Saturday, February 25, 2006

INB 2/25/06: Missouri Construction Raid, NY Court OKs Compensation

Immigration News Briefs
Vol. 9, No. 7 - February 25, 2006

1. Missouri Construction Site Raided
2. NY Court Upholds Compensation
3. TPS Extended for Central Americans
4. CCA Gets Arizona Jail Contract

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 posted at http://immigrationnewsbriefs.blogspot.com.

*1. MISSOURI CONSTRUCTION SITE RAIDED

On Feb. 22, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents
arrested 56 unauthorized immigrant workers at a Schreiber Foods
construction site in Carthage, Missouri, after executing a
criminal search warrant at the site against a subcontractor,
Reich Installation Services Inc. of Pewaukee, Wisconsin. Reich
employed 28 of the arrested workers; the other eight were
employed by Top Flight, another subcontractor at the site. Those
arrested all said they were from Mexico; they were being held in
the Christian County jail and were expected to be processed for
deportation over the next few days. Carthage Police Department
and Jasper County Sheriff's Department assisted ICE with
executing the warrant, which authorized the seizure of Reich's
computers and business, financial and personnel records.

One of the contractors raided in Carthage has been busted three
times in the past four months, said ICE spokesperson Carl Rusnok.
Reich worksites in Pennsylvania and Nebraska were raided by ICE
agents last November and December. According to an affidavit
filed in the case, undocumented immigrants picked up in Nebraska
led ICE investigators to the Carthage worksite. According to the
affidavit, two insiders told investigators that over the past
three years, Reich has "consistently undercut industry
competitors by as much as 30%." [ICE News Release 2/22/06; News-
Leader (Springfield, MO) 2/24/06]

"Reich Installation Services has been associated with at least
two other US sites where illegal aliens have been arrested within
the last year," said Elissa Brown, ICE special agent-in-charge of
the Chicago office. Brown oversees the ICE Office of
Investigations for Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky
and Wisconsin. Reich Installation Services Inc. designs and
installs custom warehouse distribution systems in large factories
and warehouses. [ICE 2/22/06] Schreiber announced last August
that the $27 million distribution center would be its largest
distribution site in the US. [Joplin Globe (Joplin, MO) 2/23/06]

*2. NY COURT UPHOLDS COMPENSATION

In a 5-2 decision on Feb. 21, the New York Court of Appeals--the
state's highest court--ruled that out-of-status immigrants are
eligible to recover lost wages that result from workplace
injuries. "Limiting a lost wages claim by an injured undocumented
alien would lessen an employer's incentive to comply with the
Labor Law and supply all of its workers the safe workplace that
the Legislature demands," Judge Victoria Graffeo wrote for the
court. The court's ruling came in two lawsuits, one brought by
Mexican laborer Gorgonio Balbuena and the other brought by Polish
laborer Stanislaw Majlinger. Balbuena had sustained a serious
head injury while working on a construction site; he sued the
site's owners, IDR Realty LLC and Dora Wechler, who in turn sued
his employer, Taman Management Corp.

Taman argued that under federal immigration laws Balbuena was not
eligible for future lost wages because of his status as an
undocumented immigrant. Reversing an earlier ruling which allowed
Balbuena to be compensated only with what he would have earned in
Mexico, the Court of Appeals said Balbuena could be compensated
for lost future US wages. State labor law "applies to all workers
in qualifying employment situations--regardless of immigration
status--and nothing in the relevant statutes or our decisions
negates the universal applicability of this principle," wrote
Graffeo.

The Court of Appeals reinstated a state Supreme Court ruling
saying nothing in US immigration law prevented Balbuena from
receiving lost wages since there was no proof he used fraudulent
documents to get his job. The Immigration Reform and Control Act
of 1986 "does not make it a crime to work without documentation,"
Graffeo wrote. Taman Management attorney Reed Podell said his
client is considering an appeal to the US Supreme Court.

New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer had joined as an
intervener on behalf of both plaintiffs, arguing that barring
lost wage claims would make it more financially attractive for
employers to hire illegal aliens and would diminish the incentive
for companies to comply with state labor laws. [New York Sun
2/22/06; AP 2/21/06]

*3. TPS EXTENDED FOR CENTRAL AMERICANS

On Feb. 23, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced
it was extending Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for an
additional 12 months for nationals of El Salvador, Honduras and
Nicaragua. US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), a
division of DHS, "will provide additional information about the
re-registration process and answers to frequently asked questions
upon publication of Notices in the Federal Register soon,"
according to a press release. The extension covers approximately
225,000 Salvadorans, 75,000 Hondurans, and 4,000 Nicaraguans who
have already been granted and remain eligible for TPS. The
extension will expire on Sept. 9, 2007 for Salvadorans and on
July 5, 2007 for Hondurans and Nicaraguans. [USCIS Press Release
2/23/06]

*4. CCA GETS ARIZONA JAIL CONTRACT

On Feb. 24 the Nashville, Tennessee-based Corrections Corporation
of America (CCA) announced it had reached an agreement with the
city of Eloy, Arizona to exclusively house ICE detainees at the
1,500-bed Eloy Detention Center. As of Feb. 23, the Eloy facility
held about 920 detainees, including some 50 for the Bureau of
Prisons (BOP). The BOP prisoners will be moved out by the end of
February. [CCA Press Release 2/24/06 via Business Wire]

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END

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, February 18, 2006

INB 2/18/06: Thousands Rally for Immigrant Rights

Immigration News Briefs
Vol. 9, No. 6 - February 18, 2006

1. Thousands Rally for Immigrant Rights
2. Immigrant Sues New York City
3. Woman Miscarries During Deportation

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 posted at http://immigrationnewsbriefs.blogspot.com.

*1. THOUSANDS RALLY FOR IMMIGRANT RIGHTS

On Feb. 14, some 1,500 immigrants and supporters rallied at
Philadelphia's Independence Mall to protest HR 4437, a harsh
anti-immigrant bill passed by the House of Representatives last
Dec. 16 [see INB 2/17/05] and due to be considered by the Senate
in March. [News Journal (Wilmington, DE) 2/15/06] The
Philadelphia Spanish-language weekly newspaper El Dia described
the rally as the largest immigrant rights mobilization in the
city's history. The action was part of "A Day Without an
Immigrant," a regional Valentine's Day labor strike by immigrant
workers. Many protesters came from the Philadelphia area while
hundreds more arrived in buses from Wilmington, Delaware, and from
the Pennsylvania cities of Reading, Allentown and Lancaster, and
still others came in vans from Trenton, Camden, Bridgeton,
Vineland and Hammonton in neighboring New Jersey. A number of
businesses in the region were closed--some with signs announcing
their solidarity with the strike--and many business owners even
attended the rally. [Al Dia 2/19/06] About six members of the
rightwing anti-immigrant group Minutemen held a counter-
demonstration across the street, in front of the Liberty Bell.

Valentine's Day is the second-most-popular day of the year (after
Mother's Day) for dining out, and immigrant advocates hoped the
protest would convince restaurant owners and other employers who
hire immigrants to play an active role in opposing HR 4437, the
Border Protection, Anti-Terrorism, and Illegal Immigration
Control Act of 2005. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) said in a
statement on Feb. 14 that the Judiciary Committee, which he
chairs, was preparing a compromise bill that would reach the full
Senate by the end of March. [Philadelphia Inquirer 2/15/06; News
Journal 2/15/06]

Between 600 and 1,600 immigrants rallied in Georgetown, in
southern Delaware, as part of the same Valentine's Day action
against HR 4437. Many immigrant workers in the area--a major
center for poultry processing--apparently observed the strike.
About two-thirds of the workers at Perdue Farm's processing plant
in Georgetown did not report to work on Feb. 14, said Julie
DeYoung, vice president of corporate communications. Company
officials planned for the possible shortage of workers, she said,
and arranged for other employees to help keep operations running.
Perdue Farms has spoken out against HB 4437. "We already oppose
that bill," said DeYoung. "We agree on this." [News Journal
2/15/06]

In New York City on Feb. 14, nearly 100 demonstrators brought
Valentine's Day messages to the offices of New York's Democratic
senators, Charles Schumer and Hillary Clinton, asking them to
oppose HR 4437 and support legalization for immigrants. The
protest was organized by the Immigration Communities in Action
coalition. [El Diario-La Prensa (NY) 2/15/06; Diario Hoy (NY)
2/15/06]

*2. IMMIGRANT SUES NEW YORK CITY

On Feb. 9, Palestinian immigrant Waheed Saleh filed a lawsuit
against the city of New York in US District Court in Manhattan,
charging that police reported him to immigration authorities in
retaliation for his complaints about police discrimination. The
lawsuit seeks unspecified damages, alleging that Saleh's
constitutional rights including free speech were violated and
that he suffered extreme pain and hardship as a result of his
improper arrest, detention and deportation proceedings. Saleh is
represented by attorney Tushar Sheth of the Asian American Legal
Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF).

Saleh came to the US five years ago; he filed an administrative
complaint against a police officer in late 2003, saying he was
repeatedly subjected to verbal abuse and baseless threats of
arrest. On Dec. 20, 2004, a police lieutenant accompanied a
federal immigration officer who took Saleh into custody, the
lawsuit said. Saleh spent two weeks detained as federal
authorities accused him of staying in the US illegally, said
Sheth. [Newsday (NY) 2/9/06]

*3. WOMAN MISCARRIES DURING DEPORTATION

Immigrant rights advocates rallied in New York and Philadelphia
on Feb. 14 to protest the treatment of a Chinese woman, three
months pregnant, who miscarried twins while immigration
authorities tried to deport her from JFK airport in New York on
Feb. 7. Zhenxing Jiang has lived in Philadelphia for 11 years;
she and her husband have two US-born sons, ages four and seven.

Jiang reported on Feb. 7 for a regularly scheduled check-in with
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Philadelphia.
According to her attorney, Richard Bortnick of Philadelphia, ICE
officers pushed Jiang into a minivan, bruised her and bumped her
abdomen against the backseat and drove her to JFK airport. He
said the officers stopped to eat lunch but gave the pregnant
woman nothing to eat during her eight-hour ordeal and cursed her
when she cried and told them she was in pain. By the time they
reached the airport, Jiang was suffering severe abdominal cramps
and begging for help in a public waiting area. Someone finally
called an ambulance, and at the hospital a ultrasound showed that
Jiang's twin fetuses had died. [AP 2/15/06; World Journal
2/11/06; New York Times 2/14/06]

On Feb. 14, ICE spokespreson Dean Boyd called the accusations
"categorically false." Boyd said the agency had interviewed the
officers and concluded that "contrary to the claims of her
attorney, she was not pushed or bruised," ridiculed or denied
food. But "as a matter of protocol," he said, the claims have
been referred to the agency's Office of Professional
Responsibility. [NYT 2/15/06]

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END

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".)
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