Amidst Calls for Arpaio’s Resignation, NDLON Calls on White House to Take Action

As the call for Sheriff Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona to resign grows, Pablo Alvarado of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network issued the following statement:
 
“We are pleased attention has properly returned to Sheriff Arpaio and we agree he should resign. However, the White House role in Maricopa’s crisis deserves greater scrutiny and requires immediate action. Sheriff Arpaio’s mishandling of crime cases is the direct result his out-of-control and discriminatory focus on immigration; focus he’s able to implement through federal contracts
President Obama’s contracts granting immigration authority to the Sheriff fueled his conversion into a Frankenstein and the President’s refusal to pull the plug continues to enable Maricopa’s monstrosity. 
The process to bring Arpaio to justice should be swift. The President and Secretary Napolitano have a moral obligation to ensure it begins with cutting the Sheriff off from federal immigration enforcement contracts and concluding the delayed Department of Justice investigation.”

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287(g)

The 287(g) program was created in 2001 to grant local law enforcement the authority to enforce civil immigration laws.  The predecessor to the Se Communities deportation program, 287(g) sent a chilling effect through immigrant communities and sparked a series of on-going Department of Justice investigations as examples of racial profiling and abuse of power in…

1070 Copy Cat Laws

At the time of its passage in April, 2010, Cardinal Mahoney described Arizona’s SB 1070 as “nazi-like.” In the following legislative session, copy cats of the bill were introduced in more than 20 states.  Georgia, South Carolina, Indiana, Utah, and Alabama, all passed some version of the bill, spreading the Arizonification of the country and…

Center for Day Laborers Opens in Centreville Shopping Plaza

Center for Day Laborers Opens in Centreville Shopping Plaza

Facility is culmination of four years of community organizing.

By Frank Klimko | Source: Centreville.Patch.com

Center for Day Laborers Opens in Centreville Shopping Plaza

Pedro DeLeon, try 50, one of the workers, said he was glad the center was opening. Credit: Anita Klimko

Organizers on Saturday opened the Centreville Labor Resource Center, an expansive facility that will provide an in-door gathering point for day laborers while they wait for jobs—getting them off the street.

The center is a culmination of a four-year effort by the Centreville Immigration Forum to provide the workers with a safe place to wait other than out-of-doors near the Centreville Regional Library. The center is in the Centreville Square Shopping Center, in a space donated by plaza owner and developer Albert J. Dwoskin, a longtime supporter of the center.

“This is a miracle that we were able to get this done,” said Ed Duggan, a Centreville real estate agent and member of the forum’s board of directors. “I’m sympathetic to a guy who will cross thousands of miles just for the chance to stand outside in the winter looking for a job.”

About 75 people attended the ribbon-cutting on Saturday, which was meant to show off the space to the community before it opens for business on Monday. In the crowd were a handful of the day laborers who will be using the center. Many of the workers are handy at remodeling and helped renovate the office space, said center Director Shani Moser, of Vienna.

It is privately funded and receives no public money, unlike other day labor centers, Moser said. The center will not set minimum rates for wages, which will ultimately be negotiated between the worker and his potential employer, she said.

Center for Day Laborers Opens in Centreville Shopping Plaza

Sully District Supervisor Michael Frey (right) with a volunteer at the ribbon cutting. Credit: Anita Klimko

The creation of the center has been met with criticism from some in the community. Dwoskin, of McLean, said he was glad that the organizers were able to see the project to fruition.

“Sometimes you are going to cause a little friction when you are trying to do something good,” Dwoskin said. “The ones who showed the real courage are the volunteers who saw this through. This is an example of a community coming together to do the right thing.”

It will be open from 6 a.m. until noon Monday through Saturday. Workers will sign up for jobs by specialty, many are expert drywallers or painters, and will be hired on a first-come basis by area companies who need the help. There will also be a general worker category.

Organizers anticipate that eventually about 40-60 workers a day will use the center. Centreville is home to a tight-knit community of about a total of 100-150 day laborers, most of whom are drawn from the same impoverished, rural section of Guatemala. As workers and employers learn about the center, organizers hope that the practice of hiring day laborers from the street will fade away.

Pedro DeLeon, 50, one of the workers, said he was glad the center was opening. “We are really excited and happy about it,” said DeLeon, a painter. “It will give us a safe place and will also give the contractors a safe place to hire us.”

Sully District Supervisor Michael Frey (R), a longtime advocate of the center, saw the opening as a win-win situation.

“It will eliminate the concerns of the workers who said they were sometimes treated unfairly,” Frey said, “and it will get them off the streets—which was a serious safety concern for the community,”

NEW MANU CHAO ‘ALTO ARIZONA’ PROTEST VIDEO

Phoenix, AZ

In September, Manu Chao ended his US tour with a ‘Festival de Resistencia’ free concert in Phoenix, Arizona, to protest against anti-immigrant policies that have made the state of Arizona a “capital of prejudice.” The free concert was held in collaboration with the National Day Labourer Organising Network (NDLON), whose ‘Alto Arizona’ campaign is part of an ongoing effort to bring visibility, recognition, dignity and to migrants who have been targets of hate in Arizona and around the world.

 

Last year, Arizona passed Senate Bill 1070, the beginning of a wave of the most anti-immigrant legislation the US has not seen in generations. The passage of SB 1070 Arizona dramatically expanded police powers to stop, question and detain individuals for not having proper identification, a move that encourages racial profiling and legitimizes intolerance.

 

NDLON is a national migrant worker organisation that has been seeking to bring relief  to the state of Arizona and challenge the spread of Arizona-style laws to other states such as Georgia and Alabama.  In Arizona, NDLON and local member organizations are asking the federal government to bring Maricopa County’s Sheriff Arpaio to justice by taking away his immigration law enforcement power and by concluding the three-year-old Department of Justice investigation into his civil rights abuses. The law is currently being blocked by a federal judge.

 

As the son of parents who fled Franco’s Spain, Chao can personally relate to the discrimination and displacement experienced under aggressive governance. “For the past year, we’ve carried the people of Arizona in our hearts as we witnessed them suffer under such ignorant laws” says Chao.

 

While in Arizona, Manu Chao visited the perimeter fence of the notorious jail facility known as ‘Tent City’, which was conceived by Sheriff Arpaio, and where inmates are forced to suffer degrading and to endure the extreme temperature range of the desert by living outside in tents.

 

Manu Chao, along with bandmate Madjid Fahem, serenaded the walls of the jail with a heartfelt rendition of his song ‘Clandestino’. This version was captured on film by filmmaker Alex Rivera, whose work strives to draw attention to the Latin-American community in the US. The footage was produced by the National Day Labourer Organising Network (NDLON) and can be seen on the ‘Alto Arizona’ site http://www.altoarizona.com 

 

NUEVO VIDEO DE MANU CHAO DE PROTESTA ‘ALTO DE ARIZONA’

 

29 de noviembre 2011. Phoenix, AZ

En septiembre, Manu Chao terminó su gira por EE.UU. con un concierto gratuito “Festival de Resistencia” en Phoenix, Arizona, para protestar contra las políticas anti-inmigrantes que han convertido al estado de Arizona en “La Capital de los Prejuicios.” El concierto se celebró en colaboración con la Red Nacional del Jornaleros (NDLON), que sostiene la campaña “Alto Arizona”. La campaña “Alto Arizona” es parte de un esfuerzo continuo para lograr visibilidad, el reconocimiento, la dignidad y la curación a los inmigrantes que han sido objeto de odio en Arizona y en todo el mundo.
El año pasado, Arizona aprobó la ley SB 1070, que marco el comienzo de una ola de legislación  anti-inmigrante. La más severa que se ha visto en generaciones en los EE.UU. La aprobación de la SB 1070 en Arizona amplio dramáticamente los poderes policiales para detener, interrogar y detener a personas por no tener una identificación adecuada, una estrategia que alienta la discriminación racial y le da legitimidad a la intolerancia.
NDLON es una organización nacional de trabajadores inmigrantes, que ha estado tratando de llevar alivio al estado de Arizona y frenar el avance de las leyes estilo “Arizona” a otros estados, como Georgia y Alabama. En Arizona, NDLON y las organizaciones locales miembros están pidiendo al gobierno federal traer ante la justicia a el alguacil del Condado de Maricopa, Joe Arpaio. Pedimos que le quiten el poder que tiene para ejercer leyes de inmigración y también pedimos que se le de una conclusión a la investigación empezada por El Departamento de Justicia hace tres años por sus violaciones a los derechos civiles. Actualmente, la ley está siendo bloqueada por un juez federal.
Como hijo de padres que huyeron de la España de Franco, Chao personalmente puede identificarse con la discriminación y el desplazamiento sufrido bajo tan agresiva gobernanza. “Durante el último año, hemos llevado al pueblo de Arizona en nuestros corazones, mientras somos testigos de su sufrimiento a causa  de estas leyes ignorantes”, dice Chao.
Durante su estadia en Arizona, Manu Chao visitó el perímetro de la notoria cerca de alambre del centro carcelario conocido como “Tent City”, que fue creada por el Sheriff Arpaio, y donde los reclusos son obligados a sufrir tratos degradantes y a soportar temperaturas extremas del desierto viviendo afuera en carpas.
Manu Chao, junto a su compañero de banda, Fahem Madjid, canto frente a los muros de la cárcel con una interpretación sincera y profunda de su canción ‘Clandestino’. Esta versión fue filmada por el cineasta Alex Rivera, quien con su obra se esfuerza por llamar la atención hacia la comunidad latinoamericana en los EE.UU.. El video fue producido por la Red Nacional del Jornaleros (NDLON) y puede ser visto en el sitio http://www.altoarizona.com ‘Alto Arizona’