Immigration is such a big issue, it’s perverse.
Never mind how sealife — so critical to our food chain and the livelihood of workers who harvest it — is being obliterated by an oil slick unlike anything that the seven seas have ever seen.
At some point, the world needs to get its priorities straight.
Amid Oil Spill Crisis, U.S. Authorities Search for Undocumented Immigrant Cleanup Workers
El Diario/La Prensa and Feet in Two Worlds publish exclusive report in Spanish and English on immigration enforcement aimed at Hispanic workers.
For immediate release – 6/4/10
Shortly after the nation’s largest oil spill started fouling the Gulf of Mexico and coastal Louisiana, U.S. authorities began checking the immigration status of Hispanic workers hired to help with the clean up effort. In an exclusive story released today by Feet in Two Worlds and El Diario/La Prensa, a spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed that agents had visited two large command centers outside New Orleans—which are staging areas for the response effort and are sealed off to the public—to verify that the workers there were legal residents.
No arrests were made during the federal investigations. However, Hispanic organizations criticized the government for focusing on the workers’ immigration status at a time when the top priority should be the spill’s environmental impact. “It’s like, ‘round everybody up and leave the oil on the beach,” said Darlene Kattan, Director of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Louisiana. “In a catastrophic situation like this, I think we should be more well-reasoned.”
The story, written by Annie Correal of El Diario/La Prensa, was simultaneously released on Friday by El Diario in Spanish, and in English by Feet in Two Worlds (news.feetintwoworlds.org), a project that brings the work of immigrant and ethnic media journalists to public radio and the web. Feet in Two Worlds is a project of the Center for New York City Affairs at The New School.
Sites are invited to post links to this story, or to cross post it. Re-posts of the story must include credit for Feet in Two Worlds and El Diario, as well as links to news.feetintwoworlds.org and www.impre.com/eldiariony/home.php.
For further information please contact:
Sarah Kramer – sarah@feetin2worlds.org
John Rudolph – john@feetin2worlds.org
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