Connecticut Day Laborers Often Cheated Out of Weekly Pay

At the break of dawn in communities around the nation, men in work clothes gather to find construction and landscaping work and similar hands-on employment at customary locations. Sometimes these day laborers work much longer hours, and for much less, than they had been promised. Most have little chance of recovering hard-earned wages. One survey found that only one in 130 cases result in a filed claim. The laws are there. Society agrees a worker deserves to be paid, but there are vast gaps in legal enforcement. That’s where New Haven’s Community Labor Rights Clinic comes in. It’s modeled after a five-year old project in Stamford, the Day Laborer Project, operated by Connecticut Legal Services. The New Haven clinic was launched last month by New Haven Legal Assistance Association attorney James Bhandary-Alexander, a former National Labor Relations Board lawyer. Two nights a month, the clinic aims to serve this underserved client population.

Connecticut Day Laborers Often Cheated Out of Weekly Pay

At the break of dawn in communities around the nation, men in work clothes gather to find construction and landscaping work and similar hands-on employment at customary locations. Sometimes these day laborers work much longer hours, and for much less, than they had been promised. Most have little chance of recovering hard-earned wages. One survey found that only one in 130 cases result in a filed claim. The laws are there. Society agrees a worker deserves to be paid, but there are vast gaps in legal enforcement. That’s where New Haven’s Community Labor Rights Clinic comes in. It’s modeled after a five-year old project in Stamford, the Day Laborer Project, operated by Connecticut Legal Services. The New Haven clinic was launched last month by New Haven Legal Assistance Association attorney James Bhandary-Alexander, a former National Labor Relations Board lawyer. Two nights a month, the clinic aims to serve this underserved client population.

Basic Legal Principles Require Rejecting ICE Holds – Chicago Sun-Times

It’s a basic American legal principle: We don’t hold people in prison without a legal reason for doing so. We were impressed this week when Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle adhered to that position even on an issue that, frankly, might cost her more than a few votes. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement wants the county to hold some Cook County Jail inmates for an extra 48 hours, even after they’ve posted bond, because they might be illegal immigrants. ICE, which wants to use that time to check the inmates’ immigration status and pick them up if necessary, even has proposed paying the county’s additional costs for holding the inmates.

Protestan en EU contra programa Comunidades Seguras de inmigración

Decenas de personas protestaron hoy en Maryland contra el programa Comunidades Seguras, view que faculta a policías locales a cooperar con el Servicio de Inmigración y Aduanas (ICE) para la deportación de extranjeros con antecedentes penales. El activista comunitario de la organización Casa de Maryland, Lindolfo Carballo, dijo que varios dirigentes reunieron 600 firmas para pedir a las autoridades y la policía del condado de Montgomery que eviten la discriminación en la aplicación de la ley. “Es hora de decir basta” a Comunidades Seguras, “que convierte a la policía en agente de inmigración”, señaló Carballo. El programa cuestionado fue iniciado por el anterior presidente George W. Bush, y ha continuado y expandido bajo el gobierno de Barack Obama.

Los Angeles entregó 18 mil latinos a ICE en 2011 – Univision Noticias

Un estudio reveló que más de 18 mil inmigrantes de origen latino en cárceles del condado de Los Angeles fueron transferidos al servicio de inmigración. La entrega se produjo en cumplimiento a un acuerdo firmado con el gobierno federal para la ejecución del polémico programa Comunidades Seguras. La mayoría de los afectados se trataba de delincuentes de mediano o bajo riesgo, order señala un reporte elaborado por el Departamento del Alguacil del Condado de Los Angeles y la Unión Americana de Libertades Civiles (ACLU), sick reportó The Associated Press. Los hispanos entregados a la Oficina de Aduanas y Control Fronterizo (ICE) representaron el 92% del total de 19,725 internos. La agencia opera bajo el mando del Departamento de Seguridad Nacional (DHS).

Preckwinkle rejects ICE attempt to undermine Cook County protections – Chicago Tribune

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle has thrown cold water on a proposal by a high-level federal official to end a months-long dispute over immigration enforcement at the county jail. In a letter sent Monday to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director John Morton, Preckwinkle labels as “premature” Morton’s invitation to set up a “working group” to resolve differences over the county’s refusal to hold suspected illegal immigrants after they post bail.