The Return of Workplace Immigration Raids

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - David Huerta, President of United Service Workers West, SEIU, speaks at a meeting of San Francisco janitors and other workers supporting AB 450, a bill protecting workers during immigration raids and enforcement actions.  

David Bacon, 

At the end of February immigration agents descended on a handful of Japanese and Chinese restaurants in the suburbs of Jackson, Mississippi, and in nearby Meridian. Fifty-five immigrant cooks, dishwashers, servers and bussers were loaded into vans and taken to a detention center about 160 miles away in Jena, Louisiana.

Their arrests and subsequent treatment did more than provoke outrage among Jackson's immigrant rights activists. Labor advocates in California also took note of the incident, fearing that it marked the beginning of a new wave of immigrant raids and enforcement actions in workplaces. In response, California legislators have written a bill providing legal protections for workers, to keep the Mississippi experience from being duplicated in the Golden State.

Once the Mississippi restaurant workers had been arrested, they essentially fell off the radar screen for several days. Jackson lawyer Jeremy Litton, who represented three Guatemalan workers picked up in the raid, could not get the government to schedule hearing dates for them.  He was unable to verify that the other detained immigrants were being held in the same center, or even who they were. 

The Geo Corporation, formerly known as the Wackenhut Corporation, operates the LaSalle Detention Facility in Jena. Geo's roots go back to the Pinkerton Detective Agency, which became notorious in the nineteenth and first half of the 20th century for violent assaults on unions and strikers. 

Today Geo operates 16 immigrant detention centers around the country, according to its 2015 annual report. It runs privatized prisons as well, some of which have been investigated by the federal government after allegations of bad conditions and understaffing. The LaSalle facility has 1,160 beds. Litton says it is normally full, so taking in an additional 55 detainees would result in severe overcrowding.

400,000 Workers Plan to Strike on May Day

“A Day Without Immigrants” May Day Strike Announced
Over 400,000 Workers Commit to Strike in Press Conference with Immigrant Rights Organizations and Unions
Washington, DC - Immigrant Rights Organizations, Workers Centers and Unions launch a national strike billed as a “day without immigrants” to demonstrate that the country depends on the labor of immigrants and working class people of color. Hundreds of thousands of workers have already pledged to strike in what organizers expect to be the largest national strike since the Megamarches of 2006.
Speakers at the press conference included Erika Andiola as well as representatives of Movimiento Cosecha, the SEIU United Service Workers West, and the Food Chain Workers Alliance.
“May 1st is the first step in a series of strikes and boycotts that will change the conversation on immigration in the United States,” said Maria Fernanda Cabello, a spokesperson from Movimiento Cosecha. “We believe that when the country recognizes it depends on immigrant labor to function, we will win permanent protection from deportation for the 11 million undocumented immigrants; the right to travel freely to visit our loved ones abroad, and the right to be treated with dignity and respect. After years of broken promises, raids, driving in fear of being pulled over, not being able to bury our loved ones, Trump is just the final straw. As we saw during the spontaneous strikes on February 16th, our people are ready.”
Tens of thousands of members of the SEIU United Service Workers West have pledged to strike on May 1st, to demand an end to the criminalization of black and brown communities, an end to raids and deportations, and an end to worker exploitation. “The policies of the Trump administration are motivated by cruelty. They villainize black and brown people and call us rapists and violent criminals. They break apart immigrant families and separate parents from their children, and for no reason,” said Denise Solis, first vice-president of the SEIU USWW. “We are shutting it down on May 1st to stand up to these policies and show that most Americans don't support cruelty and racism.” High School and College students, as part of the Sanctuary Campus movement, will also be joining the May 1st Day Without Immigrants Strike with mass walkouts.

Strategic Racism and the Contested Legacy of Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta

 On March 31, Eleven  states will hold holidays celebrating  labor and Latino leader Cesar Chavez.   A new film Cesar Chavez: History is Made One Step at a Time,  starring  Michael Peña   as Cesar Chavez and  Rosario Dawson  as Dolores Huerta opens in cities across the country on April 4, 2014.  Here is a trailer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLkfMrqAmD0

There is a film review by Randy Shaw in the post below.

Let us be clear.  Chavez was religious, but he was not a saint. Neither were the growers, the Teamster collaborators, nor corporate agribusiness saints.  Celebrations should not be about hero worship or uncritical praise, nor should we ignore the present oppression of farm workers in the U.S. 

What Chavez and Huerta did  accomplish along with Philip Vera Cruz ,  Marshall Ganz, LeRoy Chatfield, Gil Padilla and  hundreds of others was to   organize in California the first successful farm worker union against overwhelming odds.

With Larry Itliong, Philip Vera Cruz, and others Chávez and Huerta  deliberately created a multiracial union; Mexican,  Mexican American, Filipino, African-American, Dominican, Puerto Rican and Arab workers, among others, have been part of the UFW.  This cross-racial organizing  was necessary in order to combat the  prior divisions and exploitations of workers based upon race and language. Dividing the workers on racial and  language lines, as well as immigration status  always left the corporations the winners.

Each of the prior attempts to organize a  farm worker union  had been  destroyed by racism and corporate power. Chávez chose to build a union that incorporated the strategies of social movements and community organizing.  They allied the union   with churches, students,  and organized labor.  The successful creation of the UFW changed the nature of labor organizing  in the Southwest  and contributed significantly to the growth  of Latino politics in the U.S.

Eliseo Medina's Fast for Immigration Reform

by Randy Shaw

The Obama's Visit Eliseo Medina, Fast for Families
The Obama's Visit Eliseo Medina, Fast for Families

In my September 30 tribute to Eliseo Medina’s legacy when he retired from SEIU, I said he “is retiring from his job, though not from immigrant rights activism.” This has become clear as Medina and other activists have held a Fast for Families on the National Mall in Washington, DC. The President, Michelle Obama and Valerie Jarrett all visited Medina and the other fasters on November 29, bringing needed national attention to House inaction on immigration reform.

Ed. note.  Eliseo Medina is a Honorary Chair of DSA.  They ended their fast on December 3.  Others have taken up the fast.

 I discuss the strategic use of fasts by both Cesar Chavez and Eliseo Medina in my book on the farmworker movement and its legacy, and the 67-year old Medina’s current fast harkens back to Chavez’ Arizona fast that spawned the Si Se Puede UFW rallying call.

Medina knows the fast will not sway Speaker Boehner, but recognizes the action can transform public consciousness about the urgency of immigration reform. And for a media that has given much more coverage to technological delays caused by a deficient website as to Boehner’s intentionally delaying a vote on immigration reform, such transformation is vital.

When I heard that Eliseo Medina was planning a fast along with other immigrant rights activists, my first thought was his age. Fasting at 67 can be life threatening, and many believe Cesar Chavez’s life was cut short by damage caused by his late in life fasts.

My second thought was more pragmatic: should Medina be risking his life for a fast that was unlikely to win a House vote on the Senate immigration reform bill? But I think recent events have showed the wisdom of Medina’s decision.

The sad fact is that the traditional national media has failed to pressure House Republicans to hold a vote on immigration reform. As noted above, it has been far more focused on spinning a false narrative about health care reform.

Consider: immigration reform is a matter of life and death for millions facing deportation at any time. A delayed health care website puts nobody’s life, or even health, at risk.

There is a parallel between the media’s troubling coverage of the two issues: the eight to twelve million impacted by immigration reform are primarily Latinos, while the little told story of the five million Americans denied health care not temporarily by a website but permanently by a Republican Governor are disproportionately African-Americans.

Activists Did Everything Right

I have found that regardless of how uphill the battle, many always blame the activists pushing for change for it not being achieved. Mistakes are identified, wrong steps are highlighted, and history is written to absolve the political system of failing to implement social justice.

Had the immigrant rights movement just folded up its tent and conceded defeat in 2014, activists would be blamed them for the outcome. The movement would be accused of a) focusing too much on the Senate, b) putting too much faith in Obama, c) not doing sufficient groundwork with Boehner, or d) all or some of the above.

That’s one reason the Fast for Families is so important: it reminds us that activists did not fail, a political system that failed to secure immigration reform did.

I argue in my new book, The Activist’s Handbook, Second Edition, that the immigrant rights movement was too willing to sacrifice its agenda for Obama’s in 2009. But by the fasts and other actions the movement has laid the groundwork for a cautious President to take the unilateral action necessary to protect millions from deportation while House Republicans fiddle.

And the movement has also prepared millions to protest directly against the President should he fail to take such action.

Randy Shaw is Editor of Beyond Chron,  where this post  originally appeared.  His book on the farmworkers movement, which highlights Eliseo Medina’s accomplishments, is Beyond the Fields: Cesar Chavez, the UFW and the Struggle for Justice in the 21st Century

Eliseo Medina, Retires from SEIU

Eliseo Medina, Who Reshaped Labor and Immigrant Rights Movements, Retires from SEIU

Today is Eliseo Medina’s last day as the Secretary-Treasurer of SEIU International. Medina is retiring from his job, though not from immigrant rights activism, after nearly fifty years working for social change. Medina helped expand Latino union membership, and increased Latino voting and political empowerment. He secured SEIU resources to implement Latino voter outreach strategies that effectively changed the course of national politics, and played a leading role in broadening a network of immigrant rights groups into a national labor and church-backed movement.

Medina’s activism began in 1965 at age 19 as an organizer with Cesar Chavez and the UFW. He was trained by the legendary Fred Ross Sr [1]., who also mentored Chavez. Seen by many as Chavez’s successor, Medina abruptly left the UFW in 1978 over concern with the group’s direction. His departure began a mass exodus of the UFW’s key organizing talent, whose future endeavors became the subject of my previous book, Beyond the Fields [2].

Drivers License bill passes - after decades.

Raises to the  state minimum wage also pass. 
Last night the California legislature passed the bill that has been blocked in the legislature for over a decade.

 At approximately 9:35 P.M., today - September 12th - the California Assembly passed AB60 by a vote margin of 55 to 18, one day after Assemblyman Luis Alejo had pulled his legislation to make it a two-year bill.  "Justice delayed is justice denied," responded Los Angeles City Councilman Gil Cedillo when he heard of Alejo's decision.  Cedillo is the original author of the driver's license legislation, AB60, in 1998 when he arrived at the state assembly. 

Alejo's decision was based on pressure both he and Assembly Speaker John Perez received from labor unions, in particular SEIU in the person of Eliseo Medina, International Vice President, and the California Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, who essentially ordered them to not proceed with the legislation.  It was never made clear what their real objections were only to say that they mentioned the issue of the distinguishing feature that the proposed license would bear, a DP instead of DL preceding the serial number that appears on the document.  However, it was rumored that the unions were seeking to extract some other favor or benefit from the governor and sought to hold the bill as leverage.

California Governor Brown endorses comprehensive immigration reform.

The California Latino Legislative Caucus held informational hearings on current efforts on immigration reform on Aug.27,2013, in Sacramento, California.  Speakers from community groups, labor unions, growers, and Dreamers, among others, presented the major issues and many of the problems with SB 744, the current federal proposal.  Enrique Moreno of Border Angeles described terror on the border. There were clear divisions among the groups about the current bill for its many repressive characteristics.  Mike Garcia of SEIU the Service Employees International  was  one of the more active advocates  for the bill saw the passage of the amended S744  as a major victory for working people. Conservative Republican forces in the U.S. Senate amended the bill to achieve a massive   $46  Billion  expansion of border control and  enforcement.  Moreno testified that this would only lead to more deaths on the border.

California Governor Brown joined the hearing for a short while and clearly endorsed efforts at comprehensive reform and promised to work with the legislators to assist with related state issues.

You can view the entire hearing with its many excellent and well informed speakers here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3dGzqkNhqQ&feature=player_detailpage

It is well done and well informed.

Share the dream

Immigration reform fight. UFW Vice President arres...

antiracismdsa: Immigration reform fight. UFW Vice President arres...: I was just arrested in the latest chapter in the battle over fair immigration reform. I was arrested for joining others in a campai...

Eliseo Medina of SEIU, and  Giev Kashkooli  among those arrested. 

SEIU praises the new immigration bill S 744.

After more than a decade of fighting for commonsense immigration reform, SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Eliseo Medina commended the passage of the bipartisan legislation before pivoting to the fight that lies ahead in the House. 

"What we can undoubtedly affirm is that this bill will set a new precedent and will mend much of our broken immigration system. It will allow millions of our friends, colleagues, families and neighbors to enter the threshold into American society, democracy and our economy. The lives of all families will be impacted for the better as will our economy that will stand to flourish.

"What lies ahead will not be easy or pretty, but what stands before the House is a model of compromise that stood the test of scrutiny, heated debate and challenging amendments. The bill is an agreement between two political parties that found common ground in upholding a roadmap to citizenship unfettered by burdensome barriers, protecting future and current working families and strengthening the unity of families."

Defend Immigrants

Defend Immigrant Rights

International Worker's Day- May Day-  2013 took  on additional special meaning this year, as the drumbeat for immigration reform gets louder and louder. As part of an ongoing campaign, SEIU and allied organizations - such as Mi Familia Vota and the Community Center for Change – as well as unions and community groups celebrated May 1st with major actions in over 70 cities  across the nation.    See photos. 

   The current immigration bill in the U.S. Senate has some positive provisions, but it fails because it  includes a guest worker program as well as an extensive further militarization of the border.  The bill being drafted in the  Republican controlled House will probably be worse.

   Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) favors both the permanent extension of the  DREAM Act as well as broader immigration reform legislation that would grant immediate permanent resident status to all undocumented workers and their children and would establish an expeditious and non-punitive road to citizenship for these workers and their families.

  

   We also oppose all workplace discrimination based upon immigration status and oppose any and all guest worker programs because they not only exploit the workers

involved but also undercut all workers’ rights to secure humane wages and working conditions, especially in the service and agricultural sectors.

      DSA is a member of the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee rights and  participates  in the global struggle for equitable economic development and labor rights to reduce the forces that push desperate people to emigrate. We understand that massive migrations of workers, refugees and asylum seekers is a consequence of a global political and economic system that works for the benefit of transnational corporations at the expense of the vast majority of the peoples of the world.

See prior post.  A Working Class View of Immigration Reform. David Bacon.

Get involved http://www.dsausa.org/current_campaigns

Faces of Immigration - Victoria Marquez

Obama Administration changes rules on immigration adjustment of status

 The Obama Administration acted on Friday to permit the husbands, wives, and children of U.S. citizens to adjust their status and to allow them to gain Green Cards or permission to become a resident alien.   This is a return to the policy before the 1996  Republican sponsored Immigration Act.

The primary beneficiaries of the  Obama administration's move are families in which some members are US citizens and some aren't.  At present some family members must return to their home country for up to 10 years while they apply for U.S. residency as a 1996 law – approved by a Republican-led Congress – mandates.

The proposed change will undergo a review but doesn't require congressional approval. Under the so-called "hardship waiver," illegal immigrants who are married or otherwise related to US citizens would be able to pick up the waiver before leaving the United States and then be allowed to return almost immediately after picking up visas in their home countries.  This policy used to be known as advanced parole.

According to an article in the New York Times, for Sat. Jan. 7,  by Julia Preston    the union representing ICE agents is resisting this policy change.  It has not allowed its members to participate in training to implement the new rule.   Chris Crane, the president of the American Federation of Government Employees claims that new rule amounts to violating the law.  ( This was the law prior to 1996) Crane, of AFGE, is working closely with Lamar Smith, the Texas Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and a Republican leader on opposition to immigration reform.

In examining individual cases that may not be representative I note that   the current practice with ICE is that residents from White ( European) countries are commonly allowed to adjust their status while remaining in the U.S.  Residents from non White countries, particularly Latin American and Asian, are required to return to their home countries and apply for immigration- a process that can take up to a decade. The reason for the difference ?  Persons from mostly European countries ( and Australia), do not have a significant backlog of applications for immigration  thus, their cases can be resolved in a  matter of months- not so for Mexican, Philippinos, Chinese and similar groups.

SEIU Vice President Eliseo Medina praised the new rules on Friday.  Here is the SEIU statement on the issue.

SEIU applauds today's announcement by the Obama Administration to knock down bureaucratic obstacles for U.S. citizens who currently face hardship because their spouses cannot remain in the country legally.