Trapped in the Deportation Machine : The New Yorker

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You get arrested. The authorities run a background check. They need to know if you have outstanding warrants or unpaid tickets, if you jumped bail somewhere, check if you’re driving a stolen vehicle. To obtain your criminal history, they routinely send your fingerprints to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which keeps a database of more than a hundred million prints. The F.B.I., under a federal program known as Se Communities, will share your fingerprints with the Department of Homeland Security.

Families Facing Deportation Confront Southern ICE Office, Ask Supporters to Make Calls

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We Don’t Want to Be Deported Before the Path to Citizenship Opens

04.22.2013 – New Orleans, LA
This morning, five families who are facing deportation entered the Southern regional field office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement to demand that the office’s public advocate, Bryan Acuna, fulfill his duties by taking on their cases to stop their removals and cease the violent raids and targeting of low-priority cases that are rampant across the region.

 

Report: Many foreign nationals detained for deportation are not criminals – MiamiHerald

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A majority of foreign nationals detained for deportation in Miami-Dade County through the controversial immigration enforcement program called Se Communities were not dangerous criminals, according to a report to be released Monday. The conclusions of the 57 page report, “False Promises: The Failure of Se Communities in Miami-Dade County,” are at odds with the stated objectives of the federal program launched in 2008. Those goals are to detain and deport convicted foreign nationals who pose a threat to public safety and those who are repeat violators of immigration laws, such as immigrants who have returned to the United States after being deported. “Contrary to these policy goals, we found that 61 percent of individuals ordered for removal from Miami-Dade County are either low-level offenders or not guilty of the crime for which they were arrested,” according to the report.

Day Laborers React to Senate Immigration Proposal

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Introduction Poses Test for President   Los Angeles, CA – 04.17.2013In response to the introduction of the Senate ‘Gang of 8’ immigration reform bill, Pablo Alvarado, Executive Director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network issued the following statement:   “President Obama should seize the opportunity presented today by immediately suspending deportations, at a bare minimum for…

‘El Hielo’: Music Video Inspires Immigrant Rights Activists, Goes Viral – New America Media

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Two immigrant mothers stood outside the downtown Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office holding a sign that read, s “They have a Dream.” The women stood in silence — they shouted no slogans and sang no chants. They didn’t need to. The lyrics to a song being performed live right in front of them told their story and that of so many others l…

Immigration Activists and Experts on Their ‘Dealbreakers’ on Immigration Reform | The Nation

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It’s no secret that a quota of 400, order 000 deportations per year drives immigration enforcement in the United States. Will federal immigration reform change this? Will deportations decrease, remain the same—or worse, increase? The strongest federal bill would, of course, qualify all 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the country for relief. However, the Obama Administration’s discredited deportation programs, like “Se Communities” (known as S-Comm), remain as the biggest obstacles in getting us there. S-Comm turns every police officer into a gateway for deportation by using pre-conviction arrest data to conduct immigration checks. As a result, thousands of families have been torn apart for offenses as minor as driving with out a license and immigrant communities across the country live in constant fear of interacting with local police because of their key role in funneling people into the deportation and detention system. 

La Santa Cecilia

L.A. band La Santa Cecilia ‘not afraid’ to reveal undocumented status

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By David Montgomery, Source: WashingtonPost.com

La Santa CeciliaFor a buzz-magnet of a bicultural, ambitious young Los Angeles band, La Santa Cecilia had some strange habits. The members didn’t like to travel far by car. Nor did they like to fly. They avoided certain states, especially Arizona. Invitations to gig in foreign countries were a mixed blessing.

When they did venture too far out of their geographic comfort zone (ground zero: historic Olvera Street, “La Placita Olvera,” in downtown L.A.), the lineup tended to change. Someone instead of co-founder Jose “Pepe” Carlos would play the accordion.

“For us it was like, if something happens to this guy, what are we going to tell his parents?” says Marisol “La Marisoul” Hernandez, the lead singer.

But as of Wednesday in Washingon — 25 years after Carlos’s family brought him to the United States illegally from Mexico at the age of 5 — he and the band are done hiding and pretending. La Santa Cecilia plans to arrive in town before noon — by plane, after a show in Tucson — and perform at an afternoon rally on the West Lawn of the Capitol, where organizers say “tens of thousands” of demonstrators will call for a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.