America's Voice Blog

Posted 03/31/09 at 04:03pm By Maria Ponce

A Different Face of the Immigration Debate

Haitian Children This past weekend the Family Unity Tour arrived in Florida, shining light on the urgent need for immigration reform- especially for the Haitian community there. 

In Homestead, FL, before a crowd of over about 500, Jocelyn shared her personal testimony about how ICE went after her family and deported her husband, leaving behind their two U.S. citizen children, Chandler and Jalyn.  These are the adorable faces to your right.

Jocelyn's husband had previously filed for political asylum in 1992, married a U.S. citizen, and together they had two U.S. citizen children, Chandler and Jalyn. ICE deported Jocelyn's husband to a country where, according to the State Department, there are no "safe areas".

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Posted 03/30/09 at 06:28pm By Jackie Mahendra

Progressives for Immigration Reform, Just Another Extreme Group?

John Tanton YikesYikes.

Eric Ward at Imagine2050.net has the story about the latest, well-disguised but extreme front group called Progressives for Immigration Reform:

Real progressives would do well to prepare in the coming months. The civil rights organization Center for New Community announced in the most recent edition of its e-bulletin, FAIR Exposed, that the Tanton Network has launched a front group called Progressives for Immigration Reform (PFIR). PFIR is simply another addition to a growing list of anti-immigrant groups being set up under the Tanton Network to give the illusion that the anti-immigrant movement is broader than it really is.

This network of organizations is named after white nationalist John Tanton the founder and key leader in a network of anti-immigrant organizations, spin-offs and front groups. Key entities include Center for Immigration Studies, Social Contract Press, and the Coalition for the Future American Worker.

John Tanton is a controversial figure. The founder and a current board member of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), Tanton helped secure over a million dollars in funding from a foundation known as the Pioneer Fund, a racist foundation that peddles pseudo-science claiming that blacks are intellectually inferior to whites based on cultural and biological factors. In the 1930s the Pioneer Fund distributed propaganda films developed by the Nazi Germany to public schools.

John Tanton, pictured above, is indeed the mastermind of the anti-immigrant movement in the United States. If you haven't yet, check out this video, called "Wolves," that talks about the organizations that have shifted our immigration debate toward the ugly, irrational, and xenophobic:

 

Kudos to Eric for keeping the spotlight on these wolves in sheep's clothing.

 

Posted 03/27/09 at 12:16pm By Jackie Mahendra

Olbermann Slams Detention Conditions, Buchanan to Send Snipers to Border

Yesterday Keith Olbermann highlighted the recent Amnesty International report damning US immigrant detention. (Thanks to Kyle of Citizen Orange for the video):

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

 

Another must-see video: Jason Linkins reports on the front page of Huffington Post Politics today that "Pat Buchanan Recommends Sniper-Based Border Security" in an interview with Chris Matthews on last night's edition of Hardball.

Here's the video:

Of course, snipers are only one part of Buchanan's crazy talk in this interview. As Dave Neiwert notes, "Pat Buchanan wonders if the nation will survive having 135 million Hispanics".

No racism there.

 

Posted 03/26/09 at 09:19pm By Jackie Mahendra

Hate Group FAIR Giving Away 512 MB Flash Drives

USB KeyJust got this bizarre fundraising email forwarded to me. Looks like the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), recognized a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, is giving away free 512 MB flash drives (come on guys, couldn't you spring for 1 GB?).

This must be one of their stranger attempts to fight progress on common-sense immigration reform.

The group has been on red-alert ever since Speaker Pelosi called for an end to raids that tear families apart and for Congress to start working on comprehensive immigration reform.

Blogger Dave Neiwert, who frequently covers hate group activity for Crooks and Liars, describes the frenzied state of their counterparts in the media- Lou Dobbs, Michelle Malkin, and more- in a thorough piece about immigration raids (worth reading in its entirety):

Greater Wingnuttia wants to get all in an uproar about Nancy Pelosi's remarks the other night in San Francisco before a pro-immigrant gathering:

"Who in this country would not want to change a policy of kicking in doors in the middle of the night and sending a parent away from their families? It must be stopped. ... What value system is that? I think it's un-American." [...]

The wingnuts may stamp their feet and have a fit. But what must really anger them -- and maybe frighten them a little -- is the knowledge that a lot of Americans very much agree with her.

And it's not only bloggers who agree with Speaker Pesoli's stance, but the Head of the US. Conference of Bishops, Evangelicals, and faith leaders from from across the nation.

Here's a segment of FAIR's fundraising email:

No one else will do this. That is why we are asking you to get involved in our mission today by contributing $25 or more to supporting FAIR’s crucial work in 2009. We'll send you your FAIR 2009 member card and ask that you carry it as a reminder that you are doing something to fix the immigration crisis in our country.

As a token of our appreciation for your generous contribution, we will also send you your very own FAIR flash drive that you can use to store files, information, and your personal data.

It seems to me, it used to be enough to just give your hard-earned dollars to a hate group and know that you were doing the right thing.  Kids today-- they're just spoiled rotten. They need fancy plasic membership cards and cheap electronics from China in order to give anything!

But really, when it comes down to it, there's nothing like a flash drive to remind you how much you hate immigrants. 

Posted 03/25/09 at 03:53pm By Paco Fabian

Amnesty International Shines 1000 Watt Bulb on Immigrant Detention Crisis

detention crisisA scathing report by Amnesty International USA shines a 1000 watt light bulb on a pressing human rights crisis: the appalling conditions and lack of due process that undocumented immigrants, some legal immigrants, and asylum seekers are dropped into when they are detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agency. 

Tyche Hendricks, from the San Francisco Chronicle, describes it this way:

The system is attracting increased attention in part because the number of people in detention has grown exponentially in recent years and in part because of dozens of in-custody deaths and a lawsuit over the treatment of children.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano last month ordered her department to examine all aspects of Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations and hired a special assistant, Dora Schriro, to oversee detention and removal conditions.

Hendricks continues:

The Amnesty International report, "Jailed Without Justice: Immigration Detention in the USA," noted a variety of concerns over due process and the conditions of detention:

  • People in immigration custody don't have the same guarantees as criminal detainees to challenge their detention before a court, make a phone call or obtain legal representation.

  • Detainees can be transferred from one facility to another, sometimes in another state, with no notice given to their families or attorneys.

  • Two-thirds of people in federal immigration custody are housed in state or county detention facilities, usually alongside criminal detainees, even though violations of immigration law are considered administrative, not criminal, and asylum seekers have committed no violation.

  • Immigrants are subject to excessive use of restraints such as handcuffs, waist chains and leg restraints.

"In the criminal justice system, anyone arrested is assumed innocent, but in the immigration system, they're put in detention, and then it's the individual's burden to prove they shouldn't be detained," said Sarnata Reynolds, an author of the report. "That's why you'll see long periods of detention, because it's an incredibly high burden."

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Posted 03/25/09 at 02:54pm By Maribel Hastings

Argumento Economico para la Legalizacion

Por Maribel Hastings para America's Voice

¿Es conveniente o práctico presionar por una reforma migratoria amplia en medio de una recesión económica?

Para el doctor Raúl Hinojosa-Ojeda, director ejecutivo del Centro de Desarrollo e Integración de Norteamérica de la Universidad de California en Los Ángeles (UCLA), la legalización de trabajadores supondría buenas noticias para la economía.

Hinojosa-Ojeda indicó a America's Voice que hay que remitirse a los años posteriores a la promulgación por el presidente republicano Ronald Reagan, de la Ley de Reforma y Control de Inmigración (IRCA) de 1986. Esta resultó en mayores ingresos para los trabajadores legalizados, mayor consumo que benefició a la economía, y mayores impuestos al fisco en medio de la recesión de fines de los ochenta y principios de los noventa.

En su reporte "Estímulo Económico mediante la Legalización" para el Instituto William C. Velásquez, Hinojosa-Ojeda indica que si la Casa Blanca y el Congreso logran la legalización de los 10 a 12 millones de indocumentados en Estados Unidos, ésto resultaría en un estímulo económico de entre 30,000 y 36,000 millones de dólares en ingresos personales; entre 4,500 y 5,400 millones de dólares en ingresos tributarios netos; y en la creación de entre 750,000 y 900,000 nuevos trabajos

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Posted 03/25/09 at 02:09pm By Patty Kupfer

Cardinal George, Faith Leaders Call for End to ‘Un-American’ Raids

Cardinal George"End the raids." That's the message from Cardinal George, head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, in USA Today.

Folks, it just doesn't get any simpler than that. 

You've probably heard the uproar - led by Lou Dobbs- over Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's recent statements at a church in her hometown. She called on Congress to end immigration raids that tear families apart, a process which she called "un-American."

Well, faith leaders from across the nation are lining up with the same line. They are calling for an end to federal policies that have terrorized immigrant families and trampled our most basic values of families.

Rev. Jim Wallis is saying it loud and clear on his website, www.GodsPolitics.com, in an opinion piece called "Stop the Raids."

Cardinal Francis George of Chicago and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, echoed the call this weekend as part of the Family Unity Tour:

"I stand with other faith leaders and all of you gathered here today and with every immigrant family in this nation to call on our government to end immigration raids and the separation of families."

He went on, "To separate families, wives from husbands, children from parents, is to diminish what God has joined."

So, it turns out that the extremists- led by Lou Dobbs - were right, and Speaker Pelosi was wrong. The raids aren't un-American.

They're unconscionable.

Posted 03/24/09 at 08:22pm By Web Team

Phoenix Police Chief: Don’t Just Treat the Symptoms, Fix the Problem

Jack HarrisThe Washington Post's George Will has a great column on Police Chief Jack Harris, who argues that Washington's failure to pass comprehensive immigration reform directly affects his ability to fight crime in Phoenix.

According to Will, Harris fits the profile of a top cop, "is stolid and patient, but there are limits." He writes:

Clearly, he is weary of explaining that this is one of America's safest large cities, with declining rates of violent crime and property crime. Unfortunately, there are the kidnappings.

For them, Harris says, "The answer is not in Phoenix. The answer is in Washington. "We know how to close a border," says Harris with acid dryness: "build a wall" and deploy "machine gun nests."

But "I personally think that is stupid." For now, however, the U.S. "has turned immigration policy over to Mexican thugs." So, we have reached a point at which barbed wire, car batteries and acid become the business tools of kidnapper-torturer-extortionists.

What does Harris suggest as an alternative to turning our nation's immigration policy over to "thugs?" Simple:  if you want to crackdown on crime, deal intelligently with the borders, get folks out of the shadows, and create a system that people want to go through and not around.

Pass comprehensive immigration reform.

Click here to read more.
Posted 03/24/09 at 12:42pm By Maribel Hastings

Un Asunto de Conciencia - Testimonios

Familias Unidas - spanishPor Maribel Hastings para America’s Voice

La gira "Familias Unidas" que encabeza por el país el congresista demócrata de Illinois, Luis Gutiérrez, atrae a miles de inmigrantes, legales e indocumentados, y ciudadanos estadounidenses, irónicamente unidos por la división familiar provocada por la falta de una reforma migratoria integral y las deportaciones.

Estos son algunos de los testimonios recabados el pasado sábado 21 de marzo en la Parroquia Our Lady of Mercy en Chicago, una de las escalas de la gira de Gutiérrez.

EN LA IGLESIA, VOCES QUE CLAMAN POR LA REFORMA
Katherine, de cuatro años de edad y ciudadana, y su madre indocumentada, María O.
”Quiero que mi familia se quede conmigo, y mi hermana también”, nos dijo Katherine de apenas cuatro años, nacida en Estados Unidos de madre indocumentada y padre estadounidense. Pero su padre murió hace dos años y María quedó en un limbo legal.

“Llegué hace nueve años. Mi esposo murió y mi caso se perdió. Mi mayor preocupación es que me agarren y me deporten. No tengo más familia aquí, soy madre soltera. ¿Qué será de mis hijas”, dice refiriéndose a su hija adoptiva mayor, que tampoco tiene documentos.

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Posted 03/23/09 at 02:24pm By Maribel Hastings

Un Asunto de Conciencia

familias unidas spanish versionPor Maribel Hastings para America's Voice

CHICAGO, IL -- Más allá de seguir las maniobras políticas que dan vida o entierran las posibilidades de una salida humana y justa a nuestro disfuncional  sistema migratorio,  a veces es mejor escuchar a quienes día con día sufren la incertidumbre y el terror de no saber si serán los próximos en ser deportados; de desconocer si hoy será el día en que su padre, su madre o un hijo no regresará a la hora acostumbrada; de no saber cuándo volverán a ver a sus detenidos o a sus deportados.

"La pregunta es, ¿qué pasará con nosotros si uno o nuestros dos padres son deportados?", cuestionó Brenda, de 11 años, al narrar su historia, similar a la de más de cinco millones como ella. Brenda y sus dos hermanas, una de las cuales, Cindy, quiere ser presidenta de Estados Unidos, nacieron en este país y sus dos padres son indocumentados. Leyeron la carta que esperan llegue a manos del presidente Barack Obama "para que haga algo por todos los niños que están atravesando por esta experiencia".

 

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