Departamento de "Seguridad de Patria" de EEUU, mientras viajaba en un tren de Amtrak pasando por la ciudad deRochester, New York. Fue liberado bajo fianza el 9 de julio y ahora busca asilo politico con ayuda de su equipo legal. Su esposa Nieves es ciudadana estadounidense; su hija, Rosita Toro, es residente permanente legal.
Protest: Against ICE and DHS
In support of Victor Toro and millions of undocumented immigrants
Protesta: Contra de la Migra
En apoyo de Victor Toro y millones de inmigrantes indocumentados
At 26 Federal Plaza, New York, NY
(corner of Worth & Lafayette)
Information: Tel:718-292-6137, 212-631-7555, 212-561-1744
lapena2006@hotmail.com, MrnCrls@aol.com, may1@leftshift.org
Victor Toro is a citizen and national of Chile who was jailed and tortured there because of his opposition to the illegitimate Pinochet government (1973-1990). For more than 23 years, Victor and his wife Nieves Ayress (also a survivor of torture by the Pinochet regime) have been living in New York City and engaging in activism in the South Bronx, where they founded Vamos a La Peña, a nonprofit community organization that has served as a space for free expression and people's power for undocumented workers and other disenfranchised community members. On July 6, 2007,Victor Toro was arrested by US Border Patrol, an agency of the US Department of Homeland Security, while on board an Amtrak train in Rochester, New York. He was released on bond on July 9 and is now seeking political asylum with the help of his legal team. His wife Nieves is a US citizen; their daughter, Rosita Toro, is a legal permanent resident.
Victor Toro es un chileno quien fue encarcelado y torturado en ese pais por su oposicion al gobierno ilegitimo del dictador Pinochet (1973-1990). Durante mas de 23 años, Victor y su esposa Nieves Ayress (tambien sobreviviente de torturas bajo el regimen de Pinochet) han estado viviendo en la ciudad de Nueva York e involucrados en la lucha social en el Sur del Bronx, donde fundaron Vamos a La Peña, una organizacion comunitaria sin fines de lucro que ha sirvido como espacio de libre expresion y poder popular para los trabajadores indocumentados y otra gente marginada de esa comunidad. El pasado 6 de julio, 2007, Victor Toro fue arrestado por la Patrulla Fronteriza, agencia del Departamento de "Seguridad de Patria" de EEUU, mientras viajaba en un tren de Amtrak pasando por la ciudad deRochester, New York. Fue liberado bajo fianza el 9 de julio y ahora busca asilo politico con ayuda de su equipo legal. Su esposa Nieves es ciudadana estadounidense; su hija, Rosita Toro, es residente permanente legal.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
"Migracorridos": Another Failed Anti-Immigration Campaign
The agency has been careful to keep its imprint off the album afraid Mexican audiences would disregard the songs if they knew who was behind it.
Marisol LeBrón, NACLA Update
March 17, 2009
For centuries, Mexican narrative folk ballads, known as corridos, have chronicled the exploits of outlaws and rebels. Countless corridos have told the tribulations of smugglers trying to get their contraband across the border. And in recent decades, with the boom of the drug trade in Mexico, the songs have increasingly turned to stories about the narcotrafficking. But these "narco corridos" existed long before the rise of today's drug cartels.
It's strange, then, that the U.S. Border Patrol would be promoting a genre so infused with anti-authoritarian sentiment. But that's exactly what the law enforcement agency is doing, even releasing its own album of corridos. [...]
Read the full article:
http://nacla.org/node/5625
Marisol LeBrón, NACLA Update
March 17, 2009
For centuries, Mexican narrative folk ballads, known as corridos, have chronicled the exploits of outlaws and rebels. Countless corridos have told the tribulations of smugglers trying to get their contraband across the border. And in recent decades, with the boom of the drug trade in Mexico, the songs have increasingly turned to stories about the narcotrafficking. But these "narco corridos" existed long before the rise of today's drug cartels.
It's strange, then, that the U.S. Border Patrol would be promoting a genre so infused with anti-authoritarian sentiment. But that's exactly what the law enforcement agency is doing, even releasing its own album of corridos. [...]
Read the full article:
http://nacla.org/node/5625
Thursday, March 19, 2009
New CIS Study: Easy Answers and Half-Baked Solutions
A new report from the Center for Immigration Studies claims workplace raids raise wages at meatpacking plants. The union has a different opinion.
by Amber Sparks (UFCW), Immigration Impact
March 19, 2009
A new report by the Center for Immigration Studies is a perfect illustration of the misinterpretation and manipulation of data to reach a totally biased and flawed conclusion-and clearly demonstrates a complete lack of understanding about the history of the meatpacking industry.
Immigrants worldwide have been essential in strengthening the U.S. meatpacking industry, by organizing around increased wages and improved industry standards. But during the ‘80’s, something happened. Consolidation, mergers, and company-induced strikes helped drive down wages for meatpackers. During the strikes, companies aggressively recruited strike breakers-not immigrants but individuals who came from the decimated farm industry-to cross the picket lines. [...]
Read the full article:
http://immigrationimpact.com/2009/03/19/cis-swift-raid-report-jerry-kammer/#more-1275
See also:
http://www.ufcw.org/icemisconduct/news/cisstudyresponse.cfm
by Amber Sparks (UFCW), Immigration Impact
March 19, 2009
A new report by the Center for Immigration Studies is a perfect illustration of the misinterpretation and manipulation of data to reach a totally biased and flawed conclusion-and clearly demonstrates a complete lack of understanding about the history of the meatpacking industry.
Immigrants worldwide have been essential in strengthening the U.S. meatpacking industry, by organizing around increased wages and improved industry standards. But during the ‘80’s, something happened. Consolidation, mergers, and company-induced strikes helped drive down wages for meatpackers. During the strikes, companies aggressively recruited strike breakers-not immigrants but individuals who came from the decimated farm industry-to cross the picket lines. [...]
Read the full article:
http://immigrationimpact.com/2009/03/19/cis-swift-raid-report-jerry-kammer/#more-1275
See also:
http://www.ufcw.org/icemisconduct/news/cisstudyresponse.cfm
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Most Immigrants in Detention Did Not Have Criminal Record, Reports AP
The detainee buildup began in the mid 1990s, long before the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Since 2003, though, Congress has doubled to $1.7 billion the amount dedicated to imprisoning immigrants, as furor over "criminal aliens" intertwined with post-9/11 fears and anti-immigrant political rhetoric.
Michelle Roberts, Huffington Post
March 15, 2009
America's detention system for immigrants has mushroomed in the last decade, a costly building boom that was supposed to sweep up criminals and ensure that undocumented immigrants were quickly shown the door.
Instead, an Associated Press computer analysis of every person being held on a recent Sunday night shows that most did not have a criminal record and many were not about to leave the country _ voluntarily or via deportation.
An official Immigration and Customs Enforcement database, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, showed a U.S. detainee population of exactly 32,000 on the evening of Jan. 25. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/15/most-immigrants-in-detent_n_175118.html
Michelle Roberts, Huffington Post
March 15, 2009
America's detention system for immigrants has mushroomed in the last decade, a costly building boom that was supposed to sweep up criminals and ensure that undocumented immigrants were quickly shown the door.
Instead, an Associated Press computer analysis of every person being held on a recent Sunday night shows that most did not have a criminal record and many were not about to leave the country _ voluntarily or via deportation.
An official Immigration and Customs Enforcement database, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, showed a U.S. detainee population of exactly 32,000 on the evening of Jan. 25. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/15/most-immigrants-in-detent_n_175118.html
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