Stop the Hate.

Also nabbed this from last week's Phoenix New Times (having tripped over it for a third time on a friend's Spacebook page). This is what I call a real banner drop. Hit the Feathered Bastard again for the story and press release.

No More Deaths, detention, deportation, or violence against migrants.

No More Deaths Welcomes Department of Justice Lawsuit, Calls for Overhaul of Immigration Management and Moratorium on Raids and Removals

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE—July 7, 2010
Contact: Danielle Alvarado
Cell Phone: (408) 646-2175
Email: media@nomoredeaths.org

Tucson, Arizona—No More Deaths welcomes Tuesday's announcement that the Department of Justice is filing a lawsuit against SB 1070, the most extreme among recent discriminatory measures passed by the Arizona legislature. In addition to preempting the federal government's sole jurisdiction over immigration enforcement, the implementation of SB 1070 is predicated on racial profiling; it promotes distrust between local communities and law enforcement; and it fails to uphold basic principles of fairness and equality.

Between June 14 and June 22, 2010, humanitarian volunteers at the Kino Border Initiative migrant aid center in Nogales, Sonora conducted interviews with 125 men and women recently removed from the United States. Of those interviewed, 26% (32 individuals) were taken from their families and communities in the interior of the country. SB 1070 would simply exacerbate this trend, which has proliferated under the Obama administration.

While the Department of Justice lawsuit may lead to an injunction before SB 1070 is due to take effect, the unfortunate reality is that this law is merely a symptom of a larger climate of fear-mongering and ill-considered policies that extend far beyond Arizona. While Obama denounces SB 1070, nothing is said about 287(g) agreements or other federal policies that lead to the de facto implementation of many of the practices that SB 1070 enshrines. The culture of abuse and impunity that pervades federal immigration enforcement, from Seattle to Miami, is especially apparent along the Southwest border, which is overrun with border enforcement personnel and infrastructure with limited oversight, accountability, or institutional safeguards for protecting human and civil rights.

The administration's approach to immigration enforcement is fundamentally flawed and continues to criminalize workers and families while doing nothing to address the broken state of our immigration system or the root causes of migration. The recent deadly tasering of a man in California and shooting of a 15-year-old boy near Ciudad Juarez by Border Patrol agents are symptoms of the violence perpetuated by militarized border enforcement. Since 2006 No More Deaths volunteers have interviewed thousands of individuals leaving Border Patrol custody, documenting hundreds of cases involving excessive force, verbal and physical abuse, and denial of access to water, family members, and accurate legal information. The federal government must do more to hold its agents responsible for their actions, and should immediately suspend all immigration detention and removal until comprehensive immigration reform is enacted that protects the rights, life and dignity of every person.

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No More Deaths provides direct humanitarian assistance to women, men and children forced into the remote Arizona desert by US border policies. More than 6,000 have died along the border since 1998. Since 2006, No More Deaths volunteers have received over 500,000 recently repatriated migrants in aid stations in Northern Sonora, and documented a series of abuses in the custody of the US Border Patrol Agents. In 2008 No More Deaths released a detailed report, Crossing the Line: Human Rights Abuses of Migrants in Short-Term Custody on the Arizona/Sonora Border, which presents over 400 individual accounts of Border Patrol abuses, along with analysis and policy recommendations. The stories were collected over a two-year period, beginning as a natural outgrowth of our direct aid work on the border.

Download a copy of the report at: http://nomoredeaths.org/Border-Patrol-Abuse-Report/.

SB 1070: We will resist this police state.

Call to Action for Human Rights!

Join us in Arizona July 23-30, 2010!

Summer of Human Rights
Alto Arizona

National Week Against Criminalization!

Stop SB1070! Stop 287g! Stop Arpaio!

From Selma to Phoenix, From Civil Rights to Human Rights, and the Rights of Mother Earth!

Resistance has sparked across the state of Arizona and the country to defeat SB1070 and all racist policies that further criminalize our people and separate families. Knowing that if SB1070 is not stopped now similar laws will spread throughout the country:

We demand that the Obama Administration take decisive action and not comply with Arizona’s SB1070. It can only terrorize our communities if the federal government cooperates with it.

We demand that all ICE ACCESS programs such as 287(g), Secure Communities, and the CAP programs be suspended.

We demand Arizona institutions such as Cities, Towns, Police Jurisdictions, Universities, Colleges, K-12 Schools, School Districts and Businesses to publically state that they will not comply and will not cooperate with SB1070.

We call on people from around the country to come to Phoenix and stand in solidarity with the communities of Arizona to stop the implementation of SB1070!

We call that all those in that cannot come to Arizona, have solidarity actions in their home communities.

July 29th 2010

Don’t Work! Don’t buy! Don’t comply!

If individuals or groups are planning Non-violent civil disobedience or direct action against the racist laws targeting migrant communities in Arizona, below are suggestions on how to best direct your energy.

Suggested Areas include:

• ICE Headquarters

• Wells Fargo building/Joe Arpaio's office

• Detention Centers

• Jails

• Arizona State Capitol

• Areas related to Russell Pearce, Joe Arpaio and Jan Brewer

• Boycott Targets:
o Diamondbacks
o Fiesta Bowl

• School Districts who have not publically stated that they will not comply

• Police Jurisdictions who have not publically stated that they will not comply

• Cities and towns who have not publically stated that they will not comply

In recognition of the past and on going organizing and resistance happening in Arizona we ask that groups or individuals coming to please respect the following guidelines.

Guidelines:

• Participants will not inflict harm/injury to persons

• Participants will not inflict harm/damage to property

• We encourage people to think about how their actions can communicate to a broad audience and invite people to learn more about what is going on

• We encourage people to use creative and positive tactics

• Participants will not carry drugs/weapons

• Participants to not carry ID on July 29th and moving forward.

• Participants will come as self-organized action teams and affinity groups.

Please contact: actionforhumanrights@gmail.com.

PUENTE Detention Protest Thursday, Noon-1pm.

Local Activists Demand “Dignity not Detention” and Call for an End to Human Rights Abuses in Arizona

Submitted by sshah on February 24, 2010 - 17:27

PHOENIX – Local activists and community members will participate in a solidarity action in front of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in central Phoenix where they will deliver a letter calling on the federal government to end all immigration enforcement agreements with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office(MCSO). The action will take place from 12:00pm to 1:00pm ending with a press conference at 1:00pm. 

Despite DHS announcements made last fall regarding plans to reform the immigrant detention system, there is little evidence of change. In addition to detaining 3,000 immigrants in Arizona daily, and over 33,000 nationally, the Department of Homeland Security continues to work with MCSO through a 287(g) agreement in the county jails.

Who: Puente, American Civil Liberties Union-AZ

What: Action in front of ICE Office in Phoenix, Delivery of Letter calling on the federal government to end all immigration enforcement agreements with the Maricopa Country Sheriff's Office. 

When: 12:00pm-1:00pm Thursday February 25th, 2010

Where: 2035 N. Central Avenue Phoenix, AZ 

For more information about Puente please contact Carlos Garcia at carlos@puenteaz.org or call 602-314-5870