What happens when a migrant crosses the border?
The idea for the Journey of an Immigrant Delegations emerged from awareness of growing anti-immigrant attitudes reflected in increased legislative efforts all over the U.S. to criminalize the undocumented worker and resident.
Women on the Border and Austin Tan Cerca de la Frontera collaborated to produce a three day weekend where delegates would attempt to understand immigration law and policy in practice from a human perspective. They would hear the voices of recently released detainees from immigration jails temporarily residing at Casa Marianella, a migrant shelter. They would visit the Texas colonias and meet with organizers who help the families of workers achieve some level of dignity in living and health conditions. They would walk inside an ICE processing center and see the faces of detainees; they would speak to a lawyer who advised them on efforts to release people from immigration jail and finally they would see the negative impacts of the border wall and ongoing construction of new sections on people and wildlife from the perspective of environmentalist groups like the Sierra Club.
Below is the text of the flyer that was used to recruit delegates.
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From Veracruz to Austin and Back: The Journey of an Immigrant
May 17 (Thurs. evening) to May 20 (Sun. evening) 2012
Delegation produced by Austin Tan Cerca de la Frontera in partnership with Women on the Border.
Since 1999, the ATCF quarterly program of solidarity delegations visiting maquiladora workers in Mexico at the border has examined the impact of free trade on real lives and communities. Our on-going relationship of solidarity with members of the Comité Fronterizo de Obreras@s brought us behind news headlines and US policy rhetoric. Immigration within Mexico from South to North always fueled the border maquilas with workers. We saw border cities double their populations, many with migrants from Veracruz.
Now, teaming up with sister organization, Women on the Border, our May 2012 delegation will swivel the perspective to see what happens when Mexican and Central American immigrants cross the border into the US. In Austin we will learn about a labor system that practices wage theft on immigrants without documents and how they assert their rights. We will hear from immigrants as well as US citizens who lose their basic human rights when they are pulled into the US’s detention system and sometimes deported.
Itinerary: In South Texas we will visit an immigration detention center and speak with local people as well as activist/advocates to understand the economic bribe that detention centers offer poor Texas communities. We will stop overnight at the UFW/La Union del Pueblo Entero (LUPE) campus east of McAllen to learn about services that UFW and the Texas Civil Rights Project offer recent immigrants. At The Wall the Sierra Club will explain environmental and social hazards.
Throughout we will question and discuss US policies that maintain the structure posing a nightmare for immigrants and the undocumented in this country.
• Trade,
• Immigration,
• Security (anti-terrorism).
We will speculate why the federal government is so unable to “fix a broken system.”
Dates: May 17 (Thurs. eve) to May 20, (Sun. eve) 2012.
DEADLINE: This 12-14 person delegation will fill quickly: small discount if you register by April 9, 2012. Cost: $225
Facilitators and contributors Elvia Arriola, Women on the Border Director and Professor, NIU College of Law; Bianca Hinz- Foley, Organizer, Workers’ Defense Project; Bob Cash, Director, Texas Fair Trade Coalition; Andrea Black, National Director, Detention Watch Network; Representatives from Univ. of Texas Immigration Rights Law Clinic and from the Texas Civil Rights Project, Grassroots Leadership and Texans United for Families.