L.A. CONFERENCE ADDRESSES IMMIGRANT RIGHTS, ABUSES.Byline: Martha Bellisle Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. Immigrants, documented and undocumented alike, deserve the same rights afforded all people, activists from across the country seeking reforms in U.S. immigration immigration, entrance of a person (an alien) into a new country for the purpose of establishing permanent residence. Motives for immigration, like those for migration generally, are often economic, although religious or political factors may be very important. and refugee policy said Sunday as they closed a three-day conference. ``There's a need for a broader human rights movement for people with or without documents,'' said Cathi Tactaquin, director of the Oakland-based National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, one of the event's sponsoring groups. ``We can't have rights just for people with citizenship. ``Right now, the general public accepts the criminalization crim·i·nal·ize tr.v. crim·i·nal·ized, crim·i·nal·iz·ing, crim·i·nal·iz·es 1. To impose a criminal penalty on or for; outlaw. 2. To treat as a criminal. of immigrants and accepts law enforcement measures regardless of how extreme they may be. But we see them as violations of human rights.'' People leave their home countries for a variety of reasons. The U.S. government has responded with immigration policies that emphasize law enforcement, she said. ``Their tactics contribute to a climate of fear, repression and discrimination against immigrants and people of color Noun 1. people of color - a race with skin pigmentation different from the white race (especially Blacks) people of colour, colour, color race - people who are believed to belong to the same genetic stock; "some biologists doubt that there are important .'' Another sponsoring group, Immigration Law Enforcement Monitoring Project, presented a report documenting human rights abuses by the U.S. Border Patrol in the Rio Grande Valley in south Texas. Border Patrol agents have kicked, sexually assaulted and shot people suspected of being undocumented, and these officers are not held accountable for their actions because there is no effective system to review complaints against them, the report said. A phone message left with INS INS abbr. 1. Immigration and Naturalization Service 2. International News Service Noun 1. INS officials requesting a response to the allegations was not immediately returned. ``As we sit here discussing defending human dignity, that very dignity is being violated,'' said Nathan Selzer, coordinator for ILEMP, based in Harlingen, Texas. ``Someone is being abused. Someone's door is being kicked in. We need to encourage them to document that abuse in order to bring about change.'' The conference, held on the University of Southern California The U.S. News & World Report ranked USC 27th among all universities in the United States in its 2008 ranking of "America's Best Colleges", also designating it as one of the "most selective universities" for admitting 8,634 of the almost 34,000 who applied for freshman admission campus, followed a recently released report by Amnesty International Amnesty International (AI,) human-rights organization founded in 1961 by Englishman Peter Benenson; it campaigns internationally against the detention of prisoners of conscience, for the fair trial of political prisoners, to abolish the death penalty and torture of charging that some Border Patrol agents have abused the people they've detained. ``There is credible evidence that persons detained by the INS have been subjected to cruel, inhumane in·hu·mane adj. Lacking pity or compassion. in  hu·mane ly adv. or degrading treatment, including
beatings, sexual assault, denial of medical attention, and denial of
food, water and warmth for long periods,'' the Amnesty report
found.
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