News
The SIEMBRA Has Grown!
Friends! We’re glad to share with you our latest newsletter! In it you can read about our newest campaign to promote access to good, healthy food for everyone! The Food Justice Campaign began earlier this summer, and the committee is well on it’s way to identifying land for a community garden next year!
Also, you can read an editorial written by CATA’s General Coordinator, Nelson Carrasquillo, on the Occupy Movement and the challenge we all face to work to integrate our struggles.
Additionally, there’s news from several of our partner organizations and articles written by our summer interns – Natalie Sanchez and Christina O’Campo!
Download it here!
Stand Against Increased Immigration Detention in New Jersey
In December of 2010, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced their intention to increase their detention capacity in New Jersey by 2, 250 beds (largely by expanding the Essex County Jail in Newark, NJ) – more than doubling their current capacity.
Over the months since this announcement, organizations from across the state have voiced opposition to this plan, collecting signatures on petitions, attending County Freeholder Meetings, organizing in the community, etc.
Last week, the County Board of Freeholders approved the contract with ICE.
“When prisoners become units from which profit is derived, there is a tendency to see them as commodities rather than as children of God.”
From “Wardens from Wall Street: Prison Privatization” a pastoral letter from the Catholic Bishops from the South
After last Wednesday’s vote by the Essex County Board of Chose Freeholders to approve a contract that would expand immigration detention at the Essex County Jail and neighboring Delaney Hal, the Board VP Ralph Caputo explained the vote in a conversation with a reporter from the Star Ledger.
"Ralph R. Caputo said he is not overjoyed to have the county in the detention business, but it makes fiscal sense for now to provide a solution to the vexing federal issue of illegal immigration"
Please sign the Petition and tell the Essex County Freeholders that immigration detention will not solve a broken system.
Essex County will reportedly be receiving $50 million a year for this contract. But this money will be coming from our federal tax dollars.
Our federal tax dollars are being wasted on a system:
- that negatively impacts our local economies and communities.
- that mistakenly detains and deports US citizens
- that neglects the physical and mental health of those in its custody
Not only did the Freeholders vote in favor of wasting federal tax dollars on a broken system, they voted to enter into a “business” that equates the freedom and the human dignity of each of the people in their custody to the fiscal benefit of a per diem rate of $108/day.
Please Tell the Essex County Freeholders that immigration detention does not solve the broken system of immigration. Remind them of their responsibility to protect the human rights of the individuals in their custody. Remind them that these are human beings who deserve dignity and respect not entries on a balance sheet. Tell them that their profit motives will just make a broken system worse!
Sign the petition at www.change.org.
Tell the freeholders to:
- revoke the contract with ICE
- immediately improve conditions in the jail
- create a community oversight board for the detainees in both the jail and Delaney Hall
If you have signed the petition already please forward the link to your friends and family!
1981 - Until It's Over Opening Reception
For almost 20 years, CATA has worked within the farmworker community to share important information and education about HIV/AIDS. For almost as long as we've had this program, we have been supported by the AIDS Fund in Philadelphia and we particpate every year in the AIDS Walk - this year to be held on Sunday, October 16.
On Thursday, September 15, the AIDS Fund will host the opening reception for “1981 - Until It's Over..." A Multimedia display of HIV/AIDS in Our Community.
Opening reception details:
Date: Thursday, September15th
Time: 6pm to 8pm
Place: William Way Community Center, 1315 Spruce Street.
Here are links to details on our website and facebook page:
www.aidsfundphilly.org/events
Facebook Event Page
Thank you for your support of this commemoration of the 30th year of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the 25th annual AIDS Walk Philly.
National Report Released on the Failure of ICE's "Secure Communities" Program
Today a National Report on the failure of the Secure Communities Program was released by the National Day Laborer’s Organizing Network (NDLON).
The Secure Communities Program – a program that creates automatic information sharing between local law enforcement and ICE – has been implemented in almost half of all jurisdictions around the country (not yet in NJ, only in 3 counties of PA, and widely throughout MD and DE) with the goal of having it fully implemented by 2013.
Just over a week ago, ICE announced that all agreements that had previously been used to establish jurisdiction of the program would be unilaterally rescinded, and that the agency would continue implementation of the program, REGARDLESS of local or state disagreement.
In conversations within CATA, members have expressed uncertainty on how criminals within the community should be dealt with – but all have seen and heard how families and communities have been impacted by policies that indiscriminately turn over individuals to ICE, often when they have not been convicted of ANY crime or of a minor offense.
We encourage you to read the report here, endorse it if you are part of an organization, learn about local campaigns to end local law enforcement collaboration with ICE, including the New Sanctuary Movement’s Campaign in Philadelphia, and support the right of ALL people to live in their communities, with their families.
Mark Your Calendar!
Philly Troublemaker School on Saturday, September 17th
Mark your calendars for the 2011 Philadelphia Troublemakers School on September 17th!
The Troublemakers School provides tools for activists to better engage in organizing in the workplace, advancing the ideas and principles of unionism, building solidarity among different sections of the workforce, and confronting the problems that working people face in today's economy and political climate.
This full day of discussion and workshops will be held at the Community College of Philadelphia's Winnet Student Life Building on 17th St. between Spring Garden and Callowhill.
From 9am-5pm discussion and some workshops will include:
- why the economy doesn't work for working people today
- how to build contract campaigns that win
- building member-to-member networks and leadership development
- using media to effectively tell your story
CATA will also be presenting a workshop on our experiences organizing undocumented workers!
Click here to for more information and to register!
Announcing CATA’s new campaign: The Food Justice Project!
The goal of the Food Justice Project is for the immigrant community in the area of Bridgeton, NJ, to be able to buy, prepare, and eat food that is healthy and produced without chemicals. We seek to promote the well-being of immigrant families in the community.
The first phase of the project will be to conduct interviews with a number of families in the Bridgeton area. This will enable us to understand what are these families’ current habits in terms of buying and preparing food and what the barriers that keep these families from eating healthily are.
With this information CATA will develop a series of workshops around nutrition, engage with organic farmers in the Bridgeton area, set up an an organic farmers' market that is easily accesible, and finally cultivate a plot of land to be used by our membership to grow their own food that they can bring home to their families as well as sell their produce.
Want to get involved?
- You can donate to support CATA’s programs by contributing online here or by sending in a check. If you wish to donate specifically to the Food Justice Project, please note that with your online donation or check.
- Do have expertise in nutrition or experience in community nutrition education? We are looking for your advice in developing workshops.
- If you know of land in Bridgeton that would be suitable for community gardens and might be open for rent or sale, please get in touch.
- Do you know organic/sustainable farmers who might be interested in participating? Let us know!
If you can help in any of these ways email us at cata@cata-farmworkers.org or call the CATA office at 856-881-2507.
Special thanks to the Kresge Foundation and the Presbyterian Hunger Program for helping make this campign possible!
Food Justice Certification!
Exciting news from the Agricultural Justice Project!
AJP has just officially trained their first batch of people who can now do their food justice inspections and certifications of farms and food businesses! This brings us one big step closer to having domestic fair trade here in the US! Click here to view the press release of this great news.
CATA was one of the founding organizations of AJP when our members identified the need for workers’ rights to be protected within organic and sustainable agriculture, in addition to the environmentally-friendly practices more often associated with that movement. For more information on CATA's role in AJP, check out our Fair Labor Standards and the Organic Industry section of the website.
For more information on AJP, you can visit their website at www.agriculturaljusticeproject.org.
CATA Presents at the UN General Assembly
On Thursday May 19, 2011 the General Assembly of the United Nations held a debate on Migration and
Development, the first time the UN has officially addressed the issue of migration since 2006.
CATA has played a strong leadership role in the lead-up to this unique opportunity to weigh in on international policy affecting migrant workers and
their communities.
In addition to leading the drafting process of a joint Civil Society statement that was submitted to the
President of the General Assembly, in the morning session of the May 19 debate CATA's Richard Mandelbaum was the only
member of Civil Society to address the General Assembly, representing the thirty-five member organizations of the NGO
Committee on Migration.
To read what Richard Mandelbaum presented click here.
To read the UN's press release on the debate click here.
Dignity! Dignity! No Detention!
On Thursday, February 11, 2011, CATA members and staff participated in a rally and march in Newark, NJ to oppose the expansion of the Essex County Correctional Facility detention center. The county plans on adding 2,700 new beds to its 465 beds right now.
The event started with a rally outside the ICE offices in downtown Newark and then a 3.5 mile march to the correction facility proceeded. All along the route, people were chanting "Dignity! Dignity! No detention!" and "Education not deportation!" Overall, it was a great event.
Click here to see our pictures from the day!
For more information on the rally and march, check out this article online: Immigration advocates gather in Newark to protest proposed Essex County detention center
New Study Out on Day Laborers in New Jersey
Seton Hall University of Law just released this report on wage theft in New Jersey titled "All Work and No Pay: Day Laborers, Wage Theft, and Workplace Justice in New Jersey". CATA participated in this report by interviewing day laborers in Bridgeton, NJ.
According to the study, day laborers in New Jersey experience "rampant exploitation and abuse". Of the 113 laborers interviewed, about half said they received less than half the pay they were promised, or no pay at all, for at least one job in the past year. In addition to this, many workers said their employers did not provide them with safety equipment such as goggles, hard hats and masks, and some reported that they were injured so badly on the job they were forced to miss days at work.
One finding on the brighter side, however, is that the rate of wage theft was significantly lower in areas where there are established advocacy groups fighting for low-wage and immigrant workers' rights!
Click here to read the whole report
Read this article in the New York times for a good synopsis and background on the report: Seton Hall Study on Abuse of Day Laborers in N.J.
CATA Membership on BBC World News!
In June, BBC World News America reporter Laura Trevelyan joined some of CATA's members at their farm labor camp in South Jersey. Also in the report is farmer Tom Sheppard of Sheppard Farms and he talks about the need for immigrant workers and immigration reform.
You can watch the report by clicking here!
CATA MARKS 31 YEARS IN THE FIGHT FOR FARMWORKER JUSTICE. JOIN THE MOVEMENT. DONATE TODAY!
Over 30 years ago, farmworkers came together to establish CATA as a means to address the exploitation and discrimination they encountered while working and living in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States.
What started off as a small volunteer effort has grown into an organization of members and supporters working on local, national and international farmworker issues.
CATA has made a great impact in the lives of the tens of thousands of migrant workers who have lived and worked in the area. Whether it has been educating them on their rights, building their leadership capacity, or organizing the
community to provide testimonies and coordinate immigrant marches, CATA’s work continues to advance farmworker issues in solidarity with others so policies affecting all workers are improved.
Without the support from people like you we would not have been able to achieve the many accomplishments we have realized over the years. For this, we extend our thanks and gratitude to all who have stood by us and ask your continued support.
To keep the momentum going and expand our efforts, we call on you to recommit yourselves to workers’ and immigrants’ rights.
Please continue to support farmworkers and contribute to CATA’s success in the next 30 years. THANK YOU!!
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