Archive for August 2008

Hurricane Katrina - Then and Now

 

As we mark the 3rd anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and the on-going man made disaster, here are two resources that we would like to share with you.  Trouble the Water is a new documentary which chronicles the amazing and tragic survival story of one couple during and after Hurricane Katrina. A Long Way Home: The State of Housing Recovery in Louisiana 2008, a new report by Policy Link, shows where rental housing is returning, the funding gaps that remain for far too many homeowners and snapshots of the heavily damaged neighborhoods that still exist in New Orleans, post-Katrina.


                  

MIRA Responds to ICE Raid

 

Hundreds of Workers Held in Immigration Raid

By Adam Nossiter

Source: New York Times

August 26, 2008

 

Laurel, Miss. - In another large-scale workplace immigration crackdown, federal officials raided a factory here on Monday, detaining at least 350 workers they said were in the country illegally….

 

Bill Chandler, executive director of the Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance, called the Laurel raid a violation of human rights.

 

‘We’re very disturbed at what’s happened,’ Mr. Chandler said. ‘It’s a real contradiction between our proclaimed values of hard work and family in Mississippi and the actions of local law enforcement, and ICE. I think it’s a real affront to our values. They’re creating their own terrorism by going after workers.’” Click here to read the full article.