May 13, 2008

ICE Cold: A New Round of Raids As The Economy Sours

Posted by Tomas Palermo at 11:44AM

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Immigration raids this week at a kosher beef processing plant in Iowa and earlier this month at 11 taquerias in San Francisco beg the question: are immigration control officers enforcing labor laws or dietary restrictions? Seriously, though, the Department of Immigration Control and Enforcement (ICE) raids come at a suspicious time for the US economy.

With a recession looming or in-progress (depending on who you speak to) it appears that federal government's plan to stimulate economic growth is to clamp down on low-wage workers. The intent seems to be to send a chill to potential migrant laborers and declare "Don't come to the US to work, we're hiring from within!"

In San Francisco, a publicly acknowledged sanctuary city, the timing surprised even long-time activists. As Bay Area Immigrant Rights Coalition's Evelyn Sanchez commented on May 2 after the taqueria raids:

"It was a gross violation of civil rights, and it's just unfortunate that this happened the day after May Day when literally thousands of immigrants throughout the Bay Area marched to have this type of activity stopped. It just goes to show we need new immigration laws. The raids and deportations divide our families, traumatize our communities and are a disaster for our economy."

In a show of rapid solidarity, on Cinco de Mayo, just three days after the raids San Francisco, activists mobilized marching to ICE's offices and demanding justice for the 63 detainees as detailed in the video below.

Elsewhere in the US, in towns big and small, the arrests continue. In April, poultry farms in five states were the target of raids.

With immigration a major election issue for both major party's presidential candidates, it's curious that a new "surge" of ICE raids are happening now. President Bush's lame-duck strategies, which have included a last-ditch push for Palestinian statehood, militarized control in Iraq and neutralizing Iran's nuclear program now include these smokescreen raids, which may be intended to distract Americans from a worsening economy.

And who pays for Bush's failed immigration policy the most? Youth and students.

In the wake of every raid are families and children whose lives are disrupted and damaged. The separation, fear and distress means young people will not complete their school assignments, if they make it back to school at all. With mom or dad in detention and faced with poverty, many immigrant youths will turn to gangs and the underground economy for survival.

Additionally, unlike previous generations, today's immigrant youth are less likely to be integrated into America's social fabric as a result of their persecution. As Roberto Lovato points out in his recent Nation online article ""Juan Crow In Georgia":

"Younger children of the mostly immigrant Latinos in Georgia are learning and internalizing that they are different from white — and black — children not just because they have the wrong skin color but also because many of their parents lack the right papers. They are growing up in a racial and political climate in which Latinos' subordinate status in Georgia and in the Deep South bears more than a passing resemblance to that of African-Americans who were living under Jim Crow. Call it Juan Crow: the matrix of laws, social customs, economic institutions and symbolic systems enabling the physical and psychic isolation needed to control and exploit undocumented immigrants".

Young people can mobilize and say "No!" to ICE raids by organizing through existing immigrant rights organizations, and raising immigration issues with politicians seeking office this year. Immigrant rights need to be on the table every day -- at every event and venue -- for the remainder of this important election year. Otherwise, the raids are sure to continue.

Offer to visit detained immigrants or help immigrant families. Volunteer at schools with large immigrant communities to offer support and peer guidance to fellow youth. Most of all, make your voice heard, in newspaper Op-Eds, online forums, blogs and radio call-in shows. We can shift this debate and it's policies through small, focused and ongoing efforts. Be the change you want to see.