Immigration Welcoming the Stranger Edith Rasell Justice Witness

Immigration Welcoming the Stranger Edith Rasell Justice & Witness Ministries United Church of Christ

IMMIGRATION

Unauthorized Immigrants • Currently 12 million unauthorized • Twice as many as in 1996 • Growing by half a million each year

Unauthorized Immigrants • Among the undocumented, about 40% arrived in the country legally and overstayed their visas. • The other 60% entered through unauthorized channels liking traveling across our southern border.

Unauthorized Immigrants • There are 6. 6 million families whose head of the household or a spouse is undocumented. • Among undocumented families, 41% have children. In three-quarters of the families with children, at least some of the children are US citizens.

Unauthorized Immigrants • Slightly more than half (57%) are from Mexico and nearly one-quarter are from the rest of Latin America. • One-third to one-half have not finished high school.

Why Do They Come? The Push (NAFTA) • Some 2 million farmers have been displaced since NAFTA went into effect in 1994 while Mexico’s imports of US agricultural products and corn have doubled. • Between 2000 and 2005, 900, 000 rural jobs and 700, 000 in industry have been lost. • In 2004, average household earnings were 15% below the level of 1994, adjusted for inflation.

Why Do They Come? The Pull People come to work and they find plenty of employers who actively seek employees willing to work long hours in grueling jobs for low pay.

Why Do They Come? There are many reasons not to come: • Leaving their known world • Different language, customs • The future is unknown • Dangers of crossing into the US • Once in US, they could be deported or imprisoned at any time

Hazardous Border Crossing Since 1995: • Militarization of the border: fences, fortified checkpoints, high-tech surveillance, thousands more border patrol agents • Border enforcement expenditures up 5 fold People Crossing are Funneled through the Desert

Hazardous Border Crossing Since 1995: • 2000 to 3000 deaths of people attempting to cross the border • Annual number of deaths has doubled • Most of the increase is occurring in the Tucson Sector • US General Accountability Office finds the rise in deaths the direct consequence of the policy changes

Hazardous Border Crossing In nine years (1995 to 2004), more people were killed attempting to cross the US-Mexico border than were killed attempting to cross the Berlin Wall during its entire 28 years.

Entering Legally is not Possible Family Reunification • Immediate family members (spouse, child, parent) of citizens can get visas • Immediate family members of legal permanent residents: 226, 000/year but no country gets more than 7% of these (16, 000)

Entering Legally is not Possible Workers • People with advanced degrees, “extraordinary ability, ” religious workers, investors with over half a million dollars, “skill-shortage” workers: 140, 000/year • Unskilled worker: 5, 000/year • “Diversity Visa Lottery”: 55, 000/year, preference for under-represented regions

Detentions Each year, 250 -300, 000 people put in detention; 1 million apprehended. If someone is picked up, they can be: • Immediately returned to Mexico • Released with a date to appear in court • Held until court date and deportation

Detentions • US has 26, 500 detention beds, up from 7, 500 in 1994 (expansion largely through private prison industry) • 230, 000 processed through system annually – adults and children • Cost is $1 billion/year ($95 per day) • One example: lights on 24 hrs/day, no windows, open toilets/showers, group punishment, allowed outside one hour per day

What to Do We need fundamental, comprehensive immigration reform.

Needed Policy Changes • Route to earned citizenship • Right to drive • Enforce labor protections, stop workplace raids • Change trade agreements to promote good jobs and protect domestic agric. • Separate local/state law enforcement from ICE