This footage is from the protest in front of the INS building that took place from noon to 1pm at 444 Washington Street in San Francisco on June 13, 2003.
Speaker: Sydney Levy
Organization: Jewish Voice For Peace
Sydney Levy in San Francisco (Small - 10 MB)
Audio - Sydney Levy in San Francisco (MP3 - 3 MB)
Sydney Levy, Jewish Voice For Peace
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This footage is from the protest in front of the INS building that took place from noon to 1pm at 444 Washington Street in San Francisco on June 13, 2003.
Speaker: Father Louie Vitale
Organization: Franciscian School Of Theology, St. Boniface Church in San Francisco
Father Louis Vitale, O.F.M. is a Lecturer in Spirituality and Practice of Nonviolence at the Franciscian School Of Theology. He is also a Pastor of St. Boniface Church in San Francisco.
Father Louie ended up serving some time in a Federal Prison in Georgia for committing acts of civil disobedience while protesting the School of the Americas (a U.S. terrorist training camp whose graduates are known for committing human rights violations).
Father Louie Vitale in San Francisco (Small - 24 MB)
Audio - Father Louie Vitale in San Francisco (MP3 - 7 MB)
Father Louie Vitale, Pastor of St. Boniface Church
(Excerpt) I just want to say to those of you who are from maybe my background -- a Judeo-Christian tradition -- If you want to honor the scriptures we have that talk about loving your neighbor and bearing one another's burdens, then we better get off our duffs and do something, or put away our bibles and forget it.We have to be outraged! And we have to get out and show our rage in non-violent and peaceful ways, and put a stop to this terrible, terrible racism that's going on and the abuse and oppression that destroying families and simply destroying lives.
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This footage is from the protest in front of the INS building that took place from noon to 1pm at 444 Washington Street in San Francisco on June 13, 2003.
Speaker: Andrew Lichterman
Organization: The People's Non-violent Response Coalition
Andrew Lichterman in San Francisco (Small - 20 MB)
Audio - Andrew Lichterman in San Francisco (MP3 - 8 MB)
Andrew Lichterman Of The People's Non-violent Response Coalition
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This footage is from the protest in front of the INS building that took place from noon to 1pm at 444 Washington Street in San Francisco on June 13, 2003.
Speaker: Greg Marutani
Organization: Japanese American Citizens League
Greg Marutani in San Francisco (Small - 12 MB)
Audio - Greg Marutani in San Francisco (MP3 - 4 MB)
Greg Marutani, Japanese American Citizens League
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This footage is from the protest in front of the INS building that took place from noon to 1pm at 444 Washington Street in San Francisco on June 13, 2003.
Speaker: Ladan Sobhani
Organization: Global Exchange
Ladan Sobhani in San Francisco (Small - 12 MB)
Audio - Ladan Sobhani in San Francisco (MP3 - 4 MB)
Ladan Sobhani of Global Exchange
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This footage is from the protest in front of the INS building that took place from noon to 1pm at 444 Washington Street in San Francisco on June 13, 2003.
Speaker: Ben Allen
Organization: Blue Triangle Network
Ben Allen in San Francisco (Small - 36 MB)
Audio - Ben Allen in San Francisco (MP3 - 11 MB)
Ben Allen, Blue Triangle Network
(Excerpt) Many of those who came to register were detained under brutal conditions. Now, with this announcement by the government of its intention to deport 13,000 of those who voluntarily registered, a grave new escalation is occurring. These measures and actions have already caused deep fear and anxiety, wrecked lives, broken up families and devastated communities.The government says it is doing this for our safety and well being. This has a familiar ring.
Just as the government used fraudulent documents and a web of lies to create a pretext for war in Iraq, it is using lies, distortion, racial stereotypes and fictitious alerts to manufacture a climate of danger to justify its repression at home. Under the cover of this climate of fear, the government has rigged up a parallel legal system that allows it to deny its victims even the most basic human rights.
Haven't we seen this before? The lie of an imminent internal threat was used to justify the roundup of Japanese-Americans during WWII, and a similar lie was used to justify the roundups, expulsions, detentions, and eventually the outright murder of communists, jews, trade unionists, catholics, and others in Germany during that era...
So what should we do about this?
What we should not do -- and what Dick Cheney would have us do -- which is to accept this as the new normalcy...
We have to create a climate and culture of resistance, such that attacks on these communities, or any communities, is not tolerated.
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This footage is from the protest in front of the INS building that took place from noon to 1pm at 444 Washington Street in San Francisco on June 13, 2003.
Speaker: Matthew Van Saun
Organization: Amnesty International
Matthew Van Saun in San Francisco (Small - 16 MB)
Audio - Matthew Van Saun in San Francisco (MP3 - 5 MB)
Matthew Van Saun, Amnesty International
(Excerpt) Amnesty International USA does not take issue with the government enforcing immigration laws if immigrants are found to have violated such laws. We are concerned that the health and safety of some of these foreign nationals may be at risk if they are deported back to some countries where they fear persecution...A report by the Justice Department was released on June 3. It was deeply critical of the government's roundup of immigrants after September 11, 2001. Senior Officials were found to have repeatedly ignored calls from immigration officials to quickly distinguish between the innocent and the guilty. There was evidence of abuse and harsh treatment of the detainees by officials. Moreover, many of these immigrants are now facing deportation to countries where they may face persecution.
Of the persons designated for deportation through the Special Registration program, many may have well-founded fears of persecution, but may have missed the one year deadline to file an asylum claim. It's an arbitrary deadline to which Amnesty is opposed.
According to U.S. and International Law, anyone claiming a fear of persecution upon return to his or her home country has a right to full and fair consideration of those claims. In closing, Amnesty International U.S.A. asks the U.S. Government to abide by U.S. and International Law and to guarantee the human rights of those facing deportation by ensuring that anyone claiming a fear of persecution, torture, or other ill treatment be given a full and fair hearing on their claims. Thank you.
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This footage is from the protest in front of the INS building that took place from noon to 1pm at 444 Washington Street in San Francisco on June 13, 2003.
Speaker: Reverend John Oda
Organization: Pine United Methodist Church
Reverend John Oda in San Francisco (Small - 18 MB)
Audio - Reverend John Oda in San Francisco (MP3 - 6 MB)
Reverend John Oda, Pine United Methodist Church
(Excerpt) What is happening with the deportation fo 13,000 individuals is wrong. It's unjust. It's immoral.I'm here as an American Citizen to stand by my brothers and sisters and say that this is not right. My parents, my aunts and uncles and my grandparents were all interned during World War II. During WW II, they voluntarily cooperated with the United States government thinking that they would get fair treatment. They were thrown into concentration camps in the middle of the desert.
My mother, who was about 4 years old, tells stories of being completely ostracized by her friends, by her neighbors, by the community. Just because they were of Japanese-American heritage. Just because Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor.
So what the Bush Administration is doing is causing mass paranoia in the country. It is causing communities to be divided. It is causing all of us to look around and wonder whether that person or this person is our friend of our foe. I'm here as a person of faith to say "that's not the way that we elimintae terrorism. How we eliminate terrorism is through acceptance and through love. It's through love. It's through hope...
As a person in the Japanese-American community I know that my parents continue to feel the sting of that injustice, how they were ostracized. And I'm hoping that all of you will go out and educate your communities -- educate your neighbors about this immoral deportation. And to let everyone know that they're not alone in their protest of this immoral government.
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This footage is from the protest in front of the INS building that took place from noon to 1pm at 444 Washington Street in San Francisco on June 13, 2003.
Speaker: Banafsheh Akhlaghi, Immigration Attorney
Banafsheh Akhlaghi in San Francisco (Small - 8 MB)
Audio - Banafsheh Akhlaghi Immigration Attorney in San Francisco (MP3 - 3 MB)
Banafsheh Akhlaghi, Immigration Attorney
(Excerpt) These aren't just stories. 13,000 individuals. One of them will be meeting me here today. These are real live individuals with real live dramas that none of us could even encounter on a daily basis. The rest of them sit in deportation. They wake up every morning wondering if today will be their last day -- if they'll be picked up today or not...These are stories that I see every day and that the bulk of us here see every day. Please expose it, and expose it as much as you possibly can. Please speak out for them as we are trying to speak out for them. Thank you very much for being here.
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This footage is from the protest in front of the INS building that took place from noon to 1pm at 444 Washington Street in San Francisco on June 13, 2003.
Speaker: Cecilia Chang
Organization: Justice For New Americans
Cecilia Chang in San Francisco (Small - 10 MB)
Audio - Cecilia Chang in San Francisco (MP3 - 3 MB)
Cecilia Chang, Justice For New Americans
(Excerpt) Today I'm speaking on behalf of all new Americans. "New Americans" is anybody in this country who are looked at as foreigners even though they are U.S. Citizens...to ask the U.S. government to treat them with justice...I am here to represent many of these new immigrants.This country. This country is made up of Americans. What's going here? We are forgetting the fact that America is made up of immigrants and we are now deporting the law abiding immigrants and asking them to go home.
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This footage is from the protest in front of the INS building that took place from noon to 1pm at 444 Washington Street in San Francisco on June 13, 2003.
Speaker: Riva Enteen, Program Director
Organization: National Lawyers Guild
NLG's Post 911 "Know Your Rights" Website
Riva Enteen in San Francisco (Small - 11 MB)
Audio - Riva Enteen in San Francisco (MP3 - 3 MB)
Riva Enteen, Program Director, National Lawyers Guild
(Excerpt) I remember when the U.S. Supreme Court acknowledged the Japanese Internment as one of the most shameful moments in history...But today, as we stand here, were looking at people who voluntarily went in to special register, and now 13,000 of them are facing deportation...
Patriot II says even U.S. born citizens can be deported. We shall not let this entire constitutional framework of this country be torn up before our eyes!
Now the NLG has a hotline for people contacted by the FBI or the INS as a result of 911, and it's important that everyone knows that nobody has to talk to any governement agent, and they should call the guild for an attorney. Now we had some people, Iraqis, when they were questioned, they were contacted six times in one day by the FBI. And one man, six times in one day, said "No, I can't talk to you until I talk to my attorney." Don't to talk to any government agent until you talk to an attorney.
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This footage is from the protest in front of the INS building that took place from noon to 1pm at 444 Washington Street in San Francisco on June 13, 2003.
Speaker: Jayashri Srikantiah, Staff Attorney
Organization: American Civil Liberties Union
Jayashri Srikantiah in San Francisco (Small - 11 MB)
Audio - Jayashri Srikantiah in San Francisco (MP3 - 4 MB)
Jayashri Srikantiah, Staff Attorney, ACLU
(Excerpt) Right after September 11th, President Bush and Congress expressed solidarity with Arab, Muslim and South Asian communities and warned against singling out members of those communities for the actions of terrorists. Unfortunately, the government's actions stand in sharp contrast to its words.The latest round of deportations announced by the government is only the most recent example of the Federal Government's practice of ethnic skapegoating and stereotyping. What the governement is doing is targeting particular nationalities for aggressive enforcement of immigration law. What the government is doing is targeting "immigrants" instead of targeting "terrorists."
The latest round of deportation follows other discriminatory policies including targeting of South Asian, Muslim and Arab communities for questioning, lengthy and secret detentions, secret deportations and other activities...
For immigrant communities, the promise of "due process of law" has been eroded. Even the government's own reports recognize the government's own discriminatory and shameful detention and deportation policies...
The government must stop targeting innocent people based on their ethnicity and religion. The government must stop disrupting the lives of thousands of innocent immigrant families. The government must stop equating "immigrants" with "terrorists."
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This footage is from the protest in front of the INS building that took place from noon to 1pm at 444 Washington Street in San Francisco on June 13, 2003.
Speaker: Samina Faheem
Organization: American Muslim Alliance, Pakistan American Democratic Front
Samina Faheem in San Francisco (Small - 16 MB)
Audio - Samina Faheem in San Francisco (MP3 - 6 MB)
Samina Faheem, American Muslim Alliance, Pakistan American Democratic Front
(Excerpt) Today we are here to protest the deportation of 13,000 detainees due to the special INS registration...Since 911, Muslims, Arabs, and South Asians have been suffering the backlash and have lost almost all of their civil liberties and constitutional rights. We have been defending our loyalites and patriotism to America. Even though we are law abiding citizens -- hard working citizens of the U.S., we have been labeled as terrorists.
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I'll be posting video from this tomorrow.
Muslim And Middle Eastern Men Targeted
By Jessie Mangaliman for the SJ Mercury News.
A number of Bay Area civil rights and immigrant advocacy groups rallied outside the federal immigration office in San Francisco on Friday to protest the pending deportation of more than 13,000 Muslim and Middle Eastern men found to be living illegally in the United States during a national security registration program.``What the government is doing is targeting immigrants instead of targeting terrorists,'' Jayashri Srikantiah, an attorney with the Northern California chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said to a group of about 50 people, across the street from the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, the former Immigration and Naturalization Service, in downtown San Francisco...
In all, more than 82,000 people registered. About 16 percent, or more than 13,000, were found in violation of their visas and placed in deportation proceedings, according to a government report issued last week.
Here is the full text of the article in case the link goes bad:
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/6085669.htm
Posted on Fri, Jun. 13, 2003
Groups rally in S.F. against deportations
MUSLIM AND MIDDLE EASTERN MEN TARGETED
By Jessie Mangaliman
Mercury News
A number of Bay Area civil rights and immigrant advocacy groups rallied outside the federal immigration office in San Francisco on Friday to protest the pending deportation of more than 13,000 Muslim and Middle Eastern men found to be living illegally in the United States during a national security registration program.
``What the government is doing is targeting immigrants instead of targeting terrorists,'' Jayashri Srikantiah, an attorney with the Northern California chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said to a group of about 50 people, across the street from the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, the former Immigration and Naturalization Service, in downtown San Francisco.
Srikantiah and others repeated their criticism of a national anti-terrorism program that required men and boys older than 16 from 25 primarily Muslim, Arab and Middle Eastern countries to register with the government. They were required to report to local offices of the BCIS to be fingerprinted and photographed as part of a system designed to monitor the comings and goings of U.S. visitors.
In all, more than 82,000 people registered. About 16 percent, or more than 13,000, were found in violation of their visas and placed in deportation proceedings, according to a government report issued last week.
``It doesn't seem unjust to place in deportation proceedings those who are in violation of the terms of their visas,'' said Sharon Rummery, a BCIS spokeswoman in San Francisco.
Rummery said everyone who received deportation notices from the special registration program will get a chance to ``tell the immigration judge why they shouldn't be deported.''
Esam Jalboush, 34, a Jordanian-Palestinian who has been living in the United States since he was 19, was among many Bay Area residents caught in the dragnet and ordered deported. But rather than fight the deportation, Jalboush, who came on a student visa in 1988, said he will leave the country voluntarily.
Accompanied by his lawyer, Jalboush, a supermarket store manager in San Francisco, picked up his expired Jordanian passport at the BCIS office Friday afternoon. Officials had confiscated his passport when he registered in March. He was detained for 24 hours and released on a $15,000 bond.
He has agreed to leave the United States and is bound this weekend for Montreal, where he has a sister. He said he will fly into Detroit and enter Canada at Windsor, where he hopes to get political asylum.
``There is no justice here for me; that's why I've chosen to leave rather than fight,'' said Jalboush, who said he fled Jordan because he was persecuted as a Palestinian.
He had a green card application pending in March when he was placed in deportation. He had applied for a green card in 2000. An immigration official found that after his student visa expired in 1993, Jalboush was out of status -- in the United States illegally for about a year. He then married an American citizen.
``Now a decade later, the government is deporting him for that violation. How is that good for the country's national security?'' said Banafshe Akhlaghi, an immigration lawyer in San Francisco representing Jalboush and about about three dozen other people facing deportation.
Akhlaghi spoke at the protest before accompanying Jalboush to the BCIS office.
``The targeting of immigrants and Muslims has created a culture of fear and helplessness,'' said Samina Faheem, a member of the American Muslim Alliance, a national non-profit group in Fremont.
Contact Jessie Mangaliman at jmangaliman@mercurynews .com or (408) 920-5794.
There's an "emergency" protest going on tomorrow afternoon to protest the Shrub Administration's deportation of over 13,000 muslim men who cooperated voluntarily with the INS Special Registration Program.
The news conference and rally afterwards is going on from 12pm (noon) - 1:30pm at the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) Building on 444 Washington Street (at Sansome) in San Francisco. Here's a map of the location and a gif of that map, in case the mapquest link doesn't work.
I'll be there recording it so you'll still be able to check it out if you can't make it, but it's very important to get as many people there as possible for this so please try to make it if you can.
See you there!
Here's the official scoop (courtesy of an email I received from Refuse and Resist:
Civil rights and community organizations will hold a
news conference and demonstration outside the Immigration and
Naturalization Service (INS) offices in San Francisco on Friday, June
13. Following reports that 13,000 of the Arab and Muslim men who
voluntarily registered with the INS as part of the government's
controversial Special Registration Program (NSEERS) will face
deportation, the groups are calling on the INS to halt the expulsions
of men from a list of mainly Arab and Muslim nations. The groups say
that the proposed deportations constitute racial profiling and will
not aid the fight against terrorism.
Speakers will include:
-Jayashri Srikantiah, American Civil Liberties Union of Northern
California
-Samina Faheem, American Muslim Alliance / Pakistan American
Democratic Forum
-Matthew Van Saun, Amnesty International
-Ben Allen, Blue Triangle Network
-Medea Benjamin, Global Exchange
-Riva Enteen, National Lawyers Guild
-Rev. John Oda, Pine United Methodist Church
-Greg Marutani, SF Japanese American Citizens League
-Statement from Attorney Lynne Stewart
Speakers at the protest following the news conference include
representatives of ANSWER, Arab-American Anti-Discrimination
Committee, Global Exchange, Refuse & Resist, South Alameda Peace &
Justice Committee, Not in Our Name, and others.
MEDIA ADVISORY
Thursday, June 12, 2003
CONTACT:
Samina Faheem,
American Muslim Alliance:
650-387-1994
Ben Allen, Blue Triangle Network:
415-713-3103
Civil Rights, Community Groups Protest Looming Deportations of 13,000
Immigrants,
Call on INS to Halt Expulsions of Muslim and Arab Men
What: News Conference and Protest
When: Friday, June 13, 2003, 12:00 noon-1:30 PM
Where: Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) Building
444 Washington Street (at Sansome), San
Francisco
Who: News Conference Speakers
„X Jayashri Srikantiah, American Civil Liberties Union of Northern
California
„X Samina Faheem, American Muslim Alliance / Pakistan American
Democratic Forum
„X Matthew Van Saun, Amnesty International
„X Ben Allen, Blue Triangle Network
„X Medea Benjamin, Global Exchange
„X Riva Enteen, National Lawyers Guild
„X Rev. John Oda, Pine United Methodist Church
* Greg Marutani, SF Japanese American Citizens League
„X Statement from Attorney Lynne Stewart
Speakers at the protest following the news conference include
representatives of ANSWER, Arab-American Anti-Discrimination
Committee, Global Exchange, Refuse & Resist, South Alameda Peace &
Justice Committee, Not in Our Name, and others.
SAN FRANCISCO -- Civil rights and community organizations will hold a
news conference and demonstration outside the Immigration and
Naturalization Service (INS) offices in San Francisco on Friday, June
13. Following reports that 13,000 of the Arab and Muslim men who
voluntarily registered with the INS as part of the government¡¦s
controversial Special Registration Program (NSEERS) will face
deportation, the groups are calling on the INS to halt the expulsions
of men from a list of mainly Arab and Muslim nations. The groups say
that the proposed deportations constitute racial profiling and will
not aid the fight against terrorism.
