Immigrants and Citizens Sue L.A. County for Illegal Detentions

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“Se Communities” Immigration Holds Lead to Illegally Prolonged Detentions of Tens of Thousands

 

(Los Angeles) – Six people have brought a landmark class-action lawsuit against Sheriff Baca and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) on grounds they are or were illegally detained in the jails and stations of Los Angeles County Jail for days, weeks, or months after they were entitled to be released because they are the subject of “immigration holds.”  Immigration holds, sometimes called “immigration detainers,” are notices issued by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) requesting that an individual in local custody be held pending further action.  Unlike warrants, they are issued without any judicial determination of probable cause, and they are frequently issued in error. 

City of Seattle Wage Theft Ordinance Text

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City of Seattle Wage Theft Ordinance – full text is below and attached. Was passed in 2011 based on organizing campaign of Casa Latina.

 

 

AN ORDINANCE relating to wage theft; amending Seattle Municipal Code sections 5.55.230 and 12A.08.060; clarifying the definition of theft as it relates to theft of wages; providing a list of circumstances that may be considered in determining whether a person intends to commit wage theft; clarifying the City’s jurisdiction in such cases; and allowing the City to refuse to issue, revoke, or refuse to renew business licenses from employers found guilty of wage theft.

 

Miami Dade Wage Theft Ordinance Text

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Full Text of the Ordinance is attached. It was passed in 2010 as a result of WeCount organizing in Miami Dade County, Florida.

ORDINANCE ESTABLISHING CHAPTER 22 OF THE CODE OF MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA; PROHIBITING WAGE THEFT, PROVIDING ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES AND PRIVATE CAUSE OF ACTION FOR WAGE THEFT PROVIDING SEVERABILITY, INCLUSION IN THE CODE, AND AN EFFECTIVE DATE

Day Laborers React to Chief Beck’s announcement on SCOMM reforms in wake of TRUST ACT Veto

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(Los Angeles),  In reaction to Los Angeles Police Chief Beck’s announcement today, Pablo Alvarado, director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network and principle sponsor of the TRUST Act,  issued the following statement:
 
“We look forward to working with the Police Chief, the Mayor, the City Council, and the Police Commission to craft a policy that protects Los Angeles from the disruptions caused by the dangerous  Se Communities program.   In 1979, then Police Chief Daryl Gates wisely implemented Special Order 40 to prevent police from being entangled in civil immigration enforcement.   That policy has been undermined by Se Communities, and it is time for Los Angeles to take appropriate action.  

The Jobs Numbers: Never Mind the Quantity, Check the Quality

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The jobs numbers: never mind the quantity, check the quality

Behind modest jobs growth, the real story is full-time jobs with good benefits are still disappearing. America’s going part-time. 

guardian.co.uk,

It’s heartening to see Friday’s news that the unemployment rate edged down to 7.8% last month. But let’s not get too caught up in celebrations. We need to look beyond the sheer quantity of jobs being created and into the quality of those jobs – something neither presidential candidate seems very interested in talking about.

Buried in the Friday’s jobs report is evidence that a disturbing trend continues: the creation of more part-time jobs, many of them low-wage, taking the place of solid middle-class careers. Positions in sectors like manufacturing continued to decline last month, replaced by new jobs in the healthcare, warehousing and retail industries. A lot of these jobs don’t allow workers to rack up enough hours to earn healthcare benefits – let alone break out of poverty.

Gov. Jerry Brown Misses by Vetoing TRUST Act – latimes.com

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This year’s legislative battle over immigration seemed to come to a draw when Gov. Jerry Brown signed one key bill but vetoed another. Immigration rights advocates, however, said Monday that the political give-and-take was largely an illusion. They lost. The bill that Brown signed, which lets some young immigrants have driver’s licenses, allows nothing beyond what is permitted under a new federal program granting a two-year reprieve from deportation. But the bill that Brown vetoed — the Trust Act — was among the most closely watched pieces of immigration legislation in the country. It would have barred local law enforcement officials from cooperating with federal authorities in detaining suspected illegal immigrants, except in the cases of serious or violent crime.

Loas y críticas al gobernador de California – laopinion.com

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El veto del gobernador de California Jerry Brown al proyecto de ley TRUST, que hubiera limitado la cooperación de la policía local al programa federal Comunidades Seguras, ha logrado que sus usuales amigos en las agrupaciones proinmigrantes lo llamen traidor y que tradicionales críticos, como la organización antiinmigrante FAIR, lo elogien calurosamente. “El veto del gobernador es una rara victoria para los ciudadanos amantes de la ley sobre el poderoso ‘lobby’ (cabildeo) de los protectores de los ilegales”, dijo Dan Stein de FAIR, organización que lucha contra cualquier semblanza de reforma migratoria. “Por una vez, el sentido común ha prevalecido sobre un acto sin consciencia de la Legislatura que hubiera puesto en peligro la seguridad pública de California”. Para Pablo Alvarado, director de la Red Nacional de Jornaleros (NDLON), el veto de Brown al proyecto de ley AB1081 fue una “traición” a los grupos proinmigrantes y latinos que lo han apoyado en sus campañas.

Mistrust in California – NYTimes.com

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Gov. Jerry Brown of California dropped the ball on Sunday when he vetoed the Trust Act, a bill aimed at keeping harmless immigrants out of the deportation dragnet — not out of misguided compassion, order but to bolster public safety. The police in immigrant communities depend on the cooperation of witnesses and victims; when local officers become federal immigration deputies, fear overrides trust and crime festers. Mr. Brown’s late-night veto bitterly disappointed immigrant advocates, law-enforcement officials, religious leaders and others who had urged him to take a stand against pressure from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is deporting people at a blistering pace and wants to keep doing so. The agency’s Se Communities program has turned local police into handmaidens of federal immigration policy; people arrested are automatically subjected to immigration checks, leading to the deportations of tens of thousands who have no criminal records or are only minor offenders.