Tucson Protection Network Coalition Joins the National Fast Campaign "Not One More"

(En español sigue abajo)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 8, 2013

CONTACT: (939) 579-3534

Protection.Network.Coalition@gmail.com 

Tucson Protection Network Coalition Joins the National Fast Campaign "Not One More"

Tucson, Arizona - As the House of Representatives proceeds to discuss the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill (CIR) and moves forward with militarization policies that will continue to harm border communities, several members of our community will begin a fast from Tuesday July 16th through Saturday July 20th in Tucson, Arizona. The Protection Network Coalition's goal is to highlight how the immigration raids and deportations continue to separate families across the country.

"We fast in solidarity with all of those who are facing deportation proceedings, all of those who have been separated from their families and all of those who have been ripped apart from their communities. We fast to say not one more deportation," declares Eleazar Castellanos, a 46 year-old community leader at the Southside Worker Center and a fasting participant. The group's spiritual fast is one of a series of travelling fasts that have been taking place nationwide. Communities in California, Oregon, New York and Florida have also participated in the national fast. The campaign is expected to end in Washington, D.C. during the last week of July.

The Not One More fast aims to have national and local impact. On a national level, the community members who will be fasting are calling on President Obama to immediately suspend deportations. They are also demanding Congress to pass an immigration reform that is inclusive of all 11 million undocumented people in the United States, and to stop the militarization of the US-Mexico border.

On a local level, the Tucson community demands local law enforcement to stop collaborating with immigration law enforcement. Police and Border Patrol collaboration continues to divide families and terrorize communities in Tucson and across the country on a daily basis.

A Press Conference at Southside Presbyterian Church is scheduled for July 16th at 11:00 AM (at 317 W. 23rd St.) and will be the starting point of the week's activities and events.

For a soon-to-be-released list of daily activities in Tucson July 16-20, go to: www.facebook.com/events/138174623048100/?fref=ts 

More information on the National Fast available at: www.notonemoredeportation.com

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PARA DIFUSION INMEDIATA

8 de Julio de 2013

Contacto: (939) 579-3534

Protection.Network.Coalition@gmail.com 

La Coalición de Redes de Protección de Tucson se une al Ayuno Nacional: Ni Una Deportación Más

Tucson, Arizona - Mientras la Cámara de Representantes continua debatiendo el proyecto de ley de la Reforma Migratoria y avanzan con políticas de militarización anti-migrantes que continuaran dañando y destruyendo nuestra comunidad, varios miembros de la comunidad de Tucson estarán llevando a cabo una jornada de ayuno que comenzara el Martes 16 de Julio y terminara el Sábado 20 de Julio de 2013. El objetivo de la Coalición de Redes de Protección de Tucson es destacar como las redadas de inmigración y las deportaciones continúan destruyendo familias alrededor de los Estados Unidos.

"Ayunamos en solidaridad con todas las personas que se encuentran en proceso de deportación, con todos aquellos que han sido separados/as de sus familias y arrebatados/as de sus comunidades. Ayunamos para decir ni una deportación más," declaró Eleazar Castellanos, líder comunitario del Centro de Trabajadores del Sur de Tucson quien estará ayunando. Dicho ayuno es parte de una jornada nacional que se ha estado llevando a cabo a lo largo de Estados Unidos. Comunidades en California, Oregon, Nueva York y Florida han participado en el ayuno nacional. Se espera que la jornada de ayunos culmine en Washington, D.C. durante la última semana de Julio.

La Coalición de Redes de Protección de Tucson espera que la campaña tenga un impacto nacional y local. A nivel nacional, la comunidad le exige al Presidente Obama un alto inmediato a las deportaciones. A su vez, le hacen un llamado a la Cámara de Representantes que pasen una Reforma Migratoria Comprensiva que incluya a los 11 millones de indocumentados/as en Estados Unidos y que se pare la militarización en la frontera entre Estados Unidos y México.

A nivel local, la comunidad de Tucson le exige a las autoridades locales que paren la colaboración con la Patrulla Fronteriza. La colaboración entre la Policía de Tucson y la Patrulla Fronteriza continúa dividiendo y aterrorizando la comunidad de Tucson a diario.

Una Conferencia de Prensa tendrá lugar en:

La Iglesia Presbiteriana en Southside

el 16 de Julio a las 11:00 AM (en 317 W. 23rd St.)

La misma será el comienzo de las actividades y eventos programadas para la semana del 16 al 20 de Julio.

Para ver el programa de actividades y eventos en Tucson del 16 al 20 de Julio visite nuestra página: www.facebook.com/events/138174623048100/?fref=ts 

Más información sobre el ayuno nacional disponible en: www.notonemoredeportation.com

NNIRR: Senate Immigration Bill Dashes Hopes for Fair, Just Reform

June 28, 2013

For Immediate Release

Senate Immigration Bill Dashes Hopes for Fair, Just Reform

'Border surge' approval further threatens border communities, migrant safety and well-being
 

(Oakland, CA) With the Senate’s passage of S. 744, the Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013, the Board of Directors and members of the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights voiced their disappointment and concern with the dramatic escalation of border enforcement negotiated to secure support from conservative Republican senators hostile to the legalization of undocumented immigrants.

Executive Director, Catherine Tactaquin, commented, “The Senate passed a historic immigration reform bill yesterday. We had hoped the bill would have been historic for upholding the human rights of immigrants, for providing fair and equitable access to visas, protecting their rights as workers, fueling resources to process the long backlog of pending family visa applicants, and ending flawed and punitive immigration enforcement policies at the border and in the interior.“ She continued, “Unfortunately, S. 744 was not that bill. This is not the kind of legislation and deal-making that we can support nor encourage.”

Susan Alva, a Los Angeles-based immigrants rights attorney, also criticized the immigration “compromise”: “Legislative deal-making is a given. But in this bill, the legalization carrot has been beaten to a pulp by an enforcement stick that staggers the imagination.  By shamelessly presenting this as a victory, proponents of this bill are banking on the toll that years of historic levels of enforcement have already taken on immigrant communities.  This is not compromise; this is blackmail."

Board member Christian Ramirez, Human Rights Director at Alliance San Diego, spoke to the Corker-Hoeven “border surge” amendment added in the final days of negotiations: "Despite this unwarranted aggression against 15 million people who call the border home and the irresponsible language of war and occupation used in the Senate floor to refer to the safest region in the United States, southern border communities will continue to ensure that rights and dignity are restored for the betterment of the people of the United States.” He continued, “The threat of militarization by policy makers has no place in a democratic society. Social and economic needs cannot and must not be resolved through military might if we are to preserve our morals and values as a society.”

Board Chairperson Eduardo Canales of Corpus Christi, Texas, added that the bill “perpetuates and enhances failed policies of increased enforcement on the border and will continue to increase migrant deaths.” He also warned that the expansion of the “E-verify” employment verification system would “allow further discrimination and racial profiling of immigrants and other workers of color.”

Other board members also raised an alarm about the consequences of the dramatic escalation of the border security program. Hamid Khan, based in Southern California, stated that the bill served as a model for what he termed as the 

“Surveillance Industrial Complex.”  “Under the guise of public safety and security,” he commented, “the bill is a political investment in the further strengthening and legitimization of the police state.”

Khan identified the huge transfer of public funds to be invested in surveillance equipment, data collection and data mining, enhanced communications interoperability and information sharing between federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies. He said, “Intermixing current and new technologies, enhancing operational capacities, adding thousands of new customs and border patrol agents are key steps in a full spectrum of information gathering, storing, sharing and disseminating as necessary tools for social control.” 

Monami Maulik, Executive Director of the New York-based Desis Rising Up and Moving-DRUM, raised similar concerns. “This bill is not what thousands of our members, as South Asian immigrants, have been organizing tirelessly for years alongside so many communities,” she said. “Congress will send an alarming message to all of us and the world, that human rights are no concern to the U.S.” She continued, “This bill is using immigration as an excuse to further a national security state—to fly drones above us, surveil us, and set the stage for a national ID system and database. We need real human rights-based reform. The world is watching.”

Gerald Lenoir, Executive Director of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration, described the bill as “a nasty piece of legislation that attempts to codify repression on the border and wasteful spending.” He also expressed concern about the limitations of the legalization program: “It falls far short of the promise of a path to citizenship for the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants. The onerous work and income provisions will disqualify millions of low income undocumented immigrants from accessing the path to a green card and citizenship.”

“S. 744 does not deliver even our minimum aspiration for immigration reform: bringing the undocumented community ‘out of the shadows’, commented Lillian Galedo, Executive Director of Filipino Advocates for Justice, based in Oakland, California. “The proposed legalization program will not legalize 11 million people.  The 10 to 20 year ‘path’ to citizenship will not benefit the mostly elderly Filipino caregivers in our base.’ She also stated that they “totally oppose the massive militarization of the border and border communities. The only beneficiaries of this boondoggle are the war and prison contractors whose successful lobbying resulted in a $46 billion set-aside for ‘border security’. This is a sad day for human rights.”

Bill Chandler, Executive Director of the Mississippi Immigrant Rights Alliance and a longtime labor organizer, expressed concern about the bill’s drive to increase and continue guest worker programs. These, he said are “another form of indentured servitude and a benefit for employers, not workers.”

Board member Janis Rosheuvel, Executive for Racial Justice with United Methodist Women in New York, declared, “As people of faith, we call on our elected officials to end the criminalization of communities of color exemplified by this bill. We call for justice-driven legislation that delves into the root causes of migration and does not rely on punitive policies as a matter of course. Our communities and nation deserve more.”

The National Network pledges, as the immigration reform debate focuses on the House and where hostile representatives have declared their opposition to any form of legalization, to continue the fight for fair and just immigration reform.

“We will push back on the mean-spirited, xenophobic and punitive proposals that have already begun to emerge there,” said Tactaquin, adding, “The Obama Administration also needs to shoulder greater responsibility for the well-being and safety of immigrant communities, and break this downward spiral in the direction of immigration reform. We call on the Administration to start by suspending detentions and deportations and keeping families together as we continue on this difficult road to immigration reform.”

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Click here to read NNIRR's May 20, 2013 letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee. The letter outlined proposals and positions for a fair immigration reform policy.

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The National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights is a nationwide alliance of diverse immigrant community, civil and human rights, labor, faith and other allied sector groups and individuals. NNIRR is committed to human rights as essential to securing healthy, safe and peaceful lives for all.

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Urgent Action Needed TODAY to Oppose 'SAFE' Act, HR 2278

Urgent Action Needed TODAY to Oppose 'SAFE' Act, HR 2278

Stop the Dangerous Expansion of Detentions and Deportations

Please take a moment to read this Urgent Action Alert about a dangerous proposal that will be considered in the House Judiciary Committee tomorrow, Tuesday, June 18.

The “SAFE Act” (the 'Strengthen and Fortify Enforcement Act'), introduced by Rep. Gowdy (R-SC), would substantially increase detentions, deportations and racial profiling. This is just one more repressive proposal introduced in the House while the Senate considers S 744, the immigration reform bill.

Click here for a preliminary analysis of the SAFE Act from the Immigrant Justice Network, and here for a summary from the National Immigrant Law Center.

Please join us in taking action today. 

Here's the recommended action from the Detention Watch Network:

1. Contact House leaders TODAY and tell them not to bring the "SAFE Act" up for a vote.

Call 1-888-891-3271 for the Congress Switchboard. Ask for Representatives Goodlatte (HJC Chair R-VA), Conyers (HJC Ranking Member (D-MI), and Boehner (House Speaker, R-OH).

Script: My name is _____ calling from ­­­­­_____. The SAFE Act represents the views of the nativist, anti-immigrant extremist and is out of step with the views of the vast majority of Americans. The SAFE Act’s single-minded focus on immigration enforcement would dramatically increase detentions and deportations, and create an environment of rampant racial profiling and unconstitutional detentions without fixing the immigration system’s problems. I urge you to invest in your political future by opposing the SAFE Act, H.R.2278, and blocking it from coming up for a vote.

2. Call your Representative TODAY and urge them to vote NO on the "SAFE Act."

Find out if your representative is on the House Judiciary Committee. Call 1-888-891-3271 for the Congress Switchboard.

Script: My name is _____ calling from ­­­­­_____. The SAFE Act is out of step with the country, and represents the views of the nativist, anti-immigrant extremists. As a constituent, I urge you to invest in your political future by voting NO on the SAFE Act, H.R. 2278.

3. Spread the Word

Forward this alert to your networks! You can also tweet at House Judiciary Committee members to vote NO on the “SAFE Act.” See call-in information below for a national conference call today:

CAMBIO is hosting an Organizing Call TODAY to Oppose the SAFE ACT H.R. 2278

Monday, June 17 @ 1 pm Pacific, 3 pm Central, 4 pm Eastern

Call-in number:

Toll-Free Access Number:
1.800.977.8002

Direct Dial/ International Access Number:
1.404.920.6650  

Participant Code: 
6427412#

Thank you for taking action today!

For more information and resources on immigration reform, go to NNIRR's Immigration Policy Reform section of our website.

May Day 2013: Legalization -- NOT deportation!

International Workers' Day 2013:
Calls for Legalization -- NOT Deportation!

For the past several years International Workers' Day, May Day, has served as a vehicle to spotlight the particular injustices against immigrant workers, especially the undocumented. In 2006, we can remember the massive May Day and other rallies across the country that mobilized millions of undocumented workers, their families and allies to protest the anti-immigrant Sensenbrenner bill and to call for legalization. With immigration reform underway in Congress, May Day events in immigrant communities vary vastly in their size and scope, but a message that continues to jump out is Legalization not Deportation!
As the Senate proposal has revealed, the path to a green card and eventual citizenship can be long and "tough," as the "Gang of 8" likes to characterize the path they have charted. And if some Republican leaders in the House have their way, there won't be a path at all! If and when a legalization program is finally approved, clearly not all of the 11 million will make it through. Some will not fit the criteria to even apply. Border and interior enforcement will be increased; the proposal certainly does not do away with the current programs in place to deport all who can be deported.

Even now, while much of our efforts are focused on Congress, thousands of immigrants are being detained and deported, separated from their families. Just this past week, an ICE audit of two janitorial companies in San Diego may result in the firing of over 500 immigrant workers. Some may be charged with felony identity theft. Similar audits continue to take place around the country, leaving workers without jobs and worse, identified for detention and deportation.
As the Senate Judiciary Committee prepares to mark-up the immigration reform bill, we need to redouble the call for a halt to detentions and deportations. Immigrant communities deserve the opportunity to raise their voices, concerns and needs in the immigration debate, and should have the opportunity to move out the shadows with a fair, genuine legalization program. (See immigration reform updates and tools here.)

Support Human Rights for All Migrant Workers and Their Families

Together with our allies in the international migrant rights movement, the National Network has supported and advocated for universal ratification of the UN's International Convention for the Protection of Rights of All MIgrant Workers and Members of Their Families, or Migrant Workers' Convention. On International Workers' Day, please join us in showing your support for the US to commit to ratification. Learn more about the convention and sign the online pledge of support: individual endorsers click here. Organizational endorsers,  click here.
Your continued support is more important than ever

Please make a contribution to the National Network to boost our work towards a fair and just immigration reform -- and beyond. Click here to make an online donation. Prefer to send a check? We are happy to receive your donation in the mail. Just make your check out to "National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights" and mail to the address listed below.  Thank you!
And be sure to join us online, particularly on Facebook where must-see news is posted daily.

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EEUU hace demanda para expropiar tierra indigena para el muro fronterizo en Texas

Contacto:

* Laura Rivas: 510-282-2500, xicanitatli@gmail.com

* Lawdefense1@gmail.com

Para difusión inmediata

30 Abril: Gobierno EEUU hace demanda contra mujer indígena en cortes de TX;

El gobierno busca expropiar inmediatamente más terreno para el muro fronterizo

Inmigración y Seguridad: Aún más usurpación de tierras indígenas para el muro fronterizo

Brownsville, Texas –26 de Abril, 2013 –Eloisa Garcia Tamez volverá a la corte federal el 30 de abril de 2013 para defender sus derechos contra el gobierno de Estados Unidos. En un intento gubernamental de tomar posesión inmediata de la propiedad del subsuelo de Eloisa Garcia Tamez para el dique y el muro fronterizo que divide sus tierras ancestrales, el gobierno de EE.UU. tendrá que convencer al juez federal Andrew S. Hanen que tiene el derecho a despojarla y para justificar que se requiere el subsuelo para la seguridad nacional.

El equipo legal de Tamez ya habían estado en diálogo con abogados del Departamento de Justicia de EEUU en los últimos meses para establecer las fechas para un juicio con jurado en el caso actual de Tamez. Simultáneamente a la solicitud de posesión inmediata, el gobierno propone un calendario de juicio con jurado que se extiende hasta mayo de 2014. Una declaración del abogado de la acusada, Peter Schey, que se presentó ante la corte el 15 de abril establece:

“El acordado Orden de Programación Propuesta establece fechas y el juicio bien hacia el futuro y no es claro por qué; el demandante no ha dado explicación de por qué necesita una orden de posesión inmediata para la pequeña franja de tierras adicionales implicadas en la moción actual.”

Mientras que EE.UU. tomó forzosamente las tierras de pueblos indígenas y otros pueblos vulnerables durante la primera ronda de la construcción del muro fronterizo en 2009, no tenía la autoridad para desposeer a Eloisa Garcia Tamez de sus derechos de propiedad del subsuelo, y la agresión del estado continua contra una dueña indígena de la propiedad con profundos lazos ancestrales a la tierra y su subsuelo.

Un comunicado emitido por Daniel Romero, Presidente del Consejo General de la Banda de Lipan Apaches de Texas (NDE) dice: "Pedimos que el gobierno de Obama y el Congreso incorporen las demandas del CERD [las Naciones Unidas] por una consulta apropiada y la consideración de los pueblos indígenas y comunidades de la región fronteriza. Solicitamos que el gobierno de EE.UU. incluya la solicitud de los pueblos Ndé [Lipan Apache] dentro de la reforma migratoria actual y nuestra propuesta de la política sobre tierras fronterizas la cual ha influenciado negativamente la forma de vida Ndé.”

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Lipan Apache Women Defense http://lipancommunitydefense.wordpress.com/

Lipan Apache Band of Texas http://www.lipanapachebandoftexas.com/

Immigration and Security: Further Encroachment of Border Wall on Indigenous Lands

Contact:

Lawdefense1@gmail.com

Press Release – For Immediate Release

April 30:

US Government will bring Indigenous Woman in Texas back to court;

Government seeks to immediately seize more property for US-Mexico Border Wall

Immigration and Security: Further Encroachment of Border Wall on Indigenous Lands

Brownsville, Texas – April 26, 2013 – Defendant Eloisa Garcia Tamez is going back to federal court April 30, 2013 against the United States government. In an attempt to win immediate possession of Eloisa Garcia Tamez’s sub-surface property beneath the levee and the border wall which bisects her ancestral property, the U.S. government will have to convince Federal District Judge Andrew S. Hanen that it has the right to dispossess her and to justify that the subsurface is required for national security.

Tamez’s legal team had already been in dialogue with the U.S. Department of Justice attorneys in recent months to establish a timeline for a jury trial on Tamez’s current case. Simultaneous to the request for immediate possession, the government is proposing a jury trial schedule which extends through May of 2014.

A declaration from the defendant’s attorney Peter Schey submitted to the court April 15 states:

“The agreed upon Proposed Scheduling Order sets deadlines and trial in this cause well into the future and it is unclear why, and plaintiff has failed to explain why, it requires an immediate Order of possession on the small strip of additional land involved in its present motion.”

While the U.S. forcibly took Indigenous and other vulnerable peoples' lands for the first round of border wall construction in 2009, it did not have the authority to dispossess Eloisa Garcia Tamez of her subsurface property rights, and the state aggression continues against an Indigenous property owner with deep ancestral ties to that land and what lies beneath.

 

A statement issued by Daniel Romero, General Council Chairman for the The Lipan Apache Band of Texas (Ndé) states:

 “We ask that the Obama Administration and Congress to incorporate [the United Nations] the CERD’s demands for proper consultation and consideration of the Indigenous peoples and communities of the borderlands region. We request that the U.S. Government be inclusive of Ndés’ [‘Lipan Apache peoples’ ] request in current immigration reform and our proposal of the border lands policies that have negatively influenced the Ndé way of life.”

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Lipan Apache Women Defense http://lipancommunitydefense.wordpress.com/

Lipan Apache Band of Texas http://www.lipanapachebandoftexas.com/

Tell President Obama: End S-COMM!

En Español aqui Action Alert Join us in raising our voices to urge President Obama and the Administration to heed the call from community members, advocates, faith leaders and elected officials around the country to put an end to the misnamed "Secure Communities" (S-comm) program. National Call-in Day to the White House TODAY: Monday, August 15th Suspend "Secure Communities." Stop the Detentions & Deportations. Restore our Rights. Investigate the Abuses. White House Comment Line: 202-456-1111 Line is open 9am-5pm Eastern | 8am-4pm Central | 6am-2pm Pacific Enough is enough! Our communities will not be silenced or appeased. DHS announced last Friday that they would continue to rollout S-comm nationally and rescinded all MOU's with states, effectively closing all doors for opting out of the deportation program. Most troubling DHS's ominous policy change completely ignored the growing and widespread opposition to immigration-police collaboration. This includes elected officials and members of Congress who called for an investigation into the program. Our message to ICE is clear: Cosmetic reforms and the creation of an Advisory Committee are not acceptable. DHS must stop S-comm and addres the mounting concerns raised around the country about the devastating impacts of S-comm on diverse communities. Now it's time we send a clear message to the White House about the misnamed "Secure Communities" program: S-comm separates families and destroys communities, violates our due process rights. DHS is using S-comm as a vehicle to meet the agency's deportation goal of 400,000 people per year, subjecting people to detention and deportation regardless of whether or not they committed any "crime," the degree of severity of legal infractions, how long ago any charges occurred, what kind of rehabilitation has taken place, or what ties they have to communities. S-comm compromises our communities' safety by driving a wedge between local police and the communities they are supposed to serve, adding to the already tenuous relationship. S-comm encourages racial profiling and indiscriminately funnels immigrants into an unjust and dysfunctional immigration detention and deportation system. . Join your neighbors, co-workers, community members and Call the White House Today! Dial 202-456-1111 and tell them: My name is ___________, and I'm calling from [name of your organization] in [city, state]. I am calling to urge the President to heed the call by communities, advocates, faith leaders, and elected officials across the country to suspend the "Secure Communities" program and stop the widespread deportation of our community members. Until there is a reasonable solution with a real path to legalization that includes all generations of immigrant community members to adjust their status, we urge you to suspend S-comm and keep our families together. We are deeply disturbed by the recent DHS announcement to rescind all MOA's with the states under the President's directive, only to continue with unabated and absolute disregard for widespread opposition to S-comm. In the spirit of democracy, I urge the President to suspend the Secure Communities program, stop the deportations, and investigate the widely-reported abuses that have been caused by policies fueling increased repression and racial profiling of immigrant communities. Thank you. . Let us know how it went! Please take a minute to share your experience.

'A slap in the face to immigrant communities'

DHS to Pursue 'Secure Communities' Deportation Plan

Dismisses Widespread Protest of Dragnet Program

[Oakland | Aug. 5, 2011] The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced today that they would be rescinding the Memoranda of Agreement with over 40 states that allow the sharing of fingerprint data between local police and DHS under the Secure Communities (S-Comm) program. The announcement came as a surprise to immigrant community organizations and advocates who have sought an end to S-Comm and appeared to dismiss formal protest from a number of states, including Illinois, Massachusetts, and New York, about participation in the program. California is poised to pass legislation to halt its participation in Secure Communities.

The DHS has said it would continue to move forward with the program without state agreements, apparently closing any door that states could “opt out” of the controversial program. Immigrant community groups view S-Comm as a “dragnet” to identify and channel undocumented immigrants into detention and deportation. S-Comm is slated for implementation in every county in the country by the end of 2013.

The executive director of the National Network for Immigrant and Regugee Rights (NNIRR), Catherine Tactaquin, called the announcement, “a slap in the face to immigrant community, groups, advocates, elected officials, and even members of the law enforcement community who have raised repeated concerns about the increase in racial profiling, prolonged detention, and traumatic deportations due to Secure Communities.”

She continued, “Clearly, DHS hopes to derail the nationwide protest against S-Comm and is intent on using it to help accelerate its strategy to deport as many immigrants as possible.”

The DHS announcement also came less than one week before the start of a series of local hearings in Dallas, Los Angeles, Chicago, North Virginia and Boston. The hearings, along with the establishment of a new Advisory Committee, were apparently created in response to complaints about the Secure Communities program.

NNIRR and some 200 other organizations recently criticized the Advisory Committee as insufficient to address the serious issues surrounding S-Comm, and have called for a halt to the program.

Recently released federal documents have also revealed that Secure Communities is a part of the FBI’s Next Generation Information System to fuel federal data-gathering on everyone in the country, further confirming that Secure Communities puts in great peril the rights and dignity of all people in the United States, regardless of their immigration status.

Migrant Heartbreaks on the Border

Frontera NorteSur: on-line, U.S.-Mexico border news
July 13, 2011

Crossings and detentions of undocumented migrants might be sharply down on the US-Mexico border, but many people stuck on the international line face stark conditions. Despite the well-known dangers and difficulties in crossing the border without papers, migrants continue attempting almost Herculean feats to reach the US. And more than a few die on the journey to the Promised Land.

In Sonora, state police announced this month the discovery of eight people who presumably died of exposure to the elements in the inhospitable desert near the US border.

Alerted by ranch hands, state and federal law enforcement authorities recovered the remains of eight people at two ranches and in a mountainous zone located in the municipality of Sonoyta bordering Arizona. Found less than a mile from the US line, the deceased persons showed no “signs of violence,” according to Sonora officials.

Four victims were initially identified as Calixto Yagas Sil of Oaxaca, Adan Gomez Hernandez, Chiapas; Orben Heriberto Lopez Lopez, Chiapas; and Eliadin Vejar Galzviz, Ensenada, Baja California. Mexican authorities calculated that the men perished in a 3-12 month time frame prior to their discovery.

In Ciudad Juarez, meanwhile, a surge in deportations of Mexican nationals from the US is straining the capacity of local migrant service providers. Supported by the Roman Catholic Church, the city’s Migrant House has been forced to set up mattresses in hallways because of a lack of space.

The shelter houses migrants of both sexes and of all ages for average stays ranging from three to five days.

“They come here lacking everything, materially and spiritually,” said Leticia Perez, the center’s director. “Besides having a bed to rest upon, the majority of them here express appreciation for the food and the hot water for bathing.” According to Perez, many deported migrants suffer emotional traumas and require therapeutic care.

Cited in a local news publication, National Migration Institute (INM) statistics report that 3,987 people were deported from the US to Ciudad Juarez between January and the end of May of this year. The numbers jumped as the year wore on, growing from 359 deportees in January to 1,366 in April, the peak month reported so far this year.

In total, Mexico accepted 198,567 deportees from the US during the first five months of 2011. The number was down from the comparable period of last year, when 240,505 Mexican nationals were sent home from the US.

Alejandro Salas Dominguez, Sonora delegate for the INM, said the vast majority of Mexican citizens deported from the US are processed through ports of entry in Baja California and Sonora.

Still, some deportations continue to take place in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, regardless of the widely publicized violence jarring the border city. For example, just in the two-day period of July 12 and 13, at least 27 people were reported murdered in numerous incidents.

Sources: Lapolaka.com, July 13, 2011. El Diario de Juarez, July 10 and 13, 2011. Articles by EFE and editorial staff. Noticiasnet.mx, July 11, 2011. La Jornada, July 8, 2011. Article by Fabiola Martinez. Nortedigital.com.mx, June 28, 2011. Article by Miguel Vargas. La Prensa de San Luis (Sonora), May 19, 2011.

Frontera NorteSur: on-line, U.S.-Mexico border news
Center for Latin American and Border Studies
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, New Mexico

For a free electronic subscription email: fnsnews@nmsu.edu

DHS Rejects Calls to End S-COMM

Immigrants' Rights News

July 1, 2011

...a digest of recent news and developments

Over the last couple weeks we have witnessed a number of immigration policy developments and proposals that likely foreshadow the continued challenges for fair and just immigration, especially leading into the November 2012 elections. And today, we have also experienced the energy and growing breadth of the movement for immigration justice. In cities around the country, activists have rallied against profiteering from the detention of immigrant men, women and children, and stood in solidarity with the Day of Non-Compliance in Georgia, where the much despised, anti-immigrant HB 87 came into effect.

1. DHS Rejects Calls to End S-Comm, Proposes Shallow 'Reforms'

Responding to mounting criticism, the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced on June 17 a handful of changes to the mis-named “Secure Communities” program, the Obama Administration’s cornerstone deportation program.

Community and advocate groups rejected the Obama Administration's so-called reforms to the problematic S-Comm program, calling it "more spin than substance."

While local jurisdictions and states stand in line to "opt-out" of the dangerous deportation program, the ICE changes fail to address the real issue with S-Comm, which creates a parallel criminal justice system punishing non-citizens twice for the same offense: once under the already problematic criminal justice system and once under the expanding immigration enforcement regime.¹

Click here for an analysis of S-Comm reforms offered by several immigration groups.

2. Mandatory E-Verify bill introduced in the House

On June 14, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX) introduced the “Legal Workforce Act,” H.R. 2164, to mandate that every employer in the country use the problematic E-Verify program to verify every workers’ eligibility to be employed in the U.S.

While the current program, in more limited use, requires employers to use E-Verify after they hire someone, the new proposal would allow employers to use E-Verify before they hire a person. Without an opportunity to adjust their immigration status, undocumented immigrant workers will be driven deeper into the underground economy, subject to greater exploitation and economic instability. The Center for American Progress also predicted that:

• An estimated 770,000 American workers could lose job offers due to E-Verify’s error-prone databases
• The mandate would cost small business an estimated $2.6 billion
• Based on a similar bill scored by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office in 2007, $17 billion in tax revenue would be lost over 10 years as more jobs move into the underground economy.

Click here for a brief summary of HR 2164 from National Immigration Law Center.

3. Senate Democrats introduce immigration reform bill

On June 22, Senators Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Harry Reid (D-NV), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Richard Durbin (D-IL), Charles Schumer (D-NY), Kristen Gillibrand (D-NY) and John Kerry (D-MA) introduced the "Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2011." Apparently an attempt to keep the Republicans' enforcement-only agenda at bay, the proposal also includes the expansion of E-Verify (see above) and numerous other punitive enforcement provisions, including even more border militarization. It includes a lengthy "legalization" process as well as a "DREAM" provision, and calls for a commission "to study" expansion of the guestworker program.

President Obama recently stated that E-Verify would not be acceptable without a path to legal status -- reaffirming the potential "trade-off" of the dangerous E-Verify program for some form of legalization when immigration reform once more emerges on the legislative agenda.

The bill had no Republican sponsors when it was introduced, and in the lead up to the November 2012 elections, is not likely to see much legislative movement.

For a short, unofficial summary of CIR Act of 2011, click here.

4. Georgia Fights Back Anti-Immigrant State Law

On May 13, Georgia's governor signed into law HB 87, one of the most aggressive anti-immigrant bills modeled after Arizona's SB 1070, despite widespread opposition by key civil and immigrant rights leaders and communities. HB 87 requires the use of E-verify to check the legal status of every worker in Georgia, and empowers local police to check the immigration status of anyone they stop and to arrest people just for their immigration status. Earlier this week, a federal temporarily blocked two sections of HB 87 that would allow racial profiling. However, the bill goes into effect today (July 1), and community advocates and leaders called for a Day of Non-Compliance, spearheaded by the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights, to challenge the implementation of this dangerous law and to rollback the criminalization of immigrant communities. Organizers calling for divestment in the prison construction industry, which is reaping huge profits off of the incarceration of immigrants and others, joined hands with the Georgia-based opposition to HB 87 in mobilizations in several cities.

"Unless the components of the [immigration control regime] are halted and dismantled, the long-held promise of immigration reform - the lifting of millions of immigrant workers and their families out of a life of fear and exploitation- wil be severely undermined."

-- Guilty by Immigration Status (2009)

www.nnirr.org

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Endnotes

1. See NNIRR's reports Guilty by Immigration Status and Injustice for All to read more about the "immigration enforcement regime."

2. Injustice for All: The Rise of the U.S. Immigration Policing Regime, pp iv.