The US Must Take Responsibility for Asylum Seekers and the History That Drives Them

Photo: Pedro Pardo, AFP/Getty Images

Anyone who has followed the history of US involvement in Latin America and the Caribbean knows that the current crises in the region are absolutely “our problem.”

By David L. Wilson, Truthout

November 10, 2018

Most people are capable of holding two or more conflicting ideas on any given issue. Immigration is no exception.

A large segment of the US public was horrified in May and June when they saw the Trump administration snatching toddlers away from Central American mothers who arrived at the US border seeking asylum. Many would still be appalled if they knew that the White House is seeking to continue the practice in a different form. Most undoubtedly feel genuine sympathy for young people trying to escape violent gangs or abusive partners. Still, a lot of these same sympathetic Americans don’t actually want the asylum seekers to come here.

https://truthout.org/articles/us-must-take-responsibility-for-asylum-seekers-and-their-history/

How can we make “Abolish ICE” a Reality?

Two of the immigrant rights movement’s historic demands provide a basis for actually closing the agency, and beyond that for building a movement to demand more fundamental changes.

By David L. Wilson, MR Online

October 25, 2018

Over the past few months immigrant rights activism has come to be defined largely by a demand to “abolish ICE.” The drive to close down Immigration and Customs Enforcement—a Department of Homeland Security agency responsible for internal enforcement of immigration laws—has figured in headlines, garnered support from activists and a few Democratic politicians, and provoked furious denunciations from conservatives. But despite the attention there seems to be little agreement on what’s meant by the phrase, or on how to turn it into a reality.[...]

Read the full article:

https://mronline.org/2018/10/25/how-can-we-make-abolish-ice-a-reality/

DSA members protest in New York, June 2018. Photo: Marty Goodman

No More Compromises: We Need Immigration Amnesty Now!

By David L. Wilson, Truthout
September 6, 2018

In mid-April, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) carried out a six-day operation in the New York metropolitan area, detaining a total of 225 people.

One month later, a young US citizen named Augustina stood in Manhattan’s Foley Square, a few hundred feet from ICE’s regional headquarters, and told a crowd of journalists and supporters how the series of raids — code-named “Operation Keep Safe” — had impacted her and her family. Claiming they were police, ICE agents “welcomed themselves in” at the family’s East Harlem apartment, she said, and led away her diabetic mother, who had lived in the United States for more than 30 years. As the oldest citizen left in the family, Augustina was now having to file for guardianship of her 12-year-old sister.

The media had covered the number of immigrants arrested in the April raid, Augustina noted, but not how it had affected their friends and relatives. “We’re not just numbers,” she said. “When will our undocumented families be recognized as human beings?”[…]

Read the full article:

https://truthout.org/articles/no-more-compromises-we-need-immigration-amnesty-now/

A daughter hugs her immigrant mother. Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images

Trump Welcomes Immigrants, but Only if They Can Be Exploited

After three years of telling his base that he “puts American jobs first,” surely Trump wouldn’t try to expand the guest worker programs — or would he?

By David L. Wilson, Truthout

July 31, 2018

The US mainstream media had two competing events to cover the night of April 28: the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington, DC, and a Trump rally in Macomb County, Michigan, a predominantly white working-class suburb of Detroit. Journalists mainly focused on the dinner, but the more important story may have been a remark President Trump made in the course of his 80-minute speech at the rally.

As reported by the immigration-restrictionist Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), around 33 minutes into his talk, Trump began praising guest worker programs. “For the farmers it’s going to get really good,” he started.[...]

Read the full article:

https://truthout.org/articles/trump-welcomes-immigrants-but-only-if-they-can-be-exploited/

An H-2A guest worker picks oranges. Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Escraches Come North: “Incivility” or an End to Impunity?

It’s hard to say now what direction the protests will take, but they could turn out to be the U.S. version of Argentina’s escraches. Someday members of our political elite may finally have to answer for their crimes in front of a judge and a jury.

By David L. Wilson, MR Online

June 29, 2018

Seven years of military dictatorship in Argentina ended in 1983, but the regime’s officers remained a powerful force. The newly formed democratic government tried to appease them by passing two laws that granted almost total impunity for the junta’s many crimes: the “disappearance” of as many as 30,000 people, systematic torture, the dumping of live detainees from airplanes, and the practice of seizing the children of murdered activists and handing them over to childless military couples.

In the mid-1990s many of the survivors began fighting back against the impunity.[...]

Read the full article:

https://mronline.org/2018/06/29/escraches-come-north-incivility-or-an-end-to-impunity/

"Prison for the torturer": confronting Astiz. Photo: Clarin/AFP

Roseanne, Immigration, and the Unasked Question

[T]here’s a second way the elite can exploit immigrant workers—as scapegoats. When people like Dan and Roseanne complain about their economic problems, the superrich and their hired propagandists point their fingers at undocumented immigrants.

By David L. Wilson, MR Online

June 18, 2018

On May 8, a few weeks before its cancellation, the popular sitcom Roseanne devoted an episode to immigration.

The main focus was on the title character’s anit-Muslim prejudices, but the plot hinged on a problem for Roseanne’s husband, a construction contractor: his loss of drywall installation work to a rival who employs undocumented immigrants. “I got underbid on Al’s job,” Dan, the husband, explains to Roseanne. “He’s using illegals… It ain’t right, Rosie. These guys are so desperate they’ll work for nothing, and we’re getting screwed in the process.”

This scene got its share of pushback.[…]

Read the full article:

https://mronline.org/2018/06/18/roseanne-immigration-and-the-unasked-question/

                       

The Delusion of Deporting the Country’s Troubles Away by Banishing “Criminal Aliens”

[T]he Court’s decision presents the nation with a chance to address a more fundamental issue: Is there really any reason for the US government to deport non-citizens with criminal records?

By David L. Wilson, Truthout

June 6, 2018

On April 17 the Supreme Court handed down a ruling that limited some of the excuses the government can use for deporting people. At issue in the case, Sessions v. Dimaya, was the meaning of “crime of violence” in immigration law; immigration judges have relied on this very broad category to order some non-citizens deported as “criminal aliens.” The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in 2015 that the category was unconstitutionally vague and therefore not a basis for deportation, and the Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision upheld the Ninth Circuit’s ruling.

The decision got a good deal of media attention. Time ran a headline claiming that the Court had “Dealt the White House a Big Blow on Immigration.” But this type of coverage probably exaggerates the ruling’s practical effect.[...]

Read the full article:

https://truthout.org/articles/the-delusion-of-deporting-the-countrys-troubles-away-by-banishing-criminal-aliens/

Stand Up, Fight Back: The Rising Militancy of the Immigrant Rights Movement

May 1, 2017, in San Francisco. Photo: Peg Hunter

“The only way we can stop the deportations now is to demonstrate, to commit mass civil disobedience, over and over again. Sanctuary in churches must become militant mass sanctuary in the streets.”

By David L. Wilson, Truthout

April 2, 2018

Activism for immigrant rights may be about to get much more militant.

Some 1.1 million undocumented people -- beneficiaries of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) or Temporary Protected Status (TPS) -- are slated to lose their protection against deportation over the next two years, along with the possibility of obtaining work permits or aid for higher education. The result will of course be devastating for them and for their relatives, friends and communities, but there will also be repercussions for the society as a whole, especially in areas with large immigrant populations.[...]

Read the full article:

http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/44011-stand-up-fight-back-the-rising-militancy-of-the-immigrant-rights-movement

The Latest Nonsense About Immigration—a Quick Guide

By David L. Wilson, MR Online

February 7, 2018

We’ve seen and heard a lot about immigration in the past few weeks, and a good deal of it has been out-and-out nonsense. Many journalists and politicians simply don’t understand U.S. immigration policy, some consciously lie about it, and a few, like Donald Trump, manage not to understand and at the same time consciously lie.

Here’s a list of some of the immigration absurdities now circulating in the media and in the political class.[…]

Read the full article:

https://mronline.org/2018/02/07/the-latest-nonsense-about-immigration-a-quick-guide/

Humans, “Aliens,” and “Shithole Countries”

There is no evidence that Donald Trump has ever in his life performed a single selfless act, let alone any act of heroism. Probably he wouldn’t be able even to imagine the nobility of character I witnessed among Port-au-Prince residents after the earthquake, and among “alien” activists like Ravi and Jean here in New York.

By David L. Wilson, MR Online

January 14, 2018

Exactly eight years ago, on January 12, 2010, I happened to be in Port-au-Prince when a major earthquake struck southern Haiti, killing tens or hundreds of thousands of people.

That night and in the five days that followed I saw a few Haitians acting selfishly, but mostly I watched and interviewed people trying to help each other, many of them digging through rubble with hand tools or bare fingers, sometimes endangering themselves in attempts to rescue friends, neighbors, and even complete strangers.[…]

Read the full article:

https://mronline.org/2018/01/14/humans-aliens-and-shithole-countries/

Not Passing a Clean Dream Act Would Hurt Taxpayers

Immigrants aren't just economic factors; they're human beings -- in the case of the Dreamers, human beings who have been members of our society for most of their lives. But even in the Republicans' own terms, the Dream Act would be a big win for the great majority of us.

By David L. Wilson, Truthout

January 12, 2018

This month is almost certain to bring a major confrontation in Congress over the fate of the nearly 700,000 young immigrants who are losing the protection from deportation that they had under President Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, now slated to end on March 5.

Immigrant rights activists are demanding that Congress safeguard DACA recipients by finally passing some version of the Dream Act, legislation first proposed in 2001 that would provide legal status for about 2 million immigrants who arrived in the United States as minors. The Republican leadership in Congress, on the other hand, insists that to get any relief for DACA recipients, Democratic legislators must agree to increases in immigration enforcement and a tightening of restrictions on authorized immigration. President Trump tweeted on December 29 that "there can be no DACA without the desperately needed WALL at the Southern Border and an END to the horrible Chain Migration & ridiculous Lottery System of Immigration etc."[…]

Read the full article:

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/43184-why-not-passing-a-clean-dream-act-would-hurt-taxpayers

Immigrant rights march in Los Angeles, September 11, 2016. Photo: Molly Adams