Core Principles For Immigration Reform
Direct and Straightforward Roadmap To Citizenship
By United We Dream
February 6, 2013
Because of the integral role that 11 million undocumented immigrants play in the economy, culture, and communities of the United States, we must reform our immigration system to create a fair and reasonable pathway to citizenship for members of our community. This includes DREAMers, individuals who came to the U.S. as children, our parents, families, friends, and neighbors. This inclusive approach is the only solution consistent with our nation’s values of fairness and equality and the only one that will get the job done. [...]
Read the full statement:
http://unitedwedream.org/principles/
Group of Young Immigrants Seeks a Direct Path to Citizenship for All, Regardless of Age
By Julia Preston, New York Times
February 6, 2013
A national organization of young immigrants said Wednesday that it would press for a “direct and straightforward” seven-year pathway to citizenship for all 11 million illegal immigrants in the country, and would not support measures that only offered citizenship to young people brought to the United States as children. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/07/us/politics/group-of-young-immigrants-seeks-a-direct-path-to-citizenship-for-all-regardless-of-age.html
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Saturday, February 9, 2013
Trust Obama?/No le tengo mucha confianza a Obama
No le tengo mucha confianza a Obama
Por Elvira Arellano, El Diario-La Prensa (NY)
5 Febrero, 2013
El presidente Barack Obama y la dirigencia demócrata en el Senado nos dicen que ya van por la reforma migratoria, a todo vapor. ¿Debemos confiar en ellos?
Antes que nada quisiera aclarar mi parcialidad. Antes de que entrara en el santuario, Obama me prometió introducir un proyecto de ley particular cubriendo mi caso, y por supuesto no me cumplió. Luego incumplió su promesa a toda la comunidad latina. Sin embargo, yo insté a toda la comunidad latina a que votara por él, pues el congresista Luis V. Gutiérrez lo presionó y al fin, justamente antes de las elecciones hizo unas cuantas cosas para ayudar a los soñadores y a algunas familias amenazadas por la separación. Pero de verdad, no le tengo mucha confianza. [...]
Lea el artículo:
http://www.eldiariony.com/elvira-arrellano-tengo-mucha-confianza-obama
Trust Obama?
By Elvira Arellano, El Diario-La Prensa (NY)
February 5, 2013
President Obama and the Democratic Leaders in the Senate say they are going all out for immigration reform. Should we trust them?
First let me disclose my own bias. Obama promised to introduce a private bill on my behalf right before I went into sanctuary – and of course he broke his promise. Then he broke his promise to the entire Latino community. I urged people to vote for him because Congressman Gutierrez had forced him to take some actions for the dreamers and for a few of the families facing separation right before the election. But I don’t really trust him.
The question for the undocumented and their families is “who will be included in legalization?” Under President Obama, Homeland Security is trying as I write this column to deport Gabino Sanchez in South Carolina because he has several tickets for driving without a license. Will the President and the Democratic Leadership fight for Gabino Sanchez to be included in new legislation? If they will – if we can trust them to – then why are they still trying to deport Gabino now? He clearly has the executive authority to stop that deportation.
Right after the election, Homeland Security returned to its old policy of enforcement – including workplace raids. That does not inspire trust. In any new legislation “the devil is in the details”. Every person who applies for provisional legal status, the first step in the proposed legalization process, must go through a background check. That is the point at which the whole thing could break down for us and I just don’t trust the President and the Democratic Leadership to negotiate for us. Let me give you some other examples.
If you got stopped at the border the first time you tried to cross you were fingerprinted and have an “expedited deportation” on your record. Currently, Homeland Security deports you. In the new legislation, will you be included?
If you were deported and then returned to your U.S. citizen and children, fulfilling your responsibility to your family, will you be allowed to legalize? If you were charged with using a false social security number to work, will you be allowed to legalize?
If you were deported, like me, will you be allowed to return?
If you had one DUI or other minor misdemeanor conviction, will you be allowed to legalize?
The new bill could make it so hard to legalize that millions will be afraid to register and the whole program could fail. The Democrats have made “the road to citizenship” their red line in the sand. They want the votes. Citizenship should and will come -but the issue we are concerned with is inclusion: who will be included?
Can we trust the advocacy organizations to listen to the undocumented and their families? They have often sold us out to get their funding from the government. Keep the pressure on them.
Can we trust Obama and the Democrats? Let the President stop the deportation of the people he says he wants to legalize. Until then, keep the pressure on them. Legalization para todos!
Por Elvira Arellano, El Diario-La Prensa (NY)
5 Febrero, 2013
El presidente Barack Obama y la dirigencia demócrata en el Senado nos dicen que ya van por la reforma migratoria, a todo vapor. ¿Debemos confiar en ellos?
Antes que nada quisiera aclarar mi parcialidad. Antes de que entrara en el santuario, Obama me prometió introducir un proyecto de ley particular cubriendo mi caso, y por supuesto no me cumplió. Luego incumplió su promesa a toda la comunidad latina. Sin embargo, yo insté a toda la comunidad latina a que votara por él, pues el congresista Luis V. Gutiérrez lo presionó y al fin, justamente antes de las elecciones hizo unas cuantas cosas para ayudar a los soñadores y a algunas familias amenazadas por la separación. Pero de verdad, no le tengo mucha confianza. [...]
Lea el artículo:
http://www.eldiariony.com/elvira-arrellano-tengo-mucha-confianza-obama
Trust Obama?
By Elvira Arellano, El Diario-La Prensa (NY)
February 5, 2013
President Obama and the Democratic Leaders in the Senate say they are going all out for immigration reform. Should we trust them?
First let me disclose my own bias. Obama promised to introduce a private bill on my behalf right before I went into sanctuary – and of course he broke his promise. Then he broke his promise to the entire Latino community. I urged people to vote for him because Congressman Gutierrez had forced him to take some actions for the dreamers and for a few of the families facing separation right before the election. But I don’t really trust him.
The question for the undocumented and their families is “who will be included in legalization?” Under President Obama, Homeland Security is trying as I write this column to deport Gabino Sanchez in South Carolina because he has several tickets for driving without a license. Will the President and the Democratic Leadership fight for Gabino Sanchez to be included in new legislation? If they will – if we can trust them to – then why are they still trying to deport Gabino now? He clearly has the executive authority to stop that deportation.
Right after the election, Homeland Security returned to its old policy of enforcement – including workplace raids. That does not inspire trust. In any new legislation “the devil is in the details”. Every person who applies for provisional legal status, the first step in the proposed legalization process, must go through a background check. That is the point at which the whole thing could break down for us and I just don’t trust the President and the Democratic Leadership to negotiate for us. Let me give you some other examples.
If you got stopped at the border the first time you tried to cross you were fingerprinted and have an “expedited deportation” on your record. Currently, Homeland Security deports you. In the new legislation, will you be included?
If you were deported and then returned to your U.S. citizen and children, fulfilling your responsibility to your family, will you be allowed to legalize? If you were charged with using a false social security number to work, will you be allowed to legalize?
If you were deported, like me, will you be allowed to return?
If you had one DUI or other minor misdemeanor conviction, will you be allowed to legalize?
The new bill could make it so hard to legalize that millions will be afraid to register and the whole program could fail. The Democrats have made “the road to citizenship” their red line in the sand. They want the votes. Citizenship should and will come -but the issue we are concerned with is inclusion: who will be included?
Can we trust the advocacy organizations to listen to the undocumented and their families? They have often sold us out to get their funding from the government. Keep the pressure on them.
Can we trust Obama and the Democrats? Let the President stop the deportation of the people he says he wants to legalize. Until then, keep the pressure on them. Legalization para todos!
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
"Harvest of Empire" on YouTube
90 minutes, released in September 2012
Directed by Peter Getzels and Eduardo López; based on Juan González’s 2000 book of the same name
This is an important effort to start what labor activist and Black Commentator editor Bill Fletcher, Jr., once called “the discussion that is not happening”—the discussion of the root causes of the wave of unauthorized immigration to the United States since the 1960s.
Focusing on six Latin American countries--Puerto Rico, Guatemala, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, and Nicaragua—the directors use archival footage and interviews to show how U.S. support for brutal dictators like Dominican ruler Rafael Trujillo spurred immigration; how economic exploitation by U.S. companies and their desire for cheap labor in this country brought people here from Puerto Rico and Mexico; how the devastating U.S.-sponsored wars in Central America drove hundreds of thousands to seek refuge in the United States in the 1980s; and how the “free trade” policies embodied in NAFTA and similar agreements brought millions more from the region over the past three decades.
Watch the trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohwGL7d2EKg
Buy a DVD:
http://www.harvestofempiremovie.com/store/
Host a screening:
http://www.harvestofempiremovie.com/take_action/host/
Directed by Peter Getzels and Eduardo López; based on Juan González’s 2000 book of the same name
This is an important effort to start what labor activist and Black Commentator editor Bill Fletcher, Jr., once called “the discussion that is not happening”—the discussion of the root causes of the wave of unauthorized immigration to the United States since the 1960s.
Focusing on six Latin American countries--Puerto Rico, Guatemala, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, and Nicaragua—the directors use archival footage and interviews to show how U.S. support for brutal dictators like Dominican ruler Rafael Trujillo spurred immigration; how economic exploitation by U.S. companies and their desire for cheap labor in this country brought people here from Puerto Rico and Mexico; how the devastating U.S.-sponsored wars in Central America drove hundreds of thousands to seek refuge in the United States in the 1980s; and how the “free trade” policies embodied in NAFTA and similar agreements brought millions more from the region over the past three decades.
Watch the trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohwGL7d2EKg
Buy a DVD:
http://www.harvestofempiremovie.com/store/
Host a screening:
http://www.harvestofempiremovie.com/take_action/host/
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Immigration, yes. Indentured serfdom, no
The dark side of immigration reform: A new "guest worker program" that's as close as we may get to modern slavery
By Michael Lind, Salon
January 29, 2013
The outlines of a bipartisan plan for immigration reform have been announced by a group of senators. While most of its provisions are reasonable — a path to citizenship for most illegal immigrants, increased skilled immigration and increased law enforcement — one provision stinks to high heaven and should be rejected by Americans of left, right and center. That provision is a massive, special-interest-driven expansion of indentured servitude in the United States, in the form of a new “guest-worker program.” (President Obama, while hailing the plan in general on Tuesday, has not weighed in on the specifics of the guest-worker program.)
Indentured servitude or contract labor, like slavery, is a form of unfree labor. Unfortunately, the U.S., having abolished slavery, still has pockets of indentured servant labor. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.salon.com/2013/01/30/immigration_yes_indentured_serfdom_no/
By Michael Lind, Salon
January 29, 2013
The outlines of a bipartisan plan for immigration reform have been announced by a group of senators. While most of its provisions are reasonable — a path to citizenship for most illegal immigrants, increased skilled immigration and increased law enforcement — one provision stinks to high heaven and should be rejected by Americans of left, right and center. That provision is a massive, special-interest-driven expansion of indentured servitude in the United States, in the form of a new “guest-worker program.” (President Obama, while hailing the plan in general on Tuesday, has not weighed in on the specifics of the guest-worker program.)
Indentured servitude or contract labor, like slavery, is a form of unfree labor. Unfortunately, the U.S., having abolished slavery, still has pockets of indentured servant labor. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.salon.com/2013/01/30/immigration_yes_indentured_serfdom_no/
Monday, February 4, 2013
The Senate Immigration Plan Isn't Terrible—It's Just Unworkable
The Gang of Eight's framework isn't all terrible—it's just unworkable. It places conditions it's unlikely to meet, and then further compounds the problem by putting a veto in the hands of people who are likely to oppose the plan even if those conditions were met.
By Adam Serwer, Mother Jones
January 28, 2013
The bipartisan Senate "Gang of Eight" released their framework for comprehensive immigration reform today. As expected, the plan includes increased enforcement and a path to citizenship for unauthorized immigrants already in the United States. It also contains several tripwires that, if triggered, could destroy the entire effort. The Gang of Eight includes Sens. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), John McCain (R-Ariz.), Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), and Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.).
The plan includes a path to citizenship, which excludes those with criminal backgrounds and those who have committed crimes since entering the United States. Undocumented immigrants would have to register with the government and go through a background check, and would be allowed to stay under "probationary legal status," after which they would have to "go to the back of the line" before eventually qualifying for citizenship. They will not be eligible for federal benefits during their probationary legal status.
Interestingly, the plan makes the path to citizenship easier for two groups of immigrants: those eligible for the DREAM Act (young people brought to the US as children who are prepared to go to college or join the military) and agricultural workers. A cynical person might point out that in doing so, the plan goes out of its way to help the most sympathetic immigrants, and those most essential to powerful business interests. Or, as the plan puts it, workers who "who commit to the long term stability of our nation's agricultural industries." [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/01/immigration-reform-senate-gang-bipartisan
By Adam Serwer, Mother Jones
January 28, 2013
The bipartisan Senate "Gang of Eight" released their framework for comprehensive immigration reform today. As expected, the plan includes increased enforcement and a path to citizenship for unauthorized immigrants already in the United States. It also contains several tripwires that, if triggered, could destroy the entire effort. The Gang of Eight includes Sens. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), John McCain (R-Ariz.), Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), and Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.).
The plan includes a path to citizenship, which excludes those with criminal backgrounds and those who have committed crimes since entering the United States. Undocumented immigrants would have to register with the government and go through a background check, and would be allowed to stay under "probationary legal status," after which they would have to "go to the back of the line" before eventually qualifying for citizenship. They will not be eligible for federal benefits during their probationary legal status.
Interestingly, the plan makes the path to citizenship easier for two groups of immigrants: those eligible for the DREAM Act (young people brought to the US as children who are prepared to go to college or join the military) and agricultural workers. A cynical person might point out that in doing so, the plan goes out of its way to help the most sympathetic immigrants, and those most essential to powerful business interests. Or, as the plan puts it, workers who "who commit to the long term stability of our nation's agricultural industries." [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/01/immigration-reform-senate-gang-bipartisan
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Why this Round of Immigration Reform is Not So Different
By Gerald Lenoir and Cathi Tactaquin, Black Alliance for Just Alliance
January 25, 2013
Pramila Jayapal’s article titled, “Why this Round of Immigration Reform is Different” in ColorLines Magazine overlooks some critical factors in the struggle for fair and just immigration reform. It is certainly the case that the immigrant rights movement is stronger today than it was during the last round of the congressional debate, as Jayapal points out. She is also right that the show of force at the ballot box by immigrant voters and their allies helped to catapult immigration reform to the top of the political agenda for both Democrats and Republicans.
But does this bipartisan change of heart in Congress mean that we can expect a bill that will meet the needs and aspirations of the 11 million undocumented immigrants now residing in the United States? Not! Although the Republican Party lost the election, their conservative ideology still holds tremendous sway over both parties and in the public psyche. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.blackalliance.org/why-this-round-of-immigration-reform-is-not-so-different/
January 25, 2013
Pramila Jayapal’s article titled, “Why this Round of Immigration Reform is Different” in ColorLines Magazine overlooks some critical factors in the struggle for fair and just immigration reform. It is certainly the case that the immigrant rights movement is stronger today than it was during the last round of the congressional debate, as Jayapal points out. She is also right that the show of force at the ballot box by immigrant voters and their allies helped to catapult immigration reform to the top of the political agenda for both Democrats and Republicans.
But does this bipartisan change of heart in Congress mean that we can expect a bill that will meet the needs and aspirations of the 11 million undocumented immigrants now residing in the United States? Not! Although the Republican Party lost the election, their conservative ideology still holds tremendous sway over both parties and in the public psyche. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.blackalliance.org/why-this-round-of-immigration-reform-is-not-so-different/
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Will Immigration Reform Address H-2 Guestworker Recruiter Violations?
By Mike Elk, Working in These Times
January 22, 2013
With President Obama vowing to push immigration reform, guest worker advocates want to ensure that the H-2 visa program—which grants temporary or seasonal U.S. visas to foreign workers in sectors such as agriculture—is on the agenda. All too often, advocates say, guest workers are forced by third-party recruiters to pay illegal recruitment fees, sometimes without receiving a job in return.
Hoping to jumpstart a conversation on these exploitative practices, the migrant-rights organization Centro de los Derechos del Migrante (CDM) released a report on Thursday titled “Recruitment Revealed” that surveyed 220 guest workers from Mexico about guest-work recruiting abuses. CDM also unveiled a “Yelp-like” new online tracking tool that will allow guest workers to write reviews of the recruiters and their practices. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/14470/will_immigration_reform_address_h_2_visa_extortion/
Read the report:
http://www.cdmigrante.org/recruitment-revealed-fundamental-flaws-in-the-h-2-temporary-worker-program-and-recommendations-for-change/
January 22, 2013
With President Obama vowing to push immigration reform, guest worker advocates want to ensure that the H-2 visa program—which grants temporary or seasonal U.S. visas to foreign workers in sectors such as agriculture—is on the agenda. All too often, advocates say, guest workers are forced by third-party recruiters to pay illegal recruitment fees, sometimes without receiving a job in return.
Hoping to jumpstart a conversation on these exploitative practices, the migrant-rights organization Centro de los Derechos del Migrante (CDM) released a report on Thursday titled “Recruitment Revealed” that surveyed 220 guest workers from Mexico about guest-work recruiting abuses. CDM also unveiled a “Yelp-like” new online tracking tool that will allow guest workers to write reviews of the recruiters and their practices. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/14470/will_immigration_reform_address_h_2_visa_extortion/
Read the report:
http://www.cdmigrante.org/recruitment-revealed-fundamental-flaws-in-the-h-2-temporary-worker-program-and-recommendations-for-change/
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