Posts with the tag Immigration

RED ALERT | something stinking is behind the MARCH (LA MARCHA) on DAY ONE

Percy H Florez — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 14:48:28 EST

Since the last weekend just am participating in the fiercest battle against those groups who are trying to organize a big Rally on day ONE against Barack Obama in the issue about immigration.

The list serve of many Hispanic groups in the Barack Obama web site is flooding profusely in message about this MARCH!
The organizer has nothing to say about it.

Suspicious:

I just am wondering why suddenly too many born American citizen are behind this March and are pushing our community to do so.
The answer for many Hispanic people in this group is prudence and organization before doing something like that. 85 percent or more of the participants in this discussion are Hispanic people talking and pressing for measure and organization, the others (few) are in favor of the MARCH and these unknowns born American citizens are vehemently pushing for the MARCH against BARACK OBAMA.

My questions are:

Why this MARCH on day ONE?
Why this fellow Americans are very interesting in this action against Obama?

Why they are pushing our community to do something like that on day ONE?

Who they are?

Why this March against a government who don’t address the immigration issue at this time and the Hispanic community don’t know exactly wish one is the real position of the new administration?

Why the RUSH of this organizer for this so called “LA MARCHA”

Who’s behind scene?

It’s something planned by the groups anti immigrants like the MINUTEMAN group?

Or it’s something planned by THE REPUBLICANS?
After all the only beneficiary of the negative consequences of this extemporary pressure against the new administration in our community could be the Republican Party and the anti immigrants groups, like the MINUTEMAN!

Percy H Florez

Migrant Worker Hunger Strike

Damien — Tue, 27 May 2008 12:02:05 EDT

Five migrant workers from India who are fighting their exploitation under the H2B "Guest Worker" program began a hunger strike last week.

About Immigration and Remembering the Fallen Laborers of the World

Liz — Mon, 26 May 2008 02:12:29 EDT

I just heard the news of a large government raid on undocumented workers from a meat packing plant in Iowa. Let's begin now to solve our immigration problem in this country--not by punishing the workers, whether they are immigrants or American citizens. Let's start holding the ones accountable who are responsible for creating this problem. All workers are brothers and sisters regardless the color of our skin or our gender or our country.

Who is responsible for our immigration problems? Don't blame it on the desperate people who are trying to survive. Blame it on the wealthy who are exploiting their labor.

It is the people in our Congress who approve trade agreements like NAFTA that enable corporate America to have slave labor in Mexico (Yes slave labor. The average price for workers wages in these foreign owned factories in Mexico is $6.50 a day. This is NOT a liveable wage even in a border town in Mexico.

Naturally, this administration who support Corporate America want to keep the borders closed to labor crossing over because that depletes the slave labor supply in the border towns of Mexico for corporate America and other multinational friends of theirs who do business over there. That is why they keep ignorant Americans all stirred up about immigration problems and pit the poor against the poor--the blacks against the whites and the Mexican workers against the American workers.

Life?

Progressive — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 04:38:46 EST

Crisostomo, who spoke through a translator, said she left Iguala Guerrero, Mexico, after she was unable to find a job that would allow her to buy enough food for her two boys and one girl, ages 9 to 14.

In July 2000 she paid a smuggler to take her across the border and spent three days lost in desert-like conditions before making it to Los Angeles, she said. A month later she arrived in Chicago, where she worked 10 hours a day, six days a week in an IFCO Systems site that made packing materials.

By last year, she earned about $360 a week, sending $300 to her children for food, clothes and school books, she said. To keep her own costs down, she lived with four other women in a two-bedroom Chicago apartment.

"My children's lives improve a lot as a result," she said. "It wasn't luxury. But it meant they could survive."

Immigration authorities raided more than 40 IFCO sites in the U.S. in 2006 and arrested Crisostomo, along with more than 1,100 other people. The Board of Immigration Appeals last year denied Crisostomo's appeal and told her to leave the United States by Monday"

While the cost of the war in Iraq is at 497,000,000,000. Search the google for cost of the war in iraq to get a current estimate, it'll be higher when yall read this. Thousands and thousands of people illigally immigrate to the United States no by choice, but for survival. Basically im sayin 490 billion dollars wouldn't be able to create jobs and other resources for people in central America??? While we fight a meaningless war, spending billions of dollars (which our generation will eventually have to pay) we could be helping these people. Idiot president Bush, whom doesn't deserve the title, well he didn't win it the first time, goes on as planned...."Mission Accomplished" I can't say Illegally immigrating is the answer or that it's right, but when you're trying to survive for not only yourself but for your family, the line between right and wrong can't be seen. I know I'd do whatever it takes for my kids to have food, a home, education, and everything else possible. People don't understand that this doesn't exist in places like Mexico. I've heard people say,"Why don't they just get a job over there, instead of taking our jobs and taking of benefits?"....Thats because there are no jobs, and if they are luck enough to find a job the wages are not enough to survive off of. I don't see how people can just look at illegals and just judge them, without knowing what they've been through and why are they really here. They get here and the realize the American Dream is unachievable, many many people born here will never get close themselves to achieving the American dream. They see the hypocracy, and everything else "America" stands against, but its here.

Hypocracy, streets not made of gold, everyone doesn't own a car, crime. Our forefathers would be proud of what this nation has become. I could see the looks on their faces, the disgust in their eyes, as they survey this "Land of the Free". I hope immigration is happy, I hope she found a job, I hope shes back in the US, I hope her kids aren't dead because there's no money anymore, I hope that one day we can all live together, but truly together....

New guestworker regulations will drive wages down

Damien — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 12:37:20 EST

From the Coalition of Immokalee Workers:

The Bush administration's Department of Labor announced plans to gut regulations governing the nation's agricultural guestworker program today. The proposed changes threaten to significantly cut farmworker wages, lower the bar on farmworker housing, and diminish government oversight of what is already a troubled program.

Interesting Article on GOP/Immigration in Rolling Stone

D. Tree — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 17:52:11 EST

One of the reasons I subscribe to Rolling Stone is the no-holds-barred political journalism, so I thought I'd share this interesting and brief article from the current issue with PartyBuilder folks:

Blame Pedro, by Tim Dickinson (Rolling Stone, Jan. 24, 2008)

Today - with the nation bogged down in a disastrous war, oil prices at $100 a barrel, climate change cooking the planet and the economy veering into recession -- the geniuses vying to lead the Republican Party have decided what's really wrong with America: Mexicans

Now, I'm not advocating pandering of any kind, and I realize fully there are people in my own party who disagree on this issue (people who I maintain respect for despite their views). All I can say is I'm glad the Republicans have claimed this issue as their own - read the article and see how top GOP strategists are mortified by the "race to the bottom" among the leading GOP candidates.

Hispanics 08 - A Grim Year for Illegal Immigrants

Fernandico — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 09:43:05 EST

The 12 million undocumented aliens who live in the US still are lamenting that Congress aborted the debate of immigration reform; they closed the door for legalization and restricted temporary work visas for foreigners. On the other hand, the federal government hardens its immigration policy, favoring raids, recommending the construction of wall between the north and the south, and becoming a silent spectator of the discussions states have on anti immigrant laws.

Its sad to see that elected officials do not resolve such an important issue for the nation. I know that we must wait until the Democrats take control of the White House for this to happen. Lets hope for the best

Senator Biden on Immigration

D. in Nebraska — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 09:43:56 EST

Senator Biden discussed the immigration issue with a group called A Mid-Iowa Organizing Strategy, a non-partisan group. He discussed many subjects and The Des Moines Register's Abby Simons wrote about his remarks on immigration.

“They’re being irresponsible,” remarked Biden. “This is the second-wealthiest nation in the northern hemisphere. We’re not talking about Sierra Leone…This is a dysfunctional society.”

For the full article, click the link.
Link

Immigrant Takes Cousin's ID, Becomes Cop

Percy H Florez — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 14:25:11 EST

By CARRIE ANTLFINGER
Associated Press Writer

MILWAUKEE (AP) -- Oscar Ayala-Cornejo followed the path that leads many red-blooded Americans to law enforcement.

His family lived next to a crack house in Milwaukee, where he says he often heard gunshots and came home to find thieves had stolen the things that his father had worked hard to provide for his mother, older brother and sister.

Read this Link

Percy H Florez

We Are All Immigrants

Percy H Florez — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 19:50:27 EST

Nicholas F. Benton: We Are All Immigrants

Written by Nicholas F. Benton
Thursday, 22 November 2007
nfbenton@fcnp.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Equality and empathy among persons is, I can safety say, probably more at the core of my being than anything else, as no doubt it is for many others, as well. No matter how twisted some of my views may have been at certain points in my life, this one has never been negotiable.

Clearly, the current anti-immigration frenzy is not only a calculated diversion from Iraq, Iran, the energy crisis, the sinking dollar and a myriad of other pressing issues, but its instigators are exploiting nascent racist tendencies to sharpen its angry edge. The lip service might be about illegal immigration, but the sanctioning of “profiling” techniques in Prince William County and elsewhere is evidence of a more insidious underlying reality.

We are all immigrants. I grew up in the company of Hispanics and Jewish folk. My best friend in the fifth grade was the son of a Holocaust survivor, although I didn't appreciate the significance of that until years later. His mom (his father died in a concentration camp) was a large Jewish woman who was delighted that I came over after school and told stories to my friend's younger brother. I also had a friend in the Boy Scouts about that time. His name was Marty. I was the only one in the troop that he took aside to reveal his big secret, that he was Jewish. This was the 1950s, when McCarthyism was in flower. I was saddened that he felt he had to keep this secret. I guess I felt honored that he shared it with me, but it made me sad, though naturally, we remained good friends.

In those days, keeping such secrets was the honorable thing to do. It applied to the Hispanics who were prevalent in my Southern California community, too. If someone was in the U.S. illegally, the idea was to help the cover up. That's because there were many among my Hispanic friends whose families went back generations before mine did on what is now U.S. soil. They had cousins and uncles who would show up from south of the border, and no one ever thought of blowing a whistle on them, or ratting them out to the authorities. We were all struggling to get by, after all. I always liked my Hispanic friends particularly because while they had a little of the macho thing going, right beneath that they were completely loyal and would give you the shirt off their back with no questions asked.

After all, I am the grandson of immigrants, myself. Of the ones I knew best, mine came from Norway, by way of the recruitment of Scandinavians to the U.S. for the construction of the Great Northern Railroad that connected Chicago and Minneapolis to Seattle. This was after the historic Transcontinental Railroad that was built with immigrant Chinese labor, but not by long. The railroad barons looked to Scandinavia because those folks knew how to function in really cold weather. There was a massive campaign to populate Minnesota and the Dakotas, in particular. My relatives came to Valley City, North Dakota, in the 1870s. A group of four brothers and sisters came over from the "old country" over a six year period. The oldest, Olaf, was the head of the transplanted family in the U.S. The youngest sister was my great-grandmother.

Her daughter, my fondly remembered grandmother, was the same age, almost exactly, as the young daughter of Norwegian immigrants, Kathryn Forbes, who won a Pulitzer Prize for her novel, "Mama's Bank Account," that became "I Remember Mama" on Broadway, in a 1947 movie and in a TV series in the 1950s and 1960s. That book was about growing up in a Norwegian immigrant family living on the edge of poverty in San Francisco in the early 1900s, exactly when and where my grandmother was, also, as a young girl. This background, I feel, translated into her daughter’s, my mother’s, compassion. To her, people were people, and you respected and cared for them all, regardless. Like the mother in "I Remember Mama," too, my mother always made her children feel loved and secure, even as the family faced a lot of financial hardship that we never learned about until much later.

That's why when the time came, I had no hesitation identifying myself with the civil rights struggles sparked by Martin Luther King and others. I never had to think twice about civil rights issues, not for a moment.

I don't presume that my background on these matters is different than for many others, and that's the point. We are all either immigrants or born into families of immigrants sharing one small, lonely planet. Apparently there are still a lot of people who need to be reminded of that

=====0=====
Poisted on
Falls Church News Press
Nicholas F. Benton
Pag 11 on November 22 - 28, 2007

The original article: Link

Percy H Florez

Just to rimender something!

Percy H Florez — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 19:43:52 EST

Immigration & Racism (Falls Church News-Press Editorial)

Posted on 11/18/2007 7:35:36 AM PST by angkor

It was the perceptive Aldous Huxley who wrote that the greatest discovery in life is to learn that you’ve always been exactly where you are supposed to be.

Behold, in Northern Virginia, across the Potomac River from the nation’s capital, I am supposed to be in Falls Church, where I launched my weekly newspaper almost 17 years ago, and I am not supposed to be in nearby Herndon or Prince William County.

That’s been confirmed for me by the radically different approaches the aforementioned jurisdictions, all relatively close by, have taken on the matter of immigration. To me, such an issue, insofar as it involves dispositions and relationships between persons on the most fundamentally human level, is decisive for life itself.

Herndon and Prince William have enacted mean-spirited laws that subject the entire immigrant populations of those places, legal and otherwise, to intimidation and discrimination. In doing this, they’re following suit with similar nasty initiatives underway all over the country, incited by right wing Republicans mostly, and blowhard sycophants like CNN commentator Lou Dobbs.

Prince William leaders have defied existing laws to mandate their police subject anyone suspected of committing a crime, no matter how trivial, to an investigation of their legal standing in the country. That is a call for the most brazen, discriminatory form of racial and ethnic "profiling" excess, targeting an entire ethnic class. Based on outward physical characteristics, the police in the county are required to check the immigration status of anyone stopped for speeding, or suspected of shoplifting.

Read this Link

===========================

If you are one of the inquisitor of these people, I hope you have the courage to sit in front of your family and said thank for what you did.

===========================

Percy H Florez

Illegal immigration..! Are they documented or not?

Percy H Florez — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 19:16:59 EST

I am very pleased now we’re talking more openly about immigration. Now we can see more often post about it.

It is unfortunately the Status Quo in Washington DC is doing nothing listen his / her constituents. This is something soon rather than later have to be fixed on the system, for worst or for good.

Having million of people in the shadow isn’t good for the best interest of the society and for security reason.

In countries with less population and less territory than USA they resolved this issue quietly and with out any prejudice, but in this country of immigrants is absolute the contrary.

I post too many times, and ask to myself why a simple matter is unresolved, and the only conclusion I can get is because too many interest are between the reality and the feasibility.

Here an example of how recently two countries are dealing with the problem:

American Lawbreaking & Immigration

FreedomOfSpeech — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 08:26:21 EST

SNIP FROM : jurisprudence: The law, lawyers, and the court.

American law is underenforced—and we like it that way. Full enforcement of every last law on the books would put all of us in prison for crimes such as "injuring a mail bag." No enforcement of our laws, on the other hand, would mean anarchy. Somehow, officials must choose what laws really matter.

This series explores the black spots in American law: areas in which our laws are routinely and regularly broken and where the law enforcement response is … nothing. These are the areas where, for one reason or another, we've decided to tolerate lawbreaking and let a law—duly enacted and still on the books—lay fallow or near dead.

Why are there dead zones in U.S. law? The answer goes beyond the simple expense of enforcement but betrays a deeper, underlying logic. Tolerated lawbreaking is almost always a response to a political failure—the inability of our political institutions to adapt to social change or reach a rational compromise that reflects the interests of the nation and all concerned parties. That's why the American statutes are full of laws that no one wants to see fully enforced—or even enforced at all.

(MORE IN EXTENDED)

Pick A Position And Stick With It !

FreedomOfSpeech — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 21:52:01 EST

This is why I support Barack Obama.

Among many other things I appreciate about him, I love that he can take a position on something and stick with it despite what the polls say. Despite what the opposition says. Despite the spin on the issue in question. Barack Obama, or as I now might refer to Him as Barack O' BALLS, as he is demonstrating more and more that he actually has some, stands by his position. When automakers sat there steaming and stewing as he told them that they need to raise their standards, he did not flip/flop on his position.

And now, when all the little cowards are running around scared because of the backlash over Hillary's flip flopping on her position regarding Immigration, Barack Obama stands firm. I am so sick and tired of these little wussycraticans who are too scared to speak their mind and stand by something. Keep in mind, when Obama opposed the war in Iraq, while running for the Senate there were people out there saying that he killed his chances to win because at the time, the majority consensus was " U.S.A. F*ck Yeah! ". Did he say,

"Oh, no ! I better recant my Anti-War speech so I can win my campaign! Oh, mercy me! Call the Media! Alert the Press! "

No. He did not. Barack Obama stands his ground and takes his licks instead of do what has become the custom for some which is cave and then whine about it later. Now, I understand what he was talking about when he said that very same thing regarding opposition to the Iraq War. The man has courage and conviction and because of that, it's easy for him to take a position and stick by it because he really believes in the position he's taking. Others who just take a position because they think it's popular or poll tested , are the types of people who can up and change their position in a heartbeat . You know, flip flop.

I really hope people are paying attention. I really do.

Got FLIP FLOPS ?

FreedomOfSpeech — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 19:58:48 EST

Hillary-ous Daily Kos Diary

Hispanics 08 - Paying the Price: The Impact of Immigration Raids on Americas Children

Fernandico — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 10:08:43 EST

The Urban Institute (October, 2007) conducted an investigation studying the impact of large scale immigration raids on children born in the US from undocumented aliens who were deported.

A SOLUTION FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

Liz — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 21:21:10 EDT

There is a lot of misinformation floating around regarding the impact of Illegal Immigrants in the USA. Based on my research, I have found that overall the presence of illegal immigrants cancels out negative effect on our people and our economy.

So my stance on this as a Democrat is this:

1. Open our arms and welcome these people, make them all citizens so they can start paying taxes with the rest of us.

2. Then with all the money that we save from not having to pay Boeing to build a $2 billion dollar fence, we can use to assist those Americans already here whose ability to earn a living is adversely affected by this influx. [and there are a few such Americans. More than one study tends to indicate that they are poor, black and high school drop outs] So maybe we take some of this $2 billion and use it to give them a hand up.

We all have to grow up a little bit (especially right wingers)

spencer — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 22:59:36 EDT

As the title says we all have to grow up a little bit on some issues. For one right winged republicans health care. Where do the republicans get off saying if your poor you deserve to live less than if your rich? Who wrote that position? Health care must be reformed.
the only reason the republicans don't believe in evolution is because they have not yet experienced it. Unless you don't believe in gravity you have to believe in evolution. Same goes for global warming.
Immigration is a civil rights issue. moderate democrats and most republicans need to get that through their heads and support a path to citizenship. I live in southern California we deal with immigration more than any other state. Trust me on this I know what I'm talking about.
The war is not a war, its a mass murder. 4,000 Americans, 1,000,000 Iraqi's. there is .004% american deaths opposed to Iraqi deaths. and also you cant pull all our troops out right away, as tempting as it is, then genocide's going to happen. we have to have a time table and if were lucky we could have everyone out by 2010.
gun control prevents death. 97% of murders are with a gun and 30,000 died in 2006. Maybe if a murder didn't have a weapon that could kill a man faster than any other weapon, he wouldn't do it . Hmm I wonder if there's some kind of connection there.
abortion shouldn't be out lawed, and if you do there has to be exceptions. and a parental consent law (Prop 85 here in CA) is just plain stupid.
Gay marriage is not a stop on the way to inter species marriage. No one wants to marry their dog.
And finally Conservatives have to stop pretending liberals are bad. To follow this philosophy you have to pretend Gandhi, Lincoln, Both Kennedy's, Mandella, and Clinton were all bad. guess what, with all except Lincoln they do. You must accept Gandhi's greatness before I can take you seriously. Lets see who they have, Hitler, Stalin, Napoleon, Sudam,Mussolini, and Mussolini. granted they were all extremist but still you have to admit that resumes pretty bad. Our founding fathers were liberals. And the same goes for us and moderate republicans Chafee was one of the top 5 most vocal anti bush critics and we Ignore that,but they did it firs.

Lawsuit: ICE drugging detainees set for deportation

Percy H Florez — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 15:55:42 EDT

How far this hitlerianas administration plans to go!

1.- Torture
2.- Incarcerations (Without trials)
3.- No Vienna Convention for prisoner
4.- Irrational and profiling Persecutions
5.- Now ILLEGAL ADMINISTRATION OF DRUG TO PRISONERS!

========0===========

From Thelma Gutierrez
CNN

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Former detainees of Immigration and Customs Enforcement accuse the agency in a lawsuit of forcibly injecting them with psychotropic drugs while trying to shuttle them out of the country during their deportation.

read this Link

Percy H Florez

email from my republican friend

annie b (mcliberal) — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 09:37:04 EDT

i know she is one, although we try not to talk politics because she knows what side i am on. she sends me all the nasty hillary clinton jokes, and i only respond with a polite laugh; i choose not to make an issue of it. this subject was broached yesterday on "the view." is it possible to be friends with someone who has diametrically opposing political views? i think yes, but this email from my friend was profoundly disturbing.