Illegal Immigrant To Sue Employer After Work Injury

May 17, 2010

Leonardo Is Suing Owner Of Horse Boarding Ranch In Escondido After Injuring Fingers

10News.com

Related To Story

Video: Illegal Immigrant To Sue Employer After Work Injury

POSTED: 6:34 pm PDT May 17, 2010

UPDATED: 9:01 pm PDT May 17, 2010

ESCONDIDO, Calif. -- An illegal immigrant is suing his Escondido employer after he said his employer threatened to deport him after he experienced a gruesome injury.

Leonardo, an illegal immigrant, said his worries began in April at a horse boarding ranch in Escondido, where he worked for more than two years.

When he touched some metal on a horse walking machine, he got a big shock.

“My knees buckled,” he said. “It was great pain.”

The electricity melted his wedding ring into his finger, partially severing it. Several skin grafts later, he’s not sure if his finger will heal.

Doctors contacted the ranch owner to submit a workers’ compensation claim, which did not go well...

Prevén 60 mil niños abandonados por Ley Arizona

Según datos de la CNOP, en el 2009 la cifra de menores que quedaron en el abandono por las deportaciones de sus padres alcanzó los 98 mil; de estos, 25 mil fueron tan sólo en Arizona. Los problemas migratorios entre México y Estados Unidos ocasionaron que durante el 2009 se registraran 98 mil niños en estado de abandono, por la deportación de sus padres y se prevé que en el 2010, con la llamada Ley Arizona el problema se agudice, ya que únicamente para ese estado, se espera que 60 mil infantes queden abandonados.

Video The Border

KPBS Documentary "The Border"

The Border," a two-hour documentary, features compelling story-driven vignettes narrated by journalist John Quiñones from ABC’s "20/20." This magazine-style program gives viewers the freedom to draw their own conclusions on these complex, multi-layered issues. This is the first time public television producers from different stations and different parts of the country have joined forces to produce a single program. While the border is a region all its own, the stories of border life in San Diego and Tijuana differ from the stories of border towns in California, Texas, New Mexico Arizona, Baja California, Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas. Any of the five production entities could have produced "The Border" alone, but the region is so diverse, sending producers and crew into communities where they have no ties would have been a daunting task. Launching a collaborative effort between KPBS, Espinosa Productions, KUAT, KNME and Galan Productions allowed the filmmakers to explore familiar territory and unearth stories that have special significance to their part of the region and capture nuances that only locals would know.

http://www.pbs.org/kpbs/theborder/index.html

May 1st Coalition San Diego

Democrats' Blueprint for Immigration Overhaul

CQ Today Online News (April 29, 2010)

http://www.facebook.com/pages/National-Institute-for-Latino-Policy-NiLP/167903163226

The 26-page "conceptual proposal" that Senate Democrats released Thursday follows the bipartisan framework outlined by Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., last month. Here is a summary of its major provisions:

Border Control

Initial benchmarks

· Increase personnel for border patrol, inspections, fraud detection and smuggling prevention.

· Improve technology, infrastructure and resources for border officials.

· Increase resources for prosecuting unauthorized border crossers, drug smugglers and human traffickers.

Longer-term measures

· Install high-tech ground sensors throughout the southern border.

· Create secure two-way communication capabilities among Border Patrol agents.

· Increase border resources, including sport utility vehicles, helicopters, boats, night- vision equipment and surveillance systems.

· Provide for use of Defense Department equipment at the border.

Law Enforcement

· Equip all ports of entry with biometric-identification technology.

· Amend laws to encourage illegal residents to depart voluntarily.

· Increase criminal penalties for selling or using false documents.

· Establish a policy of zero tolerance for future illegal entry

and reentry into the United States.

· Provide for the deportation of illegal immigrants in federal, state

and local prisons.

· During court proceedings, apply minimum detention standards that include making arrangements for the children of the detainee.

Employment Verification

· Direct the Social Security Administration to begin issuing fraud-resistant biometric Social Security cards within 18 months of enactment. The card would contain the individual's name, date of birth, Social Security number and unique biometric identifier.

· Require employers to use a new biometric enrollment system to verify work authorization.

· Increase fines for employers that knowingly hire or continue to employ workers not authorized for employment.

· Prohibit employers from deducting wages of unverified workers on their tax returns.

Path to Legalization

· Establish a broad-based registration program for all illegal immigrants living in the United States, allowing eligible individuals to earn legal status. For initial registration, the individual would have to pass criminal and security checks and pay all applicable fees and taxes. Eight years later, the individual could apply for lawful permanent resident status after paying all taxes and a fine; demonstrating basic citizenship skills, English-language skills and continuous residence in the U.S.; and passing updated criminal checks.

· Disqualify from the legalization program individuals who have been convicted of a crime or who pose a threat to national security.

Highly Skilled Workers

· Make a green card immediately available to foreign students who have advanced degrees from a United States institution in science, technology, engineering or mathematics if they possess an offer of employment in their field.

· Permit foreign students to enter the U.S. with immigrant intent if they pursue a full course of study at an institution of higher education in science, technology, engineering or mathematics.

Provisional Low-Skilled Workers

· Create a provisional visa (H-2C) for non- seasonal, non-agricultural workers.

· Require employers using the H-2A, H-2B and H-2C systems to conduct advance recruiting of U.S. citizens before hiring immigrants through the provisional visa system.

· Allow workers on provisional visas to earn lawful permanent residence if they meet specific integration criteria.

Other

· Permit permanent partners of citizens to obtain lawful permanent resident status.

· Address technical issues related to the immigration benefits of widows, orphans, stepchildren and adoptive children of U.S. citizens.

Resolution for the City of San Diego to Oppose AZ SB 1070

Please circulate to your networks! Action Alert in English and Spanish

Monday- May 3, 2010 @ 2pm

Support Councilmember Benjamin Hueso’s proposed Resolution for the City of San Diego to Oppose AZ SB 1070

ITEM-S400: OPPOSE Arizona Senate Bill 1070--Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act. (City-Wide.)

(R-2010-795) Declaring the Mayor and Council of the City of San Diego, for and on behalf of the people of San Diego, that this Council urges the State of Arizona to repeal SB 1070, the "Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act," and directs the City Clerk to send a copy of this resolution to Arizona Governor Jan Brewer;

Declaring by adoption of this Resolution, the City of San Diego hereby includes in its Federal Legislative Program opposition to any budgetary action or legislation, including immigration policy, that promotes racial profiling or discrimination based, on race, ethnicity or national origin.

How you can help:

1. Attend the 2pm City Council Meeting on Monday, May 4, 2010 and speak in support of the Resolution. at

CITY ADMINISTRATION BUILDING-COUNCIL CHAMBERS – 12TH FLOOR

202 “C” STREET, SAN DIEGO, CA 92101

2. Get your organization (congregation, union, organization, etc) to send an organizational letter to Mayor Sanders and to all members of the council. You can visit www.sandiego.gov to get their email address, phone numbers and mailing address.

3. Call the Mayor and City Council members urging them to support this important resolution.

Hello ____________, my name is __________ and I live in your council district. I am calling to ask you to stand up against hatred and racism and to stand on the side of Dignity and respect. Support Ben Hueso’s resolution for the City of San Diego to oppose the passage of SB 1070 by the State of CA.

· District 1 Sherri Lightner 619.236.6611

· District 2 Kevin Faulconer 619.236.6622

· District 3 Todd Gloria 619.236.6633

· District 4 Tony Young 619.236.6644

· District 5 Carl Demaio 619.236.6655

· District 6 Donna Frye 619.236.6616

· District 7 Marti Emerald 619.236.6677

· Mayor Sanders 619.236.6330

· District 8 Ben Hueso 619.236.6688

Thank you for taking leadership on this issue

Monday- May 3, 2010 @ 2pm

Apoye la propuesta del Concejal Benjamín Hueso pidiendo una Resolución en Contra de la Propuesta de AZ SB 1070 en la Ciudad de San Diego

ITEM-S400: OPPOSE Arizona Senate Bill 1070--Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act. (City-Wide.)

(R-2010-795) Declara que el Alcalde y Consejo de la Ciudad de San Diego, por y en representación de los San Dieguinos, el Consejo urge al Estado de Arizona que repele la propuesta SB 1070, … y dirige al City Clerk que mande una copia de esta resolución a la Gobernadora del Estado de Arizona, Jan Brewer.

?COMO PUEDE AYUDAR?

1. Puede asistir a la reunion del cabildo de la Ciudad de San Diego y demostrar apoyo y hablar en apoyo a la resolucion el dia 4 de Mayo a las 2pm en

CITY ADMINISTRATION BUILDING-COUNCIL CHAMBERS – piso 12

202 “C” STREET, SAN DIEGO, CA 92101

2. Su organización (congregación, sindicato, organización, etc.) puede mandar una carta al alcalde Jerry Sanders y a todos los miembros del Consejo de la Ciudad de San Diego. Puede visitar www.sandiego.gov para encontrar sus correos electrónicos y dirección.



3. Llame al Alcalde o miembros del Cabildo urgiéndoles que apoyen esta importante Resolución!

Hola ____________, mi nombre es __________ y vivo en su Distrito. Estoy llamando para pedirle que vote contra el odio y el racismo y que se una al lado de la Dignidad y Respeto, Apoye la Resolución que el Concejal Ben Hueso introduce hoy para mandar un mensaje fuerte al estado de AZ que estamos en desacuerdo con su aprobación a la ley SB 1070.

· District 1 Sherri Lightner 619.236.6611

· District 2 Kevin Faulconer 619.236.6622

· District 3 Todd Gloria 619.236.6633

· District 4 Tony Young 619.236.6644

· District 5 Carl Demaio 619.236.6655

· District 6 Donna Frye 619.236.6616

· District 7 Marti Emerald 619.236.6677

· Mayor Sanders 619.236.6330

· District 8 Ben Hueso- 619.236.6688

Gracias por su liderazgo en este asunto tan importante!



Norma Chavez-Peterson

Director/Lead Organizer

Justice Overcoming Boundaries in San Diego County

a Gamaliel Foundation Affiliate

631 Cesar E. Chavez Parkway

San Diego, CA. 92113

office 619.696.9474

fax 619.696.9470

cell 619.572.7286

norma@justicesandiego.org

Visit our website at:

www.justicesandiego.org

and Fiesta del Sol San Diego, August 14-15, 2010 at:

www.fiestadelsolsandiego.org

Watch our 2010 Fiesta Promo Video, click on link below!

http://vimeo.com/8923091

Text "justice" or "justicia" to 69866 to join the Reform Immigration For America text alert campaign!

Even Without Arizona's Law...

EVEN WITHOUT ARIZONA'S LAW, FIRINGS AND WORSE FACE IMMIGRANT WORKERS

By David Bacon

New America Media, 4/30/10

http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=b58e5b4e8b5bcfbc1e4dd5cf56ce4792

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (4/20/10) -- While the potential criminalization of undocumented people in Arizona continues to draw headlines, the actual punishment of workers because of their immigration status has become an increasingly bitter fact of life across the country.

In the latest move by the Department of Homeland Security, 475 immigrant janitors will soon be fired from their jobs in San Francisco. Weeks ago, DHS went through the employment records of their employer, ABM, one of the largest building service companies in the country. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement arm of DHS sifted through Social Security records, and the I-9 immigration forms all workers have to fill out when they apply for jobs. They then told ABM that the company had to fire 475 workers who were accused of lacking legal immigration status.

ABM has been a union company for decades, and many of the workers have been there for years. "They've been working in this industry for 15, 20, some as many as 27 years in the buildings downtown," says Olga Miranda, president of Service Employees Local 87. "They've built homes. They've provided for their families. They've sent their kids to college. They're not new workers. They didn't just get here a year ago."

Those workers are now faced with an agonizing dilemma. Should they turn themselves in to Homeland Security, who might charge them with providing a bad Social Security number to their employer, and even hold them for deportation? For workers with families, homes and deep roots in a community, it's not possible to just walk away and disappear. " I have a lot of members who are single mothers whose children were born here," Miranda says. "I have a member whose child has leukemia. What are they supposed to do? Leave their children here and go back to Mexico and wait? And wait for what?"

Miranda's question reflects not just the dilemma facing individual workers, but of 12 million undocumented people living in the United States. Since 2005, successive Congressmen, Senators and administrations have dangled the prospect of gaining legal status in front of those who lack it. In exchange, their various schemes for immigration reform have proposed huge new guest worker programs, and a big increase in exactly the kind of enforcement now directed at 475 San Francisco janitors.

President Obama, condemning Arizona's law that would make being undocumented a state crime, said it would "undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans." But then he called for legislation with guest worker programs and increased enforcement.

While the country is no closer to legalization of the undocumented than it was ten years ago, the enforcement provisions of the comprehensive immigration reform proposals have already been implemented on the ground. The Bush administration conducted a high-profile series of raids in which it sent heavily armed agents into meatpacking plants and factories, holding workers for deportation, and sending hundreds to federal prison for using bad Social Security numbers. It set up a new Federal court in Tucson, Arizona, called Operation Streamline, where dozens of people are sentenced to prison every day for walking across the border.

After Barack Obama was elected President, immigration authorities said they'd follow a softer policy, using an electronic system to find undocumented people in workplaces. People working with bad Social Security numbers would be fired. As a result, last September, 2000 seamstresses in the Los Angeles garment factory of American Apparel were fired, followed by a month later by 1200 janitors working for ABM in Minneapolis. In November over 100 janitors working for Seattle Building Maintenance lost their jobs.

Ironically the Bush administration proposed a regulation that would have required employers to fire any worker who provided an employer with a Social Security number that didn't match the SSA database. That regulation was then stopped in court by unions, the ACLU and the National Immigration Law Center. The new administration, however, is implementing what amounts to the same requirement, with the same consequence of thousands of fired workers. Meanwhile, the Operation Streamline court is still in session every day in Arizona.

"Homeland Security is going after employers that are union," Miranda charges. "They're going after employers that give benefits and are paying above the average." While American Apparel had no union, it paid better than most Los Angeles garment sweatshops. Minneapolis janitors belong to SEIU Local 26, Seattle janitors to Local 6 and San Francisco janitors to Local 87.

President Obama says sanctions enforcement targets employers "who are using illegal workers in order to drive down wages -- and oftentimes mistreat those workers." An ICE Worksite Enforcement Advisory claims "unscrupulous employers are likely to pay illegal workers substandard wages or force them to endure intolerable working conditions."

Curing intolerable conditions by firing or deporting workers who endure them doesn't help the workers or change the conditions, however. And despite Obama's notion that sanctions enforcement will punish those employers who exploit immigrants, at American Apparel and ABM the employers were rewarded for cooperation by being immunized from prosecution. Javier Murillo, president of SEIU Local 26, says, "The promise made during the audit is that if the company cooperates and complies, they won't be fined. So this kind of enforcement really only hurts workers."

ICE director John Morton says the agency is auditing the records of 1,654 companies nationwide. "What kind of economic recovery goes with firing thousands of workers?" Miranda asks. "Why don't they target employers who are not paying taxes, who are not obeying safety or labor laws?"

Union leaders like Miranda see a conflict between the rhetoric used by the President and other Washington DC politicians and lobbyists in condemning the Arizona law, and the immigration proposals they make in Congress. "There's a huge contradiction here," she says. "You can't tell one state that what they're doing is criminalizing people, and at the same time go after employers paying more than a living wage and the workers who have fought for that wage."

Renee Saucedo, attorney for La Raza Centro Legal and former director of the San Francisco Day Labor Program, is even more critical. "Those bills in Congress, which are presented as ones that will help some people get legal status, will actually make things much worse," she charges. "We'll see many more firings like the janitors here, and more punishments for people who are just working and trying to support their families."

Increasingly, however, the Washington proposals have even less promise of legalization, and more emphasis on punishment. The newest Democratic Party scheme virtually abandons the legalization program promised by the "bipartisan" Schumer/Graham proposal, saying that heavy enforcement at the border and in the workplace must come before any consideration of giving 12 million people legal status.

"We have to look at the whole picture," Saucedo urges. "So long as we have trade agreements like NAFTA that create poverty in countries like Mexico, people will continue to come here, no matter how many walls we build. Instead of turning people into guest workers, as these bills in Washington would do, while firing and even jailing those who don't have papers, we need to help people get legal status, and repeal the laws that are making work a crime."

Standing up for freedom in Arizona! MALDEF

Standing up for freedom in Arizona!

Over the past 5 days we have received e-mails and contributions from all corners of our nation expressing support for the people in Arizona who oppose the most oppressive anti-immigrant law we have seen in recent decades, SB1070. From every state and territory in the country someone like you has spoken out against racial discrimination and for this we are grateful. 300 people have made their first contribution to MALDEF and have raised over $15,000 to date. It is this type of commitment that will bolster our litigation challenge of SB1070! If you haven't given yet it's not to late.

STAND UP FOR FREEDOM IN ARIZONA; CONTRIBUTE $10, $25, or $100 TO MALDEF TODAY! Click the image >>>>>>

Thanks to your support, yesterday MALDEF was able to host a news conference on the steps of the State Capitol in Phoenix, Arizona with local and national leaders including civil rights leaders Dolores Huerta and Richard Chavez and multi-Grammy winning artist and human rights advocate, Linda Ronstadt to announce future legal challenges to SB 1070. In addition, we sought to allay fears and correct the misinformation that has spread throughout the Latino community in Arizona.

This law is an open invitation to racial discrimination, community discord, and naked clash between state and federal government. The law's constitutional flaws will inevitably attract costly legal challenges, to the detriment of all Arizonans.

STAND UP FOR FREEDOM IN ARIZONA; CONTRIBUTE $10, $25, or $100 TO MALDEF TODAY!

Let it be clear, MALDEF will defend the civil and human rights of all Latinos in Arizona and everywhere in our great nation. With your continued help, we can make sure that SB1070 is never implemented. Join MALDEF in standing up for freedom in Arizona, make your contribution to MALDEF or spread the word of our efforts. Remind Governor Brewer and all those who would discriminate freely against any immigrant community that we are America and we will not lie down for this!

Boycott Arizona Website

Corrido de Arizona Estado de Vergüenza

Start the debate in Congress!

Senators Reid, Schumer and Menendez have introduced an outline for a comprehensive immigration bill. It's time to introduce the bill in Congress and start the debate leading to immigration reform!

To sign the petition, click the image below.

Ethnic Solidarity Banned in Arizona

Arizona Ethnic Studies Classes Banned

Teachers With Accents Can No Longer Teach English

The Huffington Post, May 4, 2010

Arizona's new immigration law is just about crime, its supporters say, but given that the state's new education policy equates ethnic studies programs with high treason, they may not be using the commonly accepted definition of "crime."

Under the ban, sent to Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer by the state legislature Thursday, schools will lose state funding if they offer any courses that "promote the overthrow of the U.S. government, promote resentment of a particular race or class of people, are designed primarily for students of a particular ethnic group or advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals."

As ThinkProgress notes, the Tucson Unified School District's popular Mexican-American studies department is the target here. The state superintendent charges that the program exhibits "ethnic chauvinism."

Meanwhile, in a move that was more covert until the Wall Street Journal uncovered it, the Arizona Department of Education has told schools that teachers with "heavy" or "ungrammatical" accents are no longer allowed to teach English classes.

As outlined by the Journal, Arizona's recent pattern of discriminatory education policies is ironic -- and is likely a function of No Child Left Behind funding requirements -- given that the state spent a decade recruiting teachers for whom English was a second language.

In the 1990s, Arizona hired hundreds of teachers whose first language was Spanish as part of a broad bilingual-education program. Many were recruited from Latin America.

Then in 2000, voters passed a ballot measure stipulating that instruction be offered only in English. Bilingual teachers who had been instructing in Spanish switched to English.

Teachers who don't meet the new fluency standards have the option of taking classes to improve their English, the Journal reports, but if they fail to reach the state's targets would be fired or reassigned.

Muestran su fuerza inmigrantes en Estados Unidos

Cientos de miles de inmigrantes participaron este sábado en decenas de marchas a lo largo y ancho de Estados Unidos para reiterar su exigencia de una reforma a las leyes de inmigración y rechazar las medidas antiinmigrantes en Arizona. De acuerdo con la coalición “Reforma Migratoria para América”, conformada por los grupos que organizaron las marchas, alrededor de medio millón de personas habrían participado en más de 80 eventos efectuados en 30 entidades del país.