Author: Diego Graglia

Bio: Diego Graglia is a bilingual multimedia journalist who has worked at major media outlets in the U.S. and Latin America. He is currently the editor-in-chief at Expansion, Meixco’s leading business magazine.

Contributions:

AP Study Shows "The High Cost" of Immigrant Detention

Posted on: 16 Mar 2009

By Diego Graglia, FI2W web editor Raymond Soeoth, a 41-year-old Pentecostal minister from Indonesia, spent more than two years under detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement after his asylum claim was denied. Even after he agreed to be deported, he was drugged through forced injections — only to learn, while hallucinating at the airport, that […]

Organization of American States To Hold Hearing On Immigrant Detention Conditions In The U.S.

Posted on: 12 Mar 2009

By Diego Graglia, FI2W web editor The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights announced this week it will hold a hearing on conditions at detention centers for undocumented immigrants in the U.S. The hearings come after a series of detainee deaths prompted complaints from immigrant and civil rights organizations. According to a story on Univision.com, the […]

Controversial E-Verify Program Poised for Extension Until Sept. 30

Posted on: 11 Mar 2009

By Diego Graglia, FI2W web editor The employee immigration status verification system known as E-Verify –hailed by conservatives, criticized by immigrant advocates– expired Friday. But the Senate was poised to renew it through Sept. 30 as part of the massive spending bill it approved yesterday. E-Verify, which allows employers to check the immigration status of […]

Obama Administration May Revise Controversial Immigration Enforcement Program

Posted on: 10 Mar 2009

By Diego Graglia, FI2W web editor After a federal program that empowers local authorities to enforce immigration laws was severely criticized in an official report last week, a Homeland Security official told Congress that the agency is working on modifications to the program. Still, pro-immigrant voices argue the 287g program –named after the section of […]

Alleged Killers of Ecuadorian Immigrant Indicted: Could Face Up To 78 Years In Prison

Posted on: 04 Mar 2009

By Diego Graglia, FI2W web editor The men accused of killing Jose Sucuzhañay, the Ecuadorian immigrant beaten to death with a bottle and a baseball bat on a Brooklyn street last December, have been indicted under charges of murder as a hate crime and could face up to 78 years in prison. Keith Phoenix, 28, […]

Haitians in South Florida Rally To Demand End To Deportations

Posted on: 27 Feb 2009

By Macollvie Jean-François MIAMI  — Tomorrow, South Florida activists expect 2,000 to 4,000 supporters to attend a rally seeking Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians and to urge lawmakers to put a stop to deportations of undocumented Haitian immigrants. The rally is scheduled to take place in front of the Broward Transitional Center in Pompano […]

Napolitano Orders Review of First Work-Site Immigration Raid Under Her Watch

Posted on: 26 Feb 2009

By Diego Graglia, FI2W web editor When Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents raided an engine remanufacturing plant in Bellingham, Wash. on Tuesday, it looked like the Bush administration policy of work-site enforcement would continue under the new White House. This, despite President Barack Obama’s campaign statement that “communities are terrorized by ICE immigration raids.” “The […]

In Response To Obama, Bobby Jindal Offers His Own Immigrant Story

Posted on: 25 Feb 2009

By Diego Graglia, FI2W web editor Anchoring his message in his family’s immigrant story, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal last night was launched into the national political arena as one of the Republican Party’s rising stars. As the party itself tries to relaunch its image following its losses in the November election, Jindal, whose parents immigrated from India when his […]

Obama Says He Is "Very Committed" To Immigration Reform, Will Start Working On It Soon

Posted on: 20 Feb 2009

Between signing the stimulus bill into law and traveling to Canada, President Barack Obama found time Wednesday to fulfill a campaign promise: he went back on the air with the nation’s most popular Spanish-language radio host, Los Angeles-based Eddie “Piolín” Sotelo. In addition to the usual jokes and amiable bantering, the phone interview produced a […]

In California and Elsewhere, Latinos Disproportionately Affected By Recession

Posted on: 19 Feb 2009

Sara Espinosa chose to sleep on the street rather than leave her 12-year-old son to spend the night alone at a men-only homeless shelter. As a consequence, Sara, her son and her two daughters have been sleeping in her car. Espinosa is one of hundreds of people in conditions of extreme poverty in Imperial Valley, […]