Due
Process is one of the cornerstones of the American system of Justice.
Because of the increasing reliance on detention as an immigration enforcement
strategy,
immigrants of any legal status have been detained for prolonged periods, sometimes
several years, without any finding that they are either a danger to society
or a flight risk.
This week on Radio Civil Liberties: we're featuring the story Aleo Seh, a single father who was subjected to five months of mandatory detention before winning his immigration case. Aleo is a longtime green card holder who came to this country as a refugee from the Liberian Civil War when he was 15 years old. In Liberia, Aleo was kidnapped, tortured, and forced to become a child soldier by rebel militias and survived by escaping to a refugee camp in Guinea.
Listen here: [Audio clip: view full post to listen]
Since his escape, he has has built a life in the United States for himself and his four young U.S. citizen daughters, two of whom he has full custody as a single parent. Nonetheless, the government sought to deport Aleo based on a minor misdemeanor offense for making a false police report and a minor drug paraphernalia offense for both of which he received no jail time. Even though Aleo posed no danger or flight risk, and even though he had a strong claim for permanent relief from removal, the government refused even to consider his release from detention while he fought his case on the grounds that his misdemeanor convictions subjected him to mandatory detention.
Thus, Aleo was forced to choose between abandoning his right to remain in the United States and returning to Liberia or enduring an indeterminate period of imprisonment. Ultimately, through the work of the Pennsylvania Immigration Resource Center, Aleo won permanent relief from removal based on his strong ties to his family and community. The government chose not to appeal and Aleo was able to return to his family. His five months of detention, however, caused tremendous hardship to him and his small children. It also resulted in him losing his job as a machine operator.
Aleo’s interview appears on the ACLU’s new website, No End in Sight, featuring the stories of the many other individuals who have been subjected to arbitrary and prolonged immigration detention, at unimaginable cost to themselves, their families, and their communities. The Obama administration has professed its commitment to “smart enforcement” as it looks toward comprehensive immigration reform, with a priority on violent offenders and people who pose threats to national security. If the government is serious about that commitment, it needs to take a hard look at who it locks up and puts into removal proceedings. Aleo, and the many immigrants like him, simply aren’t priorities for enforcement.
This Week on Radio Civil Liberties
“The State Assembly has a proud record of championing the rights of women,” NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman said. “This important legislation is not only about strengthening reproductive rights. It’s about supporting autonomy, privacy and dignity. It’s about supporting healthy families.”
Assemblymember Glick, D-66th-A.D, introduced the bill (A.11484) on Thursday. It was introduced in the Senate (S. 5808) by Andrea Stewart-Cousins, D/WF-35th-S.D., during the 2009 legislative session.
Abortion has been legal in New York since 1970, but the state has not revised its laws since. New York law still treats abortion as a crime and does not affirmatively guarantee women’s right to make private reproductive health care decisions. New Yorkers rely on the Roe v. Wade decision to guarantee that right, which leaves it vulnerable to further erosion by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Reproductive Health Act would guarantee a woman’s right to control her reproductive health and treat the regulation of abortion as an issue of public health rather than as a potential crime.
Currently, state law only protects women during pregnancy if their lives are in immediate danger, leaving them vulnerable to a wide range of complications that can occur during pregnancy. The bill will ensure that if continuing a pregnancy jeopardizes a woman’s health, she has safe, legal options.
It will not force health care providers to provide abortion services in conflict with their religious beliefs. It specifically states: “Nothing in this article shall be construed to conflict with any applicable state or federal law or regulation permitting a health care provider to refrain from providing abortions due to the provider’s religious or moral beliefs.”
“Since Roe v. Wade, generations of women have benefited from the constitutional right to make one of life’s most important and personal decisions — whether or when to have a child — without government interference,” said Corinne Carey, NYCLU senior public policy counsel. “This act ensures that in New York our rights will be protected in the future.” (Click Here to Take Action Now!)
********
In our Second segment this week, June is Pride Month, and to mark it, the New York Civil Liberties Union today released a new video reminding New Yorkers that, despite a temporary setback last year in the State Senate, the fight for fair marriage laws is not over.
“The majority of New Yorkers support fair marriage laws that protect lesbian and gay families,” said NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman. “We must keep working and show our elected officials that they must stand up for all New Yorkers.”
In December, the State Senate rejected a bill that would have given gay and lesbian couples in the state the ability to marry by a vote of 38 to 24. The new, 90-second video features footage from last year’s floor debate of senators expressing their support for the marriage bill.
Find out how you can help bring equality and dignity to
all of New York's Families, visit
MarriageNY
This Week: Incarceration Nation: NYCLU Sues Erie County and Gerrymandering 2010: The True Costs to New Yorkers:
In recent years, the county has aggressively resisted investigations, and subsequent legal challenges, by the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division and the New York State Commission of Correction regarding unconstitutional and inhumane conditions at the Erie County Holding Center in downtown Buffalo and the Erie County Correctional Facility in Alden. Some county residents – as well as elected officials – have questioned the wisdom and expense of this obstructionist approach. (More Here)
****************
The Census Bureau counts incarcerated people as residents of the communities where prisons located, as opposed to their home communities. Counting incarcerated people in the wrong place skews legislative representation and the political power of our communities. A Statewide Coalition to End Prison-Based Gerrymandering seeks to eliminate this practice by changing how the state and counties use the Census data for the purpose of legislative redistricting
Last week in Albany, NYCLU Western Regional Director, John A. Curr III spoke a few words during a Press Confernce at the State Capital regarding Prison Based Gerrymandering in NewYork State"
 |
Reproductive Rights: From the Back-Alleys to The Supreme Court & Beyond
The Reproductive Health Act would guarantee a woman’s right to control her reproductive health, treat the regulation of abortion as an issue of public health rather than as a potential crime, and ensure that if continuing a pregnancy jeopardizes a woman’s health, she has safe, legal options.
"State legislatures around the country have enacted over 450 bills that would ban or restrict abortion, some of which are a direct challenge to Roe," said Galen Sherwin Director of the New York Civil Liberties Union's Reproductive Rights Project "All it takes is one of these challenges to reach the Supreme Court, and Roe could be overturned."
In moving forward to protect the health and the rights of women and their doctors, it's important that we all know where this struggle began and how we've come to this place. This week, on Radio Civil Libeties: "Motherhood by Choice, Not by Chance"-From the Back-Alleys to the Supreme Court and Beyond & an update on the Reproductive Health Act .
 |
RADIO
CIVIL LIBERTIES (04/29/10) (33.8MB .mp3 format) Reproductive Rights Special: "Motherhood by Choice, Not by Chance"-From the Back-Alleys to the Supreme Court and Beyond & Reproductive Health Act Update. |
Voices From the Community: Comprehensive Immigration Reform
Comprehensive Immigration Reform This week on RCL, we feature some of the strongest voices from our community on Immigration Reform from our Buffalo, NY forum held on March 30, 2010 at Buffalo's own Unitarian Universalist Church of Buffalo. Speaking to the community about various aspects of Comprehensive Immigration Reform and the need to continue to put pressure on our elected representatives, the speakers included:
|
|
The Genesee Valley Chapter of the NYCLU held a panel discussion on March 16 in Rochester examining the controversial question of whether suspected terrorists should be tried in civilian or military courts.The chapter cosponsored the event, held at the Downtown Presbyterian Church, with the Rochester Lawyers Chapter of the Federalist Society, a policy group devoted to conservative and libertarian legal ideals.
featuring
|
featuring
|
Only on Radio Civil Liberties:
FREEFORM FRIDAY: Incarceration Nation:Update on the Erie County Holding Center and Dating Violence in our Schools
According to the Buffalo News: These events unfolded Thursday a day after the hanging death in Erie County’s busy and controversial downtown jail: arz, who repeated his call for Green to resign, saying she has given poor advice in the matter.
There are reports in local media that a decision on "expedited discovery" and allowing Federal experts access to the facilty will be happening as early as this weekend, a rare devlopment in local federal legal proceedings.
We will continue to cover the issues and problems at the recalcitrant facility as lawsuits by the State Department of Corrections and the Departement of Justice move forward with lawsuits against the County Executive, County Attorney, Sheriff Tim Howard and the County itself.
In our second report this week, dating abuse is a common problem among teens across the country. NYCLU attorney Naomi Shatz and New York City high school student Destiny discuss the issues surrounding dating abuse, and how schools can help teens recognize, prevent, and address dating abuseNote: Next week, watch this space for more updates from around New York State on Comprehensive Immigration Reform.
Twenty10: Phantoms of Freedoms Lost: Detention and Guantanamo Bay
|
This week on Radio Civil Liberties, we take a look at some of the most pressing holdover issues of, not only 2009-but, indeed the last decade.
Detention: Official government reports have documented many horrific abuses inflicted on detainees in U.S. custody. The ACLU is working to stop physical and psychological abuse of detainees and the denial of their essential due process rights in prisons like Guantanamo Bay and other U.S. run detention facilities all over the world.
The ACLU has long disputed the fact that there exists any significant category of detainees who are too dangerous to release, but too difficult to prosecute. If there is credible evidence that prisoners are dangerous, that evidence should be introduced against them in criminal trials in our federal court system. The criminal laws are broad enough to reach anyone who presents a serious threat, and the time-tested federal courts are fully capable of affording defendants fair trials while preserving the government's legitimate interest in protecting information that is properly classified.
Special Coverage:
Justice Denied: Voices From Guantanamo includes:
* An interactive video player featuring former Guantánamo detainees speaking about their experiences in U.S. custody * FAQs about indefinite detention * “The World is Not a Battlefield” interactive map feature * Downloadable campaign poster featuring the winning design from the ACLU’s Restore America Poster Contest * A new action asking President Obama to end indefinite detention and to close Guantánamo
The ACLU has long disputed the fact that there exists any significant category of detainees who are too dangerous to release, but too difficult to prosecute. If there is credible evidence that prisoners are dangerous, that evidence should be introduced against them in criminal trials in our federal court system. The criminal laws are broad enough to reach anyone who presents a serious threat, and the time-tested federal courts are fully capable of affording defendants fair trials while preserving the government's legitimate interest in protecting information that is properly classified.
Check out the new features on the ACLU's indefinite detention page. And join us in letting President Obama know that just as important as closing Guantánamo quickly is closing it right, and that means putting an end to the illegal policy of indefinite detention without charge or trial.
Reform Immigration for America's Caravan Arrives in Buffalo.
Reform Immigration for America's road trip for real Comprehensive Immigration Reform made its scheduled stop, on-time and on message in Buffalo, the Queen City of the Empire State. On February 15th more than a dozen New Yorkers began the five-day road trip across New York State to call for action on tre comprehensive immigration reform.
The caravan, dubbed the "New York Road Trip for Our Future", stopped in key towns and cities across the state: New York City, Carmel, Saratoga Springs, Syracuse, Sodus, Pittsford, Greece, Batavia, Buffalo, Ithaca, and Brooklyn.
Rolling into a Noon Press Conference at Buffalo's Landmark First Presbyterian Church across the street from the legendary Kleinhans Music Hall. The red hot energy from the caravan's travelers was a marked contrast to the cold Buffalo New York winter day.The weary but no less inspired travelers were greeted by local friends and allies from Hispanics United of Buffalo, the Network of Religious Communities, the Western New York Peace Center, Citizen Action, the International Institute of Buffalo as well as the New York Civil Liberties Unions's Western Regional Office.
This action was part of the first-ever caravan across the state to demand legislative action on Comprehensive Immigration Reform.Amid growing frustration in immigration communities
that President Obama and Congress have not yet delivered on the promise of immigration
reform, residents of New York State, from NYC to Saratoga Springs to Buffalo, coordinated a statewide caravan to mobilize diverse sectors and press New York's Legislators and President Obama to enact federal immigration reform.
On hand for opening remarks was NYCLU Regional Director, John A. Curr III, who was followed by the iconic Executive Director of Hispanics United of Buffalo, Lourdes Iglesias, the oldest and largest Hispanic advocacy organization in Western New York. Ms. Iglesias was followed by the always-inspiring words of the animated Rev. Deacon Jim Anderson, from the Network of Religious Communities and Citizen Action. Rev. Anderson also is the Chair of the WNY Peace Center.
As if inspiration enough wasn't felt from the opening speakers, the voices of the caravan travelers found deep connection among the diverse crowd that attended the press conference and small rally. The first young man to speak from the travelers contingent was Osman Canales. In a style that was uniquely his own, Osman delivered a riveting account of his very personal
journey as a first generation American forced into coming of age in a single parent household because of the cruel deportation of his father, his family's sole provider, when he was just an infant. Following Osman, was Yasmine Farhang, a first generation Iranian-American who shared her outrage at living in a comfortable community of familial acceptance, only to watch the indignities of an indifferent bureaucracy that held her family in contempt during an immigration process that lasted years and visited countless petty humiliations upon her parents.
The caravan speakers concluded with the insight of Kevin Kang, a Korean -American who gave his insight into growing up in an immigrant community in New York City. Concluding the events, the group heard from Gabriela Villareal, of the New York Immigration Coalition who thanked so many for welcoming the caravan to Buffalo and announced a mobilization to bring 100,000 Americans to Washington D.C. for the March for America, March 21st Rally in support of Immigration Reform. She further challenged Buffalo, NY to send 2000 to the nations capital, which received a standing ovation from the crowd.
Kudos' go to Ms. Lourdes Iglesias of Hispanics United ofBuffalo for pledging to personally commit 200 people from the ranks of her organization. Winding up the affair was, Martiza Vega, who displayed symbols of the region-Chicken Wing Hot Sauce (!) and an apple that she was personally going to deliver to New York State's Senators, in addition to so many of the other symbols of support that she had gathered across the caravan's travels throughout the Empire State.So many people to thank for the inspiring events of the day, especially, the Rev. John Long and the First Presbyterian Church, Gabriela Villareal of the New York Immigration Coalition and Corinne Rosen, the regional organizer for Reform Immigration for America.
We're looking forward to seeing everyone -and more -on that trip for justice to our nations's capital, the March for America, on March 21st.
Call-In Day for Comprehensive Immigration Reform
Our nation's immigration system is broken!of thousands of people are detained, some indefinitely, in inhumane conditions and without access to medical care; and unscrupulous employers prey on the undocumented.
Our immigration system is so flawed that even documented immigrants regularly suffer from many of these problems.
The situation is too dire to continue to ignore.
Congress must adopt practical solutions that fix our immigration system and uphold our nation's values. All Americans' rights and liberties are at stake.
Brian Higgins:
Phone: 716-852-3501
Fax: 716-852-3929
Chautauqua County Office
Phone: 716-484-0729
Fax: 716-484-1049
or Via email here
Chris Lee
Phone: 716.634.2324
Fax: 716.631.7610
Phone: 585.663.5570
Fax: 585.663.5711
Contact the Western Regional Office of the NYCLU at 716.852.4033
