Immigrant Rights

Following on the heels of Apply the Brakes — a report that exposes the anti-immigrant co-option of the environmental movement — the Center for New Community has released a video exploring the relationship between environmental progressives and the anti-immigrant right-wing.

The anti-immigrant Californians for Population Stabilization advertisement shown in the video blames steady immigration for increased environmental problems because immigrants consume and pollute more in the United States than in their previous countries. I have a solution. Maybe Americans should adopt the attitudes of immigrants from their home countries, instead of asking immigrants to assimilate to America. After all, people migrating from one country to another is not the primary source of our environmental problems. It is mostly American consumption that is wrecking the planet.

Earlier this year, Change.org readers noted their displeasure with the National Council of Science and Education (NCSE) for giving Roy Beck from NumbersUSA — an anti-immigrant organization — a platform at their conference, which he used to denounce immigration. The NCSE held steadfast to their position on the grounds that the organization had nothing to do with an anti-immigrant agenda and it was simply promoting a platform for multitudes of voices.  That is a reasonable excuse, but nonetheless, an excuse. Eight months later, as various reporters dig further into the link between anti-immigrant and green organizations, the NCSE is incensed about being linked to an anti-immigrant agenda.

I recently wrote that legislators in no less than 22 states want to follow in Arizona's footsteps on SB 1070, which requires police to check immigration papers in case of "reasonable suspicion" of undocumented status. Meanwhile, under the federal government's Secure Communities program, police must report anybody arrested for any reason to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), who can request the detention of non-citizens. Yet whether the rules come from state legislators of the feds, many police officers are upset with policies that drain police resources while making communities — wait for it —less secure.

Deportation Nation reports that these policies are foisted upon police departments who have no choice as to whether or not they wish to participate, often to the detriment of their other policing duties. Last week, the Consortium for Police Leadership in Equality gathered police chiefs from 27 major cities who discussed the problem of being burdened with yet more responsibilities as de facto immigration agents while a still-struggling economy has shrunk their budgets. It's all about limited resources: time spent checking up on immigration status is time not spent on other cases.

Since SB 1070 passed, sheriffs and police have complained that it wastes the police's time and money, forces them to racially profile, weakens relationships with the community, and exposes departments to expensive lawsuits by either those wrongfully assumed to be undocumented or those who want more manpower wasting on looking for undocumented immigrants. It's obvious that the Arizona legislators think that any random nativist on the street knows what law enforcement priorities should be better than the police themselves; otherwise, why would they have included in SB 1070 the explicit ability for those disgruntled with the implementation of the law to sue for harsher enforcement?

We informed our readers recently that Arizona faces seven lawsuits for its controversial new immigration law that makes illegal status in the country a crime and encourages racial profiling. One of the lawsuits, filed by a law enforcement officer, has been dismissed by a federal district court.

In Escobar v. Brewer, law enforcement official Escobar contended that SB 1070 would force him to rely on racial profiling in order to enforce the law, thus violating the privacy and due process rights enshrined in the United States Constitution. The federal district court did not deny the charges. It dismissed the lawsuit on procedural grounds, holding that Escobar lacked legal standing to bring suit against the new law, since he could not prove harm to himself as a law enforcement officer.

While the claims over legal standing are contentious, if the Department of Justice had brought the same charges against Arizona, the lawsuit would most likely have standing. Instead, the Department of Justice chose to argue against SB 1070 on grounds of federal preemption, with no mention of race or racial profiling in the complaint.

The dismissal of this lawsuit does not bring the number down to six. As fellow Immigrant Rights blogger Gabriel Garcia informs us, the Department of Justice has filed a new lawsuit against Arizona, suing Maricopa County Community Colleges for violating the Immigration and Nationality Act. It does look like Arizona will be embattled with lawsuits for some time to come.

Niamh Stoute is a seven-year old from Barbados with Stage IV neuroblastoma, a rare and difficult cancer to treat. Her mother, Petra Gooding, brought her to the United States on the recommendation of an oncologist to receive cutting-edge treatment that is not available in Barbados, but which her health insurance was willing to cover. Over the past six months, she has undergone chemotherapy, an eleven hour surgery to remove a tumor, a stem cell transplant, and is now preparing for antibody therapy.

Does Niamh, a little girl recovering from intense chemicals pumped through her body and preparing for yet another round of therapy, need her mother by her side? It seems like an obvious answer. But last week ICE answered no.

Our red-tape riddled immigration system is incredibly confusing — more so, for a mother and her sick child in need of immediate visas. Because Ms. Gooding filed for a visitors visa instead of the technical medical visa she didn’t even know existed and nobody told her about, ICE accepted a six-month extension for Niamh but not for her mother. Ms. Gooding was told, with only a week's notice, that she would have to go back to Barbados and leave her sick child behind.

This stunned the heartbroken mother and everyone involved with Niamh’s treatment. "What was shocking to us was the child was approved, but the mother's stay was not. And, you know, we require parents to be here with their children. The procedure is so intensive, and they are so sick," said a social worker in an interview with Fox Atlanta. “Even to come out here, to do this interview, she was like, 'Mommy, where are you going?' It is like she wants me by her side, so she kind of doesn't understand what is going on. I try to explain it, but she was still like, 'No, don't leave me mommy,’’ added the desperate mother.

To clean up Michigan's oil disaster, undocumented workers are being exploited after agreeing to take high-risk jobs injurious to their health.

In June, I wrote about federal immigration enforcement agents targeting workers cleaning up the the biggest oil spill in United States history to check their immigration documents. While no one was detained on site, new evidence reveals that some of the workers contracted by Enbridge Energy in Michigan to clean up the Calhoun County oil spill may not only be undocumented, but were made to work in hazardous conditions.

An investigation by Michigan Messenger (by Change.org Gay Rights blogger Todd Heywood) reveals that Hallmark Industrial -- an oil spill cleanup contractor based in Texas and subcontracted by Enbridge Energy -- has been busing in hundreds of allegedly undocumented workers to work on the cleanup of the Calhoun County oil spill in Michigan. Following the investigation, Hallmark was fired from the cleanup effort, leaving some of the workers unsure about whether they would be compensated for the work done.

Hiring undocumented workers as independent contractors is not main problem here. What's really concerning is that the workers were expected to work nearly 100 hours a week in unsafe conditions, with 12-14 hour shifts per day, seven days a week. Photographs obtained by the Michigan Messenger reveal numerous violations of OSHA safety standards, including evidence of workers covered in oil and mud getting food and water. The fact that workers may not possess legal right to work in the United States did not give Hallmark or Enbridge any legal right to abuse and exploit them under fair labor standards and practices.

Things are not looking bright for Arizona’s anti-immigrant crusaders lately. First, the Department of Justice filed suit against SB1070, the “papers please” law, and a federal judge blocked key provisions from going into effect. Then, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, infamous for his demonization and targeting of immigrants, was hit with the threat of a federal lawsuit after refusing to cooperate in his federal investigation. Now, the U.S. Department of Justice has filed yet another lawsuit, this time against the Maricopa County Community College District.

The DOJ filed suit after a federal investigation revealed that the community colleges “required all newly-hired non-citizens to present additional work authorization documents beyond those required by law, but did not require U.S. citizens to do so.” Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, there are specific provisions that bar this type of blatant discrimination.

The suit was filed on behalf of Zainul Singaporewalla, a permanent resident who applied for a position as a math professor. Mr. Singaporewalla filled out all of the requisite paperwork, including a federal form indicating his immigration status, and submitted his driver’s license and social security card as required. Nevertheless, the community college insisted that he fill out additional paperwork related to immigration, and that he provide a series of other documents including a green card which he did not have available. The college subsequently refused to process his application or hire him. The network of twelve community colleges and vocational centers discriminated against 247 other non-citizen employment-seekers in the same way before ending the policy in January.

Last week, we reported on the brutal deaths of 72 migrants in Mexico, butchered by an organization affiliated with a major Mexican drug cartel. A wave of violence has descended on northern Mexico since then, blanketing the region with more incidents of abduction, assassination, and devastating bombings.

Particularly chilling news reports coming from the Mexican state of Tamaulipas tell us that the lead investigator in the case of the murdered migrants has inexplicably disappeared. Reberto Jaime Suarez, along with a municipal police officer as yet unidentified, were reported missing shortly after an investigation of the killings began.

On Friday, Mexican President Felipe Calderon added to the ensuing confusion when he mistakenly declared that officials had recovered the bodies of the two men. The media then reported the bodies were indeed found, but the ultimate cause of their deaths was not altogether certain. However, little doubt exists among law enforcement in Mexico: the drug cartels did this, and they did it to strike fear into those willing to investigate the massacre.

The violence did not end with the two abducted men. Not far from the location of the killings and only a few days removed from the horrifying incident, members of a mourning ceremony for the slain victims reported an explosion near the ceremony. A bomb had detonated three blocks away, injuring at least three people, and presumably sending another intimidating signal from drug cartel enforcers.