Bloggings On Immigration Law And Policy

by Greg Siskind

August 27, 2008

The nation's major civil liberty protection organization has announced it is conducting an investigation into allegations of discrimination, blocking access to legal counsel and other serious accusations. Here is the press release:

ACLU Investigating Largest Immigration Raid
In The Country

Reports Of Government Discrimination And Secrecy Trigger Scrutiny

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 27, 2008

CONTACT: Rachel Myers, (212) 549-2666; media@aclu.org 

LAUREL, MS - In the wake of the largest workplace immigration raid in the country that involved the arrest of at least 600 workers and reports that raise grave concerns about the actions of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Mississippi officials, the American Civil Liberties Union began an investigation of ICE's conduct and called on the Bush administration to ensure that constitutional rights are scrupulously respected going forward. Staff from the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project arrived in Mississippi today to assess the situation firsthand.

"We are deeply concerned by reports that workers at the factory where the raid occurred were segregated by race or ethnicity and interrogated, the factory was locked down for several hours, workers were denied access to counsel, and ICE failed to inform family members and lawyers following the raid where the workers were being jailed," said Mónica Ramírez, a staff attorney with the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project who has traveled to Mississippi to meet with family members and lawyers about the government's actions.

On Monday, ICE agents raided a factory located in Laurel, Mississippi owned by Howard Industries Inc., detained at least 600 workers and transported the arrested workers to a federal immigration detention facility in Jena, Louisiana, nearly 200 miles from their homes and family. Some of the workers who are parents of small children were released with an electronic monitoring device and ordered to report back to an ICE office. A few of the arrested workers have been charged under the same criminal statutes used by the government in the recent Postville, Iowa raids that were heavily criticized for the mass prosecutions and assembly-line guilty pleas that the government employed.

The ACLU of Mississippi and the national ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project are also working closely with organizations and advocates in Laurel, Hattiesburg and Jena to monitor the government's actions, assess the conduct of the raid and ensure compliance with the constitutional requirements of due process and non-discrimination.

Posted at 08:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

August 29, 2008

PREGNANT DETAINEES WILL NO LONGER BE SHACKLED IN NASHVILLE

I blogged on this subject earlier this summer and am pleased my friend Elliot Ozment has made some good progress on this issue.

Posted at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

GUSTAV AND IMMIGRATION

USCIS has issued its standard closure notices regarding locations in areas withing the projected path of the storm.

DHS is not saying anything, of course, about the 600 immigrants just arrested last week in Laurel, Mississippi who are now being detained in Gena, Louisiana and how the storm will affect their proceedings and detention.

Posted at 10:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

August 30, 2008

WILL ILLEGALLY PRESENT IMMIGRANTS EVACUATE NEW ORLEANS?

There will be no shelters in New Orleans this time. Mayor Nagin has ordered the city completely evacuated as Hurricane Gustav approaches. The AP is reporting disturbing news that many immigrants are avoiding evacuation buses because of a fear of being arrested by ICE officers.

Advocates have criticized the decision not to establish a shelter, warning that day laborers and the poorest residents will still fall through the cracks. As lines at bus stations kept building, about two dozen Hispanic men talked under oak trees near Claiborne Avenue, where on better days they would be waiting to be picked up for day labor.

They'd been listening to Spanish radio and television but none of them knew what to do and were waiting for someone to come by and tell them, said Pictor Soto, 44, of Peru. Told they could take a bus at Union Passenger Terminal, they all shook their heads, fearful that immigration agents would be looking for them. "The problem is, there will be immigration people there and we're all undocumented," Soto said.

And there is good reason to worry if you are illegally present.

Posted at 09:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBack (0)

August 31, 2008

TOO LITTLE TOO LATE?

ICE now is telling immigrants they won't conduct enforcement operations during evacuations. Shouldn't they have announced this two or three days ago when people still had a chance to flee?

Posted at 08:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

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About The Author

Greg Siskind is a partner in Siskind Susser's Memphis, Tennessee, office. After graduating magna cum laude from Vanderbilt University, he received his Juris Doctorate from the University of Chicago. Mr. Siskind is a member of AILA, a board member of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, and a member of the ABA, where he serves on the LPM Publishing Board as Marketing Vice Chairman. He is the author of several books, including the J Visa Guidebook and The Lawyer's Guide to Marketing on the Internet. Mr. Siskind practices all areas of immigration law, specializing in immigration matters of the health care and technology industries. He can be reached by email at gsiskind@visalaw.com

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The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the opinion of ILW.COM.

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