http://midwesthumanrights.org/node/1 The basic front page view. en http://midwesthumanrights.org/our-mission-0 <p align="center"> <strong><em>The Midwest Coalition for Human Rights is a network of 44 advocacy organizations, service providers, and university-based human rights centers collaborating to promote and protect human rights in our Midwest region, in the U.S., and internationally. Working together we provide broader visibility for urgent human rights issues in the Heartland and project a strong Midwest advocacy voice in the national and international human rights debate.</em></strong> </p> Tue, 04 Mar 2008 14:12:03 -0600 trisha 307 at http://midwesthumanrights.org http://midwesthumanrights.org/editorial-mr-ngs-death <p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml><br /> <w:WordDocument><br /> <w:View>Normal</w:View><br /> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom><br /> <w:Compatibility><br /> <w:BreakWrappedTables/><br /> <w:SnapToGridInCell/><br /> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/><br /> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/><br /> </w:Compatibility><br /> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel><br /> </w:WordDocument><br /> </xml><![endif]--><br /> <!--<br /> /* Style Definitions */<br /> p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal<br /> {mso-style-parent:"";<br /> margin:0in;<br /> margin-bottom:.0001pt;<br /> mso-pagination:widow-orphan;<br /> font-size:12.0pt;<br /> font-family:"Times New Roman";<br /> mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";}<br /> @page Section1<br /> {size:8.5in 11.0in;<br /> margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;<br /> mso-header-margin:.5in;<br /> mso-footer-margin:.5in;<br /> mso-paper-source:0;}<br /> div.Section1<br /> {page:Section1;}<br /> --><br /> <!--[if gte mso 10]></p> <style> <p><a href="http://midwesthumanrights.org/editorial-mr-ngs-death">read more</a></p> Detention of Immigrants News Reports Mon, 18 Aug 2008 09:32:44 -0500 staff 429 at http://midwesthumanrights.org http://midwesthumanrights.org/ill-and-pain-detainee-dies-u-s-hands <p>He was 17 when he came to New York from Hong Kong in 1992 with his parents and younger sister, eyeing the skyline like any newcomer. Fifteen years later, Hiu Lui Ng was a New Yorker: a computer engineer with a job in the Empire State Building, a house in Queens, a wife who is a United States citizen and two American-born sons.</p> <p>But when Mr. Ng, who had overstayed a visa years earlier, went to immigration headquarters in Manhattan last summer for his final interview for a green card, he was swept into immigration detention and shuttled through jails and detention centers in three New England states.</p> <p><a href="http://midwesthumanrights.org/ill-and-pain-detainee-dies-u-s-hands">read more</a></p> Detention of Immigrants News Reports Wed, 13 Aug 2008 09:06:26 -0500 staff 425 at http://midwesthumanrights.org http://midwesthumanrights.org/inquiry-finds-under-age-workers-meat-plant <p> August 6 - State labor investigators have identified 57 under-age workers who were employed at a kosher meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa, and have asked the attorney general to bring criminal charges against the company for child labor violations, Dave Neil, the Iowa Labor Commissioner, said on Tuesday.</p> <p>“The investigation brings to light egregious violations of virtually every aspect of Iowa’s child labor laws,” Mr. Neil said in a statement announcing the results of a seven-month investigation at Agriprocessors, the nation’s largest kosher meat plant. </p> <p>In a raid in May, 389 illegal immigrant workers were detained there in the largest immigration enforcement operation ever at a single workplace. </p> <p><a href="http://midwesthumanrights.org/inquiry-finds-under-age-workers-meat-plant">read more</a></p> Workers&#039; Rights Detention of Immigrants News Reports Wed, 06 Aug 2008 12:47:44 -0500 staff 424 at http://midwesthumanrights.org http://midwesthumanrights.org/feds-launch-self-deportation-program-chicago <h2>Program Has No Immediate Takers </h2> <p> CHICAGO, Aug. 6 - Federal immigration officials in Chicago and four other cities Tuesday launched a self-deportation program for immigrants who don't have legal status in the U.S. and want to turn themselves in. </p> <p>The offer had no immediate takers in Chicago, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said. </p> <p>The &quot;Scheduled Departure&quot; program allows immigrants who have been ordered to leave the U.S. but have no criminal history to return to their home countries without first being arrested or detained, though participants may have to wear tracking devices or check in at offices until they go. </p> <p><a href="http://midwesthumanrights.org/feds-launch-self-deportation-program-chicago">read more</a></p> Detention of Immigrants News Reports Wed, 06 Aug 2008 11:26:22 -0500 staff 423 at http://midwesthumanrights.org http://midwesthumanrights.org/mchr-member-helps-defeat-local-immigration-enforcement-measure <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"> FREMONT, Jul. 31 - A proposed ordinance targeting illegal immigration in Fremont may be dead, but the discussion of the problems fueling the debate is just getting under way, say those involved in the issue.</p> <p>Fremont Mayor Don “Skip’’ Edwards cast the deciding vote late Tuesday night against a proposal that would have banned renting to, harboring and hiring illegal immigrants.</p> <p>Opponents and supporters found much to disagree on in the public debate in recent weeks. But those on both sides of the issue agreed Wednesday the issue needs attention.</p> <p>“We know we have a problem,’’ Edwards said. “That has never been debated.’’</p> <p><a href="http://midwesthumanrights.org/mchr-member-helps-defeat-local-immigration-enforcement-measure">read more</a></p> Detention of Immigrants MCHR Members in the News Nebraska Appleseed Center for Law in the Public Interest Mon, 04 Aug 2008 09:33:50 -0500 staff 421 at http://midwesthumanrights.org http://midwesthumanrights.org/aclu-scripts-show-immigrants-pressured-trials <p> DES MOINES, Jul. 31 - The ACLU is raising questions about documents given to defense attorneys and workers who were arrested in an Immigration raid at an Iowa meatpacking plant. </p> <p>The documents include scripts for judges and defense lawyers as well as waivers of rights and other documents. </p> <p>The American Civil Liberties Union charged that the packets show a disregard for due process and proof that the U.S. Attorney's office put pressure on workers to quickly plead guilty. The ACLU obtained the documents from public defenders in Iowa. </p> <p><a href="http://midwesthumanrights.org/aclu-scripts-show-immigrants-pressured-trials">read more</a></p> Detention of Immigrants News Reports Fri, 01 Aug 2008 11:33:26 -0500 staff 418 at http://midwesthumanrights.org http://midwesthumanrights.org/ban-travelers-hiv-u-s-lifted <p> WASHINGTON, Jul 31 -- President Bush signed a sweeping measure Wednesday that provides $48 billion to combat AIDS and other diseases globally and that also ends a long-standing U.S. ban on foreign visitors and immigrants who are HIV-positive.</p> <p>The travel ban, approved in 1993, was seen by opponents as an anachronism from a period of hysteria surrounding gays. Its repeal, however, does not remove all U.S. travel impediments.</p> <p><a href="http://midwesthumanrights.org/ban-travelers-hiv-u-s-lifted">read more</a></p> Detention of Immigrants News Reports Fri, 01 Aug 2008 11:22:45 -0500 staff 417 at http://midwesthumanrights.org http://midwesthumanrights.org/illinois-attorney-general-slow-review-alleged-chicago-police-torture-cases <p><span>Dozens of convicted criminals say they were tortured by Chicago police officers. [Illinois] Attorney General Lisa Madigan is supposed to be re-examining those cases. She got that charge after a judge decided the Cook County State’s Attorney is too wrapped up in the cases to review them. That was five years ago – and yet many are still serving long sentences based on evidence they say was extracted through beatings, suffocation and electric shocks. </p> <p><span style="font-size: x-small">Chicago Public Radio contributor John Conroy has been covering this story for many years and joins <em>Eight Forty-Eight</em> with the latest.</span></span> </p> <p><a href="http://midwesthumanrights.org/illinois-attorney-general-slow-review-alleged-chicago-police-torture-cases">read more</a></p> no Thu, 31 Jul 2008 15:28:35 -0500 staff 416 at http://midwesthumanrights.org http://midwesthumanrights.org/iowa-rally-protests-raid-and-conditions-plant <p> POSTVILLE, Iowa -- About 1,000 people, including Hispanic immigrants, Catholic clergy members, rabbis and activists, marched through the center of this farm town on Sunday and held a rally at the entrance to a kosher meatpacking plant that was raided in May by immigration authorities.</p> <p>The march was called to protest working conditions in the plant, owned by Agriprocessors Inc., and to call for Congressional legislation to give legal status to illegal immigrants. The four rabbis, from Minnesota and Wisconsin, attended the march to publicize proposals to revise kosher food certification to include standards of corporate ethics and treatment of workers.</p> <p><a href="http://midwesthumanrights.org/iowa-rally-protests-raid-and-conditions-plant">read more</a></p> Workers&#039; Rights Detention of Immigrants News Reports Mon, 28 Jul 2008 09:38:39 -0500 staff 415 at http://midwesthumanrights.org