Over 500 Groups Demand End To Local Immigration Checks

Since taking office, the Obama Administration has been doing a carefully choreographed dance with both sides of the immigration debate in an attempt to place itself in a "sweet spot" where it believes it will be able to appease all concerned parties when the thorny issue of immigration reform finally moves up the legislative agenda.

Taking a cue from past administrations who tackled immigration legislation, like Reagan in 86, and Clinton in 95, Obama has chosen to pave the way for negotiations by launching a pre-emptive strike against opposition from the right by engaging in increased crackdowns and heavy-handed enforcement to prove that he's "serious about enforcing the law". Both Reagan and Clinton engaged in increased workplace raids and ramped up deportations before coming to the table to negotiate. Bush, did the same after the failure of reform legislation in 06.

But Obama, being much more attuned than his predecessors to the potential negative PR ramifications of pictures of crying children, or parents being paraded around in shackles, plastered across the pages of the New York Times or the Nightly News, has chosen to send his dog-whistle messages to the right in far more subtle ways.

Since taking office he's increased the number of deportations and detentions through the use of roundups of "criminal aliens" (and anyone within proximity to them), and increased use of local law enforcement to single out undocumented immigrants at traffic stops and routine misdemeanor calls. Additionally he's ramped up the use of the provisions of Clinton's 1996 legislation that allows the deportation of legal residents who've run afoul of the law (even years ago on minor charges.)

While both he, and his Homeland Defense Secretary, have promised to review it's agreements with local enforcement agencies and revise their detention policies to make them more "humane", neither has been willing to totally abandon the enforcement policies that fill those detention centers.

Finally last week, 521 immigrant-rights and human-rights organizations threw down the gauntlet and demanded that the Administration immediately terminate the Department of Homeland Security's 287(g) program that allows over 66 different local law enforcement agencies to run roughshod over the constitution

August 25, 2009

The President
The White House
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President:

We, the undersigned civil rights, community, and immigrant rights organizations, urge you to immediately terminate the 287(g) program operated by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The program has come under severe criticism this year because local law enforcement agencies that have been granted 287(g) powers are using the program to target communities of color, including disproportionate numbers of Latinos in particular places, for arrest. Racial profiling and other civil rights abuses by the local law enforcement agencies that have sought out 287(g) powers have compromised public safety, while doing nothing to solve the immigration crisis.

We applaud your recent remarks acknowledging, that “there is a long history in this country of African Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately.” However, DHS’s continued use of the 287(g) program exacerbates exactly this type of racial profiling. In light of well-documented evidence that local law enforcement agencies are using 287(g) powers to justify and intensify racial profiling, Secretary Napolitano’s July 10, 2009 announcement that DHS has expanded the 287(g) program to include 11 new jurisdictions is deeply alarming.

Since its inception, the 287(g) program has drawn sharp criticism from federal officials, law enforcement, and local community groups. The program, largely recognized as a failed Bush experiment, relinquishes the power to enforce immigration law to local law enforcement and corrections agencies and has resulted in the widespread use of pretextual traffic stops, racially motivated questioning, and unconstitutional searches and seizures primarily in communities of color. In a country where racial profiling by law enforcement agents has led to massive arrests of people of color, these efforts to push immigrants into the criminal justice system is not surprising, but absolutely counterproductive to increasing public safety.

A March 2009 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report criticized DHS for program mismanagement and insufficient oversight of the controversial program. The DHS Inspector General is currently conducting an audit of the 287(g) program, and the Department of Justice launched a civil rights investigation into the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, whose 287(g) program has been widely criticized for engaging in racial and ethnic profiling. The Police Foundation, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, and the Major Cities Chiefs Association have expressed concerns that deputizing local law enforcement officers to enforce civil federal immigration law undermines their core public safety mission, diverts scarce resources, increases their exposure to liability and litigation, and exacerbates fear in communities.

Reports of abuse in local communities have been widespread. In Davidson County, Tennessee, the Sheriff’s Office used its 287(g) power to apprehend undocumented immigrants driving to work, standing at day labor sites, or while fishing off piers. One pregnant woman---charged with driving without a license---was shackled to her bed during labor. In Gwinnett County, Georgia, even without formal 287(g) powers, over 350 individuals were detained and deported from the jail this February after being arrested for driving without a license, a county ordinance violation, or on traffic or misdemeanor charges. The Gwinnett jail is triple-bunked, with one person in each cell sleeping on the floor, and the jail’s internal SWAT team is known for appearing in ski masks to subdue detainees it deems uncooperative. Yet, Gwinnett County is among the 11 jurisdictions granted new 287(g) approval by Secretary Napolitano earlier this month.

In a recent research report, Justice Strategies, a nonpartisan research firm, found evidence that links the expansion of the program to racial animus against communities of color. According to FBI and census data, sixty-one percent of ICE-deputized localities had violent and property crime indices lower than the national average, while eighty-seven percent of these localities had a rate of Latino population growth higher than the national average.

The abusive misuse of the 287(g) program by its current slate of agencies has rendered it not only ineffective, but dangerous to community safety. The program has worked counter to community policing goals by eroding the trust and cooperation of immigrant communities and diverted already reduced law enforcement resources from their core mission. DHS’s proposed changes to the program not only fail to correct its serious flaws,
but also create new ones.

We know that you are committed to tackling our nation’s most complex issues, for these reasons we ask that you examine the damaging impact the 287(g) program is having on immigrant communities across the country and terminate the program. We would be pleased to provide additional information or recommendations regarding current programs and operations of DHS.

Thank you for your consideration. Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Marielena Hincapié, executive director, National Immigration Law Center

Sincerely,
Marielena Hincapie
National Immigration Law Center
Executive Director

Kudos to those organizations standing up for human and civil rights for all:

National Organizations:

9 to 5, National Association of Working Women
Action Committee for Women in Prison (ACWIP)
Adrian Dominican Sisters
African American Ministers in Action (AAMIA)
All of Us or None
American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC)
American Arab Forum (AAF)
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)
American G.I. Forum (AGIF)
American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA)
Anti-Defamation League (ADL)
Asian American Justice Center (AAJC)
Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF)
Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN)
ASISTA Immigration Assistance
Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN)
Black Alliance for Just Immigration
Bill of Rights Defense Committee (BORDC)
Border Network for Human Rights (BNHR)
BRAC
Breakthrough: Building Human Rights Culture
Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR)
Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law
Center for Media Justice
Center for New Community
Center for Third World Organizing (CTWO)
Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice (CJCJ)
Church World Service, Immigration and Refugee Program
Citizen Orange
Coalition of African, Arab, Asian, European and Latino Immigrant (CAAAELII)
Colombian American Cultural Society
Consejo de Federaciones Mexicanas en Norteamerica (COFEM)
Council on Crime and Justice
Defending Dissent Foundation
Deported Diaspora
Detention Watch Network (DWN)
Drug Policy Alliance Network (DPA Network)
Drum Major Institute (DMI)
Equal Justice Society
Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM)
Fellowship of Reconciliation USA (FOR USA)
Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center (FIAC)
Foundation for Change
Foundations for Our New Alkebulan/Afrikan Millennium (FONAMI)
Gamaliel Foundation
Guatemalan Immigrant Movement (MIGUA)
Global Action Project (GAP)
Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women (GAATW)
Grassroots Global Justice Alliance
Grassroots Leadership
Gray Panthers
Hermandad Mexicana Transnacional
Hispanic American Association
Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC)
INCITE! Women of Color Against Domestic Violence
International CURE
Irish Apostolate USA
Jobs with Justice (JWJ)
Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Network (JPIC)
Justice Strategies
La Union del Pueblo Entero (LUPE)
Latino Justice PRLDEF
Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights (LCCR)
Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR)
Legion of Mary
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS)
Malcolm X Grassroots Movement (MXGM)
March 25 Coalition
Medical Mission Sisters' Alliance for Justice
Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF)
Ms. Foundation for Women
Mundo Maya Foundation, Inc.
NAACP Legal Defense Fund
National Alliance of Latin American & Caribbean Communities (NALACC)
National Alliance to End Sexual Violence (NAESV)
National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum (NAPAWF)
National Black Police Association (NBPA)
National Center for Lesbian Rights
National Council of La Raza (NCLR)
National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON)
National Employment Law Project (NELP)
National Immigrant Bond Fund
National Immigration Law Center (NILC)
National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild, Inc.
National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC)
National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (NNIRR)
National Training and Information Center (NTIC)
National People's Action (NPA)
NETWORK, A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby
Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA)
Pax Christi USA
People For the American Way (PFAW)
Progressive States Network
Real Cost of Prisons Project (RCPP)
Respect Respeto
Rights Working Group (RWG)
Ruckus Society
Safe Streets Art Foundation
Salvadoran American National Network (SANN)
Sentencing Project
Service Employees International Union (SEIU)
Sisters of Mercy of the Americas--Institute Justice Team
Sisters of the Holy Cross – Congregation Justice Committee
South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT)
Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)
SpeakOut - Institute for Democratic Education & Culture
SpiritHouse
Sugar Law Center for Economic and Social Justice
The Caribbean Voice
The Episcopal Church
The Praxis Project
The Tahirih Justice Center
Transnational Institute for Grassroots Research and Action (TIGRA)
United Network for Immigrants and Refugee Rights (UNIRR)
Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations
United African Organization
United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE)
United for a Fair Economy (UFE)
United Methodist Church, General Board of Church and Society
United Methodist Women (UMW)
United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS)
United We DREAM (UWD)
Victim Rights Law Center (VRLC)
VIVE, Inc.
VivirLatino.com
War Times/Tiempo de Guerras
William C. Velasquez Institute (WCVI)
Women of Color United
Women's Refugee Commission
World Organization for Human Rights


Regional, State and Local Organizations:

32BJ SEIU
9 to5 Atlanta
9to5 Bay Area
9to5 Colorado
9to5 Milwaukee
9to5 Los Angeles
A New Way of Life Reentry Project
American Postal Workers Union AFL-CIO Local 591
Atlantans Building Leadership for Empowerment (ABLE)
ACORN California
African American Ministers in Action
AFSC - San Diego
AFSC-Austin office
AFT/ Nicaragua Center for Community Action
AIDS Care Ocean State
Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice
Alianza Indigena Sin Fronteras
Alianza Latinoamericana por los Derechos de los Inmigrantes (ALIADI)
Alliance of White Anti-Racists Everywhere - Los Angeles (AWARE-LA)
Amigos Multicultural Services Center
Annunciation House, Inc.
Anti-Racist Action-Los Angeles/People Against Racist Terror (ARA-LA)
Arab Resource and Organizing Center
Arise Chicago
Arizona Advocacy Network
Arizona Dream Act Coalition
Asian / Pacific Islander Domestic Violence Resource Project
Asian Law Alliance
Asian Law Caucus
Asian Pacific American Legal Center
Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach
Austin Immigrant Rights Coalition
Bay Area Immigration Taskforce/JFON
Bend-Condega Friendship Project
Benedictine Mission House
Berkshire Immigrant Center
Blessing Xchange
Books Not Bars
Border Action
Border Ambassadors
Boulder Community United
Brass Liberation Orchestra
Brazilian Total Assistance, Inc.
Building Locally to Organize for Community Safety (BLOCS)
CADENA
California Coalition for Women Prisoners
California Prison Moratorium Project
Canal Alliance
Capital Area Immigrants' Rights Coalition
CASA de Maryland
Casa de Proyecto Libertad
Casa Esperanza
Casa Freehold
Casa Latina
Catholic Caucus Southeast Michigan
The Catholic Center
Coalition to Abolish Slavery & Trafficking LA (CAST LA)
Catholic Community of St. Michael/St. Patrick
Catholic Legal Services, Archdiocese of Miami, Inc.
Center for Artistic Revolution (CAR)
Center for Independent Living of South Florida, Inc.
Center for Participatory Change (CPC)
Central American Resource Center (CRECEN)
Centro Campesino Farmworker Center, Inc.
Centro de Orientacion del Inmigrante CODI
Centro de Servicios Hispanos, WI
Centro Hispano
Centro Hispano Comunitario De Nebraska
Challenging White Supremacy (CWS)
Chelsea Collaborative
Chiapas Support Committee
Chicago Legal Advocacy for Incarcerated Mothers (CLAIM)
Chicago Media Watch (CMA)
Chicago New Sanctuary Coalition
Children and Family Justice Center
Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA)
Christian Alliance of Arkansas
Citizens Against Recidivism, Inc.
Citizens Alert
Citizens for Border Solutions
Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA)
Comisión Latinoamericana por los Derechos y Libertades de los Trabajadores y Pueblos
(CLADEHLT)
Chicago Legal Advocacy for Incarcerated Mothers (CLAIM)
Claire Heureuse Community Center, Inc
Club Migrante Cheran-Sur de Ilinois
Coalition for Economic Justice
Coalition for Justice, Peace and Dignity
Coalition for Prisoners' Rights
Coalition of Latino Leaders (CLILA)
Coastal Community Action Inc
CODEPINK Arizona
Coalicion de Organizaciones Latino-Americanas (COLA)
Collaborative Center for Justice, Inc.
Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault (CCASA)
Community Coalition for Healthcare Access
Community Development Project, Urban Justice Center
Community to Community Development
Community United Against Violence (CUAV)
Community Works West
Companeros
Cristo Rey Catholic Church
Critical Resistance - Los Angeles
Darfur Community Organization
Direct Action for Rights and Equality
Discrimination & National Security Initiative
Dominican Development Center-DDC
East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy
East Bay Sanctuary Covenant
East Williamson County Democratic Club
EastSide Arts Alliance
Economic Justice Coalition
El Centro de Igualdad y Derechos
El Centro de la Raza
El Centro Latino, Inc.
El Grupo of North San Diego County
El Pueblo - Immigration Legal Services
El Pueblo, Inc.
El Vinculo Hispano
Ella Baker Center for Human Rights
English for Action
Equal Justice Center
FaithAction International House
Families and Friends of Louisiana's Incarcerated Children (FFLIC)
Families for Freedom
Families to Amend California’s Three Strikes (FACTS)
Farmworker Association of Florida
Filipinos for Affirmative Action
Florida Immigrant Coalition
Freedom House
Freeport Community Worklink Center
Fuerza Laboral
Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights
Georgia Rural Urban Summit
Georgia STAND UP
Glenmary Commission on Justice
Gloria Dei Lutheran Church
Gloria Dei Step Up Center
Good Shepher of the Hills Episcopal Church Cave Creek
Greater Boston United for Justice with Peace Coalition
Greater New York Labor-Religion Coalition
Grupo Shalom
Guatemala Solidarity Committee Boston
Green Valley Samaritans/The Good Shepherd United Church Of Christ
Hand in Hand/ Mano en Mano
Harris County Green Party
Health Education Solutions
Heartland Alliance National Immigrant Justice Center
Highlander Research and Education Center
Hispanic Coalition, Inc.
Hispanic Resource Center of Larchmont and Mamaroneck
Homies Unidos
Houston DREAM Act Coalition
Houston Interfaith Worker Justice Center
Hudson Valley Community Coalition, Inc.
Human Concerns Committee St. Thomas Aquinas Parish, Palo Alto CA
Human Rights Initiative of North Texas
Instituto de Educacion Popular del Sur de California (IDEPSCA)
Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights
Immigrant Defense Project (IDP)
Immigrant Family Advocates of Bend, Oregon
Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota
Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project (ILAP)
Immigrant Rights Clinic, NYU School of Law
Immigration Clinic, University of MD School of Law
Immigration Law Clinic, UC Davis
Immigrant Solidarity Dupage
Immigration Research Team, A Mid-Iowa Organizing Strategy (AMOS)
INCITE! LA
Indo-American Center
Institute for Urban Policy Research
Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center - Cincinnati
Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center-- Congregation of St. Joseph
Interfaith Coalition for Worker Justice of South Central Wisconsin
International Institute of Rhode Island
Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement
Iowa Coalition Against Sexual Assault
IRATE & First Friends
Irish Immigration Center
Jobs With Justice of East Tennessee
Jewish Community Action
JUNTOS/Casa de los Soles
Justice and Peace Commission
Justice Now
Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana
Kentucky Interfaith Taskforce for Latin America and the Caribbean
Kino Border Initiative
Korean American Resource & Cultural Center (KRCC)
Korean Resource Center (KRCLA)
La Capilla de Santa Maria, Episcopal Church
La Causa, Inc.
La Fuente
La Raza Centro Legal
Labor/Community Strategy Center
Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center
Latin American Coalition
Latino Advocacy Coalition of Henderson County
Latino American Initiative of Nebraska (LAI)
Latino American employee network of Creighton University (LAEN-CU)
Latino Leadership Alliance of New Jersey
Latino Union of Chicago
Latino Youth Collective of Indiana
League of Rural Voters
League of United Latin American Citizens #754
League of United Latin American Citizens #761
League of United Latin American Citizens Florida
Legal Aid Justice Center -- Immigrant Advocacy Program
Legal Aid Service of Broward County
Legal Services for Prisoners with Children (LSPC)
Legal Voice
Liberian Community Association of Central New Jersey & the Metro
Living Waters Lutheran Church
Long Beach Immigrant Rights Coalition
Long Island Immigrant Solidarity
Long Island Jobs with Justice
Los Angles Community Legal Center and Educational
MA Resist the Raids Network
Make the Road New York
March 10th Movement
Marin Interfaith Task Force on the Americas (MITF)
Massachusetts Global Action
Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition
Massachusetts Jobs with Justice
Matahari: Eye of the Day
McHenry County Latino Coalition
Meadowlark Center
Middlesex County Coalition for Immigrant Rights
Migration and Refugee Services Diocese of Trenton
Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Coalition (MIRAc)
Mission Houston
Missouri Immigrant & Refugee Advocates
Monmouth County Pax Christi
Monsoon United Asian Women of Iowa
Mount Kisco Drug and Alcohol Abuse Prevention Council
Movimiento Migrante Mesoamericano
Mujeres Unidas y Activas
Multicultural Center of Hope
NC Justice Center
Nebraska Appleseed Center for Law in the Public Interest
Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, Immigration Services Project
New Jersey Civil Rights Defense Committee
New Jersey Immigration Policy Network
New Jersey Tenants Organization
New Labor
New Orleans Workers' Center for Racial Justice (NOWCRJ)
New York Lawyers for the Public Interest (NYLPI)
New York State Youth Leadership Council (NYSYLC)
NH Alliance for Immigrants and Refugees
NJ Coalition for Battered Women
No More Deaths-Phoenix
North Carolina Council of Churches
North Carolina Coalition Against Sexual Assault (NCCASA)
Northern Manhattan Coalition for Immigrant Rights
Northwest Federation of Community Organizations (NWFCO)
Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (NWIRP)
Project Rebound
Ohio Justice and Policy Center
Olneyville Neighborhood Association
ONE/Northwest
OneAmerica
Oregon New Sanctuary Movement
Organization of Chinese Americans - Westchester & Hudson Valley
Organization of Chinese Americans- New Jersey Chapter
Palm Beach County Coalition for Immigrant Rights
Partnership for Safety & Justice (PSJ)
Paso del Norte Civil Rights Project
Pastores en Accion
Pax Christi Austin
Pax Christi Metro New York
Pax Christi Metrowest
Pax Christi NJ
Pax Christi Texas
Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape
Pennsylvania Immigration and Citizenship Coalition
People of Faith Peacemakers
People Organized in Defense of Earth and her Resources (PODER)
Portland Green Cultural Projects Ltd
Prax(us)
Presentation Sisters
Priority Africa Network
Prison Policy Initiative
Project South
Providence Students for a Democratic Society
Proyecto Azteca
Proyecto Digna, Inc
Proyecto Voz, American Friends Service Committee - New England
Public Justice Center
Quad Cities Interfaith (Gamaliel Network)
Reform Immigration FOR Arkansas Coalition
Resource Center of the Americas
RI Jobs with Justice
RI Mobilization Committee to Stop War and Occupation
Rights for All People
Rochester Committee on Latin America
Rockland Immigration Coalition
Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network
Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center
Rural Organizing Project
Safe Streets/Strong Communities
School of the Americas Watch L. A. chapter
School Sisters of Notre Dame - Global Justice & Peace Commission
Service Center for Latinos Inc.
Services, Immigrant Rights and Education Network (SIREN)
Shalom Community Church
Sisters of Charity of Nazareth Central Leadership
Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill
Sisters of Mercy in Guam
Sisters of Mercy Sisters of Mercy Community of New York, Pennsylvania
Sisters of Mercy West Midwest Justice Team
Sisters of Mercy West Midwest Leadership Team
Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur
Sisters of Providence Mother Joseph Province
Sisters of St. Francis
Sisters of St. Joseph of Rochester
Sisters of the Divine Compassion
Social Justice Guild of the First Existentialist Congregation of Atlanta
Somervile/Medford United with Justice and Peace
Somos America
SOS Inc.
South Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault
South Texas Civil Rights Project
Southern California Library
Southern Center for Human Rights
Southern Coalition for Social Justice
Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services
Southern Poverty Law Center
Southwest Creations Collaborative
Southwest Organizing Project
Southwest Voter Registration Education Project
SPARK Reproductive Justice NOW!
St. Francis Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Committee
St. Joseph Valley Project - Jobs with Justice
St. Peter's Housing Committee
St. Pious Immigration Reform Group
Sunflower Community Action - Comunidad Latina en Accion
Texas Civil Rights Project
Texas Criminal Justice Coalition
Texas Indigenous Council
Texas Jail Project
Texas/Oklahoma/New Mexico Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers
Association
The Advocates for Human Rights
The Ashe County Health Council, A Healthy Carolinians Task Force
The Austin Center for Peace and Justice
The Harriet Tubman Freedom House Project
The Hispanic/Latino Center, Inc.
The Jubilee Center at Saint Matthew/San Mateo Episcopal Church
The Network/La Red
The New York Immigration Coalition
The Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition
The Trauma Healing Project, Inc
Time for Change Foundation
TN Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition
Tonatierra
Town of East Hampton Anti-Bias Task Force
Trinity Episcopal Church
Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry of NJ
Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry of RI
Unite for Dignity, Inc.
UNited Dubuque Immigrant Alliance (UN DIA)
Urban Morgan Institute for Human Rights
Ursuline Sisters
Ursulines of Brown County
Utah Immigrant And Refugee Integration Coalition
Vermont Network Against Domestic and Sexual Violence
Vermont Workers' Center
Violence Intervention Program (VIP)
Virginia Coalition of Latino Organizations
Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy
Virginia Organizing Project
Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance
Voces de la Frontera
Voice of the Ex-offender
Watts/Century Latino Organization
WeCount!
West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project
Westchester Hispanic Coalition
Western NC Community Health Services
Westside Community Action Network Center, Inc.
Wind of the Spirit, Immigrant Resource Center
WISDOM, The Gamaliel Foundation in Wisconsin
Women's Employment Rights Clinic
Women for CrossCultural Action
Women Helping Women
Workers Defense Project (PDL)
Workers Interfaith Network (WIN)
Workers' Rights Center
Workers' Rights Law Center of New York, Inc. (WRLC)
Young Democratic Socialists (YDS)
Youth Justice Coalition
Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice

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Summary only...

Good Immigrant-Bad Immigrant: codifying a caste system

On Thursday, President Obama will once again meet with the movers and shakers in the Immigration Reform debate. Having already punted the ball down field, postponing any meaningful reform until next year, Obama will take this opportunity to reassure those concerned that he hasn't forgotten them, and more importantly, their constituents and members who worked so hard to put him in office.

And when the niceties and glad-handing are over, they will hunker down to the kind of horse trading that goes on in proverbial smoke filled rooms.

Political calculations and public relations strategies will as much topics of conversation as policy and legislative change. And when the smoke clears, we'll be one step closer to some sort of Frankenstein compromise, cobbled together of various bits and pieces of previous legislative initiatives, concessions to numerous special interests, and easily sold sound bites intended to mollify the great middle of the uninterested or uninformed.

And so it goes

But one thing we know will be included in the Great Compromise of 2010 will be the division of all immigrants, both current and future, into a two tiered caste system that places one value on those with education, skills, English language proficiency, or financial resources, and another on the vast majority of others who come with little more to offer than a yearning to make a better life.

We first saw this division of future immigrants into "desirable" and "undesirable" in the merit based system proposed in the 2007 legislation.

According to that system, each new prospective immigrant would be rated according to his or her "desirability" and ability to "contribute" to society. Points were given for English language proficiency, educational achievement, ability to be employed in certain fields, job history, whether one had personal health insurance, and finally, family ties.

Under this system, the Migration Policy Institute found that a marked shift in immigrant demographics would result. A shift from an essentially hemispheric migration model that favored family reunification and opportunity for the kind of low-skilled workers that have traditionally made up immigrant population for over 100 years, to a global model that favored high skilled immigrants with access to higher education and English language acquisition.

Put more plainly … those who came from countries that can afford to educate their populations to provide the skills needed in a new global economy would be welcome.

Those from regions too poor, rural, or politically unstable to provide world class educations … they'd be shit outa luck.

Additionally the system would have meant a defacto closing of the door to our closets neighbors.

After spending 200 years meddling and destabilizing our southern neighbors for either profit or geopolitical machinations, the vast majority of prospective immigrants from the region would be ill equipped to compete in a system that placed added value on certain attributes they lacked, while making sure to minimize the valuable contributions they have made not only in the past, but could continue to make in the future.

But that's all past history .. right? The bill crashed and burned.

This time around is different.

We've got a majority in both houses, a liberal President, and a right-wing in shambles … no need for ridiculous restrictions just to mollify a minority of rabid racists bend on stemming an imaginary "invasion."

Well think again.

One of the cornerstones of Chuck Schumer's seven-point plan to finally accomplish what Tom Tancredo couldn't, reintroduces a new merit system for the 21st century:

we need to recognize the important contribution that high-skilled immigrants have already made, and must continue to make, toward revitalizing and reinventing the American economy.

No immigration system would be worthwhile if it is unable to attract the best and brightest minds of the world to come to the United States and create jobs for Americans—as has been the case for Yahoo, Google, Intel, E-Bay, and countless other companies.

That being said, any reformed immigration system must be successful in encouraging the next Albert Einstein to emigrate permanently to the United States while, at the same time, discouraging underpaid, temporary workers from taking jobs that could and should be filled by qualified American workers.

link

While Schumer vaguely alludes to the institution of an immigrant caste system …. The Council on Foreign Relations, who appear to have written the blueprint for Obama's immigration compromise, flesh it all out:

Attracting Skilled Immigrants

The United States needs to develop a conscious and explicit policy for attracting highly skilled immigrants. For most of its history, America has enjoyed a considerable skills and education advantage over its largest economic competitors. This is unfortunately no longer the case. Other countries are producing highly skilled workers faster than the United States, and such individuals will be in increasingly high demand in the U.S. economy in the coming years.

America’s economic future, as well as its diplomatic success, depends greatly on its ability to attract a significant share of the best and brightest immigrants from around the world.

The Task Force recommends that the United States tackle headon the growing competition for skilled immigrants from other countries and make the goal of attracting such immigrants a central component of its immigration policy. For decades, the primary goal has been to ration admission; in the future, recruiting the immigrants it wants must be the highest priority.

… The Task Force recommends that quotas for skilled work visas like the H-1B visa be increased, but fluctuate in line with economic conditions. Similarly, the number of employment-based green cards should not face a hard cap, but should be allowed to increase and decrease as economic conditions warrant. Under most economic conditions, the number of employment-based green cards should be significantly higher than current levels.

For those in the United States on temporary work visas, with the exception of seasonal work visas like the H-2A and the H-2B, the Task Force recommends eliminating the current requirement that these visa holders demonstrate the intent to not immigrate to the United States. Such a requirement is an anachronism that does not reflect how immigration to the United States actually takes place for most people, and does not recognize the U.S. national interest in encouraging some of those visa holders to remain in the United States permanently

The Task Force therefore recommends eliminating the nationality quotas for skilled workers.

link [pg.84]

According to this plan, skilled workers would get more green cards, no national quotas, and not be subjected to real temporary status. They would be actively recruited and their path to citizenship made as easy as possible.

And what about the unskilled …. They get to come as guest workers:

Temporary Worker Programs

Although the U.S. economy has exhibited an enormous and continued appetite for low-skilled labor, the immigration system simply does not recognize the demand. The quotas for employment-based admission by low-skilled immigrants are minuscule, and in practice most of the demand is filled by unauthorized immigrants. Recognizing that the U.S. economy has had and will continue to have a significant appetite for low-skilled workers is a critical part of gaining control over illegal immigration.

.. The Task Force recommends a two-pronged approach. First, the United States should recognize that, subject to economic fluctuations, continued demand for low-skilled labor is likely to be an ongoing feature of the economy. Therefore, the United States should allow greater numbers of lowskilled immigrants to enter on work visas, with the option of seeking permanent residence if they wish. Those numbers should be adjusted regularly based on the needs of the economy, with the goal of enhancing U.S. competitiveness. At the same time, the government should create an expanded seasonal work program—but one that is easier for employers to use and that provides better protections for the foreign workers employed in it.

link [pg.87]

The unskilled, according to this plan, are allowed to enter the country on temporary work visas that have the option to become permanent down the road, or as temporary seasonal workers (see: agricultural workers), who will be presumably treated better than currently is the norm.

This plan is not much different from all the previous guest workers programs proposed in the past from McCain-Kennedy to the Grand Compromise. A promise of some sort of future permanent residency is offered in return for temporary worker status.

This division of the immigrant population into two distinct castes, one actively recruited and provided with an easy path to permanency, another "allowed" to enter under temporary visas or "tolerated" as agricultural guests workers, sets up a dichotomy that is not only morally vacant ..But contrary to a common sense approach to immigration reform.

Any system which attempts to codify some arbitrary value placed upon the worth of human beings, and the contributions they make to society, can never succeed as public policy.

How can the worth of those who provide your food, build your homes, or care for your youngest and oldest, be of any less value than that of those who work in any other fields .

This whole notion runs contrary to the ideals on which not only the nation was founded, but that attracts so many to come here in the first place.

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A Long Look in the Mirror

Last Friday night around 11:30 PM, an unidentified Latino man walked down Division Avenue in Patchogue NY.

As he approached the intersection of Division and West Avenues, three white teens hanging out in a nearby parking lot called out to him. Seconds later he was struck in the face, knocked to the ground, and as the teens shouted racial slurs, robbed of cash and other personal items. .... Just another case of "beaner hopping" in Long Island's Suffolk County.

Nine months earlier, within a stones throw of last Friday's incident, Marcelo Lucero was walking with a friend, minding his own business, when seven teens decided he would be their next, and final, victim in a long night of physical harassment of Latino neighbors played out as sport by the gang of marauding racist youths.

Within moments, Lucero lay on the ground bleeding to death from stab wounds….wounds inflicted as part of a sick, racist, game.

Despite international outrage, investigations by Justice Department, changes in police personnel, and various other attempts to stem the tide of anti-Latino violence in an area so notorious for its racist attacks that the Mexican government has long warned travelers to avoid it, the attacks obviously continue.

But, should we really be surprised.

What has really changed since that night back in early November when Marcelo Lucero's life oozed out onto the cold Long Island pavement?

The Hope? …The Change We Can Believe In? … The chants of Sí Se Puede and the promises made with them? … The awakening of the "Sleeping Giant" that drove Latinos and immigrant communities to the polls in record numbers? … The election of a black man, the child of an immigrant?

All of this has meant nothing to those held in the tentacles of the ever-expanding immigrant detention industry.

It's meant nothing to those profiled by local authorities at traffic stops and street corners around the country.

It’s meant nothing to those hoping against hope that they, or love ones, can simply live their lives without fear of deportation.

It’s done nothing to protect those who only want to work and make a better life for themselves and families, free from exploitation and abuse.

And most of all, it has done nothing to stem the tsunami of violence and hate that has afflicted this nation for years.

It's easy for Liberals, Progressives, and left-leaning media types, to point self-righteously at the obvious knuckle-draggers that lead the charge against social change and a more equitable society.

From the "birthers" to Sarah Palin, to Lou Dobbs, Glenn Beck and a new generation of "dixiecrat" politicos from deep red states, the easy targets are abundant.

They're painted as ignorant, hypocritical, hillbilly, hold-backs, who represent not the views of the majority … but a small, yet vocal, minority of dinosaurs riling against the inevitable march of time.

Yet, these same Liberals and Progressives, so smug and self-righteous, fail to look in the mirror for even a moment to see that they are just as much responsible for events like those that happened in Patchogue, as any hirsute hillbilly or plasticized pitchman from the far-right.

They have not only accepted the racist frames and exclusionary rhetoric of the right on issues of immigration and immigration reform, they have embraced them.

When Rahm Emanuel(the son of an Israeli immigrant) first uttered his famous statement that "immigration is the third rail" of politics and should be avoided for political expediency, and that only a get-tough message would assure electoral victory, he telegraphed not just capitulation to the right, but willingness to accept their worldview.

We now see that the acceptance of the "immigrant as criminal" philosophy so prevalent on the right has morphed into the "get-tough" policies of the Obama administration and its surrogates like Chuck Schumer.

While Obama and his DHS move to increase raids, deportations and detentions in hopes of ploughing the way for legislative compromise, Schumer embraces the rhetoric of the right and calls for not only get-tough measures, but acceptance of terminology that reinforces the idea of the undocumented immigrant as criminal interloper

The first of these seven principles is that illegal immigration is wrong—plain and simple. When we use phrases like “undocumented workers,” we convey a message to the American people that their Government is not serious about combating illegal immigration….

… Above all else, the American people want their Government to be serious about protecting the public, enforcing the rule of law, and creating a rational system of legal immigration…

… People who enter the United States without our permission are illegal aliens, and illegal aliens should not be treated the same as people who entered the United States legally….

… Second, any immigration solution must recognize that we must do as much as we can to gain operational control of our borders as soon as possible. ….

…. Third, we must recognize that illegal immigration will never seriously be stifled unless and until we end the job magnet currently engendered by the seriously flawed I-9 regime. As we speak, any individual who steals a social security number and has access to a credible fake ID can get a job in the United States. ….

… Only by creating a biometric-based federal employment verification system will both employers and employees have the peace of mind that all employment relationships are both lawful and proper….

SCHUMER ANNOUNCES PRINCIPLES FOR COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM BILL

Clearly, the talking points first rolled out by the right during the Sensenbrenner legislation battle four years ago are not just still being thrown around … but have now somehow morphed into a "liberal," pro-reform platform. …a platform accepted not only inside and outside the beltway by both politicos and advocacy groups, but by the broader, supposedly left-leaning, universe.

We hear little push-back against this acceptance of "immigrant as criminal" framing outside of ethnic media and the "bomb-throwers" of the Latino/ pro-migrant blogosphere.

But until the broader progressive movement starts to reexamine its honeymoon with Obama's immigration policies and more importantly takes a long look in the mirror to see where their acceptance will lead, the growing pattern of violence like that in Patchogue will be just as much on their heads as those of the knuckle-dragging bigots who at least wear their racism on their sleeves for all to see.

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Immigration reform need not be a triple-headed hydra

This week the Obama administration finally announced a long overdue revamping of its immigration detention system.

The system, comprised of a hodgepodge network of 350 unregulated local jails, privately owned prisons, and federal correction facilities run by DHS has come under attack for it's failure to adhere to even the most basic civil and human rights standards. Numerous groups including Amnesty International and the government's own Accountability Office have documented the inadequacies in the system.

The failures include; inadequate or absent medical care leading to the preventable deaths of 90 detainees since 2003, young children held for long periods without access to education or recreation, detainees denied access to legal representation or family members, and the list goes on.

Yet, despite the overwhelming evidence of the failure of the system, the Obama administration until now refused to address the situation, even after having been ordered to do so by the Federal Courts.

So this weeks announcement that DHS will begin to finally take some control over the situation by reviewing the contracts with it's detention providers, establishing oversight, and ending some of the most grievous practices, is a welcome change.

But it is far from the sweeping kind of CHANGE™ we were led to believe to expect from this new administration.



Candidate Obama, time and time again on the stump promised sweeping, almost revolutionary change.

He challenged the nation to think outside the box and start to look at old problems through new eyes.

Where Bill Clinton claimed to feel our pain, Obama promised that working together we could end it… sí se puede

But now we find that from healthcare reform to immigration policy, Obama does not so much offer real change… but rather, promises to more competently and effectively administer the same failed policies of the past.

As DHS announced its "sweeping" new changes to the immigrant detention system , there was an underlying message of …"don’t get your hopes up folks …we ain't changing things that much."

Assistant Secretary of DHS, John Morton, while touting the move to a "truly civil detention system" made sure to add in that large scale detention would remain to be the norm…it would just be done "more humanely." He added that the new system would move from one focused on incarceration to one focused on deportation.

DHS head, Janet Napolitano, added that she actually foresaw an increase in the number of detianees held in the government's new "humane" prisons.

But this should come as no surprise coming from an administration that has voiced support for expanding the 287G system that gives local honchos like Arizona's Joe Arpaio carte blanche to terrorize whole communities. Or that looks to expand the failed e-verify system. Or worse yet, embraces Chuck Schumer's Orwellian national biometric identification system.

But this is all because rather than thinking outside the box . .. Obama seems firmly encased in it.

He and his brain trust simply can't separate themselves from the failed paradigm of viewing immigration policy as a matter of regulation of a criminal activity.

This is the same thinking that has produced every piece of failed immigration policy since 1986.

Rather than addressing the underlying social and economic realities both here and abroad that drive global migration, and working on a system that rationally an effectively works within those realities, this thinking has produced a system that relies upon punitive deterrents to attempt to regulate the flow of immigration.

This becomes evident when viewing actual legislation. Hundreds of pages are usually dedicated to various aspects of how best to punish those who enter the country without permission …and scant few pages dedicated to how the decisions as to whom, and under what circumstances, that permission should be granted.

This had led to the idea that reform of the system simply must contain three key components:

1. a method to allow businesses to get needed workers
2. a method to keep everyone else out
3. a method to deal with those who came anyway…now that they've become needed workers.

This has led to the three-headed hydra of Comprehensive Immigration Reform that mandates guest workers, increased enforcement and a path to legalization

In the minds of policy makers these three components seem to be inseparable.

Business interests can't envision an immigration system that doesn't supply them with needed workers, especially if they can be sent home and exchanged for fresh cheap replacements periodically

Advocacy groups can't imagine a system that doesn't normalize the status of the millions already here without permission.

And both are willing to view criminalization and punishment as a means of regulating immigrant flow.

But here is where that CHANGE™ Obama had promised so eloquently during his campaign should translate into a new mindset in DC.

Perhaps he and all those working behind the scenes to enact a new version of Comprehensive Immigration Reform should take a fresh view of the situation and finally start to look at the problems in the current system in a truly COMPREHENSIVE manner…. "Comprehensive" as in encompassing ALL the various push and pull mechanisms in play that foster migration and the system's current inability to deal with them.

If reform were enacted properly, all the interested parties would be able to get basically what they need or want from the legislation, and there would be little need to worry about enforcement and punishments. A truly functioning immigration system would not create millions of undocumented immigrants and hundreds of thousands of detainees in prisons …It's that simple. The hard part is figuring out how to reform the system to reach that goal.

Instead of worrying about how best to build walls along our borders, or punish workers or employers, our leaders should figure out a better way to allow immigrants to enter the country legally, or better yet…have the kind of opportunities in their home countries that would allow them to stay if they wish.

But this would take big thinking … grand vision … and relentless political will.

Something we saw from candidate Obama …but sadly, not yet from President Obama.

As I've said before:

We will judge future legislation and policy not by how successful it's been at apprehending, deporting, or incarcerating migrants ... but rather in how little apprehension, deportation and incarceration is necessary

Our leaders should keep that in mind as they work to reform a dismally failed system.

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Hold DHS Accountable!

With only days left until the end of the Bush administration, two new rules have been hastily enacted that strike at the heart of the civil liberties of immigrants and asylum seekers. One denies immigrants legal representation in deportation cases, the other mandates DNA tests for all detained immigrants and US citizens who have been accused of a crime, but not convicted.

The American Immigration Law Foundation had this to say about Attorney General Michael Mukasey's last minute decision to deny legal council in deportation cases:

On January 7, 2009, in the waning hours of a departing Administration, Attorney General Michael Mukasey unraveled decades of legal precedent guaranteeing due process to people facing life-changing consequences-namely, deportation. With less than two weeks left in office, this Administration apparently could not resist the temptation to take one more stab at undermining fundamental Constitutional principles.

In a decision issued Wednesday… the Attorney General declared that henceforth, immigrants, asylum seekers, and all others in removal (deportation) proceedings do not have any right under statute or the Constitution to representation by a lawyer before they can be ordered deported. The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) and most federal courts have for decades operated under the premise that immigrants DO have such rights. The Attorney General has reversed many years of precedent and operation by simply declaring it so….. his declaration will wipe out the rights of all but a handful of people with one stroke of his pen.

AILF (PDF)

Another Justice Department rule, which took effect Friday, directs federal agencies to collect DNA samples from foreigners who are detained by U.S. authorities.

...the U.S. government will collect DNA samples from people arrested and detained for suspected immigration violations, despite concerns that the move violates their privacy rights.

The new Justice Department policy also will expand DNA collection to people arrested on suspicion of committing federal crimes. Previously, the government only obtained DNA from people convicted of certain crimes.

LA Times

The American Civil Liberties Union has voiced "grave concerns" about this expansion of governmental DNA collection to include immigrant detainees and those who have not been convicted of any crime.

Barry Steinhardt, director of the ACLU's technology and liberty program said, "People who are merely accused of a crime or a civil violation of law but haven't been convicted of anything are being subjected to the most invasive sort of testing."

These decisions reflect the total disregard for basic Constitutional rights we have come to expect from this administration.

From the warrant-less arrests and detention of not only immigrants, but US citizens, by the DHS, to the kangaroo courts of Postville that denied basic Constitutional protections, our current immigration enforcement system has become so far divorced from the rule of law, it now resembles more the system of a rogue failed-state than the worlds leading liberal democracy.

But we can start to do something about it ... we can demand a return to the true rule of law... One that respects the Constitution and the rights it guarantees.

Rights Working Group, a national coalition of more than 250 community-based groups and policy organizations dedicated to protecting civil liberties and human rights is urging President Obama to place a moratorium on current immigration enforcement practices in order to conduct a full review of DHS policies and programs to ensure that they are compliant with both Constitutional protections and internationally recognized human right standards.

Dear President-Elect Obama,

I am signing this petition to ask your Administration to address the violations of human rights and civil liberties resulting from ill-conceived immigration enforcement policies pursued by the Bush Administration. I believe our government should be committed to upholding due process and civil liberties for all people in the U.S., especially when enforcing the law. Therefore, I urge you to hold the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) accountable to protecting the human rights of citizens and non-citizens alike.

Currently, DHS' immigration enforcement policies use extreme measures to lock up undocumented workers, legal permanent residents and, at times, even U.S. citizens. Raids of homes and businesses, often without a warrant, have not only steamrolled over Constitutional protections, but also torn apart communities and families. Conditions in immigration detention facilities are overcrowded and dangerous and have deteriorated to the point where people are dying in custody from treatable ailments, and people with chronic conditions are not getting the basic medical care they require. While DHS has taken commendable measures to process numerous naturalization applications delayed by security background checks, over 30,000 such applicants are still waiting to be granted citizenship. Efficient and transparent mechanisms are needed to ensure that, in the future, all eligible immigrants can attain citizenship in a timely manner.

DHS policies which prioritize the appearance of enforcement over this nation's founding principles of liberty and justice for all do not serve the national interest. I am asking your administration to set clear, enforceable legal standards for DHS operations - standards that uphold the dignity and Constitutional rights of all people in the U.S. - and hold DHS accountable to these standards. I join the Rights Working Group in urging you to place a moratorium on current immigration enforcement practices in order to conduct a full review of DHS policies and programs to ensure that they are compliant with Constitutional protections and internationally recognized human right standards.

You can join the fight to restore the rule of law and respect for the Constitution by signing RWG's petition to end the raids and make the DHS and Justice Department respect and uphold the rights all people living in the US.

Sign Petition

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Obama: Sí, se puede … almost

In an eloquent and stirring concession speech, Barack Obama ended his failed effort in New Hampshire with a rousing call for hope and change.

Assuring his supporters that the campaign would move forward to ultimate victory, Obama, whose message of "change" was picked up by all the major candidates from both parties except McCain, refined his message of inclusiveness to contain the rallying cry of "yes we can".

Reaffirming the belief that when faced with seemingly insurmountable obstacles, the American people can rise to the challenge if they have the will to do so, Obama listed off a litany of historical occasions when an apparently quixotic quest became reality through the sheer power of will. The junior Senator from Illinios led followers in an emotional call and response, punctuating each occurrence with the phrase "yes we can".

We know the battle ahead will be long. But always remember that, no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change.

We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics. And they will only grow louder and more dissonant in the weeks and months to come.

We've been asked to pause for a reality check. We've been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope. But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.

For when we have faced down impossible odds, when we've been told we're not ready or that we shouldn't try or that we can't, generations of Americans have responded with a simple creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can. Yes, we can. Yes, we can.

It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation: Yes, we can.

It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail towards freedom through the darkest of nights: Yes, we can.

It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness: Yes, we can.

It was the call of workers who organized, women who reached for the ballot, a president who chose the moon as our new frontier, and a king who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the promised land: Yes, we can, to justice and equality.

Yes, we can, to opportunity and prosperity. Yes, we can heal this nation. Yes, we can repair this world. Yes, we can.

But conspicuously absent in the list of dreamers and visionaries who have shaped the fabric of the nation, was the man perhaps most associated with the phrase "yes we can"; Cesar Chavez.

With his omission of Chavez, and the movement he founded, Obama missed a golden opportunity to reach out Latino voters.

Although he referenced "the call of workers who organized", apparently referring to the UFW, Obama seems to have walked up to a line ….but was reluctant to cross it.

He mentioned a president who inspired us to reach for the moon, and "a king who took us to the mountaintop", but did not reference "the caesar" who coined his new rallying call. He just couldn't bring himself to say the words that would have demonstrated true solidarity with the nations fastest growing demographic …"sí, se puede".

Those three simple words, spoken in their original tongue, would have sent a clear message to all that Obama really means what he says when he speaks of his "new American majority… of rich or poor, black or white, Latino or Asian… ready to take this country in a fundamentally new direction"

While some might claim that Obama's use of the slogan in English is an obvious homage to it's originator, and by extension an outreach to Latino voters, the subtlety is easily lost on those not aware of the phrase's history.

This was no more evident than in an exchange between right-wing pundit Pat Buchanan and Air America's Rachel Maddow during MSNBC's coverage of the speech. When Maddow reminded Buchanan of the phrase's Spanish translation, he quickly jumped on it, barking and growling about Obama taking up the cause of "illegal aliens" ....until Maddow pointed out that it was in fact a slogan born out of union organizing, and had resonance for all working people.

And herein lies the problem.

Obama is well aware of the fact that for many voters, their only familiarity with with the phrase comes from the toxic debate over immigration, and when given an opportunity to really demonstrate his "new American majority" of inclusiveness, a chance to enlighten and teach by example, he took the path of least resistance.

For a man who recently claimed just how much words matter, and the great power they have to effect change, what is not said is often just as important as what is.


…oh, well, maybe next time… sí, se puede

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