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Postville 
Sat Apr 18, 2009 at 22:57:06 PM EST
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As the May 12th anniversary of the Postville Iowa Agriprocessors ICE raid is near, I am writing call attention to a very troubling injustice that is developing that only rubs salt in the wound. We all should be outraged how immigrants working in Postville were treated like slaves and then denied any form of justice in swift and chaotic criminal court proceedings orchestrated by the Northern Iowa United States Attorney's office. Apparently the reports about the shame of Postville didn't reach the US Senate because unbelievably now one of the lead federal prosecutors responsible for the egregious and inhumane Postville, Iowa prosecution has been recommend to be promoted to the powerful position of United States Attorney for the Northern District of Iowa. Ms. Stephanie Rose is the nominee of United States Senator Tom Harkin to be the next United States Attorney of the Northern District of Iowa. (U.S.A) The White House is now reviewing Senator Harkin's questionable recommendation. The President's legal team will be conducting a background check on Ms Rose's personal and professional record before deciding whether to formally nominate her to the U.S. Senate for confirmation. Accordingly there is time to impact this appointment and I am told that the White House will be very interested in learning about Ms. Rose's sorry record as a prosecutor.
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Wed Sep 10, 2008 at 14:35:44 PM EST
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By Dr. Erik Camayd-Freixas I was one of 16 interpreters who served both weeks of the Postville hearings. Unlike judges, prosecutors, or attorneys, I was present at every step of the process. It is my duty as an impartial expert witness and officer of the court to ensure that the court is not misled, and to bring to its attention any impediments to due process. I have done so in the best interest of the Federal Court I am proud to serve, and with the conviction that if our honorable judges had known how this judicial experiment would turn out, they would have never allowed it. During these two weeks in May I observed these flaws:
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Thu Aug 21, 2008 at 23:22:21 PM EST
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We learned from Dr. Erik Camayd-Freixas in his devastating essay (posted by Duke in its entirety), that there were horrible travesties of both the law and justice itself in how the Postville, Iowa raid was executed.
As Dr. Camayd-Freixas said, speaking of his conversation with one of the immigration judges who had no choice but to rule as a rubber-stamp for the ICE:
As a citizen, I want our judges to administer justice, not a federal agency.
Yet that is exactly what happened. A federal agency administered "justice" and the defense attorneys and judges were helpless to change anything. As a result, an entire town was ripped apart, economic devastation ensued, and as we now see (h/t woc phd by way of symsess' great roundups), the human rights abuses continue:
Women were deeply impacted by the raids. First, female workers at Postville were part of the round up. The lost access to their children, including babies that were still nursing, without warning nor concern. For others, many of the primary or main source of income in their household was permanently removed. In many cases, the raids also labeled these women as undocumented, ensuring that they could not work. Others, afraid of being deported in a raid, did not return to their jobs. The result is that most of the women are also unemployed and unable to be employed.
For women who did not immediately hear about the raids, there was also the fear and confusion about the location of their sons and husbands. Some women went for days without knowing what had happened. As fear turned into confirmation that men were being held for deportation, women's anxieties and stressers went up.
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Tue Aug 12, 2008 at 08:36:27 AM EST
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There are many groups on the front lines of the immigration issue who give so much to help those migrants making the treacherous journey into the United States. One such group is Humane Borders who assists migrants at the border by setting up water stations. Humane Borders Needs Donations at Latino Politico. This saintly group has been attacked by having all the tires on 5 vehicles slashed. Legal Resident Jailed Indefinitely: Accused of lying to ICE agent at Eristic Ragemail. It's getting easier and easier to clearly point out the prejudiced and unjust actions of ICE. That, of course, is not something that give me the warm and fuzzies. Just when you think that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) could not get more outrageous they pull out a new transgression. Apparently, ICE can jail you indefinitely for "lying" even if you are here legally and even if there is no probable cause for their questioning. How to *really* help young Latina girls at Vivir Latina. "The organization Circle de Luz provides university scholarships and educational mentorship to young Latinas." Donna Poisl, A Friendly Voice for Immigrants at La Mariposa En La Pared.
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Fri Aug 08, 2008 at 08:06:06 AM EST
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Urgent Action: "Justice" vs. Garcia may cost the wrong person's job at WOC PhD.
The Politics of Humanity: "A Hidden System" at Para Justica y Libertad. In a newly created video, "Hidden System," Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) documents the impact the enforcement practices that are currently putting an undue emotional and physical hardship on families and children. All About This Game Dances Death and Pain at The Unapologetic Mexican. ANYWHERE THE PEOPLE GATHER to express their voice, their government-be it communist, democratic or otherwise-will be infiltrating and disturbing the cohesion and strength of that voice, ultimately using violence with no hesitancy or remorse. The unsettling juxtaposition of profit, spotlight, and ignored oppressions will always cause this confluence of energy and tumult. This is our modern-day Olympic Games Carnival settling down uneasily into a world where war and class divides are hurting so many.
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Thu Aug 07, 2008 at 07:55:36 AM EST
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For the nation's migrant farmworkers, high temps creating a "Black Summer" at Latina Lista. Tragically the people who give us life through working the fields are experience much physical stress and five have died in three months. Sadly, even with these deaths, new stories of workers being misled, taken advantage of, forced to live in squalor conditions, deprived of sufficient water, breaks and shade, exposed to lethal pesticides and dangerous equipment are heard every week. Democracy Now featured a story of illegal tactics used by U.S recruiters yesterday. In one case the recruiter, rather than being punished (though they claim he was), was made commander of a recruiting center. Given that most see the Iraq war as terrible and unjust it's no wonder nobody's signing up to go. U.S. Military Recruitment Tactics: Kidnapping High School Kids? at Dream Act Texas. Also read Postville: Child Labor isn't Kosher on charges that Agriprocessors violated child labor laws.
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Wed Aug 06, 2008 at 08:28:58 AM EST
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Critics Say ‘Scheduled Departure’ Is PR Stunt at Bender’s Immigration Bulletin. Go to BIB for links to the “Scheduled Departure” brochure and fact sheet. DIY Deportation Plan Not Really Working at Vivir Latino. A little comedy in the video Don’t Deport Me Scotty. Lies! Lies, I tell you! Liiiieees! on lies propagated by the anti-migrant crowd at Open Borders Lobby. I’ve tried listening to Gheen’s show, but it’s hard with all the lies and propaganda. Also check out some submissions for the Brickfish Immigration Illustration Scholarship. Chinese American Experience, Part 1: Exclusion and The Driving Out and Chinese American Experience, Part 2: Wong Chin Foo at Zuky blog. These posts on Bill Moyers documentary series “Becoming American: The Chinese Experience” reveal the truth which is often hard to stomach, but it’s necessary to do so. As Kai states he brings us these posts: not because I perversely enjoy revelling in victimhood but because this is the hard truth, this is what happened, and we need to look at it and ourselves squarely if we’re going to make things right in this country, not only for Chinese Americans but also with regard to the current wave of Latin@ migration which faces similar backlash from nativist reactionaries.
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Tue Aug 05, 2008 at 18:45:53 PM EST
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DES MOINES, Iowa - State officials say they're shocked by the sheer number of child labor violations uncovered at the Agriprocessors meatpacking plant in Postville, where nearly 400 workers were arrested during an Immigration raid in May.
... The state's investigation found dozens of violations from "virtually every aspect of Iowa's child labor laws," said Dave Neil the Iowa Labor Commissioner. Officials also said the scope of the case -- with 57 children involved -- makes it unusually large.
"Typically, when we have child labor issues it's an issue of one or two individuals," said Kerry Koonce, a spokeswoman for Iowa Workforce Development, which oversees the labor commissioner's office. "From our point of view, with this investigation, it's a large-scale violation of the law."
Labor officials said their investigation spanned several months and began before a May 12 federal Immigration raid at Agriprocessors. The raid resulted in 389 arrests and was the largest in U.S. history.
... Labor officials said the violations included minors working in prohibited occupations, exceeding allowable hours for youth to work, failure to obtain work permits, exposure to hazardous chemicals and working with prohibited tools. Under Iowa law, it is illegal for children under the age of 18 to work in a meatpacking plant.
Neil said he was recommending "that the attorney general's office prosecute these violations to the fullest extent of the law."
Officials say they are still investigating possible wage violations at the plant.
Juda Engelmayer, an Agriprocessors spokesman, declined immediate comment on the labor officials' announcement.
Chicago Tribune
While the announcement of these charges will provide little solace to those illegally charged with criminal activity and held in prison, the hundreds of children left behind to a life of uncertainty, or those at the forefront of the humanitarian effort to care for a community ravaged by the overzealous overreach of the Department of Homeland Security and a corrupted justice system, at least those who are the only true criminals in this sad case will finally be held accountable for some of their despicable actions.
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Tue Aug 05, 2008 at 14:50:51 PM EST
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It seems that the news coming out about Postville never stops and the reports keep getting worse and worse. Kathleen Campbell Walker of the AILA wrote an op-ed just trying to comprise all the horrible problems with the raid.
This new high-speed judicial railroad required extensive planning and coordination between the U.S. Attorneys' office in Iowa, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Federal Judiciary. The tracks laid down to carry this new enforcement train were designed to force rapid guilty pleas under the threat of serious jail time, avoid the inconvenience of trials, limit access to immigration counsel, eliminate the prospect of all future relief, and impose criminal sentences and removal orders simultaneously. To speed the process up, the court appointed attorneys were required to represent groups of 10 to 20 or more individuals, and more than 90 individuals were processed by the court in a single day.
The American Immigration Lawyers Association wrote to the U.S. District Judge who apparently authorized these expedited procedures, Chief Judge Linda R. Reade, expressing our deep concerns with the process. Chief Judge Reade subsequently said that "the immigration lawyers do not understand the federal criminal process as it relates to immigration charges." It would be hard to overstate our respectful disagreement with that assertion.
Read Complete Op-Ed
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Mon Aug 04, 2008 at 07:05:13 AM EST
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Last week I had the opportunity to attend the Catholic National Migration Conference in Washington, D.C. As has been my experience with previous conferences for immigration legal service providers, there is always more information on offer than time to absorb it. It is at once an exhausting and rejuvenating experience—meeting new colleagues from other parts of the country, reconnecting with old ones, fine-tuning your practice, commiserating with others whose clients are also facing impossible situations. There were many fine speakers at the conference, including Haitian-American author Edwidge Danticat and genocide survivor Immaculee Ilibagiza. But the stark contrast between two of the speakers in particular was impossible for me to ignore.
At the Tuesday morning plenary session, we heard from Julie Myers, head of Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE), the enforcement wing of DHS. I’ve expressed concerns about her leadership of the agency in this space before. Setting those issues aside for now, her presentation was notable for the near-complete misalignment between the issues she talked about and the issues of primary concern to those of us listening. As a speaker, you have to know your audience, and she didn’t seem to. She talked about her recent experience sitting in on a citizenship swearing in ceremony, and the happiness she felt at being able to witness this moment of such importance for those who reach that point. Left unanswered was the question that must have immediately presented itself to most of the audience, as it did to me: Why, then, does ICE make it so difficult for migrants to attain citizenship?
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Thu Jul 31, 2008 at 23:57:19 PM EST
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Last week, Dr Erik Camayd-Freixas, the court appointed interpreter who blew the whistle on the flagrant abuses of civil rights that marked the aftermath of the ICE raids in Postville Iowa last May, testified before the House Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security and International Law.
Additionally, The ACLU has acquired a copy of a Government "manual" distributed to defense lawyers assigned to represent the immigrant workers arrested in the meat packing raids. The manual contians prepackaged scripts for plea and sentencing hearings as well as documents providing for guilty pleas and waivers of rights to be used by both the judges and attorneys in expediting procedures as quickly as possible with little regard for due process.
"This document provides further evidence of the government's disturbing pressure cooker tactics for mass guilty pleas that assumed guilt instead of protecting the constitutional presumption of innocence," said ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project Director Lucas Guttentag. "Along with the workers, fairness and due process were the victims of the Postville prosecutions."
The government "manual" provided for the workers to waive all their legal rights and in the overwhelming majority of cases, to plead guilty to charges of falsely using identity documents for employment. It was an important tool used to rush defendants through the criminal justice and immigration systems without a criminal trial or immigration proceedings. The plea forms in the "manual" included a requirement barring immigrants from pursuing any legal claims or procedures under the immigration laws.
.... The troubling system implemented by the U.S. Attorney's Office and the Department of Homeland Security appeared designed to undermine fairness and due process by criminally prosecuting the workers under circumstances that undermined their ability to understand or protect their rights.
link
View Government Manual (PDF)
When viewed together these two important pieces of evidence paint a vivid picture of the gross abuses of power and disrespect for basic constitutional protections that marked the aftermath of the Postville raid
What follows are the prepared remarks of Dr Camayd-Freixas from the congressional hearing:
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Thu Jul 31, 2008 at 07:40:36 AM EST
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Watch How To Tell People They Sound Racist at Awearness Blog. Great video by Jay Smooth instructing us how to deal with racism. You focus on what the person said (or did) not who the person is. Watch the video. Jay does a fantastic job at establishing a simple strategy for dealing with the unexpected Public Display Of Ignorance (or PDI).
O Obama, Where Art Thou? asks Para Justicia y Libertad on Obama's ignoring Latinos in Texas. Also Texas Progressive Alliance Blog Round-Up: 07/30/2008. The Postville ICE Raid: An Enormous Abuse of Power from David Neiwert of Orcinus, posted at AlterNet. It's worth remembering that incipient police states target the most vulnerable members of society. The Bully in Phoenix on Sheriff Arpaio at Dream Act Texas. Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon escalated his feud with Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio on Tuesday, calling on the national media to come to the Valley and observe the sheriff's crackdown on illegal immigration. Read about, and watch, the video "A Hidden System" and the Human Cost of Detention at Of América.
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Wed Jul 23, 2008 at 08:02:04 AM EST
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Demonstrating that local activism does work a group of from Grassroots Leadership, Southwest Workers Union, No Wall-Big Bend, and PODER were able to convince Congressman Rodriguez, in San Antonio, to change his stance on the SAVE Act.
Advocates Protest the SAVE Act, meet with Congressman Rodriguez at T Don Hutto Blog. Check out the post and accompanying video. Friday, July 11, the group met with Rodriguez to express their concerns about his endorsement, calling on him to participate in a national sign-on letter against the SAVE Act. After arguing the expansion of the border wall and family detention included in the SAVE Act would be detrimental to families, citizens, and newcomers to the U.S., the group convinced Rodriguez to rethink his position. Also read LULAC Calls for Abolition of T. Don Hutto.
At Smart Borders we have Something there is that doesn't love a Wall, Part 6. This post tells of the walls in Belfast erected to keep Irish-Catholics and British-Protestants separated. These walls have increased to more than 40 today, covering over 13 miles and segregating much of this once-thriving city. Alternately built of steel, iron, and brick, these walls stretch up to 25-feet high and prohibit the movement of people from the Irish-Catholic parts of town to the British-Protestant sections.
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Wed Jul 16, 2008 at 08:08:51 AM EST
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Today's SanctuarySphere post brings us the terrible story of ICE raids in Rhode Island courthouses yesterday leading to dozens of arrests. Once again people hard at work are rounded up like cattle and taken away while their families sit worried and waiting. As more information is made available we'll provide it here. Another member of The Sanctuary brought up a good point over at Problem Chylde. While the candidates get to 'decide' their stance on raids and immigration people are being arrested by ICE and thrown into detention. These workers don't have the luxury of waiting for the candidates to 'get around to it.' We need answers now! Read the post at Vivir Latino - Latest Mass ICE Raid Site: Providence, Rhode Island. News articles: Community says no to ICE Raids in Providence! - ABC (w/video) Bryan Monaghan
Story Created: Jul 15, 2008 at 10:11 PM EDT Dozens of advocates and activists demonstrated outside of the downtown Providence ICE office on Tuesday night, protesting an late afternoon raid. Representatives from Immigration and Customs Enforcement tell ABC 6 that almost two dozen people were rounded up, from Kent County Courthouse in Warwick and from the Providence District Court building.
Dozens arrested in raids at courthouses - Providence Journal BY KAREN LEE ZINER and FELICE J. FREYER Journal Staff Writers Leonardo Tornes waits outside the ICE headquarters building in Providence last night. The Providence Journal / Ruben W. Perez PROVIDENCE — Federal immigration agents and state police raided six Rhode Island courthouses yesterday, arresting dozens of people employed by two contractors hired by the state. The detainees are all believed to be maintenance workers. (sanctuarysphere posts after the break)
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