Opinion Editorial from the Fort Collins Coloradaon

Opinion Editorial from the Fort Collins Coloradaon

by Eric Levine

Glen Colton’s Nov. 5 column, in which he connects and blames everything from global warming and local growth to national immigration rates deserves comment.
Concerning global population, I can readily accept the proposition that given a small enough human population, our problems are solvable, while given rapid and never ending growth, few are.
However, the more Colton gets on his one problem one solution mantra, the greater his error. He ticks off problems such as drought, oil prices, wildfires and climate damage, implying they will all be solved only by lowering national immigration rates.
If the threat of climate disaster has taught us anything, it is that we are truly one planet, one species and one economy. Our resource management, pollution, consumption, economies, communicable diseases, climate change, and habitat loss do have one thing in common, but it is not what Colton suggests. Their true commonality is that they are all international problems.
Because his worldview stops at our borders, Colton confuses real population growth with population distribution; two very different animals. Surely China’s burgeoning economic tidal wave will soon greatly affect our climate, environmental quality, and resources more than anything he’s named. This is a real elephant we must address. So are issues of fair trade policies with the Third World, gross inequities caused by international corporatism, biosphere/habitat damage and extinction, to name several.
Some closed border advocates cynically proclaim that once third world economic refugees enter the United States, their consumption increases, thus exacerbating worldwide resource shortages. There are many mistakes in this flawed reasoning.
> U.S./world trade policies largely by and for rich nations have caused many Third World disasters, and produced many of the impoverished refuges wishing to come here.
> If immigrants to the United States increase consumption, what does that say about the problems our per capita consumption causes?
> Instead of limiting migration here, couldn’t we solve over consumption just as well by “exporting” our citizens to Third World countries, say via a lottery?
> If we use the argument that Third World people coming here damage our planet by adopting our consumption, doesn’t that mean we must also forever deny them our level of development and a decent lifestyle in their own countries?
> Why wouldn’t accepting more residents in Colorado’s West Slope communities be preferable to the destruction of our planet’s rainforests via desperate slash and burn farming?
There are serious problems in the Front Range, but they are caused by growth concentrations exhausting our infrastructure and going well beyond optimum or even affordable economies of scale. It seems we never assess local growth’s true impacts by acknowledging new growth after a point can cost much more. Never addressing growth’s true rising costs means current residents end up paying more taxes to subsidize new residents, even as our community services and lifestyles decline.
Different problems with different solutions. Let’s stop simplistically lumping them together.


Eric Levine lives in Fort Collins and has been working for solutions to environmental problems for more than two decades.

Focus of CBC is uniting by faith, service

Published in the Greeley Tribune
Irma Saenz
November 6, 2007

In response to the letter sent to Greeley residents on Oct. 12, Congregations Building Community refuses to engage in the Colorado Alliance for a Secure America's cheap propaganda tactics.

CBC is not funding anyone's political campaign, nor are we affiliated with any political party. Our focus is in uniting our community by means of faith and social ministry.

CBC did not send Mayor Tom Selders to Washington, D.C., with a "pro-amnesty" agenda, nor did we provide him a script. He presented a statement of the impact of the Dec. 12 ICE raids in our community. He based his report on factual information, not personal opinion.

As the local CBC, through collective work we believe that people will learn to appreciate the cultural richness of each other by transforming faith into action. We empower residents to take action and value safe, clean and prosperous communities. We follow the church's social teaching, which proclaims that "human life is sacred and that the dignity of the human person is the foundation of a moral vision for society."

Colorado Alliance for a Secure America is resorting to divisive political activity to promote its anti-immigrant agenda. The letter it sent to Greeley voters focuses on the myths that feed the anti-immigrant climate in Greeley.

We encourage Greeley residents to look at the facts and not the myths of immigration. Immigrants do not take the jobs of American citizens; instead, they leave millions of dollars of unclaimed federal, state and local taxes.

According to the Urban Institute, National Academy of Sciences and the Social Security Administration, immigrants pay between $90 million and $140 million a year in taxes. Also, the Urban Institute has found that the total immigrants' tax payments make up about $20 million to $30 million more than they use in public services.

CBC's main focus is to be tolerant and respectful of cultural differences in the Greeley community. We do not promote discrimination. Unity and social justice are our main concerns.

Irma Saenz of Evans is a member of Congregations Building Community in Greeley.

Link to original article for comments: http://www.greeleytrib.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007111060137#commentbox

Call, Walk In For DREAMS

We all have DREAMS and ambitions that we strive for. Millions of teens in the United States are denied the opportunity and the right to pursue theirs.

They are Americans. All that they lack is one piece of paper to be recognized as such.

A paper that would allow them to pursue citizenship and a future here through going to college or serving in the military, the DREAM Act. Many of us do not agree with the military recruitment going on. Let your senator know you prefer a community service path

Tomorrow the Senate will vote on the DREAM ACT.
Call your senators over and over and tell them that you support a citizenship path for youth that includes college and community service options. Tell them you oppose the military service "option".

Tomorrow, Denver Public Schools has a day off. Students from all over the district will walk in to Auraria Campus to make a statement about how much they want the opportunity for an education and to contribute to our State and our Country.
Walk In with them.

Senators
# Call Senator Salazar: (202) 224-5852
# Call Senator Allard: (202) 224-5941
Email your Senators

WALK-IN: Make the DREAM Act a REALITY Now!
Wednesday, October 24 at 10am
Auraria Flagpole, Denver (Colfax and Speer)
Let's walk IN to the college campus and show others that we have the right to an education. We will then march to SENATOR KEN SALAZAR's office to demand that he be a cosponsor of the DREAM Act and make the DREAM Act a reality now!

Detention to Expand

Being in the detention business has always been profitable. This has become particularly true for those detaining immigrants. The Geo ICE facility in Aurora will be expanding from 400 beds to 1100 at the end of this year and is projected to generate $30 million in revenue annually. 1

Meanwhile, a recent report issued by the Government Accountability Office states that Immigration officials are not exercising discretion in who they deport. The GAO states that the officials are arresting and deporting far more immigrants whose only offense is being here without documentation than those who have been convicted of crimes. 2,3

More beds won't encourage agents to use greater discretion. It will instead allow them to continue rounding up and separating families.

1 BizJournal
2http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d0867.pdf
3http://www.gao.gov/docsearch/abstract.php?rptno=GAO-08-67

Elvira, Liliana , Many More Families

As Elvira Arellano tirelessly organizes in Mexico after her deportation (after she left sanctuary), Liliana and her family have taken refuge in a different church. Across the country the New Sanctuary Movement is gaining traction.

Those who have taken sanctuary among us tell us the stories of so many other families. Every family a story of work and school, celebrations and sorrows. Every time I see their faces I think of what the current immigration system tries to take from my neighbors and friends; dignity, safety, respect, the right to work and family.

Each time I see a photo of Elvira or Liliana and their families I know that the system has not been successful. They demonstrate the dignity of people who have had enough, the safety of the love of their families, faiths and communities, the respect of all those working for a just world, and the right to be with their families.