EL PASO, Texas - Immigrant advocates in Texas are marking International Human Rights Day today by decrying what they call "systematic violations" of international law and the U.S. Constitution. At a 1 p.m. rally at the border fence in El Paso, protestors will demand sweeping reforms of the immigration system.

Fernando Garcia, who directs the Border Network for Human Rights, says a decade-long crackdown has led to routine racial profiling, illegal searches, forced separations, shootings of innocent people and hundreds of deaths each year of migrants attempting to cross remote deserts, mountains and rivers.

"All of this has been the result of this almost ideological border enforcement - enforcement, enforcement and more enforcement. It has been very personal for many of us, because that could be one of our family members - our granddads, brothers and sisters - dying."

Proposals for comprehensive immigration reform have been scuttled in recent years by those who say the border should be sealed first. However, the latest census data confirms that over the last five years, net migration from Mexico has fallen by almost 1 million, to zero. After Latino voters turned out in greater-than-expected numbers in the last election, many lawmakers are now signaling they are ready to rethink their anti-reform stance.

Garcia says most Hispanics seeking opportunity or family reunification prefer to do so by legal means, but a broken system has made that almost impossible. Contrary to political rhetoric, he adds, the nation's 11 million undocumented immigrants are not asking to jump to the front of the citizenship line.

"We understand that there's going to be provisional residency, then permanent residency, and then, in a few years, citizenship. We know that it's going to take a while. And we know that, yep, we're going to be sent to the back of the line. But, right now, the line doesn't work."

Besides a pathway to citizenship, he says reforms should steer resources toward administrative problems - like the growing backlog of residency applications - instead of toward building more border walls and militarized enforcement efforts. Meanwhile, he says, groups like his will continue to seek remedies for what they see as human rights violations through local, national, and international channels.

More information about the rally and the documentation of border-region human-rights abuses is available at www.bnhr.org. Further analysis of census data is available from the Pew Hispanic Center.




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During last week's Republican National Convention, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said Americans are not safe due to immigrants committing violent crimes.

That's just one claim being challenged by leading immigration experts.

Nancy Foner, Ph.D., professor of Sociology at City University of New York's Hunter College, said labeling immigrants as criminals is an old, but persistent, myth.

She pointed to data showing that the vast majority of immigrants are not violent criminals.

"The foreign born, in fact, are much less likely than the native-born to commit violent crimes," said Foner. "And in fact, cities and neighborhoods with greater concentrations of immigrants have much lower crime and violence than comparable non-immigrant neighborhoods."

Immigrants were also blamed for smuggling fentanyl across the 2,000-mile southern border.

But according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 90% of the drugs linked to overdose deaths are smuggled by U.S. citizens through legal ports of entry.

Cruz also said immigrants were being allowed into the U.S. to vote in the upcoming elections - a conspiracy theory about something that never, or almost never, happens.

David Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation & Research, pointed out that non-citizens are not legally allowed to vote in federal elections, and don't in part because they could be immediately deported if caught.

"To cast one ballot in an election in which 160 million ballots are going to be cast, it happens exceedingly rarely," said Becker, "largely because the states and federal government already have really good policies in place."

Others claimed immigrants were "receiving welfare."

Pia Orrenius, vice president and senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, said immigrants are not eligible for the SNAP program (formerly known as food stamps), Social Security or other benefits - although they do pay payroll and other taxes that fund those programs.

She said immigrants actually strengthen America's economy, but local governments can feel squeezed if immigrants earn low wages.

"That negative impact, it mostly comes from education," said Orrenius. "K-12 education is expensive. The spending on education is an investment. Those investments are going to pay back many times what's invested."



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Leaders at the 5th annual Immigration Summit, which wrapped up in Los Angeles Friday, have vowed to stand strong no matter what happens with the November election.

The Republican candidate for president has called for mass deportations.

Miguel Santana, president and CEO of the California Community Foundation, said it alarms many people in a county where more than one-third of the residents of all ethnicities are foreign-born, and about 60% of children have at least one immigrant parent.

"We've been engaged in scenario planning," Santana explained. "We've prepared our immigrant community so that they know their rights, that we have the proper defense, but also, we're advancing comprehensive immigration reform. That is really what's needed."

The summit was co-sponsored by the California Community Foundation, the Council of Immigrant Inclusion and the Equity Research Institute at the University of Southern California.

Manuel Pastor, director of the institute, said deportations would leave a huge hole in the economy and tear families apart.

"In L.A. County, about a fifth of all Angelenos are either undocumented themselves or living with a family member who is undocumented," Pastor pointed out. "Fear of deportation, problems with accessing services because of status, affect a wide number of families."

Researchers also released the 5th annual State of Immigrants in Los Angeles report, which found naturalizations and wages for immigrants are up over the past few years. It also recommended continued support for county programs providing legal aid and help people access services in their preferred language.


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The Missouri House of Representatives has formed a special committee to look into what the House Speaker refers to as crimes committed by immigrants living illegally in Missouri.

The formation of this committee has sparked a debate between those who see it as a necessary step for public safety and those who view it as a misuse of resources driven by political motives.

House Speaker Dean Plocher - R-St. Louis County - said he's convinced this committee's findings will increase the safety of Missourians.

"The message needs to be," said Plocher, "'If you're not here in the state of Missouri legally, you're going to be detained - and you're going to be deported if you're committing crimes.'"

Data provided by Customs and U.S. Border Protection show last year, there were more than 1,200 violent crimes by committed non-citizens in the U.S. nationwide, and more than 2,000 related to drug trafficking and possession.

The first committee hearing will be in Jefferson City on July 11.

State Rep. David Tyson Smith - D-Columbia - said this isn't an issue in Missouri, and believes the committee is a waste of time and resources. He said it's all being done for political talking points.

"If we are really serious about these issues," said Smith, "we would form a special committee on gun violence to crack down on the shootings that are happening all over our state, that need to be clamped down on."

Studies have repeatedly shown that immigrants - legal and illegal - are more law abiding than people born here.

Research from The Marshall Project has found no correlation between undocumented immigrants and a rise in violent crimes.

However, some committee members believe people living in the U.S. illegally are to blame for an increase in Fentanyl and sex trafficking.




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