Notes from CASA Latina

Inauguration!

noreply@blogger.com (CASA Latina) — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 21:37:00 +0000

On January 20th, 2009 we all gathered at the Day Workers' Center and watched this historic inaugeration of our new president. We had three TV's playing at once, and had speakers hooked up to Spanish radio so we could all understand. We were in solidarity with all those who went to the inauguration in person as we stood in the cold to watch!

After the ceremony was over, we had a discussion and asked ourselves questions such as 'what are our hopes for the future? for this administration?', 'how to you see the relationship between African Americans and Latinos changing as a result of this election?', and 'what are you priorities for this administration?'. All of the questions brought up good conversation and showed a wide range of opinions and perspectives.

The next day, Hilary sent out an email in reflection:

"Dear Brothers and Sisters:

This is indeed an exciting time for all of us in the United States and the world. I felt so proud to hear President Obama mention our patchwork nation and how it is strong because we include everyone. He asked us to take responsibility for ourselves, our nation and our world, and to make sacrifices and hard decisions for the common good.

I couldn't go to Washington DC to see the inauguration but my daughter Gabi was present. She took the bus from Boston where she was going to the university. I ended up watching the inauguration from Seattle, standing outside in the cold alongside 75 day laborers and our staff and volunteers in our workers center. We had four tvs going and also projected it on a screen with Spanish translation. After watching the whole ceremony and hearing Obama's speech, our staff led a discussion with the day laborers analyzing what they had heard. Their conclusion: an immigration reform was not on the horizon and that despite new leadership that they could believe in, things were going to worse for them before they got better. The economic recession is deep and is affecting them first and worst. They have no govt support to get them through the hard economic times when there are no jobs going out of the center and every day more people are coming to the center looking for work. At the same time, govt enforcement of immigration is tightening and will probably not be stopped by the new administration. So it was a hopeful day, but also sobering.

In solidarity,

Hilary"

Dia de Reyes en CASA-Latina

noreply@blogger.com (CASA Latina) — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 21:57:00 +0000

CASA Latina festejo a su comunidad de trabajadores realizando una fiesta que se llama Reyes Magos, esta fiesta se llevo a cabo en el centro comunitario CASCADE, este festejo se realiza por la llegada de los reyes magos al lugar en donde nacio el niño Jesus, y los reyes magos le llevaron sus regalos por esta razon nuestra comunidad festeja esta fiesta.

CASA Latina celebrated this holiday season with our participants in a party celebrating Wise Men (Magi). This event was held at the community center CASCADE. This celebration is carried out by the arrival of the Wise Men to the place where Jesus was born a child, and the Wise Men give their gifts to him. That's why our community is celebrating this event.

The wise men gave gifts to our children, who were very happy to receive gifts.

Los reyes magos entragaron los regalos a nuestros niños que muy felices los recibieron los obsequios.

I think the happiest in this picture are Cris and Sergio (the adults) because the child doesn't understand anything about photos--just gifts!
Pienso que los mas felices de esta fiesta fue Cris y Sergio Porque el Niño no entendia nada de fotos.

These are participants in our Women's Group and the truth is that they look very happy during our celebration.
Estan son las flamantes integrantes del Grupo de Mujeres y la verdad es que se ven muy radiantes y felices en nuestro festejo

Some participants from the Workers' Center that celebrated the Day of the Kings.
Algunos participantes del centro de trabajadores que festejaron el día de reyes

One of the activities we had on this Day of the Kings was singing some songs for the people who came.
Entre las activodades realizadas el dia de reyes magos, ellos cantaron algunas canciones para las personas asistentes.

In these parties we never go without a famous piñata--they're always well received and beautiful.

Lo que en estos festejos nunca falta son las famosas piñatas, las simper bien recibidad y bonitas piñatas.

Party under the piñata! I like candy, and especially candy from the piñata.

Viva !!! la fiesta y abajo la piñata, me gustan los dulces y en especial los de esta Piñata.

Yuuuuuummmmm!!! These are the famous 'Sweet Bread of the Kings' that always looks really tasty.

Huuuummmmmm !!!! Esta son las famosas roscas de reyes que se ven muy apetitosa

These are the Wise Men that are half crazy, but in the end, they're kings that had a party!

Estos son los reyes magos que estan medio locos pero al fin son los reyes que tenia el festejo.

Oooooh, such Wise Men!!!

Huauuu que reyes magos !!!

A family from Casa Latina with the Wise Men.

Una familia de Casa Latina y los reyes magos.

Wells Fargo Protest

noreply@blogger.com (CASA Latina) — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 00:18:00 +0000

This October Casa Latina was involved in national protest through NDLON (National Day Laborers Organizing Network) at Wells Fargo Banks throughout the United States. Our participants were demonstrating to make the case that Wells Fargo should not continue leasing office space to Sheriff Joe Arpaio in Arizona (who once said it was an honor to be compared to the KKK). Protestors walked the block in front of the Wells Fargo building downtown, chanting and handing out fliers to passersby. Check out the photos below!

Construction Update!

noreply@blogger.com (CASA Latina) — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 23:44:00 +0000

Last week Casa Latina staff and a few participants went to our new office site to check on the progress. Everyone was excited to see how things looked. We can see now a bit of how it will feel when it's all done and we can move in! We wanted to share some of the excitement with you, so here are a few pictures of our visit.

Hilary and some of our participants sporting their Casa Latina wear by the front entrance to our new offices!

The outside of our new offices still in progress. Staff basking in the sun and dreaming of moving into our beautiful new space. Can't wait to see the final product!

The inside of the new Day Worker Center. Our anticipation is building!

Cultural Crossing Visit

noreply@blogger.com (CASA Latina) — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 21:13:00 +0000

This month we had the pleasure of hosting the Cultural Crossing exchange group from Belgium at Casa Latina! Earlier in the year Hilary went to Belgium with this program that works to encourage dialogue around issues of immigration between practicioners in the United States. The group started out early in the morning at the Day Workers' Center.

Here you can see the group squeezed into our ESL classroom!

The group also came to the office and talked with the staff.

In the News!

noreply@blogger.com (CASA Latina) — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 15:58:00 +0000

Hey, guess what?

We're in the news! Check out the article on our 'Somos Vecinos/We are Neighbors' program here!

Casa Latina Groundbreaking

noreply@blogger.com (CASA Latina) — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 01:52:00 +0000

On Sept 8, 2008 Casa Latina had its long awaited groundbreaking for its new home.

Marcia Almquist shows off the model of our new campus.

We had great food --- chicken tamales with mole......yum!

inspiring speeches.....

And..... finally....the ceremonial destruction of our trailer, "temporary" office for our Workers Center for 8 years. Mayor Nickels gets ready to do the first ceremonial whack.

King County Councilmember Larry Gossett takes a turn. .....

look at that swing! does he play baseball??!!

Other "swingers" included State Representative Phyllis Kenney Guitierrez, State Representative Sharon Tomiko-Santos, State Representative Zack Hudgins, State Senator Adam Kline, King County Councilmember Dow Constantine, and King County Councilmember Larry Phillips.

Dreaming of a place to look for work with dignity

Bienvendia a Guadalupe!

noreply@blogger.com (CASA Latina) — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 19:02:00 +0000

This month we had the pleasure of welcoming a wonderful new addition to our team, our new Employment Coordinator, Guadalupe! She comes to us by way of CASA de Maryland, a great organization we have worked with a lot over the years. We are so excited to have her on staff with us, and are having fun hearing her new ideas and seeing her get to know everyone.

On her first day of work, everyone in the Center threw her a little 'Homecoming Party'. Here are a few pictures for you to enjoy, and feel free to stop by the Center to say hi and introduce yourself!

Hiking, anyone?

noreply@blogger.com (CASA Latina) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 16:45:00 +0000

We just wanted to share with you some of the fun ways our ESL classes get to practice their English! Especially during the winter the classes spend a lot of time studying and working hard in the classroom, so when the summer comes, they love to get out and practice English in real life and new situations. The beginning of August brought the classes to the top of Little Mount Si for a day hike. Enjoy some pictures below!

Casa Latina in the news!

noreply@blogger.com (CASA Latina) — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 19:34:00 +0000

Guess what?

We're in the news! Click here to see the story on our domestic workers program and their green cleaning certification that ran in the Real Change newspaper a few weeks ago.

Now that you've read the article, contact Vanessa or Veronique at 206-956-0779 to find out more about hiring one of our household helpers!

Sound Alliance

noreply@blogger.com (CASA Latina) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 15:18:00 +0000

One of the reasons we are excited to have this blog is to be able to share with our community some of our lesser known activities that keep us busy over here at Casa Latina. One of those things that may not be as visible is our work on building partnerships with other organizations, both in Seattle and around the country. We’re going to try to highlight some of those organizations here on our blog, and how we’re involved with them.

To start off, we'd like to introduce you to the Sound Alliance. Sound Alliance is part of the Industrial Areas Foundation, one of the oldest organizing groups in the country.
Sound Alliance works to train leaders in the Puget Sound community in story-telling methods and leadership development. The leaders then go out into their communities and hold listening campaigns. With the information gained from these campaigns, they hold a community assembly and vote on issues of importance to the community, which become the basis for a community agenda.

Sound Alliance has been working now for three years now in the Seattle area, and we cemented our involvement with them in February of this year. For us to participate, we felt strongly that one of the issues on the agenda needed to be immigration, and we attended monthly (and sometimes more often!) organizing meetings. The final issues are: health care, jobs, immigration/civil rights, and education.

On June 1st Sound Alliance held its Founding Assembly, where over 80 churches, unions, and community groups were represented. Casa Latina had committed to bringing 60 people to this Assembly, and in the end we brought over 90! One of the reasons we are excited to work with Sound Alliance is that they have built a broad, diverse coalition, allowing us to get to know new groups, activities, and leaders; people who are outside of our immediate community. Scroll down for more pictures and details of the Founding Assembly—we’re excited about participating in such a momentous event!

Casa Latina rented two school buses to take everyone down to Tacoma.

Before going to the Assembly, we had a group picnic at Point Defiance Park. We had lots of good food...

...and good times playing soccer, talking and exploring!

Casa Latina presente!

Some of the group getting ready to participate in the assembly.

Our proud group!

Casa Latina's presence was quite visible with our red t-shirts and yellow hats! The governor was in attendance as well as the Speaker of the House, Frank Chopp and Senate Leader, Lisa Brown, who committed to supporting the Agenda for the Common Good, which was presented at the assembly.
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Jorge was asked by Sound Alliance to tell the story of his experience with ICE and being detained. Here's what he shared:

Good Afternoon;

My name is Jorge Vilchiz. I am a legal permanent resident of this country since 1988 and member of CASA Latina and the Laborers Union.

On Saturday September 8th last year, the Bothell police stopped me when I was driving to work because I was going 36 miles an hour in 30 miles per hour speed zone.

The policemen asked for my driver's license and gave me a ticket, which I accepted. However the policemen continued to question me about my legal status. I answered his questions honestly. Questions like:

What country do you come from?

Where did you enter this country?

And finally he ordered me to show him my green card. I responded by showing it to him but after looking at it, he declared that it was fake.

I was put in jail for 3 days in Lynwood. I was treated as a criminal without having committed any crime. I felt that my basic rights were being violated. I felt powerless and afraid of being deported even though I had been a resident for such long time.

After 3 days in jail in Lynwood they took me to Homeland Security offices in Tukwila. There, an officer told me that I was lucky because they had made a mistake. I was now free to go.

My friends didn't know where I was and were really worried about my disappearance. I didn't want to call them for fear of involving them in case they might be detained also. However, the worst consequence of my detainment was that since I couldn't pay the bill to get my car from the towing lot, I lost my car. I couldn't call into work from the detention center either, so I lost my job.

Even now I still remember when the officer told me that THIS had been my lucky day!

Zoo Trip!

noreply@blogger.com (CASA Latina) — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 21:37:00 +0000

During the warm weather that the end of June brought us, the Casa Latina English classes took a trip to the Woodland Park Zoo! Students and teachers alike were excited to see the animals, spend time together, and hopefully practice English, too. A group of around 11 people took advantage of the chance, spending several hours seeing everything the zoo has to offer.

Volunteer Picnic!

noreply@blogger.com (CASA Latina) — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 18:05:00 +0000

Last weekend Casa Latina held its annual volunteer picnic, during which we honor all of the many volunteers that offer so much of their time and energy to keep our programs going! The group gathered at Meridian Park on Sunday afternoon. Good times for all! See a note from Gloria Coronado, the president of our board, below:

"This year’s CASA Latina volunteer picnic was a great success. Nearly 15 staff, constituents, and board members gathered to acknowledge and honor the contributions of the many volunteers that have helped make the programs of CASA Latina a beacon for the Latino immigrant community. Upwards of 20 volunteers were honored for their role in a variety of program activities. This included their assistance with child care for the Burien-based women’s program, their role re-claiming unpaid wages for hard-working families, their support teaching English to monolingual speakers, and their time and effort leant managing the day labor and domestic workers programs. The best part for me was the conversations I had with both volunteers and program constituents. It reminded me that volunteers form the fabric of the programs that CASA Latina offers, making what we do that much more valuable to the families we serve."
A BIG thank you to all of our wonderful
volunteers!!

Black and Brown Project

noreply@blogger.com (CASA Latina) — Thu, 29 May 2008 16:57:00 +0000

On Saturday, May 17th, African-Americans and Latinos gathered at the Casa Latina Day Workers' Center to participate in the Black and Brown Project. This gathering was the result of many hours of planning and collaboration between Casa Latina and LELO (Legacy of Equality, Leadership and Organizing) with the goal of sharing and understanding the history of African Americans and of Latinos in this country. The group came together and listened to the two stories as a timeline presented by participants from LELO and participants from Casa Latina.

Following the timelines, there was a chance for conversation within the group--reflecting on similarities, the history of segregation, and the current state of these two groups.

The group also enjoyed music and art from some of Casa Latina's participants!

The meeting lasted the whole afternoon, and more than 30 people participated!

We are excited to see where this partnership might take us!

noreply@blogger.com (CASA Latina) — Wed, 28 May 2008 20:56:00 +0000

Scroll down to see some of the paintings that were showcased at the Black and Brown Project Event!

City Council Budget Hearing Presence!

noreply@blogger.com (CASA Latina) — Wed, 28 May 2008 17:57:00 +0000

Last week a group from Casa Latina attended a City Council Budget Hearing. Click here for more information on the City Council Budget. See Hilary’s note about how it went below:

"Congratulations to the organizers—Ara, Pedro, Selvin, Cariño, Hannah—and the day laborers that testified and participated last night in the Council meeting. Everyone was very eloquent in what they said. Afterwards various people from the City thanked us for being there and said that they learned a lot through our participation. Our group had more than 12 people, and we made up almost half of all the public who was there. Everything was simultaneously interpreted so that everyone could understand the presentations and also so they could speak directly to the public in Spanish. Ara, Selvin, and Cariño drove, Hannah helped the day laborers prepare their testimonies, and Pedro motivated all of us. Cariño and Selvin testified and so did two day laborers. Many thanks to everyone! As always, you inspire me a lot!"

Hilary

"Felicidades a los organizadores -- Ara, Pedro, Selvin, Cariño, Hannah-- y los jornaleros que testificaron y participaron anoche en la reunion del Consejal. Fueron muy elocuentes los que hablaron y luego varias personas de la Ciudad nos agradecieron por nuestra participacion y dijeron que habian apredido mucho por nuestra participacion. Eramos mas de 12 personas, y formamos casi la mitad del publico. Todo fue traducido simulaneamente, y por lo tanto los jornaleros podian entender todas las presentaciones y tambien podian hablar directamente al publico en español. Ara, Selvin y Cariño manejaron, Hannah ayudo a los jornaleros a preparar sus testimonios, y Pedro mobilizo a todos. Cariño y Selvin tambien testificaron, ademas de 2 jornaleros. Muchas gracias a todos. Como siempre me inspiran mucho!"

Hilary

¡Somos Vecinos!

noreply@blogger.com (CASA Latina) — Thu, 15 May 2008 19:21:00 +0000

This month saw the kick-off of our latest program!

The program, called Somos Vecinos (We are Neighbors), is a language and culture exchange, allowing relationships and understanding to build between our neighbors who speak Spanish and those who speak English.

The classes are held on Thursday evenings from 6:00-8:15 in the Japanese Congregational Church next to our new building. We are excited that this program has already given us the opportunity to partner with our neighbors.

As the students come in, they are divided up into those who are learning English and those who are learning Spanish. After spending an hour in their own language groups learning, there is an hour for the whole group to come together with guided activities, practice what they learned, build relationships, and interact across cultural lines.

We are excited to have the chance to start building relationships in our new neighborhood. We will be beginning a 10-week new program in fall 2008. If you’re interested in finding out more, feel free to email Emily at emily@casa-latina.org.

Workers Assembly on Immigration!

noreply@blogger.com (CASA Latina) — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 19:15:00 +0000

On April 18th, 80 of our workers and several staff members hopped on a bus headed for the Workers Assembly on Immigration in Tacoma!

The day-long conference was held at the Tacoma Campus of the Evergreen State College, and was hosted by The Committee Pro-Immigration Reform and Social Justice, and the Evergreen Labor Center.

The day was an opportunity diverse groups of workers, including immigrants, students, and unions, to come together and have conversations about immigration and labor.

Organizers focused on the idea that an injury to one is an injury to all, and conversations centered around how that phrase applies to immigrants.

Our participants valued the chance to be a part of important and in-depth dialogues.

Over 200 people attended, with CASA Latina bringing about 80! Aside from the good dialogues, there was some tasty food, and of course, fun on the road trip! Check out the video below.

CASA Domestic Workers are Green Clean Certified!

noreply@blogger.com (CASA Latina) — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 21:25:00 +0000

Our newly formed Domestic Workers program recently boosted their qualifications by completing a "Cleaning with Caution" certification class.

The class, a collaboration between the University of Washington, King County, the Environmental Coalition of South Seattle, and Casa Latina, was three sessions long during the month of March.

Domestic Workers who went through the program

received specialized training, environmentally friendly cleaning supplies, and a certification card which will allow them to prove to employers their specialized knowledge.

Needless to say, on the last day of the training, the group was excited to have succesfully completed the class and ready to try out their new skills!

We hope to offer this training again in the near future.

CASA on the BBC!

noreply@blogger.com (CASA Latina) — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 18:07:00 +0000

On March 28, 2008, BBC en Espanol (BBC in Spanish) reporters from Miami came to CASA Latina to record a story in the series called "de Costa a Costa" (Coast to Coast) where they are taking a trip from Washington State to Washington, DC and are reporting on how Latinos are doing in the United States.

Check us out!

Click here to watch an incredible video of Pedro, our Day Worker Center Organizer giving a message to the next president of the United States (in Spanish).

Click here to see the de Costa a Costa website.

Click here and here to see a few more pictures taken by the BBC of our Workers' Center.

Governer Signs Bill on the Underground Economy

noreply@blogger.com (CASA Latina) — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 03:37:00 +0000

March 21, 2008: Executive Director, Hilary Stern, was present at Govenor Gregoire's signing of the Washington State Senate Bill 6732 – the Underground Economy in Construction Task Force Recommendation Bill. Hilary Stern worked on this bill in 2007 as a member of a twelve member joint legislative task force. This bill recommends that there be increased enforcement of state labor and industry laws to combat the growing number of employers who don't pay taxes and pay their employees off the books. CASA Latina is interested in increasing the enforcement of labor law so that immigrant workers are more protected. In 2007 CASA Latina received calls from over 250 immigrant workers last year who were not paid by their employers, most of whom were paying their workers "off the books." The CASA Latina Workers' Defense Committee, along with pro-bono attorneys from the King County Bar Association were able to recover over $50,000 in unpaid wages for these workers.

Belgium: A Country of Immigrants. A Report on a Cultural Exchange with Belgian Immigrant Integration Experts

noreply@blogger.com (CASA Latina) — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 16:52:00 +0000

Executive Director, Hilary Stern, was selected by CDS International to participate in a professional exchange program between Belgian Immigrant Integration Experts and US Immigrant Integration Experts. Hilary represented Seattle along with Daniel Perez, from Northwest Immigrant Rights Project and Alaric Bien, ED of Chinese Information and Referral Services. From March 9-15, they spent visiting their Belgian colleagues. The following is Hilary's report.

Imagine a country that is only a fraction of the size of Washington State with almost twice as many people. Now imagine that this country has two parallel governments with different social policies, one for the French speaking population and one for the Flemish (Dutch) speaking population. Both of these governments are squeezed into a small area, even existing side by side in the same city – Brussels—and within Brussels, sometimes existing in the same buildings. This is Belgium in 2008.

As part of a delegation of twelve Americans working on immigration integration in four cities in the United States, Executive Director, Hilary Stern, struggled to sort out the differences between Flemish policy and Wallonian (French-speaking) policy on immigrant integration. But after a one-week visit with 23 different Belgium organizations, she came away with a few general conclusions. Uniformly, Belgium is willing to invest considerable resources into helping new immigrants become Belgium. There are government-funded programs that teach new immigrants language, vocational skills and cultural training so that they can get a job. These programs expect that it will take immigrants at least a year to learn enough to get a job and provide immigrants with a living allowance and support to get housing, medical care, and other basic needs while they integrate. After two years a new immigrant can receive Belgium citizenship through an easy application process. Belgium seems to be doing everything right here.

But yet, there is a general feeling in the country that immigrants and the children of immigrants are not welcomed. In fact, the unemployment rate for non-European (dark skinned) citizens is a shocking 33%, almost five times as great as the unemployment rate in Belgium. This is partly explained by the fact that children of immigrants are far less likely to finish high school and go to college. But highly educated African immigrants also report difficulties finding work.
Our mission was to find out what went wrong, and how we can learn from the Belgian experience. The following is a report on what Stern learned.

Frustration of the Children of Guest Workers.

While Belgium has wonderful integration programs today, they were started too late to help the large numbers of Moroccan and Turkish immigrants who were recruited to work in the Belgian coalmines in the 1960’s. These immigrants were invited to come as guest workers and expected to return home after the coal mining and steel industries dried up. But they didn’t. They brought their families and settled in Belgium and stayed after their temporary work permits ran out. Their children and grandchildren grew up marginalized and undocumented in a society that had welcomed their grandparents as long as they were needed as workers.

When Stern asked the Charge D’Affairs of the American Embassy in Belgium, Wayne Bush, what lesson this can teach us in the US as we debate an immigration reform that includes a guest worker policy, he said, “If you are to have immigrants in your country, you need to consider them part of your future.” Indeed, many immigrants who come to the United States today with the idea of working for a few years and then going back to their countries end up building a life here. It is important that the US give opportunities to these immigrants so that we don’t create an underclass with a lack of opportunity, breeding resentment and despair in the children of immigrants born in this country.

Delegation of Americans visiting Belgium for the Belgium-

US Cultural Crossing March 9-15, 2008. Top row, left to right:

Hassan Jaber,Susan Colussy, Glory Kilanko, Lisa Davey, Leslie

Irwin, Irina Nikishin, Alaric Bien, Paul Stein. Bottom row, left

to right: Jose Blanco, Hilary Stern, Daniel Perez, Mary Burt.

Social Exclusion of the Undocumented.

While Belgium ended up legalizing most of the guest worker population in 1975, (Belgium also had another general legalization program in 2000, where it is estimated that about a third of the undocumented population was legalized.) it also restricted pathways for legal immigration so the numbers of undocumented immigrants continued to grow. Today, about 2% of the population of Belgium is undocumented and has no access to the generous public support that is given to legal immigrants (There are two exceptions to this: undocumented immigrants do have access to the government-sponsored health insurance and to public school education until the age of 18.). That means that all of these great classes in French, Flemish, and Belgium culture are closed to the undocumented. It also means that the undocumented need to eke out a living in the unregulated underground economy working in construction, agriculture, cleaning and restaurant work. This sounded all too familiar. In Washington State, 4% of the population is undocumented and they concentrate in construction, agriculture, janitorial, housekeeping, and restaurant work. Washington State undocumented workers are subject to wage theft and other exploitation on the job, just as their Belgian counterparts.

One difference that Stern saw in Belgium was that many of the undocumented were highly educated Africans from Central Africa. The American delegation had the privilege of meeting Omar Anza, a leader of UDEP, the Union for the Defense of Undocumented Migrants. He had a Masters degree in both business and accounting and struggled for years to support his wife and children as an undocumented farm laborer. Another difference: in Belgium there are no immigration agents and the local police are charged with finding and detaining undocumented immigrants. Dark-skinned undocumented immigrants (and most are dark-skinned, since most other Europeans can work and live legally anywhere in Europe) live in constant fear that they will be asked for their documents on the street. They can’t refuse to answer, since every Belgium is required to carry a national identification card with them. Those without the national identification card are easily recognized as undocumented or “sin papiers.”

A Strong Civil Society.

But despite their fear, the undocumented immigrants in Belgium have organized themselves into a rapidly growing civic association and are conducting a campaign of peaceful protest to bring attention to their plight. In 2006, one hundred sixty two undocumented immigrants occupied a church and went on a hunger strike for 52 days, until the government agreed to allow all of the protesters to apply for legalization. Since then, undocumented immigrants have peacefully occupied 42 churches. While Stern was there, she visited a church where 250 undocumented immigrant men were holding a sit in. It was the second day of their occupation and they were preparing to deliver a letter to the Prime Minister asking for their papers. Each man she spoke to told her the same story. He was there because he wanted to be part of Belgium society. He wanted to be able to work and pay taxes and integrate into the society. He was tired of living and working in the underground economy. Stern was impressed by hope, energy and solidarity that she felt in that room filled with immigrant men from countries all over the world – India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Morocco, Nigeria, Congo, Cameroon, Turkey. Any country would be enriched by their faith in social mobility and their willingness to work hard for a better life for their families.
Undocumented immigrants occupying Eglise Notre Dame

Immaculee, Brussels, Belgium. March 13, 2008

Social Mobility and Social Cohesion.

Throughout our history, the United States has been able to integrate wave after wave of new immigrants and has been enriched by their contributions. New immigrants arrive in our country full of hope for a better life for their families. As President John F. Kennedy said, “Such confidence, when widely shared, sets the national tone. The opportunities that America offered made the dream real, at least for a good many; but the dream itself was in large part the product of millions of plain people beginning a new life in the conviction that life could indeed be better, and each new wave of immigration rekindled the dream.” (Kennedy, John F. (1964, 2008) A Nation of Immigrants, New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers) But when those dreams are frustrated, when upward mobility is impossible because of systematic social exclusion, the children of immigrants lose hope and social cohesion falls apart. In our own history, systematic oppression based on race frustrated the hopes of generations of African Americans. In Belgium history, social exclusion of Moroccan and Turkish immigrant children has created an underclass. In both cases, once the dream of social mobility has been destroyed, it is very difficult to resurrect it and will take more than just equal opportunity under the law to bring social equality.

In our current times, both the United States and Belgium are in the midst of creating another social underclass: the children of undocumented immigrants. While their parents came to our countries full of hope for a better life, these children find that their hopes are frustrated when they are unable to go to college. Without a college education, even the brightest are relegated to a second-class existence in our knowledge-based economy.
Both the United States and Belgium need to struggle with a new global reality that attracts workers from other parts of the world to our countries. Restrictive immigration laws are no match for the determination of the human spirit. The United States can learn from the humanity of Belgium, which has provided a path to legalization when faced with the pathos of the undocumented immigrants’ determination to make that dream of upward mobility a reality.

Statistical Comparison of Belgium, Washington State, and the United States

Area in sq kmBelgium: 30,528
Washington State: 184,673
United States: 9,826,630

Population
Belgium: 10,392,226
Washington State: 6,395,798
United States: 281,421,906

Number Immigrant/Foreign Born
Belgium: 897,110
Washington State:793,789
United States: 37,547,789

Percent Immigrant/Foreign Born
Belgium: 9%
Washington State: 12%
United States: 12.50%

Number of Undocumented
Belgium: 250,000
Washington State: 250,000
United States: 12,000,000

% of Pop. That is Undocumented
Belgium: 2.41%
Washington State: 3.91%
United States: 4.26%

GDP per Capita
Belgium: $36,500
Washington State: $39,616
United States: $37,714

Unemployment
Belgium: 7.60%
Washington State: 4.50%
United States: 4.90%

Unemployment of children of immigrants
Belgium: 32.90%
United States: 6.20%

Unemployment of foreign-born immigrants
United States: 3.90%

~Hilary Stern

CASA Latina day laborers are recruited by the Laborers Union

noreply@blogger.com (CASA Latina) — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 03:57:00 +0000

On March 18, 2008, NW Laborers International Union of North American (LIUNA) organizers, Juan Galindo and Vincent Herrera, came to CASA Latina to answer questions of interested and qualified CASA Latina members. This meeting followed another meeting two weeks previous where Juan and Vincent had presented information about joining the union to 35 CASA Latina members at the Day Workers' Center. There was lots of enthusiasm and great interest in joining the Laborers Union. However, of the 35 attendees, only 2 had the minimum requirements-- proof of a 10th grade education and a driver's license. CASA Latina organizer, Pedro Jimenez, spent the next two weeks finding thirteen workers that met LIUNA's minimum requirements and collecting copies of their documents. These qualified workers then met with LIUNA organizers to hear more about the next steps for joining the union. An assessment of these workers will be set for April and in May the chosen workers will attend a one-week apprenticeship training given in Spanish and scheduled especially for CASA Latina day laborers.

Jornaleros volunteer to clean up new building

noreply@blogger.com (CASA Latina) — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 15:19:00 +0000

On March 12, 2008 CASA Latina jornaleros (day laborers) organized to do a day of service to clean up our new building. We have owned the building since March of 2007, but haven't yet occupied it. (We need to renovate it first and plan to move in by the end of year.) In the meantime, CASA Latina jornaleros have put in over 200 volunteer hours to keep the building well kept . This was the latest effort.

Jornaleros started out by fueling up at the office

They first had to ask a squatter to leave

Then they went to work.

A final photo after a job well-done.

CASA Latina General Assembly 2008

noreply@blogger.com (CASA Latina) — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 23:39:00 +0000

CASA Latina held its annual General Assembly on Saturday, February 23rd at the Cascade People's Center. Our Assembly is a time for all those involved in CASA Latina—staff, program participants, volunteers, and board members to get together to evaluate how the past year went, and decide on priorities for the upcoming year. This year we:

ate some wonderful food,

saw skits depicting and evaluating the programs over the past year,

and broke up into small groups to decide our priorities for CASA Latina in 2008.

CASA Latina presente!