|
| |
Declaration of Monterrey
National Movement for Legalization and Human Rights
“National Assembly of Immigrants 2003”
May 16-18, 2003 - El Paso, Texas
“National Meeting of Coordination and Strategy”
March 5-7, 2004 - Washington, DC
POLITICAL AGREEMENT
The National Assembly of Immigrants has agreed to recognize the Declaration of
Monterrey as the political guide for the struggle of immigrant communities and
groups. Furthermore, the Assembly determined that the Declaration of Monterrey
should be broadened in the following areas:
A) The Declaration of Monterrey will be framed within the struggle for the
recognition of the universal Human Rights which emanate from the needs and
struggles of the peoples of the world, in particular, the immigrant communities
of the world. Immigrant Rights are Human Rights. Our struggle is for Justice,
Freedom and Democracy. It is also for Dignified Work and Workers’ Rights,
Housing, Health, Education, Food, Culture, Language, Human Mobility, etc. These
are our human rights no matter our legal status, nationality, gender, race,
sexual orientation/preference, age, disability, social class, etc.
B) The content of the Declaration of Monterrey will be deepened in regard to the
root causes of underdevelopment, poverty, and displacement of the peoples and
countries of the world due to the imposition of the neoliberal economic model
(where money, exploitation, and the market form the only course for
development), expressed through that which we know today as Globalization. This
development model is the cause of the current worldwide migration processes in
which entire communities are destroyed and disintegrated leading to an extensive
human displacement.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DECLARATION OF MONTERREY
"On borders, migratory agreements, and the rights of migrants"
March 21 and 22, 2002
Monterrey, Mexico
We, migrant men, women and children. We, immigrant communities of the Americas.
We, organizations of migrants hereby declare:
That we are the people that with pain and resolve leave behind our families in
order to offer them a better future and a better life. That we have made the
terribly difficult decision to emigrate and leave our beloved countries because
there we lacked meaningful employment, access to education, adequate housing for
our families, land to work, access to good health, and any sense of a “future.”
That we, immigrants, are the people who with hope in our hands and sadness on
our backs, walk long days and nights, not in search of plenty, but rather in
search of the minimum needed to live and to educate and support our children. We
are the ones that cross deserts, mountains, rivers, and seas suffering through
the heat, the cold, and our own loneliness. We die there, on the border, on the
seas and along the roads, without shame, without anyone saying a word.
That we are the people who are told day in and day out that we are not welcome,
while the governments of Mexico and the United States talk of integration and
globalization. We are held in little or no esteem, and are told we have no
rights to guarantee our existence. We can be victims of abuse and mistreatment,
and even killed, simply for looking for work…, and no one says a word.
That we are the people who in the fields of Texas and New Mexico pick tomatoes
and peppers from daybreak to sunset. We work in the meatpacking plants of Iowa
and Kansas. We clean and keep up the hotels and restaurants of Houston and Los
Angeles. We mow the grass on the golf courses of Arizona and tend the yards of
homes all across America. We take care of the sick and elderly, pick up the
trash, and prepare food in all types of kitchens. We build the roads and
highways on which, ironically, we are not allowed to drive.
We immigrants are also the ones who through our hard work purchase homes, set up
shops, restaurants, and even large businesses that contribute to the economic
growth of many communities. We are professors, researchers, engineers, and
doctors who contribute knowledge and well-being to the community. We are
artists, poets, and writers who enrich the culture and language of the society
that refuses to receive us. Like any other member of the society in which we
live, we pay taxes and fulfill our fiscal obligations.
But we are also the people whose right to an identity is denied. We work 10 or
14 hours a day for less than minimum wage because the laws do not protect us. We
lack access to preventive health care and driver licenses because we do not have
a social security number. We are denied access to colleges and universities
because we are foreigners. We are those who do not exist and do not count in
this society, because we do not have documents.
We, migrant men, women and children. We, communities of immigrants from the
Americas. We, organizations of migrants ask and demand today in Monterrey at the
resumption of the dialogue between Presidents Bush and Fox, that our voices be
heard. We can no longer remain unheard, not anymore!, and that the right to
human mobility, which gives reason to our being as immigrants, should be
recognized and integrated completely into the current global processes.
We propose and declare that true immigration reform, in order to be integral,
humane, and dignified, should consider the following:
A broad and comprehensive legalization program that grants permanent residency
to all nationalities of undocumented immigrants and their families that live in
the United States. Any program offering temporary status that does not include
the option of permanent residency for immigrants already living in the U.S. is
unacceptable.
The legalization of future migratory flows. That certain minimum rights need to
be guaranteed in any migration program into the U.S., such as: Right of Legal
and Orderly Entry, the Right to Work, the Right to a Social Security Number, and
the Right to Permanent Residency. Moreover, the restitution of the lost savings
of ex-Bracero workers and the protection of the savings of future migrant
workers must be guaranteed.
The defense and protection of immigrant rights must include: Reforms to
eliminate the discrimination of immigrants in the workplace, demanding above all
the elimination of employer sanctions; adequate resources to protect and defend
workers’ and civil rights; the elimination of immigrant-based restrictions to
legal and social service programs; the facilitation and protection of
remittances that migrants send to their families; that the right to organize
collectively and to unionize to improve wages and working conditions; the right
to choose and change employers (worker mobility); equal protections and rights
under labor and civil rights laws; legal protections for immigrants who suffer
acts of hate violence and xenophobia; and the right to due process and judicial
system.
The protection of human and civil rights during the enforcement of immigration
laws. This should include the revision of antiterrorist strategies, beginning
with the separation of the migration phenomena from the concept of national
security, the revision of interior enforcement and border enforcement on the
US/Mexico border as well as the southern border of Mexico and other major entry
and passage points, and the demilitarization of these strategies.
Significant immigration reforms including the revision of anti-terrorist
legislation, detention and the use of secret evidence against immigrants, the
use of military tribunals, the per-country immigration quota system, the backlog
in processing visas and citizenship applications, access to adjustment of status
and opportunities for family reunification, an end to unfair political asylum
and deportation processes and other obstacles to acquiring and maintaining
permanent residency.
The implementation of global policies that resolve the problems of displacement,
unemployment and migration of poor countries, beginning with the elimination of
transnational enforcement policies, such as "Operation Disrupt," that impede and
criminalize migration flows and treat migrants as the targets of militaristic
operations.
Immigration and human mobility must be included in all economic integration
agreements. Concrete steps can be taken such as: the critical review of
structural adjustment programs that the IMF and World Bank impose on developing
countries, not allowing those countries to respond to the needs of local
development, and making the burden of sacrifice fall disproportionately on the
poor. The cancellation of the debt of these countries should also be broadened.
Respect and equality for all. Serious steps must be taken towards the
elimination of discrimination and racism in U.S. society, especially towards
immigrants, people of color and other minorities.
We, immigrant men, women, and children. We, immigrant communities of the
Americas. We, immigrant organizations, speak and hereby declare: That we break
the silence in which no one says a word. We raise our voices to make it clear
that we do count, that we do exist, and that we are human beings. And we
proclaim that we will only take part in the global integration when, from
country to country, from border to border, every human being is recognized as
equal in dignity and rights.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On two occasions, (El Paso, TX – May 2003 and in Washington, DC – 2004) the
Declaration of Monterrey has been ratified as the political accord and political
guide of the member organizations that collectively make up the National
Movement for Legalization and Human Rights.
| |
|
