by Daniela Martinez Moreno
AFSC Special Projects Policy Fellow
Prince William County continues to garner attention for its heated immigration debate. On December 14, Linda Chavez, co-chair of the Virginia State Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights' Immigration Subcommittee, convened a hearing in Woodbridge to examine the resolution that was passed by the Prince William County Board of Supervisors this past July. The resolution was introduced by Gainesville District Supervisor John T. Stirrup.
The resolution denies access to county services to individuals who are unable to prove their immigration status in the United States. These services include business licensing, housing assistance, and some support to the elderly. In addition, the resolution calls for local police officers to question criminal suspects about their immigration status if they have "probable cause" to believe the suspect is undocumented.
According to the Virginia State Advisory Committee, Chavez convened the hearing to gather a cross-section of viewpoints from local officials, immigration specialists, and advocacy groups and to understand the motivation behind the enactment of the resolution. The Immigration Subcommittee is conducting a review of immigration issues in Virginia; this includes the potential impact of the resolution vis-a-vis local law enforcement and the provision of services to Prince William County residents.
When questioning Prince William Board of County Supervisors Corey A. Stewart and Stirrup, Chavez asked if it was "facts, or something else" that motivated the Board's decision to pass the resolution. She commented on what appeared to her as "very little fact-finding prior to the board's consideration of this measure," reported the Potomac News.
Police Chief Raises Concerns about Racial Profiling
Prince William Police Chief Charlie T. Deane expressed concerns that the resolution would result in racial profiling, thus hurting local community-policing efforts. These concerns were mirrored by Fairfax County Chairman Gerry Connolly this past August when he scrutinized the resolution's clause, which calls on local policy officers to question criminal suspects about their immigration status if there is a "probable cause."
The Richmond Times informs that the Advisory Committee will compile a preliminary report; additional hearings are under consideration. The final report will be presented to the Federal Civil Rights Commission. "We're to shine the light of day on important civil rights issues and to make recommendations to the civil rights commission, which can then make recommendations to the president and to Congress," said Chavez. At the same time, Prince William County officials plan to implement the measures in the resolution after county staff and police have been trained, which could be as early as January 2008.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Friday, December 14, 2007
International Migrants Day Celebration
AFSC's Human Migration and Mobility/Project Voice,
Community Relations Unit, Nationwide Women's Program, and Third World Coalition present ...
Celebrating Our Common Humanity Cultural Presentation
Featuring Ollin Lloliztli Calmecac Aztec Dance Troupe
Tuesday, December 18 at 12:30 pm
American Friends Service Committee
Cherry Street Room
1501 Cherry St.
Philadelphia, PA 19102
Please join us for snacks, reflection and celebration. For more information, contact (215) 241-7124 or mroot@afsc.org.
Community Relations Unit, Nationwide Women's Program, and Third World Coalition present ...
Celebrating Our Common Humanity Cultural Presentation
Featuring Ollin Lloliztli Calmecac Aztec Dance Troupe
Tuesday, December 18 at 12:30 pm
American Friends Service Committee
Cherry Street Room
1501 Cherry St.
Philadelphia, PA 19102
Please join us for snacks, reflection and celebration. For more information, contact (215) 241-7124 or mroot@afsc.org.
Monday, December 10, 2007
Journey for Human Rights & Dignity
From December 10 (International Human Rights Day) to December 18 (International Migrants' Day), AFSC's Human Migration and Mobility programs around the country are holding a "Journey for Human Rights and Dignity," a series of educational and cultural events that will allow participants to remember and join in solidarity with the world's estimated 200 million migrants, as well as the 32.9 million refugees, internally displaced people and asylum seekers.
The following activities are scheduled:
Decemeber 10-18 JOURNEY FOR HUMAN RIGHTS & DIGNITY (Migration & Mobility Network/Project Voice)
Dec. 10 - International Human Rights Day (Regional Activities Begin)Dec. 10 PMRO (Visalia, CA) Screening of "Ghosts of Abu Ghraib" - Human Rights Commemoration at Visalia Friends Meeting Center (17208 Ave. 296 Visalia, CA - Contact gmartinez@afsc.org)
Dec. 10 - NYMRO (Newark, NJ) Press Conference: Community Voices on Drivers' License Campaign (Contact: Chia-Chia Wang: ccwang@afsc.org)
Dec. 14 NERO - (Boston, MA) - Dialogue & Workshop: Labor Exploitation, Trafficking, Immigration & Globalization at Simmons College (Contact: gcamacho@afsc.org)
Dec. 16 - GLRO (Dayton, OH) - Candlelight Prayer Vigil for African Refugees (College Hill Presbyterian Church - Contact: mkimemia@afsc.org)
Dec. 15 - PSWRO (San Diego, CA) - 14th Annual Posada Sin Fronteras: "Families without Borders" at Border Field State Park (Contact: usmexborder@afsc.org)
Dec. 16 - PNWRO (Portland, OR) - Video Documentary Festival addressing the struggle of immigrant communities, and root causes of immigration issues. The event will raise funds to benefit workers of the Del Monte raid. Appetizers & cultural performance. (Sponsors: AFSC, SEIU, Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition and Del Monte workers. Contact: psosa@afsc.org)
Dec. 18 - International Migrants Day - NERO Participates in Massachusetts Commemoration (public event at "Encuentros" - 7:00 pm. Contact: gcamacho@afsc.org)
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Raids Fail As Solution To Immigration Policy Vacuum
by Daniela Martinez Moreno
AFSC Special Projects Policy Fellow
Recent raids of homes in Long Island, New York by federal immigration agents received strong criticism from county officials and residents concerned about the harmful effects these tactics have on communities. According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the arrests conducted by federal immigration officials under a national program known as Operation Community Shield target gang members and their associates. However, raids of the homes of U.S. citizens and arrests of individuals without gang associations or criminal records raised concerns and questions from elected officials including Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi, Nassau County Police Commissioner Lawrence W. Mulvey, and Greenport Mayor David Nyce.
"This is un-American. We need to do something about immigration, but not this." said Tina Finne, a native of Greenport in Suffolk County, N.Y (NYT). In recent raids in Greenport, only 1 of the 11 men detained was suspected of gang affiliation, the New York Times reports. The rest of the individuals had no gang associations or criminal records. According to Greenport Mayor David Nyce, "the whole gang issue is something to keep the white majority scared about the Latino population, and to come in and bust as many people as they want."
County Officials Call for Federal Investigation of Home Raids
Leaders Claim Federal Agents Displayed "Inappropriate" Behavior and Posed Unnecessary Dangers to Local Police
Nassau County Police Commissioner Lawrence M. Mulvey and County Executive Thomas R. Suozzi called for Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff to conduct a federal investigation into the conduct of the ICE agents during the recent raids. On three occasions ICE officials failed to check the names and addresses of their arrest targets against the Nassau Police Department's Gang Intelligence Files. This resulted in the wrong homes raided, the officials wrote in a letter to Chertoff.
Immigration agents also mistakenly drew their guns on Nassau County police, according to Mulvey. "Tactically the operation was structured poorly," wrote Mulvey in a letter to Joseph A. Palmese, Resident Agent in Charge of ICE. "This, in my view, posed unnecessary dangers to all parties, including my members, who in fact were drawn upon by the agents," he wrote.
During a press conference officials noted that the raids, used Border Patrol personnel who were apparently not trained for this operation. Additionally, the list of those arrested was "not forthcoming" from ICE, said Mulvey. >To watch a video of the press conference click here.
Raids Lead to Knocks on the Doors of Residents and Citizens
Community members in Greenport and Nassau County were concerned that the immigration officers entered the homes of immigrants, residents and citizens without a warrant. For example, the Nassau home of Peggy Delarosa-Delgado, a U.S. citizen, was invaded by more than a dozen federal immigration agents after her 17-year-old son opened the door, the New York Times reported. Under the law, immigrant agents may only enter homes without a judicial warrant if the residents consent. >For Know Your Rights materials click here.
Focus Shifts to Enforcement
The New York raids relied on significant cooperation from local law enforcement units. However, Suozzi and Mulvey indicated that they would no longer cooperate with federal immigration officers unless they changed their tactics, reported the New York Times.
"The immigration laws of the United States should be enforced and I fully support the execution of lawfully issued arrest warrants in Nassau County, particularly for known gang members," Suozzi wrote in a letter to Chertoff. "I condemn, however, any tactical actions which cross the lines of legality and law enforcement best practices."
Last month, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued Guidelines for Identifying Humanitarian Concerns among Administrative Arrestees When Conducting Worksite Enforcement Operations. ICE issued the guidelines as the result of discussions with Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and Representative Delahunt (D-MA), according to a Kennedy office press release. The discussions followed a massive raid and the arrests last March of more than 350 workers at the leather goods manufacturing plant Michael Bianco, Inc. in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Most of those who were detained were women from Central America. The arrestees claimed that their quick transfer to detention centers in Texas inhibited them from making better decisions with respect to the fate of the children they left behind. (AP).
On November 27, while upholding the dismissal of a lawsuit filed by immigrants arrested during a factory raid in New Bedford, a federal appeals court criticized ICE for what it considered a "callous" raid that should serve as a "learning experience" in order to develop better ways of carrying out their responsibilities. (AP)
However, these guidelines could be interpreted by immigration agents as guiding principles, rather than a mandatory regulation. "In the context of immigration and deportation proceedings we are completely out of step with our societal values of protecting the best interests of our children," said attorney Joseph Hammell, who is surveying recent raids for the Urban Institute. (New York Times).
Congressional Inaction a Recurring Theme in Immigration Debate
The need for clear, concrete immigration reform thus becomes clear. Even the courts that ruled to uphold the New Bedford lawsuit highlighted the need for Congress to "speak clearly" and take action in order to fill the immigration policy vacuum, and allow undocumented individuals in the U.S. to exercise their rights. According to the judges, "it is Congress ... that has the responsibility of prescribing a framework for the vindication of those rights." (AP)
Raids such as the ones that took place in Greenport and Nassau do nothing to fix the broken immigration system in the U.S. Rather, they generate and exacerbate a climate of fear and anxiousness within all members of communities, whether immigrant or non-immigrant.
Steps You Can Take: Take action to stop ICE raids and the separation of families!
Stop ICE raids in Hartford, Connecticut
Rally on International Human Rights Day: Monday, 12/10 5pm
ICE Headquarters in Hartford - Gather at 4:30 p.m. in South Green Park (corner of Park and Main streets) Step off at 5 p.m. and march to the ICE headquarters, 450 Main St., for a rally
This will be a peaceful protest of the 21 arrests made by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the Parkville neighborhood over the first week of November. Arrests of innocent working-people have nothing in common with a fair, humane immigration reform that recognizes the rights of immigrants to live and work in the U.S. For more information or to get involved, contact Frank O'Gorman of CT People of Faith at 860-841-5006 or fog64@hotmail.com or Kate Prendergast of Stop the Raids, Trinity College , at 610-209-9264 or kaitlin.prendergast@trincoll.edu. Sponsors: Connecticut Federation of Educational & Professional Employees; American Friends Service Committee; Stop the Raids, Trinity College; Hartford Areas Rally Together; Hartford H.O.P.E.; Greater Hartford Interfaith Coalition for Equity and Justice; Unidad Latina en Accion of New Haven; CT People of Faith; Latinos Against the War; Queers Without Borders; Campaign to Stop the ICE Raids in Danbury; Voluntown Peace Trust; CT Transadvocacy Coalition; Free People's Movement, as well as students and faculty from UConn, St. Joseph's College, Trinity, and CCSU.]
AFSC Special Projects Policy Fellow
Recent raids of homes in Long Island, New York by federal immigration agents received strong criticism from county officials and residents concerned about the harmful effects these tactics have on communities. According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the arrests conducted by federal immigration officials under a national program known as Operation Community Shield target gang members and their associates. However, raids of the homes of U.S. citizens and arrests of individuals without gang associations or criminal records raised concerns and questions from elected officials including Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi, Nassau County Police Commissioner Lawrence W. Mulvey, and Greenport Mayor David Nyce.
"This is un-American. We need to do something about immigration, but not this." said Tina Finne, a native of Greenport in Suffolk County, N.Y (NYT). In recent raids in Greenport, only 1 of the 11 men detained was suspected of gang affiliation, the New York Times reports. The rest of the individuals had no gang associations or criminal records. According to Greenport Mayor David Nyce, "the whole gang issue is something to keep the white majority scared about the Latino population, and to come in and bust as many people as they want."
County Officials Call for Federal Investigation of Home Raids
Leaders Claim Federal Agents Displayed "Inappropriate" Behavior and Posed Unnecessary Dangers to Local Police
Nassau County Police Commissioner Lawrence M. Mulvey and County Executive Thomas R. Suozzi called for Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff to conduct a federal investigation into the conduct of the ICE agents during the recent raids. On three occasions ICE officials failed to check the names and addresses of their arrest targets against the Nassau Police Department's Gang Intelligence Files. This resulted in the wrong homes raided, the officials wrote in a letter to Chertoff.
Immigration agents also mistakenly drew their guns on Nassau County police, according to Mulvey. "Tactically the operation was structured poorly," wrote Mulvey in a letter to Joseph A. Palmese, Resident Agent in Charge of ICE. "This, in my view, posed unnecessary dangers to all parties, including my members, who in fact were drawn upon by the agents," he wrote.
During a press conference officials noted that the raids, used Border Patrol personnel who were apparently not trained for this operation. Additionally, the list of those arrested was "not forthcoming" from ICE, said Mulvey. >To watch a video of the press conference click here.
Raids Lead to Knocks on the Doors of Residents and Citizens
Community members in Greenport and Nassau County were concerned that the immigration officers entered the homes of immigrants, residents and citizens without a warrant. For example, the Nassau home of Peggy Delarosa-Delgado, a U.S. citizen, was invaded by more than a dozen federal immigration agents after her 17-year-old son opened the door, the New York Times reported. Under the law, immigrant agents may only enter homes without a judicial warrant if the residents consent. >For Know Your Rights materials click here.
Focus Shifts to Enforcement
The New York raids relied on significant cooperation from local law enforcement units. However, Suozzi and Mulvey indicated that they would no longer cooperate with federal immigration officers unless they changed their tactics, reported the New York Times.
"The immigration laws of the United States should be enforced and I fully support the execution of lawfully issued arrest warrants in Nassau County, particularly for known gang members," Suozzi wrote in a letter to Chertoff. "I condemn, however, any tactical actions which cross the lines of legality and law enforcement best practices."
Last month, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued Guidelines for Identifying Humanitarian Concerns among Administrative Arrestees When Conducting Worksite Enforcement Operations. ICE issued the guidelines as the result of discussions with Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and Representative Delahunt (D-MA), according to a Kennedy office press release. The discussions followed a massive raid and the arrests last March of more than 350 workers at the leather goods manufacturing plant Michael Bianco, Inc. in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Most of those who were detained were women from Central America. The arrestees claimed that their quick transfer to detention centers in Texas inhibited them from making better decisions with respect to the fate of the children they left behind. (AP).
On November 27, while upholding the dismissal of a lawsuit filed by immigrants arrested during a factory raid in New Bedford, a federal appeals court criticized ICE for what it considered a "callous" raid that should serve as a "learning experience" in order to develop better ways of carrying out their responsibilities. (AP)
However, these guidelines could be interpreted by immigration agents as guiding principles, rather than a mandatory regulation. "In the context of immigration and deportation proceedings we are completely out of step with our societal values of protecting the best interests of our children," said attorney Joseph Hammell, who is surveying recent raids for the Urban Institute. (New York Times).
Congressional Inaction a Recurring Theme in Immigration Debate
The need for clear, concrete immigration reform thus becomes clear. Even the courts that ruled to uphold the New Bedford lawsuit highlighted the need for Congress to "speak clearly" and take action in order to fill the immigration policy vacuum, and allow undocumented individuals in the U.S. to exercise their rights. According to the judges, "it is Congress ... that has the responsibility of prescribing a framework for the vindication of those rights." (AP)
Raids such as the ones that took place in Greenport and Nassau do nothing to fix the broken immigration system in the U.S. Rather, they generate and exacerbate a climate of fear and anxiousness within all members of communities, whether immigrant or non-immigrant.
Steps You Can Take: Take action to stop ICE raids and the separation of families!
Stop ICE raids in Hartford, Connecticut
Rally on International Human Rights Day: Monday, 12/10 5pm
ICE Headquarters in Hartford - Gather at 4:30 p.m. in South Green Park (corner of Park and Main streets) Step off at 5 p.m. and march to the ICE headquarters, 450 Main St., for a rally
This will be a peaceful protest of the 21 arrests made by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the Parkville neighborhood over the first week of November. Arrests of innocent working-people have nothing in common with a fair, humane immigration reform that recognizes the rights of immigrants to live and work in the U.S. For more information or to get involved, contact Frank O'Gorman of CT People of Faith at 860-841-5006 or fog64@hotmail.com or Kate Prendergast of Stop the Raids, Trinity College , at 610-209-9264 or kaitlin.prendergast@trincoll.edu. Sponsors: Connecticut Federation of Educational & Professional Employees; American Friends Service Committee; Stop the Raids, Trinity College; Hartford Areas Rally Together; Hartford H.O.P.E.; Greater Hartford Interfaith Coalition for Equity and Justice; Unidad Latina en Accion of New Haven; CT People of Faith; Latinos Against the War; Queers Without Borders; Campaign to Stop the ICE Raids in Danbury; Voluntown Peace Trust; CT Transadvocacy Coalition; Free People's Movement, as well as students and faculty from UConn, St. Joseph's College, Trinity, and CCSU.]
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