Waking Up to Life Without Immigrants

Last month Oklahoma passed legislation barring services for undocumented immigrants funded at tax-payer expense. The statute, which also requires employers to verify immigration status and work eligibility, penalizes businesses for knowingly employing workers without papers. The legislation worked; many immigrants (both documented and not) have left the state, and those that have chosen to remain are too afraid to go outside their homes.

And like Riverside, New Jersey, the state of Oklahoma is quickly realizing how big a mistake it has made. Contrary to what Dobbs and Tancredo insist, the immigrant population is an integral part of our economies. Immigrants work, pay taxes, buy cars, buy houses. Without their labor and economic presence, costs of houses and groceries go up and local businesses close.

Hopefully the people of Oklahoma will correct this legislation and serve as yet another example of the consequences of scapegoating the most vulnerable members of our communities.

The Militarization of the Border

A video of Sunday's attack by Border Agents on a peaceful week long protest at the Calexico/Mexicali fence section.

Stop Your Racism Video

San Francisco Joins New Haven's Lead

San Francisco's Board of Supervisors approved a plan for municipal ID's, regardless of immigration status. Like New Haven's municipal ID, which was approved in June, it will encourage marginalized people to collaborate with city police against crime, whether as victims or witnesses. The ID will also make it possible to open bank accounts and therefore make the undocumented less tempting of a target for robbery and assault. The ID can only be used for within the city for city purposes.

I found this video on the New Haven Independent Blog. The short clip shows the outburst of applause right after approval of the plan. The following text explains better than I ever could how important Municipal ID's are.

"It brings tears to my eyes," said Marieah Viviel, who at this hearing told a harrowing tale of how her El Salvadoran housekeeper, Elena, and her son were robbed in their Fair Haven apartment by people who knew they were undocumented and stored large amounts of cash. Viviel found them lying on the kitchen floor, bound by electric cords, their home plundered.

"This will be not just a decloaker for those who are invisible, but a deterrent to those who do what they did to Elena," said Viviel after the vote, wiping her tears. "I'm so glad!"

Liberty, Equality and Justice

The following is taken directly from the Minuteman Border Fence website. Bolds are mine.

We are organizing as citizen volunteers, to safeguard our beloved nation from violence, from sedition, from wholesale attack by those who do not love America and wish to see her destroyed or irremediably altered from a nation of liberty, equality, and justice, and a bastion of western civilization. We are recruiting, training, volunteer citizens who will stand as patriots for the promise that is, and ever has been, America to build a border fence.

Today's citizens of the Minuteman Movement, like the original Minutemen of our colonial Revolution, live by the philosophy of America's Founding--including respect for the God-given natural rights to life, liberty, and property.

It seems to me that what the Minutemen claim to defend (liberty, equality, justice) are the same concepts that they are destroying. I also find it ironic that they stand by the philosophy of "natural rights to life, liberty, and property." I suppose they should add a line saying, "Unless you are Mexican."

ICE shows it has a calculator, if not a heart

I highly recommend this article from TwinCities.com. The heartbreaking story of an undocumented mother's deportation and its effect on her husband and child are all too familiar. The author breaks it down for us in terms of financial, emotional and physical devastation. And I urge you to comment at the end of the article to balance, even if only a little, the hateful speech there.

Workshop: Working with Undocumented Immigrants

Maria Cuerda, of Western Mass Legal Services, will be presenting a workshop at the 7th Regional Conference on Economic Inequality and Social Change, on Thursday, November 8th. The workshop, What You Need to Know: Working with Undocumented Immigrants, is for anyone who works or comes into contact with undocumented immigrants.

We’ll provide you with information about their legal and civil rights, some background on who they are, why they’re here, and what they’re doing. We’ll answer the following questions: Can they legalize? What should they do if they’re stopped by the police or if their workplace or home is raided by ICE? Where can they go for help? What are the issues faced by this community? What benefits are they and their children entitled to? Should they file their taxes? What are their workplace rights? What you should never do if you are working with this community?

For more information and registration, please visit www.communityaction.us