Elian Helps the Right Discover Existence of INS
Dear Friends
The return of Elián Gonzalez to his father was long overdue, as remains his return with his father to their home in Cuba. And so yesterday's events were gratifying to millions of people in the U.S.A. and certainly to millions of Cubans.
But at the same time, the response by the right wing of the Cuban American community and by right wing members of the our own government -- From Tom DeLay to Trent Lott to Rudolph Giuliani, while not surprising, is--at very least--galling.
At most, it takes some already well earned career records for hypocrisy to the new height of just plain "not all there."
Isn't it something more than irony that the very same members of Congress who have, for years, tightened immigration policy, militarized the US border and led the charge over the past decade to spend billions in tax dollars to equip not just the INS but police agencies in communities all over the country with military weaponry are now the ones screaming for a congressional investigation into "why this raid took place?"
Have these people ever seen a "normal" INS raid under the rules that they themselves have written? Have they ever seen the way SWAT teams treat families in low income neighborhoods in the course of a raid? Have they ever once stood up in the House or Senate in front of the podium, CNN, God and Everybody to make one of their shrill, fist-pounding, pen-pointing diatribes to argue for psychologists to be on hand to help the tens of thousands children who each month are routinely subjected to watching police or INS agents break into their homes, and force mom and dad into a van, or force Grandma and Mommy to lay face down on the living room carpet while men in black ninja get-ups point sub-machine guns with some screaming "Do not move or I will shoot you!" and the rest of them yelling, "Get down on the floor! Move!!" just slightly louder?
While only a malcontent would complain about an unexpected conversion to the human race, one does wonder, "Where, precisely, has Tom DeLay been keeping himself?" (Just as one wonders where Trent Lott has been getting his hair cut, but we digress).
Those who have been involved in the immigrant rights, human rights and labor movements have been around to see for years the INS that these people created. We've seen it for years before this one day that it has done a single Good Act, about which which Trent Lott has chosen to discover moral outrage (for, predictably, all the wrong reasons).
The below appeal from Michael Moore illustrates the point: A eight hard working people making minimum wage try to unionize, and their boss calls the INS in response. The National Labor Relations Board may agree that it was a violation of labor law to have them deported for organizing activities, but that doesn't stop the INS from deporting them anyway. This is a common tactic of employers in union organizing drives in the United States (These workers haven't been deported yet, though, which is why you should read Michael Moore's letter: They need our help).
Precisely where has Rudy Giuliani been for the decades that this has been going on? Somewhere else? And where was Miami's Mayor Joe Corallo when, just months ago, the INS sent back a boatload of 400 Haitian refugees, fleeing a country with one of the lowest five standards of living and a close tie for the most violent repression and highest infant mortality rate on the planet? Where, indeed, has been the Mayor and others in the right wing of the Miami Cuban American community for the years that Haitians have been treated like criminals upon reaching U.S. shores, with children forcibly separated from parents in INS detention facilities? Should the Haitians be wondering, "Was it something we said?"
Did José Basulto and the Cuban American right make it a part of their cause to demand that Haitian refugees--or Dominicans, or Mexicans, or El Salvadorans or Jamaicans--enjoy the same amnesty from deportation that Cubans receive once they reach the shores of the U.S.? Have they offered a response to the Miami-Dade NAACP's questions as to whether racism might have something to do with their penchant for double standards?
In a word, "No."
So let's celebrate a day when we all played a role in encouraging the U.S. government to do the right thing, and let's make sure that Elián's and his father's ordeal ends with their being permitted to return to their home and with the U.S.'s embargo of their island being lifted.
And let's also do what Michael Moore asks and write to Janet Reno and the INS Director on behalf of the six women and two men who should not be deported for trying to unionize. Let them know that people think they did the right thing yesterday in returning Elian to his father, and that there's no better time than now to start making "doing the right thing" a habit.
In Solidarity,
Dana Simon
Project USA/Cuba InfoMed
April 20, 2000
Dear Friends,
I need your help in preventing an injustice that is about to occur.
I am writing to you from Minneapolis where I am shooting a segment for "The Awful Truth" which begins next month on Bravo. This Tuesday, April 25, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) will hold a hearing here as part of their attempt to deport eight Mexican workers. Their crime? They tried to organize a union where they worked, at the Holiday Inn Express in downtown Minneapolis. The employees voted - and the union won. Shortly after their victory, Holiday Inn called the INS and turned them in.
The INS agents raided the Holiday Inn, and arrested and handcuffed these 6 women and 2 men. They then took them to a detention center far outside of Minneapolis and were not allowed to call a lawyer for a week.
When they were finally released (still wearing their Holiday Inn maid's uniforms) they got a lawyer and filed a number of complaints against Holiday Inn of Minneapolis with the National Labor Relations Board and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Both federal agencies ruled in favor of the Mexican illegal aliens. The law prohibits retaliating against any employee who attempts to organize a union or discriminating against anyone because of their ethnic background. It was the first time that the EEOC had ruled in favor of undocumented workers.
Yet, even though Holiday Inn broke the law and was ordered to pay fines and restitution, the INS continues their efforts to ship the housekeepers back to Mexico.
These eight individuals - Rosa Albino, Evertina Albino, Reyna Albino, Estella Albino, Francilla Albino, Bulfrano Albino, Norma Del Toro, Bruna Alvarez, and Amado Flores -- are truly the working poor. They are the people who clean up after us. They break their backs for minimum wage -- cleaning bathrooms, changing sheets, and dealing with the mess people leave behind.
It is the kind of work none of us want to do. And because the boomers decided to have less children, there are not enough young people around to take the low-paying jobs, so many businesses have decided to look the other way and hire Mexicans and others to do the shift work. Companies across America love illegal aliens - until they get uppity and ask for a few more cents. Then a call is placed and the ax of the INS comes down swiftly.
These eight Mexican citizens have been in the United States from four to ten years. Some have had children born here. The INS cynically says the kids can stay - they're considered American citizens - but the parents have to go.
The INS has to be stopped.
I have met these eight good people. They are the kind of people you hope to live next to - decent, honest, hard-working, selfless. They seek no favors, they pay their taxes, and they've been in no trouble with the law.
Yes, they came here illegally. I am not condoning this, but I ask you to please consider that none of us would be here today if it wasn't for the fact that our grandparents, great- grandparents, or some family ancestor came to America as an immigrant. Except for Native Americans and African-Americans, every single one of us is here today because of a relative who got to America by "hook or crook." How can any of us justify slamming the door behind us - "Okay, we're in! Everybody else, stay away!"
In shooting this story I have traveled to Atlanta to meet with a vice-president of Holiday Inn. It turns out that Holiday Inn is a foreigner, too. It is owned by the British - Bass Ale, to be specific. I asked the British v.p. who the hell did he think he and his other British executives were -- coming to our country, making millions, and trying to deport eight other immigrants who had also come here (to make five bucks an hour)?
Then I went to Washington, D.C. to meet with a top official at the INS. No, I said, I am not here to talk about young Elian. I want you to let these eight Mexican workers stay in the U.S. I told him the INS had violated the law by responding to a call from an employer who was trying to use the INS to retaliate against employees trying to organize a union. The man looked as if he wished I had asked him about Elian Gonzales. He said he wouldn't comment except to say that the hearing on the 25th will determine whether the eight stay or go, that the INS does consider certain "contributions to society" that illegal aliens make in determining whether they get to stay, and that the INS does listen to the comments of other citizens.
So that, my friends, is what we have to do - today. These eight people have made a significant contribution to us. They have risked everything by standing up for what they thought was right and trying to improve the working conditions and economic status of the AMERICANS who were their co-workers. In other words, they did what WE should be doing. When it comes to this -- that it takes a group of poor Mexican immigrants to show us how to do the virtually impossible by organizing a union for minimum wage workers - well, I feel embarrassed, ashamed, and damned determined to see that they get to stay. They deserve our thanks, not deportation. Our country is a better place because they are here.
Please e-mail INS chief Doris Meissner and her boss, Attorney General Janet Reno at web@usdoj.gov and tell them you believe these eight workers should be allowed to stay. You can all call Doris Meissner at 202-514-1900 or fax her at 202-307-9911 (Reno can be called at 202-616-2777; fax 202-514-5331).
Thank you for doing this. I know many of you are busy today with Holy Thursday, Passover and the upcoming Easter weekend.
I can't think of a better way to celebrate than by turning around and extending our hand through the door to America that our families got to go through. Moses led one of the largest groups of illegals through a desert after the state ordered the slaying of every first-born male amongst the aliens.
Lets allow Rosa, Evertina, Reyna, Estella, Francilla, Bulfrano, Norma, Bruna, and Amado to pass over, too.
Yours, Michael Moore
These individuals have not been allowed to work for the past six months. If you would like to make a contribution to help them personally, you may send a check to:
Holy Rosary Solidarity Fund 2424 18th Avenue South Minneapolis, MN 55404
* 100% of your contributions will go directly to these workers.
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