Families for Freedom

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

Event

Deportation 101 in Arizona

Everyday over 1,000 families are destroyed by deportation. While we continue our fight for justice, dignity and human rights for all, we know that even more must be done to protect, defend, serve and lift up the voices of affect families and immigrant communities. Please join the Arizona Detention Working Group on Saturday January 21st for Deportation 101: Defending Our Communities. This is a 1-day training in collaboration with Detention Watch Network, Families for Freedom, Immigrant Defense Project, and the National Immigration Project.

Radio Show

War On Immigrants Radio talks about Haitian Deportations

Show Description

As Haiti marks the two-year anniversary of the devastating January 12, 2010 earthquake, along with what has been labeled the world’s worse cholera epidemic, killing an average of 200 Haitians per month, the US is still deporting people back to a country that even the State Department warned its citizens against traveling to. In June 2011, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights also weighed in by "ordering" the US to stop the deportations of Haitians back to the country, based on obvious health, safety and human rights concerns. On today's War on Immigrants Report we and our guests examine the current situation in Haiti and also what Haitian nationals are facing when they are at risk of being deported.

News and Annoucements

Judge Rules That Customs and Borders Patrol Must Release Information About Their Activity on Buses and Trains

January 11, 2012

Families for Freedom along with three individuals in deportation proceedings, bring suit against United States Customs and Border Protection ("CBP"), United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and United States Department of Homeland Security, seeking release of certain government records pursuant to the Freedom o f Information Act ("FOIA,,).l The requested records pertain primarily to the scope and practices of CBP operations on inter-city buses and trains, and plaintiffs have focused particular attention on the geographic area designated as the “Buffalo Sector.”2 Plaintiffs now move for summary judgment on the adequacy of the defendants’ search and seek limited discovery in order to facilitate a reasonable search.

In the Media

NPR Program: The Future of Immigration Enforcement

January 09, 2012

The U.S. deported a record number of people last year, yet the Obama administration faces criticism from both Democrats and Republicans on immigration policy. Most of the focus has been on the Secure Communities program, which shares local and state law enforcement information with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). In response to criticism that the agency is casting too wide a net, ICE plans to allow more leeway in deportation cases. We look at this and other election year debates brewing over immigration. Listen to the program here

In the Media

Federal Judge Forces CBP to Name Names in Profiling Lawsuit

January 05, 2012

Recent revelations, following a racial discrimination lawsuit, reveal that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency operated a program in which they categorized those they arrested as: “Mexican”, “Other than Mexicans” or “Alien from a Special Interest Country.” These revelations came to light recently following a lawsuit by Families for Freedom, an organization fights for immigrants facing detention. In the lawsuit, Families for Freedom alleged that border patrol agents were racially profiling bus and train travelers that travel along Lake Ontario in upstate New York.

In the Media

Judge: CBP Must Release Immigration Enforcement Stats

January 04, 2012

A federal judge in New York state has ordered Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to release information on how it’s enforcing immigration laws on buses and trains. The agency was sued by a nonprofit group that’s investigating racial profiling by federal agents along the northern border. Saying she's lost patience with the agency, the judge ruled that CBP now must surrender its internal information on arrests made by agents boarding buses and trains in New York.

In the Media

U.S. Border Patrol Must Release Arrest Statistics For Investigation Into Racial Profiling

January 11, 2012

A federal judge has ruled that U.S. Customs and Border Protection must release arrest statistics and other details to a nonprofit that’s investigating racial profiling in a recently shelved program to patrol intercity buses and trains on the Canadian border. According to the ruling, reported by Courthouse News, the newly disclosed information reveals that Border Patrol sorted out Amtrak arrests into the categories “Mexican,” “Other Than Mexicans” or “Alien from a Special Interest Country.”

In the Media

Railroading Border Security

December 21, 2011

Like a virus, or any other pathogen, “security” (of the police-state variety) goes wherever it can, typically creeping into the lives of marginalized or vulnerable populations and communities, and gradually and detrimentally transforming them in the process.

Event

Screening: Indocumentales/Undocumentaries - ELVIRA

Families for Freedom will be participating in the premiere and screening of ELVIRA (2009), a film by Javier Solórzano Casarín. Following the screening, a discussion with the filmmakers and special guests will be moderated by Shamina de Gonzaga. This event is part of the US/Mexico Interdependent Film Series, Indocumentales/Undocumentaries, presented in collaboration with what moves you?, Cinema Tropical, and the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at New York University. Families for Freedom will be speaking on a panel following the screening.

News and Annoucements

FFF Marches Against Deportations & Wage Theft with Occupy Wall Street

December 19, 2011

On December 18th Families for Freedom marched with immigrant and worker rights groups and the Occupy movement to highlight the importance of immigrants within the 99%, protest anti-immigrant laws across the country, and take on Wall Street's construction of private, for-profit immigration prisons and wage theft from immigrant workers. We along with members of the Immigrant Worker Justice Working Group of Occupy Wall Street, immigrants and allies held our first major mobilization with hundreds of people: a rally and march from Foley Square, featuring a diverse array of music, dance, and street theater which culminated in a multi-lingual General Assembly at Zuccotti Park.

Show Description

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