Re: Catch the Immigrant Event at UC Davis

Greetings College Republicans,

I am writing to express my concern over an event that your group will be
organizing today on the UC Davis campus.

It appears that rather than encouraging debate about the ongoing issues in
this country around immigration, your organization is engaging in a "game"
that does more to insult and cast blame then to resolve our pending issues.

The difference with your "game" and the events that the students at UC Davis
have planned for over several months now to celebrate La Raza Cultural Week
is that their events are meant to encourage debate, inspire thought and
celebrate culture.

I think it is important to critically analyze what we are seeing and hearing
and understand that the issue is much more complicated than you would make it seem (ie, ICE does not have their hands tied, immigrants are not granted amnesty everyday, and we are all not the victims of a blind government eye).  Rather, while
building the US empire, the US has drained all other economies of their
resources and ability to sustain themselves.  The US needs the cheap labor
to sustain its economy and you are not willing to recognize that the system
that is currently in place exists because the US created it.

Think of the billions of dollars that our economy saves on cheap labor...
when you eat a salad or drink a glass of wine it is the hands of cheap labor
that put that on your table.  We cannot say illegal immigration is bad on
the one hand and on the other hand accept the fruits of its bounty.  If
immigrants are here working your fields, cleaning your offices, taking care
of your children, then you need to ask yourself, what is really going on?
Is it really as simple as the border patrol has its hands tied, or are there
more underlying issues that we will not take a look at and consider
addressing because it is much easier to point fingers at those who do not
have any power to defend themselves.

Apparently you are unaware of the countless contributions that immigrants
make and continue to make to our country.  Apparently you are too far
removed from the immigrant experience to be concerned about the increased
violence against immigrants.  When your grandparents and great-grandparents
came to this country searching for a better opportunity it was the right
thing to do and nobody asked them for papers.

The reality is, and even native people will tell you, that we are all
migrants.  We are all seeking better opportunities for our children and for
their children.

The anti-immigrant propaganda has painted a picture of the "illegal
immigrant problem" and the person in that picture is a brown person of
Mexican or Latina/Latino descent.  This is also not accurate.  Immigrants
are coming from all over the world to the US because of US policies to
expand corporate profits into every corner of the globe.

So while you may say that this is not racism, your activity is really just
that.  This is just like when the Minutemen show up to Home Depot in
Sacramento shouting at every Brown person that passes by, this is not an
action that seeks to find a solution to the problem.  Brown people are the
scapegoats that are being used to drive the attention away from the real
issues.  Why not talk about the fact that those same Brown immigrants from
El Salvador and Nicaragua are fighting in our war?  Why not talk about how
they are good enough to die for us but not good enough to be treated with
respect in this country.  We could discuss these inconsistencies for days,
but I very much feel that you may not be in the frame of mind to discuss
them and would prefer to engage these issues on a very surface level.

So lets get back to the event in question... When you have an event like
this one on campus, you are offending the Brown students at the school that
have every right to be there, just like you do.

The issue you should be posing is NOT why are there so many undocumented
immigrants in my country, the question is how do we resolve this issue in a
fair and just manner.  It is just as the issue should not be seen as Brown
students are taking all the slots in my college or law school, but more, why
are there so little slots available in public school?  Everyone should be
afforded the right to go to college.  The reality is that if you don't start
raising concerns over the cost of public education, more students from poor
backgrounds, black, white, and all in between will not be able to attend
college.

We should be working together to find solutions to the real problems and not
attacking each other.

I respect your willingness to organize around a real issue and would suggest
that you use that energy in a more productive manner to find solutions to
the overwhelming problems that have been created by our growing nation.

Respectfully,
Mercedes V. Castillo
National Vice President,
National Lawyers Guild
UC Davis Law School, King Hall Alumni 2006