Tuesday, May 1, 2007
No More Raids Moves to FIRM Blog
Go to the Fair Immigration Reform Movement blog at www.fairimmigration.wordpress.com
Saturday, April 7, 2007
Judge temporarily forbids deportation of New Bedford immigrants
By Jesse Harlan Alderman, Associated Press Writer | April 6, 2007
BOSTON --A Massachusetts judge issued a temporary restraining order on Friday barring federal officials from deporting a large bloc of illegal immigrants snared in a New Bedford factory raid last month and now held at Texas detention centers.
U.S. District Court Judge Richard Stearns granted the emergency request from lawyers for the detained immigrants, who argued that about 110 of 360 workers arrested may have agreed to waive an appeal of their deportation order under duress or with improper translators.
The restraining order lasts for 10 days and does not apply to detainees that already had been ordered deported before they were arrested in the March 6 raid at the Michael Bianco Inc. factory that makes equipment and apparel for the U.S. military. Stearns' order also requires the government to turn over a list of all names and locations of immigrants held outside of Massachusetts who have voluntarily agreed to deportation, and requires the government to allow lawyers to meet with those detainees to make sure they fully understand their rights.
Attorneys for the detainees argue that federal immigration officials tried to hurry the deportation process and separate the former Massachusetts workers from their lawyers and families by taking many of them to holding centers in Port Isabel, near Harlingen, Texas, and to El Paso, in some cases hours after the raid.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have continually said they have not denied legal counsel to any of the detainees.
"We believe the information required by the Court's order will demonstrate that ICE is and remains committed to the due process of all immigration status violators in ICE custody," spokesman Marc Raimondi said in an e-mail. "It's important to remember that the illegal aliens arrested during the New Bedford enforcement action have always had access to legal materials, legal services and their consulates."
Spokeswoman Christina DiIorio-Sterling said the U.S. Attorney's office would not comment on the judge's order because it involves pending litigation.
Bernard J. Bonn III, an attorney for the detainees, said the judge may be disenchanted by the government's haste in ordering the mostly indigenous Central American factory workers to leave the country.
"I think he was troubled by the government not being more flexible in this," Bonn said.
At the emergency hearing Friday, Stearns chided the assistant U.S. attorney and ICE lawyers for their unwillingness to turn over the names of detainees involved in deportation proceedings.
"I'm a little baffled by the position of the government on this," Stearns said.
Mark Grady, an assistant U.S. attorney, argued that the names were not released because of privacy concerns. He said the government was not trying to cut corners in the deportation process. The removal of many immigrants to Texas was the result of limited bed space in Massachusetts, he said.
"Instead of those in New Bedford, you'd simply have the next 250 aliens in Massachusetts shipped to Texas," Grady said.
Bonn said a delegation of lawyers from Massachusetts will travel to Texas to interview detainees who waived their right to appeal. He said he expects many will change their mind after meeting with attorneys fluent in Spanish and connected to their families back in New Bedford. Some relatives of the detainees came to watch the hearing wearing red and green indigenous dresses.
The lawyers could then file appeals or request new deportation hearings, Bonn said.
"We think among those, we will find many people who did not understand the process," he said. "That was clear from talking to many people at the hearing today who felt their family members were coerced. We're not talking about Abu-Ghraib type of coercion, but we're talking about people who were scared and did not understand the situation."
BOSTON --A Massachusetts judge issued a temporary restraining order on Friday barring federal officials from deporting a large bloc of illegal immigrants snared in a New Bedford factory raid last month and now held at Texas detention centers.
U.S. District Court Judge Richard Stearns granted the emergency request from lawyers for the detained immigrants, who argued that about 110 of 360 workers arrested may have agreed to waive an appeal of their deportation order under duress or with improper translators.
The restraining order lasts for 10 days and does not apply to detainees that already had been ordered deported before they were arrested in the March 6 raid at the Michael Bianco Inc. factory that makes equipment and apparel for the U.S. military. Stearns' order also requires the government to turn over a list of all names and locations of immigrants held outside of Massachusetts who have voluntarily agreed to deportation, and requires the government to allow lawyers to meet with those detainees to make sure they fully understand their rights.
Attorneys for the detainees argue that federal immigration officials tried to hurry the deportation process and separate the former Massachusetts workers from their lawyers and families by taking many of them to holding centers in Port Isabel, near Harlingen, Texas, and to El Paso, in some cases hours after the raid.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have continually said they have not denied legal counsel to any of the detainees.
"We believe the information required by the Court's order will demonstrate that ICE is and remains committed to the due process of all immigration status violators in ICE custody," spokesman Marc Raimondi said in an e-mail. "It's important to remember that the illegal aliens arrested during the New Bedford enforcement action have always had access to legal materials, legal services and their consulates."
Spokeswoman Christina DiIorio-Sterling said the U.S. Attorney's office would not comment on the judge's order because it involves pending litigation.
Bernard J. Bonn III, an attorney for the detainees, said the judge may be disenchanted by the government's haste in ordering the mostly indigenous Central American factory workers to leave the country.
"I think he was troubled by the government not being more flexible in this," Bonn said.
At the emergency hearing Friday, Stearns chided the assistant U.S. attorney and ICE lawyers for their unwillingness to turn over the names of detainees involved in deportation proceedings.
"I'm a little baffled by the position of the government on this," Stearns said.
Mark Grady, an assistant U.S. attorney, argued that the names were not released because of privacy concerns. He said the government was not trying to cut corners in the deportation process. The removal of many immigrants to Texas was the result of limited bed space in Massachusetts, he said.
"Instead of those in New Bedford, you'd simply have the next 250 aliens in Massachusetts shipped to Texas," Grady said.
Bonn said a delegation of lawyers from Massachusetts will travel to Texas to interview detainees who waived their right to appeal. He said he expects many will change their mind after meeting with attorneys fluent in Spanish and connected to their families back in New Bedford. Some relatives of the detainees came to watch the hearing wearing red and green indigenous dresses.
The lawyers could then file appeals or request new deportation hearings, Bonn said.
"We think among those, we will find many people who did not understand the process," he said. "That was clear from talking to many people at the hearing today who felt their family members were coerced. We're not talking about Abu-Ghraib type of coercion, but we're talking about people who were scared and did not understand the situation."
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
For the Latest - Go to FIRM Blog - www.fairimmigration.wordpress.com
The Fair Immigration Reform Movement has created a new blog that is quite likely the most up to date source for news and info on stopping the raids and passing fair and humane immigration reform.
www.fairimmigration.wordpress.com
www.fairimmigration.wordpress.com
Friday, March 30, 2007
Dozens arrested in Md. immigration raid
By Alex Dominguez, Associated Press Writer | March 30, 2007
BALTIMORE --Immigration agents arrested 69 people Thursday in raids on a temporary employment agency's offices and places where it hired out illegal immigrant workers, including the port of Baltimore, authorities said.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents also seized a bank account containing more than $600,000 from the employment agency, Jones Industrial Network.
The company's offices and eight other businesses were searched, including three where the temp agency is suspected of providing illegal immigrant workers, ICE said.
The investigation began last year after immigration officials heard that temp agencies had provided illegal immigrants workers to the port of Baltimore and other unwitting employers, ICE said.
Having "illegal aliens working and having access to our ports is a major security vulnerability," said James Dinkins, ICE special agent in charge.
A telephone call seeking comment from the company was not immediately returned Thursday afternoon. The employment agency's offices downtown near the Inner Harbor were closed Thursday, with a sign in English and Spanish saying the company would not be open.
Family members of those detained gathered with activists outside the company's offices, carrying signs that read "Stop Dividing Our Families," "Stop The Raids," and "Fair Immigration Reform Now."
Daysi Lopez, 24, said the school her 7-year-old brother attends called her house after her mother didn't pick him up because she had been arrested. Jesenia Lazo held her sister-in-law's four-month-old child, David Lazo, who had not been breast-fed since his mother was arrested.
"The child was born here, he is only four months old," Lazo said in Spanish. "We are asking the people from immigration to please return them."
Lazo said her three sisters-in-law work at Under Armour, folding and packing clothing.
Authorities did not release the identities of those arrested, but said Jones managers were not arrested or charged. ICE officials said the investigation is continuing, however.
Jones is the only company that has been targeted criminally, and all others involved in the raids have cooperated, ICE officials said.
A lawyer for sportswear maker Under Armour Inc., which also was raided, said the Baltimore company was not aware that employees were illegal immigrants.
The company has cooperated fully with the investigation and is considering legal action against the temp agency, Under Armour general counsel Kevin Haley said.
"At Under Armour, we are patriots first and last, and we're fully committed to compliance with all laws and regulations," Haley said. "We're furious that apparently one of the temp agencies we use was not so committed or gave the appearance of being not so committed."
The workers were employed at the company's distribution center, Haley said.
An ICE spokesman said 20 of those detained were granted humanitarian release.
ICE field office director Calvin McCormick said those detained were being transferred to three detention centers in Maryland and Pennsylvania.
Immigration officials said state and federal officials would interview the detainees to determine whether any medical, sole-caregiver or other issues would qualify them for humanitarian release. Relatives of the detainees can call a 24-hour toll-free hot line, 866-341-3858.
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick this month urged federal authorities not to move out of that state any more factory workers detained in an immigration raid until their children were located and arrangements made for their care. More than 300 people were detained for possible deportation in a raid at a leather factory that makes equipment for the military.
BALTIMORE --Immigration agents arrested 69 people Thursday in raids on a temporary employment agency's offices and places where it hired out illegal immigrant workers, including the port of Baltimore, authorities said.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents also seized a bank account containing more than $600,000 from the employment agency, Jones Industrial Network.
The company's offices and eight other businesses were searched, including three where the temp agency is suspected of providing illegal immigrant workers, ICE said.
The investigation began last year after immigration officials heard that temp agencies had provided illegal immigrants workers to the port of Baltimore and other unwitting employers, ICE said.
Having "illegal aliens working and having access to our ports is a major security vulnerability," said James Dinkins, ICE special agent in charge.
A telephone call seeking comment from the company was not immediately returned Thursday afternoon. The employment agency's offices downtown near the Inner Harbor were closed Thursday, with a sign in English and Spanish saying the company would not be open.
Family members of those detained gathered with activists outside the company's offices, carrying signs that read "Stop Dividing Our Families," "Stop The Raids," and "Fair Immigration Reform Now."
Daysi Lopez, 24, said the school her 7-year-old brother attends called her house after her mother didn't pick him up because she had been arrested. Jesenia Lazo held her sister-in-law's four-month-old child, David Lazo, who had not been breast-fed since his mother was arrested.
"The child was born here, he is only four months old," Lazo said in Spanish. "We are asking the people from immigration to please return them."
Lazo said her three sisters-in-law work at Under Armour, folding and packing clothing.
Authorities did not release the identities of those arrested, but said Jones managers were not arrested or charged. ICE officials said the investigation is continuing, however.
Jones is the only company that has been targeted criminally, and all others involved in the raids have cooperated, ICE officials said.
A lawyer for sportswear maker Under Armour Inc., which also was raided, said the Baltimore company was not aware that employees were illegal immigrants.
The company has cooperated fully with the investigation and is considering legal action against the temp agency, Under Armour general counsel Kevin Haley said.
"At Under Armour, we are patriots first and last, and we're fully committed to compliance with all laws and regulations," Haley said. "We're furious that apparently one of the temp agencies we use was not so committed or gave the appearance of being not so committed."
The workers were employed at the company's distribution center, Haley said.
An ICE spokesman said 20 of those detained were granted humanitarian release.
ICE field office director Calvin McCormick said those detained were being transferred to three detention centers in Maryland and Pennsylvania.
Immigration officials said state and federal officials would interview the detainees to determine whether any medical, sole-caregiver or other issues would qualify them for humanitarian release. Relatives of the detainees can call a 24-hour toll-free hot line, 866-341-3858.
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick this month urged federal authorities not to move out of that state any more factory workers detained in an immigration raid until their children were located and arrangements made for their care. More than 300 people were detained for possible deportation in a raid at a leather factory that makes equipment for the military.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
ICE hits Maryland - Dems Asleep on the Job
Maryland Communities Devastated By Immigration Raids
Immigrant Rights Advocates Respond at Press Event at Employment Site
WHEN: TODAY at 4pm EST
WHERE: Jones Industrial Services
16 S. Frederick Street
Baltimore, MD 21202
WHO: Families impacted by raids
Community leaders
Immigration advocates
WHAT: In what appears to be a repeat of the humanitarian crisis in New Bedford, Massachusetts earlier this month, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has raided another factory, this time in Glen Burnie, Maryland. We are hearing reports of immigrant woman being taken into custody leaving young children stranded at school and in the custody of caregivers. Casa de Maryland will hold a press conference today at 4pm EST in Baltimore to respond. The press conference is being held at the site of employment agency that supplied the workers to the factory.
# # #
FIRM (Fair Immigration Reform Movement) is a coalition of grassroots community organizations nationwide and the uniting voice of the immigration movement working on behalf of comprehensive immigration reform and the civil rights of immigrants. www.fairimmigration.org. CASA of Maryland is a community organization founded in 1985 that meets the special needs of immigrants in Maryland. www.casademaryland.org
Immigrant Rights Advocates Respond at Press Event at Employment Site
WHEN: TODAY at 4pm EST
WHERE: Jones Industrial Services
16 S. Frederick Street
Baltimore, MD 21202
WHO: Families impacted by raids
Community leaders
Immigration advocates
WHAT: In what appears to be a repeat of the humanitarian crisis in New Bedford, Massachusetts earlier this month, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has raided another factory, this time in Glen Burnie, Maryland. We are hearing reports of immigrant woman being taken into custody leaving young children stranded at school and in the custody of caregivers. Casa de Maryland will hold a press conference today at 4pm EST in Baltimore to respond. The press conference is being held at the site of employment agency that supplied the workers to the factory.
# # #
FIRM (Fair Immigration Reform Movement) is a coalition of grassroots community organizations nationwide and the uniting voice of the immigration movement working on behalf of comprehensive immigration reform and the civil rights of immigrants. www.fairimmigration.org. CASA of Maryland is a community organization founded in 1985 that meets the special needs of immigrants in Maryland. www.casademaryland.org
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Keep the Calls Coming
We've gotten word that Pelosi and Reid are getting a bunch of calls demanding they call for a hearing on the raids and push for CIR. However, they still haven't done anything. So, we need to keep the calls coming. Please ask more of your friends to call Senate Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and say:
1) Immediately hold hearings on the Immigration, Customs and Enforcement (ICE) raids and their impact on children and families;
2) Pass sensible and humane comprehensive immigration reform legislation NOW.
* House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) – 202-225-0100
* Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) – 202-224-3542
For more info, go to www.fairimmigration.org or call Dushaw at 202-339-9306.
Monday, March 26, 2007
Inhumane raid was just one of many
By Carol Rose and Christopher Ott | March 26, 2007
Boston Globe
IF THE CHAOTIC immigration raid in New Bedford earlier this month troubled you, we have news: Immigration and Customs Enforcement, also known as ICE, is just getting warmed up.
We know this because the New Bedford raid was part of a frighteningly ambitious plan laid out by the Department of Homeland Security in 2003 -- and it hasn't received nearly enough scrutiny.
The plan is called Endgame, and its details are available online on our group's website (www.aclum.org/endgame.pdf). It's a 10-year campaign to track down and deport all the immigrants to the United States who are living and working here without proper documentation, by the year 2012.
Let's be clear: This means expelling roughly 12 million people.
We've seen Endgame at work already in other parts of the country, with ICE conducting more and bigger raids. In December, for example, the agency raided Swift & Company slaughterhouses in six states, arresting about 1,300 workers and deporting roughly half of them.
Already, on any given day, ICE holds approximately 26,000 people in detention. And on March 6, we got a chance to see Endgame at work on a large scale here in Massachusetts. We saw the human cost of an operation directed at 361 people.
The pace of raids will need to accelerate, however, in order to meet Endgame's aggressive deportation goals over the next five years. We'll see more of the surreal New Bedford-style tactics: arrest first, ask questions later. We'll hear more stories of the human suffering that results from such tactics: of nursing babies who become dehydrated when separated from their mothers, of 7-year-olds frantically looking for their missing mothers, and of minors being flown to distant states without adequate protection.
We'll see more people's rights trampled, and more families torn apart by ICE's race to deport in order to meet Endgame's staggering goal.
Obviously, the United States has the right to control who enters our country, as well as the right to deport those who are not authorized to be here. But the US Constitution also says that everyone's fundamental rights must be respected while it is being determined whether or not they have a right to be here.
Even most US citizens could not prove their citizenship on demand. If ICE raided your workplace, could you? If you're like most people, you don't carry documents such as your passport or birth certificate with you at all times. And in a free society, you shouldn't have to.
That's why those detained by ICE need protections such as the right to a hearing before an immigration judge, legal representation, and, when necessary, interpretive services. They need time and a fair chance to prove their case. It's also critical to make provisions for the children and other dependents of those arrested.
Some of those dependents are US citizens, even if the detainees themselves are not -- and all of them are human beings.
The pandemonium of the raid in New Bedford was deeply troubling in this regard. If ICE couldn't handle 361 detainees without violating people's rights and tearing families apart, how will they cope with millions?
The simple answer is they can't. There is no way to expel 12 million people without terrorizing and compromising the civil liberties of anyone who "looks foreign." Even US citizens, as well as immigrants who are here legally, will live with the fear of arrest.
ICE tactics call to mind sinister human rights abuses from other parts of the world. The United States went to war to stop Slobodan Milosevic's attempt to "ethnically cleanse" Kosovo in 1999. We should ask ourselves how, just eight years later, we came to be carrying out a policy that involves such similar tactics -- lightning raids, mass arrests, packed detention centers, and mass deportations.
We must stop it. It's time to bring operation Endgame itself to an end. We need an immigration policy that balances the right to control our borders with the civil liberties we must preserve in order to remain free.
Carol Rose is executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts. Christopher Ott is communications director.
Boston Globe
IF THE CHAOTIC immigration raid in New Bedford earlier this month troubled you, we have news: Immigration and Customs Enforcement, also known as ICE, is just getting warmed up.
We know this because the New Bedford raid was part of a frighteningly ambitious plan laid out by the Department of Homeland Security in 2003 -- and it hasn't received nearly enough scrutiny.
The plan is called Endgame, and its details are available online on our group's website (www.aclum.org/endgame.pdf). It's a 10-year campaign to track down and deport all the immigrants to the United States who are living and working here without proper documentation, by the year 2012.
Let's be clear: This means expelling roughly 12 million people.
We've seen Endgame at work already in other parts of the country, with ICE conducting more and bigger raids. In December, for example, the agency raided Swift & Company slaughterhouses in six states, arresting about 1,300 workers and deporting roughly half of them.
Already, on any given day, ICE holds approximately 26,000 people in detention. And on March 6, we got a chance to see Endgame at work on a large scale here in Massachusetts. We saw the human cost of an operation directed at 361 people.
The pace of raids will need to accelerate, however, in order to meet Endgame's aggressive deportation goals over the next five years. We'll see more of the surreal New Bedford-style tactics: arrest first, ask questions later. We'll hear more stories of the human suffering that results from such tactics: of nursing babies who become dehydrated when separated from their mothers, of 7-year-olds frantically looking for their missing mothers, and of minors being flown to distant states without adequate protection.
We'll see more people's rights trampled, and more families torn apart by ICE's race to deport in order to meet Endgame's staggering goal.
Obviously, the United States has the right to control who enters our country, as well as the right to deport those who are not authorized to be here. But the US Constitution also says that everyone's fundamental rights must be respected while it is being determined whether or not they have a right to be here.
Even most US citizens could not prove their citizenship on demand. If ICE raided your workplace, could you? If you're like most people, you don't carry documents such as your passport or birth certificate with you at all times. And in a free society, you shouldn't have to.
That's why those detained by ICE need protections such as the right to a hearing before an immigration judge, legal representation, and, when necessary, interpretive services. They need time and a fair chance to prove their case. It's also critical to make provisions for the children and other dependents of those arrested.
Some of those dependents are US citizens, even if the detainees themselves are not -- and all of them are human beings.
The pandemonium of the raid in New Bedford was deeply troubling in this regard. If ICE couldn't handle 361 detainees without violating people's rights and tearing families apart, how will they cope with millions?
The simple answer is they can't. There is no way to expel 12 million people without terrorizing and compromising the civil liberties of anyone who "looks foreign." Even US citizens, as well as immigrants who are here legally, will live with the fear of arrest.
ICE tactics call to mind sinister human rights abuses from other parts of the world. The United States went to war to stop Slobodan Milosevic's attempt to "ethnically cleanse" Kosovo in 1999. We should ask ourselves how, just eight years later, we came to be carrying out a policy that involves such similar tactics -- lightning raids, mass arrests, packed detention centers, and mass deportations.
We must stop it. It's time to bring operation Endgame itself to an end. We need an immigration policy that balances the right to control our borders with the civil liberties we must preserve in order to remain free.
Carol Rose is executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts. Christopher Ott is communications director.
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