Dare to Dream

Lou Dobbs, American Hypocrite

Lou Dobbs on Illegal Immigration: He rallies against them, but they're working for him

It's been a long time since I last thought, wow, that's some great investigative journalism.  If you know how the American economy works you know that many of the rich not only employ undocumented immigrants to cut their grass, clean their houses and care for their horses, they benefit from their labor in other less direct ways.  We all benefit from undocumented immigration whether we want to admit it or not.  In Lou Dobb's case, he benefits and vilifies at the same time.

Revisiting Manassas: Watching 9500 Liberty

Last night 9500 Liberty was aired on MTV2.  It was the first time I have been able to see the final cut version of the film.  I've been watching the development of the project since its first video clips went viral three years ago.  I've also hosted Annabel Park and Eric Byler to campus for a screening of the film as a work in progress.

That said, watching the film in its entirety was an emotional experience for me. I conducted fieldwork in Manassas and in the surrounding county from 2008-2009, speaking with native-born residents and immigrants, and I was impressed how the filmmakers were able to capture the essence of the immigration controversy in Prince William County, particularly the overwhelming influence of a small group of residents, the role of groups outside the community in pushing an anti-immigrant agenda, and  Cory Stewart's crass and obvious use of a local conflict to advance his political career.

What really struck me, however, was the overwhelming pain that Prince William County's "rule of law" ordinance inflicted on the largely Latino immigrant community.

The film documents an important and rarely understood aspect of the immigration debate: how immigration is shaping local communal identity, and how poorly equipped many communities are to deal with those changes.

Annabel and Eric--job well done.

Water in the Desert-littering or lifesaving?

When I read this story in the NYT yesterday, I thought, "my goodness, I live in a hateful country."

What type of person would ticket and charge someone with littering when they're leaving jugs of water to be consumed by dying men and women in the desert?

The act of leaving water is basic humane behavior.  To think otherwise is simply obscene.

Immigration, Economics, and Nativism

This essay by Ezra Klein argues that the positive aspects of immigration on the economy outweigh the negative one.  He'll find no argument with me on that point, however, he falls into the trap that so many pro-immigrant advocates do: he assumes that the obscure intellectual economic discussion will actually influence people who believe that immigrants are transforming their way of life.  And as idiotic as it may sound--some people would rather give up the economic benefits to live in communities where everyone speaks English, is white, and has the same cultural and aesthetic values.

I say this after years of experience working in new destination immigrant communities in the U.S.  It's irrational, but there are a lot of otherwise good-natured folks out there who see immigrants in their community about as positive as a radioactive brownfield. 

If, as a nation, we are going to address the issue of immigration in communities, it has to be done at the local level.

There is no other way.

The Gringa on the DREAM Act

9500 Liberty

9500 Liberty will be broadcast on Sunday night at 8 PM.  This film is an outstanding & fair examination of the immigration controversy in Manassas, Virginia.

You can watch the film in its entirety on on MTV 2, MTV U and MTV Tr3s (with Spanish subtitles).  

Stephen Colbert's Congressional Testimony

Powell on the GOP and Immigration

Bravo, Colin Powell.  I wish you were not the minority.  "Immigration is what is keeping our country's life-blood moving forward."

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Colin Powell: illegal immigrants have worked on my home

If you're going to be honest, most of us would have to admit that at one time or another, we've had undocumented immigrants working in or around our homes.  Whether we've done this intentionally, by hiring a housekeeper whom we decided "don't ask, don't tell" is the best policy, to hiring a subcontractor to mow lawns or landscape who most certainly has picked up a day laborer or two to help out with a day's work.  Today's Washington Post highlights the perspective of Colin Powell, who breaks with the American tradition of pretending that we don't do thing we really do pretty often, and admits that he has hired the undocumented to work on his home.

He does this as an attempt to raise awareness of the need for comprehensive immigration reform.  Let's hope he's not the last reasonable Republican who's willing to take a stand.

Immigrant Voices: An Oliver Twist Story

This article from today's Washington Post highlights an amazing story of a Guatemalan immigrant child who arrived in the U.S. at age 14 and somehow survived--and thrived--with the support of teachers, family and friends.  He's a poster child for why we need to pass the DREAM Act.

Virginia and the Immigration "debate"

I put debate in quotations above because I do not see the shouting match that is taking place in the U.S. as a debate--it is simply a group of politicians, in many cases siding with nativists, who are looking for ways to enhance their political careers and ride the immigration wave.


Take Corey Stewart, for example.  Mr. Stewart has made he entire career on the backs of immigrants in Virginia.  His latest shenanigans was an attempt to proposal immigration legislation at the state level.  Never mind that 1) he's not a member of the general assembly and 2) not eligible to introduce legislation.  Even more significant here is that the alleged newspaper (Inside NOVA.com) that reported this didn't even bother to mention that Mr. Stewart is simply doing with he does best: blowing steam in an attempt to capture media attention.  Mission accomplished.


The latest news from Virginia comes from our state Attorney General, Ken Cuccinelli.   Mr. Cuccinelli has been following Mr. Stewart's lead, and has issued a legal opinion that authorizes law enforcement to check the immigration status of anyone stopped by police officers for any reason.  Unlike Mr. Stewart, this is something that our state AG can do, although to what effect is still in question.


The opinion basically states that Virginia law enforcement is  authorizes to check the immigration status of anyone stopped by police officers for any reason.  


Gov. McDonnell may codify Cuccinelli's opinion as an executive order.  Local jurisdictions may adopt ordinances based on his opinion, but they may not.  Either way, Cuccinelli's opinion will likely be challenged in the courts.


What is of concern here is the effect that Mr. Cuccinelli's opinion will have on the Commonwealth.  Do we really want to tie up our local law enforcement digging into the immigration status of everyone who gets pulled over for speeding?  Is our fair state so crime-free that we don't need police officers to do what they were hired to do, which is find and apprehend criminals?


Let's put aside the fact that this move, if enacted, is a tremendous waste of taxpayer dollars.  What will be the effect on the hundreds of thousands of LEGAL IMMIGRANTS in Virginia?  What about their civil rights?


Even if his opinion is met by a collective yawn from law enforcement, Mr. Cucccinelli has gotten what he wants: national publicity. 

Show me your papers? I don't think so

I'm very happy to report that part of the Arizona immigration law--the provision that would require American citizens to carry papers--has been blocked.  The judged restated the concern that I and many immigrant advocates have felt is the most damaging aspect of the law, saying:

“There is a substantial likelihood that officers will wrongfully arrest legal resident aliens,” she wrote. “By enforcing this statute, Arizona would impose a ‘distinct, unusual and extraordinary’ burden on legal resident aliens that only the federal government has the authority to impose" (emphasis added).

Some aspects of the law were not blocked, but this move indicates that the nativists will not have free reign in this debate.   

Arizona Immigration Law's Day in Court

At 4:30 eastern time, a federal judge in Phoenix will hear arguments regarding Arizona's immigration law.  At issue is whether the judge will issue a temporary injunction.  I'll be blogging later today as news develops.

Colbert on Immigration

Obama on Immigration

 Time to call their bluff?

Today President Obama made a major speech on immigration, calling for comprehensive immigration reform.

We all know this may not work. The important thing is to keep pushing the momentum forward and to call the GOP out to stand accountable to America's fasting growing voting block.

Wanna Get rid of Immigrants? Take their Jobs!

In an effort to draw attention to the necessity of immigrant labor, the United Farm Workers have started a campaign to lure native-born Americans to take over picking and "Take our Jobs."

So, which one of you is going to sign up first?

Truth and Fiction in the Border debate

This article from today's NY Times highlights the realities of security, safety and crime in the immigration debate are often overshadowed by fear and hype.

On Border Violence, Truth Pales Compared to Ideas

When Representative Gabrielle Giffords, Democrat of Arizona, announced that the Obama administration would send as many as 1,200 additional National Guard troops to bolster security at the Mexican border, she held up a photograph of Robert Krentz, a mild-mannered rancher who was shot to death this year on his vast property. The authorities suspected that the culprit was linked to smuggling.  

“Robert Krentz really is the face behind the violence at the U.S.-Mexico border,” Ms. Giffords said.
It is a connection that those who support stronger enforcement of immigration laws and tighter borders often make: rising crime at the border necessitates tougher enforcement.

But the rate of violent crime at the border, and indeed across Arizona, has been declining, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, as has illegal immigration, according to the Border Patrol. While thousands have been killed in Mexico’s drug wars, raising anxiety that the violence will spread to the United States, F.B.I. statistics show that Arizona is relatively safe.

That Mr. Krentz’s death nevertheless churned the emotionally charged immigration debate points to a fundamental truth: perception often trumps reality, sometimes affecting laws and society in the process.

Judith Gans, who studies immigration at the Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy at the University of Arizona, said that what social psychologists call self-serving perception bias seemed to be at play. Both sides in the immigration debate accept information that confirms their biases, she said, and discard, ignore or rationalize information that does not. There is no better example than the role of crime in Arizona’s tumultuous immigration debate.

“If an illegal immigrant commits a crime, this confirms our view that illegal immigrants are criminals,” Ms. Gans said. “If an illegal immigrant doesn’t commit a crime, either they just didn’t get caught or it’s a fluke of the situation.”

Ms. Gans noted that sponsors of Arizona’s controversial immigration enforcement law have made careers of promising to rid the state of illegal immigrants through tough legislation.

“Their repeated characterization of illegal immigrants as criminals — easy to do since they broke immigration laws — makes it easy for people to ignore statistics,” she said.

Moreover, crime statistics, however rosy, are abstract. It takes only one well-publicized crime, like Mr. Krentz’s shooting, to drive up fear.

It is also an election year, and crime and illegal immigration — and especially forging a link between the two — remain a potent boost for any campaign. Gov. Jan Brewer’s popularity, once in question over promoting a sales tax increase, surged after signing the immigration bill, which is known as SB 1070 but officially called the Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act.

No matter that manpower and technology are at unprecedented levels at the border, it may never be secure enough in Arizona’s hothouse political climate when Congressional seats, the governor’s office and other positions are at stake in the Aug. 24 primaries.

It took the Obama administration a few weeks to bow to that political reality and go from trumpeting the border as more secure than it had ever been to ordering National Guard troops to take up position there — most of them in Arizona, Mr. Obama assured Ms. Brewer in a private meeting — because it was not secure enough.

Crime figures, in fact, present a more mixed picture, with the likes of Russell Pearce, the Republican state senator behind the immigration enforcement law, playing up the darkest side while immigrant advocacy groups like Coalición de Derechos Humanos (Human Rights Coalition), based in Tucson, circulate news reports and studies showing that crime is not as bad as it may seem.

For instance, statistics show that even as Arizona’s population swelled, buoyed in part by illegal immigrants funneling across the border, violent crime rates declined, to 447 incidents per 100,000 residents in 2008, the most recent year for which comprehensive data is available from the F.B.I. In 2000, the rate was 532 incidents per 100,000.

Nationally, the crime rate declined to 455 incidents per 100,000 people, from 507 in 2000.
But the rate for property crime, the kind that people may experience most often, increased in the state, to 4,082 per 100,000 residents in 2008 from 3,682 in 2000. Preliminary data for 2009 suggests that this rate may also be falling in the state’s biggest cities.

What is harder to pin down is how much of the crime was committed by illegal immigrants.
Phoenix’s police chief, Jack Harris, who opposes the new law, said that about 13 percent of his department’s arrests are illegal immigrants, a number close to the estimated percentage of illegal immigrants in the local population. But the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, which runs the jail for Phoenix and surrounding cities and is headed by Joe Arpaio, a fervent supporter of the law, has said that 19 percent of its inmates are illegal immigrants.

Scott Decker, a criminologist at Arizona State University, said a battery of studies have suggested that illegal immigrants commit fewer crimes, in part because they tend to come from interior cities and villages in their home country with low crime rates and generally try to keep out of trouble to not risk being sent home. 

But he understood why people’s perceptions of crime might lag behind what the statistics show. “Hard as it is to change the crime rate, it may be more difficult to change public perceptions about the crime rate, particularly when those perceptions are linked to public events,” Mr. Decker said.

He added, “There is nothing more powerful than a story about a gruesome murder or assault that leads in the local news and drives public opinion that it is not safe anywhere.”

Kris Kobach, a University of Missouri law professor who helped write the Arizona immigration law, pointed to crimes like a wave of kidnappings related to the drug and human smuggling business in Phoenix, something Ms. Brewer herself noted when she signed the law.
Although the reports have dipped in the past couple of years, the police responded to 315 such cases last year.

“That’s scary to people, and people react to that all over the state,” Mr. Kobach said. “They are concerned. ‘That might happen in my part of the city eventually.’ ”

Terry Goddard, the state attorney general, who does not support the immigration law, said the drop in violent crime rates might not reflect the continued violence, often unreported, that is associated with smuggling organizations.

Mr. Goddard said he doubted that the immigration law would put a dent in the smuggling-related crime that grabs attention in the state. For that reason, Mr. Goddard, who is running to be the Democratic nominee for governor in the primary, said he backed the deployment of National Guard troops and supports increasing manpower and spending on police and prosecutor anti-smuggling units.
Brian L. Livingston, executive director of the Arizona Police Association, said he would prefer more attention on the border, too. But until then, he said, laws like Arizona’s are necessary.

“We know the majority of people crossing across are not criminal, but unfortunately some criminal elements are embedded with them,” he said, adding, “Governor Brewer gets that.”

As Ms. Brewer put it just after signing the bill: “We cannot sacrifice our safety to the murderous greed of drug cartels. We cannot stand idly by as drop houses, kidnappings and violence compromise our quality of life."

Harvard Student will not be deported. At least not yet.

Hopefully this case and others like it will help make the DREAM Act a reality.