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ROP Spring 2006
Newsletter
From the
Margins to the Mainstream
Few of us have ever
attended a real fashion show, but we all have caught a glimpse of a new
fashion line up that featured some outlandish style that you never
imagined anyone would wear in public. And then, a year or so later, you
notice that outrageous skirt length, bunched fabric design, or bleached
jean fabric is the new norm on sale at Fred Meyers. From the margins to
mainstream is how the fashion industry works as well as much of the rest
of the world. Sometimes we see this phenomenon work so that radical
politics make common sense demands for justice seem more appealing. And
sometimes we may be too removed from the margins to see the new
mainstream being born.
In this last month, Oregon State Representative Kropf announced his
plans to join the Minutemen on the border. On three separate occasions
that ROP has documented in Portland and in Coos Bay, immigrant tax
payers who entered IRS offices were detained by Immigration and Customs
Enforcement despite assurance from the IRS that they are only concerned
with taxes not immigration enforcement. On January 22nd, immigrant
workers at Centro Cultural in Cornelius, Oregon were harassed by a group
who use their blog to photograph immigrants and then post photos with
captions calling them animals and criminals. The women are referred to
as cows. A local elected official, State Senator Bruce Starr,
participated in the group’s protest. An early indicator of a potential
rise in hate crimes is the acceptance of demeaning rhetoric like this.
This behavior now makes its way to the mainstream in the form of
proposed legislation and policy. On Dec. 15, the US House of
Representatives passed HR 4437, sponsored by Republican James
Sensenbrenner (WI). Billed as an anti-terror ‘border enforcement act’,
HR 4437 takes a giant step towards creating a hybrid Big
Brother/1984/apartheid state . If passed in the Senate, HR 4437 would:
·
Make being in the US
without documents an ‘aggravated felony’. Anyone in the U.S. illegally
would be subject not only to deportation but imprisonment. Would
uncontrollably swell the US prison population - already the largest on
the planet! Would make the children of undocumented workers subject to
imprisonment and deportation.
·
Greatly expand the
definition of smuggling in a way that could severely penalize innocent
acts of kindness and daily, casual contacts that many US citizens have
with undocumented immigrants. U.S. citizens married to undocumented
immigrants could be convicted of aiding aliens. Persons driving their
friends or employees to an appointment could be convicted of
transporting aliens.
·
Mandate a massive Big
Brother-style computerized employment verification system for everyone
employed in the USA.
·
Deputize local law
enforcement officials to enforce federal immigration laws. Local police
have long objected to acting as immigration cops for the simple reason
that it makes local law enforcement impossibly difficult. If every
undocumented person is a potential felon and police are mandated to
enforce deportation laws, millions of people will refuse to report
break-ins, rape, extortion, and other criminal activities that endanger
the whole community.
·
Severely reduce due
process rights and make it harder for legal immigrants to become
citizens
The Senate version of this bill will be coming up for a vote soon and
will likely include a new bracero or ‘guestworker’ program – something
that ROP and human dignity groups have been at the forefront of fighting
in the past. Unfortunately with the climate and debate over immigration
ranging so far into the extreme with the passage of HR 4437, the
destructive and unjust bracero program to many will begin to look
moderate. And that is how the margin to mainstream phenomenon can work
in regards to immigration and wedge politics in 2006.
This legislation will not deal with global free trade policies that
outsource jobs from the US to Mexico along with restrictions that
prevent unionization or environmental protections. It will not address
the policies and actions that have created war, human rights violations,
and environmental destruction that are the root causes of much global
migration. When we evaluate this and subsequent immigration policy, our
bottom lines need to be a path to citizenship, worker protections, and
family reunification. We need living wages, the right to unionize, and
fair trade policies to save jobs in all nations. The values that
underscore these bottom lines are global justice, reward and respect for
hard work, democracy and a voice in the decisions that affect your life
at your workplace and in the place where you live, and the importance of
family and community. Together, let’s bring our values of human dignity
and democracy more into the mainstream!
Act Now! Contact Senators Ron Wyden and Gordon Smith.
Encourage them to pass a realistic, humane, and
comprehensive bill that reunites families, respects due process, and
provides a path to citizenship for hard working immigrant workers!
Sen. Ron Wyden: 516 Hart Sen. Bldg. Washington, DC 20510 (p)
202-224-5244 (f) 202-228-2717
Sen. Gorden Smith: 404 Russel Bldg. Washington, DC 20510 (p)
202-224-3753 (f) 202-228-3997
For more information, visit ROP’s
Immigrant
Rights page.
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