Organizers at the NOA Immigrant Community Organizers’ gathering in July (see page 5) spent a day discussing legalization and proposed amnesty legislation. The excerpts here captures part of a “fishbowl” in which participants rotated into a discussion circle to speak their mind.

Edwin Rodriguez, Northern California Coalition for Immigrant Rights. The AFL-CIO resolution is part of a historical moment. Everyone has a great responsibility. How can we influence this process? How does the community fit into all of this? The last amnesty program took twelve years. How long will it take us this time?

Sung Kyu Yun, National Korean American Service and Education Consortium. I am worried about trade-offs. Some politicians want to exchange amnesty for more enforcement. We have to be careful and define our bottom lines.

Ninaj Raoul, Haitian Women for Haitian Refugees, New York.With recent organizing around bills it was as if legislators were playing games — trying to make groups feel that opportunities would be limited if they made coalitions with Haitians. They were saying, “Just wait, next year we’ll do something for the Hondurans.” There is also a lack of awareness in local communities, a false hope. They won’t “give” amnesty; you must fight for and demand it.

Mayron Payes, Day Laborers’ Union/Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles. It’s not only important to focus on organizing but also on education and workers’ rights. We can’t just say, “I’m going to fight for papers.” What if people get papers and become Republicans?

Jane Bai, Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence, New York. We need to really think critically around the notion of citizenship. Citizens have problems and struggles too, that must be tied to legalization. Criminality, racial profiling, police brutality are all still applied to citizens. We need a comprehensive program that links de-militarization, welfare restoration, and legalization.

Katy Nunez-Adler, Labor Immigrant Organizing Network/ SEIU Local 1877, Oakland, CA. We can’t just focus on legalization without linking it to employer sanctions and the criminalization of work.

Catherine Tactaquin, NNIRR. In 1996 there was an effort to separate “legal immigrants” from the undocumented. In the end, everyone got hurt. In the past, we fought over the so-called “bottom line.” But there is no single bottom line. What we want is very revolutionary in political terms: to change the way nations are constructed. I know we’re going to have to make compromises; we need to build broader support to help reduce the loss.