(APN) ATLANTA — Five people arrested for criminal trespassing while protesting at an immigration detention center in November 2014 have been cleared of all charges. Known as the Stewart Five: Anton Flores, Kevin Caron, Maureen Fitzsimmons, Rebecca Kanner, and Jason McGaughey were arrested on November 22, 2014, at an annual demonstration held outside of Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — Immigrants’ rights advocates in Georgia celebrated two major victories in recent days. First, on Wednesday, November 19, 2014, Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill’s office announced it will no longer detain undocumented immigrants longer than usual in order for U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to apprehend and deport them. The following day, U.S. President Barack Obama announced […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — On June 27, 2011, US District Judge Thomas Thrash, Jr., put on hold two core parts of HB 87 which would have gone into effect July 1. His ruling blocks police from asking about immigration status during investigations of criminal violations. Investigations into someone going a few miles over the speed limit, rolling a stop sign, […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — On Thursday, June 02, 2011, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Georgia, the National Immigration Law Center (NILC), the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Asian Law Caucus, and a coalition of other organizations including civil rights groups filed a class action lawsuit challenging Georgia’s discriminatory anti-immigrant law passed last month and inspired by Arizona’s notorious SB 1070. […]
Read moreThis article first appeared on the Inter-Press Service at: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=55802 ATLANTA, Georgia, May 26, 2011 (IPS) – Earlier this month, Georgia became the third state to enact some of the most anti-immigrant legislation in recent U.S. history, when Governor Nathan Deal, a Republican, signed the bill, HB 87. Among other things, the bill allows law enforcement officials to ask suspicious […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — Governor Nathan Deal is poised to sign the controversial racial profiling immigration bill, HB 87, into law. He has until May 24, 2011, to sign or veto the bill before it automatically becomes law, that is, forty days since it was passed by the legislature. Deal is in a bit of a bind because Georgia Republicans are […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — Seven undocumented students from around the nation were arrested today while staging a sit-down protest on Courtland Street at Georgia State University for over an hour. Risking prison and deportation these brave students practiced the age old tradition of civil disobedience to protest the shameful laws which ban them from attending college. Georgina Perez, Viridiana Martinez, […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — Over 8,000 activists rallied outside the State Capitol on Thursday, March 24, 2011, to show their outrage and disgust over Georgia’s Arizona-type immigration bills. As previously reported by Atlanta Progressive News, legislation, HB 87, has already passed the State House. A similar bill, SB 40, has also passed the State Senate. While the vast majority of protesters […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — With several immigration-related bills introduced this year in the Georgia Legislature, some of the most sweeping measures–modeled after recently passed immigration reforms in Arizona–are advancing to passage, while other bills face hurdles or have stagnated. Atlanta Progressive News has attended committee hearings and observed floor debates related to several of these bills. HB 87, “SHOW ME […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — Private prison firms and right-wing hate groups have supported, lobbied for, and–either directly or indirectly–helped to craft several bills pending in the Georgia legislature this Session, including HB 87, the Illegal Immigration Reform and Enforcement Act of 2011. “Corrections Corporation of America (CCA)- we know they have lobbyists here,” Larry Pellegrini, a long-time activist and lobbyist […]
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