After Hurricane Sandy destroyed their workers’ center and trashed the surrounding waterfront, Bensonhurst day laborers eager to do debris-clearing work say they can’t connect with contractors or homeowners. “It’s really difficult,” said Gavino Hernandez, 46, who does construction and painting work. “Really, we’re desperate. We’re not sure what to
Aún sin poder calcular por completo los daños que la tormenta Sandy dejó en Nueva York y New Jersey, online las oportunidades para quienes trabajen en construcción y reparaciones, s y servicios de transporte saltan a la vista. La Agencia Federal de Emergencia ha declarado ambos estados como zonas de emergencia, lo que abre la posibilidad a sus residentes
While it isn’t yet possible to determine the total destruction that Hurricane Sandy left in its wake in New York and New Jersey, it is clear that job opportunities await those who work in construction, repair and transportation services. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has declared both states disaster areas. As a result, affected r
While it isn’t yet possible to determine the total destruction that Hurricane Sandy left in its wake in New York and New Jersey, it is clear that job opportunities await those who work in construction, repair and transportation services. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has declared both states disaster areas. As a result, affected r
A storm surge from Hurricane Sandy unmoored the Bay Parkway Community Job Center, and New York City’s only center for day laborers, online and moved it a couple hundred feet inland from the Bensonhurst shore, cracking one of its walls in the process. Ligia Guallpa of the Worker Justice Projects, which operates the center, and Lionel, one of the center’s founders, tried to show it to me Tuesday afternoon, but the New York Police Department objected. “I’m trying to be nice, okay? You have to go,” Office Dym instructed us. “We’re here for a reason,” he said, getting out of his vehicle to push me away. “It’s not safe.” “See?” Guallpa lamented. “This is what they do to us every morning when we have workers.” The police have blocked off the “hazard area” around the center, though just why was not remotely apparent, when we subsequently snuck in the back way. Despite repeated inquiries form Guallpa and the Worker Justice Center, the authorities have refused to estimate when the “hazard area”…
My main goal for this year was driving a car. I had been practicing with my husband for about two months and I was able to pass the road test and se my driver’s license. Being it was my first time to drive a car by myself and I was so excited, ed I rushed to my car and drove to my night class at Prince George’s Community College, without turning on my headlights. I was pulled over by a police officer, 60mg and issued a warning. At this moment, one thing crossed my mind: If this happened to me when I was an illegal immigrant, I would have faced se system database scanning and I would have been given to federal agencies and deported. It is hard to imagine how shocking this might be, but it is a real story for many Prince George’s residents. Numerous families in Prince George’s County have faced this situation.
Juana Islas, a New Haven resident and undocumented Mexican immigrant, broke down in tears before a crowd gathered at City Hall Thursday evening as she recounted the story of how her brother Josemaria Islas may now face deportation after having just settled felony charges. Josemaria Islas, who is currently in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, was arrested last July by the Hamden police investigating an attempted armed robbery. Though the victim identified Islas as the perpetrator, he was not convicted of any crime due to a lack of evidence, and instead he enrolled in a state rehabilitation program allowing individuals charged with non-serious crimes to have charges waived after a period of probation. But rather than releasing Islas to move forward with rehabilitation, judicial marshals continued to detain him in voluntary compliance with an ICE hold request, which may lead to his deportation. But immigrant rights advocates are criticizing the judicial marshal
It’s been more than a year since Fairfax County Supervisor Michael Frey called a public meeting to discuss the proposal to open a hiring site for immigrant day laborers in Centreville. “The atmosphere was obviously pretty heated,” he says. But Frey, a Republican, says most of the objections came from residents who had a problem with federal immigration policy. “The people that were objecting were objecting because they believed all the day laborers were here illegally, and wanted that problem solved,” Frey says. Frey understands those concerns. But he points out the county has little power to influence federal immigration enforcement, and the center is a way to keep immigrant workers who are looking for work from gathering on street corners and impeding commerce and traffic. It will also keeping the workers themselves safer, Frey adds. Alice Foltz is the temporary director of the Centreville Immigration Forum, a coalition of churchgoers that came up with the idea…
This week the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights (GLAHR) and the ACLU of Georgia filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The suit seeks public records documenting the effects of Georgia’s increasing involvement in immigration enforcement, find including information that will shed light on increasing reports of racial profiling and police abuse. The two organizations requested the records over six months ago. With representation by the ACLU of Georgia, the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, and the NYU Immigrant Rights Clinic, the lawsuit alleges that DHS and ICE have failed to comply with the Freedom of Information Act, and demands the release of the requested records. Azadeh Shahshahani, counsel for the ACLU of Georgia commented, “Transparency is integral to a democratic society. Yet by withholding the records, ICE is preventing the shining of much needed light on the extent of the collaboration between this…”
It is about 8:30 a.m., just days after superstorm Sandy unleashed her force and fury in the northeast. Men with calloused hands, world-weary lined faces that make them seem years older than they are, practically stand on their toes in the lot of a closed gas station on the exit ramp off Route 46 in New Jersey. Each time a car slows, pulling