An update for Dave’s coverage of last night’s immigration raids that took janitors across the state–RI Jobs with Justice and others are holding a press conference in about half an hour to respond to last night’s events:

Last night ICE detained 31 people as they got to work.
Stand together today to say we won’t let raids break up our communities.
Join us TODAY (7/16) at 3pm in front of family court. 1 Dorrance Plaza.

You can also read about the raids in today’s BeloJo.

As I mentioned in a prior post about the Garrahy Judicial Complex, I’ve been spending a lot of time lately in that facility’s Courtroom 4C, where arraignments for RI’s 6th District take place. The judges at arraignment give a shpiel about the meaning and consequences of a plea whenever someone pleads out at that stage of the game, and I often take much of that shpiel for granted.

An important part of what they must instruct the defendants is that any criminal conviction or guilty plea will affect any immigration status or proceedings. For many, this means that deportation is inevitable. One thing missing from the shpiel, however, is consideration of how a guilty plea and prison sentence will affect the defendant’s status in Family Court. All too often, defendants are counseled to accept a shorter sentence with time served only to be served with Family Court subpoenas on charges of neglect—neglect that occurs while these parents are behind bars—or deportation papers.

Colorlines magazine has a great piece this month on the intersection of systems—namely immigration, incarceration, and foster care. In “ When an Immigrant Mom Gets Arrested,” Julianne Ong Hing and Seth Wessler write:

Immigrant mothers are not the first to deal with the ways that different government agencies intersect, usually to their detriment. The experiences Black families have had with child welfare and criminal justice policy make clear what can happen to communities when family policy intersects with a set of other punitive policies.

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Reason #1:

Citing a tripling in domestic violence homicides in the past two years, Gov. Deval Patrick yesterday declared a “public health emergency” and directed health and safety officials to review data over the past three years and produce a trend analysis.

In 2007, there were 42 murders and 13 suicides related to domestic violence, averaging almost one a week and the highest rate since the early 90s, according to Jane Doe Inc., an advocacy group. In 2005, there were 15 murders and four suicides.

While Carcieri moves forward with his executive order against illegal immigration, Mary Lauby of Jane Doe, Inc., an organization devoted to ending domestic violence, points out that one reason for the rise in murders is all the anti-immigration sentiment. It seems many immigrant women are afraid to come forward and report cases of abuse.

Just another reason why hating on our immigrant population sucks.

This is from a great article on the immigration dynamic — It’s succinct, and hits on most of the key points.  Here’s what Poor Richard was saying in 1753:

Measures of great Temper are necessary with the Germans … Those who come hither are generally of the most ignorant Stupid Sort of their own Nation … I remember when they modestly declined intermeddling in our Elections, but now they come in droves, and carry all before them, except in one or two Counties;

Few of their children in the Country learn English; they import many Books from Germany; and of the six printing houses in the Province, two are entirely German, two half German half English, and but two entirely English; They have one German News-paper, and one half German. Advertisements intended to be general are now printed in Dutch and English; the Signs in our Streets have inscriptions in both languages, and in some places only German …

In short unless the stream of their importation could be turned from this to other colonies … they will soon so out number us, that all the advantages we have will not in My Opinion be able to preserve our language, and even our Government will become precarious.

Matt rips him up real good. For starters, check out this comparison of the RI Catholic church to Hitler, Stalin, and crew:

THE CHRISTIAN CLERGY of Rhode Island are undoubtedly correct that the Bible enjoins us to care for the poor and the strangers in our midst. Jesus’s life embodies the message that we are all brothers and sisters, and that every human being is of infinite worth, whatever his or her nationality. But does that mean that America should ignore its constitutional immigration laws?

That seems to be the underlying theme of recent criticism of Governor Carcieri for taking some steps to lessen the burden of illegal immigration on Rhode Island citizens and taxpayers, notably by handing over for deportation illegal aliens who further break the law.

…If the blood-soaked 20th Century of Hitler’s, Stalin’s and Mao’s mass murders taught us anything, it is the danger of substituting pure power and politics — always said to be in the interest of the “people” — for the rule of law and respect for the inviolable rights of the individual.

Great column by Charlie Bakst on the forces gripping our state:

Spare me the assertion that your grandparents came here legally. You can hardly compare immigration laws — or ease of entry — now with then. Do you think the undocumented enjoy being illegal? By and large, don’t you think they would have preferred to come on the up and up if that had been doable?

And if you insist that, really, you’d embrace immigrants if they were legal, what are you doing to get Congress to make that a more realistic possibility?

And please don’t tell me you’d insist that all the undocumented here be sent home first before they could come back, especially if you contend that as many as 20 million or 30 million have streamed in here. That would be some airlift!

I know that a lot of the folks carrying the pitchforks and torches are adamant that this is not about race, but excuse me for being a bit skeptical yet — for some people, it most certainly is.  This one just landed in Reps’ inboxes:

If Hispanics, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Ethipians, or anyone else, chooses to stand in the way of Federal, and State, laws, or make any efffort to deter the carrying out of the laws against illegal immigrants, and especially the criminal illegal immigrant elements, then they should rightfully expect to receive a great deal of negative reaction from the law abiding citizens of your communities, who are heavily in favor of having your communities purged of illegal immigrants…

If the local Hispanic community attempts to conceal illegal immigrants, or protect illegal immigrants, by preventing law enforcement from doing their job, in any way, then they too, are breaking the law.

Amy, with a perspective from the ground in Mexico, in this week’s Phoenix:

Miguel Pickard, who works for a social-research organization in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, says that the mainstream US media often overlooks how neo-liberal policies like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) have contributed dramatically to the rise in Mexican immigration. Following NAFTA’s implementation in 1994, subsidized US agricultural products flooded the Mexican markets, and Mexican farmers couldn’t compete with the cheap imports.
 
Immigration to the US became a “survival strategy,” Pickard says, for campesinos that could no longer make money selling corn and other agricultural products, as they had for many years. As a result, immigration to the US from Mexico tripled after 1994, leading “millions” of people to make the trip, he says.
 
NAFTA’s impact illuminates how the source of the Latino immigration “problem” is sometimes closer to home than we are willing to admit.

Um, maybe not shit on poor people:

PROVIDENCE — The emotional debate over illegal immigration moved from the governor’s office to the steps of a church this afternoon as religious leaders from around the state called on Governor Carcieri to rescind his executive order cracking down on illegal immigrants.

More than 40 clergy members from various denominations gathered outside the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul and applauded as Rabbi Alan Flam described the governor’s order as poor public policy that will have “unintended negative consequences’’ including more “discrimination against people of color and immigrants in Rhode Island.’’

Even Bishop Thomas J. Tobin, leader of Rhode Island’s Roman Catholics, who described Carcieri, also a Catholic, as a compassionate man, said: “At least I would like the governor to look at this issue again very, very carefully and to study, to see if there is another way of accomplishing the goals he has in mind.’’

The action is at 3:30 at the State House. Brown and RISD students are meeting at Faunce Arch at 3pm and walking over.

JOIN PROVIDENCE COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS FOR AN ACTION AGAINST CARCIERI’S ANTI-IMMIGRANT EXECUTIVE ORDER

In his worst attack on immigrants yet, Governor Carcieri signed an executive order on Thursday March 27th, intended to increase attacks on undocumented immigrants in Rhode Island. The order, among other things, turns the State Police into virtual ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents, requires all NGOs, companies, contractors and vendors dealing with the state to use the E-verify program (a flawed computer system that attempts to verify social security numbers) to ensure employees are documented, and will result in the unlawful racial profiling of people of color.

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First, if you haven’t heard about the Mental Health Parity bill, it’s an incredibly important measure that insurance companies are fighting tooth and nail, and that would stop insurers from shirking payment for mental health issues. Kennedy, who has suffered from addiction and depression, got a little play in the Times’ Week in Review, and the piece is worth a read.

Second, while not exactly a staunch defense of immigrant’s rights writ large, PK’s recent HuffPo piece is pretty interesting. It turns out he’s a sponsoring a bill “exempt anyone receiving a Ph.D. from an American university from numerical immigration limits.” Called the New American Innovators act, PK touts it as an economic growth strategy. The idea:

Well-known Stanford economist Paul Romer has discussed a “prospector theory” of high-skill immigration. As Mr. Romer describes it, “the more people you have prospecting, the more you will be stumbling on rich veins of gold.”

American universities regularly graduate American students of the highest quality, and our economy has reaped the benefits for decades. But American universities also produce foreign graduates of equally high quality. Our economy has benefited from their talents as well. In fact, between 1995 and 2005 one quarter of all start-up engineering and technology firms in the United States had at least one foreign-born founder. By 2005, these companies produced $52 billion in sales and employed 450,000 workers.

There’s gold in them thar hills!

Turns out two of the ‘top-50′ UFO photographs taken world-wide in the 1960s were snapped in Woonsocket:

“1967-Woonsocket, Rhode Island. A daytime photograph of a disk-shaped object was taken in East Woonsocket UFO contactee Harold Trudel. The photograph shows a slightly asymmetric hubcap shaped object with a small dome and aerial extending from the bottom. To even the untrained eye it looks like a fake, more than likely produced by suspending a model from a string. Trudel believes he is in mental contact with space people, who send him telepathic messages as to where and when they will appear. A la Adamski, probably a hoax.”

“1967-Rhode Island. This is a real classic looking UFO. Taken in Woonsocket, Rhode Island on June 18, 1967. The photo actually appears to be from a much earlier time period as it has a strange resemblence to an Adamski ship of the 1950s. Possibly a hoax, but I personally have no evidence to make the statement without reservation.”

No wonder so much of the anti-immigrant talk radio chatter seems to come from up thataway.

[Update: There have been several comments on the RIFuture cross-posting of this.  And I just added this subsequent post.]

Here are some choice excerpts from the Projo.com shit show, in response to the Governor’s executive order. Feel free to chime in with something that’s not racist:

“Juan Pichardo needs to SHUT UP and go back to the Dominican Republic. He is anti-American.”

“Illegal immigration in Rhode Island is shameful and is in no way similar to our immigration past, which was full of lawful peolple, speaking english and going to school or work.”

“Wait..who’s that knocking? It’s the ACLU and every elected official in Providence with an accent crying racism. This will go to court and get overturned like everything else anyone tries to do to get rid of illegals. I’m starting to hate immigrants altogether legal or illegal!!”

This one might be sarcasm, but who knows:

“Not nearly enough. We need action, now. We need to form vigilante groups and take out the illegals. Stop them from buying plumbing supplies. Stop them from walking on our streets. We need to do this now!!!!!”

Matt has an important post on this subject. It’s really disturbing to see how much of the anti-immigrant push comes from legislators of Italian extraction — seeing as the first regime of laws put in place to broadly restrict immigration, in the 1920s, were put in place BY PEOPLE WHO HATED ITALIAN IMMIGRANTS. (They also weren’t too fond of Eastern Europeans, like my grandparents…)

In debates on immigration and its many sub-issues, you often hear Rhody Italo-Americans saying that “my grandparents spoke English when they came here…” or something similar. Well, a little bit of legal research shows that this is not true. Here is a Rhode Island Supreme Court case from 1902 (State v. Michele Terline, 23 R.I. 530)….

…”The defendant requests the court to charge the jury that as it appears from the evidence that the defendant gave his testimony in the Sixth District Court in the case against Francesco Di Nardo in the Italian language, and the jury find that the testimony was so given, then, inasmuch as the indictment charges that the testimony was given in the English language, there is a variance between the evidence and the indictment, and the defendant must be found not guilty.”

When’s the last time you checked for your SS card before you hit up a Sleven’s?

PROVIDENCE — All José Genao planned to do at the heating equipment supply store was buy a spare part for his boiler.

While the owner began searching for the part, Genao and his friend began speaking to each other in Spanish.

As owner David C. Richardson was ringing up Genao’s $18 purchase, he demanded to see their Social Security cards.

What followed was a telling encounter underscoring the tensions in this country over immigration and ethnicity.

I got to field the final question of yesterday’s press conference in support of the Campaign for Fairness, Respect and Civil Rights.

It was, “Does your gut tell you that all the people on the other side of this issue are racists?”

And my answer was something along the lines of, “No movement is a monolith, and so people on the other side are driven by a variety of different feelings and ideas. Sadly, racism still plays a large role in our society, so I’m sure that it motivates some people. But I don’t think my colleagues or most of their supporters are racist, and I can’t speak the the dispositions of every last person involved.”

Well, anyway. I stand by that answer — some people are racist, and some are not. And now I’ve got a whole inbox full of emails like this as evidence:

Rep. Segal;

I’m amazed that you are in support of this Campaign for Fairness. Unless I am missing something in your biography, you should be part of the group of angry white men.

I want to voice my frustration and disgust with people like yourself who cannot see that this country is going down the drain. We are being bled dry.