Terrorism and Your Laptop

Whether you are addicted to Worlds of Warcraft, or are writing a book - the new statement by DHS that laptops may be confiscated while entering the United States is truly terrifying.

They have been confiscating laptops and cell phones of U.S. citizens, even though they admit there is not necessarily any room for suspicion. DHS was taken to court, but a judge in San Francisco ruled that it was ok to take into custody electronic devices without a reason for suspicion.

This announcement, along with the increasing numbers of immigrants being detained and deported, tells us that our government no longer believes in a civil society. While Michael Chertoff is saying that electronic devices are dangerous because they might contain terrorist material -- he does not realize that it is not the populace that is dangerous, but Chertoff himself and his army of minions.


Five months and twenty days until the new administration. Let's hope that our incoming president will cut our country loose from this fascist stranglehold.

In the meantime, if you are traveling out of the country, you might consider not taking your laptop, or if you do, back up everything before you leave home.
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Travelers' Laptops May be Detained At Border
No Suspicion Required Under DHS Policies
by Ellen Nakashima
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 1, 2008; Page A01

Federal agents may take a traveler's laptop or other electronic device to an off-site location for an unspecified period of time without any suspicion of wrongdoing, as part of border search policies the Department of Homeland Security recently disclosed.

Also, officials may share copies of the laptop's contents with other agencies and private entities for language translation, data decryption or other reasons, according to the policies, dated July 16 and issued by two DHS agencies, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

"The policies . . . are truly alarming," said Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.), who is probing the government's border search practices. He said he intends to introduce legislation soon that would require reasonable suspicion for border searches, as well as prohibit profiling on race, religion or national origin.

DHS officials said that the newly disclosed policies -- which apply to anyone entering the country, including U.S. citizens -- are reasonable and necessary to prevent terrorism. Officials said such procedures have long been in place but were disclosed last month because of public interest in the matter.

Civil liberties and business travel groups have pressed the government to disclose its procedures as an increasing number of international travelers have reported that their laptops, cellphones and other digital devices have been taken -- for months, in at least one case -- and their contents examined.

The policies state that officers may "detain" laptops "for a reasonable period of time" to "review and analyze information." This may take place "absent individualized suspicion."

The policies cover "any device capable of storing information in digital or analog form," including hard drives, flash drives, cell phones, iPods, pagers, beepers, and video and audio tapes. They also cover "all papers and other written documentation," including books, pamphlets and "written materials commonly referred to as 'pocket trash' or 'pocket litter.' "

Reasonable measures must be taken to protect business information and attorney-client privileged material, the policies say, but there is no specific mention of the handling of personal data such as medical and financial records.

When a review is completed and no probable cause exists to keep the information, any copies of the data must be destroyed. Copies sent to non-federal entities must be returned to DHS. But the documents specify that there is no limitation on authorities keeping written notes or reports about the materials.

"They're saying they can rifle through all the information in a traveler's laptop without having a smidgen of evidence that the traveler is breaking the law," said Greg Nojeim, senior counsel at the Center for Democracy and Technology. Notably, he said, the policies "don't establish any criteria for whose computer can be searched."

Customs Deputy Commissioner Jayson P. Ahern said the efforts "do not infringe on Americans' privacy." In a statement submitted to Feingold for a June hearing on the issue, he noted that the executive branch has long had "plenary authority to conduct routine searches and seizures at the border without probable cause or a warrant" to prevent drugs and other contraband from entering the country.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff wrote in an opinion piece published last month in USA Today that "the most dangerous contraband is often contained in laptop computers or other electronic devices." Searches have uncovered "violent jihadist materials" as well as images of child pornography, he wrote.

With about 400 million travelers entering the country each year, "as a practical matter, travelers only go to secondary [for a more thorough examination] when there is some level of suspicion," Chertoff wrote. "Yet legislation locking in a particular standard for searches would have a dangerous, chilling effect as officers' often split-second assessments are second-guessed."

In April, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld the government's power to conduct searches of an international traveler's laptop without suspicion of wrongdoing...

For link to U.S. Customs policy regarding laptops and other electronic equipment click here

for a link to this WP article, click here

link to photo

U.S. Involvement in Mexico's Drug War

Al Jazeera- English has produced a video on the U.S. relation to the Mexican drug war. WARNING - this video includes graphic images of violence and death.




Democracy Now focused on this video on its July 30th show

click here for link to program

The video states that the U.S. is not only providing money, but also training in techniques of torture.

see dreamacttexas' related posts:

"The American Side of the Mexican Drug War" - March 16, 2008

"Americans are the Customers of the Drug Cartels" - July 1, 2008

Confronting the Bully in Phoenix

Although George Gascon the Chief of Police of Mesa, AZ does not mention the name of Arpaio - he is speaking directly about the Maricopa County Sheriff and his brutal tactics concerning immigration.

Arpaio has grabbed the attention of those who hate immigrants and those who love immigrants. He is a great icon for the immigration debate. He is surely enjoying his celebrity status - and undoubtedly plans to do whatever he can to continue grabbing the attention of the media.

Unfortunately, gaining attention via the persecution of a group of people that don't have many rights to start with (i.e. Lou Dobbs style) is not a respectable way of becoming famous.

In the essay below, Chief Gascon is right about police not being able to do their job if they are also immigration enforcers. The police officer/immigration enforcer will only need to drive through a Latino neighborhood to cause terror in all who see him. Most of these people who he encounters would be American citizens, but it doesn't look like citizenship is important to the police turned ICE guys - they have their run-down on how an undocumented person should look - guilty until proven innocent - which is hard to contradict in a system so arbitrary.   At this point the police would totally transform into ICE guys - cold heart and all.

If this trend continues I recommend for all people with brown or swarthy skin carry their passports at all time. I do not just mean Latinos who are brown skinned (believe it or not, there are lots of us who look white).

In this case the following groups of people would be suspect to police/ICE guys:

1. If your father was born in Naples, Italy
2. If your grandmother was from Lebanon
3. If a couple of people in your ancestry were native American
4. If you are a Sephardic Jew
5. If you are a Jew with dark hair and tan easily
6. If you have dark brown eyes and dark brown hair

7. If you were born in Greece

8.  If you have brown skin and you are wearing your old shorts and t-shirt to cut your lawn.

9. If you can speak good Spanish

10. If you watch telenovelas

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July 31, 2008
OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR
The Laws Cops Can’t Enforce

By GEORGE GASCÓN
Mesa, Ariz.

OUR next president faces a formidable task. He will be forced to deal with two difficult wars, an economic downturn, higher energy prices and a bankrupt federal immigration policy.

To some, immigration pales in comparison with the wars and the economy. But for others, especially police departments in border states like mine, it is all-consuming. The first priority of the next president should be legislation that addresses the legitimate concerns of both the people who believe our borders are out of control and those who want equal protection for everyone living in this country.

Immigration issues are tearing apart communities. Demagoguery and misinformation are shaping public opinion and in some cases public policy. In the absence of a clear federal policy on immigration, states and cities are enacting draconian and constitutionally questionable laws.

This patchwork of conflicting local immigration laws is creating an untenable situation for police officials who face demands to crack down on immigrants — demands that contradict policing practices that have led to significant declines in crime.

For police officials, refusing to carry out policies that may violate the Constitution can be career-threatening. Both sides in the immigration debate accuse police departments of misconduct in dealing with immigrants. In this politically charged environment, some chiefs are making decisions based on bad politics instead of sound policing. In many cases, police officers are making illegal arrests with the acquiescence and sometimes explicit approval of their superiors.

Here in Arizona, a wedge is being driven between the local police and some immigrant groups. Some law enforcement agencies are wasting limited resources in operations to appease the public’s thirst for action against illegal immigration regardless of the legal or social consequences.

America’s 500,000 police officers are sworn to enforce the law. But we are increasingly unable to do so. Those who want to restrict immigration criticize us for not arresting immigrants for entering the country illegally. Yet others rightly wonder how we can do our job if some residents are afraid to report crimes or otherwise cooperate with the police for fear of deportation.

Without a national immigration policy, a new culture of lawlessness will increasingly permeate our society. In cities, politicians will pressure police departments to reduce immigration by using racial profiling and harassment. At the same time, immigrants who fear that the police will help deport them will rely less on their local officers and instead give thugs control of their neighborhoods.

Many top law enforcement officials were part of the community policing revolution of the 1980s and ’90s. We have a deep concern for constitutional rights and social justice. We believe that effective policing requires residents, regardless of immigration status, to trust the police.

We are also students of the mistakes of our predecessors. Past police practices helped lead to the civil unrest of the 1960s, which tore our nation apart along racial and political lines. We do not want to repeat those mistakes.

If we become a nation in which the local police are the default enforcers of a failing federal immigration policy, the years of trust that police departments have built up in immigrant communities will vanish. Some minority groups may once again view police officers as armed instruments of government oppression.

A wink and a nod will no longer suffice as an immigration policy. Effective border control is a critical step. But so is ensuring that otherwise law-abiding undocumented immigrants have the same protections as everyone else in a modern, free society.

Presidential candidates need to specify the measures on immigration they would present to Congress after Inauguration Day. No doubt, the advisers to John McCain and Barack Obama are counseling them to be vague. That’s the wrong advice.

America’s police officers deserve thoughtful federal leadership so that we can continue doing our best to provide our country with the security that defines a civilized society.

George Gascón, a former assistant chief in the Los Angeles Police Department, is a lawyer and the chief of the police department in Mesa, Ariz.

for link to NYT article click here

The Bully in Phoenix

Arpaio's immigration sweeps

by Jerry Kammer - Jul. 30, 2008 12:00 AM
Republic Washington Bureau

Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon escalated his feud with Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio on Tuesday, calling on the national media to come to the Valley and observe the sheriff's crackdown on illegal immigration.

Criticizing the sweeps as heavy-handed and abusive, Gordon said he'd like to see a media mobilization comparable to the effort of the dozens of reporters who streamed to Arizona from around the country following the 1976 murder of Arizona Republic investigative reporter Don Bolles.

Their effort, which became known as the Arizona Project, produced extensive reporting on organized crime in the state.

"Come like you did for Don Bolles; come to Phoenix and stop this madness," said Gordon, who has asked the U.S. Department of Justice to launch a civil-rights investigation. "Let's turn the eyes of the nation on this."

Gordon wants to focus attention on the department's sweeps, in which deputies check vehicles and pedestrians in a search for illegal immigrants. The measures have been widely criticized as a form of racial profiling.

Arpaio fired back in a telephone interview from Phoenix.
He doesn't have to call (on the media), because they're here every day," Arpaio said. "I've been on 3,000 national shows as sheriff. I had two different Dutch reporters yesterday. They come all the time. ... I don't need him to be my press agent."

The Gordon-Arpaio feud is a particularly volatile example of the tensions dividing communities across the country that are frustrated by the inability of Congress to pass immigration reform.

In the absence of a new federal policy, state and local jurisdictions are fashioning their own approaches to enforce immigration law.

Gordon says he favors comprehensive immigration reform, the term for legislation that attempts to package measures to deal with the major components of the immigration issue, including border security and what to do about the estimated 12 million immigrants in the country illegally.

Principal presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama favor a comprehensive approach. Both have promised to take up the issue during their first year as president. There is no expectation Congress will take it up this year.

Gordon accused the sheriff of ham-handed techniques that violate the rights of citizens caught up in Arpaio's sweeps.

He claimed the sweeps are making immigrants, legal and illegal, fearful of cooperating with police on investigations.

"He (Arpaio) has become the false messiah," Gordon said. "But when the light is shined on him, people will see that he isn't helping to fight illegal immigration and he's just making the situation worse. You've got an individual with a badge and a gun who's breaking the law and abusing his authority."

The sheriff said his efforts have received broad support from the people of Maricopa County.

"I don't have to defend myself over his vicious comments because he doesn't like me arresting illegal immigrants," said Arpaio, who is seeking his fifth term as sheriff.

He said Gordon is trying to fuel his own political ambitions.

"He wants to be governor," Arpaio said.

Reach the reporter at jkammer @gns.gannett.com.

for link to article click here

The Emotional Brutality of Deportations

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New Video Unmasks the "Hidden System" of Federal Deportations
by Marisa Trevino
Huffington Post
Posted July 30, 2008 | 12:11 PM (EST)

...had it not been for the conscience-stricken federal interpreter who came forward to reveal how the federal government railroaded these undocumented workers into deportation, the height of the injustice of the system would not have been brought to light.

Nor would it have stirred the interests of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus who visited with Postville immigrant families this past Saturday and will be holding a press conference tomorrow in Washington, D.C. to unveil the results of their fact-finding mission, and to voice a special request of Congress on behalf of the families left behind from the raid who are struggling on a daily basis to live.

The secretive and isolationist nature of how the federal government conducts deportations and immigrant detentions naturally lends itself to abuse of the system and the erosion of human rights. By failing to make the process transparent -- from blocking out the windows on the buses transporting apprehended immigrants and denying due process of law, to depriving families of personal contact with detainees -- the government is creating a hidden system.

It is precisely that concept of "A Hidden System" that is the title of a new video by the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR). Documenting the practices and impact of this federal policy that is part of an overall broken immigration system, the video achieves in spotlighting a department of the government that critics of illegal immigration hail as working perfectly.

However, as the video shows, the impact of these enforcement practices creates an undue emotional and physical hardship on families and children that must be seen to be believed.

for link to article click here

1.8 Million Potential DREAMers in the U.S.

"there are an estimated 1.8 million undocumented children living in the United States. The immigration status of these children derives from their parents. If the parents are undocumented, there is no way for immigrant children to gain legal immigration status on their own. Although raised and educated here, undocumented children face tremendous barriers when they try to go on to college or work legally and live in fear of deportation.

Approximately 65,000 undocumented students graduate from high school every year with almost no hope to access higher education. But even if they overcome this barrier and complete a college education, these students face the same predicament, if not worse. Having attained a Bachelors or Masters degree, they cannot put their education into practice: their immigration status prevents them from working and contributing to our economy and society." Alternet.org

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The U.S. Should Never Deny the Right to Education. So Why Are We?

Posted by Christina Jimenez, Drum Major Institute at 1:51 PM on July 28, 2008.
Alternet.org

The DREAM Act is a small first step to a better and more effective immigration debate.

Since its foundation, our nation has witnessed the special contributions and success of immigrants and their children. Indeed, some of the most innovative contributions to American society have come from the children of immigrants, both the second generation (those born in the United States) and the generation known as 1.5 -- those born abroad and brought to the U.S. as children. It was a Belarusian 1.5 immigrant, Irving Berlin, who wrote "God Bless America."

Children of immigrants are unique in that they are raised in multiple cultures and become effective at building bridges between them. The 1.5 generation, however, exhibits even a greater level of uniqueness and talent. They are immersed in their native culture long enough to learn their native language and cultural values, but come to this country early enough to easily learn English and become part of mainstream America. 1.5 immigrants tend to be fluently bilingual and bicultural, communicate easily between two worlds, and can easily connect to different cultures, approaching the ideal global citizen.

Their cultural and language fluidity has even proven to be an advantage in school performance. Although, as Albuquerque's Mayor Martin Chavez says in a MayorTV interview, we live in the "only nation on Earth that seems to celebrate monolingualism;" studies have shown that 1.5 generation students tend to do better in school than their monolingual peers. It is immigrants' richness in multiculturalism and multilingualism that has transformed and strengthened our nation.

But like their talents, the challenges faced by some members of the 1.5 generation, are also unique. Today, there are an estimated 1.8 million undocumented children living in the United States. The immigration status of these children derives from their parents. If the parents are undocumented, there is no way for immigrant children to gain legal immigration status on their own. Although raised and educated here, undocumented children face tremendous barriers when they try to go on to college or work legally and live in fear of deportation.

Approximately 65,000 undocumented students graduate from high school every year with almost no hope to access higher education. But even if they overcome this barrier and complete a college education, these students face the same predicament, if not worse. Having attained a Bachelors or Masters degree, they cannot put their education into practice: their immigration status prevents them from working and contributing to our economy and society.

The Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act, known as the DREAM Act addresses the struggle of these undocumented 1.5 generation immigrants. Although it was first introduced to Congress back in 2001, the DREAM Act has lacked the political will to become a reality. Clearly Congress has, for too long, listened to the few and irrational anti-immigrant voices.

Senator Barack Obama has co-sponsored the DREAM Act and publicly announced his intention of making this bill a reality. Senator McCain on the other hand, has supported the bill in the past but walked out when it was voted on last year, stating that the elusive goal of "border security" would have to be achieved before the situation of young people already living in the United States could be addressed.

A 52-44 majority of the Senate voted in favor of the bill, but 60 votes were needed for the DREAM Act to proceed.

By ignoring these 1.5 immigrants' aspirations and not allowing them to contribute to our society, we are throwing their invaluable talents, creativity, and knowledge to waste. And today in a globalized world, their uniqueness, multilingual and bicultural skills, and contributions are more important than ever to the success and global competitiveness of the United States. The DREAM Act is a small first step to a better and more effective immigration debate.

Cristina is an Immigration Policy intern at the Drum Major Institute for Public Policy.

for link to article click here

Video on Postville protest of July 27th

Video from Postville protest, July 27, 2008.

When your mother is deported

Stokely Baksh and Renne Feltz do this great report on a daughter's perspective when her mother was imprisioned by DHS.

View Video

$42 million to help Local Jails Report Undocumented Immigrants

"We'd like to detain everyone. But that is a fantasy world," James Prendergraph, Director of ICE's partnerships with state and local agencies.

Virginia Jail to Report Foreign Inmates
By Bill Brubaker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, July 28, 2008; Page A01

A year after Prince William County launched a crackdown on illegal immigrants, Virginia has implemented a law that requires something similar for every jurisdiction in the state. Jail officials are now required to notify federal authorities of all foreign-born inmates regardless of their immigration status.

The little-noticed law went into effect July 1 and aims to make every corner of the state as unwelcoming as Prince William for illegal immigrants charged with crimes.

"With our new law, these people who are here illegally should be afraid of living anywhere in Virginia right now," said Del. David B. Albo (R-Fairfax), who helped write the law and chairs the state's crime commission. "If you're here illegally, it's not any scarier to live in Prince William than in any other county."

Prince William and about 60 other jurisdictions nationwide had previously joined in a separate partnership with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to identify immigrants who have committed crimes. But now, under the Virginia law, officials across the state have begun routinely filing similar reports to the same federal authorities that Prince William does. Under the state law, local jails probably will spend a fraction of the $10.5 million Prince Willliam has budgeted over the next five years for the ICE partnership.

ICE cannot say how many illegal immigrants from a particular jurisdiction are being deported, only that it cannot remove as many as it would like because of budget limitations. So there are no statistics about what ultimately happens to the illegal immigrants who are reported to ICE -- either by way of the new state law or through the federal program, which trains local officers to identify and detain undocumented suspects charged with crimes.
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ICE has $42 million for the partnership program this year, but officials at the agency say they need a lot more money to do the job. "We'd like to detain everyone. But that is a fantasy world," said James Pendergraph, who oversees ICE's partnerships with state and local agencies.

Together, the federal program and the state law, passed in the aftermath of Congress's failure last summer to reform the immigration system, underscore how dissimilar enforcement policies are in the Washington region.

While Virginia jails have begun expediting reports to ICE on their foreign-born inmates, even if there is no evidence that they are undocumented, the Montgomery County jail sends federal authorities a weekly list of its immigrant inmates...

for link to complete WP article, click here

A Clue to the Future of ICE Raids

For a long time it seemed that ICE was only trying to scare people and bring terror to undocumented immigrants throughout the United States - using periodic immigration raids as examples...

Yet at I mentioned in a previous post, immigration experts see this as a longer trend that will grow in intensity - with the ultimate goal of deporting all undocumented immigrants by 2012.

Many people say that there will be changes with the next administration -- with Obama or if McCain wins and returns to his previous immigration stance - Operation Endgame could suddenly go away.

What is disconcerting is that during the presidential debates NONE of the candidates said they would end the ICE raids...

Below is an op-ed piece about Operation Endgame written by the ACLU, published in the Boston Globe in 2007.
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Inhumane raid was just one of many

By Carol Rose and Christopher Ott | March 26, 2007

Boston Globe

IF THE CHAOTIC immigration raid in New Bedford earlier this month troubled you, we have news: Immigration and Customs Enforcement, also known as ICE, is just getting warmed up.

We know this because the New Bedford raid was part of a frighteningly ambitious plan laid out by the Department of Homeland Security in 2003 -- and it hasn't received nearly enough scrutiny.

The plan is called Endgame, and its details are available online on our group's website (www.aclum.org/endgame.pdf). It's a 10-year campaign to track down and deport all the immigrants to the United States who are living and working here without proper documentation, by the year 2012.

Let's be clear: This means expelling roughly 12 million people.

We've seen Endgame at work already in other parts of the country, with ICE conducting more and bigger raids. In December, for example, the agency raided Swift & Company slaughterhouses in six states, arresting about 1,300 workers and deporting roughly half of them.

Already, on any given day, ICE holds approximately 26,000 people in detention. And on March 6, we got a chance to see Endgame at work on a large scale here in Massachusetts. We saw the human cost of an operation directed at 361 people.

The pace of raids will need to accelerate, however, in order to meet Endgame's aggressive deportation goals over the next five years. We'll see more of the surreal New Bedford-style tactics: arrest first, ask questions later. We'll hear more stories of the human suffering that results from such tactics: of nursing babies who become dehydrated when separated from their mothers, of 7-year-olds frantically looking for their missing mothers, and of minors being flown to distant states without adequate protection.

We'll see more people's rights trampled, and more families torn apart by ICE's race to deport in order to meet Endgame's staggering goal.

Obviously, the United States has the right to control who enters our country, as well as the right to deport those who are not authorized to be here. But the US Constitution also says that everyone's fundamental rights must be respected while it is being determined whether or not they have a right to be here.

Even most US citizens could not prove their citizenship on demand. If ICE raided your workplace, could you? If you're like most people, you don't carry documents such as your passport or birth certificate with you at all times. And in a free society, you shouldn't have to.

That's why those detained by ICE need protections such as the right to a hearing before an immigration judge, legal representation, and, when necessary, interpretive services. They need time and a fair chance to prove their case. It's also critical to make provisions for the children and other dependents of those arrested.

Some of those dependents are US citizens, even if the detainees themselves are not -- and all of them are human beings.

The pandemonium of the raid in New Bedford was deeply troubling in this regard. If ICE couldn't handle 361 detainees without violating people's rights and tearing families apart, how will they cope with millions?

The simple answer is they can't. There is no way to expel 12 million people without terrorizing and compromising the civil liberties of anyone who "looks foreign." Even US citizens, as well as immigrants who are here legally, will live with the fear of arrest.

ICE tactics call to mind sinister human rights abuses from other parts of the world. The United States went to war to stop Slobodan Milosevic's attempt to "ethnically cleanse" Kosovo in 1999. We should ask ourselves how, just eight years later, we came to be carrying out a policy that involves such similar tactics -- lightning raids, mass arrests, packed detention centers, and mass deportations.

We must stop it. It's time to bring operation Endgame itself to an end. We need an immigration policy that balances the right to control our borders with the civil liberties we must preserve in order to remain free.

Carol Rose is executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts. Christopher Ott is communications director.

© Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.

for link to Boston Globe article click here

ACLU on Operation Endgame

for link to DHS Operation Endgame Document, click here

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"Endgame" Documents: Before and After

On March 26, 2007, the Boston Globe ran our op-ed about operation Endgame, the plan to remove all 12 million undocumented immigrants from the United States by 2012. We wrote the piece to point out that the March 2007 raid in New Bedford by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents was not just an isolated incident, but part of a detailed and ambitious plan that will likely require similar tactics on an even greater scale.

After that (and starting the very next day), something interesting happened. While publicly taking issue with our assertion that Endgame uses tactics similar to the ethnic cleansing we saw in the Balkans during the 1990s -- lightning raids, mass arrests, packed detention centers, and mass deportations -- ICE has quietly removed documents about operation Endgame from its website, ice.gov.

Fortunately, we anticipated this and saved copies

for link to ACLU article on Operation Endgame click here.

for link to DHS Operation Endgame document click here

Wikipedia on Operation Endgame

Although it is known that Wikipedia is not always totally accurate - it is still worth reading what it calls an "orphaned article."


Operation Endgame is a plan under implementation by the Office of Detention and Removal Operations of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain and deport all removable aliens currently living in the United States by 2012.^[1]

The objectives of the plan are described in a memorandum from the director Anthony S. Tangemann to the Deputy Assistant Director of Field Operations dated June 27th 2003:

"The DRO provides the endgame to immigration enforcement and that is the removal of all removable aliens. This is also the essence of our mission statement and the "golden measure" to our succsess."^[1].

A document issued by the Office of Detention and Removal Operations titled "Strategic Plan, 2003-2012 Detention and Removal Strategy for a Secure Homeland "describes Operation Engame as follows:

Endgame is the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Office of Detention and Removal (DRO) multi-year strategic enforcement plan. It stresses the effective and efficient execution of the critical service DRO provides its partners and stakeholders to enforce the nation’s immigration and naturalization laws. The DRO strategic plan sets in motion a cohesive enforcement program with a ten-year time horizon that will build the capacity to “remove all removable aliens,” eliminate the backlog of unexecuted final order removal cases, and realize its vision.^[1

1. Operation_Endgame.pdf 'U.S. Department of Homeland Security Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Form M-592 (8/15/03) ENDGAME Office of Detention and Removal Strategic Plan, 2003 - 2012 Detention and Removal Strategy for a Secure Homeland'

for link to Wikipedia article click here

A Search for Operation Endgame

A colleague who specializes in Immigration research recently told me about a DHS project called Operation Endgame. O.E. has involved the establishment of ICE - which is in effect a national police force - with a long term goal of deporting all undocumented immigrants by 2012.

DHS previously had a good deal of information posted on the web regarding O.P., but since has been deleted. Although I am told that a number of individuals and/or groups were able to save the information before it was taken down.
Below is a small bit of information from a private law firm. There is no date given.

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“Operation Endgame” Adopted to Prevent Immigrants from Evading Deportation

According to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is adopting stricter detention policies. In an effort to stop immigrants from evading deportation, the first step of “Operation Endgame” is to detain immigrants as soon as judges deny their cases and order the immigrants removed from the United States. Presently, deportable immigrants without a criminal record remain free as they pursue appeals or dissolve their households. Officials report that every year tens of thousands of deportable immigrants go underground instead of complying with final deportation verdicts.

Another step in the strategy of Operation Endgame is to release many of the immigrants and track them with an intensive supervision program that could include ankle-bracelet monitors. A participant in this current pilot program, Orfa Salazar, says she feels much freer than she did during her 10 months in detention and hopes for more flexible supervision under the new program.

Critics of this plan say that these measures are far from efficient and excessively harsh. Immigration lawyers note that the stress of an asylum hearing has been multiplied by the fear of possible immediate detention after judgment. This fear has led to an increase in the number of petitioners who skip their final immigration hearings.

ICE officials stated that they did not know when these policies would be enforced on a national level, or how the steps of the plan would fit together.

Hell Between Four Walls: Part III, Caught Inside an ICE Detention Center

The Game of ICE - continued

Inside the Aurora detention center: Sam Jones’ diaries

Editor’s note: The following has been translated from the original Spanish.

This detention center houses about 50 people per area. There are the orange, blue and red areas. Generally the orange and blue are for those with immigration problems, some awaiting deportation, others waiting to get back to their countries voluntarily. The rest are waiting court hearings to take care of their immigration status.

You ask what the problem is? The problem is that there is no uniform treatment and a very distressing lack of information. It’s there that the hell begins. Some, for not knowing the laws, don’t know what to do. So many things are said [things people guess might happen to them that may or may not be true] that people get exhausted from stress, since the majority of those awaiting court hearings have no idea what the results will be.

Maybe they’ll pay the bond and get out and not be deported. Maybe they’ll get out and take care of their paperwork. Or maybe they’ll get deported regardless. Always after deportation, a desperate family is left behind. They act as if these people do not have families. A family that cannot pay the expenses, because the breadwinner is detained. … If this isn’t hell, what is?

April 12, 2007
Today the psychological pressure is more than in past days. After arriving in Aurora on the night of Friday the sixth, paperwork can’t be processed on Saturday and Sunday, and Monday was a public holiday. Here people are freed on Tuesdays and Thursdays. On Tuesday nobody from the group that came in with me on Friday got out. On Thursday only one of us was released, the one who signed a voluntary exit form. However, there are many others that signed SVs and others who have received deportation.

The predictions [about what will happen] vary and are distressing, being that some believe re-entry is a federal crime that requires 24 months of prison. Others believe they’re going to be able to pay bond and get out. Others have no clue.

Today I haven’t been able to talk with my friend; the phones for collect calls are all busy. Tomorrow I’ll buy a phone card to call him. Today I feel very anguished. It’s incredible but illegals are the new business for the US. Let me explain: An undocumented worker is arrested for any given reason, even for being suspected to be illegal, and is taken to jail. After several days the county sets a bond for release. The person pays, then when you ask to be released, they tell you that you have an immigration hold. The funny thing here is that the police claim that they do not cooperate with immigration. But at the county’s police station, there is an immigration office so when the suspect arrives, they investigate. About four or five days later, immigration takes him to be detained at Aurora, where some are given court dates and others sign voluntary exit forms and even others are deported; nonetheless, everyone is said to be “retained” not “detained.” The curious thing is that liberty is not an option. Those who are given the chance at a court hearing have to pay a very high bond of about $10,000 or they are deported. After paying, you’re released on the condition that you’ll come back for a second hearing, which means that your case is not closed. If during the new hearing, the judge’s verdict is negative, you are deported, therefore losing the bond money: you end up losing money from the county bond as well as the one imposed by immigration, and in the end you get deported anyway. What a great business!

Today we had picadillo for dinner and some sort of fruit cocktail as desert, with no flavor at all. Seems like today phone calls are prohibited. It’s around 8 p.m. and I’m a little sleepy, but I don’t want to fall asleep because it is too early. The TV has no sound; there is a lot of bulla from the fifty of us full of stress. Everyone with their own problems. We played dominoes all afternoon, one of the few things we do, play dominoes or cards.

April 13, 2007
Today is Friday. I woke up at 5 a.m. I went back to sleep until 7, waiting for breakfast. After eating, I couldn’t get a hold of my friend, and it’s urgent.

I finally got a hold of him to ask him whether he or my wife called Morelia so that they could immediately send my identification, since I don’t have any other way of identifying myself. Hopefully they understand the urgency. Tomorrow, the 14th, I’ll call again to check if they were able to do it.

Today we got lunch around 11 a.m., quite early but the dog’s vomit was enough that now it’s 9 p.m. and I’m still satisfied. But it feels like it’s noon, because everyone here is anxious. Today, since we’ve behaved very well, they gave us cokes and potato chips (how sweet they are!). …

It’s 11 p.m. but no one is sleepy. It’s very moving to hear people speaking about how tired they are of the system, and they yearn to go back to their countries, even though after a while over there, the disillusion will come after the face the reality of their low quality of life. Then they start thinking about coming back again, into the evil, repressive and uneducated system of the U.S.

April 14, 2007
Today we were woken up at 7:30 for breakfast, which was sparse. The phones aren’t working again today. I’m hoping my friend truly understood what papers I need. I’m hoping next week I’ll be able to talk to my wife.

We got lunch at 11 a.m. We’ll eat again around 6 or 7.

It’s noon, and they’ve taken all of us out to the patio. They finally listened to us and gave us razors, but they don’t cut for shit, so I only shaved half my beard so that I don’t end up all cut up. They’re showing a movie, “Christopher Columbus” [“Cristobal Colon”]. I’m not watching any Christopher Columbus movie. …

I took a nap until 6, when it was time for dinner. They are training the new security personnel, and it’s funny how the fucking gringos don’t understand the dynamics of Latin American society: loud, a lot of loud speaking, laughing, joking and games that they just simply don’t understand and don’t exist in their manuals.

April 15, 2007
Today is Sunday. As with any other day, breakfast was served at 7:30, then I went back to sleep until it was time for lunch. Then I went back to bed. … It’s now 2pm. You get so desperate from listening to everyone around you talking about their cases and the uncertain future ahead. Not evening knowing how long they’ll be retained. The psychological punishment of not communicating and not giving you details is worse than committing you to jail.

April 20, 2007
It’s midnight and they just passed on the list of names of those who are going to be sent back to Mexico. It’s indescribable the happiness and the relief from so much accumulated psychological pressure that we’re all under. Suddenly, the room is filled of people screaming, hugging each other, exchanging phone numbers and addresses, people praying and people wishing each other well. These truly are moments of more than happiness; de-stressing moments, like pinching a balloon full of butane gas, an outburst of emotions that touched even the security guards.

April 25, 2007
After several days of having explained to the fucking Mexican consulate my problem, which he was aware of, he told me, “I’ll see what I can do.” I believe nothing because it didn’t feel sincere, and until today nothing has been resolved. …

Today I found myself in between angry and fearful about going back to Mexico. But tonight at 11, after lying on the couch for a while, I went for a walk through the dormitories. I told myself, “If Mexico doesn’t want to give me entry, I don’t care if they send me to Italy.” My wife’s dream was to see her grandchildren, which she already has, and together save some money within three or four years to build a small house and live peacefully somewhere near the ocean.

Anyway, in the past when the lira (Italian currency) wasn’t worth as much it would have been foolish, but now that the euro is worth more than the dollar it wouldn’t be bad to work in Europe. I think I’d like to go there for a year while my wife goes to find a spot by the beach to build a house, and I’ll send her money to make our dream a reality. Unless she wishes otherwise. Besides, that lately I’ve been getting over this fear of the unknown, since I know I can safely get to Mexico with the whole family, wife and kids, why not to Italy by myself?

for link to complete article click here

Hell Between Four Walls: Part II, Caught Inside an ICE Detention Center

The Game of ICE - continued

PAY TO STAY

Sam Jones’ trip from Larimer County to Aurora took a brief detour in Park County, home of South Park, a trio of popular fourteeners and the Park County Jail, an ICE-contracted local prison — the same one that held dozens of the more than 200 workers netted in the Swift Meatpacking raid in Greeley last December.

“They cuffed us by the hands, the feet, around the waist, and they chained us to each other. And in the van, they chained us to the floor,” Jones says. “We were 50 in one cell the size of my kitchen. They gave us French fries and water.

“The people remain as they arrive. They didn’t allow them to get dressed before they left. They wore the same thing they had on when they were taken. I had been working, so I was more or less well dressed, but there were people there who were freezing. It was after the last snowfall; they were wearing tank tops and shorts. Others had been taken from bed” in their pajamas.

Jones spent a few days in Park County before he was hauled to Aurora, where he finally had a chance to bathe and was clothed in a fresh prison jumper. Almost immediately, though intermittently, Jones began collecting his observations, and transcribing the thoughts of others, in journal-type entries on loose sheets of white paper. (Most of them have been translated and are available at the end of this article.)



Although ICE contracts with Park County, the Aurora facility is their largest in the Rocky Mountain West. The prison, which first began detaining immigrants in May 1987, is owned and managed by the GEO Group, a Florida-based private company with more than 50 jails across the country, including one in U.S.-controlled Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and more in Canada, Australia, South Africa and the United Kingdom.



Formerly known as Wackenhut Corrections Corporation — which was charged with several alleged scandals stemming from abuse, neglect and sexual assault — GEO boasted $860.9 million in revenues last year alone. That pushed a 40 percent increase from 2005 and marks the most financially successful year for the company in its 22 years of operations.

The Aurora facility detains immigrants apprehended throughout Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Idaho and Montana. During the past two decades, the jail has expanded its holding capacity from 150 beds to more than 400. As of July 10, the prison had processed 9,547 inmates since the beginning of last year.


One current lawsuit against the GEO Group alleges poor and inhumane medical care, a common gripe about the company and one that the federal government itself notes in a report recently released by the Government Accountability Office. The GAO reviewed “alien detention standards” at 23 facilities across the country, including Aurora’s, finding sporadic “deficiencies” in medical treatment, food service, recreation, access to legal materials and the processing of complaints as well as the use of “hold rooms,” physical force and overcrowding.

The Colorado branch of the American Civil Liberties Union also reports stories of overcrowding and poor medical care.

The GAO claimed to find only one “pervasive” problem throughout the system, however: telephone access. Against medical care and use of force, phone calls might not seem like such a big deal, except the best means for an inmate to submit complaints — grievances that “mostly involved legal access, conditions of confinement, property issues, human and civil rights, medical care, and employee misconduct at the facility” — is to call the Office of the Inspector General inside the Department of Homeland Security. Yet the “GAO encountered significant problems in making connections to…the OIG complaint hotline,” as well as consulates and pro-bono legal providers.

Jones says the misery that stemmed from a lack of communication with the outside world was matched only by the maddening dearth of information about his detention status.

“The big problem is the anguish of not knowing,” he says. “Psychologically, it’s terrible.”

Throughout the three weeks of Jones’ confinement in Aurora, he filed several requests that addressed the difficulty of making telephone calls. On his fifth day, he filed a grievance form with a simple request: “Phones are not working. I’m trying to call long distance (area code 970). I need to speak with my family and my lawyer. Please help me. Thank you.”

In a second request, filed five days after the first, he asked for clarification about why he was being held and when he would be released or deported. The next day, he received a response: He would be detained until his citizenship could be verified. Jones continued along the mostly fruitless course of attempting to contact the Mexican consulate and friends and family, including his wife and best friend, both back in Larimer County.

On April 27, Jones was suddenly released on a $1,500 bond.

START OVER

Upon entry to the Aurora detention facility, Sam Jones had the option of signing a form for voluntary return to his home country, but he declined. Some of the 50 detainees with whom he was transported signed return forms. Others opted to await an appearance before a federal immigration judge who rules on deportation status. Detainees in removal proceedings have access to presentations about their legal rights by the Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network.

“People are feeling a tremendous amount of pressure, because they are told, ‘Look, you can either sign this and go back right now, or we’re going to take you to the detention center, where you are going to languish for weeks,’” says RMIAN’s Goehring. “Particularly for people who have never been in the criminal justice system, who haven’t been to a jail before, they will avoid that at any price.”

In November 2006, the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General revealed detrimental problems in the detainee tracking system, called DACS, that includes both ICE-operated and private-run detention centers. Their audit found that “DACS and detention facility records did not always agree on the location of detainees” and that “ICE had no formal policy regarding what information it would provide to anyone inquiring about detainees in their custody.”

But the U.S. immigration detention system isn’t known for transparency. In May, the U.S. State Department invited Jorge Bustamante, the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants for the United Nations, to visit some of the country’s immigrant jails. But the Department of Homeland Security unexpectedly denied Bustamante entry to jails in Texas and New Jersey. The shafted official is expected to present a report on immigration issues, in the U.S., to the U.N. General Assembly later this summer.


Legal advocates say the government and private-prison operators should have nothing to hide from the public’s scrutiny.

“It’s always important to have a check and balance,” says Taylor Pendergrass, a staff attorney with the Colorado ACLU. “Especially when what you’re talking about is a deprivation of liberty, of taking someone’s freedom of movement entirely away and locking them up.



“Transparency benefits the people who are being detained. It also lets the public know that the government is treating those detainees in a way that’s consistent with the Constitution.”

Richard Stana, the GAO director for homeland security and justice issues, says it’s too early to tell what might result from their recent report.

“We will, after an appropriate period of time — in this case it may be several months — follow up with the agency with the actions that they’ve taken and try to assess whether that’s going to assess the problems we’ve found,” he says.

“Let’s hope that these deficiencies get corrected soon.”

The next GAO review of the Aurora facility is scheduled for October. Both a spokesman for the GEO Group and Aurora Warden Teresa Hunt referred questions about the problems outlined in the federal report to ICE.

ICE central region spokesman Carl Rusnok says the agency “places great value on the data and feedback” that it receives from the government watchdog, adding that ICE is establishing a weekly review of all detainee telephones to ensure they work, as well as an internal inspections group that will provide oversight during the detention standards review process.

Whatever changes may or may not occur will have no impact on Sam Jones’ future.

And he is still visibly shaken from his run-in with the U.S.’s amalgamated and defective immigration enforcement.

“For a broken car light, you are not a criminal. For being undocumented, you are not a criminal,” he says. “Yet the treatment is the same. They treated me as if I’d killed 10 people.”

Still, Jones isn’t expecting much from his next court hearing. The most he can realistically hope for is a delayed deportation and for authorities to ship him back to Mexico instead of Italy so that he will be closer to his family. But he doesn’t hold onto any delusions of freedom in the United States.

“I am illegal,” he says, lighting a Camel cigarette with his orange Bic. “Totally illegal.”

continued

for complete article click here

Hell Between Four Walls: Part I, Caught Inside an ICE Detention Center

Funny how things can slip by you. Last year, exactly one day before dreamacttexas got started, the Rocky Mountain Chronicle published an article written by an Italian citizen (who is using the pseudonym Sam Jones) who got caught in the DHS immigrant detention system. The article is long but we encourage readers to make it through the whole thing. It has been divided into three parts.

Jones called the detention center "Hell Between Four Walls."

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THE GAME OF ICE
Rocky Mountain Chronicle
By MICHAEL BECKEL AND VANESSA MARTINEZ
Wednesday, 11 July 2007

Law enforcement agencies move immigrants through multiple detention facilities, passing paydays and delays along the way.

Howls echoed through the anxiety-stricken dormitory as Sam Jones* tried to fall asleep. Men screamed and cried, hooted and heckled. Just after midnight, a prison guard entered with a document that held the numbers assigned to men from as many as 60 countries who’d be deported later that day.

“Suddenly, the room is filled of people screaming, hugging each other, exchanging phone numbers and addresses, people praying and people wishing each other well,” Jones scratched into a journal, a collection of personal reflections he wrote on loose printer paper. “These truly are moments of more than happiness. De-stressing moments, like pinching a balloon full of butane gas, an outburst of emotions that touched even the security guards.”

Jones’ number wasn’t on the list that night. He returned to his limbo, at least another few days of uncertainty, for the next inventory of numbers that may or may not hold his own, and little chance, in the meantime, of figuring out if it would.



For 22 days, Jones occupied one of hundreds of beds inside Colorado’s foremost immigrant prison, known both as the ICE Processing Center and the ICE Detention Center, in Aurora. Such facilities have fallen to increasing attacks from civil liberties and human rights groups across the country for claims ranging from inhumane treatment to unconstitutional incarceration of U.S. citizens. And a report released on July 6 by the federal Government Accountability Office confirms multiple problems at the Aurora detention center.



Jones calls the jail “hell between four walls,” and he descended into it by way of a law enforcement maze that began with a traffic stop in Larimer County.



LIGHT OUT

Sam Jones knew the left headlamp of his car was out as he drove to work, a job that kept him busy with duties like payroll and other administrative odds and ends, on the morning of March 28. It was around 6 a.m., and 63-year-old Jones, wearing blue jeans and a shirt, a brown belt and tan Airwalks, had just turned southbound onto Highway 287 from Carpenter Road when he noticed the red and blue lights of the Colorado State Patrol car in his rearview mirror.

Jones, an Italian citizen with thinning gray hair who’d been living in Mexico for the past 20 years, had never been pulled over. The fact that he’d been in the country illegally for about six months didn’t help to calm his nerves. Even worse, Jones’s English, unlike the myriad European languages he speaks, wasn’t even fluid, much less fluent. So when officer Clinton B. Rushing queried Jones for his name and date of birth, Jones quickly provided his generic American moniker but fumbled with the date, which didn’t correspond with the one listed on his Mexican driver’s license. Rushing continued to press him, and Jones became increasingly nervous. He finally fell silent. Rushing “gave him one more chance to not lie,” Rushing wrote in his affidavit.



Jones says Rushing’s voice grew louder and more forceful.

“The fear and the nerves just left me in a state of not being able to speak at all,” Jones explains.

After a handful of failed attempts to match his date of birth with the one on the Mexican ID, Rushing arrested Jones and took him to the Larimer County Detention Center, or LCDC, where he was charged with criminal impersonation, false reporting to authorities and two traffic infractions: driving without a valid license and driving with a defective headlamp. Among the possessions that LCDC officials confiscated were a wallet, keys, a cellphone and an orange Bic lighter that Jones used to light Camel cigarettes when he had them.

During his week inside LCDC, Jones was visited and interviewed by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent. For more than a year, county officials have submitted lists of all foreign-born detainees at the local jail to ICE, previously known as the Immigration and Naturalization Service, which was rolled into the Department of Homeland Security in 2003.

ICE agents visit the county jail multiple times a week to determine if individuals are in the country illegally and if they should be deported. With sufficient proof, officials can place a retainer, or “immigration hold,” on LCDC prisoners. Which is exactly what happened to Jones, except he didn’t find out until he thought he’d been freed.

Jones posted the required $200 bond, then pled guilty to the false reporting violation, a misdemeanor, in a deal that dismissed the other charges. He shoveled out an additional $159 in court costs, and the district court judge sentenced him to time served. He was then released — to ICE officials. He’s one of 36 individuals Larimer County had turned over to ICE as of May 24. Last year, the county logged 118 such transfers.

Mekela Goehring, executive director of Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network, a Denver-based nonprofit legal program that provides Know Your Rights presentations to detainees in Aurora, says she believes the practice is common in counties throughout Colorado.

And Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden praises the partnership.

“It’s been successful having them come into the detention center on a regular basis and to make those determinations,” he says. “We take a very strong position on arresting illegal immigrants who are involved in criminal activity.”

The sheriff says he also encourages an aggressive stance against traffic violations. Minor infractions, such as broken taillights, burned-out license plate lights or a failure to signal for turns, he says, can lead officers to drug dealers and burglars as much as drivers without insurance and those holding false documents.

“If somebody has a defective taillight and they get pulled over and it turns out they’ve also got a forged driver’s license, they’re definitely going to get arrested for having a forged driver’s license,” Alderden says, “which is a felony.”

Sam Jones wasn’t convicted of a felony in Larimer County, but ICE doesn’t make a distinction when it transfers immigrant detainees. On the road to the big pen in Aurora, burglars and traffic violators are one in the same.

*Sam Jones is a pseudonym.

continued

for complete Rocky Mountain Chronicle article click here

Recruiting Nurses? Help pass the DREAM ACT

While there is a shortage of health workers - there are many DREAMers who would gladly study nursing, medicine, and other types of medical workers.

Every time a reporter writes a newspaper article about there not being enough potential employees for medical and technical jobs - the writer (and the editor) need to consider the option of allowing DREAMers to regularize and work as professionals once they complete their college degrees. Articles that include DREAMers when discussing worker shortages help move the DREAM Act closer to reality.

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U.S. Has a Shortage of Trained Health Workers

Hospitals scramble for pharmacy technicians, lab scientists and other trained workers as baby boomers age and retire.

By Mary Engel, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
5:29 PM PDT, July 26, 2008

During a typical 12-hour shift, Hector Hernandez can be found in just about any corner of Kaiser Sunset, tending to premature infants and the elderly, to patients with asthma and those with AIDS, to heart attack victims and survivors of car wrecks.

He connects patients to ventilators, evaluates lung capacity and blood gases and administers oxygen and aerosol medications. Clad in green scrubs and white running shoes, he is often the first to arrive on a "code blue" -- the term that is broadcast when a patient has stopped breathing.

The allied health profession is a large and varied group. Some, like laboratory scientists (who analyze blood and other bodily fluids), need a bachelor's degree. Pharmacists, licensed social workers and physical therapists need advanced degrees.

But most allied health jobs do not require four years of college. Training programs after high school can lead to state certification to be an emergency medical technician (who provides emergency care and transport) or a pharmacy technician (who counts pills, labels bottles and works the pharmacy counter). Community colleges offer two-year associate degrees for medical radiographers (who position patients for mammograms and other imaging machines) and for respiratory care practitioners like Hernandez.

And although some jobs are relatively low-paying -- the median wage for an EMT in 2005-06 was $12.19 an hour -- others pay two or three times that, according to the study. The median wage for dental hygienists was $36.83. The highest median wage was for pharmacists, at $53.03.

Yet despite the decent pay, to meet the need for clinical laboratory scientists -- median wage, $32.36 an hour -- the state would have to produce 559% more graduates in that field alone in the next six years, the study found.

"Laboratory sciences are just critical to our delivery of healthcare in an acute care hospital," said Roger E. Seaver, president and chief executive of Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital in Valencia. "But they are out of sight, out of mind."

The factors driving the shortages are similar to those behind the nursing shortage, experts say.

Allied health workers make more money in the clinic than in the classroom, leading to faculty shortages. Community colleges, underfunded and independently operated, do a poor job of letting students who are on a waiting list at one college know about available seats at another. Attrition rates are high because many students are ill-prepared academically when they enter college and juggle classes with work and family obligations. Little is offered in the way of tutoring, counseling or financial aid.

Public-private partnerships to fix some of these problems in nursing education are already showing results, said Siqueiros, who is calling for similar steps -- and funding -- for the allied health fields.

Some hospitals, Kaiser among them, already work with community colleges to recruit and prepare students.

When Jerry Saldana became manager of respiratory care services at Kaiser Sunset, he knew that wages didn't explain the problems he was having filling vacancies: The starting salary for respiratory care practitioners right out of school is $29 an hour plus full benefits. There just weren't enough applicants to go around. So he set up partnerships with East Los Angeles College, Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut and Concorde Career Colleges to do the clinical training, which makes up the program's second year, at Kaiser.

"We get to see the students here for a year, train them here," he said. "I've hired quite a few right out of school."

The worsening economy has sparked interest in the program among mid-career workers who have lost their jobs to downsizing or are seeking stable work. The field also attracts immigrants who worked in a health profession in their home countries.

"We're making some ground on the awareness side," said UC San Francisco's Chapman. "But we still have a long way to go to have a serious, sustained commitment to this. Like in nursing, it's not something that's going to be resolved overnight."

mary.engel@latimes.com

for link to LA Times article click here

Telling Congressmen ICE Raids Need to Stop

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July 26, 2008, 7:32PM
Iowans to Congressmen: Stop Immigration Raids
By HENRY C. JACKSON Associated Press Writer
© 2008 The Associated Press


POSTVILLE, Iowa — An immigration raid that arrested nearly 400 people in northeastern Iowa scarred a small town and tore families apart, residents said Saturday.

Dozens begged a visiting congressional delegation to do everything in its power to stop federal immigration raids. The May raid in Postville at Agriprocessors, the nation's largest kosher meatpacking plant, by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials was the largest of its kind in U.S. history.

Reps. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., Albio Sires, D-N.J., and Joe Baca, D-Calif., members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, heard three hours of often emotional testimony. Women whose husbands are being detained talked about their longing to be reunited, underage workers detailed deplorable working conditions and city and religious officials lamented the impact on the community.

The speakers alternated between sharp criticism of immigration officials and the Department of Homeland Security for launching what they called an inhumane raid, and at their former employer, Agriprocessors, which they said took advantage of workers and allowed unsafe conditions. Many said they were equally responsible for the situation.

By the end, Gutierrez said he had heard enough.

"This is wrong," he said. "We've taken men and women who want to work and made felons out of them."

Gilda Yolanda Ordonez Lopez, 17, wept as she described working 12-hour shifts with no overtime pay.

When Adolpho Wilson was an employee at the plant, he was cleaning an unplugged meat grinding machine when someone turned it on by mistake, he said.

"I shouted, I screamed. I said, 'Help me, help me!'" Wilson said in Spanish. "When they heard me, they took apart the machine, but it had eaten my hand."

Jerry Messer, a local union official with the United Food and Commercial Workers, said Agriprocessors should be punished.

"The family that owns that place, they're the ones who should be prosecuted," he said. "They're the ones who should be deported, not the workers."

Phone messages left with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Agriprocessors by The Associated Press were not immediately returned.

Postville Mayor Robert Penrod told the congressmen to take the message back to Washington that immigration raids do not work...

for link to AP/Houston Chronicle article, click here

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A Question for Readers about Genealogy

In the previous dreamacttexas post we wrote about how people sometimes announce to others around them that their family has been in the U.S. "x" generations - sort of like they are wearing a badge about themselves.

A couple of questions for readers. If you have a comment please respond by clicking "comment" after this post.

1. What does it mean when a person tells others their family has been here many (5, 7, 9 etc) generations?

2. How many generations does a family have to be here not to be considered immigrant?

3. What happens with mixed families, where there might be one immigrant and the rest 4th generation?

If you are interesting in posting your comments, you would need to have a gmail email account. Please remember to be respectful. Comments with profanity or hate speech will not be published.

How many generations does it take to be respected by your community?

A few months ago I was stopped at Customs while returning from a trip to Mexico. Once officer said I was fine and could go, as a younger officer showed up and signaled me to follow him. Turns out they wanted to check out some large books that were in my carry on - they actually told me it was a random check, but I travel enough to know that could be true. (see dreamacttexas post "Returning Home to Houston," March 30, 2008)

During the conversation, the young officer told me that his family had been farming in Wharton County Texas* for many generations. He basically was telling me that he had the officer U.S. Government seal of approval --- his family is not new to the U.S. -- they have been here a LONG time.

At that moment it didn't seem useful to give him a cocky answer (my mother's family has been on this side of the Rio Grande since the mid-eighteenth century), plus, I don't think he would care what I would say to him, as long as I was respectful to his position.

What is it about people announcing how many generations their families have been in the U.S.? Is it a marker representing their status as real Americans? It is a way to divide oneself from those others so many people dislike?

It is the opposite of the Yellow Star that many Jews wore during WWII - its a sign announcing a person is special - of "good blood," clean character - that he/she belongs to the "right" group - that they will not bring in bad habits or uncivilized ways.

In the LAT article below the reporter repeatedly mentions how many generations the victim's family has been in the U.S. - and that the perpetrator was an undocumented immigrant. What an easy way to divide the "good" people and the "bad" people.

The crime committed was heinous - and probably needs to be written about and published. Yet is there a need to classify people according to their generational ranking? What difference does that make in talking about a murder? And further questions; do undocumented immigrants deserve stricter sentencing when found guilty of a crime. The U.S. Consitition would say no. But the constant reminder of victim's American genealogy makes you wonder if that would reduce the guilty party's sentence.

'Sanctuary city' no haven for San Francisco family's grief

A third-generation resident says city officials are responsible for the slayings of his brother-in-law and nephews, allegedly by an undocumented Salvadoran immigrant.

By Maria L. LaGanga
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

July 26, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO -- — Frank Kennedy is a third-generation San Franciscan, the son and grandson of local police officers and the proud owner of a Bay Area business. And this week he became Exhibit A for all he believes ails his hometown.

On Wednesday, a 21-year-old undocumented Salvadoran immigrant pleaded not guilty to murdering Kennedy's brother-in-law and two nephews in a case that has galvanized sentiment nationwide against this "sanctuary city" and its ambitious mayor.

Kennedy has spent much of the time since telling anyone who will listen that San Francisco and cities like it should stop shielding illegal immigrants from federal authorities and that officials here are responsible for his loved ones' deaths.

Suspect Edwin Ramos awaits trial in San Francisco County Jail, a system that released him nearly three months before the slayings. Convicted twice on felony charges as a juvenile, he was protected then from immigration officials because of the city's sanctuary policy.

"Any mayor, any board of supervisors that passes these laws should be prosecuted to the fullest," Kennedy said in a recent interview.

"This is not the United States of San Francisco . . . My family was the sacrificial lamb in this."

Immigration activists have embraced the grieving family, using the June 22 deaths of Anthony, Matthew and Michael Bologna to call for change. Conservative broadcasters have vilified the city and its officials all week.

Outraged e-mailers have lit up message boards for days. And federal immigration officials have demanded greater access to the city's jails, telling Mayor Gavin Newsom in a letter Wednesday that the sanctuary policy means they can't "prevent the release of these criminal aliens . . . "

CNN's Lou Dobbs asked Kennedy: "What is your reaction when you think about the fact that Mayor Newsom has with great, complete, sanctimonious arrogance defended the sanctuary policy of this city?"

On June 22, Anthony Bologna, 48, and his sons Matthew, 16, and Michael, 20, were driving back to their home in this city's Excelsior neighborhood from a family get-together at Kennedy's home.

Driving south on a narrow street, Bologna stopped the car, inadvertently blocking the path of a Chrysler 300M, authorities said. The Chrysler's driver pulled up alongside and began shooting. The father and his oldest son died at the scene. The younger boy died later at San Francisco General Hospital.

"That Sunday, we had breakfast, hugged each other, kissed each other and the kids," Kennedy said.

Later that day, the phone rang, and "the homicide inspectors told my wife her brother was shot and killed along with his son . . . . "

Bologna "was a wonderful individual and a great father," Kennedy said. "To have him assassinated in broad daylight with my two nephews is incomprehensible."

Three days later, police arrested Ramos of nearby El Sobrante. San Francisco Police Sgt. Neville Gittens said Ramos is allegedly a member of the violent Mara Salvatrucha gang.

He was charged with three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder. Because of the serious nature of the crime -- including the fact that there were multiple victims -- state law would allow the death penalty to be invoked if Ramos is convicted.

Kennedy, his sister-in-law Danielle Bologna and various activist groups are calling on Dist. Atty. Kamala Harris to seek the death penalty in the case.

Harris is opposed to capital punishment and came under fire earlier in her career when she did not seek the death penalty in the murder of a San Francisco police officer. She has yet to decide whether to do so in the Bolognas' case.

The widespread uproar over the Bolognas' deaths began this week, after the San Francisco Chronicle reported that Ramos had been found guilty of two felonies as a juvenile.

Because of the city's sanctuary policy -- enacted in 1989 -- local agencies do not consider immigration status when dealing with young offenders and therefore did not check whether Ramos was in the country legally.
Ramos was also arrested March 30 on a weapons violation, along with an alleged gang member riding in his car. After he spent several days in jail, authorities decided to file charges against the other man but not him, and Ramos was released, said Eileen Hirst, a sheriff's spokeswoman.

Deportation proceedings against Ramos could have been initiated but were not because of an apparent mix-up between the federal Immigration, Customs and Enforcement Agency and the San Francisco Sheriff's Department, which runs the jail. Hirst said jail officials notified ICE two times that they had Ramos in custody but were told there was no government detainer against Ramos.

A detainer is the document that says there is probable cause to believe someone is in the country illegally. Without that, Hirst said, the Sheriff's Department could not hold Ramos.

But ICE spokesman Tim Counts said the jail contacted federal immigration officials only once -- at 3:44 a.m. April 2, two hours after Ramos had been released.

"At 5:12 a.m. we sent the response back saying he's an illegal alien in removal proceedings," Counts said, an account that the Sheriff's Department disputes.

But it was too late. Ramos was gone. And less than three months later, the Bolognas were dead.

Robert Amparan, Ramos' defense attorney, did not return phone calls for comment. According to published reports, Amparan says his client was not the shooter, was not involved with gangs and is in the country legally.

The triple murder is not the first time this summer that San Francisco's "sanctuary city" policy has come under fire.

The same week that Newsom announced he was exploring a run for governor, he overturned the part of the policy that shielded convicted juvenile drug offenders who were illegal immigrants from federal authorities.

Instead of handing them over for deportation, city officials for years would escort the young offenders back to their home countries or place them in unsecured halfway houses. This summer, several escaped from facilities in San Bernardino County and other regions.

On Tuesday, Newsom ordered "a top-to-bottom review" of the sanctuary policy, to ensure that "in every case we are complying with applicable federal and state law," said Nathan Ballard, a spokesman for the mayor.

One day later, however, ICE Assistant Secretary Julie Myers wrote to Newsom demanding greater access to San Francisco jails. She requested the kind of cooperation her agency has with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, which works with ICE to screen for undocumented inmates in its jails.

Because of jail policy under the sanctuary city ordinance, she wrote, "ICE is unable to effectively identify criminal aliens in the Sheriff's custody and lodge the detainers necessary to prevent the release of these criminal aliens back into the San Francisco community."

But Ballard, Newsom's spokesman, insisted that "the sheriff has turned over felons to ICE. That is his standard practice. Whether ICE chooses to pick them up or not is up to ICE. The sheriff complies with the law."

For the grieving Kennedy and Bologna families, that's little comfort.

"I took my son off life support two days after his dad and brother were murdered," said a tearful Danielle Bologna, 47, who now must raise her surviving two children alone. "It was the most difficult part of my entire life to look at my baby and know he was gone . . . .

"We used to have six," she said. "Now we have half."

Bologna and Kennedy have vowed to work with immigration activists to change San Francisco's sanctuary policy and others like it.

"This issue is not going to calm down until changes are made," said Kennedy, 52. "I'm going to make sure of it. . . . And as far as I'm concerned, Mr. Newsom's political future after this is washed up."

maria.laganga

@latimes.com
for LA Times article click here

*Wharton County is app. sixty five miles southwest of Houston on U.S. Highway 59.

A migrant emergency in Italy?

While the immigration rate is much higher in the United States, it is Italy that is announcing a "state of emergency" regarding migration.

Italian gov't faces uproar over migrant emergency
By Deepa Babington

Reuters/Washington Post
Saturday, July 26, 2008; 11:40 AM

ROME (Reuters) - Italy's right-wing government on Saturday defended its decision to declare a nationwide state of emergency to deal with an influx of illegal immigrants after sharp criticism of the move.

Leftist lawmakers accused Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government of heightening fear and exaggerating the migrant problem by declaring the emergency on Friday, which gives police and local authorities added powers to tackle the issue.

"Where are the masses of illegal migrants pressing against the doors of our cities? And what are these risks for public order?" asked leftist lawmaker and former minister Rosy Bindi.

"The reality doesn't count for this government. What counts instead is the effect of announcements that serve to justify the climate of a police state."

Centrist lawmaker Rocco Buttiglone said Italy was not in need of "inhuman and extraordinary" measures and that the application of existing laws would suffice.

A chorus of other opposition lawmakers demanded the government address parliament to explain its surprise move.

Monsignor Agostino Marchetto, secretary of a Vatican council on migrant issues, joined the debate by saying the term "emergency" in itself was not negative but that Italy ought to respect the human rights of all migrants and refugees.

"NOISE"

Lawmakers from Berlusconi's People of Freedom coalition -- which swept to power in the April national election by promising a tough line on illegal immigration and crime -- dismissed the criticism from the left as irresponsible and overzealous.

"It's a lot of noise over nothing," Fabrizio Cicchitto, the head of Berlusconi's party in the lower house of parliament said, playing it down as an extension of existing policy.

A state of emergency was already in place in the southern regions of Calabria, Puglia and Sicily before Friday's decision...

for link to Reuters/WP article click here

Dying while crossing: 67 dead near McAllen in 2008

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July 24, 2008, 12:21AM
Trapped in rail car, 3 illegal immigrants call 911

By DANE SCHILLER
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

It is not often that undocumented immigrants sneak into the United States and then alert authorities to their whereabouts, but three men trapped in a sweltering rail car had little choice and used a cell phone to call 911.

Smugglers had stashed two Mexicans and a Guatemalan in a grain hopper in the Rio Grande Valley and told them they would ride further north, said Daniel Doty, a spokesman for the Border Patrol's McAllen Sector.

As the temperature climbed Tuesday, the dehydrating men feared for their lives and reached for the phone.

"It gets hot very fast in those places," Doty said."Once inside a grain hopper, you can't get out; you have to be let out."

Agents rescued the men Tuesday afternoon thanks to one of them providing a portion of the Union Pacific identification number listed in the car.

A company emergency-response team was able to use a computer to track down the car within five minutes and provide rescuers with its location, Union Pacific regional spokeswoman Raquel Espinoza said.

"These individuals are very lucky to be alive," she said. "

It remains unclear when and where the men boarded the hopper or where they were headed.

Two of them were released to the Border Patrol on Wednesday after spending the night at the Christus Spohn Hospital Kleberg in Kingsville.

A third remained hospitalized in stable condition, said shift coordinator Linda Ann Garcia.

Illegal immigrants have previously used cell phones to call for help. Earlier this summer, three Chinese men lost in the South Texas brush lands called for rescue.

"We're starting to see more and more of that, where smugglers or members of the group actually carry a cell phone just in case," Doty said.

The McAllen Sector, which includes the Rio Grande Valley and hugs the Gulf Coast, is among the deadliest slices of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Agents assigned there reported finding 67 bodies in the first nine months of this fiscal year. That compares to 61 for all of 2007.

dane.schiller@chron.com

for link to article click here

Not sure if this is good or bad...

...Since the source - Center for Immigration Studies has been linked as a anti-immigrant Hate-Group...we are not sure if this should even be posted. It is a good question whether we post information from anti-immigrant groups. In some ways we think it would be good, that we should always give different sides to the story. We have avoided this in the past because most of the commentaries from anti-immigrant groups is not only negative but generally insulting. (see "Driving in New York Part I," October 21, 2007). this is discussed in "Defending the Contributions of Foreign Students" July 15, 2008. It is also detailed in a video by the Southern Poverty Law Center...




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For CISNEWS subscribers -- Mark Krikorian]
Contact: Steven Camarota (202) 466-8185, sac@cis.org


Illegal-Immigrant Population Dropping New Report Finds Significant Decline Since Last Summer



WASHINGTON (July 25, 2008) — A new analysis by the Center for Immigration Studies of monthly data collected by the Census Bureau shows that the illegal immigrant population has declined significantly between last summer and May of this year. The study is the first to find quantitative evidence that illegal immigrants are leaving the country. It also examines the extent to which stepped-up enforcement and the downturn in the economy account for this trend. The report, entitled 'Homeward Bound: Recent Immigration Enforcement and the Decline in the Illegal Alien Population,' is embargoed until Wednesday, July 30th at 2:30 pm. The study will be available online at http://www.cis.org/. Advance copies are available to the media. The Center will formally release the report at a press conference on Wednesday, July 30th at 2:30 pm in room 1309 of the Longworth House Office Building. The report’s lead author, Dr. Steven Camarota will be joined by Representatives John Barrow (D-GA), Lamar Smith (R-TX), Tom Feeney (R-FL) and Heath Shuler (D-NC) to discuss the implications of the study. For more information, contact Steven Camarota at (202) 466-8185 or sac@cis.org
# # #
The Center for Immigration Studies is an independent research institute which examines the impact of immigration on the United States.

Exactly what we've been saying all this time!

People don't get it, even with real-life stories about talented young students overcoming the odds. Specially the older generation running Congress. Thank you Marisa Trevino for the facts.

We need to start up a SCHOLARSHIP Fund for DREAMers, we can do it!

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TX: Why Not Let Students 'Become Someone'?
USA Today, July 25, 2008 Friday
By Marisa Trevioo

Maybe it was because the sender's name, Maritza, was so similar to mine that I felt compelled to open the e-mail. A quick scan proved it was not an unwelcome solicitation, but a plea for help from a student who was also an "illegal immigrant."In part, it read: "I send you an e-mail regarding ... undocumented students who wish to keep studying to become someone." She wanted information on college scholarships that helped students like herself -- high school graduates in need of the kind of financial aid that doesn't depend on citizenship status, only good grades. With so few scholarships, it isn't easy for these students. As a recent USA TODAY article notes, more states want to make in-state tuition rates unavailable or outright ban these students from attending U.S. colleges.

In a reading of new laws in Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Oklahoma, and North and South Carolina, the idea that all children deserve the opportunity for a college education is as foreign as the countries where these children were born. These laws appear to be offshoots of state measures designed to drive the undocumented from local communities. In 2007, according to the Education Commission of the States, 32 states considered bills to give undocumented students in-state tuition. Ten of those states are now considering restricting in-state tuition.

Why? Many state legislators have become incensed that the federal government hasn't taken the lead on enforcement. Their anti-illegal immigrant rhetoric has encouraged wide interpretations of federal policy.In seeking to punish these students, these legislators are, in fact, punishing all of us. Do we really want to waste the talent of these ambitious students? What good is being done by keeping in the dark those serious about furthering their education? The reality is that this country is their home, and they'll be here whether we choose to educate them or not.

What is an advanced degree worth? The Census reports that in 2006, workers with a bachelor's degree earned $56,788 vs. $31,071 for those with only a high school diploma. A labor study that same year found that 500 of the largest U.S. companies will lose 50% of their senior management by 2011. Our aging labor force needs to be replenished by those schooled to compete in a knowledge-based economy. Other countries are clamoring for a highly educated workforce just as we're driving students away.Is this the new American way?

for link to article click here

The Human Cost

It should be ok to laugh sometimes no?


Immigration: The Human Cost

Driving while famous vs. driving while immigrant

Why is it that so many undocumented immigrants are stopped by police for no violations while infamous journalist Robert Novak can get away with hitting a pedestrian, leaving the scene, and surprisingly saying that he did not know he hit anyone, even though the victim hit Novak's windshield? What kind of selective enforcement is this? Novak was not planning to stop, until a bicyclist forced the issue. Yet, all Novak gets is a failure to yield right of way??? Compare this to the same type of incident with the driver being an immigrant? Big difference in what happens -- the immigrant usually lands in jail - or deported... While Novak can continue "driving aggressively," cursing pedestrians, and unethically outing CIA agents -

p.s. If Novak's vision is that bad where he does not see when someone hits his windshield, he needs to turn in his driver's license.

A Washington Post blog published this comment on the Novak incident:

"columnist Bob Novak, whose ludicrous excuse for his plowing his Corvette into a pedestrian in downtown Washington yesterday fails the laugh test. Novak would have us believe that he simply didn't know he had hit a pedestrian, but a lawyer who watched it all happen said the man who was struck rolled onto Novak's hood and then onto his windshield. This is a bit difficult to miss, don't you think?"

to see WP article on Novak and the pedestrian, click here
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Congressional Hearing on ICE Raids Part II Selective Enforcement of U.S. Laws

While Republicans are accusing Democrats of excessive concern regarding immigrant rights - they don't realize (or don't care) that the recent ICE raids defy the Constitution - and that everyone's rights need to be respected - citizen or not.
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Expedited Trials of Illegal Immigrants Are Questioned

By Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, July 25, 2008; A09

Criminal defense and immigration lawyers yesterday challenged the government's use of expedited trials to convict 306 illegal immigrant workers at a meat processing plant in Iowa in May, arguing that fast-tracked group trials violated defendants' rights.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee's immigration panel, said after a day-long hearing that she found the Justice Department's actions against workers at the Agriprocessors Inc. plant in Postville, Iowa, "to be unusual and provocative, and I do have questions about whether they meet the requirements of due process that is guaranteed in our Constitution."

A Justice Department official, Deborah J. Rhodes, said all defendants were provided with criminal defense lawyers and interpreters, as well as access to immigration lawyers and consular officials. Federal judges also asked them and their lawyers if they understood and voluntarily agreed to the terms, she said.

"While the scope of the case presented unusual challenges, defendants' constitutional rights were carefully protected and exercised," Rhodes said.

The hearings focused attention on the aftermath of the Agriprocessors raid, the largest immigration sweep at a single worksite, and on the Bush administration's expanding use of criminal charges against illegal immigrants. Previously, illegal workers were generally held on administrative grounds and deported.

Erik Camayd-Freixas, one of 12 court interpreters who participated in the two-week Iowa proceedings, called them a dangerous pilot effort that subjected defendants to unfounded charges, denied them access to bail because of their immigration status, gave lawyers too little time to advise their clients and deprived judges of a meaningful role in plea deals or sentencing.

The government convicted and sentenced most defendants in four days at temporary court and detention facilities set up at nearby cattle show fairgrounds.

Defendants, most from Guatemala, were processed in groups of 10. Most were charged with aggravated identity theft with the promise of at least a six-month stay in jail until trial, a mandatory two-year prison sentence if found guilty and deportation whether they were found guilty or not. Or they could plead guilty to a lesser charge of document fraud, serve five months in prison and be deported.

Most agreed to the latter, even though six U.S. circuit courts of appeal have split evenly over the question of whether aggravated identity theft requires that the government prove a defendant knows the person whose identity or Social Security number he has taken.

"If our honorable judges had known how this dubious experiment would have turned out, they never would have allowed it," Camayd-Freixas said.

Homeland Security and Justice Department officials credit the new aggressive tactics with deterring border crossings. Republicans on the Judiciary Committee accused Democrats of caring more about illegal immigrants than the American workers whose jobs they take. "The more the administration tries to do its job . . . the more they are criticized for enforcing the law," said Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Tex.).

for WP article click here


*non-citizens, documented or not are being harassed. Their patriotism is questioned, their legality is questioned. When arrested they are assumed undocumented until proven otherwise.

A law ignored for decades is now labeling immigrants as criminals

If the U.S. populace had any idea how many people use false social security cards - everyone would be in shock.  It may be labeled as criminal in 2008, but for decades it was a given that undocumented workers would not be punished for this.  Today however,  ICE and our present administration (who is behind all of this I believe) has decided that using a false number is a very bad thing - which is paradoxical since using a false number only leaves unclaimed money in the social security fund -   Enforcing this law means social security will lose billions that will be needed to support all the aging baby boomers.

Maybe ICE has some deal with industries to gather more inmates for prisons that can work for nothing.... you know that happened after the Civil War.  In 1865 there were only about 300 prison inmates in Texas... by 1890 there were at least a thousand - and it has kept growing (Texas is a prison state you know). A colleague of mine, Robert Perkinson has worked on a project regarding Texas prisons.  He tells me that until the 1930s in Texas, prisoners were "hired out" by the prison to private farms and basically treated like slaves.

When something goes from a minor infraction to a major crime - there is something going on in a society that is turning things upside down.

for NPR program on immigrants and false social security cards, click here

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Legal Affairs
Immigrant Rights Groups Challenge ID Theft Arrests
NPR

by Jennifer Ludden

July 24, 2008 · For years, the chief punishment for immigrants caught working illegally in the United States has been deportation. But prosecutors are now bringing criminal charges that include aggravated identity theft, which can bring a hefty prison sentence. Immigrant rights groups and some members of Congress are challenging the practice.

A congressional panel is meeting Thursday to look at the controversial fallout from an immigration raid on an Iowa meat-packing plant in May. Not long ago, illegal immigrants swept up in such raids faced administrative charges and swift deportation. But in recent years, the Bush administration has started bringing criminal charges against immigrants who use fake documents, including stolen Social Security numbers.

After the raid at the Agriprocessors plant in Postville, Iowa, more than 250 workers were sentenced to five months in prison. Rights groups, defense lawyers and even some judges are questioning the Bush administration's strategy.

Iowa immigration attorney Dan Vondra says he was stunned to see immigrant workers from the plant charged with aggravated identity theft. Congress created that law in 2004 to toughen penalties for the growing problem of identity theft.

Still, Vondra said, "When you think of identity theft, what you really want to target is somebody getting credit cards in your name, ruining your credit, using your name to commit crimes, things of that nature."

The immigrants had bought stolen Social Security numbers to help them find work, Vondra said. In fact, one of the translators at the court proceedings has said the mainly Guatemalan immigrants he encountered had no idea what a Social Security card was — let alone that the numbers on it belonged to real people.

Challenges In The Courts

Last year, another Iowa attorney used that argument in court. Gary Koos' client had been arrested at a concrete company after buying an ID off the street in order to fill out employment forms. Koos didn't think that fit the crime of aggravated identity theft.

"If you want to think of it in legal terms, it would be that a person has to be put upon notice of what the crime is," Koos said. "And in this case, it's knowingly to use someone else's identity. My client didn't know he had someone else's Social Security number, he just had a number."

Koos lost the case on appeal, and his immigrant client is now serving five years in federal prison. But Koos' argument has been backed by other appeals courts — and he thinks the Supreme Court may need to resolve the dispute.

The issue is coming up more often because of another part of the Bush administration's immigration crackdown. More and more companies are using a federal computer program that can detect fake Social Security numbers. But it can't tell when real numbers are used by another person — which has fueled a growing market for stolen IDs.

"The issue is whether people using false identifications should be held accountable for that," said Bob Teig, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office in northern Iowa, which prosecuted the Agriprocessors case.

Teig said he didn't know whether any of the workers charged with aggravated ID theft had used Social Security numbers for anything but work. But that's not the point, he said.

"The point is, by the time it happens it's too late. The statute is not just designed to punish, the statute is designed to prevent," Teig said.

A Stiff Mandatory Sentence

To be clear, the Agriprocessors employees did not plead guilty to aggravated ID theft. But because the charge carries a two-year prison sentence as its mandatory minimum, it put pressure on them to accept a plea deal on lesser charges.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) has called for a hearing to look at that procedure. She's also an immigration attorney, and she questions whether due process was upheld.

"Hundreds of people were convinced to plead guilty to a crime without really an adequate opportunity to see if they had any remedy under immigration law," Lofgren said. "And of course, now that they've pled guilty to a crime, they have no remedies that they might otherwise have had."

Not all arrested immigrant workers are being sentenced to jail time. But federal immigration officials say incarceration can be an important deterrent. And Julie Myers, head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, says that some victims of this kind of ID theft suffer financial and legal hardships.

"We think it's tragic and unfortunate when people break the law by coming here," Myers said, "and then break the law again by actually stealing the identity of U.S. citizens."

So far this year, the immigration agency has made more than 900 criminal arrests.

click here for NPR article

DREAMer Conversations Part III

I always find myself wondering where I would be today if I had not come the United States; If i had not gone to college. I started thinking of this even more last week when a friend from elementary and middle school in Mexico found me after she searched in the local phone book for one of my brothers. My friend's name is Esmeralda. Esmeralda called my brother and after many confirmations that he requested from her of how she knew me and other personal facts, he decided to give her my e-mail address. It was super amazing hearing from her and reading about her life and her two sons! Yes, Esmeralda is 24 years old, happily married- she is happy with her life. Maybe that would have been me now if i had stayed in Mexico (only hoping i would have been as happy as Esmeralda).

I would not have learned about college and the possibility that the sky is the limit when it comes to education. I don't think that i would have learned about the many flaws in global policies and how we are all affected no matter where on the globe we stand. I probably would be oblivious to the suffering that immigration struggles bring to hundreds of thousand of families everyday thanks to deals like NAFTA. Since i have exchanged messages with Esmeralda, I have explained to her how difficult it has been for me and many other students to reach higher education, how hard it has been to get a driver's license- Esmeralda had no idea she said. She also said that the little news she gets to view, none of this is reported, maybe she is right.

In Mexico, I would not have gone to school, but the more that i think about it and our childhood friends that Esmeralda has told me about (most of them married with families or dead, jailed)... the chances of me having gone to college become more slim.

If i had stayed in Mexico I would not have had the chance to have some privileges that I now have. I would not have owned a car, or have the luxury of going to the movies as often as I do here, go out to eat, have a drink with my friends every other weekend, buy a book, a CD. I don't think i would have had the chance to go to road trips with my friends, go to the beach on the weekends (although Galveston is pretty crappy for a beach).

Although many things are pretty screwed up with the laws in this country (can i say the world?!), and it sucks... it really SUCKS being a DREAMer with all its limitations, i am paradoxically thankful to be one and to be here today.

ICE raids Mexican restaurants in Cincinnati

The day before a congressional hearing on immigration raids, ICE arrested 58 people in Cincinnati. They all worked for Casa Fiesta, a restaurant chain.

It would be interesting to see how ICE plans their strategy. They are not planning to deport all undocumented workers. It has to be more than creating fear in communities...

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Immigration raids Ohio restaurants, arrests 58
Wed Jul 23, 2008 10:16pm ED

CINCINNATI (Reuters) - U.S. immigration agents raided eight Mexican restaurants in northern Ohio on Wednesday and arrested 58 employees as part of a criminal operation against illegal immigrants, federal authorities said.

All those arrested were citizens of Mexico and working at Casa Fiesta, a chain of Mexican restaurants in Ashland, Fremont, Norwalk, Oberlin, Oregon, Sandusky, Vermillion and Youngstown, Ohio, Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in a statement.

It said the raid was the culmination of more than a yearlong investigation.

Of the 58 arrested, 54 were men. Three of the four women were released on their own recognizance on humanitarian grounds, ICE said. They are still required to appear before a federal immigration judge who will determine whether they have a legal right to remain in the United States.

The raid was the latest targeting businesses employing illegal workers.
... ICE said it had made 949 criminal arrests in worksite-related raids since October 2007, including the arrests of 105 owners, managers, supervisors or human resources employees who face charges ranging from harboring to knowingly hiring illegal aliens...

(Reporting by Andrea Hopkins; Editing by Peter Cooney)

for complete Reuters article click here

Congressional Hearing on ICE Raids

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Congressional Documents and Publications

July 24, 2008

CONGRESSWOMAN SHEILA JACKSON LEE
SHEILA JACKSON LEE -Search using:
SECTION: U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES DOCUMENTS



July 24, 2008

Contact: Judith Kargbo 202-225-3816

202-225-7080

Giving Insight Into ICE Immigrations Raids That Took Place in Houston

Washington, D.C. -Today, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee
Enhanced Coverage Linking
Sheila Jackson Lee, senior Member of the House Judiciary Committee, will testify in front of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law in a hearing entitled, "on Immigration Raids Postville and Beyond." She released the following statement to discuss how the ICE Immigration Raids have effect Houston, Texas:

"I would like to thank Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren

Zoe Lofgren from California and Ranking Member Steve King from Iowa for holding this very important hearing on the recent immigration raids in Houston, Texas and across this great nation. Chairwoman Lofgren has continued to bring relevant and timely hearings and continues to work for comprehensive immigration reform. For this, she should be applauded.

"As a senior Member of the House Judiciary Committee and the former Ranking Member of the House Subcommittee on Immigration, it is of the utmost importance to me that we thoroughly investigate the raids that took place at Shipley Do-Nuts and Action Rags USA by ICE officials. Both of these raids occurred in Houston, Texas.

"Shipley Do-Nuts is a family-owned chain that has been catapulted into a highly controversial debate when federal agents raided the company's Houston headquarters and arrested 20 suspected illegal immigrants employed at the facility.

"On Wednesday, April 17, 2008, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents - in a caravan of 50 vehicles, detention vans and an ambulance - swarmed Shipley's office and warehouse complex on North Main Street at 5 a.m. A government helicopter circled overhead as the Shipley workers were led away in handcuffs to face civil charges of being in the country illegally.

"The Houston raid took place at the same time ICE agents conducted raids of chicken processing plants in East Texas, Arkansas, Florida, West Virginia, and Tennessee. In all, 290 workers were arrested during raids at Texas-based Pilgrims Pride plants on suspicion of identify theft, document fraud and immigration violations, the agency said.

"ICE officials have released few details of the Shipley investigation, saying only that it would continue. The undocumented workers arrested Wednesday face deportation.

"The Shipley raid centered on its 140,000-square-foot warehouse, processing plants and office complex. It is part of a four-block compound the company operates at 5200 North Main, where doughnut mix and other fillings are made for many of the 86 Houston-area locations.

"The site includes at least five trailers and 14 small homes. The neatly maintained properties sit behind cyclone and barbed-wire fencing used by some Shipley employees.

"The people caught in this raid were hard working people. ICE should make certain that minors were not caught in this raid. And, if minors were caught, ICE should ensure that these minors are returned safely to their families.

"Within weeks of the Shipley Do-Nuts raid, on June 25, 2008, ICE agents raided the Action Rags USA plant in Houston. In all, 166 of the 192 workers at the plant were undocumented.

"Approximately 70 percent of the 166 detained workers, about 116 workers, were women including eight pregnant women. Many of those workers were detained by ICE, though at least 73 have been released for humanitarian reasons. The vast majority of these women were caring for children and had families. It is shocking to imagine that on that fateful day, many children returned home to empty homes and apartments wondering when their mothers would return. Equally appalling, the pregnant workers were subject to the stress and anxiety of arrest and detention when their own health and well-being is critical to the health and development of their unborn baby.

"The chaos and fear in the aftermath of raids did cause injuries. Four women sustained injuries that required immediate medical attention, including one woman that required an immediate "life flight" by helicopter to a nearby hospital as she was so fearful of the raid and the ensuing chaos that she climbed on a stack of wooden pallets and fell 20 feet to the ground.

"The detainees in both raids were of Mexican and Central-American descent. The raid on Action Rags USA resulted in the detention of 138 Mexican, 12 Honduran, 8 Guatemalan, and 8 El Salvadoran workers. The Shipley Donuts raid resulted in the detention of men from Mexico, Honduras, Nicaragua, and El Salvador.

"In both raids, youths were detained. The Shipley Donuts Raid resulted in the detention of one youth who was placed in the care of Catholic Charities and allowed to attend school until ICE could secure deportation papers. He was subsequently deported before finishing the school year.

"Two youths were detained in the raid on Action Rags USA. One of the youths, a rising senior in high school, worked at Action Rags USA as a summer job and had only been employed for one week prior to the Raid. He is now awaiting deportation and will be deported before he is able to achieve his dream of a high school degree. Assistant U.S. Attorney Doug Davis said the fact that 85 percent of company workers at the plant were undocumented was sufficient to show a conspiracy existed. U.S. Magistrate Frances Stacy ruled there was evidence to support federal conspiracy charges that Mabarik Kahlon, 45, owner of Action Rags USA, and three managers knew undocumented workers were hired and they had presented false work documents.

"Four government informants, three who were paid a total of $13,200 along with immigration benefits, will be a key part of the case. The three paid informants were illegal immigrants planted at Action Rags USA by ICE agents. Because the paid informants were given cash money and documents allowing them to legally stay and work in the country, there is a strong incentive for anybody to say what the agents want them to say.

"The ICE surveillance reports documented only one hour and 57 minutes in which Mr. Kahlon was at the plant. Mr. Kahlon is the owner of several vitamin supplement companies, and may not have been actively managing daily operations at Action Rags USA.

"Among the persons arrested at Action Rags USA was 34 year old, Valerie Rodriguez, described by government officials as the company's resource manager. It was reported that Ms. Rodriguez was nothing more than a secretary.

"Both Mr. Kahlon and Ms. Rodriguez were released last week from custody after posting bond. The judge denied bail for Cirila Barron, 38, one of two illegal immigrants ICE documents describe as company managers at the plant.

"Another undocumented worker, Mayra Herrera-Gutierrez, 32, was denied bail. She was arrested for allegedly being an illegal alien and working as a warehouse supervisor. There is evidence, however, that she did not have the authority to hire and fire workers.

As members of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, we exercise oversight over ICE's actions. Shipley Do-Nuts is a family-owned and operated business with a 72-year history in the Houston area, and 190 stores in several states.

"I am concerned for the well-being of the employees that are being detained and their families. I am concerned that the detainees be treated fairly and are not denied counsel or their basic human and civil rights. Lastly, I am concerned that these raids have disproportionately focused upon the undocumented employees and the employers largely have been left unharmed from these raids. I believe that it is an injustice in the immigration system that the "crackdown" has been directed at the "undocumented" workers who are working to support themselves and their families.

"These raids demonstrate that Congress must pass comprehensive immigration reform. I have long advocated for comprehensive immigration reform. Indeed, in December 2007, I introduced, HR 750, Save America Comprehensive Immigration Act of 2007. This bill would provide for comprehensive immigration reform.

"Importantly, the bill authorizes DHS to adjust the status of aliens who would otherwise be inadmissible (due to unlawful presence, document fraud, or other specified grounds of inadmissibility) if such aliens have been in the United States for at least five years and meet other requirements. Additionally, it authorizes the emergency deployment of Border Patrol agents to a requesting border state.

"The bill also directs DHS to: (1) provide for additional detention space for illegal aliens; (2) increase Border Patrol agents, airport and land border immigration inspectors, immigration enforcement officers, and fraud and document fraud investigators; (3) enhance Border Patrol training and operational facilities; (4) establish immigration, customs, and agriculture inspector occupations within the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection; (5) reestablish the Border Patrol anti-smuggling unit; (6) establish criminal investigator occupations within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS); (7) increase Border Patrol agent and investigator pay; (8) require foreign language training for appropriate DHS employees; and (9) establish the Fraudulent Documents Task Force.

"This bill also sets forth unfair immigration-related employment practices. Additionally the bill requires petitioners for nonimmigrant labor to describe their efforts to recruit lawful permanent residents or U.S. citizens.

"As these investigations move forward I will make sure that all issues are addressed surrounding this raid. This raid demonstrates the importance of immigration reform. As members of Congress, let us work together to resolve this matter and ensure that everyone's rights are protected!"

###

Gypsy camp near Rome is firebombed

Bombing of Italian Gypsy camp in May 2008. link to photo

Someone decided to imitate the Italian Mafia and firebombed a Roma camp yesterday. Whether authorized by the government or initiated by an Italian terrorist - it is a brutal action.

Berlosconi has intensified the hatred towards the Roma - and has encouraged this by bombing their encampments -- how you expect the Italian populace to act any different?

---

The Evening Standard (London)
July 23, 2008 Wednesday
PETROL BOMBERS ATTACK GIPSY CAMP UNDER ROME FLYOVER

BYLINE: NICK PISA IN ROME

ITALIAN police were today investigating a suspected arson attack on a Roma gipsy camp.

Three petrol bombs were thrown onto the ramshackle collection of caravans under a flyover in western Rome from a car above.

The attack last night on the 100-strong community in Magliana comes two months after an attack at Ponticelli in Naples against another Roma camp.

Feeling towards the Roma is running high in Italy as many blame them for soaring petty crime.

Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi was re-elected three months ago on a tough law and order package and has vowed to clamp down on illegal immigration. He has introduced measure to fingerprint Roma gipsies. Red Cross officials were due to visit the camp in Rome today to carry out the programme.

Mr Berlusconi's government has passed a law which makes him immune from prosecution while in office. It means that the corruption trial involving the prime minister and David Mills, the estranged husband of Olympics minister Tessa Jowell, will continue without the Italian premier. Both men deny any wrongdoing.

from Lexis Nexis

for additional information, click here for previous London Independent article on the Roma

previous dreamacttexas posts on the Roma:
Roma Children's Deaths: Murder? July 22, 2008
The Meaningless Dead, July 21, 2008

South Carolina must want a less educated population

DREAMers shut out of college in South Carolina because of new immigration law.  

There have been a flood of comments on this article... they might be worth looking at....even if its painful.

It is interesting that Rep. Thad Myers is now back tracking, saying the law is too extreme...

-----

S.C. IMMIGRATION LAW
Colleges telling illegal students not to return
By Robert Morris - rmorris@thesunnews.com

As they arrived home last week from their study groups and second jobs, a handful of college students across the Grand Strand found letters saying that, because they are in the U.S. illegally, this semester will be their last.

The letters are the result of a new immigration package signed into law last month after a yearlong public debate led in part by state Rep. Thad Viers of Myrtle Beach. Now, Viers says that law may go too far and pledged late last week to work on correcting it or changing its application.

"These kids are the posters for what we want from immigration," Viers said. "We're punishing them for the sins of their fathers and mothers, and that's not right."

Among its many law-enforcement and employment-related provisions, this year's immigration law contained a clause forbidding any state college from accepting illegal immigrants as students and requiring schools to begin screening applicants for citizenship.

Coastal Carolina University already had a policy against admitting illegal immigrants, so none of its students will be asked to leave, said Edgar Dyer, vice president for university relations.

Horry-Georgetown Technical College, however, practiced what is known as "open admission," and officials say a dozen or so students are being asked to leave.

The technical college's application already asks students if they are U.S. citizens, part of the criteria for financial aid, said Greg Thompson, vice president of student affairs. Those students who indicated foreign citizenship are now being sent letters, Thompson said.

"Under the new immigration state law, you are not eligible to attend classes unless you can submit a copy of your permanent resident card," the letters read.

For those students - brought to the U.S. as children by their parents, then learning English from scratch in order to finish high school - the letter was a blow, one more hardship in a world such overachievers would otherwise be on top of....

"I don't mind going back if they make me," Rodrigues said with a note of resignation. "But I think it's sad that they prefer uneducated illegal immigrants to educated illegal immigrants."

As the immigration debate roiled and Viers was selected to serve on the conference committee responsible for the bill's final version, Myrtle Beach High School teacher Peggy Ryals invited him to her English as a Second Language class, where he met some of the students who are now being asked not to return to college.

They were star students, Viers said later, excelling academically in English with dreams of contributing to society.

"I would much rather the illegals who are here to improve their educations and work to assimilate into American culture than us to shut the door in the face when they're trying," Viers said. "I'm one of the strongest supporters of illegal-immigration reform, but we have to have a balance."

The bill he helped design was intended to keep immigrants who enter the country illegally from receiving tuition breaks or other benefits, Viers said - not to bar from college their children who graduate from local high schools and pay out-of-state tuition.

Viers said he now plans to ask the state attorney general's office to review the bill and ask for an interpretation closer to its original intention, and if that fails, to seek an exception that would allow state high school graduates who have lived most of their lives in the U.S. to attend college.

"It may not be the most popular thing, but it's the right thing," Viers said. "They are just as much Americans as you or I."

Ryals, who takes her foreign students to area colleges every year, urging them to overcome their language difficulties, finish high school and seek higher education, said she was encouraged by Viers' words.

"When we deny people an education, we're creating another generation of people who barely survive, instead of contribute to society," Ryals said. "It used to be that we were proud of people seeking that American dream."

Contact ROBERT MORRIS at 626-0294.

for link to article click here

DREAMer conversations Part II

The issue of DREAMers and blaming somebody for the bind in which we are in comes up a lot, or at least I find it as a very common subject of conversation among DREAMers.

Yes, this may seem as very unimportant and irrelevant to many, but it is so HUGE. People blaming their parents is a huge weight; many DREAMers genuinely blame their parents and hold it against them deep inside for being in this limbo.

Particularly, younger DREAMers are usually more angry and confused than older DREAMers-I know i was when i was in high school; i was a bundle of anger and confusion. I think that younger DREAMers are usually more confused about this whole situation when other issues like fitting in with their friends are important to them. At this point their many of their friends are getting their driver licenses, traveling, applying to colleges(some we could not attend), etc., and they find themselves without reasons to explain why they are not able to do any of those things. Perhaps, older DREAMers like myself come to grips with the situation and have learned to deal with it or just getting older allows us to understand our parents and their motives a lot better.

I hope that this conversation with our fellow DREAMer allows people to understand the preoccupations that haunt the lives of the 65,000+ DREAMers in the U.S.

Chaos After Rhode Island ICE Raid

The ICE Raids last week of various court houses in Rhode Island have left a number of families destitute.  For those that were released, they no longer have jobs.  Most have small children.

St. Teresa Church in Providence is raising money and gathering food and household items for the families

-----

Families and people who have been released met today with a great bunch
of volunteer lawyers, and they identified their material needs, which
are enormous, as you can imagine. People are out of work, with family
here and in home countries counting on them to survive. Some of the things
mentioned include:

- Money for rent, bills, sustenance, medicine, food (probably the
easiest and most important)
- Food - milk, beans, tortillas, corn, fruit, vegetables
- Pampers, toilet paper, basic household supplies

Some of the family members and people released are working on a name and guidelines for the fund which will be passed along as soon as they decide, but in the meantime, St. Teresa Church will have a special account for cash donations. Checks can be made out to St. Teresa Church. Please put "redadas" in the memo. 

Send contributions to

St. Teresa Church
Attn: Ruth Salvatierra
225 Manton Ave
Providence 02909

or cash or food/household items dropped off there.

 The phone # is (401)383-3355.

* * * * *

Las familias y personas que saltaron se reunieron hoy con unos tremendo/as abogado/as voluntario/as, y identificaron sus necesidades materiales, que son enormes, como puedes imaginar. Estan afuera de trabajo, con responsabilidades para sus familias aca y alla. Unas de las cosas que dijeron son:

- dinero para renta, billes, medicina, comida (dinero es lo mas facil y
mas importante)
- Comida: leche, frijoles, maiz, fruta, vegetables
- Pampers, papel del bano, productos generales de casa

Unos de ellos estan dicidiendo el nombre y como va a funcionar el fondo, y les decimos tan pronto que decidan. Mientras tanto, Sta Teresa va a abrir una cuenta dedicada para las donaciones de dinero. Se puede hacer los cheques a St. Teresa Church y enviarlo a

St. Teresa
Attn: Ruth Salvatierra
225 Manton Ave
Providence 02909

o puede dejar comida o productos de casa alla. El telefono es
Just got this friends. Throw out ideas about what to do with it.
We've really got to get an online donation system started when things
like this occur.

Texas city wanting to get rid of immigrants, get ready to lose big bucks

wanting to follow in the foot-steps of Farmers Branch, English-only is the topic of discussion in the little town just outside of Dallas...use your tax-money wisely!
The only "crime" here is immigrants WORKING TO MUCH!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Carrollton City Council to appoint panel on illegal immigration
By Brandon Formby The Dallas Morning News, July 19, 2008

The Carrollton City Council is expected to appoint a residents' task force to develop possible approaches to illegal immigration. The idea for such a group came late Friday during a council retreat after council members failed to reach a consensus on proposed illegal immigration resolutions.

Mayor Ron Branson and council member Terry Simons had proposed a resolution affirming English as the city's official language, arguing that it would deter illegal immigrants.  But council members Tim Hayden and Herb Weidinger disagreed.  Mr. Hayden said such a resolution would do little more than generate headlines.  'I'm trying to follow the logic, but I'm getting lost,' he said.   Mr. Branson said that if a resolution kept one illegal immigrant out of Carrollton, 'it would be worth it.'  He has said that one of his top priorities as mayor will be to work to rid the city of illegal immigrants, some of whom he said moved to Carrollton after neighboring Farmers Branch made them unwelcome with its efforts to prevent them from renting property.

Carrollton already participates in the Criminal Alien Program, which has jailers contacting Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers when they think a detainee is in the U.S. illegally. And in April, the city was accepted into a federal program that trains local police to act as immigration officers. Mr. Branson resigned from the City Council in 2006 for health reasons but unseated the incumbent mayor in May.  

Farmers Branch made English the city's official language in 2006. The Oak Point City Council adopted a resolution supporting the use of English as the official language of documents in this small Denton County town last summer.  Council member John Mahalik said he did not want Carrollton to be lumped together with cities such as Farmers Branch that have drawn widespread attention for their approaches to illegal immigration. But he also said he would support a resolution making English Carrollton's official language.  Council member Pat Malone raised the question of whether a resolution would have any significant impact. She also wondered whether it would send a message to residents that the council cares about the problem of illegal immigration.

The council also failed to reach a consensus on a proposed resolution supporting Farmers Branch's approach to illegal immigration, which has included ordinances that have been blocked by or tied up in court.  Council member Matthew Marchant did not voice support or opposition on the resolutions. Council member Larry Williams was not at the retreat Friday.
The council is likely to vote on the structure and membership of the task force in September.

Roma children's deaths: Murder?

Are some deaths more meaningful than others? Who else could die and be left among a group of oblivious sunbathers.

Some people are asking if there was foul play behind the girl's deaths. Would the life guards not have noticed the girls? Did someone throw them into the water?

Now that the Italian government is burning down Roma encampments and fingerprinting all Roma children - anything sinister could be possible.

I wonder if every society has to have someone to hate.

-----

Gypsy girls' corpses on beach in Italy fail to put off sunbathers

· Incident raises questions about attitude to minority
· Civil rights group calls for inquiry into 'drowning'

John Cooper
The Guardian - London
July 21, 2008

Questions about the attitude of Italians to their Roma minority were again being asked yesterday after photographs were published of sunbathers continuing as normal with a day at the beach despite the bodies of two Gypsy girls who had drowned being laid out on the sand nearby.

A civil liberties group said it had asked for talks with the authorities to shed light on the circumstances of the girls' death. The incident took place outside Naples, where a Roma encampment was burned to the ground this year after its inhabitants had been evacuated for their own safety.

Accounts given by Italian media varied, but according to the news agency Ansa, the victims - aged 14 and 16 - and two other young Gypsies had been begging from daytrippers on the beach at Torregaveta, west of Naples, on Saturday. Other reports indicated they were selling trinkets. The area is easily reached from the city by a railway line that ends near the shore.

At about 1pm, the four girls decided to go into the water even though none of them, it seems, knew how to swim. They soon got into difficulties because of strong currents in the area and were hit by an unusually big wave.

Two of the girls were rescued by life-savers from a nearby private beach. But rescuers were unable to reach the two oldest until they were already dead.

Their corpses were dragged ashore and laid out on the sand under beach towels.

"But the knot of curious onlookers that formed around the girls' bodies dissolved as [swiftly] as it had formed," the newspaper Corriere della Sera reported. "Few left the beach or abandoned their sunbathing. When the police from the mortuary arrived an hour later with coffins, the two girls were carried away on the shoulders [of the officers] between bathers stretched out in the sun."

La Repubblica also expressed astonishment at the behaviour of those present. "While the lifeless bodies of the girls were still on the sand, there were those who carried on sunbathing or having lunch just a few metres away," it reported.

Corriere recalled that this was not the first time people had decided a death was no reason to give up their day at the beach. In August 1997, sunbathers carried on as normal after a man drowned near Trieste.

But the fact that the two victims on this occasion were Roma added an extra twist to the affair.

Italy is gripped by anti-Gypsy feeling. Since coming to office in May, Silvio Berlusconi's rightwing government has appointed three special commissioners to deal with the Roma in each of Italy's three biggest cities - Naples, Milan and Rome. It has also ordered the fingerprinting of the country's Gypsy population, including minors, who make up more than half of the estimated 150,000 Roma in Italy.

The European commission has asked the Italian government for more details on the census, and this month the European parliament approved a motion condemning it as an act of discrimination banned by the European convention of human rights. Berlusconi last week told the commission president, José Manuel Barroso, that the information was being collected to ensure Gypsy children went to school.

The civil liberties group EveryOne said it was unconvinced by reports of the incident at Torregaveta and asked whether there might be something more sinister behind it.

A statement from the group said: "Two young Roma would never have left their scant merchandise for 'a refreshing dip' in the waves. Two Gypsy girls would never have gone bathing in full view of everyone because of the modesty that is one of their distinguishing characteristics."

The group said it had asked for a meeting with the authorities, adding: "We await their response."

About this article

This article appeared in the Guardian on Monday July 21 2008 on p16 of the International section. It was last updated at 14:46 on July 21 2008.

for Guardian article click here

DREAMer Conversations Part I

Dream Act Texas is celebrating its first year anniversary by sharing the stories of DREAMers through the lens.

In this clip, we hear about what is like to be a DREAMer college graduate and not being able to use your degree.

Why people are undocumented - dreamacttexas 1st Anniversary Series

This week the dreamactblog team is making an extra effort to present essays/photos/videos that will encourage conversations about immigration.

An important issue that comes to mind is the question of why people are undocumented. Anti-immigrationists often tell of their own families "standing in line" and "doing it the right way." While dreamacttexas and other blogs often re-state that there is no line - there are still many people out there who still believe that undocumented people came to the U.S. on a whim and are wanting to flaunt U.S. laws. These assumptions are wrong.

People only choose to remain here undocumented for the most serious of reasons. It is because they cannot make enough to support their families in their country of origin. For Americans, when we think of "not making enough" it is often about not having enough to pay the cellphone, the car payment, the credit cards, cable, internet etc. The reality is that undocumented immigrants are forced to immigrate because they do not make enough to buy food, have a home, have a car, or buy their kids school clothes.

Did you know that many immigrants who own small farms are forced to mortgage their property in order to pay someone to cross them? For those that get caught, either as they cross or sometime after they arrive - their lives are in effect ruined, because they can no longer make the mortgage payments - they lose their lands - When they are deported, they often have to immigrate to Mexico City to look for work- which is often much worse than the rural areas.

After a couple of years of talking to DREAMERS and other undocumented immigrants, I have learned of a number of "complications" that kept people from regularizing.

1. "My Mom didn't regularize me in 1986 because she didn't want me to get drafted when I was older. "

2. "My family applied for their residency, with my grandfather as our sponsor, but he died. There was no one left to sponsor us."

3. "My family waited so long for their residency papers, that I was already over 21 years old and was no longer allowed to apply as part of the group."

4. "My Mom moved here a month after I was born. Imagine, a few days earlier and I'd be an American citizen."

5. "Our family wanted to regularize, but we did not have the thousands of dollars charged by the lawyers."

6. "I could not afford the fees to purchase my Mexican passport. Since the passport alone wouldn't help me get to the U.S. I still had to gather the money for crossing - which was first priority. In Mexico most people only make 20 dollars per week."

7. "I was only 10. Mom and I had been separated for 5 years. She desperately wanted me with her. She had not been able to fix her papers, and didn't expect to do so for a very long time, so she paid someone to bring me across. She believed I was too young to be separated from her."

8. "U.S. immigration favors rich people. Rich Mexicans are welcomed here. You can see that at Houston's Galleria. A family that has a combined income of $20 per week has little chance to come across with a visa.

The Meaningless Dead

Link to photo

Remember all the bodies in New Orleans? Many wondered how such a horrible thing could happen - how can the dead be left on the streets, in the water, or sitting in wheel chairs among thousands of people?

The two Roma girls who drowned - were treated similarly - their bodies were left on the beach, partially covered with beach towels. People sunbathed nearby - as if the girl's bodies were invisible. Many Italians hate the Roma, and are not shocked by what happened. But some think the hatred and indifference have gone too far.

-----

The picture that shames Italy

By Peter Popham in Rome
The London Independent
Tuesday, 22 July 2008

It's another balmy weekend on the beach in Naples. By the rocks, a couple soak up the southern Italian sun. A few metres away, their feet poking from under beach towels that cover their faces and bodies, lie two drowned Roma children.

The girls, Cristina, aged 16, and Violetta, 14, were buried last night as the fallout from the circumstances of their death reverberated throughout Italy.

It is an image that has crystallised the mounting disquiet in the country over the treatment of Roma, coming after camps have been burnt and the government has embarked on a bid to fingerprint every member of the minority. Two young Roma sisters had drowned at Torregaveta beach after taking a dip in treacherous waters. Their corpses were recovered from the sea – then left on the beach for hours while holidaymakers continued to sunbathe and picnic around them....

It was the sort of tragedy that could happen on any beach. But what happened next has stunned Italy. The bodies of the two girls were laid on the sand; their sister and cousin were taken away by the police to identify and contact the parents. Some pious soul donated a couple of towels to preserve the most basic decencies. Then beach life resumed.

The indifference was taken as shocking proof that many Italians no longer have human feelings for the Roma, even though the communities have lived side by side for generations.

"This was the other terrible thing," says Mr Esposito, "besides the fact of the girls drowning: the normality. The way people continued to sunbathe, for three hours, just metres away from the bodies. They could have gone to a different beach. It's not possible that you can watch two young people die then carry on as if nothing happened. It showed a terrible lack of sensitivity and respect...."

The Italians and the Roma

Roma have been living in Italy for seven centuries and the country is home to about 150,000, who live mainly in squalid conditions in one of around 700 encampments on the outskirts of major cities such as Rome, Milan and Naples. They amount to less than 0.3 per cent of the population, one of the lowest proportions in Europe. But their poverty and resistance to integration have made them far more conspicuous than other communities. And the influx of thousands more migrants from Romania in the past year has confirmed the view of many Italians that the Gypsies and their eyesore camps are the source of all their problems. The ethnic group is often blamed for petty theft and burglaries. According to a recent newspaper survey, more than two thirds of Italians want Gypsies expelled, whether they hold Italian passports or not.

for link to complete Independent article click here

Mexico strategizes for better treatment of undocumented migrants in the U.S.

When I was living in Mexico in the late 90s, people used to tell me that migrants were treated worse in Mexico than in the U.S. That may not be true anymore, with U.S. immigration policy turning brutal and Mexican immigration policy loosening up.

It would make sense that Mexico would lighten its policies if it wants its own people to be treated more fairly in the U.S. Considering the deadly rhetoric going around, plus our do nothing Congress (with regards to immigration reform) - Mexico may not see much progress until the next administration - and that's a maybe.
-----

Mexico will no longer jail illegal immigrants
AP/Washington Post

Monday, July 21, 2008; 1:54 PM

MEXICO CITY -- Mexico will no longer jail illegal immigrants detained within its borders.

A measure that takes effect Tuesday eliminates jail times for illegal immigrants caught in Mexico. Most are crossing the country from Central America en route to the U.S.

Undocumented immigration will now be considered a minor offense, punishable by fines equal to US$500 to US$2,400. Illegal immigrants previously faced up to 10 years in prison, though most were simply deported...

for link to complete AP/WP article click here

Juana Villegas Part IV

More information on Juana Villegas.

Tim Chavez of  www.politicalsalsa.com first posted the story of Mrs. Villegas.   He has additional information on his website. The 287 deportation program in Tennessee needs to be repealed, most of the undocumented people picked up were stopped for traffic violations.  As for Mrs. Villegas being shackled - she is not a dangerous criminal as described by the Davidson County Sheriff's Dept. - It again appears that  DHS and ICE are not honoring the U.S. Constitution.

Maybe we need a Geneva Convention for immigrant detainees.  As shown with the Mrs. Villegas and the Postville detainees, shackling has become popular again.  If you recall, it was commonly used on slaves during in the 19th century.

A Coincidence or a Bit of Imitation?

Today the NYT had an essay on the Obama New Yorker cover. It was well written and thought provoking. There was such a similarity to a post I made yesterday, it seemed strange. Especially since it came up the day after I posted...

it could just be a coincidence... or a bit of imitation...

dreamacttexas post:

"It is ever ok to say stupid Mexicans?" July 19, 2008

Maybe (I am hoping) someone else would probably handle this type of situation differently - with a drawing of the boys playing ball while two kids and their mother (who are Latino) walk by. A bubble with a few words would be next to the boys, depicting what they actually said twenty years ago.

Each image would present an entirely different story. Which would be more accurate? If you draw Mexicans then all you see are three people walking down a sidewalk - if you want to present them as "stupid" there are many ways to depict this, but they all focus on the negative evaluation of the two kids and their mother. If you draw little boys screaming nasty things as the Mexican kids walk by, then you depict an interaction starts in the mouths of the boys playing - it is the boy's nasty language - there is no connection with anyone around them, except for their own imagination.

NY Times essay:

"We're Not Laughing at You, or With You," July 20, 2008

But if that very same New Yorker cover had been drawn in a balloon over the head of a deranged citizen — or a ruthless political operative — it would have appeared as plausible only in the mind of that person. The image would have come across as absurd and unjust — a version of reality exaggerated to the point of madness.

Juana Villegas: Nursing Mothers and Breast Infections Part III

In regards to Juana Villegas:

The Davidson County Jail must not have any mothers who have experienced nursing their babies. It seems like if they did, they would have let these guys know what hell it is to have a breast infection.

On the other hand, maybe they think it is ok for an undocumented detainee to experience this type of pain.

Some information on Nursing and Breast Infections from La Leche League

It is best to start treating a breast infection as soon as possible and it is safe to continue nursing on an infected breast. Studies show that the baby is not harmed in any way by nursing when his mother has a breast infection.

Antibodies found in the milk protect the baby from the bacteria causing the breast infection. Moreover sudden weaning makes the infection worse. Research on mothers with breast infections shows that continued nursing helps to clear the infection much more quickly. Follow the treatment outlined for a plugged duct: Heat, Rest and Frequent Nursing.

Generally if the infection gets steadily worse, or noticeable improvement does not occur within 24 hours, it is wise to contact your doctor who may prescribe an antibiotic. Even if an antibiotic is necessary, continuing to breastfeed is best for you and your baby. Most antibiotics are compatible with breastfeeding. If an antibiotic is prescribed, be sure to take it for the whole course of the treatment.

With some types of breast infection, a doctor should be contacted without delay. For example, if both breasts are affected, if the nipple looks infected, if there is any pus or blood in the milk, if there are red streaks near the sore area, or if the symptoms came on suddenly and severely, these re signs of a bacterial infection that should be checked out by a doctor immediately.

----

from WEb MD on Breast Infections/Mastitis

What is mastitis?

Mastitis is a breast inflammation usually caused by infection. It can happen to any woman, although mastitis is most common during the first 6 months of breast-feeding. It can leave a new mother feeling very tired and run-down. Add the illness to the demands of taking care of a newborn, and many women quit breast-feeding altogether. But you can continue to nurse your baby. In fact, breast-feeding usually helps to clear up infection, and nursing will not harm your baby.¹

Although mastitis can be discouraging and painful, it is usually easily cleared up with medicine.

What causes mastitis?

Mastitis most often happens when bacteria enter the breast through the nipple.² This can happen when a nursing mother has a cracked or sore nipple.

Going for long stretches between nursing or failing to empty the breast completely may also contribute to mastitis. Using different breast-feeding techniques and making sure your baby is latched on properly when nursing will help with emptying the breast and avoiding cracked nipples.

What are the symptoms?

Mastitis usually starts as a painful area in one breast. It may be red or warm to the touch, or both. You may also have fever, chills, and body aches. If you have these symptoms, call your doctor today.

Signs that mastitis is getting worse include swollen, painful lymph nodes in the armpit next to the infected breast, a fast heart rate, and flu-like symptoms that get worse. Mastitis can lead to a breast abscess, which feels like a hard, painful lump.

What increases your risk of getting mastitis?

You are more likely to get mastitis while breast-feeding if:

• You have had mastitis before.³
• You delay or skip breast-feeding or pumping sessions. When you don't empty the breast regularly or completely, your breasts become engorged or too full, which can lead to mastitis.
• You have cracked or irritated nipples, which can be caused by poor positioning or poor latching on.
• You have anemia. Anemia makes you tire more easily and lowers your resistance to infections like mastitis.
• Your nursing bra is too tight.
• You wear breast binders, which are used to suppress milk production.

The Nurses Cried for Juana Villegas, Part I

Juana Villegas gave birth to a baby on July 5. She had been arrested by Davidson County Sheriffs on the 3rd. At the hospital she was shackled until the very final stages of labor. The situation was so brutal that the labor and delivery nurses were crying. Later, when she was taken back to the jail she developed infections in both breasts because the officers at the Davidson County Jail (in Nashville) would not allow her to have a breast pump. She was separated from her newborn for 2 days. The baby developed jaundice.

The story on Juana Villegas did not appear when I searched Tennessee.com under "immigration." I finally found it under Villegas' name. Her arrest and the brutal nature of how she was treated probably needed to be hidden away back in the web-site. Few people would look up Juana Villegas - but under "immigration" the whole country would have found it. (it was published today in the front page of the NYT)

For those women breast-feeding their babies, have you ever had a breast infection? I can say, as a personal witness (I had one when I nursed my son) it is just about the most painful infection a woman can have.

p.s. The baby is an American citizen. Mrs. Villegas has been in the United States for 12 years and has two other American born children.
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Pregnant inmate shackled to hospital bed during labor

by Travis Loller
AP/Tennessee.com

A pregnant illegal immigrant found herself shackled to a hospital bed while enduring labor after being arrested on a charge of driving without a license, according to police and her attorney.

Juana Villegas of Nashville was arrested and taken to the Davidson County Sheriff's Office on July 3 after a Berry Hill police officer pulled her over for alleged careless driving and found she had no driver's licenseSheriff's spokeswoman Karla Weikal said a check of her immigration status found she had been previously deported, making her a medium-security inmate. ...Villegas was still in jail awaiting a hearing on the driving charge when she went into labor on the night of July 5. She was taken to Nashville General Hospital at Meharry, where she was handcuffed to the bed by her right wrist and left ankle until shortly before the birth...

Lawsuit may be filed

Ozment said his client endured unnecessarily harsh treatment for a misdemeanor violation. He said he is still deciding whether to file a lawsuit in the case.

"It was a denial of her basic human rights," Ozment said. He said officers would not allow her to take a breast pump with her from the hospital even though she was separated from the baby for more than a day after she was discharged from the hospital, causing painfully engorged breasts. He also said officers shackled Villegas' feet together when she had to go to the bathroom, making it difficult to perform basic hygiene necessary after birth.

..."The nurses requested the cuffs be removed and the guards refused," Ozment said. "The nurses were very upset, they were crying..."

for complete AP/Tennessee.com article click here

Juana Villegas part II

Time line of the Juana Villegas story:

July 3 - Villegas arrested
July 5 - she gives birth
July 7 - finally is joined with her baby
July 15 - Incident reported on AP
July 20 - Incident reported by the NYT

It took 17 days for the story to be important enough to appear in the NYT -
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Immigrant, Pregnant, Jailed Under Pact

Published: July 20, 2008
by Julia Preston

It started when Juana Villegas, an illegal immigrant from Mexico who was nine months pregnant, was pulled over by a police officer in a Nashville suburb for a routine traffic violation.

By the time Mrs. Villegas was released from the county jail six days later, she had gone through labor with a sheriff’s officer standing guard in her hospital room, where one of her feet was cuffed to the bed most of the time. County officers barred her from seeing or speaking with her husband.

After she was discharged from the hospital, Mrs. Villegas was separated from her nursing infant for two days and barred from taking a breast pump into the jail, her lawyer and a doctor familiar with the case said. Her breasts became infected, and the newborn boy developed jaundice, they said.

Mrs. Villegas’s arrest has focused new attention on a cooperation agreement signed in April 2007 between federal immigration authorities and Davidson County, which shares a consolidated government with Nashville, that gave immigration enforcement powers to county officers. ...Nashville officials have praised the agreement as a successful partnership between local and federal government.

Lawyers and immigrant advocates say Mrs. Villegas’s case shows how local police can exceed their authority when they seek to act on immigration laws they are not fully trained to enforce.

“[T]he 287G program...has been operated so broadly that we are getting pregnant women arrested for simple driving offenses, and we’re not getting rid of the robbers and gang members.”

Mrs. Villegas, who is 33, has lived in the United States since 1996, and has three other children besides the newborn who are American citizens because they were born here...

for link to complete NYT article click here

Almost half-a-million undocumented residents live in Houston!

The Greater Houston Partnership is the primary advocate for Houston's business community.

GHP has another study regarding the economy and how the undocumented workforce benefits our nation in TRILLIONS of dollars, check it out here.

"About 117,600 are children." That's a lot of students who will need the DREAM Act.

Come on people, its our future workforce! Their parents are in many ways contributing now to Houston's economy and prosperity.

Immigrants built this nation.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Study: 420,000 Illegal Immigrants Live in Houston Area

The KRIV News (Houston),

July 16, 2008



Houston -- Do you know an undocumented resident? A new Greater Houston Partnership study suggests that one in every 12 to 13 residents in the Houston area is an illegal immigrant. The study estimates the unauthorized population in the 10-county Houston metro area is approximately 420,000. About 117,600 are children, 124,000 are women and 178,000 are men. Furthermore, the regional economy includes about 250,000 unauthorized workers, or one in 10 of all Houston-area employees, according to the study. The study suggests their contribution to the Houston Gross Regional Product is about $27.3 billion. A residual method was used to calculate the numbers, according to the study. Officials subtracted the estimated legal immigrant population from the local foreign-born population, and assumed the remaining population are unauthorized immigrant residents. The study did not include residents of Austin, Brazoria and San Jacinto counties, according to the study.

On Blogging - 1st Anniversary Series

Sitting here in front of computer, I really should be focusing on finishing my book - but I feel the intense desire to write down many ideas. There is much I have seen in my middle-aged lifetime - I have been lucky to know about so many different sides of our society.

Blogs are good for circulating stories. A professor of mine once told me that people are never interest in the author's own story. I think he is right most of the time... but in a blog, it can be different depending on how the stories are told.

You probably guessed that I like to tell stories. In fact my work/research is all about that. I analyze stories - told by people, in books, in newspapers, in songs, on tv. The blog is a great outlet for all the stories I encounter.

In the meantime, maybe a few things that appear in dreamacttexas will help in developing a more in depth history of Texas and the United States, how we came to be under the thumb of Bush and Cheney - and how in 2008 our economy went into a tail spin. This may seem ambitious - but I believe that most every story is part of history. The present is only real if combined with the past.

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My childhood was spent in a Jim Crow town. My first year in high school was when Blacks were integrated into the student population. Mexican Americans had been there for decades, but were not taken very seriously, especially since many of the students didn't start school until the harvest was over.

I went to Catholic School through 8th grade. (Yes, I can tell you about the nuns )- where most of the students were of Czech descent. My best friend's last name was Kubena, her Dad owned a cotton gin in a small town nearby named Guy.

For the 1950s and part of the 1960s I saw the migrant workers come in their trucks to our town. There were so many, I couldn't count them all. Those were the days when you would go down a farm road and see loose cotton all over the place. That stopped a long time ago. Now the men that come work construction. In fact they are the heart of the Texas construction industry. Some cross without documents, some have been here for decades, have married, had children, and regularized.

Photo by M.T. Hernandez, Houston 2007

My Dad had a business and was also a notary. Lots of people came by. Many had been in Texas for generations, working the land for other people. A good number were from Mexico. By the time I was 13, I had met people immigrating from Guanajuato, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, San Luis Potosi, Mexico City - and many other places in Mexico that I can't remember. My Dad also helped people file their income tax. After about age 15, I started doing "short forms" for many of the workers living in town. I couldn't speak very much Spanish, but somehow I managed. I know many of the workers did not have their own social security numbers, and the IRS had withdrawn hundreds and hundreds of dollars from their checks (ultimately thousands) - Since the accounts weren't in their name, the money was lost for them, lost in the black hole of the social security system, only to be swallowed up by all the aging baby boomers.

Just in case you aren't voting for Obama

A number of people I know are planning to vote for McCain. Some say it is because Obama doesn't have enough experience, others don't think Obama can get elected anyway....etc.

Just in case you are one of those people, take a look at this article on McCain and Immigration from The Progressive.

---

McCain Not a Hero on Immigration

Wednesday 16 July 2008
by: Ramon Castellblanch, The Progressive

Sen. John McCain is no hero on immigration.

His 2006 immigration proposal, which he has disowned in front of anti-immigrant audiences, would have meant cheap labor on both sides of the border and would have made a joke of the idea of integrating immigrants into our way of life. And it would have allowed the heartless immigration raids on Latino workplaces to continue, breaking up families and disrupting communities.

McCain's proposal would have done nothing to address the root causes behind the immigration problem: low-wage businesses here and south of the border and a U.S. trade policy that is devastating the Mexican countryside.

Low-wage U.S. employers like those in agribusiness and the construction industry like access to the desperate Mexican and Central American economic refugees so that they can avoid paying fair wages. McCain's proposal would have turned a blind eye to such practices.

Mexicans are being forced north by pathetic wages and squalid living conditions. They are being driven to our country by U.S.-subsidized corn being dumped on the Mexican market due to trade agreements such as NAFTA, ruining many of their small farmers and leaving them with no choices but immigration or destitution. McCain would have ignored all of this.

For the immigrants who are here, we need an immigration policy that reflects American values of democracy and justice. Rather than more fences and raids on Latino communities, we need an orderly approach to bring immigrants into our system.

To the extent that Sen. Barack Obama has weighed in on this issue, there is reason for hope.

He supported efforts to fix the parts of the McCain immigration bill that would have made its path to citizenship practically useless. Obama voted to limit use of an untested point system for immigration, a guestworker program that would have made it easier for employers to deny immigrants rights, and an unworkable provision that immigrants had to leave our country before they could apply to re-enter it. While it remains to be seen how seriously Obama, if elected, will address the root causes of our immigration problems, at least he's suggested he's considering ideas like reopening NAFTA and calling off the immigration hounds who are terrorizing U.S. Latino communities.

What we need for an immigration policy is a plan that would improve the standard of living on both sides of the border, make immigrants strong supporters of our country's finest values, and stop the senseless demonizing of Latinos. McCain's proposal, even when he embraced it, did none of these things; Obama's positions open the conversation.

---------

Ramon Castellblanch is associate professor of health education at San Francisco State University. He can be reached at pmproj@progressive.org

for link to article click here

Is it ever ok to say "Stupid Mexicans?"

It was a team of young men that beat up Luis Ramirez
detail of image from Arrochar & Tarbet, for link click here

In the late 1980s, in a Houston community named West University Place, as my kids and I walked by their elementary school (which was 5 blocks from our house) we saw a group of boys, about ages 6-8 or so playing in front of the main building. They were throwing a ball around.

What happened next really surprised me. Thank goodness my kids didn't hear what they said. The boys decided to throw the ball up in the air when we walked by, while screaming out "stupid Mexicans." Which is what they did. I was so shocked I didn't know what to say. The memory of this still haunts me now.

One of the boys was the son of our next door neighbor - who had an Hispanic last name but was Italian.*

There are a couple of thoughts that come to mind when I remember the incident. First of all, if the editor of the New Yorker wanted an image of this on the front page, judging on his previous decisions, someone would draw a picture depicting what is imagined to be a group of stupid Mexicans.

Maybe (I am hoping) someone else would probably handle this type of situation differently - with a drawing of the boys playing ball while two kids and their mother (who are Latino) walk by. A bubble with a few words would be next to the boys, depicting what they actually said twenty years ago.

Each image would present an entirely different story. Which would be more accurate? If you draw Mexicans then all you see are three people walking down a sidewalk - if you want to present them as "stupid" there are many ways to depict this, but they all focus on the negative evaluation of the two kids and their mother. If you draw little boys screaming nasty things as the Mexican kids walk by, then you depict an interaction that starts in the mouths of the boys playing - it is the boy's nasty language - there is no connection with anyone around them, except for their own imagination.

Too bad the New Yorker didn't think of this when the magazine published the Obama cover last week.


P.S. A few years later we moved to the Jewish side of town. People were much nicer -
...
below is an article about another group of young men who called someone a stupid Mexican. Different time frame though - the first story is from 1988, the second from 2008.

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Immigrant's beating death exposes tensions in Pa.

MICHAEL RUBINKAM

The Associated Press
Philly.com

SHENANDOAH, Pa. - Luis Ramirez came to the U.S. from Mexico six years ago to look for work, landing in this town in Pennsylvania's coal region. Here, he found steady employment, fathered two children and, his fiancee said, occasionally endured harassment by white residents.

...The 25-year-old illegal immigrant was beaten over the weekend after an argument with a group of youths, including at least some players on the town's beloved high school football team, police said. Despite witness reports that the attackers yelled ethnic slurs, authorities say the beating wasn't racially motivated.

...An investigation continues, and no charges have yet been filed, but police say as many as six teens were involved in the fight, which ended with Ramirez in convulsions and foaming at the mouth. He died early Monday of head injuries.

Crystal Dillman, the victim's 24-year-old fiancee, who is white and grew up here, said Ramirez was often called derogatory names, including "dirty Mexican," and told to return to his homeland.

...Arielle Garcia and her husband, who were with Ramirez when he was beaten late Saturday, said they had dropped their friend off at a park but returned when he called to say he had gotten into a fight.

She saw someone kick Ramirez in the head, she said, and "that's when he started shaking and foaming out of the mouth."

The Garcias said they heard the youths call Ramirez "stupid Mexican" and an ethnic slur...

Despite the witness statements, Borough Manager Joseph Palubinsky said he doesn't believe Ramirez's ethnicity was what prompted the fight: "I have reason to know the kids who were involved, the families who were involved, and I've never known them to harbor this type of feeling."

for complete AP/Philly.com article click here:



*Part of Italy was Spanish territory during the Renaissance period.

DREAM ACT Blog hits 45,000 by 1st Anniversary

photo by M.T. Hernandez


This week dreamacttexas completes its first year. We have had an incredible response. By midnight tonight, we will reach 45,000 visitors. And this is without any advertising! (since we decided to be totally commercial free)

We believe that our first birthday is really important - we intend to celebrate for the next week with videos, poems, essays, and photos.

Thank you for visiting dreamacttexas... It has and will continue to be a great adventure that we never dreamed would happen.

1-year Anniversary for DREAM Act Texas Blog...

I am honored to be part of this very successful BLOG. It is imperative for me to educate and inform students and I am thankful for this opportunity, even if I just collect articles and make a small comment about it.

We have certainly managed to receive lots of positive feedback from the Blog community and loyal readers, thanks for you support!!.

Working with Mrs. Hernandez has inspired me in many levels, thank you for the invitation. Cheers to many years to come.

May we be bless (from whatever high-beings you believe in) with the passage of the DREAM Act next year.

Picture taken in Arizona by me.

Agustin Renteria's Tragedy

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Agustin Renteria is not the only one who experienced tragedy - but he is the most vulnerable - He was charged for hitting another car head-on. Now it is learned that the other person was intoxicated. As in the Houston case where a man in a pick up hit a Sheriff's Deputy who was intoxicated -- who is guilty? The accused man in Houston was let go. But what will happen to Agustin Renteria?

Nurse impaired when she died in wreck, report says

Austin American Statesman
July 16, 2008

KAUFMAN, Texas — A nurse killed when a man's vehicle struck her pickup truck head-on as she rushed her son's injured friend to the hospital was intoxicated, autopsy results show.

June Nalls, 41, had methamphetamines and traces of marijuana in her system. Her blood-alcohol level was 0.08, marking the point at which a driver can be charged with driving while intoxicated, according to an autopsy report obtained by The Dallas Morning News.

Nalls had been driving her son's friend to the hospital after a neighbor shot the teenager that March night.

Her son, Devin Nalls, and his friend, Brandon Robinson, hopped a fence surrounding a neighbor's property to check on a noisy party nearby. As they walked by the front porch, 74-year-old neighbor W.C. Frosch fired one shot from inside his home. It struck 15-year-old Brandon under his left arm, authorities said.

Nalls, a pediatric nurse, chose not to call 911 and instead drove her son and his friend to the hospital.

"She certainly has a couple of substances that are biologically active in her system," said Dallas County medical examiner Jeffrey Barnard. "How it affected her decision-making, I don't know. But certainly they're playing a role in terms of affecting her one way or the other."

Her husband, Mark Nalls, said he remembers his wife drinking two or three beers the night she died. But he has no explanation for why methamphetamines and marijuana were found in her system. The autopsy also found Nalls had taken marijuana within a few weeks of her death, although that drug was not active, Barnard said.

Texas Department of Public Safety officials acknowledge June Nalls was under the influence when Agustin Renteria, 27, of Kaufman, struck her pickup after he drifted into the wrong lane just outside Kaufman. Renteria had been drinking before the collision, according to the Kaufman County Sheriff's Office.

June Nalls suffered massive trauma in the wreck and died instantly. Her son Devin and Brandon survived.

"It doesn't change a thing," said Sgt. Brandon Negri of the Department of Public Safety. "She was not doing anything wrong in terms of her driving."

Frosch, the neighbor, said he believes he would not have been charged if June Nalls had not died in the wreck minutes after the shooting. News of her autopsy results could change the perception about her death and the role he played, Frosch said.

He maintains that he shot because he believed the teens were about to break into his house.

Initially, authorities cited Texas' Castle Doctrine in declining to arrest him. The law gives property owners the right to use deadly force against another person in defending themselves if they reasonably believe the person is committing or is attempting to commit certain crimes.

But a grand jury indicted Frosch in May on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. The felony is punishable by two to 20 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Renteria, the man accused of causing the wreck, was being held without bond at the Kaufman County Jail and has an immigration detainer, according to the Kaufman County Sheriff's Office. Renteria faces three charges in the case: leaving the scene of an accident, aggravated assault with a motor vehicle and criminally negligent homicide, said his attorney, Mark Calabria.

"This is some additional information that may help us better understand the situation ... this may shed some light on the entire situation of what happened that night," Calabria told The Associated Press about the autopsy findings Tuesday.

for Statesman article click here

What can you say now that PC Language is out of style

It is clear that in the U.S. being politically correct in your language (or other forms of communication) is no longer necessary. Lou Dobbs shows that all this has blown away - since he is so well supported by CNN he is solid proof that it doesn't matter what kind of insults Americans can throw at people.

I disagree with Dobbs - I think that his behavior and language de-humanize people - if you still believe in the respect for human beings - what he says is an atrocity. Yet, if most of the country thought that, his ratings would be much lower.

Some people say that the demise of politically correct language is ok - since when it was obligatory to be PC, in public, people seemed very respectful - but in private they remained nasty as they were before the Civil Rights movement.

After seeing the cover of this week's New Yorker in which the magazine insulted Barack Obama - it is clear that PC is dead in the U.S.

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Post-PC dignity

Political correctness has come in for a battering, but ethically sensitive language remains crucial

by

• Ziauddin Sardar
• The Guardian,
• Tuesday July 15, 2008

Now that politically correct language has fallen from favour, demonised and discredited, where should we go next? Can we afford to ignore the return of derogatory language directed at black, Muslim, gay, disabled or elderly people, anyone deemed different?

Derogatory words make way for degrading treatment. Language is more than our basic tool of communication; it shapes perceptions and so influences behaviour. Referring to "faggots" or "wrinklies" strips people of respect, and it's just a short step to thinking them less equal. Terms such as "cripples", "spastics", "thick" and "retarded" stigmatise disabled people as less human. A recent increase in attacks has its roots in such language. If "terrorism" is constantly linked to the "Muslim community", as though it is one monolithic entity, it is not surprising if 69% of Britons see all Muslims as terrorists and feel fear and loathing towards them.

We shape our language, but language also shapes us. Giving a currency to demeaning language can blind us to the fact we have embraced demeaning perceptions about other people. The Equality and Human Rights Commission, where I am a commissioner, believes language should play an important part in our strategy to promote equality. It makes a contribution to social inclusion, fighting alienation, promoting good relations and democratic participation.

Instead of going back to pre-PC days, we need to move forward. In the commission's discussion paper, The Language of Equality, I advocate ethically sensitive language. I see ethics in terms of four moral precepts: equality, dignity, respect and value. Everyone has an equal right to be described in a dignified and respectful way. However, equal treatment does not mean the same treatment; that is why equal value is a necessary component. Descriptions of individuals, groups and communities should enhance human dignity and value while respecting self-descriptions, cultural concerns and practices.

Consider the much abused asylum seekers. The word "seeker" suggests those requesting asylum are scroungers on welfare, exactly the clarion call raised in the tabloids. Asylum is a legal process, it does not and should not cast doubt on the moral worth of anyone engaged in the process. Would a more ethically sensible, neutral and accurate term not serve us better - such as "asylum applicant"? Is replacing "the Muslim community" with "Muslim communities" not more sensible, and ethically sound, emphasising the plethora of diversities we should recognise?

To be ethically sensitive is not necessarily to be relativist. Ethical sensitivity is embedded in human rights; cultural practices that violate the basic principles of human rights, such as female genital mutilation and forced marriage, cannot be "respected" or "valued". The aim of ethically sensitive language is to promote the use of words that do not undermine but enhance a person's human dignity and value. This also applies to those the subject may be associated with - for example, "carer" includes the idea of the "cared for" and denies the latter's independence. Individuals, groups, communities - all need and deserve dignity, respect and value.

Our experience with PC language argues this is not something we can, or should, police. But that does not mean being indifferent and taking no action to promote civility through language that is neither jargon nor the ungainly, unspeakable invention of impersonal committees. What we need is common sense and a commitment to a sensibility that values the dignity of all.

The objective is clear, but the task will be unending. Words and their meanings, particularly in relation to equality, do not remain static. A word seen as fair and inclusive yesterday can acquire new unfair, biased or pejorative meanings. In the past century it was acceptable to refer to disabled people as "handicapped" or "invalids".

Today these terms reinforce stereotypes, making the person behind the disability invisible and denying their dignity and humanity. People and communities change constantly, producing new terminology and understanding of language along the way. Subtle changes in meaning can be exploited to oppress people and discriminate against groups and communities.

There's nothing old-fashioned about politeness; a sensibility for civility is what we need to make a better future.

· Ziauddin Sardar is the author of The Language of Equality, and blogs on a different theme of the Qur'an weekly at blogs.guardian.co.uk/quran

This article appeared in the Guardian on Tuesday July 15 2008 on p28 of the Comment & debate section. It was last updated at 00:03 on July 15 2008.

for link to Guardian article click here

Defending the Contributions of Foreign Students

This excellent report details the contribution of foreign students in the US in response to an attack by the anti-immigrant CIS. It can be downloaded at Truth in Immigration.org
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) has a history of misrepresenting facts concerning immigrants and Latinos. Now, in a recently released “backgrounder,” CIS targets foreign students. The backgrounder questions the accuracy of a 2007 Institute for International Education (IIE) report, which concludes that foreign students contribute billions of dollars to the U.S. economy. MORE

Viva la Causa: film set to release in September

This information I received from the Southern Poverty Law Center NEWSLETTER via e-mail. It is another opportunity for everyone to see the struggles of Latinos.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Southern Poverty Law Center
July 15, 2008



Teaching Tolerance film set for September release

A new documentary film and teaching kit, Viva la Causa!, will show how thousands joined a movement for justice to help the most exploited people in our country — the workers who put food on our tables. The film focuses on the grape strike and boycott led by César Chávez and Dolores Huerta, a seminal event in the march for human rights. As racist rhetoric pollutes the immigration debate, the film could not be timelier. Viva la Causa! will teach children that there are non-violent ways to make positive social change. Like all of our Teaching Tolerance materials, the film and kit will be distributed free to classrooms.

For more information please visit Viva la Causa!

When a Joke is not a Joke

The New Yorker pulled off it's own sophisticated Swift Boat operation this week. It published an issue cover of a cartoon of Barack and Michelle Obama as political extremists and anti-American. The editors argue that it is only satire and they are making fun of how these rumors develop - maybe they think their elite, erudite readers will figure it out themselves. But there is not commentary on the cartoon inside the issue... it is just dropped on the cover of this week's edition and we are all expected to figure it out and not make any misinformed assumptions.

Have you ever had a friend that teased you frequently? Did you ever wonder if the teasing had anything to do with some ambivalent hostility that person has towards you? Use that example for the magazine's latest cover. The New Yorker is Obama's ambivalent friend -

In an essay titled "Humor" published by the head of the Antropology department at Brown University, Dr. William Beeman analyzes humor - his comments can inform us on the real nature of the New Yorker's so-called satirical cartoon:

Freud theorized that jokes have only two purposes: aggression and exposure. The first purpose (which includes satire and defense) is fulfilled through the hostile joke, and the second through the dirty joke.

(for link to Beeman essay click here)

To interpret academic speak, what Beeman is saying is that Sigmund Freud proposed there are only two reasons for jokes, 1) hostility, insult, verbal assault and 2) to expose the person who is the subject of the joke - tell a secret, or tell people something the subject is ashamed of or will embarrass him/her.

The question in the TNY remains - to whom is the hostility directed? Obama, his wife? Bin Laden? our Congressional fear mongers? Since there is no accompanying explanation - the magazine left itself wide open for indulging in dirty business.

Normally I would post the image - but I feel if I do that, I will perpetuate the rumor/stereotype/mis-information.

The Blogosphere on McCain's Adventures as a Politician

Responding to McCain's flip flop on the DREAM ACT, Citizen Orange posted a commentary on the blogosphere regarding McCain's latest foray into the immigration debate, see below.

For recent dreamact post on McCain's position: McCain Flipflops on the DREAM ACT, July 14, 2008

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When 'Progressive' Does Not Equal Pro-Migrant by Kyledeb

Much ado has been made over McCain's "flip-flop" on migration. Mainstream progressive bloggers used to call migration a "pet issue" that wasn't worth blogging about. It used to be a monumental struggle for bloggers like myself to get people to pay attention to migration policy. Policy that I felt would not only define the future of the United States, but the future of the entire hemisphere, maybe even the world, for centuries to come.

It's hard to believe how far we've gotten since then.

Now, not a day goes by where Media Matters forgets to remind us that McCain has changed his stance on migration. Alternet, led by Joshua Holland, has it's own special migration section, and Firedoglake has brought on David Neiwart to blog mainly on migration.

Pro-migrant bloggers like myself, and Latino bloggers have united to create the community blog, The Sanctuary, which was recently contacted by CNN after the presidential candidates failed to answer a questionnaire we put out. These are all good developments. The SanctuarySphere is alive and growing.

Still, as migration has moved from a "pet issue" to something most progressive bloggers familiar with, a tension is emerging between the pro-migrant stance and the progressive stance. The mainstream progressive blogosphere, led by blogs such as Daily Kos, Open Left, MyDD, and Firedoglake, exists to elect "more and better Democrats" as has been stated over and over again. My mission as a pro-migrant blogger, by contrast, is to advance the cause of migrant justice. At times these goals overlap, but not always.

The issue of how to treat McCain is a primary example. As a migrant advocate, my job is not to deride McCain for "flip-flopping", but to rebuke him when he sells out migrants, and to praise him when he advances the migrant cause. In fact, the only political power that migrant advocates have in a national two-party system, is when they are able play the two major parties off of each other.

Despite the fact that McCain "flip-flopped" on migration his selection as the presumptive Republican nominee has been a very good thing for migrants. You see, people forget that there is a subset of Democrats that are very anti-migrant.

As McCain was battling for the Republican nomination, Democrat congressman from North Carolina, Heath Shuler, was pushing the very anti-migrant SAVE Act. If Mitt Romney or Tom Tancredo had been selected as the Republican nominees, Democrats would have had no qualm with pushing the SAVE Act forward because migrant advocates like myself would have nowhere to run. We'd be forced to elect a Democrat anyway.

Even with the relatively pro-migrant McCain at the forefront of the Republican party, according to a recent Politico article, "House and Senate Democrats have been outbidding the White House on spending for immigration enforcement". Where was the mainstream progressive blogosphere when that article came out?

It's like I said, 'Progressive' does not always mean pro-migrant.

for link to Citizen Orange post click here

McCain flip flops on the DREAM Act

Lately i don't get scared of a lot of things, but i can't get over my fear of politicians....

Will the ‘Dream Act’ be a nightmare for McCain?
Posted July 15th, 2008 at 9:05 am


John McCain, recognizing the importance of Latino voters in the upcoming election, spoke to the National Council of La Raza yesterday. He told the audience, “I do ask for your trust,” adding, “I think I have earned that trust.”

I know McCain often has a dry sense of humor, and in this case, I can’t help but wonder if he was kidding.

We’ve already talked about McCain’s efforts to mislead the audience about his on-again, off-again support/opposition to comprehensive immigration reform. But after his speech, McCain opened the floor to about 15 minutes of Q&A. A young woman asked whether the Republican senator would support the Dream Act (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act), which gives undocumented young people a chance to earn U.S. citizenship by going to college or enlisting in the military.

McCain didn’t hesitate to endorse the legislation.



That’s clearly the right position for McCain to take. The Dream Act should be a no-brainer: “Roughly 65,000 children graduate each year from high school into a constrained future because they cannot work legally or qualify for most college aid. These are the overlooked bystanders to the ferocious bickering over immigration. They did not ask to be brought here, have worked hard in school and could, given the chance, hone their talents and become members of the homegrown, high-skilled American work force. The bill is one of the least controversial immigration proposals that have been offered in the last five years.”

But what McCain neglected to mention is that he already promised conservative activists that he opposes the Dream Act, and would have voted against it had he shown up for work last fall.

In fact, it was captured on tape.



Rest of the article

Obama and South America

McCain, in a politician's usual way (these days) of criticizing his opponent, suggested that Obama has not traveled enough and should go to South America.  First I have to say mention George W. Bush had NEVER been to Europe before he was U.S. President and that seemed to be ok with everybody (especially the Supreme Court) in 2000.

This time McCain is right - although his recommendation could ultimately hurt his campaign.  There are lots of people (at least in Argentina) that really dislike Obama - there is a story going around that Obama would only favor Black people and that he doesn't like South Americans.  Maybe it's time for the Obama campaign to do a little research below the Equator.

There is a huge amount of communication between the people of Argentina (and Brazil, and Chile, and Peru) and the United States, especially now with the internet.  This is mostly through immigration, but it is also through business connections.  So don't think what another country says about the candidate won't matter -  it could be just the opposite.  Americans who hear the political opinions of other countries might take those more seriously - since there is/has been a consensus that the U.S. media gets it all wrong (look at Iraq and the phantasmic WMDs) - 

-----

July 14, 2008
McCain Says Obama Should Visit South America

By REUTERS

New York Times
Filed at 6:01 a.m. ET

PHOENIX (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate John McCain, who has hectored Democratic rival Barack Obama to visit Iraq, now says Obama should go to South America as well.

McCain, an Arizona senator, is to make the case in a speech on Monday in San Diego to the National Council of La Raza, one of the most important advocacy groups in the United States for Hispanic Americans...

"And while it is surely not my intention to become my opponent's scheduler, I hope Sen. Obama soon visits some of the other countries of the Americas for the first time," McCain is to say, according to excerpts released by his campaign. "Were he to do so, I think he, too, would see that stronger economic bonds with our neighbors and the closer friendships they encourage, are a great benefit in many ways to our country..."

(Editing by Bill Trott)

(To read more about the U.S. political campaign, visit Reuters "Tales from the Trail: 2008" online at http://blogs.reuters.com/trail08/)

for link to complete Reuters/NYT article click here

Free College? Check out Opportunity 14 in Houston

In the mid 60s some family friends visited from California. Their oldest daughter Gracie, had been my best friend when they lived across the street from us in Rosenberg, TX - in the late 50s they decided to move to Baldwin Park, CA.

Living in California sounded so exciting and different than Texas. They came to visit a few years after they moved... I was so impressed with my friend's new sophistication...

During our hours of conversation she told me something that sounded remarkable to me. She said that college was FREE in California (at least in community colleges). I couldn't believe it- and told my Mom that I planned to move there after high school so I could take advantage of the opportunity.

I ended up staying in Texas, which was fine. Thinking about it now, I wonder if CA has a higher percentage of college educated people than Texas.

The new program discussed below sounds revolutionary for Houston. The reporter didn't mention if DREAMERS (undocumented students) are eligible.  For those making comments on HC article - there seems to be concern that some people (white people? working class?) are being shafted by this program.  In the requirements listed there is no mention of race or ethnic group.  It is a shame that whenever there is some new benefit for income eligible people there seems to be a complaint of deprivation.  I can say this for race/ethnic based scholarships - if there were so many students of color benefiting from these programs, wouldn't the universities be full of minority students?  Go to most nearby campuses and take a look around at the ethnicity and race of students and faculty.  Except for colleges like Howard, Texas Southern, and Southern Louisiana, college faculties are FULL of white people (mostly men), as are student bodies.  The growing number of ethnic groups you see on campuses are Asian and South Asian - not Latino and Black kids.

KUDOS for Houston Community College

July 13, 2008, 11:16PM
'OPPORTUNITY 14'
HCC program makes college free
Scholarship will cover two years of expenses for eligible students

By JEANNIE KEVER
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

The first two years of college will be free for certain students under a new program at Houston Community College.

That's good news for Maria Jaime Sanchez.

"I never even thought about not going to college," said Sanchez, who just graduated from Lee High School. "My mom said, we'll find a way. But I don't know. I still have to pay rent and bills."

She will continue to work. She juggled two jobs until recently and now works at the Kolache Factory. She'll enroll at HCC for the fall semester.

HCC officials say 18-year-old Sanchez is among the first to qualify for the grant program, called Opportunity 14.

Kelly Zúñiga, executive director of the HCC Foundation, said as many as 1,500 students may qualify during the first year.

Opportunity 14, named to signify two years of education beyond the final year of high school, will pay for college expenses — including textbooks — not covered by federal and state grants. Students must be eligible for a Pell grant, the nation's best-known program to help low-income students attend college.

Ultimately, as many as 6,000 students could take advantage of Opportunity 14, Chancellor Mary Spangler said....

Opportunity 14 will be marketed to potential donors — as well as potential recipients —as an economic development tool, focusing on Houston's need for a skilled work force and the higher earning potential conferred by even a two-year college degree.

It springs from the same philosophy as the Kalamazoo Promise, which guarantees full scholarships to graduates of the public schools in Kalamazoo, Mich., and the Dallas County Community College District's Rising Star program, which provides up to $4,000 for tuition and books to low-income students.

Opportunity 14 would offer up to $2,000 a year, for a total of $6,000 per student.

Michael Dee, a former HCC Foundation board member who just resigned to take a job in Singapore, worked on the project for more than a year, arguing that an associate degree boosts earning power by $500,000 over a lifetime.

jeannie.kever@chron.com
APPLICANTS FOR OPPORTUNITY 14 MUST:

• Live within HCC's service area, which includes school districts serving Houston, Stafford, Missouri City, Fort Bend, Katy, Spring Branch, Alief and North Forest.

• Have graduated from high school or earned a GED within the past year.

• Complete a Federal Application for Federal Student Aid.

• Enroll for at least 12 semester credit hours at HCC and once there, maintain a 2.0 or better GPA.

for link to complete Chronicle article click here

The NYT and the Camayd-Freixas Report

When major immigration issues come up, the NYT* is usually fairly reasonable, especially with it's approach to the DREAM Act. During the past two years the paper has printed a number of supportive editorials. Unfortunately, even the power the NYT has not moved the country enough to do something positive about immigration reform. In fact, ICE raids have intensified and thousands more have been incarcerated.

Today things are different. The Times editorial will help move things along, but the key to all of this is Dr. Camayd-Freixas' essay. At 6:40 p.m. central time, the number of people visiting dreamacttexas has more than doubled, with over 90% of the visits looking for information on Camayd-Freixas' essay. It is interesting how a bit of writing can change things. We should all consider writing comments on newspaper articles and blogs. The impact of the printed (or blogged) only word multiplies over time. You would be surprised how closely people in the Congress watch the movement of the blogs.

Comments supportive of Dr. C-F's essay and the Postville workers can only help. Think about writing a few words...

---

July 13, 2008
Editorial
The Shame of Postville, Iowa
New York Times

Anyone who has doubts that this country is abusing and terrorizing undocumented immigrant workers should read an essay by Erik Camayd-Freixas, a professor and Spanish-language court interpreter who witnessed the aftermath of a huge immigration workplace raid at a meatpacking plant in Iowa.

The essay chillingly describes what Dr. Camayd-Freixas saw and heard as he translated for some of the nearly 400 undocumented workers who were seized by federal agents at the Agriprocessors kosher plant in Postville in May.

Under the old way of doing things, the workers, nearly all Guatemalans, would have been simply and swiftly deported. But in a twist of Dickensian cruelty, more than 260 were charged as serious criminals for using false Social Security numbers or residency papers, and most were sentenced to five months in prison.

What is worse, Dr. Camayd-Freixas wrote, is that the system was clearly rigged for the wholesale imposition of mass guilt. He said the court-appointed lawyers had little time in the raids’ hectic aftermath to meet with the workers, many of whom ended up waiving their rights and seemed not to understand the complicated charges against them.

Dr. Camayd-Freixas’s essay describes “the saddest procession I have ever witnessed, which the public would never see” — because cameras were forbidden.

“Driven single-file in groups of 10, shackled at the wrists, waist and ankles, chains dragging as they shuffled through, the slaughterhouse workers were brought in for arraignment, sat and listened through headsets to the interpreted initial appearance, before marching out again to be bused to different county jails, only to make room for the next row of 10.”

He wrote that they had waived their rights in hopes of being quickly deported, “since they had families to support back home.” He said that they did not understand the charges they faced, adding, “and, frankly, neither could I.”

No one is denying that the workers were on the wrong side of the law. But there is a profound difference between stealing people’s identities to rob them of money and property, and using false papers to merely get a job. It is a distinction that the Bush administration, goaded by immigration extremists, has willfully ignored. Deporting unauthorized workers is one thing; sending desperate breadwinners to prison, and their families deeper into poverty, is another.

Court interpreters are normally impartial participants and keep their opinions to themselves. But Dr. Camayd-Freixas, a professor of Spanish at Florida International University, said he was so offended by the cruelty of the prosecutions that he felt compelled to break his silence. “A line was crossed at Postville,” he wrote.

for link to NYT editorial click here

*NYT reporter Julia Preston, who authored the article on the essay, has been especially supportive of the DREAM Act.

The Camayd-Freixas Essay - Please Distribute

link to photo

Camayd-Freixas' complete essay can be accessed at Sanctuary Soapbox

For those interested in protecting the civil liberties of undocumented immigrants it is extremely important to circulate the Camayd-Freixas essay to the widest audience possible.  The public relations campaigns by the Republican Party and other nativist groups have lead to the spread of gross misinformation (to say crudely - lies) about immigrants and their effect on American life.

The U.S. has shown its ambivalence when proposed immigration reform has come before the Congress - the pandering of many lawmakers has been outrageous (not just the Republicans).  The organized forces of nativist groups have overwhelmed the legislative process and drowned out the opposition.  Most Senators and Congressmen (and Congresswomen)  have waffled in their sympathy, empathy, and support for the DREAM ACT and other bills that will help solve our immigration policy issues - as shown when not enough Democrats showed up to vote on the DREAM ACT in October 2007.

The philosopher-historian Michel de Certeau wrote that major social change occurs when your general populace/consumers/citizens -  join together for a major cause - Our Senators and Representatives are not going to change this situation - the American populace will have to create the change.  An important tool for this is the eye-witness account of Harvard trained, Dr. Camayd-Freixas' that dramatically narrates the atrocities related to the Postville ICE Raid.

see dreamacttexas posts Countering Misinformation I and  Countering Misinformation II, both from June 27, 2008

They represent the U.S. in the Olympics, but they were born in another country

Below is a list of U.S. Olympians who were born in foreign countries. The list runs counter to the idea that immigrants just take away.
---
from:
Associated Press Online
July 18, 2008 Friday 7:37 PM GMT

List of some foreign-born Olympians on US teams


Beach Volleyball:

Phil Dalhausser (Switzerland)

Equestrian:

Phillip Dutton (Australia)

Steffen Peters (Germany)

Field Hockey:

Kayla Bashore (South Korea)

Gymnastics:

Nastia Liukin (Russia)

Judo:

Sayaka Matsumoto (Japan)

Kayak:

Heather Corrie (Britain)

Rowing:

Giuseppe Lanzone (Peru)

Susan Francia (Hungary)

Jennifer Goldsack (Britain)

Sailing:

Anna Tunnicliffe (Britain)

Soccer:

Freddy Adu (Ghana)

Benny Feilhaber (Brazil)

Stuart Holden (Britain)

Table Tennis:

Gao Jun (China)

David Zhuang (China)

Chen Wang (China)

Crystal Huang (China)

Tennis:

Liezel Huber (South Africa)

Track and Field:

Magdalena Lewy Boulet, marathon (Poland)

Sanya Richards, 400 (Jamaica)

Bernard Lagat, 1,500, 5,000 (Kenya)

Lopez Lomong, 1,500 (Sudan)

Leo Manzano, 1,500 (Mexico)

Abdi Abdirahman, 10,000 (Somalia)

Kerron Clement, 400 hurdles (Trinidad)

Triathlon:

Matt Reed (New Zealand)

Water Polo:

Tony Azevedo (Brazil)

from Lexis Nexis

It's the Vision Thing

Woman in a burqa taking a photograph

link to photo


When I walk from my building to the library at my university, I occasionally see young women walking by in burqas.*. Their whole body is draped, usually in black (no matter what the temperature). All I can see is their eyes.

A few days ago, walking back to my office at the university, a woman in a burqa walked my way. From about 20 feet I wanted to look at her, but of course I was embarrassed. Several students walked by. They quickly moved their eyes towards the figure, but they tried to look as if they weren't looking.

Houston may seem like the outback to many Americans, but it is quite a developed and international city. I once had students from seven different nations in a single class. When we see a burqa we are curious, but not shocked. In fact, there are many more women with head scarves (and burqas) on my campus than those I saw in Paris in the early part of the summer. In 2008 the headscarf is part of Houston's landscape.

France, however, seems to have a certain distaste for the burqa and headscarf. A few years ago the government wanted to ban the use of head scarves in school classes. Now they are denying citizenship to a Moroccan woman because she has not assimilated enough. She wears a burqa. Immigration officials in France may or may not be conscious of their discomfort. I believe their antipathy towards her is because they can only see Faiza M.'s eyes and have some fantasy about what she be hiding under all that fabric. They want to be able to see her so they can make sure they are safe. Since they cannot see her, they be metaphorically speaking keep her at home. It is almost like if she can't be seen, she doesn't exist - in fact she has been labeled invisible (so to speak) by French immigration officials-- They investigated her life and decided she has no life since she doesn't leave her house often and is not aware of France's current political scene.

Faiza M.'s dilemma brings up some persistent questions in 2008 --- 

What defines a person as French (or American for that matter)?
Why shouldn't France welcome a woman in a burqa as a French citizen ?-
Who do we imagine she is if she's wearing the burqa?
Is it the business of a nation-state to judge a woman's state of independence and assimilation?
Who defines the "radical practice of Islam?"

Why does being able to "see something" affect so many of our decisions?


-----

France rejects Muslim woman over radical practice of Islam
· Expert says Moroccan lives 'almost as a recluse'
· Case reopens debate about freedom of religion
Angelique Chrisafis in Paris
The Guardian - London, Saturday July 12, 2008

France has denied citizenship to a Moroccan woman who wears a burqa on the grounds that her "radical" practice of Islam is incompatible with basic French values such as equality of the sexes.

The case yesterday reopened the debate about Islam in France, and how the secular republic reconciles itself with the freedom of religion guaranteed by the French constitution.

The woman, known as Faiza M, is 32, married to a French national and lives east of Paris. She has lived in France since 2000, speaks good French and has three children born in France. Social services reports said she lived in "total submission" to her husband. Her application for French nationality was rejected in 2005 on the grounds of "insufficient assimilation" into France. She appealed, invoking the French constitutional right to religious freedom and saying that she had never sought to challenge the fundamental values of France. But last month the Council of State, France's highest administrative body, upheld the ruling.

"She has adopted a radical practice of her religion, incompatible with essential values of the French community, particularly the principle of equality of the sexes," it said.

"Is the burqa incompatible with French citizenship?" asked Le Monde, which broke the story. The paper said it was the first time the level of a person's personal religious practice had been used to rule on their capacity be to assimilated into France...

Daniele Lochak, a law professor not involved in the case, said it was bizarre to consider that excessive submission to men was a reason not to grant citizenship. "If you follow that to its logical conclusion, it means that women whose partners beat them are also not worthy of being French," he told Le Monde...

France is home to nearly 5 million Muslims, roughly half of whom are French citizens. Criteria taken into account for granting French citizenship includes "assimilation", which normally focuses on how well the candidate speaks French. In the past nationality was denied to Muslims who were known to have links with extremists or who had publicly advocated radicalism, but that was not the case of Faiza M...

for link to complete Guardian article click here


*burqa - is an enveloping outer garment worn by women in some Islamic traditions for the purpose of cloaking the entire body. It is worn over the usual daily clothing (often a long dress or a shalwar kameez) and removed when the woman returns to the sanctuary of the household (from Wikipedia.org)

I have to thank my former professor, Steve Tyler for the idea about "vision"

Assembly-Line Justice for Postville Detainees

link to photo










Dr. Camayd-Freixas' essay on the Postville raid has provoked concern throughout the U.S. In Minnesota, the UFCW and a local Jewish Community Action group are traveling to Postville on what they term is a "humanitarian mission."

There has been some questioning of Dr. Camayd-Freixas' ethics for revealing information about his translation services. Deciding to speak out about the Postville raid was a difficult decision. However, the severity of the situation warrants immediate action.

It is worth remembering that although Dr. Camayd-Freixas is receiving national attention for his essay on the raid there are a number of risks involved. For one, most people in the U.S. who speak openly about issues favoring undocumented immigrants often receive threats from the anti-immigrant community. In Houston, college student activists have received threatening phone calls and have been told the someone is watching their family. Journalists who write positive articles on DREAMERS get blasted in the reader's comments. The anti-immigrant groups coordinate "commentary writing" that is often vicious and mis-informed. A comment from a "Mom in Illinois" may really be a bearded guy from FAIR.

There is also the issue of Dr. Camayd-Freixas taking on the role of the public intellectual. Even though most people would consider this an honorable task, academia frequently frowns on scholars who take on community issues too publicly.

See dreamacttexas post "Dr. Erik Camayd-Freixas and the Postville Raid" July 11, 2008 and "Denying civil liberties to undocumented immigrants" July 10, 2008
-----

Local immigration attorneys and advocates say Postville raid reflected 'a complete lack of due process'
Minnesota Independent Media
by Anna Pratt
July 11, 2008


A group of nearly 200 Minnesotans representing the local chapter of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) labor union and Jewish Community Action are planning a trip to Postville, Iowa, on July 27... the group is interested in calling attention to the unconventional legal tactics surrounding the historic raid's subsequent court proceedings.

Some legal experts and activists say that the hearings were rushed, and that overall they failed to grant detainees their due process rights, a charge that a representative from U.S. Attorney's office denies. Hundreds of undocumented workers whose arrests added up to the largest raid in U.S. history were processed through the U.S. Attorney's office for criminal trials instead of the federal immigration court system, which has typically been the setting for such proceedings.

John Keller, an attorney with the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota in St. Paul who helped coordinate a national effort to provide legal support to the detainees, tells MnIndy the raid represents a radical departure from those of the past: "The stakes were raised remarkably in comparison to the terms of the process before. If things were bad before, now they are much worse."

For starters, the 305 people who were apprehended for criminal charges were basically given two options, both of which would eventually lead to removal from the country: Either they could be prosecuted for identity theft, a serious federal crime that would lead to a year in jail before being forced to leave, or plead guilty in exchange for a milder five month jail sentence (also to be followed by deportation).

All 305 arrestees pled guilty, according to the U.S. Attorney's office. (Only one case is pending at this point.) Detainees weren't fully briefed on the implications of either choice, while their legal counselors didn't have immigration expertise, says Keller. The workers had only a week to decide whether to accept a plea bargain.

Considering that only 17 public defenders divvied up all of the Postville cases between themselves, they couldn't have had time to debrief every client on the situation, Keller says, while many of those who did plead guilty could have been eligible for asylum in the US. Now, however, they're prevented from doing so and from ever gaining U.S. citizenship. Only a limited number of people caught up in previous raids had been faced with such a harsh charge. "A lot of people who plead guilty didn't have a full understanding of what they gave up," he notes....

for complete article click here

for link to complete Camayd-Freixas essay at Sanctuary Soapbox click here

The Candidates and Immigration Reform

With the 2008 Presidential Election coming up, dreamacttexas has experienced a surge of  visitors looking for the candidate's opinions on immigration.  managee.blogspot.com has written an essay on the candidates and immigration reform.  The Sanctuary Sphere blog group developed a questionnaire that was distributed to the candidates.  See below:

More Than Soundbites on Immigration Reform
Friday, July 11, 2008
by Man Eegee

Over the past few years and beyond, political leaders of all levels - local, county, state and federal - licked their chops as they calculated which issues to focus on in order to win an election and gain power. Ideology and party registration often has little to do with their decisions, because if they or any of their advisors get a whiff that a certain topic would be political danger from them, the item either gets conveniently ignored, spin-dried and sanitized, or in the case of supposed allies, entire communities get stabbed in the back.

Regarding an overhaul of the immigration system in the United States, it's been written many times here that it is not a latino/latina issue; yet it is an undeniable truth that our communities are feeling the brunt of hardliner policies. When you have pundits and legislators equating our diverse culture with a citizenship test, or interchanging the terms hispanic/latino/illegal/criminal/invader/terrorist/gang-banger/etc., you can bet that groups and leaders advocating for our equal place in society will be demanding an end to such institutionalized bigotry and fear-mongering.

With the 2008 Presidential Election in full swing, the Editorial Board of The Sanctuary developed and distributed a candidate questionnaire to the campaigns that would give us some substance on how a White House under their direction would overhaul the immigration system, handle border policies, and collaborate with other countries on trade and economics. It has been nearly three weeks since we made contact with the Barack Obama and John McCain camps, and we have yet to hear an answer to any of our queries. We've also reached out to third party candidates because the U.S. is a democracy and they will appear on many ballots, whether the two parties that have the most money like it or not.

To any campaign operatives reading here or at the various Sanctuarysphere sites that are sponsoring the questionnaire, know that we want more than just promises and soundbites from our next President on what they will do with respect to immigration reform. This questionnaire covers a wide range of topics related to it, and it would be to your advantage to educate your candidate and staff on the implications of many of these decisions and how they disproportionately affect latino/latina communities across the United States. I recommend a perusal of our blog archives if you need a crash course on what that has looked like in the past.

This is all the more pressing as both McCain and Obama take the time to speak to conventions such as the League of United Latin American Citizens, National Council de la Raza, and Unity '08 where immigration will most certainly come up in their speeches and conversations this month. These groups and initiatives represent a part of "hispanic" and other POC communities that has suddenly become so sought after for votes, and we represent another. Your campaigns may not be getting millions of dollars from our sites, but many of us do march in the streets and cast our ballots in elections regularly.

Immigration reform is one of those topics that should be a human rights issue, but often gets treated like the next coming of Osama bin Laden. It conveniently fattens the military- and prison-industrial complexes and further racializes United States society. There are many of us who would like to know how you will be dealing with it all come January 20, 2009, after yet another string of failures by the Bush regime.

Gracias.

for link to Man Egee's blogpost click here

Más Información:

* SanctuarySphere Sites that developed the questionnaire:

o CrossLeft
o Culture Kitchen
o Citizen Orange
o Latina Lista
o Latino Politico
o Mamita Mala
o Migra Matters
o ¡Para Justicia y Libertad!
o The Unapologetic Mexican
o Zuky

* A small sample of the questions:

o 7. Do you support the "touchback" requirements of previous comprehensive immigration reform (CIR) legislation that would require undocumented immigrants to return to their countries of origin in order to normalize their status?

o 17. Do you support the Detainee Basic Medical Care Act, the bill that would require the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to develop procedures to ensure adequate medical care for all detainees held by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)?

o 23. Would you support the incorporation of requirements that would tie
both future economic aid and trade agreements to substantive benchmarks
in sender nations that would alleviate some of the economic and
humanitarian conditions that foster continued migration?

o 36. How do you address the overwhelming amount of money the U.S. federal
government spends on defense and military expenditures, at home and
abroad, and would you see to it that less money is spent on
militarization and more money is spent on social programs?

for link to questionnaire click here

thanks to managee.blogspot.com for this information

Spelling error by "NATIVIST"

funny...

Preparing for a possible hurricane evacuation in the Texas "Valley":Immigrants Included

The valley has been part of all my life. Every year I go visit family and friends and travel to Corpus Christi, Padre Island and even Matamaros, Tamps. Last year a couple of hurricanes threaten the Texas Coast, and the valley didn't spare threats. In regards to the article, several organizations have filed a law suit against U.S. Border Patrol, Why? They want to be prepared in case of hurricane evacuation. Many people will fear la migra more than the hurricane and try to champion any storm, resulting in tragedies. I commend those organizations working together to get clear answers instead of shaddy plan from the border patrol.

Will they check documents? I can't wait for the outcome!!!
Think about it, what will they respond?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Valley group suing U.S. Border Patrol over document checks in an evacuation
By Lynn Brezosky
The San Antonia Express News, July 9, 2008


San Juan -- A group of Rio Grande Valley nonprofit agencies announced Wednesday they were suing the U.S. Border Patrol to get clear answers on whether there would be document checks of Rio Grande Valley residents fleeing a hurricane.

The lawsuit, to be filed Wednesday in federal court in McAllen, claims conflicting statements by U.S. Customs and Border Protection have brought fear and confusion to a region where many families are split between unauthorized immigrants and U.S. citizens or legal residents.

Those families have said they would not evacuate if they had reason to fear some would be singled out for eventual deportation as they boarded buses or drove through immigration checkpoints north of the Valley.

CBP officials did not immediately answer a request for comment on the lawsuit.

In past years, CBP has been mum on the issue. Local officials have said there is an informal understanding that immigration checks would be suspended during a disaster but said the Border Patrol could not publicize it.

The checkpoints are on the two main highways north out of the Valley and mark the end of the Border Patrol’s border saturation zone. Smugglers consider themselves 'home free' and in the U.S. interior once past them. The agency’s fear is smugglers will use a hurricane evacuation as a window of opportunity.

CBP agents in May were spotted rehearsing document checks during a mock evacuation, prompting a media storm during which a spokesman confirmed plans for bus checks and said it would be 'business as usual' at the checkpoints.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff later issued a statement saying agents would not impede a safe and speedy evacuation, which local officials took to be an acknowledgement that agents would let up on document checks.

But the nonprofits, including churches and self-help organizations, say people are not going to risk deportation by trying to guess CBP’s plans.

'If CBP is allowed to create consternation and confusion, it could lead to catastrophic loss of life' the lawsuit, written by Texas RioGrande Legal Aid lawyers, argues.

Attorney Eric Rodriguez said the Border Patrol’s ambiguity had 'set in motion the waves for a perfect storm.'

'By pursuing this reckless law enforcement policy, they've created a danger for everyone,' he said.

Having a policy in place would ease minds and possibly provide legal recourse if the Border Patrol checked documents after saying they wouldn’t, Rodriguez said. He said he hoped the matter would go before a judge as soon as possible, as the 2008 hurricane season is already underway.

Attempts to get answers via the Freedom of Information Act have been unsuccessful, he said.

'We’re trying to move on this now because we’re in the middle, or start of, the hurricane season,' Rodriguez said.

Dr. Erik Camayd-Freixas and the Postville Raid

detail of photo from USA Today, for link click here

Harvard trained Dr. Camayd Freixas has taken a risk and publicized his essay on  the Postville ICE raid.

Here is some background on him from Greg Siskind's blog: 

"Dr. Erik Camayd-Freixas was born in Cuba, received his Ph.D. from Harvard University, and is currently Associate Professor of Latin American literature at FIU. He is the author of the books Realismo mágico y primitivismo and Primitivism and Identity in Latin America, as well as a frequent contributor to literary journals of the Americas and Europe. Dr. Camayd has lectured around the world on topics in literary and cultural studies, ethnic narrative and poetics, historiography of Latin America and the Caribbean, and linguistic analysis of discourse."

below is an excerpt from Camayd-Freixas' essay:

...Driven single-file in groups of 10, shackled at the wrists, waist and ankles, chains dragging as they shuffled through, the slaughterhouse workers were brought in for arraignment, sat and listened through headsets to the interpreted initial appearance, before marching out again to be bused to different county jails, only to make room for the next row of 10. They appeared to be uniformly no more than 5 ft. tall, mostly illiterate Guatemalan peasants with Mayan last names, some being relatives (various Tajtaj, Xicay, Sajché, Sologüí…), some in tears; others with faces of worry, fear, and embarrassment. They all spoke Spanish, a few rather laboriously. It dawned on me that, aside from their nationality, which was imposed on their people in the 19th century, they too were Native Americans, in shackles. They stood out in stark racial contrast with the rest of us as they started their slow penguin march across the makeshift court...

for complete Camayd-Freixas essay at Sanctuary Soapbox click here

Denying civil liberties to undocumented immigrants

detail of photo from USA Today.  For link click here

From NYT article covering an interview with Dr. Camayd-Freixas:

"Professor Camayd-Freixas said he was taken aback by the rapid pace of the proceedings and the pressure prosecutors brought to bear on the defendants and their lawyers by pressing criminal charges instead of deporting the workers immediately for immigration violations." -

'“Most of the clients we interviewed did not even know what a Social Security card was or what purpose it served,” he wrote.'

The article presents Camayl-Freixas as Mr. -- he is actually a Dr., a Harvard PhD and tenured professor at a respected university.
-----

July 11, 2008
An Interpreter Speaking Up for Migrants
By JULIA PRESTON
New York Times

WATERLOO, Iowa — In 23 years as a certified Spanish interpreter for federal courts, Erik Camayd-Freixas has spoken up in criminal trials many times, but the words he uttered were rarely his own.

Then he was summoned here by court officials to translate in the hearings for nearly 400 illegal immigrant workers arrested in a raid on May 12 at a meatpacking plant. Since then, Mr. Camayd-Freixas, a professor of Spanish at Florida International University, has taken the unusual step of breaking the code of confidentiality among legal interpreters about their work.

In a 14-page essay he circulated among two dozen other interpreters who worked here, Professor Camayd-Freixas wrote that the immigrant defendants whose words he translated, most of them villagers from Guatemala, did not fully understand the criminal charges they were facing or the rights most of them had waived.

In the essay and an interview, Professor Camayd-Freixas said he was taken aback by the rapid pace of the proceedings and the pressure prosecutors brought to bear on the defendants and their lawyers by pressing criminal charges instead of deporting the workers immediately for immigration violations.

He said defense lawyers had little time or privacy to meet with their court-assigned clients in the first hectic days after the raid. Most of the Guatemalans could not read or write, he said. Most did not understand that they were in criminal court.

“The questions they asked showed they did not understand what was going on,” Professor Camayd-Freixas said in the interview. “The great majority were under the impression they were there because of being illegal in the country, not because of Social Security fraud.”

During fast-paced hearings in May, 262 of the illegal immigrants pleaded guilty in one week and were sentenced to prison — most for five months — for knowingly using false Social Security cards or legal residence documents to gain jobs at the Agriprocessors kosher meat plant in nearby Postville. It was the largest criminal enforcement operation ever carried out by immigration authorities at a workplace.

The essay has provoked new questions about the Agriprocessors proceedings, which had been criticized by criminal defense and immigration lawyers as failing to uphold the immigrants’ right to due process. Representative Zoe Lofgren, Democrat of California and chairwoman of the House Judiciary immigration subcommittee, said she would hold a hearing on the prosecutions and call Professor Camayd-Freixas as a witness.

“The essay raises questions about whether the charges brought were supported by the facts,” Ms. Lofgren said.
...He suggested many of the immigrants could not have knowingly committed the crimes in their pleas. “Most of the clients we interviewed did not even know what a Social Security card was or what purpose it served,” he wrote.

He said many immigrants could not distinguish between a Social Security card and a residence visa, known as a green card. They said they had purchased fake documents from smugglers in Postville, or obtained them directly from supervisors at the Agriprocessors plant. Most did not know that the original cards could belong to Americans and legal immigrants, Mr. Camayd-Freixas said...

for link to complete NYT article click here

for link to complete Camayd-Freixas essay at Sanctuary Soapbox, click here

Telenovelas in Front of Our Eyes

"No Puedo Pasar" - painting by Ana Teresa Fernandez exhibited at the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago. Her painting reads "No puedo pasar indiferente ante el dolor de tanta gente" which translates to I cannot pass here with indifference considering the sorrow of so many people.

Today I visited the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago. A new exhibition, titled "A Declaration of Immigration" opened on July 4th. The images that depict the experience of immigrants and the politics surrounding immigration policy are conveyed in 100 pieces of art being shown, including the painting by Ana Teresa Fernandez titled "No Puedo Pasar" -

Fernandez' work brings to mind our current diorama - the millions of undocumented people in the U.S. - thousands of which getting arrested and deported - while the rest of us watch. Those of us who are documented see the videos on tv and youtube. We see photos of crying babies on the front pages of newspapers. We hear the stories of arrests and detentions - of workers being yelled at by ICE officers with guns in their hands. Imagining the sounds of the helicopters hovering over a raid site. Some of us wonder, "how can this be happening?"

Amid outrageous gas prices, the mortgage crisis, continuing deaths in Iraq and the threat of war against Iran we are still affected when we hear of the Postville raid, or the Bedford Mass. raid, or the nursing babies that became dehydrated because ICE separated them from their mothers-

Sometimes we wonder if there is any need to air telenovelas because we have our very own drama in front of our eyes. How can we be indifferent to this?
-----

National Museum of Mexican Art

exhibit:

July 4 - September 17, 2008

A Declaration of Immigration is an exhibition that depicts many of the experiences and viewpoints within U.S. immigrant communities. The works of over 70 artists will help visitors increase their understanding of this complex issue by providing immigrant perspectives that are seldom included in the national debate. As a vital part of the democratic process, artists and community-based institutions play a critical role in any civic dialogue and struggle for social justice. Immigration is indisputably the foundation upon which this country was built. The National Museum of Mexican Art has a responsibility to take a proactive stance, and provide a platform from which many immigrants can speak out – especially at a time in our history, when once again, countless immigrants are being scapegoated and blamed for many of the nation’s
problems. This exhibition will launch the Museum’s three-year commitment to immigrant centered programs.

from the exhibition brochure

Lumping all "Teen Illegals" Together

The San Francisco Chronicle is known to be a liberal newspaper - it's support of the immigrant community is greatly appreciated. Yet, once in a while, as we all do, someone slips up.

This time it was the SFC's choice of words in an article on the deportation of gang members. The idea of a protocol for "teen illegals" may be ok, but the article is talking about young people who have been arrested on drug charges.... The title could be taken as a generalization that all undocumented teens are gang members or drug users/dealers.

A few years ago I had a student from Spain in a class of mostly Mexican Americans (at a Texas university). The students had a major project during the semester where they had to research a cultural topic and conduct a few interviews in the Latino community. Everyone had to present their topic at the end of the semester. The Spanish student presented her information, but before we finished, she began to cry. She said she felt so bad because people had told her that Mexican-Americans were awful people, were dangerous etc. - she had believed all this not being from this country and not having alternative information. After getting to know the other students for the semester, she realized that what she had been told was all basically misinformation. There were no gang members in the class, no one had been in jail, no drug dealers or automobile thieves.

The tears were because she had gotten to know and like most everyone in the class - and was angry at herself for having believed all the disparaging comments about her classmates. By the way, she also apologized to the class. Her candor was very admirable. She was truly a woman of class.

Yet, this incident made me wonder how often this type of thing happens.... all it takes is a title that morphs from the incarceration of drug offenders to a "protocol for teen illegals."

-----

S.F. working on protocol for teen illegals
Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, July 10, 2008

San Francisco Chronicle

(07-09) 22:47 PDT San Francisco -- San Francisco should do everything it can to protect the rights of young Honduran drug offenders before it turns them over to federal authorities for possible deportation, several activists urged members of the city's Juvenile Probation Commission at its meeting Wednesday.

In the wake of a national firestorm over the city's practices, Juvenile Probation Chief William Siffermann told the little-known commission about how the city is developing a protocol to surrender underage Hondurans caught dealing crack on the streets of San Francisco over to the federal authorities if they are here illegally.

The protocol was announced after The Chronicle detailed how previous efforts to shield the young offenders from federal authorities had been blocked or backfired. Mayor Gavin Newsom has announced the city will soon begin turning over offenders to immigration authorities.

But the activists who appeared before the commission Wednesday night said the city should not act hastily and must consider the privacy rights of juveniles as well as their right to seek better lives before abandoning them to deportation.
"I urge the city to slow down and not react to the manufactured crisis," said Ana Perez, executive director of the Central American Research Center, about the national furor over the city's previous practice. Perez said the city is justified in protecting the rights of the young offenders, who are often victims of poverty, neglect and abuse.

Angela Chan of the Asian Law Caucus told the panel that immigrants who commit crimes out of the need to survive in their adopted country should be screened to make sure they have a chance to lead law-abiding lives rather than be immediately deported.

"We should treat them as all the other youth," she said. "They sell drugs because they need to make money. The problem is there are not very many opportunities for these youth. They desperately need the money."

At the meeting, the activists said the youths were "canaries in a coal mine" for the problems of globalization and worker exploitation and in many cases were the product of repressive regimes, abusive families or community violence.
After the activists spoke, commission Vice President Susana Rojas became emotional as she described a letter she received about the issue that contained "very inflammatory language ... that is offensive for us who have worked with undocumented youth."

She said the letter damned the offenders as gang members who are exploiting the leniency of the system.
"They are minors. They do need help," she said, adding that she said the youths should not be immediately branded as criminals or gang members. "They deserve our respect. They deserve our help..."

for link to complete SF Chronicle article, click here

List of Scholarships

It is known that most scholarships are not available to DREAMERS. What a real shame, since most DREAMERS are outstanding students. For those that can apply however, it's worth looking at. You don't have to be a genius to apply or receive one of these scholarships.... and most are open to all ethnic groups (including Anglos) due to recent court cases.

It is ironic when people say that undocumented immigrants are "stealing" from the U.S. - seeing this list and realizing what DREAMERS cannot apply for, makes that comment sound ludicrous.

if the link doesn't work, try typing it in, or googling the scholarship name on the web

1) College Board Scholarship Search http://cbweb10p.collegeboard.org/fundfinder/html/fundfind01.html

2) Student Inventors Scholarships http://www.invent.org/collegiate http://www.invent.org/collegiate/

3) Student Video Scholarships http://www.christophers.org/vidcon2k.html

4) Coca-Cola Two Year College Scholarships http://www.coca-colascholars.org/programs.html

5) Holocaust Remembrance Scholarships http://holocaust.hklaw.com/

6) Ayn Rand Essay Scholarships http:/ /www.aynrand.org/contests/

7) Brand Essay Competition http://www.instituteforbrandleadership.org/IBLEssayContest-2002Rules.htm

8) Gates Millennlum Scholarships (major) http://www.gmsp.org/nominationmaterials/read.dbm?ID=12

9) Xerox Scholarships for Students http://www2.xerox.com/go/xrx/about_xerox/about_xerox_detail.jsp

10) Sports Scholarships and Internships http://www.ncaa.org/about/scholarships.html

11) National Assoc. of Black Journalists Scholarships (NABJ) < /B>< /FONT>http://www.nabj.org/html/studentsvcs.html

12) Saul T. Wilson Scholarships (Veterinary) http://www.aphis.usda.gov/mb/mrphr/jobs/stw.html

13) Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund http://www.thurgoodmarshallfund.org/sk_v6.cfm

14) FinAid: The Smart Students Guide to Financial Aid scholarships) http://www.finaid.org/

15) Presidential Freedom Scholarships http://www.nationalservice.org/scholarships/

16) Microsoft Scholarship Program http://www.microsoft.com/college/scholarships/minority.asp

17) WiredScholar Free Scholarship Search http://www.wiredscholar.com/paying/scholarship_search/pay_scholarship _searc
h.jsp

18) Hope Scholarships &Lifetime Credits http://www.ed.gov/inits/hope/

19) William Randolph Hearst Endowed Scholarship for Minority Students http://www.apsanet.org/PS/grants/aspen3.cfm

20) Multiple List of Minority Scholarships http://gehon.ir.miami.edu/financial-assistance/Scholarship/black.html

21) Guaranteed Scholarships http://www.guaranteed-scholarships.com/

22) BOEING scholarships (some HBCU connects) http://www.boeing.com/companyoffices/educationrelations/scholarships

23) Easley National Scholarship Program http://www.naas.org/senior.htm

24) Maryland Artists Scholarships http://www.maef.org/

26) Jacki Tuckfield Memorial Graduate Business Scholarship (for AA students in South Florida) http://www.jackituckfield.org/

27) Historically Black College & University Scholarships http://www.iesabroad.org/info/hbcu.htm

28) Actuarial Scholarships for Minority Students http://www.beanactuary.org/minority/scholarships.htm

29) International Students Scholarships &Aid Help http://www.iefa.org/

30) BELL LABS FELLOWSHIPS FOR UNDER REPRESENTED MINORITIES http://www.bell-labs.com/fellowships/CRFP/info.html

31) Burger King Scholarship Program http://www.bkscholars.csfa.org/

32) Siemens Westinghouse Competition http://www.siemens-foundationorg/

33) GE and LuLac Scholarship Funds http://www.lulac.org/Programs/Scholar.html

34) CollegeNet's Scholarship Database http://mach25.collegenet.com/cgi-bin/M25/index

35) Union Sponsored Scholarships and Aid http://www.aflcioorg/scholarships/scholar.htm

36) Federal Scholarships &Aid Gateways 25 Scholarship Gateways from Black Excel http://www.blackexcel.org/25scholarships.htm

37) Scholarship &Financial Aid Help http://www.blackexcel.org/fin-sch.htm

38) Scholarship Links (Ed Finance Group) http://www.efg.net/link_scholarship.htm

39) FAFSA On The Web (Your Key Aid Form &Info) http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/

40) Aid &Resources For Re-Entry Students http://www.back2college.com/

41) Scholarships and Fellowships http://www.osc.cuny.edu/sep/links.h tml

42) Scholarships for Study in Paralegal Studies http://www.paralegals.org/Choice/2000west.htm

43) HBCU Packard Sit Abroad Scholarships (for study around the world) http://www.sit.edu/studyabroad/packard_nomination.html

44) Scholarship and Fellowship Opportunities http://ccmi.uchicag o.edu/schl1.html

45) INROADS internships http://www.inroads.org/

46) ACT-SO bEURoeOlympics of the Mind 'A Scholarships http://www.naacp.org/work/actso/act-so.shtml

47) Black Alliance for Educational Options Scholarships http://www.baeo.org/options/privatelyfinanced.jsp

48) ScienceNet Scholarship Listing 'ttp://www.sciencenet.emory.edu/undergrad/scholarships.html

49) Graduate Fellowships For Minorities Nationwide http://cuinfo.cornell.edu/Student/GRFN/list.phtml?category=MINORITIES < /A>

50) RHODES SCHOLARSHIPS AT OXFORD http://www.rhodesscholar.org /info.html

51) The Roothbert Scholarship Fund http://www.roothbertfund.org/schol

thanks to J.D. for passing this along

3 North Texas teens facing deportation receive help from Representative

Kudos to Rep. Johnson for helping these teens!!

picture taken by donajih - "the sky is the limit"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

TX: Immigration Students Cling to American Dream Rep. Johnson Hopes to Stave Off Deportation of 3 North Texas Teens

The Dallas Morning News,
July 7, 2008
By Stella M. Chavez

Cristina Gamez quotes Albert Einstein, plays the piano and knows basic Japanese. Monica Ibarra Rodriguez enjoys Guitar Hero and plans to one day work as a substance abuse counselor. Her cousin, Jose de Jesus Ibarra, wants to be a mechanical engineer.

The Dallas-area young adults are typical of many college-age students - full of hopes and plans for the future. But all three are living in the country illegally and last year became subjects of deportation proceedings.

The students recently learned that U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Dallas, has taken up their cause. On June 20, Ms. Johnson filed a private bill that seeks to keep them from being deported.

In the absence of comprehensive immigration legislation, private immigration bills are sometimes a measure of last resort for immigrants trying to remain in the country. Such legislation names specific individuals and is intended only for them.

In this case, all three were brought to the U.S. from Mexico many years ago by their parents.

"That time was running out, and I didn't feel like I could keep waiting," said Ms. Johnson. "It [the bill] might not pass, but at least it buys us some time."Ira Mehlman, media director of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, said exceptions should not be made for children, even if they had no choice in coming here."It's simply a bad precedent to set," Mr. Mehlman said. "While we certainly don't take any pleasure in seeing the kids harmed, we as a society hold the parents responsible.

Children are not human shields. Unfortunately, this was a situation created by the parents, and there are consequences to breaking the law and those consequences affect your family."Ms. Johnson's measure comes 10 days after U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., filed a private bill to keep an Armenian high school student from being deported.

The bills have several hurdles to clear. They must go through committee hearings and pass both the House and Senate before being signed into law by the president. Few have been enacted.Ms. Johnson said she's realistic about her bill's odds.

"I think it's a long shot, but I think once we have a hearing and people hear the real story, there's a possibility we might have the votes," she said.

Immigrant proponents have sought a remedy for children of illegal immigrants in the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act, or DREAM Act, which would grant legal status to illegal immigrants who graduated from a U.S. high school and attended college or served in the military. But last fall, the bill failed in the Senate.

The bill's fate was especially disappointing for the Ibarras, who traveled to Washington for the vote and met with Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's staff. She supported the bill.

Sen. John Cornyn opposed it and refused to meet with the family because they were in the country illegally, he said at the time.

Ms. Gamez, now 18, was 5 when she came to the United States, but she could tell the stark contrast between her native country and America."For one thing, everybody has shoes," she recalled noticing. "Everyone is nicely dressed."Her parents initially intended to return home, but decided they'd lead a better life here, she said.

Problems arose last year when she racked up numerous school absences. That landed her in truancy court. There, an officer asked her if she was a U.S. citizen, which led to court hearings and into the offices of immigration attorney Liz Cedillo-Pereira.

The Ibarras, both 19, were caught at a party on senior skip day. During her stay in a detention facility, all Ms. Ibarra Rodriguez could think about was graduation."I just wanted to make my family proud ... that I didn't waste my time going to school for nothing," she said, crying.

Ms. Ibarra Rodriguez, who is enrolled in a local community college, said Ms. Johnson's bill gives her hope, but she remains worried.She said Mexico is a foreign place to her. Ms. Cedillo-Pereira, who is representing all three students, said they are good students who want to finish college and become legal working residents.

"Once we're able to seek a more comprehensive solution, we won't have to seek more remedies of last resort," she said.

Larry James, president and CEO of Central Dallas Ministries, said he supports the students. "We're really grateful beyond words, but at the same time we recognize that this is not the way to handle immigration," Mr. James said. "We're going to fight to see that they get to stay."

Undocumented: the trailer by Justin Malone

I have seen many independent movies about immigration and I hope that this one captures what Americans really feel about the issue. This movie has a lot of potential to influence many people who are lost within biased mainstream media.


to view the trailer please visit Undocumented by Justin T

A Short History on Racial Profiling - October 30, 2001

It will be interesting to see if the Bush administration uses racial profiling when it decides who to wiretap. See today's NYTimes article "Senate Approves Broadening of Wiretap Powers"

As far as racial profiling is concerned - as the Bin Laden family was being flown away after 9-11, hundreds of Muslims were being called to immigration offices in Los Angeles, having been told they needed to go in for some type of verification of documentation. When they would arrive they were detained by immigration authorities.

The following article was printed by the New York Daily News on October 30, 2001 - about 1,000 Muslims being detained in Los Angeles. It is very difficult to find articles in other major newspapers about this incident.


-----
INFO SOUGHT ON 1,000 HELD IN PROBE By BOB PORT DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 26
New York Daily News
October 20, 2001

WASHINGTON - Civil rights and Muslim organizations demanded yesterday that the government release the names of nearly 1,000 people detained in the federal terrorism investigation.

Twenty groups filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the identities of those arrested, charges against them, where they are held and names of their lawyers.

That information should not be kept secret, they said, and by keeping it confidential, the FBI, prosecutors and judges are abusing their power.

The groups also asked to be told where federal courts have issued secret orders declaring such information to be confidential.

"The secrecy orders themselves appear to be secret," said Kate Martin, director of the Center for National Security Studies, which spearheaded the effort. "The denial of this basic information violates the public's right to know."

Morton Halperin, chairman of the group, said no one is seeking to know investigative information or details - just who was arrested and why. "It's simply impossible to see how the release of that information could harm national security," he said.

Some detainees have been held for more than a week without their families knowing, or held without their families knowing where they are, said Gregory Nojeim, associate director of the American Civil Liberties Union office in Washington.

Nojeim said he wrote Attorney General John Ashcroft this month and asked about arrestees but got no response.

The Justice Department had no comment yesterday. As of Friday, according to department officials, 977 people had been detained, including 172 on immigration offenses.

from Lexis Nexis

When being a citizen doesn't count

photo: "hand of Fatima" by M.T. Hernandez


A few weeks ago, while in France, a country with a substantial Arab population, I was walking through a neighborhood market and found a small "hand of Fatima" -I bought the charm and have been wearing it since then. When I flew back to the United States I wondered if the ICE people at the airport would question anything. I have a Spanish surname, but also could easily be identified as Arab.

The pendant I bought is called "the hand of Fatima" by Muslims-- which is an intriguing name, since as a Jewish symbol it is known as "the hand of Miriam" - Fatima is also a city in Portugal where the Virgin Mary was said to have appeared - she is called Our Lady of Fatima. Whether there is a Muslim, Jewish, or even Catholic connection, I still felt vulnerable at the airport - doesn't matter if I'm a 7th generation Texan -- the amulet would make people think I'm someone else.

Normally that wouldn't be a problem, but with new profiling rules, who knows what the ICE people will do when an Arab looking Mexican (American) wearing an Arab/Jewish symbol shows her U.S. Passport.

According to an article in Salon.com, later this summer U.S. Justice Dept. will probably implement rules that will allow the profiling of Muslims - even if they are U.S. born citizens. It is really not like this hasn't been happening already. Remember the 1,000+ Muslim men who were detained in California after 9-11?
Of course this is unconstitutional, as Dr. Juan Cole, historian from the University of Michigan explains in an article from Salon.com

The issue of legality has not concerned the Bush administration (and the Congress that plays with them*). If U.S. born citizens who are Muslim, some whose families have been U.S. citizens for generations - can be profiled - how long before other U.S. citizens are also followed around. Soon you could be detained if you look like you could be from an Arab country (if not already), or if you speak English with an accent, or if you travel often to countries with large Arab populations?

-----

The FBI's plan to "profile" Muslims

It's unconstitutional, un-American -- and it might hurt, rather than help, the FBI's effort to stop real acts of terror.

By Juan Cole
Salon.com

July 10, 2008 | The U.S. Justice Department is considering a change in the grounds on which the FBI can investigate citizens and legal residents of the United States. Till now, DOJ guidelines have required the FBI to have some evidence of wrongdoing before it opens an investigation. The impending new rules, which would be implemented later this summer, allow bureau agents to establish a terrorist profile or pattern of behavior and attributes and, on the basis of that profile, start investigating an individual or group. Agents would be permitted to ask "open-ended questions" concerning the activities of Muslim Americans and Arab-Americans. A person's travel and occupation, as well as race or ethnicity, could be grounds for opening a national security investigation.

The rumored changes have provoked protests from Muslim American and Arab-American groups. The Council on American Islamic Relations, among the more effective lobbies for Muslim Americans' civil liberties, immediately denounced the plan, as did James Zogby, the president of the Arab-American Institute. Said Zogby, "There are millions of Americans who, under the reported new parameters, could become subject to arbitrary and subjective ethnic and religious profiling." Zogby, who noted that the Bush administration's history with profiling is not reassuring, warned that all Americans would suffer from a weakening of civil liberties.

The new guidelines would lead to many bogus prosecutions, but they would also prove counterproductive in the effort to disrupt real terror plots. And then there's Attorney General Michael Mukasey's rationale for revising the rules in the first place. "It's necessary," he explained in a June news conference, "to put in place regulations that will allow the FBI to transform itself as it is transforming itself into an intelligence-gathering organization." When did Congress, or we as a nation, have a debate about whether we want to authorize the establishment of a domestic intelligence agency? Indeed, late last month Congress signaled its discomfort with the concept by denying the FBI's $11 million funding request for its data-mining center....


for complete Salon.com article click here

onedream2009.org

I might have posted this information already, but I had to do it again. These organizers are doing everything possible to to collect signatures and promote the DREAM Act...check out their website.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Join the Youth Movement
Towards

Global Sustainability

One Dream 2009

OUR PURPOSE

Young people have organized to demonstrate the humanity for all undocumented immigrants, whose country was once chosen for them and one they choose today. Our national public awareness campaign illuminates the plight of undocumented youth as a dignified human experience. This underground youth movement, known as, One Dream 2009, is giving a voice to the voiceless and appreciates your support.

OUR GOAL

· Gather 15 million signatures (petitions) in recognition of the number of undocumented individuals in this country requesting an immigration policy that benefits all human beings.

· Sell 3 million 'Human Being' cards/ key tags to represent the 3 million undocumented youth in this country in support of the "Whose Dream is it Anyway" DREAM Act. Each card is $5 to symbolize President Lincoln freeing the slaves and urge our new President to do the same.

· Present these symbolic messages (the powers of people, money and respect - representing the voice of human solidarity) to the new President on Inauguration Day, January 20th 2009.



JOIN THE MOVEMENT

· Purchase a human card/key chain and other products

· Invite us to share the movement through various presentation styles

· Be a voice for the voiceless by starting the movement in your community

Immigrant day-laborers cleaning up fire-damaged areas for FREE...

Can it get any more unfair for hard-working immigrants?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From: "AlterNet Immigration Coverage"

Date: Tuesday, July 08, 2008 12:48 PM

Latest Coverage on Immigration at AlterNet

July 8th, 2008

http://www.alternet.org/immigration

From the editors:

California's ablaze with fires spreading along the coast and threatening a
dozen towns.

Unlike municipal firefighters, who earn a fair wage and are represented by
unions, the fire crews that battle these fires are seasonal workers. Fire
crews work incredibly long hours at an incredibly difficult and dangerous
job, and are paid peanuts for putting their lives on the line. Perhaps it
should come as no surprise, then, that half of all of these firefighters are
immigrants, and an "untold" portion of them are undocumented. The New York
Times cited one expert who estimated that one in ten workers on fire crews
are undocumented immigrants.

Then there's the clean-up from fire-damaged areas. The Orange County
Register reports that in Lake Forest, California, "illegal" day-laborers are
volunteering to help rebuild gratis:

Lake Forest day laborers along with laborers from Los Angeles will take part
in a project to aid communities affected by last year's fires. The day of
service by the Day Laborer Fire Relief Brigade is one of several in Southern
California organized by area day laborers.

"The idea came from them (day laborers)," said Veronica Federovsky, West
Coast coordinator for the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. "When the
fire started in OC they told me, 'We want to help but we don't know how.'"

Meanwhile, Homeland Security announced in May that in the event of an
emergency evacuation the announcement mentioned hurricanes, but presumably
this would apply to any emergency law enforcement agencies will continue to
man immigration checkpoints along California's highways, and would verify
evacuees' citizenship before allowing them to board buses out of the
emergency zone. Anyone without papers would be evacuated straight to an ICE
detention facility.

I think all this says quite a bit about where we're at in terms of
immigration in America.

-Joshua Holland

Editor, Immigration Special Coverage

Mistaken Identity: NPR and its interview of FAIR off-shoot

In an NPR segment "Candidates Vie For Hispanic Voters":

National Public Radio presents article on Hispanic voting and misrepresents the group "You Don't Speak for Me (YDSFM) as a pro-immigration group. In fact YDSFM is an off-shoot of the anti-immigrant group Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) and also has ties to The Minutemen (now the American Patriots)

Want to complain? You can leave an email message to Alicia Shepard, NPR ombudsman - click here

DREAMER article in L.A. Times

The article below is a reasonable representation of DREAMERS - however, a number of the comments people have made to the LAT on the article are inaccurate and insulting. Some anti-immigrant groups actively encourage their members to send in these nasty responses. Keep this in mind when you read some of these. You are not reading an honest representation of American opinion - what appears to be an individual comment is orchestrated by virulent anti-immigrant groups such as FAIR, NumbersUSA, and the Minutemen.
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Undocumented college students endure hardships over their status, then see an uncertain future.
By Gale Holland, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
July 8, 2008

He took 15 AP classes in high school, and kicks himself for passing up two others. Now, he is graduating from UCLA, with a double major in English and Chicano Studies and a B-plus grade point average.

But for all his success, Miguel does not share the full-bodied exuberance of the graduating seniors who marched last month five abreast into Pauley Pavilion, belting out the '60s hit "Build Me Up, Buttercup." A native of Puebla, Mexico, he is an illegal immigrant.

Around the UCLA campus, ubiquitous kiosk signs encourage students to "Jump Into Great Jobs!" But for Miguel, any employment will be difficult. Like many undocumented students, he may elect to prolong his studies to stave off an uncertain future.

"When you're in school you have a place in society, you're a university student," Miguel, 23, said during an interview at a campus coffee spot on graduation day. "When you graduate, you're just an immigrant again."

Miguel and other students, who asked that their full names be withheld for fear that they or their families could face federal action, are caught between contradictory U.S. immigration policies.

A 1982 U.S. Supreme Court decision entitled illegal immigrants to public education from kindergarten through high school; 50,000 to 70,000 graduate from U.S. high schools each year (California's share, by some estimates, is 40%), according to experts. But the students' access to higher education has not been guaranteed by the courts and Congress.

Over the last seven years, California and nine other states have encouraged undocumented college students to pursue higher education by offering many who graduated from California high schools in-state tuition. California public universities do not ask about legal status on applications. Some private universities, including Loyola Marymount and Santa Clara, have scholarships tailored for illegal immigrants. They are not entitled to most financial aid or loans at public colleges.

Their numbers at the university level remain low. The UC system had an estimated 271 to 433 undocumented students, out of total enrollment of 214,000, in 2006-2007, the latest figure available, a spokesman said.

But attending college, and even doing splendidly, does nothing to alter these students' illegal status. A proposed federal law called the Dream Act would have offered a pathway to citizenship for many college students and members of the military. But supporters last year were unable to secure enough votes to prevent a filibuster of the bill.

Opponents said the students are looting limited educational resources that should go to citizens and legal residents.

"To these students, I say I hope you return to your home country right away," said Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach), "and I hope you repay what you have spent of other people's money. It's a horrible crime."

Students have come far

Advocates argue that it's inhumane and counterproductive to ostracize students who have come so far with so little.

"These students have been here since they were small children, and we've done everything to encourage them to stay in school and help them prepare for college," said UCLA Asst. Vice Provost Alfred Herrera of the Center for Community College Partnerships. "The sad reality is most of these students are the best and the brightest."

And if history is any guide, they aren't leaving. Some, instead, remain in school.

Living off academic stipends, scholarships and a steady diet of ramen, these students play out an endless "Groundhog Day" script of school applications, research projects and degrees.

"They mostly hang around colleges, assistantships, getting paid to do surveys. It's not employment, it's catch-as-catch can," said Michael Olivas, an expert on immigrants in higher education who teaches at the University of Houston Law Center.

"I think continuing your studies is the best option for us now," said Tam Tran, 24, who heads to Brown University this fall for a five-year doctoral program in American Civilizations.

Born in Germany to Vietnamese parents, Tran has a complex immigration history: a U.S. immigration board in 2001 found that her family faced political persecution in Vietnam for past anti-Communist activities, but ordered them deported to Germany.

Germany, however, would not take them. The nation only recognized as citizens children born on its soil to German parents.

for complete LAT article click here

Police "mistakenly" arrest Oxford computer science graduate

link to photo