Ravi Ragbir, co-founder and executive director of the New Sanctuary Coalition and his wife, Amy Gottlieb, a longtime immigrant rights advocate with the American Friends Service Committee. (Photo:Screenshot/Democracy Now!)
Jan 30, 2018
On Monday, a federal judge in New York City ordered the immediate release of immigrant rights leader Ravi Ragbir from immigration jail, calling his detention "unnecessarily cruel." In a decision read aloud from the bench, District Judge Katherine Forrest said Ragbir had "the freedom to say goodbye," and compared his treatment to that of "regimes we revile as unjust, regimes where those who have long lived in a country may be taken without notice from streets, home, and work. And sent away. We are not that country; and woe be the day that we become that country under a fiction that laws allow it."
Ragbir is the executive director of the New Sanctuary Coalition. He's one of a handful of high-profile immigrant rights activists who have been targeted by the Trump administration. For more on his release and what's next, we speak with Ravi Ragbir; his wife, immigrant rights advocate Amy Gottlieb; and Ravi's lawyer, Alina Das, co-director of the Immigrant Rights Clinic at NYU School of Law.
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Democracy Now!
Democracy Now! is a national, daily, independent, award-winning news program hosted by journalists Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez.
On Monday, a federal judge in New York City ordered the immediate release of immigrant rights leader Ravi Ragbir from immigration jail, calling his detention "unnecessarily cruel." In a decision read aloud from the bench, District Judge Katherine Forrest said Ragbir had "the freedom to say goodbye," and compared his treatment to that of "regimes we revile as unjust, regimes where those who have long lived in a country may be taken without notice from streets, home, and work. And sent away. We are not that country; and woe be the day that we become that country under a fiction that laws allow it."
Ragbir is the executive director of the New Sanctuary Coalition. He's one of a handful of high-profile immigrant rights activists who have been targeted by the Trump administration. For more on his release and what's next, we speak with Ravi Ragbir; his wife, immigrant rights advocate Amy Gottlieb; and Ravi's lawyer, Alina Das, co-director of the Immigrant Rights Clinic at NYU School of Law.
Democracy Now!
Democracy Now! is a national, daily, independent, award-winning news program hosted by journalists Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez.
On Monday, a federal judge in New York City ordered the immediate release of immigrant rights leader Ravi Ragbir from immigration jail, calling his detention "unnecessarily cruel." In a decision read aloud from the bench, District Judge Katherine Forrest said Ragbir had "the freedom to say goodbye," and compared his treatment to that of "regimes we revile as unjust, regimes where those who have long lived in a country may be taken without notice from streets, home, and work. And sent away. We are not that country; and woe be the day that we become that country under a fiction that laws allow it."
Ragbir is the executive director of the New Sanctuary Coalition. He's one of a handful of high-profile immigrant rights activists who have been targeted by the Trump administration. For more on his release and what's next, we speak with Ravi Ragbir; his wife, immigrant rights advocate Amy Gottlieb; and Ravi's lawyer, Alina Das, co-director of the Immigrant Rights Clinic at NYU School of Law.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.