Integration: Not Deportation. the Cost to California

 Guest column: The real question is integration of undocumented immigrants, not deportation

Jamshid Damooei   https://www.vcstar.com/story/opinion/2024/09/21/guest-column-the-real-question-is-integration-of-undocumented-immigrants/75282530007/

We should applaud the Biden Administration for taking a significant step toward helping long-term undocumented immigrants married to U.S. citizens and 50,000 undocumented stepchildren of citizens become permanent legal residents. This brings hope to many undocumented immigrants and their families.

However, many Californians — and Americans as a whole — are leery. They blame undocumented immigrants for all the economic and social problems they face, ranging from unemployment to low wages and a surge in crimes. What they might not know is how their lives and economic well-being are intertwined with the lives of undocumented immigrants. California is a shining example of this.

Every Californian shares the benefits of undocumented immigrants’ contributions and is responsible for their well-being. Unfortunately, there’s a common belief that undocumented immigrants have taken advantage of unsecured borders and do not belong in this country.

Reality cannot be further away from such a perception.

According to the Immigration Policy Institute, in 2019 there were more than 2.7 million undocumented immigrants in California. Of these immigrants, about 72% have lived here over 10 years. This begs the question: How long does it take to call a place home?

Some 28.3% of Latino residents of California live with people who are labeled “undocumented.” For Asian residents, it’s 12.8%. Nearly 14% of California residents are connected with the lives of undocumented immigrants in the state. According to the latest information from the California Immigration Data Portal of the Equity Research Center of the University of Southern California, in 2021, 28% of all Latino children under 18 years old lived with undocumented parents. The percentage for all children in California was 17. This makes clear that what we are doing to undocumented immigrants, we are doing to our children and the future of our state and the nation.

Undocumented immigrants’ contribution to the labor force and working population is remarkable, yet seldom discussed in policy debates. In 2021, 41% of all agriculture workers were undocumented; this only formed 14.5% of all working undocumented immigrants in California. It defies the common perception that all undocumented immigrants are either in agriculture or household services.

Focusing on Los Angeles County, which has approximately a quarter of the state’s population, 28.7% of construction workers were undocumented immigrants, 17.5% manufacturing, 16% whole trade and 15.4% retail trade.

Imagine California’s economy, the fifth largest in the world, if all the undocumented immigrants were deported. Think about the significant proportion of our children whose parents and relatives were deported. This impact would cripple California.

People who are against immigration may not realize that their work and economic well-being heavily depend on the work of undocumented immigrants.

This segment of our population generates around $152 billion in value added within the state economy, or 4.9% of the state’s gross domestic product (GDP). according to a February 2024 study by the Center for Economics of Social Issues (CESI) at California Lutheran University. Adding the indirect impact (supply chain business-to-business value added) and induced (value added stemming from household spending of labor income) the total value added reaches $298.5 billion or 9.6% of total GDP in 2019.

Think about that.

Through the work of undocumented immigrants, 1.25 million additional jobs were created within the state. This same study shows that California’s undocumented immigrants, paid, in total, some $22 billion toward various tax channels. Setting aside the contribution by employers toward Social Security, approximately $17.5 billion is paid by the undocumented immigrants themselves. Let us not forget that employers’ contributions are based on the employees’ work.

Of this amount, about $9.3 billion has been paid as Social Security by them and their employers — which they will never see a dime of because of their immigration status. In addition to Social Security, undocumented immigrants pay many of the same taxes but are not eligible for many benefits — including refundable tax credits, Pell grants, student loans and nutrition programs. This is happening across the United States, where they are, in essence, financially supporting the nation’s citizens.

Unfortunately, many Americans overlook these realities. A path to citizenship will increase productivity and wages — not just for those eligible for legalization, but for all workers — and create hundreds of thousands of jobs and increase tax revenue. This pathway would boost the U.S. GDP by a cumulative total of $1.7 trillion (with a T) over 10 years and create 438,800 new jobs, according to a 2021 study by the Center for American Progress, in collaboration with the University of California and Davis’s Global Migration Center.

Let us look forward to a day when undocumented immigrants have a clear path to becoming permanent legal residents, not only for their sake but also for the state’s and country’s economy.

 

Jamshid Damooei, Ph.D., is the executive director of the Center for Economics of Social Issues and director of the undergraduate economics program at California Lutheran University.

 

Anti-Immigrant Campaigns in California

 The Immigration fight in this election is real. We should not assume all will be well.

 

In “liberal” California in 1994. Then Governor Pete Wilson ( Republican)was far behind in his election campaign.

A proposed ballot initiative Save Our State was placed on the ballot by anti immigrant forces. It had numerous anti- immigrant clauses, mass deportations, mass arrests, etc. It included provisions to deny immigrant children access to public schools ( they cost money). It would have required teachers to turn in students that they thought were undocumented. 

Anti-immigrant and Anti Mexican reached a level not seen since Operation Wetback in 1953-1954. Voters in California passed the Prop. 187 by a margin of 62 % to 38%. Governor Wilson focused his re-election campaign on Prop. 187 and won re-election easily. 

Subsequent.

All but one of Pro.187 provisions were blocked from enforcement by federal courts based upon the U.S. constitution.

In later years, the political mobilization in the Latino community in response to Prop.187 led to a turn around in California politics and the election of numerous Latino leaders. 

DSA in California worked night and day to defeat Prop.187, and we lost. 

 

The current  focus of the Trump campaign on immigration is using similar scapegoating, false narratives, altered images, and this week the scandal in Springfield, Ohio.

Please be aware. There is an available, hidden anti-immigrant vote in many states. Arizona, Texas and Florida have passed and are enforcing harsh bills.

The action in Texas at the border, a state with a large Mexican-American population, illustrates how these campaigns can be used to promote proto fascists governments. 

 

Capital and Main is a Los Angeles based news outlet with strong union ties.

As Election Nears, Republicans Pour Millions Into Anti-Immigrant Ad Campaign

Candidates and their supporters have spent $117 million to portray the situation at the border as an invasion.

 

https://capitalandmain.com/as-election-nears-republicans-pour-millions-into-anti-immigrant-ad-campaign

 

It would be foolish to ignore the potential of these campaigns. 

 

Duane Campbell

Sacramento.

Former member of the DSA Immigrants Rights Working Group. 

 

See, “The Blue-ing” of California.  Harold Meyerson. New Labor Forum.   CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies. Jan. 2020. 

Republicans Pour Millions into Anti Immigration Election Efforts

   

As Election Nears, Republicans Pour Millions Into Anti-Immigrant Ad Campaign

Candidates and their supporters have spent $117 million to portray the situation at the border as an invasion.

 

https://capitalandmain.com/as-election-nears-republicans-pour-millions-into-anti-immigrant-ad-campaign

 

DSA Statement on the Anti Immigrant Campaign in Springfield , Ohio and response

 Statement of Democratic Socialists of America ( NPC)

---

Solidarity with Springfield’s Haitian Community: DSA’s Statement on Anti-Immigrant Violence

September 17, 2024

DSA condemns in the strongest possible terms the hateful lies promoted by Donald Trump, J.D. Vance, and other Republican officials targeting Haitian immigrant communities in Springfield, Ohio. These lies have led to ongoing school and hospital closures over bomb threats, smashed windows, acid thrown on cars, death threats, and the canceling of beloved local cultural events due to safety concerns. The goal is clear: Trump’s lies intend to incite violence and harassment against working-class immigrant communities, not just in Springfield, but toward Black people living all over the country. In the lead up to their second term, he’s touting plans to launch mass deportations targeting millions. The far-right wants to divide and conquer the working class by using xenophobia and racism to pit workers against one another in a race to the bottom. 

 

Democrats, including presidential candidate Kamala Harris, have enabled this rhetoric by remaining silent about the attacks on Springfield, while also affirming her plans to expand border policing. This is nothing less than appeasement to growing fascist anti-immigrant rhetoric.

 

The Presidential debate last Tuesday made clear that Trump’s hateful Project 2025 agenda would be catastrophic for the working class, both at home and abroad. Opposing the far right, as represented by the Republican Party under Trump’s neo-fascist leadership, is a necessity for the working class and for our movement.

 

The truth is that working people everywhere have a common humanity and shared struggle against the exploitative capitalist economic system, which is the real root cause of the increasing precarity and insecurity in our society. DSA is fighting for a world where all people live together in peace, regardless of race, ethnicity, or national origin. Immigrants are welcome here. People everywhere are hurting, struggling to pay bills, buy groceries, and live beyond paycheck to paycheck. But this is not because of the immigrants who are living in this country: our suffering is due to the insatiable greed of the billionaire class.

We will stand against anti-immigrant hate anywhere and everywhere it appears, and we continue to fight against the greed of billionaires like Donald Trump and the lies they tell to keep us from achieving working class solidarity.

----------          --------------            -----------

 

National DSA has made the statement above.  Most of the statement is a good statement of the situation and policy. https://www.dsausa.org/statements/solidarity-with-springfields-haitian-community/

 

 

The following part of the statement is in error. 

 

Democrats, including presidential candidate Kamala Harris, have enabled this rhetoric by remaining silent about the attacks on Springfield, while also affirming her plans to expand border policing. This is nothing less than appeasement to growing fascist anti-immigrant rhetoric.

 

See here for the errors. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/17/us/politics/harris-trump-haitian-migrants-pets.html

 

This  unfortunate view is also in error.

This is nothing less than appeasement to growing fascist anti-immigrant rhetoric.

 

On our blog.

https://www.dsanorthstar.org/blog/re-dsa-statement-on-anti-immigrant-violence

 

 

Here are ways you can join with other North Star members in building this electoral effort. 

** North Star: Defeat MAGA/Fight for Democracy Action Opportunities
opportunities:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cRIJsSJwtF72ckJ8QLQu5cDCGnoeh5OIIjwqRkDKdBg/edit?usp=sharing

 

 

 

 

We propose that DSA members and others participate in the effort to defeat the growing anti fascist movement as advanced by the Republican – MAGA movement and the  2024 effort to elect Donald Trump as President .

 

Here are ways you can join with other North Star members in building this electoral effort. 

** North Star: Defeat MAGA/Fight for Democracy Action Opportunities
opportunities:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cRIJsSJwtF72ckJ8QLQu5cDCGnoeh5OIIjwqRkDKdBg/edit?usp=sharing

 

 

On our blog.

https://www.dsanorthstar.org/blog/re-dsa-statement-on-anti-immigrant-violence

 

Choosing Democracy: Civic Education for Students

Choosing Democracy: Civic Education for Students:   The Office of California Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber, Ph.D., would like to invite you to our upcoming 2024 California College Civi...

LULAC Responds to Donald Trump's Xenophobic Comments

 

LULAC Response to Presidential Debate on September 10

Washington, D.C. — Last night’s debate highlighted the need for both candidates to focus on the issues that matter most to Americans, not on falsehoods, distractions, and hysteria.

The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) strongly condemns the xenophobic and inflammatory comments made by former President Donald Trump during last night's debate. His rhetoric on immigration not only misrepresents the facts but also promotes fear and division, unfairly targeting immigrant communities, particularly Latinos.

We are encouraged by Vice President Harris’s commitment to delivering bipartisan immigration reform in Congress, which would uphold our nation’s dedication to addressing the humanitarian crisis at our southern border, tackle the root causes of displacement abroad, and strengthen our homeland security. We urge Vice President Harris to maintain her commitment to the critical goal of creating a more fair and humanitarian immigration system.

LULAC remains committed to advocating for the rights of all Latinos and immigrants, and we will continue to stand against divisive rhetoric that seeks to undermine the progress we have made. We urge the American public to reject hate and instead focus on the positive role that Latinos and immigrants play in building a stronger and more united nation.

Donald Trump’s Xenophobic Comments on Immigration

Trump’s claims about immigrants "pouring into our country" from prisons and mental institutions, as well as his baseless accusations of widespread "migrant crime"¹, are not only false but dangerous. These comments are rooted in fearmongering and are designed to vilify immigrants as threats to American society. Such rhetoric only serves to harm the Latino community, a vital part of the fabric of the United States.

Let’s be clear: Donald Trump’s hateful rhetoric is not just inflammatory—it’s dangerous. It incites division and violence, and it ignores the tremendous contributions that immigrants, particularly Latinos, make to this country every day.

One of the most egregious examples is Trump’s false and outrageous claim that immigrants are “eating pets” in American towns. This statement has no foundation in truth. Not only is it completely baseless, but it also serves as a reprehensible attempt to dehumanize immigrants by spreading ridiculous and harmful lies. Fact-checkers have already debunked this claim, and it is nothing more than an insult to the hard-working immigrant communities who contribute so much to this country².

Contributions of Latinos to the U.S. Economy

For decades, Latinos have contributed immensely to this nation’s economy and culture. Immigrants and their descendants have played an indispensable role in industries ranging from agriculture and construction to healthcare and technology. Today, Latinos are the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. workforce, and their entrepreneurial spirit is driving economic growth across the country. In 2022 alone, Latino-owned businesses contributed over $800 billion to the U.S. economy³.

Latinos continue to make substantial contributions in sectors such as construction, real estate, and technology. Latinos account for over 18% of the U.S. population and 25% of all new small business startups⁴.

The Latino contribution to the U.S. GDP is also rapidly growing, reaching over $3.7 trillion by 2023⁵ . These contributions highlight the importance of policies that support, rather than vilify, immigrant communities.

___________________

1 FBI Releases 2024 Quarterly Crime Report and Use-of-Force Data Update
2 Springfield police say no reports of pets stolen, eaten, after viral social media post
3 The Unstoppable Growth Rate Of Latino-Owned Businesses In America
4 Latinos Are Starting U.S. Businesses at a Torrid Pace
5 U.S. Latino GDP skyrockets to record $3.7 trillion, with growth rate outpacing China, India

# # #

About League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC)
The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) is the largest and oldest Hispanic civil rights organization in the United States. Since its founding in 1929, LULAC has worked to advance the economic condition, educational attainment, political influence, housing, health, and civil rights of Latino Americans through community-based programs and advocacy. For more information, visit www.LULAC.org.

 

You Are Not Welcome Here

 

Resist Voter Suppression

This week we’re going to zero in on one story that tells you all you need to know about the stakes in the 2024 election. In the full scope of things, one might argue that we need more than one event. Perhaps. But hear us out anyway.

The story starts with a 6 a.m. hard knock at the door in Texas. The residence is that of an 87-year-old grandmother, Lydia Martinez. She happened to be up, still in her nightgown, watering her plants.

On the other side of the knock were armed police and other agents of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a far-right, thuggish advocate of voter suppression and other reactionary MAGA measures. They surrounded Ms. Martinez, and for the next three hours, ransacked her home, seizing electronic devices and documents. ‘They even went through all my underwear,’ she noted.

Why Ms. Martinez? She happens to be a leader of LULAC, the League of United Latin American Citizens. It’s the oldest and most influential advocacy organization for Chicanos and other Spanish-speaking residents in the U.S. LULAC mainly does voter registration of citizens and helps everyone with legal assistance regarding immigration and the path to citizenship. You can think of them as the NAACP for this population. So imagine if raids of this type came down on the NAACP leaders in your county or city. We may not even need our imaginations as the weeks unfold.

The Paxton ‘election police’ also raided several other homes. Foremost was that of Manuel Medina, chair of Tejano Democrats. His home was forcibly entered while he, his wife, and two young daughters were still in bed. Again, his home was ransacked, seizing 65 cell phones and 41 computers. Medina used his home for phone-banking and building up voter ID databases, a practice common to nearly all local Democrats across the country working is a serious way to maximize voter turnout.

But Ken Paxton stands in opposition to maximizing voter turnout. He can read Texas demographics as well as anyone, and the trends show the prospects of increasing Democratic victories. His solution? Suppress the vote, by any means necessary, including surrounding 87-year-old grandmothers with armed thugs.

Paxton’s raids are a clear and present attack on the self-determination of Chicanos in all of the Southwest. They a also a threat to the rights of everyone. His excuses for the raids—false papers, illegal SS numbers—are baseless. But he’s sending a wider message to all MAGA Republicans everywhere. Get busy on driving down voter registration and voter turnout in all areas with populations that might lean Democratic.

So, the moral of this story is a simple one. One side in or current electoral contest wants to win by using lies, intimidation, and even armed thugs in the early morning raids to reduce voter turnout and participation. The other side wants to win by expanding the electorate and working to increase registration. They are urging the greatest number of legal voters to cast their ballots and take part in the political progress at the grassroots. 

Our task? Stand up against any all voter suppression thugs, with or without badges. And stand with all grandmothers working to enhance the political power of those held down by exclusion.

Carl Davidson.

See more below.  

Mijente campaign of voter mobilization

 

There are 66 days left until the election, and we’re putting in every effort to mobilize voters on the frontlines of demographic change against Trump and the MAGA movement. At Mijente, the majority of our members, hub organizations, audiences and staff come from family histories and countries with civil unrest, economic inequality, and mass exploitation. And we come from peoples who have organized countermovements in resistance to authoritarian rule.   This is the energy we’re leaning into this fall, as we make sure to turn back Trump from a second term – and we need your support to reach voters in new and innovative ways. That’s exactly why we’ve been hitting key cities across the country with our Chisme 2024 tour. The tour is bringing more people into the conversation by using music, art, and culture to have meaningful discussions about the threat of another Trump presidency, the hope that we see in our local organizing, and how we build the future we want for our families.

We will not stand on the sidelines and clear a path to victory for Trump and the party that seeks to advance a disastrous agenda. Mijente Political Director Tania Unzueta shares it best saying: “In order to be able to expand the people that are involved in what’s happening in the country at the moment, we need to use different strategies. That’s the idea even behind the name of chisme, the idea that politics can look very different ways.”

Raids on Texas LULAC Voter mobilization

 Raids of Latino political, civil rights leaders' homes set up voting rights battle in Texas 

The raids have triggered outrage and cries of voter suppression in a state with a long history of discrimination against citizens of Mexican descent, which helped give rise to LULAC.

 

 

On Monday morning, LULAC leaders, state legislators, activists of other Latino groups and supporters and some of the people whose homes were raided protested outside the San Antonio office of Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican. 

“This is point blank voter intimidation, and LULAC will fight for the right of every Latino to exercise the right to vote,” said Roman Palomares, LULAC's national president.

A copy of a wide-ranging search warrant left with one of the people targeted, LULAC volunteer Lidia Martinez, 87, of San Antonio, offered a window into the investigation’s interests. The warrant ordered the seizure of all electronic devices at her home, allowed for the opening of documents that were business-, organization- or election-related, and authorized swabbing for DNA. According to the warrant, the purpose of the search was to look for evidence of violations of the Texas election laws regarding vote harvesting and identity fraud.

 

 

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/house-raids-texas-democrats-ken-paxton-voting-rights-lulac-rcna168216

 

The Reality Check: TREATING MIGRANTS AS THE ENEMY PROVIDES NO VISION ...

The Reality Check: TREATING MIGRANTS AS THE ENEMY PROVIDES NO VISION ...: TREATING MIGRANTS AS THE ENEMY PROVIDES NO VISION FOR THE FUTURE The alternative: a new bill that would allow anyone in...

California Forced Deportations

  

California must recognize historic forced deportations, lawmakers say. ‘Ripped families apart

 

 In California news: California Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday called for the state to commemorate the Mexican Repatriation of the 1930s, a 15-year period when nearly two million people of Mexican descent were deported to Mexico. Read the full story here.

LULAC Releases Report on Project 2025

  

LULAC Releases Report on Latino Civil Rights vs. Project 2025

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), the Nation’s largest and oldest Latino civil rights volunteer-based organization, today released a report titled “The Battle Ahead: Latino Civil Rights vs. Project 2025” outlining ten specific ways in which Project 2025 negatively impacts Latino civil rights.

The report includes analysis from LULAC Policy and Legislation Fellows Adriana Varea, Ari Kittrie, and Joaquin Macias and focuses on the following areas of Project 2025:

• Establishing a Unitary Executive Branch
• Mass Deportations
• Cutting off Legal Immigration
• Making Federal Funding & Benefits Contingent on Immigration Laws
• Criminalization of Reproductive Rights
• Dismantling the U.S. Department of Education
• Social Program Cuts and “Reforms”
• Repealing Vital Protections for Latino-Dominated Industries
• Refocusing Environmental Policy Away from Climate Change
• Ending Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Initiatives

 

 

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).

4. Making Federal Funding & Benefits Contingent on Immigration Laws

 

 

Understanding Venezuela Election

Marc Cooper , from his substack. 

I HAVE to say something about Venezuela. Too much of the American Left along with a few groupuscles in Latin America are the only people in the world still believing that the Maduro Dictatorship in Venezuela is actually an anti-imperialist beacon of socialist solidarity and prosperity.

In fact, it is a hell hole from which a full quarter of the population — some 8 million— have fled. And having run into some of the 700,000 who are now in Chile, these are poor people who were plain hungry and tired of the Chavista-Maduro bullshit.

Maduro has created a new class of wealthy government lackeys, parasites, and favored loyalists who are swimming in money — and not exactly short on cocaine (google Maduro’s wife and family for that one). As Chavez dubbed his regime Bolivarian, the new rich are called the Boliburgueses.

Since the election a week ago Sunday, hundreds of thousands of protesters have come into the streets denouncing the obvious fraud perpetrated. Around 20 have been shot dead. Among the various election observers, many from progressive Latin American organizations, the Carter center, the international press, and the opposition itself, it appears that Maduro actually lost by a margin as big as 2 to 1 but simply declared victory.  The AP has concluded he really lost. Duh. So has everybody else. Well, almost everybody. There are still American progressives like acrobats in pain, contorting themselves to justify one of the most fixed elections in recent history.

Much of the American Left cannot articulate a strong critique of regimes like Venezuela or Cuba for that matter, and currently not even Russia, because there is a large percentage of American lefties who are wittingly or otherwise, are what we Old Leftists call “campists.”

They believe in their hearts that only the US has imperialist or military agency and that any country in the world, regardless of its regime, is to be supported if it is “anti-imperialist” which in the end translates as anti-American. So… for these campists, yeah, Iran and China and even Russia and certainly Venezuela, are seen ONLY as victims of US imperialism with absolutely NO regard for the living conditions of the respective populations. Nor is any independent agency ever assigned to these “anti-imperialist” states because whatever they do, whatever evil they perpetrate on their own people or others, is rotuinely justified by these campists as legitimate resistance to.. multiple choice: a)the cia b) the state department c) NATO, D) and generally, US Imperialism. 

And while leftists are properly quick to point out all the anti-democratic aspects of American elections they are usually dead silent on these sort of chronic human rights violations imposed by various dictatorships — so long as they call themselves socialist (they are not) or, simply engage in phony anti-Imperialist rhetoric. The case study for the latter is Nicaragua where the dictatorial Ortega family has buried both the Sandinista Revolution and basic democracy and in the name of Sandino has imposed a ruthless pro-capitalist dictatorship with socialist rhetoric. I guess that is the China model. Savage capitalist dictatorship with enormous inequality all in the name of Chinese socialism. I mean, how do these reptiles get through a party convention without cracking up in laughter (but dont ask Code Pink about Chinese democracy because China is a victim of US Imperialism — and also a pretty direct funder of Code Pink!

This chronic inability to liberate themselves from these Stalinist impulses, their ability to apologize for brutally anti-democratic dictatorships so long as they are a thorn in the American side. render this sort of American leftist politically inert at best — radioactive at worst.

---------         ----------------            -----------------

 

Many of us will remember Marc Cooper from his informed writings on Chile at the time of the coup, and during the dictatorship.

(https://thecoopscoop.substack.com/p/coop-scoop-do-progressives-really(https://thecoopscoop.substack.com/p/coop-scoop-do-progressives-really))

 

AP Results.

https://apnews.com/article/venezuela-maduro-machado-biden-gonzalez-a625eb01979bc9cf5570d03242f198b1

  

The Reality Check: ONLY A SOCIAL MOVEMENT CAN WIN REAL IMMIGRATION RE...

The Reality Check: ONLY A SOCIAL MOVEMENT CAN WIN REAL IMMIGRATION RE...: ONLY A SOCIAL MOVEMENT CAN WIN REAL IMMIGRATION REFORM By David Bacon The Nation, 8/29/23   Marchers leave Petaluma on their 3-day trek to S...

Includes an important history of efforts toward immigration reform, 

It is time to plan for resistance.

 It is time to plan for resistance.  

How stupid can the Maga Republicans get ?

 

And, when will the left pay attention to the  anti -immigration claims?

 

Trump and the Maga Right are making claims that they will deport the undocumented in the U.S.  Check Project 2025.

 

https://www.dsanorthstar.org/blog/a-maga-victory-in-2024-will-lead-to-ethnic-cleansing

 

Most estimates say that there are about 11 million undocumented people in the U.S. at this time.  Over half of these people have been here for ten or more years.  Undocumented come from many countries. Large numbers are now from India, China and the Philippines among others. 

 

It seems like the Democrats and the left dismiss the plans of the Maga/ Republican movement. It is not just crazy Donald.  Watch the Republican campaign events and you will see immigration as a primary dog whistle. 

 

Respond to this question.

What did you do when your (brother, sister, uncle, neighbor) got rounded up ?

The 5 biggest Trump-Republican lies about illegal immigration

Robert Reich, 

Trump and his GOP lackeys are fueling dangerous nativism. 

See  on our blog: 

 

https://www.dsanorthstar.org/blog/the-5-biggest-trump-republican-lies-about-illegal-immigration

 

 

I, for one, think that if they win the Presidency and at least one chamber of the Congress, they will try to implement their plan. After all, they have tried before. And, this time they have a plan. 

 

https://static.project2025.org/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf

 

 

  However the demographics have changed.   Each group of immigrants have their own histories. Venezuelan and Haitian, for example, have distinctly different histories of migration and oppression.

  I will use the Mexican and Mexican American experience for examples. 

 

To try to remove the 11 million, in my view, could well lead to significant resistance.  Some of it armed. And yet, this prospect does not seem to be of concern to the majority population and it is not being contested in this election.  

 

 

For background, readers should look at Operation Wetback under President Dwight D. Eisenhower and the so-called Mexican Repatriation project of the 1930’s. 
The implementation of Operation Wetback was a result of Attorney General Herbert Brownell's tour of Southern California in August 1953. It was there that he made note of the "shocking and unsettling" issue that was illegal immigration.[2] The short-lived operation used military-style tactics to remove Mexican immigrants—some of them American citizens—from the United States. Though millions of Mexicans had legally entered the country through joint immigration programs in the first half of the 20th century and some were naturalized citizens who were once native, Operation Wetback was designed to send them to Mexico.[3]
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Wetback
 
Operation Wetback was a follow-up to the prior Mexican Repatriation when as many as 2 million were deported, many of them children.  Up to 40% of those deported were U.S. citizens of Mexican descent. 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_Repatriation
 
Currently there is a competition among Republicans to be the toughest on immigration policy by focusing on fentanyl, which commonly begins production in China.
 

For some perspective, during WWII, the U.S. interned about 120,000 Japanese Americans.  How do you suppose they will be able to deport and or intern 11 million ?

 

The Latino population makes up about 37 million in the U.S.  There are some 12 million Mexican and Mexican Americans in California alone.  Mexicans and Mexican Americans do at least 80 % of the agricultural work in California, Texas and Arizona.  What will be the result on the economies ?

 

Mexico is a large dynamic economy ,  the 7^th. Largest in the world, with many problems. However, they are the number one market for U.S. exports.  If the Maga Republicans institute a trade war, both sides will be effected. Who is going to take care of all the elderly in nursing homes and elder care facilities?

 

How this fits into a broader series of conflicts.

 

Project 2025: a fascist vision for the US

Project 2025 was initiated and published by the Heritage Foundation, the most influential rightwing think tank, and the one closest to the power centers of the Right and the Republican Party. It has united much of the conservative movement, their think tanks, activists, and lobbying groups with the goal of installing a much more effective, more ruthless right-wing regime. It comes with tremendous funding and the backing of much of the political Right and believes there is a socialist plot in the highest echelons of American power. It sees a vast conspiracy with enemies everywhere, and that un-American forces have overtaken every institution.

Project 2025 is a major policy and ideological projection. It is a fascist document and puts forward a strategic path to create an authoritarian Christian dominated society through control of the state. There are other statements from within the authoritarian bloc with somewhat different formulations and viewpoints. Project 2025 is the most developed, and has been signed by over 100 groups and think-tanks. They want to be the ideological and policy brain behind Trump, who is useful as a mass fascist leader, but lacks the intellectual capacity to carry out a strategic project.

This is serious

 

https://convergencemag.com/articles/the-right-reads-gramsci-project-2025-and-neo-fascism/?

 

 

 

Background. 

 

The Left needs to respond to the current “crisis” at the border.

 

https://www.dsanorthstar.org/blog/a-maga-victory-in-2024-will-lead-to-ethnic-cleansing

 

 

https://www.dsanorthstar.org/blog/the-left-needs-a-strategy-to-respond-to-the-crisis-at-the-border

 

See also;

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

2023 

 

 

 

Left unity is more important than ever around this issue. Now is the time for US socialist organizations to come together to develop a strategy to fight against Trump’s plans and for full rights for all undocumented workers. All leftists and activists can organize within unions, independent political organizations, non-profits, and other mass organizations within which they are organizing.  

Mass Deportations

Trump is calling for mass deportation of the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants in the United States, the great majority of whom are Mexican, but who also include Central Americans, Cubans, Venezuelans, Haitians, Chinese, and Muslims. The New York Times on November 11th ran an article titled “Sweeping Raids, Giant Camps, and Mass Deportations: Inside Trump’s 2025 Immigration Plans.” The article provides a chilling description of the plan: “To help speed mass deportations, Mr. Trump is preparing an enormous expansion of a form of removal that does not require due process hearings.” He wants to build massive deportation camps to house the millions of immigrants and refugees they plan to remove from the US. Trump has publicly compared his plan to the infamous “Operation Wetback” of the Eisenhower administration, in which millions of Chicanos and Mexicanos, many of them US citizens, were rounded up and deported to Mexico. 

Most people don’t realize the horrendously broad impact of these policies, not only on those rounded up and shipped out, but on their families, their communities, on schools, local businesses, churches, and faith organizations, and unions with large numbers of immigrant worker members.

To help Immigration and Customs Enforcement carry out sweeping raids, Trump plans to reassign other federal agents and deputize local police officers and National Guard soldiers voluntarily contributed by Republican-run states. He would pay for this terror project by using money from the massive US military budget, as he did during his first administration when Congress refused to fund his infamous border wall.

An End to Legal Immigration

Unlike during his first administration, Trump’s plan assumes broad judicial support from the reactionary Supreme Court majority that he appointed as well as from the hundreds of federal judges that he appointed during his administration.

The racist neo-fascist agenda includes ending the Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program altogether. It also includes ending the Temporary Protected Status Program that provides refuge for hundreds of thousands of people fleeing systemic violence or natural disasters.

The Trump and Republican agenda includes virtually eliminating opportunities for legal immigration and promising to end the Constitutionally protected policy of birthright citizenship for babies born in the US to undocumented parents, and ordering federal agencies to stop issuing Social Security cards and passports to these citizens. Trump has also promised to cancel the visas of international students who participated in anti-Israel or pro-Palestinian activities. US consular officials would have the okay to block visa applicants whom a Trump administration considers to have undesirable attitudes.

Trump’s racist agenda has not only received enthusiastic support from most of the Republican Party, but some of them have upped the ante by promising to launch military assaults, including missiles, against Mexican drug cartels.

This agenda is but one crucial example of the program of the New Confederacy, represented politically primarily by the Republicans. For leftists and progressives, this is but one more proof that this neo-fascist right-wing movement represents the greatest threat to any semblance of democracy, equity, and social justice. And these measures do not even include Trump’s plans to eliminate all federal policies that address the climate crisis and provide a complete green light (and federal subsidies) to the fossil fuel industrial complex.

So where is the outrage? Where are the marches? Where are the sit-ins? Where are the boycotts? Where are even the articles or blogs that should be sounding the alarm about this planned ethnic cleansing?

Michael Fleshman, “Not One More Deportation,” 2014 

What Is to Be Done?

Labor can take the lead in this important fight for equity and democracy. The AFL-CIO should work together with the extensive network of worker centers throughout the US to not only push back on Trump’s plans but work to achieve genuine immigration reform, including an accessible path to citizenship for all the undocumented, and full protection for all undocumented young people brought to the United States as children (“dreamers”).

Left unity is more important than ever around this issue. Now is the time for US socialist organizations to come together to develop a strategy to fight against Trump’s plans and for full rights for all undocumented workers. All leftists and activists can organize within unions, independent political organizations, non-profits, and other mass organizations within which they are organizing. Those fighting for the rights of oppressed gender people have an important role to play as well, especially since significant numbers of undocumented people impacted by a massive deportation campaign would be women (and children). 

Trump’s threat calls for a powerful and sustained response from the Democratic Party. The groups mentioned above can demand that response in an open letter calling for an immediate denunciation of the whole Trump program. This includes a commitment to genuine and comprehensive immigration reform that will provide immediate and unconditional residency to all refugees and asylum seekers while the authorities process their cases. We need to fight to restore the DACA program, and to advocate for new immigration legislation that will provide an accessible path to citizenship for all undocumented residents. This program should also include a promise to protect birthright citizenship. 

All of this work should be supported by a comprehensive communications campaign to get out the word—including the Spanish-language and other non-English media, Black media, and progressive outlets such as Democracy Now, Real News Network, the  Mexico Solidarity Media website, and op-ed features in the mainstream media as well. Now more than ever, we need to work to win the battle of ideas on this issue.

---

This article was written by Bill Gallegos as part of Liberation Road’s “Adalante!” booklet series, in coordination with the Mexico Solidarity Project. A former member of the Brown Berets and a founder of the New Raza Left, Bill Gallegos has been an activist and theorist in the Chican@ Liberation Movement since the 1960s. 

Choosing Democracy: How to make Biden's bad night into Trump's bad Nov...

Choosing Democracy: How to make Biden's bad night into Trump's bad Nov...