Civil Liberties
Perhaps because of the large number of outspoken and thoughtful people in our community, we have often found ourselves at ground zero in battles over civil liberties. In the 1980's Chapel Hill elected the first openly-gay elected official in the state, but Carrboro bested that by electing North Carolina’s first out mayor a decade later.
More recently, Chapel Hill grappled with free speech issues in the wake of 9/11, approved and then dismantled red light cameras in 2003-4, and was challenged by fundamentalists over support for gay marriage in 2005.
I just learned from the blog of Town Council Member Mark Kleinschmidt that the Chapel Hill police have detained yet another local resident on a federal immigration warrant. Isn't this exactly what the Town's policy prohibits? After the wrongful detention and eventual release of Sima Fallahi, the Police Chief assured the Council that our local officers would no longer be acting on civic immigration warrants.
Tonight the Chapel Hill Town Council has on its agenda a petition from the Orange County Bill of Rights Defense Committee proposing A RESOLUTION ESTABLISHING A POLICY ON ARREST FOR CIVIL IMMIGRATION VIOLATION and A RESOLUTION TO REDRESS SOME OF THE HARM CAUSED BY THE ARREST AND IMPRISONMENT OF SIMA FALLAHI. See the pdf of the resolutions and full text bellow the fold. Tonights full agenda is located here. Learn more about what happened to Sima in the OP posts Free Sima and Sima Update.
(Text is subject to change)
A RESOLUTION ESTABLISHING A POLICY ON ARREST FOR CIVIL IMMIGRATION VIOLATION AGENDA #3a(3)
A RESOLUTION ESTABLISHING A POLICY THAT THE CHAPEL HILL POLICE DEPARTMENT WILL NOT SEEK TO ARREST PERSONS WHEN THE SOLE BASIS FOR ARRESTING SUCH PERSONS IS THAT SUCH PERSONS HAVE OR MAY HAVE COMMITTED A CIVIL IMMIGRATION VIOLATION
I read on two blogs (but not in the papers, hmmm) that Sima Fallahi is expected to be released very soon. The Mill said on 2/1/07 that it could be "any day now" and Orange Chat wrote the same on Monday:
An attorney for Sima Fallahi, the Carrboro resident facing deportation to her native Iran, confirms that she could released soon. We'll know in roughly two weeks whether her failed attempt at asylum status will be reopened, said attorney Randall Stroud.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement are considering Fallahi for "low flight risk" status. That means she could come back to Carrboro and check in periodically with immigration agents as the courts are reviewing her case.
- newsobserver.com |Orange Chat - Sima's lawyer: She could be out 'any day now', 2/12/07
I'd like to think that The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would be proud to see communities like ours that remember him through acts of protest and radicalism. Do your part on Monday.
The Chapel Hill-Carrboro NAACP is holding a march and rally against war and racism on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Monday, January 15. Gather at noon at the Post Office on Franklin St. in Chapel Hill and march to the First Baptist Church on Robeson St. At the church, Rev. Curtis Gatewood will give a speech stressing the importance of building a united movement against war and racism, and will continued to build momentum for the massive march in Raleigh on February 10.
... and get ready for justice to pour down like a mighty stream on February 10 in Raleigh!
The North Carolina State NAACP and invites you and your organization to Historic K(Thousands) on Jones Street on Saturday, February 10, 2007.
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