Three of the Venezuelans who got booted off a plane from Texas on Martha's Vineyard today sued Florida officials and the two people with fake names - Perla and Emmanuel - who lied to get them on a plane that left them on Martha's Vineyard where, at least, people reacted by trying to help them rather than chortling about owning the libs. Read more.
WCAI reporter Jeanette Barnes reports that one of the first people to meet the Venezuelans shipped from Texas by the governor of Florida after they were moved to Joint Base Cape Cod today was Katiuska Valiente. Valiente, is a native Venezuelan and former Univision Nuea Inglaterra anchor who co-owns Peka Restaurant in Brighton Center, which serves Venezuelan food - which she brought with her for the immigrants.
Sarah Scire asks:
I am looking to support organizations helping Afghan refugees resettling in Boston, Cambridge or New Hampshire. Can anyone point me in the right direction?
In response to a reporter's question, Gov. Baker took a moment out of his daily Covid-19 briefing to say he opposes the Trump administration's attempt to ban all immigration. "It doesn't make any sense and I don't think it makes us any safer."
Dinner Celebrating Liberian Refugee Fairness Act & Successful Conclusion of "Operation Equal Protection"
Feb 29, 2020 12:00 Noon to 2:00PM
International Community Church
30 Gordon Street
Allston, MA 02134
(Parking at 617 Cambridge Street)
The New York Times reports the Border Patrol will be redeploying some of its more highly trained officers from the Mexican border to several cities, including Boston.
Among the agents being deployed to sanctuary cities are members of the elite tactical unit known as BORTAC, which acts essentially as the SWAT team of the Border Patrol. With additional gear such as stun grenades and enhanced Special Forces-type training, including sniper certification ...
UPDATE: Removal stayed for 48 hours, although he remains in CBP custody; hearing in federal court tomorrow morning.
Mohammad Shahab Dehghani Hossein Abadi, who got a visa from the State Department a week ago so he could fly her to start as a freshman in an economics program at Northeastern, is now being held at Logan's Terminal E, where Customs and Border Patrol wants to put him on a flight back out of the country. Read more.
WBUR reports on the possibility that BPS has shared data on more than 100 students with ICE, based on documents released in a lawsuit by education and civil rights advocates suing the city to take a look at just what gets sent to the feds.
BPS may not share any info directly with ICE, but it does forward certain disciplinary reports to the Boston Regional Intelligence Center, a Boston Police unit that does.
Cambridge Resident, Sierra Schwartz is organizing this fundraiser. For Returning Liberian Refugee
Gofundme Link: https://cutt.ly/Yrt7dJH
For Immediate release: DECEMBER 25, 2019
Press Statement On Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness Law
Christmas Gift From America To Refugees Is Panacea For US Racial Reconciliation
President Trump, Senator Reed & Rep Ciciline Invited To Party & Celebration
Contact: Rev. Torli H. Krua, Founder, Universal Human Rights International (UHRI)
TEXT: Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act
National Defense Authorization Act of 2020
Subtitle B—Other Matters
A federal judge in Boston ruled this week that federal authorities who want to lock up immigrants who have no major criminal records and who face deportation will have to prove the people are dangerous or pose a flight risk - rather than making the immigrants prove they aren't dangerous. Read more.
WBUR reports.
Update: The BPD sergeant who was coordinating with ICE has been removed from his position, WBUR reports.
Suffolk County Sheriff Steve Tompkins is not breaking with ICE out of any newfound moral qualms, but because he needs the space ICE Is now renting at the South Bay jail to house 200 to 250 women prisoners. Read more.
And will start classes tomorrow, the Harvard Crimson reports. The Crimson doesn't say how Harvard convinced the Trump administration to change its mind and let Ismail Ajjawi back into the US.
There's always a but. The New York Times reports the government has reversed its decision that immigrant kids receiving advanced medical care in the US - including at least 20 in Boston - had 30 days to leave the country and die. But at the same time, it's considering not granting such medical waivers to new cases.
WGBH reports on Karyn Alzayer's protest against children in cages at the border camps.
At 8:25 a.m. this past Thursday, Kanwar Singh was walking through Downtown Crossing when a woman screamed at him to "Go back to your country!" Singh, who became an American citizen in Faneuil Hall in 2014 and who served in the US military, ponders the racist:
Did she want me to go back to Malden? Because that’s where I live, and that’s my home. ...
It was, looking back, not one of the prouder moments in Massachusetts history: In 1910, the state House of Representatives approved a bill to bar women and girls under 21 from Chinese restaurants, unless accompanied by an older, non-Chinese man, to curb the alleged opium-powered menace to white womanhood posed by crafty "Orientals." Read more.
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