Tuesday, August 28, 2018

An Incomplete Agreement on Trade


The Trump Administration has announced an agreement on Aug. 27,2018,   on some issues of trade between the U.S. and Mexico.  At present this is not a significant trade agreement. It is not a new NAFTA.   It is the old NAFTA with a few new agreements and a new name.  Trump calls the new partial agreement the U.S.- Mexico Trade Agreement.   There has been no progress on the environment, on labor rights, on special international tribunals for dispute resolution, nor on migration.   Without resolution on these issues, the Trump claim is merely fake news

 Why should trade deals include migration ?

Since 1994 trade agreements  have led to the massive increase of trade across our borders.  Imports and capital have moved freely in both directions.  At the same time the movement of workers has been severely restricted and the border enforcement police have grown from 5,000 to 20,000 and continue to grow.  Relatively free trade for goods and capital while restricting movement of workers and thus their ability to organize to protect their own interests has produced additional poverty,  crises, and inequality  in each society. 

We are currently experiencing a major restructuring of the global economy directed by the transnational corporations to produce profits for their corporate owners.  The impoverishment of the vast majority of people in pursuit of profits for a small minority has pushed millions to migrant in search of food, jobs, and security. Global capitalism produces global migration.  Along with wars,  NAFTA  and other “Free Trade” deals each produce  new waves of migration.  When workers faced with impoverishment and starvation of their families try to move looking for work, they are persecuted, arrested, and often deported.

In spite of the economic boon for the wealthy, working people in the U.S. have yet to receive a significant improvement in their standard of living for over 30 years.  At the same time, democratic forces are once again confronted with anti immigrant campaigns- this time fostered and promoted by a President of the U.S. 
As socialists, we stand with and among the US working class in opposition to the rule of the transnational corporations and their exploitation of the economy and their despoliation of our lives, our society and our environment. 
Socialists support the rights of working people to organize, to form unions, and to protect their rights and to advance their interests. Unions have always been an important part of how socialists seek to make our economic justice principles come alive. Working people- gathered together and exploited in the capitalist workplace-are well positioned to fight their common exploitation.
Current immigration laws and practices, imposed upon us all by the corporations and their control of our government, often prevent working class unity by dividing workers against each other and  by creating categories of workers with few rights to organize and  thus to protect  their own interests.  

The  neoliberal capitalist economic system now being advanced by the relentless merging of the world's  markets also  impoverishes the majority of U.S. workers.  The average U.S. worker has experienced a decline in their real wages since 1979.  Quality industrial jobs have moved to low wage, anti union areas in the U.S. and to Mexico, China, Singapore, Vietnam,  India and other nations. At present the U.S. has no significant controls on capital flight. Indeed, the US  government subsidizes some corporations to move jobs to Honduras, El Salvador,  and  the Caribbean.

Monday, August 27, 2018

Choosing Democracy: Trump's Fake Trade Deal

Choosing Democracy: Trump's Fake Trade Deal: The Trump Administration has announced an agreement on Aug. 27,2018,   on some issues of trade between the U.S. and Mexico.  At presen...

Friday, August 24, 2018

Trump Admin Changes Immigration System by Exec Order

Reordering the Immigration System by Executive Fiat
Under the March leaked draft, a public-charge determination would be based on the totality of circumstances, but certain factors would be heavily weighted favorably or unfavorably during the application review.  So, for example, receipt of public benefits in the past three years would be a heavily weighted negative factor. Demonstrating income or financial assets over 250 percent of the federal poverty line (about $62,000 for a family of four) would be a heavily weighted positive factor—though not a guarantee. The administration would have enormous discretion to deny admission or green cards to those with incomes or financial assets below 250 percent of the poverty line.

A Trump administration “public-charge” rule expected to be unveiled soon could create the potential to significantly reshape family-based legal immigration to the United States—and reduce arrivals from Asia, Latin America, and Africa—by imposing a de facto financial test that 40 percent of the U.S. born themselves would fail, as this commentary explains

Thursday, August 23, 2018

Is Time To Decriminalize Immigration, Say Top Texas Dems | HuffPost

It is Time To Decriminalize Immigration, Say Top Texas Dems | HuffPost

ICE Agents Seize Man in Sacramento Court


ICE Agents Surprise Lawyers in Sacramento Court when They Grab Man inside Courtroom

By Crescenzo Vellucci
Vanguard Sacramento Bureau
SACRAMENTO – In an exclusive tip to the Davis Vanguard, lawyers report that ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents boldly grabbed a man inside a Sacramento Superior Courtroom Wednesday, where he was for other matters.
Lawyers said they were surprised by the action in Dept. 8 and that it was the first time they had seen ICE active in Superior Court here in Sacramento.
The ICE agents, who were sitting in the audience portion of the courtroom, waited until the defendant had been arraigned on another matter before jumping up, announcing who they were and seizing the defendant.
Unconfirmed reports suggested that there was a delay of some sort in the courtroom before ICE was allowed to take the defendant away.
While local immigration rights activists said late Wednesday they also were not aware of something like this happening in a Sacramento courtroom, they aren’t surprised.
“Although this is the first time we have heard of ICE being in the local court, it doesn’t come as a surprise. Our allies in Fresno have been alerting us to the daily presence of ICE in their courts. It’s troubling that ICE simply does not respect the legal process and is willing to jeopardize ongoing legal proceedings in their quest to steal away our neighbors and relatives,” said Ruth Ibarra, NorCal Resist organizer.
In fact, California Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye a year ago told the federal government to stay out of state courts.

Wednesday, August 22, 2018

Madre indocumentada abandona la iglesia donde se refugiĆ³ durante meses p...

We Are Here to Stay Campaign

WWE ARE HERE TO STAY


“Undocumented, Unafraid” is the rally cry for hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrant youth nationwide. After nearly 10 years of grassroots activism and mass mobilization, United We Dream Action is going directly to voters, hitting the campaign trail in 2018.
PLEDGE TO VOTE VOLUNTEER DONATE


ARE HERE TO StayO STAY

PLEDGE TO VOTE VOLUNTEER DONATE


WE ARE HERE TO STAY


“Undocumented, Unafraid” is the rally cry for hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrant youth nationwide. After nearly 10 years of grassroots activism and mass mobilization, United We Dream Action is going directly to voters, hitting the campaign trail in 2018.




Wednesday, August 15, 2018

ICE Continues to Separate and Detain Children



Donde estƔn los NiƱos ?

ICE Increases Arrests Under Trump-Denham-McClintock


ICE NON-CRIMINAL ARRESTS TRIPLE: "Federal arrests of undocumented immigrants with no criminal record have more than tripled under President Donald Trump and may still be accelerating, according to an NBC News analysis of Immigration and Customs Enforcement data from his first 14 months in office," Ben Leonard reports. 
"The surge has been caused by a new ICE tactic of arresting — without warrants — people who are driving or walking down the street and using large-scale 'sweeps' of likely immigrants," NBC News reports, citing a class-action lawsuit filed in June over warrantless arrests in the Chicago area. 
ICE spokesman Matthew Burke noted to Morning Shift that nearly 90 percent of the agency's administrative arrests in fiscal year 2017 were of people convicted of a crime or charged with a crime (the tally counts traffic offenses and other low-level crimes). He added that "the agency will no longer exempt classes or categories of removable aliens from potential enforcement." Read more from NBC News here and the complaint here.

Sunday, August 12, 2018

Trump Orders Military - Prepare Concentration Camps for Immigrants

Actual concentration camps are in the process of development at military bases across the Southern United States. This isn’t the first time in US history that facilities are being constructed and used to imprison large numbers of a persecuted minority in a relatively small area with inadequate facilities (the definition of a concentration camp). Previous examples of this are now infamous, such as the so-called Japanese internment camps. We're now on the brink of adding a new chapter to this dark history.
Potential locations have been identified by military or Pentagon personnel as:
Congressman Mc Clintock
  • Tornillo Port of Entry, Texas – capacity 360 teenagers CURRENTLY ACTIVE
  • Goodfellow Air Force Base, Texas – capacity 45,000
  • Fort Bliss, Texas
  • Dyess Air Force Base, Texas
  • Little Rock Air Force Base, Arkansas – capacity 20,000
  • Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Air Station, California – capacity 47,000
  • Navy Outlying Field Wolf and Silverhill, Alabama – capacity 25,000
  • Yuma Marine Corps Air Station, Arizona
  • Concord Naval Weapons Station, California – capacity 47,000 CANCELLED

Military officials, in response to pressured deadlines from the White House, have stated that these camps can begin to be operational by mid-August. Estimates are that capacity for another 10,000 people can be added each month. The White House’s stated timeline of 45 days out from June 27th has local base commanders scrambling and caught unaware.

Sunday, August 05, 2018

Judge Upholds Order for Trump Administration to Restore DACA - The New York Times

Judge Upholds Order for Trump Administration to Restore DACA - The New York Times

Helping Asylum seekers at Matamoros

Photo/MotherJones

U.S. border agents know exactly what they’re doing when they tell asylum seekers at U.S. ports of entry that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) “doesn’t have the capacity to process them” that day, the next, or even a week—it’s a stalling tactic meant to discourage them from asking for asylum, a right enshrined under U.S. law. But with Glady CaƱas Aguilar around, they have a fighting chance.
Since June, the Helping People Succeed leader, along with her daughters and group of others, “comes to two of the main bridges that connect Matamoros and Brownsville, Texas, with everything stranded migrants need to survive,” Mother Jones reports. “Umbrellas to block the sun, medicine, tacos, water, and ice. She stays late into the night, tidying up the makeshift encampments and providing the moral support that migrants often lack on their journeys north.”

Friday, August 03, 2018

#AbolishICE: Protesters at ICE field office speak out

The Angel of Matamoros ; Mother Jones

The Angel of Matamoros; Mother Jones

 Border Patrol blocks asylum seekers.  Volunteer steps in,

Latino Voting in the Trump Era:

Immigrant Shelter Care Worker Charged With Sexual Abuse Of 8 Children | HuffPost

Immigrant Shelter Care Worker Charged With Sexual Abuse Of 8 Children | HuffPost

Thursday, August 02, 2018

Latinos in the Trump era: Angry but unmoved | AL DÍA News

Latinos in the Trump era: Angry but unmoved | AL DIA News

Progressive Alliance Endorses Kevin de Leon for Senate.

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MOVING COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM 

With a firm understanding of the contributions of the undocumented community to California’s culture and economy, Kevin has led the fight against President Trump’s direct attacks on our immigrant communities. He believes it’s time for Washington, D.C. to act on immigration reforms that provide a path to citizenship, reduce immigration court backlogs, and clear out overcrowded detention centers. Kevin has been a strong advocate for immigrant families ever since he got his start as a community organizer because he knows California’s diversity is its greatest strength.

The Sacramento Progressive Alliance has endorsed Kevin de Leon for Senate. 

Wednesday, August 01, 2018

No, the Government Did Not Make the Deadline to Reunify Children With Their Parents | Portside

No, the Government Did Not Make the Deadline to Reunify Children With Their Parents | Portside

Oppose ICE

Yesterday, I joined hundreds of people across the country and took action to expose the cities, schools, and corporations that support ICE’s persecution of my community.
From California to Nebraska to Pennsylvania, ordinary people took to the streets and sent a strong message: anyone who helps ICE in any way is complicit in their inhumane treatment of immigrants. With peaceful actions in over 10 cities and 28 people arrested for exposing this moral crisis, we made it clear: #WeWontBeComplicit any longer.

Can you take a second to share our Facebook post
celebrating our National Day of Action?

Here are some highlights from the ground yesterday:
  • In New York, we put the spotlight on "progressive" tech companies like Amazon, Microsoft, and Salesforce who say they stand with immigrants but have multimillion dollar contracts with ICE. With the support of Science for the People and local partners,  employees, customers, and activists shutdown an Amazon store in downtown Manhattan!
  • Silicon Valley Rising and other groups led a massive protest in Palo Alto against Palantir, the company that provides the tech for ICE’s “mission critical” and directly enables them to target, detain, and deport our community.