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WHAT: Florida International University Professor of Hispanic Studies Erik Camayd-Freixas, who made international headlines when he stepped outside of his role as a federal interpreter and denounced the U.S. government’s actions during the largest immigration raid in U.S. history, will present a lecture and multi-media presentation on “Immigrant Rights, American Values & Global Citizenship.” The event will focus on the Postville, Iowa raid, which took place on May 12, 2008, and its implications. Camayd-Freixas will discuss the United States’ post-9/11 immigration enforcement agenda and offer an insider’s perspective into what he describes as the decline of constitutional guarantees during “a dark period in American history.” The event is sponsored by FIU’s Latin American Caribbean Center, the Department of Modern Languages, the College of Law and the Labor Studies Center.
WHO: Camayd-Freixas is a Harvard-trained communications analyst, literary critic, social theorist, and expert in forensic linguistics for federal and state courts. He served as a federal interpreter at the court hearings following the Postville raid. His report to Congress denouncing the violations of due process and the criminalization of immigrant workers, bolstered arguments to the U.S. Supreme Court and fueled the debate on the tradeoff between national security and democratic values. He has received human rights awards by the American Immigration Lawyers Association, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center, and the Guatemalan Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
WHEN AND WHERE: April 15th, 2010 at 7 p.m. at the Florida International University Modesto A. Maidique Campus, 11200 SW 8th Street, Miami, at the College of Law, RDB1100. The event is free and open to the public.
FOR MORE INFORMATION or to RSVP: Please call the Latin American and Caribbean Center at 305-348-2894.
Media Contact: Lissette Lanza at 305-348-2232.
-FIU-
About FIU:
Florida International University was founded in 1965 and is Miami’s only public research university. With a student body of more than 38,000, its 12 colleges and schools offer more than 200 bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations and law. More than 100,000 FIU alumni live and work in South Florida. FIU has been classified by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as a “High Research Activity University”. In August 2009, FIU welcomed the inaugural class of the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu.
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This was NOT the largest raid in U.S. history. This was the largest raid in the state of Iowa's history.
RAIDS TO ROUND UP ILLEGAL ALIENS WOULD BE UNNECESSARY, IF IMMIGRANTS ADHERED TO U.S. IMMIGRATION LAW. ILLEGAL ENTRY INTO THE U.S.A. IS A CRIMINAL OFFENSE, UNDER CURRENT FEDERAL LEGISLATION. IF ONE IS IN FAVOR OF "OPEN BORDERS," ONE SHOULD WORK WITHIN THE POLITICAL SYSTEM TO CHANGE THE EXISTING IMMIGRATION STATUTES.WHICH PRECLUDE SAME. UNTIL THAT TRANSPIRES, ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION IS A CRIME—PERIOD ! WE ARE EITHER A NATION OF LAWS, OR WE ARE NOT !!