Latest news with #BlackAllianceforJustImmigration
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump letting in white South Africans into U.S. draws backlash
The Brief The Trump administration's decision to grant refugee status to 59 white South Africans is causing controversy among immigrant communities and civil rights advocates. Critics argue that there is no genocide against white people in South Africa, and the decision reflects hypocrisy and racism. Supporters of President Trump defend the decision, while others call for kindness and equality regardless of skin color. At Spice Salon, a beauty shop in Mid-City Los Angeles, the chatter isn't about haircuts — it's about headlines. "Every client that comes in, that's all they talk about," said Kehinde Ololade, the owner of Spice Salon and a Nigerian immigrant. The focus of the conversation: the Trump Administration's move to grant refugee status to 59 white South Africans. The decision is drawing sharp criticism from immigrant communities and civil rights advocates alike. "It's hypocrisy mixed with a nice cup of racism," said a woman getting her hair styled at the salon. Hair stylist Terry Holloway added, "I think it's very unfair that he wants to deport other people, but wants to bring in others... that doesn't make any sense to me." When pressed by reporters about why this group is being welcomed while others fleeing war and famine from places like Sudan and the Congo are being turned away, President Trump defended the decision. "It's a genocide that's taking place that you people don't want to write about," Trump said. "But it's a terrible thing, farmers are being killed... they happen to be white." But immigration advocates and fact-checkers say that claim doesn't hold up. Nana Gyamfi, executive director of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration, pushed back strongly. "There is no genocide going on against white people in South Africa — there never has been," she said. "Some white South Africans may be struggling to adjust to the changes since the end of apartheid, but that doesn't mean they're being persecuted. No, they can no longer enslave Africans and live the way they did during apartheid — that doesn't qualify them for refugee status, which has very specific criteria. And they absolutely do not qualify." Still, supporters of the president are defending his decision. Roxanne Hoge, chair of the Los Angeles County Republican Party, said: "There comes a time when you realize everything President Trump does is going to be roundly criticized by the usual suspects. Immigration is the purview of the federal government, and President Trump is doing what he believes is best for Americans." Back at Spice Salon, owner Ololade has this message for the president: "I would tell him to be kind to everyone. Regardless of their skin color, whether they're disabled, whether they have or they don't — just be kind."
Yahoo
12-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Know Your Rights: Immigrant Legal Resources
Uchechukwu Onwa likens his three-month detention by immigration agents — when he was apprehended at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson Airport in 2017 after fleeing homophobic violence in his Nigerian homeland — to the treatment of African ancestors being transported to America during the Transatlantic Slave Trade. 'I was handcuffed from my hands down to my waist and my legs,' said Onwa, who now serves as an organizer at the Black Alliance for Just Immigration, an advocacy group for Black immigrants from Africa, the Caribbean, and Latin America. He recalls the discomfort and inhumanity of having his ankle and wrist chained to a hospital bed while he received medical treatment — all because he was wrongly told his visa was insufficient to enter the country. 'I saw first hand the injustices and abuse that Black migrants are experiencing in detention.' Onwa shares the rising concern that such experiences will become more common for Black Atlantans due to a nationwide crackdown on undocumented immigration, reflected through both federal law and policies. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents, along with other local and federal law enforcement, have reportedly detained MARTA riders and made arrests at metro-area churches in January. That same month, President Donald Trump signed into law the Laken Riley Act, which requires the Department of Homeland Security to detain any undocumented immigrant who admits to or has been arrested, charged, or convicted of burglary, theft, larceny, or shoplifting; assault of a police officer; or 'any crime that results in death or serious bodily injury.' Immigration attorneys and immigrant rights groups have decried the law as another tool to target undocumented migrants that won't actually help make communities any safer. Racially biased policing practices result in Black immigrants being stopped, searched and arrested more frequently than non-Black immigrants. There were 190,000 Black immigrants living in the Atlanta metro area in 2019, making it the fourth-largest population of its kind in the United States, according to Pew Research. 'Our experiences as Black immigrants is different,' said Onwa. 'With the current political climate, I think this is really the time for Black communities to get together and organize.' Amid ICE raids and other deportation efforts happening with growing frequency, legal services and advocacy groups have stepped up to offer assistance to those in need. Capital B Atlanta has compiled a list of legal and organizing resources for Black immigrants in metro Atlanta. Organizations that have an existing relationship with detention facilities are noted. Location: Norcross Phone number: (770) 685-1499 Email: help@ Non-legal status accepted: Yes Fee charged?: Yes Detention facilities: Atlanta City Detention Center, Cobb County Jail, Hall County Jail, Irwin County Detention Center, North Georgia Detention Center, Stewart Detention Center, Whitfield County Jail Location: Atlanta Phone number: (770) 938-1112 Email: info@ Non-legal status accepted: Yes Fee charged?: Yes Location: Atlanta Phone number: (678) 222-3920 Non-legal status accepted: Yes Fee charged?: Sometimes Detention facilities: Folkston ICE Processing Center, Stewart Detention Center Location: Atlanta Phone number: (678) 335-6040 Email: info@ Non-legal status accepted: Yes Fee charged?: No Detention facilities: Atlanta City Detention Center Location: Riverdale Phone number: (404) 907-1927 Email: dan@ Non-legal status accepted: Yes Fee charged?: Yes Location: Atlanta Phone number: (404) 500-8097 Email: Non-legal status accepted: Yes Fee charged?: Yes Location: Atlanta Phone number: (404) 292-7731 Email: Non-legal status accepted: No Fee charged?: Yes Location: Atlanta Phone number: (404) 334-9170 Email: infoatlanta@ Non-legal status accepted: No Fee charged?: No Location: Atlanta Phone number: (404) 844-5205 Text: (470) 620-5157 Email: Non-legal status accepted: Yes Fee charged?: Yes Location: Atlanta and Norcross Phone number: (404) 471-1889 or (678) 205-1018 Non-legal status accepted: Yes Fee charged?: Yes Location: Tucker Phone number: (404) 299-2185 Email: tapestri@ Non-legal status accepted: Yes Fee charged?: No Location: Atlanta Phone number: (347) 464-5422 Email: info@ Location: Atlanta Phone number: (470) 890-2932 Location: Atlanta; Decatur; Clarkston Phone number: (404) 875-0201 Location: Atlanta Email: vmills@ Location: Decatur Phone number: (404) 437-7767 Location: Atlanta Phone number: (404) 292-7731 The post Know Your Rights: Immigrant Legal Resources appeared first on Capital B News - Atlanta.
