April 18, 2005

Government is the Source of Terrorism
• Vigorously Oppose REAL ID Act
• For Your Information: Key Features of REAL ID Proposal
• Stop Deportation Now! STOP REAL ID! — Families for Freedom
• Monopoly Media Opposes REAL ID

• Undocumented Workers Pay $7 Billion Into Social Security
• Demands for Passports, Fingerprints: Government Steps Up Measures To Criminalize Americans, Canadians and Mexicans

Government is the Source of Terrorism

Vigorously Oppose REAL ID Act

The House of Representatives recently passed, for the third time, what is known as the REAL ID Act. This time the Act was added to the $81 billion appropriations bill for the war on Iraq. While it is likely that the Senate version will not include REAL ID, it will still be part of the joint Senate-House negotiations required to pass the appropriations bill. REAL ID is directly supported by Bush and is being pushed in Congress by head of the House Judiciary Committee, Representative James Sensenbrenner Jr. of Wisconsin.

People across the country have repeatedly acted to oppose REAL ID as an open police state measure and an effort to use fear of terrorism to divide the people and further target immigrants. More than 40 human, civil and immigrant rights, political and religious groups have taken their stand against REAL ID, with demonstrations, statements and information, call-in days to Congress and more.

Voice of Revolution calls on the workers and all concerned to vigorously oppose REAL ID and fight for the unity of all workers. We urge everyone to be vigilant to the continued efforts to get REAL ID passed. It may fail this time, but it is clear that there will be continued efforts to push it, or a slightly different version of it, through.

It is also no accident that the measures contained in REAL ID, which are all geared toward criminalizing large sections of the people, especially immigrants, are being pushed through at the same time as the U.S. imposed "Security and Prosperity Partnership," designed to annex Canada and Mexico and create a single North American security perimeter (see VOR Update, April 11). Many of the measures deal directly with border issues and greatly increase U.S. executive authority. They also are aimed at further criminalizing and limiting the public activities, like driving, of the large numbers of Mexican immigrants, who are a mainstay in the U.S. agricultural sector.

In particular, REAL ID codifies the current destruction of rule of law by giving the Secretary of Homeland Security authority to waive any laws to "protect" border areas, while blocking any court intervention against these waivers. It also more broadly defines "material support for terrorism" to more directly target political support of any kind, while applying the new definition retroactively, charging people for past actions that were not crimes at the time. These and additional sections on asylum also limit court intervention.

REAL ID is also an effort to put in place measures for a single National ID card, using federally mandated requirements for driver's licenses. The measures will block undocumented workers from getting a license, even if state laws allow it. It is also designed to create an atmosphere where everyone is questioned and criminalized as to their identity and status as citizens or immigrants.

Another significant feature of REAL ID is the effort by the Executive to put in place a corps of local "citizen soldiers" to enforce their profiling and racism. This includes giving broad authority to bounty hunters to carry out immigration law. It includes demanding that local Department of Motor Vehicle workers question all those applying for licenses and make decisions concerning the validity of documentation. This is guaranteed to not only increase profiling, especially of Latinos, but to force these state workers to become a force for imposing these racist and anti-immigrant laws for the federal government, even if it means going against state laws. In this manner, the federal government is trying to secure its own policing forces while also undermining the authority of the states to decide what have long been state matters. These are all mechanisms of dictatorial and fascist rule by the Executive alone.

REAL ID, coupled with new demands for passports for travel between the U.S., Canada and Mexico, are also a means to create a single database, likely including fingerprints, for the U.S. to use against the peoples. The direction of government to increased profiling and terrorizing of the population using such measures can already be seen in the detentions of Arabs and Arab Americans at the border.

REAL ID and the "Security Partnership" are designed to further repress the broad struggles of the peoples of all three countries and to stir up antagonisms along the border areas so as to justify these fascist measures. They are a means to codify the lawlessness and terrorism of the U.S. inside and outside the country and an effort to draw people into the enforcement of this government terrorism. This direction and all of its specific mechanisms like REAL ID must be vigorously opposed and every effort made to continue strengthening the unity of the peoples of all three countries by defending the rights of all.

No One is Illegal! Target
Government Terrorism Against the Peoples!

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For Your Information

Key Features of REAL ID Proposal

The Senate is currently debating Bush's request for an additional $81 billion for Iraq. The House, in passing this appropriations bill for war, attached what is known as the REAL ID Act (H.R. 418). REAL ID has the direct backing of Bush. This is the third time House Republicans, joined by 42 Democrats in the vote this time, have attempted to get this legislation through. Previously they tried to attach it to the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act, known as the Intelligence Act. This bill was passed in December of 2004, without the REAL ID additions. Earlier this year the house passed another form of the bill which the Senate has not acted on.

As of press time, the Senate has not included REAL ID in its version of the Iraq appropriations bill. However, even if the Senate passes the appropriations bill without it, REAL ID can still be part of the final bill. Both versions will go into a joint Senate-House Committee with differences to be resolved and the bill voted on again. What emerges in the end remains to be seen.

The REAL ID Act builds on certain sections of the Intelligence Act. It also adds provisions of its own. The main character of the Act is to greatly increase federal executive authority while criminalizing whole sections of the population, including denying anyone who cannot prove their citizenship or immigration status a driver's license. This turns a public and often essential activity, like driving, into a crime. REAL ID also codifies arrangements to complete the wrecking of rule of law, including allowing the Office of the President to waive laws and creating "citizen soldier" groups of local forces doing the bidding of the federal government.

The main provisions include:

1) Giving the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) authority to waive any laws in order to build border barriers and "protect" border areas.

2) Criminalizing anyone supporting organizations branded as "terrorists" by the government and making this apply retroactively.

3) Elimination of habeas corpus for some immigrants facing deportation.

4) Giving civilian bail bondsmen and their bounty hunters authority to detain and turn over to DHS immigrants in the process of appealing deportation and providing a financial incentive for them to do so.

5) Creating the basis for a national ID card, with biometric identifiers, for everyone, while making it very difficult for non-citizens to get driver's licenses. Citizens who can not prove citizenship with the documentation designated by the government would also not be permitted to get a license.

6) Imposes "guilty until proven innocent" on asylum seekers and requires a burden of "proof" that includes having the asylum seeker prove intent of the persecution they faced and provide documentation that is almost impossible to secure, such as that from government officials guilty of carrying out the torture or persecution.

Codifying Executive Waiving of Laws

Section 102 of REAL ID gives the Secretary of DHS authority to waive all laws to insure the "expeditious building" of border barriers and protection of border areas. Titled: "Waiver of Laws Necessary for Improvement of Barriers at Borders" this section also prohibits all judicial review of any such waiver orders by the DHS Secretary. The Secretary would not be required to identify a relationship between the need for a waiver and the "expeditious building" of barriers. This means that civil rights, labor and environmental laws, for example, could be waived for no reason and that monopolies engaged in crimes in regards to these laws would be protected from prosecution and punishment. In this manner, Section 102 sets the precedent of codifying government lawlessness at the level of the executive.

Broad Authority to Brand Non-Citizens as "Terrorists"

REAL ID's section 103 is titled "Inadmissibility Due to Terrorist and Terrorist-Related Activities." It provides the executive with broad ability to brand individuals who are non-citizens as "terrorists" simply for their support for organizations the government has labeled "terrorists." An even broader and more arbitrary determination of what constitutes a "terrorist organization" and "material support for terrorism" is provided. The section would make any non-citizen deportable, barred from asylum, and barred from appealing removal if the government found the person had provided "material support."

The section also imposes "guilty until proven innocent" and puts the full burden of proof on the individual, not the government. The standard for whether the individual knew a given group was a "terrorist organization" was raised. It now requires "clear and convincing evidence" by the individual that they were not aware. There is also no requirement that the support provided, already very broadly defined, actually was used for any terrorist activity.

Section 103 builds on the precedent set by the USA PATRIOT Act that makes the law retroactive. This means that an individual will be considered guilty of "providing material support for terrorism" if they donated, for example, to a group in Palestine or Iraq to build schools or hospitals, a group that at the time of the donation was not on the government's list, but is on the list today.

As an analysis by the National Immigration Reform organization brings out, REAL ID "would create broad 'guilt by association' grounds for deporting or barring individuals who are involved with any political group that uses violence, even if the association is in the form of peaceful protest or donations to a hospital or school tied to the group." They add, "It would make it possible to deport long-term lawful residents accused of involvement in any political group that uses violence, even if the association occurred years ago, and was legal at the time. It would also extend punishment to many spouses and minor children of people meeting the above criteria, even if they had no knowledge of the association."

The whole section, while targeting non-citizens now, makes it far easier to extend the same profiling and criminalization to citizens engaged in dissent and political protest, by turning past acts into crimes.

Elimination of Habeas Corpus

REAL ID sets a new precedent in terms of codifying, in law, the elimination of the constitutional protection of habeas corpus for "all persons," in the U.S. or under U.S. control. Section 105, titled, "Judicial Review of Orders of Removal" allows certain immigrants to be detained and deported without access to a federal court. This includes long-term residents with documents.

The provision would eliminate habeas corpus review in all cases where "judicial review" and "jurisdiction to review" is already barred under the immigration statute. This would effectively "shut out" many immigrants from any judicial review, even if the immigrant is detained or believes the administrative judge mistakenly ordered him deported. The bill would also practically eliminate stays of removal ordinarily granted while an appeal is pending.

Those opposing the bill bring out that the 2001 Supreme Court case St. Cyr held "The Constitution's Suspension Clause, which protects the privilege of the habeas corpus writ, unquestionably requires some judicial intervention in deportation cases." The Court has also found that "To conclude that the writ is no longer available in this context [of deportations] would also represent a marked departure from historical immigration law practice. The writ has always been available to review the legality of executive detention …"

REAL ID serves precisely to codify executive detention with no intervention by the courts, officially removing habeas corpus.

Bail Bondsmen Given Authority Over Judges

In the portion of REAL ID known as the Sessions Amendment (section 106, "Delivery Bonds") bail bondsmen and their bounty hunters are given authority to arbitrarily detain immigrants out on bond and turn them over to DHS. These cases can involve anyone that the DHS has issued an order "to show cause or a notice to appear," including those who have appeared and are in process of appealing or working out their case.

This section says in part, "At any time, before a breach of the bond conditions, if in the opinion of the surety or bonding agent, the principal becomes a flight risk, the principal may be surrendered to the Department of Homeland Security for removal," (emphasis ours). Thus even if no breach has been committed, the individual can be detained, based solely on the "opinion" of the bounty hunter.

The section also gives bounty hunters "the absolute right to locate, apprehend, arrest, detain, and surrender any principal...who violates any of the terms and conditions of his or her bond." This removes judges from any role in determining whether someone is deportable, has violated conditions, and so forth. In this manner, the federal government is codifying lawlessness and arbitrary actions — impunity — for local bounty hunters, who are not part of official police forces. Thus they are also providing themselves with "citizen soldiers" who will act on the basis of federal authority, not that of local or state police officials.

To further encourage these bounty hunters and provide a "legal" means to rob immigrants, minimum bond was raised from $1500 to $10,000. As well, the bonds are basically risk free for the bonding agencies. If the person involved "commits any act that may lead to a breach of the bond," they can be surrendered to DHS without the return of the bond money to the immigrant involved or their family. Since it is the bounty hunter, based on their opinion, who decides if a person is a flight risk or has committed an act that "may lead" to a breach of the bond, their ability to keep the bond premium is clear. It is estimated that this could mean as much as $85 million in bond business in Florida alone.

Denying People Driver's Licenses

In the present set-up states issue driver's licenses and each state determines age and identification documents required. About 220 million driver's licenses are currently issued by the states.

REAL ID builds on sections of the 2004 Intelligence Act regarding development of what will likely become a National ID card, using federal control of driver's licenses as the mechanism for achieving this.

Among other things, the Intelligence Act put in place plans to establish federal, instead of state standards for driver's licenses. Eleven states do not require citizenship to get a license. Those that do commonly accept social security cards as proof of citizenship. The large majority of immigrants, documented and undocumented, have social security cards or similar documentation as they are needed to work. Thus the large majority of drivers can secure licenses.

The Intelligence Act, once fully implemented, already changes this set up. Specifically, it calls for the Department of Transportation, in consultation with the Department of Homeland Security, to set standards regarding: 1) acceptance of identity documents to be presented by applicants; 2) verifiability of the authenticity of such documents; 3) fraud prevention and 4) security features, such as biometric identifiers like fingerprints or eye-scans.

Section 202 of the REAL ID Act is titled "Minimum document requirements and issuance standards for federal recognition." It is an effort to make licenses available only to those who can prove citizenship or immigration status on the basis of a very specific federally designated list of documents, such as a birth certificate or passport. It serves to put these requirements in place immediately. It also demands verification of all such documents by the issuing agency. As the title implies, driver's licenses issued by states that fail to meet the federal requirements will not be accepted as identification, for boarding planes for example, or getting a passport, or entering federal buildings, or receiving federal funds of any kind, like welfare and student loans.

Like the bail bondsmen, the section includes efforts by the federal government to utilize local civilian officials as enforcers. People working at the state Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) would have to implement the federal requirements and question individuals about their documents and status. This is guaranteed to increase profiling and arbitrary actions by these officials. It also goes against state law concerning licenses, such as those that do not require citizenship.

In the analysis provided by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, they bring out that, "The American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA) opposes REAL ID. AAMVA, a public safety-oriented organization, the National Governors' Association, composed of Governors from both parties, and the equally bipartisan National Conference of State Legislators (NCSL), wrote letters to Congress opposing REAL ID. The AAMVA and state and local governments have on-the-ground, relevant experience in public safety and homeland security issues. The State Legislators' position is that the REAL ID Act is unnecessary, disruptive, prescriptive, unworkable, costly, rigid, and misdirected." They emphaszied, "When unauthorized, untrained state and local officials start asking U.S. residents about immigration status, racial profiling of Latino citizens, legal residents and immigrants is likely. Such racial profiling is prohibited as unconstitutional discrimination." They add that local and state officials are at present legally prohibited from enforcing federal immigration laws.

Attacks on Asylum Seekers

The government has made it very difficult to achieve asylum in the U.S. Already, it automatically detains any person asking for asylum at the airport or any other port of entry. DHS already has sole authority to determine eligibility for asylum and for parole while seeking asylum. Many asylum seekers spend months and sometimes years in detention awaiting approval of their claims. The numerous restrictions imposed in the past decade have meant a drop of asylum applications from an average of 140,000 yearly to only 30,000 per year at present.

Section 101 of REAL ID, "Preventing Terrorists from Obtaining Relief from Removal" will not impact terrorists, who are very unlikely to apply for asylum, given its stringent requirements, fingerprinting procedures and so forth. It will make it much more difficult for those in need of asylum. As the National Immigration Forum brings out, asylum seekers will be required to prove that a central reason behind their persecution is one of the following: the applicant's race, religion, political opinion, nationality, or membership in a particular social group. The measure would allow judges to base credibility determinations on the applicant's demeanor, candor, responsiveness, or "inconsistency with any statement made at any time to anyone." Judges can also base credibility determinations on any of the above factors "without regard to whether an inconsistency, inaccuracy or falsehood goes to the heart of the applicant's claim." This means that asylum applicants can be deemed not credible for minor inconsistencies in statements immaterial to the asylum claim (e.g. forgetting a relative's birthday when being interrogated by the immigration inspector.)

READ ID allows judges to deny asylum based on the lack of "corroborating" evidence, often impossible to obtain, even if the applicant presents specific, detailed, and credible testimony. It also allows the government to deport asylum seekers, abused spouses and children, long-term Legal Permanent Residents and other immigrants before the completion of their federal court cases.

Taken as a while READ ID is a brutal attack on the rights of immigrants and puts in place police state arrangements, including the ability of the executive to waive all laws in the name of "border security."

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Stop Deportation Now!

STOP REAL ID!

Families for Freedom is a New York based organization organizing to defend the rights of immigrants and stop the massive increase in unjust deportations and detentions by the government. They have been active in the anti-war movement and are frequent participants in teach-ins and conferences, providing information and direct experience with government profiling, detentions and broad attacks on immigrants. VOR reprints below information from their web page, familiesforfreedom.org and the call issued by them, United for Peace and Justice and numerous other organizations as part of organizing to Stop Real ID.

Stop Deportations Now

The Facts: Detention and deportation waste taxpayer money. In 1994 the government detained about 6,000 immigrants daily. The 1996 Anti-terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) created a rule of "mandatory detention," according to which most immigrants facing deportation cannot get released even if a judge believes they are no threat to society. Because of this legal change, the detained population exploded to over 21,000 by FY 2000.[1] Immigrant detainees are the fastest growing portion of the US prison population. In 2003, the federal government will spend approximately $743 million locking up immigrants.[2] Why? Coleen Rowley, an FBI special agent, explains: "After 9-11, FBI Headquarters encouraged more and more detentions for what seem to be essentially PR purposes."[3]

Detention and Deportation Destroy Families

AEDPA made deportation mandatory for many immigrants. That is, an immigrant gets deported even when the Judge believes that the person deserves to stay in the US. This strict policy has resulted in the destruction of thousands of homes. Given that approximately fifteen percent of US households are "mixed status" — at least one parent is a non-citizen and one child a citizen — the policy devastates American-born children.[4] Furthermore once a person is deported, s/he loses social security. Not even US citizen family members can collect.

Detention and deportation make immigrants afraid of the government. Since 1996 the federal government has been pressuring local governments to enforce immigration laws. Immigrants increasingly risk deportation when they turn to public servants for help. With over 8 million deportable immigrants living and working in the US, the new collaboration threatens public safety and security. Immigrants are afraid to turn to hospitals, schools, fire departments and police officers. For example, US born domestic violence victims report their abusers in 1 out of 2 situations; immigrant victims report in 1 out of 4 instances, and undocumented immigrant victims in just 1 of 7 instances.[5]

Detention and deportation punish people fleeing persecution. When a person fleeing persecution comes to a US airport, they often get thrown into prison. In 2002 Immigration Judges rejected a record 16,744 claims by foreigners fleeing persecution.[6] The government allowed only 558 people to stay under the Convention Against Torture, the lowest acceptance rate since the US ratified the international law in 1999. Many have been deported back to their home countries, only to face persecution, torture and even death. Detention and deportation terrorize all immigrant communities. The government has deported over one million people, from over 120 countries, since 1996.[7]

Sources

[1] www.immigration.gov
[2] The President's Fiscal 2003 Immigration Budget, 02/04/02
[3] Rowley February 26, 2003 letter to FBI Director Robert Mueller
[4] Urban Institute
[5] House Immigration Subcommittee hearing on NYC executive order 124 on February 27, 2003 (http://www.house.gov/judiciary/immigration.htm)
[6] Caruso, David. "In '02, a record number of foreigners who used claims of torture were not granted US stays." Associated Press. April 18, 2003
[7] 2002 Statistical Yearbook of the Immigration and Naturalization
Service, Table 65

Take Action Against Real ID

Tell Senators: Reject Anti-Immigrant, Pro-War Appropriations Bill. Call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121. The Senate is expected to vote next week on the president's request for an additional $81 billion for the war in Iraq.

It's crucial that we let our Senators know in the strongest possible terms that we oppose continued funding for this deadly, criminal war. If we can increase the number of votes against the $81 billion by even one or two Senators, this will be an important step in the long-term fight to cut off funding for the war.

It's bad enough that our tax dollars would again be used for Bush's war. But if the Senate agrees to the House version of the military appropriations bill — pegged as an emergency wartime effort to support U.S. troops — it would also mount an all-out assault on immigrants at home.

When the House of Representatives passed the $81 billion war appropriations bill last month, they slipped in an attachment called REAL ID. In the name of national security, the bill would strip immigrants of such basic needs as a driver's license; end the Constitutional right to habeas corpus for the first time since the Civil War; empower private police forces to enforce immigration laws; prevent people fleeing persecution from gaining asylum here; and increase deaths at the border. (See more details below.)

The Senate version of the appropriations bill has started off with no REAL ID Act attached to it, but its supporters could try to attach it to the war appropriations bill from the floor of the Senate or in conference committee negotiations with the House after the Senate vote.

It's vital to contact your Senators now and tell them to ensure that REAL ID, the anti-immigrant attachment to House version of the war appropriations bill, doesn't make it into the final appropriations bill. REAL ID's key champions include Texas Republican Tom DeLay and James Sensenbrenner - the Wisconsin Republican promoted to chair of the House Judiciary Committee after the 2004 elections. Meanwhile, the Senators of states with large immigrant populations like New York have been suspiciously quiet. They do not want to speak out for civil and human rights. Please help us make them!

Take Action

(1) Call, email, and fax your Senators. Tell them to refuse to fund more war and occupation in Iraq. Tell them to ensure that REAL ID stays dropped in the Senate and does not re-emerge when members of the Senate negotiate over the bill with the House. Immigrant rights and peace groups across the country are actively promoting call-in days from Friday April 8 to Thursday, April 14.

(2) Organize a vigil, picket, or some other public activity outside the office of your Senators. Let them know you oppose more funding for the war and the REAL ID provisions. And by being in a public place you will also have an opportunity to talk to other people.

(3) Get your message into the local media. Organize a flood of letters to the editor of your city or state newspapers. Ask people to call into radio talk shows. We need to bring our message into the media BEFORE the Senate votes.

REAL ID Details

REAL ID would:
1. End habeas corpus for immigrants in deportation. For the first time since the Civil War, an entire class of people (namely non-citizens) would be barred from this Constitutional right to seek justice before a federal judge when facing a punishment as severe as life exile.

2. Prohibit states from issuing drivers' licenses to millions of immigrants who cannot demonstrate that they are here lawfully. Untrained DMV agents would have to rely often on racial profiling to make the decision of when to give a license.

3. Give bounty hunters unprecedented powers to arrest immigrants, and increase public reliance on privately owned bail bond companies to police our communities.

4. Effectively bar people from winning asylum in the U.S., by setting unnecessarily restrictive standards for people fleeing dictatorships and persecution

5. Give the Secretary of Homeland Security the power to waive all laws that he feels might interfere with building border barriers, leading to further deaths at the border.

REAL ID is a legislative nightmare, under which judges could not judge, but DMV agents would have to enforce immigration laws! More importantly, it is a civil rights tragedy. It would deepen the legal, economic and social divide between citizens and immigrants, and set us back decades. Please call Congress immediately to express opposition to this bill, and pressure progressive and liberal Senators to speak out strongly against REAL ID.

For more information

• Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund. http://www.maldef.org/
• National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights http://nnirr.org or (510) 465-1984 ext 305
• Families for Freedom http://www.familiesforfreedom.org or 212-898-4121
• National Immigration Forum http://www.immigrationforum.org/
• National Council of La Raza, http://nclr.org

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Monopoly Media Opposes REAL ID

The main newspapers of the monopoly media have all come out in opposition to various measures of the REAL ID Act, added on to the appropriations bill for the Iraq war passed by the House. It has not yet been added to the Senate bill but will be part of future joint Senate-House negotiations on the bill (see FYI on REAL ID above).

The newspapers opposing REAL ID, commonly referring to it as anti-immigrant, include the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Miami Herald, San Antonio (Texas) Express, Arizona Daily (Tucson), Los Angeles Times and San Francisco Chronicle. These and numerous other editorials also call for significant immigration reform.

The majority of the editorials focus on REAL ID's provisions concerning standards for driver's licenses and the restrictions against asylum seekers. Only a few speak to the issue of the authority given to the executive to waive laws. Most also do not speak to the sections more broadly defining "material support" for government designated "terrorist organizations" and making the law retroactive — meaning, for example, that although donations may have been made for hospitals or schools at a time when the given organization was not on the government list, all such donations by non-citizens are now considered crimes and grounds for deportation.

The Wall Street Journal, for example, brings out why REAL ID will not stop terrorists and opposes the measures on asylum and those for driver's licenses, referring to them as creating a "de facto national ID card." The Journal then concludes by saying "Homeland security is about taking useful steps to prevent another attack. It's not about keeping gainfully employed Mexican illegals from driving to work, or cracking down on the imagined hordes gaming our asylum system. President Bush realizes this and is pushing for a guest-worker program that would help separate people in search of employment from potential terrorists. If the Republican Congress doesn't realize that, perhaps a Presidential veto of the Real ID Act would focus its attention." President Bush has specifically endorsed REAL ID.

The New York Times similarly says the bill tries to "turn a driver's license into a de facto national ID card. That issue is too important to be slipped like this through the back door. More ominously, this bill could interfere with the kind of broad bipartisan reform effort that Mr. Bush has appeared to support. A reform package now being put together in the Senate by John McCain of Arizona and Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts is the kind of humane legislation that the president should embrace."

The San Antonio Express speaks more to the issue of asylum saying it "unreasonably locks this nation's doors to those fleeing tyranny." It concludes "In its current form, the REAL ID Act is an overreaching piece of legislation that reneges on our nation's historic commitment to refugees."

We reprint below the editorial by the San Francisco Chronicle, one of the stronger statements against REAL ID. This in part reflects the conflicts in California, where its massive agricultural monopolies depend on the super-exploitaiton of immigrant labor.

Immigration Insecurity

— San Francisco Chronicle, Editorial —

Monday, February 14, 2005 — ANTI-IMMIGRATION forces are on the rise in Washington, using the war against terrorism to promote their misdirected and overreaching policies.

Last week, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a bill that effectively bars states from issuing driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. It permits the secretary of homeland security to ignore "all laws" that in his "sole discretion" he "determines necessary to ensure expeditious construction of barriers and roads" on the border — regardless of the environmental or other damage he could cause.

Equally egregious is a provision that allows "bounty hunters" to round up potentially hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants. This provision was inserted on Wednesday evening — less than 24 hours before the House was asked to vote on it. The legislation will also make it vastly easier for U.S. agents to turn back people seeking political asylum at U.S. ports of entry.

Any law that encourages vigilante action — as the bounty provision does — is dangerous. Any law that pushes millions of people into the shadows of society or encourages them to drive without licenses — as the ban on driver's licenses does — is dangerous. Any law that allows a Cabinet secretary to override existing law and prohibit appeals to the courts — regardless of its impact on the environment — is dangerous. As Rep. Sam Farr, D-Carmel, who tried unsuccessfully to amend the legislation, told us, "What happens now is that Congress pushes the panic button on any issue remotely tied to terrorism."

It is now up to the Senate to show the judgment and political courage to distinguish between the fight against terrorism and a sweeping backlash against immigrants.

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Get Nothing Back

Undocumented Workers Pay $7 Billion Into Social Security

It is estimated that there are 7-10 million undocumented immigrants working in the U.S., many in agriculture and commonly in the worst paying jobs in the worst working conditions. These immigrants provide Social Security with a subsidy of about $7 billion a year. As undocumented workers, they will receive none of their wages back.

In 1986, the government passed the Immigration Reform and Control Act. Said to be a means to "punish" employers who hired undocumented workers, it set penalties for employers who "knowingly" hired such workers. Social security cards became the main mechanism employers used to claim they "did not know" workers were undocumented. Given the government's refusal to recognize them as workers, undocumented workers were forced to deal with criminal elements and secure fake Social Security cards.

The facts since passage of the law make clear that, among other things, it was much more geared toward securing huge funds for Social Security, funds guaranteed not to be claimed. Indeed, after the law was passed, the Social Security Administration created what it called the "earnings suspense file" where it placed the W-2 income tax forms showing wages for Social Security numbers known to be incorrect or fictitious.

The "suspended" file mushroomed to an amount two and half times as large from the late 1980's through the 1990's, to $189 billion worth of wages. Since 2000 it has been increasing by more than $50 billion a year. This equates to about $7 billion in Social Security tax revenue and about $1.5 billion in Medicare tax funds, all deferred wages that belong to the immigrant workers by right.

It is also the case that the government is fully aware that employers continue to hire undocumented workers, or have them deported, however they see fit. For example, more than half of the 100 employers filing the most earnings reports with false Social Security numbers from 1997-2001 came from California, Texas and Illinois, also the states with the highest concentrations of undocumented workers. While the government takes full advantage by keeping the $7 billion provided by these workers while refusing to recognize them, and the employers face no punishment, the workers are robbed of their wages and their benefits.

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Government Steps Up Measures To Criminalize Americans, Canadians and Mexicans

As part of growing efforts to put in place more fascist arrangements, on Tuesday, April 5, the U.S. government unveiled new measures to require all Americans traveling to Canada and Mexico to use passports to re-enter the U.S. The demands for passports also apply to citizens from Canada, Mexico Bermuda, the Caribbean and Panama who want to enter the United States.

The new measures were called for in the Intelligence Act, legislation Congress passed in December of 2004. By December 31, 2005, people entering the country from Bermuda, the Caribbean and Panama would require passports. By December 31, 2006, people entering by air or sea from Canada, Mexico and the other countries would require a passport. By December 31, 2007, people entering the United States from Mexico and Canada by land will also require passports.

The announcement coincides with the recent U.S.-Mexico-Canada "security and prosperity" partnership summit and the growing militarization of the respective borders. At that summit, Bush said stricter border controls were needed to make sure "terrorists, drug runners and smugglers do not enter the United States." Condoleezza Rice defended the measures saying they are needed to screen out "people who want to come in to hurt us." The task force of representatives from all three countries that recommended the "Security and Prosperity" Partnership, also called for all three countries to share a common biometric border pass that would "expedited" passage through customs as a more immediate measure. The "partnership" also calls for a single "security perimeter" for all of North America by 2010.

Coupled with these demands are the likelihood that new passports will include biometric identifiers and be "machine readable" for the new massive databases used by the U.S. for profiling and criminalizing of the peoples of all these countries.

It appears that the new rules will be imposed without public hearings or any other means for people, especially impacted communities, to make their views known. Homeland Security announcements mention a "review and comment" period but do not indicate how ordinary citizens or local governments or even the legislative bodies of the three countries can comment on the new rules.

After the announcement, Bush claimed to be "surprised" about the plans and expressed the need for a "better way to expedite the legal flow of traffic." Although the White House was directly a part of the measures decided, Bush called for an "administrative review." While appearing to call for less strict measures, his suggestion is to immediately put in place "electronic fingerprint imaging," for anyone wishing to cross the borders.

Government profiling of Arabs and Arab Americans who have committed no crime, is already occurring at the border, including forcible fingerprinting. These latest demands will likely mean this profiling will be extended more broadly, to many more Americans, Canadians and Mexicans, such as students and professors who daily travel back and forth, many others contributing to building friendly relations between the countries, those participating in protests both sides of the border — anyone the government brands as a "threat."

Many point out that the measures by the departments of State and Homeland Security will criminalize additional normal activities, including tourism and commercial traffic. Michigan State Senator Gary McDowell said that the new measures "will be a great hindrance for us. I don't see how we're going to be safer," reports the Sault Ste. Marie Evening News. McDowell said the passport rules will almost certainly interfere with family visiting across the border and inhibit cross-border shopping.

Moreover, announcement of the new measures last week did not make mention of penalties for not carrying the required passport. Will U.S. citizen "violators" be denied entry and be forced to stay abroad if they do not have a passport? Will they be arrested or imprisoned? Will those from Canada and Mexico be detained, arrested or imprisoned? Given the detentions already occurring, such actions are likely.

The new measures are costly as well: U.S. passports are about $110 for adults and $95 for children and the standard waiting time is six to eight weeks. An estimated 60 million Americans—about 20 percent of the population—have passports.

More than 1.1 million people enter the United States daily. Billions of dollars worth of goods cross the U.S.-Mexico-Canada borders every day. Nearly 16 million Canadians entered the United States just last year, generating not only friendship and developing relations with Americans but also an estimated $7.9 billion in travel-related revenues, according to data provided by the Travel Industry Association in Washington.

For decades, Americans have been able to return home from neighboring countries without a passport. All they needed to do is give a general declaration of their citizenship and/or show a driver's license or other government-issued photo identification to cross the border from Canada and Mexico. Border guards often do not even ask for that.

While the government insists the measures are to "protect" Americans from another 9/11, it is well-known that the 19 of the foreign nationals thought to have carried out the September 11 attacks possessed completely valid travel documents, including passports. Given their own experience, people in all three countries are opposing these measures as ones designed to further criminalize the peoples and prevent them from building up their unity and fraternal relations.