The Weekly Undocument is a post done by blogger Nezua at The Unapologetic Mexican. This will now by a syndicated piece on this blog.

The Weekly Undocument: The State of our Union is Sassy!
By Nezua

THE PRO-MIGRANT BLOGOSPHERE IS ALIGHT with talk of The 38 Words uttered in President Obama’s first State of the Union speech last night. Immigration advocates and activists alike were watching with baited Twitter client. Websites were liveblogging the SOTU. Obama was fill of spirit. At moments you felt hope rise that he’d hit it right. Or at least smack someone on the Right side of the aisle.

“Damn,” you said to yourself, beaming at the determined expression on Little Computer Screen Obama. “The way he is talking about Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, he may just bring some of this fire to immigration reform!” And you waited for those words. You and your millions of Latino friends waited. (You have a big living room.)

But in the end, he sort of just slid it in under the wire. As Sandip Roy of New America Media writes, it seemed nothing more than a “casual platitude.”

“And we should continue the work of fixing our broken immigration system – to secure our borders, enforce our laws, and ensure that everyone who plays by the rules can contribute to our economy and enrich our nations.”

12 million undocumented immigrants deserved more than those 38 words.

“Continue the work of fixing our broken immigration system.”

Does that imply that Congress or the White House have been already busy fixing our broken immigration system? Were they doing it during the rest breaks in the middle of health care reform gridlock? If so, I missed the memo.

Yes, it sounds like a punt, eh? A missed opportunity. It felt that way to me.

Maegan la Mala at VivirLatino.com points out another missed opportunity: that of connecting the health care reform issue to immigration reform, and breaks it down to the community level in her post The President’s State of the Union: Missed Opportunities on the Push for Immigration and Health Care Reform.

While I was preparing mentally for the State of the Union address, I saw on the Spanish language news about an immigrant mujer, Alexandra Nunez, who died from massive bleeding during an abortion in a clinic walking distance from Casa Mala. A single mother, like me, made a decision about her body and life within the limits placed on her because of law and who she is.

During the State of the Union speech, Obama spoke about the problems with getting health care reform passed and spoke on immigration from a law and order perspective, following the laws and securing the borders. He failed, as so many do, in pointing out where health care reform and immigration reform intersect, in the very lost life of mami Alexandra Nunez.

The “law and order perspective” is very popular with many politicians and right-wingers alike, when talk of immigration arises. Why is that? Probably because the notion of criminality and Latinos is linked nearly every day, in the mouths of many a mainstream pundit. (And immigrants today are thought of as only—and erroneously—Mexican!) Images are reinforced in movies and video games and magazines. To talk of numbers of brown people coming over the border is to provoke an anxiety that the mainstream US mind will often try to soothe with the placebo of a prison prescription.

In many cases there is just a straight-up divide in worldview and life circumstance. As a friend, Prerna (the organizing force behind DreamActivist) wrote during a post-SOTU discussion on a list-serv today:

There’s a lot of strategies and egos, but then there are also broken families, wasted lives, unfulfilled dreams that no amount of driving legislation forward can change because we don’t get back lost time. Talk is cheap, free actually, but some of us just have to make do with what we have, take matters into our own hands or move on to greener pastures.

Civil disobedience, occupying buildings FTW.

So the level of frustration is high. And yet the need for action will not wane.

Is it time to occupy buildings? How far to step up our presence and voice at this point?

Is immigration reform “dead in the water” as some DC sources lament? Not at all, counter others. What is to be done? We’ll come back to that.
(more…)

Posted in Immigration | | functional No Comments »

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Texas Progressive Bloggers Withdraw Support from Proposed Spending Freeze

TEXAS – January 27, 2010: Top progressive bloggers from across Texas issued a statement today in advance of President Obama’s State of the Union address cautioning the President to avoid calling for a spending freeze. While these bloggers maintain their support of their President and their Democratic candidates, they reject the notion that a spending freeze is a valid solution for working Americans in this time of economic crisis.

The following individual statements were issued:

“The economy is still in a precarious and fragile state, even today. The deficit hawks in Congress have decided to willfully ignore reality and opted instead to play politics on the issue of the deficit. They’re making demands that, if the President accedes, will lead to a long lasting economic malaise.”
- Trey McAtee of McBlogger

“The spending freeze will likely affect those who need it the most during this difficult time in our economy. Throughout his campaign, Obama criticized his opponent’s calls for a spending freeze, calling it a ‘hatchet when we need a scalpel.’ The only difference progressives see now between Obama and McCain’s platform is that Sarah Palin isn’t standing next to him.”
- Rachel Farris of MeanRachel

“During his candidacy, President Obama promised to overhaul immigration early in his first term. However, many immigrant rights advocates fear Obama’s spending freeze will put a halt to any type of immigration reform. Any further delay to fix the broken immigration system, this nation will continue to see the devastation of thousands of families and neighborhoods.”
- Edmundo Rocha of Para Justicia y Libertad

“The spending freeze is both bad policy and bad politics. The last thing we need to hear about right now are ideas for what the government won’t do to get us out of the economic crisis that has crippled many American families. What we need instead is bold leadership, not efforts to satisfy the whims of obstructionist Republicans and cowardly Blue Dog Democrats.”
- “Xanthippas” of Three Wise Men

“A spending freeze is passing gimmick that does not address the long-term problems facing the American people. Instead of offering up a stunt, President Obama needs to discuss the realities of a changing global economy in an adult manner with the American people. Instead of retreating, government has a part to play in helping Americans with jobs, health care and education.”
- Neil Aquino of Texas Liberal

“President Obama is struggling because he’s allowing his political enemies to drive the public discourse, delay his agenda in Congress and slow-walk his nominees. By refusing to fight for the issues he campaigned on, his electoral majority from 2008 is disillusioned and unmotivated. Perhaps once we have a Speaker Boehner and a Leader McConnell, Obama will realize that abandoning his base in search of approbation from the right was a mistake.”
- Editors of Eye On Williamson

“Americans need to be reminded that Obama did not create this financial mess, he inherited it! The Republican attempt to erase the George Bush presidency is astonishing. Obama needs to remember that this time the mandate is his, given to him by the very people who will suffer most under his proposed spending freeze.”
- Sharon Wilson of Bluedaze: Drilling Reform for Texas

“Irresponsible leadership by George W. Bush and Congressional enablers left Americans on the brink of complete economic meltdown and we are far from out of the woods on that score. Why adopt the failures of the minority party, or pretend to for political cover? There is a very small window of opportunity before voters decide whether to let Democrats keep their majorities. Time to turn on the gas, not put on the freeze.”
- “Boadicea,” Managing Editor of Texas Kaos

“Although deficits and debt are a undoubtedly a long-term concern, we will have little ability to fix them and reverse course until our economy is fully back on track and unemployment comes down to a reasonable number. To that extent, the federal government ought to be looking at continued investment that will inspire confidence and leverage private investment. Any across-the-board spending freeze is counter-productive.”
- Steve Southwell of WhosPlayin.com

These members of the Texas Progressive Alliance, a coalition of progressive Texas bloggers formed in 2007, call on President Obama to reconsider his plans for a spending freeze and instead focus on restoring the confidence that businesses have in the future.

“A spending freeze is foolish,” said Trey McAtee, an Austin-based blogger who writes under the pseudonym of ‘McBlogger.’ “It is not in line with the ideals of President Obama’s supporters, and as progressive bloggers, we’re here to make sure he knows that.”

Media Contact: Rachel Farris, rachel.t.farris@gmail.com / 512-919-6051

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Posted in TPA, activism, blogosphere | | functional No Comments »

BREAKING: On the eve of the President’s State of the Union address, protesters blocked the streets around the national headquarters of the Department of Homeland Security for 2 hours until they were escorted by police. The protest was held to call attention to the suffering of immigrant families across the country. The arrests, which included representatives of major immigrant organizations and faith leaders, underscored the growing disenchantment with the administration’s inaction on immigration reform.

Protesters called for the immediate action on passage of comprehensive immigration reform and the suspension of deportations of immigrants with US citizen family members. The protest highlights the growing frustration among immigrants and activists regarding the administration’s failure to deliver on basic commitments made during the 2008 presidential race.

“Last year on January 21st, we stood in front of DHS with faith leaders and 800 allies to urge a moratorium on the raids and press for immigration reform. We stand here again with our partners a year later to again make the case that in the absence of federal action to fix the broken immigration system, this nation will continue to see the devastation of thousands of families and neighborhoods,” stated EunSook Lee, executive director of NAKASEC.

Before the end of last year, Congressman Luis Gutierrez filled a bill on immigration reform. However, some Latino legislators believe the issue will be on the back burner for a while. Earlier this month, Rep. Henry Cuellar told reporters during the opening of the new Anzalduas International Bridge in Mission, TX that comprehensive immigration reform would likely occur in 2011.

This has not stopped immigrant advocacy groups from sponsoring public events to renew interest.

Tuesday’s action was held to draw attention to The Trail of DREAMs – the four month journey from Miami, FL, to Washington, D.C. by immigrant students to demand immediate relief for suffering immigrant communities. Drawing inspiration from the civil rights movement, four students embarked on a 1,400 mile walk to bring public attention to the barriers immigrant college students are facing and the failed immigration system that is tearing families apart.

The Trail of DREAMs, together with several other actions across the country, are taking place throughout the United States. Other actions include a 17-day fast from South Florida’s Fast for Our Families asking the Obama Administration to use its executive power to stop separating families and criminalizing immigrant communities. In Phoenix, AZ, ten thousand immigrant rights advocates marched in front of a county jail came out to protest Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his repression of unauthorized immigrants. While these sponsored events are local in nature, they have received nationwide support from activists frustrated by the slow response by Congress and the Obama Administration.

“The administration’s missteps in conceding advantage to a wildly unrepresentative far-right fringe is producing real anger among many people that heralded the 2008 election,” said Gustavo Torres, Executive Director of CASA de Maryland. “We are here to mark one year of inaction and remind the administration that immigrants and people who love them are suffering every day that it refuses to take action,” said Mr. Torres.

Participating in today’s actions were representatives of a broad group of organizations including CASA de Maryland, the Florida Immigrant Coalition (FLIC), Jobs With Justice, the Miami Worker Center, the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON), the National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC), the South Florida Interfaith Worker Justice Center, and We Count! Community Worker Center as well as hundreds of immigrant workers, faith leaders, labor activists, and community leaders.

More to come.

Information provided by CASA de Maryland

Here is an exclusive video, an interview with Maria Rodriguez, executive director of Florida Immigrant Coalition
http://xicanopwr.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/protest.flv

Posted in Immigration, activism | | functional 1 Comment »

Congratulations are in order for Mayor Annise Parker on her historic victory and becoming Houston’s first openly gay mayor. Despite all headlines around the country after the election, Parker’s victory is not surprising and just proves what I have said previously, Texas is not as conservative as the media make it out to be. Ms. Parker said it best, “I think the rest of America had the wrong impression of Houston.”

While it is true Texas outlawed gay marriage as the media and non-Texas bloggers like to point out, they do so without knowing the history on how the vote came about. Indeed, Parker’s victory shouldn’t be downplayed either. The election did not just put a spotlight on Houston, but as Houston’s local ABC Miya Shay so aptly stated, it “catapulted her to the national political stage.”

I didn’t blog about Houston’s recent city election because already knew I was moving. However, I did keep myself abreast of everything that was happening even after I moved to San Antonio. Parker’s victory can be compared to President Barack Obama’s Democratic primary victory over Hilary Clinton. Put it simply, David slain Goliath.

While I am thrilled for her victory, I also have some reservations. One of Parker’s campaign promises was to fire Houston police chief Harold Hurtt. Seeing the writing is on the wall, Chief Hurtt beat her to the punch by stepping down two days before Parker took office.

The Unchecked Undercurrent of Anger
Flying blow the radar during Houston’s low-key mayoral race was an undercurrent of anger toward immigrants. Right now the loudest voices are winning, and they are not voices of understanding or mercy, but of anger and division.

Leading the charge in linking immigrants as a scourge on Houston is Gary Blankinship, president of the Houston Police Officers Union. Following the shooting of Houston police officer Rick Salter in March 2009, Blankinship openly criticized Chief Hurtt and then Mayor Bill White for defending the City of Houston “sanctuary city” policy, a policy that does not allow officers to question the citizenship status of any person (General Order No. 500-5).

Blankinship’s sentiments reflect the general outrage that began prior to Officer Salter’s shooting. In September 2006 Houston police officer Rodney Johnson was shot to death by an undocumented immigrant the officer had just arrested following a routine traffic stop. Both shootings of law enforcement officers triggered intense criticism by Blankinship, which he expressed in an op-ed published in the Houston Chronicle and American Police Beat.

It is outrageous to learn that, as recently as November of [2008], you were fully aware that thousands of illegal immigrants eligible for deportation – all convicted felons like Joel Alfaro – were slipping through Houston’s jails undetected by federal immigration officials. You rightly noted the city of Houston “can’t deport people;” but isn’t that particularly true if the city policy you have repeatedly defended intentionally discourages our officers from reporting them?

The incidents gave ammunition to those demanding the the city participate in the Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Section 287(g) program, the federal program that grants broad immigration enforcement powers to local law enforcement agencies.

Few would argue against the deportation of felons who commit murder, rape or are violent gang members. However, the current rhetoric used in contemporary immigration is often compared to a hostile invasion. A wave of foreign labor captures US jobs in America itself, leaving burgeoning rates of unemployment, poverty and crime in its wake.

While supporters for 287(g) are quick to say that they are only “against” undocumented immigrants, the truth is local law enforcement forced to determine whether or not that person is in the country legally. It is estimated there are over 47 million Hispanics living in the United States. Of those, 8.5 million live in Texas. According to the Pew Hispanic Center, foreign-born account for 33% of the Hispanic population. Based on these numbers, approximately 67 percent of the entire Latino population of the Texas is native born. As for Houston, the city has the third-largest Hispanic population in the United States. Thus making it likely Latinos targeted by police for race-based immigration enforcement, would most likely to be living in the US legally.

Some of the fault for the anti-immigrant backlash lies with the media. While it is true sensationalized headlines attract people, but it also shapes how and what people think about an issue through the facts and opinions presented in a given story.

A review of immigration related headline news that dominated Houston reflect the underlying ambivalence to the complexity of the immigration issue. The local media’s love of violence and histrionic good guy-vs-bad guy related stories promote a never-ending message: Be afraid, be very afraid. As a result, the public remains profoundly uneducated or deeply misinformed about how the immigration system really works.

Shortly after the Presidential election, the Houston Chronicle ran a three-part series hoping to expose the dangers of the broken immigration system. The Chronicle’s Susan Carroll revealed how hundreds of convicted felons, child molesters, rapists and drug dealers have been released from prison instead of being deported or remain behind bars. No one will argue these immigrants have committed horrific crimes and are a menace to society. However, this is not an argument how current immigration policy is in need of major reform but rather it brought to light the failures in Harris County’s justice system and the state capital sentencing statute.

The Chronicle’s investigative report is just a plethora of stories that contributed to the climate of fear and racial hatred by making a clear distinction between a villain and a victim. Even worse, these stories make it appear that immigrant violent offenders are constantly getting off scot-free, when in fact violent offenders regardless of there citizenship status are released into society. Just recently, HPD arrested longtime sex offender Larry Allen Ricketts for the murder of a Lake Houston woman who was found stuffed into a footlocker.

Ricketts has a lengthy criminal history of violent acts in Harris County dating back to 1987. Convictions for indecency with an 8-year-old girl, a rape during a burglary and an aggravated sexual assault contribute to his status as a “high-risk” sex offender.

Court records also show several assaults and a 2009 child endangerment conviction for striking a woman who fell while holding a 1-year-old.

Ricketts was recently paroled.

Yet the coverage of this horrendous crime did not receive the same amount of coverage of similar crimes committed by immigrant violent offenders. It is for this reason their more public outcry for enforcement only immigration reform than there is for prison reform for a prison system that incarcerates over two million human beings in the United States.
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Posted in Immigration | | functional 3 Comments »

An advertisement appears in today’s edition of The Arizona Republic newspaper comparing Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio to the infamous 1960s Birmingham public safety commissioner Theophilus Eugene “Bull” Connor. The strongly worded statement was sponsored by the Center for New Community and signed by sixty prominent Black leaders from twenty-three states.

These leaders chose an historic time to make their concerns public, on the eve of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. “It is shameful that these appalling actions by Sheriff Arpaio have gone unchecked for so long,” said Center for New Community Chair, Rev. Kazi Joshua. “The number of Black leaders who spoke out in today’s newspaper should send a clear message to the Department of Justice that this is an urgent civil rights crisis that requires immediate action.”

The advertisement details the most alarming actions taken by Sheriff Joe Arpaio and the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, including:

• The humiliation of over 200 individuals chained in shackles and marched through the streets of Phoenix, and their segregation based on national origin;
• Use of Sheriff’s Office resources to harass public officials, civic organizations, newspapers, and community leaders publicly opposed to Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s negligent actions;
• Profiling of individuals based on their ethnicity and language;
• Irresponsible remarks and actions that denigrate his office, including stating on national television that “it’s an honor” to be compared with the Ku Klux Klan, and public photographs with a self-identified neo-Nazi.

In addition to detailing the actions of Sheriff Arpaio, the advertisement stated, “As Black and African American leaders we call on Attorney General of the United States Eric H. Holder and the Department of Justice to prove once and for all that this is not Arpaio’s America.”

“We are deeply troubled about the growing level of racism and racial division seen in Maricopa County,” stated James E. Johnson, Jr., a former county commissioner from Eagle County, Colorado and current Center for New Community organizer, “and the unwillingness of national political leaders to step forward to condemn activities that dehumanize people within the community.”

For more information on this article continue reading at Imagine 2050

Posted in Immigration, Nativism, Prejudices, Xenophobia, activism | | functional 1 Comment »