America's Voice Blog

Posted 06/24/10 at 04:30pm By Jackie Mahendra

United Farm Workers Wants YOU… To Come Take Their Jobs?

That’s right, the United Farm Workers (UFW) have commenced what they are calling the “Take Our Jobs” campaign, an unprecedented effort to call attention to the importance of immigrant workers to our food supply -- and the difficulties agricultural employers have in maintaining a stable, legal workforce.  As UFW highlights on their campaign website:

“We are a nation in denial about our food supply."

Watch a farm worker slideshow from their site:

 

According to Marisa Treviño at Latina Lista:

The idea behind it all is to highlight the need for a legal workforce which can only be achieved through immigration reforms -- without which the domestic agricultural industry could be crippled, leading to more jobs moving off shore.

In a letter to U.S. lawmakers, UFW offers farm workers who are "ready to train citizens and legal residents who wish to replace immigrants in the fields," and encourages Members of Congress to refer their constituents to vacant farm worker positions.

It’s clear that undocumented farm workers are the backbone of United States agriculture. They make up the majority of workers in this crucial industry, yet many of these workers have no way to normalize their status – they often live in fear of exploitation and deportation. These workers and their advocates have been asking Congress for years to fix what most everyone agrees is an outdated, ineffective, and inhumane immigration system.

Click here to read more.
Posted 06/18/10 at 10:35am By Rafael Prieto

‘Qué Pasa’ in Immigration: Legal Action Against SB 1070?; CIR in Limbo; Father’s Day Postcard

The Spanish-Language media covers the statements made by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, suggesting that the Obama Administration will undertake legal action against Arizona state law SB 1070.  AP reports on Governor Jan Brewer’s reaction to what Clinton said at the beginning of the month in Ecuador during an interview with a Colombian international television service, NTN24.

CIR in Limbo.  EFE also reports on the private meeting yesterday between pro-immigrant leaders and advocates with Democratic Senators on the future of comprehensive immigration reform and the DREAM Act and AgJOBS initiatives.

Click here to read more.
Posted 03/10/10 at 11:47am By Adam Luna

Brown is the New Black When it Comes to ‘Welfare Queens’

Cross-Posted at Jack and Jill Politics and Daily Kos:

Monday night I listened in on a organizing call for leaders of NumbersUSA, the “MoveOn” of the anti-immigrant lobby. The purpose of the call was to figure out how to throw a wrench in the upcoming grassroots mobilization (taking place in DC on March 21st) for real immigration reform. Already, tens of thousands of people have signed up to march to D.C. to demand economic justice for all Americans and an end to our nation’s abysmal immigration crisis— so naturally the anti-immigrant folks are freaking out.

Even still, some of the speakers on this call really took things to a new level. Here’s what went down.

Meagan Ortiz from VivirLatino, who also listened in, writes:

One particular participant on the call wanted to raise the issue of women, specifically how Mexican women were the new “welfare queens” with their “anchor babies”, taking an old stereotype waged against African-American women in the age of Reagan and revamping it to use against Latina women. This caller was not dismissed but rather praised for his message and told to use the word “dependents” instead of “babies” or “children” because that word was emotional for “them”, meaning Latinos and other immigrants. “We have children, they have dependents”, another caller guided.

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Posted 02/23/10 at 03:40pm By Jackie Mahendra

GOP Plays ‘Immigrant’ Card to Block Progress AGAIN: First Sick Kids, Now Unemployed Americans

Today The Hill is reporting that Repbulican Senators are using immigration wedge politics to try to poke holes in the new jobs legislation moving forward in Congress:

The GOP expressed worries that the $15 billion jobs package crafted by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), does not go far enough to ensure that businesses don't use new-jobs tax credits in the bill to write off jobs given to illegal immigrants.

Sound familiar? It should. Restrictionist members of the GOP have been playing the 'immigrant' card on nearly every major piece of legislation that's come before Congress this session. They started off playing politics with sick kids, but now they are holding jobs for unemployed Americans hostage in order to score cheap political points on the backs of America's most vulnerable workers and families.

A familiar bloc of Republican Senators (PDF) are protesting the Senate jobs bill over supposed fears that the bill’s tax credits for employers would be used to employ unauthorized immigrants.  The reality, according to The Hill, is that the very language in this current jobs bill is the same as language first introduced by Republican Senator Orrin Hatch from Utah in tax rebate legislation. In short, it is already against the law to hire unauthorized workers. Reality, however, is rarely the issue with this debate.

The thinly-veiled excuse to oppose legislation based on the "illegal immigration" boogeyman is a worn-out strategy used again and again by some GOP lawmakers, who draw on research by extreme groups like the Federation for American Immigration Reform, (FAIR), a recognized hate group, to make their points. These groups have urged their Republican allies to play the "immigrant" card in the stimulus bill, SCHIP, healthcare, the financial crisis, the flu pandemic, and even global warming.

As America's Voice Executive Director Frank Sharry has argued:

...this is a familiar page from the GOP playbook: play off of people's anxieties over illegal immigration with lies and distortion in order to delay or derail something largely unrelated.

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Posted 10/30/09 at 12:08pm By Adam Luna

Speaking for God and for America’s Top Cops – the Center for Immigration Studies

America’s top religious and law enforcement leaders are taking a strong stance in favor of sensible immigration reform and it’s made the anti-immigrant crowd very nervous.

In response, the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), the anti-immigrant lobby’s “think tank,” released two reports, written by the same author, claiming that Los Angeles police chief William Bratton and Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Archbishop Emeritus of Washington, don't know what they're talking about.

An offshoot of the Federation for American Immigration Reform – designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center – CIS’ role is to halt the anti-immigrant movement's dwindling credibility.  They do this by releasing reports written by their "experts” to counter the views of actual authorities in their fields.

CIS’ credibility took a hit earlier this year with a report blaming immigrants for global warming and another when CIS director Mark Krikorian called on Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor to pronounce her name in a less ethnic-sounding way.  But the widening chasm between actual experts and the CIS peanut gallery has become almost laughable.

Let's meet one of the Center's "experts":  James R. Edwards, a principal of the MITA ("Man in the Action") Group. Despite not having a badge or a collar, Edwards is a CIS “expert” on law enforcement, the Bible and a number of other issues.

Here's how the Center for Immigration Studies and Edwards defend America's broken immigration policies:

Step One:  Law enforcement experts discuss changes to our ineffective immigration enforcement policies – July 22, 2009.

Step Two: CIS releases a report claiming to be the real law enforcement experts - October 27, 2009.

Click here to read more.
Posted 09/08/09 at 08:40am By Jackie Mahendra

L.A. Times: E-mails on illegal immigration are eye-opening

Angel kittyHector Tobar of the LA Times digs deep into those oft-circulated immigration chain letters today.

You know, the ones that tell you how many "illegal aliens" steal small kittens from kindergarteners every year, and when you scroll down you get the animated kitten photos, with twinkling angel wings to boot... O.K., but seriously, there are tons of illegal immigration-related chain letters in circulation, and it's hard to overestimate just how many people have been subjected to their blatant mistruths.

According to Tobar:

A deeper look at the facts contained in chain letters reveals hyperbole, exaggerations and misstatements by opponents.

The article highlights one specific letter, which cites the L.A. Times throughout, and digs point by point through it. For instance:

1. "40% of all workers in L.A. County are working for cash and not paying taxes. . . . This is because they are predominantly illegal immigrants working without a green card."

The source of this information seems to be a 2005 study by the Economic Roundtable on the informal economy in Los Angeles County. Its findings were reported in The Times and other papers.

But the chain-mail's author more than doubled the figures in that study, which estimated that 15% of the county workforce was outside the regulated economy in 2004. Illegal immigrants getting paid in cash, it said, probably made up about 9% of the workforce.

The piece concludes by citing the last two "facts" of the email, which lie closest to truthiness:

9. 21 radio stations in L. A. are Spanish speaking.

10. In L. A. County 5.1 million people speak English, 3.9 million speak Spanish.

These facts are close to the actual numbers, though the language figures are deceptive.

An annual census survey asks people if they "speak a language other than English at home." According to the most recent report, 3.7 million county residents speak Spanish. But more than half of those Spanish speakers answered that they also speak English "very well." Only one in 10 Spanish speakers said they don't speak any English at all.

Obviously, the ability to speak a language other than English, or the desire to listen to Spanish music, doesn't make you an illegal immigrant or a threat to U.S. democracy. It's a slur against Los Angeles, really, to find these items on a list of "problems" caused by illegal immigration.

The authors of the chain e-mail and the phony government report fear what Los Angeles has become -- a multilingual, multiethnic city with multicultural tastes.

They search for information to persuade others to be afraid, but the actual numbers don't quite add up to the big monster they think is out there.

So they make the numbers bigger. Or they just make them up. And they spread them around until all that fear and anger turns into a big hate.

That's what I saw when I let that e-mail open my eyes.

Well said.

Now, forward this blog post to at least 10 people, or else you will come down with a deadly case of bubonic plague and your daughter's pet goldfish will die.

Posted 06/30/09 at 08:48am By Jackie Mahendra

Sotomayor-critic Krikorian Seeks to Hang Healthcare Debate on Immigrants

Think Progress' Wonk Room blogger Andrea Nill found this clip of Mark Krikorian (of Keith Olbermann Worst Person in the World fame) trying to pin the problems with our healthcare system, including our "uninsured crisis" on immigrants. Big surprise there.

Mark Krikorian is the Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a restrictionist "think tank" that plays prominently within the network of anti-immigrant organizations beholden to John Tanton, a man with clear ties to white nationalism.

Here's the video:

 

According to Nill in Mark Krikorian And CIS Conflate ‘Uninsured Crisis’ With ‘Immigration Crisis,’ Krikorian's claims falsely distort the healthcare debate in much the same way as his now-infamous call for Judge Sonia Sotomayor to change her last name to sound more "Anglo" distorted the debate over the President's Supreme Court nomination's qualifications.

Click here to read more.
Posted 05/08/09 at 03:00pm By Web Team

Weekly Immigration Wire: Crisis and the Potential for Change

Note: This is a weekly feature by Nezua, TMC MediaWire Blogger

WireThis week's Wire focuses on the opportunities for change that crisis can introduce. From the H1N1 "Swine" flu's declining fervor to 2009's May Day marches for worker rights and immigrant solidarity; from the tragic killing of Luis Ramirez to legislative movement on immigration, these are tumultuous times. But it is precisely such conflict and challenge that provides the best opportunities to make lasting change.

Last week, we highlighted how anti-immigration voices were exploiting the nation's fear of the H1N1 flu to their own advantage. While still no joke (except in biting satire), the flu is an overhyped event used by Republicans to push an anti-immigration agenda, according to the Colorado Independent's Daphne Eviater. While not all immigration comes from Mexico, the country and its people are often used as convenient scapegoats.

Mexico is suffering most from both the virus and an intensifying conservative backlash, as New America Media (NAM) revealed in several articles this week. As if the confluence of these forces weren't enough, an April 27th earthquake struck Mexico, adding to the atmosphere "in an almost surrealistic fashion," writes NAM's Kent Paterson. At least truths are beginning to surface as to the flu's origin:

News reports link the possible start of the health crisis to a huge, runaway U.S. pig farm located in the Veracruz-Puebla borderlands. The farm in question is owned in part by U.S.-based Smithfield Foods, the largest hog and pork producer in the world and a company with a record for environmental violations on this side of the border.

Will the government or agricultural industry look into the complaints against Smithfield farms' with the fervor of anti-immigrant pundits? Unfortunate events like the H1N1 flu can be opportunities to make positive changes to the systems involved. The agricultural sector and its crowded animal farms are clearly in need of reform.

Click here to read more.
Posted 05/07/09 at 10:07am By Jackie Mahendra

Breaking: Sessions Incendiary On Immigration, Linked To White Nationalist

Huffpo Politics Sam Stein reports, in the top story on Huffington Post Politics today:

Since becoming the top ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Jeff Sessions' record has been almost solely analyzed for tealeaves on how he will approach Barack Obama's forthcoming Supreme Court nomination.

The Judiciary Committee, however, has a far broader purview than simply the consideration of judiciary picks, all of which Sessions will hold heavy influence over. On Thursday, the Alabama Republican's resume in regards to one of those other fields -- immigration reform -- was placed under the microscope by the immigration reform group America's Voice.

Read the full report that places Senator Sessions squarely within John Tanton's network of anti-immigrant organizations and individuals with ties to white nationalism. Below's a brief snapshot: 

A history of hate:

The leading GOP Senator on the Judiciary Committee has aligned himself with people and entities that bash immigrants and make hate a priority.

What Sessions has said:

Sessions has used the Senate as a bully pulpit from which to spew anti-immigrant rhetoric.  His voting record is solidly anti-immigrant, but his speeches truly give him away.  In a June 27, 2007 floor statement on the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007, Sessions played the “terrorist” card. In that same floor statement on the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007, Sessions also called the bill the “Terrorist Assistance and Facilitation Act of 2007.”

Sessions’ courtship of anti-immigrant extremism:

Last year, NumbersUSA named Sessions its  “2008 Defender of the Rule of Law.”  On May 5, 2009, NumbersUSA issued a press release welcoming Sessions’ ascension to his new role on the Senate Judiciary, claiming the Alabama Senator is the “the No. 1 champion for the American workers on immigration issues.”   NumbersUSA's claim is clearly not consistent with Sessions’ anti-labor voting record.

Click here to read more.
Posted 05/04/09 at 07:18pm By Jackie Mahendra

Watch it: Rep Boehner and Rep. King Label Hispanic Politicans Terrorists, Separatists

You just can't make this stuff up.

CHCLast week House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) released what has been described by many as "a fearmongering video" that places the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) firmly within a photo montage of what The Hill describes as "President Hugo Chavez, a group of apparent jihadists burning an American flag, an explosion, a hooded man with a rocket launcher, and an image of the Pentagon from Sept. 11."

For the record, the pictured meeting between Obama and the CHC had nada to do with Hugo Chavez, jihadists, burning American flags, explosions, hooded men with rocket launchers, or the Petagon on September 11th, but it did center on moving a real immigration reform forward.

These kinds of mistakes happen, though, right?

If so, the CHC wasn't buying it. The Hill reports:

“On behalf of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), we write to demand an apology for the inclusion of the picture of the CHC meeting with President Obama in the video on your official website entitled “Do You Feel Safer?,’” the CHC wrote in a letter being sent to Republican Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), whose office created the video. 

 

 

Apology accepted?

Believe it or not, no apology was offered. In fact, the CHC's demand for an apology was described as "beyond silly" by RNC Chair Michael Steele.

Yes, this is the same Steele who has often called on the Republican party to be more inclusive and tolerant when it comes to the Hispanic population. He has stated:

How we messaged that is where we messed up the last time. We were pegged as being insensitive, anti-immigrant, and nothing could be further from the truth, because you talk to those leaders in the Hispanic community, they will tell you the same thing.

Right.

Meanwhile, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) was busy with a little GOP Hispanic outreach of his own yesterday on the House floor.

Via Think Progress:

Yesterday, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) took to the House floor for an hour-long speech consisting of tired denunciations of Obama shaking hands with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez [...] During his tirade, King decided to direct part of his vitriol at the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, calling both organizations “separatist groups.” Watch it:

 

 

Really, gentlemen, what better way to bring a new generation of civic-minded Latinos into the Grand Old Party than to unapologetically brand Hispanic politicians as terrorists and separatists? 

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