Muslim & Latino Alliance on Immigration Rights

The failure of the United States to embrace a comprehensive immigration policy has caused multiple forms of displacement and even oppression for countless people in America. No community has been more greatly impacted by this issue than the Muslim and Hispanic community. Families have been separated as a result of deportation; profiling is rampant; documented and legal immigrants have been subjected to harassment, imprisonment and even violence; and undocumented workers contributing vital support to the US economy are unsure about their future in the United States or a certain path to permanent residency or citizenship.

MAS Freedom believes that immigration reform should balance the need for compliance with the law and the well being of immigrant workers and their families. We call for a fair and human immigration policy that does not target or demonize individuals and families who contribute valuable work and service to our economy and our society.

A key tactical approach to ameliorating the injustice and prejudices that immigrants face is by building a strong coalition between the Muslim and Latino community on immigrant rights. MAS Freedom encourages our MAS chapters, members, other Muslim organizations and mosques to reach out to credible immigrant right organizations within the Latino community as well as organizations like Interfaith Workers Justice. Building a coalition based on integrity and principles of cooperation could go a long way in addressing social and economic justice issues and the political empowerment of both communities. We encourage the American Muslim community to reach out, not only to the Latino community concerning immigration issues but also to other ethnic communities like the African American community and their civil rights experiences. History has shown that the success of minorities in America hinge upon their ability to move beyond isolation and build tactical alliances with other minority groups.

After three terms in office, Sue Myrick has been diagnosed with ‘Lou Dobb’s’ disease. The first Republican woman to represent North Carolina in the U.S. Congress, her symptoms include being one of the most intolerant women in the U.S. Congress. Congresswoman Sue Myrick, also serves on the board of advisors for a fringe right wing Christian group called the National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools. NCBCPS is an organization whose stated goal is to combat social regression by implementing state certified Bible courses in public schools. Click here for more info.

Unable to distinguish between mainstream Muslims and the radical fringe, her religious and racially biased attacks have progressed to include illiberal attacks on the Hispanic population.

A progressive moral degenerative disease, Dobb’s disorder is named for Lou Dobbs, former xenophobic CNN reporter, who attributed a startling rise in leprosy cases to illegal immigrants from Latin America.

When the moral neurons die, the ability of the brain to control bigotry is lost.

This ailment has several symptoms; including stiffness of the heart and masked hatred. Following nationwide protest for immigration reform, Congresswoman Sue Myrick (R) NC swore to continue her fight for 287(g); the regulation that allows for law enforcement harassment of foreign “looking” citizens, and detain those without immigration documents. She has vowed to dedicate herself to the “stop and deport” tool, created to isolate and intimidate particular classes of people.

Representative Myrick admits, openly, to her toxic-laced concerns, “The administration. . . is laying the ground work frankly to gut the 287(g) program. . .giving up on the fight on illegal immigration. Period.”

Indicators include ignoring the common good, for self-righteousness; in addition jingoistic and acutely distorted.

Along with a limited capacity to tolerate and include others i.e. Muslim congressional interns, consistent with Congresswoman Myrick’s disease, is a decreased ability to move the muscles of the face, resulting in hardheadedness and narrow constraints in political and humanitarian views; which left untreated can result in the acute violation of multiple constitutional rights, leading to the legally sanctioned mistreatment of others. In a moment of incoherency, Sue Myrick wrote a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi to ensure that emergency medical care is not extended to illegal immigrants.

While there is not a sure cure that halts or reverses this type of discrimination, democracy modestly slows the progression of immigrant bashing and intolerance. Recognition of the fact that there are millions of undocumented immigrants sweating their lives away on farms, in restaurants, living without hope or future with low wages and little hope may give way to a lasting cure and open the minds of our leaders; the same people spending billions on war machines while poverty and ignorance continue at home; those willing to fight a war in Afghanistan and Iraq, but unwilling to fight with one-hundredth the money on an immigration reform packet to secure economic freedom or safe labor on this nations farmlands.

If congresspersons like Sue Myrick can support the recruitment of undocumented persons to serve in this nation’s military, she can push for the kind of reform that gives them equal access to it. Such an offer made by our federal government lacks a moral choice when it says, “In war you will be an American citizen, but in the meantime you’re an illegal and we can’t help you.”

The cure lacks in recognizing the full human equality of all of our people–before God, before the law, and in the legislative body of government. Pray for Sue Myrick, pray for the cure! We must do this, not because it is economically advantageous, although it is; not because the laws of God command it, although they do. We must do it for the single and primary reason that it is the decent thing to do.