NC Legislators’ Immigration Race to the Bottom

October 14, 2011

The White House’s and Congress’ continued inaction on responsible immigration reform has led to disaster and crisis, for state governments, local officials, and families alike. But the most serious side effect of this egregious abdication of responsibility is the “open season” many politicians seem to have declared against hard-working immigrant families. In North Carolina, for example, a sheriff’s racist remarks in 2008, used to describe the Latino community during a news interview, resulted not in condemnation but instead praise and adoration. The elected official’s popularity spiked and a Facebook group seeking his re-election was created. Is this really the America we thought we knew?

The immigration crisis has been compounded in the absence of federal oversight as states have taken it upon themselves to institute new immigration laws, policies, and regulations. Last year Arizona passed SB1070 into law; it has since inspired over a dozen states to introduce (and some even passed) similar legislation. The North Carolina General Assembly hasn’t yet advanced its own versions of Arizona’s SB1070, but there are reasons for concern as state lawmakers here embark on a race to the bottom to out-do similar legislative initiatives like those in Arizona, Alabama, and Georgia.

Leaders in North Carolina General Assembly have formed the new Select Committee on the State’s Role in Immigration Policy. Its co-chairmen, Rep. Frank Iler of Brunswick County and Rep. Harry Warren of Rowan County have made no qualms about their intentions. Iler recently told his local newspaper, “My personal opinion is that we need to make North Carolina as unwelcome for any illegal alien from wherever they come from.”

News about this committee’s genesis began to circulate within immigrant advocate circles just a few days after a federal judge’s decision to uphold provisions of the most draconian state-level immigration laws, passed in Alabama earlier this year. Are these North Carolina legislators seeking to out-south Alabama, a state now in chaos as immigrant families are being persecuted by their state government and being denied even the most basic of human needs? Yes, in Alabama undocumented immigrants are being denied service by local water utilities, who claim they’re merely seeking compliance with their state’s new immigration law. Alabama elected officials have been transparent and even celebratory in the effects of their new immigration attrition law which has resulted in the undocumented community in that state self-deporting.

Iler’s recent interview raised several red flags, including that he and the co-chairman, Rep. Warren, held a private meeting to “discuss the mission” of the newly formed committee. Where is the transparency that the new Republican majority promised at the start of the 2011 legislative session? Also concerning is that these two legislators have been some of the staunchest supporters of anti-immigrant bills proposed in this year’s legislative session. One of the bills that they co-sponsored is HB11, a bill that would have denied access to higher education for undocumented students. Warren also co-sponsored HB 744, a bill that in its original version would have done part of what the new Alabama immigration law does– require those tasked with educating the next generation to become de facto immigration agents and inquire into the legal status of public school children. The support these legislators and other committee members have given to some of the most violently anti-immigrant bills proposed in North Carolina is an indication of types of legislation they will likely pursue.

Rather than focusing on creating more challenges, these legislators should be working on creating solutions to joblessness in their counties and our state. Seeking immigration attrition legislation in hopes that it would subsequently create jobs for U.S. residents and citizens is baseless. In fact, we already know that Arizona’s unemployment rate increased every month since SB1070 was signed into law, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Passing immigration attrition legislation at the state level does not create jobs and does nothing to solve the federal issue of immigration. Instead, such legislation only harms families and children.

I’m confident sensible North Carolinians – the majority, I’m sure – understand that ill-treatment of immigrants by way of hurtful language by politicians and punitive policies and legislation is dreadfully wrong and immoral. Silence in the face of such aggression and injustice implies consent. Though we don’t yet know what this new committee will prioritize, we do know the direction they’ll pursue – one that ultimately hurts families, business, education, and every infrastructure of our state. I encourage my fellow, well-meaning Tar Heels to speak out now before it is too late. We in North Carolina take pride in our progressive, fair-minded history. Our forward-thinking reputation has lent itself to growth here in business and education, as people from all over the world continue to travel to North Carolina for work and to learn at our world-class universities. Pursuing any type of restrictionist legislation that will target those with brown skin and foreign accents will do unimaginable damage to our great state, its business, its reputation and its dear people.

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I Expect More (Action) Mr. President

May 10, 2011

I feel that those of us that care about the immigration issue have been jilted by President Barack Obama’s Administration. First came those flowery promises of how things would be if we supported him and stood by him–especially at the polls. Then after a brief courtship, we all believed and even hoped relief was soon in sight. Some of us even went out in the rain to tell others of how things would be different if we just chose him, after all he was the one. He said that things would be different and even said in our language “Si Se Puede.” He said it wasn’t just about him though, that this election was about US and the combined power that we have to change things. Soon after his election, however, after he and his army had gone around building up hope where none had previously existed, we waited for his promises to take form. But nothing much happened on his end. Contrary to what he implied in his speech on immigration today, there has already been a movement to push the DREAM Act and comprehensive immigration reform forward. I dare say the President wouldn’t be giving his speech today if this movement didn’t exist and wasn’t pressuring him to do something to bring his promises of immigration reform to fruition.

THERE’S ALREADY A NATIONAL MOVEMENT

Within months of President Obama assuming his new position a national movement began to take form–Reform Immigration FOR America, RI4A. There were people across the entire country, across various national and statewide organizations working on building up a movement to push for the passage of Comprehensive Immigration Reform. By the end of 2009 more organizers were hired to help create an actual movement. For better or worse, we had for the first time in my life, a massive, national movement of people working and committed to passing Comprehensive Immigration Reform in these United States. We all agreed to certain principles of what reform looked like for us. Our movement isn’t homogenous and of course some dissented in the principles and the order in which they were presented, but ultimately we all agreed that immigration reform was long overdue.  Even if some immigrant allies/organizations weren’t officially on board with RI4A, we were still working together trying to move towards the same goal–to pass Comprehensive Immigration Reform. Thousands of people were trained on movement building across the nation. With the guidance of DC insiders, again for better or worse ;-) we were told that Comprehensive Immigration Reform was the way to go and I don’t recall any dissent on this notion.  I bought into this notion too and didn’t have a crystal ball to see that this wouldn’t necessarily be the only target/goal.

At this point it’s early 2010: President Obama still hadn’t done much for immigration besides say 38 words in his State of the Union address (serious disappointment) and the RI4A national campaign was officially re-launched with much excitement across the nation! We honestly believed that by that Spring we were going to pass Comprehensive Immigration Reform. I believed this 100% and was instilling hope in others that this would come to pass if we did our part to move it along. We worked our asses off–both paid staff and our volunteers, the soul of our movement!

The other hot button issue at that time was Health Care Reform and this is when we realized, hmm immigration reform isn’t the only priority. As that issue was getting scalding hot, we kept organizing business allies, faith allies, other immigrant communities. We went to college campuses organizing students, we collected petitions, we went on the airwaves, we did absolutely everything–well almost–necessary. There were even some DREAM students who began a 1,500 mile journey from Miami to DC to raise awareness on the DREAM Act and on the urgency of passing immigration reform. By March 2010 we had also organized a March For America, bringing together 250,000 people from across the nation. From North Carolina alone we organized over 50 buses! As life would have it, in the days leading up to this enormous march–the biggest on immigration that DC had ever seen–we realized that Health Care Reform would be voted on the same day as our march. OUCH! But there was no stopping our already moving train.

STATES TO THE RESCUE–I MEAN DETRIMENT

The Spring of 2010 was rough. Not only were my personal hopes dashed when I saw the Schumer-Graham Immigration Blueprint–these were are “leaders” on this issue for goodness sake! I definitely expected more than their heavy on enforcement and criminalizing blueprint. Still, I thought, we can at least begin discussions on immigration and craft a better blueprint which will hopefully soon become legislation. We were working to make this happen. None of that happened however. What did happen was that Arizona began to take on the issue of Immigration at the state level and this coincided with diminishing hope that CIR would move along at the federal level.

In the late Spring of 2010, Arizona passed SB 1070, the “Show me your Papers” law despite incredible pushback, boycotts and community organizing. Since then, several states have produced copycat legislation and a few, like Utah and Georgia, have even passed similar xenophobic legislation and are experiencing pushback. At the point that Arizona was moving towards passing SB 1070 the Obama Administration held conversations with the Governor Brewer and the Department of Justice focused attention on limiting the reach of SB 1070, but that was it. Again, a missed opportunity to address Comprehensive Immigration Reform.

The DREAM Movement

While all of this was happening we started seeing DREAMer students and allies organizing and taking part in civil disobedience. Another parallel movement was born last year too–the movement to pass the DREAM Act. In the spring, some students were coming out of the shadows and were revealing for the first time, and in a very public way, that they are undocumented. The DREAM Act was elevated by the students directly affected by this issue and their allies, perhaps after seeing that CIR no longer had much traction and refusing to see their lives and worth diminished by the lack of courage that our Congress demonstrated. The summer of 2010 brought the DREAM Act into the consciousness of the American public.  There were marches, rallies, petitions, hunger strikes and movement building in young communities in every pocket of our nation.

In the fall we saw the DREAM Act finally on Congress’ radar when they added it as an amendment to the defense authorization bill. That bill eventually did not move. DREAMers persevered and were successful in getting it on Congress’ radar once more and actually passed in the House later in the year! By this point DREAMers were everywhere, getting face time with Congressional leaders and were bringing their stories to DC. Across the country, support for the DREAM Act was generated and 5 days later the Senate took this issue up. Unfortunately, good bills go to die in the Senate and with the help of 5 Democrats, Republican Senators filibustered and blocked further movement on the DREAM Act.

IT’S YOUR TURN TO DO SOMETHING MR. PRESIDENT & CONGRESS

Today, we heard the President speak on the need for Immigration Reform from El Paso, Texas. The speech seems to have been aimed at moderates who’ve potentially not made up their minds on the issue of immigration. The speech fell on disappointed ears for those of us who were already aware of the need for immigration reform. The heavy militarization of the border was glorified and the record-breaking deportations were highlighted as a success for this administration. It was curious that the President boasted of all the things that his administration has done to crack down on unlawful immigration to gain support from Republicans while a few breaths later he acknowledged that “they’ll never be satisfied.” So if you, Mr. President, and your administration already know that, why play along and sacrifice the lives of DREAMers who could very well be the next José Hernández–the migrant farmworker turned astronaut for NASA?

Personally, I’m tired of hearing talk about the need for immigration reform. I expect actions and I don’t mean more local immigration enforcement through broken programs like 287g or Secure Communities which hurt communities and separate thousands of families for minor violations–not even crimes–such as fishing without a license. Dr. King once wrote that often bitterness is turned towards those who build up hope, he was on the receiving end of this a few times himself. While I know that some in our movement are bitter towards this administration (and who could blame them), I’m still hopeful yet realistic. I’m hopeful because regardless of how our movement came to exist, it DOES exist! People are working around the clock to inform their friends, neighbors and anyone who’ll listen on the ugliness that exists as a result of Congresses failure to pass the DREAM Act and/or Comprehensive Immigration Reform. I’m hopeful because there is a movement to cease to use the term “illegal” which creates an unfair bias in our dialogue and dehumanizes our fellow brothers and sisters. I’m hopeful because for every time that we stumble, we pick ourselves back up and continue to fight with more heart than ever. Dr. King also wrote the following: “Let us be those creative dissenters who will call our beloved nation to a higher destiny, to a new plateau of compassion, to a more noble expression of humanness.” I know that we will pass the DREAM Act and eventually Comprehensive Immigration Reform. We have the tools that we need and we keep sharpening our minds and opening hearts. Our movement is built and keeps moving swiftly thanks to the many creative dissenters who comprise it. Now it’s time for President Obama to keep this issue on his radar (and we’ll see to this) and to give this issue as much priority as he once promised he would in his courtship of our communities.

PS: The DREAM Act will be reintroduced on May 11th at 10:15am

Watch Sen. Durbin’s video and check out the press conference at this link.

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No Hate in Our State–No to HB 343!

March 15, 2011

It has been nearly a year that I heard about Arizona’s SB 1070 legislation and saw firsthand the impact that that yet-to-be-adopted bill would have not only there, but also the entire nation. I remember questioning whether such a bill would have any chance of passing in my home state. Since being signed into law, immigrants, immigration advocates and allies across the country have known that SB 1070 would open up the flood gates to overzealous legislators wanting to be seen as tough on immigration as their Arizonan peers and introduce similar far reaching, attrition-rooted bills in their own states. With the failure to bring home federal legislative victories like the DREAM Act, thanks in part to pusillanimous Senators, and the shift in power in states like my own, a fertile ground has been laid for SB1070 copycat legislation to be introduced and for it to advance farther than in years past. But we won’t make it easy for such hateful, draconian legislation to pass in North Carolina. This is the fight we’ve been anticipating and as my friend Gaby has said, this is “the fight for our lives. And when you’re fighting for your life, you don’t stop until you win.”

On Monday, March 14 House Bill 343: Support Law Enforcement/Safe Neighborhoods was filed in the North Carolina legislature. We see the mastery of messaging at work with the deceitful title in this bill since it aims to relegate anyone who would dare oppose it by making an argument that the individual does not support law enforcement or safe communities. This is by far, the most comprehensive, anti-immigrant bill introduced in the NC General Assembly to date. The biggest problem that I see with this bill–and believe me, there is a lot wrong with HB 343–is that there are too many opportunities for someone in power to abuse their power and for the undocumented community to suffer terrible abuse at the hands of rogue and ill informed individuals. There is also no mention in the bill as to training that agencies, staff and officers would receive in the vein of Immigration 101 or even to determine who is documented and who is not without delving into racial profiling.

This bill would most accurately make life for already strapped law enforcement agencies and officers harder by burdening them with immigration work which would surely distract attention away from keeping all of our communities safe from real threats. We already know that crime rates are lower for immigrants than native-born individuals so going to extreme measures in passing this legislation would misguide valuable and dwindling law enforcement resources. Not only that, but officers would also be burdened with having to determine the immigration status of persons that they stop. Under this bill, “a person is presumed not to be an alien who is unlawfully present in the United States if the person provides to the law enforcement officer or agency a valid NC drivers license, a NC special ID card, a valid tribal enrollment card or other form of tribal ID.” Law enforcement officers would likely only question brown people and people with accents if they were trying to cut corners, which is racial profiling since they would probably assume that only those individuals could possibly be undocumented. A greater threat to safe communities is that undocumented individuals would fall prey to predators and crimes would go unreported for fear of being deported.

HB 343 is a throwback to the most anti-immigrant, xenophobic legislation proposed in Congress in 2005, the Sensenbrenner bill. They both would require employers to use E-Verify, they both advocate for immigration enforcement to be done at the local/state level, and they both would make it a felony to have certain interactions with undocumented individuals. Under the NC bill for example, a person would be guilty of a Class G felony if they transport, move, conceal, harbor, or shield 10 or more undocumented persons (if an individual interacts with just 1 undocumented person then they would be guilty of Class 1 misdemeanor). If this were law today, I could be a charged with a Class G Felony for transporting undocumented students on a field trip or to church! There is an exception for this section and it applies to “child protective services workers or child welfare services workers, or to emergency medical services personnel, or personnel providing ambulance or rescue squad services, while acting in their official capacity.” In short, you can’t give your undocumented grandmother a ride to the doctor, but at least they’ll allow an ambulance to come pick her up if she’s dying.

A portion of this bill is déjà vu since HB 11 , the Denial of Education bill, was also incorporated within this bill. The sponsors aim to bar access to undocumented students to any institution of high education. There is no mention in this section of the bill as to who would check the legal status of applicants and how those positions would be funded. Denying access to higher education is the same as subjugating a group of people to a lifetime of poverty by limiting their potential. We, the Education State, must stand up for the right of all students to pursue the fulfillment of their highest potential. We can’t afford to deny anyone an education and last I checked, North Carolina didn’t have too many educated people.

Our communities can’t afford for us to derail the work of law enforcement and burden them with the work of federal immigration enforcement. Not only that, but it’s wrong to obligate law enforcement to arrest innocent people who, for various reasons, may be here undocumented and have that person take up a bed in jail. It is wrong to turn a blind eye to frivolous and abusive employers and create a climate where they may thrive by making it difficult for good employers to hire undocumented workers. And it is simply un-American to deny anyone, especially innocent youth, the opportunity to fulfill their God given potential through higher education. It is clear that either the sponsors of this legislation are ignorant to the reality of split-status families or simply don’t care about these families (which encompass U.S. Citizens and undocumented individuals alike), especially with sections of this bill which speak to the transporting and harboring of undocumented individuals.

Times are changing and I remind us all that those US Citizen children and teens who are hearing about these proposed laws that would hurt their parents and separate their families will remember the legislators who stood up for their families and those who didn’t. They will soon come of age and will vote with their families in mind. I know that because I am one of those North Carolinians who grew up in an immigrant household and eagerly cast my vote with my family in mind. It is normal for people to be wary of change and it’s even normal to want to resist change. North Carolina is changing and with the recent census figures, we know that our state will become more brown, as it already has with its Latino population growing 111%. This bill speaks volumes to the status quo desperation of those of a certain generation who have found a scapegoat in the new immigrant population. This bill is clearly an attempt to try to make life for undocumented immigrants so awful in North Carolina that they pick up and leave our state. But it is time for North Carolinians to say no more hate in our state! Our soil is still damp from the long, fought battles for the opportunity for black and white to stand and fellowship together and we simply can’t and shouldn’t wage another attack on fellow human beings. We all know what the right thing to do is and it is to oppose HB 343. This bill is a waste of valuable and limited resources, it goes against our American values and history as a nation of immigrants and appeals to the worst in us. No Hate in Our State!

I challenge you to tell at least one person in your life about this bill (after you’ve read up on it or shared this blog post) and keep tuned in for more info which will surely follow in the next few days. If you’d like to join in on lobbying efforts against this bill send me an email so that I may connect you to groups undertaking those efforts. irene@irenegodinez.com.

THANK YOU!

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Our DREAMs remain undeterred; Shame on you Sen. Kay Hagan

December 18, 2010

Today we saw the profiles in courage in the 55 senators who voted in favor of cloture on the DREAM Act especially the 3 Republican senators who had the political courage to cross the aisle for this common-sense bill. However, it is disheartening to see the DREAM Act come to an end and especially that neither senator from the education state, North Carolina, voted in support of the DREAM Act. With facts on our side and widespread support for the DREAM Act from every corner in North Carolina and every sector, these Senators chose the status quo which doesn’t get us any closer to solutions on immigration. Both senators used the cop out that they are awaiting Comprehensive Immigration Reform, which is highly unlikely to be presented in the new Congress. They caved to the lies, misinformation and fear-mongering from xenophobes.

Being elected as a Senator is surely a difficult job as Sen. Durbin reminded us throughout the debate on DREAM–only 2,167 different people have served in the US Senate. It takes the audacity to imagine a better state and nation to decide to run for such a position. I imagine a senator, once elected, realizes that they’ll have tough votes. Perhaps it’ll cross their mind that they’ll, at some point, have to vote for what is right even if it is unpopular. Many senators have done exactly this which is why we can have Sen. Hagan’s presence in the senate when a century ago this would not have been possible were it not for the courage of some senators. With all that said, it baffles me that our democratic senator from North Carolina, Kay Hagan, chose to vote against cloture for the DREAM Act, which would have put the bill closer to passing and becoming law. How can she say that education is a priority for her and then turn around and deny a segment of our youth access to education? Are our dreamer students any less deserving of an education based merely by where they were born?

Being a junior senator is not an excuse for this ill-informed vote. It is no small segment of our population that is impacted–it’s 51,000 North Carolinian students who needed this bill to pass! These students did not choose to come to this country, but once here they’ve become as much a North Carolinian, accents and all, as anyone that I know who was born here. On the eve of the DREAM Act cloture vote, Sianneth Sanchez, a student from UNC-Charlotte who graduated today with a nursing degree said “I’m kind of invisible and I cannot serve my community the way I want to. All we want is to live the American Dream of working hard and contributing to our communities; the DREAM Act would give us that chance.” Not passing the DREAM Act is a waste of much needed talent. What options do these talented youths have when the person who’s supposed to represent them in the Senate grinds her heel in their faces rather than giving them the chance to continue to give back to the only state and nation they know? None of the dreamers that I know are asking for a hand out. They merely want an opportunity to go on to higher education–the only known sure way of breaking the cycle of poverty–and to give back to the places they love.

The Latino community has set roots in this state and with every election more of us are coming of age. The young people who will vote in 2014 will not forget today’s vote and how it hurt their older siblings or cousins or friends. We will continue to register ourselves to vote and involve ourselves in the democratic process. We will organize ourselves as we’ve done in the last year and be a well-oiled machine by 2014, capable of not only registering ourselves at record numbers but also turning out the vote. I am certain we could also find someone with the political courage and moral imperative to represent all those living in North Carolina.

Today’s vote and even the political landscape as it stands in North Carolina is a crisitunity (crisis + opportunity). What an amazing time to be alive, to be part of a movement for justice and to fight for what is just, what is fair and what is right. We will not be deterred by today’s vote, rather we will use those emotions to fight harder, longer and win! “The arc of the universe is long but it bends towards justice.” I believe wholeheartedly in the values by which our nation was founded, “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of happiness” as well as what our founding fathers wrote in the Declaration of Independence that “all men are created equal,” and we who believe in freedom will not rest until it comes for all.

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Have I Told You…

November 24, 2010

A few days ago I came across the new book by President Obama, Of Thee I Sing. This treasure of a book is written in a kind of call and response way. The prompt is “Have I ever told you that you are ___adjective___” and then the facing page highlights the story of someone in US history whose life and contributions to our shared history depicts the adjective described in the preceding page.

In these days as we near a vote on the DREAM Act I am inspired to share with others the incredible plight and pride that I’ve witnessed and experienced in the movement for immigrant rights.While I know that I won’t be able to capture everything and everyone I’ve experienced, I’d like to share what I consider the highlights of this year. I invite you to add and write about your experiences as well if you have already been connected to this movement.

Have I told you that you are incredible?

A year ago most of us who have been active in the immigrant rights movement (Comprehensive Immigration Reform/DREAM) in North Carolina and across the nation did not know one another. Then a movement building training happened on December 5th and 6th in Raleigh. These trainings expanded across the nation in the months after, training thousands of community members including immigrants and non-immigrants, allies, youth, faith leaders, and many others. This was the first time that we began to see the foundation of an actual grassroots movement led and fueled by those affected by the broken immigration system and their allies. Though not everything was perfect, the biggest gain of this initial movement was seeing how relationships began to forge and we too began to see the power that we have as a collective. Days after our NC training, we took action by filling an entire room at the hearing of the NC Community College System on whether to allow undocumented immigrants in their institutions. Many leaders have risen from these trainings and are the spark that has reignited the fire for DREAM to be where it is today.

Have I told you that you are resilient, even in the face of the worst storms?

On the week of April 23rd the community in Arizona gathered in a peaceful prayer vigil in protest of the SB 1070, which perpetuates racial profiling. A small group grew to a few dozen and within a few days had escalated to thousands in Arizona and across the nation standing in solidarity with the community in Arizona who were facing the most xenophobic law in recent memory (even the Department of Justice has intervened). Everyone across the nation was eager to support the immigrant and minority community of Arizona by holding prayer vigils of their own and by raising awareness of SB 1070 and its effects not only in Arizona but also in other states who soon began to push copycat bills in their own legislative bodies. The community in Arizona held hands, prayed, organized walk outs, made their voices heard and fought with dignity against this incredible tide of hatred.

Have I told you that you are bold and courageous?

In January we began to hear of the Trail of DREAMS, a group of four students who began a journey by walking 1,500 miles from Miami to D.C. to raise awareness on the urgent need of immigration reform and the DREAM Act. By revealing their legal status, they too began to put a human face to the issue of immigration not only in the southeastern states they traversed but also at a national level. By early Spring, hundreds of other undocumented students across the nation participated in “Undocumented and Unafraid” Coming Out events in their communities. For the first time in this movement for immigrant rights, students were stepping out of the shadows and stating openly that they are undocumented. They were freeing themselves from the burden of what for many was a long held secret, known only to their families. This year we saw the birth of a true, national immigrant and ally movement led in great part by students and would-be students. This continues to live in the tradition of other movements including the Civil Rights movement.

Have I told you that you are visionary?

In the spirit of students and youth from previous movements leading and shining a light on their struggles and that of their community, North Carolina has seen a rise in action by immigrant and non-immigrant youth alike. In the early summer, several youth began a hunger fast to raise awareness on the DREAM Act and to call on their community to take action by asking Senator Kay Hagan to support the DREAM Act. Youth action intensified with a hunger strike conducted by three undocumented young women which lasted two weeks. The hunger strike was held in plain sight of legislators at the NC General Assembly, near the Governor’s mansion and down the street from Senator Hagan’s office. The birth of NC DREAM Team was perhaps one of the biggest successes this year, in my opinion. This group has carved out a place for undocumented youth to belong and lead alongside allies, while raising awareness on the urgency of the DREAM Act as a down payment on immigration reform. Undocumented youth across the nation have also been participating in civil disobedience in various Senators’ offices and even in front of the White House on May 1st. They can be seen at town hall meetings that their Senators’ conduct, keeping the issue of the DREAM Act in constant sight of these power brokers. We will not relent, not even when others say that DREAM will not happen, nor Comprehensive Immigration Reform because we are willing to fight with all of our might in order to keep our families together and to provide opportunities through the acquisition of education for all youth.

Have I told you that you inspire a hopeful future?

I continue to be amazed by all of the accomplishments that our movement has achieved in less than a year! On top of organizing consistently and often unlike any other time (with regards to immigration reform) we have also kept our promise of voting and participating in civic engagement. In North Carolina alone, we were able to register several thousand eligible voters, most of them youth; we also reached out to over 15,000 registered voters to remind them to vote leading up to the elections. In my opinion, it was our participation that helped push back on the Congressional shifts that happened most everywhere else in the nation.

We’ve brought together 250,000 people in D.C. all clamoring for immigration reform, we’ve mobilized millions by sharing our stories, we’ve acquired and refined organizing skills, we’ve created a solid immigrant rights movement, we’ve established relationships with people who are now like family to us, we’ve marched, we’ve voted, we’ve engaged our friends and family, we’ve prayed for an entire summer, we’ve held die-ins, we’ve held elected officials accountable, we’ve called Congress, we’ve written letters, we’ve fought tirelessly for our detained brothers and sisters, we’ve held our heads high when others tried so hard to knock us down.

I’ve met the most incredible people this year who have not only survived, even this immigration enforcement climate and despite all of the half-truths and myths floating around about our community. The people I’ve met have thrived and excelled with what has been given to them. They have been brave, dignified and have conducted their work with the utmost integrity. I have no doubt that regardless of what happens in the coming days, our movement will not die rather it will strengthen. We will have ups and downs but so long as we keep present that we are fighting for the same outcome and for the same community we will continue to succeed as we have thus far. It has been an honor being in this movement with so many of you, my brothers and sisters. We shall overcome.

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DREAMers are Resilient

November 22, 2010

As I lay in bed on a chilly New England night I could make out most of the conversation between Renata, a fierce student activist in Boston who lay next to me, and one of her organization’s members Mari. The conversation keeping these two young women awake at midnight was focused on the DREAM Act, a piece of federal legislation that would provide certain undocumented students with the opportunity to earn permanent legal status if they came to the United States as children, have good moral character, finish high school or obtain a G.E.D., and complete two years of college or military service. The DREAM Act will likely be up for a vote next week in Congress. Even President Obama has come out in support of the DREAM Act and has reached out to his network of supporters asking them to make calls in support of the DREAM Act.

On the other end of the phone was the voice of a student activist who, by what I could make out, volunteers to organize undocumented students like her. That student was asking for more responsibility which could move the DREAM Act closer to becoming a reality. That student asked what would happen with the millions of undocumented students’ dreams if the DREAM Act doesn’t pass. I couldn’t help but think of all of the DREAMers that I know. If one word could describe all of them it would be Resilient. These students are the best asset to this nation.

They are students who have overcome incredible odds of poverty, rejection, and isolation to name a few and have gone on to graduate at the top of their class. These are students who have been involved in their schools and communities, often taking leadership roles. These are students who yearn to serve the only nation they know despite being rejected in recruitment offices. These are students who have organized across the entire nation to make this moment happen—a moment when the DREAM Act could finally come to a vote.

Regardless of what may happen next week I have no doubt that these students will continue to push through the challenges that may confront them and will continue to tear through the barriers before them. These are students who, after all, have found a way to thrive and build a movement across an entire nation despite growing attempts to silence and stifle them. Renata for example, has lived independently since her family was deported back to Brazil a few years ago. She’s been able to not only go on to college, but she’s also organized at the national and state levels on this issue which is so personal to her, inspiring and motivating others who like her have been forced to grow up faster than most other American youth. These are students who are undocumented, unafraid and above all RESILIENT.

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“…The Silence of Our Friends” ~Dr. MLK, Jr.

November 2, 2010

“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” ~Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Let’s look at the silver lining: North Carolina remained one of the most progressive states in the South. We lost a seat thus far in the second district–my district–where Representative Etheridge lost to Renee Elmers, a nurse who just a few months ago was “just a volunteer” who challenged the Congressman at a town hall meeting on health care issues. North Carolina could have seen a worse outcome and we didn’t.

That doesn’t mean you’re off the hook though! Now on to the bitter reality, which we expected would happen, though we hoped and worked hard so that it wouldn’t materialize. It looks as though North Carolina’s General Assembly (NCGA) will soon shift over to the Republicans. This has not happened in over a Century, and it happened on our watch! I can go off on many tangents right now, shaming and cursing those who have the privilege of voting and didn’t, but that won’t change the current reality. What’s real is that for the first time in many years, we will now have people in office (and running the NCGA) who are openly anti-gay, anti-immigrant and anti-progress. We also have people walking around now who think that their only way to win an election is by being the most anti-immigrant (á la Jan Brewer), anti-choice (á la Bill Brady who’s running a tight race in Illinois) candidate out there.

This is not okay with me and if you believe in a North Carolina that equals progress and opportunity for ALL then you MUST get off your butt and DO SOMETHING! Voting alone has never been enough, and that’s not going to change. Voting + Action? That’s a good start. Voting + Consistent Action? Now we’re talking!

I understand that we aren’t satisfied with politics as usual and much less with politicians not delivering on promises like immigration reform, Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repeal and the DREAM Act to name a few; but choosing to not participate in voting to prove your point benefits no one. Actually, it benefits the opposition, but not your friends. I choose to believe that we’re better than this and to believe that once good people see what happens when they choose to remain silent on things that matter, that they’ll choose to take consistent action to fight for a North Carolina that can deliver opportunities to ALL. Our state motto after all is “Esse Quam Videri,” to be rather than to seem. I need for all of my friends to BE about the change and work towards it rather than just talk about it. Let’s do this NC!

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Why Voting matters to me

October 21, 2010

As I’ve been in the middle of the craziest and most fulfilling work I’ve ever done, I find myself struggling to get others to see the urgency in participating in this year’s elections. I have found it challenging to get others motivated enough to hit the phones with me and knock on some doors to get their community members out to vote. Then again, I probably haven’t gotten to the more personal reasons why this election matters so much to me.

The first election that I voted in was the 2000 presidential elections–Bush vs. Gore. We all remember how that went down, right? Not very gracefully to say the least. Then I think I skipped out a few elections, after all, my excuse was that I was in college and pretty disconnected from politics. I voted again in 2004, 2006 and of course 2008. Back then it seemed like everyone was going out and voting because we wanted and believed in the possibility of changing the status quo and business as usual. That year I was doing nonpartisan voter registration and reminding people of the importance of voting.

Then 2009 happened. Local county school board elections happened. I thought about voting, cut out my cheat sheet and everything. But I procrastinated, I let other things take precedence and I sat that election out. A few months down the road I, alongside an entire community, saw how re-segregation efforts were underway in our county because people like me allowed that to happen by sitting out the elections a few months prior.

Today I was listening to the radio and callers were phoning in saying that they don’t understand why people are complaining about “neighborhood schools” (which would result in re-segregation of our county schools) since “the people showed up to vote and voted for this change to happen” in 2009. I remember that at the July school board meeting one of the women giving her public comment said “if you didn’t want this to happen you should have voted last year.” That stung and added insult to injury. But she was right about one thing. Those of us that have the privilege to vote, should have voted.

This year as my community is fighting against re-segregation efforts, and are being led in part by a student movement, I am forever reminded that I will not sit out another election. Yes, I royally messed up by not voting last year, but I can’t take it back. I have learned a very valuable lesson and it’s that I can either be part of the solution or part of the problem. I, along with every voter out there, have that choice. It has been a painful year seeing things go from bad to worse at times, but no movement has ever won a victory overnight. Certainly, no movement has ever been taken seriously until they’ve exercised their right to vote.

I’m reminded of all those who have come before me. I have seen countless photos and videos from the Civil Rights and Women’s Suffrage Movement, who not long ago, were dying for their right to vote. It took an incredible amount of time for someone like me to even have this privilege to vote as a person of color. Today we simply have to go down to a poll to vote. No need to risk death or violence in the process.

We are so fortunate that we live in a time when at our fingertips we can see a sample ballot, print it out and then research our favorite candidates. We can even take that sample ballot in to the booth with us. To make it even more convenient, North Carolina even has One Stop/Early voting where people who may have forgotten to vote before the voter registration deadline can go and register to vote AND vote all at once between October 14th and 30th. And for those of us that are busy or just want to get voting done with, we can simply go and vote early–including weekends!

With all the conveniences to vote we really have no excuse. Even those who aren’t yet eligible to vote can’t get off the hook easily because they can still motivate their friends and family to go out and vote. Everyone is encouraged to volunteer too, in fact getting volutneers is half the battle. Getting our community out to vote will only succeed if it is a community effort.

There is too much at stake this year and we can’t afford to sit out this election. We will feel the repercussions of this election for years to come. Sheriffs, State Senators, Federal Senators, Congressmen, Judges and others will all be up for election. Please don’t sit this one out and learn the hard way like I did, that local elections have the quickest, most impactful effect on our lives. We can’t afford to wait another 6 years or 4 or even 2 years to make our voices heard and make our vote count!

Want school re-segregation efforts to end? Tired of family separation as a result of 287g and unjust deportations? Want that pothole in your street fixed? Want to show politicians we’re serious when we demand the DREAM Act and education reform?

All of those things begin with YOU! What will YOU do to ensure we’re creating the kind of changes we want in our community? What are you willing to sacrifice to make sure we can get our community out to vote?

irene@irenegodinez.com

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Saul’s Journey–The Walk of the Immigrants

October 13, 2010

As mentioned in my previous post Saul, an NCSU student, walked, hitchhiked and canoed over 5000 miles in an effort to shine the light on the plight of immigrants this summer and also to raise funds through photos taken on this journey that will all go towards the school that they visited earlier this year. Please visit his website for more information at http://refiningthelines.com/

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The Audacity to Walk…5,328 Miles!

October 4, 2010

I confess that as I’m working on registering eligible voters, I have frequently  found myself wondering “Why are young people so apathetic? Why don’t they care that their communities are regressing? What will it take for them to do give back to their communities?” I know–this is too quick of a judgment–especially when I’ve had the privilege of meeting some extraordinary youth recently, including some in my county that are pushing back against resegregation efforts. Nonetheless I have my moments of worry and concern that we as young people are not doing enough. I’m a worrier.

Last week in a moment when my spirits were low I went to see Abraham, a friend at NCSU who works at the Multicultural Student Affairs office. He told me that there was hope in things shaping up because of people like Saul Flores. He proceeded to describe to me the journey that this NCSU student undertook to hitchhike/walk from Quito, Ecuador to North Carolina! He shared with me Saul’s website where I read that this unique journey was made for 3 reasons:

  • Enlighten the American audience on the perilous journey that many immigrants make to arrive into the United States.
  • Second, create a photo journal that shows the distinctions, cultural aspects, and social issues of Central American countries.
  • Third, obtain sponsorship to direct funds and resources towards ¨General Emiliano Zapata¨, an impoverished school in Atencingo, Mexico. Photographs are currently being exhibited and sold.

Abraham told me that he tried to google directions from Ecuador to North Carolina and even google couldn’t produce directions! I knew that what I was hearing was something extremely remarkable and special. This odyssey by Saul is something that I immediately felt the urgency to share and this feeling has only intensified after hearing him speak about his travels.

Saul relayed stories, often his voice quivering from emotion, of people that he met along his travels USA-bound. I felt my cheeks getting flushed and doused with tears as I heard Saul speak of Maria Juanita, a 13 year old girl hanging on the back of a dingy bus with Saul as he headed north. Maria Juanita asked Saul if he had met her mother in the United States. In her young age she was still too innocent to understand how large the US is and how unlikely it is that Saul would have met her mother whom she had not seen in 8 years.I felt the familiar tears again when Saul spoke of meeting his brother Sergio for the first time in El Salvador and how uneasy he felt about leaving his brother behind.

Saul told anecdotes and stories with incredible compassion, humility and dignity. Almost all of his stories spoke to the unjust family separations, the necessity to immigrate, the vast difference of how he was received in various communities versus how we receive and treat immigrants in this country, and the heartbreaking reality that millions of immigrant families face as a result of troubled home countries and the broken US Immigration system.

Certainly his travels have permanently changed him. Hearing of Saul’s journey has deeply touched me. I have a renewed sense of faith in our youth for their bravery and courage. I know not everyone is going to put on their sneakers and go walk thousands of miles, but the fact that Saul had the audacity to walk 5,328 miles in an effort to shine a light on the injustices of family separation and broken immigration system is enough to comfort me because as Saul shares his story, I know that he will inspire his peers to make a difference, even and especially in their local communities.

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