A report by the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security noted that four out of the five facilities it investigated had "instances of non-compliance" regarding health care, "including timely initial and responsive medical care."
ICE has confirmed that there have been 63 deaths of immigrants in custody since 2004.
Sandra M. Kenley, a legal resident in the U.S. for over 30 years, was taken into custody for two old misdemeanor drug convictions, which together are a deportable offense. She had been clean for three years, completed a nursing course and had gained custody of her 1 year old granddaughter. Before her detention she was being treated for high blood pressure, a fibroid tumor and uterine bleeding, and was scheduled for surgery. Her detainment in Virginia disrupted her treatment and she died in 2005 from an enlarged heart caused by her untreated hypertension.
Young Sook Kim, about 60 years old, died in federal custody in a New Mexico facility on September 11th, 2006. According to her cell mates, she had been pleading with officials for medical attention for weeks, which she received only after her eyes had yellowed and she had stopped eating. The autopsy revealed that she had pancreatic cancer.
Abdoulai Sall, 50, whose lawyer petitioned officials for medical attention, died in a detention center in Virginia on December of 2006 from a serious kidney ailment that worsened as it went untreated.
In the last month there have been three documented preventable deaths of immigrant detainees in ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) custody.
Victoria Arellano, an HIV+ transgender woman living in California who officials housed in the male facility, was denied her antibiotics and given medical attention only after 80 of her fellow detainees organized a protest as she was vomiting blood. She died on July 20th, shackled to her hospital bed.
Rosa Isela Contreras was 7 weeks pregnant when she lost conciousness after complaining of leg pain. She died on August 1st.
Edman Alves de Araujo, an epileptic man living in Massachusetts, was arrested by local police at around 2 pm on August 7th. His sister brought his medication to the station as soon as she heard, and pleaded with police saying that he couldn't skip a single day. They turned her away and handed Edman over to ICE at 3 pm. He was pronounced dead at 4:18 pm, but his family did not find out until the next day.
These deaths, regardless of one's opinion on immigration, are abhorrent and cruel.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Deaths in ICE Custody
Friday, August 24, 2007
Facts about undocumented immigrants in U.S.
Immigration raids and deportations split families apart.
According to a 2004 study by the Pew Hispanic Center, there are 3.1 million U.S. born (citizen) children with at least one parent in the country illegally.
The U.S. economy relies heavily on undocumented labor.
Estimated 70% of farm workers in the U.S. are undocumented.
Only 2% of all farm workers in the U.S. come on the guest-worker program.
apples
Undocumented put more into the system than they take out.
Undocumented immigrants put in $7 billion more into Social Security than they take out.
They put $1.5 billion more into Medicare than they take out.
A study by The National Academy of Sciences found that immigrants' tax payments are greater than all costs of services they use.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
ICE AGENTS STRIKE NORTH CAROLINA IMMIGRANT COMMUNITIES
Statement by the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union - August 22, 2007
Washington, DC: Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are raiding communities today in St. Paul and Lumberton, North Carolina, demonstrating, once again, the abject failure of the U.S. immigration system. Instead of doing the hard work of immigration reform, the federal government is conducting middle-of-the-night raids in North Carolina designed for headlines that fuel discrimination and cast suspicion on anyone who looks different or has a name that's hard to pronounce.
ICE officials arrived in the dead of night at local mobile home parks, targeting areas heavily populated by poor immigrant workers and their families, and arresting people in their homes. Eyewitnesses report that ICE agents forced women to leave their children. Meanwhile, residents are afraid to leave their homes.
Worksite law enforcement and other ICE actions around identity and immigration issues are a symptom of a failed immigration system, and no substitute for comprehensive reform. They
represent a form of political theater that ends in real human tragedy: the devastation of communities, breakup of families, and the defilement of fundamental American values.
Congress has failed to demonstrate the necessary leadership and persistence to fix our broken system. The UFCW will continue to fight for reform that ensures that all working people - immigrant and native-born - are able to improve their lives and realize the American dream.
For more information contact Jim Papian 202-466-1564 or press@ufcw.org.
Geraldo vs. Tancredo, Pt 1
Geraldo Rivera is really surprising me (in a good way) by his stance on immigration and not backing down. This is a clip of Rivera confronting presidential candidate Rep. Tancredo (R), Colorado on Wednesday 8/22/07. The topic is sanctuary cities, focusing on the NJ triple homicide. As a response to Tancredo's assertion that Newark's sanctuary city status is to blame for the crime, Rivera replies,
"Two points. First of all, this was the 60th homicide in Newark this year, and I'm sure Congressman Tancredo has not opined about any of the other homicides, and only became interested in this one when it became clear that one of the six alleged perpetrators came to this country illegally at the age of 11. That's one thing.
Number two, why was this person, this one of the six around to commit this hideous crime? He was out because he had a 31-count indictment for the rape of a child, and he was out on $15,000 bail, instead of the requisite $450,000 bail that he never could have made and never would have been on the street.
It had nothing to do with his immigration status. And it's just being used by advocates of this crushing anti-immigration policy to make a cheap political point."
Well said.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Fear and Mistrust of Police
This story is a perfect example of how state and local police enforcement of immigration law fosters fear and mistrust of the police in the immigrant community. It also shows just how unjust and inhumane the current policy is.
GA Immigration Law Breeds Fear, Mistrust
Elvira Arellano in the Media
|
Statement of Elvira Arellano, 8/15/07
Elvira Arellano has been a symbol of the plight of undocumented families ever since she sought sanctuary in a Chicago church a year ago, where she remained so that she could stay with her U.S. born son. She was separated from her son and deported to Mexico yesterday morning. This is a statement she gave a few days before being detained.
For the last 15 days, I have maintained a vigil in prayer. I have consulted with spiritual leaders and with those who face the same situation I face. I have made my decision.
Today marks one year since I came to my church and took sanctuary, to live here and raise my U.S. citizen son in peaceful witness for justice First I'd like to thank my pastor and all those here and elsewhere who have wrapped their arms around me and are like sisters and brothers to me To all the thousands of women and men, youth and children, from all walks of life, who have been with me physically and spiritually, I thank you for your support You have allowed me to live in the United States and raise my son who is a U.S. citizen.
I do believe that the majority of the people of this country have come to believe that the law is broken, that it must be fixed and that families should not be separated. Families should never be separaed because families are the foundation of every civilized society.
One year ago many of us believed that the government of this nation had the will to fix the broken law, but that political will also appears now to be broken.
Like many others, I came to the United States to work. I came because of what NAFTA and other U.S. economic policies had done to my country in which I could no longer find work that paid a living wage.
I came thinking of the American dream, and you welcomed my labor. Although I had to struggle very hard, I am a worker and you offered me work. I am a consumer, and you accepted my hard earned money. I paid my taxes as does every citizen of this country.
My hard work is for my son, whom I love dearly. My son is a citizen of these United States of America. He knows no other country but his country. I promised God that I would protect and raise him in God's ways and that I would teach him that he had dignity and rights under the Constitution and that he was a child of God not a piece of garbage to be used and thrown away.
He has all these wonderful things, but my son does not have the assurance of the presence of his mother's face, my embrace, guidance and loving care – these things that we all realize are essential for the growth and the development of every child.
After 9/11 when we were struck by the terrorists, all of our lives as we knew them were destroyed and nothing has been the same.. You did not find Bin Laden, but you found Elvira Arellano, because I was not hiding. As a result I felt myself targeted and the rules were changed. You decided to drive out those you had invited in to serve your dinners, clean your houses, take care of your children and cut your grass.
I and my son Saul are not alone. We are twenty million people, 12 million undocumented and our legal and U.S. citizen children, spouses and extended families. We do not disappear because you change the rules. We have the lives we have built here when you wanted us to be here.
Out of fear and hatred of an enemy you cannot find you have set out to destroy our lives and our families. As you knocked on my door, you are knocking on thousands of doors, ripping mothers and fathers away from their terrified children. You have a list of 17 million social security no match numbers and you are following that list as if we were terrorists and criminals instead of workers with families. You are denying us work and the seniority and benefits we have earned and you are taking the property we have saved for and bought.
I respect this country's high goal to be a nation of laws. I understand fears, because today I am afraid of being torn from the arms of my son. But where is the love and justice which God gives us all? I supported a solution that would restore the rule of law and allow this nation to protect its borders. I accepted the fines and tests the Congress wanted to impose on us. But this was not enough.
When I entered sanctuary I made it clear that my commitment was to my son. If my son was 21, and if this government still did not want me to stay in this country, I would have said to him, "Son, you are old enough to make your own way and make your own decisions, and I would have packed my suitcases and gone back to Mexico. But he is not yet an adult and I have the responsibility to protect and prepare him for the life in this country he has a right to as a U.S. citizen.
When I entered sanctuary, I promised God that I would stay here and raise my son in his country, no matter what the consequences. God has protected me for this long year, but I cannot sit by now and watch the lives of mothers and fathers like me and children like Saul be destroyed. I believe in my heart that the people of this nation do not, in their hearts, want to destroy our lives, our families and our communities. I believe, however, that we must come forward in the witness of faith to bring a resolution to this crisis.
We cannot wait until the next election. The Congress must act in September!
Therefore, I have made my decision. On September 12th, I will go to Washington D.C. I will go to pray and fast in front of the Congress. I will go with by Bible and my son and I will read to him from the Holy Scriptures as I do everyday.
If this government would separate me from my son, let them do it in front of the men and women who have the responsibility to fix this broken law and uphold the principles of human dignity.
I will accept whatever God gives me to accept. But I ask my community, the families facing separation, to join me as we walk together for our dignity. I ask all people of conscience and good will to join me in 8 hours of prayer, from 2 p.m. until 10 p.m. on the Washington Mall in front of Congress.
I know that there are many in Congress and millions of people in this country who know this misery cannot go on until the next election. Together in faith and prayer I hope that we can join together to heal the will that is broken in Congress so that Congress can fix the broken law in September..
> now until September 12th I will pray for my people and I will pray for this nation. May God Bless and Have Mercy on us all.
Monday, August 20, 2007
Film Screenings
We are holding free film screenings of Echando Raíces (Taking Root) followed by a Q&A session on the following dates...
September
- Thursday, September 27th - Focus on Interfaith Coalition for Peace and Justice, 7:00 pm, St. Mary's church, Northampton
October
November
