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Immigrants’ Rights in Trump’s America: Know Them

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By Andrés Dae Keun Kwon and Julia Harumi Mass / ACLU San Diego-Imperial Counties

California has been a national leader at the forefront of our struggle for immigrants’ rights, having already enacted a series of protections for immigrants. In passing the TRUST Act in 2014 and the TRUTH Act earlier this year, California created protections for people who come into contact with immigration authorities through local law enforcement. In a recent joint statement, state legislative leaders affirmed: “California is—and must always be—a refuge of justice and opportunity for people of all walks, talks, ages and aspirations—regardless of how you look, where you live, what language you speak, or who you love.”

There are also important rights under the U.S. Constitution that protect all Californians—regardless of immigration status. While we wait to see how the Trump administration’s policies unfold, here are some of the most important ways you can protect your rights right now:   [Read more…]

California Leads the Nation in Hate Report

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Two reports from the Southern Poverty Law Center released this week confirmed anecdotal reports of a spike in incidents involving harassment and intimidation in the days following the general election.

One report culled media reports and direct submissions to a #ReportHate page on the SPLC website. Online harassment and incidents determined to be hoaxes by authorities were not included. According to the group, “the incidents documented here almost certainly represent a small fraction of the actual number of election-related hate incidents that have occurred since November 8. The Bureau of Justice Statistics estimates that two-thirds of hate crimes go unreported to the police.”

Of the 867 occurrences cataloged by the group over ten days, 99 were reported from California. Schools were the most common locations, followed by public spaces and workplace/retail environments. The leading reported motivation for these incidents was anti-immigrant sentiments, with anti-Black, anti-Semitic, anti-LGBTQ, and anti-Muslim episodes also being significant factors.   [Read more…]

Should You Apply for DACA Following the Election?

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By Ignacia Rodriguez, NILC immigration policy advocate / National Immigration Law Center

There are many concerns about what could happen to the DACA program—and DACA recipients—once President-elect Donald Trump takes office. Trump said during his campaign that he intends to end the DACA program, though he has not said exactly if, how, or when this might actually occur. We also won’t know until after Trump takes office on January 20, 2017, what Trump administration officials might do with the information that DACA applicants have submitted on their applications.   [Read more…]

Post-Election: Infighting & Hate Speech vs Emerging Local Actions

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The shock and awe phase of the post-election period is winding down. Now the question ‘what next?’ is coming to the forefront of public consciousness.

Lots of people have ideas. Some of them are pipe dreams. Some of them are impractical. And some of them will evolve into what I can only hope is a wave of widespread, sustained, and effective resistance to the Trump administration’s policy proposals. (Friday’s column will focus on San Diego-oriented activities.)

For the moment what people are protesting is the very idea of Trump taking over the executive branch along with promises made on the campaign trail. It’s a murky mess to organize against because the man has no plan and his advisors are squabbling.   [Read more…]

Activists push colleges to make their campuses sanctuary sites

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By Kerry Eleveld / Daily Kos

A movement has begun on college campuses across the nation to shield undocumented students, staff and their family members from deportation.

Efforts have emerged at UC-San Diego, Yale, other Ivy League schools, and elsewhere to limit the ability of local law enforcement and campus police to cooperate with federal Immigration, Customs and Enforcement (ICE) officers.   [Read more…]

La Frontera: A new exhibit while in line at the San Ysidro Port of Entry

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By Stefan Falke

I have chosen an appropriate location for my newest photography exhibition titled LA FRONTERA: Artists along the US Mexican Border the San Ysidro Port of Entry.

I display eighteen large-scale images from my ongoing project. You can find the photographs along the left hand fence that leads to border control on the Mexican side in Tijuana.

In this photography project, I focus on artists who live and work along the U.S.-Mexico border, documenting their individual stories and their arts’ positive influence on their communities. To date I have photographed over 200 artists on both sides and along the entire length of the border, from Tijuana to Matamoros, from Brownsville to San Diego.   [Read more…]

CBP Uses Border To Pressure People Into Becoming Informants

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The government has been using the border as a dragnet to pressure people into becoming informants

By Hugh Handeyside, Staff Attorney / ACLU National Security Project

Recently leaked documents published by The Intercept show that the FBI and Customs and Border Protection have been using CBP’s authority to search travelers at the border — along with the troves of information collected as a result — to troll for potential sources and pressure people into becoming informants. We’ve gone through the documents, and they heighten our concerns that these agencies are exceeding their authority, targeting minority communities and vulnerable people, and trying to evade accountability for doing so.

These documents also highlight a broader problem with the government’s official guidance on the use of race by federal law enforcement agencies. That guidance purports to ban racial profiling, but it includes exemptions for border screening and national security — exemptions that the leaked documents demonstrate are dangerous and unwise.   [Read more…]

Deported Veteran Hector Barajas Might Return To U.S.

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Hector now lives in Tijuana while he awaits citizenship papers. In the meantime, he fills his time as director and founder of the Deported Veterans Support House, a shelter located in Otay, Mexico. He created the shelter in 2012 and currently six people live there, including one female who is not a veteran, but is staying at what he called ‘the bunker.’

“We try to do what we can. We try to help each other out. We live by the motto leave no man behind,” Hector says. “We have veterans deported from 24 different countries, from the Vietnam War to Iraq and Afghanistan. They served honorably, but after their service they got into some kind of trouble with the law. It could be a $300 check to something like a discharge of a firearm, like myself. I did three years in prison. I had my legal residence. I was not undocumented.”

One of the issues Hector is working on is to allow deported veterans to still get their medical benefits. Just because they are deported, doesn’t mean they lose their health care. However, since they can’t come across into the United States, they can’t be physically present for their appointments. Hector is working to get the VA to outsource those programs. That way, all these men who fought in Iraq and Vietnam and have PTSD can, at the very least, receive treatment.   [Read more…]

Honorably Discharged then Dishonorably Deported

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Campaign Announced In Response to Crisis of Deported Veterans

By Joe Armenta

The injustice faced by hundreds, if not thousands, of U.S. military veterans who are being and have been deported was the focus of a campaign announced yesterday by a broad coalition of leaders including representatives of the veterans community, elected officials, business, labor and immigrant reform communities.

The coalition pledged to drive change for currently deported veterans and those who are facing deportation. Marine Corps veteran and former California Assemblymember Nathan Fletcher has agreed to serve as Chair of the group and stated the following, “If you were willing to give your life for your country, your country should be willing to give you citizenship.”   [Read more…]

Junior Trump and the Skittles of Doom

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By Mark Sumner / Daily Kos

On Monday evening, Junior Trump demonstrated once again how he has inherited all of his father’s deep respect for diversity and understanding of complex issues.

Uh huh. Syrian refugees undergo the most intense vetting process of any group arriving in the United States. You might even call it … extreme. But there’s a bigger issue with Junior’s Skittle comparison. This kind of “poison candy” argument can be, and has been, used to defend racism against any group.   [Read more…]

Will Gov. Brown Do the Right Thing for Farmworkers?

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After two years and more than five thousand proposed laws, resolutions, and constitutional amendments, the current version of the California Legislature wrapped up its session in frenzied fashion. Wednesday, August 31st saw more than one hundred bills up for consideration. Now it’s up to the Governor to say yea or nay on legislation affecting all aspects of life in California.

Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D-80), who successfully shepherded 19 of 20 bills through the legislature this year, is leaving nothing up to chance with her hard-fought victory on AB 1066, gradually phasing in standards for farmerworker overtime.

She’s started a petition drive for voters to let the Governor know they want this bill signed.   [Read more…]

Know Your Rights During Wildfires and Other Disasters

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Social service agencies should provide disaster-related assistance without asking for information or documents

By ACLU of San Diego

Fire season is upon us. At the moment, there are no fires in San Diego or Imperial County, but we are monitoring a fire in San Bernardino. Please watch our Twitter and Facebook pages for updates. Our thoughts are with all the families in harm’s way.

In 2007, wildfires ravaged huge swaths of San Diego County. In a series of breakdowns in policies, procedures, and standards, many of our county’s most vulnerable residents affected by the devastating wildfires were denied emergency services in their time of greatest need.   [Read more…]

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