migrant workers at Brave New Films

People & Power - The Rock and a Hard Place - 22 Jun 08

2008-07-16T02:43:10Z

People & Power explore the impact of political wrangling, contradiction, hypocrisy and inflexibility on the day-to-day lives of Spanish workers in Gibraltar.

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Protestors Blast ICE Raids in East Houston

2008-07-03T12:06:43Z

Recently, ICE removed about 160 mostly undocumented female workers from Action Rags, a used clothing and rag exporting factory in East Houston.

A protester from SEIU asks a crucial question in this video: How does putting a working woman in jail keep this country safer?

What does society gain from imprisoning working women, wives, mothers and sisters who are not criminals?

As usual, there have been NO arrests of Action Rags or Shipley managers or company officials and ICE has not provided details of any sort of criminal investigation against the company.

Iowa ICE Raids Solve Nothing

2008-06-07T09:37:00Z

The ICE raid of Agriprocessors, a meat packing plant, is the largest in the history of Iowa, leading to the arrests of about 390 workers on charges of aggravated identity theft, unlawful use of Social Security numbers and other related offenses. And yet again, the employers of these undocumented migrants, Agriprocessors Inc., would probably walk away scot-free, hiring more undocumented workers when the raids are forgotten. After all, Agriprocessors Inc. has a history of non-compliance with federal and state laws, and since the owner is a major contributor to the Republican Party, Agriprocessors has been allowed to operate with small fines now and then.

Rounding up migrant workers to arrest and charge them is not the solution to stopping illegal immigration. It rips families apart, spreading a climate of fear throughout the community, shutting down more businesses, while opening up jobs for a new pool of undocumented workers to fill up. Postville, Iowa, has turned into a ghostown—the raids putting the town into serious economic jeopardy according to residents. If ICE was serious about stopping illegal immigration, the agency would focus on reducing the incentives for undocumented migrants, which includes making it tougher for employers to hire them and getting UCSIS to resolve the issue of visa backlogs.

Not In Oaxaca: Political Instability Encourages Migration

2008-06-02T13:36:02Z

Some opponents argue that immigrants should take care of their own problems in their own country instead of leaving their place. Similarly, they point fingers at us who were raised here for the most part to "go back to our countries and fix them." But what does this all presuppose? It seems to me that the expectation is that we are responsible for changing and controlling our environments. Great reasoning!

This is why it's important to look at our immigration history. The first American settlers came from England to escape religious persecution. Subsequent immigrants came here because of political and economic instability. Should they be judged as well because they did not take the responsibility to make things better in their home countries? What's the difference?

I attest that my parents came to this country because my father couldn't find work. The lack of an education proved to be a huge impediment for him, since after he was fired from a factory that produced car parts, he was not able to find a viable job to sustain a family of four. Thus, he had no other choice but to come to the United States to find a better environment where he could work and send money back to us. All he had to do was to remove himself from an environment that prevented him earning a living. But that wasn't easy either.

So what do we say to those who come from places that are far worse? Consider the Mexican state of Oaxaca. Political instability encourages people to leave the state and immigrate to the United States. The North County Times features an article where Centelia Maldonado and a group of migrant workers inform their fellow Oaxacans about the harship of being an immigrant in the United States. They basically tell them that life is not easy in this country although it enables many to send money back home. Activisits are trying to create jobs back home in Oaxaca so that people won't feel forced to migrate. However, the article ends with the following about Oaxaca:

Oaxaca City was the site of sometimes-violent demonstrations in 2006, when protesters seized the city's center for months and accused the governor of electoral fraud. The federal government eventually sent in police to clear the city of protesters, and Ruiz remains in office.

The conflict began as a teachers' strike in May, 2006, but quickly mushroomed into a broad protest against centuries of social and economic injustices.

People in Oaxaca have tried to change their environment because many can't possibly afford to leave their homes. I don't live in Oaxaca to determine how much progress has occurred in the past five years. But if people still emigrate from there significantly, it should tell us that not much change has occurred.

A question to fellow DREAMers and our readers: Taking into account that our immigrant ancestors came to America to escape their unstable environments, to what extent should we be responsible for changing our environments/places of origin?

National Commission on ICE Misconduct - Fidencio Sandoval

2008-09-07T22:31:26Z

http://www.citizenorange.com

This video contains from a U.S. citizen worker in Nebraska that was deprived of his constitutional rights, and witnessed abuse, when Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained him.

On April 7, 2008 a recently formed national commission examining raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents held its second regional hearing in the Massachusetts State House.

The hearing in Boston is part of a series of regional public meetings that the commission is holding to explore the execution, implications and ramifications of workplace immigration enforcement on local communities. The commission will also look into claims that ICE has engaged in violations of the 4th amendment. After a thorough investigation, the commission will produce a public report that highlights its findings and makes recommendations about how the system should be reformed.

http://www.icemisconduct.org

Music: Buzzsonic - Swear To God

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(Re)Claiming Cesar Chavez

2008-04-06T22:53:05Z

I took a class two years ago about the rise of Christianity, where I learned that opposing second century Christian factions claimed the Apostle Paul, who lived near the end of the first century AD, as their own in order to crush one another. The "orthodox" church claimed Paul to demonize Gnostic Christian circles while the Gnostics used Paul to do the same. I am sure that this tactic is nothing new and continues to take form in other debates to our present world where the battle of ideas rage on, such as immigration.

Was Cesar Chavez a champion of immigrant farmworkers? Or, was he also a crusader against illegal immigration?

Indian migrant workers suicides - 21 Dec 07

2008-06-13T15:32:59Z

Indian migrant workers are being duped by agents and forced into debt as they make their way to the Gulf to find work. On their return to India many are finding the burden too much. Al Jazeera's Bernard Smith reports.

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Riz Khan -Sending money back home - 23 Oct 07

2008-06-15T09:33:42Z

We speak with two experts about the process of migrant workers sending money back home.

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Sugarcane workers in the Dominican Republic- 16 October 07

2008-06-15T15:35:48Z

Rob Reynold's our Washington Correspondent looks into the exploitation of the migrant sugar cane workers in the Dominican Republic.

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Migrant workers dreams turn to nightmares in the Gulf-17 Aug

2008-06-17T21:29:29Z

The Gulf's construction boom has been driven by an army of migrant workers, mainly from the Asian subcontinent. But in a three-month investigation Al Jazeera discovered that many workers are charged over the odds for their visas and are forced to work hours and live in tough conditions.

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101 East- Migrant Workers- 26July 07- Part 1

2008-06-05T21:30:02Z

101 East focus on Asian women working abroad as domestic helpers, often returning home worse off than before they left.

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101 East- Migrant Workers- 26July 07- Part 2

2008-06-05T21:30:11Z

101 East focus on Asian women working abroad as domestic helpers, often returning home worse off than before they left.

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