Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Immigrant Rights News - Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Immigrant Rights News – Tuesday, December 23, 2008

 

1. Listen to media conference: “Lipan Apache to President-elect Obama: Stop the border wall construction. Restoring U.S. Justice Begins with Respecting the Indigenous Peoples' Rights and Principles

Visit: http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

 

To read a copy of letter that Lipan Apache Women Defense sent to President-elect Obama with signatures, letter of support that was discussed on today’s telephone conference, visit:

http://lipanapachecommunitydefense.blogspot.com/

 

2. Tampa Bay On-line: Sweep Results In Arrests of 110 On Immigration Charges

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/dec/23/sweep-results-arrests-110-immigration-charges/

 

3. Alter Net: Immigrant Rights Activists Battle Harsh Laws Across U.S.

http://www.alternet.org/immigration/114785/immigrant_rights_activists_battle_harsh_laws_across_u.s./

 

4. NY Daily News: International Migrants Day calls for change

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/brooklyn/2008/12/20/2008-12-20_international_migrants_day_calls_for_cha.html

 

5. The Austin Statesman: Homeland Security touts record on border, immigration

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/immigration/entries/2008/12/18/homeland_security_touts_record.html

 

 

<><><> the end / el fin / tamat <><><>

Saturday, December 20, 2008

FW: ACTION ALERT: Calls Needed today to STOP Liberian Deportations from US

_______________________________________________
Priority-Africa-Network-Bay-Area mailing list
Priority-Africa-Network-Bay-Area@pan.kabissa.org
http://lists.kabissa.org/mailman/listinfo/priority-africa-network-bay-area
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REQUEST FOR SUPPORT AND SOLIDARITY—For your consideration. Thanks, Arnoldo

 


From: Nunu Kidane [mailto:nunukidane@att.net]
Sent: Friday, December 19, 2008 10:35 AM
To: BAJI_Steering_Committee@yahoogroups.com; 'Arnoldo Garcia'
Subject: FW: ACTION ALERT: Calls Needed today to STOP Liberian Deportations from US

 

 

 

From: alona3649@hotmail.com [mailto:alona3649@hotmail.com]
Sent: Friday, December 19, 2008 10:00 AM
Subject: ACTION ALERT: Calls Needed today to STOP Liberian Deportations from US

 

please add your voice - alona


Date: Fri, 19 Dec 2008 09:50:18 -0800
From: priorityafrica@yahoo.com
To: priority-africa-network-bay-area@lists.kabissa.org
CC:
Subject: [PAN-Bay-Area] ACTION ALERT: Calls Needed today to STOP Liberian Deportations from US

Priority Africa Network (PAN)

ACTION ALERT: 121908

Contact: PriorityAfrica@yahoo.com

 

Dear PAN friends and allies

 

A good friend and fellow activist Oni Richards is a Liberian woman who sends this message requesting your support. We need you to make a call to the capital switchboard (numbers given below) and urge your representative not to deport Liberians living in the US when their temporary visas expire in March 2009.

 

Below is also background information on the situation in Liberia and brief history on the extended visa for Liberians living in the U.S

 

Nunu Kidane, PAN

 

 

Friends:

Please, please support this effort related to Liberians living in the U.S.

This directly affects me, members of my family and friends and your support on this would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thousands of Liberians living in the U.S. will be up for deportation in march 2009 if this doesn't go through. Families will be torn apart (because if for example, someone had a child here, the child would be put into human services, and the parents sent back to Liberia) and people will be sent to a nation that is trying to rebuild after a civil war.

 

Congressman Kennedy (MA) and Ellison (MN) have circulated letters to Members of Congress asking for their signatures and these letters will be sent to President Bush and President Elect Obama asking them to support continued protection for Liberians in the U.S. So far, 60 Reps have signed, and we need more to do the same. TODAY IS THE LAST DAY TO CALL, so please call the Capitol Switchboard (202-224-3121) and ask for your Representative.

 

Once you get your Reps office, ask to speak to their FOREIGN AFFAIRS STAFFER as they are handling this and tell him/her that you want your Congress member to support the letter calling upon President Bush and President-Elect Obama to extend Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) to Liberians. If your Congress Member has already signed, please thank them.

 

Call Congress Today to Urge Continued Protection for Liberians in the United States

 

How To Call Congress  

Call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask to be connected to your Representative's office.

 

Calls are usually taken by a staff member. Ask to speak with the person who handles immigration issues.

 

Identify yourself and tell the person you would like to leave a brief message, such as: "I support the immediate extension of Deferred Enforced Departure for Liberians. I urge Representative (Name) to sign the letter to President Bush and President-Elect Obama urging the extension of DED."

 

--------------

Note: the following Reps in CA have already signed:

Maxine Waters, Dianne Watson, Lynn Woolsey, Sam Farr, Barbara Lee, Gary  Miller, Grace Napolitano

--------------

 

Give reasons for your support of the issue. Ask for your representative's position on the letter. You may also request a written response to your telephone call if you wish.

      

Congressman Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) and Congressman Keith Ellison (D-MN) have circulated letters to Members of the House of Representatives calling upon President Bush and President-Elect Obama to extend Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) to Liberians. The current DED period ends March 31, 2009.

 

Please call your Representative today to urge them to add their signature to the letters to President Bush and President-Elect Obama. If they have signed the letters, call to thank them for their support. The letters are circulating right now, so your calls are needed immediately!

 

Learn more about the Liberian immigration issue at Energy of a Nation.org <http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001bnTRF4Fy5drQu75yaPORELNxncVqrQ_6ViABK444c9mOQqOy

JTDGZHCIlUh6zE-vqm70foijxDlsS3CJyLdylJUXxHcM8iT8yNkJ5YkURd8iokP7e5s_YWJZQN8t

GjeAL77icCUOwTI4f754sk1nMMRwcPvKeH0EzsI4OWRouQM=>

 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

BACKGROUND

Why Liberian DED Should Be Extended:

 

Liberians living in the United States left one of the bloodiest conflicts in recent history. Horrific human rights abuses, including mass executions, torture, dismemberment, rape, looting, banditry, and the widespread use of child combatants, traumatized the Liberian population and left the country's infrastructure in ruin.

 

Since the end of the conflict, Liberia has achieved a fragile stability. However, more than 85 percent of its remaining population is unemployed. Nearly the entire country lives in Monrovia, the capital, which has virtually no infrastructure-power, clean water, habitable buildings. The average life expectancy is under 42 years.

 

The Department of Homeland Security estimates that over 3,600 individuals currently are registered for DED. Liberians residing in the U.S. have been a source of assistance to Liberia, sending money that helps stimulate Liberia's weak economy. This source of support would be severely diminished if Liberians are forced to leave the U.S.

 

Liberians who sought protection in the U.S. painstakingly rebuilt their lives. They raised families here, including both U.S.-born and Liberian-born children. Forcing their return will tear families apart. Liberians contribute to our local and state economies. In metro areas with large Liberian communities, the deportation of Liberians will harm sectors of the economy, such as long-term healthcare, that employ large numbers of Liberians. In towns that are home to Liberians, entire neighborhoods will be affected by people leaving their homes and businesses behind.

 

When civil war erupted in Liberia in 1989, forcing hundreds of thousands of Liberians to flee, many looked to the United States for peace and safety.

The United States has extended protection to Liberians since 1990. That protection is scheduled to expire on March 31, 2009.

 

---------------------

Priority Africa Network

Mailing Address: P O Box 2528

Berkeley CA 94702

Office: AFSC Office/PAN

1730 Franklin St. Ste 212

Oakland CA 94612

Tel: (510) 238 8080 ext. 309

Fax: (510) 238 8088

PriorityAfrica@yahoo.com

www.priorityafrica.org

 

 


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TONIGHT At La Peña Immigration Series Presents: "The Throwdown" Sat December 20, 8:00 p.m. in Berkeley

Tonight!

La Peña Immigration Series Presents:

 

THE THROWDOWN

headRush

Saturday December 20, 2008

$5  – 8pm

[Close to the Ashby BART Station]

 

Since their inception, headRush has been campaigning for the People for President. Now with the election of Barack Obama, we are a little closer to that goal.

 

Join us for a night of celebration and forward movement as headRush presents the Throwdown (the piece was  just toured throughout the Southwest) for the final time.

 

If you’ve never seen the Throwdown, this is your chance to play the role of the people and stand up against the madness. If you have seen the Throwdown, please come see the final version and participate as we film the piece and interview folks for a curriculum on people power for social change.

 

For more on headRush, visit: http://headrushcrew.com/

 

*

 

FOR MORE INFO:

 

La Peña Cultural Center

3105 Shattuck Avenue

Berkeley, CA 94705 USA

510-849-2568

info@lapena.org

http://www.lapena.org/

 

________________________________

Arnoldo Garcia

National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights

Red Nacional Pro Derechos Inmigrantes y Refugiados

310 8th Street Suite 303

Oakland, CA 94607

Tel (510) 465-1984 ext. 305

Fax (510) 465-1885

www.migrantdiaries.blogspot.com

www.nnirr.blogspot.com

www.nnirr.org

 

Join HURRICANE: the human rights immigrant community action network -- help build community power for justice & human rights!

Unete al HURACAN: la red de accion de comunidades inmigrantes para los derechos humanos -- construyendo el poder de las comunidades por la justicia y los derechos humanos!

Click here for Hurricane/Haga click para info sobre el Huracan:

http://www.nnirr.org/resources/docs/NNIRRHurricaneInitiative2.pdf

 

Get a copy of Over-Raided, Under Siege, NNIRR’s new human rights report!

http://www.nnirr.org/resources/docs/OrderFormforOver-RaidedReport.pdf

Thursday, December 18, 2008

On International Migrants Day: U.S. Immigrant Rights Groups Call for End To Immigration Raids, Urge Humanitarian Policies

VERSION EN ESPANOL SIGUE/In English and Spanish (Spanish follows)

Apologies for duplicates/Disculpenme si reciben este comuinicado mas de una vez!

 

News Release

December 18, 2008

 

Contact:

* Laura Rivas (510) 465-1984 ext. 304 lrivas@nnirr.org

* Colin Rajah (510) 465-1984 ext. 305 crajah@nnirr.org

 

On International Migrants Day:

U.S. Immigrant Rights Groups Call for End to Immigration Raids,

Urge Humanitarian Policies

 

(Oakland,CA) Immigrant rights groups urged today, International Migrants Day (December 18), that the U.S. government should adopt humanitarian policies and practices in the treatment of immigrants. The National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (NNIRR) asserted that although well-publicized raids at work-sites have dominated immigration news this past year, a majority of persons have been deported through other means - and at the expense of their rights and physical well-being.

 

Following another year of monitoring enforcement operations and gathering information from immigrant workers and communities, NNIRR has concluded that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) routinely violates and ignores the due process rights of persons they question for immigration status.

 

Information from 100 reports and 115 reviews of raids showed that DHS has continued to use overwhelming force, including physical and mental abuse, in coercing immigrants to sign away their rights for almost instant deportation or detention.

 

"We need an end to these immigration raids," declared Arnoldo Garcia, director of NNIRR's Immigrant Justice and Rights program. "It will be up to the new Administration and Congress to ensure that humanitarian polices and practices are put into place. Until that can be done, detentions and deportations should also be suspended to bring some relief to immigrant families and communities from this shameful human rights crisis."

 

DHS' Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deported almost 350,000 persons from the United States in fiscal year 2008; over two-thirds had no prior criminal record or convictions. Persons deported through worksite raids accounted for less than 2 percent of all ICE deportations, and from fugitive operations, 10 percent.

 

Meanwhile persons identified for deportation in local, county, and federal detention made up 63 percent or all deportations.

 

In one deportation case, Marvin Ventura, a Honduran immigrant detained at Steward Federal Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia was deported after ICE physically forced him to sign a form waiving his right to a hearing before an immigration judge and any opportunity to adjust status. An active member of his local church, Ventura is now separated from his wife and community in Little Robbins, Georgia.

 

Another immigrant who had lived and worked in the U.S. for 20 years, Rodrigo Caltenco, was arrested in Walden, NY, processed and transferred to a detention facility in Texas. There he was verbally threatened and intimidated into signing a form he did not understand. Two days later he was deported, leaving behind his wife, children, and grandchildren.

 

"Each person deported represents families that are torn apart, communities that are traumatized and economies that are disrupted," continued Garcia. "These patterns have seriously deepened under the Bush Administration and since 9/11, and we see grave repercussions in the current period."

 

Many of the immigration enforcement operations included the collaboration of local, county and state police and other public agencies.

 

A full report of the 2008 human rights monitoring effort will be published early next year. Last year's NNIRR report, "Over-Raided, Under Siege", found that DHS was subjecting immigrant and refugee communities to a form of "collective punishment," resulting in widespread violations of constitutional and human rights.

 

International Migrants Day was recognized by the United Nations in 2000 to commemorate the passage of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (commonly referred to as the Migrant Workers' Convention) on December 18, 1990.

 

Community groups around the country are marking the event with press conferences, candle-light vigils, cultural events and film-screenings in cities such as Laurel, MS; Tucson, AZ; San Francisco, CA; Chicago, IL; New York, NY; and Seattle, WA.

 

To view a partial list of events as well as details and contact information for each, go to:

 

www.nnirr.org/resources/docs/Dec18ListofEvents2008.pdf

 

 

VERSION EN ESPANOL

 

Comunicado de Noticias

18 de Diciembre, 2008

 

Contacte:

* Laura Rivas (510) 465-1984 ext. 304 lrivas@nnirr.org

* Colin Rajah (510) 465-1984 ext. 305 crajah@nnirr.org

 

En el Día del Migrante Internacional:

Grupos pro derechos migrantes en EEUU llaman por el cese de redadas migratorias,

Urgen políticas humanitarias

 

(Oakland,CA) Grupos de derechos inmigrantes urgieron hoy, en el Día del Migrante Internacional (18 de Diciembre), que el gobierno de los Estados Unidos debiera adoptar políticas y prácticas humanitarias en el tratamiento de las y los inmigrantes. La Red Nacional Pro Derechos Inmigrantes y Refugiados (NNIRR, National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights) afirmó que aunque las redadas en los lugares del trabajo son bien conocidas y dominaron las noticias sobre migración, la mayoría de personas han sido deportadas por otras medidas – y al costo de sus derechos e integridad física.

 

Después de otro año de vigilar los operativos de control migratorio y recaudando información de trabajadores y comunidades inmigrantes, NNIRR ha concluido que el Departamento de Seguridad Nacional (DHS, Department of Homeland Security) rutinamente viola e ignora los derechos constitucionales de las personas que detienen para cuestionar sobre su condición migratoria.

 

Información extraida de 100 reportes y el repaso de 115 redadas muestran que el DHS continúa usando preponderantemente la fuerza, incluyendo el abuso físico y mental, y coercionando a inmigrantes  a firmar y ceder sus derechos para deportarlos casi inmediatamente o encarcelarlos.

 

“Las redadas de DHS tienen que cesar,” declaró Arnoldo Garcia, director del programa de Justicia y Derechos Inmigrantes de NNIRR. “Le tocará a la Administración nueva y al Congreso asegurar que se implementen políticas y practices humanitarias. Hasta que estas sean implementadas, las detenciones y las deportaciones deben ser suspendidas para proveer un poco de alivio a las familias y comunidades inmigrantes de esta vergonzoza crisis en derechos humanos.”

 

El Buró de Control de Inmigración y Aduanas de DHS (ICE, Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement) deportó a casi 350,000 personas de los Estados Unidos durante el año oficial de 2008; más de dos-terceras partes de los deportados no tenían ningún previo historial o de convicciones criminales. Las personas deportadas a través de redadas en los lugares de trabajo representaron menos de 2 % (dos por ciento) de todas las deportaciones de ICE,  y de operativos contra fugitivos, 10% (diez por ciento).

 

Mientras las personas identificadas para ser deportadas en cárceles locales, municipales, estatales y federales representaron hasta el 63% (sesenta y tres por ciento) de todas las deportaciones.

 

En un caso de deportación, Marvin Ventura, un inmigrante hondureño que fue detenido en el Centro de Detención Federal de Steward en Lumpkin, Georgia fue deportado después de que ICE lo forzó físicamente a firmar un documento donde cedió su derecho a tener una audiencia con un juez de inmigración y cualquier oportunidad  de ajustar su condición migratoria. Miembro activo de su iglesia local, Ventura  ahora está separado de su esposa y su comunidad en Little Robbins, Georgia.

 

Otro inmigrante que vivió y trabajó en los EEUU por 20 años, Rodrigo Caltenco, fue arrestado en Walden, NY, procesado y transferido a centro de detención en Texas. Allí agentes de ICE lo amenazaron verbalmente y lo intimidaron hasta que firmó un formulario que no entendía. Dos días después fue deportado, dejando atras a su esposa, hijos y nietos.

 

“Cada persona deportada representa familias que son destrozadas, comunidades traumatizadas y economías que son trastornadas”, continuo García. “Estos patrones se han profundizado bajo la Administración de Bush y desde 9/11, y vemos sus graves repercusiones en el periodo actual.”

 

Muchas de las operaciones de control migratorio incluyeron la colaboración con entidades policíacas y otras agencies públicas locales, municipales, y estatales.

 

Un informe completo de los resultados del esfuerzo de vigilar y documentar los derechos humanos en 2008 serán publicados a principios del año nuevo. El informe de NNIRR del año pasado, “Redadas desmedidas, Comunidades asediadas, (“Over-Raided, Under Siege”) reveló que el DHS está sometiendo a comunidades de inmigrantes y refugiados a una forma de “castigo colectivo”, resultando en violaciones amplias de los derechos constitucionales y humanos.

 

El Día del Migrante Internacional fue reconocido por las Naciones Unidas en el año 2000 para conmemorar la aprobación de la Convención Internacional sobre la Protección de los Derechos de Todos los Trabajadores Migratorios y Miembros de Sus Familias (conocida comunmente como la Convención sobre Trabajadores Migratorios) el 18 de Diciembre, 1990.

 

Grupos comunitarios alrededor del país están celebrando este evento con conferencias de prensa, vigilias nocturnas, eventos culturales y la proyección de documentales en ciudades como Laurel, MS; Tucson, AZ; San Francisco, CA; Chicago, IL; New York, NY; y Seattle, WA.

 

Para ver una lista parcial de estos eventos asi como también los detalles e información de contacto para cada uno, vaya a:

 

www.nnirr.org/resources/docs/Dec18ListofEvents2008.pdf

 

#

 

Red Nacional Pro Derechos Inmigrantes y Refugiados * National Network for Immigrant & Refugee Rights

310 8th Street, Suite 303 * Oakland, CA 94607

Tel (510) 465-1984 | Fax (510) 465-1885 | www.nnirr.org

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

On IMD: Immigrant Rights Groups Call for End To Immigration Raids, Urge Humanitarian Policies

VERSION EN ESPANOL SIGUE/In English and Spanish (Spanish follows)

News Release
December 18, 2008

Contact:
* Laura Rivas (510) 465-1984 ext. 304 lrivas@nnirr.org
* Colin Rajah (510) 465-1984 ext. 305 crajah@nnirr.org

On International Migrants Day:
U.S. Immigrant Rights Groups Call for End To Immigration Raids,
Urge Humanitarian Policies

(Oakland,CA) Immigrant rights groups urged today, International Migrants Day (December 18), that the U.S. government should adopt humanitarian policies and practices in the treatment of immigrants. The National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (NNIRR) asserted that although well-publicized raids at work-sites have dominated immigration news this past year, a majority of persons have been deported through other means - and at the expense of their rights and physical well-being.

Following another year of monitoring enforcement operations and gathering information from immigrant workers and communities, NNIRR has concluded that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) routinely violates and ignores the due process rights of persons they question for immigration status.

Information from 100 reports and 115 reviews of raids showed that DHS has continued to use overwhelming force, including physical and mental abuse, in coercing immigrants to sign away their rights for almost instant deportation or detention.

"We need an end to these immigration raids," declared Arnoldo Garcia, director of NNIRR's Immigrant Justice and Rights program. "It will be up to the new Administration and Congress to ensure that humanitarian polices and practices are put into place. Until that can be done, detentions and deportations should also be suspended to bring some relief to immigrant families and communities from this shameful human rights crisis."

DHS' Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deported almost 350,000 persons from the United States in fiscal year 2008; over two-thirds had no prior criminal record or convictions. Persons deported through worksite raids accounted for less than 2 percent of all ICE deportations, and from fugitive operations, 10 percent.

Meanwhile persons identified for deportation in local, county, and federal detention made up 63 percent or all deportations.

In one deportation case, Marvin Ventura, a Honduran immigrant detained at Steward Federal Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia was deported after ICE physically forced him to sign a form waiving his right to a hearing before an immigration judge and any opportunity to adjust status. An active member of his local church, Ventura is now separated from his wife and community in Little Robbins, Georgia.

Another immigrant who had lived and worked in the U.S. for 20 years, Rodrigo Caltenco, was arrested in Walden, NY, processed and transferred to a detention facility in Texas. There he was verbally threatened and intimidated into signing a form he did not understand. Two days later he was deported, leaving behind his wife, children, and grandchildren.

"Each person deported represents families that are torn apart, communities that are traumatized and economies that are disrupted," continued Garcia. "These patterns have seriously deepened under the Bush Administration and since 9/11, and we see grave repercussions in the current period."

Many of the immigration enforcement operations included the collaboration of local, county and state police and other public agencies.

A full report of the 2008 human rights monitoring effort will be published early next year. Last year's NNIRR report, "Over-Raided, Under Siege", found that DHS was subjecting immigrant and refugee communities to a form of "collective punishment," resulting in widespread violations of constitutional and human rights.

International Migrants Day was recognized by the United Nations in 2000 to commemorate the passage of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (commonly referred to as the Migrant Workers' Convention) on December 18, 1990.

Community groups around the country are marking the event with press conferences, candle-light vigils, cultural events and film-screenings in cities such as Laurel, MS; Tucson, AZ; San Francisco, CA; Chicago, IL; New York, NY; and Seattle, WA.

To view a partial list of events as well as details and contact information for each, go to:

www.nnirr.org/resources/docs/Dec18ListofEvents2008.pdf

VERSION EN ESPANOL

Comunicado de Noticias
18 de Diciembre, 2008

Contacte:
* Laura Rivas (510) 465-1984 ext. 304 lrivas@nnirr.org
* Colin Rajah (510) 465-1984 ext. 305 crajah@nnirr.org

En el Día del Migrante Internacional:
Grupos pro derechos migrantes en EEUU llaman por el cese de redadas migratorias,
Urgen políticas humanitarianas

(Oakland,CA) Grupos de derechos inmigrantes urgieron hoy, en el Día del Migrante Internacional (18 de Diciembre), que el gobierno de los Estados Unidos debiera adoptar políticas y prácticas humanitarianas en el tratamiento de las y los inmigrantes. La Red Nacional Pro Derechos Inmigrantes y Refugiados (NNIRR, National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights) afirmó que aunque las redadas en los lugares del trabajo son bien conocidas y dominaron las noticias sobre migración, la mayoría de personas han sido deportadas por otros medias – y al costo de sus derechos e integridad física.

Después de otro año de vigilar los operativos de control migratorio y recaudando información de trabajadores y comunidades inmigrantes, NNIRR ha concluido que el Departamento de Seguridad Nacional (DHS, Department of Homeland Security) rutinamente viola e ignora los derechos constitucionales de las personas que detienen para cuestionar sobre su condición migratoria.

Información extraida de 100 reportes y el repaso de 115 redadas muestran que el DHS continúa usando preponderantemente la fuerza, incluyendo el abuso físico y mental, in coercionando a inmigrantes a firmar y ceder sus derechos para deportarlos casi inmediatamente o encarcelarlos.

“Las redadas de DHS tienen que cesar," declaró Arnoldo Garcia, director del programa de Justicia y Derechos Inmigrantes de NNIRR. “Le tocará a la Administración nueva y al Congreso asegurar que se implementen políticas y practices humanitarias. Hasta que estas sean implementadas, las detenciones y las deportaciones deben ser suspendidas para proveer un poco de alivio a las familias y comunidades inmigrantes de esta vergonzoza crisis en derechos humanos.”

El Buró de Control de Inmigración y Aduanas de DHS (ICE, Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement) deportó a casi 350,000 personas de los Estados Unidas durante el año oficail de 2008; más de dos-terceras partes de los deportados no tenían ningún previo historial o de convicciones criminal. Las personas deportadas a través de redadas en los lugares de trabajo representaron menos de 2 % (dos por ciento) de todas las deportaciones de ICE, y de operatives contra fugitivos, 10% (diez por ciento).

Mientras las personas identificadas para ser deportadas en cárceles locales, municipals, estatales y federales representaron hasta el 63% (sesenta y tres por ciento) de todas las deportaciones.

En un caso de deportación, Marvin Ventura, un inmigrante hondureño que fue detenido en el Centro de Detención Federal de Steward en Lumpkin, Georgia fue deportado después de ICE lo forzó físicamente a firmar un documento donde cedió su derecho a tener una audiencia con un juez de inmigración y cualquier oportunidad de ajustar su condición migratoria. Miembro activo de su iglesia local, Ventura ahora está separado de su esposa y su comunidad en Little Robbins, Georgia.

Otro inmigrant que vivió y trabajó en los EEUU por 20 años, Rodrigo Caltenco, fue arrestado en Walden, NY, procesado y transferido a centro de detención en Texas. Allí agents de ICE lo amenazaron verbalmente y lo intimidaron hasta que firmó un formulario que no entendía. Dos días después fue deportado, dejando atras a su esposa, hijos y nietos.

“Cada persona deportada representa familias que son destrozadas, comunidades que traumatizadas y economías que son trastornadas”, continuo García. “Estos patrones se han profundizado bajo la Administración de Bush y desde 9/11, y vemos sus graves repercusiones en el periodo actual.”

Muchas de las operaciones de control migratorio incluyeron la colaboración con entidades policíacas y otras agencies públicas locales, municipals, y estatales.

Un informe completo de los resultados del esfuerzo de vigilar y documentar los derechos humanos en 2008 serán publicados a principios del año nuevo. El informe de NNIRR del año pasado, “Redadas desmedidas, Comunidades asediadas, (“Over-Raided, Under Siege”) reveló que el DHS está sometiendo a comunidades de inmigrantes y refugiados a una forma de “castigo colectivo”, resultando en violaciones amplias de los derechos constitutcionales y humanos.

El Día del Migrante Internacional fue reconocido por las Naciones Unidas en el año 2000 para conmemorarar la aprobación de la Convención Internacional sobre la Protección de los Dferechos de Todos los Trabajadores Migratorios y Miembros de Sus Familias (conocida comunmente com la Convención sobre Trabajadores Migratorios) el 18 de Diciembre, 1990.

Grupos comunitarios alrededor del país están celebrando este evento con conferencias de prensa, vigilias nocturnas, eventos culturales y la proyección de documentales en ciudades como Laurel, MS; Tucson, AZ; San Francisco, CA; Chicago, IL; New York, NY; y Seattle, WA.

Para ver una lista parcial de estos eventos asi como también los detalles e información de contacto para cada uno, vaya a:

www.nnirr.org/resources/docs/Dec18ListofEvents2008.pdf

#

Red Nacional Pro Derechos Inmigrantes y Refugiados
National Network for Immigrant & Refugee Rights
310 8th Street, Suite 303
Oakland, CA 94607
Tel (510) 465-1984 | Fax (510) 465-1885 | www.nnirr.org

Labels:

Monday, December 15, 2008

Immigrant Rights News - Monday, December 15, 2008

Immigrant Rights News – Monday, December 15, 2008

 

1. NY Daily News:

A. Family of fatally beaten New York immigrant urges action

http://www.nydailynews.com/latino/2008/12/15/2008-12-15_family_of_fatally_beaten_new_york_immigr.html

B. A rally cry for Latino immigrant killed in hate crime

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/brooklyn/2008/12/13/2008-12-13_a_rally_cry_for_latino_immigrant_killed_.html

 

2. Los Angeles Times: Settlement opens up amnesty for tens of thousands of immigrants

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-amnesty15-2008dec15,0,758794.story

 

3. Arizona Republic: Hard job: Tracing missing immigrants

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2008/12/15/20081215solchaga1215.html

 

4. Sacramento Bee: Employers look to Obama to deliver on immigration promise

http://www.sacbee.com/topstories/story/1473762.html

 

 

 

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NY Daily News

http://www.nydailynews.com/latino/2008/12/15/2008-12-15_family_of_fatally_beaten_new_york_immigr.html

 

Family of fatally beaten New York immigrant urges action

 

The Associated Press

Monday, December 15th 2008, 12:42 PM

NEW YORK The brother of an Ecuadorean immigrant beaten to death in an apparent hate crime asked his neighbors Sunday for help finding the killers, saying he and his family were heartbroken.

Diego Sucuzhanay called the brutal attack "a wake-up call" to the public.

"It shows how far we must still come to address the devastating problem of hate crimes in our communities. Only by exposing these crimes and working together will we be able to make a difference," Sucuzhanay said at a news conference outside the Queens hospital where his brother, Jose, died late Friday.

He said a $27,000 reward was being offered for information that could solve the crime.

Jose Sucuzhanay, a 31-year-old real estate broker, was accosted on a Brooklyn street by men who yelled anti-Hispanic and anti-gay slurs at him and his brother, Rommel, early Dec. 7, according to police.

The two were walking arm in arm after attending a church party and then stopping at a bar.

Rommel Sucuzhanay was able to get away and call police, but Jose Sucuzhanay was attacked by three men who smashed a beer bottle over his head, hit him in the head with an aluminum baseball bat and kicked him, police said.

The New York Police Department's hate crime task force is seeking suspects. A police spokesman said Sunday he had no updates.

In remarks at Brooklyn's Christian Cultural Center and a Baptist church on Staten Island, Mayor Michael Bloomberg called the beating "a pointless and gutless crime."

He said that race relations in the city were generally better than in decades, but that "this atmosphere is occasionally shattered by dangerous acts of bigotry that undermine our fight to live in peace and security."

With about 50 friends and supporters standing in an arc behind him, Diego Sucuzhanay thanked city and Ecuadorean officials for their support.

Diego Sucuzhanay noted that their mother arrived from Ecuador on Saturday, too late to see Jose alive one last time. He said his brother's body would be returned to Ecuador for burial.

Hundreds of supporters gathered Sunday in Brooklyn to express their outrage at the attack. Some carried handwritten signs saying, "We are all immigrants" and "It could have been any of us."

In Ecuador's capital, Quito, the country's deputy secretary of migration policy said the government was keeping an eye on the police investigation.

In a telephone interview, Arturo Cabrera also said Ecuador was considering sending a special delegation to urge the U.S. Congress to support "a complete education campaign" aimed at changing what he called an "advanced level of ignorance that brings these groups to commit such brutalities."

The attack on Sucuzhanay came about a month after another Ecuadorean immigrant, Marcelo Lucero, was stabbed to death in Patchogue, on suburban Long Island.

Prosecutors said seven teenagers charged in that assault had set out to find a Hispanic person to attack.

 

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NY Daily News

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/brooklyn/2008/12/13/2008-12-13_a_rally_cry_for_latino_immigrant_killed_.html

 

A rally cry for Latino immigrant killed in hate crime

 

[by] Albor Ruiz

Saturday, December 13th 2008, 9:25 PM

 

The despicable assault on Ecuadoran immigrant José Osvaldo Sucozhañay and his brother Romel last Sunday was swiftly condemned - as it should - by the Ecuadoran community and by New Yorkers of every race and national origin.

"We have had tremendous support from many different groups," said Walter Sinche, executive director of Alianza Ecuatoriana Internacional, a community group.

In an effort to send a message of unity and racial harmony in the aftermath of the vicious attack, a coalition of mostly Latino and African-American community, religious and labor groups will hold a vigil and march Sunday in Bushwick, Brooklyn.

"We are all united in our resolve to fight hate," said Sinche, a organizer of the event.

As has been widely reported, three African-American thugs yelling anti-Latino and anti-gay slogans repeatedly beat José, 31, a successful Bushwick real estate agent and landlord, with an aluminum baseball bat. While his brother Romel, 38, managed to escape unharmed, José was rushed to Elmhurst Hospital Center where he was declared brain-dead on Tuesday. He died there Saturday.

The cowardly attack was an assault on our city's proud tradition of welcoming diverse groups.

To hear friends of José Sucozhañay speak of him is to immediately realize the senselessness of this crime and how great a loss his death is, not only for his family, but for all New Yorkers.

This is part of an e-mail sent to us by Karleen, one of his tenants.

"José Osvaldo Sucozhañay was a humble and intelligent man. I remember when I lost my job and he was willing to pay for my schooling to get my real estate license so I could work at his office, because at that time I was in need. That was the nicest thing a landlord would do for me. I pray for his immediate and extended family. God bless you, José."

Yet, horrible as it was, the attack on the Sucozhañay brothers is only one more in a rapidly growing list of crimes against immigrants, especially Latinos.

Racism and prejudice appear to be thriving in the current irrational climate of hate as the immigration debate grinds on.

One month ago, Marcelo Lucero, also an Ecuadoran immigrant, was beaten and stabbed to death in Patchogue, L.I., by a mob of mostly white teenage thugs who wanted "to hunt a Mexican."

FBI statistics show an alarming increase in the number of hate crimes across the nation. Latinos, the numbers say, have become the racists' target of choice in the last four years.

Since 2003, hate crimes against Hispanics have increased by a shocking 40%. According to the FBI, almost 67% of crimes motivated by ethnic or national origin are committed against Latinos.

"We have to come together as one community against hate," said David Galarza, of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, a workers' group affiliated with the AFL-CIO that will be part of Sunday's march.

"We need to present a united front against hate. Crimes like these against José and Romel must not happen again."

Indeed, they must not. And that is why Mayor Bloomberg, City Council President Christine Quinn and the rest of our elected officials must clearly and forcefully speak out. They need to let the racists and criminals know that hate crimes will not be tolerated in our city.

The vigil against hate will take place at 2 p.m., in the community park at Grove St. and Myrtle Ave., in Bushwick. Take the L subway line to Myrtle-Wyckoff or the M to Knickerbocker Ave.

aruiz@nydailynews.com

 

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Los Angeles Times

 

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-amnesty15-2008dec15,0,758794.story

 

Settlement opens up amnesty for tens of thousands of immigrants

Many who entered the United States on valid visas but fell out of legal status between 1982 and 1988 are eligible for the amnesty offered under the 1986 immigration reform law.

 

By Teresa Watanabe

December 15, 2008

 

For two decades, Anaheim businessman Erkan Aydin has taken on a task unimaginable for most immigrants like himself: trying to convince the U.S. government that he was here illegally.

 

Aydin, 50, arrived in the United States from his native Turkey with a valid student visa in 1981, but fell out of legal status when he failed to enroll in school, he said.

 

The customer service representative has a powerful reason why he wants to be considered an illegal immigrant. It would make him eligible for the amnesty offered to 2.7 million illegal immigrants under the 1986 immigration reform law.

 

Thanks to a recent legal settlement, the chance to apply for amnesty is finally open to Aydin and tens of thousands of others who entered the country on a valid visa but fell out of legal status between 1982 and 1988. The settlement, approved this fall by a U.S. district court in Washington state, stems from a class-action lawsuit filed by attorney Peter Schey originally on behalf of an immigrant assistance program of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO.

 

"I have been born again, like a new baby," Aydin said last week in his Anaheim car dealership office. "I will start a beautiful life in this beautiful country."

 

The landmark reform law offered a one-time amnesty to immigrants who were in the United States unlawfully from before 1982 to about 1988.

 

But Congress was concerned that those who entered the country with a valid visa would argue that they fell out of legal status during that time simply to qualify for amnesty. As a result, Schey said, Congress created a rule requiring immigrants to show that their shift from legal to illegal status was "known to the government."

 

That rule, however, created a new problem: How to prove that the government knew about their violations?

 

Nigeria native Olaniyi Sofuluke, for instance, came to the United States in 1981 on a student visa to study banking and finance at Troy State University (now Troy University) in Alabama. But, lacking funds, he soon dropped out to work as a dishwasher in two Atlanta restaurants until he could earn enough for his tuition and living expenses.

 

That violated his visa conditions and threw him into illegal status. The university was required to send a notice to the U.S. government that Sofuluke had dropped out but was not able to provide him with a copy when he requested one five years later. So immigration officials rejected his amnesty application, saying his violations were not known to the government.

 

Schey, however, successfully argued that because schools were legally required to send the notices, it should be presumed that the government received them and therefore knew about the violations.

 

He also successfully argued that the government knew many immigrants had violated their status another way: by failing to furnish an address report every three months. The government's failure to produce the address reports showed that the immigrants had not filed them, violating the terms of their visa, he argued.

 

U.S. immigration officials accepted both arguments in the settlement. They have announced that immigrants whose cases involve violations known to the government may apply for amnesty between Feb. 1, 2009, and Jan. 31, 2010.

 

Although the settlement was announced in September, many immigrants are just learning about it. Sofuluke, now a Maryland administrator, just found out about it last week.

 

"I couldn't even eat dinner, I was so full of joy," he said. "I've been in the twilight zone all of this time."

 

As a banker in Nigeria, he said his colleagues would return from studying in the United States and regale him with stories about the land of opportunity.

 

He devoured news about the United States in Time and Newsweek, he said, and finally got his chance to study here in 1981.

 

He eventually earned an undergraduate degree in accounting and an MBA, started a dry cleaning business that employed 16 people, bought his own home and began doing volunteer work with the disabled. (He was given a work permit while his amnesty application was pending.)

 

"You can find the greatest opportunities here," he said in a phone interview. "That's why we call America 'the golden egg.' "

 

The settlement marks Schey's third and final class-action lawsuit over the 1986 amnesty law. The previous lawsuits, both settled in 2003, resulted in more than 150,000 immigrants being allowed to apply for amnesty.

 

In the first lawsuit, Schey successfully challenged U.S. policy that effectively barred from amnesty applicants who traveled outside the United States roughly between 1986 and 1988. Although Congress specifically allowed a "brief, innocent and casual absence" during that period for, say, holiday visits, immigration authorities at the time essentially declared that anyone who left and reentered illegally was not "innocent" and therefore became ineligible for amnesty.

 

In the second lawsuit, Schey argued against the rejection of amnesty applicants who had returned home and reentered with a valid visa. Immigration officials at the time held that the reentry was legal, breaking the continued illegal residency required for amnesty. Schey argued, however, that the reentry was illegal because the immigrants would have to have lied about themselves when they applied for the visa to return.

 

Schey said that amnesty will allow countless immigrants to report crime without fear of deportation, to visit ailing parents back home and to leave exploitative jobs.

 

"It will make an immeasurable difference in the lives of thousands of people," Schey said. "For many of them, it will be the first time since they entered the country 30 years ago that they will be able to move forward and end their underground existence."

 

For Aydin, the settlement will give him the chance to fulfill a long-held dream of serving his adopted country in law enforcement or the military.

 

Once he has his green card, he said, he plans to pursue a master's degree in criminal justice administration with an eye toward joining the Navy, Secret Service, FBI or CIA.

 

"For many years, I wanted to serve this country, but I haven't had the opportunity," Aydin said. "Now I'm happy I'll finally have the chance."

 

Watanabe is a Times staff writer.

teresa.watanabe@latimes.com

 

 

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Arizona Republic

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2008/12/15/20081215solchaga1215.html

 

Hard job: Tracing missing immigrants

Mexican official in Valley helps desperate people find their loved ones

 

by Daniel González - Dec. 15, 2008 12:00 AM

Jorge Solchaga has the grim job of locating missing Mexican immigrants and notifying families of their fate.

In a place like Arizona, that makes Solchaga a very busy man. Just about every day, ashen-faced relatives walk into his office at the Mexican Consulate in Phoenix asking for help finding a missing migrant in the desert, a family member picked up by immigration officials or a loved one held by smugglers.

As head of the consulate's protection department, Solchaga is supposed to look out for the rights and well-being of the estimated 600,000 Mexicans, legal and illegal, living in Arizona.

But searching for missing immigrants has become the dominant part of his work. That is due to Arizona's unique environment as a border state with the highest rates of illegal immigration, migrant deaths, human smuggling and stepped-up immigration enforcement.

This year, Solchaga has received requests to help find nearly 200 people who disappeared, up from about 150 for all of last year. Because many of the missing are in the country illegally, relatives often seek out Solchaga first rather than U.S. authorities.

"It's a humanitarian thing, and also to be a public servant to help my countrymen," said Solchaga, leaning over a desk in his office at the consulate on West Camelback Road. "The family needs to know what happened to their lovely ones."

But it's not only Mexican immigrants seeking help from Solchaga and his staff of eight investigators. Increasingly, U.S. authorities are turning to him to help find relatives of Mexican children discovered in drophouses or identifying accident victims brought to hospitals, or corpses at the morgue. As a result, Solchaga is filling a void that serves two countries at once, the U.S. and Mexico.

"We work very closely together. We help each other out," said Eduardo Preciado, assistant field-office director of detention and removal operations for the Phoenix office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Sifting for clues

The 40-year-old Mexico City native was thrown into his role as binational detective when migrant deaths soared in 2001 as heightened border security in California and Texas funneled more illegal-immigrant traffic through the deadly Arizona desert.

At the time, Solchaga was working at the Mexican Consulate in Tucson. He was among the consular personnel called in to help U.S. authorities identify 14 bodies of people who had died in May 2001 after smugglers abandoned a group of illegal immigrants in 100-degree heat near Yuma.

The deaths were among the most ever recorded in a single incident along the U.S.-Mexican border and foreshadowed a wave of migrant deaths that continues to this day. Since 2001, the bodies of about 1,300 dead immigrants have been found in Pima, Pinal and Santa Cruz counties, but only about 900 have been identified, said Bruce Anderson, forensic anthropologist for the Pima County medical examiner.

Solchaga began working regularly with Anderson's office, learning to sift through the clothing of the dead for evidence that might lead to relatives. Immigrants often sew money and phone numbers into the waistbands of their pants.

Like a forensic scientist on the television crime series CSI, Solchaga learned to examine corpses for scars, tattoos, dental fillings, moles, broken bones and other characteristics that could help relatives identify the bodies. His earlier training as a photographer came in handy. After taking photographs of a tattoo or scar, Solchaga would e-mail the images to relatives and sometimes the media to help bring the case to a close.

Solchaga's work helped ensure the medical examiner was releasing the "right body to the right family," Anderson said. "We can't use clothing as a basis of ID because clothing can be exchanged."

The work was often gruesome. In the desert, bodies left in the sun swell up, emit fluids and turn black and become mummified. Coyotes and other animals attack them.

Yet Solchaga never shied away from the work.

The missing ones

Four years ago, Solchaga was transferred to the consulate in Phoenix.

The back wall of his office is covered with photographs of him at work. In one photo, Solchaga has his arm around the waist of Claudia Molina, a blond model and host of the popular Univision TV show Sabado Gigante. She was in town for a soccer tournament. Below the photo is one of Solchaga probing the skeleton of a dead migrant, his hands wrapped in plastic gloves.

Solchaga's work in Phoenix has shifted from identifying dead immigrants to locating missing ones.

On a recent Tuesday morning, two women entered his office with urgent looks on their faces. One of them, Yolanda, told him that her husband had been deported after he was stopped by police and found to be driving without a license.

Yolanda said her husband had called from Nogales, Sonora, three weeks earlier and told her he was planning to sneak back into the United States by hopping a freight train from Mexico to Arizona. Yolanda feared he had fallen off and was injured or killed.

Solchaga launched into a series of questions about the man's physical description, followed by more questions about his bones and teeth.

"Do you know if he had any broken bones, say when he was little? . . . Has he had any dental work, any caps, or fillings, a bridge?"

Solchaga told the woman he would use the information to see if her husband had been picked up by the Border Patrol or immigration officials. He also would contact Mexican consulates in Tucson, Douglas and Nogales, Ariz., to see if any dead migrants had been found matching Yolanda's description. He told her to prepare for the worst.

"With all of my heart, I would like to have the opportunity to say your loved one has been detained," Solchaga said. "But, with this much time gone by, maybe he passed away." .

Yolanda called the next day, ecstatic. Her husband had shown up the night before.

It was a rare happy ending. More often, Solchaga deals with death. A few weeks later, two men from Mexico sat in Solchaga's office seeking help finding a sick cousin. It turned out he had died.

Assisting people

Solchaga said that, sometimes, he can't sleep at night thinking about all the death and despair he sees. Like the migrant couple found dying of dehydration in the desert. Solchaga translated as the husband gave doctors permission to disconnect his brain-dead wife from the machines keeping her alive.

Solchaga says he likes his occupation because it allows him to bring closure to those looking for missing relatives, no matter the outcome.

"The people, the only thing they want to know is what happened to the loved one they lost," he said. "This is an opportunity to help the people find out, and yes, it's very rewarding."

Reach the reporter at 602-444-8312.

 

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Sacramento Bee

http://www.sacbee.com/topstories/story/1473762.html

 

Employers look to Obama to deliver on immigration promise

 

By Susan Ferriss

sferriss@sacbee.com

Published Monday, Dec. 15, 2008

 

In the green folds of the Capay Valley, the scene at Full Belly Farm isn't that different from countless other California businesses with immigrant workers on their payrolls.

Everybody is hunkered down, thankful to have work – in this case, growing organic vegetables – and praying the economy improves with the coming Barack Obama administration's stimulus plans.

Once a promised middle class recovery is under way, Full Belly co-owner Judith Redmond said, business owners hope Obama will turn to immigration overhaul, as he also promised. It's a lightning rod issue, but they contend the problem needs to be confronted if the California and the U.S. economies are to have enough legal workers to meet long-term needs.

"It's about recognizing that we need this work force. We're not going to make this all go away," Redmond said.

She employs about 50 year-round, mostly Mexican workers and is president of the Davis-based Community Alliance with Family Farmers.

Lori Wolf, a Modesto landscaper, added that immigration change "is just not something that can be swept under the rug again. It's very important to a lot of people, especially in California."

Jim Abram, president of the California Hotel and Lodging Association in Sacramento, said his members also are eager for bipartisan talk on immigration.

"This is really a critical, critical issue – to have a stable work force that's not always living underground," Abram said.

For now, he said, the recession has halted the hospitality industry's almost chronic search for employees. But "this country's economy, once it gets back on its feet, will not be able to function without immigrant labor," he said.

Abram's is a controversial view, but it is shared by some labor union leaders and a number of economists and policymakers in Washington, D.C.

Business leaders acknowledge, however, that a staggering rise in unemployment hurts the chances of changing federal immigration policies anytime soon.

Obama's position on immigration, however, and some of his choices for his Cabinet and White House staff give reform advocates reasons for optimism.

During his presidential campaign, Obama frequently said he believed opening an earned path to legal status – with some hurdles – seemed the only sensible way to address an accumulation of millions of undocumented workers and family members here.

Obama's choice for Homeland Security secretary, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, has agreed with that view.

She called for the National Guard to be deployed along the Mexican border in Arizona as an emergency measure. But she also shares businesses' position that foreign workers are needed to fill shortages and that federal policies need to be enacted to better provide for that.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, Obama's pick for commerce secretary, is Latino, understands Mexico, where he spent part of his childhood, and has views on immigration similar to Napolitano's.

Businesses are also celebrating Obama's choice for White House director of intergovernmental affairs. Cecilia Muñoz, an activist with the National Council of La Raza, has been a leading voice urging labor, business and rights groups to join together in pressing for immigration change.

Muñoz has also been a vocal critic of recent workplace raids and other "enforcement only" measures the Bush administration initiated last year.

Numbers USA and other groups promise, however, to keep pressure on the Obama administration. They want to reduce immigration and they oppose legalizing undocumented workers. They've argued that even before the downturn, there were enough Americans to fill job vacancies.

Businesses and labor unions have said they want Obama to temper workplace crackdowns, for now. But they also support greater enforcement of work document requirements – once the system is "modernized" to include visas for migrants to fill proven labor shortages.

Congress failed to change the visa system in 1986, an omission reform advocates say set the stage for an increase in undocumented workers.

The voluntary E-Verify computer system now available to check documents is relatively new and still flawed, businesses also say. Moreover, federal regulations do not allow employers to use E-Verify to check the IDs of employees who were already on the payroll before employers signed up to use the database.

While some employers have exploited lax rules and enforcement to hire cheaper illegal immigrants, trade groups admit, others have followed the law to the letter, hiring people who had the necessary identification.

Redmond, who said she believes "employers do have to take responsibility for hiring a legal work force," said her workers have provided documents. Some have been with her for as long as 15 years and have established roots in local towns. Their pay starts above the minimum and includes bonuses.

"I don't think we can find an indigenous labor force for this work," she said. "And I don't think it's the pay."

Economist Stephen Levy, director of the Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy, said a need for immigrant labor is a sign of progress for native-born Americans.

"If you're a middle class African American family, is your dying dream that your daughter clean rooms at the Marriott?" Levy said. "I think many people are OK with immigrants in entry-level jobs."

In August, speaking before a state Senate subcommittee on immigration, Levy warned that California faces a "tidal wave" of baby boom retirements. The state needs to be able to count on immigrants as one of the sources for replacing a deficit of workers of all skill levels, he said.

In 2006, Levy noted, there were not enough unemployed Californians to fill all jobs that would be vacated if every illegal immigrant were fired, even if geographic location, skill levels and pay demands were matched.

Today, he said, even as unemployment rises, he wouldn't change his predictions for California's future labor needs and how immigration should help fill the gap.

"I haven't seen any Wall Street bank employees bumping out Mexican farmworkers yet," he said. "Right now, there is no demand in any part of the economy. But that doesn't mean that's going to be true tomorrow."

Call The Bee's Susan Ferriss, (916) 321-1267.

 

 

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