Service Providers in Times of Crisis

This was the last column I was going to submit to the Windy City Times, before I stopped writing for them — mostly because I had no time. It’s kind of unfinished, but here it goes.

On my last visit to Chicago, I found myself thinking about the similarities between the HIV crisis in the early 1990s, and the deportation crisis immigrant families are facing today.

This started while I was listening to David Munar, President of the AIDS Foundation of Chicago speak at the September Q-hub, hosted by Project Vida’s Emmanuel Garcia (watch at the bottom of this post). During his story about how he found out he was HIV-positive, Munar told the audience about his participation in an organization that had a public hotline, where people could call and ask questions about HIV status and get relevant services.

“The phone would not stop ringing. It was continuous. The calls were also very painful. There were people who were dealing with their HIV diagnosis, there were family members,” he explained. He was answering the phones at 21 years old, during what he called “the height of the epidemic,” citing that some 40 thousand people died of AIDS in 1994, and over 50 thousand the year after. “It was a tough time,” Munar said.

As I sat there listening to his words, I couldn’t help but think about my sister, Ireri Unzueta Carrasco. Just a few days before, I had walked into her home to find a stack of letters from various immigration detention centers in the Midwest, from people seeking support.

The Politics of Discretion: Criminality, Citizenship and the State in Federal Immigration Enforcement Since the ‘Morton Memo’

Latin American and Latino Studies, M.A./ University of Illinois at Chicago/ December 2011. Please note it was written before the implementation of DACA and the repeal of DOMA. 

Abstract: After the U.S. Congress failed to pass immigration reform in 2010, immigrant rights advocates turned to addressing local enforcement measures and anti-deportation activism. The federal government’s response was the announcement of a program that would prioritize the Department of Homeland Security’s resources on undocumented immigrants that posed a threat to public safety or national security, based on the criteria set forth by the document known as the “Morton Memo.” There have been two principal problems with the program, the first is that ICE prosecutors are either not following the guidelines for discretion or implementing them erratically; and second, even if implementation were to be effective, the categories of discretion criminalize most undocumented immigrants who do not fit the ideal of a ‘good’ U.S. citizen.

This places the Morton Memo as part of a longer history illustrated by documents and directives which have defined the changing policies on prosecutorial discretion, as they work to enforce definitions of normalized citizenship via a complex system of deportations reflecting interacting systems of oppression. Deportations are the way the state performs this enforcement of sovereignty and establishes power over citizens and noncitizen living within its borders. Challenges to deportation contribute to destabilizing the messaging of the federal government and social ideas about criminalization and deportability. Deportation defense activism in the U.S. is both challenging and reinforcing categories of deserving and normative citizenship. This paper is based on observations as part of my Latin American and Latino Studies graduate internship at the Heartland Alliance’s National Immigrant Justice Center.

The Politics of Discretion

On August 18, 2011 the White House and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the creation of a joint committee with the Department of Justice (DOJ) to review nearly 300,000 deportation cases, with the goal of closing those identified as “low-priority.”

Response 8: The Deportation Regime [Class Assignment]

Sharing some writings from grad school at the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Latin American and Latino Studies program. It’s about books, but also about undocumented organizing, identity, and the state. Enjoy! 

Tania A. Unzueta/ November 02, 2011/ LALS 491

This week we looked at three works that explored the role of deportations, detention centers, and in general the criminalization of undocumented immigrants: Taking Local Control: Immigration Policy Activism in US Cities and States edited by Monica Varsanyi explores how policies blurr “analyses of control with those of integration and engaging with the multiscalar dynamics – local, state, and national” (5). The collection of writings in The Deportation Regime: Sovereignty, Space and the Freedom of Movement edited by Nichoals de Genova and Nathalie Peutz also explores the contradictions between enforcement and agency, adding the conversation of citizenship, fear, and identity from multiple perspectives. Lastly, the Frontline documentary Lost in Detention adds information about the current implementation of detention and deportation under the Obama administration, allowing us to look at the rhetoric behind the current policies.

Peutz and Genova write that deportations are the “mechanism by which governments measure and signal their own effectiveness” (11). According to them, if the public perception is that the state controls who comes in and out of it’s territory, and when, then it can show that it has power over everything and everyone within its borders, including citizens and non-citizens .As President Obama frames it,the focus on national security and deportations is to appease the Tea Party and Republicans who will not work with him in Congress. After reading these articles, I wonder who the pre-requisite is for, and the role that enforcement and national security play in establishing him as a sovereign President. Supporting Peutz and Genova’s point, Varsanyi quotes Hannah Ardent’s writing, saying that “Sovereignty is nowhere more absolute than in matters of emigration, naturalization, nationality, and expulsion” (4).

Obama’s immigration policies therefore must be looked at as one of the ways in which he is establishing his own power as a president beyond the context of party politics and the make-up of the current US Congress. But in his speeches Obama also addresses the need for the U.S. to be “a nation of laws,”

Compromises (or the queer v. the immigrant)

Column published by the Windy City Times, on July 24, 2013. Support the WCT, visit their website!

“There will be another day.”

It hurt to hear these words from Senator Durbin (D-IL), as he explained his colleague Senator Leahy (D-VT), why he should withdraw his amendment for the comprehensive immigration reform bill (SB 744) regarding equality for same-sex couples, last May. Senator Durbin along with other Senators from both parties explained that if this provision were to be added to the bill, the ‘good faith’ collaboration amongst the parties would fall apart.

As New York Senator Schumer (D-NY) put it,  “As much as it pains me, I cannot support this amendment if it will bring down the bill. I’m a politician. That means that I have chosen my life’s work within the constraints of the system to accomplish as much work as I can. I accept the tough choices; the painful, necessary imperfection of compromise, which is at the heart of government.”

Como aprendi a dejar de creer en la reforma migratoria integral

Este escrito fué originalmente publicado en Ingles, el 14 de diciembre del 2012.

Debo admitir que alguna vez creí en la reforma migratoria amplia (conocida como “comprehensive immigration reform, o CIR por siglas en inglés). Creía en que la reforma prometía reparar un sistema de leyes migratorias, creando un proceso para obtener la ciudadanía para los once o doce millones de inmigrantes indocumentados que actualmente residen en los Estados Unidos (EE.UU.). Creía que este tipo de reforma amplia podría ser una solución a largo plazo para mí, mis padres, y mis amigos que siguen sobreviviendo indocumentados en EE.UU. Sobre todo, creía que era la única solución tangible y alcanzable para conseguir un cambio concreto en nuestras vidas.

Un proyecto de ley migratoria integral sería difícil de avanzar legislativamente. Hay más que suficientes opiniones sobre qué podría suceder y qué no, cuál sería su efecto en el ‘precipicio fiscal’, la vacilante colaboración potencial entre ambos partidos. Así que, para comenzar, aún si suponemos que hay buena fe por parte del Presidente y los Demócratas, parece improbable que haya colaboración entre los partidos.

En segunda, es difícil suponer que hay buena voluntad. El Partido Demócrata ha fracasado en avanzar en la legislatura asuntos sobre los derechos de los inmigrantes, incluyendo en el 2010, cuando con cinco votos demócratas se habría podido cerrar el debate y pasar a votación para aprobar la Ley de Desarrollo, Alivio y Educación para Menores Extranjeros, o ley DREAM. Adicionalmente, no olvidemos que el Presidente Obama acaba de batir (nuevamente) la marca de mayor cantidad de gente deportada bajo su presidencia, ahora que estamos terminando el 2012.  Hasta ahora, esta supuesta disposición a tratar el tema de la inmigración sólo ha resultado en que cada uno de los partidos presente y apoye su propia versión de pequeños proyectos de ley, sin acercarse al otro partido para conseguir su colaboración.

Intro to Chicago Dyke March Audio Archives

“Chicago Dyke March Collective is a grassroots mobilization and celebration of dyke, queer, and transgender resilience. It is an anti-racist, anti-violent, volunteer-led, grassroots effort with a goal to bridge together communities across race, class, age, size, sex, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, culture, immigrant status, spirituality, and ability.” – CDMC Mission Statement

The following set of posts are sounds, interviews, speeches, and thoughts collected from the annual Chicago Dyke March beginning in 2004. The first set published here are from the 2004 Chicago Dyke March. As you listen to the audio, I wanted to share some history, both experienced and researched about the march.

En casa, y entre familia (Entrevista con Edith Bucio, 2004)

“Cada comunidad necesita su espacio para sentirse agusto, sin preocuparse sobre que piensa la gente de ellos. Saben que en su priopia comunidad es parte de ellos… Casi nos sentimos en casa, y entre familia…. Pero la verdad es una comunidad para gente que es gay, lesbiana, y bisexuales, pero la mayoria de las personas son blancas, y no veo un lugar para mi.”

Queer Humor & Politics (D’lo at Chicago Dyke March 2004)

“I move gigantic mountains”

In 2004 D’Lo was a guest performer at Chicago Dyke March. According to hir website, “D’Lo is a queer Tamil Sri L.A.nkan-American, political theater artist/ writer, director, comedian and music producer.”

Vívora or I am snake by my own mother’s claim (Edith Bucio performs at Dyke March 2004)

“Reminding herself that sexism and homophobia is not a cultural Mexican trait… She will continue to be what she has always been. This you see right in front of you. Virgen because she has never let no boy put his thing up inside her. India for the color she was born in. Burra because she takes time to contemplate. Bruja as her hair lays untaimed. Piruja since she dances by night and sleeps by day. Privilege by her parent’s sweat.. and vivora by her own mother’s claim. And contrary to popular belief she is not trying to be a separatist. No matter how many places she claims as her own. She is not racist regardless of her issues with white skin privilege. Because she has a right to be empowered….”

We need more people of color organizing (Chicago Dyke March 2004 Interview with Dulce Quintero)

“We need more queer Latina women to be more involved in Dyke March … A lot of Latina women that I’ve met, they’ve never heard of Dyke March. So what I want is for more Latina women to get more involved because we can make a lot of change, and contribute a lot to Dyke March, especially by adding more people of color”

Interview with Dulce Quintero at Chicago Dyke March 2004. Dulce had been an organizer with Dyke March for 3 years, and remained a part of the organizing committee until 2007.  She is a current and founding member of Orgullo en Acción, the organization responsible for the annual Chicago Latino Pride Pic Nic which takes place in Humboldt Park, a proud Puerto Rican neighborhood.