|
“We’re on a bill that would essentially secure the executive
order that’s already signed,” said Rep. Kaptur, a reference to
an order signed by President Barack Obama on June 15, 2012,
which allows those who entered the country as children whose
parents or caretakers were without documentation (or overstayed
their visas) to remain and work without fear of deportation for
at least two years.
Ms. Kaptur received heavy criticism from northern Ohio Latinos
during the March primary race, which pitted her against
long-time Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-Cleveland). Ms.
Kaptur voted against a 2010 version of the DREAM Act,
while Kucinich supported it. At the time, Ms. Kaptur pointed out
that “every
group should be treated fairly,” and “no one should be given
special privilege and no one should be singled out and
targeted.”
The FLOC founder and president, speaking by phone from the
Democratic National Convention in Charlotte where he is a
first-time delegate, stated the conversation in the nation’s
capital was wide-ranging, but centered on immigration-related
issues.
“That was a great conversation. Gutiérrez is very insightful on
these issues, understanding the Puerto Rican labor issues,” said
Velásquez. “He’s been on board with this stuff for quite some
time so it was a good round-robin conversation.”
At the same time, the head of the migrant farmworkers’ union
took partial blame and even some responsibility for Rep.
Kaptur’s viewpoint on the DREAM Act.
“To me, it’s just a question of evolving people’s thinking, and
a lot of times it has to do with people not having enough or
correct information. It’s really on us, the advocates, to get
people, to convince them to be on our side on stuff and I think
that’s the case with this situation,” said Velásquez. “I know
Marcy’s heart and her heart is in a right and good place with
labor and minorities and it’s just a question of getting the
right information into her hands over a period of time.”
According to FLOC’s leader, Ms. Kaptur now fully understands the
impact of the DREAM Act as it relates to immigration as a
whole and his group’s quest to obtain amnesty for undocumented
migrant farm workers and others.
“So, to me, the DREAM Act deals with a segment of a population
that has been deeply exploited-- and that’s where we need to
focus attention,” said Rep. Kaptur. “I’ve fought for that my
entire career.”
Thousands of young Latinos
flocked on August 15, 2012 outside help centers and lawyers’
offices across the United States to begin applying for relief
from deportation. They took advantage of one of the biggest
immigration policy changes in years. As many as 1.7 million
youths may qualify for the program, according to the Pew
Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center.
That ‘misunderstanding’ may be a symptom of a larger problem
facing Toledo’s Latino community: the lack of local advocacy for
Latino-related causes and legislation.
“I think a lot of us were negligent in making sure that elected
officials get educated about immigration issues that impact our
families and there's not enough Latino grass-roots organizations
to make that happen,” said Velásquez. “Look how long it took the
civil-rights movement to convince legislators and other folks
who didn’t live that experience to bring the public opinion
around.”
But tying the DREAM Act to immigration, labor, and trade issues
has seemed to get the congresswoman fired up about the cause.
“The real problem is the trafficking of labor across this
continent. That’s the biggest issue we have to face,” said Rep.
Kaptur. “If we dealt with that and labor was treated with the
full rights they deserve, we wouldn’t need any additional acts,
because we would have recognized their right to a decent wage
and a fair labor contract across this continent. They wouldn’t
be trafficked-- and that issue is not yet being
addressed.”
The congresswoman was quick to point out it’s not just an issue
related to migrant farmworkers, but many of northern Ohio’s
Latino and other immigrant families.
Under NAFTA, workers “essentially have no rights”
“Hotel workers, restaurant workers, meat packers, bakery
workers, people who clean the buildings-- all this
under-the-table hiring that’s being done across this country,
which resulted from NAFTA and trade agreements like that where
workers essentially have no rights and that is at the heart of
what is wrong,” she said. That’s the biggest issue to crack and
I know how tough that is.”
“That comes right out of some of our discussions. Legalizing
workers is the first step, because whether those workers are
documented or not, citizens or not, the inequities in the
economic relationship is something that’s got to be addressed,”
said Velásquez. “I was raised as a farmworker. I was an American
citizen-- and that did not keep me from being exploited when I
was being raised by my mom and dad out in those fields.”
While the congresswoman declined to comment on a recent raid on
Northwest Ohio IHOP restaurants, the alleged recruitment and use
of undocumented immigrants by the restaurant’s owner and
managers serves as a glaring example of what can and does
happen. But her ire also is directed at Immigrations and Customs
Enforcement (ICE).
“What ICE agents ought to be going after are the labor coyotes
who traffic people-- and we as a country ought to stand up for
the rights of workers,” said Rep. Kaptur. “So what they’re doing
is they're picking on the people who’ve been exploited. They’re
not going after the people who are making millions and millions
and millions of dollars off their sweat.
Velásquez and Rep. Kaptur may have more opportunity to speak at
the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, where both are
representing Toledo as delegates. The FLOC founder and president
looks at the convention as a learning opportunity as well.
“There’s a lot of things I don’t know about the internal
mechanisms of political parties, operations and work. My role is
to find out what opportunities there are to bring greater
representation to the farmworkers and the Latino community--
what we can do to better organize the Latino community,” said
Velásquez. “It’s got to end up with more representation, more
ground organizations, more democratically-built organizations
for Latinos, because those are going to be the vehicles that
drive participation in the future.”
Editor’s Note: The DREAM Act and DREAM action applications
are part of the dialogue and panel discussion at the September
13, 2012 event at the Believe Center and co-hosted by FLOC.
|
