Rights For All People

Two years removed from the giant immigrant rights mobilizations of 2006, the work of resolving the painful contradictions of the U.S. immigration system continues. We have seen the failure of every immigration reform possibility, including the “Grand Compromise” that failed in June 2007 and the DREAM Act that went down in November, despite widespread agreement across the country that something must be done. Business as usual seems to work no longer. Meanwhile, in Colorado the political climate continues hostile to immigrants. Legislative and verbal attacks on undocumented immigrants in Colorado has resulted in a climate of fear and discrimination affecting the entire community, including all immigrant groups, legal permanent residents (LPRs), and citizens.

Within this milieu, two key lessons stand out:

1) The immigrant rights movement must work for the whole society and bring immigrant voices to a vision of justice for all. Not only has a previous narrowness meant that we have not been able to win what we need —an immigration system based on human rights principles—it also means that we have not effectively helped to build other broad and powerful movements for justice. Our work going forward is to ensure that our immigrant members and our allies make these connections and build on local struggles in ever-larger contexts and across issues.

2) Real policy change will need to come from the bottom. While the mobilizations of 2006 were impressive in size, they also exposed the contradictions between those marching and those working in the legislative arena to resolve the failures of the U.S. immigration system. To enact real policy changes, a larger and much broader base must be consolidated, active and vocal. Elected officials respond to an organized base. At RAP, we have grown our immigrant base and successfully launched our volunteer program, Allies in Action. We are engaging our members and our Allies in a policy campaign at the local level, in Aurora, to improve service and lessen harassment by local police. We hope to provide an alternative model of how law enforcement should deal with communities of color and immigrants. Through this campaign, we are building strategic alliances with African American communities, African immigrants and allies such as the Colorado Progressive Coalition and ACORN. We will also build relationships with more policymakers, gain credibility and experience, and apply those gains in our larger struggles at the state, regional and national levels.

American Friends Service Committee

http://www.afsc.org/immigrants-rights/learn/default.htm

American Immigration Lawyers Association

http://www.aila.org/

Migration Information Source

http://www.migrationinformation.org/

The Bell Policy Center

http://www.thebell.org/

The National Immigration Law Center

http://www.nilc.org/

The Pew Hispanic Center

http://pewhispanic.org/

The Urban Institute

http://www.justiceforimmigrants.org/myths.html (English)

http://justiceforimmigrants.org/es/myths.html (Spanish)

Immigration

TIMELINE:

1492: COLUMBUS LANDS IN THE AMERICAS

1790: NATURALIZATION ACT: Only “free white” persons are eligible to become US Citizens

1848: MEXICAN AMERICAN WAR: Mexico cedes parts of Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, California, and Colorado to the United States.

1866: CIVIL RIGHTS ACT: Grants citizenship to those born in the Unites States, except Native Americans

1880’s: Irish and Italian immigrants suffer discrimination

1882-1943: CHINESE EXCLUSION ACT: Denies citizenship to Chinese immigrants and bars their entry to the U.S.

1907: GENTLEMEN’S AGREEMENT: Forbids entry of Korean and Japanese laborers to the US

1917: All Asian immigration to the US is banned.

1918: PASSPORT ACT: Prevents arrival and departure to and from the US without documentation.

1921: QUOTA ACT: Establishes “national origins quota system” that favors European immigration.

1924: IMMIGRATION ACT: Establishes quota act that more heavily favors Northern and Western European immigration.

1929: US BORDER PATROL CREATED.

1942-1964: BRACERO PROGRAM: Millions of guest laborers from Mexico were brought to the US to fill labor shortages created by World War II. Many of these workers are still fighting for wages that are owed to them from this time.

1952: MCWARREN WALTER ACT: Eliminates racial barriers to citizenship and tightens immigration quotas.

1954: OPERATION WETBACK: More than 1 million Mexicans are deported.

1965: IMMIGRATION ACT: Eliminates race, religion, and nationality quotas for admission to the U.S. leads to increased immigration from Latin America and Asia.

1986: THE IMMIGRATION REFORM AND CONTROL ACT: Gives amnesty to approx. 3million undocumented immigrants. Makes it illegal for employers to hire undocumented workers.

1996: THE ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION REFORM AND IMMIGRATION RESPONSIBILITY ACT & ANTI-TERRORISM AND EFFECTIVE DEATHPENALTY ACT: Allows deportation of immigrants for minor crimes. Monetary and medical assistance ends for most immigrants. Increases jailing of non-violent and non-criminal immigrants.

2001: THE PATRIOT ACT: Gives the federal government the power to detain suspected “terrorists” for unspecified amounts of time without legal representation.

2003: Department of Homeland Security takes over responsibility for immigration enforcement and security. The INS becomes ICE.