Racial Justice

08/24/11

"This is a good step but it is a baby step. We, in the immigrant movement have been expecting this at the very minimum from the Obama administration.  This does not necessarily mean that the individuals who will get their casses reviewed will not be deported, there are no guarantees.  They are going to focus on 300 thousand cases however it is not clear what the bennifits are going to be nor what the process for review is.  In addition, the use of the concept of criminalization is not clear in our community. This word is used frequently when we are talking about ‘immigrants’ in general, but ultimately this detrimental concept continues to cause tension and division.  From our  perspective, what they [DHS] are doing its adding layers to the the definition of criminal, and  then choosing specific or lighter sectors of the immigrant community based on these emerging catagories or re-definied levels of criminalization, without really providing any relief to the broken immigration system.  Basically creating false expectations as they plan for the 2012 elections."