Detention can best be characterized as an arduous and isolating existence, with individuals held in converted warehouses located miles away from family members or home towns. One entity has made it a priority to act as a lifeline, connecting detainees to the outside world. That entity is the Riverside Sojourners...

Mayumi and Richard Heene, parents of Falcon (aka 'Balloon Boy'), entered guilty pleas on Friday in connection with the incident several weeks ago when they lied to the authorities about their son's whereabouts. The mother pleaded guilty to a class three misdemeanor; the father pleaded guilty to a felony. Had...

What happens when a woman tries not to turn into her mother or to emerge from under her mother's shadow? What is the fate of an immigrant woman who tries to bridge the divide between her adopted country and the country of her birth? She may end up somewhere in-between....

October 15, 2009

President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear President Obama,

Over the past decade, Caribbean nationals deported from the United States have been handled akin to skeletons in the closets, tucked away in the sandy recesses of tropical...

Anyone currently subject to an immigration detainer or who still has a loved one ensconced in detention at some far away location, most likely waited with bated breath for President Obama's report on proposed reforms for immigration detention. No discussion of detention reform can be complete without addressing the establishment...

The announcement that the New York Philharmonic canceled its trip to Havana, Cuba at the end of October came as a major disappointment to me, since I am an advocate of cultural diplomacy. Given the warming trends in U.S.-Cuba relations, the recent decision by the United States Treasury Department should...

Last month President Obama announced plans to overhaul immigration detention with an eye towards a "truly civil detention system." News that the T. Don Hutto Residential Center in Texas will no longer hold immigrant families is a step in the right direction.

Proponents of family detention should take a...

Today Jean Murat Montrevil is scheduled to check in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement as required under the Intensive Supervision and Appearance Program. What Jean knows for sure is that the supervised check-ins have been a constant in his life for the past several years. What remains uncertain for Jean...

The collision of the immigration and criminal justice systems has been, more often than not, to the detriment of the immigrant involved. Recently it was announced that Dora Schriro was appointed as commissioner of corrections for New York City. I hope that one of the top items on her agenda...

Detention and deportation affect individuals and communities in a myriad of ways. Adults placed in detention far away from home find themselves isolated from family members and support systems. Families are fragmented; children can become 'orphans' overnight. As Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) intensifies its strategies - including...

Recent headlines have focused on the surge in the number of criminal deportees to the Caribbean. CARICOM leaders are making preparations for the meeting with President Obama scheduled this fall in Washington, D.C. Crime in the Caribbean is at the top of the agenda. One persistent question regarding individuals who...

Detention is usually recommended or mandated in instances where the defendant poses a danger to society or deemed a flight risk. But Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has pursued an aggressive policy of "mandatory detention" across the board, resulting in a marked increase in the number of immigrants detained nationwide,...

It's a balmy afternoon. I'm sitting in the sun, enjoying the sound of water nearby and dusting off the sand between my toes. As I close my eyes and listen to the voices around me, I try to convince myself I'm on some Caribbean paradise. But alas, no such...

Today concludes week one of confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee, Judge Sonia Sotomayor. One salient issue that dominated the hearings was judicial activism. What is the role or expectation of a justice on the Supreme Court? An adherent of precedent? A policy maker? And just how did judicial...

Tucked away on Mercer Street in Soho, nestled between Spring and Broome Streets, around the corner from the Gourmet Garage, cricket enthusiasts and savvy shoppers alike can take respite at Jack Olive.

So, you ask, just who or what is Jack Olive? Jack Olive is a retail store specializing...

Cricket is enjoying a resurgence on these shores. From Canarsie to Miami, Los Angeles to Atlanta, membership in leagues is rapidly expanding due to the influx of immigrants from the Caribbean, India and Pakistan.

Canarsie Park in Brooklyn now has bragging rights to a regulation-sized cricket pitch thanks...

Faced with the prospect of rapidly depleting natural resources globally, there are renewed calls to find alternate sources of energy and viable ways of sustaining the environment. But oftentimes the calls go unheeded, noticeably so in Trinidad and Tobago, host of the...

The Fifth Summit of the Americas has come to an end. Members of the foreign press have had their fill of doubles and dhalpurie. The Mighty Sparrow wowed his audience at the Summit of Culture at Queen's Park Savannah. Prime Minister Patrick Manning of Trinidad and Tobago signed the...

In the coming days, the twin island republic of Trinidad and Tobago, where I was born, will play host to the Fifth Summit of the Americas. Thirty-four presidents and prime ministers will converge on Port-of-Spain. The theme of the summit is Securing Our Citizens' Future by Promoting Human Prosperity, Energy...

At the end of January, a woman in California gave birth to octuplets. Last October, a woman in New York gave birth to sextuplets. The mother in California, Nadya Suleman, was dubbed "Octomom" and has spawned bills limiting embryo implants; the mother in New York was dubbed 'miracle mom' and...