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Immigration

There Are No Mass Migrations Without US Meddling And Militarism

July 9, 2021 Azadeh Shahshahani And Rhonda Ramiro, In These Times. , , ,
When Vice President Kamala Harris visited the U.S.-Mexico border in El Paso, Texas, on June 25, she repeated the claim she made during her trip to Guatemala and Mexico earlier that month: The Biden administration is serious about addressing the root causes of Central American migration. “This issue cannot be reduced to a political issue,” Harris said. “We’re talking about children, we’re talking about families, we’re talking about suffering, and our approach has to be thoughtful and effective.” Toward this end, the administration has set forth a four-year, $4 billion proposal to increase assistance to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, “conditioned on their ability to reduce the endemic corruption, violence, and poverty that causes people to flee their home countries.”

It Is Time To End Illegal Pushbacks And Abolish Frontex

June 22, 2021 Mark Akkerman, ROAR Magazine. , , ,
The European Union’s border regime has been rapidly expanding in the past years, especially since the so-called “refugee crisis” of 2015, which put migration at the top of the European political agenda. It seems that there has not been much opposition against this expansion, which ranges from border militarization and the beefing up of the budget and mandate of EU border agency Frontex, to the extensive use of biometric databases, surveillance technologies and the increasing cooperation with non-EU-countries to stop migrants on their way to Europe. Nonetheless, many activists have campaigned tirelessly against the EU border policies for years, while others have done all they can to rescue and support migrants.

New Report: ICE Records On Gynecological Abuse

June 17, 2021 Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. , , ,
Washington — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement failed to properly monitor informed consent protocols used by a doctor accused of performing non-consensual gynecological procedures on women detained at Irwin County Detention Center in Georgia, according to a new report published today by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, the National Immigration Project and Project South. The report also highlights other longstanding problems and systemic oversight failures that are currently the focus of several federal investigations of the facility. For years, advocates raised concerns about the mistreatment of immigrants detained at ICDC, a county-owned prison run by LaSalle Corrections that has contracted with ICE to detain immigrants since 2011.

Organizing Poultry Workers Starts With Learning Together

June 16, 2021 Olivia Paschal, Facing South. , , ,
She's been denounced by Tyson Foods as a "radical union organizer," but Magaly Licolli doesn't organize unions — she organizes workers. Licolli is a leader in the workers' center movement that since the 1970s has been organizing labor difficult to formally unionize. An immigrant who developed a passion for popular education through her theater education in Mexico, Licolli served as the executive director of the now-defunct Northwest Arkansas Workers' Justice Center, a nonprofit founded in 2007 to serve the region's poultry workers, where she worked with local community organizer Fernando Garcia. In 2019 Licolli co-founded Venceremos (Spanish for "we will win"), a nonprofit community center with a similar mission. Venceremos, like the NWAWJC, belongs to the Food Chain Workers Alliance, a coalition of over 30 similar worker-based organizations representing some 375,000 food workers in the U.S. and Canada.

Let’s Not Forget The Suffering The US Has Inflicted On Guatemala

June 13, 2021 Editors, In These Times. , , ,
During her recent visit to Guatemala, Vice President Kamala Harris delivered a frank message to Central Americans hoping to find refuge in the United States. “I want to be clear to folks in this region who are thinking about making that dangerous trek to the United States-Mexico border,” she said at a press conference with Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei on June 7. “Do not come. Do not come. The United States will continue to enforce our laws and secure our border.” Harris’s comments drew criticism from organizations advocating for asylum seekers. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D‑N.Y.) wrote on Twitter that seeking asylum at the U.S. border is “100% legal” and called on the United States to “finally acknowledge its contributions to destabilization and régime change in the region.”

New Jersey Activists Halted Two Deportations

June 13, 2021 Sam Carliner, Left Voice. , , ,
The Bergen County Jail in Hackensack, New Jersey has been the site of recurring actions in solidarity with detained immigrants. On Tuesday, June 8, one such action ended with cops arresting 14 protesters who were trying to peacefully stop a deportation. The 14 people arrested had camped out at the Bergen County Jail the previous night to try and stop the deportation of Marvin Jerezano Peña, a father from Red Bank, New Jersey who migrated from Mexico to the United States as a child. He had been arrested by ICE and was being held for marijuana possession, something now fully legal in the state. Nevertheless, ICE planned to deport Peña. Protesters at the jail Tuesday bravely blocked an ICE van that afternoon in an attempt to stop the deportation.

There Is No ‘Border Crisis’

May 25, 2021 Josue De Luna Navarro and Khury Petersen-Smith, In These Times. , , ,
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) temporarily closed the San Ysidro border crossing in San Diego on the morning of Nov. 19, 2018. With 100,000 people and 40,000 vehicles crossing each day, San Ysidro is one of the most heavily crossed land borders in the world — and CBP’s actions came during Monday morning rush hour.

End To ICE Contracts In Bristol County, Massachusetts

May 20, 2021 FANG Collective and Steve Ahlquist, UpriseRI. , , ,
The FANG Collective is happy to announce that ICE will be cancelling all contracts with Bristol County, Massachusetts. This includes their 287(g) contract which trains deputies to collaborate with ICE and perform immigration agent duties, and their IGSA contract which turned the Bristol County House of Correction into an ICE detention center. See: Biden administration ends ICE contract with Bristol County Sheriff’s Office amid federal probe into alleged excessive force against immigrant detainees In the summer 2018, FANG launched its Shut Down ICE campaign in Bristol County with a nonviolent direct action that blockaded, and effectively shut down the prison for several hours.

Scotland: Hundreds Of People Block Detention Of Immigrant Neighbors

May 14, 2021 Peter Smith, ITV News. , , ,
Glasgow, Scotland - One of two men detained by immigration officers in Scotland and subsequently released after protesters blocked them from leaving has said he's grateful "fate" bought him to live among the demonstrators in Glasgow. On Monday evening, protesters sat on the road in front of the Home Office van parked on Kenmure Street in Glasgow. Police officers surrounded the vehicle. Hundreds of protesters were at the scene, chanting refrains like "Leave our neighbours, let them go" and "Cops go home". "I'm so happy that my fate brought me to live here in Glasgow, where the people are so connected that they'll come out onto the streets to help one of their own," Lakhvir Singh exclusively told ITV News.

Changing The Border Narrative

April 9, 2021 Jenn Budd, Medium. , , ,
Much of the public discussion of our southern border today is one-sided. It is most often created by those with the most power and the loudest bullhorn; those in search of power, authority and money. So, it should come as no surprise to you that much of what we have been told about the border and of those who come to it are either not true or are highly exaggerated. It is after all the result of nearly a hundred years worth of the Border Patrol’s racist rhetoric and racist politicians creating ever more unfair and biased laws and policies. Many of which have little to do with creating an immigration system and more about scapegoating migrants for political and racist purposes while trying to make money off it. For more on this history, please take a look at this recent amicus brief on the history of our immigration laws.

Will Biden’s Central American Plan Slow Migration?

March 31, 2021 Aviva Chomsky, Tom Dispatch. , , ,
Joe Biden entered the White House with some inspiring yet contradictory positions on immigration and Central America. He promised to reverse Donald Trump’s draconian anti-immigrant policies while, through his “Plan to Build Security and Prosperity in Partnership with the People of Central America,” restoring “U.S. leadership in the region” that he claimed Trump had abandoned. For Central Americans, though, such “leadership” has an ominous ring. Although the second half of his plan’s name does, in fact, echo that of left-wing, grassroots organizations like the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES), its content highlights a version of security and prosperity in that region that’s more Cold War-like than CISPES-like. Instead of solidarity (or even partnership) with Central America, Biden’s plan actually...

What Future For Farmworker Families In The United States?

February 26, 2021 David Bacon, Oakland Institute. , , ,
Oakland, CA — As the Biden administration begins dismantling Trump's anti-immigrant legacy and contemplates reforms to US immigration policy, it will have to take the crucial decision of whether to continue or terminate the H-2A “guest worker” program. A new report by the Oakland Institute, Dignity or Exploitation — What Future for Farmworker Families in the United States?, documents the systematic abuse of workers in the H-2A program and its impact on the resident farmworker communities, confronted with a race to the bottom in wages and working conditions.

Migrant Caravan Heads To United States From Honduras

January 17, 2021 Daria Bedenko, Sputnik News. , , ,
On Tuesday, the outgoing US president, Donald Trump, known for his tough stance on immigration, warned that if his policies are reversed, as Biden has pledged to do, "a tidal wave" of illegal migration will follow. A migrant caravan of reportedly thousands is heading to the United States from Honduras, asking the incoming Biden administration to "honor its commitments", apparently referring to the president-elect's pledges to reverse most of Trump's immigration policies, according to media reports. According to a statement issued by the migrant rights group Pueblo Sin Fronteras ["People Without Borders"], and cited by Fox News, the caravan expects the Biden administration to provide them with a warmer welcome than the outgoing administration offered.

Deaths In Immigration Detention Are At A Record High

August 13, 2020 Katy Murdza, Immigration Impact. , , , ,
Two men died in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody on August 5. One of the men died in a hospital after being diagnosed with COVID-19, while the other died in his cell of a massive intercranial hemorrhage. These tragedies increased the total deaths in ICE custody this fiscal year to 17, the highest number since 2006. Many—if not all—of the deaths that occur in ICE custody are avoidable. More than twice as many people have died in ICE custody this year than last year. Unfortunately, with 1,065 active COVID-19 cases in ICE detention, that number will likely increase before the fiscal year ends in September.

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.
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