Response to Immigrant Youth Justice League's (IYJL) "declaration of independece from [CIR]"

[José G. Herrera]

From Rozalinda Borcilă, 

No Name Collective and Moratorium On Deportations Organizers, 

www.whoseimmigrationreform.com

" Everyone has been sending me the new statement from Immigrant Youth Justice League that expresses criticism of the so-called Immigration Reform bill and politics. It is a well crafted statement that touches upon some important key points.… and the excitement around it is palpable. Finally, people seem to say, because reformist politics have been so horrendous, and the silence of IYJL on this has been deafening… 

Actually, IYJL has not been silent. They have been an important part of promoting the bill, providing a "face" to the politics of exclusion, militarization and class division that underscore this incredibly violent political trajectory. I personally applaud anyone willing to criticize this bill and contribute to a public unmasking of its underlying principles: militarization, increased criminalization, and the extreme stratification of people into classes considered more or less worthy of being spared state terror, more or less disposable. The IYJL statement covers many of the key reasons why reform politics is so incredibly dangerous and violent, including the problem of using some people (DREAMers and immigrants with money and/or college education and/or political connections) as a pretext for further dehumanizing all others. BUT. The statement does nothing to acknowledge the contribution that this organization has made to the very politics they are criticizing. I feel the need to write a few quick responses to those folks emailing and messaging me with the "great news" of IYJL finally making a statement. Also people, stop trying to play matchmaker: no, we don't "have to" sit at the table and talk and "work things out". We have to be reasonably clear about our analysis and to not sell out for the sake of making "coalitions" or for notoriety. We have to push each other, to critique, because when grassroots groups critique and dissent from mainstream NGO politics, that is not a form of aggression: coerced agreement and the silencing of dissent are. Please spare me the taboos around criticizing IYJL because you think all undocumented youth share the same politics, or because you are unaware of the internal dissension among undocumented organizers, which is understandable given how effectively critical voices have been silenced. Also please spare me the righteous indignation and the prohibitions against a person with status having something critical to say: this is not about the individuals involved, who have a range of experiences and positions on these issues; this is about an organization that is playing big politics in cahoots with corporate NGO's and Democratic party politicians -- and that alone should make any organization, regardless of its membership, accountable for the consequences of their politics and influence. My disagreement and critique are of the politics, not about the people involved. 

So, here is my less-than-enthusiastic reply, beginning with a detour, a reminder:

At the beginning of this month, IYJL co-sponsored an action against the raids at the Swap-O-Rama, which their parent organization exploitatively turned into an opportunity to promote this exact same bill. IYJL organizers stood by and said nothing when ICIRR staff declared to the media that the immigration reform bill will stop these kinds of raids -- even though of course this bill will actually INCREASE the criminalization of poor people and of those who struggle to make ends meet from informal economies like the Swap-O-Rama. The bill is shamelessly, nakedly and explicitly hunting down all those who cannot prove continuous employment in the FORMAL economy and additionally those who earn below the minimum poverty rates. Even though this action was supposed to be in opposition to the raid and in support of people detained, ICIRR will benefit financially and politically from promoting this bill, and so they did not hesitate to lie and turn the gathering into an opportunistic moment for self-promotion. Instead of focusing on the raid, they made it about promoting the bill. IYJL organizers stood by their big daddy ICIRR during this disgusting move. And they stood by as ICIRR staff physically pushed and harassed a few people who started speaking out against these lies and who tried to flyer informational materials on the bill.

But more importantly, to the bigger picture:

- a recent wave of very picturesque civil disobedience actions have been framed by IYJL and other national orgs specifically as "not one more deportation of people who will qualify for Immigration reform" - and urged people to call Senators to "tell them that a key step to supporting immigration reform is getting the President to stop the deportations of those who could be included in it". The framing has consistently been about those who would qualify for this bill, not about questioning the bill itself, which already contained all the key points they are now critiquing. Why not just stick with No deportations, not for anyone? Why participate in reproducing the politics of dividing people into those worthy and those unworthy of status? And why not take some responsibility for that? 

- IYJL and other DREAMer organizations have been made to be the poster children for the "good immigrant" and that image has been used to throw everyone else under the bus -- parents; day laborers, sex workers; non-English speakers; people who don't go to College; drug users; homeless people; unemployed or irregularly employed immigrants; anyone who disagrees or puts a "bad face" on the movement… And especially, especially, those with criminal records. Criminalization is not a detail, not something one can casually reinforce one day and then pretend to oppose on another. It is at the heart of how inequalities are organized, how subordination is produced, it is at the heart of white supremacy in this country. Instead of confronting criminalization, organizations like IYJL have gained notoriety among liberal and "progressive" activist circles and media by positioning themselves in sharp contrast to the figure of the "criminal" -- by promoting an image that mirrors that of the "good" "upstanding" American, and explicitly reinforcing a politics of exceptionalism. When will DREAMer organizations take some responsability for the ways that their fame and notoriety have been at the price of representing themselves, and only themselves, as worthy of any kind of humanity? Stepping back, it is easy to see how these activists have been manipulated and used by a well-greased political machine -- I'm sure that tactic was not intentional on their part, and it certainly did not originate with the young organizers themselves. It is a well-rehearsed political mechanism that operates deep within the logic of the system, and it has a long history. But there has been internal debate over this, with several voices within the organization trying to privately and publicly confront this tendency. Those who were not silenced or pushed out continue to individually post and speak out and question; as an organization, this is not something they are unaware of, and yet have refused to take a critical position on.

- IYJL have benefitted from political friendships with the very people who are the architects of this bill; because let's remember that militarization, stratification and increased criminalization were the main principles of the bill as initially introduced by sugar daddy Senator Durbin and Co, and did not suddenly appear out of nowhere in the most recent amendments. IYJL have actively worked to silence any voices critical of the DREAM act, anyone who dares criticize US miltiarization and imperialism -- because of their investment in the same principle that constitutes Durbin's "grand bargain": militarization and enforcement against all, as a trade-off for status for the few. I am glad they are symbolically distancing themselves from the militarization agenda, despite three years of promoting it on the national stage -- but it remains to be seen if their politics will change or remain the same. 

Where do we think such draconic CIR bills come from? They originate with the politicians and corporate interests they represent of course, and also: they are facilitated by the corporate NGO "immigrant rights movement" itself that has become an key player in the Democratic party agenda while masquerading as "grass-roots". Unless IYJL is prepared to include that in their critique as well, this statement is difficult to take seriously. Unless and until they are willing to sever their ties with the corporate-NGO-Democratic machine that has been relentlessly promoting this bullshit bill, that has been expanding criminalization and silencing dissent, unless and until IYJL is willing to betray the political interests of ICIRR and Durbin and Co, it will be difficult to imagine their own political agenda has fundamentally changed. "

----

José G. Herrera

(773) 632-9992