LA RAZA IS ON THE MOVE..... FOR IMMIGRATION REFORM

 

La Raza is on the move…..

By: Patricio Gomez (Mexican American Political Association)

Mass mobilizations are on the order of the day throughout the nation headed towards Washington, D.C. and for those who cannot, well, they are headed to the local federal building in their vicinity or simply the municipal city hall.  And their resounding demand is for comprehensive immigration reform NOW!  Immigrant rights coalitions or networks or alliances from this or that state, estimated 35 in all, and hundreds of cities are united to make this happen in 2013.  There is no doubt that hundreds of thousands of immigrants and their friends and family will hit the bricks to demand reform.  And, this is just the beginning.  We still have May Day, the International Workers’ Day celebrated on May 1^st, ahead of us.  Heaven help the politicians.  The only question is will these mobilizations exceed the numbers that raised their heads, fists, and voices in 2006? 

We were robbed of the possibility of immigration reform in 2006 and again in 2007 under the Bush administration.  President Obama failed us in 2008 and during the succeeding four years, his first term, instead of immigration reform we got massive La Migra raids into personal homes, mass deportations, expansion of E-Verify at the workplace, Secured Communities networking local police with federal authorities, and continued construction of the U.S.– Mexico border fence – begun under President Bill Clinton at the insistence of Senator Diane Feinstein.  Hey, these are all Democrats.  Can anyone seriously entertain with a straight face that they did so because of the Republicans?  I don’t think so.  That’s not to say that the Republicans were not supportive and demanding more.  They were, big time.

By the end of this year some two (2) million of our family members will be deported from the U.S.  This is greater than the 1950s under Operation Wetback, the infamous deportation military operation, under Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower, the former Five Star General and Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe during World War II.  Even the Department of Homeland Security admits that more than 65 percent of those deported have no criminal record.  Again, by close of 2013 approximately 2,450 deaths will have occurred at the border under Obama – family members attempting to reunite with their loved ones on the American side.  No one likes to talk about these statistics when it comes to a Democratic administration.  It’s down-right embarrassing when you consider that the majority of Latino voters cast in favor of candidates from this political party – tweedledee, the twin of tweedledum.

 Now comprehensive immigration reform (CIR) means different things to different folks.  President Obama’s take on CIR includes a temporary visa of 8 years along the “path to citizenship” (thirteen to fifteen years in all); a bracero-type program to accommodate big business, not just in agriculture; a more aggressive crack-down on employers for hiring undocumented workers and expansion of the E-Verify program; further militarization of the border; and he’s even throwing in the kitchen sink for good measure.  The senate version is expected to look very similar with perhaps even additional years of temporary status, and certification of border enforcement effectiveness.  The house version will be a mix between these two, however, leaning more to the right.  It’s hard to imagine moving any further.

But, the people’s version of CIR is something quite different.  Once people start marching and demanding their rights there is no telling where things will end up.  Immigrants are clamoring for legalization for all and a direct and immediate path to citizenship with minimal, but reasonable requirements.  Demands to end border militarization and interior raids can be heard in every march.  Immediate permanent residency for Dreamers is a recurring slogan.  No bracero-type programs for workers, farm laborers or others, precedes even Cesar Chavez as popular sentiment amongst immigrants even today.  Free wage labor is their cry, not indentured servitude.  Yes, these are the demands of the immigrants on the move and things look much different from 2006.

Seven years is not a long time for political organizing, however, much can certainly change.  There is also a fundamental difference between mobilizing to oppose an anti-immigrant legislation, as was the case in 2006 with HR-4437 the Sensenbrenner Bill, and marching in favor of the real prospect of immigration reform.  The people and their organizers have learned much in seven years.  If alliances were tenuous and newly created in 2006, the same have had seven years to mature and be tested with many anti-immigrant state measures, multiple election cycles, more sophisticated use of both English and Spanish media, many defiant acts of civil disobedience by Dream youth, and really important, virtual social networking, which was only in its infancy in 2006 (remember My Space).  Today, it is not possible to open a Facebook page without being introduced to a new immigrant rights coalition or Dream Team in Alabama, Georgia, Michigan, Chicago, North Carolina, Florida, not to mention the biggies of California, Texas, and New York. 

Immigrant families have the titanic battles of Arizona under their belt and the recall of the author of the nasty SB1070.  Dreamers forced the hand of Obama and we won the Deferred Action Program by executive order – a legal waiver of sorts for 1.2 million undocumented youth.  Families have withstood the humiliating separation of their brood due to Obama’s deportation policies.  And, Latino voters stupefied the Republican Party in the November presidential elections with their strong tilt for the president even surprising the White House.

Truly there is no turning back.  Once enlightened by civic action the formerly politically illiterate cannot live any longer in the same way with blinders. They have found the word and now own it.  La Raza is on the move and no one can tell where things will end up….

4/10/13 – Patricio.gomez93@yahoo.com.  Authorized to republish.  Find me on Facebook, Twitter (SinFronterasSal), and Tumblr.  http://www.mapa-ca.org/news.html

 

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