[2630] in peace2
Defend Political Speech and Immigrant Rights this Week!
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Aimee L Smith)
Tue Jul 22 18:12:43 2003
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To: alsmith@MIT.EDU
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Date: Tue, 22 Jul 2003 18:12:33 -0400
From: Aimee L Smith <alsmith@MIT.EDU>
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Hi Everyone,
We are reaching the end of the line for chances to defend
political speech and immigrants rights in the particular case of
Amer Jubran. Please scan the msg below and see the latest in his
case, the phone-in campaign to Homeland Security, and the announcement
for the Trial this Thurs gathering at noon at Govt Center T-stop
exit. Please do whatever you can to help protect this wonderful
human being from a politically motivated campaign to silence his
much needed voice. For more info: http://www.amerjubrandefense.org/
In hope,
Aimee
This has been bcc'd to the following lists:
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***Please circulate widely***
UPDATE ON LATEST FBI ACTIONS
IN THE FINAL WEEK BEFORE AMER JUBRAN'S 7/24 DEPORTATION HEARING:
On July 24, the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (BICE) of the
Department of Homeland Security will hold its final hearing in its ongoing
attempt to deport Palestinian-rights-activist Amer Jubran.
We have learned this past week that the FBI has attempted to intimidate
Amer's primary witnesses-his ex-wife and members of her family-by visiting
them in their homes and in some cases detaining them for lengthy
interrogations. On Thursday, July 17, Amer's lawyer, Nelson Brill,
delivered a letter to the judge, alerting him to these FBI actions:
"...I am compelled to write to Your Honor today to inform this Court of
recent circumstances which I believe have caused serious harm, and
potentially raise prejudicial issues, in regards to my ability to present
my planned witnesses ...
Yesterday, I had a very disturbing telephone conversation with my
primary witness, Ms. [...], (the former spouse of Mr. Jubran), who has filed
an Affidavit in support of her bona fide marriage to the Respondent and who
is the primary witness that I plan to present at our hearing on July 24th.
In a visibly shaken voice, [she] informed me that on this past Monday, July
14th, her sister, [...], (a United States citizen) was taken from her home
in
Rhode Island in the early morning hours by a group of officers from the
Department of Homeland Security and the FBI and held for over nine hours at
the Department of Homeland Securityıs office located in Providence, Rhode
Island. According to both [Respondent's former spouse] and the Respondent
(who himself received a phone call from [the former spouse's sister] upon
her release that same evening), she was interrogated regarding the
Respondent, her knowledge of his former marriage to her sister, [...], and
what kinds of testimony she could or would give on July 24th. As a direct
result of her lengthy detention and interrogation, [she] has informed both
her sister, [...], and her former brother-in-law, the Respondent, that she
fears for her safety and that of her family; that she does not want anyone
(including her own sister) to contact her; that she is unwilling to come
forward to be a witness in this case and that she will replace her
telephone number with an unlisted number (which she had done so as of
Tuesday, July 15th, when I tried to contact her and was informed the number
has been unlisted). For these reasons, I cannot now communicate with [her]
and thus cannot find out any of the facts of what happened to her while
detained on July 14th, nor why she will not appear as a potential witness
in this case.
In our telephone conversation, [the Respondent's former spouse] also
informed me that a group of officers came to her own apartment in South
Carolina on this same day, Monday, July 14th, but that she did not answer
the door to her home and that they left shortly thereafter. This is not the
first time this has occurred, as [she] has been the subject of several
unsolicited telephone and in-person interviews with both Department of
Homeland Security and FBI officers in South Carolina since Respondent was
arrested on the instant Notice To Appear in November, 2002. In these
interviews, [she] informed me that she has repeatedly been questioned about
the bona fides of her former marriage to the Respondent and has
consistently reiterated the true nature of their marriage in these
unsolicited interrogations of her.
In light of last Mondayıs detention of her sister, [she] has now
expressed to me her deepest reservations on coming to Boston and appearing
to testify before this Court. She expresses fears for the safety of her
children, for herself and regrets the harm caused to her family and her own
relations to her family members as a direct result of the governmentıs
continuing interrogations of her and her family members. Given her fear and
level of anxiety at this point, I honestly do not know whether my primary
witness, [the Respondent's former spouse], will actually appear in person
on July 24th, although I have tried to convince her to appear and give her
testimony. ... I realize that Your Honor must take no position in this
regard, but I must express for the record my deepest professional concerns
with the conduct of the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI and any
other agency that may have been involved in the unconsented and unsolicited
interrogations and detentions of potential witnesses to this trial. I
believe such interrogations are only harmful to the full and fair
presentation of evidence in this case."
During the last preliminary hearing, the immigration judge had expressed
surprise at the lack of witnesses or any substantial evidence to support
the government's case for deportation. These latest FBI actions must be
viewed as a last, desperate attempt to use illegal police power to win a
case in which the government has no evidence or witnesses of its own.
It is crucial that we redouble our efforts to show to the Department of
Homeland Security that we will not stand for this abuse of public
institutions and police powers. As the different branches of our federal
government grow more and more monolithic, our only real defense against an
incipient police-state is loud public outcry.
Please make an extra effort to join us in this final week of actions: stand
in solidarity with Amer at the BICE (formerly INS) for his final
deportation hearing on July 24, and make calls this week both to the
prosecutor in his case and the Department of Homeland Security. (Details
below.)
__________________________________________________________________________
PICKET/RALLY TO PROTEST THE BICE DEPORTATION HEARING:
Noon, Thursday, 7/24/03, at the JFK Federal Building,
Government Center, Boston
by the Government Center T stop on the Green Line.
FINAL TELEPHONE CAMPAIGN:
On July 23rd, please place all calls to
Tom Ridge, Secretary, U.S. Department of Homeland Security
202-282-8000
--Demand to speak to his personal assistant and if the operator
refuses, have the operator call on your behalf and ask the personal
assistant where to direct a call regarding Amer Jubran's deportation
proceedings. The call will likely be directed to Asa Hutchinson, the
Undersecretary of Border and Transportation Security. (Ask the
operator to check with Tom Ridge's personal assistant anyway. This
assures us that he will hear about a flood of calls regarding Amer
Jubran.)
and
Rick Neville, Prosecuting Attorney for Amer Jubran's Trial
617-565-3140.
Ask them
-Why did the INS (now BICE) facilitate an FBI interrogation regarding
Amer Jubran's political activities?
-Why did INS threaten to indefinitely detain and later arrest Mr.
Jubran only after he insisted on his right to have a lawyer present
during the FBI interrogation?
-Why did INS force Mr. Jubran to put his fingerprints on a false
confession when he refused to sign it?
-Why has the Office of Internal Audit failed to respond to the
complaint against INS (regarding his civil liberties violations)
filed by Mr. Jubran over 5 mos ago (the 120 day time limit on the
complaint investigation ended July 4)?
- Why, after dropping all charges against Mr. Jubran except for the
claim that two forms certifying Mr. Jubran's marriage were completed
on different dates, does BICE continue to attempt their illegitimate
deportation proceedings against Mr. Jubran?
- Why have federal agents harrassed and interrogated Mr. Jubran's
ex-wife and her family in a last-ditch effort to silence those who
will testify on his behalf?
- When they don't answer your questions (and they won't), provide
your own answers:
Because the government has no legitimate case against Mr. Jubran and
is only using the Department of Homeland Security and its subsequent
bureaus as tools to politically repress and silence activists and any
dissent.
- Demand that all charges be dropped and that deportation proceedings
against Mr. Jubran end immediately.
- Be sure to tell Neville that you called his boss, Tom Ridge, in
Washington.
- And keep them on the phone as long as you can.
For more information on Amer Jubran's case, see
www.amerjubrandefense.org
