Detention
Bush Immigration Enforcement Tactics Haunt the Obama Era
On Tuesday ICE raided the Yamato Engine Specialists plant in Bellingham, Washington. The ICE agents arrested 28 people - 25 men and 3 women - for allegedly using fake Social Security documents to gain employment. It was the first worksite raid since President Obama took office. ICE claims the raid was the result of an ongoing investigation into the worksite, apparently after two "gang members" led agents to begin the investigation. The next day, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano appeared at a hearing before the House Homeland Security Committee and stated she had been unaware of the raid before it happened and ordered a review of the action. Last month Napolitano had issued a directive ordering an internal review of multiple immigration enforcement initiatives within DHS. While the report to Napolitano was due on February 20, it has not been made public. Read More
Pew Report Shows: “Deportation Only” Immigration Approach Undermines Courts
A new report from the Pew Hispanic Center illustrates the degree to which the U.S. government is wasting money and manpower on the pursuit and punishment of undocumented immigrants who are non-violent and pose no threat to public safety or national security. According to the data in the Pew report, the federal government's ever-intensifying (and unsuccessful) effort since the early 1990s to stop undocumented immigration through deportation-only policies has flooded the federal courts with immigrants from south of the border who are charged only with unlawfully entering or remaining in the United States. Even though "unlawful presence" and "entry without inspection" are usually civil and not criminal offenses, all violations of immigration law automatically fall under federal jurisdiction and are therefore channeled into the federal courts. Read More
Sheriff Joe Arpaio Stages Immigrant-Degradation March for the Cameras
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Phoenix, Arizona, seems to have an appetite for publicity so insatiable that it overrides both rationality and morality. His latest stunt—announced yesterday in an official press release, no less—comes today, when he will order "approximately 200 illegal aliens to be chained and marched" from the Durango Jail to a segregated area of his "Tent City" incarceration complex. Lest one be fooled into believing that this is a legitimate law-enforcement operation, Arpaio's press release includes details on the parade route and where "interested media" should park to cover this spectacle of degradation. According to Arpaio, marching chained immigrants from prison cells to tents surrounded by electric fencing will save money because it's cheaper to house inmates in tents than in a traditional jail. However, Maricopa County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox notes that Arpaio "doesn't outline how he'll save costs." Acting County Manager Sandi Wilson says that if Arpaio is "coming up with budget savings, he ought to offer it up. At this point, he hasn't. And this doesn't make any sense to me." Read More
Separating Fact From Fiction About Immigrants and Crime
The perennially hot, and inflammatory, question of whether or not immigration is related to crime has yielded front-page stories in both the Washington Post and New York Times over the past two days. In different ways, each of these stories highlights the extent to which the myth of a supposed link between crime and immigration has long been based on emotion rather than fact. Although study upon study over the past century has demonstrated that immigration is not associated with more crime, the "myth of immigrant criminality" persists. Read More
Questions Remain on Sedation of Deportees
Just when you thought you heard it all when it comes to the gruesome treatment of immigrants detained by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), we learn that immigration staff has overseen the sedation of 384 deportees over the past six fiscal years. ICE sedated 10 deportees in the last fiscal year alone. But that's not considered the news. Recent headlines are boasting that the figure represents ICE "cutting back" on sedating deportees with Haldol-a powerful drug that's commonly used to treat schizophrenia and such psychotic symptoms as hallucinations, delusions, and hostility. Cutting back? Read More
Madoff Scandal Hits Immigration Group
CBS Reports: "Groups that were helping the most, were hurt the most." Millionares, movie stars, and prestigious universities weren't the only ones affected by the Berni Madoff $50 billion Ponzi investment scandal. Dozens of public interest organizations have been hit by the disastrous collapse of Madoff's scheme, including the Heartland Alliance, which runs the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) and lost one-third of its funding. NIJC received a $720,000 grant this year from the JEHT foundation, a New York organization that funded groups working to reform the criminal justice system. However, the Madoff scandal has forced the JEHT foundation to halt all grant making-leaving NIJC without two thirds of the money it was banking on. Read More
Legal Fiction Denies Due Process to Immigrants
Over a thousand noncitizens face indefinite detention in the United States on the basis of a meaningless legal technicality. Read More
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