Cry the Beloved Country, Again…

Ridwan, a South African blogger, blogs on the recent violence against immigrants in his country:

I know all the rationalizations for why gangs of South Africans are attacking migrants of the streets of our country. I know the deplorable conditions that are hardly hidden by the delusional capitalist flash of the ‘new’ era.

But I am not willing to make excuses for the barbaric murders (22 killed), beatings, and violent intimidation of poor migrants who live among us. They are simply wrong and immoral.

It’s All In the Blood??

Ding, at Bitch Ph.D. blogs in response to a recent article that Kathleen Parker wrote about how recent immigrants might not “understand” American values due to the fact that they haven’t been here that long:

Pat Buchanan wants me to ‘be grateful.’ He wants me to shut up and be grateful I live in a place that suffers from the worst case of degenerate racism, a place that makes no significant movement toward recognition of or reconciliation for its white supremacist past. But here’s our chance! Here’s a moment – a gorgeous, breathtaking moment! And what do we do with this moment? We say he is not (and by extension, we are not – I am not) a ‘full-blooded American’!

Oh, America, you make we wanna holler!

Hatin’ on the Debate?

Nezua blogs about an AP article about the rise of hate groups and anti-immigrant rhetoric:

EXCEPT IT’S NOT much of a “debate” is it? “Debate” is a grand word, one that implies intelligence, reason, insight, equal opportunity to speak and make your points, and an agenda of fairness and truth. I don’t see what is happening out there, the noise coming from the biggest bullhorns as “debate.” I see a lot of hostile agenda, I see fear feeding violence, I see the stupidest meanest most ignorant minds getting the most airplay, and a lot of people terrified, hunted, and suffering.

Immigrants Commit Far Less Crimes Than “Native” Citizens

Alex Thurston, of the blog The Seminal, blogs about a recent study put out by the Public Policy Institute of California:

This report, which suggests that immigrants (both legal and illegal) commit fewer crimes than native-born American citizens in California, caught my eye today. I’m sure xenophobes will dismiss the results, and offer plenty of anecdotes to back up their claims that all immigrants are criminals, but the article speaks for itself:

“Illegal Immigrants:” Attacking the “Rule of Law” Since 1492

Nezua blogs about anti-immigrant sentiment and how “illegals” attack the “rule of law:”

Practically, what has made America “great” was Manifest Destiny and slave labor. We still practice these in different forms. War of aggression (we’re out for oil this time, not land…well, except the land under our MASSIVE bases), our not-so-hidden (but despised) slave class right here in murka, and outsourcing in some of its forms. America is not even owned by America anymore, but we don’t hear panic over this, do we? So many foreign investors and trade deficits and corporate border hopping that only the sticker is red white and blue today.

…

But it’s not about the Rule of Law with your type. And you can’t be honest with yourself. Your world is slipping away, and it freaks you out.

Immigrants and the Fires

Seth Wessler blogs on RaceWire:

As the fires in Los Angeles cool and relief efforts heat up, we are once again posed with the bleak reality that when the smoke clears, people of color and immigrants face abandonment and punishment.

Reports show incidents of undocumented immigrants being turned away from or arrested at evacuation shelters and detained by Border Patrol at neighborhood checkpoints when trying to go back home. Many veer away from services that might be available for fear of being deported and others sought help from authorities and were turned away.

The fires have uprooted immigrants who, unlike their neighbors who are citizens, have no access to needed support services. Many of these immigrants remain unaccounted for and little is known about how many have been rounded up and deported. What is more, some have blamed immigrants for starting the fires themselves.

Arrest on Site (of Brown Skin)

Marisa Trevino, of Latina Lista, blogs on the recent deportations of Latinos in Irving, Texas:

Between June 1, 2006 and September 18, 2007, at least 1,600 people have been deported. That’s about 1% of the city’s total population.

The Mayor of Irving says that the police are just doing an excellent job of law enforcement, but there are enough doubts to those claims to make the Mexican Consulate issue a rare travel warning to Mexican nationals — Avoid Irving, Texas. Looking Mexican can get you harassed and deported.

Immigrants the Modern Day Pilgrims?

Brownfemipower comments on some recent cartoons depicting  Native Americans as anti-immigration opponents and the pilgrims as the immigrants of today.  She takes exception with these cartoons as they don’t portray history correctly and view the Native Americans as allowing to be rolled over by the Europeans:

They imply that the colonization of indigenous land is parallel to or equivalent to the migration of brown people over falsely created borders. Let’s be real clear here. Pilgrims came here to colonize the land. They created permanent settlements by which they could steal the resources of the land to pay for their “adventure” while at the same time creating the God blessed “communnity on a hill”. They came here with no intention of leaving–they came here with the investment and backing of companies and government officials back home. We can whine all we want about their noble deeds, but they. were. colonizers.

Immigration, Nativists, and America’s “Moral Panic”

XicanoPwr blogs:

Since 9/11, the question of what immigrants contribute to American society is at the forefront of the immigration debate. Stoking anti-immigrant hostility, nativists and restrictionists commonly resort to marginalizing immigrants by relegating them to an economic underclass. Critics of outsourcing have pointed to India as the source of America’s economic woes, but the issue is a lot more complicated than it is being portrayed. Nativists contribute to the stigma of immigrants are draining social services. However, immigrants actually generate significantly more in taxes paid than they cost in services.

Immigration, Nativists, and America’s “Moral Panic”

XicanoPwr blogs:

Since 9/11, the question of what immigrants contribute to American society is at the forefront of the immigration debate. Stoking anti-immigrant hostility, nativists and restrictionists commonly resort to marginalizing immigrants by relegating them to an economic underclass. Critics of outsourcing have pointed to India as the source of America’s economic woes, but the issue is a lot more complicated than it is being portrayed. Nativists contribute to the stigma of immigrants are draining social services. However, immigrants actually generate significantly more in taxes paid than they cost in services.

Immigrant Dentention Camps Being Built Around U.S.

Latina Lista writes:

Found in Raymondville, Texas, the detention camp houses mostly undocumented immigrants from El Salvador, and according to peace activist Elizabeth Garcia, the people are not being treated humanely.

On the outside, the tents look like a model city of the future, but when you think about 200 unrelated people living in each shelter – well, thoughts are as scary as it was for the people from New Orleans who tried to call the Superdome home.

These modern concentration camps, whether in Raymondville or Hutto or other points around the country, are an inhumane way to treat people whose only crime was such desperation for a better life that they pushed their way to the front of the line so they could work for substandard pay — but it was more money than they could have made back home.

Yet, to appease all these voices who claim to be compassionate conservatives, Homeland Security has been working overtime to round up the undocumented and dump them in these places if they are not Mexican citizens.

Asian Americans in the Immigration Mix

Carmina Ocampo, guest blogging for the Hyphen Blog, writes about Asian Americans and the immigration debate:

One of the most offensive provisions is the so-called “merit-based system” which would favor factors such as an immigrant’s job skills, English-speaking ability, and education level in awarding green cards. That means that one’s chances of getting a green card could depend on their class background and level of assimilation, meaning that poor uneducated immigrants could potentially be left by the wayside.

…

Family reunification is one of the most important immigration issues to Asian Americans. There are many Asian Americans and Latinos who have to wait decades to be reunited with loved ones. The Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC) of Southern California, an organization that I’ve volunteered for, worked with local API community organizations to draft the APIA Principles for Immigration Reform [pdf], which states that China, India and the Philippines have some of the longest wait periods. Filipino Americans who sponsor their siblings have to wait an outrageous 23 years before their siblings can get an immigrant visa!

A Young Mother’s Suicide

Marisa Trevino, of the blog Latina Lista, blogs about the suicide of Gilberta Estrada-Vega and of the realities of living in immigrant communities as well as the mainstream media’s reaction:

As always happens when news spreads of a mother committing suicide and taking her kids with her, newspaper columnists and talk show radio hosts take turns villifying the woman. Yet, Gilberta’s actions underscored a problem that is HUGE, but not discussed enough within the immigrant community, and mainstream society needs to pay attention before more tragedies like Gilberta’s find their way regularly into the headlines.

A Young Mother’s Suicide

Marisa Trevino, of the blog Latina Lista, blogs about the suicide of Gilberta Estrada-Vega and of the realities of living in immigrant communities as well as the mainstream media’s reaction:

As always happens when news spreads of a mother committing suicide and taking her kids with her, newspaper columnists and talk show radio hosts take turns villifying the woman. Yet, Gilberta’s actions underscored a problem that is HUGE, but not discussed enough within the immigrant community, and mainstream society needs to pay attention before more tragedies like Gilberta’s find their way regularly into the headlines.

Guest Worker Program an Open Door to Slavery

Lucky White Girl brings our attention to a report on abuses under guest worker programs:

NPR had another story on the plight of those who come to this country legally on guestworker programs only to be exploited and abused, this time on the part of the recruiters in other countries

Virginia Tech and Immigration

Jen and James muse together about Pat Buchannan’s comments on Cho’s immigration status and it’s connection to the Virginia Tech massacure in the blog Reappropriate:

One need not praise the immigrant experience to find fault with Buchannan’s reasoning. His conception of pre-1960’s America as a utopian cultural community where people looked out for one another is not only flawed, it’s racist. The destruction of this utopia (in Buchannan’s eyes) happened when the Civil Rights Movement broke down the walls of silence White people used to ignore the oppression that benefitted their group. Sure, Buchannan doesn’t want to blame immigrants for their supposed anti-assimilation, but he can’t help it because he’s so caught up in attacking the post-Civil Rights Movement era. This is nothing more than another divisive, racist argument designed to pit minority communities against one another and promote gated-community suburban White fear of anybody dark.

Black Workers Should Support Immigrant’s Rights

John Parker, on the blog Black Agenda Report, argues that Blacks should support immigrant rights:

The ruling class makes great use of these inadequacies in our movement and plays the same game on Black, Asian and Latin@ workers that was played in the 1930s on white workers to convince them that they had no interest in uniting and building solidarity with Black workers. Although only the bosses controlled the amount of jobs available, they pushed the idea that Black workers were stealing their jobs and community resources. Because of this they were able for many years to convince white workers that Black workers should not be in their unions. By creating division through the further promotion of white supremacy and the super-exploitation of Black workers they were able to keep the union movement weak and the amount of jobs, wages, benefits and quality of life of white workers as low as possible.

Today, as if following the same script, there is an unrelenting drive by the ruling class in this country to divide Black, Asian and Latin@ people through sensational stories of atrocities by one against the other in the corporate media.

Black Workers Should Support Immigrant’s Rights

John Parker, on the blog Black Agenda Report, argues that Blacks should support immigrant rights:

The ruling class makes great use of these inadequacies in our movement and plays the same game on Black, Asian and Latin@ workers that was played in the 1930s on white workers to convince them that they had no interest in uniting and building solidarity with Black workers. Although only the bosses controlled the amount of jobs available, they pushed the idea that Black workers were stealing their jobs and community resources. Because of this they were able for many years to convince white workers that Black workers should not be in their unions. By creating division through the further promotion of white supremacy and the super-exploitation of Black workers they were able to keep the union movement weak and the amount of jobs, wages, benefits and quality of life of white workers as low as possible.

Today, as if following the same script, there is an unrelenting drive by the ruling class in this country to divide Black, Asian and Latin@ people through sensational stories of atrocities by one against the other in the corporate media.

A Boarder Riddled With Bullets

XicanoPwr writes about the recent deaths of Latino immigrants on the U.S.-Mexico boarder in the blog Para Justicia y Libertad:

Self-defense from what? This type of behavior seems to be normal, recently Agent Nicholas Corbett was charged with first-degree murder of Francisco Dominguez-Rivera, of Puebla, Mexico, who was unarmed at the border in January. Corbett was also charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter and negligent homicide. His excuse – he claimed he “feared for his life,” however, Corbett’s account didn’t match witness testimony or forensic evidence.

Immigration and Reform

Simon. of the blog Radical Migration, gives his opinion on immigration reform:

The current set of immigration laws makes the income tax code look simple. It is racist. It treats different people differently based on their ethnicity. It is far too complicated. There are more than eighty different visa categories. And it does not serve the best interests of our country by keeping out bad people and attracting good ones.

New Immigration Bill

On the blog The Mex Files richmx2 writes about a new Republican immigration plan:

What planet are these guys from? 10,000 bucks to get a green card? And you wonder why people just come illegally.

Bill O’Reilley and Dead Children

Anthony, of SmackDog Chronicles, blogs about Bill O’Reilley’s reaction to the death of eight children and one adult in a fire that raged in the Bronx:

Anyone wants to bet that the four firemen who BillO is praising happen to be White?? I mean, I guess that it’s more important to him that four White firemen be prevented from injury than the fate of 18 Black immigrants holed up in a hellish situation be “supervised” for their legal citizen status and tagged as “illegal aliens” to be deported….all in the name of saving their lives, I would venture.

Bill O’Reilley and Dead Children

Anthony, of SmackDog Chronicles, blogs about Bill O’Reilley’s reaction to the death of eight children and one adult in a fire that raged in the Bronx:

Anyone wants to bet that the four firemen who BillO is praising happen to be White?? I mean, I guess that it’s more important to him that four White firemen be prevented from injury than the fate of 18 Black immigrants holed up in a hellish situation be “supervised” for their legal citizen status and tagged as “illegal aliens” to be deported….all in the name of saving their lives, I would venture.

Minutemen

XicanoPwr writes:

Think the Minutemen are just netting people, better think again. They are out for blood, they do not value human life, so lets call them what they really are, anti-humanist.

Raids

Angry White Kid blogs about the rescent immigrant raids going on in America:

Immigrant and migrant workers are not the enemy. The enemy is the neoliberal economic system that forced them from their countries of origin. The same system that allows greedy corporations to exploit their labor here in the US. The same system that is imposed – either economically or militarily – on the global south by the US and Europe.