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...

Demand that the U.S. oppose the Coup in Bolivia

 Subject: Send a letter: Call on your electeds: denounce the coup in Bolivia! 

I wrote a letter for the Action Network letter campaign: Call on your electeds: denounce the coup in Bolivia! .

On June 26, 2024 military forces entered the Bolivian capital of La Paz in an apparent attempt to depose the democratically-elected government of Sergio Arce, who represents the Movement for Socialism party and its popular, grassroots indigenous base. World leaders have already denounced the coup, including Lula of Brazil, AMLO of Mexico, and even the secretary-general of the US-backed Organization of American States. However, the US State Department and even progressive congresspeople have up to this point remained silent. The right-wing reaction must not be allowed to depose one of Latin America's most popular left-wing governments! Call on your representatives and President Biden to clearly and loudly denounce the coup and restore sovereignty to President Arce and the people of Bolivia. Solidarity with Bolivia! ¡Solidaridad con Bolivia!

Can you join me and write a letter? Click here: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/bolivia?source=email&

Thanks!

Violence in Mexico and the Arms Trade :Ayotzinapa

 

The stories of Kimberly Rubio and Cristina Bautista cannot be heard without sharing in their pain - the void that exists from losing their children senselessly to gun violence, combined with the pain and rage of systemic inaction.  In a one-of-its-kind summit, the People's Movement for Peace and Justice (PMPJ) gathered in Washington DC last week as part of the Binational Advocacy Days for Peace & Human Rights, three days of events that included a civil society gathering, a congressional briefing, scores of congressional visits, and a town hall, all featuring survivors of gun violence from the U.S. and Mexico.  “I am the mother of Benjamin Ascencio Bautista, one of the 43 students in Ayotzinapa that were forcibly disappeared,” said Doña Cristina Bautista. “At first, they blamed the cartels, but then it was proven that the local police and other state actors played a role in the disappearance of my son.”   “There were 19 children and two teachers murdered on the same day as my daughter. An 18-year-old walked into her building and began murdering students. It took 77 minutes for 376 officers to confront one teenager armed with an assault weapon. They were scared of the guns. It’s the guns. My purpose is to join the gun violence prevention movement to end gun violence. For Lexi Rubio and all victims of gun violence,” said Kimberly Rubio, whose daughter Lexi was among 19 children killed in the massacre at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas.  At this event in DC, the PMPJ introduced the Binational Agenda for Peace and Justice, which includes ten bold proposals to curb illegal gun and drug trade, humanely address the region’s migration flow, protect the environment, and uphold the rights of Indigenous Peoples.  Now, We need your help with another important action to help stem the flow of weapons from the U.S. to Mexico! Earlier this year, the U.S. Commerce Department published an “Interim Final Rule” on gun exports under its jurisdiction and invited members of the public to submit comments until July 1st. While the new rule makes several positive changes, it doesn’t curb some of the worst parts of U.S. gun exports, including exports to human rights violators – from Mexico to Israel. Nor does it put an upper limit on the number of weapons exported to any one country. Can you take a moment and send a message to comment on the rule, to reduce the use of U.S.-exported weapons in violence and human rights violations around the world? Last week we were honored to stand-by the survivors of gun violence and to join them in their call to end the flow of weapons to Mexico. Today you have the chance to make your voice heard.

In Solidarity, Marco Castillo Co-Executive Director Global Exchange

Immigration Victory : Legal Status

 

President Biden just announced parole in place, a policy

We are thrilled to announce a major victory in our movement: immigration relief for half a million undocumented people!  President Biden just announced parole in place, a policy that will grant temporary legal status, work permits, and a pathway to citizenship for undocumented people who have been living in the United States for at least a decade and who are married to U.S. citizens.  This policy could directly benefit an estimated half a million undocumented immigrants throughout the country. It would also apply to approximately 50,000 noncitizen children whose parent is married to a U.S. citizen. For many parents who have worried about not seeing their children grow up, or spouses who have feared being taken away from their loved ones, parole in place will provide welcome relief. In New York alone, tens of thousands of people could be eligible for this benefit. We are jumping into action with mass outreach, workshops and legal support for our community. As we prepare to serve thousands more to take advantage of this policy, we need your support.  This victory was the direct result of our communities’ years of unrelenting pressure on the Biden Administration, holding them accountable to passing critical immigration reform.  Ultimately, the power of our movement made this possible – thank you to our members, organizers, supporters, and allies for fighting for and alongside immigrant communities.  While this is a major step in the right direction, we need permanent solutions for all and to fight back against the extremist anti-immigrant hate that has become so pervasive. With your support, we will keep fighting to achieve a permanent pathway to citizenship for all immigrants and a welcoming home for all!  ¡Sí se puede! – Theo Oshiro, Co-Executive Director

March on Washington; PPC

 National Poor People’s Campaign.  March on Washington and to the Polls.

Image and link is up on our blog.

https://www.dsanorthstar.org/blog/march-on-washington-and-to-the-polls

 

 

Mass Poor People’s Campaign and Low Wage Workers.

Poor People's & Low-Wage Workers' Assembly & Moral March on Washington, D.C. & to the Polls, Livestream Party for those unwilling or unable to travel to Washington DC for the event. Refreshments will be provided. Event is free and open to the public. The venue is St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, 910 NW 38th St, Lawton OK 73505. The date and time are June 29, 9 AM to 1 PM.

 

https://www.poorpeoplescampaign.org

Asylum seekers

For Immediate Release: June 5, 2024\ National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights We need safe pathways for asylum seekers and migrants, not border closures The Biden Administration has largely closed the U.S.-Mexico border to most asylum seekers - an Executive Order that became effective today. The order recalls the Trump Administration’s actions to “close the border,” and is a transparent attempt to gain advantage in the 2024 Presidential race. While President Biden has criticized those Trump-era policies, and those of Texas Governor Abbott, calling them "cruel, dangerous, and inhumane,” he has taken these hostile and extraordinary steps in defiance of U.S. law and international policies and obligations to provide access and protection to those seeking safety.  Instead of closing the border, the Administration needs to recommit and expand access and resources to ensure safe and rights-based pathways for migrants and refugees. Those seeking asylum are often doing so because it is their only option for safety and survival as other pathways are limited or non-existent. The closing of the border will have no impact on the number of those forced to migrate due to wars and violence, political and economic instability, as well as environmental degradation and the consequences of climate change – and often an intersection of all of these factors. In bowing to rightwing pressures and fear-driven narratives, Biden’s border closure will undoubtedly fuel more anti-immigrant scapegoating and vigilantism at the expense of women, men, and children already traumatized and in crisis, and who deserve human rights and lives with dignity. Without opportunities to safely approach a port of entry, and with a low daily threshold on how many people are able to seek asylum before a cap is triggered, people will have no options but to cross through more treacherous terrain that will lead to increased injuries and deaths.    NNIRR