by Jacqueline Baylon
The Border Angels, a human rights group founded in 1986 by Enrique Morones to stop the unnecessary deaths of people traveling across the U.S./Mexico border areas of San Diego County and the Imperial Valley.
With the arrival of their 2009 Marcha Migrante IV in Washington, D.C., Feb. 10, followers of the San Diego-based immigration advocacy organization Border Angels have declared, “Our time has come.”
More than three dozen supporters spent three days lobbying Congress and the Fresident Barack Obama administration to pass and sign a bill thatwill provide relief to some 12 million undocumented immigrants residing in the United States.
Since February 2006, the Angels have led caravans coast-to~coast four times to further their cause.
This time they met with U.S. Reps. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.), Mario Díaz-Balart (R-Fla.) and with David Martin of the Department of Homeland Security, among numerous other advocates and listeners.
Founder Enrique Morones described the Border Angels’mission as reminding the new administration of President Obama’s campaign promise to address immigration reform during his first year in office. “They have to come through with their promise,” Morones told Weekly Report.
Angels representatives were among some 500 pro-immigrant supporters who marched in sub-freezing weather to the White House the day after Obama’s inauguration.
Achieving a comprehensive and compassionate bill this year “is not going to be easy, but we are full of hope like the rest of the country,” Morones said.
This year’s journey began in San Diego with representatives from about 30 supportive Latino organizations taking part. It featured rallies in California, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. The trek ends Feb. 20 back in Washington.
“We are going to keep the pressure up,” promised Morones, who plans to return to the capital in April to lobby some more.
In other related news:
Obama postpones use of e-verify program
by JacqUeline Baylón
President Obama has postponed until May 21 the implementation of an executive order issued by his predecessor, George Bush, requiring all federal contractors to Utllize the E-verify program to ensUre their employees can legally work in the U.S.
After that date, it would require new hires of employers with more than $100,000 in federal contracts to use the program.
Established in 1997 as the Basic Pilot/ Employment Verification Program, it was created to prevent undocumented immigrants from gaining employment.
The American Civil Liberties Union said, “It’s only used by a fraction of our nation’s employers, but its ongoing technological snafus, database errors and bureaucratic bungling have caused enormous financial losses for both businesses and employees.
The Federation for American Immigration Reform, a national lobby group that proposes to cut back on immigration, stated, “E-Verify has proven to be the single most effective tool to protect American workers from losing jobs in their own country to illegal aliens.”
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told the press Jan. 30 that she believes “it has to be an integral part of our immigration enforcement system. The review is intended to see what needs to be done to increase the capacity for the E-Verify system, how quickly that can be done.”
A Wall Street Journal article by Miriam Jordan stated that E-Verify “could be postponed further or even cancelled.” Hispanic Link.
