Author: mopress

The history — oops, I mean the HERstory — of Texas blogging just got a new pair of boots, with today’s debut of Diane Wilson’s blog, Diane4justice, at wordpress.com.

Her debut post, not counting “Hello World” on June 15, was a June 19th (yes Juneteenth) report on her mischief up at the offices of the Indian Consulate in Houston.

Her diplomatic mission was to raise up the need for more governmental attention to the surviving community of the Bhopal chemical disaster caused by Diane’s hometown nemesis Uni*n Carbide.

The Consul agreed to meet with Diane, and he explained to her how there were “constraints.” To which our “Unreasonable Woman” responds:

Everybody knew the constraints. The whole world knew. its like a big fat elephant in a small room and nobody wants to talk about the elephant. Goes something like this (this is my thinking, here) the corporate world and the US government does not care to have corporate killings and environmental mayhem took to task in another country. They’re thinking, Hey we brought our company down here. Now give us a free license to do what we will. That way all involved will make a profit. Oh well, not the poor and not the disfranchised. No! The important people! Besides if Uni*n Carbide and Dow are brought to task for this horrendous crime, doesn’t that mean that other foreign corporations that create a mess will be brought to task?? Well, that wouldn’t do! That would set a precedent!

Here’s the link, grrrlfriend. What the heck do you suppose she’ll do next? Now we get the double thrill of following her thinking, too! –gm

Back in May, Jay Johnson-Castro was walking through Arizona, talking about a federal plan called “Operation Endgame” to remove every last undocumented migrant from the USA. Meanwhile, Operation Streamline had been well underway — a federal program developed in Del Rio, Texas, that sentences undocumented migrants to one month in jail before they are shipped back home. In March, the monthly total of migrants prosecuted had reached a record 9,350 per month, “up by almost 50% from the previous month and 73% from the previous year” says the TRAC project of Syracuse Univ. Many of the new detention facilities along the border are operated for shareholder profit. Below is a series of clips about the campaign to produce a nation for profit only:–gm

New Year 2008

The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during January 2008 the government reported 4739 new immigration prosecutions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 21.6% over the previous month, [and represents the largest monthly number of such prosecutions in the past seven years].

Virtually all federal criminal prosecutions for immigration offenses in January 2008 (99 percent) were referred by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The two lead investigative agencies in DHS are Customs and Border Protection (CBP) whose border patrol agencies guard the county’s borders, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), responsible for conducting most immigration criminal investigations under the immigration laws.

In January 2008, 67 percent of immigration cases for these matters took place in U.S. Magistrate Courts which handle less serious misdemeanor cases, including what are called “petty offenses.” In the magistrate courts in January the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 8 U.S.C Section 1325 involving the “Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc.”. This was the lead charge for 56 percent of all magistrate filings in January. Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: “8 USC 1326 – Reentry of deported alien” (35.3%), “8 USC 1324 – Bringing in and harboring certain aliens” (5.8%).

The Southern District of Texas (Houston)—with 354 prosecutions—was the most active during January 2008. The Southern District of Texas (Houston) was ranked 1 a year ago, while it was ranked 1 five years ago.

“Immigration Prosecutions for January 2008,” TRAC, Syracuse Univ. (Apr. 30, 2008).

Quoted in Cali

“The private prison industry was on the verge of bankruptcy in the late 1990s, until the feds bailed them out with the immigration-detention contracts,” said Michele Deitch, an expert on prison privatization with the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas in Austin.

Tougher immigration laws turn the ailing private prison sector into a revenue maker. By Leslie Berestein. San Diego UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER (May 4, 2008)

Meanwhile

No government body is required to keep track of deaths [of immigrants in detention] and publicly report them. No independent inquiry is mandated. And often relatives who try to investigate the treatment of those who died say they are stymied by fear of immigration authorities, lack of access to lawyers, or sheer distance.

Few Details on Immigrants Who Died in Custody. By NINA BERNSTEIN. New York Times. Published: May 5, 2008

Shoot the Messenger

So it was no surprise that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials were upset about a four-part series that ran May 11-14, about the health care of immigrant detainees.

Veteran reporters Dana Priest and Amy Goldstein detailed mistakes that led to some of the 83 detainee deaths in the past five years, showed serious gaps in mental health treatment, suicides that could have been prevented and the medically unnecessary drugging of deportees for the trip back to their home countries. Immigrant health care is managed by ICE’s Division of Immigration Health Services.

“An Investigation Raises Ire at ICE,” By Deborah Howell. The Washington Post (Sunday, June 8, 2008; Page B06)

Stop

In 2007, the U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) rounded up more than 30,000 immigrants in raids. While more than 186,000 immigrants were deported in 2006, an alarming 300,000 were detained in immigrant detention centers, such as the T. Don Hutto Center in
Taylor, in 2007 alone. According to ICE, the purpose of immigrant detention centers is to “detain and remove criminal and other deportable aliens … in part of the strategy to deter illegal immigration and protect public safety.”

Put for-profit detention centers on ICE. By Ulylesia Thompson, Carla Bates & Sarah Robinson. The Daily Texan (4/30/08).

Full Steam Ahead

The federal government is accepting bids for up to three new family detention centers that would house as many as 600 men, women and children fighting deportation cases.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued a call for proposals last month and set June 16 as the deadline. New facilities are being considered on both coasts and on the Southwestern border. The agency calls for minimum-security residential facilities that would provide a “least restrictive, nonsecure setting” and provide schooling for children, recreational activities and access to religious services.

Immigration agency plans new family detention centers: The federal ICE, which already runs two such facilities, is taking bids for as many as three more. Critics say detaining families is punitive and unnecessary.
By Anna Gorman, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer (May 18, 2008).

P.S.

It would be ludicrously gullible to swallow the government propaganda that “The need to imprison families stems from the presence of so many illegal families sneaking across the border or hiding in the United States.”

In truth, the “need” to imprison families stems from the “need” of congress members and the executive branch to deliver taxpayers’ money to prison for profit corporations like Wackenhut and CCCA, that buy their elections, to build more prisons and fill them up, so the politicians can continue to send our money to the prison profiteers, so they can continue buying the politicians, and so goes the cycle.

Of course, the for-profit prisons are not the only pigs that our government slops at the tax trough. But in combination with other special interests like money lenders and war profiteers, they use the media to keep us taxpayers in a frenzy of hate and xenophobia, so that when we go to the grocery store or the gas pump or pay the electric bill we will not think straight about what they are doing with our money.

John Wheat Gibson
via email (May 19, 2008).

A New Deal for a New Century

WATERLOO, Iowa — In temporary courtrooms at a fairgrounds here, 270 illegal immigrants were sentenced this week to five months in prison for working at a meatpacking plant with false documents.

The prosecutions, which ended Friday, signal a sharp escalation in the Bush a
dministration’s crackdown on illegal workers, with prosecutors bringing tough federal criminal charges against most of the immigrants arrested in a May 12 raid. Until now, unauthorized workers have generally been detained by immigration officials for civil violations and rapidly deported.

“270 Illegal Immigrants Sent to Prison in Federal Push.” By JULIA PRESTON. New York Times. Published: May 24, 2008.

Immigration Prosecutions Up

The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during February 2008 the government reported 7251 new immigration prosecutions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 82.9% over the previous month.

Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in prosecutions—up 56.6 percent—compared to one year ago was Title 8 U.S.C Section 1325 that involves ” Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc. “. Compared to five years ago, the largest increase—156.4 percent—was registered for prosecutions under ” Fraud and related activity – id documents ” (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1028 ).

The Southern District of Texas (Houston)—with 338 prosecutions—was the most active during February 2008. The Southern District of Texas (Houston) was ranked 1 a year ago, while it was ranked 1 five years ago.

The Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 2nd. The Western District of Texas (San Antonio) was ranked 2 a year ago, while it was ranked 4 five years ago.

“Immigration Prosecutions for February 2008,” TRAC, Syracuse Univ. (May, 2008).

Heart o Texas

In recent years, about three to five people a month were charged in U.S. District Court in Austin with returning to the United States after deportation. In March . . . 17 people were charged with the crime in federal court in Austin, according to an American-Statesman review of cases.

In April, federal prosecutors in Austin charged 21 people with illegally re-entering the United States after deportation, and this month they have charged 25, according to the review. A total of eight people were charged in January and February.

“More illegal immigrants are being charged criminally in Austin: Prison time comes before deportation for some,” By Steven Kreytak, AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF (Wednesday, May 28, 2008)

Streamlining Criminalization for Profit

Although Operation Streamline has raised criticism in other places like Del Rio, the Valley Morning Star says that it is now hitting our Valley. “The Border Patrol rolled out the policy Monday (June 9) along a four-mile stretch of Cameron County’s border with Mexico from Brownsville to Fort Brown.”

“Formerly, first time offenders were offered the option of voluntary deportation and were processed, put on a bus and sent back to Mexico within hours of their arrest.” But under Operation Streamline they will be “detained, sent to court, jailed for up to 180 days if found guilty, and then deported.”

In Del Rio where this policy was recently tried, one federal Public Defender, William Fry, was quoted as worrying about due process. “We get a case on Wednesday and the court expects us to be ready to go by Friday. That’s not enough time to adequately represent a client.”

“Operation Streamline Criminalizes the Rio Grande Valley,” Nick Braune, Texas Civil Rights Review (June 16, 2008)

It’s Official: March Prosecutions Set Record

Federal immigration prosecutions continued their recent and highly unusual surge in March 2008, apparently reaching an all-time high, according to timely data obtained from the Justice Department by TRAC. The total of 9,350 such prosecutions was up by almost 50% from the previous month and 73% from the previous year.

The data further show that virtually every one of the individuals referred by the investigative agencies for prosecution — 99% of them — are then being charged by the U.S. Attorneys, and that the resulting median or typical sentence is one month.

Surge in Immigration Prosecutions Continues.” TRAC Immigration. Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (trac.syr.edu: June 17, 2008)

By Nick Braune
Mid-Valley Town Crier
by permission

In my recent columns a theme has emerged: how ICE, Border Patrol and other Homeland Security agencies have been criminalizing the immigrant population, from raids in Iowa’s meatpacking plants to “Operation Streamline” in Brownsville.

Yesterday I received a call from a colleague of mine, Caren Smith. She wondered if I would be interested in another little story about our bureaucratic, mean-spirited, governmental operations. “Surely,” I said.

Ms. Smith, who is also the new president of the Unitarian Universalist Church in San Juan, got an email request from a Unitarian in Europe: Could someone contact a young fellow who is being held unfairly? He is in a Raymondville, Texas detention center, run by ICE (Immigration/Customs Enforcement). I interviewed Ms. Smith.

Nick Braune: Yesterday you mentioned that this young fellow from Europe is an artist, travelling around the country to network with fellow artists.

Caren Smith: Yes, his name is Dutch [not his real name], and he’s a 26-year-old who came here to travel and learn more about independent film-making. His visa had expired recently and he was intending to renew it when he was picked up in western Texas and shuttled to Raymondville early in May. Dutch was actually waiting for a check from home, as I understand it, to pay the fee to extend the visa. He was on his way to a youth hostel in New Mexico.

Dutch has been incarcerated now — excuse me, they use the word “detained” — since that time. Those of us at the church did not know him — we only got wind of his presence in Raymondville from the Unitarian overseas who emailed me — but our group wanted to help, so off we went from the church trying to at the least support this young man through visits.

Braune: I have protested outside that Raymondville (Willacy County) center several times, and last year there was a tornado of bad publicity about it: spoiled food, mismanagement, financial shenanigans, etc. But I’ve never been inside — what’s it like?

Smith: The visitation environment is utterly ridiculous: Dutch was kept behind a glass wall that holds a malfunctioning microphone — it all looks like something out of a black-and-white film noir — you expect Edward G. Robinson to appear any minute.

Braune: The glass wall separating visitors is more evidence that Homeland Security is off kilter. When someone is out of compliance on their visa, it has always been a civil offence not a criminal offence. These detention centers — Raymondville’s holds two or three thousand people at a time — are not for convicted criminals or even accused criminals awaiting trial.

I remember the 1960s and ’70s, when there used to be thousands of European young people traveling around the country. One would see them at tourist places and universities. Now apparently they are treated as criminals.

Smith: Yes, and it has really depressed Dutch, of course. He told us that when they took him to the airport, ICE officers had him handcuffed and foot-shackled. He had a visa, remember, and was simply late renewing it. He wasn’t arrested for assault or accused of stealing something. He felt totally humiliated.

My son, a Galveston Police Detective, once transported a murderer from Pennsylvania back to Texas for arraignment, and he did not shackle him in the airport. Trying not to draw attention to the convict, they purchased a sweat-suit top with a front pocket where he could hide the fact that he was handcuffed. This protected their mission from the press, the general public, and so forth, and the arrested party was respected as a human being.

Braune: Any other signs of mean-spiritedness?

Smith: Yes. Thanks for letting me vent. First, Dutch is discouraged and was supposed to have been sent home on June 18th — he has a ticket — but they have postponed it until they can have a marshal available to escort him.

Second, Dutch’s mother in Europe has been worried about his psychological state — he is depressed and had a brother who committed suicide. Our fellowship includes one of the Valley’s finest psychologists, who asked to visit Dutch, but the detention center has been stalling his visit. Why?

Third, despite filling out the proper forms, Dutch has not been to the library — nothing to read for six weeks — nor has he seen the chaplain.

Fourth, we saw a sign, as we entered the Raymondville center, warning people not to come in if they were susceptible to chickenpox. (Exposure to chickenpox can severely affect the unborn.) We saw several pregnant women visitors, and we’ve heard that pregnant women are detained there.

Braune: Thank you. And I applaud your activist church group.

Press Release

HOUSTON — Police arrested activist Diane Wilson Monday at the Indian Consulate in Houston. Wilson is on an indefinite fast in solidarity with nine survivors of the Uni*n Carbide Gas Disaster in New Delhi, India.

Through her actions, Wilson, a fourth generation fisherwoman, has urged the Government of India to fulfill the survivor’s demands for clean water, health care and justice. She refers to the survivors “my sisters and brothers,” as she is also from a community polluted by Dow/Carbide in Seadrift, Texas.

On December 3rd, 1984, thousands of people in Bhopal, India, were gassed to death after a catastrophic chemical leak at a Uni*n Carbide pesticide plant; thousands more are now being poisoned by toxic waste from the abandoned factory site. Wilson believes firmly that the Indian government and Carbide parent company Dow Chemical must be held accountable for the ongoing disaster there.

Diane Wilson summed up her commitment to justice and connection the Bhopal survivors: “As one of the Bhopalis said, ‘What else can people do when their government ignores their pain and cries of injustice? Agitate, agitate!’”

Diane’s fast is part of an ongoing Global Fasting Relay, which is being supported by nearly 400 concerned individuals in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Canada, and India. (The full list of fasters available at http://www.bhopal.net) In North America, actions have taken place in Boston, San Francisco and Toronto, with further action planned at the Indian Embassy in Washington, DC. The brave yet perilous decision to begin an indefinite fast has been undertaken by Wilson and others only after numerous unsuccessful attempts to focus the attention of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh toward the grave situation in Bhopal.

Diane Wilson, a mother of five, became aware of the Dow/Carbide crimes in Bhopal after learning her own Texas County, located near several chemical plants including a Carbide/Dow plant, was the most polluted in the US. After Ms. Wilson was arrested after a protest at her local Dow facility, she toured the country refusing to go to jail until the former CEO of Uni*n Carbide was jailed. Former Carbide CEO Warren Anderson jumped bail after the Bhopal Disaster and has refused to face manslaughter charges in India.

Survivors are demanding the establishment of a special commission to deal with the issues that still plague the people of Bhopal. They are also demanding that the Prime Minister hold Dow Chemical legally liable, following Dow’s purchase of the initial disaster offender, Uni*n Carbide, in 2001. Though survivors have gained support from many influential lawmakers, as well as the Ministry of Law and the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, the Prime Minister Singh has not budged from his ongoing support of this rogue chemical company.

Nearly half a million people were exposed to poisonous methyl isocyanate during a runaway chemical reaction at the Uni*n Carbide plant in Bhopal in 1984. Since then, more than 22,000 people have died and 150,000 survivors continue to be chronically ill, as the Indian government and Dow have repeatedly failed to address their liabilities in the atrocities of the world’s worst industrial disaster.

The International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal (ICJB) is a coalition of people’s organizations, non-profit groups and individuals who have joined forces to campaign for justice for the survivors of the gas leak. The Campaign for Justice in Bhopal is active in more than 20 cities in the US, UK, France and India.

To view who has signed up for the fast worldwide, visit www.bhopal.net/2008hungerfast.html.

For more information about the history of the gas disaster, visit the following websites: www.bhopal.net, www.studentsforbhopal.org, and www.truthaboutdow.org