PDX Immigration Roundup: Tip of the ICEberg

This is from June 2007. More than disheartening as so much remains the same, with Trump leading the hate on immigration.
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Sanctuary Meeting

Reunion de Families 7:00

Community Center

Photo: ME

PDX Immigration Roundup: Tip of the ICEberg

In response to yesterday's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid at the Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc. plant in North Portland, over 300 immigrant workers, worker families and immigrant rights supporters came together last night to voice concerns and learn about resources available to those affected by the worker roundup in which 167 were arrested and detained for immigration violations.

At the emergency forum held at St. Andrew's Catholic Church in N.E. Portland and organized by local immigrant advocacy organizations and legal advisors, attendees learned about what rights are guaranteed undocumented workers upon arrest and detainment by ICE; what assistance is available families of those detained, and; what best next plans must be coordinated as it is expected that ICE is sure to add another notch to their "criminalization of immigrants (quotes by author)" campaign.

Corporate media denied access

                                                                    

                                                          

The evening began with some negotiation with local T.V. reporters. Forum organizers were concerned with the issue of video recording in contrast with necessary confidentiality regarding immigration status of some in attendance. Employer retaliation was also a concern as some worried about what reaction Del Monte supervisors would have upon seeing employees on camera at the pro-immigrant event. While the handful of corporate media sat in a funk just outside the church meeting hall, organizers discussed with attendees whether or not to allow filming access. After lengthy discussion among those in attendance, it was finally decided that those who did not want to be on camera would move to the right of the hall. In the end, only one photographer from the Oregonian was seen taking photos.


"We Are Not Criminals!"

After Father Charles Lienardt led a prayer asking that those affected by the Del Monte raid be provided with strength and support during their ordeal, VOZ day laborer organizer Pedro Sosa next addressed the crowd. As he waved a $20 bill in the air, he asked the audience what it was that he held in his hand and what one could do with it. After a myriad of responses, he crumbled the bill and threw it on the floor. "What can we do with it now?" Stepping on the bill and grinding it into the floor he asked, "Does it still have worth? Does it still have value?"

"Yes," came the answer. Sosa then held the wadded bill in the air. "I hope that when we think of the worth of this money that we think of our own worth. We have been stepped on and beaten down but we still have value, we still have worth and we still have our dignity. We must remain united in our opposition to a structure has no dignity and only values us for our labor and then throws us away when we are no longer needed. We are workers! We are not criminals!"

This was met with cheers and a brief discussion about the necessity of maintaining a united front. It was then time for an overview of the day's events. It was explained that the raid was the culmination of a six-month investigation into the illegal manufacturing and sales of identification cards including fraudulent social security numbers. Is is alleged by ICE that nine out of ten of those employed by Del Monte were hired while using phony I.D.s.

The forum next moved to those in attendance sharing their experiences. Family members spoke emotionally about not knowing where spouses, children and siblings were detained, how to reach them or when or if they would be deported. It was said that Del Monte supervisors were giving out as little explanation and information as possible to workers and their families. Daycare providers told of children who were still in their care as of late evening because their parents had been carted off by ICE law enforcement. When one daycare provider asked authorities what steps to take to reunite the children with their family, she was told to turn the children over to the Department of Human Resources. Another story was told of a neighboring family whose underage children were waiting for their parents to come home. With this, it was announced that immigration attorneys were in attendance and that anyone with questions about the location and status of family members, questions regarding their own resident status as well as information about reunification were free to meet in an adjoining room with counsel. Approximately more than a third of those present rose to do so.

Immigrant Rights and Sanctuary

Attendees were next informed of their basic rights and learned that they had the right to remain silent and request an attorney. They also were informed that they had the right to appeal their charges and request release on humanitarian assignment. This category can be extended to those under medical care, women who are pregnant or those who are the sole caregiver or family provider (obvious Catch-22 noted here). There is also the possible that some arrested may be released if it is evidenced that they are not a threat to the community. It is not known at this time if anyone has been released from the Tacoma WA Detention Center where they are held.

Also brought into discussion was the formation of a new Sanctuary Movement. This Movement reached its height in the mid 1980's as U.S. residents provided sanctuary for Central American refugees fleeing the U.S. sponsored terrorist death squads. These death squads who put into practice lessons learned at the U.S. School of the Americas, were responsible for the rape, torture, mutilation and murder of 300,00 innocent Central American civilians from 1979-87.

As the evening grew long and the schedule behind, some voiced the need to take organized action in a show of solidarity. It was also said that there was an immediate need to establish a worker fund for families targeted by ICE. It was suggested that those interested in forming committees to discuss specific tactics of resistance join together for separate discussions. Some tactics discussed were the possibility of an informational picket and migra (ICE) watch at Del Monte and other companies with a large immigrant workforce, an info picket at the Mexican Consulate as well as at the ICE office and a concerted effort to focus on Portland Mayor Tom Potter to urge him to implement discourse with ICE on comprehensive and humanitarian immigration reform.

Thoughts and Analysis

As former volunteer and staff with PCUN, The Oregon Farmworker Union, I have for years seen first hand the rampant, blatant, violent and racist exploitation of Latino agricultural and cannery workers. As summer approaches, the fields in the Willamette Valley will soon be full with workers who put fruit and vegetables on our tables, pick the grapes for our wine and cut the hops for our beer. It is well known among farmworkers and farmworker organizers that growers have often worked in tandem with ICE in coordinating immigration raids. Many times, raids occur just after harvest and workers are deported without pay. Without our support, undocumented workers are not likely to often speak out against unfair wages, inhumane working conditions, harassment or much of anything else.

Yesterday's raid at Del Monte is sure to be one of many such operations. It is important to strategise, support and take part in organizing an active resistance to counter inhumane ICE tactics.

I ask you to keep in mind that ICE is a wing of Homeland Security, brought to us via the Patriot Act. I also ask that at your next meal, you take time to consider that everything on your plate was first touched by an immigrant worker. They take care of our children, clean our houses, mow our lawns, construct our housing, cook at our restaurants, bus cafeteria tables, scrub public toilets. I ask you to consider news wire images of pregnant women led to jail in ICE handcuffs and leg chains. What is her crime?

Immigrant workers provide for us. Let's come together and provide for them.

Amerikkkan Apartheid: Hurricane Katrina

A young boy covers his face to shield the scent of decaying bodies he stands in front of.

I was and am still incensed by the transparent measure of neglect shown that was clearly and purely racist as this narrative unfolded. The sheer disregard for human life on the part of FEMA and G.W. Bush in during this disaster was despicable. Nothing new there.
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Amerikkkan Apartheid: New Orleans Aftermath


September  2005

“Ya got to get mad. And you have to let them know that you have as much right in the house as they. And, if some of you can’t sit down in that house in peace, it’s better for you to put it on fire and burn it to the ground.”
--Malcolm X

"Go over the wall
Cause governments to fall
How can you refuse it?
Let fury have the hour
Anger can be power
If you know that you can use it."
Clampdown--The Clash

Al Jazeera is broadcasting live from New Orleans along with national and international news outlets. Clandestine freedom fighters world wide must be watching the unquestionable (deliberate?) incompetence of the u.s. federal government with eyes gleaming, suicide bombs at the ready. What better organizing tool can the u.s. possibly give to so called “terrorists,” both here and elsewhere, in terms of “rapid” response to cataclysmic catastrophe as we watch the Bush regime homeland security agency fail its’ first test?

As I write this, five evacuees have died of water born disease. The u.s. press reports on 22 bodies found last week that were tied together. The sheriff of the parish in which the bodies were found thought at first that rescuers had gathered them together with rope. It now appears that each was tied one by one, probably in an effort to be rescued as a group. Other bodies have been found in attics and tied to parking signs at other points of devastation. Family members have been separated and are still searching out for one another. It is reported from the airport triage center that 8-10 are dying a day. The u.s. public health service is preparing for  more bodies to be brought to St Gabriel prison, now commandeered as a morgue.

Who got out?

I have learned that New Orleans is two cities. Was two cities. One was comprised of a small number of affluent whites. The other was made up of mostly poor Blacks. Some Stats:
· New Orleans was 2/3 Black.
· Ranked as 9th poorest big city in the nation.
· Of the Lower 9th Ward, almost entirely Black, 6% were college graduates; national average is 22%. Average household income was $27, 499; national average is$56,644.
· The poorest neighborhoods were also the lowest lying neighborhoods (and most affected by flooding) and comprised overwhelmingly of Blacks.
· For years held the title of “murder capital” of the nation.

As poverty is one of the worst forms of violence, we should not be surprised at the murder capital info. Just as we should not have been surprised to hear that rescuers were met with firepower. Or that “looting” occurred. A word about this “looting.” Yes indeed, the u.s. print media DID run a photo of a Black trudging through chest deep water with a six pack of soda and a black plastic bag. The caption? “Looter.”Also run was a photo of a white wading through water with similar goods. The caption? “A survivor finds supplies.” The message is clear; Blacks loot. whites courageously find supplies. Two cities. Only in amerikkka. White folks had the way and the means to get out. The poor and Black did not. Without a car or money for gas or public transportation, where are you going to go?

Much has been made of the fact that Katrina occurred at the end of the month and as many of those who could not get out may have been welfare recipients, welfare money had run out. While some have attacked this notion as a stereotype, it is of course true that welfare is a constant in the lives of the poor. Short on cash for multiple bus ticket. No way out. At the same time, let me be clear; those left behind were also the elderly and infirm, and working poor, the two job families fighting to make ends meet and every bit as worthy as those on assistance for evacuation and rescue. 

So; why the delay to the help them? It has been said that those in power knew that the levees would not hold. They knew that a hurricane with the force of Katrina was due. So, where was help when it was needed? If the u.s. can fly the military all over hell for u.s. “intervention,” where was the u.s. intervention for Louisiana? Why was food and water not airdropped onto the rooftops where people were begging for help? Why were no watercraft deployed? Why were these people abandoned like dogs to die on bridges and in waterways?

What are we gonna do now?

There is so much more to say about what we have seen happen in the past 9 days. For now, I want to share something that happened to me this morning.

Walking near my neighborhood, I found myself in need of using a bathroom and stopped into one of those Starfuck(er) coffee places. As the bathroom was occupied with someone in line ahead of me, I waited for my turn near a table where two upscale soccer type moms sat sipping their four dollar cups of coffee, their napkins on their laps just so. They were going over the morning papers and bemoaning the Katrina tragedy and what one called “this country’s failing leadership.”

“Yeah, this truly calls for impeachment in my opinion,” said the other. This cracked me up. They noticed.

“What?” One asked. “You have a better idea?”
“Actually, yeah. Assassination.”
“Assassination?” I don’t think I have ever seen two white women go so pale. My dark skin and “Beat the Rich” t-shirt could not have helped.
“Assassinate who?” Folks were starting to look our way.

“Mmmm…this country’s failing leadership?” I answered.

At that moment, the bathroom door swung open. I walked in and took my place in the stall. As my piss hit the porcelain, all I heard in my head was “I must think before I speak, I must think before I speak, I must…” That and the fact that I was going to have to pass by these two on the way out. When I did pass them, they said nothing, just stared. I stared back. As I was exiting the door, a bemused older guy seated at the counter said to me, “So, I guess you aren’t one of those flag wavers?”

“Nope. Flag burner.”

Laugh? He peed.

Execute the generals?

My point is this (apart from having fun by saying things to rile up white folk); do I think that anyone soon will hold a gun to the head of this country’s failing leadership? Probably not. Do I think that extreme means must be used to shift the balance of power in this country? Oh, hell yes. Impeachment is not an option. Impeachment will never happen. No amount of voting, protest rallies or marches or non-violent direct action will create change in this country. We do not live in a country in which public outcry alone will affect government policy. We do not live in a democracy and never have. We do not need to fear the coming of the fascists because the fascists are already here. They arrived with columbus along with the systems of capitalism, captive labor (wage slaves) and categories and definitions for race and class. These systems have remained firmly in place. Do you think that if Katrina had hit the Hamptons, West Palm Beach or Malibu Colony that the federal government would have waited days to notice that something might be amiss? Stupid question. Not only would rescue and evacuation been swift, we would probably also have witnessed the immediate airdrop of food and water along with high powered automatic weapons to ward off potential looters. If Katrina has shown us anything, it is the fact that the lives of Blacks and the impoverished are not worth much to the leaders of the most powerful nation in the world. Cuba, Venezuela, Canada, Iran and Russia had already offered assistance to the victims of the hurricane in the form of cheap gasoline, food and water, and emergency medical supplies and technicians by the time that u.s. feds intervened. All offers were rejected by the federal government. The storm victims, of course, had no say in this matter of assistance. This should ENRAGE you. Where is your rage?

For days after Katrina hit, I was too enraged to offer anything intelligible about the actions/inactions of the federal government. My rage has not subsided. What I can offer is this; As evacuees have been relocated to what for them may be foreign soil, we should be prepared to see the deepening divide between the haves and have-nots and all that this will manifest. And I can only hope to see on a large scale the shift of the mind set regarding democracy, equality and freedom, because when you get down to the bone, it is starkly evident that in this country, none of these three states truly exist.

This is not about evolution. It is about revolution. If we were to learn that I or anyone else has been pushed to believe that nothing short of armed struggle will burn to the ground the infinitely evil power of the u.s. government, should we be surprised? Should anyone be surprised to realize that our freedom will never be given to us, that it is something that we have been forced to take, sadly, by any means necessary?Just how much more have we been conditioned to accept? Where is our fury?How fucked up does fucked up have to be before shit starts burning?

“When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag carrying a cross." Huey Long