by C. Cruz
Wednesday, Mar. 22, 2006 at 4:43 PM
Dear Family,
I have decided to hunger strike for 7 straight days to defend the rights of all immigrants and to inspire immigrants to stand up!
We are part of many protests happening throughout
the nation.
Dear Family,
I have decided to hunger strike for 7 straight days to defend the rights of all immigrants and to inspire immigrants to stand up!
We are part of many protests happening throughout
the nation.
We will be joining the following other fasters:
Renee Saucedo- La Raza Centro Legal
Raul Alcaraz- Youth Together, Deporten a la Migra
Wayne Yang-East Oakland Community High School
2 day laborers from Mountain View and San Francisco
Please help spread the word.... after it, is some
more 411 for u....
Hunger Strike For Immigrant Rights
We need your support.
Why will they go without eating?
1. We believe that no human beings are illegal!
2. We believe that the law is racist and unjust.
-The law would make you be a snitch for immigration.
-The law would make you turn in your own grandmother
if she was undocumented.
-The law would make you a criminal if you help
immigrants.
What can I do?
1. Come out and support the fasters. Bring your
family.
-Everyday there will be a candlelight vigil starting
at 6p.m.
-There will be rallies on Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday
and Monday at 12pm.
2. Call Senator Feinstein and tell her to vote no on
H.R. 4437
415.393.0707, 202.224.5042
3. Let people know what is happening. Call your
friends, 'my space' them.
4. Wear your orange arm-band everywhere you and
'represent.'
Where?
S.F. Federal Building
(Golden Gate & Larkin, southwest side)
When?
Tuesday, March 21st noon to Monday, March 27th noon
BAY AREA IMMIGRANT RIGHTS COALITION
310 EIGHTH STREET, SUITE 303 OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA
WWW.IMMIGRANTRIGHTS.ORG
The Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal
Immigration Control Act of 2005 (HR 4437)
BACKGROUND: SPEEDY ACTION WITH DANGEROUS RESULTS
HR 4437 was passed by the House of Representatives on
December 16, 2005, by a vote of 239 to 182. With a
mere 8 days between introduction and passage of this
legislation, HR 4437 is clearly a rushed and recycled
attempt at �immigration reform.� HR 4437 proposes
more unenforceable laws that wholly fail to address
what many in both the American public and Congress
have recognized: That our immigration system is broken
and needs to be fixed in a manner that brings
immigrants out of the shadows of our society and
provides families a way to legally and safely reunite.
Nonetheless, the White House has issued a statement
in support of HR 4437. The Senate is expected to act
on both HR 4437 and other proposed immigration
legislation starting in February.
�LOW-LIGHTS�: SELECT PROVISIONS OF HR 4437
Criminalizes undocumented immigrants
Under current law, living in the US without legal
status is a civil violation, not a criminal one. This
means that although undocumented immigrants can be
arrested and deported by immigration officials, they
do not face criminal charges and the possibility of
prison time. HR 4437 would change this, by creating
a new federal crime of �unlawful presence� and
broadening the definition of immigration violations to
include every violation - however minor, whether
intentional or not - as a federal crime.
Criminalizing any and all immigration violations would
eliminate any opportunity for millions of undocumented
immigrants who may be convicted under this provision
to ever earn legal status through any future
legalization program. It is also a back door way to
authorize state and local police to enforce
immigration laws.
Criminalizes organizations and individuals assisting
undocumented immigrants
HR 4437 proposes to expand the definition of the
federal crime of �alien smuggling� to include
assisting a person to remain or attempt to remain in
the United States unlawfully. This would subject
social and legal services organizations, refugee
agencies, churches, and others who work with
immigrants to criminal penalties for providing such
assistance. Even family members and charitable
workers could face federal prison time for assisting
undocumented immigrants.
Authorizes state and local police to enforce
immigration laws
An amendment that was adopted into the final version
of HR 4437 proposes to authorize law enforcement
agencies with the authority to enforce immigration
laws. It further proposes the withholding of federal
funding to states that have a policy limiting the
cooperation between state and/or local police and
federal immigration officials. Recycled from
Sensenbrenner�s CLEAR Act bill, these exact
proposals already have been soundly defeated and
strongly criticized by law enforcement officials and
others as a dangerous shift from the long-standing
policy reasons for keeping criminal and immigration
enforcement separate.
Authorizes automatic and indefinite detention for
almost all immigrants
HR 4437 proposes the mandatory detention of all
non-citizens attempting to enter the U.S. unlawfully.
The only exceptions would be for Cubans, and for those
permitted to withdraw an application for admission or
who are paroled into the U.S. �for urgent
humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit.�
In addition, the bill seeks to overturn a U.S.
Supreme Court decision finding indefinite detention to
be unconstitutional, by creating a new category of
�dangerous alien� that would permit the government
to indefinitely detain individuals under removal
orders who cannot be deported to their native country.
Expands greatly the immigration consequences of
criminal convictions
HR 4437 contains numerous provisions to increase the
authority of the government to deport non-citizens
convicted of crimes. For example, it proposes that a
single offense of driving while intoxicated or
refusing a breathalyzer test in violation of state law
to be a ground for deportability or inadmissibility.
It also authorizes the use of expedited removal (i.e.
deportation without a hearing) against anyone who is
inadmissible based on criminal grounds.
Creates a phone and Internet based employment
eligibility verification system
The bill requires all employers, including those who
recruit or refer individuals for employment such as
non- profit groups and labor agencies, to use this
verification system. This proposal would do away with
the current I-9 verification process, putting in its
place a system that already has been proven to be
fraught with errors and used to unlawfully
discrimination against non-citizen workers.
Calls for a fence along the US-Mexico border and the
elimination of the diversity visa program
Amongst the most obviously unworkable and
mean-spirited provisions, HR 4437 calls for the
building of a two-layered fence in parts of Arizona,
California, New Mexico, and Texas. In addition, it
calls for the study of the feasibility of building a
fence along the U.S.-Canada border. HR 4437 also
proposes the end to the diversity visa program.
This document was produced by Anita Sinha of the
International Institute of the East Bay (www.iieb.org)
and Larisa Casillas of Services, Immigrant Rights,
Education Network (www.siren-bayarea.org). It
incorporates information from the Immigrant Legal
Resource Center (ILRC) (www.ilrc.org) and the National
Immigration Law Center (NILC) (www.nilc.org)