Open Letter to Bush!

George W. Bush
President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Subject: Justice for immigrants.

Honorable President Bush:

Those of us who are in the United States and came from south of Rio Bravo have been forced to do so because of the corruption and impunity of the government of our country and its incapacity to implement public policies that promote economic development and the creation of jobs with livable wages. Instead, thousands of communities in Mexico and other countries are marginalized and impoverished.

In the United States, we are the number one source of manpower to harvest the fields; we have also worked in construction of housing, buildings and bridges. We work in restaurants, gardening and packing factories, among others sectors. That is the only way we have survived as human beings, while at the same time we had contributed to the development of the economy of the United States and our home countries. Having said all these Mr. President, we want to express our opposition to the extreme measures against immigrant families, which is the spine cord of all societies that you made last August 10th, 2007.

Criminalizing immigrants is just another expression of an ignorant and exclusive policy that does not recognize the principal cause of the migration phenomenon and that in the long run will only end up aggravating further the economic and political conditions that had caused immigration. Furthermore, punishing employers for employing migrants without proper working permits is to sink both employers and workers in a marsh that ultimately will hurt the economy of the United States.

You have the power to make political decision that can change this injustice and demonstrate that you are a compassionate republican towards all immigrants by doing the following:

1. To order an immediate moratorium against the detentions and the raids from ICE because deportation is dividing families and it is seriously violating US children’s rights by leaving them alone without their moms and dads.

2. Stop indefinitely the mailing of “no-match-letters” to employers. If this continues, it would have serious consequences to the economy of the United States and in the near future to the economy of Mexico and other Latin American countries.
3. Eliminate employer sanction provision as part of the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) of 1986 because it have been active for 21 years and have become a modern slave law. Employers have a lot of power to fire workers without any justification.

4. Continue working with legislators to pass a humane, integral and just immigration reform law based on family’s values that will benefit the millions of people who are already living, working and contributing to the development of this country.

These measures are necessary to avoid unnecessary sufferings and to continue blaming innocent people. In your heart, in your brain, in your feelings and in you hands are the lives of millions of families.

We are going to be attentive in receiving a positive sign about our petition.

“For respect to the rights of the indigenous people”

Rufino E. Domínguez Santos
Binational General Coordinator

Odilia Romero-Hernández
Women Coordinator

Jesús Estrada Velasco
California State Coordinator

CC:
Barbara Boxer, California Senator
Dianne Feinstein, California Senator
Jim Costa, Representative-20
Nancy Pelosi, Representative-08
Lois Capps, Representative-23
Xavier Becerra, Representative-31