Archive for the ‘New York’ Category
Welcome to NY Secure Communities
7:04 am By Maegan La Mala · Immigration|New York|Secure Communities · No Comments
14 May 2012Despite efforts by local and national advocates and activists, the Secure Communities deportation program will go into effect in New York and other states tomorrow.
S-Comm is a Department of Homeland Security program that requires states to identify immigrants for deportation. While NY governor Cuomo and other governors across the country have expressed concerns regarding the difference between what how DHS says the program is implemented and what statistics show regarding the deportation of non-criminal undocumented immigrants. There have been mixed messages and allegations of a cover up regarding the mandatory nature of the program. The intense roll out of the program despite complaints and protests seems to make the mandatory nature of the program clear.
Given the latest report of racial profiling by the New York City Police Department which showed that 87 percent of those stopped were blacks and Latino, the implementation of S-Comm especially in urban areas with large immigrant populations is extremely concerning. Immigrants account for more than one-third of the city’s residents and 29% of all voters in New York.
While the federal government attempts to make an example of Arizona by challenging parts of SB1070 in the Supreme Court and by suing Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio for racial profiling, it continues to fast track a program that has contributed to racial profiling.
Passage of NYS DREAM Fund No Dream Come True
8:51 am By Maegan La Mala · DREAM Act|Education|Immigration|New York · No Comments
3 May 2012On Tuesday May 1, while thousands marched across the country for worker rights, especially immigrant worker rights, the New York State Assembly decided not to invest in the education of undocumented youth. The New York State legislature passed the New York State Dream Fund, which would set up up a commission to raise private scholarships for undocumented students. A.8689B is hardly a DREAM come true. The fund will make family tuition accounts available to anyone who provides a valid taxpayer identification number. These accounts allow for systematic savings coming out of the pocket of immigrant families who already pay millions of dollars in taxes and reap little benefit from the state they live in. The New York State Dream Fund doesn’t take a cent from the state. In other words, the state told undocumented youth who want to go to college, we hope your families, who statistically earn less than others, can put something aside for you. If not – oh well.
What local undocumented youth and allies are fighting for is The New York State Dream Act. The NYS DREAM Act would have extended state- sponsored financial aid to all students, regardless of citizenship status. Through this act, all students would have been given an equal opportunity to financial assistance, specifically the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP).
For information on how you can help continue the push for equal access to state education funds for undocumented youth see after the jump.
Attn NYC! Latino Rebels and The Phoenix present: Words and Music For Miguel Algarín
2:29 pm By Maegan La Mala · Arts|Lo Que Hay|New York|Poetry · 1 Comment
15 Jul 2011
Note: I am honored and excited to be participating in this benefit for Miguel. The Nuyorican Poet’s Cafe was the first place I ever read poetry at the ripe old age of 18. I remember Miguel sitting by the door. I remember how nervous I was and how special it felt to be reading there, a place of such history. Grateful to add mi granito de arena among so much talent and community love.
The iconic Miguel Algarín is a man deserving of various accolades, among his most noteworthy being founder of the Nuyorican Poets Café in the Lower East Side in the early 1970s—a place where marginalized voices founded a movement and created a home that Allen Ginsberg once described as “the most integrated place on the planet.” Out of the Nuyorican Poets Café were born books and legends—too many to report here.
So what’s the point?
The man responsible for carving a space for literary and counter-cultural expression in the urban war-zone of the 1970s Lower East Side/Loisaida is in need of our help. Miguel is being forced to vacate his Lower East Side apartment this summer. As a 70-year-old disabled man this is proving to be quite a challenge. So to help offset the cost of his legal fees and other expenses we are throwing a party to raise money for him.
Así mismo.
As a living icon who has given a platform to thousands of marginalized voices in his lifetime, we feel that this is the least we can do for Miguel and hope that you can join us in our celebration in honor of him. Yes, the goal is to raise money, but the way in which we’ll do that is by having fun. Come join us as we revel in the Lower East Side/East Village poetry and performance legacy he helped create…
(Note: All money raised will go to Miguel Algarín. Neither The Phoenix, Latino Rebels, nor the performers will receive any funds raised—we are all volunteering our time.)
When: Sunday, July 24 · 4:00pm – 10:30pm
Where: The Phoenix
449 E 13th St/Avenue A – East Village – 21+
New York, NY
What : A benefit/fundraiser hosted by Charlie Vázquez
Featuring Penny Arcade, Machete Movement and San Juan Hill
With Carlos Manuel Rivera, Bonafide Rojas, J Skye Cabrera, Rob Vassilarakis, Papo Swiggity Santiago, Pietro Scorsone, Gabrielle Rivera, Jani Rosado, Karen Jaime, Maegan “La Mala” Ortiz, Odilia Rivera Santos, Tod Crouch, Deborah Magdalena and Jeny Nilenie and surprise guests!
All are welcome…$5 suggested donation but no one will be turned away…
If you are not in the NYC area or cannot attend but would like to help support, you can make an online donation aqui.
Gay Marriage Passes in NY but NYC Still not Friendly for Queer Communities of Color
7:53 am By Maegan La Mala · Immigration|New York|New York City|Politics|qtpoc · 4 Comments
28 Jun 2011I learned that gay marriage became legal in New York state in a hotel room in Detroit while there for the Allied Media Conference. While I am not a huge advocate of marriage in general, acknowledging that I am coming from it privileged as a mostly straight someone who always has had the option of being lawfully wedded, it was the right thing. Equity. My older daughter and I were happy. There maybe were some members of our family (biological & chosen) who would get married now. But I was also disturbed by some of the media coverage and some of the reactions from the lgbt organizations.
Being at the Allied Media Conference and the week before at Netroots Nation and being with and among the queer community of color, I scanned the faces of the people recorded in the gallery of the New York State Senate. There wasn’t alot of color. There wasn’t alot of people who presented as women and did I hear chants of “USA”? I could have sworn I did. Away from my state and my city, I could step away from what I knew was celebration in corners of my hood. Why was everyone acting like that’s it, like the struggle is over?
My mind meant to queer people of color and queer youth of color in New York City and how they have been harassed and brutalized by the police for decades. Earlier this month, the organization FIERCE released a statement ( link will open as PDF) to the press denouncing the continuation of of quality of life initiatives made popular under former Mayor Giuliani.
From the statement:
On Tuesday, May 31, two plainclothes Detectives from the 6th
Precinct stationed themselves in an unmarked car outside of 147 West 24th
Street, the location of FIERCE, the Audre Lorde Project, Queers for Economic Justice, and the Sylvia Rivera Law Project—four community-based organizations working with LGBTQ communities of color, homeless and low-income community members and
youth of color. The Detectives proceeded to stop and question FIERCE youth members. They did not have a warrant, but informed FIERCE staff that they had been ordered to question youth entering and exiting the building.
Evidence Shows No Confusion on Secure Communities, Only Deception
8:52 am By Maegan La Mala · Illinois|Immigration|New York|Politics|Secure Communities · 18 Comments
20 May 2011Coming on the heels of Wednesday’s rally in front of NY Governor Andrew Cuomo’s NYC office demanding that he pull the state out of the Secure Communities deportation program are letters which show that the so-called confusion regarding the ability to opt-out was more like a cover-up.
In letters, that I will admit to finding somewhat confusing (PDF of letters here), a fired contractor, Dan Cadman says that he told DHS/ICE, in documents that have to come to light as a result of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, that they had the right to tell states that Secure Communities was a mandatory program. Cadman asserts that he was then told to say that Secure Communities was voluntary, especially when pushing areas with many immigrants, like New York and Cook County – Illinois, to sign agreements. The head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, John Morton, points to Cadman as the source of confusion regarding the opt-out option. Cadman asserts that it seems to be part of the design, especially in order to get places like New York to sign on.
ICE Ends It’s Year by Detaining Holiday Travelers
12:50 pm By Maegan La Mala · Immigration|New York · Comments Off
1 Jan 2011
In the name of “Homeland Security”, ICE is in the business of protecting the United States from dangerous students daring to travel to NY to celebrate the new year.
On Thursday, December 30th, 5 Latino youths from Illinois were traveling to New York to celebrate the new year on Amtrak. They are all students and unfortunately 3 of them live in the reality of being undocumented. ICE did a sweep on the train and took 3 of them into custody. Two of the young girls from this group are US citizens and were not arrested but are now in New York alone and waiting for bonds to be paid in Chicago. Two young men are being held in a Buffalo NY Federal Detention Facility. A girl is being held in another facility, location unknown to me.
As soon as I learn more information, if I learn more information, I will be sure to pass it on, but the message that ICE is sending is clear. Immigration and Customs enforcement wants to imprison undocumented young people and will go out of it’s way to do so by stepping up checkpoints on domestic travel venues or by instilling so much fear causing young people to stay locked up inside their homes.
Outgoing NY Governor Paterson Leaves State an (In)Secure Community
7:00 am By Maegan La Mala · Immigration|New York|Secure Communities · Comments Off
31 Dec 2010I wanted to like NY State Governor David Paterson. I really did, but his lackluster job was just topped with bitter icing thanks to his signing of a “new” Secure Communities agreement that does nothing more than draw pretty flowers around barbed wire and shackles.
For the past few months, various organizations and politicians have been asking Paterson to pull New York State out of Secure Communities, the program which automatically sends the fingerprints collected by local police departments to I.C.E. What outgoing Governor Paterson did instead was sign a new pact which allegedly adds language, according to the NYT that:
…explains the enforcement priorities of the Department of Homeland Security and clarifying that the agency will focus on deportable immigrants considered a threat to public safety and national security, as well as those who have been convicted of crimes or have illegally re-entered the United States after being deported.
NYS Says No To Secure Communities
10:50 am By Maegan La Mala · Immigration|New York|Secure Communities · 3 Comments
9 Dec 2010
While D.C. is focused on the DREAM, in NY today, eyes shift to a different but equally important immigration matter : the criminalization of migrants and the merging of local police with Federal enforcement efforts.
This morning, at the same time that a cloture vote on DREAM is expected in the Senate, there is going to be a rally in front of Governor Paterson’s Manhattan office today to demand rescission of New York’s agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to bring a deportation program called “Secure Communities” to New York State.
With no public input, New York’s Division of Criminal Justice Services signed an agreement with ICE in May this year to bring Secure Communities to New York. Under the program, law enforcement agencies in the state are required to automatically forward to federal immigration databases the fingerprints of every arrested person. Undocumented immigrants, US citizens, and lawful permanent residents alike are subject to these database checks. Based on often unreliable and incomplete information, ICE then transfers people suspected of being deportable directly into the detention and deportation system, separating them from their families and communities.
Read more…
Hate Crimes Against Mexicans Continue in Staten Island, NYC
12:24 pm By Maegan La Mala · Immigration|New York|race|Violence · 4 Comments
2 Aug 2010This past weekend, the 10th anti-Mexican attack in about four months happened in Port Richmond, Staten Island.
In this latest attack, a 17 year old coming home from work in the early morning hours was beaten, robbed of 10 dollars and called anti-Mexican slurs. NY1 News television is reporting that a suspect is in custody. That suspect a 15 year old African American teenager.
Actions Against SB1070 Around the U.S.
12:12 pm By Maegan La Mala · arizona|California|Immigration|New York|New York City · 5 Comments
28 Jul 2010In less than 24 hours, unless a court injunction blocks it Edited to add on 2/28/5:13 pm EST that there has been a partial injunction, SB1070 will be the law in the state of Arizona. Actions across the country are being planned in solidarity with the communities that will be even more unfairly targeted than they have been. I will be continuously updating this list as more information comes to me. If you know of an event not listed here, please leave a comment below or email info@vivirlatino.com.
Most of what I have is local to me here in NYC so help me expand it so as many of us can participate and be in our streets to show that we will not accept our herman@s being harassed and attacked anywhere.
Thursday, July 29th
Bay Area
Events scheduled in the East Bay, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, and more. Please visit the Indybay Calendar for details.Detroit, Michigan
4:30 pm : McNamara Federal Building 477 Michigan Ave (at Cass)
Initial endorsers: Centro Obrero, Detroit Green Party, Latinos Unidos de Michigan, Michigan Emergency Committee Against War & Injustice, Michigan Welfare Rights Organization, Moratorium NOW! CoalitionNew York City
9:30 a.m. : Gather at Cadman Plaza, Brooklyn
10:00 a.m. : March Across Brooklyn Bridge
11:00 a.m. : Press Conference at Foley Square
The “We Are All Arizona” march in NYC on July 29th will raise a platform by local immigrant rights organizations including: (1) a call for an end to SB 1070 and the proliferation of copycat legislation now surfacing in over 20 states; (2) a call for an end to the use of racial profiling; (3) a demand for just and humane immigration reform that upholds family unity and human rights over increased enforcement; and (5) a call for an end to related programs such as 287(g), Criminal Alien Program, and Secure Communities (now in NY State) that use local law enforcement to tear families apart.
New Sanctuary Movement, Families for Freedom, Immigrant Defense Project, Churches United to Save & Heal, Black Institute, DRUM-Desis Rising Up & Moving, VAMOS Unidos, American Friends Service Committee, Wind of the Spirit, Northern Manhattan Coalition for Immigrant Rights
Friday, July 30th
Queens, NYC
5 pm : Gather at 83rd Street and Roosevelt Ave
March to Citifield Stadium, where Arizona Diamondbacks are playing
Sponsored by the May 1st Coalition
Saturday, July 31
Port Jefferson, Long Island, NY
Noon: Long Island Faith Community Solidarity Vigil
Port Jefferson Village Hall
Hola!
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- Washington DC Bound
- By Land & By Sea Drawing Attention to Puerto Rican Political Prisoner Oscar Lopez Rivera
- Welcome to NY Secure Communities
- DOJ Puts Sheriff Arpaio on Notice. Who Will Put the DOJ on Notice?
- VL at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival: Babygirl
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- Passage of NYS DREAM Fund No Dream Come True
- No Surprise in the S-Comm Task Force Sham
