In Our Community: Immigration News

Here are highlights of the news on immigration from Tuesday, September 8 to Monday, September 14. Enjoy!

If you read only one article on immigration from this week, read the story of Xiu Ping Jiang, a Chinese immigrant with a history of mental illness who was detained in solitary confinement, without representation by a lawyer, for a year and a half. Ms. Jiang fled China in 1995 after being forcibly sterilized. She was detained despite having no criminal record. Her hardship, as the article mentions, could have been avoided if immigration courts had the same standard protections for persons with mental disabilities as all other courts. As it stands today, there is no procedure for establishing mental competence in immigration cases, and the courts are not required to provide persons with mental disabilities with legal representation. For immigrants in detention, the experience of being detained can itself be traumatic. For those who already face mental health issues and receive little or no treatment in detention, the experience can be devastating. Read this letter asking Attorney General Holder to provide protections in immigration courts for individuals with mental disabilities.

A New York Times article on Mustafa Salih's plight puts a human face on the bureaucratic backlog which causes many immigrants to wade through the legalization process for years before gaining citizenship. As the article reports, Salih immigrated to the U.S. in 1991, became a legal permanent resident four years later in 1995, and has been waiting since then to become a citizen. He and 150 of his peers who belong to the same mosque in Falls Church, VA, are in a sort of bureaucratic limbo in which it is unclear why they have not yet been granted citizenship. The article raises questions as to whether this bureaucratic backlog unfairly prolongs the wait time for Muslim applicants, many of whom have been told that they must wait indefinitely until an unspecified "background check" has been completed. To date, Salih has waited eighteen years to become a U.S. citizen.

In the aftermath of the May 2008 raid in Postville, IA, in which 389 workers were arrested and detained, and eventually deported, a Jewish organization in Postville seeks to move forward. The organization has crafted a postcard to be sent to the meatpacking plant at which the raid took place. The message: to improve working conditions, communications, and consumer confidence in the coming year.

The Black Alliance for Just Immigration and the Haiti Action Committee are calling for support in their quest for Haitians to receive Temporary Protected Status (TPS) in the United States. TPS is a temporary provision that would permit Haitians to remain in the United States for a limited time as their country rebuilds from the 2008 hurricanes that devastated its communities, infrastructure, and economy. The humanitarian crisis in Haiti would only be aggravated by the deportation of Haitians currently residing in the United States.

In terms of legislative updates, we have some new cosponsors on board! Senator Al Franken (MN) and Representative Laura Richardson (CA) have signed on as cosponsors for the Uniting American Families Act (S. 424, H.R. 1024). Representatives Steve Cohen (TN), Edolphus Towns (NY), Bobby Scott (VA), George Miller (CA), and John Lewis (GA) have each signed on as cosponsors for the Reuniting Families Act (H.R. 2709). Even though health care reform will be the primary issue addressed in Congress this week, support for components of comprehensive immigration reform is building.

Will Coley and the Asian Pacific American Legal Center have put together a series of short documentaries on the challenges and successes for immigrants seeking to learn English. In this video, volunteer teachers speak about their passion for teaching English as a second language and their respect for the determination that they see in their students. The primary value of this video, as I see it, is its ability to demonstrate how learning English does not have to be a one-way assimilation tactic. Instead, it can be a rich cultural exchange that benefits both teachers and students alike. As one of the volunteer teachers in the video says of her students, "I value you, who you are, and what you have to teach me, and I think it can only lead to better things."

UFCW States that the New CIS Report Demonstrates a Complete Lack of Knowledge About the Meatpacking Industry

A recent Center for Immigration Studies (CIS)--an independent "think tank" that promotes restricting immigration and has been labeled by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a nativist group--report claims that harsh immigration enforcement tactics, like the raids on the Swift & Co. meatpacking plants in 2006, have contributed to a rise in wages and improved working conditions.

The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) refutes this claim, stating that the report has flaws in both the manipulation of its data and its historical analysis of the meatpacking industry.

Read the press release below.

For Immediate Release: Media Contact:
March 19, 2009 Scott Frotman 202-466-1537

NEW CIS STUDY DEMONSTRATES A COMPLETE LACK OF
KNOWLEDGE ABOUT MEATPACKING INDUSTRY

UFCW cites serious flaws in group’s analysis of historical industry data and finds its conclusion about Swift raids absurd

The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), the largest meatpacking and processing union in North America, released the following statement today in response to serious flaws in a new report by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) regarding immigration enforcement efforts at meatpacking facilities:

“Mark Twain once noted, ‘Figures don’t lie, but liars figure.’ This new report by the Center for Immigration Studies is a case study in the misinterpretation and manipulation of data to reach a totally biased and flawed conclusion.

“The report demonstrates a complete lack of understanding about the history of the meatpacking industry. Throughout history, immigrants from across the globe have helped strengthen the U.S. meatpacking industry by organizing around increased wages and improved industry standards.

“During the 1980’s, consolidation, mergers and company induced strikes helped drive down wages. Employers forced workers onto the streets to fight unacceptable concessions.. During the strikes, companies aggressively recruited strike breakers—who were not immigrants but individuals who came from the decimated farm industry—to cross the picket lines. Many of these workers soon realized that the jobs were too difficult, particularly at the wages companies were offering, and they left the industry. But the damage was done. Ever since that time, the UFCW has been fighting to rebuild wages and standards for these jobs.

“In the case of Swift, the UFCW had negotiated wage increases prior to the raid. This fact disproves CIS’ central argument that wages and benefits increased as a result of a change in workforce at the plant.

“In addition to these historical inaccuracies, the CIS report fails to address the devastating impact that the Swift raid had on thousands of workers –both immigrant and native born. In the aftermath of the raid, the UFCW documented numerous examples of racial profiling, U.S. citizens harassed and detained by armed agents and a sheer disregard for the constitutional rights of
workers.

“The UFCW filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of these raids and formed a commission to examine the ramification of ICE raids, including Swift. A report documenting the commission’s findings will be made public in the next few months.

“The raids at Swift, and across the country, have done nothing to protect workers or to raise standards in our industries. They have done nothing to address our broken immigration system.. They have been a complete travesty of justice.

“If our immigration system is going to work for the benefit and betterment of our nation it is critical that our laws are upheld. That applies to both immigrant workers and government agents. If the last eight years have shown us anything, it is that enforcement-only strategies do not work. Yes, we need enforcement, but to truly reform our immigration system, we need to
address trade relationships, workforce needs, family unification, legalization, workers’ rights and living standards, and 12 million undocumented individuals suspended on the edge of hope. And we need to do it in a comprehensive manner.

“The enforcement-only stance routinely endorsed by CIS is a short-sighted view that fails to take into account our larger national interest. It is as if they worked backwards on this report. They started from their rigid immigration stance and tried to make the facts fit their view. The problem is that it doesn’t add up. It is basically 16 pages of unproductive scapegoating, cherry picked quotes, and historical misinterpretations.

“The irony is that if you take an objective look at the data being presented, free of the author’s slanted view, it makes a pretty clear and compelling case for comprehensive immigration reform.

“There is the saying that you can put lipstick on a pig, but it is still a pig. Well, you can seek out a respected journalist to write a report for the Center for Immigration Studies, but at the end of the day you end up with the same old, tired, anti-immigrant extremist drivel.”

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The UFCW represents 1..3 million workers, 250,000 in the meatpacking and poultry industries. UFCW members also work in the health care, garment, chemical, distillery and retail industries.

To read more about CIS's flawed analysis, see Immigration Impact- New CIS Study: Easy Answers and Half-Baked Solutions

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Immigration Policy Center- Press Release: CIS Report Gets Diagnosis Right, Cure Wrong