Proposal Would Allow Immigrants in New York Illegally to Become Citizens
ABC 7 New York - June 16, 2014, by Dave Evans - It is a long shot, but a proposal by a New York State lawmaker would...
ABC 7 New York - June 16, 2014, by Dave Evans - It is a long shot, but a proposal by a New York State lawmaker would allow immigrants in the state illegally to become so-called "state citizens" if they've paid state taxes for at least three years.
It might sound a little strange for people to say 'I'm a citizen of New York State yet not an American citizen', but legal experts say it's doable.
And it's something many immigrants in New York desperately want, since the federal government hasn't budged on immigration reform.
"I could be deported tomorrow even though New York is my home. Brooklyn has been my home," said lawyer Cesar Vargas.
Vargas came to this country from Mexico when he was five. He's like almost 3 million other undocumented workers in New York State with few rights. He's a lawyer. He passed the bar but can't practice. He's not a citizen.
"I pay taxes, I created my own small business, I advocate for my community, I only want the opportunity, no special treatment, just the opportunity to be a lawyer for my community," he said.
In Battery Park Monday, a rally was held with the Statue of Liberty as a backdrop.
"2.7 million people make their home in this state and we have a responsibility to them as a state," said State Senator Gustavo Rivera.
Rivera introduced a bill Monday that if someone has an ID, has lived in this country for three years and paid taxes, they could then become a citizen of New York State.
They would be allowed to vote and run in local and state elections. They could get a driver's license, and qualify for Medicaid coverage.
"Now all of these things will allow almost 3 million people to fully participate in the civic, political and economic life of the state of New York. They are already contributing," said Rivera.
The bill has almost no chance at becoming a law anytime soon in Albany. If it did, we would be American citizens and New York citizens as well, and conservatives call that absurd.
"It's a bad idea. It's not only bad, it's probably an insane idea to create a separate category of citizens in our country," said New York Conservative Party chairman Mike Long.
Conservatives say they're worred the idea is even being brought up in Albany, because that gets the discussion rolling, and eventually they fear something like this could pass.
Also, advocates agree, saying this bill won't pass anytime soon. But they want people to start thinking and talking about this issue.
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Conservatives May Control State Governments, But Progressives Are Rising
Bill Moyers - March 18, 2015, by George Goehl, Ana María Archila, and Fred Azcarate - In November, conservatives swept...
Bill Moyers - March 18, 2015, by George Goehl, Ana María Archila, and Fred Azcarate - In November, conservatives swept not only Congress, but a majority of statehouses. While gridlock in Washington is frustrating, the rightward lurch of statehouses could be devastating. Reveling in their newfound power, state lawmakers and their corporate allies are writing regressive policies that could hurt families by exacerbating inequality, further curtailing an already weakened democracy, and worsening an environmental crisis of global proportions.
From a law that would censor public university professors in Kansas to a governor who prohibits state officials from using the term “climate change” in Florida, ideologues in state capitols are wasting little time when it comes to enacting an extreme agenda. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Wisconsin officially enacted right to work legislation on Monday, a policy that’s shown to lower wages and benefits by weakening the power of unions. Missouri, New Mexico, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Illinois are all entertaining various versions of the law. In states like New York and Ohio, legislators are considering severe cuts to public education, while vastly expanding charter schools.
Of course, a look at key 2014 ballot initiatives shows voters held progressive values on issues like the minimum wage, paid sick days, and a millionaires tax. And just 36.4 percent of eligible voters cast their ballots in 2014, meaning that there is surely a silent majority sitting on the sidelines.
The path to policies that put families first is not short, but a bold coalition across the country took an aggressive step forward this week.
On March 11th, under the banner “We Rise,” thousands of people joined more than 28 actions in 16 states to awaken that silent majority and call their legislators to account. A joint project of National People’s Action, Center for Popular Democracy, USAction and other allies across the country, the message of the day was simple: our cities and states belong to us, not big corporations and the wealthy. We can work together and push our legislators to enact an agenda that puts people and the planet before profits. And at each local action, leaders unveiled their proposals for what that agenda would look like in their cities and states.
In Minnesota, grassroots leaders are fighting for a proposal to re-enfranchise over 44,000 formerly incarcerated people. In Nevada, our allies are agitating for a $15 minimum wage. In Illinois, we are organizing for closing corporate tax loopholes and a financial transaction tax (a “LaSalle Street tax”) that would help plug the state’s budget hole. With each of these proposals, we are moving from defense to offense and changing the conversation about race, democracy and our economy.
We’ve seen over and over again in American history, change starts close to home – in our towns, cities and states. On March 11th, we saw a fresh reminder of the power of local change. Our families and communities are defining this new front in American public life, and we will continue rising to challenge corporate power and win the policies that put people and planet first - not last.
If November was a wave election, then this Spring will be a wave of bottom-up people power activism. What starts with defending people and our democracy from an extreme corporate conservative agenda, will pivot to offense as grassroots organizations across the country fight to fundamentally reshape our government and our economy from the bottom up. Expect an unabashedly bold agenda that holds the potential for awakening the progressive majority and ushering in a new era in America, an era where our country works for everyone, not just the wealthy and well connected.
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City Governments Spend More For Policing Than Social Services
City Governments Spend More For Policing Than Social Services
Watch a discussion about how governments spend more money on policing than they do on social services....
Watch a discussion about how governments spend more money on policing than they do on social services.
Watch the video here.
Más ciudades deben tomar las riendas sobre el salario mínimo
Este mes, el alcalde de la ciudad de Nueva York Bill de Blasio anunció un sueldo mínimo garantizado de $15 para todos...
Este mes, el alcalde de la ciudad de Nueva York Bill de Blasio anunció un sueldo mínimo garantizado de $15 para todos los empleados del gobierno municipal para fines de 2018. Esta es una gran victoria para más de 50,000 empleados en toda la ciudad que pasan apuros para mantener a su familia, incluidos aquellos directamente en planilla y decenas de miles que trabajan en organizaciones sin fines de lucro contratadas por la ciudad.
A diferencia de Seattle y Los Ángeles, donde los funcionarios municipales tienen el poder para aumentar el sueldo mínimo de todos los empleados de su ciudad, el alcalde De Blasio no puede aumentar los salarios de todos los trabajadores de la ciudad de Nueva York unilateralmente. El gobernador Andrew Cuomo y la legislatura estatal tienen ese poder. Los esfuerzos del gobernador por incrementar el salario mínimo a $15 se están viendo obstaculizados por el Senado estatal, que está controlado por los republicanos.
La decisión de De Blasio de aumentar los sueldos de los empleados municipales es un paso independiente crucial hacia una ciudad más equitativa y debe inspirar a otras ciudades en el país. También refleja el poder e ímpetu de un movimiento revolucionario encabezado por los trabajadores que exigen salarios más altos en todo el país.
Incluso mientras los gobiernos estatales y el gobierno federal arrastran los pies con respecto al asunto inevitable de un salario mínimo decente para las familias trabajadoras en los Estados Unidos, el audaz paso que dio De Blasio muestra que las ciudades pueden y deben tomar las riendas del problema.
El aumento del salario mínimo por el alcalde se produjo poco después de su anuncio el mes pasado de que a los 20,000 empleados no sindicalizados de la ciudad se les otorgaría seis semanas de licencia remunerada por maternidad/paternidad y hasta 12 semanas, cuando se combine con licencias existentes. El alcalde ahora ha pasado a negociar los mismos beneficios con los sindicatos de la ciudad. Nuevamente, los trabajadores del sector privado de la ciudad de Nueva York deben esperar a que Albany o Washington, D.C. tome medidas con respecto a licencia familiar pagada para todos.
Las medidas recientes del alcalde De Blasio apoyan su objetivo de sacar a 800,000 neoyorquinos de la pobreza durante los próximos diez años. Más de 20 por ciento de la población de la ciudad vive en condiciones de pobreza, un enorme sector de una ciudad normalmente relacionada con extraordinaria riqueza.
En los dos últimos años se ha visto un ímpetu sin paralelo de parte de los propios trabajadores exigiendo sueldos decentes, desde la ciudad de Nueva York hasta Los Ángeles y Chicago, lo que resultó en aumentos salariales para los trabajadores de negocios de comida rápida y otros grupos.
Los trabajadores no esperan pacientemente a los funcionarios públicos; se están organizando de manera sin precedente. Alcaldes progresistas como De Blasio están respondiendo con políticas sensatas, mientras los funcionarios que no desean responder ya saben lo que se viene. Ciudades como Los Ángeles, Nueva York y Chicago están preparando el terreno y mostrando que es posible actuar independientemente de gobiernos estatales y el gobierno federal.
Además, varios estados han promulgado leyes que aumentan el salario mínimo por encima del mísero estándar de $7.25 por hora. Actualmente se realizan campañas en 14 estados y cuatro ciudades para aumentar el sueldo mínimo y los estándares a favor de los trabajadores. El ímpetu se está convirtiendo en una avalancha que tendrá consecuencias profundas en las elecciones presidenciales del 2016.
Casi la mitad de los trabajadores del país ganan menos de $15 por hora y 43 millones se ven forzados a trabajar cuando están enfermos o tienen la necesidad urgente de cuidar a alguien, o de lo contrario, ponen en peligro su empleo. Es el momento de que las ciudades escuchen a sus trabajadores y pasen por encima de la pasividad estatal y federal a fin de permitir que millones de estadounidenses que trabajan muy duro mantengan a sus familias.
Source: El Diario
Report: Federal Reserve Should Be ‘Fully Public,’ Increase Diversity in Highest Ranks
Report: Federal Reserve Should Be ‘Fully Public,’ Increase Diversity in Highest Ranks
Lawmakers should strip banks’ influence from the Federal Reserve’s leadership, make its regional banks publicly owned...
Lawmakers should strip banks’ influence from the Federal Reserve’s leadership, make its regional banks publicly owned corporations and increase transparency in selecting its top leaders, according to a report released Monday by the Fed Up Coalition, a campaign led by the left-leaning Center for Popular Democracy.
The 17-page report — co-authored by Fed Up Coalition Campaign Manager Jordan Haedtler, economist Valerie Wilson of the Economic Policy Institute and Dartmouth College economist Andrew Levin — is a more detailed version of a Fed overhaul framework proposed in April by Levin, a former Fed staffer, and urges members of Congress to make the central bank a “fully public institution” and scrub the influence of banks from its top echelons.
The report also proposes establishing annual audits of the Fed by the Government Accountability Office, reworking the selection process of Fed regional presidents and directors, returning capital shares to commercial banks invested in the regional Fed branches and opening the 12 regional banks to the Freedom of Information Act.
“We have really strived to make a proposal that we see as sensible and pragmatic and nonpartisan,” Levin said Monday in a conference call with reporters. “Over the years, both progressives and conservatives have felt strongly that big banks should not have an undue influence in the governance and the decision-making process of the Federal Reserve, and making the Fed fully public is an important way to do that.”
The proposal differs from previous “audit the Fed” measures, such as Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.)’s legislation that failed to garner the 60 votes needed to advance during a procedural vote in January, because it would prevent “political interference” in the central bank by establishing an annual schedule for GAO audits and giving the reviews a comprehensive focus rather than allowing members of Congress or congressional committees to single out monetary policy decisions, Levin said.
The report calls for greater diversity at the Fed’s top levels — both in terms of increasing racial and ethnic diversity and limiting the influence of financial sector power-brokers. It also said policymakers should be limited to a single seven-year term. Currently, the Fed chair is appointed to a four-yeart term that can be renewed. Members of the central bank’s Board of Governors are appointed to staggered 14-year terms, but their tenures average about four years. Regional Fed presidents have renewable five-year terms, and they typically hold office for at least two decades, according to today’s report.
The authors said that refunding shares to commercial banks with stakes in the regional Fed branches would save taxpayers about $3 billion over the next 10 years.
Members of the Fed Up Coalition are scheduled to meet later this week with Fed officials, including Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City President Esther George, at the central bank’s annual policy symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyo. The meeting with George won’t center on today’s report, but instead will focus on “presenting stories of communities that still have not recovered from the Great Recession,” Haedtler said.
By TARA JEFFRIES
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HUD tenants rally against proposed budget cuts
On Friday, tenants, homeowners and activists came together in more than 15 cities across the U.S. to band against the ...
On Friday, tenants, homeowners and activists came together in more than 15 cities across the U.S. to band against the proposed budget cuts to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Some protesters gathered at rallies at local HUD offices as others delivered letters and petitions to their members of Congress, demanding they vote against President Donald Trump’s proposed cuts. Tenants will gather at Church of the Reformation, 212 E Capitol Street, NE, at 12:30 on Wednesday to rally and kick off the march.
Read the full article here.
Instead Of Turning On Each Other, Immigrant And Domestic Workers Unite To Form New Organization
The Huffington Post - November 17, 2013, by Farah Mohamed & Ryam Grim - In times of economic weakness, the...
The Huffington Post - November 17, 2013, by Farah Mohamed & Ryam Grim - In times of economic weakness, the ruling class has tended to pit domestic workers against immigrants, warning the former that wages are low and jobs are scarce because of the latter.
The effort in the United States has led to tremendous hostility toward immigrants, exhibited by then-GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney's recommendation that conditions be made so unbearable for undocumented immigrants that they "self deport."
With precious little Latino support, the Republican coalition doesn't need to reconcile its domestic and foreign-born workers. But the Democratic Party, which includes many Latinos, Asians and African-Americans, is strengthened when the various elements of its coalition see themselves as aligned in a similar struggle -- one for jobs, better conditions and higher wages.
It's the kind of strengthened coalition that two major grassroots community organizations say they're hoping to build with a previously unreported merger. The Center for Popular Democracy and the Leadership Center for the Common Good will merge on Jan. 1, to become a larger and better resourced Center for Popular Democracy, officials at both groups tell HuffPost.
The new organization, which will have offices in New York and Washington, and staff in California, Minnesota and Illinois, will be composed of 35 staff members and 11 core partner organizations with more than 70 partner organizations in 27 states.
"We are actually trying to connect the world of immigrant justice and the world of economic justice by bringing together two hubs," said Ana Maria Archila, co-director of the new organization. "We haven't seen this level of popular trends and organizations in a while, and our merger is really kind of at the center in the world of economic justice, worker community and immigrant rights."
The Center for Popular Democracy, based in New York, has worked with a range of organizations fighting for social justice. Some of its victories include reforming the New York City Police Department's stop-and-frisk policing, raising New York's minimum wage and forcing the passage of legislation requiring paid sick leave for 1 million New Yorkers. The Washington-based Leadership Center for the Common Good advocates for low- and moderate-income communities, communities of color and immigrants.
By uniting, the two hope to increase their reach. For instance, the CPD maintains that its strongest ties are with immigrants' rights and worker organizations. LCCG, by contrast, works with partners rooted within the African-American community.
The merger would fill a vacuum in strong community advocacy. In 2009, conservative provocateur James O'Keefe targeted the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, a low- to middle-income grassroots activism group, in a series of videos which resulted in the dissolution of ACORN in 2010. House Republicans still include language in spending bills to ensure no federal money goes to the organization, even though it no longer exists.
But Archila and her new CPD co-director Brian Kettenring, who is a veteran of ACORN, see the new partnership as something different. "We're building something entirely new. We're not building a closed network," Archila said.
The new Center for Popular Democracy's mission, according to a concept paper provided to The Huffington Post, is to "build the strength and capacity of democratic organizations to envision and advance a pro-worker, pro-immigrant, racial and economic justice agenda." Staff will be organized around nine "core capabilities," including capacity building, campaigns and politics, and will focus on immigration rights and racial justice, economic justice, voting rights and democracy, education and housing, and Wall Street accountability.
"I would describe the new CPD as a campaign, policy and capacity-building center for community organizations," Kettenring said.
CPD will not launch new campaigns because of the merger, he added, but it does have projects in the works for January, including one that will focus on "articulating a firm vision -- a progressive vision -- of what public education should look like" and "defeating what we see as a corporate takeover of education in America."
By expanding the scale, strength and reach through the merger, the new CPD hopes to play an increasingly crucial role in the rejuvenated battle for social justice.
"There is tremendous energy in our communities -- in communities of color, in working class communities -- to change the way the things are done," Archila said. "There is tremendous political energy, and what we need is organizations -- institutions -- that will take advantage of that and will nurture that and drive it in the direction of concrete victory ... We know how to bring institutions together to make sure that it doesn't just mean one plus one equals two, but one plus one equals so much more. And that's what we think is going to happen with this merger."
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Which States Could Adopt Automatic Voter Registration Next?
If Americans needed any further proof that voting itself has become a partisan battleground, look no further than...
If Americans needed any further proof that voting itself has become a partisan battleground, look no further than proposals calling for automatic voter registration.
California this month enacted a law that will automatically register people to vote when they get or renew a driver's license or state identification card from the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), following the example set by Oregon several months ago. Over time, this could bring most of the 6.6 million Californians who are eligible but not yet registered onto the voting rolls. Alex Padilla, California's secretary of state and sponsor of the measure, calls it potentially the largest voter registration drive in U.S. history.
Other states could soon follow.
Legislators have introduced automatic voter registration bills in 16 additional states, including Hawaii, Illinois and Vermont, as well as the District of Columbia. New Jersey lawmakers approved a package that includes automatic voter registration in June. Republican Gov. Chris Christie hasn't acted on it, but he's made his opposition clear.
"The current process creates an unnecessary barrier for citizens to exercise their fundamental right to vote," said state Sen. Andy Manar, a sponsor of the Illinois measure. "And it's an inefficient use of taxpayer dollars."
The states where bills have seen real movement, however, are all blue states. In states where Republicans control the legislature -- including Georgia, South Carolina and Texas -- measures have mostly languished in committee.
Supporters argue that the real reason for Republican opposition is the party's worry that automatic registration would boost the number of poor and young voters -- groups that favor Democrats. But Republicans complain that automatically registering people to vote based on their DMV status will result in more fraud because, for example, teens still too young to vote and undocumented immigrants get driver's licenses.
In New Jersey, more than 85 percent of eligible citizens are already registered to vote. During a radio appearance in June, Gov. Christie said that, "there's no question in my mind that there are some advocates of this who are looking to increase the opportunities for voter fraud. That's not democracy either."
Studies have shown, however, that voter fraud seldom happens. Proponents of automatic voter registration say that governments have a responsibility to ensure eligible citizens have the opportunity to exercise the franchise, without unnecessary hurdles.
Supporters of the idea are currently collecting signatures in Alaska to put it on the ballot next year. If Christie ultimately vetoes the New Jersey package, a ballot measure may be likely there as well.
"It's not just an election modernization reform, it's a shifting of responsibilty for who populates the rolls," said Katrina Gamble, director of civic engagement and politics at the Center for Popular Democracy. "Even before Oregon, people saw automatic voter registration as the most tranformative reform that we can move that would bring a huge number of people onto the rolls."
Huge numbers of eligible citizens aren't registered to vote. In addition to the nearly 7 million Californians, there are 2.3 million such people in Illinois and there were 300,000 in Oregon.
"If you look across the country, there are at least 50 million people who are eligible but not registered to vote," said Jonathan Brater, counsel for the democracy program at NYU's Brennan Center for Justice. "We see year after year that registration is one of the biggest obstacles to participation."
Other states might explore other models, like using agencies other than the DMV to find potential voters. If the Alaska initiative passes next year, the state will find potential voters through its Permanent Fund, which pays dividends to residents based on oil revenues.
Regardless of the database that's used, automatic registration has the potential to be more accurate than the current approach, which in many places still means relying on paper forms. It should also save money. When Barack Obama was elected president in 2008, only Arizona and Washington offered online registration. Earlier this month, Vermont became the 26th state to allow voters to register online. Going paper-free saves states at least 50 cents on every registration.
It's in part for that reason that Republican legislators in states including Florida, Georgia and Oklahoma have supported online registration. Supporters of automatic voter registration hope that promises of savings might bring GOP lawmakers around to supporting things like registration through the DMV, too.
So far, that's not happening.
In fact, the way that high-profile Democrats running for president have embraced the idea seems to be driving Republicans away. U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont introduced an automatic voter registration bill in Congress, and Hillary Clinton supported the idea during a speech earlier this year in which she castigated the GOP for trying to "disempower and disenfranchise young people, poor people, people with disabilities and people of color," through voter ID requirements and attacks on early voting.
Clinton's speech, according to polling, cost automatic voter registration support among Republican voters. A majority of Republicans (53 percent) supported the idea when Oregon passed its law in March, but after Clinton gave her speech in June, GOP support dropped to 38 percent. When survey respondents were told Clinton backed the idea, their support plummeted further, to 28 percent.
Source: Governing
A Guide To Rallies & Actions Planned For May Day 2017
On May Day 2006, hundreds of thousands of immigrants participated in actions across the country, skipping work and...
On May Day 2006, hundreds of thousands of immigrants participated in actions across the country, skipping work and school in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles to protest a bill that would have made it a felony to be in the United States without documentation. The Bush-era legislation ultimately floundered. May Day, rooted in national protests for an eight-hour workday, solidified its status as a day for immigrant action.
"Those 2006 demonstrations were huge," said Joshua Freeman, a history and labor professor at CUNY. "It was a little bit of an earthquake in several ways. Never before had so many immigrants publicly presented themselves to support their rights."
Read full article here.
Pittsburgh police tightening security for march after Dallas
Pittsburgh police tightening security for march after Dallas
PITTSBURGH (AP) - Pittsburgh police say they're using uniformed and plainclothes officers and "extreme caution" to...
PITTSBURGH (AP) - Pittsburgh police say they're using uniformed and plainclothes officers and "extreme caution" to safeguard police and the public at an activists march on Friday.
The march opening the People's Convention at the city's convention center is billed as protesting "growing inequality and a toxic atmosphere of hate." Organizers expect 1,500 activists to march through downtown protesting what they believe are various social ills.
Pittsburgh's Public Safety Department is working with the FBI and other law enforcement in the wake of sniper shootings that killed five police officers and wounded seven others at a protest march in Dallas on Thursday.
Pittsburgh Bishop David Zubik also planned a noon Mass to pray for "peace and reconciliation."
And Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput (SHAP'-yoo) says the Dallas murders "only discredit" such protesters' "legitimate anger."
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