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.
In response to President Calderón's meeting with President Obama and address to Congress, LAWG, WOLA, and our counterparts in Mexico issued a joint statement urging our respective elected officials to move beyond the empty platitudes that typically characterize such meetings and instead capitalize on this historic visit to make concrete and meaningful commitments to transform the rhetoric of shared responsibility into reality. Given the shared challenges posed by organized crime, arms trafficking and illicit drug use, it is critical that both countries move beyond ineffective and worn-out strategies and propose concrete, comprehensive solutions to address the root causes of these problems.
There are some memories you never forget, and some of those memories may even change the course of your life. I’ll never forget the excitement of seeing my first National Football League game. A twelve year old at the time, my father and I glimpsed perfection in the Metrodome of Minneapolis as the Minnesota Vikings embarrassed the Chicago Bears by a score of 48-22 – my fate was sealed as a life-long Vikings fan.
Then my family moved to Arizona – so I tried to acclimate as best I could by making the Phoenix Suns my basketball team. But with the proximity of the U.S.-Mexico border beckoning for my acknowledgment of reality, I suddenly found myself seated in a circle with the women and children of Lomas del Poleo, listening to their struggle with the injustices of minimalist wages and blatant civil and human rights violations committed against women both as they work in and travel to the maquiladoras that figure ever so prominently along the Mexican landscape that bumps up against the international line.
The early months of 2010 have been a roller-coaster of anticipation and
tension within the immigration debate. Expectations were running high in
March when a Senators Schumer and Graham released
a framework for reform days before crowds of over
200,000–unified in their chants of “immigration reform now” – gathered
blocks from the capitol.
Weeks later, a heat wave of anger erupted when Arizona Governor
Jan Brewer signed SB1070, a draconian and dangerous legislation
that has sparked both swift and widespread responses.
Human rights organizations are joining together to condemn
and call for urgent
action following the horrific attacks against an international
human rights caravan in Oaxaca earlier this week.
On Tuesday, April 27th a caravan of 25 human rights observers, reporters
and teachers was ambushed
by an armed group of paramilitaries in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico.
Two members of the delegation were killed in this attack, Betty Alberta
Cariño, the director of Center for Community Support Working Together
(CACTUS) along with Tyri Antero Jaakkola, a human rights observer from
Finland, with 15 more reported
injured.
“How many years has this been going on? Why didn't they change the
way they investigate everything?” These are the questions that
linger on the mind of Irma Monreal after nearly nine years of
struggling to find a semblance of justice after her daughter, Esmeralda,
was raped, tortured and murdered in Ciudad Juárez in 2001.
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.
Earlier this week, Arizona state legislators voted in favor of legislation that – if signed into law by Governor Jan Brewer - would institutionalize discriminatory and dangerous policies by effectively pressuring 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.
Charles Bowden’s Murder City: Ciudad Juárez and the Global
Economy’s New Killing Fields is an unflinching look at the
violence on the U.S.-Mexico border and the failing solutions by both
countries to address it. With an intense sympathy for the many victims
but also a degree of understanding even for a contract killer who finds
God, the author doesn’t let the reader find comfort in anything. The
book, just published by Nation Books (New York: 2010), can be found at
your local bookstore or online distributors. Here are a few selections
from this devastating catalog of violence.
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!
