Federal judge prohibits ICE detainers in Marion County

A federal judge has approved of a settlement between the ACLU of Indiana and the Marion County Sheriff’s Office to end Immigration and Customs Enforcement hold requests on people accused of living in the country illegally unless there is a warrant.

The action comes despite the U.S. Justice Department’s intervention in the case and requests that the Sheriff’s Office comply with the ICE seizure requests.

In a 36-page order handed down Tuesday evening, U.S. District Judge Sarah Evans Barker issued an injunction that prevents the Sheriff’s Office from detaining any person based solely on detention requests from ICE unless there is a warrant or probable cause.

An ICE detainer is a request of local police to hold people in jail beyond the time when they otherwise should be released, generally a 48-hour period. ICE is seeking more time to check their citizenship status and, if needed, get a deportation warrant, even if the initial arrest is for something minor, say a traffic infraction.

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Immigrants are helping to give some struggling cities a new lease on life

Immigrants are helping to give some struggling cities a new lease on life. In Hartford, CT; Newark, NJ; Stockton, CA; and Trenton, NJ, more than one in five residents are now foreign-born. In general, cities with smaller foreign-born populations are more likely to be distressed: In the average distressed city, 15 percent of the population is foreign-born; in all other quintiles, the average is between 18 and 19 percent.

[Distress Community Index Report]

Places with the fewest immigrants push back hardest against immigration

The paradox of this emotional debate is that generally the states and communities with the fewest immigrants are pushing to reduce immigration over the objections of the places with the most immigrants.
Even as Republicans from President Trump to leading legislators in the House and Senate are driving to reduce both undocumented and legal immigration, the core of the GOP’s electoral strength in both presidential and Congressional contests are the places with the smallest share of immigrants, US Census data show.

Do Undocumented Immigrants Pay Taxes?

“Do you think an illegal immigrant getting money is going to be paying taxes? Sure, some probably do only because employers are insisting on it. But there’s very little percentage wise very little, probably 5 percent, 10 percent. It’s a very small amount pay taxes … Look, they’re here illegally. They’re not paying taxes.”

On the surface, the claim seems plausible. This is a population that largely lives in the shadows. And it’s fair to assume that many undocumented workers are paid under the table, with little incentive to report their earnings.

But while this may be the case for some, it certainly does not hold true for the majority.

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Agency having money issues: Fundraisers not getting attention from residents

“We don’t have any federal or state funding, and we are not part of United Way,” she said. “What we need right now is the funds to keep our operations and doors open for three days a week. That would be good for us to be able to keep serving our clients.”

About 80 families visit the agency a month asking for help with translating birth certificates, identification cards and other written documents or correspondence. The agency also helps write résumés and letters of permission for children to travel and assistance with applications for services offered within the community.

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The most decorated US WWI veteran from Texas was actually a Mexican immigrant

On April 26, 1896, in Chihuahua, Mexico, Marcelino Serna was born into a very poor family.  He left home at the age of twenty, and crossed the border into the United States, traveling to El Paso, Texas to find a job and improve his life.  Since he didn’t speak English, he had to take low-paying jobs and was soon working in Denver, Colorado on a sugar beet farm.

When the United States declared war on Germany in April 1917, Serna was in Denver working with a group of men who were picked up by federal officers checking the draft status of potential soldiers.  To prevent his deportation to Mexico, Serna volunteered to join the Army.

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These robotics students were told ‘to go back to Mexico.’

Just a few months ago, not many knew about these five fourth-graders from a low-income community in Indianapolis.

But now, the Panther Bots, a thriving robotics team at Pleasant Run Elementary School, have become the face of a success story about a group of kids who were taunted with racial slurs but were too determined to let that affect their confidence. Earlier this month, they found themselves being honored on the Senate floor of the Indiana Statehouse. The group travels to Louisville on Sunday to compete in a worldwide robotics contest.

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Army Vet Who Served Two Tours In Afghanistan To Be Deported

A Chicago immigration judge ruled last week that an Army veteran who served in Afghanistan be deported back to Mexico, according to a local ABC affiliate.

The decision comes after Miguel Perez Jr. served seven years in prison for a felony drug offense. Perez, 38, was born in Mexico but has lived in the United States since the age of 8. He enlisted in the Army as a legal permanent resident in 2001 and served two tours in Afghanistan with U.S. Special Forces.

“My son served for this country, not for Mexico,” Perez’s mother, Esperanza Medina, told reporters at a Pilsen church on Sunday. 

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Illegal Immigration Doesn’t Always Match Reality

When you think of illegal immigration in the U.S., do you picture a border crosser or a visa overstayer? A family or a single person? A farmworker or a waiter?

People living in the U.S. without legal status are frequently invoked in American politics especially in recent months. But the conversation is often short on facts about the millions of people who fall into this category.

There are, however, outdated beliefs: A Pew Research Center survey in 2015 found that very few Americans are aware of recent changes in immigration patterns.

For example, the top 10 countries for visa overstays in FY 2015: #1. Canada (~93,000), #2. Mexico (~42,000)…

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San Jose, CA an immigration success story

Q: What have the waves of immigration meant for San Jose?

A: In Silicon Valley diversity and our immigrant community has been the secret sauce to our success. About half of our venture-funded start-ups are started by foreign born entrepreneurs. Obviously we have our share of challenges. But there’s an incredible story to tell about what immigration has brought to our community. I hope the rest of the nation will take heed.

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