ARUNA'S STORY
Aruna was brutally beaten by her husband on numerous occasions. Finally
fearing for her life, she fled her native India, forced to leave behind her two children, and came to the United States.
She applied for political
asylum, but her application was denied. Aruna and others like her need your
help.
Aruna’s case has been featured in the New York Times magazine, the Chicago
Tribune, the National Law Journal, and on National Public Radio.
Former
Attorney General Janet Reno proposed regulations which would have included
domestic violence as a basis for political asylum in our nation, but
unfortunately the regulations were never finalized.“Aruna’s Law” would codify the proposed regulation and make it a part of the Immigration and
Nationality Act.
Aruna often cries herself to sleep, looking at the pictures of her son and
daughter. She knows that she cannot go back to India. She was unable to
attend her father’s funeral. Please help her and the other immigrant victims
of domestic violence.
For more information, please contact:
Coalition for Aruna’s Law
c/o Royal F. Berg
33 N. La Salle, Suite 2300
Chicago, IL. 60602
312-855-1118
JOIN THE NATIONAL FAST FOR IMMIGRANT JUSTICE
Edith Rivas with her two children. Photo by Paul Berg
September
30, 2006 marked the tenth anniversary of the enactment of the Illegal
Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act,
(IIRIRA), a heinous anti-immigrant and anti-family law. IIRIRA has
caused great suffering and irreparable harm to U.S. citizen children
across the country, and has torn countless families of U.S. citizens
and immigrants apart. IIRIRA mandates detention and deportation for
whole classes of immigrants, without regard to the hardships that
will be suffered.
Edith
Riva is a US citizen and mother of two young children. She filed a
petition for her husband to obtain permanent residence in the US. When
he went to Mexico for his visa appointment, he was told that under
IIRIRA law he would have to wait in Mexico for ten years. His
application for a waiver was denied. Edith cries herself to sleep every
night and doesn't know what to tell her children when they ask "when is
daddy coming home?"
If IIRIRA had not become law, Elivira
Arrellano, a single mother of a U.S. citizen child, who has been given
sanctuary in a church in Chicago, would have been able to apply in
Immigration Court for permanent residence based on hardship to herself
and her son, through a form of relief called Suspension of Deportation.
IIRIRA eliminated this form of relief.
Elivira Arrellano and her 7 year old son Saul, a US born citizen in the Adalberto United Methodist Church, Chicago, IL. Photo by Paul Berg
Left to right: Immigration attorney Rosalba Pina, immigrant activist Delores Huerta
and Elivira Arrellano. Photo by Paul Berg
Many
of IIRIRA's harshest provisions are being applied retroactively,
causing even more suffering. IIRIRA also precludes judicial review of
many government decision, and bars millions of immigrants with U.S.
citizen family members and with long residence in our country from
returning to the United States for up to ten years, and in many cases
for life!!! IIRIRA is cruel, inhumane, and draconian. It must be repealed!!
The National Fast for Immigrant Justice will call attention to the horrors of IIRIRA
and put a human face on the suffering that this terrible law is
inflicting on the most vulnerable among us. Participants in the National Fast for Immigrant Justice
will donate the money they would have spent on food to organizations
that fight for justice for immigrants, and will contact elected
officials and let them know that they are fasting and why.
The Chairperson of the National Fast for Immigrant Justice
is Delores Huerta, the co-founder with Cesar Chavez of the United Farm
Workers Union (UFW). September 30, 2006 also marked the 44th
anniversary of the founding of the UFW. Cesar would often take part
in fasts to raise consciousness of the plight of migrant workers, and
their struggle for justice. The National Fast for Immigrant Justice is dedicated to Cesar Chavez.
For more information, please contact-
Royal
F.
Berg
or
Rosalba Pina
312-855-1118
773-762-1200
rosalba@rosalbapina.com
