ice – The Philadelphia Observer

Immigrant family deceived by ICE, father facing deportation

Juan Ignacio — Fri, 16 Oct 2020 12:10:10 +0000

Mayor de Blasio demanded an end to ICE agents posing as NYPD officers

In uptown Manhattan, an immigrant family man was apprehended by ICE agents who was pretending to be NYPD officers.

Fernando Santos-Rodriguez is a 48-year-old undocumented immigrant who spent 30 years of his life in New York. His wife said she was tricked into helping ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents.

ICE agents went to the Santos-Rodriguez residence and initially, Maria, Fernando’s wife, refused to let the agents in.

Princeton University To Name Residential College After Businesswoman Mellody Hobson

The agents found an alternative entrance through the building’s superintendent.

The agents showed Maria a picture of a man who was not Santos-Rodriguez but went by the same name.

Thinking it was an innocent mix up, Maria gave the agents her husband’s contact information after the agents requested to see her husband’s ID.

The ICE agents tracked Santos-Rodriguez to his workplace and arrested him.

Santos-Rodriguez, a married man with four kids, is currently in ICE custody at the Hudson County Jail in Kearny, N.J., facing the possibility of a deportation hearing, The New York Daily News reported.

“He is a good man. He is not a criminal,” his wife of 25 years said. Maria, alongside other family members, have declined to give their full names.

Last Saturday, his family spoke out against the operation, saying they got duped into assisting the ICE agent arresting him, the head of their household, the Daily News reported.

The incident sparked outrage from New York City’s democratic politicians, who were already fighting with President Donald Trump and his administration’s covert ICE operations.

“This is a violation of our law,” Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, an ex-city police officer who running for NYC mayor in 2021, said.

Source: Immigrant family deceived by ICE, father facing deportation

Immigrant families are at risk at the Detention Center in Berk

Juan Ignacio — Thu, 16 Jul 2020 15:09:45 +0000

By Viviane Faver

A press conference, “Haitian Voice United: Shut Down Berks,” was held today to discuss the situation of Haitian families in ICE detention centers in Berks County, PA. Coronavirus is spreading like wildfire; the lives of the families are at significant risk.

Among the three detention centers in the USA, this is the only one that is not privately owned, unlike the two in Texas. That is one of the reasons Governor Tom Wolf is discussing the possibility of ending it with an emergency order.

According to spokesman Steve Paul, the county makes over $1.3 million in profit by renting the building to ICE: “The people that work in the US immigration custom enforcement essentially just rent the facility to imprison people. The majority of the families indoors are facing threats of family separation and indefinite detention and deportation. That’s the reason we are here. “

Artist replaces slave trader statue with one of a Black Lives Matter protester

On June 26th, a federal judge ordered ICE to release children who stay in the detention center for more than 20 days. The deadline to release the children was supposed to be July 17th.

According to Steve Paul, however, there is suspicion about if the order will be fulfilled. “It is not the first time there’s been an order or a policy to stop family separation. A lot of the advocates from the Shutdown Berk Coalition, which reached out to us and let us know about what’s happening, are very concerned that ICE will once again disregard the judge order.”

During the press conference, the volunteers read letters written by families who are still in detention. Poor hygiene, mistreatment, and recent complaints of strangers going to the center to videotape them without consent were some of the claims mentioned.

What is Happening Now

According to Adriana Torres-García, coordinator for the Free Migration Project and member of the Shut Down Berks Coalition, there are five families in jail, most of them Haitian. Despite Judge Gee’s order to release families, at least one more has been brought into the facility. ICE is continuing to put everyone in danger of contracting COVID-19.

There is ongoing litigation on several parts of this case: licensing and PA DHS failing to protect families against COVID-19. “They are both at different points; for the latter, we are still reviewing options and will likely appeal. In terms of the Coalition’s efforts, we are continuing to pressure Governor Wolf to issue an ERO immediately to close down the family jail. He has the power to do this, as it’s laid out in this memo. We are also demanding that his administration works with the Berks County Commissioners to transform the facility into a place that serves the community. During COVID-19, we have pressured even harder, as these families are being put in the most vulnerable position. Following Judge Gee’s decision, we began planning to show up for the families at the detention center. We are not confident that ICE will release the families. It is more likely is that they will use this as an opportunity to present parents with the choice of family separation or detention”, concludes Adriana Torres-Garcia.

For those who want to follow up with them, they will be there on the 17th and welcome community members to join us.

ICE Created A Fake University, Collected Thousands From Undocumented Students And Then Deported Them

Juan Ignacio — Thu, 28 Nov 2019 16:11:01 +0000

November 27, 2019 Edit

A sting operation carried out by ICE officials has resulted in the arrest of nearly 250 students since January after a fake university was used to expose those in the country on student visas. The affected students have either been deported or are currently appealing their arrest.

According to the Detroit Free Press, the University of Farmington was a falsified university staffed by undercover immigration officials, and following a shutdown of its operation in January, its website has also been taken down by Homeland Security officials.

The government alleges that the school was used in a “pay to stay” scheme that allowed students to live and work in the country by misusing the Visa system.

Atlanta’s First Black Owned LGBT “Blogazine” Launches Kickstarter Campaign, Seeks to Raise $10K

“Their true intent could not be clearer,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Brandon Helms wrote in a sentencing memo this month obtained by the Detroit Free Press. “While ‘enrolled’ at the university, one hundred percent of the foreign citizen students never spent a single second in a classroom. If it were truly about obtaining an education, the university would not have been able to attract anyone, because it had no teachers, classes, or educational services.”

According to the Detroit Free Press, the students’ lawyers argued that the students had no way of knowing that the institution was illegitimate, with the university website, officials and an accreditation agency all communicating that the school was legitimate.

“[They] trapped the vulnerable people who just wanted to maintain [legal immigration] status,” Rahul Reddy, a Texas attorney who represented or advised some of the students who had been arrested, told the Free Press this week. “They preyed upon on them.”

The university is believed to have collected millions from the unsuspecting students since being set up in 2015, with graduate programs being listed at $12,000 per year.