In August 2009, the Ohio State Legislature passed a bill requiring all vehicle registrations to be accompanied by an Ohio Drivers License, State ID Card or Social Security Card. The act was signed by liberal Democratic Governor Strickland. Prior to this legislative act, third parties could register vehicles if they had signed proof of Power of Attorney for the vehicle's owner. In Ohio you didn't have to have papers to register a vehicle or insure it, but you did (and do) have to be documented to get Drivers License, State ID Card or Social Security Card. Now third parties can no longer register vehicles.

In October 2009 the BMV (Bureau of Motor Vehicles) sent 47,000 letters to vehicle owners who didn't include proper documentation of citizenship. The letters informed this owners that effective 12:00 AM, December 8, 2009, their registrations would be immediately canceled, unless they came to a BMV office and presented the documents. To date only 2,000 have complied. Almost every one of our members who live in Ohio (many live in Kentucky) received these letters

We've been part of lobbying and legal effort to block enforcement, and today lost a lawsuit asking for an injunction in State Court. So, in a few hours tens of thousands of families will lose the able to drive their cars and trucks. Scanning plates for legal registration falls outside of racial profiling, probable cause or suspicious activity protections, and violation results in a $250 fine, impounding of the vehicle and most certainly an additional fine for driving without a license. What's more driving without a license can result in detention, and the very real possibility of an immigration hold and deportation. We think that the only reason people won't be arrested is that (at least for now) there's not enough jail space.

In a few hours, tens of thousands of Ohio families will lose their ability to get to work. We're having a huge meeting tomorrow of organizations and people working on immigrant rights, but it don't look good.

Sounds like a nasty little shot at the immigrant community, huh? Not to worry, here in sunny SC I'm guessing that at least 20% of the vehicles on the road at any given time are 'illegal', license suspended, no insurance, no registration. People got no choice, there is no public transportation to speak of. Nice racket for the cops too, helps to keep the county hoosegow at overflow.

This is newsworthy and remarkable (predictable and logical outcome of the political rhetoric, but still...)

We are rapidly approaching a tipping point.

Damned liberals - they are going to "make things work" unlike those "incompetent Republicans."

but this represents yet another "escalation" on yet another front in the class war.

Fuck

I never have faith that the legislative/legal routes will do any good, but fuck, once in a while, we gotta catch a break. This is one of the worst backdoor attacks on working people that I can recall. My friends and colleagues are completely screwed at mid-night.

or do they expect this will lead to stealth roundups?

I know it doesn't really matter in the here and now what the motivations are, but the severity of this crackdown seems like it has the potential to backfire on them bigtime. I mean, they cna posture all they want, but the people they're targeting are an important and sizeable part of the workforce..

Its times like this when you get really sick and fucking tired of arguing with shitbag liberals. Where is their goddamn hero on this? Oh, thats right..hes on the other side.

I think it's about pandering. Obviously, the insurance and auto industries are opposed to this legislation. Even the Hispanic Chamber opposes it.

Yeah, this is one of those times, when I'm devastated. Having a really hard time getting back to my "all we have to do is organize" mode. People are talking, seriously, about moving to another state or going back home. Man, we've put a lot of effort into this, and the bad guys, so easily, have the upper hand. Tomorrow's another day, but fuck...

I don't know, just thinking out loud. Transportation has to be maintained, I mean, driving illegally will actually work for most, but it is a serious gamble - unless the pigs will use roadblocks and checkpoints? Then there needs to be an organized carpooling system. It will take a while, though...this sucks bad. Does anyone still doubt that Liberals and "Progressives" are the most serious enemies of the working class? Heartless bastards...

Spend 5 years organizing a plant and they close it down. Whatever you can do is gonna fade, week by week. Republic Door is one in a hundred. You never lose but it sure feels like you do... Feels like it is all your fault, too.

Now, get drunk, get straight, take the coldest shower you can manage and back to it. We ain't allowed to be depressed... everybody else but not us. It comes with our pissant "political enlightenment".

I assume y'all have thought about every "out of the box" idea you can imagine: car-pool, third party registration out of state... sympathetic churches? You can donate your car in return for perpetual use - the registration goes to the church. Church law is full-of-holes. Business law is even more of a misnomer. A lease-back? The Worker's Nominal Long-Term Car Rental Company? If you have lawyers to file suit, they can do double duty. Even if you talked about it before, do it again, and again...

On the other side you gotta do propaganda and you have to demonstrate. Who will support you? Are the Ohio Labor Councils for or against? Teamsters have gotta be good for some kinda support. They have always had conspiracy theories about the use of motor vehicle laws in this way. If not one Local, then another...

How can we help? Propose and we will do our best to dispose...

Tonight, a pretty large coalition of Labor, Faith and Community groups is going to discuss possible responses. We've been talking about all those things you mention, and have formally asked the Archdiocese to operate some sort of "Worker's Nominal Long-Term Car Rental Company".

As you know, the biggest obstacle is that most group's (even Labor) initial instinct is to go the lobbying/legal redress route. We always seem to have to play those out before they will consider other strategies. I'm guessing that in the next few days, there will be some sort of vigil, if things proceed as usual. This Coalition is based in lobbying for reform, as such it is poorly suited to respond to crises like this. It's always playing catch up, like this shit or a raid isn't always just around the corner. The radical working class members are respected, and have a major voice in strategic decisions, but we just don't have the capacity for powerful responses without the more moderate members going along.

I'm pushing for action at the jails. Arrests become public record after about 12 hours, and we can monitor them from around the region. And respond, each time an arrest occurs. After a few times, it seems to me people may find ways to escalate.

Another issue is that we are a very low budget organization. Any big idea would require some one else fund it. Sometimes, we can talk them into things, sometimes we can't.

I ain't depressed, just afraid this Workers Center that is, finally, on the verge of explosive growth and impact, is going to lose its leaders, and I'm beyond pissed that it's happening in such a chicken shit, back door kind of way. Fair Fights are the American Way, my ass.

BTW, this story is the lead for all the media outlets around here, complete with all the posing politicians, making us safe from illegals. Not a word while the process developed, but now let the pandering begin in earnest.

[div class="excerpt"]
Latino group sues Ohio, says new vehicle registration rules unfair to non-citizens; state disagrees
By Reginald Fields
November 24, 2009, 5:58PM
Plain Dealer fileThe League of United Latin American Citizens sued the state of Ohio today in an effort to block the state from enforcing a new vehicle registration law that requires proof of United States residency. COLUMBUS, Ohio - A national Hispanic civil rights group on Tuesday sued Ohio to try to block the state from enforcing a new vehicle registration law that requires proof of United States residency.

The Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles in October sent letters threatening to cancel more than 47,000 vehicle registrations on Dec. 8 unless the registrants produce an Ohio driver's license, an Ohio identification card or social security number.

Before an August law change, none of those documents were required to register a vehicle in Ohio. In fact, it is still legal to register a car in a person's name even if that person does not own a driver's license.

"Although this is not outlined and they won't admit this, we feel this is an attempt by the state to enforce immigration laws," said Jason Riveiro, state director for the League of United Latin American Citizens, or LULAC.

"This is an issue concentrated on those who are undocumented here in Ohio but it is also an issue that affects those that are here on (work) visas and their families," Riveiro said.

LULAC sued Gov. Ted Strickland, the public safety director and the acting registrar for the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, arguing the new law violates an existing law that says not having a social security number is not grounds for barring vehicle registration and therefore cannot be used to cancel a registration.

The group also alleges in the suit filed in Franklin County that federal laws bar states from carrying out federal duties such as immigration enforcement. LULAC also asked for an injunction to block the state from canceling the registrations next month until the court case is completed.

Riveiro said the state is attempting to force undocumented people to leave the state by requiring them to produce a social security card, which is impossible to get.

A state public safety spokeswoman denied that charge.

"Their allegation is that we are targeting the Hispanic community with these letters that we sent out, which is absolutely untrue," said Lindsay Komlanc, public safety spokeswoman.

"We have a responsibility to administer the motor vehicle laws and that is all we are doing," she said. "And part of our responsibility is to ensure that every document we issue is verifiable."

Komlanc agreed that the new rules might disproportionately affect non-citizens but said the real goal is for Ohio to better track who holds vehicle registrations.

Another situation where the new rules will come into play is when an adult child uses power of attorney to register a vehicle for parents who might be at a winter home in Florida, Komlanc said.

Under the previous rules, the parents' social security numbers, driver's license or state identification were not needed. Under the new law, one of those three documents would be required.

In Ohio, undocumented people hire so-called runners, people with a power of attorney, to get vehicles registered for them, according to law enforcement.

"They could give us any old address and say no social security number was ever assigned. And then we would have had to issue a vehicle registration," Komlanc said. "Meanwhile, we don't have any verifiable information about the (person) or that the registration is going to the person."

Riveiro said he understands Ohio wanting to better track people with registrations but said forcing them to obtain information they can't get is wrong.

He argued the state instead should allow non-citizens -- whether undocumented or not -- to have a license and registration and thereby provide law enforcement with traceable information, when necessary.

"You have these people here who are undocumented. We are not excusing them being here," Riveiro said. "But we're saying it is smarter to allow them to have a driver's license and a registration or have them in the system."

It would be better for Ohio's economy, too, he said, because the workers and their families would stay, hold jobs, pay insurance and pay registration fees every year or two for every member of their household registered to a particular vehicle.

Komlanc said the state is prepared to cancel thousands of registrations for non-compliance on Dec. 8. As of last week, just 2,245 of the 47,457 registrations out of compliance had been updated. And more than 16,000 of the letters the state sent were returned as undeliverable due to incorrect addresses.

Ohio has over 12 million registered vehicles.

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/11/latino_group_sues_ohio_says_ne.html
[/quote]
The comments to this piece are pretty deplorable, divide and conquer writ large.

LULAC is a pretty moderate immigrant rights organization (no class analysis to speak of), but they paid the $12,000 attorney fees.

is that this is happening and no injunctions or delays will be issued?

But, they're talking about an appeal. We're gonna push for direct action tonight, and LULAC will be there outlining the legal strategy. Let you know.

Just got off the phone with one of our staff. Several of our Latino members are going to propose to the Coalition that we press the city police chief and county sheriff to go public on the issue of enforcement, and make them targets of a campaign. We show up at police head quarters and jails whenever anyone is detained. We're making the issue the very real possibility of deportation for the "crime" of invalid tags, and forcing the cops to defend it.

One thing I didn't talk about in the OP, was how this was implemented. If the new law would have made annual renewal impossible, we could have dealt with it one case at a time as peoples registrations expired. This mass cancellation of everyone at once is a conscious effort overwhelm us, and popularize racism and xenophobia.

When you have a minute...

The meeting Tues. night was different from what we expected. It was called as an informational event, but we thought the usual array of activists would show up. Instead it was 99% Latino. I counted 300 people in the main room and there were dozens in the hallways and staircases.

It was facilitated by the lawyers working on the case. My Spanish is horrible, but I can generally get most of what is said. The lawyers presentation: the injunction, that was denied, is part of a larger case that goes forward. All of our worst fears are true, people can and will be deported for invalid registrations. Already the cops are going to parking lots of known Latino apartment buildings, and towing cars. The cops can tow your car even if it's in your driveway, if the tags are visible. The lawyers are telling people not to drive, and to put their cars up on blocks, if they can be seen from the street. The BMV told them that any attempt to register a vehicle as a business will be red flagged and investigated.

The lawyers and LULAC are continuing the case, organizing Tiendas to act as car pooling hubs, will visit law enforcement in all locals and have found someone with a hidden parking lot, that will take cars for $5/month for people that want to try to wither the storm.

After they opened the meeting for questions, people did what working people always seem to do these days. They asked about ways to game the system. This massive policy/legal monster that has just bashed them over the head, must have loopholes or legal remedies that the smart guys can squeeze through. But then, one of our members, with one of his small children on each shoulder, stood up and asked: "Isn't this racism? My kids are from here. Why do they want to take me from them? They come to our country, we give them flowers. We come here they treat us like dogs...." Huge standing ovation, and the lawyers could only say "Yes, and that's why this law suit is so important."

So, the stage is set. We already had given every person at the meeting a leaflet calling for a meeting at the Workers Center to plan direct action to challenge the enforcement of the legislation. Then Alma, one of our leaders takes the mic (we got her on the agenda as the only worker speaking), and gives an eloquent, impassioned call to action. She's a restaurant worker that a couple of years ago, couldn't speak to more than 2 people. Now, she speaks at Immigrant Rights events in DC and elsewhere, and Tues. had the crowd from the time she opened her mouth. She was smokin' about the need for unity, the need to take control of the struggle, the need for collective action. They lawyers, actually, tried to take the mic from her, but she kept turning away. Big applause when she was done, and many people approached us on details for meeting on Sunday. Hopefully we'll get a crowd, and as always, they point, I follow.

keeping the lawyers away from the mics is a very good idea. As sworn officers of the court they can appeal rulings and may do a good job over time, but it is Alma's organizing that is critical at this point with the very immediate problems they are facing.

First of all gotta say this to me seems like the trend of the future and complete resistance on every front leads to further resistance on all fronts.

Wondering aloud in any other groups have come out to support what you folks are doing and do folks who are not directly involved or directly affected (yet) around where you live know what's going down?

Any student groups getting involved e.g.? Any teacher's unions?

Sounds like a fucking nightmare and I suspect the cops are licking their chops. Is there any way to gum up local city council meetings and categorically shut them down just by sheer dint of numbers attending the council meetings with comments?

In the time it takes the legal case(s)? to get through it seems many folks are going to be affected adversely what if anything can be done to get a suspension of the order in the meantime? That option has probably already been made impossible I suspect.

Actually, we've helped build quite a large immigrants rights coalition here. Probably, at least 50 organizations and it's not unusual for 100+ people to show up at meetings. We've been active in it for years. The issues with it are both questions of analysis and strategy. It gravitates toward lobbying for federal reform legislation, and overall has a very liberal analysis. Even the Unions follow this approach. There are a couple of student groups, that have been working on living wage campaigns on their campuses, that take a more radical line, and a few community groups, that are action oriented.

Everyone in the coalition is pissed by this, but most still will rely on phone calls, emails to state legislators and administrators, or encourage more legal challenges (and you're right, they take forever and usually you lose). For me any tactic that ups the pressure is just fine, but we, usually, can't get the more influential groups to go beyond a prayer vigil or the above.

If we organize an event, we can turn the liberals out (they like us, and they love seeing brown and black people involved), but they don't like strategic working class
campaigns. I still don't have sense of what our reaction will be. I'm the guy that quietly sits in the room, and asks a few questions like: Who do we want to tell about this? Who's the target? Does that help us build power? How do we escalate? etc.

Our members are pretty good, they usually want to engage other workers in the campaigns, so I'm looking forward to Sunday to see what they come up with.

We ain't allowed to be depressed... everybody else but not us.

That phrase needs to be part of the "write some shit..." statement.

Curt this reminds me so much of two years ago when ICE had the whole county staked out, fuckers prowling everywhere watching, watching every move any of us made. They waited for the first good day in the spring when everyone was out working in the fields to strike. Paramilitary teams hitting dozens of farms - targeting the most vulnerable, or the ones where there was a lot of immigrant rights activity. Local cops were harassing all of the employees, stopping them on the most ridiculous pretenses, and making blatant attempts to set up the high school and college kids from our summer crew on drug entrapment bullshit. Paramilitary shock troop bullshit lining everyone up at gunpoint and separating white from brown. Hundreds of kids at local schools with their parents suddenly disappeared. NO INTEREST from local media, no interest from local Dems and liberals, no interest from Stupak or Granholm or Stabenow, everyone in denial. Very frustrating.

Yes, the bad guys, so easily, have the upper hand, everywhere every time. That is a given.

Thanks for the reports.

http://www.democracynow.org/contact?to=1

And here:
http://www.indypendent.org/?pagename=get_involved

Can you get any quasi-national indy media to come out like the above?

Fosterism on display. You would think that after all these years, I would get over it.

On a more serious note, Trotsky had a book: Their Morals and Ours. The book was OK but I loved the title. Certainly materialists are critical of "morality"... but, criticism is not an exemption, any more than the discovery of oxygen relieves one of the need to breath. What then is our "morality"? That was really the subject matter of Chernishevsky's famous book, What is to be Done.

I used the DN form and there is an online indy site here that posts everything I send them. We also have access to some of the larger organizations mailing lists, are always welcome to write for the excellent local street paper and have a monthly column in a regional Spanish language paper.

I think it's important to get stuff out to the left-leaning allies, but my thing is getting stuff out to workers and their families. We do a lot of face to face propaganda in working class neighborhoods and shopping areas. We do a couple workshops per month at churches. We try to do events in the community, instead of in the financial district or at universities. Just trying to give you a sense of how I approach the work. Thanks, again.

This is going out to thousands of people on various mailing lists yesterday & today.

With the decision this past Monday by a magistrate in Columbus that effectively declared that undocumented immigrants are legally prohibited from owning and driving a car in Ohio, immigrant workers and their families are now under tremendous pressure to just to survive in our state.

On Tuesday we had a meeting in Su Casa with over 400 immigrants and their families to discuss the legal issues behind the court’s decision. Although there will be an appeal of the decision, that will take time. Right now we desperately need volunteers to offer support by making commitments to take “an immigrant to work.” Or of course other places, like picking up their children from school, etc. If you or someone you know can offer an hour a month, or more to help this community that is under attack please contact Su Casa (513) 761-1588 or email me at cworkers@cinci.rr.com. LULAC is establishing a date base on the needs of the immigrant community to link those needs to a data base of volunteers. We will be connecting with that data base.

The decision by Ohio DMV and the court is only part of a recent coordinated attack on the thousands of immigrants in our community. Just one example, State Senator Sykes is going to soon introduce a workers compensation bill in the state that if passed would deny any coverage for workplace injuries to undocumented immigrants, which is of course would be a boon to employers.

And yesterday at least eight immigrants that we know of were detained by Covington police and turned over to immigration authorities after trying to register their cars in Kentucky. Two other immigrants were jailed in Kenton county and charged with forged “instruments” at the DMV. One of them a U.S. citizen, and the sister of the receptionist at Su Casa, was released this afternoon on $10,000 bond. While in jail, she was threatened by Covington police that she was going to be deported and one of the officers involved in her arrest threatened that he was personally going to investigate Su Casa.

Please get involved.

Our membership at the Cincinnati Interfaith Workers Center will be meeting this Sunday at 2pm at the Workers Center to discuss our response to these attacks on immigrant workers and their families. The public is always invited to sit in on these meetings.

Don Sherman, Cincinnati Interfaith Workers Center (513) 621-5991

is there any possiblity of donating cars for this purpose? I have a full size Chevy camper van that is just sitting in the yard. Can't really sell it since since all I'd get is about $1000 and can't really drive it because it gets about 8mpg..

Kid, I think we need drivers more than vehicles. Your offer is so generous, but how to accept it is way beyond my ability.

you have a real nightmare on your hands

Tell us how we can help, if we can