Tag Archives: human-rights

“People were begging to be deported after being there for a month.”

Jorge* crossed the border from Mexico. He arrived in Arizona with a large group that planned to split up and head to different parts of the U.S. A Coyote took them to a house that was soon surrounded by ICE officers. ICE took them all directly to a detention center somewhere in Arizona; Jorge was held there for fifteen days. He didn’t have any idea where he was; he only knew that he was confined inside a big building with no windows, just fans that did little to dispel the hot air. His first week there, he didn’t have any blankets. Meals consisted of a little bread and water rations. There was one bathroom for sixty people. He felt he was being taught a lesson: don’t try to enter the U.S. ICE wants people to beg to be sent back to their home countries.

Then Jorge was moved to another facility — a detention center — in Phoenix. He was held there for four months. After a week, he was allowed to call his family. Then he was told that this facility was going to be used to house women, so he was moved again. He was transferred to a third facility, in Louisiana — a prison, like San Quentin. He stayed there for four months, too.

The inmates were allowed outside once a day, but they still felt as though they were being treated like animals. After a few weeks there, people would beg to be deported.

One man from Guatemala hung himself.

It took Jorge a month to be able to make a phone call. He called his brother to tell him where he was and to give him a phone number where he could be reached. But calls from the inside are extremely expensive. Food is sold in the facility, but his family had to send him money so he could get enough to eat.

Jorge’s family would call and be told by immigration authorities that he was going to be sent back to Peru very soon. Most of those in the jail were from Guatemala or Mexico. Jorge’s family learned that because it’s costly to deport just one person, ICE waits until they have a larger number so they can deport them all together.

Jorge’s detention dragged on for eight months. Finally, his family offered to pay for his ticket back to Peru. Before being deported, he had to sign a document saying he wouldn’t return for five years. The document is in English, and many who sign it don’t know what it says. But they’re forced to sign it anyway.

Three days later the Immigration authorities used the ticket his family paid for to send Jorge back.

* Not his real name.

Submitted by Lisa Bennett of Sausalito, CA (lisabpolitics@gmail.com). Lisa has known Jorge’s brother for 20 years, and personally gathered this story from him. Due to today’s culture of persecution, both men declined to have their names published.

stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSou


“People were begging to be deported after being there for a month.” was originally published in IMM Print on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

‘I tended to the bodies’: attacked by the Philippine army

Villagers massacred amid conflict between indigenous community and coffee plantation

When the soldiers opened fire on Datal Bonglangon village, there was first confusion, then terror, then grief. But Marivic Danyan – one of the younger, quieter members of the community – decided to be strong. Reluctantly, heartbreakingly strong.

The young T’boli woman had been preparing lunch when her remote, indigenous community on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao was peppered with gunfire. One bullet ripped into the wooden wall beside her. Another pierced the corrugated tin roof.

I urge people not to buy coffee from this region. It has caused us so much suffering

Continue reading…

Political Asylum: DENIED.

Trumped up and denied by Trump’s pups.

Ten months ago Alexey Kharis went to DHS in San Francisco to receive the verdict on his appeal for political asylum. Then he was arrested and thrown into detention. (Part 1 of 2)

Like many entrepreneurs in the Bay Area, 43-year-old Alexey Kharis had big dreams for a startup business venture. Unlike his entrepreneurial peers, however, Kharis is a political refugee from Russia.

For 20 years, Kharis ran a construction company in Vladivostok. But when his business partner uncovered evidence of corruption on a large government construction project, the Russian government went after them. Kharis’ business was repeatedly raided and eventually bankrupted. After Kharis refused to give false testimony against his partner, he became the target of a politicized prosecution. Like many entrepreneurs in Russia who run afoul of Putin’s regime, he was accused of fraud, an allegation he vigorously denies.

In 2014, together with his wife and two children, Kharis fled to the U.S. on a valid visa. A few weeks after they arrived, they were informed Kharis had been convicted in absentia. Returning to Russia was now unthinkable: Kharis would immediately be sent to prison.

Alexis Kharis, his wife, Anna, and their two children

Kharis was determined to start a new life in the U.S. He planned to use his business experience to market Russian dietary supplements. His wife, Anna, studied digital marketing and eventually found full time work while Kharis took care of his kids, ages 7 and 9, ferrying them to and from school. Evenings, he read to them — a nightly ritual — and on weekends the family enjoyed excursions to the ocean, hiking, visiting libraries and museums, and bicycle rides.

He was also attending classes at Stanford University, and in 2016 he was accepted into its Graduate School of Business. That same year, Kharis petitioned for political asylum.

On August 16, 2017 Alexey traveled from his home in Palo Alto to the Department of Homeland Security’s San Francisco office to receive his asylum verdict. There, his petition was denied — and he was arrested and refused bond.

The reason? In 2015, Russia had named Kharis in an Interpol Red Notice, even though, according to the U.S. Justice Department’s website, “The United States does not consider a Red Notice alone to be a sufficient basis for the arrest of a subject because it does not meet the requirements for arrest under the 4th Amendment to the Constitution.”

“I knew there was a chance I would be arrested,” Kharis said when he called me today from the West County Detention Facility. “But I was not a flight risk — I had been living in the same town for three years, and my family was here, so I thought that worst case I would have to post a bond, or be given an ankle monitor, before returning home. But after I received my verdict, officers came in, arrested me, and put me in handcuffs and leg shackles.”

Kharis has been detained at the West County Detention Facility in Richmond, CA, for the past eleven months. He’s been studying psychology and recently began learning Spanish so he could converse with his friends in custody.

Tomorrow, July 20, is his son’s birthday. He has not seen his children since that August morning in 2017.

Regarding his client’s case, Kharis’ lawyer, Christina Lee, said, “Russia’s abuse of the Interpol system is notorious. In the case of William Browder and many others, we have repeatedly seen how Russia uses spurious charges made through Interpol to harass political opponents and businessmen who become inconvenient. I am deeply concerned that, in acting on this Red Notice, the U.S. is doing Vladimir Putin’s dirty work for him.”

Kharis said the judge who ruled against him only seemed to take into consideration the documents from the Russian Federal Security Service, ignoring all the other documentation he brought to support his case. “I’m very worried, because when I go back to court, it will be the same judge, and what I’ve learned is that having a sympathetic judge can make all the difference.”

Kharis’ typical day consists of meditating and exercising in the morning, then working in the kitchen in the afternoon. In the evenings, he works on his case, reads, and spends a little time in the facility’s backyard.

“The most difficult part is that I don’t know when I will get out of here, or what will happen to my case,” Kharis told me. “My greatest fear is that I could be held here for another one or two years, only to be deported back to Russia, where I could be jailed for another twenty years.”

Meanwhile, the Kharis’ savings are gone. “Our financial situation is very difficult,” Kharis said. “I need to come home, so I can work and provide for my family. I am being treated like a criminal, even though I have done nothing wrong and have gone through all the proper channels for obtaining asylum.”

Anna is caring for the couple’s two children in addition to juggling the demands of her job. She can’t bear to tell her children that their father is in prison. Instead, she’s told them he’s away on a business trip.

Alexey Kharis with his daughter

Alexey calls his family every night; he tells his children everything’s going to be okay.

Editors note: Special thanks to Nancy Goodban and Anita Woitz for their contributions to this article.

stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSou


Political Asylum: DENIED. was originally published in IMM Print on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

PHOENIX — Transporter of Stolen Migrant Children was ‘Black Contract’ Operator in Iraq and Afghanistan

20180711_120907-COLLAGE.jpg

MVM secret black contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan were exposed when MVM was sued by an employee. Now in Phoenix, MVM was caught on video stashing migrant children in an abandoned office building. Photos 2 and 3: MVM advertised for youth care workers in Phoenix in June. In the photos, Native youths can be seen taking young migrant children into the black site in midtown Phoenix, including one

Officials admit they may have separated family – who might be US citizens – for up to a year

ACLU calls revelation ‘horrific’ and blames administration’s poor execution of family separation policy

The Department of Justice (DoJ) told a federal judge Tuesday that it may have mistakenly separated a father and toddler who could both be US citizens for as long as a year, in the process of enforcing the Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance” immigration policy.

Related: Trump forced to reinstate ‘catch and release’ after court defeats

Continue reading…

“God willing, someone will take pity on me soon.”

My name is Maria*. I have been living in the U.S. for 14 years, but now I am in immigration detention in Illinois. It is painful and exhausting when you don’t have anyone’s support. Being incarcerated because of this country’s immigration laws can be terrifying, and people, out of fear, can be scared to help you. On top of that, it is very expensive to hire an attorney. This is what I am going through now. I need an attorney because my court date is soon and I have no idea what I am going to do. My daughters are what I live for and our separation is painful to me. Especially because I have an 8 month-old baby. My daughters need me! I feel so abandoned because the only family I have are my daughters. They are suffering and cry every day for me because I don’t have the money to pay for an attorney or for bail. Oh my God, this is so hard, because I just want to be with my daughters.

My story is a long one, but the nightmare began on January 11th, 2018 when I had to go to court in Kankake, Illinois. Coming out of the judge’s room, Immigration officers were waiting for me. They took me into a room to arrest me. They asked if I had children and I told them I did. But I was in shock. I couldn’t comprehend what was happening. At that time I had left my 10 year-old daughter and my 7 month-old baby at the house, because I thought I was going to go back home, that everything would go the same way it had in the past. But it wasn’t like that. I pleaded with the agent to let me speak to someone so that they could go and pick up my daughters, but they were rude and didn’t care. They were heartless. The man was Filipino and I thought to myself, how could someone who is also an immigrant have so much hate, or racism, to deport a fellow immigrant from this country?

I am a single mother and I work 7 days week. Everything that one does is just so that their children can have a better life than one’s self. Anyway, later they took me to Chicago and there they took my fingerprints, etc. After their routine search — a horror — I began to realize what was happening and started to cry. I called my Consulate, but they were no help. On the contrary, they told me I’d soon be deported. Wow, what a thing to say.

But the nightmare didn’t end there. I was able to speak to my daughter by telephone and I told her to call our neighbor so that she could come and get her and my baby. From that moment I haven’t been able to see my little girls, even my little one. That very same day I was taken to the McHenry jail, supposedly only temporarily. I started to cry again, and to this day I am praying for my release. The food isn’t the best but I don’t complain because our Father blesses me every day. I ask that I will see my daughters soon. I am looking for a lawyer to take my case here, but it is very slow. My court date is soon and it scares me to think what will happen in court without anyone to represent me. But God is my rock and my protector in the face of this situation. I only ask for a miracle and for some mercy for this mother that is suffering every day, as are all of my companions in here with me so far from their children.

I don’t have money to buy things, like shampoo, but I don’t need it because I know soon I will be getting out of here. I just need help taking up a collection for when I am released on bail, because I need to get back and see my daughters. My heart breaks when I have money to call them and they cry and tell me they love and me and want me to come back soon. My littlest one is with her father (or with my second relationship) but he won’t answer the phone. All I want to know is how she is. I don’t have any control over this because I am in the hands of the enemy.

At times I feel like what I imagine the Jews felt in the times of Hitler because you don’t know what is going to happen to you or where they will take you. When the immigration officials come they are almost like devils, and no one wants to ask about their case out of fear that they will be deported as a result. This is what they have told me happens: that if a girl asks any sort of question about her case she is then deported within days. It’s painful to see all of these cases. We are not criminals. I did not kill anyone; I am only a mother, one who wants to see her daughters grow, to raise them and shape them into respectable women. Please, help us immigrants — we are all brothers and sisters. What brought us here was family, our children. Blessed God, I give my case over to you. You are love; give us strength to overcome this suffering. I hope someone will help me.

Sincerely,

Maria

*Not her real name

Translated by Katherine Guillen from a letter written to us in Spanish.

Editors note: We’ve attempted to follow up with Maria, but she no longer appears in the ICE Detainee Locator. We are hopeful that she has been released on bond.

stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSou


“God willing, someone will take pity on me soon.” was originally published in IMM Print on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

On the Fourth of July, Leonard Peltier Still in Lockdown

ct-peltier-obama-clemency-edit-0116-2017

Greeting Friends, Family, and Supporters,July 4th is a national holiday which should mean an extra visiting day in July for Leonard. Normally, Leonard would be spending today with members of the ILPDC or possibly members of his family would have made the trip to visit him. Today, no one will be able to visit Leonard as the lockdown at USP Coleman continues – it has been over 30 days so

Western Shoshone Carole Wright ‘White House Racism and Stolen Children’

Carlisle_pupils.jpg

Carlisle Indian School, Penn., circa 1900
.

Carlisle Indian School ‘The Children Who Never Came Home’
Photo Brenda Norrell, Longest Walk 2008
.

Western Shoshone Carole Wright ‘White House Racism and Stolen Children’

By Carole Wright, Western Shoshone

Censored News

July 3, 2018

I, and my Indian relatives, have watched the ugliness of the immigration policies perpetrated

Selfie in jail: Defenders of migrant children jailed over Trump’s genocide and torture of children at border

Screenshot%2B2018-06-29%2Bat%2B12.34.26%

Eleanor Chavez said, “In the jail cell at State Police on Cerrillos in Santa Fe. Arrested at the governor’s office.”
“We are in jail — but where are the children?”
The New Mexico Governor’s office was occupied on Thursday in protest of New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez’ support of Trump separating migrant children from their parents at the border.