Category: Uncategorized

Excerpt from March 7, 2008 report of UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Migrants.

II.C. Local enforcement operations

57. While migration is a federal matter, ICE is actively seeking the assistance of State and local law enforcement in enforcing immigration law. Under a recent federal law, ICE has been permitted to enter into agreements with state and local law enforcement agencies through voluntary programmes which allow designated officers to carry out immigration law enforcement functions. These state and local law enforcement agencies enter into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) or a memorandum of agreement (MOA) that outlines the scope and limitation of their authority. According to ICE, over 21,485 officers nationwide are participating in this programme, and more than 40 municipal, county, and state agencies have applied. In 2006, this programme resulted in 6,043 arrests and so far in 2007, another 3,327.

58. Local law enforcement agencies that have signed MOUs so far are:

• Florida Department of Law Enforcement (the first to enter into the agreement)
• Alabama Department of Public Safety
• Arizona Department of Corrections
• Los Angeles, County Sheriff’s Department
• San Bernardino County Sheriff-Coroner Department

Email from Madeleine Gibson

Very eloquent. After reading Jay’s piece on the “Symbol of the Walk to Haskell Prison Camp” and Mrs. Boone’s account of prison economics in Haskell County, and as a Taylor resident who realizes that Taylor is too far away to be a true “bedroom community” to Austin, and yet makes the trek to Austin every day with the hope that the neighborhoods and schools in Taylor will eventually somehow benefit from the Austin salary (and culture?), I am drawn immediately to ideological parallels with the Civil War.
Is it that the family farm is no longer an economically viable unit for the support of a vibrant county, and so those who would preserve the rural county’s way
of life are willing to turn a blind eye to the moral consequences associated with any possibility of creating local jobs offering salaries that might keep the local boys at home a while longer?

Williamson County is affected, although we will always deny it, by our proximity to Austin and Travis
County, which hold more liberal, urban values that remind us of (and embarrass us with) the right and humane ways of treating our fellow human
creatures. And, the county’s western half (full of Austin bedroom communities and beautiful views) is outright prosperous at the moment, so the eastern half can probably withstand the loss of CCA as a local
employer.

It will be most impressive if ICE and the Emerald Companies can be similarly moved and embarrassed in Haskell. If only the ICE would subsidize a large Best Western franchise at this rate!!!

Email from Jay J. Johnson-Castro

Hey ya’ll…

For the sake of round numbers…there’s about 2000 steps to a mile. 60 miles adds up to about 120,000 steps to walk from downtown Abilene, along Hwy 277, to the target of my walk a week ago…a place where helpless people are imprisoned for money.
Walking through West Texas/Central Texas to Governor Perry’s home town of Haskell to protest the prison camp, I had a lot of time to observe the culture of this region of Texas…and to ponder. I took a variety of pictures. I took the attached picture of this flag that flies along Hwy. 277. For me, it has become the symbol of what I saw and what I experienced on my way to the Haskell for-profit prison camp for immigrants.

The symbolism is of a state ripped and torn…faded. Lacking dignity. Soon to be a State of Shame.

Governor Perry…and his predecessor Bush…along with the cruel arrogance of Chertoff & ICE are reflected in this flag. No real pride. No real dignity. Just blatant shame…waving in-your-face. It also represents the region’s poverty…which is being supplemented in Haskell by the federal government imprisoning…for profit…sincere and innocent people who want to be Texan Americans.

Just as this Texas flag is in shameful condition…so is the City of Haskell and Haskell County. So is the silence of Governor Perry. His hometown and home county will long be remembered for imprisoning the victims of his predecessor, Bush…orchestrated by Chertoff & ICE. And to think that Perry has national aspirations! But he can’t stand up in behalf of the downtrodden in his hometown, home county…home state where he serves as the highest elected authority of the great state of Texas. What does that say about his leadership? Would you want another guy like that in the White House?

Then, how about the Haskell City Council and the Haskell County Commissioners and the County Judge…who would not allow one law abiding Texan American walk the county roads that run along side their sacred Haskell Prison camp. What shame. What are they trying to hide? Why did they send out all of the law enforcement officials…even unmarked cars and plain cloths officers…to prevent the exposure of their obscene prison camp?

They will no longer be able to hide their dark dirty secret…of demented abuse of immigrants for profit. Sure…Chertoff and the ICE Company…and the Emerald for-profit prison system baited them with a little money in their coffers which provides their city and county with jobs and income. But at what price, really? A buck per person per day? Is that all it takes to sell out the America we’ve believed in our whole lives? How sad! Better yet…how debased! How depraved!

The dignity of the sincere residents of the City of Haskell and Haskell County were betrayed. At what other price? Selling out on the American dream that their ancestors enjoyed…for a fast buck. Every elected official that has been complicate in this immoral crime should be fully identified and charged with violating what Texas and America was and should be all about.

Unfortunately, “Haskell” has sold out America by doing what is the norm. Anything for a buck. “It’s all about the money”. What’s worse…is that the elected officials of Haskell…took the bait of the money laundering scheme offered by Chertoff and ICE…who are nothing more than an agency of greedy profit and doom for our country…with the smoke screen of “national security”. ICE pays nearly $7000 per month for each victim…and that money goes to private companies. They make all of this money…yet can only afford to provide Maalox to a young innocent woman…who has already been sexually abused…and who now has pain in her chest and is loosing feeling on the right side of her body.

Since it is a for profit entity that ruins these people’s lives…they THINK that they are not answerable to “WE THE PEOPLE”. Local, County, State law enforcement and prison guards protect them from a few grass roots Americans who are appalled by the very purpose of their existence…let alone their practices. They think they can play with the hearts, minds and bodies of young women with impunity. But they’re wrong. If they think that the walk last week was not noticed by the world around them…This is only the beginning of the exposure of their dirty little secret.

There will soon come an end to the “for-profit” prison systems in America. We will soon have dignified and humane treatment for the poor and the downtrodden who seek to be Americans like our forefathers did. The for-profit inhumane systems will be shut down. They’re simply immoral and un-American. What will Haskell do then?

My ultimate belief is in the “grass roots” citizens of the city and county of Haskell. These are hard working, God fearing folks. Once they fully understand what inhumanity and indignities are being committed by their elected officials…right under their noses…there will be no for profit prison camp with innocent immigrants. There will be a jail. Perhaps, in that jail, they’ll put some of those corrupt officials in the cells…that will be vacated by the innocent immigrants.

The elected and government officials have violated the principles of our country. “Give me your tired your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free., the wretched refuse of your teaming shore, send these, the homeless tempest-tossed tom me. I life my lamp beside the golden door.”

Y’all have taken these very same people who believed in that promise of liberty…and made a mockery out of the international promise of hope…and figured out how to make money off of these people by imprisoning and treating them like criminals. To repeat…you have violate the international promise of liberty. You have violated human rights and dignity. You have exploited the poor, huddled masses yearning to breath free, the refuse on our shore, the homeless and tempest tossed. You take our hard earned tax money to funnel to your corrupt and immoral accomplices. You have shamed us.

Shame on Bush.

Shame on Chertoff & ICE Officials.

Shame on silent Perry.

Shame on the Haskell County Judge and Commissioners.

Shame on the City Council of Haskell.

Y’all have shamed Texas. You have shamed America. You have brought shame and reproach upon our country and our history. But our history books will show that true Americans…”We the people”…refused to share your shame. We will NOT share in your shame. We will not go along with you. That too…history will show. And it starts now!

Jay

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Border Ambassador

Connecting.the.dots…making.a.difference…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jay J. Johnson-Castro, Sr.

Del Rio, Texas, USA
Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila , Mexico
jay@villadelrio.com
http://www.villadelrio.com

Friday’s Dallas Morning News carries a report by Paul Meyer about another long-term immigrant, this time from Israel, who has been abruptly arrested, locked up at Rolling Plains prison, and scheduled for deportation on Monday.

50-year-old Yosi Taflin is a single parent, father of a 15-year-old American citizen. The high-school aged daughter will be left behind in the care of her maternal grandmother. The American mother of the child “died in November 2004 after a prolonged illness.”
Like other families we have been following, Taflin has a long and honorable record as a USA resident, but immigration authorities have refused to admit him. In Taflin’s case, the objection seems to be based on the fact that he was once caught at a party in Israel where hashish was alleged to be found.

The trigger event for Taflin’s arrest occurred on Jan. 22 when he sought permission to teach his daughter Helena how to drive. He presented his driver’s license to the Texas highway patrol (DPS); they found a warrant for deportation; he was immediately handcuffed and shipped to the Rolling Plains prison.

Helena, whose mother died more than two years ago, went home with a family friend and spent the night alone. Her maternal grandmother arrived the next day from Baltimore to care for her.

On Monday, Taflin is scheduled for deportation to Israel. If there is some way to keep Taflin in Texas, we’re for it. If Taflin’s deportation can’t be stopped, we are in favor of his return, just as we support the return of the Suleiman family who were deported in January with twin children of American citizenship.

Aside from our hopes for individuals and families in these cases, we also hope that this story contributes to media interest in the Rolling Plains prison, where Suzi Hazahza, her sister, two brothers, and father linger in immigration hell.

Here’s the link to “Honesty failing deportee: Listing drug offense sending Plano man back to Israel” (subscription may be required). A search of our archives shows that Meyer has also reported on two other stories of interest here: the Ibrahims and Hazahzas.–gm