College for the Rich

The economic downturn has encouraged some colleges to give preference to students who can pay the full tuition. The natural consequence is that students needing significant financial aide will go further down the list. I wonder how that will affect DREAMers.

"Paying in Full as a Ticket to College," New York Times, March 31, 2009

300+ die in boats leaving Libya

link to photo

They were from Somalia, Nigeria, Eritrea, Kurdish areas of Syria, Algeria, Morocco, the Palestinian territories and Tunisia.  How desperate were the Palestinians to load up with 365 in one boat (called "rickety" by the journalist)? -  There were three of these boats and over 300 people died - that they know of.  As of the time this article was published only 23 bodies had been found.

What are people facing that they feel they have to take this risk?  Why are they putting their children in such danger?  It must mean that their conditions at home are far worse.  

Some say that many of these types of boats full of migrants, not just those going to Italy, but those trying to reach the U.S. (from Haiti and Cuba) are purposefully intercepted and sunk...  

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300 African migrants feared drowned off Libya

by Ali Shuaib
Reuters
Tuesday, March 31, 2009; 7:32 AM

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - More than 300 Africans including women and children are feared to have drowned after their boats capsized off Libya during a new upsurge of illegal migration to Europe, officials said Tuesday.

At least 23 bodies of drowned migrants were recovered by Libyan coastguards near the wreckage of three rickety boats which sailed from the coastal village of Sidi Belal near Tripoli, Libya's most influential daily, Oea, said Tuesday, quoting security officials.

One of the boats was carrying 365 people although it was only supposed to hold 75, Libyan officials said. It was one of four migrant ships which sailed from Libya between Saturday and Sunday, apparently heading for Italy.e have found no more bodies or survivors or the boat," a Libyan official said. link to complete article

Attacked for being a Mexican

Diego Osorio, columnist for milenio.com published a piece on a young man named Juan Carlos living in New York, who is originally from Sonora.  While living in Harlem Juan Carlos had no problems, he now lives in Staten Island and has been beaten for what he says "me pegaron por se Mexicano" (they hit me because I'm Mexican).  

This is not white racism.  The tension is between African Americans and Mexican migrants.  Osorio says the FBI reported 595 hate crimes against Latinos in 2007.  I wonder how many were not reported because the victim was undocumented.

Osorio:

"Fernando Gutiérrez, Germán Ramírez y Raúl Méndez, were beaten on various occasions with baseball bats, only because they were Mexican"

Sólo por ser mexicanos

Lun, 30/03/2009 - 10:46 — Osorno
ESQUIRLA- Milenio Semanal

Conocí a Juan Carlos hace dos meses en Nueva York. Un treintañero mexicano que junto a sus padres cruzó el desierto del Sásabe, en Sonora, cuando tenía ocho años de edad. Según me contó, en aquél entonces no había para los migrantes tantos peligros como hoy: no te asaltaban, violaban o secuestraban tus propios guías mientras cruzabas ilegalmente. Pollos y polleros eran derechos por lo regular. Hasta había algo de solidaridad en el asunto.

Hoy en Sásabe —me consta porque estuve ahí hace poco— la excepción es encontrar un traficante que no te joda. Muchos de ellos deben pagar cuotas al narco y se han vuelto despiadados con los migrantes.

Después de que cruzaron, Juan Carlos y sus padres vivieron en Anaheim, California hasta que, una noche, cuando regresaba de trabajar, Juan Carlos fue detenido y deportado por la Migra. La segunda vez que Juan Carlos cruzó fue a los 20 años de edad. Solo. “Quién sabe cómo”, dice, fue a parar a Nueva York. “Ya que cruzas, cualquier lugar es mejor que México. Aquí el único problema es que hace mucho frío”. Juan Carlos vivió primero en una casa del Alto Manhattan, la zona donde está el barrio de Harlem, lugar emblemático de los afroestadunidenses, pero que desde hace algunos años se ha transformado. Vamos, hasta el ex presidente Bill Clinton tiene una oficina ahí. En algunas calles de Harlem, sin embargo, aún existen grupos de pandilleros que atacan con pretextos raciales. Para un latino, y sobre todo uno despistado y recién llegado, el solo hecho de caminar por la calle equivocada representa una ofensa para estas bandas. Juan Carlos tuvo suerte: nunca fue golpeado.

Se fue luego a vivir a Staten Island, una pequeña isla frente a Manhattan donde llegan ahora la mayoría de los nuevos migrantes. A diferencia de sus años en Harlem, en Staten Island sí le tocó a Juan Carlos ser golpeado en dos ocasiones por pandillas de afroestadunidenses.

—¿Te querían robar?
—No.
—¿Entonces?
—Nomás..., me pegaron por ser mexicano.
—¿Pero eso qué?
—A los morenos no les gustamos los mexicanos. A veces son peores que los güeros. Yo no tengo ningún amigo moreno.

Por los días cuando estuve en Nueva York, en la portada del periódico latino El Diario aparecía la fotografía de un hombre que al parecer nunca podrá volver a abrir su párpado izquierdo. Era un joven colombiano que fue golpeado por una banda de afroestadunidenses. Walter Sánchez caminaba por la calle Watchong cuando fue abordado por cuatro jóvenes negros, quienes comenzaron a decirle hispano y algunos insultos en inglés para luego iniciar la golpiza.

En diciembre pasado hubo movilizaciones masivas en la ciudad que pasaron desapercibidas en México. Organizaciones de Queens, el barrio latino más importante de Nueva York, hicieron marchas exigiendo justicia contra los ataques contra hispanos, incluyendo la petición de castigo para un grupo de policías neoyorquinos involucrados en las violaciones sexuales de mexicanos y ecuatorianos. Según un informe del FBI de octubre del 2008, hubo 595 crímenes de odio anti-hispano en 2007, en tanto los meros incidentes de odio ascendieron a nueve mil seis casos en 2008. Supe también de las historias de otros mexicanos, como Fernando Gutiérrez, Germán Ramírez y Raúl Méndez, vapuleados en distintas ocasiones con bates de beisbol sólo por ser mexicanos.

“Ojalá que Obama ponga orden entre su gente”, me dijo Juan Carlos. “O que ya pronto haya un presidente hispano”. link

ICE makes about face: releases workers detained last month in Washington State

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ICE releases workers arrested in Washington raid

The Associated Press/Washington Post
Tuesday, March 31, 2009; 6:51 PM

SEATTLE -- Many of the 28 workers arrested by immigration agents last month in a northwest Washington raid have been released and given permission to work, in another sign of how the Obama administration is handling illegal immigration differently than its predecessor.

The raid at a Yamato Engine Specialists plant in Bellingham was the first mass arrest of immigrants since President Barack Obama took office and appeared to contradict his policy that federal agents focus more on employers who hire undocumented workers than on the workers themselves. Shortly after the arrests, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano ordered a review of the raid...more

Notes from the Political Scoop Blog

Sunday, March 29, 2009
Dream Act Changes

So far I've only been able to read the Senate version of the bill, S.729, and there have been two major changes made to the bill.

The bill that was voted on by the Senate in October of 2007 and had and age limit of 30. This time the age limit has been raised to 35.

The other change is the in-state tuition language. The last bill left it up to the states to decide whether to provide in-state tuition to Dreamers or not. The new bill has the in-state tuition option. link

Politician's Pro-Immigrant Tour Stops in Florida

The tour across America supporting immigration reform is a great thing.  However, the AP writer who wrote "Lawmakers bring immigration tour to Fla" started her article in a strange way - she says "Parents living in the U.S. illegally should be punished" -- quoting U.S. Rep Mario Diaz-Balart.  Of course there has to be some kind of fine.  But starting out the article with "punished" means many things.  Does Wides-Munoz mean prison time?  Does she mean deportation?  Perhaps she needs to be more careful how she choses her words.  While she might have meant a minimal fine, she could have been insinuating something much more severe.

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Lawmakers bring immigration tour to Fla
By LAURA WIDES-MUNOZ
AP Hispanic Affairs Writer/Miami Herald

HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- Parents living in the U.S. illegally should be punished, but separating them from their U.S.-born children is not the answer, U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart said Sunday during a gathering of more than 1,000 people at a pro-immigrant rally.

Diaz-Balart, R-Miami, was one of four U.S. representatives to speak in Homestead. The farm community is part of a 17-city tour advocating comprehensive immigration reform that provides a path to citizenship for those in the U.S. illegally.

"We have to recognize and deal with (their violation) but in a just way. Separating and leaving U.S. citizens without their parents is not the best solution. We need reasonable consequences," Diaz-Balart said.

Religious and social groups organized the gathering Sunday. A similar event took place Saturday in Orlando.

Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chair Luis Gutierrez, a Democrat from Illinois, has traveled across the country on the tour. He said he hopes the events will "hold the president's feet to the fire" and remind the administration that many who voted for Barack Obama want immigration reform....link

Gaza: The Story of Tom Hurndall

The Only House Left Standing:  The Journals of Tom Hurndall, Trolley Publishers, 2009

From the book description:

On April 11th, unarmed and wearing an internationally
recognizable orange peacekeeper jacket, he was severely
wounded while carrying Palestinian children to safety. He died
nine months later in a London hospital.

see "A Reckoning in Gaza," London Guardian, October 8, 2008

photo of Tom Hurndall by Khalil Hamra/AP

Robert Fisk’s World: A brave man who stood alone. If only the world had listened to him

I wish I had met Tom Hurndall, a remarkable man of remarkable principle
London Independent
Saturday, 28 March 2009

I don't know if I met Tom Hurndall. He was one of a bunch of "human shields" who turned up in Baghdad just before the Anglo-American invasion in 2003, the kind of folk we professional reporters make fun of. Tree huggers, that kind of thing. Now I wish I had met him because – looking back over the history of that terrible war – Hurndall's journals (soon to be published) show a remarkable man of remarkable principle. "I may not be a human shield," he wrote at 10.26 on 17 March from his Amman hotel. "And I may not adhere to the beliefs of those I have travelled with, but the way Britain and America plan to take Iraq is unnecessary and puts soldiers' lives above those of civilians. For that I hope that Bush and Blair stand trial for war crimes."

Hurndall got it about right, didn't he? It wasn't so simple as war/no war, black and white, he wrote. "Things I've heard and seen over the last few weeks proves what I already knew; neither the Iraqi regime, nor the American or British, are clean. Maybe Saddam needs to go but ... the air war that's proposed is largely unnecessary and doesn't discriminate between civilians and armed soldiers. Tens of thousands will die, maybe hundreds of thousands, just to save thousands of American soldiers having to fight honestly, hand to hand. It is wrong." Oh, how many of my professional colleagues wrote like this on the eve of war? Not many.

We pooh-poohed the Hurndalls and their friends as groupies even when they did briefly enter the South Baghdad electricity station and met one engineer, Attiah Bakir, who had been horrifyingly wounded 11 years earlier when an American bomb blew a fragment of metal into his brain. "You can see now where it struck," Hurndall wrote in an email from Baghdad, "caving in the central third of his forehead and removing the bone totally. Above the bridge of his broken nose, there is only a cavity with scarred skin covering the prominent gap..."

A picture of Attiah Bakir stares out of the book, a distinguished, brave man who refused to leave his place of work as the next war approached. He was silenced only when one of Hurndall's friends made the mistake of asking what he thought of Saddam's government. I cringed for the poor man. "Minders" were everywhere in those early days. Talking to any civilian was almost criminally foolish. Iraqis were forbidden from talking to foreigners. Hence all those bloody "minders" (many of whom, of course, ended up working for Baghdad journalists after Saddam's overthrow).

Hurndall had a dispassionate eye. "Nowhere in the world have I ever seen so many stars as now in the western deserts of Iraq," he wrote on 22 February. "How can somewhere so beautiful be so wrought with terror and war as it is soon to be?" In answer to the questions asked of them by the BBC, ITV, WBO, CNN, al-Jazeera and others, Hurndall had no single reply. "I don't think there could be one, two or 100 responses," he wrote. "To each of us our own, but not one of us wants to die." Prophetic words for Tom to have written.

You can see him smiling selflessly in several snapshots. He went to cover the refugee complex at Al-Rowaishid and moved inexorably towards Gaza where he was confronted by the massive tragedy of the Palestinians. "I woke up at about eight in my bed in Jerusalem and lay in until 9.30," he wrote. "We left at 10.00... Since then, I have been shot at, gassed, chased by soldiers, had sound grenades thrown within metres of me, been hit by falling debris..."

Hurndall was trying to save Palestinian homes and infrastructure but frequently came under Israeli fire and seemed to have lost his fear of death. "While approaching the area, they (the Israelis) continually fired one- to two-second bursts from what I could see was a Bradley fighting vehicle... It was strange that as we approached and the guns were firing, it sent shivers down my spine, but nothing more than that. We walked down the middle of the street, wearing bright orange, and one of us shouted through a loudspeaker, 'We are International volunteers. Don't shoot!' That was followed by another volley of fire, though I can't be sure where from..."

Tom Hurndall had stayed in Rafah. He was only 21 where – in his mother's words – he lost his life through a single, selfless, human act. "Tom was shot in the head as he carried a single Palestinian child out of the range of an Israeli army sniper." Mrs Hurndall asked me to write a preface to Tom's book and this article is his preface, for a brave man who stood alone and showed more courage than most if us dreamed of. Forget tree huggers. Hurndall was one good man and true. link

The Church of the Santa Muerte Fights Back

link to image

Milenio.com published an article in Spanish (see article at the end of this post) today, that states the church of the Santa Muerte has announced a "holy war" - They have sent letters to Amnesty International, Mexican President Calderon and other organizations protesting the destruction of a number of Santa Muerte shrines.  While they used the term "holy war," they state they are now only planning demonstrations in the plazas of different Mexican cities.

They are actually an organized church, named, "Iglesia tradicionalista México-USA."  The group is reacting to many of its shrines in the border state of Tamaulipas  (see article below) having been destroyed last week.  This is a movement they say ordered by the government as part of its fight against organized crime.  Santa Muerte is known to be the patron saint of narcotraficantes.  As the name of the church implies, it is a movement that has spread throughout Mexico and the United States.  This is evident in the U.S. with Santa Muerte decals seen on the back windows of some pick up trucks.

9:40am -- Who Is 'Santa Muerte'?
By Bruce Daniels - ABQnewsSeeker
Friday, 27 March 2009 09:40

Mexican authorities are tearing down shrines to this drug traffickers' beloved saint.
Santa Muerte (or Saint Death), also known as La Santísima Muerte (or Holy Death) is one of those strange religious figures born in the hothouse of Mexican religious practices (not always terribly orthodox) and is venerated by people of many different backgrounds both in Mexico and in parts of the United States.

People pray to Santa Muerte for recovery of health, stolen items and kidnapped family members, or for love, luck and protection, according to Wikipedia.

But Santa Muerte also is patronized by drug traffickers, kidnappers and other criminals or people who live in violence-plagued neighborhoods throughout Mexico, and many of the shrines that dot northern Mexican have been funded by the narcotraficantes.

That's why officials in Nuevo Laredo this week destroyed more than 35 statues dedicated to Santa Muerte that lined the roads and highways in and around the Mexican city across the border from Texas, according to The Associated Press. One of the statues was located at the base of the international bridge linking Mexico with Laredo, Texas, the AP reported.

Soldiers stood guard Wednesday as city workers continued demolishing the statues -- most depicting a robe-covered skeleton resembling the Grim Reaper -- in an operation that began before dawn on Tuesday, the AP said.

A local official who declined to be identified for fear of retaliation from drug gangs told the AP that remnants of the statues would be kept at local police stations for their owners to reclaim.

And the owner of one statue, who also asked that his name not be used, said he spent $2,000 building his shrine, the AP reported.

Two similar statues -- one of Santa Muerte and another dedicated to that other outlaw patron saint Jesus Malverde -- were torn down Sunday in Tijuana, according to the Mexican newspaper El Diario.

According to a 2004 article in El Universal Online, Santa Muerte is called "the saint of last resorts," and is considered the flip side of La Virgen de Guadalupe, nearly rivaling La Virgen in popularity, because, as a Mexican poet and novelist told El Universal, "That which one can't ask of the Virgen, one can ask of her." link

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Santa Muerte iniciará la guerra el domingo

Milenio.com - by Eugenia Jimenez

Realizarán movilizaciones al Zócalo y la basílica de Guadalupe. Además enviarán una carta a la Presidencia y a Derechos Humanos para que se “frene la destrucción y satanización” de ese culto.

Lun, 30/03/2009 - 05:02
El obispo de la Iglesia México-USA, David Romo, argumentó que la Virgen de Guadalupe también es venerada por delincuentes.

México.- Con el eslogan “Despierta México”, la Iglesia de la Santa Muerte convocó ayer a sus fieles a iniciar una guerra santa, la cual consistirá en realizar movilizaciones en plazas públicas y en el Zócalo capitalino el próximo Domingo de Ramos.

El obispo de la Iglesia tradicionalista México-USA, David Romo Guillén, afirmó: “Este año será el Domingo de Ramos de la Santa Muerte. No valen los argumentos de que somos otro grupo o tenemos intereses diferentes, esta lucha es por nuestra fe en la Santísima. Llegó la hora de que los devotos se den cuenta quién realmente cree de corazón y quién está por negocio”.

Destacó que en la historia de México se han registrado episodios de represión contra su devoción.

Por ello, recordó que el pasado 24 de marzo se derribaron 30 altares a La Pelona ubicados en Tamaulipas sin ningún sustento legal, pues se valieron de mentiras y calumnias para derruirlas.

“No podemos ser insensibles ante esta arbitrariedad. Convocamos a los fieles para que iniciemos una guerra santa por nuestra fe. El término suena fuerte, pero ya iniciamos algunas acciones: interpusimos una denuncia ante la CIDH y Amnistía Internacional.”

Además, “hoy entregaremos una carta a la Presidencia de la República, la Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos, la Comisión Nacional para Prevenir la Discriminación, el Senado y la Cámara d Diputados para pedirles su intervención y así frenar está acción discriminatoria”.

“Es injusto —declaró Romo— que con el argumento de la lucha contra el crimen organizado ataquen la devoción de más de 5 millones de mexicanos.”

La mayoría de los delincuentes no son devotos de la Santísima, por el contrario, son seguidores de la Iglesia romana y de San Judas Tadeo, su patrono, aseguró.

El dirigente de la Iglesia Tradicional Mex-USA afirmó que si al destruir o atacar una fe se avanza en la lucha contra el crimen organizado, pues se tendrían que derribar los altares dedicados a San Judas y la Virgen de Guadalupe.

Agotaremos, dijo, las instancias legales para que se detenga “la persecución, destrucción y satanización de nuestra devoción”.

Romo Guillén anunció que habrá más movilizaciones y que por lo pronto tienen programadas dos más para el Viernes Santo y el Domingo de Resurreción, las cuales serán hacia el Zócalo capitalino y la basílica de Guadalupe.

Destrucción

El pasado 24 de marzo, elementos del Ejército mexicano y policías de Tamaulipas destruyeron 30 altares de la Santa Muerte en la entidad.

La semana pasada, el obispo de la Iglesia de la Santa Muerte, David Romo, anunció que iniciarían una “guerre santa” y destruirían altares a San Judas Tadeo.

El sacerdote Manuel Corral, responsable de Relaciones Institucionales del Episcopado, indicó que no se puede hacer un llamado a la violencia a los fieles si se incumplió una ley.

La Secretaría de Gobernación se desmarcó de este asunto, pues no tiene injerencia sobre la Iglesia Católica tradicionalista México-USA, la cual perdió su regristro como asociación religiosa en mayo de 2005. link

link to image

Re-Directing the Anger: Going after Employers not Employees

link to cartoon

In a significant shift from the previous administration, DHS has delayed scheduling immigration raids saying that they are looking at prosecuting employers instead of workers.

This may also be a sign that American anger is shifting. We have been angry for a good while, but we were taking out on immigrants who many thought were stealing from our homeland - As I mentioned in previous posts, I always thought the anger was really at our government and corporations who were making life hard for regular people to survive and at our culture that continuously pressures us to acquire more money and material things (even though it was acquired through debt).

Now the anger is beginning to shift towards those who are really hurting the country - those who hold most of our wealth - Another thing has happened, the presidential administration who helped bring us to the brink is no longer in office. It is much easier to be angry at former presidents.

Even so, some believe that we are not showing enough anger at those who brought us down. In the NYT op-ed piece "Feeling Too Down to Rise Up," the author is asking why we are not having massive protests. He believes that we are too isolated from each other, that we vent out anger in blogs but not really in a collective manner.

The anger is there, in the UK at the 35,000 person protest at the G20 meetings this week. Yes, I know that is England, not the U.S. But there is hope for us yet. Stopping immigration raids is a beginning. Re-directing our anger at those responsible for our troubles is a good move. Now we have to find something productive to do with the anger. Throwing eggs at the houses of AIG employees won't get us anywhere. Actively protesting might, but writing can do even more. Write in your blogs, comment on blogs, newspaper articles, facebook; anything that is distributed on the net. Let people know what you are thinking - show the world that the blue eyed bankers don't run the show. Tell Obama and Napolitano that they are doing the right thing by stopping immigration raids.

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Delay in Immigration Raids May Signal Policy Change
Immigrations and Customs Enforcement may be shifting focus from detaining illegal workers to prosecuting executives at the companies that employ them. A senior government official says raids are being delayed.

By Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 29, 2009; Page A02

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has delayed a series of proposed immigration raids and other enforcement actions at U.S. workplaces in recent weeks, asking agents in her department to apply more scrutiny to the selection and investigation of targets as well as the timing of raids, federal officials said.

A senior department official said the delays signal a pending change in whom agents at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement choose to prosecute -- increasing the focus on businesses and executives instead of ordinary workers.

"ICE is now scrutinizing these cases more thoroughly to ensure that [targets] are being taken down when they should be taken down, and that the employer is being targeted and the surveillance and the investigation is being done how it should be done," said the official, discussing Napolitano's views about sensitive law enforcement matters on the condition of anonymity. link to complete article

"'Blue eyed bankers to blame for crash,' Lula tells Brown," London Guardian, March 26, 2009

"Feeling too down to rise up," New York Times, March 29, 2009

"The 'revolution' starts here as 35,000 pack G20 march," London Guardian, March 29, 2009

link to photo

Explaining civilian deaths in Gaza - and Iraq

The reports of IDF soldiers' behavior during the Gaza assault make them sound like monsters.  Yet, as an Israeli friend told me, what about all the Iraqis killed by the U.S. invasion?  Neither is right.

If I recall correctly, President Bush made the Iraq war (and Afghanistan) sound like a "holy war" - making it OK to kill whoever was in the way.  How do we let things like these happen?
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Israeli military in PR offensive to explain civilian deaths in Gaza
Senior officers have met reporters to insist offensive was 'moral and ethical'

By Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem

London Independent
Monday, 30 March 2009
The Israeli military has moved to deflect a mounting barrage of criticism over the deaths of hundreds of civilians during its 22-day offensive in Gaza.

The public relations drive by the Israeli Defence Force has been given impetus by allegations made by some soldiers that permissive rules of engagement failed to protect civilians.

The allegations – currently being investigated by military police – have generated widespread publicity and led senior officers to meet reporters. At these meetings, they have sought to reinforce the military's assertion that, in the words of the Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazy, "the IDF acted morally and ethically. If there were incidents like these, they were isolated." The move also follows a series of reports from groups including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch documenting civilian deaths which they say violated international law.

The latest was last week's detailed Human Rights Watch report which said the IDF's "deliberate" and "reckless" use of white phosphorus was "evidence of war crimes".

Israeli military intelligence last week released new figures indicating 1,166 Palestinians had been killed in the conflict. Of these, it said 295 were "uninvolved citizens" while 162 were "without an identified affiliation".

Both the military and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, have lists of names which PCHR – but so far not the IDF – has published. PCHR says 1,417 Palestinians were killed, and of these 926 were civilians, and 236 combatants.

Part of the discrepancy – though only part – is a matter of definition. PCHR includes as civilians both civil policemen – many of whom were new graduates killed in the bombing of a passing out parade on the offensive's first day on 27 December – and unarmed political activists. It argues, like Human Rights Watch, that this is supported by international law. The IDF however defines them all as among 709 Hamas "terror operatives". link to complete article

see "IDF lets Rabbis Blur Boundaries between religion and state," Haaretz Israel, March 29, 2009

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DREAMers speak on Progressives opposing DREAM

Dreamactivist lays down a very good post on why some progessives continue to oppose the DREAM act because of the military provision.

In the past, Dream Act Texas has discussed this issue, but today we let dreamactivist further explain this.
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Why do some 'Progressives' Oppose the DREAM Act? And Why They are Wrong

by DREAM Activist

Published March 28, 2009 @ 01:54PM PST

Several important allies have raised some crucial points that hinder progressive support for the DREAM Act—points that several activist students have had to encounter in the form of artless dissent from leftist intellectuals and liberals.

We are talking about dissenters like the Association of La Raza Educators, Immigrant Solidarity Network, American Friends and Service Committee, a few Latino immigrant rights activists, and even the National Lawyers Guild that refuses to take a stance on the DREAM Act. Why? They dislike the military provision in the DREAM Act that could make certain ethnic minority students such as Latino kids in the barrios more susceptible to recruitment by military officials. This is not a moot point—it is a cause for concern but it requires several hundred grams of historicizing and perspective.

More

The DREAM Act, 287G and Benita Veliz

You are a DREAMer, you haven't been able to get a drivers license.  You are at a stop sign and a police officer sees you and thinks you didn't make a complete stop.  Your life is ruined after that.

Some officers think they have better things to do than look for people who roll through stop signs.  After all, there is real crime out there - people getting mugged, houses getting burglarized, and the occasional car-jacking.  But of course, this particular officer thinks his time is better spent stopping pretty girls at stop signs.

If 287G is implemented it would give even more power to officers like the one who stopped Benita Veliz in San Antonio.  A possible roll through at a stop sign could make a DREAMer's life come to a desperate halt.

As the New York Times explains:

"Her fateful encounter with the law happened on Jan. 21. A police officer pulled her over, saying she had rolled through a stop sign. She says that is not true, but she acknowledges driving without a license. She had a Mexican consular identity card, and after a series of questions, the officer called immigration authorities. She was jailed overnight and released on bond."

The life of Benita Veliz is even more reason to pass the DREAM Act.  By the way, she has no criminal record, in fact she was high school valedictorian, graduated with a Bachelor's Degree from St. Mary's University where she attended on full scholarship.  Write or email your Senator or Congressman NOW.

see Change.org "Top Immigration Priority, Deport College Graduates," February 24, 2009

see dreamacttexas post  "The Houston Chronicle and 287G,"  March 17, 2009

G20 Protests in London - From All Sides

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G20 protest: Thousands set off on 'rainbow alliance' march

• Thousands of police monitor G20 protest
• TUC leader warns off troublemakers

* Alok Jha
* guardian.co.uk, Saturday 28 March 2009 12.12 GMT

Demonstrators attend the Put People First march through central London, beginning several days of protest surrounding the G20 summit. 

Thousands of protesters from around the country are gathering today in London, despite the wind and rain, to march for "jobs, justice and climate" ahead of the G20 summit next week. The events mark the start of a week of demonstrations ahead of the meeting of world leaders in London on Wednesday.

Today's march, which started on Victoria Embankment with protesters waving a range of flags and placards, has been organised by a "rainbow alliance" of more than 150 unions, environment, charity, faith and development groups called Put People First (PPF).

One of the organisers, the TUC general secretary, Brendan Barber, said there had never before been such a wide coalition brought together with a direct message for world leaders. "The old ideas of unregulated free markets do not work, and have brought the world's economy to near-collapse, failed to fight poverty and have done far too little to move to a low-carbon economy," he said. "Of course, the G20 will not solve everything in a day's work, but leaders must sign up to boost the world economy and govern it better, and show us that they are trying to build a better world." - link to entire article

click here for link to BBC video of protest

"G20 Demonstrators March in London," BBC News, March 28, 2009

Read this book while you are still young...

Denied, Detained, and Deported:  The Dark Side of American Immigration

by Ann Bausum (for readers ages 11+)

Kids need to be reading this book, so that when they grow up they won't become Minute Men. This week, DREAMers in Washington DC, there to lobby for the DREAM Act, met a number of anti-immigrant college students. In a heated discussion, those against the DREAM Act could not be convinced it was a good thing for the country. What creates this type of person? Why are they so set on thinking that DREAMers will only take away something from them? Why would they expend so much energy fighting for something that will bring good things to people?

here is a brief review (from Kirkus Reviews) of Ann Baunum's book:

...Contending that "[a]rguments for and against immigration tend to repeat in cycles," the focus is on the implicit warning contained in five stories: the 1882 exclusion of Chinese immigrants, the 1919 deportation of anarchists Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman, the tragic 1939 refusal of entry for Jewish passengers of the St. Louis, the World War II detention of Japanese-American citizens and exploitation of Mexican migrant workers that began during the same era...

Have we stopped reading?

link to image

In my World Cultures and Literature Class at the University of Houston, I find the biggest challenge to get my students to read their assignments. They are fine if it is their turn to present on a reading. Otherwise, its like pulling teeth - or giving them dumbed down multiple choice tests to force them to read the assignment.

The economy may be killing the newspapers, but our culture has also pushed the dagger deeper. We are all about youtube videos, TV shows, movies, World of Warcraft - anything that stimulates the brain at a high rate of speed. But reading is just too slow for most of us.

Once in a while a few students will get particularly interested in a topic. These days it is a book we are (supposedly) reading titled Good Muslim, Bad Muslim. The few that are reading it are fascinated. They are looking for more information; they discuss it among themselves. What makes the difference between these young people and the ones who don't care? I wish I knew.

And now... our newspapers are dying. The only major Houston newspaper has now joined the injured. "Chronicle laying off 12% of its employees," March 25, 2009. How much is the economy and how much is it that we just don't read anymore?

link to image

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The Death of American Newspapers
Democracy Now
March 27, 2009

AMY GOODMAN: We turn now to a major crisis, the crisis of newspapers in this country. Juan?

JUAN GONZALEZ: Well, the New York Times and Washington Post have become the latest newspapers to announce plans to downsize their staffs. On Thursday, the New York Times Company said it will lay off 100 people, about five percent of its staff. In addition, the Times is temporarily cutting the pay of its non-union workers by five percent in return for ten days leave. The layoffs and salary cuts will affect employees at both the New York Times and Boston Globe.

Meanwhile, the Washington Post has announced it is offering employees another round of early retirement packages, or “buyouts.” Washington Post publisher Katharine Weymouth said the buyouts will, quote, “allow us to reduce costs and gain efficiency while we continue to restructure for the future.”

AMY GOODMAN: As papers across the country continue to fold or downsize, policy officials and experts are contemplating a series of proposals to help newspapers stay afloat.

On Capitol Hill, Democratic Senator Benjamin Cardin of Maryland has introduced the Newspaper Revitalization Act. He wants to make it easier for newspapers to become nonprofit publications.

Meanwhile, two longtime media activists from the group Free Press have proposed a bold solution: a government intervention to save American journalism. In an article in The Nation magazine, Robert McChesney and John Nichols propose a multi-part journalism economic stimulus package. They call for all Americans to receive an annual tax credit for the first $200 they spend on daily newspapers, free postage for many periodicals, government funding for high school and college journalism projects, and a large expansion of funding for public and community broadcasting.

To talk more about this, we’re joined by Bob McChesney from Madison, Wiscsonsin, co-founder of the media advocacy group Free Press and a professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

We welcome you to Democracy Now!, Bob. Lay out the plan.

ROBERT McCHESNEY: Well, the plan simply is this. The commercial system of journalism, which has dominated in the United States for the past 150 years, is collapsing. It’s disintegrating. And we’re really left as a society with a basic option: are we going to have journalism or not?

If we’re going to simply sit around and hope that the business community, Wall Street and Madison Avenue, are going to come up with a way to rescue it and give us the sort of journalism we need, we’re not going to get there. It’s pretty clear that’s not going to happen.

And that means we’re going to have to turn to enlightened policymaking, direct and indirect government subsidies, to give us the resources to do journalism. And you already did a great job, Amy, of outlining the key elements of what we see as an emergency stimulus plan. And by “emergency stimulus,” we mean something that will get us through the crisis so we can have time, buy time, to come up with a coherent plan that we can eventually have multiple newsrooms of well-paid quality journalists covering their communities across the country that will segue into the digital era. link to interview

Mexican President Calderon Speaks to the Financial Times

Mexico calls on Obama to boost aid for drugs war

By Adam Thomson in Mexico City

Published: March 27 2009 02:00 | Last updated: March 27 2009 02:00

Felipe Calderón has called on the new US administration to contribute potentially tens of billons of dollars in additional funds to help Mexico fight its war on drugs.

In an interview with the Financial Times, the Mexican president said that neither the financial aid offered so far by Washington, nor US efforts to curb illegal activity along its 2,000-mile border had proved sufficient.

"The help should be equivalent to the flow of money that American consumers give to the criminals," he said in reference to US citizens' consumption of narcotics supplied by Mexico's drug cartels. When asked to estimate that sum, Mr Calderón replied: "Between $10bn and $35bn (€30bn, £24bn) - the truth is that nobody knows."

Mexico's centre-right premier has long insisted on the need for more commitment from Washington but this is the first time he has been so outspoken on the issue since he declared an all-out war on the narcotics industry just over two years ago. Since then, combating the cartels has become the overriding focus of his administration.

Mr Calderón's suggested figure dwarfs the scale of funding that Washington has promised Mexico to date. Congress last month approved a $300m package as part of the Merida Initiative, a three-year programme to help Mexico fight the cartels - $150m less than the US administration had asked for and $100m less than last year's budget.

Mr Calderón, who made no effort to hide his disapproval of the scaling back, said: "Obviously the money is not enough, particularly if the amount is reduced like that."

In addition to extra funds, Mr Calderón said that the US had to do more to reduce domestic drug consumption, as well as crack down on the illegal flow of arms from the US into Mexico. Officials on both sides of the border estimate that 90 per cent of the arms used by Mexican cartels come from the US.

"If we want to address this problem seriously, there has to be a far greater commitment [by the US administration]," said Mr Calderón.

The force of that message is unlikely to be lost on Washington, which has expressed growing concern about Mexico's bloody war and is sending a slew of top-ranking officials south of the border in the coming weeks to discuss security issues.

Hillary Clinton, US secretary of state, yesterday concluded a two-day visit to Mexico and Barack Obama, US president, has confirmed that he will stop off in Mexico in mid-April on his way to the summit of the Americas in Trinidad.

Washington's concern is barely surprising: more than 6,000 people were murdered in drug-related violence in Mexico last year - roughly three times the figure for 2007. About 200 of those victims were decapitated, and some were found diced and left in vats of acid.

Much of the violence has occurred along the country's northern border, which is shared by California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. Mr Calderón was this month forced to send 7,000 soldiers and federal police to take over Ciudad Juárez, the city that neighbours El Paso, Texas and is home to many US manufacturing companies.

The decision came after local authorities admitted that a turf war between two competing cartels for Juárez's smuggling routes into the US as well as control of the local market was spiralling out of control.

Most of all, Mr Calderón's message is likely to catch the attention of the US secretary of state. Mrs Clinton has admitted that the US shared the blame for the growing violence in Mexico. "Our insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade," she conceded on her flight to Mexico. "Our inability to prevent weapons from being illegally smuggled across the border to arm these criminals causes the deaths of police officers, soldiers and civilians."

Mr Calderón, who met Ms Clinton on Wednesday, welcomed what he described as "a change, not only in the discourse, but also in the attitude of the American government", towards Mexico's war on drugs.

During her trip to Mexico, Mrs Clinton emphasised that Congress has now authorised a total of $700m for the Merida Initiative and that the US wants to speed up its delivery of military hardware to Mexico.

Speaking at an event with Mexico's foreign minister, she added that the Obama administration would try to work with Congress to provide $80m for Blackhawk helicopters for Mexico.

Mrs Clinton yesterday also signalled her support for a new US assault weapons ban. "I think these assault weapons, these military-style weapons, don't belong on anyone's street," she told NBC, while acknowledging that reinstating the 1990s ban was politically a "very heavy lift".

Additional reporting by Daniel Dombey in Washington

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009

link to article

Film: Los Que Se Quedan - Those Who Remain

"Those Who Remain" (Los Que Se Quedan) played at the Guadalajara International Film Festival.  Lets hope it also shows in the United States.  We need to see it. 

See blog post from LA Times "La Plaza."

DREAM Act Details

From the politicalscoop.blogspot.com:

DREAM Act Bills - 

The Senate Bill is S. 729.

The House Bill is H.R. 1751.

As of this post, the Senate bill has 7 co-sponsors, and the House bill has 9.

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Immigration Impact Blog - Immigration Policy Center

For Immediate Release

DREAM Act Introduction Shows Political Muscle for Immigration Reform
Legalizing Young Immigrants Would Boost the U.S. Economy

March 27, 2009

Washington, DC - Yesterday, Senators Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Richard Lugar (R-IN) introduced the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act; while Representatives Howard Berman (D-CA), Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA), and Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-FL) introduced a House version of the bill called the "American Dream Act." Both pieces of bipartisan legislation would permit a limited number of undocumented students to become permanent residents if they came here as children, are long-term U.S. residents, have good moral character, and attend college or enlist in the military for at least two years. The following is a statement by Angela Kelley, Director of the Immigration Policy Center (IPC) in Washington, DC.

"With yesterday's bipartisan introduction of the DREAM Act, the House and Senate delivered yet another signal that the political tide for immigration reform is getting stronger. The bill seeks to remedy the predicament of a specific group of undocumented children who are blocked from realizing their full potential. By providing a path to U.S. citizenship, the DREAM Act would allow these children to pursue a higher education and contribute fully to our economy.

As the IPC noted in a 2007 study, Wasted Talent and Broken Dreams, legal status brings fiscal, economic, and labor-market benefits to individual immigrants, their families, and U.S. society in general by permitting qualified children to pursue post-secondary education. The combination of legal status and a college education would allow DREAM Act students to earn significantly higher incomes than those with only a high-school diploma, contribute more in taxes, and have more money to spend and invest. Currently, this wasted talent imposes economic and emotional costs on undocumented students and on U.S. society as a whole.

The DREAM Act is a smart step that maximizes the talent and potential of children who were brought here by their parents, were educated in our schools, and are ready to contribute to America's future. Still, the bill is only part of the answer. Congress must tackle the tough problem and resolve the status of the 12 million undocumented immigrants living in this country. Only a comprehensive approach will help get our economy back on its feet, restore the rule of law, and uphold our values as a land of fairness and opportunity."

More Information from the Immigration Policy Center:
Wasted Talent and Broken Dreams: The Lost Potential of Undocumented Students (Report)
"Congress Flexes Muscle for Broader Immigration Reform with DREAM Act" (Blog Post)

###
For press inquiries contact:
Wendy Sefsaf, 202-631-0358(cell) or email wsefsaf@ailf.org
Andrea Nill, 202-507-7520 (office), or email anill@ailf.org

Latest from Citizen Orange on the DREAM Act

FIVE Actions You Can Take for the DREAM Act:

If everyone could take the following actions, and get others to see them as well by digging, stumbling, redditing, mixxing:



Give it a thumbs up on StumbleUpon (http://www.stumbleupon) too!

1. CALL - The National Council of La Raza has a page to help you call your congressional representatives in support of the DREAM Act.
http://capwiz.com/nclr/callalert/index.tt?alertid=12988601

2. FAX - America's Voice has a page to help you fax your congressional representatives in support of the DREAM Act.
http://americasvoiceonline.org/page/speakout/DaretoDream

3. EMAIL - Change.org has a page to help you email your congressional representatives in support of the DREAM Act.
http://www.change.org/ideas/932/view_action/ask_your_congressperson_to_support_the_dream_act

4. PETITION - Dreamactivist.org has the official petition in support of the DREAM Act.
http://dreamact2009.com/

5. TEXT - Text "Justice" ("Justicia" for Spanish) to 69866 to be the first to know when the DREAM Act is introduced. FIRM's Mobile Action Network is an excellent way to stay connected and have maximum impact at just the right moment.
http://fairimmigration.wordpress.com/2009/03/20/action-join-the-fight-for-immigrant-rights/
link to Citizen Orange post

Keeping Healthy: Looking for Salicylates

London Independent:

"Fruit and vegetables are known to have high levels of salicylates, which are also the active anti-inflammatory ingredient of aspirin. Vegetarians meanwhile are known to have low rates of cancer, as well as having higher levels of salicylates in their bodies."

--

Anti-cancer benefits of fruit and veg are underlined
London Independent

By Chris Green

Friday, 27 March 2009

The salicylates in fruit and vegetables may in fact play a bigger role in protecting against cancer than the antioxidants on which research has focused until now

A diet high in fruit and vegetables, especially organically grown ones, may protect against cancer and heart disease and could be equivalent in this respect to taking a low dose of aspirin every day, scientists say.

Fruit and vegetables are known to have high levels of salicylates, which are also the active anti-inflammatory ingredient of aspirin. Vegetarians meanwhile are known to have low rates of cancer, as well as having higher levels of salicylates in their bodies.

The conventionally grown fruit and vegetables treated with pesticides that are found on many supermarket shelves have lower levels of salicylates than those grown organically.

A review of the possible link between cancer prevention and this substance found in aspirin, published in the medical journal The Lancet, says many herbs and spices are also especially rich in salicylates. This could explain international differences in cancer rates, the study said.

The salicylates in fruit and vegetables may in fact play a bigger role in protecting against cancer than the antioxidants on which research has focused until now, the researchers say... complete article

DREAM Act: There is no Us and Them

Senator Dick Lugar's Press Release on Introduction of the DREAM Act

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OpenCongress Blog feed
DREAM Act Coming Up Again
March 24, 2009 - by Avelino Maestas

It looks like Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) is going to reintroduce the DREAM Act early next week. It’s a controversial piece of legislation that would grant temporary residency for graduating high-school students who are immigrants and have not obtained legal permanent residency. To be eligible, students: had to enter the country as children; have been living in America for five years; and agree to attend college or enter military service. Students who comply would be granted a six-year temporary residency, which would be dependent on completion of a two-year degree and or military service. If they obtain the degree or fulfill the military service requirement, without violating other regulations, they would earn permanent residency.

Proponents of the bill argue current immigration law does not adequately address the problem of children who are living in America illegally, and that coupling permanent residency with college or military service ensures applicants are contributing to society.

Last year, the DREAM Act fell eight votes short of cloture in the Senate (see Donny’s detailed post for more). As with several other pieces of legislation in the 111th Congress, however, this time around the bill has a supporter in the White House. President Barack Obama helped to pass similar legislation while in the Illinois state legislature, and has voiced support for the federal legislation on the campaign trail.

Critics contend the legislation would spend federal money on undocumented immigrants at the expense of American citizens, and that the bill would encourage illegal immigration. They also argue that citizens and residents would be forced to compete with undocumented immigrants for spots in college and university classes.

The education factor is a big one — while the legislation does not appropriate funds for students, it would enable eligible immigrants to obtain in-state tuition rates at schools in some states. According to the UCLA Center for Labor Research and Education, 65,000 undocumented immigrants in America graduate high school each year.

Of course, OpenCongress will have full text of the legislation as soon as it becomes available. link to complete post

Mainstream Media Didn't See the DREAM Act Re-Introduced

The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Washington Post must have not thought the DREAM Act was important. Or, it could be that they are hoping that if no one knows it was re-introduced there will be less of a fight to pass the bill.  (a Houston Chronicle blog did post the information)

"DREAM Act Re-Introduced," Miami Herald, March 26, 2009

The Orlando Sentinel has an article, but you have to really dig for it.  You can't find it in the normal Sentinel search engine.  I only found it through my university library, that had it listed under Hispanosphere blog.  I looked up the blog on the newspaper's site and found the article posted with yesterday's date.  Same problem with the Miami Herald.  It is not on the paper's search engine, but under one of its blogs.  

It is a shame that the article is so hard to find on the Sentinel, it is a nice write up... 

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"Plan to Legalize Young Immigrants Back for Debate,"  Orlando Sentinel, March 26, 2009

by Victor Manuel Ramos

They call it the DREAM Act, almost a poetic name for a piece of legislation that has been waiting its turn in U.S. Congress.

Its name is an acronym for The Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act – a bill that would essentially allow young people who grew up in the United States as unauthorized immigrants to earn permanent residency.

It is also the bill that won’t go away.

Versions of the DREAM Act have been considered, without much success, in 2003, 2005, 2006 and as part of a large immigration reform package in 2007.

It came back to life again today, as the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives put it forward again, giving hope to immigrant advocates who see it as a first good step toward immigration reform and alarming those who believe it is another amnesty bill for lawbreakers.

If the bill passes, applicants won’t exactly get something for nothing, but such a law would lead to the legalization of tens of thousands of immigrants who fit this description, as had been specified in previous versions:

* They arrived in the United States before age 16.
* They have been otherwise law-abiding citizens for at least five consecutive years since the date of arrival and have registered for the Selective Service in case the military needs them.
* They must be older than 12 years old but younger than 30 when the bill becomes law.
* They have either graduated from a U.S. high school or obtained a general equivalency diploma.
* They have “good moral character.”


Under the bill, those immigrants who satisfy these criteria would get conditional legalization and would have to either complete study at a community college, complete at least two years toward a bachelor’s degree or serve two years in the U.S. military to get their permanent residency.

This appears to be the same bill that is headed for consideration. What would make it work this time? There’s no saying for sure what will happen, but now Democrats have control of U.S. Congress with a president who has expressed support and voted in favor of this legislation in the last go-round. Immigrant advocates say they also have the results of the election to show that immigrant communities are becoming politically active and will hold politicians accountable.

It’s been recently reported, also, that many of the young immigrants who would benefit from this legislation have organized using Internet social networks to lobby for a chance at legal residency. And they have the case to make that they did not willingly enter the country illegally because their parents brought them along. Many of these immigrants have also grown assimilated into U.S. culture and would have trouble adjusting to life in their countries of origin.

“It’s a moral failing to continually turn our backs on youngsters who were brought here as children and have done nothing wrong,” said Marissa Graciosa, campaign coordinator for Fair Immigration Reform Movement, an advocacy group also known as FIRM. “This year, we expect Congress to rectify this moral wrong. But Congress can’t stop there. We must also act to bring millions of undocumented workers out of the shadows.”

And this latter thought is part of what opponents criticize -- that in their estimation this legalization package is only steps away from full-blown amnesty. Another point they make is that the legalization of the younger immigrants could also lead to the petitioning and legalization of more immigrants than commonly thought. You can also visit the Dream Act page of the National Immigration Law Center for more details on the proposal and its history.

We’ll see how this political battle plays out in the weeks to come. link to article

link to photo

Citizen Orange Blog: On the DREAM Act

Thank goodness Citizen Orange is following this closely. The media has pretended (at least today) that it didn't happen.

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U.S. Senate and U.S. House Announce The Reintroduction of the DREAM Act
By kyledeb on March 26, 2009 5:02 PM 
I just received press releases from both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House regarding the reintroduction of the DREAM Act. See my earlier post for actions you can take in favor of the DREAM Act, as well as links to background posts I've written on the DREAM Act. Below I will paste the text of the press releases.
From Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-NV) Office:

I applaud Sen. Durbin for standing up once more for an idea that economically benefits our nation and that is smart and fair.

I once met a young woman in Lyon County, Nevada, who was brought to the United States at a very young age and had been here since she could remember. She was the smartest girl in her class and wanted to go to college, but had no options because she had no legal immigration status. Her potential was probably not realized and our country lost the contribution this smart young woman could have made to our economy and her community.

For many of these young people, America is the only homeland they know. Giving them the opportunity to educate themselves, or to defend our country, is good for them and for our nation. This law would grant these children temporary status while they go to college or serve in the Armed Forces. If they graduate or serve honorably, and stay out of trouble, they would be eligible for a green card and eventually for citizenship.

This bill is one step in fixing our broken immigration system. We need comprehensive reform that is tough, fair and practical. We need to secure our northern and southern borders; we need to ensure that every work has legal authorization to work; and we need to require the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants in this country to come out of the shadows, register with the government and apply for legal status, pay taxes and fines, learn English, and stay out of trouble.

The DREAM Act is a very important first step. I thank Sen. Durbin for his work on this important piece of legislation, and I will continue to be a strong advocate for it in the Senate.
Harry Reid (26 March 2009)


From Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart's (R-FL) office:

Congressmen Howard Berman (D-CA) and Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-FL), announced the reintroduction today of the DREAM Act in the U.S. House of Representatives. This legislation will restore the States' rights to determine residency requirements for higher education benefits - giving states the option to provide in-state tuition. The American DREAM Act seeks to facilitate access to postsecondary educational opportunities for immigrant students in the United States who currently face barriers in pursuing a college education. It also provides a path to U.S. legal residency for students, and military personnel.

"Our students and brave soldiers should not be punished for a decision which was made by their parents, in which they often played no role. The Supreme Court has prohibited states from barring undocumented students from attending primary and secondary schools. Unfortunately, once these students graduate from high school, their educational aspirations are often halted," said Diaz-Balart.

Each year thousands of undocumented children, raised and educated in this country, are unable to pursue a higher education. Lack of access to federal financial assistance programs, and other immigration status created obstacles, essentially bar many of these aspiring youth from attending college. As these young people lose educational opportunity, our country loses their potential contributions as active and educated professionals.
Lincoln Diaz-Balart's Office (26 March 2009)

I will update this post as more information comes in.

UPDATE I: Now the press releases are really rolling in. The National Immigration Law Center has been doing some of the best work on the DREAM Act so I'll put up theirs. They also have the most comprehensive list of DREAM Act co-sponsors:

Today, the DREAM Act (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act) was introduced by Senators Richard Durbin (D-IL), Richard Lugar (R-IN), Russell Feingold (D-WI), Edward Kennedy (D-MA), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Joe Lieberman (I- CT), Mel Martinez (R-FL), and Harry Reid (D-NV) in the Senate and Representatives Howard Berman (D-CA), Joseph Cao (R-LA), John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI), Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-FL), Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Devin Nunez (R-CA), Jared Polis (D-CO), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) and Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA) in the House of Representatives. This bipartisan legislation addresses the situation faced by young people who were brought to the United States years ago as undocumented immigrant children, and who have since grown up here but are being denied the ability to fully contribute to society.

The DREAM Act would provide certain undocumented youth conditional legal status and eventual citizenship, if they attend college or join the military. It would also allow immigrant students access to higher education by returning to states the authority to determine who qualifies for in-state tuition. "This critical piece of legislation makes it possible for many deserving young people to realize their dream of a college education" said Marielena Hincapié, Executive Director of the National Immigration Law Center, "and thereby contribute to the future of this country."

For the first time since it was first introduced in 2001, the DREAM Act enjoys strong backing of House and Senate leadership, all of the relevant committee chairs and President Obama, who was an original sponsor of the legislation when he was in the Senate.

NILC commends the strong leadership shown by Senators Durbin and Lugar and Representatives Berman, Diaz-Balart and Roybal-Allard. "To be competitive in today's global economy, America depends on an educated and skilled population," said Adey Fisseha, Interim Federal Policy Director of NILC. "The DREAM Act realizes the benefit of having a more multicultural, multilingual U.S. workforce. We urge the House and Senate to pass the DREAM Act and President Obama to sign this important bill into law," added Fisseha.
National Immigration Law Center (26 March 2009)

I will continue to update as more information comes in.

UPDATE II: In addition to their press release the National Immigration Law Center has a helpful alert on what to do now that the DREAM Act has been introduced:

1. Between today and April 3rd -- Contact your Members of Congress (your Representative and BOTH Senators) and ask them to co-sponsor the DREAM Act. If they have already cosponsored it is really critical that we thank them for their support. To call contact your Representatives in the House and Senate please call the switchboard operator at 202-224-3121 or click here and type in your zip code. A short script is available here.

2. Members of Congress will be back in their states and districts from April 4-19, 2009. This is a perfect opportunity to meet with your Representatives and ask them to cosponsor the bill. If you already have a meeting planned, add cosponsoring DREAM to the agenda, if you have an event planned, invite the Representatives to attend.
National Immigration Law Center (26 March 2009)


I also want to reemphasize the five actions for the DREAM Act that I have suggested people should take:

1. CALL - The National Council of La Raza has a page to help you call your congressional representatives in support of the DREAM Act.
http://capwiz.com/nclr/callalert/index.tt?alertid=12988601

2. FAX - America's Voice has a page to help you fax your congressional representatives in support of the DREAM Act.
http://americasvoiceonline.org/page/speakout/DaretoDream

3. EMAIL - Change.org has a page to help you email your congressional representatives in support of the DREAM Act.
http://www.change.org/ideas/932/view_action/ask_your_congressperson_to_support_the_dream_act

4. PETITION - Dreamactivist.org has the official petition in support of the DREAM Act.
http://dreamact2009.com/

5. TEXT - Text "Justice" ("Justicia" for Spanish) to 69866 to be the first to know when the DREAM Act is introduced. FIRM's Mobile Action Network is an excellent way to stay connected and have maximum impact at just the right moment.
http://fairimmigration.wordpress.com/2009/03/20/action-join-the-fight-for-immigrant-rights/
Kyle de Beausset - Citizen Orange (26 March 2009)

link to post

Hillary in Monterrey - Narcos in Nuevo Leon

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon today. She says the problem is that the U.S. has such an insatiable desire for drugs. Of course this is true. dreamacttexas has discussed this repeatedly. But things are much more complicated. There is the issue of poverty (how else can people survive), helplessness (rural people have no other option), and high level battles that are being fought through the cartels.

The story of dealing with the drug cartels today is about policing and confrontation. Perhaps the reality of the situation is to heavy to present to the public.

While the rich of Monterrey are hiring more bodyguards and finding ways to re-enforce their cars, the rest of Mexico is suffering. The cost of food is rising and even small increments mean that many people will not eat. Desperation leads young people to the cartels.

Below is a speech (in Spanish) by the Governor of Nuevo Leon (Natividad Parras) welcoming Clinton to the city.



As the Governor speaks there is also a telling article (in Spanish) by Mileno writer Diego Osorno, who writes of Nuevo Leon and its relationship with the narcotraficantes. My advice to Mrs. Clinton and others in the Obama Administration is to find someone who can translate this article for them, before they decide to send troops to the border:

Para los diputados de Nuevo León
Miércoles, 25/03/2009 - 16:10 —Diego Osorno

HISTORIAS DE NADIE- Milenio Diario de Monterrey

Le pregunté a una amiga cuál era su opinión sobre los chavos banda que hace un mes, a cambio de dinero del crimen organizado, aceptaron bloquear las principales calles de Monterrey exigiendo la salida del Ejército. La respuesta que me compartió fue la de una madre de tres jóvenes de las mismas edades de los chicos que fueron reclutados por la mafia en esos días. Su análisis va más allá de los estudios poco inteligentes de esos legisladores que creen que criminalizando las protestas se solucionará el problema que representa la penetración del narco en los barrios pobres de la ciudad.

Comparto cinco fragmentos de la carta que recibí. Ojalá que los legisladores, entre tantas campañas y negocios que deben atender, tengan unos minutos para conocer testimonios como éstos y muchos otros, sobre la gravedad de lo que está sucediendo en el área metropolitana de Monterrey.

1.- Hace poco le escribí una carta al presidente Calderón diciéndole que a mí no me había servido de nada votar por mi diputado, ni por mi alcalde, ni por mi gobernador, ni por mi Presidente. A estos chicos, le dije al Presidente de México, les llega con más facilidad cualquier cosa subsidiada por el narco que cualquier programa municipal, estatal o federal.

2.- Cuando mis hijos entraron a la secundaria, hace como cinco o seis años, ahí aprendí que había padres que podían envolverse en una gran felicidad –para mi visión era una enorme irresponsabilidad– al casar a sus hijos e hijas de 12 años e invitar a sus compañeritos de secundaria a la boda. El director de la secundaria fue invitado de testigo y los papás estaban más que contentos... eso en San Nicolás de los Garza. Después aprendí que la internet, el sexo, la pornografía, las drogas, el graffiti, el pandillerismo, los problemas sociales, estaban en la esquina y en la banqueta de mi casa, y nada de lo que yo hiciera cambiaría las cosas y yo no podía agarrar mi casa e irme a vivir a ningún otro lado, porque además, en otras colonias de Monterrey que tú conoces muy bien, amigo, ya no sabes si tienes por vecino a un narco o narca. Entre la nulidad de opciones en mi haber, decidí por enfrentar la verdad en vez de evadirla. No envié a mis hijos a la iglesia, ni me adueñé de sus vidas, ni los encerré en casa. Simplemente les dije ‘esto se llama así, sirve para esto, cuesta tanto, y si lo haces de este modo, terminarás así’. Y ahí entra la conjugación de los valores de una pareja, de un matrimonio, de una familia. Ahí es donde le explicas a tus hijos ‘yo no hice esto, porque decidí tener un futuro honrado, porque mis papás me honraron con sus vidas decentes, porque tus abuelos bla, bla, bla’.

3.- Tú no sabes, Diego, o más bien, nosotros no sabemos si todo lo que decimos y hacemos como padres funcionará algún día y sacarán de apuros o de tentaciones a nuestros hijos, sólo hacemos lo que pensamos que es lo correcto hacer, y en este momento que vivimos socialmente en México, los padres nos sentimos completamente abandonados por las autoridades. Todas. De todos los niveles de gobierno. Y sin embargo, amigo, aunque todos los niños de esta cuadra donde me tocó vivir se casan a los 16 años, las niñas se embarazan entre los 14 y 16 y ya sufren violencia familiar, aunque les venden cocaína y mariguana a 20 pesos en las esquinas, aunque los sicarios les ofrecen 11 mil pesos semanales por pasarles información sobre los movimientos de los AFI’s, o de los municipales, o hasta de los gendarmes, estos niños, Diego, son buenos niños.

4.- En mi escuela tenía una alumna de 16 años que ya vivía con un pelado de 33 que fue y la sacó de la violencia que vivía en su casa y la puso a estudiar... bueno... ya es algo entre tanta desgracia que vivió mi alumna. Tenía también cinco alumnas embarazadas de 16 años, y buenas niñas, Diego. Buenas alumnas.

5.- Sabemos qué gobernantes le permitieron al narco su entrada en Nuevo León y en el país, y hoy quieren más puestos públicos… Lo que pasó en Monterrey, con los tapados, no es más que un reflejo de todo lo que te platiqué que he vivido y observado como madre.

see also (in Spanish) "Seguridad Nacional y Reforma Migratoria," La Jornada of Mexico City

DREAM Act Introduced Today in Congress

"The DREAM Act is Back," Houston Chronicle, March 26, 2009

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From National Immigration Law Center
For Immediate Release
March 26, 2009
MEDIA CONTACT:
Adey Fisseha 202-216-0261 ext.403

HOUSE AND SENATE INTRODUCE DREAM ACT: A MEASURE TO ADDRESS THE PLIGHT OF IMMIGRANT STUDENTS


Washington D.C. - Today, the DREAM Act (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act) was introduced by Senators Richard Durbin (D-IL), Richard Lugar (R-IN), Russell Feingold (D-WI), Edward Kennedy (D-MA), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Joe Lieberman (I- CT), Mel Martinez (R-FL), and Harry Reid (D-NV) in the Senate and Representatives Howard Berman (D-CA), Joseph Cao (R-LA), John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI), Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-FL), Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Devin Nunez (R-CA), Jared Polis (D-CO), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) and Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA) in the House of Representatives. This bipartisan legislation addresses the situation faced by young people who were brought to the United States years ago as undocumented immigrant children, and who have since grown up here but are being denied the ability to fully contribute to society.

The DREAM Act would provide certain undocumented youth conditional legal status and eventual citizenship, if they attend college or join the military. It would also allow immigrant students access to higher education by returning to states the authority to determine who qualifies for in-state tuition. "This critical piece of legislation makes it possible for many deserving young people to realize their dream of a college education" said Marielena Hincapié, Executive Director of the National Immigration Law Center, "and thereby contribute to the future of this country."

For the first time since it was first introduced in 2001, the DREAM Act enjoys strong backing of House and Senate leadership, all of the relevant committee chairs and President Obama, who was an original sponsor of the legislation when he was in the Senate.

NILC commends the strong leadership shown by Senators Durbin and Lugar and Representatives Berman, Diaz-Balart and Roybal-Allard. "To be competitive in today's global economy, America depends on an educated and skilled population," said Adey Fisseha, Interim Federal Policy Director of NILC. "The DREAM Act realizes the benefit of having a more multicultural, multilingual U.S. workforce. We urge the House and Senate to pass the DREAM Act and President Obama to sign this important bill into law," added Fisseha.

To contact immigrant students, educators or for more information please contact: Adey Fisseha, Interim Federal Policy Director (Fisseha@nilc.org) 202-216-0261 ext.403

New U.S. Policy of Blasting Away the Cartels

Military intervention is not the answer. This will only intensify the violence. The problems are much more complex than what we see.

Human Rights Watch Report on Gaza

Human Rights Watch has released its report on the recent Palestinian -Gaza conflict.

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Israel accused of indiscriminate phosphorus use in Gaza

Human Rights Watch report claims Israel committed war crimes in its use of air-burst white phosphorus artillery shells

* Rory McCarthy in Jerusalem
* guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 25 March 2009 16.00 GMT
Israel's military fired white phosphorus over crowded areas of Gaza repeatedly and indiscriminately in its three-week war, killing and injuring civilians and committing war crimes, Human Rights Watch said today.

In a 71-page report, the rights group said the repeated use of air-burst white phosphorus artillery shells in populated areas of Gaza was not incidental or accidental, but revealed "a pattern or policy of conduct".

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photo from Human Rights Watch

Rain of Fire

Human Rights Watch Report on Gaza
March 25, 2009

Summary

This report documents Israel's extensive use of white phosphorus munitions during its 22-day military operations in Gaza, from December 27, 2008 to January 18, 2009, named Operation Cast Lead. Based on in-depth investigations in Gaza, the report concludes that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) repeatedly exploded white phosphorus munitions in the air over populated areas, killing and injuring civilians, and damaging civilian structures, including a school, a market, a humanitarian aid warehouse and a hospital.

White phosphorus munitions did not kill the most civilians in Gaza – many more died from missiles, bombs, heavy artillery, tank shells, and small arms fire – but their use in densely populated neighborhoods, including downtown Gaza City, violated international humanitarian law (the laws of war), which requires taking all feasible precautions to avoid civilian harm and prohibits indiscriminate attacks.

The unlawful use of white phosphorus was neither incidental nor accidental. It was repeated over time and in different locations, with the IDF "air-bursting" the munition in populated areas up to the last days of its military operation. Even if intended as an obscurant rather than as a weapon, the IDF's repeated firing of air-burst white phosphorus shells from 155mm artillery into densely populated areas was indiscriminate and indicates the commission of war crimes.

The dangers posed by white phosphorus to civilians were well-known to Israeli commanders, who have used the munition for many years. According to a medical report prepared during the hostilities by the ministry of health, "[w]hite phosphorus can cause serious injury and death when it comes into contact with the skin, is inhaled or is swallowed." The report states that burns on less than 10 percent of the body can be fatal because of damage to the liver, kidneys and heart.

When it wanted an obscurant for its forces, the IDF had a readily available and non-lethal alternative to white phosphorus-smoke shells produced by an Israeli company. The IDF could have used those shells to the same effect and dramatically reduced the harm to civilians.

Using white phosphorus in densely populated areas as a weapon is even more problematic. Human Rights Watch found no evidence that Israeli forces fired ground-burst white phosphorous at hardened military targets, such as Palestinian fighters in bunkers, but it may have air-burst white phosphorous for its incendiary effect. Fired from artillery and air-burst to maximize the area of impact, white phosphorous munitions will not have the same lethal effect as high-explosive shells, but will be just as indiscriminate.

The IDF's deliberate or reckless use of white phosphorus munitions is evidenced in five ways. First, to Human Rights Watch's knowledge, the IDF never used its white phosphorus munitions in Gaza before, despite numerous incursions with personnel and armor. Second, the repeated use of air-burst white phosphorus in populated areas until the last days of the operation reveals a pattern or policy of conduct rather than incidental or accidental usage. Third, the IDF was well aware of the effects white phosphorus has and the dangers it can pose to civilians. Fourth, if the IDF used white phosphorus as an obscurant, it failed to use available alternatives, namely smoke munitions, which would have held similar tactical advantages without endangering the civilian population. Fifth, in one of the cases documented in this report – the January 15 strike on the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) headquarters in Gaza City – the IDF kept firing white phosphorus despite repeated warnings from UN personnel about the danger to civilians. Under international humanitarian law, these circumstances demand the independent investigation of the use of white phosphorus and, if warranted, the prosecution of all those responsible for war crimes.

The IDF at first denied using white phosphorus in Gaza, and then said it was using all weapons in compliance with international law. It now says it is conducting an investigation, reportedly run by a colonel, into the use of white phosphorus. Given the IDF's record on previous internal investigations, and the relatively low rank of the reported investigation leader, the inquiry's objectivity remains in doubt. link to entire report

Working together for the DREAM

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That's Wassup Blog

The Charlotte Observer

Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Fighting for citizenship and education

President Obama’s campaign created a new appetite and strategy for grassroots mobilization. I wanted to see how a local veteran organization and a new group channel enthusiasm here.

Today, we'll hear from Ruben Campillo, advocacy coordinator for the Latin American Coalition.

The Coalition continues to fight for comprehensive immigration reform and access to higher education for undocumented immigrants. The group is also building an alliance with African Americans.

On Saturday, the Latin American Coalition and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Community Relations Committee will host the African-American Latino Alliance. During the half-day workshop participants will learn about issues facing both communities and about shared histories. Participants will discuss the economic and political power of both communities as well as possible strategies and goals for an alliance.

"Many times we fail to acknowledge we're neighbors, we go to the same schools," Campillo said. "We should be together addressing some of these issues."

The summit will be 8:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. at Friendship Missionary Baptist Church on Saturday. Regarding immigration, the coalition will take its fight to Raleigh. On April 7, Campillo and 30 high school students will lobby state legislators to allow undocumented residents to attend community college.

"Community college was the next step for so many students who cannot afford to pay tuition at a four-year college," he said.

It's the second time Campillo and students have lobbied lawmakers. Earlier this month, Campillo took students to Washington to lobby the state delegation to pass comprehensive immigration reform and the Dream Act. The Dream Act provides immigrant students a path toward permanent residency... complete blog post

Humanity Counts, Not Citizenship - when it comes to respect, empathy and the law

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We need human rights, not citizens' rights

The government's green paper is muddled – if we are to avoid the disasters of history, human rights must never be contingent on responsibilities
o Chris Huhne
o guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 24 March 2009 10.00 GMT


The government is playing with Tory fire with its green paper on a bill of rights and responsibilities. The politics tell us all: this is a response to some judgments under the Human Rights Act that were criticised in the Tory tabloids, and which have shamefully led the Conservatives to suggest that they would repeal the act. The Human Rights Act merely incorporates the European convention on human rights into UK law, allowing British cases to be heard in UK courts. It is extraordinary that one of the founding nations behind the convention could become, if the Conservatives have their way, the sole signatory not to allow its own people access to its own courts to reach judgments on human rights.

As a political response to this populist nonsense from the Tories, the green paper muddles rights and responsibilities. Human rights (such as the right to a fair trial) are not and cannot be conditional, because by definition they are the minimum we should enjoy as human beings. So the idea that they might be made contingent on responsibilities mixes up the concept of human rights with citizens' rights. And this is the second element of danger: when the Tories talk about a British bill of rights, instead of human rights, do they mean more or fewer rights? I think we can reach our own conclusions from the recent words of shadow home secretary Chris Grayling, who said there should be "fewer rights, more wrongs".

Human rights matter. We should never forget why Eleanor Roosevelt and the many other doughty champions of the universal declaration of human rights in 1948 stressed human rather than citizens' rights. It was because of the history of the 1930s Germany, when the Nazis decided that Jews would no longer benefit from citizens' rights. They were beyond the pale. They were excluded from the normal protection afforded by the rule of law. Any group can suddenly be defined as undeserving of the rights of true citizens: black slaves in the United States, Jews and gays in Germany, Roma elsewhere. Only a firm commitment to human rights ensures that this can never happen again, and can never happen here.

On economic rights, the government is right to tread carefully. There is already a right to avoid destitution, but many other social and economic rights are matters of fierce political debate and inevitably involve issues of taxation and expenditure. These should be the centre of any vibrant democracy, and should not become the preserve of decisions by the judiciary. There may, of course, be a role for declaratory statements encapsulating any consensus in our society about those economic and social rights, but such a statement would ultimately be words not deeds. Asking judges to do politics would be a mistake... more

Taking the Safe Road on Immigration

The New York Times reports that Thomas Saenz, a lawyer with a well noted record on immigration advocacy was passed over for a job, for being too immigrant friendly.
There is so much fighting going on over the economy, it may be that the Obama Administration is wanting to save its energy...for the next big drama

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Editorial
Obama Flinches on Immigration
New York Times
Published: March 23, 2009

In a little-noticed act of political faintheartedness, the Obama administration has pulled back from nominating Thomas Saenz, a highly regarded civil-rights lawyer and counsel to the mayor of Los Angeles, to run the Justice Department’s civil rights division...more

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Obama's civil rights nomination upsets some Latinos
Thomas Perez's selection for a Justice Department post concerns some civil rights advocates, who believe Villaraigosa aide Thomas Saenz was passed over to avoid sparking an immigration battle.
By Paul West and Richard Simon

Los Angeles Times
March 19, 2009
Reporting from Washington -- Thomas Perez is Maryland's highest-ranking Latino, but his selection as the nation's leading civil rights enforcer has provoked sharp criticism from some Latino civil rights advocates.

The criticism isn't directed at Perez, the state's secretary of labor and a first-generation Dominican American, or his qualifications.

Instead, it revolves around a belief that the administration passed over another Latino attorney for the position as head of the Justice Department's civil rights division, possibly out of a desire to avoid a fight over immigration.

A statement by the National Council of La Raza, which calls itself the nation's largest Latino civil rights organization, expressed "profound disappointment" that Thomas Saenz, an advisor to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, wasn't chosen for job.

"This action may lead some to question whether the White House is ready to fulfill its promise on immigration reform," said Janet Murguia, the group's president. Through a spokeswoman, she refused a request for further comment.

Saenz was reported last month to be the leading contender for the position. A close associate, Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina, was quoted late last week as saying that he had been offered the appointment and accepted it...more

London Paper Investigates Alleged War Crimes in Gaza

Israel's claim of ethics continues to unravel.  Link to 3 short videos about alleged Israeli war crimes during the Gaza conflict.

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Guardian investigation uncovers evidence of alleged Israeli war crimes in Gaza

by Clancy Chassay and Julian Borger

London-Guardian, March 23, 2009

Palestinians claim children were used as human shields and hospitals targeted during 23-day conflict

The Guardian has compiled detailed evidence of alleged war crimes committed by Israel during the 23-day offensive against Gaza earlier this year, involving the use of Palestinian children as human shields, the targeting of medics and hospitals, and drone aircraft firing on civilians.

Three Guardian films based on a month-long investigation, add weight to calls this week for a full inquiry into the events surrounding Operation Cast Lead, which was aimed at Hamas but left about 1,400 Palestinians dead, including up to 300 children.

The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) refused to respond directly to the allegations made against its troops, but issued statements denying the charges, and insisted international law had been observed.

The Guardian's investigation follows soldiers' evidence published in the Israeli press about the killing of Palestinian civilians and complaints by colleagues involved in the military operation that the rules of engagement were too lax...complete article

An American DREAMer

link to image

As I wrote the previous post about the film "Welcome" - a movie about a young Kurdish boy trying to get to the U.K. so he can get an education, I mentioned the idea of an "American DREAMer."  

What is an American DREAMer?  He or she is a young person, born in a country other than the U.S., who lives here, attends college, but does not have official permission to be in this country.  Why would I call him/her American?  Because he/she has probably been here for a decade, speaks English like the rest of us, listens to American Rock Music (or Rap), goes to the cineplex to see movies like "The Dark Knight," and whose affiliation and loyalty are to this country, the only one they consciously remember.

American DREAMers are not here to hurt American citizens.  They are here to work and go to school.  American DREAMers are not known to commit crimes, they work extremely hard to gather money for their college tuition, often times having jobs that keep them from sleeping the normal amount of hours required to maintain good health.

American DREAMers are willing to work hard to reach their goals.  They have special motivation.  Most of the time the main goal of their professional careers is to help their parents, who are usually in the U.S. and are undocumented like their children.

For American DREAMers, completing college is like swimming across the English Channel.  It's an almost impossible task that risks their health and well-being.  But as they keep swimming, they don't lose hope.  They know they can make it to the other side. 

We could make it easier for them by supporting the DREAM Act and reasonable Comprehensive Immigration Reform.

Children Immigrating Alone to the UK - seeking an education

Many people say that the U.S. Civil Rights Movement got a huge kick start from the unfortunate murder of Emmett Till.  The French movie, "Welcome" is doing the same in Europe.  

For us in the United States the film could be very helpful.  While most immigrants here are from Spanish Speaking countries, the idea of a young man struggling to immigrate to the UK so he can get an education resonates with American DREAMers.

The movie "Welcome" may be the answer for those nativists who cringe every time they think of Mexican immigration.  The protagonist is a young boy who is not European, yet he is not Mexican either.  The film might have a chance at seducing anti-immigrationists into having empathy for a kid just trying to get an education.

Once the movie reaches the states it will be important to encourage everyone to see it.

see "France hails film drama of refugee's desperate swim across the Channel," London Observer, March 8, 2009

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Welcome to Calais

March 17, 2009

Champs-Elysees Blog

Reflections on life in France and French Culture

Talk of the town this week is the new film by Philippe Lioret called 'Welcome', which looks at the human drama unfolding at the northern port of Calais. That is where hundreds of migrants from Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and elsewhere gather with the purpose of secretly crossing the Channel to England in the back of lorries. They are generally thwarted in their endeavours, because security is tight, but enough evidently do make it over to keep hopes alive. In the meantime the migrants live rough in makeshift camps on the outskirts of Calais, subsisting on hand-outs from charity and looked on with a certain resentment by many locals.

Periodically French government ministers feel compelled to promise more substantial shelter -- but this immediately triggers howls of protest from the right-wing press in Britain. Across the Channel, there is a paranoid fixation that France is going to create a new 'Sangatte' -- this being the name of the holding centre for migrants that became a kind of operational HQ for the people-smugglers. Sangatte was closed in 2002 by the then interior minister -- one Nicolas Sarkozy -- but the same humanitarian arguments that led to its creation in the first place (i.e. the crying disgrace of hundreds of men living under tarpaulin) continue to apply today.

This is the backdrop to the film, which is about how a swimming instructor -- played by the very watchable Vincent Lindon -- befriends a young Kurd who wants to swim across to England to be with his girlfriend. Unlike so many French films, 'Welcome' is well-constructed and has enough dramatic tension to keep the viewer engaged. It also sheds much-needed light on the plight of so many stranded migrants, living in abject misery on one side of the Channel with the white cliffs of their eldorado visible just 20 miles away...more

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The Sunday Times (London)
March 22, 2009
Edition 1

Children risking lives to sneak into Britain;
People smuggling Young boys are among those waiting in squalor to cross the Channel, reports Matthew Campbell in Calais

SECTION: FEATURES; Pg. 26

HE has crossed deserts, seas and mountains in pursuit of his dream, but the English Channel is proving more of an obstacle.

Sawab, a 12-year-old Afghan boy, is reduced to living under a piece of plastic in Calais while awaiting a passage to Britain.

Sawab is one of a growing band of children who have joined the throng of supposed refugees hoping to hide in lorries travelling from Calais to Dover, increasing pressure on the French to offer humanitarian aid in spite of British complaints that this will merely attract more migrants.

"It's becoming commonplace to see children travelling without parents," said Vincent Lenoir, a 30-year-old biology teacher who helps to run a soup kitchen in the evenings. "They get younger and younger." The children live in "the Jungle", as locals call their small, rubbish-strewn wood near the northern French port. Sawab, who sleeps in a cardboard box, was foraging for firewood when I met him last week. He speaks no English so an older boy translated. complete article

A College President Speaks Out for the DREAM

The President of Hunter College is standing behind the DREAM Act.  How can we get others to do the same?

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A Path to Citizenship

Published: March 22, 2009

To the Editor:

Re “Family Stories as Secret Text for Immigrants” (news article, March 16):

The classroom stories that Hunter College students report about the extraordinary sacrifices their immigrant parents have made on their behalf offer a deep insight into the lengths people will go to bring their children better lives. The cumulative impact provides a powerful argument for passage of the Dream Act, which Congress is expected to reconsider later this year.

The Dream Act would offer a chance for citizenship to those who were brought to this country illegally as children on the condition that they complete high school and finish college or serve two years in the military. Passage would give thousands of undocumented men and women, who otherwise face very bleak futures, a chance to step out of the shadows and become taxpayers and citizens of the only country they have really ever known.

I am proud of the Hunter students who persuaded their parents to disclose often painful secrets about what they left behind and what they endured to get their start in America, and I am proud of Prof. Nancy Foner for organizing and conducting the honors seminar that makes this possible.

The stories deserve to become part of the debate over the Dream Act, for they are dramatic proof of how greatly immigrants enrich our nation and how much we need to rationalize their path to citizenship.

Jennifer J. Raab
President, Hunter College
New York, March 17, 2009

link to this letter

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New Gaza Incursion is Recommended by Israeli Official

The new government that just took office in Israel is known for its hard line. Now the Deputy Defense Minister is recommending another round of war against Gaza.

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Israeli minister calls for new Gaza invasion
Deputy defence minister Matan Vilnai demands capture of land being used to fire mortars into Israel

Rory McCarthy in Jerusalem
guardian.co.uk, Monday 23 March 2009 10.09 GMT

Israel's deputy defence minister has called for a new invasion of Gaza and the capture of land close to the border, despite growing domestic and international concern about the conduct of the previous war.

"We need to conquer the areas from which mortar shells are being fired," Matan Vilnai told an Israeli conference on the Gaza war last night. "The mortar shell is the main threat," he said. Most were launched from within 4 miles (6km) of the border. "We just need to be there," he said.

His comments reflected a wider Israeli frustration with the results of the devastating three-week war. Israeli forces destroyed thousands of homes and buildings and killed more than 1,400 Palestinians but failed to achieve their main goal: to halt the rockets and mortars which are still being fired into southern Israel.

Binyamin Netanyahu, who is expected to become the prime minister of a new, rightwing Israeli government within days, has decided that "toppling the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip" will be a strategic goal of his government. more

President Obama's Message to Iran

Diplomacy helps avoid war. President Obama is taking steps that many of us never imagined an American President would do.

Humor and Serious Issues

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Juan Cole
comedycentral.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Mark Sanford

for Juan Cole's blog: juancole.com

Pelosi's comments show a change is coming

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi

Pelosi's comments (below) tell us that something is brewing on immigration.  There hasn't been much open talk about immigration, yet, we don't know what is going on behind the scenes.

If Comprehensive Immigration Reforms comes up, the biggest challenge for the Obama Administration will be to find a way to corral the rabid anti-immigrationists - or at least convince Congress that these people are only screaming empty words.

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March 19, 2009
Pelosi stands by immigration raid remarks
Posted: 03:52 PM ET
From CNN's Sarah Parker

(CNN) – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that she was standing by her statement that enforcement of some existing immigration laws is "un-American."

"ICE raids that separate parents from their children in the middle of the night are un-American, and I stand by that," Pelosi said when questioned about her remarks made last week at an immigration rally in San Francisco.

"We have to enforce our laws, we have to control our borders…" the California congresswoman told reporters. "We have to protect our workers, we have to, I believe, have a path to legalization for people who are in our country who are not fully documented. But we don't have to kick in doors in the middle of the night and take fathers out of their homes and think that we are solving the issue when we really need comprehensive immigration reform."

On Saturday, at an immigration rally in San Francisco, Pelosi criticized the practice of work site and housing raids conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Pelosi praised the predominantly immigrant audience, calling them "very, very patriotic" for "taking responsibility for country's future" by attending the rally on a Saturday night

"Who in this country would not want to change a policy of kicking in doors in the middle of the night and sending a parent away from their families," Pelosi said Saturday. "It must be stopped. What value system is that? I think it's un-American. I think it's un-American." link to article

Haaretz Report on IDF in Gaza - III

Honestly it is hard to read this.  But it is extremely important to get the information out there.

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Last update - 08:49 20/03/2009
'Shooting and crying'
By Amos Harel

Haaretz - Israel
Tags: IDF, Israel News, Gaza

Less than a month after the end of Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip, dozens of graduates of the Yitzhak Rabin pre-military preparatory program convened at Oranim Academic College in Kiryat Tivon. Since 1998 the program has prepared participants for what is considered meaningful military service. Many assume command positions in combat and other elite units of the Israel Defense Forces. The program's founder, Danny Zamir, still heads it today and also serves as deputy battalion commander in a reserve unit.

The previous Friday, February 13, Zamir had invited combat soldiers and officers who graduated the program for a lengthy discussion of their experiences in Gaza. They spoke openly, but also with considerable frustration.

Following are extensive excerpts from the transcript of the meeting, as it appears in the program's bulletin, Briza, which was published on Wednesday. The names of the soldiers have been changed to preserve their anonymity. The editors have also left out some of the details concerning the identity of the units that operated in a problematic way in Gaza.

Danny Zamir: "I don't intend for us to evaluate the achievements and the diplomatic-political significance of Operation Cast Lead this evening, nor need we deal with the systemic military aspect [of it]. However, discussion is necessary because this was, all told, an exceptional war action in terms of the history of the IDF, which has set new limits for the army's ethical code and that of the State of Israel as a whole.

"This is an action that sowed massive destruction among civilians. It is not certain that it was possible do have done it differently, but ultimately we have emerged from this operation and are not facing real paralysis from the Qassams. It is very possible that we will repeat such an operation on a larger scale in the years to come, because the problem in the Gaza Strip is not simple and it is not at all certain that it has been solved. What we want this evening is to hear from the fighters."

Aviv: "I am squad commander of a company that is still in training, from the Givati Brigade. We went into a neighborhood in the southern part of Gaza City. Altogether, this is a special experience. In the course of the training, you wait for the day you will go into Gaza, and in the end it isn't really like they say it is. It's more like, you come, you take over a house, you kick the tenants out and you move in. We stayed in a house for something like a week.

"Toward the end of the operation there was a plan to go into a very densely populated area inside Gaza City itself. In the briefings they started to talk to us about orders for opening fire inside the city, because as you know they used a huge amount of firepower and killed a huge number of people along the way, so that we wouldn't get hurt and they wouldn't fire on us.

"At first the specified action was to go into a house. We were supposed to go in with an armored personnel carrier called an Achzarit [literally, Cruel] to burst through the lower door, to start shooting inside and then ... I call this murder ... in effect, we were supposed to go up floor by floor, and any person we identified - we were supposed to shoot. I initially asked myself: Where is the logic in this?

"From above they said it was permissible, because anyone who remained in the sector and inside Gaza City was in effect condemned, a terrorist, because they hadn't fled. I didn't really understand: On the one hand they don't really have anywhere to flee to, but on the other hand they're telling us they hadn't fled so it's their fault ... This also scared me a bit. I tried to exert some influence, insofar as is possible from within my subordinate position, to change this. In the end the specification involved going into a house, operating megaphones and telling [the tenants]: 'Come on, everyone get out, you have five minutes, leave the house, anyone who doesn't get out gets killed.'

"I went to our soldiers and said, 'The order has changed. We go into the house, they have five minutes to escape, we check each person who goes out individually to see that he has no weapons, and then we start going into the house floor by floor to clean it out ... This means going into the house, opening fire at everything that moves , throwing a grenade, all those things. And then there was a very annoying moment. One of my soldiers came to me and asked, 'Why?' I said, 'What isn't clear? We don't want to kill innocent civilians.' He goes, 'Yeah? Anyone who's in there is a terrorist, that's a known fact.' I said, 'Do you think the people there will really run away? No one will run away.' He says, 'That's clear,' and then his buddies join in: 'We need to murder any person who's in there. Yeah, any person who's in Gaza is a terrorist,' and all the other things that they stuff our heads with, in the media.

"And then I try to explain to the guy that not everyone who is in there is a terrorist, and that after he kills, say, three children and four mothers, we'll go upstairs and kill another 20 or so people. And in the end it turns out that [there are] eight floors times five apartments on a floor - something like a minimum of 40 or 50 families that you murder. I tried to explain why we had to let them leave, and only then go into the houses. It didn't really help. This is really frustrating, to see that they understand that inside Gaza you are allowed to do anything you want, to break down doors of houses for no reason other than it's cool.

"You do not get the impression from the officers that there is any logic to it, but they won't say anything. To write 'death to the Arabs' on the walls, to take family pictures and spit on them, just because you can. I think this is the main thing in understanding how much the IDF has fallen in the realm of ethics, really. It's what I'll remember the most."

"One of our officers, a company commander, saw someone coming on some road, a woman, an old woman. She was walking along pretty far away, but close enough so you could take out someone you saw there. If she were suspicious, not suspicious - I don't know. In the end, he sent people up to the roof, to take her out with their weapons. From the description of this story, I simply felt it was murder in cold blood."

Zamir: "I don't understand. Why did he shoot her?"

Aviv: "That's what is so nice, supposedly, about Gaza: You see a person on a road, walking along a path. He doesn't have to be with a weapon, you don't have to identify him with anything and you can just shoot him. With us it was an old woman, on whom I didn't see any weapon. The order was to take the person out, that woman, the moment you see her."

Zvi: "Aviv's descriptions are accurate, but it's possible to understand where this is coming from. And that woman, you don't know whether she's ... She wasn't supposed to be there, because there were announcements and there were bombings. Logic says she shouldn't be there. The way you describe it, as murder in cold blood, that isn't right. It's known that they have lookouts and that sort of thing."

Gilad: "Even before we went in, the battalion commander made it clear to everyone that a very important lesson from the Second Lebanon War was the way the IDF goes in - with a lot of fire. The intention was to protect soldiers' lives by means of firepower. In the operation the IDF's losses really were light and the price was that a lot of Palestinians got killed."

Ram: "I serve in an operations company in the Givati Brigade. After we'd gone into the first houses, there was a house with a family inside. Entry was relatively calm. We didn't open fire, we just yelled at everyone to come down. We put them in a room and then left the house and entered it from a different lot. A few days after we went in, there was an order to release the family. They had set up positions upstairs. There was a sharpshooters' position on the roof. The platoon commander let the family go and told them to go to the right. One mother and her two children didn't understand and went to the left, but they forgot to tell the sharpshooter on the roof they had let them go, and it was was okay and he should hold his fire and he ... he did what he was supposed to, like he was following his orders."

Question from the audience: "At what range was this?"

Ram: "Between 100 and 200 meters, something like that. They had also came out of the house that he was on the roof of, they had advanced a bit and suddenly he saw then, people moving around in an area where they were forbidden to move around. I don't think he felt too bad about it, because after all, as far as he was concerned, he did his job according to the orders he was given. And the atmosphere in general, from what I understood from most of my men who I talked to ... I don't know how to describe it .... The lives of Palestinians, let's say, is something very, very less important than the lives of our soldiers. So as far as they are concerned they can justify it that way."

Yuval Friedman (chief instructor at the Rabin program): "Wasn't there a standing order to request permission to open fire?"

Ram: "No. It exists, beyond a certain line. The idea is that you are afraid that they are going to escape from you. If a terrorist is approaching and he is too close, he could blow up the house or something like that."

Zamir: "After a killing like that, by mistake, do they do some sort of investigation in the IDF? Do they look into how they could have corrected it?"

Ram: "They haven't come from the Military Police's investigative unit yet. There hasn't been any ... For all incidents, there are individual investigations and general examinations, of all of the conduct of the war. But they haven't focused on this specifically."

Moshe: "The attitude is very simple: It isn't pleasant to say so, but no one cares at all. We aren't investigating this. This is what happens during fighting and this is what happens during routine security."

Ram: "What I do remember in particular at the beginning is the feeling of almost a religious mission. My sergeant is a student at a hesder yeshiva [a program that combines religious study and military service]. Before we went in, he assembled the whole platoon and led the prayer for those going into battle. A brigade rabbi was there, who afterward came into Gaza and went around patting us on the shoulder and encouraging us, and praying with people. And also when we were inside they sent in those booklets, full of Psalms, a ton of Psalms. I think that at least in the house I was in for a week, we could have filled a room with the Psalms they sent us, and other booklets like that.

"There was a huge gap between what the Education Corps sent out and what the IDF rabbinate sent out. The Education Corps published a pamphlet for commanders - something about the history of Israel's fighting in Gaza from 1948 to the present. The rabbinate brought in a lot of booklets and articles, and ... their message was very clear: We are the Jewish people, we came to this land by a miracle, God brought us back to this land and now we need to fight to expel the gentiles who are interfering with our conquest of this holy land. This was the main message, and the whole sense many soldiers had in this operation was of a religious war. From my position as a commander and 'explainer,' I attempted to talk about the politics - the streams in Palestinian society, about how not everyone who is in Gaza is Hamas, and not every inhabitant wants to vanquish us. I wanted to explain to the soldiers that this war is not a war for the sanctification of the holy name, but rather one to stop the Qassams."

Zamir: "I would like to ask the pilots who are here, Gideon and Yonatan, to tell us a little about their perspective. As an infantryman, this has always interested me. How does it feel when you bomb a city like that?"

Gideon: "First of all, about what you have said concerning the crazy amounts of firepower: Right in the first foray in the fighting, the quantities were very impressive, very large, and this is mainly what sent all the Hamasniks into hiding in the deepest shelters and kept them from showing their faces until some two weeks after the fighting.

"In general the way that it works for us, just so you will understand the differences a bit, is that at night I would come to the squadron, do one foray in Gaza and go home to sleep. I go home to sleep in Tel Aviv, in my warm bed. I'm not stuck in a bed in the home of a Palestinian family, so life is a little better.

"When I'm with the squadron, I don't see a terrorist who is launching a Qassam and then decide to fly out to get him. There is a whole system that supports us, that serves as eyes, ears and intelligence for every plane that takes off, and creates more and more targets in real-time, of one level of legitimacy or another. In any case, I try to believe that these are targets [determined according to] the highest possible level of legitimacy.

"They dropped leaflets over Gaza and would sometimes fire a missile from a helicopter into the corner of some house, just to shake up the house a bit so everyone inside would flee. These things worked. The families came out, and really people [i.e., soldiers] did enter houses that were pretty empty, at least of innocent civilians. From this perspective it works.

"In any case, I arrive at the squadron, I get a target with a description and coordinates, and basically just make sure it isn't within the line of our forces. I look at the picture of the house I am suppose to attack, I see that it matches reality, I take off, I push the button and the bomb takes itself exactly to within one meter of the target itself."

Zamir: "Among the pilots, is there also talk or thoughts of remorse? For example, I was terribly surprised by the enthusiasm surrounding the killing of the Gaza traffic police on the first day of the operation: They took out 180 traffic cops. As a pilot, I would have questioned that."

Gideon: "There are two parts to this. Tactically speaking, you call them 'police.' In any case, they are armed and belong to Hamas ... During better times, they take Fatah people and throw them off the roofs and see what happens.

"With regard to the thoughts, you sit with the squadron and there are lots of discussions about the value-related significance of the fighting, about what we are doing; there is a lot to talk about. From the moment you start the plane's engine until the moment you turn it off, all of your thoughts, all of your concentration and all of your attention are on the mission you have to carry out. If you have an unjustified doubt, you're liable to cause a far greater screw-up and knock down a school with 40 children. If the building I hit isn't the one I am supposed to hit, but rather a house with our guys inside - the price of the mistake is very, very high."

Question from the audience: "Was there anyone in the squadron who didn't push the button, who thought twice?"

Gideon: "That question should be addressed to those involved in the helicopter operation, or to the guys who see what they do. With the weapons I used, my ability to make a decision that contradicts what they told me up to that point is zero. I dispatch the bomb from a range within which I can see the entire Gaza Strip. I also see Haifa, I also see Sinai, but it's more or less the same. It's from really far away."

Yossi: "I am a platoon sergeant in an operations company of the Paratroops Brigade. We were in a house and discovered a family inside that wasn't supposed to be there. We assembled them all in the basement, posted two guards at all times and made sure they didn't make any trouble. Gradually, the emotional distance between us broke down - we had cigarettes with them, we drank coffee with them, we talked about the meaning of life and the fighting in Gaza. After very many conversations the owner of the house, a man of 70-plus, was saying it's good we are in Gaza and it's good that the IDF is doing what it is doing.

"The next day we sent the owner of the house and his son, a man of 40 or 50, for questioning. The day after that, we received an answer: We found out that both are political activists in Hamas. That was a little annoying - that they tell you how fine it is that you're here and good for you and blah-blah-blah, and then you find out that they were lying to your face the whole time.

"What annoyed me was that in the end, after we understood that the members of this family weren't exactly our good friends and they pretty much deserved to be forcibly ejected from there, my platoon commander suggested that when we left the house, we should clean up all the stuff, pick up and collect all the garbage in bags, sweep and wash the floor, fold up the blankets we used, make a pile of the mattresses and put them back on the beds."

Zamir: "What do you mean? Didn't every IDF unit that left a house do that?"

Yossi: "No. Not at all. On the contrary: In most of the houses graffiti was left behind and things like that."

Zamir: "That's simply behaving like animals."

Yossi: "You aren't supposed to be concentrating on folding blankets when you're being shot at."

Zamir: "I haven't heard all that much about you being shot at. It's not that I'm complaining, but if you've spent a week in a home, clean up your filth."

Aviv: "We got an order one day: All of the equipment, all of the furniture - just clean out the whole house. We threw everything, everything, out of the windows to make room. The entire contents of the house went flying out the windows."

Yossi: "There was one day when a Katyusha, a Grad, landed in Be'er Sheva and a mother and her baby were moderately to seriously injured. They were neighbors of one of my soldiers. We heard the whole story on the radio, and he didn't take it lightly - that his neighbors were seriously hurt. So the guy was a bit antsy, and you can understand him. To tell a person like that, 'Come on, let's wash the floor of the house of a political activist in Hamas, who has just fired a Katyusha at your neighbors that has amputated one of their legs' - this isn't easy to do, especially if you don't agree with it at all. When my platoon commander said, 'Okay, tell everyone to fold up blankets and pile up mattresses,' it wasn't easy for me to take. There was lot of shouting. In the end I was convinced and realized it really was the right thing to do. Today I appreciate and even admire him, the platoon commander, for what happened there. In the end I don't think that any army, the Syrian army, the Afghani army, would wash the floor of its enemy's houses, and it certainly wouldn't fold blankets and put them back in the closets."

Zamir: "I think it would be important for parents to sit here and hear this discussion. I think it would be an instructive discussion, and also very dismaying and depressing. You are describing an army with very low value norms, that's the truth ... I am not judging you and I am not complaining about you. I'm just reflecting what I'm feeling after hearing your stories. I wasn't in Gaza, and I assume that among reserve soldiers the level of restraint and control is higher, but I think that all in all, you are reflecting and describing the kind of situation we were in.

"After the Six-Day War, when people came back from the fighting, they sat in circles and described what they had been through. For many years the people who did this were said to be 'shooting and crying.' In 1983, when we came back from the Lebanon War, the same things were said about us. We need to think about the events we have been through. We need to grapple with them also, in terms of establishing a standard or different norms.

"It is quite possible that Hamas and the Syrian army would behave differently from me. The point is that we aren't Hamas and we aren't the Syrian army or the Egyptian army, and if clerics are anointing us with oil and sticking holy books in our hands, and if the soldiers in these units aren't representative of the whole spectrum in the Jewish people, but rather of certain segments of the population - what are we expecting? To whom are we complaining?

"As reservists we don't take relate seriously to the orders of the regional brigades. We let the old people go through and we let families go through. Why kill people when it's clear to you that they are civilians? Which aspect of Israel's security will be harmed, who will be harmed? Exercise judgment, be human." link to article

Obama on Jay Leno

It is a pleasure and an honor to see our President represent himself in such an articulate and intelligent manner.

Rep. Gutierrez: Obama 'Eerily Silent' on Immigration

By Ben Pershing
Washington Post

March 18, 2009

A key member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus delivered a mixed review of the group's meeting with President Obama today, saying the session "went well" but did not result in any firm commitment by the administration to address immigration reform soon.

Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D), who worked with Obama in the Illinois congressional delegation, said this afternoon that he and his fellow CHC members "firmly advocated for [Obama] to keep his promise to bring about comprehensive immigration reform." He added that, per the group's preference, immigration was the only subject discussed during the hour-long meeting, and that some members expressed their concerns about the administration's policies on immigration raids and deportations.

The White House has not been particularly vocal on the subject of immigration since Obama took office. After the collapse of the Bush administration's efforts to push through comprehensive reform, the issue remains politically sensitive and has not often appeared on lists of Obama's priorities for his first year in office.

"The president has been silent on this issue, eerily silent to many of us," Gutierrez said, adding that he believes "the administration is still struggling with what to do about comprehensive immigration reform."

Obama did announce during the meeting that he planned to visit Mexico next month, which did not seem to impress Gutierrez much. The Illinois lawmaker was more encouraged, he said, by the president's pledge to "do something public in the coming weeks to reiterate his commitment" to immigration reform...

By Ben Pershing | March 18, 2009; 4:48 PM ET Agenda , House
link to complete article

Making a Garden at the White House

Haaretz Report on IDF in Gaza - II

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Dead Palestinian babies and bombed mosques - IDF fashion 2009
By Uri Blau

March 21, 2009

Haaretz - Israel

The office at the Adiv fabric-printing shop in south Tel Aviv handles a constant stream of customers, many of them soldiers in uniform, who come to order custom clothing featuring their unit's insignia, usually accompanied by a slogan and drawing of their choosing. Elsewhere on the premises, the sketches are turned into plates used for imprinting the ordered items, mainly T-shirts and baseball caps, but also hoodies, fleece jackets and pants. A young Arab man from Jaffa supervises the workers who imprint the words and pictures, and afterward hands over the finished product.

Dead babies, mothers weeping on their children's graves, a gun aimed at a child and bombed-out mosques - these are a few examples of the images Israel Defense Forces soldiers design these days to print on shirts they order to mark the end of training, or of field duty. The slogans accompanying the drawings are not exactly anemic either: A T-shirt for infantry snipers bears the inscription "Better use Durex," next to a picture of a dead Palestinian baby, with his weeping mother and a teddy bear beside him. A sharpshooter's T-shirt from the Givati Brigade's Shaked battalion shows a pregnant Palestinian woman with a bull's-eye superimposed on her belly, with the slogan, in English, "1 shot, 2 kills." A "graduation" shirt for those who have completed another snipers course depicts a Palestinian baby, who grows into a combative boy and then an armed adult, with the inscription, "No matter how it begins, we'll put an end to it." complete article

Detention Center - Collaboration between France & UK

Using the term Guantanamo brings to mind torture and Al Qaeda.  The article below is about a detention center for asylum seekers and undocumented immigrants, not terrorists.   Perhaps what is similar is the proposed location -  a sort of no-man's land location - an "ambiguous" UK control zone that will make it easier to transport prisoners across international boundaries.

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The Calais ‘Guantanamo’

French and British ministers in talks to open dockside holding centre for illegal immigrants and asylum-seekers

By John Lichfield in Paris and Ben Russell

Saturday, 21 March 2009


The British and French governments are discussing the creation of a new immigrant holding centre within the Calais docks which would be "inside Britain" under immigration law and allow cross-Channel asylum-seekers to be shipped back to their home countries easily.


Although no details have yet been agreed, the idea is to exploit the ambiguous legal status of a British "control zone" of the Calais port, created in 2003, to cut through the mesh of legal difficulties which prevent asylum-seekers from being expelled to their countries of origin.

The idea – discussed by the British and French immigration ministers last month – seeks to turn the tables on the asylum-seekers and the gangs who smuggle them into northern France. At present, the immigrants gathered in Calais, mostly from Afghanistan, Kurdistan and the Horn of Africa, can exploit contradictions and grey areas in European and international law on immigration and asylum to evade expulsion from France. They can be arrested repeatedly only to be freed to try to enter Britain illegally again.

The holding centre would potentially allow London and Paris to use the ambiguous status of the British "control zone" at Calais to send the migrants home. If agreed, the centre is likely to attract the scrutiny of civil liberties and human rights groups.

The creation of an "offshore, on-shore" holding centre, which helps London and Paris cut through the thickets of asylum law, may invite parallels with Guantanamo Bay. Although the idea would be to hold the asylum-seekers for only a short time in humane conditions, the immigrants would have fallen into a legal limbo of their own making.

Hints of the Franco-British discussions were dropped this week by the British Immigration minister, Phil Woolas. He said Britain and France were discussing a new "detention centre" in Calais where illegal immigrants would be held "after passing through British immigration controls" within the Calais docks. They would be sent back to their home countries on charter flights.

Mr Woolas said that London and Paris wanted to "send a message" to immigrants and their smugglers. "We want to increase the profile of the deportations because we have to get the message back to Afghanistan and Iraq that Britain is not the Promised Land," he said.

The minister's remarks were widely mocked in the British press after they were – allegedly – dismissed the same night by the French Immigration Minister, Eric Besson. In fact, M. Besson did not repudiate Mr Woolas. He said France had no intention of building a new Sangatte refugee camp – a different animal entirely. The French government was embarrassed, and angered, by the British minister's remarks, because the words "detention centre" have a sinister, historical ring to the French. Paris prefers to speak about a "retention centre".

In the scramble to mock Mr Woolas, his key words were missed. The new detention centre – or retention centre – would be built beyond the line of British immigration controls in Calais docks. complete article

Haaretz Report on IDF in Gaza - I

This is the article that provoked the "investigation" by IDF into its own behavior during the recent Gaza conflict.

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Last update - 12:40 19/03/2009
IDF in Gaza: Killing civilians, vandalism, and lax rules of engagement
By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: Israel News, IDF, Hamas, Gaza

During Operation Cast Lead, Israeli forces killed Palestinian civilians under permissive rules of engagement and intentionally destroyed their property, say soldiers who fought in the offensive.

The soldiers are graduates of the Yitzhak Rabin pre-military preparatory course at Oranim Academic College in Tivon. Some of their statements made on Feb. 13 will appear Thursday and Friday in Haaretz. Dozens of graduates of the course who took part in the discussion fought in the Gaza operation.

The speakers included combat pilots and infantry soldiers. Their testimony runs counter to the Israel Defense Forces' claims that Israeli troops observed a high level of moral behavior during the operation. The session's transcript was published this week in the newsletter for the course's graduates.
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The testimonies include a description by an infantry squad leader of an incident where an IDF sharpshooter mistakenly shot a Palestinian mother and her two children. "There was a house with a family inside .... We put them in a room. Later we left the house and another platoon entered it, and a few days after that there was an order to release the family. They had set up positions upstairs. There was a sniper position on the roof," the soldier said.

"The platoon commander let the family go and told them to go to the right. One mother and her two children didn't understand and went to the left, but they forgot to tell the sharpshooter on the roof they had let them go and it was okay, and he should hold his fire and he ... he did what he was supposed to, like he was following his orders."

According to the squad leader: "The sharpshooter saw a woman and children approaching him, closer than the lines he was told no one should pass. He shot them straight away. In any case, what happened is that in the end he killed them.

"I don't think he felt too bad about it, because after all, as far as he was concerned, he did his job according to the orders he was given. And the atmosphere in general, from what I understood from most of my men who I talked to ... I don't know how to describe it .... The lives of Palestinians, let's say, is something very, very less important than the lives of our soldiers. So as far as they are concerned they can justify it that way," he said.

Another squad leader from the same brigade told of an incident where the company commander ordered that an elderly Palestinian woman be shot and killed; she was walking on a road about 100 meters from a house the company had commandeered.

The squad leader said he argued with his commander over the permissive rules of engagement that allowed the clearing out of houses by shooting without warning the residents beforehand. After the orders were changed, the squad leader's soldiers complained that "we should kill everyone there [in the center of Gaza]. Everyone there is a terrorist."

The squad leader said: "You do not get the impression from the officers that there is any logic to it, but they won't say anything. To write 'death to the Arabs' on the walls, to take family pictures and spit on them, just because you can. I think this is the main thing: To understand how much the IDF has fallen in the realm of ethics, really. It's what I'll remember the most."

More soldiers' testimonies will be published in Haaretz over the coming days...link to article

Gaza Refugees

Click here for a video on Palestinians in refugee camps after the recent Gaza conflict.

'For these refugees, resettlement is the only option'

Actor Romola Garai visits the al-Tanaf refugee camp, on the Syrian-Iraqi border, which is home to 800 Palestinian refugees forced from their homes in Iraq after the invasion


* Romola Garai and Mustafa Khalili
* guardian.co.uk,
* Friday 20 March 2009

A vegetable garden on the White House lawn

link to image

Wow, this is big.  The Obamas have started a garden on the White House lawn.  I can already see the Bushies snearing.  It may not look proper to some.  But the reality is that gardens like these are what our country really needs.  Homegrown food with no pesticides and no genetically engineered seeds.

The garden will be tended by the First Family and local public school students.  The food will be used in the White House kitchen.

What a great example for the country.

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Shovel-Ready Project: A White House Garden

By Jane Black
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 20, 2009; Page C01
For more than a decade, food activists have rallied, cajoled, even pleaded for a vegetable garden on the White House lawn. Now they're finally going to get it.

Today, first lady Michelle Obama will host a groundbreaking for a White House kitchen garden on the South Lawn. She will be joined by students from Bancroft Elementary in Northwest Washington, , whose participation in the project will continue past today, as they help with planting in the coming weeks and harvesting later this year.

The 1,100-square-foot garden will include 55 kinds of vegetables, including peppers, spinach and, yes, arugula. (The selection is a wish list put together by White House chefs.) There will also be berries, herbs and two hives for honey that will be tended by a White House carpenter who is also a beekeeper. The chefs will use the produce to feed the first family, as well as for state dinners and other official events. more

The DREAM Act is Coming!!!

If you support the DREAM Act, please sign the petition below this Boston Globe article.

The Boston Globe

March 19, 2009 Thursday

Obama puts immigration reform on docket
Boston Globe

On his very full plate, immigration was one issue that President Obama
had yet to take on - until yesterday, when he discussed it with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

At a town hall meeting in southern California yesterday, Obama renewed his support for comprehensive reform, including a possible path to citizenship for law-abiding people who entered the country illegally, along the lines of the bill that stalled in Congress in 2007.

According to the White House account of yesterday's one-hour closed session, it was "a robust and strategic meeting" in which Obama announced he will go to Mexico next month to meet President Calderon and discuss, among other issues, effective, comprehensive immigration reform.

After the meeting, Representative Luis V. Gutierrez of Illinois, chairman of the Hispanic caucus's immigration task force, and advocacy groups said they were hopeful that Obama would address immigration reform this year.

"Although it is very early in his administration, he understands that for the immigrant community it's the 11th hour, and there is no time to waste," Gutierrez said in a statement.

Janet Murguia, president and CEO of the National Council of La Raza, added, "While we agree that our priority should be fixing the nation's economy, we also believe that we can initiate an immigration reform that will help us achieve long-term economic growth."

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You can help pass the DREAM Act by signing a petition that goes to the President and Congress.  Click here for the petition.

From Change.org -  Immigrant Rights 

Each year, about 65,000 U.S.-raised students who would qualify for the DREAM Act graduate from high school. These include honor roll students, star athletes, talented artists, homecoming queens, and aspiring teachers, doctors, and U.S. soldiers. They are young people who have lived in the U.S. for most of their lives and desire only to call this country their home. Even though they were brought to the U.S. years ago as children, they face unique barriers to higher education, are unable to work legally in the United States, and often live in constant fear of detection by immigration authorities.

Our immigration laws currently have no mechanism to consider the special equities and circumstances of such students. The DREAM Act would eliminate this flaw. It is un-American to indefinitely and irremediably punish immigrant youth for decisions made by adults many years ago. By enacting the DREAM Act, Congress would legally recognize what is de facto true: these young people belong here. DREAM Act students should be allowed to get on with their lives.

If Congress fails to act this year, another entire class of outstanding, law-abiding high school students will graduate without being able to plan for the future, and some will be removed from their homes to countries they barely know. This tragedy will cause America to lose a vital asset: an educated class of promising immigrant students who have demonstrated a commitment to hard work and a strong desire to be contributing members of our society.

Let's bring these students out of the shadows, out from underground. Tell President Obama and Congress to pass the DREAM Act in 2009. Talented students and their families living in fear of raids and ripped apart by deportations, cannot afford to wait for change. click here to sign petition

Taking a look at ourselves, our compassion, and our violence

Below is a link to a fascinating interview Bill Moyers did with Karen Armstrong. They talk about the Middle East, which naturally relates to the Palestinian Gaza issue.

If you are a DREAMer and wonder why your life is so miserable and Obama hasn't passed the DREAM Act, listen to Karen Armstrong...

If you are a Palestinian, please listen. Most importantly, if you are Israeli, or part of the powerful U.S. Israeli lobby - listen and ponder what Armstrong says.


Click here for link - Bill Moyers interviews Karen Armstrong (part II of the interview), March 13, 2009

Immigration Reform Coming?

The Washington Post reported that Obama finally mentioned immigration on his trip to Southern California yesterday.  

"Obama Plays Populist..."Washington Post/AP," March 19, 2009

One little curve ball came, however, on a topic Obama rarely mentions on his own: immigration. Before a crowd that seemed divided on the emotional, politically dangerous issue, Obama said he still supports "comprehensive immigration reform."
..."People who have been here for a long time and put down roots," he said, should have "a mechanism over time to get out of the shadows" and achieve legal status, including citizenship.

They would have to learn English, pay a significant fine and "go to the back of the line" of those applying for legal entry, he said...

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In Spanish, Milenio.com elaborates on the latest development on U.S. immigration reform:

El presidente estadunidense viene en abril; narcotráfico, otro tema de su agenda
Obama: “este año”, reforma migratoria

19 marzo 2009 Promete el mandatario trabajar con el Congreso de su país y el gobierno de Calderón para presentar un plan amplio en favor de los indocumentados, a cambio de una multa y de que aprendan inglés

Barack Obama realizará una vista oficial a México los días 16 y 17 de abril, confirmaron tanto en la Casa Blanca como en Los Pinos. El presidente estadunidense incluirá entre los temas a tratar con su homólogo mexicano, Felipe Calderón, el de una reforma migratoria, que el político demócrata ofreció concretar “este año”.

En la Ciudad de México, el vocero de la Presidencia, Maximiliano Cortázar, informó que los temas que Obama abordará con Calderón serán competitividad, seguridad, medio ambiente, migración y bienestar social.

El encuentro entre ambos mandatarios, añadió Cortázar, dará continuidad al diálogo que iniciaron en Washington el pasado 12 de enero, cuando Obama aún era presidente electo. Entonces se acordó “impulsar una asociación estratégica” entre México y Estados Unidos, recordó el vocero presidencial.

En Washington se anunció mediante un comunicado la visita de mediados de abril, y se especificó que ambos presidentes tratarán en detalle las “profundas” relaciones bilaterales.

En concreto, indicó la Casa Blanca, se abordará la colaboración en la lucha contra la violencia procedente del narcotráfico y los pasos hacia una reforma migratoria “exhaustiva y efectiva”.

Más tarde, en una reunión con congresistas hispanos, Obama prometió invertir “capital político” en una reforma migratoria, a fin de que ésta se concrete “este año”.

Luego, en un encuentro comunitario en California, el mandatario estadunidense recordó que Estados Unidos es una nación de inmigrantes, pero también subrayó que el país debe tener control sobre sus fronteras.

Añadió que se quiere trabajar con los dirigentes del Congreso y con el gobierno de México para presentar un plan amplio que permita a los inmigrantes que llegaron sin documentos tener vías para adquirir la ciudadanía, a cambio de que paguen una multa y aprendan inglés.

Júbilo de legisladores hispanos

Los representantes hispanos reaccionaron con júbilo ante el anuncio. Luis Gutiérrez, legislador demócrata por Illinois, expuso: “El presidente repitió y reiteró su compromiso de manera clara e inequívoca (de presentar una propuesta de reforma migratoria); tiene toda la intención de hacerlo”.

“El presidente nos señaló que es un hombre de palabra. Creemos que vamos a avanzar este año (en un plan a favor de los indocumentados)”, secundó Nydia Velázquez, representante por Nueva York y jefa del Caucus Hispánico del Congreso, que agrupa a los legisladores de la primera minoría del país.

Obama convocará a un foro público “probablemente en dos meses” para discutir las propuestas sobre cómo legalizar a los indocumentados y cómo refundar el sistema de inmigración, declaró el senador demócrata Bob Menéndez, de Nueva Jersey.

La visita a México del mandatario estadunidense ocurrirá antes de viajar a la quinta Cumbre de las Américas, que se celebrará en Trinidad y Tobago los días 17 y 19 de abril, a la cual asistirá también Calderón.

El encuentro entre los presidentes será el segundo en lo que va del año, pues ya se vieron el 12 de enero en Washington, días antes de que el demócrata asumiera la presidencia.

La visita de Obama a México tendrá lugar después de la de su secretaria de Estado, Hillary Clinton, que viajará a este país entre el 25 y el 26 de marzo.

Las relaciones entre los dos países atraviesan un momento delicado por las fricciones comerciales y por la cooperación bilateral para atajar la violencia del narcotráfico. Complete article

Another Bush rule going down the tube

The U.S. needs outside influence.  We have become too insulated.  We think we are the masters of the universe.  It will be a good thing if the ban on certain foreign scholars is rescinded.  We need some fresh ideas.

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U.S. Is Urged to Lift Ban on Foreign Scholars

By JOHN SCHWARTZ

New York Times
Published: March 17, 2009

Tariq Ramadan, a respected Swiss academic and Muslim scholar, had a job all lined up at the University of Notre Dame in 2004, but the Bush administration prevented him from entering the country. Government officials said he had contributed to a charity believed to have connections to terrorism.

A federal judge supported the government’s position in December 2007, and an appeal will be heard next Tuesday by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, in New York.

Now, in a move leading up to that hearing, a coalition of academic and civil liberties groups is calling on the Obama administration to break with the Bush administration’s policies on blocking visas of some foreign scholars, writers and activists.

In a letter being released Wednesday, the coalition says so-called ideological exclusion “compromises the vitality of academic and political debate in the United States at a time when that debate is exceptionally important.” complete article

Beware Israel's new leaders

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Robert Fisk: Why Avigdor Lieberman is the worst thing that could happen to the Middle East

World Focus: I can identify Lieberman's language with the language of Messrs Mladic and Karadzic and Milosevic

Wednesday, 18 March 2009
London Independent

Only days after they were groaning with fury at the Israeli lobby's success in hounding the outspoken Charles Freeman away from his proposed intelligence job for President Obama, the Arabs now have to contend with an Israeli Foreign Minister whose – let us speak frankly – racist comments about Palestinian loyalty tests have brought into the new Netanyahu cabinet one of the most unpleasant politicians in the Middle East.

The Iraqis produced the hateful Saddam, the Iranians created the crackpot Ahmadinejad – for reasons of sanity, I leave out the weird ruler of Libya – and now the Israelis have exalted a man, Avigdor Lieberman, who out-Sharons even Ariel Sharon.

A few Palestinians expressed their cruel delight that at last the West will see the "true face" of Israel. I've heard that one before – when Sharon became prime minister – and the usual nonsense will be trotted out that only a "hard-line extremist" can make the compromises necessary for a deal with the Palestinians.

This kind of self-delusion is a Middle East disease. The fact is that the Israeli Prime Minister-to-be has made it perfectly clear there will be no two-state solution; and he has planted a tree on Golan to show the Syrians they will not get it back. And now he's brought into the cabinet a man who sees even the Arabs of Israel as second-class citizens.

Lieberman's first visit to Washington will be a gem. AIPAC – posing as an Israeli lobby when in fact it works for the Likudists – will fight for him and Lady Hillary will have to greet him warmly at the State Department. Who knows, he might even suggest to her that she imposes a loyalty test for American minorities as well – which would mean demanding an oath of faithfulness from Barack himself. The horizon goes on forever.

In Egypt, Avigdor Lieberman will have a tough time. Hosni Mubarak can be a soft touch for the Americans but it was Lieberman who, complaining that the Egyptian President should visit Israel or "go to hell", deeply offended a man who has taken great risks in maintaining his country's peace with the Israeli state.

Egyptians have been outraged to read in their newspapers that Lieberman has talked of drowning Palestinians in the Dead Sea or executing Israeli Palestinians who talked to Hamas. Last night, a supporter of Lieberman appeared on Al Jazeera television to describe Hamas as "an anti-Semitic, barbarous organisation" – even though Israeli army officers spoke openly with this supposedly "barbarous" group both before and after the Oslo agreement.

But the growth of such an extremist administration in Israel and the hopeless response of the Obama administration to the so-called supporters of Israel who destroyed Freeman's career, can only be dangerous news for the Middle East. The Jeddah-based Arab News called the Freeman disaster "a grave defeat for US foreign policy". But while uttering all the usual platitudes, the Arab press has been playing up the pusillanimous remarks of US press secretary Robert Gibbs when asked why Obama was "standing mute" in the Freeman affair. "I've watched with great interest how people perceive different things about our policy and during the campaign about whether we were too close to one group or too close to the other. So I don't give a lot of thought to those." Asked for "straight answers", Gibbs said: "I gave you as straight a one as I can get."

This was almost as funny as The New York Times when it attempted last week to explain why Lady Hillary was frightened of offending the Israelis during the formation of the Netanyahu government when she described the destruction of 1,000 Palestinian homes as "unhelpful".

Her caution in the Middle East, it explained, was "a reflection of the treacherous landscape in the Middle East, where a misplaced phrase can ruffle feathers among constituencies back home". You bet it can – and when Mr Lieberman comes to town, we'll see who those feathers belong to.

Their owners would do well, however, to dwell on the incendiary language of Avigdor Lieberman. He speaks like a Russian nationalist rather than the secular Israeli he claims to be.

I covered the bloodbath of Bosnia in the early Nineties and I can identify Lieberman's language – of executions, of drownings, of hell and loyalty oaths – with the language of Messrs Mladic and Karadzic and Milosevic.

Lady Hillary and her boss should pull out a few books on the war in ex-Yugoslavia if they want to understand who they are now dealing with. "Unhelpful" will not be the appropriate response. link to complete article

More problems with Immigrant Detention Health Care

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Detained and Dismissed
Women’s Struggles to Obtain Health Care in United States Immigration Detention
March 17, 2009

This 78-page Human Rights Watch report documents dozens of cases in which the immigration agency's medical staff either failed to respond at all to health problems of women in detention or responded only after considerable delays.

link to report

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Groups bash US health care for detained immigrants

By JENNIFER KAY
The Associated Press/Washington Post
Tuesday, March 17, 2009; 7:06 PM

MIAMI -- U.S. immigration authorities routinely delay, deny or botch medical care for detained immigrants in poorly equipped facilities nationwide, according to separate reports released by two advocacy groups Tuesday.

Human Rights Watch and the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center blame the problems on unskilled or indifferent staff, overcrowding, bureaucratic red tape, language barriers and limited services available to detainees of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The groups contend that many medical problems could be avoided if the agency did not lock up people who are elderly, have health issues or lack criminal records. more

Senate Committee Hearing on the Mexican Drug War

The Senate Judiciary Committee met this morning to discuss the drug cartel violence in Mexico.  Senator Richard Durbin, Senate Majority Whip Chaired the meeting.

Before you watch and demonize Mexico, at least wait until Durbin quotes Mexico's President Calderon who said the Mexico borders the country that has the biggest group of consumers and biggest seller of guns...

It is a problem the U.S. has with Mexico.

As I have mentioned before, military action won't work.  It will only increase the violence and push it further into the U.S.  There are many other things we need to do...  Listen for Durbin's suggestions.

Now that Durbin is thinking about Mexico, maybe he will also think about the DREAMers.

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Link to Video of "Law Enforcement Responses to Mexican Drug Cartels”

Senate Judiciary Committee
Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs
View a webcast of this hearing
DATE: March 17, 2009
TIME: 10:30 AM
ROOM: Dirksen-226
OFFICIAL HEARING NOTICE / WITNESS LIST:

March 10, 2009

NOTICE OF JOINT SUBCOMMITTEE HEARING
The Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs and the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control will hold a joint hearing entitled "Law Enforcement Responses to Mexican Drug Cartels" on Tuesday, March 17, 2009 at 10:30 a.m. in Room 226 of the Senate Dirksen Office Building.

Chairman Durbin and Chairman Feinstein will preside.

By order of the Chairman

Witness List

Hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee,
Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs and the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control

on

"Law Enforcement Responses to Mexican Drug Cartels"

Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Dirksen Office Building Room 226
10:30 a.m.


Panel I

Terry Goddard
Arizona Attorney General
Phoenix, AZ

William Hoover
Assistant Director for Field Operations
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
Washington, DC

Anthony P. Placido
Assistant Administrator and Chief of Intelligence
Drug Enforcement Administration
Washington, DC

Kumar Kibble
Deputy Director, Office of Investigations
Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Department of Homeland Security
Washington, DC


Panel II

Denise Eugenia Dresser Guerra
Professor, Department of Political Science
Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México
Mexico City, Mexico

Jorge Luis Aguirre
Journalist
El Paso, TX

Cell phones while driving are dangerous

Today I was minding my own business going south on Houston's Southwest Freeway, with my eyes on the road, when a big white SUV started moving over into my lane and almost hit me.  I honked at the driver and thank goodness she had a quick reaction.  What was so bothersome about the incident was that she was talking on her cell phone while driving.

see dreamacttexas post, "No cell phones while driving, PLEASE!" January 13, 2009

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Md. Is Latest State to Target Text Messaging by Drivers
Senate Passes Ban, Following Va. and D.C.


By John Wagner
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 18, 2009; Page A01

The Maryland Senate voted overwhelming yesterday to prohibit text messaging while driving, making it likely that the state will soon join the District, Virginia and a growing number of other jurisdictions that have banned a distraction most common among younger motorists...link to complete article

Human Rights Watch asking for inquiry into recent Gaza war

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Human Rights Watch

EU: Demand Accountability for Gaza Conflict Laws of War Violations
Europe Should Not Have Double Standards in Promoting International Justice
March 16, 2009

see below: 
Letter to EU Foreign Ministers to Address Violations between Israel and Hamas



"The European Union should publicly call for an international investigation into violations of international law during the Gaza conflict...An EU failure to insist on accountability not only for pariahs like Sudan but also for friendly states such as Israel will badly undercut the EU's credibility on behalf of international justice."
Lotte Leicht, European Union director of Human Rights Watch

(Brussels) - The European Union should press for a comprehensive and impartial international inquiry into allegations of serious violations of international law committed by Israeli and Palestinian forces in Gaza and southern Israel, Human Rights Watch said today. Failure to do so would suggest an indefensible double standard in the application of international justice.

In a letter sent today to EU foreign ministers attending the General Affairs and External Relations Council meeting in Brussels, Human Rights Watch said that "failure to push for accountability in Gaza would undermine the credibility of both the EU as a global voice for international justice and international justice institutions themselves."

"The European Union should publicly call for an international investigation into violations of international law during the Gaza conflict," said Lotte Leicht, European Union director of Human Rights Watch. "An EU failure to insist on accountability not only for pariahs like Sudan but also for friendly states such as Israel will badly undercut the EU's credibility on behalf of international justice."

Both Israel and Hamas have a poor record of conducting impartial investigations and of holding members of their own forces accountable for war crimes, the letter said. Similarly, current and planned international investigations are inadequate to address the apparent violations that occurred on both sides during the conflict.

The letter presents Human Rights Watch's basic findings on laws-of-war violations committed by both sides. Regarding Israel, Human Rights Watch's primary concerns are: the ongoing closure of Gaza, amounting to collective punishment; the use of high-explosive heavy artillery as well as of air-burst white phosphorus munitions in densely populated areas; the shooting of unarmed civilians holding white flags; the targeting of civilian structures; inadequate warnings to civilians of impending attack; and the wanton destruction of civilian property.

Regarding Hamas, Human Rights Watch's key concerns are: the firing of rockets deliberately and indiscriminately into civilian areas of Israel; the shooting of rockets and the conduct of military operations from within populated areas in Gaza; and the beatings and killings of Palestinian political opponents and critics in Gaza.

Letter to EU Foreign Ministers to Address Violations Between Israel and Hamas | Human Rights Watch

Publish at Scribd or explore others:

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see "Call for inquiry into Gaza war," London Independent, March 17, 2009

Words from the LA Times' Symbolic Mexican (who is really Guatemalen)

What is it like to be the symbolic Mexican at work? (see article below) People may ask you if you speak Spanish at home; or do you eat lots of tacos; or they may tell you your English is very good.  They might say "but you aren't like the rest of them" (my neighbor told me that once).

Someone (who is Mexican) asked me recently what my parents thought when I decided to get "closer to my culture."  I was struck by the question because at the moment I didn't have an answer.  It was true that I didn't speak Spanish until I was an adult (and still don't perfectly), and that I went to a school where there were only three other Latino kids.  But at home things were different.  I ate more beans, rice, and tortillas than anyone else in the family.  In fact they all made fun of me because I liked beans so much.  As a little kid I was in love with the Mexican singer Miguel Aceves Mejia (shown above left).  I even talked my parents into taking me to a concert of his at the Houston Music Hall, when I was six years old.  I came back telling my friends I was going to marry Miguel when I grew up (I didn't know he was married already).

I can't say I knew what the words meant, when he sang.  But I got the gist of things, and it made me very happy.  Especially the mariachi arrangements by Ruben Fuentes.  They were awesome.  

Miguel Aceves Mejia from "Amor Se Dice Cantando"  

I imagined I was his girlfriend (see video below)

My family was not the perfect always happy family, but we knew who we were.  My Dad never let us forget that he was born in Mexico, that Benito Juarez was a Mason, and an Indian; and that he (my father) could never run for U.S. President because he was not an American born citizen.

Perhaps they weren't surprised because in their minds, my insides always stayed Mexican, even if I was born here, even if I only spoke English.  They knew I could be both Mexican and American at the same time; two completely different identities blended together, like so many other Americans.

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Readers Share Thoughts on Immigration
Hector Tobar  --  Los Angeles Times
March 16, 2009  

When I was a boy growing up in Los Angeles circa 1970, I did something that brought dishonor to my people.

I tossed a hamburger wrapper onto the parking lot at a fast-food restaurant. This caused my mother to snap that I should never litter because "when people look at you and see black hair and brown eyes, they think you don't have any manners."

The word Latino had not yet entered the California lexicon. Hispanic or Hispano was used only by bureaucrats and academics. But my mother and I were not Mexican Americans, the only ethnic label most white Angelenos might have attached to us.

My parents were from Guatemala, a country that at that time had contributed few immigrants to the city. We were newcomers, and it was important to make a good first impression.

A generation or two later, with waves of immigration under our belts, we guatemaltecos, mexicanos, salvadoreños and other sons and daughters of Latin America are way past making first impressions.

Some people think we're strutting around Southern California as if we own the place. They are intimidated by our great numbers, our seemingly exotic ways and the Romance language that often flows from our lips.Your humble columnist, with his surname and annoying tendency to quote people who speak Spanish, is seen by some as a symbol of this "foreign" presence. Never mind that I am, like millions of other Latinos, a proud citizen of the United States.

In the eyes of one Times reader, I am this paper's "de facto Mexican columnist." for complete article

ss

More Gaza Stories

While Churchill's play, "Seven Jewish Children," thought to be very controversial because of it's pro-Gaza stance, will be performed in New York, another American citizen is injured by Israeli soldiers.  A group was protesting in the West Bank - against the wall being built by Israel that has encroached further into Palestinian territory.

When I was getting ready to go to Israel this past January, the U.S. State Department memos said to avoid Gaza and the West Bank protests, or avoid certain areas if there would be protests.  Was this because the soldiers have a tendency to harm the protestors?  

see dreamacttexas post  "BBC says no to play discussing Gaza," March 15, 2009

see "Readings and Talks for Pro-Gaza Playlet," New York Times, March 15, 2009

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Israelis 'firing live rounds' at West Bank protesters

* Peter Beaumont
* The London Observer, Sunday 15 March 2009 00.01 GMT
* Article history

Israeli armed forces and border police used the cover of the war against Hamas in Gaza to reintroduce the firing of .22 rifle bullets - as well as the extensive use of a new model of tear-gas canister - against unarmed demonstrators in the Occupied West Bank protesting at the building of Israel's "separation wall".

The tactics were highlighted on Friday, when a US protester, Tristan Anderson, 38, was hit in the head by one of the new extended-range gas canisters in the village of Ni'ilin, suffering an open wound in his skull and substantial brain damage. Anderson's friend, Gabrielle Silverman, claims he was struck by a canister fired from a high-velocity rifle. The Israeli military says stone-throwing "poses a threat to troops", and several officers have been injured by rocks...more

BBC says no to play discussing Gaza

The BBC has declined to air a play by Caryl Churchill titled "Seven Jewish Children" - The play contains narrative about the recent Gaza war.

The question: is something ignored because it portrays people in a certain way?  How extremely difficult it is to disagree with anything Israel does.  What if people who disagree want the best for Israel, but believe the stranglehold the country has on the Palestinians is wrong.  Can you still care and respect a people but disagree with their actions?  Does criticizing the Gaza war and blockade mean a person is anti-semitic?

Think of other situations where criticism comes into play.  I do not agree with a number of things that Obama is doing, I don't think he should escalate the war in Afghanistan.  I think he should go for single-payer health care.  But just because I disagree with him on these issues doesn't mean I despise him.  

America has done many terrible things to people.  To Native Americans (the Trail of Tears, Wounded Knee), to African Americans (slavery, Jim Crow), to Undocumented Immigrants (raids, separating families, demonizing immigrants) - but that doesn't mean I hate America.

If I disagree with Israel on Gaza, that doesn't mean I hate Israel and Jews.  There is a myth going around the world that if people criticize Israel they are anti-semitic.  This is absolutely not true.  The anti-semites are there, be sure, but they will play the game well and seem friendly and helpful.  They will say, yes, kill the people in Gaza.  They will smile and then turn away and then say something bad about Jews.  

The real friend is one who does not say yes to everything you do.

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Below the Guardian article are links to part I and part II of the play done by a small community group.

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BBC rejects play on Israel's history for impartiality reasons

* Ben Dowell
* guardian.co.uk, Monday 16 March 2009 00.05 GMT

The BBC has declined to broadcast a radio version of Caryl Churchill's controversial new stage play about Israeli history, claiming it needed to remain impartial ‑ the same reason given for declining to air the Gaza emergency appeal.

In a move likely to resurrect the row over the BBC's refusal in January to broadcast the appeal to help the people of Gaza, Radio 4 rejected an unsolicited manuscript of the play, Seven Jewish Children, which recently finished a short run at the Royal Court theatre. BBC sources suggest that a significant factor in the decision was awareness of the controversy stirred by Seven Jewish Children during its theatre run and the fact that the BBC has only recently survived the onslaught of criticism for its refusal to broadcast the Gaza appeal. In an email seen by the Guardian, Radio 4's drama commissioning editor Jeremy Howe said that he and Radio 4 controller Mark Damazer thought Churchill's play was a "brilliant piece".
...

...Churchill's 10-minute play consists of seven short scenes in which Israeli adults discuss how they will explain to children, who are never seen on stage, seven key moments in Israeli and Jewish history. This includes the Holocaust, the first Intifada and the present-day bombing of Gaza. According to Churchill, the play explores "the difficulties of explaining violence to children".

In a letter sent to the Daily Telegraph last month a number of prominent British Jews condemned the Royal Court for showing Churchill's play which they said portrayed Israeli parents as "inhuman triumphalists".

Some critics agreed. Christopher Hart in the Sunday Times attacked what he called "the play's ludicrous and utterly predictable lack of even-handedness". However, the Times said the play had "no heroes and villains" and the Guardian's critic Michael Billington said the play "shows theatre's power to heighten consciousness and articulate moral outrage". link to full article

Congressmen Gutierrez pushing Immigration Reform

 March 15, 2009, Milenio.com

Congressman Luis Gutierrez says that Immigration Reform in the U.S.  In an interview with Univision, he stated that CIR should reach Congress before September 2009, and even then that would be very late.

He plans to visit 20 cities to speak to communities about immigration reform.  He has already been to 14 cities.

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Milenio.com

15 marzo 2009
Reforma migratoria en EU es viable: legislador estadunidense

El congresista Luis Gutiérrez comentó que incluso la líder de la Cámara de Representantes, Nancy Pelosi, considera que la separación de familias es una acción inmoral y antiamericana y se deben parar las redadas.

Chicago.- La reforma migratoria en Estados Unidos cuenta con casi todos los votos requeridos para su aprobación en el Congreso, pero se necesita voluntad del presidente Barack Obama para impulsar el debates, aseguró el congresista Luis Gutiérrez.

En entrevista concedida a la cadena Univisión, Gutiérrez destacó que a diferencia del Senado, donde se ha discutido sin éxito el tema dos veces, en la Cámara de Representantes nunca se ha dado el debate sobre la reforma migratoria y puede ser la puerta de acceso a la misma.

Sin embargo, expresó que se requiere que el presidente Obama aporte su liderazgo y defina su postura sobre el tema, requisito que la propia líder de la mayoría congresional, Nancy Pelosi, le ha planteado a Gutiérrez, "porque se debe dejar claro en dónde está la presidencia de Estados Unidos en este tema".

Los votos existen, enfatizó, lo que no existe es el espacio y la voluntad política para enumerar esos votos en la pantalla. "Por eso la pregunta clave es si Obama está dispuesto a parar las redadas., es lo puede hacer, no tengo duda de que lo puede hacer".

El congresista dijo que en la entrevista que prevé sostener con el presidente le pedirá que hable "claro y elocuente" sobre el tema.

"Le vamos a decir que encontramos antiamericano e inmoral que con el poder del gobierno se estén destruyendo familias. Que es una contradicción decir que quieres ayudar a las personas y por otro lado utilices los instrumentos de gobierno para negarle la legalización que dices quieres darle. El no puede estar en los dos lados", afirmó.

Para Gutiérrez, el proyecto de reforma migratoria debe abordarse antes de septiembre próximo, ya que sería demasiado tarde esa fecha para que se discuta en ambas Cámaras antes del receso legislativo, por lo que fijó el mes de junio como idóneo para iniciar el debate.

Comentó que incluso la líder de la Cámara de Representantes, Nancy Pelosi, considera que la separación de familias es una acción inmoral y antiamericana y se deben parar las redadas, lo que da una oportunidad de contar con aliados para la reforma.

Pero si todo falla, advirtió, la alternativa será tomar otras medidas, siempre legales y pacíficas.

"En ese momento, si ya hemos utilizado todos los procesos legislativos, entonces haremos como la comunidad de afromericanos, como las mujeres, vamos a tomar otras medidas para demostrarle al gobierno que esta situación es inaceptable", señaló el congresista.

Gutiérrez insistió en que la legalización de indocumentados tiene un argumento económico claro que justifica tratar el tema en un tiempo en el que resolver la crisis es el objetivo prioritario.

"Si se deportan a 12 millones de personas esta economía que está mal va a estar aún peor, porque los inmigrantes compran y contribuyen a la economía, son parte de la espina dorsal de muchas comunidades", añadió.

Además, agregó, moralmente no se puede hablar de desarrollo cuando se separan familias. "Hay cinco millones de niños ciudadanos cuyos padres no tienen documentos, ¿cómo se estimula la economía si quienes trabajan fuertemente están sufriendo el terror por esa división de familias?".

Aseguró que aún cuando la situación económica dificulta los trabajos, el gobierno no tiene ni los recursos, ni la imposición política para deportar a 12 millones de indocumentados, pero su condición de ilegal afecta al trabajador estadunidense legal.

"Están aquí, van a continuar trabajando sólo que en la oscuridad, siendo explotados, pero si se legalizan se dejará de utilizar a quien está al borde de la ley para disminuir los ingresos que recibe el trabajador estadunidense", precisó.

Luis Gutiérrez realiza una gira por el país elaborando una lista de probables candidatos a obtener la legalización, la cual tiene previsto presentársela al presidente Obama. A la fecha lleva recorridas 14 de 20 ciudades que espera visitar en este objetivo.

from notimex - link to complete article

Don't Break the Heart of the DREAMers

In 2009 the typical DREAM Act Student is not only tied up by debt.  He is tied up by not having a social security number.  Unless the DREAM Act passes, 2009 graduates will have to do construction work.  Don't break their hearts.  Pass the DREAM Act NOW.

link to image

A few years ago I completed a PhD. It was a really big deal, especially because I was already 49 years old. It was something I never thought I would do. But when I was 42 I decided it was time, told my kids we were going to be poor for a while, paid off my credit cards and my car and got ready for the GED.

Once I was done it took a while to find a good job. Now the way things are going in academia, I guess it was a miracle I found something not just good but great, plus I'm tenured. But those years in the meantime (4 of them) were miserable. I thought my life was lost. Yes, I had a job, but it was not what I was trained for, and did not provide the intellectual future that I had fought so hard for. Yes, it paid ok, but I didn't feel it was right for me.

It seemed like the end of the road. I was so depressed.  For a while I thought teaching high school with a PhD would be better. I am sure it would have been. Maybe it was luck, or someone smiling on me, but I got a job, tenured, and here I am a college professor with job security who has written a couple of books.

What I'm getting at is that feeling of desperation and sadness when you study so so hard and you end up doing something that feels like nothing. That is how DREAMers feel. They work so hard, really struggle to pay tuition and books, at times argue with their families about the merit of school; they graduate with a college degree and then have to face everyone and say, well, I don't have a social security card, so I will have to be a cashier at the little grocery store down the road. That is the only place I can work because they won't ask for a social security number.

Its a sadness that is beyond belief. It is a broad pain inside that doesn't go away. It causes an angst as DREAMers write papers and study for exams. At this time, even DREAMers who are honor students cannot be firemen, or teachers, or police officers, or lawyers, or doctors. They can go on to graduate school but they cannot be college professors. They cannot study abroad because they wouldn't be able to come back to the U.S. They live in a cage of sadness that still expects them to work and work and work.

The DREAM Act needs to pass soon. Otherwise some DREAMers could lose their soul... As for our lawmakers and our new President, please read this post and remember you can save the day for the DREAMers.

Helping DREAMers with TAFSA

A message for those who want to help DREAMers with TAFSA, from David Johnston:

1. Instead of asking minority parents to ‘come to us’, we set up four financial aid help sites in areas they frequent, such as cafes, bakeries and libraries on the first two Saturdays of March, April, and May with one Wednesday evening session.
2. Instead of having ‘experts from outside the community man the sites’ we enlist bilingual professionals and college students to volunteer. These volunteers then offer their own experiences of being the first in their families to attend college as they help parents complete their TASFA/FAFSA’s.

Paul Landa is soliciting volunteers for three sites he’s set up on the East side of Houston. I’m setting up volunteers for our Southwest Houston site (Public Library in Southwest Multi Service Center/ 6400 High Star 77074).

If you are interested in volunteering for the Southwest Houston site, I give the logistics below:

Ø Volunteers agree to ‘man’ a site for two hours. For Saturdays we’d like volunteers to commit to two consecutive Saturdays. Each Saturday a volunteer will ‘man’ the site for two hours. I will work to have two volunteers per two hour block.

Ø I will supply volunteers with a detailed ‘how to complete the TASFA/FAFSA’ workbooks, which take any guess work out of helping a family complete the FAFSA/TASFA.

Ø Volunteers will have a table in the library, a file box with supplies, computer access, and a notebook to keep a log of parents they assist.

Ø Paul and I are responsible for advertising the event and making sure each sites is stocked with FAFSA/TASFA’s and help books. Paul and I will also be on call to answer questions volunteers might have while helping parents.

If you can volunteer (or can pass onto young people you work with), please fill in the below table for the times and dates you can help. If you have questions please call (713-857-8041) or email (djohnsto@houstonisd.org). Also, if you know of others who can help, please pass this email along or forward me their contact information. Please feel free to post this on Facebook or other social networks you use. If you wish, I will be available to conduct orientation sessions (30 minutes) at your convenience.

Thank you,
David Johnston 713-787-1715 (o)
College Access Coordinator 713-787-1723 (f)
Lee High School djohnsto@houstonisd.org
6529 Beverly Hill Lane Houston TX 77057

Segregation in Woodbridge, Virginia

link to image*

The school says they do it to help those kids learning English.  But it sounds like something out of Jim Crow days.

from the NYT, March 14, 2009:

Walk with immigrant students, and the rest of Hylton feels a world apart. By design, they attend classes almost exclusively with one another. They take separate field trips. And they organize separate clubs.

Student Amalia Raymundo, originally from Guatemala tells a NY Times reporter 

“I feel they hold me back by isolating me.”

Student Jhosselin Guevara says: 

"Maybe the teachers are tring to protect us...There are people who do not want us here at all."

The Spanish-speaking kids are placed in a separate "academic track" -- over the years there have been multiple reports that separate tracks is bad for students.  

Here is an 1983 article from the NYT/AP that discusses a Rand Corporation Report on tracking: 

Racial Harm Is Found in School 'Tracking'
Published: Thursday, September 20, 1990
New York Times

Black and Hispanic students are falling behind in math and science partly because they are more likely than other students to be put into classes for those with lower abilities, according to a Rand Corporation study released yesterday.

Furthermore, students in those classes tend to have less-qualified teachers and lower-quality equipment and curriculum materials, the nationwide study concluded. It cited the ''nearly universal practice'' of schools' placing their least-qualified teachers in classes of students with the least ability and best-qualified teachers in classes of brighter students...link to complete article

-A News release from Stanford University concludes that academic tracking is harmful to a student's success:

03/02/94

CONTACT: Stanford University News Service (415) 723-2558
SCHOOL TRACKING HARMS MILLIONS, SOCIOLOGIST FINDS

STANFORD - A new study on tracking in high schools shows the system of placing some students in college preparatory courses and others in easier math and science courses is "harming millions of students in American society," says Sanford Dornbusch, the Reed-Hodgson Professor of Human Biology, who holds joint appointments in the Department of Sociology and the School of Education at Stanford University.

Tracking doesn't limit opportunities for the top tenth or so of students but is particularly disastrous for students whose abilities fall in the middle range, Dornbusch said...link to entire news release

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While Comprehensive Immigration Reform has nearly dropped out of sight, the NYT has been steadily bringing conversations about immigrants to its front page.  Today it is a series titled "Remade in America:  the newest immigrants and their impact."  At least they are not endorsing the expansion of the nasty 287g local immigration enforcement program that has been highly criticized by the U.S. Government Accounting Office.  They present "academic tracking" in such a way that makes you think they believe it is OK.

Why all the focus on immigration reform?  The only people really bothered by immigration are those that want the immigrants out.  Considering our current economic disaster, Congress may go into convulsions if Comprehensive Immigration Reform came up.  

What the NYT needs to be doing is helping get the DREAM Act passed.  They could use a few good DREAMers on their staff.  It might give them some insight into their investigations on immigration.

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*The image above is from the Dept of Education of N. Carolina.  There are no kids of color in this picture.  I guess they were all "tracked" out.

The Houston Chronicle and 287g - Local Immigration Enforcement

An article from the Houston Chronicle reports that Houston's Mayor White blasted the federal government for not deporting an undocumented immigration who later shot a police officer.  

as the Chronicle article states: 

Police officials who requested anonymity told the Chronicle that an immigrant with a criminal history similar to the Salvadoran man who shot Officer Richard Salter might today be able to slip through the cracks if he was picked up by HPD on a minor offense. That’s because HPD uses a database to screen suspects with fewer immigration records than that available in other jurisdictions, such as Harris County.  

To plug any potential remaining gaps, White this week said he plans to ask Hurtt to consider participating in the federal government's controversial 287(g). link

The problem with 287g is that it is a deeply flawed program.  The notorious Sheriff Joe Arpaio in Arizona has used this program to implement his draconian and de-humanizing anti-immigration program.  The U.S. Government Accounting Office released a report in January deeply criticizing 287g.

dreamacttexas agrees that the death of the officer, or anyone for that matter is a terrible thing, especially for the family of that person.  Yet, as has been reported continuously, immigrant crime is miniscule compared to that of U.S. citizens and residents.   The Chronicle's article says that many more immigrants are detained through the Harris County Sheriff's Dept.  It is important to note that the Harris County suburbs are much more conservative than the city of Houston itself.  Suburban citizenry would pressure the county to be more stringent regarding immigration rules.

Maybe the Chronicle is pressing for tougher enforcement, but many other papers are not.  Perhaps the Houston paper is concerned about staying alive.  There is much fear these days in the newspaper business.  Maybe the Chronicle thinks that by writing articles that are attractive to right wing conservatives, they may survive the current demise of the American newspaper.

here is a link to a  NY Times editorial on immigration policy:  "Who is running Immigration?" New York Times, March 3, 2009

 There are two comprehensive reports on immigrants crime by the Immigrant Policy Center - (IPC is not a right wing organization) for report #1, for report #2

Here is an excerpt of the GAO report:

United States Government Accountability Office
Report to Congressional Requesters
IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT
Better Controls Needed over Program Authorizing State and Local Enforcement of Federal Immigration Laws
link to entire report

January 2009

[First]…while ICE officials have stated that the main objective of the 287(g) program is to enhance the safety and security of communities by addressing serious criminal activity committed by removable aliens, they have not documented this objective in program-related materials consistent with internal control standards. As a result, some participating agencies are using their 287(g) authority to process for removal aliens who have committed minor crimes, such as carrying an open container of alcohol.

While participating agencies are not prohibited from seeking the assistance of ICE for aliens arrested for minor offenses, if all the participating agencies sought assistance to remove aliens for such minor offenses, ICE would not have detention space to detain all of the aliens referred to them. ICE’s Office of Detention and Removal strategic plan calls for using the limited detention bed space
available for those aliens who pose the greatest threat to the public, until more alternative detention methods are available.

Second, ICE has not consistently articulated in program-related documents how participating agencies are to use their 287(g) authority. For instance, although the processing of individuals for possible removal is to be conducted in connection with a conviction of a state or federal felony offense, this issue is not mentioned in 7 of the 29 MOAs we reviewed. Internal control standards state that government programs should ensure that significant events are authorized and executed only by persons acting within the scope of their authority. Defining and consistently communicating how this authority is to be used would help ICE ensure that immigration activities undertaken by participating agencies are in accordance with ICE policies and program objectives.

Third, ICE has not described the nature and extent of the agency’s supervision over participating agencies’ implementation of the program. This has led to wide variation in the perception of the nature and extent of supervisory responsibility among ICE field officials and officials from 23 of the participating agencies that provided information on ICE supervision. Internal control standards require an agency’s organizational structure to define key areas of authority and responsibility. Given the rapid growth of the program, defining the nature and extent of the agency’s supervision over this large and growing program would strengthen ICE’s assurance that manage- ment’s directives are being carried out. Finally, while the MOAs state that participating agencies are responsible for tracking and reporting data to ICE, in 20 of 29 MOAs we reviewed, ICE did not define what data should be tracked or how it should be collected and reported. Internal control standards call for pertinent information to be recorded and communicated to management in a form and within a time frame that enables them to carry out internal control and other responsibilities.

To help ensure that ICE program managers for the 287(g) program achieve the results intended by implementing this program, we are recommending that the Assistant Secretary for ICE

(1) document the objective of the 287(g) program for participants

(2) clarify when the 287(g) authority is authorized for use by state and local law enforcement officers

(3) document in MOAs the nature and extent of supervisory activities ICE officers are expected to carry out as part of their responsibilities in overseeing the implementation of the 287(g) program and communicate that information to both ICE officers and state and local participating agencies

(4) specify the program information or data that each agency is
expected to collect regarding their implementation of the 287(g) program and how this information is to be reported

(5) establish a plan, including a time frame, for the development of performance measures for the 287(g) program. link to entire report

Below is an excerpt from the Chronicle article on 287g:

Few illegal immigrants ID’d
Records show they're missed often at Houston jail
By SUSAN CARROLL and BRADLEY OLSON Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle
March 13, 2009, 9:14PM

Standing in front of a bank of TV cameras this week, Houston Mayor Bill White took the federal government to task for not deporting an illegal immigrant with a criminal record before he allegedly shot a Houston police officer during a recent drug raid.

“I vowed after talking to the officer’s wife that I was going to make this a cause,” the mayor said Tuesday, “and I wasn’t going to tolerate some of the excuses that we’ve heard about lack of resources.”

But critics say the mayor has been making plenty of his own excuses when it comes to immigration enforcement and has done little to help the federal government improve screening in Houston’s jails.

Recent documents obtained by the Houston Chronicle through a public records request show that very few illegal immigrants are being identified in the city jail. Last year, HPD jailers detained for immigration officials less than 1 percent of the 58,774 suspects booked only into the city’s jails and not transferred to the Harris County Jail. From October 2006 through January, HPD identified and detained 372 suspected illegal immigrants for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The recently obtained documents include a November e-mail from Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt to White that reported “several thousand” illegal immigrants eligible for deportation had passed through the city’s lockups.

Police officials who requested anonymity told the Chronicle that an immigrant with a criminal history similar to the Salvadoran man who shot Officer Richard Salter might today be able to slip through the cracks if he was picked up by HPD on a minor offense. That’s because HPD uses a database to screen suspects with fewer immigration records than that available in other jurisdictions, such as Harris County.

To plug any potential remaining gaps, White this week said he plans to ask Hurtt to consider participating in the federal government’s controversial 287(g) program, which trains local jailers to assist immigration agents. The move is a departure from the mayor’s past position that local police should have limited involvement in immigration enforcement. The mayor and Hurtt this week also committed to using a Homeland Security database that automatically checks suspects’ immigration history...more

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Your Health and Medical Reports

Remember the "Got Milk" commercials?  They tell you that milk is good for you, that your children need it to grow healthy and strong.  

Has your doctor ever asked you if you get enough protein?  For women who have been pregnant, remember being told you had to drink lots of milk?

Well these are some of those fraudulent stories that somehow, everyone believes.  The real info. is that milk and meat are bad for us.  Our bodies are not built to handle this type of food.

At this point you may be thinking, "where does she get this crazy idea?"  Well there is lots of medical info. out there, and I think it is quite accurate.  What isn't accurate is how industries that process dairy, beef, and poultry have somehow convinced everyone (including health care providers) that we need these things to be healthy - and of course we always believe what our doctor tells us...

Actually, it is the other way around - food from animal sources is bad for us.

Famous cardiologist Dean Ornish says he can save post heart attack patients and one of the main things he does is stop them from eating meat and dairy.  Doesn't that tell you something?

This information has been around for a long time, somehow we missed it.  Here is an excerpt from a 2 decades old New York Times article:

Personal Health:  New Research on the Vegetarian Diet

by Jane Brody, October 12, 1983

In a 1982 study of more than 10,000 vegetarians and meat eaters, British researchers found that the more meat consumed, the greater the risk of suffering a heart attack. Though eliminating meat from the diet is likely to reduce your consumption of heart-damaging fats and cholesterol, substituting large amounts of high-fat dairy products and cholesterol-rich eggs can negate the benefit. To glean the heart-saving benefits of vegetarianism, consumption of such foods as hard cheese, cream cheese, ice cream and eggs should be moderate.

  

for more information on this, check out this book:

link to limited preview of China Study

"Doctor accused of faking studies," Boston Globe, March 11, 2009
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Medical scumbag's masterclass in fraud

o Ben Goldacre
o The Guardian, Saturday 14 March 2009

Like you, I've developed a sneaking respect for all the fun and interesting tricks a person can use to distort the scientific evidence, so Dr Scott S Reuben, an anaesthesiologist in Bayside Medical Centre in Massachusetts, is a double scumbag: this week, in the biggest fraud case from recent medical history, he has been caught out, rather unimaginatively, just fabricating his data.

How did he get away with it?

Firstly, if you're planning a career in scientific fraud, then medicine is an excellent place to start.

Findings in complex biological systems - like "people" - are often contradictory and difficult to replicate, so you could easily advance your career and never get caught.

And fraud is not so unusual, depending on where you draw the line. In 2005 the journal Nature published an anonymous survey of 3,247 scientists: 0.3% admitted they had falsified research data at some point in their careers, in acts of outright fraud; but more interestingly, 6% admitted failing to present data if it contradicted their previous research.

They are not alone. Robert Millikan, to take just one example, won a Nobel prize in 1923 after demonstrating that electricity comes in discrete units (electrons) with his oil drop experiment. Millikan was mid-career - the peak period for fraud - and fairly unknown. In his famous paper from Physical Review he said: "This is not a selected group of drops but represents all of the drops experimented on during 60 consecutive days".

That was untrue: in the paper there were 58 droplets, but in the notebooks there are 175, annotated with phrases like "publish this beautiful one" and "agreement poor, will not work out". Chillingly, there is a continuum between this naughtiness and lots of apparently innocent research activity: what should you do with the outliers on the graph? When you drop something on the floor? When the run on the machine was probably contaminated?

Reuben was at the other end of the scale. He simply never conducted various clinical trials he wrote about for 10 years.

In some cases he didn't even pretend to get approval to conduct studies on patients, but just charged ahead and invented the results all the same.

The details haven't come out yet - investigators have asked various academic journals to formally withdraw at least 21 studies - but fabrication is often easier to spot than selective editing, and some people have argued for various fraud detection tools to be used more commonly by academic journals...more

Don't use U.S. military to fight Mexican cartels

Having a military presence on the border with Mexico is not a productive response to the problem with the cartels.  This will only increase the violence and actually have it cross over to the U.S. side.  The cartels will begin to fight our military they way they fight each other and the Mexican military.

The problem needs to be dealt with in a different way.  The current violence is related to long term economic problems in Mexico, a split among the Mexican ruling elite that is using the cartels to fight a quasi civil war, and a ready and enthusiastic consumer drug market in the U.S.

see dreamacttexas post "The Streets of Monterrey,"  February 9, 2009

and "Monterrey de Mis Amores,"  February 22, 2009

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Link to audio and video of the democracy now program on the Mexican Drug War

the interview with Greg Granden is particularly informative

Obama Signals Readiness to Further Militarize Drug War with Potential Deployment of National Guard to Mexico Border
Democracy Now

March 13, 2009

President Obama is considering deploying National Guard troops along the border with Mexico in response to the escalating drug war. More than 7,000 people have been killed in Mexico in drug-related violence in the last year. Much of the drug-related violence in Mexico has been fueled by the ability of drug cartels to purchase AK-47 assault rifles and other arms in the United States. We host a roundtable discussion with Laura Carlsen of the Center for International Policy, NYU professor and author Greg Grandin, and Paul Helmke of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.
Laura Carlsen, director of the Mexico City-based Americas Policy Program of the Center for International Policy. Her latest article is called “Drug War Doublespeak.”

Greg Grandin, professor of Latin American history at NYU and author of Empire’s Workshop: Latin America, the United States, and the Rise of the New Imperialism. His forthcoming book is Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford’s Forgotten Jungle City.

Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

JUAN GONZALEZ: President Obama is considering deploying National Guard troops along the border with Mexico in response to the escalating drug war. In his most direct comments so far on Mexico’s fight against drug cartels, Obama told reporters from regional newspapers, quote, “We’re going to examine whether and if National Guard deployments would make sense and under what circumstances they would make sense.” But Obama ruled out any immediate military move.

More than a thousand people have been killed in Mexico in drug-related violence this year. 6,000 people died last year. Vice President Joe Biden highlighted the threat posed by drug traffickers this week when he announced Gil Kerlikowske as the new drug czar...more

see "Drug cartels' new weaponry means war," LA Times, March 13, 2009

A Happy Hat Story

photos by Fabrizio Constantini for the NYT

Recently I was thinking about all the tragic stories told on dreamacttexas.  It makes sense considering the blog was started because a group of DREAMers were mistreated on their way to Washington, D.C.  Yet I think it is important to also focus on good things that happen.

Today the NYT published an article on a cool hat maker named Luke Song.  Aretha Franklin wore one of his hats to the Obama inaugural and how Luke is famous.  Aretha's hat is now so famous it will go on display at the Smithsonian.

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Orders for Aretha's Hat Still Going Strong

DETROIT — The vacant lots and hollow buildings abound across Detroit. But walk into Mr. Song Millinery on Woodward Avenue, north of downtown, and you are hit by two impressions: a riot of color and a constantly ringing telephone.

Delois Dawkins of Flint, Mich., shopping at Mr. Song Millinery in Detroit, where each piece is hand-sewn. The shop had a local following long before January. More Photos »

The color comes from row upon row of custom-designed ladies’ hats, from unassuming berets to the kind of lavishly decorated headgear seen at the races at Ascot. The sound of the phone is thanks to Aretha Franklin, who stepped to a microphone at President Obama’s inauguration in January wearing an eye-catching gray fur felt hat trimmed with a huge sloping, rhinestone bow.

Now, the hat’s creator, Luke Song, has more than 5,000 orders for the spring version of the Aretha Hat (he declines to make a replica of the actual model), available in a variety of pastel colors and selling for $179 apiece. link to photos and complete article

l

photo by Fabrizio Constantini for the NYT 

No help fighting deportation

You have to have money to fight deportation.  Most undocumented immigrants do not have the kind of money to hire a good lawyer.  In an unfortunate paradox.... the city with the most lawyers gives little help to those about to be deported.

A New York judge named Robert A. Katzmann has begun a small program to help with this problem...

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In City of Lawyers, Many Immigrants Fighting Deportation Go It Alone

By NINA BERNSTEIN

New York Times
Published: March 12, 2009

In the heart of Manhattan, amid one of the greatest concentrations of legal muscle in the world, hundreds of New York’s immigrant poor are locked up with no access to a lawyer as they fight deportation.

Robert A. Katzmann, a federal judge on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, believes that fact alone should summon the city’s legal profession to do more volunteer work in the immigration court system, where no defendant has the right to a court-appointed lawyer, and some of the most vulnerable end up in the hands of fly-by-night operators who bungle cases wholesale...

...What started as a lecture to the city’s bar association two years ago and quietly evolved into a 7:45 a.m. “study group,” has turned into a movement that filled an amphitheater at Fordham Law School on Wednesday afternoon, drawing high-powered lawyers, judges, academics and city officials who talked bluntly about a dysfunctional system and brainstormed into the night.

“Justice should not depend on the income level of immigrants,” Judge Katzmann told the group at the outset of this “working colloquium,” seen by some as a model for circuits around the country. Studies show immigrants with legal representation are three to four times more likely to win their case, yet nationwide, only about 35 percent have any kind of lawyer. With 39 percent of the Second Circuit’s caseload now made up of immigration appeals, he said in an interview, he considers his effort part of any judge’s responsibility to improve the administration of justice... link to complete article

Foreclosure: 10 Ways to Stay Home

link to image

The Nation put together a helpful list of things you can do to avoid foreclosure

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Ten Things You Can Do to Stay in Your Home
The Nation.
March 4, 2009

As a kind of home remedy, so to speak, The Nation and the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) have issued a useful list of ten ways to prevent or fight foreclosure.

 1 Make sure your loan has a fixed rate of interest and not a variable rate. If it has variable rate, work with your mortgage lender to get it to a lower fixed rate.

 2 Seek out HUD-certified counselors when you are thinking of refinancing. Contact only nonprofit agencies such as the Legal Aid Society. You do not have to pay a fee to get out of foreclosure.

 3 If you are being foreclosed, call the ACORN foreclosure hot line immediately, at (347) 410-5894.

 4 Do not take out loans that are beyond your financial means. Do not make payments to any institution except your lender.

 5 If you are a renter in a house that has been foreclosed, your landlord must give you notice before evicting you. Once you are given notice, find out how much time you have--the laws vary from state to state. Click here for renters' rights in a particular state. Go to nolo.com, for more information. (If you have info or resources on renters' rights, please send an e-mail to NationTenThings@gmail.com.)

 6 Avoid companies that promise a quick fix. Go to Fraud Guides to see a list of scams.

 7 If you believe you are in a foreclosure scam, contact a lawyer immediately. Visit the National Association for Consumer Advocates or the Institute for Foreclosure Legal Assistance. Always use an attorney with a background in representing families in foreclosure.

 8 Stay in communication with your bank, and always ask questions when you don't understand something that was said or something that you read. Go to the Center for Responsible Lending for an explanation of foreclosure terms.

 9 Support ACORN and other organizations that assist families with foreclosures: Center for Community Change, Take Back the Land, National Low Income Housing Coalition, Housing Assistance Council and National Housing Law Project.

Watch testimonials on the Brave New Films website, fightingforourhomes.com.

10 Call your local ACORN chapter for help. Volunteer to be a home defender in your area. Display an ACORN Foreclosure-Free Zone sign in front of your house or apartment. Tell family and friends facing foreclosure to seek counseling from ACORN, and tell Congress to keep families in their homes. Go to acorn.org and click here for more information on advocacy.

CONCEIVED by WALTER MOSLEY
with research by Rae Gomes

for entire article

ID Theft Inquiry in Colorado Halted

Thank goodness a judge in Colorado has some sense...

see dreamacttexas post "Greeley CO:  Undocumented Immigrants, Pay your Taxes and Get Deported," February 2, 2009

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Judge Puts Halt to ID Theft Inquiry Focusing on Immigrants

By DAN FROSCH

New York Times
Published: March 11, 2009

DENVER — An identify theft investigation in northern Colorado that has implicated more than 1,000 people suspected of being illegal immigrants has now been halted by a judge until he decides whether tactics used by the authorities were legal.

The judge, James H. Hiatt of State District Court, ordered Weld County officials on Tuesday to hand over documents seized during a search of a tax preparer’s office last October. Sheriff’s investigators and the local district attorney have been using the tax documents as the basis for arrests on charges involving fraudulent Social Security numbers, commonly presented by illegal immigrants to get work.

Judge Hiatt’s ruling came in a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado against Weld County’s district attorney, Kenneth R. Buck, and its sheriff, John Cooke, who together undertook the investigation.

The civil liberties union claims that the authorities violated the privacy rights of thousands of taxpayers when they seized the documents from the tax preparer, Amalia’s Translation and Tax Services, in Greeley.

Judge Hiatt is to decide next month whether the authorities acted legally. In the meantime, the ruling Tuesday “is certainly a sign that the judge understood our arguments regarding the right to privacy and the potential harm that flows from this massive and illegal fishing expedition,” said Mark Silverstein, legal director of the A.C.L.U. of Colorado.

Jennifer Finch, a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office, said the judge’s temporary halt to the inquiry had been expected. “This case has brought up a variety of issues that need to be sorted out and decided on,” Ms. Finch said.. . more

It could get too hot for the U.S. East Coast

The London Guardian has a number of articles on climate change.  At a conference this week, climate experts presented dour predictions...

link to Guardian page on Climate Change

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Severe global warming will render half of world's inhabited areas unliveable, expert warns

* David Adam in Copenhagen
* guardian.co.uk, Thursday 12 March 2009

Severe global warming could make half the world's inhabited areas literally too hot to live in, a US scientist warned today.

Parts of China, India and the eastern US could all become too warm in summer for people to lose heat by sweating - rendering such areas effectively uninhabitable.

Steven Sherwood, a climate expert at Yale University, told a global warming conference in Copenhagen that people will not be able to adapt to a much warmer climate as well as previously thought.

The physiological limits of the human body will begin to render places impossible to support human life if the average global temperature rises by 7C on pre-industrial levels, he said.

"There will be some places on Earth where it would simply be impossible to lose heat," Sherwood said. "This is quite imaginable if we continue burning fossil fuels. I don't see any reason why we wouldn't end up there."

The 2007 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said that average temperatures could rise by 6C this century if greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise at current rates. Scientists at the Copenhagen Climate Congress this week said the IPCC may have underestimated the scale of the problem, and that emissions since 2000 have risen much faster than expected...more

Attorney General after Arpaio

Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Arpaio target of Justice Department probe

By East Valley Tribune
updated 1:47 a.m. PT, Wed., March. 11, 2009

Mesa, Arizona - The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating the Maricopa County Sheriff's Department over allegations of discriminatory practices and unconstitutional searches and seizures.

House panel wants Arpaios policies examined

In a letter dated Tuesday to Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the department's Civil Rights Division said investigators will focus on alleged patterns of discriminatory police practices and on allegations of discrimination based on a person's national origin.

Arpaio has gained a national profile for several controversial practices, including ongoing efforts to arrest illegal immigrants in the Phoenix area.

Arpaio called the investigation unwarranted and a political situation. He defended the arrest methods of his deputies, contending they are well-trained and do not racially profile during crime sweeps.

The letter, signed by Loretta King, acting assistant attorney general, "We have not reached any conclusions about the subject matter of the investigation ... We also will offer to provide recommendations on ways to improve practices and procedures, as appropriate."

thanks AG for the info.

On Immigration: Take Part in a National Conversation

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Here is a great chance to comment on our national immigration situation. The New York Times has started a series on immigration, encouraging reader participation.

Be Vocal

Find Your Voice on Immigration

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From The New York Times

Room for Debate: A Running Conversation on the News

Welcome to a national conversation about immigration. Starting today, readers and specialists are invited to discuss themes that will be explored each Sunday in a series of articles that will appear online and in the newspaper in the coming months.

The first article, to be published this weekend, will report on a Virginia school district that segregates students who are the children of immigrants, and who don’t speak English well, to make it easier to give them intensive support. Is that a good idea?

Here in Room for Debate, experts in the education of children learning English are already discussing strategies that schools around the country are adopting to help these students meet rising academic standards. In addition, readers can explore two interactive features. The first, a searchable database, includes the history of ethnic diversity in every school district in the country. The second, an interactive map, displays census data that show where different immigrant groups have settled in the United States over the last century.

Please join the conversation in the comment section of [the Room for Conversation NYT] blog. When the article on schools appears, the experts will be invited to return to the theme, focusing on the Virginia district’s approach. Readers are invited to do the same.

click here to link to the NYT Immigration Conversation

see NYT essay by Delia Pompa from NCLR:

Native-Born, but Not Native Speakers
Delia Pompa

New York Times

Delia Pompa is vice president for Education at the National Council of La Raza. She began her career as a kindergarten teacher in San Antonio, Tex.

A popular myth about students who are English-language learners is that they are all immigrants. The truth is that 65 percent of them are United States-born children of immigrants, or second generation, and 17 percent are children of United States-born parents, or third generation. These are American children who must be served well by the public schools, particularly during this critical economic period in our country.

The last 20 years have seen drastic changes for English-language learners in America. Not only have we developed more effective strategies for teaching academic English skills, we have committed ourselves to ensuring that English-language learners are held to the same standards as all students.

Not all students learning English arrived in the United States yesterday; some were born here and have been here for generations.

The changes have resulted in more teachers using better strategies like helping students build stronger vocabularies through literature and teaching language in the context of learning history, math and other important subjects. Policymakers and administrators are tracking the progress and results for all students, including English-language learners, and moving to close achievement gaps.

Still, we have a long way to go. But using a child’s native language while English language skills are developed or figuring out ways that parents can understand what their children know and need to know are decisions that should be left up to educators.

What doesn’t work is politicizing the issue. What occurs in the classroom should be determined by educators guided by what is good for all children; it shouldn’t be driven by debates on immigration. What doesn’t work is misinformation about English-language learners. They are not all immigrants who arrived in the United States yesterday and at the schoolhouse door today. These are American children. And what has no chance at all of working is avoiding responsibility for educating these children. link to article

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The U.S. & Mexico - joint problems are silenced in the U.S.

Article from Mexican online newspaper Milenio.com has an article on some statements by U.S. officials regarding the narco violence in Mexico.  None of this seems to be available in U.S. newspapers.

partial translation:

U.S.: Calderón does not govern in part of Mexico's National Territory

Representatives of U.S. Department of State announce that the drug cartels move 25,000,000 of dollars every year. The cartels operate in 230 cities in the U.S.

Wednesday March 11, 2009

Washington: The U.S. Department of State announced that the administration of Felipe Calderón does not govern in "a number of areas in Mexico," because the Mexican drug carteles have placed Mexico on the road of "Columbia of the 90s"