BY CINDY GONZALEZ  
A New York–based journalist fighting deportation brought his campaign to Omaha Wednesday, saying he is just one example of an "erosion" of rights faced by immigrants.

"What is happening to me is happening to thousands of people who were born in other countries and work here," Róger Calero, associate editor of Perspectiva Mundial and staff writer for the Militant newspaper, told about 40 people gathered at Our Lady of Guadalupe hall near 23rd and O Streets.

The 33-year-old Nicaragua native, who formerly worked at an Iowa meatpacking plant, found moral and financial support from the audience that included packing plant workers and labor union organizers. Calero has been a permanent resident in the United States for 12 years and is married to a U.S. citizen.

His plight began Dec. 3, when federal agents arrested him at the Houston airport as he returned from a reporting assignment in Cuba and Mexico. The basis for the arrest and deportation proceedings, he said, is a 1988 conviction for selling one ounce of marijuana to an undercover officer while he was a high school student in Los Angeles.

Immigration and Naturalization Service officials say that a law passed by Congress in 1996 makes deportable an immigrant with a past drug-related offense such as Calero’s.

Calero urged the Omaha group to write to the Houston INS district director, Hipolito Acosta, asking for a stop to the deportation. Acosta released Calero after 10 days in jail pending a March 25 immigration hearing.

Omaha was the fourth stop in a national tour to publicize Calero’s case and to gain momentum for immigration reform.

Calero said the INS wants him to pay for the same crime twice. He said the agency was aware of his conviction, as he explained it when applying for permanent residency in 1989 and again in 2000 when his green card was renewed.

"If we can get a victory, it will reinforce the fights of many others," he said.
 
 
Related articles:
Minnesota union hosts fund-raiser for effort to stop deportation of Róger Calero
Chicago: broad support to antideportation fight
Nebraska meat packers defend Róger Calero
Calero defense committee announces officers  
 
 
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