[Dryerase] AGR INS conduct

[AGR]

Asheville Global Report
www.agrnews.org

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New Jersey Groups outraged over INS conduct

By Shawn Gaynor

Asheville, North Carolina, Nov. 11(AGR)— Over a year after the 9/11 attacks 
on the United States hundreds of immigrants continue to be held by the INS 
(Immigration and Naturalization Services).  But citizens in New Jersey are 
beginning to speak out against the detentions, demanding a release of INS 
detainees who they claim are being held due to their race and religious 
beliefs, and not because of evidence that they are part of a terrorist 
organization.
On Nov. 9, roughly 50 concerned citizens gathered on Main Street in 
Montclair, NJ, to raise awareness about the detentions.  Local high school 
students and residents from the immigrant community joined members of 
Anti-Racist Action (ARA), New Jersey Free the Detainees! (NJFtD), Montclair 
College Arab Student Association, and others, in calling for an end to the 
detentions, and a Justice Department investigation in what the groups are 
characterizing as reprisal beatings of detainees for an Oct. 12 
demonstration at the Passaic County Jail.
“We will not stand by as the current state of racist policies continues to 
allow for the unjust, arbitrary detentions of hundreds upon hundreds of 
individuals.  We will speak out against the actions of our government and 
provide a voice for those who are silenced behind prison walls,” said a 
statement from New Jersey ARA.
At the Oct. 12 demonstration police were out in numbers, moving protesters 
from a permitted demonstration area in the front of the jail to an area in 
the back and surrounding them.  Following the demonstration a number of 
complaints surfaced of reprisal beatings in the jail.
According to the New Jersey Action Network, on Oct. 16 a dozen guards and a 
dog attacked and beat a Jamaican detainee, Sebastian Allen, and another 
Jamaican detainee, who declined to give his name. On the following day, 
guards beat a third detainee, Tony Bonne, from the Ivory Coast.
“This is the second case of retaliation after protests at the New Jersey 
county jails demanding the release of the detainees,” said Jeannette 
Gabriel of Workers Democracy Network.
Police presence at the high profile Main Street demonstration was limited, 
with only about a half dozen officers on foot patrolling the event.
Aside from the alleged reprisals, many of the detainees have been held 
months without legal council.  According to New Jersey ARA the situations 
for some of the detainees has been even more severe.
“Two dozen detainees were brought to Union County Jail in Elizabeth, New 
Jersey after acting out their frustrations about jail conditions in a 
previous jail. For three days, detainees from Albania, India, Ghana, and 
elsewhere were beaten, held naked, made to crawl on their hands and knees 
through a gauntlet of jail officers, and forced to chant ‘America is Number 
One.’ One Indian detainee claimed that between beatings, correctional 
officers used pliers to pinch the skin on his genitals and squeeze his tongue.”
Following the Sept. 11 attacks thousands of immigrants were rounded up by 
federal authorities. Most of the detainees now being held are from a second 
phase of roundups that started in February of this year, said Eric Learner 
of NJFtD!.  “Officially they have been picked up on minor immigration 
violations. However there are 800,000 people in the United States with 
these violations, and this is a very select group.  They have targeted 
Muslim males age 15-45.”
“Certain communities of people have been scapegoated as terrorists, and it 
is our job to demand our basic civil liberties and civil rights back — to 
demand that all of the INS detainees are freed!” said Diane Krauthamer from 
NJFtD.
The groups involved called the protest a success and say they plan to 
continue their campaign for the immediate release of the detainees.
“We will not allow the United States government to get away with the 
prosecution and persecution of immigrants in the name of ‘national 
security’ or ‘terrorist defense’,” stated New Jersey ARA.