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.