Community Forum on Criminal Justice and Immigration Systems

By Aundra M. Berry

On Wednesday, January 25, 2006, the Racial Justice Campaign hosted a community forum in Calhoun, Georgia. Representatives from the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the Immigration Defense Project and Families for Freedom met with translators, supporters and families affected by the racially targeted arrests and prosecutions for South Asian merchants in the wake of the US Drug Enforcement Agency’s Operation Meth Merchant efforts.

The goal of the forum was two-fold: 1) to explain the complexities of the US legal system and immigration system to South Asian immigrants, and 2) empowering South Asians to advocate for their own legal defense and immigration strategy in response to the devastating arrests of 49 merchants in the Rome area.

The Racial Justice Campaign seeks to empower South Asian immigrants to become advocates with their lawyers in the fight to stop Operation Meth Merchant. Members of the communities affected by OMM were able to find answers to their most urgent questions regarding the sentencing procedures in US District Court. Immigration attorneys also worked to counter misinformation given to defendants regarding the effect of criminal charges on their immigration status and/or deportation.