Dear friends of the CASAs,
Nearing the end of 2007, CASA Chapulín members attended a Christmas party for families of migrants in the Mixteca, the region of Oaxaca with the highest rates of immigration to the U.S. The event was hosted by CACTUS, a grassroots organization that works against neo-liberal economic policies and promotes alternatives at home through community banking, alternative high schools and community radios. Following a video on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the resulting surge in migration since its implementation, several women, whose husbands were in the process of being deported, spoke of their experiences. The group in attendance was almost entirely women and children, which is characteristic of many entire communities where most men have headed North in search of work. The effects of migration are ubiquitous in Oaxaca. With one in every seven Mexican workers migrating to the US, the Mexican community north of the border has been called the largest Diaspora in modern history.
As the film showed, immigration in some ways has acted as a pressure valve for problems in Mexico. Rather than being forced to stay and make changes to improve poverty and corruption in Mexico, people have the (albeit extremely dangerous) possibility of leaving and earning enough to survive by going to the US. This frustration has been sometimes been echoed by people in Oaxaca. We decided to dedicate this newsletter to the reflections of CASA members wishing to engage the issue of immigration—learning about the factors that push people away from their homes in Oaxaca and Chiapas and fighting for just policies in the U.S.
Former CASA coordinator Melissa Mundt now works for Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project providing legal services to detained immigrants in Arizona. In her article, Healing the Trauma of Migration, Detention, Deportation, she describes the daily lived realities of people caught up in the witch hunt the U.S. government is unleashing against immigrants.
Before heading back to his hometown in Virginia, recent CASA volunteer Patrick Lincoln facilitated a workshop: “Consulta de Movimientos Cruzando Fronteras” aimed at consulting Oaxacans about actions being planned by the People United and other groups he works with in Virginia against the oppressive immigration policies tearing apart communities. He reflects on what he took away from this workshop in Crossing Borders.
Art teacher and CASA volunteer Tim Gibbons considers one artists’ response to immigration in his community and the experiences of the children he teaches—both to immigration and to the sculptures of migrants who’ve left a gap in their home communities. The artist, Alejandro Santiago, created 2501
sculptures of Los Ausentes—the Absent Ones—each representing an emigrant from his community.
For more information on immigration or for ideas about taking action in your community, we encourage you to take a look at these useful links:
Cross-border Organizing Among Oaxacan Immigrants
Indigenous Mexican Migration to the US
Overview of Mexico to US Migration and History
Overview of Oaxacan Migration and Role of
Remittances
Causes of Oaxacan Emigration and Organizing
Among Immigrants (Spanish)
Direct Action Border NGO- No More Deaths
Get Involved in your community!
Saludos Solidarios de México,
Colectivos de Apoyo Solidaridad y Acción
CASA Chapulín, Oaxaca
CASA de la Paz, Chiapas
