by Tom Barry, TransBorder Project
October 17, 2008
The leading anti-immigration groups don't specially target illegal immigrants. For the restrictionist groups Federation for American Immigration Reform, Center for Immigration Studies, and NumbersUSA, the country's 11-12 million illegal immigrants are simply low-hanging fruit. Their long-range goal is to rid the nation of most all immigrants—both illegal and legal.
See complete article at:
http://americas.irc-online.org/am/5600
Tom Barry directs the TransBorder Project of the Americas Policy Program at the Center for International Policy. He blogs at http://borderlinesblog.blogspot.com.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Talks in Kansas City focus on immigration
by Tony Pecinovsky, People's Weekly World
October 28, 2008
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - "We cannot talk about immigration without talking about racism," said Jane Guskin, co-author of The Politics of Immigration: Questions and Answers, to a packed audience at the Guadeloupe Community Center here October 23.
As part of a nation-wide tour to promote community dialog on immigration issues, Guskin challenged KC area participants to analyze their own experiences and question stereotypes that lead to racist depictions of immigrants. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.pww.org/article/articleview/13918/
October 28, 2008
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - "We cannot talk about immigration without talking about racism," said Jane Guskin, co-author of The Politics of Immigration: Questions and Answers, to a packed audience at the Guadeloupe Community Center here October 23.
As part of a nation-wide tour to promote community dialog on immigration issues, Guskin challenged KC area participants to analyze their own experiences and question stereotypes that lead to racist depictions of immigrants. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.pww.org/article/articleview/13918/
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Stop the Raids in the First 100 Days
Silence on Immigration
by David Bacon, Foreign Policy in Focus
October 23, 2008
The first of the 388 workers arrested in the immigration raid on the Agriprocessors meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa, were deported in mid-October, having spent five months in federal prison. Their crime? Giving a bad Social Security number to the company to get hired. Among them will be a young man who had his eyes covered with duct tape by a supervisor on the line, who then beat him with a meathook. The supervisor is still on the job.
The Postville raid was one of the many recent immigration operations leading to criminal charges and deportations for thousands of people. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff calls this "closing the back door. " Meanwhile, his department seeks to "open the front door" by establishing new guest-worker programs, called "close to slavery" by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Something is clearly wrong with the priorities of immigration enforcement. Hungry and desperate workers go to jail and get deported. The government protects employers and seeks to turn a family-based immigration system into a managed labor supply for business. Yet national political campaigns say less and less about it. Immigrant Latino and Asian communities feel increasingly afraid and frustrated. Politicians want their votes, but avoid talking about the rising wave of arrests, imprisonment, and deportations. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/5620
Photographer and journalist David Bacon is the author of Illegal People: How Globalization Creates Immigration and Criminalizes Immigrants (Beacon Press).
by David Bacon, Foreign Policy in Focus
October 23, 2008
The first of the 388 workers arrested in the immigration raid on the Agriprocessors meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa, were deported in mid-October, having spent five months in federal prison. Their crime? Giving a bad Social Security number to the company to get hired. Among them will be a young man who had his eyes covered with duct tape by a supervisor on the line, who then beat him with a meathook. The supervisor is still on the job.
The Postville raid was one of the many recent immigration operations leading to criminal charges and deportations for thousands of people. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff calls this "closing the back door. " Meanwhile, his department seeks to "open the front door" by establishing new guest-worker programs, called "close to slavery" by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Something is clearly wrong with the priorities of immigration enforcement. Hungry and desperate workers go to jail and get deported. The government protects employers and seeks to turn a family-based immigration system into a managed labor supply for business. Yet national political campaigns say less and less about it. Immigrant Latino and Asian communities feel increasingly afraid and frustrated. Politicians want their votes, but avoid talking about the rising wave of arrests, imprisonment, and deportations. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/5620
Photographer and journalist David Bacon is the author of Illegal People: How Globalization Creates Immigration and Criminalizes Immigrants (Beacon Press).
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Ohioans Believe Illegal Immigrants Should Stay
Conservative media on cable television, talk radio and the Internet fueled opposition to legislation that would allow illegal immigrants to stay in the United States...On the other hand, the liberal media spent little time promoting its position.
By Sheila McLaughlin, The Cincinnati Enquirer
October 25, 2008
Let illegal immigrants stay here.
That's what 56 percent of Ohioans said in a poll conducted this month by the University of Cincinnati Institute for Policy Research -- and people polled in Southwest Ohio topped that figure.
In this corner of the state, 60 percent said they favored a government policy that allowed undocumented immigrants to stay in the country and become U.S. citizens if they met unspecified requirements in a certain timeframe.
That puts Ohioans in sync with the rest of the nation, according to a Gallup Poll last year, said Eric Rademacher, the institute's interim co-director.
Read the full article:
http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20081025/NEWS0106/810260302
By Sheila McLaughlin, The Cincinnati Enquirer
October 25, 2008
Let illegal immigrants stay here.
That's what 56 percent of Ohioans said in a poll conducted this month by the University of Cincinnati Institute for Policy Research -- and people polled in Southwest Ohio topped that figure.
In this corner of the state, 60 percent said they favored a government policy that allowed undocumented immigrants to stay in the country and become U.S. citizens if they met unspecified requirements in a certain timeframe.
That puts Ohioans in sync with the rest of the nation, according to a Gallup Poll last year, said Eric Rademacher, the institute's interim co-director.
Read the full article:
http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20081025/NEWS0106/810260302
The Closing of the American Border
Q&A with Edward Alden
Sandip Roy, New America Media
Oct 12, 2008
Editor’s Note: The war on terror has come home to America. But when did the war on terror morph into a war on illegal immigration? Today it is much harder for a terrorist to enter the United States than it used to be, but according to Edward Alden, it's also much harder for everyone else. Edward Alden is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and the author of The Closing of the American Border: Terrorism, Immigration and Security Since 9/11. Alden was interviewed by New America Media editor Sandip Roy.
After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the government seemed to put forth a unified stance on the need to combat terror. But you say in your book that there was actually a fierce internal fight between two groups--you call them The Cops versus The Technocrats. Who are they?
Indeed, this fight began the very night of 9/11. Jim Ziegler, who was the head of Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) at the time, was strongly opposed to what the Ashcroft Justice Department did after 9/11, which was to use immigration laws aggressively as a counter-terrorism tool, to hold people on immigration violations if they believed they had even the slightest connection to terrorism. [...]
Read the full interview:
http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=3172f2965d1a32817bff097afa501763
Sandip Roy, New America Media
Oct 12, 2008
Editor’s Note: The war on terror has come home to America. But when did the war on terror morph into a war on illegal immigration? Today it is much harder for a terrorist to enter the United States than it used to be, but according to Edward Alden, it's also much harder for everyone else. Edward Alden is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and the author of The Closing of the American Border: Terrorism, Immigration and Security Since 9/11. Alden was interviewed by New America Media editor Sandip Roy.
After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the government seemed to put forth a unified stance on the need to combat terror. But you say in your book that there was actually a fierce internal fight between two groups--you call them The Cops versus The Technocrats. Who are they?
Indeed, this fight began the very night of 9/11. Jim Ziegler, who was the head of Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) at the time, was strongly opposed to what the Ashcroft Justice Department did after 9/11, which was to use immigration laws aggressively as a counter-terrorism tool, to hold people on immigration violations if they believed they had even the slightest connection to terrorism. [...]
Read the full interview:
http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=3172f2965d1a32817bff097afa501763
Friday, October 24, 2008
What Part of Legal Immigration Don't You Understand?
Reason magazine, working with the National Foundation for American Policy, has put together a two-page chart explaining what happens when immigrants try to "wait their turn in line."
Here are three different versions of the chart.
Reason's PDF version:
http://www.nfap.com/pdf/0808reason.pdf
Reason's JPG version:
http://www.reason.com/images/07cf533ddb1d06350cf1ddb5942ef5ad.jpg
The National Foundation for American Policy's PDF version:
http://www.nfap.com/pdf/082308immigrationchart.pdf
Here are three different versions of the chart.
Reason's PDF version:
http://www.nfap.com/pdf/0808reason.pdf
Reason's JPG version:
http://www.reason.com/images/07cf533ddb1d06350cf1ddb5942ef5ad.jpg
The National Foundation for American Policy's PDF version:
http://www.nfap.com/pdf/082308immigrationchart.pdf
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Boston Area Immigration Workshop, Nov. 8
The Politics of Immigration
A workshop on countering the right and developing pro-immigrant analysis
With David Wilson, co-author of The Politics of Immigration, Questions and Answers (Monthly Review Press, 2007; copies will be available for purchase)
Saturday, November 8, 2008
7 pm
The Democracy Center
45 Mt Auburn St, Harvard Sq
Cambridge, MA
Presented by the Boston Radical Education Project
(617) 491-2876; repboston@gmail.com
Have you heard an anti-immigrant argument that you feel is wrong, but need the facts to contest? (For example: "Immigrants are a drain on social services.") Do you have your own fear or concern about the issue? (For example: "Are the lowest-paid US-born workers really hurt by immigration?") Bring your concerns to this upcoming dialogue and we'll work together to develop effective responses using facts, reasoning and personal experiences.
A workshop on countering the right and developing pro-immigrant analysis
With David Wilson, co-author of The Politics of Immigration, Questions and Answers (Monthly Review Press, 2007; copies will be available for purchase)
Saturday, November 8, 2008
7 pm
The Democracy Center
45 Mt Auburn St, Harvard Sq
Cambridge, MA
Presented by the Boston Radical Education Project
(617) 491-2876; repboston@gmail.com
Have you heard an anti-immigrant argument that you feel is wrong, but need the facts to contest? (For example: "Immigrants are a drain on social services.") Do you have your own fear or concern about the issue? (For example: "Are the lowest-paid US-born workers really hurt by immigration?") Bring your concerns to this upcoming dialogue and we'll work together to develop effective responses using facts, reasoning and personal experiences.
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