Immigration Interpreter Update

by: Emily Gaumer

Thu Jul 17, 2008 at 14:44:30 PM CDT

To read the entire interview, please click this
Link

The decline of family farmers, Minimum wage, Iowa flood relief

by: Emily Gaumer

Wed Jul 16, 2008 at 15:45:38 PM CDT

The decrease of the traditional family farm was recently documented in The Economist.
In the report, the authors stated that since the first part of last century, "agricultural innovation and a rise in non-farm employment have driven productivity up and the number of family farms down."

While most family farmers like Nebraska farmer, Mike Korth believe "change is inevitable", he wishes that the government could help to slow it down.
The consolidation of family farms has been dramatic in many many states. For example, according to the report, Nebraska had a total of 135,000 farms in 1934, and last year that number was 47,300--a decline of 88,000 farms.

Even though the Farm Bill had some very positive elements, the subsidies, according to Korth "help big farmers to bid up land prices and make it harder for small farmers to survive."

Legislation was currently heard in states such as Nebraska, limiting cooperate farming but the bill failed. Legislation to support young and beginning farmers has advanced, but even with the aid from the federal government, some believe that consolidation will continue.
"If they want to make farming a full-time job, what other option do they have," Carolyn Orr, Council of State Governments said.

Food and Fuel, Immigration Rally and March in Iowa, South Dakota News, Minnesota News, Iowa News

by: Emily Gaumer

Tue Jul 15, 2008 at 14:38:31 PM CDT

The information was part of a larger yearly report by  the United States Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service, in which the authors pointed to the higher food costs as one of the triggers. "Between 2005 and 2007, grain prices increased 50 percent, and sugar increased 80 percent" in the last four years.

One of the ways in which to combat this, according to ERS, is by farming more of the world's land. In parts of Africa, the land has been found to be arable, but the lack of fertilizer has left the land largely untouched. To combat this, according to reports, the World Bank is set to increase aid for agricultural production in an effort to offset the shortage.

Prompted by the recent immigration raids  in Postville, IA, Saint Bridget's Catholic Church will be hosting a immigration reform rally on July 27 in Postville, according to the Associated Press.

Beginning at 1 p.m. with an interfaith service at Saint Bridget's, the march and rally will serve as a call for justice, by focusing on comprehensive immigration reform, family unity and just labor practices.

"This is a call for justice. This is a call to be faithful to our American and religious values. This is a call to stand in solidarity with our [Latino] brothers and sisters," Sister Mary McCauley, Saint Bridget's said.

In addition to Saint Bridget's, the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs  in Chicago and Saint Paul Minnesota-based Jewish Community Action are also serving as organizers for the event.

Latino Economic Center Hosts Western Minnesota Visitors

by: Emily Gaumer

Wed Jul 02, 2008 at 14:49:16 PM CDT

Director, Latino Enterprise Center
Northfield, MN

Editors' Note: The following is written by  Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin, Director of the Latino Enterprise Center.
I had the chance to have Cecilia Alvarez from the Enterprise Assistance Fund in Montevideo, MN visit us today.  With her was Chuck Waibel, owner of Garden Goddess Produce in Milan, MN.  Chuck is a researcher and producer of vegetables for winter distribution, a really interesting operation that grows and stores food in the summer and distributes it in the winter.  We have a lot to learn from these folks as we look into the winter months for our production in Northfield and other areas.

Chuck also produces vegetables during the winter through a system of solar heated greenhouses that require a very small amount of heat during the coldest weeks of the year.  He is sharing all of this data with us in Northfield and the blue prints for a chicken/greenhouse that he has developed with the purpose of extending the chicken growing season as well as combining their production with vegetables under the same facilities, also taking advantage of the heat generated by the birds.

Kay Fernholz was also part of the contingent, whom, with her sister Annette run Earth Rise Farm out of Madison, MN.  They established a foundation as the legal entity behind their farming operation and training center.

I had learned from these folks back in 2001 and then again recently as we assembled a statewide network of resources to support Latino families getting into agriculture.  Recently, our partnership work with the Land Stewardship Project on farm management training brought us back to looking at Earth Rise Farm as we envision a physical location in the western part of the state where we can launch a program of this kind.

Working with Cecilia Alvarez to strengthen our links, and to share experiences for the benefit our Latino communities around rural MN has been very productive.  In the coming months, we will be learning more about Chuck's winter production methods and as we train Latino/a farmers in the Northfield/Faribault area, we will incorporate this new technologies and production and marketing methods.

Bridge Conversations: People Who Live and Work in Multiple Worlds

by: amalia1609

Mon Jun 30, 2008 at 08:27:04 AM CDT

Caron Atlas, Bridge Conversations project director and co-editor R. Lena Richardson, Bridge Conversations project coordinator and co-editor

Over the past two years, the Arts & Democracy Project of the Center for Civic Participation has been engaged in an active planning project to learn what is need to support, connect and deepen work that connects art, culture and activism. One of the things we learned is that that some of the most creative strategies live in the intersections of disciplines, sectors, cultures and generations. We also found that many of the most effective people we met were those who are building bridges and creating hybrid and integrated programs and strategies. This series of essays seeks to learn from a diverse group of these creative people who recognize and further deep connections between environment, education, community development, politics, social service, public health and anthropology, and art and culture.

While we started out focusing primarily on people's work, we soon found that the journey to a holistic perspective includes people's personal lives -- how they grow up, how they connect cultures and world views and how they balance their personal life and their work. With support from the Nathan Cummings Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, CCP has joined with the Community Arts Network to commission 18 conversations between bridge people. Our intention is to create a forward-looking set of essays that emphasize new (and traditional) ways of working and being.

We encouraged people to name the challenges of bridging and how they have overcome them. We asked one person in each conversation to document it, and left it to them to determine the format of this documentation. As a result, some of the conversations are presented in essay format, others in the form of the conversation, and still others as a mixture of these two approaches. Some are interviews, and others are dialogues. We have provided bios and pictures of the participants and information about their organizations to provide further context. All the conversations took place between November 2007 and March 2008. Additional editing was provided by Vanessa Whang and Linda Frye Burnham.

+++++++++++++++++++ 

By Caron Atlas A Bridge Conversation about Animating a Latin American Idea in the U.S. Paul Chin and Vanessa Whang talk about crossing lines of culture and politics, race and ethnicity, and the local and global.

By Vanessa Whang (April 2008) A Bridge Conversation about Creating Transformative Spaces Harriet Barlow and Kathy Engel talk about the Commons and crossing borders. By Kathy Engel (April 2008) A Bridge Conversation on Anthropology as Social Activism Alaka Wali and Lena Richardson on drumming circles, sustainable conservation and valuing difference.

By R. Lena Richardson (April 2008) A Bridge Conversation on Connecting Action and Academia in California's Central Valley Isao Fujimoto and Tim Marema on the power of "edgewalking."

By Tim Marema (March 2008) A Bridge Conversation on Creating with a Sense of Strategic Practice Maribel Alvarez and Jason Bulluck on paying attention to the “little stuff,” engaging in critical discourse and understanding how power can be shaken up.

By Jason Bulluck (April 2008) A Bridge Conversation on Direct and Indirect Approaches to Community Change Littleglobe and South West Organizing Project talk about finding a relationship between community-engaged arts and organizing.

By Valerie Martinez, Robby Rodriguez, Molly Sturges and Rosina Roibal (June 2008) A Bridge Conversation on Innovative Approaches to Linking Nonprofit and For-profit Models Adam Huttler and Ruby Lerner talk about entrepreneurial strategies and changing paradigms for arts-service organizations.

By Adam Forest Huttler (April 2008) A Bridge Conversation on Listening to the Stories Underneath the Work We Do Paula Allen and Lena Richardson talk about traditional arts and culture as resources for Native community health.

By R. Lena Richardson (June 2008) A Bridge Conversation on New Paradigms of Artful Change Can art be as powerful a vehicle for change as it can be a bastion for maintaining the status quo?

By Dudley Cocke, Peter Pennekamp and Craig McGarvey (March 2008) A Bridge Conversation on Planning the Revolution over Collards Tufara Waller Muhammad and Javiera Benavente talk about the long tradition of arts and culture in Southern organizing and the danger of putting the spotlight on individuals.

By Javiera Benavente (June 2008) A Bridge Conversation on Politics and Humanity Caron Atlas and Mark Ritchie talk about balancing work and life.

By Caron Atlas (March 2008) A Bridge Conversation on Traditional and Organic Bridging Francisco Guajardo and Edyael Casaperalta on intentionality, consciousness and creating new opportunities.

By Edyael Casaperalta (April 2008) A Bridge Conversation on Who Will Carry the Work Forward An intergenerational conversation at the State of Nation Arts & Performance Festival and a tribute to Nayo Watkins.

By Caron Atlas, R. Lena Richardson and Carlton Turner (June 2008) A Bridge Conversation on the Creativity of Community Development Gayle Isa and Jeremy Liu talk about the power of spaces “in between.”

By Gayle Isa (March 2008) A Bridge Conversation on the Creativity of Strategic Communications Dee Davis and Michelle Miller talk about the aesthetics and mathematics of social change.

By Michelle Miller (June 2008) A Bridge Conversation on the Interweave of Culture and Ecology Ken Wilson and Caron Atlas talk about cultural context and creative philanthropy.

By Caron Atlas (April 2008) A Bridge Conversation on the Power of Art To Move People Ismael Ahmed and Anan Ameri discuss the extraordinary model of the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services.

By Anan Ameri (March 2008)A Bridge Conversation on the Spiritual Core of Indigenous Social Justice Tia Oros Peters and Vanessa Whang talk about maintaining your vision and integrity in rooms of power.

By Vanessa Whang (March 2008) A Bridge Conversation on the Tensions and Synergies of Being Strategic and Creative Brad Lander and Esther Robinson talk about organizing and art, anthropological listening, and whether being holistic is important. By Esther Robinson (June 2008)

After Postville raid, mystery advertiser in Guatemala sought meatpackers

by: amalia1609

Sat Jun 28, 2008 at 12:34:22 PM CDT

Agriprocessors denies any role in ads touting 'excellent opportunity' in Iowa

By Lorena López and Douglas Burns

Just days after nearly 300 Guatemalans working at a Postville, Iowa, meatpacking plant were nabbed in the largest immigration raid in U.S. history, an unknown entity sought to recruit more laborers from the Central American nation for jobs in the same small Iowa town -- going so far as to run advertisements in two major Guatemalan newspapers that a government official there says have all the trappings of a "fraud." The mysterious newspaper ads, published in late May and also affixed to telephone poles and store walls in Guatemala City, sought people for meat-processing jobs in Postville -- site of the May 12 raid at the kosher slaughterhouse run by Agriprocessors, the only meatpacking facility in the town.

Of the 389 people caught in the U.S. Immigration Enforcement and Customs (ICE) raid, 295 were Guatemalans working at the facility, said Tim Counts, an ICE spokesperson. The ads, published in the Guatemala City newspapers Prensa Libre and El Periodico, promised an "excellent opportunity of a job in the United States" for "men who have permission to work in the United States." The printed pitch goes on to say that the company was "located in a technologically developed town with a friendly atmosphere, pretty green areas, public schools and family recreation areas" -- and that the jobs paid $8.50 an hour and offered medical and dental benefits.

The ads don't specifically mention Agriprocessors, and the company says it has nothing to do with them. "Here's the bottom line: Agri didn't place the ads," said Jim Fallon, a spokesperson for Agriprocessors, the nation's largest kosher meatpacking company and Postville's biggest employer. "We don't know who did it." Guatemalan government investigates Guatemalan government officials say they are seeking the source of the ads. "This is a case that is under investigation," said Erick Mauricio Maldonado, general director for immigration issues in the Guatemalan Chancellor's Office.

The matter is now in the hands of the Public Minister's Office in Guatemala City, Maldonado said in a phone interview with Iowa Independent. Maldonado added, "The government doesn't support any of this program because we don't know where it is coming from or who is placing it." The ads included a cellular phone number for those interested. Iowa Independent called the number and received an answer saying the phone number was no longer in service. So did Guatemalan officials, who said they received the same result. Asked who paid for the ads, Gerardo Jimenez, editor of Prensa Libre, said, "We don't know." When pressed whether the accounting department at the paper might know anything about payments, the editor said the paper had no information. Maldonado said Prensa Libre provided the same answer to the government. He said an investigation is under way because of the potential "fraud" involved. In the United States, Counts said he could not disclose any information about an investigation. "Even if agents do know something about it, it is not something we would confirm," Counts said.

Agriprocessors has been shaken by the raid. CEO Sholom Rubashkin, son of the company's founder, stepped down in late May. Last week, Iowa Independent reported that an Agriprocessors supervisor who sold used cars and gave favorable treatment to company employees had fled to Israel, according to people who knew him. A federal agent said in a sworn affidavit that there was "probable cause to believe" that the supervisor who sold used cars "aided in the harboring of illegal aliens." The Postville plant, owned and operated by the Rubashkin family, is one of the leading processors of kosher food in the country. Members of the Rubashkin family have donated more than $120,000 to the Iowa Republican Party and Republican office holders in recent years and a smaller amount to Democratic Gov. Chet Culver and Lt. Gov. Patty Judge. The company is under federal investigation, according to news reports.

(Lorena López is editor of the western Iowa Spanish-language newspaper La Prensa. Douglas Burns is a fellow for Iowa Independent.)

Press Advisory: Postville Citizen Youth Speak with Senator Grassley

by: amalia1609

Thu Jun 26, 2008 at 13:25:49 PM CDT

Contact:

Luz Hernandez (563) 380-8154

Julie Santos (773) 559-2761

American Citizen Children Affected By Postville Iowa Raids Will Have Phone Conference Today With Senator Grassley to Ask for His Help

Postville, Iowa – Eight of the twenty eight children directly affected by the Immigration Raids in Postville will have the opportunity to speak with their Senator from Iowa. Senator Grassley has granted them a phone conference with him. The children will request for the Senator to help assist them obtain their American Citizen Passports, most of their parents are in custody awaiting deportation and unable to acquire the passport. Also their financial state is in crisis because they are unable to work.

Julie Santos Midwest Commissioner for LULAC’s National Immigrant Affairs Commission stated, “President George Walker Bush has publicly stated that we are in Iraq to protect the freedom that God meant for the Iraqi people to live in…yet right here in Postville, Iowa American Citizen Children bore witness to the criminalization of their parents & had the freedom to live in their country with their families taken away.”

LULAC’s National Immigrant Affairs Commission & the United Voices for United Families Campaign will be in Postville for two days to assist the children with the filling out of the necessary documents that the State Department requires for them to obtain their US passports under these special circumstances. MALDEF has assisted with the creation of a system of filling the proper legal documents to assure all legal aspects are covered for the benefit of the American children whose parents are in Immigration Customs Enforcement custody.

Pedro Lopez who is a 13 year old child whose family was part of the raids stated, “My mother is currently detained…she is not a criminal. I use to want to be a doctor when I grow up but now after seeing all of this, I want to be an attorney…I want to know the law so I can seek JUSTICE for all of our families.”

The children along with Immigration Advocates from across the nation will be on a conference call with Senator Grassley today at 1:45pm CST. The children and their families are grateful that their Senator has granted them this courtesy during this crisis.

When: June 26, 2008

Where: 312 W. Post Postville, Iowa

Time: 1:30pm

Immigration Response

by: Emily Gaumer

Wed Jun 25, 2008 at 10:44:17 AM CDT

I was reading the finalist essays of those individuals that participated in the "Great American Think-Off" regarding the question, "does immigration strengthen or threaten the United States?" and I wanted to respond with my own ruminations of sorts.

Anyone who has ever been on any sort of road trip across America knows that any small town that they visit or travel through, proudly broadcast on billboards and signs, "Polish Days," "Oktoberfest" or other such celebrations. What people fail to forget is that these celebrations are really celebrations of the immigrants that settled in their towns and cities.

As I was reading through the essays, a statement by Craig Allen, one of the finalists, struck me as quite contradictory. Allen said, "Immigration threatens our identity as a nation. It inhibits our growth as a single people and dilutes our blossoming culture." What???  

If Allen's statement is true, then those fairs and festivals that inundate the summer months are not about those that built our communities-but a basic exercise in futility?  As a person of Irish and German descendent, I know that they truly are not.  They are a celebrations and honor ceremonies for their grandmothers, grandfathers, uncles, aunts, cousins, mothers and fathers; their history, their present and their future.  

Immigration is our identity as a nation! In fact, the first people living in Minnesota and the upper Midwest were Indigenous Peoples, and the state of Minnesota has had a long history of inclusion and welcome. For instance, according to a pamphlet from 1878, the state was commended for its "healthful climate...and demonstrated potential for agricultural production." In fact, in the late 1800's according to the Library of Congress, official election instructions were being written in nine languages."

So why do we suddenly feel threatened by immigration?

Those newly arrived individuals only want a better life for their families. If they could live in their home countries, they most definitely would choose to do so. That was the impetus for migration in the early 20th century and continues to be so.

In the end, it seems from all the research and writing that the nation was more inclusive and welcoming in the early stages of its development than in 2008. That is a sad state of regression-and instead of Minnesota being remembered and revered for its warmth and openness, it is instead succumbing to fear, stereotype and prejudice-something for which no one wants to leave as a legacy.

Interpreting After the Largest Raid in History: A Personal Account (and a letter of thanks)

by: amalia1609

Wed Jun 25, 2008 at 08:04:49 AM CDT

Note: what follows is a letter of thanks/support that I wrote to Dr. Camayd after I read his "personal account" of interpreting during the Postville, IA raids. Dr. Camayd is a Professor of Interpretation at Florida International University. With over 23 years of experience of interpreting as a federally certified interpreter he writes that "In all my years as a court interpreter, I have taken front row seat in countless criminal cases ranging from rape, capital murder and mayhem, to terrorism, narcotics and human trafficking. I am not the impressionable kind. Moreover, as a professor of interpreting, I have confronted my students with every possible conflict scenario, or so I thought. The truth is that nothing could have prepared me for the prospect of helping our government put hundreds of innocent people in jail. In my ignorance and disbelief, I reluctantly decided to stay the course and see what happened next."

Read Dr. Camayd's: "Interpreting the Largest ICE Raid in U.S. History: A Personal Account" and listen to Dr. Erik Camayd-Freixas speak to UpFront's Sandip Roy about his experience.

Link 

 ************

Dear Dr. Camayd-

I just finished reading your first person account of your time in Postville. It was sad. Not un-suprising, but sad. While I don't live in Postville, I work for a small, community-based nonprofit that works in rural communities in MN and IA. Over the course of the last two years we have lived and worked through 4 raids--some plant based, others residential. Each and every one has left us feeling frustrated, depleted, angered, and suprisingly more educated. In each and every instance, we have, as you have, begun to get a handle on the real picture regarding immigration, detention and deportation--and what lengths our government is willing to go to.

With regard to Postville-- I would say that it has been particularly hard, and has called me and many of my fellow Guatemalans to action. I am a Guatemalan. In fact Maya, born in Guate. and displaced to the US due to the civil war. In addition to spending many hours in Postville working with families, we created a solidarity letter in the immediate aftermath of the raid. We have received hundreds of calls about the story of Postville and the indigenous peoples who are now detained. You may or may not know that many are Kakchiquel, Kiche and Mam--coming from Panajachel, Chimaltenango, Antigua and Huehetenango. You are right, Spanish is not their first language, nor do they speak English at all. The irony of the Postville raid is overwhelming. An estimated 100+ indigenous Maya detained and held for deportation back to Guatemala--by the very government that planned and carried out a coup, toppled a democratically elected government, and then spent biliions of dollars training Army officials in torture techniques, as well as supported tierra razada campaigns throughout the highlands--killing, disappearing and displacing millions! Many who I spoke with have no pueblo to return to, have no family left alive...

Last week I traveled to Chimaltenango, Guate. for the International Indian Treaty Council annual conferece. There we wrote and passed a resolution on Economic Justice, Free Trade, Migration and Displacement.  In addition, I was able to meet with Kakchiquel, Mam and Kiche community leaders. I told them of the raids, showed them pictures, and shared with them the names of poeple in detention. As suspected--they knew nothing of the raid. And, they recognized names on the list. It's not perfect, but its a start.

Thank you for your personal account!

En solidaridad,

-amalia anderson

Bureau of Prisons Ranks Immigration as Third Highest Offense in Nation's Jails

by: amalia1609

Tue Jun 24, 2008 at 12:52:45 PM CDT

It's never been a secret that the United States has a love affair with criminalizing people. Maybe it goes back to the days of the wild, wild West when it took brave men to stand up to train and bank robbers and cattle thieves.

All the early days of television that ran western shows idolized the guys wearing the badge and toting the gun. Yet when this nation became industrialized, a.k.a. more civilized, the arrests of purported criminals just got worse. True, some deserved to be there -- the killers, the robbers, the rapists, etc. But it's always been a
curiosity as to why U.S. society is so much more
lawless compared to other countries.

According to the International Centre for Prison
Studies, the United States ranks first among all
countries with the biggest prison populations. As of Dec. 31, 2006, the U.S. prison population stood at 2,258,983.

Curious that the other two countries in the top three, #2 China and #3 Russian Federation, are known for oppression and arbitrary imprisonment. I realize that it's natural that these other two countries are included in the top three because these three have the world's largest populations but one would think that either Russia or China would take top spot.

Well, from the news today, the #1 spot is probably
going to be our's for a lot longer. (Source: trac.syr.edu) It was reported that criminal
prosecutions of undocumented immigrants reached an
all-time high in March 2008. Immigration cases
accounted for 57 percent of all new federal criminal cases. If that wasn't bad enough, the Federal Bureau of Prisons reports that the three highest offenses for incarceration today are:

1. Drug offenses.
2. Weapons, Explosives, Arson.
3. Immigration

Somebody working versus someone dealing in drugs or setting fire to something just doesn't seem a fair comparison to jail someone, but then again, when it comes to undocumented immigrants fairness is the last thing on people's minds.

In fact, the Department of Homeland Security has made it known that it hopes by criminalizing all caught undocumented immigrants it will discourage them from returning.

Again, they don't see the reality of the situation.

The same report identifies the top lead charges in
prosecuting immigration matters. Surprise, the #1
charge with 1,331 cases is "Reentry of a deported
alien."

So much for discouraging these people.

As the old saying goes, "where there's a will, there's a way."

When will DHS realize that the will of these people is much stronger than the will of Congress and that until Congress forgets about their reelection chances and does what is best for these people and the country's economy, the U.S. will be criminalizing the majority of the North American and Central American continents before everything is over and done.

Posted by Marisa Trevino on 18 de Junio 2008