Saturday, August 26, 2006

INB 8/26/06: NY Protest, Raid; Iranian Brothers Sue

Immigration News Briefs
Vol. 9, No. 31 - August 26, 2006

1. New York Protest, Upstate Raid
2. Day Labor Arrests in Mississippi
3. Iranian Brothers Sue

Immigration News Briefs is a weekly supplement to Weekly News Update on the Americas, published by Nicaragua Solidarity Network, 339 Lafayette St, New York, NY 10012; tel 212-674-9499; weeklynewsupdate@gmail.com. INB is also distributed free via email; contact immigrationnewsbriefs@gmail.com to subscribe or unsubscribe. You may reprint or distribute items from INB, but please credit us and tell people how to subscribe. Immigration News Briefs is now archived at http://immigrationnewsbriefs.blogspot.com.

*1. NEW YORK PROTEST, UPSTATE RAID

On Aug. 25, dozens of people marched in New York City to demand justice for immigrants after the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee cancelled a "field hearing" it had planned for that day in Glens Falls, New York. "Congress members organize hearings in the most remote places and only invite the 'minutemen' and anti-immigrant groups," said Kavitha Pawria, an organizer with Immigrant Communities in Action, which called the protest. "We believe [the House field hearings have] the purpose of mobilizing the conservative bases as the elections approach." Immigrant Communities in Action says at least 100 people were set to travel 200 miles from New York City for an Aug. 25 "counter-hearing" in Glens Falls to challenge the anti-immigrant message. [El Diario-La Prensa (NY) 8/26/06, quotes retranslated from
Spanish; Immigrant Communities in Action 8/7/06, 8/23/06]

Congressional leaders cancelled the Glens Falls field hearing on Aug. 18, a day after Judiciary Committee spokesperson Terry Shawn told the Glens Falls daily Post-Star that a list of committee members and local experts invited to testify was still being finalized. No reason was given for the cancellation. The Glens Falls hearing was to focus on identification requirements at the border and the risks of terrorism, drug smuggling, and human trafficking. [AP 8/18/06; Post-Star 8/18/06]

On Aug. 15, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents raided a Thai restaurant in Glens Falls, apparently looking for a former employee. The former employee wasn't there, but the agents arrested four other Thai immigrants who were found to have overstayed their visas. The restaurant, Siam Thai Sushi, reopened on Aug. 22 after the owner, Darrell Spraragen, brought in a new chef and other staff members. [Post-Star 8/22/06]

*2. DAY LABOR ARRESTS IN MISSISSIPPI

On Aug. 7, ICE agents arrested 37 immigrant day laborers outside a Home Depot store on Highway 49 in Gulfport, Mississippi. ICE spokesperson Temple Black said most of those arrested were from Honduras and Mexico. The workers are apparently being detained at local jails and detention centers for removal. A contractor who witnessed the raid told Vicki Cintra of the Mississippi Immigrants' Rights Alliance (MIRA) that he saw eight Gulfport Police Department cars at the site. The Gulfport Police Department admitted to Cintra that they carried out a joint operation with ICE. [CLINIC Newsletter #12, 8/23/06]

*3. IRANIAN BROTHERS SUE

On Aug. 14, four Iranian immigrant brothers filed a lawsuit in US District Court in Los Angeles against former attorney general John Ashcroft, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Robert Mueller III, FBI Agent Christopher Castillo and other officials, charging that the government detained them illegally for nearly four years to punish them for refusing to work as informants.

Mohsen, Mohammad, Mojtaba and Mostafa Mirmehdi were ordered deported in 1999 for allegedly having lied on their asylum applications. They were detained on Oct. 2, 2001 on immigration violations and denied release because of their alleged support for the Mujahedin Khalq (MEK), an Iranian opposition group. The MEK was added to the State Department's list of terrorist organizations in 1997, but dozens of members of the US Congress have expressed support for the group since then. The Mirmehdi brothers admitted attending demonstrations in the US sponsored by the MEK, but deny having been members or associates of the group. On Aug. 20, 2004, the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) ruled that the Mirmehdis have no ties to terrorism. The BIA upheld their deportations but said they could not be sent back to Iran because they could be tortured there for anti-government activities. The four brothers were finally released on Mar. 16, 2005; they live in Southern California's San Fernando Valley, where three of them work as real estate agents.

According to the 49-page complaint, FBI agent Castillo relied on informants who falsely identified the brothers as associates of the MEK. Castillo then tried "to force their cooperation through continued punitive detention, even after admitting that a crucial informant had been 'just speculating' when he described the Mirmehdis as associates of the MEK," the lawsuit states. "Castillo approached the Mirmehdis on no less than five occasions to demand their cooperation in exchange for freedom." According to the lawsuit, if Castillo had not provided "false and misleading testimony" at a 2001 hearing--where he was the government's only witness and portrayed the brothers as security threats--the Mirmehdis could have been released on bond as early as Dec. 10 of that year. [Los Angeles Times 8/15/06]

The lawsuit also claims the brothers suffered mistreatment in detention, including being locked down in isolation for up to 23 hours a day, being strip-searched after every visit with their attorneys, having their phone calls with attorneys illegally monitored, being denied medical care and being subjected to "routine ethnic insults and prejudice." The lawsuit seeks attorney fees and unspecified damages, but Mohsen Mirmehdi said its intention is to hold government officials accountable. "They accused us of something we weren't a part of. They ruined our reputations and our business." [LAT 8/15/06; CBS2.com 8/14/06]

"The Mirmehdi brothers were casualties of the war on terror and had their lives destroyed based on the misconduct of the federal officials who sought their detention knowing that they had only engaged in peaceful First Amendment activity in opposition to the current regime in Iran," said attorney Paul Hoffman. [AP 8/14/06]

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Contributions toward Immigration News Briefs are gladly accepted: they should be made payable and sent to Nicaragua Solidarity Network, 339 Lafayette St, New York, NY 10012. (Tax-deductible contributions of $50 or more may be made payable to the A.J. Muste Memorial Institute and earmarked for "NSN".)

Saturday, August 19, 2006

INB 8/19/06: Activist Takes Sanctuary in Chicago

Immigration News Briefs
Vol. 9, No. 30 - August 19, 2006

1. Activist Takes Sanctuary in Chicago
2. Chinese Immigrant Allowed to Stay

Immigration News Briefs is a weekly supplement to Weekly News Update on the Americas, published by Nicaragua Solidarity Network, 339 Lafayette St, New York, NY 10012; tel 212-674-9499; weeklynewsupdate@gmail.com. INB is also distributed free via email; contact immigrationnewsbriefs@gmail.com to subscribe or unsubscribe. You may reprint or distribute items from INB, but please credit us and tell people how to subscribe. Immigration News Briefs is now archived at http://immigrationnewsbriefs.blogspot.com.

*1. ACTIVIST TAKES SANCTUARY IN CHICAGO

On Aug. 15, at the Adalberto United Methodist Church in Chicago's Humboldt Park neighborhood, immigrant activist Elvira Arellano told supporters she would not report to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) office that day for deportation, as she had been ordered to do by 9am. Instead, she announced she would take sanctuary in the church, with the support of the pastor and her fellow parishioners, in an effort to remain in the US with her seven-year-old son, a US citizen. [Chicago Tribune 8/15/06]

Pastor Walter Coleman said his congregation offered Arellano refuge after praying about her plight. "She represents the voice of the undocumented, and we think it's our obligation, our responsibility, to make a stage for that voice to be heard," said Coleman. [AP 8/16/06]

Arellano was arrested in a December 2002 immigration raid at O'Hare International Airport, where she worked doing cleaning. She fought her deportation to Mexico and joined with others to found United Latino Family, of which she is president. She and Flor Crisostomo--one of 26 Chicago employees of the IFCO pallet company arrested in an immigration raid last Apr. 19--carried out a hunger strike last May 10 to June 1, demanding a moratorium on deportations [see INB 5/14/06, 5/28/06, 6/4/06].

A private relief bill for Arellano was introduced to the Senate in 2003, based on her son's health problems. While the bill is stalled, it resulted in three stays of deportation, the last of which expired Aug. 15. [CT 8/15/06, 8/16/06] "One year ago, I was granted a stay while private bills on my behalf were pending in Congress," Arellano said. "Nothing has changed since that stay was granted. Homeland Security has the legal power--and, I believe, obligation--to extend this stay of deportation." [Chicago Journal 8/16/06 from Medill News Service]

In an Aug. 15 statement, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) said he would not help Arellano seek another stay, in part because her son's condition has improved. "We cannot fix the injustices of this system with private bills," said Durbin. "Only comprehensive immigration reform can permanently remedy this situation." Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), speaking in Springfield on Aug. 15, expressed similar concerns: "I don't feel comfortable carving out an exception for one person when there are hundreds of thousands of people just in the Chicago region alone who would want a similar exemption," he said. [CT 8/15/06, 8/16/06]

On Aug. 16, about 100 people gathered in front of the church to support Arellano. Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) came by to offer his support; the previous day Gutierrez wrote to President George W. Bush, asking him to extend Arellano's right to stay in the US. [CT 8/16/06]

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials said Arellano is now considered a fugitive. ICE spokesperson Tim Counts said agents have the authority to go into a church or anywhere else to make an arrest. "We will take action at the time and place of our choosing," Counts said. [CT 8/15/06] But on Aug. 18, an immigration official who spoke on condition of anonymity said: "We have no plans to enter the church to arrest Mrs. Arellano." [Chicago Sun-Times 8/19/06] The official said Arellano's case carries "no more priority than any of the other 500,000 fugitives nationally." She will be apprehended "at an appropriate time and place," the official said. [AP 8/18/06]

Central American refugees took sanctuary in US churches in the 1980s, and the use of sanctuary to fight deportation has become common recently in Canada: as of August 2004, at least six people, mainly failed refugee claimants, were in sanctuary in Canadian churches. Canadian authorities violated sanctuary once, in March 2004, when they arrested Algerian Mohamed Cherfi at a Quebec City church. Cherfi was deported to the US, where he later was granted asylum by the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA).

As of August 2006 there are at least four prominent sanctuary cases in Canada: Latvian Alexi Kolosov has been in sanctuary in a church in St. John's, Newfoundland, since April 2005; Algerian refugee Abdelkader Belaouni has been in sanctuary in a Montreal church since Jan. 1, 2006; Pakistani refugee Hassan Raza and his wife Sarfraz Kausar took sanctuary with their six children in a Winnipeg church on Aug. 4; and Israeli immigrant Angela Portnoy is living in a church basement in Marystown, Newfoundland, where she took sanctuary with her four children last Oct. 2. (Immigration authorities gave Portnoy a temporary reprieve to allow her to give birth to her fifth child in the hospital on Aug. 12 and recover from the birth without fear of arrest.) [CBC News 8/5/04, 4/25/06, 8/4/06, 8/16/06; Canadian Press 8/17/06; No One Is Illegal 4/26/06; Refugee and Immigrant Advisory Council website]

*2. CHINESE IMMIGRANT ALLOWED TO STAY

ICE officials have agreed to let Chinese immigrant Zhen Xing Jiang remain in the US with her husband while the couple pursue administrative and legal appeals on their asylum cases. Their attorney, Richard Bortnick of the Cozen O'Connor firm, said he is still investigating the possibility of a civil lawsuit against the government. Jiang was 13 weeks pregnant with twins on Feb. 7 when she arrived at the immigration office in Philadelphia for what she thought would be a routine interview. Instead, as her husband and two sons waited in the lobby, ICE drove Jiang to JFK airport in New York for deportation. After her initial complaints of abdominal pain were ignored, Jiang was taken to the hospital, where doctors confirmed the miscarriage. The incident sparked protests among the Chinese immigrant community in Philadelphia and New York [see INB 2/18/06]. [Philadelphia Inquirer 7/28/06]

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Contributions toward Immigration News Briefs are gladly accepted: they should be made payable and sent to Nicaragua Solidarity Network, 339 Lafayette St, New York, NY 10012. (Tax-deductible contributions of $50 or more may be made payable to the A.J. Muste Memorial Institute and earmarked for "NSN".)

Saturday, August 12, 2006

INB 8/12/06: Raids in NY, Wisconsin, NC & Alaska

Immigration News Briefs
Vol. 9, No. 29 - August 12, 2006

1. Fair Raided Near Buffalo
2. Wisconsin Factory Raided
3. Workers Arrested on NC Coast
4. Fish Plant Raided in Alaska

Immigration News Briefs is a weekly supplement to Weekly News Update on the Americas, published by Nicaragua Solidarity Network, 339 Lafayette St, New York, NY 10012; tel 212-674-9499; weeklynewsupdate@gmail.com. INB is also distributed free via email; contact immigrationnewsbriefs@gmail.com to subscribe or unsubscribe. You may reprint or distribute items from INB, but please credit us and tell people how to subscribe. Immigration News Briefs is now archived at http://immigrationnewsbriefs.blogspot.com.

*1. FAIR RAIDED NEAR BUFFALO

On Aug. 10, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested 41 alleged unauthorized immigrant workers who had been hired by a subcontractor to clean up at "America's Fair," a county fair in Hamburg, New York, a suburb of Buffalo. The 23 men and 18 women from Mexico, Guatemala, Peru and Honduras were detained pending appearances in immigration court. The raid was prompted by what Thomas DiSimone, acting special agent in charge of the ICE Office of Investigations in Buffalo, called an "excellent tip from a concerned member of the public," received late on Aug. 9. No criminal charges were immediately filed against the subcontracting company, but ICE said the investigation was continuing. [ICE News Release 8/10/06; AP 8/10/06]

*2. WISCONSIN FACTORY RAIDED

On Aug. 8, agents from the ICE office in Chicago joined with Walworth County sheriff's deputies and Whitewater police in executing a search warrant at the Star Packaging factory in Whitewater, Wisconsin, southwest of Milwaukee, where they arrested the owner, Allen L. Petrie, and 25 Mexican workers, 13 of them women. The Social Security Administration (SSA) also collaborated in the operation. ICE spokesperson Gail Montenegro said the workers were taken to Dodge County Jail in preparation for deportation proceedings.

Whitewater police were to ask the Walworth County district attorney to charge Petrie with party to conspiracy to commit misappropriation of identification. Whitewater acting police chief Lisa Otterbacher said the investigation began in February, and Petrie was warned repeatedly about hiring unauthorized immigrants. Petrie was released from Walworth County Jail on a $50,000 signature bond on Aug. 9. His attorney, Frank Lettenberger, said on Aug. 10 that his client had hired the workers from a temporary agency. [AP 8/9/06, 8/10/06]

Following the raid, about 75 people, mainly family members of those arrested, gathered outside the police department looking for information. Otterbacher invited them inside the municipal building to get their questions answered about the raid. "We put a stop to the inappropriate and incorrect information that had been passed around," Otterbacher said. [Janesville Gazette 8/10/06; AP 8/9/06; Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 8/10/06] At the meeting, ICE officers told the group the Star Packaging arrests were "just the tip of the iceberg," according to Otterbacher. [JG 8/10/06]

An immigration officer told the families the arrested workers would be sent "home--to Mexico." "We have been living in the United States for 20 years," responded one relative. "Our home is here, our job; we have children." In response to a question, the immigration officer suggested that the relatives should not bother hiring lawyers. "If you are an illegal alien in the United States, you can pay thousands of dollars and you know what the answer is going to be? A judge is going to send you home," said the officer. Sandra Jimenez, a legal immigrant from Mexico, asked the immigration officer to stop calling the detainees "illegal aliens." "The word alien makes me think of strange little creatures," said Jimenez. "I am not a Martian." [MJS 8/10/06]

*3. WORKERS ARRESTED ON NC COAST

On Aug. 8, the US Coast Guard stopped four boats taking 29 immigrant workers from Southport, North Carolina to construction jobs on exclusive Bald Head Island, where some 200 people live in luxury homes. The US Department of Justice said 22 of the immigrants were charged with illegal entry into the US, a misdemeanor, and all quickly pled guilty to the charge in federal court. One of the workers was from Canada; the rest were from Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. Four were juveniles, according to ICE. The Coast Guard detained four or five US citizens who were operating the boats, but it is not known whether they will be charged with a crime. ICE later placed a lien on the four boats.

The raid came after the Coast Guard noticed overloaded boats taking construction workers to Bald Head Island, and began stopping the boats for routine safety checks. When Coast Guard agents realized many of the workers had no US identification, they notified immigration agents. The two agencies cooperated, said Oak Island Coast Guard Station Petty Officer Kurt Yockel, and "within three days, we had the operation set up." [Wilmington Star-News 8/11/06; WECT 8/10/06]

*4. FISH PLANT RAIDED IN ALASKA

On July 28, ICE agents arrested 23 young Mexican workers in a raid on the Snug Harbor Seafoods plant in Kenai, Alaska. Another two workers fled into the woods; immigration officials say they were eventually caught. The raid came after Alaska state trooper Larry Erickson visited the plant looking for a vehicle that had been in an accident. He found the driver and passengers of the car camped out with other cannery workers on the plant grounds, and asked to see their documents. The Mexicans showed the trooper valid tourist visas and said they were just visiting. The troopers then notified ICE that the Mexicans were suspected of working illegally at the plant.

The arrested workers, all between 18 and 20 years old, were transported to Anchorage, where they were put on a flight to Seattle for deportation proceedings. "They were good kids," Snug Harbor Seafoods owner Paul Dale said of the workers. "We regret the incident." [Anchorage Daily News 8/3/06]

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Contributions toward Immigration News Briefs are gladly accepted: they should be made payable and sent to Nicaragua Solidarity Network, 339 Lafayette St, New York, NY 10012. (Tax-deductible contributions of $50 or more may be made payable to the A.J. Muste Memorial Institute and earmarked for "NSN".)

Sunday, August 6, 2006

INB 8/6/06: Palestinian Freed at Last; Raids in Oklahoma, Arkansas

Immigration News Briefs
Vol. 9, No. 28 - August 6, 2006

1. Palestinian Freed at Last
2. Saddle Company Raided in Oklahoma
3. Construction Raid in Arkansas
4. Chicago's IFCO Arrestees Win Stay

Immigration News Briefs is a weekly supplement to Weekly News Update on the Americas, published by Nicaragua Solidarity Network, 339 Lafayette St, New York, NY 10012; tel 212-674-9499; weeklynewsupdate@gmail.com. INB is also distributed free via email; contact immigrationnewsbriefs@gmail.com to subscribe or unsubscribe. You may reprint or distribute items from INB, but please credit us and tell people how to subscribe. Immigration News Briefs is now archived at http://immigrationnewsbriefs.blogspot.com.

*1. PALESTINIAN FREED AT LAST

Shortly after 9:30pm on July 31, after more than two years of detention, Muslim community leader Abdel Jabbar Hamdan walked out of the Terminal Island federal detention center in San Pedro, California, and returned to his Buena Park home with his wife and six US-born children.

Hamdan's release came after a day of last-ditch legal efforts by the government to keep him detained. On July 27, and again on July 28 in response to a government challenge, US District Judge Terry J. Hatter, Jr. had ordered Hamdan released "forthwith" [see INB 7/30/06]. But Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials claimed they could continue holding Hamdan because government lawyers in Washington planned to file an emergency request to block Hatter's order. That request was filed late on July 31 with the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, which quickly rejected it in a three-sentence ruling, upholding Hatter's order and confirming that Hamdan should be released "forthwith."

Earlier in the day, Hatter had ordered Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff to release Hamdan by 5pm on July 31 or appear in his Los Angeles courtroom at 11am on Aug. 1 "to show cause, if you have any, why you should not be held in contempt." American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) attorney Ranjana Natarajan said government lawyers assured her they plan no further appeals.

Hamdan is Palestinian; he was born in a refugee camp in the West Bank when it was under Jordanian control. He was arrested by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on July 28, 2004; earlier he had worked as a fundraiser for the Holy Land Foundation, an Islamic charity shut down by US officials in December 2001 for allegedly raising money for Hamas, a Palestinian organization the US has designated as terrorist. Hamdan was not charged with any crimes but was ordered deported for overstaying a student visa and was held by ICE without bond as an alleged national security threat.

In its July 31 brief, the government claimed that Hamdan's release could have "adverse foreign policy ramifications" because it could create "the perception that the US cannot keep alien fundraisers detained pending removal." Hamdan's lawyers had anticipated the government's move and filed a response before seeing its brief, noting that Holy Land Foundation officials charged with terrorism-related crimes were released on their own recognizance to await trial, and were not deemed dangers to national security.

In a statement, ICE said Hamdan would have to comply with an electronic monitoring program requiring him to be at home from 10 pm to 6 am daily and stay within a 50-mile radius of his home. DHS and the Department of Justice "will continue the vigorous effort to remove" Hamdan from the US, the statement said. [Los Angeles Times 8/1/06; Orange County Register 8/1/06] On Aug. 1, Hamdan declined to answer whether he was wearing an electronic monitor and steered clear of making controversial statements on his attorney's advice. [LAT 8/2/06]

*2. SADDLE COMPANY RAIDED IN OKLAHOMA

On Aug. 2, ICE agents arrested 51 immigrants working at Billy Cook's Harness and Saddle in Sulphur, Oklahoma. The arrests were made at the company's main address at 320 Muskogee Street while agents executed two federal search warrants for business records at businesses associated with the company. Agents from the Social Security Administration (SSA) assisted with the operation. The 30 men and 21 women arrested are Mexican citizens ranging in age from 18 to 60. [ICE News Release 8/2/06]

*3. CONSTRUCTION RAID IN ARKANSAS

On July 18, ICE agents raided a construction site in Springdale, Arkansas, and arrested 27 workers--25 of them from Mexico, two from Guatemala--on administrative immigration violations. According to Washington County Sheriff Tim Helder, 24 men and one woman were being detained in the Washington County Jail. [ICE News Release 7/21/06; Northwest Arkansas Times 7/20/06]

ICE also arrested a manager and a crew leader of the construction firm, Arevalo Framing Associates, on criminal charges. Manager Alejandro Arevalo was charged with harboring illegal aliens and re-entry after deportation. Crew leader Rodrigo Arevalo was charged with re-entry after deportation. Searches conducted during the investigation resulted in the seizure of four vehicles, $1,943 in US currency and an assault-type shotgun. Additional federal charges are expected. [ICE News Release 7/21/06]

*4. CHICAGO'S IFCO ARRESTEES WIN STAY

On July 31, immigration judge Carlos Cuevas in Chicago granted a one-year stay of deportation to 11 undocumented immigrants who were arrested in a mass nationwide raid last April of the IFCO Systems pallet company [see INB 4/22/06]. The 11 were among 26 workers arrested Apr. 19 at an IFCO facility in Chicago. Cuevas had previously given the 11 workers a two-month stay when they appeared at a June 1 hearing.

The workers had strong backing from the community; about 120 supporters greeted them as they emerged from immigration court. Alderman Daniel Solis, who joined the workers in the immigration courtroom, and members of Congress had lobbied the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on their behalf. Attorneys also presented a petition with hundreds of signatures supporting the workers. One of the "IFCO 26," Flor Crisostomo, led a hunger strike from May 10 to June 1 to demand a moratorium on deportations [see INB 5/28/06, 6/4/06]. [Chicago Tribune 8/1/06]

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Contributions toward Immigration News Briefs are gladly accepted: they should be made payable and sent to Nicaragua Solidarity Network, 339 Lafayette St, New York, NY 10012. (Tax-deductible contributions of $50 or more may be made payable to the A.J. Muste Memorial Institute and earmarked for "NSN".)