300 arrested in South Carolina ICE raid

Immigration Officials Raid Poultry Plant - Greenville News Story - WYFF Greenville

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Federal immigration agents are executing a criminal search warrant Tuesday at the Columbia Farms poultry processing plant on Rutherford Road in Greenville County.

More than 300 people suspected of being illegal immigrants have been detained, agents said.

The raid by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency is part of ICE's ongoing 10-month investigation into unauthorized employment of workers at the plant.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin McDonald said the raid began shortly before 9 a.m. Tuesday during a shift change at the plant.

Federal prosecutors and immigration agents have been investigating the plant's hiring practices. McDonald says a recent review of immigration paperwork of 825 workers showed more than 775 contained false information.

South Carolina U.S. Attorney Walt Wilkins and ICE have called a news conference for Tuesday afternoon in downtown Greenville.

Wilkins said that there are between 400 and 450 ICE agents involved in the raid, but not all are at the site.

"We're here to enforce the laws of the United States against those who use identification documents to unlawfully obtain jobs as well as those employers who knowingly hire and harbor undocumented aliens," Wilkins said. "That's what we're doing here."

Immigrants Gain DHS Assurance: No Checkpoints in Gustav Evacuation

Press Release from the New Orleans Workers' Center for Racial Justice:

Immigrant workers demanding a safe evacuation from the path of Hurricane Gustav received key assurances from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that no immigration enforcement actions or checkpoints would occur in the evacuation process or along evacuation routes. The New Orleans Workers' Center for Racial Justice gained the assurances for safe passage of immigrant workers just as mandatory evacuations began across the Gulf Coast. ...

As Gustav approached, immigrant workers and their families feared evacuation due to anticipation over Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Border Patrol checkpoints. Of the over 200 surveys of day laborers which the Workers' Center conducted as Hurricane Gustav approached, the fear of detention and deportation by DHS was identified as the single greatest obstacle to accessing humanitarian relief. "We want to take our families to safety. We should not have to face deportation as we escape from the storm," said Dennis Soriano, an organizer with the Congress of Day Laborers.

Excerpt of the agreement:

OFFICE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS AND CIVIL LIBERTIES

Gustav
· All residents of the Gulf Coast region need to evacuate.

· There are no immigration enforcement operations, and there are no immigration enforcement checkpoints associated with the evacuations.

· The Department of Homeland Security's top priorities in any emergency are life-saving and life-sustaining activities, preventing the loss of property to the extent possible, and assisting with a speedy recovery of the affected region.

Gustav

· Todos los residentes del la region de la Costa del Golfo
deben evacuar.

· No hay operacions de inmigracion, y no hay puntos de inmigracion asociados con las evacuaciones.

· Las prioridades mas altas del Departamento de Seguridad Nacional (DHS por sus siglas en Ingles) en cualquier emergencia son las de salvar y sostener la vida, preevenir la perdida de propiedad lo tanto posible, y asistir con la recuperacion de la region afectada.

Prisoners' plight during hurricane Gustav: CR and INCITE action alerts

Forwarded message:


Hey folks - please make this call today in between your Labor Day Weekend activities. Also, INCITE! New Orleans tells us that women prisoners are being shipped to Angola State Prison, an infamous maximum security men's prison, rather than to the state women's facility. This happened last time, and resulted in terrible human rights abuses. We particularly need the "big" organizations among you to make this call - but everyone's voice is needed. MAKE SURE WHEN YOU CALL TO DEMAND TO KNOW WHY WOMEN PRISONERS ARE BEING SHIPPED TO A MEN'S FACILITY, AND THAT THEY BE MOVED TO A WOMEN'S FACILITY IMMEDIATELY.

Also, we are raising money to help get low income women of color, who, as we all know, were devastatingly impacted by Hurricane Katrina's aftermath, out of town safely and back to the City as soon as it is safe. You can donate at INCITE!'s website http://www.incite-national.org, put New Orleans in the "purpose" line of the Pay Pal form, and we will be transferring it directly to the INCITE! New Orleans bank account for distribution to the 500 + constituency and patients of the New Orleans Women's Clinic, created post Katrina by INCITE! New Orleans to meet the overwhelming need for health care for low income uninsured women of color in the wake of public hospital closings and ongoing environmental contamination...

...

What will happen to the prisoners of Orleans Parish Prison located in New Orleans this time?

Critical Resistance (CR) is demanding that the elected officials of New Orleans will not create the same devastating wrongs as they did to the prisoners of Orleans Parish Prison during hurricane Katrina.

1. we demand a full and safe evacuation of all prisoners
2. we demand to know what the evacuation plan for prisoners is
3. we demand to see a public document about that plan immediately
4. we demand information about how we can find people after an evacuation

We are urging every member, ally and comrade of New Orleans across the country, to make at least one call to:

• Sheriff Malrin Gusman: 504.827.8505
  (James Carter's secretary said "Orleans Parish Prison is Gusman's prison")
• James Carter: 504.658.1030
  (Criminal Justice Council Member who is able to put pressure on the sheriff even if they say they can't)
  You can also send an email: JCarter@cityofno.com
  please put in your email subject: How will you protect prisoners this time?

Please call as many times as you can to put pressure on them and let them know our demands and it is their job to be accountable to us!!!!!!!!

For further information from us please contact Critical Resistance New Orleans:
Mayaba: 917.385.5472 or mayaba@criticalresistance.org
Koolblack: 504.813.4714 or koolblack@criticalresistance.org

(If you can't get through due to evacuation please contact:
pilar@criticalresistance.org for further information)

In solidarity,
Critical Resistance

ICE raid in Mississippi

Immigration agents raid Laurel plant |The Clarion-Ledger

Federal immigration agents raided a major manufacturing plant in south Mississippi on Monday, but it wasn’t immediately clear how many illegal workers were taken into custody.

Barbara Gonzalez, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman, said the target of the operation was Howard Industries Inc. in Laurel, a town of about 18,000 people located about 85 miles southeast of Jackson.

LA Gov. Jindal Won't Renew Non-Discrimination Ban

GLAAD: Louisiana Gov. Won't Renew Non-Discrimination Ban

Louisiana’s Governor Bobby Jindal announced that he will not renew Louisiana’s anti-discrimination law, enacted in 2004 by executive order by former Governor Kathleen Blanco. The order banned discrimination in government employment, providing government services and in government contracts with private companies. Under the order, private businesses contracting with the state also needed inclusive non-discrimination policies. Blanco’s executive order added sexual orientation to the categories race, religion, gender, national origin, political affiliation, and disability.

The comrades over at PassTheRoti posted a succinct response: "How do you spell a$$hole? J-I-N-D-A-L."