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1
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, During the week of April 17, 2006, the federal
3 government conducted a nationwide raid and arrested over 1,000
4 undocumented employees of IFCO Systems of North America, a
5 crate and pallet manufacturer headquartered in Houston, Texas;
6 and
 
7     WHEREAS, The raid, said to be the largest ever worksite
8 enforcement operation against a single employer, consisted of
9 searches and warrant executions on 40 work plants in cities
10 encompassing 26 states; and
 
11     WHEREAS, Approximately 26 people were arrested in the
12 company's Chicago facility; and
 
13     WHEREAS, This operation is a component of Homeland Security
14 Secretary Michael Chertoff's stated campaign to target
15 employers that hire undocumented workers; and
 
16     WHEREAS, Indicating that the campaign targets employers is
17 disingenuous when those who are arrested and face deportation
18 are the 1,187 employees; and
 
19     WHEREAS, The federal government's legal authority to
20 undertake such actions against immigrant communities does not
21 diminish the nefarious intent and chilling effect produced
22 within those communities; and
 
23     WHEREAS, The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's
24 announcement of these raids comes on the heels of a national
25 news story citing pressure being mounted upon the United States
26 to apologize for the forced exodus of Mexicans and
27 Mexican-Americans during the 1930's; and
 
28     WHEREAS, The government-orchestrated systematic

 

 

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1 deportations of the 1930's resulted in the forcible removal of
2 about 2 million people of Mexican ancestry, approximately 1.2
3 million of whom were U.S. born; and
 
4     WHEREAS, The inextricable link between immigrants and the
5 economic foundation of the country we live in today had been
6 forged by the 1920's, with immigrants present and sharecropping
7 in California, Texas, and Louisiana, harvesting sugar beets in
8 Montana and Minnesota, laying railroad tracks in Kansas, mining
9 coal in Utah and Oklahoma, packing meat in Chicago, and
10 assembling cars in Detroit; and
 
11     WHEREAS, The raids that were conducted in the 1930's had
12 the acknowledged effect of coercing thousands of individuals,
13 in addition to those directly deported, to leave the country in
14 the face of a threatening and violent environment; and
 
15     WHEREAS, On January 1, 2006, California enacted the
16 "Apology Act for the 1930's Mexican Repatriation Program"; and
 
17     WHEREAS, In so doing, California acknowledged that the
18 activities of the 1930's were "fundamental violations" of
19 "basic civil liberties and constitutional rights"; and
 
20     WHEREAS, Like the raids of April 2006, those staged during
21 the 1930's were well-publicized events in which individuals,
22 documented or not, were rounded up and detained and subject to
23 aggressive interrogation; and
 
24     WHEREAS, In the aftermath of the April 2006 raids, local
25 media has issued reports of individuals in immigrant
26 communities keeping their children home from school, not going
27 to work, not patronizing local businesses, and not leaving
28 their homes; and
 
29     WHEREAS, These raids took place in the midst of vigorous

 

 

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1 nationwide debate on immigration laws and policies that has
2 culminated in nationwide demonstrations, lobbying efforts, and
3 legislative activity in the United States Congress; and
 
4     WHEREAS, Although the raids can be said to lawfully target
5 illegal immigrants for removal, their effect is to create an
6 environment that is ripe for intimidation, harassment, and
7 racial profiling; and
 
8     WHEREAS, The State of Illinois is currently home to over
9 1.4 million immigrants; and
 
10     WHEREAS, Applauding the widespread condemnation of the
11 terrorizing repatriation efforts of the 1930's while condoning
12 how the Department of Homeland Security has conducted its
13 recent raids amounts to denouncing history as we repeat it;
14 therefore, be it
 
15     RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
16 NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE
17 SENATE CONCURRING HEREIN, that that we reject any practice that
18 fosters an undue fear of persecution among the immigrant
19 community in the State; and be it further
 
20     RESOLVED, That we urge the Department of Homeland Security
21 and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to issue a
22 moratorium on immigration raids until our national elected
23 officials reach an accord on the nation's immigration policy so
24 as to allow such a policy to emerge from an environment of good
25 faith discourse unencumbered by fear; and be it further
 
26     RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
27 presented to Senator Barack Obama and Senator Richard Durbin.