Posted on 05/19/2006 7:58:30 AM PDT by Gopher Broke
Please forward widely!
Call your Senator today to tell him/her not to sign on to an anti-immigrant, pro-militarization agenda!
For nearly five years the Bush administration has claimed the only way to make our country safe from terrorism is to wage wars abroad and expand Presidential power at the expense of rights at home.
Now President Bush wants us to believe that our security depends on militarizing the U.S. border. Pandering to his right-wing base, on May 15th President Bush proposed sending 6,000 National Guard soldiers to the U.S.-Mexico border to keep undocumented immigrants out of the U.S.
Guard soldiers are trained to deal with natural disasters. The Bush Administration has deployed to Iraq thousands of National Guardsmen who never expected to be sent to war. Now the Bush Administration wants to impose a military solution on a political and economic issue. They are trying to turn the Guard into a law enforcement agency.
But undocumented immigrants are not "criminals," "invaders," or "terrorists," as Minutemen and Republican officials argue. And we are not under attack.
Undocumented immigrants are mothers and fathers making tough choices about how to support their families under difficult conditions. They are being driven out of their countries largely by war and unemployment caused by unfair globalization policies -- policies often pushed by our government.
UFPJ believes Guard troops should be brought home from Iraq immediately, but not to be deployed along the U.S-Mexico border. Doing so would likely lead to increased deaths of border crossers and violations of border communities' civil rights. For more background information on this issue and on why UFPJ firmly stands behind undocumented immigrants, please click here.
Some pundits have claimed that Bush's proposals straddle a middle ground between far-right, enforcement-only and humanitarian approaches to immigration. The New York Times' assessment was far more accurate: "Mr. Bush swiveled [Monday] night in the direction of those who see immigration, with delusional clarity, as entirely a problem of barricades and bad guys."
The Senate immigration bill is currently loaded with hurdles designed to make it extremely difficult for many of the 12 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. to achieve legal status and citizenship. Its guest worker program would leave immigrant workers vulnerable to exploitation and deny them a path to citizenship. Provisions like restricting due process to those accused of violating immigration laws would further erode the human and civil rights of immigrants.
Republicans are pushing to add additional punitive enforcement provisions and further restrict access to citizenship, with few Democratic Senators standing up to them. Yesterday by a vote of 83 to 16, the Senate voted to construct a 370-mile wall on the Southwest border. If Bush's proposals are incorporated, too, it will be a major victory for the far right.
United for Peace and Justice urges supporters of peace and justice to reject the fortress mentality and stand with undocumented immigrants in this time of need.
CALL YOUR SENATORS TODAY Add your voice to the chorus demanding immigration policies that are fair and just, and that respect the rights and dignity of all immigrants and other members of our society.
Capitol Switchboard: (888) 355-3588 (toll-free) or (202) 334-3121
Please call both of your Senators TODAY. You can ask for the Senator by name at the numbers above. If you don't know his/her name or the line is busy, see: http://www.senate.gov and click on "Senators" at the top left to find your senators' names and their offices' direct phone numbers.
Tell your Senators to remove the provisions from Senate Bill 2611 (the Hagel-Martinez-Specter compromise) that criminalize undocumented immigrants and restrict their rights and ability to gain citizenship. Tell them to reject the Bush administration's proposals for sending National Guard troops to the border and new punitive enforcement provisions.
Instead of undermining civil rights and civil liberties, our elected officials should support real immigration reform that:
increases the number of available family visas enables all undocumented immigrants within the U.S. to legalize their status and gain a path to citizenship provides due process, including restoration of access to the courts and meaningful judicial review for immigrants stops mandatory deportations and indefinite detentions allows undocumented immigrants and their families to remain together in this country protects the rights of both immigrant and native-born workers If efforts to radically amend Senate Bill 2611 in a progressive, pro-immigrant direction do not succeed, it must be defeated.
For more background information on the Senate immigration bill and Bush's proposals, please visit our website.
ACTION ALERT * UNITED FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE www.unitedforpeace.org | 212-868-5545 To subscribe, visit www.unitedforpeace.org/email
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You can call toll free, like I did, and demand a 2000 mile fence AND 16,000 troops to protect us......
You may get more posts next time by using the word "Communist" or CPUSA. Almost no one knows who the UPFL is.
The mind boggles.
I fully intend to use this number to make my position known!!!
Thanks for the toll-free number....:)
This never ceaces to amaze me...WHAT RIGHTS???
United for Peanutbutter and Jelly?
I believe that is the capitol switchboard which you and I paid for. They are just giving it out.
Mexican Immigration Activists Denounce Bush Plan
May 18, 2006
On Monday, May 15, President Bush outlined a plan to address the immigration situation by sending National Guard troops to the Mexican border and granting amnesty to those who've illegally been in America a long time. Bush's plan was denounced by the National Capital Immigration Coalition. "It is not enough," said Juan Carlos Ruiz, general coordinator for the National Capital Immigration Coalition. "Until America opens its borders and grants full rights to all, we will take our message to the streets."
The immigrant coalition says it is planning civil action, with
demonstrations at the White House and on Capitol Hill, and the launch of a nationwide voter registration campaign at key border crossings. "We will sign up a million new voters," vowed Ruiz. "We are absolutely prepared to bring this government down if it fails to meet our demands."
In related news, the Mexican government said it will sue the United States for damages for every Mexican who dies or is injured climbing a wall, swimming a river or crossing the desert to enter the U.S. "There is this concept in American law called 'attractive nuisance,'" said Jose Gordo of the Mexican Attorney General's office. "The Americans have created a land of opportunity and prosperity luring our impoverished people to attempt entry. For this they must be held liable."
read more...
http://www.azconservative.org/Semmens1.htm
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