We’ve all played Would you rather? Would you rather have a third eye or a second nose? Would you rather smell like a wet dog every third day, or a ham omelette every day? Would you rather wake up one morning to discover you’re married to a hipster, or that you are a hipster? Here’s one more: Would you…
When Barack Obama said he needed a “dance partner” in Congress to reform immigration law he might not have been thinking of Steve King but King has proven to be Obama’s best accomplice in what constitutes the perfect political crime.
With Republicans’ unmasked bigotry, the President can denounce them for their intolerance while implementing enforcement to cater to it.
Where Rep. King’s comments are a mouthpiece for prejudice, the President’s are a pretext for actual policy that has eviscerated our rights and devastated the lives of thousands of families. King’s Republican affiliation, however, makes him an appealing target while the Democratic President’s record and rhetoric make for an inconvenient truth.
Yet truth be told, the President has done more to criminalize migrants than what Rep. King could accomplish in his wildest dreams.
Visitors to Eloy Detention Center are greeted by a mural of three flags. They are, from left to right, there the stars & stripes of the United States, the rising sun of Arizona, and the maroon corporate logo of CCA. The three flags are painted as if they are being flown on the same level, with the Corrections Corporation of America’s flag flying to the right of the flag of the United States of America. This is, as any cub scout knows, a terrible violation of decorum, and highly disrespectful of the U.S. flag.
It is also a violation of the Federal Flag Code, 4 U.S.C. §§ 4-10, for which CCA should be instantly deported.
The Dream 9 were in Eloy when I visited the for-profit prison in the middle of the Arizona desert. All of the nine young people had been brought to the United States as children and would have qualified for DACA relief, the legalization-lite the Obama administration had conceded after three years of escalating pressure from Dreamers. But seven of the Dream 9 had lost hope and left the country before DACA was announced, and so they no longer qualify. The other three – Marco Saavedra, Lulu Martinez and Lizbeth Mateo – did something almost beyond comprehension: they voluntarily left the U.S. a few weeks ago to go fetch the others back. In doing so, Martinez and Mateo made themselves ineligible for DACA. When the nine Dreamers presented themselves at the Nogales port of entry, they were arrested and ended up in Eloy.
SAN DIEGO — San Diego is a town surrounded by military might. To the north is Camp Pendleton and its 37,000 active duty Marines. To the west, Naval Base Coronado is the command center for the Navy SEALS. To the east, the military trains its elite special forces in the Mountain Warfare Training Facility.
And then to the south, there’s the border and Tijuana.
Given the geographic proximity to all these Marines and Special Forces machos, it’s no wonder Border Patrol agents stationed in San Diego in the early 1990’s felt a bit chagrined at their inability to stop national security threats like dog whisperer Cesar Milan from unauthorized entry into the United States.
By Raúl Alcaraz Ochoa and Daniel Carrillo Jesús crossed the desert two months ago. He almost died. He dreams of re-uniting with his family in New York after being apart for three years. “I asked around how I can get work to save money to get to my family in New York, and…
El 17 de febrero, online policías locales aplicaron la ley racista SB 1070 y llamaron a la patrulla fronteriza; un padre de seis hijos fue llevado bajo custodia en Tucson, Arizona. Siendo testigo de una separación de familia, case yo espontáneamente corrí hacia el vehículo de la Patrulla Fronteriza y me metí debajo de ella…
On February 17th, local police officers enforcing racist law SB 1070 called border patrol and took a father of six into custody in Tucson, Arizona. Witnessing a family separation unfolding, I spontaneously ran up to the Border Patrol vehicle and crawled beneath it to prevent his detention. I did this to protest the Arizona police…
María Marroquín, health Executive Director of the Day Worker Center of Mountain View, said she hopes lawmakers are realizing the need for humane immigration reform. But she said she was less enthusiastic about one of the ideas – a new agricultural worker program. “The previous experience that we had didn’t really work well,” she said. “It’s really easy t…
While President Obama has repeatedly pledged to make immigration reform a centerpiece of his next term, not one question was asked of him on this topic by reporters during yesterday’s White House press conference.
Though the debt ceiling was the issue of the day, it is fair to assume immigration will take center stage in future White House press briefings.
To clarify and define what can be expected of President Obama’s reform proposal, and to further advance the national debate about immigration reform, tough questions should be asked that cut through political spin and rhetoric.
Below are just a few specific questions that we at the National Day Laborer Organizing Network feel should be asked of the White House. We encourage others to add their questions below in the comment section.
Source: HoustonWorkers.org As Hurricane Sandy continues on its path and our friends and loved ones on the East Coast begin to assess the damage to their homes, businesses, and communities, we in the Gulf Coast offer our solidarity and prayers. If our experience as a Worker Center along the Gulf Coast can offer any…
