What's happening with the current attack on Immigrant rights,
and the enormous response to it, is huge. I want to make sure you all
know about what's happening and some simple (2 minutes of your time!)
things you can do; and for those of you in the bay area, info on the
hunger strike and the Latinos Against the War march (which started in
Tijuana) is at the bottom of the email.
The Attack:
Less than three months ago, the leadership of the House of
Representatives, in a vicious act of "drive-by" legislating, rushed
through a bill that experts consider to be the most anti-immigrant
piece of legislation in the United States in 80 years.
Here are some of the lowlights of the Sensenbrenner bill, HR 4437:
11 million undocumented immigrants would be declared "aggravated
felons" for having come to this country to do back-breaking work at
low wages in order to feed their families.
Priests, nuns, health care workers and other helpers would be
threatened with jail time for assisting the undocumented.
Local police would have to enforce federal immigration laws,
undermining community policing strategies meant to build confidence
between police and immigrant communities.
Day labor sites would be shut down by federal law, overruling the hard
work of activists and enlightened local communities attempting to
solve problems caused in part by Congressional inaction on
comprehensive immigration reform.
Seven hundred miles of walls would be built between the United States
and our friendly neighbors to the south, an act that has touched off a
diplomatic crisis with Latin America.
The bill has been sent to the Senate and is expected to reach the
senate floor as early as Tuesday, 3/28.
For more information about the specifics of this bill, check out these links:
http://www.immigrantrights.org/sensenbrenner.asp
http://www.borderangels.org
http://www.stopgatekeeper.org
http://www.ilrc.org/HR4437.html
http://www.aclu.org/safefree/general...s20051208.html
Resistance:
Over the past week, hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the
streets all over the country in protest of, and resistance to, this
bill.
Here's some links:
Saturday's Immigrant Rights March: Who kicked the sleeping giant?
http://english.epochtimes.com/news/6-3-17/39430.html
Record crowd of 500,000 protests proposed federal crackdown
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la...home-headlines
SF activists on hunger strike for undocumented immigrants
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercu...s/14186708.htm
Immigrant Rights Protests Spread -- New Chapter in Civil Rights Movement
http://news.pacificnews.org/news/vie...13e8d8114e0022
Immigrants Rising
http://www.alternet.org/story/34002/
'A Day Without Latinos' in Milwaukee
http://www.madison.com/tct/news/inde...=77487&ntpid=2
Over 500,000 Protest Anti-Immigrant Law in Downtown Los Angeles
http://la.indymedia.org/
Hunger Strike and Week of Actions to Stop Anti-Immigrant Bills
http://www.indybay.org/archives/arch...category_id=56
Catholics organizing against HR 4437:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/03/op...rssnyt&emc=rss
http://www.justiceforimmigrants.org/HR4437.html
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
1) make a simple call to the senate…
Call Senator Frist:
I OPPOSE Senator Frist's decision to bypass the Judiciary Committee and
put his enforcement-only bill on the Senate floor!
I SUPPORT reform that provides legalization, protects the rights of
workers, and unites families.
SENATOR BILL FRIST: Washington, D.C. 202-224-3344 or Nashville, TN
615-352-9411
Senator Feinstein also needs to hear the same message: 415-393-0707
If you are outside of California, call your senators…you can find
their phone numbers at
http://www.senate.gov/general/resour...phone_list.pdf
If you are not in the SF Bay area, I'd suggest checking your local imc
(indymedia.org) or other social justice centers; there's a good chance
there is organizing against this bill going on in your community.
If you are in the Bay area, tomorrow, Monday March 27, there are
several events to check out.
First of all, the Hunger strike that has been happening all week at
the Federal Building in San Francisco (check out
http://www.immigrantrights.org/hunger_strike.asp for more info) …will
conclude with a march at 11 am from the Federal Building (450 Golden
Gate @ Larkin) to Dianne Feinstein's office (Market and Montgomery)
and a Press event/rally at noon at Market and Montgomery.
The Hunger strikers will be joined at noon by the Latino War Resisters
march, which began in Tijuana, and concludes on Monday at Dolores
park; the schedule of events and a link for more info is below.
The schedule for the Latno War Resisters March on March 27th will be as follows:
7:30 am Fruitvale BART, Oakland
8:05 am Blessing at St. Elizabeth's on 34th Ave.
10:30 am Rally at Laney College (BART across Bay)
12 noon Montgomery & Market, SF - Join Immigrant Rights Hunger Strike
3:15 pm Brief stop at Mission High School, 18th & Dolores
5 pm Dolores Park - Culminating Ceremony
The March for Peace is a 241-mile march which aims to ensure that the Latino
voice for opposition to the war is heard across America. Fernando Suarez del
Solar, Pablo Paredes, Camilo Meija, and Aidan Delgado will lead marchers in
a quest for peace, which started from Tijuana, Mexico, on March 12th.
More info:
http://www.guerreroazteca.org/
The joining of the hunger strikers against HR 4437 and the Latino vets
against the war is an obvious and inspiring connecting of issues. This
is a great space to come out against the war and for justice for
immigrants. Lots of immigrant communities plan to turn out for the
march that begins at Mission high at 3:15. Those of us who are
descendants of European immigrants should turn out, too!
Against War! For Immigrant Justice!
