Starting Tomorrow: 2020 Crimes & Immigration Seminar—Sign Up Today!
 The annual Crim-Imm Seminar, presented in conjunction with NIPNLG and NYSDA, will take place next week, virtually, on October 29th and 30th. If you are interested and haven't yet signed up, please see this page for more information and a registration link. Please note that this year, registration is happening through NIPNLG, so the registration button on the IDP website will take you off-site.
Crim-Imm 101: Understanding Immigration Status for Defense Attorneys
Additionally, IDP will be presenting Crim-Imm 101: Understanding Immigration Status for Defense Attorneys, virtually, on November 18th. For more information about that training visit our website. |
|
Protect Our Courts Act Still Waiting for a Signature from Governor Cuomo
Earlier this year, the Protect Our Courts Act was passed with overwhelming support in the New York State Legislature. However, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has stalled on signing multiple bills over the last few months, including POCA. In the coming weeks, we expect to see POCA, along with many other bills waiting for the Governor's signature, sent to the NYS Executive Office. As we move forward, you can expect to see a few actions from IDP, urging the Governor to sign the Protect Our Courts Act as soon as possible in light of the urgency of this legislation, as New York State courts continue to resume operations and ICE increases its activities across the state.
|
|
IDP and Allies Continue to Challenge ICE and DHS's Use of Facial Recognition and Other Surveillance Technologies
Last week, IDP joined Mijente, Just Futures Law and ACLU NorCal in filing a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to demand information related to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)’s past and present use of Clearview AI’s facial recognition technology. Clearview AI’s controversial data scraping practices have been widely condemned since they were exposed earlier this year. We are asking for ICE’s contract with Clearview AI and related correspondence and documentation that will help reveal the scope of the government’s use of the technology, including its potential role in executing arrests, detentions, and deportations.
“Those concerned with privacy, civil rights, and police violence have been alarmed that Clearview AI has built its business with police by scraping the web to populate its facial recognition tool. Then ICE comes along and signs a contract with Clearview as part of its rapidly expanding surveillance apparatus,” said Mizue Aizeki, Interim Director of the Immigrant Defense Project. “ICE needs to reveal to the public how it’s using this invasive technology so we can arm ourselves with the information to fight back against any abuses and mass surveillance.”
Read the press release here. |
|
IDP's Tech & Surveillance Update
In late September, as part of Mijente’s #NoTechforICE campaign, IDP participated in a street-theater action organized by Mijente in protest against the pending Palantir IPO. This action was part of a coordinated series of protests across the country: the #NoTechforICE campaign, led by Mijente, organized protests in Palo Alto, Denver, and New York, in addition to a coordinated media campaign, with an op-ed in The Guardian and a mass digital action. Click here to view the video from the Palantir protest in NYC.
Join the campaign to demand that Thomson Reuters and RELX drop their contracts with ICE: If you are a law professor, librarian, attorney, or law student deeply concerned about the role that Thomson Reuters and RELX play in human rights abuses against immigrants, sign our letter! Thomson Reuters (parent company to Westlaw) and RELX plc (parent company to LexisNexis) play key roles in fueling the surveillance, imprisonment, and deportation of hundreds of thousands of immigrants each year. The ACLU National officially joined the campaign in September, as announced in their blog post.
Late last month, Mizue joined Jacinta Gonzalez, Senior Campaign Organizer at Mijente, and Sarah Lamdan, Professor of Law at CUNY Law School, on a panel at #LVI2020, titled "Legal Information and ICE Surveillance: the Dangerous Intersection of Legal Information Access and Human Rights Abuses." Their panel highlighted how free access to legal information is more important than ever as legal research vendors have evolved, as of late, into big data policing services. We are at a dangerous crossroads with paid legal research services: our legal research contracts help build ICE's surveillance program.
The Law via the Internet (LVI) Conference is the foremost international conference bringing together communities involved in all aspects of free access to law organized by members of the Free Access to Law Movement (FALM). |
|
IDP Provides Know Your Rights Trainings and Resources for Immigrant Communities
IDP continues to work on informing immigrant communities by sharing critical information on ICE tactics. On October 7th, Senior Policy Associate Jose Chapa joined Informed Immigrant on their Facebook Live page to have a conversation in Spanish on what people’s rights are if they encounter ICE officers at home or in public. View a recording of that training here.
A follow up to this training will be presented, in English, on October 28th at 6 pm, on Instagram Live. If you haven't already, please follow the IDP Instagram and be sure to look out for updates.
Later in the week, on October 9th, Jose Chapa joined Senior Staff Attorney Em Puhl and Paralegal Karelle Fonteneau, to bring a more thorough webinar in conjunction with New York’s Greenlight Coalition, also in Spanish. The webinar brought valuable information on not only what your rights are if you encounter ICE at home or in public but expanded the conversation to discuss the rights of Border Patrol and car stops across the state of New York.
On Monday, October 19, 2020, IDP joined with Queens Neighborhoods United to give a virtual training, "NYC v. ICE" describing the current political moment, how ICE operates, the tactics they use in conducting raids, and how to organize locally to conduct "ICE watches" to document ICE activities in New York. Over 300 people registered for the training and many have reached out afterward with follow-up questions and asking to distribute some of the resources IDP provided.
Last week, in response to an increase in reports of ICE raids across New York, IDP shared the following statement and links to our KYR resources. If you haven't seen them yet, please be sure to check them out AND to forward them to anyone you know who might be in need of these resources.
In light of the recent uptick in ICE raids, and the ever-present threat of ongoing raids and operations targeting cities with pro-immigrant policies, like New York City, IDP is resharing our Know Your Rights and ICE raid-related resources. On our website, these know your rights materials can be found at immdefense.org/kyr.
We encourage you to pass this email along to anyone who might be able to use these resources.
Flyers, Booklets, and Posters
Know Your Rights Infographics
- Know Your Rights (set of 6, available in English and Spanish)
- Common ICE ruses (set of 2, available in English and Spanish)
- Know Your Rights Basics for Documenting ICE, How to Document ICE Raids, and Things Not to Forget While Documenting ICE (set of 3, available in English and Spanish)
More Know Your Rights resources!
|
|
IDP Welcomes New(ish) Staff Member!
IDP is thrilled to announce that former Litigation Supervising Attorney Andrew Wachtenheim has rejoined our staff! Read on for a note from Andrew on the work he's been doing during his time away from IDP (and a memory of his early days as a hotline volunteer)!
 "I am thrilled to rejoin IDP as a supervising attorney contributing to the organization’s litigation and policy work. For the past year I have been consulting with public defenders representing noncitizens throughout California, and collaborating with IDP and partners on post-conviction relief litigation. At IDP I will be focusing on litigation and technical assistance seeking to uphold and expand the rights of immigrants impacted by the criminal legal system, and working with IDP’s policy experts and organizers on systemic reform efforts. I can still remember my first days at IDP as a hotline volunteer in 2011 with so many of today’s immigrant defense leaders. I am excited for this next chapter working with IDP’s wonderful staff and community toward a more just and humane world."
|
|
|
|
