Category: Uncategorized

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.”

Dear Friends:

I received the letter below from my loving husband, Ramsey. He speaks about
overcoming suffering through love, the essence of freedom, and profound change that is to
come.

–Irma Muniz

* * * * *

“Knowing ourselves makes us beautiful because it shows us what we desire.
When a woman desires, she is always beautiful.”
–Tezcatlipoca

3/22/09

We exist in this world of today, we live with each other, we live in history
and we will have to defend our memory, our desires, and our presence on this
earth for the sake of the continuity of our lives. Do not ever let yourself be
vanquished by anything but your soul.

From this cold hard imprisonment, our most precious powerful love and spirituality have kept me alive with the power of
our continuous struggle for my freedom. I’m the essence of freedom, I’m the
power of freedom, I’m chosen by our Creator to bring the true meaning and love of
freedom.

The spirits of those who are in heaven continue to be present in this
mode of oppressive darkness. It is them, because at one time or another they
exhibited the true meaning of freedom in their lives. We can never be defeated. The
power of their spirituality is the most profound and visible in my life everyday.

Yes, the suffering at times is unbearable and the darkness of where I live can
hardly be accepted, but the Creator continues to give me life, love, power, strength,
courage, and faith. I’m now all about faith. My faith for my freedom can never be
destroyed or defeated. My heart and mind are already free!

The world is changing like never before in its history. We must be ready for
this change and we must find forgiveness in our hearts for those who left me without food,
water and naked. I love you with my life!

In exile,
Ramsey – Tezcatlipoca
www.freeramsey.com

UNI0N transit workers in Austin were told on Tuesday that they would either have to give up raises they won in a recent strike or give up more bus routes to non-UNI0N employees.

According to a story in Thursday’s Austin American-Statesman, the UNI0N replied to Capital Metro management by requesting (1) financial information on top administrative staff and (2) a complete accounting “of how the agency in the past six years spent a reserve fund of more than $200 million that is nearly gone.”

“We want to see how the money has really been spent before we make that determination,” said UNI0N local president Jay Wyatt. “We’re not going to make it blind and in the dark.”

The Amalgamated Transit UNI0N Local 1091 represents more than 800 Capital Metro drivers, mechanics and maintenance workers.

UNI0N workers are scheduled to get a 1.5 percent raise July 1 and another 1.5 percent in January.

Transit management says the system needs the UNI0N to give back those hard-won raises in order to offset declining sales-tax revenues.

According to the newspaper report: “Outside contractors Veolia Transportation and First Transit furnish bus drivers and mechanics for 21 of Capital Metro’s 71 regular routes. The number of outsourced routes has increased steadily in recent years, including four routes shifted to contractors in January.”

Note: our anti-hacking security at TCRR bans a word from our database which we therefore spell in upper case with a zero: UNI0N.–gm

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.