At least from where I sit, it appears that much of the work being done in the immigrant rights movement — and certainly the work we are doing here in Connecticut — is reactive. Whether it’s a one-shot deal like a demonstration responding to an ICE raid or a longer campaign such as the fight for a pro-immigrant ordinance in Hartford, there has been precious little discussion in movement circles about strategy.
That’s why the recent release of a large number of documents by DHS/ICE in response to a FOIA request by community groups in New Haven deserves much attention. Thanks to the efforts of Junta and Unidad Latinas en Accion and their attorneys from Yale, documents have been obtained showing the discussions in the Department of Homeland Security and with the federal prosecutors office regarding New Haven’s passage of the Elm City ID ordinance and the ICE raid that followed almost immediately after.
The documents deserve review for many reasons, not least of all because they tend to confirm the allegations of community activists that the June 2007 raids in New Haven were retaliation for the vote authoring an ID card that could be issued to New Haven residents without regard to their immigration status. In addition, however, the documents show that the feds were genuinely worried about passage of the ID card ordinance. Worried that it would empower undocumented immigrants. Worried that it would contradict the message that ICE was broadcasting, that the undocumented are dangerous criminals, gangsters and terrorists. And most of all, worried that the impact of the ID card would be to interfere with ICE’s ability to conduct its operations in New Haven because of a lack of cooperation from local political and police authorities.
In the period since the New Haven raids I have been telling anyone who would listen precisely this: that the immigrant rights movement can’t limit itself to tactics that are in effect angry but toothless denunciations of ICE. We need to do organizing that expands the civil space that undocumented immigrants and all immigrants can occupy. We need to make the presence of undocumented workers and families a visible reality in our communities that political and social institutions must recognize and accommodate. And periodic picket lines outside a federal immigration office or court house will not do that.
Make no mistake: picket lines, rallies, marches and community meetings expressing solidarity with the immigrant communities and demanding an end to the terror raids by ICE are important and must continue. As part of an overal campaign to empower immigrannt communities and raise consciousness among non-immigrants, these tactics help to expose the brutality of existing government policies and also break down the idea that this is an issue that only concerns immigrants. But without a strategy to actively change the material conditions in Connecticut communities that allow or facilitate ICE’s operations, demonstrations will often amount to little more than a ritual show of opposition.
We all understand that ultimately it is vital to make changes in federal immigration law that formally legitimize the presence of hardworking immigrants in our communities. No doubt many feel that after the presidential elections such reform will be possible. Let’s hope they are right. But that change will take time and its success is far from certain. While we wait for the next president and the next congress to take up wholesale reform, not only do the terror raids continue, but such raids also embolden those who would exploit undocumented immigrants. Landlords, employers, merchants, demagogic politicians and leaders of local hate groups have all found ways to profit, figuratively or literally, from the ICE reign of terror. Meanwhile, social institutions that could provide support or improve the conditions under which immigrant families live are often perceived as off limits because of the fear of exposure and retaliation.
Why is so little being done to challenge these conditions of oppression and exploitation? Why is it that efforts that are being undertaken so often are coming only from the immigrant community itself, and why have their efforts evoked so litttle response (and so little support) from non-immigrant leftists and progressive activists?
From my discussions and observations with people around Connecticut this is the conclusion I have reached. With the exception of some incredible efforts that have emanated from the immigrant communities themselves, much of the so-called immigrant rights movement in Connecticut has been contaminated with a deadly combination of ultra-left posturing, white chauvainism, and plain old lack of imagination. Unable to think outside of the playbooks taken from recent antiwar activism (and without consideration for how remarkable unsuccessful that has been) and unwilling to listen to the voices of immigrant communities about what they actually need, leftists refuse to take on the practical task of creating more public space for undocumented immigrants.
Okay, having slammed many well-intentioned, committed political activists, including many friends and comrades, it is reasonable that I be asked to explain just what it is that I mean by expanding public space and why I think it will make a difference. And that brings us full circile – you knew I would get there eventually – to the New Haven FOIA requests.
Is ICE afraid that instead of having a demonstration of 100 people denouncing them, we will organize a demonstration of 1,000 people? Are they worried that protesters will dress up in large puppet costumes outside their offices? Or are they most of all worried about the practical problems of identifying, isolating, and carting off members of a community without the support of local police departments, without the tips from disgruntled employers, without the assistance of slimy landlords, and without the cooperation of all manner of political and civic institutions that shun the undocumented and force them into social isolation?
We ought to know the answer to this one. How many times have we invoked the image of the Good German . . . the patriotic citizen who turns a blind eye to atrocities carried out against his or her neighbor? Isn’t it likely that what ICE wants most of all is a culture of Good Germans who will make it easy for them to locate and remove the undesirable element without resistance?
What kind of actions, then, would more fully integrate undocumented immigrants into our communities? What local reforms would make them a visible part of these communities, provide concrete protections, enable them to function more easily in and interact more fully with local civil instutions? Certainly, the Elm City ID card is a striking example but there are many other areas where immigrant rights activists, working in collaboration with immigrant community leadership, could make a concrete difference.
There are two areas that I can speak to personally, where I think activists are making a difference. In Hartford, we did not try to pass an ID card bill, but we were able to pass an ordinance that bars police and other public employees from inquiring about immigration status and also bars police from detaining people on ICE administrative warrants. This is something that many communities should be considering.
Also, in several cities in Connecticut, activists are working on projects to help undocumented immigrant workers get wages that are owed to them by cheating employers, are assisting day laborers so they can have safe, decent locations to gather for work, and in some cases are also helping immigrant workers to organize through both traditional unions and workers centers.
But here are a few off-the-cuff examples of other areas where activists could provide concrete assistance to immigrant communities in a way that normalizes their presence and creates the kinds of social, political and civic ties that can make it harder to exploit undocumented immigrants and, in my opinion, make it bit-by-bit harder for ICE to operate with impunity in our cities and towns.
– pass the in-state tuition bill that allows people who are undocumented to qualify for in-state tuition at Connecticut state colleges
– campaign to get local banks to allow immigrants to open bank accounts without social security numbers
– meet with local school officials to ensure that public schools are not – intentionally or unintentionally – putting up obstacles to enrollment of children who are undocumented or whose parents are undocumented
– question local hospitals about their admission and screening policies to ensure that immigrants can access emergency health care . . . and also to make sure that no hospitals in Connecticut do what some are doing, which is to use medical transfers as an excuse to deport immigrant patients
It is incredibly important that we continue to organize to challenge the anti-immigrant hate groups, to protest ICE raids, and to demand drastic changes in federal immigration laws. But the movement can’t stop there. We need to think about how to break through the social, political and economic isolation of undocumented immigrant communities. Making immigrant communities visible and tying them to all of the institutions of civil society – the sort of campaigns that too often activists are dismissing as mere social work – is an absolutely necessary part of the struggle against their continued oppression and exploitation by hate groups, politicians, police and ICE.
Filed under: Immigrant rights
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