Thread: PA-Lehigh Valley Latinos gain civil rights hotline(ACLU )

Lehigh Valley Latinos gain civil rights hotline
Friday, March 12, 2010
By EDWARD SIEGER

BETHLEHEM | The American Civil Liberties Union is partnering with the Council of Spanish Speaking Organizations of the Lehigh Valley to educate the community on immigrant civil rights and track possible civil rights violations.

The ACLU has established a helpline that allows people to confidentially report civil liberty abuses and ask questions about their immigration rights. Mary Catherine Roper, a staff attorney with the ACLU's Philadelphia office, said Thursday the group has always employed a helpline but only added the Spanish-speaking component at the end of 2009.

ACLU officials routinely hear complaints from the Latino community about police officers, for instance, making both legitimate and illegitimate traffic stops as an opportunity to check identification and make immigration inquiries, Roper said.

The information, however, is often anecdotal and gathered second- or third-hand, she said.

"This is not an effective way of building a body of effective information," Roper said.

The helpline will allow people to make reports in Spanish about suspected violations and will help the ACLU to refine a database that identifies patterns and provides assistance where necessary.

"Call us. Don't wonder," Roper said during a late-afternoon news conference.

Emma Cleveland -- community organizer in the ACLU's new Lehigh Valley office -- will lead a pair of free Know Your Rights workshops later this month, explaining to immigrants and community leaders the basics of immigrant civil rights.

Attendees will learn what to do and not do if stopped by local police or immigration officials, Cleveland said. Police in far too many cases will ask about immigration status, which is not their jurisdiction, she said.

"Police should be enforcing local laws, not national laws," Cleveland said. "Stick to public safety, not taking on national border enforcement."

Olga Negron, executive director of the Council of Spanish Speaking Organizations of the Lehigh Valley, said her organization fields questions almost daily about immigrant civil rights and potential violations. A paralegal who handles the organization's immigration program twice over the past two weeks helped residents who were improperly detained over immigration questions, she said.

Negron said her organization is involved -- and she challenged others to do the same -- because people will utilize resources recommended by an organization they trust.

Roper and Negron agree Hispanic immigrants may be reluctant to work with local police if they fear their cooperation will be met with identification checks and improper detainment.

"Police are most effective when they work with the community," Roper said. "That's where crime fighting information comes from, when police are working with the community."

Reporter Edward Sieger can be reached at esieger@express-times.com.

http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/news/in ... xml&coll=3

If they are not legal they should not be here. This is a blanket statement but it is also true for the vast majority of people here illegally.

We should flood their phone lines and complain about illegal aliens destroying our country.