Religion And Social Justice for Immigrants

Book Description

Religion has jumped into the sphere of global and domestic politics in ways that few would have imagined a century ago. Some expected that religion would die as modernity flourished. Instead, it now stares at us almost daily from the front pages of newspapers and television broadcasts. Although it is usually stories about the Christian Right or conservative Islam that grab headlines, there are many religious activists of other political persuasions that are working quietly for social justice. This book examines how religious immigrants and religious activists are working for equitable treatment for immigrants in the United States.

The essays in this book analyze the different ways in which organized religion provides immigrants with an arena for mobilization, civic participation, and solidarity. Contributors explore topics including how non-Western religious groups such as the Vietnamese Caodai are striving for community recognition and addressing problems such as racism, economic issues, and the politics of diaspora; how interfaith groups organize religious people into immigrant civil rights activists at the U.S.-Mexican border; and how Catholic groups advocate governmental legislation and policies on behalf of refugees.

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Skilled Immigrant and Native Workers in the United States: The Economic Competition Debate and Beyond (The New Americans) (Criminal Justice)
Jeanne Batalova
Manufacturer: LFB Scholarly Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Labor & Industrial Relations | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Labor & Industrial Relations | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
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Emigration & Immigration | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
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All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 1593321368
Release Date: 2006-09-11

Product Description

Batalova examines how the presence of skilled immigrants impacts the earnings of men and women, native born and immigrant. Skilled workers benefit from working with immigrants. However, there is a tipping point after which working with more immigrants is associated with a decline in earnings for all. In addition, female-dominated jobs are associated with lower earnings for all, regardless of nativity or gender. Overall, Batalova challenges the exclusive focus on immigrants as individual workers when discussing the economic impacts of immigration. Instead, she suggests placing the immigrant-native competition debate within the larger context of the American economy characterized by deepening labor market segmentation, occupational segregation, and gender inequality.

Justice in Immigration (Cambridge Studies in Philosophy and Law)

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good book, terrible price

Justice in Immigration (Cambridge Studies in Philosophy and Law)

Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Emigration & Immigration | Administrative Law | Law | Subjects | Books

General | Law | Subjects | Books

Philosophy | Law | Subjects | Books

General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Emigration & Immigration | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Law | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 0521452880

Book Description

This book is the first interdisciplinary study of the fundamental normative issues underpinning immigration policy. A distinguished group of economists, political scientists, and philosophers offer a stimulating and provocative discussion of this complex topic. Among the issues addressed are the proper role of the state in supporting a particular culture, the possible destabilization of the political and social life of a country through immigration and the size and distribution of economic losses and gains.

Customer Reviews:

good book, terrible price.......2005-04-11

This book is made up of essays from a conference. Like all such books some of the essays are better than others. Most in this volume are quite good, with Stephen Perry's especially sticking out as excellent. It's a book worth reading for both lawyers and legal scholars interested in immigration and philosophers and political theorist who want to get a better hand on this neglected and under-theorised area of political and legal philosophy. The only draw back is the outragous price, putting it out of most buyer's range. We can only hope cambridge will eventually see fit to publish a paper-back. Until then, read it in the library.

¡Pobre Raza!: Violence, Justice, and Mobilization among México Lindo Immigrants, 1900-1936

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Review of "Pobre Raza"

¡Pobre Raza!: Violence, Justice, and Mobilization among México Lindo Immigrants, 1900-1936
F. Arturo Rosales
Manufacturer: University of Texas Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Mexico | Americas | History | Subjects | Books

Civil Rights & Liberties | Current Events | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Emigration & Immigration | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Book Description

''This is an exhaustive look at how Mexicans and Mexican Americans have fared under the U.S. judicial system. . . . No one [else] has undertaken this kind of study, and those that come near it do not measure up to the research and objectivity that this work incorporates. . . . A splendid contribution to Chicano history.'' --Arnoldo De León, author of They Called Them Greasers: Anglo Attitudes toward Mexicans in Texas, 1821-1900 Fleeing the social and political turmoil spawned by the Mexican Revolution, massive numbers of Mexican immigrants entered the southwestern United States in the early decades of the twentieth century. But instead of finding refuge, many encountered harsh, anti-Mexican attitudes and violence from an Anglo population frightened by the influx of foreigners and angered by anti-American sentiments in Mexico. This book examines the response of Mexican immigrants to Anglo American prejudice and violence early in the twentieth century. Drawing on archival sources from both sides of the border, Arturo Rosales traces the rise of "México Lindo" nationalism and the efforts of Mexican consuls to help poor Mexican immigrants defend themselves against abuses and flagrant civil rights violations by Anglo citizens, police, and the U.S. judicial system. This research illuminates a dark era in which civilian and police brutality, prejudice in the courtroom, and disproportionate arrest, conviction, and capital punishment rates too often characterized justice for Mexican Americans.

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Review of "Pobre Raza".......2004-09-17

Rosales's book, entitled ¡Pobre Raza!, popularly translates into poor Mexican people/folks. Although some may argue that the term "raza" literally translates into "race," in this particular context, the term--used casually amongst Chicanos--refers basically to Mexican people. Moreover, the term pobre raza is used in the context of an article written in 1918 referring to the influx of recent Mexican immigrants: "Judging by their garb, they were simply poor peasants, very unlikely to give the police a hard time. They came here to work. Why were they shot? ¡Pobre Raza!"

Starting from the turn of the century, the author argues that the oppressive dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz forced the most impoverished sectors of Mexican society to seek economic and political refuge in North America. To a large extent this is true; however, one must also consider other factors that contribute to immigration, migration, and emigration...issues that the author does not address in his book. Having stated that, Rosales is correct in pointing out that early immigration to the United States is a result of Mexicans looking for better economic and social opportunities not available to them in Porfirian Mexico. Also, Mexican peonage, exacerbated by survey companies, land companies, and land-grabbing hacendados, added to this early northward migration.

But as Rosales points out, as do other authors now doing research on the Mexican Consulate, Mexican immigrants returning to Mexico benefit from avenues unavailable in the United States. In other words, unlike other immigrant groups that did not have this additional "safety-valve" to tap, Mexicans in the United States were able to file grievances with their local consul. This, in my estimation, adds to our knowledge regarding the importance of the border and the many social and political issues that can be attributed to its accessibility.

Unlike most immigrants to the United States, the option of "returning" to their homeland was not a thought that many entertained. Once in the United States, most immigrants sought ways to combat prejudice while simultaneously searching for opportunities to move into the political and economic system of their adopted country. Although some Mexican immigrants entertained many of the ideas that I've just mentioned, I would suggest that the close distance of the border provided some immigrants with a "psychological safety valve" that was unavailable to the other immigrant groups. Finally, unlike other immigrants who lamented the "motherland" and expressed a nationalist nostalgia so often described in oral histories, Mexicans enjoyed a perpetual influx of immigration that enriched and reinvigorated the Mexican American communities in the United States--a process that continues to this day.

Chicano Historiography and Diplomatic History

Chicano historiography evolves in a unique fashion that is unlike the historiography of other fields in history. Although the field continues to expand in a variety of ways, only recently have Chicano historians discovered the wealth of information awaiting scholars across the southern border, especially material regarding Mexicans in the United States. Chicano scholars, moreover, are only now beginning to incorporate and associate the events in Mexico with the political occurrences in southwest with those of Mexico, especially the role of Mexican diplomats (consuls) in the US and their defense of immigrant rights. This is not to say that Chicano scholars never took into account the Mexican side of the equation; however, it seems that Chicano History appears to be making a transition from a regional history of Mexican Americans in the United States to a transnational history that incorporates North American and Mexican histories alike. Rosales's monograph, in this circumstance, makes a significant contribution to this sort of historiography by observing Mexican immigration during its earliest phases and taking into account the events taking place in Mexico with the historical events taking place in the United States.

In the context of World War I, the Mexican Revolution, Immigration History, and the affects of these developments on the North American population, Rosales's monograph on Mexican Immigrants provides the reader with a necessary regional perspective as well. This is to say that the author illustrates the effects of these (and other) events on the Euro-American population from 1900-1936 and attempts to explain how issues of race, class, ethnicity, loyalty, and "whiteness," played themselves out during this tumultuous period.

What makes things more difficult for these early immigrants were factors beyond their control: historical animosity between Anglos and Mexicans; historical racism against Mexicans; and Anglo resentment toward the Mexican Revolution and all of the border troubles resulting from said revolution. In this context, Rosales is able to provide an outline into the historical disputes between Anglos and Mexicans beginning with the "Texas revolt" in 1835.

Mexican Immigration and US Responses to the Revolución

"Large-scale immigration from Mexico," beginning in the 1890s, continues "unabated into the present." The largest wave of immigrants, though, takes place following the Mexican Revolution of 1910 and continues throughout the rest of the century, often depending on the economic situation of the United States. In the southwest, however, North American resentment over Mexican immigration is expressed in a number of ways that are telling of recent legislation against Mexican immigration.

Much like the Gentleman's Agreement (aimed at Japanese immigrants) and the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 (aimed at Chinese immigrants), Proposition 187 is aimed directly at Mexican immigrants under the guise of social welfare programs. What is usually not mentioned in the historiography, however, are the numerous other incidents that induce, directly and indirectly, aggression on Mexican Americans, especially recent Mexican immigrants. The Mexican Revolution, US Prohibition, WWI, and the Great Depression are some of the cases in question. For Rosales, though, the Mexican Revolution and, the influx of hundreds of thousands of Mexicans, creates a reaction from North Americans embittered by the presence of so many brown faces.

Initially upset over Mexicans waging war against Díaz in the 19th century, North Americans are once again angry over the recent waves of Mexican immigrants and the "rise in crime" associated with their presence. North Americans, oblivious to the pre-existing crime rates, blame Mexican Americans and other ethnic "minorities" with the "new crime wave." Violence against Mexicans by various sectors of US society, including the police, the justice system, White civilians, and other ethnic groups, generates a Mexican nationalism that in turns gives rise to a fervent anti-Americanism--a sentiment that trickles down and across the border.

The War Prohibition Act of 1918 made smuggling liquor across the border a profitable enterprise for Mexicans while concurrently creating an additional avenue for violence against Mexican immigrants. Mexicans sought to fill this demand for a "nation of drunkards" (to use W.J. Rorabaughs phrase) only to be blamed for the continuing demise of North American morality. As one might imagine, similar situations take place today with Latin American countries enduring the humiliation of being labeled drug-infested societies while recently arrived immigrants suffer the effects of racial profiling and bogus "drug raids" at the hands of racist police departments.

The Great Depression of 1929 affected every facet of North American life as well as the world economy. Latin American countries suffered many casualties. US corporations sought to ameliorate their downward financial spirals in Latin America by capitalizing on the cheap labor pool and relaxed government regulations. As with any economic depression, ethnic minorities and immigrants are perceived as scapegoats and considered suspect. Immigration during this period dwindled to around 25,000 as Mexicans sought other strategies for survival. At the same time, though, over half a million Mexicans, many of them US citizens, were "repatriated" to Mexico following the depression of 1929. Sensing the dwindling economy, however, as many as 200,000 Mexican families "returned" to Mexico before the repatriation drives began--some of which took place in cattle stockyards and corrals.

In summary, Rosales's monograph provides the reader with a "face" of history. Often times we forget that history is not made solely of abstract forces and market economies, but involves the daily struggles and aspirations of all peoples. Although structural forces engage society and shape the daily lives of people, we must remember that the oppressed peoples of the world are not passive agents in this historical process. Indeed, they do have a say in what takes place and they collectively shape the historical record that continues to fascinate students and teachers alike. Finally, the author does illustrate how world events and laws shape and recreate the interactions between various levels of society and how those perceptions become bastardized in the process of serving a variety of functions...in this case, they create violence, injustice, and mobilization among Mexican immigrants.

The Perpetual Prisoner Machine: How America Profits from Crime

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Another voice in the choir
Nailing The Issue
The Nation's Evil Prison-Industrial Complex
Diverting Public Funds to Corporate Imprisonment
For students of the American criminal justice system

The Perpetual Prisoner Machine: How America Profits from Crime
Joel Dyer
Manufacturer: Westview Pr (Trd)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Public Affairs & Administration | Government | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Criminology | Crime & Criminals | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Penology | Crime & Criminals | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0813335078

Book Description

A critical look at the United States' criminal justice system, raising an obvious question: If crime rates aren't going up, why is the prison population?

In The Perpetual Prisoner Machine, author Joel Dyer takes a critical look at the United States' criminal justice system as we enter the new millennium. Dyer argues that it is a combination of violent media content, the push for privatization, and the increasing dependence of politicians upon public opinion polls and campaign finance that accounts for the unprecedented explosion in America's prison population, not the crime rates as we have been led to believe. America has more than tripled its prison population since 1980 even though crime rates have been either flat or declining. This raises an obvious question: If crime rates aren't going up, why is the prison population? The answer is "profit," and in the quest to please shareholders, America has turned millions of her citizens into a new, human commodity.

Customer Reviews:

Another voice in the choir.......2007-06-23

I ordered and read this book without total confidence, since it was written in 1999, and--as we will probably never stop hearing--things have changed considerably since 2001 (not for the better in the prison-industrial complex or in the sphere of social services).

But even 7 years after its publication, it holds up VERY well. And--sadly--the argument is not LESS cogent or the concerns less pressing.

Nailing The Issue.......2006-01-30

Joel Dyer has done an excellent job of nailing how Congress has abused the issue of crime in America and why we allow it. He's also provided an excellent argument for abandoning the private prison industrial complex and ceasing the attack on urban America and the mentally ill. As someone who works in business and in finance, it bugged my eyeballs when I realized what government is doing, allowing prisoners for profit. I've worked 32 years in a profit driven capacity and doing this with human beings, given what I know about shareholder driven environments, is unconscionable in my mind. To intentionally profit from another's pain and misfortune is heinous. America has 5% of the world's population and 25% of the worlds prisoners. We have over 1,000 prisons and 7 million people under penal control (2004). Over half of them non-violent offenders whose crime involves consenting adults (ie: life in prison for introducing a buyer to a seller of home grown pot in Indiana) or petty thievery (ie: stealing vitamins in California).

The Nation's Evil Prison-Industrial Complex.......2005-03-07

This is one of the most important books in many years that tells the truth about our prison system. We have over 2,000,000 citizens in prison in the land of the free. Most of these citizens are non-violent and about 15% are mentally ill in need medical care. With the tax dollars that we pay we treat some non-violent prisoners in ways that are just horrible. It is done by politicians who want to get reelected and understand a terrible fact that the uninformed citizens vote for politicians who advocate building more prisons and filling them to overcrowded capacity with more prisoners. Only a small percentage of the citizenship understand the terrible cost to our society with this practice. It is a cost in billions of dollars and much more. It is also a cost in respect, common sense, decency and the goodness of the American people.

On top of this, studies indicate that about 10 -15% of prisoners are completely innocent and had absolutely nothing to do with the crime that they were put in prison for. This is because juries do not understand and respect the bedrock of the system which is "proof beyond a reasonable doubt." The large amount of reasonable doubt that is ignored by juries is shocking to the conscious of any good person.

Diverting Public Funds to Corporate Imprisonment.......2004-11-25

Dyer's well-researched expose reveals the inner workings of the nation's prison-industrial complex, the funding of which depends on the maintenance of a respectable, beneficent public image. He explains that real-world crime statistics do not support the war on crime's claimed need for massive increases in prison construction so, to justify the diversion of public funds into prison and jail expansion, politicians are relying on public opinion polls which reflect the pervasive societal effects of media-generated crime anxiety. Law makers, primarily right-wing, have responded to the public's media-hyped fears with reassurances in the form of hard-on-crime adjustments to the sentencing structure and consequent increases in law enforcement and prison spending, all financed by the angst-ridden taxpayers. Voters have been refusing to approve traditional general-obligation bond issues for increasing prison construction, so politicians are shrewdly using Wall Street intermediaries to divert tax revenues from public education and crime-preventive social programs into prison and jail construction by means of lease-revenue or lease-payment bonds, which are tax-exempt, high-interest debt-investment instruments issued without voter approval. These lucrative prison bonds reward the investor class with sizable profits from imprisonment, provide public-debt financing for construction of corporate-owned prisons, and they require taxpayers to repay more money than general-obligation bonds, which require voter approval. As major political campaign contributors, well-funded, right-wing special-interest groups such as police and prison-guard unions, and the NRA, back politicians who agree to promote hard-on-crime sentencing policies such as "three strikes," "mandatory sentencing" and "truth in sentencing," which substantially increase the prison population and sustain the widely held perception of increasing need for prison and police funding. As a result, the number of prisons and police have grown rapidly, and police and prison guard pay has increased substantially. In California, for example, a prison guard is paid more than a tenured college professor in the state's university system which, like those in other states, has been decimated by the diversion of public funds into the prison-industrial complex. By 1994, prison spending had begun to exceed education spending for the first time in America's history. I think Dyer presents a well-articulated argument, backed with well-researched facts and figures, supporting the assertion that the prison-industrial complex is a self-serving, socially and economically destructive part of an officially sanctioned assault on the poor and people of color.

For students of the American criminal justice system.......2001-08-11

Journalist Joel Dyer creates an informative, critical, and iconoclastic survey of the United States' criminal justice system in The Perpetual Prisoner Machine: How America Profits From Crime. Dyer persuasively argues that contemporary criminal "justice" is disastrously impacted by violent media content, a push for privatization; an increasing dependence of politicians upon public opinion polling and campaign finance. This has all resulted in an explosion in the American prison population. The rapidly increasing numbers of prisoners, parolees and probationers is not the result of increasing crime rates, but because sectors of the American economy and political power structure find mass incarcerations to be profitable. The Perpetual Prisoner Machine is very strongly recommended reading for students of the American criminal justice system, prisoner reform movement supporters, sociologists, cultural anthropologists, and political science students.

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A "must read" for defense attorneys and judges

Immigrants in Courts

Manufacturer: University of Washington Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Civil Rights & Liberties | Current Events | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Criminal Law | Law | Subjects | Books

Emigration & Immigration | Administrative Law | Law | Subjects | Books

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Judicial System | Perspectives on Law | Law | Subjects | Books

Customer Reviews:

A "must read" for defense attorneys and judges.......1999-04-20

A timely sampling of the issues facing judges, paralegals, attorneys and interpreters when the defendant (in a criminal case) or party (in a civl case) is not a U.S. citizen. Immigration law changes so quickly, however, that some sections (esp. sections on crimes) need updating already.

21st Century Complete Guide to the Department of Justice Civil Division, with Selected Cases and Litigation ¿ Norton Indian Trusts, Radiation Exposure Compensation, Vaccine Injury, Consumer Litigation, Immigration Issues (CD-ROM)

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21st Century Complete Guide to the Department of Justice Civil Division, with Selected Cases and Litigation ¿ Norton Indian Trusts, Radiation Exposure Compensation, Vaccine Injury, Consumer Litigation, Immigration Issues (CD-ROM)
U.S. Government
Manufacturer: Progressive Management
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: CD-ROM
ASIN: 1592484638

Book Description

This CD-ROM provides a thorough guide to the United States Department of Justice Civil Division, with many key topics included:

DOJ Civil Division News Releases 1996 through 2003; Selected Cases including Cobell v. Norton Indian Trusts case; Health Care Fraud; RICO Action against Cigarette Manufacturers; Radiation Exposure Compensation Program; Vaccine Injury Compensation Program; Office of Immigration Litigation.

The United States Department of Justice Civil Division represents the United States, its departments and agencies, Members of Congress, Cabinet officers and other Federal employees. Its litigation reflects the diversity of government activities, involving, for example, the defense of challenges to Presidential actions; national security issues; benefit programs; energy policies; commercial issues such as contract disputes, banking insurance, patents, fraud, and debt collection; all manner of accident and liability claims; and criminal violations of the immigration and consumer protection laws. Each year, Division attorneys handle thousands of cases that collectively involve billions of dollars in claims and recoveries. The Division confronts significant policy issues, which often rise to constitutional dimensions, in defending and enforcing various Federal programs and actions. DOJ Civil Division coverage includes: Division Overview and Organizational Chart; Selected Cases; Radiation Exposure Compensation Program; Vaccine Injury Compensation Program; Consumer Litigation; Office of Immigration Litigation; Automated Litigation Support; Forms; Annuity Broker Declaration; Attorney Vacancies. DOJ Civil Division Press Releases 1996 through 2003. DOJ Civil Division Speeches and Testimonies 1999 through 2002. Selected Cases coverage includes Cobell v. Norton Indian Trusts case documents; Oregon thimerosal class action; Health Care Fraud; FBI Files matter; RICO action against cigarette manufacturers; Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corporation and QuorumHealth Group, Inc.; Pigford v. Glickman.

This CD-ROM has over 14,000 pages reproduced using Adobe Acrobat PDF software - allowing direct viewing on Windows and Macintosh systems, and Reader software is included. Advanced search and indexing features are built into Acrobat Reader, providing a complete full-text index. This enables the user to search for words or phrases using just one search command! The Acrobat cataloging technology adds enormous value and uncommon functionality. There is no other reference that is as fast, convenient, comprehensive, and portable!

Book Description

Society is clearly more than an assemblage of disparate entities; yet the needs, desires, and rights of the individual must be carefully balanced against those of the group. In Citizenship and Social Rights, Fred Twine analyzes the continual process of adjustment between the self and society. Emphasizing the theme of interdependence, Twine examines this relationship as evidenced in such key elements as politics, economics, and social interaction. The impact of consumerism is also considered, not only in social terms (increasing reliance), but environmental (material availability) and political (preservation versus consumerism) as well. Offering a clear and compelling assessment of subjects of debate and advancement in the field, this volume will be invaluable to scholars and students of sociology, social policy, politics, and philosophy.

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