Deportations

Oakland Passes “Strongest” Surveillance Oversight Law In US

May 4, 2018 Cyrus Farivar, Arstechnica.com Create! Deportations, ICE, Legislation, Oakland, Surveillance

OAKLAND, Calif.—Late Tuesday evening, the Oakland City Council formally approved a new city ordinance that imposes community control over the use of surveillance technology in the city. Oakland is now one of a number of California cities, including Berkeley and Davis, that mandates a formal annual report that details "how the surveillance technology was used," among other requirements. In the wake of Oakland’s 2013 efforts to approve federal grant money to construct a "Domain Awareness Center," the city has now also created a "Privacy Advisory Commission," or PAC. This body, composed of volunteer commissioners from each city council district, acts as a privacy check on the city when any municipal entity (typically the police department) wants to acquire a technology that may impinge on individual privacy.

A Year Later, Fewer Deportations In Cities That Adopted “Welcoming” Policies

April 26, 2018 Michael J. Dax, Yesmagazine.org Create! Deportations, Immigration, Undocumented

A year after the Santa Fe City Council adopted in February 2017 a resolution strengthening its welcoming and non-discrimination policies toward immigrants, the federal government launched a series of audits demanding verification from local small businesses that their employees were eligible to work in the country. In response to this blitz, advocates and city officials held a press conference in early March calling out an attempt to disrupt business, wreak havoc, and create a culture of fear and panic. “Today, children will wake up at home wondering if there will be a knock on their door; parents will go to work wondering if there will be a knock at the door of their place of employment; families will wonder if they’ll have one more meal together,” said then-Mayor Javier Gonzales, who, following President Trump’s election, became an outspoken proponent of cities enacting sanctuary and non-discrimination policies.

Protesters Fight Back Against Deportation Of Human Rights Advocate

April 24, 2018 Staff, Fightbacknews.org Resist! Activists, Deportations, Human Rights, Protests, Repression

New York, NY - Over 30 people gathered for an emergency rally held for Jerome Succor Aba, a Filipino peace activist who was denied entry to the U.S. and sent back to Manila after being tortured at the San Francisco airport. Aba was scheduled to speak on the “Stop the Killings” speaking tour to expose the Duterte government and its U.S. backers. The rally took place in front of the Department of Homeland Security. The crowd chanted and gave speeches demanding “Justice for Jerome.” Michael Garrovillas spoke on behalf of Anakbayan New York. “As youth and students and beyond, exposing and opposing the fascist U.S.-Duterte regime, for a truly just and lasting peace in the Philippines, the militarized state here in the U.S. to the Philippines will continue to try any methods of fear and intimidation.

Cities With Most Immigration Raids In Fiscal Year 2017

March 12, 2018 By Liz Posner, AlterNet.org Educate! Cities, Deportations, Immigration, Repression, Undocumented

Raids conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have increased drastically since Donald Trump moved into the White House. Across the country, 2017 saw 30 percent more ICE arrests than the previous year. A number of these high-profile arrests are particularly despicable, from news that ICE seized a woman after she reported her husband for domestic abuse, to the arrest of a handicapped girl just out of surgery. For the past year, AlterNet has reported on ICE’s notable cruelty since Trump’s inauguration. Now the numbers are in, and they confirm that the stories of ICE targeting non-criminal individuals aren’t just one-off aberrations. ICE drastically increased arrests for undocumented individuals over the past year, many of whom posed no threat to their communities.

Texas High Schoolers Walk Out To Protest ICE Detaining Of Student

February 16, 2018 By Daniel Hampton, Patch.com Resist! Deportations, ICE, Protests, Youth Activism

HOUSTON, TX — Dozens of high schoolers in Houston walked out of class on Wednesday in support of a classmate who was living in the United States illegally and was detained by federal immigration authorities following a fight at school. Dennis Rivera-Sarmiento, a 19-year-old student at Stephen F. Austin Senior High School in the Greater Eastwood neighborhood, was arrested on Jan. 30 on a charge he assaulted a student. Court documents allege Rivera-Sarmiento struck a female in the head with his fist, KTRK-TV reported. But the immigrant advocacy organization United We Dream says Rivera-Sarmiento was defending himself against bullies who were making fun of him over his immigration status. The group says the bullies even threw bottles at him.

Audit Finds Detainee Abuse At Immigration Prisons

December 16, 2017 Kevin Gosztola, mintpressnews.com Educate! Abuse, Deportations, Homeland Security, Immigration, Undocumented

The inspector general for the Homeland Security Department conducted unannounced inspections of six immigrant detention facilities overseen by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). It uncovered glaring examples of detainee abuse and mistreatment at four of the facilities. Inspections were conducted in response to complaints from immigrant rights groups, as well as complaints to the inspector general, and the report was released as President Donald Trump’s administration seems intent to slash the budget for inspector general offices, like the one at DHS. According to the report [PDF], “We identified problems that undermine the protection of detainees’ rights, their humane treatment, and the provision of a safe and healthy environment.”

Police Aid Immigration Officials In Crackdown

November 28, 2017 Mica Rosenberg and Reade Levinson, reuters.com Educate! Deportations, Immigration, Police, Undocumented

By Mica Rosenberg and Reade Levinson for Reuters - BENSALEM, Pennsylvania (Reuters) - Dozens of police departments in the United States have been granted new powers, or are seeking them, to check the immigration status of people they arrest, aiding President Donald Trump’s broad crackdown on people living in the country illegally. Since Trump took office in January, 29 departments have joined a special program under which they are deputized to perform some tasks of immigration agents, doubling its size in 10 months, according to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency. And the administration hopes that is just the beginning. Documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request show that the administration has also had contact with scores of additional jurisdictions about the program, and 38 of those told Reuters in interviews they have submitted applications for the program or are potentially interested in joining. The program, known as 287(g), deputizes local officers trained by ICE to use federal records to vet arrestees they suspect of being in the country illegally and then turn them over to federal agents if they are. The Department of Homeland Security has said in the past that police forces taking part in the program have flagged tens of thousands of people for deportation. The broad expansion of the program comes as Trump seeks to accelerate arrests and deportations of people living in the United States illegally. The large number of departments expressing interest in the program has not been previously reported.

Cities Giving Free Legal Representation To Those Facing Deportation

November 13, 2017 Aimée Lutkin, lifehacker.com Create! Deportations, Immigration, Legal System, Undocumented

By Aimée Lutkin for Life Hacker - To say that the current administration has been pushing extremely harsh immigration policies would be putting it mildly. Trump even went so far as to repeal the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which was intended to protect undocumented immigrants brought to the US as children. The country has experienced sweeping raids that have imperiled many, and as such, American cities are now working together to protect people from dangerous federal policies. The Vera Institute of Justice has just awarded grant money to support an enterprise called the SAFE Cities Network. Cities in eight states have banded together to build a fund that will pay for legal representation for immigrants facing deportation. All cities in the network had to apply to the Vera Institute with a proposal to prove they are committed to spending public dollars on deportation defense, which will then be matched by the institute. In conjunction with the announcement of the SAFE Cities Network, the Vera Institute released a new study that shows having access to a lawyer makes all the difference when it comes to keeping families together. The study highlights the “common misperception” that only illegal immigrants face deportation proceedings...

Blockade Illustrates Why Chicago Is Not A Sanctuary City

October 15, 2017 Staff, www.organzedcommunities.org Resist! Chicago, Deportations, Immigrant Rights, Police abuse

By Organized Communities Against Deportations. Chicago, IL – Three life-size representations of statistics that show how Chicago and Mayor Emanuel have failed to live up to the claim of being a “Sanctuary” city and instead continue to uplift policies that center policing and incarceration, and fail to protect people from deportations. The role of the Chicago Police Department’s Gang database has been brought to the forefront by the case of an immigrant father from Back of the Yards, Wilmer Catalan-Ramirez, who has filed a lawsuit against the City of Chicago for its role in directing immigration enforcement to his door by wrongfully claiming that he is a gang member.

‘Safe City’ Raids Teach Us About New Era Of Enforcement

October 9, 2017 Staff, www.mijente.net Strategize! Deportations, ICE, Immigration, Undocumented

By Staff of Mijente - Last week Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) released information that they haddetained 450 people across the country in cities and counties that have restrictions on the participation of local police in immigration enforcement, or so-called “Sanctuary” cities. Although this was not the 10K person mass raid that community members were warned about a few weeks ago, there are five elements we thought important to highlight that show us that we are in a new era of enforcement that requires us to track emerging tactics and technologies and have with solid and innovative response. And in an era where any contact with local law enforcement becomes an opportunity to detain, deport, and incarcerate, highlighting the role of local governments in creating real sanctuaries and pushing back against criminalization is key. As we figure out what those responses are, here are five things that we should be paying attention to in responding to Operation ‘Safe City’ and any that follow: This is what mass raids look like. We don’t have to wait for a 10,000 person raid to be announced in order to sound the alarm. This is what a raid and the propaganda that follows it looks like. The numbers and regions will vary, but ICE will always say the people they detained are dangerous and emphasize the stories that reinforce that narrative

Dozens Arrested Blocking ICE To Halt Couple’s Deportation

September 26, 2017 Andrea Germanos, www.commondreams.org Resist! Arrest, Deportations, ICE, Immigration, Protests, Undocumented

By Andrea Germanos for Common Dreams - Dozens of people were arrested Monday morning for blocking the federal building housing the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office in Hartford, Connecticut to denounce the deportation of a couple that's lived in the U.S. for over twenty years. Meriden couple Giaconda and Franklin Ramos, who came to the U.S. from Ecuador in 1993 and have no criminal record, are scheduled to board a flight back to their home country on Sept. 29. Demonstrators sat on the ground blocking the entrances and held banners reading "Keep the Ramos family together" and "ICE stop your ethnic cleansing." They, along with other demonstrators gathered to the side of the entrances, chanted "Not one more." The Record Journal describes the Ramoses as "the most recent family facing separation after policy changes under the Trump administration ceased the automatic renewal of deportation stays resulting in a 60 percent increase in removal orders for residents with work tax identification cards." As local Fox 61 explains, the couple "got their first deportation notice from ICE in 2005. Their case was then closed but come 2012, they were granted a stay of removal. However, it was this past June when their stay was denied." Their two sons, 24-year old Jason and 17-year-old Erick, are U.S. citizens and attend Central Connecticut State University.

ICE Plans To Start Destroying Records Detailing Immigrant Sexual Abuse And Deaths In Its Custody

September 1, 2017 Kali Holloway, www.truthdig.com Educate! Deportations, ICE, Immigration, Undocumented

By Kali Holloway for AlterNet - The openly anti-immigrant agenda of the Trump administration has led to a drastic increase in deportations of undocumented immigrants, and a looming threat of removal for Dreamers who have spent most of their lives in the U.S. Those policies promise only to further tax the country's immigration detention centers, where watchdog groups and detainees frequently report unsafe conditions. The dangers these detainees face are often revealed through careful reviews of records that document violations of immigrants' human and civil rights. Now the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, better known as ICE, wants permission to destroy those records, which detail immigrant abuses ranging from sexual assaults to wrongful deaths. A press release from the ACLU indicates that ICE has submitted the new request on recordkeeping to the National Archives and Record Administration, which oversees the handling of federal records. Under the new terms, ICE would be allowed to destroy 11 types of records, "including those related to sexual assaults, solitary confinement and even deaths of people in its custody," as well as "regular detention monitoring reports, logs about the people detained in ICE facilities and communications from the public reporting detention abuses."

With A Michigan City Fighting Back, DHS Pushes A Controversial Deportation Forward

July 24, 2017 Maryam Saleh, www.theintercept.com Resist! Deportations, Immigration, Michigan

By Maryam Saleh for The Intercept - IN THE FACE of intense community opposition, immigration officials are vowing to push ahead with plans to deport a 20-year Ann Arbor, Michigan, resident. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has ordered Lourdes Salazar-Bautista, 49, to leave the country by August 2. The local community and elected officials have rallied in support of the mother of three, but ICE spokesperson Khaalid Walls told The Intercept that the agency will not back down. “In a current exercise of discretion, the agency has allowed her to remain free from custody while timely finalizing her departure plans,” Walls wrote in a statement. “ICE focuses its enforcement resources on individuals who pose a threat to national security, public safety, and border security. However, as Secretary Kelly has made clear, ICE will not exempt classes or categories of removable aliens from potential enforcement. All of those in violation of the immigration laws may be subject to immigration arrest, detention, and, if found removable by final order, removal from the United States.” The Mexican native says she’s not done fighting. “I’m not a threat to this country,” said Salazar-Bautista, choking back tears during a vigil at St. Mary Student Parish in Ann Arbor on Tuesday evening, broadcast on Facebook live.

IWW Miners Of Jerome & Bisbee Loaded Into Cattle Cars & Deported From State Of Arizona

July 18, 2017 Janet Raye, www.weneverforget.org Resist! Arizona, Deportations, Mining, Working Class

By Janet Raye for We Never Forget - The above photograph shows more than 1000 working class men, mostly members of the Metal Mine Workers Industrial Union of the Industrial Workers of the World, being loaded into cattle cars in Bisbee, Arizona, July 12th, for the purpose of being deported from the state of Arizona. The men were force to stand in manure and left without food and water for hours until they were hauled across the state line and into New Mexico. More than 1000 men were left stranded in the desert near Hermanas, New Mexico. The sixty-seven men deported from Jerome were taken across the state line and left at Needles, California.

60 Days Of Deportations And Detainments Under Trump

July 11, 2017 Yessenia Funes, www.colorlines.com Educate! Deportations, Immigration, Trump Administration, Undocumented

By Yessenia Funes for Color Lines - Tactics once reserved for violent criminals are now targeting undocumented youth and parents. In a cover story published today (June 16), Slate lays out 60 scenes from life as an undocumented immigrant in President Donald Trump’s America, pulled from the Columbia Journalism School’s Global Migration Project. Slate starts with February 20, the day the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued two memos on immigration enforcement. The following day, 25-year-old Edwin Romero, an undocumented youth who would have qualified for citizenship under the proposed (and failed) DREAM Act, was arrested for a traffic violation but, ultimately held overnight in jail on an “immigration hold.” Then, in March, there was a teacher in Honolulu who wrote a staff-wide email that he wouldn’t teach any undocumented student. The examples go on and on—up until April 20, exactly 60 days after the DHS memos. As Slate points out, fewer than 9 percent of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees have been connected to violent crime.

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