I watched the film, “A Better Life,” recently at the Mountain View Day Workers’ Center. The star of the movie, Damien Bichir, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor.” His acting beautifully conveyed the wide variety of emotions he felt as he experienced ongoing rejection and betrayal in his business and personal life. I was mesmorized. Even though I do volunteer at…
for Century, order Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left; border-style: none; padding: 0px;”>Any day now Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will announce a second round of “reforms” to the disgraced “Se Communities” deportation program, S-Comm. And once again, it appears that ICE is more interested in spin than substance. The timing of the announcement–immediately before the DHS Office of Inspector General Report–seems primarily designed to take the pressure off of ICE rather than an honest attempt to address the fundamental flaws of the program.
La secretaria de Seguridad Interna de EE.UU., here Janet Napolitano, defendió la solicitud presupuestal para completar la ampliación del controvertido programa Comunidades Seguras, como parte de una aplicación de las leyes de inmigración. – teleSUR 03.12.2012
Organizacion empieza a preparar propuesta de ley en pro de los derechos de inmigrantes con miras a que esta llegue a Beacon Hill.
Tras introducirse formalmente el proyecto de ley anti-inmigrane sb 2061 en la casa estatal la semana pasada, organizaciones como Centro Presente se preparan para proponer una medida en pro de los inmigrantes la cual llevaria el nombre de “Trust Act” o Acta de Confianza. “El principal elemento que contiene es el de detener las deportaciones de aquellas personas que sean detenidas por el servicio de inmigracion y aduanas y que unicamente hayan cometido faltas menores, aparte de otros elementos simbolicos como el reconocer la humanidad, las contirbuciones positivas, economicas, politicas y culturales que la comunidad inmigrante dan a nuestro estado.”
In his 2013 proposed budget, President Obama outlined the administration’s plan to cut $17 million from the failed and expensive 16-year-old 287 (g) program to expand the equally failed and expensive four year-old Se Communities program. Both programs were created to allow state and local police to check fingerprints of the most violent, dangerous criminals who are booked in jail against federal immigration databases. If there is a discrepancy on the federal database, then local law enforcement must hold the person on a “detainer” until federal ICE agents can find out whether that person is documented or not. They then make decisions about whether or not to put that person into deportation proceedings. Until the federal government takes responsibility to reform an immigration system that is outdated and no longer serves our interests, it is up to states to take action. – Huffington Post 03.02.0212
A long-planned day worker center is set to go into a Live Oak neighborhood after its permit was approved Friday by county planners. The development comes after years of work by supporters of the plan, who hope to create a safer environment for workers and employers to conduct business. But the approval comes amid objections of many neighbors who showed up at a hearing Friday to lodge concerns about traffic and safety. “A lot of happiness, ask very happy, ” beamed day laborer Rodrigo Perez, who spoke through a translator and predicted the center would be popular with workers. “They will come because we need the center. They are already waiting for it to open.” – Santa Cruz Sentinel 03.02.2012
Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has signed executive order prohibiting police officers from asking people they come in contact with about their immigration status. “Police are working to make our city safe. We are not working as immigration agents, seek ” Mayor Rawlings-Blake said. The announcement comes just days after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said it would begin implementing the Se Communities program in Baltimore—the controversial federal program that sends booking information from local jails to a joint database shared by the FBI and ICE. The order bars discrimination against immigrants, and bans the use of city funds to investigate or question people suspected of violating of federal immigration law unless required by the state or U.S. government, [according to WAMU.org] COLORLINES 03.05.2012
When director Michael Weitz showed up recently at the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Los Angeles, he couldn’t have picked a better audience for his new film, link “A Better Life”. In attendance were more than 200 members of the National Day Labor Organizing Network (NDLON) gathered for a weeklong national assembly. The protagonist of Wetiz’s film is Carlos
The Justice Department is reviewing Georgia’s tough new immigration law and is discussing it with businessmen and law enforcement officials here, but it has not decided to sue to block the statute like it has in four other states, U.S. Assistant Attorney General Tony West said Tuesday. West pointed out that the Obama administration is suing to b
Julio Cesar Ayala knew he was taking a risk when he decided to overstay his tourist visa four years ago, but he never expected to be threatened with deportation for climbing behind the wheel of the family’s silver minivan. The 53-year-old Salvadoran was stopped by a Baltimore County police officer last year and had to admit that he didn’t have a driver’s license. Hours after he was handcuffed and separated from his 9-year-old granddaughter on the side of the road, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement received an automatic notification of his arrest through a controversial and burgeoning federal program called Se Communities. He spent nearly two weeks in jail for a traffic violation. He now faces a deportation hearing in April. “I’ve never had any problems before,” said Ayala, a Cockeysville resident and grandfather to eight children born in the United States. “I feel trapped.” – Baltimore Sun 03.01.2012