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Voices of Leaders for a Changing World Q & A Immigration Justice in the Post-9/11 Era In the shadow of Sept. 11, Americans of every ethnic background have rallied to defend their fellow citizens. In many cases, however, immigrants have become scapegoats for sorrow and rage. Among the 2001 winners of the Leadership for a Changing World award, several leaders work for the cause of human rights for immigrants. In August, they believed, as LEADERSHIP FOR A CHANGING WORLD winner Dale Asis says, “that we were on the cusp of change.” Today, that hope seems shattered, as immigrants – those who are documented and those who are not – face a growing backlash. Yet, these leaders and their communities continue to create innovative, exciting and newsworthy approaches as advocates of immigration justice and compassion – in an even harsher era. For more information on the winners of the Leadership for a Changing World award please call Debra Walter: (908) 522-1677, mobile phone 908 400 0641 Margie McHugh, Executive Director, New York Immigration Coalition, New York, NY Margie McHugh has built a powerful coalition of more than 150 immigrant rights groups to promote action at the local, state and federal levels on a wide range of immigration law, social service and education policy issues. Under McHugh's leadership, the coalition has won new resources for legal aid to immigrants, literacy classes for adults and the expansion of New York State's emergency food program. It has also helped to improve the quality of education for the city's immigrant students and offered translation and interpreting services for their parents. At the same time, the coalition has forged a strong working relationship with the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, which has helped cut bureaucratic bottlenecks and reduce the backlog of citizenship applications from three years to one. Q. You've expressed concern about currently proposed national legislation regarding immigrants. What worries you? McHugh - Immigrant communities are facing a variety of hostile measures in Congress, which are being pushed forward as security measures but as matter of fact won't make any of us safer. What this legislation would do is make undocumented immigrants more fearful. Q. So, could this legislation actually make us more vulnerable to terrorists? McHugh - If passed, pending anti-immigrant legislation will surely have a chilling effect on cooperation between law enforcement authorities and immigrant populations. It's important to insure immigrants' confidentiality when they come forward to identify to law enforcement those people whose activities provoke legitimate suspicion, people who might be involved in terrorism. It's important not to rush to judgment and implement measures that won't make us any safer, but will only complicate relationships between immigrants and law enforcement and hurt communities and businesses that are flourishing right now because of the presence of immigrants. Q. Beyond the legislative proposals, are authorities pursuing other policies you find objectionable?
Q. What impact did the World Trade Center attack have on immigrant communities in New York? McHugh - Of about 3,000 people killed, up to 200 were undocumented workers; many more were documented. The vast majority of immigrants killed were low-wage workers. In the aftermath, we estimate that 100,000 people lost their jobs; the majority of these were in the service industry. Yet the persistent public perception is that it was predominantly people in the banking and financial industry who lost jobs. Q. How does this perception affect immediate relief work and long-term assistance?
Q. How does community leadership come into this? McHugh - Community leadership is essential in order for the country to understand both the true impact of the disaster on New Yorkers and to shape effective solutions to the economic and civil rights we now face. Contact information Dale Asis, Executive Director, Coalition of African, Asian, European, and Latino Immigrants of Illinois, Chicago, IL Dale Asis has forged a coalition of 17 immigrant and refugee agencies to promote the rights of immigrants in the Chicago area and to help those seeking citizenship. By enlisting community leaders to document and report questionable practices by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, and by sponsoring petition drives, the coalition won the creation of an independent review body to oversee I.N.S. practices in the Chicago area. The coalition offers citizenship instruction to 2,000 newcomers a year and is also training immigrants to use computer and Internet technology. Q. In the post-Sept. 11 era, what is your greatest concern about the immigrant populations you serve? Asis - The protection of the rights of all Americans, including immigrants needs to be fought for and maintained. After the tragedy of September 11, it is easy to make immigrants who do not look European and speak with accents are easy scapegoats. During these trying times, it is easy to put the blame on someone else. Contrary to popular belief, more than 75 percent enter through proper legal channels. There are already strict immigration guidelines in place restricting the flow of immigration to the US. People from some countries, such as the Philippines, have to wait 10, maybe 15 years for their relatives to join them here. Q. How can community leaders respond? Asis - Leadership in these trying times is needed but leadership comes in many different forms. Leaders are not only the eloquent spokesperson in front of the TV camera. Leaders are not only the sophisticated lobbyists in Washington speaking for immigrant rights. Leaders are not only famous writers telling their stories in talk shows and radio programs. Ordinary people willing to speak up, immigrant parents joining their first local school councils, workers joining their first union meeting, new citizens voting for the first time are leaders in their own right - participating in their neighborhood, willing to speak up, wanting to be heard. Here we find the seeds of true leadership and the creation of a just world where immigrants are welcomed and treated fairly. Q. How has Sept. 11 affected your work for immigration reform in the Chicago area?
Q. And the people you serve? How are they doing?
Q. What specific steps will you take to counter this? Asis - We’ve already taken steps. We’re doing a public service campaign, using public service announcements and posters in our trains and buses. Our campaign slogan is, “ANTI-IMMIGRANT IS ANTI-AMERICAN.” We received a strong grant from a local funder, about $7,000, to do this. I know that some groups have done public service campaigns about hate, but not necessarily with an immigrant and refugee focus. The use of the word immigrant is purposeful. We must remind people of how during WWII Japanese Americans were interned and persecuted. People have very short memories. There are thousands of stories like these in America’s past. In every crisis, there has always been a scapegoat. Contact information Wing Lam, Executive Director, Chinese Staff & Workers’ Association, New York, NY Through organizing, training and legal action, Wing Lam has helped bring better working and living conditions not only to immigrant Chinese but also to others working in New York’s frequently exploitative worlds of garment manufacturing, restaurants, construction and building custodial services. Working with other organizations, his association has helped create an independent union of restaurant workers and the Chinese Construction Workers Association; won more than $10 million in back pay, lost wages and damages for garment and restaurant workers; won a landmark decision against the City of New York to stop the construction of a luxury tower that would have caused mass displacement of low-income people; and increased the hiring of more Chinese and other minority workers in the construction of a federal courthouse in Foley Square. Q. New York’s Chinatown was literally in the shadow of the World Trade Center. What has happened since Sept. 11 to your community?
Q. Buy their checks? Lam - Here is how it works: The union requires people to work each quarter and to make about $1750 during that quarter in order to qualify for health benefits. In other words, they need to make $100 to $200 a week to qualify for benefits. But if you only make $50, you need to make sure your check is larger, so you ‘buy your check’ -- meaning that you pay your boss the difference between what you earned and the amount you’re required to be paid in order to receive health care coverage. And you pay extra. For instance, you pay $110 to get $100 check – the employer calls this an “administration fee.” That’s the system. This affects thousands of New Yorkers, especially after 9/11. Most of these people are immigrant women. As a group, their income got hurt the worst by 9/11 and the economy. Q. What other direct challenges do you face? Lam - Many government and nonprofit agencies don’t cover the area, even though we are disaster zone, a few blocks from the WTC, less than a quarter mile. Right in the WTC. (WTC, i.e. Battery Park, is part of the Chinatown District redistricting). During the disaster, Red Cross and Salvation Army, all these major relief agencies stopped on canal street south, anyone canal street north didn’t deal with it. We are next to ground zero. Relief people ignore…even NY Times says that Chinatown is affected most; most Chinatown workers are women, and are ignored. Q. Is your organization providing relief? Lam - Right now we do a lot of relief work. We are already short staffed, but we are the only group able to get relief to just north of Canal Street, where most of the garment industry is. The restaurant industry, south of Canal Street, is mostly men; the garment industry is north of Canal Street, and mostly women – about 8,000 or 9,000 workers. We have helped hundreds of people get emergency relief but the problem is much bigger, long term. Right now the relief is very short term. We need long-term investment and protection in the garment industry, and we must make sure that the Chinatown community is not displaced because of future redevelopment in lower Manhattan. Contact information D. Milo Mumgaard, Executive Director Nebraska Appleseed Center for Law in the Public Interest, Lincoln, NE In offering organizational and legal support for new immigrants, welfare families and the rural poor, Milo Mumgaard has helped many communities pursue policy changes to improve the lives of Nebraska’s most disadvantaged workers and families. For example, the Appleseed Center has forged a network of organizations determined to improve the safety of meatpacking plants—one of the main employers of immigrants. One result has been passage of a statewide Packinghouse Workers’ Bill of Rights, which lays out conditions and standards for workers throughout the industry. Another has been a living-wage law for the city of Omaha. The center has also won environmental regulations aimed at protecting poor communities and the restoration of public assistance to 14,000 immigrants who had been denied federal coverage. Through the Iowa Nebraska Immigrant Rights Network, Mumgaard’s efforts extend across a large swath of the Midwest. Q. Immigrants in New York have certainly felt the direct impact of Sept. 11. What about the heartland?
Q. What specifically has happened? Mumgaard - The largest communities of immigrants we work with here are from Mexico and Central America. The most direct impact is that the I.N.S. activities, which were already very aggressive, have gone up a notch. Mexicans and Hispanics we work with are not the targets of the anti-terrorist initiatives and legislation per se, but the truth is that all non-citizens are targeted right now. As for the Middle Eastern countries, and from Iraq, Iran, there is also quite a large population in Nebraska. And they’ve almost gone into hibernation. Then you put into this mix the problem with local law enforcement believing they are here to enforce immigration law. That, too, has become more pronounced since 9/11. Q. Is what you’re describing based on anecdotal or statistical evidence? Anecdotally we know of more crackdowns. My gut sense is the numbers are much higher for those who have been detained and removed. In terms of direct impact, what we’re trying to get on top of is what are the actual numbers. The numbers will be reported by the I.N.S. at the end of this next quarter – in March – for the last quarter of 2001. Q. Many Americans wouldn’t necessarily associate Nebraska or Iowa with new waves of immigration and I.N.S. crackdowns. Mumgaard - The truth is that Nebraska has had tens of thousands of newcomers in the last decade. Whole communities have flip-flopped demographically; many traditional rural farm communities have, in last ten years, become majority Hispanic. So people like me, old Danes from previous waves of immigration, are now the minority. Not that I’m old. Q. Wasn’t it just in the past couple years that Iowa officials were actually actively trying to attract immigrants to live permanently in the state – because of Iowa’s falling population?
Q. Some observers believe that the crackdown on undocumented immigrants, as well as the pressure on documented immigrants, will reduce cooperation with law enforcement, thereby reducing the chances that true terrorists – who would likely attempt to blend into immigrant communities – will be reported. Do you see that happening in Nebraska? Mumgaard - Absolutely right about the security issue. An interesting take on this is that we do a lot of work on immigration, building for the future, getting people more civically engaged, so that they will become more a part of their communities and better citizens if they become citizens. All this law enforcement pressure on people with or without papers (in some families that’s intermingled) is pushing people back into laying low, decreasing their civic engagement and involvement. It’s true – from reporting possible terrorists in their midst to reporting a husband beating his wife – this is pushing us backward. In theory it would increase our security by bringing people into the process. Q. What about legislative issues? Mumgaard - A couple bills in legislature have just been introduced: Super Americanism bills. In Nebraska we have a law that the schools teach Americanism (everyone has to learn the pledge of allegiance, etc., national anthem, flag, every curriculum has to promote pride in being an American). In the abstract I don’t have any problems with that. In reality, you know that this will be used as a stick against people who are “non-American.” Q. Are you promoting counter-legislation?
Contact information Salvador Reza, Coordinator, Tonatierra Community Development Institute, Phoenix, AZ By galvanizing a highly visible sector of Phoenix immigrants—taco vendors—Salvador Reza has helped the city’s entire Latino community win wider social acceptance and greater economic security. Reza mobilized the taco vendors to fight a city ordinance that would have made mobile stands illegal, threatening the livelihoods of hundreds of people working the small food carts. He skillfully brought together groups on different sides of the issue—predominantly white neighborhood associations, the city’s restaurant owners, Latino community and business activists and a top civil rights attorney—to build a broad coalition in support of the stands. It won passage of a new law that permits the stands to operate under regulations that meet neighborhood concerns. One of Reza’s recent goals has been to work with day laborers and local businesses to create a central facility where day laborers can gather to seek work. Q. How are the Mexican migrants of Arizona responding to the new mood in the country? Reza - After 9/11 the fear has gone up greatly. After then, the people who came to work centers went down quite a lot. Many have just gone home to Mexico out of fear. Some told me, “A lot of times people think we’re here like the terrorists. But we’re here to work. Not to make any damage but to make the houses and the city more beautiful.” Recently there was a meeting of 80 neighbors. The city of Phoenix called a meeting to talk about day labor issue. It was a public meeting. We went to it, with the idea of talking about these issues, and when we stood up we were booed out of there. We could feel the animosity. (some of the people I work with – maybe 25 percent do have papers) I have never felt such animosity as I did that time. I even got a letter from one of the people who attended saying he was very sad about the way we were treated. Q. Earlier in 2001, President Bush and President Fox of Mexico met, and a new policy toward Mexican migrants seemed imminent. Reza - Yes, before 9/11 I felt that things were going to get better because of President Fox and President Bush who had announced intent to create guest labor program and amnesty. I thought we were on the verge of a breakthrough. Q. What have you and your leadership group done to respond to their backlash?
Q. Do you see any change for the better coming? Reza - The animosity is continuing, but reality is setting in. From what I hear in the streets, the number of immigrants dropped, but now is coming back again – I’m talking about people standing on the corner. The good thing that might come out of 9/11 – the awareness of immigrants -- and the meetings coming down between Bush and Fox, is that we may have a regulated passage of workers. Economic need means Mexican workers will continue to come. If we can regulate this more, that would be something good. But the will is not there in congress anymore. Congress is polarized. And the animosity continues. With the blessing of city of Cave Creek, north of Phoenix, volunteers working with a church, created a work center, staffed with volunteers, very successful. A few days after 9/11, a truckload of Anglo residents went to it and said: If you don’t stop we’re going to blow you up.” The volunteers left and the center stopped. We hope the center will start up again. The workers are still standing on the street. Q. What about the security issue. Isn’t in all our interest to have an immigration that is unafraid to report potential violence?
Q. Personally, what is your greatest fear? Reza - The biggest fear I have is that the fear factor will grow so high that people who do the kind of work I do will be seen as potentially dangerous by the government, and we will get into a situation where we are being wiretapped, and things like that. That is something I fear could happen. But I hope for better. Contact Information Gustavo Torres, Executive Director, CASA of Maryland, Inc., Takoma Park, MD Gustavo Torres has distinguished himself as particularly skilled in building coalitions that mobilize communities across a broad range of issues. In addition to helping establish a formal leadership training program at the University of Maryland, he has helped generate $10 million in services and tax credits for Montgomery County. Torres regularly takes contingents of Latinos to the state’s capital to speak out on issues of key importance to their communities, and he has joined forces with business to find hundreds of full-benefits jobs for local residents. Over the past eight years, Torres has expanded CASA from a $200,000 a year, five-staff operation serving 2,500 residents to a $1.5 million a year, 22-staff organization providing more than 19,000 people with services ranging from educational advocacy to legal services. Q. How seriously have immigrant workers in Maryland been hurt by the terrorist attacks and faltering economy?
Q. What about beyond basic needs? Torres - Civil liberties and immigrant rights: that also impacted us, but for now to be honest it is not a huge issue. More a degree of attitude; the way some local officials are attacking immigrants, especially undocumented workers. The workers have heard the news that many people have been arrested and they are very concerned to go out. But I don’t have a lot of experience first hand of immigrants abused or arrested or deported. I was expecting a massive civil rights attack on immigrants, but today after four months I still don’t see that. Q. Do you see longer-term civil right issues developing? Torres - Yes, that is more troubling, the long-term impact, including talk of a national I.D. card. That will be a huge discrimination tool for a lot of people. They are going to request I.D. for most people, but especially from those with a darker color of skin. Another long-term impact is issue of immigration reform; before the catastrophe President Bush was almost ready to approve an amnesty program for undocumented workers. But people don’t talk about that any more. Some 7 or 8 million undocumented workers will continue to be in an underground economy with no rights. In addition, the issue of denied attorney to people who are not citizens. Right now there is not much of that happening, but in the long run, that could change. Government is going to hire hundreds of new people for immigration and law enforcement; a lot will be invested in security for the homeland, but the long-term impact will be lower security for immigrants during the next 12 months to two years. Q. Lower security for the nation because of more fear among immigrants is a theme mentioned by several of the LEADERSHIP FOR A CHANGING WORLD leaders...
Q. Do you see a solution? Torres -The solution is to legalize more immigrants. Between 8 to 7 million are undocumented; we don’t know who they are or where they are from; some could be criminals or terrorists. You don’t have any control of those people if they are not legalized. So I make the argument for legalization based on security. This is not being discussed seriously, not yet. We are just at the beginning of that discussion, but it’s coming. Contact information Other LEADERSHIP FOR A CHANGING WORLD leaders working with immigrants Rufino Domínguez Santos, Co-Founder and General Coordinator, Oaxaca Binational Indigenous Coalition (FIOB), Fresno, CA Rufino Domínguez seeks to promote California farm workers’ rights while also preserving the culture of migrant workers from Mexico’s impoverished southern region of Oaxaca. He has built an organization that now includes more than 15 local committees reaching out to 80,000 indigenous Oaxacans living in the United States. Domínguez has also mobilized grass-roots support for greater governmental responsiveness to the rights and needs of immigrants who are not Spanish-speaking. For example, he helped establish a program that has provided professional training for 15 community interpreters in Mexican indigenous languages, an effort that has been replicated nationwide. Most recently he won funding for affordable housing for 36 Oaxacan families and for a new community center that will serve African-Americans and Latino and Asian immigrants. Contact information
Gail Aska, Paul Getsos, LaDon James, Jackie Marte, Joan Minieri, Diane Reese, Tyletha Samuels, Community Voices Heard, New York, NY This team has helped welfare recipients become a powerful voice in New York City. Through C.V.H.’s education and advocacy training, thousands now demand access to social services and the right to be treated with dignity. C.V.H. has helped secure a New York City Transitional Jobs Program, which is designed to provide jobs and training to 7,500 welfare recipients over three years, as well as a state commitment to spend $60 million on jobs creation. Contact information
Dolores Martínez, Kamilo Rivera, Marisela Salinas, and Rafael Ventura, Justice for Janitors Campaign of Local 1877, Service Employees International Union, Los Angeles, CA It took 15 years and painstaking grass-roots organizing, but Martínez, Rivera, Salinas and Ventura did what many thought was impossible: They led a successful campaign to unionize fellow building-service workers in Los Angeles County. That effort—supported by other workers, religious institutions and community residents—spurred a nationwide campaign called Justice for Janitors, which has helped revitalize the labor movement. To date, it has changed the lives of 8,500 workers by securing such benefits as a living wage, family health coverage and vacation days. Contact information Rafael Ventura Local 1877, SEIU Dolores Martínez Local 1877, SEIU Marisela Salinas Local 1877, SEIU About Leadership for a Changing World Leadership for a Changing World is a program of the Ford Foundation in partnership with the Advocacy Institute and the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, New York University. Leadership for a Changing World seeks to recognize, strengthen and support leaders, and to highlight the importance of leadership in improving peoples’ lives. The program seeks to confirm that resourceful leaders are bringing about positive change in virtually every community. Through the inspiring stories of these leaders, our knowledge of how leadership of created and sustained will be deepened, and the variety of leadership that abounds in American communities will be demonstrated. Each year, Leadership for a Changing World recognizes 20 outstanding leaders and leadership groups not yet broadly known beyond their immediate community or field. These outstanding leaders and leadership groups work in such areas as economic and community development, human rights, the arts, education, human development, sexual and reproductive health, religion, media, and the environment. Contact information Leadership for a Changing World Phone 202.777.7560 For more information on the winners of the Leadership for a Changing World award please call Debra Walter: (908) 522-1677, cell 908 400 0641 Voices of Leaders for a Changing World and other essays and information can be read online at leadershipforchange.org
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