The large May 1 protest marches are a continuation of immigrants' marches taking place all spring. Proposed legislation—HR 4437—has fueled protests by individuals and organizations, with very well-attended events around the country.
Besides upping the ante on punishment of immigrants themselves, passage of the bill would impose penalties for anyone providing assistance to immigrants—which, as this NYT editorial points out, "would expand the definition of 'alien smuggling' in a way that could theoretically include working in a soup kitchen, driving a friend to a bus stop or caring for a neighbor's baby."
For this reason, the Catholic Archdiosese of Los Angeles opposes the legislation, as do charitable and legal groups serving immigrants. And among the grounds of the ACLU's opposition:
Under the bill, all new hires and current employees, including American citizens and legal permanent residents, would have to be verified, and, with the error rates in the current pilot programs, tens of millions of people could be erroneously denied permission to work by the federal government...[T]he collection and retention of this information in government databases poses a serious threat to personal privacy.One good personal account—of an April march in Seattle—is here:
...the bill would further militarize the border, give extraordinary powers to low-level immigration officials within 100 miles of the border to expel -- without a hearing -- anyone believed to be a recently arrived illegal immigrant and expands mandatory detention rules to apply to all non-citizens arriving at a port of entry or "along" the border...
"We're hard workers, not criminals," said the signs. "We aren't terrorists." "Don't separate us from our families." They proclaimed "Liberty, Equality and Dignity" and showed pictures of crops that they picked. Children paraded in strollers, teenagers laughed with their friends, elderly women helped each other walk step by step. The march was mostly Latino but also Koreans, Filipinos, Somalians, marchers of every race.It's very heartening to read about this, as I slog through the days at work. Where, it just happens, the Department is observing "Diversity Month."
The HR person in charge of this is the person responsible for the daily stream of morale-boosting messages, replete with exclamation marks. So among this month's good cheer:
May is Diversity Month!!!And: part of the excitement is that she will distribute "flavored coffees and teas from other countries!!!" — meaning, General Foods "International Coffee" and Bigelow "Chinese Restaurant Tea." "Diverse" choices made by someone who one lunchtime sees me nuking tandoori chicken, and gasps, "Oh! Be careful—that could be hot!"
Last year we celebrated with maps - this year we would like to celebrate with flags -so far I have only heard from ONE person - what country they would like to have a flag posted for!!! Please let me know the name of your unit and your country of heritage.
As someone has responded to the flag offer, I have a good idea who that "ONE" is—I make a trip to the copier and return to find posted on the door:
WHERE WE COME FROMBelow the heading is the graphic of a tri-color flag; under the flag is a caption — "The Netherlands."
Yes, the Office of The Chairman will fly the flag of the Boers this month, as the father of Jesus' Best Administrative Assistant's was born in Holland. Seeing that "WE" are from there, shouldn't that confer on me some preferential status for emigration to Amsterdam?
Eventually, an office down the hall makes a point of posting a print of a US flag. I had no idea the occupants are not descended from immigrants and must all, therefore, be Native Americans—they've concealed it well, behind their hillbilly cover...
Divide and conquer has such a long history, and has been so effective with people like this.
At firedoglake, Pachacutec's "El Sueño Americano (The American Dream)" is a touching account of his attendance at the April march in DC. Capturing the passion of the marchers and importance of the issues now, Pachacutec also tells the pre-World War II immigration story of his Peruvian grandfather, concluding—
Anti-immigrant fervor tends to rise when economic insecurity abounds. American income inequality is at historic levels, and fat cats get fatter while working people tread water. The Republican party, riddled with weakness and undeniable failure, now stoke the old fires of racism, not only to deflect attention from its failures abroad, but also from the failures of our Reverse Robin Hood economy at home.
Enlightened immigration policy is a bread and butter progressive issue. As we protect all American workers, we protect standards of living, promote education, build a more sophisticated and internationally competitive workforce and end the race to the bottom in the domestic labor market that benefits big corporations in the short term at the expense of American strength and security in the long term. Even if you don't share my degree of personal identification with today's demonstrators, policies that support full citizenship rights for American workers are sane, smart and just. At the same time, we need to build real regulatory systems to monitor employers' behavior and hiring practices. Building walls and sending people to foreign lands, on the other hand, destroys American families.Immigration and immigration policy is not about "them." It's about us. It's about our families.
...I dedicate this post tonight to [my grandfather's] memory, to the memory of my grandmother and to the many Americans I felt privileged to join today in celebration of the American Dream.
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