By Rachel Roth, The Nation.

Over the past year, incarcerated women and their allies have achieved a remarkable string of victories against inhumane treatment. First, they persuaded the Bureau of Prisons to issue a new policy in October 2008 limiting the use of restraints on women who are in labor, giving birth or recovering after childbirth; the Marshals Service, which transports people in federal custody, followed suit. Next, they won legislation in the spring and summer of 2009 restricting the use of restraints on pregnant women in New Mexico, Texas and New York. Finally, they successfully petitioned the US Court of Appeals Eighth Circuit for a rehearing of the full court in a case from Arkansas, which resulted in a ruling in October that shackling women in labor is unconstitutional. –  Read more…

Last month, President Obama authorized the admission of 80,000 refugees into the U.S. in fiscal year 2010, something every President has done annually since passage of the Refugee Act of 1980. The United States has long recognized the importance of providing a safe haven for refugees. Beginning with laws granting refugee status to displaced persons after World War II and culminating with the comprehensive Refugee Act of 1980, the U.S. has sought to safeguard those who are unwilling or unable to return to their homeland based on a “well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.”

Despite this commitment to helping refugees resettle in the U.S. permanently, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its sub-agency, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), have adopted a policy of incarcerating refugees who have not adjusted to permanent resident status after one year of residency in the U.S.

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Stories of people who are currently incarcerated and fighting case from Federal, Immigration,Detention and State Prisons. They talk about their life and how their families are affected by their incarcerations.
Homies Unidos is happy to share their stories and give voice to the voiceless and speak their mind to the world.

My name is Echas I’m a native of Guerrero, Mexico. I was born in a lovely family of nine members total. I was five years old when my father die. After my father’s death my mother abandon us along with the rest of my brothers. My older sister was nineteen years old, when she took the responsibility to care for us. My sister decided to immigrate to Los Angeles, CA to work and provide food on the table for us. After the period of two years, my sister had saved enough money to bring us over to Los Angeles provided roper education for all us.

By age of 7 I was going to school getting good grades, and as time past me by i was lost in between time of not knowing what to do with my life. I got arrested for recieving stolen property and was sentence t 8month in prison, after finishing my time i was deported to Tijuana,Mexico.  While in there I was harrased by authorities, robed and prosucuted without cause that lead me only one choice to come back to where all my family is, which is, Los Angeles.

I decided to turn my life around and started doing the right thing, enrolled in school and started working for the period of three years and stayed out of trouble.

Until one day, I was witing for my brother outside his apartment when the LAPD Rampart division showed up and started asking me for my legal Status they arrested me without any charges and turn me into ICE authorities. Now I’m being charge with re-entrie and they’re baseing on my criminal record.

Now i’m getting time and serving time for simply being here with my family were i’ve been since my youth and paying again for what already paid for, with precious of my life.

Thank you for reading my letter and thoughts.

Alex Sanchez has worked for years to calm the violence between the warring gangs that dominate Los Angeles’ Pico Union/Koreatown area — a role that has won him the respect of gang members as well as some of California’s leading politicians. But now he faces a deportation hearing that could not only end his peace-making — it might also lead to his own violent death.

Read more: http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2002/02/death_deport.html