FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 20, 2013
National Women-led Organization Sends Immigration Reform Letter to Ohio Women and Children Advocacy Leaders
Cleveland, OH / Phoenix, AZ -- Approximately 9 months ago, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus told his Party the need for women and Hispanic outreach. Our national group represents both women and Mexican American / Latino key swing independent voters. We are well aware of the Hispanic burgeoning electorate and are armed with the knowledge there are more women voters than men in our Nation. However, there is a pressing issue important to Ohio women that is getting ignored by Ohio Republican Speaker John Boehner, Reps. Bill Johnson and Dave Joyce.
This letter is targeted to women leadership of Ohio because Representatives David Joyce and Bill Johnson of OH-6 and OH-14 are not taking leadership on fixing the broken immigration system this year despite what Ohio voters want. Many of you are advocates from women and or children causes and we are seeking your help to ask the men in charge to step up to the plate. We want to note the League of Women Voters has been very clear in support of a much needed immigration reform.
There are two Republican-held competitive seats in the State of Ohio via (OH-6) Rep. Bill Johnson and (OH-14) Rep.David Joyce according to the Basswood Research Company (a pollster company Republicans rely on):
“Voters in these Ohio districts prefer an imperfect immigration solution to no solution. When given a choice between leaving the current immigration system the way it is, and “passing new laws that are not perfect, but do attempt to fix the serious flaws in the current system,” voters choose imperfect solutions over the status quo by a massive 77%-15% margin. That includes 67% of voters who consider themselves “very conservative,” and 72% of registered or affiliated Republicans.”
“Senate Bill 1070 – represents another tool for our state to use as we work to solve a crisis we did not create and the federal government has refused to fix …”
Yet, three years later it remains unfixed and Speaker Boehner is to blame. The Senate has made the strong attempt to fix the broken immigration system when a bipartisan immigration bill passed this summer, yet progress has come to a halt with Ohio Speaker John Boehner. Speaker Boehner has control over the House of Representative schedule because the GOP currently owns the majority seats. Even though Brewer attempted with a state immigration law, onJune 25, 2012, a Supreme Court Decision gutted out most of the bill signed because immigration is a federal responsibility and protected under the Supremacy Clause of our United States Constitution.
I repeat, immigration is a federal matter, yet the Republican-controlled House of Representatives and Ohio Speaker Boehner are preventing progress in fixing the clearly broken system that is costing taxpayers millions of dollars. We have asked the Ohio GOP, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus, Representatives John Boehner, David Joyce and Bill Johnson to lead and fix issues that are important to women and Hispanic voters they claim to want to reach out to, and all have expressed no urgency to fix the broken system this year.
Here are reasons why immigration reform is important to us:
Women do not like to hear stories about breastfeeding immigrant women and babies being held in detention freezer cells and being denied basic human rights like decent water and food. Death row inmates receive better treatment than this. As a woman-led organization, we want to make every effort that breastfeeding mothers and treatment of children and babies take top priority in humane treatment by providing warmth, adequate water and food in a timely manner.
Women do not like to see mothers forced apart from their children and detained for working in fast food restaurants, agricultural fields or other jobs Americans do not want to work.
Women do not like to hear about the thousands of children of immigrants in state foster care nationwide because their parents were detained or deported by immigration authorities.
Women do not like to hear about teenagers (DREAM Act students) committing suicide because they feel they have no hope and had strong desire to be a productive member of our American society. Mothers think about our own children and do what we can to encourage hope.
Billions of our American tax payer dollars are being spent on detaining immigrants who get caught for working in agricultural fields, car washes, fast food restaurants and etc. We are well aware the private prison industry would take a huge hit if immigration reform passes – private prison systems who receive government subsidies where millions of our tax payer money is wasted. Millions of our taxpayer dollars are wasted because of lawsuits, and I believe we ought to reconsider private prison systems because the incentive to make more profit dollars seem to outweigh basic and humane treatment of human beings.
But these disturbing stories do not only affect immigrants – they affect American women, too. I am especially disturbed in hearing stories about women in private prisons owned by Corrections Corporation of American refusing Autumn Miller's cries for medical attention. She says the guards gave her a menstrual pad and locked her in a cell. As a result, Miller says in a lawsuit filed in Dallas federal court, on June 14, 2012, “She looked down and watched, in horror, as she delivered baby Gracie into the toilet.” The infant lived for four days and died in her mother’s arms.
According the the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), Speaker Boehner is an alumnus. The Nation's Hidden History of ALEC and Prison Labor reveal their role in expanding prison systems. According to their report,prison labor for the private sector was legally barred for years, to avoid unfair competition with private companies. But this has changed thanks to the ALEC, its Prison Industries Act, and a little-known federal program known as PIE (thePrison Industries Enhancement Certification Program). An In These Times investigation revealed that ALEC arranged secret meetings between Arizona’s state legislators and CCA to draft what became SB 1070, Arizona’s notorious immigration law, to keep CCA prisons flush with immigrant detainees. ALEC has proven expertly capable of devising endless ways to help private corporations benefit from the country’s massive prison population.
Lack of leadership within pro life organizations may have fueled the culture of death.
According to Americans United for Life, the legal arm of the pro-life movement and the oldest national pro-life organization, received a prestigious Weyrich Award for “Grassroots Organization of the Year” for 2011. Paul Weyrich was the founder and past director of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).
Why is the National Right To Life working in concert with ALEC, when it was ALEC who helped design laws that began anti-Hispanic laws? Laws that put mothers and fathers in jail virtually leaving little babies and children behind? How do pro-life / pro-baby organizations claim to be what they are when they make secret pacts with the devil? The pro-life movement often uses the 14th amendment to further their agenda and many would say it is their crowning jewel, yet these established pro life organizations did nothing when attacks were being made against immigrant birthright citizenship and our 14th amendment.
Pro life leaders and organizations lose credibility when their fingerprints are found on organizations like ALEC who appear to embrace a culture of death, and their pro life efforts targeting Hispanic and women voters in key races will have little merit until they do away with those fingerprints.
We urge you to contact (OH-6) Rep. Bill Johnson and (OH-14) Rep. David Joyce. Remind them of the Conservative-leaning Basswood Poll where the people of Ohio want the broken immigration system fixed in 2013. Tell them we know Speaker Boehner may have sold his soul to ALEC and he doesn't have to worry about his congressional seat the way Johnson and Joyce do.
Best,
DeeDee Garcia Blase
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