FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE // PLEASE EXCUSE CROSS-POSTINGS // PLEASE FORWARD
Press Advisory
Date: March 16, 2015
Contacts: Claudia Bautista, cbautista@ndlon.org
Immigrant Rights Groups Call for Transparency as They Serve FOIA Request to Uncover the Truth about ICE’s “Discontinuation” of Se Communities
WHAT: ICE out of LA Coalition will deliver FOIA request to local ICE Field Office
WHEN: Tuesday, March 17, 2015 at 9:30AM
WHERE: ICE Field Office 300 North Los Angeles, CA 90012 (front of bldg)
WHO: Individuals and immigrant rights organizations from Los Angeles County including – Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Los Angeles (AAAJ-LA), Asian Students Promoting Immigrant Rights through Education Los Angeles (ASPIRE-LA), California Immigrant Policy Center (CIPC), California Immigrant Youth Justice Alliance (CIYJA), Californians United for a Responsible Budget (CURB), Central American Resource Center (CARECEN), Community Labor Environmental Action Network (CLEAN) Carwash Campaign, Dream Team Los Angeles (DTLA), Enlace, Familia: Trans Queer Liberation Movement, Garment Worker Center, Immigrant Youth Coalition (IYC), Los Angeles Immigrant Youth Coalition (LA-IYC), National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON), National Immigration Law Center (NILC), San Gabriel Valley Immigrant Youth Coalition (SGV-IYC)
(Los Angeles, CA) — On Tuesday, immigrant rights groups will gather outside of the local Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Field Office to deliver a copy of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request served to the Department of Homeland Security in New York last week. The ICE out of LA Coalition will also include a set of information inquiries about the work of ICE in the Los Angeles County–such as the extent of collaboration with the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Departments, the 287(g) program, etc. The ICE out of LA Coalition considers the information requested to be vital to the work that we are doing on the ground and as a means for building trust between the community and local law enforcement.
This request for basic information about the PEP-COMM deportation program and other ICE Access Programs comes at a uniquely important time. Administrative relief offering work authorization for millions of immigrants remains temporarily postponed by a federal district court judge, Congress has now fully funded DHS to enforce demonstrably outdated and unjust laws, and President Obama’s own Task Force on Policing has called for a firewall between police and immigration functions. Against this backdrop, immigrant workers will call for transparency and accountability over ICE’s continued efforts to force local police into the immigration enforcement business.
“DHS has itself acknowledged the failure of Se Communities, but this new program continues to entangle ICE with local police, leaving us with more questions than answers,” said Jessica Karp Bansal, Litigation Director at the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. “At a bare minimum, DHS is obligated by law to be transparent with the public about what PEP means for immigrants and their families.”
The FOIA reads in part:
…the [Nov. 20th] memorandum gives very little information on how PEP differs from S-Comm, if at all. There is no reason for the public to believe that PEP is an improvement based on what has been presented to date… the public may still face all of the same abuses it faced under S-Comm. These include: a blurred line between local and state law enforcement and immigration enforcement; racial profiling and the targeting of immigrants…
Speakers will be available for comment.
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