Recently in Media Category

White Hot Films has released its ground-breaking documentary, American Harvest, on DVD.

Update: I missed this excellent NYTimes editorial on the McCain ad from yesterday, more below. (end update)

Both the Washington Post and the NYTimes picked up the story of McCain's Spanish-language ad directed to key Western swing states with large Latin@ populations in which the McCain campaign accuses Obama of sabotaging comprehensive immigration reform.  While both articles introduced useful information about the story, the Post's discussion was ultimately more informative. 

It's been about a year since I started dedicating myself full-time to the fight for migrant justice, particularly through the use of new mediums of communication.  If someone were to have told me one year ago that we'd be where we are today, I would say they were crazy. 

What once was a disparate band of online acquaintances, each doing their own wonderful things, has now become a force to be reckoned with in new media.  I knew that the united voices of the founders of The Sanctuary would be powerful, but never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that things would move as fast as they have.

Today, as The Sanctuary moves from it's cumbersome address of thesanctuary.soapblox.net, to the sweet and right sounding promigrant.org, I thought it would be a good time to reflect on the recent groundbreaking developments of this increasingly important new media outlet. 

Ask a Chola records a message for Lou Dobbs in this video:



The Pro-Migrant side is so much more fun than the nativist side.

Albor Ruiz at the NY Daily News has been writing about migration issues for a long time.  I only stumbled on his column recently after I had the pleasure of meeting him a few weeks ago.  Ruiz’s reporting reflects an uncommon consciousness of international issues sparked by close connection to migrant communities here in NYC.  Here are some recent examples of journalism that you are not likely to find elsewhere:

Fair medical treatment for detainees, too 

A 20-year fight for immig[rant] rights

Immigration's human rights shame is now a moral crisis

Wyclef Jean shines light on Haiti's crisis

Locals can help ease Haiti's pain from food crisis

You wouldn’t know from the comments sections of these articles that NYC is a city of immigrants!  If you happen to click over to one of Ruiz’s stories, I encourage you to leave a respectful comment in support of his reporting.  You will probably be in the minority.

[Image: NAHJ]

American Harvest, the non-partisan documentary about migrant farmworkers, American farmers, and the relationship between the immigration debate and our food, is hitting local theaters now!

Get into some air-conditioned comfort & see this important film, then get out and enjoy the season's bounty of fruits and vegetables with new eyes.

Wow, this is a first.  Joe Klein at Time Magazine's Swampland blog calls out Lou Dobbs in a post entitled "Lou Demagogue." 

I've got to wonder why the network allows Lou Dobbs to continue spewing false, inflammatory nonsense under the guise of objective journalism...I know that Dobbs brings in some serious ratings. And he is certainly entitled to his own opinion. But he is not entitled to his own facts.

Joe Klein - Swampland (25 May 2008)

The part that's a first is that the comments are actually supportive, and the thread hasn't been overrun by nativists.  We might win this fight yet. (sombrero tip to Greg Siskind).   

Dave Neiwart comments on Paul Waldman's appearance on Lou Dobbs' show last night.  As was expected, the only defense nativists have of substantive critiques of their positions is to shout, "amnesty" and "open-borders". 

If you haven't read Paul Waldman's post on The Sanctuary yet, you should. 

Paul Waldman was gracious enough to stop by The Sanctuary and write a post about it.

UPDATE: Crooks and Liars linked to The Sanctuary.  That's huge.

Immigration attorney Greg Siskind drew the ire of Lou Dobbs, who recently featured on his show an item Siskind had posted on his blog a while back.  Dobbs didn’t like Siskind’s research showing that Dobbs’ repeated claim that he supports legal immigration—a common misleading tactic of restrictionists—is false.

DOBBS: The pro-amnesty lobby at it again, telling all-out lies about my position on illegal immigration and our border security crisis. The latest example of the pro-illegal aliens' movements' lies coming in a letter to the "Wall Street Journal" today. Douglas Rivlin, director of communication for the National Immigration Forum, says quote, "research by attorney Greg Siskind suggests that 96 times Lou Dobbs talked about legal immigration on his nightly CNN show, dating back to 2001, 92 times he painted legal immigration in a negative light."

Well, Mr. Rivlin, here's a little research you might add to your own. The vast majority of Greg Siskind's analysis is based on my justified criticism of abuses in the system for temporary work visas, specifically H1B visas in nearly every case, not legal immigration.

Dobbs’ point here turns on a distinction of legal terminology between immigrant and non-immigrant visas.  Immigrant visas are green cards, non-immigrant visas are inherently temporary and include student visas, tourist visas, and H-1B visas.  One key difference between “immigrant” and “non-immigrant” visas is that the former category permits “immigrant intent,” or the objective of living in the U.S. permanently, while the latter does not.  However, Dobbs doesn’t acknowledge that the H-1B visa allows for “dual intent,” which means that an H-1B visa holder can also apply for a green card through his or her employer without violating the terms of his/her status.  Probably most H-1B visa holders do try to become permanent residents.  So the H-1B visa program is de facto one of the major sources of legal immigration.  Also, most readers or viewers are likely not aware of the immigrant/non-immigrant distinction and apply the common usage of “legal immigration” to anyone who comes to the country legally, including those who use the H-1B program.