NILC, ACLU, AILA, NCLR, Schey, hundreds more demand Obama ends 287g program

Continuing their campaign against the 287g program, the American Civil Liberties Union - a group that is/was directly collaborating with the Mexican government - informs us that they and about 500 other groups have sent a letter to Barack Obama, the Department of Homeland Security, and others urging them to end the program. The letter is signed by Marielena Hincapie of the National Immigration Law Center, and some of the others signing on are at [1]. The letter can be downloaded from aclu.org/immigrants/gen/40857prs20090827.html

They claim that local police are "using the program to target communities of color, including disproportionate numbers of Latinos in particular places, for arrest." I guess that all depends on what they mean by "disproportionate", since the great majority of illegal aliens in the U.S. are (...drumroll...) Latinos, specifically from Mexico.

They say 'We applaud your recent remarks acknowledging, that "there is a long history in this country of African Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately."' Obama said that at the start of his "post-racial healing campaign" for the Crowley-Gates issue (link), and most people might consider that one of the low points of his presidency (so far).

They claim there's "well-documented evidence that local law enforcement agencies are using 287(g) powers to justify and intensify racial profiling", yet the only case I'm aware of them bringing over this issue is the one described here.

They refer to a report from Justice Strategies and call that George Soros-linked group a "nonpartisan research firm".

In case anyone would like to do something about this issue, you can start by asking an ACLU representative these questions.

UPDATE: In addition to those listed below, another signer is the Ella Baker Center, which was co-founded by Van Jones (ellabakercenter.org/page.php?pageid=16&contentid=100). He's now the "special advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation at the White House Council on Environmental Quality" and involved in a boycott of Glenn Beck.

[1] Others signing on include:
* American Immigration Lawyers Association
* Anti Defamation League
* ACORN
* Border Network for Human Rights
* Casa de Maryland
* Center for Constitutional Rights
* Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law (run by the Mexican government-linked Peter Schey)
* Center for New Community
* "Citizen Orange" (Kyle de Beausset)
* Drum Major Institute
* Episcopal Church
* Gamaliel
* Grey Panthers
* Justice Strategies (the "nonpartisan" group mentioned in the letter)
* PRLDEF (Sonia Sotomayor's old group)
* Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (one of Obama's old groups)
* March 25 Coalition (organized illegal immigration marches)
* MALDEF
* NAACP Legal Defense Fund
* National Council of La Raza
* NDLON
* National Korean American Service and Education Consortium
* National Immigrant Bond Fund
* National Peoples Action ("direct action" group)
* People for the American Way
* Progressive States Network
* Respect Respeto
* Ruckus Society
* Service Employees International Union
* Southern Christian Leadership Conference
* William Velasquez Institute.

Thu, 08/27/2009 - 10:03 · Importance: 4