blogdeser (blog that is)

Crowds were gathering in cities around the country today

2006-04-13T05:55:00.000-07:00

By MARIA NEWMAN
New York Times
April 10, 2006

Crowds were gathering in cities around the country today to stage rallies for
immigrant rights that may draw even more people than those on Sunday, when
one march in Dallas drew half a million people.

The rallies, part of what some organizers were calling the National Day of
Action for Immigrant Justice, began this morning, with a 9 a.m. demonstration in
Atlanta, and continues in more than 100 cities, ending with demonstrations in
New York City and Washington.

David Bacon | Congress Must Face Reality - Immigrants Want Equality

2006-04-13T05:41:00.000-07:00

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/040706A.shtml

Senators will pat themselves on the back this week for agreeing to
their most pro-corporate, anti-immigrant bill in decades. Tens of
thousands of people may be forced to leave the US as a result.
Millions more would have to become braceros - guest workers on
temporary visas - just to continue to labor in the jobs they've had
for years.

Thousands rally for immigrant rights

2006-04-09T19:56:00.000-07:00

Thousands rally for immigrant rights
Nationwide protests set for Monday show increased coordination

Sunday, April 9, 2006; Posted: 10:23 p.m. EDT (02:23 GMT)

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/04/09/immigration.protests.ap/

A chronology and account of events and people so far

2006-04-09T19:45:00.000-07:00

A chronology and account of events and people so far

http://deletetheborder.org/node/829

plus yet even more blogs...

http://deletetheborder.org/blog

Immigrant Solidarity Network

2006-04-09T19:43:00.000-07:00

City by City listing of marches

http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=Issues&report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=0513

Planners want Old Glory only at local immigrant rally

2006-04-09T14:03:00.000-07:00

Planners want Old Glory only at local immigrant rally

11:51 PM CDT on Monday, April 3, 2006
By DIANNE SOLIS / The Dallas Morning News

Wary of confrontations, organizers of a giant pro-immigration rally this weekend have issued a directive: Keep your Mexican flags at home.

At pro-immigrant demonstrations across the nation in the last week, the waving of the Mexican flag has sparked incendiary emotions among U.S. citizens, including Mexican-Americans.

If immigrants want legalization in the U.S., some say, they should logically raise the Stars and Stripes high.

But Mexicans say carrying their red-white-and-green banner shows pride in their roots – at a time when they face increasing hostilities from Congress and the public. And in meetings across Dallas and the nation, as planning gets under way for a march Sunday billed as the largest in Dallas history, the directive is stirring debate.

Protest marches can't be "branded" with safe symbols, as though they were a sports product, some say.

"This is the people's march: This isn't LULAC's march," said Roberto Calderon, a University of North Texas professor, about the one of the organizers, the League of United Latin American Citizens. "Most people coming will not be reading e-mails that say, 'Don't bring Mexican flags.' ...Who is going to enforce taking flags away?"

The flap over the flag opens a window into the divide between Immigrant America and the rest of the country. Flags and their unofficial anthems inspire great emotion on both sides of the Río Grande.

In Garland, as high school protesters gathered at a park, Gregg Holmes, an employee at a nearby furniture store, couldn't contain himself when he saw them waving Mexico's distinctive flag withan eagle anda serpent.

"This is your flag," he shouted, holding up the red-white-and-blue. "Thanks to this flag you are free to protest. Not that flag."

One student shouted back: "We've built everything."

Such exchanges have played out in countless episodes across the country. At Reagan High School in Houston last week, a principal was disciplined for displaying the Mexican flag on the flagpole, beneath the U.S. and Texas flags in support of students. And in Colorado, dozens of high school students protested a temporary policy forbidding them from displaying the U.S. flag – and flags from other countries – amid racial tensionsafter immigration rallies.

And, WFAA-TV (Channel 8) reported Monday night that Royse City High School officials had banned students from bringing flags to school. School district officials said patriotism is not the issue, but keeping peace on campus is.

Mexicans and their children say they simply want respect for their labor and contributions.

U.S. citizens say they want respect, too, for their flag and what it stands for.

At Dallas City Hall last week, a fresh-faced Andrea Lira, 13, carried the Mexican flag. She is a U.S. citizen, but her parents came from Leon, Guanajuato – the birthplace for a large exodus of migrants who have called North Texas home for decades.

"They treat us as though we don't exist, as though we don't have feelings," Andrea said. "I carry the Mexican flag because I am standing up for them."

U.S. flags only

An e-mail now making the rounds bluntly tells potential protesters of the rules at theSunday's event: "No Mexican flags will be flown. Only U.S. flags will be displayed."

Organizers said at a meeting Monday night in Dallas that they plan on handing out 14,000 U.S. flags to those who come without.

FromDJs to priests, the message has been remarkably similar.

At KZZA-FM (106.7), known for its racy reggaeton music, a DJ Monday morning urged listeners to join the Sunday protest.

"Latinos, we have shown that we can stand up. ... Bring an American flag" and show thanks to the United States, the DJ urged.

At the Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe on Sunday , the parish priest finished the Spanish-language Mass with an announcement of the march, which will start at 1 p.m. Sunday at the downtown shrine.

He called for the waving of U.S. flags as a symbol of support for the U.S., said parishioner Edna Ruano.

"I understand that people want to stay in this country, but why can't I be proud of my heritage, too," Ms. Ruano said.

It's the message, not the symbol, that matters, said Dora Tovar, owner of a public relations firm and the daughter of Mexican immigrants. The debate over the flag has gone on for several years in California – a flash point on immigration issues because of the global exodus to the nation's most populous state.

"I almost feel like we are trivializing the importance of our presence by being fixated on an issue that is not relevant to the policy debate," Ms. Tovar said.

Rodolfo de la Garza, a political science professor at Columbia University, said the last big debate on flags dates back to 1994 when Californians were debating Proposition 187, which would have denied illegal immigrants most government services. While voters approved the measure, a federal judge blocked its implementation.

The use of the Mexican flag "generated a lot of ill will – even among Mexican-Americans," Dr. de la Garza said.

"It's an odd symbol," he said. "The march is about the right to be here, but it gives the wrong message."

Yet, if march organizers ban Mexican flags, they then face another contradiction, Dr. de la Garza said. Freedom of expression means protesters choose their symbol freely, he noted. "They have the right to do it. It is part of freedom of speech."

When Mr. Calderon received an e-mail about the march rules, he said he fired off an opposing response.

It is impossible to police the hearts of immigrants who want to carry their particular flag, Mr. Calderon said, while pressing for U.S. legalization of those without papers. "There is a little bit of creative chaos in any marcha," he said. "Get real. Breathe, will you."

On Monday, the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, a volunteer group that normally patrols the border watching for illegal immigrants, called for a "Take An American Flag to Work Day" for Thursday. A news release said the call was in response to protesters waving the Mexican flag at pro-immigration rallies.

Rich history

Like the Stars and Stripes, the Mexican flag inspires passion.

And just like Old Glory's stripes symbolize the original 13 colonies of the U.S., the Mexican eagle devouring a snake atop a cactus symbolizes a myth of the Aztecs, one of the strongest cultures before the arrival of the Spanish.

Others note that Irish-Americans celebrate St. Patrick's Day, Chinese-Americans celebrate their lunar new year and Italian-Americans celebrate Columbus Day. As a nation of immigrants, the United States has come to embrace the cultural celebrations by many of its citizens who still identify themselves with a hyphen linking them to their homeland.

José Rodriguez, a native of Mexico who is now a U.S. citizen, said the protesters deserve some understanding. The CEO of Total Design on Marble & Granite in Carrollton, said the U.S. culture and its efficiencies invigorate him.

"On St. Patrick's Day, when all the people wear green do you feel the Irish want the U.S. to become Irish?" he asked.

To carry the Mexican flag is to say: "I am here to offer you my hard work and my dedication."

Thus, for future protests, Mr. Rodriguez suggested a compromise: "I encourage my people to carry the U.S. flag and wear a T-shirt with the Mexican flag."

Dallas Morning News staff writers Katherine Leal Unmuth and Paul Meyer and Al Día staff writer Patricia Estrada contributed to this report.

Protest rules

Sunday's pro-immigration "megamarch" will start at 1 p.m. at the Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe, 2215 Ross Ave., and end at the Dallas City Hall Plaza. Protesters have been asked to abide by these rules:

No Mexican flags. Only U.S. flags will be displayed.

Wear white to signify peace.

No negative messages. All banners must be positive.

Monday

National Immigrant Civil Rights Day: People in the Dallas area will wear white ribbons, armbands or wristbands to remind others of the importance of dealing with immigrants civilly and justly.

"Not a Penny" Day: People are asked not to spend a single cent on Monday to show the effect and importance of the immigrant on the economy. The message: "Don't buy gas, don't go to Wal-Mart, don't go to lunch."

SOURCE: LULAC

Dallas students plan protest for April 9

2006-04-09T06:43:00.001-07:00

Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2006 6:58 pm
Dallas students plan protest for April 9

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These "anchor babies gone wild" (as someone else so aptly called them)are planning another Dallas protest, according to this report, on April 9.

Classrooms clear out

Hordes of students protest plan to crack down on illegal immigration

12:00 AM CST on Tuesday, March 28, 2006
By HOLLY YAN, TAWNELL D. HOBBS and PAUL MEYER / The Dallas Morning News

It started with a posting on MySpace.com. E-mail and text messages spread it like wildfire. And with the help of old-fashioned paper fliers, a mass student protest materialized in an instant.

Gustavo Jiminez, 16, conceived the rally Sunday morning while browsing the popular Web site.

He saw a California girl's posting about legislation to make it a felony to enter the country illegally or to help illegal immigrants.

"They're making my family – making immigrants – look like criminals," the Duncanville High School junior said. "They're putting us down as a statistic, as a number. We're not a number; we're here to help."

In what some Internet users are calling a "Net-roots" effort, a 24-hour blitz of activity by youthful organizers inspired as many as 4,000 Dallas-area students to walk out of school Monday and assemble at Kiest Park and City Hall, protesting the legislation that would crack down on illegal immigration.

Tens of thousands of students in California and other states also walked out of classes in protest.

Using the Internet for political organizing is nothing new, but doing that through MySpace.com – a site known more for social networking than for political activism – seems to be, said Barry Parr, a media analyst for Jupiter Research, a West Coast firm that studies information trends.

"I'm not aware of anyone doing this with MySpace," he said. "Typically, e-mail and other bulletin boards are common political tools."

The local turnout was more than what Gustavo and his friend Miguel Hernandez imagined possible.

"I thought 100, maybe 200 people would show up," 16-year-old Miguel said.

Instead, 4,000 students showed up, Dallas school Superintendent Michael Hinojosa said, though police estimated the crowds at City Hall and Kiest Park at 1,600 people.

A Dallas schools spokesman said the student protesters included about 2,000 from Skyline High School, 1,000 from Molina High School, 500 from Townview Center, and 150 to 200 from North Dallas, Spruce and Thomas Jefferson high schools.

Dallas police Senior Cpl. Max Geron said a smaller group left Thomas Jefferson High School in northwest Dallas and gathered at Bachman Lake Park.

Others were from surrounding districts, private schools and area colleges.

There were no reports of violence.

The protests caught both school officials and police by surprise. The Dallas Independent School District has had walkouts before, but none in recent memory as large as Monday's.

"They were more organized than any other group I've seen," said Dallas City Council member Steve Salazar, commending the show of conscience.

For many Dallas students, the decisive moment came about 10:30 a.m. Esperanza Gaona, 15, was in biology class at Townview Center. She got up and walked out of the classroom alone. Soon five or six classmates followed, and the crowd grew outside.

They walked to a second high school, where they yelled through windows for others to join. Then a third school. By the end of the day, Esperanza's hands were bruised from clapping.

She says she decided to protest in honor of her grandfather, who recently died, and for her parents, who are both illegal immigrants.

"As much as people think the youth don't listen to the news, we do," she said. "My parents are proud."

About 11 a.m., the crowds began streaming into Kiest Park to rally against legislation that would erect a 700-mile fence along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border. Some students later went to City Hall, where others had gathered.

Seventeen-year-old Eduardo Martinez said he walked to City Hall from Skyline High School in Pleasant Grove to participate in the protest. He held a sign that read, "Immigrants founded the U.S."

"The first people came here from the U.K. for a better life," said Eduardo, whose father is a U.S. citizen but whose mother is here illegally. "Immigrants are here to work, not to do bad stuff."

Students drove by waving Mexican flags out of windows. Some rode on the edges of pickup beds cheering other students. They held dozens of handwritten signs, with phrases such as "We're not criminals" and "Where would ya'll be w/o us?"

"We're the ones who work the most," said 19-year-old Julie Rodriguez, a freshman at Eastfield College in Mesquite. "We build them houses. Who would build their houses if we weren't here?"

As students boarded school buses to return to school, they shouted, "Mexico, Mexico!"

Not everyone agreed with the protest.

"They're here to bash on Americans and come here and take our jobs and properties," said Daniel Waters, who was visiting the downtown public library when he saw the commotion across the street.

The lunchtime call-in show on KRLD-AM (1080) featured a taped interview with student protesters who sounded more like they were on a mall outing, giggling as they followed their friends' lead. Some knew little about the issues.

After hosting a show on the issue Monday, Mark Davis of WBAP-AM (820) said he was left with the impression that the students' levels of political activism ran the gamut.

"This was a fantasy field trip so that they feel like their 1960s-era predecessors," said Mr. Davis, who's also a Dallas Morning News columnist. "This was an occasion to be seen protesting. It was as social as it was political."

What punishment the students may face from the schools remains undecided, said Dallas schools spokesman Donald Claxton.

Gustavo's father, Gus Jiminez, said he supported his son, regardless of the consequences. He attended the protest at Kiest Park with Gustavo.

"I knew he probably was going to get in trouble by the school, but he did it for a good cause," said Mr. Jiminez, who moved here illegally but now is a legal resident.

"MLK, Benito Juarez – they all did demonstrations peacefully, and they were all good leaders. Gustavo has the courage to be a good leader."

Monday night, inside the Oak Cliff restaurant Tejano, the students were joined by civil rights leaders, Dallas school trustee Jerome Garza, Mr. Salazar and others.

They began planning a march for April 9, a rally they hope will be the largest in Dallas' history.

As Gustavo spoke to the crowd, it was clear that in his mind, Monday was only the beginning.

"Imagine if I had the whole weekend" to plan, he said.

Staff writers Jason Trahan, Alan Melson and Crayton Harrison contributed to this report.

E-mail hyan@dallasnews.com

tdhobbs@dallasnews.com

and pmeyer@dallasnews.com

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Hey, you Dallas folks should try to counter protest this!!

dragons5
ALIPAC Activist 2

National Immigration Forum

2006-04-09T06:39:00.000-07:00

http://www.immigrationforum.org/

Anti-Illegal Immigration Protest

2006-04-09T06:37:00.000-07:00

Anti-Illegal Immigration Protest

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Reply to: comm-145881476@craigslist.org
Date: 2006-03-27, 11:34PM CST

On April 1st the MinuteMen will be mustering to the southern border. For those of you who can't make the border watch please join me at the corner of North East HWY and Park on the HWY 75 overpass to protest against illegal immigration. Do you support tougher border measures? are you against amnesty? let your voice be heard as a LEGAL American citizen.

When: 11am-5pm Saturday April 1st & Sunday April 2nd
Where: Corner of North East HWY and Park on the HWY 75 overpass
Why: Anti-Illegal Immigration Protest

Please where a red, white or blue t-shirt turned inside out so as not to show any logos or print. Please bring an American Flag, Signs or just yourself to stand and show protest. THIS IS THE USA NOT MEXICO!

I began this protest this past Sunday and was attacked by a car of young illegal immigrants who tore my signs and attempted to threaten me. Let your voice be heard Dallas! I appreciate your support and I'll see you Saturday.

-Joe Youngblood
New Dallas Citizen
www.alipac.us
www.numbers.com

Finally, a day I can go shopping at ...

2006-04-08T16:52:00.000-07:00

From: John White
Finally, a day I can go shopping at Walmart !!!

Hey, thanks for letting me know about this. I hate
going shopping at Walmart because of the "usual
customers" and the parking lot full of littered baby
diapers.

But now, you've let me know about a day that the
store will be practically deserted. I can go and enjoy
my shopping for a change and spend a lot of money on
all the things I've been waiting all year to buy.

I'll be sure and forward your message on to all of
my friends and family.

John W.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Monday April 10 will also be "NOT A PENNY" day. All
persons are asked not to spend a single cent on April 10.
Don't buy gas, don't go to Walmart, don't go to lunch.
This is meant to show the impact and importance of the
immigrant on our economy.

__________________________________________________

District employees warned on walkout

2006-04-08T16:48:00.000-07:00

Fort Worth Star Telegram - Saturday-April 8, 2006
District employees warned on walkout

By SHIRLEY JINKINS
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER

ARLINGTON - Arlington school district employees were notified Friday that the consequences of any on-the-job walkout could be losing their jobs.
The district's memo was issued in response to calls by some immigrant-rights groups for a nationwide boycott Monday to protest proposed immigration legislation. Many Spanish-language radio stations have supported the boycott as well, although the largest and most organized demonstration planned so far in the North Texas area is set for Sunday in Dallas.

On Friday, the district's 8,000 employees received an e-mail from Superintendent Mac Bernd reminding them that "any employee who leaves his or her assigned work area without proper authorization will be terminated."

"While I respect any personal beliefs you may have regarding this issue, I am confident that your commitment to the students in our district will override any desire to participate in any walkout during business hours," Bernd's memo read.
"It's not a new policy, it's a reminder of our existing policy," said Veronica Sopher, Arlington school district spokeswoman.

Employees without access to e-mail were given the memo, and the district food service manager had employees in that department sign a statement verifying that they had received the memo, Sopher said. The e-mail and the memo were printed in English and Spanish.

Fort Worth district spokeswoman Barbara Griffith said the district was not issuing any such warning to its employees. The Mansfield, Keller, Hurst-Euless-Bedford and Southlake Carroll districts also did not issue warnings.

Staff writers Eva-Marie Ayala, Diane Smith, Kelly Melhart, Katherine Cromer Brock and Jessamy Brown contributed to this report.
________________________________

Migration, Politics and Commentary Essays-Five Articles

2006-04-08T05:33:00.000-07:00

Source: Molly Molloy

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/04/opinion/04massey.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

April 4, 2006
Op-Ed Contributor

The Wall That Keeps Illegal Workers In

By DOUGLAS S. MASSEY
Princeton, N.J.

THE Mexican-American border is not now and never has been out of
control. The rate of undocumented migration, adjusted for population
growth, to the United States has not increased in 20 years. That is,
from 1980 to 2004 the annual likelihood that a Mexican will make his
first illegal trip to the United States has remained at about 1 in
100.

What has changed are the locations and visibility of border crossings.
And that shift, more than anything, has given the public undue fears
about waves of Mexican workers trying to flood into America.

Until the 1990's, the vast majority of undocumented Mexicans entered
through either El Paso or San Diego. El Paso has around 700,000
residents and is 78 percent Hispanic, whereas San Diego County has
three million residents and is 27 percent Hispanic. Thus the daily
passage of even thousands of Mexicans through these metropolitan areas
was not very visible or disruptive.

This all changed in 1992 when the Border Patrol built a steel fence
south of San Diego from the Pacific Ocean to the port of entry at San
Ysidro, Calif., where Interstate 5 crosses into Mexico. This fence,
and the stationing of officers and equipment behind it, blocked one of
the busiest illicit crossing routes and channeled migrants toward the
San Ysidro entry station, where their numbers rapidly built up to
impossible levels.

Every day the same episode unfolded: the crowd swelled to a critical
threshold, whereupon many migrants made what the local press called
"banzai runs" into the United States, darting through traffic on the
Interstate and clambering over cars.

Waiting nearby were Border Patrol officers, there not to arrest the
migrants but to capture the mayhem on video, which was later edited
into an agency documentary. Although nothing had changed except the
site of border crossings, the video gave the impression that the
border was overwhelmed by a rising tide of undocumented migrants.

In response to the ensuing public uproar, the policy of tougher border
enforcement was expanded to all of the San Diego and El Paso area in
1993 and 1994. So migrants began going to more remote locations along
the border in Arizona. In 1989, two thirds of undocumented migrants
came in through El Paso or San Diego; but by 2004 two-thirds crossed
somewhere else. (My statistics on Mexican immigration come from a
study I have been undertaking with financing from the National
Institutes of Health since 1982.)

Unlike the old crossing sites, these new locations were sparsely
settled, so the sudden appearance of thousands of Mexicans attracted
considerable attention and understandably generated much agitation
locally. Perceptions of a breakdown at the border were heightened by
news reports of rising deaths among migrants; by redirecting flows
into harsh, remote terrain the United States tripled the death rate
during border crossing.

Less well known is that American policies also reduced the rate of
apprehension, because those remote sectors of the border had fewer
Border Patrol officers. My research found that during the 1980's, the
probability that an undocumented migrant would be apprehended while
crossing stood at around 33 percent; by 2000 it was at 10 percent,
despite increases in federal spending on border enforcement.

Naturally, public perceptions of chaos on the border prompted more
calls for enforcement and the hardening strategy was extended to other
sectors. The number of Border Patrol officers increased from around
2,500 in the early 1980's to around 12,000 today, and the agency's
annual budget rose to $1.6 billion from $200 million. The boundary
between Mexico and the United States has become perhaps the most
militarized frontier between two nations at peace anywhere in the
world.

Although border militarization had little effect on the probability of
Mexicans migrating illegally, it did reduce the likelihood that they
would return to their homeland. America's tougher line roughly tripled
the average cost of getting across the border illegally; thus Mexicans
who had run the gantlet at the border were more likely to hunker down
and stay in the United States. My study has shown that in the early
1980's, about half of all undocumented Mexicans returned home within
12 months of entry, but by 2000 the rate of return migration stood at
just 25 percent.

The United States is now locked into a perverse cycle whereby
additional border enforcement further decreases the rate of return
migration, which accelerates undocumented population growth, which
brings calls for harsher enforcement.

The only thing we have to show for two decades of border
militarization is a larger undocumented population than we would
otherwise have, a rising number of Mexicans dying while trying to
cross, and a growing burden on taxpayers for enforcement that is
counterproductive.

We need an immigration policy that seeks to manage the cross-border
flows of people that are inevitable in a global economy, not to
repress them through unilateral police actions.

Douglas S. Massey, a professor of sociology at Princeton's Woodrow
Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, is the author of
"Beyond Smoke and Mirrors: Mexican Immigration in an Age of Economic
Integration."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/06/opinion/l06immig.html

April 6, 2006
Immigrants, Woven Into America (6 Letters)
To the Editor:

I am a proud United States citizen of Honduran background and would
like to express my support to the various immigrant communities of
this wonderful nation of ours.

I am a full supporter and advocate for the legalization of hard-working people.

The United States has always been a leader of social rights worldwide.
This issue is about the future of our country.

It is also an issue that affects some of our closest allies and friends.

Many of us immigrants don't want to feel that our country and our
fellow Americans are leaving us in the shadows of American society.

The best way to solidify the social and economic structure of a strong
nation is by including millions of its hard-working, contributing
participants into the civic life of their adopted country.

My family and I vote on this issue. It is among the most important
issues that we and millions of Americans identify with.

The world is watching for the next revolutionary idea of the United States.

Show leadership and compassion. Show American ingenuity. Demonstrate
how American society is accepting and welcoming.

Put our values to the test, and uphold them firmly.

Jose L. Flores
Miami, April 2, 2006

*

To the Editor:

In "The Amnesty Trap" (editorial, April 5), you talked about
immigration as if our problem was immigration; it isn't.

This whole issue isn't about immigration at all (we are a nation built
by immigrants); it's about enforcing the law.

Faced with a seemingly large problem, that of about 12 million illegal
immigrants in America, Congress is seeking a way to reward them for
illegally entering the country rather than removing them from America.

No, all 12 million would never be successfully deported to their
native countries, because law enforcement is always imperfect. But
that doesn't mean we shouldn't try to enforce our laws.

You ended your editorial by saying, "We need to get it right this
time, once and for all."

I agree, although not in the way you meant it.

We claim to be a nation of laws, and it's time that we started
actively enforcing our laws on illegal immigration.

David Moorshead
Chicago, April 5, 2006

*

To the Editor:

My family of immigrants, legal and illegal, their children and
grandchildren, differ from current Hispanic immigrants in one
important respect.

On arrival, the newcomers of generations past were fierce in their
determination to learn English, the bond that gave America its motto,
"Out of many, one."

Unfortunately, even as English became the lingua franca of the world,
much of the Hispanic migration speaks only Spanish at home, depriving
their children and themselves of easy assimilation and economic
advancement.

To make matters worse, we have pushed Spanish as an alternative to
English in commerce, on product instructions, in libraries, and worst
of all, in schools, unlacing the bond of a common language.

For those immigrants who propose to stay and become citizens,
shouldn't we focus their attention on the language that bound us as a
nation rather than provide them with an easy and disabling out not
given to earlier immigrants who had to learn English quickly to
succeed and prosper?

Sol Stein
Tarrytown, N.Y., April 4, 2006

*

To the Editor:

Re "An Immigration Debate Shaped by Family Ties" (front page, April 4):

I write to add my family story to those of the senators debating
immigration legislation. I, too, am a first-generation American, but
of Hungarian-Czechoslovak parentage. My father arrived in (God bless)
America - as a child I always heard those words whenever "America" was
mentioned - shortly before World War II on a visitor's visa.

He was making his way to Palestine, but his two brothers, already
American citizens, could not let him go. So he became an illegal
alien. When he was able to legitimize his status, he applied for and
became an American citizen. He was a productive, taxpaying citizen who
never missed casting his vote until the day he died at age 90. My
mother, according to family lore, arrived here on the final voyage of
the Normandy before it became a troopship.

But for America, my brothers and I would have probably perished, as my
grandparents and numerous aunts, uncles and cousins did at Auschwitz
and other death camps.

In my view, immigrants and their progeny have been the backbone of our
free society. "God bless America" are not empty words for me.

Stella Schindler
New York, April 4, 2006
The writer is a retired judge in the New York City family courts.

*

To the Editor:

Douglas S. Massey writes that "the Mexican-American border is not now
and never has been out of control" ("The Wall That Keeps Illegal
Workers In," Op-Ed, April 4).

A conservative estimate is that 500,000 illegally crossed that border
in 2005. So roughly 10,000 undocumented people are entering the United
States every week.

Who are these people? Mostly hard-working people in search of jobs, we
assume, but the honest answer is we don't know.

Only 10 percent of them are apprehended.

The total absence of any concern about national security in Mr.
Massey's article is notable. His discussion of border policy ranges
from 1980 to the present, with no recognition that the threats to
national security today are more serious than in previous decades.

Is it far-fetched to assume that among the 10,000 to cross that border
this week, there may well be a few intent on doing this country harm?

On some issues, the Bush administration has shamelessly exploited the
post-9/11 danger. But it has shown no alarm over this broken border.

Donald E. Smith
Wayne, Pa., April 4, 2006

*

To the Editor:

Question for all those geniuses on Capitol Hill discussing a five-year
waiver for illegal immigrants:

If they're illegal and undocumented, how will you know if they've been
here five years or five minutes?

David Strickland
Fort Lauderdale, Fla., April 4, 2006

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More numbers from PEW Hispanic Center

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: info@pewhispanic.org
Date: 6 Apr 2006 22:48:17 -0000
Subject: Pew Hispanic Center Release
To: mollymolloy@gmail.com

[image: Pew Hispanic Center a project of the Pew Research
Center];
Advisory *URGENT ADVISORY UNAUTHORIZED POPULATION NUMBERS*

In response to numerous media inquiries the Pew Hispanic Center has produced
estimates of the unauthorized population according to the categories
established in the legislation now before the Senate. These estimates are
based on the March 2005 Current Population Survey. For a full report based
on that data please go to:
http://pewhispanic.org/reports/report.php?ReportID=61

Time in the US

Five years or more: 6.7 million

Two to five years: 2.8 million

Less than two years: 1.6 million

Total: 11.1 million

Based on analysis of other data sources that offer indications of the pace
of growth in the foreign-born population, the Center developed an estimate
of 11.5 to 12 million for the unauthorized population as of March 2006.

To see a fact sheet on recently arrived unauthorized migrants (in the US
five years or less) go to: http://pewhispanic.org/files/factsheets/15.pdf
------------------------------

To remove yourself from this list, visit
http://pewhispanic.org/emails/remove.php

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

Source: Rosalio Munoz

Legislation & Politics April 7, 2006

Be Part of the April 10 Movement for Immigrant Justice Nearly 1 million people have taken to the streets in the past few weeks to demand comprehensive immigration reform and to protest legislation passed by the U.S. House of Representatives that would build a "Berlin Wall" along the U.S.-Mexican border, jail humanitarians who help undocumented workers and threaten the civil rights of every American.

Those protests will continue April 10 with a National Day of Action for Immigrant Justice. From New York to Los Angeles, AFL-CIO affiliates and members are coming together with immigration advocates, student, civil rights and religious groups to organize massive rallies and protests to help make the case for protecting immigrant rights.

The U.S. Senate is expected to go home for the Easter recess without voting on an immigration reform bill. Senators have been debating the controversial Border Protection, Antiterrorism and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005, H.R. 4437, which the House passed in a last-minute power play just before the past holiday recess last December.

Events are scheduled in at least 72 cities, including Washington, D.C., where AFL-CIO President John Sweeney will join a massive rally on the National Mall between 7th and 14th streets, N.W., at 4 p.m. to call on Congress to end the criminalization and abuse of immigrant workers and to defeat the draconian anti-immigrant legislation passed by the House in December. AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Linda Chavez-Thompson will join Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), Laborers President Terence O'Sullivan and Transport Workers Local 100 President Roger Toussaint for a rally at New York's City Hall (Broadway, Park Roe Chambers Street) at 3 p.m. for a huge demonstration of ethnic and immigrant solidarity.

Other events on April 10 where union members will be very active include:

Houston: March begins at 1 p.m. at Guadalupe Plaza and ends at Allen's Landing, located at the corner of Commerce and Main. Contact: Angela Mejia, 832-524-6158, Marisol Rodriguez ,713-550-7712, or Alain Cisneros 713-868-7015.

Las Cruces, N.M.: Rally starts at 4:30 p.m. at Harold Runnels Federal Building. Contact: Josie Marrujo, 505-250-4041, or Paul Martinez, 505-312-6327.

Los Angeles: 5 p.m. Vigil and procession leaves from La Placita Church, 535 N. Main St. to Fletcher Brown Square. Contact: Xiomara Corpeno, 213-201-4451, or the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, 202-508-6919.

Phoenix: March begins at 10:30 a.m. at the Arizona State Fairgrounds, 1826 W. McDowell Rd., to Wesley Bolin Plaza. Please bring an American flag.
Contact to volunteer or distribute water, etc.: David Hernandez, 602-631-4488, ext. 230.

San Antonio: March begins at 5 p.m. at Milam Plaza (Plaza del Zacate), located at Santa Rosa and Commerce across from Market Square. The march will continue to the Federal Building on Durango Street. Contact: Jaime Martinez, 210-842-9339, or Claudia Sanchez, 210-355-4050.

San Diego: March begins at 4 p.m. on Sunday, April 9 at Balboa Park and will end at the County Administration Building. Contact: San Diego and South Bay, 619-255-6986; North County, 760-672-7419; East County, 619-593-7338 or 760-877-0277.

Check here for other events. Please note we cannot verify details of all the events.

by James Parks

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David Bacon | Congress Must Face Reality - Immigrants Want Equality
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/040706A.shtml
Senators will pat themselves on the back this week for agreeing to their most pro-corporate, anti-immigrant bill in decades. Tens of thousands of people may be forced to leave the US as a result. Millions more would have to become braceros - guest workers on temporary visas - just to continue to labor in the jobs they've had for years.

Congress Must Face Reality: Immigrants Want Equality

By David Bacon
t r u t h o u t | Perspective

Friday 07 April 2006

Oakland, California - Senators will pat themselves on the back this week for agreeing to their most pro-corporate, anti-immigrant bill in decades. Tens of thousands of people may be forced to leave the US as a result. Millions more would have to become braceros - guest workers on temporary visas - just to continue to labor in the jobs they've had for years.

More workplace enforcement will result in firing thousands of others, creating a climate of fear that will make defending workplace rights and joining unions riskier than ever. And a border like an armed camp will continue costing the lives of hundreds of humble farmers and workers every year, crossing toward a shattered dream of a better life.

No wonder people have been in the streets for weeks, with even bigger demonstrations and marches yet to come. These are ordinary people, not activists, come out of working-class homes all over the country. A million in Los Angeles. Half a million in Chicago. Tens of thousands crossing the Brooklyn Bridge. Hunger strikers in San Francisco. Demonstrations in states where the immigrant community has been virtually invisible until now, like North Carolina, Tennessee. Border towns like Tucson. Cities from Santa Rosa to Omaha.

Everywhere, immigrants and people who support them are condemning the draconian measures passed by the House of Representatives in December, especially the provision that would make undocumented people federal felons.

But the demonstrations have a positive demand as well, one that shames especially the Senate's sleight-of-hand by which second-class guest worker programs are called "a path to legalization," and the only way families can gain legal status for their undocumented members is to spend a decade or more working as braceros. Contrary to Senate proposals for deportations and bracero visas, people carry signs demanding amnesty. These myriad marchers - families with children and grandparents in tow - have a simple alternative.

Equality.

Many unions support them. Among the most outspoken are the Teamsters in Orange County, heart of the anti-immigrant offensive, where the mayor of Costa Mesa told his police department to begin picking up immigrants who lack visas. Teamsters Local 952 says people need real legal status, not a guest worker program. A recently passed resolution condemns both Congressional proposals, because they "do nothing to remove the economic incentives that unscrupulous employers have to hire and exploit immigrant workers, and fail to really address the fact that we have 11 million undocumented workers in this country contributing to our communities."

The union "opposes any form of employer sanctions because they have historically resulted in 'employee sanctions' in the form of firings of workers for union organizing and discrimination practices on the job," and "opposes guest worker legislative proposals because such modern day 'bracero programs,' create an indentured servitude status for workers."

The AFL-CIO says the same, pointing out that if there are jobs for 400,000 braceros a year (the goal of the Senate reform bill), those immigrants should be given 400,000 green cards, or residence visas, instead, which would guarantee them equal status in their workplaces and communities. The Senate bill, the AFL-CIO says, "tears at the heart of true reform and will drive millions of hard-working immigrants further into the shadows of American society." Instead, "we should recognize immigrant workers as full members of society - as permanent residents with full rights and full mobility that employers may not exploit."

When Senator John McCain, co-sponsor of the Senate's main guest worker plan, tried to defend it to a building trades union audience in his home state this week, he was booed. He told the construction workers that even at $50 an hour they wouldn't be willing to pick lettuce, implying that only Mexicans were willing to do farm labor. For some in the audience, McCain's remarks recalled former California Senator George Murphy, who infamously declared in the 1960s that only Mexicans would perform stoop labor because "they're built so close to the ground." Needless to say, McCain didn't actually include in his bill any wage guarantee for guestworkers, much less $50/hour (about 5 times what lettuce cutters make today.)

A concerted effort by some lobbyists is under way in Washington, however, to convince legislators that guest worker status, while unpleasant, is something immigrants themselves are prepared to accept. But outside the beltway, their proposal is meeting a rising tide of rejection. In New York City, Desis Rising Up & Moving and 20 other grassroots groups formed Immigrant Communities In Action, and condemned both House and Senate bills for not halting the wave of detentions and deportations visited on Muslim communities since 9/11.

Another coalition, which includes the National Mobilization Against Sweatshops, the Chinese Staff and Workers' Association, and the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, also rejects guestworker programs. Like the Teamsters, these groups say Congress should abolish employer sanctions instead, since they're often used to retaliate against undocumented workers who demand labor rights.

The National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights criticizes both the Senate and House bills because they hold "no promise of fairness in immigration policy and would undermine the rights, economic health and safety of all immigrants and their children. Congress needs to go back to the drawing board to come up with genuine, positive and fair proposals."

Are there any such proposals before Congress?

Yes, although beltway advocates have tried to smother the most progressive of those alternatives with silence. A year ago, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee and Congressional Black Caucus members introduced HR 2092, which would give permanent residence visas to undocumented people already here, and outlaw discrimination based on migrant status. Jackson Lee believes Federal policy should not pit migrants against native-born, as do guestworker programs. Her legislation would instead fund job training and creation in communities with high unemployment, so that both immigrants and non-immigrants can find work.

In the House's mad December rush to pass the Sensenbrenner bill, criminalizing the undocumented instead of legalizing them, Jackson Lee's bill couldn't even get a hearing. The Congresswoman is the ranking Democrat on the House Immigration Subcommittee. In the Senate her proposal received no more consideration, from either Democrats or Republicans. Yet her bill is the only real effort to find common ground between immigrants and the working communities of citizens and long time residents that they seek to join.

In their predictable beltway logic, guestworker advocates are counseling the huge demonstrations to feature US flags, and carry signs saying, "We are America." But covering a corporate labor scheme with patriotic rhetoric won't convince marchers to support it. Immigrants do want to be part of US society, and do want to work, but they're not likely to start holding signs saying, "I want to be a guestworker," or chanting "Braceros si! Migra no!"

Hundreds of thousands of people are saying no to Washington's repressive bills, but Congress and its coterie of beltway lobbyists clearly aren't listening. It's time for Washington to face reality. A huge outpouring of people is demanding real equality. They won't be satisfied with second-class status.

--------

David Bacon, Photographs and Stories.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
David Bacon is a California photojournalist who documents labor, migration and globalization. His book The Children of NAFTA: Labor Wars on the US/Mexico Border was published last year by University of California Press.

_/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/

Source: Rosalio Munoz

Compas,

The Republican leadership are pressuring to weaken and
booby trap the already seriously compromised
immigration legislation while more support for
immigrant rights is growing. On April 10 a Nationa
Day of Protest is being held in over 50 cities and
President Bush is pressuring the Senate to pass bad
legislation today! The right wing pressure is intense.
Californias Senator Feinstein is hinting she may make
horrible concessions. Call your Senators Immediately
and tell Protect All Our People and oppose the Frist
Compromise! The Senate Switchboard is 202-224-3121.
Below is a wonderful alert to the same effect by the
National Organization for Women, Rosalio Munoz

-----

Support NOW's Work April 6, 2006
| Tell a Friend
Action Needed
Background
NOW's Work Promoting Diversity

Immediate Action Needed on Senate Immigration
Proposals

NOW supports the legalization of undocumented
immigrants and a humane policy that leads to a path of
lawful residency and citizenship in the United States.
Anything less is unacceptable. The Senate is debating
the immigration bill today and the measure before them
is a bogus "compromise" being pushed by Senators Frist
(R-TN), Martinez (R-FL) and Hagel (R-NE).

Action Needed:

Contact your senators NOW! Urge them to oppose the
Frist "Compromise". There is no time for emails. Our
voices must be heard within the next few hours. Call
the capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask for
your senator or get your senator's direct phone
number.

NOW is very concerned about the whole debate on
immigration "reform." It is racist and isolationist
and fails to recognize the humanity and value of
immigrant workers and families who contribute to our
nation's productivity. The recently-passed House bill
(H.R. 4437) is downright cruel. The bill passed last
week by the Senate Judiciary Committee (S. 1033) makes
only slight improvements to the House bill, lacking
provisions that will properly address the immigration
issues facing our nation.

In an attempt to get 60 votes and shut down debate,
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) is promoting
a version authored by Senators Martinez (R-FL) and
Hagel (R-NE).

Senators should oppose this bill because it attempts
to create a path toward lawful residency and
citizenship by placing heavy burdens on current
undocumented immigrants, demanding a $2,000 fee and
requiring the ability to speak English and pass a
civics test. An undocumented immigrant could not,
under this bill, become a citizen until 11 years after
the application has been filed.

The Martinez-Hagel bill requires an undocumented
immigrant to leave the country at their port of entry
and re-apply for entry. Immigrants without
documentation will fear arrest, as well they should.
It would also deputize untrained local police to act
as immigration agents and limit judicial review and
due process for non-citizens. Moreover, it contains an
uncapped guest workers program that has no path to
permanent residency or citizenship and thus could
create a permanent underclass that may never get to
participate in the U.S. democratic system.

Our country deserves comprehensive immigration reform
that makes sense not only for the undocumented
residents of the United States and the workers who may
come to our country in the future, but also for the
resident families and citizen workers who have been
negatively impacted by the current immigration system.
The current system is not sensitive to the needs of
both the immigrant community and the U.S. economy.

Let's send a strong vocal message to the Senate that
the women and immigrant communities of the U.S. want
comprehensive immigration reform that is compassionate
and fair. Urge them to support comprehensive
immigration reform:
* that is fair and just for the immigrant community,

* that recognizes the value of immigrants living in
this country and

* provides a path to full citizenship and
participation in this society as citizens.

Senators must oppose any proposal that undermines this
effort. Call today!

Background:

Since 1996 the government has consistently taken an
enforcement-only approach to immigration. Barriers,
more agents and more civilian militia operations at
the border have not stopped illegal immigration, but
have instead shifted the path of migrants to ever more
remote and dangerous areas of the border, resulting in
the deaths of thousands of people from exposure and
dehydration. This issue must be dealt with fairly in
order to end these inhumane conditions.

Precious families are affected. Now some politicians
are pushing measures in immigration "reform" bills
that infringe on civil liberties.

Immigrant women are among the most vulnerable to
exploitation, abuse and human rights violations in the
United States. They face particular challenges due to
inequalities that exist between men and women but also
due to the additional responsibilities of family and
home. In the workplace, immigrant women may be
subjected to gender discrimination as well as
prejudice based on their ethnicity or country of
birth. Some women come to the U.S. to be domestic
workers or caregivers, sometimes having to leaving
leave their own children in their native country to be
raised by relatives.

Take Action Now! Tell your senators that no bill
should be passed out of the Senate that doesn't
address these unresolved issues or ease the punitive
barriers. Serious immigration reform legislation must
address the reasons why people come to the U.S.
illegally. The Senate needs to pass a reasonable bill
and must not allow the House bill to be combined with
any immigration bill passed by the Senate.

Immigrants Know Your Rights on April 10th/ Walkout

2006-04-08T05:31:00.000-07:00

From: Angela Valenzuela [mailto:Valenz@mail.utexas.edu]
Sent: Thu 4/6/2006 8:42 PM
To: Angela Valenzuela
Subject: Immigrants Know Your Rights on April 10th/ Walkout and rally scheduled for April 10, 2006 from 11:00 am to 2:00, MLK Statue at UT

Lots of folks are marching nationally on Monday. Here are some helpful tips from NCLR. At UT, a student walkout and rally are being planned for April 10, 2006 from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm at the MLK statue. This event is being sponsored by the University Leadership Initiative and LULAC, and Kappa Delta Chi.
-Angela

Know Your Rights When Taking Action! These are Some Basic Rights and Security
Precautions for April 10th Everyone (documented or undocumented) has the right to advocate peacefully for change. Everyone (documented or undocumented) has the right to maintain silent and not answer questions that a government agent may ask
you.

If a government agent or the police ask you something, including your name, immigration status, or where you were born, you do not need to answer. If they are questioning you, you should ask Am I free to go?

If you have immigration papers showing legal status, U.S. law requires you to carry them and show them upon the request of a government agent. If you do not have these papers and are asked for them, you should ask, Am I free to go?

Do not say anything to a reporter that you don t want anyone to know, such as your last name or immigration status.

There is no guarantee that immigration authorities won t come, or that the police won t approach you, but if everyone remains peaceful, nothing should happen.

If there are counter-protesters, do not get into fights with them so that you will avoid getting arrested.

*****REMEMBER THIS IS A PEACEFUL DEMONSTRATION*****
¡Conoce Tus Derechos Para La Marcha! Estos Son Derechos
Básicos y Precauciones de Seguridad para el día 10 de Abril
Todos (con papeles o sin papeles) tienen el derecho de abogar
pacíficamente para lograr cambios.

Todos (con papeles o sin papeles) tienen el derecho de quedarse
callados, y no contestar a las preguntas que les haga un agente
gubernamental.

Si un agente gubernamental o la policía le pregunta algo como su
nombre, estado de inmigración, o donde nació, usted tiene el
derecho de no contestar.

Si le continúan preguntando, debe decir, Me puedo ir ya? (En
Ingles, Am I free to go?; Kean ai gou?

No le diga algo a un periodista que no quiere que alguien sepa,
como su apellido o estatus de inmigración.

No se puede garantizar que la migra no venga, o que la policía
no se le acerque, pero sí todos se actúen de manera pacífica,
nada debería pasar.

Si se encuentra con contra-manifestantes, mantenga la paz para
que no le arresten.
.
****RECUERDEN QUE ESTO ES UNA PROTESTA PACÍFICA****

Luis Figueroa
MALDEF
Legislative Staff Attorney
110 Broadway St. 300
San Antonio, TX 78205
(210) 224-5476
LFigueroa@maldef.org

--
To unsubscribe from this e-mail list please send a message to
valenz@mail.utexas.edu with UNSUBSCRIBE in the message line.

For more news in education, check out my blog at http://TexasEdEquity.blogspot.com
Save this URL address as a link in order to ensure ready access.

"Teaching is not filling up a pail, it is lighting a fire." -William Butler Yeats

good piece by Richard Rodriguez (yes, THAT Richard Rodriguez)"

2006-04-08T05:30:00.000-07:00

Source: Jorge Mariscal

Nota: Jorge's subject heading: "Fwd: good piece by Richard Rodriguez (yes, THAT Richard Rodriguez)."--RRC.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

¡Gracias!

New America Media
Commentary

Richard Rodriguez
April 6, 2006

Editor's Note: As Congress debates what to do with millions of
undocumented immigrants, has anyone thanked them for what they do for
us? Essayist and commentator Richard Rodriguez is author of, most
recently, "Brown: The Last Discovery of America" (Viking, 2002). This
commentary was aired Thursday, April 6, on NPR's "All Thing's
Considered." Click here to listen.

SAN FRANCISCO--In the noisy argument over what to do with illegal
immigrants, the common assumption is that America has done a great deal
for them already. The question now is: What more should we give them?
Should we give them a green card? Grant them amnesty? Or stop all this
generosity and send them packing?

No one speaks of what illegal immigrants have done for us.

It occurs to me I have not heard two relevant words spoken. If you will
allow me, I will speak them: "Thank you."

Thank you for turning on the sprinklers. Thank you for cleaning the
swimming pool. And scrambling the eggs and doing the dishes.

Thank you for making the bed. Thank you for getting the children up and
ready for school. Thank you for picking them up after school.

Thank you for caring for our dying parents.

Thank you for plucking dead chickens.

Thank you for bending your bodies over our fields.

Thank you for breathing chemicals and absorbing chemicals into your
bodies.

Thank you for the lettuce and the spinach and the artichokes and
asparagus and the cauliflower, the broccoli, the beans, and the
tomatoes and the garlic. Thank you for the apricots and the peaches and
the apples and the plums and the melons and the almonds. And the grapes.

Thank you for the willow trees and the roses and the winter lawn.

Thank you for scraping and painting and roofing, and cleaning out the
asbestos and the mold.

Thank you for your stoicism and your eager hands.

Thank you for all the young men on rooftops in the sun.

Thank you for your humor and the singing.

Thank you for cleaning the toilets and the showers and the restaurant
kitchens and the schools and the office buildings and the airports and
the malls.

Thank you for washing the car. Thank you for washing all the cars.

Thank you for your parents, who died young and had nothing to bequeath
to their children but the memory of work.

Thank you for giving us your youth.

Thank you for the commemorative altars.

Thank you for the food, the beer, the tragic polka.

¡Gracias!

New America Media is a project of Pacific News Service
Copyright © Pacific News Service
Engine Powered by DW Alliance

First fatality arising from the immigration legislation

2006-04-08T05:27:00.000-07:00

Source: Rodolfo F. Acuna

Please circulate and attend if possible.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE NEWS CONFERENCE

Sunday, April 9, 2006
12:00 p.m.
Our Lady of Guadalupe Church
710 S. Sultana Ave., Ontario, CA 91761

Louise Corales, whose 14 year-old son, Anthony Soltero, died on April 1
after committing suicide, will speak to the community and ask for a
prayer for her son this Sunday, following the 11:00 a.m. mass at Our
Lady of Guadalupe Church in Ontario, California.

Eighth grader Anthony Soltero shot himself through the head on
Thursday, March 30, after the assistant principal at De Anza Middle
School told him that he was going to prison for three years because of
his involvement as an organizer of the April 28 school walk-outs to
protest the anti-immigrant legislation in Washington. The vice
principal also forbade Anthony from attending graduation activities and
threatened to fine his mother for Anthony's truancy and participation in
the student protests.

"Anthony was learning about the importance of civic duties and rights
in his eighth grade class. Ironically, he died because the vice
principal at his school threatened him for speaking out and exercising
those rights," Ms. Corales said today. "I want to speak out to other
parents, whose children are attending the continuing protests this
week. We have to let the schools know that they can't punish our
children for exercising their rights."

Anthony's death is likely the first fatality arising from the protests
against the immigration legislation being considered in Washington,
D.C. Anthony, who was a very good student at De Anza Middle School in
the Ontario-Montclair School District, believed in justice and was
passionate about the immigration issue. He is survived by his mother,
Louise Corales, his father, a younger sister, and a baby brother.

Ms. Corales will speak to the community after mass on Sunday, April 9,
2006 at 12:00 p.m. at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church. She will ask for a
prayer for Anthony, whose funeral and burial are scheduled for Monday,
April 10 in Long Beach, where he was born.

CONTACT: R. SAMUEL PAZ
(310) 410-2981
(310) 989-6815
R. Samuel Paz
Civil Rights Lawyer
LAW OFFICES OF R. SAMUEL PAZ
Buckingham Heights
5701 W. Slauson Avenue
Suite 202
Culver City CA 90230
Telephone (310) 410-2981
Facsimile (310) 410-2957

AQUÍ ESTAMOS Y NO NOS VAMOS

2006-04-08T05:22:00.000-07:00

AQUÍ ESTAMOS Y NO NOS VAMOS

“History is on our side.”— César E. Chávez (Plan de Delano, 1965)

“This land is your land, and this land is my land too, from California to the New York islands.”— Lila Downs (Border: La Línea, 2001)

By Roberto R. Calderón, Ph.D. Associate Professor Department of History University of North Texas © 2006

There is a very poignant scene in the Edward James Olmos film, Walkout, which debuted recently on March 18, compliments of HBO. In the scene, the bright and courageous Paula Crisostomo tells Robert, the young Mexican American cop who spied on the organization of the Los Angeles Blowouts in the weeks prior to March 1968, and I’m paraphrasing here, “The schools may not have changed, but we did.”

In other words, thousands of young Chicanas and Chicanos had been irrevocably changed by their political involvement in the organization of the walkouts, which then, as today, sparked hundreds of other walkouts throughout what Raza commonly came to call in those days, Aztlán—the American Southwest. They had taken on a political consciousness that would last a lifetime. Aztlán was also the land from whence one of our ancestor peoples, the Mexica, had set forth in their odyssey to find the vaunted symbol of the Mexican flag, the eagle holding a serpent in its beak and claws amid a cactus in the middle of a lake (the Valley of Anáhuac).

Indeed, the particular symbol on the Mexican flag is an ancient myth embedded deep within our psyche. It is part of our peoplehood, our herencia. This is why we are Mexican and American—Mexican Americans. Of course, the same may be said of all other Latino groups from Central and South America. Better still, it may be said of any U.S. immigrant peoples from anywhere else on the globe. This does not throw our allegiance to being integral members of U.S. society into question, except in the anxious minds of the most corrupted right-wing xenophobes.

Influenced by the concept of Aztlán, the message of hope and commitment to the cause for social justice for all social classes of our heterogeneous community became clear then to the Chicana/o youth activists of the late 1960s, and early- to mid-1970s, “We were home, and this had always been our home.” We didn’t have to snap our heels three times like Dorothy had to in the Wizard of Oz to go home again. Thus, today we say as our activist elders once did, “Aquí estamos y no nos vamos.”

Add to that a phrase that dates from the same period: “Somos un pueblo sin fronteras.” As did the ancients, the Mexican peoples of today, descended from wandering warriors and settlers, as well as farmers, traders, artists, craftspeople, judges, dancers, students, teachers, scholars, and many others, have come full circle, and have returned from whence we came. The Maya had a circular concept to express this reality, inlakech—yo soy tu otro tú (I am your other you).

Currently, José Angel Gutiérrez recently stated, we are experiencing the start of the first substantive Chicano/Latino social movement of the twenty-first century. In the post-March 1968 period, the walkouts spread from Los Angeles and moved farther afield, happening wherever the Mexican migration streams and settlement patterns of yesterday had taken our peoples to work in the U.S., to the Northwest, the Midwest, and all places in between. The youth of that era who are today’s middle-aged parents and grandparents remember these heady days. They called themselves figuratively “children of the sun,” after a popular movimiento song popularized by Daniel Váldez, Luis Váldez’s brother who founded El Teatro Campesino.

The soul-stirring song was rooted in Mexican indigenous mythology and one facet of Chicano reality derived from working in the nation’s agricultural fields. Texas alone had somewhere between 70 and 80 different walkouts that we know about, but barely. Today we do not have a documentary, a book, or more published about this important civil rights chapter in our community’s history here in Tejas. There are scattered accounts published about one or two of these walkouts, but the larger story remains to be told. Most of these walkouts happened in South Texas. To paraphrase Sal Castro at the opening of Walkout: “I want us to make history. Hell, I want us to write our own history.” Which brings us full circle to tomorrow’s March for Liberty & Justice in Dallas, Texas.

The marcha will arguably be the single largest civil rights march ever seen on the streets of Dallas, and by extension the entirety of North Texas. If you and your loved ones, neighbors, friends, co-workers, everyone, decide to make a difference, take a stand, speak truth to power, walk with history, you too will contribute to the making of this historic event. Your community needs you and history is calling your name, answer its call. Truth be told, our youth have already made history for us in North Texas and across the nation.

Last week’s walkouts when more than 10,000 North Texas youth walked out was without precedent. They with their hearts in their hands, and the voice of liberty and justice on their lips, called to all of us to stand up and answer their call. Their innate sense of this nationally historic moment with momentous consequences riding on the line for our own and other immigrant communities nationally, a movement led by Mexican and Latino immigrants and their children and grandchildren, all of it, was elucidated with actions and words that money just can’t buy—priceless. The call for unity is ours to answer.

The call to action is ours to manifest. Do it, organize, organize yourselves and your neighborhoods, organize your churches, your union halls, your places of labor, wherever it is that people commune in their daily lives, their daily realities, organize. Let’s send the loudest and strongest, never-to-be-forgotten, message to the U.S. Congress, the American people, and the world that is watching: We want liberty and justice for immigrant communities in the United States. We want fair and equitable comprehensive immigration legislation with a sure and well-defined meaningful path toward first-class citizenship.

We oppose massive deportations and incarceration. The U.S. Mexican (and Latino) communities have been there too many times before in our nation’s history. We refuse to be isolated and used for our labor but not for our humanity, for the massive profits we contribute to the U.S. economy but not for our political democratic incorporation into U.S. society. We loudly repudiate second- and third-class citizenship which H.R. 4437 and the partisan political right would have us assume as we live and work here at home, in the United States of America.

The Immigration Issue: Some Facts

2006-04-05T21:13:00.000-07:00

The Immigration Issue: Some Facts
posted by adrian gonzales at 1:08 PM on March 31, 2006

http://houston.metblogs.com/archives/2006/03/the_immigration.phtml

Immigration Protests - WHY?

2006-04-05T21:08:00.000-07:00

Immigration Protests - WHY?
posted by Fyre at 8:11 AM on April 02, 2006

An armchair intellect ponders the question

http://houston.metblogs.com/archives/2006/04/immigration_pro.phtml

BUHS loses state funds over student walkouts

2006-04-05T20:41:00.001-07:00

How immigration march is affecting one school in Imperial County, California.

http://www.ivpressonline.com/articles/2006/04/01/news/news04.txt

How Stupid are the US Media?!?!

2006-04-05T20:33:00.000-07:00

Open letter to media from Latina author, meant to send last week.
Monday, March 27, 2006

How Stupid are the US Media?!?!
http://blogs.salon.com/0002916/images/2003/12/17/resized.jpg
(Lou Dobbs, Chief CNN DUMBASS)

Open letter to CNN and other mainstream US media outlets:

1. The vast majority of Hispanics/Latinos in the U.S. (75 percent of us) were born and raised here, including many of us who have roots here that predate the arrival of the pilgrims.

2. "Immigrant" is not synonymous with "Latino" and the media should stop pretending they mean the same thing.

3. The CNN analyst who said today "Keep in mind, Latino voters are LEGAL immigrants, not illegal immigrants" should be FIRED for sloppy thinking. MOST LATINOS ARE NOT IMMIGRANTS AT ALL, PINCHE CABRON.

4. Immigrants to contemporary USA come from EVERYWHERE. There are, for instance, 100,000 Nigerians in Houston http://listings.houstonpress.com/gyrobase/BestOf/BestOfAward?Year=oid%3A28908&Section=oid%3A28911&oid=oid%3A30627, and tens of thousands of ILLEGAL Irish <http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:YWFLwUt4CEAJ:www.galwayadvertiser.ie/dws/story.tpl%3Finc%3D2004/10/07/news/51479.html+illegal+irish+in+boston&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=3in Boston and other parts of the nation. If this debate is truly about immigration, as opposed to racist portrayals of Latinos, please curb your coverage to be more responsible.

5. Just because someone waves a Mexican or Colombian flag at a peaceful demonstration does not mean the demonstration is a "riot" or the people unAmerican. Lou Dobbs should get his panties out of a knot and realize it is no different than someone waving an Irish flag http://www.digave.com/couch/images/stpatty03/arrive.jpgin Southie or an Italian flag <http://www.sfcolumbusday.org/on Columbus Day. These flags are not waved as proof of national allegiance; they are waved in solidarity with a person's cultural heritage.

6. You can be a Mexican American and never have had an ancestor come over the US border; vast portions of the United States of today USED TO BE MEXICO or SPAIN. If you failed to learn this in high school, your teachers should be fired.

7. The vast majority of Hispanics/Latinos in the US speak English as a first language. The Pew Center for Hispanic research http://pewhispanic.org/shows that by the third generation, all Latin American immigrant descendents - 100 percent of them - are English-first, English dominant. Zero percent speak Spanish as a first or primary language by the third generation.

8. The US has TWO international borders, not ONE. To date, not a single terrorist has gotten to the US through Mexico; to date, at least two suspected terrorists have arrived here through Canada. In fact, I would not be surprised if, while the media and xenophobes are focused on the Mexican border, terrorists figure out that it might be a good idea to walk over from Vancouver to Seattle for a latte. Oh, and all international anti-American terrorists who have come to the U.S. so far have been *smart* enough to come with passports and other documents supplied to them by the deep pockets of their organizations. Do you really think a terrorist from Saudi Arabia is going to think it's a good idea to swim over the border to Texas or Arizona with a bunch of Mexicans? How stupid is that?!? Finally, please remember that the anti-American terrorist Timothy McVeigh was not a foreigner, not brown, and not an illegal immigrant.

9. Not all Hispanics/Latinos are Mexican or of Mexican origin in the U.S., and most people of Mexican extraction in the US were born in the UNITED STATES.

10. Please check for plans to give Haliburton the contract to build a wall along the Mexican border before caving in to the right-wing propaganda about a "crisis" in immigration from Mexico.

11. Please be careful when you discuss these issues not to stereotype or overgeneralize. The anti-Latino frenzy you're creating is leading to a racist backlash against tens of millions of native-born Americans who happen to have Spanish names.

12. The following are also Spanish names: California, Arizona, Florida, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego, Las Vegas. Why does CNN allow states, cities and rivers with Spanish names to be American, while disallowing American people with Spanish names the same right...? Mister Dobbs, you may no longer say the names of most states in the United States, because only thirteen U.S. states have English names; the rest are Spanish, French, or Native American. English-only, sir. Your rule, eh? Make up new names, change your ridiculous rhetoric, or stop talking about Los Angeles altogether.

13. Please tell us what the problems are that are caused by illegal immigrants. Don't just say there is a "debate." Tell us in concrete terms what the risks and dangers are being brought to the US by "illegal" immigrants. Now tell us how these problems, if any, differ from the problems caused by U.S. citizens of all other backgrounds. Be precise. Control for economics and educational background. Can't find any? Thought so.

14. Please remember that the least legal and least assimilable of American immigrants were...the English. And the only people who can claim to be true "Americans" are Native Americans.

15. Most Mexicans are Native Americans.

16. Shut up about this non-issue and get back to BEING JOURNALISTS, covering the REAL issues, like the illegal war in Iraq and the lies that got us there; the record-setting trade deficit; Bush's bankrupting of America; NSA's illegal wiretapping of American citizens; the fact that our public schools are MORE segregated than they were before Brown vs. the Board of Education; the fact that we as a nation have now slipped to having only the 27th freest press in the world; the Plame leak and the consequences of it being that Americans are much less safe than we were before Cheney and his friends played "revenge"; the disappearance of the American middle class and unions; the sorry state of the FAA; the rapid devaluation of the American dollar on the world market thanks to idiot leaders; the dismantling of the endangered species act by our administration; the rapid and unprecedented rise of a white underclass (the fastest rise in poor whites in American history has occurred under Bush); the enormous and growing gap between rich and poor in America.

All best,

Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez

NPR story on "black silence" on immigration

2006-04-05T20:31:00.000-07:00

Nota: Gracias Dianne for sending this our way. See the story on Black-Latino relations in Los Angeles in the context of the current immigration struggle and debate. Additional stories pertaining to immigration on NPR can be heard as well including those on:

Ga. Illegal Hires Case Pends in Supreme Court
Apr. 4, 2006

Senate Seeks to Shorten Debate on Immigration Bill
Apr. 2, 2006

Amid Rallies, Questions Over Immigrants' Impact
Apr. 2, 2006

Roberto R. Calderon
Historia Chicana [Historia]

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

Nation
Blacks, Latinos Discuss Differences in Los Angeles
by Ina Jaffe

Morning Edition, March 31, 2006 · In Los Angeles, leaders of the black and Latino communities are talking about immigration, competition for jobs and how many traditionally black neighborhoods are now mostly Latino.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5314491

Here's an NPR story on "black silence" on immigration.

'El Primero de Mayo' Boycott Song by Los Alacranescon Quino

2006-04-05T20:29:00.000-07:00

Source: Jorge Mariscal

El Primero de Mayo

Compañeros y Compañeras
Les quiero hablar de una cuestión
Tan solo un día necesitamos
Para demostrar nuestra convicción
Ese día tan especial
Se nos acerca ya
Hay que anunciar
Por todos lados
Nuestra Solidaridad

Coro:
En el Primero de Mayo
Dejamos de comprar y trabajar
Luchamos por Justicia
Y la Libertad
En el Primero de Mayo
Dejamos de comprar y trabajar
Con todo el mundo entero
En el Primero de Mayo

Sin papeles o con papeles
Es la hora de educar
Que el racismo y leyes malas
Nos quieren quitar la libertad
Hay que anunciar por todos lados
La importancia de organizar
Toda la familia debe de actuar*Coro

No somos malos ni criminales
Venimos aquí pa' trabajar
Este país nos necesita y estamos aquí para ayudar
En este mundo tan complicado
Que quiere decir ser ilegal
Hay que aceptar que este mundo esta cambiando
Y las fronteras se van a eliminar*Coro

Tenemos, que prepararnos
Para poder aprovechar este momento
Hay que hacer, todas las compras
Antes del día 30 de abril
Debemos, de tener
Los alimentos, la gasolina
Y una veladora

De nuestra virgen de Guadalupe*Coro

By Joaquin y Neri
McWhinney

To hear the song, click on:
<http://calacapress.com/gigantedespierto/mp3/PrimeroDeMayo.mp3>;

Dallas Mega-march, April 9, 2006

2006-04-05T05:34:00.000-07:00

For those of you that do not know Dallas well the starting point of the march on Sunday, April 9th is at:

2215 Ross Ave. (at Pearl Street), Dallas, Texas
75201-2707

Located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, the
Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe Shrine is
the central church of the Diocese of Dallas.

http://www.cathedralguadalupe.org/

'''La tercera revolucion americana"

2006-04-05T04:34:00.000-07:00

Nota: See, Lourdes Cardenas, '''La tercera revolucion americana" -- La marcha estudiantil de Dallas," _emequis_ (lunes) 3 de abril de 2006. Best viewed in HTML, which includes photos. Lourdes Cardenas is the local news/metro editor for Al Dia, the Spanish-language daily newspaper issued by the Dallas Morning News. emequis is based and published in Mexico City.

Roberto R. Calderon
Historia Chicana [Historia]

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

'LA TERCERA REVOLUCION AMERICANA': LA MARCHA ESTUDIANTIL DE DALLAS

emequis (Mexico, DF)
Lunes, 3 de abril de 2006

(http://www.eme-equis.com.mx/index.html)

Un día con mexicanos...en las calles

2006-04-05T04:32:00.000-07:00

Nota: Véase, "Un día con mexicanos...en las calles", emequis (México, D.F.), 03 de abril de 2006. To go directly to the article click on:

URL: <http://www.eme-equis.com.mx/009MXUNDIA01.html>;

Roberto R. Calderón
Historia Chicana [Historia]

More blogs with mention of recent immigration protests

2006-04-04T17:09:00.000-07:00

Locate MORE blogs that mention the recent immigration protests in one form or another by searching Blog Search
http://search.blogger.com/blogsearch?ui=blg
Type in: "Immigration Protests" (without the quotes)--

15,465 posts as of April 4, 2006 (a.m.)
15,587 posts as of April 4, 2006 (a.m.)
15,647 posts as of April 5, 2006 (a.m.)
15,906 posts as of April 5, 2006 (p.m.)
15,624 posts as of April 9, 2006 (p.m.)

"Why Blacks Should Join Browns in the Immigration Fight"

2006-04-04T16:59:00.000-07:00

Source: Whitney Larkins

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

"Why Blacks Should Join Browns in the Immigration Fight"

By Whitney Larkins
April 3, 2006

With America's gaze focused intensely on immigration reform, I have
noticed that there is a glaring omission in the discussions regarding
immigration. For some reason, the news media does not seem interested in
the opinions of African-Americans on this issue. Is it because we don't
have an opinion? Of course not. Then, I began to wonder, is it justified
to completely blame the media for this?

In the 1990s, when Haitians were being denied entry into the United
States due to a "HIV/AIDS" scare, African-American leaders rallied in
support of the Haitians who were being treated unfairly and kept out of
America's borders. When will African-Americans step up and challenge the
racist/nativist legislature that is threatening to turn other people of
color into felons? Have we convinced ourselves that we are treated
equally as citizens in this nation? How can our community continue to
decry racism, yet remain silent on this issue?

This proposed legislation has potential to affect tens of thousands
of people of African descent who are in the United States illegally.
Since immigration rights boil down to human rights, where are the black
people in this discussion?

For 400 years, Africans were brought to this country illegally (we
have been "illegals" all this time and didn't know it). When the Voting
Rights Act passed in 1965, quite arguably, that became the moment that
we were full-fledged citizens in this nation. Human rights issues should
still be fresh on our minds.

African-Americans should step up and let their voices be heard
regarding the inhumane policies that are threatening the livelihood of
many people of color, including those of African descent who also happen
to be Latinos who are attempting to escape the racism and inequalities
of their home nations.

How can we African-Americans sit in silence while our elected
officials consider making felons out of people of color whose ancestors
once owned on the land we stand on? This country once made it illegal
for blacks to learn how to read, so we cannot rest on our laurels with
the excuse "Oh well, it's just the law".

I hope that the black community does not lose sight and have a short
memory on this issue. Perhaps we will dust of our marching shoes from
the 1960s and join the battle cry for justice and human rights. Only
time will tell...

Getting it Right on the US Immigration Debate: MPI Resources Can Help

2006-04-04T16:50:00.000-07:00

Date: Thu, 30 Mar 2006 07:36:22 -0600 (CST)
From: Migration Policy Institute
Subject: Getting it Right on the US Immigration Debate: MPI Resources Can Help

The Migration Policy Institute is a nonpartisan think tank dedicated
to analysis of the movement of people worldwide.

March 30, 2006

Immigration reform has taken center stage in US politics both
nationally and locally. This week, the Senate Judiciary Committee
passed a sweeping immigration reform bill. This expansive immigration
reform as well as nation-wide protests aimed at the recent measure
passed in the House of Representatives come just as President Bush
meets with Mexican President Vicente Fox and Canadian Prime Minister
Stephen Harper in Cancún, Mexico today.

MPI seeks to provide fact-based analysis for policymakers,
journalists, educators, and nonprofits engaged in the US immigration
debate. The resources below are designed to eliminate guesswork and
misinformation by presenting reliable, easy-to-access data and
thoughtful analysis. Also included is a list of MPI analysts
available for media interviews. They include:

* Analysis prepared for MPI's Independent Task Force on Immigration
and America's Future:
- US Immigration Reform: Setting the Agenda
- The Unauthorized Population
- Meeting National Security and Immigration Enforcement Imperatives
- Immigration and US Labor Markets
* MPI Experts
* Facts and Data from the Migration Information Source
* Coming Soon from MPI

ANALYSIS PREPARED FOR MPI'S INDEPENDENT TASK FORCE ON IMMIGRATION AND
AMERICA'S FUTURE

The Migration Policy Institute has convened the Independent Task Force
on Immigration and America's Future, a bipartisan panel of prominent
leaders from key sectors concerned with immigration, which aims to
generate sound information and workable policy ideas. Former Senator
Spencer Abraham (R-MI) and former Congressman Lee Hamilton (D-IN)
serve as co-chairs. The panel's work is directed by MPI Senior Fellow
Doris Meissner.
http://contact.migrationpolicy.org/site/R?i=Dp3fld7rVmntc3KamlAW9A..

* US IMMIGRATION REFORM: SETTING THE AGENDA

Independent Task Force on Immigration and America's Future: The Roadmap
By Michael Fix, Doris Meissner, and Demetrios G. Papademetriou
The Independent Task Force on Immigration and America's Future is
focusing on key policy questions in areas in which today's US immigration
policy and practices are faltering. These areas include: upholding the rule
of law; developing policies that meet immigration and national
security needs; managing immigration in ways that increase the
nation's economic competitiveness; and promoting the economic and
social integration of newcomers.
http://contact.migrationpolicy.org/site/R?i=Od7MZ230n1wPuc3X-rNoeA..

Reflections on Restoring Integrity to the United States Immigration
System: A Personal Vision
By Demetrios G. Papademetriou
The author suggests that lessons learned from implementing the last
round of sweeping immigration reform -- the Immigration and Control Act
of 1986 -- are that the robust and growing demand for work and family
reunification visas must be incorporated into new policies;
legalization should not be done halfway; reducing incentives for fraud
should be a top policy goal; and migration must be managed in
cooperation with neighboring countries. Stable reform will require
three "E"s: enforcement, expanded visas, and earned regularization.
http://contact.migrationpolicy.org/site/R?i=uIDkLCFmp0AZbewCt5ng6A..
* THE UNAUTHORIZED POPULATION

Unauthorized Migrants: Numbers and Characteristics
Report by Jeffrey S. Passel, Pew Hispanic Center
The author offers a portrait of the unauthorized population in
unprecedented detail, showing that most of the unauthorized population
lives in families, a quarter has at least some college education, and
illegal workers can be found in many sectors of the US economy. The
report estimates that the number of persons living in families in which the
head of the household or the spouse is an unauthorized migrant was
13.9 million as of March 2004, including 4.7 million children. Of
those individuals, some 3.2 million are US citizens by birth but are
living in "mixed status" families in which some members are
unauthorized, usually a parent, while others, usually children, are
Americans by birthright.
http://contact.migrationpolicy.org/site/R?i=u_t3sz1hs2vbETZS5DgH6g..

Twilight Statuses: A Closer Examination of the Unauthorized Population
By David A. Martin, MPI nonresident fellow and professor of
International Law, University of Virginia
Approximately 1 to 1.5 million people hold current or eventual claims
to legal status recognized by US law because they are caught in
processing or admissions quota backlogs or have been granted temporary
protected status (TPS). The author suggests policy changes that speed
the processing of legal status claims for certain family members of lawful
residents and that create incentives for those with TPS to return when
their temporary status expires.
http://contact.migrationpolicy.org/site/R?i=NCGtjg5-rO3psR5mozDVDA..

Lessons From The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986
By Betsy Cooper and Kevin O'Neil
The 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) was the first
legislative attempt to comprehensively address the issue of
unauthorized immigration. Although the concepts behind the legislation
were sound, there were a number of problems with its design and
implementation in each of its major goals, providing lessons for
policymakers today.
http://contact.migrationpolicy.org/site/R?i=klbk2Ws41G76fLJ3xfDxnw..

The "Regularization" Option in Managing Illegal Migration More
Effectively: A Comparative Perspective
By Demetrios G. Papademetriou
The author argues that properly conceived and carefully executed
legalization programs would allow those that can meet certain tough
but fair and transparent criteria to earn legal status, and that
these programs can be used to meet important security, labor market,
and social policy goals.
http://contact.migrationpolicy.org/site/R?i=Bq8phIfoZBGxiWfOxXY5iA..

* MEETING NATIONAL SECURITY AND IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT IMPERATIVES

Immigration Enforcement at the Worksite: Making it Work
By Visiting Scholar Marc R. Rosenblum
The author lays out six critical reforms necessary to construct a
coherent worksite enforcement system, including limiting the number of
documents used to prove identity and work authorization, shifting the
burden of applicant screening from employers to the government, and
using employment databases more efficiently to better target
non-compliant employers.
http://contact.migrationpolicy.org/site/R?i=VZPlPmyo7fqFV2Qz30LlUA..

US Border Enforcement: From Horseback to High-Tech
By Deborah W. Meyers
Border Patrol funding has grown by 519 percent and staffing by 221
percent over the last two decades. Over time, border enforcement
has evolved from a low-tech, single-agency exercise focused strictly
on the Southwestern border, to include multiple agencies, extensive
use of technology, and a broad geographic focus that extends beyond
the US borders and coastlines.
http://contact.migrationpolicy.org/site/R?i=dCfpuN_7xQXsysJSs1MwuQ..

An Idea Whose Time Has Finally Come? The Case for Employment
Verification
By Tamar Jacoby, Manhattan Institute
Although the Immigration Reform and Control Act made it a crime to
hire unauthorized immigrants, it failed to give employers the tools
they need to determine who is authorized to work and who isn't -- a
reliable, automated employment verification system. The author
suggests that what is needed is a process not unlike credit-card
verification that allows employers to swipe a card at the point of
hire and receive a response in real time from the Social Security
Administration.
http://contact.migrationpolicy.org/site/R?i=D0kLKzgjt9s4kQe_EnzMag..

Eligible to Work? Experiments in Verifying Work Authorization
By Kevin Jernegan
Various attempts have been made over the years to create a system that
provides employers with verification of an employee's eligibility to
work, each with different strengths and weaknesses. New proposals have
been developed recently and new technologies have become available
since the Immigration and Reform Control Act's passage in 1986.
The successes and failures of the efforts undertaken to date can
inform proposals for future employment authorization and verification
initiatives.
http://contact.migrationpolicy.org/site/R?i=s94HXb7_JE7ftCFBP2czEw..

Immigration Facts: Immigration Enforcement Spending Since IRCA
By David Dixon and Julia Gelatt
From 1985 to 2002, funds for border control jumped from $700 million
to $2.8 billion per year; funds for detention and removal skyrocketed
from $192 million to $1.6 billion, while funds for interior
investigations rose from $109 million to only $458 million.
http://contact.migrationpolicy.org/site/R?i=3yweeXgRWkQeHdPQTavELQ..

Countering Terrorist Mobility: Shaping an Operational Strategy
By Susan Ginsburg, MPI nonresident fellow and formerly senior counsel
for the 9/11 Commission
The author provides a blueprint for an integrated strategy to thwart
terrorists by focusing on terrorist mobility, arguing that terrorist
mobility deserves comparable attention and resources to those
devoted to terrorist finance and communications.
http://contact.migrationpolicy.org/site/R?i=zM3s2aDHyhe47U1LUnqiBA..

* IMMIGRATION AND US LABOR MARKETS

Temporary Worker Programs: A Patchwork Policy Response
By Deborah W. Meyers
In fiscal year 2004, nearly 1.5 million temporary workers, trainees,
and their dependants were admitted to the United States, with stays
ranging from three months to ten years and many transitioning to the
permanent system. In the same year, more than 60 percent of new lawful
permanent residents (LPRs) adjusted their status (rather than being new
arrivals), and at least 10 percent of LPRs are former temporary
workers. Furthermore, nearly half of all temporary worker admissions
are in categories that explicitly allow adjustment.
http://contact.migrationpolicy.org/site/R?i=d86L6uGBPrrgKDgkK0FMhg..

"Comprehensive" Legislation vs. Fundamental Reform: The Limits of
Current Immigration Proposals
By Visiting Scholar Marc Rosenblum
The author evaluates current Administration and Congressional
proposals for their potential to address the fundamental flaws
characterizing the current immigration system, finding that proposed
reforms likely would fail to address the mismatch between visa supply
and demand, the system's over-reliance on temporary nonimmigrant
visas, inefficient immigrant labor regulations, and the challenges of
responding to the roughly 11 million unauthorized immigrants living in
the United States.
http://contact.migrationpolicy.org/site/R?i=I8gonm982lSVv0Eq7roBRg..

The Growing Connection Between Temporary and Permanent Immigration
Systems
By Jeanne Batalova
The distinction between temporary and permanent migration, clearly
demarcated in past decades, has become increasingly blurred. A new
immigrant admissions system has emerged that is neither temporary nor
permanent, but rather a transitional system.
http://contact.migrationpolicy.org/site/R?i=35ez1WM4kFSAlppsfkl0rg..

US Employment-Based Admissions: Permanent and Temporary
By Susan Martin, Institute for the Study of International Migration,
Georgetown University
The existing temporary worker programs allow employers a chance to
test employees for their contributions, but potentially increases
temporary
workers' vulnerability to exploitation due to their dependence on
specific employers or jobs for their legal status. The author puts
forth the following policy recommendations: simplifying visa categories,
increasing the funding for and efficiency of the government apparatus
managing applications, and making requirements for employers and
workers reasonable and consistent with the way that the labor market
functions, among others.
http://contact.migrationpolicy.org/site/R?i=kzOARxonJ1aQ4kORJx7HRg..

These and other MPI publications are available through MPI's
online bookstore:
http://contact.migrationpolicy.org/site/R?i=4-xOtgNjMGVTgVoNnYn8-w.. .
_____________________

MPI EXPERTS

Demetrios G. Papademetriou, President

Demetrios Papademetriou is an expert in US immigration policy, the
North American borders and migration agenda, and migration management.
He was the US convener of the high-level US-Mexico Migration Panel
that devised the framework that encouraged Presidents Vicente Fox and
George W. Bush to reexamine their countries' migration relationship.

Michael Fix, Vice President and Director of Studies

Michael Fix is Vice President and Director of Studies at MPI. His work
focuses on immigrant integration, citizenship policy, immigrant
children and families, the education of immigrant students, the effect
of welfare reform on immigrants, and the impact of immigrants on the
US labor force. Mr. Fix, who is an attorney, previously served as a
Principal Research Associate at the Urban Institute, where he directed
the Immigration Studies Program from 1998 through 2004.

Doris Meissner, Senior Fellow and Director, Independent Task Force on
Immigration and America's Future

Doris Meissner, a Senior Fellow at the Migration Policy Institute,
served as INS Commissioner at the US Department of Justice from
October 1993 to November 2000. She directs the Independent Task Force
on Immigration and America's Future, a high-level, bipartisan
panel of policymakers and community leaders concerned with
immigration, which aims to generate sound information and workable
policy solutions.

Kathleen Newland, Director

With more than 20 years of experience, Kathleen Newland is an expert
in migration management and US immigration policy. Before
co-founding MPI with Demetrios Papademetriou, she was a Senior
Associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. She
has worked as an advisor and consultant to various international
organizations, including the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR).

Muzaffar Chishti, Director, MPI at NYU School of Law

Muzaffar Chishti is an expert on the intersection of labor and
immigration law, civil liberties, and immigrant integration. His
current work focuses on temporary worker provisions and earned
regularization. Mr. Chishti was founder and former director of the
Immigration Project of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial &
Textile Employees (UNITE). He was responsible for formulating and
executing the union's programs and policies on immigration issues.

Deborah Meyers, Senior Policy Analyst

Deborah Meyers is an expert on US, Canada, and Mexico border
management issues, temporary worker programs, and US immigration
policy and process with the Department of Homeland Security. Ms.
Meyers previously worked in the International Migration Policy Program
at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where she managed a
comparative project on self-governance at US and other international
borders. She can conduct interviews in Spanish.

To arrange an interview with a policy analyst, please contact Colleen
Coffey at 202-266-1910 or ccoffey@migrationpolicy.org.
________________________

FACTS AND DATA FROM THE MIGRATION INFORMATION SOURCE

State-by-State Data on the Foreign Born
Find information on the size, composition, and socio-economic
characteristics of the foreign-born population of your state.
http://contact.migrationpolicy.org/site/R?i=bnsqHcLyigTNc7UR4ll2yQ..

Who's Where in the United States:
Find out where different groups of the foreign-born live in the United
States by region, or continent of origin and a state or region of
destination.
http://contact.migrationpolicy.org/site/R?i=_VrCFNB4-j2d3f3vJJnYkw..

Spotlight on US Immigration Enforcement
By David Dixon
Of the 186,151 individuals formally removed in 2003, 40 percent
entered without authorization. MPI's David Dixon briefly explains the
US approach to immigration enforcement and looks at apprehension,
detention, and removal statistics.
http://contact.migrationpolicy.org/site/R?i=sAHVCTG_a823yNVKB0bAGQ..

Spotlight on Temporary Admissions of Nonimmigrants to the United States
By Jeanne Batalova
The total number of nonimmigrants admitted to the United States more
than tripled between 1985 and 2004. MPI's Jeanne Batalova outlines the
definition of nonimmigrants and takes a detailed look at admissions data.
http://contact.migrationpolicy.org/site/R?i=y-Csf7n5-_cJVWu6aVELrQ..

Spotlight on Legal Immigration to the United States
By Jeanne Batalova
The number of new immigrant arrivals has remained relatively stable
since 1986. MPI's Jeanne Batalova looks at data on permanent
immigration to the United States.
http://contact.migrationpolicy.org/site/R?i=nepQaPTpWbRvKCyBfOzl_w..
________________________

COMING SOON FROM THE MIGRATION POLICY INSTITUTE

Later this spring, look for publications prepared for the Task Force
on immigrant integration, as well as the final report of the Task
Force.

On April 3, the Migration Information Source will release a Special
Issue on Central America, available at
http://contact.migrationpolicy.org/site/R?i=efpqwVfcMtMWrFW834Jb1w.. .

On April 28, join the Migration Policy Institute, Georgetown
University Law Center, and the Catholic Legal Immigration Network,
Inc. (CLINIC), for the 3rd Annual Immigration Law and Policy
Conference. For information on speakers or to register, please follow this link:
http://contact.migrationpolicy.org/site/R?i=Jm9tQIqqD-7gpH0zMq2QaA..
_________________________

2006-04-04T15:21:00.000-07:00

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-students31mar31,0,2965460,full.s
tory?coll=la-home-headlines

From the Los Angeles Times
Student Protests Echo the '60s, but With a High-Tech Buzz
Youths used a popular website to organize their walkouts. And some did
know what a 'sit-in' was.
By Scott Gold
Times Staff Writer

Justice for Immigration (LULAC site)

2006-04-01T22:57:00.000-08:00

LULAC's site on various activities throughout the country:

Information on "Mega-marches," etc.

http://www.lulac.org/events/immigrationcalendar.html

March to Support McCain-Kennedy Immigration Bill

2006-04-01T19:55:00.000-08:00

Source: "Diana Flores" 03/31/06 6:25 PM

Please forward this information to others. Gracias.--[Diana Flores]

-----

SUNDAY, APRIL 9 MARCH. Lulac National is coordinating what is billed
as the largest march in history. The march is being held to support the
McCain-Kennedy immigration bill. The march will start at the Cathedral
and end at the city hall plaza.Thousands of people are expected to
attend. People from all over the country will be in attendance.

We need monitors to ensure that folks follow the rules, which are the
following:

a. No Mexican Flags will be flown. Only U.S. flags will be
displayed.

b. Everyone wears white, to signify peace.

c. There will be no negative messages. All banners must be positive.

All the churches are participating. The Bishop may speak...not
confirmed.

There are! many opportunities to volunteer including the areas of
logistics, media, security, voter registration, etc.

Groups from all racial/ethnic communities are invited to participate in
the march.

There will be voter regisration tables at the plaza.

There will be VIP speakers. The program will start off with first
graders leading us in the pledge of allegiance.

WE NEED EVERYONE TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS EVENT IN ONE WAY OR ANOTHER.

MONDAY, APRIL 10 - National Immigrant Civil Rights Day
On Monday, April 10, people in the Dallas area will wear white ribbons,
arm bands or wristbands to remind people of the importance of dealing
with immigrants civily and justly.

Monday April 10 will also be "NOT A PENNY" day. All persons are asked
not to spend a single cent on April 10. Don't buy gas, don't go to
Walmart, don't go to lunch. This is meant to show the impact and
importance of the immigrant on our economy.

Documentation of the marches, protests

2006-04-01T19:28:00.000-08:00

LULAC's Documentation of the marches
http://www.lulac.org/events/media.html

Los Angeles Times images
http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2006-03/22645570.jpg

http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2006-03/22645765.jpg

http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2006-03/22645747.jpg

http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2006-03/22645581.jpg

http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2006-03/22645697.jpg

http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2006-03/22646397.jpg

Protests Draw Tens of Thousands

2006-04-01T19:25:00.000-08:00

Source: Rodolfo F. Acuna Monday's Protests Draw Tens of Thousands Monday, March 27, 2006

Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Tens of thousands of students walked out of schools Monday in California and other states, waving flags and wearing white shirts in a second week of protests against legislation that would make it a felony to be an illegal immigrant.

Various

2006-04-01T19:22:00.000-08:00

Nota: This post contains several articles, 1) Jesse Jackson, "Wage War on Poverty, Not Immigrants," Chicago Sun Times, Tuesday, March 28, 2006; 2) Robert Scheer, "An Old Story - Scapegoat Immigrants," Creators Syndicate, Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Jesse Jackson | Wage War on Poverty, Not Immigrants
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032906A.shtml
The only way to stop the flood of immigrants is to help lift their standards up, rather than drive ours down. We can spend billions trying to lock immigrants out and hold those that come in down. Or we can devote energy and resources now wasted on a civil war in Iraq to help lift our neighbors up, gain real trading partners and significantly reduce the misery that drives people from their homes, writes Jesse Jackson.

Robert Scheer | An Old Story - Scapegoat Immigrants
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032906D.shtml
There is no immigration crisis - other than the one created by a small but vocal stripe of opportunist politicians, media demagogues and freelance xenophobes. So it has always been throughout the history of this country when anti-immigrant hysteria periodically reigns during low ebbs in our national sense of security and vision, writes Robert Scheer.

Four Page First Person Observation on Student Protests

2006-04-01T19:15:00.000-08:00

Source: "Diana Flores"

I've written a 4-pg first person observation of the student protests at
City Hall. I hope you will read it. I also hope you will share it with
others.

When students come out as they did this week, they are putting
themselves in real danger of being arrested for breaking the law. They
put themselves in real danger of becoming convicted felons because they
do not know the laws regarding government buildings and others that
could be applied when they walk out and gather without knowing how to do
it legally. Please pass the word. Gracias

Diana Flores
Trustee, District 6
Dallas Community Colleges
214/337-5150
dlflores@hotmail.com

Observations and Lessons Learned from the Student Protests in Dallas by Diana Flores, Trustee, Dallas County Community College District

I was at City Hall on Monday and Tuesday (March 27th and 28th, 2006) when students walked out of the schools. On Monday, most of the students came from Dallas high schools, with a few students joining them from Carrollton-Farmers Branch and Richardson. On Tuesday, the students again came from Dallas high schools. They were joined by a large number of students from Irving. Smaller groups of students came from Grand Prairie, Plano and Richardson. There were marked differences between the students who were at City Hall on Monday and those who came on Tuesday. Other adults were also there – DISD staff, community leaders, and a few parents.

Many of the adults who were there arrived because we know that gatherings such as this can pose the potential for danger, and we wanted to help assure that the students would be safe from harm from themselves or others. The police department did a great job of this too. We were also there because we wanted to get them back in school. Observations on Monday, March 27th The students who came to City Hall on Monday from Skyline High School came with identified leaders, a clear understanding of the issue, and a way to communicate with their group. They carried a bullhorn with them and were able to spread their message and be heard. They allowed the adults who were there to address them; they showed us respect and they heard us.

Our message to them on Monday was: It is great that as young people you are raising your voice and want to be heard. However, there is a time and place for everything. The time to demonstrate against injustice is not on a school day during school hours. If we want to change the law, to make a positive difference for our community, we need to do it by getting an education, learning how to run for Congress, and becoming the congress men and women in Washington, D.C. who will pass laws that are just and right for all communities! You cannot do that if you do not get your education. You cannot do that if you do not stay in school.

The students who came on Monday knew that we had heard them. We knew that the students had heard us. We asked them to please behave themselves in a manner that would bring pride to their parents and to all. We asked them to please do as their parents did at the rally on Saturday, March 25th – to obey all laws, to leave City Hall Plaza as clean as they found it. The students did just that. When they left to go back to school, it was done in an orderly fashion, there were no laws broken and everything was left in the condition it had been found. We thought that it was over with. The students made their statement and they went back to school.

We thought that they would stay in school and prepare to join us in the MegaMarcha on April 9th. Observations on Tuesday, March 28th That morning about 9:30 a.m., I received a phone call and was informed that the students were again walking out. Some were walking out and headed to the DISD Administration Building on Ross. Some were walking out and headed to City Hall again. I was asked to go to City Hall. We had to divide up and cover the different areas to try to assure student safety and to get the students back in school. When I arrived at City Hall, there were no students there. I was relieved.

I reported to my colleague that there were no students. He told me to wait, not to leave City Hall because they were on their way. The first wave of students who arrived were not organized, did not have a bullhorn to communicate to the group, were not as receptive to hear from the adults. As we, the adults, were moving through the crowd, speaking to small groups at a time, a large number of them ran into City Hall. Immediately the police took action, as it was their duty to do. No one had any idea what the students wanted to do. Did they simply want to demonstrate inside City Hall? Did they want to begin destroying things? No one knew, so, again, the police did what they had to do – quickly go into enforcement mode, close the doors to City Hall so that more students could not get in, and begin to remove those that were inside.

Those of us (adults) outside knew that we had a real potential for danger. It would only take one or two students to begin to provoke the situation for it to get out of hand and for more severe police action to be required. Those of us who were there to try to help calm down the situation worked exhaustively to identify some students who were seen as leaders to speak to the rest of the students and ask them to calm down. Councilwoman Elba Garcia addressed them, but they did not calm down immediately. Finally, as all the students were escorted out of City Hall, they began to disperse and march around the plaza or mill around in groups. Finally, the tense situation was diffused but at any moment it could have gotten dangerous again.

We were finally able to get that first wave of students back on buses and back to school. However, we could not hope that it was over because we knew that several hundred more were on the way. The next wave arrived, and the situation was again the same. There were no identified leaders, no way to address them, no way to direct their energies into positive manifestations. They began jumping into the pool in the plaza. They left trash everywhere.

They left trash in the pool. Some (not all) disrespected the building and some (not all) disrespected us. They were protesting, demanding that immigrants be respected, but some (not all) were not respecting us, were not respecting the place where they were gathered. They gave a very bad image of our youth. Again, we were able to get that wave of students on the buses and on their way back to school. A city worker, un mejicano, had to get in the pool and begin cleaning all the trash out of it. It took him quite a while to do it.

Then came a third wave, a third wave of students who had walked out of school and who came to City Hall, and again the scene repeated itself. And again they jumped into the pool, they got into the floating sculpture, they hung the Mexican flag on the floating sculpture – ¡que falta de respeto! How would Mexican citizens in Mexico feel if U.S. citizens protesting Mexican laws would disrespect the Zocalo and hang the U.S flag in the Zocalo? TV cameras were everywhere.

Newspaper photographers were everywhere, everywhere images of our youth disrespecting City Hall were being captured for all time. And, yet, we say we want respect but our young people did not show the respect that they are demanding from others. ¡Que verguenza! I asked some of the students please not to jump in the pool.

I told them that the group who had done that before had left a lot of trash and it was one of the ones they say they are fighting for that had to clean the trash that was left behind. As I walked by the city worker when he was cleaning out the pool the first time, he asked me what I thought about what was going on. I responded to him the way I have responded to all who have asked me that question: I am very proud of our students for speaking out against injustice, but I am not proud that they are doing it on a school day.

There is a right way to do things and this is not the right way. Anyway, as I asked this next wave of students please not to jump in the pool and as I told them that it was one of our own who had to clean their trash, one of the students answered back: “Why doesn’t a white person do it?” I responded: “Because that white person got their education so they don’t have to clean anyone’s trash. Because the worker who was cleaning your trash didn’t have the opportunity to get an education. Because each and every one of you do have that opportunity, but so many of you throw it away without realizing the damage you are doing to yourself, to your family and to the community when you do not get an education.”

Some of the students listened to what I had to say, but others kept jumping in the pool. Some Saving Graces from Tuesday: Once City Hall was stormed, there were some students who quickly understood the potential for danger and for the situation to get out of hand. They began helping us calm their peers down so that more police action would not be necessary. There were four or five students who had been at the rally on Saturday and who understood the importance of respecting where they were and leaving it as it was found.

They did as their parents did on Saturday -- they took it upon themselves to begin to clean up all the trash that was left on the plaza at City Hall. Because of this small group of students, at least there were no pictures that could go over the wires or that could be printed of a trash-strewn City Hall plaza. Shortly after noon on Tuesday, after some students had stormed into City Hall, and because other groups had continued to walk out and were making their way to City Hall, a few of us put our heads together about the situation.

We agreed that as community leaders, we had to put out a call to parents and students to stop – to stop the walkouts because of the potential for danger to the students and because of the potential that they were going to begin to get arrested for disruptive behavior. We called for a press conference in the City Hall Flag Room at 4:30 pm. We asked some students to join us.

The press conference was held; it received good coverage; the students gave a good message. Observations on Wednesday, March 29th We hope that the call that went out to stop the student protests on school days worked. On Wednesday there were no mass walk-outs by students in Dallas. We hear that there might be some on Friday. We hope that will not happen because the students and their parents have realized if the walk-outs continue, there can be serious consequences. It is our hope that when students feel the need to protest, to demonstrate, to make their voices heard, they will do it in the right way, at the right time, not during school, and not without organization that will ensure the protests are held in a safe and legal manner.

Lessons Learned Respect: If we want to be respected, we must give to others the respect that we want from them. That means obeying U.S. laws. If there are unjust laws, then we must work to change them, but until they are changed, we must obey them or risk becoming criminals. Consequences for Criminal Action: It is possible that some of the students who came to City Hall were either undocumented or resident aliens – they were not citizens. It is possible that if things had gotten more out of control, the police would have arrested students. It is possible that among those who could have been arrested were undocumented and resident alien students. It is possible that if they were arrested, they could have been charged and convicted of a crime, therefore making them criminals.

As criminals, this could have been the consequence: (a) the undocumented students would have become criminals, would have been deported and would have forever lost the right to petition for residency if the laws were changed; (b) the resident alien students would have lost their green card, would have been deported and would have lost their right to ever again regain residency. All that the students were fighting for could have been lost in a few moments of stupidity. Students: Is that what you want?

The U.S. Flag: We are in the United States. We want the United States to change those laws that we consider unjust for immigrants. As such, the only flag we should be flying in the United States when we are protesting to change a law is the U.S. flag, not the Mexican flag, not the Salvadoran flag, not the Columbian flag, not the flag of any other country. If we want to be fully accepted by this country, then we must also fully accept and honor the flag of this country. Again, if I, as a U.S. citizen were living in Mexico and were trying to get a Mexican law changed, if I were protesting in Mexico (I do not know that I would have that right in Mexico), and I was carrying the U.S. flag, and I placed that U.S. flag on City Hall, how would the Mexican citizens feel? When Students Should Protest: It is good for students to protest and make their voice heard, but it is not good for them to leave school to do that.

There is a time and place for everything. The time for them to protest IS NOT on a school day. It is either after school or on the weekend, organized in a way that will not lead to a dangerous situation, and with leaflets of information passed out so that all the students will be fully educated and informed about the issue they are protesting or the right they are fighting for. By passing out leaflets to inform and educate, the students will not be made to look like fools when they are asked,

“What is your protest about?” and their answer is “I don’t know,” or “I’m not sure.” Take It to the Next Level: Protesting alone and apart from other action does no good. We MUST begin to participate at all levels of government. This can be done by volunteering for committees, attending forums that the city or other governing agencies have regarding proposed changes they want to make.

By doing this, we begin to learn how to be leaders, how to be those in charge of city government, of state government, those in Congress and in Washington. Importance of Education: In order to become leaders, in order to take on important roles in society, our students MUST, MUST finish their education. They must graduate from high school, graduate from college, get their master’s degree and up to their doctorate. That way, we become among los meros meros in whatever field we choose instead of just those who clean and cook for others.

Importance of the Vote: In order to have leaders that will favor our community with fair and just laws, WE NEED TO VOTE, VOTE, VOTE, VOTE, VOTE!!!! If politicians know that each and every election, without fail, we will get out to vote and vote in large numbers, they will think twice about proposing laws such as HR 4437.

They will think twice about doing anything that can be detrimental to us. As an example: Chicanos/Latinos number about 40 million in the U.S., however, to this point, we have had no real voice or power. The Jewish people number less than 5 million in this country, however the U.S. does not take one action toward Israel (the Jewish state) without making sure that the Jewish community in the U.S. is in favor of that action. Why? Because the Jewish people get out to vote, vote, vote, vote in each and every election.

They are concentrated in key areas of the U.S., such as New York, and politicians want their votes. If the politicians knew that Chicanos/Latinos would do the same thing, each and every election, they would also begin to get our advice and consent before thinking about enacting any law that would be detrimental to our immigrant families.

So, I hope that this generation of students who walked out in protest of proposed unjust immigration laws will learn what many of us from past generations have still not learned: Get educated, get involved, vote! When you do something, do it the right way, the smart way, y no de un modo que va a dar mal imagen – do it in a way that will do more good than harm to the cause. When we are advocating for something which is right and just, we must act in a way that is right and just. And always remember, ¡Si Se Puede!

Immigration rally at Capital High School

2006-04-01T19:13:00.000-08:00

Source: "Xavier Medina"

Nota: See, John Sena, "Immigration Rally at Capital High School Turns Raucous," The New Mexican, Santa Fe, New Mexico, Thursday, March 30, 2006. This is an excellent link (see below) in that the article appears followed by about 30+ pages of commentary by many different persons. This is the most extensive link to a newspaper's commentary on their city's walkouts that I have seen to date. Gracias a Xavier Medina for sending this our way and bienvenido to the Historia Chicana [Historia] lista por supuesto.

Roberto R. Calderón
Historia Chicana [Historia]

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

This is heartbreaking.--[Xavier Medina]

Immigration rally at Capital High School turns raucous
http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/41609.html

PEW Report on American's Immigration

2006-04-01T19:09:00.000-08:00

Nota: The PEW Hispanic Center has just released a 80-page report on
immigration policy in the US. See, The Pew Research Center for the
People & the Press & Pew Hispanic Center, _America's Immigration
Quandary: No Consensus on Immigration Problem or Proposed Fixes_.
Washington, DC: Pew Hispanic Center, March 30, 2006. Thanks Whitney
for pointing out the report and sending it our way. The short blurbs
on the Web site read as follow:

New Research
3.30.2006

America's Immigration Quandary
No Consensus on Immigration Problem or Proposed Fixes

Americans are increasingly concerned about immigration. A growing
number believe that immigrants are a burden to the country, taking
jobs and housing and creating strains on the health care system. Yet
the public remains largely divided in its views of the overall effect
of immigration. Roughly as many believe that newcomers to the U.S.
strengthen American society as say they threaten traditional American
values, and over the longer term, positive views of Latin American
immigrants, in particular, have improved dramatically. Reflecting this
ambivalence, the public is split over many of the policy proposals
aimed at dealing with the estimated 11.5 million-12 million
unauthorized migrants in the U.S. The poll is based on a survey
conducted nationally and in five cities in conjunction with the Pew
Research Center for People and the Press.

And:

3.30.2006
America's Immigration Quandary
No Consensus on Immigration Problem or Proposed Fixes

Report Materials
Complete Report

Pew Research Center for the People & the Press
Andrew Kohut, Director
Scott Keeter, Director of Survey Research
Carroll Doherty, Associate Director, Editorial

Pew Hispanic Center
Roberto Suro, Director
Gabriel Escobar, Associate Director, Publications

Americans are increasingly concerned about immigration. A growing
number believe that immigrants are a burden to the country, taking
jobs and housing and creating strains on the health care system. Many
people also worry about the cultural impact of the expanding number of
newcomers in the U.S.

Yet the public remains largely divided in its views of the overall
effect of immigration. Roughly as many believe that newcomers to the
U.S. strengthen American society as say they threaten traditional
American values, and over the longer term, positive views of Latin
American immigrants, in particular, have improved dramatically.

Reflecting this ambivalence, the public is split over many of the
policy proposals aimed at dealing with the estimated 11.5 million-12
million unauthorized migrants in the U.S. Overall, 53% say people who
are in the U.S. illegally should be required to go home, while 40% say
they should be granted some kind of legal status that allows them to
stay here.

To access your online copy of the report click on:

<http://pewhispanic.org/files/reports/63.pdf>;

Roberto R. Calderón
Historia Chicana [Historia]

Immigrants, Finding Their Voice

2006-04-01T15:47:00.000-08:00

Immigrants, Finding Their Voice

By David S. Broder

By turning out close to a million people in cities from Los Angeles to Washington for demonstrations against punitive immigration laws, the Hispanic community has delivered a timely reminder of the often-forgotten voice in this national debate.

To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/29/AR2006032902007.html?referrer=emailarticle