Category: Uncategorized

Videos by Matthew Gossage of the First Vigil to Shut Down Hutto have been posted recently at YouTube, please see links on right sidebar of our home page.

2007 marks the tenth anniversary of the Texas Civil Rights Review. Throughout
the years, our motivation has remained the same. We want to make sure that some
issues and arguments not communicated by the corporate media get represention
on the internet. Along the way we have provided a few stories and perspectives
that make distinctive contributions to the civil rights struggle in Texas. And
a healthier Texas makes for a healthier world. In January we are looking at record-breaking page views (for us, they are record
breaking) making this our busiest month yet. Jay Johnson-Castro has brought an
audience with him, and we can see the difference it makes.

Although the corporate media is nearly unanimously evading affiliation with Palestinian
families imprisoned in Texas, the story of the Ibrahims, Suleimans, and Hazahzas
is nevertheless traveling the globe at the speed of light. How is the word spreading?

To begin with, Austin-area activists called a
Dec. 16 vigil ouside the T. Don
Hutto prison camp for immigrant families. Then Del Rio entrepreneur Jay Johnson-Castro
heard about it and volunteered to walk from the Capitol to the vigil, which he
did, mostly alone.

Then Juan Castillo of the Austin-American Statesman wrote a story reporting that
the Hutto jail was populated with people who had entered the USA illegally.

Castillo’s report prompted Dallas attorney John
Wheat Gibson to fire off an email pointing out to the reporter that some
families in the jail had in fact entered the USA legally. Johnson-Castro distributed
that email, we posted it right away, and we have been collecting materials about
the Palestinian families since then. (Even though, I don’t think the Statesman
has mentioned the Palestinian families yet.)

IndyMedia has been a very important space for distributing news about this story.
And editors at CounterPunch, Dissident
Voice, Electronic
Intifada, and Uruknet have been very supportive with their re-postings of our work.

Then came Marisa Treviño’s Dec. 19 overview
at Lista Latina. From there
the story has spread to important websites such as Infowars, XicanoPwr, Aztlan
Electronic News, and blogs such as Texas
Kaos and PhoenixWoman.

Jesse Salmeron’s
video of the Christmas Eve vigil has been warmly linked around
the blogosphere. When the woman from Dallas introduces the child she has
brought with her to the vigil, she reaches right into your heart. And everything
changes.

Last but never least is Flashpoints host
Dennis Bernstein who moderates a wonderful program for KPFA and Pacifica
affiliates. Audio
links to his progam help complete the package
of materials available for people finding this news for the first time.

Of course, the trouble with thanking people in a crowded room is that you are
sure to have failed to mention all who deserved it. So please take the names
as indicators of a spirit that is not at all limited to the entities named above.–gm

ICE Detention Standards Violation Complaint Process

Cite as “AILA InfoNet Doc. No. 07011068 (posted Jan. 10, 2007)”

HOW DO I COMPLAIN TO AUTHORITIES ABOUT DETENTION STANDARDS VIOLATIONS AND RELATED ABUSES?

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT THAT I DO THIS?

DHS has set up a simple and straight-forward procedure for voicing complaints about detention standard violations. Following these procedures provides DHS with the opportunity to remedy the violations. It also allows for further constructive advocacy on issues which are not resolved. In addition to reporting the violations to the appropriate DHS authorities below, we hope you will send a copy of your complaint to the National Immigrant Justice Center so that advocates can track how DHS is responding to complaints.
Report Violation to Local ICE: Try to resolve any detention standards violation with your local ICE offices. Document those attempts and ICE responses even if such documentation is quite simple (e.g., copies of e-mail correspondence; notation of a phone call, message left, and whether the call was returned).

If Violations Are Unresolved At the Local Level, Report the Problem to ICE Headquarters: If the local authorities are non-responsive or fail to take appropriate action, report the problem to ICE headquarters. Such grievances should be submitted in writing or by e-mail and contain detailed information about the issue at hand and all prior attempts to solve the problem with local authorities.

Please direct these complaints to Mr. Timothy Perry, Acting Chief of the Detention Acquisition and Support Branch, ICE Office of Detention and Removal, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 801 “I” Street, Suite 980, Washington, D.C. 20536. Tel: 202.732.2912; E-mail: timothy.perry@dhs.gov.

For complaints concerning medical and mental health care, advocates should copy Captain Philip Jarres, Branch Chief of Field Operations for the United States Public Health Service, 1220 L Street NW, Suite 500, Washington DC 20005. Tel: 202.732.0100; E-mail: philip.jarres@dhs.gov.

File a complaint with the DHS Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (OCRCL): Complaints on detention standards violations which are unresolved at the local level should also be filed with the DHS Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. Complaints should be submitted in writing or e-mail to: Department of Homeland Security, Mail Stop #0800, Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, Washington, DC 20528. For packages/overnight deliveries, contact the office at Tel: 202.401.1474, 202.401.0470 (Local TTY); Toll Free: 1.866.644.8360, 1.866.644.8361 (TTY); E-mail: civil.liberties@dhs.gov.

In addition, complaints that relate to abuses by ICE and other law enforcement officials; profiling on the basis of race, ethnicity, or religion; and other due process violations should be sent to OCRCL at this address as well.

Website: www.dhs.gov/xabout/structure/editorial_0373.shtm

After reporting the complaint to DHS, PLEASE send a copy to the National Immigrant Justice Center. This allows advocates to track the process: The National Immigrant Justice Center will keep a record of all issues brought to ICE headquarters and OCRCL. Please send a “bcc” of your e-mail correspondence, or a hard copy of any other correspondence, to Tara Magner, Director of Policy, National Immigrant Justice Center, 208 S. LaSalle Street, Suite 1818, Chicago, IL 60604. Tel: 312.660.1363; Fax: 312.660.1505; E-mail: tmagner@heartlandalliance.org.

Prepared January 2007

Forwarded to TCRR by John Wheat Gibson

Clipped from the White House Press Briefing of Feb. 13, 2007

Q I wanted to ask you, there have been some stories lately about an ICE detention facility outside of Austin, Texas, where asylum-seekers have been kept in prison-like conditions — it is a converted prison, although the bars are not kept closed, as it would be in prison. Women and children are kept in garb that is likened to prison outfits. Is the President comfortable with the idea that asylum-seekers, particularly children, are kept in conditions —
MR. SNOW: Well, as you probably know, in the past, children had been separated from their families. What we’re actually trying to do is to keep them together. We also have been concerned about making sure that they’re kept in humane and sanitary conditions and they’re clothed and fed. And all that is as you would expect. But one of the things we’re trying to do is to keep families together. When you have a large number of people in a facility like that, it does create challenges, and we’re trying to do our best with it.

Q Wouldn’t it be better to find another type of facility?

MR. SNOW: Such as?

Q Dormitory —

MR. SNOW: Sports stadium?

Q — I don’t know.

MR. SNOW: The point is, it’s difficult to find facilities, and you have to do the best with what you’ve got.

Q Thank you, Tony.

END 12:32 P.M. EST

Does the CCA Lease Expire Jan. 31?

Take a look for yourself, at agreements between Williamson County, Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for the Imprisonment of Women and Children (forwarded by Jay J. Johnson-Castro in PDF format [400 kb]).

Bottom Line: ICE pays $2.8 million per month for up to 512 prisoners (plus $19.23 per hour for off-site guard services, $125,000 per month for medical care, with contraceptives, immunizations and off-site medical care billed at additional cost). After that, $79 per day extra per head, plus $8 for medical care. For its trouble, the county collects $1 per day per child or adult imprisoned from CCA, the company that books the amounts from ICE stated above.

In January 2006, Williamson County Commissioners approved a one-year agreement with CCA. In April 2006 they approved the prison contract with ICE “indefinitely unless terminated in writing” with 120 days notice.

Public minutes of the April 18, 2006 Commisioners Court [Agenda Item 25] announce a change in “per diem and detainees” for ICE but do not indicate that the contract length with CCA is also being changed to “indefinitely.”

For these reasons, Jay Johnson-Castro says the County’s agreement with CCA expires at the end of this month, Jan. 31, 2007.

“What I am asking is…Will the Williamson County Commission choose Chertoff and CCA over the children?” says Johnson-Castro. “Will they become local, state, national and
international heroes and choose the children over Chertoff and CCA?”
Note: “Rick” mentioned on page one is, according to a reliable source, Rick Zinsmeyer, Director of Community Supervisions and Corrections for Williamson County.