12.17.2012 – Los Angeles In response to new statistics outlining the number of deportees who are parents of citizen children, Pablo Alvarado, Executive Director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network released the following statement: “Statistics like the number of parents deported over the past two years would be shocking if such news weren’t so commonplace…
DetailsA coalition of anti-violence advocates who work with immigrant survivors of family and intimate partner violence, there human trafficking, sexual assault, and survivors of homophobic and transphobic violence in New York welcomed legislation introduced today by New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and City Council members Melissa Mark-Viverito and Daniel Dromm that would limit the application of the federal Se Communities Program in New York City, but emphasized that more needs to be done to protect survivors of violence from deportation resulting from collaboration between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities. The City’s proposal to refuse to honor ICE holds— requests to turn over a detainee to immigration detention—in select cases is an important step in acknowledging that there is no place for ICE in our criminal justice system.
DetailsLast week was a rough one for Se Communities, a controversial federal deportation program that critics charge is counterproductive and unconstitutional. The most significant developments came from California, where the program has essentially lost support at the city and state levels. The S-Comm program is run by the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which uses fingerprints taken when someone is arrested to automatically check the person’s immigration status. If immigration officials have any concerns, they ask local law enforcement to hold that person for an additional 48 hours to give an immigration agent time to pick up the arrestee. However, critics of the program charge that it casts too broad a net, scooping up non-criminals, lawful immigrants, even victims of crime. California Attorney General Kamala Harris attempted to clear up longstanding confusion about the program last Tuesday when she issued a directive informing…
DetailsTwo bills that members of the New York City Council plan to propose on Thursday would place further limits on the city’s cooperation with federal authorities seeking to detain and deport immigrants. The bills come in response to Se Communities, a federal immigration-enforcement plan that has been criticized by immigrants’ advocates, order civil liberties lawyers and elected officials in the state and across the country. If they pass, the laws will reaffirm the city’s reputation as one of the most immigrant-friendly municipalities in the nation, though the bill also risks provoking a confrontation with the Obama administration. “What we don’t want is New York City’s agencies having to participate in deporting people who present no risk and in fact may be adding a great deal to the City of New York,” Christine C. Quinn, the City Council speaker and lead sponsor on one of the bills, said in an interview Wednesday.
DetailsUrge President to End Instead of Expand 287(g), Honor Promises of Reform Washington, DC 12.13.12 Today rights groups across the country are participating on a national call-in day to the White House urging the Administration to terminate the fundamentally flawed 287(g) deportation program instead of expanding it to 11 new counties. On the heels of…
DetailsIn a letter to state-based politicians Friday, the ACLU of Florida urged an end to a controversial immigration enforcement policy in which Collier County participates. Under scrutiny is the 287(g) policy, set to expire at year’s end, that allows local police to act as immigration enforcers. The program “does not belong anywhere in Florida,” said Howard Simon, ACLU of Florida executive director, in a letter to Florida’s U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio, a Republican, and Bill Nelson, a Democrat, along with outgoing Rep. Connie Mack IV, R-Fort Myers, and several other state and local officials. Rubio and Nelson weren’t immediately available for comment Friday; Mack’s office declined comment. The ACLU contends the policy leads to racial profiling and “generating fear and a marked mistrust of police among both documented and undocumented individuals in the Latino community.”
Details