A round up of stories today about opportunity in America, pulled from a variety of nonprofits, race and immigration blogs, and mainstream media outlets. Cross posted at State of Opportunity, a blog about human rights and the American Dream.
- The ImmigrationProf Blog has written about a new coalition of lawyers from big firms who will work to defend the constitutional rights -- or human rights -- of all people:
According to NBC11.com, dozens of attorneys from powerful law firms have united to create a task force that will come to the aid of undocumented immigrants. 60 attorneys from 14 law firms have said they will face the government head-on -- challenging the legality of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids. The list of law firms includes Dechert LLP, Wilson Sonsini, Skadden-Arps and Orrick, Herrington & Suttcliffe. The legal plan called for the lawyers to vigorously defend the constitutional rights of all people, including undocumented immigrants. Andrew Thomases said Dechert LLP, which represents Yahoo, and the other law firms would represent undocumented immigrants for free.
Mark Silverman is with the Immigrant Legal Resource Center in San Francisco, which is working with the attorneys involved in the task force. "We are not trying to make ICE's job difficult," Silverman said. "We just want ICE to do their job by conforming to the U.S. Constitution."
- Similarly, the 'Just News' blog has shared a New York Times article about a new plan by the Manhattan District Attorney's office to create an 'Immigrant Affairs' program to "encourage immigrants who are crime victims or are aware of illegal activity to come forward without fear of arrest and deportation."
- Latina Lista has blogged about a toy drive underway to provide some holiday cheer for the children living in the ICE detention center in Hutto, Texas. Students from the University of Texas Immigration Law clinic have organized the drive and will be delivering the toys this coming Saturday.
"We are hearing from three people affected by the ban:
- Augustin Dussault, a Canadian barred from entering the country even to visit his husband in the hospital;
- Lillian Mworeko, a Ugandan AIDS professional who cannot visit the US for training or conferences; and
- Bernard Cazaban, a Frenchman who was kicked out of the US 15 years ago on the eve of getting his green card.
We will also be joined by Susannah Sirkin from Physicians for Human Rights, as well as our own Victoria Neilson.