Category: Immigration

BREAKING: ICE Rescinds International Student Rule Requiring In-Person Classes

File Photo: A gavel, and a balance placed upon on open book.

Posted By Jenn

Just one week after ICE announced they would require international students to attend in-person classes in order to remain in the country, the Trump administration has rescinded the controversial rule. In their earlier announcement, ICE had said that students on F-1 or M-1 visas would be required to leave the United States if they enrolled for courses held entirely online. Students attending universities holding courses entirely online in the fall would be forced to depart the country or transfer to a different school. This despite the fact that the number of new COVID-19 infections continues to rise, and that the CDC considers in-person college classes to significantly heighten the risk of coronavirus spread.

ICE’s announced rule was met with swift backlash from immigration rights activists as well as the nation’s colleges and universities. Within a day of the announcement, Harvard and MIT filed the first of eight lawsuits against ICE challenging the rule; others to sue ICE over the rule include John Hopkins University, the University of California, and 17 states as well as the District of Columbia. Over two hundred students, schools, local governments, and organizations also came together to file 13 amicus briefs in the Harvard and MIT lawsuit — all in support of Harvard’s and MIT’s position.

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Rep. Judy Chu Arrested at Rally Demanding Passage of Clean DREAM Act

Posted By Jenn

Representative Judy Chu (red scarf) joins other activists on the steps of the Capitol Building at an immigration rights demonstration earlier today. (Photo credit: Sarah D. Wire / Instagram)

Representative Judy Chu, the first Chinese American woman elected to the US Congress and the current chairperson of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC), was arrested earlier today on the steps of the Capitol Building. Chu was attending a demonstration demanding the passage of a clean DREAM Act to protect thousands of DACA recipients facing uncertainty and possible deportation after President Trump announced he was ending the program instituted by the Obama administration.

According to a photo and article posted by Los Angeles Times‘ Congressional reporter Sarah D. Wire, Chu was seated in the front row of the demonstration holding a banner that read “Defend Our Immigrant Communities” when she was arrested. She was arrested by Capitol Police after the protesters were repeatedly ordered to disperse.

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Over 100 Cambodian American Refugees Face Deportation after Targeted ICE Round-Up

Posted By Jenn

Protesters demand immigrant rights for Southeast Asian Americans at a 2013 demonstration. (Photo credit: 1Love Movement)

The Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC) reports that over one hundred Cambodian American refugees have been arrested and detained for deportation after one of the largest Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) mass round-up operations in history.

The arrests come shortly after the Cambodian government announced over the summer that they would temporarily halt the issuing of travel visas for refugees facing deportation by the US government to Cambodia. Cambodian officials are seeking renegotiation of a 2002 U.S.-Cambodia agreement to address the separation of deported refugees from the American families.

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University of Maryland Students Organize Rally for Immigrant Rights as Part of Week of #AAPIAction

Posted By Jenn

Rally attendees at a University of Maryland #AAPIAction event on October 9, 2017. (Photo credit: Conor Huynh)
This past week, Asian American scholars and activists (organized under the group, AAPIVoices) staged a nationwide week of action (#AAPIAction) around topics of immigration justice and the future of Asian American & Pacific Islander political organizing. Compelled by recent assaults on immigrant rights and the Muslim community by the Trump administration, advocacy groups across the country hosted events — including many held on college and university campuses — to promote AAPI political activism around social justice issues.

On event associated with #AAPIAction was hosted at the University of Maryland last Monday. While participants sought to raise the profile of Asian Americans in opposing the rescinding of DACA and anti-immigrant policies, the gathering at UMD was part of a larger effort among coalition partners, including a diverse group of student organizations, staff and faculty to stand up for immigrants, counter xenophobia, and recognize Indigenous People’s Day. At the event, nearly a hundred students gathered around a statue of writer and abolitionist Frederick Douglass — situated outside the campus’ R. Lee Hornbake Library — to protest in support of documented and undocumented immigrants, and against the Trump administration’s ongoing efforts to pass a Muslim travel ban. During the event, several students took to the base of the statue to share their perspectives on immigration justice and other social justice issues.

The event was courageously held at a time when the campus is also experiencing several racist on-campus incidents: the University of Maryland’s Diamondback newspaper reports that a former UMD employee was arrested and charged for spraypainting a swastika on-campus, and in a separate incident, a UMD lecturer revealed on Facebook Live that he has been targeted with numerous racist phone calls after an appearance on Fox News.

After the jump, please check out photos from the event.

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Survivor of Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Faces Deportation by US Immigration | #FreeNy

Posted By Jenn

Ny Nourn, in an undated photo at the Central California Women’s Facility. (Photo credit: YouCaring)

Ny Nourn was born into war and violence.

Nourn’s mother fled genocide in Cambodia to a refugee camp in Thailand where she gave birth to Nourn. Nourn was just 5 years old when her mother immigrated with her to the United States and married Nourn’s stepfather, whose abusive behaviour against both mother and child motivated Nourn’s mother to enact her own verbal abuse against Nourn, as well.

Nourn grew up knowing no other kind of relationship but abuse, pain, and violence.

Nourn was just 17 years old when she met 34-year-old Ron Barker, the man who would be her boyfriend, and eventually her abuser and rapist. She was just 18 years old when Barker, jealous of her affair with another man, coerced her with physical assault, rape, and death threats to lure her lover into a trap and to stay silent after he shot and killed the other man, and burned the body so badly that dental records would be needed to identify the victim.

Nourn was just 21 years old when she chose to break her silence and tell police of the crime. She was arrested on the spot and charged with murder.

Nourn was still just 21 years old when a jury sentenced her — a survivor of domestic violence and rape — to a 15-years-to-life prison sentence for second degree murder in failing to prevent her abuser from shooting and killing another man. Nourn served 16 years in prison before receiving parole.

But her freedom was short-lived. Immediately upon her release from Central California Women’s Facility earlier this year, she was taken into custody by US Immigration and imprisoned in the Yuba County Jail, an ICE detention facility built to hold immigrants facing deportation.

Now, Nourn faces deportation to Cambodia, a country she does not know.  She is 36 years old.

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