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Foro Publico, romper vinculo Policia-ICE, Philadelphia Inquirer 06/28/2010

Philadelphia to bar immigration agents from arrest data

By Michael Matza

Inquirer Staff Writer

Philadelphia is expected to end the arrangement that permits federal immigration agents to scrutinize the city's computerized list of arrests, including country of origin and other data, Everett Gillison, the deputy mayor for public safety, said Sunday.

Immigrant advocates say the year-old agreement between the city and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement service, known as ICE, has resulted in deportation proceedings against immigrants arrested on even minor charges. Under the agreement, ICE agents can routinely access the city's Preliminary Arraignment Reporting System (PARS). That agreement is up for renewal on Thursday.

"It is the mayor's view that the PARS agreement should not be extended," Gillison said, speaking at a South Philadelphia church meeting attended by more than 300 immigrants and their supporters.

He said there would be a formal announcement of the city's position in the coming week, probably on Friday.

Mayor Nutter has expressed concern about the human rights of all immigrants, regardless of their legal status.

In a directive he issued a year ago, he barred municipal employees on official business from inquiring about the immigration status of any person, including, but not limited to, victims, witnesses, arrestees, and detainees.



Gillison said Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey and District Attorney Seth Williams "agree with the mayor" that the ICE-PARS arrangement should be terminated.

His announcement, which followed an hour of public testimony from immigrants about their fears and mistrust of the police, drew chants of Si, se puede! - Yes, we can! - from a mostly Latino audience that also included members of the city's Asian communities and a contingent of suburban supporters from the Central Baptist Church of Wayne.

Organized by a coalition of proimmigrant groups, including Juntos and the New Sanctuary Movement, the standing-room-only meeting took place in the basement of Annunciation Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary on South 10th Street. It was conducted mostly in Spanish, with electronic headsets available to permit simultaneous translation into English.

In addition to Gillison, officials in attendance included City Councilwoman Maria Quiñones Sánchez; Police Capt. Michael Weaver, commander of the immigrant-rich Third District in South Philadelphia; and Leslie Davila, assistant director of Victims' Services, who represented the District Attorney's Office but who left before the end of the meeting without addressing the group.

Because Williams did not attend, someone had filled the seat reserved for him with a large cardboard cutout of the district attorney's face.

"This is about human rights. It's about civil rights," Sánchez said. "And I am very, very encouraged by [the administration's] movement around PARS."

Some of the speakers who provided testimony about their encounters with police used their real names. Others used pseudonyms. They spoke from a lectern decorated with a poster that said, "Public Safety Now."

One man, who gave his name as Ignacio Aguirre, described the arrest of his son. He said the boy had been at the beach, where he used a knife to cut a watermelon. He put the knife into a backpack. Several days later, without thinking about it, he took the backpack to school and tripped a metal detector. It was an innocent mistake, the man said, but it resulted in a visit from ICE and house arrest with an ankle bracelet for his child.

He did not elaborate on the status of the case but said, "Now I'm afraid to call the police for anything."

Guadalupe Hernandez said she came to the United States from Mexico in 1996 to escape domestic abuse. She said her 16-year-old son was arrested in Philadelphia in 2007 while trying to stop a drunk friend from slashing car tires on Dickinson Street.

"My son tried to take the knife away," she said, but when police arrived, he found himself arrested "as an accomplice."

Although the boy eventually was exonerated, she said, "ICE wants to deport him."

Mark Medvesky, a spokesman for ICE in Philadelphia, said he could not comment in detail about the city's intentions regarding PARS until it took formal action.

But he did say, "Our priority is convicted criminal aliens, getting dangerous people off the street. That's one of the reasons we wanted access to PARS."

Read more: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/home_top_stories/20100628_Philadelphia_to_bar_immigration_agents_from_arrest_data.

JUNTOS AND New Sanctuary Movement

Late October, 2009: Fifteen members of Juntos, New Sanctuary Movement and the Philadelphia Storytelling Project, all grassroots community organizations, meet in a community center in South Philadelphia. Most of them or their family members have been arrested by Philadelphia police—almost always for minor offenses which have not resulted in convictions—and turned over to ICE ,where deportation proceedings were begun. Juntos has a list of at least forty-five immigrants who have been caught up in the this web and now face deportation. They are there to tell their stories and demand that the police stop collaborating with ICE. They decide to call themselves the Storytelling Group of South Philadelphia. In the spring of 2009, Philadelphia began participating in the ICE Secure Communities Program. Philadelphia also allows ICE log-in privileges to PARS, a database maintained by the Philadelphia police, which is a record of everyone with an arrest and/or criminal record within the city. In both cases ICE has easy real-time on-line access to any immigrant who has been arrested, even those who have not been convicted of a crime. When ICE scans the database, they are looking for foreign-looking names and country of origin, and targeting those people to demand evidence of documents of legal residence. Many of the people turned over to ICE never have the opportunity to go to trial for the crime for which they were charged—they have no chance to exonerate themselves. In many cases when they do go to trail, they are found innocent. In either case, they all are now part of the ICE system and face deportation. The Storytelling Group talks about telling their stories, making them public, creating a collective voice that must be heard by officials who make decisions that destroy their families. They review the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights and decide that their stories will be testimonies of abuses of their human rights: denial of due process, racial profiling and discrimination, arbitrary detention and imprisonment, lack of equal protection under the law, fear for their own safety. They discuss the risks of telling their stories, of going public, and decide to use pseudonyms to protect themselves and their families. They make a pact that they will each have complete control of their own story: how it will be used in the public debate, when, and where.

Video realizado por JUNTOS sobre ICE

Testimonio de un miembro de la comunidad en South Philly acerca de como se a visto afectada con la colavoracion Policia-ICE

Manifestacion en calle 20 y Market

Hoy asistimos a la manifestacion para expresar que rechazmos la ley aprobada en el estado de Arizona y otra ley 2479 presentada el pasado martes 4 de mayo por el representante estatal Daryl Metcalfe de Pennsylvania, en donde muchas organizaciones comunitarias exprezaron su total rechazo.

Escriba a sus senadores y instarlos a apoyar una ley de reforma migratoria en el 2010!

Llamar y escribir sus senadores es tan importante como ir a una Marcha para la reforma migratoria. Por eso, abajo esta un ejemplo de escribir a sus senadores para instarlos a apoyar una ley de reforma migratoria en el 2010.


ESCRIBA UNA CARTA:

Querido Senador ___________: (Casey o Specter en Filadelfia)

Me dirijo a usted para instarlos a apoyar una ley de reforma migratoria en el 2010. Necesitamos que el Congreso presente y apruebe una ley de reforma migratoria este ano por el bien de nuestra nación, nuestra economia, nuestras trabajadores, y nuestras familias.

En concreto, necesitamos:

-Una buena legislación a finales de abril que incluya una via hacia la legalización para inmigrantes indocumentados;
-Liderazgo de los Demócratas y Republicanos
-Un paro a las redadas y otras tácticas duras que destruyen las familias trabajadoras.

Le estoy pidiendo que haga un compromiso publico en el mes de Abril para apoyar una reforma migratoria bipartidista en el Senado este ano.

Gracias,

Nombre:____________________________
Dirección:___________________________________________________________________________
Ciudad:____________________________ Código Postal:________________

Manda su carta a:

1. Senator Robert Casey
2000 Market Street, Suite 1870
Philadelphia, PA 19103

O llama a Casey y decirle lo mismo: (215) 405-9660 o (202) 224-6324


O llama a Specter: (202) 224-4254
Operadora de Senado en español: (866) 956-8590




ENGLISH:

Writing and calling your senators is just as important as coming to the rallies and marches. For that reason, below is an example of how to write your senator in order to urge them to support a comprehensive immigration Reform bill in 2010.

Dear Senator ______________: (Casey or Specter in Philadelphia)

I am writing to urge you to support a Comprehensive Immigration Reform bill in 2010. For the good our nation, our economy, our workers, and our families, we need Congress to introduce and pass an immigration reform bill this year. Specifically, we need:

- Good legislation by the end of April that includes an earned pathway to legalization for undocumented immigrants; family unity; and other essentials that serve our nation's interests and reflects our finest values.
- Leadership from both political parties- Democrats and Republicans both need to lead. No excuses.
- An end to raids and other harsh tactics that destroy hard-working families.

For these reasons, I am asking you to make a public commitment during the month of April to support bi-partisan legislation in the Senate this year.

Thank you,

Your Name:_______________________
Your Address:______________________
Your City:_________________________ Your Zip Code:_______________________



Send your card to:

1. Senator Robert Casey
2000 Market Street, Suite 1870
Philadelphia, PA 19103

Or call him and tell him the same thing! Sen. Casey:(215) 405-9660 or (202) 224-6324

2. Senator Arlen Specter
711 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510

Or call him and tell him the same thing! Sen. Specter: (202) 224-4254

Senate operator: (866) 940-2439