REDADAS y RESISTENCIA - FCR RAIDS AND RESISTANCE REPORT NOVEMBER 2

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Frente Contra Las Redadas

RAIDS

NOVEMBER 1, 2007
FORT BENNING, GEORGIA
30 ARRESTED IN IMMIGRATION RAID NEAR FORT BENNING
UNDOCUMENTED MEXICANS AND GUATEMALANS WORKING ON MILITARY MUSEUM WILL BE DEPORTED
Federal immigration agents arrested 30 workers building a museum of military history near Fort Benning. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested 27 Mexicans and three Guatemalans on charges of immigration violations. The workers will be processed for deportation, ICE spokesman Richard Rocha said.

The agents entered the work site of the new National Infantry Museum and Soldier Center at Patriot Park at 3800 S. Lumpkin Rd. in Columbus Tuesday morning and checked the IDs of all workers, Rocha said. They asked workers to come down off ladders so they could check their papers. Those considered to be illegally in the country were transported to the ICE detention center in Stewart, he said.

Cyndy Cerbin, spokeswoman for the National Infantry Foundation, a private group building the new museum, referred all questions to contractor Batson-Cook Company.

Eddie Sanders, on-site project manager for Batson-Cook, said his company is cooperating with ICE.

"Batson-Cook follows all the federal and state laws on hiring of personnel," Sanders said. "We expect our subcontractors to follow those laws as well."

"When you have an incident like this, you are shocked," he said.

"Until these guys are proven to be guilty, we don't really know if they're illegal yet," he said.

THE ATLANTA JOURNAL CONSTITUTION

NOVEMBER 1, 2007
DON'T BLAME ICE, AGENCY SPOKESMAN SAYS
Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Tim Counts said on Wednesday that his organization should not be blamed for the disruption to children when their parents are arrested as illegal immigrants.

He said blame should be laid at the feet of the parents.

"You know, U.S. citizens are arrested every day across the country, separated from their family and taken away from their children because of the offenses they've committed," Counts said. "How is that any different than this?

"It seems very odd that somehow they are placing responsibility with ICE," he said.

Immigrant children are the victims of their parents' bad decisions, just as children of parents who break criminal law are victims of those bad decisions, Counts said.

harold.reutter@theindependent.com

OCTOBER 30, 2007
GRAND ISLAND, NEBRASKA
STUDY: KIDS HURT BY IMMIGRATION RAIDS
Thousands of children whose parents are arrested in immigration raids in the U.S. face mental health issues including post-traumatic stress disorder, separation anxiety and depression, according to a new study released Wednesday by the Urban Institute.

A child is left without at least one parent for every two adults detained in workplace raids, the study said, and most of those children are citizens or legal immigrants.

"Those children were born in America, and we forgot about their rights during the raids, because they were left parentless," said Steve Joel, superintendent of Grand Island Public Schools, which encouraged parents to keep their children in school following a December raid at the Swift & Co. meatpacking plant.

The study was commissioned by The National Council of La Raza, a Washington-based Hispanic civil rights organization.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

OCTOBER 30, 2007
MARICOPA COUNTY, ARIZONA
MCSO ARRESTS 16 ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS
The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office said it has arrested 16 illegal immigrants since last week - just two blocks from the Pruitt's Furniture store that was the site of last Saturday's immigrant rights protest.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio said the arrests were made during routine traffic stops by the department's illegal immigrant task force. "We arrested six in that area last week and now we arrested ten more… on traffic violations and we determined they were illegal. We have the authority, the training and we locked them up."

Ten people, who were arrested Tuesday morning, were in four cars that were stopped for an unsafe lane change and other violations.

Arpaio said it's merely a coincidence that the arrests happened just three hours before a scheduled press conference by immigrant rights groups in front of the store near 36th Street and Thomas Road.

KSTAR.COM

OCTOBER 30, 2007
MOUNT OLIVE, NORTH CAROLINA
HSPANIC IMMIGRANTS FEEL TARGETED
Jose Benitez, an immigrant from Mexico, kneels in prayer at the Catholic church María, Reina de las Américas in Mt. Olive. Police have set up roadblocks nearby in recent months, asking parishioners, many of whom are immigrants, for driver's licenses as they travel to and from Mass.

Just a few months ago the usually packed church suffered a drop in attendance, a phenomenon reflected in public gatherings across the state as escalating N.C. law enforcement efforts to combat illegal immigration have cast a shadow of fear across the N.C. Hispanic community.

Sepúlveda, pastor of the María, Reina de las Américas parish in Mt. Olive, said the majority of his Hispanic congregation consists of undocumented immigrants.

The church is less than two miles from the Butterball slaughterhouse operation, where many of his Hispanic parishioners work.

Several months ago, law enforcement officials set up roadblocks three weekends in a row on the two roads that provide access to the church.

Parishioners were stopped and asked to show their driver's licenses on the way to and from services. Attendance at Mass eventually began to drop as the roadblocks increased in frequency.

Sepúlveda said no one was arrested, although those without driver's licenses were ticketed, fined and ordered to appear in court.

The perceived threat of being caught and deported, legitimate or not, has affected parishioners, said Father James Garneau, who ministers at a nearby parish. "People are more concerned now about church attendance than they were."

By: Elizabeth DeOrnellas, Assistant State & National Editor

OCTOBER 29, 2007
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA
RIGHTS GROUPS CLAIM IMMIGRANTS WERE TARGETED DURING WILDFIRE EVACUATIONS
Immigrant rights groups in San Diego are reporting widespread "racial profiling" during southern California's wildfire evacuations, which they say could have kept thousands of immigrants from receiving vital services.

The Immigrants' Rights Consortium of San Diego and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) say they have documented multiple cases of human rights abuses over the course of the past week. Some immigrants, they say, were forced to work through the evacuations. Others were ejected from or denied entrance to evacuation centers if they could not present valid identification.

In one case, on October 24, a family of six undocumented immigrants took supplies from a table of donations at Qualcomm Stadium and were apprehended, and later deported, by Border Patrol agents on site.

During the fires, over 100 federal agents were redeployed from their posts in order to lend assistance to evacuees.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, however, says they detained the family for "looting," and later discovered their legal status. The case represented an isolated incident, they say. "We are not arresting fire evacuees. It's absolutely ludicrous to suggest otherwise," Lauren Mack, ICE spokeswoman, told the L.A. Times.The IRC has also denounced FEMA and the Red Cross for an alleged lack of Spanish-language warnings and Spanish-speaking volunteers.

Fred Sainz, a spokesman for San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders, told the Times that while he regrets the fact that some people living in remote migrant camps did not receive evacuation orders, it was not part of a conscious effort to target migrants.

Jessica Pupovac - AHN News Writer

OCTOBER 28, 2007
HOUSTON, TEXAS
LAWMAKER INCLUDES MINUTEMEN IN BORDER SECURITY PLAN
Controlling illegal immigration would allow Texas to curtail spending and lower taxes in the state, Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, said.

He spoke to members of Lavaca County Taxpayers Inc. …

"Illegal immigration impacts everything we do - our economy, our education, our health care, our crime rate. It's out of control," said Patrick.

Patrick said he would give local sheriffs the necessary tools to do the job, increase the Texas State Guard dramatically with an increased presence on the border, work closely with the Minutemen, and train National Guard troops on the border.

Patrick emphasized that the problem is not racial.

The New York Daily News reports

OCTOBER 28, 2007
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA
EVACUATIONS RAISE DEPORTATION FEARS
Seeing U.S. agents and being asked for ID at rescue centers spark concern among illegal immigrants, making them wary of seeking help.

Flames were only one worry for some illegal immigrants in the fire zone. Equally scary were the crowded roads and evacuation centers, heavy with law enforcement officers, including U.S. Border Patrol agents.

Some wondered if they would be deported if they went to shelters.

"We decided that we wouldn't go because they ask for your name and everything," said day laborer Jose Salgado, waiting for work off the 5 Freeway near Rancho Santa Fe.

His friends working in the nearby tomato fields had different concerns, he said: "They didn't know if they would have a job when they got back."

Disasters can magnify the marginalized status of people here illegally. Seeking help can mean taking risks, and decisions can be informed as much by rumor and miscommunication as by facts and actual events.

In response to recent rumors, U.S. authorities deny that they have been rounding up illegal immigrants at evacuation centers, and Mexican Consulate officials in San Diego who visited numerous sites have found no evidence to support the rumors. "We are not arresting fire evacuees. It's absolutely ludicrous to suggest otherwise," said Lauren Mack, spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Immigrant rights groups and the American Civil Liberties Union, however, claim that authorities have created a climate of intimidation through neglect and such policies as asking for identification at some shelters.

During the wildfires, more than 100 federal agents were redeployed from their border posts to lend assistance. They helped evacuate homes, staff checkpoints, guard against looters and assist at evacuation shelters.

At Qualcomm Stadium, a Border Patrol communications vehicle provided key logistics support. Agents in their distinct green uniforms mingled with law enforcement from all over the county.

The mere presence of Border Patrol was enough to scare off some immigrants. "Having people at evacuation sites in Border Patrol uniforms is asinine," said Enrique Morones, president of the Border Angels, an immigrant rights group.

Rumors of deportations grew Wednesday when San Diego police arrested a Mexican family at Qualcomm Stadium for allegedly stealing food they intended to resell. After being handed over to border agents, the family, which had been living in the U.S. for several years, was deported. Footage of their arrest was replayed numerous times on local television stations.

By Richard Marosi and Ari B. Bloomekatz, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers

OCTOBER 28, 2007
ATLANTIC CITY, NEW JERSEY
TIGHTER VEHICLE REGISTRATION LAWS CAUSE PROBLEMS FOR IMMIGRANTS
A new state law, meant to crack down on New Jersey residents with vehicles registered out of state, is causing extra troubles for immigrants whose legal status is already in doubt.

The law, signed last month by Gov. Jon S. Corzine, gives new state residents 60 days to register their vehicles, or face fines of up to $250 for a first offense and up to $500 for subsequent offenses. They can have their vehicles impounded for up to 96 hours for third and subsequent offenses.

Garden State officials complained that previously ambiguous registration laws made it easier for people to maintain registrations in states that had less stringent insurance and driving record laws.

But immigrant rights advocates say going out of state, to places with less strict laws, has been the only way for some immigrants to get legal registration.

"It's going to hurt the community a lot because we don't have many transportation options," Ramon Hernandez, president of the Mexican American Association of Southern New Jersey, told The Press of Atlantic City for Sunday newspapers.

NEWSDAY.COM

OCTOBER 28, 2007
LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY
IMMIGRATION PROTEST IN LEXINGTON
The debate over illegal immigration took to the streets of downtown Lexington Saturday.

A large group protested in front of city hall nearly a week after the Mayor's Commission on Immigration made some recommendations about how illegal immigrants should be treated here.

Among those recommendations; giving anyone an i.d. card or drivers license regardless of immigration status.

Those protesting say that should 'not' happen in Lexington. Meanwhile, immigration rights activist Freddie Peralta has praised the commission's recommendations saying he'll help lobby to change the drivers license law.

CHANNEL 27 WKYT

OCTOBER 28, 2007
JUAREZ, MEXICO
ARMED GROUPS STOP HUMAN RIGHTS FORUM: JUAREZ
The proposed demolition of Segundo Barrio is being put into action by William Sanders. He is working with the wealthiest family in Juarez: the Zaragozas. Together they are wiping out communities on both sides of the border. Just outside of Juarez, the Zaragosas have a community under siege with the help of hired men armed with automatic weapons. The community's only fault is that it lies directly in the path of a proposed bi-national commercail highway route. Sanders and the Zaragosas are staking claims for control of 'their' side of the border where this proposed commercial route will cross.

These hired thugs have enclosed the entire community with cement posts and barbed wire fence. They have erected a watch towers and sealed all inroads to the community. The only entrance/exit to Lomas de Poleo is heavily guarded by these men who control the large gate. At any given day when people of the community leave for work their homes are fair game for demolition. One by one, their houses are bulldozed. It is this type of intimidation that is used by William Sanders and the Zaragosa family to make their fortune.

Members of the community have been killed, including 2 young girls.

MAS INFORMACION EN: http://alertalomasd elpoleo.blogspot .com/

OCTOBER 26, 2007
VERMONT
IMMIGRATION RAID AT HOTEL WHERE TANCREDO STAYED
A federal immigration raid has shut down a Vermont hotel where Rep. Tom Tancredo, a hard-line opponent of illegal immigration, stayed during a recent campaign visit to neighboring New Hampshire.

Tancredo told reporters about the coincidence during a visit to Davenport, Iowa, on Thursday night, saying he was surprised to learn the news from his New Hampshire campaign staff.

According to the Associated Press, agents from the Department of Homeland Security, FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement earlier this week searched two hotels in Brattleboro, Vermont -- a Hampton Inn and a Quality Inn -- for alleged hiring of illegal immigrants.

The hotels' Canadian owner, Gurdeep Nagra, 38, was arrested and charged with harboring and employing illegal aliens, and lying to authorities to gain his own authorization to live in the United States. He pleaded not guilty at an arraignment Tuesday in Burlington, Vt.

Fourteen hotel workers were arrested on suspected immigration violations, the Associated Press said.

By M.E. Sprengelmeyer ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS

OCTOBER 26, 2007
PHOENIX, ARIZONA
MAN CONVICTED IN 10 IMMIGRANT DEATHS
The driver of a dangerously overloaded SUV that rolled while fleeing U.S. Border Patrol agents last year was convicted in the deaths of 10 of his passengers, prosecutors announced Friday.

A federal jury spent just an hour deliberating Thursday before convicting Adan Pineda Doval on 10 counts of transportation of illegal immigrants resulting in death, among other charges, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Phoenix said.

Doval, 21, from the southern Mexican state of Michoacan, faces up to life in prison at his Jan. 28 sentencing. His lawyer did not return a call for comment.

By AMANDA LEE MYERS Associated Press Writer

OCTOBER 26, 2007
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA
IMMIGRANTS NEGLECTED AND ABUSED DURING SAN DIEGO WILDFIRES
It is important that people know that the government’s response to this has not been as benevolent as the news media has made it out to be. For immigrant families, this is in no way an ‘anti-Katrina.’ Immigrants in San Diego county are being neglected by emergency evacuators, put in danger by their employers, treated rudely by authorities and volunteers, refused aid at evacuation sites, and racially profiled by police and deported by the Border Patrol.

It is important that people know that the government’s response to this has not been as benevolent as the news media has made it out to be. For immigrant families, this is in no way an ‘anti-Katrina.’ Immigrants in San Diego county are being neglected by emergency evacuators, put in danger by their employers, treated rudely by authorities and volunteers, refused aid at evacuation sites, and racially profiled by police and deported by the Border Patrol.

by José I. Fusté

OCTOBER 26, 2007
WASHINGTON
ROBBERS STALK HISPANIC IMMIGRANTS, SEEING IDEAL PREY
By the time they set upon Victor Hernandez, knocking him to the pavement and kicking him furiously, the teenagers were deep into a weeks-long spree of robbing Hispanic immigrants.

They coined a term for the assaults, one that reflected the uniformity of the victims they selected: "amigo shopping." The teenagers recorded some of the attacks with a cellphone camera, saving one of the videos under the file name "amigo," a source familiar with the case said.

Hernandez, a dishwasher in Montgomery County, was an ideal target that August night in a type of robbery that law enforcement officials say has become alarmingly common in parts of the Washington region. Hispanic immigrants are being targeted, often in gratuitously violent attacks by non-Hispanics, because they are thought to carry cash rather than use banks and to be reluctant to report crimes to police, the officials said.

Washington Post Staff Writers

OCTOBER 26, 2007
LAREDO, TEXAS
IMMIGRATION CRACKDOWN EXPANDS ALONG BORDER
LAREDO EFFORT SIGNALS AN END TO RETURN WITHOUT PROSECUTIONS
The U.S. Border Patrol plans to announce today a "zero tolerance" operation to prosecute, jail and deport all illegal immigrants caught in the bustling Laredo area, marking a significant tightening of immigration enforcement along a key U.S. border corridor.

This stepped-up effort is an expansion of the Border Patrol's "Operation Streamline" project in the Del Rio and Yuma, Ariz., sectors, which sharply reduced illegal entries. That is being expanded to the sprawling Laredo sector beginning Wednesday, officials confirmed.

Extending the operation to a large, populous sector such as Laredo — the nation's largest inland port and a growing commercial center — signals a major expansion of a strategy officials plan to implement along the entire Southwest border.

It is a key facet of a Bush administration crackdown not only on the border — where National Guard troops now work with Border Patrol agents — but in the interior, where immigration agents have raided work sites and are targeting fraudulent work documents.

By JAMES PINKERTON Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

OCTOBER 26, 2007
MEXICO
MEXICANS MISS MONEY FROM RELATIVES UP NORTH
For years, millions of Mexican migrants working in the United States have sent money back home to villages like this one, money that allows families to pay medical bills and school fees, build houses and buy clothes or, if they save enough, maybe start a tiny business.

A Good Provider Is One Who Leaves

But after years of strong increases, the amount of migrant money flowing to Mexico has stagnated. From 2000 to 2006, remittances grew to nearly $24 billion a year from $6.6 billion, rising more than 20 percent some years. In 2007, the increase so far has been less than 2 percent.

Migrants and migration experts say a flagging American economy and an enforcement campaign against illegal workers in the United States have persuaded some migrants not to try to cross the border illegally to look for work. Others have decided to return to Mexico. And many of those who are staying in the United States are sending less money home.

THE NEW YORK TIMES

OCTOBER 25, 2007
COLORADO, MICHIGAN, NEW JERSEY
LAWMAKERS SEEK 'SANCTUARY CITIES' CRACKDOWN
State and federal lawmakers are calling for tough action against "sanctuary cities," reflecting a backlash against communities that they say break the law and encourage illegal immigration.

At least three states are considering taking the path of Colorado, which adopted an anti-sanctuary law last year. It denies some funding to communities that prevent police and other municipal employees from cooperating with immigration authorities. Similar measures are pending in Michigan, New Jersey and Wisconsin.

Nationally, members of Congress are proposing federal legislation and presidential candidates are urging sanctions.

Local law enforcement officers come into contact with immigrants every day, says Michigan state Rep. Kim Meltzer, a Republican. "Why should they be restricted, have their hands tied?" she asks.
Her bill would forbid local governments from telling police and other government employees not to cooperate with federal authorities and would require police to report people they arrest who are suspected illegal immigrants.

By Emily Bazar, USA TODAY

OCTOBER 25, 2007
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
PRESIDENT VISITS SCENE AND PROMISES HELP
President Bush toured Southern California on Thursday as investigators got down to the work of determining how one sunny fall day last weekend erupted into a 16-fire storm now in its fifth day.

Recovery crews, moving from house to house in towns where the fires have passed, found the bodies of two people in the shell of a home near Poway, northeast of San Diego. AND IN THE EARLY EVENING, SAN DIEGO OFFICIALS SAID, BORDER PATROL AGENTS FOUND THE CHARRED REMAINS OF FOUR IMMIGRANTS WHO MAY HAVE BEEN KILLED AFTER CROSSING THE MEXICAN BORDER.

THEY WERE THE FIRST CONFIRMED FATALITIES SINCE SUNDAY, WHEN A MAN WAS KILLED IN POTRERO, NOT FAR FROM THE BORDER — BUT UNLIKELY TO BE THE LAST, OFFICIALS SAID.

THE NEW YORK TIMES

OCTOBER 23, 2007
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
ANTI-IMMIGRANT GROUPS BORROW FROM PLAYBOOK OF HATE GROUPS TO DEMONIZE HISPANICS
As the national debate over immigration reached a fever pitch, some mainstream advocacy groups "reached for the playbook of hate groups" -- resorting to hateful and dehumanizing stereotypes and outright bigotry to demonize immigrants.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which monitors extremist groups and their rhetoric with regard to the immigration debate, has exposed a new development where some of the more mainstream anti-immigrant groups increasingly are adopting the tactics and rhetoric of racist groups and moving it into the mainstream.

"Under the guise of warning about the impact of illegal immigration in the rush to thwart the immigration bill from becoming law, some anti-immigrant groups reached for the playbook of hate groups," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director. "They have taken hateful and racist rhetoric and brought it into the mainstream."

ADL's new online report, Immigrants Targeted: Extremist Rhetoric Moves into the Mainstream documents the rhetoric employed by groups that routinely position themselves as legitimate, mainstream advocates against illegal immigration in America.

A closer look at the public record reveals that many ostensibly mainstream anti-illegal immigration organizations – including those who testified before Congress or frequently appeared on news programs – promote virulent anti-Hispanic and anti-immigrant rhetoric. Some groups have fostered links with extremist groups.

The groups highlighted in the ADL report include Mothers Against Illegal Aliens (Phoenix, AZ), the Federation for American Immigration Reform (Washington, DC), Choose Black America, You Don't Speak for Me, Americans for Legal Immigration Political Action Committee (Raleigh, NC), Grass Fire (Maxwell, IA) and The Dustin Inman Society (Marietta, GA).

"The Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazis were not the only ones who saw an opportunity in the national debate over immigration to sow the seeds of racism as a means to derail immigration reform," said Mr. Foxman. "While reasonable people can disagree about border control and the appropriate parameters for immigration reform, the debate has been tainted by the virulent anti-immigrant message employed by a handful of groups. The real victims in this are Hispanic-Americans and other immigrants who are being unfairly targeted, demeaned and stereotyped."

The report cites several key tactics used by anti-immigrant groups, including:

* Describing immigrants as "third world invaders," who come to America to destroy our heritage, "colonize" the country and attack our "way of life." This charge is used against Hispanics, Asians and other people of color.
* Using terminology that describes immigrants as part of "hordes" that "swarm" over the border. This dehumanizing language has become common.
* Portraying immigrants as carriers of diseases like leprosy, tuberculosis, Chagas disease (a potentially fatal parasitic disease), dengue fever, polio, malaria.
* Depicting immigrants as criminals, murderers, rapists, terrorists, and a danger to children and families.
* Propagating conspiracy theories about an alleged secret "reconquista" plot by Mexican immigrants to create a "greater Mexico" by seizing seven states in the American Southwest that once belonged to Mexico.

ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE

RESISTANCE

NOVEMBER 1, 2007
NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT
RELEASE OF RAID RECORDS CONTESTED
The state Freedom of Information Commission considered an appeal from Yale attorneys on Wednesday asking the state Department of Public Safety to release records pertaining to state police involvement in the Department of Homeland Security’s June 6 raids on illegal immigrants in Fair Haven, although the commission did not reach a decision.

Arguing that federal FOIA laws do not apply to a state agency assisting in an administrative procedure, Law School attorneys representing immigrant-rights groups contested the disclosure exemptions yesterday. The hearing commissioner will personally review the redacted documents in the next week, the commissioner said.

Citing federal Freedom of Information Act laws, the DPS refused in October to disclose a portion of its records, including an operational plan for the raids that they received from DHS on May 29.

YALEDAILYNEWS.COM

NOVEMBER 1, 2007
EL PASO, TEXAS
On November 1st 2007, the Border Network for Human Rights and community members from the El Paso/Southern New Mexico area will hang 400 crosses in a one-mile stretch along the border fence starting near the Cordova International Bridge, carry out a Press Conference providing testimonies and data on migrant deaths and hold a community vigil remembering migrant deaths at the Chamizal National Park.

BORDER 1

OCTOBER 30, 2007
OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA
GROUP OPPOSES OKLA. IMMIGRATION LAW
Declaring that the church's duty is to serve the poor, a representative of Catholic Charities Tuesday delivered almost 1,100 signed pledges of resistance to Oklahoma's new immigration law to Gov. Brad Henry's office.

Richard Klinge, director of advocacy and legal services for Catholic Charities, carried a foot-tall stack of pledges into Henry's office from parishioners at the predominantly Hispanic Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Oklahoma City.

The pledges vow "opposition and defiance" to the law scheduled to go into effect Thursday that targets illegal immigrants. In spite of the law, Klinge said the church will continue to serve the poor and needy regardless of their immigration status.

"The Catholic Church will not quit serving the needs of the poor," Klinge said outside Henry's office. "The Catholic Church will be there for them.

HOUSTON CHRONICLE

OCTOBER 30, 2007
LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS
COALITION OPPOSES IMMIGRATION MEASURES
Three of Arkansas' largest business interests joined with church leaders and activists Monday in a lobbying effort aimed at stopping any state or local legislation targeting illegal immigration.

Representatives from Alltel Corp., Tyson Foods Inc. and Stephens Inc. announced an unlikely alliance with the American Civil Liberties Union, outspoken state appeals court judge Wendell Griffen and others to form the Arkansas Friendship Coalition.

"State and local governments should not be involving themselves in issues that only Congress can really address," said Archie Schaffer, senior vice president for external affairs for Tyson. The coalition announced its formation at events in Springdale and Little Rock.

Steve Copley, the coalition's chairman, would not say specifically which measures the group would oppose, and the coalition's Web site and news release repeatedly referred to "punitive" measures targeting immigrants. But the effort comes after a series of hearings by Republican lawmakers focusing on the cost of services related to illegal immigrants.

Members of the coalition cited a failed effort during the legislative session this year that would have criminalized harboring or transportation of illegal immigrants. They also noted agreements four northwest Arkansas police agencies signed with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to enforce federal immigration law.

BUSINESS WEEK

OCTOBER 30, 2007
NORTHERN VIRGINIA
HISPANIC OFFICIALS URGE IMMIGRANT VOTERS TO GET TO POLLS
Speaking in Spanish at a news conference in Arlington attended by several Spanish-language news organizations, the officials urged immigrant voters who are U.S. citizens not to worry about being intimidated at the polls. They unveiled a telephone hotline --

1-888-VE-Y-VOTA -- that they said would be staffed by lawyers who could advise voters on how to protect their rights.

Several of the speakers specifically criticized some officials in Northern Virginia for engaging in what they called "the politics of hate." They said they are coming forward now because Tuesday is a significant election in which the entire Virginia General Assembly will be selected and key local government posts will be filled in Fairfax, Prince William, Loudoun and Arlington counties and in Gaithersburg.

By Kirstin Downey Washington Post Staff Writer

OCTOBER 30, 2007
SKOKIE, ILLINOIS
NEW EFFORTS OPENING ARMS TO IMMIGRANTS
In Melrose Park, they lure in Latin American immigrant parents with a new youth soccer league, then try to get them into neighborhood English classes as part of a state New Americans initiative.

In Skokie, planned courses will teach new residents from warmer parts of the world how to dress for the area's infamous winters. And in Schaumburg, village officials are puzzling over how to persuade South Asians to join local civic groups.

All are part of a quiet but mounting government push to encourage assimilation, the likes of which has not occurred since Theodore Roosevelt's Americanization programs of the early 20th Century, scholars say.

With Illinois viewed as a national model, government officials around the country are devising new strategies to deal with a historic immigration wave that has caught many areas off guard. The topic, referred to by many academics and officials as "integration," will be the subject of a two-day national conference in Chicago starting Tuesday.

CHICAGO TRIBUNE

OCTOBER 30, 2007
EAST SOMERVILLE, MASSACHUSETTS
RAPID RESPONSE NETWORK FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS PROPOSED
The city’s Human Rights Commission may set up a rapid response network to spread information Hd_seal_5 to immigrant communities during times of crisis.

At a community meeting in East Somerville Oct. 10 Human Rights Commissioner Mary Lu Mendonca said the move was inspired by last summer’s immigration raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Mendonca’s proposal was cheered and applauded by community members at the meeting.

City spokesman Thomas P. Champion said the network would not be used as a defense mechanism against ICE and would not train immigrants to deal with raids in advance.

“It would be a way to get information out quickly in the aftermath of ICE operations in the city so the community can have accurate information and not have to rely on rumors,” he said. “It would be solely informational.”

In August, ICE agents swooped into the city and arrested alleged gang members and violent offenders. Immigration-rights groups criticized the raids as too aggressive and widespread.

In their wake, some groups initiated an underground campaign to teach illegal immigrants how to fend off federal agents. One group, the Alliance to Develop Power, a non-profit organization based in Springfield, screened DVD’s in Spanish that simulated encounters between immigrants and federal officials and told immigrants not to lie to officials, carry false documents or run away. Instead, they encouraged immigrants to stay silent and ask for a lawyer.

That is not how the proposed rapid response network would work in Somerville, Champion said. “[Advising immigrants before raids] is not what is envisioned here,” he said.

It is also possible the network will not be created at all, Mendonca left her part time job as the city’s human rights commissioner this week. She would not specify her reasons for leaving.

“I don’t know if someone will take over the work now that I’m gone,” she said.

Champion said it is up to the commission to decide if they want to form the network.

“But if they teach people how to evade or avoid the law, the city can’t support that,” he said.

THE SOMERVILLE NEWS

OCTOBER 29, 2007
OTERO COUNTY, NEW MEXICO
CIVIL RIGHTS GROUPS SUE OTERO COUNTY SHERIFF OVER ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION RAIDS
MALDEF sued the Otero County Sheriff's Department for civil rights violations committed during immigration sweeps last month in Chaparral, NM. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of five Latino families, and charges that sheriff's deputies raided homes without search warrants, interrogated families without probable cause or reasonable suspicion of criminal activity, and targeted households on the basis of race and ethnicity.

The complaint describes an incident in which sheriff's deputies awakened a family from their sleep by banging loudly on the home's walls in the pre-dawn hours of September 10, 2007. Without a search warrant or consent, one sheriff's deputy attempted to enter the house through an open bedroom window where the mother was sleeping, while another sheriff's deputy called out "Delivery! Mia's pizza." When the family would not respond, another officer identified himself as "animal control," claiming the family's dog had bitten someone. Eventually, five sheriff's deputies ousted the family from its home and aggressively entered the house without their consent. Five of the family members are named plaintiffs in the lawsuit, two of whom are U.S. citizens.

THE MALDEFian

OCTOBER 29, 2007
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON
SUIT FILED OVER U.S. DELAYS ON CITIZENSHIP
FOUR IMMIGRANTS IN AREA NAMED IN CLASS-ACTION MOVE
Vafa Ghazi-Moghaddam, a legal U.S. resident since 1991 and president of the Fremont Neighborhood Council, has paid all the fees and passed the U.S. naturalization test, but American citizenship remains elusive for the Iranian immigrant.

"I just need to take the naturalization oath," Ghazi-Moghaddam said. "I've done everything else."

On Monday, the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington, the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project and Seattle law firm Stoel Rives filed a federal class-action lawsuit in Seattle on behalf of Ghazi-Moghaddam and three other immigrants challenging the government's extended delays in handling their applications to become U.S. citizens.

All are legal permanent residents who have waited years for the government to make a decision on their requests to become citizens -- far beyond the 120-day deadline specified in federal law.

"Our clients are already lawful permanent residents who have put down roots in the community. Denying their rights to become citizens when they have fulfilled all legal requirements doesn't make us safer, it just undermines democracy," said Matt Adams, interim executive director of NWIRP.

"The government's failure to act leaves these individuals in limbo," said Sarah Dunne, legal director of the ACLU of Washington. "Many of them have spouses and children who are U.S. citizens, and they worry that when traveling, they might be prevented from returning to their homes in America. They also want to be able to vote and participate fully in civic life."

SEATTLEPI.COM

OCTOBER 29, 2007
COSTA MESA, CALIFORNIA
DISORDER IN THE COURT
Acosta (file) cost a lot for Costa Mesa taxpayers Mayor Allan Mansoor’s abrupt halt to Benito Acosta’s speech during a meeting of the Costa Mesa City Council on Jan. 3, 2006, and the pro-immigrant activist’s forced removal from the room minutes later, has become a heavy burden to the city’s taxpayers.

So far, Acosta’s civil rights lawsuit against the city and a city prosecutor’s still failed attempt to prosecute him on criminal charges have cost the city’s taxpayers almost $130,000, so far, according to public documents released to the OC Voice.

And costs could go much higher, especially if city prosecutor Dan Peelman, a private attorney paid by the city, decides to appeal his loss and if Acosta wins the civil suit....

By John Earl OC Voice Editor

OCTOBER 28, 2007
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA
TECH WORKERS, EMPLOYERS STILL SEEK LIMITED IMMIGRATION REFORMS
High-tech workers in Silicon Valley on federal permits are speaking out -- many for the first time -- over rules that leave them for years in personal and professional limbo.

Hundreds of the largely India- and China-born workers are taking their complaints to Washington, D.C., after Congress failed to reform immigration laws this year.

Legal immigrants who feel squeezed by limits on the number of green cards issued each year are trying to separate their complaints from the protests by illegal immigrants.

Applications for work-related green cards are backlogged so deep that many immigrant programmers and other high-tech workers must plod along for years uncertain about their future in the United States.

And high-tech companies that say they can't fill jobs because of a cap on skilled-worker visas have stepped up their long-standing plea for the cap to be raised.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Associated Press

OCTOBER 27, 2007
MANASSAS, VIRGINIA
MEXICAN AGENCY CALLS OF PW POLICY PROBE
Mexico's human rights agency has called off plans to investigate whether new policies in Prince William County violate the rights of illegal immigrants. Mexico's National Commission on Human Rights wanted to question immigrants about their experiences. It would have been the first attempt by Mexico's National Commission on Human Rights to look at efforts by smaller jurisdictions' efforts to fight illegal immigration through local laws.

But officials with Mexicans Without Borders, the group coordinating the visit, say they're afraid it might make the anti-immigrant sentiment in the county even worse.

ABC 7 News myTAKE - What's Your Opinion?Board of County Supervisors Chairman Corey Stewart - a leading supporter of the immigration crackdown - denies that he tried to undermine the visit but does say he's concerned about a foreign government trying to interfere in a U.S. locality.

County supervisors voted this month to have police check the immigration status of anyone who breaks a law. They also voted to cut off certain services to illegal immigrants and prohibit them from getting business licenses.

The Washington Post

OCTOBER 26, 2007
MIAMI, FLORIDA
CONTRA BACKER FIGHTS FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS' KIDS
Experts say Nora Sandigo's bid to get the Supreme Court to stop the deportation of illegal immigrants with U.S.-born children hasn't a prayer.

Sandigo just nods — she's heard it all before.

Naysayers scoffed when the Miami immigration activist and former Contra rebel supporter pushed to stop the deportation of thousands of Central Americans immigrants who'd fled their region's civil wars in the 1980s. Then Sandigo helped bring a class-action lawsuit for them, prompting Congress to pass a law protecting them in 1997. Experts said the same thing before she helped thousands more Central Americans win temporary protection after natural disasters struck several years later.

"We have to try. The worst battle is the one not waged," said Sandigo, a petit, stylish, single mother of two.

Already, illegal immigrants living in Florida, New York, California and Illinois have asked Sandigo to become the legal guardian of their 600 children, so she could help the children if the parents are deported. About 100 children have been entered into the lawsuit, which would cover an estimated 4 million children of illegally immigrants who have no criminal background.

By Laura Wides-Munoz, Associated Press

OCTOBER 23, 2007
JEFFERSON CITY, MISSOURI
MO. GOVERNOR SUED IN IMMIGRATION CASE
A state janitorial contractor that was fired over allegations it employed illegal immigrants sued the state Thursday, accusing Gov. Matt Blunt of racial discrimination and abuse of power.

Blunt called the lawsuit "ludicrous" and defended his decision to cancel the contract of Sam's Janitorial Services and bar the company from state work.

About 25 company employees were arrested in a March 6 sting at a Jefferson City state office building by federal and state law enforcement officers, according to the lawsuit.

The owner of Sam's Janitorial, K. Asamoah-Boadu, claims Blunt exceeded his gubernatorial powers when he terminated the contract and disqualified the company from future state work. Asamoah-Boadu wants nine canceled contracts reinstated, the company's ban from state work reversed and an unspecified amount of money for damages, according to the lawsuit filed in Cole County Circuit Court.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

OCTOBER 23, 2007
PHOENIX, ARIZONA
IMMIGRANT RIGHTS PROTESTORS GATHER AT PRUITT'S
Immigrant rights protesters were back in front of Pruitt's furniture store near 36th Street and Thomas Road Tuesday morning.

They claim the owner of the store hired Maricopa County sheriff's deputies to patrol against day laborers last Saturday.

It appears the sheriff's office believed that protests planned for the site were supposed to begin that day.

Martin Manteca, Arizona director of the laborers' union, was with day laborers in front of the store and saw deputies in three marked and one unmarked car.

"They first asked me if they could ask me a question. I said ‘no, you don't have the right to ask me a question.' But, then they proceeded, letting us know that if we are not here shopping, that they will remove the vehicle," said Manteca.

They moved the cars but stayed in front of the store. "We witnessed the four officers sitting in their vehicles, getting paid with taxpayers' money, wasting gas, looking at us," he said.

Manteca claims the Pruitt's owner has hired the sheriff's department to patrol the store at taxpayers' expense.

Immigrant rights supporters plan to hold weekly protests at the store beginning Saturday at noon.

by Bob McClay/KTAR

OCTOBER 22, 2007
IRVING, TEXAS
ACCION AMERICA, A DALLAS-BASED GROUP OF HISPANIC ACTIVISTS, IS CALLING FOR ALL IRVING BUSINESSES TO CLOSE ON NOV. 15 IN CONJUNCTION WITH A PLANNED RALLY PROTESTING THE CITY'S USE OF A FEDERAL DEPORTATION PROGRAM.
Irving police last year began using the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Criminal Alien Program, which provides around-the-clock communication with federal authorities, who interview arrestees and place immigration detainers on those who are suspected illegal immigrants.

The city has been in the national spotlight in recent weeks for the large number of suspected illegal immigrants turned over to ICE. Accion America leaders organized a September rally and an October march and rally in protest of the program.

Group leader Carlos Quintanilla said Accion America is holding the latest rally to urge police to not take people into custody for minor traffic violations just because they do not have a state-issued identification card or driver's license. Mr. Quintanilla said he is mobilizing a much larger crowd than those who attended the previous two rallies. He’s also asking students to attend with their parents.

For information, call 214-524-1741. By BRANDON FORMBY / The Dallas Morning News bformby@dallasnews.com

OCTOBER 21, 2007
MASSACHUSETTS
PREPARING TO REACT IN A CRISIS SITUATION
Federal immigration raids last August in Chelsea were targeted at street gangs, but the fear they caused affected a much wider community, according to local advocates.

The raids and one in New Bedford five months before are why Chelsea Collaborative, a nonprofit social service, is unveiling what it is calling a humanitarian crisis plan tomorrow night at the Bunker Hill Community College Chelsea campus. The plan will create a team of social workers, lawyers, church leaders, and others to help allay fear and assist anyone displaced after such raids.

Advocates for Chelsea's large immigrant community said fear in the aftermath of the August raids kept many residents holed up in their homes for weeks. They said local business owners reported a 30 to 40 percent drop in revenue, and usually congested streets were quiet.

THE BOSTON GLOBE

OCTOBER 20, 2007
RAYMONDVILLE, TEXAS
IMMIGRANT RIGHTS ADVOCATES TO PROTEST DETENTION CENTER
A year ago, Jay Johnson-Castro marched across the U.S.-Mexico border to protest the fence the federal government plans to build along the Rio Grande to stop illegal immigration.

Next Friday, he plans to lead a group of immigrant rights advocates in a march from Harlingen to Raymondville to protest the largest detention center in the country.

“It’s to expose the master plot … to make profit off people who are desperate,” Johnson-Castro said of the $111 million, 2,000-bed detention center that’s expanding to add 1,000 beds.

“They’re looking for ways to build prisons, fill them up and funnel our taxpayer money into private business bank accounts,” he said.

Johnson-Castro plans to lead a group of about 25 immigrant rights advocates on a 25-mile march along Expressway 77 from Harlingen to the detention center in Raymondville, he said.

“This is an exercise in our freedoms,” he said.

The Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement works with law enforcement to plan its detention centers, Nina Pruneda, the agency’s spokesman in San Antonio, said in a written statement.

“ICE is constantly evaluating its needs for additional detention capacities nationwide,” the statement said. “It does so through a comprehensive evaluation and projection process that fully involves ICE (headquarters), the field offices and our law enforcement partners.”

At Management Training Corp., the Utah-based company that runs the detention center, spokesman Carl Stuart said the company operates to meet government demands for prison space.

“It’s important to understand that we are … trying to respond to the needs of the federal government and local governments,” Stuart said. “We have nothing to do with policy.”

Turnout may fall short for the march, Johnson-Castro said.

“Maybe a couple of dozen people” will come from as far as Dallas and Houston to march, he said.

“We’re not going to have perhaps the turnout in the Valley that we hoped for,” he said, adding that some people who want to march may have job responsibilities.

The group plans to hold a press conference at the Texas Travel Center in Harlingen at 9 a.m. Friday before marching 16 miles to FM 498 near Lyford, where the group will stop to rest, he said.

“We’ll take a break, get cleaned up,” he said. “I have plenty of invites to stay with folks. Some people will rent motels.”

The group will continue its march at 10 a.m. Saturday before gathering outside the detention center at noon to hold a vigil, he said.

After the vigil, members of the group will leave to join a three-day protest of a detention center that holds immigrant children in Taylor, he said.

THE BROWNSVILLE HERALD

OCTOBER 19, 2007
ATLANTA, GEORGIA
ENVIRONMENTALIST ORGANIZES IMMIGRANT-RIGHTS RALLY SUNDAY - MIDTOWN DEMONSTRATION RAISES EYEBROWS AMONG HISPANIC COMMUNITY LEADERS
If protestors tread the sidewalks of Midtown Sunday in support of immigrant rights, they won't be marching with the blessing of leaders of Atlanta's Hispanic immigrant community.

The slightly renegade demonstration has been organized by an environmental activist who wants Americans and Latino immigrants to unite for change.

"I'm in favor of people obtaining the rights they deserve, especially if they work hard," said Scott Petersen, a registered nurse at Grady Hospital and the event organizer.

But the people may not be on the bandwagon.

"Nobody knows where he came from," said Teodoro Maus, former consul general of Mexico in Atlanta. "We can't hurt the cause by following a nut."

Petersen hopes to see 400 people in front of the First Presbyterian Church on Peachtree Street at 10 a.m. Sunday carrying placards is support of comprehensive immigration reform.

"As far as I know, he's working on his own," said Jerry Gonzalez, executive director of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials. "I have no idea who this guy is."

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

OCTOBER 16, 2007
WICHITA, KANSAS
NEW US VISAS OFFERED TO CRIME VICTIMS
Illegal immigrants who are victims of violent crimes in the U.S. can now apply for special visas, seven years after Congress offered protection against deportation to those who cooperate with law enforcement agencies.

The U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services is finally starting to process the visas this week, agency spokeswoman Marilu Cabrera said.

The long delay occurred largely because the agency drafted rules for issuing the so-called "U" visas before it became a division of the then-new Department of Homeland Security, she said. Consequently, the rules had to be reviewed again. Then the Department of Justice had concerns, she said.

"It is legally very complex, and so it went back and forth for a while," Cabrera said.

The 2000 Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act established the visa to encourage illegal immigrants to report crimes against them in return for the right to remain in the United States and eventually apply for permanent residency.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

OCTOBER 16, 2007
SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS
SIERRA LEONE DETAINEE RELEASED IN TEXAS
The wait was excruciating for Samuel Komba Kambo's family. Then, suddenly, he emerged into the alley at dusk behind a downtown detention facility — and into freedom.

Kambo had been jailed for nearly a year as immigration authorities sought to deport him to his native Sierra Leone. U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez ordered immigration officials on Thursday to release him on bond, saying that holding him violated Kambo's constitutional rights.

"Look at him! Look at him!" cried Kambo's wife, Hanaan, as their four children, ages 4 to 13, ran to greet their father.

A former energy minister in Sierra Leone, Kambo had been detained while fighting accusations related to the killing of counter-revolutionaries in his west African country.

An immigration judge found in June that the accusations were unfounded and that Kambo should be allowed to become a permanent U.S. resident, but immigration officials continued to jail him while they appealed.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS



Courtesy of: Ne74