WHERE ARE WE ON IMMIGRATION REFORM? PEOPLE, POLITICS AND PLACE

SPEAKING OUT ON SANCTUARY:

      On Monday, August 29, 2016 Marco Mejia and I were interviewed on our local community radio station, KBOO.  We spoke as activists with the Interfaith Movement for Immigrant Justice about the need for sanctuary and safe places for refugees and immigrants fleeing violence in their countries.  The theme was Immigrant Injustice and its impact on the community.  Here is the link to the broadcast for your listening pleasure.  www.kboo.org/media/52130-current-immigration-policies-and-injustices-they-inflict-entire-community#sthash.WBswHkAn.Z65Bu27h.dpuf
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POLITICS AND IMMIGRATION:

       This week the Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump made headlines with a visit to Mexico City and a meeting with the President of Mexico.  Later that day he issued his call once again to build an enormous wall dividing Mexico and the United States.  What people seem to forget is that there already is a wall along the southern border - all 700 miles of it.  PBS Newshour that evening carried a segment in Nogales, Arizona interviewing a U.S. resident about the wall - "totally ineffective," she said.  Others echoed the same message.
     Todd Miller, author of Border Patrol Nation, has an informative article posted online at Salon magazine, www.salon.com/2016/08/28/the-great-mexican-wall-deception-trumps-america-already-exists-on-the-border_partner/.  Read it as it contains great information about current immigration practices.  The bottom line is a bigger, better wall is not the answer !

FAITH LEADERS' RESPONSE TO TRUMP IMMIGRATION PROPOSAL:

     I received via email today some good "moral and ethical" statements based on a variety of faith perspectives as to why a Trump-like proposal does not reflect USA values nor that of people of faith.  It is too long to paste into this blog but I am putting a link to it - press_releasefaithleaders090216.docx


A RESPONSE TO ANTI-IMMIGRANT RHETORIC - Buy a tshirt from VOZ, the day laborer center in Portland, Oregon or make your own.  Wear it everywhere you go and if someone asks you, why?  I answer - we are a nation of immigrants/todos somos immigrantes.   It is something to be proud of - not that we have always treated immigrants to our land well or the original native peoples, but we are working on it.  Be proud of your immigrant roots and share your story. ​