Nostrand Ave. Forum Rails Against Immigration Bill
An immigration forum attended by several City Council members focused just as much on racism, which several speakers alleged is the reason a contentious new Congressional bill calls for lack of documentation to be considered a felony offense.
By Emily Keller
Comment
An immigration forum attended by several City Council members focused just as much on racism, which several speakers alleged is the reason a contentious new Congressional bill calls for lack of documentation to be considered a felony offense.
The Emergency Immigration Forum took place at P.S. 269, 1957 Nostrand Avenue on April 22 and focused on issues faced by black immigrants from Africa and the Caribbean. Several hundred people attended.
The bill that was the impetus for the meeting and for nationwide protests April 1 and 10 is the Border Protection, Anti-Terrorism and Immigration Control Act of 2005, or HR 4437, which was passed by the Senate Judiciary Committee March 27 and is now stalled before the full Senate.
According to the bill, those who have overstayed their legal limit in the U.S. would be considered felons, which Councilmember Kendall Stewart said would be difficult to enforce. “Can you imagine them trying to put 12 million people in jail?” he said.
“This is immigrants pushing immigrants now, because all of us here are immigrants,” he added.
Citizens who employ or assist undocumented immigrants would also be considered criminals and could face jail time, such as a preacher at a church who helps an immigrant, or an emergency room doctor who treats one.
“The provisions of this bill are so out of character with this community,” said Stewart, who represents Flatbush, East Flatbush and Flatlands and chairs the Council’s Immigration Committee, adding that he would prefer a compromise that would allow immigrants to eventually become citizens.
According to Councilmember Charles Barron, who represents parts of East New York, Brownsville, East Flatbush and Canarsie, the legislation is being put forth by white men with too much power who are scared that the power structure will change if undocumented immigrants are given the right to vote.
“When the complexion of immigration changed, the rules changed,” said Barron. “This is about racism, make no mistake about it…They don’t want no more poor people of color coming into this country, and they don’t want you to have the rights that everyone else has,” he told the crowd.
Kendall also discussed two bills that he introduced in the Council. One, if passed, would allow undocumented immigrants to become police officers and firefighters, and the other would allow them to become certified teachers.
“Imagine, people…being sent to Iraq to fight a war that they didn’t really want to fight and then they come back and they are treated like second-class citizens. I think it’s wrong,” said Stewart about the impetus for his bills.
The best thing immigrants can do right now to protect themselves from the pending Congressional legislation, Stewart said, it to prepare for testing that may lead to citizenship or prevent deportation – which includes learning the civics and history of the U.S., and learning to speak English, because, “Sooner or later they’re going to say you have to meet certain criteria.”
Also discussed at the forum was a Council bill introduced by Barron that would make it legal for undocumented immigrants to vote. “If you can go die in a war in Iraq, if you can contribute to the cultural and intellectual capital of this city, then you should be able to vote,” he said about his reason for introducing the bill.
Ron Hayduk, author of Democracy for All: Restoring Immigrant Voting Rights in the United States and co-director of the Immigrant Voting Project, a resource project based at New School University in Manhattan, said the prerequisite of citizenship for voting rights is a fairly new phenomenon.
“Non-citizens had the right to vote from the founding of this country until 1926,” he said. “Voting was never about citizenship. It’s not intrinsically tied to citizenship. It never was…We’re asking for something as American as apple pie, older than baseball.”
Granting undocumented immigrants the right to vote would be significant, he said, because it would give one million people the right to vote.
“That would change dramatically the politics of this town. It’s really about who’s going to control the future of our government,” said Hayduk.
Councilmember Yvette Clarke, who represents Kensington, Prospect-Lefferts, Ditmas Park, parts of Crown Heights, Flatbush, and East Flatbush, and whose parents immigrated to the U.S. from Jamaica, said she would have never had the opportunity to serve on the Council if the bill that is currently on the table had become law before her family came to the U.S.
“When the pilgrims came they didn’t show no visa. They didn’t have no passport,” she said. “What is happening now is the height of hypocrisy. America was built by and became America because of immigrants.”
In response to the bill, and in particular the threat of deportation it imposes on children, Clarke said, “We need to make sure that our children realize this is their struggle too. Anytime they start doing mass deportations, families get separated.”
About the popular association of terrorism with immigration, she said, “None of us here were responsible for 9/11. We took a hit and we took a loss too.”
She also noted that the terrorists who crashed planes into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania were in the U.S. on legal visas. “The bottom line is the Federal government should have had their act together,” she said about 9/11.
“We need to make it clear that we do not accept this. We will fight until righteousness rains down,” she concluded.
Cheryl Wertz, Director of Government Access at the civil rights advocacy organization New Immigrant Community Empowerment (NICE), called the House bill “the worst of the worst of the worst,” and “a terrible negative piece of legislation.”
Police officers on city streets do not currently have the right to check anyone’s immigration status, but that would change if the bill became law, she said.
The clause that penalizes immigrants’ employers – whether they employ undocumented immigrants knowingly or unknowingly – she says will lead to discrimination through reluctance to hire people with particular surnames, looks or accents.
About the possibility of being penalized for receiving emergency medical care, Wertz said, “My advice to you is go to the hospital, get your treatment, and leave fairly quickly.”
For more information or resources, call Council Member Stewart’s office at (718) 951-8177 or visit www.immigrantvoting.org.
The Emergency Immigration Forum took place at P.S. 269, 1957 Nostrand Avenue on April 22 and focused on issues faced by black immigrants from Africa and the Caribbean. Several hundred people attended.
The bill that was the impetus for the meeting and for nationwide protests April 1 and 10 is the Border Protection, Anti-Terrorism and Immigration Control Act of 2005, or HR 4437, which was passed by the Senate Judiciary Committee March 27 and is now stalled before the full Senate.
According to the bill, those who have overstayed their legal limit in the U.S. would be considered felons, which Councilmember Kendall Stewart said would be difficult to enforce. “Can you imagine them trying to put 12 million people in jail?” he said.
“This is immigrants pushing immigrants now, because all of us here are immigrants,” he added.
Citizens who employ or assist undocumented immigrants would also be considered criminals and could face jail time, such as a preacher at a church who helps an immigrant, or an emergency room doctor who treats one.
“The provisions of this bill are so out of character with this community,” said Stewart, who represents Flatbush, East Flatbush and Flatlands and chairs the Council’s Immigration Committee, adding that he would prefer a compromise that would allow immigrants to eventually become citizens.
According to Councilmember Charles Barron, who represents parts of East New York, Brownsville, East Flatbush and Canarsie, the legislation is being put forth by white men with too much power who are scared that the power structure will change if undocumented immigrants are given the right to vote.
“When the complexion of immigration changed, the rules changed,” said Barron. “This is about racism, make no mistake about it…They don’t want no more poor people of color coming into this country, and they don’t want you to have the rights that everyone else has,” he told the crowd.
Kendall also discussed two bills that he introduced in the Council. One, if passed, would allow undocumented immigrants to become police officers and firefighters, and the other would allow them to become certified teachers.
“Imagine, people…being sent to Iraq to fight a war that they didn’t really want to fight and then they come back and they are treated like second-class citizens. I think it’s wrong,” said Stewart about the impetus for his bills.
The best thing immigrants can do right now to protect themselves from the pending Congressional legislation, Stewart said, it to prepare for testing that may lead to citizenship or prevent deportation – which includes learning the civics and history of the U.S., and learning to speak English, because, “Sooner or later they’re going to say you have to meet certain criteria.”
Also discussed at the forum was a Council bill introduced by Barron that would make it legal for undocumented immigrants to vote. “If you can go die in a war in Iraq, if you can contribute to the cultural and intellectual capital of this city, then you should be able to vote,” he said about his reason for introducing the bill.
Ron Hayduk, author of Democracy for All: Restoring Immigrant Voting Rights in the United States and co-director of the Immigrant Voting Project, a resource project based at New School University in Manhattan, said the prerequisite of citizenship for voting rights is a fairly new phenomenon.
“Non-citizens had the right to vote from the founding of this country until 1926,” he said. “Voting was never about citizenship. It’s not intrinsically tied to citizenship. It never was…We’re asking for something as American as apple pie, older than baseball.”
Granting undocumented immigrants the right to vote would be significant, he said, because it would give one million people the right to vote.
“That would change dramatically the politics of this town. It’s really about who’s going to control the future of our government,” said Hayduk.
Councilmember Yvette Clarke, who represents Kensington, Prospect-Lefferts, Ditmas Park, parts of Crown Heights, Flatbush, and East Flatbush, and whose parents immigrated to the U.S. from Jamaica, said she would have never had the opportunity to serve on the Council if the bill that is currently on the table had become law before her family came to the U.S.
“When the pilgrims came they didn’t show no visa. They didn’t have no passport,” she said. “What is happening now is the height of hypocrisy. America was built by and became America because of immigrants.”
In response to the bill, and in particular the threat of deportation it imposes on children, Clarke said, “We need to make sure that our children realize this is their struggle too. Anytime they start doing mass deportations, families get separated.”
About the popular association of terrorism with immigration, she said, “None of us here were responsible for 9/11. We took a hit and we took a loss too.”
She also noted that the terrorists who crashed planes into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania were in the U.S. on legal visas. “The bottom line is the Federal government should have had their act together,” she said about 9/11.
“We need to make it clear that we do not accept this. We will fight until righteousness rains down,” she concluded.
Cheryl Wertz, Director of Government Access at the civil rights advocacy organization New Immigrant Community Empowerment (NICE), called the House bill “the worst of the worst of the worst,” and “a terrible negative piece of legislation.”
Police officers on city streets do not currently have the right to check anyone’s immigration status, but that would change if the bill became law, she said.
The clause that penalizes immigrants’ employers – whether they employ undocumented immigrants knowingly or unknowingly – she says will lead to discrimination through reluctance to hire people with particular surnames, looks or accents.
About the possibility of being penalized for receiving emergency medical care, Wertz said, “My advice to you is go to the hospital, get your treatment, and leave fairly quickly.”
For more information or resources, call Council Member Stewart’s office at (718) 951-8177 or visit www.immigrantvoting.org.
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