June U.S. Immigration Alert! A Monthly Newsletter from National…

June U.S. Immigration Alert!
A Monthly Newsletter from National Immigrant Solidarity Network
June 2004 Issue, Volume 2.1
No Immigrant Bashing! Support Immigrant Rights!
http://www.ActionLA.org/ISN/                                                $2.00/Copy

 In this issue:                                    August 27 2004 New York City
 1. August 27 2004 New York City Immigrant
 Workers Speak Out! (Page 1)                       Immigrant Workers Speak Out!
 2. Updates on Civil Liberties Restoration Act
 (CLAR) (Page 1)                                   Part of the Weeklong Counter RNC
 3. Press Release: Anti-Immigration Group is       Mobilization in New York City!
 Distorting EPI Research (Page 3)
 4. Immigration News (Page 3)
                                                   Friday, August 27 11:00 AM - 7:00 PM
 5. Immigration Links of the Month (Page 4)
 6. Monthly ISN Phone Conferences (Page 4)         New York City, New York
 7. How to Subscribe to the Newsletter             Web: http://www.actionla.org/ISN/RNC/
 (Page 4)                                          Information Hotline: (212)330-8172

Called by: National Immigrant Solidarity Network
Participated/Endorsed by: ActionLA, Center for Constitutional Rights, Million Workers March, Student Peace
Action Network, Kensington Welfare Rights Union, Still We Rise Coalition and many other human rights, labor and
immigrant organizations.

A day of immigrant workers and community activist gathering to speak out their minds and declare: No Immigrant
Bashing! Support Immigrant Rights! No To The Sweatshops Exploitation And The Racism On The
Community! during the counter RNC Mobilization (Aug 29 - Sep 4) at New York City, New York.


Updates on Civil Liberties Restoration                          About National Immigrant Solidarity Network
Act (CLRA)                                                      On November 2003 at SOA Protest Ft. Benning GA,
National Immigration Forum                                      dozen national grassroots & community groups are
50 F. Street, NW, Suite 300                                     agreed to form a broad-based immigrant support
                                                                coalition, aim to mobilize community forces to work
Washington, D.C. 20001                                          with different national immigrants and civil rights
URL: http://www.immigrationforum.org                            organizations. Major endorsing and participating
                                                                organizations includes: Latin American Solidarity
At the core of the American value system is the belief that     Coalition, CISPES, Progressive Leadership Alliance of
every human being is afforded certain inalienable rights.       Nevada, Nicaragua Network, United Students Against
From guaranteeing every person a fair trial to providing        Sweatshops, Student Peace Action Networks,
equal protection under the law to all, respect for individual   ActionLA and so on.
rights is the foundation of American democracy, and as
                                                                For more information about the ISN, and learn how you
we endeavor to protect these principles, we can promote         can participate, please visit our website:
unity at home and build credibility abroad. In the              http://www.actionla.org/ISN/
aftermath of the September 11th attacks, our nation has         E-mail: ISN@ActionLA.org
                                                                Tel: (213)413-1778
(CLRA continue next page)                                       1013 Mission St. #6 South Pasadena, CA 91030
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(CLRA From page 1)                                              enforcement complies with           minimum       accuracy
                                                                requirements. (Sec. 304)
struggled to meet new security challenges while
preserving fundamental values of liberty and fairness.          · Ensure Access to Evidence. The CLRA would
The Civil Liberties Restoration Act of 2004 (CLRA)              ensure that people who are charged with a crime based
would safeguard basic rights and promote our nation's           upon national security surveillance under the Patriot
safety. It would move the United States forward at this         Act would see the evidence against them in the same
important time by demonstrating to the world that this          manner as people charged with a crime based upon
country takes seriously the rights of people it detains.        other kinds of classified information. (Sec. 401)
The CLRA includes the following provisions:
                                                                · Mandate Reports on Data-Mining. The CLRA
· End Secret Hearings. The CLRA would end the                   would require the government to submit a public report
government's ability to issue a blanket order closing all       to Congress on data-mining activities in order to
deportation hearings to the public and to family                protect the privacy and due process rights of
members of detainees, while permitting the closure of           individuals and to ensure accurate information is
hearings or a portion of hearings on a case-by-case             collected and used. (Sec. 402)
basis to preserve the confidentiality of asylum
applications or when national security interests so             · Limit Secret Seizures of Records. The House
require. (Sec. 101)                                             version of the CLRA would amend the USA
                                                                PATRIOT Act to limit the secret seizure of private
· Ensure Due Process for Detained Individuals. The              databases and individual records to cases where the
CLRA would provide minimum due process                          government has shown there is a reasonable
safeguards to individuals who are jailed on suspicion           connection to a suspected terrorist or terrorist group.
of immigration violations by giving them timely notice          (Sec. 403 in House version)
of the charges against them and assure that
immigration authorities and judges make fair,                   PLEASE SIGN ON TO SHOW YOUR SUPPORT:
individualized bond determinations. (Sec. 201, 202              We hope your organization can join the movement to
and 203)                                                        restore the due process rights and civil liberties that have
                                                                been harmed by post-9/11 policies by signing on to this
· Establish Independent Immigration Court. The                  letter in support of the Civil Liberties Restoration Act of
CLRA would establish an independent immigration                 2004.
court within the Department of Justice and promote
fair hearings by a competent, independent and                   Please respond by Monday, June 7 to let us know if your
impartial tribunal. (Sec. 204)                                  organization will sign on to this letter. To sign-on, please
                                                                send an e-mail to CLRA@AILA.ORG. Please clarify if
· End Special Registration. The CLRA would                      you are signing on as a national or local organization and
terminate the troubled National Security Entry-Exit             if you are signing on as a local organization, please note
Registration System while encouraging fairness and a            your address.
concentrated focus on those who pose a threat to the
national security or safety of Americans. (Sec. 301 and         Please also note that this letter is for organizations
302)                                                            only, not individuals. If you have any questions about
                                                                this, please feel free to contact Marshall Fitz, Associate
· Make Penalties Commensurate with Violations.                  Director of Advocacy at the American Immigration
The CLRA would assign reasonable penalties,                     Lawyers Association (AILA) at mfitz@aila.org or 202-
commensurate to the technical nature of the violations,         216-2437.
for non-citizens' failure to register or provide timely
notification of address changes. (Sec. 303)

· Require Accurate Criminal Databases. The CLRA
would facilitate better law enforcement practices by
requiring that the National Crime Information Center
database relied upon daily by state and local law
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Press Release                                                   notice of appeal Wednesday, possibly extending the
                                                                court battle another two years.
Anti-Immigration Group is Distorting EPI
Research (and how it'll affect the immigrant                    A judge last week terminated Shaoqiang and Qin Luo
workers community)                                              He's parental rights, saying they abandoned 5-year-old
                                                                Anna Mae He and are unfit to care for her. He ruled in
Nancy Coleman, Karen Conner or Stephaan Harris, all             favor of Jerry and Louise Baker, an American couple
of the Economic Policy Institute, Tel: 1-202-775-8810.          who offered to help the then-out-of-work parents by
                                                                taking in Anna Mae when she was three weeks old.
WASHINGTON, June 3 (PRNewswire) Recent news
releases from a group that calls itself FAIR (Federation        The Hes asked for the child back about a year after the
for American Immigration Reform) have misstated the             Bakers took her in, but they refused to give her up. The
current trends in U.S. wages and misused the                    child remains with the Bakers, who are trying to adopt
Economic Policy Institute's analysis to support its             her.
contention that immigration is chiefly what is
depressing U.S. wages.                                          ``We don't think the record supports a finding of
                                                                abandonment by clear and convincing evidence, or any
A recent FAIR news release states: "According to                evidence at all,'' said David Siegel, a lawyer for the
Lawrence Mishel, research director of the Economic              Hes.
Policy Institute, real weekly wages have fallen by
over 10 percent during the years of high immigration            Larry Parrish, the Bakers' lawyer, said ending the two-
and population growth since 1979."                              year custody fight would be in Anna Mae's best
                                                                interest.
FAIR's statement contains several important
distortions of the facts. The group states that since           ``By filing this appeal, it just prolongs the cruelty,''
1979, real weekly wages have fallen 10%; but in fact,           Parrish said.
the net drop from 1979 through 2003 is 1.8%. FAIR
could have arrived at its 10% figure only by stopping           An appeal likely will take two years to get through the
the clock in the mid-90s -- before the surge in                 Court of Appeals and then the state Supreme Court, he
employment and consequent wage gains that occurred              said. Both lawyers said they will ask that the case go
in the second half of the '90s, a period which was also,        directly to the high court, but such requests are rarely
notably for this debate, distinguished by high                  granted.
immigration. For FAIR's purposes, 10% is a more
dramatic figure -- but it is not accurate today. (Another       The Hes are in the United States illegally, but the
clue that they are not using current data is that they          federal courts have delayed deportation because of the
identify Lawrence Mishel as EPI's research director.            custody fight. They say they put Anna Mae in what
Mishel is EPI's president and has not been research             they thought was temporary foster care because they
director for a number of years.)                                were out of work and had no money.

If you are using FAIR as a source, please do not cite           Shaoqiang He, who had been working on a Ph.D. in
EPI in support of their position.                               business at the University of Memphis, lost his
                                                                scholarship because of a sexual assault accusation by
                                                                another student. The charge was eventually dismissed
Immigration News                                                at trial, but by then the Hes had already signed over
Chinese Parents Appeal Custody Decision                         custody of Anna Mae to the Bakers.
By Woody Briad The Associated Press
May 19, 2004
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - A Chinese couple who lost a
lengthy custody fight for their young daughter filed a          (More news next page...)


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Updates on DREAM Act                                               RELATIVES SUE OVER MIGRANT DEATHS
June 4, 2004
From: harroyo@chirla.org                                           The US District Court in Tucson has given plaintiffs until
                                                                   July 9 to offer new evidence in a $41 million lawsuit filed
Republican Senator Susan Collins from Maine                        by relatives of 11 Mexican migrants who died in May 2001
cosponsored the DREAM Act (S.1545) adding more                     while crossing the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge
                                                                   north of Yuma, Arizona.
republican support for this important legislation.
                                                                   The relatives say the Interior Department and the US Fish
The momentum continues for this campaign coast                     and Wildlife Service are responsible for the deaths because
to coast in hopes to get this bill out of the Senate this          they refused a request made two months earlier by the
year. Shout outs to the hard working people in                     Tucson-based humanitarian group Humane Borders, which
Maine. The co-sponsorship total is as follows:                     sought to place a 60-gallon water station in the exact spot
                                                                   where the victims later died. Yuma lawyer A. James Clark,
TOTAL: 48 (with author)                                            representing the plaintiffs, said the court gave them two
                                                                   months to present new evidence showing whether the
Democrats: 34                                                      government agencies had denied the permits without doing
Republicans: 14                                                    a required compatibility study, and whether such a study
                                                                   could have been completed in time to have prevented the
                                                                   deaths.
United We DREAM!
Support S. 1545 / H.R. 1684                                        The government will then have until Aug. 6 to gather
CALL Senate Majority Leader Frist and your                         evidence for its motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
Congressional leaders and urge them to pass the                    [Washington Times 5/17/04; Arizona Republic (Phoenix)
DREAM ACT this year.                                               5/22/04]

                                    Immigration Links of the Month
 New Immigrant Community Empowerment (NICE) Desis Rising Up and Moving (DRUM)
 http://www.nynice.org                      http://www.drumnation.org/drum.html



 Monthly ISN Phone Conferences                                       Please subscribe to the U.S.
National Immigrant Solidarity Network is holding a                       Immigration Alert!
monthly phone conference to discuss how we can mobilize                 A Monthly Newsletter from National
our grassroots and community resources to fight against
President Bush's right wing anti-immigrant policies, as well              Immigrant Solidarity Network
as campaigns to against CLEAR, SEVIS and to support
DREAM acts.                                                        Please subscribe to our new monthly newsletter focus on the
                                                                   latest U.S. immigrant events, alerts, news and useful
June's phone conference schedule:                                  information. This is a totally volunteer-based efforts and
Wednesday, June 9 3:00 ­ 4:00 PM EST                               first of this kind in this country.
Wednesday, June 23 3:00 ­ 4:00 PM EST
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To learn how you can participate at the ISN projects, and
endorse the ISN, please visit our webpage:                         Send your subscription request/check to:
http://www.actionla.org/ISN/                                       Lee Siu Hin
                                                                   National Immigrant Solidarity Network
Also please subscribe to our daily-news litserv, send e-mail       1013 Mission St. #6
to: isn-subscribe@lists.riseup.net                                 South Pasadena, CA 91030

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