The Political Complexity of Immigration

The Tribune/WGN commissioned a poll of the Chicago area that shows that voters understand that immigration is something that must be handled with nuance and compassion

The telephone poll of 800 heads of households across the six-county Chicago region July 8-14 found that 57 percent of the respondents did not want police to seek illegal immigrants for deportation.

Almost half of those polled, 48 percent, said they believed that illegal immigrants snatched jobs and resources, taking away from society and the economy.

Nearly all of those who responded, 87 percent, believed that some sort of legal status should be offered to the nearly 11 million people in the country illegally, provided that the immigrants aren’t dangerous felons, that they learn English and that they pay fines and back taxes.

ChicagoTribune.com

I’ve been blogging immigration for over five years now. Earned blisters from marches, protests and vigils close to home and across the country. Voted and advocated for promigrant/prohumanity candidates. Networked to help relief find the random email from a scared brother or sister without documents.

To be honest, it feels unsettling to talk about immigration as a political issue, because it has been used a weapon to destroy the lives of migrant workers, youth, and the communities that give our neighborhoods the vibrant sense of home that we love and cherish.

On the national level, both parties have bought into the notion that there is such a thing as having enough border security – the mirage of satiating the bloodlust of nativists who would rather see a fence hundreds of miles along a desert homeland that has experienced the migration of human beings for as long as the species walked the earth.

We have to be willing to change the way we think about immigration.

We must have the courage to look in the mirror for the reasons that the Summer of 2010 will go down as the deadliest in Arizona. 214 as of July 31st.

We should challenge politicians who are trying to save their careers by offering soundbites that are reckless and unconstitutional.

We must – because it will be the only thing that slows down this march to extremism by the United States. We must remember who we are as human beings.

We must.

Which is why The Sanctuary is back.

 

Russell Pearce’s New Email Problem

He’s not backing down from these remarks…yet:

If we are going to have an effect on the anchor baby racket, we need to target the mother. Call it sexist, but that’s the way nature made it. Men don’t drop anchor babies, illegal alien mothers do.

KPHO.com

If he’s still forwarding emails like that, it looks like he failed to learn the lesson of spreading the special brand of hate offered by the white supremacist group National Alliance a couple of years ago.

Shocking.

 

Birth Certificates Destroyed by DHS Personnel?

Exclusive and Breaking News from the States Without Nations blog:

Here are descriptions of two previously unpublished accounts of U.S.-born Mexican-American teenagers who had their birth certificates ripped up by Customs and Border Patrol Agents. I have information on other similar cases, but only time to write up the details of these two, along with summaries and links to two other recent cases published elsewhere.

Just to be clear, a national identity card doesn’t solve these problems: in many cases of U.S. citizens deported ICE or Customs and Border Patrol doesn’t even check the digital files that have evidence matching the identity cards presented by the individual with the information in their databases– as was the case at several points for Mark Lyttle. If no one bothers to check that a passport (or national identity card) matches the information in a law enforcement database– as should happen when a U.S. citizen objects to having his proper identity disregarded by an agent or an immigration judge — then having a national card does nothing and is no improvement over our current system.

Mexican-Americans with Birth Certificates Border Patrol Destroys or Ignores
1. Mario, 17, was born in a Colorado hospital in the late 1980s and I’ve seen his birth certificate and hospital records.

Mario’s mother is a U.S. citizen and his father Mexican. When Mario was a toddler his father and mother separated and Mario’s father brought him to Mexico. His father’s plan was to raise Mario, and then he would return to the United States. When Mario was 17 he decided it was time to “go back to the United States and claim his destiny,” according to an individual familiar with this case. Mario had uncles in Tucson who visited Mario frequently in Mexico. He was especially interested in finding his mother. A birth certificate is a valid form of identification for entering the United States, and Mario thought he was all set. (Mario couldn’t obtain a U.S. passport from Mexico because if you’re 17 or under, that requires the presence of both legal parents.)

In early 2007, when Mario tried to return through Nogales, Arizona the Customs and Border Patrol agent, the attorney said, “tore it up on the spot. They told him, ‘It’s not real. Go away, kid, this is fraud.’ There goes your Colorado birth certificate. Go away, have a nice day.” Mario was upset and insisted he was a U.S. citizen. “They told him that if he says he’s Mexican he can leave, but if he keeps saying he’s a citizen he’ll be detained at the Nogales border patrol station and arrested.” He signed and returned to Mexico.

Read the full post here

I am working to independently verify the information presented by Jacqueline. These are very serious allegations, and if proven, should be fully investigated by the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security. If anyone has more information, please email me at the link to the left or drop the info in the comments to aid with compilation of data.

These types of civic violations are not uncommon. Pedro Guzman, a U.S. Citizen whose mental disability complicated his interactions with border personnel in 2007, was deported to Mexico and left to wander in the streets for weeks as his family searched frantically for him. Stretching back even further, Operation Wetback was the culprit for scores of Mexican Americans having their civil rights violated through racial profiling and mass deportations alongside those without papers.

So, no, this is nothing new – but it is unacceptable. Time to dig in to these incidents deeper to see how completely broken the U.S. immigration system has become through centuries of rotting racism and delusions of superiority.

 

Southern AZ Politicos Respond to Dupnik

Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, who recently joined the Joe Arpaio Caucus of Nativist Idiocy, is being called upon by local southern Arizona elected officials to apologize for his unacceptable endorsement of school-based citizenship checks.

Here is the letter in full:

Sheriff Dupnik — Due to your long history of involvement and commitment to the entire community, we were surprised by your comments in the print media. Children attending schools, regardless of their immigration status, are not the cause of our problems, nor should we publicly target them. We have an obligation to protect those who cannot protect themselves. It is our responsibility to ensure that our children are always safe and secure. All children are vulnerable and we must protect them like they were our own.

It is wrong to force teachers and school administrators to become immigration officers. We remind you to uphold the law that was established by the Supreme Court ruling, Plyer v. Doe, 457 U.S. 202 (1982). This case established that children, though not citizens of the United States, are considered a “person” and therefore, protected under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

An additional cause of grave concern were your unsubstantiated charges that 40% of students in the Sunnyside School District are “illegal” and linking the Southside as the primary source of all crime in Pima County. These false charges are inflammatory and prejudicial. Your comments only further divide our community and debase a large part of the population.

The Pima County electorate trusted you to protect and serve our community, not to humiliate and instill fear. Every child is entitled to an education regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation and status.

We urge you to apologize for your ill-advised comments and join us in a rational and honest discussion about solving our problems together.

Sincerely,

Raúl M. Grijalva, U.S. Congressman, Arizona Congressional District 7
Richard Elias, Chairman, Pima County Board of Supervisors
Regina Romero, Vice-Mayor, City of Tucson
Adelita Grijalva, Tucson Unified School District Governing Board
Eva Dong, Sunnyside School District Governing Board
Daniel Patterson, State Representative-LD29, Arizona State Legislature
Matt Heinz, M.D., State Representative-LD29, Arizona State Legislature
Linda Lopez, Senate Minority Whip-LD29, Arizona State Legislature
Jorge Luis Garcia, Senate Minority Leader-LD27, Arizona State Legislature
Olivia Cajero Bedford, State Representative-LD27, Arizona State Legislature
Phil Lopes, State Representative-LD27, Arizona State Legislature

I applaud them all for calling out the sheriff. He is an elected official, and hopefully will be held accountable in the end by voters during the next election.

 

Sheriff Dupnik Toes The Line of Bigotry

In contrast to Sheriff “Concentration Camp” Arpaio in Phoenix, I generally agree with the stance of Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik’s view of the role of local law enforcement and immigration: he doesn’t support it.

Immigration is a federal issue in his mind, as it should be; however, remarks he made in light of an appearance before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs last week are unacceptable. After suggesting that legal challenges should be advanced in order to allow immigration checks at schools, Dupnik talked trash about Tucson’s southside area, which is predominately latino:

He pointed specifically to the Sunnyside School District where he said as much as 40 percent of the students are illegal immigrants while citing unnamed sources.

Failing schools, high dropout rates and gang affiliation seem to be high in those areas, Dupnik said.

“Sunnyside is I think the area where the problem is most acute,” he said.

Tucson Citizen

I’m sick of gringo politicians denigrating the “Mexican” areas of my city. Negative associations slip off the tongue without hesitation because the cultura of barrios are different than some pseudo-preferred, assimilated neighborhood that charges their residents monthly fees to make sure that uniformity and conformity are maintained. Or else.

Sunnyside may have high drop out rates, and yes, there are gangs that operate there, but what makes it an easy target to get support for ridiculous policies like school-based checks of citizenship is the prevalence of latinos living there. Nevermind that drop outs, crime and gang activity are widespread everywhere.

In fact, according to Tucson Police Department’s 2007 Crime Density Report, the Oracle Road corridor between Prince and Grant had the highest rate of incidents. Here is the .pdf version overlaying a map of the city. The southside doesn’t stand out in any way, you’ll notice.

Sheriff Dupnik should apologize to the Sunnyside Unified School District and the residents of southside neighborhoods. As a law enforcement leader in the community, his job is to build the trust of the people so that we can all work collectively as a society to bring about safer schools and barrios, not to snicker down at “them”, especially when the facts don’t back up his absurd remarks about the safety of certain neighborhoods.

It’s all institutionalized bigotry and I’m sick of it. Even worse, suggesting that citizenship sweeps be conducted at our schools is definitely one of those things that would completely unwravel that trust system and erode any political support Sheriff Dupnik once received from southside communities. Unacceptable.

 

Another Zombie Lie That Won’t Die

How does one even begin to rationalize with these people? Answer: You can’t.

In the outer cosmos of the blogosphere, the presidential election isn’t over.

Barack Obama, now busily forming his administration, isn’t just the wrong person to lead the nation, claim Web sites such as America Must Know and Right Side News.

He is, they contend, constitutionally ineligible to be president.

The argument is over his place of birth — Hawaii, if you accept statements by Hawaiian officials, his 1961 birth notice in a Honolulu newspaper and a certified document his campaign obtained 18 months ago.

Still, legions of anti-Obama bloggers are so convinced he was born in Kenya that they’ve filed more than a dozen lawsuits nationwide.

Kansas City Star

Normally, such idiocy wouldn’t deserve the time it takes to crank out a blog post, but as we’ve seen over the past several years, the extremists outside of the realms of power have activated the inner-crazy of those inside.

[Supreme Court] Justice Clarence Thomas distributed to his colleagues a request that the high court weigh in before the Electoral College makes Obama’s victory official later this month.

No word on whether Thomas had a contingency plan to investigate Panamanian John McCain’s citizenship status had he won on November 4th…

 

Georgia Steals Votes of New Citizens

Outrageous (though not surprising)

A significant number of the almost 5000 Georgia voters whose citizenship was challenged before the election will not have their ballots counted.

Last week, about 4,770 voters were told they would have to vote on paper ballots because their citizenship was in question. It was then up to them to return to their local election boards with proof of citizenship.

TPMMuckraker

They’re systematically victimized and officials expect new citizens to trust them? With constant headlines proclaiming the latest raid and mass deportations, it’s no wonder that many of these individuals didn’t voluntarily go to local election board offices when their citizenship was challenged.

And a reminder that the Republican party is batting near 1000 when it comes to serving as the villain for these types of voter and civic disenfranchisement…

 

Listen Up, Democrats

I mailed my early ballot this week for the 2008 General Election. Back on Super Duper Tuesday this past February, I voted directly at the polls in the Democratic Primary as a registered member of the party. In other words, I’m one of you officially. So, I have no problem giving tough love when I feel the need.

Recently, Speaker Pelosi was quoted saying the following:

Pelosi also said Congress would have to tackle the politically sticky job of overhauling immigration laws in the new Congress, after a bipartisan measure collapsed last year.

The estimated 12 million immigrants in the U.S. illegally “are part of the U.S. economy. We cannot send them all home, and we cannot send them all to jail, so we have to address it,” Pelosi said.

Any solution would have to be bipartisan, she said, so it may require sacrificing some of Democrats’ past priorities, such as giving illegal immigrants a path to citizenship.

“Maybe there never is a path to citizenship if you came here illegally,” Pelosi said. “I would hope that there could be, but maybe there isn’t.”

Los Angeles Times (emphasis mine)

In the past, I’ve been called purity troll and dead-ender for calling out the idiocy of politicos who supposedly are “on my side”. This, because I’m not one to give a pass to Democrats when they signal intentions that are antithetical to my belief system. Well, as Duke says over at The Sanctuary: WTF.

At best, Speaker Pelosi’s comments were taken out of context or simply misquoted, but the alternative that I suspect is that she was testing the waters to see if a path to citizenship would be politically expedient to compromise upon when the next Congress is gaveled into session (hopefully under a President Obama). These are seasoned public speakers, and especially when they’re chatting to a member of the press, every single word that exits their lips has a reason behind it.

So let me make it absolutely clear to the leadership of the Democratic Party: There is no compromise on a path to citizenship for the hard-working family members within the borders of this country who have fallen out of legal standing or are simply undocumented. What a bone-headed statement to make two weeks out from the election when there are literally millions of volunteers and dollar bills bankrolling efforts to get out the vote among the latino community.

The enforcement-only policies of this government have savaged communities of color, especially the greater latino community, by gestapo-like tactics of rogue sheriffs and ICE agents. They bust into homes and businesses armed like they’re rading a building in Falujah, snaring hard workers who have the unfortunate and unchangeable suspicion of being “foreign”. The racial profiling, the neglect of connected family members, the malpractice of medicine in the gulag system of prisons are all violations of human rights and it is far past the time that they are stopped.

I have no problem leaving a section blank on a ballot if there is enough of a lesser of two evils-type situation involved. In fact, I did so regarding Arizona’s Proposition 202 this week. I couldn’t, in good conscience, bring myself to vote yes to “take the fangs out” of Arizona’s Employer Sanction Law that I abhor because a ‘yes’ vote would mean that I was saying it was still okay for vile individuals like Sheriff Joe Arpaio to continue to terrorize families. The Minutemen Wing of the Arizona Republican Party (are there any other wings?) want this Proposition to go down because they think it’ll be a roadblock to their master plan to reinstitute Operation Wetback. Well, despite their protestations, I left it blank because I will always sleep better knowing that I held true to my principles.

So let this be a warning to you, Speaker Pelosi, that the voters the Democratic Party are trying so hard to woo this election will not be taken for granted. I look forward to reading any follow-ups to your comments regarding the possibility of capitulation on a path to citizenship. You will be accused of supporting AMNESTY!!!!! no matter what gets passed in the next Congress by the loony, racist side of the political spectrum – don’t shoot yourselves in the foot by shafting those of us who will work our hearts out for you if you truly speak for us and our families.

[UPDATE] Amig@s chime in:

• Pelosi Backs Away from Cornerstone of Comprehensive Reform – Migra Matters
• Pelosi Backtracks on Comprehensive Immigration Reform – Citizen Orange
• Pelosi Puts a Wall Up on Path to Citizenship – Change.org
• Pelosi Sells Out to the Immigration Reform Foes – DreamActivist.org
• Nancy Pelosi Proves that Dems Aren’t Immigrant Friendly Either – VivirLatino
• Pelosi Suggests Permanent U.S. Slave Class – The Unapologetic Mexican

 

Another Citizen Ensnared In ICE

Nothin’ to see here, move right along.

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A Texas woman whose American-born daughter was deported to Mexico with the father and not recovered for three years is suing the federal government for $5 million.

Monica Castro, a native of Corpus Christi, Texas, accuses the U.S. Border Patrol of refusing to release her daughter to her when the girl’s father was arrested by agents in December 2003. Despite proving the child was born in the U.S., officials took the girl from Lubbock to the Texas-Mexico border. Castro did not find and regain custody of her daughter until three years later, according to Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, which represents Castro.

Houston Chronicle

 

Post-Memorial Day Food For Thought

Food for thought:

As of December 2007, the total US Armed Forces members that are not citizens include: Army, 17,234; Navy 14,653; Marine Corps 6,537; Air Force 1,580; and National Guard 4,251. Beginning this Memorial Day all current and future immigrant servicemen and women will be able to navigate the application process for citizenship, free of charge, through The Charles Harvey, Jr. Foundation website. This free service is a small token of appreciation for those who serve and protect us.

http://www.harveyfoundation.org