NYC, 8/26: Support Victor Toro

[Espanol abajo]

Come Out in Support of Victor Toro!!
Protest ICE & Department of Homeland Security
Demand Political Asylum for Toro, No to Deportation

Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Noon–3 pm
26 Federal Plaza
Corner of Worth & Lafayette
New York City

Victor Toro is a Chilean activist in the Bronx who fought against the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile. Toro is one of tens of thousands of immigrants who are racially profiled and targeted for deportation unjustly and unfairly.

If Toro is deported back to his homeland he not only faces repression but the possibility of death as the repressive forces trained by Pinochet still operate in Chile.

Join the Victor Toro Defense Committee & the May 1st Coalition in demanding political asylum for Victor Toro.

For more information call 718.292.6137 or email lapena2006@hotmail.com * * * Salgan en

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Apoyo de Victor Toro!!
Demandamos Asilo Político Ahora
No a la Deportación de Victor!

Miércoles, 26 de Agosto, 2009
12 pm –3 pm
26 Federal Plaza
Esquina de Worth & Lafayette
Ciudad de Nueva York

Unanse con el Comité de Victor Toro y la Coalicion Primero de Mayo para demandar asilo político para Victor

Para más información llame al 718.292.6137 o envíe email a lapena2006@hotmail.com

White House moves to placate immigration reform advocates

A surprise appearance by President Obama at a meeting this week helps pacify some, but calls for action rather than oratory continue.

By Teresa Watanabe, Los Angeles Times
August 22, 2009

Immigrant rights activists said Friday that a White House meeting this week to reaffirm support for immigration reform -- featuring a surprise appearance by President Obama -- had helped mollify growing frustration over what some perceived as backpedaling on reform promises.

But many said that action will be needed to keep the faith among immigrants and their supporters, particularly Latinos who turned out in record numbers to help elect Obama last year. [...]

Read the full article:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/washingtondc/la-na-obama-immigration22-2009aug22,0,5487785.story

Update on Herta Llusho--Aug. 19

The immigration authorities have granted Herta Llusho an order of supervision until November 9, 2009. This means they still intend to deport her but won't attempt to do it until November, giving her and her supporters more time to push for deferred action.

Below is a posting from today's SEIU action site: http://action.seiu.org/page/speakout/dhsrequest4herta

Tell DHS and ICE: Do Not Deport Herta!

Number of letters sent: 2,772
Goal: 5,000
We are 55% of the way to sending 5,000 letters

ICE has granted Herta an order of supervision until November 9, 2009, but she is still facing deportation.

While this is certainly a step in the right direction, Herta will still have to report back to ICE on November 9th, and that’s not good enough

DHS and ICE need to grant Herta deferred action on her deportation.

Help us reach our goal of 5,000 letters by the end of the week!

Update on RoxRoy's Case--Aug. 18

Update, 1 pm, August 18, 2009

As of 8 am this morning, the Department of Homeland Security had turned down numerous requests for RoxRoy Salmon's deportation to be deferred. It is not clear at this point what the government's next move will be, and we may not know for some time. We will pass on new information as we receive it.

URGENT: Keep RoxRoy and Herta Where They Belong--in the U.S.

This week the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) plans to spend our tax money deporting longtime New York resident RoxRoy Salmon and 19-year-old Michigan student Herta Llusho.

The reason is legislation that the politicians pushed through Congress in 1996 to convince their constituents that they were "tough on crime and illegal immigration."

Salmon's problem with the immigration code comes from drug charges brought against him in 1979 and 1989. Although he maintained his innocence, his legal representatives advised him to cop the pleas, a common practice among young men of color in New York City; he never served a day in prison. Llusho was brought to the United States by her family when she was 11; the family has spent the past seven years trying unsuccessfully to get legal status for her. Before 1996, immigration judges could exercise discretion in cases like these; now they have no choice but to order deportation.

It is outrageous for people to be exiled from their homes, families and communities because of Kafkaesque provisions in the immigration laws. It is doubly outrageous with people like these. RoxRoy Salmon is a mainstay of his community in Brooklyn, while Herta Llusho is an excellent student working hard to become an electrical engineer. They are just the sort of people we want to have here with us in the United States. Their communities understand this and have shown it with an outpouring of support.

Salmon and Llusho have no more legal options through the courts, but the immigration authorities can still defer their deportations and give Congress members time to act, either through private legislation or, better, by finally reforming our whole surreal immigration system. President Obama came into office promising change. So far, his administration has followed George Bush's deportation policies, even though he admits we need a better system. Ideally, the administration should declare a moratorium on deportations until new laws are passed, but at the very least, the authorities need to delay the removal of people like Salmon and Llusho.

Below are action suggestions from Salmon and Llusho's supporters. We urge you to join us in working to keep them where they belong--at home in Brooklyn and at school in Detroit.

Jane Guskin
David L. Wilson

ROXROY SALMON

RoxRoy Salmon is a Brooklyn father and community activist resisting deportation so that he can remain with his US citizen family. RoxRoy has been ordered to report for deportation this Tuesday morning, August 18, 2009. For the past week his family, defense team, and lawyer have been working with people of influence to delay or halt this process. Although several options are still open, we are very worried because as of today we still have no guarantee that RoxRoy will be safe when he reports.

We urgently need your help to ensure that he is neither deported nor detained on Tuesday!

Take action for RoxRoy:

(1) Participate in a one-day national fast:
For four months, RoxRoy's supporters held a rolling fast as he fought to avoid an order of deportation. Now it is time to join together for one large unison fast. Please join us from sunup to sundown on Monday for this powerful expression of solidarity. You can report your fasting on RoxRoy's blog, http://www.justiceisfreedom.wordpress.com/ , and we encourage you to testify to your motives for joining this action, and your commitment and love for Roxroy and his family.

(2) Draft an emergency fax for Monday:
If we hear nothing by early afternoon on Monday, we will send urgent alert faxes to people in government that have the power to keep RoxRoy and his family together. Please draft a letter based on the template at http://thepoliticsofimmigration.blogspot.com/2009/08/draft-letter-for-roxroy-salmon.html and check http://www.justiceisfreedom.wordpress.com/ at 2 PM on Monday to see whether the faxes are needed, and where they should be sent.

(3) Spread the word:
Join Roxroy's facebook page, and tell others to do so as well. This will demonstrate visible community support in this critical hour. You can reach it here: http://apps.facebook.com/causes/172942/34330610?m=6d54c0aa . Once you join, you can also invite your friends to join as well.

Read more about RoxRoy:

http://blackcommentator.com/332/332_col_broken_immigration_system.html

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/brooklyn/2009/07/09/2009-07-09_immigration_laws_are_breaking_families_apart_deporting_too_many_parents_with_usb.html

http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2009/07/106329.shtml

http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=5d6d2f1d4d7f88a42458324fbf903e28

http://www.nycny.com/donna_lamb_section/lamb01-31-09.htm

http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/jamaica/jamaica.php?news_id=12640&start=0&category_id=9

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/brooklyn/2008/07/21/2008-07-21_deportation_hitting_home_for_family_of_j-2.html

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HERTA LLUSHO

Herta Llusho is a 19-year-old Michigan resident who is studying electrical engineering at the University of Detroit Mercy. She writes: "I was born in Albania and was brought to the United States when I was 11 years old. With the help and support of my family, I have struggled through more than seven years of legal proceedings to find a way to stay in this country legally. Despite our best efforts, on August 19, I will be removed by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from the only place I know as my home. I will be sent back to a country that has become a foreign place to me. I don't even speak Albanian well anymore. My only hope of staying here is for as many people as possible to ask DHS to delay my deportation until the DREAM Act is passed."

Take Action for Herta:

1) Join the facebook group for immediate updates:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=111108019510

2) Sign petition, which will be hand-delivered to targets: http://www.change.org/actions/view/stop_deportation_of_dream_student_herta_llusho

3) Use SEIU Click to Call Action Tool to call DHS:
http://call.seiu.org/9/hertadhs

4) Call Senator Carl Levin at (202) 224-6221.
Urge him to a) introduce private bill for Herta, and b) write letter to DHS asking them to stop Herta's deportation.

5) Call Senator Stabenow at (202) 224-4822.
Urge her to a) introduce private bill for Herta, and b) write letter to DHS asking them to stop Herta's deportation.

6) Call Representative Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick at (202) 225-2261.
Urge her to a) introduce private bill for Herta, and b) write letter to DHS asking them to stop Herta's deportation.

Read more about Herta and watch her video:

http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/7166

http://www.seiu.org/mt/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=1&tag=herta%20llushlo&limit=20

http://www.citizenorange.com/orange/2009/08/let-america-be-america-again--.html

Draft letter for RoxRoy Salmon

Please prepare a personalized version of this letter in time to use if necessary on Monday, August 17. Check http://www.justiceisfreedom.wordpress.com at 2 PM on Monday to see whether the faxes are needed, and where they should be sent.

DRAFT LETTER
August 17, 2009
To whom it may concern:
[PLEASE INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION:]

My congregation/organization and I are gravely concerned about Mr. RoxRoy Salmon’s appointment for deportation tomorrow, 8/18, at 9am.

I understand that you are working to delay this appointment and to push for deferred action on the case.

Mr. Salmon, a 32-year resident of this country, is a father, grandfather, husband, son, and brother of U.S. citizens. His children and sick wife need him, and his community leadership and moral character have garnered overwhelming community support and media coverage.

Despite this, the Immigration Judge could not grant any relief, because under the law, she had no discretion to prevent the removal order. Only ICE has that power.

ICE is accountable only to you and I implore you to exercise the breadth of your influence in this case.

Several hundred community members like us are waiting by the phone to hear that RoxRoy will not be torn from his family and his community.

[Use your organizational letterhead (INCLUDING ADDRESS AND CONTACT INFORMATION) and state your leadership role.]

[FEEL FREE TO ADD ANY PERSONAL DETAILS ABOUT ROXROY AND HIS FAMILY.]

The Truth about Amnesty for Immigrants
by David L. Wilson, MRZine
August 12, 2009

"Amnesty" has become one of the dirtiest words in U.S. politics. Immigration opponents use it to attack any plan -- however restrictive and punitive -- to regularize the status of the more than 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country. Immigration advocates avoid the word, substituting euphemisms like "a path to citizenship."

...The irony of amnesty is that working people in this country would support it overwhelmingly if they knew the truth about it. The fact that the word itself has become unmentionable is a triumph of negative marketing by the corporate media, comparable to the PR campaign that made meaningful health care reform anathema to many of the people whose lives literally depend on it. [...]

Read the full article:
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2009/wilson120809.html

Immigrant Workers Organize Against Workplace Enforcement

"We are organizing ourselves to openly oppose these policies and practices, which are devastating our families during the worst economic times since the 1930s."

MAPA Issues Call for Immediate Action From Immigrant Workers
Aug. 11, 2009

The Mexican American Political Association (MAPA) has issued a "Call for Immediate Action from Immigrant Workers" in response to the Obama administration's inaction on immigration reform. Below is a statement by MAPA National President, Nativo V. Lopez. He will have media availality today at Overhill Farms plant from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. and will be with approximately 100 workers. (Location - 2727 E. Vernon Avenue, Vernon, CA)

"President Barack Obama made clear today that there would be no immigration reform until 2010 in a press conference comment during his visit to Mexico to meet with the presidents of Mexico and Canada. There was no forewarning to the public or to immigrants’ rights advocates prior to his comment. Yet, neither did President Obama make any reference to the continued broad and harsh enforcement of immigration laws in the workplace, which is resulting in the discharge of thousands, and potentially will lead to the termination of hundreds of thousands of workers. [...]

Read the full statement:
http://nativolopez.blogspot.com/2009/08/mapa-issues-call-for-immediate-action.html

Immigrant Detainees Staging Hunger Strikes to Protest Deplorable Confinement

By Aura Bogado, AlterNet
August 7, 2009

When more than 60 prisoners at the South Louisiana Correctional Center in Basile, LA, began a hunger strike last week, in protest of the facility's deplorable conditions, guards at the immigrant detention center placed at least six of them in solitary confinement for 60 days. The planned 72-hour strike was the fifth of its kind in one month at the facility, whose parent company, LCS Corrections Services, holds a contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to manage the detention center.

Last week, the New Orleans Workers' Center for Racial Justice, along with other human rights and civil liberties groups including the American Civil Liberties Union, sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, urging her to address the mounting complaints at the detention center. "Over the past one month this center has become a symbol of all of our national concerns about ICE's widespread failure to ensure its facilities … meet ICE's own minimum detention standards," wrote Saket Soni, Executive Director for the New Orleans Workers' Center for Racial Justice. Detainees, he wrote, are "risking their own health to call attention to ICE's violation if its own minimum standards and to demand permanent improvements." [...]

Read the full article:
http://www.alternet.org/story/141840/

Aug. 11-12: "Made in L.A." on PBS, Politics of Immigration authors on WPFW

Tuesday, August 11, 2009, 10 to 11 pm
"Made in L.A." on PBS

This inspiring documentary on labor organizing by immigrant women in Los Angeles is airing tonight on most PBS stations. If you care about immigrant rights, you'll want to see it.

From the filmmakers:

PBS series POV re-airs Made in L.A.!

We're excited to announce the 2009 Encore broadcast of Made in L.A. on the PBS series POV on Tuesday, August 11th at 10pm! At a time when policymakers are working on a major overhaul of the immigration system, we are happy that Made in L.A. can offer a revealing look at the human side of the immigration debate and the experiences of immigrant workers.

To see if your PBS station is one of over 70 stations airing the film next week check local listings or download the full press release for station information (in English or Spanish). Keep in mind that many stations will air Made in L.A. during August and September, so check back every week for up-to-date information!

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La serie de PBS P.O.V. reemite Made in L.A.!

Estamos encantados de anunciar la reemisión de Made in L.A. en Estados Unidos en la serie de PBS, P.O.V.! Será el martes, 11 de agosto, a las 10 de la noche. En un momento en que los líderes políticos y sociales están trabajado en una revisión importante del sistema migratorio, Made in L.A. ofrece una mirada reveladora a la cara humana del debate migratorio y las experiencias de las y los trabajadores inmigrantes.

Para ver si tu estación de POB es una de las 70 estaciones que van a emitir la película la semana que viene, comprueba los horarios locales o bájate el comunicado de prensa con información detallada de las estaciones (en español o en inglés). Ten en cuenta que muchas estaciones emitirán Made in L.A. en otras fechas durante agosto o septiembre, así que comprueba los horarios locales de vez en cuando para información actualizada!

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Wednesday, August 12, 2009, 7 to 8 pm
Radio interview with Jane Guskin and David Wilson
Authors, The Politics of Immigration: Questions and Answers

"Latino Media Collective"
Hosted by Janet Hernandez and Mark Shmueli (Maryland Immigrant Rights Coalition)
WPFW 89.3 FM, Washington, DC
Live streaming: http://www.wpfw.org/