Thread: Ex-Offenders Offended by Efforts to Help Illegal Immigrants

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Ex-Offenders Offended by Efforts to Help Illegal Immigrants
By Hazel Trice Edney, NNPA Washington Correspondent
April 17, 2006

WASHINGTON (NNPA) - Chuck Richardson looks at the debate over immigration from a special perspective. He's seen the demonstration by 500,000 marchers in Los Angeles. He's heard members of Congress discuss granting amnesty to people who willfully violated this nation's laws. And he has even heard President Bush advocate a "guest worker" program that is most likely to pave the way for future U.S. citizenship.

Richardson has a different take on immigration because he is an ex-offender, having served two years in prison in the mid-1990s for a non-violent drug offense. As he listens to the debates, he doesn't hear anyone advocating for his cause. He is a U.S. citizen, he has paid the penalty for breaking the law, he is now a productive citizen, yet he won't be able to enjoy some of the privileges that 11 to 12 million undocumented workers will have if certain legislation passes the House and Senate and is signed into law by President Bush.

"It seems almost unconscionable that people who are here illegally and considered to be criminals can be forgiven and given anything close to U. S. citizenship without any ramifications whatsoever. And yet we have men and women who have fought for their country, have served their time in jail, have repaid their debt to society and are still shackled by the felony classification which deprives us of most American rights," says Chuck Richardson, a decorated Vietnam veteran and founding president of the Richmond, Va.-based National Organization for Rehabilitated Offenders.

Many of the 5 million ex-offenders - including 1.4 million African-Americans - share Richardson's frustration. It's not that Richardson has anything against immigrants who come to the U.S. in search of a better life. He doesn't want to be left behind. In fact, he favors a "package deal" that would accommodate both undocumented workers and ex-offenders.

"Otherwise, this would be a judicial abomination," he argues.

Many of those arguing on behalf of undocumented workers agree with Richardson.

"We believe, no matter who you are, if you are willing to pay the price and serve your time; then you should have the opportunity for redemption and for a chance to become a part of society again," says Lisa Navarrete, a spokeswoman for the National Council of La Raza, a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit that focuses on reducing poverty, discrimination, and improving opportunities for Hispanic-Americans. "I think part of our [American] values is a chance for people to redeem themselves. We know that there's an inherent injustice in dealing with that issue that particularly affects African-Americans and Latinos. I wish we had as much attention focused on that issue as the immigration issue."

La Raza has been lobbying for the passage of a bill that would strengthen border enforcements against immigration, but includes a guest-worker program for working immigrants - mostly Mexican and Latinos - already in America.

"The bill under consideration doesn't give people full citizenship rights. They have to earn it," says Navarrete. "We would not have problems with that for anyone."

Many of the street protests around the country have been in opposition to the bill passed by the House in December that seeks to make illegal immigration a felony. The bill, sponsored by House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), had no guest worker program included. President Bush has threatened to veto the bill if it criminalizes illegal immigration. He is also a chief advocate for the guest worker program, giving amnesty to the 11 to 12 million illegal immigrants.

Those who want to rally public opinion on behalf of ex-offenders should study how Hispanics have been able to mobilized large crowds week after week, says actor Danny Glover, chairman of the Trans Africa Forum, a campaigner for global justice on behalf of Africans and other historically oppressed people.

"We can learn from the way in which they mobilize," says Glover. "We've got to be willing to support that effort and learn from that effort in our own attempt to begin to deal with the issues about African workers and deal with the issues surrounding those who are incarcerated and felons... We should support both issues. I think that African-Americans should be fully on board in supporting immigration where it's not only happening with a great number of Mexicans from Central America, but also what's happening with hundreds and hundreds of thousands of immigrants from the Caribbeans and from other places in the Diaspora."

Despite efforts to create greater cooperation between Blacks and Hispanics, there are some simmering tensions that neither side likes to discuss.

"Blacks do not have a hatred for immigrants coming into this country. They're just extremely disappointed in the fact that they're overlooked and ignored," says Claud Anderson, president of the Harvest Institute, a Black-focused research, policy and education organization in Washington, D.C. "You've got a Black coming out of prison and has been charged with some kind of crime and you've deprived him of his rights for life. And yet, you're bestowing those rights to people who are here illegally coming across this country. Regardless of what illegal immigrants are saying to you, they broke into this country. They've brought in everybody in the world on top of Black people."

In a country populated by immigrants, some leaders say, there are more issues that unite Blacks and Hispanics than divide them.

"It's fair for both," says Damu Smith, civil rights activist and president and founder of Black Voices for Peace. "We have to take a dual position to be fair to both groups. We need justice for everybody. Our incarcerated men and women who deserve the right to vote and our Latino brothers and sisters deserve to get what they're asking for. We have these White men in Congress telling millions of people here who are here cleaning up their house, shining their shoes, fixing their rooftops, telling them to go back home. It is really hypocritical for them to take this kind of position. And these are the same White men who don't want Black men to have the vote when they come out of prison. The land that they're coming to was confiscated by the United States anyway. Don't tell people to go back home. You go home, wherever that was."

It's not that simple, says singer/activist Harry Belafonte.

"The immigration question, as it is beginning to reveal itself, is as important a moment in this country's history as was the civil rights movement," he said in a recent interview here. "A lot of people looked at Rosa Parks getting on the bus an issue of segregation as something that could be easily legislated away. That's not going to be done that easily with this issue, not only in relation to the immigration questions, but relationship to color, the relationship to Hispanics, relationship to Haiti. It's a huge question and a lot is going to happen."

What is happening on Capitol Hill is that Republicans are deeply divided on this issue. The House bill, sponsored by Sensenbrenner, is now being pushed through the Senate by Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.). Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) have proposed bills that, if enacted, would incorporate the guest-worker program favored by the president. If the McCain-Kennedy bill passes the Senate, it would take a conference of lawmakers from both sides of the issue to reconcile.

None of the bills advocate permanent residency for illegal immigrants. But guest worker programs open the door for temporary legal status during which immigrants can apply for permanent residency and then citizenship whereby they could register to vote.

Advocates for convicted felons are tracking immigration proposals as they make their way through Congress.

"Obviously we don't think it's a bad idea that immigrants be given the right to vote," says Mark Mauer, executive director of the Sentencing Project, among the leading advocates for felons' voting rights. "But this November, we have an important election coming up and we have 5 million Americans who won't be able to participate because they have a felony conviction and are disenfranchised. Of that total, three quarters of them are not in prison. They are on parole or ex-felons in states that disenfranchises that group of people as well."

According to the Sentencing Project, felons on probation or parole in 36 states are disenfranchised, and in 11 states a felony conviction can result in a lifetime voting ban long after the completion of a sentence. Mauer estimated that one of every eight African-American men will be unable to vote this year because of current or past felony convictions.

Mauer says disenfranchisement of convicted felons prevents them from being integrated back into the community and from taking on the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.

"These laws basically send a message that says you're actually a second-class citizen even though you've done your time in prison already," Mauer explains.

Richardson takes it another step. He stated, "It makes us feel lower than a third-class citizen of this country."

Interesting Perspective. Americans banned from voting because of a felony conviction vs. illegal immigrants convicted of a misdemeanor. This is really the heart of the matter, illegals don’t want felony convictions. That individual would become an automatic non-voting America, if they ever gained citizenship.

That sounds like a really good way to protect our country. I think their voting privileges should be banned, regardless of the actual charge against them. If you come into this country illegally, you will never be able to vote. Note: I’m pretty sure, convicted felons can ask a judge to re-establish their voting rights.

Now I have to go call my congressmen again.