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SF Trumps Mayor’s Conservative Stance on Immigration Policy
Finally, a ray of sunshine in San Francisco’s deteriorating immigration policy, a ray of hope, ray of light – sing it Madonna! The San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee (DCCC) voted 20-1 against the head of its own party, Mayor Gavin Newsom, in adopting amendments supporting San Francisco’s Sanctuary Ordinance.
The whole mess began last July, when the San Francisco Chronicle began writing a series of racist articles criticizing the city’s practice of supposedly hiding undocumented juvenile offenders from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) when in fact, they were treating all youth equally and providing them with a fair shot at rehabilitation and reintegration into society. Facing pressure from the Feds, Newsom quickly aboutfaced so that undocumented youth could be deported upon arrest, before being proven guilty of any crime. The change threatened to undo gains made by the 1980s Sanctuary Movement, allowing immigrants access to city services without fear of deportation or police collaboration with La Migra.
Because we’re talking about San Francisco, the progressive capitol of the United States, and not say, Kansas, such racist policy changes threaten not just local politics, but influence decisions made in cities across the nation where local policymakers are looking for ways to either support or suppress their growing immigrant populations. Without the organizing efforts of its pro-immigrant core, in this case, over 40 community organizations, service agencies and lawyers groups that make up the SFIRDC (San Francisco Immigrant Rights Defense Committee), San Francisco would look like another Maricopa County, Arizona.
In Maricopa, Sheriff Joe Arpaio is responsible for creating tent cities, or outdoor prison complexes, for detainees, where temperatures can reach as high as 150 degrees. Although these regions may seem at polar ends of on a immigration spectrum, Sheriff Arpaio continues to find innovative ways of humiliating undocumented immigrants in his County including, for example, forcing them to march while wearing pink underwear with his name stamped on them in an effort to stop law breakers in his town. Argh.
San Francisco must use its powers for good and not evil like Sheriff Arpaio, in setting the bar for policies that ensure basic human rights for immigrants seeking asylum from civil war or death by poverty. Meanwhile, SF Deputy Police Chief Kevin Cashman insists that the SFPD is "one of the most culturally sensitive departments in the United States." If that’s the case, which it very well may be, we still have a lot of work to do in this city and in this country to fight racism and xenophobia.
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Maricopa County's Tent City
Crickets Louder Than Obama As Aunt Faces Deportation
I don’t wanna jump on the Barack bashing bandwagon, the trend since progressive activists stopped worrying about McCain winning and began scrambling back to the über-Left, and especially since I voted for the man (the personal becomes political when it comes to electing My First Black President), but President Obama’s attitude as his Kenyan aunt, Zeituni Onyango, faces mounting pressure for her deportation threatens my hope for just immigration reform happening under his administration.
Just two weeks ago, the Americans for Legal Immigration (ALIPAC) filed a request with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (the cold agency known as ICE) calling for Ms. Onyango’s arrest for violating deportation orders and demanding the President’s support on the matter. President Obama did not respond to their call but his silence in light of comments made at the end of last year about the case shows that he neither feels passionately about immigration reform nor does he feel its urgency. In an interview with Katie Couric, the Presidential hopeful stated about his dear “Auntie Zeituni,” as he referred to her in his memoir:
“If she is violating laws those laws have to be obeyed. We're a nation of laws. Obviously that doesn't lessen my concern for her, I haven't been able to be in touch with her. But I'm a strong believer you have to obey the law.”
Laws need to be obeyed, huh? What about the fact that his Auntie Zeituni came here seeking asylum because Kenya’s politicians couldn’t obey their own laws, and as a result civil war broke out, forcing her to immigrate to the US?
And as President, and inheritor of Big Brother, he should be able to find her now, even if perhaps, he somehow couldn’t get a hold of her then. If the distance allows him to turn a blind eye, what does that mean for the thousands of immigrants who are being rounded up by ICE, waiting in detention centers or at home with ankle bracelets? And who, just like Ms. Onyango, need his help in the form of immediate immigration reform? I don’t want to turn my back on My First Black President, but having solidarity with him means he needs to have solidarity with me and my community of immigrant people of color, and he could start by taking an Air Force One flight to Auntie Zetuni’s house in the projects of South Boston and find out what the hell is going on.
Beatriz is a native of New York City and a lead organizer with the Women Workers Project at People Organized to Win Employment Rights (POWER), a multiracial grassroots organization based in San Francisco.