The US has issued subpoenas to three Puerto Rican activists to appear before a federal grand jury in New York on Jan. 11. The activists have been identified as graphic designer Tania Frontera, social worker Christopher Torres and filmmaker Julio Antonio Pabon. There are indications that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is also trying to locate Hector Rivera, one of the founders of the Welfare Poets, a New York-based collective of activists and poets, in order to serve him with a subpoena.

On Dec. 10, some 150 people marched to the federal building in Hartford, CT, to demand an end to immigration raids. Activists were upset about the arrest of 21 Brazilian immigrants in early November in the city's Parkville neighborhood in a joint operation between local police and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. Local police said they had asked ICE to help them search for a Brazilian man being sought on attempted murder and robbery charges. They didn't find the suspect, but ICE picked up 21 other people suspected of being in the US without permission.

A Mexican citizen who is in the US legally has filed the first lawsuit challenging the aggressive immigration-enforcement efforts of Sheriff Joe Arpaio in Arizona's Maricopa County, charging unlawful detainment and racial profiling. The suit seeks a declaratory judgment that Arpaio's actions are unconstitutional, and injunctions prohibiting the use of Arpaio's anti-immigration hotline and directing the Sheriff's Office to disband its Illegal Immigration Interdiction unit.

The Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO) agreed Dec. 14 to postpone demolition of three public housing projects pending a hearing before City Council. Opponents of the demolition had filed a suit contending the Council's consent was required by the city charter. Work crews were to start demolition over the weekend in a plan to replace 4,500 public housing units with "mixed-income, mixed-use" development. "We knew the law, HANO knew the law, maybe they forgot it," said civil rights lawyer Tracie Washington. Demolition at a fourth complex, BW Cooper, continued because the Council had approved its demolition four years ago.

For once we get some joy from being able to say "told you so." When the Liberty Seven were first busted lasted year, we called out the case against them as bogus. It is a glimmer of hope that a jury agreed with us. From VOA, Dec. 13:

Terror Trial in Miami Ends in One Acquittal, Six Mistrials
A federal jury in Florida has cleared a man accused of plotting terrorist attacks in the United States, but said it was unable to agree on a verdict for six other defendants.

Gee, good thing we don't have to worry about anti-Semitism anymore. From AP via Newsday, Dec. 11:

Police: NYC subway riders beaten after 'Happy Hanukkah' greeting
NEW YORK — Four Jewish subway riders who wished other people "Happy Hanukkah" were pelted with anti-Semitic remarks before being beaten, police and prosecutors said. The incident was being investigated as a possible hate crime.

On Nov. 27, Somali immigrant Nuradin Abdi was sentenced to 10 years in prison in US District Court in Columbus, Ohio, for his role in an alleged plot to bomb a shopping mall. Abdi, a cell phone salesperson before his November 2003 arrest, pleaded guilty in July 2007 of one count of conspiring to provide material support to terrorists. [In 2004, questions were raised about whether Abdi's mental state had been broken through torture while he was in immigration detention—see Immigration News Briefs, July 31, 2004]. Abdi first entered the US in 1995 with a false passport and was later granted asylum "based on a series of false statements," according to the Department of Justice (DOJ). A DOJ spokesperson said Abdi would be deported to Somalia after serving his prison term.

In a 71-page report released on Dec. 7, Human Rights Watch urged the Department of Homeland Security to upgrade its care and treatment of immigration detainees with HIV, the virus associated with AIDS. According to the watchdog organization, the agency fails to monitor medical care for detainees with HIV, and doesn't even know the extent of the problem among the nearly 30,000 people it holds in immigration detention on any given day. "The US government has no idea how many of these immigrants have HIV or AIDS, how many need treatment, and how many are receiving the care that is necessary," said Megan McLemore of Human Rights Watch's HIV/AIDS program.