No Human Being is Illegal

Voces de la Frontera1027 S. 5th St.

Milwaukee, WI 53204414-643-1620

info@vocesdelafrontera.netwww.vocesdelafrontera.net

About Voces de la Frontera

• Mission– Community based organization– Organize to protect and improve

the lives of low wage and immigrant workers

More about Voces…

• Services– Citizenship classes– English classes– Legal clinic– Labor Rights Workshops– Leadership development– Referrals to community

resources and agencies– Health & Safety counseling with

OSHA

Why do Immigrants Come Here? The way our global economy is

structured

− First year of NAFTA in Mexico: 80,000 manufacturing jobs created and one million agricultural jobs lost

− Since then, 2 million small farmers forced out of work due to subsidized US agribusiness exports

− Around 28,000 small and medium-sizedbusinesses have been eliminated due to Mega-retailers (such as Wal-Mart) moving into Mexican market(3)

NAFTA passed in 1994

Devastating Effects of NAFTA on Mexico

•Currently, 2,826 maquiladoras, US owns 79%. 300,000 manufacturing jobs at US multinational companies in Mexico moved to China (2003). (4)

•No enforcement labor, safety regulations or environmental standards for U.S manufacturing factories. (5)

•19 million more Mexicans living inpoverty today than in 1994 (6)

•Forced migration: 2.5 million Mexican undocumented in 1995; as of 2006, an additional 8 million crossed the border. (7)

Myths Cont…

• No motivation in Mexico to change the country

• EZLN • Civic campaigns for

democratic elections (8)• UNT –national independent

union federation (9)

“Today we say enough! …we call on all our brothers and sisters to join us on the only path that will allow us to escape starvation caused by the insatiable ambition of a seventy-year-old dictatorship…ready to sell out our country.”

New Year’s Day 1994—Declaration of the Lacandonal Jungle bySubcomandanteMarcos of the EZLN on the day of the signing of NAFTA

– Since NAFTA, 2.5 million manufacturing jobs were lost nationwide in the US. (10)

– Wisconsin was one of the 10 worst hit states as a total share of jobs losing 25,403 jobs and counting. (11)

– According to DOL, two years after losing their jobs: 1/3 held new jobs that paid as well, 1/3 earned 15-20% less, 1/3 dropped out of labor force (12)

Impact of NAFTA on US and Canada

Impact of NAFTA on US and Canada

– More than 38,000 US small farms have gone out of business as a result of NAFTA and overall US farm income has declined (13)

– In Canada, a decade of competition with the United States is eroding social investment in public spending on education, unemployment compensation, and other public services. (13)

Whose benefiting?

• Average CEO in US earned 262 times the wages of the average worker. (14)

• 1965- 24X• 1975 28X• 1985 52X• 1995 100X• 2005 262X

Myths cont.

• Immigrants take jobs from American workers

• 4.5% unemployment in US(15)

• States with higher concentration of undocumented have lower unemployment (16)

• Create jobs (17)

The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie -- deliberate, contrived and dishonest -- but the myth -- persistent, persuasive and unrealistic. –John F. Kennedy

• Immigrants don’t pay taxes• Contribution to Social Security:

$189 billion worth of wages recorded in the suspense file over the 1990's, two and a half times the amount of the 1980's. (18) 

• $7 billion in annual Social Security tax revenue and about $1.5 billion in Medicare taxes. (19)

Myths

"Our assumption is that about

three-quarters of other-than-legal immigrants pay payroll taxes,"

said Stephen C. Goss, Social

Security's chief actuary, using the agency's

term for illegal immigration. 

Immigrants & Taxes (19)

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

Billions annually

Contribute Receive

• Increased border patrol is the solution– From ’86-’98, border patrol’s budget

increased six-fold & number of agents stationed at border doubled to 8,500 while undocumented immigration population doubled at same time. During 80s apprehension rate was 33%, in 2002 it was 5%

– Since 1995, the number of dead on the border has doubled from 254 in 1998 to 472 in 2005

“We must learn to live together as

brothers [and sisters]

or perish together as

fools.”

–Martin Luther King,

Jr.

Myths Cont…

• Armed Vigilantes – Bodies found with gunshot wounds

or bludgeoned

“If our government doesn’t help us boot ‘em,

I guess we’ll just have to up and shoot ‘em!”

Life on the Border

Who profits?

• Companies such as Halliburton, GE, Lockheed, Boeing

• For profit prisons: Corrections Corporation of America, the Geo Group, and Texas based Cornell

• Politicians with shares in companies that benefit from the criminalization and detention of the undocumented.

“we’re asking you to come back and tell us how to do our business…We’re inviting you to tell us how to run our organization.”

Deputy Director of DHS, Michael Jackson speaking to more than 400 defense contractors and industrialists,

Jan. 25, 2006

The System is Broken• We have a discriminatory quota

system from certain countries• Work visas primarily for well

educated immigrants• Prior legal channels of migration

have been taken away by Congress

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with

inalienable rights; that among these, are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” –Declaration of Independence

Nothing new…

Solutions

• Legal channels for migration to address the current population & future flows

• Fix the broken immigration system in a way that is family centered and realistic

• Enforceable environmental & labor protections for trade agreements (NAFTA & CAFTA)

• Strong labor protections regardless of immigration status

What you can do

• Become an active member of VF• Attend town halls• Refer VF for speaking engagements• Contact community leaders &

legislators • Vote• Participate in rallies and marches• Write editorials to the paper• Make a donation• Host a movie and discussion• Participate in a border tour• Become active in your labor union

“Our lives begin to end

the day we become silent

about things that matter.”

-Martin Luther King, Jr.

Sources• (2) Randall Pinkston, “Is NAFTA good for Mexico’s farmers?,” CBS Evening News, July 1, 2006

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/07/01/eveningnews/main1773839.shtml

• (3) Jose Maria Imaz, “NAFTA Damages Small Businesses,” El Barzon (Mexico City), Jan. 1997

• (4) Ellen Lenny-Pessagno, “ Mexican Manufacturing Devours U.S. Goods ,” U.S. Commercial Service, Mexico , http://www.buyusa.gov/pittsburgh/mexmanufacturing.html

David Bacon, “Anti-China Campaign Hides Maquiladora Wage Cuts”, February 03, 2003http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=2949

(5) Human Rights Watch, “TRADING AWAY RIGHTS: The Unfulfilled Promise of NAFTA's Labor Side Agreement,” April 2001http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/nafta/index.htm#TopOfPage

Garrett Brown, Speak Out: Portrait of a Failure, NAFTA and Workplace Health and Safety , The Synergist – Monthly magazine of the American Industrial Hygiene Association, August 2004http://mhssn.igc.org/brown_synergist.htm

Sierra Club, “NAFTA's Investor Rights: a Threat to the Environment and our Democracy”http://www.sierraclub.org/trade/nafta/backgrounder.asp

(6) Mary Jordan and Kevin Sullivan, “Trade Brings Riches, but Not to Mexico’s Poor,” Washington Post , March 22, 2003http://www.globalpolicy.org/socecon/ffd/2003/0322mexico.htm

(7) Roger Bybee Carolyn Winter, “Immigration Flood Unleashed by NAFTA’s Disastrous Impact on Mexican Economy, Common Dreams News Center, April 5, 2006http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0425-30.htm

Jacob Hill, “Free Trade Immigration: Cause and Effect”, Council on Hemispheric Affairs, July 18, 2007http://www.coha.org/2007/07/18/free-trade-and-immigration-cause-and-effect

(8) Democracy Now interview, Mexico Court Declares Calderon Winner of Disputed Election, Lopez Obrador Vows to Form Parallel Gov't, September 6th, 2006http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/06/1359233

(9) Dan La Botz, “THE FOUNDING OF THE UNT: A PROGRESSIVE STEP FOR MEXICAN LABOR,” Mexican Labor News and Analysis, December 5, 1997, Vol. II, No. 22http://www.ueinternational.org/vol2no22.html

(10) Timi Gerson, Raul Islas, Fiona Wright, and Adalila Zelada, LCLAA and Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch, “Another Americas is Possible: The Impact of NAFTA on the US Latino Community and Lessons for Future Agreements,” August 2004

(11) Robert E. Scott, Carlos Salas, Bruce Campbell, Revisiting NAFTA: Still Not Working for North America’s Workers, Economic Policy Institute, September 28, 2006, Briefing Paper #173http://www.epinet.org/briefingpapers/173/bp173.pdf

(12) USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service, “Farms and Lands in Farms 2002,” Feb. 2003, p. 191.

U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statisticshttp://www.bls.gov

(13) Robert E. Scott,“The high price of 'free' trade: NAFTA's failure has cost the United States jobs across the nation,” Economic Policy Institute, November 17, 2003 http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm/briefingpapers_bp147

(14) Lawrence Michel, “CEO-to-worker pay imbalance grows,”Economic Policy Institute, June 21, 2006http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm/webfeatures_snapshots_20060621

(15) U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, June 2007 http://www.bls.gov

(16) & (17) Robert McNatt and Frank Benassi , Econ 101 on Illegal Immigrants, April 7, 2006. http://www.businessweek.com/investor/content/apr2006/pi20060407_072803.htm

The White House, Council of Economic Advisors, “Immigration’s Economic Impact”, June 20, 2007http://www.whitehouse.gov/cea/cea_immigration_062007.html

Congress of the United States, Congressional Budget Office, “The Role of Immigrants in the US Labor Market”, November 2005http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/68xx/doc6853/11-10-Immigration.pdf

(18) By Eduardo Porter, “Illegal Immigrants Are Bolstering Social Security with Billions”, The New York Times, April 5, 2005 http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/05/business/05immigration.html?ex=1270353600&en=78c87ac4641dc383&ei=5090

(19) Reference from Justice for Immigrants, Catholic Campaign for Immigration Reform, http://www.justiceforimmigrants.org/myths.html

original source from National Immigration Forum see: http://www.immigrationforum.org/about/articles/tax_study.html

Randy Capps and Michael Fix, “Undocumented Immigrants: Myth and Reality,” Urban Policy Institute and Migration Policy Institute, October 25, 2005http://www.urbaninstitute.org/UploadedPDF/900898_undocumented_immigrants.pdf

Jenifer and Peter Wipf, “Top 10 Reasons to File Individual U.S. Tax Returns if you are an Undocumented Immigrant ,”http://immigration.about.com/od/uslegaltroubles/tp/UndocsFileTaxes.htm

Lipman, Francine J. , "Taxing Undocumented Immigrants: Separate, Unequal and Without Representation" . Tax Lawyer, Spring 2006 Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=881584

(21) Douglas S. Massey, Jorge Durand, and Nolan J Malone, Beyond Smoke and Mirrors: Mexican Immigration in an Era of Economic Integration,”Russel Sage Foundation, New York, 2002

• (22) Southern Poverty Law Center Intelligence Project• http://www.splcenter.org/index.jsp

(23) Roberto Lovato, “Sensenbrenner Portfolio—Does Congressman Profit from Undocumented Labor”, October 24, 2006, New America MediaQuote of Michael Jackson- CorpWatch: Border for Sale Immigration Enforcement Benefits Prison Firms by Meredith Kolodner, July 19, 2006

(24) Douglas S. Massey, Jorge Durand, and Nolan J Malone, Beyond Smoke and Mirrors: Mexican Immigration in an Era of Economic Integration,”Russel Sage Foundation, New York, 2002

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