The Washington Post has a series on medical care in immigrant detention centers.
The first in the series, titled System of Neglect, is an overview of effect immigration enforcement and policies have had on detention centers.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Washington Post - Careless Detention Part 1
Thursday, May 8, 2008
2 Day Immigration Law Training
| Date: 29-30 May 2008 This intensive two-day training will provide an overview and update on Detention/Deportation, 287(g), VAWA, and Employment Based Immigration. Please register for the training online at www.miracoalition.org by May 16th. For registration questions, please contact Angela Amell at (617) 350-5480 x202. This training is partly sponsored by the Massachusetts Bar Foundation & the National Immigration Forum and hosted by the Legal Assistance Corporation of Central Massachusetts |
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Pioneer Valley Project
The Pioneer Valley Project is collecting children's clothing, toys, cribs, car seats, all other equipment for kids, and disposable diapers for immigrant families. This summer we're supporting immigrant families who pay for child care out of their own pockets because it's very difficult for many of them to qualify for subsidized child care. Families pay $50-$75 a week for each child depending on the age of the child. Most of these families work for little more than minimum wage and they pay for their child care, their rides to and from work and often support parents, children and other family members back home. Some people only have steady work for four months each year because they work on tobacco farms.
Our project was looking for ways to help families get subsidized day care but we found that many of them either didn't have the proper identification or the hours offered didn't work for them (because many go to work at 5 or 6 AM and get back late, too). We decided instead to help support these families and help them offset the cost they pay for day care.
On Sunday, May 4, we gave out 44 packages of diapers to 29 families. We bought these diapers at the Food Bank of Western Mass but they still were expensive. They cost us over $9.00 per package and each package had either 34 or 40 diapers, according to the size. We also gave out a lot of children's clothing, two car seats, a crib, and lots of toys and other equipment for kids (like baby bottles), all things donated by members of local churches.
We are asking for donations of diapers and we especially need sizes 2, 5 and 6. Please buy a package of diapers and help a family offset the cost of child care. Or, if you have toys or equipment for kids that you are no longer using please donate it. We hope to give out diapers, toys, clothes and equipment all summer long. If you prefer to donate cash, that's fine, too. We're happy to come pick up stuff!
Thanks for your support!!
Maria Cristina Cuerda
Western Mass. Legal Services
One Monarch Place, Suite 400
Springfield, MA 01144
direct line: 413-686-9033
fax: 413-746-3221
Monday, May 5, 2008
News Digest, May 5th, 2008
May 1st Rallies
Immigration rights rally takes place on Amherst town common (WWLP.com)
The pressures on undocumented workers are growing. Around the country there are a growing number of raids on farms and factories. There was a major immigration raid at one Bay State company last year---a New Bedford leather goods plant. Some 361 workers at Michael Bianco inc. were detained.
May Day march smaller, but festive (Los Angeles Times)
In Los Angeles, where about 8,500 people took part in three separate marches that merged to rally at 1st Street and Broadway, some participants said fear of government raids and growing apathy about pros pects for change had dampened turnout. About 20,000 had been expected to participate.
Crowds Smaller at Immigrant Rallies (New York Times)
"People are scared that if they march, they will be arrested by I.C.E. and taken away from their families," she said, referring to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement division of the Department of Homeland Security. But Ms. Sabo added, "It's not about the numbers — we know who we are, who we've been and where we're going."
Mayday for undocumented workers (San Francisco Chronicle)
Again this May Day, immigrant workers are filling the streets, making the same point. Yet today, the federal government is taking actions that make holding a job a criminal act. Some states and local communities, seeing a green light from the Department of Homeland Security, are passing measures that go even further. These actions need a reality check.
Immigrant Deaths in DetentionThe pressures on undocumented workers are growing. Around the country there are a growing number of raids on farms and factories. There was a major immigration raid at one Bay State company last year---a New Bedford leather goods plant. Some 361 workers at Michael Bianco inc. were detained.
May Day march smaller, but festive (Los Angeles Times)
In Los Angeles, where about 8,500 people took part in three separate marches that merged to rally at 1st Street and Broadway, some participants said fear of government raids and growing apathy about pros pects for change had dampened turnout. About 20,000 had been expected to participate.
Crowds Smaller at Immigrant Rallies (New York Times)
"People are scared that if they march, they will be arrested by I.C.E. and taken away from their families," she said, referring to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement division of the Department of Homeland Security. But Ms. Sabo added, "It's not about the numbers — we know who we are, who we've been and where we're going."
Mayday for undocumented workers (San Francisco Chronicle)
Again this May Day, immigrant workers are filling the streets, making the same point. Yet today, the federal government is taking actions that make holding a job a criminal act. Some states and local communities, seeing a green light from the Department of Homeland Security, are passing measures that go even further. These actions need a reality check.
Family Struggled in Vain to Help Suffering Detainee (New York Times)
"This was the first time we ever heard our dad cry," said one, Jay Ashis Nand, 25. "He said, 'Son, if you don't get me out of here today, I'm going to die.' " Mr. Nand, a legal immigrant from Fiji who was diabetic, had been calling his family with mounting desperation over a 10-day period, the sons said. Already ailing when he was abruptly taken into custody at the family's home in Sacramento early in the morning of Jan. 13, 2005, he had deteriorated after a week at the Arizona detention center, which is run for the federal government by Corrections Corporation of America, a publicly traded prison company
Few Details on Immigrants Who Died in Custody (New York Times)
In California, relatives of Walter Rodriguez-Castro, 28, said they were rebuffed when they tried to find out why his calls had stopped coming from the Kern County Jail in Bakersfield in April 2006. Then in June, his wife went to his scheduled hearing in San Francisco's immigration court and learned that he had been dead for many weeks, his body unclaimed in the county morgue.
The Death of Boubacar Bah (New York Times Video)
The death of a detainee in the custody of U.S. immigration authorities raises questions about oversight in the immigration detention system.
Immigration Agency's List of Deaths in Custody (New York Times)
Along with 13 deaths cited as suicides, 14 as the result of various cardiac ailments and 9 related to H.I.V. and AIDS, the list includes cryptic causes of death like "unresponsive" and "undetermined." The list does not mention the immigrants' nationalities or where they lived in the United States. Some names and birth dates appear garbled.
A Government Statement on Detainee Deaths (New York Times)
Immigration and Customs Enforcement takes great care to ensure the safety and well being for each of the 330,000 detained individuals who come through our detention facilities each year. ICE has established plans and processes in place with Division of Immigration Health Services medical professionals to provide care for all those detained, including those who may encounter a medical emergency while in custody.
Immigrant Detention"This was the first time we ever heard our dad cry," said one, Jay Ashis Nand, 25. "He said, 'Son, if you don't get me out of here today, I'm going to die.' " Mr. Nand, a legal immigrant from Fiji who was diabetic, had been calling his family with mounting desperation over a 10-day period, the sons said. Already ailing when he was abruptly taken into custody at the family's home in Sacramento early in the morning of Jan. 13, 2005, he had deteriorated after a week at the Arizona detention center, which is run for the federal government by Corrections Corporation of America, a publicly traded prison company
Few Details on Immigrants Who Died in Custody (New York Times)
In California, relatives of Walter Rodriguez-Castro, 28, said they were rebuffed when they tried to find out why his calls had stopped coming from the Kern County Jail in Bakersfield in April 2006. Then in June, his wife went to his scheduled hearing in San Francisco's immigration court and learned that he had been dead for many weeks, his body unclaimed in the county morgue.
The Death of Boubacar Bah (New York Times Video)
The death of a detainee in the custody of U.S. immigration authorities raises questions about oversight in the immigration detention system.
Immigration Agency's List of Deaths in Custody (New York Times)
Along with 13 deaths cited as suicides, 14 as the result of various cardiac ailments and 9 related to H.I.V. and AIDS, the list includes cryptic causes of death like "unresponsive" and "undetermined." The list does not mention the immigrants' nationalities or where they lived in the United States. Some names and birth dates appear garbled.
A Government Statement on Detainee Deaths (New York Times)
Immigration and Customs Enforcement takes great care to ensure the safety and well being for each of the 330,000 detained individuals who come through our detention facilities each year. ICE has established plans and processes in place with Division of Immigration Health Services medical professionals to provide care for all those detained, including those who may encounter a medical emergency while in custody.
As federal presence at county jail grows, so do numbers of immigrant detainees (Austin American Statesman)
"For the past 30 years, federal immigration agents have regularly popped in the Travis County Jail and other correctional institutions, combing records and quizzing inmates to identify deportable immigrants and those with criminal records. But sometime in the future — apparently for the first time ever, and with the blessing of Travis County Sheriff Greg Hamilton — the periodic visits will grow into a permanent presence, as federal agents work around-the-clock in a roughly 8-foot by 10-foot office in the downtown jail."
Detention dollars (San Diego Union-Tribune)
" "The private prison industry was on the verge of bankruptcy in the late 1990s, until the feds bailed them out with the immigration-detention contracts," said Michele Deitch, an expert on prison privatization with the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas in Austin."
Lawsuits raise questions about private prisons (San Diego Union-Tribune)
"As immigration laws have become tougher, the federal government has found itself with a logistical challenge: where to house a population that has swollen to more than 30,000 detainees. The solution? Turn them over to the private sector. Detention contracts have helped turn once-ailing private prison companies into a multibillion- dollar growth industry with record revenues, healthy stock prices and ambitious expansion plans."
Detention: Inside Edition (Texas Observer)
"The fastest-growing segment of the prison industry is for-profit detention centers housing immigrants. The Bush administration - with characteristic zeal - has given the job of holding this growing detention population — fed largely by the crackdown on illegal immigration — to prison peddlers who are dependent on taxpayer dollars. Texas has been ground zero for this growth industry."
Immigrants Challenge U.S. System of Detention (New York Times)
"Immigrants who spent time in detention while fighting deportation filed a federal suit on Wednesday against Michael Chertoff, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, demanding that the agency issue legally enforceable regulations for its detention centers. No enforceable standards now exist for the immigrant detention system, a rapidly growing conglomeration of county jails, federal centers and privately run prisons across the country."
"For the past 30 years, federal immigration agents have regularly popped in the Travis County Jail and other correctional institutions, combing records and quizzing inmates to identify deportable immigrants and those with criminal records. But sometime in the future — apparently for the first time ever, and with the blessing of Travis County Sheriff Greg Hamilton — the periodic visits will grow into a permanent presence, as federal agents work around-the-clock in a roughly 8-foot by 10-foot office in the downtown jail."
Detention dollars (San Diego Union-Tribune)
" "The private prison industry was on the verge of bankruptcy in the late 1990s, until the feds bailed them out with the immigration-detention contracts," said Michele Deitch, an expert on prison privatization with the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas in Austin."
Lawsuits raise questions about private prisons (San Diego Union-Tribune)
"As immigration laws have become tougher, the federal government has found itself with a logistical challenge: where to house a population that has swollen to more than 30,000 detainees. The solution? Turn them over to the private sector. Detention contracts have helped turn once-ailing private prison companies into a multibillion- dollar growth industry with record revenues, healthy stock prices and ambitious expansion plans."
Detention: Inside Edition (Texas Observer)
"The fastest-growing segment of the prison industry is for-profit detention centers housing immigrants. The Bush administration - with characteristic zeal - has given the job of holding this growing detention population — fed largely by the crackdown on illegal immigration — to prison peddlers who are dependent on taxpayer dollars. Texas has been ground zero for this growth industry."
Immigrants Challenge U.S. System of Detention (New York Times)
"Immigrants who spent time in detention while fighting deportation filed a federal suit on Wednesday against Michael Chertoff, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, demanding that the agency issue legally enforceable regulations for its detention centers. No enforceable standards now exist for the immigrant detention system, a rapidly growing conglomeration of county jails, federal centers and privately run prisons across the country."
Education
The Undocumented American Dream (The American Prospect)
A new anthology of autobiographical stories written by undocumented immigrant college students serves as a reminder that we're neglecting some of the country's best and brightest.
A new anthology of autobiographical stories written by undocumented immigrant college students serves as a reminder that we're neglecting some of the country's best and brightest.
Raids
Immigration rights advocates protest ICE raids on local businesses (Mercury News)
Immigrant rights advocates and religious leaders are congregating today in front of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's San Francisco office to protest recent raids in the Bay Area. Labor union members, workers, students and several community organizations are also attending the protest to call for an end to the raids, which they say tear families apart and criminalize work.
After the crackdown: Raid unraveled lives and deflated dreams (Houston Chronicle)
Octavio Pacheco, a 29-year-old Mexican immigrant, came to Houston by himself when he was 18. Pacheco and his wife have a son born in Houston, and are expecting a second child. He worked at Shipley for nearly 10 years, and was earning $9 an hour and living rent-free in a company house. As agents began to round up the workers two weeks ago, Pacheco said the full impact of the raid set in. ''All the dreams you have, they come crashing down," he said. ''You feel hopeless because there is nothing you can do."
Immigration MazeImmigrant rights advocates and religious leaders are congregating today in front of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's San Francisco office to protest recent raids in the Bay Area. Labor union members, workers, students and several community organizations are also attending the protest to call for an end to the raids, which they say tear families apart and criminalize work.
After the crackdown: Raid unraveled lives and deflated dreams (Houston Chronicle)
Octavio Pacheco, a 29-year-old Mexican immigrant, came to Houston by himself when he was 18. Pacheco and his wife have a son born in Houston, and are expecting a second child. He worked at Shipley for nearly 10 years, and was earning $9 an hour and living rent-free in a company house. As agents began to round up the workers two weeks ago, Pacheco said the full impact of the raid set in. ''All the dreams you have, they come crashing down," he said. ''You feel hopeless because there is nothing you can do."
In D.C. Area, Citizenship Test Is One Of Patience (Washington Post)
"I'll vote next time, if I'm alive," said Reston retiree Apolonio Marin, 69, a Nicaraguan native who applied for citizenship last summer. He is still waiting.
Woman from Mali who underwent circumcision fights for asylum (Associated Press)
An immigration appeals court wrote in November that while female genital mutilation was "reprehensible," Traore had not proven the act was evidence that she would suffer further harm in Mali. The court concluded that like the loss of a limb, it was a one-time act that could not be repeated, and did not constitute a threat of continued harm.
EconomyWoman from Mali who underwent circumcision fights for asylum (Associated Press)
An immigration appeals court wrote in November that while female genital mutilation was "reprehensible," Traore had not proven the act was evidence that she would suffer further harm in Mali. The court concluded that like the loss of a limb, it was a one-time act that could not be repeated, and did not constitute a threat of continued harm.
Union and states try recruiting farm workers from Mexico (Associated Press)
Weary of waiting for Congress to overhaul the nation's immigration laws, the United Farm Workers hopes to recruit Mexican laborers to pick crops on U.S. farms.
Weary of waiting for Congress to overhaul the nation's immigration laws, the United Farm Workers hopes to recruit Mexican laborers to pick crops on U.S. farms.
Hispanic and Latino news
Latinos outraged over CBS report (Politico)
"Anti-Latino falsehoods deserve no time on our public airwaves," stated a letter to CBS by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the National Council of La Raza. The groups and others have asked to meet with CBS "to help raise the dialogue and provide the American public an honest and accurate analysis of this nation's broken immigration system." And in a separate letter to CBS, the Asian American Justice Center lodged a similar complaint against the entire four-part series that included the report.
"Anti-Latino falsehoods deserve no time on our public airwaves," stated a letter to CBS by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the National Council of La Raza. The groups and others have asked to meet with CBS "to help raise the dialogue and provide the American public an honest and accurate analysis of this nation's broken immigration system." And in a separate letter to CBS, the Asian American Justice Center lodged a similar complaint against the entire four-part series that included the report.
Local News
Immigration rights rally takes place on Amherst town common (WWLP.com)
The pressures on undocumented workers are growing. Around the country there are a growing number of raids on farms and factories. There was a major immigration raid at one Bay State company last year---a New Bedford leather goods plant. Some 361 workers at Michael Bianco inc. were detained.
We're fired up, and we can't take it (Woonsocket Call)PROVIDENCE — After snarling Friday rush hour traffic in downtown Providence with a "Unity March" from the Westin Hotel to the Statehouse, a coalition of labor and community groups held a rally in support of state workers, immigrants and union labor.
The pressures on undocumented workers are growing. Around the country there are a growing number of raids on farms and factories. There was a major immigration raid at one Bay State company last year---a New Bedford leather goods plant. Some 361 workers at Michael Bianco inc. were detained.
We're fired up, and we can't take it (Woonsocket Call)PROVIDENCE — After snarling Friday rush hour traffic in downtown Providence with a "Unity March" from the Westin Hotel to the Statehouse, a coalition of labor and community groups held a rally in support of state workers, immigrants and union labor.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
May Day Updates
The Amherst Immigrant Rights Rally was a great success! A highlight of the event was great participation from local high school and area college students. There were wonderful performances from Art Steele, Julissa, Jose Ayerve and Los Callejeros. There was a great variety and quality of speakers, including Richard Brown (President of Pioneer Valley Central Labor Council AFL-CIO and Western MA Jobs with Justice Executive Committee member), CopWatch, Arinna Weisman (founding teacher of Insight Meditation Center of the Pioneer Valley), Maya Winfrey (American Friends Service). We will post photos later today.
Channel 22 News, Channel 40, The Daily Hampshire Gazette and The Collegian were present. Channel 22 News will air their coverage of the rally between 5:30 and 6:00 pm tonight.
We would like to thank everyone who contributed to the success of the Amherst Rally, and want to remind all that we will have a Northampton rally at 5 pm in front of City Hall. This second rally will be more informal with LOTS of opportunities for individuals to take the microphone and tell their stories or read their poetry.
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