by Marvin J. Ramírez

Good business for the city A SFPD cop takes away the auto of a couple at 22nd and Mision streets for not having a driver’s license, after he stopped them for having the windows too dark.

NEWS ANALYSIS – Besides for being known for its immense colorful gay population and its Golden Gate Bridge and tourist attractions, San Francisco is also known for its caring for the defenseless, those with AIDS, and especially those persecuted by the United States Immigration and Custom Enforcement U.S.I.C.E.

For that endeavor, San Francisco enacted a Sanctuary ordinance almost a decade ago, to protect the immigrant communities from immigration agents seeking cooperation from local police to arrest them.

San Francisco is a city of sanctuary, “where immigrants are welcome and safe, regardless of legal status.” Under the 1989 City of Refuge law, meant to protect Central American war refugees,” no city employee shall use city resources to assist in the enforcement of federal immigration law.”

However, the city’s employees are indeed using the city’s resources when the police department waits in corners in areas where most of the undocumented residents frequent and shop, and tow their cars.

This sanctuary law has really made a difference in the lives of thousands lawful residents who have undocumented family members until the state enacted laws against them. These people work and live like ordinary citizens, but as opposed to those who are documented, they can’t obtain a DMV license, but have to drive as a necessity.

A tow truck driver receives the authorization from a police officer to tow the car of an undocumented person.

They drive with fear of getting caught by aggressive cops who sometimes enjoy doing that dirty job, as they act with indifference to the pain caused on these people when confiscating the only means of transportation they have for the family. They use their vehicles to take their family members to school, to the doctor, to work, or when there is a medical emergency.

San Francisco politicians, however, have been silent on this area, impounding the vehicles of those stopped for usually minor traffic offenses, and taking their cars for lacking a driver’s license.

These mostly humble, working people with families and children, are the same undocumented immigrants supposedly protected by the City’s Sanctuary law from ICE, but obviously is not protecting their private property in San Francisco.

El Reportero has received complains that motorcycled officers follow them and stop them for no reason or simply for suspicion that they might be undocumented immigrants based on their humble appearance. The traffic stop usually ends up with the confiscation of the person’s vehicle in the absence of a driver’s license or auto insurance, and the passengers grabbing their belonging and walking away, sometimes with groceries and children.

Then the business interest takes place, giving the city and the towing companies huge profits no one can refuse.

A 30-day impounding has been the rule, which most victims of this action consider too much of a financial burden.

Neither from the Mayor or the Board of Supervisors, has come a word in addressing this issue. By simply enacting an ordinance that could provide a driving permit within the city for those who lack a social security number – a California requirement to grant a DMV license – the problem could be resolved.

The Board of Supervisors could draft a resolution immediately prohibiting the SFPD from temporarily enforcing the state law that allows them to impound their vehicles until an immigration reform bill is passed by the U.S. Congress. Because, aren’t the undocumented immigrants also protected under the sanctuary ordinance when they drive?

By following this suggestion, the city will again become the spearhead in the defense of immigrants, especially in this area where the state has failed them most: to grant them a driver’s license, which will allow them to get insurance and therefore protect us all.

According to following passages of an article in the San Francisco Chronicle, the State Senate already has voted late last year 25 to 14 to create a special exemption in state law that would reduce the mandatory 30-day impoundment of cars driven by unlicensed drivers, so that offenders who have never had a valid license can get their cars back after 24 hours. Right now, when officers impound the cars of unlicensed drivers, the mandatory term is 30 days.

The article reported that Pomona resident John Whitney, a member of the Christian group One LA that started the drive for the bill express that he supports a 30-day impound for drunken drivers and others who drive without a license, but as a “conservative Christian evangelical,” he wants to see different treatment for those who cannot get a license because they are not legal residents. He added that some tow companies charge too much to car owners; after 30 days, the cost exceeds what many hard-working immigrant families can readily absorb.

One bill supporter is Pomona Police Chief James Lewis, according to the article. Earlier this year, his department reduced the length of impoundment time from 30 days to one day. Whitney believes that when Pomona police impound a car for one day instead of one month, they enjoy better relations with the community, and improved community policing.

(The San Francisco Chronicle contributed to this article).

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by the El Reportero news services

Hugo Chávez

LEON, Nicaragua: Venezuelan Preside­nt Hugo Chávez sang his anti-Bush praying of “gringo go home” on Sunday night in a friendly reunion with Nicaraguan revolutionary Daniel Ortega in front of thousands of cheering supporters.

With U.S. President George W. Bush on a five-country tour of Latin America, Chávez is haunting the man he sees as his ideological nemesis, vowing to revive a global socialist opposition to the U.S.

As Bush traveled from closely allied Colombia to Guatemala on Sunday evening, Chávez and Ortega traveled 90 kilometers (55 miles) to the city of Leon, where they left flowers at the tomb of poet Ruben Dario and announced that Venezuela would build a new oil refinery nearby.

George W. Bush

Cheered by thousands, Chávez said Bush’s tour was a failure.

Chávez and Ortega agreed to press forward with plans for an oil refinery with a planned capacity of 150,000 barrels a day.

Ortega estimated the facility would cost US$2.5 billion (€1.9 billion), to which Chávez added: “We don’t need to go begging before the International Monetary Fund or from anybody because now we’ve created the Banco del Sur, which will also be in Nicaragua.”

Mexico tries a slower path to changes on immigration

Strategy includes strengthening domestic job market.

MEXICO CITY — When President Bush lands in the Yucatan colonial city of Merida on Monday night, he will encounter a new Mexican government that wants the same thing the old one wanted: comprehensive immigration reform in the United States.

What’s different is that Mexican President Felipe Calderón, in office since December, is trying a slower and subtler approach. Calderón and his lieutenants have even invented a buzzword to define their strategy, saying they will “desmigratizar” the bilateral agenda, or remove immigration from the forefront of U.S.-Mexico relations.

“He’s having to find a new vocabulary,” said Juan Hernández, who headed a cabinet-level office for Mexicans living abroad during the administration of Calderón’s predecessor, Vicente Fox.

Calderón has spoken out against U.S. border policy, calling border fences “deplorable” and predicting that security measures will lead to an increase in migrant deaths. Still, the president’s top aides say he is convinced that, to achieve immigration reform, he must demonstrate to the U.S. Congress that Mexico is willing to address the factors propelling illegal migration, especially the country’s weak job market and low standard of living.

(The Washington Post, Associated Press contributed to this report).

by Alex Meneses Miyashita

Maggie Rivas

Hispanic advocates and executives from the Public Broadcasting System came to no resolution after 90 minutes of discussion and debate March 6 regarding a seven-part World War 11 documentary by Ken Burns that ignores the role of Latinos in the conflict.

Neither side yielded in what was otherwise described as a cordial meeting.

Hispanic advocates are demanding that PBS suspend the program’s Sept. 23 scheduled release until it includes the Latino contribution. PBS remains firm on its intent to air the documentary intact while offering alternatives that the Latino advocates rejected out of hand.

The Latino group, led by former San Diego State University staff member Gus Chavez, has requested a formal response from PBS to its demands (listed below) by March 13.

The community advocates maintained that releasing the documentary without portraying the Latino involvement would be “an insult to our community.” They also asked for a meeting with Burns, who has a contract with PBS until 2022. So far he has declined to respond to their invitation.

Contacted by Weekly Report, a PBS spokesperson said the company will reserve comment until it communicates with the Latino participants again.

In a statement, PBS gave the explanation, “It was never the goal of the filmmakers to create a comprehensive history of the War, thus many, many stories are left untold.

PBS said that editing the film would infringe on the filmmaker’s artistic expression.

It also stated that with the national airing of the documentary, The War, on Sept. 23, it will conduct an outreach initiative to generate local productions that add more perspectives of the conflict. During the meeting, the PBS executives said they would work to ensure that Latino participation is addressed with local additions.

Group members said that is not enough. “We’re not going to compromise, that’s the bottom line,” Chavez told Weekly Report.

Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez said, “We really have to have the Latino voice in that big documentary. Burns could not find a Latino in six years. It’s perpetuating the invisibility of Latinos.” She added it will be easier for them to exclude the community next time.

Rivas-Rodriguez is co-author of “A Legacy Greater than Words,” which showcases interviews with Hispanics in World War II.

Chávez added that the group is planning to contact corporations that provide support to PBS if it decided to air the documentary without changes.

President Bush has requested a slash of $145 million of federal PBS funding for next year’s budget, he said, adding, “This is not the time for you to be messing with this.”

The group plans to reach out to leadership at national and local levels, among other actions such as a national call-in day to protest the airing of the documentary. “This kind of omission is a national tragedy,” Chávez said. “It totally denies our experience.”

He called the meeting generally productive, saying Kerger “seemed to be shook up.” He remains optimistic that changes will be added to the documentary, he said.

PBS did change its initial Sept. 16 release date, Mexican Independence Day, to Sept. 23, following pressure from advocates.

An estimated 500,000 Latinos participated in the war, according to Chávez. American GI Forum chief operating officer Rolando Esparza told Weekly Report that Latinos earned proportionally more Medals of Honor during the last century than any other group, stressing the contribution the community had made to the country’s armed forces.
­Hispanic Link.

by Juliana Birnbaum Fox

Woodfin Suites workers: ­- including advocates, Emeryville residents, and faith leaders – march on April 10 asking their boss not to take away their jobs

In the biggest protest in Emeryville history, over 300 union members, students, musicians, community activists, faith leaders, elected officials and local residents rallied for immigrant and workers’ rights at the City Hall last Tuesday, April 10.

Participants pushed for the Emeryville City Council to support Woodfin Suites workers in their demand that their employer comply with the local living wage law (Measure C). They also asked that the city hold the hotel management accountable for its retaliation against its immigrant workers and for the $200,000 in back wages owed.

The rally was followed by an energetic march down 40th Street to raise awareness about the plight of the Woodfin workers and the boycott of the hotel.

“We might lose our jobs in the next 10 days,” said Luz Domínguez, a Woodfin housekeeper.

“We can’t continue living from day to day without knowing that our future is secure. We are going to keep boycotting the Woodfin until the hotel treats us with respect by guaranteeing our jobs and paying us the wages we are owed.”

Emeryville voters passed Measure C in November 2005, which raised wages and set limits to the amount of work that could be asked of employees within a given period of time.

City council member and lawyer John Fricke supported Measure C. He sees himself as part of Emeryville’s new wave.

“The old guard was very business-friendly, and gave the developers whatever they wanted,” he explains. “But the people who came to live in the new lofts and apartments are young people priced out of San Francisco. They have a pretty supportive attitude towards workers and immigrants.”

The week before Christmas last year, after protests pressuring Woodfin to adhere to Measure C, the hotel gave notice to 21 workers, claiming Social Security number mismatches. The following week, the Alameda County Superior Court granted a temporary restraining order preventing the Woodfin Suites from firing the workers until their claims were investigated.

The employees returned to work after the ruling, but Sarah Noor of the East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy said the workers fear the hotel will fire them after the temporary order expires on April 20.

Luz Dominguez: , a mother of three, has been a Woodfin Suites housekeeper for two and a half years.

“I’m just living from one day to the next on what I make,” said Marcela Melquiades, a worker at the hotel. “I don’t know what I’d do if I lost my job. Even though I’m back to work, I’m always worried about the next day. I’m just living with anxiety, all the time.”

Woodfin general manager Hugh MacIntosh said today that the hotel probably will indeed fire the 21 workers, but he said the reason is that they don’t have legitimate Social Security numbers, not retaliation.

“We’ve offered to give them four hours paid time off to sort out the issues with their Social Security numbers,” MacIntosh said. “They haven’t gotten their documentation sorted out.”

However, the workers say the reason is another.

“The reason the hotel was saying this was because we were demanding our rights,” stated Dominguez.

Over the past months, a boycott committee consisting of workers, Emeryville residents, faith leaders and community supporters has visited many locally-based corporations that use the Woodfin to tell them about the workers’ boycott and urge them to stop patronizing the hotel until it meets the workers’ demands. Protests have also been held at the hotel once or twice a week since the issue began.

Norr said she believes Woodfin is conveniently using the documentation issue as a cover, and the real reason for the possible firings is retaliation. Most of the undocumented employees have worked at the hotel for many years, she added, and their Social Security status wasn’t an issue for management until the workers demanded that the hotel comply with the living wage ordinance.

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