Author: mopress

  • Time for a Collapse: Renewed Appeal for Marcha Migrante II

    email from Jay J. Johnson-Castro, Jan. 17, 2007. To see the updated schedule, click the link at the top of our home page.–gm

    Afternoon amigos…

    Please see the attached Border Caravan itinerary…

    The imprisonment of women and children in Texas , building a border wall, death along the border of Americans and refugees are all connected. Therefore, all of you that are interested in one or more of the above are receiving the attached Marcha Migrante-Border Caravan schedule. We will be featuring all of these things on issues during our 5000 mile caravan from February 2-18.
    We’re also sending out an appeal to all Snowbirds and Winter Texans who flock to the US-Mexico border to join us in advocating the great culture that exists here like no where else in the world.

    A special appeal goes out to all ethnic groups, all races, all socio-economic groups, all political and religious groups…to support this Marcha Migrante II and the Border Caravan. Especially, we’d like to see solidarity form between Latin American and Arab American groups and organizations. In the last few years, these are the two groups that are being specifically targeted in our country. One group as illegal immigrants draining our country. The other group as potential terror cells in America.

    Finally…an appeal to the media. In the Rio Grande Valley, the local media has been exceptional. Virtually every newspaper, TV and radio station covered the opposition to the Border Wall. Regarding the imprisonment of the women and children at the Hutto prison camp in Taylor , Texas …again, the local media was exemplary. Especially, BBC (Spanish), Univision, Azteca, Televisa and Notimex have all done a marvelous job of covering the real grass roots opposition to the Federal policies that are an assault on poor Latin Americans, Middle Easterners and any poor refugee fleeing to our land of Liberty…just like our predecessors did.

    However, the national media, seem to care less about the truth and the facts then they do about TV entertainment ratings. Most of us realize that they have been complicit with the ruling class. They have been the mouth pieces to foster the obscene idea of building border walls and have done nothing to expose the prisons that would treat refugee women and innocent children as criminals. They have evidently not found it financially to their benefit to inform the public about our massive grass roots opposition to the border wall and the prison camps. That makes them accomplices to national misinformation. Nonetheless, they will hear our voices. They are hearing our voices. They are not reporting our voices. But soon…they will be forced to report on our outrage.

    We therefore appeal to all you local and grass roots media, whether TV, radio talk shows, newspapers or Blogs. Please keep up the exemplary dissemination of the facts to our fellow grass roots citizens. Also, please keep them informed about what their fellow grass roots are doing.

    Juan Castillo, as well as the Editorial Board, of the Austin American Statesman has set the stage of local coverage about the Hutto prison camp. The online news source on the Texas-Mexico border, the Rio Grande Guardian ( http://www.riograndeguardian.com ) has the most up to date border related information, including how the Texas Legislature deals with border issues. From the get-go the http://www.texascivilrightsreview.org has the most current information posted on virtually every aspect and detail of the Hutto prison camp issues. That includes the plight and imprisonment of the [three] Palestinian families that resided in Dallas…. The Palestinian mothers and their children are also imprisoned at Hutto prison camp in Taylor , TX .

    It’s not the color, ethnicity, religion, politics or net worth or social standing of the immigrant that poses the threat to this country. It might be the color, ethnicity, religion, politics and net worth and social standing of those within our government who propagate anti-immigrant fear that is the source of our national problems…be it terrorism or immigration. These issues are not one in the same. However, the likes of Chertoff and the ICE Company seem to superimpose and promote that the immigration problems and terrorism are one in the same…and they use the media to sell that on the public. That has to come to an abrupt halt.

    Fortunately, although it has been a supremacist minority group that has been in power…both national and international. That group no longer dominates Washington, D.C or the international community. Change is on the horizon. We just need to make sure that those who just now won by default on Nov. 7…understand clearly that they did not win because they exuded with national leadership. Yet they do have a clear mandate. That mandate would be to erase/delete the fear mongering, border and immigrant bashing from the national agenda…along with the bigotry of their predecessors.

    With the power of our minds…intelligence and reason…along with the passion and conviction that exists in our hearts…no bigoted power can prevail. Do we not have enough examples of how to make the right changes? Gandhi of India . Martin Luther King, Jr. of the US . Mandela of South Africa . British rule in India collapsed. Racial segregation in the US collapsed. Apartheid in South Africa collapsed.

    And how about the one who stood up to religious bigotry and the Roman Empire ? The Middle Easterner known as…Jesus of Nazareth.

    It’s time for another collapse to occur. With synergy, networking and partnership…of all colors, ethnicities, religious, political and socio-economic groups…we will put an end to the maligned and demented policies that have corrupted our American culture by the controlling supremacist racist minority.

    Jay

  • ABA Hopes to Visit Hutto; Activists Head to Farmers Branch

    “We hope to have a delegation of volunteers to visit Hutto in the very near future,” says Megan H. Mack, Associate Director of the American Bar Association (ABA) Commission on Immigration (see flyer pasted below).

    Mack expressed the hope in a Jan. 17 email forwarded by Jay J. Johnson-Castro.

    Although the results of the ABA visit to the T. Don Hutto prison camp for immigrants will be confidentially reported to Immigration and Customs Enfocement (ICE), Johnson-Castro said it will serve notice “that Chertoff & the ICE Company will not forever conduct such immoral and criminal acts in secret.”

    In other immigration activism news, Farmers Branch– the Texas city that has passed ordinances naming English the official language and tightening citizenship restrictions on housing–will be getting attention from activists soon. In an updated schedule for a border caravan planned for early February, Johnson-Castro and fellow organizers added a Valentine’s Day stop in Farmers Branch.

    Also the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) is one group calling for a major march at Farmers Branch on April Fools Day.

    Voters in Farmers Branch will be asked to vote on the citizenship-for-housing ordinance on May 12. The law was to go into effect Jan. 12, but has been restrained by court order. The English language resolution was passed during Nov. 2006. *****
    flyer from ABA

    THE DETENTION STANDARDS IMPLEMENTATION INITIATIVE

    WE NEED YOU TO HELP MAKE THIS INITIATIVE A SUCCESS!

    The American Bar Association’s (ABA) Commission on Immigration has undertaken the Detention
    Standards Implementation Initiative (Initiative). The Initiative is an innovative national effort by the
    organized bar to contribute to the consistent implementation of the Standards which govern legal access issues at all Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE – formerly the Immigration and
    Naturalization Service or INS) detention facilities and other facilities detaining immigrants and asylum
    seekers. Under the auspices of the Commission on Immigration, Initiative participants will visit and
    tour facilities and produce an official report for the ABA to share with ICE, specifically looking at the
    implementation of the four legal access standards.

    As a result of 1996 immigration law amendments that mandated the detention of certain immigrants
    and asylum seekers, ICE now detains more than 200,000 people annually at over 300 sites, the majority of which are county and local jails. Immigration detainees are the fastest growing group of people incarcerated in the United States. In 2006 ICE will receive $3.7 billion for immigration law
    enforcement, including detention and removal. The Detention Standards are the result of negotiations
    between the ABA, the Department of Justice, the former INS, and other organizations involved in pro
    bono representation and advocacy for immigration detainees. The Standards, which took effect in
    January 2001, are comprehensive and encompass a range of issues including access to legal services and
    materials. The four legal access standards concern visitation, access to legal materials, telephone access,
    and group presentations on legal rights.

    As a key stakeholder in developing the Standards, the ABA is committed to their full and effective
    implementation. In a spirit of cooperation and collaboration with ICE, the ABA’s Commission on
    Immigration has launched this special Initiative to visit, tour, and report on observations of the facilities
    across the country with a special focus on the four legal access standards. The organized bar is in a
    unique position to contribute to ICE’s implementation of the Standards at facilities nationwide.

    The ABA’s Commission on Immigration is recruiting lawyers, law firms, and bar associations to
    participate on a pro bono basis in special delegations to tour and report on various detention facilities’
    implementation of the Standards, with an emphasis on the four legal access standards. Delegation
    leaders will be responsible for organizing a team of up to six volunteers for a facility visit and tour;
    researching the local detention situation; visiting the detention center; and producing a report on the
    delegation’s observations for the ABA for advocacy purposes. The ABA will report back to the
    delegation on ICE’s response for appropriate follow-up.

    Through participation in the Detention Standards Implementation Initiative, the organized bar and
    attorneys can help facilitate access to counsel and fair treatment for detained immigrants and asylum
    seekers.

    If you, your firm, or your bar association is interested in participating in this Initiative

    Please contact Megan Mack at
    202-662-1006 or mackm@staff.abanet.org
    American Bar Association
    Commission on Immigration
    740 15th Street NW, 9th Floor, Washington, DC 20005

  • Key Links: ICE Detention Standards

    To view “detention standards” for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), see this web page at the Department of Justice (DOJ):

    http://www.usdoj.gov/ofdt/standards.htm

    Here you will find a summary of nine general areas of concern, along with a link that you can follow to a 194-page pdf file (pbds-1-25-06-ta-wpdbtb_verison.pdf).

    The DOJ page reports that the detention standards were adopted in Jan. 2001, but it does not acknowledge that the American Bar Association (ABA) helped to negotiate the standards, apparently in the context of a lawsuit.

    “As a result of 1996 immigration law amendments that mandated the detention of certain immigrants and asylum seekers,” reports the ABA Commission on Immigration, “ICE now detains more than 200,000 people annually at over 200 sites, the majority of which are county and local jails. Immigration detainees are the fastest growing group of people incarcerated in the United States. In 2006 ICE will receive $3.7 billion for immigration law enforcement, including detention and removal.”

    The ABA Commission on Immigration has several pages and publications. See the commission’s home page at:

    http://www.abanet.org/publicserv/immigration/home.html

    As reported elsewhere, the ABA Commission on Immigration has announced intentions to visit the T. Don Hutto prison for immigrants.

    Meanwhile, DOJ says its Office of the Federal Detention Trustee “will conduct Quality Assurance Reviews in 12 non-federal facilities and 9 private facilities” during fiscal year 2007. Hutto is a private facility managed by the Corrections Corporation of America and named after the company’s co-founder.

    A study released during the 2006 holidays by the Homeland Security Office of Inspector General found a range of detention issues worth reporting (see TCRR story: USA Inspectors Cite Problems with ICE Prisons, Jan. 16, 2007). Home page for detention standards review book:

    http://www.usdoj.gov/ofdt/reviewbook.htm

  • Key Link: Report on Corrections Corporation of America

    In 2003, Good Jobs First and Grassroots Leadership collaborated on a 56 page report about Corrections Corporation of America (CCA). Get the pdf report from the Good Jobs First Corporate Research Project. Grassroots Leadership, you may recall, spurred the isssue of the T. Don Hutto prison camp by organizing a mid-December vigil. Jay J. Johnson-Castro walked to that vigil from the Texas Capitol, and the rest is history.
    Thanks again to Jay J. Johnson-Castro for sending along the link.–gm