Minneapolis, MN – There have been some recent advances in the campaign to end cooperation between the largest county in Minnesota, Hennepin County, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The campaign has been organized by the Decriminalizing Communities Coalition, which brings together several local immigrant rights and social justice organizations.

On May 24, the Decriminalizing Communities Coalition sent a letter to Hennepin County Sheriff David Hutchinson that was signed by over 300 Hennepin County residents requesting a meeting to discuss the need to stop his department’s cooperation with ICE. The coalition was made up of members from local groups including Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC), Jewish Community Action, Coalition of Asian American Leaders, Black Immigrant Collective, Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, Release MN8, and Unidos MN.

Representatives from the coalition had a virtual meeting with Sheriff Hutchinson and some members of his staff on July 14. In this meeting, the sheriff announced that as of June 9, his office is no longer collaborating with ICE. He explained this as meaning no more phone calls or notifications, no more providing jail rosters to ICE – essentially no more advance notice of any kind to ICE about people being released from the county jail. ICE has stopped calling Sheriff Hutchinson’s office and now considers Hennepin County non-compliant.

In the meeting, the sheriff’s staff also told coalition members that the final step in ending cooperation with ICE was the implementation of a written administrative directive dated June 9. Perhaps coincidentally, the directive is dated just two days after the coalition sent a message to the sheriff following up on their May 24 letter, and a day after the sheriff’s office contacted the coalition to schedule a meeting.

Members of the coalition acknowledge that this is not the end of their work, but that this is a big win, nonetheless.

Issues that the coalition will continue to fight for include: the full implementation of the directive and compliance by the entire sheriff’s department, ending or restricting ICE access to detainees, more formal policies within the sheriff’s department, the passage of a comprehensive separation ordinance by the Hennepin County Board to get ICE out of all Hennepin County matters, and clarification that any grants to Hennepin County from the federal government, including Justice Assistance Grants, do not contain any conditions calling for cooperation with ICE.

The campaign to end the collaboration between the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office and ICE has been one that MIRAC has been fighting for for several years, as this collaboration has been a pathway to deportation for far too long. Since January 2020, MIRAC has partnered with other immigrant rights organizations in the Twin Cities to pressure the sheriff’s office to end their collaboration with ICE.

Mary Vanderford, a member of MIRAC who has been active in this campaign states, “I am encouraged that the Biden administration has changed some of the egregious policies of the previous administration. But, by no means, not all. Local officials need to hear from their constituents that we are not satisfied until all undocumented immigrants receive the same rights and protections as the rest of us. No one should be arrested for a minor offense, locked up in the Hennepin County Jail and later transferred into the hands of ICE.”

MIRAC, in collaboration with the rest of the Decriminalizing Communities Coalition, will continue to fight for a full end to collaboration between ICE and the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office.

#MinneapolisMN #ICE #MIRAc #MinnesotaImmigrantRightsActionCommittee

Minneapolis, MN – Both Donald Trump and former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions spoke in Minnesota, April 15, and both were met with protest and disruption upon arrival. Trump spoke outside of a truck equipment company in the Twin Cities suburb of Burnsville and was met by activists denouncing his anti-immigrant policies and defending progressive Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar.

Jeff Sessions was met with even larger crowds as protesters outnumbered attendees at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus, where he was slated to speak to a “sold out” crowd, but which ultimately had fewer than one-third of its seats filled.

The Sessions event was hosted by Minnesota Students for Liberty, CFACT, and the Minnesota Republic as part of their annual “Conservative Awareness Week.” He was scheduled to discuss the topic of “promoting conservative economics.”

In response, members of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) at the University of Minnesota organized a protest of the event. The protest was endorsed by the Anti-War Committee, Women Against Military Madness, and the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee.

Protesters began to gather outside the entry gate of the Sessions event roughly 30 minutes before his scheduled speaking time. The University of Minnesota Police Department guarded the venue and had an extensive presence.

The protest began with a speech detailing the reactionary policies and actions that Jeff Sessions had taken as attorney general, as well as his earlier actions within the judicial system and Senate. A member of SDS stated, “We gather here today to show that we will not tolerate Jeff Sessions’ appearance, and we reject his reactionary agenda! We stand in solidarity with everyone who has been targeted by his bigoted, inhumane, and draconian policies.”

Roughly half way through the protest, demonstrators began a march that circled the surrounding Cedar-Riverside neighborhood and the Carlson School of Management in which Sessions’ event was occurring. Protesters chanted, “Hey hey, ho ho, Jeff Sessions has got to go,” and “No cops, no KKK, no racist USA.”

As the protest continued to grow outside, activists inside the auditorium began to disrupt his speech. One by one, disruptors would read portions of a statement written by a member of MIRAC and would continue doing so until escorted out by the police. This tactic effectively prevented Jeff Sessions from speaking. Disruptors were greeted to congratulatory cheers from the protest as they were kicked out.

In total, roughly 100 protesters participated, dwarfing the actual attendance of the Sessions event.

#MinneapolisMN #ImmigrantRights #AntiWarCommittee #MinnesotaImmigrantRightsActionCommittee #Antiracism #IlhanOmar #JeffSessions

Minneapolis, MN – Over 150 people marched on International Human Rights day, Dec. 10, in south Minneapolis demanding an end to Trump’s wars and his administration’s attacks on immigrants. The Anti-War Committee and the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee co-sponsored the community march, which started at Powderhorn Park.

Marchers took over half of Lake Street, one of the busiest streets in Minneapolis, and marched past its immigrant-owned businesses chanting “No ban, no wall, sanctuary for all!” The Unlawful Assembly band brought up the rear of the march.

After the march there was a closing rally in the Powderhorn Park building. The program began with a performance by the Calliope Women’s Chorus.

Christine Hauschildt, from Anti-War Committee, spoke to the crowd, “The U.S.’s foreign policy and immigration policy are interwoven, creating a racist, xenophobic system where the same people that the U.S. is displacing with war are the people banned from entering the country. The Muslim ban is now in full effect. This Muslim ban – which the current administration has insisted is a ban to protect U.S. citizens – is nothing more than an attack on and stigmatization of Muslim people around the world.”

Hauschildt continued “The U.S.’s endless wars are an assault on human rights. These wars are often justified by ‘human rights abuses’ in other countries, when in fact the U.S. is the largest violator of human rights by being the largest perpetrators of wars and occupations. The endless wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria traumatize, displace and kill human beings every day. After such wars, the countries we claim to have ‘liberated’ never end up in a better position than before U.S.’s unwelcome military intervention.”

She concluded, “Human rights, and any real social change, can only be won by people’s movements. As an anti-war movement in the U.S., we must build an anti-racist, peace and justice movement that stands in solidarity with the peoples of the world, that sees that our liberation is linked to the liberation of others.”

William Martinez, from the MN Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAc) also addressed the closing rally, saying, “The United States and its corporations have invaded, killed and raped the people of countries from South and Central America to the Middle East, causing a crisis of millions of migrants and refugees trying to come to the U.S. The Muslim ban, the criminalization of immigrants in the U.S., the murder of Blacks and natives at the hands of the police, are all violations of human rights, but they are not new. We must continue to fight these attacks on our communities and for our right to survive. On a cold day like today, it is the heart of the community that keeps us warm and gives us the power to take to the streets. Immigrant rights matter! Black rights matter! Native rights matter! Women's rights matter! LGBTQ rights matter! Trans rights matter! Homeless rights matter! Human rights matter!”

Sabry Wazwaz, a member of the Anti-War Committee and an outspoken Palestinian American activist, was the concluding speaker, “The state of Israel is important to the U.S. because it is a military base for them in the middle of the Middle East. And it keeps everything in the Middle East in chaos. The U.S. uses this chaos to control the resources of the region – especially the oil. Support for Israel is the one thing that Democrats and Republicans agree on.”

Wazwaz called out the U.S. for giving Israel $3.1 billion and for President Trump’s decision to call Jerusalem the capital of Israel. Wazwaz called for the U.S. to spend that money instead rebuilding inner city schools and the plumbing in Flint, Michigan.

Other speakers included JR Babick from Native Lives Matter, Daphne Brown from the Twin Cities Justice for Jamar Coalition, Gerardo Cajamarca, an SEIU organizer and Colombian trade unionist, and Maddy Henteges, a member of the Calliope Women’s Chorus.

The Anti-War Committee announced that their next action will be on Jan. 20, the one-year anniversary of Donald Trump’s inauguration as president, to resist his racist, sexist, xenophobic and pro-war agenda.

#MinneapolisMN #AntiwarMovement #ImmigrantRights #PeoplesStruggles #AntiWarCommittee #MinnesotaImmigrantRightsActionCommittee #InternationalHumanRightsDay

Minneapolis, MN – Immigrant rights activists demanded “Sanctuary now!” at the Minneapolis City Council meeting Oct. 6. The activists gathered outside of City Hall then made their presence felt in the City Council chamber, holding their banner and signs at the start of the council meeting.

The visibility action was part of an ongoing campaign demanding that the Minneapolis City Council quickly pass the Sanctuary Platform. Adopting the platform’s 13 demands would deepen Minneapolis' commitment to standing with immigrant communities that are under attack.

The Sanctuary Platform was initiated by the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC), and has been endorsed by many immigrant rights organizations, unions, social justice and religious groups. It has already attracted support from some current city council members as well as several of the candidates running for city council and mayor in the November election.

The platform was launched with a community press conference before the prior City Council meeting on Sept. 20. A day later, Hennepin County Sheriff Stanek sent a 3-page letter to all City Council members that can be read as both defensive and threatening. Stanek’s close cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the county jail is a target of some of the platform’s demands. Stanek’s letter says, among other things, “there is no sanctuary for criminals anywhere in Hennepin County” and brags that in 2016 his jail arranged for ICE to talk to approximately 2700 people detained in the county jail.

Stanek’s letter was made public by Minneapolis City Council member Cam Gordon (Green Party). That has focused wider community and media attention on Sheriff Stanek’s close cooperation with ICE that results in many deportations, directly undercutting the Minneapolis’ stated goal of being a safe city for immigrants.

Activists at the action vowed to keep the pressure on the city council and the mayor to unite against Stanek and Trump’s attacks on immigrants.

#MinneapolisMN #MIRAc #MinnesotaImmigrantRightsActionCommittee #SheriffStanek

Minneapolis, MN – More than 400 people marched in Minneapolis, Nov. 23, to protest President-elect Donald Trump’s plans to attack immigrants. Lake Street, the march route, rang with chants of, “No Trump, no KKK, no racist USA,” “Build bridges, not walls” and “Trump eschucha, estamos en la lucha!”

The site of the protest, south Minneapolis, is largely populated by new immigrants from Latin America and Somali refugees. People jumped out of their cars to chant along or honked their horns in support.

The protest was sponsored by the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC), an immigrant rights organization in Minnesota. The march demanded, “Hands off DACA!” “Stop immigration raids and deportations!” “No border wall” “No anti-Muslim bigotry!”

Giselda Gutierrez of MIRAC said, “We had a great a event, a lot of people came out, we are going to have to sustain that kind of energy going into Jan. 20 and beyond. When we’re united and out on the street we can win just like we won in 2006 with a very Republican administration. We need to harness all our energy and now is not the time to be silent, now is the time to fight, now is the time to organize. I hope we have a huge turnout for Jan. 20 so that we can show everybody that we are not going to accept this as our new normal. On Jan. 20. ‘No Work, No School, No Business as Usual!’”

#MinneapolisMN #ChicanoLatino #MIRAc #MinnesotaImmigrantRightsActionCommittee #DonaldTrump

Minneapolis, MN – Over 300 protesters rallied outside the Minneapolis Convention Center Aug. 19 as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump came to Minneapolis for a private big-money fundraiser with rich supporters. Most of the Minnesota Republican Party distanced itself from the Trump event and the small group of attendees paid a minimum of $1000 to meet the candidate and represent rich right-wing extremists of the Republican Party.

The location and time of Trump’s fundraiser was kept secret until the day before the event. The Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC) called a protest focusing on Trump’s attacks on immigrants, which have been a centerpiece of his campaign. Trump has called for dramatically increasing militarization of the U.S.-México border and for deporting all 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country.

MIRAC’s protest began with dancing by Kalpulli Ketzal Coatlicue, then continued with speakers from MIRAC, the Twin Cities Coalition for Justice 4 Jamar, Anti-War Committee, Welfare Rights Committee, IWW, and others.

MIRAC’s No More Deportations campaign was explained, which is building a “Pledge of Resistance to Trump & Attacks on Immigrants.” This campaign is building the movement against Trump’s anti-immigrant politics, while making preparations to resist increased attacks on immigrant communities after the election.

Several other organizations and movements also had a presence outside of Trump’s fundraiser. Members of the Black Coalition and AR14 for Justice (a youth organization founded out of the fight for justice for Philando Castile) rallied at rear entrances, aiming to block Trump’s entry. At the front, protesters confronted Trump supporters as they climbed out of their limousines and made their way through the hostile crowd. Trump’s campaign had hoped to have a public rally in Minneapolis but according to news reports they were unable to pull a public event together due to concerns with how to deal with large protests.

After MIRAC’s rally, many protesters stayed and continued to confront the Trump and his supporters. Near the end of the event a group of loud protesters got in the doors of the Convention Center with a megaphone to denounce Trump and banged on the glass outside the event space. Others spray painted anti-Trump graffiti. Some Trump campaign signs and t-shirts were set on fire.

At the end of the event, around 100 protesters surrounded Trump’s motorcade. Facing off with police and heavily harmed security, they chanted, “No Trump, no KKK, no racist USA!” Protesters delayed the candidate from leaving until police violently intervened to help Trump escape.

Jess Sundin, an activist with the Anti-War Committee and the Twin Cities Coalition for Justice 4 Jamar, summed up the protest, “While most Minnesota republicans boycotted Trump’s fundraiser, forces from across the social movement here came together to shut down his reactionary message, and confront his supporters. Not one of them got into the Convention Center without being called out for supporting racism and Islamophobia. Even when they got rough, we never backed down. Youth, immigrants and Black folks were on the frontlines, the anti-war movement was here, everyone worked together to make this a powerful protest, from start to finish.”

Earlier in the day, two other organizations also protested Donald Trump’s presence in Minneapolis. Cosecha organized a “Wall Off Trump” protest for most of the day outside the Minnesota Republican Party office, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MN) had a press conference denouncing the Trump campaign’s rampant Islamophobia and recent attacks on the Somali-American community in particular.

#MinneapolisMN #MIRAc #MinnesotaImmigrantRightsActionCommittee #Elections #DonaldTrump

Minneapolis, MN – More than 200 people gathered January 30 to celebrate the life of Twin Cities activist Gabriel Johnson-Ortiz, who passed away Jan. 17 at age 34 after a four-and-a-half-year struggle with brain cancer. His passing is a great loss to his family, friends and comrades from a variety of progressive political and cultural movements.

At the event, representatives of organizations in which Gabriel was active gave moving tributes, including William Martinez of the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee, Lucila Dominguez of Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en Lucha, Jess Sundin of the Anti-War Committee and Eric Angell of OccupyMN. Several musicians performed in Gabriel’s honor, including an Aztec danzante group and Maria Isa. David Mendez of the Palabristas and David Miller read poems written for Gabriel. Teresa Ortiz, Gabriel’s mother and also a member of the Palabristas, read a moving poem to close out the gathering.

A common theme touched on by all who spoke was that Gabriel was ever present in the movement for social justice. He seemed to be at every protest, event, meeting, party and concert. He transcended movements and issues and always greeted everyone with a smile and a hug. He seemed to know everyone, and those he didn’t know he quickly welcomed and befriended. Gabriel's tireless passion for social justice and solidarity never waned nor did his positive spirit, as he continued participating in political activities even while facing serious health issues.

Gabriel Johnson-Ortiz grew up partly in Minnesota and partly in Guatemala and in Chiapas, México. His family lived in Chiapas when he was a teenager during the mid-1990s. This was just after the Zapatistas had boldly announced themselves to the world by briefly seizing San Cristobal and several other major cities in Mexico’s southernmost state of Chiapas, rocking Mexico and inspiring people around the world. Gabriel embodied the Zapatistas’ rebellious spirit and desire to serve the people.

Gabriel was a fixture in the Twin Cities progressive political and cultural movements since he returned to Minnesota in the late 1990s. Among many other things, he was always involved in the immigrant rights movement and movements of Latino and immigrant workers, participating in the 2003 Immigrant Worker Freedom Ride, helping found MIRAC in 2006, and staying active in MIRAC and CTUL. He also worked for a period doing union organizing with hotel workers who were mostly immigrants.

Gabriel built solidarity with the people of Chiapas, with Latin America and with movements around the world. He regularly participated in anti-war protests in the Twin Cities and joined in for long road trips to national anti-war protests. He was a main Twin Cities organizer of the U.S. Social Forum. Gabriel stood with activists facing political repression, including Carlos Montes, the Anti-War 23 and others.

In addition to his political commitments, Gabriel also promoted Latin American music in the Twin Cities, contributing to local radio shows like KFAI's Corazon Latino, and frequently going to local music events. He also sometimes DJed, sharing his impressive music collection.

Though brought together by the tragedy of Gabriel Johnson-Ortiz's passing, the Jan. 30 event was more a celebration of Gabriel's life than a somber memorial. It brought together people from many political and cultural movements and organizations that don't often gather in the same room, but who came together to celebrate a friend and compañero who made a strong impression on all who met and worked with him.

Gabriel Johnson-Ortiz, ¡Presente!

#MinneapolisMN #Remembrances #MIRAc #MinnesotaImmigrantRightsActionCommittee #CenterForWorkersUnitedInStruggleCTUL #OccupyMN #GabrielJohnsonOrtiz #Zapatistas

Saint Paul, MN – Chanting “What do we want? A license! When do we want it? Now!” more than 60 immigrant rights activists protested at the State Capitol on the opening day of the 2015 legislative session. They demanded that legislators pass a bill this year to give immigrants who live in Minnesota equal rights to get a drivers license like all other Minnesotans.

The protest was organized by the new One State One License Coalition, which includes organizations, unions and community members.

The group rallied outside on the Capitol steps, braving below-zero temperatures. Representative Karen Clark spoke to the protesters. Clark has championed the drivers license bill since 2009, and she thanked the protesters for being there and pledged to push to pass a bill this year for an unmarked drivers license. Other speakers included Maria Cisneros, one of the initiators of the Minnesota drivers license campaign in 2008; Luis Candela, who spoke about families that need to drive their children for medical appointments and emergencies; and Florencio Campos, a leader in the drivers license campaign.

When the outdoor rally finished, the protesters moved inside the capitol where they marched silently with fists raised, stopping in front of the House and Senate chambers.

Before the protest, members of the One State One License Coalition also talked to legislators about the need to pass a drivers license bill this year. Another group, Mesa Latina, also lobbied for drivers licenses on the opening day of the session.

The movement for drivers licenses in Minnesota is part of a nationwide movement demanding that states allow immigrants to get drivers licenses so they can drive without fear of harassment, arrest and deportation. While President Obama’s recent immigration executive action will help some people avoid deportation, those people are only protected temporarily and there are still an estimated 7 million people who won’t be covered at all. They will still be at risk of arrest and deportation every time they drive to work or to pick their children up from school. So struggles for drivers licenses at the state level are continuing. Recently there have been successes in several states including a huge victory in California, which just started issuing drivers licenses to immigrants this week after a years-long struggle there.

The question of whether to accept a ‘marked’ drivers license that’s significantly different than the license everyone else has emerged as a point of controversy in many states. Immigrant rights activists are having to struggle with resistant state legislators and federal Homeland Security officials. This controversy played out in California over the past year where activists struggled against proposals to make immigrants’ licenses a different color, and also struggled over whether to have a marking on the front or the back of the license which reads, “This card is not acceptable for official federal purposes.” During this controversy in California, State Sen. Kevin De Leon (D-Los Angeles) spoke out in the media against these markings saying, “covering the fronts of licenses with this information that Homeland Security is demanding would subject the holders to unnecessary discrimination and possible harassment.”

Other states debating drivers licenses for immigrants have also proposed substantially different licenses for immigrants, like in North Carolina where politicians proposed to add the words “No Lawful Status” in red on immigrants’ licenses, and in Alabama where officials proposed marking the licenses with “FN” for Foreign National.

The original Minnesota drivers license bill introduced in 2009 called for an unmarked drivers license, but the version of the bill that almost passed last year had been amended to be a drivers license that would be marked.

Immigrant rights activists have cautioned that police and other institutions could use such marked licenses to identify people’s immigration status and possibly use it against them. According to Marco Cruz Blanco, a member of the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC), “More than a driver's license to secure our roads, having an unmarked form of identification empowers individuals of diverse backgrounds to assert their cultural and ethnic identity against a system that too often racially profiles, resulting in unjust arrests or even deportation.”

In summing up the day, Florencio Campos of MIRAC said, “this protest helped kick off our work this year at the legislature. We let them know we are demanding an unmarked drivers license like any other Minnesota resident has. We’re working to make our communities and families more secure.”

#SaintPaulMN #MIRAc #MinnesotaImmigrantRightsActionCommittee #OneStateOneLicenseCoalition

Saint Paul, MN – Immigrant rights activists protested outside Senator Franken's campaign office Sept. 11, to send the message, “No more deportations, no more delays, no more excuses.” After demonstrating outside, they marched into the office and presented their demands to three Franken campaign staff members. Several community members spoke passionately to the Franken representatives. They said Franken should make a public statement reversing himself and calling for Obama to take executive action now to stop deportations. The Franken staff members said they would pass what people said on to the senator.

The protest was organized by the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC). They protested Franken, a Democratic Party senator, because last week he and a few other Democratic senators publicly told Obama to delay taking executive action to stop deportation of immigrants. Because of the inability to move any pro-immigrant legislation through Congress and mounting immigrant rights protests around the country, Obama had promised to take executive action by the end the summer. But because of the Democratic senators' statements at the 11th hour, presumably prompted by election-season jitters, Obama announced he would once again delay action needed to stop deportations at least until after the November election.

MIRAC member Brad Sigal said, “You can always come up with reasons to delay taking action for justice. If it’s not elections, it’s something else. But the time is now to stop deportations – no more delays, no more excuses. More than 1000 people are deported every day, so this delay means 60,000 more people will be deported, on top of the 2 million people already deported under this administration. Minnesota can’t wait. We call on Senator Franken to join us in telling President Obama to take executive action to stop the deportations now.”

#SaintPaulMN #deportations #AlFranken #MIRAc #BarackObama #MinnesotaImmigrantRightsActionCommittee

Minneapolis, MN – Chanting, “Stanek says deportation! We say no!” 30 immigrant rights activists protested outside Hennepin County Sheriff Richard Stanek’s reelection campaign fundraiser here June 4. Protesters marched around the busy downtown intersection of Nicollet and 9th Street for an hour, while chanting, handing out flyers and engaging the public. Stanek’s fundraiser was inside at the Minneapolis Downtown Council office. Two activists tried to enter Sheriff Stanek’s fundraiser but were immediately confronted by police, threatened with arrest and kicked out.

The protest was organized by the No More Deportations campaign of the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC). Protesters were highly visible marching in the crowded Nicollet Mall area, educating the public about Sheriff Stanek’s role in deporting immigrants and separating families.

More immigrants are deported from Sheriff Stanek’s Hennepin County jail than any other in Minnesota. Stanek has also lobbied for anti-immigrant legislation at the state legislature. Stanek is running for reelection in November so he has been campaigning in many communities, including in the Latino community, smiling and waving on a float in the Cinco de Mayo parade on Lake Street.

Activists with MIRAC’s No More Deportations campaign say they will continue to pressure Sheriff Stanek until he agrees to stop cooperating with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement’s ‘hold requests’ on immigrants in the Hennepin County jail. The activists see this as a way to prevent deportations that separate families. 2 million people have been deported since President Obama took office in 2009, more than Bush deported during his entire eight years in office, and more than any other president in U.S. history.

While immigrant rights activists continue to push President Obama to take executive action to stop deportations nationally, campaigns are gaining momentum on the local level to pressure sheriffs to stop cooperating with ICE in detaining and deporting so many people. These campaigns have been successful in several major cities and counties around the country.

On June 4, the same day as the Minneapolis protest, there was a victory in San Diego county in California where Sheriff Bill Gore said in a statement, “The Sheriff's Department will no longer hold someone past their release date based on an ICE detainer alone.” A recent federal court decision has bolstered activists’ efforts to get local sheriffs to stop honoring ICE hold requests. The court decision held that a local jail had violated the Fourth Amendment by granting the detainer request without probable cause or a court-approved warrant.

#MinneapolisMN #Deportation #MinnesotaImmigrantRightsActionCommittee #NoMoreDeportationsCampaign #SheriffStanek #ICEHolds

Immigration lawyer and National Lawyers Guild member Rachel Lang explained the details of the new policy that President Obama announced on June 15. The deferred action policy is not a new law and does not lead to permanent residency or citizenship for immigrant youth. Nor is it the DREAM Act. It’s simply a new temporary policy and this president or the next president could change or cancel it at any moment. But despite the limitations of the policy, it’s the first substantive motion toward legalization and away from repression against immigrants since the amnesty that Congress and President Reagan approved in 1986. President Obama announced this new policy under pressure from undocumented immigrant youth protesting and occupying his campaign offices in several cities across the country demanding that he take action.

Rachel Lang explained that to qualify for this new policy, a person needs to have come to the U.S. when they were under 16 years old, they have to have lived here for five years, they have to be in high school, have a high school degree or be pursuing a GED or have a GED. They also have to not have been convicted of several types of crimes and must not be considered a threat to “national security.” There are many different particular situations and many details of the new policy that are still unknown because the specific rules and the application forms won’t come out until mid-August.

Emilia, a representative NAVIGATE, also spoke at the event. NAVIGATE is a group organized by immigrant youth to help other immigrant youth overcome barriers to staying in school and to help them apply to and get into college. She said that this new policy comes after many years of collective struggle by immigrant youth and this shows that collectivity and organization are the keys to winning victories in the struggle. She also emphasized that this is only the first step and that the community needs to get more organized to continue the struggle for permanent legalization for youth who qualify for the two-year deferred action, and also to fight for legalization for their parents and the rest of the community who doesn’t qualify for deferred action.

Israel Esquivel of the Mexican consulate also spoke at the workshop about the services that the consulate has for people from the Mexican community applying for deferred action.

William Martinez, a MIRAc member who helped organize the forum, said, “We’re happy that a lot of people came to learn about this new policy. We’re going to keep working with the community to inform everyone. The struggle continues to stop deportations, not just of students but also of their parents and families. We hope everyone will participate to continue educating and mobilizing our community and our allies. That’s how we’ll win.”

#RichfieldMN #MIRAc #MinnesotaImmigrantRightsActionCommittee #DREAMAct #undocumentedImmigrants #deferredAction

Minneapolis, MN – On June 23, supporters of the immigrant rights movement joined together for a fundraiser for the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee ( MIRAc) at the Red Sea. The fundraiser featured local hip hop and spoken word artist Guante, DJ Victor1200, as well as Twin Cities Bomba, which is made up of members of Malamanya Musica.

The fundraiser helped MIRAc in their efforts to rebuild after the loss of their office and everything in it after the massive fire that destroyed Walker Church on May 27.

For those that couldn’t make it to the event but still want to help, you can make a tax-deductible donation online to MIRAc and the two other groups that also lost their offices in the Walker Church fire (the Welfare Rights Committee and Communities United Against Police Brutality) here: http://www.razoo.com/story/Walker-Nonprofit-Recovery-Fundraiser.

#MinneapolisMN #MIRAc #MinnesotaImmigrantRightsActionCommittee #Guante

Minneapolis, MN – On February 18 more than 50 immigrants and supporters protested against a new deportation program imposed in Minnesota. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) imposed the controversial “Secure Communities” deportation program in all 87 Minnesota counties on February 7. The protesters gathered at People’s Plaza in downtown Minneapolis to denounce the program and call for an end to deportations. Over a million people have been deported in the last three years leaving massive numbers of separated children and families, largely as a result of deportation programs like Secure Communities.

The Minneapolis protest was organized by the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAc). The first speaker at the rally was Hennepin County Commissioner Gail Dorfman, who encouraged activists to continue to press to end Secure Communities and also spoke against the state legislature’s cuts to emergency medical assistance for immigrants. Susana De Leon of the National Lawyers Guild spoke about the effect of deportation programs like Secure Communities on the community and encouraged people to continue to organize to stop this program at the national level and county-by-county. Isaac Martin of MIRAc encouraged people to get invovled in MIRAc’s No More Deportations campaign which aims to stop Secure Communities and other ICE deportation programs in Minnesota such as the Criminal Alien Program.

After the speakers, the group marched across the street to the Hennepin County Detention Center, which is one of the jails where Secure Communities is now implemented. Protesters chanted and spoke out against Hennepin County Sheriff Stanek, who is in charge of the jail and pushed hard to get Minnesota to participate in Secure Communities. Immigrant rights activists are pushing for county sheriffs and county boards to stop cooperating with ICE’s requests to local jails to detain people for extra time (at the county’s cost) that ICE wants to take away for deportation, even after the local jail would have otherwise released them. Several counties across the country, including Santa Clara, CA, Cook County, IL and Washington DC, are now refusing to honor such ICE hold requests as a way to counteract jail-based deportation programs like Secure Communities that ICE has imposed on counties that don’t want to participate.

#MinneapolisMN #MIRAc #Deportation #MinnesotaImmigrantRightsActionCommittee #SecureCommunities

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.

According to Isaac Martin of MIRAc, “This news is horrifying. This program would compromise community safety and separate families here in Minnesota. We call on county and local officials to refuse to honor ICE detainer requests and we call on President Obama to end the horribly misnamed 'Secure Communities'. This program just doesn't make any communities more secure, and in fact it makes immigrant and Latino communities much more insecure by separating hundreds of thousands of parents from their children.”

Secure Communities is a deportation program run by ICE that operates in county and local jails. Under the program, anyone booked into jail for whatever reason has his or her fingerprints taken and run through a national FBI database to try to determine their immigration status. ICE flags people they think might be undocumented then takes them from the county jail to start a deportation process. The program has been the main culprit in the dramatic rise in deportations since President Obama took office. Under eight years of the Bush administration, 1.6 million people were deported. In contrast, after only three years of the current administration, there have already been 1.2 million deportations, a much higher annual rate.

The Secure Communities program claims to focus on deporting violent criminals. But since so many people that pass through county and local jails don’t ever end up getting charged with anything, and most are there for trivial or non-violent reasons, the vast majority of people deported under Secure Communities – more than 70%, according to data ICE was forced to release under a Freedom of Information lawsuit – are not criminals at all. Most immigrants that end up in the county jail are there because of things like being arrested due to being racially profiled while driving, not because they have done anything criminal.

Such racial profiling in traffic stops has been thoroughly documented in Minnesota via a study commissioned by the Minnesota legislature. The results of the resulting Minnesota Statewide Racial Profiling Study showed that:

“Law enforcement officers stopped Black, Latino, and American Indian drivers at greater rates than White drivers, searched Blacks, Latinos, and American Indians at greater rates than White drivers, and found contraband as a result of searches of Blacks, Latinos, and American Indians at lower rates than in searches of White drivers … These disparities are particularly large for Blacks and Latinos … The pattern for Blacks and Latinos existed in nearly every participating jurisdiction.”

This documented racial profiling, combined with the Secure Communities program, means that thousands of people who have done nothing wrong are getting pulled over just because they appear Latino or Black and then end up getting deported and having their families torn apart for no reason other than that they were driving to work and have dark skin. Once their fingerprints are run through ICE’s database via Secure Communities, they are likely to end up being deported even if they aren’t charged with or convicted of any crime.

When the program started, at ICE said the Secure Communities program was optional and that counties or states could opt out if they didn’t want to participate. So immigrant rights activists convinced several counties to vote to opt out of the program. In response, ICE changed the rules and declared that counties couldn’t opt out once their state had signed a contract for the program. Then activists convinced several states to vote to leave the program and ICE changed the rules yet again – voiding all the state contracts and announcing they would just implement the program themselves directly with county jails, against the will of states and counties that don’t want to participate.

The Feb. 7 announcement of imposing the program on all 87 Minnesota counties comes in that context. Minnesota was one of the few remaining states that hadn’t implemented the program in any counties. During last year’s state legislative session, Republican Senator Julianne Ortmann teamed up with Hennepin County Sheriff Stanek to try to sneak Secure Communities into a massive budget bill at the end of the legislative session. Immigrant rights activists were able to exert enough pressure so that Governor Dayton vetoed the bill and that section of the bill was removed. Now ICE has bypassed state leaders entirely, in an attempt to force local police and jails to act as ICE agents.

MIRAc is calling on President Obama to end the Secure Communities program nationally and is calling on Minnesota county sheriffs and county boards to refuse to honor ICE hold requests in the county jails. Currently, if ICE asks a local jail to hold someone past the time the local jail has finished their business with an individual, the jail then holds them for that extra time at the local jail’s own expense. Several counties across the U.S. – including Cook County, Illinois; Santa Clara County, California and Washington D.C. – are now changing their policies, so they will no longer cooperate with such unfunded ICE requests that lead to deportation. Such policy changes undercut jail-based deportation programs like Secure Communities and the “Criminal Alien Program”. Such changes in policy are spreading rapidly around the country in response to ICE’s repeated attempts to force cities and counties to massively deport people even when they don’t want to do so.

#MinneapolisMN #deportations #MIRAc #MinnesotaImmigrantRightsActionCommittee #SecureCommunities #SheriffStanek #SComm

Saint Paul, MN – On Dec. 29, immigrant rights activists and supporters spoke out at a press conference against a new anti-immigrant law slated to cut immigrants off of Emergency Medical Assistance on Jan. 1, 2012. They called on Governor Dayton to take immediate executive action to stop it.

According to the change in law, on Jan. 1 undocumented immigrants in Minnesota will no longer qualify for many medical treatments under Minnesota’s Emergency Medical Assistance program. This means that immigrants in Minnesota who receive chemotherapy, dialysis, diabetes management, alcohol and drug treatment, pre-natal care and many other things will be in danger of not receiving their treatments. For people receiving essential treatments like chemotherapy for cancer or dialysis for kidney disease, this can mean life or death.

This new anti-immigrant policy was passed at the end of the legislative session on July 20, 2011 in the wee hours of the morning. Most people didn’t notice this anti-immigrant change in the law until after it had passed because the final budget deal was negotiated in secret between the Republican legislative leadership and the governor. The public and most legislators didn’t even have the chance to read through the final bills before having to vote on them during the special legislative session that ended the state government shutdown.

At the press conference, State Representatives Karen Clark and Carlos Mariani, along with State Senator Jeff Hayden, announced they they'll seek to reverse this anti-immigrant and inhumane policy when the new legislative session starts on Jan. 24. Hennepin County Commissioner Gail Dorfman said over 200 people in critical situations would be cut off in Hennepin County alone, and that the county has been scrambling to even let the affected people know that they are facing a cutoff of potentially life-or-death services. The Reverend John Gutterman of the Interfaith Coalition on Immigration spoke to the moral issue of denying fellow human beings basic medical care.

Linden Gawboy, speaking for the Welfare Rights Committee and the Minnesota Coalition for a People’s Bailout, groups that fought to stop all the cuts to human services during the legislative session, said, “We want this law stopped. If this law goes into effect, they will not just kill people. They will torture them before killing them. Imagine the process of dialysis being stopped, how long before the pain sets in. How long before you get so sick that you’re just waiting to slip into that coma.”

Isaac Martin of the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAc) said, “This shows that anti-immigrant politics remain inhumane. Minnesota’s politicians chose to balance the state budget on the backs of immigrants who have serious illnesses. They are taking away care from the elderly, people with cancer and with kidney disease, while they refused to raise taxes on the rich.”

Brad Sigal of MIRAc said, “Having the 'wrong' immigration status shouldn't be a death sentence. We call on Governor Dayton to take immediate action to assure that nobody in Minnesota dies from this inhumane law. We’re asking everyone to call Gov. Dayton at 651-201-3400 to demand that he take action to stop this before Jan. 1.”

#SaintPaulMN #MIRAc #MinnesotaImmigrantRightsActionCommittee #GovernorMarkDayton #undocumentedImmigrants #EmergencyMedicalAssistance

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.

The victory is that the Secure Communities deportation program was not included in the final Public Safety/Judiciary budget bill. This makes Minnesota one of the states that continues to refuse to implement the controversial fingerprint-sharing deportation program that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Obama administration are trying to implement nationwide. It was recently revealed that the program has a behind-the-scenes push from the FBI, which is hungry to universalize such programs that gather biometric data on as many people as possible.

The absence of the Secure Communities program from the Public Safety bill was a reversal from the version of the bill that passed at the end of the legislative session in late May. About a week before the Minnesota legislative session ended, Sen. Ortman ® snuck the deportation program into SF1143, an omnibus bill, with no debate, discussion or committee hearings, and it quickly passed with an unanimous 57-0 vote. Then just before the end of the session, Secure Communities was transferred into SF958, the Public Safety bill, which the legislature passed just before the session ended on May 23. However, on May 24, Governor Dayton vetoed SF958, along with all the other budget bills.

According to Anh Pham of the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAc), “Preventing Secure Communities deportation program from being implemented in Minnesota is a victory. Because of this, there will be fewer families torn apart over the next year. The No More Deportations campaign will continue working to stop the other deportation programs that are already separating families in Minnesota. Even one separated family is too many.”

The setback for immigrant rights this session is that the national E-Verify program was inserted into the State Government Finance bill. The new law says that any company with contracts with the state of Minnesota over $50,000 will need to use E-Verify to screen their workers for immigration status. In 2008 Governor Pawlenty implemented this same policy administratively through an executive order. When Dayton became governor last year, he decided to let this and another of Pawlenty’s anti-immigrant executive orders expire without renewing them. According to Anh Pham, “It was a step forward when Gov. Dayton let Pawlenty’s anti-immigrant executive orders expire. Now it’s a step back to have the unreliable and unfair e-verify program put into law in Minnesota. The Republican leadership and Governor Dayton shouldn't have done this.”

Battle over Cuts and Taxing the Rich Led to Shutdown

At the end of the regular legislative session in May, Governor Dayton’s vetoed all the Republican-crafted budget bills that contained severe budget cuts with no new revenue. Dayton instead favored an approach of keeping some budget cuts, but cutting less severely by raising taxes on the richest 2% of Minnesota. The Republicans wouldn’t budge from their all-cuts and ‘no new taxes’ pledge, protecting the richest 2% of Minnesotans from paying even a tiny bit more in taxes while the budgets for education, transit, health and human services programs are gutted. This impasse led to the state government shutdown on July 1.

In mid-July Gov. Dayton finally gave in to the obstinate Republicans, announcing he would accept their June 30 budget proposal made right before the shutdown. This led to a sudden and furious push by the governor and the Republican legislative leadership to hastily rewrite all nine budget bills behind closed doors, without debate or time for public review, at the special legislative session that Gov. Dayton initiated on July 19 with only a couple hours notice.

The Health and Human Services bill has severe cuts. Among other things, $58 million are taken from TANF funds designated for poor people. According to Linden Gawboy of the Welfare Rights Committee, “TANF is supposed to be used for poor families, but because they didn't tax the rich, they had to steal from the poorest of the poor.” Education, transit and other key services are not spared either.

One Front in the State-by-State Battle Over Immigrant Rights

In the absence of national immigrant rights legislation, battles are being fought state-by-state. Over the last few years, deportations that separate immigrant families have increased around the country to levels not seen even under the Bush administration. Secure Communities is a program that is responsible for a large part of this increase in deportations. States opt in to the ICE program, and then force counties to connect booking information from county jails to a federal database used by both ICE and the FBI. ICE claims that Secure Communities focuses on deporting “dangerous criminals”. But over 70% of the people deported under Secure Communities have not been convicted of any crime or have only been convicted of minor traffic-type offenses.

While harsh anti-immigrant laws are being passed in states like Arizona, Georgia and Alabama, immigrant rights activists have struck back against repressive ICE programs in other states. Specifically ICE and the Obama administration are on the defensive around the country about the Secure Communities deportation program. Illinois, Massachusetts and New York announced they want to get out of the program. California’s Assembly voted to allow it’s counties to opt out if they want to. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus came out against it as well as many other congresspeople. Dozens of counties and cities around the country have also tried to opt out of Secure Communities.

In response, ICE told states and counties that they can not opt out, but this just caused more states and counties to say they don’t want to participate. In damage control mode as more states abandoned ship, the Obama administration finally announced in mid-June that they would make minor reforms to the embattled program. But most activist groups see this as too little too late. Dozens of immigrant rights and civil liberties organizations jointly signed a letter to ICE director John Morton on July 20 condemning their inadequate review and reforms of Secure Communities, and instead demanding that a moratorium be called to halt the program entirely.

#SaintPaulMN #ICE #deportations #MIRAc #ImmigrationAndCustomsEnforcementICE #MinnesotaImmigrantRightsActionCommittee #NoMoreDeportationsCampaign #SecureCommunities #GovernorMarkDayton #governmentShutdown #everify

Lucha y Resiste esta circulando el siguiente comunicado del Comite por los derechos de inmigrantes en Minnesota (MIRAc) denunciando la redada en la casa de Carlos Montes. Pedimos que otras organizaciones tambien manden mensajes de apoyo al stopfbi.net.

MIRAc denuncia fuertemente la redada el 17 de mayo a las 5:00 a.m. por el equipo SWAT del departamento del sheriff de Los Angeles y miembros del FBI en la casa de Carlos Montes, líder del movimiento inmigrante en Los Angeles. Carlos es un activista chicano, un lider del Southern California Immigration Coalition y de Latinos Contra la Guerra. Carlos es un lider del movimiento inmigrate bien conocido y respetado al nivel nacional.

El equipo SWAT rompió la puerta de la casa de Carlos y entró con armas de fuego automáticas mientras Carlos dormía. El equipo del Sheriff y el FBI saqueo su casa, tomaron su computadora, teléfonos celulares y cientos de documentos, fotos, discos y recuerdos de sus actividades políticas actuales en el movimiento pro-inmigrante y el movimiento por los derechos civiles de los chicanos. También tomaron cientos de documentos históricos de su involucramiento en el movimiento chicano por los últimos 44 años.

Este ataque contra Carlos Montes es parte de la campaña del FBI en contra de 23 activistas por la paz y la justicia que hasta ahora está tomando lugar en el medio oriente del país. El nombre de Carlos Montes estaba en la citación legal que dejaron en la oficina del Comité Anti-Guerra en Minneapolis durante la redada el 24 de septiembre pasado, y durante la redada de su casa los agentes del FBI intentaron cuestionarle sobre este caso.

Carlos Montes ha dedicado toda su vida a la lucha por los derechos de los inmigrantes, por el derecho a la educación y en contra de la guerra. Él no ha hecho ninguna cosa mala. Este es un ataque no sólo en contra de Carlos sino que en contra del movimiento Chicano por la igualdad y el movimiento para los derechos de los inmigrantes.

Alto a los ataques contra el movimiento Chicano y el movimiento por los derechos de los inmigrantes

• Exigimos un alto a los cargos contra Carlos Montes.
• Exigimos se le regrese toda la propiedad personal que tomaron de su casa.
• Recomendamos que tod@s llamen al Abogado General Estadounidense Eric Holder 202-353-1555 para exigir ‘manos fuera de Carlos Montes’ y otros activistas del movimiento pro-inmigrante y del movimiento anti-guerra.

#MinneapolisMN #ImmigrantRights #StateRepression #FBI #MIRAc #CarlosMontes #MinnesotaImmigrantRightsActionCommittee #PoliticalRepression

Fight Back News is circulating the following statement from the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAc) on the brutal raid conducted at the home of Carlos Montes. We urge other organizations to send messages of support to stopfbi.net

MIRAc strongly condemns the raid on May 17 at 5:00 a.m. by the SWAT Team of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department and members of the FBI on the home of immigrant rights leader Carlos Montes in Los Angeles. Carlos is a long-time Chicano activist, a leader in the Southern California Immigration Coalition and in Latinos Against War. Carlos is a nationally-known and widely respected leader of the immigrant rights movement.

The SWAT Team smashed Carlos’s front door and rushed in with automatic weapons as Carlos slept. The team of Sheriffs and FBI proceeded to ransack his house, taking his computer, cell phones and hundreds of documents, photos, diskettes and mementos of his current political activities in the pro-immigrant rights and Chicano civil rights movement. Also taken were hundreds of historical documents related to Carlos Montes’ involvement in the Chicano movement for the past 44 years.

This attack on Carlos Montes is part of the campaign of FBI harassment taking place against the 23 peace and justice activists which has until now been centered in the Midwest. Carlos Montes’ name was listed on the subpoena left in the office of the Twin Cities Anti-War Committee last September 24, and FBI agents tried to question him about the case during the raid.

Carlos Montes has dedicated his life to struggling for immigrant rights, for education rights, and against war. He has done nothing wrong. This is an attack on him and an attack on the Chicano movement for equality and the immigrant rights movement as a whole.

Stop the Attacks on the Chicano and Immigrants Rights Movement!

• We demand all charges be dropped against Carlos Montes.
• We call for the immediate return of all his property.
• We encourage everyone to call US Attorney General Eric Holder (202) 353-1555 and demand Hands Off Carlos Montes and other immigrant rights & anti-war activists.

#MinneapolisMN #ImmigrantRights #StateRepression #FBI #MIRAc #CarlosMontes #MinnesotaImmigrantRightsActionCommittee

St. Paul, MN – On May 20, protesters from the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAc) and the No More Deportations campaign marched through the State Capitol chanting “‘Secure Communities’ divides families – no more deportations!” and “Immigrant workers are under attack – what do we do? Stand up fight back!” At the same time, several other progressive groups also protested noisily inside the capitol as the end of the session looms with unprecedented cuts and attacks on every front.

The immigrant rights protesters marched to Governor Dayton’s office to deliver a statement urging him to veto SF 1143, the Omnibus Data Practices Bill, until Republican Senator Julie Ortman’s amendment mandating participation in the “Secure Communities” deportation program is removed. On May 16, Sen. Ortman inserted the Secure Communities amendment in the bill without any committee hearings, debate or discussion and it quickly passed the Senate. As of the writing of this article, it has not yet been approved by the House.

MIRAc’s statement condemned Sen. Ortman’s move of sneaking the highly controversial Secure Communities deportation program into a larger omnibus bill at the end of the session without debate. The MIRAc statement calls on Gov. Dayton to veto the bill until the deportation program is removed, and says it’s a bad program that’s separating thousands of children from their parents. While the program is supposed to focus on deporting criminals, more than 70% of the people it deports are not convicted of any crime or are only convicted of minor traffic-type violations.

Although the Obama administration’s stated goal is to have Secure Communities implemented in all states by 2013, the tide seems to be turning against the program. Illinois just withdrew from Secure Communities, California is trying to renegotiate their agreement because of ICE’s dishonest conduct in forcing it on them; the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and other prominent legislators have come out against it; and increasing numbers of cities and counties are passing resolutions saying they don’t want it. The Secure Communities deportation program, along with ICE’s other main deportations programs, 287g and the “Criminal Alien Program” (CAP), have resulted in deportations rising dramatically under the Obama administration to record levels never seen even under President Bush.

Protesters on different issues unite in the capitol

As MIRAc stood outside the governor's office, some disability rights activists who were there with their own protest joined in with the immigrant rights chants. The immigrant rights protesters delivered their letter to governor’s secretary, then marched back through the capitol again. On the second floor of the capitol outside chamber where legislators were meeting, they joined with protesters for LGBT marriage equality who cheered as the immigrant rights protesters joined them. Together they chanted unified chants that applied to both issues: “Equal rights!” “Vote no!” and “Create jobs, not hate!” as the spontaneous solidarity energized both groups.

Inside the House chamber, the legislative session had erupted in chaos a few hours earlier when Republican legislators invited Pastor Bradlee Dean to lead the opening prayer for the day’s session. This was the day they were expected to vote to authorize an anti-gay referendum, so many people from the LGBT community and their allies were already mobilized to protest. Pastor Bradlee Dean launched into a partisan tirade, throwing the session into chaos. Dean was quickly indentified as a pastor who preaches that GLBT people should be put to death. The Republicans, who had been insisting that their marriage referendum proposal is not based on anti-gay prejudice or hate, left the session in disarray to caucus for an hour to figure out how to do damage control. They emerged with a contrite apology. But hours later, LGBT equality protesters were still chanting non-stop outside the chamber as legislators met inside, their powerful voices reverberating throughout the capitol. Their protest went into the night, and they plan to continue protesting non-stop as long as the legislature is in session.

Many union members were also at the capitol pressing legislators to focus on creating jobs, after having rallied earlier in the day. SEIU and other unions are planning a large rally at the Capitol on Saturday, May 21, and the public sector unions AFSCME and MAPE are calling on workers to descend on the capitol May 23 from 9:00 p.m. until midnight to have an overwhelming presence until the last second of the legislative session.

On all issues the demands are similar: telling the Republican-controlled legislature to stop the attacks and cuts, and demanding that Governor Dayton veto the legislature’s attacks and cuts.

#SaintPaulMN #deportations #MIRAc #MinnesotaImmigrantRightsActionCommittee #NoMoreDeportationsCampaign #SecureCommunities #GovernorMarkDayton

St. Paul, MN – On April 14, immigrant rights activists in Minnesota celebrated a victory as Governor Mark Dayton announced he would not pursue an Executive Order collaborating with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on deportations and enforcement programs.

Earlier on April 5, Governor Dayton announced he would let two Executive Orders concerning immigration enforcement left over from former Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty expire and that he would spend about a week deciding whether to pursue any new executive orders regarding immigration.

The first order he let expire was Pawlenty’s order mandating employers with state contracts to check new employees using the E-Verify federal immigration database. The second order was one that directed state agencies to pursue cooperation with ICE to carry out deportations and other punitive enforcement wherever possible, including the Criminal Alien Program (CAP) and 287g agreements with the Department of Public Safety, among other things. CAP is responsible for many deportations in Minnesota and is implemented in the county jails. 287g is a program that trains police officers to act both as local police and as Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents.

When former Governor Pawlenty, who is now running for the Republican presidential nomination, announced the immigration enforcement executive orders in January 2008, it touched off a firestorm of protests and criticisms. Most considered the executive orders to be little more than divide-and-conquer political grandstanding in an election year, yet the orders had a real effect in making life more difficult for immigrants in Minnesota.

The Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee ( MIRAc) is waging a No More Deportations campaign which aims to stop Minnesota and its counties from collaborating with ICE deportation programs like CAP, 287g and Secure Communities. MIRAc put out a statement encouraging people to call Governor Dayton to demand that he not pursue any further collaboration with ICE on deportation or enforcement programs.

According to Niger Arevalo of MIRAc, “It’s good that Governor Dayton didn’t renew Pawlenty’s anti-immigrant executive orders. But this is just the beginning – immigrant workers are still being deported and families are being separated at an alarming rate in Minnesota and this has to stop now. The No More Deportations campaign wants to make sure that Governor Dayton does not implement the so-called Secure Communities deportation program. And we’re calling on the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners to vote to stop cooperating with ICE through the Criminal Alien Program. We encourage people to join our campaign to stop deportations in Minnesota.”

#SaintPaulMN #InJusticeSystem #ICE #MIRAc #ImmigrationAndCustomsEnforcementICE #MinnesotaImmigrantRightsActionCommittee #287g #CriminalAlienProgram #NoMoreDeportationsCampaign #SecureCommunities #GovernorMarkDayton