immigration

Hello BlueNC community! First, an introduction: NC Equals is a grassroots movement of Charlotte's Latin American Coalition. We're working to build political power among low-income communities, people of color, youth and immigrant communities in Charlotte, Raleigh-Durham, Greensboro and elsewhere across the state. A great deal of our focus at the moment is on the DREAM Act and 287g programs. In addition to on-the-ground, face-to-face activism and advocacy, we're ramping up to utilize the wealth of tools new media and social media provide, along with the great resources available among North Carolina's progressive blogosphere.

Once a week, we'll post our advocacy staff's weekly commentaries and join in on discussions as much as we can. We hope to become a valuable part of the BlueNC community and we hope you find our staff's thoughts interesting, thought-provoking and challenging. The commentary below is from our Raleigh-based field director, Irene Godinez.

Thanks y'all!
Matt Comer
New Media Coordinator, NC Equals
http://ncequals.org

Libertarian U.S. Senate candidate Mike Beitler told the North Carolina Latino Coalition Assembly yesterday that he supports amnesty for illegal immigrants and a pathway to citizenship. “I challenge my opponents to take the same stand,” he said.

“The role of government is to protect us from criminals, not immigrants,” Beitler said. “Immigrants, whether classified as legal or undocumented, are a benefit to North Carolina. They provide a much- needed work force, they are consumers who are spending their income in North Carolina and they are a great example to the rest of us of hard workers.”

I'm not sure if the following email is true or a hoax. I checked Snopes and could find nothing. If it's true, it's informative, an indicator of why so many want to come here to not only work but to escape, and an indictment of the government of Mexico. I believe our politicians are also corrupt, but this is stunning. The email follows:

Washington (FNS)—An exclusive investigation by FNS reporting staff has identified and confirmed, through a second source, the Obama Administration’s secret plans for resolving issues with certain residents of Arizona that has been in the news over the past week, known as “Operation Terraform”.

The plan depends upon American authorities cooperating with the Canadian, Mexican, and North American Governments, and the plan will require one of the largest transport efforts since D-Day.

Until today, no one outside the involved agencies had been aware of the existence of the plan, much less its details, and as of today, no official will admit, on the record, that the plan is already in effect.

Will new attention to educational civil rights result in the bright light of justice helping Latino immigrants come out of the shadows?

Recent controversies in both Wake County and Wayne County have brought North Carolina to the forefront of public discussion on educational civil rights. Unfortunately, these conversations have largely adhered to 20th Century civil rights norms by remaining in a black-white paradigm. Efforts to resolve North Carolina's civil rights challenges must include a perspective on what's happening to Latino students.

ACTION ALERT

NC STATE BOARD OF COMMUNITY COLLEGES

In September, the State Board of Community Colleges agreed to allow undocumented students into NC Community Colleges with certain conditions after nearly two years of intense debate. However, this will not take effect until this policy proposal goes through a “Permanent Rule-Making Process,” which could take 6-12 months. This process begins with a Public Hearing, an opportunity for community members to express their opinions on the issue.  This is an essential step in ensuring that the State Board of Community Colleges continues to do the right thing by allowing all students to enroll in any NC community college. WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT!

Last Monday progressives, civil rights leaders, unions, churches and business allies launched the Reform Immigration FOR America Campaign. Events were held in Raleigh and in Charlotte. And today was the first day of RI4A summit in Washington DC.

Our current immigration law creates a black market for labor. The consequences of this are dire. Because of the outdated system:

• our economy suffers
• families are torn apart
• crimes go unreported
• our neighborhoods are divided by racism
• worker safety and workers' rights are compromised
• human trafficking flourishes
• white supremacy groups are growing
• our nation is more vulnerable to terrorism
• low-income neighborhoods are under-counted and under-served
• our American values, as enshrined on the Statue of Liberty, are rendered hollow

Friday, April 24, 2009

U.S. Kidnaps Mark Lyttle, Leaves Him Stateless in Mexico, Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala

Mark Lyttle, 31, born in North Carolina, was exhausted and traumatized, but he insisted on talking tonight. He's also very angry. He'd just been released this morning from the Fulton Jail in Atlanta after the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) violated his dignity and liberty one last time and arrested him Wednesday at the Atlanta Airport on the charge of illegal re-entry, a charge predicated on alienage. Mark is a U.S. citizen.

In the language of the DHS Mark was "ordered removed" as a noncitizen on December 9, 2008. That's a bureaucratic euphemism for what really happened: Mark's government kidnapped him, rendered him stateless, dropped him off in Mexico, and four months later, after he was kicked out of Mexico to Honduras, and from Honduras to Guatemala via Nicaragua, bought him a Big Mac before arresting him again in the United States.

Sheriff Steve Bizzell must have caught a lot of heat for his racist comments on the front page of Sunday's O-No! Angered by the crime in his community, he let his hair down and told a reporter what he really thinks:

"Look at that," he says, pointing to tiendas that have cropped up amid the barbecue joints. "You can't even read the durned sign. Everywhere you look, it's like little Mexico around here."

So what's a good sheriff supposed to do to clean things up? Apologize?