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April 29, 2007

Deportations strand young U.S. citizens

"As federal immigration authorities ratchet up enforcement actions such as the one last week at a Little Village market on Chicago's Southwest Side -- critics call them raids -- the resulting deportations have highlighted how almost a third of the nation's 6.3 million so-called unauthorized families are an amalgam of "mixed" status -- that is, illegal immigrant parents with at least one child who was born in the U.S. and is therefore a citizen, according to statistics by the Urban Institute and Pew Hispanic Center."

IJJ 2003-2004 Border Justice Fellow MICHAEL MARTINEZ in the Chicago Tribune.

Posted by Dan Kowalski at 05:50 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Borders Spell Trouble for Arab-American

"Abe Dabdoub calls the day he was sworn in as an American citizen last year the proudest moment of his life, little suspecting that his new identity would set off a bureaucratic nightmare at the hands of the Department of Homeland Security."

NEIL MacFARQUHAR in the New York Times.

Posted by Dan Kowalski at 08:54 AM | | TrackBacks (0)

April 28, 2007

A family's painful split decision

"After years of lax enforcement, U.S. immigration authorities have stepped up arrests and deportations across the nation in recent months, forcing an increasing number of adults who are here illegally to make drastic and difficult decisions: take their U.S.-born children with them or leave them behind. About 3 million children who are U.S. citizens by birth have at least one illegal immigrant parent."

ANNA GORMAN in the Los Angeles Times.

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April 27, 2007

SF Bay Reacts Angrily to Immigration Raids

It was just before dawn on March 6, when dozens of federal immigration agents conducted surprise raids in San Rafael and nearby Novato, two comfortable Marin County suburbs.

The raids are part of the government’s Operation Return to Sender, in which more than 23,000 people have been arrested nationwide, including more than 1,800 in Northern and Central California, immigration officials said.

And while the raids have upset many pro-immigrant groups nationwide, that displeasure has been particularly acute in the Bay Area, a region that generally bends left politically and where many cities consider themselves so-called “sanctuaries” for illegal immigrants. JESSE MCKINLEY in The New York Times.

Posted by Amanda Becker at 09:02 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

U.S. Border Guard Blocks Canadian Psychotherapist

"Andrew Feldmar, a well-known Vancouver psychotherapist, rolled up to the Blaine [Wa.] border crossing last summer as he had hundreds of times in his career. At 66, his gray hair, neat beard, and rimless glasses give him the look of a seasoned intellectual. He handed his passport to the U.S. border guard and relaxed, thinking he would soon be with an old friend in Seattle. The border guard turned to his computer and googled "Andrew Feldmar."

The psychotherapist's world was about to turn upside down."

LINDA SOLOMON in The Tyee.

Posted by Dan Kowalski at 03:42 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

April 26, 2007

ACLU Files Lawsuit Against Immigration Enforcement Agency

Bay Area civil rights groups filed a lawsuit Thursday on behalf of a seven-year-old boy, a U.S. citizen by birth, who was detained for 10 hours by immigration agents, after arresting the boy's father on an immigration violation last month.

Lawyers said it's the first time they've documented a U.S. citizen, the child of an immigrant, detained in the federal government's crackdown on illegal immigrants called "Operation Return to Sender." JESSIE MANGALIMAN in the San Jose Mercury News.

Posted by Amanda Becker at 06:01 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

April 25, 2007

Legislators Reach Agreement on Prison Upgrades

After weeks of negotiations, legislative leaders today said they've reached agreement with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on a plan to build new prison beds and better prepare inmates for release.

The package will expand prison capacity and rehabilitation programs in an attempt to ease an overcrowding crisis in the sprawling correctional system, which houses nearly 172,000 inmates in space intended for about half that many.

The crisis has become so severe that federal judges are considering whether to cap the inmate population. Hearings on that issue are set for June. JENIFER WARREN in the Los Angeles Times.

Posted by Amanda Becker at 04:21 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

April 24, 2007

Task Force Arrests Dozens of Suspected Immigrant Smugglers

Roughly 60 people suspected of being linked to immigration smuggling operations were arrested by the U.S. Border Patrol and other agencies in a task force operation in inland San Diego County, officials said Tuesday. ANGELICA MARTINEZ in the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Posted by Amanda Becker at 06:28 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Immigration groups split on boycott

"LOS ANGELES — Last year, popular Spanish-language disc jockey Eduardo "Piolin" Sotelo was hailed for helping to persuade hundreds of thousands of people to join protests demanding amnesty for illegal immigrants.

But at a recent immigration rally, many people called him a traitor, accusing him of not working hard enough to support the cause."

PETER PRENGAMAN for the Associated Press.

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April 23, 2007

On tighter US border with Mexico, Violence Rises

The harder it gets to sneak illicit cargo – immigrants or drugs or other contraband – into the US, the more violence-prone the border has become, not only for border-crossers but also for law officers trying to halt the smuggling.

During the first three months of the year, roaming bandits, heavily armed and looking to hijack valuable payloads, waged at least eight attacks on illicit shipments of people or drugs traversing Arizona. Though no US border patrol agents have been killed, they've been assaulted more often by illegal immigrants this year – 112 attacks, an 18 percent jump – in the state, compared with the same three-month period a year ago. FAYE BOWERS in the Christian Science Monitor.

Posted by Amanda Becker at 09:54 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Gov. Halts Death Chamber Amid Prison Reform Controversy

SACRAMENTO - Attempting to head off a confrontation with legislative leaders over the secret construction of a new death chamber at San Quentin State Prison, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday ordered a halt to the project until the Legislature OKs money to complete it.

Legislators were kept in the dark until revelations came to light last week that the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation had nearly completed the renovation of a room for carrying out lethal injections without the Legislature's knowledge. That unleashed Democratic threats to pull the plug on Schwarzenegger's $10 billion prison reform effort. STEVE HARMON of MediaNews Group in the Times-Herald


Posted by Susan Grant at 08:22 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

New Zealand Advocates Call for Prison Reform

A lobby group for prison reform is accusing Corrections of trying to smudge the issue of segregation after an inmate was assaulted in a Chubb prison van last week.
 
The victim, an intellectually impaired man facing child sex charges, was confined with a 24-year-old who had several violent convictions.
 
They had all asked for segregated status, which meant they were segregated from other prisoners, but not from each other.
 
But the president of the Howard League for Penal Reform Peter Williams says that definition of segregation is incorrect. TV3 NEWS

Posted by Susan Grant at 08:12 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Border Patrol agent who shot illegal entrant charged with murder

"A U.S. Border Patrol agent who fatally shot a Mexican illegal entrant in January has been charged with murder by the Cochise County [Az.] Attorney who said Monday that the shooting was not justified."

BRADY McCOMBS in the Arizona Daily Star.

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Border Patrol video of shooting leaked to Internet

"Ramiro Gamez Acosta, 20, was shot once in the chest by an agent armed with an M-4 carbine last March 26. He died within minutes."

GREG GROSS in the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Posted by Dan Kowalski at 06:18 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

April 22, 2007

Mental Hospitals Vie With Prisons For Medical Staffs

Lawyers for mentally ill prisoners will ask a federal judge Monday to force California to take drastic action to stem a staff exodus from the state's mental hospitals that has jeopardized patient safety and left psychotic inmates to languish in jails and prisons without proper treatment.

In February, U.S. District Judge Lawrence K. Karlton ordered the state Department of Mental Health to formulate a plan to reverse a staff exodus in recent months from the state's beleaguered hospitals. The staff departures occurred after the court ordered raises for prison mental-health staff that made prison jobs more attractive than those at hospitals. LEE ROMNEY and SCOTT GOLD in the Los Angeles Times.

Posted by Amanda Becker at 09:40 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Injuries, Unpaid Wages Common for Workers

Day laborers, many of them illegal immigrants, face harrassment from law enforcement and non-payment trying to make a living in New Orleans.  KATY RECKDAHL in the Times-Picayune.

Posted by Amanda Becker at 09:37 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Islamic Racial Profiling Examined in San Francisco

Racial profiling against Muslim Americans will be the focus of a study to be conducted by the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the organization reported.

The study aims to document and investigate claims from anyone who may have been profiled based on skin color, clothing or religion, and CAIR is looking for anyone who believes they've been profiled to contact the organization.

CAIR hopes the study will help the group advocate on behalf of victims of racial profiling, as well as to compile statistics for an annual civil rights report on racial profiling, according to CAIR-SFBA spokeswoman Abiya Ahmed.

CBS5.com Bay City Newswire 

Posted by Susan Grant at 08:23 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Institutions Plead for Action While Inmates Suffer

Lawyers for mentally ill prisoners will ask a federal judge Monday to force California to take drastic action to stem a staff exodus from the state's mental hospitals that has jeopardized patient safety and left psychotic inmates to languish in jails and prisons without proper treatment.

In February, U.S. District Judge Lawrence K. Karlton ordered the state Department of Mental Health to formulate a plan to reverse a staff exodus in recent months from the state's beleaguered hospitals. The staff departures occurred after the court ordered raises for prison mental-health staff that made prison jobs more attractive than those at hospitals. LEE ROMNEY AND SCOTT GOLD in the Los Angeles Times

Posted by Susan Grant at 08:16 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

A Good Provider Is One Who Leaves

"About 200 million migrants from different countries are scattered across the globe, supporting a population back home that is as big if not bigger. Were these half-billion or so people to constitute a state — migration nation — it would rank as the world’s third-largest."

JASON DePARLE in the New York Times Sunday Magazine. 

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April 21, 2007

Candidate Giuliani Shifts His Tone on Immigration

A decade ago, as mayor of New York, Mr. Giuliani used the historic backdrop of Ellis Island to champion the cause of immigrants, calling attacks on people who came here legally a blow to “the heart and soul of America.” And from City Hall he often defended illegal immigrants, ordering city workers not to deny them benefits and advocating measures to ease their path to citizenship.

But now he is running for president, and the politics of immigration in the post-9/11 world is vastly different, with the issue splitting the Republican Party.  Perhaps more than any other candidate, Mr. Giuliani has a record on immigration with the potential to complicate his bid for the nomination. MARC SANTORA and SAM ROBERTS in The New York Times.

Posted by Amanda Becker at 05:08 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

April 19, 2007

Australia and the U.S. Join to Discourage Refugees

Australia and the United States have come up with a novel way to discourage refugees who risk all to stream to their borders, only to spend years in detention.

Swap them. Then admit them. CAROLINE BROTHERS in the International Herald Tribune.

Posted by Amanda Becker at 03:46 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Tenn. Senate Passes Immigration Bill

The Senate on Thursday passed a proposal to require employers to verify the immigration status of all new hires.

The bill passed on a 27-2 vote after Sen. Jack Johnson, the bill's main sponsor, amended the proposal to require the immigration checks only for those workers for whom an employer is required to file a W-2 tax form. ERIC SCHELZIG in Business Week.

Posted by Amanda Becker at 03:43 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

A Plea for Prison Reform

IT SEEMS bizarre that the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation would construct a new execution chamber at San Quentin State Prison without telling the Legislature about it.

Prison officials tell us that they were only trying to meet the concerns expressed by U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel last December about the cramped conditions and poor lighting of an antiquated gas chamber built in 1938 and recently used for lethal injection. Until those concerns are met, no one can be executed in California.

EDITORIAL in the San Francisco Chronicle 

Posted by Susan Grant at 03:35 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Senate Tries to Curb Convict Dumping in Pierce County

The state Senate is expected to pass a wide-ranging reform bill today that would require Washington prison officials to look elsewhere for new offender work-release and reporting centers and change policies that have made Pierce County a dumping ground for ex-convicts.

Senate Bill 6157 would make the state Department of Corrections prepare a release plan for every inmate who is sent to prison and figure out whether they need drug treatment, schooling and other services while they are still in prison to better prepare them for a crime-free life once they get out. JOSEPH TURNER in The News Tribune

Posted by Susan Grant at 03:32 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

NY State Assembly Pushes for Drug Reform

On Wednesday, April 18, the Drug Policy Alliance and members of Real Reform New York held a press conference and film screening to support reform of the draconian Rockefeller Drug Laws (RDLs) in New York. The New York State Assembly went on to pass legislation which would further reform these laws, widely considered the nation’s harshest.

Assembly Bill 6663, introduced by Assemblyman Jeffrion Aubry (Chair, Assembly Standing Committee on Correction), would expand drug treatment for people convicted of nonviolent drug offenses, and continue sentencing reform by allowing certain people serving time for “B” felonies to apply for resentencing--a key piece missing in changes to the law made in 2004 and 2005. The bill would also increase judicial discretion and allow for some people convicted of first- and second-time drug offenses to receive treatment and probation instead of prison. Posted on Drugpolicy.org

Posted by Susan Grant at 03:28 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

April 18, 2007

Panel Urges Evidence Reform in California

Rebuffed last year by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a panel of justice experts is pressing the state to adopt safeguards it believes will curb wrongful criminal convictions.

The commission is proposing bills to help prevent false eyewitness identifications and forced confessions, and to make it harder for prosecutors to rely on jailhouse informants in building criminal cases. MIKE ZAPLER in the Mercury News.

Posted by Amanda Becker at 03:14 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Oklahoma Senate Votes to Deny Illegal Immigrants Jobs, Benefits

Immigration legislation that would bar illegal immigrants from jobs and public benefits was overwhelmingly approved by the Oklahoma Senate on Monday after opponents described it as a mean-spirited measure that will cost the state more than it will save.

The measure passed 41-6 after supporters said state taxpayers are clamoring for action because of the federal government’s failure to act. TIM TALLEY (AP) in the Bartlesville Examiner Enterprise.

Posted by Amanda Becker at 03:10 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Korean Community Reacts to Va. Tech Shooting

The disclosure today that the gunman suspected of carrying out the Virginia Tech massacre was a South Korean national made the killings all the more shocking and painful for Los Angeles' huge Korean American community.

Community leaders said they hoped that the incident will not trigger a backlash against Korean American students. K. CONNIE KANG in the Los Angeles Times.

Posted by Amanda Becker at 01:00 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

April 17, 2007

BBC Documentary Exposes Dark Secrets of British Prison

A reporter working undercover as a prison officer at the troubled Rye Hill jail found widespread intimidation of staff and incidents where diligent custody officers were urged to "back off" by senior colleagues for fear of upsetting inmates. It also found that prisoners had easy access to drugs and mobile phones.

The investigation, which will be shown tonight, comes after the jail had already been heavily criticised by inspectors over the murder of an inmate and the "avoidable" suicides of prisoners.

MATT WEAVER in The Guardian Unlimited

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Gov. Spitzer Prison Reform Plan Gets Mixed Reviews

In his first budget plan, Spitzer proposed creating a commission to study the state's sprawling prison system and mark some of its 70 facilities for closure by year's end. The likely targets? Medium and minimum security facilities, places like Fishkill, Woodbourne and Wallkill.

But the idea proved less than popular with the Legislature, especially in the state Senate, where upstate Republicans hold sway. Lawmakers made sure a closure commission was not in the budget that passed April 1.

BRENDAN SCOTT in The Times Herald-Record

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Prison Guards Challenge Schwarzenegger

SACRAMENTO – A national newsmagazine cover last week showed Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger balancing a globe on a fingertip to symbolize leadership on global warming, but a powerful prison guard union has him in a hotter place.

With a face painted a lurid red and horns sprouting from his forehead, Schwarzenegger is depicted on a big mobile billboard parked at union headquarters that says: “The devil's in the details.” Schwarzenegger said last month he thought legislative leaders were only a couple of weeks away from a $10 billion bond deal to relieve prison overcrowding and avoid a court-ordered early release of inmates.

Many believe Schwarzenegger first may have to give a new labor contract to the prison guards, who have battled him with lawsuits and arbitration, rejected an offer that could give them an 18 percent raise over four years, and formed coalitions to push their own proposals on overcrowding. ED MENDEL in The San Diego Union Tribune

Posted by Susan Grant at 07:56 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

UK Police Trying to Even the Playing Fields

POLICE chiefs are pushing for new laws allowing them to recruit more women and ethnic minority officers.

But the demand for a shake-up, which would handicap white males, was condemned as PC madness and met immediate opposition from the Government.

The Association of Chief Police Officers is expected to call for “affirmative action” to meet diversity targets.

TOM WHITEHEAD in The Daily Express 

Posted by Susan Grant at 07:50 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

NY Governor Calls for Resignation of Attorney

ALBANY, N.Y. — Gov. Eliot Spitzer says the chairman of the state panel that rules on judges' conduct should resign after co-authoring a humor book that said the accused are likely guilty.

Manhattan attorney Raoul Felder, the unpaid chairman of the state Commission on Judicial Conduct, wrote a book with comic Jackie Mason titled Schmucks! Our Favorite Fakes, Frauds, Lowlifes, Liars, the Armed and Dangerous, and Good Guys Gone Bad.

Felder's colleagues on the commission have already called for him to step down, citing several passages in the book they considered offensive, including: "anytime you hear the word 'allegedly,' you can bet it's true," and "nothing in our country is more insidious than affirmative action." ASSOCIATED PRESS in firstamendmentcenter.org

Posted by Susan Grant at 07:46 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Housing Slump Takes a Toll on Illegal Workers

Some of the casualties of America’s housing bust are easy to spot up and down California's Central Valley.

But another set of losers is less visible: the immigrant workers, mostly illegal, who rode the construction boom while it lasted and now find jobs on building sites few and far between. EDUARDO PORTER in The New York Times.

Posted by Amanda Becker at 09:04 AM | | TrackBacks (0)

April 16, 2007

Bush Targets Republicans in Last Ditch Immigration Try

President George W. Bush, with the backing of more than 50 business groups, is mounting an all-out effort to win support among skeptical Republican lawmakers for an immigration overhaul that may be his last chance for a domestic achievement.

Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff are meeting lawmakers weekly to build support for a plan that would combine a path to citizenship for undocumented workers, which most House Republicans oppose, with stricter enforcement. CATHERINE DODGE and JAY NEWTON-SMALL for Bloomberg.

Posted by Amanda Becker at 03:31 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Dallas Morning News: Death No More

The Dallas Morning News editorial board has taken a stand against the death penalty.  Read more here, here, here and here.

Posted by Dan Kowalski at 11:33 AM | | TrackBacks (0)

Tax Returns Rise for Illegal Immigrants

With the tax deadline approaching, illegal immigrants are sending in federal returns in what appear to be record numbers despite fears heightened by recent immigration raids around the country.

The increase in filings comes amid talk of an immigration overhaul, with some proposals introduced in Congress linking amnesty to the payment of taxes. Many illegal immigrants showing up at tax preparation offices around the country say they hope that filing a return will create a paper trail that could lead to citizenship one day. NINA BERNSTEIN in The New York Times.

Posted by Amanda Becker at 09:29 AM | | TrackBacks (0)

April 15, 2007

Inmates Unaware of Services Available for Their Children

Despite valiant work by many agencies and prison facilities, services for children with incarcerated parents in Illinois resemble a fragile web in which few of the strands connect and through which many children fall.

Although many say an effort to meet children's needs require a comprehensive approach, a Chicago Reporter investigation found that many inmates are unaware of available services for their children, many caregivers experience financial strain, and overwhelmed service providers are perceived by inmates to work alone, rather than in concert with families and other agencies. JEFF KELLY LOWENSTEIN, IJJ Fellow. Cover story in the Chicago Reporter.

Posted by Amanda Becker at 02:06 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Death Penalty Appeals Follow Party Lines

An Enquirer analysis of the court's death-penalty decisions since 2000 shows that 6th Circuit judges consistently voted along partisan lines.

If the judges assigned to a case were appointed by Democratic presidents, odds are good they will overturn a death sentence because of new evidence or mistakes made during the trial. If the judges were appointed by Republicans, the chances are slim.

That's especially true at the 6th Circuit, the powerful and deeply divided court that decides death penalty appeals from Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. DAN HORN in the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Posted by Amanda Becker at 02:01 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Latinos Fight for "War" Memorial

Latino advocates have been up in arms recently over the exclusion of Latino soldier stories from Burns' new seven-part documentary, "The War," which explores the conflict through the personal narratives of veterans and their families. Critics argued that the history would not be complete without the stories of Latino soldiers who enlisted in droves — as many as 500,000 strong — and were represented in the ranks more prominently than in civil society back home.

This week, PBS announced that Burns agreed to incorporate Latino and Native American voices. Burns will assemble a new production team, including a Latino, to create the material in time for the Sept. 23 premiere. AGUSTIN GURZA in the Los Angeles Times.

Report from the AP. 

Posted by Amanda Becker at 01:54 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Border Agents Revive Arizona Town

The copper mine closed nearly 25 years ago, leaving residents with a 1.5-mile-long pit and the feeling their town may not survive.

But the federal government's efforts to heighten security along the U.S.-Mexican border have pumped new life into the historic Arizona town of Ajo. CHAD GRAHAM in the Arizona Republic.

Posted by Amanda Becker at 01:49 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Battle Over the Banlieues

The unrest in France’s impoverished immigrant suburbs has dominated the country’s presidential campaign, leaving voters to wonder just what it means now to be French. DAVID RIEFF in The New York Times Magazine.

Posted by Amanda Becker at 11:51 AM | | TrackBacks (0)

Drug Rearrests Up After Prop 36

Convicted drug users in California are more likely to be arrested on new drug charges since Proposition 36 took effect than before voters approved the landmark law mandating drug treatment rather than incarceration, according a long-awaited study released Friday. MEGAN GARVEY and JACK LEONARD in the Los Angeles Times.

Posted by Amanda Becker at 11:32 AM | | TrackBacks (0)

For Some Hispanics, Coming to U.S. Means Abandoning Religion

A wave of research shows that increasing percentages of Hispanics are abandoning church, suggesting to researchers that along with assimilation comes a measure of secularization. LAURA GOODSTEIN in The New York Times.

Posted by Amanda Becker at 11:23 AM | | TrackBacks (0)

April 13, 2007

Immigration Debate Sours for Illegals

The terms of the immigration debate have turned less friendly for illegal immigrants as lawmakers and the Bush administration struggle to reach a deal in the next few weeks.

The landscape for an immigration overhaul has turned upside down in only a year, with a different party in control of Congress and new political realities for President Bush and the chief congressional negotiators. AP for MSNBC.

Posted by Amanda Becker at 05:07 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Did Smugglers Kill Santiago Rafael Cruz?

Santiago Rafael Cruz, a Mexican labor activist who had lived in Toledo, Ohio since 1998, was brutally murdered early this week in the offices of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee, AFL-CIO (FLOC) in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico.  Co-workers suspect the killing was a message: Cruz and FLOC were fighting corruption, ripoffs and alien smuggling.  FLOC has a contract to recruit H-2A workers for a North Carolina pickle company.  The U.S. State Department has called for an investigation.

CLYDE HUGHES and wire reports in the Toledo Blade here and here.

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April 12, 2007

Paper's Series on Racial Profiling in Maryland Generates Buzz

FREDERICK -- The Frederick News-Post's StopWatch series published during two days in late March elicited comments from about 25 readers. Reactions ran the gamut from those who believed the findings echoed their own experiences, to readers who said the series damaged the trust between the community and local law enforcement agencies.

The News-Post also invited comments from the Frederick Police Department, Maryland State Police and the Frederick County Sheriff's Office. City Police Chief Col. Kim Dine and Sheriff Chuck Jenkins responded to the series, while state police officials declined comment.
ALISON WALKER-BAIRD AND NANCY HERNANDEZ in The Frederick-News Post

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Morristown Mayor Pushes for Immigration Training Program

A North Jersey mayor believes municipal laws will not resolve illegal-immigrant problems in his town or any other town, including the Burlington County community of Riverside.

But Donald Cresitello does have a suggestion that he considers workable for Riverside and other municipalities that are searching for solutions to their problems: Deputize police as federal immigration officers.

Cresitello, the mayor of Morristown in Morris County, is leading the charge for Morristown to become the first community in the state to have its police officers trained and deputized by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The governing body in Morristown endorsed Cresitello's plan last month.
TODD MCHALE on PhillyBurbs.com

Posted by Susan Grant at 08:56 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Virginia Officers to Enter Federal Immigration Training Program

HERNDON, Va. -- This northern Virginia town plans to send at least seven officers to a federal program that trains police officers to enforce U.S. immigration laws, despite concerns from critics.

Herndon could become the first locality in the Washington area to start such training. The town already has been accepted into the federal program, and the Town Council voted unanimously last month in favor of the partnership with the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.

ASSOCIATED PRESS in The Daily Press

Posted by Susan Grant at 08:49 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Accusers Recant, But Hope Fades at Sing Sing

After five young people identified him in court as the murderer, Fernando Bermudez was convicted in 1992 of killing a 16-year-old youth in Greenwich Village. No other evidence — a gun, a fingerprint or a clear motive — tied him to the crime.

He has been jailed ever since, despite the fact that for 14 years, the same five witnesses have insisted their testimony was false.

Nonetheless, the recantations have had little impact. The same judicial system that once relied on the witnesses now no longer believes them. PAUL Von ZIELBAUER in The New York Times.

 

Posted by Amanda Becker at 08:17 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Innocence Project Closes In on 200th Release

The DNA-wielding Innocence Project has unlocked prison doors nearly 200 times nationwide - including six in Ohio.

But the numbers obscure the scale and complexity of the revolution in criminal justice, said Mark Godsey, head of the Ohio Innocence Project.

The Innocence Project expects to mark its 200th release by month's end - 15 years after the project began at the Benjamin Cardozo School of Law. JAMES EWINGER in the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Posted by Amanda Becker at 08:14 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Immigration Debate Heats Up Tax Time

Carlos Diaz broke the law when he crossed the border and took a job as an office janitor. But he's not about to break another by failing to pay his income tax.

"I've been talking to other people who've done it, and I want to follow the law," said Diaz, an undocumented immigrant from Guatemala who squirmed in his seat at a neighborhood tax preparer's office.

Tuesday is Tax Day, when millions of illegal immigrants find themselves collaborating with one federal agency - the Internal Revenue Service - while trying to avoid another - Immigration and Customs Enforcement. JULIANA BARBASSA for Forbes.

Posted by Amanda Becker at 08:13 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

April 11, 2007

Activists Work to Increase Prisoner Access to Litigation

Prisoners who allege being raped, beaten and otherwise mistreated have for years faced an additional burden: limited access to US courts. Now civil-rights groups are renewing efforts to undo litigation "reform" imposed on the nation’s incarcerated population.

The Stop Abuse and Violence Everywhere (SAVE) Coalition has launched a campaign to reform the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA). Passed in 1996 amid worries about increasing legal claims by inmates, the PLRA purported to block frivolous or legally groundless prisoner lawsuits and keep them from clogging court dockets.

Introducing the Act on the Senate floor in 1995, then-Senator Bob Dole asserted, "Frivolous lawsuits filed by prisoners tie up the courts, waste valuable legal resources, and affect the quality of justice enjoyed by law-abiding citizens."

MICHELLE CHEN in The New Standard

 

Posted by Susan Grant at 08:13 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

LAPD Immigrant Policy Faces Another Test

The Los Angeles Police Department's landmark Special Order 40, which prohibits officers from inquiring about the immigration status of suspects, has come under an aggressive assault by anti-illegal immigrant activists who argue that it ties the hands of police.

The nearly 30-year-old policy has long been controversial, but the current national debate about illegal immigration has prompted lawsuits that are aimed at overturning Special Order 40 and similar rules across the country. PATRICK MCGREEVEY and RICHARD WINTON in the Los Angeles Times.

Posted by Amanda Becker at 01:59 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Judge denies request for immediate release but decision gives hope to immigrant children held in Taylor

"Minors confined in an immigrant detention facility in Taylor are highly likely to prevail in their federal lawsuit claims that their detention violates federal policy standards, a U.S. District Court judge has ruled. [*]

Writing that their "continued detention in substandard conditions is an urgent problem," Judge Sam Sparks set an expedited August trial date for the lawsuits brought by the American Civil Liberties Union, the University of Texas law school's immigration clinic and an international law firm."

JUAN CASTILLO in the Austin American-Statesman.

* Judge Sparks' order, worth reading in full, is here.

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April 10, 2007

Affirmative Action Harming Those It's Meant to Help?

Affirmative action exists to benefit minorities, and for no other reason. But as a byproduct of the practice, the educational experiences for the majority of its benefactors are enriched including colleges that can boast about their diverse student bodies. And the democratic ideal of education for all may even be fulfilled.

But are minorities being hurt by a system designed to help them? EDITORIAL in The Daily Free Press

Posted by Susan Grant at 08:46 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

A Mother's Cry for Prison Reform

Gina Webb knows most people don’t care what happens to her son.

Some write him off the minute they find out about his mental illness. Others lose interest when they’re exposed to the behavioral problems his illness causes.

The sick irony of that, Webb says, is that society will likely take a sudden interest in her son down the road if he robs, rapes or kills someone. She hates to think about such possibilities. But they’re very real if he doesn’t get a different type of help than the system has provided him thus far, she says.

CINDY V. CULP in the Waco Tribune Herald

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Prison Reform Discussed at UC Davis

"Reform and critical thinking about problems really begins by seeing the problem," Chac?n said. "One of the things that makes the problems of prisons and punishment much less a focus and much less a topic of conversation than it probably ought to be, is that there is a lot [of] aspects of the criminal justice system that focus on rendering prisoners invisible." ALLIE SHILIN in The California Aggie

Posted by Susan Grant at 08:36 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Senator Yee Comments on Prison Reform

This year, California is finally taking the necessary steps to enact major changes to our prison system. As part of this year of reform, I have introduced legislation to abolish the sentence of life without the possibility of parole for youth offenders. SB999 would make the maximum sentence 25 years to life, meaning a child who commits a felony offense before the age of 18 would serve a minimum of 25 years in prison before being eligible for parole consideration. LELAND YEE in The San Francisco Chronicle

Posted by Susan Grant at 08:21 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Santa Ana Chamber Pushing Residents to Learn English

In a city where about 80% of residents do not speak English at home, the Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce has initiated a $4.5-million campaign to get 50,000 residents to learn the language over the next four years.

As part of its project, the chamber last month launched an aggressive advertising campaign, with messages urging residents to learn English plastered on buses and at bus shelters, the train station, supermarkets and self-service laundries. JENNIFER DELSON in the Los Angeles Times.

Posted by Amanda Becker at 07:55 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

California's Probation System Can Skew Criminal Justice

Simms had been on probation when he was arrested for allegedly bashing in the head of a pizza delivery driver for $60. But the District Attorney's Office couldn't make a criminal case against him, and the charges of assault, attempted murder, and robbery were dropped.

Still, on the advice of his lawyer, Simms accepted a deal that extended his probation until 2009.

The way California's probation system works, it doesn't matter if law enforcement proves an ex-con committed a crime. Just getting arrested can mean trouble. G.W. SCHULZ in the San Francisco Bay Guardian.

Posted by Amanda Becker at 07:53 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

April 09, 2007

Caputo on the border

You may remember reporter and novelist PHILIP CAPUTO from his classic Vietnam memoir, A Rumor of War.  He's now writing about the border in the Virginia Quarterly Review:

"The concerns that nativists voice—migrants take jobs from native-born Americans, drive down wages, strain health and social services—are valid, and there are plenty of studies to support them; but these issues camouflage a deeper, darker fear that Arizona and the whole Southwest is becoming “Mexicanized.” What they ignore is that the immigrants are becoming “Americanized” at the same time, just as Asian and southern and eastern Europeans were a hundred years ago. This is the whole story of America—immigrants change its character, it changes the immigrants."

Posted by Dan Kowalski at 08:31 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Wisconsin Governor Urges Review of Racial Disparities in Criminal Justice System

Wisconsin has one of the highest rates of incarceration for minority juveniles in the nation, Gov. Jim Doyle said Monday, as he urged a commission to take a hard look at racial disparity in the state's criminal justice system.

A study released in January by the National Council on Crime and Delinquency reported that young blacks in Wisconsin were imprisoned at nearly 20 times the rate as young whites in 2002. CARRIE ANTLFINGER of the AP in the Pioneer Press.

Posted by Amanda Becker at 06:00 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Bush Ties Drop in Illegal Immigration to His Policies

President Bush said Monday that tougher enforcement and a new fence at the Mexican border had sharply reduced the influx of illegal immigrants, and he pressed Congress to pass a sweeping revision of the nation’s immigration laws. ROBERT PEAR in The New York Times.

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Bush Calls for Border Enforcement, Path to Immigration

President Bush unveiled the outlines of his latest immigration proposal today, a mixture of tougher border enforcement and a path to legal status for the nation's 11 million illegal immigrants that the White House hopes will sway an increasingly shaky coalition in Congress. JOHANNA NEUMAN in the Los Angeles Times.

Read more by MICHAEL FLETCHER in the Washington Post. 

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Immigration Activists Call for May 1 Boycott

Immigration rights activists Monday called for a national boycott on May 1, a year after thousands of people in the Southland and the nation skipped work and school demanding rights for undocumented immigrants. CBS2 Los Angeles.

Posted by Amanda Becker at 05:50 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Beating the Rap

"Following a pricey March show-trial, Border Patrol Agent Ephraim Cruz walked out a free man. That verdict likely proved a colossal embarrassment to federal officials, who prefer to see their whistleblowers walking the plank."

TIM VANDERPOOL in the Tucson Weekly.

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Multiple Convictions in Dallas County Overturned Using DNA

It has taken nearly 25 years, but with the assistance of DNA testing, four men in Dallas County — all African American — are proving they are indeed innocent. Two were freed from prison. A third was cleared last month, years after serving his sentence. Today, Giles is expected to clear his name and become the 13th man from Dallas County to prove with genetic testing that he was wrongly imprisoned. MIGUEL BUSTILLO in the Los Angeles Times.

Posted by Amanda Becker at 09:31 AM | | TrackBacks (0)

To Close Gaps, Schools Focus on Black Boys

In an effort to ensure racial diversity, the school system here in northern Westchester County is set up in an unusual way, its six school buildings divided not by neighborhood but by grade level. So all of the second and third graders in the Ossining Union Free School District attend the Brookside School.

But some minority students, the black boys at Brookside, are set apart, in a way, by a special mentoring program that pairs them with black teachers for one-on-one guidance outside class, extra homework help, and cultural activities during the school day. WINNIE HU in The New York Times.

Posted by Amanda Becker at 09:25 AM | | TrackBacks (0)

Bush to Renew Effort on Immigration

President Bush traveled to an Arizona town on the Mexican border today to try to build new momentum for an immigration bill that would emphasize security and enforcement as well as assimilation. DAVID STOUT in The New York Times.

Posted by Amanda Becker at 09:21 AM | | TrackBacks (0)

Media coverage may be feeding illegal-immigrant-crime beliefs

"Undocumented immigrants are causing a crime wave in Arizona: True or false?
 
Last year, a national poll indicated that a third of all Americans believe immigrants significantly increase the crime rate.
 
The perception is that, yes, they are: the truth is, no one is keeping track."
 
MICHAEL KIEFER in the Arizona Republic.

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April 08, 2007

Parents without ID denied access to schools

"Laura Rodriguez wants to chaperon her daughter's class field trip.

But she can't get past the Del Valle elementary school's front office, much less on the bus, under a new policy requiring parents to present Texas- or U.S.-issued photo identification."

KATIE HUMPHREY in the Austin American-Statesman.

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April 07, 2007

Doctor's Index Predicts Fate of Desert Migrants

An emergency room physician has devised a scientific index to predict the likelihood that illegal immigrants will die while walking through the Arizona desert in extreme heat conditions.

The physician, Dr. Samuel Keim, concluded that the probability of death reached 50 percent when the temperature climbed to 104 degrees. AP in The New York Times.

Posted by Amanda Becker at 05:21 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Pro-Immigration Rally in Downtown L.A. Draws Thousands

Police estimated that as many as ten thousand people, many wearing red to signify hope, marched peacefully through downtown Los Angeles this afternoon calling for the humane treatment of illegal immigrants. RONG-GONG LIN II in the Los Angeles Times.

Posted by Amanda Becker at 03:43 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Illegal Border Crossings Rarely Prosecuted

For all the tough talk out of Washington on immigration, illegal immigrants caught along the Mexican border have almost no reason to fear they will be prosecuted.

Ninety-eight percent of those arrested between Oct. 1, 2000, and Sept. 30, 2005, were never prosecuted for illegally entering the country, according to an Associated Press analysis of federal data. Those 5.2 million immigrants were simply escorted back across the Rio Grande and turned loose. Many presumably tried to slip into the U.S. again. ALICIA CALDWELL for the AP in the Dallas Morning News.

Posted by Amanda Becker at 03:38 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

April 05, 2007

Crackdown on Fugitives Nets "Collateral" Arrests

"More than one-third of 18,000 people arrested in a nearly yearlong federal crackdown on illegal immigrants were not the people authorities targeted, according to government figures.

The so-called "collateral arrests" involved people picked up by immigration agents while seeking fugitives such as drug smugglers, thieves, drunken drivers and others who flouted deportation orders."

2006 IJJ Border Justice Fellow ELLIOT SPAGAT for the Associated Press.

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Wealthy Connecticut Suburb Grapples With Racial Imbalance

More than half a century after the landmark desegregation ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, Greenwich, a overwhelmingly white and wealthy town is beginning to confront the yawning racial imbalance in its cozy, well-groomed neighborhood schools.

Every year since 2000, the Connecticut Department of Education has sent Greenwich — along with other towns like West Hartford and, more recently, Fairfield and Groton — warning letters citing specific schools in danger of violating state laws on racial balance by having student bodies far less diverse than their districts over all. ALISON LEIGH COWAN in The New York Times.

 

Posted by Amanda Becker at 05:08 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Florida to Let Felons Vote

Gov. Charlie Crist persuaded Florida's clemency board Thursday to let most felons easily regain their voting rights after prison, saying it was time to leave the “offensive minority” of states that uniformly deny ex-offenders such rights.

The change is a major step for Florida, which bans more people from the polls than any other state, but it did not go as far as Mr. Crist had hoped. ABBY GOODNOUGH in The New York Times.

Posted by Amanda Becker at 05:05 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Release of Drug Offenders Strains Communities

In the 1980s and '90s, more than 1 million people in the United States were arrested each year on drug charges. Most went to prison. And for years, that's where they stayed… until now.

Hundreds of thousands of inmates, all by-products of a nearly four-decades-old war on drugs, are now pouring out of the nation's prisons. For the most part, they all return to the neighborhood they came from. Many of their communities are collapsing under the burden. LAURA SULLIVAN for NPR.

Posted by Amanda Becker at 05:02 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

New Jersey State Troopers on Better Behavior, Study Finds

The number of complaints from motorists alleging state troopers pulled over vehicles simply because of a driver's race fell last year to its lowest level since the state agreed racial profiling was "real, not imagined" in 1999.

The State Police received 85 complaints in 2006 that troopers had profiled by stopping motorists based solely on their race, ethnicity, gender or other stereotyping, according to statistics provided to The Star-Ledger under the state Open Public Records Act. BY RICK HEPP in The Star-Ledger

Posted by Susan Grant at 03:10 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Discrimination Complaints to be Outsourced in Southern Connecticut

First Selectman Jim Lash confirmed yesterday that the town will turn over the duties of its affirmative action officer to an outside firm, changing the way discrimination complaints involving municipal employees are handled.

"The employees have said in the past they would prefer to go to someone outside Town Hall," Lash said. "I think, on balance, that's the best." BY, NEIL VIGDOR in Greenwich Time

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April 04, 2007

Drug Offenders Ducking Out of Treatment, Study Finds

Statistics from a state-funded UCLA study show that nearly half of California's drug offenders who opted for community-based rehabilitation programs in lieu of jail time never completed their treatment, and over 25 percent of offenders did not show up on their first day.



In 2000, voters passed Proposition 36, an initiative that gives nonviolent drug users an opportunity to stop using narcotics through local drug-treatment programs before they face incarceration. Every year since, a comprehensive study analyzing Prop. 36 has been conducted by UCLA assessing the efficacy of the program. TIMOTHY JUE in THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

Posted by Susan Grant at 05:46 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Women Prisoners Seek Rehabilitation on the Stage

Clean Break - founded by two women prisoners at HMP Askham Grange, Yorkshire, nearly two decades ago - is among a coalition of organisations including Action for Prisoners' Families, Women in Prison, the Prison Reform Trust, Fawcett Society and the Howard League for Penal Reform lobbying to improve conditions for women in the criminal justice system.
The Corston report was commissioned by the government in the wake of several suicides at Styal prison and recommends large institutions such as Holloway should be closed in favour of small, local custodial units.
POSTED ON HAM AND HIGH24.com
 

Posted by Susan Grant at 05:42 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Minutemen to Patrol New Hampshire Border

A group that has patrolled for illegal immigrants along the nation’s borders with Mexico and parts of Canada is planning extended operations this month in New Hampshire.
The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps wants to patrol starting this weekend, but it needs more volunteers and contributions, organizers said. AP in the Boston Herald.

Posted by Amanda Becker at 02:27 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Immigration Offices Flooded With Visa Applications for Tech Workers

Federal immigration offices have been flooded during the past two days with applications from technology companies for special visas for highly skilled foreign workers.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services began accepting applications on Monday for the 65,000 H-1B visas available for fiscal 2008, and the window for applications is almost certain to close by Tuesday evening. MICHAEL MARTINEZ in the Government Executive.

Posted by Amanda Becker at 01:58 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Chokelahoma?

"Frustrated with the federal government's response to illegal immigration, Oklahoma is poised to become the next state to pass a tough law targeting illegal immigrants and the businesses that employ them."

MIGUEL BUSTILLO in the Los Angeles Times.

Posted by Dan Kowalski at 09:26 AM | | TrackBacks (0)

April 03, 2007

Affirmative Action Crackdown in Namibia

Starting April 20, fifteen companies in Namibia will be facing the full wrath of the law by being criminally charged for affirmative action-related offences, Minister of Labour and Social Welfare Alpheus Naruseb announced on Friday.

The move signals that Government has finally run out of patience with habitual offenders that continue to ignore the provisions of the Affirmative Action Act of 1998.


Naruseb warned that Government has requested all law enforcement agencies to ensure speedy prosecution of employers that "dare test" the Government's determination to enforce compliance with the affirmative action law. POSTED ON ALLAFRICA.COM

Posted by Susan Grant at 08:24 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

April 02, 2007

An Undocumented Life

"According to the World Bank, average income in the US is $43,740. In Ecuador, Nube's home country, it is $2,630 - almost twenty times less.

For her, the lure of better wages and a higher quality of life than at home was irresistible."

HANI SHAWWA, BBC News, New York.

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April 01, 2007

Immigrants Pledge to Stay a Family

As the government's crackdown on illegal immigrant workers has intensified in recent months, so have the consequences for a large subgroup of U.S. citizens: American-born children of illegal immigrants.

Until recently, their parents' illegal status had limited impact on these children's lives, because, although every year hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants are detained attempting to cross the U.S. border, once they make it in, they are rarely caught. N.C. AIZENMAN in the Washington Post.

Posted by Amanda Becker at 10:05 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Debate Intensifies Over Taping of Suspects

A Navajo man charged with beating his girlfriend nearly to death and then hanging her by a rope outside their Arizona trailer home to make the attack look like a suicide attempt.

But the Arizona case has reached all the way from the Navajo reservation to the halls of Congress, part of a still-stewing dispute within the Justice Department over a critical law enforcement question: Should interviews with criminal suspects be tape-recorded? ERIC LIPTON and JENNIFER STEINHAUER in The New York Times.

Posted by Amanda Becker at 10:00 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Rethinking the NAACP

The resignation of Bruce S. Gordon as president and chief executive of the NAACP this month portends an important and long overdue shift in black America's struggle for racial justice.

No matter where one stands in this debate, Gordon's resignation signals a critical impasse. The civil rights old guard, represented by the board, seems stuck in a 1960s mind-set that expects a particular form of response from black America -- pushing for government action to remedy the effects of discrimination. RONALD SULLIVAN and EDDIE GLAUDE JR. in the Washington Post.

Posted by Amanda Becker at 09:54 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Minutemen Doubt Fewer Crossings, Increase Patrols

The head of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps disputes claims by U.S. officials that illegal immigration traffic is down significantly in Arizona, just as volunteers are beginning another monthlong campaign to monitor the border.

Beginning today, the anti-illegal immigration group will station hundreds of armed volunteers along the U.S.-Mexican border as part of an effort to deter illegal immigration during what is historically the busiest time of the year for unlawful crossings. DANIEL GONZALEZ in the Arizona Republic.

Posted by Amanda Becker at 09:50 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Thousands Attend Immigration Rally in Downtown Dallas

Thousands of people wearing white shirts and waving American flags rallied in downtown Dallas on Sunday as part of a continuing push for immigration reform for the millions of illegal immigrants already living in the United States.

Many in the crowd authorities estimated at more than 5,000 held signs that read "No to 2903," referring to an ordinance in the Dallas suburb of Farmer's Branch that would make it illegal for landlords to rent apartments to illegal immigrants. ANABELLE GARAY for the AP in the Houston Chronicle.

Posted by Amanda Becker at 09:42 PM | | TrackBacks (0)