Codex History

La activista mexicana Elvira Arellano coloca un papel con demandas en favor de los migrantes frente a la embajada de Estados Unidos, en Paseo de la Reforma Foto: José Antonio López

El secretario general del PRD capitalino, Carlos Reyes Gámiz, anunció que a partir de 2008 el partido promoverá la instalación de seis casas del migrante en los estados del vecino país del norte donde exista el mayor número de connacionales, para convertirlas en espacios de defensa de sus derechos y de atención a las denuncias de vejaciones que ahí tienen lugar.

The General Secretary of the PRD party in the capital of Mexico announced that in 2008 the party will promote the installation of six migrant houses in the USA where the most concentration of people are situated; this will serve as houses to defend undocumented people's rights.

The activist Elvira Arellano is quoted below:

“Vemos con tristeza que, a pesar de que todos los días nos llegan noticias de vejaciones y ataques en contra de pasianos indocumentados, el gobierno mexicano asume una actitud de docilidad frente al estadunidense”, expresó, al señalar que en el contexto de las elecciones venideras en Estados Unidos el movimiento en defensa de los derechos de los migrantes debe cobrar mayor auge.

"We see with sadness that, even though everyday we receive news of attacks against our indocumented paisanos, the Mexican government assumes a docile attitude when in front of the USA" she expressed, alongside her resolution for a movement in defense of the immigrant's rights near the USA's aforementioned elections.

I hope this is actually a true statement; many times the Mexican government has tried to "help" immigrants by only hurting them more, needless to say it will have to be seen in action.
But putting that aside it is true that immigrants are in need of these houses, if implemented right that will lower the need for defense against altercations and attacks of a human rights nature, however the problem as I have stressed before, is deeper than that, not only needing houses to defend people's rights but also intervention into a system that is inhumane and in need of a comprehensive and just reform for the benefit of two nations.




Via La Jornada, Complete story here

Labels: elvira arellano, human rights, illegal immigration, immigrants, immigration, injustice, Mexico

A sweeping reform bill failed to pass Congress this summer, leaving communities frustrated over how to deal with the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants living in the US.

That has led many to take matters into their own hands, enacting tough new laws to tackle illegal immigration.

Some of the toughest measures have been introduced in Virginia's Prince William County.

"I think it's horrible actually," says one young mother. "I think it's a bill that is not being just to the immigrants and they do a lot of work for us, be it construction jobs to working in McDonalds - things that Americans won't do. So I'm very much against it."

Another resident who emigrated legally from the Czech Republic agrees.

"It's awful, really awful," he says. "Maybe illegal immigration is a problem - but you have to be practical.

"Once the people are here, have lived many years here, have families, you cannot just kick them out."

In Takoma Park, Maryland, the local government has declared the city an "immigration sanctuary".

"People who are not US citizens, whether they are in this country with documentation or not, have full access to all city services," says City Mayor Kathy Porter.

"It also means that our police department does not co-operate with the federal immigration and customs enforcement department in enforcing federal immigration laws."

Ms Porter believes that the federal immigration policy is the responsibility of the federal government alone.

"As a local official, my responsibility is to provide services to my residents," she adds.

"And I believe that having an open policy towards immigrants helps preserve public order because it encourages a relationship of trust between the police department and our immigrant communities."

And she would be right.

Making attempts at patching up places here and there will not solve the issue.
"Advocacy groups say the growing patchwork of state and local legislation is not the solution to America's immigration issue."

Congress should know that the reality is that several of the reasons why immigrants come to this country are due to their own international policies, as the countries' citizens they extract rich resources (produce, oil, food, raw materials) from are left without land and even without a job (NAFTA) they have to survive even if it means risking their lives.

It is simple to say these people are coming here to "take away the country and our jobs", but would you rather clean toilets or let someone else do it?

Would you rather take care of your kids or go off and party all your money away?

One cannot blame everything on a group of people that obviously contributes to the economy, many of these immigrants pay taxes, if they had the opportunity, they would do it legally, the amount of "criminals" who are undocumented is less than the amount of criminals who have been born here and are US citizens, all we need to do is look at the two shootings that happened in both Omaha and Colorado, I didn't see any "illegals" shooting people, in fact, most likely they were working at that time.

Blaming is easy, taking care of the problem and facing it is not, the Mayor has it right, because not only is the immigrant community affected and brings back positive things to it, but the rest of the community ceases to be afraid of these "unknown people" and realizes they are persons too, with wishes and aspirations and a good work ethic, they learn from each other and their sense of community is fortified.

I wish the entire country could see that.

This article with excerpts from BBC, for complete story, go here :
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7139614.stm

Labels: illegal immigration, immigrants, immigration, injustice, Kathy Porter, Maryland, reform

“A nombre del Gobierno de México, nuevamente externo una enérgica protesta por las medidas unilaterales tomadas por el Congreso y el Gobierno de Estados Unidos que exacerba la persecución y el trato vejatorio en contra de los trabajadores mexicanos no documentados.[…] La insensibilidad mostrada hacia ellos que mucho aportan a la economía y a la sociedad estadunidense ha sido un aliciente para redoblar la lucha por el reconocimiento de su enorme aporte a la economía de ambas naciones y por la defensa de sus derechos. Por eso, el Gobierno de México seguirá insistiendo firmemente ante la sociedad y el Gobierno de ambos países en la necesidad de una reforma migratoria integral y en el rechazo categórico a la construcción de un muro en nuestra frontera común”.

The key points on the above speech are by the President of Mexico, Felipe Calderon, on September 2nd 20007 graciously delivered thanks to La Jornada via Gustavo Iruegas.

He talks about the way they treat the Mexican workers, who, day after day, build the USA's roads, cook the millions of fast-food that feeds citizens of this nation, clean, fix, work, work, work.

He calls for an end of the construction of a wall that, let's face it, is highly inefficient on resources and plainly makes no sense; and for an integral immigration reform.

The reality is that the immigrants undocumented or not (not "illegal", no human is illegal, lots of things other people do are "illegal", yet they don't seem to get hit by this label) are an integral part of the economy, and to say they should go by the system (a system which is indeed broken and very VERY inefficient) is ignorant and invalid.

I don't know about you, but I wouldn't want to be these guys:



And neither do a lot of Americans it seems, ask yourself if you rather they paid these people (yes, people, not "illegals", if you believe everything the tv says you are indeed a sad sad person, get a mind of your own LEARN and REALLY inform yourself about the issues and then debate and say what you think, but don't try to do this without having spent time knowing what the actual situation is, don't believe everything people tell you, not this blog, go out and research, even better, TALK to people, make friends, experience things, because otherwise, you are simply judging, and judging is easy, judging is for the weak of heart and mind, judging is the easy way out) fair wages for the work that you are already driving over?
Or would you rather they went back to a country and let the USA economy plummet even more?

The problem is already here, it needs to be fixed, building a wall, making all of those people go back, it is not an option anymore, the actual problem won't be fixed by putting on a band-aid on the issues.

Both the USA and Mexico (and other countries too) can have a very beneficial relationship through immigration and fair treatment of those who are already here, specially those skilled, willing to learn, and willing to abide by comprehensive and efficient rules, not ridiculous mountain-tops of requirements.

I am Codex and I write what's on my mind, keep in mind this is only my opinion in a sea of millions.

Labels: human rights, illegal immigration, immigrants, immigration, injustice, reform