Redwood Curtain CopWatch, based in the north coast of California, is part of a larger movement of self organized CopWatch groups throughout the US. Our local efforts seek to intervene in the drastic rise of the presence, militarization, and violence of the police, and build support networks based on self-determination, caring, and concrete needs.
Important Supreme Court Ruling for Undocumented Workers
Submitted by copwatch on Tue, 05/05/2009 - 3:54pm
Defend human rights!!
Supreme Court Limits Identity Theft Law
The Supreme Court has ruled undocumented workers using false papers cannot be charged with aggravated identity theft unless they knew their fake IDs belonged to a real person. The Bush administration frequently charged undocumented immigrants with felony identity theft, which carries a two-year sentence. Prosecutors had used the threat of a felony to persuade undocumented workers to plead guilty to lesser charges of document fraud.
Democracy Now! Headlines
May 5, 2009
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Aggravated identity theft was the tactic used against immigrant meat packers in the infamous Postville, Iowa raid of 2008.
Read about the Postville raid in these articles:
US Town Turned Into An Open-Air Prison
ICE Raids Are Violating Laws and Destroying Our Rights
Claims of ID fraud lead to largest raid in state history
Locally, ICE terrorizes individuals and families.
Defend human rights!!
Supreme Court Ruling Prompts Calls for Dropping Postville Charge
from democracynow! today:
The national bar association for immigration lawyers is calling on the Justice Department to drop charges against undocumented workers swept up in a raid on an Iowa meatpacking plant last year. Nearly 400 workers were detained at the Agriprocessors plant in Postville, Iowa, making it one of the largest raids in US history. On Tuesday, the American Immigration Lawyers Association said the charges should be dropped following this week’s Supreme Court ruling on identify theft. On Monday, the court ruled prosecutors must prove an undocumented worker knew false identity papers belonged to another real person.