"Migration is part of globalization....an aspect of state policies that expel people. Creating an alternative to that requires political power. There's no way to avoid that."
David Bacon, New America Media
July 09, 2008
JUXTLAHUACA, OAXACA, MEXICO -– For almost half a century, migration has been the main fact of social life in hundreds of indigenous towns spread through the hills of Oaxaca, one of Mexico’s poorest states. That’s made the conditions and rights of migrants the central concern for communities like Santiago de Juxtlahuaca.
Today the right to travel to seek work is a matter of survival. But this June in Juxtlahuaca, in the heart of Oaxaca’s Mixteca region, dozens of farmers left their fields, and women weavers their looms, to talk about another right, the right to stay home. [...]
Read the full article:
http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=66a8eccf43428bfe3542bfc7ddfb19ff
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Monday, July 14, 2008
INB 7/13/08: 23-Year-Old Dies in Detention; ICE Agent Sentenced
Fleury did not learn of her son's death until several days later. "No one from immigration or jail called me when my son died," said Fleury. Fleury said the family found out because a chaplain called Joseph's girlfriend, who then called his family. A letter from ICE stating that Joseph had suffered a seizure came a week later.
Immigration News Briefs
Vol. 11, No. 16 - July 13, 2008
1. 23-Year-Old Dies in Detention
2. ICE Agent Sentenced for Sexual Assault
3. Texas Port Company Raided
Immigration News Briefs is a weekly supplement to Weekly News Update on the Americas, published by Nicaragua Solidarity Network, 339 Lafayette St, New York, NY 10012; tel 212-674-9499; weeklynewsupdate@gmail.com. INB is also distributed free via email; contact immigrationnewsbriefs@gmail.com to subscribe or unsubscribe. You may reprint or distribute items from INB, but please credit us and tell people how to subscribe. Immigration News Briefs is posted at http://immigrationnewsbriefs.blogspot.com.
*1. 23-YEAR-OLD DIES IN DETENTION
On June 20, West Palm Beach resident Valery Joseph died while in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the Glades County Detention Center in Moore Haven, Florida. The 23-year-old Haitian immigrant had been living in the US since he was eight, said his mother, Jacqueline Fleury. At a news conference in Miami's Little Haiti neighborhood on July 8, the day Joseph would have turned 24, US Rep. Kendrick Meek joined Joseph's family members and immigrant rights advocates in calling for an independent investigation into what Meek called Joseph's "untimely death." [...]
Read the full INB:
http://immigrationnewsbriefs.blogspot.com/2008/07/inb-71308-23-year-old-dies-in-detention.html
Immigration News Briefs
Vol. 11, No. 16 - July 13, 2008
1. 23-Year-Old Dies in Detention
2. ICE Agent Sentenced for Sexual Assault
3. Texas Port Company Raided
Immigration News Briefs is a weekly supplement to Weekly News Update on the Americas, published by Nicaragua Solidarity Network, 339 Lafayette St, New York, NY 10012; tel 212-674-9499; weeklynewsupdate@gmail.com. INB is also distributed free via email; contact immigrationnewsbriefs@gmail.com to subscribe or unsubscribe. You may reprint or distribute items from INB, but please credit us and tell people how to subscribe. Immigration News Briefs is posted at http://immigrationnewsbriefs.blogspot.com.
*1. 23-YEAR-OLD DIES IN DETENTION
On June 20, West Palm Beach resident Valery Joseph died while in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the Glades County Detention Center in Moore Haven, Florida. The 23-year-old Haitian immigrant had been living in the US since he was eight, said his mother, Jacqueline Fleury. At a news conference in Miami's Little Haiti neighborhood on July 8, the day Joseph would have turned 24, US Rep. Kendrick Meek joined Joseph's family members and immigrant rights advocates in calling for an independent investigation into what Meek called Joseph's "untimely death." [...]
Read the full INB:
http://immigrationnewsbriefs.blogspot.com/2008/07/inb-71308-23-year-old-dies-in-detention.html
Friday, July 11, 2008
Interpreting the Largest ICE Raid in U.S. History: A Personal Account
Erik Camayd-Freixas, Ph.D
New America Media, July 11, 2008
Editor's Note: A Spanish-language interpreter in Postville, Iowa battled with his own ethical decisions about how to stay neutral during the largest single-site raid in U.S. history. He says nothing could have prepared him for the prospect of helping our government put hundreds of innocent people in jail.
POSTVILLE, Iowa -- On Monday, May 12, 2008, at 10:00 a.m., in an operation involving some 900 agents, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) executed a raid of Agriprocessors, Inc., the nation’s largest kosher slaughterhouse and meatpacking plant located in the town of Postville, Iowa. The raid – officials boasted – was “the largest single-site operation of its kind in American history.” At that same hour, 26 federally certified interpreters from all over the country were en route to the small neighboring city of Waterloo, Iowa, having no idea what their mission was. [...]
Read the full article:
http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=dd3d7679d6579a9a883d376a80142456§ion_id=1
Also at:
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/camayd-freixas120708.html
An Interpreter Speaking Up for Migrants
By Julia Preston, New York Times
July 11, 2008
WATERLOO, Iowa — In 23 years as a certified Spanish interpreter for federal courts, Erik Camayd-Freixas has spoken up in criminal trials many times, but the words he uttered were rarely his own.
Then he was summoned here by court officials to translate in the hearings for nearly 400 illegal immigrant workers arrested in a raid on May 12 at a meatpacking plant. Since then, Mr. Camayd-Freixas, a professor of Spanish at Florida International University, has taken the unusual step of breaking the code of confidentiality among legal interpreters about their work. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/11/us/11immig.html
A note from Dr. Camayd-Frexais:
“My new friends from Postville involved in the relief effort inform me that they are still dealing with a very tough humanitarian crisis. So, please, if you have any opportunity for fundraising, this is the address where donations can be sent:
St. Bridget’s Hispanic Ministry Fund
c/o Sister Mary McCauley
PO Box 369
Postville, Iowa 52162″
Amalia Anderson, Project Director, Main Street Project, adds that you can also donate at the Lutheran Disaster Relief website:
http://www.ldr.org/
Go to "donate" and choose Postville from the pull-down menu.
New America Media, July 11, 2008
Editor's Note: A Spanish-language interpreter in Postville, Iowa battled with his own ethical decisions about how to stay neutral during the largest single-site raid in U.S. history. He says nothing could have prepared him for the prospect of helping our government put hundreds of innocent people in jail.
POSTVILLE, Iowa -- On Monday, May 12, 2008, at 10:00 a.m., in an operation involving some 900 agents, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) executed a raid of Agriprocessors, Inc., the nation’s largest kosher slaughterhouse and meatpacking plant located in the town of Postville, Iowa. The raid – officials boasted – was “the largest single-site operation of its kind in American history.” At that same hour, 26 federally certified interpreters from all over the country were en route to the small neighboring city of Waterloo, Iowa, having no idea what their mission was. [...]
Read the full article:
http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=dd3d7679d6579a9a883d376a80142456§ion_id=1
Also at:
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/camayd-freixas120708.html
An Interpreter Speaking Up for Migrants
By Julia Preston, New York Times
July 11, 2008
WATERLOO, Iowa — In 23 years as a certified Spanish interpreter for federal courts, Erik Camayd-Freixas has spoken up in criminal trials many times, but the words he uttered were rarely his own.
Then he was summoned here by court officials to translate in the hearings for nearly 400 illegal immigrant workers arrested in a raid on May 12 at a meatpacking plant. Since then, Mr. Camayd-Freixas, a professor of Spanish at Florida International University, has taken the unusual step of breaking the code of confidentiality among legal interpreters about their work. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/11/us/11immig.html
A note from Dr. Camayd-Frexais:
“My new friends from Postville involved in the relief effort inform me that they are still dealing with a very tough humanitarian crisis. So, please, if you have any opportunity for fundraising, this is the address where donations can be sent:
St. Bridget’s Hispanic Ministry Fund
c/o Sister Mary McCauley
PO Box 369
Postville, Iowa 52162″
Amalia Anderson, Project Director, Main Street Project, adds that you can also donate at the Lutheran Disaster Relief website:
http://www.ldr.org/
Go to "donate" and choose Postville from the pull-down menu.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
The Guantanamization of Immigrant Detention
Roberto Lovato, from his blog, Of América
June 18, 2008
Imran Ahmad (a pseudonym), a 29 year-old Pakistani computer scientist who can see the Statue of Liberty from his studio apartment in Brooklyn's Sunset Park neighborhood, says he no longer believes in the symbol of freedom cast in copper. "Freedom is relative. It depends on things like where you're from and what you look like" says Ahmad. He reached this conclusion, he says, because of what happened to him as a orange-uniformed detainee held for more than 3 years in numerous federal detention facilities: the denial of habeas corpus (his constitutional right to plead his case before a judge), facing growling dogs, watching friends languish and die while in custody, the "subtle torture" of living for months in a tiny, windowless white room while a nearby TV set blared American Idol or "24."
After a fellow detainee died under mysterious circumstances, which were covered up by detention facility authorities, Ahmad says he was threatened with lines like "We don't want you to tell or speak to anyone about this" and "We have cameras and people [detainees] who are watching you, monitoring you." Though Ahmad was released, he is still in deportation proceedings.[...]
Read the full article:
http://ofamerica.wordpress.com/2008/06/18/the-guantanamization-of-immigrant-detention/
June 18, 2008
Imran Ahmad (a pseudonym), a 29 year-old Pakistani computer scientist who can see the Statue of Liberty from his studio apartment in Brooklyn's Sunset Park neighborhood, says he no longer believes in the symbol of freedom cast in copper. "Freedom is relative. It depends on things like where you're from and what you look like" says Ahmad. He reached this conclusion, he says, because of what happened to him as a orange-uniformed detainee held for more than 3 years in numerous federal detention facilities: the denial of habeas corpus (his constitutional right to plead his case before a judge), facing growling dogs, watching friends languish and die while in custody, the "subtle torture" of living for months in a tiny, windowless white room while a nearby TV set blared American Idol or "24."
After a fellow detainee died under mysterious circumstances, which were covered up by detention facility authorities, Ahmad says he was threatened with lines like "We don't want you to tell or speak to anyone about this" and "We have cameras and people [detainees] who are watching you, monitoring you." Though Ahmad was released, he is still in deportation proceedings.[...]
Read the full article:
http://ofamerica.wordpress.com/2008/06/18/the-guantanamization-of-immigrant-detention/
Monday, July 7, 2008
INB 7/5/08: Raid at Maryland Painting Company
Attorney Liza Zamd also said a four-year-old girl saw ICE agents handcuff her father and force him to kneel in their home while they searched for two workers from the painting company who live there. Zamd said the girl's father is a US citizen and wasn't charged.
Immigration News Briefs
Vol. 11, No. 15 - July 5, 2008
1. Raid at Maryland Painting Company
2. Supervisors Arrested in Postville, Houston
3. Nearly 500 Arrested in Anti-Gang Raids
4. Al-Arian Indicted for Non-Cooperation
Immigration News Briefs is a weekly supplement to Weekly News Update on the Americas, published by Nicaragua Solidarity Network, 339 Lafayette St, New York, NY 10012; tel 212-674-9499; weeklynewsupdate@gmail.com. INB is also distributed free via email; contact immigrationnewsbriefs@gmail.com to subscribe or unsubscribe. You may reprint or distribute items from INB, but please credit us and tell people how to subscribe. Immigration News Briefs is posted at http://immigrationnewsbriefs.blogspot.com.
*1. RAID AT MARYLAND PAINTING COMPANY
On June 30 in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, about 75 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents joined 50 county police officers in raiding the offices of Annapolis Painting Services Inc. and 15 single-family homes that authorities said were owned by the company and rented to employees. Agents arrested 50 or 51 workers from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nigeria and Panama on administrative immigration violations. Five women, including one who is pregnant, were allowed to remain free on humanitarian release pending removal proceedings because they are sole caregivers. The other 10 women and 35 or 36 men were detained. The company has more than 100 employees, county police said. [Baltimore Sun 7/1/08; Washington Post 7/1/08; Hometownannapolis.com (Capital Gazette Newspapers) 7/2/08 from AP] [...]
Read the full INB:
http://immigrationnewsbriefs.blogspot.com/2008/07/inb-7508-raid-at-maryland-painting.html
Immigration News Briefs
Vol. 11, No. 15 - July 5, 2008
1. Raid at Maryland Painting Company
2. Supervisors Arrested in Postville, Houston
3. Nearly 500 Arrested in Anti-Gang Raids
4. Al-Arian Indicted for Non-Cooperation
Immigration News Briefs is a weekly supplement to Weekly News Update on the Americas, published by Nicaragua Solidarity Network, 339 Lafayette St, New York, NY 10012; tel 212-674-9499; weeklynewsupdate@gmail.com. INB is also distributed free via email; contact immigrationnewsbriefs@gmail.com to subscribe or unsubscribe. You may reprint or distribute items from INB, but please credit us and tell people how to subscribe. Immigration News Briefs is posted at http://immigrationnewsbriefs.blogspot.com.
*1. RAID AT MARYLAND PAINTING COMPANY
On June 30 in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, about 75 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents joined 50 county police officers in raiding the offices of Annapolis Painting Services Inc. and 15 single-family homes that authorities said were owned by the company and rented to employees. Agents arrested 50 or 51 workers from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nigeria and Panama on administrative immigration violations. Five women, including one who is pregnant, were allowed to remain free on humanitarian release pending removal proceedings because they are sole caregivers. The other 10 women and 35 or 36 men were detained. The company has more than 100 employees, county police said. [Baltimore Sun 7/1/08; Washington Post 7/1/08; Hometownannapolis.com (Capital Gazette Newspapers) 7/2/08 from AP] [...]
Read the full INB:
http://immigrationnewsbriefs.blogspot.com/2008/07/inb-7508-raid-at-maryland-painting.html
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Spain, Like U.S., Grapples With Immigration
A 2007 report by the Council of Europe, an organization of European states, concluded that the Spanish program may have had a small “pull effect” but called it a “positive experience from which many European states can learn.”
By Jason DeParle, New York Times
June 10, 2008
MADRID — With the United States riven by calls to legalize millions of illegal immigrants, Americans might consider the possible effects by looking at southern Europe, where illegal immigration has abounded and so have forgiveness plans.
In the last two decades, Spain, Italy, Portugal and Greece have run at least 15 legalization programs, including a Spanish effort three years ago that was among the Continent’s largest. With little domestic opposition, Spain legalized nearly 600,000 of the African, Latin American and eastern European workers who helped power its economy and brought this once insular land the strengths and strains of diversity. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/10/world/europe/10migrate.html?ex=1213761600&en=e78030605411eaa7&ei=5070&emc=eta1
By Jason DeParle, New York Times
June 10, 2008
MADRID — With the United States riven by calls to legalize millions of illegal immigrants, Americans might consider the possible effects by looking at southern Europe, where illegal immigration has abounded and so have forgiveness plans.
In the last two decades, Spain, Italy, Portugal and Greece have run at least 15 legalization programs, including a Spanish effort three years ago that was among the Continent’s largest. With little domestic opposition, Spain legalized nearly 600,000 of the African, Latin American and eastern European workers who helped power its economy and brought this once insular land the strengths and strains of diversity. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/10/world/europe/10migrate.html?ex=1213761600&en=e78030605411eaa7&ei=5070&emc=eta1
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
What part of "worker exploitation" don't you understand?
by Austin Guest, on Sirotablog
June 2, 2008
If you're like me, you've had it up to here with the refrain of "what part of illegal don't you understand" from right-wingers trying to use the immigration debate to distract hard-working Americans from the structural reasons behind their ongoing economic woes.
Rather than running scared from this simple-minded chorus of xenophobia, it's high time progressives stood up and called a spade a spade. Allowing immigration status to be used as an excuse to exploit workers is not only morally wrong, it's bad for other workers. [...]
Read the full article:
http://action.credomobile.com/sirota/2008/06/what_part_of_worker_exploitati.html
Also available at:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/6/5/172540/5869/394/530490
June 2, 2008
If you're like me, you've had it up to here with the refrain of "what part of illegal don't you understand" from right-wingers trying to use the immigration debate to distract hard-working Americans from the structural reasons behind their ongoing economic woes.
Rather than running scared from this simple-minded chorus of xenophobia, it's high time progressives stood up and called a spade a spade. Allowing immigration status to be used as an excuse to exploit workers is not only morally wrong, it's bad for other workers. [...]
Read the full article:
http://action.credomobile.com/sirota/2008/06/what_part_of_worker_exploitati.html
Also available at:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/6/5/172540/5869/394/530490
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