Tuesday 4 April 2017

Latino Immigration


Pro and Anti-Latino Immigration

Pro-Latino Immigration: The Chelsea Latino Immigrant Committee

An organisation that is pro Latino immigration to the United States, and seeks to help assimilate Latinos into American society, is the Chelsea Latino Immigrant Committee (CLIC).


This is a branch off the umbrella organisation ‘The Chelsea Collaborative’. Founded in 1988, they are dedicated to helping and improving the lives of Latino immigrants in Chelsea, MA. According to their website, their main ‘mission’ is to focus on ‘enhancing’ the economic, social and environmental health of the community and its citizens. They particularly advocate against exploitation in the workplace and seek to improve position of Latino immigrants.


Furthermore, they have had significant achievements that have developed the standard of living for Latino immigrants. Some of which have included:

-      Assimilating over 65% of families in the area into governmental systems; including schools and healthcare to name a few

-      Improving the education of children

-      Proving grants and benefits to local citizens, and helping them both to ‘stay in their homes and fight back against predatory loans’

Building on this, the organisation have also excelled at creating essential programmes to help Latino immigrants, and to support them in ordinary suburban life. A few have included:

-      The Chelsea Voter Initiative

-      The Chelsea Latino Immigrant Committee

-      The Chelsea Citywide Tenants Organisation

An important way to identity how the organisation really has helped Latino immigrants, is to reflect on its victories within the community. For example:

-      Winning thousands of dollars back for work exploitation and violations for those affected fraudulent crimes, because they were immigrants

-      Helping to ensure the community knows their rights as immigrants

-      Joined the Attorney’s fair wage campaign

-      Links with the Reform Employment Agency Law to (REAL) for protection for temporary and day labourers.

In summary, while this organisation and website is a focus group on the Chelsea are, they really are pro-Latino immigration and emphasise on equal rights. They may be a smaller organisation in comparison to others, however their campaigning on behalf of the Latino community has proved to be both influential and effective.



Anti-Latino Immigration: The Social Contract Press

Another website which suggests anti-Latino sentiment is the Social Contract Press (TSCP). It is a website that has online books and journal articles.


What suggests that it is anti-Latino immigration is from some of the potentially racist works that it has published previously. Some of which have included the reprint of ‘The Camp of the Saints’ (1973) about the end of Western Civilisation, and also the ‘Turner Diaries’ which hold connotations with white supremacy.

The editor John H. Tanton is the publisher for the Social Contract Press, and he is also the founder of the American Immigration Reform. This was an effort in 1996 to add an anti-immigration plank. He even suggested that “we are the real Americans”… “not the Hmong, not Latinos, not the Siberian-Americans”.[1]

Therefore, while many may see the 21st Century as a progressive era, there are those who do not support the immigration of Latinos, or the assimilation of them into society.

Sources:

http://www.chelseacollab.org/who-we-are/programs/chelsea-latino-immigrant-committee

http://www.thesocialcontract.com/info/about_the_social_contract.html

https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2001/anti-immigration-groups



[1] https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2001/anti-immigration-groups

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