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Alliance
Border Community Alliance for Human Rights June, 2005 -San Diego, California
Over time, the brutal aggression against border communities has increased
dramatically and desperately. The deaths of migrants or more accurately, of our
family members, has numbered in the hundreds every year. Sorrow has invaded our
hearts and our communities. Running through our streets, houses and workplaces
is the terror of being apprehended by law enforcement agencies. Yet our only
crime has been to look for work that can provide for the well-being of our
families. Civilian groups operating as if they are above the law and the US
Constitution, not masking their xenophobia and racism are reinventing the
horrendous tactics of the KKK and the Texas Rangers –all to fulfill their
“patriotic mission” of hunting migrant families and workers.
Police and sheriff departments have prepared themselves as if going to a war in
which the enemies are migrants, clouded in the language of terrorism and drug
trafficking and taking on the dirty work of immigration enforcement agencies.
Our children, fathers and mothers are violently separated and deported because,
as they say, they represent a “threat to national security”. Left behind in all
of this is our families, abused, isolated and in pain.
To us, migrants and border residents, it is clear that those who are responsible
for this situation are the same border and immigration policies and those who
implemented them. Bill after bill has gone through the White House and Congress
over the past years. All of which has justified and called for our persecution
and criminalization. Governments have obscured who the real enemies are. We,
migrants, are not them.
For these reasons border communities have decided that we will neither remain
quiet nor silent. Today we have formed this alliance to share our pain, our
hopes and our demands for better conditions for our lives. Together, we are
raising up our call for lives free from abuses and rooted in human rights.
Our demands:
On Border Control and Enforcement Policy
A complete revision of border policies is urgent. These revisions should
include, among other items, the following:
Prohibit the collaboration of local police with immigration authorities (Border
Patrol, Immigration Customs Enforcement, etc); in particular, local police
agents assuming the role of immigration agents.
Cancel the border enforcement operations, including Gatekeeper, Hold the Line,
Safeguard and Rio Grande. These operations have dramatically increased the
number of deaths in the deserts, mountains and rivers along the US-Mexico
border. Instead of these operatives, we need a policy which provides a way for
migrants to legally enter the United States through ports of entry.
The Border Patrol and Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) must withdraw from
our communities and suspend activities that are jeopardizing the security and
safety of communities.
Local and regional government officials take serious and effective steps to
disband border vigilante groups. Officials that are promoting, aiding and/or
protecting these groups should be held responsible and accountable for any and
all impacts of vigilantism.
Separate the issue of migration and migrants from the international law
enforcement issues of terrorism, drug trafficking, etc.
Create civil monitoring boards with the legal and judicial power to observer
that activities and policies of local and federal law enforcement agencies and
their impacts on the rights and lives of community members.
That due process is respected and guaranteed for migrants that are involved in
detention, deportation or removal procedures.
That border enforcement agencies and agents comply with and uphold local,
national and international laws and rights.
On Immigration Reform and Legalization of Migrants
The powers of United States (Congress, President and Federal Courts) should
develop and approve a comprehensive immigration reform policy that contains the
following principles:
Access to permanent residency for all migrants that live and work in the United
Status. A program that only provides temporary work permits does not reflect the
hopes and demands of migrant families in the United States.
Recognition of the political, economic, social, cultural, scientific and
financial contributions of migrants in the United States. This recognition
should separate migrants from being categorized as terrorists or participants in
criminal activities.
Grant drivers licenses and identification to migrants that live and work in the
U.S. that does not demarcate their race, legal status or other distinctions.
Expedite the reunification of families by eradicating the antiquated quota
system and increase the number of visas available to family members.
Provide a safe, legal means for migration through ports of entry and for the
adjustment of people’s legal status.
Cross-border programs that legalize migration flows and border crossings that
are in accordance with international human rights standards.
On Economic Policies and Trade Agreements
Governments and communities should revise and change current economic policies
and trade agreements to reflect the following principles:
Those countries that employ economic policies that are displacing entire sectors
of their populations instead generate economic, political and cultural
opportunities that benefit their populations and communities.
That trade agreements between two or more countries conduct consultations with
the communities that will be impacted by the agreements.
That reparation be provided to the communities that have been negatively
impacted by transnational trade agreements and economic policies.
That the issues of migration and human mobility be part of all discussions and
deliberations of economic trade agreements.
That fair trade be developed and not free trade.
That transnational economic policies comply with and recognize human rights,
including labor rights, environmental protection, etc) for all sectors of the
population.
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