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By jwjnational, on August 20th, 2010 Federal Stimulus Funds & Tennessee Tax Dollars Pay for Human Trafficking, Forced Labor: Call on the Obama Administration to hold employer accountable
Late in the night on August 10, Mexican guestworker Hilario Jimenez escaped from company housing to expose his employers. Hilario and other guestworkers were recruited from Mexico and brought to the U.S. on H-2B visas by Vanderbilt Landscaping LLC.
This morning Hilario blew the whistle on a Tennessee scandal: Vanderbilt Landscaping, LLC is receiving millions in federal stimulus money and state contracts put together. And the company is importing guestworkers – cheap, captive labor – into public jobs even as local communities are suffering from record unemployment rates.
Now we ask you to stand with Hilario Middle Tennessee Jobs with Justice and members of the Alliance of Guestworkers of Dignity to fight human trafficking, forced labor, and a company that gets millions in state and stimulus money.
TELL THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE TO INVESTIGATE VANDERBILT. Call 202 353 1555 and tell Attorney General Eric Holder, “The Department of Justice should investigate and prosecute the employers for criminal conduct including but not limited to labor trafficking, forced labor, unlawful conduct with respect to documents, and other crimes in coordination with the F.B.I.”
TELL
Continue reading Stop Tax Dollars From Paying for Forced Labor!
By Huy Ong, on June 22nd, 2010 May 29th marked one moment in the ongoing fight to stop SB1070. Over 100,000 merged to Phoenix to denounce legalizing racial profiling, demand that President Obama intervene, and call on people of conscious everywhere to join the fight to address the human rights crisis in Arizona as the implementation date of July 29th approaches.
From a candlelight vigil organized by JwJ of East Tennessee and others, to Diamondbacks Boycott held in San Francisco, over 70 other solidarity actions occurred leading up to and on the day. And more followed. Organizers, activist, people of faith, teachers, students, and community members took the call for solidarity back into their communities, cities and states.
Following a visit to Arizona on Mother’s Day, A group of women from a broad array of social justice movements, organized an ad-hoc hearing in Congress where women and children from Phoenix shared their stories. Catherine Figueroa, Silvia Rodriguez, Sylvia Herrera
Communities and organizations are unveiling the truth about Police/ICE collaboration and the direct link it has for creating a pathway for SB1070 type legislation and moving campaigns to
Continue reading Summer is Heating Up! From Phoenix to Detroit and Beyond!
By Huy Ong, on June 2nd, 2010 
Phoenix, Arizona. This weekend 100,000 people marched six miles from Steele Indian School Park to the State Capitol to denounce SB1070 and demand President Obama intervene in the growing human rights crisis in Arizona. We were joined by supporters ranging from AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka to the voice of her people, Grammy Nominated Singer, Jenni Rivera, and attendees who drove from as far away as Boston to support the local people leading the effort to overturn SB 1070.
In a gathering Sunday morning, movement-building organizations from across the country share their commitments to bring the Arizona human rights crisis fight back to their communities.
 Participants heard from local leadership, national allies, and from veterans of the Mississippi Freedom Summer the urgency of a national response. Organizations shared ways to connect their struggles, campaigns, and creativity in breakout sessions and committed to ongoing peaceful resistance. A global call for escalating resistance to stop SB1070 was made.
“We will make this summer a Human Rights summer everywhere, “Said Pablo Alvarado,
Continue reading Call for Peaceful Escalating Resistance to Arizona SB1070
By Huy Ong, on May 27th, 2010  Tens of thousands are mobilizing to Phoenix on May 29 to show the world that people from all backgrounds across the country are unified in denouncing SB1070. From Seattle to Miami, the demands are clear, that President Obama needs to end the criminalization of people of color in the state of Arizona and stop SB1070.
Pablo Alvarado, Executive Director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, stated, “The eyes of the world are watching and President Obama must act. SB1070 is where we draw the line and say enough is enough. Enough of a disastrous and dangerous ‘enforcement first’ strategy to immigration reform. Enough to the criminalization of workers and families. We will escalate our struggle if the President does not act concretely and immediately to stop the implementation of SB1070.”
Richard Trumka, President of the AFL-CIO, Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers, Eliseo Medina, International Executive Vice President of SEIU, Luis Gutierrez (Illinois, D), Raul Grijalva (Arizona, D), and artists such as Alex Lora of El Tri and Jenni Rivera will all be
Continue reading May 29 Mass Mobilization Against Arizona SB1070
By Ricardo Valadez, on May 27th, 2010 Opinion
President Obama announced a decision to send 1,200 National Guard troops to the US-Mexico border. Mr. Obama is trying to appeal to enforcement-first and enforcement-only activists in and out of Congress with this escalation, but Republicans continue to distance themselves from any measures that include a path to citizenship for those in the US without documents.
The President has also continued to expand Bush-era policies that promote or force cooperation between Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and local law enforcement, like Secure Communities and 287(g). Obama has offered mild criticism to Arizona’s S.B.1070, which forces police departments (often against their will) to demand papers from anyone who appears illegal, but his Administration’s own policies are moving the whole country in that direction. While DC Jobs with Justice was able to stop Secure Communities from coming to the nation’s capitol, efforts in other places, like San Francisco, have encountered roadblocks in fighting the program.
By expanding enforcement, the President opens the door to laws like Arizona’s and copy-cat bills across the
Continue reading A Climate of Fear
By Maria Escobar, on April 30th, 2010  As a catastrophe unfolds in Arizona, people across the country are preparing to defend their communities against the racist immigrant policies being implemented under the banner of “secured communities” in America.
Arizona has been in the forefront of the most deplorable immigrant enforcement tactics, with Sheriff Joe Arpio’s shameful treatment of undocumented workers, the signing of the SB1070 bill by Governor Jan Brewer that will lead to racial profiling and distrust between the police and immigrant communities, and today the passage of a ban on ethnic studies programs.
These despicable actions in Arizona have led to organizing and involvement of all sectors of the community to show their disgust against these policies and remind elected officials, especially Arizona’s governor, that their actions will lead to massive mobilization at the polls. As one good friend said “Justice delayed, election denied”
Many people across the country are fighting to keep their communities safe from these xenophobic policies and are creating safe communities for all residents, and local Jobs with Justice Coalitions have been supporting these efforts.
Standing Up to Arizona’s Racist Immigration Law
By jwjnational, on April 19th, 2010 The Arizona State Legislature just passed a law (SB1070) that legalizes unchecked racial profiling by police of anyone they “suspect” is undocumented. It would criminalize all undocumented immigrants as “trespassers” and subject them to misdemeanor, or in some cases, felony charges for a new “trespass” crime.
Arizona Governor Jan Brewer is expected to sign the bill into law any day now. Tell Governor Brewer to stand up for human and civil rights and veto this anti-immigrant, racial profiling bill. If this bill is signed into law, your state could be next.
Tell AZ Governor Jan Brewer to VETO this bill!
SB 1070 would force police officers to arrest and detain people based on a “reasonable suspicion” that they are undocumented. It’s not surprising that news of this bill has shocked the nation. There is no such thing as looking American or undocumented, and mandating police officers to racially profile sets this country back to a shameful time in its history where racial segregation was the law of the land. The state of Arizona has become home to experimental laws that use immigration as an excuse to criminalize communities of color. We have all seen the devastation caused by Joe Arpaio and
Continue reading Urgent: Stop Racial Profiling and Criminalization of Immigrant Communities
By Camilo Viveiros, on February 12th, 2010 Members of community, labor, religious and student organizations gathered on February 11th to hear from and support workers facing exploitation at the hands of Gillette stadium’s contractor and the outrageous tactics by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in ambushing dozens of immigrant workers.
Earlier this year ICE detained 58 workers who were on their way to work at Gillette Stadium at a roadblock in Foxboro. The workers were hired to shovel snow from the stadium seats in preparation for a New England Patriots game. These hardworking Rhode Islanders now face deportation.
This ICE attack is the most high-profile act by ICE against Rhode Islanders since the raids at six RI courthouses in 2008. It is the largest number of Rhode Islanders detained by ICE since the 2007 raid at the Bianco Factory in New Bedford.
While ICE and the Department of Homeland Security have tried to claim that the raid was directed toward people with criminal records, the vast majority of people arrested had no record whatsoever, and were unknown to ICE at the time of their arrest. According to Juan Garcia of the Immigrants in Action Committee, “This action shows that ICE is not focused on going after people
Continue reading RI JwJ Demands Justice for Gillette Stadium Workers Ambushed by ICE
By jwjnational, on October 26th, 2009  Day laborers in DC scored another big victory on October 2nd, recovering over $15,000 in stolen wages for eight workers.
Several members of the Union de Trabajadores de Washington, DC, a day laborer association, had been doing work on a DC public school building over the summer, and were paid less than promised. They reached out to DC Jobs with Justice and the DC Employment Justice Center, who quickly realized this public project entitled the workers to higher, “prevailing wages” for their work. After reaching out to other workers from the project and talking with several building trades unions to confirm the proper rate, DC JwJ and the DC EJC went to the Office of Public Education Facilities Modernization to discuss this violation of DC’s contracting laws. The Office collaborated in forcing the contractors to pay back wages, including proper overtime rates.
This victory not only secures justice for the workers involved, but sends an important message to contractors who believe they can hire immigrant workers and pay them lower rates. Current broken immigration laws invite such exploitation by creating
Continue reading DC Day Laborers Step Up Efforts to Stop Wage Theft
By jwjnational, on October 22nd, 2009 First our political leaders said health care reform would cover everyone. Now we hear that Congress is considering barring legal immigrants from health reforms that would enable low and moderate income families to secure affordable coverage.
As the House of Representatives moves to finalize its health reform legislation this week, immigrants continue to be left out. As it stands now, most recent legal immigrants are forced to wait 5 years to use Medicaid, Medicare, and CHIP, even though they pay the same taxes as citizens to support these programs.
Your voice is needed to urge the House of Representatives to act right now to give immigrants a fair opportunity for affordable health insurance.
TAKE ACTION NOW!
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