Category: Uncategorized

To: Governor’s Office of Texas (3:58 pm)

Under provisions of the Texas Public Information Act, please provide a copy of the Governor’s authorization, announced in a press release of June 30, 2006, that “Perry authorized up to 2,300 Texas troops to support the mission [of Operation Jump Start].”

From: Governor’s Office of Texas (3:59 pm)

The MOU is posted on our website, attached to a June 2nd (or around then) news release. Let me know if you have trouble accessing it.

To: Governor’s Office of Texas (4:05 pm)

I can access the MOU, but it says nothing about 2,300 troops, so I am seeking the document that clarifies the troop level authorized by the Governor. Please provide the documentary evidence that “2,300 troops” have been authorized by the Governor.

June 2 Press Release from Gov. of Texas

June 23 Letter from Gov’s Office Regarding Records Request of June 8

Indymedia Austin

First in a series of comments recorded by the Texas Civil Rights Review at the Camp Mabry protest against the militarization of the border (June 24, 2006):

Will Harrell, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Uni*n of Texas:

“We oppose the militarization of the border.
“We know that many of these women and men, these national guardsmen are probably headed down to the border, and they don’t really have a choice. Of course they can consciously decide not to go at all, but those who are not in a position to do that are going to head that way.

“We hope they will at least go down there with a consciousness that these are not enemy combatants that surround them, these are human beings who’ve lived there for generations upon generations and that they should be respected.

“We’re very concerned about the potential for violence, and we’ve been here before. Everytime for whatever pop reason the national leadership sends the guard or the military to the border, somebody gets hurt. I think that the last time we went through this there were eight shootings. And we’re very fearful that there will be shootings.

“But even short of shootings, it creates sort of an atmosphere of siege and fear and concern and stress, particularly on kids to be surrounded by men with M-16s. It just does damage to the human psyche. So for all sorts of levels we are opposed to the policy of sending the military to the border.”

Q: On the question of task forces. I know the ACLU has protested the task forces, and overnight we got word that the El Paso sheriff had taken down some of the checkpoints in his task force.

Harrell: “Yes, indeed, it was a glorious victory, but it’s simply a battle, the war is long and continuing. We’re still considering litigation, because damage has been done. And frankly, we’re encouraged and we salute this move, but it is only temporary, he says. And we need it to be permanent. If it’s not permanent, then we’ll be going to court, for sure.

“He also tried to mislead the public by saying wait a minute we never enforced immigration laws, and then he said, well we did, but there was only a secondary purpose. Well our position is number one he did in fact enforce immigration laws, or attempted to do that. And whether it was a primary or secondary purpose, it was still illegitimate.

“He didn’t do us any favors by stopping what he shouldn’t have done in the first place, but we’re glad he stopped. And we are continuing to monitor that.

“People are still scared you know. We were just out there. We just got back the night before last and people aren’t reporting crimes in the community, people aren’t going to church. Some parents won’t even take their kids to school for fear of being subjected to harassment by the Sheriff’s department.

“That fear will continue to linger. Just saying we’re not going to do that anymore isn’t enough. The sheriff’s going to have to actively engage the community, acknowledge publicly the error of his ways and try to rebuild those fences.”

By Greg Moses

CounterPunch / OpEdNews

Back in January, the jobs picture in Eloy, Arizona wasn’t looking so good. Thanks to federal budget cuts, the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) announced it would cancel a contract with the town’s biggest employer, the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) at a cost of 300 jobs.
Today, however, the jobs picture is much improved. Not only did CCA manage to save the jobs at the Eloy Detention Center by picking up a contract to detain 1,500 male “noncitizens” for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), but the giant prison contractor has also broken ground on two new projects in Eloy that will together import about 3,500 new prisoners from Alaska and Hawaii.

“This means an awful lot to the city. It opens more job opportunities for people in the region,” said Eloy Mayor Byron Jackson in a dispatch filed by reporter Eli J. Long of the Arizona Daily Star.

In addition to Eloy’s three prisons, CCA already manages two prisons in the nearby town of Florence that together import nearly 4,000 prisoners from ICE, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), U.S. Marshals Service (USMS), US Air Force, Alaska, Hawaii, and the Pascua Yaqui Tribe. When all five prisons of Pinal County are up and running, they will bring a total of 2,000 jobs.

“Our contracts create predictable revenue streams,” brags the CCA investor report for Q1 2006. And the news does look good for investors. The prison industry is not much affected by economic downturns; 93.3 percent of the market share is yet to be privatized; overcrowding is pervasive; and demographic trends “point to higher prison populations.”

In addition to these favorable trends for investors, CCA points to “strong federal demand substantially driven by an increasing emphasis on border security” (CCA Q1 investor report 2006, pdf page 10.)

By “increasing emphasis,” CCA means increasing funds. To hold more prisoners, Congress has given USMS a 38 percent increase in detention funding, good for about 5,000 new beds. ICE is getting another $90 million for new cells, too.

“This represents the third consecutive year of increased funding to ICE and USMS,” announces CCA in a blue box filled with bold red italics. So you see, Congress has been addressing somebody’s needs. But there’s more, because the President also has taken action in time to make the Q1 pdf.

“On May 15, 2006, President Bush requested $1.948 billion in emergency funding to help secure America’s borders,” heralds the May 30 report from CCA. That emergency money is supposed to include 4,000 prison beds more.

Then, if you look at the schedule for FY 2007, things get even better for CCA investors. The USMS will be looking at another funding increase of $110 million for prisoner detention, which sounds pretty good until you look at ICE, which is even better, because ICE is looking at a $700 million increase in funds, which will translate into anywhere from 4,780 to 6,700 new beds for immigration prisoners.

“Although the ultimate form of a comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill is not certain at this time,” reports CCA once again in red italics, “the Company believes any bill ultimately passed will provide for substantial increases in the arrest and detention of illegal immigrants crossing the US border with
Mexico.” And why should we not believe the company?

But CCA is not yet finished with the prospects of federal demand for prisoners, because it’s not all about immigrants, you know. There are 190,000 prisoners in the BOP; the agency is running 34 percent over capacity; and for plain ole U.S. Citizens, it will need at least another 30,000 beds before 2011. Funding for this need will be forthcoming. The CCA isn’t worried about that.

Factor in only one thing more, that the CCA’s preference for warmer climates of the South and Southwest tends to “mute” the impacts of rising energy prices, and you have the total picture: “Superior returns on investment,” says the bullet point, “The Company is able to generate unleveraged, pre-tax returns on new real estate investments of between 13-15 percent of cost at a stabilized occupancy of 95 percent.”

Which brings us back to Pinal County and the obvious pun. Just put your money on the table. CCA and the feds will stabilize the prison occupancy. Ask not for whom they build the beds. Whether you’re a CCA investor or not, either way you’re guaranteed a secure place to sleep.

“CBP P-3s based in Jacksonville, Florida and Corpus
Christi, Texas contributed to the seizure of over 210,779 pounds (105 tons) of illegal drugs – over 38,600 more pounds (19 tons) than last year,” says Assistant Secretary of Policy for Homeland Security in his May 11 testimony to a congressional committee. But did you know that border security is also busy preventing illegal exports? According to the Assistant Secretary, there were 5,670 investigations into “illegal exports” in FY ’05.

Beyond these stunning facts, the testimony speaks to a high velocity of reoganization in border matters, with a few hot nodes to watch. Most interesting as a node in play is the Program Executive Officer (PEO) of the Secure Border Initiative:

PEO will establish the proper foundation that will enable DHS components to create and maintain a functional and seamless network of capabilities that control the border and disrupt and dismantle the continuum of border crime into the interior of the United States.

The plain language indicates that this office will be the handoff point when Homeland Security awards its multi-billion dollar SBInet Contract in the Fall. A fine node for considering the confluence of big biz and border policy.

We bet that a fine stack of paper is collecting around the activities of the ICE-CBP Coordination Council, which we would prefer to call the council of de-confliction:

The Council meets regularly to proactively consider and address issues to better coordinate and resolve operational and policy matters and to monitor implementation of Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs), among other things. The Council reports to the Secretary on outstanding issues, resolutions, and
disagreements that require further direction or de-confliction. The Council also interacts closely with the Assistant Secretary for Policy, the Director of Operations Coordination and the Chief Intelligence Officer.

The Council is co-chaired by the leaders of each agency, and membership includes the heads of the main operational divisions and main policy and planning arms of both ICE and CBP. The Council’s ongoing mission is to identify and address areas
where greater cooperation can enhance mutual achievement of our missions and be proactive in fostering improved coordination efforts. It addresses a revolving agenda of ICE-CBP touch points, developing, as appropriate and necessary, interagency policies, prioritizations, and procedures to better guide ICE and CBP interactions and
communicate roles and responsibilities in those matters.

During a Council meeting in February, for example, ICE and CBP agreed to issue a joint memorandum to clarify and reinforce key components of the
existing policies by which CBP refers cases to ICE for investigation and to ensure that enforcement results are routinely and effectively shared between the two agencies. The signatories of this memorandum will be Acting Commissioner Spero and Assistant
Secretary Myers, prior to its distribution to the field.

Together ICE and CBP have generated many cooperative successes in the last two years, such as Operation ICE Storm, Operation Texas Hold ‘Em, the ABC Initiative, the LAX Initiative, and the Expedited
Removal Working Group.

http://hsc.house.gov/files/TestimonyBaker.pdf