My name is
Beth. I am an active member of the Arlington-Teosinte Sister City Project.
Arlington is currently holding public debate over whether to become a Sanctuary City.
Volunteers with the Arlington-Teosinte Sister City Project are taking this opportunity to
"put a human face" on immigration, and to share information about the impact of US
policies in Central America. Here are some tips from our experience.
Unite, don't divide. Acknowledge that the loss of federal funding is a real and legitimate
concern. While so far legal precedent suggests that the Trump Administration could only
legally cut off Department of Homeland Security funding, Sanctuary City supporters need
to commit to standing up to defend residents' access to federal funds for subsidized
housing, for schools and other programs, if it comes to that. Likewise, if possible frame
your support for Sanctuary Cities as supporting your community police in doing their
rightful job, and in encouraging all people who live and work in your community to feel
safe reporting crimes.
Below are some points that we have shared in our community that are helping to (1)
educate community members, and (2) build support for the Sanctuary City resolution.
1. In this political climate, a public commitment to sanctuary/community policing is
necessary to counter what the Trump administration is saying and doing. Under Trump
ICE has arrested and deported people who have no criminal record other than being in
the US without documentation, including a 23-year old DACA (Dreamer) eligible young
man. Kids are afraid to go to school; parents are afraid to go to work. If we want people
who live and work in in our communities, without documentation, OR those who
might be assumed to be immigrants, to feel safe reporting crime to our police, we
have to make a public commitment and put something at stake, by becoming a
2. Trump is using immigrants as scapegoats in order to gain power. The rate of
unauthorized immigration into the US is flat. It is not rising. Immigrants, including those
without documentation, have a lower crime rate than US-born citizens. Deporting those
who live in the US without documentation will devastate our economy. Trump's policies
make no sense - except for him. Scapegoats make a complicated world look simple, and
give everyone a bad guy to hate. This really does have echos of the rise of Hitler. How
many of us have wondered why German citizens didn't stop Hitler? The Sanctuary City
approach is a way to oppose Trump's scapegoating.
3. There is no legal route open for the large percentage of immigrants without
documentation who are actually refugees. As sister city people, we know the
"backstory" about unauthorized immigration that many in our communities do not. More
than half of unauthorized immigrants through Mexico are from El Salvador, Honduras and
Guatemala. The UNHCR and advocacy groups have done studies, showing that about 60%
of the migrants from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala meet the criteria to be
considered refugees. Studies show that without a lawyer, over 90% of those seeking
asylum are deported. Very few immigrants are able to obtain the services of a lawyer;
they do not have the money, and there are simply not enough immigration lawyers.
Despite the fact that the journey through Central America and Mexico is incredibly
dangerous and many are robbed, raped, or killed on the way, and that Central Americans
know that they are likely to be deported and that life in the US is no picnic, people keep
coming. One quote I've heard about this situation: "When your house is on fire, you get
out."
4. The US government bears a lot of responsibility for the poverty and violence in
Central America. So many of us spent time in El Salvador during the Civil War, and we
remember when Reagan's Secretary of State Al Haig called it "America's backyard." The
US has treated this region as its backyard for a hundred years. One example would be
the CIA coup which ousted democratically-elected President Jacobo Arbenz in Guatemala
in 1954, and replaced him with the first in a series of US-backed military dictators, and
the list is large. Our national culture leans toward forgetting the past and moving on,
but reality doesn't work that way. Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador (among other
countries) were set up by Spain to exploit for cheap goods and labor, and in more recent
decades when the poor majorities have risked their lives to rebalance the scales, the US
has often pressed its heavy thumb on the side of the wealthy minority who are allied with
US business interests.
Now President Trump has found a new way to use poor people in Mexico and Central
America: as scapegoats. Without a scrap of evidence, he blames their presence in the US
for widespread crime and global economic shifts. So now this region is no longer "our
backyard." It's a distant land that we want nothing to do with; we'll build a wall to keep
these people out. With the history of US involvement in the region as a background, and
Trump's use of scapegoating in the foreground, this is a bleak picture of unfairness.
Let's share what we know about the realities of El Salvador and immigration. Let's
fight scapegoating, and help our communities see the humanity of our brothers and
sisters from El Salvador and other countries.
Arlington is currently holding public debate over whether to become a Sanctuary City.
Volunteers with the Arlington-Teosinte Sister City Project are taking this opportunity to
"put a human face" on immigration, and to share information about the impact of US
policies in Central America. Here are some tips from our experience.
Unite, don't divide. Acknowledge that the loss of federal funding is a real and legitimate
concern. While so far legal precedent suggests that the Trump Administration could only
legally cut off Department of Homeland Security funding, Sanctuary City supporters need
to commit to standing up to defend residents' access to federal funds for subsidized
housing, for schools and other programs, if it comes to that. Likewise, if possible frame
your support for Sanctuary Cities as supporting your community police in doing their
rightful job, and in encouraging all people who live and work in your community to feel
safe reporting crimes.
Below are some points that we have shared in our community that are helping to (1)
educate community members, and (2) build support for the Sanctuary City resolution.
1. In this political climate, a public commitment to sanctuary/community policing is
necessary to counter what the Trump administration is saying and doing. Under Trump
ICE has arrested and deported people who have no criminal record other than being in
the US without documentation, including a 23-year old DACA (Dreamer) eligible young
man. Kids are afraid to go to school; parents are afraid to go to work. If we want people
who live and work in in our communities, without documentation, OR those who
might be assumed to be immigrants, to feel safe reporting crime to our police, we
have to make a public commitment and put something at stake, by becoming a
Sanctuary City.
2. Trump is using immigrants as scapegoats in order to gain power. The rate of
unauthorized immigration into the US is flat. It is not rising. Immigrants, including those
without documentation, have a lower crime rate than US-born citizens. Deporting those
who live in the US without documentation will devastate our economy. Trump's policies
make no sense - except for him. Scapegoats make a complicated world look simple, and
give everyone a bad guy to hate. This really does have echos of the rise of Hitler. How
many of us have wondered why German citizens didn't stop Hitler? The Sanctuary City
approach is a way to oppose Trump's scapegoating.
3. There is no legal route open for the large percentage of immigrants without
documentation who are actually refugees. As sister city people, we know the
"backstory" about unauthorized immigration that many in our communities do not. More
than half of unauthorized immigrants through Mexico are from El Salvador, Honduras and
Guatemala. The UNHCR and advocacy groups have done studies, showing that about 60%
of the migrants from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala meet the criteria to be
considered refugees. Studies show that without a lawyer, over 90% of those seeking
asylum are deported. Very few immigrants are able to obtain the services of a lawyer;
they do not have the money, and there are simply not enough immigration lawyers.
Despite the fact that the journey through Central America and Mexico is incredibly
dangerous and many are robbed, raped, or killed on the way, and that Central Americans
know that they are likely to be deported and that life in the US is no picnic, people keep
coming. One quote I've heard about this situation: "When your house is on fire, you get
out."
4. The US government bears a lot of responsibility for the poverty and violence in
Central America. So many of us spent time in El Salvador during the Civil War, and we
remember when Reagan's Secretary of State Al Haig called it "America's backyard." The
US has treated this region as its backyard for a hundred years. One example would be
the CIA coup which ousted democratically-elected President Jacobo Arbenz in Guatemala
in 1954, and replaced him with the first in a series of US-backed military dictators, and
the list is large. Our national culture leans toward forgetting the past and moving on,
but reality doesn't work that way. Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador (among other
countries) were set up by Spain to exploit for cheap goods and labor, and in more recent
decades when the poor majorities have risked their lives to rebalance the scales, the US
has often pressed its heavy thumb on the side of the wealthy minority who are allied with
US business interests.
Now President Trump has found a new way to use poor people in Mexico and Central
America: as scapegoats. Without a scrap of evidence, he blames their presence in the US
for widespread crime and global economic shifts. So now this region is no longer "our
backyard." It's a distant land that we want nothing to do with; we'll build a wall to keep
these people out. With the history of US involvement in the region as a background, and
Trump's use of scapegoating in the foreground, this is a bleak picture of unfairness.
Let's share what we know about the realities of El Salvador and immigration. Let's
fight scapegoating, and help our communities see the humanity of our brothers and
sisters from El Salvador and other countries.
All Best
wishes,
Beth
Soltzberg.
Beth's children and friends in Teosinte, El Salvador
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