I was once an illegal alien in The Netherlands. I was once pregnant. I was once reported to immigration services by a Dutch woman who knew I was both illegal and pregnant. I was once detained. I was once denied medical care while in a deportation center. I was once deported. I had a miscarriage (the baby was dead, I had a botched clean up procedure in an understaffed and badly maintained hospital in a suburb of Buenos Aires). I am now sterile.
That was fifteen years ago and this is now.
”Tiger Beatdown › Here I am. Fatigue, depression and infertility
This is my latest piece. Which also kinda explains where I’ve been.
(via redlightpolitics)
(Source: occupyla)
India: Tale of Turbans
Via The Hindu:
Harjant Gill’s Roots of Love is an insightful and timely exploration of the changing significance of hair and turbans among Sikhs. Through interviews of six men of varying ages, the 26-minute-long film, which was screened recently at the PSBT Open Frame festival, details the various attitudes to turban and unshorn hair.
An assistant professor of anthropology at Towson University, Maryland, U.S., Harjant grew up in a traditional Punjabi Sikh family in Chandigarh. “A few months before migrating to the United States, my dad drove me to a barbershop and had my hair cut… I was quite excited about the change and I enjoyed the transition. However, sometimes I do wonder what my life would’ve been like if my family had not migrated out of India, or my father had not cut my hair,” he says.
Migration is a significant factor in the process of Sikh self-fashioning. Harjant notes, “…the idea of what it means to be a successful man in Punjab today frequently entails migrating abroad and becoming transnational/diasporic citizens. So many of these guys I spoke to are simply waiting for their turn to go abroad. And cutting their hair and giving up their turbans is part of that process of fitting into the transnational modes of masculinity.”
While giving up of turbans affords mobility, Harjant recalls discovering in the course of his research that people continue wearing the turban whenever it’s convenient even after they’ve cut their hair. “What’s interesting in Punjab is that guys are cutting their hair, yet they still wear the turban when they go back home to visit their parents. So it’s almost like they are practicing flexible citizenship,” he says. For instance, an interviewee in the documentary reveals having two identities — of a “cut sardar” and a “full-fledged sardar” — on two different social networks. Since the turban continues to be a marker of class and masculinity, and a way of belonging, Harjant thinks it is there to stay.
The film also documents the Turban Pride Movement, started by Akaal Purkh ki Fauj in 2005 against the shunning of turbans and hair among Sikh youth. Jaswinder Singh, a member of the organisation, mentions the unserious portrayals of Sikhs in films, and the deployment of turbans in comedic routines, as a major reason for the initiation of the movement.
Harjant sees in American popular culture and media a different but equally pernicious representation. “In American popular culture, the terrorist is often shown as the racialised “other” that resembles someone like Osama Bin Laden.” Referring to the recent Wisconsin gurdwara shootings, Harjant observes how the shooter Wade Michael Page was labelled “the lone gunman”. “Owing to this double standard, the turban has become the visual marker around which racial profiling frequently occurs.”
To avoid a repeat of the incident in Wisconsin, Harjant says it is necessary to condemn violence against all ethnic minorities, and not focus on Sikhs as “victims of mistaken identity” alone.
Perry directs Texas agencies to ignore Obama’s immigration order
Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) directed state agencies this week to ignore President Barack Obama’s order on “deferred action” for undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children, saying that the order was “a slap in the face to the rule of law and our Constitutional framework of separated powers.”
Although the law states that the federal government has sole authority over matters concerning immigration, and the Obama administration specifically said the order in no way changes the law, Perry insisted that state agencies still have a mandate to verify who is eligible for state and local public benefits — saying, in effect, that Texas will refuse to issue identification cards to undocumented immigrants who qualify for them under federal law.
“The [order] does not undermine or change our state laws, or any federal laws that apply within the State of Texas,” he wrote. “I expect our state agencies to continue to comply with and enforce the laws for the protection of our citizens, communities and state treasury and in fulfillment of our constitutional duty as officials within the executive branch.”
Perry has in the past tried to claim that the 10th Amendment to the Constitution empowers him to refuse orders by the federal government on things like clean air regulations, health insurance exchanges, Medicare and Medicaid assistance and women’s health services. In spite of his proclivity for rhetorical insurrection, Perry is often chided by legal experts for ignoring Article IV, Clause 2 of the Constitution, also known as the federal supremacy clause, which establishes laws and treaties adopted by Congress to be the highest law of the land.
[…]
The refusal to comply means Texas, Arizona and Nebraska are rushing headlong into a messy legal battle with the federal government over the Bush administration’s Real ID Act of 2005, which requires a host of new supporting documents be presented to obtain a photo ID, and stipulates that people who qualify for “deferred action” on immigration areeligible for a driver’s license. All states will be required to comply with new standards for photo IDs by January 15, 2013, meaning the federal government will likely have to sue the rogue governors to force their compliance with the law.
During the first two years of President Obama’s administration, undocumented immigrants were deported at a higher rate than ever before, outpacing deportations during even the prior eight years of Republican rule. A study published in April 2012 found that facing the reality of those policies and a continued lack of jobs in a still stagnant economy, legal and illegal immigration from Mexico has hit “net zero”, its lowest level in decades. President Obama has promised to take on immigration reform if he’s elected to a second term.
CUNY is offering free services for undocumented students to obtain “deferred status”, obtain employment authorization, and get legal services.
Ages 15 and up.
Join their listserve at www.cuny.edu/dreamers
Name/Gender change information for Undocumented and Trans* individuals in New York
Topics covered:
- Name Changes for Immigrants in New York
- Name Change at Point of Naturalization
- Gender and Name Change on Immigration Documents
- Trans Marriage Recognition
- Real ID Act
- Asylum for Trans People
***Note: Spanish version is available on the site as well.***
After 3 months of conference calls, fundraising and event planning the first West Coast DREAM Grad was made a reality. We even got Angela Davis to be the Keynote speaker. 250+ Undocumented youth gathered outside SF City Hall for a graduation representing the importance of the DREAM Act. As one of the organizers/speakers for this graduation, I can’t say how happy I was that this was a success. I was moved by the amazing stories that we’re shared. It is a great reminder that we need to keep fighting. Obama’s deferred action memo won’t solve the mass deportation of our communities and fellow DREAMers that didn’t qualify. We are Undocumented, Unafraid, Unapologetic, Unashamed and ready for the fight that is to come.
“the illegals are stealing all the jobs and ruining our economy” whispers the middle class white child as he goes into his fridge and looks at all the sustainable produce kept at a reasonable price only through the exploitation of migrant farm workers.
(Source: maarnayeri)
The imperatives of political pressure
“This illustrates the proper relationship between citizens and public servants. Uncritical adoration and unconditional loyalty breed an arrogant, insular, unaccountable political class; as David Sirota argued when Obama ‘evolved’ on marriage, those who reflexively defend Obama in the name of Election-Year political loyalty (or who demand that criticisms be stifled until the election) are the prime impediments to progress.” — Glenn Greenwald
(via theamericanbear)
(Source: ashleyrenee17)
Justice Department: Arpaio violated Latinos’ civil rights
Arpaio is accused of racially profiling Latinos and using draconian methods to enforce immigration laws. (Wikipedia)
By JUAN GASTELUM
Channel: Immigration, PoliticsThe Justice Department on Thursday accused Arizona’s infamous immigration hardliner, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, of a litany civil rights violations against Latinos under his jurisdiction.
The department issued a 22-page report, which is the result of a three year investigation of Arpaio’s office, that reveals a pattern of racial profiling and discrimination against Latinos, including heavy-handed immigration raids based on racially-charged citizen complaints.
The department also found that the office regularly retaliates against people who criticize their practices and operate jails in a way that discriminates against Latinos with limited English proficiency.
“We find reasonable cause to believe that [the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office] MCSO engages in a pattern or practice of unconstitutional policing,” the report reads. ”Specifically, we find that MCSO, through the actions of its deputies, supervisory staff, and command staff, engages in racial profiling of Latinos; unlawfully stops, detains and arrests Latinos; and unlawfully retaliates against individuals who complain about or criticize MSCO’s policies or practices.”
Thomas Perez, the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, said in a press conference on Thursday that the department will continue to review the practices of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office and work with them to reform their policing policies. He stopped short of calling on Arpaio to step down.
“We’re very clear in our report that the pattern of practice findings that we have uncovered are deeply rooted in the culture of the department and will require sustained efforts from the top and throughout the organization,” Perez said.
In light of the report, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) terminated MCSO’s 287(g) jail model agreement, intended to establish cooperation between the two agencies. DHS is also restricting the office’s access to Secure Communities, a controversial fingerprint-sharing program the Obama administration is seeking to expand to every state by 2013.
“Discrimination undermines law enforcement and erodes public trust,” Homeland Security secretary Janet Napolitano said in statement. ”DHS will not be a party to such practices.”
Outside of Arizona, Arpaio has emerged as national figure for his outspokenness against illegal immigration. He endorsed Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry last month, a move meant to shore up Perry’s immigration credentials with conservative primary voters.
Arpaio, however, is coming under increased political scrutiny in Arizona. The same organization that successfully launched a recall of Arizona state Sen. Russell Pearce (R), the author of his state’s controversial immigration law, is now seeking to unseat the man known as “America’s Toughest Sheriff.”
The group is concerned over allegations that his office overlooked sexual crimes in Maricopa County and has objected to his immigration enforcement methods.
Arpaio has long denied allegations of racial profiling, saying his deputies stop individuals when they have probable cause and later find out they are undocumented immigrants. The sheriff is scheduled for a hearing in Arizona on Dec. 22.
This is a developing story …
“There are people calling this a form of ethnic cleansing and I can’t figure out a reason why it isn’t. Sure, not every Hispanic in the state is undocumented, but you could certainly forgive them for feeling that measures this punitive mean they aren’t welcome. If the state is willing to deny someone water because they don’t have proper ID, they really, really don’t want you around.” - digby, on Alabama’s strict immigration law, which went into effect last week.
Wow. Ethnic cleansing by municipal pettiness. A new low.
The vanishing began Wednesday night, the most frightened families packing up their cars as soon as they heard the news.
They left behind mobile homes, sold fully furnished for a thousand dollars or even less. Or they just closed up and, in a gesture of optimism, left the keys with a neighbor. Dogs were fed one last time; if no home could be found, they were simply unleashed.
Two, 5, 10 years of living here, and then gone in a matter of days, to Tennessee, Illinois, Oregon, Florida, Arkansas, Mexico — who knows? Anywhere but Alabama.
The exodus of Hispanic immigrants began just hours after a federal judge in Birmingham upheld most provisions of the state’s far-reaching immigration enforcement law.
”After Ruling, Hispanics Flee an Alabama Town (via ryking)
They say that even fully documented Hispanic workers are leaving, an assessment that seems to be borne out in interviews here. The legal status of family members is often mixed — children are often American-born citizens — but the decision whether to stay rests on the weakest link.
(via wthellokitty)
(Source: diadoumenos)
