Archive for July, 2010
Immigrant Mothers and Children Attacked at Protest in France
7:25 pm By la Macha · Women|youth · 4 Comments
30 Jul 2010I watched this video and remembered Mamita’s post about how the experience of immigrant women is so hidden, so unknown. And yet, here they are, on the front lines, being attacked and horribly brutalized by the police in the name of “immigration enforcement.” (trigger warning for violence in video)
Are the protection of borders worth this? And please don’t tell me that this was the mother’s fault. I know that all the anti-immigrant people will be here soon to tell me that it’s their fault, and I can handle that. But if any supposed “ally” says “what were they thinking?” I have a few suggestions. First, sit for a moment and open yourself up to the humanity of these women and the humanity of their children. Know what it feels like to feel terror and confusion and a fear you can’t breathe through. Then take a moment to consider that even when the government offers you something, you, a black immigrant mother that may or may not be legal, may actually have considerable reason to not trust that government.
And then go back and remember the humanity of these women. And the humanity of their children. And then remember that sometimes immigration plays out in the streets in a much different way than they do in the cloistered halls of Netroots Nation. The start considering how we can change tactics to meet the needs of those in the streets, instead of the pocket books of all the 501c3s.
Video from Yesterday’s Protests in Arizona
11:45 am By Maegan La Mala · Activism|arizona|Immigration · 1 Comment
30 Jul 2010Puente AZ has some amazing, inspiring video up from some of yesterday’s actions on the ground in Arizona yesterday, showing people resisting the part of SB1070 that went into effect and perhaps more importantly, rejecting the rhetoric of hate that led to SB1070 including 287(g) and Secure Communities.
VivirLatino will be at a marcha/rally in NYC today against SB1070 and the Arizona Diamondbacks playing in Queens, one of the hearts of the immigrant comunidad.
Leaked DHS Memo on Administrative CIR a Right Wing Attack or a Way to Save Face?
6:00 am By Maegan La Mala · Immigration|Politics · 16 Comments
30 Jul 2010With the right-wing blogosphere crying “Oh Noes Amnesty”!”, late last night a memo was leaked from the Department of Homeland Security revealing that the White House is at the very least considering “Administrative Alternatives to Comprehensive Immigration Reform”.
I hate giving the NRO traffic (full disclosure, I went to high school with the online editor there), the 11 page document looks at ways outside of the legislative process to provide relief for some of the millions of undocumented in the U.S.
From the memo:
This memorandum offers administrative relief options to promote family unity, foster economic growth, achieve significant process improvements, and reduce the threat of removal for certain individuals present in the United States without authorization…
News With Nezua : The Illegal Europeans
8:21 am By Maegan La Mala · Immigration|Netroots Nation · 3 Comments
29 Jul 2010For another perspective on the #MockICE Checkpoint that went down at Netroots Nation last week in Las Vegas, here is the latest edition of News with Nezua, cross-posted with the gracious permission of Alfredo de La Frontera Times and Nezua.
I really wanted to repost this because it is the only video that features the perspective of some of the Latinos who participated in the MockICE action at Netroots Nation last week and because specifically it features a mujer, Yahira Carillo, as mentioned in my last post on this, talking about how her multifaceted reality was completely overlooked and ignored by one of those stopped at the checkpoint.
Featuring the Netroots Nation 2010 Immigration Checkpoint mock ICE action.
In reference to the nightmare that SB 1070 represents, a group of friends and myself staged a mock immigration checkpoint where we racially profiled European immigrants and their descendants, and required them to show papers that proved they had a right to trespass on native land. Some were puzzled, many laughed, and a couple were furious. What made the difference in these reactions? And how would the most upset of these people feel were they to experience for even one day the true threat of being under the glare of anti-immigrant hostility and anti-Latino hate in the USA today?
Today the Border Becomes Less Safe…
6:33 am By Maegan La Mala · arizona|Immigration|U.S.-Mexico Border · 5 Comments
29 Jul 2010…but not in the way the media or anti-immigrant organizations and individuals would have you believe. Arizona Governor Jan Brewer claims that SB1070 will make the state safer. Today, SB1070 goes into effect, putting the freedom of Latinos and those who look “Latino” or “illegal” at risk. Despite the fact that SB1070′s precursor, Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s use of 287(g), saw an increase in crime in Maricopa County.
Additionally, in just a few days, those 1,200 National Guard troops that President Obama ordered to la Frontera will be deployed. Over 500 of those will be in Arizona.
The partial injunction still allows it to be a crime to be “harboring or transporting” an undocumented portion. So if you’re driving your browner prima down the road, ten cuidado.
The partial injunction still creates a criminal charge for “stopping a motor vehicle to pick up day laborers and for day laborers to get in a motor vehicle if it impedes the normal movement of traffic” And you know how those day laborers ALWAYS stop traffic. Remember Oyster Bay?
Stay safe gente.
Injunction Halts Enforcement of Parts of SB1070
2:07 pm By Maegan La Mala · arizona|Immigration · 4 Comments
28 Jul 2010With less than 24 hours to spare, U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton issued a preliminary injunction that blocks parts of SB1070 from going into effect tomorrow.
Here’s what will not go into effect:
Portion of Section 2 of S.B. 1070
A.R.S. § 11-1051(B): requiring that an officer make a reasonable attempt to
determine the immigration status of a person stopped,
detained or arrested if there is a reasonable suspicion that
the person is unlawfully present in the United States, and
requiring verification of the immigration status of any
person arrested prior to releasing that personSection 3 of S.B. 1070
A.R.S. § 13-1509: creating a crime for the failure to apply for or carry alien
registration papersPortion of Section 5 of S.B. 1070
A.R.S. § 13-2928(C): creating a crime for an unauthorized alien to solicit, apply
for, or perform workSection 6 of S.B. 1070
A.R.S. § 13-3883(A)(5): authorizing the warrantless arrest of a person where there
is probable cause to believe the person has committed a
public offense that makes the person removable from the
United States
Actions Against SB1070 Around the U.S.
12:12 pm By Maegan La Mala · arizona|California|Immigration|New York|New York City · 5 Comments
28 Jul 2010In less than 24 hours, unless a court injunction blocks it Edited to add on 2/28/5:13 pm EST that there has been a partial injunction, SB1070 will be the law in the state of Arizona. Actions across the country are being planned in solidarity with the communities that will be even more unfairly targeted than they have been. I will be continuously updating this list as more information comes to me. If you know of an event not listed here, please leave a comment below or email info@vivirlatino.com.
Most of what I have is local to me here in NYC so help me expand it so as many of us can participate and be in our streets to show that we will not accept our herman@s being harassed and attacked anywhere.
Thursday, July 29th
Bay Area
Events scheduled in the East Bay, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, and more. Please visit the Indybay Calendar for details.Detroit, Michigan
4:30 pm : McNamara Federal Building 477 Michigan Ave (at Cass)
Initial endorsers: Centro Obrero, Detroit Green Party, Latinos Unidos de Michigan, Michigan Emergency Committee Against War & Injustice, Michigan Welfare Rights Organization, Moratorium NOW! CoalitionNew York City
9:30 a.m. : Gather at Cadman Plaza, Brooklyn
10:00 a.m. : March Across Brooklyn Bridge
11:00 a.m. : Press Conference at Foley Square
The “We Are All Arizona” march in NYC on July 29th will raise a platform by local immigrant rights organizations including: (1) a call for an end to SB 1070 and the proliferation of copycat legislation now surfacing in over 20 states; (2) a call for an end to the use of racial profiling; (3) a demand for just and humane immigration reform that upholds family unity and human rights over increased enforcement; and (5) a call for an end to related programs such as 287(g), Criminal Alien Program, and Secure Communities (now in NY State) that use local law enforcement to tear families apart.
New Sanctuary Movement, Families for Freedom, Immigrant Defense Project, Churches United to Save & Heal, Black Institute, DRUM-Desis Rising Up & Moving, VAMOS Unidos, American Friends Service Committee, Wind of the Spirit, Northern Manhattan Coalition for Immigrant Rights
Friday, July 30th
Queens, NYC
5 pm : Gather at 83rd Street and Roosevelt Ave
March to Citifield Stadium, where Arizona Diamondbacks are playing
Sponsored by the May 1st Coalition
Saturday, July 31
Port Jefferson, Long Island, NY
Noon: Long Island Faith Community Solidarity Vigil
Port Jefferson Village Hall
LATINA PANIC! Tonite in NYC
8:57 am By Maegan La Mala · Arts|GLBT|literature|Poetry · Comments Off
28 Jul 2010Charlie Vázquez, not only is a talented writer, but he knows how to bring together other talented writers and put on a thought provoking and entertaining evening.
He does it again tonight, Wednesday, July 28, at Nowhere in the East Village at 8PM. Nowhere is at 322 E 14th St (between 1st and 2nd). Charlie will be presenting Alicia Anabel Santos, J Skye Cabrera, Gabrielle Rivera, Meriam Rodriguez, Sherisse Alvarez, Nivea Castro and featured reader Karen Jaime.
Make sure you stay for a little bit of charanga, salsa, son y meneo after. Mala promises it will be well worth it.
Small Nebraska Town Presses Pause on Anti-Immigrant Law
6:18 am By Maegan La Mala · arizona|Immigration · 1 Comment
28 Jul 2010According to many sources, A decision on whether to grant one of a few injunctions argued against SB1070 in Arizona will be decided any minute now (the judge likes cutting it very close apparently as the “show me your papers” law is slated to become the law of the land tomorrow.
Meanwhile, a copycat law in small town Fremont, Nebraska which sought to make life miserable for any immigrant by making it illegal for landlords to rent to people who could not prove their legal immigration status, has been suspended . The Fremont City Council voted for the suspension to be upheld while law is argued against by the local ACLU.
A ver if in Arizona, SB1070 can also be stopped, first through a temporary injunction then by the poder of the people.
More from the Netroots Nation 2010 Mock ICE Checkpoint : Considering Assault at the Fronteras
9:50 am By Maegan La Mala · Las Vegas|Netroots Nation · 6 Comments
27 Jul 2010As more videos from the Netroots 2010 mock ICE checkpoint are released and I reflect on my own experience as a reverse border agent, I am struck by, as la Macha pointed out, how many of those profiled laughed their way through. This video, from Madelou de VozMob, really captured alot of that (click on the image in the link to see the full video).
What her video clip made me think of was also how gendered and sexualized the border debate has become, and it’s not something that gets discussed often enough or analyzed enough. At one point during the Mock ICE checkpoint, I and Yahira Carillo were at a checkpoint by ourselves without cameras documenting. Men who were stopped by us used their bodies to try and dominate. Given some of my own personal experiences at last year’s Netroots Nation conference and this year’s as well, finding myself in situations where I was the only mujer among a group of people who identify as male and seeing how that was noticed by others and how the men themselves in those spaces used it as an opportunity to flex some machista muscle. In my video mashup of parts of the MockICE Checkpoint, note how quickly some men use words like “assault” and “police” to threaten our fake agents. I would like to remind people of how these words are often used in so called “progressive” spaces to attack both men and women of color, even amongst our own. Words like “assault” when uttered from the mouths of women of color and non-gender conforming folks, is expected to be backed up by concrete proof, when in the mouths of men, there is the expectation that we should become meek, docile and cower in a corner. It should be noted that after the MockICE raid, a higher up from the Netroots Nation conference approached us asking that some video clips showing people reacting negatively, not be shown, so that peeps’ white progressive asses would be shown publicly.
How many times in immigrant and people of color communities is the violence against us silences, downplayed, viewed as individual incidents and expected to fade back into the shadows? How many times is violence against immigrant and Latina mujeres laughed off, ignored, or hushed to save face?
We need to save our cuerpos, our mentes and our souls, and that does not come through silence or perpetuating invisibility.
Hola!
VivirLatino is a daily publication published by Mamita Mala Media, dedicated to featuring all the latest politics, culture, entertainment of interest to the diverse Latin@ diaspora.
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