Torn Apart by Deportation
From New York to Jamaica, Families Struggle to Stay Together
Media Contact: Debayani
Kar 510.338.4917 [email protected]
October 22, 2009: ColorLines magazine
went on the road from New York to Jamaica this summer to investigate
the collateral effects of deportation on immigrant communities. The
resulting Torn Apart article series and multimedia project
is being released today at http://www.colorlines.com/
Earlier this month,
Obama administration officials announced
plans to reform immigrant detention policy
ostensibly to make improvements to the broken system. The New York
Times reported on the detention
framework’s serious flaws
namely that people who have committed no crime are being swept up into
the system and locked away in detention. Meanwhile the 287(g) program
begun under President Bush and continued by President Obama has come under fire for widespread
abuses
Harsh immigration policy,
compounded by systemic inequities built into the criminal justice system,
might not be thwarting terrorists or making our country a whole lot
safer. But the laws are doing a great job of breaking up another entity:
families of color. This broken immigration system inflicts as much harm
on Black immigrants as other immigrants of color.
“Immigrants face
de facto double jeopardy,” says Torn Apart coauthor
Julianne Ong Hing. “Even legal residents caught in the criminal justice
system for the most minor crimes are vulnerable to deportation. After
their criminal cases end, immigrants are subject to the civil procedures
of immigration courts. Deportation follows incarceration.”
Visit http://www.colorlines.com/
FOUNDED IN 1981, the
Applied Research Center is America's largest think tank on race. ARC
investigates the hidden racial consequences of public policy initiatives
and develops new frameworks to resolve racially charged debates. With
offices in New York, Chicago, and Oakland, ARC serves its mission through
three program areas: Media and Journalism, Strategic Research and Policy
Analysis, and the Racial Justice Leadership Action Network. ARC also
publishes ColorLines magazine.
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