Author: mopress

By Greg Moses

The office of Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Lufkin) has confirmed that the Congressman drove four hours Friday evening to visit with Albanian asylum seeker Rrustem Neza who is being held by immigration authorities at a federal detention facility in Jena, Louisiana.

Meanwhile, Rrustem Neza has told his brother Xhemal via telephone that he has been released from “the hole” or solitary confinement and returned to the general population at the LaSalle Detention Facility in LaSalle Parish.

Rrustem had previously reported that he was kept in “the hole” from Aug. 5 until Thursday evening, Aug. 20. Xhemal’s third attempt to visit his brother at LaSalle was successful on Thursday evening after Rep. Gohmert personally intervened.

Rep. Gohmert called Xhemal at 2:15 Thursday afternoon to tell him that a visit would be possible that same evening. Xhemal and another brother drove four and a half hours from their Lufkin home to Jena to meet with their brother for an hour and ten minutes.

Xhemal returned from the visit deeply upset over Rrustem’s apparent condition and drove from Lufkin to Dallas Friday morning to swear an affidavit of his impressions. He also called Rep. Gohmert’s office Friday morning to express concern over Rrustem’s condition.

On Friday afternoon, Rep. Gohmert and an aide drove from Lufkin to Jena to visit with Rrustem, arriving at about 7p.m. according to the Congressman’s staff.

The tone of Xhemal’s voice changed considerably in telephone conversations with the Texas Civil Rights Review after hearing about Rep. Gohmert’s personal visit to his brother.

“Mr. Gohmert has saved my brother’s life,” said a relieved Xhemal Neza speaking by cell phone from the family’s restaurant, Joe’s Italian Grill in Lufkin.

Rrustem and Xhemal Neza applied for asylum after they fled from Albania in the wake of a series of political assassinations. Xhemal’s application was approved, but Rrustem’s was denied.

The Neza family has drawn support from their East Texas neighbors who call “a thousand times a day” says Xhemal.

In addition to the support of neighbors and Rep. Gohmert, the Neza family has also drawn editorial support from the Lufkin Daily News which editorialized once again in favor of asylum.

“Keep screaming, Louie,” said the Wednesday editorial. “We believe Neza deserves to continue living and working in East Texas, and we hope ICE will hold off until the Department of Justice and/or 11th Circuit Court of Appeals will take the time to hear his appeal.”

“All we ask is to look at the facts,” said Xhemal before returning to work on Saturday. “My brother is a good man with a lovely wife and two lovely boys.”

By Greg Moses

The family of imprisoned asylum seeker Rrustem Neza tells the Texas Civil Rights Review that he was visited Friday by Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Lufkin).

The visit comes as welcome news for Rrustem’s brother Xhemal (pronounced Jehmal) Neza who was shocked by the way Rrustem looked during a visit on Thursday.

After seeing his brother Rrustem at the LaSalle Detention Facility in Jena, Louisiana on Thursday evening, Xhemal drove to Dallas Friday morning to swear out an affidavit of his impressions.

“When I saw him he was wasted,” says Xhemal about Rrustem in the affidavit provided by attorney John Wheat Gibson of Dallas. “He was wearing the same clothes he had on when he was arrested two weeks ago. His face looked as if he were dead. It made me very weak to see his face.”

The affidavit alleges that since his arrest on Aug. 5 Rrustem has been kept in “a hole” or solitary confinement in a room of about three feet by six feet with a slit on the door but no window to the outside.

“I believe Congressman Gohmert saved Rrustem’s life by his intervention,” says Friday’s affidavit. Xhemal says he approached the facility two times prior to Thursday seeking to visit his brother, but it was only after Rep. Gohmert’s office stepped in that a successful visit was completed.

The Neza brothers applied for asylum in the USA after they fled Albania following a political assassination. Xhemal’s asylum was granted, but Rrustem’s was denied. The family believes the difference in treatment can be explained chiefly by the difference in attorneys handling the cases.

Rrustem and his brothers fear that a forced return to Albania would endanger his life.

The LaSalle Detention Facility in Jena, Louisiana is operated by the GEO Group, Inc. under a “perpetual” contract between the LaSalle Economic Development District (LEDD) of LaSalle Parish and the federal bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

A recent $30 million dollar expansion of the former juvenile facility has increased the capacity of the center from 416 beds to 1,160, according to news clips archived online at privateci.org.

“The contract is expected to generate approximately $23.5 million in annualized operating revenues for GEO at full occupancy,” stated a Business Wire press release of July, 2007.

The Texas Civil Rights Review will continuing to monitor developments in this case.

By Nick Braune

For well over a year, the South Texas Civil Rights Project (STCRP) has been urging the Border Patrol to recognize that its job should include an elemental human concern: the safety of the population during hurricanes or other disasters. There is a simple problem. The Border Patrol, in its eagerness to enforce immigration rules, apparently wants it known that it will be checking IDs to see who is and who is not a citizen, etc., even during emergency evacuations. But if the word is out that the Border Patrol will be checking IDs, many undocumented people and others may simply risk their lives by not evacuating.

The STCRP held another press conference in the Rio Grande Valley this month: On August 7th, an article in the McAllen daily newspaper, The Monitor, covered the story:

“The U.S. Border Patrol has stated it will continue operating its checkpoints in the event of a storm, including the Sarita and Falfurrias checkpoints located on U.S. 77 and U.S. 281, respectively. (U.S. 281 is a designated hurricane evacuation route.) ‘An evacuation doesn’t preclude us from doing our job,’ said John Lopez, local spokesman for the agency. But activists fear such inspections would encourage the Rio Grande Valley’s estimated 150,000 illegal immigrants to ride out a hurricane in their homes to avoid deportation. Many live in unincorporated colonias — areas that are particularly vulnerable to heavy storms due to the lack of adequate infrastructure.”

It was only last summer when terrible damage in Galveston occurred from a hurricane, one which those of us in the Rio Grande Valley thought for a day or so was going to hit here. But if last summer’s big hurricane had hit here instead of a few hundred miles north of us, numbers of undocumented immigrants would not have evacuated. They would have stayed home, afraid of the hassle with the Patrol.

Corinna Spencer-Scheurich, an attorney with STCRP, says it is important for the Border Patrol to keep some distance from exits and shelters during an emergency. “This is about human life, not law enforcement,” she says.

The situation has become even more complicated this year since a new law goes into effect in September making it a crime not to evacuate when a general order has gone out. Spencer-Scheurich is quoted in The Monitor as saying that this is going to make an even tougher situation for the undocumented. “If they evacuate, they could be deported. And if they stay, they could be arrested and then deported.”

Spencer-Scheurich explained in a phone call with this reporter that as far as this issue is concerned there has been no major difference between the Obama administration and the Bush administration. “We got about the same form letter from the Border Patrol this year as we did during the Bush administration. Although we are working case by case, we need a national level policy and we can’t leave important decisions to be made at the last minute.” Spencer-Scheurich emphasized that in an emergency, when people are scrambling to get their bottled water and their batteries and other supplies ready, they can’t wait too long for the Border Patrol to make a decision to be humane. Not only hurricanes present this problem: there have been cases in California of immigrants driving toward dangerous wildfires instead of away from them because the Border Patrol has failed to make the proper public announcement about their enforcement stance during evacuations.

Evacuation emergencies are not the right time to force lines of people to stop and have their IDs checked. Spencer-Scheurich emphasized that everyone has to know ahead of time that an evacuation can be smooth for everyone, hassle free and fast.

The Aug. 22 Freedom Walk and Protest Vigil of the T. Don Hutto prison for immigrants is still scheduled as planned. Organizers are calling for a noon gathering at Heritage Park in Taylor, Texas, and a 1p.m. walk to the Hutto facility. A rally is scheduled from 2p.m. to 5p.m.

Organizer Pedro Ruiz of the Texas Indigenous Council remains critical of the detention status quo. Although the federal government has announced that families with children will no longer be assigned to the Hutto facility, Ruiz says moving the issue to the Berks facility in Pennsylvania is not a satisfactory solution:

“They can call it whatever they want to call it,” Díaz told the San Antonio Current. “But if families are not free to go, it’s still a detention center. We used Berks as a template of what we wanted Hutto to look like but, in my mind, a golden cage is still a cage. If you’re not free, you’re not free.”