Causes of MigrationSOA Watch is an independent organization that seeks to close the US Army School of the Americas, through vigils and fasts, demonstrations and nonviolent protest, as well as media and legislative work. SOA Watch 5525 Illinois Ave. NW Washington, DC 20011 phone: 202-234-3440 email:INFO@SOAW.ORG WWW.SOAW.ORG

In 1980 Fr. Roy became involved in issues surrounding US policy in El Salvador after four US churchwomen--two of them friends of his--were raped and killed by Salvadoran soldiers. Roy became an outspoken critic of US foreign policy in Latin America.

Fr. Roy Bourgeois - SOA Watch FounderBorn in Lutcher, Louisiana, Fr. Roy served as a Naval Officer for two years before entering the seminary of the Maryknoll Missionary Order. Ordained a Catholic priest in 1972, Roy went on to work with the poor of Bolivia for five years before being arrested and forced to leave the country, then under the repressive rule of dictator and SOA grad General Hugo Banzer

https://youtu.be/m6AQ2mOaG7Q?t=4655

North Carolina/ El Salvador – The 1989 massacre of 16-year-old Celina Ramos, her mother Elba Ramos, and six Jesuit priests at the University of Central America (UCA) in El

A United Nations Truth Commission cited 26 Salvadoran officers for the 1989 "execution-style" massacre.

Nineteen of those were trained at the School of the Americas, renamed in 2001 the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC).

The SOA made headlines again in 1996 when the Pentagon released training manuals used at the school that advocated torture, extortion and execution.

A Nation Built by Immigrants….

What do you know about your ancestors? Nation of origin?

2 Large Waves of Immigration

Source: Migration Policy Institute. Source: The 2011 and 2010 data are from the US Census Bureau's American Community Surveys, the 2000 data are from Census 2000 (see www.census.gov). All other data are from Gibson, Campbell and Emily Lennon, US Census Bureau, Working Paper No. 29

1860-1920 1970-2010

Why do People Move?“Push Factors”

• War• Famine• Poverty• Persecution

“Pull Factors”

• Jobs• Land• Family ties• Security

Or forced migration – slavery, trafficking

Coming “legally”: 1st WaveWhat was the official process for immigrating to the U.S. from 1790 – 1920?

Varied, but in general:

• Few Restrictions*

• No Waiting for Entry

• All Authorized to Work

Immigration “legal” – union activities often “illegal”*Race-based restrictions by late 1800s*

In 1800s, Immigrants Recruited

U.S. International Trade Commission and Pew Hispanic Center data2

Mexican immigration to the United States doubled after NAFTA

Mexico – Millions Displaced

– Estimated 1.5 to 2.5 million Mexicans forced off their farms

– Extreme rural poverty rose from 35% to 55%

NAFTA allowed subsidized U.S. agribusiness to flood Mexican market

Wages fell in cities, financial deregulation damaged economyMeanwhile, in the cities…• Falling wages as farmers

flooded urban labor markets• Devalued peso from financial

deregulation and speculation

• Jobs shift to China in 2001, when it joins WTO• Unions and labor rights under attack by

multinational corporations and government allies

CAFTA’s farmer-displacing rules feed Central America’s forced migration crisis

2015

How many people have left the Northern Triangle in recent years?

Beginning in October 2011, the U.S. Government recorded a dramatic rise – commonly referred to in the United States as “the surge” – in the number of unaccompanied and separated children arriving to the United States from these same three countries – El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

Gangs in Central America

Until around 1990 Colombian trade unions were among the strongest in Latin America. However the 1980s expansion of par militarism in Colombia saw trade union leaders and members increasingly targeted for assassination, and as a result Colombia has been the most dangerous country in the world for trade unionists for several decades.

Most of the violence committed against trade unionist has been directed at there leaders of unions of multinational corporations, reports that US corporations in Colombia have actively colluded with paramilitaries in order to reduce union activity. Besides acknowledged payments from multinationals to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) (Doe v. Chiquita Brands International), "Trade unionists have been particularly targeted by the paramilitaries3 years." Other sources give figures of around 4000 trade union members killed from the mid-1980s to 2008

Since the beginning of the year, agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have been rounding up and deporting dozens of members of Central American families seeking refuge from extreme violence and dire economic conditions in their communities of origin. Homeland Security Secretary Johnson has described the move as part of an effort to “secure” the U.S. border and has announced that “additional enforcement operations such as these will continue to occur as appropriate.”

Immigrants for SaleCountless lives of undocumented immigrants are being taken and sold for billions of dollars. Watch the disturbing details unfold and listen to the first-hand accounts of the real cost of private prisons.

http://www.bravenewfilms.org/immigrantsforsale

At a time when refugees who are fleeing U.S.-sponsored violence are being branded as criminals, rapists and terrorists, and as anti-immigrant rhetoric continues to poison the public discourse in this election year, it is important for people of conscience to take a stand and to offer a different narrative.

We are hoping to bring a large delegation this October 7-10, for our first bi-national convergence at the U.S./Mexico border to demand a fundamental shift in U.S. foreign policy.

Presenter : Jerry KingSOA Watch Labor Caucus Email: Jking@UCNTC.ORGPhone: 313-784-8423