Immigration
As Oakland residents stepped out Thursday to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, the Oakland City Center and the band Driving with Fergus helped to kick things off in true Irish style.
More than one hundred people, many wearing shirts with union logos printed on them, convened at the Asian Cultural Center in downtown Oakland on Saturday morning to listen to a panel discuss many of the problems encountered by immigrant laborers, particularly those who are undocumented.
With all eyes fixed on the North African nation, two Egyptian-born scholars drew a riveted audience at Mills College in Oakland on Wednesday night at an event dedicated to discussing the revolution’s finer points.
Twenty years ago the United Nations General Assembly accepted a new international agreement that sought the safety and security of migrants worldwide—the Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. This weekend, thousands of people globally will celebrate International Migrants Day, December 18, and speak out for the rights of migrants.
Oakland mayor-elect Jean Quan, Assemblymember Sandre Swanson, and other local leaders joined a handful of Oakland students on the steps of City Hall on Thursday afternoon to urge Congress to pass the federal DREAM Act, which would give the children of illegal immigrants a pathway to citizenship.
Oakland has become a popular destination for the estimated 20,000 Ethiopian and Eritreans living in the Bay Area, according to the Ethiopian Community Center in Oakland. The East Africans have been steadily migrating to the Bay Area since the late 1980s and early 1990s, seeking refuge from the brutal military dictatorship of then Ethiopian leader Mengistu Haile Mariam. But now, the community is flocking to the area on a more positive note. Drawn to the city for its temperate climate, reminiscent of East Africa, and its food-centric culture, many Ethiopian and Eritrians have settled in North Oakland—bringing the flavor and color of their customs and cuisine with them.
Under current law, illegal immigrants are not eligible for state administered student aid or in-state tuition, making college seem out of reach for undocumented immigrant youth. But that could change if the state passes the DREAM Act.
Many of Oakland’s Ethiopian immigrants and their families and friends joined the Berkeley festivities Sunday for Enkutatash, an Ethiopian celebration of the new year.
As thousands of people took to the streets of Phoenix to protest Arizona’s strict new immigration enforcement law, S.B. 1070, a crowd rallied at Oakland’s Fruitvale Plaza on Saturday in a show of solidarity.