The Rights Working Group Applauds Senator Obama for Stand Against Raids Without Due Process

August 27, 2008

Washington, DC - The Rights Working Group expressed its strong support today for the statement made by Senator Barack Obama against immigration raids that "terrorize" communities and for his call for a "top to bottom review to correct a broken system." In a statement published today in Homeland Security Today, an Obama campaign spokesperson said that Senator Obama wants to be responsive to "communities' concern that ICE enforcement activities have not exercised the necessary balance between respect for civil liberties and the manner in which they enforce the law."

"Senator Obama's statements regarding the need for a "top to bottom" review of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) policy are especially significant in light of Monday's massive ICE raid in Laurel, Mississippi, where nearly 600 workers were arrested and placed into detention with little hope of receiving the due process afforded to them in the Constitution," said the Rights Working Group Executive Director, Margaret Huang. The Mississippi raid was the nation's largest immigration workplace raid in many years dwarfing even the enormous recent raid in Postville, Iowa where nearly 400 workers were arrested and placed in detention. "We are heartened by Senator Obama's statement, which addresses the issues we are tackling in our Department of Homeland Security accountability campaign. We hope that whoever the next President is will prioritize fixing a system which routinely violates the rights of undocumented workers, legal permanent residents and citizens."

The Rights Working Group is a coalition of 250 community-based grassroots groups and national organizations formed in the aftermath of 9-11 that works to ensure civil liberties and human rights protections for all people living in the U.S. Throughout the week of the September 22nd and culminating on September 25th, the RWG and its members will hold the "Night of 1,000 Conversations," whereby thousands of people across the country will convene to spotlight and rectify the violations of human rights and civil liberties that are happening everyday as result of Department of Homeland Security practices.

Contact: Priya Doshi, Communications Director at (202) 296-2300 x 125