In response to DHS Sec. Jeh Johnson’s statement on the coordinated raids of 121 people as young as four years old in the beginning of the new year, Chicago lawyer Mony Ruiz-Velasco edited the Secretary’s statement for accuracy. Her results are below. Read more
Jeh Johnson’s Statement on Raids – Edited for Accuracy
Mientras ICE esta en las calles y llegando a los hogares de inmigrantes, hay cosas que puedes hacer para defenderte en caso de una redada.
1. Tienes el derecho de no abrir la puerta y pedir una orden de arresto.
2. Tienes el derecho de permanecer callado/a
3. No firmes ningún documento
4. Prepara un plan de emergencia con instrucciones básicas en caso de una redada.
5. No importa en donde llegue ICE, ejerce tus derechos y recuerda que puedes pelear un caso de deportación.
City Stands as Bright Spot Amidst Week of ICE Intimidation and Terror
“On his first day in office, newly elected Mayor Kenney reaffirmed that the City of Philadelphia is in fact the city of brotherly love. As ICE raids sew new levels of fear in our communities, Mayor Kenney is making sure local officials have nothing to do with it, ” explains Erika Almiron, director of Juntos. Read more
The raids that DHS announced days before Christmas seem to have started in the Atlanta area on January 2nd. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents barged into homes, even when asked for warrants at the door, removing mothers and children as young as 4 years old.
By mid-day the phone at the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights (GLAHR) was ringing regularly as families and neighbors reported ICE activity and sought support for loved ones taken away.
Hay pasos a tomar para prepararse en caso de una redada.
1. Memorice el numero de 2 personas de confianza que sepan que son sus contactos y que le puedan contestar el teléfono en cualquier momento.
2. Tenga un plan de emergencia para el cuidado de los niños o de personas que requieran atención especial.
“We Open Our Doors to Today’s Josephs and Marys Despite ICE’s Plan to Deport them”
Sanctuary Movement leaders who have offered their congregations as spaces of refuge for immigrants facing deportation are outraged by the news that Immigration Customs and Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security plans to conduct raids targeting families who have fled violence and persecution in Central America.
Faith leaders from many traditions remind our decision makers that the story of Christmas the birth of Jesus, a child born in a stable, whose refugee family then fled the political violence that could have killed him as a baby. Read more
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 24, 2015
PRESS CONTACT: Tania Unzueta, 773-387-3186, tania@mijente.net
B Loewe, 773-791-4668, bloewe@mijente.net
Immigrants Communities Should Prepare for Announced ICE Home Raids by Knowing Their Rights, Organizing
The best way to keep immigrant communities and families safe is to make sure people know their rights, organize to denounce the raids when they take place, and fight against the deportation of individuals targeted.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that it is preparing for a number of large-scale raids targeting immigrants who recently came to the U.S. fleeing violence in Central America. Although the operation is only supposed to target individuals in this category who have already been ordered deported, ICE agents are known to broaden their operations to check the identity and background of other people in the household or even surrounding area, which means all immigrants should know their rights, regardless of whether they fit the announced ICE target.
In response to the raids, Tania Unzueta of the Not1More campaign said, “It is not new that ICE is doing raids. Immigration agents have been doing operations and terrorizing families across the country using whatever excuse they can to label a person a ‘priority for deportation.’ The difference here is that we know about them ahead of time and that gives us time to organize to keep our communities safe and to fight back when our families are targeted.”
In addition, the five things for immigrants to know if immigration enforcement comes to their home are:
1. Prepare by having an emergency plan and gathering documents. Individuals who may be targeted by ICE can prepare by gathering all their important documents and putting them in a trusted place, including any children’s birth certificates, tax information, medical information, school diplomas, immigration documents (the “Alien” number), etc.
If the individual is detained, these could be useful in fighting their case or getting them bond. If the individual has children, have an emergency plan with them, and know who would be called in case of a raid.
2. Do not open the door. No law enforcement agent can come into anyone’s home without a warrant signed by a judge. This includes immigration agents, even if they have a photograph or document showing the person they are looking for. This is not a warrant. If they have a warrant, they can share it or show it before the door is opened. Make sure that other people in the family know this, even young children.
3. Do not give immigration agents your information. If they don’t have a warrant, immigration agents do not have a right to question anyone, or ask for information or identification. If immigration agents enter a home, workplace, or community, no one should give them their identification – especially if the documents are from another country, or fake.o one should sign any documents, or consent to be fingerprinted. Even if taken into custody, individuals have the right to remain silent.
4. Organize to get individuals released and fight deportations. Just because immigration enforcement has labeled an individual a “priority” for deportation – as they have the targets of these raids – individuals and communities still have a chance to fight the deportation. People facing deportation should find a local community organization and a trusted attorney or get in touch with the #Not1More campaign to get an evaluation of their case and consider doing a public campaign to stop an individual released or stop their deportation.
The Not1More campaign offers this form, for people to get an initial evaluation of their case if they are facing deportation: http://www.notonemoredeportation.com/intake/
5. Denounce the raid and organize. Do not suffer or fear in silence and isolation. Everyone needs to know that these raids are happening. Individuals who have experienced raids and those concerned should talk with others in their neighborhood about what is happening and how to have a safety plan. But also talk about it with community organizations, local elected officials, news media. It is important that these stories are denounced publicly.
7 detainees from the #freedomgiving hunger strikes are still continuing on Day 21 of their hunger strike at Krome Detention Center in Miami, Florida. Yesterday they were summoned to court, where they appeared in wheelchairs and the judge issued forced feeding orders for all of them despite their protestations.
The hunger strikers also raised complaint about the prison and ICE officials having limited their phone access to the outside world of their family, friends, media, and even attorneys. The judge instructed that the detainees be allowed regular phone access. The judge also reminded that detainees should be allowed access and phone calls to the media.
One hunger striker deported, while 2 others meet Presidential candidate Governor O’Malley. Photo: Anja Hitzenberger
Even as the hunger strikes have drawn national attention, ICE has deported one of the key hunger strike leaders, Md. Tarek Ahmed, back to Bangladesh to imminent danger.
At the same time that Ahmed was being deported, two of his fellow hunger strikers from El Paso Detention Center were meeting with Presidential candidate Governor Martin O’Malley. After hearing about their lives and the conditions of their detention Gov. O’Malley remarked, “instead of giving them due process, we’re just rolling out more barbed wire.”
Mohammed Aminul Islam, one of the former detainees who met with O’Malley said, “I appreciate the attention for hunger strikers. But we need more than acknowledgement and future promises. We want to see leadership that takes action today! The candidates who say they support us should use their position to pressure ICE to halt deportations and release asylum seekers, or visit the hunger strikers to see what is really happening. Some of us will be deported and dead by the time the candidates act on their promises.”
The candidates who say they support us should use their position to pressure ICE to halt deportations and release asylum seekers … Some of us will be deported and dead by the time the candidates act on their promises.
Tarek and Aminul Islam were two of the 54 hunger strikers at El Paso Processing Center. Even before Tarek was deported, there have been worrisome actions taken by ICE in retaliation to the hunger strikers. For example, on October 20th, the 8th day of the hunger strike, ICE arranged for the Bangladeshi Consular Minister, Md. Shamsul Alam Chowdhury, to visit the facility to break their strike. He was given free access to the hunger strikers for over 10 hours which he spent interviewing, cajoling, intimidating, and pressuring them.
After the visit, the Embassy published a press release with pictures of the detainees, and posted it on their website. ICE’s actions violated the confidentiality provisions protecting asylum seekers (See 8 C.F.R. §208.6), and further endangered their lives by exposing asylum seekers to representatives of the very same government from which they are seeking asylum.
International and Bangladeshi press have published the hunger strikers stories and their photos, causing a firestorm of inquiry and calls for their punishment in Bangladesh as the asylum seekers were viewed as “dishonoring” their country.
“How can DHS deport somebody who is a victim and a witness to DHS and ICE’s violation of federal law while the investigations are pending? How can DHS deport detainees back to their home countries to face imminent danger that has been created by it’s own acts? There must be an immediate halt to the deportation of ALL detainees who were exposed to representatives of the Bangladeshi government at El Paso Processing Center on October 20th.” stated Fahd Ahmed of DRUM – Desis Rising Up & Moving.
For the past two and a half weeks, people seeking safety in the US who ICE has kept detained for up to two years have refused meals as part of the #freedomgiving hunger strike in seven different detention centers. Started by 110 detainees and expanded to 150, 10 are continuing the strike at Krome, South Texas, and Aurora facilities at last count. On Monday, the strikes were also joined by 6 people at Yuba County jail.
PRESS CONTACTS
Fahd Ahmed, DRUM, 917-744-5526, fahd@drumnyc.org
B. Loewe, #Not1More, 773.791.4668, bloewe@onpoint.pro
“Immigrant integration doesn’t start with campaign promises. It starts with releasing the people who are starving for their freedom
in detention centers today.”
– Fahd Ahmed, Director of DRUM – Desis Rising Up and Moving
December 15, 2015 – New York City, NY
In the middle of her speech at the National Immigrant Integration Conference, Hillary Clinton was interrupted by several supporters of detainees who launched a hunger strike on Thanksgiving day with signs asking, “Do You Stand With Us?” and “People Are Starving for their Freedom.” In recent weeks, the candidate has come under fire for not speaking directly to the question of the strikers’ indefinite detention. A protest outside her office spurred both Sanders and O’Malley to cast their support to the strikers but Clinton’s campaign, despite representative Lorella Praelli listening to former strikers’ testimony during their protest outside.
Fahd Ahmed, director of DRUM – Desis Rising Up and Moving, says, “Future promises don’t speak to current crises. Allies respond to cries for help and denounce abuse when its exposed and so far Clinton has done neither. We want her and every official to do their part to see to the end of torture in detention, the freedom of the hunger strikers, and the halt of their deportations.”
Started by 110 detainees and expanded to 150, 20 are continuing the strike at Krome, South Texas, and Aurora facilities at last count. Last week, supporters rallied at ICE as court documents exposed authorized force feeding of strikers and detainees reported ICE using torture tactics of sleep deprivation to try to break their whistleblowing.
On Monday morning, 6 inmates at the Yuba County Jail also launched a hunger strike in solidarity with and joining the #freedomgiving strikes. While one of the strikers is a well-known immigrant detainee, Rajeshree Roy, the remaining 5 women are in general county custody, indicating the commonality of crisis in prisons and immigrant detention centers.
The women launching the hunger strike issued the following statement, “We are locked up together and refuse to be divided into immigrants and citizens. None of us belong in this cage separated from our families. We join the brave immigrant hunger strikers across the country in fasting to force recognition of our humanity.”
More details and background on the #Freedomgiving hunger strike available here:
http://www.notonemoredeportation.com/free-the-hunger-striking-detainees/
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