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Luis Ramirez and Every Mother’s Sons and Daughters : Seeking Justice by All Means Necessary

8 May 2009

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in 1991, in the rapidly changing immigrant community of Corona, Queens, NYC 19 year old son of Dominican immigrants, Manny Mayi Jr. was beaten to death.

Last year, Marcelo Lucero was killed.

At the start of the new year Wilter Sanchez was nearly killed.

In February of this year Jose Sucuzhañay, an Ecuadorian immigrant was beaten to death.

Speaking Spanish can get you beaten.

And most recently, Luis Ramirez was beaten and killed and those accused got away with murder.

I could go through recent and not so recent history and clearly see a pattern and practice of hate that has been growing. A pattern and practice of racism, nativism, fueled by the media and government, eaten up by the mainstream public.

People in Shenandoah celebrated, went out into the streets and rejoiced after an all-white jury found Brandon J. Piekarsky, 17, and Derrick M. Donchak, 19, guilty of lesser charges and acquitted them of criminal homicide and aggravated assault.

And then people have the nerve to ask why are more Latinos not more active in the fight for immigration change?

This is not just about laws, this about lives.

So what do we as a community do?

MALDEF Sues Texas DPS Over License Rules

31 Jan 2009

It seems like the battle over whether or not undocumented immigrants should be allowed to have drivers licenses has been going on for decades now, with both sides celebrating gains and protesting losses in the fight. The newest chapter in this story is that The Mexican American Legal Defense Fund (MALDEF) is suing the Texas Department of Public Safety on behalf of some immigrant workers and their employer:

The men are landscaping workers in North Texas who need to drive as part of their job but could not obtain a Texas driver’s license under the new DPS policies because their visas are valid for only 10 months.

DPS rules exclude people from receiving driver’s licenses if they have a visa for less than one year or have less than six months remaining on it, MALDEF said.

Officials also changed the appearance of driver’s licenses for persons with legal permission to be in the U.S. so that they differ from licenses given to citizens and green card holders. MALDEF contends the Public Safety Commission, which oversees DPS, exceeded its authority and did not have Legislative approval to adopt the rules.

Very sneaky, DPS! I guess you thought as undocumented immigrants these people were defenseless, but luckily there are orgs like MALDEF around to (at least try) to fight the good fight.

Oh, and by the way, President Obama supported licenses for the undocumented during his campaign. Let’s see if he continues along these lines.

Via / Chron.com

Image via Erik on Flickr

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Posts Tagged ‘maldef’

Luis Ramirez and Every Mother’s Sons and Daughters : Seeking Justice by All Means Necessary

MALDEF Sues Texas DPS Over License Rules

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