Image of the Day

In the aftermath of the elections, immigrant youth without papers
have remobilised to fight for their own rights and for citizenship for all of
up to 12 million undocumented migrants working in the US.
A spirited conference of 600 undocumented youth defied deportation
threats to gather for a three-day conference in Kansas City, Missouri on
November 30-December 2. At the last day of the conference, they
unanimously vowed to mobilise in support of a fight to win citizenship for
all the undocumented.
This puts pressure on President Barack Obama and Congress to enact
sweeping immigration reform.
They took chances just attending the conference. Some participants
from California came by plane, passing security with state-issued identity
documents, flying for the first time. Others came from places such as
Texas, New York and Florida, in cars driven by the few among them who
have drivers’ licenses.
California did once issue drivers’ licenses to undocumented workers,
but stopped doing so in the face of a racist campaign a few years ago.
It was a sign of their new confidence that the leaders of the United
We Dream network held its conference in the convention center in
downtown Kansas City, a conservative state known for its hostility to
immigrant rights.
Last Northern hemisphere spring, many of these same young people,
proudly wearing T shirts with “I Am Undocumented” printed on them,
staged sit-ins at Obama campaign headquarters, demanding he take a
stand.
In June, embarrassed by these actions as he was trying to win Latino
votes, Obama announced two-year reprieves from deportations and work
permits for hundreds of thousands of young immigrants without papers.
They had been brought into the US as children by their parents.
The Obama administration has deported nearly 1.4 million people for
the “crime” of not having papers since he took office, far more than his
predecessor. This has broken-up families and created unnecessary
hardships for this important sector of the US working class.