Immigration News Roundup: Feb 19 - Feb 25

This week's roundup features some stories that are serious, some hopeful, and one that's pretty ironic. There were more immigration raids this week, this time with serious charges leveled against an employer. Immigrants are now applying for citizenship at record numbers across the country and New York City is looking at letting non-citizen residents vote in local elections. We've got more news on immigrant internment from Amy Gooman who interviews the nine year-old Canadian boy held in T. Don Hutto Family Detention Center in Taylor, Texas. Lastly, we've got a story of a town in central Mexico that has become a haven for undocumented US retirees..."Illegal Gringos."

• Company Officials Charged in Restaurant Immigration Raids


• NYC Alliance Backs Voting Rights for Noncitizens


• New Citizenship Requests Soar


• Interview with 9 year-old Canadian Boy Held in US Immigration Detention Center


• Illegal Gringos Take Over Mexican Town

Company Officials Charged in Restaurant Immigration Raids

Janitorial service officials charged in sweep of illegal immigrants

Three top executives of a janitorial service used by such national restaurant chains as Hard Rock Cafe and ESPN Zone face charges of tax evasion, fraud and harboring illegal immigrants, U.S. officials announced yesterday, after overnight raids in 18 states netted about 200 undocumented workers.

..span…

Raids targeted 63 locations in 17 states and the District of Columbia, from California to Florida and New York, including ESPN Zone restaurants in Washington and Baltimore, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said. Illegal workers face administrative charges and deportation.

The case marked the latest wrinkle in a renewed campaign by the Bush administration to crack down on employers as Congress debates an overhaul of the nation's immigration laws.



Washigton Post

Related
Houston Chronicle
Denver Post
Palm Beach Post
Toledo Blade

NYC Alliance Backs Voting Rights for Noncitizens

New York City should allow legal immigrants who are not citizens to vote in local elections, according to an alliance of more than 60 organizations that announced a renewed effort yesterday to secure that right.

The alliance, the New York Coalition to Expand Voting Rights, called on the City Council and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg to support a bill, introduced by Councilman Charles Barron of Brooklyn, that would allow legal immigrants who have been in the country for more than six months to vote in elections for mayor, comptroller and public advocate, as well as for the five borough presidents and 51 council members.

The effort started in 2004, after lawyers for the Council reviewed state election law and determined that the city could alter its voting statutes without action by the State Legislature, where noncitizen voting measures were introduced without success three times in the 1990s. Nothing in the State Constitution of 1938 forbids voting by noncitizens.

…snip…

Advocates for immigrants said that current law violates the principle of “no taxation without representation”; that it typically takes 8 to 10 years for legal immigrants to achieve citizenship; and that the city allowed noncitizens to vote in local school board elections from 1969 until 2003, when the boards were abolished.

New York Times

New Citizenship Requests Soar

Citizenship requests soar before big changes
A stiffer test, higher fees and perhaps new laws are on the horizon.

Citizenship applications are skyrocketing in Southern California and across the nation, as green card holders rush to avoid a proposed fee increase, a revised civics test and possible changes in immigration law.

Applications filed in Los Angeles and six surrounding counties shot to 18,024 in January from 7,334 in the same month last year, a 146% increase, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Nationwide, the number hit 95,622, up from 53,390, a 79% increase.

The jump — both locally and nationwide — is the largest in a decade, officials said. The numbers of applications first spiked last March with mass immigrant rights rallies and saw the most dramatic increase after the new year.

The filings are expected to continue as Congress prepares to restart the debate on immigration reform.

LA Times

Interview with 9 year-old Canadian Boy Held in US Immigration Detention Center

Majid and his nine-year old son Kevin are Iranian immigrants currently being held at the Hutto detention center. They’ve been forcibly detained since their plane was forced made an emergency landing in Puerto Rico as they made their way to Canada. Kevin says: “I want to be free. I want go to outside. I want to go home to Canada.” [includes rush transcript]…

AMY GOODMAN: I’m going to break in for one minute, because we have just gotten a call from the Hutto detention facility. We're joined on the phone by an Iranian immigrant named Majid, from inside the Hutto Detention Center in Taylor, Texas. He, his wife, his nine-year-old son Kevin have been held at the center for the past nineteen days. Majid, your story is quite a remarkable one.

…snip…

AMY GOODMAN: Hi, Kevin. How are you?

KEVIN: Not good.

AMY GOODMAN: Can you tell us the situation you're in right now and what you want to happen right now?

KEVIN: Excuse me, I didn't hear you.

AMY GOODMAN: Can you describe where you are right now?

KEVIN: I’m in US jail right now.

Democracy Now

Related:
Toronto Star

Illegal Gringos Take Over Mexican Town

Illegal gringos
An army of gray-hairs, some of them undocumented, are changing this central Mexican town.

It's a pretty colonial hillside town of about 60,000-70,000 in Mexico's central highland state of Guanajuato, 170 miles from Mexico City, and famous for its golden sunlight, thriving art school, and galleries galore.

It has also been, since the 1950s or so, a top destination for expatriated Bohemian gringos, from Beat muse Neal Cassady (who died on some train tracks nearby) to writer/drummer Tony Cohan.

But the more recent generation of expats, credited with (and blamed for) transforming the essence of the town, has been less long-hair, more gray-hair (though sometimes both). "Los Boomers," as our driver to the airport called them, are everywhere you look—sipping Chiapas-harvested, certified-organic double espressos, puttering between ceramics boutiques and day spas, or attending "Global Justice" lectures on whether there is "any other kind of globalization besides the corporate variety we see today?"

…snip…

"Undocumented Americans occasionally are caught working in restaurants, bars and clothing shops in San Miguel and can be kicked out of the country," Knight Ridder reported last year, in an article that tried hard not to burst out laughing. "Foreign architects, musicians, engineers, accountants and others work in the town without permits." The piece paraphrased a city official as estimating that the off-the-books businesses cost the local government "4 million pesos—more than $360,000 a year—in lost taxes and fees."

LA Times

Related
Seattle Times



tags: immigration, Hutto Detention Center , citizenship, US illegal in Mexico

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Immigrant voter registration could yield 14 mil voters.

Tomorrow, July 1st, starts the first day of the summer long effort to register new voters and aid Legal Permanent Residents in acquiring citizenship. Sponsored by a coalition of immigrants rights activist groups, the We Are America coalition will kick off ”Democracy Summer” with events throughout the country. With the debate over immigration reform raging and emotions flaring, immigrants have been galvanized into action. Two groups in particular that are being targeted by the activists are those who have been living in the U.S. legally for years as permanent residents (green card holders) but have until now felt no pressing need to attain full citizenship and the children of immigrants aged 18-24 who have not registered to vote.

This comes, as eligible longtime residents who have had green cards for at least five years are applying in greater numbers to naturalize, or become citizens.

According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, naturalization applications in the first three months of the year increased 19 percent over the same period last year. And in March, visitors to the USCIS Web site downloaded a record 162,000 citizenship applications. Some immigrants may be driven by fear, others by a desire for full political participation and still others by a wish to petition for relatives living abroad.

Newsweek

According to a recently released report from the Illinois Coalition For Immigrant and Refugee Rights the number of new voters from the immigrant community could be as high as 14 million. This is number not lost on the immigration rights activists who see Democracy Summer as a means to organize political action that goes beyond marches and demonstrations and can make a significant impact at the ballot box, particularly in the 2008 races.


tags: immigration, Democracy Summer, voter registration , We Are America, immigration reform, citizenship exam

"Today We March, Tomorrow We Vote"

The Untapped Power of over 14 Million
Potential New Immigrant Voters in 2008

Executive Summary
As millions of immigrants marched across the U.S. in the historic mobilizations for immigration reform this past spring, they chanted: "Today We March, Tomorrow We Vote". Skeptics dismissed the marchers, pointing out that neither the undocumented nor legal permanent residents (green card holders) can vote. This report finds that there are 14.25 million potential voters among legal immigrants who are currently eligible to naturalize and the 16 - 24 year old U.S. born children of immigrants. This includes 12.4 million potential new voters who can be eligible to participate in the 2008 elections.

The current Republican-led legislative attacks on immigrants and red-hot anti-immigrant demagoguery sparked the spring 2006 immigrant rights marches and are currently driving record increases in citizenship applications by legal immigrants. They are also likely to drive increases in the registration and voting rates of U.S. born children of immigrants. This could dramatically – and negatively – affect the outcome of the 2008 Presidential election for the Republican Party, as well as Republican prospects in numerous state elections.

Findings and Implications:
There are 14.25 million potential voters among immigrant legal permanent residents (green card holders) who are currently eligible for citizenship and 16 – 24 year oldU.S. born children of immigrants who will be eligible to vote in the 2008 elections.

This number includes:

Nearly nine and a half million immigrants who are currently eligible to naturalize, become U.S. citizens, and vote

Almost two million U.S.-born children of immigrants between the ages of 18 and 24 years who are not currently registered to vote.

The almost two million U.S.-born children of immigrants between the ages of 18 – 24 who are already registered to vote.

Another one million U.S.-born children of immigrants who are not yet voting age, but will reach 18 years of age by the time of the 2008 elections, and will be eligible to register and to vote.

There are over 2.6 million Mexican immigrants who are currently eligible to become U.S. citizens.

Read the complete report “Today We March, Tomorrow We Vote!” from the ILLINOIS COALITION FOR IMMIGRANT AND REFUGEE RIGHTS

"We want to capitalize on that movement energy and translate it into a real political voice for immigrants," says Deepak Bhargava of the Center for Community Change, one of the We Are America coalition groups, whose goal is to produce 1 million new voters before election day 2006 . The Democracy Summer campaign hopes to offer a nationwide network of citizenship schools to help immigrants with their paperwork, civics classes and promote political participation, and voter registration drives.

If successful, the effort to naturalize perhaps millions of legal residents could have far-reaching political ramifications. Some key swing states could experience seismic shifts in voter demographics. Florida in particular is home to a possible 600,000 newly minted citizens. According to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials these new citizens also tend to vote in much higher percentages than native born Americans. "Our mission is to make good on the slogan, 'Today we march, tomorrow we vote'," says Chung-Wha Hong of the New York Immigration Coalition.

If you interested in helping this effort please check the list of events already scheduled in your area and contact We Are America to lend your services. And remember this effort will go on throughout the summer so if your thinking of organize and event or would like to help in future events in some capacity let the folks at We Are America know.

If immigrant rights advocates are successful in their organizing efforts, come November the newly registered could make the difference between victory and defeat in certain races. Come 2008, a crop of newly naturalized citizens could make their mark on the political landscape. They could very well hold the key to changing the balance of power in some very key states, and set he stage for not only a total reevaluation of the immigration reform issue but also facilitate a shift of political power on a national scale.

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“Democracy Summer” voter registration drive to begin July 1

While the immigration issue seems to have reached a roadblock in Washington for the time being, the fact that it will most likely be resurrected just in time for the November elections should not be forgotten. Although it appears that the Congressional Republicans who first initiated the debate have no intention to press the issue at the current time, it can not be forgotten that the key focus of the debate has always been the creation of a distraction and a wedge issue to insulate themselves from the failures of the last few years.

Over the Summer they plan to keep this issue in the public mind by holding sham “hearings” to “get the pulse” of the American people. Like a Bush campaign rally, these “hearings” will be heavily orchestrated to make sure that the positions of the extremist right-wing get the most exposure possible. Along with the usual array of “experts” from far right organizations like CIS and FAIR, we can probably count on a mix of minutemen and other closet white supremacists groups to send representatives also.

Between their mock hearings, and the media campaign waged every day by the FOX, Lou Dobbs and a myriad of other right-wing front men, the American people will be fed a constant diet of anti-immigrant rhetoric all summer long, while there will be no voice of opposition coming from the other side.

BUT there is one way to offset this campaign of hatred and lies. By making sure that come November, by shear force of numbers, the right wing hate machine is shut down. We can help to make sure the power of the immigrant community is felt at the ballot box.

Two things MUST be done:

Assist Legal residents to apply for citizenship

Register ALL the eligible Latino and other ethnic voters as possible

The number of eligible legal residents who could apply for citizenship is estimated to be as high as 8 million. The number of unregistered voters whose voices must be heard is even greater than that. In the key swing state of Florida alone 600,000 new voters could join the rolls. What would those 600,00 voters have meant in 2000? What would a million or more new voters today mean in November?





In an effort to register at least a million new voters this summer, We Are America, a coalition of immigrants activists groups is initiating “Democracy Summer”, a voter education and registration drive that will take place in all fifty states.


tags: immigration, Democracy Summer, voter registration , We Are America, immigration reform, citizenship exam

On July 1st, grassroots organizations all over the country will launch Democracy Summer – a coordinated effort to strengthen the power of immigrant communities and our allies at the ballot box. We will engage our communities to register voters, help eligible immigrants to become citizens, learn about immigration reform legislation and engage students, parents, teachers neighbors and clergy like never before.

Democracy Summer is an opportunity for all of us to celebrate and participate in our democracy.

Here is an opportunity for average Americans of good conscience, of every ethnic and national background to get involved in the true meaning of Democracy. Assuring that all those who are eligible to have their voices heard in the great debate are indeed heard. We have the opportunity to prevent the far right from once again perverting our electoral process by forcing red herrings and strawmen to the forefront of political debate, while the real issues, the issues that effect every Americans future are left out of the discussion. The politics of hate, fear and lies must end … and we have the power to help make that happen.

To help contact:
We Are America

You can organize an event in your area, volunteer to help with one, or just help spread the word. Talk with neighbors and friends let them know how important this issue is. Volunteer to help tutor eligible legal residents so they can pass their citizenship tests. There are a multitude of ways , both large and small that you can take part in this effort. There is much talk about taking back America … here is one opportunity to actually participate in that activity.

Action Tools:

The following action tools are available at We Are Americas website:
HERE

We Are America is looking for volunteers to:

1) Teach-Ins about the Senate and House bills
Educate your community about the Senate and House bills and what they can do to help make sure that real and comprehensive immigration reform becomes law and that immoral and hateful proposals do not. Check back in with this site for a teach-in curriculum that will be made available for you to use and adapt to your local needs. At this event you can also recruit participants to take part in upcoming events and civic engagement activities.

2) Local lobby visits to your Members of Congress
Let them know that a growing number of their constituents want real and comprehensive immigration reform now. Meet with your Senators and Members of Congress, start a letter-writing campaign, or organize a call-in day.

3) Citizenship workshops to help legal permanent residents become citizens
There are hundreds of thousands of legal immigrants in the United States who are qualified to become citizens. As citizens they could vote and increase our power on immigration issues. Forms and direction on how other organizations have successfully launched citizenship workshops will be made available on this site soon.

4) Voter registration drives
Register people to vote and educate them about what is at stake in the immigration reform debate. Encourage members of your community to pledge that they will each register at least 10 people to vote on July 1st.

5) Press Events and Press Statements
Highlight your efforts to engage the community around comprehensive immigration reform and increase civic participation in immigrant communities. Hold a press conference or release a press statement announcing your organization's plans for Democracy Summer.

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Immigrants applying for citizenship in record numbers.

With the debate over immigration reform raging and emotions flaring, one group that has become galvanized into action are those who have been living in the U.S. legally for years as permanent residents but have not until now felt the pressing need to attain full citizenship.

(Longtime residents are) applying in greater numbers to naturalize, or become citizens—an option for people who have had green cards for at least five years. According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, naturalization applications in the first three months of the year increased 19 percent over the same period last year. And in March, visitors to the USCIS Web site downloaded a record 162,000 citizenship applications. Some immigrants may be driven by fear, others by a desire for full political participation and still others by a wish to petition for relatives living abroad.

Link

The number of eligible legal residents who could apply for citizenship is estimated to be as high as 8 million. A number not lost on immigration rights activists who have begun to make a concerted effort to organize political action that transcends marches and demonstrations and can make a more significant impact at the ballot box.

"We want to capitalize on that movement energy and translate it into a real political voice for immigrants," says Deepak Bhargava of the Center for Community Change. So last week the newly formed "We Are America Alliance," comprised of Bhargava's group and scores more, announced an initiative to produce 1 million new citizens and voters by Election Day 2006. As part of a so-called Democracy Summer, citizenship schools nationwide will help immigrants with their paperwork, offer civics classes and promote political participation. To kick it all off, U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez of Chicago has proposed a National Citizenship Day on July 1, when he hopes to draw as many as 30,000 applicants across the country.

But enrolling new citizens is no easy task. Many eligible permanent residents choose not to apply, whether because of the cost ($400), lack of English skills or plans to head home someday. To help prod them, some pro-immigrant groups are highlighting the safeguards of citizenship. In new ads by the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights—which oversaw the workshop Ortega attended—an announcer intones darkly, "Immigrants are being attacked daily. Protect your family. Become a citizen today." ICIRR also notes that application costs will continue to rise and argues that a revamped citizenship test due to be completed next year will be more difficult (a USCIS spokesman denies that). Fear has motivated immigrants in the past: in the wake of a 1994 ballot initiative in California that stripped away benefits for the undocumented, naturalization surged, reaching a peak of 1 million two years later.

Link

If successful, the effort to naturalize perhaps millions of legal residents could have far reaching political ramifications. Some key swing states could experience seismic shifts in voter demographics. Florida in particular is home to a possible 600,000 thousand newly minted citizens. According to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials these new citizens also tend to vote in much higher percentages than native born Americans. "Our mission is to make good on the slogan, 'Today we march, tomorrow we vote'," says Chung-Wha Hong of the New York Immigration Coalition.

If immigrant rights advocates are successful in their organizing efforts, come November a crop of newly naturalized citizens could make their mark on the political landscape, possibly changing the outcome in some very key states, and setting the stage of a total political reevaluation of the entire immigration reform issue.

For more on We Are America Alliance.

tags: immigration, We Are America Alliance, Immigrants Rights, Voter Registration, Immigration Action

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Today we march, tomorrow we vote: A suggestion for Democrats

Over the past few weeks over two million people have taken to the streets in cities large and small across this country. On Monday perhaps another two million will join that number. Yet, despite this obviously growing movement, the Democratic Party, both the mainstream component in Washington , and that more "progressive" segment represented in the liberal blogosphere, have been blind to the seismic shift taking place right before their very eyes. It's time to wake up and see the great opportunity that’s been presented to not only do the right thing morally and ethically – but also politically.

When millions of people take to the streets, organized only through a grassroots movement, to protest a Republican sponsored bill, passed by an overwhelming Republican majority in the House of Representatives, that was opposed by the majority of Democrats in both the House and Senate – and Democrats don't see that as an opportunity – either they are totally out of touch, or just plain stupid.

What are these protests really about? The answer is simple; H.R. 4437 and its draconian provisions to make all undocumented immigrants and those who would help them into criminals. That's it – nothing more, nothing less.

(more below the fold)

tags: immigration, Marches, HR 4437, Sensenbrenner, S. 2454



Over the past year or so I've had more than my fair share of debates about immigration reform, and quite frankly I'm done arguing. To those Democrats who support the enforcement only, wall building, "what part of illegal don't you understand?" school of thought – I say fine, that's your opinion and you're welcome to it. Nothing I can ever say will ever change your mind, and I seriously doubt you could ever change mine, so we'll have to agree to disagree and call it a day.

But ... to all the rest who support some form of a comprehensive, humane and practical immigration policy I say … What the hell are you waiting for?

Why are you standing by idly while a potential political revolution is passing you by?

If 2 million people took to the streets tomorrow to protest against the war, the PATRIOT act, political corruption or any number of other Republican sponsored travesties, we as a party would be cheering. Yet when millions march through the streets with signs that say "Stop HR4436" we hem and haw.



Despite what Lou Dobbs might say, the marches are not about "illegal aliens" trying to demand "rights they're not entitled to." These marches are made up all kinds of people. Some are undocumented, some are the citizen children, wives, husbands and friends of the undocumented. Many others are second, third or forth generation Americans who feel the tone of this debate has turned nasty, and in many ways the attacks upon the undocumented immigrants reveals an underlying racism that has always laid just beneath the surface. Still others are humanitarians and people of faith who feel that the criminalization of the most vulnerable in society and those who serve them is morally wrong.

The one thing all these people have in common is their vehement opposition to a piece of REPUBLICAN LEGISLATION and their support for the comprehensive immigration reform that is overwhelmingly supported by Democrats in Washington. To me that sounds like democracy at work.



On Sunday 500,000 people marched in Dallas. That's 500,000 out of a population of approximately 1.3 million. That's more than 40%. Certainly even Mr. Dobbs can't believe that over 40% of the population of Dallas is made up entirely of "illegal aliens". Obviously this issue has touched a nerve with a large number of American voters…. Let's say that together now: V…O…T…E…R…S.

There's a reason why one of the slogans for this movement has been "today we march…tomorrow we vote" – because that's exactly what's going to happen.




Why are we as a party not embracing this movement? Why aren't we actively out there trying to register new voters? Why can't we see that these are the people who are fighting OUR battle ... and we should be fighting it with them?

In a day when national elections are fought in "key battleground states" where both parties vie for favor from smaller and smaller groups, why are we ignoring millions upon millions of people?

For arguments sake, lets say that only one in four of those who've already marched is an eligible voter who is unregistered or apathetic (I would believe it's much higher, but I'll lowball just to be safe), that's more than half a million potential new voters. What would 500,000 votes have meant in 2000 or 2004? What will half a million or more mean this November?

This to me is a no-brainer.

The demonstrators want comprehensive immigration reform – most of the Democratic legislators and all its leadership want comprehensive immigration reform. The demonstrators oppose HR 4437, Republicans support HR4437. What more do we need to know.

The Republicans set up the immigration issue as a distraction and wedge to try to divide the American people and provide them with an imaginary enemy to demonize and blame for failing Republican policies. I say it's jujitsu time, it's time to turn this issue back in on them.

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