May 2nd Support Immigrant Rights in Morristown, NJ

Please see below information on an event in at St. Margaret’s in Morristown, NJ this Saturday at 10:00 am regarding the pending 287(g) application. Section 287(g)of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, a law passed in 1996 in the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombings, authorizes the Secretary of Homeland Security to enter into agreements with state and local law enforcement agencies, permitting local police officers to perform immigration law enforcement functions.

Currently both the city of Morristown and the county jail in Monmouth have pending 287(g) applications. Mayor Cresitello of Morristown is well known for his anti-immigrant statements and there is much concern from civil, human and immigrant rights advocates as well as from the local community of the effect enacting 287(g) would have on Morristown.

If you can, please come and show your support for the immigrant community of Morristown and speak up in favor of human rights and against the increased militarization of our society.

Additional Info on 287(g)

Last Monday the East Valley Tribune was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for local reporting for its series on the immigration enforcement policies of Sheriff Joe Arpaio in Maricopa County, AZ. Maricopa County is a participant in the 287(g) program.

The conclusion of the series was that the 287(g) program has led to slower response times to emergency calls, a decreased arrest rate and increased overtime costs.

Here is a link to the articles on how 287(g) has affected Maricopa County


Washington Post Article citing a GAO report describing problems with the 287(g) program

What Would 287(g) mean for Morristown?

A Community Conversation

Saturday May 2, 2009 at 10 am

St. Margaret’s Church

6 Sussex Avenue, Morristown, NJ

There has been a lot of conversation lately in Morristown about the proposed 287(g) agreement, which would deputize local police to enforce federal immigration laws. Please join us for a community-wide conversation with Mayor Cresitello and other experts about the 287(g) program and its implications for Morristown, New Jersey and United States.

Sponsored by:

American Friends Service Committee,

Wind of the Spirit and other organizations

Contact: windofthespirit@verizon.net / 973-538-2035- 201.563.1062

Immigrants Rights Advocates Gather Outside Newark Penn Station

About 75 people gathered outside Penn Station in Newark on Good Friday in solidarity and support of immigrants’ right to travel. Below are some pictures of the event.

Thank you to everyone who turned out and who helped organize, but there is more work to do. We need to keep the pressure on. Tell Amtrak and Greyhound to Respect Immigrant Rights & STOP TURNING RIDES INTO RAIDS!

Call Amtrak and Greyhound and tell their presidents to:

· GIVE REFUNDS TO FAMILIES THAT WERE DETAINED WHILE USING THEIR SERVICES

· WARN PEOPLE THAT THEY WILL FACE AN IMMIGRATION INSPECTION WHEN USING THEIR SERVICES

· STOP THIS UNDERHANDED COLLABORATION ALTOGETHER

· PUBLICLY APOLOGIZE

Amtrak: Mr. Alexander Kummant, President: 202-906-3000

Greyhound: Dave Leach, President: 972-789-7000

To view more photos click here.

RIGHTS GROUPS hold Vigil to support immigrants’ right to travel

The press release issued by AFSC Immigrants Rights Program:

RIGHTS GROUPS hold Vigil to support immigrants’ right to travel

Immigrant rights groups recognize that arrests and detentions of immigrants resulting from Amtrak and Greyhound’s cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security leads to devastation of families and communities.

What: Vigil to Support Immigrants’ Right to Travel

Who: Interfaith Coalition for the Rights of Immigration Detainees and their Families and others*

When: Good Friday, April 10th 2009, 1pm to 3pm

Where: Newark Penn Station (Corner of Raymond Plaza West & Market Street), NJ

April 9, 2009 – Immigrant rights groups will lead a Good Friday vigil at Newark’s Pennsylvania Station to raise awareness of the impact of immigration raids on Amtrak trains and Greyhound buses. They will call upon the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to end the raids.

Immigration raids are conducted on Amtrak trains and Greyhound buses within 100 miles of the U.S. border. People traveling through upstate New York to visit family or friends have been taken off of public transportation, arrested, and detained at county jails far from their loved ones or any access to attorneys. Amtrak and Greyhound have failed to inform passengers that if they do not carry immigration documents they run the risk of arrest and detention, while DHS uses racial profiling to target immigrants. These arrests have led to separation and hardship for the family members and communities of the individuals arrested and have frightened other passengers on the trains and buses who witness the arrests.

This event, organized by The Interfaith Coalition for the Rights of Immigration Detainees and their Families, will include participation from sponsoring organizations* (listed below) and concerned citizens. The program will include interfaith prayers, testimonies of affected individuals and comments from lawyers of the American Civil Liberty Union of New Jersey and American Friends Service Committee.

This event is part of the National Week of Action April 8-15, 2009, an initiative of the Rights Working Group and Detention Watch Network to demand fundamental reform of current immigration policy to ensure that due process and human rights of all people are protected. Dozens of other public and private events such as this one will take place during the week of April 8-15 across the country. In New Jersey, several visits to federal legislators have been scheduled. Advocates will also receive a tour of Middlesex County Jail where immigrant detainees are being held and a recent immigrant death occurred.

*Action 21, American Friends Service Committee Immigrant Rights Program, Amnesty International, Casa de Esperanza, Casa Freehold, Detention Watch Network, Families For Freedom, First Friends Middlesex County, Haiti Solidarity Network of the Northeast, Interfaith Coalition for The Rights of Immigration Detainees and their Families, IRATE & First Friends, The Lutheran Office of Governmental Affairs, NJ Association on Corrections, NJ Forum For Human Rights, NJ Immigration Policy Network, NY Immigration Coalition, Pax Christi NJ, Rights Working Group, St. Joseph’s Social Center, Sisters of St. Joseph ESL, Wind of the Spirit

April 10: End Racial Profiling on Amtrak & Greyhound

Please join us on Friday April 10th from 1-3 pm for a prayer service in solidarity with immigrants & protest of Amtrak and Greyhound’s cooperation with DHS’s racial profiling. We will gather at the park outside of Newark Penn Station at the corner of Market St. and Raymond Plaza East.

Amtrak has agreed to cooperate with border inspections on a random basis within 75 miles of the border. Despite being provided with information that the agents conducting the inspections are engaging in racial profiling Amtrak & Greyhound continue to willingly cooperate with DHS. Both Greyhound and Amtrak have refused to meet with civil and human rights advocates about this issue.

Co-Sponsored by:
AFSC – Immigrants Rights Program, Amnesty International, Detention Watch Network, Casa de Esperanza, Families For Freedom, First Friends Middlesex County, Haiti Solidarity Network of the Northeast, Interfaith Coalition for The Rights of Immigration Detainees and their Families, IRATE & First Friends, The Lutheran Office of Governmental Affairs, NJ Association on Corrections, NJ Forum For Human Rights, NJ Immigration Policy Network, N.Y. Immigration Coalition,Pax Christi NJ, Rights Working Group, St. Joseph’s Social Center, Sisters of St. Joseph ESL

For more information contact:
Alix Nguefack 973-854-0401, anguefack@afsc.org or Kathy O’Leary 908-273-0751 kolearypcnj@gmail.com

Death in Detention In Monmouth County - Kept Secret for Years

Last year the New York Times published a shocking story of the neglect of a tailor from Guinea who died as a result of severe medical neglect after a fall left him with a head injury. Congressional hearings followed and it was learned that over 85 immigrant detainees had died in custody. However, there was no way of knowing precisely how many had died since none of the county jails or for profit prisons housing immigrants were required to keep records nor were any inquiries mandated as a result of a death while in custody.

There were many allegations of cover-ups from the immigrant’s rights advocacy community which may have sounded a bit like wild conspiracy theories until today. Nina Bernstein has just written another article for the Times confirming the death of a Pakistani man who was held at the Monmouth County jail. His name was Ahmad Tanveer. For over 3 years DHS and the officials at the jail refused to release any information on Mr. Tanveer or acknowledge his death. Thanks to the persistence of the citizen activist members of the NJ Civil Rights Defense Committee and the help of the ACLU, we now know his name, but little else.

DHS has also published a new, revised list of immigrants who have died in detention. This list includes 90 names, but the name of Ana Romero Rivera, who is known to have hung herself in an isolation cell in a county jail in Kentucky last year while awaiting deportation, does not appear on the list. We are left wondering how many more?