Thursday, April 30, 2009

March for Just Immigration Reform, Friday, May 1--UPDATED

from the Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA

Dear friend and supporter,

This Friday, May 1st: Join in the national solidarity movement to support immigrant rights.

Stop the raids and deportations!
End 287(g) agreements (No Local Enforcement of Unjust Immigration Law)!
Just and humane immigration reform!

Marches will take place in cities across the country. If you are in the DC area, join GHRC at Malcom X park at 3pm and march with us to the White House. See below for details.
---------------------------------

Este viernes, 1 de mayo: Participe en el movimiento nacional de solidaridad para apoyar a los derechos de los inmigrantes.

¡No más redadas y deportaciones!
¡Paro a la 287(g) agreements (No aplicación local de la ley migratoria injusta)!
¡Reforma migratoria justa y humana!

Las marchas se realizarán en diferentes ciudades por todo el país. Si está en el area de Washington, DC, venga con GHRC al parque Malcom X a las 3pm y marche con nosotros a la Casa Blanca. Detalles abajo.
--------------------------------

Washington, DC
Meet at 3:00pm, Malcom X Park (16th & W Streets NW)
3:30 pm- March to the White House
4:30-6pm - Speakers and music at Lafayette Park

Boston, Massachussetts
Meet at at 2:30, Central Square (Liberty Plaza), East Boston. The march winds through East Boston and Chelsea, converging at Glendale Park, Everett around 4:30 for a rally and cultural presentations!

Los Angeles, California
Meet at 12 noon, Olympic & Broadway, Downtown Los Angeles
March to Temple & Broadway for Mass Rally

Newark, New Jersey
New Labor march and rally for comprehensive immigration reform.
Meet at 11am at Lincoln Park at BroadStreet, Newark.
March to 970 Broad Street for arally that begins at 1 pm.

New York, New York
Meet at 12 noon, Union Square (14th St. & Broadway)
Music & Performances: 4:00 pm
March to Federal Plaza: 5:30 pm

Portland, Oregon
Meet at South Park Blocks (Corner of SW Salmon & SW Park)
1 PM - Posters and Party
4 PM - Rally (Speakers and Entertainment)
5 PM - March

San Francisco, California
Meet at 12pm, Dolores Park
March begins @ 2pmCivic Center @ 4pm
------------------------------------------------------

For these and other events happening this weekend, view a Calendar of Events

Para estes y otros eventos este fin de semana, vea un calendario de eventos

Holocaust Survivor’s Past Drove Her to Help Detainees

Many times, her father told her the story of their flight from Poland, and he never forgot the kindness the Romanian Jews showed them. “My father always said that people helped him survive,” Blum said. “So, it’s kind of like, what comes around, goes around.”

by Rebecca Dube, The Jewish Daily Forward
April 27, 2009

Almost no one noticed or cared when Ahmad Tanveer, a 43-year-old Pakistani New Yorker, died of an apparent heart attack while being held in jail, awaiting deportation.

Tanveer’s name did not appear on any list of immigration detainees who had died in custody. He never came up in testimony that the Department of Homeland Security gave to Congress.

His death in 2005, in Freehold, N.J.’s Monmouth County jail, might have gone unremembered and unremarked forever if not for the efforts of a Holocaust survivor who was determined to fight for the rights of immigration detainees. [...]

Read the full article at:
http://www.forward.com/articles/105192/

Monday, April 27, 2009

The Immigration System: Maybe Not So Broken

Instead of accepting the mainstream media's superficial framing of the immigration debate, people who are serious about these issues should read Illegal People -- and then go join some "illegal people" on a picket line or at a march for immigrant rights this May Day.

by David L. Wilson, MRzine
April 27, 2009

David Bacon, Illegal People: How Globalization Creates Migration and Criminalizes Immigrants, Beacon Press, 2008. Hardcover, 261 pages, $26.95.

With the Obama administration reportedly set to push for immigration reform this year, the debate on immigration seems likely to start up again. If it's anything like the debate we got from the mainstream media in previous years, we can expect something remarkably shallow and repetitious. We'll hear the two sides agree that "the system is broken" and that the United States must "stem the tide" of undocumented immigrants. Then the hard right will insist on a vast expansion of existing enforcement measures, while the "left" will propose a compromise based on a modest increase in enforcement coupled with a limited amnesty for the current undocumented population and a guest worker program for future immigrants.

If we want a more productive discussion this time around, we should start off differently, with some basic questions: If we don't want undocumented workers in the United States, shouldn't we ask why they come here? If we're planning to expand enforcement, wouldn't it make sense to ask what results we've gotten from the billions of dollars we've already spent on enforcement over the last two decades? And why do we so rarely hear the views of the people most directly affected -- the 12 million undocumented immigrants themselves? [...]

Read the full article:
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2009/wilson270409.html
.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

“Made in L.A.” May Day campaign

Putting a human face on the immigrant experience

"Made in L.A." is an amazing film about immigrant workers. The Emmy-winning documentary tells the story of three Latina immigrants working in garment sweatshops as they embark on a three-year odyssey to win basic labor protections while finding their way in the U.S. It's a very personal story of each woman’s self-empowerment, and it humanizes the immigrant experience and draws parallels between today’s immigrants and those whose families came to the U.S. generations ago.

Click here for a web video for the campaign.

The film's makers are encouraging national organizations, grassroots groups, faith-based congregations and individuals to screen the film from now to May 31st (and beyond) to put a human face on the issues of immigration, immigrant workers' rights, and real immigration reform.

To support this effort people can:

1. Host a screening

2. Send an email to their friends and lists about the campaign or spread the word through the film’s Facebook and Myspace pages.

3. Post the banner and button on their blogs or websites, and get the new Immigration Headlines Widget featuring Made in L.A.

By creating a climate of empathy and understanding around immigration reform, we can use "Made in L.A." to help lay the foundation for change. Join the movement at www.MadeInLA.com/MayDay

Saturday, April 25, 2009

“Grow Our Economy” With Guest Workers: NYC Panel

By David L. Wilson

NEW YORK, April 24--The U.S. political class is hoping to push a major immigration package through Congress this year, to judge by presentations at a panel of D.C. insiders at New York’s New School yesterday evening. All that’s left to do, it seems, is fine-tune the program and figure out how to sell it to the legislators.

The new plan isn’t going to be the straightforward amnesty sought by some 12 million undocumented immigrants and their friends and relatives, according to panelist Tamar Jacoby, a former senior fellow at the conservative Manhattan Institute and now the head of ImmigrationWorks US, a lobbying group.

Legalization of the undocumented would be one of the “three pillars” of immigration reform, in Jacoby’s view, but another pillar would be “better enforcement,” including improved border patrolling and some sort of national ID card. The “most important” of the pillars, though, would be a “flexible pipeline” to bring new immigrant workers into the country. This will “grow our economy” by “link[ing] quotas to labor needs,” Jacoby said.

“They’re going to call that pipeline a guest worker program,” cautioned moderator and New School president Bob Kerrey, referring to the bracero and H2 visa programs that have exploited low-wage immigrant workers in the past. An immigration bill with a guest worker program would have trouble winning the 60 votes the Senate needs to block a filibuster, said Kerrey, a former senator from Nebraska, and so would a package without the program.

Jacoby admitted that “labor will resist” her employment plan. But she expected a compromise between labor and business, which insists on some mechanism for bringing in immigrant workers.

The clearest sign of the panelists’ optimism about winning reform in the near future came from Michael Aytes, acting deputy director of the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigrations Services (USCIS). Aytes didn’t present arguments for or against a legalization measure, which his agency would have to implement—he simply focused on the ways Congress could “structure” the measure to reduce the “challenges” to immigration authorities in a reform that will “probably be more comprehensive than in 1986,” the year of the last amnesty.

Jacoby said it was refreshing to hear a government official say “’will,’ not ‘if’” about immigration reform.

The all-white panel also included the respected demographer Jeffrey Passel from the Pew Hispanic Center and Marshall Fitz, the head lobbyist for the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA). Billed as “Intelligent Immigration Reform: A Real-World Legislative Approach,” the panel had no representative from the labor movement and, strikingly, no one identified as an immigrant.

The only serious opposition to Jacoby’s plan would have come from the right. The New School had invited Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), which pushes for extreme restrictions on immigration. But Krikorian cancelled at the last minute, citing illness. Members of local immigrant rights groups speculated that the real reason might have been the protest they were planning against his inclusion on the panel. The New School campus has experienced two building occupations since December by students opposing President Kerrey’s policies.

Several of the nearly 500 people in the audience asked if immigration could be reduced by improving conditions in nearby countries like Mexico, a topic no panelist had raised.

Jacoby, a vigorous promoter of the corporate globalization policies that have transformed Latin America over the last two decades, seemed taken aback by the question. If conditions improved in Mexico, we’d have to recruit Mexican workers, she said. The United States simply doesn’t have enough high school dropouts to fill all the job slots for unskilled manual labor. “We need those workers,” Jacoby explained.

Friday, April 24, 2009

Upcoming New York Area Events on Immigration

Dialogue on Immigration
with Jane Guskin and David Wilson, authors of
The Politics of Immigration: Questions and Answers

Tuesday, April 28, at 11:00 am
Free and open to the public
At Suffolk Community College
Mildred Green Rm, Babylon Student Center
Ammerman Campus, 533 College Rd
Selden, NY

Sponsored by Amnesty International of SCCC, Latinos del Mundo, Women's Club, the Ammerman Campus Library, the SCCC deaprtments of foreign languanges, and the Office of Campus Activities

Information: Lisa Melendez, 631-451-4171, melendl@sunysuffolk.edu

Part of Immigration Rights Awareness Day, which will include a screening of "Detained" by Jenny Alexander, discussion of economic impact by Luis Valenzuela (Long Island Immigrant Alliance) and Kirby Einhorn (Long Island Wins), an art exhibit, and performances.

* * * * *

Immigrant Rights Activist Roxroy Salmon invites you to:
"Immigration Conversation: Politics & Popcorn!"
honoring U.S. Rep. Edolphus Towns

with two films:
"Untitled Project on Roxroy Salmon,” directed by Zach Fox, 5 min. excerpt
“Border Stories,” directed by John Drew, 5 min. excerpt

and speakers:
Wangyong Austin, immigration attorney
David L. Wilson, co-author, The Politics of Immigration: Questions & Answers
Roxroy Salmon, Brooklyn father fighting deportation

Tuesday, May 5th, 7 pm
First Presbyterian Church in the City of New York
12 West 12th Street on Fifth Ave
(F/V/L/PATH to 14th St, N/Q/R/W, 4/5/6 to Union Sq)

For more information:
neildiamondrulz@hotmail.com http://justiceisfreedom.wordpress.com
Sponsored by Roxroy Salmon Defense Committee, NY New Sanctuary Coalition, Families for Freedom

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Press Release: Port Isabel Detention Center Detainees Engaged in Non-Violent Hunger Strike

April 22, 2009
Contact: Elizabeth Garcia (TX) 956-459-3205
Manisha Vaze (NY) 917-748-0938

For Immediate Release – Developing Story

Port Isabel Detention Center Detainees Engaged in Non-Violent Hunger Strike
Organizations in Texas and New York stand in solidarity with protesters!

Los Fresnos, TX: Today, 200 detainees at the Port Isabel Detention Center (PIDC) began a passive resistance movement with an organized hunger strike to protest physical and verbal mistreatment they face at the facility. Over the last few months, inmates have made many complaints to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and facility operators Ahtna Technical Services Incorporated (ATSI), but the continued deplorable conditions has pushed detainees to engage in non-violent protest.

Detainees have stated that they face violations to their due process rights, do not receive adequate medical attention, and have experienced physical and verbal abuse from ICE and ATSI officers.

Organizations in Texas and New York are standing in solidarity with protesters, as many have received complaints from detainees and family members about conditions at PIDC since early this year. “We've heard of detainees being denied food, beaten and shackled as retaliation for speaking up about inadequate conditions. Many of the detainees are legal permanent residents from northeastern cities [and] they've been shipped to this desolate prison away from any kind of family and community support. ATSI staff is being very brazen in their lawlessness. I think there's a perception that no one will speak up in defense of immigrants. It all seems designed to break down the will of the detainees so that they will agree to being deported,” remarked Maria Muentes, an organizer from Families for Freedom in New York City.

Mark Bevans, whose brother is being detained there, said, “My brother was physically abused there and was refused medical care until his consulate was notified and advocated for him to receive the attention he needed. He is from New York, and they took him away from all his resources. They are not giving him a fighting chance to get out by putting him all the way down there. It’s hard.”

Catherine Yee, a loved one of a detainee, said, "The point of this hunger strike is to let the media and the community know that the detainees' rights are really being violated. My boyfriend has been there for over 180 days and they cannot deport him since the country where he was born does not recognize him as their national. He is thousands of miles away from his home and attorney in Boston, and he is not getting medical care."

Organizers and family members of the Coalition of Amigos in Solidarity and Action, the Southwest Worker’s Union, and Families for Freedom stand in solidarity with detainees at the facility and their families and further demand full and proper investigations into the alleged human and civil rights abuses detainees are currently facing and accountability from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Ahtna Technical Services Incorporated for their ongoing inability to resolve this issue.

###

Manisha Vaze
Organizer
Families for Freedom
3 W 29th St. #1030
New York, NY 10001
ph: (646) 290-5551
fax: (800) 895-4454
http://www.familiesforfreedom.org/

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Editorial: Immigration and the Unions

The unions, at least, understand that there is a better way. They see immigration reform as an issue of worker empowerment.

New York Times
April 20, 2009

The very idea that unions would endorse legalizing illegal immigrants, as the country’s two big labor federations did this month, strikes some as absurd. Americans have a hard enough time competing with cheap foreign labor. Why undercut them within our own borders? Especially with millions of citizens losing their jobs?

These questions deserve an answer since the bad economy will only strengthen the stiff winds of opposition that President Obama will have to fight if he is going to win the sweeping immigration overhaul he has promised. Legalization was already politically treacherous thanks to the tireless work of restrictionists who have spent years denouncing illegal immigrants as harmful to the country’s health. They have long compared the undocumented to invaders and parasites; it’s a very short distance from there to scabs. [....]

Read the full article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/21/opinion/21tues1.html?_r=1&scp=3&sq=immigration&st=cse

Monday, April 20, 2009

Chatham County: Another Small Victory in the Immigration Battle

by Jessica Weisberg, NACLA
April 13, 2009

On a Monday evening in February 50 or so protesters stood outside the courthouse in Pittsboro, North Carolina, a small town just south of Chapel Hill. It wasn’t a typical protest – there was no chanting or speeches – the protesters spoke quietly among themselves. Two middle-aged women compared quiche recipes as they held up a large banner that read: “Migration is a Human Right.” Other signs were similarly non-combative: “We Love Chatham County,” “Our Commissioners are Brave.” A few cars honked their horns supportively as they drove by. There didn’t seem to be anything much to protest, at least not here, in Pittsboro. [...]

Read the full article:
http://nacla.org/node/5694

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Some citizens being held as illegal immigrants

Dozens of Americans have been locked up or thrown out over past 8 years

"I've been doing this for 30 years and I've seen bureaucratic bungling. This is more than that," immigration attorney Lisa Brodyaga said. "This is an atmosphere of suspicion and hostility, particularly for Mexican-Americans on the border."

Associated Press
April 13, 2009

Pedro Guzman has been an American citizen all his life. Yet in 2007, the 31-year-old Los Angeles native — in jail for a misdemeanor, mentally ill and never able to read or write — signed a waiver agreeing to leave the country without a hearing and was deported to Mexico as an illegal immigrant.

For almost three months, Guzman slept in the streets, bathed in filthy rivers and ate out of trash cans while his mother scoured the city of Tijuana, its hospitals and morgues, clutching his photo in her hand. He was finally found trying to cross the border at Calexico, 100 miles away.

These days, back home in California, "He just changes from one second to another. His brain jumps back to when he was missing," said his brother, Michael Guzman. "We just talk to him and reassure him that everything is fine and nobody is going to hurt him." [...]

Read the full article:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30180729//

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Immigration Accord by Labor Boosts Obama Effort

by Julia Preston and Steven Greenhouse, New York Times
April 13, 2009

The nation’s two major labor federations have agreed for the first time to join forces to support an overhaul of the immigration system, leaders of both organizations said on Monday. The accord could give President Obama significant support among unions as he revisits the stormy issue in the midst of the recession.

John Sweeney, president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O., and Joe T. Hansen, a leader of the rival Change to Win federation, will present the outlines of their new position on Tuesday in Washington. In 2007, when Congress last considered comprehensive immigration legislation, the two groups could not agree on a common approach. That legislation failed.

The accord endorses legalizing the status of illegal immigrants already in the United States and opposes any large new program for employers to bring in temporary immigrant workers, officials of both federations said.

“The labor movement will work together to make sure that the White House as well as Congress understand that we speak about immigration reform with one voice,” Mr. Sweeney said in a statement to The New York Times. [...]

Read the full article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/14/us/14immig.html?ref=us

Monday, April 13, 2009

Border Deaths Up Despite Apparent Dip in Crossings

by Arthur H. Rotstein, AP
April 8, 2009


TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Illegal immigrant deaths along the U.S.-Mexico border have risen in the past six months despite a nearly 25 percent drop in arrests by the Border Patrol, according to patrol statistics.

The number of migrant deaths along the roughly 2,000-mile border increased by nearly 7 percent between Oct. 1, 2008, and March 31, 2009, though apprehensions of people crossing illegally from Mexico into Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California decreased in the same period from a year ago, the patrol said.

Migrant rights groups said the number of deaths directly correlated to increased enforcement along the U.S.-Mexico border. [...]

Read the full article:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hb3Y5EW7NWv-9hhqPXZM6aMINwPAD97EJAVG0

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Obama to Push Immigration Bill as One Priority

by Julia Preston, New York Times
April 8, 2009


While acknowledging that the recession makes the political battle more difficult, President Obama plans to begin addressing the country’s immigration system this year, including looking for a path for illegal immigrants to become legal, a senior administration official said on Wednesday.

Mr. Obama will frame the new effort — likely to rouse passions on all sides of the highly divisive issue — as “policy reform that controls immigration and makes it an orderly system,” said the official, Cecilia Muñoz, deputy assistant to the president and director of intergovernmental affairs in the White House. [...]

Read the full article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/09/us/politics/09immig.html?_r=1

A Year Without a Mexican: The Debilitating Loss of Economic Lifeblood

Why, residents ask themselves over and over, should local institutions bear all the financial and social costs? "It's outrageous," said Sol Varisco, who works with refugees and immigrants for Catholic Charities at the Des Moines diocese. "Is this how we enforce the law? Leave the churches and nonprofits to pick up the pieces?"

by Marcelo Ballve, Mother Jones
April 8, 2009

It all began with the whir and flicker of helicopters on May 12, 2008, an incongruous sound in a tiny Iowa town tucked amid cornfields. All over Postville, people craned their necks from orderly lawns, phones rang, and gossip flew. Reverend Stephen Brackett, the town's Lutheran pastor, was on his day off and didn't hear the helicopters at first, but when his church secretary called to tell him something unusual was happening, he at once suspected what it was. For years, there were rumors that the Agriprocessors meatpacking plant at the edge of town was under scrutiny by immigration authorities. Later that morning, Brackett's wife called with confirmation: She'd spotted two helicopters and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in jackets and flak vests down by the slaughterhouse. [...]

Read the full article:
http://www.alternet.org/story/134419/

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

The Crime? Humanitarian Aid

by Julianne Ong Hing, ColorLines
March/April 2009

Dan Millis is a volunteer with the border humanitarian aid group No More Deaths, which regularly leaves water and sets up aid camps in the Arizona desert for immigrants. Last February, Millis was issued a $175 ticket for littering in a section of the Arizona/Mexico border that’s also a national wildlife refuge. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife enforcement officers issued the ticket after Millis put several canisters of water along oft-traveled trails. The humanitarian worker faced a $5,000 fine and six months of jail time for his refusal to pay the ticket.

A federal judge found Millis guilty of littering, but didn’t issue a punishment, which Millis found strange but telling. “The ruling was an admission of the contradictory, hypocritical stance on immigration issues in this country,” Millis said. “The judge basically said, ‘Humanitarian aid is a crime, but the fact that it is a crime is ridiculous, so I’m not going to punish you.’” [...]

Read the full article:
http://www.colorlines.com/article.php?ID=488

Also at:
http://www.ww4report.com/node/7094

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

May 1 Support Grows: San Francisco Longshore and Postal Workers

Resolution of Letter Carriers Union – Golden Gate Branch #214
Adopted April 1, 2009

* Support May Day 2009 March and Rally in San Francisco for worker and immigrant rights.

* Support ILWU decision to stop work in Bay Area ports on May 1, 2009 to protest repression of port workers and immigrants by the Department of Homeland Security.

Whereas, the International Longshore & Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 10 has voted to stop work in Bay Area ports on Friday, May 1, 2009, International Workers Day; and

Whereas, the ILWU action is being called to protest two policies of ongoing repression by the Department of Homeland Security:

* First, the unfair implementation of Transport Workers Identification Credential (TWIC) cards in seaports, in violation of elementary civil rights and civil liberties, causing hundreds of longshore workers to be unfairly denied work in the ports.

* Second, the ICE (Immigration & Customs Enforcement) raids in homes and workplaces, which have victimized many thousands of immigrant workers, often resulting in prolonged detention under harsh conditions, and the separation of families including the separation of children from their parents – all in violation of elementary civil rights and civil liberties; and

Whereas, a united May Day march and rally for immigrant and worker rights will take place on Friday, May 1, 2009, gathering at Dolores Park at 12:00 noon, and marching at 2:00 p.m. to the San Francisco Civic Center; therefore be it

Resolved, that Golden Gate Branch 214 of the National Association of Letter Carriers support the May 1 2009 march and rally for immigrant and worker rights and encourage participation by our members; and be it further

Resolved, that NALC Branch 214 support the decision of ILWU Local 10 to Stop Work in all Bay Area ports on Friday May 1, 2009 to protest repression of port workers and immigrants by the Department of Homeland Security; and be it further

Resolved, that NALC Branch 214 support ILWU Local 10 in opposing the unfair implementation of TWIC cards in seaports, resulting in hundreds of longshore workers being denied work in the ports in violation of their civil rights and civil liberties; and be it finally

Resolved, that NALC Branch 214 oppose the ICE raids in homes and workplaces, which have victimized many thousands of immigrant workers, often resulting in prolonged detention under harsh conditions, and the separation of families including the separation of children from their parents – all in violation of elementary civil rights and civil liberties.

Adopted by NALC #214, meeting in San Francisco, CA, April 1, 2009, by unanimous vote.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

NYC Area Events, April 3 and April 12

The Chameleon Ball:
A Celebration of Youth Activism & Entrepreneurship
Friday, April 3, 2009
7-11 pm

Benefits the youth organizing of IPOWER! (Immigrant People Organizing & Working for Empowerment & Rights). Entertainment will include a scene from a powerful play about immigrant youth in New York, created by the actors themselves based on their experiences and those of their friends.

At the Brecht Forum
451 West St (between Bank and Bethune Streets)
New York, NY
Subway: A,C, E, L to 14th St & 8th Ave, 1, 2, 3 to 14th St & 7th Ave

Donation: $5-$35 sliding scale
Information: 212-242-4201, brechtforum@brechtforum.org and http://www.brechtforum.org/

================

"Enemy Alien":
Special Anniversary Screening
Sunday, April 12, 2009
3 pm

On April 12, 2004, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security released New York-based Palestinian activist Farouk Abdel-Muhti from immigration detention after a federal judge ruled that the government had no right to continue holding him in prison. Farouk had spent two years in detention and had been subjected to beatings, repeated verbal abuse, seven months in isolation, and health problems resulting from the withholding of necessary medication.

Farouk fought back through all this like the activist he was: with a stream of writings from prison, with media interviews, with organizing among his fellow prisoners. He died of a heart attack just three months after he was freed, but his release remained a victory both for him and for everyone who cares about human rights.

Celebrate the fifth anniversary of Farouk's release this April 12 at a special screening of "Enemy Alien: The Fight to Free Palestinian Activist Farouk Abdel-Muhti," a gripping first-person documentary-in-progress told through the eyes of filmmaker Konrad Aderer, the grandson of Japanese Americans interned during World War II.

At Women Make Movies
462 Broadway (above Grand Street), 5th Floor
New York, NY
Subway: Canal Street Station (J, M, N, Q, R, Z, and 6 trains)

After the screening there will be a discussion with people involved in Farouk’s fight for freedom, and the director will be seeking detailed feedback on the film and on how it can be used to further the work of organizations working for immigrants’ rights.

SPACE IS LIMITED. RSVP to producer@lifeorliberty.org with “Enemy Alien April 12 screening” in the subject line with your name, the name of your organization or affiliation if applicable, and the number of attendees.

Donations for the documentary and the rental of the space will be gratefully accepted (suggested minimum: $8, no one turned away). This can be done by cash, tax-deductible check made out to “Fractured Atlas” or online at the Life or Liberty donation page (also tax-deductible).

For more information and to see the trailer, go to http://www.lifeorliberty.org/

Why Immigrant Workers Will Fill the Streets This May Day

by David Bacon, Truthout
March 27, 2009


In a little over a month, hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions, of people will fill the streets in city after city, town after town, across the US. This year these May Day marches of immigrant workers will make an important demand on the Obama administration: End the draconian enforcement policies of the Bush administration. Establish a new immigration policy based on human rights and recognition of the crucial economic and social contributions of immigrants to US society.

This year's marches will continue the recovery in the US of the celebration of May Day, recognized in the rest of the world as the day recognizing the contributions and achievements of working people. That recovery started on Monday, May 1, 2006, when over a million people filled the streets of Los Angeles, with hundreds of thousands more in Chicago, New York and cities and towns throughout the United States. Again on May Day in 2007 and 2008, immigrants and their supporters demonstrated and marched, from coast to coast. [...]

Read the full article:
http://www.truthout.org/032709A

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

DHS Signals Policy Changes Ahead for Immigration Raids

by Spencer S. Hsu, Washington Post
March 29, 2009

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has delayed a series of proposed immigration raids and other enforcement actions at U.S. workplaces in recent weeks, asking agents in her department to apply more scrutiny to the selection and investigation of targets as well as the timing of raids, federal officials said.

A senior department official said the delays signal a pending change in whom agents at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement choose to prosecute -- increasing the focus on businesses and executives instead of ordinary workers.

"ICE is now scrutinizing these cases more thoroughly to ensure that [targets] are being taken down when they should be taken down, and that the employer is being targeted and the surveillance and the investigation is being done how it should be done," said the official, discussing Napolitano's views about sensitive law enforcement matters on the condition of anonymity. [...]

Read the full article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/29/AR2009032901109.html