Immigration

JS Update July 28, 2015

Immigrant Children Ordered Released

In a rebuke of the federal government's position that a prior consent decree (the Agreement) prohibiting the incarceration of unaccompanied minors in unsafe or secured facilities (detention centers) did not apply to accompanied minors crossing the US Mexico border with their parents, in last summer's refugee crisis, Federal District Court Judge Dolly M. Gee ordered the government to show cause, within ninety (90) days, why the remedies she concludes are needed to protect the well being of incarcerated accompanied minors (class members) held by ICE and the US Border Patrol, should not be imposed.  In Jenny L. Flores, et al. v. Jeh Johnson, et al. decided July 24, 2015, Judge Gee grants the plaintiffs motion to enforce the Agreement as to class members and denies the government's motion to amend the Agreement.  In her order, Judge Gee would further require the defendant federal government to comply with the following remedies:
1. Make and record prompt and continuous efforts toward family reunification and the release of minors under the Agreement.
2. Comply with the Agreement by releasing class members without unnecessary delay in first order of preference to a parent, including a parent who either was apprehended with the child minor or presented herself or himself with a class member.

JS Update February 10, 2015

"Shadow Prisons" Transforming Rural America's Landscapes

Follow this link to see Fusion writers Jorge Rivas and Cristina Costantini's birds-eye-view of how "Shadow Prisons" used to house over 55,000 immigrants, have transformed landscapes in rural America. http://fusion.net/story/43342/before-and-after-how-shadow-prisons-transformed-rural-america/

JS Update February 10, 2015

Director Judy Greene Quoted on Shadow Prisons

In their multimedia Fusion article, with quotes from Justice Strategies' Director Judy Greene, authors Cristina Costantini and Jorge Rivas describe how the U.S. Government has created a second-class federal prison system specifically targeted to holding immigrants in private for-profit prisons. http://interactive.fusion.net/shadow-prisons/

JS Publication October 8, 2014

For-Profit Family Detention: Meet the Private Prison Corporations Making Millions by Locking Up Refugee Families

In this joint report by Grassroots Leadership and Justice Strategies, we review the history of charges of sexual abuse and neglect of children, indifference to medical needs, inadequate and unsanitary food, and brutal treatment by staff, levied in lawsuits, government investigations, and allegations by those held in family detention facilities operated by private, for-profit, prison corporations.  These same corporations are now being contracted by the federal government to detain refugee families arriving at our southern border after fleeing the violence in Central America.

JS Publication August 13, 2014

Justice Strategies Testifies before US Dept. of State on Border Crossing Prosecutions

In this testimony provided to the US Department of State, Justice Strategies' Director, Judith Greene discusses our concerns with the tremendous increase in misdemeanor and felony prosecutions filed against those crossing the border under 8 U.S.C. Sec. 1325 and Sec. 1326, respectively, from 2002 to 2013.   In addition, we express our concerns with the segregated, sub-standard prisons being exclusively administered by private, for-profit prison corporations under contract to the US Bureau of Prisons.  This testimony is provided as part of the reveiw of the US government by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination being conducted in Geneva.  Follow our reporting on the proceedings in Geneva on Facebook and Twitter.

News Article EAST BAY EXPRESS January 22, 2014

The Napolitano Files: The opportunistic Immigration record of the new UC president

In her comprehensive article, Ashley Bates, with commentary from Justice Strategies' Director Judith Greene, escorts the reader on the wide circle that has brought former Homeland Security Secretary and now University of California President, Janet Napolitano, face-to-face with the real-life personal, academic and legal challenges of undocumented UC students; challenges brought about by the very policies and political atmosphere that she, in her former role as a high-ranking government official, helped to fashion, champion and vigorously enforce.

News Article Colorlines September 12, 2013

LA County Sheriff Helps Deport Record Numbers of Immigrants

The work of handing over arrestees to immigration authorities under the controversial Secure Communities, or S-Comm, program is largely done by local county sheriffs. And, in terms of sheer numbers, no county has cooperated more fully than Los Angeles, where undocumented immigrants, authorized residents, and even U.S.-born citizens have been turned over for deportation. In fact, nearly 11 percent of all immigration detainers under S-Comm have originated in Los Angeles County—with Sheriff Lee Baca’s blessing.

News Article Los Angeles Times July 8, 2013

Border 'surge' plan would be financial bonanza for private firms

Los Angeles Times quotes Justice Strategies' Director Judith Greene on the financial boom to private prison companies that would result from passage of certain provisions of the Senate's Comprehensive Immigration Reform bill.

News Article Politic365 May 30, 2013

Private Prisons Equal Big Business

Justice Strategies' Director, Judith Greene, is quoted in an article entitled Private Prisons Equal Big Business by Stacy Brown of the Washington Informer, posted May 30th, 2013 on Politics 365. The article discusses the billions of dollars in annual revenues being taken in, and the $45 million spent annually to lobby lawmakers for tougher and longer sentences, by the for profit prison industry, among other financial benefits going to these private corporations.

News Article HISPANTV September 14, 2012

Negocio de cárceles privadas, el más próspero en EEUU

In a news feature entitled, "Private prison business, the most prosperous in the U.S." HISPANTV's Spanish-language Washington Correspondent, Alfredo Miranda, covers the Sep. 13, 2012 hearing held, by Rep. Jared Polis of Colorado, on the role of private prisons in the incarceration of immigrants and their treatment in those facilities, funded by contracts with the federal Bureau of Prisons. Miranda interviews: Angelica Morena, sister of Juan Villanueva, who states her brother's death from cancer while in the custody of Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) was preventable; Judith Greene, Director, and Alexis Mazón, Research Associate, of Justice Strategies calling for an end to the funding of private prisons; and others. HISPANTV's Miranda states that in 2011, CCA and the GEO Group reported revenue of $3.3 billion, lobbying expenses of $20 million, and political contributions of $5 million.

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