URGENT ACTION IN SUPPORT OF IMMIGRANTS!
2 URGENT ACTIONS BELOW:
SPEAK OUT AGAINST BUSH'S PLAN TO DEPLOY NATL GUARD TO BORDER
Press Conference Tonight
Meet at 8pm at the Cristo Rey Rectory (Miller Rd across from the church) to
watch Bush's address about immigration and the deployment of the Natl Guard
to the border.
Press will arrive at 9pm at Cristo Rey Church (201 W Miller Rd) to hear our
response.
Talking Points:
We are OPPOSED to further militarization of the US-Mexico border.
* Recognize that the current Militarized Border Enforcement Strategy is
a failed policy. Since 1998 more than 2000 migrants - men, women, and
children - have lost their lives in the deserts of the US-Mexico borderlands
trying to make their way into the United States. These tragic and
unnecessary deaths must stop. The border blockade strategy has militarized
the US-Mexico border, which drives migrants into remote desert regions yet
has failed to stem the flow of immigrants into the United States. Further,
the fragile desert environment has sustained severe damage as a result of
migrants moving through remote desert regions and responding enforcement
patrols. Indeed, a militarized border control strategy has never in United
States history successfully stemmed the flow of immigrants. We recognize
the right of a nation to control its borders, but enforcement measures must
be applied proportionately, humanely, and with a conscious effort to protect
the people and the land.
* Address the status of undocumented persons currently living in the US.
Workers and their families currently living in the US must have access to
a program of legalization that offers equity-building paths to permanent
residency and eventual citizenship for workers and their families.
Legalizing the undocumented workforce helps stabilize that workforce as well
as their families. A stable workforce strengthens the country.
* Make family unity and reunification the cornerstone of the US
immigration system. Migrants enter the United States either to find work
or to reunite with family members, yet the arduous and lengthy process
forces families to make potentially deadly choices. Families must be
allowed to legally and timely re-unify as well as to immigrate together as a
unit.
* Allow workers and their families to enter the US to live and work in a
safe, legal, orderly, and humane manner through an Employment-Focused
immigration program. International workers' rights must be recognized and
honored in ways that protect: the basic right to organize and collectively
bargain, individual workers’ religious freedoms, job portability, easy and
safe travel between the US and homelands, achievable and verifiable paths to
residency, and a basic human right of mobility.
* Recognize that root causes of migration lie in environmental,
economic, and trade inequities. Experiences of Mexico and countries further
south demonstrate that current trade and aid strategies that are based on
greed and lack of basic respect deeply and negatively impact workers, their
families, and the environments in migrants' homelands. This is forcing a
quest-for-survival based migration of unparalleled proportions.
International agreements must be negotiated in ways that build mutual and
just relationships. Such agreements must be designed to meet the needs of
the present without compromising future generations' abilities to meet their
needs. New strategies must include incentives for the public and private
sectors to invest in economic and environmental repair and sustainable
development in the sending communities.
2ND URGENT ACTION:
I spoke with Ann Francis, Lansing community organizer. She and other people
in Michigan actually met with Sen. Levin last week in Washington, DC. He
told her that the phone calls they get about immigration are 9 to 1 ANTI-
immigrant. That's scary. We all need to be calling our senators!
Call 1-800-833-6354 and ask for Levin and Stabenow's offices and encourage
compassionate immigration reform--use talking points above.
SPEAK OUT AGAINST BUSH'S PLAN TO DEPLOY NATL GUARD TO BORDER
Press Conference Tonight
Meet at 8pm at the Cristo Rey Rectory (Miller Rd across from the church) to
watch Bush's address about immigration and the deployment of the Natl Guard
to the border.
Press will arrive at 9pm at Cristo Rey Church (201 W Miller Rd) to hear our
response.
Talking Points:
We are OPPOSED to further militarization of the US-Mexico border.
* Recognize that the current Militarized Border Enforcement Strategy is
a failed policy. Since 1998 more than 2000 migrants - men, women, and
children - have lost their lives in the deserts of the US-Mexico borderlands
trying to make their way into the United States. These tragic and
unnecessary deaths must stop. The border blockade strategy has militarized
the US-Mexico border, which drives migrants into remote desert regions yet
has failed to stem the flow of immigrants into the United States. Further,
the fragile desert environment has sustained severe damage as a result of
migrants moving through remote desert regions and responding enforcement
patrols. Indeed, a militarized border control strategy has never in United
States history successfully stemmed the flow of immigrants. We recognize
the right of a nation to control its borders, but enforcement measures must
be applied proportionately, humanely, and with a conscious effort to protect
the people and the land.
* Address the status of undocumented persons currently living in the US.
Workers and their families currently living in the US must have access to
a program of legalization that offers equity-building paths to permanent
residency and eventual citizenship for workers and their families.
Legalizing the undocumented workforce helps stabilize that workforce as well
as their families. A stable workforce strengthens the country.
* Make family unity and reunification the cornerstone of the US
immigration system. Migrants enter the United States either to find work
or to reunite with family members, yet the arduous and lengthy process
forces families to make potentially deadly choices. Families must be
allowed to legally and timely re-unify as well as to immigrate together as a
unit.
* Allow workers and their families to enter the US to live and work in a
safe, legal, orderly, and humane manner through an Employment-Focused
immigration program. International workers' rights must be recognized and
honored in ways that protect: the basic right to organize and collectively
bargain, individual workers’ religious freedoms, job portability, easy and
safe travel between the US and homelands, achievable and verifiable paths to
residency, and a basic human right of mobility.
* Recognize that root causes of migration lie in environmental,
economic, and trade inequities. Experiences of Mexico and countries further
south demonstrate that current trade and aid strategies that are based on
greed and lack of basic respect deeply and negatively impact workers, their
families, and the environments in migrants' homelands. This is forcing a
quest-for-survival based migration of unparalleled proportions.
International agreements must be negotiated in ways that build mutual and
just relationships. Such agreements must be designed to meet the needs of
the present without compromising future generations' abilities to meet their
needs. New strategies must include incentives for the public and private
sectors to invest in economic and environmental repair and sustainable
development in the sending communities.
2ND URGENT ACTION:
I spoke with Ann Francis, Lansing community organizer. She and other people
in Michigan actually met with Sen. Levin last week in Washington, DC. He
told her that the phone calls they get about immigration are 9 to 1 ANTI-
immigrant. That's scary. We all need to be calling our senators!
Call 1-800-833-6354 and ask for Levin and Stabenow's offices and encourage
compassionate immigration reform--use talking points above.