MEMBERSHIP

I see that when we created our new website, and removed the old one, the membership page was deleted. Not good!
Please consider joining us. An individual yearly membership is $10, unless you are detained or confined, or wish to sponsor such an individual. In that case, the membership is $2, or 5 first-class US stamps.
An organizational membership is $100, and entitles an organization to an hour's free legal consult or free ad space on our site.
Our mailing address is FIND, P.O. Box 51334, Kalamazoo, MI 49005 USA
Hope to hear from you!

Sutures are a Human Right!

In an effort to raise a little money for FIND and pursue another mission at the same time, I have begun an effort to help small, on the ground, humanitarian NGOs obtain medical supplies. Please check out www.suturesareahumanright.blogspot.com, and refer us to any one you think we could help.
Thank you!

LETTER FROM JAMAICA (to fellow Jamaican still in US prison)

Well my brother, I am in the place and thank God that He carried me through and out. It was a journey for real, an experience not to be forgotten! I thought I would've written earlier, that was my intention, but I am somewhat swamped and overwhelmed by Jamaica and the fact that I am free.

I've been here since the 20th of last month and haven't been anywhere as yet. I've just been in the yard sitting back and observing. The place has changed as far as travelling, everywhere seem different, and I've got to begin to baby walk and get familiar with the place and getting around. My mode of transportation has been the taxi, but I'll soon have to try the buses as the taxis are proving to be expensive. You've got to get familiar with the money but I try to think in terms of the U.S. dollar when buying anything.

One of the first things you've got to do is get some form of ID. Something by the name of TRN [Tax Registration Number] card is mandatory for most business transactions. Then there's the NIS [National Insurance Scheme] card, an electorate card and either a passport or driver's license, also an updated birth certificate. The first one of these is the birth paper and then the others.

Well, the trip to Jamaica. We left Batavia [immigration detention facility] around 5 a.m. Tuesday the 19th, we drove for around 6 hours to Pennsylvania, and then waited for around two hours before we boarded a plane to go to Texas to drop off some Mexicans. We then flew back to Louisiana where we were put in a holding cell with a bunch of other men that were going down. We had to stay up or try to catch some form of sleep sitting down while TV is on and everyone speaking. We left out around 4 a.m. and finally reached Jamaica around 1 p.m. Forty-nine of us came down, 45 guys and four females.

In Jamaica they took us to Central [Police Station] where we were asked a bunch of questions from the cause of deportation, crime, where you are going to stay. They took pictures, tattoos, gold teeth, any markings. You could then leave.

When anybody [from prison] is going to Batavia, let them know they can have a couple set of clothes sent in. You can get cosmetics sent in too, socks, shoes and a bag. A travelling bag as you'll need to take the stuff you've got once you reach Jamaica.

At the airport and Central, both in the station-house and outside, people from everywhere looking at us as if we are on display.

Everybody have a cell phone in Jamaica and they suck up the little money you have as you try to call back to the states.It will probably take a couple of months for me to get adjusted, and then me seeing about what I am going to do down here as far as employment. I am here trying to get familiar with the phone,a lot of things on it I don't understand and need to do so. I also have to see what the internet is about.

So until next time, God bless, strengthen and keep.

One Love,

Children of Burma

Beautiful Karen children at a 2007 support rally for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi

Thank God for the BBC!

I listen on and off throughout most nights to the BBC news on my radio --from Zimbabwe, Haiti, the Gaza Strip, Burma -- bemusing the groggy dog on the floor at the end of the bed.
I listen because I have today, or perhaps will meet tomorrow, a client from that very country, sitting in detention waiting to discuss the latest developments from home. Perhaps he or she has had personal experience with the same situation discussed in the night; perhaps this news will impact their case.
I listen because I know I will find someone for whom this news is real, and whose life experience will add to my understanding of it.
I listen, because absorbing global news is a most special intersection of the intellect and the heart, and one of the reasons my work is so satisfying.

Marielito Especial

This is my friend Siso, a Mariel cuban who died several years ago. He had been out of prison and immigration detention for just about 15 months. He died of AIDS and anal cancer.
He had been a musician in earlier years, and the drums were a much loved Christmas present.

I first cut my teeth as an immigration lawyer helping Mariel Cubans get out of detention (where some had been held for years) with petitions for writs of habeas corpus. Thankfully, the Supreme Court has since ruled long-term detention as unconstitutional.

Don't know who Mariels are? Watch the very first minutes of "Scarface", and you will see real footage of Cubans on the boats from the seaport of Mariel.

Chinese Asylum Seekers

Here's how the young Chinese women pass their time in detention, waiting to see if their asylum claim will be granted. (Usually not). They make these beautiful gifts from tiny folded strips of paper.