The Honorable Alejandro Mayorkas
Secretary of Homeland Security
Washington, DC 20528
Dear Secretary Mayorkas:
We write to express our concern over the drastic increase in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)’s Intensive Supervision Appearance Program (ISAP) which relies on punitive surveillance, such as the use of ankle shackles, and facial recognition and geolocation tracking through a mobile application called SmartLINK as an ill-conceived “alternative” to detention.
We wrote to officials in Colombia to demand accountability for the assassination of Jesusita Moreno, an Afro-descendant community leader of the San Juan River basin in Chocó Department. Affectionately known as Doña Tuta, the 60-year-old was killed on June 7 when several armed men entered her house in the La Floresta neighborhood of Cali and shot her repeatedly.
Afro-descendant and Indigenous communities in the middle and lower San Juan River basin have been overwhelmed by the intensity and degradation of the armed conflict. Jesusita Moreno worked tirelessly to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in the community of Noanamá in Istmina municipality. She helped to broker agreements with armed groups to respect civilian populations. One of Doña Tuta's dreams was creating a shelter-refuge in Noanamá for displaced persons so they could remain close to home and not have to flee to the cities.
The Ohio Fair Trade Teach-In & Expo has showcased socially and environmentally conscious consumerism annually since 2009. At one of the largest regional fair trade events in the country, guest speakers will highlight the principles of fair trade, and more than 30 vendors will generate vital income for artisan and farming families by selling fair trade coffee, tea and chocolate, as well as clothing, handcrafts and jewelry. Registrations for the 2022 Expo are now open! Starting today, May 25, you can register to attend or sponsor the Ohio Fair Trade Expo.
By Kim LaCapria
"The Supreme Court just ruled [in June 2022] that Border Patrol can enter any home without a warrant and assault you, within 100 miles of the border. And no, you have zero federal protections if they do so."
Decontextualized
In the Salvadoran Constitution, Article 29 establishes the Regime of Exception aka State of Emergency, to respond to extreme circumstances, such as war, invasion of territory, rebellion, sedition, catastrophe, epidemic, or other general calamities, or serious disturbances of public order. Thus, it is possible to suspend freedom of movement, expression, association, assembly, and inviolability of communications, among other rights. At midnight on March 27, 2022, the Legislative Assembly, which was by that time fully controlled by the ruling party, imposed an Regime of Exception of for 30 days, in response to a spike in homicides that claimed the lives of 62 people in a single day. These are the articles that were affected by the 30-day suspension.
June 12th marks World Day Against Child Labor. The picture of a child, bent double under a heavy sack. A child wielding a sharp machete, or crawling down into a dirty dangerous mine. These images elicit an immediate response. Yet, despite that immediate, visceral reaction, progress to end child labor has been slow. And that’s because actually addressing child labor requires addressing the underlying factors in our food system that exploit the most vulnerable instead of protecting them. Last year was declared the International Year for the Elimination of Child Labor. But instead of progress towards that goal, the statistics are headed in the wrong direction. In 2020, the number of children in child labor rose to 160 million around the world. That’s the first increase in 20 years, and is based on research done before the beginning of the pandemic.
We are excited to share with you the video recordings of the The Lessons from Central American Resistance and Diasporic Solidarity event. During this event, representatives from several solidarity organizations, including Lulu Matute of SOA Watch, reflected on our recent collaborative Congressional delegation to Central America.
Vice President Kamala Harris today announced more than $1.9 billion in new private sector commitments to create economic opportunity in northern Central America, more than doubling the value of initial private sector investments in response to her Call to Action. As part of her role addressing the root causes of migration from Central America, in May 2021, the Vice President launched the Call to Action for businesses and social enterprises to make significant commitments to promote economic opportunity for people in the region. This is in support for the U.S. Strategy to Address the Root Causes of Migration which the Vice President launched in July 2021. The announcement today builds on the announcement the Vice President made in December 2021 of $1.2 billion in private sector commitments. Aggregate commitments under this initiative now total more than $3.2 billion. Taken together, these investments are creating an ecosystem of opportunity and helping to provide hope for people in the region to build safe and prosperous lives at home.
by Pangea Team
Join Equal Exchange’s tea team for a journey into the world of tea! Learn more about why our alternative trade model is so important for tea farmers in an industry still dominated by plantations. Then, experience a selection of teas through a guided tasting as we learn about the crop and the farmers behind each blend.
