Hundreds show support for Haitians attending ICE meetings in Cincinnati

Welcome to our news segment: TL;DR of Immigration News, for when the news is Too Long and you Didn’t Read it.

This is a weekly collection of immigration-related news stories. These bite-size summaries will keep you up to date without overwhelming your inbox.

To view and share this email as a webpage, click here
_

There’s still time to join us and help others join us in abolishing ICE! Sign up for NAA’s Membership Drive Aug 23 - Sept 6. Drivers will receive a short training, templates, and one of our new stickers as a thank you 🌠
_

Hundreds show support for Haitians attending ICE meetings in Cincinnati

The current federal regime has officially ended Temporary Protected Status for Haitians, marking the latest attack on a group of people the state has persecuted in various ways for over 200 years. The ending of TPS comes in spite of the fact that Haiti is currently listed by the US State Department as a “Do Not Travel” country due to extreme violence and instability--the reason TPS was extended to Haitians in the first place.

At the ICE offices in Blue Ash, Ohio, immigrants and neighbors showed up in solidarity as Haitians were called in on a Sunday morning to update their status, the first step in deportation proceedings. One attendee, Bethany Rogers, said she “came to bear witness to a great wrong.”

Viles Dorsainvil, executive director of the Springfield Haitian Support Center, said: “The American people have to know that if we are here, it is because the foreign policies of those big countries have failed our country and make it a hell for us not to be able to live in there. If you put my house on fire, you would have expected that I would come to your yard. That's the reality.”
_

She protested ICE raids. Then agents showed up at her door

Acts of civil disobedience, or nonviolently breaking certain laws as a form of protest, typically are met with minor charges. However, there is an escalating trend to charge people protesting federal immigration enforcement with a charge of conspiracy to impede or injure an officer. This charge can carry a sentence of up to six years in federal prison.

Prior to Trump’s taking office last year, this statute has been used infrequently. However, currently the Justice Department has charged more than three dozen people in at least 10 cases.

The rise in conspiracy charges has caused some legal experts to worry that the federal government is stretching the bounds of the law to sweep up political activists who oppose the Trump administration's deportation agenda.

In a statement, the Justice Department told NPR that federal prosecutors are correct to prioritize these cases. Following a protest last summer in Spokane, Washington, the DOJ ordered US attorneys to prioritize prosecuting protesters, according to an internal email seen by Reuters.

Katie Schwartzmann, legal counsel with the organization Protect Democracy, says more indictments against protesters could be coming.
_

Judge orders immigration officials to release key witness in Texas ICE shooting

Jose Trinidad Rojas Pilego, a witness to the fatal ICE shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Arajuo during a traffic stop in Houston, TX, was ordered released from ICE custody this week after a judge ruled his due process rights were being violated. The same judge blocked Rojas Pilego’s deportation in July.

The testimony of Rojas Pilego as well as the other passenger in his car directly contradicts the US gov’t’s narrative of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo’s murder. Rojas Pliego described the government’s account as “a lie.”

Similar to Salgado Araujo, Rojas Pilego entered the US decades ago and is attempting to gain legal status. If ICE agents want to detain him again, they must give noticef first and hold a pre-detention hearing.
_

Family to sue after woman released from ICE custody froze to death

We’ve written before about Daphy Michel, a person ICE dumped on a freezing 20F degree sidewalk who, tragically, did not survive this maltreatment. We reported on this in part because the Allegheny county medical examiner’s office ruled her death a homicide. That is, ICE is directly responsible for Michel's death.

Now, her surviving family is teeing up to sue ICE and related governmental agencies in an attempt to have a court truly hold them responsible for this homicide. As important as Michel’s case is, we hope everyone remembers this was not an isolated incident. It is part of a pattern of systemic abuse and neglect by DHS/ICE that has led to the deaths of dozens of vulnerable people. Perhaps Michel’s family can get a court to shine a light on these hidden abuses, too.
_

Action Items:

_

Support Never Again Action’s organizing by making a donation today. You can make a tax deductible donation via our fiscal sponsor at this link, or you can donate directly to our 501(c)(4) organization at this link.
_

If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for next week’s roundup, drop us a line at neveragainaction@gmail.com.

Never Again Action