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DHS Report Criticizes 287(g) Immigration Program/Informe del Departamento de Seguridad Nacional critica programa de inmigración 287(g)

Democracy Now! | Headlines for April 05, for 2010 (English followed by Spanish Text)

A new federal report has criticized the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s 287(g) program, treat which gives state and local law enforcement agencies authority to enforce immigration laws. The Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General found the program does not have adequate safeguards against racial profiling and other civil rights abuses. In addition, the report said local police officers have misused the program by targeting undocumented immigrants who have been arrested for minor offenses. The report states, “g) program is meeting its intended purpose, or that resources are being appropriately targeted toward aliens who pose the greatest risk to public safety and the community.” Critics of the program say many immigrants will no longer call the local police for help out of fear they could be arrested and deported. Laura Murphy of the American Civil Liberties Union said, “The 287(g) program, as this latest report confirms, all but abandons the constitutional guarantees of fair and due process, and encourages racial and ethnic profiling.”

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Un nuevo informe federal critica el programa 287(g) del Servicio de Inmigración y Control de Aduanas (ICE, por su sigla en inglés), que le otorga facultades a las agencias de seguridad estatales y locales para hacer cumplir las leyes de inmigración. La Oficina del Inspector General del Departamento de Seguridad Nacional descubrió que el programa no prevé protecciones adecuadas contra la discriminación racial y otros abusos de los derechos civiles. Además, este informe indicó que los oficiales de la policía local hicieron un mal uso de este programa contra los inmigrantes indocumentados que fueron arrestados por delitos de menor cuantía. El informe dice: “la ICE no puede garantizar que el programa 287(g) esté cumpliendo con el objetivo deseado o que los recursos se estén utilizando adecuadamente contra los extranjeros que representan grandes peligros para la seguridad pública y la comunidad”. Quienes critican este programa dicen que muchos inmigrantes no acudirán a la policía local en busca de ayuda por temor a ser arrestados y deportados. Laura Murphy, de la Unión Estadounidense por las Libertades Civiles (ACLU, por su sigla en inglés), dijo: “El programa 287(g), como lo confirma el más reciente informe, prácticamente abandona las garantías constitucionales de trato justo y debido proceso y fomenta la discriminación racial y étnica”.

Source: Democracy Now! Headlines (English, Spanish)

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Apr62010

Outreach volunteers help region’s day laborers every week

Outreach volunteers help region’s day laborers every week

Written by WGNO ABC26 News | Friday, 02 April 2010 12:45 ABC26 News

Outreach volunteers help region’s day laborers every week New Orleans’ growing Hispanic population includes day laborers who came post-Katrina to help the region its reconstruction. Some outreach groups are trying to help them with crime prevention and basic needs.

Workers flock to cars in Central City hoping to get hired. They are day laborers. Most of them came after Hurricane Katrina to help rebuild, but are often targeted as walking ATMs. Jeremiah Perez says in the past year, he has been robbed twice and lost about $800, once by a group of men carrying weapons.
“One gun and they had three or four bats,” Perez said.

This is problem day laborers have been facing, and outreach groups hope to educate them about checking accounts.

Another problem day laborers have been complaining about is wage theft: working for someone and then not getting paid.

Francisco Torres says he’s been stiffed by a boss before.

“He called me and said he would come by house but he never came and at the end of the day I was still waiting and they didn’t come,” Torres said.

Volunteers who come to Central City every Friday morning are trying to get a law passed in the city to prevent wage theft.

“Other cities have had similar situations and they have enacted or passed ordinances that have taken care of the problem, at least they have criminalized the wage theft,” said community activist Marcel Rivera.

Day laborers can count on volunteers who come to Central City weekly to feed workers and lend a helping hand.

Outreach volunteers also let workers know where they can go for basic medical needs.

Source: WGNO ABC26 News

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Apr52010

Historia de una mujer jornalera

Historia de una mujer jornalera

JESÚS RODRÍGUEZ MONTES ( Corresponsal),  5 de abril de 2010

Tlapa, 4 de abril. En español, Chiepetepec significa cerro de piedra. En este pueblo nahua de Tlapa el suelo es agreste, duro, poco favorable para el cultivo y en primavera el sol torna al clima caluroso.

Esta condición, además de la pobreza que asuela a la mayoría de pueblos de La Montaña de Guerrero y el ínfimo apoyo del gobierno para el campo, es el motivo por el cual los indígenas han optado por migrar al norte del país y a Estados Unidos para conseguir el empleo más probable, a miles de kilómetros de distancia, ya sea como jornaleros agrícolas o como lavaplatos en Nueva York, Washington, Chicago y Los Ángeles.

Historia de una mujer jornalera

Foto: JESÚS RODRÍGUEZ MONTES, Lorenza Tapia Isidro, una de las primeras mujeres jornaleras en incursionar en el ámbito de los contratistas, dominada por varones

Pero Chiepetepec no siempre ha sido un pueblo que exporta mano de obra barata. Lorenza Tapia Isidro, que ahora tiene 50 años, cuenta que hace unas tres décadas los indígenas ni siquiera migraban a Tlapa, lo más urbano en la región.

Cuando tenía 20 años, a principios de los 80, ella formó parte de la primera brigada de la comunidad que se aventuró a migrar por empleo. Lo hizo a Sinaloa, como jornalera, con 20 paisanos más y al cabo de cuatro años de ir y venir, ganó la confianza de los “patrones” del campo agrícola en el que laboraba y de los lugareños para convertirse en una de las primeras mujeres de toda La Montaña, quizá la única durante muchos años, en incrustarse en el mundo de los contratistas, un entorno en el que predominan los varones.

El estado de salud de Lorenza no es el óptimo desde 2005. En Culiacán enfermó. Los médicos le detectaron un tumor y sugirieron una cirugía de emergencia para evitar que se agravara.

Lorenza –cuenta ahora en entrevista– accedió por la gravedad del diagnóstico, pero en la operación, por negligencia de los médicos, resultó que le hicieron una transfusión de “sangre contaminada” y eso es lo que la mantiene ahora decaída de salud.

La historia de Lorenza es una historia muy peculiar entre los jornaleros agrícolas de la región. En este ambiente se habla de jornaleros, contratistas, enganchadores, capataces, jefes de cuadrilla cuando literalmente se refieren a los varones que desempeñan ese papel. Un entorno dominado por los hombres.

El contratista es la persona encargada de organizar el viaje de los jornaleros. Es el puente entre los empresarios y los indígenas que optan por migrar para trabajar en los campos. Como todo en la vida, dice Lorenza, hay “buenos y hay malos”.

“Antes yo era la única mujer que contrataba a la gente, yo era la única y aquí andaba, buscando casa por casa, preguntando quién quería irse, empezaba desde julio y hasta agosto, me salía a otros pueblos”, narra.

–Cuénteme, ¿cómo es que entra en este mundo de hombres, de contratistas?

–Pues cuando me dejó mi esposo no teníamos que comer. Yo me casé muy chica, tenía como 13 años. Pero cuando me dejó mi esposo ya tenía cuatro hijos y pues como no tenía trabajo, no tenía dinero, vino un señor de Tlapa a invitarnos a trabajar a Sinaloa y pues me fui.

“Llegando allá tuve suerte, a mí me ayudaron mucho unos ingenieros, los patrones, me ayudaron, me dejaron estar con mis hijos, también se ponían a trabajar y pues una vez que les dije que iba a ir a otro campo donde pagaban más me dijeron que no, que cómo que me iba a ir, que ya no iba a trabajar de jornalera, que ahora les iba a ayudar a llevar la gente”.

Antes de viajar a Culiacán –un viaje que demoró tres días, recuerda– Chiepetepec era el único sitio que había conocido Lorenza, ni siquiera Tlapa. No hablaba español. Aprendió en aquel estado, en el campo agrícola La Feria, muy cerca de Navolato.

“Cuando me dijeron que tenía que llevar gente yo les dije a los ingenieros que cómo, que casi ni sabía hablar español, que no sabía hablar por teléfono; pero ellos me dijeron que me iban a ayudar y me ayudaron”.

–Dígame Lorenza, se sabe que es difícil la vida para un jornalero, pero, ¿Cómo es para una mujer jornalera estar en los campos?

–Pues más difícil señor. Hay que levantarse temprano, a las 3 de la mañana para hacer tortillas para los niños. A las 6 hay que irse a trabajar, de ahí hasta las 4 de la tarde que vamos de regreso a la casa, pero pues hay que darles de comer a los niños. Ya casi nomás vamos a dormir a la casa y es así todos los días. Es más difícil para las mujeres, por los niños, que los cuidamos.

–Es algo muy obvio pero se lo tengo que preguntar: ¿por qué se van?

–Por la necesidad señor, porque aquí no hay trabajo, por eso la gente se a donde sea, porque aquí no hay nada. Se n para Estados Unidos, San Quintín, a Culiacán, porque estamos pobres, ya ni en Tlapa hay trabajo.

Lorenza es madre de diez y abuela de 15. Como desde hace cinco años ha dejado de trabajar, son sus hijos quienes la mantienen, aunque con muchas dificultades por los gastos extras que tiene que realizar para los medicamentos.

Lorenza no duda cuando opina: “falta más apoyo del gobierno para los jornaleros y para las mujeres”.

Source: La Jornada, Guerrero

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Federal government to day laborers: We’re here to help

By Matt O’Brien
Contra Costa Times
Posted: 04/01/2010 02:13:52 PM PDT
Updated: 04/01/2010 02:13:54 PM PDT

CONCORD — A crew of federal officials wandering into a day labor hiring zone used to mean one thing: It’s time to leave.

This wasn’t the case Thursday morning on Monument Boulevard. Armed with coffee, not handcuffs, investigators from the U.S. Department of Labor chatted warmly with Latino immigrant workers about how to find jobs without being exploited.

“We’re the feds, but the good ones,” said Paul Ramirez, speaking in Spanish inside the Michael Chavez Center, a gathering spot for day laborers. “We’re here to help workers.”

The unprecedented visit was part of a campaign to bring long-established workplace protections to the nation’s most vulnerable and underpaid workers, including those who have no legal right to be living in the United States.

“Documented or not, the law is: If you work certain hours, you are owed certain money,” Ramirez told the small crowd. Met at first with apprehension, the Brentwood native captivated his audience of men from Mexico and Central America as he told of tending tomatoes, onions, asparagus and cucumbers as a young California field hand. Now an enforcer of workplace rules, he advised what to do when contractors skirt the law.

“We already knew some of these things, but now we feel more comfortable, more support,” said laborer Gilberto Villanueva, who came to the East Bay eight years ago from southern Mexico. “It’s good that they came.”

There was nothing new about the standards Ramirez mentioned: minimum wage, overtime, sick leave. But none of the workers had heard this before from a federal agent. “We’ve always been very active in the community, but now we’re becoming more vocal, more transparent,” said Susana Rincon, Bay Area director of the labor agency’s wage and hour division. “Other than that, the message is the same.”Ramirez made the same speech recently to workers who gather outside a Home Depot in Pittsburg. And it’s not only a message for day laborers; it was delivered Thursday at the Chinese Newcomers Service Center in San Francisco.

The awareness campaign, called “We Can Help,” is being led by Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, a former Southern California congresswoman who joined the Obama administration early last year.

Solis inaugurated the campaign Thursday in Chicago with a speech at the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum, a 19th century landmark of labor reform and social welfare movements. She said she has added more than 250 field investigators, bringing the total to nearly 1,000 nationwide, about the same as at the beginning of the Bush administration.

The investigators have no jurisdiction over homeowners who hire day laborers for temporary landscaping, moving and domestic work, but they do have authority over contractors who make at least a half-million dollars, Rincon said. If workers with a problem call investigators, usually the issues are resolved by phone within 24 hours, Rincon said. In rare cases, the investigators will visit work sites or take employers to court.

Day laborers “know laws are out there to protect them, but they don’t always believe it, or know that it can be enforced,” said Mike Van Hofwegen, director of the Concord work center. Van Hofwegen was as surprised as his clients when the labor department team called to say they wanted to visit.

“This is the first time we’ve had this kind of connection,” he said. “Someone asked me, ‘Is this an April Fools’ thing?’”

Such a discussion between federal employees and workers who are, for the most part, illegal immigrants, is likely to engender controversy, but could also do everyone some good, he argued.

“It helps U.S. citizens because they’re not being undermined by abusive labor practices in the community, because things are more competitive,” Van Hofwegen said.

Source: Contra Costa Times

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No Free Speech for Cops

By ADAM KLASFELD, Thursday, April 1, 2010

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (CN) – A police lieutenant claims Suffolk County forced him to retire early after 27 years on the force because he told Newsday about a racist policy in which unlicensed drivers were arrested, rather than merely cited, only “in areas with large populations of Hispanic day laborers.”

In his federal complaint, Lt. Raymond Smith says he was disciplined, transferred and eventually forced to retire on charges of “improperly communicating with the media” on this and another case.

The other case involved a man who was convicted of killing his parents in 1990. Smith says he his superiors retaliated against him after he speculated to other officers that there may have been a police conspiracy to convict an innocent man in that case.

Smith says that after reading news accounts of the trial of Martin Tankleff, a Long Island resident convicted of murdering his wealthy parents, he became convinced that there was credible evidence of a conspiracy that “challenged the integrity of a broad cross-section of Suffolk County’s legal community, from the Department’s Homicide Squad, to a County Judge, to the District Attorney.”

Tankleff’s conviction was overturned in December 2007.

“At the time Mr. Smith was corresponding with others about the Tankleff case, the official position of the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office and the Suffolk County Police Department was that it was a ‘closed case’ that would not be re-opened,” Smith says.

Smith says he drew heat from his bosses again by speaking against the policy of targeting unlicensed drivers in Latino neighborhoods, which local press and legislators also had denounced “as a hateful and intolerant plan to eradicate immigrants from Suffolk County.”

After initially withdrawing the policy, Suffolk County Police told Newsday that the police would be reinstated because the American Automobile Association reported that unlicensed drivers were more dangerous than licensed ones, Smith says.

When Smith downloaded that AAA report, he says, he found that the police department had misrepresented its findings and Newsday had printed the distortions. Smith says he emailed Newsday reporter Christine Armario twice to seek a correction.

Months later, in late 2007, Smith says, the department’s Internal Affairs Bureau began investigating him, transferred him to another department, disciplined him for “improperly communicating with the media,” and eventually forced him to retire. He says the pretext he was given was unauthorized use of the Internet – a restriction that is honored more in the breach than in the observance.

He seeks reinstatement and punitive damages for retaliation and constitutional violations from Suffolk County and its Police Commissioner Richard Dormer.

He is represented by Steven Morelli of Carle Place, N.Y.

Source: Courthouse News Service

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