Our MissionFamilies for Freedom is a New York-based multi-ethnic defense network by and for immigrants facing and fighting deportation. Read more

In the Media

There Are Olympians Without Countries—And Millions of Regular People, Too

August 01, 2012
If you watched the opening ceremony for the Olympic games in London, it was hard to miss the self-described “independent Olympians.” There were four of them: Guor Marial, Philipine van Aanholt, Reginald de Windt, and Lee-Marvin Bonevacia. In a celebration of international competition, their presence stood out because they were, in effect, stateless. A stateless person is broadly defined as someone without a nationality. Though the UN’s Declaration of Human Rights states that everyone has a right to a nationality, there are an estimated 12 million people worldwide who are stateless; some estimates say that the number is closer to 20 million. That number would be substantially higher if the United Nations also counted Palestinians, according to Sebastian Kohn, a program officer at the Open Society Institute.
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News and Annoucements

Media Roundup of Insecure Communities Detention & Deportation Report

July 29, 2012
On July 23rd Families for Freedom, Immigrant Defense Project, and New York University School of Law Immigrant Rights Clinic released the report: Insecure Communities, Devastated Families: New Data on Immigrant Detention and Deportation Practices in New York City. In the wake of growing deportation programs such as the recently-activated “Secure Communities” initiative, this new report sheds light on the precise ways in which current detention and deportation practices are wreaking havoc on New York City immigrants and their communities. The deportation system is devastating families by not only threatening to exile their loved ones, but also often forcing immigrants to fight their cases for years while locked up in far-away immigration jails. To view some of the articles and videos that came out about the report click links
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In the Media

City’s immigrant-friendly image tarnished by new report on cold ICE practices: Survey by Immigrant Defense Project and Families for Freedom, and NYU School of Law Immigrant Rights Clinic cites secret deportation statistics

July 29, 2012
New York, the quintessential immigrant city, is a friendly and safe place for its almost three million foreign born residents. Or is it? Only if you compare it to, say, Arizona. That’s what one can conclude after reading a report released on Monday by the Immigrant Defense Project and Families for Freedom in conjunction with the New York University School of Law Immigrant Rights Clinic. “We now have hard evidence that ICE practices are terrorizing our city’s immigrant communities,” said Alisa Wellek, deputy director of the Immigrant Defense Project.
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Widespread Denial of Justice for New Yorkers Facing Detention and Deportation, New Report Finds US Immigration Authorities Seen Terrorizing City’s Immigrant Community

NYC FOIA Report 2012 FINAL Aug.pdf
Insecure Communities, Devastated Families: New Data on Immigrant Detention and Deportation Practices in New York City

New York City is home to over three million foreign-born residents. Yet, immigrant New Yorkers have been forced to struggle with the harsh realities of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) operations in their city for years—families broken apart by midnight raids, parents of U.S. citizen children sent to far-away detention facilities in Texas and Louisiana and held without bond, immigrants arrested after a “stop-and-frisk” encounter with the NYPD, only to find themselves thrown into a pipeline that sends thousands of New Yorkers from Rikers Island to ICE detention every year. This report compiles comprehensive data obtained by a FOIA request filed by Families for Freedom and Immigrant Defense Project. It reveals the devastating affects that ICE's enforcement operations have had on the city and their widespread terrorization of immigrant communities.

Topics

ICE Programs

Widespread Denial of Justice for New Yorkers Facing Detention and Deportation,

New Report Finds US Immigration Authorities Seen Terrorizing City’s Immigrant Community
July 20, 2012
In the wake of growing deportation programs such as the recently-activated “Secure Communities” initiative, this new report sheds light on the precise ways in which current detention and deportation practices are wreaking havoc on New York City immigrants and their communities. The deportation system is devastating families by not only threatening to exile their loved ones, but also often forcing immigrants to fight their cases for years while locked up in far-away immigration jails. WHAT: Advocates and immigrant families will hold a press conference to release previously secret federal government data detailing the harsh impact that Immigration and Customs Enforcements (ICE) operations have had on New York City residents and their families. The data, which the NYU Immigrant Rights Clinic obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, includes findings that reveal that, between October 2005 and December 2010, 77% of New Yorkers in deportation were funneled there from the criminal justice system, and that 91% of those in immigration jails lost their cases.
In the Media

'Operation Endgame' and the profitable purge of legal immigrants

July 11, 2012
Javian K Lawrence came to the US in 1999 as a legal immigrant with his parents and brothers and sisters. He was 14 years old at the time. Three years later, when he was 17, he was arrested for sexual misconduct, for having intercourse with a 16-year-old girl. Shortly after his 18th birthday, he was sentenced to six months in jail for this offense, but served less than four. That misdemeanor conviction has been a noose around Javian's neck ever since. It meant that, unlike the rest of his family, he could not trade in his green card for an American passport; and it is the primary reason why, 13 years later, he is sitting in a prison cell in an immigrant detention center in Alabama facing possible deportation back to a country where he no longer has any family, friends or prospects.
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Radio Show

War On Immigrants Radio on SB1070 Supreme Court Decision 7/10

Show Description

Listen to this month's War on Immigrants Report hosted by Abraham Paulos and Donald Anthonyson of Families for Freedom and Adem Carroll. The recent Supreme Court ruling on Arizona’s SB1070 had some of its supporters claiming victory and its opponents fearing more agony. While the discussion and disseminations will continue for some time, this month, we ask what has it changed for the people who will be affected, directly and indirectly? Given the history of the Supreme Court and its’ many race based decisions, how will the struggle to maintain dignity and justice play out? How did it play out in the past? On today's show we will speak with Dr. Alfonso Gonzales, Assistant Professor, Political Science at Lehman College and Carlos Garcia, the director of Puente Arizona, and Diana Perez-Ramirez an organizer at Puente Arizona.
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Important Warning for People Interested in Applying for Obama's Deferred Action Program

Alert for DREAMers applying for Deferred Action.pdf

United We DREAM, the National Immigrant Youth Alliance and the NIPNLG prepared this very informative warning advisory about how your criminal history could relate to Obama's deferred action program. There are thousands of people who will benefit from this deferred action program. However, many people's criminal history for a wide range of offences, including those commited as a juvenile can make you not only ineligible for this program, but also detainable and deportable.   Until the regulations and rules
regarding the program are released in 60 days or so, the creators of this document urge you to use this time to collect documents that
will help prepare your case.  

Download PDF from link above.


 
 

Radio Show

War On Immigrants Radio on Deferred Action & "The Rise of Asian Americans"

Show Description

This month’s War On Immigrants Report hosted by Donald Anthonyson of Families for Freedom and Adem Carroll will be focusing on the recent DHS announcement regarding deferred action for ‘Dreamers’and we will also looking at the Pew Research Center’s report “The Rise of Asian Americans” Our guests will include Yajaira Saavedra from Dream Scholars, Anayely Gomez from the New York State Leadership Council, Khin Mai Aung, of the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund and John Choe, the Director of One Flushing Community Economic Development Center.
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