February 28, 2013

Our Network
Our Vision: People of African decent unite for racial justice and migrant rights to achieve social, economic and political power. Our Mission: We are a kinship of organizations and individuals connecting, training and building towards policy and cultural shifts for a racial justice and migrant rights agenda.

Goals of this Webinar

1. Highlight the intersection of race, migration and globalization 2. Understand the role of race in immigration discourse 3. Current Immigration Reform Political Landscape 4. Share Principles for Just Immigration Reform

Webinar Presenters
Nunu Kidane, Priority Africa Network Gerald Lenoir, Black Alliance for Just Immigration Abraham Paulos, Families For Freedom Francesca Menes, Florida Immigrant Coalition

Moderated by Opal Tometi, Black Immigration Network

Opal Tometi

Nunu Kidane

United Nations estimates on migration is 220 million people living outside their countries of birth Broader human mobility indicators are that one billion of the seven billion global population are in motion for one reason or another

Economic & Political Hardship Lead to Increased Migration

Trade policies Global South debt to the North and to the IMF & World Bank Land grabs leasing of large acres of land in Global South to foreign investors Environmental destruction and climate change War or conflicts lack of political stability

Fundamental human rights are violated when people are forced to leave. The right to stay home in security of self/ community, right to shelter, food, health and education are enshrined in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.


There has been unprecedented economic growth across the globe in the past 25 years. But the disparity between the rich and poor is at a historic high both among industrialized nations and the Global South.

Parallels between Global South & U.S.based Blacks and People of Color

Life expectancy Maternal and child mortality Health disparities Income/housing gap Educational attainment Criminalization

Gerald Lenoir


Race, Racism and Immigrant Rights: Framing the Struggle for Comprehensive Immigration Reform

 Immigrant rights is one of the cutting edge issues in the struggle for racial justice in the United States. The attack on immigrant rights is part of a broader attack on the gains of the Civil Rights/Black Power Movements and the other social movements of the 1950s and 1960s. The criminalization, mass incarceration and disenfranchisement of African Americans in the War on Drugs is mirrored by the criminalization, mass detention and deportation of immigrants of color.

 1829 The president of Mexico Vincente Guererro, the son of an African Mexican father and an Indian mother, outlawed slavery in Mexican territories. 1836 US white settler died at the Alamo, fighting to preserve slavery in Texas; nine years later, the U.S. annexed of Mexicos territory, including Texas, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, Arizona and part of Wyoming. 1865 Slavery abolished in the US and the Ku Klux Klan is formed.

1954 the White Citizens Council, the white-collar version of the KKK, is formed in the South. 1965 In the wake of the Civil Rights Movement, President Johnson signed into law the Immigration and Naturalization Act, which abolished the national origins quota, replacing it with a preference system that focused on immigrants' skills and family relationships with citizens or U.S. residents. It ended the longstanding preference for immigration from Western European countries; immigration opened up for people in Africa, Asia, Latin American and the Middle East. 1979 The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), an antiimmigrant group, was formed; members have ties to the White Citizens Council and other white supremacist organizations. 2011 - According to the Southern Poverty Center, there were 1,018 hate groups in the U.S., a 69% increase since 2000. (www.splcenter.org)

This surge has been fueled by anger and fear over the nations ailing economy, an influx of non-white immigrants, and the diminishing white majority, as symbolized by the election of the nations first African-American president. Southern Poverty Law Center

Codified Racism: The Arizona Example and Beyond

The attack on immigrants has led to a broader attack on the civil and human rights of people of color, including African Americans. In 2010, Arizona enacted SB1070, which is widely recognized as a racial profiling bill. Five other states Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, Indiana and Utah followed suit. In the same year, Arizona passed a law banning ethic studies in the public schools; Arizona voters also passed an initiative banning affirmative action by units of state government, including public colleges and universities. After the 2010 election, in more than a dozen states, Republicans passed voting restrictions aimed at reducing the turnout of young voters, AfricanAmericans and Hispanics. The stated purpose of the legislation was to prevent noncitizens from voting. Ten major restrictive voting laws were blocked in court.

Mass Incarceration and Mass Detention

The U.S. locks up the highest percentage of its population of any other country730 per 100,000, nearly 2.5 million people. The prison population has surged by 45% in the last 20 years, with the U.S. at 5% of the worlds population but 25% of the worlds prison population. The so-called War on Drugs has disproportionately targeted African Americans. African Americans are 13% of the US population, yet over 40% of the U.S. prison population.

What has changed since the collapse of Jim Crow has less to do with the basic structure of our society than with the language we use to justify it Rather than rely on race, we use our criminal justice system to label people of color criminals and then engage in all the practices we supposedly left behind... Once youre labeled a felon, the old forms of discriminationemployment discrimination, housing discrimination, denial of the right to vote, denial of educational opportunity, denial of food stamps and other public benefits, and exclusion from jury serviceare suddenly legal. --The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander

Mass Incarceration and Mass Detention

The criminalization and mass detention of immigrants of color mirrors the criminalization, disenfranchisement and mass incarceration of African Americans. "Mexican Nationals constitute 70 percent of all immigration violators apprehended by local police between 2002-2004, despite the fact that Mexicans comprise 56 percent of the unauthorized migrant population. [Caribbean and African immigrant violators] were apprehended at a rate that was more that five times the size of their presence in the unauthorized migrant population. Black immigrants are deported for criminal reasons at a rate that is unsurpassed by any other racial group. --"The Immigration Crucible: Transforming Race, Nation and the Limits of the Law by Philip Kretsedemas As a result of immigration enforcement, Latinos now make up the majority of people sent to prison for felony crimes. Latinos make up 16% of the U.S. population, yet in 2011, they were 50.3% of those sentenced.

Abraham Paulos


Criminalizationorcriminalisation, incriminology, is "the process by which behaviors and individuals are transformed intocrimeand criminals".[1]Previously legal acts may be transformed into crimes bylegislationor judicial decision.

13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States.

Features of the 1996 Laws

Mandatory detention and deportation for noncitizens

with criminal convictions Expanded kinds of crimes that would lead to deportation, even of longtime lawful permanent residents Expanded definition of aggravated felony: need not be aggravated or felonies Eliminated main form of relief for lawful permanent residents charged with deportation based on crimes Attempted to eliminate judicial review of removal orders based on criminal convictions

ICE Agreements of Cooperation in Communities to Enhance Safety and Security

Francesca Menes

BLACK IMMIGRATION NETWORKS JUST IMMIGRATION REFORM PRINCIPLES

1. 2. 3. 4. Family Unity No Criminalization of Migrants Citizenship for Temporary Status Holders Economic Justice

Family Unity
As a network we believe that family reunification must be the cornerstone of U.S. immigration policy. We believe that strong families make for successful communities. And all family members, despite immigration status, belong together.

No Criminalization of Migrants

Our kinship recognizes that Black immigrants and African Americans continue to be disproportionally represented in all facets of the U.S. criminal justice system due to structural racism and endemic criminalization. The rapid growth of immigrant detention has been influenced by the growing intersection between federal enforcement activities and immigration enforcement. We stand ardently against this as it continues to undermine our communities, and be used as a mechanism for social control and profit for corporations.

Citizenship for Temporary Status Holders

We believe that fair and just Immigration Reform must provide immigrants with temporary status with a permanent status in the form of U.S. Citizenship.

Economic Justice
As a network comprised of African Americans and Black immigrants we recognize our communities have experienced systematic economic injustice and believe that immigration reform should not be further punitive. Just Immigration Reform can and should improve communities that are receiving immigrants, as well as those migrants who are seeking to make the U.S. their home.

BIN Immigration Reform Working Group

Weekly Calls - Tuesdays at 3pm EST/ 2pm CST/ 1pm MST/ 12pm PST The goal of these weekly calls is to increase the capacity of BIN member and allies in the midst of U.S. Immigration Reform These weekly calls are facilitated by BIN and will include:
Weekly calendar and legislative updates Various learning points to help build a racial justice analysis around immigration Networking and strategizing with national membership and allies The call is open to those interested in advancing the efforts of BIN toward racial justice and migrant rights in immigration reform.

Call- in Information: 1-888-204-5987 or 602-333-2017 Access Code: 9564953 For more information please e-mail Colette Pichon Battle at: colette@movingforwardgc.org

On March 20th 500+ Rally in DC

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