Posted by Deport Nation on Wednesday, September 29, 2010 ·
Theirs is a story that needs to be told. Tens of thousands of immigrants are being arrested by local law enforcement agencies and now face detention or deportation. But their voices are not heard from behind detention walls. We want to change that.
We are launching a project to record these stories and post them on the web, adding detainee voices to a critical discussion about the use of local police to enforce federal immigration laws. The “Story Line” will be hosted on DeportationNation.org, where we will feature excerpts of calls and letters from participants in an interactive map. The website is part of a 2010 Soros Justice media fellowship that examines the impact of ICE-police “partnership” programs, such as Secure Communities and 287(g).
But first we must reach our “sources” in detention, and this is where you can play a critical role. We are asking you – or members of your organization – to share these questionnaires (in English & Spanish) with immigrants in jails or detention centers that you visit. Perhaps you can help us reach others who could share this questionnaire with detainees if you feature the project in a newsletter, email announcements or web posts. If you would like to us to follow-up with other contacts, just let us know.
This project is a variation on crowdsourcing – a key tool for accountability journalism that allows reports by individuals to contribute to a bigger picture view of a story that is impossible for us to piece together on our own. We know there will be kinks to work out as it is the first of its kind to reach out to contributors who are detained. We welcome your questions and suggestions, and please let us know if you are interested in participating.
Contact us via DeportationNation at gmail dot com, or (347) 903-5290/(202) 630-2226. You can also write us at:
Deportation Nation
P.O Box 4411
New York, NY 10163
Click below to hear from a man ICE detained after he went to court to pay a fine for a minor trespassing violation.
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