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Immigrants

Humanitarian Camp Raided By Border Patrol, 30+ People Arrested

August 3, 2020 Niko Georgiades, Unicorn Riot. , , ,
The government ramped up its efforts to stop humanitarian workers on the U.S.-Mexico border and raided the ‘No More Deaths’ aid station, Byrd Camp, arresting over 30 people. The Friday, July 31 raid featured the U.S. Border Patrol, an armored vehicle, two helicopters, three ATVs, a couple dozen vehicles and BORTAC, a type of tactical unit that was recently deployed in Portland against protesters for Black lives. Volunteers from No More Deaths/No Más Muertas, a humanitarian organization seeking to end death and suffering on the US-Mexico borderlands, have continually faced charges, surveillance, and threats by the government. Along with helping to aid migrants and refugees with water, shelter, healthcare, and food, No More Deaths also releases investigative reports detailing abuses by the Border Patrol, which has retaliated with raids and other repressive actions. In January of 2018, Dr. Scott Warren was arrested by Border Patrol just hours after the group released a 23-page report spotlighting the government’s interference with their humanitarian aid efforts in the southern desert of Arizona.

Release The Prisoners: Ohio Jail 100 Percent Positive For Covid

July 4, 2020 By Martha Grevatt, Worker's World. , , ,
In a recent report, the Ohio Immigrant Alliance stated that the Morrow County  Correctional Facility in Mt. Gilead is the first county jail in the state to be 100 percent COVID-positive. The jail, holding local prisoners as well as Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees, is also the first 100 percent COVID-positive ICE detention center in the U.S. The Alliance accuses jail authorities of failing to follow their own protocols as well as ICE standards. According to the Alliance report, “None of the inmates and detainees at Morrow County have been seen by a doctor in the facility, despite their COVID diagnoses. Nursing staff are not present at the jail overnight or on the weekends, and even when they are there, they often decline to provide health care, including Tylenol. Jail staff have repeatedly refused to call an ambulance for detainees in serious distress.

Black Immigrants On The Front Lines Of COVID-19

July 3, 2020 By Jeremy Robbins, New American Economy. , , ,
As the country continues to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, Black immigrants -- immigrants who identify as Black regardless of country or region of birth -- are playing an important role on the front lines in healthcare, food supply, education, and biomedical industries. Black immigrants make up a significant portion of healthcare workers. In 2018, there were more than 560,000 Black immigrant workers in the healthcare sector. These workers made up 3.4 percent of all healthcare workers, a share almost three times their share of the U.S. population. In the food industry at large, there are over 223,000 Black immigrant workers. There are over 200,000 Black immigrant workers in the education industry. Black immigrant workers are also well represented across all biomedical industries, making up larger shares of the workforce in this sector than their overall share of the U.S. population.

How Local Leaders Can Ensure Immigrant Justice During COVID-19

May 24, 2020 the Vera Institute of Justice. , , ,
Our immigration system is on the threshold of a new crisis precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. People in detention face high risks of infection from the close quarters of facilities, shelters, and courtrooms, and they lack adequate sanitation, health care, and protective measures. The frequent transfer of people throughout the immigration detention system also contributes to the rapid spread of the virus. Moreover, unlike in criminal court, immigrants facing deportation do not have the right to a lawyer even if they cannot afford one, leaving most without access to legal representation. As local leaders seek to protect immigrant communities, safeguarding access to legal services for everyone is of critical importance.

As The World Battles COVID-19, Greece’s War On Migrants Rages On

May 22, 2020 By Spyros Galinos, ROAR Magazine. , , ,
For many years, a silent war has been waged along Europe’s borders, but this war has left the majority of the continent’s population seemingly untouched. This contrast has become even starker in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, during which it has become clear that the sensibility to life that is being so widely touted does not extend to everyone; the thousands of migrants amassed on both sides of the European border are, apparently, exempt from it. Those who manage to cross into Europe end up confined in modern-day concentration camps. Subjected to appalling living conditions, they face complete uncertainty about the future and are, moreover, stripped of their most fundamental rights. At the same time, their presence is used by governments to push through policies that galvanize national(ist) unity and broader interstate competition. Policies that are currently implemented as part of the global campaign against COVID-19 treat migrants as collateral damage.

Migrants Lead Struggle As ‘Reopening’ Fuels Resistance

May 21, 2020 Sue Davis, Workers.org. , , ,
Ford Motors CEO Jim Farley said during a recent conference call, “The auto industry is [the U.S.] economic engine. Restarting the entire auto ecosystem is how we restart the economy.” (New York Times, May 18) But Farley has it wrong. It’s the 400,000 production workers at the Detroit Three automakers, Ford, General Motors and Fiat Chrysler (FCA), who resume working today around the world who will have the final say. After a series of wildcat strikes across the industry in mid-March protesting unsafe working conditions in close quarters and lack of protective equipment, the workers are going back with some — but not enough — protection. Their temperatures with be taken after reporting to work each day, and masks, gloves and eye protection are required.

Immigrant Meatpackers Fightback Against Intimidation And Death Traps

April 20, 2020 Mike Elk, Pay Day Report. , , , ,
As COVID-19 ravages communities across the U.S., many experts agree that meatpacking plants, where employees work shoulder-to-shoulder, are the next ground zero for the spread of COVID-19. In several rural communities with sudden COVID-19 spikes, many residents say that the meatpacking plants that surround the city and employ several thousand area residents are responsible for accelerating the spread of COVID-19.  Albany, Ga., rocked by COVID-19, has seen more than 30 people die from the virus. For a city of only 70,000, Albany has the fourth-highest per capita rate of COVID-19 cases, with 659 cases for every 100,000 people. The town is ringed by a series of a half-dozen meatpacking plants, where thousands of workers are employed in meatpacking. 

How Undocumented Activists In New Jersey Won Driver’s Licenses For All

February 26, 2020 By Loretta Graceffo, Wagingnonviolence.org , , , ,
In December, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed a bill that will allow undocumented immigrants in the state to legally obtain drivers licenses by 2021. The victory was made possible by hundreds of undocumented organizers, who have been fighting for the bill for 18 years — often putting their bodies on the line and risking deportation in the process.

Hundreds Of County Jails Detained Immigrants For ICE

February 21, 2020 Emily Ryo and Ian Peacock, Theconversation.com , , ,
On a typical day in 2017, for instance, Theo Lacy Facility in Orange, California, operated by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, held about 500 individuals for ICE and received US$118 per person per day, bringing in a total of $59,000 a day. More so than federally operated facilities, county jails, along with facilities operated by for-profit companies, have come to hold for ICE the lion’s share of immigrant detainees facing removal proceedings.

President Trump Expands Anti-Muslim Travel Ban To Thirteen Countries

February 3, 2020 Kevin Reed, WSWS , ,
Trump signed an executive order on February 31, 2020 that imposes travel restrictions on six more countries with large Muslim populations, bringing the total number of nations under the US travel ban to 13. Immigrant visas are being suspended for Nigeria, Myanmar, Eritrea and Kyrgyzstan, and people from Sudan and Tanzania will be prevented from entering the US diversity visa program, which provides green cards to immigrants. According to the Department of Homeland Security, the ban will not apply to non-immigrant travelers such as students, tourists or people visiting the US on business. Trump signed the new order almost exactly three years to the day after he enacted the original Muslim travel ban.

Immigrants Speak Boldly Despite Threats Of Violence

November 17, 2019 Azadeh Shahshahani, Colorlines. , , ,
Recently, an email was circulated by anti-immigrant forces saying that they intended to show up “armed” to an immigrants’ rights event at a public library in Georgia, because we as the organizers of the event had dared to challenge law enforcement and “speak [our] minds.” The majority of the speakers, including myself, were immigrants. As an outspoken immigrant who is often critical of the United States government’s policies, I have often been told to go back “instead of stirring up trouble here.” Unfortunately, we have become accustomed to aggressive and hateful speech in the course of pursuing justice. But this email escalated anti-immigrant rhetoric to threats of violence. Many immigrants and refugees have left home countries where governments restricted their freedom of speech and freedom of assembly.

Activists Help ICE Agents Quit Their Jobs

October 9, 2019 Never Again Atlanta, Quit ICE. , , ,
This service is provided by Never Again Action: Atlanta, the local chapter of the national Never Again Action organization. As a Jewish-led organization, we believe we were taught to never let anything like the Holocaust happen again. We refuse to wait and see what happens with our nation’s immigration system — we know from our own history what happens next. Many of our ancestors narrowly escaped from conditions like what we are seeing today in detention centers and immigrant communities around the country. We are putting our bodies on the line because when we say never again, we mean never again for anyone. We want the same thing you do: for you to quit your job at ICE. Regardless of your reasons for quitting, we want to help you get out so there will be one less person contributing to the mass atrocities within our immigration system.

Trump Ordered By Judge To Testify In NY Protest Case

September 22, 2019 Tal Axelrod, The Hill. , , ,
A New York judge Friday ordered President Trump to answer questions in a civil suit involving a 2015 incident between protesters and his security guards. State Supreme Court Justice Doris Gonzalez ruled Trump must “appear for a videotaped deposition prior to the trial” under oath, saying his testimony is “indispensable.” The trial involves a group of protesters who say Trump’s security guards assaulted them outside of Trump Tower in 2015. The plaintiffs were demonstrating against Trump’s rhetoric toward Mexican immigrants. The judge rejected arguments from Trump’s camp saying the president’s duties should exempt him from testifying. Gonzalez said Trump may answer questions from the White House “at a time that will accommodate his busy schedule,” and that “there would be no necessity for the president to attend in person, though he could elect to do so.” 

Community Stopped ICE From Using Airport To Deport Thousands Of Immigrants

September 8, 2019 Lena Elmeligy, In These Times. , , ,
On April 23, the government of King County, Washington released an executive order expressing the intention to ban deportation flights from passing through King County International Airport - Boeing Field. The decision, which left Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) with one less facility for ground support, was won by years of local organizing by immigrant justice organizations. Monserrat Padilla is a coordinator of the Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network, an organization building a defense line for immigrant and refugee communities. In 2017, the organization established a hotline, designed to be a resource for individuals to report any observed immigration or detention activity. Through the hotline, the organization heard from passersby who said they’d witnessed ICE vehicles outside of the Boeing Field Airport, and detained persons being escorted through the airport by ICE officials, Padilla tells In These Times.

Lawsuit: ICE Disregards Migrants Medical, Mental Health Needs & Discriminates

August 25, 2019 Southern Poverty Law Center ,
A nationwide class-action lawsuit was filed today against the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and others acting in their official capacities.  The lawsuit challenges the federal government’s failure to ensure detained immigrants receive appropriate medical and mental health care, its punitive use of segregation in violation of the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, and its failure to ensure that detained immigrants with disabilities are provided accommodations and do not face discrimination as required by Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.  
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