Looking Beyond Our Borders: A Celebration of International Human Rights Day

Looking Beyond Our Borders: A Celebration of International Human Rights Day

Saturday, December 13, 2014

9:00 AM to 4:00 PM

San Damiano Hall

127 W. 31st Street

Free & Open to the Public

First Friends Applauds President Obama's Immigration Action!

FIRST FRIENDS OF NEW JERSEY AND NEW YORK

Treating Immigrants with Dignity and Compassion

“Scripture tells us, we shall not oppress a stranger, for we know the heart of a stranger -- we were strangers once, too. My fellow Americans, we are and always will be a nation of immigrants. We were strangers once, too.”

Last night was monumental for millions of families around United States and in New Jersey. President Obama kept his promise and provided hope in releasing his highly anticipated Executive Actions on immigration that will provide much needed, temporary relief for millions of families currently suffering under our broken immigration system. These significant changes include an expansion of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), deportation relief for certain parents,  and an end to the highly-controversial Secure Communities program.

This set of crucial actions will allow millions to come out of the shadows and not live in devastating fear that they will be separated from their families by deportation.

However, with hope there is despair for 6 million people who do not qualify for reprieve under the President’s Executive Order. As such, we need to urge Congress to do their job and fix our nation’s broken immigration system.

We urge Congress to work together with the President to enact comprehensive immigration reform that includes welcoming refugees and asylum seekers arriving at our border seeking refuge and protection.

Please take a moment to use visit www.lirs.org and go to LIRS’s Action Center to urge your elected representatives to stand with the President in promoting family unity. Please also call the White House Comment Line at (202) 456-1111 to thank President Obama for standing firm in his commitment to family unity.

First Friends continues to provide wrap around case management services to asylum seekers upon release from detention. We continue to be challenged by housing which limits us getting more individuals out of detention. Please help us create houses of welcome and host an asylum seeker in your home.We need your help to provide winter coats, hat, gloves and a scarf to 5 men released. (3 large, 2 XL).

First Friends need volunteers to visit immigrants in detention. A special need for Spanish speakers and Bengali. Contact Rosa Santana at 908-965-0455 or visitation and firstfriendsnjny.org. 

First Friends’ 16th Annual Vigil

First Friends’ 16th Annual Vigil

                                                                                   By Edwina Gaiser-Marchev

Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shores, send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp before the golden door.”

These inspired words, penned by Emma Lazarus in 1883 and engraved on the pedestal of the statue of Liberty, have been a beacon of welcome for immigrants since the days following World War II. These are words that express the ideal to which our country aspires. Through the influence of this profound poem, the Statue of Liberty gained a new name. She became known as the “Mother of Exiles.” Her torch became the light that would lead new children to American success and happiness. 

Sunday, October 12, 2014 was a particularly beautiful day. The sunlight was warm on the shoulders of all those gathered for the First Friends 16th annual vigil at the Elizabeth Detention Center. Those who gathered were there to “stand up for dignity, justice, and solidarity” They were there on behalf of the unaccompanied migrant children, our immigrant brothers and sisters.

There was an implicit irony in the day’s purpose: to plead for love and protection for the thousands of immigrant children fleeing organized crime, gang violence, poverty and insecurity in their home countries. We know that every day desperate parents are sending their children alone on a treacherous journey to the borders of our country. These parents are sadly reminiscent of Jewish parents in 1930’s Europe who hoped for mercy and protection for their precious children in the homes of non-Jews even as they, the parents, were sent to their deaths in concentration camps all over Eastern Europe. Emma Lazarus, a young Jewish woman of New York privilege, wrote her poem, “The New Colossus,” in response to the violent injustices suffered by Jews in Eastern Europe. Is that history so far behind us that we fail to see the connections?

The march on October 12th was co-sponsored by Pax Christi NJ, American Friends Service Committee, Action 21, NJAID, Casa Esperanza, St. Joseph Social Service Center, and The Elizabeth Coalition to House the Homeless. One could not fail to be edified and inspired by the group that gathered in the sun outside the Elizabeth Detention Center on 625 Evans street. 

Father Jack Martin, a passionate advocate for our most recent immigrants, offered touching words of reflection to begin the program. “I want the world to change from being a dangerous place to a happy place for all. It’s wonderful to be here again,” he said, “to bring attention to the sad reality of the Elizabeth Detention Center as well as other detention centers around the country. We cannot help but be delighted with the beauty of our country. At the same time we must be repentant that our country, blessed as it is, does not carry out our ultimate imperative to treat everyone as an equal with God-given dignity and worthy of respect.”

The detention center itself is highly inconspicuous. It stands at the end of a street lined with nothing but huge warehouses; a tall red brick building with a row of narrow windows positioned along the top rim of the building so high as to defy anyone’s effort to see the sky from the stinginess of their narrow slits. Barbed wire is laced round the windows as a nasty afterthought. Except for a simple sign designating it The Elizabeth Detention Center, one would be hard pressed to deduce that this building was designed to confine our fellow human beings who are seeking refuge in our midst. 

The building itself is a cruel and uninviting edifice. The conditions inside beg forgiveness of all who administrate them. They beg forgiveness of us all because we, by our ignorance and silence, are complicit in their enforcement. In a litany of prayer for the detained, Rev. William Henkel said “We pray for a peaceful spirit as we work and serve among neighbors whose fearfulness prevents generosity from flowering in human hearts.”…..And, then, “We pray for grace and courage as we seek to live up to our nation’s heritage as a haven for the tired, the poor, and huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”

If there is hope, and, of course there always is, it was fueled by the exuberance of the

participants in the demonstration. There were dancers from the Marinera Dancing School. There was a rousing invitation from the Seton Ensemble from Mother Seton Regional High School who sang out, “Go Make a Difference!” Youth from Don Bosco High School & The Speak Out Club made their voices heard for freedom for the oppressed among us.
A particularly touching presentation was made by Eduardo Murillo, a former detainee and unaccompanied minor. His words were so simple….so direct….so profound! “I am grateful for the support of people who were always by my side. I thank God for the opportunity to be here. It was very difficult for me to get here, but my faith kept me going. I had to walk a lot. I had to pass through many dangerous places, but I got here.” A masterpiece of understatement!

A young family, a mom and dad and their lovely twins, stood out in the gathering. The Dad told his story of being a detainee in prison when his wife gave birth to their two children. They had to leave their native land, Colombia, he said “because of the violence there.” Their journey to our country was fraught with anxiety. Their effort to assimilate into our culture was monumental. To think that such effort would be confronted with hatred or deportation makes one’s heart sink with sadness. The rejection of new immigrants is not new, and it is so often based upon fear and the seemingly primal urge to reject “the stranger.” 

The Catholic Worker Band, Filthy Rotten System (Their name was based on the words of Dorothy Day.), gave a stirring rendering of the Woodie Guthrie song, “Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos).” The words sear into our consciousness if we let them. 

“Some of us are illegal and some not wanted. ….
We died in your hills; we died in your deserts;
We died in your valleys; we died in your plains.
We died ‘neath your trees and we died in your bushes;
Both sides of the river, we died just the same.” 

Anyone reading this article might be asking, “What can I do?” We can call on our legislators to reach out to the unaccompanied children. We can offer our personal love and respect for all of our recent immigrant friends. We can, as the Seton Ensemble sang to us,….

“Go make a difference. We can make a difference.
Go make a difference in the world.
We are the salt of the earth, called to let the people see
The love of God in you and me.
We are the light of the world, not to be hidden but be seen.
We are the hands of Christ reaching out to those in need,
The face of God for all to see.
We are the spirit of hope; we are the voice of peace.
So…let your light shine on, let it shine for all to see.
Go make a difference in the world!
And the spirit of Christ will be with us as we go.
GO! MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
Be peace! Be the change you want to see in the world.

Father Martin’s words were a promise of hope to all when he said, “We intend to keep doing these protests until all the detention centers are closed.” 

Do not be discouraged! There may be a great deal of horror in the world. It often feels overwhelming. Our call is to resist it every chance we get….every way we can. There is a continuum of activism. Do something small like giving a dollar to a homeless person, donating clothing and toys, giving your time to visit a detention center. Heroic acts are admirable. We are grateful for a Gandhi, a Martin Luther King, a Mother Theresa, and a Dorothy Day. However, we must not underestimate the collective power of good folks like those who gathered on October 12th to stand in solidarity outside the Elizabeth Detention Center. And we must never underestimate the worthiness of each one of our personal acts of loving kindness. As Mother Theresa so wisely reminds us, “No act of kindness is too small!”

First Friends assists and supports both detained and released detainees. First Friends is a non-profit organization that upholds the inherent humanity and dignity of all immigrants. They provide visitors and non-legal assistance for immigrants held in detention and work for improved conditions. They advocate for the end of arbitrary mass detention, believing detention is morally wrong, legally suspect, and wasteful of taxpayer funds. To become better acquainted with First Friends, visit their website: www.firstfriendsnjny.org. Click on DONATE tab to generously support the work of First Friends !!!

Blessed Sr. Miriam Teresa

I was a stranger and you welcomed me!

by Janet Gildea

Recently I spent the night with the Sisters of Charity of St. Elizabeth at their convent in downtown Newark, N.J. They have offered me hospitality on several occasions when I have been coming or going to their retreat house, Maris Stella, on the Jersey shore some two hours away. Living just five minutes from the Newark airport, they are accustomed to visitors like me, in and out with barely time for conversation in the community room.

The night I arrived I was shown to my bedroom at the end of the second floor. As I pulled my suitcase into the old-style convent room, complete with tiny antique sink and medicine cabinet, Sr. Ellen remarked quietly, “A woman from Sudan is staying in the room across the hall.” Then as we walked back towards the community room she noted another closed bedroom door and said, “Oh, someone else must be visiting . . . .”

We greeted the group gathered in the living room of the house, with its array of standard-issue recliners oriented in the general direction of the television. One sister was working on her laptop, another reading on her tablet and a third was intermittently watching an episode of NCIS. The fourth sister was working with a woman attired in a bright orange and brown print wrap. She looked up shyly from her notebook as we entered the room. Ellen said, “I think you know everyone except Soraya* who is staying with us. She is from Sudan and she is studying English with Sr. Mary Walter.” By that time Mary had scooted to a straight backed chair and she motioned for Soraya to come with her notebook and pencil to where the light was better, vacating a recliner for me.

Ellen inquired about the additional house guest. The others reminded her of the call she had received a few days earlier from a sister from another congregation in Florida. She was flying in for the wake and funeral of Fr. Benedict Groeschel, founder of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal. One of their sisters had suggested that she call the Newark convent for hospitality.

“Oh, that’s right!”

No wonder Ellen didn’t remember. That was many days and several guests ago.

“You’re always welcome! Have a good trip, and we look forward to seeing you the next time you’re passing through.”

Ellen and I agreed upon the early departure rendezvous and I was off to bed, all the while reflecting on the ease with which these religious women welcome the stranger into their home.

In the early morning darkness as we loaded my things in the car I asked Ellen about Soraya and how they had made a connection with her. Like many congregations of women religious, the Sisters of Charity of St. Elizabeth had made a public statement in support of immigration reform many years ago.

“We wanted to make it more than just words, so when the organization First Friends was looking for places to offer hospitality to women awaiting rulings on their asylum petitions we decided that was something we could do.”

Soraya was a teacher and human rights activist in Sudan. Three of her siblings had been killed. After she gave a presentation at the United Nations, she began receiving death threats. She sought asylum in the U.S., leaving seven children in the care of her sister.

“Sometimes she is so distraught because she’s never sure exactly where they are. Sometimes they don’t have food to eat.”

She has lived with the sisters since August and hopes, when her English improves, to be able to get a job in the housekeeping department of a hotel or hospital.

A lament arose within me as I considered our government’s inaction on immigration reform and the violent conflicts displacing people around the globe from their homes and families. How very difficult is the life of the refugee! Immediately another thought brought me consolation. One woman has found a safe harbor and a place of welcome with the Sisters of Charity of St. Elizabeth. They are living up to their name every day. They, too, are as blessed as their recently beatified Sr. Miriam Teresa. “Come, you blessed by my Father, for I was a stranger and you welcomed me . . . .”

*not her actual name

[Sr. Janet Gildea is a Sister of Charity of Cincinnati. A retired family physician, she now serves with her sisters at Proyecto Santo Niño, a day program for children with special needs in Anapra, Mexico, as well as ministering with young adults in the Diocese of El Paso, Texas.]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 7, 2014

CONTACT: Adriana Lafaille, 617-482-3170 x 308, alafaille@aclum.org

BOSTON -- In a ruling that could enable more than 100 Massachusetts detainees per year to argue for their freedom, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit has rejected the federal government's application of a "mandatory" immigration detention provision that prevents certain noncitizens from requesting release on bond during their immigration proceedings. The ruling came Monday afternoon in a pair of cases—including one brought by the ACLU of Massachusetts, the national ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project, the Political Asylum / Immigration Representation Project, and Lutheran Social Services—in which noncitizens argued that they were being improperly detained without even the opportunity to request their release. 

The decision is part of an ACLU class action lawsuit filed in August 2013. Following the district court's ruling in that class action in May, at least 27 people have obtained their release from detention after demonstrating to an immigration judge that they did not pose a flight risk or danger warranting continued detention. Many of them are long-time lawful permanent residents whom immigration authorities were detaining on the basis of old criminal convictions. 

Yesterday's First Circuit ruling decides the core issue in that class action: "mandatory" immigration detention cannot apply to noncitizens who have been placed into deportation proceedings because of offenses for which they were released from custody long ago. 

"This ruling ensures that many noncitizens in Massachusetts will be allowed their day in court to argue for their freedom," said Adriana Lafaille, an Equal Justice Works legal fellow at the ACLU of Massachusetts, whose fellowship is sponsored by Greenberg Traurig, LLP. "Rather than automatic, costly detentions of noncitizens like Mr. Gordon, who are plucked from their communities based on old offenses, the decision means that only those who need to be detained will be detained, while those who can safely return to their families while their cases are pending may be allowed to do so."

ACLU client Clayton Gordon is a named plaintiff in the class action and one of the two noncitizens whose case was decided by yesterday's ruling. Gordon came to the United States at age six, has been a lawful permanent resident for more than 30 years, and served in the U.S. Army. In June, 2013, immigration authorities detained Gordon and held him without the possibility of bond because of a 2008 drug offense, even though he spent less than a day in jail for that offense and had completed his probationary term. 

After his arrest for that offense in 2008, Gordon and his fiancée had settled down, had a son, and bought a home. In 2013, Gordon was running his own contracting business and working on a project to open a halfway house in the Hartford area for women coming out of incarceration. But, as he drove to work on June 20, 2013, Gordon was surrounded by armed immigration agents, seized, and placed into mandatory detention.

In October 2013, as a result of the ACLU's lawsuit, U.S. District Judge Michael A. Ponsor ordered that Gordon was entitled to an individual bond hearing. An immigration judge granted him bond, and Gordon was reunited with his family in November 2013. Yesterday's ruling upholds the federal district judge's decision and ensures that Gordon can remain with his family while he awaits a ruling in his pending immigration case. 

Leiticia Castaneda, whose case was paired with Gordon's, was also unlawfully subjected to mandatory detention. She too had been held without the possibility of release on the basis of a 2008 drug offense. Following the decision of the District Court requiring a bond hearing in her case, the government released her on her own recognizance, reuniting her with her family during the pendency of her immigration proceedings. Castaneda was represented by immigration attorney Gregory Romanovsky. The ACLU filed an amicus brief in her case.

"Yesterday the Court rejected a policy that undermines both our constitutional values and common sense," said Eunice Lee, an attorney at the Immigrants' Rights Project of the national ACLU. "Our laws don't allow the government to put immigrants in mandatory lock-up simply because they had run-ins with criminal justice system many years ago. The Court's decision prevents the irrational, unjust detention of these individuals without basic due process of law."

For a copy of the First Circuit's opinion, go to:
https://www.aclum.org/sites/all/files/legal/castaneda_v_souza/2014_10_06...

For more information about "mandatory" immigration detention, go to:
http://aclum.org/mandatory_detention​

http://www.thenation.com/blog/181800/who-profits-plans-lock-more-immigrant-families-private-prison-companies#

Who Profits From Plans to Lock Up More Immigrant Families? Private Prison Companies

Last week, the federal government announced that it will detain as many as 2,400 women and children on property in Dilley, Texas, that is currently used as a “man camp” for oilfield workers. The new facility will be the largest family detention center in the country, and the third to open since the number of children and families crossing the US-Mexico border shot up early in the summer. Since then, the number of minors caught at the border has fallen back below last year’s levels.

Human rights groups are alarmed that the administration is nevertheless planning to double the number of people in family detention. The controversial practice of locking up women and their children, many of whom are awaiting asylum hearings, had been all but abandoned before this year. Calls for closing the two other centers opened this summer in Texas and New Mexico have intensified in recent weeks due to reports of “deplorable” conditions.

“The Obama administration is playing with the lives of these women and children in order to earn political points. What it comes down to is the administration being tough on immigration,” said Silky Shah of the Detention Watch Network. Shah’s organization joined more than 160 civil and immigrant rights, faith-based, and criminal justice organizations signing a letter to the Obama administration on Thursday criticizing the proposed Dilley facility and calling for the closure of the other family detention centers.

Another cause for concern is the company that the government chose to operate the new detention center, Corrections Corporation of America. CCA got its start in Texas three decades ago when it scored a contract for a federal immigration detention center in Houston. It’s now the largest private prison operator in the country. CCA has been sued a number of times for negligence, abuse and other mistreatment. The company is currently under investigation for allegations of fraud and corruption at the Idaho Correction Center.

CCA has profited handsomely from the criminalization of noncitizens, but its record on immigration detention is particularly poor. The government stopped holding families at a CCA-run detention center in Taylor, Texas, in 2009 after the company was sued for mistreating women and children, some of whom reported that they were forced to wear prison uniforms. In 2011, the American Civil Liberties Union released records of 185 allegations of sexual abuse at CCA detention centers over four years; fifty-six of the reports came from facilities in Texas.

Even before the government’s contract with CCA for the Dilley center was announced last Tuesday there were questions about the deal. According to a Texas nonprofit, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency did not take public bids before it signed up CCA. That the government and the company are tight is not particularly surprising, as CCA has vastly outspent other private prison companies on lobbying.

CCA was profiting from the refugee crisis at the border before the Dilley deal, too. Investors anticipated that the surge in migrants would necessitate new detention services; CCA’s stocks went up by 8.5 percent in August, compared to a 1.5 percent rise in the S&P. "Investors see this as an opportunity. This is a potentially untapped market that will have very strong demand," Alex Friedmann, an activist investor who holds CCA stocks, told CNN Money.

Concern about the role of prison corporations like CCA and the GEO Group, the company that operates a family center in Karnes, Texas, (and has its own dubious record of abuse), is only a small part of the backlash to the expansion of family detention, however. Many of the women and children are pursuing asylum, and advocates contend that mass detention—no matter who's running the facility—is inconsistent with international guidelines for the treatment of refugees, as well as physically and psychologically harmful to children. Lawyers report that instead of evaluating on a case-by-case basis and releasing those whose fear of return is credible until their court date, officials are effectively denying bond en masse by setting itnearly six times higher than the national norm.

“Many of these women and children have claims to protection and asylum here in the United State. To respond by locking them up in centers that are remote, far away from legal services…. It just doesn’t make any sense,” said Katharina Obser of the Women’s Refugee Commission.

Danielle Rosché, an immigration lawyer who volunteered at a family detention center in Artesia, New Mexico, witnessed and heard stories of illness and inadequate medical care, undercooked food, weight loss and lack of access to legal services. Every child she interviewed reported diarrhea or fever. “‘Detaining’ is a nice word for it,” Rosché said about conditions at the facility. “We’re putting people who have not been convicted of any crime in these facilities and we call it civil detention, but that doesn’t make it any better.”

Detaining families is significantly more expensive than alternatives like releasing people with monitoring bracelets. So why is the government intent on expanding the practice? Government attorneys have argued against releasing noncitizen mothers and children under bond on the basis that they present a “national security threat.” The agency claims that detention will discourage other migrants from crossing the border.

But there’s very little evidence to support that claim. In order to back up its argument, the Department of Homeland Security has cited a study from Vanderbilt University—a study thatactually indicates the opposite, one of its principal authors says.

“[M]y Report does not in fact support DHS’ conclusion that detaining these mothers and their children during the course of removal proceedings will deter illegal migration to the United States,” political science professor Jonathan Hiskey wrote in an affidavit. [Emphasis his.] “Further, there is absolutely no evidence in the Report that US policy with respect to detention has any influence at all on the decisions women and their children are making with respect to migration.”

Obser said that the government’s detention-as-deterrence policy has the perverse effect of keeping individuals who have real claims to protection from making them. Lack of access to legal services has been a common complaint in the family centers. Rosché is concerned that other women may be choosing voluntary deportation instead of fighting for asylum in the courts because conditions in detention are so bad. It’s not that none of their claims are valid. Only three asylum cases from women held at Artesia have gotten a final verdict from a judge, but in all of the cases the women’s claims were upheld.

Even if detention were effective as deterrence it would be inconsistent with guidelines laid out by the United Nations high commissioner for refugees. “Detention policies aimed at deterrence are generally unlawful under international human rights law as they are not based on an individual assessment as to the necessity to detain,” they read.

It’s not clear whether the government plans to expand family detention centers beyond Dilley. Certainly, there will be encouragement from the private prison lobby to do so. Locking up more women and children might line CCA’s pockets, but it doesn’t actually serve the government’s goal of returning people who do not have legitimate claims to asylum to their home countries more quickly. As Rosché pointed out, the backlog in the immigration courts is a bigger hurdle. “Why don’t we spend that $200 a day to hire more judges?” she asked.

INDIVIDUAL FEARS DEPORTATION TO EBOLA INFESTED COUNTRY!!!

On the heels of becoming a United States Citizen, Michael Reeves lost it all. Now, he finds himself, without a country to call his own. Michael, alleges that he has suffered grave inaccuracies, discrimination, misconduct and a marriage that almost cost him his life. His complaint, allege, that he became a target of the U.S Government after he, a convicted felon, got married to a law enforcement officer.

Michael, 44, says that after he was released from federal prison over 17 years ago and got married, it was not for the better. In fact, his life changed for the worse. When word got out that Michael, a convicted felon had married a Probation Officer, his life went into uncertainty and despair ever since. He was told this posed a conflict of interest. His wife faced scrutiny, internal investigation and faced losing her job because she failed to divorce him. The investigation caused the board to rule that because she was a state probation officer and her legally married husband was on federal probation, that there was no conflict of interest. 

Michael had been out of prison for almost two years. He was halfway through his federal supervised released and on his way to citizenship. He had already paid for the crimes which he had been wrongly convicted and felt he was done with the system until he was deviously turned over to immigration at his probation check in. Two years earlier, at the end of his prison sentence, INS had informed prison officials to remove the detainer they had on him and release him.

Michael faced an immigration judge in Atlanta and claims the judge barred him from seeking any relief from deportation. Michael even had an asylum application that had been pending for 7 years. He had been approved to adjust status but the judge refused a hearing despite tons of letters that had been written to INS supporting his claims that his life was endangered if he was returned to the war zone of Liberia; all of his family in Liberia had been murdered or had fled the country. The judge angrily refused to even entertain the discussion.

Michael left Liberia as a young man and has no one there. He had grown up in the United States. Liberia had been embattled by a vicious civil war. What was left of the country was controlled by the very people who had killed his family, the Charles Taylor Government. In the presence of his pregnant wife in the court room, Michael was ordered deported from the United States and was never to see his family again.

When Michael and U.S Marshal's boarded the plane at J.F.K Airport, he and his family were told that he was getting deported to Liberia, but claims that were not true. The Marshall's were afraid to go to Liberia because it was a war zone as such the plan was to just "dump off" Michael in any place in Africa and let him find his way to Liberia. Michael was let off in the Ivory Coast, thousands of miles way from Liberia. He was in a French speaking country and he did not speak any French, which complicated his situation even more. Michael claims that the Marshal’s asked Ivorian officials to get him to Liberia, which never happened. Michael was jailed and Ivorian officials requested bribe money to release him and to get him close to the Liberian border.

After they were bribed, Michael braved it and left for Liberia even though he knew his life would be endangered, he had few choices. Either remain in Ivorian dirty jails cells, or brave it for his freedom.

After a long walk to the Liberian border, he was immediately detained. Michael claims that his last name linked him to the previous Liberian government where his family was very active in Politics at that time. The security at the border claimed that Michael was a terrorist and that he had come from the United States to start problems for new president, Charles Taylor.

Michael was stripped off all of his clothes, with his hands tied behind his back and was placed inside a small hut, used as a jail. Michael underwent, torturous interrogations, been beaten by the security guards for days. Michael was also shot him in his leg and was promised the next shot will be to his head. Michael was fearful for his life, so he decided to make up a plan to meet the new president, Charles Taylor.

Michael claims he lied to the guards that he was sent from the United States by major investors looking to buy millions of dollars’ worth of diamonds. Michael told them that he came through the border because the investors did not want him to leave a paper trail. After some hesitation, the security officials apologized to Michael questioning him as to the reasons why he did not share the information with them earlier. Michael answered that he was sure if the security were part of Taylor’s security or rebel forces, and that he did not want to risk his life. The security officials believed Michael and he was transported to Monrovia where he received medical treatment.

Michael met an official of the government and was introduced to individuals in the diamond underworld that owned diamond creeks and were smugglers. It was not long; Michael was taken to the Presidential Palace meeting President Taylor, and two other men who described themselves as private owners of diamond creeks. They sat brokering deals to smuggle diamonds into the United States. To get him back into the United States unnoticed, the Liberian Government acting under an order from President Charles Taylor requested a Diplomatic Passport and Official Visas from the United States Embassy. Michael was given a title, Chairman of the National Reconstruction Commission, as a cover up.

Michael re-entered the United States as a Senior Government Official, when in fact he had not worked a day in the government. His first mission was to broker a diamond deal for $175,000. After he met with the prospective investors on two occasions and the deal was worked out, he defected and ran away to his wife. He severed all ties with Liberia. He lived in fear for the next 17 years hiding from U.S customs and knowing that he ever stepped foot back on Liberian soil he would be a dead man.

Michael claims that even though President Taylor is no longer in power, the people that put up the diamonds are and Liberia is not safe for him. Michael is being prosecuted in the United States for illegal re-entry. His mother is a United States citizen. His wife and children all United States citizens. He has not been convicted of a felony in over 25 years, He is held under mandatory detention because the government claims he is a danger to the community. He has been in the United States for almost 30 years. On July 18th, 2014, U.S district court, Eastern district of New York, dismissed Illegal re-entry charge on the ground that the statute of limitation expired. Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) has detained Michael at Hudson County Jail where First Friends are providing moral and compassionate support for him through visitation. 

Not only is Michael fearful of  what will happen to him upon arrival to Liberia, but to face deportation to Ebola infested Liberia is causing emotional and psychological anguish. The Ebola epidemic is a humanitarian catastrophe across Liberia, Serra Leone and Guinea that First Friends believes it unfathomable for United States to consider deporting individuals such as Michael to their native countries that are hardest hit by the Ebola virus. ICE is enforcing an illegal removal order erroneously entered against him in 1997. Without, ICE affording a new hearing, Michael is denied a right to see a judge or be granted a bail bond. Michael requires our support for humanitarian relief as he cannot be sent back to his native country infested by the virus and where his life is already been threatened. 

First Friends: Need Your Assistance to House Accompanied Minors, including a 2 year old in Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) custody !!!

With the continued influx of unaccompanied children crossing the borders, ORR and DHS are overwhelmed in providing services to many of them while communities are responding to this humanitarian crisis, wondering how they can be more of a help.

First Friends, has assisted 2 unaccompanied minors with release and assisted with transportation logistics to have them united with family members in Michigan and Texas. First Friends is currently working with an undocumented family member to establish the support for the release of a 14 and 16 year old held in ORR custody in Texas. 

A referral from Kids in Need of Defense (KIND) in need of housing for a 17 year old unaccompanied male minor from Honduras who is currently in ORR custody at the Union County Juvenile Detention Center. E's father abandoned him at birth. E became a street child when he was six years old when his mother left to receive treatment for cancer. While living on the streets, he was robbed, beaten, and struggled to find food and bared witness to gang violence. He stopped attending school and began working at age eight in agriculture, picking up cans, shining shoes, and construction. His relationship with his mother is strained, and she often abused alcohol. E came to the United States seeking protection, and wants to receive an education. He has no family in the United States. When he arrived, U.S. immigration officials apprehended him, placed him in deportation proceedings, and placed him in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement in Arizona.

The government then transferred him to Union County Juvenile Detention Center. Despite that E has no criminal convictions or juvenile delinquency record, unless he finds an alternative arrangement, the government will transfer him to an adult immigration detention center when he turns eighteen on August 3, 2014. E hopes to be released from detention, and remain safely in the United States and attend school.

E is eligible for an immigration benefit and defense to deportation called Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS), because he is unable to reunify with either of his parents. Special Immigrant Juvenile Status would permit him to become a Lawful Permanent Resident, or green card holder, and remain in the United States permanently. He has completed the first stage of the process for applying for SIJS. Once his application for SIJS is approved, he will be immediately eligible to file for his green card and work authorization.

This morning, First Friends received a referral from ORR, New York for assistance for a 17 year old mom/baby (2 years old) from Honduras that have been in placement at Children's Village since March 2014 and have no reunification options. They do not have any family in the United States. 

First Friends is seeking your support to see if there is anyone in your community willing to provide shelter for them which would allow for their release. 

These children will spend much of their time in the custody of various federal agencies, so opportunities for public help are limited.

More importantly as soon as they turn 18 they will be moved to adult facilities. The 17 year female will be separated from her 2 year old daughter with limited possibility of unification if not released together. 

They need your help and support. 

Please contact Sally Pillay 908-469-7337 for more information.

SUGGESTIONS ON HELPING:

 

• Housing an accompanied minor or an asylum seeker released from immigration detention

• Shoprite, Pathmark, Target gift cards help us  
  purchase food and needed clothing for 
   released individuals 

• A USPS Money order valued at $28.75 helps a detainee to make phone calls to lawyers and family members

• Volunteer to visit immigrants in detention (A great need for Spanish Speakers). Your visits help to boost the morale of the individual and alleviates the isolation

• Donate to our Community Supported Post-Release Program: Visit www.firstfriendsnjny.org and click on the DONATE  
  tab !!! Money goes to towards food, clothing, shelter, transportation, medical needs among other needed services. 

• Take on a case: Attorneys can assists with taking a case pro bono 

PLEASE SUPPORT OUR EFFORTS!

First Friends Response to the Southern Border Humanitarian Crisis!!!

Worsened conditions of sexual assault, economic instability and rising gang and drug violence in Central America have led thousands of unaccompanied children to flee their home countries causing an "urgent humanitarian situation" at the US-Mexico border. These children are in need of care,  are often mistreated by border agents and are placed in already overcrowded holding cells and temporary shelters. They are being subjected to inhumane, appalling conditions. 

Border Agents are not equipped to handle the influx of unaccompanied children streaming in that is straining existing detention and enforcement capacity resulting in overcrowding and dehumanizing conditions of captivity. There are not enough Pro Bono attorneys available to assist these children in their legal proceedings.

As the crisis continues at the border, First Friends recently took in an unaccompanied minor who turned 18 on June 24th and was going to be placed in an adult jail facility if First Friends was not able to assist him.

His traumatic story of his journey from Central America fleeing gang violence, and the mistreatment he endured at the border illustrated the inhumane conditions of incarceration. He was placed inside rooms nicknamed "coolers," "ice boxes" or "hieleras" for 3 days in severely overcrowded conditions. The children were forced to sleep on the floor, and the exposure to frigid temperatures made him very ill. 

First Friends was able to temporarily house him, before getting into contact with family members in Texas. We were able to provide necessary arrangements to have him reunited with his family and provided necessary referrals to legal services providers to assist him. After 2 long days traveling on the bus and multiple changes, we found out that he successfully and safely made it to Texas.

We believe that opening up more family detention centers is not the solution.These children are not criminals, but refugees who have fled violence in their countries and are seeking refuge and a better life amidst the chaos. Department of Homeland Security and Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) should consider Alternatives to Detention rather than using detention facilities as a solution. ORR needs to speed up placement with parent or relative sponsors   and or ensure that children are placed into community-based care whenever possible rather than have them languish in detention 

U.S. authorities must deal with this humanitarian crisis immediately, addressing root causes of the crisis, improving resources and coordination and ensuring the needs of the children are met in a safe and humane manner.

We urgently ask President Obama to use his executive power to reform our immigration laws that reflect American ideals of compassion and family unity. We must place the best interest of the children first and should offer protection to the victims. These children should be our priority in dealing with this crisis. 

The government should appoint legal representation to assist them through the legal process. Many of these unaccompanied minors admitted into custody are potentially eligible for some type of immigration relief such as special immigrant juvenile status, asylum or visas for victims of crimes or trafficking. Without representation, these kids fall through the cracks. Children who would flee are clearly desperate and more attention needs to be focused on the problem.

To learn more about the humanitarian crisis at the border First Friends will host a focus meeting in early August.

Please join NOT1More Deportation NJ on April 5th! let's raise our voices to end deportations. #2Million2Many

http://player.vimeo.com/video/89445927

NOT 1 MORE NJ INVITES YOU TO: 

Date: Saturday April 5th at 3:30pm 
Where: In front of Essex County Hall of Records (by Lincoln statue) @ 465 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. 
Newark, NJ 07102 

Everyday more than 1,000 people are deported. It is predicted that in April 2 million people will have been deported by the Obama Administration. Amid Congressional inaction, President Obama and his Administration must understand that our community cannot continue to wait. The President can take concrete, bold and necessary actions TODAY to turn back the deportation dragnet.

Watchdog: Feds Are Muzzling Us for Reporting Alleged Immigrant Detainee Sex Abuse

After a community group raised concerns about alleged sexual abuse at an immigrant detention facility in California, the feds asked the group to sign away its First Amendment rights.

Last summer, Solace, a community group that helps oversee immigrant detention, warned US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) about alleged sexual assault, harassment, and neglect at the agency's Otay detention facility in San Diego. But instead of working with the organization to address its concerns, ICE is now blocking its access to the center.

In August, ICE told Solace that it would no longer be able to continue its visitation program at the facility unless its volunteers agreed to sign a confidentiality agreement. The confidentiality agreement is "extremely confusing," says Carl Takei, a staff attorney with the ACLU's National Prison Project. "It's vague enough that it could be used as a cover for inappropriate termination of visitation rights based on advocacy or other free-speech activities." The form also requires volunteers to "defend" and "indemnify" ICE and Corrections Corporation of America, which runs the detention facility, from any liability "arising" out of the volunteers' work, meaning that if a volunteer tells a detainee she has the right to sue Otay for sexual abuse, the volunteer would be required to defend Otay if the detainee were to bring a lawsuit against the facility. Takei says that this type of language would "chill" volunteers from raising concerns about detention conditions.

For six months, Solace tried unsuccessfully to persuade ICE's San Diego field office to reinstate the visitation program and to modify the language in the confidentiality form to comply with ICE's national detention standards, which merely require volunteers to sign an acknowledgment that they understand the rules of the facility and a waiver that releases ICE from responsibility in case of volunteer injury.

Civic, an umbrella network of visitation programs that includes Solace, sent a formal request to ICE's national office last week requesting that the agency force its San Diego field office to modify the application form and reinstate Solace's visitation rights. Civic asked for a response by Monday but has not received one. On Tuesday, when Civic told ICE it was going to publicize the issue, the agency said it was willing to meet with the immigrant visitation organization. "We hope to have a collaborative resolution," says Kristen Kuriga, who helps run Solace. "But it has already taken six months." ICE did not return a request for comment. Neither did the Department of Homeland Security.

This is not the first time that ICE has suspended visitation after volunteers criticized the agency. Last July, in response to an editorial penned by Civic's co-executive director, Christina Fialho, which slammed the lack of oversight at immigrant detention facilities, ICEsuspended Civic-affiliated visitation programs at three ICE detention centers in California. Fialho says that there have been other instances around the country in which individual Civic volunteers have participated in vigils outside of detention facilities and then been denied visiting privileges.

ICE detains about 34,000 people every day. It's a big system and there is "very, very little oversight," says Grisel Ruiz, a law fellow at the nonprofit Immigrant Legal Resource Center. Oversight of ICE detention facilities, which are often run by counties or private prison companies, has improved over the past half decade, Takei says. But unlike the federal prison system run by the Bureau of Prisons, there is no third-party overseer built into the ICE immigrant detention system, which is housed within the Department of Homeland Security. Most oversight of immigrant detention comes from civil-society groups, including groups like Solace.

Now, ICE "is asking us to choose between our First Amendment rights and visiting our friends in detention," Fialho says. "This is not a choice any democracy should ask its people to make."

After we published this article, ICE sent this response:

"US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is committed to an immigration detention system that prioritizes the health and welfare of detainees. The agency welcomes visits to its facilities by members of community groups and encourages constructive feedback for improving conditions of immigration detention. In the interest of ensuring the safety of facility staff and detainees, ICE policy [as detailed in the agency’s 2011 Performance-Based National Detention Standards] requires that members of community service organizations seeking to participate in voluntary detainee visitation programs undergo background checks prior to being admitted to these secure facilities."