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Andy Mathe Deported to South Africa on Tuesday Night : Family Faces Same Outcome

9:15 am By Maegan La Mala · Georgia|Immigration · 1 Comment

29 Jul 2011

On Tuesday, July 26th Immigration and Customs Enforcement put Andy Mathe on a Delta airplane out of Atlanta to South Africa. He was deported to the country his mom, grandmother and siblings left almost five years ago. As news came in on Tuesday evening, there were updates, tweets, and phone calls. None were enough to stop what the current administration seemed determined to do, deport this young man and separate him from his family here, especially his mother.

Now the rest of the family that remains in the US is preparing to meet the same fate as Andy. On August 2nd the Mathe family will check-in with ICE authorities under their order of supervision. The entire family’s plea to remain in the U.S. was rejected along with Andy’s. Whether the family will be detained and deported at the August 2nd visit remains to be seen, it seems like a very likely possibility given how things went down with Andy earlier this week.

Under the terms of the newly released memo by John Morton this family meets the requirement for discretion. Advocates hope the Obama administration; Rep. John Lewis and immigration authorities do not once again fail the Mathe-Karekezi family. It seems clear to me, as I feared and told people in the days following the release of the Morton memo, that the actual application of discretion would fall far from what advocates hope.

DREAM Activist is asking people to call Rep. John Lewis to act on behalf of the Mathe family members that remain in the United States.

1. Atlanta office: 404-659-0116
2. Washington D.C. office: 202-225-3801

Sample Script:

“Hi I was calling to ask that Rep. Lewis stop delaying action, Andy has already been deported and the rest of the family is next. Rep. Lewis needs to contact ICE directly and write a letter demanding the Mathe family not be deported.”

If you are in the Chicago area, there is a rally scheduled for this coming Tuesday in support of the family, organized by Immigrant Youth Justice League.

Georgia Day Without Immigrants Action(s)

1:22 pm By Maegan La Mala · Georgia|Immigration · Comments Off

1 Jul 2011

Today marks the first day of parts of Georgia’s anti-immigrant law, HB 87, going into effect. Despite parts of the law being put on hold thanks to a court decision, there are still portions which threaten the ability of immigrant communities to live without fear, including mandatory E-Verify. For this reason, the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights and others have organized a day of non-compliance in which Georgians against HB 87 and in support of immigrant rights are not going to work or shop, and business owners will be closing their doors.

Additionally, On Saturday, GLAHR and others have called for a March for Justice at the Capitol in Atlanta starting at 10:00am. Marchers will be coming from all over the state of Georgia as well as North Carolina, Louisiana, Tennessee, DC, New York and more.

In Georgia Legal and Extra Legal Responses to Immigration Policies

8:45 am By Maegan La Mala · Georgia|Immigration · 1 Comment

29 Jun 2011

Yesterday in Georgia, 6 undocumented youth were arrested near the State Capital, protesting against anti-immigrant policies in the state including the anti-immigrant law HB 87. HB 87 was passed in April, is considered one of many laws that copy the infamous Arizona SB 1070.

Dulce Guerrero, 18; Jessica Vasquez, 18; Rolando Zenteno, 16; Nataly Ibarra, 16; Felipe Baeza, 24; and Leeidy Solis, 16; have all been arrested by capitol police. All are current high school students except for Guerrero, who graduated earlier this month, and Baeza, who received his Bachelor’s degree from The Cooper Union in New York in 2009. All are Georgia residents except for Baeza, who lives in New York.

As of this morning, the three younger arrestees have been released to their parents, while three remain in custody.

Legal Actions As a Way to Fight Anti-Immigrant Laws

6:53 am By Maegan La Mala · Alabama|Georgia|Immigration · 2 Comments

6 Jun 2011

As more states legalize the already de facto anti-immigrant and anti-Latino practices that exemplify racial/ethnic profiling and a federal immigration policy focused on enforcement only, organizations are attempting to use the court system to push back.

Last week the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Immigration Law Center (NILC) filed a lawsuit against HB 87, the Georgia anti-immigrant law that authorizes police to demand “papers” demonstrating citizenship or immigration status during traffic stops, criminalizes Georgians who interact daily with undocumented individuals and makes it unjustifiably difficult for individuals without specific identification documents to access state facilities and services.

From the ACLU Press Release announcing the lawsuit:

The lawsuit charges that Georgia’s law, HB 87, is unconstitutional because it unlawfully interferes with federal power and authority over immigration matters in violation of the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution; authorizes and requires unreasonable seizures and arrests in violation of the Fourth Amendment; restricts the constitutional right to travel freely throughout the United States; and violates the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the U.S. Constitution by unlawfully discriminating against people who hold certain kinds of identity documents.

The orgs behind the lawsuit hope that, like in Arizona, where portions of the the anti-immigrant SB 1070 law were blocked, courtroom attention combined with activism will push back and prevent other states from passing such laws.
Read more…

Georgia as the New Arizona

2:24 pm By Maegan La Mala · Georgia|Immigration · 4 Comments

18 Apr 2011

Last week, an SB1070 copycat bill was passed in Georgia and is expected to be signed into law this week by Governor Nathan Deal. HB 87 mimics many portions of SB1070 that were recently reblocked by the Federal court, including allowing police to investigate the immigration status of certain suspects, paving the way for more, now legalized racial profiling.

Loretta Ross, National Coordinator of SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective upon passage of the bill said:

“SisterSong is outraged at the Georgia Legislature’s lack of leadership in the protection of the human rights of immigrants in our state. We stand with the women and children who will be terrorized by law enforcement officials through racial profiling and who will suffer as their loved ones are arrested, detained and deported. SisterSong will always fight for the human rights of women to plan for and parent the children they have without interference from governmental institutions.”

Undocumented Youth in Georgia Arrested for DREAMing

10:12 am By Maegan La Mala · Activism|DREAM Act|Education|Georgia|Immigration · 2 Comments

6 Apr 2011

Yesterday, undocumented youth in Georgia amped up the action by committing an act of civil disobedience, risking deportation. The arrests of Georgina Perez, Viridiana Martinez, Jose Rico, Dayanna Rebolledo, Andrea Rosales, David Ramirez and Maria Marroquin near Georgia State University, were preceded by the state’s first “coming out” event, where the young people first publicly declared their undocumented status. The young people also delivered
a letter to the Georgia State University President asking him to not comply with the recent Georgia Board of Regents ban of undocumented youth from the top 5 public universities.

With no DREAM Act currently in play in the U.S. Congress (although that may change soon), DREAMers across the country have been working locally to make sure that all young people have access to education regardless of their immigration status.

CNN has the following video of the protest and arrests.

Read more…

Latino Commission on AIDS to Release Report Today

1 Dec 2008

Commemorating the 20th annual World AIDS Day, today at noon EST, the Latino Commission on AIDS will release a new report focusing on the state of HIV/AIDS prevention and care services for Latinos in the Deep South: North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana. The report, Shaping the New Response: HIV/AIDS and Latinos in the Deep South, follows 2 years of fact finding.

Date: Monday, December 1st

National Call-In Press Conference: 12:00 PM EST ( English and Spanish). Dial-in number (888) 387-8686 password 4615450

In-Person Press Conference: 1:00 p.m. EST (English and Spanish) Latino Commission on AIDS at 24 West 25th Street 10th Floor, New York City (Bet 6th Avenue & Broadway)

For more information and to arrange interviews, call
Guillermo Chacón (212) 920-1611 or gchacon@latinoaids.org (Spanish)
Tim Frasca (917) 689-9475 or tfrasca@latinoaids.org (English)

For more information visit The Latino Commission on AIDS.

For Fear of Deportation, More Immigrants Take Taxis

11:39 am By Maegan La Mala · business|Controversia|Georgia|Immigration · Comments Off

3 Jun 2008

Way back in 2005, we told you about a market phenomenon that was occurring as a result of increased Latino immigration: more taxicabs. Back then, it seemed that the reason for the boom in taxis in cities like Houston, Texas, was the fact that many newly arrived immigrants don’t have cars. Now the phenomenon has repeated itself in Georgia, and locals point to a more compelling reason: harsher laws are driving some to avoid driving for fear of being picked up and deported.

In the past month, taxicab companies have seen an increase in business by as much as 30 percent — a direct result, owners say, of a new law enforcement initiative targeting immigration violations.

The initiative, a local-federal partnership known as 287(g), was implemented in April by the Hall County Sheriff’s Office. It allows detention officers to begin deportation proceedings for any arrestee who is brought to the county jail and determined to be in the country illegally.

Sheriff Steve Cronic has said that the initiative has already cut down on the number of arrests for common traffic offenses such as driving without a license.

Some cab drivers in Gainesville are saying that the effect of the law has been such that traffic has been notably reduced on freeways, as more immigrants choose to cab it over driving.

Via / Gainesville Times

Obama in ’08 Tee : Curious or Straight Up Racist?

3:17 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Controversia|Georgia|Politics|race|US Presidential Race 2008 · 4 Comments

15 May 2008

A tavern owner in Georgia has been peddling the shirt with a picture of a happy Curious George eating a banana above the words “Obama in ’08.”
The tavern owner, who some have described as an “ultra-conservative,” has denied to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the T-shirt is racist. But protesters outside his tavern say the comparison of Obama, who is an African- American, to a monkey is an old racist stereotype.

Comparing a black man to a monkey is racist? Who would have thought?

Live Blogging Super Tuesday : And the Projections Begin

7:10 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Georgia|Politics|US Presidential Race 2008 · Comments Off

5 Feb 2008

According to NBC and CNN, Georgia’s got Barack too.

But you know what they say about projections, don’t count them until they are all hatched.

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