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Immigrants Abused in INS Detention
I bring this to you after being in INS detention for 2 months. I was detained by INS for no specific reason and was slated for deportation to India. While in INS custody I met with other detainees who have been in INS detention for period ranging from a few years to one Sikh detainee who has been in INS limbo for 9 years being shunted form one INS facility to another.
I do realize that this is holiday season and while we go shopping and quaffing eggnog, we need to remember what is being done by our Government and the DOJ ( Department of Justice ) on our behalf. The NY Times sat on the story for over a year before divulging the information about the illegal wiretapping and e-mail snooping our Government has been engaged in , " to keep all of us safe". The story that is not yet out is how legal immigrants are being arbitrary detained by INS ( now re-christened ICE - Immigration and Customs Enforcement ) and abused while in custody.
* Most of the inmates I met with did not speak a word of English. The immigration courts do have translation capabilities, but the jails where the detainees are being housed, lack interpreters or even access to translation services. I would spend most of my time writing letters to the families and attorneys of the detainees.
* Most of the INS detainees are not aware of their rights, or the reasons why they were being deported. I saw legal residents with green cards, signing deportation orders agreeing to be deported to their " home " countries. Countries they had often left over 20 or 30 years ago. They were leaving behind careers, families, houses purchased with hard earned money and having paid taxes and social security deductions for 20 - 30 years. The US government keeps all this money that was being collected from the paychecks of the deportees. This money is just lost. Not exactly, it does help shore up our economy, when we go about giving tax cuts to the wealthy.
* Immigration court does not make public defenders available to detainees, unlike regular court. So most of these detainees who tend to be people of little or no means, show up in immigration court with no legal counsel and are so dazed and confused, that I saw detainees agree to be deported and sign the deportation order, just because they were tired of the abuse they experienced while in custody. They just want to get on with their lives.
* Medical facilities are denied to the inmates. True there are nurses who sell you medicine!! Prescription drugs are denied repeatedly. A Sikh inmate had ulcers on his tongue and was unable to eat food. But the " doctor " - Dr. Cassidy refused to prescribe medication to the inmate. Dr. Cassidy would send letters to INS in Washington DC asking for permission to prescribe medication. The permission would of course never be granted.
* Gay inmates get repeatedly raped by other inmates and by officers. I shared a cell with an inmate who told me of his harrowing experiences, as he was a transgender person. He would have been in detention for 10 years this Christmas.
These are detainees who have no money. No money to call anyone, not their families, not their attorneys ( if they have them ).
I managed to get released, because I am reasonably articulate and know my rights. I was raising hell when in illegal detention and I guess the INS authorities decided that they had had enough of me!!
This e-mail is not an attempt to focus on my situation, but on how INS, the DOJ and our government continues to detain legal immigrants and subject them to deportation proceedings. Attorneys ask ridiculous fees such as $30,000 - $ 60,000. If the person is eligible for bail bond, the figures range from $ 10,000 - $ 100,000. This very egalitarian system, tends to hence keep potential deportees with the means out of the grimy jails and INS detention holes.
I want to bring to your attention what is happening to the INS detainees. I have been trying to support them by placing orders for Christmas and holiday cards made by them. These are talented men, with hope. They dream of being reunited with their families who live here in San Jose and San Francisco. They need the money to make phone calls to their families. They need money to buy food. Yes the County jails sell soup, razor blades and telephone calling cards ( $ 20 for 15 minutes ). Each collect call costs their family a minimum of $10.
I would appreciate if you could place an order for cards. They sell for $10 for 3 handmade cards, including shipping. $ 20 for 10 handmade cards. Please make your checks to " Education For All" and mail them to the address below. You can order cards for an office party, a family party and can be personalized with your message inside. Each card is hand made using colors that the inmates have to pay for. You cannot send them food or color pencils or pens. They have to buy them form the county jails they languish in.
You could also support the work that AAPPI does by sending us a check made to AAPPI. Education For All is a program of AAPPI
Have a nice Christmas and New Year.
Thanks
Kim Singh
Executive Director
Asian American Public Policy Institute
Education For All
4546 El Camino Real, Suite B10-129
Los Altos, CA 94022
Ph: 650 218 6016
* Most of the inmates I met with did not speak a word of English. The immigration courts do have translation capabilities, but the jails where the detainees are being housed, lack interpreters or even access to translation services. I would spend most of my time writing letters to the families and attorneys of the detainees.
* Most of the INS detainees are not aware of their rights, or the reasons why they were being deported. I saw legal residents with green cards, signing deportation orders agreeing to be deported to their " home " countries. Countries they had often left over 20 or 30 years ago. They were leaving behind careers, families, houses purchased with hard earned money and having paid taxes and social security deductions for 20 - 30 years. The US government keeps all this money that was being collected from the paychecks of the deportees. This money is just lost. Not exactly, it does help shore up our economy, when we go about giving tax cuts to the wealthy.
* Immigration court does not make public defenders available to detainees, unlike regular court. So most of these detainees who tend to be people of little or no means, show up in immigration court with no legal counsel and are so dazed and confused, that I saw detainees agree to be deported and sign the deportation order, just because they were tired of the abuse they experienced while in custody. They just want to get on with their lives.
* Medical facilities are denied to the inmates. True there are nurses who sell you medicine!! Prescription drugs are denied repeatedly. A Sikh inmate had ulcers on his tongue and was unable to eat food. But the " doctor " - Dr. Cassidy refused to prescribe medication to the inmate. Dr. Cassidy would send letters to INS in Washington DC asking for permission to prescribe medication. The permission would of course never be granted.
* Gay inmates get repeatedly raped by other inmates and by officers. I shared a cell with an inmate who told me of his harrowing experiences, as he was a transgender person. He would have been in detention for 10 years this Christmas.
These are detainees who have no money. No money to call anyone, not their families, not their attorneys ( if they have them ).
I managed to get released, because I am reasonably articulate and know my rights. I was raising hell when in illegal detention and I guess the INS authorities decided that they had had enough of me!!
This e-mail is not an attempt to focus on my situation, but on how INS, the DOJ and our government continues to detain legal immigrants and subject them to deportation proceedings. Attorneys ask ridiculous fees such as $30,000 - $ 60,000. If the person is eligible for bail bond, the figures range from $ 10,000 - $ 100,000. This very egalitarian system, tends to hence keep potential deportees with the means out of the grimy jails and INS detention holes.
I want to bring to your attention what is happening to the INS detainees. I have been trying to support them by placing orders for Christmas and holiday cards made by them. These are talented men, with hope. They dream of being reunited with their families who live here in San Jose and San Francisco. They need the money to make phone calls to their families. They need money to buy food. Yes the County jails sell soup, razor blades and telephone calling cards ( $ 20 for 15 minutes ). Each collect call costs their family a minimum of $10.
I would appreciate if you could place an order for cards. They sell for $10 for 3 handmade cards, including shipping. $ 20 for 10 handmade cards. Please make your checks to " Education For All" and mail them to the address below. You can order cards for an office party, a family party and can be personalized with your message inside. Each card is hand made using colors that the inmates have to pay for. You cannot send them food or color pencils or pens. They have to buy them form the county jails they languish in.
You could also support the work that AAPPI does by sending us a check made to AAPPI. Education For All is a program of AAPPI
Have a nice Christmas and New Year.
Thanks
Kim Singh
Executive Director
Asian American Public Policy Institute
Education For All
4546 El Camino Real, Suite B10-129
Los Altos, CA 94022
Ph: 650 218 6016
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Asian American Public Policy Institute
4546 El Camino Real, Suite B10-129, Los Altos CA 94022 policyinstitute [at] juno.com
The Policy Institute comprises of Asian American Community leaders and organizations across California, the U.D. and internationally. We have chapters in Northern and Southern California. Most Asian American community organizations across the state have some kind o affiliation with the Policy Institute. The Institute works at several levels:
Public policy: The Institute has think tanks in Northern and Southern California that work on policy issues that impact the Asian American communities across the States and the U.S.
Advocacy: The Institute regularly helps draft legislation and lobbies at Sacramento, Washington D.C. and the local level (City and county).
Electoral Politics: The Institute helps identify, groom and support Asian American candidates for local, Statewide and federal offices. We help them with endorsements, fundraising, grass root mobilization and get out the vote. Voter registration is one of the more popular programs we have in place. The Policy Institute is of the opinion that the Asian American community is in dire need to have our candidates elected to high offices across the U.S. The number if elected Asian Americans is not all representative of the large and ever growing Asian American communities across the U.S.
Norm Mineta as the Transportation Secretary on President Bush’s cabinet and Mike Honda the new Congressman from California are testimony to the increasing visibility of Asian Americans in the political realm.
Education: The Institute has a very popular program called “ Education For All”. EFA has a dedicated team of volunteers who help disenfranchised school districts across California and increasingly across the country; help get connected to the Internet. EFA has done some interesting work on campus across the U.S. on issues like: Asian American tenured faculty, Department for Asian American studies, more Asian languages in the languages being offered on campus, glass ceiling issues, affirmative action among others.
Healthcare: AAPPI has worked on several issues that impact healthcare of various communities including: women, communities of color and low-income communities. Affordable healthcare and insurance are issues AAPPI has been working on for years.
AAPPI has been exploring the impact of technology on healthcare and also in curtailing fraud.
Youth: AAPPI believes that youth programs are critical for our society. We have programs that work with disenfranchised youth and help them in various aspects:
Mentoring: AAPPI has a well-established mentoring program wherein youth are paired with Asian Americans working at major Silicon Valley corporations.
Asian Youth Gangs: AAPPI works with gangs at various levels. Our panel of attorneys provide pro-bono legal assistance. AAPPI works with the local, State and Federal corrective action departments to make the officers sensitive to the issues that are particular to Asian youth. We have Asian American youth volunteering and running these programs. Peer support means a lot more than a few well meaning adults.
Census 2000: AAPPI was actively involved in encouraging the Asian American community to cooperate with the Census authorities. It was critical that all people of color got counted in this exercise, as the typically get undercounted and that affects representation as Washington D.C, in funding and other ways that hit home. It was the result of a concerted effort to get undercounted communities recognized that California has now won an additional seat in the U.S. Congress.
Redistricting is a critical issue that AAPPI had been actively involved with at the City, County, State Assembly and Congressional levels. Asian American communities across the country stood to get split unless they spoke up. It was critical that Asian American communities do not get split up as that reduces their political presence and muffles their voices.
Community: AAPPI has worked on projects involving immigrants, domestic abuse, child abuse, hate crime, gay and lesbian issues, HIV and AIDS. The Institute has undertaken several projects in developing countries involving the education of children and women. AAPPI believes that education; health and financial independence of women are critical in empowering them.
Subsequent to 9.11.01 there have been a spate of hate crimes against Sikh and Muslim Americans across the US. AAPPI has been instrumental in conducting educational sessions on Sikhism and Islam. AAPPI has also been working with elected officials on introducing and widening the scope of existing hate crime legislation.
Workplace issues: AAPPI has worked for several years to help monitor and change the face of corporate U.S. to be more representative of the communities companies operate within. We try help the management realize that it is not enough that they hire large number of Asian American engineers, but that the higher levels of management need to be more representative too. AAPPI helps run diversity training sessions for Silicon Valley companies.
Some other training sessions conducted are on HIV and AIDS.
AAPPI has worked on issues regarding queer APIs at work. AAPPI has worked major hi-tech companies in Silicon Valley to pass domestic partnership (DP) benefits for the employees. AAPPI works closely with “ Pride At Work” to work on these issues.
Labor and Union organizing: This gets covered under workplace issues, but often has a much broader dimension. The Policy Institute is currently engaged in various issues:
Hi-tech companies in Silicon Valley abusing workers, denying the right to organize, using sweatshop tactics. HIB programmers being abused by U.S. corporations, Abuse of labor by multinational corporations in Asia is an area of considerable activity.
Human Rights: Human rights in China, Burma, Indonesia, sweatshop issues. The role that U.S. multinationals play in the persecution of labor internationally. Persecution by agents of the state (police, army, intelligence services) in the U.S. and abroad.
Within the U.S. AAPPI works with and monitors police departments in areas of racial profiling, sentencing of people of color. The monitoring of abuse of women, queers and people with HIV/ AIDS while incarcerated is an ongoing activity at AAPPI.
Asian AIDS Action: AAA is a program that AAPPI launched in initially in the Los Angeles area, and since 1999 in the south bay area in Northern California. AAA had its genesis in SAAA (South Asian AIDS Action) and now is a separate program. AAA focuses on various aspects of the HIV AIDS pandemic affecting the Asian American community. There are programs for outreach to both the queer and heterosexual AA communities. There are several initiatives to lobby local, State and Federal organizations on focusing government dollars and programs on affected AA communities across the U.S. AAA engages major pharmaceutical companies in expanding the scope of their clinical trials of AIDS drugs to the AA community and to certain Asian countries.
International action: AAA works extensively with AIDS Service organization across Asia. AAA has programs in various parts of India, Thailand and recently in China and Hong Kong. AAA has worked with AIDS service agencies across South East Asia, Pacific islands and parts of Asia. There is a continuous back and forth flow of migrants from Asia to the U.S., Canada and Europe and back to Asia. This is observed not just among recent immigrants but even with second and third generation immigrants. This results in a pattern of infection and transmission of infection both among queers and heterosexuals.
How you can get involved:
Volunteer: AAPPI has several ongoing projects, which need volunteers either for short durations or on an ongoing regular basis.
Support: AAPPI has a planned giving program in place. AAPPI also receives regular support from various major and small corporations for its various programs. If you work at a major company, your employer could match your donations to AAPPI.
Internships: AAPPI regularly takes in interns. Interns typically work on short-term projects in one of the above areas of focus. Successful internships often get converted into full time staff positions at AAPPI.
Contact:
Kim Singh
Executive Director
Asian American Public Policy Institute
650 346 5998
kim_singh [at] yahoo.com, kimsingh [at] juno.com
I asked Kim Singh some questions to get more details about his case. He insists that he doesn't want this article to be about him, but I think that his story is a good example of the very least of the troubles that the ICE is causing for the people who it detains.
Kim Singh has been a legal resident the whole time that he has lived in the US, and he has had a green card since 1994. In 2003, he had to go back to India for several months to bury his father and to help his mother to deal with the estate and adjusting to her new life without her husband. When he got back to SFO, his green card was taken from him. Since September of 2003, Kim Singh has been in court every two months.
On September 27th, 2005, Singh had a court date. The judge was prepared to close the case, but the opposing attorney called in a "witness-" an ICE inspector. She told the judge that she could not disclose why the ICE wanted to detain Singh. Three weeks later, he found out that it had been a case of mistaken identity- Singh's full name is the same as that of a Sacramento man who was wanted by the ICE. At a court date in November, he was ordered released. Many other people do not get released at this point, because the other side has 30 days to appeal. Singh was lucky in that the attorney for ICE was a substitute, and in that the ICE seemed to have lost his file. For less articulate and fortunate people, this appeal process gets very complicated, with court dates in places like Washington, DC, and being moved to detention centers all over the place.
Singh has tried to tell the SF Immigrant Rights Commission about his case. They said "What can we do? It's not our jurisdiction." I found this odd, because I remember that INS Watch had gotten San Francisco declared an "INS-Free Zone." Singh also took three buses to go to the office of congressperson Anna Eschew. He was only able to meet with her staff. Their response to his story? "How is your shopping coming along? Would you like some egg nog?"
Kim Singh says that he and his attorneys are working on the naturalization process. He recommends that people who are eligible for citizenship apply for it, so the government can't do to them what it has done to people like him, and so they can vote or even run for office.
Singh says that he does not want us to dwell on what has happened to him, but rather on what the ICE is continuing to do. They can get away with this, he says, because 99% of the other immigrants who are detained are not as articulate, and once they get deported, there does not seem to be any additional recourse- they feel that they must get on with their lives.
Kim Singh has been a legal resident the whole time that he has lived in the US, and he has had a green card since 1994. In 2003, he had to go back to India for several months to bury his father and to help his mother to deal with the estate and adjusting to her new life without her husband. When he got back to SFO, his green card was taken from him. Since September of 2003, Kim Singh has been in court every two months.
On September 27th, 2005, Singh had a court date. The judge was prepared to close the case, but the opposing attorney called in a "witness-" an ICE inspector. She told the judge that she could not disclose why the ICE wanted to detain Singh. Three weeks later, he found out that it had been a case of mistaken identity- Singh's full name is the same as that of a Sacramento man who was wanted by the ICE. At a court date in November, he was ordered released. Many other people do not get released at this point, because the other side has 30 days to appeal. Singh was lucky in that the attorney for ICE was a substitute, and in that the ICE seemed to have lost his file. For less articulate and fortunate people, this appeal process gets very complicated, with court dates in places like Washington, DC, and being moved to detention centers all over the place.
Singh has tried to tell the SF Immigrant Rights Commission about his case. They said "What can we do? It's not our jurisdiction." I found this odd, because I remember that INS Watch had gotten San Francisco declared an "INS-Free Zone." Singh also took three buses to go to the office of congressperson Anna Eschew. He was only able to meet with her staff. Their response to his story? "How is your shopping coming along? Would you like some egg nog?"
Kim Singh says that he and his attorneys are working on the naturalization process. He recommends that people who are eligible for citizenship apply for it, so the government can't do to them what it has done to people like him, and so they can vote or even run for office.
Singh says that he does not want us to dwell on what has happened to him, but rather on what the ICE is continuing to do. They can get away with this, he says, because 99% of the other immigrants who are detained are not as articulate, and once they get deported, there does not seem to be any additional recourse- they feel that they must get on with their lives.
I would like to support the INS detainees by placing an order for 100 cards. Please make them generic, so that we may use them after the holiday season is over.
I know of several Chinese Americans who have been deported by INS. They were legal residents and had families and homes here in the US. They were of low income and could not afford good legal representation. INS does not make available legal representation if you cannot an attorney.
Asian Law Alliance in San Jose was of no help. They should be not listed as an agency that detainees can call.
Thanks
Damon Chen
Asian AIDS Action
I have met with Mr. Kim Singh on several occasions. He has been doing excellent work on immigrant rights for a long time. He had helped organize the AFL-CIO hearings on immigrant rights abuses a few years back. I also heard him at the Art Of Living seminar on world peace where he was a main speaker and a panelist.
Mr. Kim Singh also produces a TV program at the community TV station KMVT15 in Mountain View.
It is sad that the US government persecutes such well-known personalities. What about unknown immigrants who are not comfortable with English?
This country is increasingly becoming very much a fascist country.
Radha Basu
Mr. Kim Singh also produces a TV program at the community TV station KMVT15 in Mountain View.
It is sad that the US government persecutes such well-known personalities. What about unknown immigrants who are not comfortable with English?
This country is increasingly becoming very much a fascist country.
Radha Basu
There is a happy ending to Kim Singh's saga with INS and ICE. On Nov 28 2007 Kim Singh became a naturalized US citizen. Kim was sworn in. Then a video was played, with President Bush addressing the gathering of over 500 immigrants, most of whom must have experienced harrasement at the hands of the US government representatives as did Kim Singh. As Bush spoke there was a single solitary boo from the gathering of freshly sworn US citizens. Heads turned around. It was Kim Singh. He booed at Bush once again, as if to make sure that his discontent had been registered. Look out America, look out ICE..
Kim Singh is now a US citizen ! Citizen Kim.
Kim Singh is now a US citizen ! Citizen Kim.
Did this guy, Deep Kim Singh, get deported or not? There is a video of him on Youtube related to some Zoom Entertainment Network in India posted sometime in 2008, so it seems like the US INS deported him? I guess that means he lied about being released from detention; I am not surprised. He seems to have some pathological propensity for lying. In the US, he claimed to be the founder or executive for several bay area tech companies, like IBM, AAPI (Asian American Policy Institute), Megabyte, PortaEnterprise, etc. His employment history cannot be verified, and these organizations also seem to be "shell organizations" made to help him seem "legitimate" for whatever current lie or life he is fabricating.
My comments are based on just what I know. Please do your own fact-checking when being approached by this person (or anyone else who seems kinda shady).
My comments are based on just what I know. Please do your own fact-checking when being approached by this person (or anyone else who seems kinda shady).
This comment may have been written by Kim Singh himself. Any way to verify?
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