San José, CA – On Jan. 29, one day after a group of eight U.S. Senators announced their bipartisan proposal for immigration reform, President Obama made his own proposal. While the President’s proposal was better than the bipartisan Senate proposal in several areas, in particular calling for recognition of same-sex partners of U.S. citizens or legal residents who are seeking legal residency; overall it offered the same approach of harsh treatment of the undocumented and a pro-business approach.

President Obama, like the eight senators, used language that called for more militarization of the border and suggesting that the undocumented are potential criminals and terrorists. One improvement is that the President’s proposal does not have an explicit “enforcement first” policy that could postpone legalization forever.

The president’s proposal, like the Senate's bipartisan proposal, also calls for more workplace enforcement. It also explicitly calls for a new Social Security card that comes close to being a national I.D. card.

In terms of legalization, the president and the senators are similar in terms of putting up many obstacles to legalization. One improvement is that the president’s proposal does not require employment to become a legal resident. However, the president’s proposal does require college or military service for faster legalization of undocumented who came as children. But with only about one of three Latino youth attending college, the other two-thirds will feel pressure to join the military in order to legalize and be forced into U.S. military intervention and wars abroad.

The president’s proposal does call for a temporary increase and more flexibility in family reunification visas to try to shorten the waiting lists. But he also calls for a permanent increase in employment visas and eliminating all country caps. Why not do the same for family visas, when it is clear that a long term reduction in undocumented immigration can only happen if there is a permanent increase in family reunification visas?

Last, but not least, there is no mention of stopping deportations now that a legalization proposal is under discussion. The president could have the power to slow or even stop the record levels of deportations that are breaking up families and sowing fear, especially in Chicano, Mexicano and Central American communities.

#SanJoséCA #ImmigrantsRights #militaryRecruitment #Deportation #PresidentObama #immigrationReform

Los Angeles, CA – More than 500 marched here, Aug. 27, in a mass march and rally demanding an end to the U.S. occupation of Iraq. Other demands included that the U.S. get out of Latin America and an end to U.S. military recruiting of Latino youth in high schools. Organized by Latinos Against War In Iraq, SEIU Local 660, National Chicano Moratorium Committee, Partido Nacional de La Raza Unida, MECHA and other community and labor groups, protesters marched from Belvedere Park in East Los Angeles to a rally at Salazar Park.

The event also commemorated the 35th anniversary of the historic Chicano Moratorium of Aug. 29, 1970, when over 30,000 Latinos protested the war in Vietnam and the high casualty rate of Chicanos. That massive rally was attacked by the Los Angeles sheriffs department and Los Angeles police, causing a rebellion in which three people died and hundreds were injured and arrested. Ruben Salazar, KMEX news director and Los Angeles Times writer, was killed by the Los Angeles County sheriffs and became a martyr of the Chicano community.

Latinos feel that our war is here at home – in the struggle for genuine equality and justice, free from racism and poverty. Our fight is for education, health care and good jobs.

Latino youth are targeted by the U.S. military for recruitment, especially at inner-city schools with a high number of immigrant youth. These students already face overcrowded schools and high dropout rates. The military offers money, immigration status and citizenship. These youth are sent to fight, die and kill in foreign lands in unjust wars and are not provided the opportunities for college admissions and skilled jobs. Many of these youth have fled harsh conditions in Mexico caused by NAFTA or have fled from war-torn Central America where the U.S. government supports repressive military regimes.

The recent count of Latino service members killed in Iraq is reminiscent of the high casualty rate of Latinos in the Vietnam War. “This targeting for military recruitment of our Latino youth is a racist practice. Our youth should be recruited to college and jobs, not war,” states David Cid, teacher at El Sereno Middle School and member of Latinos Against War In Iraq.

#LosAngelesCA #AntiwarMovement #News #Iraq #ChicanoLatino #militaryRecruitment #LatinosAgainstTheWar #ChicanoMoratorium

Los Angeles, CA – Students, teachers and parents demonstrated here with Latinos Against War on March 20, the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, marching from Roosevelt High School to the building that houses a military recruiting center and the Eastside Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) center.

The militant protest hit the largest recruitment center in Los Angeles, which targets young Latinos in the East Los Angeles high schools.

Protesters also slammed the ICE raids and deportations, demanding full legalization for the 12 million immigrants. They also protested the increase in repression against Mexican, Chicano and Latinos communities, by ICE, which targets workplaces and engages in home raids.

The march and rally built support for the planned May 1 march for legalization, against ICE repression and opposing the war in Iraq. The march and rally will take place in downtown Los Angeles.

Latinos Against War organizers note they have organized a protest on the anniversary of the Iraq war for the last five years in Boyle Heights with the firm aim of building local grassroots movements for self-determination and against repression.

The march and rally was organized by Latinos Against War and Chicano Club El Sereno Middle School and supported by Mecha de RHS, American Friends Service Committee, International Action Center, Students for a Democratic Society-UCLA, SEIU 721 Latino Committee, May Day Unity Coalition and Padres Unidos de Boyle Heights.

#LosAngelesCA #AntiwarMovement #StudentMovement #News #Iraq #ChicanoLatino #militaryRecruitment #selfdetermination #LatinosAgainstWar #workplaceAndHomeRaids

The war in Iraq is entering its fifth year. Despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of citizens want the war to end, despite the fact that U.S. forces are being defeated by the Iraqi resistance, Bush recently announced plans to send 21,500 more troops to Iraq. These troops are being committed to fight and die in an unjust war based on lies and greed. Four years is four years too many. The Iraqi people want the foreign occupiers out. They know the U.S. government is not a “liberator,” but whose presence means only continued violence, death, and destruction.

We, students and young people here in the U.S., support the right of the Iraqi people to self-determination. We refuse to accept this new strategy to “expand the military,” and reject any means the government may use to make these new troops materialize – whether through the implementation of a draft or the continued use of manipulative and deceptive recruitment techniques. We refuse to be subtle in our outcry against this war, we refuse to do nothing and be silent while people are killed in our name for profit for the rich and we refuse to be sent overseas in a war for oil.

This past November, 100 students from twenty different college campuses came together at a Students for a Democratic Society meeting in Ft.Benning, GA and unanimously decided that March 20th be declared a national day of student and youth resistance against the war! SDS is calling on all students and youth to get out in the streets, get involved and get organized against this war! We, the students and youth of this country, are taking an active stand against US imperialism and fighting for a better world. We reject this war of greed and profit, and are walking out of our classes and taking to the streets in protest!

FIGHT THE WAR MACHINE – GET ORGANIZED, GET INVOLVED, AND GET IN THE STREETS!

These are the schools we know of that are participating in the March 20 student anti-war day of action. Email march20antiwar (at) hotmail.com if your school is doing something and we'll add you to the list!

1. UNC-Asheville Socialist Unity League of SDS: Walk-Out at 11:30, Rally, March Downtown

2. University of Alabama SDS: Rally at noon at the Denny Chimes

3. University of Minnesota Anti-War Organizing League (AWOL): Rally in front of Coffman Union, 12:00 pm

4. UIC Students for Social Justice (S4SJ-SDS) and CAN: Walkout, Rally, Feeder March

5. Rutgers R.A.W (Rutgers Against the War): Walk-Out and Rally at 1:30, Vietnam Memorial

6. UNC-Chapel Hill SDS: Walkout, Rally at the Pit 12pm, March

7. UNC-Charlotte SDS

8. George Mason University SDS: Die-In

9. Winthrop University Socialist Student Union (Winthrop, SC)

10. Elmhurst College SDS (Chicago)

11. Columbus, Ohio SDS

12. UCLA SDS: Speak-Outs on the 14-15th (Spring Break on the 20th)

13. Western Illinois University MAAPJ:Rally 1pm Chandler Park (on the 24th)

14. Green Hope High School SDS (Cary, NC): Walk-Out and March

15. Mt. Hebron High School (Baltimore, MD): Assembly

16. Wildlake High School (Columbia, MD): Demonstrations before/after school

17. Animas SDS Fort Lewis College (Durango, CO)

18. Macalester College Peace and Justice Committee (St. Paul, MN): Walk-Out

19. Georgia State University SDS

20. Kennesaw State University Campus Greens (Kennesaw, GA)

21. American University Community Action + Social Justice Coalition (DC)

22. Auckland University Students for Justice in Palestine/SDS: Student Strike

23. Depaul DSAW/SDS

24. University of Chicago SDS

25. School of the Art Institute of Chicago SDS

26. Northeastern Illinois University CAN

27. Desales High School Amnesty (Columbus, OH): Tabling and armbands

28. Lancaster, PA SDS

29. NYU Campus Anti-War Network: Walk-Out and rally at Washington Square Park.

30. Temple Campus Anti-War Network

31. Berea High School Ohio Fighters for Freedom: Walk-Out and Rally

32. Obion County Central WCW (TN): Walkout

33. University of Florida SDS: Walk-Out and March

34. University of Greensboro WCW: Walk-Out

35. University of California Santa Barbara: Action TBA

36. Santa Barbara City College: Rally on West Campus (March 14th 12:00pm)

37. Cary High School (Cary, NC): Walk-Out

38. Enloe High School (Raleigh, NC): Walk-Out and creative demonstration

39. Lawrenceville Boarding School (NJ): Walk-Out and sit-in at center of campus

40. Moorestown Friends School SDS (NJ): Walk-Out

41. Brown University SDS (Providence, RI): Street Theater outside Textron (arms manufacturer) and a banner drop

42. University of Iowa CAN: Rally 5pm at Pentacrest

43. University of Northern Iowa CAN: Walk-Out

44. ACTIVATE Grand Rapids, MI SDS: Days of Resistance to the War

45. Needham B. Broughton High Students Rights Union SDS (Raleigh, NC): Walk-Out and Rally

46. Fond de Lac HS WCW (WI): Walk-Out

47. Eleanor Roosevelt HS WCW (NYC): Walk-Out

48. Jefferson HS Youth Against War and Racism (MN): Day of Silence and Tabling

49. University of Wisconsin – Madison CAN: March 19th rally

50. White Plains High (White Plains, NY): Protest and Teach-In

51. Brandeis University (Boston): Teach-In and Demonstration

And these are the organizations that have endorsed the call to action!

1. World Can't Wait/Drive Out the Bush Regime: Call to Walk-Out on M20

2. SPAN (Student Peace Action Network): March 19 Actions

3. Campus Anti-War Network: March 12th-25th Actions

#UnitedStates #AntiwarMovement #News #Iraq #IraqiSelfdetermination #militaryRecruitment #warForOil #warForProfit