Posts Tagged ‘ICE’
Mistaking Immigration Proposals for Policy in an Election Year
2:27 pm By Maegan La Mala · Immigration|Politics · 2 Comments
10 Jan 2012All weekend my inbox was flooded with press releases and emails from immigration organizations across the country praising the latest immigration policy proposal announcement from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
Last Friday, USCIS filed a notice of intent to change current policy that requires undocumented spouses and sons and daughters of U.S. citizens facing 3 and 10 year bars to file waivers outside the U.S. and then allowing them to return to their families by showing that their U.S. citizen family member would face extreme hardship as a result of the separation.
Before you break out the leftover new year’s confetti, I would like to remind people that this is a proposal. I have read the Notice of Intent and the language is very provisional. An intention is not that same as an actual action and within the actual document it states, “USCIS is considering regulatory changes…” (emphasis mine). There will be a several-month period for the public to provide comments on the proposed change before it goes into effect. A consideration is a thought, not an actual change in practice. In my opinion, a consideration is the campaign promise of an incumbent president trying to gain the Latino vote.
ICE Attorneys Begin Review of Deportation Cases – Or So Says (Another) Memo
10:26 am By Maegan La Mala · Immigration|Politics · Comments Off
18 Nov 2011Yesterday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Principal Legal Advisor directed all ICE attorneys to begin a systematic review of immigration cases to determine whether pursuing deportation in each case is consistent with the Administration’s enforcement priorities. In other words, the memo told ICE lawyers to follow the June 17, 2011 Morton Memo when reviewing 300,000 active deportation cases. This directive follows an August announcement that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) plans to review cases to assess whether they fall within the enforcement priorities and suspend those cases which do not. The suspension of these cases does not mean a change in legal status, nor does it mean work permits will be granted. The ICE memo also provided more detailed guidance to ICE attorneys regarding criteria for determining when it is appropriate to exercise prosecutorial discretion to close or dismiss a case.
ICE has described as “low priority” those cases involving DREAM-eligible youth, military family members, crime victims, and immigrants with strong family ties. The implementation process involves two components: a nationwide training program for Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and prosecuting lawyers, so that the agency’s practices are in line with the new deportation policy; and a pilot initiative in Baltimore and Denver to begin the review, on a case-by-case basis, of pending deportations.
In reading the actual memos, specifically the enforcement priorities, the definition of “criminality” is vague enough to justify the deportation of anyone. For example, according to the guidelines, anyone with a misdemeanor that includes “any significant threat to public safety”, should be “pursued in an accelerated manner…”. How does this directive take into account the levels of racial profiling in immigrant communities?
The case by case review is scheduled to end on January 13th of next year, after which the program will be reevaluated and no doubt, there will be another flurry of press releases showing off how many “good” immigrants can stay in the United States.
The proof will be in the practice, not in a public relations policy.
Sources: The American Immigration Council, ICE Documents which can be seen as PDF’s here, here, and here
District Court Orders ICE to Release S-Comm Documents
10:12 am By Maegan La Mala · Immigration|Secure Communities · 1 Comment
25 Oct 2011Last night, Judge Shira Scheindlin ordered the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency to publicly disclose by November 1 a previously withheld internal memorandum that advocates believe will shed light on the agency’s legal justification for turning Secure Communities into a mandatory immigration enforcement program.
You can read the order here (PDF)
The decision follows motions for summary judgment filed by all parties in NDLON v. ICE about the memorandum. The government claimed the memorandum was exempt from disclosure under the attorney-client and deliberative process privileges. Plaintiffs the National Day Laborers Organizing Network, Center for Constitutional Rights, and Cardozo School of Law Kathryn O. Greenberg Immigration Justice Clinic argued the memo was improperly kept secret from the public in the midst of important policy decisions related to Secure Communities. Indeed, this summer, opposition to Secure Communities reached new levels with the Governors of Illinois, Massachusetts, and New York formally rejecting the program. In response, ICE announced that all of its Memorandum of Agreements with States were dissolved and that the program would be imposed unilaterally. Despite serious questions from States, local jurisdictions, and advocates about ICE’s legal authority to make the program mandatory, the agency continued to withhold information about its legal reasoning and sought to keep the legal authority memorandum secret.
I’m hoping some of the legal heads from VivirLatino would offer up what the impact could be were it revealed that ICE explicitly meant this policy to be mandatory from inception but chose to deceive states and counties into signing on by implying that participation was optional.
In the end, I am not sure if it even matters. The fact remains that as it stands now, Secure Communities is one part of an overall national immigration policy that is focused on keeping deportation numbers up, while keeping immigrant communities, especially people of color immigrant communities down.
Action Update on Andy Mathe : Likely Deportation to Happen Tonite
12:29 pm By Maegan La Mala · Activism|Immigration · 1 Comment
26 Jul 2011Edited at 5:15 pm EST :
There are a few actions you can take to defend Andy Mathe’s right to stay.
You can call Delta Customer Service : 404-765-5000 and just keep saying ‘customer service’ until you get a person. Ask Delta to not cooperate with ICE.
The script: “Hi i was calling to ask that Andy Mathe not be deported to his death on the Delta flight today at 7:00pm from Atlanta to South Africa. Delta should not fly anyone to their death, this is a human rights issue. Refuse to allow ICE to fly Andy to his death!!”
There is also a petition being tweeted around, also targeting Delta.
It is a long shot, as it’s likely that Delta and ICE have some sort of contract (which is probably something that should be looked into.
According to sources close to the Mathe family, deferred action was denied allegedly because his age, not being currently enrolled in school, and not living with his mother.
Note – nothing because of him being a dangerous/bad/criminal immigrant.
Andy’s Mom, featured in the video below is heartbroken. She didn’t even get to say goodbye to her son.
Edited at 4:05 pm est to add: Just heard word that Andy has been picked up by ICE. It is likely that he will be sent home via a Delta airlines flight that leaves Atlanta to South Africa every day at 7 pm est.
Stay tuned as we update with more actions for people to take.
Obama doesn’t deport DREAMers huh?
An update on Andy Mathe, the young man who is facing deportation to South Africa, and whose story here generated some interesting (read troubling) commentary on who “deserves” to be fought for.
The latest via DREAMActivist:
This should be good news but it isn’t, yesterday at 6:00 pm Andy called his mother, Hope, from detention to let her know that ICE told him “you are going home on Tuesday or Wednesday.” What ICE wouldn’t do is tell him if that means home to South Africa or home to Atlanta.
Right now we don’t know where Andy is, he could be sitting at the airport for the only 7:00 pm flight directly to South Africa. We need your urgent action to find out where Andy is. Last time ICE attempted to deport Andy he talked his way off of the plane by sharing his story with the Delta pilot who then refused to take off with him on board, ICE has already threatened to ‘drug and deport’ him next time.
Yesterday, a letter informing President Obama of Andy’s situation, was hand delivered as Obama was at the National Council of la Raza Conference (more on that later). DREAMActvist is asking for people to make phone calls on Andy’s behalf:
Please call John Morton’s office, the head of ICE, at 1-800-821-9358. Tell the person who picks up:
“Hi, I was calling to ask that Andy Mathe not be deported, he will be killed if he is sent back. His alien number is: 088-488-386.”
Secure Communities Update : Surveillance and Withholdings
10:22 am By Maegan La Mala · Immigration|Secure Communities · Comments Off
12 Jul 2011In the last week there have been some developments in the nationwide push against the Obama administration’s mass deportation program, Secure Communities.
Documents obtained through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) litigation by the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON), the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), and the Cardozo Law School Immigration Justice Clinic show that the controversial Secure Communities deportation program (S-Comm), designed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to target people for deportation, is also a key component of a little-known FBI project to accumulate a massive store of personal biometric information on citizens and non-citizens alike.
According to the documents, S-Comm is only the first of a number of biometric interoperability systems being brought online by the FBI’s ˜Next Generation Identification (NGI) project. NGI will expand the FBI’s existing fingerprint database to add iris scans, palm prints, and facial recognition information for a wide range of people.
Small Victory : NY State to Temporarily Pull Out of Secure Communities
7:31 am By Maegan La Mala · Controversia|Immigration|New York City|Politics · Comments Off
3 Jun 2011Earlier this week, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that the state would be temporarily opting out of the Secure Communities immigration enforcement program, following much campaigning by local and national advocates and activists. In the meantime the program ill be investigated for “not meeting its stated goal and serious consequences for witnesses, victims of crime and law enforcement.”
The announcement has garnered strong support from various organizations and individuals including the former Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, faith leaders, and local politicians. Even a poll via the local NYC newspaper, The NY Daily News, shows a majority feeling like the S-Comm program discriminates against immigrants.
Pero the celebrating may be premature. Remember that when Illinois announced that they were opting out of S-Comm, ICE head John Morton paid a special visit to say that they couldn’t. An equally problematic situation would be the adoption of a law on the statewide level, like the Smart Act, that states that enforcement programs must meet certain criteria, like only really going after the “bad” or criminal immigrants. This would be problematic because looking at the bigger national picture, the federal government has yet to really look at immigration reform in a real way beyond more enforcement.
This is a suspension – not a complete opt-out. A ver what will happen next.
Illinois House Tries to Get Smart with It’s Immigration Policy
8:41 am By Maegan La Mala · Illinois|Immigration|Secure Communities · Comments Off
9 May 2011Following Illinois Gov. Quinn’s letter opting out of Secure Communities because of the way the enforcement program targets all undocumented immigrants, not just the so-called criminal ones, Immigration and Customs Enforcement head John Morton went to Springfield. Morton’s intentions were not to respect the will of the state government but rather to reinforce the idea that S-Comm is not something one can just opt-out from. On Friday, the Illinois House of Representatives responded by passing the Smart Enforcement Act (HB 929).
The bill, which passed by a vote of 66-43, with 17 Republican votes in favor, states that if Illinois is forced to participate in S-Comm it will do so we will do so based on terms that match Illinois values: accountability, local autonomy, effective law enforcement, due process, and respect for families.
Specifically, the Smart Enforcement Act will
· give counties the choice whether to participate in “Secure Communities”;
· offer a full accounting of the program’s impact and costs to local law enforcement; and
· require that this program be used only to identify and deport convicted criminals.
The bill is expected to move to the Illinois State Senate yet, but I have to wonder what the impact will be beyond rhetoric. I wonder of the possibility of local governments to sue the Feds for forcing an unconstitutional law that no matter how it is painted separates families and allows for more racial profiling within our communities. I suppose that within the confines of U.S. policy, bills like Smart make sense, but within the confines of humanity, outright resistance makes more sense.
Someone Tell ICE Under Obama : Federal Agencies Remind Public Schools All Children Have Right To Public Education Regardless Of Immigration Status
2:20 pm By Maegan La Mala · DREAM Act|Education|Immigration|Obama|Secure Communities · 2 Comments
7 May 2011Yesterday the Department of Justice and the Department of Education sent out a letter reminding school districts nationwide of their obligation under federal law to provide equal educational opportunities to all children residing in their districts, regardless of their race, color, national origin, citizenship or immigration status, or the immigration status of their parents and guardians. The guidance responded to discriminatory enrollment practices, documented in part by the American Civil Liberties Union, that unnecessarily and unlawfully inquire, directly or indirectly, into the immigration status of students and their families and foster the fear that the attempt to enroll in public school may bring students and their families to the attention of the immigration authorities.
The guidance made clear that a school district may not:
• ask about a child’s citizenship or immigration status to establish residency within the district; or
• deny a homeless child, including an undocumented homeless child, enrollment because she or he cannot provide the required documents to establish residency.
The guidance further specified that a school district may not prevent a child from enrolling in school because:
• a child has a foreign birth certificate; or
• a child or parent chooses not to provide the child’s social security number; or
• a child or parent chooses not to provide the child’s race or ethnicity.
This is not a new policy rather the letter was meant to reinforce established policy. Problem is that the directive fails to address how at the Federal level policy and practice is discouraging immigrant parents and their children from participating in education through the use of fear.
Remember what happened in Detroit? Read more…
Congressional Hispanic Caucus Asks for S-Comm Moratorium
3:34 pm By Maegan La Mala · Illinois|Immigration|Politics|Secure Communities · 5 Comments
6 May 2011Let’s face it, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus isn’t known for it’s bravery when it comes to facing the reality of comprehensive immigration reform. When it was clear that CIR was pretty much a dead issue, the CHC refused to rally behind the DREAM Act until the zero hour. Perhaps though, recognizing the error of their ways, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus is calling for a moratorium on the “Secure Communities” deportation program due to problems similar to its predecessor, 287(g). The call was made via a letter sent to the White House
From the CHC Letter :
“Evidence reveals not only a striking dissonance between the program’s stated purpose of removing dangerous criminals and it’s actual effect; it also suggests that S-Comm may endager the public, particularly among communities of color…”
Immigration Enforcement Following Parents Taking Children to School in Detroit
12:38 pm By Maegan La Mala · Detriot|Immigration · 11 Comments
6 Apr 2011The first time I saw an Immigration & Customs Enforcement van was in Detroit. For some children of immigrants in Detroit, they may say the same thing and add that the last time they saw their parents was in an ICE van.
The Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM) is reporting that in Detroit ICE followed parents taking their children to the Hope of Detroit Academy, detained at least two parents, and essentially forced other parents to remain inside the school, afraid of leaving and afraid of being detained by ICE. Eventually the ICE officers left.
Read more…
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