Immigrants Rally to Stop "ICE" Raids

            BOSTON, Mass. (10/08/2008) -- Almost 400 years after the first European stepped off the Mayflower in Plymouth, Massachusetts Immigrant Rights Advocates feel it is necessary to defend the 21^st century immigrant’s claim to American citizenship.

            Supporters of immigrants’ rights gathered to fight for justice for immigrant families in the United States Wednesday evening from 5 to 6 p.m. at Boston City Hall Plaza. These activists joined forces to call for a moratorium of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids. Businessmen, religious congregations, college students, and recent foreign immigrants all stood together on the plaza steps to demand the suspension of these mandated actions by the US federal government. The protesters wanted to put an end to immigrant deportation and abusive treatment. Furthermore, they demanded that the federal government supply immigrants with a path to citizenship.

            Shuya Ohno, a representative from the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA), spoke from personal experience when he stepped in front of the large crowd on the cold, concrete steps of the Boston Immigration Court located in the JFK Building on Boston City Hall Plaza. Ohno, who migrated to the U.S. at the age of six, said that he could still remember what it felt like to be a newcomer in a foreign place.

            “When I first came to this country, we didn’t speak a word of English,” said Ohno. “I remember vividly how frightened, scared, and confused I was.” Holding the microphone with a trembling hand, Ohno described the chaos and danger of the post-Vietnam era in the U.S. for immigrants.

            Ohno said, “I remember how my parents were frightened to go out to work, to go to the grocery store. I know they tried to hide their fear from me, but as a six year old I could feel it and all I wanted was to protect my parents. For myself, I wanted someone to kneel down and tell me that things were going to be okay.”

            With this imagery in mind, Ohno began to tell the growing crowd of immigrant supporters some of the recent stories of U.S. mal-treatment of immigrants. Last year, the federal government of the United States mobilized over 500 ICE officials to raid a factory in New Bedford, Massachusetts that was staffed mostly by women making leather packs for the US troops in Iraq.

            Ohno traveled to New Bedford to aid the 350 immigrant families that were devastated by the deadly attack. “I am stilled haunted by the sights and sounds of the children crying, terrified that they will never see their mothers or fathers again. I wanted to comfort these children and tell tem that everything was going to be ok, but I couldn’t. All I could do was to work to tell as many people as I could about what was happening,” said Ohno.

            As the dark sky spit down occasional raindrops, the crowd surrounding the immigration rally did not diminish. As suit-coated professionals completed their workdays, they left their offices that overlook Boston City Hall Plaza and passed by the conspicuous immigration rally. The commotion of the picketers and chanting of “Stop the Raids! No more Deportation!” lured travelers to the booming microphone shared by speakers and the guitarist/ vocalist, Valentina Paez.

            Twenty-two year old Lance Butler said he was drawn to the rally as he was skateboarding past City Hall Plaza with a friend. Butler said that he was surprised to run into the event, because he had no idea it was taking place that night. “I’m actually kind of psyched,” said Butler. “It (Immigration Advocacy) seems like a really good idea, considering that we call it (the US) the land of the free, but all of these people are unable to live here legally.”

            Butler, originally from Randolph, Vermont, lives and works in Lynn, Massachusetts. He said that he had never heard of ICE raids before, but that the information is very depressing. “Immigration hasn’t really affected me personally so that is probably why I don’t really know a lot about the issue. But I’m glad they are here rallying today, because now I know.”

            Reverend Kim Crawford-Harvie shared the podium with the other speakers at the rally. Crawford-Harvie revealed in an interview after the rally had concluded that she has been a pastor at the Arlington Street Church for over twenty years. A member of the Unitarian Universalist denomination, Crawford-Harvie said that the Arlington Street Church has long been an advocate for immigrant rights. Crawford-Harvie was joined by many of her congregation members at the rally to show their support ff immigrants and to represent their organization.

            “We are weary of the ICE raids and what it is doing to destroy immigrant families, not only in the Commonwealth, but really nationally. But when it hit New Bedford last year, we really felt the shock waves and we took it really personally,” said Crawford-Harvie.

            Crawford-Harvie said that one of the main goals of the Arlington Street Church is to provide sanctuary for immigrants. She said that the American “draw-bridge concept” held by many Americans against immigrants, is “totally unacceptable.” Crawford-Harvie said, “There needs to be a pathway, a clear pathway for legal residency in this country that makes it possible for people to experience the same freedom of immigration that our ancestors had. It’s like we got here and it’s really good, so we are pulling up the draw bridge and you can’t come in.”

            Sharing her personal experience with the present US immigration policy, Crawford-Harvie said, “I actually was touched by this issue because a member of my congregation had been here since he was a small boy and for awhile I don’t think he was aware that he was un-papered. He went right through the school system in East Boston and he graduated from that high school. He went on to work in a local hospital, and then one day in the middle of the workday, immigration arrived and arrested him. He was brought to prison, which is where I ended up visiting him.”

            Although she went to court on his behalf three separate times, Crawford-Harvie said that her friend was deported to El Salvador three years ago. “He got off the plane in El Salvador with no family, knowing no one. He didn’t even speak Spanish,” said Crawford-Harvie. She noted that as far as her friend knew, he was American and he had no ties to El Salvador.

            “How could this have happened?” Crawford-Harvie said was a question that she was continually asking herself. “This is an upstanding young man, a great contributor to my congregation and society at large. He hasn’t hurt anyone, he pays his taxes, what went wrong?” she said she asked federal officials. Crawford-Harvie said they told her “We are really sorry but he just doesn’t have the right papers for him to get back here.” She said that she is doing everything she can to help her friend return to his “home” country in the United States.

            The President of the Unitarian Universalist Association, Reverend William Sinkford, spoke directly to immigrants about reuniting families such as the one Crawford-Harvie describes. As the chief representative of the many church groups present at the immigration advocacy rally, Sinkford reminded his congregation why they were there fighting for immigrant rights.

            “We hear a lot of talk about family values these days,” said Sinkfold. “I’m here to tell you that we, those of us standing here, value immigrant families. The Gospel instructs us to love our neighbor as ourselves. We cannot stand by as work place raids violate our dignity and that of our neighbors.”

By CATHERINE MOORE            

Immigration: Is it a Question?

            BOSTON, Mass. (09/23/08) – Alfredo Carranza’s parents left Mexico 25 years ago to take their shot at attaining the American Dream. Now, after raises two sons, they are thinking of moving back.

            Carranza, 18, spent most of his life in Phoenix, Arizona, and now attends the University of Arizona as a freshman. He said that his parents, Alfredo and Maria Carranza, immigrated to the United States for him.

            Over a phone interview Sunday, Carranza said that the couple left their hometown of Sonora, Mexico 25 years ago to find “a better life and more opportunities.” Like many other immigrants to America, Carranza said that his parents were searching for a place where their children could grow up with more opportunities. They wanted “more for their son,” he said.

            “My father came here before he married my mother,” said Carranza. “He felt like he could accomplish more here than in Mexico.”

            Carranza said that after his younger brother finishes college, his parents will probably return to Mexico. “My parents have always thought about it,” said Carranza. “But I cannot see myself there. I was born and raise here. I am an American.”

            According to the 2000 US Census, the number of Mexican immigrants more than quadrupled from around 2 million foreign-born Mexicans within the United States in 1980 to more than 9 million by 2000. This influx of Mexican immigrants has created social issues that have forced American citizens to pay close attention to US immigration policy.

Chuck Foss, a retired US Border Patrol Agent, has worked to secure American borders with Canada, Mexico, and along Eastern and Western coastal regions. Foss and his family have been working and living in El Paso, Texas, a town bordering Juarez, Mexico, for about seven years. After retiring at 57, Foss was rehired for the US Border Patrol when the United States Government implemented an unprecedented increase in border patrol.

            In the summer of 2006, President Bush ordered the Border Patrol to hire 6,000 new agents by December 2008 in order to raise security measures. Foss said that the US Border Patrol has never, in its 84 year history, increased its size to this extreme. Although the US Department of Homeland Security website does not back this statement, it does state that after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US, “Border security became a topic of increased interest in Washington.”

            With US Census statistics showing that an estimated one out of every 10 workers in Arizona is Hispanic, the American population, as well as the 2008 presidential candidates, is addressing US immigration policy with a new emphasis on their own ideas of reform and/or reinforcement.

            Both presidential candidates, Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain endorsed a temporary worker program in 2007 titled the “Pathway to Citizenship.” Support for the integration of illegal immigrants into American society is one of the few topics that the two candidates can agree on, Richard Simon reported for the Los Angeles Times June 29, 2008.

            Obama claims to being more committed to helping the Latino immigrant population than his Republican counterpart. Obama stated his position in a speech to a crowd of Hispanic leaders at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute on September 10. The Americans for Legal Immigration Political Action Committee (ALIPAC) reported that Obama said, “This election is about the 12 million people living in the shadows…they are counting on us to stop the hateful rhetoric filling our airwaves, and rise above the fear.”

            Obama also pointed out in his speech that Arizona native, John McCain, has reversed his position, having recently pledged to tackle border security before any other changes are made to immigration policy as a whole.

            Foss commented that the candidates’ positions on US immigration policy may be a determining factor in the upcoming November election. “Both Obama and McCain are close on the issue,” said Foss about the candidates’ dedication to helping illegal immigrants attain US citizenship. “I don’t feel that it’s a compulsion. I think priority should be to first gain control of the border.”

            Foss voiced the fears and concerns of many Americans who worry that the continual increase of Mexican immigrants will overload the struggling US economy.

“I think that we have an obligation to protect our borders and prevent people from coming in the back door.” Foss said. “We (the US Border Patrol Agents) are sworn to uphold the Constitution of the United States. Part of that is protecting the citizens of the United States from illegal immigrants.”

            Carranza, on the other hand, said that he believes that most immigrants are in the United States for the purpose that America was founded upon, to achieve the American Dream.

            “I have a couple of friends who came over illegally, but they aren’t hurting anyone,” said Carranza, referring to his Mexican friends who came into the US through the “back door.” “It is not right to kick people out who work really hard and aren’t harming anyone. They just want a better life.”

            Doctor Ivan Light, UCLA professor and author of the Russell Sage Foundation 2006 publication Deflecting Immigration, spoke Tuesday on immigration policy at Boston University’s Department of Sociology.

            Light explained American anti-immigrant sentiment with a microcosm. He illustrated the acronym NIMBY, which stands for “not in my back yard.” Nimbyism, a term that is often used in demographic sociology, describes what Light calls a common social movement. Nimbyism occurs when people are concerned about immigration development within their own residential areas. Light said that the Nimbyist movement has often prevented the implementation of integration, housing, and educational programs for immigrants within suburban areas due to the negative response of Americans living in the neighborhoods.

            “Now people are thinking about what municipalities can do to deflect the influx of migration,” said Light. “In Missouri and other states they take the State Police and they ask them to enforce immigration laws.” Light said that such a move was the reason for unconstitutional roadside citizenship checkpoints.

            “It is intended by these second tier municipalities to deflect immigration,” Light said. “It is their hope that those who are illegal will go somewhere else.”

            Light speculated on the present American economy, referencing statistics that show historically that there is often slowed immigration during periods of economic strain within the United States. Light said, “If we are moving into an economical depression, as we well may be, then people aren’t going to want to come here.” He said that he foresees a temporary decline in immigration, due to the present lows within the US economy.

            Foss said that he sees the present state of the American economy as all the more reason to protect the United States’ borders against intruders. “The United States is the most generous country towards immigrants. We allow more immigrants to enter our country than the total aggregate number of the rest of the world,” said Foss. “But, we do want immigration. Immigration is what has made America what it is today.”

            Foss concluded that despite this resolve, the United States has to have some way to preserve its job market, economy, and education system, by asking immigrants to go through the legal immigration process. “All we are asking people to do is to knock on the front door, instead of hopping through the back window,” said Foss.

By CATHERINE MOORE

camoore@bu.edu