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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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!

Security Guards at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, after repeated requests for a meeting, welcomed new director Timothy Rub with a rally on the steps of the museum.  On September 3rd, the guards filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board to allow them  to unionize as members of the Philadelphia Security Officers Union, an independent union.

Jobs with Justice was one of 521 organizations that signed an open letter to Obama criticizing the Presidents inactivity on immigration reform.  The letter demands the “immediate termination” of the 287(g) program which allows local law enforcement agencies to essentially act as proxies for federal agents who investigate, apprehend, transport, and detain people who are suspected of being undocumented.

The national debate on health care continues to be front-and-center, and JwJ coalitions remain engaged on the ground.