Mediaboss Marketing

WASHINGTON The former Bernie Sanders staffer turned on a sepia-toned Facebook live video outside the Phoenix Immigration and Customs Enforcement office where family friend Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos was being held before being deported last week and pleaded with progressives to join the fight.

This is the time to show up for the undocumented community. This is the time to show up for Lupita, said an emotional Erika Andiola, a popular and well-respected DREAMer who benefited from Barack Obamas deferred action program. All of you who were at the Womens March, all of you that were at every single protest against Trump.

Andiola was talking about a mother of US-born children who went to a check-in with immigration officials and was deported after 22 years living in the states over a years-old removal order, but she could have been talking about her own mom, and very soon she will be.

Immigration activists tied together by the arms participate in a sit-in protest against ICE raids and deportations near the downtown Los Angeles Federal Building. Nick Ut / AP

ID: 10540681

In May, her mother Maria Guadalupe Arreola has her own check-in with ICE, as well as a pending removal order. Andiola, who has already stopped her mothers deportation once, said she will fight, even in the face of the daunting challenge of doing so, against a Trump administration that has already expanded immigration enforcement priorities.

With my mom, its really bad, Andiola said, letting out a heavy breath in a phone conversation just days after her friends deportation. Trust me, Im putting up a fight. Im not just going to sit here and let them take her from me or me self-deporting, thats not how Ive done things before and thats not how I am.

The problem for even the most hardened activists is that the playbook theyve used for years is severely limited by an administration that doesnt have the same pressure points as Obamas did. They used to reach out to former Sen. Harry Reid or Sen. Dick Durbin, who would make the call to ICE themselves or contact the administration. But last week, efforts to recruit Republican Sen. John McCain to help Garcia de Rayos were unsuccessful.

Thats why Andiola says the new anti-Trump protest energy that has been seen at the Womens March in Washington, DC, and Los Angeles, and at airports in New York City and around the US to demonstrate against the travel ban on Muslim-majority countries, must also be mobilized to help immigrants.

Andiola, who was a featured speaker at the Womens March and saw the ferocious pushback against the travel ban, notes with frustration that those outside ICE in Phoenix, Arizona, were the same faces she always sees fighting on immigration. The coalescing of a unified progressive coalition is happening in fits and starts, she argues, but needs to muscle up quickly.

On Sunday, MoveOn.org, the earliest incarnation of what we now know as the online left, held a call for members that grew from 30,000 the previous week to 40,000. And presenting on the call was Cristina Jimenez of the advocacy group United We Dream, comprised and working in defense of undocumented youth and families. The progressives on the call, she said, should pressure their mayors and local elected officials to stand up to Trumps raids and deportations and ensure that immigrants in our localities are safe, protected from deportation, and that local police are not deputized to be immigration agents.

ACLU, MoveOn.org, and Star Trek actor George Takeis popular social media presence also shared United We Dream online information cards on what to do if immigration officials show up at your door.

Anna Galland, executive director of MoveOn.org Civic Action, said she sees momentum growing to protect immigrants, and that progressives should show up on the issue.

People who arent themselves members of frontline communities really need to show up in the wake of reports of recent raids, she said. This is truly a moment for solidarity across lines of immigration status, religion, and national origin.

But along with grassroots energy, immigration advocates say they also need organized pushback and the support of progressive Democrats, which has at times been difficult to focus during the early days of the Trump administration because there has always seemed to be a new outrage or major issue to react to.

Andiola is hoping to see her former boss Sanders and the group that sprouted from his candidacy, Our Revolution for which she now works on the front lines fighting for her mother and immigrants across the country.

But the issue doesnt yet seem to be the top priority for progressives. Sanders did not respond to repeated requests for comment over multiple days for this story. Jeff Weaver, his former campaign manager and president of Our Revolution, also did not respond to requests for comment. Rep. Keith Ellison, who Sanders backed for DNC chair, also did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

Symone Sanders, who worked on black outreach for Sanders, in addition to her role as national press secretary, and is now a strategist for Priorities USA, said it is not enough for progressives to come out forcefully for something like the Womens March but not for a Black Lives Matter or immigration rally.

The progressive movement is really going to have to step up on all fronts today its immigration raids, tomorrow it could be infringing on the rights of indigenous communities, she said.

And advocates hoping to catalyze immigration as the next great progressive fight with protests like Thursdays Day Without Immigrants, which features business owners closing shop for the day, may find that other issues continue to step on the urgency of the immigration battle. A coalition of progressive groups, including Our Revolution, hopes to create a sequel to the Womens March with the April 15 Tax March, to pressure Trump to release his taxes.

Foreign nationals are arrested an ICE operation. Bryan Cox / U.S. Immigration and Customs Enf

ID: 10540687

Former Secretary of Labor Tom Perez, who is running to be chair of the DNC, told BuzzFeed News that raids near schools and deporting families and DREAMers are not who we are as a country.

We cant and wont stand for this, he said. This is why we must continue to organize, we must continue to march, and we must make our voices heard the way weve done over the first month of his disastrous administration. We cant be silent now and we must hold him accountable.

The fear, activists say, is that the new administration will mobilize against already-vulnerable immigrants.

With Erika, one of the fears we have is there are greater risks for us as individual activists, shes a very public figure, her mother was out there during SB1070, said Marielena Hincapi, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center (NILC). Trump is a very vindictive personality, so you wonder not just about him, but the team he has around him, will they take any action? But were committed to protecting our leaders.

Members of the family of Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos, left, stand with supporters at a news conference in front of the ICE office in Phoenix. Steve Fluty / AP

ID: 10540629

For these activists, the current situation is serious. Just 24 hours after Garcia de Rayos was deported from Phoenix after appearing for her immigration check-in, DREAMer Daniel Ramirez, one of the estimated 750,000 young immigrants shielded from deportation under Obamas 2012 executive actions, was detained in Seattle after officials maintained that he admitted to being a gang member. On Wednesday, Jeanette Vizguerra, who has lived in the country for 20 years, did not go to her check-in, instead taking sanctuary in a church in Denver, Colorado.

Then there are those with upcoming court dates like Juan Miguel, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico who is scheduled to appear for his asylum case in April.

Im scared that when I show up theyll put me in detention right then and there or deport me, Juan Miguel told BuzzFeed News.

The 40-year-old was deported three times. The last time he was deported to Mexico was in 2015. At that time, he worked in Nogales, Sonora, in Mexico and sent money to his wife and kids on the US side of the border.

One night, Juan Miguel said, he was kidnapped by a cartel and, along with a group of other people, forced to dig tunnels underneath the border fence. After nine days of grueling work, people started screaming that the Mexican government was coming. Seeing his armed captors run, Juan Miguel also ran until he felt safe enough to catch his breath.

At the suggestion of an immigrant rights group, Juan Miguel asked for asylum at the border and was placed in detention for eight months without a bond hearing. That changed when a federal court ruling, Rodriguez v. Robbins, required that detainees locked up for six months or more be given a bond hearing.

Hes settled back into life with his family in Tempe, Arizona, and is heavily involved the immigrant rights movement there. He visits detainees at Eloy Detention Center and recently met with a delegation from Mexico that was concerned about the treatment of Mexicans under the Trump administration.

Despite his activism, the thought of now going to court weighs on him.

We have to wait and see what happens in the immigration courts, Juan Miguel said. If they do end up locking people up or deporting them, I just dont know. I dont want to be in a detention center again, that was hell.

They have a thirst to do their job and are just going to town with it.

ID: 10540691

Karla Navarrete, staff attorney for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, doubts people will be detained in courtrooms, because they are supposed to be neutral spaces.

But for check-ins, you should be wary. You should go, but you should go with an attorney, Navarrete told BuzzFeed News. I know its scary, but its better than having someone come knock on your door and putting people around you at risk. At the same time, I do believe its hard to tell people its going to be OK.

When she tried to help an undocumented man who was caught in an ICE sweep last week get out, an agent told her things were changing, Navarrete said.

I feel like a lot of ICE officers feel like theyve been suppressed in doing their jobs for the last eight years, even though thats ridiculous because Obama deported more people than in the past, she said. They feel like people have gotten too many passes They have a thirst to do their job and are just going to town with it.

Besides emboldened immigration agents on the ground, conversations with Trump administration officials reveal the scope of the challenges facing activists and immigrants. Appearing on Meet the Press Sunday, senior policy adviser Stephen Miller said the emphasis is on removing immigrants that commit crimes that threaten or endanger public safety, but that he cannot order a federal law enforcement officer in ICE to ignore the laws of the United States.

Further, he said it would be highly unethical for me in the White House or anybody else to pick up the phone and call an ICE officer and say, Well, when you encounter this particular felon, wed like you to pretend the law doesnt exist.

Asked about Andiola and her mother, a Trump official told BuzzFeed News they didnt know who she is. But in discussing whether the administration might employ some sort of prosecutorial discretion on individual cases in the future for someone like Arreola who has a removal order because she re-entered the United States in 1998 after an initial deportation order was given to her at the border the official went down the same road as Miller, questioning whether activists want criminals out on the street.

Pressed on Meet the Press, Miller said an immigration judge makes those decisions. An ICE officer makes those decisions.

But David Leopold, a lawyer who represented clients in many high-profile immigration cases in the Obama years, said Trump gave judges and immigration agents all the leeway they needed to argue that everyone is a removal priority by how broadly the administration wrote the executive order on interior enforcement.

When I read these priorities two weeks ago, I jumped out of my seat because they really do encompass almost every undocumented person in this country, Leopold said.

He pointed to Section 5 of the executive order, which sets as a priority any immigrant who has been convicted of any criminal offense; someone who has only been charged; someone who has committed a chargeable offense but has not been charged; someone who engaged in fraud, such as working with a false social security number; has received public benefits; is subject to a final order of removal, but who has not complied with their legal obligation to depart the country; or someone who poses a public safety or national security risk, in the judgment of an immigration officer.

About 40% of undocumented immigrants crossed the border without inspection, Leopold said, so thats already 5 million people subject to deportation. Someone who did not receive due process may nonetheless have a final order of removal against them and an immigration agent would have incredible leeway to decide if an individual is a risk under these guidelines.

Everyone from a person with a parking ticket to a murderer could be included in the same enforcement priorities boat.

So [press secretary Sean Spicer] or Trump can say were going after bad people, but mothers and grandmothers and fathers are living in fear, Leopold said.

Activists worry that the administration will do just that, labeling everyone a hardened criminal who deserves to be expelled from the country. Thats why they say Facebook Live, as Andiola used last week, will be an important tool to show Americans who is actually being targeted.

This is about the soul of the nation and who we are as Americans, NILCs Hincapi said.

But to Jeffrey Lord, a former official in the Reagan administration who went to bat for Trump on CNN during the campaign, the president has always been clear on what he plans to do. He cited Americans who have been killed by undocumented immigrants, which Trump elevated to national prominence during the election.

I am of the belief that what hes going to do here is set an example, hes going to rigorously enforce the law and say we cant just do this, Lord said, adding that Trumps promised border wall will have a big, beautiful door for legal entry. Theres no question this is going to be a flashpoint, this is just the beginning.

And Andiola says she will need the force of the progressive movement for the coming clash.

Its interesting how the rest of the progressive movement is now paying attention to injustice and suffering because theres a boogeyman talking about it, Andiola said. Our house has already been raided, my moms been detained before, weve grown a lot stronger, but were picking ourselves up and having a plan, were not leaving this country without a fight.

Link:
The Best-Known DREAMer Wants Progressives To Show Up For Her Mom Too - BuzzFeed News

WASHINGTON Rep. Tom Reedcan expectto face some strong resistance at his four town hall meetings in the Southern Tier this weekend.

But it sure won't be spontaneous.

In fact, a group called "Indivisible of New York's 23rd District" which is connected to a national movement organized by former Democratic congressional aides has published a two-page "plan of action" for progressiveswho will be attending Reed's meetings.

The guide calls for people to ask Reed tough questions aimed at making the Republican congressman from Corning look bad.

"We want to trap Reed in appearing as if he doesn't care about his constituents," the memo said.

And that's not all. The memo calls for progressives attending Reed's event to avoid looking too vehement or too progressive, in hopes of appealing to more conservative members of the audience in Reed's right-leaning Southern Tier district.

"He will be far more concerned if we can appeal to his supporters with our informed resistance!" the memo says. "THIS is our goal."

Told of the group's plans, Reed, R-Corning the only Western New York member of Congress to routinely meet with constituents in the free-flowing town hall format was suspicious.

"It's disturbing," he said. "It sounds like a proactive, extreme attempt to cause disruption."

The Indivisible plan of action calls for peaceful resistance and warns that some right-wing groups may try to cause disruptions at the events. In that case, the memo says, members of Indivisible should work to de-escalate any conflicts.

Moreover, the Indivisible plan calls for progressives attending the rally to play down their progressiveness, particularly when it comes to President Trump who won the counties hosting Reed's town halls by more than 20 points in November's election.

"Do not mention or criticize Trump," the plan of action said. "Those who approve of Trump and love him feel threatened by us. We want to build bridges, not burn them. We want to appear concerned and respectful, not judgmental or uppity. At the same time we want to show our strength and are willing to fight for our convictions."

Making references to "the morality of Christianity" in questions could help progressives at the meeting, as could dressing decently, the memo said.

"No progressive political messages on clothing, no Cornell swag," it added.

It's possible that some of the progressives at the town hall meetings will have Cornell University, in the liberal bastion of Tompkins County, in their hearts and minds.

The website for Indivisible of New York's 23rd District Reed's district shows that four of the six members of the group's organizing team are from Tompkins County, where Cornell is located. The others are from Seneca County and Tioga County, which are nowhere near Reed's Saturday town halls.

Activists from Tompkins County are most likely to show up at Reed's town hall in Fillmore, in Allegany County, because it's closer to Ithaca than Reed's earlier town halls in Chautauqua and Cattaraugus counties, said Reanna Lavine, a member of Indivisible of New York's 23rd District organizing team.

She noted that Reed has not held a town hall in the Ithaca area, but that constituents there are anxious to talk to him about the proposed repeal of the Affordable Care Act and other issues.

Lavine acknowledged that the memo's language about "trapping" Reed is "a little harsh," but she stressed that her group's plan is more about asking the congressman tough, detailed questions.

"People haven't felt well-served by Tom Reed," she said.

Other groups, such as Planned Parenthood and Southern Tier Action Together, are also planning to attend Reed's town halls to ask him questions.

Southern Tier Action Together, an Allegany County group, offered advice to those attending on its Facebook page.

"Don't sit with members of your group during the town hall! Spread out so that you appear larger than you are," the group recommended.

But Indivisible appears to be the largest progressive group organizing people to attend Reed's town halls, which will take place at these times and places:

The Southern Tier Indivisible group is one of many around the country that sprang up in response to the "Indivisible Guide," a best-practices guide in which former Democratic congressional aides explain how to best influence Congress.

It's unclear, though, exactly how much influence the Indivisible movement has had on recent town halls held by members of Congress across the country. In some cases, those town halls have become unusually raucous, often pitting people concerned about the repeal of the Affordable Care Act against Republican lawmakers who, like Reed, want to do just that.

Indivisible wants to "build a vibrant community of angelic troublemakers," the group says on its national website.

And in putting its plans for Saturday's town halls online the group gave Reed a blessing for which he is grateful.

"Obviously I appreciate the heads-up," the congressman said.

Follow this link:
Progressives plan resistance at Tom Reed's town halls - Buffalo News

A new nominee for Secretary of Labor may appear more respectable, but don't expect a change in policies that tilt toward companies and against workers.

The two events Wednesday were in exquisite contradiction. Andrew Puzder, the deeply unqualified nominee to be Secretary of Labor was forced to withdraw, prompting triumphal tweets by progressives. Activists won! People power!, stated one.

But in the first boots-on-the-ground example of how organized labor will do in this era of total Republican control at the national level, workers overwhelmingly rejected the Machinists at Boeings North Charleston, S.C., assembly.

This is the national situation in microcosm: The left is loud but the right keeps winning elections in most places, especially where progressive policies and institutions would most help the working class. Ill just put that out there and move on.

Puzder was not really done in by allegations of hiring an illegal immigrant housekeeper or domestic abuse (the Republican Partys leader bragged about sexual assault, after all). No, however much these things might exercise liberals, they arent in control of the Senate. Whatever the cover story, Puzders support for comprehensive immigration reform in defiance of the GOP base fatally eroded his support among Republican senators.

Alexander Acosta, Donald Trumps new selection to be Labor Secretary, is a much less impeachable choice. A Harvard-trained lawyer from Miami, he served briefly on President George W. Bushs National Labor Relations Board. From there, he was elevated to Assistant Attorney General over the Justice Departments civil rights division, then became U.S. Attorney for the southern district of Florida.

Anyone who thought Puzders withdrawal would result in a fundamental course change is likely to be disappointed. As Labor Secretary, Acosta would carry out the policy tilt of Republicans only without the blunt-spoken honesty of Puzder. Two bonuses for conservatives: Acosta clerked for Samuel Alito before the latter was elevated to the Supreme Court. He is also a member of the Federalist Society, the premier conservative group dedicated to remaking the courts and legal system on a right-wing agenda.

Acosta would give the cabinet its first Hispanic member and perhaps some moderation (the needle having shifted so far to the right). But based on the George W. Bush NLRB and the general tilt of the Federalist Society, he would be anti-union, anti-worker-bargaining power, and pro-company. And apparently the working class that voted for this president is fine with it.

Todays Econ Haiku:

Yellen in the House

Whys the economy slow?

Look in a mirror

See the rest here:
Puzder's withdrawal is no victory for progressives - The Seattle Times

The Womens March in Washington. Bryan Woolston / Reuters

ID: 10538093

Progressives are planning a series of demonstrations across 60 cities on April 15, describing the protest as the first major successor to the womens marches that drew as many as 4 million people over inauguration weekend last month.

The so-called Tax March set to coincide with the annual IRS deadline aims to pressure President Donald Trump and Congress over Trumps unreleased tax returns, organizers said, citing reports this week on his teams communication with Russian officials and long-standing questions about potential foreign conflicts of interest.

A coalition of liberal groups is organizing the march, including Bernie Sanders Our Revolution, MoveOn.org, the Indivisible Project, Americans for Tax Fairness, the Center for Popular Democracy, and the American Federation of Teachers.

Also involved are leaders from the Womens March, the day of protests that turned out to be among the largest demonstrations in US history.

The Tax Day plans make April 15 a key test for Democratic leaders working to harness that expanse of activist energy into a sustainable movement that yields results in Congress and at the ballot box in next years midterm elections. (Similarly, in 2009, Tax Day was one of the first major protest days for the conservative, anti-establishment Tea Party movement.)

Fissures in the Democratic Partys self-described resistance effort have already emerged since Trumps inauguration, with progressive activists demanding that lawmakers oppose the president at every turn, while various House and Senate members maintain some openness to pieces of Trumps cabinet and agenda.

The countrys highest-ranking Democrat, Sen. Chuck Schumer, drew protests from his own partys base outside his home in Brooklyn earlier this month. Activists on the left have also confronted other Democratic lawmakers outside their congressional offices and in recent town hall meetings, demanding top-to-bottom opposition.

On Wednesday, a group of former Sanders campaign aides and activists launched a PAC, #WeWillReplaceYou, aimed at challenging Democratic elected officials in primaries, asking progressives to pledge to support primary election challengers against any Dems who wont do everything in their power to resist Trump.

A Trump protester in San Francisco. Elijah Nouvelage / Getty Images

ID: 10539477

The Tax March will be based in Washington, with satellite marches planned in cities ranging from New York and Los Angeles to Little Rock, Arkansas, and Boise, Idaho.

Organizers said the idea started with a tweet from Frank Lesser, a New York-based comedy writer who took issue with the Trump administrations claim that people didnt care about his tax returns. (Trump is the first president in 40 years to keep his tax returns private, breaking a tradition kept by candidates since Richard Nixon.)

In Washington this week, members of the Republican-led House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee voted down an amendment proposed by Democrats to have Congress ask the Treasury Department for copies of Trumps tax returns.

Tax March organizers also linked the effort to questions about Trumps ties to Russia.

On Sunday night the presidents national security adviser, Michael Flynn, resigned after the Washington Post revealed that he had discussed sanctions against Russia with the countrys US ambassador. And on Tuesday, a New York Times report cited claims from four current and former US officials that some involved with Trumps campaign had been in contact with Russian intelligence officials during the election, though officials told the Times that no evidence has yet been found that there was coordination with those Russian officials.

Until we see his taxes we dont know how much money he owes Russia, China, and other countries, said Ben Wikler, the Washington director of MoveOn.org.

See original here:
Progressives Want Tax Day To Be The Next Women's March Protest - BuzzFeed News

This post is hosted on the Huffington Post's Contributor platform. Contributors control their own work and post freely to our site. If you need to flag this entry as abusive, send us an email.

The union movement and the progressive movement just suffered a crushing loss at the Boeing plant in South Carolina yesterday. As Julie Johnsson and Josh Eidelson detailed in this Bloomberg story, the 3000 Boeing workers faced a massive, coordinated assault by not only Boeing management but the whole political class in South Carolina.

And the almost complete progressive media and political leadership apathy to the fight at Boeing enrages me. Despite a Presidential campaign during and after which everyone said you need to pay attention to working class industrial workers, workers in a right-to-work state like South Carolina stood up to megacorp Boeing-- and were left largely on their own as not only Boeing but the whole business and political class threatened them with retaliation and destruction if they voted yes for the union.

Unsurprisingly, in the face of threats of retaliation and jobs being sent to China and a half million dollar advertising barrage treating them as economic traitors to the state, most of the workers got scared and voted no in the end.

Here you had a company using threats of moving jobs to China-- a perfect opportunity to mobilize nationally and demand Trump put up or shut up and tell Boeing to stop such threats -- and you had mostly crickets among progressive media and activists.

And I have serious rage at everyone who endlessly talked about how Obama was the candidate of business and didn't help workers. You know who cared about union workers at Boeing? Obama. When Boeing first tried to move operations to South Carolina, the Obama NLRB filed unfair labor practices against Boeing and tussled with then-governor Nikki Haley over promoting the move as an anti-union attack. (The administration would drop the charges later at the urging of the IAM union based on settling overall contract negotiations-- and in the face of worries about hostile court actions).

I give props to the twelve U.S. Senators, including Bernie Sanders, who sent a letter to Boeing condemning the anti-union campaign- see here -- but where were the legions of Bernie-supporters who endlessly lectured Clinton for her supposed silence on labor issues during the campaign?

National support for the campaign would have mattered since workers voting on the union needed to know that if they got a union, they would have national support in what would be ongoing battles not just with Boeing but with their own state government. Boeing is a federal contractor and has to worry about public opinion, so that national support matters.

But instead, they were left largely on their own, mostly in a national silence.

Having a 3000-person labor beachhead in anti-union South Carolina would have made a big difference, not just for those workers, but for workers throughout the region. As Josh notes in the linked story, other workers were looking to the Boeing vote on whether to try forming unions themselves.

And politically, it's a statistical fact that the higher the union density in the state, the higher percentage of workers, especially white workers, who end up voting Democratic at election time. That is first because local unions supply a lot of the cash to support local progressive candidates but it's also because they help frame local politics in terms of working class issues and concerns and drive the debate in ways that help progressive candidates.

You can't just love the working class when it serves rhetorical purposes, but ignore all the day-to-day fights that matter. This was indisputably one of the labor fights that mattered and most of the progressive media and progressives on social media just downplayed it or ignored it altogether.

This is just a massive political fail for the whole progressive movement.

Read the rest here:
Progressives Let Boeing Workers Down - Huffington Post