Tomorrow a delegation of women leaders from over two dozen national human rights organizations -- National Domestic Workers Alliance, National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum, MomsRising, and many others -- will travel to Georgia to protest the state’s new anti-immigrant bill (HB 87), copycat legislation of Arizona’s controversial and costly SB1070, and speak out as part of the growing resistance to anti-immigrant legislation nationwide.
The We Belong Together Delegation will connect with those most gravely affected by Georgia’s new law with other regional immigrant activists for a day of story-sharing (September 28) and a press conference in front of the state capital building (September 29, 10:30am).
As we have noted before these laws are exceptionally harmful for women who are often most deeply affected when their families are torn apart, or they fail to report crimes such as domestic violence and sexual assault out of fear of deportation or detention, and find their bodies and children demonized in the increasingly hostile rhetoric. Read NAPAWF executive director Miriam Yeung's moving blog post about why this delegation and this movement is so important to her as an immigrant, a mother and an activist.
The need to fight these laws is why the Ms. Foundation supported a similar delegation of women's rights and immigrant rights activists who traveled to Washington in June of last year following the adoption of Arizona's SB1070 and gave voice to women whose lives and livelihoods were threatened by the legislation.
We are pleased to see Ms. Foundation grantees lead the way once again, advocating for dignity and respect for immigrant women and their families and advancing the rights of us all. We will share updates and photos in the next week so stay tuned. Let's all pledge to make sure our country is welcoming and safe for everyone.
Happy New Year! Now that we're refreshed and refueled after a short holiday break, it's time to get back to the business at hand: pushing for progressive change that benefits all -- something that's about to get significantly harder as conservatives harness increased power in Congress and in state legislatures nationwide.
One issue we're sure to be hearing (and talking) much about in the near future is the coming state-level assault on undocumented workers and "immigration reform" -- a battle that will have a particularly severe impact on immigrant women, who now make up the majority of immigrants in the United States.
According to a recent article in the New York Times, at least six states (Georgia, Mississippi, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and South Carolina) are now planning to propose anti-immigrant legislation much like Arizona's maligned SB-1070 bill, which is currently tied up in the courts after being challenged by the federal government and progressive groups. In addition to expanding the abilities of the police to question anyone "suspected" of being undocumented, as the Arizona legislation did, these bills also seek to bar undocumented students from public colleges and universities; allow for seizure of vehicles and property "used to transport or harbor illegal immigrants"; visit severe penalties on businesses that employ undocumented workers; and generally make life hell for anyone who is or aids an undocumented immigrant.
As early as this week, Congress may vote on key issues that will overwhelmingly affect women, families and communities -- particularly those still struggling to survive the ongoing economic crisis. Readers of this blog know that we've been highlighting a number of ways you can take action to ensure just policies are put in place before positive change becomes more difficult to achieve; below we offer a recap of four of those actions, and hope you'll help urge Washington to protect the interests of women and families across America.
Congress must protect access to child care and Head Start for more than 300,000 children and their families. Let our government leaders know how important quality, affordable childcare is to our country's future. Learn more about how to take action.
Beginning today, emergency unemployment insurance expires, affecting millions of long-term jobless workers. Meanwhile, legislators are still debating who among the richest of the rich will get to keep their tax cuts. Tell Washington that real economic recovery should benefit women, families and communities, not the wealthy or Wall Street.
Urge Congress to retroactively renew the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Emergency Fund, which has helped create more than 250,000 subsidized jobs and increase services for low-income families wounded by the economic crisis.
Comprehensive immigration reform is still the goal, but the DREAM Act is a step in the right direction. Tell Congress they must pass this important legislation and grant citizenship rights to at least a million undocumented youth who are working tirelessly on behalf of their families, communities and country.
Together, let's capitalize on the window of opportunity presented by the Lame Duck session and secure changes that will make a real difference in women's lives.
For those of us who believe comprehensive immigration reform means something other than "build a bigger fence" (oh, and electrify it, if you can), an editorial published in the New York Times this week is enough to run a chill right down your spine.
On Monday, the paper of record used a little of its editorial space to speak out on what it perceives to be a disaster-in-waiting as the Republicans assert control of the immigration agenda in the House of Representatives. Led by Congressmen Lamar Smith of Texas and Steve King of Iowa -- both of whom are ardent supporters of overturning the 14th Amendment (the one that grants citizenship to those born on American soil), and one of whom has come out strongly in favor of racial profiling (which, as the Times editorial hastens to remind us, is illegal) -- the new powers that be on immigration reform appear to be dead set on pushing for draconian and downright inhumane measures to deal with undocumented immigrants.
As the Times notes:
If [Republican] legislation looks anything like their campaign ads, there will be no way for illegal immigrants to get right with the law and no real solution to the problem of illegal immigration. Just a national doubling-down on enforcement, with still more border fencing and immigration agents, workplaces locked down, and states and localities setting police dragnets on what always was — and still ought to be — federal turf.
That hard-line approach mocks American values. It is irresponsibly expensive. It is ineffective.
More fences? More questionable methods for deporting people? More federal spending on tactics that are inhumane and known not to work? It boggles the mind -- and the House is not alone in allowing reactionary sentiments to guide its policy making here. The Times also points out that every Republican on the Senate Judiciary committee, "signed a letter last month to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, accusing Immigration and Customs Enforcement of 'a lax approach' for focusing more on dangerous criminals than on those with minor or no criminal records."
While conservatives keep themselves busy chastising other public officials and finding ways to spend money we don't have, numbers of organizations working at the grassroots level doing the hard work of producing real, viable solutions to our immigration issues.
Take the women of La Mujer Obrera, who have staged a hunger strike outside the White House to convince our government to invest in long-term economic development, not electrified fences, in border areas. They know that jobs, along with vocational and educational opportunities, provide a much more effective type of border security than increased militarization ever could; they're working to combat poverty and crime by providing women -- who now make up more than half of the US immigrant population -- with the economic security they need to ensure real security on the border.
If the new leaders on immigration in the House are looking for real solutions rather than reactionary strategies, they would do well to take a cue from La Mujer Obrera and other women's organizations that are leading the fight at the grassroots level. These organizations know what their communities need -- and they'll need our support if they're going to be able to make a difference in the face of this new, conservative leadership in the House.
Read the Times editorial. Watch the video below. And then pledge to help us lift up the voices and visions of women who are organizing for change -- on the border and everywhere.
If you want an up-close look at what makes the Dream Act such an important piece of legislation, take the time to read Maggie Jones' piece "Coming Out Illegal," which ran in this weekend's New York Times Magazine.
Jones profiles a young, undocumented woman named Leslie: a senior at UCLA, who has taken on a prominent role advocating for passage of the Dream Act between studying for her classes and working multiple part-time jobs alongside her mother to help pay for her education. The act -- which has bipartisan support in Congress but failed to pass in September -- would allow students like Leslie, who came to this country illegally, to earn legal status by completing two years of college or military service after being in the US for at least five years and graduation from high school (or earning a G.E.D.)
The reality of Leslie's life -- and her future prospects without the Dream Act -- are heartbreaking: the constant fear that she, her friends and family will be deported; the knowledge that even with the sacrifices she's made to get herself a college education, she'll likely have to take a low-paying job because she still has no path to obtaining legal status. None of that, however, has stopped her, and other young women like her, from standing up, and risking their lives in the US, to push for passage of legislation that could change so much for so many.
And the fact that so many of the individuals on the front lines of this particular fight are indeed women doesn't go unnoticed by Jones. She argues that much of the movement for passage of the Dream Act has been "powered by women," noting that,
At recent sit-ins, two-thirds of those arrested were women, including founders and leaders of their local Dream organizations. Women have also stuck with the movement long after many men have dropped out or burned out. Lizbeth Mateo, co-founder of Dream Team Los Angeles, said she and other leaders tried to get more undocumented men to participate in a sit-in in McCain’s Arizona office this year. “We wanted to balance it out,” she said. But with one exception, the men said they were not ready.
We're not surprised that women may be leading the charge on these efforts. As Caroline Hotaling, program officer for National Policy & Strategic Opportunities put it, "Just as we've seen in other disastrous situations, like Hurricane Katrina, women are often the 'last men standing' in these battles to ensure justice.They rise to leadership in the face of these difficult situations because their options for avoiding them are much more limited. They can't for example, just move to a new city when there's an immigration crackdown -- they have children and elderly family members depending on them. So they stay, and they fight."
With the news that Georgia has now joined South Carolina and Alabama in barring undocumented students from attending public universities, Leslie's story is more important than ever. She is just one among more than 800,000 undocumented young people whose lives could be positively impacted the passage of this bill. Here's hoping the powers that be see to it that the "American dream" remains open to us all.
This week, the Senate is set to vote on the DREAM Act, a long overdue piece of legislation that would provide thousands of undocumented young people a now-illusive path to citizenship.
The bill (officially known as the Development, Relief and Education of Alien Minors Act) would, as an editorial in Monday's New York Times put it, "[open] the door to military service and higher education for young people whose parents brought them to this country as children without proper documentation. If they finish high school, show good moral character and serve at least two years in the military or earn a college degree, they can earn citizenship."
Just one day before Arizona's divisive new immigration policy was set to go into effect, a federal judge issued a ruling that put many of the most contentious aspects of the law on hold -- if only temporarily.
Finding in favor of the federal government's case against the state of Arizona, Judge Bolton's ruling has prevented a number of the law's key provisions from taking effect while she finishes hearing the case. According to AZCentral.com, the following elements of SB1070 will be stayed while Judge Bolton continues to hear arguments:
The portion that requires an officer make a reasonable attempt to determine the immigration status of a person stopped, detained or arrested if there's reasonable suspicion they're in the country illegally.
The portion that creates a crime of failure to apply for or carry "alien-registration papers."
The portion that makes it a crime for illegal immigrants to solicit, apply for or perform work. (This does not include the section on day laborers.)
The portion that allows for a warrantless arrest of a person where there is probable cause to believe they have committed a public offense that makes them removable from the United States.
Though the rulings are only temporary, and though eight other provisions of the law were allowed to go into effect, the New York Timessuggests that this is a clear "preview" of what Judge Bolton's final ruling is likely to be, predicting that the federal government is poised to win in the end. However, top officials in Arizona are vowing to appeal the findings immediately -- so expect the fight on this one to last for quite some time.
Meanwhile, all over the state of Arizona, opponents (including Alto Arizona) of SB1070 continue to speak out about the dangers the law poses to immigrant families -- even in its newer, less drastic form. Today, July 29, has been named a National Day of Non-Compliance, with protests and other actions planned across the state, and across the country. If you, too, feel that Judge Bolton's ruling is a good start but ultimately not enough, take action: it's not too late to tell the president how you feel about immigration reform.
Photo: by Elizabeth Rappaport. (detail) Immigration Reform March in Washington, DC, 21 March 2010.
A group identified as "Concerned Citizens of the United States" has distributed a detailed list of 1300 people it describes as "illegal immigrants" and called for their immediate deportation. The list, originally sent to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency in Salt Lake City in April, was distributed this week to police, elected officials, and media. The details, according to the New York Times, include "address and telephone number to their date of birth and, in the case of pregnant women, their due dates." Democracy Now, in a report today (video below), presents an interview with Tony Yapias, the director of Proyecto Latino de Utah, who said:
Our community has been terrorized by this list. Throughout yesterday, we received dozens and dozens of calls, emails, requests, about whether or not their names have been on the list, from the members of the Latino community. And so, our community is in a state of fear.
Though the true origins of these names and the intentions of those distributing them are not yet clear, this episode -- combined with the immigration law SB 1070 in Arizona -- is part of a growing problem as states and local groups take action against immigrants. These assaults on immigrants' rights make clear the need for comprehensive federal immigration reform that provides equal treatment for all nationwide.
The media may be turning its attention away from Arizona and its controversial new immigration policy, SB1070, but on the ground, activists and organizers continue to draw attention to the impact this discriminatory policy is having on immigrant women, men, children and families across the Grand Canyon State -- and the country.
To stand with the people of Arizona -- quite literally -- this weekend, organizations including Ms. Foundation grantee the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights will be sponsoring a number of events in Phoenix to raise awareness around human rights and to challenge the passage of this new law.
On Friday, May 28, Alto Arizona will host a Festival for Human Rights from 6pm to 12am. The event will feature live music, an art show, a film festival, live poster printing and a cultural marketplace. $5 donation requested; for more information, including location, visit the Alto Arizona website.
Then, on Saturday, May 29 people of conscience from throughout the United States and Phoenix will gather to march to the State Capitol to "demand justice in the face of state-sanctioned discrimination and hate." As part of this National Day of Action, protesters will demand that President Obama take immediate and concrete action to stop SB1070; tens of thousands of individuals are expected to attend. The march will begin at 8am at Indian Steel Park and proceed to the Capitol.
Finally, on Sunday, May 30, an Organizing Summit will take place to strategize about how to continue this struggle for human rights, nationwide. Topics for discussion will include: base-building in Arizona, ongoing boycotts, plans for a "Freedom Summer", and a non-compliance strategy for SB1070.
To sign up to participate in any or all of these events, and for further information, visit Alto Arizona.
As we reported earlier this week, Mother's Day may be behind us, but the need to support immigrant women and their families in Arizona remains an urgent cause.
Join a conference call this Monday, May 17 (details below) to learn from a delegation of national feminist and labor leaders, journalists, and organizers who, with support from a Ms. Foundation rapid-response grant, traveled to Arizona during Mother's Day weekend to document the experiences of women and children in the wake of Arizona's racist and restrictive immigration law, SB 1070.
The testimonies we heard make clear in vivid and haunting detail that SB 1070 constitutes a violation of principles we hold dear to safeguard women as mothers, workers and leaders in our families and communities. The draconian legislation has paved the way for assaults on the basic human rights of women who came here simply to support their families, and created an environment in which violence against women and children -- physical, spiritual and legal -- has been state-sanctioned.
At the same time, SB 1070 has sparked a culture of resistance and an opportunity to organize women for change nationally as well as locally in our communities, to battle present and future legislation which threatens our families and communities.
Join the Call and Learn How to Support Immigrant Women and Families in Arizona
The Ms. Foundation is pleased to be a co-sponsor of Entre Nos, a dramatic film about a Colombian immigrant family's struggles in the United States, which opens Friday, May 14 at the Quad Cinema in Manhattan and the Center Cinema 5 in Sunnyside, Queens. Written and directed by Paola Mendoza and Gloria La Morte, Entre Nos is the story of Mariana (played by Paola Mendoza) and her children Gabriel, 10, and Andrea, 6. Inspired by Paola Mendoza's family, the film shows Mariana's challenges in a strange city where she barely speaks the language, to provide for her family, financially and emotionally. In the process it tells a story about the lives of immigrants in today's United States.
After working together on the award winning documentary film, Autumn's Eyes, which shows prison, poverty, and life through the life of a three-year-old girl, Paola and Gloria decided to develop a narrative film. Paola had grown up hearing fragments of her mother's story when she first arrived in United States from Colombia and of her father's abandonment. Paola and Gloria went to work capturing not only the pain, but also the inspiring hope of this family. Their script won a prize at the Independent Film Week's Emerging Narrative section. The winnings included the Panasonic camera they used for the production of the film.
This past Saturday activists from across the country celebrated May Day, by protesting Arizona's recent anti-immigrant legislation and calling on Congress to commit to real immigration reform.
Huge rallies were held in major cities throughout the US, including New York, Chicago and DC. Our photographer Elizabeth Rappaport caught up with one of our grantees, Jobs with Justice, in DC. View the slideshow with some of her photos.
Last Friday, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed the horrific anti-immigrant bill SB 1070 into law, explicitly condoning racial profiling and the criminalization of undocumented immigrants. We're appalled.
Governor Brewer may have signed the bill for her own political gain, but SB 1070 supporters have undoubtedly been capitalizing on and feeding a broader climate of fear and intolerance encouraged by the likes of Fox News and the Tea Party movement (see our upcoming conference call on May 11, "The Right-Wing Backlash"), hoping to inspire similar legislation in other states and stymie federal reform. As we wrote last week, the potential consequences are vast: "This bill wouldn't just undermine the rights of communities of color and immigrants in Arizona, but nationwide."
Grassroots organizations across the country are mobilizing to fight back. Ms. Foundation grantee, National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (NNIRR), has posted four actions to take a stand for justice and human rights. NNIRR will also host a telephone briefing on Wednesday 28 April with more analysis and next steps. [Update: Call canceled; more to follow.] NNIRR will be issuing further statements and alerts for national action. Details will be posted here.
We cannot permit the strong-arm tactics of this law to hijack the immigration debate. Last Friday, President Obama himself criticized the bill, saying it would "undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans, as well as the trust between police and our communities that is so crucial to keeping us safe."
So join the conversation. Help organize a strong response to Arizona's alarming legislation and promote just immigration reform on a national scale.
Photo: by Elizabeth Rappaport. (detail) Immigration Reform March in Washington, DC, 21 March 2010.
Leading up to yesterday's march for immigration reform in Washington, DC, Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Lyndsey Graham (R-SC) released a "blueprint" for immigration-reform legislation. The draft was immediately embraced by President Obama, but includes disturbing elements that would further threaten immigrants' rights.
As a "starting point" for real congressional engagement, [the blueprint] sets a low bar for the debate, placing harsh and failed enforcement strategies at its heart in hopes of drawing conservative support, regardless of the human rights consequences of such policies.
While still vague and without many details, the blueprint emphasizes increases in worksite and border enforcement as an apparent trade off for a "tough but fair" legalization program. It promises green cards for the "best and the brightest" -- more of the "brain drain" scenario -- and refers to so-called "circular migration" as a rationale to provide temporary worker visas to lower-skilled immigrants to work in the U.S. These workers would presumably save their earnings, send remittances home, and then return to their home countries. This is a recipe for disaster, and merely sets up the prospect of more exploited migrant workers with fewer rights, including workers with little access to green cards and who could eventually become undocumented.
After what just happened with health care reform, where initial proposals that promised universal coverage, a public option, and respect for women's rights were whittled down by compromise and threat, is this where the Administration wants to start the discussion about immigration reform? If so, we should be worried.
This Sunday 21 March 2010 the Center for Community Change (CCC), many of our grantee partners, dozens of progressive organizations, and tens of thousands of individuals are marching on Washington, DC in support of immigration reform. Activists around the country have signed on, calling for a vision of "reform [that] includes immigrants and native-born U.S. citizens working shoulder to shoulder to achieve better wages, working conditions, and labor protections, and of an America that's back to work, with a fair balance between main street and Wall Street." [March for America website].
These voices have already made an impact on Capitol Hill. Last week, in anticipation of this huge action, President Obama met with leading grassroots activists and advocacy leaders to establish a path forward for a comprehensive reform agenda. It's a step in the right direction, but we need more than a plan to plan. We need real reform.
Today we share a commentary by Ms. Foundation friend Marielena Hincapié, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center. In "Obama's Expansion of Bush-Era Immigration Tactics Endanger Us All," Hincapié calls attention to a worrisome July 10 announcement by the Obama administration that it would expand a Bush-era agreement to use local police officers in the enforcement of immigration law. This must be a call to hold decision-makers accountable to policies of justice and inclusion and to prepare for numerous challenges as Congress returns to immigration reform.
In her New America Media commentary, Hincapié writes:
Some would argue that these minor, cosmetic changes with the 287(g) program are evidence of the Obama administration’s effort to create the political space for comprehensive immigration reform. Putting the burden of immigration enforcement on overtaxed, under-funded, and untrained local law enforcement is unacceptable. The bottom line is that with or without immigration reform, giving local law enforcement agencies the authority to enforce immigration laws is foolhardy and costly.
Outsourcing immigration responsibilities to local law enforcement only makes communities more dangerous by marginalizing our most vulnerable members of society. The destruction of families, the criminalization of immigrants and people of color, and a growing distrust in a police force that needs community support to keep us safe are the wrong way to go. It’s time for President Obama to stop following in Bush’s failed footsteps, leave behind senseless immigration enforcement policies by suspending programs like 287(g), and lead the country toward achieving broad and humane immigration reform. Read full commentary
