Immigration reform we can be proud of

By Kendra Anderson, OneAmerica Organizer

We are faced with a moral crisis in our country because of the irresponsible inaction of our federal government in the face of our broken immigration system. Not updated for decades, our current system simply does not make sense for families or businesses across the nation and in Washington State. We are penalizing hardworking immigrants who are needed for our economy to function, and we are tearing apart families who want only to be together—simply because we lack the courage to fix the underlying system to allow people to come in legally.

In light of this moral crisis, OneAmerica is working on the ground with communities across Washington State as part of a national campaign for comprehensive immigration reform including:
• Legalization and a path to citizenship for the 12 million undocumented immigrants who are here;
• Family reunification and a clearing of the backlogs of applications for those who have applied legally for their family members and yet must endure cruelly long waits to be reunited;
• Full worker protections, and
• Due process and fairness in the immigration system.

We stand united as faith leaders, union members, retired people, veterans, teachers, lawyers, and community members in solidarity with the millions who contribute both to our communities and to our economy while being denied full access to either.

In fact, numerous reports show that immigrants, including those who are undocumented, not only make a substantial contribution to our economy, but could help lift us out of the recession. The Center for American Progress estimates that passing comprehensive immigration reform that includes creating a pathway to legal status for unauthorized immigrants would yield at least $1.5 trillion in cumulative U.S. gross domestic product over 10 years. And in 2009, here in Washington State, the purchasing power of Asians totaled $16.6 billion and that of Latinos $13.4 billion, the Immigration Policy Center reports.

Our leaders in Washington, D.C. continue to do nothing. Both President Obama and the Republicans propose enforcement-only or “secure the border first” strategies that are wasteful, that do not make us safer, and that cost lives. A comprehensive immigration reform bill has been introduced in the House, but leaders there are waiting for the Senate to move on a bill discussed by Senators Chuck Schumer and Lindsey Graham last spring. And like families across the country, we keep waiting.

But we’re also taking action. Early this year, OneAmerica helped launch the Washington Immigration Reform Coalition (WIRC) FOR America, more than 60 organizations, representing unions and faith communities across the state, working together to pass national reform this year. WIRC has marched in the nation’s capitol, held rallies across Washington State, met with key congressional members, collected thousands of petition signatures, and engaged in civil disobedience actions in downtown Seattle.

And the Puget Sound Alliance for Retired Americans is playing an active part in our success.

To get involved with WIRC in upcoming actions for immigration reform across the state, please contact Kendra@weareoneamerica.org, Join us as we keep fighting for immigration reform we can be proud of.

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39 hours on a bus for immigration reform

Fifty Washington and Idaho residents rode a bus 39 hours on Memorial Day weekend to join an estimated 50,000 people in Phoenix in a protest against Senate Bill 1070, Arizona’s infamous anti-immigrant law.

The 50 from the Northwest peacefully occupied Senator John McCain’s Phoenix office until a McCain staffer met with them and promised to try to arrange a face-to-face meeing with the senator.

The delegation joined a massive march to the capitol, rallying for comprehensive immigration reform. It was one of 40 such actions taking place simultaneously in cities across the country during a “National Day of Action Against SB 1070.”

The delegation included members of OneAmerica, Casa Latina, Service Employees Local 775, Washington CAN and Idaho CAN.

Turning up the heat for immigration reform

Comprehensive immigration reform! In the national spotlight because of the recent racist enactment in Arizona, the issue has already sent hundreds of thousands of protesters into the streets of Seattle and other U.S. cities, including our nation’s capital.

Yet immigrants continue to be deported at the rate of a thousand a day, tearing families apart and compelling millions to live in fear.

And with honorable exceptions, most members of Congress have barely stirred -- and President Obama has yet to provide the necessary aggressive leadership.

Accordingly, the reform movement nationally, and the Washington Immigration Reform Coalition (WIRC) in this state, are ratcheting up the pressure, bringing into play a tactic that created the climate for the enactment of the Civil Rights Act: Non-violent civil disobedience.

Seattle advocates joined their counterparts in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Tucson, Detroit, San Francisco and Washington, DC, in inviting arrest for blocking traffic on busy streets and disrupting business in buildings that house immigration-related government offices.

“Throughout history,” WIRC declared, “advocates have used civil disobedience – or peaceful, non-violent action – to bring about change in the face of injustice, including Martin Luther King, Jr., Gandhi, and Ceaar Chavez.”

In Seattle, the police for undisclosed reasons refrained from arresting the 30 or so activists who first blocked the elevators leading to the immigrant courts in a building at 2009 2nd Avenue, and then blocked traffic at three busy intersections on Madison Street.

Among those who vainly invited arrest was Puget Sound Alliance President Robby Stern. A dozen other PSARA members were among the 250 who rallied at the nearby Federal Building before marching to support those who planned civil disobedience.

“We tried,” said Pramila Jayapal, executive director of the immigrant advocacy organization OneAmerioca. “Next time, we’ll be looking at something bigger.”

At our deadline, “something bigger” was already in the works. A delegation from Washington and Idaho was en route to Phoenix for a weekend of events challenging SB 1070, the anti-immigrant bill signed into law by Governor Jan Brewer on April 23. The Northwest delegation will join tens of thousands from throughout Arizona and the rest of the country In a 5-mile march to the state capitol for a huge protest rally with music and a roster of speakers from the faith, labor and civil rights movements.

A message from 8,000 throats

The message that roared from more than 8,000 throats was simple enough for the most obtuse member of Congress to understand:
“Comprehensive immigration reform now!”
The occasion was the spirited, banner-bedecked April 10 rally in Seattle’s Occidental Park, organized by the Washington Immigration Reform Coalition (WIRC), an umbrella group of 60 labor, faith, business, community and student organizations.
The Puget Sound Alliance for Retired Americans was represented with a contingent and its colorful banner.
The crowd was swelled by several thousand who arrived in 75 chartered buses from Walla Walla, Mattawa, Kennewick, Yakima, Vancouver, Bellingham and Mount Vernon.
The Seattle rally was one of the largest and most diverse of events delivering the same message on the same day in several cities. More than a thousand Asian Pacific Islander Americans took part, together with Latinos and Africans, as well as substantial numbers of workers wearing their union T-shirts and jackets.
The campaign was given a further boost with demonstrations on Saturday, May 1.
The coalition is demanding enactment of legislation that first legalizes millions of undocumented immigrants, and then creates a clear system for workers to enter the U.S. with full labor protections.
“Patience is wearing thin for families torn apart by raids and deportations,” Pramila Jaypal, executive director of OneAmerica, told the crowd. “Millions who have tried to apply legally for family members to join them here wait – cruelly – for decades.
“Workers can no longer tolerate abusive employers who manipulate them because of their undocumented status, and good employers can no longer wait for workers to fill the tough jobs they have open. American workers should not be subjected to a two-tiered wage system that doesn’t serve anyone,” Jaypal said.

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Immigration reform rally April 10

At noon Saturday, April 10, thousands will mass at Seattle’s Occidental Park to call for comprehensive reform of our country’s unjust and ineffective immigration laws.

Sponsored by the Washington Immigration Reform Coalition for America (WIRC4America), the demonstration is one of many across the U.S. with a common theme: We’ve waited long enough! Reform immigration laws now!

As part of the coalition, the Puget Sound Alliance for Retired Americans is urging its members to swell the throng at the Occidental Park rally.

The April 10 rallies follow a giant mobilization on the same issue at the nation’s capital on March 21. With marchers massed the full length of the Mall, from the Capitol to the Washington Monument, crowd estimates ranged from 200,000 to 500,000. A delegation from Washington State represented diverse countries of origin, faiths and native languages, coming from Mount Vernon, Mattawa, Yakima, Vancouver, Issaquah, Tacoma and Seattle.

Speaking at that event, Representative Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) voiced the crowd’s demand for action.

“We’ve listened quietly. We’ve asked politely,” Gutierrez said. “We’ve turned the other cheek so many times our heads are spinning.”

Gutierrez has introduced the Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America’s Security and Prosperity Act. It addresses security issues, protecting fundamental rights for all, a rational and humane approach to undocumented immigrants, ensuring appropriate ways for workers to enter the U.S. legally, allocating sufficient visas, keeping families together and reducing immigrant backlogs.

In the Senate, Democrat Charles E. Schumer of New York and Republican Lindsey Graham of South Carolina are jointly crafting an immigration reform bill.

The legislation would include a path toward citizenship for the 10.8 million people living in the U.S. without papers. Undocumented workers would have to register, pay taxes and meet other requirements.

President Obama has pledged support for comprehensive reform, but until now has been involved with the long struggle over health care. Advocates are urging him to make a similar commitment to the cause of the nation’s immigrant families.

Among the bill’s supporters in Congress, there is consensus that the legislation must move by April or early May, before attention shifts to the November elections, to have a chance of passage this year.

April 10 rally for immigration reform

A rally for comprehensive immigration reform will be held in Seattle Saturday, April 10, part of a nationwide campaign to spur Congressional action on the issue.

Planning for the April 10 event was at an early stage at our deadline. We will post details on our website – www.psara.org -- as they become available and will carry a full report in the April issue of The Retiree Advocate.

The campaign for the enactment of comprehensive reform legislation will be highlighted by a national “March for America” in Washington, DC, on Sunday, March 21. Its twin themes: “Immigration Reform for New American Families” and “Economic Justice for All American Families.”

In Seattle, a broad coalition assembled on the initiative of OneAmerica has begun planning for the April 10 rally. The Puget Sound Alliance for Retired Americans will be an active participant, PSARA President Robby Stern said.

Representative Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) has introduced the Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America’s Security and Prosperity Act (CIR ASAP). The measure creates a path for undocumented immigrants to come forward and regularize their status. It would also create an independent commission to assess and manage the future flow of immigrants based on the legitimate needs of the labor market.

Speaking in strong support of the Gutierrez bill, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said the nation “can no longer allow a broken immigration system to strip workers of their rights on the job.”

Trumka said the current system robs workers of earned pay, denies them collective bargaining rights, and often compels them to work in hazardous conditions.

Momentum for Congressional action is growing. Evangelical, Catholic, Jewish and mainline Protestant leaders, joined by supportive members of Congress, announced they will host one hundred events across the country as well as organizing support for the March 21 action at the nation’s capital.

Theme for the new campaign: “Together, Not Torn: Families Can’t Wait for Immigration Reform.”

“During a time when the U.S. faces many challenges, now more than ever, our country needs immigration reform,” said Jen Smyers with Church World Service. “Families that continue to be torn apart can’t wait any longer and the faith-based voice must play an important role.”

Local Law enforcement officers are also calling on President Obama and Congress to enact comprehensive reform.

It’s not the job of local police departments to apprehend people based on their immigration status, said Sheriff Richard Wiles from El Paso County in Texas.

“There is a perception that undocumented immigrants are a bunch of criminals,” Wiles said. “It’s a fallacy, because the vast majority are here for economic reasons and seek a better life for their families.”

Yakima Police Chief Sam Granato said the current system is inhuman and immigrants should not be treated like cattle. “They’re human beings, and dividing families is just wrong,” Granato said.

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