president. This is where the situation
could become tricky for Santokhi who
had made a concerted effort dispel of
widespread perception of the VHP as
a racist party representing only Indo
Surinamese. Any defections from the
group could present problems. Santokhi’s
efforts to form a racial umbrella
appear to have paid off.
“It is very interesting that a new government
is taking office. The opposition
has been able to oust the allegedly
powerful NDP,” Paul Somohardjo told
local newspaper De Ware Tijd. “The
VHP cannot do it alone. Together with
the ABOP, we will support the VHP if
requested.” ABOP and PL had formed a
pre-election alliance.
To rub salt in its wounds, VHP
executive Dew Sharman said that “the
NDP is not an option for cooperation
with the VHP. We indicated at an early
stage that the NDP is not an option for
cooperation,” he told the Herald publication.
NDP officials including Bouterse,
74 have largely kept out of sight since
Monday. Like the VHP, the party was
Caribbean L 14 ife, May 29-June 4, 2020
expecting 28 seats. Both fell way short.
Speculation was rife in Paramaribo,
the capital, about the future of Bouterse
as a court had sentenced him to
20 years in prison for the 1982 mass
murders of 15 political opponents during
military rule back in 1982. Remaining
president to keep out of jail was a
key political ambition of the former
president. The NDP had run the country
in the late 90s but was run out of
‘town’ by withering street protests due
to overspending on two magnificent
river bridges that remain the pride of
the country. It lost in elections held
before the end of the five years to the
New Front.
Continued from Page 1
as the president has pushed an antiimmigrant
agenda for purely political
reasons.
“ICE’s unlawful arrests clearly trample
all over states’ rights, obstruct true
justice from being carried out, and
unnecessarily threaten immigrants
for cheap political points, which is
why our coalition will continue to
fight them every step of the way,” she
added.
“At the same time, we will continue
to pursue our own lawsuit against ICE
to halt these illegal arrests that have
had a chilling effect here in New York,”
James continued.
In April 2019, both the Middlesex
County district attorney and the Suffolk
County district attorney in Massachusetts,
along with a number of
immigrant advocates, sued ICE and
the Department of Homeland Security
(DHS), among others, in the U.S.
District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
They argued that the federal government’s
policy and practice of arresting
Caribbean nationals and other
noncitizens — both undocumented
and those with legal status alike — at
or around state courthouses violated
the Administrative Procedure Act; the
Tenth Amendment; and the right of
access to courts, which is protected by
the First, Fifth, Sixth, and Fourteenth
Amendments of the US Constitution.
The plaintiffs had filed a motion for
a preliminary injunction to immediately
halt the Trump Administration’s
policies and were successful.
The Trump Administration appealed
the preliminary injunction to the U.S.
Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.
James is now leading the coalition
in urging the appellate court to affirm
the lower court’s order, arguing that
the federal government has been pursuing
its expanded arrest policy in all
of the states that are filing this brief
in violation of its statutory authority
and the common law privilege against
civil arrests at courthouses.
“These unlawful arrests have made
it increasingly difficult and sometimes
impossible for state judiciaries
and prosecutors to maintain the open,
safe, and fair courts that are necessary
for the orderly administration of
justice and the preservation of public
safety, since many immigrants are
now afraid to report crimes, testify in
court, or cooperate with law enforcement
or prosecutors,” James said.
The amicus brief says that the federal
government’s practice of conducting
civil immigration arrests is
“deeply harmful to the effective functioning
of the states’ court systems,
and has specifically interfered with
state judicial proceedings and the
ability of states to pursue criminal
prosecutions.”
Last September, James and Brook-
Continued from Page 1
Desi Bouterse.
Associated Press / Andres Leighton
Opposition
wins election
in Suriname
Immigration arrests at state court houses
AndrewSorrentinofuneralservice.com
/AndrewSorrentinofuneralservice.com