National “Family Unity” Immigration Event in San Jose
On April 18, San Jose’s faith-based communities join a national effort—spanning 20 major U.S. cities—to document the harm caused to citizens across our nation in the absence of comprehensive immigration reform. This will be the first event of the tour to highlight voices of the Asian Pacific Islander community, and other diasporic communities.
“These testimonials will be critical as President Obama builds his case for comprehensive immigration reform in May, which happens to be Asian Pacific American Heritage Month,” said Rep. Michael Honda (CA-15), chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC). “At a national level, the voices of the Asian Pacific Islander communities are often left out of the immigration debate. I am looking forward to amplifying these voices on Saturday.”
As part of an unprecedented nationwide outreach tour, Rep. Honda will be joined by Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez (IL-04), chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) Immigration Task Force and California’s religious community to spearhead the “Family Unity” outreach event in San Jose.
Keith Olbermann: ‘Immigration Detention Centers as Bad as Gitmo’
MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann calls immigration detention centers “Gitmo Jr.-gate”, and that’s right on point. Olbermann’s comments during his “Still Bushed!” segment was prompted by a report just released by Amnesty International, “Jailed without Justice.” (Thanks to ImmigrationImpact.com for the post on this.)
Please read this, or at least glance through. You will find stories such as
- a U.S. legal resident from Albania being detained for four years;
- a young Honduran man committing suicide in detention as a result of not being provided mental health services;
- ICE agents stopping a father walking his 8-year old daughter to school, then asking the child to translate their questions regarding immigration status, resulting in the father’s detention;
- a Chinese woman fleeing political persecution being detained while the family scrambled to raise the $50,000 bond needlessly placed;
- the 16-month detention of a 63-year old Vietnamese woman who had been a political prisoner in Vietnam;
- a Sri Lankan civil war refugee detained for 4 ½ years in spite of already having been granted asylum in the U.S.;
- a Mexican woman delivering her baby while shackled to a hospital bed and not allowed contact with her husband.
The report does not advocate a platform for immigration reform, but simply asserts that our institutions ought to follow international standards of human rights and U.S. standards of due process.
This report offers specific legal and policy recommendations with regard to immigrant detention, including effective alternatives to detention.
We applaud Amnesty International and Keith Olbermann for bringing what is truly a national disgrace to light., but simply asserts that our institutions ought to follow international standards of human rights and U.S. standards of due process. This report offers specific legal and policy recommendations with regard to immigrant detention, including effective alternatives to detention. We applaud Amnesty International and Keith Olbermann for bringing what is truly a national disgrace to light.
– Miguel Gavaldon, Director of Development, EJS
Attorneys Needed to Help Respond to Immigration Raids
Consistent with our Grand Alliance work, Equal Justice Society has partnered with the San Francisco Immigrant Legal & Education Network (SFILEN). In the course of this collaboration, the need for more Rapid Response attorneys has arisen.
Two attorneys, Francisco Ugarte, staff attorney at SFILEN, and Sin Yen Ling, staff attorney at the Asian Law Caucus, form part of the San Francisco Rapid Response Network. They have offered to train interested attorneys to become part of the Network and help with providing initial representation and consultation to raid detainees in the event of an ICE Raid.
San Francisco’s Rapid Response Network responds to immigration raids where three or more people are detained at the same time. Once there has been a raid, detainees can be moved to another jurisdiction which cuts off communication with loved ones and undermines the ability for advocates to assist detainees.
Asian America Must Battle Injustice with President Obama
I originally wrote this for ningin.com, a site covering Asian media and pop culture.
A Black man born in Hawai’i with an Asian sister was sworn into office Tuesday as our President. He took the oath of office on the same bible used by Abraham Lincoln for the exact same oath 148 years ago, realizing the dreams of countless African Americans and others who previously never imagined this moment.
President Barack Obama now leads our country into uncertain and troubled times. But he begins work on our nation’s ills with unprecedented numbers of Asian Americans in substantive roles in this Administration.
Japanese American Peter Rouse is White House Senior Adviser. Chinese American Chris Lu is Cabinet Secretary. Former Army Chief of Staff Eric Shinseki is Secretary of Veterans Affairs. Nobel prize winner Steven Chu is Secretary of Energy.
We now have a First Family that includes Asian Americans. The President’s sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, is half Indonesian. Her husband Konrad is Chinese American. Their daughter Suhaila is hapa.
This roster of Asian names is significant because the halls and backrooms of power in our nation’s capitol have for too long been dominated by monochromatic men. It does not mean we have arrived. It means we’ve only just begun.
Day Without A Gay: Protesting Prop. 8 by Donating to Causes
Conceived by Sean Hetherington of West Hollywood, the day of protest is modeled after A Day Without Immigrants, which took place on May 1, 2006.
Individuals participating can call in sick and donate their time to a cause and buy nothing that day to show again how important the LGBT community is to this country. The organizers have FAQs here. And their Facebook event listing is here.
Read more about how EJS has been involved in the ongoing fight for equality.
Invitation to Take Survey on Immigration Forum
The Equal Justice Society, Black Alliance for Just Immigration, Latino Issues Forum, Greenlining Institute and Centro Legal de la Raza would like to once again thank the participants for their interest in our July 31 panel, “Immigration and the Black Community: Conflict of Common Interest?” held at the Oakland Museum. Read more
DREAM Act part II
A recent posting on the ImmigrationProf Blog highlights the debate about the military service provisions that are in the DREAM Act.
A father, whose son was a soldier died in Iraq, made this impassioned caution to those seeking passage of the DREAM Act, due to the military service option as a path to legalization:
It give me great joy to see students taking non-violent action to find a solution to the immigration question. Many of them came to the United States as children and have finished their high school education. Now, because they lack legal documents, they face an uncertain future that may deny them the opportunity to attend college or find a decent job. The DREAM Act offers them a light at the end of an otherwise dark and uncertain road.
I see students on fasts, in marches, lobbying elected officials, all in the name of the DREAM Act’s passage. But BEWARE. Be very careful. Because our honorable youth with their dreams and wishes to serve their new country are being tricked and manipulated in an immoral and criminal way.
Why do I say this? Simply put, the DREAM Act proposes two years of college as a pathway to permanent residency but it also includes a second option linked to the so-called war on terror-”two years of military service.” Our young people may not see that this is a covert draft in which thousands of youth from Latino families will be sent to Iraq or some other war torn nation where they will have to surrender their moral values and become a war criminal or perhaps return home in black bags on their way to a tomb drenched with their parents’ tears. Read more
