On this Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, we begin, as he often liked to do, with a story:

It reads like the plot of a Jason Bourne movie – In a time of military dictatorship in a fledgling nation, a journalist hones his craft, intent on publishing articles exposing the actions and hypocrisy of a corrupted government administration. His words seek to educate and liberate his fellow countrymen, but are soon met by demands for his silence. On three separate occasions, he is detained, questioned and beaten by the police. Yet he refuses to remain silent. One day, while in a car with his wife, he is stopped by a car of uniformed policemen, shot point-blank, and taken away, his wife and driver fleeing for their lives. What happened to his body is unclear, yet there is certainty that his government killers went unpunished.

But this is no box office blockbuster, unfortunately. This is how the story begins for Al Chisom, the 1 year-old boy whose life began at the crossroads of his father’s killing in Lagos, Nigeria in 1991. Outraged “that no actions would be taken against the police who killed her husband,” his 28 year-old mother filed a lawsuit against the Nigerian government. After they began receiving death threats from her husband’s killers, Al and his mother were forced into hiding for years. They eventually escaped to the United States and filed for political asylum, seeing as they were, by most definitions, political refugees.

Their initial asylum application was denied on the basis that her husband’s death “was not politically motivated.” Yet there are multiple mentions of the political killing in the media, as well as in the U.S. State Department’s 1992 Report on Human Rights, an Amnesty International Report on extra-judicial killings, and a dissertation on transnational justice. Not surprisingly, the same judge who denied their case denied 85% of all asylum cases from 2002 to 2005, pointing to a lack of understanding of the context and complex danger of political persecution.  However, due to attorney negligence and an unforgiving immigration system, Al and his mother were purposefully misinformed by their lawyer and missed a crucial court date in their appeal process, leading to an order of deportation in their absence.

Having been in the U.S. since the age of 5, Al is now a 21 year-old a student at Central Washington University. Though he aspires to be a medical doctor, he is now facing imminent deportation back to Nigeria, where, as political refugees, his life and the life of his mother will certainly be at risk. Like many other undocumented youth, Al’s entire life, including the remainder of his extended family who have taken him in, is crafted of memories in the United States. He has no knowledge of Nigeria and cannot speak the native language of his parents.

Here we are presented with a unique challenge. A black man is caught at the intersections of a broken immigration system and the equally broken, quota-driven detention and deportation system. A son loses his father to police brutality and government corruption, all over a battle of freedom of speech and the press in a time of military dictatorship. A mother’s courageous decision to fight for justice against one government and protection from another is met with hostility and further violence by both states, one which seeks to kill her and the other which seeks to silence her within its structure of detention. Human rights violations have fractured and separated this family, from father to mother, and now threaten the next generation through their son’s unjust and immoral deportation.

Today we reflect upon and celebrate the legacy of another black man caught at intersections – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Just as Dr. King understood that the battle of the time was bigger than civil rights, was deep and systematically entrenched in a history of language, degradation, psychological conditioning and institutionalized oppression of black people in the United States, we must recognize the same. That our battle is bigger than legalization, is encompassing of civil rights and human rights, and is also entrenched in a history of the abuse and dehumanization of another people of color – immigrants.

“The Negro will only be free when he reaches down to the inner depths of his own being and signs with the pen and ink of assertive manhood his own emancipation proclamation. And with a spirit straining toward true self-esteem, the Negro must boldly throw off the manacles of self-abnegation and say to himself and to the world, “I am somebody. I am a person. I am a man with dignity and honor. I have a rich and noble history, however painful and exploited that history has been. Yes, I was a slave through my foreparents, and now I’m not ashamed of that. I’m ashamed of the people who were so sinful to make me a slave.”

This country’s long history of victim-blaming, of laying the burden of proof on the oppressed and not the oppressor, of a warped geopolitical perspective due to its own imperialist mindset must be recognized for the disservice and pain it causes so many seeking asylum, identity and that elusive quest for home.

Just as Dr. King encouraged a broader dialogue that exposed the need for a system-wide restructuring, the spirit of both internal and external revolution, and the audacity to demand no less than true, authentic change, we must encourage the same.

“…we must honestly face the fact that the movement must address itself to the question of restructuring the whole of American society…We are called upon to help the discouraged beggars in life’s marketplace. But one day we must come to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. It means that questions must be raised. You begin to ask the questions “Who owns the oil? Who owns the iron ore?”

We must raise the question of why an assassination, a well-documented human rights violation is not enough “proof” of political persecution for the U.S. (whose judicial system works much differently for immigrants than for the larger population). Of why a country like Nigeria, capable of producing millions of barrels of oil, lacks the infrastructure to refine its own resource, and has to import from other countries that which lies underneath its soil? Of why it is now taboo to point out the grave consequences of colonialism on the failures of globalization, capitalism and democracy in developing nations?

Just as Dr. King implored the nation to “develop a kind of dangerous unselfishness,” of mutual accountability of oppressed people to one another in the various struggles they face, of collective responsibility of society to advocate for justice, we must implore the same.

“And so the first question that the priest asked was, “If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?” But then the Good Samaritan came by, and he reversed the question: “If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?” That’s the question before you tonight. Let us rise up tonight with a greater readiness. Let us stand with a greater determination.”

To be clear, Al’s decision to go public with his case means that, if deported to Nigeria, he will be at even greater risk of persecution. We are asking that you help stop his deportation so that before he can benefit from passage of the DREAM Act, before he can go back to college, he has a chance to live first, among family, without fear of retaliation. We are asking that our fellow communities of color step up and take action, for in the words of Dr. King, “a time comes when silence is betrayal.” We are asking this movement to collectively fight for these cases – the confusing, political, complex, risky cases – to continue to challenge and grow the narrative of who is worthy of being saved from deportation.

We ask everyone to acknowledge the privilege we have in standing on the shoulders of those like Dr. King who have come before us, of benefiting from the successes of those in the civil rights and other movements who perished so that our voices would not be silenced, but amplified.

How to take action:

Sign the petition: http://chn.ge/zFfNoR

Make a call to ICE: 202.732.3000 or 202-732-3100

Sample Script: “Hi, I am calling to ask that the deportation of DREAMer Al Chisom (A# 073 426 339) be stopped. Al has been living in the U.S. since he was 5  years old and is currently an honor roll student at Central Washington University. Al’s father was assasinated in Nigeria; if deported his life would be in danger!”

Miguel, an undocumented student, has been in detention at York County Jail in Pennsylvania for over two months now. Please sign the petition to stop his deportation.

Miguel was born in El Salvador and was brought to the United States when he was only 9 years old. He has lived in the United States for over 15 years and considers this country his only home. Miguel is the father of an adorable 3 year old and is awaiting his second child with his long-term girlfriend, Jessica. It has been over two months that Miguel’s son hasn’t seen his father. Throughout that time, Jessica has had to raise their son on her own while dealing with the traumatic experience of having her partner taken away. Miguel also has 3 U.S. citizen siblings who need him in Allentown, PA. If Miguel is deported, he won’t be able to witness the birth of his second child and will be denied the opportunity to raise his children with Jessica.

Take action to stop Miguel’s deportation by signing this petition now.

Miguel’s only wish right now is to be released from detention so he can finally see his family again. He deserves to be at home with his family, not in detention. If he’s not released soon, ICE officials will get their way and deport Miguel back to El Salvador, away from everything and everyone he knows and loves. Miguel has proven to be a good father and a contributing member of his community in Pennsylvania. Jessica, Miguel’s partner, is asking for our help to get him back to his family.

You can also make a phone call to help get Miguel out of detention:

1. Senator Casey (202-224-6324)

Sample Script: “I am calling to ask that Senator Casey step in and stop the deportation of DREAM Act youth Miguel Angel Orellano Garcia (A# 094-320-156). Miguel has been living in the country since he was 9 years old. He has one U.S. citizen child and one on the way with his longtime girlfriend. Please help Miguel stay in the U.S.”

Let’s help keep this family together!

72 hours after she came into the world, Sandra Lopez was brought to the United States. Now 20 years old, Sandra is facing deportation in 4 days for committing a felony. Her crime? Attempting to return to the only country she has called home since she was 3 days old.

Sandra’s parents brought her and her sister to Arizona to try and provide a better quality of life for their daughters. Sandra grew up speaking English, and has attended school in the United States from Kindergarten through 12^th grade. She was the first in her close family to graduate from high school, maintaining a high GPA.

Growing up, however, Sandra faced more than her fair share of challenges. She grew up in a very low-income household, lacking the money and resources to allow her to pursue the same opportunities as her peers. She constantly struggled to find mentorship and guidance from an adult role model, something she also lacked at home. Sandra has been forced to fend for herself, both financially and emotionally, from a young age.

During high school, she began a long and fruitless search to find employment, cleaning houses with her mother in the meantime. Her living situation was unstable – not welcomed at home, she would sleep with friends or extended family when possible. Without a social security number, Sandra found herself turned away from job interview after job interview. Hoping that she could pursue higher education in order to improve her future prospects, she attended orientation at a local community college, interested yet still undecided in a future in medicine or law. Again she was not allowed to enroll due to her immigration status. Not daunted, Sandra continued to motivate and encourage her closest friends and siblings to work hard in school and continue their own education.

After her high school graduation, having spent over a year in search of employment, a stable living situation, and the opportunity to support herself and improve her future, Sandra became desperate for funds. Having grown up with such an independent spirit, she felt that she needed to rely on herself and no one else. In a moment of desperation, surrounded by people looking for someone to exploit for their own personal gain, Sandra made a bad decision that led to her arrest in September 2010.

Being in Arizona, she was turned over to immigration officials and detained for 9 months. While in detention, she was repeatedly pressured to sign voluntary removal papers. Without friends, family or a lawyer to guide her, Sandra broke under the aggressive persistence of ICE officers and accidentally signed an order of removal. A few days later, she found herself in Nogales, Mexico with no possessions and no one to rely on.

In a foreign land, with no familiar faces, Sandra did what many in her situation would do – she decided she would go back home. How was she supposed to live in a foreign city, with no money, no clothes, no resources and no ties? Where was she supposed to live? How was she supposed to even survive as a young person, vulnerable to attack or exploitation?

Nogales, Mexico lies just 50 minutes from Sandra’s home in Tucson, Arizona. Sandra was only 50 minutes away from the place she had grown up in her entire life. Sandra’s decision to return was based on the determination that she would fight for her freedom, knowing that it was only 50 minutes away. Sandra’s path in life has already been drastically changed by the first 72 hours of her life; she wasn’t going to let 50 minutes once again break her spirit.

On her journey back home, however, Sandra was caught and arrested. She was convicted of a felony for attempting to return after her so-called “voluntary departure.” Imagine that – a person who tries to return to the only home they have known since they were 3 days old get convicted of a felony in the process. Since when has it become ok to criminalize a person’s idea of home, of family, of roots and culture?

Our immigration system that purports to promote “family reunification” criminalizes those who attempt to reunite themselves with their families. This system charges them with felonies and detains them in jail for months or years at a time, often without adequate access to legal representation, and hopes that the public will never find out about them. These are the stories that desperately need to be amplified, the stories that shine light on the desperation and resilience of those willing to cross the border again and again and again in search of home, in search of family, and in search of self.

The Obama administration and the Department of Homeland Security under Janet Napolitano have been recycling the same talking point this entire year: undocumented and DREAM-eligible youth are not the priority of ICE for deportation and detention. Yet to this very day, hundreds of these youth are routinely singled out and actively targeted for deportation. Sandra is one of these youth whom various systems – our education system, our immigration system, our social work system – has failed many times, and she is now a victim of circumstance of the many obstacles that life has thrown her way.

Are we to send the message that simply because of this, Sandra is not worth fighting for? That her life and the place that she calls home are not as valuable as that of the undocumented valedictorian or graduate student?

In the words of Jodie, the mother of Sandra’s best friend, “Besides her tough childhood and complicated start to her own life, she is an amazing person. She deserves way better than what she has received her whole life. She is ready to pursue her dreams, with a little bit of help.”

“Sometimes I think she loses hope and motivation. I want Sandra to be released and allowed to stay so she would be around her own family and friends who love her and care about her, and want to see her succeed.”

Sandra is worth more than being cast as another statistic. She is a human being, a daughter, a friend, and potential just waiting to be released. Please take action in demanding a stop to Sandra’s deportation in 4 days, and become a part in helping her pursue her dreams.

Take Action:

1. Sign Sandra’s petition asking John Morton & Janet Napolitano to stop the deportation of Sandra Lopez. Share it with 3 friends.
2. Call John Morton & voice your support for Sandra in seeking a stop to her deportation. 1-800-394-5855
   Sample Script: “I am calling to ask that Sandra F. Lopez be released from detention and be allowed to stay in the U.S. Sandra was brought to the United States soon after her birth. If deported, she will be sent to a country she doesn’t know or remember. Please stop Sandra’s deportation.” 1-800-394-5855
3. Twitter: Sandra came to the U.S. at 3 DAYS old, is detained & faces deportation this Thursday! Help stop us her deportation http://bit.ly/nsyUwg
4. Facebook: Sandra was 3 days old when she came to the U.S. She faces deportation this Thursday after attempting to return to Tucson, the only home she has known, from Nogales, where she was dropped off after being pressured to sign a voluntary removal order. Help stop us her deportation http://bit.ly/n4e15H

You’ve seen Hotel Rwanda, I’m sure. Don Cheadle portrays the true story of Paul Rusesabagina, a hotel manager who harbored over 1,200 Rwandans during the Rwandan genocide of 1994, saving their lives in the process.

Yet there is an evolution of the genocide that has yet to make it into Hollywood or the greater public consciousness, a story of retaliatory killings of Hutus by the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF). There have been shrouds of secrecy and outright refusal to discuss the post-genocide crimes in Rwanda by both U.S. and UN international officials, yet displaced Hutus and Tutsis are forced to live this reality to this day. A web of international war politics has covered up these retaliatory killings, painting the Hutus as solely aggressors and never victims, in both the eyes of Hollywood films and international refugee efforts. These killings began as early as 1994, mere months after the initial genocide ended, and death threats continue to this day, almost 17 years later.

And so the intersection of immigration and genocide begins. After Tutsis in Rwanda targeted his family for revenge of the genocide, a Hutu man fled to South Africa as a political refugee. Out of danger, he began a new life, marrying a South African mother of two in 2001 and welcoming a baby girl a couple of years later. In 2006, things began to change. The family began receiving threatening phone calls and letter from self-identified Tutsis, demanding that the father return to Rwanda. A manhunt for him began, and extended family was questioned of his whereabouts. His entire family fled Rwanda and is in hiding, rightly so after the father’s brother was found and killed while seeking safe ground. Suspicious cars began following the family around, monitoring their activities at home.

This family has been failed many times. The first failure was of South African to step in and prevent violence from happening, as the family was told there would be no police intervention until they were actually harmed. The second failure was of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to recognize the severity of the situation and the need for immediate resettlement, forcing the family to take resettlement matters into their own hands.

In the meantime, the threats escalated. After a failed kidnapping attempt of his 3 year-old daughter from day care, the father left his family and went into hiding, in the hopes of protecting them. Being Hutu by marriage, the family continued to receive further death threats. With lack of government intervention, the family decided to flee and seek safe haven from the attackers. They came on tourist visas to the United States, landing in Atlanta.

The third failure was of U.S. ICE officials in treating these political refugees fleeing from violence as criminals themselves. Turning in their passports and requesting help at the airport, the mother and her eldest son were instead handcuffed in front of their two other children and 86 year-old grandmother, immediately separating their family. The two were detained, on no basis, for 6 months. Upon their release, they were told their detention was an “accident.” When we say over and over that the immigration system is broken, we really do mean the entire system – from the limited avenues of adjustment to the asylum process for refugees. People flee very dangerous and real situations, and they are jailed and subjected to even more physical and psychological torture by the country that is supposed to provide “safe haven.”

The fourth failure was of U.S. immigration court, which denied the family’s asylum application and their subsequent appeal. They failed to recognize the dangers faced by the family if they were to return to South Africa. The fact that their father has been forced into hiding, that members of his immediate family have already been hunted down and killed at the hands of extremists, that their youngest child was moments from being kidnapped from school – these all point to the urgent nature of this situation. Yet our immigration court system is not well versed in their international history (or common sense) to recognize the impact of any of these factors.

Immigration is not just black and white, fueled by immigrants’ search of money and better economic opportunities. There are many underlying socio-political forces and policies that drive migration flows, whether it be NAFTA, genocide, war, drugs and other goods, or the still-too-relevant effects of imperial colonialism. People are quick to say, “Oh, Country X has had its independence for 38 years now! You can’t possibly blame the problems it has today on Imperial Country A; stop being so sensitive.” Au contraire, mon frère. A country might be independent on paper, but the effects of colonial rule are made to cripple domestic growth and silence the voices of “uncivilized natives” to the point that damage becomes deep-rooted, dooming future generations to colonization by corporations and the imprisonment that come with lack of autonomy.

Why the blame game with refugees? They are victims of circumstance, of some alphabet soup of pre-determined factors that causes them to be targeted by some group. They are often forced to seek refuge in the very countries that have directly or indirectly plundered or exploited their homelands in the past, forced to prove their lives worthy enough to be saved. Imagine you are put in front of a judge and are asked to prove the worth of your life, or be sent back to your almost certain death. How would you react? What would you say? Thousands of asylum seekers are forced to do this every single day, and far too many are not deemed worthy by our system of (in)justice. Who is giving sound to their voice? Who is telling their stories, as it is blatantly obvious that ICE would prefer the public to remain unaware of their existence.

I hear over and over and over and over again that DHS and Secretary Napolitano are focusing on the detention and deportation of undocumented immigrants who are criminals. Yet every day, we hear more and more storied of DREAM eligible youth facing deportation, of political refugees facing deportation, of people with severe health conditions facing deportation.

So why target this family, the Mathe family? Why detain them upon arrival, as if they were threats to society rather than the larger society being a huge threat to them? Why attempt to deport them on multiple occasions and place them under constant supervision? Why try to deport Andy, the eldest son, not once, but twice now? Why would our justice system want to deport him to a hostile environment where violence literally awaits him, want to deport him so much that they would drug him to get him to comply? Perhaps it is because ICE is hell-bent of meeting its deportation quota of almost 400,000 immigrants for 2011, and has no qualms about specifically targeting non-criminal immigrants to do so.

I also hear that programs like 287g and Secure Communities are boons for our local communities, helping us round up the criminal and unsavory immigrants easily. Yet it is because of Secure Communities that ICE was able to detain Andy, opening the door to deport him at their earliest convenience. That name is such an insult, for “Secure” Communities leaves our local communities divided, in fear, paralyzed, imprisoned, and anything but secure.

Ask yourself why Andy? Ask yourself why the Mathe family? And then ask yourself why not me? Andy is now 24 and his brother Malcolm is 19. These are youth who are fighting for their right to live, to exist, without the fear of persecution. Their grandmother, in her eighties, deserves a better quality of life. Their 8 year-old sister has a right to go to school without being stalked and kidnapped in broad daylight. Their mother, Hope, has a right to fight for the safety of her family, of herself, and to be reunited with her husband in safe territory.

The Mathe family has been failed far too many times – by the Rwandan government, by the South African government, by the United Nations, and now by the United States. They can no longer afford failure, because their very lives are at risk. How much longer and farther will they have to run to catch up to justice?

5 Ways to Take Action for the Mathe Family:

-Do you belong to an organization that supports immigrant and refugee rights? Fill out the organization sign-on letter to DHS in support of stopping the deportation of the Mathe family. Please share with other organizations. http://bit.ly/j3WjlF

-As an individual, help stop Andy’s deportation and get him out of detention ASAP by signing this petition and making a phone call in support of him. Find 5 fellow organizers, friends and/or family members to sign and call as well. http://bit.ly/iLLnhs
-Raise awareness of the Mathe’s story by making this your Facebook status:

South African & Undocumented: The Mathe’s Story of Death Threats, Asylum, Detention and Deportation http://bit.ly/q8ZRKn Please share & take action.
-Share this on Twitter:

South African Undocumented Youth threatened to be drugged and deported by ICE http://bit.ly/q8ZRKn #dreamact #undocumented #immigration Pls RT

-Reblog on Tumblr: http://bit.ly/pcwVpE

-Stay tuned here on DreamActivist for updates on Andy’s detention and the Mathe family’s fight to stop their deportation.

I am writing to ask you to take immediate action to immediately halt the deportation of Jennifer Abreu (A-099251897). Jennifer came to the United States when she was 13 years old. Her family brought her to the USA in search of a better life.  As soon as she came, she immersed herself in the community and in her studies.  In addition to quickly learning English, Jennifer perfected Spanish and in doing so, became a tutor and a mentor to her classmates. She graduated from Lafayette High School in Lexington, KY where she was an active member of TeenBoard, a community service student organization that also planned activities to educate other students about issues affecting the world and their community like Invisible Children, human trafficking, and the DREAM Act.

Jennifer is like an all-American girl.  She was on the dance team and performed many times at a local Festival Latino traditional Brazilian and Colombia dances. She plays the piano, and but her true dream is to become a journalist and work within criminal justice. She hopes to shed light on the issues affecting the community and raise awareness about issues of crime, oppression and injustice.  At the time of her detention, Jennifer was scheduled to serve as a mentor during the 6^th Latino Multicultural College Fair where she would have encouraged youth to stay in school and plan for college. Instead, Jennifer was detained and is facing deportation.

Jennifer’s pending deportation is the result of actions she had no control over.  She has spent her formative years in the United States and has proven herself to be a great asset to this country. She is an excellent student, a dedicated mentor and a hard-working community servant.

Jennifer’s case merits an administrative closure that would allow her to complete her education in the United States. In view of his family’s modest economic circumstances, her only hope for completing her college education and fulfilling her professional aspirations is here in the United States. For her to have to leave the United States at this time would be tragic given his potential for further academic and professional success.

1) Call Janet Napolitano, Director of Department of Homeland Security, and leave comments of support for Jennifer and also ask that DHS stop her deportation: 202-282-8495

**note this is an answering machine, once it is full it is out of commission for day. Fill it up now with calls supporting Jennifer.

2) Call Assistant Secretary to ICE, John Morton and leave a message urging him to take action and defer Julio’s deportation: 202.732.3000. This is a live comment line, i.e. a human being will pick up and take your message.  Be very polite “I am calling to leave a message of support for Jennifer. I ask that Director Morton defer Jennifer’s deportation, she is an asset to this country.”

3) Call Congress Ben Chandler, 202-225-4706 and urge him to support Jennifer by urging Director Morton and Secretary Napolitano to defer Jennifer’s deportation.  Also urge him to support the DREAM Act that would help provide relief and a path to earned legalization for students just like Jennifer.

For anyone that has been following our blog on the past couple of days, you may have read over Matias’s post (found here) about Andrea and her case here in sunny Florida.

I am proud to say that once again due to efforts of activists across the country, endless calls, letters, faxes, and petition signatures, Andrea has been granted a six months to assemble her case on what has been denoted as a “stay of removal”!

Please read on the statement released to us by her friends from Politicorps and Bus Project :

After hearing word of her detention last Tuesday, an impromptu coalition of non-profits, advocates, students, lawyers and individuals from across the country came together in support of Andrea.  Hundreds of people were recruited to petition for Andrea’s release, putting phone calls into ICE offices in DC and Florida.

Andrea will be released on a “stay of removal” this afternoon and will have six months to assemble her case.

“We’ll continue to work closely with her during this next phase, but for now – we just want to express how grateful we are for the incredible outpouring of support, advice, resources, time, and love,” says Caitlin Baggott, Director of PolitiCorps, “Andrea deserves a chance to achieve her American dream.”

Our friends at SWER, who also moved swiftly on Andrea’s behalf,  had something to say about this victory:

Though it may be with great despair that DREAM Act students continue to get deported and Congress seems to move slow on legislation, Andrea’s victory gives me great hope!  It’s yet another example of the dedication, hard work, and efficiency provided by passionate DREAMer’s all across the nation.  Our immigrant rights movement, led by the undocumented youth of this nation, can shake the world and achieve the impossible! – Carlos Roa

Thank you all for all your help and support on this case, it is all of you who help us move forward and there are no words to express our gratitude. From SWER to our friends at Oregon, to all of you who have made a phone call, called your friends, signed petitions. You guys rock!

DREAM Act here we come!

For more information about the Andrea’s case, please contact Mollie Ruskin at 503.928.2988/mollieru@gmail.com or Caitlin Baggott 503.804.7644/ caitlin.baggott@gmail.com.

Or drop us a line in the comments!

No one could have ever prepared me for what I would see on the link posted by a fellow DreamACTivist. The link led to the Target website, where I witnessed an object for sale that still has me in a state of shock and awe.

The item is described as “Illegal Alien Adult Costume One Size,” and it depicts an extraterrestrial “alien” wearing an orange jumpsuit with the words “ILLEGAL ALIEN” stamped on the front, and to make matters worse, is holding a “Green Card.” I felt slapped with a heavy dose of WTF????

Where to start? First of all, why is the extraterrestrial being used as the face of the “illegal alien?” How can you reduce the entire undocumented population to a being, a myth, something that is NOT EVEN HUMAN? We are not even worth a human face, human eyes to acknowledge the injustice and racism and hatred in the world, as evidenced by the very existence of this so-called “costume,” or a human mouth to speak out against actions such as this that further widen the deep chasm in our society surrounding immigration.

Secondly, why the orange jumpsuit? Why the implication that we are all criminals? We do not need another sick and twisted reminder of the ineffective systems of our detention centers, where nursing mothers are separated from the children and humiliated by guards, where the children lack access to an education, where they are issued child-size jumpsuits and are only permitted a minute amount of time outside of a prison of walls and cells and bricks.

Thirdly, why the “green card?” Why taunt and insult our community with the one thing we have been denied, day after day, year after year? Why fuel the lies and misconceptions that already are a tremendous burden to bear? Why contribute to the cycle of oppression, of discrimination, of inequality? Never could I imagine that Target could stoop to this level.

People have begun to respond by leaving reviews on the Target site, which I encourage everyone who feels this is wrong to also do. One particular review stood out to me, and left me almost as speechless as the actual “costume” itself:

People are SOO sensitive! I think this is great. We now can understand what its like to be illegal in this country. Thank God most of us only have to do it for 1 night!! For those of you who do it every day, its causing way too much traffic and draining our economy. Come here legally and acclimate (means speak english) or stay where you are. Thanks!!

So now I’m being sensitive eh? I say I’m tired of my identity constantly being ripped away and the image of what America feels like I should look like handed to me in return, and I’m being sensitive? I say I’m worried about the message undocumented children will take away from this, that they will always be less than, will always be different, will never be normal, the one thing all children crave, and I’m being sensitive? I say I’m tired of people stepping on our community, only to turn around and make a profit from such treatment, and I’m being sensitive?

Well so be it Target, because this is just crossing the line. You’ve messed with the wrong movement.

In case you missed it:

His sibling was granted citizenship due to her younger age. He wasn’t.

Had the DREAM Act passed on this fateful day last year, Virgil Ciprian “Chip” Gilea would not be in jail.

His crime? He was brought here at the age of 15 by his parents who are now U.S. citizens, graduated from Boardman High School and earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Youngstown State University.

His family is in the United States, he works and owns a car and home. Despite this, ICE has labeled him a ‘flight risk’ and refuses to release him from detention.

ICE officials wrote: “Your lack of regard for the immigration laws of the United States is blatant [...] along with facts that you have no equities in the United States, and little sponsorship if released, that you are considered to be a flight risk, and deemed likely to abscond.”

His parents are U.S. citizens along with a sibling. What kind of ridiculous U.S. immigration law renders one child an illegal while the other legal? Why doesn’t Chip, originally from Romania, have any sponsorship? Could it be because due to his Immigration Attorney filing his application 3 days late, he was rendered ‘illegal’ by the IJ? Once you are an ‘illegal alien’ in the United States without a 245-I, it is next to impossible to gain legal status.

Yet, ICE still shows a blatant ignorance of immigration laws. Michael Gilhooly, an ICE spokesman, stated, “It’s a crime to be in the U.S. illegally.”

Newsflash Gilhooly: Illegal presence is not a crime; it is a civic violation. Have they not given you a lesson in the ‘law of the land?’

Now why is a person in detention for a mere civic violation, separated from his family and community? Even if you believe that Chip should be deported, he does not deserve to be treated like a criminal.

If you live in Ohio and even if you don’t, consider contacting Senator Sherrod Brown who has taken interest in this case.

Read the whole story here.

How many is too many?

Parrish discovered he had an outstanding arrest warrant for a bad check and came to the jail to pay a small “no arrest” bond. But the 50-year-old father of five from Brooklyn said he was finger printed, strip searched, and sent to the inmate intake area because a deputy thought he was an illegal immigrant.

Full story is here

This is by no means and isolated incident.

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Source: HNA

Washington, DC – Last night, Senators Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Edward Kennedy (D-MA) introduced legislation to protect U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents from being unlawfully detained and deported by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). In the wake of sweeping immigration raids that have devastated communities across the country, the ACLU welcomes this bill, S.3594, The Protect Citizens and Residents from Unlawful Raids and Detention Act, as the first legislation to require DHS to follow due process standards in executing immigration raids.

“The Protect Citizens and Residents from Unlawful Raids and Detention Act is long overdue,” said Joanne Lin, ACLU legislative counsel. In recent years, immigration detention and deportation rates have grown exponentially: last year over 300,000 people were deported and over 30,000 people held in immigration detention daily. DHS?s immigration enforcement actions have been so sweeping and untargeted that they have ensnared U.S. citizens. Hundreds of U.S. citizens have been unlawfully detained by DHS, and at least one U.S. citizen was illegally deported to Mexico, a country he had never lived in. According to Lin, “These gross due process violations have occurred because there are no controls or regulations governing DHS?s conduct. This bill is a necessary antidote to DHS?s unchecked and unconstitutional immigration enforcement powers.”

. . .

These ACLU lawsuits highlight the urgent need for Congress to pass legislation that curbs ICE?s unconstitutional raids, detention and deportation practices. To this end, this legislation would do the following:

* Create due process protections, such as notification of immigration charges and access to counsel and phones, during immigration enforcement efforts;
* Require DHS to implement regulations to ensure that immigration detainees are treated humanely;
* Promote “alternatives to detention” programs that are more humane and cost-effective than traditional penal-style detention;
* Establish an ICE ombudsman to investigate complaints and to create DHS accountability; and
* Provide labor protections to ensure that ICE worksite raids do not undermine labor or employment law investigations.

Should these things not be a given, should we really need lawsuits and new legislation to make sure that a human being is treated as a human being?