End of the Year Updates

Dear Friends and Allies,

On behalf of all of us that work here at the Minnesota Immigrant Freedom Network, we want to wish each and every one of you and your families a happy winter break and end of year. As this year comes to a close, we reflect on the triumphs and challenges of the immigrant rights movement in Minnesota. But first let us say that our hearts and minds are with all of the immigrant families from our communities who have been unfairly and inhumanely separated from their loved ones due to the raids, deportations and detention center deaths.

We want to thank all of the people who have unconditionally worked with us. All of the student volunteers who, motivated by their spirit and energy, have helped us every step of the way. Thanks to our allies who have come together in the struggle to craft a world where everyone is equal no matter what their skin color, gender or religion may be. Thank you once again for all that you have brought to the immigrant rights movement.

A special thanks to all of the foundations and individuals that have supported us through financial resources and technical support so we can become a stronger and more stable organization in the years to come.

Now we reflect on some of the positive, negative and challenging things involved in the realm of the immigrant rights movement.

POSITIVE: IN-STATE TUITION BILL PASSES
The battle for the Minnesota Dream Act and gaining access to education for more immigrant youth has been a very long and public one. Many of you reading this newsletter today have been a deep part of this movement. Although that struggle is not over and the Minnesota Dream Act did not pass, one huge step forward has been taken by this movement. Regardless of the loud anti-immigrant voices of some people in power, this past spring a total of 25 public colleges and some universities changed their policy in order to better adapt to the changing face of Minnesota. Because of the great effort students and allies put in, we were all able to move these schools and many legislators to allow all students, regardless of citizenship status, to attend these 25 schools at in-state tuition rates!!
In spite of the loud but lonely anti-immigrant environment, together we did it!!
Let’s savor this triumph as all of our voices together carved out the space for change!
For a list of the schools please visit this site http://immigrantfreedomnetwork.wordpress.com/youth-leadership
Spread the word!

POSITIVE: YOUTH LEADERSHIP AND KNOW YOUR RIGHTS TRAININGS IN THE SCHOOLS
This fall we kept strengthening our relationships with students and teachers. A group of trained MIFN volunteers and youth organizers worked with 11 high schools, implementing three workshops about the victory of the in-state tuition bill, know your rights trainings and talking about ways to identify issues the students want to see change on. This helped to keep students in the know about ways to go to college, it also re-energized the struggle for immigrant rights as hundreds of students and parents became aware of their constitutional rights in case they ever face abuse by agents. Thank you to all the students, volunteers and teachers who made this important link happen so that crucial information was delivered to all, let’s keep working together next spring with the Dream Curriculum!

POSIVITE: CHILDREN’S MARCH
In July, over a hundred people and children came together to say Let Our Parents Stay. After many families were brutally torn apart by ICE agents, the innocent US American children of immigrant parents came together to voice their concerns. These children marched, they chanted and spoke in front of reporters and journalists. The message was loud and clear, innocent children are being harmed and abused by these discriminatory raids and deportations; stop the raids. We honor the voice of these young people as they bravely stood up in front of the whole state to fight for their rights to grow up with their parents; you are the present and the future. Thank you for the light of hope you share with us always.

POSITIVE: UFCW and CENTRO LEGAL STAND UP FOR IMMIGRANT RIGHTS
We are inspired and encouraged by the strong legal minds and hearts of the UFCW and Centro Legal for fighting for the rights of workers, immigrant people and US citizens and residents abused by ICE agents and the raids. The UFCW International has formed the National Commission on ICE Misconduct and Violations of 4th Amendment Rights in order to bring attention to the abuse of power by ICE. Equally as important is the legal struggle against the abuses of Willmar and other Worthington residents by Centro Legal, one of the premier legal groups in Minnesota standing up for immigrant justice. Hats of to thee for your courage, legal audacity and willingness to move the immigration debate to the side of justice and fairness.

POSITIVE: MEMBERSHIP DRIVE
In October we kicked off our very first membership drive! We see this as a very important step in moving towards self-sufficiency and stability, our goal is 500 members by next year and only you can help us get there, become a member today! To become a member please contact Sarah at sarah@immigrantfreedomnetwork.org or call her at 651-287-0660. Our goal is to connect with people and groups who believe in our work, who want to be more centrally involved and who want to become members in order to support the struggle for immigrant rights. We are currently working to finalize our membership forms and wish to thank all those of you who became members during the October drive, your commitment and contribution gave us strength to move forward.

NEGATIVE: RAIDS, DEPORTATIONS and DETENTION DEATHS
This past year and since the massive raid on workers and against unions at Swift, we have seen, felt and experienced deep sadness and hurt by the hundreds of mothers, children, fathers and families separated from their families by the raids and deportations. We have come to understand this system as a way for corporations to make money off of people who are being detained (ICE who must get money to pay local jails, phone companies who make money off of the calls people make from inside the jails, the food vendors who feed the detainees, etc). In the meantime, no change has been made to our economic or political system in order to address the root causes of immigration. In the meantime, thousands of children are terrorized and go to school scared wondering if their parents will be snatched away today or tomorrow. And we wonder, how will we stop this monster?

CHALLENGES: MORE UNITY, RESPECT, GENDER and RACIAL JUSTICE
For us, the Senate immigration bill brought to surface unaddressed questions of inequality having to do with race, gender, respect and unity within the immigrant rights arena. We hope that like us, many groups and individuals fighting for immigrant rights have been able to reflect and learn from the happenings of this year. No one is perfect and everyone should allow themselves the freedom to be humble (ie. making mistakes is ok). Many groups in Minnesota are working to defend those affected, so in the next year let’s do more and let’s do more together, while keeping respect at the core of our work, regardless of our age, gender or skin color.

As we examine, debunk and organize against the economic resources and institutional power of the mainstream media (CNN’s Lou Dobbs, local KQRS) as well as hate and white supremacist groups like the Minutemen and FAIR (see Southern Poverty Law Center), lets muster up our courage and sharpen our analytical skills to be able to talk about the how the current immigration debate is related to racial injustice.

As a new year’s resolution the Minnesota Immigrant Freedom Network would like to work towards building a more unified immigrant rights movement that is connected to other social justice struggles through education, action and dialogue. We want to connect to and learn from international and local struggles for economic and social justice (hey, if the corporations are thinking globally why shouldn’t we?). We hope you will humbly join us on our journey.

To end this newsletter we share with you some very important happenings in the coming months.

Hasta la proxima,
alondra
MIFN Communications

EVENTS
-National Conference for Immigrant & Refugee Rights
Jan 18-20, 2008, Houston, Texas
Come to Houston in January 2008! Help build a shared immigrant rights platform for this critical election year and lift our voices to reframe the national debate towards justice, dignity and human rights. Fore more information visit: http://www.nnirr.org

-1,000 Mile March for Immigrant Rights
Week of March 1st 2008, St. Paul to Washington D.C.
Efforts to change the current anti-immigrant political climate by doing a 1,000 mile walk from St. Paul to Washington D.C. in March 2008 are in the works.
If you are interested in participating in this march or want to join one of the working committees please come to a planning meeting on Tuesday January 8th from 9:00am-12noon, location TBA. Please email alondra@immigrantfreedomnetwork.org to let us know you are coming to the meeting or call Irineo at 612-232-6329 to get more information.

-National Conference for Media Reform
June 6-8, 2008, Minneapolis
The issue of immigration has been and will continue to be a hot topic in the media. But most of the time this topic gets misused and abused by mainstream talk show hosts like CNN’s Lou Dobbs and even local radio stations like KQRS. Attend this conference to learn more about the movement for media reform and to call for needed changes to our nation’s media structure so you can help humanize the issue of immigration in the media. To learn more visit http://freepress.net/conference