Press conference will be Friday, December 18, 2009, 10 a.m., Justice and Administration Center

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Friday, December 18, 2009

Atlanta – A collective of human Rights groups will deliver a human rights resolution to Gwinnett County Commissioners Friday, December 18, 2009, on the occasion of International Migrants Day.  The groups will seek endorsement of the resolution which emphasizes the human dignity of all persons, regardless of immigration status, and urges the cessation of local enforcement of immigration laws.  The groups plan to ask the Commissioners to consider the resolution for endorsement at an upcoming meeting. 

December 18^th was declared International Migrants Day in year 2000 by members of the General Assembly of the United Nations in support of the rights of migrant workers and their families. 

“The United States international human rights obligations mandate recognition and respect for the fundamental human rights of all people, irrespective of immigration status,” said Azadeh Shahshahani, the ACLU of Georgia National Security/Immigrants’ Rights Project Director.  “We hope that the Gwinnett County Commissioners will take a step towards fulfilling their obligations under international human rights treaties by endorsing the human rights resolution.” 

Gwinnett County recently became the fifth agency in Georgia to implement a 287(g) Agreement, delegating certain immigration enforcement powers to local law enforcement.  287(g) had led to fear and mistrust of law enforcement among immigrant communities, as shown by an ACLU of Georgia report released in October 2009, focused on the implementation of the program in Cobb County.  

“Local enforcement of immigration laws has a devastating impact on law-abiding and hard working community members as it leads to racial profiling and the tearing apart of families,” said Adelina Nicholls, Executive Director of the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights. “Immigrants in Gwinnett deserve the rights afforded them by the virtue of their humanity and as reaffirmed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the international human rights treaties ratified by the United States.” 

The press conference announcing the resolution will be Friday, December 18, 2009, at 10 a.m., in front of the Justice and Administration Center, Lawrenceville, 75 Langley Dr. SW Lawrenceville, 30046.  Speakers at the press conference will include: Ajamu Baraka, Executive Director of the U.S. Human Rights Network; Anton Flores, Co-Founder of Alterna and Georgia Detention Watch Steering Committee member; Nicholls; and Shahshahani. 

The organizations endorsing this action include: the ACLU of Georgia, Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights, Georgia Detention Watch, the U.S. Human Rights Network, and Atlantans Building Leadership for Empowerment. 

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The ACLU of Georgia’s mission is to advance the cause of civil liberties in Georgia, with emphasis on rights of free speech, free assembly, freedom of religion, due process of law and to take all legitimate action in the furtherance of such purposes without political partisanship.