So, there's a number of different areas that we want to focus on. And we've put that invitation out to the rest of the community, to join us, towards those ends.
DB: And here is where California leads the way, if you will, lives on the cutting edge, sets the example, for the rest of the country. Wouldn't you say that the movement, what happened [on January 10th], in Graton at the Day Labor Center there, is a part of a statewide movement, essentially to face off with Trump and the Washington crew, and to take them on, set the standard?
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers arresting suspects during a raid in 2010.
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JG: Yeah, so California for a number of years has looked very different from what Pete Wilson's California looked like in the early 90's. We look back at California, Prop. 187 in '94, and that California looked very different from the California we've really helped shift and shape, in these last few years. Things like the Trust Act, and recently the Truth Act, really have gone a long way to making sure that we curb the cooperation between the local law enforcement and immigration officials.
We don't want our local law enforcement to be deputized and do the work of immigration officials. We don't want to facilitate that in any way. And, instead, what we're ... trying to make sure is that our local law enforcement has in no way any type of cooperation, that city services don't go... that there isn't a sharing of information towards helping immigration officials.
And that's a far cry from where California used to be. And California is really leading the way in the immigrants' rights struggle, but there's still a lot of work to do. And that's what the workers here at the Graton Day Labor Center, and workers really across the state, are hoping to move forward.
DB: Now, there's a lot of fear here, though, based on the declarations of Trump and the fact that we have such an extreme right-winger who will probably be confirmed as Attorney General, who continues to repeat the biggest lie of all, that [immigrants] take American's jobs. So the battle continues.
... [Sessions] said that again [on January 10th] at the hearings, with all the smart senators, and all the intelligent people, and all their aides [present]. And there wasn't one scintilla of opposition essentially to that big lie, that you're taking all the jobs. Can you hit that for a moment?
JG: Dennis, I think that's been regularly debunked. The administration continues to put forward comments, and ideas and suggestions that are pretty far on the margins. But they continue to try to bring them forward. The workers here at the labor center and right across the state, know that they contribute to the economy.
But beyond just what they contribute to the economy, we don't want to just frame immigrants as being good for the economy. We know that immigrants are already a significant and important part of our economy, but they're not just economically important. I mean, just on a human level, on a ... basic human decency and dignity level, some of these policies that we're concerned about from the administration really violates just basic human decency, in the way that they propose to treat people.
Beyond just the economic impact the workers have -- that's important, we should always acknowledge it, and we know that immigrants do work that is important to the state and to the country -- but beyond that alone, it really is a matter of treating people with decency and dignity and fairly. So, that's really at the heart of what we're trying to drive forward, is that narrative of really having those values at the forefront.
DB: And ... Jeff Sessions, was the former attorney general, U.S. attorney in Alabama, he's a senator from Alabama. How have immigrants, undocumented workers done in Alabama? How have they been treated there?
JG: Well, Alabama is a state that really looked at Arizona to copycat SB 1070. And, it's also a state where there are immigrants that are, and have been, standing up to these anti-immigrant policies. NDLON, the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, has been organizing there. Other immigrants' rights groups have been organizing there. So there is an active resistance happening in Alabama.
Some folks maybe in the country may not be aware that there is a strong immigrant community in communities across that state. It's important to acknowledge their work. And that we're all really trying to do what we can within our own communities and in solidarity across the country. But Alabama is a state that has some very strong anti-immigrant policies that have looked to Arizona to duplicate. And we're in solidarity with the workers and the immigrant communities that are in Alabama, in that resistance against those policies.
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DB: I see. Alright, and finally, again, at the meeting it was, I guess, a strategy session, a declaration of resistance. There's a lot to be thinking about. Are you worried? Are there strategies for people to protect themselves? " We know that Obama earned the title of Deporter-in-Chief. Are there strategies in place? Are you all preparing for what could be a very, very difficult time?
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