SB1070 - Arizona's March to Extremism

The Republican Party controls both chambers of Arizona's state legislature as well as the Governorship of Jan Brewer. This week, SB1070, authored by extremist state Senator Russell Pearce, passed through the Capitol and now awaits the Governor's signature. The bill has become toxic due to what many believe is an opening for local law enforcement to racially profile anyone in the state they suspect of being an undocumented worker:

E. A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER, WITHOUT A WARRANT, MAY ARREST A PERSON IF THE OFFICER HAS PROBABLE CAUSE TO BELIEVE THAT THE PERSON HAS COMMITTED ANY PUBLIC OFFENSE THAT MAKES THE PERSON REMOVABLE FROM THE UNITED STATES.

full text of bill - .pdf warning

Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County is under several investigations at the moment due to racial profiling by personnel under his direction. SB1070 will expand this type of behavior to the entire state of Arizona. Due to the proximity of Arizona to Mexico, the Latino community is constantly having their constitutional rights violated by a system that uses skin color, accents and arcane vehicle profiles to stop motorists. If Governor Brewer signs SB1070, all of this will become legal.

Additionally, the bill takes a page out of the infamous HR4437 that sparked hundreds of thousands to protest in 2006 across the country with respect to criminalizing undocumented status and the relationship they have to families, friends, religious communities, etc.

A. IT IS UNLAWFUL FOR A PERSON WHO IS IN VIOLATION OF A CRIMINAL OFFENSE TO:

1. TRANSPORT OR MOVE OR ATTEMPT TO TRANSPORT OR MOVE AN ALIEN IN THIS STATE IN A MEANS OF TRANSPORTATION IF THE PERSON KNOWS OR RECKLESSLY DISREGARDS THE FACT THAT THE ALIEN HAS COME TO, HAS ENTERED OR REMAINS IN THE UNITED STATES IN VIOLATION OF LAW.

2. CONCEAL, HARBOR OR SHIELD OR ATTEMPT TO CONCEAL, HARBOR OR SHIELD AN ALIEN FROM DETECTION IN ANY PLACE IN THIS STATE, INCLUDING ANY BUILDING OR ANY MEANS OF TRANSPORTATION, IF THE PERSON KNOWS OR RECKLESSLY DISREGARDS THE FACT THAT THE ALIEN HAS COME TO, HAS ENTERED OR REMAINS IN THE UNITED STATES IN VIOLATION OF LAW.

3. A. ENCOURAGE OR INDUCE AN ALIEN TO COME TO OR RESIDE IN THIS STATE IF THE PERSON KNOWS OR RECKLESSLY DISREGARDS THE FACT THAT SUCH COMING TO, ENTERING OR RESIDING IN THIS STATE IS OR WILL BE IN VIOLATION OF LAW.

B. A MEANS OF TRANSPORTATION THAT IS USED IN THE COMMISSION OF A
VIOLATION OF THIS SECTION IS SUBJECT TO MANDATORY VEHICLE IMMOBILIZATION OR IMPOUNDMENT PURSUANT TO SECTION 28-3511.

C. A PERSON WHO VIOLATES THIS SECTION IS GUILTY OF A CLASS 1 MISDEMEANOR AND IS SUBJECT TO A FINE OF AT LEAST ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS, EXCEPT THAT A VIOLATION OF THIS SECTION THAT INVOLVES TEN OR MORE ILLEGAL ALIENS IS A CLASS 6 FELONY AND THE PERSON IS SUBJECT TO A FINE OF AT LEAST ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS FOR EACH ALIEN WHO IS INVOLVED.

In response to this effort to create a police state in Arizona, countless groups have mobilized against SB1070, including ¡Alto Arizona! sponsored by the National Day Labor Organizing Network, NCLR, America's Voice, MALDEF, Presente.org, MoveOn.org, Coalición de Derechos Humanos, Border Action Network, United Farm Workers, US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the Arizona Catholic Conference, whose bishops signed a letter with 12 other prominent religious leaders in the state, issuing the following statement (excerpted):

Our concern is that this bill could make felons, not only out of dangerous criminals (as is warranted), but also the many undocumented immigrants who have come to this country at a very young age and have no familiarity with any other country but the United States. We are concerned for these children and for families that may have a mother and a father, one of whom is a citizen and the other of whom would now be considered a criminal.

full text of letter - .pdf warning

The situation in Arizona is a direct result of inaction in Washington, D.C. to fix the broken immigration system. The Obama Administration has continued and escalated the enforcement-only policies of the Bush Administration that does nothing to unclog the backlog of applications for both temporary and permanent residency/work opportunities in this country.

The truth is, most undocumented workers are members of a family with various status of citizenship between its members. As long as the U.S. government ignores this fact, along with the effects of its economic and trade policies on sender nations, mass migration of humanity will continue and this whole window-dressing charade will continue until violence breaks out.

Russell Pearce has been salivating at the opportunity to pass something like SB1070 ever since Janet Napolitano ditched Arizona for her position as head of the Department of Homeland Security. This is no surprise to activists; the Latino community deserves to hear something beyond silence from the Secretary and President Obama. We are literally chaining ourselves to the seats of power in this state to demand justice for our communities.

¡Ya Basta! Enough is Enough!

Corazón de Justicia Awards

Tonight, the Coalición de Derechos Humanos hosted their 7th Annual Corazón de Justicia Awards Dinner in Tucson. It was a showcase of grassroots activism in southern Arizona across a number of communities with a clear message: Education is the answer - real political education that gives a voice to those who often remain voiceless in policy debates at all levels.

The recipients and categories for the 2010 honorees are:

African-American
Francis Miller, for her work with the NAACP

Community Empowerment
Joe Bernick, who invited everyone to next week's Peace Fair

Environmental
Dan Millis, for his work with the Sierra Club and No More Deaths

Faith-Based
Leah Sandwell-Weiss, for her work with the Pima County Interfaith Council

Human Rights
Dr. Bruce Perkins, for his assistance in upholding humanity within the
Pima County Medical Examiner's Office

Immigrant Rights
Salvador Reza, for his leadership in Phoenix with TONATIERRA

Indigenous
Jay McKenzie, for his leadership with the Tucson Indian Center's
Employment Training arena

Labor
Mary Lou Gonzales, for her organizing work with Tucson Jobs With Justice

Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender
Cynthia Garcia, for her leadership as Board President of Wingspan,
Tucson's LGBT Community Center

Women's Issues
Ashira Pace +, for her decades-long work with many battered women shelters
across southern Arizona

Youth
Mixelle Rascon, for her commitment and advocacy of TUSD's Raza Studies Department

The keynote speaker for tonight's program was Roberto Lovato, representing his life work that has recently included Presente.Org's Basta Dobbs campaign, Trail of Dreams 2010 and his soon-to-be-revamped blog Of América. Roberto spoke of the importance of continuing to Dream, especially as the climate toward immigrant and Latino communities gets worse.

During the BastaDobbs campaign, Lou Dobbs referred to him as "a flea" on his radio program and Roberto's comment tonight was, "We got a bunch of fleas, and pushed an elephant into the abyss." He remarked that it will become expensive to Dream in the future, that the monied interests flowing from corporations and D.C. conventional wisdom will be funneled toward a so-called "Rational Center" that allows the immigration debate to become more militarized and destructive to our communities. He continued that it is why there's importance in supporting advocates like Derechos Humanos and other groups represented in the room.

"After the 2006 marches, the moneyed interests polled-away the humanity and morality of the immigrant. We have to continue to dream and demand that it be central."

Using powerpoint images of his parents and telling stories of their struggles in El Salvador prior to immigrating to the United States, Roberto spoke passionately against the corporate influencers who are pouring endless amounts of money into reinforcing the idea of sovereignty and citizenship while they reap the fiscal benefits of exploiting various parts of the world. It was a powerful message and tied in perfectly with the work that is being done by the honorees and the grassroot groups they represent.

Arpaio's Policies Include Shackling During Birth

Last summer, I covered the horrific story of Juana de la Paz being shackled during labor and, after the birth of her child, prevented from breastfeeding. That outrageous human rights abuse occured in Tennessee.

Well, Sheriff Joe Arpaio has brought this scourge of inhumane policy to Maricopa County:

During her second night behind bars, the bleeding started. On the morning of October 14, she felt contractions. Her hands and feet shackled, she was in labor and ushered into a paramedic's van by a detention officer who restrained her to the stretcher.

"That's not necessary," the paramedic told the officer.

"It's my job," the officer responded. The guard was a Latina.

She thought she would be released from the shackles once she arrived at the hospital, but she wasn't.

The officer chained her ankle to one leg of the hospital bed.

A nurse requested that she be freed to get a urine sample. But the officer suggested instead that her bed be dragged over to the bathroom.

Later she was changed from her jail uniform into a hospital gown.

"The officer chained me by the feet and the hands to the bed," she said. "And that's how my daughter was born."

Phoenix New Times

The Department of Justice needs to get off its ass and finish up their investigation so this domestic terrorism can end.

Protest Sheriff Joe Arpaio This Weekend

Phoenix, Arizona has been a hotbed of activism recently. With spending cuts gutting education and social service programs, many people have taken to the streets near the state capitol complex to make their voices heard. This form of raw democracy continues on Saturday (tomorrow) as many pro-human rights groups unite to protest the abuses of Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

Who: National Day Laborer Organizing Network, Puente Arizona, and Zach de la Rocha of Rage Against the Machine

What: March to Stop the Systematic Persecution of Migrants and Latinos in AZ.

Where: March Start Location for Feb 28th: 300 E Indian School Rd, Phoenix, AZ 85012

When: March to Stop the Hate in Phoenix to be held 9:00 am on February 28.

(More info available from the Arizona Advocacy Network at AZNetroots.com)

For many years, Arpaio has taken any opportunity to exploit state law and his 287g agreement with the Department of Homeland Security so he can target undocumented workers in Maricopa County, and because of his racism, the greater latino community. Pressure has been building against the sheriff, who is already under investigation by the FBI for abuses. The scope widened recently when the chairman and several members of the House Judiciary Committee issued a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder and DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano raising many of the same concerns of latinos in the Valley.

This Saturday is an opportunity for bottom-up politicking by those of us who feel threatened by Joe Arpaio's control of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office. We are already seeing the national spotlight move in his direction, and while he loves to be flogged by the media, it's only a matter of time before the greater Phoenix area realizes that the sheriff is bringing attention that is not welcome; hopefully tightening the leash around Arpaio's neck.

If you can't make it to the protest tomorrow and would like other ways to get involved, our friends at America's Voice have several starting points. The petition is just shy of our goal of 10,000 signatures, so please spread the word.

paz

Prayer Vigil Tonight at El Tiradito

From the inbox:

Prayer Vigil for Renewal and Action on Immigration

Thursday, February 19, 2009
7:00 pm
El Tiradito Shrine
400 S. Main Ave.
Tucson, AZ

Join the weekly vigil that has met at the El Tiradito shrine for over 8 years and be part of a national campaign for reform organized by the Interfaith Immigration Coalition during the first recess of Congress!

Pray for

• Protection for immigrants

• Empowerment of people of faith and conscience to speak out more boldly for immigrants

• Moral courage for Members of Congress to show leadership in enacting humane immigration reform

For more information, contact
BorderLinks at: 520.628.8263
Derechos Humanos: 520.770.1373

Isabel Garcia Receives Cultural Freedom Award

¡Felicidades, Isabel!

The Lannan Cultural Freedom Awards and Fellowships were established in 2003 to honor individuals working on behalf of communities struggling to uphold and defend their right to cultural freedom and diversity. As defined by the Foundation, Cultural Freedom is a basic human right dependent on political, economic, and environmental justice.

According to Foundation President Patrick Lannan, "All of the individuals honored this year have tirelessly committed themselves to improving and protecting the lives of the most politically and economically marginalized segments of society, oftentimes making personal sacrifice and sometimes risking their own safety for the well-being of others. We are honored to recognize these five heroes as shining examples in the fight for Cultural Freedom."

Here are this year's recipient:

Bradley Angel
Environmental Justice
Co-founder, Greenaction, United States

Esther Chávez Cano
Prevention and Treatment of Violence Against Women and Children
Founder, Casa Amiga, Mexico

Isabel Garcia
Border Justice/Immigrants' Rights
Co-founder, Derechos Humanos, United States

Malcolm Margolin
Native American Cultural Rights
Founder, Heyday Books, United States

Clive Stafford Smith
Prisoners' Rights
Founder, Reprieve, United States/United Kingdom

sombrero tip to Censored News

Border Alliance Formed to Address Concerns

Border policy is just one important aspect of the need for a complete upheaval and restructuring of the overall immigration system. Unfortunately, those of us who call the FronteraLands our home in the southwest portion of the United States know that when D.C. talks about the need to secure our nation's borders, they don't really mean it. That's all just wonky code for "do all we can to keep the horde of brown people heading north from Mexico and Latin America out of our land."

Never will we see the construction of a massive wall between the U.S. and Canada as we are witnessing rise like an evil phoenix across the desert states; nor will Alaskans have to tolerate the erection of virtual sensor towers along their imaginary line with the Yukon Territory. Checkpoints with armed guards a hundred miles inland won't be commonplace in Maine, though if they were to materialize, you can bet a sack of euros that agents would still be scanning vehicles for those suspected of crossing la frontera sur. No need to worry about every guest at a Hawaiian luau being seized by gas mask-covered ICE agents wielding demands that proof of citizenship be provided on the spot.

No, no. Those types of adventures are usually reserved for us. A second helping if our skin happens to be brown. Any yet, over the past several years, the George W. Bush misAdministration has repeatedly told residents of frontera communities that our concerns were null and void in the face of Homeland Security™. Our human rights have been repeatedly ignored and violated as the region becomes more militarized, environmental protections slashed and burned, tribal burial grounds desecrated, ancestral properties seized, minority populations targeted through profiling, etc etc etc.

In the face of such adversity and oftentimes absurdity, a sliver of light shines through the crack in the doorway to true dialog. An alliance has been formed between the National Immigration Forum, the Border Network of Human Rights and the Border Action Network to give a voice to border residents. This week, members of the three groups travel to Washington, D.C. to present their collaborative report: Effective Border Policy: Security, Responsibility and Human Rights. You can view the full report and representative listings here.

This report finally addresses border policy and immigration reform with an adult mindset, instead of with a tantrum and band-aid, as we've seen repeatedly during the past eightish years. Via press release, here is an excerpt of recommendations and the mindset of collaborators:

"Border policy is not a choice between enforcement or no enforcement; it is about smart enforcement that creates national and community security," said El Paso Sheriff-elect and Task Force member, Richard Wiles. "I came to Washington because I believe that border security and community security are not mutually exclusive. Establishing and maintaining trust between local law enforcement and the immigrant community is central to the security of my county. If we trust each other, then as Sheriff I can focus on the real dangers facing our community."

The recommendations in the report are divided into several key areas: accountability and oversight, review of border operations, technology, and infrastructure, ports of entry, border walls and fencing, diluting law enforcement resources, military at the border, detention and deportation, community security and just and comprehensive development.

Specific proposals include:

• Communities are more secure when border enforcement policies focus on the criminal element and engage immigrants in fighting the real dangers facing our country;
• Communities are safer when we implement policies that ensure accountability and provide local oversight of enforcement activities;
• Communities flourish when Ports of Entry are treated as vital gateways to America;
• Communities are stronger and lives are saved when we replace border blockade operations with more sensible enforcement; and
• Communities are safer when local law enforcement is not pressed into immigration-enforcement roles and the military is not used to enforce civilian law.

Let's see how much Change™ can be enacted with a new President and Congress next year. A bigger table for discussion with the people who actually live in the areas being affected is a decent start.

Crossposted from The Sanctuary

Piñata Pr0n Extraordinaire Jon Justice

There is no greater promoter of human rights and advocate for migrant families in Baja Arizona than Isabel Garcia. She was a recipient of the 2006 Premio Naciónal de Derechos Humanos, presented by the Mexican government for the first time to someone who wasn't born there, in order to get an idea of the scope of work she's done. Rather than accept the award, however, she took the opportunity to call a press conference and demand that the affluent and elite south of border do more to promote economic justice among the working classes. It was a perfect example of Isabel's work to keep the focus on the underlying roots of human migration and exploitation, rather than on herself.

Isabel is one of the major driving forces behind the Coalición de Derechos Humanos, headquartered in Tucson, and that's just when she's wearing her organizer hat. She also serves as one of Pima County's leading Legal Defenders, which has Sheriff Joe Arpaio's pink underwear in a snit since apparently the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America does not apply to those who serve in government.

You see, Sheriff Joe came to town recently to sign copies of his new book that blames all the ills of society on "illegals". Well, that type of thing isn't received the same way in Tucson as it is north of the Gila, so a protest was organized in conjunction with Sheriff Joe's appearance. A piñata created in Arpaio's likeness, wearing his trademark pink boxers, was...well, it was a piñata, so you can imagine.

In response to the whole thing, Arpaio and his friends in the racist right's media empire took to the airwaves in the ironically named radio station 104.1 The Truth in an effort to get Isabel fired from Pima County. The station's radio personalities spend a majority of their time and advertising money on equating undocumented workers with terrorists, drug dealers, disease carriers, and invaders of the Homeland™ - pretty standard fare for a radio channel that also features Bill "Falafel" O'Reilly, Laura Ingraham, Michael Savage, etc etc etc.

One of the local gasbags on 104.1, Jon Justice, filmed a "webisode" of his show where he carressed and fondled a piñata intended to be the likeness of Isabel Garcia. Members of the Coalición de Derechos Humanos released the following statement:

Since last Friday, our office has received numerous hate calls, and Jon Justice has posted a YouTube video of himself with a piñata with Isabel's likeness, caressing it and making comments about "wanting to take it home with me," among a few other comments about "chorizo" and "viva la raza." You can see this video at the following link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jk8pa5GYraQ

We ask you, as community allies, to step up with us in defending Isabel Garcia, demand accountability from 104.1FM and KGUN 9, and that hate speech not be given a platform in our communities.

It is our First Amendment Right, and our duty as members of this society, to denounce anything that goes against the basic human and civil rights that ALL posess. To try to silence those that would condemn torture and raciscm is contrary to the rights of us all!

The YouTube video has since been removed of Jon Justice's sexual escapades with the piñata, the message says that "This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Journal Broadcast Group" - pretty ridiculous when you consider that it was filmed and distributed as a "webisode" from Jon Justice and his staff. Apparently they realized that they crossed the line where their money flow could be endangered.

Speaking of money, here is the list of advertisers for 104.1 The Truth. There is a massive letter-writing and phone call campaign underway to call these businesses to withdraw their support to these racist and xenophobic messages being broadcast on the airwaves of Baja Arizona:

So far, the following previously listed sponsors have informed us of their intention to immediately withdraw their support of 104.1 FM:

• Main Gate Square
• Patio Pools & Spa
• The Auto Body Shop
• Advanced Recon
• Aung Foot Health Clinics
• Sol Cars
  

Interestingly, many of them were not even aware that their "package" deal with Journal Broadcasting Group meant advertising on 104.1 FM, and most were not aware of what they were supporting, and would not choose to support intolerance.

In addition, the following companies have expressed concern about this issue, and have assured us that they will be looking into the matter immediately:

• El Parador
• Allstate Insurance
• State Farm Insurance
  
• The Wildcat House
• Maloney's Tavern
• Progressive Plumbing
• Axiom Drafting and Design
• Integrity Automotive

More information at Derechos Humanos, including sample letters.

Enough is Enough. Please take the time to contact local Pima County officials in support of Isabel Garcia, as well as call on the advertisers of 104.1 "The Truth" to end their support for racism and hate. Gracias.

[UPDATE] The Wildcat House has pulled their ad sponsorship

[UPDATE the 2nd] Here's the infamous Piñata Pr0n Webisode:

Shackled Like An Animal During Labor

What is it going to take, America™, for you to snap out of your complacency to see that in your furvor to deport and criminalize people in your midst, the goon-squad deigned to carry out the mission are serial human rights abusers? Quit thinking that this is about Mexicans or Central Americans or any other unwanted hordes of brown menaced invaders. As long as that mindset continues to fester, stories like this will continue to be a blight upon the pure and spotless homeland you are so want to protect, yet only exists like a deceiving mirage.

Police in Berry Hill, Tennessee decided that Juana Villegas DeLaPaz needed to be arrested after a routine traffic stop even though she produced proof of insurance and her consulate card to the officer that stopped her. Since local officials have decided that federal immigration law enforcement is the new hip, and she didn't have the necessary paperwork to prove citizenship, Juana was detained like an animal.

Nine months pregnant and in labor, she was shackled until two hours prior to the birth of her child and then re-shackled afterwards. Following the birth of the baby, authorities denied her the ability to breast feed the newborn, who was at a high risk of jaundice as a result of it.

So far, this story has been confined to NewsChannel 5 out of Nashville (their story was the sanitized version) and pro-migrant blogs. Tim Chávez of Political Salsa has been doing yeoman's work to cover this horrific tale of torture and human rights abuse in Tennessee.

Every mother in Middle Tennessee knows the difficulty in giving birth. Now multiply the pain and discomfort by being handcuffed by your wrist and ankle to a hospital bed through hours of labor. And you are not allowed to call your husband or family to tell them to come and be with you.

Then consider being shackled at your feet when you try and go to bathroom to simply clean yourself after all the mess of childbirth. This hygiene is necessary to prevent infection and more pain.

Finally, imagine the mental and physical pain of having your newborn taken from you, before you have the all the necessary time to breast feed your child to ensure he or she receives all the early nutrients to build a body's immune system to full capacity. The sheriff department officer overseeing your every move -- and wanting to return you to your jail cell -- prevents your nurse from giving you a breast pump to drain your milk.

Nurses caring for Mrs. Villegas DeLaPaz were reduced to tears.

So you are returned to your jail cell with your breasts swollen and hurting, the pain preventing you from sleeping after one of life's most draining ordeals.

While on one hand, the sheriff's department tonight defended itself to NewsChannel 5 by saying it followed procedure and the law in the terrible treatment of Mrs. Villages DeLaPaz, its spokesperson then noted that it let her go after seven days of illegal holding when it should have deported her.

Political Salsa

Clearly they were being lenient.

Monsters.

Here is the contact information for officials who should be called upon to immediately investigate and halt these inhumane procedures.

Rep. Jim Cooper (TN-05) - Democrat
Nashville Office: Phone: 615-736-5295, Fax: 615-736-7479
DC Office: Phone: 202-225-4311, Fax: 202-226-1035

Chairman, Rep. Christopher Carney (PA-10) - Democrat
House Subcommittee on Management, Investigations & Oversight of Department of Homeland Security
DC Office: Ph: (202) 225-3731, Fx: (202) 225-9594

Berry Hill Police Department
Chief Robert Bennett, Email: rbennett@berryhilltn.net
Phone: (615) 297-324, Fax: (615) 269-9819

"I was just doing my job." ¡Madre Santa!

Crossposted at Booman Tribune

Solidarity Building for NOLA Hunger Strikers

The destruction of New Orleans, as we all know, happened in two parts. The first was a natural disaster, unleashed by Hurricane Katrina's fury. The second was the bungled and, to this day, grossly mismanaged handling of reconstruction.

Way down at the bottom of the junk pile are the everyday workers who, because of their legal limbo, are often forgotten - but as I've learned from living and working with those whom society would rather forget or shaft - they have inner-strength that many of us spend a lifetime searching for. XP fills us in:

On May 14, five Indian guest workers launched a water-only hunger strike outside the White House to protest the slave-like conditions that more than 500 Indian welders and pipe fitters have endured while working at the Signal International, a marine oil rig construction company based in Pascagoula, Mississippi.

Each workers paid $20,000 to a recruiting agency for the promise of green cards and work-based permanent residency for themselves and their families. Instead they received 10-month temporary H2B guest worker visas and worked under deplorable conditions.

Like many immigrants, they are forced to sell their homes in India or take out loans so they can afford the high fee so they can come here and achieve the “American dream;” but in reality, all they found was the American nightmare.

Solidarity is being built across the world to support the justice of these migrant workers, who were legally working in the U.S. (that's for the trolls who claim they are only against illeeeegals), but were still without protections to their health and job security. A petition is being circulated via the New Orleans' Workers Center for Racial Justice that outlines the following points:

• That workers be released from the terror of deportation and granted continued presence as authorized by the U.S. Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 so they may safely participate in the federal government’s anti-trafficking investigation
• That US Congress hold hearings that focus on the way that US companies, recruiters, and labor brokers have used the H-2B guestworker program as a legally sanctioned vehicle for trafficking and forced labor in the post-Katrina Gulf Coast
• That the Indian government take immediate action to move bilateral discussions between India and US and to ensure the protection of migrant workers arriving in the US from India.

Sign the petition here

When we finally learn the lesson that to fight for the justice of all workers, regardless of status or which piece of earth they were born, is to fight for all of us - then the world will finally progress beyond a narrow-minded view that sees the rich getting richer while the rest of us are left to pick from the scraps.

Migrant Trail 2008

Crossposted from The Sanctuary


Starting on Monday, May 26th, human rights activists will gather for the 5th Annual Migrant Trail under the banner "We Walk for Life". Starting in Sasabe, Sonora, Mexico, participants will travel 75 miles through the desert to Tucson, Arizona, USA, to raise awareness of the unconscionable numbers of deaths of border crossers that seems to rise each year.

Registration can be done via the Coalición de Derechos Humanos website at www.derechoshumanosaz.net.

Here is the vision, as outlined by organizers of this powerful event:

The precarious reality of our borderlands calls us to walk. We walk together on a journey of peace to remember people, friends and family who have died, others who have crossed, and people who continue to come. We walk to bear witness to the tragedy of death and of the inhumanity in our midst. Lastly, we walk as a community, in defiance of the borders that attempt to divide us, committed to working together for the human dignity of all peoples.

Information such as Participant Agreements, Liability forms, Medical Information forms, and other related topics can be found at this link.

Movie Review: Bordertown

An all-star cast of stars united in 2007 for this powerfully-told tale of the ongoing disappearance and murder of women in El Paso's sister city of Ciudad Juárez in Chihuahua, Mexico. The film reunited director Gregory Nava with leading-actress Jennifer Lopez ten years after their collaboration on Selena.

Lopez' character, Lauren Adrian, is an accomplished U.S. journalist who has been put on assignment in Juárez to investigate the alarming number of murders of female maquiladora workers. The story line takes the audience into the very real settings of the NAFTA-spawned slave industry, as well as the improvised living conditions of the factory workers that have flocked to the border region from all parts of Mexico. While the film boasts acclaimed Hollywood actors such as Lopez, Martin Sheen, and Antonio Banderas; a powerful performance by one of Mexico's leading ladies, Maya Zapata, draws viewers into the horror that thousands of families have experienced as the numbers of desaparecidas (dissapeared) grow without the clamor of outrage it deserves.

Bordertown uses its dialog and imagery to indict the economic powers of both the United States and Mexico for the suffering of the working class. It exposes the effects of free trade agreements that don't make assurances for the safety and livelihood of global workers, the censorship and convenient spin that has emerged with a corporate-owned media industry in the U.S., and the internal shame that is often experienced by those of Mexican ancestry who are forced in to the assimilation of American™ culture and exceptionalism.

While some of the male characters in the film are overly caricatured, I'm reminded that the point of the film is to raise the awareness and alarm of the exploitation, rape and murder of maquiladoras along la frontera. I commend the cast for using their trade to tell this story, and to do so without sanitizing the barbarism that is involved.

Finally, I was pleasantly surprised to see a link to 'Take Action' in the main menu of the DVD version of the film that shows how Amnesty International is working with the film's creators to stop the atrocities. Unfortunately, we are still seeing corporate resistance to the exposure of the human rights crisis that exists along the line. By recommending this film to anyone and everyone who will take the time to watch its powerful narrative, I hope and pray that we will finally work together towards a future that sees the humanity of workers no matter where they were born, what language they speak, or what color their skin may be.

Más información:

• Bordertown on IMDB.com
• Bordertown on Wikipedia
• Amnesty International - Bordertown
  
• Women of Juarez
• Mujeres de Juarez
• Female homicides in Ciudad Juárez on Wikipedia
• The Juarez Project
  
• Desert Blood: The Juárez Murders
  

May 1st Coalition Events in Arizona

Tucson:

March: 8:00am
Southgate Shopping Center
(I-10 and 6th Avenue)

Rally: 11:30am
Armory Park
(220 S. 5th Avenue)

Stop the Raids and Deportations

Legalization for All

Stop the Border Deaths

Stop the War

Education, Healthcare, Housing and Jobs for All,

Stop the Prison Building

Stop the Free Trade Agreements

Stop the Militarization of our Society

More venues across the country at Vivir Latino

Book Profiles Italian Immigrants to Boston

Author Stephen Puleo is beginning a round of community talks in the Boston area regarding his recently published book The Boston Italians. It tells a story that is all too familiar to those of us that have studied the various periods of migration to the United States over the past couple of centuries.

Early decades of Italian immigrants traveled by steamship to work in America, sent money home, and returned to Italy when work was slow. Puleo quotes a well-known account of an Italian laborer who made $1.25 a day - and lived on 26 cents a day. Immigrants sought the intimacy of village life by replicating it in such places as, for example, Boston's North End - "the enclave within the enclave," Puleo said.

Italians faced early prejudice on two fronts: from those who doubted their commitment to America, and from detractors who said the "dark" southern Italian "race" was volatile, crime-prone, and untrustworthy. In World War II, Italian Americans who had not become citizens had to register as "enemy aliens."

linkage

I'm interested in reading the book as my great grandfather on my dad's maternal side came from Italy in 1922 and was later rounded up with others from his home country in response to FDR's issuance of the War Relocation Authority and related Executive Orders during World War II.

February 14, 1942: The U. S. Army’s Western Defense Command sends a memorandum to the Secretary of War recommending the evacuation of “Japanese and other subversive persons” from the Pacific Coast area. February 19, 1942: President Franklin D. Roosevelt issues Executive Order 9066, which empowers the Secretary of War or any military commander authorized by him to designate “military areas” and exclude “any and all persons” from them. Shortly before signing the Executive Order, the President received a memorandum from his advisers which said, “In time of national peril, any reasonable doubt must be resolved in favor of action to preserve the national safety, not for the purpose of punishing those whose liberty may be temporarily affected by such action, but for the purpose of protecting the freedom of the nation, which may be long impaired, if not permanently lost, by nonaction.”

[snip]

March 18, 1942: President Franklin D. Roosevelt issues Executive Order 9102, which establishes the War Relocation Authority (WRA) within the Department for Emergency Management. The WRA is empowered “to provide for the removal from designated areas of persons whose removal is necessary in the interests of national security….” The WRA is further empowered to provide for evacuees’ relocation and their needs, to supervise their activities, and to provide for their useful employment. Milton S. Eisenhower is named director of the WRA.

March 21, 1942:President Roosevelt signs Public Law 77-503, which makes it a federal crime for a person ordered to leave a military area to refuse to do so.

March 22, 1942: The first removal of people of Japanese descent from the designated Pacific Coast area occurs. The people are from the Los Angeles area; they are sent to the Manzanar relocation center in northeastern California. The center comprises a 6000 acre site, enclosed by barbed wire fencing, and within that site a 560 acre residential site with guard towers, search lights, and machine gun installations. During the next eighteen months, about 120,000 people of Japanese descent are removed from the Pacific Coast area to ten relocation centers in California, Arizona, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and Arkansas.

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While these acts were mostly aimed at Japanese migrants and their families, others who hailed from sympathetic countries were ensnared in a xenophobic fervor that echoes what we are seeing today. It just goes to show that despicable government actions in the name of Homeland Security are nothing new to the United States.

Viewed as potential threats to national security, men and women, children, the elderly and the infirmed, primarily from the West Coast, were given just a few days to put their affairs in order, gather only the personal belongings they could carry, and report to assembly centers at local racetracks, horse pavilions and fairgrounds. There they remained for four to six months while ten internment camps were constructed to house them in remote parts of California, Arkansas, Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, and Colorado. The internees were imprisoned behind barbed wire, in inhumane conditions, guarded by armed soldiers.

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That reminds me of something.

Decades from now, perhaps longer, will we see apologies or retributions offered to the families and workers unfairly and unjustly targeted?

Only if we keep fighting for human rights.

Southern Arizona Human Rights Organizations

Here are some grassroot organizations that are doing admirable work in the southern part of the Grand Canyon State that relates to the human rights facet of immigration and border policies in the U.S.:


Border Action Network

Border Action Network formed in 1999 and works with immigrant and border communities in southern Arizona to ensure that our rights are respected, our human dignity upheld and that our communities are healthy places to live. We are a membership-based organization that combines grassroots community organizing, leadership development, litigation and policy advocacy.

No More Deaths

No More Deaths is an organization whose mission is to end death and suffering on the U.S./Mexico border through civil initiative: the conviction that people of conscience must work openly and in community to uphold fundamental human rights. Our work embraces the Faith-Based Principles for Immigration Reform and focuses on the following themes:

• Direct aid that extends the right to provide humanitarian assistance
• Witnessing and responding
• Consciousness raising
• Global movement building
• Encouraging human immigration policy.

Humane Borders

Humane Borders, motivated by faith, offers humanitarian assistance to those in need through more than 70 emergency water stations on and near the U.S.-Mexican border.

"They will neither hunger nor thirst, nor will the desert heat or the sun beat upon them. He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water."

-- Isaiah 49:10

Coalición de Derechos Humanos

Coalición de Derechos Humanos ("The Human Rights Coalition") is a grassroots organization which promotes respect for human/civil rights and fights the militarization of the Southern Border region, discrimination, and human rights abuses by federal, state, and local law enforcement officials affecting U.S. and non-U.S. citizens alike.derechos humanos logo

Our goals include:

* Strengthening the capacity of the border & urban communities to exercise their rights and participate in public policy decisions.
* Increasing public awareness of the magnitude of human rights abuses, deaths and assaults at the border resulting from U.S. policy.
* Seeking changes in government policies that result in human suffering because of the militarization of the U.S. border region.

Samaritan Patrol

Who or what is it? Samaritan Patrol ( a.k.a. Samaritans) are people of faith and conscience who are responding directly, practically and passionately to the crisis at the US/ Mexico border. We are a diverse group of volunteers that are united in our desire to relieve suffering among our brothers and sisters and to honor human dignity. Prompted by the mounting deaths among border crossers, we came together July 1, 2002, to provide emergency medical assistance, food and water to people crossing the Sonoran Desert.

Feel free to add to the list in the comments below and I will update the post.

Refocusing The Immigration Debate

Can't seem to shake off this writer's block that has ascended from the ground like mist, through my feet, and up the cuerpo until finally reaching its goal of paralyzing the ability for my brain, heart and fingers to perform a synergistic miracle. During the day, I find myself simply reading instead of writing. By night, gazing up at the stars instead of creating, hoping that the silver sentinels will finally whisper their secrets to me.

Perhaps I'm thinking too much. I've done a lot of that in the past couple of weeks. Since returning from the New Organizing Institute's Summit and Training in D.C. last month, one thing has burned like an ember in my consciousness. It was something that I finally said out loud while I was networking with other bloggers: my site inadvertently became an "immigration blog" and I had somehow become an "immigration blogger". How the sheol did that happen?

Back in the days of 2004 and 2005, when we were still chiseling posts on granite, there was virtually nothing being written about the issue. At least not anything that resonated with the messaging and movements I had/have been involved with here in the frontera-lands. I felt there needed to be more scrutiny applied to the land grabs, law waiving and general disregard by the D.C. system to the opinions of those of us who call the desert southwest - home.

Plus, the daily drumbeat of news regarding human remains and/or bloated bodies being found in remote and sometimes not-so-remote areas of my state, vandalized water stations in the hottest region of the country, vigilante movements that harass and demean supposed invaders (or those who conveniently look like them), lawmakers and renegade sheriffs who join them in hateful and paranoid solidarity, increased checkpoints and armed military personnel that continues to appear farther and farther away from the actual border, etc. etc. etc.

Unfortunately, all of those things are dealt with using a reactionary/defensive posture. It becomes exhausting, especially as a Mexican American/Xicano/Latino/Hijo de la Mestizaje. There is no way to tackle issues like this without centralizing the racial and cultural oppression that the nativist movement has injected like poison in the veins of the discussion. It is a direct affront to my personhood and family's legacy when irrational measures are considered or passed that attempt to strip automatic citizenship rights for children born in this region of tierra, English-only measures are passed with spite while funding for English-learning programs are eviscerated, and media of all forms conflate the terms Hispanic/Latino with illegal/drug smuggler/invader/burden on social services/squatter/criminal.

The double-edged sword effect that must be dealt with, however, is that when immigration is pigeonholed as a "Latino issue" - building solidarity and allies is harder than the Chinese steel they're using to build the Great Wall of America™. Shifting the focus to human rights allows us to work across all imaginary borders we've built up between those of the bipedal persuasion.

While noting the Government’s interest in addressing some of the problems related to the human rights of migrants, the Special Rapporteur has serious concerns about the situation of migrants in the country, especially in the context of specific aspects of deportation and detention policies, and with regard to specific groups such as migrant workers in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, migrant farm workers, and migrants in detention facilities.

The Special Rapporteur wishes to highlight the fact that cases of indefinite detention - even of migrants fleeing adverse conditions in their home countries - were not uncommon according to testimonies he received. The Special Rapporteur learned from human rights advocates about the lack of due process for non-citizens in United States deportation proceedings and their ability to challenge the legality or length of their detention; as well as about the conditions of detained asylum-seekers, long-term permanent residents and parents of minors who are United States citizens. In some cases immigrant detainees spend days in solitary confinement, with overhead lights kept on 24 hours a day, and often in extreme heat and cold. According to official sources, the United States Government detains over 230,000 people a year - more than three times the number of people it held in detention nine years ago.

The Special Rapporteur notes with dismay that xenophobia and racism towards migrants in the United States has worsened since 9/11. The current xenophobic climate adversely affects many sections of the migrant population, and has a particularly discriminatory and devastating impact on many of the most vulnerable groups in the migrant population, including children, unaccompanied minors, Haitian and other Afro-Caribbean migrants, and migrants who are, or are perceived to be, Muslim or of South Asian or Middle Eastern descent.

The Special Rapporteur notes that the United States lacks a clear, consistent, long-term strategy to improve respect for the human rights of migrants. Although there are national laws prohibiting discrimination, there is no national legislative and policy framework implementing protection for the human rights of migrants against which the federal and local programmes and strategies can be evaluated to assess to what extent the authorities are respecting the human rights of migrants.

In light of numerous issues described in this report, the Special Rapporteur has come to the conclusion that the United States has failed to adhere to its international obligations to make the human rights of the 37.5 million migrants living in the country (according to Government census data from 2006) a national priority, using a comprehensive and coordinated national policy based on clear international obligations. The primary task of such a national policy should be to recognize that, with the exception of certain rights relating to political participation, migrants enjoy nearly all the same human rights protections as citizens, including an emphasis on meeting the needs of the most vulnerable groups.

Jorge Bustamante, U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants
March 2008

Amen to all that.

So how do we do it without having to be on the defensive all the time?

Border Angels Complete 4,500 Mile Journey

Solidarity with those who remind greater society that we are all human beings.

The Border Angels, a human rights group founded in 1986 by Enrique Morones to stop the unnecessary deaths of people traveling across the U.S./Mexico border areas of San Diego County and the Imperial Valley, will have completed by Sunday, February 17 a 4500 mile journey from San Diego to Canada and back.

The group chose to make the 4500 mile caravan, "Marcha Migrante III," to remember the 4500 immigrants that have died in the border region between U.S. and Mexico. The march has gone through 40 cities with the message of “Su Voto Es Su Voz,” (Your Vote is Your Voice).

“The people of this country will elect a new president this November,” said Morones at a press conference with supporters of the Border Angels at the state capitol in Sacramento on February 6. “We are not supporting any particular presidential candidate - we want to get the candidates to support immigration reform as a pathway for legalization. There are 12 million undocumented workers in this country.”

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You can donate to the Border Angels via this link, or check out their website for more information on the humanitarian work they do to save lives in the desert.

"More Fertilizer for the Cacti"

The desert claims another victim.

The body of a Nicaraguan woman who died while trekking into the United States with a group of illegal immigrants was found on the Tohono O'odham Nation on Wednesday, a Border Patrol spokeswoman said.

The 46-year-old woman had become ill and fell behind the rest of the group, Senior Patrol Agent Dove Haber said.

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One of the trolls at the Tucson Citizen responds: "More fertilizer for the cacti"

A direct result of politicians and policies that aim to dehumanize the flow of people seekin refuge. Luckily, there are groups and movements that do not forget that we are one global family. Please consider giving a donation to them for the holidays - consider it fertilizer to grow the U.S. a new conscience.

• Border Action Network
• Border Angels
• Coalición de Derechos Humanos
• Humane Borders
• No More Deaths
• Samaritans
  
• many others, feel free to list any you know in the comments
  

Today is International Human Rights Day

Sixty years later, the Declaration is still a true road map to global peace...if only we would embrace it.

This theme for 2008, “Dignity and justice for all of us,” reinforces the vision of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) as a commitment to universal dignity and justice. It is not a luxury or a wish-list. The UDHR and its core values, inherent human dignity, non-discrimination, equality, fairness and universality, apply to everyone, everywhere and always. The Declaration is universal, enduring and vibrant, and it concerns us all.

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Nursing Mother Released From Jail

Good news - and a follow up from yesterday's post regarding Danielle Ferreira, who was refused the ability to nurse her two month old son while detained. She was released from the North Carolina jail after officials removed their heads from their asses consulted the rules they're supposed to follow.

Spokeswoman Julia Rush said jail officials did not know about the new federal guidelines for nursing women until late Monday night.

"Had we known, she would have been released on Friday," Rush said.

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h/t to commenter Skye at the Women of Color Blog