Advocacy and Activism
In Memory of Tim Chavez, Fighter for Immigrant Rights
Published June 20, 2009 @ 07:46AM PT
Marisa Treviño has written a eulogy to Nashville journalist and blogger Tim Chavez, who recently passed away after a long battle against cancer.
Tim's politics defied easy categorization--more important to him than political orthodoxy was giving voice to the voiceless in his community. Tim was a fierce critic of Nashville's participation in the 287(g) program under which local authorities enforce federal immigration law. He broke the story of Juana Villegas, the pregnant Tennessee woman who was arrested by local law enforcement and shackled to her hospital bed during labor, then separated from her infant child. Tim's efforts uncovered this story and pushed it into the national media. In response to the Villegas debacle, earlier this year Republicans in the Tennessee legislature introduced a bill limiting the circumstances in which restraints may be used on a pregnant prisoner or detainee. The bill passed unanimously in both the state House and Senate.
Tim Chavez will be missed.
Widow Penalty Deferred But Not Revoked
Published June 09, 2009 @ 07:52PM PT
Thanks to the tireless work of Brent Renison of Surviving Spouses Against Deportation, as well as the widows/widowers and families themselves, DHS has agreed to grant deferred action to immigrants who reside in the United States and who were married for less than two years prior to their spouse’s death. From the DHS press release:
“Smart immigration policy balances strong enforcement practices with common-sense, practical solutions to complicated issues,” said Secretary Napolitano. “Granting deferred action to the widows and widowers of U.S. citizens who otherwise would have been denied the right to remain in the United States allows these individuals and their children an opportunity to stay in the country that has become their home while their legal status is resolved.”
This is only a temporary solution, however, and still leaves these surviving spouses without green cards. SSAD reacted to the announcement:
Although SSAD welcomes the temporary gesture, Secretary Napolitano did not announce that she would give resident status to widows and widowers. Instead, she said that "legislation is required" to end the widow penalty. Without stating explicitly that she is doing so, she has upheld the widow penalty by denying lawful permanent resident status to surviving spouses. This is an untenable resolution, and we urge Congress to act on the Legislation immediately. If Congress passes a bill, the problem will be solved.
Until Congress remedies the problem, however, we will continue to litigate the issue in the federal courts. The Circuit Courts of Appeal in the First, Sixth and Ninth Circuits have held the widow penalty unlawful, and only the Third Circuit has agreed with Napolitano, and that case is being prepared for a Supreme Court appeal.
Still, DHS would never have acted without the hard work of SSAD, Brent, and the surviving spouses who never gave up!
More background on this issue here and at SSAD.
[Image: Surviving Spouse Osserritta Robinson, from Nancy Siesel/The New York Times]
Actions: Request Postville Investigation, Stop Jailing Asylum Seekers
Published June 09, 2009 @ 07:00AM PT
Your actions for the day:
Investigate the Postville-raid prosecutions
Tell the Department of Homeland Security to improve the treatment of asylum seekers immediately
(Thanks to Manuela and Jay.)
Sanctuary Receives Blogging Award
Published June 08, 2009 @ 08:14PM PT
The Sanctuary was recently awarded "Best Blogger on Ethnic Perspectives" by New American Media. Get debriefed on these happenings by Nezua, whose style is ubiquitous throughout the promigrant blogosphere and who has been at the heart of the Sanctuary's collaborative enterprise. He traveled to Atlanta to accept the award on behalf of the blog. (Disclosure: I am an associate editor at the site.)
Props to the Sanctuary! Let this be just the beginning . . .
Elsewhere, interpreter Erik Camayd-Freixas was recognized by AILA at its annual conference last week for advancing the cause of human rights. Last year, he blew the whistle on the Postville madness. It's good to see good work rewarded.
Postville Prosecutions Not Forgotten in Iowa, Mexican Immigration "Has Never Been Out of Control"
Published May 28, 2009 @ 09:34PM PT
Postville whistleblower Erik Camayd-Freixas urges those who care about immigrant rights not to give in too easily to the nomination of Stephanie Rose for U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Iowa given her role in the shameful Postville prosecutions last year. He notes that Rose's claims to be out of the decision-making loop are not compatible with her "high rank and veteran status" in the office. And he takes aim at a much-touted exculpatory letter from some of the defense attorneys involved in the debacle.
Everyone takes credit for Postville but no one takes the responsibility - including the defense bar. Eleven of 18 defenders on the case signed a letter to Harkin vouching for Rose, a peculiar case of the defense and prosecution publicly washing each other's hands.
Not so peculiar ... very often defense attorneys, with the best of intentions, do more harm than good to their clients by failing to advise them of the often severe immigration consequences of criminal pleas. No one came away from Postville looking good (except Sister Mary and other humanitarian workers), and the defense attorneys involved have a strong interest in brushing the incident under the rug. Furthermore, the prosecutions were fraught with shady tactics:
During the raid, 96 false IDs were found stashed at Agriprocessors' human-resources office. This was potentially exculpatory evidence for the workers, since document-fraud statutes require "intent to deceive." The prosecution withheld this evidence until the workers were convicted, then brought it out against the employer.
In happier news, Mike Jones blogs about the hearings scheduled for next week on the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA), which would permit Americans to obtain immigration benefits for their same-sex partners.
The First Circuit last week struck down the widow penalty in Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Puerto Rico. This creates a 3-1 circuit split, leaving the Third Circuit (my circuit!) as the lone hold-out.
Sociologist Douglas Massey recently testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee about border policy, and reported some very interesting findings. Noting "the sharp decline in the rate of return migration" due to militarization of the border, Massey's research shows that:
it was because of a decline in return migration and not an increase in entry from Mexico that the undocumented population ballooned during the 1990s and made Hispanics the nation’s largest minority a decade before demographers had predicted.
. . .
These data clearly indicate that Mexican immigration is not and has never been out of control. It rises and falls with labor demand and if legitimate avenues for entry are available, migrants enter legally. The massive militarization of the border and resumption of mass deportations occurred despite the fact that rates of undocumented migration were falling and the perverse consequence was that these actions lowered the rate of return migration among those already here.
Former American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) president Deborah Notkin writes a thorough defense of temporary worker programs. Done right, they can work for workers and employers. Done wrong, they are little more than indentured servitude. That means there has to be a path to permanent residence and some level of portability once the visa is granted.
Haitians in the U.S. look to Obama to grant them Temporary Protected Status in light of the storm-lashing the country took last year. I don't know where this effort sits behind the scenes; I'm skeptical this administration will act on this issue.
And finally, as of June 1, U.S. citizens returning to the U.S. from Mexico, Canada, or the Caribbean will need to show proof of citizenship. Don't get stuck out!
[Image: Sister Mary McCauley (National Catholic Reporter)]
Joe Biden, Harvard President Support DREAM Act
Published May 21, 2009 @ 06:00AM PT
One Dreamer recently met with Vice-President Biden, who affirmed his and President Obama's support for the DREAM Act. "If it were up to me and Barack, we'd have something out by the end of year. We hope to." The president can do a lot to move legislation forward if he is so inclined. This expression of support is appreciated, but we will be watching to see whether they follow through.
And the organizing efforts of my friend Kyle de Beausset and other students at Harvard paid off recently when Harvard President Drew Faust wrote a letter to her Massachusetts congressional delegation endorsing the DREAM Act.
Here in Philadelphia, City Councilwoman Maria Quinones Sanchez recently introduced a resolution (pdf) calling on Pennsylvania's members of Congress to support the DREAM Act. The City Council approved the resolution last week. (Thanks also to the other cosponsors of the resolution.) Senator Specter, we're looking at you!
Momentum for Dream is building, mostly through the dedicated efforts of Dreamers themselves and their student allies.
Community Responses Differ in Shenendoah and Patchogue
Published May 11, 2009 @ 11:05PM PT
Patrick Young of the immigrant rights organization Long Island Wins last week reminded us that Marcelo Lucero was murdered in Patchogue, NY, six months ago. While some local politicians dug in and refused to acknowledge that the crime was partly rooted in selective law enforcement and anti-migrant demagoguery, others in the community responded admirably:
Thousands of Long Islanders participated in Stop the Hate events and religious observances in both Nassau and Suffolk counties in the weeks after the killing. Scores showed up to speak at the Suffolk Legislature to call for an investigation into the events leading up to Lucero's death. Some politicians took up the challenge of reaching out to the Latino community. Notable were Paul Pontierri, mayor of Patchogue, who admitted he had not done enough to learn of the fear immigrant residents of his village lived with and set out to change that. Vivian Villoria Fisher and Rick Montano, along with Phil Ramos, continued their efforts on behalf of the community, and new legislator DuWayne Gregory stepped forward to provide new ideas.
In the wake of the acquittal of Luis Ramirez's killers by an all-white jury in Shenendoah, PA, I wonder what factors account for the difference so far in community reaction to the two murders. At least, the reactions that have filtered through to me, a somewhat attentive observer of each story living within a three hour drive of each locale.
I wonder if in part it's the fact that Long Island has a Long Island Wins and other groups dedicated to serving the local immigrant community and promoting its interests, while I haven't seen that kind of institutional support in Shenendoah. This is as much a factor of geography as anything: Patchogue is nestled in a relatively-densely populated area half an hour from the country's largest city. Shenendoah is a town in rural Pennsylvania without the kind of nonprofit services infrastructure available to Long Islanders. I may be wrong about this, since I'm new to Pennsylvania, but the closest dedicated immigrant services organization to Shenendoah I'm aware of is Catholic Charities in Allentown. They do good work, but as far as I know they don't have an attorney on staff. This is just to say that there are huge swathes of the country where immigrants have moved to work but where they live without access to the services and support available to those in urban areas. This can have real consequences in the response from local police, the DA's office, and legislators. Institutions matter here as much as ideology. From a recent Newsday article about the Lucero case:
Prosecutors said the attack on Lucero was one of several by the seven teens against Latinos over more than a year. They face charges including hate crime and conspiracy. Jeffrey Conroy, 17, of Medford, who is accused of stabbing Lucero in the chest, is charged with second-degree murder as a hate crime, the first time someone has faced such a charge on Long Island.
. . .
Jose Loja, 50, an acquaintance of Lucero who lives next to the crime scene, said he saw some small signs of hope emerging from the tragedy.
"Thanks to his death, now we are listened to," Loja said in Spanish. "Before, we were ignored. The police believe we are telling the truth."
I'll be surprised if Conroy and the other attackers walk away with simple assault charges and no jail time.
One solution to this problem is for underserved areas to tap into national or regional networks, and for those networks to focus more on outreach to those communities. The National Immigrant Justice Center's prompt response to the Postville raid was a good example of that kind of cooperation.
(I'm basing much of this hypothesis on the fact that I get my updates on Lucero's case straight from Long Island Wins, and updates on Ramirez's case from national groups and dedicated bloggers like Dee. I'll welcome corrections, additional information, and thoughts in comments.)
