Thread: Even Cesar Chavez was against excess immigration

"Cesar Chavez saw the promise of change – the unlimited potential of a community organized around a common purpose."
— President Barrack Obama



Pro-immigration activists revere Cesar Chavez as a hero, which is in some ways very ironic.

Cesar Chavez strove to improve the working conditions and wages of farm workers by restricting the supply of workers; to raise the equilibrium wage to a level where they could live better than farm animals.

To that end, Chavez’s men picketed the INS to get them to enforce immigration laws. Chavez ratted out his fellow Mexicans to the INS if they were illegals. If he found them on the job, he turned a blind eye while his men administered beatings. And in 1973, Chavez even sent his troops to the border to battle illegals!

"Chavez next ran headlong into another vexing problem. Floods of immigrants from Mexico-some with work permits – others arriving illegally – were hamstringing Chavez's strike and boycott efforts in California and across the Southwest. He tried in vain to stem the tide of undocumented workers, especially those hired as strikebreakers. Reports came out that Chavez turned his head on occasion when his supporters used violence against illegal workers. Manuel Chavez was even accused of attacking strikebreakers attempting to cross the Rio Grande into the United States. Cesar Chavez talked with Mexican officials about the problem and even visited Mexico in an attempt to stop the flow of illegal workers,"
"César Chávez: A Brief Biography with Documents", Richard W. Etulain, p18

"Despite the fact that Chávez is these days revered among Mexican-American activists, the labor leader in his day was no more tolerant of illegal immigration than the Arizona Minutemen are now. Worried that the hiring of illegal immigrants drove down wages, Chávez – according to numerous historical accounts – instructed union members to call the Immigration and Naturalization Service to report the presence of illegal immigrants in the fields and demand that the agency deport them. UFW officials were even known to picket INS offices to demand a crackdown on illegal immigrants. And in 1973, in one of the most disgraceful chapters in UFW history, the union set up a 'wet line' to prevent Mexican immigrants from entering the United States. Under the guidance of Chávez 's cousin, Manuel, UFW members tried at first to convince the immigrants not to cross. When that didn't work, they physically attacked the immigrants and left some bloody in the process. It happened in the same place that the Minutemen are now planning to gather: the Arizona-Mexico border. At the time, The Village Voice said that the UFW conducted a 'campaign of random terror against anyone hapless enough to fall into its net.' In their book, "The Fight in the Fields," Susan Ferris and Ricardo Sandoval recall the border incident and write that the issue of how to deal with the undocumented was 'particularly vexing' for Chávez."
"The Arizona Minutemen and César Chavez", Ruben Navarrette Jr., Union-Tribune, March 30, 2005

Please don't associate Mexican-Americans with Mexicans.

ID cards for undocumented immigrants...

Los Angeles takes next step toward ID cards for undocumented immigrants
10/16/2012 - A Los Angeles city panel on Tuesday asked for a request for proposals on the next steps needed by the city to create a city Services Card, a photo identification card to be issued by the Library Department that could also serve as debit card.

"The federal government has failed on immigration and we hundreds of thousands of people living in the shadows," said Councilman Richard Alarcon, who authored the proposal with support form Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. The Arts, Parks, Health and Aging Committee asked the Library Department be authorized by the City Council to report back on firms that could help develop the City Services Card. Alarcon aides said a full report will be sent to the City Council within the next three weeks on the program designed to help provide local identity cards to illegal immigrants, the elderly students and the transgender.

In addition, Alarcon said, the Library Department was asked to develop a financial literacy program to try to help the 12 percent of the population that does not use banks or other financial institutions. Deputy Mayor Larry Frank said the mayor is in agreement with Alarcon on the need for the program. "We believe this car will address the 200,000 people who are unbanked in the city and will help lead to a financial empowerment for these people," Frank said. Alarcon said he hopes to have the program started within six months.

There was no opposition voiced during the committee hearing, but Councilman Mitch Englander said he has some concerns about it. "I think there are security concerns that have to be addressed before we go ahead with this," Englander said. "I also have questions about whether this is creating another bureaucracy within the city at a time when we are unable to pave our streets or trim our trees."

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Granny says, "Anything to distract from the fiscal cliff...

Immigration Reform Finds New Enthusiasm in US Congress
November 28, 2012 — After an election in which Hispanic voters overwhelmingly supported President Barack Obama and Democratic candidates, Republican and Democratic lawmakers are presenting new proposals on reforming U.S. immigration laws.

Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, a group of Democratic, Hispanic lawmakers from the Senate and House of Representatives, held a news conference Wednesday to lay out their fundamental principles for comprehensive immigration reform. Democratic Congressman Luis Gutierrez of Illinois said his caucus has been working since 2004 to try to get Congress to reform the nation's immigration laws, but he said Republicans had "demonized" immigrants instead of tackling reform. "Because of congressional inaction, good people, good people who are only asking for the chance to work hard and help their communities and keep their families together, have been forced to stay in the shadows and been forced to go around our legal system because they could find no way through it," he said.

The principles laid out by congressional Democrats would require undocumented immigrants to come forward and register with the government and pass an English language test and pay taxes before they would be able to join the process to become U.S. citizens. Democratic Senator Robert Menendez said the United States would benefit from bringing the estimated 11 million undocumented people living in this country out of the shadows. "Reform is in our economic interest as well our national security. I cannot know who is here to pursue the 'American Dream' versus who is here to do it harm unless I get millions of people out of the shadows into the light and come forth and register with the government," he said.

On Tuesday, three Republican senators introduced their own immigration bill, known as the "Achieve Act," which would grant a pathway to permanent residency - but not citizenship - to some undocumented young immigrants who serve in the military or attend college in the United States. Outgoing Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson of Texas said her party's proposal would not give special preference to immigrants who came to the U.S. illegally over those seeking to come to the country legally. "They [illegal immigrants] will not get in the front of the line, they will get in the back of the line. They are not kept from getting that citizenship track, nor are they given a preference in that citizenship track," she said.

Senator Hutchinson and outgoing Republican Arizona Senator Jon Kyl said they believe it is better to tackle the tough problem of immigration one step at a time, instead of trying to enact a massive reform of the system. Congressional Democrats rejected the Republican proposal, saying it would not go far enough to help young immigrants to achieve their dreams. But Gutierrez said it is a step forward for Republicans. "It is too little too late. But it does mark something different. During the election and during the campaign, what they said was self-deportation," he said.

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English requirement to be in Spanish?...

Illegal immigration foes despair over GOP moves
January 31, 2013 — Marty Lich is ready to bolt.

It's been a couple of years since the self-described conservative considered herself a Republican, but she still often votes for GOP candidates. That's partly because of their tough stands against illegal immigration, which the retired teacher's aide blames for ruining her Southern California hometown and fears could threaten the Colorado mountain community where she now lives. But Lich and voters like her are watching with despair as more and more Republican politicians edge toward a bipartisan plan that includes a pathway to citizenship for many of the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. "If the GOP agrees on this amnesty, they're selling out their core values," Lich said. "They'd lose us. They'd lose the votes of people who support them, and they're not going to gain a lot of votes."

Demographics and election returns are pushing Republican leaders away from people like Lich. In 2007, a grass-roots rebellion led Republicans to reject then-President George W. Bush's immigration overhaul because it included a process in which otherwise law-abiding illegal immigrants could eventually become U.S. citizens. Activists derided the provision as an "amnesty." After tea party groups toppled various Republicans in primaries over their dovish immigration stands, the party's rhetoric and proposals became increasingly tough. That's changed since the drubbing the GOP took last November. Mitt Romney received underwhelming support from voters in the two fastest-growing minority groups: 27 percent of Hispanic voters and an even smaller share from Asians, according to exit polls. In contrast, George W. Bush won an estimated 44 percent of the Hispanic vote in his 2004 re-election.

Prominent Republicans, from television commentator Sean Hannity to former vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan, now support legalizing the status of some illegal immigrants. The outline of a bill to do just that was unveiled Monday by a group of eight senators, four from each party, and President Barack Obama reiterated his support for a similar overhaul Tuesday. Even in the Republican-controlled House, a half-dozen bipartisan members are nearing completion on wide-ranging legislation that would include a pathway to legalize the immigration status of those here without authorization.

It's unclear what, if any, immigration bill could pass Congress. Still, the shift in tone signals to some who favor tighter restrictions on immigration that parts of the Republican Party are ready to cave. That'd be a dangerous move, they warn, arguing that Hispanics strongly support Obama's health care law and other Democratic initiatives and are unlikely to ever back Republicans in significant numbers. They also warn that the party will squander a valuable resource by alienating its base. "I don't know how you can even quantify the loss of enthusiasm," said former Republican Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado, a longtime thorn in party elders' sides for his aggressive stance on illegal immigration. "You're not going to knock on any doors, make any phone calls or give any money."

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Senators Present Plans for Immigration Reform -- Including English Requirement – in Spanish
January 29, 2013 – Two of the eight senators that are proposing a comprehensive immigration reform plan that includes a requirement that immigrants learn English, explained it to reporters in Spanish.

Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) both repeated their prepared remarks in Spanish after initially telling reporters in English why they had signed on to the “framework” of immigration reform. Menendez mentioned the English language requirement in his remarks. “They will have to, for the first time in U.S. history, learn English to be able to even become a permanent resident,” Menendez said. “We require that for U.S. citizenship. “We have never required that for permanent residency – this is a higher standard,” Menendez said.

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said that “from Day One” after legislation becomes law, illegals who register with the government and pass a criminal background check can live and work in the United States. “That will make it easier for them to learn English and integrate into their communities without fear of deportation,” Schumer said. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said his Dream Act bill - first introduced 12 years ago - that would give children of illegal aliens who were brought to the U.S. as children a pathway to citizenship, is a part of the framework. “The Dream Act is going to be an integral part of comprehensive immigration reform,” Durbin said.

The four “legislative pillars” of the framework are: reforming the legal immigration system, employment verification, securing U.S. borders and a guest worker program. No specifics of what will be included in a legislative plan were revealed. “We have to modernize our legal immigration system. We have to have a real enforcement mechanism to ensure we’re never here again in the future, and we have to deal with the people that are here now in a way that’s responsible but humane,” Rubio said. The others who are in the “gang of eight” but who were not present at the press conference are Sens. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.). Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who is also in the group supporting the framework, was at the press conference.

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Granny wonderin' what good it gonna do to pass a new law when dey ain't enforcin' the ones already on the books?...

US Senators Scramble to Firm Up Immigration Bill by April
March 28, 2013 WASHINGTON — The U.S. Congress is not in session this week, but a group of senators working on immigration reform are scrambling to finish a bill to introduce to Congress when it resumes in 11 days.

Four of the eight senators visited the U.S.-Mexico border on Wednesday, balancing a highly publicized helicopter flyover with private phone negotiations with other stakeholders.

Democratic Senator Charles Schumer of New York, on his first-ever trip to the border, expressed hope the group would have a bill ready for Congress when it reconvenes April 8. “The bottom line is we're very close," Schumer said at a press conference in Nogales, Arizona Wednesday. "I'd say we're 90 percent there. We have a few little problems to work on. We've been on the phone with our four colleagues all day."

The fence that divides Nogales, Arizona from Nogales, Mexico is five meters high, more than twice the height of an average woman. Yet a woman scaled the metal fence while the senators were touring the area.

Republican Senator John McCain tweeted about the incident:

If Americans look at the main page of the google search right now, they are commemorating "Cesar Chavez's 86th Birthday".

That shows that they are trying to use him as an icon, probably to appeal to all those tens of millions of children born from illegal immigrants in the USA.

U.S. sees rise in children born to illegal immigrants

The total number of children in the USA born to illegal immigrants on U.S. soil jumped to 4 million in 2009, up from 2.7 million in 2003, a report released Wednesday estimates.

The percentage of native-born people in the U.S. has fallen for four straight decades, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In 2008, 12.5% of the population was born outside the U.S., nearing the all-time highs of nearly 15% in the late 1800s.

"The share of the population that is white non-Hispanic is going to drop," said Jeffrey Passel, senior demographer of the Pew Hispanic Center. "The percentage that consists of immigrants and their children is going to increase."

Illegals won't be stopped by new immigration bill...

Gang of 8 Immigration Bill: Illegals Won’t Be Stopped ‘And Pretty Soon We’ll Give You Amnesty’
April 18, 2013 - Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) is speaking out against the “Gang of Eight’s” legislation that he said will create an open border and promise amnesty to people who are in the country illegally.

The bill – endorsed by Republicans from the Gang of Eight, including Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) – will hamper law enforcement’s ability to enforce existing U.S. immigration law. “If they can’t effectively enforce the laws we have, then we can be sure they won’t be enforced in the future,” Sessions told CNSNews.com. “And we’ll be back with an unfortunate flow of illegal immigrants into the country and be faced with these same choices again. “And when you do that, you’ve basically created an open border situation,” Session said. “You’ve basically said we’re not going to effectively stop you from coming in illegally. “We’re not going to effectively deport you if we apprehend you when you’re here illegally, and pretty soon we’ll give you amnesty,” he said.

Sessions said unfettered immigration is not good for the country. “That’s an unhealthy process for a great nation,” Sessions said. “A great nation like the United States needs to have an honorable, decent immigration policy that allows immigration flow to the country but that serves our national interest and is according to a lawful process that we can be proud of.”

He said Americans want “decent” immigration laws. “And we don’t have that,” Sessions said. “That’s what the American people want. “They’ve been asking for it repeatedly for 40 years, and it has not been delivered by their politicians, and to that degree, they have a right to be upset with us,” Sessions said.

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Granny says, Dat's right - No more racial profiling, gubmint gonna get bigger...

Immigration bill bans racial profiling by federal law enforcement
Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - The immigration bill senators introduced Wednesday bans racial profiling by federal law enforcement officers in most routine encounters, such as traffic stops.

Under current federal law and court precedents, racial discrimination is illegal — but there is no specific ban on racial profiling by federal officers. But buried inside the 844-page Senate immigration bill is a section specifically prohibiting the use of race or ethnicity as a factor in “routine or spontaneous law enforcement decisions, such as ordinary traffic stops.” Still, that language already represents a compromise. An earlier draft of the bill, reviewed by The Washington Times, had applied specifically to all immigration law enforcement agents at the Homeland Security Department and had banned profiling on country of national origin as well as race and ethnicity.

The head of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Council, the labor union that represents immigration agents and officers, said that would have ended federal immigration law enforcement altogether. “Everything that you do in immigration enforcement is based on nationality and country of origin. It’s the very heart of immigration enforcement,” Christopher Crane, the ICE Council president, told The Washington Times. Shawn Moran, vice president of the National Border Patrol Council, which represents Border Patrol line agents, said the new language restricting racial profiling won’t hurt agents’ ability to do their jobs. He said they are already are prohibited from profiling based on race or ethnicity.

The country of origin provision was apparently stripped at the last minute — one of a number of final tweaks designed to blunt criticism of the massive overhaul. The points system used to determine future immigrants has also been modified from earlier drafts: several contentious sections have been eliminated, the requirements for demonstrating English proficiency have been strengthened and the points awarded for education attainment have been adjusted.

The eight senators who wrote the bill during months of negotiations said they are open to changes and fixes, but said their work represents a serious effort at compromise. “While I believe this legislation is a strong conservative effort that will accomplish all these things and tries to make the best of the imperfect reality we face, it’s not perfect. But I am also confident that an open and transparent process that welcomes public input is going to make it even better,” said Sen. Marco Rubio, the Florida Republican the GOP is hoping can sell the legislation to conservatives. He asked for input from all sides of the debate on his Senate office website, Facebook page and Twitter account.

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...#ixzz2QrvTVG33

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Immigration bill calls for slew of regulations, new bureaucracy
4/18/13 - The sweeping immigration reform bill unveiled Wednesday would bring a raft of new regulations and add more layers to the federal bureaucracy.

The 844-page Senate bill calls for a dramatic expansion of the country’s worker verification system, an overhaul of visa programs and a new set of proposed regulations allowing undocumented people to become “registered provisional immigrants.” The bill would establish penalty systems for employers and create protections for vulnerable immigrant workers in order to achieve the largest overhaul of the nation’s immigration system in decades. The bipartisan Gang of Eight in the Senate, which penned the bill, set out “to establish clear and just rules for seeking citizenship, to control the flow of legal immigration, and to eliminate illegal immigration, which in some cases has become a threat to our national security,” according to the legislation’s preamble.

Unlike the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, President Obama’s healthcare overhaul and other legislation requiring major regulatory undertakings, the immigration proposal has significant support from Republicans and business groups. Still, its passage would set the stage for intense lobbying efforts to influence the federal rules that an assortment of agencies would be required to write. Business groups are already girding for the fight. “As was the case with immigration legislation from the 1980s, there are going to be many regulations coming out from this bill,” said Craig Regelbrugge, vice president of government relations for the American Nursery & Landscape Association. “It’s going to be a full-court press by those of us working on the legislation to make sure that these regulations are workable.”

Regelbrugge, a co-chairman of the Agriculture Coalition for Immigration Reform, was heavily involved in negotiations on the Senate bill to help draft its farm worker component. That section of the bill will create a new “blue card” for farm workers. The designation, along with a new visa program for low-skilled workers, would require new rules from the government. “Both of those will have extensive regulatory processes associated with them,” Regelbrugge said. “Our goal is get to the statutory language clear enough so we won’t have to struggle with the regulations once the bill passes.” In addition to a flurry of rulemaking, the bill calls for major structural changes in the agencies that oversee immigration. The bill would remake U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' Office of Citizenship as the “Office of Citizenship and New Americans,” whose chief would help direct the major changes proposed in the legislation.

The Senate bill would also create a taskforce of Cabinet members and other high-level administration officials. The panel would begin work 18 months after enactment of the law and establish programs to assist with immigrant integration issues. A nonprofit corporation, to be called the “United States Citizenship Foundation,” meanwhile, would solicit donations and provide assistance for those seeking provisional immigrant status. Angelo Amador, vice president of labor and workforce policy for the National Restaurant Association, raised concerns over another new government apparatus that would be created by the bill: a bureau to devise when and where new low-skilled worker visas, or “W Visas,” are needed. “The bottom line is we don’t want more bureaucracy created on a guest worker program where we already have so much bureaucracy that doesn’t work,” Amador said.

Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/regwatch/le...#ixzz2QrwF4dVZ

Granny says just more o' dat do-nothin' Congress kickin' the can down the road...

‘Gang of Eight’ Bill: If Border Not Secure at Any Time in First Five Years After Law Passes -- Form a Commission!
May 3, 2013 – The immigration bill proposed by the “Gang of Eight” in the U.S. Senate includes a provision to create a commission to study the failure of securing the border's "high-risk sectors" during any or all of the first five years after the 844-page legislation becomes law.

On page 14, Section 4 of the bill, it states that if the Department of Homeland Security certifies that it "has not achieved effective control in all high risk border sectors during any fiscal year beginning before the date that is 5 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, not later than 60 days after the date of certification there shall be established a commission to be known as the 'Southern Border Security Commission.'" The six-member commission would be appointed -- two each -- by the president, and by the leadership in the House and the Senate.

Under Section 2, Qualification for Appointment to the commission, the bill states members “shall be distinguished individuals noted for their knowledge and experience in the field of border security at the federal, state or local level.” The “primary responsibility” of the commission would be to make recommendations to the president and to Congress “on policies to achieve and maintain the border security goal specified” in section 3(b) of the legislation. This would include achieving and maintaining the capability to engage in “persistent surveillance in high-risk border sectors along the Southern border” and attain “an effectiveness rate of 90 percent or higher in all high-risk border sectors along the Southern border.”

The commission would also be required to issue a report “not later than 180 days after the end of the 5-year period described” detailing its recommendations for achieving 90 percent border security in all the high-risk areas. Members of the commission will be allowed “travel expenses, including per diem in lieu of subsistence rates” as provided for federal workers under the United States Code, according to the bill. The commission, under the law as currently written, would be terminated 30 days after the report is submitted to the president, the DHS secretary and Congress. In addition, the comptroller general of the United States will review the commission’s report to determine whether any of the recommendations will work and “whether such recommendations are feasible within existing budget constraints.”

The Gang of Eight members in the Senate include four Democrats and four Republicans: Sens. Michael Bennett (D-Colo.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), John McCain (R-Ariz.), and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). Their immigration legislation is entitled, "Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act."

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/gang...aw-passes-form