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Vol. 81/No. 14 April 10, 2017
‘Fight against deportation is a labor issue’
BY SETH GALINSKY
NEW YORK — “We’re going to fight this to the end,” Janice Hoseine told
the Militant March 26. Hoseine’s husband Ramesh Palandiandi was seized
by Immigration and Customs Enforcement March 9.
The permanent U.S. resident moved here from Guyana in 1992 when he was
“just shy of 13 years old,” Hoseine said. Like many young workers, “he
had some run-ins with the law.” In 2007 he was convicted of attempted
burglary and served six months in prison.
In 2008 ICE detained Palandiandi for a month and then released him.
After his release “we carried on with our life,” Hoseine said. Her
husband worked and started his own business. “We traveled outside the
country, we went to Canada.” Hoseine and Palandiandi started Immigrant
Outreach, a community organization, and joined the New Sanctuary Coalition.
Then in 2015 ICE detained him again. They learned the ICE case had been
“terminated without prejudice” seven years earlier, meaning ICE could
refile deportation proceedings at any time. After a year Palandiandi was
released but required to wear a GPS ankle bracelet.
On March 9, when Palandiandi reported for his monthly check-in, ICE
grabbed him again. They said his deportation order appeal had been
exhausted.
“If you’re convicted of a felony, a misdemeanor or whatever, you do your
time,” Hoseine said. “Should someone be punished for the rest of their
life just because they’re an immigrant?”
Hoseine joined a March 21 protest organized by the Service Employees
International Union Local 32BJ against the detention of Juan Vivares, an
undocumented worker from Colombia. Vivare’s wife Yaharia Burgos is a
member of 32BJ.
“What is happening to immigrants is a labor issue,” Local 32BJ President
Hector Figueroa told the press. “All of labor needs to stand with
familes like Yaharia and Juan’s.”
“I told Yaharia to stay strong,” Hoseine said.
Related articles:
Pa. protest: ‘I won’t let you disappear my neighbors!’
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