Approximately 200-500 Tamils have risked their lives in an extremely long and dangerous journey looking for a place where they can live in safety. We say: LET THEM STAY! No One is Illegal calls on all allies, fighters, trouble makers and social justice activists to organize and fight the racist and anti-immigrant sentiments and policies of the Canadian government and society. Stay tuned for more information on how to support. For now, take a minute to post the image above as your facebook profile pic, or print it and display it on your window, office, school.

Uphold the Rights of Tamil Migrants aboard MV Sun Sea

August 11, Vancouver – The immigrant and refugee rights group No One Is Illegal is demanding that Canadian government officials respect the human rights of the estimated 200-500 Tamil migrants aboard the MV Sun Sea. The boat is expected to land by the weekend and the detainees will be transferred to Fraser Regional Corrections Centre and Alouette Correctional Centre for Women, who have both prepared for a 3-4 month incarceration. Based on reports in the media, the group includes up to 100 women and children, and there has been at least one death during the voyage.

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By Terri Judd, Saturday, 7 August 2010, Independent.co.uk

The traumatic toll of detention on the children of asylum seekers will be exposed in a new report. “State Sponsored Cruelty”, due to be published by Medical Justice in September, found that two-thirds of children became ill or were hurt after being held in detention centres. They include a three-year-old girl who broke her shoulder falling down stairs. Pressure was building yesterday on the Government to honour a promise made in the Queen’s Speech in May to act quickly to outlaw the detention of young asylum seekers, a practice Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has described as a “moral outrage”.

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New America Media, News Report, Khalil Abdullah, Posted: Aug 06, 2010

WASHINGTON – While public attention has focused on state policies toward immigrants — namely, Arizona’s controversial immigration law – federal authorities have for years criminalized border crossers. The federal policy called Operation Streamline, initiated in 2005 by the U.S. Departments of Homeland Security and Justice, moves the prosecution of undocumented immigrants from civil to criminal courts and ultimately to deportation. The program’s success in curbing illegal immigration is still debatable, but if there has been one beneficiary, it’s the for-profit prison industry, according to a report recently released by Grassroots Leadership.

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By Chad Skelton, Vancouver Sun July 9, 2010

VANCOUVER — The Canada Border Services Agency now admits it has no proof that 25 Sri Lankan boat migrants it labelled as terrorists and kept behind bars for months were in fact members of the outlawed Tamil Tigers. Last month, The Vancouver Sun obtained a secret CBSA report that stated there were “reasonable grounds” to believe a third of the 76 migrants who arrived in B.C. on the Ocean Lady migrant ship last October were members of the Tamil Tigers.

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Thu Apr. 08 2010 11:38:38 AM, ctvottawa.ca

The imam of Ottawa’s largest mosque will be able to stay in Canada and continue his work in the capital now that the government has renewed his visa. Khaled Abdul-Hamid Syed was ordered to leave the country last month when immigration officials refused his application to renew his visa. Last week, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said the deportation order appeared to stem from a problem with documents submitted with Syed’s application.

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