The Crimes of Elliot Abrams

 

 

The Crimes and Dangers of Elliott Abrams: Why Biden Should not Appoint Him

 

By Ariel Gold and Rev. Graylan Scott Hagler/Waging Nonviolence/July 18, 2023

 

It was a bright sunny March morning in 1980. Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero was saying mass at a church hospital in San Salvador when a bullet from a sniper rifle ripped through his heart. He stumbled and fell to the ground, dead.

 

Romero started life and ministry as a conservative. But, after his friend Rev. Rutilio Grande was assassinated to discourage other faith leaders from supporting Salvadorian peasants, Romero underwent a political and theological conversion. Picking up where Grande left off, Romero embraced a “theology of liberation,” a perspective that espouses G-d’s preference for the poor and oppressed. His visibility as archbishop elevated his voice and the credibility of his critique of the conditions faced by peasants in El Salvador.

 

A month before his assassination, Romero wrote President Jimmy Carter requesting a halt to U.S. military assistance to the Salvadoran government.

 

Over 250,000 people attended Romero’s funeral demonstrating the love of the Salvadoran people and echoing his demands for justice. Tragically, however, they were swimming against a historical current of meddling and manipulation which included murder, often orchestrated or at the very least condoned from the U.S.

 

Intentionally ignoring two U.S. embassy cables naming the general who ordered his personal bodyguard to carry out the assassination of Romero, in 1982, Elliot Abrams, the newly appointed Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs, said, “anybody who thinks you’re going to find a cable that says that Roberto d’Aubuisson murdered the archbishop is a fool.” Thanks to Abrams and his ilk’s support, U.S. military assistance to the Salvadoran regime was dramatically increased that year. The following year, the U.S. gifted the Salvadoran military and government with U.S. advisors.

 

Last week, President Biden nominated Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell’s pick to join the State Department Bipartisan Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy, Elliot Abrams. If you’re not already outraged and infuriated, keep reading.

 

Under Abrams’ watch, over the 12 years of the Reagan/Bush Sr. administrations, 75,000 Salvadorians were killed. In the village of El Mozote, the army’s Atlácatl Battalion herded women and children into a church convent and opened fire with U.S.-supplied M-16 automatic rifles before burning the building down. One hundred and forty children, average age six, were killed. In 1994, with blood still dripping from his hands, Abrams referred to the U.S.’s record on El Salvador as a “fabulous achievement.” 

 

In addition to supporting the Salvadorian junta, Abrams was a defender of the Guatemalan Montt regime which oversaw the mass murder, rape and torture of scores of Indigenous Ixil Mayan people in the 1980s. The Montt regime was so brutal that it was later classified by the United Nations as genocidal. From his conviction for lying to Congress during the Iran-Contra affair, to his roles supporting the Iraq war, scuttling the Iran nuclear deal, and attempting to orchestrate a coup in Venezuela as recently as 2019, one thing is clear: Abrams doesn’t have a diplomatic bone in his body. 

 

Abrams epitomizes an extreme form of American biblical nationalism, dressed in the distortions of Christianity and Judaism that ironically echo the papal bulls of 1452. These papal decrees, known as the “Doctrine of Discovery,” codify the rights of white nations to acquire and dominate any lands they “discovered.” Similarly, Abrams speaks the language of the Global North proclaiming that their hegemony is the natural order of the world, as G-d wills it to be.

 

The Doctrine of Discovery inspired the Monroe Doctrine, which declared the “right” to exploit and plunder Latin America to be exclusive to the U.S. “We should consider any attempt on their part to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety,” President James Monroe said. This served as a philosophical justification for the ideological boots Abram’s wore to stomp all over Latin America, the Middle East and other places. Abrams has left bloody footprints across the globe.

 

Steps have been taken over the past couple of decades to repair the damage done by Abrams and Co. in Latin America and other parts of the world. In December 2011, the El Salvadoran government apologized for the El Mozote massacre. In 2018, Oscar Romero was elevated to the status of saint. Pope Francis said Romero “left the security of the world, even his own safety, in order to give his life according to the gospel.” And just a few months ago, on March 30, the Vatican, formally repudiated the “Doctrine of Discovery,” and called it antithetical to the Catholic faith.

 

Justice is long overdue for Romero, the other Salvadorian faith leaders who were murdered in the 1980s, the children murdered in El Mozote, and the Ixil Mayan women raped by death squads in Guatemala. To honor those who died and continue to suffer from the fires Elliott Abrams lit and fanned in their countries, we must reclaim the name of G-d from the political and religious ideologies that twist it for hatred and violence. The first step we must take is to ensure that Abrams does not receive another appointment to another U.S. administration. The blood of his victims call out from the ground, and hearing their cries we are called to act and respond.

 

This story was produced by Fellowship Magazine

 

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From: David Richardson <drdaver@hotmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, July 19, 2023 8:11 PM
To: David Richardson <drdaver@hotmail.com>
Subject: The Crimes and Dangers of Elliott Abrams: Why Biden Should not Appoint Him

 

https://www.juancole.com/2023/07/dangers-elliott-appoint.html

The Crimes and Dangers of Elliott Abrams: Why Biden Should not Appoint Him Ariel Gold and Rev. Graylan Scott Hagler      ( Waging Nonviolence ) - It was a bright sunny March morning in 1980. Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero was saying mass at a church hospital in San Salvador when a bullet from a sniper rifle ripped through his heart. He stumbled and fell to the ground, dead. Romero started life and ministry as a conservative. But, after his friend Rev. Rutilio Grande was assassinated to discourage other faith leaders from supporting Salvadorian peasants, Romero underwent a political and theological conversion. Picking up where Grande left off, Romero embraced a “theology of www.juancole.com

Where Discrimination Flourished Like Mushrooms

Where Discrimination Flourished Like Mushrooms: Washington state fines a mushroom grower $3.4 million for firing women farmworkers and replacing them with male contract labor.

The Reality Check: WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO WIN POWER FOR WORKERS?

The Reality Check: WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO WIN POWER FOR WORKERS?: WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO WIN POWER FOR WORKERS? A review of Labor Power and Strategy, by John Womack Jr., edited by Peter Olney and Glenn Peruse...

Demand for Accountability for Migrants

 Together, we are too powerful to ignore. 

Last Friday, June 30th, we took to the streets from Tapachula, Mexico to New York City, USA and online to make our demands heard - demands to bring accountability, justice, and transparency to the U.S./Mexico policies that impact our communities and lives on both sides of our shared border. 

In concert with civil society organizations across the United States and Mexico, the People’s Movement for Peace and Justice organized actions in Tallahassee, FL; San Francisco, CA; New York, NY; and across Mexico in Mexico City, Tapachula, Chiapas, Puebla, and Tlaxcala calling for justice for the victims of the devastating fire in Ciudad Juárez, which left forty dead and ALL victims of the current cruel and ineffective U.S./Mexico immigration policies.

Our voices have made a difference!

Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission has made a recommendation in favor of our demand for justice for the migrant victims of the devastating fire in Ciudad Juárez. (Available here in Spanish.)

We also received the commitment from the Federal Government in Mexico to establish a working group with the Ministry of Interior to follow up on the agreements of the Peace Summit from earlier this year. 

These commitments and recommendations represent a significant step forward in the ongoing movement towards finding justice and building a lasting peace throughout the region. We could not be more pleased with the outcome of this day of action - and we’re excited to keep putting pressure on the governments of both the United States and Mexico to demand the policy changes that will make these goals possible.  

We recognize that there is yet more work to be done - and we will not rest until the full demands of the People’s Movement for Peace and Justice are not just heard, but realized. 

We are calling for more just and humane immigration policies in both the United States and Mexico, an expansion of asylum, justice for the disappeared and commonsense policies to reduce gun violence. 

Thank you for making this (first) victory possible.

We will not stop until the work is done. 

In Solidarity,

Life as a Mexican Poet

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You know what work is—if you’re
old enough to read this you know what
work is, although you may not do it.

– Philip Levine, What Work Is

In recent years, the media has turned its attention to the stories of ordinary working people. Farmworkers and grocery clerks who risked their lives to care for us and keep us fed during the height of the pandemic were briefly celebrated and deemed “essential.” Tales of their bravery were followed by headlines about the great resignation, as many quit their jobs or retired early. Of course, work has always been with us. It’s older than poetry, even, and central to who we are as a people and a country.

Share this article on

 

• Twitter
 
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When I was 9, my mother declared it was time for me to work. At that age she had picked cotton in south Texas as an undocumented child. Child labor was common among Mexican migrants during most of the 20th century — and sadly persists today in factories and slaughterhouses. I ended up dragging a rusty lawn mower around the neighborhood to cut lawns for 25 cents. We lived in a poor Mexican community in the San Gabriel Valley with dirt roads, no sidewalks, chickens and goats in backyards. There weren’t “lawns” — there were dirt yards with patches of grass and weeds.

My parents were highly educated in Mexico — my father was a school principal and my mother his secretary. But they were never recognized for their credentials in the United States. Instead, my dad worked in factories, construction, selling Bibles and pots and pans, eventually retiring as a janitor. My mother served the super-exploitative garment industry, including doing piecework at home. I resented the industrial sewing machine that devoured so much of her time. In a poem I would write years later, in the eyes of a child narrator, the sewing machine became “The Monster.”:

As a teenager I worked in a car wash, a discount store, a warehouse; as a busboy in a Mexican restaurant or driving a school bus and a bobtail truck for a lamp factory. I married at age 20 when my girlfriend was two months out of high school. That same year, I got a job at the Bethlehem Steel Mill in southeast Los Angeles — rotating shifts, stretches of “graveyard,” and even 16-hour days called “double shifts.” I started there as an “oiler-greaser” on massive machines, forges and furnaces. The doors had finally opened for Blacks, Mexicans, Native Americans and women to enter the skilled trades, jobs previously held mostly by white men. I became a millwright doing heavy mechanical repairs and rigging. 

I thought I had it made, sweating the big drops for the best pay and a union job.

Capital a & Maine

The real Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action

 They will not replace us: The real Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action

Dear Hornet Community,

In 2011, a white nationalist French author, Renaud Camus disseminated through his book, "Le Grand Replacement", the conspiracy theory that European populations were systematically being replaced by people of color or non-white people. You might ask, what does this have to do with the landmark ruling against Affirmative Action? Everything.

Yesterday’s decision deserved at least 24 hours to process. If I would have responded immediately after the ruling was announced, I would have fallen prey to my visceral emotional reaction, rather than remaining a seeker of truth and strategic responsibility. I chose the latter.

The lawsuit brought to the Supreme Court by members of Students for Fair Admissions, which features Chinese-Canadian student, Calvin Yang, as the poster minority student against Affirmative Action is a classic play from the exploit people of color playbook. The same playbook was used in 1996, with California Proposition 209. This misguided law was championed by Ward Connerly, an African-American man and benefactor of Affirmative Action (then a UC Regent), who became the face of the law that prohibits race and gender as a consideration in state hiring, contracting, and California state university admissions.

The truth is that the Supreme Court’s decision solidified the role of race in college admissions for persons of European descent, and legalized ignoring the historical and government sanctioned exclusion to college access and admissions of Black, Latiné/Hispanic, Native, and Asian groups, such as Pacific Islanders, Hmong, Laotians, Filipinos, Vietnamese, etc.

The truth is that the United States of America was, and is, founded on a history of race-conscious decisions and laws that legalized the: enslavement of Africans/African-Americans (1619-1863), Indian Removal Act (1830), Chinese Exclusion Act (1882), Immigration Act (1924), and the Undesirable Alien Act (1929), to name a few. These aforementioned unjust laws and acts were the reasons for the 14th Amendment’s inclusion of equal protections from discrimination. It does not take a law degree to recognize the critical importance of historical context and the role systemic injustices have played in the racialized historic and predictable disparate outcomes we see today in education, employment, economics, healthcare, homeownership, and the list goes on.

The truth is, race-conscious and preference-based admissions exist, but not because of Affirmative Action. It exists because of legacy admissions. This is a process that is still used today in the United States of America and results in preferential admissions to “legacy students”. What is legacy admission? Legacy admission is preference given by an institution or organization to certain applicants on the basis of their familiar relationship to alumni of that institution. Students who benefit from legacy admission make up 75% of research universities and nearly all of liberal arts colleges. When we think, historically, of foundations of higher education institutions within the U.S., which demographic group was allowed to apply to and attend college? White men of affluence.

The truth is, a 2005 analysis of 180,000 student records obtained from nineteen selective colleges and universities revealed that being a legacy student gave an almost 20% advantage over those who were not a legacy student (aka 1st generation college students). The study further found that "legacy students were deemed to be less qualified and less racially diverse, yet more economically beneficial to universities and more likely to donate to the university."

The truth is, six of the nine supreme court justices decided to maintain the status quo and legacy admissions: John G. Roberts, Jr. (Irish/Czech male and Harvard Grad), Clarence Thomas (Black male and Yale Grad), Samuel A. Alito, Jr. (Italian Immigrant male and Princeton Grad), Amy Coney Barrett (European female and Notre Dame Grad), Neil M. Gorsuch (European male and Harvard Grad), Brett M. Kavanaugh (Irish male and Yale Grad).

Three supreme court justices, all women, dissented the ruling and challenged this unjust decision: Elena Kagan (Russian/Jewish female and Princeton Grad), Sonia Sotomayor (Latina female and Princeton Grad), and Ketanji Brown Jackson (Black female and Harvard Grad). Supreme Court Justice Brown Jackson, makes her dissent clear in one bold sentence, stating, “But deeming race irrelevant in law does not make it so in life.”

The truth is, European Americans/White individuals remain the majority in college admissions, in graduation, in leadership and decision-making positions. The truth is, Chinese individuals are adequately represented in colleges, when compared to the total population of Chinese individuals in the United States.

The goal of this Supreme Court ruling is to breed fear, maintain a white majority, and to handcuff practitioners for justice into doing the dirty work of making higher education elite again, exclusionary again, patriarchal again, sexist again, ableist again, homophobic again, and racist again. We cannot fall for it. We must strategize, mobilize, and galvanize those that are committed to equity and find ways to continue to provide equal access and close opportunity gaps.

So, in the face of continued injustice, what is our strategic responsibility?

As we continue our pursuits to become an antiracism and inclusive campus, it will be up to each of us to critically assess and make sense of events, ideas, patterns and trends, past and present, that interrupt our progress.

It will be up to us to build the esteem of our thirty-four percent 1st generation college students, our students of color, our immigrant students, and our students who are poor and basic needs insecure. It will be up to us to ensure that every student whose inherited life circumstances that created a barrier for them has that barrier removed. It will be up to us to partner with our TK-12 system to provide equal access and resources for satisfying "a-g" requirements.

It will be up to us, especially as an Anchor University, to provide historically marginalized students opportunities to build their leadership and community service portfolios. It will be up to us to take our time to write stellar letters of recommendations to colleges and universities, sharing how despite experiencing racial injustice, despite life circumstance which correlates to race, despite disadvantages like poverty, food insecurity, homelessness, non-legacy status, and immigration discrimination these students are qualified to access higher education and will transcend these life circumstances.

It will be up to us to read between the lines and color outside of the lines to ensure justice in our educational and admissions decisions. It will be up to us to act equitably as practitioners even when the law does not. Yes, the Supreme Court decided to do away with the ideals found in Affirmative Action laws. Yes, we will mourn the loss of the term Affirmative Action. Yet, we will give birth to equity-based practices, strategic, and intentional action that opens wide the doors of access. Our commitment to our students will not waver. We will stare directly in the face of adversity and say together, you will not replace (us) champions for justice.

In partnership,

Dr. Mia Settles-Tidwell

Vice President for Inclusive Excellence and University Diversity Office

The Reality Check: A PATH TO LIBERATION THAT'S STILL EVOLVING

The Reality Check: A PATH TO LIBERATION THAT'S STILL EVOLVING: A PATH TO LIBERATION THAT'S STILL EVOLVING By David Bacon Civil Eats, 6/29/23 https://civileats.com/2023/06/29/photo-essay-a-cooperative...

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...

16 migrants from Texas flown to Sacramento, dropped off on doorstep of Catholic diocese

 Migrants Flown to Sacramento 

16 migrants from Texas flown to Sacramento, dropped off on doorstep of Catholic diocese BY ANDREW SHEELER, MATHEW MIRANDA, AND MAGGIE ANGST UPDATED JUNE 03, 2023 4:08 PM The offices of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento on 21st Street near Broadway in the Curtis Park district of Sacramento. On Friday, June 2, 2023, 16 migrants were brought to the diocese’s offices after being flown from Texas to Sacramento. Sacramento Bee file Sixteen migrants from Venezuela and Colombia were taken from El Paso, Texas, to New Mexico, and then flown by private chartered plane to Sacramento where they were left on the doorstep of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento.

 California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Saturday that he and Attorney General Rob Bonta met with the migrants, and that he is working with Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg’s office as well as area nonprofits “to ensure the people who have arrived are treated with respect and dignity, and get to their intended destination as they pursue their immigration cases.

” “My administration is also working with the California Department of Justice to investigate the circumstances around who paid for the group’s travel and whether the individuals orchestrating this trip misled anyone with false promises or have violated any criminal laws, including kidnapping,” Newsom said. 

Steinberg likened the act to human smuggling. “Whoever is behind this must answer the following: Is there anything more cruel than using scared human beings to score cheap political points?” Steinberg said in a statement. “Sacramento represents the best of American values. We always welcome ‘the tired, the poor, and the huddled masses,’ and we always will.” 

S Sacramento ACT, a collaboration of area religious congregations, said in a statement that after being processed at the border, the migrants were approached by “individuals representing a private contractor” who said they would assist them with getting to a migrant center where they would find jobs and free support. ‘THEY DESERVE TO BE TREATED BETTER’ The migrants, upon arriving in Sacramento, had no idea where they were and “only a backpack’s worth of belongings,” Sacramento ACT said. The group said that the migrants all have pending court appearances, and that by transporting them to California under false pretenses, there will be a disruption in their legal due process. “What has occurred recently with the deceiving drop off of our undocumented brothers and sisters into the Sacramento area grieves my heart. This political polarizing act is heartbreaking and yet I rejoice that I am part of a movement that brings the love of God and goodwill upon the injustices and political wickedness that impacts our vulnerable brothers and sisters,” said the Rev. Efrem Smith, Sacramento ACT president, in a statement. Rabbi Mona Alfi, of Congregation B’nai Israel, said that what happened to the migrants was “a moral travesty” and that “these are human beings, no different than you or me, who simply want to take care of their families and live a peaceful life, and they deserve to be treated better.”

 

Read more at: https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article276070496.html#storylink=cpy

DSA Issues Freedom Advisory About Florida Fascism

 DSA ISSUES A FREEDOM ADVISORY.

Following the lead of LULAC ( League of United Latin American Citizens), the NAACP, and others.

 

On our blog.

 

https://www.dsanorthstar.org/blog/freedom-advisory-against-florida-fascism

 

MAY 24, 2023

Today, the Democratic Socialists of America is issuing a freedom advisory for the people of Florida in opposition to the fascist actions of its politicians. We recognize the travel advisory issued by Florida Senator Rick Scott as part of a continued pattern of red-baiting and attacks against Black organizations like the NAACP in our country’s history. Scott’s “socialist travel advisory” is a mocking response to the NAACP rightfully warning people about the openly hostile laws created and upheld by Florida Senator Rick Scott and Governor Ron DeSantis that target African Americans, people of color, and LGBTQ+ individuals. 

 

 

https://www.dsanorthstar.org/blog/freedom-advisory-against-florida-fascism

 

Consistent with our resolution to Unite to Fight the Ultra- Right. 

U.S. Border Policy

 

On  Immigration

Regardless of where we come from, what our color is, or how

we worship, every family wants the best for their children. But

today, certain politicians and their greedy lobbyists are putting

all of our families at risk. They rig the rules to enrich themselves

and avoid paying their fair share of taxes, while they

defund our schools and threaten seniors with cuts to Medicare

and Social Security. Then they turn around and point the finger

for our hard times at new immigrants—even tearing families

apart and losing children. When we reject their scapegoating

and come together across racial differences, we can make this a

nation we’re proud to leave all of our kids—whether we’re white,

Black, or brown, from down the street or across the globe.

Ian Haney-Lopez.  

Merge Left. 

 

 

House Republican Bill

 

As a proud son of Mexican immigrants, I had to speak out against House Republicans’ latest extreme anti-immigration bill, H.R. 2.

This bill isn’t about fixing our immigration system. It’s about intentionally hurting asylum-seeking families and creating more chaos that can be covered by Fox News day-and-night.

And chaos is exactly what Republicans want. This bill would destroy the asylum system as we know it, bring back cages for children and families, and even eliminate funding for the ~legal~ immigration system.

I'm fighting for an efficient, humane, and orderly immigration system that lives up to our values. That’s why I’ve signed onto bills like the New Way Forward Act. Can you chip in $20, or whatever you can, to help us fight back against this attack on immigrants and deliver real reform?

Chip In »

Earlier this week, fellow Texas Congressman Joaquin Castro and I delivered $38 million in funding to support migrant families in San Antonio — helping to connect them with their loved ones so they can begin the legal immigration process.

That’s the kind of investment we need to fix our immigration system and support asylum seekers. Caging kids and further militarizing our border isn’t the answer.

Help me fight for real reform – chip in $20 or whatever you can to support our fight for immigrants and asylum seekers.

Thank you,

-Greg

Greg Casar
Congressman 
Texas Congressional District 35

The Reality Check: MAY DAY IN MT. VERNON

The Reality Check: MAY DAY IN MT. VERNON: MAY DAY IN MT. VERNON Photographs by David Bacon In Mt. Vernon, Washington, hundreds of farmworkers and supporters marched in celebratio...

US to Send 1,500 Troops to Mexico Border for 90 Days

By Josh Kovensky

|

May 2, 2023 7:00 a.m. 

 

As a Trump-era border policy allowing the federal government to turn back migrants without hearing asylum claims comes to an end this month, states and the federal government are preparing: for more migrants, more asylum claims, and a chance for a shift away from the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement stance. 

But for Texas, the shift presents new opportunities to challenge long-standing interpretations of federal law and the constitution, taking advantage of the hard right majority on the Supreme Court. 

The Trump-era policy, Title 42, comes to an end on May 11. Conservatives have sought to stoke panic about what could follow, including what they describe as yet another nightmare vision of undocumented migrants overrunning the border. 

But beyond the feverish messaging, Texas Republicans are using the end of the policy as another way to strike at longstanding national immigration policy by lobbing a Hail Mary at the Supreme Court. 

State politicians are seeking to challenge and potentially overturn U.S. v. Arizona, a landmark 2012 decision which affirmed that only the federal government — not states — has the authority to enforce immigration law. 

Part of the effort to build a case has involved an all-out public relations campaign to suggest that, as Title 42 ends, the federal government is abdicating its responsibility to enforce the border. 

Lt. Chris Olivarez of the Texas Department of Public Safety portrayed the issue in those terms in an interview with Fox News last week.

“This is the responsibility of the federal government, yet we in Texas have been put in a predicament where we have to do something about it because the federal government has failed to secure the border and protect the American people,” he said, adding that migration issues would “get much worse once Title 42 is lifted.” 

As the state’s legislature meets for its biannual session, it is moving forward various attempt to rewrite national immigration law, some of which would openly conflict with the court’s ruling in U.S. v. Arizona.

DOLORES HUERTA FOUNDATION

 

Thank y Thank you so much for helping to make my 93rd birthday special. I’m touched that hundreds of DHF supporters like you chipped in with a gift to power the important work of the Dolores Huerta Foundation and that nearly 800 supporters added their name to my online birthday card! We are a community like no other, dedicated to the notion that real change is possible, and we can have the country and the world that we want and deserve, through organizing and People Power. Right now in our country, the right to vote and democracy itself are under attack, as are the fundamental rights of so many people. Trans youth, as well as other LGBTQ+ people, are being demonized. Women are losing the right to control decisions about their own bodies and health. Immigrants, workers, and others are having their lives made harder by political extremists. The work of the Dolores Huerta Foundation has never been more needed or more important. And you are a crucial part of that work. We’re working to empower the communities we serve by mobilizing voters and increasing civic engagement as well as by providing vital resources – whether that’s leadership training for community organizers and youth, food banks to support those impacted by recent flooding, or access to COVID-19 prevention and assistance. This year is DHF’s 20th anniversary and there’s a lot happening to be excited about. We’re making great strides towards launching the Dolores Huerta Peace and Justice Cultural Center, and working to expand our on-the-ground operations throughout California and create training programs that will be used in communities throughout the entire country. You are the reason we’re able to continue to lead with love and stand up to hate … that we’re able to continue our vital mission to improve lives and make the American promise real for everyone. Thank you for staying in the fight. We’ve made a major impact in the last 20 years and I know it’s just the beginning of what we can accomplish with your ongoing involvement and support. ¡Sí, se puede! – Dolores P.S. Happy (slightly belated) May Day! On May 1, we commemorate the struggles and strides made by workers and various labor movements throughout history. DHF honors all of those who have fought and sacrificed to improve working conditions and stand up for the fundamental rights of workers. Thanks again for being with us.

May Day Fairness to Freedom Act

 

We Need Humane Immigration Policies.

The Fairness to Freedom Act of 2023,  introduced by Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand and Cory Booker and Reps. Norma Torres, Pramila Jayapal and Grace Meng and co-sponsored by Sens. Alex Padilla, Ed Markey, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren, would establish the right to federally funded, full-scope legal representation, require the government to facilitate access to counsel for people in its custody, and establish the Office of Immigration Representation to oversee a new national system of representation and work with existing state and locally funded removal defense programs. Please reach out to your Congressional members and ask them to cosponsor the Fairness to Freedom Act using this template email language. Here is a Social Media Toolkit to help amplify messaging on this as well. NPNA: Fairness to Freedom Act Now!

Border Lines Info

 BORDER/LINES is a weekly newsletter where experienced immigration beat reporters Gaby Del Valle and Felipe De La Hoz focus on injecting context into the week’s most contentious and confusing immigration policy news.

Every Friday morning, we deliver an email with a full breakdown of the most significant story of the week, top-to-bottom, including historical context, legal precedent, analysis, informed predictions, and key takeaways. We’ll also dig into stories important new stories that flew under the radar, and take a look at what to expect for the week ahead.

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Gaby Del Valle is an independent immigration reporter. She previously worked as an immigration reporter at VICE News; a reporter at The Goods, a Vox vertical about consumer culture, where she covered labor, wealth, and multi-level marketing companies; and as a staff writer at The Outline, where she covered power. Her work has also appeared in The Nation, The Baffler, The Daily Beast, and other publications.

Felipe De La Hoz is an independent immigration reporter who writes about immigration policy, courts, detention, and related subjects. He is a former staffer for the the investigative immigration site Documented, and his work has appeared in the Village Voice, The Daily Beast, WNYC, Gotham Gazette, and The Wall Street Journal, among others.

 

Subscribe

 

https://borderlines.substack.com/about

Tech and outsourcing companies continue to exploit the H-1B visa program at a time of mass layoffs: The top 30 H-1B employers hired 34,000 new H-1B workers in 2022 and laid off at least 85,000 workers in 2022 and early 2023

Tech and outsourcing companies continue to exploit the H-1B visa program at a time of mass layoffs: The top 30 H-1B employers hired 34,000 new H-1B workers in 2022 and laid off at least 85,000 workers in 2022 and early 2023

Sign the resolution ( DSA Members). Uniting Against the Ultra Right

 

The Reality Check: NO PAPERS? LOSE YOUR HOME!

The Reality Check: NO PAPERS? LOSE YOUR HOME!: NO PAPERS?  LOSE YOUR HOME! By David Bacon The Nation, 4/12/23 https://www.thenation.com/article/society/farmworker-camp-evictions/ Farmwork...

Pathway to Citizenship Proposed

 A California lawmaker is trying to create a path to citizenship for hundreds of thousands of undocumented farmworkers. On Monday, Sen. Anna Caballero, D-Merced, introduced Senate Bill 831 — the Agricultural Worker Permanent Residency Program. The bill would authorize the California governor to work with the federal government to establish a pilot program allowing agricultural workers to start a process toward legal status. The legislation is an attempt to stabilize California’s agricultural workforce, a feat the federal government has tried to accomplish on a national level for decades. Last year, the Farm Workforce Modernization Act passed twice in the House but never came to a vote in the Senate. 

 

“Creating a pathway to permanent residency status allows our undocumented friends, family and neighbors to come out of the shadows, to live lives free of fear and allow them to qualify for the safety net programs that they deserve and pay into,” said Caballero in a statement. Between one-third to half of all farmworkers in the United States reside in California, which would include about 500,000 to 800,000 people, according to the Center for Farmworker Families. About 75% of California farmworkers are undocumented, according to the UC Merced Community and Labor Center. OTHER STATE PROPOSALS FAILED Under the bill, undocumented farmworkers who have lived in California and worked in agriculture for five years would qualify. Federal standards for citizenship would apply including a criminal history background check, national security check and fees. Application fees for permanent resident status vary but are generally $1,225 for individuals aged 14 to 78. Similar, less aggressive, legislation has failed in the past. In 2018, Caballero and Assemblyman Eduardo Garcia, D-Coachella authored AB 1885, which died in the Assembly Labor Committee. The proposed legislation would have formed a group of state representatives to create a state guest worker program.

 

Read more at: https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article273923780.html#storylink=cpy

DSA Members are urged to sign the Defense of Immigrants and Refugees Resolution.

 

The resolution on the Defense of Immigrants and Refugees was written by members of the national Immigrants' Rights Working Group. This resolution reaffirms our commitment to building with working-class communities of color currently outside of DSA. The proposal is intended to prioritize this crucial work with action and calls for a modest budgetary allocation. 

 

 

https://www.dsanorthstar.org/blog/defend-immigrant-rights-at-the-convention-sign-one-more-resolution

 

There is a different form for each proposal. 

• Unite Against the Ultra Right: https://tinyurl.com/dsa23UR
• On the Defense of Immigrants and Refugees: https://forms.gle/mjT8X8SEAtt4VUkd8  
• Big Tent amendment: https://tinyurl.com/dsa23BT

Celebrate the Life of Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta

Choosing Democracy: Celebrate the Life of Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta: Celebrating Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta    Sacramento  March 31   is Cesar Chavez’s birthday and Cesar Chavez Day – a state holida...