To give you a glimpse into the important ongoing work of our organization, below is a speech that our Executive Director, Raquel E. Batista, made recently to members of our community. The speech encompasses the current state of immigration our immigrant communties face and the work necessary to address these issues.

Dominican Women’s Development Center Gala
Key Note Speech

"Good Evening.

First, thank you Dominican Women’s Development Center in particular Rosita Romero and the Board of Directors for honoring me with the task of addressing you tonight.

Tonight’s theme is “Huellas de Luchas: We are here to Stay.”  As we celebrate the wonderful accomplishments of the Dominican Women’s Development Center and the honorees, Congressman Jose Serrano, Dr. Amarillis Jacobo and Mimi Minier, we must take the time to assess where we are at and what will come.  Sadly, there is a movement in the United States to assure that we don’t stay. As Congressman Serrano will tell you, the conservative right has taken on the issue of immigration to play with the fear of the American people.  The media has been smart in pitting one group against another, citizens v. non-citizen, white vs. brown/black, black vs immigrant, rich v. poor, poor v. poor.  Most recently in the news, it was reported how an illegal immigrant killed a black police officer in Houston.  The chief of police, a black man, spoke on National T.V.  advocating on why a wall must be built between the United States and Mexico, why we need to stop the flow of illegal immigration and deport illegal aliens AND he also discussed the importance of increasing enforcement, put more police on the streets and give the authority to local police to arrest undocumented immigrants. 

Ladies and Gentlemen, if we are here to stay, we can not stay silent.  This is not only about the border between U.S. and Mexico.  This is about the worlds relationship with the United States including the Dominican Republic.  As mid-term congressional elections are underway, WE in this room, the immigrant rights movement must raise our demands to the next level. We need just immigration laws that preserve our families, and give promise to a bright future. 

For many Dominicans, el sueno, is to return back to one’s home country.  Many work their fingers to the bone, send all the pretty stuff they buy here back home, and send nearly 1/3 of their earnings back home.  Some focus all of there energies here with no thought of ever returning but still do not become active participants in the US. And then there is the critical mass of people that have balance their lives between here and there and are civically engaged both here and there.  

What we are up against requires that we all be on the same page….and that means that we must all understand that we are here to stay.  The Dominican Women’s Development Center has articulated this vision and has worked actively in New York City and Puerto Rico on issues of immigration, domestic violence, health and sexuality.  The center understands that by working in developing leadership that the legacy of the center will continue and that the struggle for dignity and respect will be advanced. 

Dominican Republic is one of the top twenty countries of birth admitted into the United States.  The Dominican community is the fourth largest Latino group in the United States after Mexicans, Puerto Ricans and Cubans. In NYC Dominicans make up 27% of all Latino non-citizens in New York City, the largest Latino non-citizen group in New York City.  Furthermore, 54% of all Dominican non-citizens in the United States reside in New York City with a major concentration living in Manhattan, primarily in Washington Heights, Inwood, Hamilton Heights and the western section of the Bronx. In addition, there are conservately speaking about 300,000 undocumented Dominican immigrants. 

Comprehensive immigration reform must be passed that includes

- a real path to citizenship,
- end to family petition backlogs,
- family reunification
- no more deportation
- "No" to the wall between the U.S. and Mexico
- "No" to Employer Sanctions and "yes" to real worker protections. 

The current proposals in Congress are not real legalization bills. They are deportation bills that, using the language of “enforcement,” promise to tear apart our families and communities. Since 1996, over 1.5 million people have been deported.  Of that over 30,000 Dominicans have been deported.  Women are being left behind with children, all alone to fend for themselves. When a person, most of the time a man, is deported, they return to a country that continues to treat them as criminals and give them no real opportunity for a future.

Deportation causes more heartache and economic burdens.  Deportation is also stripping our community from political power.  The majority of Dominican being deported are legal permanent residents that if it were not for the law would be able to become citizens and vote.  While more resources are being placed into enforcement (which is code word for detention and deportation), fewer resources are placed into housing, health care and education.

If the proposals become law, the numbers of people placed into detention and deportation proceedings would skyrocket. When you hear enforcement at the border, this also means enforcement at the airports, and more detention centers and more deportations.  Our community, the Dominican community will be absolutely devastated.

The outcome of the immigration debate will forever affect the future of our communities both in the United States and abroad.  As the Right fights for so-called “law and order” and the protection of the borders,   our families live in a perpetual state of instability and insecurity.  At the center of this are real issues around race, class, the future “face of America,” and who will (or won’t) be in power. 

So what do we do:

(1) We have an obligation to build and strengthen our institutions like the Dominican Women’s Development Center.  We must put our money were our mouth is.  We all must have a vision to make our institutions sustainable.

(2) We must organize, articulate and promote OUR agenda together.  We cannot be scared. The agenda that is being launched against our communities is based on fear and greed.  It is not based on creating a peaceful and secure future for all, it is to build a peaceful and secure future for some.  The bigger fight is for the survival of our communities. This requires us to plan for future, strategize, strategize, strategize.

(3) We must have a commitment to create and support new leadership at all levels of society amongst our youth, women, men, workers, professionals, and educators.  We have to get on the bus, go to Washington D.C, Albany, City Hall, get on a plane and go to el Palacio Nacional.

(4) If we believe that we are here to stay, then we must take ownership of all that is America, including its’ decision-making bodies, media, schools, and property.  Everybody who is eligible to become should become a citizen.  Everyone who is a citizen must register to vote and go out and vote.  Nobody else can do that for us but us.

(5) We must build coalitions.  We must build coalition within and without our community.  We cannot do this alone. 

I would like to invite you all to an immigrant rights march and rally on October 21, 2006 in Union Square at 1:30 p.m. 

The Dominican community has come a long way in the last 30 years and we in this room must continue to build and expand on that work.  Everyone of us has a role to play in creating power, in creating a just society. 

Thank so much for your time. Thank you to the Dominican Women’s Development Center for your hard work, energy, passion, and vision.  Vamos seguir en la lucha….

Read a speech by our Executive Director, Raquel Batista given before the DWDC.

Board of Directors

Staff