Written exclusively for readers of the Sonoma County Peace Press

I, like many of you, stomached watching parts of the 2024 National Republican Convention out of curiosity, and also to hear what our opponent’s’› messages are. I particularly listened to their
messages related to undocumented immigrants, and wasn’t surprised to hear the same words spewed as we’ve heard for years:

“Criminals,” “illegals,” “stealing jobs from US workers,” “threatening our safety.” The level of dehumanization was so intense that the average spectator probably found it absurd.

The dehumanization of undocumented migrants is nothing new in this country, but currently, it is keeping us from safeguarding people’s basic human rights through fair and just immigration policies.

We must be reminded that approximately 11 million undocumented migrants live in the US today. That’s more people than the population of each US state, except for eight states. The families
of these 11 million, many of them US citizens or legal permanent residents, are also affected, so the number grows substantially. Millions of people’s lives are severely affected by the policies and attitudes towards the undocumented.

Unfortunately, many in this country either don’t know about the devastating impacts on millions
living in this country, or ignore them. For this reason, the basic human rights of these millions continue to be violated. For example, current immigration policies don’t respect the basic human right to be with family. Undocumented mothers cry in despair for the children they had to leave behind in order to work in the US and earn enough money for their children’s food and education. They suffer constant mental and emotional distress, which leads to physical health problems. Simultaneously, they work as house cleaners, hotel housekeepers, farm workers, janitors, etc. with no decent wages, dangerous working conditions, and bosses who perceive them as vulnerable, exploitable labor. At the end of the day, they go home and remember the traumas of crossing the border. There are also children who were perhaps born here, but also suffer emotional and mental trauma because their loved ones could be forcibly detained and deported at any moment.

The good news is that undocumented migrants have had enough. They realize they can’t depend
on others to care enough to make it stop. So they are taking their human rights in this country into
their own hands and organizing around just immigration reform.

The Northern California Coalition For Just Immigration Reform (NCCJIR) is a coalition of dozens of grassroots organizations across the Bay Area and Northern California, supporting the empowerment of undocumented migrants so they may pass “Papers For All’’ policies. Currently, we are partnering with the Coalition For Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA) as
part of a national campaign to pass HR 1511/SB2606, the “Registry Bill,” which will permit approximately eight million undocumented migrants living in the US for at least seven years to apply for legal permanent residency. We are traveling to Washington, DC in late July, and are organizing a “3-Day Walk For Papers Through Registry” on August 17-19, 2024, from San Jose to San Francisco.

Please stand in solidarity with undocumented migrants to defeat the dehumanization of millions and the continued violations of human rights. We have the power to pass the Registry Bill if we
follow their vision and leadership. The rights of undocumented migrants must be central in our efforts to defeat Trump and the rightwing, especially when our opponents are using the undocumented as an issue to galvanize emotional and political support.

Please feel free to contact me at [email protected] if you’d like to join the campaign to pass the Registry Bill..
Renee Saucedo is Executive Director of ALMAS LIBRES/Raizes Collective, Member of
NCCJIR.
.