Which Side Are You On ?

  Which Side Are You On ?

The Border is Invading America.  August 29,2025.  NY Times. Opinion.  Jean Guerrero. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/29/opinion/immigration-border-politics.html?unlocked_article

 Press title. Americs's Border Politics Are Coming for Your Rights. 

This piece is a misinformed application of a series of bankrupt, unrealistic political  arguments. 

Each of what is said is relatively accurate.  But, what is not said, is far more important. Yes, the Democrats did not do enough on immigration during the last  two decade. But, the fascist currently in power not only are worse, their movement is organized to destroy U.S. democracy, not only to oppose more immigration.  Yes, the author notes the terror, but that terror is connected to a political project of taking over the nation.  It is not only terror against immigrants. 

So, take each of the points argued and listed as Democratic Party weakness. But, what is not said. Well, Obama tried to pass the Dream Act, when it failed he created the Dreamers where 640,000 achieved some legality. The Democrats failed to pass real immigration reform- in part because of the arguments like those in the piece.

Biden, on day 1, tried to pass comprehensive immigration reform. It would have covered about 13 million.  It failed. Others tried to pass the Farm Modernization Act, it would have covered 3 million plus.  It failed.  Biden dismantled the many horrendous practices of Trump 2016-2020;

Who has been admitted.- and not considered in the essay ?  By my count is 4,700,000 in H-1 B, H-2A, refugees, Temporary Protected Status, refugees, and more. I am not arguing each of these programs were good.  When claiming there is little difference between the Democrats and the MAGA Crowd, you do need to count. 

I am uncertain if the author’s purpose is the support the MAGA claim that the actions of the Democrats on immigration are not significantly different that the current  militarized terrorism in the streets. This is a dangerous false argument supporting the destruction of our democratic constitutional order.

Or is there some other purpose ? I don’t know.  

But, this is a perspective being promoted on line particularly in right wing circles. The argument is neither right nor left.  It is nihilist and based  ignoring substantial history of change in immigration policies during the last two decades and upon totally unrealistic political perspectives and how change is made in the U.S.  The argument has contributed to the 40 year failure to adopt realistic political reform. 

Dr. Duane Campbell.  40 years engaged in the struggle for immigrants’ rights.

Author, Choosing Democracy – a practical guide to multicultural education.  1996- 2010.  Allyn and Bacon. 

 

 

GOP Budget Bill Would Make ICE "Largest Federal Law Enforcement Agency i...

The Disappeared: Lessons from LATIN AMERICA

 

The ‘Disappeared’: Lessons From Latin America National Security Archive May 12, 2025 National Security Archive We can’t help but connect what is happening in our country today to a long history in the Americas of governments’ use of enforced disappearance. Three experts with direct experience provide lessons in how to protest, to mobilize, to fight back. ,    On April 30, the National Security Archive and the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) co-hosted an online conversation with three Latin American experts to learn from their experiences with enforced disappearance. The motivation behind the meeting was a growing sense of alarm, disbelief, and helplessness among many Americans as we witness the Trump administration’s unprecedented actions targeting immigrants in the United States. At the president’s direction, U.S. government agents have seized men, women, and children for detention and deportation without due process. We have seen the images of masked security forces swarming a student outside her home, a mother driving with her kids, workers in a restaurant kitchen. To take them where? Whether the agents are from ICE, DEA, ATF, CPB, or the local police, they don’t always reveal the victim’s destination. They don’t always inform their families that they’ve taken them. They don’t always allow the victim to contact their lawyer. They don’t always bring them before a judge. And now they don’t even always imprison them in the United States. How do we make sense of this? For those of us working in Latin America, the actions of Trump’s security forces ring a deeply disturbing bell. We can’t help but connect what is happening in our country today, right now, to a long history in the Americas of governments’ use of enforced disappearance to punish people considered dissidents. In Latin America, that could mean armed guerrillas or suspected subversives; more often it meant students, teachers, journalists, investigators, indigenous activists, opposition politicians, lawyers, priests. But if the region has a dark history of disappearing its perceived enemies, it also has a proud and powerful tradition of fighting back. People mobilized. They organized. They created strategies to protest the disappearances, demand information, hold hearings, fight in the courts, create new laws, search for the missing, expose injustice, and tell the rest of the world what was happening. That’s why we invited these three experts – these colleagues and friends – to speak to us. Mimi Doretti, Juan Méndez, and Marcela Turati all have direct experience with enforced disappearance and its impact on a society. We need to hear from them. We need to learn from their histories. We need to pull lessons from what they have to tell us about how to fight back. Our conversation is archived for anyone who missed the live event. And go to WOLA’s posting about the webinar for a transcription of the some of the key remarks and a set of powerful conclusions drawn from our speakers’ presentations. Learn about disturbing parallels between the U.S. government’s current trajectory and what their nations have lived through—and learn about how courageous people from many walks of life have responded. WATCH THE RECORDING Speakers include: Mercedes Doretti, Executive Director, Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team Juan E. Mendez, Professor of Human Rights Law in Residence, Washington College of Law, American University Marcela Turati, an investigative journalist based in Mexico Kate Doyle, Senior Analyst at the National Security Archive, will moderate. Carolina Jiménez Sandoval, President of WOLA, will introduce the event. About the National Security Archive: Founded in 1985 by journalists and scholars to check rising government secrecy, the National Security Archive combines a unique range of functions: investigative journalism center, research institute on international affairs, library and archive of declassified U.S. documents ("the world's largest nongovernmental collection" according to the Los Angeles Times), leading non-profit user of the U.S. Freedom of Information Act, public interest law firm defending and expanding public access to government information, global advocate of open government, and indexer and publisher of former secrets. Latin America   disappeared Political repression

Latino Civil Rights vs.Project 2025

 The Battle Ahead: Latino Civil Rights vs. Project 2025

Prepared by Adriana Varea, Ari Kittrie, and Joaquin Macias, LULAC Policy and Legislation Fellows

Introduction

The 2025 Mandate for Leadership, The Conservative Promise, more publicly recognized as “Project 2025” is a roadmap for the first 180 days in office for a conservative presidency. It was drafted by The Heritage Foundation, which is a right-leaning, conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. charged with crafting policies that align with the Republican party. The Heritage Foundation gave the first Mandate for Leadership to Reagan to “repair the executive branch” after Jimmy Carter’s presidency.

Former President Trump has recently distanced himself from Project 2025 by tweeting:

“I know nothing about Project 2025. I have no idea who is behind it. I disagree with some of the things they’re saying and some of the things they’re saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal. Anything they do, I wish them luck, but I have nothing to do with them.” (@realDonaldTrump)

However, this was refuted by a 2022 statement from former President Trump:

“[The Heritage Foundation] is a great group, and they’re going to lay the groundwork and detail plans for exactly what our movement will do and what your movement will do when the American people give us a colossal mandate to save America.” (Bennen, 2024)

Additionally, several authors, editors, and contributors of Project 2025 have previously worked for the Trump administration. Roughly 64% of policy recommendations from the 2016 Mandate for Leadership were either implemented or taken into consideration by the Trump Administration in 2017 (The Heritage Foundation).

In this article, we will outline ten specific ways in which Project 2025 disproportionately negatively impacts Latino civil rights.

1. Establish a Unitary Executive Branch

2. Mass Deportations

“Prioritizing border security and immigration enforcement, including detention and deportation, is critical if we are to regain control of the border.” (Project 2025, pg. 135)

Project 2025 plans to repeal parts of the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 to allow for the large-scale use of detention facilities to mass incarcerate migrants. It also will change Title 8 of U.S. Code § 1226 to require mandatory detention for unauthorized migrants caught within the U.S. interior (pg. 150). To compound this, Project 2025 will also increase Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) capabilities by removing all sensitive zones where ICE personnel are prohibited from operating, allowing for raids in schools, churches, and businesses (pg. 142).

Project 2025 calls to authorize state and local law enforcement to participate in immigration and border security actions (pg. 150). Through deputizing local law enforcement, there will be a lack of oversight and accountability, allowing for abuses of the system that would disproportionately hurt the Latino community. Additionally, Latinos would have a more difficult time receiving impartial hearings and legal representation, especially because detainees are not entitled to public defenders as criminal defendants are. To compound upon this, the Supreme Court Case Loper Bright Entreprises vs. Raimondo, which repealed the Chevron Deference, has the potential to take immigration hearings away from the United States Immigration and Citizenship Services and shift them to the local courts. These local courts notoriously have long backlogs and a limited understanding of immigration policies and laws, which would force Latinos to have long and unjust trials.

3. Cutting Off Legal Immigration

“Victimization should not be a basis for an immigration benefit.” (pg. 144) “If CISOMB continues as a DHS component, a policy should be issued that prohibits CISOMB from assisting illegal aliens to obtain benefits. Currently, approximately 15 percent–20 percent of CISOMB’s workload consists of helping DACA applicants obtain and renew benefits, including work authorization. This is not the role of an ombudsman.” (Project 2025, pg. 166)

Project 2025 proposes to cut down on legal immigration by limiting interim immigration into the United States. For example, it calls for an increase in visa application fees. It plans to limit the issuance of H-2A and H2-B visas for seasonal agricultural workers, as well as the complete elimination of T and U visas meant to protect trafficking or crime victims who are actively cooperating with law enforcement as a witness (pg. 612, 141). Project 2025 calls to remove and deport all Temporary Status designations for migrants whose home countries are considered unsafe to live in (pg. 145). Finally, Project 2025 will phase out DACA for the over 500,000 recipients by eliminating staff time for reviewing and processing renewal applications which will make it very hard for DACA recipients to renew their status given the proposed lack of staff present to do so (pg.145).

 

And More 

 

Project 2025 

https://lulac.org/project_2025/

 

and on our Electoral Fight Back site. 

 

 Our building a united front is here;
 North Star: Defeat MAGA/Fight for Democracy Action Opportunities
List of opportunities:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cRIJsSJwtF72ckJ8QLQu5cDCGnoeh5OIIjwqRkDKdBg/edit?usp=sharing

Immigration Reform - Not MAGA Politics

 

As a former immigration attorney and a daughter of immigrants, I promise to keep speaking up for immigrants’ rights. I’ve been horrified at the dangerous anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies from Democrats in Congress and the White House. In both bodies of Congress, we’re seeing members voting for xenophobic, fear mongering bills including spending billions of our taxpayer dollars on war and on far-right U.S. border policies to end asylum protections, speed up mass deportations, and lock up more refugees.  President Biden endorsed that bipartisan Senate border bill, invited Trump to “join” him in working on it, and referenced it in last week’s State of the Union address as a priority. In that State of the Union speech, the president called undocumented immigrants “illegals,” prompting a response from human rights groups to affirm that No human being is illegal. We must decriminalize the deeply human act of migration, affirm the rights of all people, and finally create a real path to citizenship for our immigrant neighbors who’ve lived here for years. As Michigan United explains: “We need citizenship and family reunification, not detention and deportations.” Add your name today to tell Democrats in the White House and Congress: Don’t pander to far-right racists on immigration. Don’t dehumanize our immigrant neighbors. Fulfill your campaign promises to push for a more just and humane immigration process, including creating and expanding pathways to citizenship. ADD YOUR NAME In my community, thousands of U.S. citizens can’t get their spouses access to a legal pathway to citizenship because of layers of bureaucracy that leave people waiting 10 or 20 years for an interview.  I’m reaffirming the promise I made to the residents of my congressional district when they sent me to Congress: I will continue taking meaningful actions to end hateful Trump-era immigration policies, reunite families, welcome migrants and asylum seekers, and reform our outdated and inhumane immigration system.  President Biden and other Democrats also made campaign promises to reduce deportations, reunite families, protect people fleeing danger, and support the millions of undocumented people who are already living and working in our communities.  But since Trump left office, deportations have increased, and many Trump-era immigration policies have continued or expanded. This “prisons first, humanity later” approach fails our immigrant communities. The recent Senate bill, which President Biden endorsed and again referenced in his State of the Union address as a priority, would spend an unprecedented amount of taxpayer dollars to expand notoriously inhumane detention centers—including for-profit prisons that work with ICE.  The bill would also send over a billion of our tax dollars for 24-hour “suspicionless surveillance” technology that could be used to profile and harm all immigrant families in the U.S..  Kids are still in cages, and ICE still runs hundreds of abusive jails across the country as part of the world’s largest immigration detention system. Progressives and activists have talked about the need to defund ICE, not send them more money to violate more people’s rights. Please sign to tell Congress and the White House: We need citizenship and family reunification, not detention and deportations. SIGN NOW Thank you. Together we can build a future with dignity and safety for all people. In solidarity, Rashida Tlaib,  U.S. Congress

MAGA Republicans Already Have Atrocious Migration Bill

  

The Maga Republicans Already Have a migration bill.

 

The discussion in January is about the Senate Bill.  Maga Republicans see the proposals  as too generous.

 

https://www.dsanorthstar.org/blog/the-maga-republicans-already-have-a-migration-bill

 

The Republicans already  have a migration bill. It is HR-2. 

 

https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/2

 

But, the Republicans already have a bill passed in the House. HR 2. On May 11, 2023 

This is what the House will start from. 

Introduced in House (05/02/2023) This bill addresses issues regarding immigration and border security, including by imposing limits to asylum eligibility. requires DHS to create an electronic employment eligibility confirmation system modeled after the E-Verify system and requires all employers to use the system. Passed on May 11, 2023. 

 

 

It includes endless negative proposals such as building the wall plus  including the following.

 

DIVISION B--IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS

TITLE I--ASYLUM REFORM AND BORDER PROTECTION

This title imposes additional requirements for asylum eligibility. 

(Sec. 101) This section expands provisions that bar certain individuals from applying for asylum.

Currently, an individual may not apply for asylum if that individual may be removed to a third country (i.e., a country that is not the applicant's country of nationality or last habitual residence) if that third country has (1) a full and fair asylum process that the individual could use, and (2) an agreement with the United States allowing for such removals. This section expands this provision by authorizing removal to third countries that do not have an agreement with the United States.

This section also bars an individual from applying for asylum if the individual traveled through at least one third country before arriving in the United States, with certain exceptions (e.g., the individual applied for and was denied asylum in that third country). 

 

The Speaker of the House Johnson  says  today that these are the minimums to achieve progress on resolving the enforcement at the border. 

 

Border policy

 

Congressman Casar on the border crisis.

 

http://antiracismdsa.blogspot.com/2024/01/policy-on-migrant-crisis.html

 

Lets not be Stupid.

 

https://www.dsanorthstar.org/blog/let-us-not-be-stupid-about-immigration

 

 

 

https://www.dsanorthstar.org/blog/let-us-not-be-stupid-about-immigration

2023 

 

 

2018. Steps toward a labor informed policy on immigration.

 

https://www.dsanorthstar.org/blog/steps-toward-a-labor-informed-position-on-immigration

2018..

 

The U.S. needs to develop new policies about immigration. The Congress has failed to come to a compromise for over 30 years.  In response to the current economic crises in Latin America, Africa, and Asia and the world wide environmental crisis, the migration crises continues to grow.

 

It is not sufficient to develop and repeat slogans. 

 

Here is the resolution written by members of the IMWG, and adopted by the convention. It provides a good start for consideration of the many interactive  issues.

 

https://www.dsanorthstar.org/blog/us-faces-migration-crisis

 

What can we do?  Recommendations from Robert Reich

All good reasons to be outraged. 

But do me a favor right this moment. Take a deep breath and consider what you’re doing with your outrage.

Outrage on its own is exhausting (take this from someone who’s spent the better part of the last 77 years feeling outraged about one thing or another). 

It can also lead to two disempowering states: despair and cynicism. 

I know many who are in despair about the possibility of another Trump presidency. Their despair follows them around during the day and wakes them at night. It is robbing them of most joy in their lives. 

I know others who have sunk into deep cynicism. The system is rotten to the core, they tell themselves. Why even worry about Trump? Nothing can be done in any event. They’ve stopped listening to or reading the news. Why bother?

Maybe you fall into one of these camps. I don’t mean to criticize you. I understand completely. Hell, I’ve been there myself.

But despair and cynicism can be self-fulfilling prophesies. They can stop you from taking political action. As such, they make it more likely that Trump will become president — and that neofascism will prevail. 

Outrage can be a positive force if it fuels activism — if it gets people off their butts to do any number of things that individually don’t seem like much but taken together can have a big impact.

What sort of things? Forgive me if I’ve suggested this before, but for example: 

1. Becoming even more politically active. For some of us, this will mean taking more time out of our normal lives — up to and including getting out the vote in critical swing states. For others, it will mean phone banking, making political contributions, writing letters to editors, and calling friends and relations in key states.

2. Starting now to organize. Even if you cannot take much time out of your normal life for direct politics, you will need to organize, mobilize, and energize your friends, colleagues, and neighbors. A number of effective groups can help you (I’ve added their names and web addresses at the end). 

3. Countering lies with truth. When you hear someone repeating a Trump Republican lie, correct it. This will require that you prepare yourself with facts, logic, analysis, and sources.

4. Not tolerating bigotry and hate. When you come across it, call it out. Stand up to it. Denounce it. Demand that others denounce it, too.

5. Not resorting to name-calling, bullying, intimidation, violence, or any of the other tactics that Trump followers may be using. We cannot save democracy through anti-democratic means

posted by Duane Campbell 

 

 

Is This Fascism ?

RS Seminar- Economic Crisis: Is This Fascism ?:   The Washington Post  calls  Trump’s vision for a second term “ authoritarian. ” That vision includes mandatory stop-and-frisk. Deploying t...