FW: IPS-A Reform Movement by and for Undocumented People

[Rosi Carrasco]

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>  news from
> http://www.ipsnews.net

> A Reform Movement by and for Undocumented People
>
> Valeria Fernández
>
> DETROIT, Jun 25 (IPS) - Hundreds of grassroots organisations
> came together at the U.S. Social Forum here to discuss
> strategies in the fight for immigration policy changes that
> would put an end to criminalisation and the militarisation of
> the border with Mexico.
>
> Resolutions adopted during a People's Movement Assembly on
> Thursday included a push to end policies like 287(g) and Secure
> Communities that allow local police to enforce federal
> immigration laws, and the passage of the Dream Act, a piece of
> legislation that would legalise the status of undocumented
> students.
>
> "We are looking at it by redefining the immigrant rights
> movement by the people that are more affected," said Tania
> Unzueta from the Immigrant Youth Justice League in Chicago,
> Illinois, referring to immigrants.
>
> Unzueta is part of a growing group of undocumented youth
> across the country that has staged civil disobedience actions
> to push for the passage of the Dream Act, even risking their own
> deportation.
>
> "This is the first movement led by undocumented people," said
> Felipe Matos, a member of the Trail of Dreams, a group of
> students from Florida that has travelled across the country to
> raise awareness about the plight of undocumented youth.
>
> "Our movement goes beyond legislation, beyond comprehensive
> immigration reform," he said. "It's key here for us to stop
> calling ourselves criminals."
>
> Several grassroots organisers echoed those comments and were
> critical of the current blueprint for "comprehensive
> immigration reform" - which is heavy on enforcement - proposed
> by New York's Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer, as well as the
> policies set forth by the Barack Obama administration.
>
> "The proposals that are being offered by the government would
> never meet the needs or the rights of our communities. It's
> going to take much more than legalisation," said Arnoldo Garcia,
> director of the immigrant justice and rights programme at the
> National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (NNIRR).
>
> "What we are imagining in the discussions is what kind of
> relationship people will have with the government. So whom do
> we go to, if the abuser is the person that is supposed to
> protect us? And the government is the main abuser," he said.
>
> The border state of Arizona figured prominently during the
> forum as ground zero for human rights violations due to recent
> passage of SB 1070, a law that would criminalise undocumented
> immigrants and anyone who assists them.
>
> One of the resolutions at the assembly on Thursday included a
> call to action from other organisations to come to Arizona in
> support of the local movement against the new law, which takes
> effect on Jul. 29.
>
> "Everyone is really afraid and really alarmed of what's
> happening in Arizona, folks are realising it is coming to their
> cities," said Carlos Garcia, an organiser from the Arizona
> PUENTE Movement.
>
> Garcia said the new state law has essentially already been in
> place in other parts of the U.S. in the shape of programmes
> like 287(g) and Secure Communities.
>
> Other groups stressed the significance of understanding the
> root cause of immigration and the global forces at play behind
> the movement of people, including military policies and trade
> agreements supported by the U.S.
>
> "In terms of the immigrant rights struggles and concerns in
> the U.S., if we do a technocratic fix, a certain kind of people
> legalised, certain kind of control, securing borders, it ignores
> why people are coming, why are there flows of immigration," said
> Carol Barton, executive director of community action at United
> Methodist Women.
>
> Barton said a number of U.S. foreign policies have been
> directly responsible for the migration of people and
> displacement from their communities of origin.
>
> Yet, Colin Rajah, coordinator for the Migrant Rights Programme
> for NNIRR, said the U.S. is not alone. There are global trends
> towards the criminalisation and exploitation of immigrants, he
> said.
>
> "There's more and more cooperation between the governments,
> especially when policing the borders," said Rajah.
>
> One clear example of the cooperation between Mexico and the
> U.S. with the Plan Merida to control drug trafficking in the
> southern border region with U.S funding, he said. He also cited
> the situation of countries like Libya and Italy, which currently
> has an agreement with the former for it to patrol its own
> borders.
>
> "The global north, especially the U.S. and Western Europe, are
> using their economic and political power so they can get
> countries in the global south to police their borders and supply
> the migrant labour," he added.
>
> Rajah emphasised that grassroots groups in the U.S. need to be
> part of the international debate because much of it is shaping
> the way the country discusses immigration such as ideas as
> "managed migration".
>
> The term refers to immigration considered in the context of
> economic development for the receiving country and goes in line
> with the idea of temporary guest worker programmes, he said.
>
> "Money can move in seconds just anywhere in the world, while
> people cannot," said Liepollo Pheko from the Trades Collective
> based in Johannesburg, who spoke about the negative impacts of
> trade agreements on African countries.
>
> "We should migrate with our humanity, with our dignity. We
> should migrate with our right to work, with our right to
> housing, our right to shelter, our right to freedom of
> expression, whatever it is that we reside with in our countries
> of origin," she added.
>
> (FIN/2010)
>

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