Charlotte, NC – On July 17, the day of Uriel Alberto’s scheduled meeting with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement and likely deportation, Alberto received a phone call and was told his order of ‘Stay of Removal’ had been approved.

Charlotte, NC – On July 4, father and head of household Uriel Alberto sat in front of Immigration and Customs Enforcement office here to partake in a hunger strike against his scheduled deportation on July 17. The hunger strike was temporarily suspended for him to join his family and friends in Winston-Salem who demonstrated against his deportation, but will return to Charlotte on July 8 to continue his hunger strike.

Los Angeles, CA – As the U.S. Senate has begun debating the immigration reform bill, on June 20 the Legalization for All Network is organizing a national call-in day to demand that senators make the immigration reform bill better. There are many parts of the bill that increase militarization of the border. Meanwhile, the legalization aspect of the bill would leave too many immigrants out and needs to be expanded.

Minneapolis, MN – On Jan. 12, immigrant rights activists protested outside the Hennepin County jail, demanding that Sheriff Stanek stop using the jail as a deportation machine. More people are deported from the Hennepin County jail than from any other jail in the state.

Tampa, FL – Around midnight Jan. 10, the home of well-known Arizona immigrant rights activist Erika Andiola was raided by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). ICE agents asked Andiola who the other people in the home were. One of them was her mother. During the raid, Erika's brother, who had been staying at neighbors for the night, came over and was asked if he was related to the Andiolas. Both Erika's brother and mother are undocumented immigrants from Mexico and both have lived in the U.S. for many years. Shortly after the questions, ICE handcuffed and transported Erika's brother and mother to the Florence Detention Center.

Tampa, FL – 287(g) is a racist law that was created on Sept. 30, 1996. For 17 years this law has been terrorizing, racially profiling, oppressing and breaking our immigrant families apart. 287(g) gives permission and training to regular police officers to do Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) work whenever ICE is unable to be around. Specifically 287(g) gives permission to local police to ask people in our neighborhoods and on the streets about their immigration status. Since 1996, 287(g) has been responsible for the arrests, abuses and deportations of over 400,000 of our hard-working and exploited immigrants in the U.S.

_Immigrant rights groups plan protest _

Minneapolis, MN – On Feb. 7, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced that they imposed the highly controversial “Secure Communities” deportation program on all 87 counties in Minnesota. In response, the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAc) announced a protest on Saturday, Feb. 18 at noon. The protest will start at People’s Plaza (300 S 6th Street, Minneapolis) and then march across the street to the Hennepin County Detention Center, one of the jails where this deportation program is now activated. Hennepin County Sheriff Richard Stanek, the controversial figure who is in charge of the Hennepin County jail, pushed hard for Minnesota to participate in Secure Communities.

Los Angeles, CA – Demanding “Stop SCOMM” and “No deportations,” members of the Southern California Immigration Coalition denounced Sheriff L. Baca at his annual prayer breakfast here, Jan 14.

Newly released documents show that the FBI has been a major player behind the scenes pushing the 'Secure Communities' deportation program, which is responsible for the deportation of more than 104,000 immigrants identified through the program since 2008. The program, commonly known as S-Comm, uses a massive fingerprint database to try to identify undocumented immigrants for deportation. The FBI sees S-Comm's fingerprint database as one piece of its rapidly-expanding “Next Generation Identification” (NGI) initiative, which seeks to collect and distribute massive amounts of biometric information on citizens and noncitizens alike, in the U.S. and around the world.

Saint Paul, MN – Amidst the flurry of budget cuts hastily pushed through on July 19 and signed on July 20 on the 20th day of the state government shutdown, immigrant rights activists claimed one victory and one defeat amidst the chaos.