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Voice
December 20, 2013
In This Issue
Officials to Close North Georgia Detention Center
Proposal Would put 10 Commandments Outside the Georgia Capitol
Don't let the NSA Spy On Your Holiday Moments
The Unfulfilled Promis of International Migrants Day
ACLU of Georgia sends letters to Inter-American Commission on Human Rights experts
ACLU of Georgia presents workshops at the US Human Rights Network conference in Atlanta
Bill of Rights Dinner was a Big Success!
Meet Our Volunteers
"By the People" Lobby Day begins next month
The National Security/Immigrants' Rights Project is celebrating its fifth anniversary
Officials to Close North Georgia Detention Center
in Gainesville
90.1 WABE
 

Officials announced Monday the North Georgia Detention Center in Gainesville will close before the end of the year. The facility is one of four federal immigration detention centers in the state.

 

U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement will move detainees to other detention centers in Irwin and Stewart counties. While ICE oversees the centers, they're operated by a private company, Corrections Corporation of America.

 

The ACLU of Georgia issued a report in 2012 condemning conditions in the state's detention centers. Attorney Azadeh Shahshahani says while the group is glad to see the North Georgia Detention Center close, the move doesn't fully address the ACLU's concerns.

 

"We are definitely concerned that instead of making greater use of alternatives to detention and taking a more serious look at who needs to be detained, ICE is now going to transfer immigrants previously detained at this facility to Irwin and Stewart," she says.

 

Citing a decline in detainees at the facility, CCA told Gainesville officials Monday of plans to shut it down. Gainesville Mayor Pro Tem Bob Hamrick says city officials aren't sure what they'll do with the soon-to-be empty facility.

 

"We have not met as a body to discuss this, so no, there are no plans at this time," Hamrick says. "However, we will, I'm sure, in the very near future be discussing this issue."

 

Hamrick says officials also don't know how they'll pay off almost $9 million in bonds issued to help buy the center. The closure will also eliminate about 130 jobs.

 

CCA spokesman Steve Owen issued a statement, which reads, in part:

"Our top priority now is assisting those affected employees, and we will be offering all of them the opportunity to transfer to other CCA facilities."

 

Owen said CCA will help employees who aren't able to transfer find jobs locally. Read the full statement here.

 

ICE officials did not respond to WABE's interview request by deadline.  

 

Listen here > > > 

Proposal Would put 10 Commandments Outside
Georgia Capitol

 

A South Georgia lawmaker will propose next month a bill that would allow the construction of a monument outside the Georgia Capitol featuring the 10 Commandments.

 

Vidalia Republican Rep. Greg Morris wants the monument to be built where the statue of former Sen. Tom Watson used to be.

In addition to the 10 Commandments, the monument also features the preambles to the Georgia and United States constitutions. Morris says the constitutions and the Commandments go hand-in-hand.

 

However, there are those who are critical of House Bill 702. Chad Brock of the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia said the new monument would ostracize non-Christian citizens.

 

The Tom Watson Statue was taken down and relocated last month as part of a renovation project at the Capitol. The former senator of the 1920s was a white supremacist who vilified blacks and Jews.

 

Watch the video here > > >

Don't Let the NSA Spy On Your Holiday Moments

 

   

We now know that this holiday season, our private communications aren't as private as we thought. While we're calling, texting, emailing, and visiting our friends and loved ones, the NSA is tuning in and collecting massive amounts of data on millions of Americans.

 

Thanks to the revelations from Edward Snowden, each week we get new proof that the NSA has vastly overstepped its authority.

 

The good news is that the tide is turning in the fight to rein in all this runaway surveillance. Right now, there is legislation pending in the House and Senate that would go a long way to stopping the worst of the NSA's excesses. So we need to turn up the pressure on Congress, which blindly gave the NSA too much spying power in the first place.  

 

If we're going to get past this last hurdle, we need to stand together and send our representatives in Washington a crystal clear message: Americans stand opposed to this blatant abuse of power.

 

Sign the petition and let's push Congress to get in gear to end the secret surveillance state now.  

The Unfulfilled Promise of

International Migrants Day        

  

Today marks International Migrants Day, a day to be commemorated and celebrated by all in support of immigrants and their contributions to our communities. December 18th marks the date in 1990 that the UN adopted the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. The Migrant Workers Convention guarantees migrant workers and their families fundamental rights including equality before the law regardless of a migrant's legal status.

 

The promise of dignified treatment remains far from being fulfilled for many immigrants in the US, however.

 

Eduardo Zuniga's case is illustrative. Zuniga, a migrant worker, was detained at the Stewart Detention Center, the largest immigration detention center in the US located in Lumpkin, Georgia. While working at Stewart's kitchen, Zuniga crushed his toe and shattered his toenail. He was not allowed to see a doctor and was referred instead to nurse practitioners who refused to remove the shards of his nail from his toe. They gave him only over-the-counter pain medication, antibiotics and instructions to apply ice to his toe. Six and a half months later, his nail had not grown back and his toe remained infected, causing him continuous pain. He was injured a second time while working when he twisted his leg, causing swelling from his ankle to his knee. Nurse practitioners at Stewart did not allow him to see a doctor for over three months while pain and swelling persisted. During this time, they denied him the necessary medication, permission slips allowing him not to work and authorization to use physical assistance items such as a wheelchair or a second crutch. Deported to Mexico, Zuniga continues to suffer pain in his knees.


This was far from an isolated case as documented by the ACLU of Georgia in ourreport [PDF], "Prisoners of Profit: Immigrants and Detention in Georgia." Published in May 2012, the report is based on interviews with 68 detained immigrants and their families as well as immigration attorneys, tours of the detention centers and review of documents obtained from the government. The report covers the four immigration detention facilities in Georgia, including Stewart.

 

The conditions documented by the ACLU of Georgia violate the constitutional and human rights of detained immigrants, many of who are migrant workers, as well as Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) own standards. Findings raised serious concerns about violations of due process rights, inadequate living conditions, inadequate medical and mental health care and abuse of power by those in charge.

 

One of the problems documented was the inadequacy of medical care at the facilities as shown by the treatment afforded to Zuniga. Detention facilities-including Stewart-have gone years without employing a full-time doctor. Preventative care is not available, pre-existing medical needs are often ignored and emergency care is grossly inadequate.


The report recommends that ICE stop detaining immigrants at the for-profit Stewart and Irwin County Detention Centers given the extent of the documented violations and their remote locations, which isolate detained immigrants from their families and communities of support.

 

To date, neither ICE nor the for-profit detention centers have taken action to address the concerns highlighted in the report.

 

As such, the ACLU of Georgia recently submitted letters to the Inter-American Commission Rapporteur on the Rights of Migrants [PDF] and the Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons Deprived of Liberty [PDF] requesting a meeting to discuss immigration detention conditions in Georgia.


In what could be a promising sign, the Corrections Corporation of America recently announced the closing of one of its facilities in Georgia, the North Georgia Detention Center.

Unfortunately, the immigrants detained there will not be released; instead, they will reportedly be shipped to Stewart and Irwin.

 

Instead of shuffling immigrants between detention facilities, ICE should make greater use of effective and far cheaper alternatives to detention. Congress should also eliminate the detention bed quota that forces ICE to hold 34,000 immigrants in detention daily regardless of actual need, and repeal mandatory detention provisions in immigration law that preclude individualized assessments of the need to detain. When migrant workers are released from unnecessary detention and reunited with their families, we will be one step closer to truly celebrating the promise of International Migrants Day.

ACLU of Georgia sends letters to Inter-American Commission on Human Rights experts  

requesting a meeting to discuss

immigration detention conditions in Georgia

 

In light of the inaction of the federal government and for-profit prison corporations in the face of documented human rights violations, the ACLU of Georgia sent letters to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Rapporteur on the Rights of People Deprived of Liberty and the Rapporteur on the Rights of Migrants, requesting a meeting to discuss immigration detention conditions in Georgia.  

 

You can find the letters here and here. 

ACLU of Georgia presents workshops at the US Human Rights Network conference in Atlanta

The ACLU of Georgia participated in two workshops, one on immigration detention and one on discrimination against Muslim and Middle Eastern communities, in the US Human Rights Network's biannual conference in Atlanta.

 
Bill of Rights Dinner was a Big Success!      
 










Meet Our Volunteers
Gregory Richardson

I was born and raised in Oakland, California, but I have spent the last 15 years or so in Southern California. I graduated from the University of California, Irvine in 2012 with a degree in Political Science. I am currently a first year law student at the Emory University School of Law here in Atlanta. I have wanted to work with the ACLU almost as long as I wanted to become an attorney. I heard somewhere that this is an organization whose sole purpose is to defend the bill of rights. Why wouldn't I want to be a part of that mission? I am g lad to have the opportunity to be the Winter Law Clerk and I hope to able to help the Georgia office advance the cause of liberty in whatever capacity I can while I am here.

Don't Miss the Following Events!!

ACLU of Georgia "By the People" Day
begins again next month.
By The People

"By the People Lobby Days" are another way that the ACLU of Georgia tries to simultaneously engage the community while having a postive influence on the policy process. On these days, the ACLU of Georgia teams up with other organizations; such as Georgia Rural Urban Summit (GRUS) to help you meet and talk with your legislators. Each week these groups will team up to provide you with the tools you need to hold lawmakers accountable on issues, ranging from reproductive rights to the separation of church and state to consumer issues.

 

This program is key to our work because we feel that a face to face meeting is the most effective way to communicate with the legislators. In addition, it allows us to incorporate our members into our work and further educates legislators on our positions on issues. Plus, it can be a lot of fun! Whether you are an experienced advocate or brand new to the legislative process, this program can help make your visits easy and effective. Come down to the Capitol and meet your legislators. 


Date, time and location to be determined. 

For more information > > >


The ACLU of Georgia National Security/Immigrants' Rights Project is celebrating its fifth anniversary!
Founded in March 2008, the project works to bring Georgia into compliance with international human rights and U.S. constitutional standards in treatment of refugees and immigrant communities, including those in detention. This project engages ACLU of Georgia staff and volunteers in litigation, legislative advocacy, human rights documentation, coalition-building, public education, attorney training, and community organizing to address a range of issues. Here you can find a few of our accomplishments over the past five years.

 

Download Brochure   

 

  
Mission Statement 
 
The purpose of this association shall be to advance the cause of civil liberties in Georgia, with emphasis on the rights of free speech, free press, free assembly, freedom of religion, due process of law and to take all legitimate action in the furtherance of such purposes without political partisanship.
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