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The
National Immigration Forum
and the
Mexican American Legal Defense and
Educational Fund (MALDEF) each have compiled a toolkit for
advocates to use in countering efforts by immigration restrictionists to
get city and other local governments to enact ordinances intended to
penalize business owners, landlords, and service workers who may have
interactions with undocumented immigrants and, in this way, to drive
undocumented people away.
The Forum's toolkit contains talking points — a list of
distortions or falsehoods ("myths") on which restrictionists base their
calls for anti-immigrant ordinances, each followed by facts and details
that counter the myths. For example, one myth is that "Undocumented
immigrants contribute to higher crime rates." In fact, however,
"Empirical analysis shows that the incarceration rate of young
foreign-born males is lower than their native-born counterparts." This
section of the tool kit then goes on to support this broader statement
of fact with specific, detailed evidence.
The Forum's toolkit also suggests that local advocates seek to
collaborate with larger groups that are already challenging the efforts
of restrictionists, that they research local immigration facts, and that
they draft and promote local ordinances and resolutions that are
constructive. It also lists resources such as news articles, legal
analyses, and helpful reports on immigrant- and immigration-related
research. The tool kit is available on the
Forum's website (there it is
titled "Toolkit for Responding to Local Anti-Immigrant Ordinances") or
by requesting it from Forum Senior Policy Associate
Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia.
MALDEF's toolkit consists of practical legal tools, including
sample letters, a memorandum analyzing the legal and policy issues
raised by local anti-immigrant ordinances, and talking points on the
business, employment, contract, "English-only," and housing provisions
of such ordinances. MALDEF's toolkit is available on the "Publications" page of
its website; the first item in the 6-document kit is a file named
"Hazelton City Council letter.pdf."
On the "Resources" page of
its website, the National Immigrant Solidarity Network has made
available an "Overview of Anti-Immigrant Ordinances with Maps," prepared
by the Center for Community Change. The seven documents posted there
include maps showing where proposed ordinances have failed and passed,
where proposals are pending, and where localities have passed
immigrant-friendly resolutions.
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