MoPress

Author: mopress

  • Missing the OLD (Cold) War

    By MaryEllen Kersch

    As one who grew up in fear of the total obliteration of the planet, I never thought I would say this, but I sort of miss the Cold War these days.

    Not the diving under solid objects during “fall-out drills” in school, or being on the alert for strange-looking airplanes potentially carrying real weapons of mass-destruction, — those were not fond childhood memories. However, in retrospect, The Cold War united the people of our country in a sense of who we were and what we stood for.

    The United States, during that era, certainly earned its position as the moral leader of the world. The big difference between us and the Commies was that we valued human dignity. We set the standards, worldwide, for the proper treatment of people under all circumstances; we spoke out against torture, oppression, starvation. We urged all nations to be, as we were, compassionate to those less fortunate than us and courageous against those who degraded our fellow humans. We practiced the golden rule. We did it because we knew it was right.

    Here we are, six years after some lunatics, who still remain free, committed atrocious acts against us and we seem to have lost the moral compass that guided us so well. During the Cold War, we never would have put children in prisons. (We even agonized and apologized for our interment camps of WWII!) But that is precisely what we are doing now, under some convoluted grant of power in the name of, but having nothing to do with, Homeland Security.

    For over a year now, the Commissioners Court in Williamson County, Texas, has acted as contractual “provider” in a corrupt contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (known chillingly, appropriately, as ICE) for the administration of T Don Hutto “residential” facility.

    T Don Hutto was a founder of the firm that owns and operates this prison that is pretending to be a “residential” facility. Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the largest — and hugely profitable — private operator of prisons in America, actually runs this shameful facility on a pass-through contract with the County. Under this arrangement, CCA gets 2.8 million tax dollars a month (approximately $84,000 a year for each tender little body they “detain”), and the County gets a dollar a day a body.

    (Curious that the County is even involved; ICE could contract directly with CCA since CCA owns the prison in the first place. But, as some legal experts say, with the County in the loop, the County very likely shares any legal exposure. And the County collects $12-$15 thousand a month from the Feds for going along.)

    The human beings held at T Don Hutto are not criminals; they are charged with no crimes, nor are they suspected of being a threat to us, or our homeland security. Many of the children are actually citizens of this country.

    The Bush administration (and the Republican Williamson County Commissioner Court) justify this shameful partnership by citing their dedication to “family values.” Keeping the kids together with mom, you know.

    Many experts say, and several governmental agencies (including Congressional groups) urge, that people awaiting disposition of their applications for amnesty and/or immigration ought to be equipped with an electronic device and allowed to go with responsible family members or church groups pending a decision by our authorities. It would be considerably cheaper—and far more humane. There are such programs in a number of other communities. But maybe they didn’t have a vacant prison owned by a corporation that donated lots of campaign dollars to lots of elected officials.

    In the former era, during the Cold War, this is the sort of dishonorable thing the Commies would have done. But not the United States of America.

  • Hector Lopez Sent away from Asylum Hearing in AZ, Told to Check Mail for Next Order

    by Greg Moses

    A 21-year-old college student from Portland, Oregon says he is a little confused and disappointed after being turned away from a scheduled asylum hearing in Arizona early Thursday morning.

    “I was just kind of disappointed,” said Hector Lopez speaking via cell phone as he returned to the Phoenix airport for the trip back home. “I was getting psyched up to start the legal process, so it sort of kicks the winds out of my sails. We’re ready for the hearing right now.”

    Lopez carried with him a letter that he was given on the evening of Dec. 22, his final night of detention at a Florence, AZ facility managed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The letter ordered him to appear for an asylum hearing on Jan. 6.

    Dallas immigration advocate Ralph Isenberg accompanied Lopez to the Florence, AZ detention center on Thursday morning. The two met at the Phoenix airport after midnight, drove to Florence, and stayed up until 4:30 a.m. preparing for an 8:30 hearing. When they arrived at the facility, Isenberg said he and Lopez were informed by a security officer that the order to appear at the hearing was vacated when Lopez was released from detention on Dec. 23.

    According to Isenberg and Lopez, the security guard at the Florence, AZ detention facility advised them that they didn’t have a court appointment and that Lopez should be getting something in the mail telling him when and where to appear for his next immigration hearing.

    “It turned out not to be necessary for me to make the trip to Arizona,” said Lopez. “I’m a little confused why I wouldn’t be told beforehand why I didn’t have to come. It wasn’t cheap to fly from Portland.”

    “The only thing I can compare it to is the guard in the Wizard of Oz,” said Isenberg. “You know how you knock on his door, and ask to speak to the Wizard, but he says you can’t see the Wizard and slams the door.”

    “We have so many cases of people getting penalized for failure to appear and not understanding the system,” said Isenberg. “Hector Lopez is very intelligent. He was handed a written order. We were prepared for the hearing. But it’s a very dangerous situation when a security guard tells you to just check your mail.

    “Think about the average person in these kinds of proceedings. They might assume they’re free. Ask Hector if he feels safer now?”

    “No I don’t feel safer now,” answered Lopez as he and Isenberg approached the Phoenix airport. “I’m relying on the post office to tell me what to do next.”

  • No-Border-Wall’s Scott Nicol Expects More Challenges in 2011

    By Nick Braune

    Between 2006 and early 2009 particularly, wide ferment in the Valley rose up against the Border Wall. There were bi-partisan rallies and forums all along the Tex-Mex border, with liberals and the left and libertarians, and environmentalists, and ranchers and citrus growers, many mayors, chambers of commerce, all involved. Although apparently the only people who wanted it were some misguided “conservatives” up North and the Homeland Security monolith, the wall kept lengthening, a huge governmental sea monster pushing people aside.

    One person I have interviewed several times on this matter is Scott Nicol, a Valley art instructor, environmentalist and cofounder of the No Border Wall effort. Since the wall has been off my radar recently and I have felt guilty about it, I chitchatted with him two weeks ago and asked for some comments.

    Braune: Scott, could you tell us what you have been working on recently? I remember you are on a Sierra Club taskforce nationally.

    Nicol: I co-chair the Sierra Club’s national Borderlands Team, which is primarily focused on the impacts of walls along the U.S.-Mexico border. Just as the walls built in South Texas did tremendous damage to the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge, as well as refuges owned by Audubon and the Nature Conservancy, walls in California, Arizona, and New Mexico have severely impacted refuges and wilderness areas there.

    And the Real ID Act allowed the Secretary of Homeland Security to waive all federal, state, and local laws that might slow wall construction; consequently, the Department of Homeland Security has swept aside not only the Endangered Species Act and Migratory Bird Treaty Act, but also the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Farmland Protection Act, and the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. The Sierra Club has mounted legal challenges to the constitutionality of giving one unelected official the power to waive all of our nation’s laws.

    Our Borderlands Team also works to educate people around the country about the damage caused by building walls, and how ineffective walls are. (Even the Border Patrol referred to them as “speed bumps” that at best slow crossers down by a couple of minutes.)

    I’m still active with No Border Wall as well, which has a new website describing issues and impacts related to border walls, from the environment to property rights to the deaths of immigrants, as well as the basic fact that walls have had no impact on the rate of immigration. [The new website: http://www.no-border-wall.com]

    Braune: Although too lax on the issue of the wall recently, I did report on a wonderful protest, spearheaded by local artists, at Brownsville’s Hope Park some months back. Are there still things activists should be watching?

    Nicol: Definitely. The biggest concern is that the new Congress will pass legislation calling for more border walls. In 2009 Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina introduced an amendment that would have added another 350 miles of “pedestrian fence” to that which already exists. Although passing the Senate, it was blocked in the House/Senate conference committee by Representative Ciro Rodriguez, whose district (unlike DeMint’s) already includes border walls. DeMint tried to reintroduce his amendment two more times.

    Following the midterm elections Senator DeMint, a big Tea Party backer, is even more powerful, and the Senate is more conservative. Even though their districts are far from the border, a number of new House members campaigned on promises to build more walls, and Ciro Rodriguez lost his bid for reelection. It is a sure bet that DeMint will bring up his bill again, and with the new Congress it stands a very good chance of passing.

    Braune: I understand California, Arizona, and New Mexico are largely walled off already, so if hundreds of miles of border wall are built, will they be built mostly in Texas?

    Nicol: Yes. It will mean hundreds of condemnations against landowners (more than 400 were sued the last time around) and billions of dollars more wasted (beyond the $3 billion already spent). One would think that would awaken opposition from avowed conservatives like Senators Hutchison and Cornyn, but despite talking about property rights and fiscal responsibility, these two have voted for every Senate pro-wall bill, including DeMint’s 2009 amendment.

    Braune: Where is Obama on all this?

    Nicol: My guess is that the Obama administration feels like it has so much on its plate that they would rather not think about border walls. Secretary Napolitano could have stopped border wall construction when she took over at DHS. At that time lawsuits against landowners, including some south Texas farmers and citrus growers as well as the Nature Conservancy, were still being fought. Instead walls kept going up, and there are documents that indicate that walls are still on the drawing board for Roma, Rio Grande City, and Los Ebanos, despite the flood risk that they would pose. If legislation calling for more border walls makes it to his desk, whether or not President Obama signs it probably has more to do with whether the bill had strong Democratic backing than anything else. If Democrats support walls, we will get walls. If they stand up for the border, the way that Ciro Rodriguez did when he blocked Senator DeMint’s amendment, we have a chance. But they will need to feel serious grass-roots pressure for that to happen.

    [This article is a slightly expanded version of one run in Nick Braune’s weekly column in the Mid-Valley Town Crier, Dec. 22, 2010]

  • Saad Nabeel's No. 1 New Year's Resolution: Come Home to America

    A 19-year-old engineering student from Texas who was deported to Bangladesh during his freshman year vows that he will return to America in 2011. Saad Nabeel has posted his New Year’s resolutions online, and number one one his list is, “To come home this year.”

    Nabeel has been working on his return to America since he was deported in early 2010. Using a patched up Sony Vaio he reached out over the internet via Facebook and attracted the attention of Dallas-area reporters. The news reports attracted the attention of immigration advocate Ralph Isenberg.

    When Isenberg helped to navigate a Christmas Eve reunion for deported college student Hector Lopez, Nabeel took heart that a way back home might be found. Isenberg says he has asked Nabeel to “pack his bags” for a return to Texas.

    Here are the complete New Year’s resolutions posted by Nabeel at meltice.net:

    My New Year’s Resolutions:

    1. To come home this year.

    2. Pay attention to others that are in need. There is always someone worse off than me.

    3. Perhaps study law. This situation is a once in-a-lifetime eye opener as to what I should dedicate my life to: fighting injustice.

    4. Never forget what others have done for me. Be loyal to them as they’ve been loyal to me. Remember: No one ever told them to help, they did it out of the kindness of their hearts.