Posts Tagged ‘Immigration and Customs Enforcement’
DHS’s Napolitano Admits There is No Opt Out for Secure Communities and Shows Off New Deportation Numbers
10:36 am By Maegan La Mala · Immigration|Politics · 6 Comments
7 Oct 2010Yesterday, I wrote about how I understood why some Latinos may sit this election out, especially in the face of increasing immigrant enforcement policies while candidates pay lip service to change and reform on the campaign trail.
Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director John Morton held a press conference yesterday that revealed more information about the deportation numbers under the Obama administration and the truth about Secure Communities.
During that announcement, which was livestreamed, according to America’s Voice, ICE announced 392,000 deportations last yr. 195k “criminal.” Which would make 197k non-criminal deported. Napolitano, on the record, stated that it is not possible for localities to opt out of “secure communities” program , contradicting earlier statements indicating that localities could opt-out.
I.C.E Needs to Learn a Lesson from the NYPD When It Comes to Rebranding
8:56 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Immigration · 1 Comment
22 Jun 2010That lesson is that rebranding won’t change the perceptions of the communities that continue to be brutalized.
According to an article in today’s Washington Post, Immigration and Customs Enforcement is “streamlining and realigning” meant to highlight the agencies efforts against terrorism and other anti-criminal activities and take attention away from their immigration enforcement efforts including increased workplace raids and the use of local law enforcement agencies as deputized immigration agents through programs like Secure Communities and 287(g).
“Public perception is dominated by civil immigration enforcement responsibilities, even though half of the agency is devoted to something else,” Morton said recently after announcing the changes to ICE employees. “We’re not going to get away from immigration. It’s very important from a national security perspective.”
Enforcement policy will not change and since there is no immigration reform happening nationally, this means that all the posters of I.C.E. agents hugging undocumented immigrants can be hung along the border wall and handed out as souvenirs to children separated from their parents.
Ok so maybe I’m being a little dramatic but thinking about the New York City Police Department rebranding efforts after a series of police brutality incidents in the late 1990′s, I’m not to far off.
I.C.E. Breaking
9:45 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Cities|Immigration|Violence · 4 Comments
24 Jul 2009
Earlier this week a report was released by the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law stating that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E) violated their own standards and rules, as well as the U.S. Constitution when it came to raids on houses.
The raids were supposed to focus on dangerous criminals, but overwhelmingly netted Latinos with civil immigration violations who happened to be present, the study said. Raiders mistakenly held legal residents and citizens by force in their own homes while agents rummaged through drawers seeking incriminating documents, the report said.
What is most disturbing isn’t so much what has already been done by I.C.E, which has been well documented, even if ignored by the mainstream media and political parties, but rather how the communities are being asked to trust I.C.E in enforcing new, expanded 287(g) programs because they will go after the “bad” immigrants like children.
The report said a similar “cowboy mentality” emerged in many other raids. In Paterson, N.J., last year, legal residents from Guatemala and their 9-year-old son, a United States citizen, were threatened with guns by immigration agents who had entered their home while the boy’s mother was in the shower.
Targeting the Wrong People in the Fight for Immigration Justice
9:32 am By Maegan La Mala · Immigration · Comments Off
5 Feb 2009
I hate the term immigration reform. It feels heavy in my mouth, as if the boca knew that such a term hides just how and why the current U.S. immigration polices work against so many communities. It’s no accident or coincidence that hate crimes against Latinos have gone up at least 40% over the last few years.
Recently reveled information shows that about 3 years ago, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, aka as our friends at ICE, made a conscious decision to keep talking up the danger factor about undocumented immigration while targeting the not really dangerous at all. In other words, all that talk about good immigrants vs bad immigrants was just a cover.
But in fact, beginning in 2006, the program was no longer what was being advertised. Federal immigration officials had repeatedly told Congress that among more than half a million immigrants with outstanding deportation orders, they would concentrate on rounding up the most threatening — criminals and terrorism suspects.
Instead, newly available documents show, the agency changed the rules, and the program increasingly went after easier targets. A vast majority of those arrested had no criminal record, and many had no deportation orders against them, either.
Internal directives by immigration officials in 2006 raised arrest quotas for each team in the National Fugitive Operations Program, eliminated a requirement that 75 percent of those arrested be criminals, and then allowed the teams to include nonfugitives in their count.
In the next year, fugitives with criminal records dropped to 9 percent of those arrested, and nonfugitives picked up by chance — without a deportation order — rose to 40 percent. Many were sent to detention centers far from their homes, and deported.
I.C.E Gets Served…..Deportation Papers
2:35 pm By Maegan La Mala · Activism|arizona|Immigration · Comments Off
5 Dec 2008
Ay if only life would imitate art/activism and we could really boot those who terrorize and break human rights laws and the laws of simple humanity. The creative and bold move by FIRE is an example of ways people can defend their right to exist and confront those that strive to keep power.
From Nezua:
Flagstaff. AZ — At approximately 10AM on Thursday December 4th, Flagstaff Immigrant Rights Enforcement (FIRE) confronted Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in a daring raid, serving a notice of deportation to ICE representatives at an ICE Management meeting. FIRE agents pinpointed the location of the ICE management
meeting at the Flagstaff Radisson Hotel in the Kaibab Meeting Room and staged the raid. FIRE agent Del Fuego read the notice of deportation to more than 15 ICE associated criminals, some of whom appeared to possibly be illegal immigrants themselves, as they were not Indigenous People. Agent Del Fuego called for the immediate withdrawal of ICE from the Flagstaff community and notified ICE of the cease and desist order for all future raids.
Read the Order of Deportation after the jump.
Cold as ICE : Assistant Secretary Julie Myers, Likely Source for Obama Tia Leak, Resigning
1:40 pm By Maegan La Mala · Controversia|Immigration|Politics · Comments Off
6 Nov 2008
If timing is everything, as the dicho goes, then the timing of the announcement of the resignation of ICE’s Assistant Secretary Julie Myers raised some questions.
According to the press release, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff claims that Myers told him about her resignation in September. In fact, he wants everyone to know that she told him in September:
Assistant Secretary Julie Myers has announced that she will depart the department on Nov. 15. Julie has been an extraordinary Assistant Secretary for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and when she approached me in mid-September to discuss her departure, I knew this would be a loss for the department. Julie has been a major force in transforming ICE into a 21st century law enforcement agency.
Make No Mistake : ICE Raid of Citizen Latina Wasn’t a Mistake
11:27 am By Maegan La Mala · Immigration|Women · 2 Comments
6 Oct 2008
ICE and the media can try and sell the story that the raid on the home of a 68 year old Latina woman was a mistake. Pero there are no mistakes in this age of war and terror. Perhaps its the cynic in me or the history I carry inside me that thinks this was more than a a mere clerical error.
Olga Savage said she went through a harrowing life-changing experience that might have been a total mistake. The 68-year-old woman told Action 4 News that she heard a knock at her door Tuesday morning. But before she had a chance to get up she said U.S. Immigration & Customers Enforcement (ICE) agents were inside her home. “They came in with guns, grenades and holding their pistols,” Savage recalled. When she asked them why they came into her home they allegedly responded, “Show us your papers.” Savage complied by showing them documentation proving that she’s been a United States citizen for 40 years. She said they were shocked to see the paperwork. “They looked confused and said, ‘They told us you didn’t have your papers’,” she recalled. After verifying her documentation, they made copies and left. Olga said they didn’t offer an apology or help. But the experience left her in bad shape. Savage told Action 4 News that she had to drive herself to the local clinic since her blood pressure rose to 280. “I told the doctor don’t let me die because I had a really bad pain,” she said. Savage said she wants to know why federal agents kicked in her door like she was a criminal, if she’s been a citizen for so many years. “Why, why did they have to come like they were going to war, if I’m a women living on my own,” Savage asked. Action 4 News spoke with ICE spokeswoman Nina Pruneda about the incident. Pruneda said ICE agents would never raid someone’s home and adds that the whole confusion started because Olga savage has two alien registration numbers. One number states that she is a U.S. Citizen and the other states that she is a fugitive. Pruneda said ICE will continue looking into this issue.
9-11 ICE Arrests in San Francisco Highlight Disregard for Nuestros Niños y Familias
2:07 pm By Maegan La Mala · children|Immigration|Justice|San Francisco · 3 Comments
15 Sep 2008
On a day when some people were remembering, the exploitation of the ideal of freedom and justice was going down full force in San Francisco. On the night of September 11, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raided a San Francisco home, arrested four women and two men while agents searched for an individual who did not reside in the home, according to the city’s Immigrant Rights Commission.
Two supervisors spoke out today against the raid in San Francisco, which a sanctuary city. That status has allowed the city to refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities except in felony cases.
“As a government, we are trying to reduce fear and violence,” said Supervisor Sophie Maxwell, in whose district the raid occurred. “My primary concern is about the families and, in this instance, the young girl whose mother was taken into custody.”
Supervisor Tom Ammiano agreed, saying, “This is yet another example of how ICE operates. There is no humanity in harassing children and leaving them behind.”
School District Superintendent Carlos Garcia’s concern was for the students in his district and commented on possible parental concerns.
“A student came to school today and told teachers that immigration had taken all members of her family,” he said. “I want to assure all of our families that our schools are a safe place for a child to turn for support and we do not ask anyone’s legal status.”
ICE Reaches a New Low : Picking Up Parents Picking Up Their Children
10:06 am By Maegan La Mala · children|Family|Immigration · Comments Off
11 Sep 2008It’s already glaringly obvious that ICE and the U.S. government, while they can tout mami-values on air, could care less about immigrants and their families. They have already been intimidating parents outside of schools and now they are going to airports, as a sort of welcome to the U.S. committee, ready to round up the undocumented picking up their children from travels abroad.
I just wanted to warn people about something that I learned when meeting with a PC this morning. ICE is apparently now picking up people who go to the airport to pick up children coming from other countries. This PC had sent her U.S. citizen children with a family member out of the country for the summer. The family member had a letter from the mother giving her permission to do so. When the family member returned with the children, CBP asked her about the mother. ICE came to the baggage claim area and arrested the mother. I thought you might want to warn clients about this.
Now people can’t even to meet their children at the airport. Makes me want to send out a whole different kind of warning.
Via / Immigration Prof Blog
ICE Makes an Appearance at the RNC
12:56 pm By Maegan La Mala · Immigration|RNC08|St. Paul · 1 Comment
3 Sep 2008Hmm I don’t remember ICE being on the official list of attendees at the RNC. According to a tweet from the Coldsnap Legal Collective, the grassroots legal team in the Twin Cities:
ICE agents are entering jail and pulling out arrestees with “foreign-sounding names!”
Confirmation of this and information is much appreciated. We’ll keep an eye on this gente.
Hola!
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