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Snapshots of the National Immigrant Rights Movement

New America Media, Interviews, New America Media staff, Sep 25, 2006

Editor's Note: New America Media editors interviewed 30 immigrant activists on where the movement is at as of mid-September. The interviews show remarkable scope and depth to the movement but conditions are different in every state. The following are excerpts from Longmont, Col., to Charlotte, North Car, from parts of the country that have seen vicious anti-immigrant backlash as well as important multiracial movements for immigrant rights.

DAVID OSLO, Director, IMMIGRATION AND REFUGEE SERVICES, CATHOLIC CHARITIES, Wichita, KS

Immigrants made up 4.2 percent of the population of Wichita in 1990. Now it's estimated to be 12.1 percent, 97 percent of whom are Hispanic. It has made Wichita a hotpot of hate in the last few months.

When the first immigration rallies happened, with more than 3,000 people showing up (Wichita's population is 350,000) it was front-page news. The fact that many people carried Mexican flags became a big issue. It became so bad that the Hispanic community started living in fear.

There was an increase in profiling. Wichita had never had Immigration carry out raids on local businesses before, but recently there have been several. The Wichita Eagle newspaper has an opinion line that gets daily calls saying Mexicans should go back. Catholic Charities has clients who were speaking Spanish in the supermarket and had people come up and say, "If you're speaking Spanish, why don't you go back to Mexico?" Companies are getting letters saying they know they're hiring illegal aliens and will send ICE there.
People say their employers have told them they'll get laid off by the end of the month if they can't show valid IDs.

Recently, a retired police officer published an announcement saying he was going to set up a chapter of Minutemen in Wichita. There's an initiative in Topeka that English be made the only language in Kansas.

On the positive side, they're coming out in droves to find out about citizenship. Last year Catholic Charities dealt with 43 applications for citizenship. This year it's up to 121.

Catholic Charities engages its audience in Kansas by basing its presentations on Scripture. This is a very religious part of the country. They emphasize how Jesus had no place to lay his head; he was a refugee from when he was a baby.


FLAVIA JIMENEZ, Policy Analyst, NATIONAL COUNCIL OF LA RAZA, Washington, D.C.

The spring mobilizations were strong because of the urgency of opposing Sensenbrenner provisions that would have made undocumented immigration a felony. At the same time the Senate was moving on comprehensive reform with a path to legalization, and that was urgent too. The planets were aligned last spring, so to speak, so the mobilizations were big, with people driven by the sense of urgency.

Now that Congress has made it clear that nothing is going to happen in terms of serious reform, the sense of urgency is not as pronounced. We also have growing pains, new leadership in many places, there's also difficulty determining what bills can be supported -- so the Labor Day mobilization turnout was not as big.

But it doesn't mean there's no more movement. There are voter registration drives, U.S. citizenship campaigns, opposition to restrictive local ordinances and raids. It's very much alive.

People are fighting anti-immigrant ordinances locally, including legal challenges on constitutionality of these ordinances, also injunctions against their enforcement. It must be made clear that that the Supreme Court has determined that the federal government has jurisdiction over immigration, not local governments. Which brings the issue back to the federal government, which has done nothing but play with so-called hearings to drum up opposition to reform.

Most organizations know that whatever federal reform legislation comes out won't be perfect. We're all clear on that. But where agreement is difficult is on the issue of where the line should be drawn in determining whether a bill is acceptable or not.

For us in the National Council of La Raza, we can't give in on these principles: that some sort of path to permanent residence be provided. The communities we're in touch with absolutely want this; there must also be protections for workers, and family reunification backlogs should be diminished.

There's still some back-and-forth discussion with and among unions on temporary workers issue. The labor movement isn't of one mind about this right now.

Meanwhile, raids are taking place, unsettling immigrant families and communities. New immigrant communities, such as in the Southeast, have more challenges, being that the presence of immigrants is so new to the local populations. Border states are also dealing with what to do with flow of immigrants, deaths in the desert of people trying to cross. People have been migrating back and forth for seven generations in places like El Paso and Laredo, but now, suddenly, the only way to regulate this is through heavy-handed enforcement -- it creates a big problem in these places.

Congress will pass legislation sometime in the next two years. In the next few months, however, we must watch out for heavy-handed measures of enforcement being snuck into other legislation -- like the way the Real ID Act was snuck in. This is a real danger. The new Congress next year must be pressured into voting for comprehensive reform, whatever party ends up in power.


AMY GOTTLIEB, AMERICAN FRIENDS SERVICE COMMITTEE, Newark, New Jersey

New Jersey is a confusing state -- on the surface it's wealthy, but there's a lot of poverty that's buried. We have a really big immigrant population, and it's home to the largest number of immigrant detainees in the country. Thousands of people were shipped to New Jersey in 2002-03.

The main impact of the marches: people have turned to the right issue. Statewide, we have a decent congressional delegation regarding immigration. We have a new governor but local ordinances have been popping up -- little pieces that you have to deal with, aimed at fining employers that hire undocumented immigrants, giving licenses and contracts only to employers who check for proper forms. The language of these ordinances is "We find that illegal immigration leads to negative influences...a lower quality of life." Other communities are copycatting this.

MARILYN DANIELS, MAXWELL LEGAL CENTER, Lexington, Ky.

Lexington would be classified as very conservative. The major reaction we've seen is a high level of anti-immigrant hostility, prejudice and emotionalism. We had one really good demonstration here, but that really engendered a lot of negative reaction from the citizens, primarily on talk radio and in letters to the editor. It put a lot of pressure on city government. There's hardly a day that passes without a letter to the editor that's anti-immigrant. The woman in charge of talk radio tries to be inflammatory, and people call in and it just goes from bad to worse. Our city government passed a strong measure for comprehensive immigration reform initiated by employers, but they've gotten lots of criticism for that.

What has flabbergasted us is the fast way this has become a high-profile issue. In years past nobody in Lexington even knew immigrants were here. Now people think it's the most serious issue we've got, and Kentucky has such a small population.

In Lexington we've had complainants in rural areas around the chicken processing plants. Police in 2005 set up roadblocks on the way to the chicken plant to check driver's licenses. Anyone who didn't have one was sent to court and when they got there, the Immigration enforcement was there to arrest them. Around 100 miles from here, we've had Hispanics' homes and cars vandalized.

The Lexington county police department has been exemplary. They have tried to establish rapport with the Hispanic community so that the community feels comfortable to report crimes. They have sent officers to Mexico to learn the language and culture. However, there are individual officers who are extremely prejudiced.

I don't feel that I'm part of a movement. I feel I'm in a terrible problem. I'm afraid that we're heading for even worse times. I'm afraid that they will pass punitive measures between now and the end of the year. What it does to families and children is what bothers me the most.


RONG XIAOQING, SING TAO DAILY, New York

The role of ethnic media is that we can make the voices of the constituents heard. Our constituents are Chinese immigrants and a lot of them don't speak English. But they want to say something.

After we talk to them and hear their concerns, we call the government or the legislature to ask for their comment, to say, 'Here's what the community thinks, do you have a comment?' At the same time, we take what the lawmakers say and tell it to the people. So we act as a bridge to connect the two parts that play an important role in the movement.

MARIANO ESPINOZA, Executive Director, MINNESOTA IMMIGRANT FREEDOM NETWORK

People were angry over the House bill on immigration passed last December and the report released by the Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty two weeks earlier that blamed illegal immigrants for causing a drain on Minnesota's economy. Hundreds of thousands of immigrants took to the streets in February, in March and again on Labor Day. Most were Latinos, but there were also people from other nationalities. There are 50,000 to 80,000 undocumented workers in the state. Anger united them all. It was ugly.

People were also upset by a piece of legislation proposed by the governor that would have barred cities in Minnesota from passing ordinances like those passed in St. Paul and Minneapolis to prevent police from acting as immigration officials and to prevent the undocumented from getting driver's licenses. The two cities have barred city officials from checking the legal status of those seeking city services.

In response, the governor proposed legislation to "welcome" any illegal alien who invested $500,000 in the state. Who in the world would have that kind of money to invest in our state?


BILL CHANDLER, Executive Director, MISSISSIPPI IMMIGRANT RIGHTS ALLIANCE

In April, we had over 1,000 immigrants come together in Gulfport for the first time in the history of the state. We marched through historic black communities and people joined from these communities to support the rights of immigrants. The march was six miles long.

There was very little anti-immigrant sentiment -- perhaps two people gave us the finger. Everyone else cheered us on. Immigrant workers have contributed to the recovery of the region. On May Day we had a march in Laurel, the center of poultry production, and about 500 people showed up.

The marches have given immigrant workers the confidence to stand up. The results have been xenophobia and racism revealing themselves very openly in white districts where more Latinos are moving in. A Republican competing for lieutenant governor used xenophobia and racism as part of his campaign. A leading Democratic contender introduced an amendment for employer sanctions. A conservative senator supported immigration issues. The legislative black caucus has also been very supportive and continued to support the rights of immigrants. Leading black newspapers in Jackson advocated support for immigrant rights.

There have been growing anti-immigrant bills proposed in the legislature -- from employer sanctions to the REAL ID act, making it a felony to sell an auto to an undocumented. We were able to defeat that bill. We were able to do this by getting the backing of the Mississippi Legislative Black Caucus and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which Martin Luther King Jr. founded. We got bills passed such as a court interpreter's bill requiring municipal, county and state courts to provide interpreters. A small Dream Act has also allowed immigrants who attend high school for four years to attend state colleges at state tuition.


JERRY GONZALEZ, GALEO LATINO COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT FUND, Atlanta, Ga.

There's been a backlash. Our governor Sonny Perdue is running an anti-immigrant campaign. Exactly one week after 70,000 people marched for immigrant rights (on April 10) he signed into law SB 529, the most restrictive anti-immigrant legislation that is based on the Colorado law.

We were the most vocal opposition of the legislation. They were intent on passing something, so we worked with them to make sure the law included three non-negotiable things: that it protect children, pregnant women and access to higher education. Now there are rumblings of taking away access to higher education, and there's talk of a statewide ban on renting to undocumented immigrants.

Spanish media was critical for mobilizing the big march, particularly Spanish radio. We also went on the Korean radio station WPBC-AM 1310 in Duluth to let the Korean community know what we did. Our interview on the local talk show with Kevin Kim was simultaneously translated into Korean.

There's tension between the established African American community and newly arrived immigrants. I spent two hours on the progressive black radio show WAOK during the debate on state anti-immigration measures, and the call-ins were more conservative and advocated harsher resolutions, than the response on right-wing conservative shows. The solution is to have white people and African Americans talk about immigration, to select the right spokespeople, someone who is perceived as the same.


DOUG RIVLIN, Director of Communication, NATIONAL IMMIGRATION FORUM, Washington, D.C.

The spring rallies had a big impact here. The Senate debate was still going on -- the idea that so many people would protest the House bill and support the Senate reform bill was very important at that time. It was a cool thing to be in the marches. When we first learned of the Chicago march through cell phone photos, and of other rallies, it was electric. The amazing thing was no one was really in charge. There was no national plan to do these marches.

For good and for bad, student walkouts in various cities -- they coincided with an HBO movie dramatizing the 1968 student antiwar walkouts, so that was a boost -- got under people's skins. The flags, walkouts, boycott didn't go over well with mainstream folks because they were confrontational. Still, here in D.C. it was important for politicians to see this. It was important for senators who want comprehensive reform to -- it gave them added energy for the Senate debate, to move it in a positive direction. Those who were anti-immigrant to start with became harder.

You couldn't recreate the spring actions during the Labor Day mobilization because the legislation wasn't going anywhere. For many people it wasn't as worth taking the risk that they took walking off the jobs in spring. It wasn't a bad thing, even if the turnouts were smaller. It kept the beat going -- labor, churches, advocates were there. The head of the NAACP declared they won't allow anyone to drive a wedge between blacks and immigrants. For members of Congress who are trying to fight back -- Kennedy, Honda, Guttierez, Jackson-Lee -- it was important to be at the rally and speak to a big group of people.

We're expecting a new round of bashing from the GOP in light of the election. They will try recycling old proposals in the House. It's all political and not expected to move over to Senate -- just symbols and politics. The GOP is worried about the election. They can't talk about the war, cutting taxes, the president, gays -- so they're hitching their wagon to immigrant-bashing. The most important thing in next few weeks, is how all this is playing out in the local elections, how this will play out in the long run among Latinos and immigrants vis-à-vis the Republican Party. It should be a good time for pro-immigrant politicians to highlight actual solutions, not just fences, but most are still a little afraid to go boldly. This is really the first nationwide elections where immigration is a top item. It's a time to see where it works or doesn't work.

If Democrats prevail in November, some imagine a scenario where they'll say, let's deal with it in the remaining lame duck session of Congress in December. A small GOP margin of victory could also lead to the same scenario. But we could be battling against bad or incomplete reform.

It's much more likely we'll be coming back to this issue next year in a new Congress. We're in a much better situation coming into next year. The Senate legislation changed the tenor of debate -- it's not just a problem, but there can be solutions to managing the flow of immigrants and normalizing the lives of the 12 million who are already here. According to most national polls, the country prefers the Senate approach of being tough but fair to House approach of just being tough.


GEPSIE METELLUS, Executive Director, HAITIAN NEIGHBORHOOD CENTER, Miami, Fl.

The immigration marches were making people very tense. Miami is one of the most diverse cities, there's great sympathy for immigrants, but there's still a lot of discomfort. You overhear immigrants themselves say while it's true that this nation was built by immigrants and immigration is wonderful, we can't take everybody in.

There's some tension in the African-American community. On one hand, it wants to be supportive of other black immigrants because immigration policy hasn't been favorable to immigrants from black nations. But there's also the feeling that these immigrants will displace African-Americans from housing, the work force and a number of services. It's the same tension and growing pains throughout the nation.

We've got to find a way to make people comfortable with the immigration issue. We put the most positive face on the Haitian community, emphasizing the positive makes you more acceptable to people. We have the highest number of Haitian Americans in public office and enrolled in adult education centers.

People are constantly looking for ways to ensure that the word gets out. Radio and TV are key ways to mobilize the community. It's traditionally a very oral community that gets news from radio. We use ethnic media; mainstream media is hard to access. It's either very expensive or you wait a long time for the story to get printed.

The trick is to get the word out to go beyond your own ethnic group and tap into others. We try to hook up with sister organizations that work in the Hispanic community, sending press releases out to everyone and holding events and rallies together. We hold joint events about immigration reform and fraud -- these are highly attended and televised.

Haiti is at a difficult crossroads, and it's likely people will continue to flee here. But politics back home don't affect us as much as immigration. It's a topic high on our radar.


RASHIDA TLAIB, Advocacy Coordinator, ACCESS, Detroit, Michigan

The marches were able to empower the community to speak out about their issues. This is good especially in the Arab and Muslim community, because after 9/11 they feared being engaged politically, marching and going to the polls. In the Michigan legislature they are targets of discussions. Even that has stirred some engagement among people here. The national campaign and movement informed the local movement.

The English-only legislation swept through the Michigan House -- it's legislation that made English the official language of the state. A House resolution counting only United States citizens for redistricting passed. It would hurt groups (that help immigrants); it would take a chunk of their funding. It would affect representation in those areas (like cities with heavy immigrant concentrations) if legal residents were not counted.

Our ties with the Latino community are growing stronger, and we're involved with a church-based coalition. We wouldn't have started working with them if it wasn't for the immigrant rights movement. They're broadening their base. We built an alliance with them that's probably been the most effective in our work.

CAMILLE ODEH, SOUTHWEST YOUTH COLLABORATIVE, Chicago, IL

The marches last spring were an important expression of how people are fed up with bad treatment and poor working conditions. I feel that the movement has created many positive changes at the community level as a whole. People are getting organized and leaders have evolved to fit the growing needs of the immigrant population. The struggle has created a sense of shared community across different immigrant groups. The movement is building infrastructure, but more importantly, there's unity being created.

The marches haven't brought around an immediate change or reaction in policy; we're still waiting on that "big change," though the process has begun. The policy debate has heightened a sense of urgency around immigration, not only concerning the Mexican border "fence," but also the repercussions of the Patriot Act on members of the South Asian and Middle Eastern communities. Communities are mobilizing, and we're working on incremental changes before taking on America as a whole.

I feel that negative backlash isn't the issue here. Though some community members say negative backlash is a problem, our communities continue to speak and organize themselves. I don't think that the situation is getting worse just because the debates are more vocal.


MOHAMMAD RAZVI, Founder/Executive Director, COUNCIL OF PEOPLE'S ORGANIZATION (COPO), Brooklyn, N.Y.

On May 1 we organized to shut down the neighborhood and businesses. We did, and had a human chain of Bangladeshis, Indians and Haitians, hand in hand, under all flags: Mexican, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, etc. We chanted "legalize don't criminalize, si se puede," and at 12:16 we recognized the date Dec. 16, when that horrible draconian bill was passed. The march moved the whole community to work hand in hand. Over 100 businesses shut down and 250 people showed up. We were just one part of a huge gathering collectively in the other boroughs: Manhattan, Queens, Staten Island. In New York 55 percent of New Yorkers are either foreign born or one of their parents are.

The impact was that many individuals saw people coming together from different ethnic groups and we had a collective voice. Different faith-based communities came out: Christian, Jewish, Muslim. We felt more comfort that there were other people in the same situation and political and elected officials have also changed their tone. Before they did not want to discuss the matter openly. Now immigration is discussed more openly. Congressman Nadler now says that there should be a path toward legalization. At the moment the nation is distracted by international conflicts, but we have to move forward. Political individuals who prevent us from moving forward will be out of office very soon. The foreign-born will become citizens and will voice their opinions.

We're not asking for amnesty. We just want a roadway for individuals who have been here for many years. There is a difference between amnesty and a roadway to legalization.

We are a group that started after 9/11 to help those wrongfully detained based on their surname. The FBI and other officials rounded up suspects based on their names and without search warrants went into their houses. The first thing we realized when we began to reach out was that the majority of these individuals didn't speak English. So we began to teach them ESL and immigration issues. The first day 300 people showed up. What was once supposed to be a temporary program is now a permanent one for 5 years. We have expanded services to citizenship prep to job readiness and youth groups. The most powerful thing is our services are spread through word of mouth.

Every generation of immigrants has encountered people who look different or don't speak their language. I believe our country has a remarkable ability to accept immigrants no matter where they came from and to integrate them in very fabric of American life. That's the beauty of the country.


GOURI SADHWANI, NEW YORK CIVIC PARTICIPATION PROJECT

In New York, we finally got our two senators, both Democrats, to take the immigration issue on; and it took the marches to do that.

At the local level, we haven't seen a backlash. Those cities that are enacting anti-immigrant legislation have had that in the pipeline for a long time. That's not the case in New York, except for one case on Long Island.

On Long Island, there's a county executive of Suffolk County, Steve Levy, a Democrat, who has always been anti-immigrant. A few weeks ago, he proposed Resolution 2025, which would require that all county contractors re-verify and prove to the county that all their employees are documented. It essentially brings the federal responsibility of Immigration enforcement to the county level.

We're bringing together pro-immigrant labor unions and having them take a joint position against the bill, which is very complicated on Long Island because a lot of the unions there are not pro-immigrant. So it requires a lot of work.

You have a tension between the federal government's inability to deal with immigration, and the local government that's responding to it. But the Suffolk County resolution can't stand up in court. It's unconstitutional.

Our greatest need is better collaboration within our own movement of groups that have different strategies, so that we're pro-active, not reactionary. The immigrant rights movement is very fractured and divided, whether you're in New York, Chicago or Miami. People aren't sure whether to support the Kennedy-McCain bill or a guest worker provision; they don't know what the next step is -- is it more marches? The Sept. 7 rally fizzed out and got a lot of bad press.

Advocates and immigrant rights groups are lacking a national plan. I don't think there's a collective vision. Those marches were opposed to something (the Sensenbrenner Bill), but we haven't figured out what we're for.


DEE ANN NEWELL, Executive Director, ARKANSAS VOICES FOR THE CHILDREN LEFT BEHIND

In the state of Arkansas we have a growing Hispanic population, largely due to the need for workers in poultry plants around our state. This is very difficult work -- you are on your feet, fingers and hands are lost all the time --so they're not very desired jobs. Many of our new immigrants, including undocumented immigrants, are willing to take on those jobs, and they're very valued because they do.

However, in the last year, we have had two significant raids. One was on a poultry plant in southern Arkansas, in a town called Arkadelphia. Homeland Security came in during the night shift and arrested 52 adults. Their children awakened to find one or both parents arrested and, within 36 hours, deported. Some of the children were infants and toddlers who awakened in day care centers with both parents gone. Because the majority of these children were also undocumented, they were not eligible for any state assistance formally. So the community of Arkadelphia had to step forward to take some of these children in, including the prosecutor, who took 10 children into his own home.

Then, almost a year later, in late August of this year, we awakened to a newspaper report that was buried at the bottom of the obituary page, identifying 11 workers who were undocumented and had been arrested at Little Rock Country Club. This the most affluent country club in the state -- the true bluebloods of Little Rock -- are members, and these were the fellows who mowed the golf course.

After the men were arrested at the country club, we went to the local high school that draws from the neighborhood which has a high concentration of Hispanic families and visited the ESL classes. We put our cell phone numbers up and told them they could call any time.

In the end the men were all deported and my understanding is that all the family members went with them.

In the Arkadelphia case, the community stepped forward to take care of the children, and a flurry of letters to the editor were very supportive of the families. This time, there really hasn't been a letter to the editor or any kind of editorial writing about it. It's been very hushed, and maybe that is what the community wants, if they are feeling threatened. But I think with a little passage of time, we will need to revisit what happened. I am very concerned that, again, nobody thought about the children.


HAMID KHAN, Executive Director, SOUTH ASIAN NETWORK, LOS ANGELES, CALIF.

One of our projects is organizing taxi drivers. One of the first marches in May of this year -- that had over 700,000 people in it -- was led by four taxis. One of these taxis carried a South Asian Network banner and another had a Los Angeles Taxi Association banner.

In terms of a movement, sometimes we differ from other organizations on the idea of: "Today we march, tomorrow we vote." We tried to do voter registration back in 2004 but we pulled that program almost immediately. We really felt that we had to do longer-term political education. While it is easy to say that the South Asian community is not that active, the truth is that we feel like we need a much longer time to do useful voter registration -- it may take 10 or 12 years. We have an understanding of some of the conservative politics in this community and must know how to educate around that -- especially with wedge issues like abortion and gay rights.

I think the ethnic media is not as proactive as we'd like them to be. India West is always there, covering our events as much as they can. But there are other ethnic media ... we really have to send them the story and the pictures in order to get coverage. SAN has built a relationship with the ethnic media over the past few years but it is often a struggle.

ANGELES ORTEGA, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, LATIN AMERICAN COALITION. CHARLOTTE, N.C.

The growth of the Latino population in the 1990s forced us to change our mission. The population here was mainly South American and Cuban, but we have seen a 300 percent growth in the Central American and Mexican population since 1990. Within the school district it's been in the thousandth percentage growth. We serve about 10,000 people here (pop. of Charlotte: 1 million; immigrant/Latino pop: 70,000)

We have a radio program on one of two local Spanish language radio stations.

We need to understand that communities don't work the same all around the country. What works in L.A. doesn't work in Charlotte. Charlotte is very conservative. We didn't ask for total work stoppage for May 1. We did a vigil and got 10,000 people, and that's huge for Charlotte. And even for that we got criticism. But if we would have asked for a total work stoppage we would have gotten such a backlash.

Understanding how different communities work is very, very important. NC is such an anti-union state. So when you begin from that point, how you can say let's go march in the streets when people will get fired? So it's about understanding our own communities and that wasn't happening nationally. We have to understand the culture of individual states. This state is a red state! That needs to be taken into consideration; one of our sister organizations lost funding (in Eastern NC) and I think that had to do with their activities. That's painful because then what happens -- Are you really helping in a way then?

The interesting thing is that here in NC we rely so much on the labor force; that's one of the reasons NC has been so successful, that immigrant labor force has made it possible for builders to continue to build.

Within all of that there was missing info about what would happen. People automatically thought that if you do a march, you get your papers. They were coming to us after saying, OK, we did the march, when do we get our papers? There was no real middle grassroots/advocacy organizing to explain the process, explain the Civil Rights movement and how it took such a long time. People absolutely felt like they were a part of the bigger thing. To me, it was so brave. It was incredibly brave.

Some of the ethnic media have been active, some aren't. They got in trouble with English media, saying you're just serving as an advocate, you're not really doing ethically what someone in the media ought to do; I think they're somewhat still involved.

Marta Moreno, Executive Director, El Comite de Longmont, Longmont, Co.

Longmont is in Boulder County, 30 miles north of Denver. Our organization has been here since 1980 after two Hispanics were shot by police officers. Our demographics changed a lot in the 1990s, we're now about 20 percent Latino, where before we were about 10 percent. (Pop. Longmont: 70-80k)

Despite a slight majority among Democrats in the legislature, in July the governor called a special session and Colorado passed four to five anti-immigrant bills. They refer to undocumented people as an unauthorized presence. The bills are targeting services provided to the undocumented. One bill requires that police report anyone who they hear speaking Spanish to ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement). One woman went to buy orange juice and they asked her for her license and photo ID. The same thing happened to a man who went to buy gas. No other states in the U.S. have passed laws like that this year.

I feel like some of the momentum has been lost, there was a lot going on in the spring. Now with election time coming up again I would say it's picking up again. Although even among democrats it doesn't seem like the majority are sympathetic.

DAVID STEWART, Executive Director, INTERNATIONAL HOUSE OF METROLINA, Charlotte, NC

On the one hand, a lot of people were saying that because of the marches they never felt so energized, that we've got to work together to defeat Sue Mirack (the boogie woman of the anti-immigration movement in North Carolina; she's positioning herself to run for governor). With her as a foil, and the marches as a positive momentum builder, many people have never been more enthusiastic. On the other hand, some of the corporations that fund us are saying "I really want to support you guys, but I'm worried about having our name associated with this kind of activity. But this is North Carolina.

The challenge we face is building alliances in Charlotte and our region. In our region the marches were overwhelmingly Latino, and one of the challenges is to build alliances with other immigrant groups and creating a broader immigrant rights dialogue. Some of these other communities are not as organized -- Africans, Middle Easterners and Asians. Our organization can play a role there.

AZAAD KHAIRA, Community Organizer, ASIA, INC., Cleveland, Ohio

The impact of the marches has been marginal, with Cleveland being the big, poorest city with low job availability and predominantly African-American, immigrants are definitely a no, no -- politicians/policy makers have a provincial outlook and cannot recognize the potential of immigrants fueling the economic growth of the city. The second problem is the myth of possible dilution of black power in the city with the arrival of immigrants.

The biggest problem is the Midwest mentality and insularity -- the same old policymakers run things, who have been around for too long and cannot appreciate the positive effects of global workers, global connections and global investments flowing into the city or region as a fuel for economic growth.

CLEMENCIA ORTIZ, LATINO AMERICAN IMMIGRANT & REFUGEE ORGANIZATION, West Palm Beach, Fl.

It's been a little quiet after the marches in April. It doesn't mean people are not continuing on this, but it's very seasonal in South Florida. Summer is the off-season. I think it will pick up again.

Organizations are strategizing. But concrete changes -- no. A lot of awareness was built. People are very concerned. They came forward to go in the streets and be aware that this is a real threat.

EUN SOOK LEE, Executive Director, NATIONAL KOREAN AMERICAN SERVICE & EDUCATION CONSORTIUM (NAKASEC), Los Angeles, CA

Protests are not new to Koreans, but our community is still trying to navigate a new system, learning what is possible here in the U.S. Can you do civil disobedience, for example? Can you walk off your job in protest?

At one press conference the Asian reporters had the most questions about protesting -- can you get arrested, what's the punishment, etc., all very basic questions about exercising your democratic rights in various ways. Even "advocacy" is very new to many immigrants who may be coming from emerging democracies -- making phone calls to government officials, doing petitions, etc.

In our view, the Labor Day activities were successful; we had large participation of Koreans, over all, for the movement nationwide, it still represented the biggest gathering of people on a single issue on a single day. But the mainstream media focused on the smaller turnouts, without bothering to explain that movements have their peaks and lows depending on surrounding circumstances.


Subhash Kateel, Families for Freedom, New York

Somehow "comprehensive immigration reform" has come to mean the legalization of "Mexicans." The press has framed the issue in the context of tensions between the black community and what they call the Hispanic community. New York papers talk about it as if there's no such thing as black immigrants.

If you live in Brooklyn, half the people you see on the street are immigrants, including white immigrants from all over the world. A significant chunk of the population of New York, and a significant number of the people being deported, are black immigrants.

Black immigration has changed what's happening in black America. The new black population is immigrants. Black folks are disproportionately targeted by the deportation system.

There's a strategy among the ultra-right to turn black American citizens against immigrants in the immigration debate, playing off unemployment n the black community. That's not a fake issue.

But the debate is framed as Mexican immigrants vs. black citizens. That's just not what it looks like. The bulk of our members are black immigrants. Our supporters come mainly from Dominican and West Indian communities. We need to let people know what the real stakes are in the black community if the immigration issue doesn't get settled.

People who say immigration is not a civil rights issue don't realize that the major figures of the civil rights movement were immigrants or the children of immigrants. Malcolm X was the son of immigrants. Stokeley Carmichael was from Trinidad. Marcus Garvey was a Jamaican immigrant, and was deported to Jamaica in 1927.

There's a huge gap between what the policies being proposed in Congress are going to do, and what people think they're going to do. I don't think the average person hitting the streets was doing it for a guest worker program. Folks on the street think comprehensive immigration reform will uphold the rights of families and U.S.-citizen children. In fact, all the bills being proposed tie the right to stay in the country with employment, and don't provide protections for families. People are concerned with the high number of deaths along the border, the egregious conditions in detention centers, the deportation of green card holders. None of the immigration reform bills being proposed in Congress would address people getting deported.



Adrian Ramirez, De-Bug staff reporter, San Jose, Ca.

For me, and many young immigrants, legalization is about allowing kids to have childhoods, something many of us never had.

Immigrant children grow up fast, and carry a stress that usually only adults feel. Although I am 21 years old, I feel like I'm 30.

Carrying around that stress is no easy task for a child's mind, which is not yet ready to deal with it. I felt like I was doing something wrong. I blamed myself for wanting toys and extra little goodies that all children want. The stresses of having to look out for myself at such a young age carried on to later years in my life as well.

Over the years, the stress made me tired, frustrated, and insecure. I felt like I didn't belong in this country, because I didn't have the same opportunities my friends had. When they thought about college, I thought about how I would never be able to pay for it, or even be eligible for financial aid because of my immigration status.

Ultimately, growing up fast has had its upside as well. I feel like I have been more prepared for life's hardships and I have been able to make better choices in my life as a result. But if the immigrant rights movement succeeds, and the undocumented are given avenues to legalization, the most powerful accomplishment will be that the next generation of youth will be granted the childhood I missed


Frank Sharry, Director, National Immigration Forum

If the House Republicans win in November because their base turned out because of immigration, then we're in for hard times. If the House is taken by Democrats, the immigration card loses big time.

House Republicans know that gay marriage, Iraq, tax reform aren't doing it for them. If by running against amnesty for immigrants and building a wall does win for them, then things will be ugly.

Detention policies are going to get worse. Mandatory detention may be one of the things that passes in this end game. In the political atmosphere we have now, people who are without status or have a criminal problem may be the most unpopular people in American politics. We need to play a vigorous defense but it will take 15 years perhaps to have a leg to stand on to restore due process to this population.

Border rights activists have gotten more sophisticated. They used to take the position that the borders should be open; now they're pushing for more visas so more people can come across legally and more civilian oversight on border control. They point the way for the detention rights people. We have to address the public's desire for some semblance of order. Here's a way to set up the system so it will work.

There are hundreds of local fights and there will be more. The whole immigration debate may be happening in local towns, not in D.C.. If the House remains in Republican hands, there'll be a standoff in Washington and it will be very ugly in local communities.