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News
(See also CCSJ Events and Other Events)
(See also CCSJ Events and Other Events)
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NAACP Essay Contest
The Morgantown/Kingwood NAACP and Greater St. Paul AME Church are providing students at elementary, middle, and high school levels the opportunity to participate in a civil rights writing competition (See Flyer). This year's general theme is "What’s Different Today? Civil Rights Before and After Martin Luther King.” Essays must be a minimum of 300 words and must focus on a civil rights topic (not on Martin Luther King’s biography) (See Guidelines).
Essays should be submitted by email: morgantown.naacp3241@gmail.com,or by mail:
NAACP Essay, NAACP Morgantown/Kingwood Branch, P.O. Box 4091, Morgantown, WV 26504-4091, together with an Entry Form.
Deadline: All entries must either be emailed by 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, December 18, 2019, or postmarked by December 18, 2019.
CCSJ Annual Report
To download and view the 2019-19 CCSJ Annual Report please click here.
ACLU OF West Virginia T-shirt
You can support the ACLU’s work for immigrant rights by buying a red or blue t-shirt that features the New River Gorge Bridge and the message of “Build Bridges Not Walls.” The shirts are $25 each and can be ordered at this webpage.
Fairness West Virginia Announces Human Rights Commission Municipal Scores
Fairness announced these scores, which are based on municipal law, on November 19th. Huntington scored a perfect 100, the first time a West Virginia city has achieved this score, while Charleston scored 91. In addition to those two cities, there are scores for Charles Town (45), Lewisburg (43), Morgantown (75), Parkersburg (13), and Wheeling (57).
Morgantown received a score of 30 out of 30 for non-discrimination laws and 8 of 8 for leadership on LGBTQ equality. We scored 14 of 28 on “municipality as employer,” 7 of 12 on “municipal services,” and 12 of 22 on “law enforcement.” Details of the Morgantown score are available here. The full index for the country is available here.
On Immigration and Customs Enforcement ICE) Activity in Monongalia County
There has been much discussion about reported recent ICE activity in Monongalia County. Lt. Matt Solomon, CCSJ’s liaison with the Morgantown Police Department, has provided the email below that Morgantown Police Chief Ed Preston received from ICE about that activity:
From: Walls, Khaalid H <Khaalid.H.Walls@ice.dhs.gov>
Sent: Saturday, August 24, 2019 11:32 AM
To: Ed Preston <epreston@morgantownwv.gov>
Subject: ICE Activity in West Virginia
Good morning Chief Preston,
At the request of the ICE field office leadership, I wanted to share some information about our recent law enforcement activities in the region. If you choose, you can make this information public, as you see fit. We have shared some of this with local media already. Thank you.
During the week Aug. 12, deportation officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested seven illegal aliens during targeted enforcement efforts in Monongalia and surrounding counties of West Virginia.
All of these individuals remain in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.
ICE regularly conducts targeted enforcement operations during which additional resources and personnel are dedicated to apprehending deportable foreign nationals. All enforcement activities are conducted with the same level of professionalism and respect that ICE officers exhibit every day. The focus of the West Virginia effort targeted individuals, who in addition to their immigration violations, had criminal histories that included some of the following offenses:
Battery, Drugs-Delivery of a Controlled Substance, Burglary and Breaking and Entering, Domestic Violence, Battery w/ a Deadly Weapon.
Hit and Run, Possession of a Controlled Substance (pending) Domestic Battery.
During ICE enforcement operations, ICE officers frequently encounter other aliens illegally present in the United States. These aliens are evaluated on a case-by-case basis, and, when appropriate, they are arrested by ICE officers.
Khaalid Walls
ICE Public Affairs
NEW Steering Committee Member
We welcome Greg Spransy as a new member of our steering committee.
Hidden Figures Purchased for Local Schools
We have purchased nine copies of Hidden Figures: Read Aloud version for the younger students (K-2) and nine copies of Hidden Figures: Young Readers Edition for older students (grades 3-5) for Monongalia County’s elementary schools. This is the landmark study of the African American women who worked for NASA, two of whom had connections to Monongalia County. We have placed a bookplate in each book to acknowledge our donation.
The Morgantown/Kingwood NAACP and Greater St. Paul AME Church are providing students at elementary, middle, and high school levels the opportunity to participate in a civil rights writing competition (See Flyer). This year's general theme is "What’s Different Today? Civil Rights Before and After Martin Luther King.” Essays must be a minimum of 300 words and must focus on a civil rights topic (not on Martin Luther King’s biography) (See Guidelines).
Essays should be submitted by email: morgantown.naacp3241@gmail.com,or by mail:
NAACP Essay, NAACP Morgantown/Kingwood Branch, P.O. Box 4091, Morgantown, WV 26504-4091, together with an Entry Form.
Deadline: All entries must either be emailed by 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, December 18, 2019, or postmarked by December 18, 2019.
CCSJ Annual Report
To download and view the 2019-19 CCSJ Annual Report please click here.
ACLU OF West Virginia T-shirt
You can support the ACLU’s work for immigrant rights by buying a red or blue t-shirt that features the New River Gorge Bridge and the message of “Build Bridges Not Walls.” The shirts are $25 each and can be ordered at this webpage.
Fairness West Virginia Announces Human Rights Commission Municipal Scores
Fairness announced these scores, which are based on municipal law, on November 19th. Huntington scored a perfect 100, the first time a West Virginia city has achieved this score, while Charleston scored 91. In addition to those two cities, there are scores for Charles Town (45), Lewisburg (43), Morgantown (75), Parkersburg (13), and Wheeling (57).
Morgantown received a score of 30 out of 30 for non-discrimination laws and 8 of 8 for leadership on LGBTQ equality. We scored 14 of 28 on “municipality as employer,” 7 of 12 on “municipal services,” and 12 of 22 on “law enforcement.” Details of the Morgantown score are available here. The full index for the country is available here.
On Immigration and Customs Enforcement ICE) Activity in Monongalia County
There has been much discussion about reported recent ICE activity in Monongalia County. Lt. Matt Solomon, CCSJ’s liaison with the Morgantown Police Department, has provided the email below that Morgantown Police Chief Ed Preston received from ICE about that activity:
From: Walls, Khaalid H <Khaalid.H.Walls@ice.dhs.gov>
Sent: Saturday, August 24, 2019 11:32 AM
To: Ed Preston <epreston@morgantownwv.gov>
Subject: ICE Activity in West Virginia
Good morning Chief Preston,
At the request of the ICE field office leadership, I wanted to share some information about our recent law enforcement activities in the region. If you choose, you can make this information public, as you see fit. We have shared some of this with local media already. Thank you.
During the week Aug. 12, deportation officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested seven illegal aliens during targeted enforcement efforts in Monongalia and surrounding counties of West Virginia.
All of these individuals remain in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.
ICE regularly conducts targeted enforcement operations during which additional resources and personnel are dedicated to apprehending deportable foreign nationals. All enforcement activities are conducted with the same level of professionalism and respect that ICE officers exhibit every day. The focus of the West Virginia effort targeted individuals, who in addition to their immigration violations, had criminal histories that included some of the following offenses:
Battery, Drugs-Delivery of a Controlled Substance, Burglary and Breaking and Entering, Domestic Violence, Battery w/ a Deadly Weapon.
Hit and Run, Possession of a Controlled Substance (pending) Domestic Battery.
During ICE enforcement operations, ICE officers frequently encounter other aliens illegally present in the United States. These aliens are evaluated on a case-by-case basis, and, when appropriate, they are arrested by ICE officers.
Khaalid Walls
ICE Public Affairs
NEW Steering Committee Member
We welcome Greg Spransy as a new member of our steering committee.
Hidden Figures Purchased for Local Schools
We have purchased nine copies of Hidden Figures: Read Aloud version for the younger students (K-2) and nine copies of Hidden Figures: Young Readers Edition for older students (grades 3-5) for Monongalia County’s elementary schools. This is the landmark study of the African American women who worked for NASA, two of whom had connections to Monongalia County. We have placed a bookplate in each book to acknowledge our donation.