Immigrant Rights Activist to go before Judge 8:30 am Thursday

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, November 3, 2005
Contact: Cres Vellucci 916.996.9170


ATTN: News Desk


Jailed 5 days without a hearing, young
immigrant rights activist set to go before
judge Thursday morning, his attorney says

SACRAMENTO – A young immigrants rights activist – who has spent nearly a
week in jail without an opportunity for a hearing, a right usually accorded
prisoners within 48 hours of arrest – will finally go before a judge
Thursday morning at about 8:30 a.m. (Dept. 63, Main Jail, 615 I St.)

Earlier this week the District Attorney's office made – and was granted –
an unusual request to delay a bail hearing for Joshua Ramirez, who was
arrested at a protest against vigilante border "Minutemen" last Saturday at
the State Capitol.

Ramirez, 19, of Santa Cruz, is now being charged with three felony counts,
including battery on a Sacramento city police officer, a California Highway
Patrol officer and resisting arrest.

"We are hopeful this young man will be released Thursday," said Jeff
Kravitz, a Sacramento civil rights attorney and law school professor who is
representing Ramirez.

Observers and witnesses of the demonstration of about 600 protesters – many
from San Francisco and the Central Valley – said those arrested were
physically abused by police, including one person arrested for just
stepping off the crowded sidewalk into the gutter.

Demonstrators were protesting the rally by the "Minuteman Project", a
vigilante citizen group using weapons to harass and even "arrest"
immigrants along the Mexican border.
The project, although it involves illegal activity, has received the
endorsement of the governor.

"We're very concerned this activist is being singled out for over-the-top
charges, high bail and this motion to postpone his release largely because
he is Latino and opposed to the same vigilante project the governor
supports," said Cres Vellucci, spokesperson for the Mexican American
Political Association, the oldest Latino political organization in the state.