Assembly-Line Justice for Postville Detainees

link to photo










Dr. Camayd-Freixas' essay on the Postville raid has provoked concern throughout the U.S. In Minnesota, the UFCW and a local Jewish Community Action group are traveling to Postville on what they term is a "humanitarian mission."

There has been some questioning of Dr. Camayd-Freixas' ethics for revealing information about his translation services. Deciding to speak out about the Postville raid was a difficult decision. However, the severity of the situation warrants immediate action.

It is worth remembering that although Dr. Camayd-Freixas is receiving national attention for his essay on the raid there are a number of risks involved. For one, most people in the U.S. who speak openly about issues favoring undocumented immigrants often receive threats from the anti-immigrant community. In Houston, college student activists have received threatening phone calls and have been told the someone is watching their family. Journalists who write positive articles on DREAMERS get blasted in the reader's comments. The anti-immigrant groups coordinate "commentary writing" that is often vicious and mis-informed. A comment from a "Mom in Illinois" may really be a bearded guy from FAIR.

There is also the issue of Dr. Camayd-Freixas taking on the role of the public intellectual. Even though most people would consider this an honorable task, academia frequently frowns on scholars who take on community issues too publicly.

See dreamacttexas post "Dr. Erik Camayd-Freixas and the Postville Raid" July 11, 2008 and "Denying civil liberties to undocumented immigrants" July 10, 2008
-----

Local immigration attorneys and advocates say Postville raid reflected 'a complete lack of due process'
Minnesota Independent Media
by Anna Pratt
July 11, 2008


A group of nearly 200 Minnesotans representing the local chapter of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) labor union and Jewish Community Action are planning a trip to Postville, Iowa, on July 27... the group is interested in calling attention to the unconventional legal tactics surrounding the historic raid's subsequent court proceedings.

Some legal experts and activists say that the hearings were rushed, and that overall they failed to grant detainees their due process rights, a charge that a representative from U.S. Attorney's office denies. Hundreds of undocumented workers whose arrests added up to the largest raid in U.S. history were processed through the U.S. Attorney's office for criminal trials instead of the federal immigration court system, which has typically been the setting for such proceedings.

John Keller, an attorney with the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota in St. Paul who helped coordinate a national effort to provide legal support to the detainees, tells MnIndy the raid represents a radical departure from those of the past: "The stakes were raised remarkably in comparison to the terms of the process before. If things were bad before, now they are much worse."

For starters, the 305 people who were apprehended for criminal charges were basically given two options, both of which would eventually lead to removal from the country: Either they could be prosecuted for identity theft, a serious federal crime that would lead to a year in jail before being forced to leave, or plead guilty in exchange for a milder five month jail sentence (also to be followed by deportation).

All 305 arrestees pled guilty, according to the U.S. Attorney's office. (Only one case is pending at this point.) Detainees weren't fully briefed on the implications of either choice, while their legal counselors didn't have immigration expertise, says Keller. The workers had only a week to decide whether to accept a plea bargain.

Considering that only 17 public defenders divvied up all of the Postville cases between themselves, they couldn't have had time to debrief every client on the situation, Keller says, while many of those who did plead guilty could have been eligible for asylum in the US. Now, however, they're prevented from doing so and from ever gaining U.S. citizenship. Only a limited number of people caught up in previous raids had been faced with such a harsh charge. "A lot of people who plead guilty didn't have a full understanding of what they gave up," he notes....

for complete article click here

for link to complete Camayd-Freixas essay at Sanctuary Soapbox click here