Month: June 2012

The Isenberg Center for Immigration Empowerment (ICIE) conducted a demonstration at the headquarters of ICE/ISAP-BI on June 11, 2012 to protest United States Citizen Children having to endure the pain and suffering that goes with one of their parents having to wear an ankle monitor. Over 30 children aging in age from 2 years old to 18 years old took part in the two hour demonstration. The children were accompanied by over 20 adults that either were wearing monitors or had been wearing monitors.

The demonstration was peaceful and the children were given summer play toys to take home with them in hopes that those parents wearing monitors would be able to take the children to either the beach or pool in the near future. ICIE founder, Ralph Isenberg said, “ICE has no idea of the pain they cause these children. We hear stories of children taking knives and trying to cut the monitors off their parent while they are sleeping”.

None of the parents ICIE is working with are considered flight risks or threats to society ICIE reports. In addition the overwhelming majority of the parents have no criminal record and the monitors are being used to force the parents to accomplish tasks like signing over custody of their children against their will. According to the contract signed in Washington ,the ISAP Program is about making sure foreign nationals show up for Immigration Court and do not run if they are under a final order of deportation.

ICIE is calling upon the Office of Inspector General/Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation/ Department of Justice to investigate wrongdoing by ICE and BI Incorporated.

Irma Muñiz, wife of Ramiro “Ramsey” Muñiz, has sent correspondence to the White House requesting a meeting with President Barack Obama.

She wishes to discuss the situation of her husband who has been incarcerated for approximately 20 years for a non-violent drug conviction.

She seeks an opportunity to convey the devastating effect that his incarceration has had on her husband, his supportive wife, and families who continue to suffer after many years.

Ramsey Muñiz, who is turning 70 years of age, is supported by family, friends, and supporters who continue years of efforts to obtain his freedom. Organizations and various supporters, including National LULAC, the American GI Forum, the League of Latin American Citizens, Friends of Justice, and the Chicano Studies Network have submitted letters of support.

Congressman Blake Farenthold (TX-27) also enclosed a letter requesting that Mrs. Muñiz be given due consideration for a meeting. Mrs. Muñiz has stated in her correspondence, “As President of the most powerful country, you stress the essence of the family. Our family has suffered greatly without my husband, and we thank God for granting us the faith, strength, and spirituality to continue to struggle for his freedom.”

Dr. Alan Bean, Executive Director of Friends of Justice, published a narrative revealing troubling questions raised from the 1994 conviction of Ramsey Muñiz. His analysis of the Muñiz trials can be accessed through the Friends of Justice website (and re-posted by permission at the Texas Civil Rights Review).

Steven Fischer, a law professor who is a member of the State Bar of Texas Board of Directors and past District Attorney, wrote an editorial calling for Ramsey’s release stating, “What I do know is Ramiro Muñiz turns 70 in this, his 18th year of incarceration. Society is safe from Muñiz, and further prison is a waste of our money….Let Ramsey Muñiz out of prison to live his remaining years with his family and those who believe in him.” (2012, Corpus Christi Caller Times).

Speaking about her husband, Mrs. Muñiz states, “Ramsey made great contributions to the Civil Rights and Chicano Movements. He ran for Governor of Texas when he was only 30 years of age, and due to his work as a community volunteer, he brought about significant social, educational, political and economic advancements for Mexican Americans, Hispanics, and other Americans throughout Texas, the Southwest, and nation. Because my husband was an advocate and spokesman for civil rights, he encountered many problems in his adult life.”

Source: Press Release from Irma Muñiz

Email from Irma Muniz (Sept. 28, 2008)

Dearest Friends:

Below is a message from Ramsey, who continues to experience a
most profound transformation. At this time we ask that you join
us in praying for change.

Thank you for the unconditional love that you have given us.

*********************

Dearest Citlalmina:

I am experiencing a most powerful spiritual, cultural and physical
transformation like never before in my life. Freedom is not handed over
to us. We must make it, and we make it by searching and fighting for it.
God does not want to do everything, so as not to take free will from us,
and that part of His glory that falls on us.

In reality, we have just begun to live the essence and truth of our
lives. We have not finished, we have not closed the chapter on our own
story of love and freedom, no matter how intently the borders of finality
and certainty may close in around us. Unfinished, because whether we are
remembered or forgotten, we still had the courage, spirituality, and love
to contribute to a past that our descendents must keep alive if they
want to have a future. Please forgive me if I get carried away, but my heart
is full of what has to be shared with the world.

Be strong and have faith. Yes, the journey has been long and at times
it seemed as if light would never appear, but God knows that we have love in
our hearts, and it is all about love.

Amor,

Ramsey – Tezcatlipoca

Relative optimism toward the Texas economy is beginning to waver according to recent reports from the Dallas Federal Reserve.

In online updates published during the first week of December the Dallas Fed revised downward its official figure for second quarter 2008 employment growth in Texas — “from an annual rate of 2.4 percent to 1.4 percent.”

Throwing a spotlight on the Houston economy, the Dallas Fed sees the city falling into the national downturn.

“Just how hard Houston’s landing might be depends on how much further and how fast oil prices decline in coming weeks,” says the Dallas Fed report of Dec. 4.

Oil prices last week fell to a four-year low of about $40.

While home and auto sales in Houston have recovered from hurricane Ike lows, they are still straggling behind last year’s comparisons.

Petrochemical industries are running low: “Weaker economic conditions are now pressuring selling prices and margins for ethylene and other products and are forcing plants to reduce production runs or close to work off excess inventories.”

This month’s downward revision of Texas job growth breaks a 15-quarter trend of upward revisions.

Says the Dallas Fed, “There is no guarantee that the next revision will also be negative, but the chances of that happening appear greater.”

Whether by air, sea, or land, says the Dallas Fed Beige Book for Dec. 3, transportation sectors are slowing in “the eleventh district”:

“Airlines report that business demand has declined and future bookings suggest continued weakness over the next several months. Demand for barge services has slowed and contacts said they expect conditions to weaken further in the months ahead. Intermodal services and railroads reported decreased volumes. Railroads said that there were significant declines in shipments of construction-related materials, autos, pulp and paper, petroleum products and chemicals.”

Agriculture suffered losses of $1 billion from hurricane Ike and, “Crop and cattle prices have plummeted.”

In relation to the broader downturns in the US economy, Texas may be behaving more like another country. On Dec. 1 a Dallas Fed “Economic Letter” shows that the global economy has not been decoupled from the US.

“No longer do other countries catch a cold the moment the U.S. sneezes. They do catch a cold, but the onset is much slower and the effect is longer lasting.”

If the onset of economic difficulty has come to Texas “much slower” like it has to other countries, then could the hard news be that the shock will also be “longer lasting”? — gm