by Nativo Lopez Sunday, Jun. 18, 2006 at 8:32 PM
Email: NLopez@hermandadmexicana.org
714-423-4800
611 Civic Center Drive
Santa Ana, CA 92701
The Western Regional Conference brought together members of the March 25th Coalition yesterday at the United Teachers of Los Angeles building.
Los Angeles, CA – The Western Regional Conference brought together members of the March 25th Coalition yesterday at the United Teachers of Los Angeles building. There were three main takeaways: 1) unanimity in repudiating the Hagel-Martinez Compromise bill; 2) unison, formation of a statewide steering committee, and development of a plan of action; and 3) will try to defeat Hagel-Martinez in Conference Committee or before. The common denominator among the attendees was that all of them played pivotal roles in mobilizing millions of people into the streets during the past four months against the Sensenbrenner bill (H.R.4437) and continue to oppose the Hagel-Martinez “Compromise” Senate bill (S.2611). A national conference has been scheduled for July.
“The response from the March 25th Coalition has been tremendous and I commend all of those who attended—especially those from other states,” said March 25th Organizer and HML National Director/MAPA National President, Nativo V. Lopez. “More than ever, we are committed to defeating the Hagel-Martinez and will spend the next several weeks educating people on its demerits and how it is bad for America.”
All told, an estimated 300-plus people attended the conference, including state Senator Gilbert Cedillo (D-Los Angeles). Below is a partial list of the speakers on the agenda:
David Bacon – Author; Javier Rodriguez – March 25th Coalition Founder; Gonzalo Santos – Sociology Professor & Co-Founder of the Kern Coalition for Immigrant’s Rights; Peter Schey – Immigrant Rights lawyer; Isabel Rodriguez – Immigrant Rights lawyer; Chito Quijano – BAYAN Los Angeles; Gloria Saucedo – Hermandad Mexicana of Panorama City; Mario Brito – Day Laborers; Rene Saucedo; Ramon Sanchez – Alianza Hondurena; Jose Sandoval – Voluntarios de la Comunidad of San Jose; Felipe Aguirre of Comite Pro-Uno; Sarah Knopp – UTLA; Ramon Cardona – Centro Latino Cuzcatlan and May 1st Coalition; Olga Miranda – SEIU Local 87; and Nativo Lopez – Hermandad Mexicana Latinoamericana and MAPA.
“A lot of ink and airtime has been spent talking about how anti-immigrant fervor has been galvanized by recent public actions,” said Nativo Lopez. “But if this conference is any indication, support for the March 25th agenda is growing and multifaceted. We are mobilizing against the Hagel-Martinez bill, the criminalization of undocumented labor and the militarization of the border; and we are working for full and immediate legalization.”
Below are a summary of results/resolutions from yesterday’s conference:
1. Over 300 delegates attended the conference held at the office of the United Teachers of Los Angeles, the second largest teacher’s union for a specific school district in the U.S. (an estimated 40,000 members). Delegates included representatives of unions, student and youth organizations, and community based-organizations;
2. The UTLA endorsed the conference and the March 25th Coalition, and is actively involved in the work of the coalition. The union recently resolved to initiate a broad education campaign with the coalition to discuss the immigration issue with the Los Angeles community, and raise the issue of governance of the LAUSD;
3. The conference unanimously endorsed the resolution to repudiate the Senate version of immigration reform, S.2611, popularly known as the Hagel-Martinez Bill, as a Sensenbrenner-like measure full of enforcement provisions and inadequate legalization provisions;
4. The conference delegates were completely united in pursuing a strategy to defeat S.2611 and H.R.4437 over the next several months before both bills reach the congressional conference committee;
5. The conference resolved to establish a state-wide coordinating committee comprised of delegates from all local immigration coalitions working in California and organize regional organizing conferences in San Diego, San Francisco, Coachella, and Fresno over the next nine months; a national immigration organizing conference to establish a national coordinating committee between all regional coalitions will be convened in Chicago, Illinois in the month of July 2006;
6. The conference delegates approved of a series of mass actions in defense of all immigrants, which include:
a) National Immigration Teach-In on July 15th (to explain the nature of S.2611);
b) Amnesty Truth Tour (to build consensus within the immigrant communities in favor of full and immediate legalization for all);
c) March for Immigrant Worker’s Rights on Labor Day in alliance with the labor movement – on September 4th;
d) Popular Referendum of Consultation within the immigrant communities with regard to the immigration bills and the performance of federal legislators in relation to the immigration issue – the results of which will be revealed at the culmination of the consultation on November 7, 2006, date of the national general elections.
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Nativo V. Lopez is currently the National Director of Hermandad Mexicana Latinoamericana (HML) and the National President of the Mexican American Political Association (MAPA). Both charges require of him full-time advocacy for the civil, human, labor, and immigrant rights of Mexicans, Mexican Americans, and Latinos throughout the United States. He has dedicated his life to these causes since his years as a high school student where he founded the first student movement organization, United Mexican American Students (UMAS). He was born in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles in 1951 to Mexican American parents, and is of both eighth-generation native U.S. born and immigrant stock. Mr. Lopez met the legendary immigrant organizer, leader, and advocate, Humberto “Bert” Corona, in 1971 and worked with him in various capacities for thirty years with the organizations Center for Autonomous Social Action (CASA), Hermandad Mexicana, and MAPA. He is a member of the March 25th Coalition and a lead organizer in the “Great March of March 25,” the “National Day of Action for Immigrant Justice” on April 10th and “Great American/Day Without Immigrants Boycott” on May 1st.
The Mexican American Political Association, a multi-partisan advocacy organization, was founded in Fresno, California in 1963 and has chapters throughout California. It is dedicated to the constitutional and democratic principles of political freedom and representation for the Mexican, Mexican-American and Latino people in the United States. For more information, visit the MAPA website at http://www.MAPA.org.
Hermandad Mexicana Latinoamericana (National Mexican Latin American Brotherhood), an advocacy organization for immigrants, was created in 1951 to achieve the development and integration of Latino immigrants that live in the United States. It is dedicated to improving economic and social opportunities of immigrants and their families, and maintains that a better future for children is an inalienable right. For more information, visit the HML website at http://www.HermandadMexicana.com.
The March 25th Coalition is comprised of many groups, including but not limited to, labor, community-based, and immigrant rights organizations. Jesse Diaz, Nativo Lopez, Javier Rodriguez, Jorge Rodriguez and Gloria Saucedo are the official spokespersons. The Coalition has called on religious, labor, and community groups, as well as the immigrant communities nationally, to participate in recent pro-immigrant rallies and marches; these include the following: Great March of March 25, April 10th National Day of Action, and the May 1st “Day Without Immigrants” Great American Boycott.
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March 10th Movement
Regional Meeting of Immigrant Organizations
May 20, 2006
http://www.mapa.org/Secondary/poliStatemt-Eng.htm
Political Statement
Immigrant organizations, unions, student organizations, peace and justice groups, and other social groups of civil society declare our unity in the fight for human rights, civil rights, and labor rights for all immigrants, workers and other minorities or oppressed groups.
In the same way, we reject the current bills that until now have been presented in the U.S. Senate on the part of both Republican and Democrat parties, as well as [rejecting] the ?negotiated? deals on a possible immigration policy reform.
In these past months, at a national level, civic organizations have clearly called for political alternatives that allow the 12 million undocumented immigrants to lead a life of dignity, to be recognized as an integral part of the social fabric that contributes to the economy of this country.
On May 1, 2006, mobilizations succeeded in breaking the barriers of the border. Other countries, like Mexico, El Salvador, and Poland joined the movement of immigrant workers in the United States. Thus it became a worldwide movement for justice for international workers.
The U.S. government is now seeking a "bipartisan deal" on immigration legislation during an electoral year. We consider this pact to be none other than a new version of H.R. 4437 approved in the House of Representatives at the end of 2005. These proposals continue to divide our community, and they all leave millions of undocumented immigrants without alternatives.
While there has been a lack of proposals with serious long-term solutions to the issue of immigration, either documented or undocumented, in the United States, at the same time the government has initiated acts of intimidation, such as selective raids, against the immigrant community, to sow fear and to stop the mass mobilizations that are demanding real solutions.
Considering the aforementioned, the signatory organizations have met in Chicago to create this Statement of the Immigrant Movement 2006.
We immigrants are not a "problem." We are the answer to an expanding economy that requires more workers than it produces in the United States.
The problem is that the judicial system has not advanced at the same pace as the economic expansion. The judicial system does not offer, in a timely and orderly way, the visas and work permits it demands of millions of foreign workers.
The process of migration, especially in the two last decades, has taken on greater dynamism as a product of the reorganization of capital. Capital moves beyond borders, but not its workforce. The role of lowering labor costs to benefit the economy has been reserved for the immigrant workforce. The undocumented worker is situated on a most flexible and precarious edge, giving rise to extreme forms of labor exploitation.
Therefore, to solve the situation of millions of undocumented workers
WE CALL FOR:
1) The legalization of all immigrants
We demand permanent legal residence, with the option of citizenship, for those who want it, within the period of four years as indicated in the last changes to [immigration] law. This permanent legal residence should be offered to all undocumented immigrants living in this country at the time the law is passed.
Permanent legal residence should be extended not only to those "who work and pay taxes," but also to family members living in the United States. At the same time, previous pending visa applications should be immediately processed.
Likewise, permanent legal residence should be extended to those who are unable to work and pay taxes due to physical or mental disability. The right to permanent legal residence must be non-discriminatory, and therefore extended to all immigrants regardless of race, national origin, gender, sexual orientation or religion.
Any legislation that tends to liberalize border controls for trade but seeks to limit the movement of the workforce, including attempts to militarize the border, is doomed to fail.
Permanent legal residence for current undocumented immigrants should be granted within a maximum period of six months after the law is passed.
2. Residence with civil and labor rights
Permanent legal residence is the only solution to guarantee civil and labor rights for international workers.
We demand labor rights be guaranteed to all workers, present and future, without discrimination based on nationality or national origin, gender, sexual preference, language or religion. This includes wage parity, the right to organize unions, the right to strike and other forms of struggle to improve labor conditions.
In general, we demand that the United States, as part of the international economic community, subscribe and comply with the terms laid out in the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, issued by the United Nations.
The rights of all workers in the United States should include social security and health benefits, seniority for wage increases, and retirement pensions.
We reject the so-called "Patriot Act," a law that limits the civil liberties of certain segments of the population, specifically among them immigrants. This Act limits and contradicts the rights guaranteed in the precepts of the U.S. Constitution, which extends protection to all residents of the United States discriminating on the basis of immigration status.
Protection of civil liberties and labor rights for immigrants must be permanent, now and in the future.
3. Stop the deportations
In the face of mass mobilizations on behalf of immigrants at the national level, the government has used deportations as a way of menacing this first movement for civil rights of the 21st century. We denounce these selective raids as a violent tactic that has no place in the debate on immigration reform.
It is absurd to arrest and to deport immigrants that could be eligible for permanent legal residence within a few weeks or months. The current raids are a mistaken response with the aim of silencing the extensive non-violent participation of civil society on behalf of immigrants? rights.
We oppose giving local police the authority to exercise the duties of federal authorities. We reject state laws that regulate immigration issues.
We demand the immediate suspension of deportations until the debate is finished and there is a comprehensive immigration reform that solves the issue of undocumented immigration.
Liberty and Justice for All
The current proposals divide immigrants in different categories, creating a less democratic society lacking liberty and rights, and marginalizing millions of immigrant families in our communities. Legalization for all immigrants requires that their rights to liberty and justice be assured.
WE OPPOSE:
1. A guestworker program
The concept of "guestworker" arises from a tacit denial of the civil, human and labor rights of international workers. By its very nature, [a guestworker program] creates a second class of workers. It permits the institutionalization of low wages and weakens social movements and unions by preventing the organization of these workers. The current proposals in the Senate allow international workers to work for a limited time, after which they must leave the country or compete for a permanent visa.
In general, these proposals are designed to manage future migration over the long term by attending solely to the needs of the market but not to those [needs] of workers themselves. Guest workers would be nothing more than the institutionalization of a flexible workforce, without rights, and without the possibility of integration into society as a whole. Guest worker programs would divide the community, especially families, [by] destroying legal standards for wages and benefits.
We oppose the concept of guest workers and consider it a form of modern slavery. For each new job that the United States needs a new immigrant worker to fill, it should create a visa for permanent legal residency, with option for social and economic integration with citizenship, if so desired. The worker should have the option to decide if he/she stays permanently, if he/she returns to the country of origin if faced with the possibility of better employment and social opportunities. He/she should unite with the family on any side of the border.
2 The militarization of the borders
The increase in special security and surveillance forces over the years has not reduced immigration into this country. Militarization and the recent killings on the border reveal a de facto wall in response warlike impulses, without any sensitivity to human rights for immigrants.
After September 11, the borders became a focus of the "War on terrorism." Its modernization has contributed to the perception of immigrants as "possible terrorists," although entry of terrorists has never been detected, and ?security of the borders" has not been justified.
The extreme border security between Mexico and United States has only benefited international military arms companies and corporations. They have transformed this area into a territory of arms testing which subsequently have been used in the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.
On the other hand, the business of human trafficking has benefited. [The border] has created a flourishing industry that does not benefit immigrants, the economy nor societies on either side of the border.
Immigration is a product of the international re-organization of capital, of work and of production. In countries that export workers, social, political, and economic instability are the sources of the migratory process, and the offer of jobs in the United States is its complement.
Since 1994, since the so-called ?Operation Gatekeeper? was put into effect, the balance has been negative. The massive militarization of the border with Mexico has only resulted in continuous human rights violations and [loss of] lives in that region. On the other hand, we call for the achievement of international agreements ensuring immigrants? rights will be respected.
We demand an end to wasting resources on increased border militarization. Just the opposite ? we believe that the $1.9 billion the government and Congress wish to spen on this enterprise should be invested in creating or expanding immigration offices. The slow process of applying for residence and citizenship can be speeded up in this way.
Finally, militarization of the border is a response to manipulation for electoral and economic ends. It feeds into the racist and xenophobic character into which the immigration debate has degenerated.
Our Commitments:
1) Our commitment is to consolidate and maintain a permanent, independent movement with unity at the national level. [We must] serve the immigrant community to fight to improve living conditions in all aspects ? human, economic and social.
2) Our commitment is to present clear legislative proposals as alternatives to the Democrat and Republican bipartisan initiatives, which do not offer just alternatives to immigrants and their families.
3) Our commitment is to educate the community about the proposals before Congress today, and about alternatives that truly would be satisfactory to immigrants and would not divide families and communities.
4) Our commitment as a movement is education of people about political, labor and civil rights. This allows for the creation of a long-term movement that does not end with legislative proposals.
5) Our commitment is to not accept proposals for immigration reform laws that divide families, that divide immigrants by [assigning] preference for nationality, and that do not legalize all undocumented immigrants.
6) Our commitment is to seek unity of the community at the regional and national levels [by] establishing clear political alternatives that benefit immigrants, [by] creating coalitions, [by] holding conferences and organizing mobilizations together and in solidarity with one another.
7) Our commitment is to continue mobilizing and organizing in workplaces, in schools and in communities. We will form hundreds of brigades for discussion and dissemination of our movement?s legal and political alternatives.
8) Our commitment is to take up a national and international campaign to lead the United States to sign the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, issued by the United Nations.
Proposals and Actions
1. We propose to hold open meetings in the communities to explain the current (and future) proposals and bills, the advisability or complications [of the bills] for families, as well as [holding discussions] about health care, education, and in general, about the rights of immigrants.
2. We propose holding a National Conference of Immigrants in Chicago, in July of 2006, to consolidate the discussion on legislation and on grassroots actions, and to consolidate the movement as an alternative to traditional agencies, which are created to provide services, not to struggle.
3. We propose immediately calling for an international conference on immigration in 2007.
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Humane-Rights-Agenda Blog
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De Todos Para Todos Blog
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