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Protest focuses on alien rights
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Also by Cara Harshman:
- Protest focuses on alien rights (March 11, 2008)
- County plans to honor monkeys (March 7, 2008)
- Mayor Dave listening to neighborhood Saturday (March 7, 2008)
- MATC program 'changing lives' (March 7, 2008)
- Photo damage rule moves on (March 6, 2008)
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- Madison rallies for immigrant rights (May 2, 2007)
- Activists rally for immigrant rights (October 15, 2007)
- Hearing unleashes immigrant rights debate (February 26, 2008)
- 3,000 march for immigrant rights (May 2, 2006)
by Cara Harshman
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Immigrants joined members and supporters of the Immigrant
Workers Union at a rally Monday to honor families of deportees and denounce
Dane County’s reporting policy.
IWU said it denounces Sheriff Dave Mahoney’s practices of
reporting undocumented workers to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for criminal
offenses.
“We hope the events like this are helping to educate people
that this is a tragedy for everybody,” said Alex Gillis, head of IWU in Dane
County.
Gillis said employment opportunity is the primary draw for
immigrants to the United States, where the demand for labor is high.
“Especially since the free trade agreements, huge resources
of wealth and jobs are moving from the south of the continent to the north,” he
added. “[The U.S.] needs more workers to supply … the labor market.”
According to past statements from Mahoney, asking people
about immigrant status during the booking process has been standard procedure
for 28 years. Under the Vienna Convention, a diplomatic agreement between
nations, Mahoney said he is required to notify certain countries’ consulates if
a person from that country is booked in Dane County Jail.
The crowd outside the Dane County building was small.
Yvonne Geerts, an organizer of the event and University of
Wisconsin alumna, attributed the small turnout of undocumented immigrants and
their families to the culture of fear she said has been “created by the
sheriff, by broken immigration reform policies, by the fact that you do not
feel comfortable leaving your house without looking over your shoulder.”
Gillis said undocumented workers were also especially
fearful to attend the rally because of a raid Sunday at a nightclub in Monona
where 20 police officers allegedly entered the club to arrest an undocumented
immigrant.
“I am hopeful, and I am afraid. … We understand this a very
bad moment for us. There is a lot of fear in the community and a lot of panic,”
Gillis said.
Among the immigrants in the crowd was Benito Garcia. He said
he left Mexico one year ago to work in Madison. Garcia, 24, would not say
whether he was living in Madison legally or illegally, just that he is here
only to work. However, he also said he does not condone illegal immigration.
Karin Sandvik said she grew up in Germany and came to the
U.S. after World War II. She said she resonates with undocumented immigrants in
the U.S.
“We are not clear what we want really. We are a nation of
immigrants, and we are shipping all our jobs abroad and not letting people come
here,” Sandvik said. “I just think we need to be honest and treat people as
humans rather than objects.”
Anonymous (March 11, 2008 @ 7:07am):
Once again, an illegal alien is an illegal alien. I've got no problem with increasing legal immigration, but illegal is illegal.
Anonymous (March 11, 2008 @ 8:50am):
Awful title. Come on, BH, you can do better.
Anonymous (March 11, 2008 @ 9:37am):
Oh the horror! Reporting criminal acts by criminals? Why ever would the Sheriff do that?
Entering the country illegally is just the first crime - then follows identity theft, using false ID, tax evasion, driving without a license or insurance, etc.
Anonymous (March 11, 2008 @ 10:48am):
7:07-- It's only illegal because someone wants it to be illegal. Law is man-made, and the result of political, economic, cultural, and social choices and factors. We could easily wake up tomorrow and change the law so that no one was illegal-- nothing about the individuals or what they did would have changed, only the "legality" of it. Another example: why is the speed limit 65? Because someone said so.
Anonymous (March 11, 2008 @ 11:37am):
This title is absolutely barbaric! "Alien rights?" What the fuck is going on here?
Anonymous (March 11, 2008 @ 12:31pm):
Alien rights?
They have the right to remain silent. They have the right of consulate notification. They have the right to one phone call........
Anonymous (March 11, 2008 @ 1:10pm):
Sheriff Mahoney is a funny. He says that he wants to collaborate with other law agencies.
I would like to see him asking rich, white men if they are paying taxes or at contrary they are breaking the law and therefore they are âillegalsâ.
With a lot of respect, and only to point out some of the contradictions in the internal discourse of anti-immigrant movement. And always departing that most of the people who echo these attacks against immigrant are just repeating the only explanation they listen in the media and from politicians. However, among the anti-immigrant movement there are dangerous elements of the extreme white right. Workers of any race or nationality should be very aware to not let these elements to control the debate.
Humans have rights no matter what. And really NO Human Is Illegal:
US Economy needs labor, no body complained when in the 90s immigrants helped to boost economy. Why is that? I do not hear you complaining that you can go to a carwash and got 8 people cleaning your car for $14, or a MC Donald burger for buck, or your neighborhood landscape looking great for peanuts, etc. Whether undocumented labor force is right or not, it is a key component to middle class America way of life.
If your reasoning to call us Illegal is because we break the law, then illegal can be anybody, it really does not describe the tragedy and social economic phenomenon behind our story. Calling us illegal is propaganda, shifting opinion, agitating the worst sentiment among the people but it is not describing any thing, it purely a political statement of hate.
Now, other people call us criminal, even when by law to not to have documents it is a civil offense and not a crime. All this terms applied to working families are just name-calling that are not sustained in any base, other than creates division among us and re-introduce the worst ideas of racism and xenophobia.
Finally, immigrants do not keep wages down, laws that forbid us to organize in unions and fight for better salaries does! If you really are interested in have better jobs, let's fight together against corporate America who are effectively shipping OUR jobs abroad.
Let's fight together for a better education budget, the public funding actually decreased in the last 8 years. It is not the undocumented who is ruining the schools is the lack of funding. US population, even with out immigration, grows every year, inflation advances too, how you explain that education budget is almost frozen? I guess because people like you is been told that immigrants are eating alive "your" education! Only in 2008, 128billions dedicated to fight terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan (not including army deploy this is only for operations and intelligence) vs. 55 billions for education, numbers donât lie.
And of course, undocumented immigrant pay taxes pay social security due in each paycheck, money by the way that undocumented are not entitle when they go to
Personally I think it is quite coward to blame poor low income workers of the fault of everything that goes wrong in this country, just because the truth it is quite hard to swallow: America it is not longer for the Americans, it is for the rich and if you are poor (or middle class) your country is being stolen by big corporations, you are a worker, and so we are, our families should strike together instead hate each other!
Anonymous (March 11, 2008 @ 1:51pm):
So 10:48, laws are made to be broken or WTF is your point?
I guess un-documented un-depositors like Bonny and Clyde (bank robbers) could make the same argument.
Work to change the laws if you don't like them but anarchy isn't the answer.
Anonymous (March 11, 2008 @ 3:47pm):
"NO Human Is Illegal"
Righty-O you are, but humans do things that are illegal and that means they are CRIMINALS.
"undocumented immigrant pay taxes pay social security due in each paycheck"
Yeah, I'm sure that those working for cash file their quarterly reports and enclose the taxes due - what a load of BS. Those using someone elses SSN and then under-withholding cause PLENTY of trouble for the poor sap whose SSN is stolen.
Anonymous (March 11, 2008 @ 4:10pm):
The pidgin english, flawed logic, incoherent sentence structure, and out right falsehoods embedded in the Anonymous 1:10pm commentary all illustrate the need for greater control of illegal aliens, to minimize their adverse impact and corrupting influence on our society and culture. It also argues for basic competency in spoken and written English, as a requirement for Citizenship.
If that embarrasingly poor commentary is representative of the quality of a University of Wisconsin education, the education standards have been lowered to the point of having no meaning.
The United States of America is a Nation based on Law. Abide by the Laws or pay the consequences, just as we all must. Whether you are an Illegal Alien, Eco-Terrorist, or everyday traffic violator, if you break the Law, you pay the consequences. 'Speeders' pay a fine and/or lose their license. Eco-terrorists get put in prison. Illegal Aliens get deported.
If you want to live here, get real comfortable with and abide by the Laws.
Anonymous (March 11, 2008 @ 5:57pm):
"They have the right to remain silent. They have the right of consulate notification. They have the right to one phone call"
I guess you didn't get the memo that consular notification for Mexican nationals is NOT required under international, national, or local law. Mahoney also does not do this. When he notifies the Mexican consulate, this means he is using tax dollars to take extra-legal action. I'm really surprised that conservatives aren't upset by the unnecessary drain on tax dollars that Mahoney is responsible for. Oh wait, hatred of outsiders trumps all else.
Kyle Szarzynski (March 11, 2008 @ 6:44pm):
Yeah, not sure what's up with the title there. Not surprised, though.
Dave Gorak (March 13, 2008 @ 10:26am):
Illegal aliens have no "rights" except due process and humane treatment during their detention.
Demonstrations like these again reaffirm the contempt these criminals have for our laws and sovereignty. Now they want us to show them "respect and dignity." Where is their respect for the American people? The final straw is that these arrogant lawbreakers now are telling us which of our laws we should enforce.
They belong back in their own countries demanding from those government what they have no right to demand of ours.
Dave Gorak
Executive director
Midwest Coalition to Reduce Immigration
La Valle, WI
www.immigrationreform.org
Anonymous (May 6, 2008 @ 10:38am):
Hey look at your last names, you are just a bunch of immigrant grand children. Elitist by ignorance.
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