State of Play Call

Reform Immigration FOR America debrief call.

By M. Lopez

Forweeks, immigrant rights’ advocates have been waiting to hear what President Obamahas to say about the probability of an immigration reform occurring this year. Even during his campaign for office,President Obama has downplayed talk about immigration reform despite his votingrecord support for immigration reform bills. On Thursday June 25^th, PresidentObama finally held a bipartisan, bicameral, congressional meeting, the first ofmany to come, regarding immigration reform. In this meeting, the President affirmed his administration’sgoal to achieve practical comprehensive immigration reform, and asked eachchamber and party to listen to the American people wanting such legislation topass.

Themeeting symbolized the “starting bell” for a coordinated effort to win acomprehensive immigration reform bill. But what makes this attempt to enact immigration reform different fromprevious attempts? The answer liesin the hands of grassroots advocacy organizations and allies across the country,which have built great momentum for reform. The Reform Immigration FOR America, a united nationalcoalition comprised of faith-based and business leaders, unions, and communitybased organizations, is an example of such coordinated effort spearheading acampaign to build support for workable comprehensive immigration reform. The campaign has had numerous victoriesthus far despite the fact that concrete legislation still needs to befinalized.

I,like so many others, was discouraged by the inability of congressional leadersto push forward immigration reform in previous legislative cycles, and began tobe disengaged in the dialogue. Ieven stopped organizing. When Iheard the victories of the Reform Immigration FOR America campaign I felt optimistic. President Obama’s congressional meetingconfirmed that something important was going on. The gathering was not filled with false hope, but rather wasfilled with a sense of commitment and great urgency, proving immigration reformis possible.

PresidentObama’s remarks affirmed that meaningful steps to provide a path towardsimmigration reform by late this year to early next year are underway. In his remarks, he said that we need “good policymaking over short-term politics” and how“after all the overheated rhetoric and the occasional demagoguery on all sidesaround this issue, we’ve got a responsible set of leaders sitting around thetable who want to actively get something done and not put it off.”

President Obama, however, did not fully acknowledgehow undocumented immigrants contribute to our national economy when he stated “undocumented workers arehere — are not paying taxes in the ways that we’d like them to be payingtaxes.” However, in July 2006 IRS Commissioner Mark Everson releasedstatistics about ITINs (Individual Tax I.D. #’s) in testimony before the U.S.House of Representatives:

· In 2005 more than 2.5million tax returns were filed using ITINs.

· Applications for ITINshad increased 25 percent over the previous year.

· Between 1996 (whenITINs were established) and 2004, the IRS estimates that $50 billion in taxeswere filed using ITINs.

Undocumented immigrantsprimarily use ITIN’s for filing their taxes because they do not have a socialsecurity number to file their taxes under. My mother, for example, contributes to the $50 billion fundthat has undoubtedly increased since 2004 and has not received one cent inreturn. Each year, my mother filesher taxes and claims as being self-employed although she is not. Because she is considered to beself-employed she has to pay three times as much and is not able to claim anybusiness tax deductions because she does not operate a business. My mother, therefore, has had to paythe government at least $3,400 each year out of her annual gross income whichis less than $15,000. Mind you,there are three of us in this household. In short, my mother is getting ripped off each year by the governmentwho refuses to recognize her as a taxpayer let alone a human being. It is veryheartbreaking to hear that my mother’s efforts to be a responsible individualare insufficient, are overlooked, and that somehow it is okay to be aworking-poor single mother of two. This is why immigration reform isoverdue.

I know people just like my mother who go out of their way, file their taxes each year, andsacrifice so much to do so despite their meager means. Some of theseindividuals are unable to afford the extra $1,000-$4,000 in taxes and yet theypay with great sacrifice which means forgoing other necessities such ashealthcare in the belief that the government would begin to recognize theircontributions and let them stay but it isn’t.

By Jessica Flores

A group of Knox County, Ohio teens put a noose around Robert Cantu’s neck and dragged him through a parking lot, shouting “spik” and “border jumper” in May 2008. Last week, one of those teens was convicted of “ethnic intimidation” and sentence to 10 days in jail, an outcome Robert believes sends the wrong message on hate crimes.

Robert says the judge’s sentencing gave the message of “boys being boys.”

But, Robert says the incident was much more than a rough-up, it could have been deadly.

In the middle of the day, the culprits pulled up to a local hang-out, jumped out of a truck with a rope, and spotted 17-year-old Robert , who is half Hispanic.

They dragged Robert from the side-walk to a parking lot, and attempted to tie Robert to the truck and drive away before bystanders were able to stop the teens. Robert escaped with scars and bruises, but he says it could have been worse.

“They had plans to take me to a park and hang me in a tree,” says Robert.

It took five months for the police department to investigate the crime, and only one of the teens involved, Dale Cline, was charged.

Knox County Court House’s Judge James Ronk found Cline guilty of “ethnic intimidation”, which is Ohio’s equivalent of a hate crime. Cline, who is 18, was 17 at the time of the crime and was charged as a minor. The maximum penalty for Cline was 6 months in a juvenile detention center and jail until age 21.

Instead, Judge Ronk sentenced Cline to 10 days in jail and $100 fine. Cline will be released later this week.

This is not the first time Robert was targeted because he is Hispanic. He is continually harassed and called derogatory names by local residents, he says. His mother, Marci Cantu, says his family was even threatened after Cline’s sentencing.

In January 2008, Justyn Harris, 19, beat Robert unconscious while calling him racial slurs. Harris served 35 in jail before being released.

The Cantu family has decided to move back to Texas. They moved from Houston, Texas nine years ago to take care of an elderly grandparent.

“I kind of don’t want to go because I have some really good friends here and I don’t want to leave them. But if I stay here, I might die,” says Robert.

Robert plans to continue playing baseball in Texas, and hopes to get a scholarship to play in college.