|
From: "J.S." <godessss@mindspring.com> To: <Undisclosed-recipients:> Sent: Wednesday, August 13, 2003 7:12 AM Subject: Urgent Action Alert: Mass Deportation Flight of Palestinians from USA]
By their acts you shall know them.
womenagainstwar@ureach.com wrote:
> ACTION ALERT: URGENT > Mass Deportation Flight of Palestinians from USA > > Tuesday, August 12, 2003 > > forward widely!! > > Tomorrow night, the US will again, in secret and in the dark, deport another large group, mostly, if not all, Palestinians to Jordan. > > These people are unable to say goodbye to their families and attorneys and friends. See the bottom of this e-mail for other wrongful actions. > > Among the last mass deportation, all of whom were Pakistanis, was an 80-year-old man whose entire family lives in the US and who had been here for many, many years, and a 39 year old who had been here since aged 6. So many of these men wept at having been forced to leave their families and go back to a country where they no longer had ties. One Pakistani who was taken from his family on another flight was killed within six weeks of his arrival in Pakistan. > > Please read up from the bottom for directions on calling and faxing. No matter in which country you live, it is important to let BICE know you object. > > Betty > > Betty Molchany, J.D. > 31 Blue Ridge Avenue Front Royal, VA 22630-3045 > 540 622-2345 > > URGENT ACTION: August 9, 2003 > > Mass Deportation Flight of Palestinians Planned for Tuesday, August 12 > > Coalition for the Human Rights of Immigrants (CHRI) has received information that the US Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (BICE), a division of the Department of Homeland Security, is preparing a mass deportation flight of as many as 100 Middle Eastern detainees, most likely including Palestinians. > > According to the information received, this charter flight is scheduled to depart on the night of Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2003, or in the early morning hours of Wednesday, Aug. 13, from the area of Buffalo, New York, heading to Amman, Jordan and possibly other destinations in the Middle East. > > Information about a similar deportation on May 14 was subsequently confirmed in a Reuters story published on July 28. In that deportation, at least 25 people were kept handcuffed on the flight to Amman; on May 16, six Palestinians among the group were taken overland--through Israeli checkpoints--to the occupied West Bank. Another group of Palestinians was deported to Gaza via Egypt, according to Reuters. > > CHRI has reason to believe that a number of immigration detainees at York County Prison in Pennsylvania will be included on the Aug. 12 flight. These detainees are to be transferred from York to Batavia on Aug. 11, in preparation for the flight. The deportation flight is expected to include a number of women. > > > CHRI urges supporters of human rights to contact: > > David J. Venturella, BICE Office of Detention & Removal: 202-514-8663; fax 202-353-9435 (If Venturella is not available, call Bret Bradford, the officer in charge of deportation flights at the Office of Detention & Removal: 202-353-7774.) > > Members of Congress (Congressional Switchboard): 202-224-3121 > > DEMAND that information about these taxpayer-funded flights be made public, that detainees not be restrained during the flight, and that their human rights and dignity be respected. > > DEMAND that NO ONE be included on the flights that: > > - WHO is stateless and/or a refugee, lacks adequate travel documents, and/or has not been informed that they have been issued travel documents; > > - WHO fears for his or her safety if deported, especially if passing through hostile countries; > > -WHO is currently engaged in legal battles or ongoing investigations relating to their detention or > deportation (including probes by the Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) into detainees' credible claims of abuse). > > > For more information: > Coalition for the Human Rights of Immigrants (CHRI), > 339 Lafayette St, > New York, NY 10012; > tel 212-254-2591; > fax 212-674-9139; > email <chri@itapnet.org>. > > FITG. Feel free to submit articles, poems, rants, personal narrative, links to online resources and virtual actions, and anything else you think is relevant. You may also submit ideas for topics/areas of activism to be covered in a FITG special issue. > > Flower in the Gun is a CopyLeft publication- distribute widely! > > Women Against War > c/o Women's Building > 79 Central Avenue > Albany, NY 12206 > 518.465.1597 > 518.522.7675 > > WAW on the Web: > http://www.womenagainstwar.org > >
|