Author: mopress

Email from Jay Johnson Castro, Feb. 12, 2007

Good mornin’ y’all…

Hey Texans. Take a peak at the attached pictures. This is what Bush, Chertoff plan for the Rio Grande . Well … they did plan something like this … until we started doing some Wall-Kin’ and speakin’ against the proposed wall that would divide our Rio Grande community of sister cities. Unfortunately … they are proceeding in California . So we’ll be Wall-Kin’ again this weekend … in California .

Border Wall-K I was from Laredo to Brownsville , Texas …October 10-25. 205 miles.

Border Wall-K II was from Ciudad Acuña to Piedras Negras, Coahuila , Mexico … November 7-10. 60 miles.

Border Wall-K III. This coming Sunday, February 18th will be in San Diego, CA . Dan Watman and his Border Meet UP Group have invited me to join them to go wall-king against the border wall again. Dan’s group is from both sides of the border … Tijuana and San Diego. They have been meeting at the wall for years … where the wall ends into the Pacific Ocean … reading poetry, dancing to salsa, sharing gourmet tid-bits … and even embracing one another through the wall. They won’t be able to do that much longer.

To those of you in California, Arizona and New Mexico…who are offended by the idea of a Berlin wall, who are outraged by the deaths of poor and desperate people seeking the American dream that our immigration policy precipitates, outraged by the prison camps … for profit … that are lining our southern border, who are fully cognizant that the 4000 of Canadian border has no check points, less than a 1000 border patrol … while Bush and Chertoff plan on adding another 15,000 to the already existing 15,000 in order to fully militarize our border community, you are welcome to join us on this Border Wall-K III.

By looking at the attached picture, we see San Diego in the distance … or on the other side of the wall that is being constructed in front of the existing border wall. Anyone half cognizant realizes that this is not only a moral tragedy, and an economic stupidity … it is an ecological and environmental disaster. So … Dan Watman shared the following link with me that should be encouraging to border residents. This is just the beginning.



But we’re not just going to complain about it folks. We’re going to do something about it. In Texas … where we have 65% of the US-Mexico border … we’ve torn the border wall down before it ever got built. We did it before the November 7th elections. The people who have us in Iraq … want to build Berlin like walls on American soil … walls between us and a neighboring country. So much for “free trade”.

We tore the Texas portion of the wall down with people power. “We the People”. The elected officials and law enforcement along the Rio Grande border added their voices to those of the grass roots. This is not about “homeland security”. This is about apartheid … in America . What Chertoff cannot divide us from … in our hearts and our minds … are our friends, neighbors, family and associates on the Mexico side.

We are the confluence of all the Americas …from Alaska to Argentina . We are the blend of the Americas . We who live on the Texas Mexico border love the mix. We love both sides. We’re not afraid of Mexicans, Latinos … Hispanics. The majority of us already are. And many of those who aren’t are married to or are friends and associates with Latinos. Down here on the border … we ARE the US Latin America.

We are the part of the United States where “Winter Texans” and “Snow Birds” flock by the tens of thousands … to enjoy our winters, because the warmth of our weather and of warmth of our culture. These Winter border residents love to visit, shop and dine in Mexico . Soon … we will have them on board with us to defend our US Latin America.

We hope California , Arizona and New Mexico border residents too will stand up, Wall-K the border against a fence that already exists, that is being extended … and tear it down. Let’s not wait a half a century like those in Germany did … to “tear that wall down”. It was not the government that tore it down … it was the will and the power of the common people who tore the wall down.

We will be sending you an update in a couple of days as to the exact time of Border Wall-L III … and the starting place … and contact info. Stay tuned …

Jay

P.S. I’ll be on the road in an hour … heading to the Vigil VI in Taylor , Texas … against the Hutto prison camp. Then off to CA to learn more about the mass graves in Holtville , CA … then off to San Diego . jjj

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

The Border Ambassador

Connecting.the.dots…making.a.difference…

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

Jay J. Johnson-Castro, Sr.

Del Rio, Texas, USA
Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila , Mexico

The following email from Jay Johnson-Castro was received shortly before midnight Feb. 11, 2007. We have posted a photo album of the grave site that is described below–gm

Hola folks…

On the first day of Marcha Migrante II’s Border Caravan with the Enrique Morones entourage…we set out to demonstrate the amount of death that is a result of an immigration policy that is designed to do exactly what it is doing. It is not a “failed” policy. It is a successful policy. It is a policy to retain the Latin American and poor people from around the world in their poverty so that their poverty can be exploited. It is a policy to foment hysteria, prejudice and fear. If a desperate person tries to leave their poverty they will either be treated as criminals or dye trying to become Americans. If they are caught, they become a vehicle for private corporations to make obscene profits off of them…while they are treated like cockroaches.
Just two days ago…on Feb. 9th…three immigrants near Tucson , AZ were killed by gunman…and others kidnapped. One of those killed was a 15-y-o girl. In the Southwest (CA, AZ and NM) the Minutemen roam as vigilantes with impunity. Just yesterday the Minutemen announced that they would hunt down “illegals” in stores, apartments and wherever they could…right here on the Texas border in McAllen . While city, county and state police would not enter the jurisdiction of the Federal Government…the Minutemen seem to have a secret blessing.

With all of that being said…our Border Caravan’s first stop the day we started was in a rural town in southern California just 12 miles east of El Centro . Holtville, CA is in Imperial County . What we visited was merely being referred to as a cemetery of unidentified immigrants who supposedly died crossing the desert in the quest of their American dream.

All the time that I was there…I felt uncomfortable with the visual evidence. I grew up in Alaska where my father and I took 40 acres of woods and by working the earth for several years, we turned them into productive oat fields. We used every kind of equipment that one would use…from bulldozers to tractors, plows, disks and root rakes. While I was trying to understand the existence of this cemetery…I looked at the characteristics of the soil. You can read the soil. And what I read in this cemetery is far more morbid than what we’re dealing with at Hutto…or even the border wall.

Before discussing the soil characteristics…let me share a few features of the cemetery itself. First of all…the Holtville cemetery is a rather nice rural cemetery. Nicely mowed lawns, neatly maintained grave sites surrounded by old trees with stately character. There were flowers on many of the tombs or near the headstones. Not knowing what I was about to discover, I had a picture taken with Javier Aparisi, a BBC Mundo journalist who I’d come to know over the past four months because of my other activities. That picture is the first in the series that I’m sending you. I didn’t realize at the time that it would be the only one that showed the “Holtville” Cemetery…the community’s “public” cemetery. What lay behind the public cemetery is the subject of this e-mail.

The other cemetery….the one we were about to discover is hidden from the public view. It’s really a secret cemetery with no identification naming it. Here’s a few basic details that we learned. According to local folks, there are no public burials. The victims are buried around 2am or 3am…by women “slaves”. There is no evidence of a dignified burial with some kind of ceremony.

No one knows how many are really buried there. No one seems to know if they are…or how many are…men, women or children. Although one knowledgeable Latina says that there is a cemetery in San Diego with nothing but unidentified children in it.

No one knows if the buried persons are in caskets or body bags…or. No one knows whether autopsies were performed. No one knows exactly where the actual graves are. No one knows who pays for the burial…or how much.

I suspect that it’s similar to Hutto…in that the Federal government has cut a deal with the county to place their victims in a relatively unknown rural city. As we investigate this…we’ll let you know.

You have a series of pictures of this secret cemetery. In this cemetery you will see Mass graves…fresh ones…on American soil…!!! Graves of desperate immigrants who died…one way or the other…on their quest for the American dream.

I’d like to discuss the earth’s evidence with you. You’ll see that heavy equipment was there just before our arrival…perhaps within a day or two. There are two parts to this cemetery…which is divided by what would be a road. On the west side are swaths as if the entire cemetery was tilled and hundreds of bricks were laid systematically on top of the little furrows or rows. You can see the tractor tire tracks running over what are presumed to be corresponding graves.

Some bricks simply say “John Doe” and give a row number. Other bricks have names. Hey! I thought they were “unidentified”. Local concerned citizens had place white crosses with different thought on them…like “No olvidado”…”Not forgotten”. The Marcha Migrante entourage placed little cheap crosses made out of lattice like strips of wood. The soil in that part of the cemetery was freshly tilled and fluffy…and ours seemed to be the first foot prints. I couldn’t figure out how anyone would know exactly where a body was buried if heavy equipment had bladed the entire field.

As I was trying to relate to our purpose for being there…other than to recognize that fellow humans died a horrible death trying to become Americans…I keep being distracted by the other part of the cemetery. I found myself taking pictures from different angles. The entourage held a service while I was looking at earth work on the other side of the road…the east side. It looked like it was in excess of 150 feet long.

At the south end of this long…whatever it was…a long grave…it became evident that the grave was really just one grave. The entire length was done at the same time. It had about 4 dozen bricks laid on the western edge of it. The Border Caravan group had placed crosses at each brick. But this thing…this long grave…was fresh. This had just been done within a day or two. Why was it so fresh? Why were our foot prints the first ones? How do we really know how many were buried there? What could this be…other than a mass grave? See for yourselves.

In the background to the east of this mass grave you can see in one of the pictures that there are many acres with soil that is also recently worked … disked … perhaps at the same time. What is that extended field for? Is it part of this plot?

If you use your power of reason and find yourself asking questions … basic questions … about what your mind sees in these pictures … I hope you’ll help me crack this case wide open. I want to know about everyone that is supposed buried in this trench. How many men, women, children? Who pays to do this, who gets paid … and how much? Who did the autopsies … and how did these people die? Were there investigations at the site of the discovery of their bodies?

You might want to use you photo program and zoom in on these pictures. Let you mind go beyond the superficial. And … why were so many buried at the same time … like the day before we were there. Again … as you can readily see … ours were the first foot prints on this soil!

I will be going back to Holtville after we finish the Marcha Migrante II on the 17th … and the Border Wall-K against the wall in San Diego on the 18t

h. If anyone in the media, any photo-journalist of documentarian would like to join us … please let me know.

I beg that you share this information as we exposed the travesty of the border wall and the plight of the children in Hutto, the Ibrahims and the Suleimans. One way or the other this evidence must and will be shared with to the American public about these mass graves. Just as we have been successful at getting to the truth about Hutto and the Palestinian families out to the media … we will do it again … and again … and again! Until … we break the back of this tyranny.

In solidarity…

Jay

P.S. This work that we are doing is not being funded by an organization … and we do not have a 501. Maybe some day it will be the logical thing to do. Meanwhile, we are accomplishing this and covering our basic expenses our of personal expenses and…gratefully now … with the help that some of you have been kind enough to share. The meals and lodging are a blessing. If you know of an organization that funds this kind of effort … we’d appreciate knowing. With that help … we’ve been able to push forward and accomplish things to the benefit of many … and for that help … I deeply thank you. jjj

P.S.S. http://www.texascivilrightsreview.org is already covering the Mass Graves story. jjj

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

The Border Ambassador

Connecting.the.dots…making.a.difference…

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

Jay J. Johnson-Castro, Sr.

Del Rio , Texas , USA
Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila , Mexico

Letter Charges Immigration Authorities with Unlawful Detention; Reveals Feb. 8 Deadline for Report to Senate Committee about Hutto Family Prison

By Greg Moses

“We will be filing a petition for writ of habeas corpus in the Western District of Texas for Hanan, Hamzeh, Rodaina, Maryam, and Faten and a separate petition for writ of habeas corpus in the Northern District for Salaheddin,” says New York immigration attorney Joshua E. Bardavid today in reference to the Ibrahim family of Richardson, Texas who were abducted and jailed by USA immigration authorities in early November.

On January 24, 2007, Bardavid and his mentor Theodore N. Cox sent to the Department of Homeland Security a request for release of the Ibrahim family. Bardavid has supplied us with a pdf of the request; however, since the electronic file contains exhibits of family travel documents, Bardavid asks that it not be posted out of respect for the privacy of the Ibrahim family. Here is a summary:
In the request for release, Bardavid and Cox argue that the lawful period for detaining and deporting immigrants is within a six-month period following a final order of removal. Since that order of removal was officially filed on August 24, 2004, attorneys argue that the lawful period for detention and deportation has long expired.

Furthermore, say Bardavid and Cox, there is no likelihood that the Ibrahims can be sent back to Palestine. According to the Oslo II accords, Palestinian families may only return if they meet specific conditions (“individuals who left with valid travel documents that were pre-approved by he Palestinian authority, in possession of current. validly issued Palestinian identity documents”) that the Ibrahims do not fulfill.

Neither do the Ibrahims pose any risks to the USA or to their neighbors, says the attorneys. So there are no special circumstances to warrant the family’s detention:

“Their time in the Palestinian Territories and time in the United States demonstrate that they are nothing short of upstanding, productive, well-respected members of any community in which they live. Their continued detention is unlawful in that the purpose of the detention – civil (to effectuate removal) – no longer exists.”

In fact, argue Bardavid and Cox, the special circumstances that do exist in the Ibrahim case are ones that support the immediate release of the family:

“Hanan Alhai Ibrahim is currently pregnant. The stressful and unhealthy conditions in prison endanger the health and wellbeing of both Mrs. Ibrahim and her unborn child.”

Quoting remarks made by President George W. Bush when he signed the Unborn Victims of Violence Act of 2004, attorneys argue that not only is the detention of Mrs. Ibrahim unlawful, but that the detention of her unborn son “is a direct violation of the spirit of the law.”

“In signing this bill into law, President Bush explained that it ‘reinforced the circle of compassion’ and reaffirmed our Government’s and society’s commitment to a ‘a culture of life.’ ”

As for the children already born into the Ibrahim family, attorneys argue that their ages are a special circumstance that counts in favor of release:

“Aged five to fifteen, the emotional impact and devastating long-term psychological harm caused by prolonged detention cannot be underestimated. The same holds true to Mr. and Mrs. Ibrahim’s youngest child, age two, who has been separated from the family and placed into foster care as a direct result of this unlawful detention.”

Even if the Ibrahims were being detained within the allowable six month period, attorneys Bardavid and Cox argue that immigration authorities have not yet provided evidence that they conducted a proper custody review.

“Here, to the best of counsel’s knowledge, ICE has not conducted a single review of Respondents’ current detention. Because ICE has failed to do so, they are in violation of the laws and regulations governing detention, and continued detention is invalid.”

Additionally, argue Bardavid and Cox, the detention of the Ibrahims is a violation of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments of the USA Constitution, including a right to family unity.

“Distilled. the case law establishes that a fundamental right exists for parents and children lo maintain their bonds and ongoing relationship as a family unit free from government action that destroys that family unit.”

In fact, Congressional concern about the treatment of families has resulted in a demand by the Senate Appropriations Committee that ICE “submit a report by February 8, 2007, assessing the impact of the Hutto Family Center in Williamson, Texas, on the number of families required to be separated, and providing updated forecasts of family detention space needs for the next 2 years.”

Bardavid and Cox also reference a consent decree in the case of Flores v. Ashcroft under which the federal government adopted a policy in 2001 to “usually house . . . persons under the age of 18 in an open setting such as a foster or group home, and not in detention facilities.”

Because ICE has not taken any steps to prove why the Ibrahim children must be detained in prison, the agency is required to release them immediately, argue Bardavid and Cox in their letter to the Department of Homeland Security, dated Jan. 24, 2007.

We’re getting some viistors from LiveJournal, which is cool, because they put stuff up like this –>.