October 10, 2003

Stateless Palestinian Refugee Mohammad Bachir Wins Release After Unjust Detention by Immigration Authorities

On Friday, August 29, 2003, just before the start of Labor Day weekend, immigration authorities released Mohammad Bachir from the Batavia Federal Detention Facility near Buffalo, New York, and allowed him to return home to southern California.

Mr. Bachir is a stateless Palestinian refugee who has resided legally in the US for 23 years. He had been in federal custody since February 2002, when he was falsely arrested for missing an appointment--even though he had called the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) on the day of the appointment to explain that he was in the hospital (a fact later verified by the INS). Immigration officials then defied a federal court's order to release Mr. Bachir, and instead transferred him to their Batavia, New York facility.

Mr. Bachir is now out of custody and living in Orange County, California. He can be contacted at 714-814-5154.

Mr. Bachir wishes to thank all those who made phone calls and sent faxes to immigration officials advocating his release. He would also like to thank his attorney, Joanne Macri of the Law Offices of Mark T. Kenmore in Buffalo, New York; his friend and colleague, Betty Molchany; and the staff and members of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), National Lawyers Guild (NLG) and Coalition for the Human Rights of Immigrants (CHRI). These organizations assisted Mr. Bachir with public campaigns to secure his release, and provided legal and financial support.

Mr. Bachir is asking that contributions be sent to the Coalition for the Human Rights of Immigrants because of the Coalition's financial support for his and other cases.

Make checks payable to CHRI* (write "emergency" on the memo line) and mail to: CHRI, 339 Lafayette Street, New York, NY 10012.

Coalition for the Human Rights of Immigrants (CHRI) 339 Lafayette Street, New York, NY 10012 tel 212-254-2591 / 888-575-8242 fax 212-674-9139 <chri@itapnet.org> http://www.itapnet.org/chri

* Donations to CHRI are not tax-deductible. Tax-deductible contributions may be made payable to the A.J. Muste Memorial Institute or AJMMI (write "CHRI-emergency" on the memo line). Mail to: CHRI, 339 Lafayette Street, New York, NY 10012. ===============================================

Roger Calero Defense Committee October, 2003

Dear friends,

On September 15 Róger Calero, associate editor of Perspectiva Mundial, stepped off a flight back to the U.S. from Iceland after concluding his international Fight to Win! ¡Sí, se puede! Tour. He walked up to immigration and presented his permanent resident green card. The agent swiped Calero’s card into his computer, stared for a moment at the screen, and welcomed him back to the country.

This reflects what we accomplished in our fight to defend Calero’s right to live and work in the U.S. He is now returning to his job editing Perspectiva Mundial and writing for the Militant newspaper.

Calero fight advances fighting capacity of all workers

“If we learn from each other how to fight more effectively, we can increase the number of skirmishes we win today,” Calero said when he launched his tour. “I hope the lessons of my campaign will make a contribution to advancing our fighting ability.”

Calero shared experiences from his fight and learned from those he met with, from striking packinghouse workers at Tyson, in Jefferson, Wisconsin; to fighters for justice for Serafin Olvera, brutally murdered by immigration cops in Bryan, Texas; to Farouk Abdel-Muhti and others under attack by the government; to Maori workers fighting for dignity and equality in New Zealand.

“My fight drew on rich experiences in the working class,” Calero told those he met. “I learned from my experiences fighting for a union and a contract at Dakota Beef in South St. Paul, Minnesota, and other packing plants in the Midwest. I drew on decades of experience from the union movement and from my party, the Socialist Workers Party, in the class struggle in the U.S.

“In today’s world of economic depression in the U.S., devastation in the colonial world, and growing wars abroad, new generations of workers — both immigrant and native born — face attacks from the employers and the government,” Calero said after his tour. “My fight was successful because it grew out of these conflicts and drew support from others in struggle. Everywhere I toured, others took strength from my fight and looked to incorporate its experiences into their struggles.

Calero’s defense committee has completed its work

We want to thank everyone who lent support to Calero’s fight. We offer his experiences to all who face the need to defend themselves from employer and government attack today.

It took six months of battling with the government to win Calero’s fight — to win his release after ten days in detention; to garner increasing public support from unionists, supporters of freedom of the press and other defenders of political rights; and to mount pressure to get the deportation charges dropped. Calero’s campaign found deep resonance among immigrant workers, unionists, supporters of freedom of the press and others. After six months, the Department of Homeland Security decided they had picked the wrong fight at the wrong time and moved to cut their losses.

For the last four months Calero has toured across the U.S. and internationally from Australia to Sweden, to share experiences with others struggling to defend their working conditions, social rights, and right to live and work where they please.

Having achieved its objective, the Róger Calero Defense Committee is now shutting down. Attached is the final financial report, explaining where we raised the funds to conduct the defense and how it was spent.

The defense committee’s political and legal files documenting Calero’s fight have been donated to the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, where they are available for anyone who wants to study and learn from them.

In particular, we thank the Political Rights Defense Fund, which made funds and experience available to us from the beginning.

In solidarity,

Róger Calero, Associate Editor, Perspectiva Mundial

John Studer, Coordinator, Roger Calero Defense Committee 

*****************

Róger Calero Defense Committee

Final Financial Report

October 1, 2003

The fight to stop the deportation of Róger Calero, associate editor of Perspectiva Mundial magazine and staff writer for the Militant newspaper, won rapid and wide-spread support. Thousands of workers and others were attracted to the importance of the issues in his fight — from the defense of immigrants rights, to the defense of the union movement, to the defense of freedom of the press, to the defense of all our political freedoms.

Calero’s ten-month-long defense fight, and the effort to share the experiences of the successful fight through Calero’s “Fight to Win! ¡Sí, se puede!” international tour, raised $50,610[1] and expended $47,487.

When Calero was seized by the government’s immigration police on December 3, 2002, thrown in detention, and told he was facing deportation and exclusion from the country, he and his colleagues at Perspectiva Mundial asked the Political Rights Defense Fund (PRDF) to lend its financial resources and political experience to help launch the fight to defend his right to live and work in the U.S.

At Calero’s request, the funds remaining when his defense committee closed its books at the end of September, 2003, were turned over to PRDF. He and his defense committee had campaigned through his final tour to assure that PRDF ended up with a “grub stake” larger than it had at the start of Calero’s fight. We can expect further fights to arise, involving Calero’s paper, his party — the Socialist Workers Party, and other socialist workers who face attacks from their employers and the government. The Political Rights Defense Fund is a nonpartisan defense organization with a thirty-year history defending those victimized by government and police agencies.

$22,908 came in mail contributions to Calero’s fight, mainly small donations from workers, unionists, and supporters of the rights of immigrants. $26,375 was donated at rallies and meetings held as Calero toured across the country and, after the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) moved to terminate their effort to deport him, around the world. Trade union locals donated $1,260.

The defense campaign’s biggest expense — $15,758 — was to carry out the tours and outreach efforts that allowed Calero to present his fight directly to people throughout the world. Calero traveled and spoke in dozens of cities across the U.S., and in Canada, New Zealand, Australia, England, Scotland, Sweden, and Iceland. In addition to the travel expenses spent by the committee, wherever possible supporters of Calero’s fight in each city raised additional funds to finance his travel to his next tour stop.

$5,695 in legal fees covered the immediate effort to win his release from detention; to move his case to Newark, New Jersey, where he lives and near where he works in New York; and to prepare for the immigration hearing on his deportation — scheduled three times but never held when the DHS moved to cut their losses and end the fight. 

The defense committee printed literature explaining Calero’s fight in English, Spanish, French, Basque, Urdu, Arabic, and Swedish, costing $3,566. A Chinese translation was being prepared when the fight was successfully concluded. Compact discs were issued containing copies of the Spanish-language television program Aqui y Ahora produced on Calero’s fight and of the rally organized by United Food and Commercial Workers Local 789 in South St. Paul, Minnesota, to win support for his fight.

The defense committee set up a public office in New York to organize out of, and spent $4,613 in rent and office supplies. Telephone and postage expenses came to $2,350. In addition to the office, the defense committee established a web-site — www.calerodefense.org — where you could log on and download copies of defense committee literature, press releases, mailings and get the basic story of his fight.

Volunteers helped staff the office from unions in the New York area, from high school volunteer programs, and from supporters of immigrant rights. John Studer, executive director of the Political Rights Defense Fund, volunteered full time from the beginning of the fight to the end. At the outset, Sarah Katz, Calero’s wife, left her job for two months to help get the fight under way. Volunteer expenses added up to $14,759.

At its conclusion, the defense committee organized to place the political and legal files documenting this important fight with the State Historical Society in Madison, Wisconsin, where they will be available for anyone who wants to study and learn from them.

John Studer, Coordinator, Roger Calero Defense Committee

Pamela Vossenas, National Grievance Officer, National Writers Union; National Co-Chair, Roger Calero Defense Committee =========================================================

Dear Friend and Supporter of Camilo Viveiros,

As you recall, Camilo’s case was recently transferred to a new judge, Judge William Mazzola. As a result, the Oct. 27th trial date has been changed to a scheduling conference in order to integrate Camilo’s case into the new judge’s calendar. It could be that the trial will only be delayed a few weeks, so we can not stop organizing. In fact, a few weeks might be crucial in getting more Philadelphia organizations on board supporting Camilo – we just need to approach them! Just this week, Action Alliance of Senior Citizens of Greater Philadelphia wrote a letter, and even referred us to some other organizations that might be willing to write letters. Also, an upcoming issue of The Nation will feature a story about Camilo. We must remain committed to be there for the long haul and not allow prolonged postponements to diffuse our support. We should use added time to build community and political pressure to ensure justice. Support letters from Philadelphia or national organizations are extremely useful for this. Also, a petition is available for downloading from the website, www.friendsofcamilo.org which can be taken to events and meetings to collect signatures.

We have to keep up our endurance. We know that the paid staff of prosecutors are not being laid off although there have been funding cuts to an array of social services. Our solidarity needs to intensify. 

A diversity of people in around the country have been working to build community support. From Boston, New Bedford and Providence, City Councilors sending letters of support to musicians, theater troupes and spoken word performers circulating petitions, people have been spreading the word and increasing solidarity. Fundraising for legal expenses is still needed and greatly appreciated.

Let's follow up on all the great work that has been going on and expand our outreach. As soon as we learn the new trial date, we will send out an announcement. Until then, we’ve included a list (below) of 25 Things You Can Do to Help Camilo (pass it on!). Thank you for all your support!

With love and solidarity,

Boston Friends of Camilo

25 THINGS YOU CAN DO TO SUPPORT CAMILO

1.Write a letter of support (See Guidelines on reverse).

2.Contact friends, associates or organizational affiliates and urge them to write letters as well, particularly those in Philadelphia, to help build pressure where it is needed most. National groups are also important.

3.Publicize information about Camilo’s case in your internal publications like newsletters, mailings, listservs or website.

4.Download flyers and information packets from the website and distribute them.

5.Ask local organizations to distribute the flyers.

6.Download the petition and get signatures.

7.Table at local events with literature and the petition.

8.Make an announcement about Camilo’s case at a meeting or public gathering.

9.Invite Boston Friends of Camilo to speak at a gathering.

10.Get involved with a local Support Group. 

11.Contact organizations in Philadelphia to ask for their support 

(email camiloboston@yahoo.com for some suggestions).

12.Refer organizational or individual contacts to Boston Friends of Camilo.

13.Write a letter to the editor to your local newspaper to spread the world about Camilo's case in your community.

14.Notify Boston Friends of Camilo about events where we can table.

15.Attend local Friends of Camilo events (see website “Events”).

16.Attend Friends of Camilo meetings (in Boston, generally Wednesday evenings: contact camiloboston@yahoo.com).

17.Make a donation to help with legal fees (checks or money order can be made out to “Friends of Camilo” and send to: Friends of Camilo, P.O. Box 23169, Providence, RI 02903.

18.Pass the hat, take up a collection.

19.Have a fundraiser/outreach event such as a dinner party, music event, lecture.

20.Check the website often for updates and events.

21.Contact us with your suggestions/ideas (camiloboston@yahoo.com).

22.Offer to donate your skills (artistic, writing, music, research, data entry, outreach, phone banking).

23.Plan to attend a solidarity event (in Philadelphia or locally) the first day of the trial.

24.Light a candle, say a prayer, send love, transmit positive energy.

25. Ask friends and associates to do all of the above!

10/22/03: Farouk Abdel-Muhti has now been held for 544 days =========================================================
Committee for the Release of Farouk Abdel-Muhti
PO Box 20587, Tompkins Square Station, New York, NY 10009
Phone: 212-674-9499
Email freefarouk@yahoo.com
Website: www.freefarouk.org =========================================================