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Chicano-Indian American Cultural Center miscellaneous newsletters, 1977-1978

10

[To?]ward a Chicano/Latino Perspective...

In the last few years many Hispanic, religious and other groups have expressed great dissatisfaction with the immigration legislation bills whose major features involved penalties for employers of undocumented aliens and a national identification system, and which did little to address their grievances. This dissatisfaction has' increased now that some points of President Carter's new immigration policy have been publicezed. The Committee for Chicano Rights has called President Carter's proposals "Nothing more than a response to the mass hysteria created by Leonard Chapman, past commissioner of the INS." The Spanish International Network, an affiliation of Spanish speaking national television stations, has called the INS "mass purveyors of racist, discriminatory and inflammatory material to the press and the public...in order to create a national crisis where none exists..."

The INS acts as a separate judicial system with its own court officers but without [a?] jury of peers and with none or few methods of appeal which are usually known only to INS judges who hold incredible power over people's lives. These wide-ranging discretionary powers are readily seen in deportation hearings or other proceedings against the alien where it is in the INS practice to confiscate the alien's documentation once proceedings have started.

This practice severly restricts "legal" mobility, the right to find employment in the US, etc. This practice reflects 'the presumption of guilt' which in all probability violates the alien's fifth amendment rights. The list goes on...

Something of which organizers of this conference are keenly aware is the fact that INS excesses affect not only the undocumented person in this country but the US-born Mexican population as well. The direct repressive methods of the INS mentioned above and the INS-fed alarmist press reporting campaign pose a very real danger that Chicanos and other Hispanos may be diverted from their own struggles for civil right and equal employment opportunities. With legitimate progress having taken place since the renaissance of the Chicano Movement, there are those Chicanos who, rather than rallying behind a raza banner, may instead feel tempted to ally themselves with those who would close the border and with others who would blame the unemployment and economic woes of this country on those who can least defent themselves.

While most persons involved in organizing the conference favor objectivity and the opportunity to develop a representative Chicano/Latino perspective on the issues of immigration and public policy, some express the concern that the only way to attract real grass roots support among Chicanos is to assure the US-born population that their struggles for better jobs and better housing will not be subverted by the large influx of their brothers from the south. This "what about us" attitude is something that must be confronted and dealt with at this conference if it is to be a success.

The upcoming conference is clearly a call for solidarity and unity among Chicanos and other Hispanos. It is a call for an end to divisiveness and in-fighting and an attempt by a wide range of groups and individuals to work towards a common agenda on a very critical issue...

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10 [To?]ward a Chicano/Latino Perspective... In the last few years many Hispanic, religious and other groups have expressed great dissatisfaction with the immigration legislation bills whose major features involved penalties for employers of undocumented aliens and a national identification system, and which did little to address their grievances. This dissatisfaction has' increased now that some points of President Carter's new immigration policy have been publicezed. The Committee for Chicano Rights has called President Carter's proposals "Nothing more than a response to the mass hysteria created by Leonard Chapman, past commissioner of the INS." The Spanish International Network, an affiliation of Spanish speaking national television stations, has called the INS "mass purveyors of racist, discriminatory and inflammatory material to the press and the public...in order to create a national crisis where none exists..." The INS acts as a separate judicial system with its own court officers but without [a?] jury of peers and with none or few methods of appeal which are usually known only to INS judges who hold incredible power over people's lives. These wide-ranging discretionary powers are readily seen in deportation hearings or other proceedings against the alien where it is in the INS practice to confiscate the alien's documentation once proceedings have started. This practice severly restricts "legal" mobility, the right to find employment in the US, etc. This practice reflects 'the presumption of guilt' which in all probability violates the alien's fifth amendment rights. The list goes on... Something of which organizers of this conference are keenly aware is the fact that INS excesses affect not only the undocumented person in this country but the US-born Mexican population as well. The direct repressive methods of the INS mentioned above and the INS-fed alarmist press reporting campaign pose a very real danger that Chicanos and other Hispanos may be diverted from their own struggles for civil right and equal employment opportunities. With legitimate progress having taken place since the renaissance of the Chicano Movement, there are those Chicanos who, rather than rallying behind a raza banner, may instead feel tempted to ally themselves with those who would close the border and with others who would blame the unemployment and economic woes of this country on those who can least defent themselves. While most persons involved in organizing the conference favor objectivity and the opportunity to develop a representative Chicano/Latino perspective on the issues of immigration and public policy, some express the concern that the only way to attract real grass roots support among Chicanos is to assure the US-born population that their struggles for better jobs and better housing will not be subverted by the large influx of their brothers from the south. This "what about us" attitude is something that must be confronted and dealt with at this conference if it is to be a success. The upcoming conference is clearly a call for solidarity and unity among Chicanos and other Hispanos. It is a call for an end to divisiveness and in-fighting and an attempt by a wide range of groups and individuals to work towards a common agenda on a very critical issue...