12/11/09 Earlier this month, Angela Caputo of Progress Illinois described Rigo Padilla, the 19-year-old honors student facing deportation, pictured in the video above, as "A Local Posterchild For Our Broken Immigration System:" Well, according to the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR):"Today, December 10th, we got some great news. Rigo Padilla's deportation has been deferred. The campaign to stop Rigo's deportation exemplifies two things. Our immigration system is broken and that we have the power to fix it."
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12/09/09 The Washington Post has a devastating feature today entitled, "Left behind: A child's burden," and subtitled, "An undesirable inheritance." In it, N.C. Aizenman reports on the diverse ways in which the U.S.-born kids of Hispanic immigrants are coping with poverty, as well as the fact that they are two times more likely to face poverty than other American children.
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12/07/09 There are those in Washington who doubt the possibility of passing comprehensive immigration reform, and while they say it's too hard, Cokie Roberts, news analyst for NPR, claims immigration reform - though challenging - is "reform that's right stuff." In an Op-Ed piece to the Trentonian today, Cokie explains that there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about fixing our broken immigration system.
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12/02/09 The debate over legalizing farm workers has always been marked by the controversial question of labor conditions and migrants' lives, health and housing. But this time, labor organization and farmers are in agreement that passing an AgJOBS bill is a shared necessity.
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11/25/09 We know that immigrant workers are a crucial, though often invisible, part of the American workforce. However, as we sit down to pumpkin pies with whipped cream on top this week, it's important to remember just how many American businesses --dairy farming firmly among them -- rely on immigrants to run.
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11/11/09 My story is similar to that of thousands of other immigrants in the United States Armed Services. Yesterday, Senator Bob Menendez from New Jersey introduced a bill to provide immigration relief to the thousands of immigrants and their families serving overseas. Simply, the bill aims to keep the families of US service members together while they fight for our freedom. At the very least, service members have earned the right to be united with their closest family members on a permanent basis without fearing that they will face unfair and unexpected deportation.
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11/06/09 A: Billions upon billions, if some Republicans get their way. Fortunately, they didn't get their way on the Census yesterday. The Vitter-Bennett census amendment to the Commerce, Justice, and Science appropriations bill became a moot point yesterday afternoon when the Senate ended debate on the bill in a nail-biting procedural vote of 60 to 39, which comes as a relief to advocates who worked non-stop, through hubs like DontWreckTheCensus.org, to help sink the unconstitutional, impractical, and expensive measure.
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10/28/09 Here's a splashy headline CNN released last week: "CNN Poll: 3 out of 4 want illegal immigration decreased." Sounds pretty tough on immigrants, right? Rough week for common-sense immigration reform? Actually, no. See, CNN asked whether Americans wanted more or less illegal immigration. Since most advocates agree that more illegal immigration would be undesirable, this question doesn't say much. If you do the math, CNN could have just as easily released their poll with this headline: "CNN Poll: 2 of 3 Americans want immigrants legalized, not deported."
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10/27/09 Yesterday, in "Warning: Talking Sanely about Immigration May Be Hazardous," we reported on Sacramento's Police Chief Rick Braziel, and his measured, rational approach to immigration and community policing. Today, we are happy to highlight another key voice on this issue. Outgoing LAPD Police Chief William J. Bratton is a member of the rapidly-growing network of police chiefs across the nation calling for a serious immigration overhaul.
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10/27/09 Today, the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), American Rights at Work (ARAW), and the National Employment Law Project (NELP) are releasing a report, "ICED Out: How Immigration Enforcement Has Interfered with Workers' Rights," which documents, according to the press advisory, "how the federal government's approach to immigration enforcement in the recent past has severely undermined efforts to protect workers' rights, to the detriment of immigrant and native-born workers alike." The reports examines the Bush Administration's workplace immigration enforcement actions between 2006 and 2008 and it describes, in devastating detail, the problems associated with prioritizing immigration enforcement over labor law enforcement.
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10/23/09 A U.S. News and World Report article this week speaks to the growing chorus of religious conservatives standing up for comprehensive immigration reform: Many of the same faith-based groups attacking Obama and the Democrats (on other issues), including the National Association of Evangelicals, the Southern Baptist Convention, and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, are poised to become major players in the president's coming push for comprehensive immigration reform, which would include a path to citizenship for many illegal immigrants. "There is a strong biblical teaching about showing hospitality to the stranger and the alien," says (National Association of Evangelicals chief lobbyist Galen) Carey. Carey's organization, the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), made news earlier this month when its board unanimously passed a resolution in support of reform.
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09/30/09 Today the Senate Finance Committee is considering several key amendments on immigration to the current health insurance reform legislation. The worst amendments are sponsored by Senators Kyl (R-AZ), Grassley (R-IA) and Ensign (R-NV). Check out this alert by reform advocates working on the intersection of healthcare and immigration policy -- please take a moment to call your Senators now to oppose amendments that are bad policy for all Americans.
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09/24/09 By weekly guest blogger, Nezua: "As the immigration debate grows increasingly tense and intertwined with economic worries, cultural anxiety, and deep-seated racism and xenophobia, it is important to be clear about what's at stake. This debate is about our humanity; about our most fundamental legal precepts concerning a human rights; about refusing to exploit the weak."
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09/16/09 If you can't stand up for innocent children, then who can you stand up for? Faith communities across the state of New Jersey did just that yesterday, hosting prayer vigils in ten different cities to highlight the destructive policies that are tearing U.S. children from their immigrant parents.
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09/10/09 It's obvious that the specter of ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION is being used by politicians like Rep. Joe Wilson as a divisive wedge issue-- he has become a mouthpiece for groups whose main agendas are rooted in white nationalism, fear, and xenophobia. One such organization is the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), classified as a "hate group" by the Southern Poverty Law Center. FAIR has been lobbying Congress for years now and is storming DC this week for its annual "Hold Their Feet To The Fire" lobby days. Take Action!
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09/09/09 Taking a cue from the "tea parties" and rowdy "townhalls" this summer, perhaps, Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) shouted, "You lie!" at President Obama during his speech last night. According to the Associated Press: "OBAMA: "The reforms I'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally." One congressman, South Carolina Republican Joe Wilson, shouted "You lie!" from his seat in the House chamber when Obama made this assertion. Wilson later apologized."
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09/04/09 The Center for Urban Economic Development, National Employment Law Project, and UCLA Institutute for Research on Labor and Employment, released a study titled "Broken Laws, Unprotected Workers that explored the treatment of approximately 4,500 workers in three of America's biggest cities - New York, LA, and Chicago. It cites a surprising number of labor and workplace abuses happening right here in the United States. One finding is that the current dysfunctional immigration system also makes it harder for immigrant workers to assert their rights in the workplace-- and that this hurts all American workers.
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09/02/09 Immigration Policy Center just released a new report by Senior Researcher Walter Ewing that injects "a healthy dose of economic realism" into the debate over how the government should handle the 12 million undocumented immigrants in the country. According to Ewing, our current economic situation needs immigration reform that helps rather than hurts the US economy, and so he lists three potential changes in immigration policy and compares their economic impact – leaving aside the moral and civil issues that surround various options.
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08/31/09 So apparently, the US government has been spending its time -- and our money -- to send American citizens...on free trips to Mexico? In April, our government admitted that it wrongly deported a North Carolina native, Mark Lyttle, who speaks no Spanish and is mentally ill -- a fact of which federal agents were allegedly aware.
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07/28/09 It wasn't at first obvious to an outsider what these police chiefs had in common, but after an hour's worth of discussion it became clear: they've all been caught at the center of an immigration fire storm, without ever choosing to be there. What do these chiefs want instead? Consensus on this one -- they just want to do their jobs: ensuring the safety of the communities they serve. Police chiefs and many of the associations that represent them, the Major Cities Chiefs, the Police Foundation, and now the Police Executive Research Forum, have increasingly been standing up to say just that.
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07/06/09 "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free..." reads the inscription on the Statue of Liberty, perhaps our country's clearest welcome to those who come to America in search of a better life. This July 4th, America celebrated the rich, cultural influences that make up this nation of immigrants by naturalizing approximately 6,000 immigrants in 50 patriotic ceremonies around the country.
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06/03/09 It's not just the Wall Street Journal. Kos, founder of the progressive political site Daily Kos, digs into our new polling figures today: "So check it -- conventional wisdom is that tough economic times generates anti-immigrant sentiment, but these numbers are stellar. And that's just asking people about "comprehensive immigration reform". Look what happens when they are told what that actually means..."
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06/03/09 New public opinion research by Lake Research Partners showed up in the Wall Street Journal yesterday, ripping to shreds the conventional wisdom that immigration reform can't happen in a down economy: "If anything, the economic climate has actually improved the environment for immigration reform, at least as far as the public is concerned," said Celinda Lake, who heads Lake Research Partners."
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04/27/09 As usual, right-wing media is off blaming immigrants for everything wrong with the world. To recap: yes, swine flu is wreaking havoc in Mexico and has taken over a hundred lives there. Yes, it is a major disaster that needs to be tracked, treated, and contained - and our government is working to do that. But no, Michelle Malkin, this dreaded flu is not the fault of immigrants living in our nation.
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04/23/09 The New York Times has a poignant piece about family separation today, separation that is occurring across our nation as a result of our broken immigration system. It details the story of Encarnaci�n Bail Romero, a mother who was locked up after an immigration raid in Carthage, Missouri, and her two year old son, Carlos. An immigration lawyer, Christopher Huck, argued: "In many cases, what state courts want to do �conflicts with what federal immigration agencies are supposed to do... then things spiral out of control, and it ends up in these real unfortunate situations."
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04/16/09 Note: This is a new weekly feature by Nezua, TMC MediaWire Blogger. The dialogue on immigration has, historically, been contentious and cyclical. There are times when hysteria peaks, and rational thought struggles to enter the national dialogue. There are also moments of truth. This week, independent media debunked many myths about the undocumented and made the case for the positive impact of immigrants in the US, including the positive effect of legalizing the undocumented on the economy and how citizens are holding elected representatives accountable for votes against pro-immigrant measures.
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04/15/09 Well, yesterday was a new day. Yesterday's news that organized labor has joined forces to push for comprehensive reform highlights the important link between comprehensive immigration reform, the economy, and worker protection. As the New York Times argued so succinctly yesterday: Even in a bad economy - especially in a bad economy - getting undocumented immigrants on the right side of the law only makes sense.
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