In a stunning defeat for the bid to grant a path to citizenship for 12 million illegal immigrants, Senators voted 53 to 46 against keeping the bill alive, likely ending congressional action on the divisive issue before 2009.

Bipartisan backers of the measure fell well short of the 60 vote super-majority needed to move the bill, branded by opponents as an “amnesty,” towards a final vote, after an emotional weeks-long debate.

From the New York Times

The debate just before the vote today was intense, even personal.

“We know what they’re against – we don’t know what they’re for,” Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, said of the bill’s opponents. Perhaps, Mr. Kennedy suggested, the bill’s opponents envision some kind of “gestapo” to round up illegal immigrants. “That’s their alternative?” Mr. Kennedy shouted. “That’s their alternative?”

Another supporter of the legislation, Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, pleaded with her colleagues not to let the bill lapse. “If we miss this opportunity, there is not likely to be another in the next few years,” she said.

The debate became unusually testy, and senators tied themselves in procedural knots as they tried to work through a slate of 27 proposed amendments. Some senators obstructed normally routine requests by their colleagues — raising objections, for example, when senators asked to dispense with further proceedings under a quorum call, or to explain their reasons for opposing requests for unanimous consent.

“We are in trench warfare,” said Senator Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania, a strong supporter of the bill.

These are the organizations who were willing to denounce the immigration bill – League of United Latin American Citizens, Hispanic Federation, the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, the National Alliance of Latin American and Caribbean Communities, the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, and the William C. Velasquez Institute.

It looks like the some Latino advocacy and immigration groups who supported the proposed bill were rattled when the legislation failed again. From the NY Times:

Influential labor and Hispanic groups had urged the Senate to pass the bill and send it to the House, where they said flaws could be corrected. The groups included the Service Employees International Union, the National Council of La Raza, the United Farm Workers and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

“The price of failure will be hundreds of more people dying in the desert,” said Eliseo Medina, an executive vice president of the service employees union. “The price of failure will be more workplace raids and families separated as breadwinners are arrested and deported. The price of failure will be more public anger at the broken immigration system. More states and cities will pass punitive laws that target immigrants.”

What do your so-called influential groups think about this? They are disappointed. Well I am disappointed that they were willing to sell out our own. How could the National Council of La Raza be against bill when it up the first time around and now be for it this time around. It is obvious their support comes from the belief that a bad bill is better than no bill. This is the same belief that was used to support Alberto Gonzalez.

As George Lopez would say – Fuck … that … puto!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Widely discussed throughout the media and the blogs is how the current immigration reform bill being debated in the Senate would create a permanent underclass of indentured slave labor by allowing multinational corporations and independent contractors to hire thousands of “guest” workers a year outside the US. However, what is not often discussed or reported is how one of the provisions tucked inside the bill would also benefit the military.

This provision is called the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act or DREAM Act, which would legitimize in-state tuition programs and “provide a pathway to obtain permanent residency” to immigrant children who were brought to the United States illegally by their parents as children. In other words, the DREAM Act would allow undocumented immigrant to qualify for in-state tuition and automatically qualify them for state-funded student financial aid. As things stand, many undocumented students have not benefited from the financial aid aspect, because students are required to submit a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) application to be considered. However, FAFSA is a federal form and undocumented students are not eligible to receive federal student aid.

A couple of days ago, Kyle from Immigration Orange informed of an of an article that was written in the Boston Globe. Bryan Bender reports how the military will benefit from this provision.

While the DREAM Act may facilitate access to college for a small percentage of these undocumented students, in many cases other factors will militate against the college option. This is where the military comes in, tucked away in the current immigration bill is a provision that will help boost military recruiting.

A little-noticed provision in the proposed immigration bill would grant instant legal status and ultimately full citizenship to illegal immigrants if they enlist in the US military, an idea the Pentagon and military analysts say would boost the Pentagon’s flagging efforts to find and recruit qualified soldiers.

The reality is that military recruitment is down significantly and there are reports that the Pentagon is wanting to impose a “limited military draft” in order to maintain “its present force levels in Iraq and Afghanistan” according to The First Post. If the bill were to become law, the provision is expected to improve military recruitment numbers by allowing undocumented immigrants to enlist as a means to obtain citizenship. It is evident that current recruitment programs are ineffective. Recently the Department of Defense announced that the recruitment goals fell short in May and this probably would explain why the military urgently wants to have Congress pass the current immigration reform bill or just the DREAM Act portion of the bill. The Army fell short in May by 7%, short of its goal of 5,500, while the Army National Guard fell 12% short of its goal and the Air National Guard was well below its target by 23%.

When the immigration bill failed to go through Congress earlier this month, Bill Carr, acting deputy undersecretary of defense for military personnel policy, told a veterans’ group that he would like to see Congress fast track the DREAM Act so the military could start recruiting undocumented immigrants right away.

“In other words, if you had come across (the border) with your parents, yet you were a minor child and have been in the U.S. school system for a number of years, then you could be eligible to enlist,” he said. “And at the end of that enlistment, then you would be eligible to become a citizen.”

Currently, between 40,000 and 47,000 non-citizens are serving in the military. According to Emilio Gonzalez, director of the Bureau of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, about 40,000 non-citizens are already serving in the military. Another source, Defense Manpower Data Center, reports there are 35,000 non-citizens are currently serving on active duty in the US Armed Forces, with another 12,000 serving in the Guard and reserves.

Only legal residents and green card holders were qualified to serve because the executive order President Bush signed 2002 only applied to them. If the current bill were to pass, the Defense Department is hoping to see a major boost because the expansion of the recruiting pool would now include at least 750,000 youths of military age that could immediately enter the path to citizenship in exchange for at least two years of service in the armed forces.

However, not everybody can qualify. According to the Globe, only high school graduates who are “honor roll students, star athletes, talented artists, aspiring teachers, and doctors” would qualify for military service. The Migration Policy Institute, a Washington think tank, told the Globe only some of them – roughly 280,000 illegal immigrants between 18 and 24 – would qualify for the program. However, this is not true. The Globe most likely cited a summary of a previous bill because neither of the current bills that have been introduced in the Senate Bill 774 (as the “DREAM Act”), H.R.1275 (as the “American Dream Act”), the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007 (S. 1348) or S. 1639 say anything about making such exclusions.

Why would the Globe and Deputy Undersecretary Carr state a provision that is not there or cannot be found in any of those three bills? One does have to wonder why they would make such a statement, could it be so that the nativists will not be claiming this to be another example of another amnesty program.

I previously wrote that Council on Foreign Relations neo-conservative senior fellow Max Boot had proposed that the military enlist and actively recruit foreigners from other countries.

The military would do well today to open its ranks not only to legal immigrants but also to illegal ones and, as important, to untold numbers of young men and women who are not here now but would like to come. No doubt many would be willing to serve for some set period in return for one of the world’s most precious commodities – U.S. citizenship. Open up recruiting stations from Budapest to Bangkok, Cape Town to Cairo, Montreal to Mexico City. Some might deride those who sign up as mercenaries, but these troops would have significantly different motives than the usual soldier of fortune. (Emphases mine)

The truth is the US is running out of troops because the war in Iraq has tied down roughly 150,000 US troops continuously for almost four years. Now that the Bush is sending another 30,000 troops to Iraq this only makes the troop shortage worse. Recruitment is so bad, it was reported that the Army sent its recruiters to Panama City, FL during Spring Break hoping to entice some young drunk white co-ed into signing their life away to the Army.

Given the difficulty, undocumented youth have in affording college tuition, the pressure on them to make financial contributions to extended families, and the tendency to adopt uncritical forms of patriotism based on “gratitude,” military recruiters will be the ones who benefit the most. As I stated before, the US Military has a long history of targeting people who happen to come from working class families and areas with a large number of minorities, both urban and rural – otherwise known as a “poverty draft.” Many people assume that joining the military is a way out of poverty. Some veterans do say that their experience in the military or the college benefits that they were able to get, was helpful to them. However, the reality for most veterans is far different. According to the Army Times, reports that over 50,000 unemployed veterans are on the waiting list for the military’s “retraining” program. The Veterans’ Administration estimates that 1/3 of homeless people are vets.

The Pentagon has already spent millions to gather information on how to target recruit Latinos into the military. Each year, employees from JAMRS – the “official Department of Defense program for joint marketing communications and market research and studies” – gathered for their annual direct-marketing conference. JAMRS claims the role of the marketing communications programs is to “help broaden people’s understanding of Military Service as a career option.” However, it also engages in all sorts of not-for-public-consumption studies that are meant to “help bolster the effectiveness of all the Services’ recruiting and retention efforts.” In 2005, in their annual conference, paid New York marketing consultant Michael Saray made a presentation – “Marketing to Hispanics” – to JAMRS on how the Latino community is “wired” differently and how Hispanics tend to be “emotional” and “right-brained.”

According to Jorge Mariscal, Saray’s presentation indicated that Hispanics are supposedly “emotional, intuitive, creative, Big Picture, and visionary.”

Simply put, JAMRS trainees were taught “the Spanish language has not favored intellect over emotion. It’s [sic] bias or thought process has not favored the left brain over the right brain. This is a real cultural difference.” Therefore, the Saray group’s advice to Pentagon ad men devising Hispanic campaigns for military recruitment is to “avoid blatant overuse of numbers. You want to reach the heart, not the left brain.” To sum up, “the traditions of Hispanic culture are not necessarily in-synch with the concept of ‘mainstream society’ or the ‘American Dream.’ In general, Hispanics are right brain thinkers. The marketer must ‘acculturate’ or risk losing relevancy by continued reliance on left brain thinking.” (Emphases mine)

We live in a world of too much marketing and too much branding. The role of a marketer is to convince us to want things we don’t really need because their goal personal goal is to promote or exchange goods or services for money. They will develop techniques to that will trigger a person’s emotions that also meet their wants and/or needs. Their employment, like any marketing company, exist with the sole purpose to convince people that consuming resources is a way toward greater happiness. But the question is at who’s expense?

With few prospects of gaining US citizenship through the usual channels, and with little hope of employment, decent housing and education, risking ones life for a glimmer of a chance for a better future clearly holds some attraction. But it does comes with a price. The sad reality, the promises made by the Government frequently fail to materialize. Just ask Yaderlin Jiminez, wife of missing servicemen Alex Jimenez, who is now facing deportation. One of the greatest challenges for many immigrants is the experience of immigration itself, but to the Bush War Machine, this is not a concern to them. For them, all they see is cannon fodder for their war effort, while at the same time they arrogantly tell military families they should “learn how to laugh” if they fell stressed out from hear news about the war. To the military people expendable while families are morning over the fresh graves that are being dug daily! Maybe the Bush cabal can see the humor in sending thousands of people in harms way, however, I doubt the children do as they see their moms or dads being shipping off to a war that is illegal, immoral and unjust. Or the the parents who are losing their sons and daughters. Or the spouses who are losing their husbands and wifes.

Ironically, nativist and xenophobic groups are demanding the deportation of the Brown, yet, you never hear them complain when it is not unusual to hear a Spanish surname on the roll call of dead or missing. Among the first US solider killed at the beginning of the Iraq War was Jose Antonio Gutierrez from Guatemala according to Casualties.org’s database.

For some immigrants, the DREAM Act will help them access to college in the US; for others, the barriers will continue to be insurmountable. One thing is certain – if the immigration bill passes, the quest to access higher education and achieve the American Dream will be nothing but a pipe dream as these new residents will be at the frontlines of next imperial misadventures.

In an effort to address these problems, the Senate hit a roadblock on June 7, when the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill that was being considered in the Senate was defeated. Senators failed to close off the debate and move toward a final vote. Just when you thought that immigration was over for the year, President George Bush would have none of that. However, George Bush and the Senate backers of the bill are pushing really hard to resurrect it.

A new immigration bill Senate Bill 1639 was introduced by Senators Ted Kennedy and Arlen Specter earlier this week. The new bill is the same as the failed Senate bill Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill that was put together by a small group of bipartisan senators working with Bush. This time around, oddly enough, the same Senators who were instrumental in defeating the bill are giving life back to the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill by attaching a series of amendments. It seems there was a change of heart soon after Bush met with the Republican senators who voted against the bill. The text for Senate Bill 1639 was made available to the public today, which can be viewed on GovTrack, the information clearinghouse that indexes all bills and roll call votes in the Congress. I have obtained a hard copy of this legislation that was available by the Heritage Foundation, a DC-based conservative think tank. You can also download a copy of the bill here. A copy of the proposed bill could be found at the bottom of this post.

According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, the plan is to submit a series of amendments to the bill to appease their angry critics. The bipartisan group is secretly meeting again and once again are withholding information of the proposed changes from the American public in order to fast track this bill before the Fourth of July recess. How ironic, isn’t it? More alarming, is how the Democrat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid bamboozled the Latino and the immigrant community by devising an “elaborate series of procedural maneuvers to allow a test-vote” today, June 21.

Once again, the Democrats proved themselves to be hypocritical, they are no better than the Republicans they just ousted. Reid’s procedural maneuvering will give lawmakers even less time for consideration and deliberation than they had before, which means they literally will forgo various procedures that are associated in the lawmaking process – hearings, testimony, committee debate and amendments, floor debate, and the possibility of further amendments. Instead, this bill will be fast tracked through the Senate without a true debate and without providing us a chance to voice our opinions.

This bill is not a clash pitting nativist forces against big business “pro-immigrant’ forces. At the heart of this Senate proposal are: (1) further militarization of the border and the expansion of immigrant detention camps; (2) a “guest worker” program that will keep immigrants in slave-like conditions; (3) a “legalization” scheme to force undocumented immigrants to jump through many hoops to attain permanent residency; and (4) major restrictions on US Citizens and permanent residents to bring family members legally into the US, which would result in splitting families apart.

The proposal calls for new levels in the deployment of border patrol, hi-tech surveillance equipment, and detention of immigrants at the border. One of the key changes is to create of $4.4 billion to a newly created general fund, “Immigration Security Account,” (Section 2 IMMIGRATION SECURITY ACCOUNT) that would the authorize Homeland Security to increase the militarization of the border. The $4.4 billion would come out of the fines and back taxes these undocumented immigrants are required to pay in order to apply for a temporary visa (Title VI, Section 611 AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS). The funds would be used to construct more walls, build more Concentration Camps, provide more surveillance equipment, develop an employment eligibility verification system, increase the number of armed agents on the border and the recruitment of former military troops from “the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard who have elected to separate from active duty” (Title I, Section 101 ENFORCEMENT PERSONNEL).

(a) The first $4,400,000,000 of such penalties shall be deposited into the general fund of the Treasury as repayment of funds transferred into the Immigration Security Account under section 286(z)(1) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

The proposed bill would construct 20 new concentration camps that will have the capacity to detain a total of 20,000 individuals at any time. Currently, there 22,000 immigrants being detained by the Homeland Security. This would increase the number of beds to 6,700 beds, which would make the gain since 1994 virtually fourfold. These detention centers are meant to cage people up in an immigration human zoo and categorize them as criminals without trials, “aliens” not deserving of basic human rights.

It is ironic every immigrant (legal and undocumented) migrating into the US will be forced to foot the bill to increase the militarization at our border that is meant to keep them out. Today, thousands of immigrants who have the desired to have better life but do not have means to go through the process are forced to cross through dangerous desert and mountain areas that have already lead to hundreds of deaths each year.

Undocumented immigrants have been made into scapegoats for the insecurities and problems arising out of the workings of the capitalist system itself that are hitting most people. Through the reactionary media, the working class and those in the middle-class are constantly bombarded with the message that “illegal” immigrants are to blame for low wages, messed-up schools, cuts in social services, and so on. This is an ugly game, intended to keep people from standing together against their common oppressor – it has to be seen for what it is and opposed, yet, it is being defied and is once again being pushed with very little notice.

All this underscores the urgency for immigrants and those who stand with them to resist this fascist offensive. Those who are behind the bill apparently hoped to push it through “under the radar” and pass it without anybody noticing, need to be held accountable. We must unite as a united front that goes beyond the immigrant communities in an effort to take on and defeat the anti-immigrant attacks.

Download S.1639: The Secure Borders, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Reform Act of 2007 (PDF, 20 MB)

“If so, this represents a major victory for the conservative grass roots. There is no doubt that immigration needs Congressional attention, but it is far from clear that a grand, comprehensive compromise is the way to go. In practice, that approach is basically an excuse for slipping key provisions into the bill that the political class wants, but the American people do not.”

Then again, when you have faux progressives like Chris Bowers and Matt Stoller at MyDD who kept their mouth shut until now because “it’s not a priority,” for them, I can why conservatives are patting themselves on the back for a job well done.

The fact is both groups had one goal in mind, that was to defeat the bill other than that, the alliance ends. Let’s face it, there was nothing to see eye-to-eye about when it came to defeating this bill. Every bottom-tier Republican presidential candidate and racist xenophobic nativist were screaming “Amnesty!” just at the thought that one person of the 12 to 14 million undocumented workers in the US might actually become a citizen someday under a new immigration law.

The Republicans were playing their role as the party of big business while playing up to the hard right, which continues to cling to immigration as one issue that could avert a total electoral meltdown in 2008. That is why Sen. John McCain, a prominent backer of the pro-corporate, was “stung” and speechless after immigration bill hit a dead end. The Arizona Republic wrote Sen. McCain wouldn’t answer questions about the outcome. ” ‘I don’t have anything to say,’ he said five times before stepping into an elevator in the Capitol. ‘I apologize, I do not have anything to say.’ “

As for the Democrats. they don’t get a pass. They too were trying to work both sides of the street. They want to prove themselves worthy of the continued corporate donations that have surged to party candidates as CEOs seek an alternative to a Bush-lite White House.

It looks like there wasn’t enough arm twisting by big business to get the immigration bill through Congress. If it wasn’t for the immigrant rights movement and histrionic alarmism coming from the nativist, the bill would surely have passed. Never Underestimate the power of the people! SI SE PUEDE!

For now, let us enjoy the moment and celebrate this short victory. Viva la raza, cabrones!

Every state uses violence to enforce its rule against its enemies, but we must recognize that a major change has occurred. At the heart of today’s repression has to do with America’s addiction of mass incarceration, especially young African-American men. In today’s age of globalization, the basis for mass out-migration is clear. Since the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between the US, Mexico and Canada, Mexico has been flooded with cheap subsidized US agricultural products that displaced millions of Mexican farmers. Between 2000 and 2005, Mexico lost 900,000 rural jobs and 700,000 industrial jobs, resulting in serious unemployment throughout the country. Desperate poverty has forced millions of Mexican workers to look for jobs elsewhere in order to feed their families.

The existence of the American Gulag – the mass caging of people of color – took place through a cultivation of fear with the goal of destroying the Constitution through Bush’s bogus War on Terror. If there was ever a clear indication Alberto Gonzales was in it for himself to acquire power and prestige rather than improving the Latino community, it was his first act as Attorney General. Soon after Gonzales’ confirmation by the Senate, his first act as Attorney General was to carry out a massive clandestine dragnet operation with fellow Mexican-American Ben Reyna, former US Marshal Direction. Under the code-name Operation FALCON (Federal and Local Cops Organized Nationally), Falcon Operation FALCON is a nationwide fugitive apprehension operation involving hundreds of state, federal and local law-enforcement agencies. Between April 2005 and October 2006, Operation Falcon carried out three unprecedented federally coordinated mass arrests. More than 30,000 fugitives, including immigrants, were arrested in the largest dragnets in the nation’s history and, according to US Marshall chief Ben Reyna. That is just the beginning; just recently, Gonzales announced he was going to increase similar type operations at the Washington headquarters of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Through the Violent Crime Impact Team, or VCIT, initiative, ATF uses innovative technology, and an integrated federal, state, and local strategy to identify, investigate, arrest and prosecute the most violent criminals in the 25 cities where we have VCIT teams. This program has been tremendously successful, thanks in part to the support of your local law enforcement partners, and your federal partners in the DEA, FBI and the Marshals Service – and we’re going to be expanding it to more cities soon. … They are: Orlando, Florida; Mesa, Arizona; San Bernardino, California; and San Juan, Puerto Rico.

And as an important step in making sure that we have the tools needed to get the job done, we are sending to Congress comprehensive crime legislation. … First, it will improve a number of existing criminal laws to close gaps and strengthen the penalties and tools we have already. That means extending the statute of limitations for violent crimes and establishing enhanced penalties for violent crimes committed by illegal aliens.

The groundwork has been laid with newly predictable identified “threats” which are now firmly embedded in the collective unconscious of America. Fear attempts to silence dissenters from speaking out about the truth regarding the subjugation of a power-crazed, dictatorial administration whose control continues to expand exponentially with each passing rumor of imminent peril.

Creating An Immigration Human Zoo
The binding force of society, largely, is a web of symbols that enables individuals to control and make sense out of experience in patterned ways. Here in the US, we are are the pioneers of the public relations industry. The the whole purpose of the PR industry is to aggressively shape a consumer desire and create value in commodities by imbuing them with the power to transform the consumer into a more desirable person. Symbols instill beliefs and shape attitudes that underpin social structures. Today’s menacing symbol that is dominating our newspapers, flood broadcast channels, and fuel political campaigns – the barbarian Brown hordes threatening to crash the gates and destroy the foundations of civilization – are the undocumented immigrants. What hard to escape are concentration camp-like images of “caging” practices: people behind fences, hands clutching wires, guards.

With an ever-increasing racist and repressive system, the restriction of our freedom of movement with detention centers serving as an immigration human zoo. The primary use of these detention centers serves as the symbolic taming of the “ethnic other,” which only reinforces a sense of “Anglo superiority” that is based on a Western binary opposition that considers all non-conforming forces as almost non-existent, and if existent then it is branded as evil and must be destroyed. The history of colonial extermination in the process of territorial and political domination is evidence of this behavior.

One can even make the argument that detention camps can be compared to the relationship between pets and farm animals to humans according to Ghassan Hage in his book White Nation. The only difference between a farm animal and pet is that a farm animal is still too wild to be able to wander freely in the home. Now just substitute “nation” for “home” and “ethnic other” for “animal” it is hard to escape the fact that this is the exact thing that is occurring here in the US. “Guest workers” are considered to be somewhere between a trusted pet and a wild beast who needs to be tamed in order to wander freely. And like the duties and responsibilities of a work horse on a farm, “guest workers” are used as a tool for other peoples advantage, never to roam around free.

What is Anglo superiority? According to Samuel Huntington, author of Clash of Civilizations and The Hispanic Challenge, in his latest article, Dead Souls: The Denationalization of the American Elite he writes:

America’s Anglo-Protestant culture has combined political and social institutions and practices inherited from England, including most notably the English language, together with the concepts and values of dissenting Protestantism, which faded in England but which the settlers brought with them and which took on new life on the new continent.

For Huntington, America is thus the battleground for the heart and soul of Western civilization. Anyone who wants to become successful and wealthy in America must conform to Anglo-American cultural values and take English as their language. To which Huntington, Latinos pose as a threat to liberal democracy. In other words, Latinos are not willing to be tamed and should be locked up.

The current detention population is in response to a backlash against undocumented immigration that actually began in the mid-1990s and that is now out of control since 9/11. According to Detention Watch Network, a D.C.-based advocacy group, in 1994, the number of detained immigrants by the federal government on any given day was 7,444. Currently, the government is able detain 22,000 immigrants on any given day. This year, President Bush intends to provide new funding for another 6,700 beds, which would make the gain since 1994 virtually fourfold. The number of removals every year from the U.S. – whether formal or “voluntary” – is even greater. In 2004, they totaled 1,238,319, according to the Office of Immigration Statistics.

Rising inequality can result in an increase in racial bias for scapegoating or advancing xenophobic and nationalistic tendencies. By this fall, the ICE will already have already spent an estimated $1 billion per year to detain over 27,500 immigrants in eight ICE operated Service Processing Centers (SPCs) and seven contract detention facilities. In addition to those facilities, detainees are also being held in local jails and privately run prisons across the US. According to ICE, the average time a detainee spends in one of America’s concentration camp is approximately one month, although some detainees have reported that have been held for several years.

As the “New World Order” marches on, one’s outlook in life will continue to look not so bright and cheerful as most people would have planned, or hoped, it to be. What is not often told in the corporate media are the American families who are broken up because of our ineffective system. As US lawmakers grapple with a long awaited immigration bill, families are being separated by the many mistakes in the exceedingly complicated process to obtain visas and permanent residency which leads to life-changing consequences for foreign spouses of American citizens and their family members. The number of people barred from the United States under this draconian policy is increasing. Since 2000, 21,500 have been prevented from returning for a decade. In 2006, the annual tally nearly doubled over the year before to 13,209. Many American nuclear families are shattered because families are forced to make one of the hardest decisions of their lives – remain estranged from their spouses and minor children or leave the US and become an American exile.

The brutal immigration human zoos throughout this country US – the T. Don Hutto Residential Center in Taylor, TX, the Willacy County Detention Center in Raymondville and the numerous deportation prisons – represents nothing more than reminder of the empty promises of liberty, justice and democracy made by the neo-colonial power structure that brought them here. In truth, their abused and hollow meanings behind their supposed help and goodwill continue to be unmasked and being replaced by terror, hunger and injustice! No matter how much they seek to live a modest life, fend for their families, enjoy a decent education or even struggle for the right to live, they are demonized, imprisoned and sent to their deaths through hunger and repression brought on by the very same societies that benefit from their devastation and misery. It is the bureaucratic machine of oppression that works tirelessly to strip them of their human rights and to keep them faceless so they can simply remain as objects to be stared at and talked about – just as it was envisioned by P.T. Barnum with his own personal human zoo.

To reflect on these realities could help us to better understand the tragedy. We have a crisis that is threatening our existence. Nevertheless, that does not mean that we have to accept this inept government, which allows this to happen. We can do something about it instead of being forced to decide to either leave this country or accept the authoritarianism that has developed. A true democracy should not consist only of secret police and domestic espionage operations and generals and admirals with their approach to justice – meaning, they will let you know what justice is. When it come to the issue of humanity as opposed to power – I have chosen humanity. A free society owes it existence to the tenets of freedom. People of color have never had a breath of freedom in this suffocating society.

Today, in America, too much emphasis is given to secrecy and not enough emphasis is given to the question of justice and to the question of humanity. These dignified deceptions will not suffice. We have had enough of power without truth. I intend to fight for the truth. I suggest that not only is this not un-American, but it is the most American thing we can do – because if the truth does not endure, then our country will not endure.

With the 2008 election approaching fast, the fact is, if we do not wake up quick, we can hope for little substantive change in the next administration if we don’t pressure any of the current Democratic Party candidates for justice. The current “GOP Lite” formula that the Democratic Party is adhering to is a bankrupt centrist ideology with no principles, and which inspires far too few to go out and vote the decadent neocon murderers out of office.

In our country the worst of all crimes occurs when the government murders truth. If it can murder truth, it can murder freedom. Once this occurs, they can do away with anybody if they should dare to fight for freedom.

I call on every refugees, migrant and anti-racist progressive-minded people to come together in order to demonstrate that another world is possible and that solidarity, justice, brother- sisterhood and liberty are more than empty words. Now is the time not to back down. We are fighting for our lives!

Last week, after having a secret meeting, key senators from both parties along with the White House reached a compromise on a comprehensive [tag]immigration reform[/tag] bill. What is interesting about this bill, is the way this bill is being fast tracked through the Senate and how it is being shoved down our throats regardless of our opinions. The 300 + page text was cut-n-pasted from last year’s failed legislation with some revision done last Saturday by Senate staff. Key sections continue to be changed throughout the Senate’s debate of the bill, this is one reason it is hard to find detailed analysis of the legislation on the Internet, especially on the progressive side of the blogosphere. For those on the right, it is a simple regurgitation of the ole xenophobic rhetoric.

[tag]George Lakoff[/tag] was correct on how we metaphorically describe this nation as a family because the way everything is handled, it feels like this nation is one big dysfunctional family, where the politicos in office are the parents and we – the people – are its children. And like any family, we are being told what to do, regardless if we like it or not. However, it seems the parents are not seeing eye-to-eye on this bill; both parties are very intent in preventing this bill from reaching the president’s desk. Even though the media describes the bill as “comprehensive immigration reform,” the fact is, this bill is anything but “comprehensive.”

The bill has four major provisions which eventually transform the present family-based immigration system into a “Rich man’s immigration system” that would curb future immigration only to those who can afford the high visa cost and those with college degrees, while at the same time creating a new bracero program and adding more border cops to the Southern border. The proposed bill primary focus is ending the so-called “chain migration” by creating a point system where high skill, income, and education levels determine eligibility for immigration are valued more than a person’s family; however, there are some who state this is not true and that the system would reward those who are less educated.

The proposed bill also gives priority to “enforcement” to such measures as doubling the size of the Border Patrol, vastly expanding the military-style barriers along the US-Mexico border, increasing the number and size of detention facilities for undocumented workers, and establishing a new police-state technology for workplace checks the legal status of every worker in the United States.

The proposal would establish a temporary worker program (the old [tag]bracero[/tag] program, just renamed) that would bring in new immigrants to the US while creating a separate program for seasonal migrant workers. Skills and education-level would be weighted over family connections in deciding whether prospective immigrants should get permanent legal status. In other words, the comprehensive immigration reform bill is reverting to the 1917 Immigration bill that forced everybody over sixteen years of age to take a literacy test. Those who were considered ignorant were not allowed to come in. This time around, it is being called a merit system – a system that is being used in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

The bill would allow 400,000 temporary workers to enter the country each year on “[tag]Y visas[/tag]” to fill the multitude high skills jobs that Americans can do, but cost too much and would let employers have the option to cut cost and hire immigrants to do those jobs. The visa is renewable; however, it is limited to a total of three two-year-periods, thereby ensuring a truly “temporary” worker program. As immigrants toil under conditions of thinly disguised slavery, they are effectively denied the right to bring family members with them by making them them jump through unreasonable hurdles – such as providing evidence that their spouses and children have private health insurance coverage.

It is interesting to see the how the media and the more hysterical anti-immigrant demagogues claim that this bill is offering “[tag]amnesty[/tag]“ to 12 million undocumented immigrants, when the simple fact is, the Senate bill is not an amnesty program. The comprehensive reform bill is simply another smoke and mirrors ploy, in which millions of undocumented immigrants would face various conditions making it difficult “path” to earned citizenship, such as passing background checks, paying fines, and “getting in line.” Under the proposed legislation, in order for the undocumented workers to qualify for this new “path” to citizenship, they would have to apply for a four-year renewable temporary “[tag]Z visa[/tag]“, which would mean they would have to cough up $5,000 in fees and penalties and pay an additional $1,500 processing fee for each person applying for a Z visa. Even though this visa can be renewable indefinitely, the bill does not mention if the $5,000 a one-time penalty or that they would continue coughing up that amount each time they were to renew their visa. Once this is done, the visa holder can then be qualified to convert their visa to permanent residency if the head of household applies within 8 years and RETURNS to their home country to collect the visa at a consulate. However, they must remain there for 6 to 8 months before they can begin their “path” to citizenship. This would also include paying another $4,000 fine along with a $3,500 visa fee. Permanent status would only be granted after the Department of Homeland Security has cleared its backlog of the four million applications by legal immigrants who are waiting for their visas to bring relatives into the country. The process can take about eight or plus years to clear. The “legalization” process abounds with provisions described as “triggers,” that would determine if they can stay or not. It would not be surprising to see hundreds of thousands of immigrants be denied legal status and exposed to immediate deportation.

What’s more, our elected leaders, tried to fast track this bill without having a true dialogue. Clearly, both Republicans and Democrats were catering to both conservative and liberal voters, in hopes of winning their votes in the upcoming 2008 presidential elections rather than the lives and suffering of the immigrants who do not have a vote. If passed, it would have truly demoralized millions of people and their families into feeling like unwelcome guests, this also goes for the non-brown immigrants. The bill would have put everything just slightly out of reach for them. It will make them feel like they are on some treadmill being told pay a little more and all your dreams will be met just over the horizon. What they don’t realize it is just a carrot dangling on a stick just inches out of their reach, and no matter how far they think they have gone, they are still on the same treadmill and the carrot is still there, still just out of reach. The only ones who benefit for this are the corporation with their cheap labor.

If there is a reason causing the large influx of immigration from Mexico into the US, it is NAFTA. For the past 13 years, North American Free Trade Agreement ([tag]NAFTA[/tag]) has provided cover for our imperialistic march for power and profit. Predatory multinational corporations have prospered from their economic conquest as they allied themselves with friendly governments at the expense of ordinary working people who ultimately paid the price. The result – mass and growing poverty, human misery, and ecological destruction great enough to threaten the ability of the planet to sustain life.

The Senate bill could not help but reflect who would benefit from this bill – the business sector. Even though the business sector spoke against the bill, in reality, it was the elite capitalist from major corporate players in agriculture, construction, and other sectors of the economy who drafted the bill. Both parties want to assure businesses have a large exploitable documented temporary worker pool they can use as needed, abuse as they wish, underpay, deny benefits and above all use as a wedge to destroy organized labor and the rights of all working people in the country. We must remain astute that it is our [tag]neoliberal agenda[/tag] that is driving millions of people to abandon their home. They are here to seek a better life, only to find themselves to be exploited in the workplace and terrorized by Homeland Security ICE storm troopers.

We must be aware of the hypocritical nature of wanting to benefit economically from the Mexican migration; but at the same time, create a hostile environment driven by fear against immigrants to control migration flows. It is time for human, civil rights, and other progressive organizations to mount a combined effort to fight back! We can no longer sit back and watch this country be destroyed itself at the expense of society’s most vulnerable while the capitalist continue to get wealthier on the backs of the immigrant people, while they receive nothing in return.

It is, time to end this racist war on immigrants.

Just a small reminder – they can’t deport us all.

The immigration legislation, the STRIVE Act (The Security Through Regularized Immigration and a Vibrant Economy Act, HR 1645, also known as the Gutierrez-Flake bill), that is now being debated in Congress that was introduced last month by Congressmen Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) and Jeff Flake (R-AZ) will force lawmakers to make a moral decision. The bi-partisan bill is being compared to last years Senate bill senators Ted Kennedy and John McCain introduced that advocated for a large-scale guestworker program. The bill that would bring back the old Bracero Program witch doesn’t even come close to meeting the human rights standards set forth by the international community.

Last week, President Bush unveils his own immigration proposal that is very comparable to the Gutierrez-Flake bill. While both advocate for providing a “pathway” to citizenship it would require them to return to home and pay hefty fines to become legal US residents, they would also need to go though a very a tough background check by the government. Background checks not even the ordinary American could pass. As for the “lucky” ones who do qualify for this “pathway to citizenship” – it will be extremely long, expensive and hazardous. It will cost thousands, if not tens of thousands of dollars in fees and fines, and it will take years – most likely much longer, considering that close to 200,000 immigrants, who applied under the last “reform” 20 years ago, are still waiting.

It is funny how Congress played everybody for a fool. It is not coincidental that the debates ended abruptly last year. This is not some conspiracy plot it was strategic move. It was to ensure that the seething cauldron that is filled with hate and violence would eventually reach a boiling point and explode into a frenzy of the almost suppressed rage much of this country feel towards Latinos and immigrants. It is not surprising that these bills are being introduced again. A year has passed by, and not a peep has been made about this so-called “new civil rights movement.” However, the anti-immigrant forces have stepped up their policies of repression and aggression against the hard-working people. The difference between this year and the last, we have new bosses in Congress, and they are proving to be the same as the old bosses. So intent are Democratic leaders on avoiding of being perceived as “the party of Blacks and Latinos,” they become very undependable allies. Make no mistake; the “immigration problem” is their “go to” issue when the halls of Congress have come to impasse. The truth is, it is a political fight between Democrats and the Republicans in a fight for quen es el mas chignon.

Race is a very convenient one when you want to seize someone else’s property, or kill them, or enslave them. It is this construct that animates the American debate domestic policy – or even foreign policy – when it comes to “aliens” of one kind or another. It not only swarms the country, it consumes cities. Under Operation Reservation Guaranteed, over 18,000 immigrants have already been picked up in the last five months has already flown “detainees” to wherever in the country a bed is available. I cite that number because that is actually the number of beds funded by the Department of Homeland Security. Funny, how their figures repeatedly exclude detention bed space funded by the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) and Health and Human Services (HHS). The truth is, according to the Office of Inspector General’s report, “Detention and Removal of Illegal Aliens,” there are over 230,000 people a year – more than triple the number of people in detention just nine years ago. Those who are being held include the sick and elderly, pregnant women, families, green card holders, and people escaping torture abroad.

Lies come in different forms and colors. It is no surprise that people are having a difficult time recognizing the essential truth in the ongoing immigration debate; we are constantly assaulted by nondescript facts. This country’s leadership is determined not to frame this debate in racial terms; therefore, the argument will constantly be framed in a comparison between those who have entered the country “the right way” versus “those who have chosen to break the law.” Last year, Migra Matters linked to a leaked Republican document, “Respect for the Law & Economic Fairness: Illegal Immigration Prevention,” which is the cheat-sheet for the immigration issue. Those talking points are nothing more but force-fed shadows on the wall of Plato’s Cave – a fabricated collective illusion generated by official rhetoric and amplified by mass media.

It comes as no epiphany that the whole “immigration crisis” is for the most part a fabrication of the right intended to distract the American electorate from their growing disenchantment with Republican and conservative policy. Luntz’s polling shows that thus far the campaign has been quite effective in misdirecting the American people’s wrath. According to Luntz, “While a majority of Americans believe it is the economic consequences of illegal immigration that is doing the most damage, it’s the “principle of prevention” that the public sees as the most important solution.” But if we look at exactly what the “economic consequences of illegal immigration” are, we see a series of failures of conservative policy.

The only reality we know are the shadows we are allowed to see, if the reality is unknown, or what you perceive is supposed to be the truth; then what is there to question or worry about? As one of the characters in the movie The Matrix said, “ignorance is bliss.”

Entering the Morass
Distinguishing between better or worse perceptions of realities is an extraordinarily difficult. In today’s society, questioning the status quo carries the threat of ostracism, possibly persecution. While the status quo exists, those who are doing well under the existing system will fight to protect it, for them there is no reason for discovering the truth. The reasons for continued migration go beyond “blaming the victim.” It is an understanding of the economic and social situations between Mexico and the United States. To grasp this relationship, we must develop a firm historical perspective on events that have occurred a long time ago. Although many would regard to believe this is a non-issue, we simply cannot do this because the consequences of such actions are with us every day. You can’t move forward as friends if you were enemies in the past and you do nothing about past situations.

The driving force behind Western imperialism has always been the pursuit of economic gain. The rhetoric of empire involving wars, however, has always been about other things – the White Man’s Burden, bringing true religion to the heathens, Manifest Destiny, defeating the Yellow Peril or the Hun, seeking lebensraum, or making the world safe for democracy. As long as the collective consciousness shuts its eyes to truth, any fabricated motivation for war or empire would do.

A report published in 1975, the Report of the Trilateral Task Force on Governability of Democracies, provides a glimpse into the thinking of elite circles. In this report Harvard professor Samuel P. Huntington, author of The Hispanic Challenge, contributed an essay to that report entitled, “The Crisis of Democracy.” In this essay, Huntington clearly states that democratic societies “cannot work” unless the citizenry is “passive.” Huntington wrote:

In addition to increased campaign activity, there was “a marked upswing in other forms of citizen participation, in the form of marches, demonstrations, protest movements, and ’cause’ organizations…” (61). There were “markedly higher levels of self-consciousness on the part of blacks, Indians, Chicanos, white ethnic groups, students, and women,” all seeking “their appropriate share of the action and of the rewards” (61).

“Al Smith once remarked that ‘the only cure for the evils of democracy is more democracy.’ Our analysis suggests that applying that cure at the present time could well be adding fuel to the flames. Instead, some of the problems of the governance in the United States today stem from an excess of democracy – an ‘excess of democracy’ in much the same sense in which David Donald used the term to refer to the consequences of the Jacksonian revolution which helped to precipitate the Civil War. Needed instead is a greater degree of moderation in democracy” (113).

“Second, the effective operation of a democratic political system usually requires some measure of apathy and noninvolvement on the part of some individuals and groups. In the past, every democratic society has had a marginal population, of greater or lesser size, which has not actively participated in politics. In itself, this marginality on the part of some groups is inherently undemocratic, but it has also been one of the factors which has enabled democracy to function effectively.” Now, with the marginal groups participating more, “the danger of overloading the political system with demands which extend its functions and undermine its authority still remains. Less marginality on the part of some groups thus needs to be replaced by more self-restraint on the part of all groups” (114).

Huntington clearly spells the agenda how America will be run, and the kind of people who will be included within the elite planning community. So it should not come as a shock when Huntington wrote that “the cultural division between Hispanics and Anglos will replace the racial division between blacks and whites as the most serious cleavage in American society.”

The Illusion of Us vs Them
After the 2006 November elections, the Democrats has been asserting itself but not to the extent human rights activists, true progressives, and minorities would have wanted. One expected it to be more articulate and more critical of the existing Administration, particularly concerning the security forces. It is still a political party licking its wounds and often giving the impression that it does not want to be viewed with the image being “too radical,” “boat rockers” with the Administration. In other words, they are evoking hope among those who find themselves helpless by repeating the same lies Dudya said during the 2000 Presidential campaign – “I’m a uniter, not a divider;” “A reformer with results.” The fact is, the Democratic Party is either too timid or too divided. Either way, it is harming its status and stature. At times, it appears to be riding two horses at the same time.

Sadly, a group you will never hear much about, the Hispanic Caucus continues to enter its own morass. Instead of saving itself from embarrassment, the Coconut Caucus continues to not weighing in on the forms of social stratification that continues to plague this country. Although the overt caste systems the Spanish established that rule is gone, that does not mean that social prejudices and economic exploitation are not present. The problem is the way “social race” is defined today’s American societies. When it comes to “social race” in today’s societies, groups are defined socially much more than biologically. Meaning, a person in one society will be classified differently in another. Each of these social systems produces a very different structural situation and have different consequences for race relations – in one society they may be classifications based on real or imaginary physical characteristics, in another they may refer more to criteria of social status such as education, wealth, language and custom, or in yet another society they may show near or distant ancestry.

The problem here in the US, is the continued presence of the self-perpetuating caste-like social races provides a situation conducive to continued competition and conflict. True, caste is not race but the fallout from our caste-like system is more discriminating and divesting. It is also true, that an argument can be made that there is no common interest that unities native-born Latinos from foreign born Latinos except for our historical background of [tag]colonization[/tag]. The argument being made, why would an eighth-generation New Mexican, who considers himself a Spaniard, have anything in common with the white Republican Cuban. Or a third-generation Mexican-American with the black Puerto-Rican or with newly arrived Latino immigrant who has just arrived yesterday? They are worlds apart. The fact is, some Latinos speak Spanish. Some do not. Some are Catholic. Some are white. Some are brown. Some are black. We truly are la raza cosmica!

For the past couple of weeks I have been very troubled by this argument. How could this reality exist? However to do really answer that question, I would have to look at my own faults. I do admit, America seduced me, enchanted by the ideas of “making it” if I worked hard. I will also admit how much of a neophyte I was during the Olympics or how my first job after graduate which provided me my middle class income allowed me feel I was different, yet, there was ache in my heart that told me it was not true. The more I thought about it, more I saw past the shadows and the Matrix of illusions.

Once we see past these illusions, the common thread that truly unites us all – we are all [tag]Americanos[/tag] – [tag]Latinoamericanos[/tag]. No matter how much we try to set ourselves apart from them, we will always be seen as being impure. Because my skin is brown, to people like Samuel Huntington, my brownness will always be seen as an impurity. The only adjective that attaches to the Mexican more easily, more frequently, in the American lexicon is “dirty” – dirty Mexican. So image being born in Texas, required to learn Texas history, and being told that the only reason the Mexicans were so easy to defeat in battle is because we had diluted the strength of being either pure Indian or pure Conquistador, pure Spaniard, by mixing. As I too fight the struggles of racism, discrimination and the status quo these are the struggles many immigrants face.

Do [tag]immigrants[/tag] not go through the same humiliation, the same harassment and the same horrors of living we do? Do immigrants not concern themselves with concerned with wages and working conditions, health care, education and other issues as we do? Borrowing words from Shakespeare, they can say: If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?

No democratic system should be ashamed of discussing at any forum its practices, which disable its own people. A free society owes it existence to the tenets of freedom. The people of color have never had a breath of freedom in this suffocating society.

On May 1, 2007, we will once against strike fear in the hearts of our common neo-colonial oppressor.

Quoting from last line from The Matrix – “I know that you’re afraid… you’re afraid of us. You’re afraid of change. I don’t know the future. I didn’t come here to tell you how this is going to end. I came here to tell you how it’s going to begin.”

¡Ahorra Actuamos y Manana Votamos!

A message from the National Immigrant Solidarity Network

Debate Endgame in this Congress – Stalemate, Solution, or Setback?

When Congress returns just after Labor Day, it only has five weeks left before recessing for the mid-term elections in November. With immigration being one of the nation’s top policy issues, will some sort of immigration bill be enacted this year? If so, what kind?

The debate is so volatile it’s risky to make predictions. But I like taking chances, so here are four possible scenarios, with my predictions of their likelihood, from most likely in my view, to least.

Scenario 1: Stalemate
After spending the summer staging one-sided “field hearings” aimed at bashing immigrants and the more comprehensive Senate bill, the Republican House leadership decides to go for a kill in September. They approve “Sensenbrenner-lite” — the original enforcement-only bill enacted by the House last December but with changes to the provisions that make undocumented immigrants and those who assist them into felons.

The Senate, having recently passed a flawed but unprecedented comprehensive reform bill – one that provides more visas and a path to citizenship for many but not all undocumented immigrants, as well as tough and excessive enforcement measures – criticizes the House for sticking with an enforcement-only approach. It asserts that only an “enforcement-plus” strategy will work, pointing to opinion polls showing that 75 percent of the public agrees. The House stands its ground, the Senate does the same, and the result is a stalemate.

Likelihood By deciding this summer to agitate rather than legislate on illegal immigration, House Republican leaders clearly hope border security/illegal immigration will be a wedge issue that motivates otherwise despondent conservative voters to show up at the polls in November. My guess: House Republican leaders will decide to stay the course right up through the mid-terms this November. The result? Stalemate. We start from scratch next year.

Scenario 2: Sensenbrenner-lite sealed with a promise
The House, looking for a legislative result but on their terms, passes a watered-down version of the Sensenbrenner bill in September. But instead of bucking the Senate and the president, they promise this is but a “down payment” for a more comprehensive approach next Congressional session. House Democrats, fearful of looking “soft” on illegal immigration right before the elections, vote for the measure in droves.

This puts pressure on the Senate to “do something” before the elections. Republicans do it in the name of party loyalty and claim this is but a first step. Many Democrats go along to avoid misleading but punishing 30-second campaign ads right before the elections. The president thanks Congress for taking the first step and signs the “enforcement-first, comprehensive reform next” bill into law.

Likelihood Even if the House passes Sensenbrenner-lite, and even if many House Democrats vote for it out of fear, Republican Senators who support comprehensive reform are unlikely to cave in. Moreover, the president is unlikely to accept what would amount to a major defeat for him.

Republican reformers in the Senate have shed a lot of blood to pass the Senate bill this spring, and they are deeply offended their House counterparts have spent the summer criticizing them rather than negotiating. They firmly believe that enforcement-first is enforcement-only, and enforcement-only is bad policy. They and the White House maintain that the House approach is bad politics because pragmatic swing voters want practical solutions and up-for-grabs immigrant voters now see immigration as a defining issue.

If this scenario unfolds, I predict Senate Republican reformers and the White House will stay strong, refuse to go along, and the House gets the blame for the ensuing stalemate.

Scenario 3: Threading the bipartisan needle towards workable comprehensive reform
The Republican House leaders return in September and realize their silly “field hearings” have backfired. They become fearful that the “do-nothing” label is sticking and decide to go for a bill. The White House calls together Senate and House leaders for informal negotiations.

With the Republicans deeply divided between comprehensive reform and enforcement-only, the only way to move a bill is to attract broad support from Democrats. The negotiations yield a simpler bill that combines border security measures, an expanded worker verification system, more worker and family visas and a broader earned path to legal status and citizenship. Though controversial, the bill is approved by a slim margin in the House and by a wide margin in the Senate in October. The president happily signs it into law.

Likelihood It would take something close to a miracle for this scenario to happen. First, Republican House leaders would have to decide they really want a bill, and then would have to embrace key components of the Senate bill they have spent the past three months attacking. Democrats, who are in no mood to give the Republicans a victory when they’re on the verge of taking back control of one or both chambers of Congress, then would have to supply the winning margin of votes. The only way for this dream to come true is if the Republican leadership becomes so determined to produce a legislative result they make an offer the Democrats can’t refuse. Unfortunately, this is Washington, D.C., not Hollywood.

Scenario 4: Guestworker-only plus enforcement
Republican House leaders decide to go for a bill this fall that adds an old-style “work-and-return” guestworker program to most of the tough enforcement measures in the original House enforcement-only bill. They trumpet this as a “Republican version of comprehensive reform” that says no to what they call the Senate “amnesty” provisions, and no to the Senate’s sensible increases in permanent family and work visas. House leaders convince the White House and Senate Republicans to support this for the sake of party loyalty and mid-term survival. Just enough Republicans support it in both chambers get it across the finish line, and the president signs it into law.

Likelihood Not gonna happen. Republicans are simply too divided to produce enough votes to pass a Republicans-only version of reform. Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) will make sure enough Republicans oppose any bill with guestworker visas, and almost no House Democrats will vote for a guestworker-heavy bill. And even if they did, the Senate Republican reformers would not go along. For them, it’s simple: no path to citizenship, no solution, therefore no deal.

So, if the most likely scenario – a stalemate – wins out, what then? Well, if the House remains in Republican hands and they credit their come-from-behind victory in November to “standing on principle” against the president and the Senate, watch out. The worst is yet to come.

If, on the other hand, if the House Republicans take a beating, either by losing numerous seats yet retaining the majority, or by losing control to the Democrats, what then? Well, if it becomes clear that immigrant-bashing and having no realistic solution on immigration backfired, then the next two-year Congressional session just might be the time to make real progress towards the enactment of workable comprehensive immigration reform.

On the third hand, the only safe prediction in the immigration debate is that the future is unpredictable.

For the latest developments on our US immigration policy, please visit Migra Matters – Progressive Immigration Reform

Click Read more for the list of cities who are participating in these events
September Nationwide Labor Day Weekend Immigrant Actions
Houston, TX – September 4, 10 AM March In Defense of Immigrant Rights from Market Square to City Hall. Tel: (832) 277-3903 URL: http://myspace.com/100312862

Los Angeles, CA -1 (Downtown LA): September 2, 12:00 PM Olympic & Broadway. Tel: (818)989-3019 URL: http://www.March25Coalition.org

Los Angeles, CA – 2 (Wilmington): September 4, 8:00 AM (Assembly) 10:00 AM (March). Tel: (714)541-0250 URL: http://www.MAPA.org

Chicago, IL: September 1 – 4, Immigrant Workers Justice Walk from Chicago to Batavia, IL. Tel: (877)762-7242 URL: http://www.movimiento10demarzo.org

Pittsburgh PA: September 3, 3:00 PM East Carson and 22nd Street, Southside. E-Mail: PFOIinfo@gmail.com

St. Paul, MN: September 4, 10:30 AM 139 Concord St. (corner of Cesar & State St.) Tel: (651)389-9174 URL: http://www.mnimmigrantrights.org

Newark, NJ: September 4, 11:00 AM Lincoln Park. Tel: (973)643-1924
San Francisco, CA: September 4, 10:00 AM Embarcadero. Tel: (415)487-9203, (510)839-7598

Oakland, CA: September 4, 9:00 AM E. 14th St./International Blvd. + 98th Ave Tel: (510)502-9072 URL: http://www.BAMN.com

Fresno, CA: September 4, 4:00 PM Fulton Mall.

Phoenix, AZ: September 4, 9:00 AM State Capital. URL: http://www.SEIU5az.org

Washington, DC: September 7, 4:00 PM The Mall 3rd & Constitution. URL: http://ncic-metro.org