Sunday, January 3, 2010

2010 Immigration Marches Begin!

The 2010 Immigration Marches have begun. The first group beginning their march are supporters from Miami, Florida. They began their March on Friday, Jan. 1, 2010. Their plan is to trek the fifteen hundred miles to Washington D.C., picking up advocates and supporters along the way and arriving in D.C. on May 1, 2010.
NY Times reports:
Lacing up new pairs of walking shoes with a flourish, four immigrant students set out on foot from downtown Miami on Friday, starting a four-month walk to Washington to protest what they called the Obama administration’s lack of action on legislation granting legal status to illegal immigrants. Three of the four protesters, who are current or former students at Miami Dade College, do not have legal-resident status and risk detention by immigration authorities during the 1,500-mile walk. The students’ trek shows the resolve and also some limitations of groups supporting an immigration overhaul that would include measures to legalize illegal immigrants. These groups said this week they are starting a national campaign in January to pressure President Obama to push for the overhaul before midterm elections in November. The students in Miami said in a statement that they decided to begin their walk because they had a “deep desire and need for complete citizenship” after they reached dead-ends in school or work because of their lack of legal immigration status.

Starting with a small but noisy send-off at noon by about 100 people on the steps of a landmark building in Miami known as the Freedom Tower, the students said they would walk about 16 miles a day, stopping to sleep at churches and immigration centers. They hope to reach Washington in May.
They said they had concluded that the exposure to immigration agents on the walk was not much greater than what they faced in their daily lives. “We are aware of the risk,” Mr. Matos said by telephone. “We are risking our future because our present is unbearable.”

Elsewhere, immigrant groups have been trying other tactics to push for reform, after an overhaul bill they supported was defeated in the Senate in 2007 by a huge surge of voter opposition. In November the groups organized a mass conference call on which, they said, more than 60,000 participants on mobile phones spoke with Representative Luis V. Gutierrez, Democrat of Illinois, to discuss an overhaul proposal. Mr. Gutierrez introduced the bill in the House last month. In California, where hundreds of thousands of immigrants joined demonstrations in 2006, advocacy groups have shifted their focus, said Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles. Now the groups are working to send immigrants who are voters to pay frequent visits to federal lawmakers who have not supported an overhaul. The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, a group in Chicago, is preparing rallies for mid-January with labor unions and African-American churches, hoping to persuade American workers that immigrants would be less likely to undercut wages if they had legal status and could participate openly in unions.

Republican lawmakers said they remained confident that they could defeat any overhaul proposal. They said it would be political folly for the Obama administration to propose a huge legalization program for illegal immigrants when so many Americans are out of work. “Allowing millions of illegal immigrants to stay and take jobs away from citizens and legal immigrants is like giving a burglar a key to the house,” said Representative
Lamar Smith of Texas, the senior Republican on the House Judiciary Committee.

13 comments:

Defensores de Democracia said...

Huffington Post : The possibility of Texas having a Democrat as Governor and Redistricting in favor of Democrats for the 2012 Elections

This is a possibility with the political meaning of an Earthquake

Texas could slowly become a Blue ( Democratic ) State and abandon its strongly Red ( Republican ) past - Texas is very important to get the presidency in year 2012, It's a majority-minority state and has many electoral votes for the Electoral College that elects the president, and this number of votes may be increasing ( Due to the 2010 census ).

Huffington Post
The Most Important Race of 2010
By Dylan Loewe
Speechwriter, Author
January 4, 2010

The Most Important Race of 2010

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dylan-loewe/the-most-important-race-o_b_410172.html


Some excerpts :

The Census Bureau recently released population projections that suggest that Texas could pick up as many as four Congressional seats after the census. Those will have to be placed where the population growth occurred, which is invariably among minority communities in major urban areas. These will be Democratic districts.

It's also an opportunity to rid the state of the Congressional map drawn mid-decade by Tom Delay and the Republican-controlled state legislature, a map which caused Democrats to lose 7 seats through gerrymandering shenanigans. All told, if the Democrats have a seat at the negotiating table during the Texas redistricting process, they could pick up as many as 10 seats, perhaps more.

Bill White is the best chance Democrats have to get that seat at that table. The state legislature draws the map, subject to the governor's veto. The Republicans solidly control the state senate, but only hold a two vote margin in the state house. Democrats could find their seat at the table be retaking the state house in 2010, but in this political climate, the odds of that are relatively slim.

It will no doubt be an uphill climb for White, as well. Texas is going through major transformational changes, to be sure. It's a majority-minority state; all of its major cities voted for Obama except for Forth Worth. Obama lost the state by only 10 points without ever campaigning there. But the transformation of Texas from red to solidly purple is not yet complete, and the impact of the changes that have already taken place is least on display during an off-year election. Depressed turnout among minorities and young voters is exaggerated, leaving Democrats to contend among a much more hostile electorate.

Still, if anyone is up to the challenge, it may be White. As mayor of Houston, he was seen as a business-friendly moderate with strong management skills and a keen ability to execute effectively. Among the many styles of Democrats, his may be the only one palatable statewide. In the end, he may not be able to win the seat on his own, but if Rick Perry emerges from the primary bloodied by his formidable opponent, it might just give White the outside shot he needs.

Win that race, and much of the damage done during this year's midterms will be sure to be erased just two years down the line.

Youth, Minorities, Politics :

Milenials.com

Vicente Duque

Tim said...

I don't think labor unions will help anything including the immigration reform.

ultima said...

"...granting legal status to illegal immigrants..."

Sounds like a oxymoron to me. Wouldn't this be an ex post facto law of the type the colonists revolted against in 1776? How much better it would be if they were simply told to go home and apply in the normal way, remaining in their homelands until their application is approved. That's the way the law is supposed to work.

Think of what it would be like if we simply passed a new law periodically to excuse all prior lawbreakers. That's just sweeping the problem under the carpet.

These folks simply don't believe the rule of law, the foundation of all civilized society. Everyone should think carefully about whether a world without the rule of law is one we would like to live in.

The naivete of those who support these marches is incredible.

Defensores de Democracia said...

Immigration Reform is Kryptonite for Mr Obama. With an economy in trouble, no jobs, a Quagmire in Afghanistan, with a census and a Big Election in 2010. Do Mr Obama need to be in more troubles ??

This issue of Immigration has many facets of Ethics, Morality, Economics, Human Rights, Decency, Honesty, Racism, Criminality, Brutality, Space in Jails or detention centers, space and availability of Airplanes, Trains or Buses for Big Progroms, etc .....

I don't want to discuss Immigration ..... I just want to point out that Mr Obama is in BIG TROUBLE in the threshold of a Big Decisive Election.

Isn't Mr Obama a Chicago Politician ??? - Isn't he a calculating political man, a calculator of political futures ??? -- Isn't Mr Obama a Cold Thinker and Temporizer ??

To Temporize : to act evasively in order to gain time, avoid argument, or postpone a decision.

To yield to current circumstances or necessities; act to suit the time.

To engage in discussions or negotiations, especially so as to achieve a compromise or gain time.

You see how Mr Obama suits the verb "To Temporize", according to the "Free Dictionary"

Youth, Minorities, Politics :

Milenials.com

Vicente Duque

Anonymous said...

Didn't the illegals and their advocaters learn anything from the last couple of marches that back fired?

Keep pissing off Americans. It helps our side.

I Travel for JOOLS said...

The Democrats are in real political trouble this year. Health care legislation is a disaster - won't even allow CSPAN to film it except for 1 lousy hour. The stimulus was a bust. The real unemployment rate is over 17%. Global warming is a hoax designed to make very rich people richer and the rest of us slaves. According to the Huffington Post just today, 1 in 5 working age men don't have a job - exceptionally bad in construction and manufacturing.

And, illegal immigrants think they should be rewarded with citizenship for breaking the law and take what few jobs are left in construction and other blue collar jobs where unemployment is the highest.

If the Democrats take up CIR this year, they can kiss their majority goodbye in the House in 2010 and Obama's chance of being reelected are greatly diminished.

Defensores de Democracia said...

There is a lot of emotion, passion and ill feelings about IMMIGRATION

Mr Obama is a very Cold Calculating Man - Top priority : his political survival.

Immigration ( any type of Immigration ) is KRYPTONITE for Mr Obama.

If Mr Obama is so imprudent as to initiate Immigration Reform in Congress, then millions of Teabaggers will start teabagging with Red Hot Passions.

Sometimes the best policy is to do nothing, specially when Mr Obama will have to devote so much time to the Afghanistan Quagmire. And it is going to get worse.

And even if a Democrat Health Care is approved in Congress, then Mr Obama would end up with many Health Care Arrows in his back.

Otto von Bismarck's advice : Wait, Wait, Wait, the Great Statesman has to wait for processes in development, for favorable conditions, for the opportune moment, before proceeding.

Youth, Minorities, Politics :

Milenials.com

Vicente Duque

Anonymous said...

Vicente, I would also go for "doing nothing", if as we speak families were not being broken up, with parents in detention or deported and separated from their US born children. It's tragic. These people cannot wait for "a better time". This needs to be fixed now.

arturo

Anonymous said...

JOOLS, It wouldn't be a "reward" for breaking the law. It would be righting a wrong. We Americans have been enjoying their labor with low prices. It's only fair they're given a chance to be fully intergrated into our society.

arturo

Anonymous said...

ultima, laws are great, but bad laws should be changed and not rienforced. Over the past 30 years, as the economy was adding some 20 million jobs for illegal immigrants, unemployment for legal resident americans was low, sometimes reaching historic lows. the law trying to keep these people away was obviously in error. let's fix this error and give these people amnesty.


arturo

Anonymous said...

does anyone have details on the march set for January 23rd in the San Fernando valley, north of Los Angeles? it's near my home and i want to be there.

arturo

Unknown said...

my name is claudia gonzalez...and im a student at hoover hs in glendale,ca. im in the mids of organizing a march for the 1st of may with my school district & i would want to get more people to join me in this is...if u want to do this please comment back here.
i would really appreciate it!
thanks!
~claudia gonzalez

Dee said...

Claudia,
Immigration Marches and demonstrations are a great idea. I admire you for initiating a march. It is important for all of us to demonstrate so our political leaders hear us.

I am in Texas so it would be difficult for me to attend a California march. However, I would be happy to publish a flier on the side of my blog once you get the March organized.

Please email me at:
dee_perezscott@yahoo.com
if you would like me to do so once you provide me the logistics (date, time, location, who your target audience is; your group's name if you named yourselves, etc.)

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