[Nyprisonact] Fwd: PICKETS and FAXING action to END INS REGISTRATIONS!

Thu Dec 26 12:44:00 EST 2002

>
>PICKET AND MASS FAXING TO DEMAND
>AN END TO ASHCROFT'S REGISTRATION
>OF MALES FROM 20 COUNTRIES AND ARRESTS OF HUNDREDS
>
>„«      Weekly public pickets in front of INS headquarters (26 Federal 
>Plaza) every Friday noon to 2pm until the next registration deadline on 
>January 10th
>„«      Legal outreach to men on registration lines every Friday from 8am 
>to 9am.
>„«      Mass faxing campaign to the INS and Department of Justice calling 
>for an end to these roundups.
>„«      Requesting Endorsements Immediately!
>
>Friday, December 27th
>Friday, January 3rd
>Friday, January 10th
>
>Legal Outreach:
>Daily 8-9am @ INS Building, 26 Federal Plaza
>
>Picket:
>Fridays Noon-2pm @ INS, 26 Federal Plaza
>
>Daily Faxes to:
>Attorney General John Ashcroft (phone 202-353-1555, fax 202-307-2825)
>INS District Director Edward McElroy (phone 212-264-3972, fax 212-264-5439)
>***SAMPLE LETTERS BELOW***
>
>The Department of Justice has issued three notices since November 
>requiring all ¡§nonimmigrant¡¨ men over the age of 16 who are from a list 
>of 20 designated countries to register in person at INS offices before 
>certain deadlines and to check-in regularly with the government 
>thereafter.  The next two deadlines are January 10, 2003 and February 21, 
>2003.  In Los Angeles, reports indicate that between 1000 and 2500 men 
>have been detained in inhumane conditions after going in for 
>registration.  Over 3,000 community members have protested at the INS 
>offices in LA, particularly from the Iranian community which has been 
>hardest hit.
>
>The consequences for not registering can include criminal charges and 
>deportation.  However, hundreds have faced arrest, detention, deportation, 
>interrogation, and criminal penalties even after complying.
>
>Registration marks the latest in an unending series of attacks on 
>immigrant rights and civil liberties since September 11, 2001.  Over the 
>past fifteen months, thousands of Arabs, South Asians, Muslims, 
>Cambodians, Filipinos, Africans, North Koreans, Haitians, and many other 
>communities have faced racial profiling, detention, and deportation with 
>the over 99% not charged with any crimes related to terrorism.
>
>The Campaign to Stop the Disappearances is demanding an end to this 
>frightening and dangerous incursion on civil rights. The order to register 
>men with visas is simply an attempt of the Justice Department and 
>government to expand the net of attacks on immigrant communities around 
>the country.
>The Campaign to Stop the Disappearances includes Coalition for the Human 
>Rights of Immigrants, DRUM- Desis Rising Up & Moving, and the Prison 
>Moratorium Project.  The campaign works directly with hundreds of Arabs, 
>South Asians, and Muslims in detention.
>
>Endorsers so far include: The Islamic Circle of North America, Coney 
>Island Avenue Project, Asian-American Legal Defense and Education Fund, 
>Center for Constitutional Rights, Campaign Against Racial Profiling ¡V 
>ACLU, Justice for Detainees, Refuse and Resist, Jews for Racial and 
>Economic Justice, Committee for the Release of Farouk Abdel-Muhti, and New 
>York City Anti-Racist Action.
>
>To add your Endorsement or for Volunteer Information, contact Namita Chad 
>at (718) 205 3036 or namita at drumnation.org
>
>****************SAMPLE LETTERS***********************
>Date
>
>John Ashcroft
>US Department of Justice
>950 Pennsylvania Ave NW
>Washington, DC 20530-0001
>
>Fax: 202-307-2825
>
>Mr. Ashcroft,
>
>I am writing to express my anger at the current program of special 
>registration for men from from 20 countries. Requiring people to register 
>on pure basis of ethnic origin and immigration status is the worst form of 
>racial profiling. The targeting of specific countries of origin generally 
>in the Middle East, South Asian area, and more and more immigrant 
>communities shows a pre-mediated racism. As well, the targeting of people 
>who are not Legal Permanent Residents or Citizens reeks of xenophobia.
>
>I am also outraged at the use of these registrations to effect mass 
>detentions of immigrants from these areas. According to the New York 
>Times, the detentions reached such large numbers in Los Angeles that the 
>INS ran out of plastic handcuffs. The entire program has the appearance of 
>mass roundups similar to the internships of Japanese during the second 
>world war, and other occasions in this country's history which we are all 
>ashamed of.
>
>I am a member of the community organization(s) _____________________ I can 
>assure you that our organization is outraged and mobilizing. We will 
>notallow the United States to become the kind of country where people are 
>rounded up and detained on the basis of national origin. We will not be 
>party to this racism and xenophobia.
>
>In fury,
>
>[Your name]
>
>
>Date
>
>Edward McElroy
>District Director UBS
>26 Federal Plaza
>New York, NY
>10278
>
>Fax: 212-264-5439
>
>Mr. McElroy,
>
>I am writing to express my anger at the current program of special 
>registration for men from Muslim and other countries. Requiring people to 
>register on pure basis of ethnic origin and immigration status is the 
>worst form of racial profiling. The targeting of specific countries of 
>origin in the Middle East, South Asian area, and more and more communities 
>shows a pre-mediated racism. As well, the targeting of people who are not 
>Legal Permanent Residents or Citizens reeks of xenophobia.
>
>I am amazed that the New York district of the INS, a district which has 
>perhaps one of the largest and most diverse immigrant populations in the 
>United States, has allowed itself to go along with this program. Surely, 
>living in New York City has had some sort of impact on your policies. 
>Surely, you can see the racism of rounding people up on mass based on 
>their ethnic origin.
>
>I am also dismayed that you have not publicly gone on record to state how 
>many people have been detained in this process in the New York district. 
>Apparently you are afraid of public reaction to this mass roundup. How 
>long do you think you can keep this information as your own guilty little 
>secret?
>
>I am a member of the community organization(s) _____________________ I can 
>assure you that our organization is outraged and mobilizing. We will not 
>allow the United States to become the kind of country where people are 
>rounded up and detained on the basis of national origin. We will not be 
>party to this racism and xenophobia.
>
>
>In fury,
>
>[Your name]
>
>
>
>
>
>******************************
>DRUM -Desis Rising Up & Moving
>          FAMILIES NEED YOUR HELP
>to keep fighting to end the INS detention system.  Donate to the Emergency 
>Family & Legal Fund with a check written to "The Brecht Forum" with "DRUM 
>Family Fund" written in memo and mail to:   DRUM, 73-16 Roosevelt Ave, 2nd Fl,
>      Jackson Heights, NY 11372
>718-205-3036 / info at drumnation.org
>www.drumnation.org
>***********************
>
>"i am caught up
>in the music of struggle
>and i can't stop dancing."
>-assata shakur

PLEASE BE ADVISED, I WILL BE OUT OF THE OFFICE FROM 1/5/03 TO 1/18/03, FEEL 
FREE TO SEND E-MAILS, BUT DO NOT EXPECT TO GET REPLIES... THANK YOU FOR 
YOUR UNDERSTANDING, IF YOU NEED TO CONTACT A PMP STAFF PERSON PLEASE E-MAIL 
KRHEE at NOMOREPRISONS.ORG

alejandro "blu" cantagallo
Prison Moratorium Project
388 Atlantic Ave, 3rd Floor
Brooklyn, NY 11217
Phone: (718) 260-8805
Fax: (718) 260-0070
blu at nomoreprisons.org
www.nomoreprisons.org
www.nomoreyouthjails.org

--There can be NO solution to this condition of slavery except for a 
complete and total destruction of the current values and systems that make 
it possible.--

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