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National Statement
The
National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights presents
this national statement against the war, and the growing
abuse of immigrants, refugees, and communities of color.
We hope that your organization will endorse this statement.
List
of organizational endorsements of statements
This
document in Spanish
Click here for
a pdf version of the National Statement
(pdf
documents are veiwable with free Acrobat
Reader)
Stop
the War Abroad
Stop the Domestic War against Immigrants, Refugees
and Communities of Color
We
call for an end to the U.S. led war-drive against Iraq.
We
call for an end to the growing domestic war on the rights
of immigrant and refugee communities, and all people
of color. To ensure public safety and security, we must
fully protect our civil liberties, and civil and constitutional
rights.
We
raise our voices and extend our hands in solidarity
with the victims of U.S. government racist violence
abroad and domestically.
War
Abroad, War at Home
The
looming U.S. war against Iraq threatens to violently
displace entire communities in the Middle East, again
creating new generations of refugees and displaced peoples.
During the 1991 Gulf War, over five million migrant
workers from Asia, the Middle East, and other parts
of the world were forced to flee for their lives and
countless Iraqis and Kuwaitis became casualties of the
war.
The
U.S. war drive also has a disproportionate impact on
immigrants, refugees and communities of color living
in the United States. Our communities already suffer
from inequitable domestic policies that result in higher
levels of unemployment, incarceration, and military
service. Anti-terrorist laws and policies further criminalize
entire communities, shatter lives and impoverish families
whose loved ones face detention and deportation.
President
Bush’s “permanent war against terrorism”
has sown fear and confusion, increasing public anxieties
and stereotypes that terrorists are “living in
our midst.” A series of policies, practices, measures,
and laws targeting immigrants and refugees have been
unleashed. The three major post-September 11 anti-terrorist
laws - the USA PATRIOT Act, the Aviation and Transportation
Security Act, and the Enhanced Border Security and Visa
Reform Act - criminalize immigrants, prolong failed
border militarization, and give measures of impunity
to immigration law enforcement. The 9/11 anti-terrorist
measures have increased border militarization resulting
in further abuses and deaths of migrants crossing to
work in the U.S. The FBI and INS, with other local,
state, and federal law enforcement forces, have systematically
stepped up harassment and carried out raids where immigrants
and refugees live, work, worship, study, and play.
Policy
Wrongs, Immigrant Rights
Immediately
after 9/11, using illegal racial, ethnic, and religious
profiling, the INS with the FBI and other police began
arresting and, in many cases, deporting scores of South
Asian, Arab, and Muslim men as part of the anti-immigrant/anti-terrorist
hysteria and scapegoating that swept the country. The
government has yet to account for thousands of illegally
detained, deported, and disappeared persons. Immigration
proceedings are NOT criminal proceedings. In many cases
the government utilizes immigration laws when there
is no other way to prosecute an individual or group.
Immigration laws have built-in profiling techniques
that put large sections of immigrant communities at
risk of deportation.
Under
the guise of “national security,” a coalition
of federal government agencies led by the Department
of Justice unleashed “Operation Tarmac” raids
against low wage airport service workers including non-citizens
and U.S. citizens. While over 1,000 mainly Latino and
Asian airport workers have been arrested and deported,
hundreds more lost their jobs; yet not one single “terrorist”
was found.
Thousands
of other longtime airport security workers who are lawful
permanent residents lost their jobs after the federalization
of airport security screener jobs required U.S. citizenship.
The
current INS “Special Registration Program”
is only the most recent attack on the rights and freedoms
of Arab, African, and Asian communities that may lay
the groundwork for continuing sweeps of other immigrant
communities.
All
anti-terrorist immigration law enforcement programs,
policies, practices, and laws targeting immigrant and
refugee communities must end.
Stopping
the war abroad must include stopping the war against
immigrants and refugees and all communities of color
at home.
Restore
Civil Liberties and Protections
Laws
and policies that target groups based on religious beliefs,
culture, ethnicity, race and immigration status are
abhorrent to people throughout the world. Our Constitution
and international treaties prohibit such discrimination,
abuse, and violation of basic human rights and principles.
Once proud ideals, such as habeas corpus, due process
rights, and innocence until proven guilty have been
left in the ditch as the Bush Administration rushes
to war.
TOGETHER
WE MUST:
- HOLD
ACCOUNTABLE all elected officials responsible
for trampling the constitution and eroding civil and
human rights in the “war on terrorism.”
- REPEAL
anti-terrorist immigration law enforcement programs,
policies, practices, and laws.
- PREVENT
the further erosion of constitutional guarantees,
such as the recently leaked PATRIOT Act II, which
would strip people of their citizenship and other
rights.
- STOP
hate violence and illegal racial, ethnic, and religious
profiling.
- DEFEND
our civil liberties by upholding full constitutional
protections and processes, including accountability
by the FBI, INS, and other law enforcement agencies.
- GUARANTEE
all members of our communities, regardless of their
immigration status, live in peace, safety, and security.
Ending
the domestic war on the rights of immigrants, refugees
and people of color guarantees the peace, safety, and
security of all communities in the U.S.
List
of organizational endorsements of statements
*
To endorse this statement, please email or call:
National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights; Tel
(510) 465-1984 ext 305
Email: agarcia@nnirr.org
NNIRR 310 8th Street Suite 303, Oakland, CA 94607, Tel
(510) 465-1984, Fax (510) 465-1885
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