Teresa Watanabe and Anna Gorman of the Los Angeles Times offer "Immigrant advocates gear up". Several pro-illegal immigration groups have crafted a radical plan called the "Unity Blueprint for Immigration Reform". The "reporters" fail to note that one of the leaders behind the effort - Peter Schey of the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law - has at least three links to the Mexican government and that one of the other groups involved - CHIRLA - has allegedly collaborated with that government. Others involved include LULAC, Nativo Lopez, and the AFL-CIO.

Please write readers.rep *at* latimes.com and suggest they include such material facts in future reports. The Project Director of the UCLA Downtown Labor Center (labor.ucla.edu/dlc) is also an endorser; let's ask them what they think about that: chancellor *at* conet.ucla.edu

As for the "blueprint", it's even worse than might be imagined. You can see it here: mapa.org/_03_07/reform.pdf

First of all, one wonders why the guy in the upper right is grimacing, and why he has his hand in that position. Was he holding a flag that they airbrushed out?

Then, we get to their demands. Take a deep breath:
- Entrenching anchor babies. Anyone who had a child here could petition for citizenship; no need to wait until the child is 21.
- Make illegal aliens a protected class under civil rights law.
- Legalize everyone except those who've committed "serious crimes".
- Legalize everyone under TPS status.
- Raise the numbers of visas to match labor needs based on "reliable economic indicators".
- No expansion of "guest" worker plans.
- No more time-based ban on those who've entered illegally or overstayed their visas.
- No U.S. military on the border.
- "Make enforcement of laws to prevent vigilantism a priority and monitor vigilante activity."
- "Make border enforcement solely a federal function."
- "Repeal the Secure Fence Act of 2006 in its entirety."
- "Enact legislation prohibiting mass non-individualized detentions of citizens and immigrants at work sites and elsewhere." (no more raids like the recent show raids)
- "Repeal the recent law that bars States from issuing drivers licenses to undocumented immigrant drivers."

There's much more, but including all their demands would take up too much space. After reading this, I have to wonder whether they're serious or not, since these demands are extremely radical and could have been written by the Mexican government itself. For all we know, they indeed had input into the process. Even one of the endorsers admits the ideas are extreme:

"Why shouldn't we ask for everything?" said Pablo Alvarado, president of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. "These are our dreams."

And we see them pointing to examples of recent propaganda:

Activists said the blueprint reflected consistent academic research showing that immigration is good for America, that current visa levels are artificially low and that a large underclass of illegal migrants serves no one except unscrupulous employers who exploit them. They acknowledged that many of the provisions would be seen as politically unrealistic but said they expressed their highest hopes for immigration reform.

In addition to Schey and Alvarado, Nativo Lopez of the Mexican American Political Association has some involvement. Their campaign manager is Clarissa Martinez De Castro. And, while I thought they were at least somewhat rational:

The blueprint has won the backing of the AFL-CIO and other major labor unions by rejecting guest workers in favor of more permanent visas for foreign laborers, subject to stronger workplace protections and stricter tests on whether Americans are available for those jobs.

Others signing it are:

* Maria Elena Durazo
Executive Secretary-Treasurer, Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO

* Father Richard Estrada
Our Lady Queen of Angels, Los Angeles

* Antonio Gonzalez
President, William C. Velasquez Institute

* Dolores Huerta
President, Dolores Huerta Foundation & Co-Founder of the United Farmworkers Union

* Victor Narro
Project Director, UCLA Downtown Labor Center

* Rosa Rosales
National President, League of United Latin American Citizens

* Angelica Salas
Executive Director, Coalition for Humane Immigrants Rights of Los Angeles

* Angela Sanbrano
Executive Director, Central American Resource Center (Los Angeles) and President of the National Alliance of Latin American and Caribbean Communities

Of interest also is how all these groups are linked together:

The draft blueprint developed at the initial meeting was further considered and improved upon following discussion at the National Latino Leadership Summit on Immigration Policy held in Phoenix on February 3, 2007. That meeting was jointly convened by the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law (CHRCL), the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF), the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), the William Velasquez Institute (WCVI), the Mexican American Political Association (MAPA), the National Alliance of Latin American and Caribbean Communities (NALACC), and the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA). The summit meeting was attended by approximately fifty organizations from around the country involved in immigration reform work... The draft blueprint was next considered and improved upon following discussion at a meeting of the Border Human Rights Working Group in San Antonio, Texas, on February 12-13, 2007. The Border Human Rights Working Group is a collaborative project of over fifty NGOs, CBOs, legal services providers, and faith-based organizations working along the border in California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas.