“No human being is illegal.”
Most people have no idea how complicated the U.S. system is, nor how many folks are just shut out, period. This is from Reason magazine, October 2008.
Have you heard of the prison-industrialcomplex? Immigrants who are detained are worth more than 5 billion dollars to the private prison industry. In the shadows, these companies and their lobbyists are responsible for writing anti-immigrant laws.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJ20tIYirKg
How Immigration Became Illegal”: Aviva Chomsky on U.S. Exploitation of Migrant Workers (video)
This talk by the author of the book by the same name “details how systemic prejudice against Mexicans and many other migrant workers has been woven into U.S. immigration policies that deny them the same path to citizenship that have long been granted to European immigrants. She draws parallels between the immigration laws that criminalize migrants, and the caste system that has oppressed African Americans.” – Democracy Now
http://www.democracynow.org/2014/5/30/how_immigration_became_illegal_aviva_chomsky
US Officials at Mexican Border Accused of Widespread Human Rights Abuses
The ACLU, Human Rights Watch and the American Friends Service Committee have all documented cases of the Border Patrol abuse. Concerns include “wielding excessive force, carrying out unwarranted strip searches, detaining people for long periods without explanation and coercing individuals into surrendering their legal rights and citizenship documents.”
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/may/10/us-mexico-border-human-rights-aclu
Immigrants are Likely Targets for Wage Theft
Erasing time sheets, requiring overtime, yet refusing to pay for it, and violating minimum wage laws are some of the fraudulent employer practices being challenged in courts and on the streets. Victims are disproportionately immigrants, though wage and hour laws are written to apply to all workers.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/01/business/more-workers-are-claiming-wage-theft.html
The U.S. has Deported Tens of Thousands of Veterans
“Longtime legal permanent residents, with a U.S. family, a history of steady employment, and
who have even served honorably in the armed forces, can be and are deported for any of a litany
of relatively minor offenses…” Senator Chris Coons
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/26/deported-veterans-want-to-return-home_n_3165406.html
Resources on Immigration and Immigrants – print version pdf