[Nettime-bold] [Fwd: National Coalition for Dignity and Amnesty Washington DC July 20]

[florian schneider <fls@kein.org>]

The National Coalition for Dignity and Amnesty 
http://www.tepeyac.org/amnistia
will return to Washington, DC on July 20th 

PRESS RELEASE July 17, 2000

The National Coalition for Dignity and Amnesty will be in Washington, DC
on July 20th at 10 AM for a press conference and demonstration, on the
staircase of the Capitol where thousands of immigrants from community
organizations, unions, churches, etc. will participate; they are members
of the this National Coalition. 

Also present will be several Congressmen who are already expressing
their support for the campaign for a General Unconditional Amnesty,
along with representatives of the Executive Council of the AFL-CIO, the
president of LIUNA (Laborers' International Union of North America),
representatives of the National Association of Restaurants, the NCLR
(National Council of La Raza), LACLAA (Labor Council For Latin American
Advancement), several representatives of various religious
denominations, and others who support the Unconditional General Amnesty
proposal. Also, six Ex-District Directors of the INS who have added
their support to this project. 

The State Coordinators decided to mobilize representatives from their
bases two days before July 20 in Washington, DC to hand over to
Congress, Senators, and the White House, a proposal for a law for
Unconditional General Amnesty. 

Given that the project for Unconditional General Amnesty from the
National Coalition for Dignity and Amnesty has as one goal to include
the largest number possible of workers and families who have enriched
the economic and cultural life of this country during the past 14 years,
and who have suffered different kinds of violence in their lives because
of poverty and unemployment in their countries of origin, or as migrants
crossing borders, and as immigrants who are kept undocumented and
exposed to employers without scruples who abuse and exploit them without
mercy. As such, their proposal for the law is vast since it includes and
supports other residency projects and groups that have been campaigning
to obtain their legal residency. 

This Coalition will insist on having the Registry Date be closer to the
year 2000 so that it can include those workers who have sustained the
country's economy for the past 14 years. For this reason, the January 1,
1986 deadline for registry seems inappropriate to us. 

The National Coalition for Dignity and Amnesty will applaud the decision
of finally granting permanent residency to those who solicited "delayed
amnesty" but who were not granted it for various reasons. It will also
express its support for immigrants from Guatemala, El Salvador,
Honduras, Haiti, Nicaragua and Cuba, to apply for the NACARA law which
will grant them permanent residency. However, knowing that many
immigrants from those countries will not be able to meet its legal
requirements, the urgent need for General Amnesty must be insisted upon
for all undocumented immigrants who arrived before they year 2000, and
who have strengthened the country's economy.

The National Coalition for Dignity and Amnesty shares with the AFL-CIO
its opposition to binational agreements of any kind of bracero program,
now called "guest workers", which attempt to legalize the exploitation
of workers from the third world who are contracted to be slaves of an
employer, and who are not granted the right to unionize or seek freely
better work conditions with other employers, nor fight for the
privileges of having permanent residency status. 

The National Coalition for Dignity and Amnesty announces that it has
decided the cities for the mobilization of immigrants planned for the
14th of October, 2000: Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, Austin,
and New York where national organizations will be present such as El
Grito de los Excluidos, or world organizations such as the March for
Women which counts on the presence of a few Nobel peace prize laureates.


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