Thread: Immigrant rights conference at AMERICAN UNIVERSITY!

http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/2006 ... edule.html

THIS IS JUST A SAMPLE, CHECK OUT THE WEBSITE...

Organized by: National Immigrant Solidarity Network

The 3-day (July 28-30, 2006) Washington DC National Grassroots Immigrant Strategy Conference at American University has been without doubt a success and a milestone for the immigrant rights movement. Organized by National Immigrant Solidarity Network, one of the leading coalitions involved in the March 25 Los Angeles "Gran Marcha" and the May 1st "A Day Without Immigrants" General Strike/Boycott, there were approximately 180 people from over 80 organizations across the country in attendance.

The conference represented diverse groups, including Latin@s, APIs, African Americans, African immigrants, European immigrants, LGBTQ, women, youth/students, interfaith, peace/global justice activists, white allies, labor, immigrant day laborers and community organizers from two dozen states. Community/grassroots immigrant activists from across the country met face-to-face for the first time to discuss how to collectively build a new national, broad-based, immigrant rights/civil rights movement.


During the strategy section on Sunday (7/30), we re-affirmed our "Ten Points of Unity" for the immigrant movement, and adopted the national immigrant strategy/action plans for the next 3-6 months with more than a dozen working groups [includes: Student/Youth, Labor, Direct Action, Day Labors, Border, Events, Multi-Ethnic, Community Work, Legislation, LGBT, Women, Deportation, Education & Outreach and Interfaith], and point persons to coordinate each working group. We also began the discussion of creating a concept of the immigrant solidarity movement: grassroots, volunteer-based, direct action-oriented with strong emphases of community outreach and popular education.


Some of the highlights included:

- Multi-ethnic, multi-issue and multi-constituent based immigrant movement, inviting groups that traditionally have been marginalized from the struggle, such as LGBTQ, women and student/youth, African immigrants, African American, to be part of the coalition.

- Linking our struggles to the anti-war and global justice movements, and mutually supporting each other's cause.

- Institutionalizing the May 1st boycott "A Day Without Immigrants" and beginning planning for May 1st 2007.

- Supporting nationwide immigrant marches/actions during the Labor Day Weekend, and the September 7th Camp Democracy's Immigrant Rights Day in Washington DC, called by antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan.

- Direct actions as an important part of the immigrant movement.

- Grassroots organizing strategy and education programs.

- 'La gran marcha fronteriza flor y canto' - Conduct a Border Walk during Spring Break 2007, from San Diego, CA to Brownsville, TX.

- Working towards the creation of model legislation that resonates with the movement's principles and values.

- Legislative campaigns, such as immigrant voter registration, and supporting bills such as the Legal Immigration and Family Equity Act (LIFE) and the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA).

- National support hotline for immigrants who need legal referral, detention support, or help with other urgent needs.

- Developing a vocabulary to replace "amnesty" and "legalization."


There's no doubt that this conference has been the beginning of an historical turning point for the immigrant solidarity movement. With other immigrant conferences in Chicago, IL organized by the March 10th Movement and in Oakland, CA organized by NNIRR, we show that we have the will and strength to continue our momentum, and that we have the passion and energy to fight for our justice and dignity in the years to come.



Please visit our photo album showcasing the conference

Full Report of the Conference

Lists of the Working Groups and Point Persons

http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/

National Grassroots Immigrant Strategy Conference
Friday - Sunday July 28-30, 2006
American University
Washington, DC



About the National Immigrant Solidarity Network
No Immigrant Bashing! Support Immigrant Rights!

http://www.ImmigrantSolidarity.org

Los Angeles: (213)403-0131
New York: (212)330-8172
Washington DC: (202)595-8990


The National Immigrant Solidarity Network (NISN) is a coalition of immigrant rights, labor, human rights, religious, and student activist organizations from across the country. We are volunteer-based organization working with immigrant rights, students, global justice, anti-war and progressive labor groups. In solidarity with their campaigns, and organize community immigrant education programs.

We believes: Think Locally, Act Globally! We believes activists and organizers have a particular responsibility to point out the links between Katrina's impact, immigrant rights, civil liberties, labor rights and the U.S. war in Iraq and Afghanistan. We need to make the connections between: wars in Africa, south America, Asia, Iraq, Palestine and Korea, and sweatshops in Asia as well as in Los Angeles and in New York; international arms sales and the WTO, FTAA, NAFTA & CAFTA with AIDS, hunger, our reproductive rights, child labor and child soldiers; multinational corporations and economic exploitation with racism, homophobia and poverty at home--then we can win the struggle.

Away from Militarization and Towards Human Mobility: Civil Disobedience and Direct Action-Militarization/Diverse Tactics to Achieve Goals
Area of Topic: Diverse Tactics
This workshop will provide an overview of the militarization of the U.S.-Mexico divide and talk about the impacts of low-intensity conflict. The workshop will also talk about what the militarization of the border seeks to prevent; human mobility. The final part of the workshop will focus on ideas of civil disobedience and direct action that could be used to counter the militarization of the border and put forth a human rights agenda.

Human mobility is a concept which pre-dates the United States of America. For thousands of years human beings have been migrating from one area to the next with little impediment from Governments. The more recent phenomenom is the militarization of border areas which seeks to prohibit human mobility. Using a human rights framework, this workshop will show how the militarization of the border is resulting in numerous deaths, separation of families, racial profiling, and human rights violations.

The workshop will also talk about the concept of 'human mobility.' While militarization aims to keep people out and control those within, the concept of human mobility forces people to analyze the impacts of militarization in terms of human rights. When fundamental human rights collide with the rights of a nation-state, who wins?

If the laws of the nation-state are fundamentally illegitimate, immoral, and contradict human rights, then the plan of action must include civil disobedience and direct action. Thousands of migrants engage in civil disobedience annually and this workshop will talk about how those with privilege can also engage in civil disobedience and give an overview of civil disobedience and direct action tactics used historically in social movements

Ray Ybarra
Ira Glasser Racial Justice Fellow
American Civil Liberties Union of Texas

Latest Updates on the Immigrant Legislation - An Introduction
Area of Topic: Legistrative
by: National Immigrant Solidarity network


More Information: Coming Soon

Panel: Immigrant Student Organizing
Area of Topic: Student, Youth Organizing
by: National Council of La Raza, National Asian American Student Confernce


More Information: Coming Soon

The Minutemen: From the Beginning
Area of the Topic: Border
Description:
This workshop will serve to enlighten, enhance, and equip immigrant rights activists with the necessary background, tools, and experiences that have been employed in the struggle to demoralize, defuse, and debunk these hatemongers, their actions and their clandestine message of white superiority.

WS Agenda:
Presentation
Q and A
Reports from different regions
Discuss on whether to confront or not
Wrap up
discussion


What to Achieve?
Inform the group on how the Minutemen were organized, and the efforts that preceded them. It is important that we understand who they are and their timeline to see how the developments in DC are correlated.

This is a vital opportunity for those myths, miscommunications, and inaccuracies around the origins of and organizing around the may 1st mobilization to be outlined and clarified by those who were inherently involved and organizing the event nationwide.

The workshop speak of it in terms of a national gone international action, and how it brought the international working class together like never before.

Facilitator: Jesse Diaz
Org: March 25th Coalition

Countering Military Recruitment in our Immigrant Communities
Area of the Topic: Community Support
Description:
The U.S. military has been on an intense drive to recruit youth in the service of military interventions in Iraq and other countries. Communities of immigrants as well as other working class communities have been targeted. Participants can hear about the experience in a largely Latin American community in Chelsea, MA and from the experience of any other community that would like to participate.

WS Agenda:
A) Presentation from Chelsea Uniéndose en Contra de la Guerra and from any other group with this type of experience.
B) Discussion


Facilitator: John Harris
Org: Chelsea Uniéndose en Contra de la Guerra

How To Do Your Congressional Lobbying
Area of Topic: Legistrative

by: Sue Udry
Legislative Action Coordinator
United for Peace and Justice


More Information: Coming Soon

Immigration Reform: its impact on women and children

Topic: Over ½ of the undocumented in the United States are women and children. This workshop will explore the impact of lack of documentation and the need for a path to residency and citizenship for undocumented immigrants to raise the standard of living, wages, federal and state benefits, and to bring families out of poverty with specific emphasis of women. Also, we will discuss ways in which immigrant women can be protected against sexual and domestic abuse.

Workshop Agenda: Panel of at least three people, leaders of the women’s movement in the United States and experts in the area of civil rights, joined by at least one expert in immigration law will discuss the current immigration legislation before Congress, the reforms that are really needed to better the lives of immigrant women, family reunification, and the steps participants can take to bring these issues to the general public.

Facilitator: Zenaida Mendez, Director of Racial Diversity Programs
National Organization for Women

Detention and Deportation: Overview and Organizing
Area of the Topic: Legislative
Description:
Will discuss current organizing efforts against efforts to increase detention and deportation practices and will provide education materials about its relationship to overall immigration reform. Panelists include members of Detention Watch Network, the Detention Project/Asylum Project of Capital Area Immigrants' Rights Coalition, the National Immigration Project, Rights Working Group, and Families for Freedom (invited).

WS Agenda:
This panel will provide an overview of detention, current legislative proposals that create more detention and deportation, how groups are attempting to push these marginalized topics into the overall discussion around immigration reform and its relationship with the criminal justice system. We will also discuss how these issues resonate (or not) within different immigrant communities and why and how community organizers can begin to integrate these issues into their organization around immigration.


What to Achieve?
Participants will have a general knowledge of current detention and deportation issues and proposed legislative changes.
Participants will identify how these issues do/do not resonate within their communities and will begin a discussion about how to incorporate detention and deportation issues into their organizing.


Facilitator: Paromita Shah/Andrea Black
National Immigration Project/Detention Watch Network

http://www.nohr4437.org/

STRATEGY SESSIONS NOTES (DRAFT)

Prepared by
Maria Firmino-Castillo

questions, changes, or comments contact mariafirmino@starpower.net

BORDER STRATEGY SESSION
Goals Identified:
1) 'La gran marcha fronteriza 'flor y canto' - Conduct a Border Walk during spring break 2007, from San Diego, CA. to Brownsville, TX, with a central meeting point in El Paso, TX.
2) Conduct border tours
3) Support local humanitarian efforts along the borders of Mexico and Canada
4) Construct memorials for the deaths in the dessert along the U.S./Mexican border, estimated at 4,000 to 10,000 over the last several years.

CAMP DEMOCRACY STRATEGY SESSION
Goals Identified:
1) September 7, Immigrant Rights Day at Camp Democracy, includes speakers, tents and programs.

COMMUNITY WORK STRATEGY SESSION
Goals Identified:
1) Be informed
2) Build capacity of community members
3) Use popular education in the broader community to raise consciousness about:
- Human rights
- The experiences of immigrants
- The economic (and other impacts, political, etc.) of U.S. foreign policy
4) Build on the experiences of May 1st to seek a broader unity that is firmly and uncompromisingly centered on our movement's stated values
5) Build a unified movement of multiple cultures by developing awareness of each others' identities and histories
6) Implement a three-level strategy: local, regional, national
7) Open a reflective dialogue on how we want our movement to define leadership
Invite other coalitions to join, based on shared embrace of the movement's basic principles and values
9) Develop a powerful and effective media strategy

DAY LABORER ORGANIZING STRATEGY SESSION
Goals Identified:
1) Support day laborer centers
2) Implement day worker defense. For example: sanctuaries, with cities and towns becoming sanctuaries; support day workers with wage claims.
3) Implement popular education programs
4) Implement English classes with a focus on political education.
5) Provide opportunities for day laborers to participate in community activities.
6) Increase the interaction between day laborers and progressive groups.
7) Support fair labor standards here and abroad for all workers.

DEPORTATION AND DETENTION STRATEGY SESSION
Goals Identified:
1) Identify which sectors of the population are being detained
2) Connect local work on this issue with international efforts
3) Educate communities on this problem
4) Establish networks of community support for victims of deportation and detention (detention watch network)
5) Educate police on the difference in mandate and powers between the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.) and local police force
6) Raise consciousness on the seriousness of detention and deportation as an issue; bring this issue to the forefront of other mobilizations around immigrant rights. [Everyone deserves justice, their day in court, and to stay with their families.]
7) Organize marches to jails and deportation centers (over 20,000 detained a day).
Support and mobilize around the European Social Forum's actions against deportation and detention, on October 7th, 2007

DIRECT ACTION STRATEGY SESSION
Goals Identified:
1) Plan and possibly conduct a direct action on Sensenbrenner's office.
2) Plan and possibly conduct a direct action on crossing the border
3) Plan and possibly conduct mass actions at the U.S. borders
4) Support and spread the movement giving sanctuary to immigrants
5) Initiate a 'Know your Rights' campaign
6) Support Camp Democracy

EDUCATION AND OUTREACH STRATEGY SESSION
Goals Identified:
1) Develop a unified message: remain consistent
2) Identify overarching themes:
- U.S. foreign policy
- U.S. war industry
- Economic analysis
- History: waves of immigration to the U.S. and movements for immigrant rights
3) Develop a common analysis and critique: What is causing immigration'
4) Be cognizant of the audiences we craft the message for (for example : farmers, churches, Asian Americans, African Americans).
5) Using our 10 points of unity in outreach work to other communities
6) PROPOSAL:
- Humanize immigrants - stories: provide concrete examples
- Socialize the message: Use language(s) to open dialogues
- Make education and outreach be part of movement building
- Work toward a unified message and coalition that is effective and progressive

INTERFAITH STRATEGY SESSION
Goals Identified:
1) Build bridges and create dialogue between and among faith based organizations and leaders who have already explicitly expressed their support for immigrants.
2) Create an 'easy to follow' study guide to inform and train faith-based organizations, leaders, clergy, and congregations not already involved in the immigrant rights movement (or who are in non-immigrant communities). (Additionally, reach out to LGBT friendly clergy).
3) Search and create database for list of faith-based organizations involved with significantly large immigrant populations.
4) Schedule to contact clergy. Provide informational material, ask for support, and conduct follow-up.

LABOR STRATEGY SESSION
Goals Identified:
1) Work toward unionization for all workers.
2) Reclaim May Day (May 1st) for workers' movement.
3) Build on existing international labor solidarity (Resistance to NAFTA and free-trade).
4) Reach out to immigrants for official support and to back the reclamation of Labor Day.
5) Continue highlighting the political and economic reasons workers are forced to leave their countries of origin to live and work in the United States.

LEGISLATION STRATEGY SESSION
Goals Identified:
1) Kill pending anti-immigrant legislation
2) Be present at national hearings and press conferences
3) Conduct one-on-one lobbying
4) Conduct media outreach on our legislative efforts
5) Do not support legislation that does not resonate with the movement's principles and values: 'No bill is better than a bad bill'
6) Recognize and frame issues in a pro-immigrant stance
7) Work towards the creation of model legislation that resonates with the movement's principles and values
Advocate for addressing the problems of the present undocumented population and also future undocumented people
9) Advocate for the removal of the time bar for 'legalization'
10) Advocate for increased visa availability
11) Advocate the extension of the 245i LIFE Act (Legal Immigration & Family Equity Act) [This act allows aliens who have applied for an adjustment of status to remain in the U.S. while their application is processed. The 245i program expired on April 30, 2001. There is still pending legislation in the U.S. Congress to extend this deadline.]
12) Advocate for the removal of visa backlogs

LGBT STRATEGY SESSION
Goals Identified:
1) Include LGBT families in legislative proposals for immigrant rights
2) Advocate for the HIV ban to be removed from visa requirements in current policy and future legislation.
3) Advocate for the right to sponsor same-sex partners and families under the 'Uniting Americans Act'

March 25th and May 1st STRATEGY SESSION
Goals Identified:
1) Begin working toward the Labor Day (September 2nd and 4th) mobilization: Dignity, Hope, and Respect for All Workers. [People are getting restless and want action; channel this restlessness toward this mobilization].
2) Institutionalize May 1st movement in the U.S.
3) Boycott the Empire
4) Work towards building a 'Workers' Party'
5) Support and mobilize around the European Social Forum's actions against deportation and detention, on October 7th, 2007
6) Support all Labor Day mobilizations across the country.

MULTI-ETHNIC ORGANIZING STRATEGY SESSION: Part 1
Goals Identified:
1) Education campaign
2) Develop our own language
3) Develop political awareness around human and civil rights and a unified human struggle for these rights
4) Critique the neoliberal paradigm that facilitates the free movement of capital across national borders, but criminalizes the free movement of people in search of survival
5) Engage in a multicultural celebration of our differences and similarities
6) Employ multiple tools to disseminate our movement's message (for example, the Internet)

MULTI-ETHNIC ORGANIZING STRATEGY SESSION: Part 2
Goals Identified:
1) Connect and organize different ethnic communities on the basis of shared issues
2) Reframe the discourse; develop our own vocabulary: 'amnesty' and 'legalization' are not useful words, for they imply a criminalization of immigrants, which contradicts our movement's values. Build from these beginning ideas for a new discourse: 'regularizacion' [Spanish: normalization; it is not a cognate, it does NOT mean 'regulation']; "We want full permanent residency and eventual full citizenship rights"
3) Remain uncompromisingly centered on our "Points of Unity"
4) Educate on historical patterns of racism
5) Prioritize the working-class: keep this a working-class based movement even as we make coalitions with other classes (professional, academic, etc)
6) Launch a campaign for human dignity
7) Prioritize education
Involve the participation of 'non-immigrant' allies (white-based groups)

STUDENT/YOUTH STRATEGY SESSION
Goals Identified:
1) Develop strategies to move students and youth to be concerned and responsive to the immigrant movement and its issues. For example - use popular culture to spread the message; use the Internet as a tool for organizing.
2) Develop curricula to educate youth, using 'dual education'.
3) Build a sustainable movement by connecting youth to campus/school activism as well as community activism.
4) Frame the immigration issue as one piece of a greater anti-oppression effort involving both education and organizing.
5) Visibly incorporate youth into leadership positions in the movement.

WOMEN'S CAUCAUS STRATEGY SESSION
Goals Identified:
1) Outreach with National Organization of Women
2) Educate on the disproportionate negative effects of current and future immigration policy on women and children.
3) Advocate for permanent residency to be granted to 'stay-at-home man/mom'
4) Supports Violence Against Women Act
5) Advocate for universal access to health care for all regardless of immigration status
6) Advocate for enforcement of fair labor laws
7) Advocate to protect women and children against human trafficking
Express and materialize our solidarity with the women of Juarez, Mexico
9) Supports U.S. Citizen Protection of Children Act
10) Insist on a full investigation of the Mariana Islands' prostitution crisis

The amazing thing is that some people are still paying tens of thousands of dollars to send their children to these indoctrination centers.

http://www.peacenowar.net/RIGHTS.htm

KNOW YOUR RIGHTS!

Downloadable "Know York Rights" Flyer

Downloadable Incident Report Form

National Lawyers Guild (NLG)
National Office: (212) 627-2656, www.nlg.org
NLG Bay Area legal hotline for police/ government harassment: (415) 285-1055 or (415)255-0796.
National Immigration Project: (617) 227-9727
Immigration law information is also available on: http://www.nilc.org/

American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC)
- Report hate crimes and harassment against Arab Americans and Muslims
National Office: (202) 244-2990,
ADC-SF: (415) 861-7444;
American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California: (415) 621-2493.




What rights do I have?

The Right to Advocate for Change. The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects the rights of groups and individuals who advocate changes in laws, government practices, and even the form of government.
The Right to Remain Silent. The Fifth Amendment of the Constitution provides that every person has the right to remain silent in the face of questions posed by any police officer or government agent.
The Right to be Free from "Unreasonable Searches and Seizures." The Fourth Amendment is supposed to protect your privacy. Without a warrant, no government agent is allowed to search your home or office and you can refuse to let them in. Know, however, that it is easy for the government to monitor your telephone calls, conversations in your office, home, car, or meeting place, as well as mail. E-mail is particularly insecure. The government has already begun stepping up its monitoring of e-mails.


CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS CANNOT BE SUSPENDED -- EVEN DURING
A STATE OF EMERGENCY OR WARTIME.


What should I do if agents come to question me?

1. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO TALK TO THE POLICE, FBI, INS, OR ANY OTHER LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENT OR INVESTIGATOR. Other than providing your name and address to a police officer who is investigating a crime, you are not legally obligated to talk to anyone: on the street, at your home or office, if you've been arrested, or even if you're in jail. Only a judge has the legal authority to order you to answer questions.

2. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO LET POLICE OR OTHER LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENTS INTO YOUR HOME OR OFFICE UNLESS THEY HAVE A SEARCH WARRANT OR ARREST WARRANT. Demand to see the warrant. The warrant must specifically describe the place to be searched and the things to be seized. If they have a warrant, you cannot stop them from entering and searching, but you should still tell them that you do not consent to a search. This will limit them to the scope of the search authorized by the warrant.

3. IF THEY DO PRESENT A WARRANT, YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO MONITOR THEIR SEARCH AND ACTIVITIES. You have the right to observe what they do. You have the right to ask them for their names and titles. Take written notes including their names, badge numbers, and what agency they are from. Have your friends who are present act as witnesses. Give this information to your lawyer. A warrant does not give the government the right to question, nor does it obligate you to answer questions.

4. IF THE POLICE OR FBI OR INS OR ANYONE ELSE TRIES TO QUESTION YOU OR TRIES TO ENTER YOUR HOME WITHOUT A WARRANT, JUST SAY NO! Police and other law enforcement agents are very skilled at getting information from people. Many people are afraid that if they refuse to cooperate, it will appear as if they have something to hide. Don't be fooled. The police are allowed to (and do) lie to you. Although agents may seem nice and pretend to be on your side, they are likely to be intent on learning about the habits, opinions, and affiliations of people not suspected of wrongdoing, with the end goal of stopping political activity with which the government disagrees. Trying to answer agents' questions, or trying to "educate them" about your cause can be very dangerous. You can never tell how a seemingly harmless bit of information that you give them might be used and misconstrued to hurt you or someone else. And keep in mind that lying to a federal agent is a crime.

5. IF YOU ARE STOPPED ON THE STREET, ASK IF YOU ARE FREE TO GO. If you are stopped by the police, ask them why. If they do not have a good reason for stopping you, or if you find yourself chatting for more than a minute, ask "Am I under arrest, or am I free to go?" If they do not state that you are under arrest, tell them that you do not wish to continue speaking with them and that you are going to go about your business. Then do so.

6. ANYTHING YOU SAY TO THE POLICE, FBI, INS, ETC. WILL BE USED AGAINST YOU AND OTHERS. Once you've been arrested, you cannot talk your way out of it! Don't try to engage the cops in dialogue or respond to their accusations.


7. THE FBI MAY THREATEN YOU WITH A GRAND JURY SUBPOENA IF YOU DON'T TALK TO THEM. They may give you a subpoena anyway, so anything you tell them may permit them to ask you more detailed questions later. You may also have legal grounds to refuse to answer questions before a grand jury. If you are given a grand jury subpoena, you should call a lawyer or the National Lawyers Guild immediately. Tell your friends and movement groups about the subpoena and discuss how to respond. Do not try to deal with this alone.

8. IF YOU ARE NERVOUS ABOUT SIMPLY REFUSING TO TALK, TELL THEM TO CONTACT YOUR LAWYER. They should stop trying to question you once you announce your desire to consult a lawyer. You do not have to already have one. Remember to get the name, agency, and telephone number of any investigator who visits you, and contact the National Lawyers Guild for help getting a lawyer.


9. In California, YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO MAKE 3 FREE LOCAL TELEPHONE CALLS within three hours of your arrest on state charges if you are booked into jail. You have a right to call a lawyer, a bail bondsperson, and a friend or relative. If arrested by federal authorities, you also have a right to a phone call. Demand to make those calls.


How should I respond to threatening letters or calls?

If your home or office is broken into, or threats have been made against you, your organization, or someone you work with, share this information with everyone affected. Take immediate steps to increase personal and office security. You should discuss with your organization and with a lawyer whether and how to report such incidents to the police and the advisability of taking other legal action. If you decide to make a report, do not do so without a lawyer present.



What if I suspect surveillance?

Prudence is the best course, no matter who you suspect, or what the basis of your suspicion. Do not hesitate to confront suspected agents politely, in public, with at least one other person present, and inquire about their business. If the suspect declines to answer, he or she at least now knows that you are aware of the surveillance. If you suspect government agents are monitoring you, or are harassing you, report this to the National Lawyers Guild.



What if I am not a citizen?

1. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO REVEAL YOUR IMMIGRATION STATUS. We cannot count on the police to honor local sanctuary ordinances, and the fact that the INS obtained your name in violation of a sanctuary ordinance will NOT prevent you from being deported.


2. FOREIGN NATIONALS WHO ARE ARRESTED IN THE U.S. HAVE THE RIGHT TO CALL YOUR CONSULATE or to have the police inform your consulate of your arrest. The police must allow your consul to visit or speak with you. Your consul might assist you in finding a lawyer or offer other help, such as contacting your family. You also have the right to refuse help from your consulate.


3. DO NOT TALK TO THE INS, EVEN ON THE PHONE, before talking to an immigration lawyer. Many INS officers view "enforcement," meaning deporting people, as their primary job. They do not believe that explaining immigration options is part of their job, and most will readily admit this. (Noncitizens who are victims of domestic abuse should speak with an expert in both immigration law and domestic violence.) A noncitizen should always speak with an immigration law expert before speaking to the INS either in person or by telephone.

4. KNOW AND ASSERT YOUR RIGHTS!All noncitizens have the following rights, regardless of your immigration status:
a. The right to speak to an attorney before answering any questions or signing any documents;
b. The right to a hearing with an Immigration Judge;
c. The right to have an attorney at that hearing and in any interview with INS (however you do not have the right to a free, government-paid lawyer); and
d. The right to request release from detention, by paying a bond if necessary.
Noncitizens must assert these rights. If you do not demand these rights, you can be deported without seeing either an attorney or a judge. Leaving the U.S. in this way may have serious consequences for your ability to later enter or to gain legal immigration status in the U.S.

5. TALK TO AN IMMIGRATION LAWYER BEFORE LEAVING THE U.S.
Anyone not a U.S. citizen may be barred from coming back to the U.S. if they fall into certain categories of people barred from entering. This includes some lawful permanent residents and applicants for green cards. Some noncitizens that have been in the U.S. without INS permission may be permanently barred from re-entering. In addition, some noncitizens that leave the US and return with INS permission may be swiftly removed from the U.S. if they end up in immigration proceedings.

http://www.nohr4437.org/

LOOKS LIKE THEY GET HELP FROM THE BROWN BERETS. DOES THIS MEAN THAT NCLR SUPPORTS THEM ALSO?

"Resist or Die !"

What does THAT mean ? Resist arrest ? Resist Chocolate ? Resist GWB ? Resist America ?

Come on lady, put some more words on that T-shirt...spit it out !!

Would somebody please tell these people that no one is against "immigrants". The American people are against ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION !! It's that SCAREY WORD "ILLEGAL" that they can't bring themselves to say.

Her T-Shirt should say. "RESIST THE TRUTH".

You know even before I was aware of what was going on, even in college, anytime I ever saw anything pertaining to American University I always had this strange feeling that it was some sort of institution of anti-Americanism. It was just a feeling I had. I think I was right.

If the laws of the nation-state are fundamentally illegitimate, immoral, and contradict human rights, then the plan of action must include civil disobedience and direct action.

This is a statement from an ACLU commy! It's amazing how they think this applies to the United States, but they fail to mention that cesspool called Mexico. The laws are only wrong is THEIR view and they ignore the civil rights of those who disagree with them. Even if you think the speed laws are "fundamentally" low, then it's not a wise thing to break them just to prove a point, but rather to work to change the law. These "Reds" see it the other way around. They also forget the laws were made by the representatives of the people.........LEGAL people. They have NO fundamental right to involve themselves in ILLEGAL activity in order to impose change that promotes Illegal activity.

I think the "direct" action mentioned is probably the attack such as on the Paul Revere Riders in Boston. Chant down, curse down ....try to debase the opposition as much as possible. By their actions, they have lowered themselves to nothing but desperate people who, themselves, become fundamentally "immoral" by self-declared "above the law" mentality. This will be their own downfall. They will never be able to pass themselves off as a "civil-rights" movement which sought only to level the playing field among US CITIZENS, not criminal illegal interlopers whose motives are purely economic and only "right" they care about is making money.

Count you are so right. Our school systems, by and large, from the elementary level to college have become socialistic, multiculturalism & anti-American indoctrination centers.