Voice of Revolution

Demonstrate October 27

All U.S. Troops Home Now

Voice of Revolution salutes all the many people joining in the organizing to demonstrate October 27 to demand, End the Iraq War Now! All U.S. Troops Home Now. Increasingly across the country, people are taking their stand that Bush and Cheney are war criminals that deserve jail. People are also expressing their support for the resistance in Iraq and elsewhere by demanding that all U.S. troops come home now. This demand is gaining increasing support as people recognize that bringing U.S. troops home now is the best way to end war in Iraq, block war against Iran, and block U.S. aggression worldwide.

Experience has shown that it is the ability of the U.S. to use force against the peoples that poses the greatest threat to peace and security, here at home and abroad. The U.S. effort to impose its criminal “Might Makes Right” dictate can only be accomplished based on use of military force.

The sentiment of the people, represented by the many demonstrations and actions across the country, is that the U.S. has no business dictating to anyone. It has no business occupying other lands and oppressing the world’s peoples. The U.S. military is an instrument of occupation and empire building and people of the U.S. want no part of these crimes. Their solution is All U.S. Troops Home Now!

Military families and war resisters from among the troops are an integral part of the October actions. They too are demanding that all the troops come home now and rejecting any notion that continuing the war provides security, for the troops or the people, whether in Iraq or the U.S. Indeed, by giving expression to their experience of being forced to commit crimes and forced to become inhuman, they are making clear that U.S. militarization is doing grave harm to humanity – including all the troops.

People are also taking their stand against the broad attacks on the people at home. Every day there are yet more examples of the government’s criminal actions against the people – torture, spying, raids against whole communities with no warrants and no crimes committed, detention camps, the racism and injustice of Jena, the on-going genocide against Katrina survivors. This is not the society the people need and want. And most certainly it is not the government the people need and want. The politicians of the rich refuse to end war, threaten more wars and insist on increasing antagonisms and use of force against the people. It is time to throw them out.

Just as the large majority want the Iraq war ended now, the large majority also want friendly relations with the peoples of all countries, relations based on mutual benefit and respect for rights. And people want these relations with Canada and Mexico as well as Iraq, Iran and all the peoples worldwide. Yet now we have the death wall being built along the Mexican border. It is not a wall of peace or security – it is a wall of oppression and militarization both sides of the border. The Senate however, with its Democratic majority, voted 95-1 to provide another $3 billion for the wall and for the military to provide “operational control” of the border. The peoples both sides of the border say NO! No walls, no wars, no militarization!

As people strengthen their level of organization and common thinking in the course of organizing the October 27 actions and others like them, many are giving consideration to how to get the government we want and need. A starting point for many is to Throw Out the Politicians of the Rich. Support the Anti-War Candidates of the People! The Democrats have shown they are no answer and will not end the war and indeed will likely be responsible for increased aggression. Senator Hillary Clinton’s recent statements against Iran are evidence of this.

What is needed is the people’s own anti-war candidates that represent the demands of the people and stand firm on the necessity for the people themselves to govern and decide. Politicians represent, the people decide. As everyone goes forward with united anti-war actions and organizing for rights, let all consider the necessity to build up our own mechanisms of decision making, including our own politicians and representatives.

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Stop the Raids and Deportations!

No One is Illegal

The government’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been carrying out massive collective punishment of workers and immigrant communities across the country. New York, Texas and California are among the areas hardest hit in the most recent raids. ICE is systematically terrorizing people, by storming communities, raiding homes, threatening children at gunpoint and disappearing people who have committed no crime. Even local police, such as those in Long Island, New York, are confirming the “wild west” atmosphere being imposed – where those with the guns are given impunity to act against the people. Voice of Revolution vigorously denounces the raids and deportations and demands that they end now. None of the raids are required for law enforcement, none of them provide security and all of them are used to -terror ize not only immigrants but everyone. If ICE is able to arbitrarily raid communities and break into homes and round up people without any cause whatever, what other government agency will do the same? No one is safe when such impunity is unleashed.

ICE has openly proclaimed that “We didn’t have warrants and we don’t need warrants.” It claims it does not need warrants, it does not need crimes, it needs only its determination that “illegal aliens” may be present or those that associate with them may be present. According to existing law, it is not a crime to enter the country without documentation. Immigration law is part of the civil law system and dealt with through means other than criminal law. Search warrants and probable cause are indeed needed to enter homes. Several lawsuits have been launched based on the fact that the raids are unconstitutional and illegal. As well, part of civil immigration law is the right of those detained to appear in court to present their case before they are deported. These ICE raids trample on all of these laws and directly criminalize workers without documents and indeed, whole communities. Evidence of the arbitrary and illegal character of the actions can also be seen in the fact that citizens and those with documentation as well as the undocumented are routinely grabbed, handcuffed in front of children or fellow workers, jailed, and deported as part of these raids.

The ICE raids are an integral part of the arrangements the government has put in place for executive rule by the Office of the President, including agencies like ICE and the Department of Homeland Security. The federal government is criminalizing and militarizing life at all levels, using humiliation and terrorism. The onslaught is such that local police officials, striving to remain true to their job of law enforcement, are refusing to participate. This of itself poses a problem for the government, which is seeking to ensure that all the various police agencies at all levels submit to the Office of the President.

Government arrangements of impunity and terrorism are no solution and endanger all of society. Buffalo Forum call son all to reject the raids and deportations and defend the rights of all. We urge all workers to rally round the standard of the working class, An Injury to One is an Injury to All and stand up for undocumented workers. No One is Illegal!

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Provides $3 Billion More in Emergency Funds

Senate Backs Military Control of Border

The Senate, in a 95-1 vote, recently approved an amendment to the Pentagon’s Appropriations Bill for 2008, calling for the military to secure “operational control” of the border. Senator Lindsey Graham, of South Carolina, who sponsored the amendment, said, “In the age of terrorism, regaining operational control of our nation’s borders is a national security issue of the highest order.” He added, “The term ‘operational control’ is a military term, and I look at this effort to secure our border as a military operation.” The amendment provides $3 billion to the Pentagon for the operation. It also includes what is termed “interior enforcement measures,” particularly at workplaces. The funding normally would be part of the civilian Homeland Security Department (DHS) but is instead being added to the Pentagon budget, underlining its character as a military operation. Indeed, in many ways the bill serves to increase the merger of DHS under the military.

The amendment specifically calls for “Establishing operational control over the entire U.S. border,” north and south, with a focus on the border with Mexico. Funds can also be used for the border with Canada. It provides funding for all 700 miles of the border wall, well-known for causing many more deaths along the Mexican border and widely rejected by the people on both sides of the wall. The wall, in addition to fencing and concrete barriers, includes many more Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) and ground sensors. While the UAVs are supposedly to “patrol” the border, there is nothing in the bill preventing them from being used against human beings. The military commonly uses the UAVs in Iraq and elsewhere for targeted assassinations as well as spying.

The amendment also calls for yet more detention beds in addition to the 20,000 already funded. It also increases the ability of police agencies to profile and arbitrarily detain and deport immigrants, without trials, for minor immigration violations.

The amendment is specifically designed to strengthen actions by the federal government and military to force local police to enforce immigration law. At present immigration law, and its enforcement, falls exclusively under federal jurisdiction, not state or local. In an effort to involve state and local governments, the federal government has established various programs, including training of local and state police. The amendment provides increased funding to the states and local police agencies for this federal “training.”

Workers and communities across the country have already experienced the results of this training and “joint” operations, with the numerous raids by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the FBI at workplaces and various immigrant communities. Several more recent cases, such as those in New York and Texas, show clearly that the federal agencies are engaging in massive raids and collective punishment, including illegal detentions and deportations, and forcing the local agencies to engage in this illegal activity with them. Some of them, such as county police in Long Island, New York and city police in Fort Worth Texas, are refusing.

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Local Police Refuse to Participate

People Oppose ICE Raids on Long Island

For four days at the end of September, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) carried out massive raids in Nashua and Suffolk County, on Long Island. Dozens of ICE agents with shotguns and automatic weapons raided homes, terrorizing children and arresting 186 immigrants. Of the more than 90 arrested in Nashua County, the large majority had no criminal records whatever. ICE agents simply stormed houses, with no warrants and no suspicion of crimes. The collective pun ishment of communities was such that everyone had to produce papers showing their citizenship. Only 6 of the 96 people named on ICE administrative warrants were among those arrested. Many others were seized simply because they did not have the documentation demanded by the government. While ICE was supposedly engaged in a joint operation with local police to identify “gang members” they refused to work with local police, whose records are more regularly updated. All but 6 of 96 the administrative warrants had wrong or out-dated addresses.

As has occurred in similar ICE raids over the past year, many children came home to find their parents gone, and young children were left abandoned by police, including a 4-month old baby whose father was arrested while the mother was at work. Many children have been traumatized to such an extent that they are afraid to go to school or leave home in fear that their parents will be gone when they return.

Many organizations denounced the raids, standing up for the rights of the immigrants. Organizing on the basis that No One Is Illegal they opposed the terrorizing of families and communities and demanded an end to the raids. In addition, legal action is being taken, demanding a restraining order blocking ICE from any further raids without court-issued search warrants. These require a higher standard that criminal activity is involved.

Activists brought out that many homes were entered without warrants of any kind and that no one saw warrants for any of the arrests made. Everyone present was interrogated and many people arrested having committed no crime whatever. Some families had their homes raided more than once over the four day period. Justifying this state terrorism, the ICE special agent in charge said, “We didn’t have warrants and we don’t need warrants to make arrests. These are illegal immigrants.” He added, “You’re arresting individuals who are in association, they’re in the area, they’re in houses that are known for illegal aliens.” Simply being in the country without documentation is not a crime and nor is associating with people without documentation. Raiding homes where no crime has been committed or even suspected and terrorizing children is criminal.

The arbitrary and brutal actions by ICE were such that Nassau police officials refused to participate after three nights of raids. Thomas R. Suozzi, the Nassau County executive, as well as Lawrence W. Mulvey, police commissioner, objected to the ICE actions. Mulvey said there were examples of “clear dangers of friendly fire” where young children were present. He also said they local police were not given a list of the 40 people arrested on the first night of the raids. Police were thus unable to respond to the deluge of calls from community residents asking about missing persons, including those from churches whose members had disappeared. Only three of the forty were later identified as “gang” members. His own officers complained about the undisciplined conduct of the ICE agents acting like cowboys. Mulvey said that in two instances, ICE agents drew their guns against Nassau County police detectives.

Mulvey initially had his officers present during the raids in case there were local drug or weapons charges. There were none. After three nights of the massive raids against innocent people, Mulvey withdrew support and said his department would not participate in future operations by ICE. Suozzi demanded an investigation by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which is responsible for ICE.

According to DHS and ICE, their actions were all appropriate.

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Thousands Join Call for Humane Borders

Across Texas, Border Cities Unite to Say No Wall/No Muro!

Southwest Workers Organization

Community leaders, residents and local organizations joined together October 12-13 to launch the No Wall! campaign along the Texas-Mexico border. They are rejecting the border wall and sending a message to the U.S. government and its Department of Homeland Security that constructing the wall is not a solution. Actions included three demonstrations. On October 12, in the El Paso-Ciudad Juárez area, protesters marched to the Stanton-Lerdo international bridge. On October 13 actions took place at the Del Rio-Ciudad Acuña International Bridge crossing and in Brownsville, Texas at the International Gateway Bridge.

Participants brought out that the wall will worsen the situation for this already impoverished, under resourced region. Joining concerns of religious leaders, area Mayors and Chambers of Commerce, Ruben Solis, native of Grulla, Texas, explains, “The wall will only hamper a thriving cross-border economy, cut farmers and ranchers off from their land, further divide families and slice through wildlife refuges in one of the world’s most ecologically diverse places.”

The wall is a decision made in Washington, without the input or voices of the local communities and families it will devastate, added youth organizer Sandra Garcia. “We demand that plans for the wall stop and local communities and leaders participate in designing alternatives.”

More than 80 local, national and international organizations have joined the No Wall! campaign representing labor, environmental, faith and women groups. With a deadline of October 15 to submit comments to the government, actions will collect testimonies about the potential impacts of the wall.

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Nationwide Actions Defend Immigrant Rights

More than 100 cities organized for actions to defend undocumented workers on October 12, including New York City, Detroit and Los Angeles. Taking their stand that No One Is Illegal! Stop the ICE Raids and Deportations! numerous organizations mobilized actions at Federal buildings and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) offices. We reprint below the call from Latinos United/Unidos in Michigan as representative of the many actions.

March for Immigrant Rights!

Join Latinos United in Michigan in organizing a march opposing the failure of President George W. Bush and Congress to act on immigration reform. Our demands are: to stop the raids that not only humiliate undocumented workers but also disrupt the lives of all workers and the economy of many families; to stop the deportations and separation of families, which is a violation of human rights; to Stop the No-Match Letters which will disrupt the lives of undocumented workers and their families, legal residents and citizens, who can all be deported before they verify their legal status.

On Friday, October 12th, at least 100 cities are calling for a national day of action. Here in Detroit, we will march against raids, deportations, the no match letters, and the separation of families. The central demand is to stop all four actions. Workers should not be punished for Congress’ failure to act on immigration reform.

The march will start Friday, October 12th in the Boyer Field West

Vernor and Dragoon. At 10:30 we will gather, and at 11 AM sharp, we will march to Clark Park, where we will have a rally.

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Irving, Texas

Thousands March to Defend Immigrant Rights

Thousands of people joined together to defend immigrant rights and demand an end to the unjust government raids and detentions in Irving, Texas on October 13. It was the second march and rally organized in just the past few weeks, with an earlier action opposing the government attacks on September 26. People in Irving, near Dallas, are being especially hard hit with raids by the government’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), aided by local Irving police. These include raids on apartment complexes based simply on the fact that immigrants live in them. More than 170 people were grabbed and detained in Irving in September, with 70 deported in just one week. The profiling and criminalization is at such a high level that Mexico’s consul in Dallas urged Mexican citizens not to drive through Irving. As well, parents are refusing to send their children to school in fear that they will be grabbed and deported and the children will come home to find their parents disappeared.

The local police force has submitted to a federal government program known as CAP (Criminal Alien Program). CAP is supposedly designed to identify criminals, who are also immigrants without documentation. The federal government provides 24/7 communication and databases for use by local police. They also train local police in how to “profile” suspicious activity. CAP also urges local police to demand the immigration status of all those arrested, including for minor misdemeanors. Commonly such interrogations are not done and the individual is simply fined or released. Similarly, individuals stopped for such offenses who say they were born outside the country are automatically profiled and detained for ICE. Using this profiling, the program has contributed to police terrorizing communities and targeting anyone the police “suspect” as being an immigrant or associating with an immigrant. No crimes are involved.

As a result of programs like CAP, which rely on profiling and illegal interrogation of immigrants about their status – the numbers of people detained by local police for ICE has skyrocketed, in Irving and nationwide. For example, in October 2006, ICE placed 7,138 people, arrested on other charges, on “detainers” as suspected undocumented immigrants. In August, 2007, that number was 18,628. After being detained, the individuals and even families involved may be placed in detention camps while their cases are examined, or deported, or sometimes released.

The people in Irving, like those in border cities across Texas, are denouncing the government raids and standing together with all the undocumented workers and their families. They are targeting the government for its crimes and demanding an end to the raids and full and immediate legalization for all.

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Texan Mayors Threaten Court to Stop Border Fence

Robin Emmott, Reuters

Texan mayors on the border with Mexico are threatening to take the U.S. government to court and are encouraging ranchers to do the same to block construction of a fence to keep out illegal immigrants. Six mayors fear the planned fence, part of Washington’s crackdown on immigration, will hurt trade, split closely knit Mexican-Texan communities on both sides of the border and endanger wildlife.

Part of a federal plan to build 700 miles of barrier along the entire border, the fence will also cut off Texan ranchers’ access to the Rio Grande, the main source of fresh water in the region, the mayors say. “We have to protect our property and we will do whatever is necessary to ensure there is no wall,” said Laredo Mayor Raul Salinas, a former FBI agent.

A federal judge temporarily halted construction of part of the fence this week in Arizona on environmental grounds. Since the failure of President George W. Bush’s immigration reform plans in June, Washington has been focused on boosting border security and deporting illegal immigrants. Construction of the fence has already begun in California.

Eagle Pass Mayor Chad Foster said he had received hate e-mails from Americans outside Texas who accuse him of being soft on security. “The perception in some parts of the United States is that you build a fence and then migration stops. The reality is that it will slow down migrants by three to four minutes,” he said.

Ranchers were also prepared to team up with the mayors in a potential suit over the fence, expected to be 153 miles (245 km) long in Texas, Foster said. Ranchers fear it will run through their land and block off the Rio Grande. “Besides, we’ll be ceding land to Mexico because we’ll have to build the wall back from the Rio Grande, which is the border in Texas,” said Del Rio Mayor Efrain Valdez.

Cultural and economic ties to Mexico run deep in southern Texas and Mexico is a key trading partner for the state. Until the mid-19th century, Laredo was in Mexican territory. In 1840, citizens of Laredo briefly formed their own republic – the Republic of the Rio Grande – with the northern Mexican states of Coahuila, Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon. [The U.S. seized all the territory from Mexico in its war of annexation 1846-48.]

“Washington is imposing this [wall] without consulting us, when we are the border communities,” said Monica Weisberg-Stewart, a leader of the Texas Border Coalition that represents the mayors, judges, business leaders and citizens against the wall.

Any legal fight would take place in Texan courts, with mayors and landowners arguing that the federal government is trespassing on municipal and private land. Legal experts say Texans are within their rights to take the government to court but that Washington can use its powers of eminent domain to seize land for the wall. “Legally, mayors and landowners may not be able to block the construction but they can certainly delay it a great deal and make it very difficult for the federal government,” said David Crump, a law professor at Houston University.

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Know Your Rights About the Social Security “No-Match” Letter

Reverend Mary, Immigrant Rights Activist

The Social Security Administration (SSA) sends “no-match” letters to workers and certain employers when the workers’ names or address and Social Security numbers do not match. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has issued a new rule that would use these letters as evidence that an employer has “constructive knowledge” that its workers are undocumented, unless the employer follows certain steps. Employers are using this as an excuse to fire workers and/or have them deported. But a federal judge has stopped the new DHS rule from going into effect, and SSA cannot send out the no-match letters with information about the rule. The court issued a decision on October 10, 2007. The court must still decide whether this new DHS rule is legal or not.

Your Rights

Currently, if a no-match letter regarding you is sent to your employer, it is only because the address SSA has for you is incorrect or has changed, and SSA is simply using your employer’s address to reach you.

• Your employer should not discipline or fire you only because of a no-match letter. In fact, the no-match letter states very clearly that employers are not supposed to “take adverse action” against you because you appear on the no-match letter. An employer who does so may be violating the law.

• When you were hired, you should have filled out an I-9 form and showed your employer proof of your identity and eligibility to work in the U.S. After you have completed that form, you don’t have to answer any other questions from your employer about your immigration status except in very limited circumstances. Being listed or named in a no-match letter is not evidence that the listed worker is undocumented. An employer who asks about your eligibility to work simply because they got a no-match letter may be violating the law.

• All immigrant workers have many of the same rights as citizens. One of your most basic rights is the right to remain silent about your immigration status.

What You Should Do

•Make sure your employer has your complete address so SSA will send any letters to you and not your employer.

• Ask the employer for a copy of the original no-match letter.

• Tell your employer that you want a co-worker present in any meetings with management about the letter.

• Attend worker meetings on no-match and get workers involved.

• Notify your Union representative and contact a community organization if you feel that you have been singled-out because of your citizenship status or national origin, or if you feel your boss is retaliating against you.

What You Should Not Do

• Do not panic or be afraid! Being named in a no-match letter does not mean you’re ineligible to be employed in the U.S.

• Do not quit your job just because your employer tells you that your name was listed in a no-match letter.

• Do not notify your employer if you got a no-match letter at home! Just because you got one does not mean that your boss will also get a no-match

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