Immigrants

As The World Battles COVID-19, Greece’s War On Migrants Rages On

May 22, 2020 By Spyros Galinos, ROAR Magazine. Educate! COVID-19, Greece, Immigrants, Poverty

For many years, a silent war has been waged along Europe’s borders, but this war has left the majority of the continent’s population seemingly untouched. This contrast has become even starker in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, during which it has become clear that the sensibility to life that is being so widely touted does not extend to everyone; the thousands of migrants amassed on both sides of the European border are, apparently, exempt from it. Those who manage to cross into Europe end up confined in modern-day concentration camps. Subjected to appalling living conditions, they face complete uncertainty about the future and are, moreover, stripped of their most fundamental rights. At the same time, their presence is used by governments to push through policies that galvanize national(ist) unity and broader interstate competition. Policies that are currently implemented as part of the global campaign against COVID-19 treat migrants as collateral damage.

Migrants Lead Struggle As ‘Reopening’ Fuels Resistance

May 21, 2020 Sue Davis, Workers.org. Resist! Autoworkers, Immigrants, Reopen Economy, Worker Rights

Ford Motors CEO Jim Farley said during a recent conference call, “The auto industry is [the U.S.] economic engine. Restarting the entire auto ecosystem is how we restart the economy.” (New York Times, May 18) But Farley has it wrong. It’s the 400,000 production workers at the Detroit Three automakers, Ford, General Motors and Fiat Chrysler (FCA), who resume working today around the world who will have the final say. After a series of wildcat strikes across the industry in mid-March protesting unsafe working conditions in close quarters and lack of protective equipment, the workers are going back with some — but not enough — protection. Their temperatures with be taken after reporting to work each day, and masks, gloves and eye protection are required.

Immigrant Meatpackers Fightback Against Intimidation And Death Traps

April 20, 2020 Mike Elk, Pay Day Report. Resist! COVID-19, health, Immigrants, Meat Packers, Worker Rights

As COVID-19 ravages communities across the U.S., many experts agree that meatpacking plants, where employees work shoulder-to-shoulder, are the next ground zero for the spread of COVID-19. In several rural communities with sudden COVID-19 spikes, many residents say that the meatpacking plants that surround the city and employ several thousand area residents are responsible for accelerating the spread of COVID-19. Albany, Ga., rocked by COVID-19, has seen more than 30 people die from the virus. For a city of only 70,000, Albany has the fourth-highest per capita rate of COVID-19 cases, with 659 cases for every 100,000 people. The town is ringed by a series of a half-dozen meatpacking plants, where thousands of workers are employed in meatpacking.

How Undocumented Activists In New Jersey Won Driver’s Licenses For All

February 26, 2020 By Loretta Graceffo, Wagingnonviolence.org Create! Activist Li Adorno, Immigrants, License, Phil Murphy, Undocumented

In December, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed a bill that will allow undocumented immigrants in the state to legally obtain drivers licenses by 2021. The victory was made possible by hundreds of undocumented organizers, who have been fighting for the bill for 18 years — often putting their bodies on the line and risking deportation in the process.

Hundreds Of County Jails Detained Immigrants For ICE

February 21, 2020 Emily Ryo and Ian Peacock, Theconversation.com Educate! Detention Centers, ICE, Immigrants, Undocumented

On a typical day in 2017, for instance, Theo Lacy Facility in Orange, California, operated by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, held about 500 individuals for ICE and received US$118 per person per day, bringing in a total of $59,000 a day. More so than federally operated facilities, county jails, along with facilities operated by for-profit companies, have come to hold for ICE the lion’s share of immigrant detainees facing removal proceedings.

President Trump Expands Anti-Muslim Travel Ban To Thirteen Countries

February 3, 2020 Kevin Reed, WSWS Educate! Immigrant Rights, Immigrants, Travel Ban

Trump signed an executive order on February 31, 2020 that imposes travel restrictions on six more countries with large Muslim populations, bringing the total number of nations under the US travel ban to 13. Immigrant visas are being suspended for Nigeria, Myanmar, Eritrea and Kyrgyzstan, and people from Sudan and Tanzania will be prevented from entering the US diversity visa program, which provides green cards to immigrants. According to the Department of Homeland Security, the ban will not apply to non-immigrant travelers such as students, tourists or people visiting the US on business. Trump signed the new order almost exactly three years to the day after he enacted the original Muslim travel ban.

Immigrants Speak Boldly Despite Threats Of Violence

November 17, 2019 Azadeh Shahshahani, Colorlines. Resist! First Amendment, ICE, Immigrants, Refugees

Recently, an email was circulated by anti-immigrant forces saying that they intended to show up “armed” to an immigrants’ rights event at a public library in Georgia, because we as the organizers of the event had dared to challenge law enforcement and “speak [our] minds.” The majority of the speakers, including myself, were immigrants. As an outspoken immigrant who is often critical of the United States government’s policies, I have often been told to go back “instead of stirring up trouble here.” Unfortunately, we have become accustomed to aggressive and hateful speech in the course of pursuing justice. But this email escalated anti-immigrant rhetoric to threats of violence. Many immigrants and refugees have left home countries where governments restricted their freedom of speech and freedom of assembly.

Activists Help ICE Agents Quit Their Jobs

October 9, 2019 Never Again Atlanta, Quit ICE. Create! conscientious Objector, Detention Centers, ICE, Immigrants

This service is provided by Never Again Action: Atlanta, the local chapter of the national Never Again Action organization. As a Jewish-led organization, we believe we were taught to never let anything like the Holocaust happen again. We refuse to wait and see what happens with our nation’s immigration system — we know from our own history what happens next. Many of our ancestors narrowly escaped from conditions like what we are seeing today in detention centers and immigrant communities around the country. We are putting our bodies on the line because when we say never again, we mean never again for anyone. We want the same thing you do: for you to quit your job at ICE. Regardless of your reasons for quitting, we want to help you get out so there will be one less person contributing to the mass atrocities within our immigration system.

Trump Ordered By Judge To Testify In NY Protest Case

September 22, 2019 Tal Axelrod, The Hill. Educate! Activism, Immigrants, Trump, Violence

A New York judge Friday ordered President Trump to answer questions in a civil suit involving a 2015 incident between protesters and his security guards. State Supreme Court Justice Doris Gonzalez ruled Trump must “appear for a videotaped deposition prior to the trial” under oath, saying his testimony is “indispensable.” The trial involves a group of protesters who say Trump’s security guards assaulted them outside of Trump Tower in 2015. The plaintiffs were demonstrating against Trump’s rhetoric toward Mexican immigrants. The judge rejected arguments from Trump’s camp saying the president’s duties should exempt him from testifying. Gonzalez said Trump may answer questions from the White House “at a time that will accommodate his busy schedule,” and that “there would be no necessity for the president to attend in person, though he could elect to do so.”

Community Stopped ICE From Using Airport To Deport Thousands Of Immigrants

September 8, 2019 Lena Elmeligy, In These Times. Resist! Deportations, ICE, Immigrants, Sanctuary Cities

On April 23, the government of King County, Washington released an executive order expressing the intention to ban deportation flights from passing through King County International Airport - Boeing Field. The decision, which left Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) with one less facility for ground support, was won by years of local organizing by immigrant justice organizations. Monserrat Padilla is a coordinator of the Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network, an organization building a defense line for immigrant and refugee communities. In 2017, the organization established a hotline, designed to be a resource for individuals to report any observed immigration or detention activity. Through the hotline, the organization heard from passersby who said they’d witnessed ICE vehicles outside of the Boeing Field Airport, and detained persons being escorted through the airport by ICE officials, Padilla tells In These Times.

Lawsuit: ICE Disregards Migrants Medical, Mental Health Needs & Discriminates

August 25, 2019 Southern Poverty Law Center Resist! Immigrant Rights, Immigrants

A nationwide class-action lawsuit was filed today against the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and others acting in their official capacities. The lawsuit challenges the federal government’s failure to ensure detained immigrants receive appropriate medical and mental health care, its punitive use of segregation in violation of the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, and its failure to ensure that detained immigrants with disabilities are provided accommodations and do not face discrimination as required by Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

It Is Time We Cast All Medals Into Spearheads Of Revolution!

August 25, 2019 Pia Klemp on her Facebook Page Resist! Immigrants, Migrants

Mrs. Hidalgo, you want to get my medal for my solidarian action in the Mediterranean Sea, because our crews work to rescue migrants from difficult conditions on a daily basis. At the same time your police are stealing blankets from people that you force to live on the streets, while you raid protests and criminalize people who are standing up for migrants and asylum seekers. You want to give me a medal for actions that you fight in your own ramparts. I am sure you will be surprised that I decline the Grand Vermeil medal.

The ‘Gilets Noirs’: The Undocumented Migrant Movement In France

June 14, 2019 Luke Butterly, Versobooks.com Resist! Class Struggle, France, Immigrants, Undocumented

With France marking six months of ‘yellow vest’ rallies and civil unrest, a new movement is making itself heard. The Gilets Noirs, the largest collective of undocumented migrants in France, have been conducting a series of high profile actions, most notbaly the recent protests at Charles De Gaulle airport calling for an end to deportation flights. In this article, Luke Butterly reports on the movement. As France marks six months of ‘yellow vest’ rallies and civil unrest, a new movement is making itself heard.

‘We Are Running Concentration Camps’: Images From El Paso Stir Outrage Over Migrant Treatment

March 29, 2019 By Eoin Higgins, Commondreams.org Educate! Border, Detention Centers, Immigrants, Undocumented

Hundreds of migrants are being held by border agents in a fenced in encampment under a bridge in El Paso, leading to anger and accusations that the American government is holding people in "concentration camps." Images posted online by reporters and advocates painted a disturbing scene in the Texas city. Lines of migrants behind fencing, being processed by agents from U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), walked into a camp area that appeared to be standing room only.

Scaling Social Justice: A Latinx Immigrant Worker Co-op Franchise Model

February 27, 2019 Emma Yorra, Nonprofitquarterly.org Create! Cooperatives, Immigrants, New Economy, Workers

Araceli Dominguez, an immigrant housecleaner living in Staten Island, New York, has a lot to be proud of. She is a founding member of a local branch of Brightly®, a worker-owned cleaning cooperative with ambitions to be part of a newly created franchise model looking to scale nationally. She has worked hard with her fellow worker-owners to launch their business. “Being in this co-op fills me with a hunger to learn,” she notes. “I am so full of pride. I am an inspiration to my daughters that they too can achieve their goals. Without this, I wouldn’t be the person I am today; I would be a different Araceli.”

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