In the case of Sami Al-Arian, the same US justice system showed how unjust it can be. Al-Arian, a former Florida professor and civil rights activist, was released on bail on September 2 after spending more than five and a half years in jail fighting a vindictive prosecution.
by Jane Guskin, Huffington Post
September 11, 2008
Two Muslim men that our federal government has unfairly accused of supporting Palestinian terrorist groups celebrated victories last week. Both men are Palestinian immigrants who have been living legally in the US for many years and have been active in bringing together diverse communities, opposing religious extremism and working for social justice. Both have children who were born in the US, and both are devoted to their families.
In Paterson, New Jersey, an immigration judge ruled on September 4 that the federal government was wrong to try to deport local imam Mohammad Qatanani. The ruling upholds Qatanani's petition for permanent legal residency, which the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had sought to deny by claiming he lied on his application about an arrest in Israel. (Like thousands of other Palestinian men, he was detained administratively there.) Immigration Judge Alberto Riefkohl was unconvinced by the government's evidence. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jane-guskin/a-matter-of-justice_b_125679.html
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Wednesday Sept. 17: Immigration Dialogue at Brooklyn College
In commemoration of Constitution Day
September 17, 2008
The Brooklyn College Division of Student Affairs sponsors:
Learning to Lead in a Global Society:
Brooklyn Immigrants, Diversity and the US Constitution
A Diversity Lecture / Dialogue series
with Jane Guskin and David L. Wilson, co-authors of
The Politics of Immigration: Questions and Answers
Wednesday, September 17, 2008, at 12 noon
Gold Room, 6th floor, Brooklyn College Student Center
East 27 Street & Campus Road
Brooklyn, NY 11210
The purpose of this series is to have Brooklyn College students understand the arts, histories and cultures of the past as a foundation for those of the present. Also, it will allow students to think critically and creatively in the area of diversity.
Free and open to the public. If you are not a Brooklyn College student, you will be asked for photo ID to enter the building. (If you don't wish to show ID, you can RSVP to thepoliticsofimmigration@gmail.com by 9pm on Tuesday 9/16 to be added to a guest list.)
For more information contact:
Christine Pomponio
Coordinator of Events & Meetings
Brooklyn College Student Center
1st Floor, Main Office
Phone: (718) 951-5528, Fax: (718) 859-3057
Email: cpomponio@brooklyn.cuny.edu
September 17, 2008
The Brooklyn College Division of Student Affairs sponsors:
Learning to Lead in a Global Society:
Brooklyn Immigrants, Diversity and the US Constitution
A Diversity Lecture / Dialogue series
with Jane Guskin and David L. Wilson, co-authors of
The Politics of Immigration: Questions and Answers
Wednesday, September 17, 2008, at 12 noon
Gold Room, 6th floor, Brooklyn College Student Center
East 27 Street & Campus Road
Brooklyn, NY 11210
The purpose of this series is to have Brooklyn College students understand the arts, histories and cultures of the past as a foundation for those of the present. Also, it will allow students to think critically and creatively in the area of diversity.
Free and open to the public. If you are not a Brooklyn College student, you will be asked for photo ID to enter the building. (If you don't wish to show ID, you can RSVP to thepoliticsofimmigration@gmail.com by 9pm on Tuesday 9/16 to be added to a guest list.)
For more information contact:
Christine Pomponio
Coordinator of Events & Meetings
Brooklyn College Student Center
1st Floor, Main Office
Phone: (718) 951-5528, Fax: (718) 859-3057
Email: cpomponio@brooklyn.cuny.edu
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Anti-Immigrant Republican Brian Bilbray's Bizarre Crusade on the 14th Amendment
"Although the primary aim of the Fourteenth Amendment was to secure citizenship for African Americans, the debates on the citizenship provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the Fourteenth Amendment indicate that they were intended to extend U.S. citizenship to all persons born in the U.S. and subject to its jurisdiction, regardless of race, ethnicity, or alienage of the parents."
By Rhonda Brownstein, Southern Poverty Law Center
September 1, 2008.
Since 1995, U.S. Rep. Bilbray (R-Calif.) has tried to deny American citizenship to children born in the United States of non-citizen parents.
In almost every session of congress he has been part of since 1995, U.S. Rep. Brian Bilbray (R-Calif.) has unsuccessfully sponsored a law that aims to deny American citizenship to children born in the United States of non-citizen parents. His persistence is not a surprise: Bilbray is a former lobbyist for the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), a right-wing, anti-immigrant group that paid him almost $300,000 to lobby on its behalf between 2002 and 2005, and has headed the hard-line Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus since early last year. The current version of Bilbray's perennially losing legislation is called the Birthright Citizenship Act of 2007. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.alternet.org/rights/96964/
By Rhonda Brownstein, Southern Poverty Law Center
September 1, 2008.
Since 1995, U.S. Rep. Bilbray (R-Calif.) has tried to deny American citizenship to children born in the United States of non-citizen parents.
In almost every session of congress he has been part of since 1995, U.S. Rep. Brian Bilbray (R-Calif.) has unsuccessfully sponsored a law that aims to deny American citizenship to children born in the United States of non-citizen parents. His persistence is not a surprise: Bilbray is a former lobbyist for the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), a right-wing, anti-immigrant group that paid him almost $300,000 to lobby on its behalf between 2002 and 2005, and has headed the hard-line Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus since early last year. The current version of Bilbray's perennially losing legislation is called the Birthright Citizenship Act of 2007. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.alternet.org/rights/96964/
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Thu 9/11, NYC: "Illegal People" with David Bacon
Thursday, 11 September 2008 - 6:00pm
Place: Global Information Network
146 W. 29th St. Suite 7E (between 6th and 7th Aves)
New York, NY
Join NACLA and renowned author David Bacon, along with Jane Guskin, co-author of The Politics of Immigration: Questions and Answers, and a representative from Families for Freedom, for a discussion of David's latest book:
Illegal People: How Globalization Creates Migration and Criminalizes Immigrants
(Beacon, $25.95, 272p, ISBN 978-0-8070-4226-7)
A veteran photojournalist explores the human side of globalization and argues for new ways to think about and legislate around immigration.
Through interviews and on-the-spot reporting from both impoverished communities abroad and American immigrant workplaces and neighborhoods, Bacon shows how the United States' trade and economic policy abroad, in seeking to create a favorable investment climate for large corporations, creates conditions to displace communities and set migration into motion. Trade policy and immigration are intimately linked, Bacon argues, and are, in fact, elements of a single economic system.
To get to Global Information Network:
B/D/F/V/Q/N to Herald Square; R/W to 28th St; 1/2/3 to Penn Station; 1 to 28th St.
This event is free; copies of the book will be available or sale.
For more information, visit http://nacla.org/bacon or contact:
Christy Thornton, Director and Publisher
North American Congress on Latin America
NACLA Report on the Americas
38 Greene St. 4th Floor , New York, NY 10013
t: 646.613.1440 f: 646.613.1443
For the full schedule of David's tour, go to:
http://dbacon.igc.org/IndexPS/schedule.html
Place: Global Information Network
146 W. 29th St. Suite 7E (between 6th and 7th Aves)
New York, NY
Join NACLA and renowned author David Bacon, along with Jane Guskin, co-author of The Politics of Immigration: Questions and Answers, and a representative from Families for Freedom, for a discussion of David's latest book:
Illegal People: How Globalization Creates Migration and Criminalizes Immigrants
(Beacon, $25.95, 272p, ISBN 978-0-8070-4226-7)
A veteran photojournalist explores the human side of globalization and argues for new ways to think about and legislate around immigration.
Through interviews and on-the-spot reporting from both impoverished communities abroad and American immigrant workplaces and neighborhoods, Bacon shows how the United States' trade and economic policy abroad, in seeking to create a favorable investment climate for large corporations, creates conditions to displace communities and set migration into motion. Trade policy and immigration are intimately linked, Bacon argues, and are, in fact, elements of a single economic system.
To get to Global Information Network:
B/D/F/V/Q/N to Herald Square; R/W to 28th St; 1/2/3 to Penn Station; 1 to 28th St.
This event is free; copies of the book will be available or sale.
For more information, visit http://nacla.org/bacon or contact:
Christy Thornton, Director and Publisher
North American Congress on Latin America
NACLA Report on the Americas
38 Greene St. 4th Floor , New York, NY 10013
t: 646.613.1440 f: 646.613.1443
For the full schedule of David's tour, go to:
http://dbacon.igc.org/IndexPS/schedule.html
INB 9/7/08: Al-Arian Released, Flower Grower Raided
Immigration News Briefs
Vol. 11, No. 22 - September 7, 2008
1. Civil Rights Activist Al-Arian Released
2. Texas Town's Rental Ban Overturned
3. Marchers Oppose Border Fence
4. Raid at California Flower Grower
5. Poultry Workers Charged, Raid Feared
6. Immigrants March in Denver
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; http://weeklynewsupdate.blogspot.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. CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST AL-ARIAN RELEASED
On Sept. 2 in Alexandria, Virginia, former Florida professor and civil rights activist Sami Al-Arian was finally released on bail after spending five-and-a-half years in jail. Al-Arian had been transferred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody on Apr. 11 of this year, then transferred back to US Marshals custody on June 30 after being charged with criminal contempt for refusing to testify before a grand jury. After US District Judge Leonie Brinkema ordered Al-Arian's release on bail on July 10, the government transferred him back to ICE custody, claiming it was attempting to deport him. Brinkema reaffirmed the bail order on Aug. 8 as she postponed the criminal contempt trial, pending a Supreme Court ruling on Al-Arian's appeal challenging the government's right to compel him to testify [see INB 8/16/08, 7/5/08, 4/27/08, 3/29/08, 3/24/07, 6/10/06]. On Aug. 25, Al-Arian's attorneys filed a habeas petition demanding his release; Brinkema gave ICE until Sept. 2 to respond. The agency's response came in the form of an order for Al-Arian's release on bail. Al-Arian's family met him as he was released from an ICE facility in Fairfax, Virginia. He remains under house arrest. [Tampa Bay Coalition for Justice and Peace 9/2/08; Tampa Tribune 7/1/08] [...]
Read the full INB:
http://immigrationnewsbriefs.blogspot.com/2008/09/inb-9708-al-arian-released-flower.html
Vol. 11, No. 22 - September 7, 2008
1. Civil Rights Activist Al-Arian Released
2. Texas Town's Rental Ban Overturned
3. Marchers Oppose Border Fence
4. Raid at California Flower Grower
5. Poultry Workers Charged, Raid Feared
6. Immigrants March in Denver
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; http://weeklynewsupdate.blogspot.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. CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST AL-ARIAN RELEASED
On Sept. 2 in Alexandria, Virginia, former Florida professor and civil rights activist Sami Al-Arian was finally released on bail after spending five-and-a-half years in jail. Al-Arian had been transferred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody on Apr. 11 of this year, then transferred back to US Marshals custody on June 30 after being charged with criminal contempt for refusing to testify before a grand jury. After US District Judge Leonie Brinkema ordered Al-Arian's release on bail on July 10, the government transferred him back to ICE custody, claiming it was attempting to deport him. Brinkema reaffirmed the bail order on Aug. 8 as she postponed the criminal contempt trial, pending a Supreme Court ruling on Al-Arian's appeal challenging the government's right to compel him to testify [see INB 8/16/08, 7/5/08, 4/27/08, 3/29/08, 3/24/07, 6/10/06]. On Aug. 25, Al-Arian's attorneys filed a habeas petition demanding his release; Brinkema gave ICE until Sept. 2 to respond. The agency's response came in the form of an order for Al-Arian's release on bail. Al-Arian's family met him as he was released from an ICE facility in Fairfax, Virginia. He remains under house arrest. [Tampa Bay Coalition for Justice and Peace 9/2/08; Tampa Tribune 7/1/08] [...]
Read the full INB:
http://immigrationnewsbriefs.blogspot.com/2008/09/inb-9708-al-arian-released-flower.html
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Did a Mississippi Raid Protect Rightwing Politicians?
By David Bacon, TruthOut
August 31, 2008
LAUREL, MS (8/31/08) -- On August 25, immigration agents swooped down on Howard Industries, a Mississippi electrical equipment factory, taking 481 workers to a privately-run detention center in Jena, Louisiana. A hundred and six women were also arrested at the plant, and released wearing electronic monitoring devices on their ankles, if they had children, or without them, if they were pregnant. Eight workers were taken to Federal court in Hattiesburg, where they were charged with aggravated identity theft.
Afterwards Barbara Gonzalez, spokesperson for the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), stated the raid took place because of a tip by a "union member" two years before. Other media accounts focused on an incident in which plant workers allegedly cheered as their coworkers were led away by ICE agents. The articles claim the plant was torn by tension between immigrant and non-immigrant workers, and that unions in Mississippi are hostile to immigrants. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.truthout.org/article/did-a-mississippi-raid-protect-rightwing-politicians
David Bacon's new book, Illegal People: How Globalization Creates Migration and Criminalizes Immigrants, has just been released. For a schedule of book events, go to:
http://dbacon.igc.org/IndexPS/schedule.html
August 31, 2008
LAUREL, MS (8/31/08) -- On August 25, immigration agents swooped down on Howard Industries, a Mississippi electrical equipment factory, taking 481 workers to a privately-run detention center in Jena, Louisiana. A hundred and six women were also arrested at the plant, and released wearing electronic monitoring devices on their ankles, if they had children, or without them, if they were pregnant. Eight workers were taken to Federal court in Hattiesburg, where they were charged with aggravated identity theft.
Afterwards Barbara Gonzalez, spokesperson for the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), stated the raid took place because of a tip by a "union member" two years before. Other media accounts focused on an incident in which plant workers allegedly cheered as their coworkers were led away by ICE agents. The articles claim the plant was torn by tension between immigrant and non-immigrant workers, and that unions in Mississippi are hostile to immigrants. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.truthout.org/article/did-a-mississippi-raid-protect-rightwing-politicians
David Bacon's new book, Illegal People: How Globalization Creates Migration and Criminalizes Immigrants, has just been released. For a schedule of book events, go to:
http://dbacon.igc.org/IndexPS/schedule.html
Monday, September 1, 2008
INB 8/30/08: Mississippi Factory Raided, 595 Arrested
Local 1317's collective bargaining agreement expired at the beginning of August, and the ICE raid took place as the union was negotiating a new contract seeking wage increases, better vacation benefits and health care improvements. Activists say the raid in Laurel will help the company resist such demands and could undermine progressive coalition-building.
Immigration News Briefs
Vol. 11, No. 21 - August 30, 2008
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; http://weeklynewsupdate.blogspot.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.
Special Issue: Mississippi Factory Raided, 595 Arrested
On Aug. 25, dozens of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested approximately 595 workers in a raid on an electric transformer manufacturing facility owned by Howard Industries, Inc. in Laurel, Mississippi, a town of 20,000. The agents sealed off all the plant's exits, trapping workers inside, and executed a federal criminal search warrant for evidence relating to aggravated identity theft, fraudulent use of Social Security numbers and other crimes, as well as a civil search warrant looking for unauthorized immigrants. [ICE News Release 8/26/08; AP 8/27/08; ABC News 8/29/08; Washington Post 8/28/08]
The arrested workers were immigrants from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Peru, Brazil and Germany. Citing humanitarian reasons such as childcare, ICE released about 106 workers after fitting their ankles with electronic monitors to ensure their future appearance before a federal immigration judge. Nine other workers were transferred to the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) after they were determined to be unaccompanied minors. All nine were 17 years old; one was female. [ICE 8/26/08; ABC News 8/29/08] [...]
Read the full INB:
http://immigrationnewsbriefs.blogspot.com/2008/08/inb-83008-mississippi-factory-raided.html
Immigration News Briefs
Vol. 11, No. 21 - August 30, 2008
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; http://weeklynewsupdate.blogspot.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.
Special Issue: Mississippi Factory Raided, 595 Arrested
On Aug. 25, dozens of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested approximately 595 workers in a raid on an electric transformer manufacturing facility owned by Howard Industries, Inc. in Laurel, Mississippi, a town of 20,000. The agents sealed off all the plant's exits, trapping workers inside, and executed a federal criminal search warrant for evidence relating to aggravated identity theft, fraudulent use of Social Security numbers and other crimes, as well as a civil search warrant looking for unauthorized immigrants. [ICE News Release 8/26/08; AP 8/27/08; ABC News 8/29/08; Washington Post 8/28/08]
The arrested workers were immigrants from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Peru, Brazil and Germany. Citing humanitarian reasons such as childcare, ICE released about 106 workers after fitting their ankles with electronic monitors to ensure their future appearance before a federal immigration judge. Nine other workers were transferred to the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) after they were determined to be unaccompanied minors. All nine were 17 years old; one was female. [ICE 8/26/08; ABC News 8/29/08] [...]
Read the full INB:
http://immigrationnewsbriefs.blogspot.com/2008/08/inb-83008-mississippi-factory-raided.html
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