I doubt this information is directly relevant to people who read this blog -- except that people who read here ought to know these things occur. Yesterday I recived this advice in an email from the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON). Our Heimat Security spooks have let it be known they plan to deport hundreds of families in the new year.*Do not open the door for immigration agents.
*Do not answer the questions of immigration agents. You have the right to remain silent—even if you are detained. You do not need to give your name or identity documents. You have the right to speak with a lawyer.
*Do not lie or show any false documents.
*If you are at work or on the street or in a public place, ask the immigration agent if you are free to go. If the agent says yes, walk away slowly and calmly.
*If you are at home, ask the officer if they have a warrant. A warrant is a paper signed by a judge giving the officer permission to enter your home. The warrant will specify what areas of your home they are allowed to search. If the officer has a warrant, ask them to slip it under the door. Only then should you let them in.
Are you suggesting the government officials, basically law officers, are raiders in your mind, or is this something else?
ReplyDeleteRain: I am suggesting that the when it comes to immigration enforcement, our authorities act arbitrarily, sometimes violently, and sometimes extra-legally when popular political pressure has them carrying out sweeping deportations of families, often of people who are confused and without access to legal assistance.
ReplyDeleteWell, you are in agreement with the guys who took over the Malheur Refuge for sure about government and how they see it. I've always said the farthest right and left have more in common than they either one want to think and both see themselves as the correct ones for what is moral.
ReplyDeleteI don't know -- I would have thought you might see some difference between people peacefully trying to exercise the legal options as the email I quoted urges -- and people who insist on a "sovereign" right to wave guns around and seize federal land. If the Malheur folks want to sit down and subject themselves to arrest, perhaps in successive waves as the feds take them away, I might listen to their grievances. In fact I'd listen to their grievances in any case, but they do act like blowhards, not folks just trying to stay alive ...
ReplyDeleteIt was the word raiders, Jan. It wasn't what this group or that does but how they see government. In the Vietnam war era, the ones opposing the government, from the left, did get to violence. The thing is if we call the government raiders, which means illegally attacking, it has meaning. I wasn't so much reacting to the recommendations for how those here without papers react but just that word raiders. Right now, the righties in Oregon claim they are also peaceful but they see government as the bad guys. And the way those righties see the government is very much as raiders.
ReplyDeleteFrom the Institute for Southern Studies reporting on raids near Atlanta and Dallas: "... legal advocacy groups have stepped in to help detained families facing imminent deportations. Studies have shown that legal representation is the most important determinant in whether asylum is granted, but lack of access to sound legal counsel has been a major issue. On Tuesday, an immigration court blocked the deportation of four families who had been detained in the raids to give them time to appeal their asylum cases. "
ReplyDeleteFolks who get deported are so often simply the ones who didn't luck into having advocates on this side of the border.
Not anything new even though it should be. It's how our legal system so often works for everybody. So let's fix it. Elect Bernie as a start! You think he can't win, vote for him anyway as maybe they are just telling you that. I think he can if everyone who wants him votes for him in the primaries.
ReplyDelete