By David L. Wilson, MRzine
April 13, 2016
On April 24, 2013, some 1,134 people died in the collapse of the Rana Plaza complex outside Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. The building housed factories where low-wage workers, largely women, stitched garments for the U.S. and European markets.
For several years before the disaster a number of U.S. opinion makers -- notably New York Times columnists Thomas Friedman and Nicholas Kristof -- had been arguing that assembly plants like those at Rana Plaza were crucial to the development of economies in the Global South and therefore a boon to the world's most impoverished. The media's efforts to promote sweatshops suddenly slowed down after the collapse in Bangladesh, but they seem to be reviving now, just as we approach the third anniversary of the disaster.
The occasion for the new pro-sweatshop campaign is Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders' opposition to trade pacts like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).[...]
Read the full article:
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2016/wilson130416.html
Thursday, April 14, 2016
Thursday, March 31, 2016
How Americans View Immigrants, and What They Want from Immigration Reform: Findings from the 2015 American Values Atlas
Public Religion Research Institute
March 29, 2016
Americans overall are more likely to say that newcomers from other countries strengthen American society (50%) than they are to believe that they represent a threat to American customs and values (34%). Sixteen percent affirm or reject both statements, or offer no opinion. While there was some fluctuation in attitudes about immigrants over the past year, no weekly survey conducted between May and December 2015 registered more than four in ten Americans agreeing that immigrants represent a threat to American culture.
There are striking generational differences in attitudes about immigrants. More than two-thirds (68%) of young adults (age 18 to 29) say that immigrants coming to the U.S. strengthen the country, while fewer than one in five (19%) say that immigrants threaten traditional American customs and values. In contrast, only 36% of seniors (age 65 and older) believe that newcomers strengthen American society, while close to half (44%) of seniors believe that immigrants coming to the U.S. are a threat. Notably, 12% of seniors offer no opinion on this issue.[...]
Read the full article:
http://publicreligion.org/research/2016/03/survey-how-americans-view-immigrants-and-what-they-want-from-immigration-reform-findings-from-the-2015-american-values-atlas/
March 29, 2016
Americans overall are more likely to say that newcomers from other countries strengthen American society (50%) than they are to believe that they represent a threat to American customs and values (34%). Sixteen percent affirm or reject both statements, or offer no opinion. While there was some fluctuation in attitudes about immigrants over the past year, no weekly survey conducted between May and December 2015 registered more than four in ten Americans agreeing that immigrants represent a threat to American culture.
There are striking generational differences in attitudes about immigrants. More than two-thirds (68%) of young adults (age 18 to 29) say that immigrants coming to the U.S. strengthen the country, while fewer than one in five (19%) say that immigrants threaten traditional American customs and values. In contrast, only 36% of seniors (age 65 and older) believe that newcomers strengthen American society, while close to half (44%) of seniors believe that immigrants coming to the U.S. are a threat. Notably, 12% of seniors offer no opinion on this issue.[...]
Read the full article:
http://publicreligion.org/research/2016/03/survey-how-americans-view-immigrants-and-what-they-want-from-immigration-reform-findings-from-the-2015-american-values-atlas/
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
4 Reasons Why States Suing to Stop Immigration Actions Stand to Lose Big
By Tom Jawetz, Center for American Progress
March 28, 2016
On April 18, the U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments in a lawsuit, United States v. Texas, brought by more than two dozen states challenging an immigration enforcement policy by the secretary of homeland security. If successful, the lawsuit could tear apart millions of American families, while at the same time greatly undercutting the U.S. economy.
Twenty-six states filed a lawsuit challenging the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents, or DAPA, initiative along with the expansion of the existing Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, initiative. Under DAPA, DACA, and expanded DACA, certain unauthorized immigrants who have lived in the United States for many years and who either came to the country as children or are the parents of U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents can come forward, register with the government, pass background checks, and request deferred action—a temporary protection from the threat of deportation. With deferred action, such people are also eligible to request permission to work in the country legally. The implementation of both DAPA and expanded DACA has been temporarily placed on hold while the case works its way through the courts.[...]
Read the full article:
https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/immigration/news/2016/03/28/134063/4-reasons-why-states-suing-to-stop-immigration-actions-stand-to-lose-big/
March 28, 2016
On April 18, the U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments in a lawsuit, United States v. Texas, brought by more than two dozen states challenging an immigration enforcement policy by the secretary of homeland security. If successful, the lawsuit could tear apart millions of American families, while at the same time greatly undercutting the U.S. economy.
Twenty-six states filed a lawsuit challenging the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents, or DAPA, initiative along with the expansion of the existing Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, initiative. Under DAPA, DACA, and expanded DACA, certain unauthorized immigrants who have lived in the United States for many years and who either came to the country as children or are the parents of U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents can come forward, register with the government, pass background checks, and request deferred action—a temporary protection from the threat of deportation. With deferred action, such people are also eligible to request permission to work in the country legally. The implementation of both DAPA and expanded DACA has been temporarily placed on hold while the case works its way through the courts.[...]
Read the full article:
https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/immigration/news/2016/03/28/134063/4-reasons-why-states-suing-to-stop-immigration-actions-stand-to-lose-big/
Saturday, March 26, 2016
Trumpian Fantasies: How Many Presidents Does It Take to Deport 11 Million People?
By Tanya Golash-Boza, TomDispatch via Truthout
March 25, 2016
In 2006, when I first began researching deportations, George W. Bush was president and quietly building a deportation machine in the Department of Homeland Security. Outside of small activist circles, few Americans knew that deportations had been rising since 1996 due to legislation signed by President Bill Clinton. Nor could anyone then have imagined that the next President would be a Democrat, the son of a Kenyan immigrant, and would make Bush look like a piker when it came to record-high deportations. Nor, for that matter, would anyone have dreamed that deportation would become a -- possibly the -- signature issue of the 2016 presidential campaign.
And yet, all of this and more has come to pass in a blistering season of demagoguery, nativism, and outright racism. As again would have been unimaginable a mere decade ago, Republican front-runners Donald Trump and Ted Cruz have both promised to deport every last one of the estimated 11 million undocumented migrants in the United States, the whole lot of them, while as a bonus banning Muslims from the country. Trump gave his particular proposals a special twist by labeling Mexicans coming across the border as "rapists," and immigrants more generally as "snakes."[...]
Read the full article:
http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/35357-day-of-the-demagogue-trumpian-deportation-fantasies-and-us-realities
March 25, 2016
In 2006, when I first began researching deportations, George W. Bush was president and quietly building a deportation machine in the Department of Homeland Security. Outside of small activist circles, few Americans knew that deportations had been rising since 1996 due to legislation signed by President Bill Clinton. Nor could anyone then have imagined that the next President would be a Democrat, the son of a Kenyan immigrant, and would make Bush look like a piker when it came to record-high deportations. Nor, for that matter, would anyone have dreamed that deportation would become a -- possibly the -- signature issue of the 2016 presidential campaign.
And yet, all of this and more has come to pass in a blistering season of demagoguery, nativism, and outright racism. As again would have been unimaginable a mere decade ago, Republican front-runners Donald Trump and Ted Cruz have both promised to deport every last one of the estimated 11 million undocumented migrants in the United States, the whole lot of them, while as a bonus banning Muslims from the country. Trump gave his particular proposals a special twist by labeling Mexicans coming across the border as "rapists," and immigrants more generally as "snakes."[...]
Read the full article:
http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/35357-day-of-the-demagogue-trumpian-deportation-fantasies-and-us-realities
Friday, March 25, 2016
US Welcomes Cubans While Deporting Vulnerable Latin American Migrants
No other group of migrants from Latin America receives the same special treatment from the US government as the Cubans do.
By Adriana Maestas, teleSUR via Truthout
March 23, 2016
While President Obama is in Cuba this week to rebuild bilateral relations and encourage business opportunities on the island, there's an immigration crisis brewing along the southern border highlighting how Cuban immigrants are privileged over Mexican and Central American migrants.
In the last fiscal year, 43,124 Cubans entered the country according to the US Customs and Border Protection. From Oct. 1, 2015 through Feb. 24, 2016, an additional 25,805 Cubans have entered. In the past 17 months, 68,930 Cubans have come to the US where they are processed and become eligible for food stamps, Medicaid, and eventually a work permit and legal residence.
Most of the Cuban migrants are coming through the border crossing in Laredo, Texas, where they have come up through Central America.[...]
Read the full article:
http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/35326-us-cubans-welcome-but-vulnerable-latin-americans-stay-out
By Adriana Maestas, teleSUR via Truthout
March 23, 2016
While President Obama is in Cuba this week to rebuild bilateral relations and encourage business opportunities on the island, there's an immigration crisis brewing along the southern border highlighting how Cuban immigrants are privileged over Mexican and Central American migrants.
In the last fiscal year, 43,124 Cubans entered the country according to the US Customs and Border Protection. From Oct. 1, 2015 through Feb. 24, 2016, an additional 25,805 Cubans have entered. In the past 17 months, 68,930 Cubans have come to the US where they are processed and become eligible for food stamps, Medicaid, and eventually a work permit and legal residence.
Most of the Cuban migrants are coming through the border crossing in Laredo, Texas, where they have come up through Central America.[...]
Read the full article:
http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/35326-us-cubans-welcome-but-vulnerable-latin-americans-stay-out
Thursday, March 24, 2016
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Border Wall (HBO)
LastWeekTonight
March 20, 2016
A TV comedian has a more realistic critique of border wall proposals than most of the mainstream media.
Watch the segement:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU8dCYocuyI
March 20, 2016
A TV comedian has a more realistic critique of border wall proposals than most of the mainstream media.
Watch the segement:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU8dCYocuyI
Monday, March 21, 2016
Bernie Sanders on Immigration: The So-Called Problem Is Trumped Up
By Justin Streight, Inquisitr
March 20, 2016
Bernie Sanders took swipes at both sides of the aisle over immigration reform, declaring the problem “trumped up.” He vowed to end the “deportation regime,” in which he claims even President Barack Obama is a participant.
On Saturday, Sanders spoke next to the U.S.-Mexican border near Nogales, Arizona, according to ABC News. He took time on the campaign trail to speak with people whose families had been torn apart by deportations, and who have suffered hardship to live in the U.S.
The Vermont senator said, “the so-called immigration problem we face today at this particular moment, is a trumped up and exaggerated problem.”
Bernie Sanders used data from Pew Research to show that more people were crossing the border to go to Mexico, rather than the other way around. He still insisted that having 11 million undocumented immigrants in America is a problem, but not one that requires a wall, instead, one that required, as he quoted from Pope Francis, “compassion not hatred. Good public policy, not bigotry.” [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.inquisitr.com/2909090/bernie-sanders-on-immigration-the-so-called-problem-is-trumped-up/
 |
| Photo: Associated Press |
Bernie Sanders took swipes at both sides of the aisle over immigration reform, declaring the problem “trumped up.” He vowed to end the “deportation regime,” in which he claims even President Barack Obama is a participant.
On Saturday, Sanders spoke next to the U.S.-Mexican border near Nogales, Arizona, according to ABC News. He took time on the campaign trail to speak with people whose families had been torn apart by deportations, and who have suffered hardship to live in the U.S.
The Vermont senator said, “the so-called immigration problem we face today at this particular moment, is a trumped up and exaggerated problem.”
Bernie Sanders used data from Pew Research to show that more people were crossing the border to go to Mexico, rather than the other way around. He still insisted that having 11 million undocumented immigrants in America is a problem, but not one that requires a wall, instead, one that required, as he quoted from Pope Francis, “compassion not hatred. Good public policy, not bigotry.” [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.inquisitr.com/2909090/bernie-sanders-on-immigration-the-so-called-problem-is-trumped-up/
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