Speak Up! Speak Out!

Immigrant Rights

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2012 Racial Justice Report Card - December 19, 2012

Co-host and co-producer, jim, speaks with Gerald Hankerson and Teresa Clark of Washington Community Action Network (CAN!), Clint Weckerly of SeaMar, and Rev. Josefina Beecher about the recent release of the 2012 report on the state legislature related to issues of poverty and racial equity. Gerald gives background information on the report written by Washington CAN! now in its fourth year as well as information about legislators' scores. jim also talks with Clint Weckerly, SeaMar's Promotores Coordinator for Skagit and Whatcom about the impact of health care legislation on our community. Clint then makes a personal statement about the importance of the Marriage Equality law in his life. Finally jim talks with Josefina Beecher, Skagit Immigrant Rights Council, about legislation related to immigrants, particularly reduction of the maximum sentence for gross misdemeanors by one day and the importance of immigrants having access to drivers licenses. Josefina also talks about the Fair Tenant Screening Act.

Washington CAN! - http://www.washingtoncan.org - Racial Justice reports available for download

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Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals - December 12, 2012

Speak up! Speak out!'s co-host and co-producer, jim justice, will provide an update on DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival). She talks with local immigration attorney, Carol Edward, Rev. Josefina Beecher of the Skagit Immigrant Rights Council, DACA applicant Gladis Castellanos, and Jorge BarÃ³n, Executive Director of Northwest Immigrant Rights Project in Seattle. Guests talk about what is happening now with DACA, FAQ about what to do once a DACA applicant receives a work permit, the need for Comprehensive Immigration Reform, and Gladis talks about fulfilling her dream of becoming a doctor.

Northwest Immigrant Rights Project http://www.nwirp.org
Skagit Immigrant Rights Council - http://skagitimmigrantrights.wordpress.com/ skagitirc@gmail.com
For DACA information: http://www.uscis.gov

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Deferred Action Program for Childhood Arrivals - August 15, 2012

Official application under the "Deferred Action Program for Childhood Arrivals" opens on this date (August 15, 2012). Dave McConnell talks with jim justice, co-founder of the Skagit Immigrant Rights Council; Hannah E. Stone, Bellingham based Immigration Lawyer, and Margarita Esquivel, a young woman eligible to apply. Basically, DACA (Deferred Action Program for Childhood Arrivals) provides the possibility for young people (ages 15-31) who were born outside the US, migrated here at least 5 years ago without official recognition, to obtain the necessary papers to enable to work legally in this country. For more information go to the NorthWest Immigrant Rights Project website for more information: http://www.nwirp.org/resources/dreamer

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James Loucky on Humane Migration - June 20, 2012

jim talks with WWU Anthropology Professor James Loucky who teaches and does research related to world issues, especially on inclusion and exclusion of peoples in or from Latin America. He worked as an anthropologist in Mayan communities in the 1970's and has since become deeply involved in Mesoamerican and immigrant communities in the USA. James reads from and comments on his new book, Humane Migration.

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Viva Mexico - January 11, 2012

Dave talks with Daniela Contreras, producer of the film "Viva Mexico" about the film, the economic, political and social situation in Mexico.

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Racial Justice Report - November 30, 2011

jim airs excerpts from the Nov. 23rd, 2011 Skagit release of the 2011 Racial Justice Report on the legislature. This report talks about the racial disparity in the effects of budget cuts made and being considered by the Washington State legislature. Sixty-two organizations in Washington endorsed this 3rd Annual report written by Washington CAN! (Community Action Network).

The report can be found at http://washingtoncan.org/wordpress/reports

Check out the following link for ways to find money in the budget to fund basic needs for members of our communities. A Jobs and Recovery Plan for Washington and One Billion in Progressive Revenue
Economic Opportunity Institute -- http://www.eoionline.org/

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David Bacon on Migration and Globalization - November 16, 2011

jim speaks with photojournalist David Bacon about migration, globalization, and labor. David is a former union organizer and regularly contributes to truthout.org, The Nation and other publications.

http://dbacon.igc.org/

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DHS - Secure Communities - July 27, 2011

In 2008, the Department of Homeland Security implemented a pilot program entitled, "Secure Communities", which has now expand to include over 1400 jurisdictions including several in Washington State. jim talks with Margaret Stock, a lawyer and a retired military officer with considerable experience with national security and immigration issues, about this program. It was started to catch serious criminals who are immigrants living in the USA. Find out who is being caught in this web and what Margaret has to say to jurisdictions currently considering participation, including Skagit County.

Margaret Stock has a law degree from Harvard, is a retired military officer and taught from 2001 - 2010 at West Point, and is currently an adjunct instructor of Political Science at the University of Alaska Anchorage. She also works for the law firm Lane Powell. She has written about and testified before Congress on immigration and citizenship matters and immigration as related to national security. Margaret has won many awards - one being the 2008 American Immigration Lawyers Association Pro-Bono award and since 2007 has been Alaska's Super Lawyer.

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The Color of Cuts - March 30, 2011

The Color of Cuts: The Disproportionate Impact of Budget Cuts on Communities of Color in Washington State

Fatima Morales, the Communications Director of Washington CAN! (Community Action Network) and the Coordinator for the Racial Justice Report Card Coalition speaks with jim about the recent report, The Color of Cuts. Other guests are Mark Venn, Superintendent of the Sedro-Woolley School District and Jill Pettersen, Burlington Edison Migrant Home Visitor. Other local examples of the impact of state budget cuts are mentioned.

The Color of Cuts report available to download at http://www.washingtoncan.org

Week of Action (April 2-8) in Olympia to counter the budget cuts - info & to sign up for actions, go to http://www.wearewashington.org.

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Facing Race: 2010 Legislative Report Card on Racial Equity - Jan. 12, 2011

Do race and poverty matter when legislators in Washington state make laws? John Paul Chaisson-Cardenas, legislative director for Washington Community Action Network (CAN) and Julie Chinitz, Policy Director for the Alliance for a Just Society (formerly the Northwest Federation of Community Organizations) join Speak up! Speak out! this week to discuss how Washington state legislators in Olympia scored in the 2010 legislative session when considering legislation that affects racial justice. With one quarter of the state's population being people of color, are they considered in the enacting of laws in the state. For the second year, a Washington coalition of groups concerned about poverty and racial justice evaluated legislators and presented the scores in a report available online at either of the mentioned speakers' websites.

John Paul Chaisson-Cardenas, legislative director for Washington Community Action Network (CAN) - http://www.washingtoncan.org

Julie Chinitz - Policy Director, Alliance for a Just Society (formerly Northwest Federation of Community Organizations) - http://www.allianceforajustsociety.org

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Migrating Towards Justice: Stories to Transform People and Policy - Dec. 1, 2010

Recently, Witness for Peace partnered with Tierra Nueva and the Skagit Immigrant Rights Council to bring a Nicaraguan campesino leader to Skagit. Augusto Castillo Obregon weaves personal stories to connect issues of globalization and neo-liberal economic models to migration and environmental degradation in Nicaragua.

"For me, free trade agreements, neo-liberal policies and the conditions on the aid from the international financial institutions has brought our country to extreme poverty..." Obregon explains, "In my community, the installation of a tobacco factory generates employment but also miserable salaries and contamination of our environment, principally to our water supply. The worst is that some farmers are selling their land to cultivate tobacco, causing less production of food to sustain us."

Join Speak up! Speak out! as we listen through an interpreter to what Obregon has to say about the perils of corporate and IMF (International Monetary Fund) and WTO (World Trade Organization) rule over communities and trade.

Witness for Peace, http://www.witnessforpeace.org/northwest
WFP, NW Coordinator, Colette Cosner at 206.250.2680 or wfpnw@witnessforpeace.org

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DREAM Act: Development Relief and Education for Alien Minors, III - September 22, 2010

On Tues., Sept. 21, 2010, the US Senate voted on the Dept of Defense Appropriations bill which included both the repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" provision and the DREAM Act attached to it. There were only 56 of the 60 votes need to pass.

Rev. Josefina Beecher of La Iglesia de la Resurreccion (Episcopal Hispanic ministry in Skagit County) talks about the DREAM Act and Alonso Chehade, a DREAMer, tells his story. Then Sally Hintz of Senator Cantwell's off ice talks about the HTATEFULL speech. Next Jorge Baron, Executive Director of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project in Seattle, talks about the complexity of immigration issues and reform of immigration law. We close with high school students making a plea for the DREAM Act to pass.

As of 9/26/2010, in Washington State, Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell support the DREAM Act as well as Congress members Jim McDermott, Rick Larsen, and Adam Smith. Contact your representatives about the DREAM Act! DREAM Act H.R.1751 or S.729.

Check the status of these and other bills at http://thomas.loc.gov/home/thomas.html

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Witness for Peace Educational Delegation to Oaxaca - August 25, 2010

Speak up! Speak out! talks with Colette Cosner, Witness for Peace's NW Regional Coordinator about a recent WFP educational delegation to Oaxaca around the theme of "Roots of Migration: Trade, Privatization, and Resistance." We also talk with Henry Cruz who participated in the delegation.

http://witnessforpeace.org/

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Anthony Chavez Remembers His Grandfather Cesar Chavez - April 21, 2010

This week Speak up! Speak out! presents a speech by Anthony Chavez of the Cesar Chavez Foundation. He was recently in Bellingham, WA to speak at a program by Community To Community honoring his grandfather, civil rights leader, Cesar Chavez on what would have been his 83rd birthday.

http://ufw.org - United Farm Workers

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DREAM Act and Immigration Films - February 3, 2010

Rev. Josefina Beecher of La Iglesia de la ResurrecciÃ³n (Episcopal Hispanic ministry in Skagit County) talks about the DREAM Act and Alonso Chehade, a DREAMer, tells his story. Filmmaker and director of The Other Side of Immigration, Roy Germano, talks about the importance of his film in the immigration debate.

Info on film screenings (Papers and The Other Side of Immigration) at http://www.skagitIRC.org or contact skagitIRC@gmail.com (Feb. 16th - Papers; March 14th - Other Side)

http://www.papersthemovie.com - Papers, the movie on students effected by the DREAM Act
http://www.theothersideofimmigration.com - immigration from the Mexican point of view.

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MLK and Racial Justice Report Card in Washington state - January 20, 2010

On the MLK holiday in 2010, the first Washington state racial justice report card (RJRC) was released at the People's Summit in the state capital, Olympia. This is a report on the 2009 Washington state legislators and how their voting impacted the lives of people of color in Washington state. Join jim for an interview with Maru Mora Villalpando of Washington CAN (Community Action Network) and Kendra Anderson of OneAmerica about the recent March for Justice in Everett.

RJRC - Report can be downloaded at http://www.nwfco.org - click on publications (by date), then click on 2010 (release date) then click on report to download.
More info at http://www.washingtoncan.org

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Comprehensive Immigration Reform - a conference call with Luis Gutierrez - December 02, 2009

Recently there was a national conference call about Comprehensive Immigration Reform with Congressman Luis Gutierrez of Chicago, Nydia Velasquez of New York, Chair of the Hispanic Congressional Caucus, and Raul Grijalva of Arizona, co-chair of the Progressive Democratic Caucus. Some 150 people in Skagit County listened in at Skagit Valley College thanks to KSVR. Listen in on the recording of the conference call. Apologies to Congressman Grijalva for some mis-pronunciations in this presentation. http://reformimmigrationforamerica.org/

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"justicia" a 69866 para recibir:
* información en tu área sobre acciones y
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Text "justice" to 69866 to receive:
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DREAM Act: Development Relief and Education for Alien Minors - Aug. 26, 2009

This is a recording of a recent student led DREAM Act forum at the University of Washington. Washington State Representative Phyllis Gutierrez-Kinney explains the DREAM Act then immigrant students talk about their or others? stories as they relate to the DREAM Act. This act, if passed by Congress, would allow immigrant students who were born outside of the United States, but grew up in the US, to fulfill their dreams to further their education and pursue gainful employment in the US, continuing their to give their generous gifts to the American society. Ultimately they would also be able to legalize their status in the US and become citizens.

In Washington State, Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell support the DREAM Act as well as Congress members Jim McDermott, Rick Larsen, and Adam Smith. Contact your representatives about the DREAM Act! DREAM Act H.R.1751 or S.729.

Check the status of these and other bills at http://thomas.loc.gov/home/thomas.html
Info on the House of Representatives: http://www.house.gov/
Senate information: http://www.senate.gov/

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Immigration Outside the Law - May 06, 2009
Hiroshi Motomura spoke recently at Fairhaven College. He is a UCLA immigration law professor who is a noted expert on immigration having co-authored the leading immigration law text and he served the Obama transition team on immigration policy. Hiroshi also wrote, Americans in Waiting: The Lost Story of Immigration and Citizenship in the United States. Hiroshi Motomura looks at the 1982 Supreme Court case of Plyler vs Doe in which Justice Brennan's and Justice Berger's arguments frame today's immigration debate.

Hiroshi was featured in the recent New York Times, Room for Debate on immigration. April 22, 2009, Immigrant Children in Legal Limbo. April 27, 2009, Siblings Divided by Immigration Laws. http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/27/siblings-divided-by-immigration-laws/#more-5611

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NW Detention Center Report on Detained Immigrants - Nov. 5, 2008
Rosalinda Guillen, Executive Director of Community to Community Development in Bellingham talks about immigrants detained at the NW Detention Center in Tacoma and what she has witnessed during her organization's vigils there.
Community to Community Development
OneAmerica - article on website about NW Detention Center with links to Executive summary of "Voices from Detention" report and full report.

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Hold the Dept of Homeland Security Accountable - June 25, 2008
A conversation with Pramila Jayapal, Executive Director of One America, formerly Hate Free Zone, about the Summer of a 1000 Conversations campaign to hold the Dept. of Homeland Security accountable for the lack of due process in immigration matters - raids, poor conditions at detention facilities, and the backlog of unprocessed citizenship applications.
To participate in, or host a conversation, visit We Are One America and Night of 1,000 Conversations - toolkit and much more available.
In Skagit County, contact skagitspeaks@yahoo.com. To participate in the electoral program underway at One America, contact aj@WeAreOneAmerica.org.

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San Juan County Council meeting with Border Patrol - March 18, 2008
About the end of February, the US Border Patrol started random searches at the Anacortes ferry dock of incoming ferries from the San Juan Islands - not CANADA since those ferries have not yet started for the year. On Tues., March 18, 2008, the San Juan Co. Council allowed Joe Giuliano, Deputy Chief of the Custom and Border Protection in Blaine, time to explain what is happening and then took comments from islanders.

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Migration and NAFTA - October 18, 2006
Miguel Pickard, an economic and political researcher and co-founder of the Center for Economic and Political Research for Community Action (CiEPAC) in the southern state of Chiapas, Mexico, talks about his organization's work with indigenous groups and explains the impact of NAFTA on migration out of Chiapas and its impact on Mexican industry and the economy. CiEPAC

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