by Brian Erickson & Jennifer Johnson
on May 26, 2010
May 27, 2010 – SPECIAL UPDATE: The Senate Rejected Border Amendments that Would Have Resulted In More of the Same. Today, all 3 “border security first” or “enforcement-only” amendments were defeated during debate on a supplemental appropriations package. Thanks to all who called and took a stand for sensible solutions for the SW border region!Now we need to see the President and Congress get serious about comprehensive reform and long-term solutions – not quick fix ‘solutions’ like military hardware - to address organized crime related violence in Mexico – efforts that should include strengthening the judicial system, improved accountability for the police and robust protection of human rights. Rather than offering serious solutions, some policymakers have offered more of the same, band-aid, window dressing measures that score political points but don’t solve the problem. That includes President Obama’s decision, announced earlier this week, to send 1,200 National Guardsmen to the border. His decision directly contradicted the facts and what his own administration has been saying for months. Sending the National Guard to the border will not solve our immigration crisis.
Your senators need to hear from you NOW to halt efforts to further militarize the U.S.-Mexico border region. We understand that the Senate will be voting TODAY on a trio of harmful amendments seeking to expand misguided, enforcement-only approaches along our Southern border.
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by Brian Erickson
on December 09, 2009
Director of The 800 Mile Wall, John Carlos Frey, is asking all the right questions of our U.S.-Mexico border.
"Do we need to spend billions of dollars on fencing and technology?
Does it work? Should the thousands of migrant lives lost on U.S. soil
be recognized and taken into account? Should we do anything about the
deaths? Is there a solution?"
If you're wondering when the opportunity will arise to demand that our
legislators begin asking these questions, the time is now!
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by Brian Erickson & Jennifer Johnson
on April 20, 2010
We don't typically take action on state-level legislation. However, we find a bill recently passed by Arizona's state legislature and currently on its way to Governor Jan Brewer's desk –- SB1070 –- so dangerously misguided that we feel we cannot sit back silently. And you shouldn't either!If allowed to pass into law by Gov. Brewer, SB 1070 would effectively force police to engage in racial profiling, criminalize unauthorized migrants for 'trespassing' into Arizona, and permit anyone to sue local agencies if they believe that the law isn't being adequately enforced. Such policies are as sweeping as they are dangerous.
by Vanessa Kritzer
on October 21, 2009
 As a newcomer to the LAWG team, and inside the beltway advocacy, I have
been surprised over the last few months to learn what it actually takes
to achieve the change we want. Before I started, I assumed that if we
could simply bring the facts about real people who are suffering as a
result of U.S. policies in countries like Mexico and Colombia, we could
make it happen. But it turns out that there's so much more that goes on
in DC every day than I could have anticipated.
Read more »
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by Brian Erickson & Jennifer Johnson
on April 05, 2010
If you ascribe to the old saying that "actions speak louder than
words," then March 21st, 2010 may become a historic moment. On that
day, an estimated 200,000 plus families, students and concerned
individuals from Delaware to Oregon participated in the "March
for America" in Washington D.C. to remind Congress and
President Obama that we're tired of empty promises and want to see
action towards immigration reform - and we want to see it now!
by Lisa Haugaard, Vanessa Kritzer, and Jenny Johnson
on October 09, 2009
They don't get it... yet.
Although we now have new leadership in Washington, they still don't
understand what they need to do to stand up for human rights. They
think that by saying more about the importance of human rights and
democracy than the Bush Administration did, they are making progress.
But we know that until they actually change U.S. policies to support
victims of violence in places like Mexico and Colombia, they will
continue to be a part of the problem, not the solution.
Now, if we can get them to hear what we hear from people in Mexico and
Colombia and know what we know, they might change their tune.
So, this month we are launching a "Human Rights NOW" campaign, which will use innovative tactics to get them to make human rights come first in U.S. policy.
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