WHEN:

Sunday, September 21, 2003 - 1:00 p.m.

WHERE:

26 Federal Plaza (on Broadway)

BACKGROUND:

JUAN JIMENEZ, who came to the US when he was 13, visited Federal Plaza several times to complete the paperwork, get the fingerprints, and pass the test required for U.S. citizenship. But earlier this month – days after his 19th birthday – agents shackled him. The next day at sunrise, he called home from JFK to say, “They’re sending me to the Dominican Republic.”

Weeks before, HOWARD FACEY, married to a U.S. citizen and the father of 4 American-born children, received a government notice to come to Federal Plaza. When he reported for what he thought was a visit to pick up his greencard, he was detained and swiftly deported to Jamaica.

These rapid-fire deportations are part of the deceitful tactics being used by the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (formerly INS) to lure immigrants and, ultimately, uproot them from their homes. Immigrants who are not being deported immediately are being shipped away thousands of miles to states like Louisiana, to await hearings there. Advocates are alarmed because of the potential for devastation: in New York City two thirds of the population are either immigrants or their children. Twenty-five percent of families are mixed-status in which at least one child is a citizen and one parent a non-citizen. Since Congress overhauled the immigration laws in 1996 over 1 million people have been deported. Attorney General Aschroft is leading a national “crusade” to step up the enforcement of immigration laws. On Friday New York immigrants and advocates are uniting to expose what this crusade means for families and demanding it stop.

[comments now closed]