Posts tagged with 'undocumented'
Weekly Diaspora: Supreme Court Decision Protects Immigrants Targeted By Drug War
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by Erin Rosa, Media Consortium blogger
This week, the United States Supreme Court struck down a 1996 law that made it possible to deport documented immigrants that were convicted of minor drug-possession. Finally, some good news. At RaceWire, Seth Freed Wessler explains that the ruling could drastically change a law which has “helped drive rising deportation numbers.”
The plaintiff was Jose Angel Carachuri-Rosendo, a legal permanent resident who came to the United States in 1983 when he was five years old. A lower court had ruled that Carachuri-Rosendo “was subject to mandatory deportation under the 1996 law as a result of two minor drug-possession offenses, one for marijuana and the other for a single tablet of Xanax, an anti-anxiety prescription drug often used recreationally.”
Since the 1990s, several laws with increasingly severe penalties for immigrants have passed. Until the most recent Supreme Court decision, all resulted in mandatory deportation. (more…)
Weekly Diaspora: Zero Hour Approaching for Federal Immigration Reform
by Erin Rosa, Media Consortium blogger
The countdown is on. Half a million supporters of comprehensive immigration reform rallied across the country on May 1 to protest SB 1070, Arizona’s prohibitive new anti-immigration law and ratchet up pressure for a federal reform bill this year. In Washington, DC, police arrested a dozen demonstrators, including Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), after they engaged in non-violent civil disobedience, as Esther Gentile reports for New America Media.
So far, legislators in the Senate have not introduced a proposal, and the longer they wait, the less likely it is that a bill will be debated in 2010, especially with an election on the horizon. The stakes are incredibly high because a lack of federal action leaves a wide opening for states to draft their own, increasingly restrictive versions of immigration reform. (more…)
Weekly Diaspora: Unemployment Feeding Anti-Immigrant Sentiment
By Nezua, Media Consortium Blogger
The nation’s 10% unemployment rate is feeding anti-immigrant sentiment, as Marcelo Ballvé reports for New America Media. Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) critiqued President Barack Obama’s recent jobs summit as “fatally flawed” because President Obama did not discuss wresting millions of jobs away from undocumented families. Smith’s argument is flawed.
A “known Capitol Hill immigration hardliner,” Smith asks us to assume that for every job the U.S. could theoretically “take back” from an undocumented worker, an eager U.S. citizen would flock to fill it. But, as Ballvé reports, “several studies suggest that among Americans and legal residents, it’s mainly those lacking a high school diploma who are competing directly with undocumented immigrants for jobs (and by most estimates, that’s less than one out of every 10 U.S. workers).” (more…)
Weekly Diaspora: Moving Immigration Reform Forward
By Nezua, Media Consortium Blogger
A crowd of thousands gathered on Capitol Hill Tuesday, to lobby for and support immigration reform, as Debayani Kar writes for RaceWire. Representative Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus “presented his key principles for comprehensive immigration reform” at the rally. (more…)
Weekly Immigration Wire: 287(g) Makes Hard Times Harder
By Nezua, TMC Mediawire Blogger
The number of undocumented immigrants coming into the U.S. is plunging, as The Washington Independent’s Daphne Eviatar reports. And yet, the White House is still ramping up harsh detainment measures like 287(g), which is already linked to abusive practices. If Obama continues to fall back on harsh stopgap measures and leaves comprehensive immigration reform for next year, he greatly increases the risk that it won’t pass at all.
Some are inclined to give the President a degree of lenience, considering the great challenges facing the nation. After all, shouldn’t Obama prioritize the legal citizens? That kind of thinking is problematic. When human beings in our midst are abused, their citizenship is a moot point. The United States’ most revered documents, such as the Bill of Rights, recognize this truth by noting the existence of inalienable rights. These rights must be vociferously defended, especially when the most vulnerable are deprived of them.
But as RaceWire accounts, a new report reveals that “[Immigration and Customs Enforcement] (ICE) agents routinely violate constitutional guarantees by illegally entering homes using physical force, seizing upon innocent people” and target people based “solely on their race.” One would think this would be quite a teachable moment, but the White House has been silent so far. ICE projects 400,000 arrests next year.
Sojourners reveals how the 287(g) program plays out in places like Guilford County, North Carolina. Immigration opponents are in a fury, and families are terrified of being locked up or bearing the brunt of that anger in some other way. Unfortunately, “such images and stories are becoming commonplace” in the towns where 287(g) is enacted. And it gets worse. Families go without medical care and suffer. Crimes are committed on a vulnerable population that fears reporting crimes to police in case of deportation. “As we await substantive immigration reform, what kind of community do we want to be,” asks author Julie Peoples.
Do we want to be a community that covers the uninsured? Do we want to be a community that covers the uninsured but not the undocumented? Even when “it’s simply more expensive to do nothing?” Are we comfortable deporting a man paralyzed with brain damage for being poor? In even the most optimistic of current proposals for healthcare reform, “universal” clearly does not mean “human.”
Some ethnic communities face higher risks of certain disease. Asian Pacific immigrants (API) “face serious health disparities,” according to New America Media‘s Sara Sadhwani. As Sadhwani notes, “South Asians and Pacific Islanders face high rates of chronic disease such as diabetes and heart disease.” And yet the API community—legal immigrants with green cards, in this context—would be ineligable for federally funded public benefits for a five-year waiting period, according to current healthcare proposals.
But what about those who are neglected by the current immigration dialogue? WireTap’s Nina Jacinto says we must make this dialogue representative of the queer undocumented who do not fit the “heteronormative framework” of the conventional narrative. “Queer immigration reform activism must also contend with the relationship that exists between immigration reform and the preservation and uniting of family,” writes Jacinto. While she concedes the strategic value of employing a heteronormative, family-focused framework in current U.S. culture, one unfortunate result of the “broken family” narrative is that the marginalized continue to be left out of the conversation, and are even further shut out.
Finally, both Racewire and Wiretap make the case that everyone should be counted for the 2010 census. It’s a controversial argument for a couple reasons. While many lawmakers, as well as the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, promote participation, many do not. The National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders, an immigrants rights group, hopes to use a boycott threat to leverage fairer treatment and legislation for the immigrant community. Also urging a boycott are hate groups like the Federation for American Immigration Reform and the Center for Immigration Studies. But no irony in the latter cases; these factions subscribe to the notion that a person’s moral worth is dependent on pieces of paper. No surprise they want to keep the undocumented uncounted!
This post features links to the best independent, progressive reporting about immigration. Visit Immigration.NewsLadder.net for a complete list of articles on immigration, or follow us on Twitter. And for the best progressive reporting on critical economy and health issues, check out Economy.NewsLadder.net and Healthcare.NewsLadder.net. This is a project of The Media Consortium, a network of 50 leading independent media outlets, and was created by NewsLadder.
Weekly Immigration Wire: Marching Toward Justice!
By Nezua
Media Consortium Blogger
Welcome to the new White House administration, in which we move forward with purpose. On President Obama’s very first day in office, immigrants and allies marched on ICE headquarters to signify their desire for change. Racewire reports that yesterday, “hundreds gathered in DC, a day after inaugurating our new president, to demand A New Day for Immigration.”
George W. Bush waved goodbye by commuting the sentences of Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, two former border guards who shot a man trying to escape arrest and then tried to cover their deed up. Bush claimed Ramos and Compean had “suffered enough” after serving a fifth of their sentence and set them free, though he did not pardon them. Air America reports on the controversial decision in Bush Commutes Border Agent Sentences (video).
I understand Bush’s reasoning for mercy. But I dare say that the only way you’ll see two Chicanos set free so dramatically is if they shoot a Mexican national. And a note: the victim was not an immigrant, as implied with articles that call him an “illegal alien,” but a smuggler. They are not the same thing. But never mind my cynical humor at a time like this. Let’s take a lesson from a Salvadoran immigrant, whose words about the new administration sparkle with beauty and optimism in New America Media’s Immigrant Worker at Latino Inaugural Ball Shares Hopes for Obama Era:
Maria Perez speaks little English. For more than 20 years now, she has worked as a cleaner at Union Station [in Washington, DC], six days a week, earning slightly more than the minimum wage. She is proud to be among the millions of Latinos who voted for Barack Obama and helped to make him the 44th U.S. president. [...]
“I am a Latino. My soul is a Latino, and I am happy I am support Barack,” Perez said in broken English. “Tonight I like it. All people here is happy and beautiful.”
Maria goes on to talk about specific issues such as health and education for her children, both areas that President Obama has pledged to devote attention to.
Many people are aware of how false the stereotypes concerning the undocumented population can be. But some might be surprised by the tenacity and work ethic of Maria, or the inspiring story of Prerna, a friend and colleague of mine whose recent organizing accomplishments are chronicled in New America Media’s Undocumented Students Raise Voices Online for DREAM Act.
Welcome to Web 2.0 undocumented student activism. Youth in the usually-somber waiting rooms of history are bustling with renewed enthusiasm and energy. Trapped in marginal status, ignored by the mainstream media, with their backs to the wall and everything to loose, undocumented youth are emerging as leaders in their own movement for passage of the DREAM Act.
Let me emphasize that: Anyone interested in the power of online organizing ought really read this article. And if you are interested in learning more about the DREAM Act. Change.org is a good place to get the specifics.
Jim Hightower serves up a spirited and informative rant on the “charm” of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in Why The Homeland Security Department is so Beloved. Hightower defines DHS’s charm as “swaggering lunacy” and reveals plans for a 40 ft. high wall in the middle of a “unique 1,000-acre preserve along the Rio Grande.”
The most critical part of the wildlife habitat, and even the home of the preserve’s manager, would be cut off by the wall, effectively destroying the park, which is home to two kinds of endangered wildcats and a rare palm forest.
Read on. It gets worse.
I think we can agree that a 40 ft. tall fence is not going to fix the strained relationship between the US and Mexico. The Economic Populist veers from its normal reporting, alarmed by news of violence down south. In Trouble at the Mexican Border, we read about the possibility of Mexico as a failed state: “The violence, corruption and drug cartels are now so out of control in Mexico, analysts are saying, not only is Mexico one of the world’s security threats but Mexico itself might collapse.”
The drug cartels are, by and large, the focus of these types of discussions. But we have to examine how government oppression, corruption and laws that do not serve the greater population create systemic problems for a society.
The United States is completely ignoring what is going on in Mexico but if one compares the daily beheading stories, murder, kidnapping and corruption….if one didn’t know the story was about Mexico one would swear they were reading something about Iraq in 2003/2004 time frame.
I’ve been following news from Mexico for a few years now, and I agree that most US media ignores Mexico to our detriment. This is baffling to me because our cultures, our land, our labor, and our peoples are so intertwined as to be two parts of one whole. It is easy to forget this in the midst of much rigid talk of maps, borders, and walls. But reality is knocking at our door. President Obama has put Bush on notice. Change is at hand and a sizable portion of Obama’s constituency has made their needs clear, as New America Media reports in Immigrant Activists March on ICE on Day After Inauguration.
The post-inaugural march is only a beginning. [...] Across the country, advocates plan for more actions, coordinated through an increasingly sophisticated communications network, to build a groundswell in favor of reform.
Good morning, America!
This post features links to the best independent, progressive reporting about immigration. Visit Immigration.NewsLadder.net for a complete list of articles on immigration, or follow us on Twitter. And for the best progressive reporting on critical economy and health issues, check out Economy.NewsLadder.net and Healthcare.NewsLadder.net. This is a project of The Media Consortium, a network of 50 leading independent media outlets, and was created by NewsLadder.
