500.000 in LA!

Awesome!

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/03/25/immigration.rallies.ap/index.html

Do you think the rallies held across the nation will sway politicians' views on immigration reform?

Yes 26% 2049 votes

No 74% 5708 votes
Total: 7757 votes

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/03/25/immigration.rallies.ap/index.html

another Duabi port deal

Do you think the rallies held across the nation will sway politicians' views on immigration reform?

Yes 27% 2389 votes

No 73% 6594 votes
Total: 8983 votes


This should be its own thread.

:thumbsup:

Do you think the rallies held across the nation will sway politicians' views on immigration reform?
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No
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Sat Mar-25-06 10:51 PM
Original message
Sensenbrenner Awakens A Sleeping Giant
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I have just returned from the largest, most energized demonstration I have ever witnessed in my life. Over 500,000 people filled the streets of downtown Los Angeles to march against HR 4437, a bill authored by Republican Rep. James Sensenbrenner (heir to the Kotex fortune) which would turn 11 million undocumented immigrants into felons, punish anyone guilty of providing them assistance, and construct an iron wall between the US and Mexico.

The rally reached a crescendo as thousands of demonstrators lined the walls and bridges above the 101 freeway waving flags and cheering while an endless parade of cars and trucks blasted their horns in support. It was the sound of a sleeping giant awakening.

In passing HR 4437 and whatever draconian and utterly counter-productive bill emerges from the Senate, the congressional Republicans have become their party's worst enemy. They have cast their white, Southern base in conflict with the Latino constituency the RNC and the Bush White House realize they must win over if they are ever to achieve a so-called "Republican majority."

more...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/max-blumenthal/sensenbren...

could load for you but i am ignorant of the technology.

......Deprived of any substantive issues ahead of this year's mid-term congressional elections, the Republicans have reached into their deck and drawn the race-card. Introducing a stream of anti-immigrant legislation specifically directed against brown-skinned workers is the GOP's post-Bush, post-9/11 strategy.

And as they advance their short-term political goals, the congressional GOP institutionalizes a culture of hypocrisy which punishes immigrants publicly while paying them privately. To quote a sign that hung today on an overpass above the 101 freeway, "We built your houses, we growed your food, and now you call us criminals?"

why don't the peace protests get this many people. strange indeed

A heaping pile of people in and around LA would feel immediate effects from this so-called immigration reform. It would affect them personally and not just those who are immigrants.

The war is still a very abstract thing in the average person's mind. There is no draft, so no one who isn't at least somewhat willing to accept being a soldier in Iraq is directly affected. The families of those there or who have been there are affected, but many of them have been indoctrinated with this idea that dissent against the war is somehow a criticism of their individual soldier. Obviously exceptions exist, and it is not strange accident that the most effective and outspoken voice so far in the anti-war movement is the mother of a dead soldier.

Do you think the rallies held across the nation will sway politicians' views on immigration reform?

Yes 26% 2049 votes

No 74% 5708 votes
Total: 7757 votes

Rock LA!!!

bills. This will mobilize a new wave of immigrants to become much more politically active. Generally, hispanics have a low voting turn out, but this will change. Now, if only the dems can recognize this & take advantage of it.

Here in Georgia, Hispanics had a general strike last Friday. A number didn't go to work, shop, or go to school. A number marched in Atlanta by the capital building. They flew white flags from their cars in a show of solidarity.

of those protestors waving the Mexican flag. This is a double edged sword to say the least.

there also.

Saw more American flags than Mexican flags.

That's ALL they want - a chance to be Americans too. That's all my Irish immigrant ancestors wanted. Unless you are 100% Native American, your ancestors came to this country in search of a better life, perhaps speaking broken English (if any at all), and were scorned as filthy undesirable by those who had already forgotten their past.

America is a nation of immigrants from every corner of the globe.

"Unless you are 100% Native American, your ancestors came to this country in search of a better life, perhaps speaking broken English (if any at all), and were scorned as filthy undesirable by those who had already forgotten their past."

MY ancestors came to this country from England in the 1600s. They settled the colonies, ran the government, owned land, fought in the Revolutionary war. I am related to Lincolns and Boones...hardly "filthy undesirables", either in their native lands or this land. They came here because they were escaping political and religious tyranny.

They established businesses and ran farms. They were not hired cheap illegal labor who couldn't speak the language. They were landed gentry who jumped the pond to escape persecution.

I am sick of people saying America is "a country of immigrants" as if all immigrants are created equal. They are NOT. And, furthermore, the immigration laws exist for a reason. People need to earn their citizenship here, not just demand it in the streets. Otherwise, why can't I go to Canada on a work permit and INSIST someone make me a citizen?

I guess it doesn't bother you that everyone ELSE who came to this fucking country was persecuted at one time or another, as long as it wasn't YOUR forebears, then? As long as they were doing the persecuting, everything's A-OK? The Puritans came for THEIR religious freedom - but fuck the Catholics and the Jews. Fuck all the Poles, Italians, Irish, German Catholics, Jews, Slavs, Chinese, Japanese, all those who came over and were spat on, because as long as YOUR ancestors weren't, then there's not a problem.

What utter and typical WASPy arrogance and bullshit.

Your blanket statement was in defense of immigrants of all stripes, getting into the country and staying here illegal or otherwise. You further implied that unless one was a native American then one's ancestors were part of the great unwashed masses that characterized the immigration waves in the late 1800s and beyond. And, yes, I had ancestors who came later as well and were among them.

My point is that they need to follow the rules. They are ILLEGALS. People can call the immigration laws "draconian" all they want. We still need immigration laws to regulate this activity. It's not some kind of a free-for-all in other countries of the world, you know. They DO have quotas and guidelines elsewhere around the globe and they DO enforce them!

(because THAT poster asked).

Very disgusting selfish and ignorant viewpoint.

those who believe that an accident of birth makes them superior to the rest of the human race?

I did not say an accident of birth makes anyone superior.

I simply said that there are LAWS and they need to be enforced.

Yeah, well, I'm of Irish descent, not a DAR.

I'm sorry I don't share your lovely patrician ancestry--actually, I'm not sorry--I'm damn proud of my Irisah ancestors.

My ancestors heard the same rants about themselves as my Hispanic friends and neighbors hear today.

It's racist and has no place in a democracy.

It's REALIST. Times have CHANGED. And immigration laws have been passed for a REASON and need to be ENFORCED.

"I am related to Lincolns and Boones...hardly "filthy undesirables", either in their native lands or this land. They came here because they were escaping political and religious tyranny."

So they were escaping political and religious tyranny - they were therefore filthy undesirables in their native lands. Or not. Make up your mind.

By the way, there were no immigration laws until modern times.

"For much of its history the United States allowed unrestricted immigration. Toward the end of the nineteenth century, various restrictions were placed, most notably on Asian immigrants. The Johnson-Reed Act of 1924, also known as the Permanent National Origins Quota Act, began a quota system that lasted for 40 years."
http://www.lifeintheusa.com/immigration/history.htm

For many of us our ancestors had no legal bureaucracy to deal with at all.

You will see there WERE restrictions all along.

Naturalization Act of 1790 Stipulated that "any alien, being a free white person, may be admitted to become a citizen of the United States"
1875 Supreme Court declared that regulation of US immigration is the responsibility of the Federal Government.
1882 The Chinese Exclusion Act prohibited certain laborers from immigrating to the United States.
1885 and 1887 Alien Contract Labor laws which prohibited certain laborers from immigrating to the United States.
1891 The Federal Government assumed the task of inspecting, admitting, rejecting, and processing all immigrants seeking admission to the U.S.
1892 On January 2, a new Federal US immigration station opened on Ellis Island in New York Harbor.
1903 This Act restated the 1891 provisions concerning land borders and called for rules covering entry as well as inspection of aliens crossing the Mexican border.
1907 The US immigration Act of 1907 reorganized the states bordering Mexico (Arizona, New Mexico and a large part of Texas) into Mexican Border District to stem the flow of immigrants into the U.S.
1917 - 1924 A series of laws were enacted to further limit the number of new immigrants. These laws established the quota system and imposed passport requirements. They expanded the categories of excludable aliens and banned all Asians except Japanese.
1924 Act Reduced the number of US immigration visas and allocated them on the basis of national origin.
1940 The Alien Registration Act required all aliens (non-U.S. citizens) within the United States to register with the Government and receive an Alien Registration Receipt Card (the predecessor of the "green card").
1950 Passage of the Internal Security Act which rendered the Alien Registration Receipt Card even more valuable. Immigrants with legal status had their cards replaced with what generally became known as the "green card" (Form I-151).
1952 Act Established the modern day US immigration system. It created a quota system which imposes limits on a per-country basis. It also established the preference system that gave priority to family members and people with special skills.
1968 Act Eliminated US immigration discrimination based on race, place of birth, sex and residence. It also officially abolished restrictions on Oriental US immigration.
1976 Act Eliminated preferential treatment for residents of the Western Hemisphere.
1980 Act Established a general policy governing the admission of refugees.
1986 Act Focused on curtailing illegal US immigration. It legalized hundred of thousands of illegal immigrants. It also introduced the employer sanctions program which fines employers for hiring illegal workers. It also passed tough laws to prevent bogus marriage fraud.
1990 Act Established an annual limit for certain categories of immigrants. It was aimed at helping U.S. businesses attract skilled foreign workers; thus, it expanded the business class categories to favor persons who can make educational, professional or financial contributions. It created the Immigrant Investor Program.
USA Patriot Act 2001 : Uniting and Strengthening America by providing appropriate tools required to intercept and obstruct terrorism
Creation of the USCIS 2003 : As of March 1, 2003, the US immigration and Naturalization Service becomes part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The department’s new U.S. Citizenship and US immigration Services (USCIS) function is to handle US immigration services and benefits, including citizenship, applications for permanent residence, non-immigrant applications, asylum, and refugee services. US immigration enforcement functions are now under the Department's Border and Transportation Security Directorate, known as the Bureau of US immigration and Customs Enforcement (BICE)



The laws EXIST now--for a REASON--and need to be enforced---JUST AS IMMIGRATION LAWS ARE ENFORCED IN OTHER COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD!!!

There are 3 general steps in the application process for lawful permanent residence for skilled workers. The first two steps must be initiated by your potential employer, and the last step by you and your accompanying relatives. The application procedures may be carried out either within the US at a USCIS office, or abroad at the U.S. consulate of your country of residence.

The first step involves your employer who files for a Labor Certification on your behalf. The reason that you are required to do this is so that the US Government can confirm that there are no qualified United States citizens available and willing to take the specific job that has been offered and that the working conditions and wages offered for the position will not have an adverse effect on the United States labor market. Therefore, you will be working with both the USCIS and the Department of Labor on this application.
If the Labor Certification is approved, you will then have to prove that you are qualified for this particular visa. Your employer will then file an Immigrant Petition for the Alien Worker (Form I-140).
If the Petition is approved, you will then file a formal request for lawful permanent residency or a green card application. This process can take place from the Country of Residence at the US consulate or from within the United States.
There are several factors that could impact the time it takes for the application to be approved. These factors may include, but may not be limited to: (a)Using the correct procedures when filing each type of application; and (b) quota availability. For example quotas are set by both visa type and by country, so, the country you were born in can also impact your timing.

They just didn't have anybody to RESIST them, like you and your ilk, like the immigrants did after YOUR snob immigrants did!

The only reason they weren't ILLEGAL was because THEY were INVADERS AND COLONISTS! - WORSE than "illegals"!

They were settlers, colonists. Does that make them snobs? WTF?

One pair of them were effected so much by it that they changed their religion and denyed EVERYTHING about their heritage - except when the holidays came and they sought out the food they themselves refused to learn to make.

Sad, really sad.

Now our family is a virtual UN of nationalities and races, so when anybody speaks ill of ANYBODY, they are speaking ill of MY FAMILY, and it disgusts me in a personal way that hits home like nothing else before.

the hispanic hate fest and lock arms with the wall builders.

We need one of those in Texas and Florida.

Reading about Chertoff's announcement to 'round up' 39,000 chinese illegal immigrants, even though China told the US they wouldnt permit them back into China, I realized the dangerous direction this was going.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4811458.stm

We have been watching Federal Laws, FEMA camps and the build up, and privatization, of Federal Prison complexes. The announcement to 'round up' these chinese people, house them each at $95 a day, equals out to be $4 Million a day. No doubt, when Americans complain about the budget and the new immigration laws, they will try to rationalize putting these people to work, to pay for their own enslavement...

The whole thing just stinks. We need to all sit down and decide what is the best approach. I havent heard any Democrats step up to the plate with a platform idea....or what could be done to help Mexico's economy. NAFTA doesn't work because it's not paying the workers enough to help with the tax base. It's still robber-baron corporations and CEOS making their big profit margins.

Also, it isn't fair to do this to Chicano People because they have been migrating from Mexico to California even bore the Spanish arrived...This has to worked out with fairness, NOT FELONIES...goodgod, are they crazy? But it does make those CEOs wealthy who have been salivating over filling the new prison complexes with felons so easy to acquire with these new laws. I watched that day in Congress, those congressmen making deals with lobbyist over the immigration laws...just knowing it would be $95 per head, each day...in their pockets!!!

THINK!

which i posted in LBN


...Edited on Sat Mar-25-06 11:49 PM by rodeodance

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060326/ap_on_re_us/immigra... ;_ylt=ArJLRDWXDw.5WYt0STgKQ45H2ocA;_ylu=X3oDMTA3MXN1bHE0BHNlYwN0bWE-

Immigration March Draws 500,000 in L.A.

By PETER PRENGAMAN, Associated Press Writer 22 minutes ago

Immigration rights advocates more than 500,000 strong marched in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday, demanding that Congress abandon attempts to make illegal immigration a felony and to build more walls along the border.

The massive demonstration, by far the biggest of several around the nation in recent days, came as President Bush prodded Republican congressional leaders to give some illegal immigrants a chance to work legally in the U.S. under certain conditions.

Wearing white shirts to symbolize peace, marchers chanted "Mexico!" "USA!" and "Si se puede," an old Mexican-American civil rights shout that means "Yes, we can." They waved the flags of the U.S., Mexico and other countries, and some wore them as capes.

Saturday's march was among the largest for any cause in recent U.S. history. Police came up with the crowd estimate using aerial photographs and other techniques, police Cmdr. Louis Gray Jr. said.
"Glory Days"

e)on the website.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/03/25/immigration.rallies.ap/index.html

Half-million protesters peacefully clog L.A. streets
Proposed legislation targets immigrants, employers, Samaritans

Saturday, March 25, 2006; Posted: 9:19 p.m. EST (02:19 GMT)

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- They surprised the police, and maybe themselves, their T-shirts turning block after block of downtown Los Angeles streets white in a demonstration so massive that few causes in recent U.S. history have matched it.

Police said more than 500,000 people marched Saturday to protest a proposed federal crackdown on illegal immigration.

Wearing white as a sign of peace, and waving flags from the U.S., Mexico, Guatemala and other countries, they came to show that illegal immigrants already are part of the American fabric, and want the chance to be legal, law-abiding citizens.

Police used helicopters to come up with the crowd estimate. "I've been on the force 38 years and I've never seen a rally this big," said Cmdr. Louis Gray Jr., incident commander for the rally.

in LA and Phoenix...its great these people marched and showed their strength...

I don't know how Arnold Schwarzenegger got to be Governor...

and the Democrat ousted???

wasn't Arnold the one who ran on no driver licenses for ilegals???

And where did Mccain in Phoenix come from???

Somehow, I think the anti-war protests had no less people - just were never reported like this.

freeway, "We built your houses, we growed your food, and now you call us criminals?"


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/max-blumenthal/sensenbrenner-awakens-a-s_b_17894.html