No One is Illegal! • Postville, Iowa: United Action Says Stop the Raids and Deportations
• Emergency Call to Action at ICE Offices
• Protest March Opposes Border Wall of Apartheid
• Hartford City Council Votes Unanimously to Support Immigrant Rights
• Government Continues Raids and Fascization of Life
• 65 Percent Increase in Cases Branding Workers as Felons
Postville, Iowa
United Action Says Stop the Raids and Deportations
A united action against government terrorism using raids and deportations took place in Postville, Iowa. Many of the workers the government tried to terrorize, including women forced to wear ankle bracelets, stood up to say, “We have rights and will not be silenced!” Various Jewish, Catholic and Muslim organizations as well as rights activists from Chicago and elsewhere joined them. What stood out in the demonstration was the united stand of all in defense of rights. Stop the Raids! Defend Rights of Workers and Immigrants! Stop Terrorizing Our Children and Communities! were among the demands on signs and banners written in different languages. The Guatemalan and Mexican flags were present, showing the pride of the workers in their nationality, while their presence at the action showed they are part of the single U.S. working class, fighting for change.
The demonstrators marched through the center of the small town of about 2,000 people to the gates of the plant where the workers were employed. In May the government used a policing force of more than 900 agents to raid the plant and detain 389 workers, most from Guatemala. The plant, the largest producer of kosher products in the U.S., was well-known for numerous safety and labor violations. These include use of child labor, paying below minimum wage, and forcing the workers to work in dangerous conditions — all violations of the law. Yet the workers, who committed no crime other than working, were criminalized, with 297 forced to plead guilty to a felony offense, based on government threats of indefinite detention. Even the lawyers and judge involved in the case reported that the workers were not guilty of the charges of identity theft, but they too were forced to submit to the impunity of the government (see VOR update July 21, 2008 for more).
Identity theft requires that the person doing the theft knows the identity of the individual and uses the identity for illegal purposes. For the vast majority of undocumented workers, the monopolies hiring them provide the false social security numbers and the workers do not engage in any illegal activity. The workers are being criminalized, while to date the company and its officials have not been charged. Indeed, they continue to maintain production by hiring and protecting human traffickers to gather up homeless people in Texas and bring them to the plant in Iowa.
The government’s aim is to not only terrorize everyone, but to force workers and their communities, as well as lawyers, judges and local police, to submit to the fascism of the federal government. The raids are live exercises in broad state terrorism and humiliation.
The demonstrators vigorously opposed this direction of the government and demanded that the raids stop, the company officials be charged and the government be charged for its illegal and unjust actions. As one they represented the many actions across the country saying: No One Is Illegal! Charge the Government for Its Crimes!
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Actions in San Diego, San Francisco, Portland, Chicago, Detroit, NYC, Philadelphia
Emergency Call to Action at ICE Offices
It is imperative that we send a message to ICE, President Bush and the upcoming Democratic Party Convention that there must be an Immediate Moratorium on All Raids, Deportations, Incarcerations and Separation of Families!
On the defensive, after congressional hearings that raked ICE over the coals for the cruel, abusive and "Gestapo like" raids in Iowa, ICE responded with a so-called "humanitarian" way to deport half a million people — and their U.S. citizen families!
ICE announced that it has more than 100 teams of agents working full time to seek out and arrest these 500,000 people who, even according to ICE, have done nothing wrong except come to this country, accept employment from U.S. companies, pay taxes and support their families.
Already we have witnessed ICE agents waiting outside of schools and day care centers to track down parents. ICE has enlisted police in some states to set up roadblocks as people come to church on Sunday. ICE agents are coming into our neighborhoods in the dead of night and knocking on our doors, terrorizing our children. This Madness Must Stop!
On Friday, August 22, we call on all organizations and concerned individuals, but especially Latinas, to organize protests in front of your local ICE office at 4pm (your local time) to demand an Immediate Moratorium on Raids, Deportations, Incarcerations and Separation of Families until comprehensive immigration reform is finally agreed on in the next Congress.
Ask your delegates and especially members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus to stand with you on Friday, August 22, in front of ICE.
We call on Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama to make clear their commitment to our community by joining in this call for an immediate moratorium on the convention floor!
Join Us in Detroit:
Friday, August 22, 4pm
ICE Office
East Jefferson Ave & Mount Elliot
For More Information In Detroit Contact:
Latinos Unidos de Michigan
Hypatia: 818-427-4223 Rosendo: 313-580-5474 Ignacio: 313-587-9285
Pro-Immigration Awareness Movement
Evelyn: 313-258-24 86
August 19-23
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Protest March Opposes Border Wall of Apartheid
The Border Walk in opposition to the U.S.-Mexico "border wall of apartheid" is taking place August 19-23. The timing is aimed at congresspeople as they return to their home districts for the summer. The House of Representatives will take their "Summer District Work Period" from August 11- September 5. The Senate will take their "State Work Period" from August 9 - September 7. Organizers consider this a positive opportunity to demand Congress impose a moratorium on the raids and deportations and stop the death Wall of Apartheid. So they are organizing another Border Wall-k.
As organizers bring out, “Texas has 1250 miles of border with Mexico. That represents about 65 percent of the entire 1950 miles of U.S.-Mexico border. That means that at least 65 percent of the border residents are opposed to the border wall.
“In representation of their border communities, the Texas Mayors all along the Texas-Mexico border have stood up against this border wall, even entering into a lawsuit against the federal government to stop the construction.
“El Paso is our Far West Texas anchor city of the Texas-Mexico border that is subject to the construction of the longest border wall in Texas. 56 straight miles, cutting through heritage and culture, through lives, through beautiful crop lands. Such a wall will harm everything that people revere here on the border.
“A coalition of local, state, national as well as border organizations are therefore galvanizing, organizing, sponsoring and endorsing a 56, five day Border Wall-k from August 19-23, from McNary to El Paso, so as to coincide with the Congressmen returning from Washington, D. C. to do work in their districts.
“The El Paso-Border Wall-k will leave McNary on Tuesday, August 19 and arrive at the plaza in downtown El Paso on Saturday afternoon, August 23.
“We request your solidarity. From coast to coast, we encourage all individuals and organizations opposed to the border death wall of apartheid to spread the word about the El Paso Border Wall-k. Let your friends and neighbors know!”
For more information contact:
• Bill Guerra, Addington Border Ambassadors • aguavida@valornet.com • 915-539- 4158
• Carlos Narentes, Sin Fronteras • narentes@farmworkers.org • 915-532-0921
• Fernando Garcia, Border Network for Human Rights • bordernet2001@yahoo.com • 915-577-0724
• Sarah Boone, Border Ambassadors • sboone@stx.rr.com • 830-768-1100
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Hartford City Council Votes Unanimously to Support Immigrant Rights
On August 11, the Hartford City Council voted unanimously to adopt an ordinance effectively removing Connecticut’s capitol city from the business of enforcing federal immigration laws. Though the ordinance must still be signed by Mayor Perez, the vote is an enormous step forward for the immigrant rights movement here in Connecticut.
The ordinance has several parts. First, it affirms that all city services are available to all city residents, regardless of immigration status. Second, it bars any city employees from inquiring about a person’s immigration status and treats immigration status, like some other forms of personal information, as confidential information that city employees are not permitted to disclose – including to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Third, it specifically bars Hartford police officers from asking witnesses or the victims of crimes about their immigration status. Fourth, it affirms that the Hartford police will not detain a person based on either his or her immigration status or the existence of an ICE administrative warrant.
The ordinance was developed by the Hartford Immigrant Rights Coalition and introduced by Councilperson Luis Cotto, who was elected last November as a Working Families Party candidate. At a public hearing three weeks ago, nearly one hundred and fifty people turned out to support the ordinance, with no less than forty-eight speakers making comments in support. Not a single person opposed the ordinance.
In the final minutes of discussion of the ordinance at the August 11 meeting, Councilperson Pedro Segarra commented on the earlier public hearing. Recognizing the diversity of the people who spoke out in favor of making Hartford an immigrant-friendly city and, referring to the City of Hartford’s official slogan, Segarra remarked that if all of the diverse communities of Hartford could come together around other issues the way that they did on the immigrant rights ordinance “Then we really would be on the way to being the rising star of New England.”
The council meeting itself was a lesson in just that kind of solidarity. A majority of the people packed into the sweltering city council chambers were there to demand that steps be taken to re-open two branches of the Hartford Public Library that had recently been shut down due to funding issues as well as to support the immigration ordinance. Residents and grassroots activists from both HIRC and the North Hartford Coalition applauded each others’ speakers, and while the immigrant rights ordinance was being discussed and debated, community activists worked with council members to hammer out a resolution that would re-open the Blue Hills and Mark Twain library branches. Both victories came at the conclusion of a meeting that had lasted for more than four hours. Near the end of the meeting, Councilperson Cotto held up copies of both the library resolution and the immigration ordinance, stating “It’s important for people to understand that we got this” — holding up a copy of the library resolution — “in part because we took the time to do this” — holding up the immigration ordinance.
Peter Goselin is the coordinator of the Connecticut Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, a national network of human rights lawyers, law students, legal workers and jailhouse lawyers.
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Government Continues Raids and Fascization of Life
The federal government, using the Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) raiders and other agencies has continued its live exercises in terrorizing workers and communities and trying to impose its fascist way of life. This includes not only the raids, but calling for a Congressman to be censured for expressing his view against the raids and the “Gestapo agents at Homeland Security.” ICE officials specifically called on Congress to censure Congressmen Luis Gutierrez simply for the expression of his views. That such an action is being taken against a Congressman is an indication that anyone expressing opposition is fair game for the government’s attacks.
In North Carolina, the state has now banned undocumented youth from enrolling in the state’s community colleges. Many of the youth involved have graduated from local high schools and been living in the country for years. Yet now they too are being arbitrarily singled out and punished for no crime whatever. North and South Carolina are the only two states so far to ban enrollment. Others require the youth to pay out-of-state tuition rates, even though they qualify for in-state rates, which are considerably cheaper.
In addition the government is now starting a program where undocumented workers being hunted down by the government have the option of “turning themselves in.” The large majority have committed no crime and at most have broken civil violations of the immigration codes — such as overstaying a visa. Even so they are being hounded and rounded up in record numbers. The new program calls for them to turn themselves in, and then wear an ankle bracelet until their date for deportation. The ankle bracelets are tracking devices that are typically used for individuals, convicted of dangerous crimes, who are out on parole. By introducing them in far larger numbers among a broader section of the population, the government is attempting to make such government control and tracking “normal.” Many of the women workers detained in the Postville raid and then released were forced to wear the ankle bracelets. The women were released on “humanitarian” grounds that they had young children to provide for. Yet the government refuses to let them work or leave the area to be with family, or provide for them. The community and churches of Postville have stepped forward to do so and condemned the attacks. They are also denouncing a situation where their town has been turned into an open-air prison and everyone is being humiliated and terrorized — both conditions necessary to impose these fascist government arrangements.
Alongside these attacks, the University of Texas at El Paso, on the border with Mexico, has now become the home of the National Center for Border Security and Immigration. The Center is organized and sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security, which will use the university to promote and train government “experts.” Retired Army Brigadier General Jose Riojas is executive director of the center. Spokesman for the Pentagon’s Northern Command said the program would be invaluable for the military. People along the border, including the mayors of cities like El Paso, are rejecting this militarization, which includes the construction of the hated border wall.
On both sides of the border and across the country the demand of the large majority is that No One Is Illegal! and that it is the responsibility of government to respect and guarantee the rights of all. Ignoring and trampling on public opinion, the government has continued its brutal raids. On July 23, ICE agents arrested 58 Mexican workers on administrative immigration violations after executing federal search warrants at eight Casa Fiesta restaurants in Ashland, Fremont, Norwalk, Oberlin, Oregon, Sandusky, Vermillion, and Youngstown, Ohio. By Aug. 6, 23 of the arrested immigrants had been deported. Students and community members in Oberlin marched on July 31 to the closed Casa Fiesta restaurant and held a vigil there to protest the raids and express solidarity with the detained workers.
In Arkansas on July 23, ICE agents arrested 13 men from Guatemala and Mexico in a raid at Waco Manufacturing, a company in North Little Rock, that makes pontoon boats for Aloha Pontoons. Typical of current government methods to impose false charges of identity theft and then demand guilty pleas, U.S. Attorney Jane Duke said if the men pleaded guilty to criminal charges, they would likely be sentenced to time served and deported. ICE reported that on July 25, all 13 of the arrested workers "were convicted for document fraud and misuse of Social Security cards" and handed over to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service. On July 28, the workers were to be transferred to the ICE Office of Detention and Removal and placed in removal proceedings. Judges and lawyers involved in cases of this type have said the workers are generally not guilty of document fraud or identity theft, as their documents have their names and they did not use the social security cards for any illegal purpose, a requirement of the law.
On July 20, ICE agents stormed an apartment building in Waipahu, Hawai'i, with nine federal search warrants. The agents arrested 43 men who were allegedly working in Hawai'i without documentation. The workers were employed by an agricultural business in Kunia called "The Farms." The U.S. Marshals Service, Sheriff’s Department, State of Hawaii and the U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service assisted ICE agents in the operation. Fifteen of the 43 arrested men were subsequently charged with federal felonies for having used fraudulent documents to gain employment. No charges were filed against the corporation. Twenty-eight of the workers were held without charges.
Gary Singh, an attorney for one of the arrested men, said his client was recruited in California to work in Hawaii. Singh said the employer paid the airfare and arranged for housing at the Waipahu apartment complex, where eight men shared a two-bedroom apartment. Singh said his client worked 45 to 50 hours a week with no overtime, earning $9 an hour, with $98 deducted for rent from each two-week paycheck.
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Where No Crime Is Committed
65 Percent Increase in Cases
Branding Workers as Felons
The government attacks on immigrant workers includes a stepped up effort to brand workers as criminals, and impose felony charges and jail time, simply for civil immigration violations, like crossing the border. No crime has been committed. At the same time, there have been no prosecutions of the monopolies who recruit immigrants, pay them less than the minimum wage or not at all, then get them deported.
The federal government is responsible for criminalizing the workers, many who have been in the country for years. Just five of the country's 94 districts — South California, New Mexico, Arizona, West Texas and South Texas — handle 75 percent of all the criminal cases in federal district courts around the country. And the large majority are now related to charges against immigrants.
Judge Robert Brack, of Las Cruces, New Mexico, is the busiest federal judge in the United States. He expects to hear between 1,000 and 1,200 cases this year, more than twice the average number tried by district court judges. His cases involve those charged with felonies. Almost all of his cases involve workers criminalized for reentering the United States, either to reunite with their families or looking for work. Brack says, "A typical case is a 22 or 23-year-old father of two who was brought here when he was 2 or 3, lived here his entire life, went to Las Cruces High school and has two kids who are American citizens. He gets, say, a DWI, and all of a sudden his lack of status is discovered and he is sent back to Mexico, even though he knows nothing about the country, has no family there, and barely speaks Spanish. What else is he going to do but turn around and cross the border again? And if he does and he gets caught, that is a felony with real prison time and another deportation," he said.
He added that other immigrants from Mexico cross the border multiple times because they cannot afford not to. "The people I generally see are humble people who have no criminal offenses other than coming back and forth to pick chili.” Brack said, “We have an insatiable demand for cheap labor." He emphasized, “In 5,000 cases, I have never once sentenced an employer in the U.S. for hiring” an undocumented worker.
He expressed concern that the government is considering mandatory 5-year sentencing for first time offenders. This would include those like the young American father the judge described, having lived and worked in the U.S. almost his entire life yet considered a criminal for continuing to do so. Immigration-related felony trials have greatly increased as part of the government’s criminalization of undocumented workers. In the first seven months of 2008, the government reported 38,443 new immigration prosecutions. The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a data research organization at Syracuse University, estimates there will be 65,902 immigration cases this year, a 65 percent increase over last year and a 216 percent increase over 2003.
The cases are part of a government program called “Operation Streamline,” which “fast-tracks” undocumented workers into criminal prosecutions. And while huge resources are being devoted to criminalization of workers and “humble people,” there is not a similar increase in apprehending human traffickers and the monopolies that pay them.
In addition, as part of the “streamlining” prosecutors are not permitted to use their discretion in choosing which cases to pursue. All must be prosecuted. First-time offenders are currently charged with a misdemeanor and deported, a second offender gets a felony charge and jail time. And, given the big increase in caseloads, defense attorneys cannot adequately prepare their cases and often are not immigration attorneys. As one lawyer and rights activist said, "Just because the courts are loaded up with cases, does not mean they are loaded up with criminals."