To help avoid the “defining downward” of progressive goals on the key issues of 2010, I thought it would be helpful to assess what would constitute activist victories and whether progressives should cheer measures short of what they are now backing.
Activists Rallying to Ensure Obama Administration Brings Change
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Why are the usual barriers to progressive change falling? Because, as in the 1930’s, we have grassroots movements who are pushing a sympathetic President to the left.
Savage Blames Immigrant ‘Gang-Bangers’ For ‘Destroying California’
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Yesterday, Media Matters highlighted statements made by “shock-jock” radio host Michael Savage on his Friday show in which he lashed out at immigrant “gang-bangers” for “destroying California.” Savage, whose inflammatory rhetoric recently got him banned from entering the U.K., vowed that only God himself will shut him up: SAVAGE: The illegals [immigrants] have destroyed the [...]
Immigration Report Highlights Bush Administration’s ‘Flagrant Disregard For Rule of Law’
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Two years after the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) swept up and detained thousands of workers from six meatpacking plants across the country during one of the nation’s largest immigration raids, a new report released by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) today details how ICE officials terrorized UFCW members under the [...]
Another U.S. Citizen ‘Accidentally’ Deported
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Earlier this month, U.S. citizen, Irving Palomo, was detained and put in a van headed for Mexico due to an ICE mix-up. A few months ago Mark Lyttle, a U.S. citizen who suffers from mild retardation, was deported to Mexico. Mexican officials then deported him to Honduras, and Honduras deported him to Guatemala. After spending [...]
Department of Homeland Security Suspends “Widow Penalty”
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This week, the Obama administration took another step toward restoring fairness and humaneness to the immigration system. On Tuesday, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano announced that she would grant a two-year reprieve to immigrants who were married to U.S. citizens but did not complete the permanent residency process because their American spouses [...]
Beck Decries ‘Empathy’ For ‘Anchor Baby Thing’
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While railing about the Department of Homeland Security’s decision to temporarily halt the deportation of widows and widowers of U.S. citizens, Fox News’ Glenn Beck yesterday slammed “anchor babies,” the U.S.- born children of immigrants, and called for the overturn of the 14th Amendment which grants natural-born citizenship: BECK: You know the anchor baby thing [...]
Civil Rats Are Human Rats!
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I watched the movie Gettysburg again the other day. It is one of my favorites because the producer was a Mexican American and it is about the real reasons why democracy exists. In the movie, there is a scene where a New Hampshire officer is talking to two rebel soldiers. He asks them why they [...]
Local Police Report Makes the Case for Federal Enforcement of Immigration Laws
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This week the Police Foundation issued a long awaited report, The Role of Local Police: Striking a Balance Between Immigration Enforcement and Civil Liberties. The Police Foundation found that because Congress has failed to move forward with comprehensive immigration reform, states and localities have spent more time and resources curbing immigration themselves at the high [...]
Obama’s Controversial Two-Step Moves in Direction of Immigration Reform
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After boosting border enforcement, the Obama Administration recently announced that it will also increase funding for a troublesome program started by George W. Bush. The controversial program gives Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) unregulated access to the immigration information of every person in local prisons across the United States. Although Obama may be sending mixed [...]
Obama Budget Not a Replacement for Comprehensive Immigration Reform
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The Obama Administration appears increasingly poised to move forward on comprehensive immigration reform, as promised. Last Thursday, the White House announced budgetary initiatives that signal a change in priorities and pave the way for immigration reform. At the same time, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, testified before the Senate yesterday about her plans to [...]
Sheriff Joe Arpaio to Recruit and Arm Citizens, Neo-Nazis Have His Back
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Rather than cleaning up his police department and addressing allegations of racial profiling and discrimination, Arpaio has decided to recruit and arm more Maricopa citizens in the absence of state funds. Back in April, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors in Arizona voted to postpone the acceptance of $1.6 million from the state to help [...]
Anti-Immigrant Hysterics’ Swine Flu Blame-Game Generates Blowback
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Jay Severin, a radical right-wing talk show radio host from Boston, has been indefinitely kicked off the air after making some brazen comments, including calling Mexicans “primitives” and “women with mustaches and VD” who “leech” off the U.S.. More specifically, Boston’s WTKK-FM decided to suspend Jay Severin after the following comments sparked deep concern among [...]
Reflections on May Day
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Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez of Democracy Now! sat down with Alex Sanchez of Homies Unidos and Janis Rosheuvel of Families for Freedom to discuss the nation’s immigration policy, its overall treatment of undocumented immigrants and the impact of the May Day protests in Los Angeles. Alex Sanchez believes the May Day movement has not [...]
Low-Income Latinos and Immigrants Reported “Under Siege” in the South
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This week, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) released a new report entitled “Under Siege: Life for Low-Income Latinos in the South.” SLPC report adds to the mounting evidence pointing to the harmful impact that the absence of a functioning immigration system is having on Latinos and immigrant communities. SPLC investigators interviewed and surveyed 500 [...]
Human Rights Organizations Say Immigrants Caught in Detention Dragnet
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On any given day, more than 30,000 immigrants are detained in the U.S. More than 300,000 men, women, and children are detained by U.S. immigration authorities each year. ICE reported that the average stay in detention was 37 days; however many immigrants and asylum seekers are detained much longer – months or even years – [...]
As Nation Moves Left, Media Stuck in Past
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Despite Barack Obama’s victory and polls showing strong support for a progressive agenda, the traditional media is “staying the course” in presenting the news. While the blogosphere pokes fun at the FOX News-created “tea parties” on April 15, CNN and other media are giving wide coverage to these fake protests, ignoring legitimate protests and rallies [...]
Mexicans Choosing to Weather Economic Storm in Home Country
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Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has ordered reviews of many operational aspects of the immigration and border security system and has even delayed a series of proposed immigration raids and other enforcement actions at U.S. workplaces. Yet while many of the Bush administration’s “attrition through enforcement” tactics are being re-evaluated and scaled-back, potential [...]
Citizen Children Neglected and Deserted in Wake of Immigration Raids
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Miguel is a US citizen child who grew up in Minnesota like any other little American boy. But his parents are undocumented workers from El Salvador who worked at the Swift plant in Worthington, Minnesota. On December 12, 2006, the plant was raided by ICE, and more than 200 workers were detained, including Miguel’s mother. [...]
Cesar Chavez Day and the Forgotten Asian Americans
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This Cesar Chavez Day (March 31) reminds us how forgotten stories can perpetuate stereotypes. Charlotte, an Asian American student leader at Pomona College, asked me how do we ignite people into political action and sweep away the tired public perception of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) as passive and docile. I asked her if [...]
Today We Vote: Tomorrow We March
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“When we elect Barack, knock on wood, we will have someone who responds to labor, to people’s needs, the plight of immigrants, but he can’t win change alone it will take a larger movement,” said Maria Elena Durazo, leader of the 840,000-member Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. One of the most successful and dynamic [...]
Largest U.S. Fast Aims to Turn Out Voters
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The largest hunger strike in U.S. history will begin Oct. 15, to call attention to voter mobilization, immigrant rights organizers say. One hundred dedicated activists will encamp at the historic heart of Los Angeles — La Placita Olvera — to fast for 21 days before the Nov. 4 elections. They expect to be joined by [...]
McCain-Palin Attacks Fall Flat with Latinos
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The Republican attack machine has launched a multifaceted offensive to falsely accuse Democrat Barack Obama of being anti-immigrant. In Spanish-language ads directed at Latino voters in the battleground states of Florida, New Mexico, Colorado and Nevada, John McCain wrongly claims Obama blocked the path to legalization. At the same time McCain and the GOP are [...]
Immigration Inspires Hope, Fear, and Debate Among Convention Democrats
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On the eve of the official nomination of Presidential candidate Barack Obama, the son of an immigrant, some of the leading voices shaping the Democratic Party’s immigration reform platform reveal a mix of reserved optimism and pragmatism. While the Blue Dog Democrats – a group of 47 moderate and conservative Democratic Party members of the [...]
Bridges, Not Walls
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Some African-Americans, many of which are longtime loyal Democrats, believe immigration is hurting US workers, focusing primarily on undocumented workers
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