“There is no better place to be but here in the rain,” said Angela Davis, as she addressed thousands of immigrants standing in front of the stage after having marched two miles in San Francisco. And she’s right, rain or shine, not the rain or swine flu was enough to stop the congregation.

For the average American, the usual rebuttal concerning immigrants sounds something like “they are taking American jobs” or “illegal immigrants are criminals.” The naïve argument trapped in a bubble, cannot see past its Americana nature, that in fact the world does not revolve around us. As the average American’s rage builds up under the assumption that immigrants are taking what’s his, he overlooks that that world he lives in was built by foreigners, that his entire livelihood and commodities of comfort were built by foreigners. His Polo shirt from Guatemala, his shoes from Nicaragua, his coffee from Colombia, his pants from China, his produce from Mexico, his plasma TV from India. And, all paid for in pennies. Although immigrants contribute from all parts of the world to make up these commodities of comfort, they are not allowed to join us here to celebrate it.

We marched in the rain because it was a duty, the youth marched for the rights and dignity of their parents who work far longer than what’s even considered legal by American standards. Parents marched for their children, who even though they are as brown as a Zapotec Indian in the mountains of Mexico, they are no less American despite what their passport says. We marched to make it clear that we will not let immigrant folks be scapegoated for the economic downfall—immigrants have nothing to do with bad mortgage payments, debt, or greedy bankers.

Surely Obama has sparked change in our collective thinking, but true movements are never in style despite whatever Obama shirt you got on. And while officials struggle to find a vaccine for the swine flu of supposed Mexican origin, each step of our march was a step to eradicate an even more threatening social sickness—that race is a false social construct, that borders are no different.

Fox has done it again. Not content with Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck, Fox TV network has found its most recent “perfect fit” – Sheriff Joe Arpaio from Maricopa County, Arizona. We have previously documented Arpaio’s desire for reality show fame as well as his inability to actually solve crime — some 48,000 felony fugitives remain on the loose in his jurisdiction.

Fox’s new “Smile! You’re Under Arrest” television program is intended to project Arpaio as “America’s Toughest Sheriff.” Here’s his record.

Arpaio has diverted deputies from solving crimes to chasing immigrants — and done so with no real strategy other than to attract television cameras. Arpaio’s deputies carry out traffic stops and neighborhood sweeps that have reportedly stopped people for no greater “crime” than being brown. These sheriff deputies hope they find someone without identification who they can turn over to federal immigration officials. Arpaio even requires that victims and witnesses prove their immigration status – a sure way to get fewer whistleblowers to come forward, thus increasing crime.

Seems like an odd guy for Fox to highlight as a law enforcement icon. America’s Voice has just produced a video attempting to give Arpaio “the attention he deserves” — a federal investigation into his record:

The conservative Goldwater Institute conducted an investigation and found using FBI crime statistics that violent crimes in Maricopa County have increased 69% since 2004 and murders have increased a whopping 166%; this while nearby jurisdictions have seen either declines or small increases. Arizona’s East Valley Tribune investigated as well and found: “slower response times on emergency calls, a dropping arrest rate, and for a time, excessive overtime costs.” Even better, on September 25th, Arpaio’s jails lost accreditation, and he is now operating the jails outside Arizona law.

But some people will prosper under Arpaio’s shenanigans – those who sue the county. Between 2004 and 2007, 2,700 lawsuits have been filed against Maricopa County. The Phoenix New Times reports that:

With a fraction of the inmate population, Arpaio has had 50 times as many lawsuits as the New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Houston jail systems combined. … The $41.4 million taxpayers coughed up to insure for, defend, or settle lawsuits is just the edge of the cesspool — one result of inhumane conditions that have long made Arpaio’s jails the target of investigations from both the federal government and advocates like Amnesty International.

NAM contributor Henry Fernandez is a Senior Fellow at the Center For American Progress Action Fund.

As has happened at different points throughout United States history, New Americans — immigrants and the children of immigrants — are changing the face of the electorate. And apparently they aren’t too happy with the way their communities are being treated. This may in the end decide the outcome of the presidential election.
In a report released today, the Immigration Policy Center points out that New Americans are big voting blocs in key swing states, including: 14.8% of the electorate in Nevada and 14% in Florida. IPC also notes that Latinos and Asians together account for 31.5% of all registered voters in New Mexico, 16.2% in Nevada, 12.6% in Florida, and 11.1% in Colorado.
Most daunting for those politicians who have chosen to scapegoat immigrants — according to a Pew Hispanic Center poll this summer, 75% of Latino voters view the immigration issue as important or very important.
And they plan to vote — a recent NALEO Educational Fund poll found that an astonishing 90% of Latinos in battleground states (Colorado, Florida, Nevada, and New Mexico) say they are certain to vote.
Why does this matter? The vote count gurus over at FiveThirtyEight.com rank Colorado, Florida, Nevada and New Mexico as top “tipping point states,” meaning a state that in a close national election would alter the outcome if decided differently. Both Pollster.com and FiveThirtyEight currently lists all of these swing states won in 2004 by Bush as leaning to Obama based on recent polling.
Why have these states and their 46 electoral votes moved? NALEO’s poll finds dramatically higher Latino support for Obama than the Latino vote for Kerry just four years ago.

Check out the full report here.

Spanish-language Media: Behind Every Raid Is a Child

by Cristina Fernández Pereda

WASHINGTON – Immigration raids have filled Spanish-language newspaper pages for the last few weeks. In October 2007, the National Council of La Raza reported on the consequences of these raids on children. In recent coverage, reporters have gone back to that report and emphasized with each story that behind most immigrant deportations, there’s a kid left behind.

Most work raids leave broken families – the deportation of one member of the family can leave other members behind – and emotional effects on children, such as depression, anxiety or feelings of panic, NCLR concluded in the study “Paying the Price: The Impact of Immigration Raids on America’s Children.

El Tiempo Latino’s front page May 30 read: “Quiero estar con mi mamá” (I want to be with my mom), portraying Mike Anthony, a four-year-old whose mother has just been deported to Honduras. He will stay with some friends for now.

Mike Anthony’s struggle is part of the wider coverage of last immigration raids in Virginia.

After the arrest of 33 workers in Richmond, Va., El Pregonero reported on the rights of workers at the time of detention. Among the recommendations from the Virginia Immigration People’s Coalition are the suggestion to always carry their working papers with them, if they have them; to memorize the telephone number of an organization that might provide a lawyer for them; their right to leave jail by paying the requested bail and the recommendation to ask for a copy of every immigration document.

The workers detained in Richmond were from Guatemala, Honduras, México, Nicaragua, Peru and El Salvador. Raids in the D.C. area have especially affected Salvadorans, El Pregonero reported. The consulate in Washington, D.C., reported attending to about 70 Salvadorans in different prisons in the metro area each month.

Representatives of the Committee on Education and Labor met on May 22 to discuss the consequences on children of worksite raids, El Pregonero reported. The Committee considered economic, social and educational consequences for undocumented immigrants’ children, putting a special emphasis on the fact that most children separated from deported parents are U.S. citizens.

The prologue in Sonia Nazario’s “Enrique’s Journey” (Random House 2006) describes the author’s surprise that mothers in Latin America were forced to leave their children behind as they pursued a different life in the United States.

Just as Nazario wondered what pushed thousands of women to leave their homes and families – she discovered that this could be related to the disintegration of the family and high divorce rates in poor areas of Latin America – now the same question is on the minds of kids like Mike Anthony, who know why their families came to the United States, but can’t explain the reasons for sending their mothers back home without them.

Immigration related articles

http://onewayoranother.wordpress.com

Francisco Dominguez is a documentary photographer covering the plight of immigrant workers from Mexico, the U.S., and the border. He traveled along the border for two weeks, bringing attention to the countless individuals who have lost their lives attempting to reach the U.S.

The Border Angels Migrant March II traveled by caravan from San Ysirdro, California to Brownsville, Texas stopping in cities and towns along the way to gather stories and testimonies of immigrant families.

Before the march, I had volunteered with the Border Angels to protest the Minutemen in Calexico and Campo, California. Later I transported water to the desert for migrants making the journey from Mexico to the U.S. Temperatures in the desert between San Diego and Calexico average over 100 degrees during the summer months. Volunteers have distributed barrels of water in over 300 locations in the desert marked by 5-ft blue flags.

The Migrant March II began in San Ysidro, California along the fence that separates the border. Over a hundred supporters joined together in a moment of silence for the countless numbers of lives lost. We planted crosses into the ground, each one symbolizing a life, and continued to plant them in each town and city we visited along the way.

We collected stories from immigrant families along the border during our journey—what they went through to come here,
their hardships, and also their lives at this time living in an era of anti-immigrant fervor that has swept the U.S. since 9-11.

Some of these families are forever scarred by loved ones who never made it crossing the desert or simply disappeared.

In Arizona, there was a hunger strike calling attention to unjust immigration laws and also to the numbers of immigrant deaths in the U.S. borderlands, which consist of California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas.

The hunger strikers (see photo above) in downtown Phoenix condemned deaths on the border. They were women and men from various organizations that took turns each week. One of the organizations was Centro de Ayuda, which provides services for immigration papers, taxes, and English classes.

There is an increasing amount of violence along the border as the Marines and National Guard now patrol under the guise of the war on drugs, not immigration. Our government has allocated a huge budget to stop the drug flow from Mexico that pays for unmanned drone planes, similar to the ones used in Iraq for surveillance, and the drone blimps tied to cables on the ground that have “eyes” in the sky. This watch tower is located in Roma, Texas.

The Migrant March II joined human rights advocates at a conference in San Antonio to draft legislation condemning the use of deadly force and to require immigration officials to read the rights of individuals they arrest or detain. Individuals crossing the border should be treated with dignity and respect as human beings and workers.

Contact Francisco Dominguez at fotowaddle@gmail.com.