"In the U.S., in contrast, authorities chose not to pursue full economic integration, instead negotiating terms that were exploitive of Mexico and protective of the U.S. And since the signing of NAFTA, migration from Mexico to its northern neighbor has continued unabated as efforts to increase border enforcement have backfired, encouraging Mexican migrants in the U.S. to remain and actually increasing net undocumented migration."
How Europe's trade model could solve America's immigration problem
by Douglas Massey, Miller McCune
March 04, 2008
Consider this scenario: A group of wealthy nations with well-established democracies is linked in a successful economic union that has dramatically increased trade, commerce and living standards. To the south, a much poorer nation is undergoing a transition to democracy after decades of authoritarian rule, at the same time moving to open its formerly closed economy to international investment and exchange. As part of its broader transformation, the southern nation asks to join the economic union to its north. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.miller-mccune.com/article/190#
Friday, December 26, 2008
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Immigrant and African American Workers Unite and Win
"Lou Dobbs keeps turning up every night, you know, 'Immigrant workers are taking jobs away from white workers and black workers.' But the labor movement brings them together. Because when they organize, they find their common issues -- arbitrary supervisor power, the idea that the employer is not giving you notice, taking the money in their own pocket. That’s where workers come together."
Before Sit-In, Workers Beat Racial Tensions
by Chip Mitchell, Chicago Public Radio
December 17, 2008
A sit-in by laid-off employees of a Chicago window company this month sparked international attention. Republic Windows and Doors had closed with only a few days’ notice and blamed a bank that had received billions of federal bailout dollars. The employees were members of a union, the United Electrical Workers. They fought for a severance payment and became symbols for hundreds of thousands of U.S. workers facing layoffs. Their efforts required overcoming long-standing racial tensions in their ranks. We sat down with two of those workers to hear how they did it. [...]
Read the full report:
http://www.chicagopublicradio.org/Content.aspx?audioID=30940
Unions Come to Smithfield
By David Bacon, The American Prospect
December 17, 2008
When immigration agents raided Smithfield Food's huge North Carolina slaughterhouse two years ago, union organizer Eduardo Peña compared the impact to a "nuclear bomb." The day after, people were so scared that most of the plant's 5,000 employees didn't show up for work. The lines where they kill and cut apart 32,000 hogs every day were motionless. "Workers think it's happening because people were getting organized," said Vargas at the time.
Yet on Dec. 11, 2008, when the votes were counted in the same packing plant, 2,041 workers had voted to join the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), while just 1,879 had voted against it. That stunning reversal set off celebrations in house trailers and ramshackle homes in Tarheel, Red Springs, St. Pauls, and all the tiny working-class towns spread from Fayetteville down to the South Carolina border.[...]
Read the full article:
http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=unions_come_to_smithfield
Before Sit-In, Workers Beat Racial Tensions
by Chip Mitchell, Chicago Public Radio
December 17, 2008
A sit-in by laid-off employees of a Chicago window company this month sparked international attention. Republic Windows and Doors had closed with only a few days’ notice and blamed a bank that had received billions of federal bailout dollars. The employees were members of a union, the United Electrical Workers. They fought for a severance payment and became symbols for hundreds of thousands of U.S. workers facing layoffs. Their efforts required overcoming long-standing racial tensions in their ranks. We sat down with two of those workers to hear how they did it. [...]
Read the full report:
http://www.chicagopublicradio.org/Content.aspx?audioID=30940
Unions Come to Smithfield
By David Bacon, The American Prospect
December 17, 2008
When immigration agents raided Smithfield Food's huge North Carolina slaughterhouse two years ago, union organizer Eduardo Peña compared the impact to a "nuclear bomb." The day after, people were so scared that most of the plant's 5,000 employees didn't show up for work. The lines where they kill and cut apart 32,000 hogs every day were motionless. "Workers think it's happening because people were getting organized," said Vargas at the time.
Yet on Dec. 11, 2008, when the votes were counted in the same packing plant, 2,041 workers had voted to join the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), while just 1,879 had voted against it. That stunning reversal set off celebrations in house trailers and ramshackle homes in Tarheel, Red Springs, St. Pauls, and all the tiny working-class towns spread from Fayetteville down to the South Carolina border.[...]
Read the full article:
http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=unions_come_to_smithfield
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Immigration Reform Trapped in Political Dualism
Roberto Lovato, New America Media
December 02, 2008
Editor’s Note: Obama’s appointments to positions that would affect immigration policy have drawn praise from advocates. But NAM contributor Roberto Lovato sees contradictory messages in the team being assembled.
Recent talk about "immigration reform" coming from Washington inspires some hope, some fear and lots of reminders about what I call "political-dualism": the ability of a President or political party to simultaneously communicate opposing policies while delivering either no new policies or exceptionally bad ones.
As the Obama Administration prepares to take the reins of the massive and massively inefficient and broken immigration system, it is important to have clarity about the incontrovertible need to overcome the political dualism that created our immigration mess in the first place.
Read the full article:
http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=bbec79095461b6baf2260d72a79d31fd&from=rss
December 02, 2008
Editor’s Note: Obama’s appointments to positions that would affect immigration policy have drawn praise from advocates. But NAM contributor Roberto Lovato sees contradictory messages in the team being assembled.
Recent talk about "immigration reform" coming from Washington inspires some hope, some fear and lots of reminders about what I call "political-dualism": the ability of a President or political party to simultaneously communicate opposing policies while delivering either no new policies or exceptionally bad ones.
As the Obama Administration prepares to take the reins of the massive and massively inefficient and broken immigration system, it is important to have clarity about the incontrovertible need to overcome the political dualism that created our immigration mess in the first place.
Read the full article:
http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=bbec79095461b6baf2260d72a79d31fd&from=rss
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Bad Apples? The "Illegal People" Controversy
A Few Bad Apples...Or a Rotten System?
Laura Carlsen, Foreign Policy in Focus
December 12, 2008
Since President-elect Barack Obama promised to deal with immigration reform in the early part of his presidency, the nation began gearing up for another round in what has been one of the most contentious issues of our time. Faced with a vociferous anti-immigrant right wing, failed reform attempts in Congress, and the human tragedy of criminal raids against immigrants, it's crucial that we get it right this time. The immediate challenge is to build a broad-based movement to pass a fair and humane reform that grants all workers and their families equal rights and protections under the law.
David Bacon's book, Illegal People: How Globalization Creates Immigration and Criminalizes Immigrants provides essential tools to envision and fight for this reform. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/5734
Review: Illegal People
Mary Bauer, Foreign Policy in Focus
December 10, 2008
Michele Wucker's review of David Bacon's excellent book, Illegal People: How Globalization Creates Immigration and Criminalizes Immigrants, misses the mark. Wucker is put off by Bacon's supposed emphasis on "bad apple" employers. In fact, Bacon's book argues compellingly that the problem with the American immigration system isn't bad-apple employers (although there are certainly many of them); the problem is structural. And Bacon's book shows that it's a structure the United States has created that leads directly to the abuses Bacon highlights. Reading this book as merely a condemnation of bad corporations misses the real insights the book has to offer. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/5727
Review: Broken Immigration System
Michele Wucker, Foreign Policy in Focus
September 25, 2008
Immigration reform advocates still disagree over the Senate's failed 2007 attempt to push through legislation that would have provided a path to legalization for the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants in the United States. Unions and big business had briefly allied in supporting a legalization program combined with an increase in visas. But the partnership collapsed after an ill-begotten attempt to secure the bill's passage, which added so many noxious provisions that it lost many of its supporters while failing to win over implacable opponents.
David Bacon's new book, Illegal People: How Globalization Creates Immigration and Criminalizes Immigrants (Beacon Press), suggests that no reform was better than the half-hearted measure that crashed and burned. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/5557
Laura Carlsen, Foreign Policy in Focus
December 12, 2008
Since President-elect Barack Obama promised to deal with immigration reform in the early part of his presidency, the nation began gearing up for another round in what has been one of the most contentious issues of our time. Faced with a vociferous anti-immigrant right wing, failed reform attempts in Congress, and the human tragedy of criminal raids against immigrants, it's crucial that we get it right this time. The immediate challenge is to build a broad-based movement to pass a fair and humane reform that grants all workers and their families equal rights and protections under the law.
David Bacon's book, Illegal People: How Globalization Creates Immigration and Criminalizes Immigrants provides essential tools to envision and fight for this reform. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/5734
Review: Illegal People
Mary Bauer, Foreign Policy in Focus
December 10, 2008
Michele Wucker's review of David Bacon's excellent book, Illegal People: How Globalization Creates Immigration and Criminalizes Immigrants, misses the mark. Wucker is put off by Bacon's supposed emphasis on "bad apple" employers. In fact, Bacon's book argues compellingly that the problem with the American immigration system isn't bad-apple employers (although there are certainly many of them); the problem is structural. And Bacon's book shows that it's a structure the United States has created that leads directly to the abuses Bacon highlights. Reading this book as merely a condemnation of bad corporations misses the real insights the book has to offer. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/5727
Review: Broken Immigration System
Michele Wucker, Foreign Policy in Focus
September 25, 2008
Immigration reform advocates still disagree over the Senate's failed 2007 attempt to push through legislation that would have provided a path to legalization for the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants in the United States. Unions and big business had briefly allied in supporting a legalization program combined with an increase in visas. But the partnership collapsed after an ill-begotten attempt to secure the bill's passage, which added so many noxious provisions that it lost many of its supporters while failing to win over implacable opponents.
David Bacon's new book, Illegal People: How Globalization Creates Immigration and Criminalizes Immigrants (Beacon Press), suggests that no reform was better than the half-hearted measure that crashed and burned. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/5557
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Anti-Immigrant Fervor Translates to Terror for Women
by Melissa Nalani Ross, On The Issues Magazine
Fall 2008
In my work on civil and human rights, especially with immigrant populations, I was contacted recently about a woman without documentation who worked at a fruit stand in the northeast. A male customer approached her and asked if she had any waitressing experience, as he needed servers at his restaurant. Seeing this as an opportunity to make a little more money to support herself and her family, the woman agreed to stop by the establishment for an interview. When she arrived, instead of sitting down and discussing a job opportunity, the woman was met by a group of men who took turns raping her. They then told her that if she went to the authorities, they would have her deported.
Too afraid to go to the police out of fear of being separated from her family and livelihood, she will be left in isolation, with no recourse, no justice and no security. Her tale will not be covered by the mainstream media. The men who raped her will never be brought to justice. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.ontheissuesmagazine.com/2008fall/2008fall_11.php
Fall 2008
In my work on civil and human rights, especially with immigrant populations, I was contacted recently about a woman without documentation who worked at a fruit stand in the northeast. A male customer approached her and asked if she had any waitressing experience, as he needed servers at his restaurant. Seeing this as an opportunity to make a little more money to support herself and her family, the woman agreed to stop by the establishment for an interview. When she arrived, instead of sitting down and discussing a job opportunity, the woman was met by a group of men who took turns raping her. They then told her that if she went to the authorities, they would have her deported.
Too afraid to go to the police out of fear of being separated from her family and livelihood, she will be left in isolation, with no recourse, no justice and no security. Her tale will not be covered by the mainstream media. The men who raped her will never be brought to justice. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.ontheissuesmagazine.com/2008fall/2008fall_11.php
Saturday, December 13, 2008
U.S. Refugee in Mexico/Refugiada Estadounidense en México
U.S. Refugee in Mexico
Elvira Arellano, El Diario-La Prensa (NY)
December 3, 2008
Last week we welcomed Crystal Dillman, the widow of Luis Martinez, to Mexico. Martinez was murdered by a group of white youths in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, earlier this year – just because he was a Latino. His wife Crystal, an anglo, courageously stood up and demanded justice, her stand has made her a target of threats, intimidation by local police and hostility from neighbors. She has brought their children to make her home with Martinez’s family in Mexico.
Evidently, racism in the United States did not die with the election of Barack Obama! Racism attaches itself to a people based not only on their skin color but based on their country of origin. When the United States and Europe viewed Africa as a place they had the right to dominate and exploit, then Africans were treated as less than human in the United States. The long and much to be admired struggle of African Americans has begun to overcome these attitudes – especially as their numbers, unity and political strength grew. And we must remember the contribution of African Americans in ending U.S. support for apartheid.
When Crystal Dillman spoke out after the murder of her husband she correctly identified the source of the hatred against him as the anti-immigrant, anti-Latino hysteria in nearby Hazleton Pennsylvania, in the national campaign against legalization and in the media campaign of men like CNN’s Lou Dobbs. In fact, hate crimes against Latinos have risen by 40% since 2005.
Crystal Dillman was welcomed in Mexico at an international conference dealing with migrant issues which drew representatives from the United States, Mexico and Central America. Conference participants reflected that long standing U.S. domination of Latin America, going back to the Monroe Doctrine, is at the root of racism against Latinos. The military conquest and acquisition of northern Mexico – now the states of Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, California and Colorado – the colonization of Puerto Rico, the constant interventions in Central America and the Caribbean testify to this history of arrogance. Historically, racism in the U.S. has two legs: the institution of slavery and the domination of Latin America.
The conference, which welcomed and gave shelter to Crystal Dillman, pledged a coordinated program to support the demand for legalization in the United States and especially a moratorium on the separation of families. There will be coordinated actions in the United States, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean on December 18th, the international day for the migrants, January 21st, the day after Barack Obama’s inauguration, March 8th, international women’s day, and May 1st, the day of the workers.
We are from many nations, but we are one people joined by our struggle for respect and the right to keep our families together. As Latinos are joining to support the struggle for legalization of the undocumented the increasingly powerful Latino community will also become a voice for justice and respect throughout Latin America.
Refugiada Estadounidense en México
La semana pasada dimos la bienvenida en México a Crystal Dillman, la viuda de Luis Eduardo Ramírez. Ramírez quien fue asesinado brutalmente por un grupo de jóvenes de raza blanca en Shenandoah, Pennsylvania por odio racial. Su esposa Cristal, una anglosajona, se expresó con valentía para exigir justicia. La posición que ella ha tomado la ha convertido en un blanco de amenazas, intimidación por la policía local, y la hostilidad de sus vecinos. Ha llevado a sus tres hijos con ella para vivir con los parientes de su finado esposo en México.
¡Tal como parece, el racismo en los Estados Unidos no murió cuando se eligió a Barack Obama! Cuando los Estados Unidos y Europa veían a África como un lugar al cual ellos tenían el derecho de dominar y explotar, el resultado fue un trato a los africanos como algo debajo de ser seres humanos. La lucha larga y admirable de los afro-norteamericanos ha empezado a modificar esas actitudes, sobretodo como iban creciendo sus números, unidad y fuerza política. Y no debemos olvidar como los afro-norteamericanos contribuyeron al fin de ‘apartheid’ en África del Sur.
Cuando Cristal Dillman se expresó después del asesinato de su esposo, ella identificó bien la fuente del odio en su contra, como la histeria anti-latina que se había fomentado en el vecino pueblo de Hazleton, Pennsylvania, en la campaña nacional en contra de la legalización de los indocumentados, y en las campañas mediáticas de personajes como Lou Dobbs de CNN-TV. De hecho, los crímenes de odio en contra de los latinos ha subido por 40% desde 2005.
A Cristal Dillman se le dio la bienvenida en México en una conferencia internacional sobre asuntos de migración que atrajo representantes de los Estados Unidos, México y Centroamérica. Los participantes en la conferencia reflejaron que el largo dominio de América Latina, comenzado con la ‘Doctrina Monroe’, queda a la raíz del racismo en contra de los latinos. La conquista militar del norte de México, abarcando los actuales estados estadounidenses de California, Texas, Arizona, Nuevo México y Colorado, la colonización de Puerto Rico, las repetidas intromisiones norteamericanas en Centroamérica y las Antillas – todas estas cosas son evidencia de esta historia de arrogancia. Históricamente, el racismo en los Estados Unidos tiene dos soportes: La institución de la esclavitud y la dominación de América Latina.
La conferencia en la cual le dimos la bienvenida y albergue a Cristal Dillman, se comprometió con un programa coordinado para apoyar la demanda para una legalización en los Estados Unidos y sobretodo una moratoria sobre la deportación y separación de familias. Habrá acciones coordinadas en los Estados Unidos, México, Centroamérica y el Caribe el 18 de diciembre (Día Internacional de los migrantes), el 21 de enero (día después de la inauguración del presidente Obama), el 8 de marzo (Día Internacional de la Mujer migrante) y 1 de mayo, día de los trabajadores migrantes.
Somos de muchas naciones pero un sólo pueblo unido por nuestra lucha Pro-respeto y el derecho de mantener intactas a nuestras familias. Como los latinos se juntan para apoyar la lucha a favor de la legalización, la comunidad latina también se convierte en una poderosa voz a favor de la justicia y respeto a nuestros migrantes en toda América.
Elvira Arellano, El Diario-La Prensa (NY)
December 3, 2008
Last week we welcomed Crystal Dillman, the widow of Luis Martinez, to Mexico. Martinez was murdered by a group of white youths in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, earlier this year – just because he was a Latino. His wife Crystal, an anglo, courageously stood up and demanded justice, her stand has made her a target of threats, intimidation by local police and hostility from neighbors. She has brought their children to make her home with Martinez’s family in Mexico.
Evidently, racism in the United States did not die with the election of Barack Obama! Racism attaches itself to a people based not only on their skin color but based on their country of origin. When the United States and Europe viewed Africa as a place they had the right to dominate and exploit, then Africans were treated as less than human in the United States. The long and much to be admired struggle of African Americans has begun to overcome these attitudes – especially as their numbers, unity and political strength grew. And we must remember the contribution of African Americans in ending U.S. support for apartheid.
When Crystal Dillman spoke out after the murder of her husband she correctly identified the source of the hatred against him as the anti-immigrant, anti-Latino hysteria in nearby Hazleton Pennsylvania, in the national campaign against legalization and in the media campaign of men like CNN’s Lou Dobbs. In fact, hate crimes against Latinos have risen by 40% since 2005.
Crystal Dillman was welcomed in Mexico at an international conference dealing with migrant issues which drew representatives from the United States, Mexico and Central America. Conference participants reflected that long standing U.S. domination of Latin America, going back to the Monroe Doctrine, is at the root of racism against Latinos. The military conquest and acquisition of northern Mexico – now the states of Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, California and Colorado – the colonization of Puerto Rico, the constant interventions in Central America and the Caribbean testify to this history of arrogance. Historically, racism in the U.S. has two legs: the institution of slavery and the domination of Latin America.
The conference, which welcomed and gave shelter to Crystal Dillman, pledged a coordinated program to support the demand for legalization in the United States and especially a moratorium on the separation of families. There will be coordinated actions in the United States, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean on December 18th, the international day for the migrants, January 21st, the day after Barack Obama’s inauguration, March 8th, international women’s day, and May 1st, the day of the workers.
We are from many nations, but we are one people joined by our struggle for respect and the right to keep our families together. As Latinos are joining to support the struggle for legalization of the undocumented the increasingly powerful Latino community will also become a voice for justice and respect throughout Latin America.
Refugiada Estadounidense en México
La semana pasada dimos la bienvenida en México a Crystal Dillman, la viuda de Luis Eduardo Ramírez. Ramírez quien fue asesinado brutalmente por un grupo de jóvenes de raza blanca en Shenandoah, Pennsylvania por odio racial. Su esposa Cristal, una anglosajona, se expresó con valentía para exigir justicia. La posición que ella ha tomado la ha convertido en un blanco de amenazas, intimidación por la policía local, y la hostilidad de sus vecinos. Ha llevado a sus tres hijos con ella para vivir con los parientes de su finado esposo en México.
¡Tal como parece, el racismo en los Estados Unidos no murió cuando se eligió a Barack Obama! Cuando los Estados Unidos y Europa veían a África como un lugar al cual ellos tenían el derecho de dominar y explotar, el resultado fue un trato a los africanos como algo debajo de ser seres humanos. La lucha larga y admirable de los afro-norteamericanos ha empezado a modificar esas actitudes, sobretodo como iban creciendo sus números, unidad y fuerza política. Y no debemos olvidar como los afro-norteamericanos contribuyeron al fin de ‘apartheid’ en África del Sur.
Cuando Cristal Dillman se expresó después del asesinato de su esposo, ella identificó bien la fuente del odio en su contra, como la histeria anti-latina que se había fomentado en el vecino pueblo de Hazleton, Pennsylvania, en la campaña nacional en contra de la legalización de los indocumentados, y en las campañas mediáticas de personajes como Lou Dobbs de CNN-TV. De hecho, los crímenes de odio en contra de los latinos ha subido por 40% desde 2005.
A Cristal Dillman se le dio la bienvenida en México en una conferencia internacional sobre asuntos de migración que atrajo representantes de los Estados Unidos, México y Centroamérica. Los participantes en la conferencia reflejaron que el largo dominio de América Latina, comenzado con la ‘Doctrina Monroe’, queda a la raíz del racismo en contra de los latinos. La conquista militar del norte de México, abarcando los actuales estados estadounidenses de California, Texas, Arizona, Nuevo México y Colorado, la colonización de Puerto Rico, las repetidas intromisiones norteamericanas en Centroamérica y las Antillas – todas estas cosas son evidencia de esta historia de arrogancia. Históricamente, el racismo en los Estados Unidos tiene dos soportes: La institución de la esclavitud y la dominación de América Latina.
La conferencia en la cual le dimos la bienvenida y albergue a Cristal Dillman, se comprometió con un programa coordinado para apoyar la demanda para una legalización en los Estados Unidos y sobretodo una moratoria sobre la deportación y separación de familias. Habrá acciones coordinadas en los Estados Unidos, México, Centroamérica y el Caribe el 18 de diciembre (Día Internacional de los migrantes), el 21 de enero (día después de la inauguración del presidente Obama), el 8 de marzo (Día Internacional de la Mujer migrante) y 1 de mayo, día de los trabajadores migrantes.
Somos de muchas naciones pero un sólo pueblo unido por nuestra lucha Pro-respeto y el derecho de mantener intactas a nuestras familias. Como los latinos se juntan para apoyar la lucha a favor de la legalización, la comunidad latina también se convierte en una poderosa voz a favor de la justicia y respeto a nuestros migrantes en toda América.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Mexico's Immigration Problem Also a "Red Flag" at Home
Unless Mexico, the United States, and Central American countries form an effective regional wmployment strategy that includes a review of trade polices that lead to displacement, the human rights crisis for immigrants will continue to go from bad to worse.
by Laura Carlsen, Americas Updater
December 3, 2008
In the first two years of the Felipe Calderon administration, Mexico has become a focal point in the violation of the human rights of immigrants even as it criticizes the treatment of Mexican migrants in the United States. The UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants Jorge Bustamante states the problem in no uncertain terms: "We are responsible for violations of the rights of Central Americans passing through Mexico, the same or worse as those of Mexicans in the United States."
The analogy between the treatment of Central Americans by the Mexican government and Mexicans by the U.S. government is particularly relevant. [...]
Read the full article:
http://americas.irc-online.org/am/5713
by Laura Carlsen, Americas Updater
December 3, 2008
In the first two years of the Felipe Calderon administration, Mexico has become a focal point in the violation of the human rights of immigrants even as it criticizes the treatment of Mexican migrants in the United States. The UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants Jorge Bustamante states the problem in no uncertain terms: "We are responsible for violations of the rights of Central Americans passing through Mexico, the same or worse as those of Mexicans in the United States."
The analogy between the treatment of Central Americans by the Mexican government and Mexicans by the U.S. government is particularly relevant. [...]
Read the full article:
http://americas.irc-online.org/am/5713
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