Feelings mixed as marches near - Los Angeles Times.

“City officials are bracing for thousands of marchers to converge Tuesday on Central Los Angeles in two separate May Day rallies for immigration reform and labor rights, gatherings that are stirring anticipation among immigrant-rights advocates but anxiety, even anger, among some business owners.”

“Organizers say much of the anger that motivated marchers nationwide last year was alleviated after congressional legislation that would have criminalized illegal immigrants and toughened border enforcement failed to win passage.”

Today, we are on the edge, waiting for another mass immigrant rally which may or may not occur on May 1^st. Considering the seriousness of the issues involved, let us take a moment to explore what this demonstration is about. The original materials may be found at http://www.mayday2007.org.

“We are calling A national day of multi-ethnic unity with youth, labor, peace and justice communities in solidarity with immigrant workers and building new immigrant rights & civil rights movement!”

“WE ARE ALL HUMANS! NO ONE IS ILLEGAL!”

“Points of Unity”

“On May Day 2007, National Immigrant Solidarity Network is calling for a multi-ethnic, decentralized, multi-topic and multi-tactic national day of mobilization to support immigrant workers rights.”

“Our ten points of unity (based on our Jan 29, 2007 open letter to the Congress): 1) No to anti-immigrant legislation, and the criminalization of the immigrant communities. 2) No to militarization of the border. 3) No to the immigrant detention and deportation. 4) No to the guest worker program. 5) No to employer sanction and "no match" letters. 6) Yes to a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. 7) Yes to speedy family reunification. 8) Yes to civil rights and humane immigration law. 9) Yes to labor rights and living wages for all workers. 10) Yes to the education and LGBT immigrant legislation.”

“We acknowledges that there'll be multiple call to actions from across the country to organize May Day 2007, and each coalition will present their sets of demands. We should respects each other organizing and encourage and supports everyone's issues:

1) Multi-ethnic, Decentralized and Multi-topic mobilization: while everyone will pledge to support immigrant workers rights at May Day 2007, local groups can choose to includes any other topics for their mobilizations: civil rights, anti-war, Katrina, labor rights, health care...., etc.

2) Decentralized Multi-Tactic May Day organizing: We will encourage everyone to organize their actions at May Day, but will let local groups to decide what they want to do at the day: march, boycott, strike, lunch action, vigil, community event, conference or congressional lobby day, etc.

Understanding the connections between our individual conditions of life and the lives of people everywhere in the word allows us to come together and organize across all borders. WE NEED to link the connections between: wars in Africa, south America, Asia, Iraq, Palestine & Korea with sweatshops in Asia as well as in Los Angeles, New York; international arm sales and WTO, FTAA, NAFTA & CAFTA with AIDS, hunger, child labors and child solider; multinational corporations and economic exploitation with racism and poverty at home--then we can win the struggle.”

Sounds like an old-time racist/socialist/communist/union rally to me. And to illustrate our point of view, we have annotated in italics the letter which is referenced above. If you read the copy in red, it seems that something else is going on here. Could it be that there is a heavy socialist/communist movement dominating today’s global environmental and human rights movements to accomplish their sinister aims?

Date: January 29, 2007

The Honorable Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi
The Congress
Washington D.C.

Dear Speaker Pelosi

The National Immigration Solidarity Network is a national coalition of multi-ethnic groups that include grassroots community-based organizations, labor, student and youth groups, human rights groups, and peace and global justice organizations all of whom are united in the defense of undocumented immigrants. We oppose immigrant bashing, we support immigrant workers rights, we say no to sweatshop exploitation and we resist the perpetuation of racism in our communities.

It is our hope that in the coming 2007 legislative year that through your leadership true comprehensive immigration reform legislation can be passed by the House of Representatives. Our areas of concern are the following:

1) No to anti-immigrant legislation, and the criminalization of the immigrant communities.
We oppose any immigrant legislation that will include criminalization of the immigrant community, "enforcement-only" bill, and the government surveillance program, such as: H.R. 4844 - Federal Election Integrity Act of 2006 ("Voter ID bill"), H.R. 6089 - Illegal Immigrant Deterrence Act, H.R. 6090 - Immigration Enforcement Act, and H.R. 5825 - Electronic Surveillance Modernization Act ("Wire Tap bill"); we also oppose any government languages and legal terms that demonize immigrant communities, such as: "aliens" or "illegal aliens".

The United States has always welcomed legal immigrants with open arms. In the past, this group tended to assimilate into the United States culture and become productive citizens. The above concern is tantamount to saying: “Do not criminalize illegal activities and do not adopt any law enforcement procedures which may be used to separate individuals who are here illegally from the legal immigrant and legal resident alien population. They want to obfuscate the line between legal and illegal by suggesting that the citizens of the United States use euphemisms such as undocumented workers rather than the legally correct and descriptive, "illegal aliens." It should be also noticed that they oppose protective measures which would cripple anti-terrorist activities. 

2) No to militarization of the border.
We oppose H.R. 6061 - Border Fence Bill that will fund a border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, and H.R. 6091 - Border Security Enhancement Act. It is believed that these pieces of legislation will terrorize the border immigrant communities. We believe this is a waste of tax payer money, forces migrants to cross borders at more dangerous and deadly locations, and fattens the profit margin of migrant smugglers.

Excuse me, we should eliminate barriers to illegal entry to the United States and subjugate our sovereignty to interlopers who violate our current laws with impunity. Touching... the concern for tax payer money as the mass migration of illegal aliens has almost destroyed our present infrastructure in some cities; which supports emergency services, education and other critical services. The sheer numbers of non-productive aliens makes it almost impossible for legal United States citizens to obtain emergency health care in some areas; and the educational system is reduced to ineptitude as they attempt to mainstream non-English proficient students into classes attended by citizens who want to learn.

3) No to the immigrant detention and deportation.
We oppose any legislation that will empower state and local law enforcement agencies to act as Federal government to enforce Federal immigration law, such as the CLEAR Act or legislation that authorize indefinite immigrant detention, speedy deportation and immigrant raids. We want the Congress to repeal these laws. We demand an improvement of the conditions of current immigrant detention facilities, we oppose future funding to build immigrant detention centers.

This is puzzling. They want an improvement of the conditions of current immigrant detention facilities but oppose future funding to build immigrant detention centers which would offer improved conditions over the older facilities. The message is simple: we don’t want detection and deportation.

4) No to the guest worker program.
We are against an immigrant worker visa program that creates a two-tiered labor system, allowing corporations to pay lower wages to the visa workers, without offering strong labor protections to them including the right to change jobs, and no chance to gain U.S. citizenship.

We do not want any guest worker program which would demand identification and control over those “guest workers” who reside and work in the United States. The argument about a two-tiered system is bogus as employers would be sanctioned for employing non-registered employees.

5) No to employer sanction and "no match" letters.
We oppose any legislation to punish hard working undocumented workers because of their immigration status, and we want the Congress to repeal the employer sanction law. Historically it is not the employers that are punished by the law, but rather immigrant workers themselves. We also oppose 'No-Match' letter that could become de facto immigration enforcement tools since employers could use 'No-Match' Social Security letters to fire immigrants.

And we certainly do not want to punish illegal aliens by demanding that employers obtain valid identification and proof of a worker’s “work status.” Employers who employ illegals should be given a grace period to clean up their workforce. And, unfortunately, that involves people who do not have the right to claim the job in the first place.

6) Yes to a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
We support one tiered legislation that would allow undocumented immigrants in the United States to gain legal status within a reasonable amount of time with an opportunity for citizenship.

There is absolutely no rational reason that we should reward illegal aliens with citizenship. If they register, they can obtain an employment authorization card which does not guarantee their right to stay in the country if they have committed any serious crime or have been caught driving under the influence (which is a major health hazard to U.S. citizens). Children would adopt the citizenship of their parents and anchor babies would be eliminated. The illegal problem would resolve itself in two to three generations.

8) Yes to civil rights and humane immigration law.
Undocumented immigrants DO pay taxes, but are not eligible to receive any government benefits and assistance, we support legislation that would allow undocumented immigrants in the United States to receive government assistance and medical benefits, and guarantee of civil rights and legal assistance when immigrants are detained at immigration detention facility.

This is not a true statement. Independent studies have demonstrated that illegal aliens cost a community approximately $22,000 over any tax contribution that they may make. They already receive benefits including healthcare, education and emergency food and shelter assistance. Since they are not United States citizens, we should transfer their legal needs to their Country of Origin’s consulate office … as it is done to all American’s in foreign countries, including Mexico.

9) Yes to labor rights and living wages for all workers.
We support legislation which strengthens the enforcement of existing labor laws to protect immigrant workers rights. We support the right of workers to establish and join a union REGARDLESS of immigration status. It is important that undocumented immigrants do not face harassment or threats from the workplace because they are fighting for their labor rights and right to join the union.

Unions are failing to provide for their worker's pensions and their leadership is often corrupt. Since the unions see the illegal aliens as a large potential constituency, they will do everything in their power to obtain everyone and anyone as a dues-paying member.

10) Yes to the DREAM Act and LGBT immigrant legislation.
We support reintroduction of the DREAM Act and the extension of benefits to lesbian-gay-bi-sexual-transgender (LGBT) families within the family reunification laws, We support the passage of the Uniting American Families Act, and the lifting of the HIV ban on immigration.

NO! There is no reason why we have to support critically ill illegal aliens who may be capable of transmitting infectious diseases to our citizenry. Just because their sexual or moral practices are denied in their home case does not compel the United States to relieve their burden…even on humanitarian grounds. Again, the reunification issue is a “code” for anchor adults who want to bring all of their relatives to the United States and skirt current immigration quotas.

Immigration became a divisive, wedge issue under the Republican leadership. With this new Democratic Congress and with you at the helm we believe that a balanced civil dialog can be opened. It is our hope that the suggestions we have offered can be incorporated to draft a truly compassionate piece of immigration legislation that will benefit millions of hard working immigrants in this country.

But we are hoping to capitalize on the polarization of the current political situation in order to push our issues in “more humane” administration that publicly prides itself on “decency.”

Sincerely;

National Immigrant Solidarity Network

What can YOU do?

Not being afraid of being labeled a racist by those who truly are racist. Recognize that, no matter what administration comes to power, the end results of the illegal immigration movement remains the same:

·         Denial of infrastructure services to American citizens in the areas of healthcare, education, job availability, and a host of other benefits which could be made available to American citizens if this illegal alien burden on our taxpayer resources was reduced or eliminated.

·         Lessened protection from drugs, terrorists and gang members, all of which cross our border with little resistance.

·         Increased corruption in governmental agencies and political campaigns.

·         Increased shakedowns of the illegal alien population by gangs, illegal alien advocacy groups, and immigration lawyers.

·         Rise of influence of socialist, communist or fascist groups seeking to piggyback on an immigration or racial issue.

·         Increase in disease transmission from third-world nations to United States citizens.

·         Demographic culture shock which arises from large numbers of unassimilated illegal aliens. This extends to the increase of ethnic enclaves which often do not receive or participate in community benefits. This also enhances the possibility of a takeover by a foreign entity using population expansion as a weapon. Often to the point of “voting in” candidates whose allegiance is not to the United States and their state and local municipality but to either a foreign government or a racist group seeking to “move in and take over.”

Urge your legislators to maintain and nurture America … with a melting pot structure of legal immigrants and welcoming arms for tourists who visit and then return to their native land. To demand that any action taken by the United States government to aid one or more foreign countries be valid, if and only if, American citizens are afforded the same rights and protections in their foreign and sovereign lands.

Be skeptical of media reporting and "low camera" shots that enhance the appearance of the crowd. Notice if the reporting is both fair and balanced. Compare media sources to see if the coverage was uniform.

Do not support any politician who welcomes illegals and anarchists into their jurisdiction without a critical comment.

Do not support any celebrity that blindly supports these often malevolent groups.

Do not confuse the above type actions with the "true" civil rights movement which involved disadvantaged and oppressed Americans.

Remember what you are seeing ... when you VOTE!

A reminder from OneCitizenSpeaking.com: a large improvement can result from a small change…