A New Jersey state pension fund announced on Friday it would sell $1.3 million of stock in private prison company Geo Group.
Documented previously revealed the New Jersey State Employees Deferred Compensation Plan had purchased CoreCivic and Geo Group stock in July, around the height of the now defunct “zero tolerance” policy that led to the separation of families.
Following questions about the investment from The Record and NorthJersey.com, the state Treasury announced the state pension fund would be divesting from Geo Group. NorthJersey.com
Good morning, and welcome to Early Arrival. I’m Mazin Sidahmed, here to take you through the latest in local and national immigration news and analysis. If you have feedback, suggestions, tips or leads, reach out at mazin.sidahmed@documentedny.com or on Twitter.
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Local
De Blasio Sees No Need to Help Immigrant Deliverymen
Bicycle deliverymen, who are predominantly immigrants, should not look to Mayor Bill de Blasio for help converting their illegal electric bikes into legal e-bikes. During his weekly interview with WNYC’s Brian Lehrer, de Blasio argued against the city stepping in to help convert the electric bikes into legal electric bikes like the Citi Bikes now being rolled out. The mayor has rallied against electric bikes ever since the issue was raised by a WNYC listener, despite no data to support the notion that they are a public safety threat. Politico New York
Sanitation Company Responsible for Deaths has License Cancelled
The city cancelled on Friday the license of Sanitation Salvage, a private Bronx garbage collection company that was involved in two deaths over the last year. ProPublica has reported extensively on the troubled record of Sanitation Salvage, including the death of immigrant Mouctar Diallo. Sean Spence was behind the wheel when Diallo died and originally told police that he was a homeless man instead of an informal helper on the truck. Spence, who was behind the wheel in another fatal accident, was barred from driving earlier this month. NY Daily News
Hamdi Ulukaya of Chobani Talks Greek Yogurt and the American Dream, The New York Times
Granted Asylum, N.J. Teacher is Released from Detention, The Jersey Journal
De Blasio talks Yellow Cabs v. Uber at Brooklyn Forum, Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Feinstein Institute gets $3M for Hispanic Health Study, Newsday
National
A Look Inside Smugglers’ Stash Houses
Interstate 35 begins at Laredo, Texas and crosses middle America, making it the perfect route for smugglers taking people across the Southwest border with Mexico. The popularity of the route has also created a high density of stash houses: stations along the smuggling route where migrants are often detained by smugglers asking for more cash, assaulted, or worse. They form an integral part of the $500 million human smuggling industry. The New York Times
Government and Advocates Oppose Ankle Monitor For Different Reasons
The practice of making immigrant detainees wear electronic monitoring devices instead of being held in detention has drawn criticism from both immigration advocates and federal enforcement officers. While advocates argue the devices are inhumane and inappropriate for people seeking asylum, ICE spokesman Matthew Bourke told the Associated Press that the devices were “not an effective tool” after deportations orders are issued. Geo Group is the largest beneficiary of the technology due to its lucrative contract to provide the bracelets to ICE. Associated Press
Trauma Continues for Separated Families
The Intercept spoke with several separated families being held in a family detention center in Dilley, Texas, reunited after to the government’s zero-tolerance policy. One 10-year-old girl said she was afraid to leave her mother to go to class because she might be separated from her again. She was held at a shelter in New York for 32 days after being separated from her mother. The Intercept
ACLU Spends $600k in Arizona Election
The American Civil Liberties Union is getting involved in a federal election for the first time in its history to inform Arizona voters of controversial Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s record on immigration rights. The group has spent $600,000 on television ads and on canvassing in Phoenix and Tucson, despite the fact that Apraio will almost certainly lose his bid to replace the retiring Jeff Flake in the U.S. Senate. HuffPost
I Spent 5 Days At A Family Detention Center. I’m Still Haunted By What I Saw, HuffPost [Opinion]
Is This U.S. Citizen a War Criminal? Will He Be Stripped of Citizenship? The Dallas Morning News
Geraldo Calls Out Fox News for ‘Spin’ on Mollie Tibbetts Coverage, NY Post
‘It’s More Relevant Than Ever’ – Photo Exhibition Puts Focus on Immigration, The Guardian
Washington – Internal Emails Raise Questions About TPS Termination
Internal government emails revealed in a lawsuit have raised fresh questions about the government’s decision to terminate Temporary Protected Status for a number of different nations.
The emails were made public in Friday as part of an ongoing lawsuit over the government’s decision to end temporary protected status for Sudan, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua. The status is usually designated to a country in turmoil, allowing its citizens to stay in the U.S. without consequence.
In one email exchange, now USCIS Director Francis Cissna said the recommendation for terminating TPS for Sudan read like it was going to recommend the opposite before someone was “clubbed … over the head.”
“We talk so much about how bad it is,” policy adviser Kathy Nuebel Kovarik wrote in another email about the justification for ending TPS for El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua. “It IS bad there,” a staffer responded. CNN
Trump has made Mollie Tibbetts the Latest Martyr in his Anti-Immigrant Crusade, Vox
