CARIBBEAN TODAY


 N EWS ______________


C8rbe-* t Caribbean not pulling its weight on U.S.

caribo a t immigration reform Irwin Claire


r T e current debate over
 immigration reform in the
 -1 United States has stirred
 mixed feelings among
 Americans and non-US. citi-
 zens. Irwin Claire, co-director of
 Cairibbeain Immigration Services
 in Queens, New York, is among
 those who have weighed in.
 Caribbean Today's Managing
 Editor Gordon Williams spoke
 with Claire two days after his
presentation on the issue at a
community forum in
Phiihidellpla, Pennsylvania late
last month based on
the theme "Immigration Reform
and The Caribb'eai
( ..,ii..,..,,,i '. The following
is an edited version of that inter-
view.

Caribbean Today: The forum
must have taken on added sig-
nificance considering what is
going on with the immigration
issue in the U.S. What kind of
response was there to the
forum and what came out of it?

Irwin Claire: The response
was great. I was one of maybe
two speakers who might have
spoken on immigration...
We had a fantastic turnout.
Sometimes you have these
forums which are too top-


heavy with speakers, and so
speakers don't get an opportu-
nity, not only to speak on an
issue or a point, but they start
dropping sound-bites. That can
be very dangerous, when peo-
ple hear piece of the
story and it is not properly
explained. So that is something
that we run afoul of at forums
every year, when it becomes
top-heavy with flowery stuff,
feel good stuff.
 I made the point in my
presentation, as far as where
we are with immigration, what
we need to do. My challenge to
the group that evening was to
the clergy, because here in
Philadelphia it is a very power-
ful group. Community-based
organizations also need to rec-
ognize that they need to start
making sure that the
Caribbean face is showing up
in the pictures and in the rallies
that are being held, as far as
the immigration rallies,
because for many people who
are our friends, when they look
at the pictures and don't see
our pictures they don't believe
that we have a problem too.
C.T.: Why is that so?


a mentality of being secretive
and we (Caribbean people) are
always busily working...
It is unfortunate. There are
many among us who have
worked diligently, but not in
the numbers. When you
look at Eastern Parkway (in
Brooklyn, N.Y. during the
annual West Indian Labor
Day parade) there's three
million people, yet we can't full
10 buses, when you give them
free seats, to go to Washington
(to immigration rallies).

C.T.: Did you sense that there
is urgency, coming out of the
community forum, with what is
going on with the immigration
situation now? Is there an
awakening or is it still laid
back?

E.C.: There is an awakening (in
the Caribbean community).
The problem is though is that
the people who need it most
are not the ones coming out.

C.T.: Meaning?

E.C.: Meaning it is probably
the persons who don't see


 (immigration reform) as
E.C.: Complacency. The fact of urgent. Meaning the persons
the matter is that we have who are undocumented, they


are not the ones coming out.
They are not coming out in the
numbers we need them to
come out, because for some
reason they are afraid...
although they are the first ones
to take their money
to some bogey man who prom-
ises them some kind of (immi-
gration) benefit. As a
Caribbean community we are
independently rich and collec-
tively poor. Rich in the fact
that we can stand up and show
the physical wealth, rich in the
fact that we have the collateral
to demonstrate that we are a
force, but collectively it doesn't
make any sense.

C.T.: Coming out of the forum,
did you get the sense that there
is any type of turning point,
also in your dealings in New
York, from a Caribbean stand-
point?

E.C.: I think (Caribbean) peo-
ple need just to reiterate that
we have an issue. I don't
believe that we came out (of
the forum) with any kind of
platform that we are going to
go out and marshall people.
No, I don't think we achieved
that.


C.T.: What is
the sense you
get, in such a
large
Caribbean
community as
New York,
what is the
sense you get Claire
among the
undocumented? Is there a
heightened sense of fear (over
upcoming immigration reform?

E.C.: Yes, there is a heightened
sense of fear when you realize
that the (U.S.) Department of
Homeland Security has been
doing some work site raids,
that they made public, when
you see these enforcement
measures that have been taking
place that are being made pub-
lic, when you see that you can't
get driver's license because
(of) the rule changes, when you
see that employers are now
checking more into certain
situations.
 Yeah, there is fear. But
then people realize they have
to survive, they're survivalists
and that is the irony. They will
make sacrifices and expose
111LII.h IL S to certain situations

(CONTINUED ON PAGE 11)


May 2006