New Orleans, LA – A senior official with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) traveled to New Orleans for a face-to-face meeting with regional immigration officials and the Southern 32 – a group of immigrant labor organizers and civil rights defenders currently in deportation proceedings for having the courage to stand up for their rights. Learn more about their stories here.
After nationwide protests of the Obama Administration for deporting a record number of immigrants, the Administration announced a new, more moderate policy which received widespread praise and gave hope to the immigrant community that relief was coming. Among other protections, the policy stated that individuals “pursuing legitimate civil rights complaints” should not be deported.
The Southern 32, legal experts and allies have been pressing the New Orleans regional ICE office – with jurisdiction over Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee – to cancel their deportations in accordance with this new policy. To date, their protests have fallen on deaf ears. The visit from Andrew Strait, the ICE Public Advocate in Washington, was thought to be a signal of hope that the Administration’s promise was about to be fulfilled.
Instead, Strait and regional immigration officials challenged the Southern 32 on the very existence of civil and labor rights violations in the South. They communicated that the protections for civil rights defenders and labor organizers will be nearly impossible to attain, and that the Southern 32 will most likely still face deportation.
“This is the first time that immigration officials from Washington have confirmed what we feared was true – the promise made by the Obama Administration of a more moderate deportation policy was exaggerated. The campaign to stop the deportations of the Southern 32 has only begun, and we intend to insist that the President ensure his immigration agencies are implementing the good policy announced a year ago,” said Saket Soni, Executive Director of the New Orleans Worker Center for Racial Justice.
Following the meeting, Melvin Mejia, a member of the Southern 32 who is facing deportation for leading a strike with Josue Diaz to demand pay for their work and an end to illegal discrimination against Latino workers during the Hurricane Ike clean-up effort, said, “I thought we would leave this meeting with guarantees that our rights would be protected by the government. Instead we were told that the violations of our rights aren’t true and that even if the U.S. Department of Labor, the Department of Justice or judges back us – ICE would not guarantee us protection. I am disappointed but I am not discouraged. I stood up to an employer who was abusing me and other workers and the Southern 32 are united and ready to stand up again.”
Another participant in the meeting, Jacinta Gonzalez, Lead Organizer for the Stand Up 2012: Make Justice Real campaign, said, “There is a huge divide between the reality that immigrants are dealing with in the South and what ICE officials in both Washington and in New Orleans are claiming to be true. The Southern 32 have bravely defended all of our rights, but ICE refuses to acknowledge the civil and labor rights crisis in Southern states and is making relief under President Obama’s new policy so difficult to attain Louisiana and stop their deportations.»
“We continue to have concerns about ICE’s implementation of prosecutorial discretion, particularly its application of the policy to labor and civil rights leaders. The Southern 32 are powerful examples of why workers embroiled in labor and civil rights disputes need protection now,» said Emily Tulli, Policy Attorney with the National Immigration Law Center, who participated in a meeting with Andrew Strait, Southern ICE officials and members of the Southern 32 this week.
Source: Stand Up 2012: Make Justice Real campaign
