Filed Under: Essentials, Immigration, Politics, Press Releases, Top Stories
Tagged: 287 (g), ACLU, Arpaio, Department of Homeland Security, deportation, detention, Maricopa County, racial profiling
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CONTACT: Maria Archuleta, (212) 519-7808 or 549-2666; media@aclu.org
WASHINGTON – The American Civil Liberties Union and 520 other local and national organizations sent a letter to President Obama this week demanding that the administration terminate the 287(g) program that allows certain state and local law enforcement agencies to engage in federal immigration enforcement activities. The fundamentally flawed program has been associated with serious civil rights abuses and public safety concerns.
“The 287(g) program encourages racial profiling, diverts scarce police resources and puts everyone’s safety at risk,” said Omar Jadwat, a staff attorney with the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project. “State and local police should not be transformed into federal immigration agents – particularly through a program known for cursory oversight and insufficient training. President Obama should end the program immediately.”
Local organizations that signed the letter will host vigils, marches and other activities across the country today and tomorrow condemning the administration’s decision to expand the 287(g) program and asking that the administration terminate the program.
Since its inception, the 287(g) program has drawn sharp criticism from federal officials, law enforcement and community groups because it has led to illegal racial profiling and civil rights abuses, including the unlawful detention and deportation of U.S. citizens and permanent residents, while diverting scarce resources from traditional local law enforcement functions and distorting immigration enforcement priorities.
This past April, the Police Foundation, a leading nonpartisan, research and training nonprofit organization dedicated to improving public safety, reported that many sheriffs and police chiefs across the country disapprove of the local immigration enforcement program. According to the Police Foundation study, law enforcement executives believe that “immigration enforcement by local police undermines their core public safety mission, diverts scarce resources, increases their exposure to liability and litigation and exacerbates fear in communities already distrustful of police.”
“State and local police do not pull drivers over for tax law violations; likewise, they should not pull drivers over for immigration law violations,” said Joanne Lin, ACLU Legislative Counsel. “The 287(g) program has proven to be a failure – resulting in rampant illegal profiling by local police under the cloak of federal immigration enforcement power. Department of Homeland Security needs to terminate the 287(g) program.”
ACLU affiliates across the country have reported problems and complaints about local law enforcement agencies with 287(g) agreements engaging in profiling and harassing Latino communities. Some of the most serious complaints regard abuses by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office in Arizona, which has one of the largest 287(g) programs in the country. These massive abuses have been fueled by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s federal authority under the program and the absence of ICE monitoring. In July 2008, the ACLU filed a class action lawsuit, Ortega v. Arpaio, against Arpaio and his department challenging the illegal racial profiling of Latinos in Maricopa County.
The letter to President Obama can be found online at: salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/371/images/LETTER_TO_PRESIDENT_20090825133229.pdf
The ACLU’s submitted testimony on the 287(g) program can be found at:
www.aclu.org/immigrants/gen/39062leg20090304.html
The new standardized 287(g) memorandum of agreement (MOA), Maricopa County’s MOA and the ACLU side-by-side comparison of the two can be found at: www.aclu.org/immigrants/local/40350lgl20090716.html
More information about Ortega v. Arpaio can be found at:
www.aclu.org/immigrants/gen/35998lgl20080716.html“
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Knowledge is Power and this page is just the start. Hispanics/Latinos are a growing diverse force in this country. Check out some of the 54,726 items found on this site below or dig into the Site Map
Best of the Rest
- November 20, 2009
- Police in Peru say gang members killed people to drain their fat for cosmetics
- Mexican authorities predict fewer Mexican immigrants will be back home for Christmas
- Interview with Aurora Anaya-Cerda, owner of La Casa Azul Bookstore – NYC
- We need an honest definition of who is a “real American”
- Immigration Reform: The Phone Call Heard Around the Country – On the call were Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill.; Nydia Velázquez, D-N.Y.; and Rep. Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz. Immigrant rights advocates from various parts of the country also spoke.
- Digital out-of-home (DOOH) Effectively Reaches Latinos On The Go – few marketers truly utilized digital media when reaching out to the Hispanic community.
- A week after abruptly quitting his longtime job as a CNN television news host and commentator, Lou Dobbs said on Thursday he is considering career options including possible runs for the White House or U.S. Senate.
- ICE Assistant Secretary John Morton announces 1,000 new workplace audits to hold employers accountable for their hiring practices
- In Virtual Town Hall with Immigration Reform Activists, Gutierrez Promises Bill By December
- Economic Blame Game: U.S. Unemployment is Not Caused by Immigration
- November 19, 2009
- Shakira Refuses To Do Interviews In Spanish
- BMI Foundation Announces Opening of 7th Annual peermusic Latin Scholarship Competition
- Video: Sofia Vergara’s “Modern Family” Costar Trashes her on “Chelsea Lately”
- The Cuban band Septeto Nacional de Ignacio Piñeiro can legitimately claim to be inventors of salsa. But it last played in the United States when Franklin D. Roosevelt was president, and there was no telling when it might be able to return — until the very slightest hint of a thaw in cultural relations between the United States and Cuba quietly brought the band to New York early this month.
- Mexico’s Drug Violence Gives Rise To Vigilantism
- The wave of crime besetting Puerto Rico seems to be out of control with 800 murders being committed here so far this year, but the island’s top police official says the problem does not fall exclusively within his department.
- The University of Panama indefinitely suspended classes on Wednesday after confrontations between students and police during a protest against alleged U.S. involvement in plans to build new military installations.
- There are 16 million children in immigrant families in the United States
- Over the last 3 years, high schools that received the lowest marks from the city have been the ones with the highest percentages of poor, black and Hispanic students, despite an evaluation system that was meant to equalize differences among student bodies, according to an analysis by The New York Times of school grades released this week.
- Who seriously wants the Cuban trade embargo?
- A legislator from El Paso has criticized proposed history and social studies standards for public schools as being unfair to Hispanics. – Rep. Norma Chavez raised the issue Wednesday in Austin before the State Board of Education.
- Farewell to an icon: Artist who tore at racism is buried at 99 – R.I.P. José Cisneros
- November 18, 2009
- Hispanics are 9% of the Virginia’s schoolchildren, but 5% of gifted students.
- A New United Movement Stops Mexico for a Day
- Analysis reveals driving out undocumented immigrants doesn’t bode well for congressional representation
- After accidental deportation, critics say immigration officials making mistakes – After a Salvadoran man was mistakenly deported, immigration rights activists have complained about toughened enforcement by authorities.
- Governor Deval Patrick urged Massachusetts residents today to avoid getting mired in “the usual debate” over illegal immigration as he gave his cabinet 90 days to craft a plan for better integrating all foreign-born residents into the state’s daily fabric.
- More Americans are playing tennis – The biggest increases were among Hispanics, with 32% more playing the game.
- Mexico’s Juarez on path to anarchy
- Experts warned on Tuesday that the rise in health problems due to obesity among Mexican children, which is considered to be an epidemic, threatens “for the first time” to reduce life expectancy rates in the country.
- The estimated damage caused by the Nov. 7-8 floods and mudslides to El Salvador’s infrastructure has climbed to $880 million, the country’s public works minister said Tuesday.
- Trend Toward Smaller Families in Latin America – The number of people per household in Latin America will fall by 18 percent by 2020, according to a study released in this capital Tuesday by consulting firm Euromonitor International.
- A Woman’s Nation Spurred by LatinaTION
- Sosa Skin Lightening Fires Debate About Afro-Latino Heritage
- Congressman Raúl Grijalva talks to his daughter Marisa about his mother’s influence on his education. – new Historias from StoryCorp
- After two days of deliberations, on Oct. 14 the Mexican Supreme Court made public its decision that Ulises Ruiz Ortiz (governor of the state of Oaxaca) is culpable for the human rights violations that occurred in Oaxaca as a result of teacher protests and political and social unrest in May 2006-January 2007 and July of 2008.
- Organizations alarmed by the increased violence against women and others in Mexico are traveling by caravan to demand justice for the victims. – The national caravan, which began in Mexico City, is part of the international Mujeres de Negro (Women in Black) campaign to protest violence against women, children and other vulnerable groups.
- Colombia elige a su nueva reina y ya llueven las críticas – Natalia Navarro se convirtió en Miss Colombia y, aunque era favorita, a muchos no les gusta su lenguaje; en la coronación aseguró que es “cabezona” y “berraca”
- CNN was so sick of Lou Dobbs, it gave him an $8 million severance package to leave
- The Cuban ties that bind, 50 years on – Visiting her father’s homeland under newly relaxed travel restrictions is both invigorating and saddening.
Latest Essentials
- November 20, 2009
- Hispanic lawmakers say an old adversary, White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, has his fingerprints all over a push to prohibit illegal immigrants from buying health insurance plans in a new market for people who don’t get insurance through their employers.
- Some U.S. Democrats see momentum building for an overhaul of immigration laws that would legalize millions of undocumented workers, but analysts say a crowded agenda and struggling economy may once again sink hopes for reform next year.
- The current global crisis will cause the number of poor people in Latin America to rise by 9 million to 189 million this year, the U.N. Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean said in a report presented on Thursday.
- Do Long Island Police Ignore Hate Crimes?
- Mexican migrants are spending more money on taxes in the United States than on the remittances they send home to relatives, according to a new study by Mexico’s largest bank, BBVA Bancomer.
- Ana Maria Perez Gonzalez, said to be the oldest woman in the world, died in Mexico this week. She was 119.
- Part of a Cuban blogger’s essay that advocates lifting the ban on U.S. travel to Cuba was read aloud at a House Foreign Affairs committee hearing. – Yoani Sánchez
- November 19, 2009
- TOP Ten reasons you should watch Lopez tonight not Conan
- Migration Policy Institute (MPI) Report Finds Immigrants Hit Harder During Economic Downturn than Native-Born Workers
- After a 3 year trial of producing regionalized news for several top 10 Hispanic market stations via the Telemundo Production Center in Dallas, the network is reverting to producing local news. Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Phoenix and San Jose will once again have locally produced news.
- Nacional Records Sampler 2009 | The New Sounds Of Latin Music – 21 FREE mp3s over at Amazon – (cool!)
- Ironically, Latinos should be greatful to former CNN blowhard Lou Dobbs – commentary by Albor Ruiz
- When White Writers Do “Latino” Issues – It was chaos this week in the LA Weekly’s virtual mailroom, which received a deluge of reactionary attitude in regard to Christine Pelisek’s cover story “Chaos in the Casitas: Lawless, south of the border–style speakeasies get a grip on L.A.”
- More Than 60,000 Americans in 45 States Organize for Immigration Reform
- New Report Shines Light on Detainee Rights Violations in Minnesota
- CIS Report Attempts to Erase 100 Years of Data on Immigrants and Crime
- Video: Senator Menendez Speaks on Behalf of Hispanic Farmers’ Discrimination Lawsuit + update
- November 18, 2009
- New Report: More Than 2 Million Hispanic Households With Children Face Hunger – Hispanic households with children experiencing very low food security up almost 50%
- On November 18 at 8:00 PM Eastern time/5:00 PM Pacific, all across the country people are hosting house parties with their families, friends, neighbors, churches, classmates and anyone else who supports comprehensive immigration reform for America.
- Video report of Latina forced to give birth while in chains in Maricopa County, AZ courtesy of Sheriff Joe Arpaio (en Español)
- California’s Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman told a group of supporters Tuesday that she is making an unprecedented effort to attract Latinos to the Republican party – in South El Monte
- Hundreds of defendants awaiting trial for violent crimes in Dallas County have been deported by federal immigration officials and then set free in their home countries. – The practice goes back to at least 1991 and includes the release of murder, kidnapping and child rape suspects.
- Environmentalists alarmed by Puerto Rico policies – Sweeping from lush mountain rain forests to pristine beaches, a corridor of land protected by Puerto Rico’s last governor hosts dozens of rare and endangered species and was championed by celebrities who helped fight off resort proposals. – Now new Gov. Luis Fortuno has revoked the reserve as part of a drive to bring jobs and investment for the U.S. territory’s struggling economy. And activists see a broader pattern of looser protection for the island’s environment.
- Deporting undocumented students affects the chances for legal return if Congress doesn’t address it in immigration reform bill
- Eleventh-hour criticism is arising over President Obama’s nomination for United States attorney in northern Iowa of a prosecutor who had a leading role in the criminal cases against hundreds of illegal immigrants arrested in a May 2008 raid at a meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa. – Stephanie Rose
- From a group calling themselves Electronic Civil Disobedience comes the Transborder Immigrant Tool, a simple mobile application intended to aid and abet border-crossers from Mexico to the United States by mapping the safest routes to take. – This GPS app is built to work on the cheapest cell phones available.
- Report from America’s Voice: The New Constituents… How Latinos Will Shape Congressional Apportionmention After the 2010 Census
- November 16, 2009
- 15th annual Mariachi Vargas Extravaganza in San Antonio – more than 1,000 professional & student musicians participating – 8-day festival of mariachi competitions, workshops, presentations, serenades & concerts attracts more than 15,000 visitors annually.
- Money Trickles North as Mexicans Help Relatives – reverse remittances from Mexico
- Scarlet “A” will dominate immigration reform rhetoric – Greg Tejeda on immigration reform & Janet Napolitano’s speech
- The first Texas Hispanic legislators didn’t want to go public when they organized some 40 years ago out of fear they might be considered “un-American.” – Today, the Mexican American Legislative Caucus (MALC) is growing in influence — and raising record amounts of money — as Texas’ population turns increasingly Hispanic.
- Supporters of tough U.S. sanctions against the Cuban government have given more than $10 million to congressional campaigns over the last seven years
- Oregon universities try to recruit more Latino students – In 2007, Latinos made up nearly 12% of the 12th-grade class and less than 6% of freshmen in the university system. About 20% of first-graders that year were Latino.
- The Obama administration will insist on measures to give legal status to an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants as it pushes early next year for legislation to overhaul the immigration system, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said on Friday.
- Authorities say a 7-year-old boy, three women and a university professor are among 15 people who were killed in a single day (this past Friday) in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez.
- Sonia Sotomayor unwittingly adds celebrity touch to Supreme Court
- One of the Republican Party’s most respected and relied-upon consultants has serious reservations about two the party’s biggest names. – Alex Castellanos, a conservative media strategist and regular presence on CNN, raised questions of Sarah Palin’s viability for office and took major swipes at Florida Senate candidate Charlie Crist
- November 13, 2009
- ASU, ALRE release major study on Arizona’s Latino population – (direct link to report & powerpoint)
- 10 Latino MLB ‘09 Season Highlights – (some cool stuff here)
- The ‘flea’ CNN’s Lou Dobbs couldn’t shake off – Interview with Roberto Lovato
