Barred From Their Own Homes

February 5, 2016

People of color victimized by NYPD tactic, reporters find; . . . one woman's list of 13 black investigative reporters; Dallas Morning News rehires 10 of 19 people it let go; NABJ, CNN meeting again — association's deficit swells; remembering the sound, if not the face, of Maurice White; AP finds Clinton errs on Wall Street —; Sanders on wealthy; little press for U.N. group's call for reparations in U.S.; BuzzFeed finds quiet crackdown on Indian immigrants; diversity coalition expands focus from TV to big screen (2/5/16)

People of Color Victimized by NYPD Tactic, Reporters Find

. . . One Woman's List of 13 Black Investigative Reporters

Dallas Morning News Rehires 10 of 19 People It Let Go

NABJ, CNN Meeting Again; Association Deficit Swells

Remembering the Sound, if Not the Face, of Maurice White

AP Finds Clinton Errs on Wall Street; Sanders on Wealthy

Little Press for U.N. Group's Call for Reparations in U.S.

BuzzFeed Finds Quiet Crackdown on Indian Immigrants

"The number of Indian nationals caught trying to cross the southern border into the U.S. exploded suddenly in 2010, growing sixfold to 1,200 from just over 200 the year prior,"David Noriega and John Templon reported Sunday for BuzzFeed.

"Although the number has oscillated since then, it has remained near an all-time high. And that includes only those caught trying to cross undetected, leaving out . . . thousands, mostly young men, who walk up to a border crossing, turn themselves in, and plead asylum. The total number of Indian nationals who tried to enter the U.S. without papers, including through airports and other points of entry, also spiked in the last five years, peaking at close to 13,000 in 2013, more than double the number in 2009.

"Much of this influx, according to dozens of interviews with immigrants, experts, and current and former immigration officials, comes from young Indian men at the border, ferried there by transnational smuggling networks.

"Although border authorities do not track the religious or regional origins of migrants, government officials and other observers say that large numbers of the new arrivals are Sikhs from Punjab, a region in northwestern India beset by economic collapse and environmental degradation, a major drug epidemic, and decades of what human rights groups describe as political violence carried out with impunity.

"The American immigration enforcement apparatus has responded harshly to these new arrivals. Before the spike, only about a quarter of Indian nationals were detained at the beginning of their deportation hearings. But, according to federal data analyzed for the first time by BuzzFeed News, that percentage shot up dramatically around 2010, coinciding with the rise in Indian nationals at the border.

"In 2013 . . . 83% of Indians facing deportation were imprisoned — a far larger percentage than for immigrants from any other country, including Mexico, which had the highest overall rate of detention between 2003 and 2014. (BuzzFeed News obtained the data through a Freedom of Information Act request from the Executive Office for Immigration Review, or EOIR, the branch of the Justice Department that operates the country’s immigration courts.) . . ."

Diversity Coalition Expands Focus From TV to Big Screen

"Organizations representing Hispanics, Asian-Americans and Native Americans, who joined with the NAACP in 2000 to increase minority hiring in the TV industry, are broadening their focus to the big screen,"Lynn Elber reported from Los Angeles Thursday for the Associated Press.

"The Multi-Ethnic Media Coalition called Thursday on Sony, Warner Bros., Fox, Universal, Paramount and Disney to enter discussions aimed at bringing full diversity to on- and off-camera jobs, including the executive ranks.

"The uproar over this year's all-white cast of Academy Award acting nominees helped set the stage for the new effort, coalition leaders said. Latino representation in the nominees was only behind the camera, led by the Mexican filmmakers of 'The Revenant': director Alejandro Inarritu and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki.

"'Now is the time, while there's a lot of attention focused on this,' said Daniel Mayeda, co-chair of the Asian Pacific American Media Coalition, one of the umbrella group's members.

"While the movie academy hastily adopted new rules aimed at breaking up future white monopolies for the Oscars, the studios and their hiring practices are the root of the problem, he said. . . ."